To Grow

The small warmth was when the snow began melting, and the sun began shining more and more warmly. It was also then, that the slumbering ones awoke, and began prowling for prey. Because of this, the small warmth is both the nice, warming period, and the most dangerous period. 

At least, for the first days. Then, the snow would melt completely, and the bushes and trees would grow berries and leaves. But for the first few days, I would be staying in my territory, hoping that nothing truly strong would come over. I had just finished marking my new territory again anyways. That had been a tense journey. But I had to do it. The ones would know it's my territory, and won't bother, because they had more important things to do, such as filling their stomach.

The sole reason I would even consider defending my territory against irritable big furred ones and others is because after a whole great cold of being dormant, they would come out slightly weaker. 

I learned a lot from observing as a very tiny flying one.

I looked down at myself. I think I grew even more. The ground feels farther away, and I can reach the top of the den in my two-leg form easily, when before, I couldn't reach it at all, even if I jumped. So that means I grew! And to grow means that my others forms will now be bigger! It won't be long before I can be just as big as the big furred ones!

I sat down onto the ground, and waited. I was getting restless. I had been staring at the same walls for the whole great cold. I knew exactly where every root sticks out, and where the dirt is weak, and which places are the most drafty.

Sighing, I stared out the entrance of the den. The entrance was raised so it was higher than most of the den, and because it was made by a big fur, it was big. The den itself was also big. 

I was feeling something. I had felt like this for the whole great cold, and had felt like this in moments of peace. It made me restless, but also sleepy. I want to do something, but I didn't want to move. 

Are there others like me? I wondered. There were many ones near me, and all of them had a group, or at the very least, knew where ones like them are. So, that means, there should be ones like me. But where are they? I had to come from somewhere. I had seen some flying ones poop out solid white-yellow round stones, which then broke, and tiny flying ones would come out. Maybe I came out like the tiny flying ones, but my stone had been stolen?

Absentmindedly, I twirled my fur with my wiggly two-leg paw. Another thing about the two-leg form is that it only had hair on top of the head, a very thin layer of hair on the arms and legs, and recently, I've been growing some hair between my legs and under my arms. Small lumps of fat have also been growing on my front. They weren't big enough to be in my way, and I hoped it would stay that way.

I shifted back into my quick furred one form, and with my new senses, I smelled something.

Intruder! 

I ran out the den, and headed directly in the intruder's direction.

There were steps to facing an intruder. Step one is to gauge the other's strength.

Step two is, if they were weaker, scare them off. If they were stronger, attempt to scare them off.

Step three is to fight them if they wouldn't leave. If they were too strong, just run away.

I was getting closer to the intruder now. It was a big furred, but like I expected, it was smaller than before. 

I stepped forwards, and snarled, raising my hackles and pinning my ears back. I had grown during the great cold, and it showed. Before, I would be about the height of her elbow, but now, I was as halfway up her arm above her elbow. I'm pretty sure I was about the size of a normal quick furred one.

She snarled back at me, digging her front paws into the dirt, and raised her own hackles.

Step two, gauge her strength. I was pretty sure if we were to fight, I would be quicker than her, and she would be slightly stronger than me. She's stronger and bigger, and she still has her cold fur, so it would also be thicker than usual. If we fought, I might come out on top.

Step two, scare her off. I growled at her, snarled, and paced side to side, doing my best to scare her off. She growled, but this time, it was weaker than before.

Good. Now, to look even stronger. I stopped pacing, and stared up at her. I narrowed my eyes, and let out a small bark.

She looked uncertainly to the side, then she walked away. I watched her leave, and I began walking back to my den. This happened a few more times, but I managed to avoid a fight. 

A group of tough ones ran through my territory, but I let them. There was no point to trying to drive them off. I was way weaker than them. 

The great warmth came, and I feasted on small prey ones and berries. Everything was good. I had a territory, though it was on the smaller side, but it was still big compared to other territories. I had food. I had water, and I had a den. Everything was nice.

The great warmth passed, and the small cold came. I began burying prey, and hoarding the berries. The great cold came, and I stayed in my den. I ate sparingly, but I still grew. I had been growing during the great warmth, small cold, and small warmth. But it seemed that I grew the most during the great cold. 

The small warmth came once again, but now, my territory felt small. Cramped. I decided that it was time to expand again. I scouted some of the nearby territories, and found one close to me. It was the territory of a flying one. The territory was a bit small, but it had plenty of berry bushes and wide trees. It also had a lot of small prey ones. The flying one was dark, so dark that I couldn't see it, but instead, had to rely on my other senses. She was smaller than me, but she could fly. And there were two other flying ones with her.

She also had a branch she preferred, which was isolated from the other two. If I could injure one of her flying things, she wouldn't be able to fly anymore. She was the head of her group, so the other two should just fly away.

The flying one had only one leg that had long, sharp claws. Her head had two small horns growing, which seemed to just weigh her down and make it harder for her to lift her head.

I decided to injure her during the day, because during the dark night, she was invisible to all my senses, somehow. 

Flying ones can't smell anything, so I didn't have to go downwind from them. 

I had learned that if I want to fight a flying one, there was no point shifting into one. They had more time to familiarize themselves to their own bodies, and they knew how to fly better than me. I should just stick to my two bodies I knew best.

I shifted into the two-leg form, and climbed the tree next to hers. I made sure to climb as quietly as possible, and to not disturb any branches.

Once I was as close as I could get to her without alerting her, I swallowed, and jumped.

At this distance, she suddenly looked bigger. I also just noticed how her claws seemed to glint slightly, and how she was just as big as my two-leg form.

And how she seemed to be looking right at me.