Forest

Draco was currently standing within his cell, shadow boxing as he punched out at the air. 

He had been doing this for nearly an hour, and sweat dripped around him as he refined his form. 

Draco was by no means a professional boxer, but he had gotten much experience in street fights. 

This meant he at least knew how to throw a punch, but if any expert were to watch his display they would surely find many flaws for him to improve upon. 

Unfortunately for Draco, he was alone in his cell with no one to guide him. 

He had been cooped up in this box for nearly 10 hours at this point, and he had been exercising and training for most of that time with only short breaks between sessions. 

As Draco finished boxing the air, he remarked that he hardly felt tired, even after moving around for hours on end.

'I suppose I should take another break, if I tire myself out before my next match I'll definitely regret it.' He thought, walking up to a wall next to his bed. 

Draco discovered that his daily meals came from that wall, and he was shocked to see a part of his wall slide open and a tray of food appear inside of it. 

After all, Draco had actually spent little time in his cell so far. After every battle he would wake up from his unconsciousness only to be plunged into yet another battle. 

His food had appeared nearly four hours ago though, and since then Draco found that there was also a small compartment in the wall that opened up into a water fountain. 

Using this fountain Draco drank his fill of water, quenching his thirst and refreshing his body.

After having his fill, Draco was alarmed to find that his cell had started shaking. 

Looking out of his window, he saw the telltale signs that his cell was now moving. If that wasn't enough the flashing red text that read "AHMAR IMMINENT" over his window confirmed his suspicions. 

Draco sighed, sitting on his bed while he waited for his cell to arrive at his next arena. 

Draco's cell shuddered, and a metal sheet shut over his window. 

CLANG

He stood up from his bed as his cell door stood upon, and he saw the now familiar red hallway standing menacingly outside of his room. 

He began to walk through the hallway, mentally preparing himself for yet another battle. 

**INITIATING AHMAR # 2 - 2 - 7** droned the same robotic voice in its monotonous tone. 

The hallway then opened up to reveal a scenic view of green as far as his eyes could see. 

This green landscape was something Draco could only describe as a jungle or vast forest. 

The forest was thick with trees that towered up into the sky, easily hundreds of feet tall. 

As Draco walked through the hallway and felt the dirt under his feet, he remarked that he felt like a bug compared to the monumental trees. 

The thick foliage meant that he could hardly see past the trees ahead of him, and the landscape reminded him of the stone pillars he had previously encountered in the bloody sea. 

Seeing that these huge trees were an obstacle, he employed the same tactic he had in the past and found the closest one and started climbing it. 

The tree was so wide around the base that Draco could spend several seconds walking around it, so he was forced to use crevices in the tree as footholds to lift himself up. 

The climbing was slow in this way, but Draco had no other choice. The tree's branches were so far apart that he had no hope of grabbing them without being sent tumbling down. 

In this way he continued his climb, and after several minutes passed he was barely halfway up the tree. 

'All I seem to do in this god-forsaken place is climb up tall sh*t!' Draco thought in annoyance. 

A few minutes later he was mostly to the top of the tree, and he could now see over some of the smaller trees. 

However, Draco saw that he wasn't even on one of the tallest trees in the forest, for there were several trees around him that towered over even his own. 

'I couldn't tell from all the way down there, the leaves from the branches were blocking my view. It seems like this tree won't even let me see over all of the other trees.' he thought, looking down to the hundred foot drop below him. 

He then looked across from him and saw a tree that was much taller than his own. That tree also looked to have a few branches that seemed almost level with his current position. 

Draco found a branch on his current tree and climbed atop it. The branch was sturdy and he could easily stand on it without falling off.

The branch he wanted to jump too was almost a dozen feet away, but was a little bit below his current position. 

He quickly made up his mind, and braced himself to jump. He got a running start and without hesitating he leaped from his current branch and flew into the air. 

His newly enhanced strength gave him a jump that would put any normal human to shame, but even still he wondered if he had overestimated his abilities. 

