Once upon a forest 2: A New World Chapter 1
By
Pendragonkuro.
We see a white van driving across a long country road. The van has a redwood tree insignia on the sides and rear of the van. Two men, one twenty years old, the other in his early thirties. the younger of the two is looking out the window with an apathetic expresion plastered on his face."I can't believe i pulled all those hours for this. I should be helping with the oil spill off the gulf coast, not working inland." said Alex Marcus, one of the founders of Project Regen, a company devoted to environmental preservation. the Project was originally a sister orginization to the Nation Institute fo Mental Health, or N.I.M.H. for short. The Project gained enough money and was soon able to fund it's own work, however, and soon severed it's ties to N.I.M.H., calling their experiments cruel, unusual and unethical. "Relax Alex, we'll be done with the decontamination before thre day is done." said Raymond Nuegent, the brainchild behind Project Regen. Him and Alex had arrived at a disaster scene a month ago, along with other scientists including Daniel, Dr. Nuegents nineteen year old son aspiring biologist. During that time, a tanker truck hauling a shipment of methane ran over a broken beer bottle, shredding the right front tire and sending the truck and it's driver running off of the roand and into the thicket below. the driver had luckily survived the fall and got out of the wreckage to see if hecould get back to the road. the good news was that the fall was a lot shorter than it felt and he could get back to the road easilly. the bad news was that the cap on the tank trailer had flown of during the crash and was leaking out dangerously high amounts of methane. the man wasted no time in climbing back up to the road and getting to the nearest town, which happened to be a farming town by the name of Rowan Bluff. from there, the driver contacted Regen and the rest, as they say, is history.
it had been exactly one month since the accident, and Rymond and company were on one final decontamination run of the now recovering wilderness. they soon arrived at the forest's edge and then got out of the van to survey the surrounding area. this has only been their second run of the area since the day of the disaster, as other government scientists had cleaned most of the place up after the two had left to file their findings with the EPA. today, however, the forest was so clean that it seemed like the accident never happened, so there was no need for a hazmat suit this time around. the two quickly went to work, oblivious to a group of furry little stoweaways that had made their way into the back of the van.
Earlier that day, the sun was rising over all of Dapplewood, bathing the forest in it's golden morning light. Abigail, a young fieldmouse furling with a messy mop of auburn hair atop her head and wearing a nothing but a pair of overalls with a large golden button on the front, was watching the sunrise from the highest branches of her favorite tree. She was about to climb a little higher, but she heard her father calling her from below, so she started to slide and swing down the branches and onto the trunk of the tree where she climbed back down to the ground.
"Abigail." her father called. "Why don't you come when I call?" he asked rhetorrically. He jumped slightly whe he felt small a tug on his tail. he spun around to find his daughter giving him an innocent look. "There you are. I was looking all over for you Abigail. Now hurry up or you'll be late for furling class." he said. "Yes daddy." she replied in a sickeningly sweet tone of voice. she then ran of in the direction of the great oak tree on the hilltop, only stopping to turn to her father and saying goodbye. Her father then started to think to himself. "I hope she'll be alright. she has a knack for biting off more than she can chew...No. I think she'll be okay. especially after what happened a month ago. She's growing up and I have to realise that." he then walked back iside of their home.
Speaking of biting off more than you can chew, we turn our attention to a fallen log, home of the hedgehog family. the forest is usually quiet most of the morning. That is until the hedgehog family wakes up. The hedgehog children went about the daily breakfast routine of grabbing whatever food was set on the table by their mother. everyone was able to grab at least one morsel of food. Everyone, that is, except Russel, A plump hedgehog furling wearing a green vest and a pair of yellow shorts. As always, he was last to the table again and there was bearly any left for him. he then tugged on his mother's apron as she was washing the dishes.
"Moooom" he whined, "they aren't letting me get any food again." "Well you'll just have to wake up a little earlier Rolland." Replied Mrs. Hedgehog, confusing her son for one of the others again. "For the last time, it's Russel." he said in a slightly annoyed tone. "Oh no, you ca't be Russel. He's already at furling class." she Replied.
Russel than nearly jumped out of his skin. "CLASS?! I almost forgot about it!" he yelped as he rushed out the door.
"Mom, stop it. I'm running late for class." said Edgar, a gray furred mole wearing a red beret, a red & white stiped scarf, a yellow jacket and his trademark spectacles.
"Hold on Edgar, aren't you forgetting somrthing?" she asked him. "Well, I've got my glasses, schoolbooks and my hat and scarf. what else is there?" he askedas he then started to head off in the direction of the great oak tree.
What about a goodbye kiss? asked Mrs. Mole as she watched her son run off into the distance. "Come on mom, I'm not a little kid anymore" "But Edgar-" "I'll see you later mom." Replied Edgar as he interrupted his mother. as soon as he was out of sight , then started to weep a few tears of joy. "*sniff* My little baby's growing up."
A little Badger furling wearing a little pink dress was ringing the school bell. Her name is kept ringing the bell before she noticed her friends Abigail, Russel & Edgar Rushing up the hillside. "There you guys are I've been ringing this bell forever and ever waiting for you guys to show up because uncle Cornelius has a suprise plannedfor us but we've probably missed it already!"
She then took in a REALLY long breath due to saying all that in onebreath without so much as a stop midsentence. she then asked the group "what took you so long?!"
"My dad."
"My mom"
"No breakfast."
Replied Abigail, Edgar and Russel respectivley. they the entered the tree, hoping they were still able to hear what the suprise was. Unbeknownst to them, this would soon set in motion their biggest adventure yet.