Wild Ballator Hunts

"Come to Africa they said, its a paradise they said, You'll see amazing things they said...they didn't mention anything how easily LOST you can get!" Elliot crunched up the map into his own hand. "The first adventure in Africa and I'm already lost. Oh wow Elliot, you know so much that I don't need a damn tour guide. No. We're going to be the idiot that strands himself with only a map and a mare." The human sighed, finding a log to sit on as he tossed his hat on the ground. The jungle brush was filled with unfamiliar wildlife, unlike the valley lands of his stables. He was accompanied by the flew bitten African mare, Dulcis, on this special journey. Her only response to his stress was chewing on a plant she pulled out from the ground earlier. "Dulcis I swear I am going to go insane, how do you deal with this heat?" Grabbing a handkerchief to wipe away the sweat dripping on his face. Dulcis could only answer him by snorting off a bug off of her pretty nose. The female had no trouble with the jungle's humidity, after all, she was kept in a controlled barn with this type of heat daily. This was nothing.

Elliot unfurled his map again pulling out a compass. "Let me see..we started off here..then headed north..turned northeast..wait..thats northwest. Ah, there's northeast! We just need to go up this way to the last sighting." While Elliot was distracted, the female mare pushed against his back. Elliot made an unpleasant noise of discomfort; being poked by African tusks wasn't quite favored. "Dulcis not now I'm working on finding out the next location." Dulcis pushed Elliot again, a bit harder this time. It was enough for the compass to fall off of his lap. Elliot caved quickly setting the map aside. "Alright, alright. Here you go, you're probably thirsty." Elliot dug into the riding packs that were strapped to Dulcis's back and pulled out a few treats and a bowl of the water flowing from his canteen. The mare eagerly inhaled the water. "I guess I should eat too." Checking his watch. "I guess its 12 o' clock in America? Oh well, one could guess."

Adjusting himself on the log he burrowed into the pack again and pulled out a tin lunchbox that held some fresh cured meat sliced up for making sandwiches. Bread stacked in slices were aligned up in a bag with sour goat cheese. "At least I got something to remind me of home." Elliot was missing the cool breeze of the valley already. His mountain horses must have missed him by now. However, this mission wasn't going to fail on him yet. There was a good reason he was breaking a sweat on this trip. A new species was spotted in this very jungle. Elliot was determined to find it and bring it home for other students to learn about. His horse academy would be amazed to own one so little known to man: the Lilliput. The smallest ballator in the world. Elliot only had a photograph of this lilliput that was spotted by locals weeks ago. It was a blurry image, but it captured what looked like its bicolor horn at least. He wasn't alone on this journey though, other explorers were out in the search for it as well It was a race against time to capture it and bring it home.

As he was setting up his sandwich, he paused hearing a ring in his back pocket. He got up only to answer a cellular call on his jungle walkie-talkie. "Ah finally!" He walked around only for a few minutes talking to the jungle ranger. His sandwich laid out in the open, still partially sprinkled with the cheese. Dulcis's face was full of water when her ears averted to a strange sound. Quickly her head turned about to her left. No particular smell came up. Everything was still new, her head dipped back to her bowl. Another noise distracted her as she looked to her right. Still nothing. "Great thank you, we'll be waiting here." Elliot hung up happy to finally get some help. "We're in luck Dulcis, a ranger is heading up here soon. Now I can eat my lunch in peace-" Reaching down to grab...nothing? "Wheres my sandwich?" Immediately looking at Dulcis, blaming her for the fault. "You know you're not supposed to eat turkey it makes you gassy!" Elliot soon jumped by the surprise of more rustling in the brushes from behind. Slowly reaching to Dulcis's pack for a source of protection: the machete. His African looked unphased, so Elliot figured that it wasn't a predator, but one can't be too careful.

The jungle plants moved as the creature ran around them. Elliot was on his guard until he saw a dash of color on the ground. A vibrant orange with yellow striping. The cloven feet quickly hid again. "Wait.." He lowered his machete and took out the photo again. The horn colors and those feet were the same! "Ahh... it's you isn't it?" he cooed out softly setting the weapon on the ground. Turning on a camera he pinned to his shirt he backed slowly to retrieve a bag of Bait. "Come here...you're hungry aren't you?.." he tossed a bit of the treat a few feet from him as it bounced to the edge of the brush. Nothing for a bit, until a small brown muzzle peeked out quickly snatching the treat. The leaves rustled as it was eating it. "You like that huh?" He tosses another one, quickly it was consumed. "Wow, you're hungry." This time he threw it slightly off from the edge. The nose poked out sniffing for it. It grunted in distress for it being farther away. It backed up hiding until the leaves parted.

Her big orange eyes were the first thing Elliot saw as she ventures out for the treat. The lilliput mare was blessed with a dark brown coat, speckled with white appaloosa. Like the photograph, her horns were embraced with a bright orange and citrus striping, contrasting her dark features. Her cloven feet dug into the earth as she slowly bent down to snatch the treat. Elliot lowered himself to her level, trying to not look intimidating. "Here girl. Look what I got. Its better than that turkey sandwich you stole I promise you." lowering the bag of treats. The lilliput flickered her ears, her nose picked up the smell as Elliot tossed her another one. Closer the mare got nibbling on the bait."That's it...I got more food for you." The mare flashed her long lashes as she stood there. Looking at him and the bait. Throwing up her head making a small cute grunting noise as she reared up thrusting her feet on the ground. This little tantrum was so cute that Elliot was finding very hard not to laugh. "You can't get it unless you come here. Premium cut meat, can't get that here in the jungle." He left the sack on the ground close to his feet letting some bait fall out. The mare thrashed about as if debating to take the treat or not. Yet the temptation was too much, slowly but surely, the lilliput made her way over to nibble on the fallen treats. Locking her eyes on Elliot and the food as she swallowed the meat easily.