Chapter 2, The Forrest
While the toddlers were trying to figure out their next plan, a helicopter was flying overhead.
"Look down there, it appears there are several small children, lost." Said a female co-pilot.
"And look over there! That must be where they came from." Said a male pilot, who spotted Aunty Celeste's purple driverless van, now crashed in the middle of the forrest, and most likely, totaled.
"This will look really good on tonight's ten o'clock news report." Said the female co-pilot, as the helicopter flew off into the night sky.
Meanwhile, back on the highway, Stu was starting to get tired of driving.
"Face it Didi, we're never going to find the kids in the dark." Said Stu.
"But Stu, they're our kids!" Shouted Didi.
"I know they are, but I'm growing tired. Why don't we stop off for the night, and continue looking for them in the morning." Said Stu.
Didi sighed.
"I suppose you're right." Said Didi with a shrug.
Stu spotted a motel up a little ways on the road, and turned off into the parking lot.
Stu, Didi, Betty, Howard, Chaz, Kira, and Aunty Celeste all went into the motel lobby, where they rented two rooms, with two double beds in each. They went and found their rooms, where Betty and Howard, along with Chaz and Kira took one room, while Stu, Didi, and Aunty Celeste, took the other room. Once they were all settled in their rooms, Stu switched on the TV, to see a rather interesting news report.
"An interesting sight was spotted this evening in Borrah Borrah Forrest. A purple mini van, with seven young toddlers, outside the van, all by themselves, were spotted at around eight thirty this evening." Said a female reporter on the screen.
As pictures that were taken from the reporters in the helicopter showed on the TV screen, Didi gasped at the sight!
"That's Celeste's car! And those are my babies! Hurry Stu, we've got to get the others, and head off to Borrah Borrah Forrest! Now!" Shouted Didi.
"Ok Didi, relax!" Said Stu, trying to calm his wife down.
A little while later, Stu and Didi went to the room next door, where they told Betty, Howard, Chaz and Kira about what they just saw on the news, so everybody packed up their things, and got into their cars, continuing to drive all night, till they found Borah Borah Forrest.
Back in the forrest, the babies were trying to figure out their next move.
"Hey guys, I'm hungry, and now that me and Lil are potty trained, we can't exactly keep food in our diapies no more." Said Phil.
It was true, at the time of this story, everybody was potty trained, except for Zack and Dil.
Just then, Zack spotted some berries on some nearby bushes.
"Here's something! We'll eat these berries!" Said Zack, running over to the bushes, Phil, Lil, Kimi, Chuckie, Dil, and Tommy following him to the bushes.
Zack pulled off several berries from the bushes, and handed them to each of the rugrats, but because it was dark, he failed to notice that while most of them were red, and ripe to eat, there were a few green ones, which were not ripe. Everybody except Tommy, ended up with fresh, delicious red berries, which they ate without hesitation, even Chuckie ate them, as he was starving at this point. Poor Tommy though, who felt miserable from this terrible cold, and possible ear infection he had, was not so lucky. But he too was hungry, so he ate the green berries, only because his nose was stopped up, he couldn't taste the nasty taste accompanying the awful berries. It wasn't until they hit his stomach, that he noticed something odd.
"Guys, I feel worser." Whispered Tommy.
"Uh oh guys, we've gotta find some grown ups fast!" Said Chuckie.
"You're right Chuckie, maybe there's somebody up that hill over there." Said Kimi, pointing to a very steep hill in the distance.
"Let's go!" Said Zack, setting off confidently towards the hill.
As the rugrats climbed the hill though, they noticed that it was not an easy climb.
"Man, I'm getting tired!" Said Phil.
"And my legs are starting to hurt!" Added Lil.
"Guys, doesn't this seem familiar? We were in a forrest once before." Said Chuckie.
"Yeah but lastest time, we had the Reptar wagon to ride around in." Said Phil.
"Forrest? Reptar wagon?" Zack asked in confusion.
"Don't worry, I don't remember that adventure either." Replied Kimi.
"Hmmm, must have happened before Chuckie, Phil, and Lil knew me and Kimi." Zack thought to himself, as his tired little legs tottled him to the top of the hill.
