The Bad News

Wombie woke up to hear scratching at the entrance of the den. Wombie looked up and saw Wambles scraping her claws against the hard, packed dirt on the roof of the den.

"What ARE you doing?!" exclaimed Wombie.

"Seeing how strong the roof is," replied Wambles.

Wombie sighed "you've got to be kidding me."

"Nope, not at all".

Wombie rolled his eyes.

"It's a figure of points, Wambles" grumbled Wombie.

"Ohh…" exclaimed Wambles

"What does figure of points mean?"

"Forget about it, just don't do it again. Ok?"

"Yep, Ok" said Wambles gloomily.

Wombie shook the dry straw, which was his nest, from his thick, ruffled fur. He was a middle-aged wombat with shaggy, brown hair and deep green eyes. He shoved past Wambles and entered the clearing where Wimble, the tribe leader was clearing off the mud below the sacred rock called The Outcast. The legend says that the rock fell from the heavens and landed at the feet of the Great Chief, Sage. It was a sign that no wombat should leave the tribe, and its territory. If a wombat ever did they would be banished from the tribe and accused of being Wanderers and outcasts like the sacred rock.

Wimble stumbled over to Wombie and told him to gather the wombats for an urgent tribe meeting. Wombie went around all the dens. When everyone was gathered, the only wombats that weren't there were Flare and the healer, who was tending to Flare's injuries from an unexpected attack from a strange, fat animal.

"Everyone!" Wimble's voice rang out across the clearing "We are being attacked by an unknown obese beast!"

"Will it kill us all?"

"What type of animal is it?"

"I'll slash it into tiny pieces..."

"I'll bounce on his belly!" Wambles screeched, everyone looked at Wambles, amusement shined in their eyes.

"STOP!" Wimble screeched "Enough panicking. We can defeat it if we work together"

"If we don't get squished by it then yeah, we'll win" Wombles muttered. Wimble glared at him and then said," That is all I wish to say." Then he walked off with some others to organize.

Chapter 2

The Hunt

Wombie walked slowly back to his den. Wimble had told him everything about what was about to go down. The hunt was planned by Wimble, Wombly, Shadow and Wombie to take out Sparkles, the fat enemy. They called him that because when he hit Flare he saw sparkly bits around the edge of his eyes. The plan was simple, lure Sparkles to them and take him down with ropes made of vine.

Wombie was gathering his belongings when he saw Wambles again. She wandered slowly to the entrance and started pawing dirt off the roof of the den.

"Wambles!" grumbled Wombie threateningly.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING" he shouted bitterly.

"Seeing how long it takes for the roof to collapse." She replied casually.

"I told you not to do that this morning"

"No, you told me to not see how strong the roof was, not how long it takes to collapse"

"That means the same thing" replied Wombie angrily.

"From now on you are banned from touching my den for a month"

"Oooohhhhhhh" whined Wambles,

"I really like touching it though"

Well bad luck, thought Wombie grumpily.

Wambles wandered away quietly.

When Wombie was ready, he went to see all his friends to say goodbye. He went to Wambie, his mate and his two cubs Wombie Jr and Wambie Jr, Wombelina and her cubs Womcub, Wom and Wam and Wambles and Wombles and their cub Wombley. Wambie brushed past him, "Please come back safe." She whispered fearfully.

"I'll certainly be back." He told her.

"Daddy! Daddy! Please don't go! Please don't go!" Wambie Jr howled. Wambie pushed her back with a gentle paw and licked Wambie Jr's head.

"They are wonderful, aren't they?" Wambie said happily.

"Yes, they will be great wombats when they grow up, they might even be chiefs someday."

Wombie hurried off to Wimble, who was already getting a patrol ready to attack Sparkles.

"Hurry up Wombie!" Wimble screeched. He was stowing away the weapons in his reed backpack. Wombie sped up and eventually, he got there. In the backpack was a spear, made of a porcupine quill, a club made out of the bone of a large animal and a thick rope of Vine, which would be used to tie down the new enemy. Then they set off for the attack.

Chapter 3

Sparkles

Wombie stumbled through the thick undergrowth, how can they all get used to this undergrowth? He thought.

