Chapter 1

Meeting by Chance

The early morning air was still and cool with the sun having just risen above the distant hills, flooding the small clearing with the bright early morning sunlight as Eddie silently snuck past Diego, careful not to wake the tiger, lest Crash's latest plan be ruined.

Eddie stopped to listen once more for any hint of his comrade's rousing, but Diego remained still and quite asleep. Satisfied with the continuing stillness he continued on all fours in an attempt to better control the sound of his footsteps listening intently for any stirring amongst the small ragtag herd he had come to know as his friends.

Now with a quick leap over Manfred's trunk he was clear and began a four-legged sprint toward the edge of the clearing where Crash was waiting for him amongst a thick cluster of ferns.

A frighteningly loud yelp of some unknown cause sounded from amongst the herd, echoing around the clearing. Eddie froze barely a metre from where Crash was hiding, a soft thud issued from amongst the ferns, confirming that Crash was now playing dead leaving Eddie standing frozen to the spot, in clear view, wondering if he should do likewise.

Slowly he turned around, eyes closed, dreading that upon opening them he would surely see a very furious Ellie bearing down on him, which was certainly something to fear, as she had been gaining a noticeable amount of girth lately and he and Crash had been far less than politely quiet about it.

With a sinking feeling that his brother's plan was about to be pummelled out of him, he opened his eyes. Far to the contrary he saw nothing but the overlapping forms of two mammoths, a tiger and a sloth, the latter of whom he now realized must have been having a nightmare and had been yelling in his sleep.

Immensely relieved he turned back to the ferns and continued quickly but cautiously toward Crash's hiding place.

He was quick to notice that his brother had not yet realized that there was in fact no giant, angry, mammoth sister about to beat him senseless, and was still lying on his back with his tongue sticking out, now resting in a large group of painful looking, stinging ants. Begrudgingly deciding better of the hilarious thought of his brother rolling around while trying to scratch the thousands of painfully itchy lumps those ants would surely bring, he grabbed his brother's arm and pulled him to his feet.

"It's ok Crash it was just Sid," he whispered to his brother who was now fully awake and trying to brush the ants off himself before they began stinging him relentlessly, "Is it ready?"

"Yeah," Crash answered also whispering to avoid waking anyone, "Chubby didn't hear you did she."

Eddie couldn't help sniggering at the snide comment his brother had made before he answered, "No, no one heard me, but you're lucky you didn't shoot anyone else with that pea shooter," he gestured to the small hollow reed Crash was holding, "I think you hit Sid."

"I did," Crash sniggered, making the reason for Sid's earlier sleep yelp very clear as he began to crawl away through the undergrowth stopping only to slap his arm crushing an ant that was still crawling through his fur.

"What were you thinking?" whispered Eddie, beginning to crawl after Crash, annoyed at his brother's thoughtlessness, "If that idiot had woken Ellie, I'd be flatter than that ant right now."

He gestured toward where Crash had thrown the very flat and very dead ant.

"C'mon Ed, you gotta admit it was funny," protested Crash, disappointed at his brother's apparent lack of merriment, now ducking under a root that was now sticking out of the ground after having the surrounding soil washed away by the floodwater as it had escaped the valley.

"No Crash, I think I almost had a heart attack," answered Eddie contemptuously, ducking under the same root, "I should pull your ears off for that one. Don't do it again."

Crash didn't dare answer, most likely afraid to say anything to further upset the possum who had already proven himself to be the greatest expert in ear torture throughout the entire history of the world and thinking it better to try focusing on the cool stunt he was about to perform.

As they grew closer Eddie remembered the misgivings he'd had about this the night before, as he always did before one of Crash's crazy stunts, especially when they involved Eddie himself, what if Crash landed in a river, what if he was caught in midair by some sharp eyed bird of prey or worse what if Ellie happened to walk in on their scheme and after administering some savage beatings, had them tied to Diego, for security reasons, the rest of their lives, which, in that event, probably wouldn't last much more than a day.

Lost in his fresh river of anxious thoughts, Eddie had failed to realize that Crash had stopped and was standing right in front of him. He ran headlong into Crash and found himself lying face to face on top of him.

"Eh hem, Eddie is their something you want to tell me," Crash asked nervously, bringing to light the highly awkward and curiously suggestive position in which the two had found themselves, "Cause if you're thinking what I think you're thinking, then my answer is definitely no."

Eddie rolled off quickly, and stood up, very much mortified by the highly disturbing, well illustrated, thought his brother's comment had just brought into his mind and the fact that Crash had only just missed kicking him in the crotch.

"Well now that we have that out of the way, I hope," Crash added, eyeing his brother suspiciously as he got to his feet, "I think we should get on with it."

He turned and crawled through a small gap in the thick scrub that now surrounded them, Eddie followed. Maintaining a safe distance between himself and his brother, he jumped through the opening and was momentarily blinded by the light of the now fully risen sun, which he found was surprisingly bright after the shadowy half light of the dense foliage in which he had spent the last half hour tripping and staggering.

As his eyes slowly adjusted to the light he noticed two things, first he was now on the edge of precarious cliff top and that his brother was standing next to a rubber tree that's top had been bent to the ground and was now tied there by disturbingly thin vine being used as a rope that had been wrapped several times around a rock with a knot on the end most likely to stop it unravelling.

Crash cleared his throat, mainly for effect, before beginning his announcement in a very loud showy voice, "Ladies and ladies," the last remark clearly in reference to the momentary unpleasantness beforehand, "I present to you, The Flying Possum!"

He then walked over to Eddie who was standing, mouth open, dumbfounded by the achievement his questionably intelligent brother had made in only one night and without his help.