Zack sat down in a grassy patch at the top of the hill, as he waited for the others to catch up. Chuckie and Kimi were the first to show up, with Phil, Lil, and Dil following behind. But that was then when everybody sat down at the top of the hill, to catch their breath, when they noticed, that Tommy was missing.
"Guys? Where's Tommy?" Chuckie asked in a panic.
"I don't know Chuckie." Zack replied.
"Well, somebody's gotta go get him!" Said Chuckie, who turned towards Dil.
"Hey, why are you guys looking at me?" Dil asked.
"Well, he is your brother." Answered Phil.
"And he did rescue you from the monkeys." Added Lil.
Of course, Dil was so little when all of that happened, that his memories of that event were more or less, fuzzy, but while he was exhausted from crawling up that steep hill, Dil let out a huge sigh, and decided to head back down, in search of his brother, while Chuckie, Kimi, Phil, Lil, and Zack found a place to curl up for the night.
Just then, Kimi spotted a tree in the distance.
"Anybody need to use the tree?" Kimi asked.
"I do I do." Replied Chuckie.
"Not me, I still wear diapies." Replied Zack.
"Don't rub it in." Phil muttered to himself.
While the potty trained toddlers went in search for their tree, Zack found a soft grassy place for them to curl up for the night, while Dil headed back down the steep hill, in search of his lost brother. He found as he ran down the hill, he had an easier time running down the hill, than he did crawling up it. In fact, he was having so much fun running down the hill, that he almost forgot about why he was running back down the hill. Then, he spotted his reason for his trip back down the hill. There Tommy was, lying in a patch of grass, face down, passed out.
"Tommy! Tommy!" Dil shouted, but it was no use, Tommy was passed out, unable to hear him.
Dil knew he'd have to approach Tommy, and shake him awake himself, but before he could get close to Tommy, a wolf approached Tommy, stalking him.
"Doggy! Doggy!" Dil shouted, as he never quite learned the difference between wolves and dogs, even though dogs are a cousin of the wolf.
But the wolf continued to stalk Tommy, and Dil was only hoping that Tommy would eventually, wake up, and fight his way past the wolf, but Tommy must have been sicker than he thought, if he was that tired out, that even a mean animal like a wolf, wouldn't awaken him.
Just then, Dil spotted a pile of rocks off to the side. He picked up a bunch of rocks, and threw them in the direction of the wolf, hitting the wolf on the head. Angerred, the wolf turned towards Dil, and started charging towards him. Dil started running in every which direction, hoping to get the wolf off course, screaming at the top of his lungs. The wolf continued to chase him, until they both stumbled on top of Tommy, causing Tommy to awaken from his slumber.
"What's going on?" Tommy asked in a croaky voice, looking around, to see Dil being chased by a wolf.
"Dil!" Tommy shouted, but because his voice was practically shot as a result of this very bad cold, which he now had a soar throat, nobody could hear him.
As weak as Tommy was, he got up, and started charging towards the wolf, sneezing and coughing on the way there. A few minutes later, Tommy had come up behind Dil, with the wolf staring at both of them in the face. Tommy then had a major coughing fit, that not only caused him to wet his pants, but apparently, those bad berries didn't agree with him, as he threw up all over the wolf's face, causing the wolf to run away.
"Tommy! Tommy!" Dil said excitedly, hugging his brother, happy that neither one of them had gotten eaten by the wolf.
"Come on Tommy, we've gots to find the others." Shouted Dil.
"Ok, I'm coming." Replied Tommy in a weak febal tone, as he and Dil started to inch their way back up the steep hill, this time, Dil was quite tired out, from all of the running he had done, to chase after the wolf, and Tommy, not feeling well, tired out quickly, so after crawling for a few minutes, Tommy collapsed again, in another grassy spot.
"Let's go in the morning, I'm really tired, and don't feel good." Whispered Tommy.
"Ok, night night." Said Dil, curling up next to his brother, the two of them, falling asleep.
At the top of the hill, Chuckie, Kimi, Phil and Lil had finished their business on the tree, and had found Zack, where they all lay down, to get some shut eye.
"Where could Tommy and Dil be?" Kimi asked.
