It's been a few days since Namekuji's arrival. I don't know what it normally eats but it was getting thinner. On the other hand, after the liquid has built up high enough and touched Namekuji once, I saw the poor fella wriggle in pain and decided to absorb the liquid enough for it to move to a higher place.
Initially, I did it to ensure that it could survive for long enough before I absorbed it and reap its surface sticking powers. However, it started to grow on me. While I was feasting on the frogs and shellfish that fell, Namekuji remained unmoving. For some reason, I grew fond of its peculiar wriggling and seeing it so lifeless made me feel bad.
I tried to leave some of the creatures that fell for it but Namekuji never moved. I was beginning to worry when the liquid that Namekuji normally produced became thinner and lesser, causing it to slip a few times. Those were some close calls.
Luckily, salvation came in the form of a half-eaten worm. Namekuji moved for the first time since it escaped being digested. I immediately understood that it ate worms.
With my new and improved catching technique, I held the worm up with my sand long enough for Namekuji to get to it.
The moment Namekuji ate the worm, I looked into its tiny eyes and we came to a silent agreement. Both of us wanted to get out of this bird and even though we did not know each other, we had a common enemy. This was reason enough to place our trust in each other.
It soon became a routine for me to catch food for us. While Namekuji bid its time, I resumed my intense training trying to increase my absorbing and transforming stamina. I'd certainly improved a lot since I first started but there was still a long way to go. Namekuji took care of guarding the food supplies during my food coma by using its body as a net to collect all the new things the bird ate. Some fell through but there was never a problem of starvation for us. Things progressed smoothly and before long, I was able to transform a part of me into a living creature for the first time.
I credited the new ability to the countless of frogs and shellfish that the bird ate. Absorbing them allowed me to draw on their powers. However, my new found abilities had limitations. My transformation was unstable at best and I could manage to transform only one part at a time. For example, I could draw out the power of a frog's tongue to catch the falling food for a short time but I could not transform myself into a frog.
The only reason why the transformation ended prematurely was due to the foul liquid. It quickly dissolved the tongue I'd formed and I had to rest to create another tongue. Sometimes, not even sleep was able to recover my transformation ability. I needed to absorb more creatures to be able to form another tongue.
Namekuji seemed slightly impressed with my new ability and decided to show me a few tricks too. It wasn't a very impressive or useful trick but it was still amazing. From within Namekuji's body, many tiny worms came out. They were able to stick onto the side of the bird's stomach like Namekuji and avoid getting digested too. Those tiny worms climbed upwards and disappeared not long after they made their appearance. The awe soon turned into disappointment but I didn't blame Namekuji.
Namekuji looked at me smugly and that left me puzzled. What could a few worms from his body do anything to a bird this huge? Nevertheless, we continued our perfect teamwork to survive yet another day in the bird's stomach.