White. White and cold. It's never been this cold before. In the endless sea of white there was a shape, a form, a being. This being was a beaver, the natural architect. He had no idea how it had come to this. "C-c-can't m-mak-ke it any farther," said the beaver. His fur was cold, and his body shivering. 'Gotta sleep, gotta rest,' said a tiny voice in his head, 'You need rest, just sleep.' 'NO! Do not sleep. Sleep is the death of you, especially out here.' cried out another, more stern voice. "B-but my body needs rest. Just a wink, please," pleaded the mammal. 'If you sleep, the cold will consume you, engulf you, and you will perish!' 'But if he sleeps, his body will re-energize. He'll sleep for a couple of minutes, no harm done.' The voices argued. "Yes, listen to the high pitched one, angry voice. I'll only nap for like, five minutes" 'No, wait don-' the angry voice was cut off by the beaver crumbling into the snow.

/////

The sound of thunder woke up the beaver instantly. "OH SNAP, WHAT WAS THAT?!" yelled the small beaver. "Oh…Thank heavens that was just a dream," Louis sighed, heart racing from the all too real dream. He could hear the storm through the walls of his lodge. He lay back down, staring at the wooden ceiling.

"Hopefully I can sleep with all the rain. And hopefully, the place won't leak like last time." He looked around at his hand-crafted home. He took pride in the work he's created. Too awake to go back to sleep, he got up and wandered over to the carvings he made. Louis picked up a piece of wood and grabbed his knife and started carving.

'With the grain, with the grain…' He thought, just to remind himself of how to do the work he's always done. It was also to push the horrible thoughts of the dream he previously had. The statuette was taking form; it had a flat head, a beak, flippers and little feet. He used the tip of his knife to add detail to the bird. The rodent set down the carving tools and the carving. 'I'll finish Skipper later. Right now I feel like taking a walk in the rain.' He thought. He hopped over to a little water on the edge of his home. With grace and style, he jumped, flipped, and dove into the water.

He always liked the water. It relaxed him: the thought of escaping the outside world and just marveling at the portal on the surface. Sometimes, he wished he could stay there forever. Now wasn't one of these times, as he longed to walk on the hard concrete of the zoo.

He broke through the surface of the water and swam around to the edge of the pond to get out of the water. The rain didn't faze him, as he was already drenched. The grass beneath his feet softly caressed his tail as it dragged along the muddy earth. The wall of his habitat was just a few feet away now. He hopped up a couple of times before finally grabbing the edge of the barrier. 'Curse this stubby stature!' he thought.

After about two minutes of struggling, Louis finally got to the top of the obstruction. "Sometimes, I wonder why they even put those things up," chuckled Louis, "The animals can easily escape." With that comment he bounced off of the wall onto the wet concrete.

He started walking towards a nearby lamppost so he could see which direction he was heading. But before he could enter the small enclosure of light, he was tackled to the ground by a heavy mass.

The sudden impact caught Louis off guard. "Geh-heh!" shouted his assailant. Once Louis regained his self-awareness, he started struggling to get on top. They rolled across the wet concrete, fighting for dominance.

"Get. Off. Of. ME!" shouted Lou as he threw his opponent behind him. There was a loud TWANG as the body made contact with a lamp post. The beaver turned around to see his mysterious attacker. "Oh, you can't be serious," Louis stated as he saw the face of his assailant. There, lying face down on the ground was a bulky penguin with what seemed to be a Mohawk. "Aw jeez," he said as he scampered over to the bird, "Rico, are you okay?" The one named Rico just grumbled as he stood up.

"M OK," said Rico as he dusted himself off.

"Why'd you jump me?" queried Louis

"Wazzah habrestig urfrugllenesit," Mumbled the semi-mute penguin

"How was I being creepy? I mean sure, walking in the rain at night can be creepy, but I was just clearing my head. What are you doing out here?" the beaver questioned, "Don't tell me Skipper has you on recon duty out in the rain." Rico just chuckled and twiddled his flippers together. "Ugh, I can't believe this. C'mon, you're gonna get sick if you stay out here all night," Louis walked toward Rico with a paw outstretched.

"Nuh-uh, mreganizmflghat," protested the bird, " Wazza gnefrek."

Louis just looked at him. He didn't like it when his friends didn't listen, "Listen, I don't care if you are an aquatic bird, OR that Skipper ordered you to stay no matter what. In my life it's friends first. Now c'mon, we gotta get you dried off."

"Why rnt you wrried bout get'n sick?" Rico managed to choke out. Concern was present in his voice.

"Because I'm used to this weather. You aren't, you're gonna get sick," Louis said as he struggled to pull the manic penguin towards his home. 'Geez Rico, lose some weight will ya?' he thought. He walked behind Rico and started pushing him in the direction he came from.

Rico tired to stay still, but that only made it easier for the rodent. "Listen, Rico, if I give you some gummy fish when we get there, will you stop resisting?" Louis was trying to win the penguin over with candy. 'Ew, I sound like one of those creepy guys with windowless vans who hang around children's parks.' Rico was now walking on his own. 'This guy is too easy,' Lou thought to himself. A chuckle escaped his throat.

"Eh?" Rico was curious. A random chuckle from him was pretty normal, but coming from a relatively sane person like Louis was kind of freaky.

"Nothing, just…Thinking about something," Louis half-lied. He hopped up onto the ledge he was on only moments before. Rico hoped up along with him, now looking inside the habitat he rarely went into. Louis decided to have a little fun. "Bet you can't beat me into the lodge. I mean, someone who carries a ton of junk in his stomach couldn't possibly be that fast."Louis could see that Rico was ready to take up his challenge. His eyes had a certain glint that said 'You say something like that again, and I'll show you just how fast I really am.'

The rain was coming down even harder now, and the two animals stood in the mud next to the wall. "Ready…Set…GO!" shouted Louis, and the race began. Louis propelled himself off the wall with his tail, while Rico threw himself on to his stomach and tobogganed through the mud. Louis made contact with the ground a few feet ahead of the penguin, but the latter was coming up fast. He looked back and saw Rico hurling a bowling ball in his direction.

Louis jumped to his right just as Rico caught up to him. "You cheater, I could have gotten hurt," The irritated beaver scolded. Rico paid no mind as he jumped into the water, with Louis not far behind. Louis just now had one of his I-could-stay-here-forever moments. He saw Rico speeding towards the entrance of his home, and could hear the rain pelting the surface of the water. Lou snapped out of his daze and pushed with all is strength to catch up to his feathered friend.

To his loss, Rico broke the surface first. "Whoo-hoo!" cheered the happy penguin as he started doing a victory dance.

"You only won because I spaced out for a second," Louis tried to hide his feeling of shame.

"Uh-huh, sure," Rico absently said as he stared in amazement at the beaver's home. This place was even bigger than the HQ.

"Rico, you've been here before, stop gawking," said Louis as he went to find a towel for his guest and himself. "You even took a couple of my tools, which I would like back."

Upon hearing this request, Rico began coughing and gagging. He spat up a saw, a chisel, and even an axe. He chuckled and looked at the pile of tools. Louis just shook his head and laughed while handing Rico a towel.