"Alright soldiers. This battle will not be easy. We are up against formidable foes who wish to do us harm."

I spoke pacing back and forth in front of my legion of animals. The group was filled with various critters. Deer, rabbits, squirrels, snakes, foxes, and wolves sat staring at me with serious faces. The night before, I had snuck out and organized my army. Once they knew how serious this battle would be, they all joined willingly.

Of course, I left out the major predators and birds because I didn't want to push my luck and court death. And no, wolves aren't predators. They are just big ol' puppies.

I gave them a serious face, "I won't lie. This is going to be hard. There are 86 contestants and only 43 of us. Not to mention there will be plenty of ground to cover. If anyone wants to leave now, there is no shame in that. I won't stop you."

I paused but no animals moved to leave. They knew just how serious the hunt was. Every previous year, the animals would be wiped out and new ones would replace them. The only exception to this was the Mega Bear.

I continued, "Good. Then I will go over my plan once more. Caramel will distract the hunter's as the rest of us get in formation. Are you still willing Caramel?"

Caramel was a male deer who had the largest and most bountiful antlers. He puffed out his chest proudly and snorted in approval. The female deers batted their eyes at the handsome buck.

"When Caramel distracts them, we will all move in position. You all remember the attack commands right?"

They all grunted and chirped in approval.

"Alright. Team Tree will alert us to the people. Listen to their commands. Team Tree, make sure you use the leaves to hide yourself and if you notice a human do this-" I imitated pulling a bow back, "Then quickly use a tree to block yourself from them and make a distress call. We will come save you."

The squirrels and chipmunks chattered in understanding.

I looked to the rest of the group, "Remember. Stick together and remain hidden. There is no shame in running away. You're more valuable alive then dead. Now who's ready?!"

The animals all shouted and squealed. Their war cry reverberated throughout the forest.

_____

In the distance, everyone prepared for the hunt. When they heard those loud cries, they all grew quiet and looked towards the sound. For some reason, everyone felt a bit of fear at that noise.

William gulped and looked at Dante, "You don't think..."

He nodded, "She's definitely planning something."

William fidgeted, "I-I'm just going to stick with you."

He looked back to Dante who had disappeared. His face turned pale, "How dare he leave me?! ARGH! What am I going to do?!"

He whimpered and sniffled, "I think... I will just stay on the outskirts and hide..."

The master of the hunt took the stage and blew a horn, signaling the start of the hunt. Everyone charged into the forest with determination, but all of them paused at the extreme silence of the forest.

One gulped, "Why is it so quiet? Shouldn't there at least be animal and bird noises?"

In fact, it was so quiet it felt like the forest was frozen in time. A usually peaceful forest turned into an incredibly eerie one. No one could shake the feeling of foreboding as they walked in...

_____

I heard the horn and nodded, "Alright. That's our cue. Now stay quiet and stay hidden."

I chuckled evilly to myself, "Today we hunt the most dangerous animal... Man..."

I hesitated and looked at the army, "Just try not to kill anyone. I don't want to be implicated in any murders."

The animals grunted showing disapproval. They couldn't promise anything. They were wild animals after all.

We hid in the bushes. I had purposely brought them all to the part of the forest with dense foliage. I didn't bring any weapons except for a sling shot that I had made, well more like the blacksmith had made, in anticipation for today.

I heard two people walking towards us from the west. I nodded to Caramel and pointed to a spot.

He nodded back and casually strolled out. He nonchalantly ate some grass.

The two hunters stopped and whispered, "Look at his antlers! He sure to get us in first place!"

I rolled my eyes. Don't they know that hunters are supposed to be quiet?!

Caramel was also irritated, so he decided to mock them. He shook his butt at them and made a seductive face.

One hunter hesitated, "Is that deer... Is that deer shaking his butt at us?"

The other spoke, "Who cares?! Just shoot it already!!"

As he pulled the bow back, I pointed my slingshot at him and shot a rock towards him. The rock hit his hand, causing him to loose his grip on the bow. The arrow flew into a tree, no where near any critter.

