Wolf Hunt

I’ve been really bored as of late, or maybe burnt out? I don’t know. I’ve been on this island for around three weeks, give or take. Exploration was a common pass time for me and Poco for a while, but at this point we’ve only stayed away from the caves.

The island is small, so I’m sure the same goes for those caves, and I am not a spelunking fan at all. Caves are tight and cramped and gross, among other things, so no thank you.

Outside of that though it’s just cloud trees and cloud bushes surrounding the area. They rain every so often actually, It’s fun to watch.

Snap!

The sound of a trap going off captures my attention, making me spring up and go towards the sound. In my trap I find a large old looking rabbit, and I quickly use my thunder on him.

I don’t like it, but I can’t just eat berries.

He was probably near the end of his natural days anyways, I reassure myself. Taking up hunting hasn’t been easy, but I don’t really have any substitutes for things I can eat. Just meat and cloudberries. Not the best diet, but certainly far from the worst.

Thankfully I didn’t have to learn field dressing, as an animal will drop a random item when they die. It's kinda videogamified. But rabbits most commonly seem to drop their hind legs. 

I wonder what I’d drop?

I shouldn’t think about things like that. Picking up the hind legs of the rabbit, I start walking back to the cottage to see Poco and the fish, who I called Chamomile. After getting back, I drop a couple berries in Chamomile’s tank. She’s been getting a lot bigger as of late, and I see nubs that bear the tiniest resemblance to arms and legs?

I don’t even know what her species would be, so I’m hoping that’s normal. But she happily gobbles down the cloudberries and turns back to black, indicating that she’s full.

I wonder what she’ll look like when she’s grown. Looking out my window, I see that it’s nightfall. I turn towards my lil slime buddy, who has turned back to being purple since last jumping in a thunder cloud.

“Hey Poco, let’s go out and try finding that big wolf to take him down!” I say as they bounce in excitement.

We’ve tried our hand at finding that wolf I met on my first day a few times, but we can never seem to find him.

Poco and I are actually out in the forest now, seeking out the wolf that messed me the heck up. Well kinda. It was at least a semi-even match in my opinion.

I also bag some cloudberries along the way. I’m pretty sure they restore mana or something? I always feel better eating them after needing to use my rain or thunder storm spells. 

Speaking of needing to use spells, a small pack of wolves seems to have found their way to us, but I find them a lot easier to deal with after becoming more accustomed to my magic.

Putting forth my hand, I summon several thunderclouds onto each of them. I feel myself wince as they die.

I understand that it’s either me or them, but it honestly feels like I’m bullying the wolf population. At least I can say I’m not the kind of person that revels in it, I guess. I pick up the pelts that the wolves dropped and put them in my bag. The least I can do is make sure that their deaths don’t go to waste.

I sigh and walk on, Poco bouncing along next to me. Why am I even hunting that big wolf? It’s abundantly clear to me that I don’t like taking lives, even from the smallest of creatures.

I ponder this as I pick more berries for the not so small fish in my house. She’s been getting a lot more hungry as of late, much harder to keep her black rather than blue.

Thinking about hunting . . .I guess fear makes me do it. It would be much better if I found him before he finds me. Or maybe some part of me is hoping I can get the pack leader to make the other wolves leave me alone if I beat him hard enough. At least I think he’s the pack leader. It could also be some twisted way to fight off my boredom. Gosh I hate that, I’d much rather it be fear than ‘the thrill of the hunt’.

Not much control over my emotions though, huh? That sucks. I think I need a hug.

“Hey Poco can you hug me?” I ask my small slime friend. They stop bouncing momentarily, and then bounce up into my arms and huddle up to my chest.

They’re cold, but it feels nice nonetheless. Sitting down next to a cloud tree, I hold them and begin humming a small tune. It’s simple, sweet, with a few bad notes here and there because I’m making it up on the spot, but still- wait why do I hear growling?

Opening my eyes back up, I see I’m face to face with the wolf from my first night here.

“OH CRAP,” I try backing away, but being against a tree is not advantageous to this endeavor.

Before I know it Poco bounces onto the wolf's face, almost like they’re headbutting the thing. I roll out under the wolf, stand up, and kick it in the butt.

“THUNDERCLOUD GO!” I shout, electrocuting the anus of said wolf.

After this not so chivalrous behavior, I notice the wolf growing bigger. Like 10 feet tall standing on all fours bigger.

“Oh no. . . Poco it’s electric time!” I cast an electric rainstorm spell towards Poco, and they jump into it.

They come out in a flash, tackling the wolf back into a tree. I summon another lightning cloud onto the wolf.

As the thunder strikes the creature a thought comes to mind. Don’t dogs absolutely loathe getting wet? Why have I never summoned a normal rain cloud on the wolves? Yeah I’m gonna try that.

“Poco! I need you to distract the wolf for me, I have a spell plan but it’s gonna take a few!” I yell in their direction.

Poco briefly changes their shape into a thumbs up, and begins taunting the wolf to attract it. As they distract him, I raise my hands above myself and begin straining to summon the biggest rain cloud I can muster; watching Poco all the while to make sure they’re okay.

They ricochet themselves off of trees to smack the heck out of the wolf for a while, but then a stroke of genius strikes the slime as they shapeshift into a word. This wonderful word being none other than ‘Thunderbutt’.

The wolf appears to get more angry, apparently being able to read the text that Poco has shifted into, and starts chasing him around in circles.

At this point, I’ve made the biggest cloud I think I can.

“HEY THUNDERBUTT!” The wolf turns to me with fire in his eyes. Poco runs into his claw, but he’s lasered in on me: the new offender.

“EAT THIS!” I throw the rain cloud towards that big jerk, and rain comes gushing out of it. The dog- I mean wolf has been wetted. He looks defeated. Next comes something that shocks Poco and I to our very cores.

“That was a cheap trick. You suck and I’m leaving,” The wolf says, shrinking back down with his tail between his legs.

“Wait you can talk, why haven’t you talked?” I question.

“Because you’re mean. I’m telling the other wolves to stay away from you. I don't want you to rain on them.”

“I- wait can we talk?” I ask.

“No,” The wolf says.

“Oh okay. . .” I feel sadness seep into me. I messed this one up bad.

The wolf makes good on what he said and leaves, at least a bit in the right. That sucks. At least the other wolves will probably leave me alone now. I would rather kill as little as possible. 

We should probably turn back to the cottage. I turn towards Poco.

“Well Poco, do you wanna go back to the cottage?” I ask defeated. Poco does their slime nod and bounces back into my arms. I think we’re both really tired now. I know I am at least.

Returning back to the cottage, we find that Chamomile is still pretty black, but upon noticing a hint of blue I drop one more berry in her tank. That should do the trick.

I leave Poco to their bed and go through my routine of brushing my teeth and showering. Once again a warm towel and a change of clothes await me, as comfortable as ever.

Going to bed leaves me thinking of one thought. I have gotta find a way to talk to that wolf and apologize and bring him one of my warm towels that I get from the house as an apology gift or something. That would be decent to do I think.

But for now, it’s sleepy time. So goodnight you cold and uncaring universe. But really, goodnight to this kind and caring house.