A new day began in the rainforest of Ferngully. A fine veil of mist hung low over the forest floor. No animals stirred at this early hour, all except one.
Batty Koda opened one eye and then the other. He was hanging upside down right outside Old Hi Rise. The fruit bat closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep, but the antenna fused to his head kept sparking and sending him radio signals that he tried to ignore. It was no use. Muttering, he spread his wings and flapped quietly down to the front door of his friend, Crysta the fairy's house.
A few weeks ago, Crysta and the whole of Ferngully had defeated the evil spirit Hexxus and trapped him in a tree. Since the forest was almost devastated, all the elves had used every ounce of their magic to help the forest grow back. They made very good progress and the forest had quickly regrown to its original splendor. Though there were still a few patches of bare earth here and there along the forest floor, Ferngully had once again come alive.
Batty Koda muttered again. Up above him, Blackbeak, the black palm cockatoo, snored while perched on a branch. Nearby, Greeney the snake lay draped across the branch he was sleeping on like a harmless vine.
"Fractured figs, it's too quiet," the fruit bat sighed. Almost automatically, he reached up to touch his fox-like face. He frowned upon feeling the scars. It had been almost a month since he escaped from the biology lab, but unfortunately the memories escaped with him. He still had nightmares a few times a night about the pesticides, vivisections and electrocutions, and was still adjusting to the fact that he didn't live in a cage anymore.
No one here realizes how good they have it, he mused. They don't understand how the world really works. He winced the next moment as the antenna sparked and he found himself whispering, "Traffic along the highway is backed up a quarter mile and no one sees the end of it." He shook his head. Now, where did that come from?
A noise below almost caused him to topple off the wood shelf in surprise. He peeked down. Three small animals, a pademelon, a wombat and a bandicoot, looked right back at him. Batty recognized the baby marsupials. Paddy, Wal and Bandy; what were they doing up at this hour?
"Liquid detergents!" He whispered hoarsely. "You almost made me short-circuit!"
Paddy, with his black eyes shining, folded his paws. "We were just coming by to see if Crysta would want to start early this morning. Do you know if she's awake?"
Wal and Bandy nodded enthusiastically. Before, all the baby animals went to Magi Lune, who had been the most powerful fairy in the forest, to help and teach them about their home and why they should protect it. Before the battle with Hexxus, Magi Lune had passed her powers on to Crysta, who continued the teaching. It was a big job, but she loved it and the animals loved her.
Batty shook his head. "She's still asleep. Why can't you wait until the sun rises?"
Paddy frowned. "But there's plenty we can do in the early hours. The ground in Sleepy Hollow is completely covered in mist and the whole forest is silent; even the Great Falls seems like it's quieter. Can't you see if she's awake?"
Wal nodded pleadingly. "Yes, please, Batty?"
Batty sighed for the second time that morning. "I'll check. Stay there." Spreading his wings, he flapped clumsily up to Crysta's bedroom window. It was a hole that was covered with the fine skeletons of dried leaves and a few sturdy twigs pegged into place to hold the filmy screen. Batty peered through the vague curtain into the small room. The room was empty and so was Crysta's sleeping hammock. A smile tugged at the bat's scarred face.
Returning to the wooden shelf, he whispered down to the three animals that were anxiously awaiting a reply. "She's up, but I didn't see her in her room."
Just then, the front door creaked open. Batty Koda whirled around and tumbled off the shelf down to the forest floor, nearly landing on Bandy. The little marsupial squeaked and jumped back.
Batty groaned as he picked himself up. Crysta's pixie-ish face peered down at him. Her aqua eyes sparkled and her short black hair fell over her forehead. She flashed the fruit bat an apologetic smile.
"Sorry about that, Batty," She whispered as she glided down to meet her pupils. "I didn't see you there."
Turning her attention to the three babies, she grinned. "Who's ready for a learning experience?" Three enthusiastic whispers met her. Paddy broke in.
"Crysta, Sleepy Hollow is covered in mist, and the Great Falls has almost stopped roaring." The young pademelon reported excitedly. Crysta nodded.
"I'll have to see this for myself. Come on." Fluttering her iridescent wings and clutching her cobweb pouch, Crysta flew off after the three animals. Batty was left alone.
The bat frowned. "Oh, fractured figs," he mumbled, flapping up into the air. "Wait for me!" He called out quietly, and flew off after them.
Paddy was right about the Great Falls; its roar had almost ceased. The four had stopped there first. Crysta and the animals were chatting with the sleepy frogs when Batty crash landed. The brain-fried bat flip-flopped crazily in the air and collided with a young sapling, and then he splashed into the cold water of the Falls.
Crysta rushed to his rescue. Diving into the white-capped water, she bit her lips against the sudden chill as she caught up with Batty. Grabbing hold of his wing, she tried to pull him to shore but he was too heavy and the current was too strong. Suddenly, Crysta found her burden lightened and saw that two platypuses had quickly swum up and caught the unconscious fruit bat before he slipped off down the Falls. Paddling their beaver-like tails, the platypuses propelled Batty to the rocky edge and heaved him up onto a stone.
