Chapter 3: Friendly Reception

Nick tore his way through the dense vegetation of the overgrown jungle floor, following a familiar scream in the distance. The canopy overhead cast an ever-present darkness that Nick's night vision could not pierce. Still he ran, his breathing reduced to panicked gasps and panting.

"Nick!"

Judy's screaming reached the fox, echoing in his skull. He looked around frantically with eyes full of distress. She was so close and he still could not see her.

"Nick!"

He looked up, distress turning into despair as he saw his partner entangled in a giant spider web. The beast that spun the web slowly made its way down, plucking the threads of its snare. Judy looked to him with absolute terror in her eyes.

"Judy!" Nick screamed as he tried to move, finding that he couldn't. He looked to his own body, finding that he was being restrained by several thick strands of web. His eyes grew wide, matching the terror in Judy's. He looked back up to see that the massive spider was encasing his partner in a cocoon of threads. He continued to scream out in despair, thrashing violently to break free but instead becoming more entangled. Nick watched as the spider stopped spinning her…and bringing its fangs down on the cocoon. He cried out as he heard her scream one last time…

"Nick! Wake up!"

Nick's eyes shot open at the distressed voice of his partner, the nightmare still fresh in his mind. He jerked up, looking to find Judy staring at him with teary eyes and her paw over mouth. "Judy! You're alive!" He shouted whilst pulling her into a hug.

Judy looked at him in confusion, gasping at the sudden hug. "Y-yea, I am," she says, slowly hugging him back. She sniffled, causing Nick to break the hug to look at her.

"Judy, w-what's wrong?" he asked her, looking her over carefully to make sure he had in fact been dreaming.

"Nick, I'm so sorry! I'm so, so Sorry!" She replied, fighting back a sob.

Nick looked around, seeing the sun was up, it seemed to be late in the morning. His ears drooped upon realizing that he wasn't woken up to take over for the night watch. He returned to checking his partner, making sure she was alright. "Carrots, what happened?"

"I…I fell asleep…I'm so sorry, I messed up, I messed up hard!" she apologized, sniffling as tears streamed down her face.

Nick shook his head as he brought her into a hug. "Hey hey, come on, it's ok, shhh don't cry Carrots," he told her while stroking her head. "We're fine, you're fine, no one got hurt, everything is alright!" Nick added enthusiastically.

"No it's not! I endangered us! And something took our food!" She exclaimed now completely sobbing.

The fox looked back to where the pile of food was wrapped up last night, seeing it was gone. He sighed as he turned back to Judy, still petting her. "Oh Carrots…that's not something to cry about." He stated, chuckling at her overreaction. "We can always get more food, and besides, you can't endanger us if we were never out of danger to begin with," he added whilst wiping her tears away.

"But…B-but I-"

"Was tired, you were exhausted I bet, I was that's for certain," he assured her, sighing with relief as he laid back down. He rubbed at his face. He was frustrated that the food was gone, yes, but there was definitely an abundance of it on this bizarre island.

Nick stared up at the morning sky, Judy joining him after she calmed down. She nestled herself next to her partner, sniffling and wiping the last of her tears away. "I'm still sorry," she said to him in a weak voice.

"Apology accepted, Carrots…but next time, don't give me a heart attack, alright?" he replied jokingly with a chuckle.

She let out a weak laugh. Admittedly, Nick's ability to be humorous in dark times wasn't as annoying as it usually was.

Nick sighed again and looked at her. "You must've been out cold, huh?" he asked her jokingly still, chuckling again.

"Yeah…I was supposed to wake you up and instead you woke me up," she replies.

"Wait, I woke you up?" he asked her, the joking tone gone.

Judy looked at her partner, nodding. "Yeah, you were screaming and-and shaking…you were even about to cry," she told him, her own tone changing to worry.

Nick nodded, rubbing his head as he stared into the sky. "Oh, that…I…I had a nightmare…" he said flatly while closing his eyes.

"Well I figured that…but…what was it? Was it that bad?" she asked while placing a paw to Nick's shoulder.

