AN: So the direct translations I put in to the Shona <-> English translator don't come out the same. Just so you are aware of what I originally wanted so you don't go and shove it into google only to get something weird.
• 'Watadza kuwana chekudya zvakare?' = Couldn't find food again?
• 'Kushinga' = Getting brave

•Ho tla ba le likotsi tse ngata haeba lintho li sa tsamaee hantle = There are going to be a lot of casualties if things go wrong

Also fun fact! When I went digging previously, Netherlands had actually had some control over sections of Africa (as described by S.A's character ref). As it turns out, Hallo Weer means the same in both Dutch and Afrikaans: Hello Again.

Zimbabwe sat on a rock, a hefty bag over their shoulder. His shoes were dusty from the trek out into their backyard, which blended together into a Serengeti-like environment.

The trees were scarce here, but there were tall several bushes to make up for it. The smaller bugs had nestled down for the night, as did the birds. The air was still warm here despite the cooling breezes on occasion. Stars twinkled in the sky, the moon offering a sparse lighting to the scenery.

A rock was kicked off in the dry grasses, grabbing Zimbabwe's attention. They checked a small pocket watch. 2:20. Right on time.

"Hallo weer." Zimbabwe smiled, pulling the bag off their shoulders. They weren't even bothered by the approaching thing, them just busy working out a cow leg from the packaging. Claws entered the very top of Zimbabwe's limited vision. Snorts of hot breath tickled his ears and blew strands of hair into their face.

"Watadza kuwana chekudya zvakare?" Bambi chuckled, looking up to meet the scaly blue face. Due to the creature's long neck and Zimbabwe sitting down, the thing was able to slightly tower over the country.

"Kushinga." The country offered a smile towards the quadraped, them getting a happy snort in return. The frills behind the ears were slightly open, the thin flesh mimicking the night sky. Splattered across the creature's sides were white swirls and stars, strips of red marking the back.

"Go ahead and eat up, strange Nyaminyami." Zimbabwe mused, motioning towards the butchered limb on the ground. Long tail flicking back and forth,  the thing was now sniffing out the meal of the night.

A crack of bone soon sounded, the blue serpentine thing having laid down not unlike a dog.

They sighed, another cool breeze coming through the area. They remembered the first night they met this thing about two months back.

Zimbabwe had lost Mpho after both the labs went nuts one night as they were returning from a walk. After having gotten Kim inside the house, Zim had gone around back armed with nothing but his bag of treats and a spare pipe laying on the ground. Mpho was off a long, long ways, taking the small country away from the house. They still weren't sure why they called for help. Now they were thankful that they didn't.

Mpho was busy barking at something in the bushes, Zim lost in the dark thanks to the new moon. Apparently a trip that occurred earlier had knocked some treats loose in their backpack, resulting in the bush creature leaping and pinning Zim to the ground. Both Mpho and the pipe were useless, given that it had managed to drag the country up a random Acacia a short ways, gripping onto the bag.

Up there to much of Zim's relief, it had seemed much more interested in the dog bone treats than anything else. A whole pack of them gone later, the thing had helped Zim back down the tree before going off again.

As an experiment, Zim had come out on choice nights with some sort of animal product in tow. Only once a week they seemed to show up.

Another crack brought the thoughtful country out of their head.

"Why you only eating so little?" At this point only a fourth of it had been eaten, where normally it would already be done with the full course. It didn't even pick and choose favorites, just a fourth of the meat, bone, and marrow. The odd nyaminyami, as Zim had started to refer to it as, gave a few gurgles.

It stood up, and walked off to where it normally disappeared from sight. Many times Zim had gone around and looked, only to find soft dirt. Nyaminyami looked back at Zim, as if confirming they were still there. It then gave a few more soft growls as it turned back towards the bush.

To Zim's surprise, it was the red one his sister was talking about. And just as big if not bigger than what she described it as. Least that's what Zimbabwe felt, given that they fell backwards on their rock stool. The ax, the antlers, all of it.

While tentative, it eventually came over after so much patience from Zim. Red gave a cautious sniff of the offered food, then another hum towards strange Nyaminyami. Nyaminyami confirmed, Red slowly taking the piece. Both parties felt a lot safer when Red took a few steps back to enjoy the meal.

Zimbabwe was confused.

Didn't at the meeting last week they decided that they preferred live over country? Or apparently they don't eat countries at all.

Zim watched the two interact. Red had halved what remained, trying to offer the rest of it to Nyaminyami. Little blue refused once more, pushing it back towards Red's possession. While a crazy idea, they wanted to test a theory they had.

