Guardian of the Forest

[Theory]

Kite



Crickets were starting their early sundown song as the machines finally began to silence their engines.
The humans had gotten started much later today then the rest of the week. Their machines, the large plowing ones in specific, had been stalling out.

Something had tampered with the wiring beneath the engine, chewed it apart in fact.
The only hint that was left were a set of wolf prints leading back to the giant grove of forestry.
It had rained last night as well which made the prints even more pronounced as they disappeared behind a large pine tree where leaf-brush picked up, covering most tracks that hadn't been completely washed away already by the downpour. Each night it was different, a different animal leaving different tracks doing different damage. However, each time it was getting worse and worse. The first few nights it was just minor things like a few buttons chewed off on a crane or a truck tire punctured by a rather large item. The workers had just assumed it was a male deer seeing it's reflection in the shiny hub-cap and thus attacked. But over the past week it had gotten quite a bit worse and much harder to recover in reasonable time.

Monday all three of the loading trucks had been flipped by what appeared to be some gigantic animal, later identified by its' tracks as an elephant. But that was completely impossible, there was no way an elephant could be running around in such a forest without drawing attention. Next, on Tuesday it appeared that a large feline, possibly a lion or tiger chewed off the shifting gears and most of the tires from several other machines. Last night a small canine had ducked under the bulldozers that had gotten fixed and chewed out the wiring.

Now it was Thursday and a large hawk was watching from the tallest pine tree still standing by the edge of the clearing. It's eyes were a piercing bright yellow in the twilight as the sun began to dip below the horizon, lighting his feathers in silvery-golds. Oh yes, the creature was watching and waiting once again for the humans to head home to their families.
He didn't have a family...he didn't need a family. The only thing Kite wanted was his forests' safety.

 

[BMO]

The days were becoming more and more ridiculous, or at least for the man that was in charge of getting the forest completely cleared out. He was getting annoyed and aggravated that whatever was doing this to his machines was making his job rather difficult. He had been called in to clear the forest so that the city could have more room to build, not to come out and have his days be all about finding that his machinery had been devastated by some kind of animal or a rather. His men continued to tell him rumors about some kind of shape shifter in the woods, protecting the forest by not allowing him and his men to cut down the trees. They continued to get more and more scared as more and more of their machines were being taken out.

Gabriel, however, was not going to be pushed away from a job just because of a few messed up machines and a rumor about some kind of man that could shift into animals. The story was ludicrous and he was not going to give up just yet, not with how much money he was going to be making once the forest was completely cleared out. If his machines continued to get messed up by different kinds of animals, he would simply get one of his guns and go find this 'shape shifter' himself, and bring its head back for his men to see how stupid they had sounded when telling him the story.

Squatting down so that he could brush his fingers across the tracks, Gabe let his eyes travel along the ground towards the forest, looking into the depths as he wondered what had happened that night. More of his machines had been messed up, and he was getting rather annoyed by whatever was doing this. Each night it was a different animal, most of them ridiculous and having no explanation at all as to why that animal was in the forest. Sometimes his mind would wander back to the story his men had told him, before he shook his head and laughed at himself for even believing in it for a minute.

It was one day away from the weekend, so Gabriel was going to let it go for that night, but tomorrow would be his last day before starting his weekend. After the next day's work, he was going to go into that forest and see what he could figure out. There was no way anything was going to keep him from clearing out the forest and getting his pay, especially not some crazy rumor about a shape shifter.

 

[Theory]

There was to be one more day of hard labor from what knowledge he had gained the last few weeks.
Humans tended to dislike working on the last two days of the week thinking it was best to relax and be lazy.
From what he'd seen the pillagers of his forest also tended to take that vacation from work.
Kite was starting to breath a sigh of relief as several of the workers gave up for the day, only able to clear a few large pines from a small island portion they'd missed the other day.
Their progress was tedious at best since most of their time was spent on repairing the damages he'd inflicted.
While most people would be happy about such a thing if they intended to save the forest Kite was just annoyed.
Yes, he damaged their things to keep them from gaining much ground and the rumors were spreading about him like wildfire but they were still coming back.
There was no 'happiness' for the young shifter unless the humans left for good.

Glancing downwards his hawk-eyes narrowed in on one human he'd recognize from miles away.
The foreman of the job...
He was inspecting the tracks Kite had left from the other night but from the look on his face he still didn't believe what the obvious signs were pointing to.
Rustling his feathers the large bird watched quietly until the human stood up and started walking back towards his car.
He was one of the last ones still in the area and considering he was leaving Kite thought it about time to make another go at the recently repaired items.

With a determined mindset he opened his wings and soared downwards, circling a few times before ducking into the trees, only to reappear seconds later as an okapi. The long-legged horse like animal was known to the deep jungles of Africa and looked like someone had pasted together a horse and a zebra, the back half striped while the front half was dark brown or black.
Sauntering out of the deep brush he glanced around, locating a new machine that had been brought in with extra protection on the controls and gas lines.
Heh.
The large animal easily trotted over the uneven ground, its' head bobbing a few times as it thought of a way of attack.
Once at the large plow-like machine it swiftly turned and kicked, leaving a rather nice dent in a side fuel tank.
The tanks were rigid steel and while most animals would have trouble getting through them, a strong hoof and a good kick was all that was needed to break through with a nice gaping hole.

