Chapter 3

Kala peeled her eyes open, though the daze of sleep still clung to her as dark circled lined her eyes. Dirt and stones were being tossed into the air like pieces of lint, as an angry Kong created a frantic mess.

He either must have awoken to find himself laying on his stomach and thought that he killed her, or he thought that she left him and took off running like everyone else.

Kala just turned onto her back and stared at the open ceiling of the temple, breathing evenly as she watched the clouds and listened to his anxious shuffling.

The sun streamed into the structure, lighting up her surroundings. For just a second she was able to embrace the moment of peace, when she was done she was going to have to deal with a temperamental ape.

The moment was broken when a large stone landed a little too close for comfort next to her head. Dust was thrown up into the air, annoying her and making her eyes water painfully.

Kala sat up and gave a short, sharp whistle. Kong's head snapped to her direction, and his dark eyes lit up when they landed on her.

They then narrowed as he stomped towards me, the distance that would seem long to a human was easily crossed with his large strides. The dark-skinned girl didn't cow, or flinch as his massive face was shoved directly in front of her own. He was so close that he could feel his soft short breaths on her face, and see the leathery texture of his pushed in nose.

"Hi," she breathed along with a slight wave of her hand.

His response was to huff directly into her face, causing her to shut her eyes as his hot breath blew her wild hair back in the hot (and smelly) wind. While she was distracted by his bad breath, his hand once again made a grab for her body.

Once she was firmly cocooned in his palm, she thought about resisting for a millisecond before discarding the idea completely. He may or may not squish her to death if he so felt like it.

Before she knew it, she felt them move.

Kala had no idea where they were headed, but it was definitely starting to get a little stuffy in his hand. She slipped her hand in between the crevice of his fingers and attempted to pry them apart.

Her effort was fruitless, though it did make the beast stop in his tracks. When his hand opened, his dark eyes looked down at her curiously. Kala just sat in his palm like she was Thumbelina, and he, the human farmer who found morbid amusement at having such a small being at their mercy.

'Gosh, he really is big,' she thought before she shook her head to clear her thoughts.

"I'm going to climb you now," the curly haired girl stated with clear confidence. It figured that if she was going to stay with him for a while, she might as well get him acclimated to hearing her voice.

His response was to shift his eyes towards her before ignoring her again. She took that as an affirmative.

So, same as the day before, she steadily climbed up Kong until she was seated on his shoulder.

"Definitely a much better view," she murmured.

In the village it was mostly rocky shores and old marooned ships, not much plant life to climb or see. But here, deep in the forest, trees grew as tall as skyscrapers with all different types of fruits and plants accompanying them.

It reminded her so much of her simple lives.

The ones where she would run away from the rest of the world and live in isolation in the jungle or forest. Sometimes people were too much for her. They were too greedy, to selfish, never looking at the bigger picture and only concerning themselves with things that directly affect them.

It's not that she hated people, their simplicity was actually amusing at times, but too much of anything can get old really fast. But more than that, it really hurt to leave her important people behind. So many people... and she would never see them again...

Something in her snapped, and her eyes started to leak tears. Her breathing hitched, and she closed her eyes and rubbed at them harshly. Sadly, the tears wouldn't stop coming, and before she knew it , she was full-out sobbing.

She hated herself for being so weak, but she needed this. She needed a good cry to let out all her pent-up emotions, her frustration, her anger, and her hatred about her situation.

It happened almost every life, one way or another.

Kong must have felt the shift in her emotions and stopped again. His hand grabbed her and held her before his eyes. Bringing her close he sniffed her, but that only seemed to bring more tears to her eyes as they fell fast and hot down her cheeks.

He brought his other hand to her face, delicately touching her cheek and catching a tear on the tip of his large finger. "Ooooo-" he whined as he looked at it, and huffed. Frantically, his eyes searched her body for any injures that would have caused her distress.

When they found none, his eyes turned to the terrain. Her loud crying would only serve to attract unsavoury attention.

Too caught up in her emotions, Kala failed to notice the creatures crawling out of the darkness. Her only notice was the shift in Kong's grip before he started running, startling her out of her funk.

She gasped in surprise, wind licking at her face as the mighty King dashed through the wilderness on three limbs, the last holding her protectively against his chest. The dark curly haired girl had only some idea of what they were running from, she had heard the horror stories growing up after all.

Kong stopped once he exited the trees, into a large clearing. Horned iron hide dinosaurs that were grazing there were quick to abandon their meals and make haste to leave.

Together, Kong and Kala kept their eyes on the trees, searching for any sudden movements.

There.

There was shadow slipping in and out between the large tree trunks sneakily, but Kala still saw it, and so did Kong. He growled threateningly to the predator that they knew was lurking just beyond the dense forest, not about to bow down and give up his position as 'King.'

Kala could feel the dangerous energy rolling off him in waves, and was impressed by what an imposing figure he must have made. Imagine what he would be like when he was fully grown...

Having enough of hiding, the shadow jumped from the forest.

Or rather, shadows...

Three scaly raptor-like dinosaurs dashed out of the foliage, separating from each other to circle around Kong.

Kong, not one to be patient with such things, didn't wait for them to make the first move.

Hand snapping out like a blur, Kong struck the first dark scaled raptor that had the unfortunate luck of getting just a little too close to be out of range. Not expecting it, the dinosaur was flung back by the strength behind the punch and was sent crashing back into the woods.

'Ohhh,' Kala winced in second-hand pain for the dino. 'I don't think he'll be getting up anytime soon.'

Kong paid no mind to where he sent the raptor flying, focusing now on his last two opponent. They wouldn't let him get the drop on them this time, the element of surprise now lost for Kong.

The two circles viciously around, just staying out of reach form Kong's wild swings. They were weary of him now, and for good reason. One of his hits must have the force of a transport behind it, and that was putting it lightly.

The two large raptor like creatures lead Kong to the bottom of a rocky trench located between two cliffs, The two walls of rock were as tall as Kong himself, and lined with vines and dirt. Small pieces of stone fell from somewhere up above, tinkling down the sides like little pachinko balls.

One of them started climbing up the side of the cliff like a mountain goat, using small foot holds to gain a higher advantage point. Kong could not swipe as swiftly as he could out in the open, he was at the disadvantage fighting in such a closed off area.

Kala watched in muted interest from the gaps between Kong's hold as the predator jumped from above and onto the giant ape's back and snapped it's jaw around his arm. In contrast, the one watching the ground started weaving between his legs to disorient him or get him to lose his footing.

Kong gave a massive roar as he reached up to tear the scaly reptile from his arm. He gripped its neck tightly as its feet tried helplessly to pry itself from his hold. Kongs only reply was to huff angrily and mash its head against the rocks.

Its head caved easily, painting the wall in the dinosaur's blood and brain matter, and was the used as a projectile at the last remaining raptor.

No longer fancying its chances, the animal turned tail and rushed off before it could also be killed.

Kong raised his free arm and gave bellowing and hooting and hollering, scaring off all life close enough to be in hearing distance. Oversized birds were startled form their resting place in the trees, flying off into the clouds above.

Finally deeming it was safe, Kong slowly, carefully, opened up his palm that had been cupped to his chest, and gave a gleeful and toothy grin to Kala.

Kala gave one of her own in return.

Author's Note

This is unedited, I have have no idea what I'm doing.

Gah! Why is writing so difficult!