Red was easily spooked by the sudden hand placed on their forehead. "SHH shshhsshh. It's ok. It's oooookayy." Zim said slowly, definitely not due to the sharp scales having grazed along his hand the wrong way. The short country wasn't fully expecting that Red would visibly relax again, let alone seem to enjoy the experience. Almost forgetting about their 8 point antlers, the weird Komodo dragon thing leaned a little closer into the gesture.

'Oh my gosh you purr.'

Zim felt joy swelling up in their chest at being able to get Red laying down again. "Why, you're nothing more than a big ol' cat dog." Zim laughed, scratching at the dryer scales around the base of the antlers.

Now not only was Zim petting one of the dragon things, but two. Nyaminyami had grown jealous, wanting to steal one of the scratchy hands for themselves. Even went so far as to try and crawl into (and squish) Zimbabwe's lap.

"Hope you guys stay safe out there. Can't imagine what they'll do if they managed to catch you. Maybe you could live in our basement. Disguise you as a rhino. Tini would be thrilled." Zim laughed at the thought, getting a snort from Red as well.

"Probably don't know Tini, do ya?" Reaction as expected. "Speaking of, you guys need names. Um. ."

Zimbabwe missed it, but something landed nearby. It managed to get Red and Nyaminyami into action, beginning to try and wiggle out of Zimbabwe's reach. The snorts and grumbles were foreign to the African country.

"Maybe A- where. . ." A disappointed sigh could be heard in the silence. Another breeze came by, blowing a feather into Zim's line of sight.

Grabbing both it and the meat packaging, they headed back off for the night. Another week until they would see them again, preferably.

'Just hope their big plan doesn't work.'

The next morning, Zimbabwe was busy eating cereal when their two older siblings finally came through the door.

"How's it coming along?" they asked, turning around in their chair. Tini was busy eating a banana, with Swan a little too invested in working on a bracelet to bother with their toast.

"Slowly. At this rate however, it should be done tomorrow ni--ight." Zar answered first, a yawn interrupting midday.

"It would already be done if we didn't discover something." "Oh?" They asked Lesotho.

"There's tunnels out there. We already confirmed that Vietnam didn't dig them. America freaked when he fell through the ground into one. Considering it took us a bit to get him out, it seemed reasonable that the creatures dug them."

"Have we actually decided to call them anything besides 'creature'?" Tini asked from the side.

"Well I mean, dragon is the loosest term we have for actually classifying them, given how each country has their own version of them." Lesotho visibly shivered.

"Not that I want to get up close and try to compare them to the flying ones. Heard, . . Something, while we were out there. And forgive me Zar, but I don't want to face one head on."

"You're forgiven. There's still so much of these two we don't know. China's still busy with the red one's samples, and so far nothing. Anywa—-ays, I'm off to bed." The oldest sister took a spare fruit before heading up the stairs to her room.

Lesotho looked tired, but so far he hadn't retired yet.

"So what all happened after the tunnel find?"

"Well. We had to dig down about another 10 (UOM) to ensure that it couldn't get out easy. America left once we discussed finding other tunnel systems in the area, and going in to find where they led. Understandable. Thankfully Vietnam only found one other tunnel, it snaking through the area. Still. Two tunnels to fill. Saudi Arabia and the other Middle Easts agreed to bring in some sand and rock to fill them. After that, we trimmed up the trees as discretely as we could to prevent either of them climbing and escaping. There's also a series of bells and alarms we started to put at the top beams."

He looked blearily at the table.

"It's going to be a lot of time and effort going in, but it should work. Just need every hand on deck for it however. Ho tla be le likotsi tse ngata haeba lintho li sa tsamaee hantle."
Zim held his breath for a moment.
"Which one worries you the most?"

"The red one. And I have a sinking suspicion we're not dealing with just two. Everyone has suspicions about the about we're dealing with. Just that no one wants to admit it." Lesotho gave a sigh. Under the table, Zim could see him signing something.

As Lesotho headed towards the upstairs for a rest, Zim finished up their breakfast. Tini and Swan had since moved to the couch, Swan asking for input on an opal necklace he was trying to plan. Up the stairs Zim went, under the guise they were heading towards their own room. Yet rather than their own room, into Lesotho's they went.

Zim closed the door softly behind them. They always hated this. Hiding secrets from the rest of the family, but sometimes it was necessary. Zim took a seat at the desk, swiveling the chair around to face the bed.

"South Africa and Russia, I've seen them talk about stuff when no one else is around. Same for Germany, China, Japan, and the rest of that lot. I mean it makes sense, they're all on the same hunting squad, but." He sighed. "If that were the case, then why never Chile, Jamaica, Ireland, or Scotland? Something's up. That and the fact that no one has seen the rest of the Anglospheres. Though they do have a history of disappearing, given rumors of Ælthstan and United Kingdom.