"Yeah, it sure is taking them a while to get here. I hope they're ok." Said Chuckie.
"Maybe they founded another place to sleep." Said Zack, yawning, barely able to keep his eyes open.
The others, also very tired out from their big adventure thus far, also yawned, and fell asleep, which all took place way before Dil had that chase with the wolf, causing the other rugrats, to never hear a peap of the wolf events that Dil and Tommy witnessed.
The next morning, the toddlers were awakened by the smell of bacon cooking over an open camp fire.
"Yum! Smell that guys?" Phil asked, as he sat up, sniffing around.
"It smells like breakfast!" Said Kimi excitedly.
"Hey! Maybe there are some grown ups around here, maybe they can help us." Said Zack, rubbing his eyes and sitting up.
"But guys, Tommy and Dil aren't here yet." Said Chuckie, putting on his glasses and looking around.
"Don't worry Chuckie, I'm sure they'll show up soon." Said Kimi.
"Yeah maybe you're right." Replied Chuckie.
"Well come on! Come on! Come on! I'm hungry!" Shouted Lil.
"Ok everybody, follow your noses!" Said Zack, standing up, the others, following behind him, as they went in search of the cent of the bacon.
Dil was also awakened by the same smell, but because Tommy had a bad cold, he wasn't. Dil started shaking Tommy awake, Tommy, opened his eyes, a bit confused, then he remembered where he was, only he noticed his pants felt wet.
"Why did I have to get potty trained?" Tommy thought to himself, recalling the events of the night before, embarrassed that his coughing fit, caused him to wet his pants.
"Well come on Tommy, don't you smell it? It's breakfast!" Shouted Dil in Tommy's ear.
"Outch! That hurt!" Tommy croaked, letting out a few coughs here and there.
Dil was starting to get worried for his brother. It wasn't like him to not notice the smell of breakfast, and he could tell, that something was wrong with his brother, as he wasn't as energetic, talkative, or excited as he usually was. He also noticed his voice sounded different.
"Well come on Tommy." Demanded Dil, as he pulled on Tommy's arm, dragging him behind him up the hill.
Tommy reluctantly followed his brother, he really didn't feel good, and just wanted to go home. Dil however, was concentrating on the same smell, which, unknown to him, Zack, Chuckie, Kimi, Phil, and Lil were also all following. A little while later, Dil ran into the back of Chuckie, who was at the end of the line, which was being led by Zack, followed by Phil, then Lil, then Kimi, and Chuckie, was bringing up the rear of the line.
"Hey what was that?" Chuckie asked, as he felt someone hit his back. He turned around to see it was Dil and Tommy.
"Dil! Tommy! You made it!" Said Chuckie, relieved that his bestest friend and his little brother, had finally caught up to them. But Tommy's face was all pale, which worried Chuckie.
"Tommy? Are you sure you're ok?" Chuckie asked, concerned for his friend.
Tommy nodded.
"Guys, I think we're getting closer!" Said Zack excitedly, as the smell of bacon had intensified.
"Hey! Zack's right!" Said Phil.
"And look!" Shouted Lil, as she spotted a camp fire in the distance.
"We're almost there guys, now all we've gots to do, is cross this…" Said Zack, as he noticed a large, rapid river, was in front of him.
All of the toddlers stopped dead in their tracks. None of them could swim all that well, and without water wings, they knew they had no chance at crossing this river alive. But Zack wasn't giving up, he was determined to get to that camp fire, in hopes the grown ups across the way were friendly. Surely anybody who ate bacon for breakfast was friendly. So without hesitation, Zack jumped into the cold, river water.
"Help! It's cold!" Zack shouted, barely able to keep his head above the water.
"What are we gonna do guys, what are we gonna do?" Chuckie shouted, concerned for his friend, who was practically drowning.
"Look Chuckie!" Said Kimi excitedly, as she spotted a raft, tied up to the side of the river bank to a poll sticking out of the ground.
"Kimi, we can't use that." Said Chuckie.
"Sure we can. Come on everybody!" Said Kimi, as she hopped into the raft, dragging her brother behind her.