He nodded with a sigh. "We were in that jungle…and…I was following screams, your screams…I found you in a spider web, and you were about to be eaten by a spider as big as a house," he told her, shuddering upon seeing the spider's bite playing out in his head. He opened his eyes, clutching his chest, his heartbeat still panicked.

Judy shuddered with him, finding the thought to be gross and terrifying. More so with terror upon realizing that it was entirely a possibility if all life on this island was as massive as it has been. She resumed her gaze into the sky with her partner. "We are way too lucky to be alive right now," Judy stated, rubbing her own face.

Nick chuckled and nodded in agreement. "We managed to live through the night, kinda weird, huh? It's almost like something is watching over-"

The sentence never finished as the pair were greeted by the face of an unknown feline, looming over them with a wide smile. "Howdy y'all!" greeted the stranger in a girlishly squeaky tone.

Nick and Judy screamed reactively, scrambling to their feet and staring at the newcomer while screaming and holding each other. Silence fell as the two stared in confusion.

"Well aren't y'all just the jumpiest lil' critters?" remarked the stranger with a giggle, placing her paws on her hips.

The pair observed the cat as silence fell again. An ocelot, if they had to guess she was probably just a foot taller than Nick. Her clothes were tattered. The only real article of clothing she had on was what could only have been a tank top at some point, reduced to only covering the cat's chest with both straps tied up. Around her waist was a paw-made grass skirt which covered her up to her thighs. She had a wide smile with cheerful blue eyes staring back at the two.

Nick broke the silence, confusion still plastered on his face. "Who the hell are you?!" he shouted earning a look of shock from the ocelot and a punch to his arm from Judy.

"Nick, that was too rude!" Judy exclaimed. Despite asking the same question in her head, she would've done so a little more politely.

Nick turned to her with his eyes still wide with distress. "Rude?! Carrots, I am ok with you scaring me half to death. I am NOT ok with random strangers doing the same!" he retorted, flailing his paws around in gesturing motions.

"Well let me make myself less of a stranger then!" interjected the ocelot. She reached forward and enthusiastically shook Nick's paw, giving him no time to react. "Mah name's Ocelynn, but everyone calls me Lynn back home so y'all can do the same!"

Nick took his paw back from the manic pawshake, backing away from the cat. Never in his life did he think he would find anyone who was more perky, more bubbly and overflowing with optimistic cheer than Judy. It scared him to know that that was ever a possibility. Despite this, he gave a weak smile. "H-hi" he managed to greet back, albeit just as weak as his smile.

Judy calmed down upon realizing the cat meant no harm, managing to greet her back as well. "Hello, um, Lynn? I-I'm Judy, this is my partner Nick," she says while holding out her paw from her good arm to be shook. She regretted the decision almost immediately as Lynn grabbed hold of her small paw and shook it frantically.

"Well it's a pleasure to meet both y'all nice folks!" Lynn stated while still shaking Judy's paw. The rabbit sighed with relief when the cat finally let go of her. The cheerful cat spoke fast and with unending energy. "Boy howdy, let me tell ya, it's just been so long since I seen any other mammals on this here island and-I'm just so excited, I think I might wet my britches! Well, if I had on britches, but I don't, see, but I got this cute lil' grass skirt on," Lynn stated, rocking her hips side to side quickly to emphasize the rustling of her skirt.

She had only begun to speak and Nick was already starting to get a headache trying to keep up with Lynn's squeaky fast-talking. 'Geez this girl has a mouth on her' he thought to himself, smiling still to hide his disdain as the cat continued.

"Anyhow, I can only guess y'all didn't come here on purpose what with y'all lookin' mighty messy," Lynn pointed out, much to their chagrin. "But hey, I can't be one to talk, right? Anyhow, Y'all folks hungry?" she asked with a wide grin. Before either of the pair had a chance to say anything, Lynn ran to a nearby jungle tree, climbing it with unnerving speed. A large bundle lands in front of the pair causing a dust cloud to form.

