I Am A Carnivorous Plant

Now that I finally see him again, the wolf-dragon looks kinda… smaller than I remember. Don’t get me wrong, the thing is still huge, but now that I’m almost the height of a castle, the Wind’s Avatar that scared me so much before just kinda looks like a pet dog to me. Maybe it’s like the size difference between an adult and a great dane? Or maybe something beefier, like a big mastiff? Well no, it’s probably even closer in size than that if I take how wide and stocky its body is into account, but really, I can’t help but think that this wolf-dragon is just disappointing to look at right now.

 

Still, he took my head off before I could even notice he was coming, so hey, I shouldn’t let my guard down just yet!

 

The wolf-dragon braced itself there, watching me intently just like I was doing to it. But then, for some reason it glanced over to its other Pack members, clearly looking like it was worried about them. I could see the pain in its eyes as it saw how close to death its comrades were. It’s hard for me to understand what the bond between Pack members must be like, since the Forest Spirit made me and my kind repel each other… But I’m sure whatever the connection was, it must have been incredibly special. And with the wolf-dragon, the Wind’s Avatar, being the one who led this Pack, I’m sure the responsibility he felt towards his subordinates must have been very very great. I know if I were in his shoes (paws?), I’d probably also be suuuuper crushed to see the people I’m supposed to be leading reduced to this. Hey, and it would probably be even worse, because these two Pack members are probably all that’s left of the wolf-dragon’s Pack by now, what with mom’s rampage through the Wind territory.

 

Thinking about all this made me feel even more guilty than I already did, even if none of this was my fault. Once again, the feeling of desperately wanting to right my mom’s wrongs filled me up, and I began talking before I even realized what I was doing.

 

=Um, I could fix your Pack members for you, if you-=

 

But before I could get the rest of the words out, the wolf-dragon lept at me once again, fast as the wind, aiming for my head just like last time. This time I wasn’t blind-sided, however, so I was just barely able to dodge out of the way, even with this massive hulking body of mine! Thank god or the Forest Spirit or whatever for letting me still be this fast even with all this extra large body I have to lug around now; If I was even a millisecond slower, I would have had to regrow yet another head, or maybe even more!

 

Yup, I guess I really should have expected things to go like this, huh? I’m sure if someone showed up, almost killed Til, and then offered to save him, I wouldn’t trust him either. Heck, I’d probably try to kill them first and then save Til myself afterwards! I’m sure this wolf-dragon must have been in much more of a hurry than it seemed, trying to figure out how to take me down fast so it could save its people.

 

Obviously I can’t just let it have its way, but I would also like it if I could save its people, you know? I’m trying to do the right thing right now, and this guy is really getting in my way! Ugh… Is it too late to just run away for now and let the Wind’s Avatar take care of everything? After all, I’m really not cut out for talking things through like this. I’m kinda regretting eating mom if things are gonna be like this; At least she knew how to have actual serious talks like this calls for without fumbling over herself like me. Although if she was here, she’d probably just be trying to kill everyone, so maybe I am the better negotiating choice out of the two of us now, huh? That's… not very good, is it? I mean, what can I even say that he'd wanna listen to?

 

I decided to grit my nonexistent teeth and just try to talk to the wolf-dragon again, you know, just shoot my shot and see what sticks, and then work off of that! But I could only ever get out a word or two each time before he came lunging at me again with an intent to murder, so I wasn’t able to make it very far with that strategy at all. It was really beginning to look like I was gonna have to rethink things and try something else; There was no way I could keep dancing around like this for very long and not risk making too big of a misstep. The wolf-dragon was already learning from its mistakes, figuring out the way I liked to dodge, and getting closer and closer to the moment when it would inevitably reach me with its jaws and rip me in half. Yeah, things were definitely calling for a new plan if I didn’t want to let the guy just maim me to pieces.

 

Well… If he’s not gonna listen, then I guess the only option is beating the truth into him so he finally pays attention, right?

Yeah, I’m much better at this kind of negotiating, after all!

It’s best to just stick with what you’re good at in the end!

Sorry puppy, but I gotta take you down for you and your people’s own good!

 

This time, I dodged a little sloppily, letting the wolf-dragon catch up to me. His jaws opened wide, and his jagged teeth sunk deep into the plant-flesh of my head, even deeper than they had when he previously ripped it off. It was obvious that he wanted to tear more than just my head away from me this time!

 

But I’m sorry, Mr Avatar! It seems you’ve fallen right into my trap~!

