Eric is the first to wake up, the sun is just rising, the Jaguar-Boy yawns and stretches his body like a cat, before crawling out of his tent. He takes a deep breath and exhales, “man, all this interesting smells,” he says to himself, “and not to forget my hearing! I love my new me sooooo much... hehe, it really has been the best decision to be this way permanently , I do NOT regret anything!” Eric grins to himself, he looks around, he starts to feel curiosity rise in him, “I really would love to explore,” he says, “I can hear the others snoring. Won't hurt to have a little walk, maybe climb a few trees, I won't be going far and I won't be gone long,” so Eric, after grabbing his phone to snap some pictures, starts to walk out of the clearing and into the dense brush.
The Jaguar-Boy's tail vanishes behind a bush, just as Max crawls out of his tent, the Wolf-Boy yawns and stretches, like a dog would, before getting to his feet, since all of them, except Tyler and Dean, have digitigrade legs, they walk and stand on their toes. Max looks around, after rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, “hu? I thought I heard something,” he mumbles, he listens closely, but the sounds are to much for the Maned Wolf Hybrid. Max shrugs, “eh... never mind,” he says, “since the others aren't awake yet, I guess I'll have another round of sleep,” he then crawls back into his tent.
Meanwhile, Eric has walked for at least 15 minutes, the Jaguar-Boy smiling as he takes in the colors, smells and sounds surrounding him, “man... why does this place feel so homie? Is it because of my Jaguar-self,” he asks himself, “could be. Oh well.” The former teenager continues to walk and snap some pictures with his phone, “I can't wait to show the others the pictures.” Eric walks for a few minutes, he has no idea how far away he is from the camp, but he does not seem to care, “I'll find my way back,” he says to himself, “besides: I have my phone with me, so the others will call if they get worried. I'll walk for another half an hour or so, then I'll start to head back.” As he continues to walk, Eric slowly starts to get the feeling of something either watching or following him, he stops and listens, looking around.
When Eric does not see anything suspicious, he just shrugs and continues on his way, he just takes a few steps when he suddenly hears some rustling coming from the bushes in front of him. The Jaguar-Boy stops in his track, staring at the bush, “wh-who's there,” he asks nervously, the rustling dies down, and everything becomes quiet, no birds or other animals can be heard. Eric gulps, he knows a few things about wildlife, so he knows: no sounds means there must be danger nearby.
The former human teenager feels fear rise in him, he can't move, his body tells him to run, but he does not dare listen. After what feels like an hour to the Jaguar-Boy, the rustling starts back up, he watches the leaves of the bush in front of him move, his eyes widen in shock when a large Jaguar slowly walks out of the bush, “I'm fucked,” Eric mutters.
The big Jaguar slowly walks closer, even though he is terrified, Eric can somehow tell that the Jaguar seems to be more curious than threatening, still: wild cats, especially such large predators, are unpredictable. Eric decides to just stay put and see what the animal will do, the Jaguar-Boy's fur bristles as it stands on end, showing his fear. The Jaguar is now right in front of the Hybrid, so close, that Eric could touch it, but he does not dare doing so. The big cat cautiously brings its head closer to the Jaguar-Boy's body and starts to sniff at him, Eric can't help but giggle a little, as the cat's whiskers and breath tickle him. The Jaguar then moves behind the Jaguar-Boy and Eric jumps and lets out a yelp in surprise when he feels the animal's nose sniffing his butt. Eric's sudden movement spooks the big cat, it jumps back and hisses, its fur standing on end, “s-sorry... y-you startled me,” Eric says. The Jaguar realizes quickly that the strange creature in front of him does not seem to be aggressive, so it relaxes and sits on its haunches, tilting its head, the Jaguar lets out a mew, which almost sounds like a question.
Eric relaxes himself, “he... s-sorry I can't understand you,” the boy says, he then gets a crazy idea, he looks down at his phone, then back at the Jaguar, “but there IS a way to make that happen!” The former human teen thinks about his idea, “it's crazy... b-but I always kinda wanted to be able to understand and talk with animals,” he says, “it would be so cool.” Eric continues to look at the Jaguar, he then decides to do it, the Jaguar-Boy quickly opens the App and scans the Jaguar. He opens the animal's file, “hmm... how can I give you the ability to understand and talk my language,” he asks himself, “maybe if I add “Human” to your language bar,” so Eric writes “human” next to “animal” in the language bar. He is about to confirm the change when a idea hits him, “wh-what would happen if I'd give it human intelligence,” he asks himself, “I bet it'll be cool! Hehe... it would make him or her the smartest Jaguar in the whole world!” So, Eric does just that, he then clicks on “confirm” and waits, watching the animal closely.