Chapter 3

Emmet stood in front of Rood Bridge Park's gate. The Village looked very secure and peaceful from the outside. But now, he was outside and in the wild. Emmet grabbed his map and looked at it carefully. According to the map, Neon Village was just a few hours from where he was, on foot. Emmet took a deep breath and walked in the deep jungle, with his map in hand.

The selected path in his map led him to a safer route, but there really wasn't a hiking trail of any sort. It was vast dense jungle with trees, fruits of many shapes and sizes and to Emmet's surprise, monkeys. He heard birds chirping and the sound of the lake nearby. Emmet walked steadily where he was and for a brief moment, he heard a grunt of an animal. Emmet froze in place and he heard even more weird noises from up ahead.

Emmet walked forward and saw to his surprise, a large furry gopher like creature raise it's head. It blinked at looked at Emmet curiously with it's gaze. Emmet figured the creature was a Giant Sloth. The creature moved slowly to one tree, rose on it's legs and bit off the fruit from the tree.

Emmet never got to see animals much in the wild. He was always inside the safety zone of Rood Bridge. Emmet kept on walking until he heard an unwelcome noise. The Giant Sloth behind him made a noise that made it panic and it went away as fast as it could.

"What's wrong?" thought Emmet. He looked ahead and noticed a dark shadow move in the trees. It then hopped right on the trail and it looked at Emmet angrily. Emmet froze in fear. The creature standing before him, licking it's lips and tasting the left over blood from his latest kill was a large wolf.

It then pounced straight at Emmet, and he quickly used his staff. The wolf was sent to the ground and regained it's posture. Emmet quickly ran as fast as he could, straight ahead into the jungle. The wolf ran after him. Emmet kept on running. He didn't want to find himself in the jaws of that hungry beast!

As Emmet ran for dear life, he finally reached the river and he couldn't believe his eyes when he noticed an old boat on the side of the river bed. Emmet wasted no time in pushing the boat to the river and he hopped in. The only problem here was that there were no oars! Emmet didn't panic. He just used his arms and allowed the current to take him. The wolf stood there and watched angrily as Emmet went away.

"In your face furball!" cried Emmet excitedly.

Just then, he heard another sound and turned to see a giant bird like creature by the river, drinking water. The bird lifted it's head and looked at Emmet. The boy knew what this was. It was a Thunder Bird. The large bird had the body of an ostrich and an African hornbill's beak with multiple colors. The bird itself was white as snow. It was a pretty sight, but unfortunately, it was hungry, and Emmet was on the menu for it's dinner!

Emmet ducked his head as the bird dove it's beak onto the boat, leaving holes. As the boat was sinking, Emmet dove right into the water and the current kept taking him. He realized the current was getting a lot stronger.

"Oh no…" thought Emmet as he looked ahead. There had to be a waterfall up ahead, and that was something Emmet didn't want to deal with. The Bird was after him and it flapped it's large wings in the air.

Emmet dove underwater and swam, hoping the bird wouldn't see him. But underwater, there was another danger. Alligators and Crocodiles were fast asleep under water and Emmet didn't want to make a noise. But the bird dove it's beak and stabbed an Alligator on the back. The creature then roared in pain as the others woke up. Emmet quickly swam back to the surface and took breaths. He then saw a branch and pulled on it.

But the Bird was coming straight for him! That was until the Alligators attacked the feathered creature. Feathers flew into the air and Emmet tried to pull himself. But the branch he was holding on too then broke and Emmet was sent back into the rapids. And there it was. The waterfall!

Emmet quickly tried to swim back, but it was no use. He then fell right into the waterfall, with all the water absorbing him.

Emmet woke up in the dead of night. He was alive! Barely. He stood up and noticed he was already on muddy from his escape. He looked up at the waterfall in which he had fallen. It was a beautiful sight to behold, and Emmet wondered how something beautiful like the waterfall could be so deadly.

He turned around and noticed something that caught his attention. The forest was becoming beautiful at night. There were fireflies flying and the forest began to glow little by little with vibrant colors. Emmet reached for his pocket to check his map, hoping he was on track.

However, to Emmet's shock, there was no map. Emmet searched in his pockets, but still nothing. He was then feeling panic grip over him when suddenly he heard a noise. He turned back and saw a Black Jaguar stalking him. Emmer ran into the woods as fast as he could. The Jaguar pounced and destroyed a tree with it's overpowered claws. Emmet screamed and ran for dear life when suddenly he fell.

"I need to get out of here!" cried Emmet. The Jaguar was about to pounce when suddenly a cloud of purple smoke appeared and scared the creature. The Jaguar then left running with it's tail between the legs and Emmet stood up.

"What the what?" asked Emmet.

"Boy! That was one angry tiger!" said a voice. Emmet got up and got his staff.

"Show yourself!" demanded Emmet.

Out of the shadows in an instant came a young man in his mid twenties with cans. They had a purple liquid in them.

The young man was wearing a blue jacket that looked like it belonged to some military general, a white shirt underneath, and he was wearing a bandana with many colors. He also had buttons with the peace sign on his jacket.

"You should probably get home to your mama kid. The forest is raving mad at night." Said the young man.

"I don't have a mama." Said Emmet.

"Oh, then your papa." Said the man.

"No. I don't have a father either." Said Emmet.

"Then who do you have?!" asked the young man.

"I'm sorry, but I'm in a hurry. I'm looking for Neon Village. I'm supposed to be there and look for someone called Joshua. You know where that is?" asked Emmet.

The young man stood there and laughed heartily. "Well, you got something right. You found me." Said the young man.

Emmet shook his head. "You? Your Joshua?!" asked Emmet.

"Why yes. I am! Welcome to Neon Village!"