 

My tentacles, which had been primed and waiting for this moment, quickly wrapped around the wolf-dragon’s jaws, clamping them shut and pressing my body against his head while my roots threateningly weaved themselves like a rope around his neck. It was like I was giving the puppy's head a biiiig uncomfortable hug~!

 

In a way, this was just like how I defeated Shui, all those months ago. Aaaand just like with that time with Shui, the wolf-dragon’s claws immediately came up to drag against me, cutting and tearing against my petal-skin and roots in desperation! Yeah, so with Shui, all I had to do after this point was just remove its bush from its back, but with this wolf-dragon, there wasn’t some obvious winning move I could immediately do. I had no real clue what this thing’s weaknesses would be, besides the obvious. Even trying to choke him out with my roots wasn’t really seeming to make very quick progress, and only looked to be making his movements just a tiny bit more frantic.

 

What, do the servants of the Wind Spirit not need to breathe or something ‘cuz they were made from air?!

Why won’t you get choked out already?!

 

I can heal very quickly, so I hadn’t been too worried about the claws shredding me up, you know? But it’s not like I can just keep healing myself forever and just rely on my hope that this’ll eventually work! Besides, if I wanted any chance to save the dying Pack members that I still had my thorny minion corralling, and not end up feeling massively guilty in the end, then I was going to need to finish this issue sooner, rather than later.

 

Hmm… Okay. Well if the both of us are at a stalemate right now, then I guess the best play is to use this time to my advantage! People believe what they see more than what they hear, right? Actions speak louder than words and all that? So then why don’t I just show this captive little puppy of mine that I don’t mean any harm, right in front of its eyes?

 

Shui~!

Come bring some of the people that need healing over here, would you~?

 

Shui quickly followed my orders, bringing a few of the terribly wounded townsfolk close to where I and the wolf-dragon were wrestling. Bracing myself for the incoming (super awful, really!) pain, I did what had to be done, stretched out my tentacles a bit, and used the wolf-dragon’s tight hold on my head to rip it off of my body myself. I did it slowly enough to control the tear, so that I didn’t lose too much more of my torso along with it, and then I quickly regrew the head, complete with perfect flowers atop it, all while the previous head withered into rotten plant matter inside of the wolf-dragon’s jaws!

 

Yeah, I could totally see from the way that he was desperately trying to spit it out as much as he could through the hold I had on him that it must have tasted completely disgusting. Sorry, but just chew on that for a bit longer, Mr Avatar! We can’t be having your jaws too free while I’m trying to do something important now, right~?

 

I loosened my tentacles’ hold around him just enough to lower myself towards the waiting people, making sure that I didn’t loosen so much that I lost control over his scary freaking jaws, and positioned my head over them. As a glistening drop of healing dew began to form on one of my lilies, I tried to get as close as I possibly could in the awkward pose I'd put myself in, doing my best to aim the drop so it would land perfectly on the majority of the wounds.

 

But the wolf-dragon wasn’t just going to obediently let me do whatever unknown thing I wanted towards his people!

Before the drop could successfully fall, the wolf-dragon suddenly began to jerk, buck, and spin around, shaking me wildly in the air.

 

I was swung around by my extended tentacles like I was some kind of toy, bonking and smacking against the wolf-dragon’s body constantly like a yoyo. Even with how much bigger I was than him, with the way that I was monkey-ed on to him I didn’t stand a single chance of not getting thrown around like crazy. It was all I could do to remove my roots from around his neck and plant them to try and find some form of balance, but all that accomplished was to keep the moving wolf-dragon in place; I was still totally being smacked against him repeatedly!

 

Ugh, I wasn’t going to be able to prove my innocence if things were going to go like this!

 

=Please Mr Avatar, just let me heal these people already! I promise I wasn’t gonna do anything bad to them! Just let me show you my good intentions already!=

 

But as if my words had fallen on deaf ears, there was no reply. All that happened was that the frantic shaking from the wolf-dragon became even rougher somehow, as if he was trying to force me to be quiet! Yup, looks like he still doesn’t wanna give listening to me a chance… Almost makes me wonder if the guy’s a mute or something in this form. Did I ever hear any of the other Pack members communicate when they were in these big yellow animal forms of theirs before…?

 

Oh well, I guess this means nothing’s changed.

I didn’t wanna have to resort to this, but sometimes ya gotta force people to sit down and shut up if you wanna prove something, you know?

Sorry Mr Avatar, this is gonna hurt a little bit~!

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