Chapter 51 - Watch Out, Kitty!

Umb rubbed his head against Ethan's hands, showing he was happy.

"Let's go back to the reservation today, Umb! It's the perfect place for us to train, and now that you're a cat, you'll be able to hunt by yourself...". Ethan said, petting Umb, who purred.

"Hi, Mom! I'm going with my friends to Port Angeles to look for suits, all right, I'll be back tonight!". Ethan sent.

"I thought you weren't going to the dance. Show me later!". Enid sent it back.

"Umb, it's too sunny now! I think it's dangerous to take you to the reservation at this hour. I'm going to get some sleep, and then we'll go there later, okay?". Ethan said, closing the window and lying down on the bed.

Umb curled up on Ethan's feet, sleeping with him.

After a few hours, Ethan woke up and saw that the sun was no longer present.

He stretched and began to pack his backpack to go to the reservation. When Ethan took the machete in hand, he realized how useless it had been. He needed a real weapon. Maybe something he could create with the shadows, but he still had no idea how, since the patches of shadow he released were not solid.

Ethan woke Umb up and opened his backpack so that the shadow cat jumped inside, and then, after putting on his all-black clothes and putting his cap on his backpack, Ethan headed toward the reservation.

It took him a little longer to arrive since the streets were still very busy, he couldn't just run off without paying attention to the road.

When he arrived at the reservation, it was not yet completely dark, but it no longer seemed safe to walk on.

Ethan opened his backpack, letting Umb jump out.

"We're here! You can walk around and hunt some animals. I'll train some powers for today, okay? I don't think I'll hunt!" Ethan said, watching Umb run after his tail frantically, like a puppy.

Ethan stared at him, confused.

"...Okay, just don't go too far. And watch out! You know what to do if you need to run away!". Ethan said, nodding his head.

Umb heard a cricket nearby, causing the shadow cat to run out after the small cricket.

Ethan continued to think about the weapon he could make with the shadows. Maybe, if he trained his shadow hands, they could become rigid like hammers.

He then revealed his shadow hands, trying to concentrate his energy in them.

Ethan stretched out his shadow hands, trying to make them stiff, but as he moved them, they shook like wobbly ropes.

- Possibly flattening the shadow hands would make them sharp enough to cut, Ethan thought. They were soft enough that he could control a little of their shape.

With one of the shadow hands, Ethan picked up one of the stones and threw it up, and, flattening the shadow hand, he moved quickly toward the stone.

When the shadow hand collided with the stone, nothing happened, but the stone was thrown the other way.

The shadow hands were strong, but seemed useless at cutting things, which made Ethan slightly frustrated.

He continued training his shadow hands for a few hours, but didn't seem to have evolved at all about making them sharp.

It was then that Ethan remembered the flames on his hands. Maybe he could do something with them about that.

Ethan revealed the flames in his hands and concentrated on making them increase in size. As Ethan concentrated only on the flames, they seemed to become more united and dense, as if they really were becoming rigid in his hands.

Ethan ran to a nearby tree and tried to hit it with the shadow flames, but the shadows went straight through, like a dense vapor.

Ethan forced his hand, making the flames stiffer, and hit the tree again.

He repeated this process a few times, until one moment, he felt his arm tighten on the tree. Finally, the flame had become steady enough that it didn't go through the tree.

Ethan then pulled his arm away and, with all his strength, quickly drove the shadow flame into the tree, causing it to stab into the trunk like a blade.

Ethan smiled contentedly, and you could tell he was almost jumping for joy, until, he began to hear a noise from afar.

He tried to pull the shadow flame from the tree, but it seemed stuck. Ethan started to force his arm back, as he heard the noise coming closer. It was as if some animal was running in desperation, along with a noise that he had never heard in his life.

It was then that Ethan spotted Umb from afar. He was running, but not only that, it was as if the shadow cat glitched in the air, teleporting from shadow to shadow.

Ethan gave an excited smile, however, soon after, he realized that Umb was desperate. When he looked behind the shadow cat, a gigantic grizzly bear was running fiercely.

Ethan looked at the blade of flame carved into the tree and simply, caused the flame to vanish from his own hand, like a puff of smoke, freeing Ethan.

"UMB!". Ethan yelled at Umb, who looked at him desperately.

Ethan threw a patch of shadow near Umb, causing Umb to jump into the shadow and disappear in seconds in front of the bear. The bear, enraged, began to run toward Ethan.

Ethan's eyes widened, realizing what he had done, and he started running in the opposite direction of the bear, trying to get away from the animal.

Ethan tried to do the same thing he had done with the lynx the night before, and turned to throw some shadow fireballs. The bear was fast and strong, but it was also huge, which made Ethan hit it easily, but for some reason, it didn't seem to have as much effect on the animal.

It was as if the bear's skin was so thick and had so much fat around it that it only caused pain, but not enough to knock the animal out.

Ethan then threw a patch of shadow on the ground in front of them, causing Umb to emerge.

"I NEED YOUR HELP!". He shouted to Umb, as he ran at a run.

Umb began to run towards the bear and jumped inside the bear's large body.

The bear began to slow down his speed. He looked dizzy, but he was not blinded and did not look afraid. The bear was still angry and trying to chase Ethan.

"UMB, STAY IN THERE!". Ethan yelled, looking at the bear.

It was then that the bear began to stagger from side to side, until he fell to the ground, breathing heavily. He wasn't dead, but he looked exhausted, as if Umb had sucked the body energy out of him.

Ethan stopped running and stood a few feet away from the bear.

"Okay... Umb, I want you to get out of there and leave him alone!". Ethan said, remembering the lynx from last night.

Umb began to slowly exit the bear's body, and when he was completely out, he ran out into the patch of shadow Ethan had thrown on the ground and disappeared.

Ethan began to walk backward, slowly, away from the bear.

The bear looked overtired, still stretched out on the ground, as if it would sleep for a few days there.

Realizing this, Ethan turned to the other side, but before he could even take the next step, he turned around and saw that gigantic bear jumping on top of him, as if it had fully recovered.

It started to come down on Ethan showing those gigantic teeth, but before it could reach Ethan's head, crushing it completely, Ethan unleashed his shadow flame blades right in the middle of the bear's belly, tearing it in half.

The bear merely softened, falling to its dead side.

Ethan stood up, seeing all the animal's blood dripping onto the ground. The blood was a little dark, probably because Umb had stayed so long, the bear should be weak by now, slowly rotting away.

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