I stood up and let out a shrill war cry, "NOW! USE FECAL ATTACK!"

"Use wha-"

The animals all jumped out and started throwing their [censored] at the two hunters. The two man screamed as they attempted to protect themselves.

"IT GOT IN MY MOUTH!"

"THERE'S A WOLF PEEING ON ME!"

"RUN!"

They took off quickly, leaving behind the bow. We all cheered in victory.

When they were sure they ran far enough away, they stopped for a breather. "Should we... Keep hunting?"

The other spoke, "No way. I'm covered in sh*t and piss. I'm going back to take a hot bath."

I nodded at the critters, "Alright. We won the first battle without any casualties. But don't get excited..." I squinted my eyes and spoke in a deep tone, "We've yet to win the war..."

The squirrels started chittering alerting us to a new group of hunters. We stealthily followed the noise, sticking close to the shadows. When we made it to the group of men, the squirrels stopped making noise.

I nodded to the snakes. They quietly slithered out and towards the group of men stealthily.

One scratched his head, "How weird..."

Another answered, "What is it?"

"It's just that... The squirrels were going crazy a second ago... Now they are really quiet..."

"Huh... You're right..."

"Hmm?" Another looked down suddenly feeling something around his legs.

"S-SNAKE!"

They all screamed and flailed around trying to get the snakes off of them. A snake bit the thigh of a man.

"ARGHH! It bit me!!!"

The man fainted.

"UNCLE NOOO!"

"WE GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE!!!"

As they ran off, the snakes let go and slithered back to me. The men carried the body of the uncle as they screamed.

I looked at the snake, "You're not venomous... Right?"

The snake shrugged.

My eyebrow twitched, "You... You don't know?" I stood up, "Oh well. No need to dwell in the past. We still have more hunters to chase off."

The deer jumped on the weapons left behind, smashing them happily. The animals cheered from another victory.

We continued our relentless attack on the hunters. The deer would kick, the wolves would bite butts, snakes would be snakes, and the squirrels would toss their... Unmentionables.

I came out to the clearing and snickered upon seeing a cocky red haired man whistling to himself arrogantly.

Oh disease boy. I've been waiting for this moment for a long time... Just you wait until you see what I have planned for you.

I let out a malicious chuckle.

He paused and looked around, "Seri? Was that you?"

I covered my mouth. Sh*t! I laughed too loud!

He scowled, "I know that was you. Come out now."

A snake slithered over to him. He looked at it with a blank face.

"KYAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!"

Lucius ran off screaming like a little girl. Me and the snake blinked in confusion.

"Huh. That was... Interesting."

The snake didn't even get close to him before he ran off...

Was he scared of snakes or something?

Sigh.. I was really looking forward to torturing him... Oh well. I can't be too greedy. At least I managed to find out something interesting. It will definitely be useful in the future.

_____

The headmaster sat at a table casually playing chess with the game master. The Game Master was in charge of the annual hunt. The two old men were long time friends. They usually spent the hunt together chatting and playing chess peacefully.

Suddenly, two men burst out of the forest edge screaming. The game master frowned at them. Then crinkled his nose at their smell. "What's the meaning of this?!"

"Game master!!! There's a crazy monster in there!!!"

He raised a wispy eyebrow, "Monster? You mean the Mega Bear?"

They shook their head, "No! It was something way worse! It was a monstrous witch!"

The other nodded, "She was terrifying! She had snakes for hair!!!"

"She had crazy eyes and a tongue the size of her head!!!"

He just blinked, "What?? Witch?!"

Another person ran out, "HELP! MONSTER!"

More men ran out of the woods screaming. Some were covered in hoof prints, some had ripped clothes, others were covered in... Unpleasant material...

The game master scowled, "JUST WHAT IS GOING ON?!"

Everyone came over to watch after hearing all of the shouting. Lona somehow had a bad feeling that Seri was behind the commotion.

"A WOLF BIT MY BACKSIDE!"

