Aloka was significantly larger than the other Vanara. That meant she had a longer reach than Don was used to. The loose rocks underfoot made it difficult for Don to avoid her attacks and it only took a few seconds before a glancing blow sent him rolling across the ground. Don didn't try and stop himself. Instead, he encouraged the roll, getting as far away from the Matriarch as he could.

When he came back to his feet, Aloka was nearly on top of him. Don barely had the time to remove an exhausting potion from his inventory. Caught without any time for him to pour it over his spiked knuckles, he went with the simple expedient of smashing the gourd between his fists, drenching them in the potion.

The next time Aloka swung her shaggy arms at Don, he slipped inside their effective range and snapped off a [chain punch] into her face. Her leathery skin resisted the thorns but enough made it through for the poison to take effect.

For the next half a minute, Don just tried to stay out of reach. The easiest way to do that was to run. There was no need to bait out attacks and make openings for ColoColo. Her long arms let Aloka keep pace with Don but while she was running, she couldn't attack him either.

His strategy only worked for a handful of seconds before Aloka started heaving boulders into the air. They were easy enough to dodge but Don couldn't watch the incoming projectiles and the ground at the same time. He slipped and went down hard. A boulder slammed into the rocks just next to his head.

The impact deafened him for a while and the fight took on a surreal quality as he scrambled to his feet, slinging a rock back at the ape in an attempt to slow her down before settling into his [circle steps] stance. The rock bounced harmlessly off Aloka's shoulder. It looked like this was going to be a battle of attrition.

Don dipped and spun in a graceful dance around the flailing monster. He used his [low kick] at every opportunity and his [rolling punch] again after the poison lapsed. Aloka was showing no signs of tiring though and her stout legs resisted the crippling attacks. She gave as good as she got and Don was battered from the three attacks he wasn't able to fully avoid. Even using his [clarity] wasn't enough to get him out of danger when there was nothing his body could physically do to avoid the threat.

Aloka was starting to tire visibly, but Don was getting down to the last dregs of his energy. Any time he tried to drink an energizing potion, Aloka was there with an attack that scattered rocks like a shotgun blast and would no doubt kill Don if he didn't keep moving. He probably would have already died from all the small fragments of stone pelting him if it wasn't for his three points of natural armor. He was still going to lose unless he did something drastic.

The next time Aloka sent an uppercut his way, Don crossed his arms, accepted the blow and jumped back just as it hit. He went flying back according to his plan, but he was spinning in three directions simultaneously and crashed back to the ground without any control a good twenty feet away.

Don was down to 24 HP but the gambit worked. He had the time to drink an energizing potion and didn't waste it. He couldn't afford to take any more hits and focused on defense without giving a single thought to attack. With the potion thundering through his veins and rocks shattering all around him, he didn't have time to think about anything. With the prolonged intense focus, [harmony] activated.

Aloka lit up blue with the mana that sustained her transformation as the rest of the world faded from importance. Her arms pulsed with glowing energy just before she swung them down in another earth-shattering blow. Don easily sidestepped the blow with the extra warning and hardly registered the bits of stone that peppered his ankles.

He didn't congratulate himself on the feat. He didn't think about the implications of the skill's new application. He just continued to flow around Aloka. He was vaguely aware that his stamina wasn't dropping nearly as fast anymore but he remained focused on the azure titan trying to kill him.

It was almost like he was a passenger in his own body. He took the back seat as some instinct guided his steps and avoided each blow at the last minute. That's why don had a bemused expression when the fight abruptly ended.

Aloka raised an arm for another large strike and Don, instead of spinning off to the side, stepped right up to the giant ape. He assisted the descending fist, pulling it down and forward while he spun until his shoulder was pressed up against his opponent. Then he hauled down on the arm. Despite Don's strength, His contribution was minor. Aloka was the one to provide the bulk of the energy that sent her catapulting forward over Don's shoulder and slamming into the ground.

If the earlier missed blows scattered rocks and pock-marked the area with little craters, this one pulverized stone and raised a sizeable dust cloud. Don's [harmony] ended and a notification appeared.

Fifth form under development Shoulder Throw: 1%

When he waved away the notification and the dust cleared, A gasping Aloka was trying to refill her lungs. She was getting more dust than air though and was coughing badly. She had reverted to her stunning humanoid form and if that wasn't enough of an indicator, another prompt declared the results of the match.

Duel Complete! You have been victorious over Aloka of the Vanara!

You have taken 9 EXP from Aloka.

For proving your superiority in honorable combat, the leadership of her tribe now falls to you. New title! Patriarch (Vanara) The Vanara will now follow your orders

You now have access to the tribe screen.

