Vito's Resolve

Coming into view from the distance, Vito was surprised to find that all six lions were in separate cages instead of roaming freely like they usually would.

He wondered why that would be the case. They didn't attack the time when they were with Terra and he had already spent some time with them before, 'So why were they caged up?'

Vito was standing on a small hill nearby when he spotted a sticky note attached to a tree, it was a message from John with a set of instructions on what to do.

It read,

"Dear Vito,

These lions have been put in cages to better help your experience, I jolted down your capabilities and also considered the way that these lions act. When they are away from someone they can respect, they tend to be a bit violent. You only need to uncage the alpha of the pride and tame him to gain the respect of all the other lions.

Good luck."

Vito had read the message and considered his standing for a while.

"Why did he only lock up the lions for me and not Terra?" he asked himself.

"Am I not capable of matching him or was this out of pity?"

Vito was left conflicted, he felt offended. Why did they have to make it easier for him and not Terra? It's not like he was any less qualified but it just felt insulting, like a slap to his face. Did John really believe that he couldn't tame 6 lions when someone else could do it?

"I have already tamed a tiger before, I did that on my own, I know I have the skill to do anything I put my mind towards, so why did you have to make this easier for me? Do you think I would get hurt like last time?...Mm."

Out of all that he read in the message, one clear factor stood out to him, it mentioned that the lions would only behave when they were in front of someone they could respect. "Am I not respectable?" he asked with a hand on his shoulder.

At this point Vito didn't really care, it wasn't just about what John had said but he wanted to prove to himself if not anyone that he could do it too. That he could tame 6 lions at once. He just wanted to prove himself capable.

Without thinking about it, he let out all six lions at once and in only a few seconds, the scene had become a horror as the lions truly showed him why they were warranted to be caged.

****

John was attending to Dawn, they were just about to get to work on approaching the zebra and even feeding it some apples from a basket that John had brought and placed nearby.

But not too long before they could even begin, the smell of blood filled the air, it was quite a distance away but John could smell it easily, it was very distinctive to him as he had grown up in an environment where it was all he would smell in the morning.

Without wasting time he grabbed a key from her pocket and brought it towards the nearby tree where he was standing, he assured Dawn that no matter what he would be coming back and he placed the key into the tree.

The tree vibrated before it went through the tree and once it did, the wooden barks of the tree all started to turn and twist and reshape themselves into a door, and with that done he walked right through.

Upon reaching the other side of the portal John was filled with Terror, his eyes were twitching and his hands were shaking, the entire field was filled with blood and mud all over the leaves, trees, and stones.

It was a sight as if someone had been sacrificed but put up an unexpected fight right before they could deliver to him the killing blow.

The cries of a boy screaming in anger had broken his trance, behind him Vito could be seen with wounds all over his body and face, there were bite marks and a few pieces of flesh missing, one eye was closed, and he had scars all around his body, his clothes were ripped and torn with blood and sweat covering him up.

But above that all, the lions still hadn't relented in their pursuit. They continued to maul him right before John's eyes.

"STOP!!!!" he yelled.

At once all of them backed away and retreated back to their cages which shut themselves automatically.

John rushed over to Vito who was bleeding out and beaten, he lifted him up the best he could and sat him down by a tree.

He blamed himself for this, "Perhaps I didn't lock them up properly? Damnit, how could I have been this careless?" he cried, he couldn't believe that he would let a mistake happen on his watch, he had always double-checked everything that he did.

He would be sure to report back his failure to Alex and disqualify himself from working under him, "perhaps I've been away for so long that I became ignorant," he let out.

"Don't worry Vito, I'll get you a first aid kit and then take care of your wounds a injury, we are going back," John said as he grabbed a key and proceeded to insert it inside of the tree.

Vito caught his hand and made him stop at once.

"Vito? What are you doing? You need help, you are in critical condition and have lost a lot of blood. We need to leave immediately," he said to him.

"I let them out," Vito whispered.

"What was that?" John asked hoping that he misheard him.

"You didn't do anything wrong, I let them all out," Vito let out as he coughed up blood.

"You madman, why did you do it!?" John shouted and then caught himself, he realized that he was raising his voice to an injured boy who could barely talk.

