Tommy glanced back, making sure nothing was following him. He told Tubbo and Ranboo that he was getting some fresh air, winding around streets only to appear in the forest. He wasnt exactly lying, he did kind of want to get away from the claustrophobic feeling of life. The forest didn't weigh down on him, the forest was his home. He learned from it, he learned more than any school could ever teach him.

The truth is, it had been fourty-eight hours since he last shifted out of his disguise. Sure, he knew full well he couldn't shift around Tubbo and Ranboo when he agreed to stay a week with them, but his mind had simply asked 'what's the worst that can happen?'.

Not shifting made him feel gross. He could feel his true form basically scratching at his disguise, crying to get free.

Almost as soon as he was out of sight of mortals, he tore out of his human form. Antlers, grand as a bucks, sprouted from his head. Avian wings burst through his shirt, and he winced, forgetting to take it off. Oh well, he'll just say he accidentally tore it on a branch. His tail was long and fluffy, resembling a mix of a dog and a cat. His face grew slightly, and his teeth cut through his disguise, long and wickedly sharp. He saw his vision get sharper, brighter and more color-coded, and he yawned and stretched, walking bipedal easily.

"Finally," He whispered to himself. He crouched down, glancing around a second, and crept through the forest. It was one of the rare huge ones, one that was enchanted. Mortals couldn't see it unless they directly followed a Wood-Walker, but he was mostly sure he wasn't followed.

Raising his now sensitive nose to the air, he sniffed, also opening his jaw slightly to inhale any scents that danced silently through the air.

He found a particularly sweet and familiar scent, eyes widening. It was vaguely familiar. He could almost reach out and grasp what it was, yet it was just barely out of his reach. He panicked slightly, the only scents he couldn't recognize were-

"Tommy?" Tommy froze upon hearing Tubbo's voice. He was in his natural form-- a sort of deer creature, clearly a Walker. He flinched, turning quickly, his fur spiking. His wings raised behind him, and his tail puffed out, making him look bigger. He stood tall, looking down on Tubbo.

"You mustve mistaken me for someone else," He made his voice lighter, like walking on air. He locked his ice blue eyes with Tubbo's green ones, something he never did as a human. There was no way he could tell it was Tommy, now.

"No." Tubbo shook his head, voice wavering slightly. "You're Tommy. Trust me, I've been through this once, I know who you are."

"What do you mean?" Tommy asked, narrowing his eyes to slits. "I just said I wasn't Tommy." He tried to make the name sound unfamiliar.

His voice in his natural form was thicker, yet his accent warmer. He lowered his muzzle slightly, dipping his antlers to Tubbo.

"Tommy, cut it out, I've been through this before." Tubbo rolled his eyes, but he couldn't squash the way his eyes sparkled with awe. A sense of pride filled Tommy's chest, he loved it when people admired him. It made him feel all warm and tingly inside.

"I'm your best friend, man, I can tell that it's you. Unless of course, you had a twin that you somehow managed to hide from me and millions of people." Tubbo reached a hand towards him hesitantly, and Tommy was still, letting the boy touch his antlers. "Nice Alpha."

"Thanks," He muttered. He wasn't exactly sure how to handle his rank, it wasn't like it meant anything. He was an Alpha Walker, so what? He ditched his pack centuries ago. "How'd you get here?"

"So you are Tommy." Tubbo smirked, speaking before Tommy could cut in. "I followed you, obviously. You were acting weird, I was concerned, okay?"

"Wow, clingy." Tommy smirked.

Tubbo gasped in fake offense, "Shut up, man!"

"Why did you follow me, though? If you saw me go into the forest." Tommy tilted his head. Walker's forests looked creepy to humans, or so he's seen and read.

"Do I need to repeat myself for the fortieth time?" Tubbo scoffed, "I was concerned. When you opened the forest-portal-thingy-ma-jig, it just made sense for me to follow you."

"Yes, but why?" Tommy asked, pulling his head back and sitting on his hind legs. He shifted his appearance to have the body of a deer, so instead of a human torso and legs, he was just a mutated hybrid of a deer. "You should know by the legends that I could've slaughtered you."

"But you didnt," Tubbo lifted an eyebrow. "You're my friend, I knew you wouldn't have. And even if you did, good for you, now you're being hunted by another Walker."

"Who the hell is this 'Other Walker you're talking about?" Tommy snarled, shoving a claw into the dirt below him in anger. "We're meant to be scarce, I should get to be all cool and shit, we can't be local!"

"Okay, wood boy. Now, go hunt, I can tell you're hungry." Tommy simply stared at Tubbo. "You do get hungry, right?"

"Tubbo, man, I love you like a brother, but you are a dumbass sometimes. I dont get hungry, I hunger." Tommy rolled his eyes, as if proving a point. Seeing Tubbo's confused expression, he started to explain himself again.

"No, I mean, I don't eat. If I did, then that'd signal that I'm marking my territory. That's how Walkers do it, they drag and eat an animals corpse on their borders, the blood resembles a marker." Tommy paused a second, letting Tubbo ask any questions. When he didn't, Tommy continued. "And as you can see, there," He pointed with a claw to a long stretch of blood on a tree. "A Walker has already claimed this territory. Shit idea, really, since this is the easiest portal."

"It's a trap," Tubbo said, like he knew more than Tommy did about his own species. "It's meant so that when that Walker is here, it can challenge other ones, and... stuff...?" Tubbo shrank under Tommy's gaze.

"You still avoided my question. What do you know?" Tommy leaned forwards, narrowing his eyes.

"I should head back. Have fun, uh, Wood-Speaking!" Tubbo turned to walk out of the forest, before realizing the portal out was gone. "Tommy?"

"Wrong direction, Tubs." Tommy laughed, and Tubbo turned, seeing the portal right behind him.

"Oh," Tubbo stared blankly, "I knew that."

"Wait up, bitch!" Tommy shouted when Tubbo exited the forest, "I can't shift in a second!"