Phil and Lil skipped arguing, hopping in behind them, Dil, hopping in last. Tommy, weak and fatigued, noticed he was all alone, rushed over, grabbing on to the rope that was tying the raft to the side of the river, only to pull really hard on the rope, causing it to come loose, causing the raft to drift out into the middle of the river.
"AAAHHH!" Screamed Chuckie, as he noticed the raft was getting away.
Realizing what was going on, Tommy tried to chase after the raft.
"I'm coming!" Tommy shouted, in a very horse voice, but he slipped, and he too, was in the river, just like Zack, only Tommy was in a more dangerous part of the river.
A powerful rapid grabbed at Tommy, pulling him away from the raft and Zack.
"AAAHHH!" Tommy screamed, but it was no use. Between Tommy's voice being practically shot as a result of his cold, and the loud rushing noise of the water, nobody could hear him. Before Tommy knew it, his head hit a rock, and he was knocked unconscious.
Meanwhile, Stu, Didi, Chaz, Kira, and Celeste had finally made it to Borah Borah Forrest, and were driving around the area, till Betty spotted Celeste's car.
"There's your car! Stop!" Shouted Betty from her car. Everybody stopped, and went to examine Celeste's driverless van.
When they got there, they noticed the back door of the van was badly damaged, and then, the driver's door was open, and the keys, were still in the car.
"That's strange." Said Celeste.
"What?" Howard asked.
"Well, it appears somebody must have hit the back of my car, as Didi pointed out to me the back door had been bent in, and, the driver's door is open, and the keys are where they're suppose to be on the dash board, to start the car." Explained Celeste.
"What could be going on then?" Chaz asked, confused.
"I don't know, but I'm about to call Triple A so we can get this van of mine looked at. I'm gonna head with them to the mechanic. If you guys find Zack, please call me immediately." Said Celeste.
"Don't worry, we will." Replied Didi.
In another part of the forrest, not far from where the toddlers had been, two guys were getting ready to take their white water rafting trip, when they noticed, their raft was missing.
"What's the meaning of this?" Said Ed, a skinny teenager with red curly hair.
"I don't know." Replied Bill, a large teenager with brown hair.
"Well help me look would ya?" Ed asked.
"Ok ok." Sighed Bill, as they walked along the side of the river, in search of their raft, unknown to them, had been taken off by a three-year-old, three two-year-olds, and a one-year-old toddler.
Zack continued to bob up and down in the water, gasping for air, hoping no crocadiles or alligators would get him. The raft with the other babies, was somewhere out in the middle of the river, Chuckie, scared, was clutching on to Kimi for dear life, even Dil was starting to get concerned. And the poor unconscious body of Tommy, continued to float down the river.
Meanwhile, at the sight of the campfire, Peter had taken Kelly, Derek, Bobby, and Jesse on a camping trip, while Howard G and Martha had taken their two youngest, the twins, Al and Jake, to visit their grandfather, and Jesse's parents, Laura and Dana, were off on a business trip. That's when Bobby heard Zack's cries for help in the water.
"Help! Help!" Zack cried.
"Did you hear that Peter?" Bobby asked, as he took another slice of bacon from the camp fire, and popped it into his mouth.
"No, what?" Peter asked.
"That cry for help, it came from the river!" Shouted Bobby.
"Oh stop it dweeb, there's nothing out there in the river." Said Derek.
"Yeah there is Derek, I heard it." Said Bobby.
"Let me have a look." Said Peter, fetching a pair of binoculars out of a pocket of his gray confederate uniform, and looking out into the ocean, where he noticed Zack in the water.
"Oh my gosh! If I'm not mistaken, that appears to be Zack out there!" Cried Peter.
"Zack? Zack is here?" Jesse asked excitedly, jumping up and down.
"Yeah Jesse, here, have a look." Said Peter, giving Jesse his binoculars.
"Yay! Zack came to play!" Shouted Jesse excitedly.
"Jesse, I don't think Zack came to play, but he definitely needs our help. Come on everybody." Said Peter, as he rushed around to get everybody into life vests, and packed up their lunches and some trail mix in their raft.
And this, ends chapter 2. So, will Peter, Jesse, and Bobby rescue Zack and the other Rugrats? Will Tommy live to see another day? Will the parents get reunited with their kids again? We'll find out, in the next chapter!