Don wanted to scream. Aloka basically forced the duel on him and now she was just going to dump her responsibilities in Don's lap? She was supposed to take the ColoColo off his hands, not give him more people to worry about!

Instead, he extended a hand and helped Aloka climb out of the oversized crater. Solid bedrock was exposed at the bottom and Don felt guilty. Sure he didn't decide to slam her like that but he shouldn't just let himself go out of control.

Aloka took the hand and let herself be helped out of the dust cloud.

"You" She stopped to cough "You are stronger than you look. How did you do that thing at the end?" She said half in accusation, half in respect.

"If I ever figure it out, I'll tell you." That was when I realized that I was still holding her hand and let go self consciously.

"You don't have to give me your tribe though. We never agreed to a deal like that." Don said, trying to weasel out of the extra responsibility. Aloka wasn't having it though.

"You are the strongest. The strong protect the weak until the weak can surpass the strong. This is the way of the Vanara. You must lead us."

"But I'm not a Vanara." Don protested in a last desperate hope. Aloka waved like that didn't matter.

"You have words, and you are strong. This is enough. So long as you don't harm the children, I will follow you."

Don had been through too much in the last day to put the energy into arguing. He didn't feel comfortable having a person he just beat up acting so servile, but he wasn't about to punch a kid to get out of the responsibility either.

"Fine, I need to get back to the ColoColo and their prisoners before the centurions can make it back there."

Don checked his time sense. It had been four hours since he left the group. The centurions generally took three to respawn at this point. He was cutting it uncomfortably close.

"I will go with you and explain recent events to my tribesmen," Aloka said.

If it wasn't for the notification granting me leadership, I might have suspected a trick. As it was I didn't see any reason to leave her behind. Kat wasn't so open-minded.

"Why didn't you kill her when you had the chance?" He accused.

"Because that wasn't necessary," Don replied

"You had the leader of the bad things at your feet, and you just helped it back up! They killed the ancestors, they killed Grey, They are the reason we had to hide in that hole in the ground for our entire lives."

That made me pause for a moment.

"They aren't bad things," I said finally "They're just a group of people trying to get by. They made mistakes, but they aren't evil. Gaz wasn't too different than the Vanara."

"You killed Gaz! Why won't you kill the bad things? Do you really hate the ColoColo?"

I hesitated again before answering.

"That was a mistake. I'd take it back if I could, but I can't. That's why I'm not going to kill unless I need to. Besides, I know that they are more than just dumb animals so killing them now would be worse than what they did to your ancestors."

"But they are the bad things!" Kat explained in his squeaky voice.

"And now they are my bad things. I'm their leader now. That's what that whole fight was about. If I tell them to leave the ColoColo alone, they will. Void, they were willing to do that even before I was their leader. If you don't like it you can find some hole to live in while the rest of your brothers and sisters live in their ancestral homeland."

That stopped Kat's arguments, but Don was proven naive when the three monsters got back to the site of the battle. The ColoColo had been busy. With the bad things completely at their mercy, they had a little fun. Don could smell the stink of rot-fern before he could even see the prisoners.

When they finally came into view Don groaned. The ColoColo scampered around a massive mound of thorns as they added to the green cage. Don only hoped the Vanara weren't crushed under the weight of all that plant life.

The ColoColo excitedly chattered when Don came back but they darted into the trees when Aloka followed closely behind. They shouted warnings but Don raised his hands.

"Who's ready to go home?"

Cheers broke out

"Yes! Kill the bad things! Take back the homeland! Praise the ancestors!"

Don had to stop them before they got too carried away.

"There won't be any killing today. The Vanara will share the home with us."

That got blank stares but once I explained that the 'bad things' call themselves Vanara the ColoColo hissed their displeasure.

"That's enough of that," I said. They didn't stop. I snapped.

"You ColoColo and these Vanara are both under my protection. I don't care if you don't like each other, this pointless fighting ends now." I had to shout over the squeaking rabble.

"Make them leave!" Shouted one of the ColoColo. "The homeland is ours!"

"Shut up! there is more than enough room for all of us in your ancestral home. We don't have time to argue about this now. The centurions will come back soon and they will not make a nice little deal with us. We are going to live with the Vanara and that is final!"

You have made an extremely unpopular decision -500 reputation (ColoColo)

Despite the reputation hit, I had built up a large enough reserve that they grudgingly followed my orders. We released the bound Vanara who were just happy to be out of their restraints after so many hours. Aloka informed them about the change in leadership which they took in stride. They all fought Don already and his results spoke for themselves.

When they learned that the ColoColo were more than mindless beasts, a few broke down. The ColoColo weren't moved by their show of emotion and stayed safely out of reach. It took longer than Don would have liked, but his two tribes started moving back to the volcano in the distance before any Centurions showed up.