"Gone, what do you mean Annita is gone…" Gloria asked worriedly. Alex came back and told everyone what happened
"It's my fault for letting her go by herself, and she got lost because of me….What kind of a father am I…" Alex was holding onto the train cart door and Gia rushed to his side.
"This isn't your fault Alex…" Gia rubbed his back.
"No it is my fault...because of me...we...we lost our daughter…" Tears rolled down his blue eyes and he embraced his mate, sobbing in her arms. AJ and Gio hugged his legs in sympathy. They both knew how he felt. They too lost their sister.
"What are we gonna do…" Melman asked
"We have to come up with plan to find Annita and bring her home…" Vitaly pitched in
"That's impossible...the kid could be across town by now…." Jonessy commented.
"Well...We have to at least try...I just hope that Anni is okay…" Alex added.
Meanwhile, a doozy Anni began to slowly wave up, only to find herself in a cage. She banged as hard as she could at the bars and looked at her surroundings. She saw that she was in a grey room and she saw other animals in cages too.
"I hope this isn't like that Dubois story…" then she heard keys dangling in the next room and she saw a woman coming in. "Don't cut off my head...Please mam…" then the woman approached her cage and unlocked the door.
"It's okay girl...I'm gonna feed you and give you some water okay…" Anni began to calm down once she heard the women's calm words. She relented and went towards the woman who scooped her up and placed her down gently and placed a bowl of water and a large cut of steak in front of the liguar cub.
Anni then gently drank the water and slowly ate the steak. She needed to get her strength back and then remembered about her father and she began to claw at the down that led outside, meowing desperately
"Oh, you have to go potty...Don't take too long okay…" the woman then opened the door and Anni walked outside where the woman couldn't see her. As soon as Anni spotted that the woman's back was turned, she slowly tiptoed away and fled as fast as she could.
"Wait, Where Am I…" The question raced into her head as she ran. She tried to look for a sign of where she could possibly be. Feeling disoriented, She decided to slow down and take a walk around the alleys and found a light and she walked towards it.
When she stepped out into the light she found a city and she glanced around for a sign of where she could be. She spotted people walking around. She ran towards a man and a woman
"Excuse me...can you please help me...I'm lost and I don't know where I am…" Anni asked innocently. All the man and woman did was run away from her. The cub stared in bewilderment at this and decided to try again
"Please, I'm lost and I need help. I'm from a circus…" She this time asked a man in a restaurant who just threw a pan at her to get the animal to leave. Then she asked around people who just ran away from her. Finally, she began to give up.
"Can somebody please tell me where I am?!" She shouted. Everyone just walked away from her. "I guess I'll have to find out myself…" she sighed.
Anni looked around the town again and she stumbled upon 3 large black dogs.
"Maybe they can tell me where I am…" she ran over to the dogs. "Excuse me...Can you please tell me where I am...I'm lost and I really need help...I need to get back to my circus…" the dogs finally turned towards her and they growled.
Anni stopped where she was and backed away and made a run for it with the dogs following in pursuit of her. The young cub had to run on all fours to get away from them, even as far as running through a crowd.
"Excuse me, excuse me, sorry coming through…" Anni said as she was being chased by the dogs. The citizens made way for them and screamed as they heard the large barking from the dogs.
Then Anni spotted a small building and decided to hide there. Then the dogs stopped chasing her and they ran away from the building, whimpering and high-pitched barks followed. Anni tilted her head.
"Why did they run away...What's so bad about this-" then she slowly turned around as she heard whimpering. She felt her stomach sink and turn and a choked gasp was let out as one of her worst nightmares come to life. She saw animal skins, animal heads, ranging from a bird to a dog, to a cat...even to wild exotic animals.
"Mother…" Anni let out. Then She slowly walked around the place. Every stuffed head was staring at her, making the poor cub even more scared than she needed to be. Then she heard whispering and she heard
"Psst…Psst…" Anni quickly looked around as her eyes darted in every direction. But the whispering just kept coming and coming.
"Dear child...Over here…" Anni turned to see an elderly black jaguar and a young panther looking at her. "You should have never entered here…"
"Who...Who are you…" She asked, her voice trembling
"Don't be scared...Hurry...leave before the demon comes to get you…" the elder jaguar warned
"Who…" Then she heard the door open and hid behind one of the cages, not before peeking out to see a man stepping out of the open doors. He was holding a large knife and the animals backed away in fear. He taunted the animals by placing the knife on the cage bars, making a horrible cling clang noise.
"Someone asked for an okapi skin...Would you mind…" the man's icy voice spoke to a cage where a male okapi was held. He kept shaking his head, his eyes begging for his life.
Anni got a good view of it and she didn't like the evil look in the human's eyes. He slowly opened the cage and took the okapi by the neck and carried him to the next room. The okapi looked at Anni, hiding near the cages, and mouthed out "help me" making the poor cub's eye widened. Once the man and the okapi went inside the room, all of the animals had their heads down.
