The sensation of her body being dragged through the humid and dirty soil caused Y'shaati to slowly begin to open her beautiful azure eyes. Her sight was clouded due to the ivy leaves covering much of her head. As she regained consciousness, the monkey-girl could see that the soothing sunlight was still not penetrating the dense fog that covered the place. Instead, the jungle was just getting darker and darker...
When she finally managed to completely awaken in her five senses, Y'shaati realized the precarious situation: she was captured. Her whole body was wrapped with thick vines coming from her captor's arms. Then, she saw them... the living foliage, marching into an unknown place hidden in the depths of the Darklands. She couldn't help feeling a bit frightened to see a group of creatures that she had never seen in her life before...
Trying to look around, she managed to observe a large number of logs and fallen trees in the path that were slowly sinking into mud puddles and thick water. Undoubtedly, she knew they were getting close to a swamp. While she continued struggling to free her arms and legs, she saw something that immediately triggered her rage and instincts: little I'ppi was also captive, tangled inside the entrails of one of the monsters. The monkey pup was unconscious... he probably fell exhausted from screaming, crying and begging for Y'shaati's help. Suddenly, her breathing began to stir. The Monkey Queen's body and eyes began to glow with great intensity...
With superhuman strength, Y'shaati howled with all her might and broke the vines that covered her upper body. With two of her limbs free, she was finally able to shake off the tangle of ivy that covered her legs... she was finally free.
The living bushes immediately realized that their prey had been released, so they abruptly stopped their march and turned their bodies towards Y'shaati. The Queen of Monkeys, ready to fight to free I'ppi from the strange creatures, stood up and furiously beated her chest like a wild ape while launching a powerful battlecry.
Y'shaati planted her knuckles firmly on the ground, and in less than a second, she charged at full speed to attack the monsters. Y'shaati took a big leap to pounce one of the creatures... her great power and strength would surely demolish them in one fell swoop... however...
Just before she could collide with the strange monsters, a disturbing, ear-piercing sound left Y'shaati completely stunned, causing her to crash into the ground instead.
As she quickly tried get up, she began to hear those sounds inside her head... the human voices were invading Y'shaati's mind once more... but this time, it was more than just whispers. It was worse... now she heard screams... horrible cries of pain, agony and suffering...
Screaming and whimpering in the ground due to the dreadful sounds, Y'shaati put her hands on her ears and began to wildly shake her head in a desperate attempt to somehow stop the pain. It was so strong that even tears began to flow from her pretty eyes. Then, she looked up to glare at the monsters. The living bushes were motionless. They didn't have eyes, but it seemed that they were staring directly at Y'shaati's soul. She began to understand: it was the creatures that were mentally creating the horrible screams inside her head.
As the monkey-girl's radiance and strength started to fade away, one of the monsters took Y'shaati by her neck with one of his long, dried arms. It seemed that the creature intended to strangle her to death this time...
Her vision started to become blurry again... but this time, it would be forever...
Her life was about to come to an end...
The jungle fell into a deep silence... everything was about to fade to black...
Suddenly, a powerful and guttural roar shook the place. Startled, the living foliages turned to look at their surrounding. They knew something was approaching...
Just in that moment, a giant monkey jumped out of the foliage of the jungle and began to tear the monsters apart with an uncontrollable rage. Y'shaati fell to the ground. The wild monkey smashed the living bushes with its fists, crushing their bodies as if they were simple sticks.
While Y'shaati tried to catch her breath back, she realized that the voices in her head had stopped... she could feel her strength returning to her body, little by little. When she finally got up from the floor, she contemplated the massacre...
The gigantic monkey had reduced all the monsters to pieces. All except for one... the one that had I'ppi trapped inside its body. The monkey tore the creature's head with a powerful bite and managed to get the little monkey out of its entrails.
Finally, all the creatures had been vanquished...
Delicately, the giant monkey took I'ppi on its arms and held it close to its chest in a gentle and loving way... all this while Y'shaati watched, completely shocked...
She knew what was happening, but she didn't want to believe it: That huge monkey was I'ppi's mother...
It was incredible, I'ppi's mother was several times the size and volume of Y'shaati. She was much larger than a Tahuayo, who was believed to be the largest apes in Amazonia. While Y'shaati looked puzzled, the huge monkey slowly approached towards her. She started sniffing her until she noticed the green glow that produced her white-skinned body. I'ppi's mother immediately understood that the girl was a guardian of the jungle, and that she was the one who brought her little baby back to her. I'ppi's mother bowed to her, as a sign of her gratitude.
Y'shaati still didn't know how to react to this situation. She was too shocked to even think on something. In that moment, I'ppi finally woke up from his deep sleep and immediately realized that his mother was finally at his side. The little baby was so happy and excited that he couldn't help but jump in joy on his mother's arms. Then, he turned to see Y'shaati.
The little monkey jumped onto the monkey-girl to happily hug her until he noticed a sad expression on her face...
Y'shaati knew that this was the moment to say farewell...
Y'shaati, sheding a tear, took the little monkey in her arms and hugged him with all the love and tenderness of a mother's... I'ppi's mother allowed this gesture, for she couldn't be more grateful with the girl for her aid. Still holding the baby in her arms, Y'shaati looked into her eyes, and with a friendly smile, both females expressed the same thing without pronouncing a single sound:
..."Thank you"...
Before the little monkey could return to his true mother's arms, a large number of living foliages jumped from out of nowhere and pounced directly on I'ppi's mother...
