Something had taken the bait of the traps left out by the Sea-Cucumbers… And the trap, with it. Shenzi, the huntress, was more annoyed that she needed to re-learn her foot-hold strategies, while Skritch, the captain, lamented the loss of the ham sandwich. "Don't worry sssso much," Akira, the aspiring scholar professed, "I'm ssssure the culpritss are ssstil around."

As if on cue, there was a squeal from the bushes. Inside, two pig-nosed creatures fought each other with nips as they fought over the sandwich, tearing into the white bread as if it were a delicacy. One was mud-brown, while the other was a dull grey–though each had pink ears and noses. Behind them, great mushroom trees rose into the sky, some with white-and-red caps and some with a natural brown. Taller than them, still, were the redwoods, from which hung massive stretches of vines. L'Hatzif was a jungle--no less--and it was surprisingly... Goopy? Sap seemed to stick to most everything below the trees, forming perfect droplets.

"NUUKAPS? AGAIN?" Skritch let out an exasperated sigh—the tribe had been scrounging off of pork all week, whether it was in the form of bacon, chops, or rinds. "Well, we live in nukap territory," Shenzi smugly pointed out. It wasn't like they would be hunting hojenst or jaebo, which lived in the mountains and the deserts, respectively.

"Thisss won't be much of a problem at all," Akira, a massive serpent rose behind the two. Had he not been a member of their tribe, they would've been fleeing from the 30-foot tall behemoth. "Though I do hate getting my sssscales dirty." Skritch sighed, at least grateful that they had found food. "Make it quick," he said in a tone Shenzi didn't quite like, and waved a hand.

As stealthily as a giant snake could, Akira slowly slithered through the overgrowth. His scales moved through thick jungle brush, and over small mushrooms, toppling them. Shenzi and Skritch watched in awe as his blue-hued stomach wrapped fully around the glade, trapping the nukap inside of a barrier of scales.

"I take everything back," Skritch sighed, "Hunting is too easy when you've got a giant snake." Shenzi shrugged. "Tark'ee," she corrected gingerly–not that it mattered much. Even most other tark'ee didn't want their own species associated with the draconics, but she didn't care to follow their political labels either. "Who wants to go wild nukap poking?" She pulled out a spear, grinning.

"They will know my wrath in other ways," Skritch resisted, "Through my words! You–" he pointed to the brown one, "You're a bad, terrible pig!" It honked, not understanding. Akira sighed, his big body trembling as he constricted inwards. The grey nukap continued eating a mushroom, hardly caring that a predator was readying to devour it. The pink one freaked out, running right into Shenzi's spear.

"You weren't kidding," she pointed out, almost sourly. "That was way too easy." As she cleaned the blood off her wooden weapon, Skritch fussed over dividing the nukap into the pelt, hooves, and raw meat–though he wasn't very good at it, compared to the huntress. Akira–well, he gained an extra bump in his long, serpentine body.

"Where did the other one go?" Shenzi asked, realizing that she didn't see it anymore. A true gentleman, Akira with-held a burp. If only he had arms, he'd dot his beak with a hanky, too. "Well, whatever–" Skritch complained, "It looks like we're having bacon–again."