It could talk? Well... It wasn't exactly the first ti he encountered it. I an the Wyvern that was flying over head could not only talk, at least in his head, but could also turn itself into a childish human hybrid to 'blend in', although he was never successful at blending in.
So he really shouldn't have been surprised that it could talk... yet he was. At least a little.
Beasts talking wasn't unheard of, but it wasn't common either. Usually it ca in the form of more rational and intelligent beasts that could be reasoned with, such as the Stag he had once t. But a badger? One that was filled with rage and acted practically feral, it didn't necessarily scream 'intelligent and rational.'
The only other reason for its speech ability would be its part of its legends. But were there legends of badgers being able to talk?
Perhaps this was the outco of all those talking animal movies out there, or perhaps there was so story involving a mischievous, indestructible badger as one of its main characters that he was simply unaware of.
Regardless, maybe if it could talk then it could actually be reasoned with. After all, it seed to have used the mont of surprise to its advantage, lunging forwards after its scream with a gleam in its eye, hoping to kill Seth's avatar when it was distracted.
It didn't work, obviously, as he simply drifted out of the way of it causing it to curse and throw a tantrum so more.
But the simple fact it used speech as a distraction and acted on it showed promising signs of intelligence.
"You know, if you told you could talk before all this, we could have had a lovely civil conversation instead of all this violence."
The badger scoffed, it actually scoffed at him like he was the idiot, before attacking again.
"Why would I want to talk to a human or whatever you are tal man. I ca here for a fight, so I'm going to get one. Now stand still and let kill you!"
The badger, who sounded like a rebellious teenage girl, swiped her claws through the air and got increasingly irate.
"Fight? What's wrong with all those beasts over there, you could easily fight them."
"Done it... I've killed plenty of them. They're weak, just like you. I want the big one. How else can I show everyone how amazing I am, how superior the Honey Badger is, without beating them to death?
They should be honoured to be a part of my legend!"
For once the badger stopped lunging, just so she could raise onto her back legs and puff out her chest. She raised her chin, a smug expression plastered across her face as she put her hands on her hips.
It was a sight that was supposed to be proud and impressive, but it was strangely adorable and only made Seth laugh.
"So... You want a worthy opponent, yeah? Soone that can beat you?"
"Ha! There is no one that can beat ! No, I just want everything to understand their place and how superior I am. The immortal badger.
That no matter what they throw at , nothing will every hurt . Before , they are nothing!"
"What if I told you I know soone you can't beat?"
The badger narrowed her eyes, looking at Seth with an unreadable expression. Mostly because for so reason he wasn't well trained on reading the expressions of badgers for so reason, but judging by the tone of her voice and her general vibes. He had a strong feeling that 'incredibly annoyed and angry' was a safe bet.
"...You lie. No such creature exists. You are trying to distract from my prey. Worthless weak human, can't stand still... can't fight without tricks. Pathetic."
She seed to ignore the fact that she had tried to 'trick' him with her speaking distraction, as she dropped back down to all fours and turned away. Heading towards Olette once more, however...
"Oh alright, I guess if you are fine always being in second place, you can afford not to believe ."
Her padding footsteps imdiately screeched to a halt, her tiny rage filled body trembling slightly before she looked over her shoulder at him. Her teeth bared as she hissed softly
"What did you say? Second? I am not, and never will be second."
Seth simply shrugged with a smug, condescending smile on his face as he prodded at the badgers weak spot. He knew he would find it, nothing was without weakness. The Dragon's reverse scale, a superheroes kryptonite, soul attacks. Everyone had sothing.
In the badgers case, it was sothing so dreadfully simple that it easily penetrated through its indestructible defences. It's pride.
She waddled over to Seth, grumbling softly to herself before plopping herself down at his feet. She looked up at him, tilting her chin up more than required just so she could feel like she was looking down at him despite the fact she didn't reach passed his knees.
"Fine human, You have the grand honour of bringing to this so called unbeatable opponent, and watching as they die by my claw. You may thank now."
"Hmm... No."
"...What? What do you an no?!"
"I an, No. I'm not going to thank you, nor am I going to take you there. I an why should I? You attacked my n, how can I be sure you won't go on another rampage when you get there? Plus how do I even know you are worthy for this opponent? I an you haven't even beaten , so how could you beat them?
I just... I dunno..."
He put on an over the top, contemplative expression as he tapped his chin. Intentionally playing with its emotions and teasing it to rile it up, which was working like a dream. It grumbled and hissed at his feet, trembling with even more rage. Before it could act on those emotions, Seth spoke again, keeping it enthralled in his web.
"Oh, I know! How about we make a little bet, hmm? You can't hit , I can't hurt you. So we can decide strength in a different way, see who's stronger."
"A bet? What kind of bet human?"
"You say these beasts are weak, so why don't you show ? We have a bet, to see who can beat more of them.
If you win, then I take you to your opponent. But you promise that you will only fight them, no one else. No matter what.
If you lose, then you'll leave and never attack anything under my protection again and you admit that I am stronger than you."
The badger narrowed her eyes at him, wracking her mind to try and find anything wrong with the bet, and at the annoyance of having to say that a wretched tal human is stronger than her. But when she glanced at the beasts that were there, species that she had slaughtered a dozen tis before, she scoffed again and let out a small laugh.
It was going to be an easy win.
"Very well human, I will take your bet."
"Oh just one more condition... You can't kill them."
"What? I most certainly can! You think I can't kill them? You just watch, I'll kill even more than you!"
"No no... You misunderstand. I don't an you are incapable of killing them. I an killing is against the rules. I want you to keep them alive."
The badger glared at him, suspicion overflowing from its intense glare as it's anger faded. At least for the mont.
"Why would I do that? What good does keeping them alive do?"
"You see, we human's have sothing called a Colosseum. A place where we fight for supremacy and respect. Sure, you could kill them here and now. But so what? They will be dead and there will be no one around to understand your greatness.
But.... If you leave them alive then we can take them there and show the beasts you have beaten to others. Not just that, you can beat them again and again for entire crowds. You'll have hundreds and thousands of people chanting your na.
Thousands of people who understand that you are the best."
The badger frowned and tilted its head, considering his offer for a few seconds. Human's did enjoy gathering different animals in one place, she had experienced that already.
The place with the tal trees that kept her seperate from the humans. Or were supposed to. She often slipped out of the area they kept her in and had quite a lot of fun fighting the other animals in the human jungle that they called a 'Zoo'.
Those were simpler tis. Back before she got her amazing abilities, but was still great and clearly the best. But most of all, what she rembered from those tis, were the faces of the small humans when they saw her.
She rembered the smiles on their faces, the joy in their voices as they witnessed her magnificence and shared stories of the parts that made her great.
Those mories resounded in her mind and expanded, turning into a colossal crowd chanting her greatness as she fought inside another tal jungle. Her lips parted and her needle like teeth were displayed in a devilish smile.
"I agree to your deal human. All will know my greatness."
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