Chapter 05 – I will make you regret what you did!

The jungle boast of a humid climate, lukewarm rain dripping down from trees and leaves. A thick canopy of leaves above me blocks out most of the heat coming from the big, red sun which hovers in the sky.

When I see Pergek shooting up from the ground to fight for one of the position, I feel earnestly surprised. I hope he doesn’t get hurt because he’s the only real friend I have in this new life and I can't bear the thought of losing him.

Tyrrek sees Pergek’s enthusiastic figure and asks him. “What’s your name, and whom do you want to challenge?

“Pergek.” he answers very respectfully. “My name’s Pergek. I would like to battle Kerzel if that’s fine, sir.”

“That’s fine.” Tyrrek gestures for Pergek to continue.

Pergek turns to Kerzel, who stands a bit further away with a wide grin.

“My name’s Pergek.” Pergek says to him. “Please advise.”

“I’m Kerzel.” The big, muscular chimpanzee snorts. “Likewise.”

Per Tyrrek’s orders, the crowd clears way for an arena. Around the arena, all of the younger generation form a ring to watch the spectacle. Most believe Krezel to be the victor in this battle, since only by comparing size Pergek lies at a disadvantage.

I, however, think differently from these brutes. Why would size be the most important? Speed, intelligence, wit, experience, they also play a huge factor in determining who'll win. Of course, there are cases where size is very important and crucial, but that doesn't belong to the genre of fighting...

Seeing Kerzel and Pergek circle around each other, I think back to my training as a police officer. Not only did I learn how to handle a gun, but also hand to hand combat. When I duel with Pergek, I tend to avoid using it, as to create fairness.

Suddenly, Pergek breaks the silence, and charges toward Kerzel. Even though Kerzel has big body, he’s by no means clumsy, and easily dodges Pergek’s attack.

“Is that all you can do?” Kerzel laughs. “If that’s the case, you should just give up.”

“You!” Hearing this insult, Pergek becomes very angry. He doesn’t have a strong mentality like me, from living another life, and he’s also very young, which doesn’t really help to control his emotions.

“You’ll see if this is all I got!”

Pergek lunges himself at Kerzel. This time, he moves a lot quicker, almost as fast as me. His body frame’s a bit more than half of Kerzel’s, so yes, that gives him the edge in speed. Pergek throws a kick toward Kerzel’s head.

“Che.” Kerzel blocks easily with his arms, not moving an inch from his position.

“What?” the crowd exclaims.

I get a sour feeling in my mouth that doesn’t quite want to disappear when I see this.

Low status chimpanzees are mostly those that are afraid of fighting, or too weak to do it. Higher status chimpanzees are the more powerful ones who most are warriors of the tribe. Strong parents usually produce strong children, while weak parents do the opposite.

This is the difference between Kerzel and Pergek. Pergek was born with the same circumstances as me, we both have very weak parents. We got close when my father died, and quickly became best friends. The time we've spent together has not been small, nor big, but it has made me feel like I finally have someone I can trust in this world.

When I think about status, I remember that I got surprised to why my family had such low status some moths ago even though father was the son of grandfather priest. But I quickly understood later on. Father despised everything with war, and therefore refused to even participate. Grandfather priest discovered this, and it incurred his wrath tenfolds over

How could the tribe chief’s son be a coward? Father was expelled from the higher circle and removed off his status as the chief’s son. The times the two met was merely a superficial thing. Grandfather priest had to keep his image up of being kind hearted and a good father. It made me subconsciously hate grandfather priest.

“Die!"

After blocking Pergek’s kick, Kerzel takes hold of the foot he used when kicking and flings him up in the air only to slam him down seconds after. He keeps on doing this and maniacally laughs at the same time.

“Stop!” I scream. Pergek’s body is getting more mutilated every second. The fight that seemed very docile quickly turned into a slaughter.

Pergek soon loses consciousness from the hard blows to his head. I see teeth getting beaten out, I see a pool of blood starting to form below, and my eyes catches glimpses of white bones protruding from Pergek’s flesh and brown fur. I shout for them to stop the fight, but nothing happens, and Tyrrek just stands there quietly without batting an eye.

To my side, I see Fairey's face full of despair. Tears flow from her eyes as Pergek is continuously hurt by Kerzel. She begins to shake and clenches her fists.

I understand what she’s about to do. A part of me doesn’t want to stop her because I want her to intervene, but at the same time, I don’t want for her to get hurt. In this moment of hesitation, I can't react quickly enough to stop her.

“Brother!” she screams and runs to Kerzel. As Kerzek pummels her brother to a bloody mess, Fairey cries as she uses her small fists to hit Kerzel's back. But it doesn't do any damage to the big brute.

“Huh?” Kerzel let's go off Pergek, throwing him to the side, and sees Fairey behind him.

“A new challenger, eeeh?” he smirks and swats her aside with open hand.

Fairey lands to where her brother lies, crawls over to him

B-brother, b-brother…” she wails as she flips him over. Looking for a sign of life, she collapses above him, only to realize he’s dead. “Why brother, why did you want to fight him. You knew he was stronger than you, oh brother...”

I close my eyes, a single tear falls from my eyelids. Pergek, you... how could I allow you to die? Why didn't I save you?!

Didn’t I make a promise to myself, that no one will take advantage of me like jane did, and that I would become the strongest chimpanzee. If I swore to become the strongest, why would I let my friends die? Why did I allow you, my best friend, to be killed in front of my eyes?!"

“Oh, you’re cute.” Kerzel’s maniacal laugh wakes me up to reality. “Let’s play a bit.”

“No, I can’t allow him to hurt Pergek’s brother!” I pull myself together and slowly walk out from the crowd, thinking to myself. “Now when you’re gone, I won’t let anyone hurt your sister. This is my oath to you Pergek. I will protect you little sister!”

"Kerzel! I will make you regret what you did!" my eyes are full of killing intent, and my angry shout echoes through the grove. Kerzel stops in his track and looks at me, surprised.