Chapter 26: To Trust or Not to Trust

                                    

                                          
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"What are we going to do? How are we possibly going to stop him?" said a hopeless Shark.
                          
He looked over at the Rudimental creatures. The two were fading away, slowly, for somehow, some unexplainable way, he understood without his and Troy's offering the two could not sustain. 
                          
"Look at him. He looks so calm and cocky as if he has already won his prize," said Troy. 
                          
"What does he want from us?" asked a puzzled Shark. 
                          
Chi-taki finally made his first advancement. He extended his thunderbolt like claws and began battering and severing the tree the two were in. Before they could even grasp onto a limb or a branch, they began falling to the forest floor. 
                          
Chi-taki knelt down on his hind leg and then shot up to the two like a rocket, grasping them by the collars, and heaving them into a pile of fallen leaves while the tree hosting their safe haven plummeted to where they were supposed to be.
                          
Shark forced himself to stand, dusted himself off of all the twigs and leaves as he hollered at the cheetah man, "You could have killed us, you maniac."
                          
"I believe that's what he was trying to do," replied a slowly rising Troy.
                          
"Kill you? Now why would I desire such? It would make me the worst protector in the land," replied Chi-taki. 
                          
"The what?" said Shark, wondering if he heard the cheetah man clearly or if his ears were playing a trick on him. 
                          
"I am here to protect you, but it has been very hard. The two of you keep on running away," replied Chi-taki with a smile from his fuzzy yellow face.
                          
"Do you mean to tell me you were trying to save us from those wolves and that scorpion?" asked a not so sure Troy. What angle was this beast man coming from?
                          
"Yes," replied Chi-taki. "I was trying to save you from the savage Silvertooth's and Scornide (Score-nide)."
                          
"Those things have names?" exclaimed Shark as if such a thing was unheard of.
                          
"That would be silly if they did not. How would we be able to address them?" replied Chi-taki in a comical tone. 
                          
"Wait! What did you think I was going to do?"
                          
Troy smiled and said, trying to add a jovial tone to his reply, "Eat us."
                          
"What! Eat you? I am no savage Beastial, and plus if I wanted to eat you then I would have allowed the Silvertooths and Scornide to do a little damage first," responded Chi-taki with another smile and wink. 
                          
"If I, were you, I would've done the same," said Shark.
                          
"I'm sorry," said Troy, inching a little closer to Shark. "But you do kind of look like the, what was it you called them again, awe yes, the Silvertooths." 
                          
Chi-taki looked down and the forest fell into silence. 
                          
Troy did not know whether he had upset or offended the cheetah like man with his comparison to the Silvertooth whom he had described as savages. Chi-taki looked up and Troy stepped backwards with caution while Shark prepared to flee. 
                          
"Do not worry about it. A lot of warriors think I am a savage. I am accustomed to it, for my race is savage like, but I am nothing like them."
                          
The two sighed in relief. 
                          
"May I, ask you, what your name is?" said a cautious Shark. 
                          
"Of course, you may," he replied with a nod. "It is Chi-taki."
                          
"May I ask what are your names?" asked Chi-taki politely. 
                          
"My name is Jeremiah Shark Kingsland, but you can call me Shark."  
                          
"That's a long name Jeremiahsharkkingsland," said Chi-taki, scratching his head. 
                          
"No, my name is Jeremiah space Shark space Kingsland," replied a laughing Shark.
                          
"Why did your parents give you three names? And one of them being named after the great Beastial shark of Lord Ponthious (Pon-tee-us) an odd but excellent choice," said Chi-taki rubbing his white chin hair, a bit amused it looked. 
                          
Shark not knowing whom or what Chi-taki was referring to, politely nodded, and replied, "Yeah, that's who they named me after." He did not want to explain to Chi-taki further on what a nickname was. 
                          
"Where we are from," said Troy, trying not to give away their identity and the majestic blue marble jewel's name. "We can have two or three names or more."
                          
"Oh, I see," said Chi-taki, still looking a little confused as if he was given a math equation to solve. "Well here in Hyoditic, we only have one name."
                          
"And what is yours?" asked Chi-taki. 
                          
"Well, I don't have a fancy name like Shark, but it's Troilus Chan, but you can call me by my short form Troy," he replied. 
                          
"That's a wonderful name. I have never heard of it before, but nevertheless a wonderful name. Now we must get going, this forest is very dangerous," said Chi-taki. 
                          
He looked up at the trees as if he was expecting some dark presence to come and engulf them in its grasp. 
                          
The two looked at each other. Could they truly trust Chi-taki? Yes, he said he tried to save them but it could all be a ploy to gain their trust and when they least expected it, he would pounce. 
                          
"It's our only option," said Shark to Troy, trying to convince him with his look.
                          
If he tried to wound them, they would flee with the best of their abilities, but for now he was their only chance of escaping the forest which seemed to have its own intentions on where they went and what they encountered. 
                          
"Are the two of you ready?" asked Chi-taki. 
                          
"We are," replied a smiling Troy but very apprehensive.
                          
"All right, the two of you are going to get onto my back when I convert into my feline form. Now stand back," instructed Chi-taki.
                          
Lightning engulfed him while he looked like he was giving birth to the cheetah. In his feline form he walked up to the two. 
                          
"If I wanted to eat you, then I would do it here, where no one could prosecute me for the crime." 
                          
He was trying to convince them, to tell them he was on their side but still they had their reserves and would keep that until they were one thousand percent sure of his character. 
                          
They cautiously jumped onto his back. Troy held on to his yellow fur tightly which was surprising warm and fluffy like wool and Shark held on to his waist. 
                          
"Tighten your grip. This will be a bumpy ride," said Chi-taki cheerfully. 
                          
He hoisted himself over the bushes and then to the trees using them to gain speed. 
                          
The two gazed at their surrounding, but it was all a blur. The forest looked like it was running again. 
                          
Chi-taki twisted left, turned right, curved backwards over bushes, small trees, until they were out of the forest and into the open wheat field. 
                          
"This is way cooler than riding a horse," shouted Shark over the wind in his face and hair. "No one's going believe me when I tell them we rode a cheetah." 
                          
"Yeah," replied Troy, paying more attention to the forest. 
                          
Troy's hunches were correct earlier. This forest was some type of maze where forward was really backwards and where left was really right. 
                          
Chi-taki darted deeper into the woods until he came to a small clearing on top of a hill overlooking a blue waterfall and a hill overshadowed by maple trees and bushes.