Conclusion

"Not again! Please stop leaving!!" Edith cried from the top of a tree, she was mentally drained, how many trees would she have to climb to finally be open to place a leash on its neck? At this point, she wanted to go back to the truck.

It must have been a dozen, No!, More than a dozen. It was the same thing each time, she would climb up over a tree and try to reach its neck but then it would move out of the way and feed on another tree each time.

At one point Cyrus had come to see how she was doing and after watching for a few minutes he knew that she wasn't going to make any progress.

"Leaves and twigs of acacia, mimosa, and wild apricot, all of these are foods that giraffes almost can't resist. If she had any of these or someone had told her then it might have been easier for her, too bad John purposefully withheld them back from us. I wish you the best in your struggles Edith," he said as he saw her fall from a branch onto another branch.

'This girl is scary, she has fallen down and broken branches at least 6 times now and this is only including when I was here. What is her durability? Who did she have to beat up as a child?' he thought to himself as he left the site.

As for Edith who remained, she had finally gotten frustrated enough that she stayed in her tree for a little while longer. She saw that she was getting nowhere and decided that she had to have been doing something wrong. Maybe a change of tactic was necessary? She wondered, "But what would work?"

As she was contemplating her situation she heard a sound of screaming, someone was running in her direction, but who?

The answer became apparent after a short while as the voice was clearer the closer it got. 

"Is that Dawn?"

But before she could fully comprehend what was happening, she became aware of another presence that was chasing him, it was moving leisurely but it was moving with a goal. To catch Dawn.

"Is that a Hippo!?" she yelled as she was aghast at the situation.

Dawn had rushed forward and climbed up an acacia tree, looking down he could see the hippo had given chase and continued to pursue him, it was unrelenting and this was absurd to him.

"WHY! Why are you chasing me!?" He yelled at it from the middle of the tree.

The Hippo which had finally caught up to him saw that he was too high up for it to pull him down so it began ramming itself into the tree. It wasn't a very big one and it certainly wasn't firmly attached to the ground, as if someone had transplanted it here from somewhere.

"Dawn!? Edith finally asked, she yelled louder than she expected to because the hippo was ramming the tree.

"DaWnnn! Waht are you doooing here!?" She was now nervous, she felt like the tree would be uprooted at any time and she was in it as well.

"Edith? Why are you here?" Dawn asked forgetting where he was.

"DAWN!! This is my zone, my field, why is there a hippo chasing you?"

Then suddenly her vision started to change, it went from looking down at Dawn to facing up towards the sun, the tree had been uplifted and had fallen down.

'Dawn, I hate you. I hate you so much!' she cried in her mind as she felt herself falling, a tear fell down her eye as well.

Edith expected to land face flat against the ground but her stomach landed on something much thicker and hairy with a soft feel to it, it was big enough to carry her body and had been placed a little bit away from the tree at a perfect angle to catch her when she fell.

Edith was now riding atop the giraffe when she finally opened her eyes, she saw that it was crouched down waiting to catch her. It had done saw on its own accord.

"You! You really do care about me!" she cried as she hugged its back and kissed its neck.

"Onward!" she said, "Anywhere from here!" and with that she took off.

Crawling from underneath the tree, a boy could be seen with a few minor bruises, he could see Edith riding away atop her new companion and she had left him behind to his fate.

"Wait! Come back!" he said as he reached his hand towards her.

Then his view of her was obscured as something had come in between the two of them, something big and heavy with enough size to bring forth shade on the entirety of Dawn's body. The hippo was standing right in front of him.

As to the events that took place next, that is only a story that the hippo and Dawn would know about.

****

Vito had been watching the wild cat for some time now, it had been hours since the mission started but he hadn't made a move. He was just hiding there in the bushes instead.

Vito felt cowardly and weak for doing this but who could blame him? This was a tiger he was dealing with and a big one. He couldn't tell properly but he believed that it was female.

He was thinking, how should he approach it? He didn't believe it would kill him because there was no way Alex would let that happen, yet he still felt scared to be near it. All of his feelings were justified but to him, it just felt like excuses.

John was watching from the other side of the forest, he was taking note of how Vito would accomplish this feat. Each animal that was assigned to them was supposed to teach/show them something. It was supposed to reflect them in a way and it was up to them to decide the best way to approach the situation.

He was not allowed to intervene unless it got dangerous, but even then he knew that the tiger wouldn't kill Vito. Those chosen by the planet can't be killed by the animals that inhabit it.

Vito wanted to get this done with, he watched countless shows and they all told him that if he wanted to tame something then petting it would be the best way to gain its recognition.

Now all he had to do was approach it. Little did he know just how territorial a tiger was.

