Scout of Justice

The playgrounds at the campsite helped to pacify the now-unruly kids when they finally arrived. Bags and packs were quickly shoved and stuffed into wooden, creaky cabins and off the young animals went, barging into the playpens. For the rest of the afternoon, excited shouts, joyful pratfalls, and an all around jovial atmosphere descended upon the area. The kids were definitely disappointed when they were called in for dinner… until the supervising rangers said that there was fish and chips (for predators) and vegetarian sushi (for prey) all around. The kids proceeded to dig in, some politely, and some… messily, you could say.

Bradley leaned over to Nick. "You know, this reminds me of a magic goat movie I once watched. Harry Trotter, I think it was called," the beaver squeaked.

"I've seen that movie too! I love it so much!" Nick grinned back, before realization swept over him, "Wait…"

"Hah! You've lost your head again, Sir Nicholas!" Madge popped in, having overheard the beaver and the fox. Nick giggled, "At least you didn't call me–"

"NEARLY HEADLESS NICK!" the whole table roared with laughter, "Do it! Tilt your head! Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it!"

"Alright then!" Nick grinned, preparing himself. He did grabbed an ear, tilted his head, and said, "Avast ye Bloody Baron! Gryffindors will take home the house cup this year!"

To top it off, the young fox did a dab upon finishing his impersonation.

The hall erupted into laughter and cheers, and the adults didn't have it in themselves to bring pause to this moment of childhood innocence and playfulness.

Besides, by the time the children returned to their bunks, they were so worn out from the day that they quickly changed, brushed their teeth, and fell asleep at once.


"Race ye to da top?" asked Harry Bray.

"I'll give ya a head start," Nick replied back.

"Your mistake!" the older boy shot back, grinning. He then proceeded to jump up and hook his paws onto two outward jutting rocks. His climbing rope held firm, and erased 99% of his worries.

"I'm right behind ya, Bray!" Nick called. Bray looked down between his legs, and didn't see Nick below. When he turned his head left, he could see Nick had already started to take the lead.

"Hey! You're fast!"

"Fast like a rocket!" Andy replied, starting to surpass Harry as well.

"Aren't mountain goats supposed to be king of the rocks?" Kirby queried, the young hippo starting to scurry past the young goat despite his weight.

"Yeah, well… vertically ascending isn't everything!" Ollie called from far beneath, defending his buddy. "Thanks," Harry grinned down from his perch. "Keep going!" Ollie shouted in encouragement. Harrison Bray steeled his nerves, and cautiously brought one limb forward, followed by another. He then scanned the rock holds in front of him, checking to see which ones looked secure enough. This pattern repeated itself, and as the actions burned itself into the young goat's mind, his teeth clenched and his pace quickened, and he became determined to finish the course.

"You're almost there!"

Harry looked up and saw every kit standing on the platform at the top of the cliff face. Only he and Ollie remained to finish their vertical trek.

"Come on, keep going!" Nick called, reaching out a paw, ready to help pull his friend onto the platform. "I've got this. I've got this!" Harry repeated to himself, his mantra providing him with a source of unquenchable courage. He put all his strength and energy into every upwards inch.

"Almost there… YES!" cried Harry as he finally latched a hoof onto Nick's paw. The rest of the kids cheered and helped the young cub pull up the goat. To Harry, it didn't matter that he was second to last. It didn't matter that climbing wasn't second nature to him, despite his species. It didn't even matter that this was only a kiddy test, and that in a real life scenario, he would most likely not have a rope for a sense of security. They had all climbed, all traversed and all triumphed over this obstacle. "We did this together," Harry thought as he helped pull Ollie up to join the rest of the kids in celebration.

"All for one and one for all!" the junior scouts cheered!

"Now before you kids get too cocky," their instructor spoke up, "Now it's time to rappel down the cliff."

Turning to his left, he showed them an instruction video on the TV screen of the climbing base.

"We have to jump and put our faith in these ropes?!" Ollie gulped out. Bradley and Harry took his left and right hoof respectively. "We can do this – together."

"Alright. Together," the giraffe calf repeated, his resolve reigniting.

