Jimin tried to walk through the mess of undergrowths and roots without tripping. But with his ever lasting rift with gravity, it seemed like a hard thing to do. Yoongi on the other hand was walking like he was on plain ground. Jimin bit his lips and tried to place his stepping exactly where Yoongi had, but without much success. Finally, he heard Yoongi sigh and turn around.
"Don't step on the roots, the algae makes them slippery" Yoongi point out, "Try to step where they are more grasses, the roots hold the soil together and you won't loose your stepping. Don't try to kick the rocks because you never know which is actually as small as it seems and which one is just the exposed part of a big rock"
Jimin nodded and tried to follow. At least this time he didn't feel like he was going to fall every five step. Though, he did stumble every now and then. Suddenly Yoongi stopped walking and Jimin almost bumped into him.
He scrunched up his nose and was about to ask what happened when he saw someone else standing in front of them. Jimin's eyes widen when he saw greenish scales on the man's face. His eyes glowed a shade of milky blue and the pupils were slit instead of round.
Jimin noticed the canines, or fangs, that were pushing down on the man's lips. He knew that the man's spirit animal was a snake but he had no interest in finding out which. He felt Yoongi push him behind a little till he was completely hidden behind his body.
Both, Yoongi and the other man, didn't say a word. They just glared at each. Though, Jimin could feel Yoongi's muscles tensing and relaxing as he waited for the other to move. But it wasn't because he was scared. The smirk on his face and the glint in his eyes showed anything but fear. It was more like Yoongi was tempting the other to take a step forward.
However, the other man, blinked and stepped away. He didn't even give a second glance before he walking away. His behavior and the look in his eyes said that he wouldn't touch Yoongi even with a ten foot stick.
Jimin peeked over Yoongi to see the man leave. And after he was no longer visible past the tree, Yoongi started walking again. Jimin almost fell down because he was leaning his weight against the elder. He slumped his shoulder and gave an annoyed expression before continuing to walk.
"Can you climb trees?" Yoongi asked.
"Huh- wha- Yeah, I can. Well I guess" Jimin mumbled, unsure of his own abilities.
Yoongi pointed towards a tree to their right and spoke, "Can you climb that one?"
The branches of that tree were low enough to climb, but high enough to keep something safe.
"I'll try"
"There's a flag on the second level branch. Get that down" Yoongi said, pointing to where the flag must be. Jimin tried to spot it, his sight following where the white-head was pointing, but he couldn't see anything in between the leaves.
Nevertheless, he tried to climb up the tree. Luckily for him, there were enough footings such that even if Jimin slipped a little, he wouldn't fall down on the ground. Slowly and carefully, he climbed up the tree. He was confused when he reached upto the level where Yoongi had pointed because there was nothing there.
He thought that he was at the wrong height so he tried getting even higher and looked around, but all he saw was leaves and branches and... oh look more leaves.
"Yoo-" He stopped when he looked down and saw that Yoongi wasn't beneath him. He furrowed his brows together and was about to get down when he heard crunching of leaves and twigs. Immediately, he realized there was someone else on the ground. Someone who wasn't Yoongi.
He cursed under his breath and climbed up higher until he was sure no one could spot him from underneath. Jimin tried to stay as quiet as possible and peeked past the leaves. From his position it was hard to spot anyone or anything. But soom enough, two people walked into his line of sight.
Jimin recognized the boy and the girl. He had seen them earlier when all the participants were grouped up together. If he wasn't wrong then one of them was a hippopotamus and the other was a panther.
'Yoongi wanted me to hide without questioning anything...' Jimin realized. He guessed, Yoongi too was hiding somewhere, because without any water bodies nearby only an idiot would want to pick a fight with a hippopotamus.
Jimin held in his breath when the girl stood right underneath the tree he was hiding on. There were leaves that should cover him, but one can never be too sure. Moreover, if the girl was a panther, she might be able to sniff his scent.
Suddenly there was a breaking sound and Jimin's heart almost stopped beating, thinking it was because of something he did. Much to his relief, the sound came from the other directions and it succesfully got their attention.
Jimin waited only let out his breath when the two were gone far enough. And even when he could no longer see them, Jimin didn't dare get down.
"They are gone, it's alright. You can get down now" He heard a familiar voice say.