"Why would you do something so stupid, did you not read my message? Did I place it someplace obscure?" John asked trying to figure out where he went wrong.

"I-I found your note and I discarded it," Vito said. If it was not for the fact that Vito was badly wounded John might have reacted more harshly.

"You did what!? Did you even think about what it would have meant to do that? That tattoo of yours keeps animals from killing you but not from attacking you, do you have any idea what a human can live through? Just look at the state you are in."

"Obviously this is my fault for not thinking this exercise through enough, we need to get back so I can-"

"This isn't your fault! The lions didn't attack first, I did," Vito let out as he was grasping for air. "I let them out and attacked them first hoping to subdue them, it was my decision and my fault for believing I could just because it worked with the tiger. None of this was your fault," Vito cried out.

"But why? Why did you do it? Why would you do something so stupid that you would put your own life at risk? Vito!!!" John asked.

"Why did you cage them up?" Vito asked.

John couldn't believe what he was hearing but he knew that Vito was being stubborn so he reluctantly answered nonetheless, "For your own safety."

Vito laughed hearing that, "Did you not consider how I felt about you doing that? I thought we were all equal and though I was reluctant at first, I saw the lions as a good way of proving my skills of proving that I am good enough, and yet you still tried to make it easier for me. I didn't want that!"

John snapped back, "This isn't about what you want this is about what you are capable of, do you think you can become respected by trying to do something above what you can handle? That is how people die!"

"Not everyone is the same, Vito! each person handles things differently and that is why each person was assigned with instructions to help them clear their tasks according to what they can handle."

Vito punched the ground, "I know that now!! but for a moment I thought that I could handle this much so I tried to do it and it got me beat up, I am sorry. I now know I was being overconfident," Vito let out with some frustration in his voice.

John couldn't make of this, he didn't know why this kid was trying so hard in the first place but he took it that this sort of determination was part of the reason why he was chosen in the beginning. If not for this then how could he have gotten by with all the things he went through before?

'Just why did the planet have to pick kids as the representatives, I am not Alex and I don't know how to deal with this the way he would,' he thought to himself.

"Alright, let's get you back and patched up, we can discuss this at the base," John grabbed the key and tried to insert it in again but Vito stopped him for the second time by grabbing his hand and refusing to let go of it.

"This assessment is not over," he said.

"Vito you can barely mov-" When John tried to pull his hand away he found out that he couldn't move it at all, Vito was holding it tightly with enough strength to prevent him from pulling it back.

On closer inspection, he noticed that the wounds over Vito's body were all healing up and that the boy was looking better and better.

"I was careless before, but give me another chance," Vito said.

"This time not 6 but just the 1, please I beg of you, John. Let me at least do this for myself." Vito was now lying down on the ground with his head bowed towards his instructor, he wanted a second chance and he wasn't going to let go of it.

John wanted to say "No," and he had every right to do so, even Vito knew this. And yet he realized that if he did such a thing and rejected the request of a kid who just got mauled by 6 lions but was still willing to try again with something simpler, then he might as well be spitting at his resolve.

At his core, he knew that that wasn't what he wanted.

*Sign* "Do you promise to deal with one problem and not many like before?" John asked.

"Yes," Vito replied almost instantly.

"And do you promise to listen to instructions from your instructors from now moving forward?" John asked.

Once again Vito replied but a little slower than before, "Yes."

"And do you promise to never do something stupid like this again?" John asked raising his eyebrow.

There was no reply as the sound of wind got louder between the two of them.

John was about to reconsider what he had said before but then Vito replied, "I can't control the future but it would be in my best interest to listen to you, so yes."

John looked at Vito with a very skeptical face and then let out another *sigh* he was now feeling tired from dealing with this.

"I will be watching you this time around, to prevent any mishaps, so you may proceed with caution. Now tell me, how do you intend to subdue and tame the alpha lion?" John asked.

In his mind, John had said to himself, "I am very sorry Dawn, you might have to wait a little longer, I promise I will be with you soon."

"That is very easy," Vito said to John, "I plan to subdue the lion by beating it up," Vito smacked his fist into his hand while saying that.

John's eyes went blank as his smile dropped and he turned his head towards Vito, "What?"