"What...What happened…" Anni asked.
"I'll tell you what kid…" Anni jumped when she was next to a white tiger's cage. "Once that monster and an animal goes in that room...the same animal he picked only comes back with skin…"
Then blood-curdling screams came from the room. Anni tried to cover her ears but the screams couldn't be blocked out. All Anni could do was close her eyes and turned away as the okapi started crying and screaming. Tears rolled down Anni's face as she felt horrible for the crying okapi. She tried her best not to scream.
Her fear began to shoot up when she heard the screams stop. She opened her eyes and hid even further away when the door opened. The man smiled as he held the okapi skin. Anni made a terrible mistake by letting out a horrified gasp. He turned and saw the terrified cub. He placed down the skin and made his way towards her
"Well, what do we have here…" He picked up the cub and examined her. "A rare purebred Liguar...yes yes...Finally...something worth a skin...Oh ho, you, my deary make a beautiful prize...Of course your the only prize I need…" then He shows her a collection of liguar fur and dead, bald liguars, making her more horrified.
"You my friend must not know who I am...My name is Dr. Milan Bont...I tend to please my customers with delicate furs…" The devious doctor spoke. He brushed back his platinum blonde hair and Anni looked into his dark brown eyes. She could only see death.
"Your the only piece I need left...Dear girl...now this knife I used is so sharp you won't feel a-" He stopped when he heard liquid pouring on the floor. He turned to find a deranged lion urinating on the stone-cold floor.
"Ugh, I just cleaned this floor…" He dropped Anni and went into his office. The young cub glanced at the back door and saw that it was open. Her eyes widened, seeing her chance to escape.
The doctor came back with a mop and saw a standing Anni and gave it a small yank and took a sample of her fur. Then the same panther with the old jaguar began to meow with all of the other big and small cats joining in. then more and more animals began to make noise, a concerned Anni didn't know what was going on until the instigator pointed towards the door. Anni mouthed out thank you and slowly tiptoed away.
"SILENCE YOU FREAKS…" then he pulled out a gun and pulled the trigger three times on the ceiling, then he turned to see Anni at the edge of the door.
"Oh ho ho, you're not going anywhere…" Dr. Bont slowly went towards the cub in a frightening stance
"RUN KID RUN…" the white tiger scream and Anni bolted out of the door. Dr. Bont tried to follow after her but the white tiger tripped him with his paw, slowing him down.
The cub ran on her fours, towards a fence with the doctor in pursuit. She climbed the fence and made it to the other side despite getting a small cut.
"Oh, you got away for now...But you can't hide from me…" Dr. Bont's voiced echoed as Annita took off into the sunset.
Anni stopped in the middle of the street to catch her breath. She knew that night was about to fall pretty soon and she didn't have a place to stay. Then She heard her stomach growl.
"Aww, man…" Anni whimpered. Then cars came rolling down the street. Anni screamed and ran towards the nearest block and planted her back onto the wall, already scared.
Oh poor kitty…" she heard a gentle voice. She saw a beautiful woman with black hair coming towards her. Anni whimpered, thinking that she was going to be like that deadly doctor she had a run-in with.
"It's okay...It's okay baby…" She gently picked Anni up like a baby and shushed her quietly. "You must've had a run-in with that monster Bont...LEt's take you home...You must be starving…"
The woman carried her to a small little farmhouse. Anni liked it a little because it reminded her of the circus.
"Evermore...Look what I brought home…" then a teenage girl with short black hair(think Mavis from Hotel Transylvania) and black clothes came out
"It's Eva mom…" the teenager remarked.
"I brought home a spotted kitty…" then Eva took a close look at Anni and her deep blue eyes widened
"MOM, that's not a kitty...that is a cub...Give him to me…" Eva snatched Anni from her mother's arms.
"I think she must've had a run-in with Dr. Bont…" then Eva rolled her eyes
"Well, she's lucky her fur didn't get snatched up...I'll take her to my room to feed her." Eva then took Anni to a small pink room. Well pink and black room. Her bed was a little messy and hair dye and paint were on her dresser. A beanbag chair was present in the corner of her room nearby a window where she saw two cars there, a van and a station wagon.
"So...Dr. Bont...Must be a horrible guy huh…" Eva asked
"Oh, he is terrible…" Anni spoke. Then Eva gasped. "What's wrong?"
"You can talk…" Eva was flabbergasted
"Wait y-you can understand me…" Anni gasped too
"I can't believe a cub just talked to me…" Eva whispered
"I can't believe She can understand what I'm saying…" Anni whispered.
"OKay say something...Anything…" Eva instructed
"Um hello…" Anni said
"I'm not crazy...She did talk to me…"
"Please, mam...I really need help...I need to get back to my mommy and daddy...I'm from a circus…" Anni begged.
"Wait a circus...then how did you get here...and how did you escape Dr. Furnapper…" Eva asked her.
