Before the chapter begins, apologies for the late chapter. I've been getting ready for my first IT A+ exam.
Eventually, the itchiness faded and it gingerly started to use its hands to check if there were any changes to its body. (The first time it had ever done that, its claws ended up cutting into its skin.) It thought that its tail may have grown slightly, but it was far more concerned by the fact that its skin felt more...leatherly? It wasn't sure about that word, but it was reasonably confident that it would be harder to pierce the skin.
It walked over to a patch of bristly grass that it would see everywhere it went, the grass was even more numerous that its followers, grabbed it by the base and pulled it out of the blackened ground. It then placed the uprooted grass on its palm and watched curiously as one of the roots attempted to pierce its skin just like it had done to a follower it had seen attempt to eat the grass when food was scarce.
Later, it would reflect that that may have been a stupid move as it forgot that the end result had been the...what ever they were being food for the grass rather than the other way around. But it would be a while yet before that memory was visited as it was far more concerned by the fact the the roots had failed to pierce its palm for the past...5 minutes? It took a moment to wonder what a minute was and why it seemed to know what one was before tossing the grass aside now that the experiment was over. As it decided that it was time to go back to what it somewhat reluctantly considered to be its home, the grass that had been tossed aside swiftly reattached itself to the ground.
Some 10 minutes later, it arrived back at...camp? to see that the others had worked themselves into a frenzy, but they immediately calmed down upon seeing it arrive...Except for three of them that bared their teeth and charged at it.
Sidestepping two of them, it felt the urge to stab its tail into the third and as it leapt onto its chosen prey, it did so. It took a moment to notice how much smoother the other creature's skin felt as it felt something seem to travel between its stomach and tail. It felt the dying creature collapse and took the opportunity to rake its claws across the creature's throat and withdrew its tail.
It noticed...something green on the tip of its tail as the two remaining creatures decided to foolishly rush it; or maybe not so foolishly as while it dodged the first one, the other managed to grapple its legs and bring it to the floor. It felt a pressure in its tail as the creature it had dodged leapt on top of its chest and attempted to claw its face off. It felt the pressure ease right before it heard a scream of pain and the weight on its legs partly disappear.
It tried to block the claws of its opponent, but still took a slash to the right of its wide mouth, which roused its anger. 'When I'm done, you'll wish you died as quickly as your ally!' it roared in its mind. But no further attacks came as its final attacker, it didn't know why the other creature was writhing on the ground roaring in pain, gaped stupidly at it. As the creature looked to its side, it took the unexpected opportunity to stab its claws into its attacker's stomach.
'This is why you never take your eyes off of your opponents!' It thought as it began to slice into the creature in such a way as to not have it bleed out yet. Many sets of eyes silently watched as the challenger was slowly killed over the course of 20 minutes, (the second attacker had died with its legs having melted away into nothingness) except for one creature that stood next to the two as it kept watch for any new attackers.
'I wish I had water to wash this down with.' It thought as it ate its rightfully earned kills, pausing as the watchful creature standing to the side ran off and returned a short time late with a rounded container of water. As it snatched the water and quaffed it, it wondered why this creature was suddenly so helpful.
I still have one exam left to do, but I should be able to do 1 chapter every Friday again.
