Alaska’s eyes widened. She couldn’t believe it. It was Shintiro digging his hand into the river, pulling out stones one by one.

“That’s him… Shintiro.” She whispers. 

“I see.” Rugo looked at him from a distance and stepped forward around the tree’s edge to get a better look. The waters of the river were calm in the area they were in. As Ruog steps forward he unintentionally snaps a tree twig under his foot. A drop of cold sweat rolls down his face as he realizes he made a grave mistake. 

Shintiro’s ears picked up on the sudden snapping of the twig. He quickly looks to his right and gets up from where he had kneeled. He draws his dagger preparing for anything that would come out of the jungle to attack him.

Alaska watched in horror as Shintiro held his dagger at the ready, his knuckles tense from the force of his grip. He was ready for an attack, ready to defend himself. But there was no attacker, no one came out of the jungle to attack him. Just the silence of the jungle and the sound of the river rushing past.

He was confused so he stepped forward to investigate the source of the sound. She strategically maneuvers the dagger forward in front of his body, so that he is prepared to strike at a moment's notice. 

He creeps forward, slowly. Alaska’s mind was going wild. Her heart began to race wondering what Ruog would do if Shintiro got any closer. She had faith in his fighting abilities, but it was obvious she was terrified. Her hands began to shake as the only thing that came to her mind was to grab her wooden staff and grip it in front of her body.

Ruog thinks quickly and grabs his bow and arrow. Shintiro looks to his left and then to his right. His heart was pounding wondering what exactly made that noise. That’s when Ruog raises his bow and arrow and shoots it across the river into the dense foliage of the jungle.

Shintiro notices the foliage shaking, moving from left to right. He was not aware that an arrow had just dashed past the river and fallen through the jungle shrubs. Shintiro acts fast by jumping into the river using the last bit of energy in him to get to the shrubs that were shaking. “Come out!” He yells in the direction of the shrubs. He slashes his dagger into the foliage, shaving down some of the leaves. Then Shintiro looked down. Something caught his eye. He notices something on the ground. He picks up the arrow with a confused look on his face. He looks behind himself over his shoulder. He noticed the direction the arrow was positioned on the ground and came to the realization that it came in the direction of the other side of the river.

“Someone was here.” He rubs his chin thinking to himself. When he turned back something massive emerged from the jungle right in front of him. He fumbles back in shock as he drops his dagger to the ground. It steps over his dagger preventing him from making a quick reach for it. 

Shintiro frantically moves his body back away from the unknown silhouette as it steps forward out of the shade of the jungle into full view. He gulps as he gets a clear view of what it was.