Kite gave another head bob at his good job, then wrinkled his nose at the scent of the gasoline leaking onto his land.
Well, it would wash away much easier than the trees would grow back...
Hmmm, actually...

Shifting back to his human form he quickly grabbed a workman's hat from the ground and put it under the flowing tank.
Gathering up a good amount of gasoline he quickly threw it onto several machines, then grabbed a few sticks and stones.
After several minutes Kite had a small fire going on a few sticks and with a big smirk, tossed them onto each gassed-up item.
Sure it would cause a big commotion in the town but he wasn't too worried about his forest burning.
The humans had cleared anything that would travel the blaze to it.
With a satisfied smirk Kite turned and bolted back towards his green home.

 

[BMO]

The man had just been getting back to his house, where he was going to cook himself a nice quick dinner and enjoy a beer before bed, when he received a rather urgent phone call. Answering his phone, he was greeted with a lot of yelling on the other end and could barely make out what one of his men was shouting into his ear. Sighing heavily, Gabriel informed the other to calm down and explain what was happening, and as he did, fury instantly took over his face. Ending the call and angrily shoving the phone into his pocket, Gabe grabbed his truck keys as he made his way out of his house.

It was another attack on his machines, this time setting the equipment ablaze and making it rather difficult for them to fix. They would need to replace the machines and Gabe was definitely not pleased with that fact. Getting into his truck, the man started it up and headed back to the work site, grumbling about how someone was going to pay for what had happened. He liked clean work days, days that went smoothly with no disturbances. Whatever was doing this to his machines was making that difficult for him, and he was going to make sure someone paid for this.

Jumping out of his truck when he reached the site, Gabe was stopped by policemen as the firefighters got the blazes under control, putting them out as fast as they could. He was informed that most of his equipment was ruined and that he would need to get some people out there the next day to remove it from the site for it was now a hazard. Shoving a hand roughly through his hair, the man cursed under his breath as he watched the firefighters put the flames out. He was definitely going to do something about this tomorrow, for this was becoming rather annoying and Gabe had enough of it.

 

[Theory]

Instead of disappearing further into the greenery like he normally did Kite decided to stick around and see how the humans reacted to his handiwork this time.
As the fires burned humans began to gather.
He heard a siren going off in the distance and smirked as one of the human's large water trucks pulled up right before the large white version stopped next to it.
Kite knew they were too late to stop most of the damage and while fire was one thing he highly disliked it was the most effective tool to destroy as well.
If they tried to burn the forest they'd end up hitting half their town, that was the only reason he'd concluded it would be safe to hit the equipment.
Unless they clear cut all the way around the town beforehand they would just be committing suicide by burning the trees.
As the humans mulled about he decided to get a slightly closer look.
Maybe even hear them giving up, that would definitely make his day.

The okapi's form quivered momentarily, then blurred as it shrunk into a small black cat with soft emerald green eyes.
That was one thing he couldn't change no matter what form he was in, his shockingly bright green eyes.
Flicking a long soft tail the feline stretched for a moment, getting used to its' new body before sauntering about the previously discarded debris that couldn't be sold for any worth.
The dead trees gave good cover until the cat was close enough to appear to have walked out of the town instead of the forest.
As he got closer so did his courage.
No one would suspect a small little black cat, would they?

Kite watched calmly by the side for a few moments before noticing someone he'd seen several times before.
It was the one in charge, if he could remember correctly.
He was just wearing normal clothing now but he always seemed to be telling people where to put things and what to do.
With a flick of his tail Kite padded over to the human and nudged his leg, then curled around it, rubbing like most felines did when the wanted attention.
Sure it was rather ballsy to do such a thing but he was getting a bit cocky after his great achievement.

 

[BMO]

Some of his crew members had showed up at the site, watching the equipment burn as the firefights fought off the flames, quenching them as fast as they could. The look on Gabe's face was one of pure anger, being furious at what kept happening to his equipment and preventing them from doing their job. Talking with one of his employees, Gabe was discussing what they were going to do with the ruined equipment and how they were going to get more, seeing as they were using quite a bit of money on replacing all the ruined equipment.

When he felt something against his leg, Gabe looked down to see the black cat, wrapping itself around his leg. Narrowing his eyes, he didn't have time to pet or play with the cat, and he wasn't in the mood to deal with the feline. Moving his leg, he started to push at the cat, trying to shoo it away as he looked back at his employee, trying to finish his conversation without letting the animal distract him. He had important matters to deal with, and he wasn't in the mood for the feline to mess with him.

