Once Upon a Forest:A New World Chapter 2
By
Pendragonkuro
The furlings entered the classroom and soon took their seats. The classroom had gotten much roomier ever since the furlings returned from their last adventure. the overall clutter had been cleared to make room for new desks and other tools of the academic kind. Not only that, but the dapplewood community had also grown due to the rise in denizens. This was mostly due to the draining of the swamp by humans. causing a mass exodus of swamp creatures and animals from farther off, including a band of mic eand squirrels who came from a distant meadow called Oakseed, which was destroyed by a wildfire. Amongst these displaced familes were other furlings that Abigail, Edgar & Russel had met on their journey to save Michelle. The Refugees came in such numbers that Cornieleus had to make room for the new arrivals. That was all in the the previous month. The other furlings had already taken out their textbooks and were looking at the only three furlings who were late. the three furlings took their assigned seats.
Abigail sat next to Willy, A gray male fieldmouse with short brown hair and wearing a puple T-shirt with a big yellow horzontal stripe. Russel sat next to Waggs, A Hot-Blooded, Short-Tempered red squirrel who only wore a light blue vest. Finally, Edgar sat next to Bosworth, a little kingfisher wearing a red sweater and a teal sailor cap.
"You're late again Abigail." said Willy. "Yeah. You've got to start coming in ealier you guys, or you might get in trouble." said Bosworth with a hint of fear in his words.
"Oh grow a backbone birdie! What's that ol' badger gonna do, snore at us?" Waggs laughter was cut short as he felt a hand on his shoulder. He gulped then he turned around to find Cornielius with a stern but friendly expression on his face. "I'm glad you like this class so much. In fact, I'm so glad that I've decided to give you extra homework."
Waggs groaned at the elderly badger's sarcastic remark as the others started giggling to themselves. "Alright furlings, settle down. Now, I'm sorry for running a little behind, but I-" He interrupted himself when he saw Abigail raise her hand. "Yes Abigail?" "Were you watching the humans again?" "I was Abigail. Apperently this is the last time they will be here before they return to the city for good." A collective "AWWWWW." came from the furlings. "But uncle Corneilius, I wanted to see the humans." said Michelle in a disappointed tone. "Well, maybe we'll se them on our weekly ramble. said Cornielius as he fiddled with his glasses. The students then started chattering again. "Alright furlings, please calm yourselves. We'll go on our ramble after we finish our reading assignments. The Badger then proceeded to read a story from a very large book.
The time had come to take their wekly ramble. the students the walked single-file out of the classroom and outside into the mid-morning sun. After making a head count to make sure everyone was present and accounted for, Cornielius then looked at the forest they called home.
"Look at that." thought Cornielius "The forest looks so healthy and green. It's hard to imagine that anything bad ever happened to it." His train of thought was interrupted by Michelle, who started tugging on his coat. "What are you doing uncle Cornielius?" she asked. "I'm sorry Michelle, I was just remembering what happened a month ago." this made Michelle tear up a little. "Now now Michelle, don't cry." "Do you think mommy and daddy are watching over me?" asked Michelle. "I think they are watching over all of us even as we speak." said Cornielius. This seemed to cheer her up as she then started to run over to join the other furlings. He then turned around and said to the furlings
"All right everybody, listen up. I want all of you to stay with the group. no running off in any durection unless it's a a stop on today's ramble. Understand?" "Yes Cornielius." said the furlings. "alright then. Let's get moving." said cornielius as he started walking along the dirt path, the furlings following suit.
It was late afternoon by the time they were walking back to school. they had learned much on their ramble and even got to see the humans. Michelle, on the other hand, wanted to see them up close and had wandered away from the group. Cornielius noticed this halfway to the school. He asked Abigail, Russel, Edgar, Willy, Waggs and Bosworth to go with him while he told the other students to go home early for the day. the other furlings complied by cheering happily and running of in the direction of their homes. Meanwhile, Michelle had wandered into one the back of the P.R. van and was amazed at all the strange macines she saw. This euphoria was short lived when she felt something grab her by the shoulder. It was Cornielius, accmpanied by the other six furlings. "There you are. I've been looking all over for you!" said Cornielius in a serious manner. "You could have been hurt. Or worse, captured." "I'm sorry uncle Cornielius." she said. "We'll talk about it later. for now let's-" Suddenly, they heard voices and footsteeps that seemed to be getting closer. Suddenly, the doors closed and the engine was started.
"So, do we have everything?" asked Dr. Nuegent. "For the millionth time already, YES!" Replied Alex harshly. "I'm just making sure so that we don't leave anything behind."
"Come on now. You know I'm always careful." said Alex. What about the Rochester incident?" asked Dr. Nuegent. "I thought I told you not to bring that up again." "Calm down Alex, I was only having a bit of fun." Alex smirked. "And you are how old now?" They both laughed as Alex pulled the van out of park and got back onto the road.
"What do we do Cornielius?" asked a panicked Edgar. "I...I-I don't really know." said Cornieluis who was currently at a loss for words. soon they would be arriving in the city. Who knows what lies ahead for the frlings and their teacher.