Whatever the thing chasing Tommy was, it was nothing Jonny recognized. It was like someone had crossbred a monkey and a boar. It had a boar’s body, covered in bristly fur with high shoulders and rippling muscles, but its head and limbs were wrong. Its forelegs were too long, and ended in clawed hands, its tail was long and prehensile, and its head was like an baboon with tusks. It skidded to a halt after missing Jonny, then turned around to size him up. It wasn’t actually that much bigger than him. Not height-wise, at least, but Jonny had been in enough fights to know that it outweighed him by at least double. And its claws and tusks looked like they could easily kill him. This was not a good fight to take.And yet, he didn’t want to run away. He might have been outsized, but he wasn’t weak, and he was currently almost full on mana. He was far stronger than anyone his size had any right to be, and he had decades of fighting experience. Not against animals or monsters or whatever the hell this thing was, but the principles were the same, right?Besides, it had been years since he was able to properly fight. Shadowboxing in the yard never really scratched that itch. Plus, if he ran away, then Tommy…Wait, Tommy? Did that little shit abandon me?He glanced around, but there was no sign of the other boy. He couldn’t hear anything either. Probably better this way, anyway, he thought bitterly.He turned his (...)