Five minutes later…

"Follow me everyone!" shouted Nick from the front, leading the charge off the platform and jumping through the air with a joyful whoop. His rope and harness gently tightened and guided him back to the cliff face, where he used his hind legs to spring off again.

"LET'S DO THIS THING!" cried Ollie, pulling Bradley and Harry with him. "Here we go!" shrieked the beaver kit with excitement.

And as their feet left the ground, they felt free, and did not have any fear in their hearts.


"But I can't swim!" screeched Kirby hysterically as the river drew nearer.

"Come on man, you're a hippo!" said Bradley disbelievingly, pulling his friend along by the arm.

"Besides, we'll be making a chain, so you'll more or less be safe," piped up Nick.

They reached the river crossing and filed into three lines. "Biggest mammals at each end. Smaller mammals in the middle," the supervisor called to them. Then with several coils of rope, each individual tied a secure loop around themselves. "Line 1, you're clear to start," the supervisor said. The big mammals of this line were medium sized – they were tigers who burned with fiery determination and marched onwards with stony resolution.

"Line 2, go! Line 3, standby!"

Line 2 was where Nick and his friends were. This line was made up of smaller mammals, who were reinforced by heavy elephant calves to ensure steadfast movement. The last line to proceed was made up of the biggest kids, who would sandwich Line 2 between themselves and Line 1 to ensure the smaller kids in Line 2 weren't swept away, nor tire themselves out by being the first ones battered by the mild current. Good plan, but even the most thought out ones can spiral out of control.

"Guys! I'm slipping!" Andrew called out. The zebra lost his footing on some mossy rocks and was dragged underneath the surface. "Pull everyone, pull!" the lead elephant kid shouted. The rest of the kids pulled, but the river was stronger. Frantic for his friend's safety, despite his inability to swim Kirby broke formation to help pull him back up. To get something done right, you often must do it yourself. Unfortunately, this caused a domino collapse, and by the time the supervisor processed what was happening, the river was sweeping the shrieking kids away.

"Line 3! Brace and get ready to pick them up! Line 1! Follow me!" the supervisor shouted, dragging her furry body through the speeding waters. She drew nearer and nearer to the combined tangled mess of lines 2 and 3. Suddenly a shout rang out.

"LOG!"

The instructor turned round and was just in time to get conked out by a floating log, which struck her square in the snout. Her unconscious body started drifting away at an ever increasing rate of speed.

"Cut me loose!" Kirby hollered to Nick, shaking the young fox with abrupt desperation. Reluctantly, he unsheathed his claws and he did. Kirby forced his legs to kick and his arms to paddle, and taking a deep breath, he plunged after the teacher. By some miracle he managed to catch her shirt with his jaw, and he dragged the both of them down to a large rock jutting out from the riverbed. He held on with all his might, with all his heart. He gave all he was worth for. Eventually, he felt himself fading, his strong jaws slackened to the point of letting go.

"NO!"

His eyes drooped closed and sealed over. And he felt himself tumbling head over heels through the current. The last thing he felt was several pairs of paws and hooves latching onto him.

Then he felt his heart give out.


"Kirb?"

"Kirby!"

"Come on buddy, come back to us!"

The little hippo's eyes snapped open and he felt the air bleed into his chest like a life giving torrent. "What happened to me?" he rasped out, forcing himself to hold his head steady and high. "Ya did it! Ye saved Mrs Llamaton!" Harry spoke out, unlimited pride beaming out from his face. Kirby turned his head to see his instructor, now revived, on her knees. Her concerned eyes stared at him. She piped up, "While we were underneath the land of the living, Michael managed to cut his own rope and run for help."

She paused, and Kirby saw pride almost like his mother's spreading over Mrs Llamaton's face.

"You did good, Kirby Kirk Saurus. You did good." [1]

And with that she patted a warm hoof on his shoulder.


The rest of the afternoon's remaining activities were cancelled, and the junior scouts were given a movie night with burgers, pizza and chips. That evening, all was seemingly placid, satisfactory, and ecstatic by the riverside.

