Hello gentle-readers. If you are here then that means one of two things. You are either a curious reader who wants to see what this is all about, or you're one of my minions who I "asked" at gunpoint to read and review. Oh well, doesn't matter. This is my first fic and I hope you enjoy it.
Deep within the blanket of the earth, there lived a filthy molehog. Now, this molehog wasn't filthy because of his personality. He was not an irritable being who complained and whined about his life, nor was he rude and foul in his language. He wasn't a hideous, deformed creature with a long muzzle and tiny beady eyes and a slobbering mouth.
His name was Louis, and despite the popular belief about most that made their homes underground, he was a beautiful five year old boy.
Louis was the type to be rather shy and nervous. Whenever he would talk to another his head would be bowed down as if his feet were the most interesting thing in the world. His mouth would become a jumbled mess and you would have to strain to make out his stammer. It was even worse when he would meet someone new. At moments such as that he would become incomprehensible.
He enjoyed simple things. This was the reason he was so filthy. There was nothing he enjoyed more than the simple act of digging. Why would he want to do anything else? It was always so warm and cozy to him and that feeling washed over him as he carved his way through the loose dirt. It was a lot better than what was on the surface, that he was sure of.
Since he was a very small hoglet, Louis had a phobia of the surface. Nothing happened to him directly. This fear was due to what his mommy had told him about his bubba, Max.
"He was a stupid one," She would say, "A big old stupid one."
Like every time he would look up at her with his big brown eyes and cock his head to the side.
"What'd he do mommy?" he asked in his soft voice. "What'd he do, huh?"
She would shake her head and say, like always, "He was a stupid fool. Thought he was better than us. One day he just went up to us "Sorry Ma" he said. "I'm tired. It's time for me to jet and see what's important in life. I'm going upstairs". And then he left."
Louis furrowed his little brows and tried to wrap his mind around what his mommy had told him. "What happened to Bubba?"
"He's dead". She said it as if it was nothing, almost like she was talking about the weather.
"Dead?"
His mommy nodded and said rather curtly, "That's what happens when you go up to the surface. Remember Louis, only go up for the necessities. Only when you are desperate for food and water should you go up. Even then, you return as fast as you can. Do you understand?"
He nodded feverishly. "Yes Mommy, I will."
She gave him the look he hated. It was a mixture of disbelieving, scrutinizing, and critical. It always made him feel smaller than he really was. "Do you promise Louis?"
Again he nodded. "Yes Mommy."
That was the end of that. From that day forward it never crossed Louis's mind to follow the same path of his brother. Why would he? Everything he could have ever wanted was already in life. There was no danger as far as he could see. His days were all in routine. He would get up every morning at an early hour and indulge in a breakfast of grubs and mushrooms. He would then wash up with some of the water kept in their burrow and say goodbye to his mommy before going out for a dig.
Today was an unusually good day. His breakfast was fresh and he was able to take a long bath because they just got a fresh supply of water. That wasn't even the best part though. His mommy was in a great mood today, so he was given permission to stay out all day!
Without hesitation he scraped and dug his claws through the loose mounds of earth as fast as he possibly could. The feeling was intoxicating! It was like the more he dug, the faster he went. The faster he went, the more he wanted to dig.
He didn't know how long he was out. His mind was solely focused on the task at hand. Louis's goal was to dig his age before his next birthday, a goal he had always achieved. Now he was five and his birthday was only a month away. He was running out of time to meet his goal.
Eventually Louis's arms began to ache. His shoulders were beginning to feel like they were burning and it was only now that he realized that he was panting. Slowing to a stop, he wiped some beads of sweat from his slightly upturned nose. He sat himself down and tried to think. During the time he was digging he had carefully counted his steps. He had taken 316,800. His foot was half an inch long. Louis mumbled as he began to do the math in his head, and then pouted when he realized that he was only halfway to his goal.
Before he could continue on his mission (as he dubbed it) he felt a small vibration in his stomach, followed by a low growl. All that work must've made me hungry, he thought. With a small leap he dug his claws into the roof above him and dug up to the surface for a quick snack.
