Sly had never laid eyes on such a strange beast before, with its fuzzy exterior and weird behavior.
He could not recall any information about a cannibalistic caterpillar during his studies with Ayana in the private library at the Duncan residence.
Suddenly both man and beast were distracted by something circling high above in the sky.
This familiar looking majestic air beast with a wing span of several hundred meters.
When widely spread, let out a loud screech that made Sly want to protect his eardrums.
A beautiful pair of white wings nosedived towards the carnivorous giant caterpillar.
It was Dr. Jennings who looked fierce and ready to do battle on the back of the white peregrine falcon.
That had made itself larger to accommodate the doctor's weight.
"Whoosh!"
The doctor boldly leaped off the back of white falcon peregrine and aimed with deadly precision for the head of the massive caterpillar.
"Don't be scared, just move," shouted Dr. Jennings.
He felt that the boy had every right to be afraid of such a large fantastic beast.
"It's poisonous, so stay out of range of its toxins," warned the doctor. "Your body is still too weak from surgery to be of assistance so just go and hide. I'll find you when it's safe to come out."
Not to be left out the peregrine flexed its claws aggressively and used its beak and talons to attack the caterpillar from the side creating an opening for Dr. Jennings.
Dr. Jennings pulled out one of his favorite utensils for performing surgeries and sliced the head of the caterpillar wide open.
His white peregrine came in closer to check on the doctor and nearly got sprayed by a surprise vomit attack from the bone collector.
"Back off!" shouted Dr. Jennings.
The loyal air spirit beast listened and took to the skies soaring out of the spitting rage of the volatile caterpillar.
Yet close enough to swoop in and assist should the good doctor need his assistance.
He had to be careful to avoid any of the caterpillar attempts to spit on him unlike the peregrine; Dr. Jennings wasn't as agile and his reflexes definitely weren't as fast.
The spit from the bone collector caterpillar was corrosive and poisonous.
To the extent of his knowledge there was no known antidote for its venom.
"Splat!"
In an instant the tiny but powerful blade slashed through the caterpillar's skull.
Liquid gushed out and then the blade got stuck.
It was evident that the incision hurt the infuriated caterpillar and caused it great pain. Still wasn't enough to kill, just maim the giant insect and made it angrier.
The caterpillar raised up on its multiple hind legs in a bid to fling the doctor off its head.
It was determined to crush Dr. Jennings under the weight of its body.
Meanwhile, Sly used the timely interference to do the only thing he could do while the killer caterpillar was distracted.
That was to run away.
Dr. Jennings noted the caterpillar did not give chase when Sly ran.
Almost as if it was aggressive about its territory and protecting something.
This made Jennings more curious about the carnivorous caterpillars' unusual behavior.
Known as the Bone Collector this type of caterpillar was normally the cowardly type.
This enormous caterpillar was exhibiting opposite behaviors.
Especially since after eating all of its peers.
It started devouring humans and other unsuspecting larger prey that traversed the area.
Ordinarily, these caterpillars tend to live in groups and ate mostly decaying organic matter.
Bone Collector's preferred to stay out of the light and hide in small dark spaces but this caterpillar was so well fed it had become arrogant due to its size.
A scavenger that fed off the leftovers after a predator such as a spider was finished with its meal.
It would then use the bits that cannot be eaten as a protective casing or shield from other predators.
There was no way that normally small caterpillars could grow to that gigantic size unless it ate a rare spirit essence fruit.
This was good news if Dr. Jennings could find a way to defeat the Bone Collector then he could feed the fruit to Sly.
Hopefully it would reactivate Sly's plant abilities that remained dormant since Dr. Jennings split the wishbone.
Not wanting to go too far and risk being separated from the doctor again, Sly looked around and saw an old but magnificent looking tree and raised his eyebrows in surprise.
He was immediately drawn to it because everything about the tree was an unusual shade of purple from the bark to the branches.
Sly hid behind this strange tree with a single glowing purple fruit in the shape of a plum.
As much as he wanted to watch the fight between Dr. Jennings and the deadly caterpillar there was something on the tree that captivated him and grabbed his attention.
Even Sly could feel the spirit energy radiating from it that told him the fruit was one of the very rare kinds.
The fruit was perched at the end of the limb of one of the highest branches and Sly had a fear of heights.
Still, since Sly cut ties with his father he wouldn't want to ask his father for anything going forward.
It became abundantly clear to Sly that it was because of this tree that all the plants and animals in the area were large and overgrown.
There was so much abundant spirit essence radiating from this tree it was definitely a rare treasure.
Perhaps the rare fruit might be very valuable and have some resale value.
Just the thought of making money appealed to Sly and made him very happy.
This was too much of a good opportunity to waste.
He would face his fear of heights so Sly took a deep breath and started to climb the tree slowly.
A/N: Essence is energy released from beasts or eating the seed, fruit or liquid of a rare plant. This essence is naturally filtered and stored through the spirit bone of humans. Plants/beasts that gain sentience and don't want to die give up their essence to humans whether through death, sacrifice or contract with humans. So they can continue to live and fulfil their purpose. Just like humans, beasts/plants have a choice of how they want to complete their circle of life. Not all beasts/plants want to become spirits upon death, some prefer the release gained from death.