Chapter 2: The Playground

Outside, the yard seemed so big to a youngster as small as Chicken Little. He looked around at what seemed to him miles of activity.

He looked up at Ms. Dinah, who smiled at him and motioned with her head to go ahead and explore. The little chicken looked back out onto the playground and sighed to himself. Then, he went forward as Ms. Dinah watched him go off.

Chicken Little walked through cautiously, looking around all the other kids that didn't even seem to notice him there. He walked by a group of a little bunny, a mutt puppy, a leopard cub, and a donkey filly throwing around a red ball to each other.

The leopard cub, who apparently had a very good arm, threw the ball to the mutt puppy. Seeing it was coming too fast, the puppy gasped and ducked as the ball flew over his head. It rebounded off the wall and the four players stared up as it shot out into the air.

The ball went flying through the air right towards Chicken Little. He smiled and gasped. This was his chance to show the other kids what he could do, despite how small he was.

"I got it, I got it!" He went running out to try and catch it. He ran as fast as he could, keeping his eye on the ball as it flew towards him. But, he wasn't watching where he was going.

He collided smack-dab into a form bigger than him. He fell back to the ground on his tail. With his glasses only halfway on his face, he sat up. He pushed his glasses back on and looked up.

The figure that he had run into was a fox kit with reddish-brown hair in a braid, a little yellow shirt, and blue shorts. With her stood a white gosling wearing a small purple dress. The fox kit had the big, red ball Chicken Little had been playing with in her paws. Both the kit and the gosling stared down at him and blinked.

"…Um…" Chicken Little finally spoke up. "I was playing with that. C-Can I have it back…?" He paused, knowing he was forgetting something, "…please?"

"Oh, sure!" the fox kit smiled and held out the ball to him. He smiled and reached up to take it. But the kit suddenly pulled it up, holding it high in the air.

"Hey!" Chicken Little exclaimed. "Give it back!" he jumped up and tried to grab it. The fox kit gloated as she continued to hold it just barely out of the little chick's reach. Both she and the gosling watched, amused as he jumped up and struggled to reach it again and again.

Finally, Chicken Little stopped jumping and glared at them. "Stop it, guys!" he argued. "I had it first! Lemme have it!"

"Okay!" the fox kit smiled and threw it at the school building's brick wall. Chicken Little turned to follow it, but before he could go anywhere, it ricocheted right off the wall and back into the kit's paws. "Too slow!" she grinned, to which the gosling laughed in honks.

Even for his very young age and very small size, Chicken Little was a determined and stubborn little guy. Frustrated, he ran towards the kit to take a running leap for the ball, but the kit stuck out her paw and held him back by the forehead as he came. He gritted his teeth and struggled against her, but his efforts were futile.

"You want it?' the kit asked. "Take it." She tossed it right into him, and he fell back to the ground again. The ball bounced off and Chicken Little looked up at the two bullies as they came towards him. Soon they had the poor little chicken with his back against the building's brick wall. He looked up at their looming figures, terrified.

"Hey, Foxy!" he suddenly heard a voice yell. He looked over and saw a little girl duckling his age standing behind the fox kit. She wasn't what a lot of people would've called attractive or even normal-looking. She wore a little pink shirt and her hair was up in two small pigtails. The thing that Chicken Little noticed most about her though was the way she was standing confidently and fearlessly with her hands in fists at her side. "Why don't ya pick on somebody your own size?" she glared sharply at Foxy Loxy.

"Aww, what are you gonna do?" Foxy turned towards her and said sarcastically. "Huh, Ugly Duckling?"

As a reply, the spunky little duckling stuck her tongue out at her.

"Get her, Goosey!" Foxy grinned at her sidekick.

The gosling honked in acknowledgment and ran towards her victim. The brave little duckling glared and attempted to try and put up a fight. Foxy tossed the ball back over her shoulder and followed after her goose friend. As she did, she stuck out her paw and shoved Chicken Little onto the ground.

The little chick landed on his tail with a grunt and looked up. Seeing that things were about to get mean, he scrambled to his feet and began to scurry off. But before he got very far, he stopped. He heard Foxy and Goosey laughing.

He looked back over to where the bullies were teasing the poor duckling. Foxy had her in a weird hold and Goosey was yanking at one of her pigtails. "Ow!" yelled the duckling, struggling against them and trying to fight back. "Ow, ow, let go!"

Chicken Little knew that he had to help…somehow. He looked around quickly until his eyes rested on the ball he had been playing with. It was just about as big as him, which made it hard for him to hold.

Once that Foxy plucked one of her feathers from her tail, the duckling finally got tired of the bullies and spun around, taking a blind swing at Foxy. Goosey stuck out her foot and the duckling fell to the ground on her stomach with a grunt. After a second, she gasped and rolled onto her back, looking up at Foxy and Goosey hovering over her.

Just then, Foxy felt something bump her in the back. She blinked and glanced over her shoulder.

Chicken Little had stumbled forward when he had thrown the ball at the fox, or rather forced it from his hands in her general direction. It hadn't been a great throw, but it had been spirited. The young chick pushed his glasses back up on his beak and got to his feet. "Leave her alone!" he demanded and drew himself up to try and look bigger and scarier (the result was that he drew himself up a full ten inches!).

The duckling blinked. Never in her life had she seen a more plucky kid her age.