Unfortunately, Draco was already soaring through the air, over a hundred feet above the ground. 

Even with his newly enhanced body he doubted he could survive such a fall. 

Draco saw that the branch was getting closer and closer, but his heart dropped when he realized he was coming up too short to be able to grab the branch. 

He held out his arms and attempted to grab the branch just ahead of him. 

To his dismay though, his fingers just barely brushed against the branch, unable to find a grip! 

Draco cursed as his fingers slipped from the branch, sending him falling below.

He violently crashed against a lower branch, and was sent sprawling even further down. 

He hit his head against another branch and saw white, sure that he was now going to fall to his death.

However, when he regained his vision, he realized that he had stopped falling.

Draco had managed to land on a wide branch a short distance down from where he had initially tried to go. 

Groaning, Draco brushed himself off and stood up shakily. 

Steadying himself against the base of the tree, Draco looked up to see how much further he had to climb. 

He was only about halfway up this tree, but he could tell that this tree was much taller than the one he was previously climbing.

'All things considered that could have turned out a lot worse.' Draco chuckled, a sheepish smile showing on his face.

Satisfied with the tree had chosen, yet sore from the fall, Draco once again began his climb. 

Using small footholds he found in the tree's trunk, he slowly but surely lifted himself up. 

After some time passed he took a break on a large branch. Looking over the edge of the tree he spotted the tree he was just climbing, and saw that he was now higher than the top of it. 

After another minute or so he continued climbing, taking his time to make sure he didn't go tumbling back down. 

Several more minutes passed before Draco pulled himself over a branch towards the top of the tree. 

He sat down atop the branch, and when he looked around he saw that he could see past the vast majority of the trees in the forest.

Draco sat like this for a long while, his enhanced eye scanning the horizon for any signs of movement. 

He couldn't hear any noises, and the massive forest was strangely silent for an environment of its size.

'I didn't see anything while I was climbing. Are there no animals in this place?' Draco wondered, hearing only the sounds of leaves rustling in the wind. 

While Draco was lost in thought, something moved in the distance. 

It was a dark figure in the shadows of one of the tree's below him, and it had to have been almost a mile away. 

Draco didn't consider it strange that he could spot this figure, for he had long since gotten used to his new eyesight. 

What Draco did consider strange though, was the fact that his figure seemed to be jumping across the treetops! 

It made vast leaps as it crossed the distance between the trees, and Draco was sure that his own acrobatic abilities paled in comparison. 

'That has to be my opponent. They must be strong too, I've never seen anyone other than Amira or Sada move like that.' he thought with alarm. 

Draco realized that this figure must've been looking for him, as they would occasionally stop to survey their surroundings. 

Draco was currently sitting over 200 meters above the ground, but he was put on guard by the figure's sheer athleticism. 

They were also moving closer and closer to Draco's position, and he estimated they were now only a few hundred meters away from him.

The figure couldn't have been more than a few football fields of distance away at this point, and as they got close Draco was in shock at what he saw. 

At first Draco doubted his eyes, but he knew his sight couldn't deceive him.

This was because his eyes saw that the figure was not human, but instead some type of ape-like creature!

The creature was covered in some type of black fur, and it seemed overly muscular as it grabbed branches and jumped from treetop to treetop. 

He could see the thing's ridiculously large muscles bulging from the effort, but it made jumping thirty feet in one go look easy. 

Draco was now worried that this ominous creature would spot him, and he attempted to move positions to get behind some leaves or something that could hide him.

'If that thing spots me I'm most definitely going to be thrown around like a ping pong ball.' Draco thought, resolving himself to get far away from the creature. 

However, Draco was too high in the tree, and the branch he was standing on was thinner than the rest of the tree's branches.

The branch began to creak and snap under his weight, and his rapid movement served only to speed up the process. 

Draco cursed his luck as the branch gave up from beneath him, and as he fell from the branch he saw the creature's head snap in his direction. 

Draco could not be mistaken, for the creature and him had made eye contact!