 

[Theory]

The cat figured it might be a target for retaliation but was honestly surprised when it was just nudged a bit.
Obviously the guy was busy since most of his current equipment was smoking if not still burning.
Plopping his butt down for a few moments Kite thought about what his next move should be.
Obviously there would be no work tomorrow for the humans trying to cut his forest less they came with literal saws and chainsaws.
His feline face wrinkled with disgust at the thought of having to try and fend off those machines.
He couldn't sabotage things that weren't left on site.
Turning back to the discussing leader he seemed rather intent to set up a date for more machines to be delivered.
Tch.
He should have learned by now...stubborn human.
Perhaps a slight wake up call might bring him to his senses that this forest didn't belong to him and it had a rather intelligent guardian to make sure it never would...

Sauntering back over to Gabe Kite gave a few more passes around his leg before lifting his own and marking 'his' territory.
Of course he knew that would probably get him punted so before the other could respond he bolted off towards the forest, stopping only a few yards from the trees to turn and give off a loud echoing yowl.
With that he turned once again and stalked right into the forest, a place no domestic cat would willing venture.

 

[BMO]

Groaning as Gabe learned that it would be a while before they could get new equipment out there, he was not going to have a good time explaining that to the man who hired him to cut down the forest. The lack of his equipment and the fact that most of it was now ruined, he was getting annoyed rather quickly and was seconds away from just setting the forest on fire, not caring what got damaged in the process. Running a hand through his hair, Gabe nodded his head as he was told they had someone coming out the next day to remove the ruined equipment. He was not pleased, but agreed to be there when they got there.

When he felt something on his leg again, the man sighed heavily as he looked down at the cat, but then cursed when it lifted a leg and pissed on him, "Stupid cat!" He shouted as he shook his leg, though knowing not much could be done now as the feline ran away. Cursing under his breath, Gabe had enough of all of this, "You say there's a guardian of the forest? Well, I'm going in there tomorrow and proving to you there isn't. Or bringing back its head," the man spat to his employee as he stormed back to his truck, now needing to change his pants as the piss soaked into them.

 

[Theory]

The next day found Kite in jaguar form lazily lounging about on his favorite tree.
It was a large oak that had been warped many years ago by harsh winds and heavy rainfall.
The branches were perfect for a large cat and considering the only native ones were mountain lions and they weren't too found of climbing vertically it was left alone as Kite's territory.
That wasn't to say humans didn't come here a few times a year on hikes.
He had plenty of fun tormenting kids that thought nature was just something burn up in the fire.
Some had even caught a few lizards and thrown them right into the fire for the hell of it.
If perhaps they needed them for food he might have forgiven it but to just grab a creature and burn it for entertainment...
I don't think so.
Let's just say that was the start of the guardian rumors because Kite came trampling through the forest as a giant bull elephant, scaring much more than just the crap out of those humans.

Thinking back to last night his feline lips curved into a slow smirk.
That human had been pissed but besides that fact they were definitely out of commission for at least another day or so since the burnt out machines had to be collected and disposed of before new ones could come in and replace them.
A grumbling purr echoed through the small area at that information.
He'd finally have a rest for a day and not have to worry about the stupid humans playing god on his land.
Hmmm, perhaps he'd even hunt today considering he hadn't eaten for a week, his stomach was starting to protest.

 

[BMO]

As the next day rolled around, the man was supposed to be at the site to ensure the equipment was removed properly and without any trouble, seeing as they would need it gone before the new ones came in. Leaning against his truck, he was just waiting for them to clear out the last ones as he stood watch, arms crossed over his chest as he glared at the forest. He was getting tired of losing equipment and time trying to clear out the forest, in which he was going to be put behind the deadline by several days. He was just waiting for the last of the men to clear out before he started into the forest, in search of whatever or whoever was doing this. He'd brought his handgun with him, just in case he ran into any trouble, which he doubted he would.

When the men finally called out they were done and acknowledged their goodbyes, Gabe nodded his head to them as he opened the door to his truck, reaching in to retrieve the gun. Stashing it in the back of his jeans, he let his jacket fall over it so that no one could see it as he made his way towards the forest. Finally he was going to be able to figure out just what was happening to his equipment and why they didn't have half the forest cleared out already.

 

[Theory]

It was around two or so by the time Kite's stomach decided it was time to eat.
He'd been in his larger forms more often than normal and thus needed to eat quite a bit today.
Slowly sliding off the branch he landed in a crouch before trotting off towards a clearing he knew tended to have herds at this time of day, grazing on new grass shoots and plants by the lake.
There were very few big cats left in this area because of all the human activity but that was actually bad for the area.
If you didn't have predators the prey that should have fallen to them grow sicker and start dying left and right.
It can be extremely unhealthy with dead animals everywhere.

Arriving at his hunting ground he easily picks out two or three animals that needed removal.
One was limping from a break while two others were obviously lagging behind.
The sick ones would go first.
Crouching down he slowly ducked into the grass keeping his body as low to the ground as he could manage.
One thing the kid was good at was hunting.
Even at such a young age and no parents he had learned how to take care of himself.

As he got within about ten yards his muscles bunched and he sprang, easily leaping that distance and landing on the old animal.
His jaws were around the animals neck, snapping it in seconds to put it out of its misery.
Mmmm.
A low purr echoed through the now-empty clearing as Kite leaned down and started eating.