[Hunting -] Not So Great Fishing Trip

Spots figured that today was a good day to go fishing. It was a bright and sunny spring day, it’ll be a perfect day to spend outside fishing, Spots thought to himself. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky, so he didn’t have to worry about rain. There was a slight breeze, but nothing that would make it annoying for him to fly. Easy peasy, Spots figured.

However, when he pushed past the foliage and vegetation to his typical fishing spot, he paused when he noticed something. Someone was already here! Or well, not a someone, a something. A hawk!

Spots huffed to himself, well, that was rather rude of the hawk to be stealing his lunch! Surely there are a bunch of other rivers and streams for this hawk to fish in but no, he decides to fish in his fishing spot of all places! How rude!

Spots unfolded his wings and took off into the sky, right at the hawk as it swooped down to grab yet another fish in its talons. Luckily the hawk stopped midflight or else it would’ve collided with Spots, but he’s learned from experience that hawks are skillful aerial birds. He would’ve had time to stop.

Now that he’s got the hawk's attention, he opened his beak and let out a loud yell. He figured that it would be so loud that it would scare the hawk away, or at least startle it to leave.

And yep, he was right.

The hawk lowered his head and gave a small whimper before it flew away into the cloudless sky.

Once it was gone, Spots gave a huff. Serves it right for trying to steal Spot’s spot! Spots may not look like much in terms of size, or even strength, but he can make a lot of noise, and for wild animals, that’s enough to spook them, he has discovered.

But, now that that’s done, he can focus on his lunch!

However, now that he made a lot of noise, he’s certain that the fish has been startled too and now won’t come to the surface for a bit. Oh well, Spots can wait.

He picked a tall tree nearby where he sat on the highest branch so he could look down at the vast river. He couldn’t see all of the river from this angle, but he could see most of it and that’s good enough for him. He got comfy on this branch since he figured it would probably be a while before the fish emerged to the surface again. Then he took a breath and waited.

After about an hour he could see some fish fins crash through the surface of the water. Ah, perfect. And it looks like the fish are hungry based off how much they are breaking the surface. Good, they’ll be desperate.

Spots unfolded his wings once again, and he kicked himself off from the branch. Easily Spots glided downwards towards the water. He had his lower paws extended so he could catch any bit of fish that dared to get too close to the surface. Finally, he skitted along the water so his paws could submerge into the water and so it would be easier for him to catch his prey-

Got one!

Spots could feel the slimy scaley thing trying to wiggle out from his paws, but it wouldn’t do any good. His claws had dug firmly into the fish’s body so there was no chance of it escaping.

Skillfully, Spots glided up into the sky once again, and he made his way back to the same exact tree that he had just sat on before.

Once he made it there, he used one of his paws to grip the branch so he could steady himself, and he used the other paw to lift the fish up so he could slurp it down. You thought that was an over-exaggeration? Oh no, he slurped the thing down like it was made out of jello.

He licked his lips once it went down his throat, and he gave a small rumble of a purr.

Trout, his favorite type of fish. He’s definitely scored today!

At least it wasn’t an eel. Spots shivered to himself at just the memory of trying his first eel. Those things are slimy, disgusting, and just foal-looking. Whoever invented eels should be struck by lightning and told to never invent anything again, ever. Those things are an abomination to animal kind.

But, Spots shouldn’t focus on that, he didn’t get an eel this time! He should count himself lucky and move on!

And, when there is one trout, there is always more. So, he’s definitely scored today with this meal!

Now he just has to wait for some more trouts to emerge to the surface. Sometimes they can be a bit wary and finicky, or sometimes they don’t care that they just saw one of their buddies get snatched away and they’ll keep coming up to the surface-

Oh, like now.

Spots watched as a bunch of trouts were now emerging to the surface just to splash their fins around. His wings had unfolded again, but this time he paused, why were they just…splashing around for? That seems weird, but maybe they were taking some breaths of air? Would fish need to do that though since they have gills?

Eh, Spots probably shouldn’t worry too much about it. Prey is just strange and weird sometimes, he can’t explain their behavior most of the time so he should shrug it off.

However, it wasn’t a good idea to shrug it off as he was about to learn very quickly.

As Spots were gliding closer to the water, he was about to reach down to grab one of the trouts that were basically hopping out of the water for some reason. Why were they acting like they were in distress and trying to get away from something-

Just as Spots were wondering that, something massive broke out from the water right in front of the Tapejara. It was a massive brown blob that had snatched some of the trouts in its mouth.

Luckily, Spots was able to come to a stop just in time so he wouldn’t crash into this blob, but it took all of his skill to do so. If he were just a little bit slower he would’ve crashed right into it.

He flew upwards, but, his bright eyes looked down to see what he almost crashed into.

Wait, was that…

A walrus?!

Spots don’t see too many walrus down in these warm parts, and especially away from the ocean. It’s one of the many reasons why he likes this spot, and why he’ll rarely ever hunt in the oceans. That and sharks, he hates dealing with sharks.

But, what is a walrus doing out here of all places?!

Spots glanced around, and that’s when he noticed…

The river path leading up to the mountains… Maybe he came from there… The ice has begun to melt from the mountains now that it has been getting warmer and warmer now that spring is here. Maybe he came from there and got lost from his pack and now he is stuck here.

But…how can he help this poor creature?

It’s not like he can lift a walrus, no way. Unless… he could try to lead it back to the mountains? But that could take all day, if not longer. He’ll have to go an entire day without eating much of anything. Would it be worth it? It’s not like he’ll get anything out of it in the long run…

Spot’s eyes glanced back down to the walrus eating up some more trout, and he immediately shook his head.

No, this mother’s creature is probably worried sick about its baby. He should help it out, even if he won’t get anything out of it. It’s the best thing to do.

So, Spot’s took in a massive breath, and he glided back down closer to the walrus. He was attempting to get its attention when it certainly saw Spots for sure, cause now it was attempting to grab Spots out of mid-air! Goodness, this thing must be hungry or something!

Spots kept zooming away from the hungry massive jaws of this beast, but one wrong move and-

Oh crap.

Spots felt the walrus grab onto one of his paws, and before Spots knew it, he was being dragged into the water with this thing. He tried to kick at the creature’s face, or even flap its wings against its snout. But nothing he was doing was even making this beast flinch. But he has to get out of here and fast, or else it’ll bite down and-

Spots screamed as he felt the beast bite down on his leg. His name may be Spots, but at that moment he actually saw spots along the surface of the water. He gasped and twisted in order to get away from this thing. And luckily, whatever he did managed to work in his favor in breaking away from the grips of this beast.

He flew out of the water, gasping for air, and now drenching wet. He glanced down at his leg and saw what looked like pools of blood dripping from his furry leg.

He heard something else try to fly out of the water too, the walrus. He turned to glare at the beast past the throbbing of his leg and the ringing in his ears.

“You ungrateful beast! I was trying to help you! Ow… Ow… You really hurt me! Try figuring out how to get home by yourself now! I’m not helping you! You meanie!” Spots stuck out his tongue at the beast before he started his flight home. All the while hoping that the blood pooling from his wound wouldn’t attract any unwanted predators. And, wondering how he is even going to bandage this up with the little bit of supplies he has at home.

The weather may have been peaceful, but the day certainly wasn’t.