Now with Tomobi being allowed to be closer, the stiff tension was now drowned by invasive demands, solely from Tomobi. With any chance given, the creature would push against Tomobi until it got what it wanted, whether it was a scratch, a raw snack or just wanting to stay close.

“This is bullshit,” Rookie was left behind with Kiorif.

“It is getting way too handsy with Tomobi, it’s basically all over him,”

“I see it too,” Kiorif still felt uneasy from its abilities, and now seeing a wild animal show so much affection seemed unnatural.

“Like how come it gets away with all those hugs,” Now Rookie’s jealousy was shown.

“Well, you wanted to keep it,”

“Well, I didn’t know it was going to be so needy,” looking over they saw the creature pushing its head against Tomobi, who had to give it another hug.

“Lucky,” Rookie bit down on her fist in jealousy.

“Calm down,” Tomobi meanwhile was being pushed about in front. The creature’s freedom allowed it to constantly want attention, which Tomobi could only give so much of.

“Okay I gave you a hug, but we’ve gotta go and move,” Trying to walk away but it would just push closer.

Rookie was ready to lash forward but Kiorif had to hold her back.

“Tomobi,” Kiorif got both their attention.

“We are going to take a break,” sitting down was a rare thing for them, with meals and sleeping being the main time they did. As Tomobi sat down, the creature smothered against him. Rookie took in a deep breath while Kiorif remained calm.

“Tomobi we gotta talk about it,”

“What is it?” Tomobi felt unsure about what he did, the creature just laid beside him.

“The thing, it-”

“It is way too personal,” Rookie shot out.

“Rexy is practically on top of you,” She looked over to the issue in question, no response.

“Anyways,” Kioirif took back the conversation.

“It is being quite close to you. And while there aren’t any real problems now,” Rookie was about to object but Kiorif gave a quick glance to quiet her.

“But it may become a problem once we meet other people, or more importantly if it becomes aggressive. Because you have seen what it could do,” Remembering its fight with Kiorif and Sprout, it contrasted the attention-seeking soul beside him.

“So we may have to separate you for n-'' Now the creature cut Kiorif off as it huffed and placed a claw on Tomobi’s lap, staring down Kiorif.

“How clingy,” Kiorif kept his tone, but he started to overthink.

`Could it know more than commands?” Kiorif had another question about the creature stack in his head.

“Actually, for now you two can stay close,” the creature still kept its grip on Tomobi.

“But I want you to try to figure out what it knows, maybe this thing is smarter than when it showed itself,” it still had not broken eye contact.

“Well you still need to work, and it would be harder to do so with this around. So I want you to try to deal with it. Alright break’s over,” Kiorif rose immediately and started walking off, with

the group rushing after him.

***

The night started to set in, and with it, the normal pitch dark was replaced with a glowing hue from the trees around them. Their bark glowed pale and leaves a lush green as they would’ve replaced what would’ve been headlights on a once-filled highway. Now, the roads were broken in some patches as plants, both natural and artificial, grew amongst the cracks. And the road itself was empty except for two soldiers, a VitaNav and a scaled monster traveling across it.

The glowing trees also had spread away from the road to start their own forest, with some creatures being seen scampering away. Some glowed with the forest whilst others did not.

“Now this is amazing, sorta like the ones on earth,” Rookie kept her eyes on eyes on whatever she could see.

“It’s out of control,” Kiorif paid little attention to it, focusing on Tomobi ahead of them.

‘How do I see how smart it is?’ Tomobi was between Rookie and Kiorif of focusing on the forest but was also unsure on what to do, but the creature interrupted his thoughts as it went for another nudge.

“What is it?” The creature stared at his backpack and opened its jaw, it was something it did when it wanted a snack.

‘Well, it’s smart enough to ask for food,’

“No not now, we’ve gotta keep walking,” It showed little care as it kept its jaw open and started to groan.

“Seriously?,” Rookie stopped her sightseeing as she saw the creature groan and try to block Tomobi, Kiorif kept walking.

“Is it throwing a tantrum or something?” Rookie asked Kiorif as they passed Tomobi, with Kiorif ignoring him to see what he could do, along with not being allowed to by the creature. Rookie still kept her eyes on them.

“It might be, though it does remind me of you when you drink too much,”

“Yea-huh, hey. What? Kiorif, since when did you shoot low?” Rookie was now distracted by Kiorif, leaving Tomobi to figure it out on his own. The creature started to push itself on the bags, attempting to find the food itself.

“Hey, you’re going to finish all the food,” Tomobi turned the page away and that is when he remembered a test that Apollo talked about to see how smart an animal is.

“Okay I will give you more food,” It stopped trying to get the food.

“If you wait till we have to rest again,” he slowed his voice and softened his tone. He also felt dumb, talking to an overgrown scaled monster like a child, especially one that could overpower him.

But it may have surprisingly worked, as it closed its maw a short bit afterward and began to push Tomobi ahead.

“Well calm down, it is still a walk,” That seemed to not be enough, as it tried to pick up Tomobi, but the bundle's shape made it hard to clamp down to pick him. Though seeing how far it would go Tomobi started to pick up his pace.

“Alright, I’ll try to hurry up,” practically jogging, they passed the soldiers. Rookie smiled as she saw Tomobi keeping his speed for a short time until huffing.

“Looks like he did something,” She nudged Kiorif.

“Seems like the creature being smarter will be helpful to us,” Kiorif took a calm breath.

“We will see, as long as it doesn’t create new problems with its intelligence,”

“Relax,” Rookie sped up her walk, her smile growing to a grin.

“Will just shows us that things are gonna get more interesting,” Kiorif had a soft sigh and followed behind.