The two of them waved a paw in front of their faces, coughing while looking at what had fallen. It was the food that went missing. Judy stared at it in disbelief before looking up at the impossibly tall tree. 'How in this entire blue world did that cat get all this up there?' Judy wondered to herself, watching Lynn jump down from branch to branch and landing on her feet in front of them once more.

"Now see, y'all didn't know this, but keepin' y'all's food on the ground ain't a good idea, the ants might get em'," Lynn pointed out. "And let me tell ya, them lil' buggers are meeeeean, one of em' bit me this one time and mah foot swoll'up bigger than a breadbox!" she recounted enthusiastically.

Judy looked at the bundle, puzzled at Lynn's logic. "Uh…can't they climb the trees?" she asked while scratching her head.

"Yea, but they're less likely to take it from the tree is all I'm sayin'," she added on. "And as a extra bit of securimity, I put mah homemade repellant on the leaves y'all used to wrap this up!" she said while practically bouncing where she stood.

Nick kneeled down and picked up a leaf, sniffing it and reeling back in disgust. The repellant was strong, that was for certain, the scent practically drilling into his nostrils and ramming up to his brain. His stomach churned as he tossed the leaf. "You know what? I think I'm good for now," he stated, holding both paws up and backing away.

"Well, suit yerself, but don't worry, I have food at mah place too so if y'all get hungry later I can definitely feed y'all!" Lynn proclaimed cheerfully.

Judy shook her head as her own headache began to form. Snapping out of it, she realized something important. This cat, this ocelot, was a survivor. She looked at Lynn while shaking her head. "Ok ok, for just a second, please, just…stop talking!" She ordered the cat, sighing to collect her thoughts. "Lynn…you're a survivor here, right? You said it's been so long since you saw another mammal… so you weren't on the S.S. Purrseidon cruise line? How are you here then and when did you get here?" She asked sternly.

Lynn cocked her head to the side, perplexed by the question. "The S.S. what-now? That there name means it's a boat, right? No no, didn't get here by boat or nothin' on water fer that matter," she stated with a smile. "Nah, I'm a survivor of a plane crash, see, and that was so long ago, I don't remember how long neither," Lynn added on while scratching her head.

Judy nodded as she listened to Lynn. "Ok, that's alright, just needed to confirm that," Judy told her while picking up a piece of roasted coconut. "But, you've been on this island for a long time now, right? Did you come from the jungle back there?" She asked, snacking on the treat while listening to the response that followed.

"Yep yep! I heard a lot o' ruckus while I was out foragin' yesterday and I came to see. When I got here it was night and I saw y'all takin' a load off here on the beach!" Lynn exclaimed, pointing to Judy as she continued. "Then I saw you fall asleep and I thought I'd be a good neighbor and keep watch of y'all! Y'know, keepin' the bugs away, wrappin' up y'all's food and hidin' it, stuff like that!"

Nick looked at the cat with more confusion than before. "Wait…so…you protected us?" he asked in disbelief. "Why?"

"Well, y'all are the only other mammals here, that's the honest truth, see, and I've been so alone, I thought if I did somethin' nice for y'all y'all would be mah friends!" She proclaimed excitedly.

Judy nodded at that, smiling gratefully at their night time guardian. Her ears drooped and her eyes widened at her next realization. "Wait, if you were watching us all night…you…you didn't sleep? At all?" she asked in her own disbelief. "How are you not tired?"

"Oh don't get me wrong sugah, I am dead tired right now, I might crash any-" her words stopped as she very abruptly fell face forward, her face buried in the sand with her rear sticking in the air.

The two looked at the cat blankly as snoring was heard. They looked at her with even greater confusion then when they met her. They immediately noticed something that just now became apparent. Her lack of a tail. Despite all of the answered questions, the pair had even more questions for the cat… For now they let their guardian catch some rest, sitting in front of her. It felt as if though things were only going to get stranger from here.

A/N: I have no clue how formatting works on this site, so if it says I updated it might not be with a new chapter.