Foxy and Goosey looked from Chicken Little to each other. They smirked deviously.

The duckling gasped. She knew those looks from anywhere and they were not good. She looked over at Chicken Little and scrambled to her feet. She bolted off, snatching his hand into hers. "Run!" she yelled. They both raced off across the playground as fast as they could.

"Get 'em!" Foxy yelled, and she and Goosey chased after them.

For Chicken Little and the duckling, the playground was a dang obstacle course. The hardest part was going past the swings, and both of them nearly got a couple of kicks to the head.

Once they got past the swings, they looked at each other. "Split up!" the duckling yelled over to Chicken Little. The two youngsters quickly turned and darted in opposite directions.

Foxy and Goosey skidded to a quick halt when they saw them split up. They looked from one to the other. "You go after the round-headed kid!" Foxy finally told her sidekick.

Goosey nodded and the two bullies darted after their assigned victims.

The duckling weaved through obstacles and ran around the yard until she lost her pursuer. Looking around frantically, she ran over to the playset and quickly tried to climb up the metal pole on the side.

Foxy came running in and looked around quickly, having lost all visual of her prey. Her eyes switched back and forth as she searched around. Finally, she gave a pout and leaned her shoulder against the metal pole, not thinking for one moment to look up, where the duckling was holding on to the pole with herself wrapped around it and watching Foxy from right above her.

But being the smart little duck she was, she kept quiet and didn't move a muscle. But what the heck was she supposed to do now?

Chicken Little yelled as he ran as fast as his little legs could carry him, with Goosey right behind him. Thinking quickly, the little chicken clambered onto the nearest playset he could find and started climbing for life with Goosey right behind him.

The duckling continued to hang onto the pole as much as she could. Her hands were getting too tired and Foxy hadn't moved. She desperately tried to keep from losing her grip and falling, but suddenly, her hands slipped.

Both girls screamed as she came down right on top of Foxy and they collided right into the dirt. "Hey!" Foxy yelled.

Abby gasped and scrambled to her feet, this time scaling up the pole and leaping onto the playset in record time

She ran up to the top and came to a quick halt right at the top of the slide. She looked back and gasped as Chicken Little suddenly raced up right behind her, not looking where he was going.

Chicken Little tried to stop in time, but collided right into her. Both youngsters tripped forward with a collective yelp of surprise as they took a speedy and unexpected ride down the long slide. At the bottom, Abby tumbled into the dirt on her stomach, and Chicken Little came right behind her, tumbling backwards down the slide and landed on top of her. His tail feathers barely touched her bill. She sneezed.

At the sound of the sneeze, Foxy and Goosey spotted them. "There they are!" Foxy pointed.

"AAAHHH!" Chicken Little and the duckling scrambled to their feet and took off again.

"Get back here, ya big babies!" Foxy yelled as she and Goosey took pursuit again.

Chicken Little and the duckling raced back through the playground, trying to lose the bullies. "C'mon, hurry!" Chicken Little yelled back and he raced ahead.

He suddenly realized how close they were to a corner of the brick wall of the school and quickly stole away behind it, getting out of his pursuers' line of sight.

He waited for a moment. Then, as the duckling ran by, he lashed out and grabbed her hand, yanking her in with him. The two youngsters flattened themselves against the wall and got quiet as they watched Foxy and Goosey run by.

Once they had gone, they let out a sigh of relief in unison and unflattened themselves from the wall.

"That was…really, really close." the duckling sighed.

The two of them took a moment to catch their breaths. Then, the little duckling looked over at Chicken Little, remembering how he had stood up for her and practically rescued her - twice. She had never had anyone do something like that for her.

She'd always seen in the movies how the handsome prince would always come to save the princess when she was in danger or in captivity of the bad guys. It was always so romantic. Now it seemed to her that she had found her prince. The way he drew himself up after he threw the ball at Foxy made him look so handsome.

"…Um…thanks for saving me." she smiled sweetly. "You were really brave."

Chicken Little's eyebrows rose right up. He almost felt an invigorating chill down his spine. "Oh…" he grinned sheepishly. "Uh, thanks… Y-You were kinda brave too."

There was an awkward silence as the two of them just glanced at the ground.

"Um…hey," Chicken Little spoke up. "They didn't hurt you or nothin', did they? I-I saw them pulling your hair."

"No," the duckling replied. "I-I'm okay."

"So what was their problem anyway?"

"I don't know… They always tell me I'm ugly…" she glanced at the ground. "Well, everybody does…"

"I get picked on, too. But my dad says it's 'cause their heads come to a point…whatever that means." Chicken Little stepped forward and picked up the ball they had been playing around with before they were chased. "Besides, I don't think you're ugly." he said as he offered her the ball. "I think you're kinda cool."

The little duckling looked at him and smiled after a moment. "…My name's Abby."

"I'm Chicken Little." he smiled back.

Abby giggled and took the ball from him. "You're kinda weird, Chicken Little…but I like you."

They looked over when they heard Ms. Dinah calling them to come inside. Almost all of the other kids were already in the classroom.

Chicken Little looked at Abby and smiled. "C'mon, Abby." he said and grabbed her hand. Abby smiled as the two youngsters ran across the yard back to their teacher.

Neither of them could've been happier. For the first time ever, they both had a friend.