Chapter 04: The Challenge of the Hunt

The beast turned to Geo and launched its body in a blind rage towards the young hero. As the boar closed in; it seemed like the had proven to be too fast to handle, Hikari closed her eyes preparing for the worst.

As she covered her face with both hands curiosity got the better of her, she couldn't keep them closed anymore... Slowly she opened them and peered between her fingers towards the battle in front of her.

Geo and the Boar had clashed, trying to overpower the beast with sheer strength Geo latched on to its tusks, the beast didn't let up and kept pushing him back.

It was truly a sight to behold!

Geo had found his footing and was finally able to hold his ground, now evenly matched neither of them budged or gave in to the pressure.

Now, evenly matched Hikari couldn't stop watching the fight in front of her eyes.

"Wow! Geo is so strong!"

She said while clapping her hands all hyped up by the collision of strength.

*Growl*

Hikari caved into the sound and feel of her growling stomach, she was really hungry...

Succumbing to it, she collapsed onto the ground as a fragile little maiden.

Geo noticed what happened to her and knew he had to finish this quickly. But out of respect for the animals' strength and hopefully the food it would provide, he didn't want to use his elemental talents. Instead, he too wanted this manly clash to end respectfully.

To do so, Geo devised a plan. But forgot that the boar couldn't care less as it had lost itself in anger. The boar whipped up its head, catching Geo off guard. Geo tried to react... and seemed to be too late.

Geo fell to the ground and the boar launched at him with tusks pointed at him.

There was only one thing Geo could do in such a situation. But his pride kept him from doing so. Then Hikari, seeing what happened, screamed which snapped Geo out of his delusion.

"Nooo!! Don't die!!! What about Hikari?! Will she be all alone, again?!"

Geo then proceeded to slide past the beast and jump in its back, driven wild by madness and confusion the beast desperately tried to throw him off. But was unable to. The boar then without looking straight ahead slammed into a tree, Geo jumped off and let the beast recover.

Proceeding to gran the beast by the tusks Geo displayed its strength by lifting it into the air and slamming it down hard. Its tusks had broken off in the process. The beast was unable to stand and accepted defeat.

Frightened the beast prepared for death and closed its eyes.

Geo saw how frightened it was and proceeded to calm it down.

"You have been a formidable foe, this is just the way of nature and we too have to eat. I'll never forget this epic battle with you or the chance to survive this provided for us."

The beast calmed down and Geo proceeded to kill it gently, yet instantly. His hands soaked in blood, he led down a tear as he continued to harvest the hide & meat of its bones. Having to drain all the blood from the carcass before the meat could be prepared.

Geo quickly grew some roots and wood, saving them the hassle of searching for wood. Something essential to their survival. Hikari was given the task of lighting the campfire so Geo could make a play to crash for the night.

Growing some more roots for the foundation, he quickly began working on a smooth floor, almost like he was a true architect. Or at least that's how he felt.

Sometimes glancing back at Hikari he chuckled seeing her trying to figure out how to use the flint they had brought along for occasions like this.

Soon dusk fell and Geo finished their shelter for the night. The reason Hikari struggled so much with the flint and twigs wasn't only because she had never worked with both... It was also because she wasn't used to her human form.

Pouting and irritated because of her failed attempt she reverted to her animal form and curled up around the improvised campfire sight.

Geo walked outside and saw she wasn't too happy about her failure. And even had thrown in the towel for the time being. Her innocence reminded Geo of his youth, the children he used to see at school, and thought to himself that she looked cute doing so.

That was when an idea came to mind. Since the shelter, he had made was big enough,

Geo only needed to make an opening at the side of the roof, maybe even create some kind of tube to catch excess smoke.

As he thought about this hard, Geo realized he needed a stronger and harder foundation meaning he had to fortify their shelter with stone and mud.

But before he could do so, he had to talk to Hikari.

As he walked upon her, he couldn't hold back his laughter anymore. And decided to quickly laugh it off within the shelter. When that was finished he walked back to Hikari who had become curious about Geo's behavior.

"I saw it wouldn't work out with, creating friction and all?"

Hikari put her face into the ground and screamed.

A long-lasting muffled scream could be heard and Geo kind of chuckled because of it.

But when she lifted her head, Geo tried to react as if nothing had happened.

"Hikari couldn't get it to work... She doesn't know how to..."

Geo then lay his hand onto what he thought was her shoulder which was difficult to predict as she had reverted to her animal form.

In a motion that seemed cool to him, Geo tried to look dependable and helpful at the same time.

"Want me to teach you?"

Geo asked why winking in combination with a bright smile and a thumbs-up assuring her he would succeed.

Hikari remembered the gesture from back when Michael wanted to reassure her,

which made her chuckle and break out in laughter.

"Pffttt Sir Birchwood looks funny doing that. If you can, Hikari would appreciate the lesson."

A bit embarrassed Geo let down his arm and told Hikari what they needed to do.

"Before I can show you, it's best if we search for the right ingredients. Which means we have to find some mud and bricks to create something like a stone oven."

Hikari tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"An oven? What's that?"

"That's a special tool, used for the preparation of food. It will make it that much more delicious."

"Really?! Then Hikari will help, show us the way Geo, Hikari will do what she can to help."

Geo laughed as the both of them set out to find the necessary ingredients to realize the creation of the Oven...

As their shelter was made close to the edge of the forest it was fairly easy to find the necessary rocks or boulders, but what had proven to be the biggest challenge was to find the mud needed to create the foundation of the oven.

After almost an hour had passed without many results, Geo decided on another way to find mud or clay. As it didn't seem like it would rain soon enough.

"There is another way," Geo said.

As he prepared to dig into the ground.

As he clawed his way deeper and deeper Hikari watched, mesmerized by curiosity. After a few minutes, Geo stopped as the ground began to ooze and wet patches began to form.

Geo lifted what he could and brought it back to the shelter, he did so repeatedly for a few times, until he was certain he had enough.

Hikari didn't know what she was looking at, although she knew it was peculiar and interesting.

After a while, Geo had begun putting the oven together bit by bit and when the sun had finally set, he had finished his reaction.

Quickly after wood got collected together with leaves and twigs. Geo knew he had to create fire on something he could throw into the oven after lighting it.

After finding a big enough piece of wood, he called Hikari.

"I'll be showing you how to light it properly.

First you out the leaves and twigs onto the platform, secondly you get around enough stick to twist between your hand palm. And lastly, you'll keep twisting it back and forth until enough friction creates a spark. Like this!"

Geo showed Hikari how it was supposed to go,

but it took him several tries to achieve what he said he would.

The fire on the block quickly got thrown into what Geo began to call the furnace as an oven should be closed off and this still had an opening making kt more of a furnace.

The both of them began waving towards the flames feeding it more Oxygen to grow larger so that they could finally prepare the meat.