Chapter 7.

Marianne Tiger

"Hey Marianne," said Martin Tiger, Marianne's younger brother.

"Hey, little brother," Marianne replied.

"Would you like to play?" asked Martin.

"Sure!" Marianne replied. She walked over to Martin. "What would you like to play?"

"Hide and Seek," said Martin.

"Hmm..." Marianne thought about this for a moment. "That sounds like a good idea. Would you like to go first?"

"Sure," said Martin.

Martin then went over to a wall and turned towards it, covering his eyes as he did so.

"One... two..."

Marianne looked around the room looking for a hiding place. Marianne lived in MonGoose City with her Parents Nathan and Lucianna Tiger and her 6 year old brother Martin, who was born a year after Marianne, in an apartment over a convenience store her parents run. Finally she smiled and walked to what she assumed to be the perfect place to hide.

"...Three...Four..." said Martin as he continued to count, "Five... Six... Seven... Eight... Nine, ten!"

"Ready or not, here I come," said Martin and with that, he began to look for Marianne.

"I hope Martin won't find me in here," Marianne said quietly as she was hiding inside a closet.

Martin looked behind the couch and under the coffee table, but didn't find Marianne in either of those places.

"Marianne is not here," Martin said to himself and Martin then looked over at the closet and walked over to it.

"I wonder..." Martin pondered.

Marianne heard his voice and tried to stay quiet and Martin opened the door of the closet and found Marianne.

"Found you!"

Marianne looked surprised, but she laughed over the fact that she'd been caught.

"You're it now," Marianne said to Martin as she walked out of the closet.

"Alright, little guy," Marianne replied. She turned to the wall, covered her eyes and began to count. "One, two, three, four..."

Martin looked for a place to hide and he hid behind the sofa.

"Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!" Marianne finished counting and turned away from the wall, uncovering her eyes as she did so. "Ready or not, here I come!"

"She won't find me behind here," Martin said quietly to himself.

Marianne started looking underneath every table she could find, not knowing her brother wasn't hiding under any of them.

"Martin's not under here," said Marianne after looking under a table.

"Hmm..." Marianne thought for a moment about where Martin might be and then she looked towards the couch.

"Maybe he's behind there," Marianne said to herself. Martin heard Marianne and tried to stay very quiet and Marianne looked behind the couch and smiled.

"She's coming," Martin said quietly and he stayed where he was, holding his breath as Marianne walked toward the couch and Marianne looked behind the couch and found Martin.

"Found you!"

Martin winced at first, but then laughed a bit.

"Yes, you did!" said Martin.

"Marianne! Martin! Lunchtime!" Lucianna called.

Martin stood up as Marianne smiled, and then they headed into the kitchen and for lunch it was meat stew. Marianne and Martin smiled as they sat down at the table.

"How was your game of Hide and Seek, dears?" Lucianna asked.

"Oh, it was great," Marianne replied.

"Who won?" asked Lucianna.

"Actually, I won first, and then Marianne won," Martin stated.

"I'm glad you two had great time playing," said Lucianna.

"Me too," Marianne replied.

"So am I," Martin agreed.

"After lunch, Martin, your father wants you to come with him to the shops," Lucianna said to Martin.

"Oh, that's a good idea," said Martin.

"I'll go to the MonGoose City park," said Marianne.

"That's also a good idea," Lucianna replied.


At the MonGoose City park Leonardo, Tony, Echo and Spike were in the playground bit of the park as there were no other human and animal children there, Leonardo and Tony were on the swings while Echo and Spike were on a seesaw. All of them were laughing happily, not knowing that they were not the only ones at the playground.

Marianne was watching them as they played and a thought came to her mind:

"Maybe they can be my friends."

"I'm going to go over to them and see if I can't introduce myself," Marianne said to herself.

So she took a deep breath and walked up to Leonardo, Tony, Echo and Spike. When she got close enough to them, Leonardo and his friends stopped playing to look at the 7 year old tiger approaching them.

"Um...hello?" Marianne said with a shy voice.

"Why, hello there," Echo replied with a smile.

"I'm Marianne Tiger," said Marianne, "What are your names?"

"I'm Echo Fox," Echo started. Leonardo and Tony walked over to Marianne as well.

"This is Leonardo Turtle, and this is Tony Lion," Echo went on.

"It's very nice to meet you, Marianne," Leonardo said to Marianne.

"It's nice to meet you, too," Marianne replied.

"And I am Spike Wolf," said Spike.

"It's nice to meet you too," Marianne replied.

"Why did you walk up to us?" Leonardo asked.

"I was wondering if I could become your friend," Marianne stated.

Leonardo, Tony, Echo and Spike all smiled at each other. Marianne didn't know what they were thinking, but she had a good idea about their smiles.

"You can be friends with us, Marianne," said Leonardo.

Marianne smiled. "Oh, excellent. Thank you," she replied.

"Would you like to play with us?" Tony asked.

"Sure," Marianne said with a nod.

"Come play on the seesaw with me," Spike said to Marianne to at the seesaw.

"Okay!" Marianne said with an excited smile and she and Spike both ran to the seesaw, climb onto each end and started rocking up and down and Marianne couldn't help but laugh in amusement.

"You guys are going to be the best-est friends I ever had!" said Marianne with joy.

"And I think you're going to be the best friend we ever had, too!" Leonardo replied as he and Tony both went back onto the swings.