After a few heartbeats he heard rustling in a bush nearby, Wombie spun around.

"Did anyone hear that?" Wimble whispered.

"Yes!"

"Yep"

"Yuppie doodles"

"Yes"

"No"

"Shadow? You didn't hear anything?"

"No, I was worshipping the dark Gods." Shadow was nothing like a wombat; she worshipped weird gods and hardly talked to anyone. For a normal wombat, they would shuffle and it would take a while for them to get to a far away spot, but she would get there quickly.

They heard the rustling again.

They all stiffened as a huge, fat monster came out of the bushes, it towered over them.

"Is this th-the monster?" Wombles asked, Wombie could see pure fear in his eyes.

"Yes." Wimble was lowering, getting ready to pounce, Wombie looked around, so was Shadow, and Wombly.

They all jumped at Sparkles, Wimble was the first one to reach Sparkles, and he ran under Sparkles and scratched his soft, fat tummy. Sparkles howled as pain shot through him like lightning. Wombie saw raging fire in his eyes as Sparkles pounced on Wimble. He watched in horror as Sparkles crunched down on his neck. Flinging him like a ragged doll, Sparkles threw him into a large tree and Wimble fell limp to the ground and lay completely still at the foot of the tree.

"NOOOOO!" shouted Wombles as he ran to the still body of Wimble.

"Shadow, Wombie. Protect me while I see if he still lives" cried Wombly.

Wombie saw Shadow move towards wimble and he did the same. We must protect them at all costs. Wombly galloped over to wimbles still body and starts touching parts of his body.

Sparkles started creep forward, a sneer playing on his face.

"You will all fall like your weak old friend. What was he, a wise woman or something?"

He grinned evilly and started creeping forward again, his fat belly skimming along the ground.

They pounced, and he slashed back, knocking them into the hard ground, Sparkles smiled,

"Ha! Such puny animals could never defeat me!" He howled triumphantly "I have pity on you; therefore, I will let you go. But If you ever dare to attack me, I-"He paused for a moment, then smirked at them as they got up and nodded They believed me! Sparkles thought, then pounced at Shadow, she closed her eyes, then opened them and ran swiftly across the long grass, with Sparkles thumping behind her.

"Jump on him!" She screeched.

Every one jumped, they scratched him, making deep cuts in his back, Wombie ran to his neck, and bit it ferociously, Sparkles fell with a large thump and a tremor, he lay still, blood pulsing out of his gashes.

Wombie fell off him, panting, so did the others.

"We… did… it." Shadow said through gasps of pain.

Chapter 4

A Hollow Victory

The three of them walked back to the camp holding the limp body of Wimble and heavy hearts. Wombly had searched for pulses of his heart for hours, but there was not even a twitch.

As they approached the campWelble emerged from the shadows, of a tree. He stared at the three wombats, and then gasped as he saw Wimble, dead.

"NOOOOO!" He screeched "My FATHER!" he ran over to Wimble's side and grabbed his cold paw, "My only father."

"I demand to know what happened!" His tone suddenly turned hostile.

"TELL ME!"

"Well, we…"

"YOU KILLED HIM!?"

"Well, no…"

"We didn't! Can't you see that the claw marks and the bump on his head couldn't have been from us!" Shadow said, mad she stomped to the camp and into her den in the shadows.

"Sparkles attacked him brutally, and threw him into a tree,"

"YOU DIDN"T HELP HIM?"

"We couldn't do anything, he ran up to Sparkles really quickly and in seconds it was all too late" Wombie explained.

"You will pay for letting my father die!" Welble walked off slowly. "You don't know what's coming Wombie" He muttered under his breath.

An hour later, Wombie was in his den setting up his bed when Welble called an urgent meeting.

"Nothing good can come from this" Shadow said as he, Wombly and Wambly joined the already large group around him. When everyone was present Welble started talking.

"We all knew about the hunt for Sparkles, didn't we?"

All of the wombats nodded there heads.

"Well... Something went very wrong that night" he was talking with pure sadness pouring out of his mouth.

All the wombats were looking at us now

"Wombie, Shadow and the other members threw Wimble into a tree after sparkles made a huge gouge on his belly. They KILLED HIM"