The creatures surrounded the giant monkey and immediately began to release a soporific gas from their heads. The dense, brown cloud began to envelop the giant monkey's whole body. She couldn't help breathing the gas while trying to get rid of the monsters on her back. She quickly started to feel numb until she collapsed in just a matter of seconds.
Y'shaati, without thinking twice, took the little monkey with her left arm and quickly climbed the nearest tree to avoid being reached by the poisonous cloud. Little I'ppi launched a cry of despair for his mother, but Y'shaati didn't look back and started to swing through the trees. The baby monkey implored Y'shaati to return to help his mother, but the monkey-girl was determined: she wouldn't risk losing I'ppi this day. She knew that these creatures were extremely dangerous and she wasn't going to be able to defeat them all by herself. She would find a way to help her mother in another moment... now, it was the time to escape.
Completely angered and frustrated for the Monkey Queen's decision, I'ppi bit Y'shaati's arm with his sharp fangs, freeing himself from her grasp. The monkey pup jumped to grab a vine and swing back to where his mother was. Startled, Y'shaati took a half turn in mid air and began to follow I'ppi as she hooted for him to return.
The little monkey continued swinging, ignoring Y'shaati's howls. He was determined to return to help his mother by himself. However, due to his small size, I'ppi failed to grab the next vine and suddenly began to fall.
Seeing little I'ppi falling to a certain death, the monkey-girl also dropped down to save him. Miraculously, while both continued to fall, Y'shaati managed to catch I'ppi. With incredible agility, she managed to grab the monkey pup by his paws with her skilled toes. At the same time, Y'shaati managed to hold on to a vine close to her and avoid falling into the void with the baby monkey.
When both finally stopped, Y'shaati noticed that they were just a few meters from hitting the floor... but there was no earth on the floor, but water... she realized they were at the swamp...
While the Monkey Queen tried to climb up through the vine, I'ppi climbed up through her lower body until he reached her head and firmly grabbed the vine. However, while this happened, a big shadow appeared in the water below them... and was getting bigger each time. Y'shaati stopped, alerted by what was about to happen.
From one moment to another, the shadow finally emerged from the water to reveal its identity: a huge Jakare, a prehistoric crocodile jumped out of the water, hitting Y'shaati with its tail and causing her to fall into the water.
The little monkey, terrified, saw how both fell into the swamp, losing sight of them just a moment later.
Spinning inside the thick water, Y'shaati tried to keep her posture and swim as far from the crocodile to avoid being devoured. However, she didn't notice that a second jakare right in front of her launched a powerful bite that went close to end her life.
Using all the strength and power left in her, Y'shaati managed to stop the crocodile, putting both hands on its gigantic snout. Meanwhile, the first jakare came back to try to eat Y'shaati again with a single bite. It was the perfect chance for the beast...
Seeing the other crocodile approaching at full speed, Y'shaati made use of her outstanding flexibility, and in a incredible way, she managed to turn around and stop the beast's bite with her feet. With great precision, she planted the soles of her feet between the crocodile's fangs to keep it from closing its jaws. Due to the heavy force of the impact, Y'shaati and the two jakare emerged from the water directly to the surface.
At that moment, I'ppi, still hanging in the vine, saw Y'shaati again. The monkey pup couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing... the Monkey Goddess was stopping the bites of both crocodiles at the same time with incredible endurance.
Making another superhuman effort to keep the two jakare in that same position, Y'shaati could see I'ppi hanging in the vine. She yelled at him, telling him to go away. She would reunite with him as soon as she finished battling with the two giant beasts.
Without wasting time, I'ppi obeyed Y'shaati this time and quickly left that place swinging out of the swamp.
Y'shaati's body began to glow intensely... she was ready to end this fight.
With extraordinary power, and screaming with all her strength, Y'shaati managed to open even more the muzzles of both beasts, to the point where their snouts completely dislocated from their jaws.
The crocodiles, seriously injured, began to sink into the depths of the swamp.
Y'shaati quickly began to swim to the edge of the swamp to search for I'ppi as soon as possible.
However, just as she was about to get out of the water, a third jakare, relatively smaller than the others, jumped out of the water, trying to rip Y'shaati's arm off.
She nimbly dodged the attack and placed herself on the back of the crocodile, holding on tightly to him. Both came out of the swamp's water while the crocodile spinned on its own body to get rid of the monkey-girl.
She punched the beast's eyes to deprive it of its sight and thereby effectively defeat it. However, the jakare did too many spins that he didn't see the gulch near there. Then, both began to fall downhill into a deep mud trench.
Y'shaati and the crocodile went round and round until they reached the bottom of the ditch. A little dizzy, Y'shaati quickly shook the mud from her body and then watched the jakare doing the same thing. Apparently, the beast wasn't close to giving up at anytime...
Squatting in the mud, Y'shaati howled again like a wild ape to fight once more with the crocodile. The beast gave a powerful roar, and in the same way, was ready to launch an attack.
However... just a second before he could charge against the Monkey Queen, the jakare suddenly began to sink into the mud. The animal screeched in despair at the feeling that something was dragging it from its tail... and in just a few seconds, the crocodile completely disappeared...
Y'shaati approached slowly to see what had happened. The ground was soft, but not enough to sink on its own... definitely someone or "something" had dragged the jakare to its death.
And just then, the ground began to rumble right in front of her... her deduction had been correct: something buried in the mud was just about to emerge.
Y'shaati was ready to face anything... but she would never have imagined the magnitude of what was about to appear before her eyes...
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