It was a beautiful day at Downtown City Park. Blythe was relaxing on a blanket that she had placed on the ground and watched as the pets were each doing different things. Minka and Russell were sitting next to a tree, Russell was reading a book while Minka was enjoying a banana; Penny Ling, Sunil, and Vinnie were tossing a ball around, Pepper was lying on her back with a pair of sunglasses on and Zoe was admiring her reflection in a nearby pond.
"Who's that handsome dog?" Zoe said as she made duck faces to her reflection. "Why it's Zoe Trent, the most prettiest dog in the whole wide world."
Zoe then began to make kissing noises at her reflection only to quickly look up and see Pepper looking at her with a smirk on her face, causing her to blush.
"Sheesh, Zoe. If you love your reflection so much, why don't you marry it?" Pepper said with a chuckle.
Just then, Pepper heard what she thought sounded like quiet sobbing.
"Hey c'mon, Zoe. I know it wasn't one of my best jokes, but you don't have to cry about it."
"I'm not crying."
Zoe then perked up her ear as she started to hear the crying as well. She and Pepper followed the sound to a nearby bush.
"I heard of weeping willows before, but I never thought I'd actually see one," Pepper joked.
Zoe simply rolled her eyes at Pepper's comment as the two of them peaked underneath the bush and saw a young ferret inside it with small tears pouring down her face.
The ferret had a blue fur color, similar to Sunil, with her hair all white, done up in a small ponytail and tied up with a bright red bow. She was also clinging onto a small stuff giraffe toy. Judging by her small size, Zoe and Pepper could tell that she had to be just a child.
"Are you all right, sweetie?" asked Zoe.
The young ferret looked up and saw the two pets looking at her. They could tell that she was nervous as she quickly backed away from them.
"It's okay. We're not going to hurt you," said Pepper.
The ferret looked at them and saw the tender smiles on their faces that assured her that they were friendly. She then slowly crawled towards them and they both helped her out of the bush.
"My name is Zoe," the purple dog introduced herself. "And this is my friend, Pepper. What's your name?"
The young ferret looked at her feet for a bit before she spoke.
"My name's Kendra. Kendra Francis."
"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Kendra," said Zoe who then eyed Kendra's giraffe. "And who's your little friend?"
"Oh, this is Jeffy," said Kendra. "I don't go anywhere without him."
"Nice to meet you too, Jeffy," joked Pepper as she shook Jeffy's arm.
"If you don't mind me asking, Kendra, why were you crying?" asked Zoe.
Fresh tears started to form in Kendra's eyes before she spoke again.
"I'm lost. I came here with my owner yesterday. She let me play around while she was on a bench. I was playing by that pond you two were just at. I turned my head away from my owner for just a minute, and when I turned around, she was gone."
Kendra then quickly started to cry all over again.
Zoe and Pepper were both shocked. They could not believe something terrible could happen to someone like Kendra. Especially since she was so young. Pepper even began to shed a tear of her own.
"Oh, you poor thing," said Zoe as she walked up to Kendra and gave her a small hug. "C'mon, we'll take you to our friend Blythe. She'll know what to do."
Kendra held onto Zoe's front paw as they walked back to where Blythe and the other pets were getting ready to leave.
"Hey you two," Blythe said to Zoe and Pepper before she noticed Kendra. "Who's your little friend?"
"Blythe, I would like to introduce you to Kendra," said Zoe.
"Well hello Kendra. It's nice to meet you."
Kendra just stood there looking at Blythe with a look of amazement.
"Can you understand what I'm saying?" she asked.
"I sure can," Blythe chuckled. "It's a long story."
Soon, the other pets went up to Kendra.
"Aw, aren't you just the cutest thing?" said Penny Ling. "You're even cuter than me. My name's Penny Ling."
"That's a lovely name," said Kendra with a smile.
"Aw, thank you. I think so too," Penny Ling blushed.
Minka then walked up to Kendra. The others were a bit nervous by this as they expected Minka to talk in her regular, loud voice. But instead, she talked to Kendra in a very soft tone.
"Hi there. I'm Minka. I bet you're hungry."
Minka then took off a piece of her banana and handed it to Kendra.
"Oh, thank you. That's very nice of you," said Kendra as she nibbled on the banana. When she finished, Vinnie and Sunil walked up to her.
"Greetings, Kendra. I am Sunil, and this is my friend, Vinnie," said Sunil as he pointed to his gecko friend who smiled and waved and gave Kendra a small 'hello'.
"Nice to meet you," said Kendra. "Are you a ferret, like me?"
"I'm afraid not my dear," said Sunil. "I am actually a mongoose."
"Really? You don't look like a goose."
"That's what I said when we first met," said Vinnie.
Sunil just rolled his eyes at that comment.
Russell was the last to walk up to Kendra and introduce himself to her.
"Wow, I never met a hedgehog," said Kendra.
"Thank you. Finally, someone guess my species right," said Russell. "You won't believe how many people mistake me for a porcupine or a prickly rat. One time I actually got mistaken for a pineapple."
Kendra couldn't help but giggle at what Russell said.
"Well, it was nice to meet you Kendra. But we have to get going now," said Blythe. "We better get you back to your owner."
Upon hearing that, Kendra's smile disappeared.
"Actually Blythe, that's the reason we brought Kendra with us," said Zoe. "She got separated from her owner and we were hoping you could help us find them."
Blythe and the other pets were shocked when they heard that. Blythe then picked up Kendra and cuddled her.
"Don't worry, Kendra," she said. "We'll help you find your owner. What does she look like?"
"She's tall, has long blonde hair and was seen wearing a black purse," Kendra explained. "Her name is Claudia."
With that bit of information, Blythe and the pets went all around the park looking for Kendra's owner. Unfortunately, they didn't have any luck finding her. They asked a few park workers if they had seen a tall blonde woman with a black purse, Blythe even asked some of the park animals, like the squirrels and the ducks, if they had seen her, but they all shook their heads no, which made Kendra more and more depressed.
After searching, Blythe checked the time on her phone and realized that the park was going to be closing soon.
"But we haven't found Claudia yet, " said Kendra when Blythe told her and the pets the time. "She must be really sad without me."
Blythe felt terrible when she saw the sad look on the small ferret's face.
"I guess you'll be coming with us," she said. "I live at Littlest Pet Shop with the other pets here. You can stay there until we can think of another way to find Claudia."
Kendra smiled. She had heard about Littlest Pet Shop from the commercials she watched on TV at Claudia's home. They talked about how it was a great place for pets and Kendra thought it would great to go there. She then ran up to Blythe and jumped into her arms.
"Thank you so much," she said.
Blythe couldn't help but smile and hugged Kendra back. She then cradled Kendra in her arms as she and the pets walked back to the pet shop.