Spirit Animal 2: Lone Wolf

Ch. 4: Celebration Ceremony

Later, as they walked around town, they were stopped by Loggle who randomly measured Anne.

"Uh... what's going on?" Anne asked.

"It's a surprise." Loggle said.

"Okay.....but can you stop? It's a little creepy." Anne said to him.

"Sorry, just a bit more and....done." Loggle said before he went back to his store. "Carry on."

"Does anyone know what that's about?" Anne asked.

"Nope." Polly and Sprig said.

"Not really." Ivy said.

"Loggle is a bit strange to me." Maddie said, causing everyone to look at her. "Yeah, I said it. I'm not ashamed."

"I mean, can't deny that." Sprig said, "You remember that muscular wooden statue he made of himself?"

"I try to forget about it." Anne said.

"Oh yeah, definitely." Ivy said with a nod.

"I was haunted by that." Maddie said as they continued to walk through town. "So, Anne, think you can give us an up-close view of how you hunt?"

"Wow... uh... that depends." Anne said, "I would need something that isn't too dangerous, a wolf is a pack hunter, so it would have to be something not much bigger than I am."

"What about a grub hog?"

"A grub hog? Like the one from Grubhog day?" Anne asked.

"Yep. It's the most harmless creature around these parts, should be the easiest prey a predatory could hunt alone." Ivy said to her.

"I guess that would work." Anne said, "Come on, let's get to the woods."

The amphibian kids nodded in excitement as they went into the woods with Anne, who shifted into her wolf form and began stalking around.

"Fascinating." Maddie said as she pulled out a notebook, writing down what Anne was doing.

She began sniffing the air and got low to the ground slowly approaching. She hoped that the grubhog wouldn't notice her, since wolves were ambush predators, if she gets spotted then her hunt is ruined. She came upon a bush and got ready to attack when the bush hissed. Anne suddenly had a bad feeling about this, even more when something came out from the bush... it was a giant red mantis.

'Oh, that's not good.' Anne thought.

"ROOOOOH!" It roared as it swung, making Anne jumped back to dodge as she growled at it.

"A mantis?!" Sprig said in shock.

Anne put herself between the group and the mantis. Looks like the hunt for a prey just turned into a battle between predators! Anne let out a bark, directed at Sprig, indicating that he needed to get the others out of here.

The mantis roared again as it charged, making Anne charge as well! The red mantis slashed but Anne dodged between its legs, biting and ripping one off! The mantis retaliates with another strike, this time hitting Anne and knocking her to the ground. Anne whined in pain but powered through it and moved from under the mantis to jump and bite one of its arms! It began to shake its arm, trying to get Anne off. As this happened, Sprig, Polly, Ivy, and Maddie returned with some of the adults. The Mantis slammed Anne against a tree. In exhaustion, Anne shifted back to her normal form. The mantis turned its attention to the group of adults and began moving towards it. Anne saw this and picked herself up, grabbing an old farming hoe that was on the ground nearby. She ran at it and jumped, slamming the hoe blade through its chest.