When he looked down he saw Yoongi looking up at him. Jimin bit his lips and warily got down. Once his feet touched the ground, he again looked around to make sure no one else was present. He sighed in relief after he was sure they won't be coming back and continued walking with Yoongi.
"If you wanted me to hide, you could've just said so." Jimin muttered.
"Uh, I actually thought there was a flag up there. But, um, guess I was wrong." Yoongi replied, holding up a flag in his hand, "But I got it anyways. I got confused because the color's almost similar."
Jimin clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes. The color was anything but similar. The flag was literally dark lime green and the leaves were all a darker shade of parrot greens. There was no way Yoongi could get 'confused' with the shades.
Though, Jimin didn't comment on that.
Suddenly, he heard a raspy, loud purr. Jimin almost thought it was the sound of a house cat, but it was too loud to be such. His eyes widen as his breath got caught in his lungs when he looked in front of him.
A cougar.
Immediately, Yoongi changed into his tiger form. The cougar screamed at the tiger as it moved forward.
"Run!" Yoongi demaned to Jimin.
But the younger was so caught up in his fear of seeing a cougar so close to him. The feline's blue eyes bore in his, freezing him at one point. It wasn't until Yoongi roared so loudly, that Jimin realized that the cougar was targetting after him.
Before the cougar could jump up on him, the tiger tackled it down. Yoongi glared at Jimin and the younger took it as the final warning to run. He didn't need to be told again. He picked up the flag that had fallen on the ground and dashed in the other direction.
He remembered that he had to place it somewhere and hold the ground until the flag changed its color. Jimin spotted an mount of soil a little further from where he was and ran in that direction. He flinched everytime he heard a loud roar or screeching scream.
Jimin glance back once to check if the cougar was after him. And even though, it wasn't, it won't take long for it to get Jimin. So, he quickly dug a hole on the mount of soil and planted the flaged. He counted the seconds until his breath.
It was almost close to finish when Jimin heard the sound of cougar. Immediately Jimin scurried off the mount and hid behindit. He looked past the corner to see where the cougar was, but found nothing.
He gulped realizing where the cougar might me if it wasn't in front of him. Jimin bit back the whimpers as he slowly looked up. Face to face with the cougar. He almost sighed in relief when he saw that the flag had changed colors and that meant the cougar woud leave. However, it wasn't the case.
The cougar purred, low in its throat, and glared at Jimin. The human, gulped stumbling down to his feet. He knew there was no point in running anymore. The cougar snarled and was about to attack when it got interuppted by a thunderous roar.
The next thing Jimin knew was the couagr being thrown off the mount. It whimpered as it fell on the ground only to get back up and scream once again. Yoongi was panting hard. But from the look in his eyes, Jimin knew it wasn't because Yoongi was tired. But because, he was struggling to keep control.
Jimin could almost hear the vibrations from the low growl gurgling in his throat. Then, he roared. He roared so loud the entire place fell completely quiet afterwards. It was so quiet that Jimin could even hear his heart beat and thought it was echoing through the forest. It was like, even the trees didn't want to anger him any furhter. The cougar's aggressive demeanor vanished. He purred quietly before running away.
Yoongi huffed and shook his head, trying to keep himself in control. Jimin decided that he could help. Because so far, Yoongi in his tiger form, or when completely a tiger, had never harmed him. So, Jimin knelt down in front of him and quickly took a submissive posture.
"Yoongi, please, breath" Jimin whispered, "The cougar's gone, okay? You can calm down now"
The tiger huffed and purred, pawing at its face as Jimin slowly approached him. Though, he was scared because he could never be sure whether the tiger wanted to attack him or not. But, still he hugged the tiger and ran his hand down the spine, as far as he could reach.
"It's okay, calm down" Jimin whispered. The tiger tried to nudge him away, but he stayed in place, tightening his grip. He took in a shaky breath, closed his eyes and waited.
After a while, he felt a hand being place on his back and immediately leaned back. He sighed seeing Yoongi completely back to normal. Though, there was a little glint of yellow against the black iris, but Jimin ignored it.
"Let's go" Yoongi said and stood up, walking away.
Jimin pressed his lips together, wondering why he head the sudden urge to hug the other. He shook of his thoughts and tagged after. The was game was still far from ending.