"A DEER KICKED ME!"

"IM COVERED IN [censored]!"

"A SNAKE BIT MY UNCLE! SOMEONE SAVE HIM!"

The doctor walked over and inspected the man, "He's fine. He just passed out from shock."

"THE WITCH KILLED MY UNCLE!"

"I said he's-"

"GAME MASTER! AVENGE MY UNCLE!!!"

Lucius ran out of the woods screaming. Noticing everyone standing around, he paused. He cleared his throat and acted cool, "Oh. Nice to see everyone."

The Game Master frowned, "Let me guess. The 'witch' chased you out too?"

Lucius looked confused, "Witch? Who? You mean Seri?"

Lona smacked her forehead at the identity behind the witch. The headmaster let out a sigh as well.

The game master looked to him, "Someone you know?"

He nodded, "Yes.. That's one of my troublesome students..."

The Game Master's face flared red with anger.

_____

It was already the afternoon, so we decided to take a break. I yawned and leaned against a rock. It was nice and cool on my back.

"We've only managed to scare off half of the participants... We still have much more to scare off. D*mn. I didn't know being an activist was so much work..."

I yawned and noticed it got quiet. I opened my eyes and looked around. "Huh? Where'd you all go?"

I scratched my head as I looked around. The animals seemed to have run off for some reason. I heard a loud, deep growl come from behind me.

I gulped and slowly turned around. Behind me was a large bear, towering over me. It had red eyes and a large scar covering it's face.

To call this monster a bear was totally wrong!!! It was easily three times the size of a normal bear!!!

I slowly took a few steps back, "Nice... Bear... Let's just go our separate ways... Okay?"

A creepy smile crossed the bears face.

You see, animals really do love me. But predators... They tend to love me for a different reason...

They'd love to eat me!!!

The bear pounced at me, and I ran away quickly while screaming at the top of my lungs.

"AAAAAAH! DON'T EAT ME MR. BEAR! I PROMISE I DON'T TASTE GOOD!!! I'M ALL BONES! NO MEAT!"

The Mega Bear still charged after me with hearts in his eyes while drooling with his tongue sticking out.

As the bear ran, the earth shook under his weight. He was quickly catching up to me.

"AAAARGH! SERPENTINE!! SERPENTINE!!!"

I ran in a jagged pattern, barely avoiding his claws. I quickly turned and darted off to the side. The bear was quick, but he wasn't as nimble.

He tripped and smacked into a tree. The tree came crashing down, shaking the earth violently. He charged at me once more. I flew down the hill and noticed Dante swinging the sword around. His eyes widened as I barreled towards him.

Pfft. He really did come out here to practice his sword.

WAIT! Why am I getting distracted?!?

THERE'S A F*CKING BEAR BEHIND ME!!!

"DANTE! KILL IT! KILL IT!"

I flew behind Dante and hid behind him. He glared at the bear in determination and turned his sword to it. The bear ran full force at us, roaring as if it wasn't afraid.

As Dante raised his sword, I took a deep breath.

He's actually going to kill it.

"WAIT! DON'T KILL IT!"

Right before the bear got to him, I pulled him out of the way. The bear missed and so did Dante. They both blinked in confusion.

"RUN!" I shouted and dragged Dante away.

We both ran quickly and the bear soon got over his shock. It ran after us.

Dante glanced at me in confusion. He couldn't figure out why he was running away instead of killing it.

We came to a clearing and quickly stopped in our tracks. In front of us was a cliff. We both looked over the side and noticed a fast running river down below. We were trapped.

We turned around to see the bear snickering at us.

I yelped, "Dante! Kill it!!!"

He pulled his sword back out and pointed it at the Mega Bear. The bear snorted as they stared each other down. The bear clawed at the ground in anticipation.

It charged.

Dante pulled his sword back.

I shouted.

"WAIT! DON'T HURT IT!"

I jumped at Dante, knocking him off balance.

We plunged off of the side of the cliff in each other's arms.