As he was approaching it he did his best to not step on any branches or twigs, he didn't want to jinx it. As he approached he soon found out that his path was littered in dry leaves, multiple that had fallen in place from the forest surrounding it.

It was only then did Vito questioned why there were so many trees in this place in the first place. 'Isn't this Africa?' he thought, 'these trees seemed way too exotic.' He was completely unaware that they were moved here for this event only.

He decided that since he could not avoid the leaves then he would be as quiet as possible when stepping on them, one step on them, and a small crackle was heard.

*Crack!

At that moment the tiger turned its head to its backside and its ears stood up, tigers are very sound sensitive which is what makes them excellent hunters.

Tempestuous yet calm the tiger was on high alert as it was still extremely cautious of its new habitat. Despite the redesign the place had to suit its preference it still hadn't fully set in and was extremely wary of uninvited guests.

Vito stood still for the longest while he had ever felt, all of his muscles froze. The tiger that was crouched down stood up and it was at that moment that Vito ran away.

The tiger seeing something move chased after Vito and caught up quickly to his trail.

It had jumped onto a fallen-down cedar tree and was running quickly after, its nails were sharp and strong enough to give it a firm and balanced grip on wood making it an excellent climber, it followed suit with such low effort that one would imagine it was playing around.

It jumped onto a tree bark and jumped to another, it had jumped from tree to tree and had finally pounced upon Vito. And there it was lying atop him, growling with interest at what it caught.

It continued growling as it sniffed him and might have even taken a step further but it felt a sensation on it that said to not kill the boy.

The tiger had its jaws showing, its teeth-piercing flesh was visible for display and Vito had a front roll seat to what might have happened had the creatures been hungry today, he was completely unaware that he was being protected by the Earth itself from any such danger.

The tiger was face to face with him, it was unrelenting, it wasn't leaving but it wasn't attacking him either, it was just growling with its paw placed on his chest as each heartbeat was felt beating just as intensely as the last.

Vito had become so afraid that he closed his eyes in front of it and that was when it had gotten off of him. It walked away.

He didn't understand why, 'Why did it leave?' he asked.

But then he looked at himself, he was shaking, so much so that his legs wouldn't let him stand. It was a given response and a natural one to be afraid but yet he couldn't accept it.

He felt weak.

"Where are you off to!?" he asked yelling with frustration.

The tiger not even giving a moment of its time to look at him shook its head as it started heading back towards its den.

Vito saw that the tiger didn't even hurt him, it was just testing him, and yet he had given in, he had shown weakness and averted his eyes from it. And from that weakness, it wanted nothing more to do with him.

"I don't believe it, why was I so scared? I should have known that I wouldn't be hurt but yet I panicked, now look at me," Vito was now throwing a fit, he was talking to himself and punching the ground. It was a soft enough texture for his fist to sink in without him hurting himself.

From the bush where John was hiding he asked himself, "Should I step in? He is lost and tired. He's not even thinking straight and might hurt himself, I know I was supposed to test him but maybe this is too much?."

As he whispered those words he saw Vito stand up from the ground, with dirt and leaves falling off from him and some sticking to his back.

"Get back here," he said in a low tone, the tiger didn't acknowledge him and continued its stride back home, "I said get back here!" he yelled as he charged forward.

"What does he have in mind," John said as he watched the whole thing.

Vito rushed forward and as he was doing so the tiger turned its head at the sound of something behind it, and it was met with a fist to its face as Vito punched it vigorously.

The tiger had its head shaken back as it was disoriented for a few seconds, when it finally came to, it clawed against its opponent's chest and lunged him straight into a tree. With Vito pinned against the tree, it roared in his face ferociously and this time with anger in its eyes.

Vito's chest was bleeding as four marks from the tiger's nails had left a deep enough wound for blood to gush out quickly, his body was shaken again and he could barely move but this time his eyes were on it, he didn't once avert his eyes and gazed upon the tiger face to face, king to servant.

The tiger growled and even scratched at the tree to the side of his head, he flinched but he wasn't as scared as he was before. There was a satisfied look on the boy's face knowing that this time he hadn't been such a coward.

He had passed out due to the blood loss and was lying unconscious under the shade of the tree.

A few minutes later, John returned with a first aid kit, he was still horrified at the sight he had just witnessed, his mouth was opened for the entirety of that confrontation and his hands were shaking, he truly thought that the boy he watched was crazy.

"Who would punch a tiger?" he said.

As he reached the site of the scene he was amazed yet again, the tiger that had once chased after Vito and frightened him was now lying by his lap watching over him, protecting him from any harm that would come.

And the wound that had been made across his chest had already healed by now.

"Looks like I wasn't needed after all, I guess being away for so long has made me tardy, I should do better," he said.

And as he looked at Vito who was sleeping safe and soundly, he noticed that Vito's smile was as wide as ever.