Chapter 27 - Wilson vs Rainbow Snake

"Oh no!" Mow yelled out loud. He tried to control himself midair but he was moving too fast and the force was not his creation to begin with. Wilson jumped at the branch separating himself from Mow and the snake's head. The snake's head moved towards Mow as well, mouth wide open. It was obvious the snake wanted to finish him in one bite. Mow looked on in horror, Wilson tried to catch up and the snake had its mouth wide open and seemed to be smiling.

Mow grabbed a tree branch and swung himself around the branch landing on it. The rainbow snake seemed startled. This is not how it was supposed to go. It stretched and swung its tail again at Mo but he kicked off the branch, leaped over the tail and landed on another branch just above the snake's head. The rainbow snake saw this move as an insult. It straightened itself to Mow's length and looked straight at him.

*BANG*

Wilson punched the snake's head with as much strength as he could muster.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Wilson yelled in pain, holding his wrist. All his right-hand fingers were broken and mangled together in a messy formation but the snake seemed alright.

It slithered towards a branch several meters away and hissed. Wilson felt upset. He gave his all in that punch and all it did was chase the snake away?

"Woah!" Mow, on the other hand, seemed stunned. Wilson gave him a quick glance before looking back at the large rainbow snake.

"I think that is a young one!" Mow said.

"huh??!!"

"My uncle said that only the young ones will retreat when threatened."

"It thinks I am a threat?" Wilson asked with a smile.

"I think so!"

"So, we are going after it?"

"Obviously!"

Wilson held firmly to a strong branch and looked down at his mangled hand.

"I might have something that can fix that....temporarily!" Mow said and tossed a small black bottle at Wilson who caught it and swallowed it without thinking.

His broken hand immediately began to fix itself. The snake looked at Wilson's hand curiously from where it coiled around the huge tree branch. And so did Wilson.

"What is this concoction?" Wilson looked at his hand and then at Mow in awe.

' Was he currently looking at another doctor or maybe an alchemist this time? Or, perhaps, he was a combination of both. Was that why he was hunting the snake? To make another concoction? What would a giant baby rainbow snake be used for?' Wilson had so many questions in his head but said none aloud.

"concoction?" Mow was confused. What did he mean by concoction?

"What's a concoction?" Mow asked back.

"Huh?!"

"You know what, forget it! Let's just get the reptile before it fully recuperates!" Mow said and jumped. He grabbed a branch and swung himself towards another branch and then to another and to another until he stopped at a branch neither far nor too close to the snake. The baby rainbow snake immediately concentrated on him. He was frightened by the stare but stood his ground and waited for Wilson. Wilson, on the other hand, concentrated on the branches and tried to imagine himself doing what Mow just did, completely forgetting that a giant snake was just some meters away.

"Oh mother!!" He muttered in a low tone, took in a deep breath and jumped.

************

Old man Jenkins was in the same room as before with the same oldies, watching Wilson on a big screen and conversing and arguing with one another.

"That kid is stupid!"

"I think he is just misinformed!"

"He is really naïve and gullible!"

"I don't see that as a bad thing. It will only make the brainwashing part of my job easier!" Jenkins said with a shrug.

"If only he had an ability...Or magic!"

"He might have! Just not yet discovered."

"He doesn't. I already checked while he was in the dark room!" A bald dwarf spoke up for the first time.

"The dark room? After so many years, you finally decided on a name and it was 'Dark Room'?" the Oldie with the least grey hair spoke exasperatedly.

Baldy immediately glared at her and opened his mouth to speak.

"He does have potential though!" Old man Jenkins quickly interrupted. There is usually no end to arguments like this.

"He is really strong. For someone without powers!"

"Yes! I do have a problem though!" Jenkins said with as pitiful a look as he could muster.

"What is it?"

"He is way too ignorant! He knows nothing. Absolutely nothing!"

"Well, he came from a very remote village. Zero civilisations and no mutations. Not to mention that it is really hard to access the place. They are basically still living in the 20th century."

"They are living in a lost era of more than 200 years ago."

Jenkins looked at the screen again and chuckled.

"Oh look, he is having a stare down with a snake."

"Perhaps, you should have taught him a few things, you know, common knowledge. He is lacking in it!"

"I would rather him learn from experience." Jenkins said and shrugged.

"What if he dies?"

"Then I would know I was right not to have begun teaching him anything!"

"And we would all know we have overestimated his capabilities." Baldy chipped in. The other oldies nodded in agreement. They all quietly watched Wilson looking straight at the snake's vertical pupils with clenched fists. It went on for some couple extra seconds, then the youngest looking old lady giggled:

"I think the snake has had enough!"

************

The snake went straight at Wilson, ignoring Mow in the process. Wilson, on the other hand, jumped from the branch he was standing on. True men face challenges head-on.