Man I'm tired. I may just be jumping to conclusions, but I reckon that we're dealing with four. Three at the very least. Overheard part of a conversation, and the way Zar and the rest of the first squad talked about the creatures, they stated three. Red, Blue, and Aquatic. By San if the Anglospheres are shapeshifters."

Zim was struggling to keep the confused expression on their face. They couldn't let Lesotho see the feather they got last night. "Yeah. I think you're jumping ahead of yourself. Country's with the ability to shapeshift? We haven't heard anything like that since Aethlstan, Solami, |Xam, or any of the other Aboriginals."

"Where'd you read all this?"
"I got bored some days and went to the collection of records. Pretty neat stuff down there. Some of the now long and gone countries have theorized that Aboriginals were the reason behind their mythology. Although, . . There's no real proof to that statement. Just speculation. Anyways, I'll let you get some sleep. I think you need it."

"Good morning Zimbabwe." Lesotho said, smiling before giving a yawn. Not even bothering to change, the country laid back on his bed. Zimbabwe left not long later. They dashed to their room as fast as they could while being silent.

The feather was still where he left it. The light brown feather was still extremely oily, some of it sticking to Zimbabwe's fingers. "Gross." After finding last night that towels were useless witht getting all of it, they decided to simply get all they needed to see first.

But what was there to see? It was just brown, varying levels of light and dark. Little specks of white on the underside caught their eye. Flipping it over, it was hard to exactly see the specks. So Zim held it up to the light in an attempt.

The dark stripes gained a bloody mud color, the lighter a pale tan. Almost-

Zimbabwe didn't want to look at the stuff they got from last night anymore. Their stomach was doing flips. They left the room to head to the bathroom, taking care not to touch too much with the oily fingers. On with the tap water, and onwards with the rest of the day.

The next week has been quiet. Too quite for Zimbabwe's liking. Sure, they had grown used to Nyaminyami coming around only once a week, but they was hoping they could get friendly with Red before Nyaminyami's next visit. If what Lesotho had relayed to them was true, then there was also the small hope that another one would come around.

After night after night of no sightings, it was approaching Nyaminyami's normal visit day. To South Africa's surprise, Zim had asked to go on the trap patrol that night. If nothing had been caught so far nor outright seen, then it made them sure that they were all active at the same time. Maybe hibernating or rotating hunt route? They didn't know.

Now they were waiting in one of the outposts, the night going on with not much happening. Save the spare restless deer or night crawler, there wasn't much movement. The calming of the cricket chirps and the rustle of the leaves in the winds were the only sound filling the night air. Zim gave a sigh, leaning back against the tree.

"Hey Zar?" "Hm?"

"Have you ever wondered, if, there's a simpler way to all of this?" The question was burning a hole in their mind.

"I want one as well. But, we don't really have much of a choice. Blue is rarely seen, and even then, Red isn't far behind. You've seen what Red can do. As much as I would like to just get them out of here, that's not going to happen simply."

Zim held their breath, but it seemed like they had similar goals. "Um. . . Red likes antler scratches." "What?" "A-and. Nyaminyami visits regularly. They like it when I bring food. They're not as bad as everyone thinks." Zim kept their face stern, not letting too much of the bubbling mix of emotions rise up. Anger at everyone else for not giving them a proper chance. Sadness that they might get hurt. Hatred for this entire plan in the first place. Zim wasn't sure if they wanted to yell or cry after the truth came out.

Their sister gave them a concerning look. "Ah, Bambi," her arms were slowly opening up into a hug. "I get that. . I get that. I don't want them hurt either. But. Countries are built up from people, and people-" she sighed. "-they attack what they don't understand." It seemed then that it actually hit her that Zim had gotten up close with them. "Hang on a minute. How long has, uh. Nyaminyami been coming around?"

"Two months about. Next week would round off three." "What does Nyaminyami look like?" "Like the little one you described."

Despite in the embrace, Zar leaned back against the tree. "There really is three of them." "Lesotho was talking about there maybe being a fourth." "Boskok."

"What?" "Zim, um-" "You don't want to hurt the creatures, right?" "I-"

Crashing from down below cut off the two. Dashing quickly to the side, streaks of red could be seen through the under brush as it headed towards the trap.
While South Africa was calling out their spot, Zim couldn't help but notice a much darker figure chasing after Red.

"Um Zar?" "Yesum?" "Was there any plans on chasing them in?" "No. Everyone supplied deer with trackers to lure them. Chasing was too dangerous." "Then who's that?" They pointed down at the fleeting dark figure down below.

"That's not one of our blanks." Zim could barely hear their sister mutter. The radio in her hand was going wild with other sightings and orders coming through quick-paced. To their surprise, she flicked the radio to a different station.

"Come in, come in. We got an unknown chasing down Red. Be careful."