It was not long before his muzzle broke through the tough surface. Slowly but surely, Louis crawled out of his tunnel. He craned his neck around and found himself surrounded by monstrous trees and the sounds of animal life. The beat of his heart began to increase as his mind began to wonder. The thought of what vicious creatures could be making such strange sounds was almost enough to make him return to the safety of the underground, but the growing hunger in his belly made him swallow down his fear and proceed with his search.
At first it seemed that Louis could find nothing edible. Well, he actually could find edible, but he just couldn't find anything particularly tasty. There were some mushrooms growing near the base of a tree that ended up being as dry as a rock. He lifted a small stone, hoping for some juicy beetles or crunchy pill bugs, but found nothing but a sickly orange moss. The many fruits that were found at the forest floor had turned brown and soggy with time. He had tried all of them still, but they were all spit out in less than two seconds.
The overdose of disgusting and foul flavors made his tongue feel like it was in a swamp.
"Bleh!" he spat. There had to be something better to eat.
It was then that Louis's gaze fell on it. His eyes widened and shined with delight. His mouth began to water savagely as his tongue began to wash over his lips. In front of him was something that was truly beautiful. It was the biggest, most ripe looking melon he had ever seen.
Louis had only had melon once before. He was just an oh-so-tiny baby when Max had brought one down from the surface. Mommy wasn't in the burrow so he didn't get in trouble like he usually did. Max smiled at him and split it between them as "their little secret". Max went on and on about how he had to fight off an army of half brain dead birds. Louis nodded vigouresly at his tale, but he was only half listening to his brother. Most of his focus was on the delicious treat in his hands.
That had been the only time he had ever had melon and even though he was still a baby at the time the flavor had stuck itself in his memory. The very idea of him tasting that delicious flavor again overwhelmed him. He ran as fast as his small feet could carry him to the green orb and dove at it mouth wide open.
Peaches was in, in every sense of the word, bored. If you were to look at how her life was, it would be hard to think of it as such. Although she seemed like an average seven year old mammoth with average parents (her dad could be overprotective, she admits it.).
Peaches was not average. Average mammoths couldn't do acrobatics on tree branches with their tail and trunk. Then again most mammoths didn't have uncles who were opossums. Or a sloth. Or a saber-tooth tiger. Or a Cyclops weasel who was constant combat with a dinosaur in the center of the earth. With a family like this how could anyone be bored?
No matter how much she loved her uncles, and she did, she truly did, it was still a bit hard to not be bored. Everyone in her make-shift herd, minus herself, was an adult. In her seven years of life Peaches had yet to make a friend her own age, and even though there were young ones all around her, she couldn't identify with any of them. Because of this it was impossible to call any of them a friend. That was what she wanted the most: a friend. Someone her own age who would be there for her and vice versa. Was that so much to ask for?
That was the reason she was walking through the forest near her herd's home. All the other kids were hanging out with their friends. The only thing she had going on today was watching her Uncle Diego try not to maim her Uncle Sid. That always got boring after the third hour!
Peaches shook her head. What was wrong with her? Was she some kind of freak? Everyone had friends. Babies had friends. She wasn't a baby, no matter how much her dad treated her like one.
"Don't worry sweetie, it'll all work out," her mom had told her, "I'm sure the right friend is closer than you think."
If only it was that easy.
It was a good while before Peaches realized she was hungry. In her haste to get some alone time with her thoughts, she had skipped breakfast. Now her thoughtlessness was coming back to haunt her.
Luck seemed to be on her side. Just and she was feeling the hunger pangs her foot knocked up against something. Looking down she noticed a medium size melon lazily resting against a rock. It wasn't much, but it would hold her over until she found something worthwhile.
Using her trunk she gently picked up the fruit. Huh. It was lighter than it looked. Maybe it wasn't ripe. She remembered that her mom told her that the best way to tell if a fruit was ripe was to shake it up a bit. If you could hear a small amount of water then it was ripe.
So she did.
Well there you go. The first chapter of my min-series is done. Wasn't that fun? No? Well I liked it. I know it must have been weird for me to end it like this, but I have my reasons. Anyway please tell me what you think, or if I should even continue past chapter 2. Good night everybody.