He swung his healed up right fist at the snake's head, the snake moved its head backwards to avoid the incoming fist. The last time it took a blow to the head, things did not go well. This furless, baboon slash monkey hybrid's tiny fist really packs a punch.

As soon as his fist wheezed past by only an inch, the rainbow snake immediately chomped down on him from the top. Wilson, fast as he could be, jumped out of range. Or at least tried to. He was almost swallowed up when the baby snake paused, its mouth still opened wide. He quickly moved out of the way and half a second later, the snake slithered past and switched directions. Wilson was confused. Why was it going the other way? And why did it seem like it paused for a second?

"Oh wait!" Wilson looked into the distance. The snake was charging at Mow who was several hundred meters away and it was charging fast.

Wilson chased after the snake at full speed which was, well, vastly inefficient.

As the rainbow snake got faster, a faint trace of rainbow became visible behind it.

"Mow, dodge!" Wilson yelled at Mow but it was too late. The snake spat a green-colored, ball-like substance straight at Mow. It hit him right in the chest and threw him off the tree.

Wilson was shocked at the snake's strength and speed. And what was that green stuff that the snake spat out just now. Was Mow dead?

"Wilson! You will have to fight the snake on your own! I believe in you! Don't let our efforts be in vain! I will be awaiting proper results!" Mow shouted from far down below making Wilson sigh in relief. It was good to know he was still alive. Although, Wilson could not quite understand how Mow's voice managed to carry itself all the way up to the treetop. And what did he mean by 'our efforts'? What efforts? And proper results? He has to be messing with him, right? How was he meant to kill this super strong, superfast, behemoth that was called a baby? Was Mow even sure this was a baby in the first place? Like, were babies not supposed to be weak? Why was this one so different?

"Why do I feel like I might have been tricked into doing this dangerous job all alone?"

**************

Back at the room, Baldy was laughing hysterically while old man Jenkins shook his head sadly.

"Naïve! Too naïve!"

"Hehe, he's just been played into fighting to the death with a rainbow snake. It is impossible for him to kill a rainbow snake alone. He will just get himself killed!"

"And then, the human monkey will show up and kill the exhausted snake! Good tactics!" A black skinned man with a blind eye said with a nod of approval.

"That's what I want!" Jenkins said. All the oldies looked at him with questioning looks. Jenkins looked back at them and explained himself:

"I told him to get the snake's fang. I said nothing about killing it. I don't want a fighting machine without any brains! He has to be creative in his thinking or else he won't even be worth my time!" All the oldies nodded with understanding and turned back to face the large screen only to exclaim in surprise.

**************

Wilson punched at the snake's widely opened mouth and struck a big fang, the size of his hand. The force rattled its tooth and without putting much thought to it, he struck with his other fist and then grabbed the tooth, ripping it out, as the snake retreated in pain. The snake moved back a bit as blood dripped out of its injured gum. It went back a few meters and hissed in pain. Wilson took the opportunity to put the fang in his bag.

The snake, on seeing that felt like its already hurt pride was being dragged in the mud even further. How could it take this. Not only was it attacked in its own home but it was unable to defeat this weak, tiny, furless ape. And now its fang, an important and intimidating part of its identity was gone. It could not take this insult. If he let this ape go scot-free, how was it going to raise it head and flaunt its superiority to all the other beasts around? No, this ape has to die! An d so, it slithered towards Wilson again.

Wilson, on the other hand was recollecting one of his mother's most said words: "When your life is in grave danger, it is indeed wise to run the other way!"

And so that's what he did. He jumped from the top of the tree and straight down towards the forest floor. He was already halfway down the tree before he realized the snake was chasing after and was actually gaining on him.

'This crazy forest animals! So persistent! Can't they not chase?' he lamented in his mind and gripped a tree branch and forcefully swung himself towards another branch then another, and another. Anything to get this multicolored beast off his back.

While he swung, the old timers were having a blast laughing at his expense.

"Wow! This boy gives stupidity a new meaning. Beasts that live on trees won't be slow on trees. His best bet is to go down to the forest floor and run. At least, he would be faster that way, right?" Jenkins said

Wilson jumped from the branch he just landed on and went straight for the ground. As soon as he landed, he picked up speed again and ran away from the trees as fast as he could. He kept running until he was as far away from the vicinity as possible.

And lo and behold, right as he stopped to rest, he realized he was somewhere familiar. Wait a minute, wasn't this where he was harassed by those demonic monkeys? And as if to answer his question, he heard the annoying chatter of those monkeys as they got rested high up on the tree branches.

Wilson was exhausted and hungry from fighting and running away from the rainbow snake only for him to find himself at the horned-monkeys' abode. Was he cursed or something? You know what, at this point, there was only one he could do...…..…..lament in tears!

"*Sigh* I should not have left the village!"