"Well...I got separated from my daddy when I went on a train...I tried to get off but I got knocked out and I ended up here...WHat am I gonna do...I don't wanna be a liguar fur coat…"
"Calm down...that's not gonna happen…"
"It's not…"
"Wait let me turn on the news…" then Eva turned on the T.V in her room. It went to commercials, making Eva groan.
"Ugh these stupid commercials…" She complained. Then Anni spotted one of the commercials
"Wait what's that…" Anni pointed at a circus commercial. It was all of the same familiar animals from back home...including her and her brothers. "THAT'S ME!"
"Wait you're from Fur Power circus…"
"Uh-huh...I need to get home before the next tour...It's in a week…"
"Well, you can't go out like that…" Anni looked down at herself.
"What's wrong with the way I look…" Anni shrank.
"Well, Dr. Bont is gonna be looking for you all night...So in order to get back to your animal friends, you're going to have to dress human…" Eva declared.
"How am I going to do that...You're not gonna cut off my tail and whiskers are you?" Anni asked nervously.
"Of course not...I'm not like that son of a devil...I hate his guts just as much as you…"
"Why…" Eva's face softened a little but then shook it off
"Oh we're wasting time...I'll get you ready…"
"Wait...Do I have to pay you anything...I don't have much on me and you might have to work something out with my parents...Ooh ooh...maybe I can get you a free show...I still have to…" then Eva places a hand on Anni's mouth.
"Listen you don't have to pay me anything...I just...I just...Never mind...We should get you ready…"
Then Eva spent a good chunk of the night giving Anni a makeover. She colored Anni's mane a beautiful dark chocolate brown. While they were waiting for the dye to settle in the hair, Eva taught the cub a few tricks with her tail
"Okay I'm not gonna cut your tail but you have to curl your tail like a...have you ever seen a pig…"
"Not really…" Anni admitted. Eva showed her the pigs in the farmhouse.
"See how their tails are curled...Not try it with your tail…" Anni tried to curl her tail and she hurt it by accident.
"We'll work on it…" Eva cringed.
Then Eva and Anni searched for some clothes for Anni to wear. Eva found a denim skirt and a pair of black boots while Anni found a dark grey top that said Nirvanna on it and a light grey beanie.
"Hey, you found my dad's shirt…" Eva pointed out.
"Huh…"
"That was his favorite shirt…"
"What happened to him…"
"He passed away 2 years ago…" Anni then raced to Eva to give her a hug
"I'm so sorry…" Anni spoke with sympathy
"Okay...time to try them on…"
Eva then placed the clothes on Anni and the shirt was a slightly loose fit while the skirt fits like a glove. She placed the beanie on Anni's now dark brown mane which was now straight and the boots were a bit small on her.
"Okay new plan...Here are my sneakers…" Eva placed another pair of black points to her and they fit her feet. "You need one more thing…" then Eva point the finishing touches on her liguar acquaintance and she brought a mirror to her
"What do you think…"
"It's a lot different than what I'm used to…"
"Well this is one of the ways of being human...going outside of your comfort zone…"
"What time is it…"
"10:30...We'll leave here at midnight...I just need to pack a few things…" Eva ran off leaving Anni. the young cub looked around the room or attempted to with the heavy boots on her feet, stumbling with every step.
Then she spotted a picture of Eva and a dog. It was a dark brown dog and she was visibly happy and the dog was licking her face.
"Oh…"
"Uh...I just looked at the picture…I didn't do anything…"
"Oh, that was just my dog Lulu...She ran away and didn't come back...I think that Bont guy killed her…" Eva's fist clenched angrily...and then Anni spotted tears rolled down her face, nearly ruining her eye makeup.
"Come on...We should get out of here…" Eva carried a few things to her van outside. Anni tried to follow behind but she still tripped with the boots.
"You'll get used to them...Boots are pretty hard...but you'll get the hang of them…" Eva and Anni get inside the van and then slowly take off.
"I brought the beanbag and a sleeping bag so we can sleep…"
"Okay…" Anni said. And with that, the girls took off on their trip
Meanwhile back at the circus, the penguins and Alex drew a plan on a map
"Oh momma, I'm so Worried about Anni…" a brown and tan spotted hippo told Gloria.
"Well don't Joy...She's going to be okay…" Gloria comforted her daughter
"But she's out there all alone and Animal control might get her…" Joy replied
"Well not if we find her first…" Melman stepped in with His son Melvin.
"Alright, men here's the plan...We know that she was on the other side of the forest where there is a train station nearby the Netherlands...So if we divide into 3 groups We'll be able to meet the kid somewhere around...Belgium or Germany" Skipper proposed
"Alright, Gia, AJ, Gio, Marty and Maddy and I will be in the first group going north...A few more of you should take south.
"I'll go south…" Vitaly volunteered along with Stefano. The lemurs and the triplet horses volunteered as well
"That means the rest of you goes straight ahead east…"
"Alight...Let's bring our Anni home…" The circus animals cheered as they went on the search for their missing liguar.
Alex secretly hoped that Anni would come home. He wondered where she was now.