“Big Crow,” said Ara, “scout ahead for enemies.”

“Eh? Why me?” asked the crow.

“Because you can fly.”

“Oh, right. Just don’t have any fun without me, while I’m gone,” the crow flapped its massive wings and flew into the air.

“What sort of fun can we have in this hell?” Lin mumbled, his wolf moving at the head of the party, ears perked up. That crow didn’t have its priorities straight. Was John really going to be okay mixed with such strange company?

They followed the animal trail towards the mountain and soon saw a lake. John and Lin drank a little water. Just as they were about to get up and leave, a rhinoceros came upon them. It was striped like a zebra, and it seemed ready to charge at any moment.

“Walk away slowly,” said Ara. “Let’s not fight if we don’t have to.”

They backed away from the lake and the rhino seemed content to let them go, lapping up water. Almost out of eyesight, John looked around once more and saw a gigantic tiger the size of a hut kill the rhino with one swipe of its claws. Lin’s wolf looked behind and growled.

“Umm…friends,” John said. The others looked back just as the tiger roared. It was magnificent and deadly. It was like one of the masters of John’s lonely planet, where he had spent his childhood.

“Run,” shouted Ara.

They ran as fast as their legs could carry them.

“Why didn’t that stupid crow warn us?” Rose grumbled.

The tiger chased, trees parting before its advance.

“We can’t outrun him,” huffed John. “Let’s fight.” This was their only option. The tiger wouldn’t give up its prey unless it was mortally wounded.

“All right,” Ara turned around, her spear and rifle at the ready. She fired a few shots at the tiger but its hide was too thick for the bullets to penetrate. “Don’t use the flame thrower,” she shouted at Rose. “You’ll burn us all to death and half this forest with us.”

“What do I do then? Just stand and be your mascot?”

“Yeah, just cheer us on.”

“Go Team Rose,” the plant man shouted as Lin drew his sword and John readied his glaive.

The tiger was almost upon them. John ran forward with Ara, swinging his weapon. The tiger leaped on Ara pinning her to the ground. Was she squished to death? John couldn’t tell. He wrapped the blade with as much aura as he could, making the whole weapon shine purple. He slashed at the tiger’s side, his blade going deep and drawing blood. He channeled a multitude of fire balls that were as small as fireflies and sent them flying at the tiger’s head. They exploded on impact, disorienting the tiger for a second. He knew it wouldn’t do significant damage but it was enough to distract it.

“First Blood,” Rose cheered. “Go! Go! Team Rose!”

Lin, in the meantime, ran up to near the tiger’s head and was shooting at its face. The tiger leaped upon Lin, but missed. Lin had rolled out of the way just in time. Ara got up from a pit in the ground, her face and clothes covered in mud. She stabbed her spear into the tiger’s hindquarters, drawing more blood. Big Crow swooped down from the sky, mangling the tiger’s head with its golden talons.

“Give it to him, Team Rose. That stupid crow is finally back. Yay!”

“Eh? It’s Team Big Crow,” objected the bird. The tiger caught Big Crow between its teeth and tried to bite down but the crow managed to get away in time, missing death by inches.

John jumped upon the tiger’s back and ran to its head. He swung his glaive and it got lodged in its skull. He couldn’t pull it out and chose to let it go. He leaped onto the ground and let loose bolts of lightning. One bolt after the other crashed down on the tiger, illuminating the area with white flashes. The beast, stunned from the volley, stood still and then began to stagger. Lin’s wolf came in at that moment. It leaped upon the tiger’s throat and bit it with its sharp canine teeth, ripping out a piece of flesh. Ara, following up without a moment wasted, thrust her spear at the tiger’s neck drawing a spray of frothing blood.

“I’ve had enough. Time to end this,” said Rose. He adjusted his flame thrower and raging blue flames swallowed the body of the tiger leaving it a charred mess. “This weapon...Hella good,” Rose laughed madly.

John pulled out his glaive from the tiger’s corpse and sighed. This magnificent creature had been reduced to such a pathetic state. They then heard the sound of mewing. A little tiger cub the size of John’s palm walked towards them. It watched its mother’s corpse with uncomprehending eyes. It went up to its mother and licked, but received no response.

“We have to kill it,” said Ara.

“No!” John picked up the cub by the scruff of its neck. “We can’t kill it. Let’s just leave it here and go.”

“It’ll die out here alone,” Lin shook his head.

“Then let’s take him with us.”

“We can’t,” said Ara. “We can’t even look after ourselves. How will we look after a little cub.”

“I’ll look after it,” John’s insistence would brook no argument. He didn’t know why, but he felt emotionally tied to this little tiger.

“We’ve wasted enough time here. Let’s go.”

“Is no one going to tell me how frickin awesome my flame thrower is?” asked Rose. The others ignored him, leaving him behind. “Hey, wait up!”

“Are you all right?” John asked Ara.

“I’m fine,” Ara smiled. “Just a few cuts and bruises. I’m tougher than I look.”

“Oh, you look tough enough, missy,” said Big Crow.

“Why didn’t you warn us about the tiger?” Ara asked, her smile gone.

“I was having trouble just staying alive. There are all sorts of flying beasts lurking up there.”

“Anyway, you did a good job,” said Ara. She raised her voice, “you all did a good job. Let’s hope we reach the mountaintop without anything else happening.”

As though her words were a bad oracle, a pterodactyl swooped down upon them, its claws drawing blood from John’s back. John reacted quickly, his glaive piercing the creature’s head at the same moment. They rested for a moment as Lin bandaged the wounds on John’s back. They were quite deep.

“When we camp for the night I’ll have to stitch them,” said Lin. He picked up the tiger cub and looked after it for the rest of the day’s journey.

John used his glaive to support some of his weight as they trekked up the mountain. When they were half way up they found a good place to camp and John fell to his knees, exhausted. The others gathered firewood and made a fireplace while John relaxed. Lin stitched up his wounds as promised, and dressed them again. Once night had fallen they all sat around the fire and looked at the screens on their wrists. The machines had been beeping non-stop during the previous fight.

‘Team 2317,’ he read on the top of the screen. John seemed fated with this number. It was the same as the one he’d been assigned in the God King’s mines. There were two options below it. <Chat Room> and <Map>

John chose the chat room option. There were only five people in it. He quickly read their conversation.

<heartgurl565: Is tht rly Wild Child? I’ll root fr him

<cinnaman_ab: Root for Rose. He’s got no roots after all

<heartgurl565: lolz. I thnk I’ll snd Rose a gft of roses

<hardguy_is_here: Don’t waste your money

<pleebo: Check out team 4518. That’s where all the action’s at

<haertgurl565: thx fr the tip

The chat room seemed so familiar to John, and yet so different. It was just like the ones in his previous life. He was too tired to scroll through all the messages. He swatted away the mosquitoes and tried to sleep. Their lives were just a game to these people. Did this galaxy have no concept of the Geneva Convention? If it treated prisoners of war so cruelly then no body would ever choose to surrender.

“I’ll show you who has got no roots,” John could hear Rose mumble, “when I turn your home into a towering inferno.”

John shut his eyes and soon fell asleep.