Crysta climbed out herself and thanked the platypuses for their help. The animals smiled as they slipped back beneath the surface and swam away. The fairy turned her attention to Batty who was lying flat out on the stone, dripping wet and completely still.
Paddy, Wal and Bandy crept closer, too anxious to speak. Crysta knelt beside her friend and began pushing on his chest, trying to force the water out. Within seconds, Batty stirred, spluttered, and finally spat out a mouthful of water. The bat sat for a few moments, breathing heavily and staring wide-eyed at the white water before him.
He shivered. "Warped beetle corpses, Crysta-bellis." He bleeped. "That was a near master disaster!"
Crysta smiled at her friend's crazy chatter, relieved. "Indeed it was. I'm glad that you're okay."
The fruit bat grinned. "Are you kidding? I'm groovacious!" He stood up, a bit shakily. His antenna, suddenly realizing it was no longer in a wet environment, sent him a series of loud clicks and sparks.
"If the graduate students will all gather round, we'll begin. Get me another one; get me another animal…" he bleeped.
Paddy and his friends were staring at the jabbering fruit bat, until Crysta called their attention back to the Falls. Soon, all four were engrossed in tasks of looking for certain algae, smooth skipping-stones and occasionally splashing into calmer parts of the Falls.
Batty's head cleared and when he saw he was alone, he shifted. He felt uncomfortable and a little embarrassed after his spill into the water. "Hey, fairy-bug," he said quietly. "I'll catch you later; I gotta hoon."
Crysta smiled. "Okay. Catch you later," she waved as her friend flapped off.
Batty flew west, away from the horizon. The sun was just starting to shed a few rosy tips of light onto the world below. The fruit bat shivered as he shook a few more droplets of water from his fur and wings.
Suddenly, he became aware of a noise below him. Looking down, he spied a large yellow machine with a strange black insignia of a bull on the side. A short plump human waited nearby, pacing and muttering impatiently. Surprised and a little frightened, Batty decided to check it out. He perched in a nearby tree and hung upside down, waiting. As he was small, he wouldn't be spotted that easily
Presently, two humans, one tall and nasty-looking, the other rather burly and calm, entered from the left. Two dogs padded along beside them. Between the men, they carried a big wooden cage and two sacks. Batty eyes shot open. Inside the cage were two hatchling cassowaries.
The bewildered bat watched as the men loaded the cage onto the trailer of their truck, for that was what the machine was, and set the sacks on the ground.
The short human strode over. "What did we get?" He wheedled.
Batty watched as the nasty-looking human opened the first sack and pulled out a small frilled lizard. The reptile thrashed and spread its frill in an effort to scare off these strange creatures. "Four more," he growled in a thick accent. The other man opened his sack out of which shot a flying squirrel. Batty realized he knew this squirrel. It was Slider, who always hung out around Old Hi Rise.
The burly man caught Slider by his middle and grasped him in his strong hands. The plump man inspected both animals, and then went over to the truck where he peered at the pair of wide-eyed cassowary hatchlings. He nodded and flashed the other two a satisfied smile. "Excellent. We'll meet our deadline before the week is out if we keep up at this pace."
The two dogs growled. The nasty man gave them an order and obediently, they both sat. Batty shivered. He had seen only one dog in his life, back at the lab. It was a beagle. He didn't have enough time to find out much about it, though, because the dog was put through so many harmful experiments that within a few months it had to be euthanized. These dogs didn't look like beagles. Rather, they had pointed ears and lean, lithe black bodies with brown markings on their long faces. When one of them opened their mouth in a yawn, Batty almost fainted. Inside was a neat row of white, pointed teeth.
Both Dobermans, for that was what they were, waited patiently, watching their three masters as they got out a cooler from the truck and had lunch. Every now and again, one of them would toss the dogs a scrap of meat or something else from their meal.
Batty listened closely to their conversation. It became apparent that the short, plump human was the other two's boss. He was called Goldstein. The mean human was called Mac and the burly one was called Ivan. Mac had long brown hair that was tied back in an elastic band and had a fedora on his head; he looked like a game hunter. Ivan had red hair and a curled moustache and was dressed like a sailor. Goldstein appeared to be the only one dressed in neat clothing. He had an overcoat on and had sparse black hair and a slight black moustache on his pudgy face.
The longer Batty hung there, the more he heard. Goldstein kept saying, "We have a day, and then we get to the town. From there, we drive to the docks and we'll get our dough."
Mac growled. "So long as we keep quiet. Animals don't like to be disturbed. We had a spot of trouble with those four over there," he gestured to the two sacks and cage on the trailer bed.
Suddenly, Batty realized what was happening. These men were here to capture animals. What was that word he had learned from the scientists at the lab… planters? Potters? Poachers? Yes, that was it. Poachers! He had to warn the fairies right away.