A request story from Sparkling Lover. Ally belongs to her and I only own Rachel. All other characters belong to their respective owners.

A/N: This story was inspired by the Disney movie "The Jungle Book" where Kaa meets up with Mowgli in the Jungle after he runs off from Baloo. "The Jungle Book" belongs to Disney.

The Roots Of Friendship

Ally looked down at the paper her teacher had given the class. It was a memo about writing a report about something in nature. It had to be a two-page report. She immediately fell into thought as she walked out the door and saw Rachel and Rook waiting for her in Rook's truck. She ran over.

"Hey, guys!" she said excitedly as she jumped in and gave both her cousin and best friend hugs.

"What are you up to, kiddo?" asked Rachel, smiling at her young cousin.

"Our teacher gave us a report to do on something in nature. What should I write it on?"

Both adults smiled. "There are many things in nature that would make a good topic," said Rook. "And there is the forest behind the Grant Mansion. I bet that could give you some inspiration."

"Rook's right," said Rachel. "It often gives me inspiration too."

All three pulled up to the mansion and Ally hopped out and ran into the forest at once, making Rachel and Rook chuckle. They weren't too worried about Ally getting lost because the other aliens patrolled the forest a lot and the T'okustar brothers could see all of the forest from their height, so they'd know if Ally was in trouble. They went inside to wait for the young girl to return.

Ally walked along the forest floor and gazed at the plant life around her. She was wondering what to do her report on. There was so much she could write about, but so far, nothing was giving her an idea.

"Well, maybe I'll get some inspiration if I sit down," she said out loud and so sat down underneath a large tree that provided some cool shade as she placed her chin in her hands and looked out into the forest.

She didn't notice something brown coming towards her until she felt something strong wrap around her and she glanced down and then up with wide eyes.

"Ah! Snake!" she screamed, and tried to move, but she couldn't get free of her bindings that now were wrapped snugly around her and were pulling her up into the tree she had been resting under a moment ago.

She then saw something standing on the tree branch as the roots that she saw were holding her lifted her so that she was eye level to this creature. He was large and looked like a tree that had what looked to be a huge blue ball being surrounded by branches and a face inside the ball.

Ally screamed and managed to get free of the roots and went to run along the large tree branch when a root quickly grabbed her wrist, slightly jerking her back. She pushed it away and her other wrist got caught as well and she pushed that away and went to run when the same root quickly wrapped around her ankle, making her hop on one foot as she tried to untie the root.

"Slow down, kid," said a voice and she realized it was coming from the creature that was currently chuckling in amusement as he watched her try to get free.

"Let me go!" she said and went back to trying to untie the root from her ankle.

"If I do that, then I wouldn't be able to help you," he chuckled again and moved around so that he was behind her, but she hadn't seen him do so as she was now finally successful in untying the annoying root from her ankle.

"You…help me?" she asked, looking up but didn't see him.

"Of course," he said from behind her, making her jump and put her arms up to somewhat shield herself from him and closed her eyes as he moved around her. "Rachel told me about how you have come out here for some inspiration."

Ally was surprised. "She did?" she asked. "But how can you help me?"

He smiled as he commanded more roots to wind around her and lift her up to his eye level again. "By showing you the world above the trees," he said and she felt the roots move to where they handed her to him and he scooped her up. "Hang on tight."

She did so as she then saw him stretch his body upwards until they were over the top of the trees. She gazed around. "Wow," she said. She could see everything from up there, even when this person placed her on his shoulder to let her have a better view.

"Neat, huh?" he asked her. "I often like to look at the world above the treetops. The sights are always breathtaking."

Ally couldn't argue with that and she looked at him. "Who are you?" she asked.

He grinned. "Ultimate Swampfire," he said. "I'm Swampfire's older brother."

She was curious. "He mentioned you, but I thought you'd look…different," she said.

"Different, how?" he asked, curiously.

"Um, greener?"

Ally found herself tied up again in his roots as he smirked at her. "Greener, hmm?" he asked as he then carefully lifted up her shirt to the bottom of her ribcage. "Swampfire also speaks about you as does Big Chill and Rath and they told me that you're quite ticklish."

Ally looked at him with wide eyes as he then smirked and began tickling her. She laughed and tried to get away, but the roots were strong and she couldn't escape.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE!" Ally couldn't stop laughing as Ultimate Swampfire tickled all of her ticklish spots.

"Cootchie cootchie coo! Cootchie cootchie coo! The tickling tree has you now!" he teased as he tickled her stomach again and moved around to her underarms and her knees.

"HEEHEEHEE! STAHP! TICKLES!" she tried to talk, but that was almost impossible. However, he did stop and she lay there for a moment before he held her in his arms.

"You okay?" he asked and she nodded and then started to study the roots that he controlled curiously. Then an idea hit her.

"Ultimate Swampfire, can you tell me what you know about trees?" she asked.

"Sure, kiddo," he said with a smile.

The next day, Ally raced into the mansion with her report which had a big A+ on it and she found the tree-like alien and hugged him as he hugged her back affectionately.

The roots of friendship run deep, just like the roots of a tree do into the ground.

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GoldGuardian2418