Into The Forest We Go

Opening his eyes, John woke up with a yawn. Standing up he started to observe his changed brothers. Except him, all of his brothers had changed. John felt that it was a bit disheartening but, he did not let it get to him.

Soon enough everybody woke ready for another day of work. He and his brothers had decided that for now getting stronger was a must. They needed a place to start forming a semblance of a civilization.

After John relayed to them what he had seen in the clearing close to the mysterious presence. They had all decided that for now, they would have to find a way to deal with the mysterious presence.

Today there were going to explore the forest and find as many creatures as they could to get stronger.

[Brother are you ready?] Goliath signed rapidly. After experiencing their transformation they had become way more fluid in their hand signs.

It was quite interesting for John to watch because it made him feel like he was in a Naruto episode.

"Yes, I'm ready. For now just get the berries ready. I don't know how long we will be gone for, it's better to be prepared," John replied answered his question.

It did not take long for all his brothers to be prepared. And with John at the lead, they all headed for the forest for there first ever journey as a family.

Turning around John could see the awe in their eye's as they entered the forest. John was not that surprised by their expressions, when he first entered the forest he was shocked too.

"Brothers, do you see those hole over there?" John asked pointing at the lizard hole littering the forest floor.

"Those that want to go and hunt for lizards can start over there. It is closer to home and safer. If you want to lure the lizards out, you can use the berries."

Immediately around half of his brothers decided to hunt here instead. John did not really blame them if he was not the leader he would hunt here too.

It was completely safe and close to home if it was not for the need to find a stronger creature he would make the entire group hunt here.

The remaining half of his brothers looked at him waiting for directions. Shaking his head, he continued to walk deeper into the forest with the rest of his brothers.

In earth time, John would say they walked for about 15 minutes before there came upon something new.

Growl

Hearing a loud growling noise. John signaled for the group to keep silent. John decided to break off from the group to observe what was ahead. As he was heading for the source of the sound. He observed paw prints on the forest floor.

Knowing that the ground was not muddy or wet. John thought the creature must be strong to leave depressions on the forest floor.

It did not take long, but John finally managed to see the creature that was making the noise. It looked like a dog but was the size of a tiger. With its dirty brown fur but deadly white fangs, it gave off a feral feel.

Trying to get a closer look at the creature, John started moving closer. Thinking he had managed to stay silent, he was surprised when the creature started heading for his direction. Immediately John hugged a tree and stilled his breathing.

It did not work as the creature clearly did not stop walking. He could hear the dog-like creature taking sniffs of the area.

"Damn it, the stupid mutt has my scent! F**k, to hell with it."

Knowing that the creature already knew he was there, John decided that it was better to just fight it off.

Turning around to look at the creature, he tried to look for an opening. Sadly for him, the dog already seemed to know he was getting ready for action and had a leaping stance.

"I really need to make a weapon after this." John sighed. But it was too late, he just hoped that he would be strong enough to deal with the stupid mutt.

Directing his energy into his feet and arms, John jumped out of the tree and charge for the creature. The creature already prepared for his attack managed to dodge his charge and swiped at him with his gigantic paws.

With a panicked look on his face, he punched toward the gigantic paw heading his way. Closing his eyes John half expected to be blown away, this was shown as his other arm was over his chest in a shielding position.

Boom!

Opening his eyes at the scene in front of him. John was sure that his brain was tricking him.

Looking at his arm he thought was supposed to be blown off, was totally fine, even shimmering in the light. But the creatures paw that was originally heading for him was no longer on the creature's arm.

After standing there for a moment, John got out of his dazed state. He looked at the creature, who was also looking at his now gone paw in wonder. Not wasting his time, John directed the rest of his energy into his fist before punching at the dazed creature forehead.

Faster than John himself could perceive, his fist had hit the head of the creature. And with a loud 'Boom' exploded into a gory mess. The moment the fight ended he immediately felt drained.

He turned to look at the body of the creature that was decomposing at a rapid rate. He felt it's energy flow into him like the other times. The energy was a lot stronger than the lizard's energy, but John felt that was only logical since the creature was stronger than the lizards.

His energy in his cave was once again increased. He could feel himself get stronger every time he killed a creature.

Turning around, John went and headed for his group. When they saw him walk up to them with blood spattered all over his body, they immediately went mad.

[Boss, are you good? What happened?] Goliath signed, fury and anger filling his face. Not only Goliath but David, Titus, Theo, Mike, and, Beta and the rest of his brothers. Touched by their care, John smiled at them while signing to them that he was fine.

When he finally got situated, he told them about his recent experience.

[Boss, I think for now we should try and find more of this creatures. For now, they would be a good creature to hunt for the sake of getting stronger.] Beta said.

Beta was like the rest of them. And even though he named him Beta, he was not inferior to any of them especially with the intelligent light in his eyes.

"Agreed, I would also be able to take care of you easily. Without any of us risking our lives."

Deciding to stay in the area for the time being they all spread out looking for more of the creatures. 5-10 minutes later they all gather back at their original spot.

[I found a pack of them over there boss.] Titus said pointing to an area deeper into the forest.

Nodding his head, he and the rest of the group followed Titus to the direction he pointed. And sure enough, they managed to meet a pack of the weird dog-like creatures.

They looked no different than the one he fought before. But this time there were about 6 of them but, what really alarmed him was the gigantic looking one that looked like the leader.

John immediately started signing for them to circle around the creatures. After circling around them he activated his energy and charged for the leader of the pack. This time they had not noticed them, so when he rushed at them they were caught unaware.

He managed to hit the leader right in the chest and like before his fist managed to blow up the creature. Once again his energy increase, the increase this time it was much more than the first of the creature he killed.

Seeing it as a signal from him, the rest of the group charged and started fighting the creature.

Still keeping alert, John decided to stay and watch how his brothers were doing. The group though not as strong as him managed to keep solid ground and fight evenly against the creature, Goliath especially.

He was beasting it, fighting one of the creatures on his own and keeping his ground. Deciding to lend a hand, he grabbed a small stone from the ground, and directed his energy into his arm and threw the stone at one of the legs of the creature.

Swoosh!

The stone whizzed through the air faster than a bullet. It went through the leg of the creature like a hot knife on butter. Instantly Goliath grabbing the opportunity punched at the creatures head and leaving a depression.

The creature died and Goliath started glowing red again. Soon enough the rest of the group managed to deal with the rest of the creature. Titus and Mike, and the 2 other members of their group managed to get the last hit.

The moment the red light on Goliath faded. John was shocked to see another shocking change to Goliath's appearance. His previous scales had disappeared, being replaced by fur.

He had grown dog ears on the side of his forehead close to his horns. And a furry little tale had spurt out behind him.

Rushing to Goliath he asked, "What happened, why did you change again."

[I don't know boss when I managed to kill the creature. Something told me that I could change my genes.] Goliath signed confused.

"Genes, this is really weird," John thought. Of course, he knew what genes were, but how did Goliath know what it was.

"Anything else?" John asked still intrigued.

[I just felt that the dog genes were stronger than the lizard genes. So I decided to switch.] Goliath replied this time.

Turning around John noticed that Titus, Mike and the two other brothers he decided to name Saul and Simon had not changed at all. Well except for their tribal marking that seemed to have gotten a bit more complicated.

John got the feeling that their race was more and more like shape-shifters. Deciding to take a break, for now, they all grabbed some twigs and started a fire before roasting the dogs and going search for some more creatures to kill.