Before he got very far, the stick giant stopped him. It pointed to the places on the tree where the whipping vines had touched. Dustin saw small patches of thick black snot. It almost looked like someone had sneezed and rubbed their snot all over the wood.

While disgusting, he didn't see why he should be worried about some tree slime.

Then the stick giant pointed at the drooping tentacles.

Dustin was getting annoyed with this thing, but he humored it and looked. A chill went down his back.

The ends of the vines had split open from the force of being whipped, and the same black snot was oozing out of them.

If this guy hadn't stopped him, he would have touched that stuff. Turning towards it, he wanted to shake its hand, but it was already moving away.

Snapping off a small twig, he scraped up some of the snot and placed it in the port.

(GENETIC MATERIAL ACQUIRED. ANALYZING. MATERIAL IS INSUFFICIENT FOR EVOLUTION.)

What?? That's a load of crap! How was he supposed to get a piece of this thing without being killed?

Dustin looked around, and saw that the stick guy had moved to another tree and was in the process of pulling them together. Why was he trying to help him so much? While suspicious, he wasn't going to jinx it. Climbing back up to try and grab at the other tree, a shadow above drew his attention. The flying rug was back, with its deep sounding call to announce its arrival.

This creature, while odd looking, hadn't caused him any troubles every time he had seen it, so this time he expected the same. The stick guy, however, freaked. It waved at him to hurry, glancing at the rug constantly.

That wasn't a good sign. This thing hadn't freaked like this when the vine tree went crazy. He grabbed the tree branch held over by it and swung over to grab another branch.

As he was in motioned, the flying rug swooped down, faster than he had ever seen it move before, and tried to wrap around him. As it got closer, Dustin saw that it was actually covered in thousands of tiny bubbles. In the very center, where the bulge was, a cross slit opened four ways, exposing a needle filled maw.

"I'm not dying from a flying rug!" he growled, pulling back on the branch, and letting it slap the monster as it got close.

As he let go of the branch, the stick guy grabbed him and jerked him over to the tree trunk. The branch hit the rug, and every bubble the branch hit, popped, spewing a thick neon green ooze out, over the area he had just been in.

Dustin watched the rug go flying, and crash into another tree nearby. Everywhere the green goo landed, started smoking. He moved further away, watching as the rug tried to get loose from the branches.

Damn! Everything was trying to kill him!

Swinging down, to the ground, he glanced around to make sure something wasn’t about to jump at him, or sting him, and headed towards the dead tree. Avoiding the black snot, he used his knife to cut a tiny piece off one of the vines, and stabbed it. Sticking the rubbery section into the port, he checked on the stick guy. It was watching the rug thing. Dustin couldn’t see it, there was too much steam from the green acid eating away at the tree. It didn’t even have much of a heat signature.

(GENETIC MATERIAL ACQUIRED. ANALYZING. MATERIAL CONTAINS TRACES OF BOTH PLANT AND ANIMAL GENETIC MATERIAL. EVOLUTION POSSIBLE FOR HOST INTO THE PLANT SPECTRUM OF LIFE, BUT ONCE ACQUIRED, HOST WILL NOT BE ABLE TO RETURN.)

“Well, what animal traits can I get?” he asked it, moving further away from the stick guy and his rug.

(AVAILABLE ANIMAL EVOLUTION OPTIONS: DETECT VIBRATIONS.)

“What? But what about the killing poison this thing had? What about that?”

(THOSE TRAITS CAME FROM THE PLANT HOST, NOT THE ANIMAL SYMBIOTE.)

Symbiote? What was that? He definitely did not want to go plant if it meant he couldn’t go back. But still, detecting vibrations sounded interesting. He would be able to know if something was under the ground, or sneaking up on him.

“Alright give me detect vibrations.”

(EVOLUTION INITIATED)

He glanced at the stick guy one last time, wondering if he should do something to thank it for all the help it gave him, but decided he needed to keep moving.

There was a rhythmic rumble in the ground, and he paused, to squat down and feel the ground. What was that? It was getting louder! Jumping up, he looked around, ready to sprint away from whatever new threat was about to present itself. The giant turtle creature broke through some trees off to the right of him and paused. It looked at him for a moment, then turned to sniff at the dead tree behind him.

(EVOLUTION COMPLETE)

Sneezing it turned away from the tree and started moving again. Dustin grinned. This was his opportunity to get a better genetic sample. Following it, he tried to figure out how he could cut it, get the sample, and get away. It moved slow, but he knew it could move fast when it wanted to.

A large group of very dense trees were growing together up ahead, and the turtle, knowing that it couldn’t go between them, turned to go around. This was his chance!

Darting forward, for the tail again, he tried to cut the tip of the tail off by grabbing it and swiping with his knife. He cut his hand, but managed to get a small piece. There was no time for him to enjoy his reward, or even shove the thing into the port of his PED, as the turtle gave a screech that hurt his ears, and swung around faster than he was expecting. He scrambled towards the trees, dodging between them before it could bite him. Tripping, he fell down, and rolled over to see the turtle straining against the tree trunks, bite towards him with its sharp beak. This thing was out for blood!

Shoving the piece of meat into the port, he scuttled back as the first two tree trunks gave up the fight and began to bend and crack.

(GENETIC MATERIAL ACQUIRED. ANALYZING.)

A sound he wasn’t familiar with, a soft hum or drone, became louder, as the turtle continued to strain against the trees.

(AVAILABLE EVOLUTION OPTIONS: PLATED SKIN, SCALED EYES, BEAK MOUTH.)

“Don’t give me the mouth but initiate the others!” he cried, backing up even more.

The turtle seemed to noticed the sound now, it was almost a high-pitched whine. It settled down on the ground, its legs withdrawing into its shell, and it almost seemed to smirk at him as it drew its head in.

“Shit! That’s never a good sign!” Climbing to his feet, the swarm of insects, hidden by the turtle’s large bulk, came into sight.

“Oh, hell no!” He turned around and ran. He didn’t care where he ran to, just as long as it was away from that mess.

(EVOLUTION COMPLETE)

He tripped. He tried to get up, but the swarm was upon him. Curling into a ball, Dustin screamed as they crawled all over him.