Next morning, however, a scurry was incited.

As Nick and company made their way down to the changing rooms to prepare for the adventure course (which they had missed yesterday thanks to the schedule slip), they found several lion cubs harassing a cheetah cub and a sloth cub.

"Ha! Look at these slowpokes!" the leader hooted.

"Oh look! What's the matter buddy? You ain't tall enough? Or fit enough?" another jeered, watching as the young cheetah tried in vain to jump up and snatch his shorts back. "Oh come on!" the cheetah pleaded breathlessly.

"Nope, we don't have time or room in this camp for unfit, unlikable slowcoaches such as yourselves."

With that, one of the lion cubs sent a kick that sent the cheetah sprawling into a locker.

"Hey!" Nick cried out, stepping to the cheetah's side, "Don't be bullies!"

He checked over the cheetah, taking the other boy's paw, "You alright?"

"Uh… huh…" the spotted boy managed to wheeze out. But we all knew he was anything but that, didn't we?

"What kind of kids are ye?" snapped Harry, strutting forward with his hooves clacking angrily on the tiles. "You ask yourselves that question!" the lead lion retorted, "What kind of dumb mammal sticks up for a weakling? This is nature and reality! Only the strong survive!"

At this subtle urging, another lion shoved the sloth backwards. The sloth cub went flying, but fortunately Nick had anticipated that and had his stubby arms outstretched ready to catch him. As he checked over the sloth, he could see small tears slowly leaking out of the wet brown orbs. It was now clear that this heckling had gone on for quite a while now. And now it had to stop.

"Okay, that's enough! How can any animal do this to another?" the little fox angrily snapped. The lions chortled at his naivety, "Fellow predator? Do you know nothing of our ancient way of life?"

"I do," Nick replied softly, "But not every old thing has value within it."

"Then you shall pay the price!" the lead lion said, and lunged suddenly at Nick. The fox flinched backwards… and was startled to see a baseball bat come out of nowhere and bat the cub away from him.

"Finnick! You saved me!" Nick sputtered out.

"Don't get all sappy 'bout it, brotha!" Finnick grinned back at the other kit, before charging at the bothersome pack. Nick followed suit, charging fearlessly. Harry, Andy and Kirby joined in the brawl.

"Smash them!" Bradley hooted.

"Bash them!" Ollie cheered.

"Tear them apart!" screeched Madge Honey in excitement. The badger kit had arrived just in time to witness the start of the scuffle.

Nick squirmed around a swipe from a lion and landed a punch straight to the snout. The lion growled with pain and anger and tried to retaliate, but Nick dodged the jab and nailed a double hammer fist to the back.

Finnick was easily holding his own with his buddy baseball bat, swinging and blocking blows like a gazelle ballerina. Harry watched his back and kicked away any sneak attacks.

Kirby and Andy were together, Kirby drawing attention and blows, and Andy hoofing aggressors in the abdominal area. The lion opposing Nick managed to knock him to one side, however, and charged at the sidelined sloth.

"NO!" screamed Nick.

Anguish choked him, and his feet felt paralyzed. He couldn't stop the cub from slashing his claws across the face of the kit. The sloth flew back and landed in a prone position next to the cheetah, who looked like he was about to faint. Nick raced over, but he was too late to take action as the cheetah abruptly hooked his tail around the foot of the lion and tripped him over. The lion landed, too dazed and groggy to get back up again. Nick and the cheetah locked stunned eyes upon one another. "Nice trick, slick," Nick stuttered out, body slackening for several moments. The cheetah started to tremble again uncontrollably.

"LOOK OUT!" the cub screeched.

Nick spun round, just in time to see another lion disarm and shove aside Finnick. The attacker charged, intent on swinging the bat head on at the fox cub. This time he was screwed. Nick felt like a tree rooted to the ground. His eyes thankfully blurred over somehow.

"Stop this at once!" an adult cried out.

Too late.

CRACK!

Everything went black.


[1] I just had to make Kirby's middle name Kirk. I just had to.

Hopefully I can continue to update frequently over the next few days.

Transformers 0 over the moon and out!