"So what d'ya think?" asked Crash, his voice filled with pride at his overnight achievement

Eddie didn't answer; far too stunned at how his brother's apparent suicidal intentions had reached such a new height.

"Hellooo, Earth to Eddie," Crash waved his hand in front of his brother's face surprised but nonetheless very proud of the reaction he had brought on in his brother.

"Crash," Eddie began "You know I've stuck by you all this time and yeah some of the stuff we've done has been kinda fun and crazy and I intend to continue it but if you really want to know what I think, Crash," he grabbed his brother by the shoulders and shook him, "you've gone completely nuts!"

Crash's face broke into a wide grin, clearly un-phased by his brother's comment; on the contrary in fact, it seemed more like he was pleased by his brother's uncertainty.

Still grinning excitedly, he released himself from Eddie's grip and walked back over to the cliff edge, gesturing for Eddie to follow.

One slow, shaky step at a time, Eddie obeyed if only to see anything even slightly reassuring about how this would turn out.

As fate would have it, he was only more terrified by what his brother said next.

"Look over there," Crash pointed into the distance, Eddie following his brother's gesture and found himself staring at what seemed like a tiny blue speck far below and far away, "That's where I'm aiming, see that pond there."

Eddie spoke, his voice shaking in anxiety that he couldn't have hidden even if he wanted to, "Tha-that pond, but it's too far, even if you get shot from here you'll never make it. You'll get splattered; there'll be nothing left of you, moron!"

Crash merely let out a short laugh and took up position on the end of the tree wrapping his tail tightly around it so he could balance.

"On the count of three I want you to let go of this vine," instructed Crash, untying the knot at the end of the vine and handing it to Eddie who had only come over out of impulse to give his brother one last hug before he embarked on this hair-brained stunt that was surely going to end up killing him.

Eddie reluctantly took the vine from Crash only because he knew if he didn't; it would have fallen and unravelled from around the rock, sending Crash soaring to his death.

"Remember on the count of three," began Crash, "One, Two…"

"Tell me you're not about to do what I think you are. Especially after what happened last time"

Eddie jumped dropping the vine and began looking around for who had spoken, before remembering what was happening and diving after the vine, now unravelling from around the rock, only just catching the end before it completed its final revolution.

Gripping the vine tightly, holding on for his brother's sake, he continued looking for who had spoken while at the same time straining against the increasing pull from the surprisingly strong rubber tree.

"Who's there," called Eddie, in a strained voice as he tried to hold onto the vine that was now slowly slipping through his grip despite his best efforts.

"Me of course," came the voice again.

Whoever they were, the voice was definitely male and possessed a strong British accent.

"Oh, sorry, you didn't see me last time did you," the voice continued, "Well I was merely stating the sheer hilarity of the fact that you would actually increase the magnitude of a stunt after failing so painfully the first time. Possums really are stupid, well, maybe with one exception."

The voice sounded close, far to close for comfort, Eddie could tell it was emanating from somewhere in the scrub through which he and his brother had reached this place.

"Who are you, show yourself," Crash was trying to sound as threatening as possible but Eddie could tell he was terrified from the shaking in his voice.

"Oh, you actually think you could possibly frighten me little possum. You realise even the vultures don't descend on a carcass without my permission, especially in these parts," whoever it was seemed to find the brother's threats hilarious as they couldn't stop chuckling as they spoke.

"Well if you really want to know who I am," the phantom continued, "All you have to do is look up."

Eddie let his gaze travel up the nearest tree, up to the lowest branched where his gaze was returned to him by a pair of amber, yellow eyes staring right back at him.

As he stared up at them the eyes began to move, it seemed as if they were moving further up the branch into the sunlight. Eddie could only look on while straining at the vine, on which he was slowly losing his grip, as the creature slowly revealed itself.

First one, taloned, foot stepped out of the darkness, immediately followed by a wing, and then a feathered body appeared, its plumage mostly grey and white.

The creature continued to reveal itself until Eddie found himself looking into the eyes of every possum's worst nightmare.

"Hawk!" Eddie cried, his body immediately tightening up in an instinctive reaction that no possum could control in these circumstances and he fell backwards, loosing grip on the vine completely.

"Eddie," called Crash, "Wait, don-"

Too late, the tree flew up and Crash was flung right off the cliff and into the air, only now realising just how stupid this whole thing really was and just how right Eddie had been.

The hawk, still resting on the branch, had watched the whole event unfold and was now laughing uncontrollably at the act of shear stupidity that had taken place.

After regaining control of himself and seeing that the fun was over, the hawk took off and flew away from both potential meals but he wasn't hungry anyway and had only watched this for the sheer entertainment value; he'd already eaten breakfast.

'How peaceful it is this morning, much better than yesterday's never ending rain. Ahh, the birds, how their calls fill the silent emptiness of the land, the sound of water lapping, hmm, irreplaceable in my opinion, I could just lie here forever. Why should I care where dad is? I mean, how many times in a possum's life does he get to enjoy moments like these.'

Michael lay next to the small pond he and his father had decided should be their resting place for the night, letting the rays of the rising sun warm him as he tried again to doze off after that stupid raven, Corbin, had woken him whilst looking for Michael's father.

This had annoyed him greatly, most likely why he had respond by telling Corbin that his father wasn't here and to buzz off and find a rotting aardvark to chew on like the stupid scavenger he was. This had clearly offended Corbin who had pecked him in the face and said something about him being a good for nothing rodent before flying away.

At first Michael had pondered over whether or not he had been too harsh on Corbin, after all he was only trying to do his job as messenger, but after finding that he was now unable to fall asleep again, Mikey, as he preferred to be known, now cursed that damn bird.

After failing for what felt like the hundredth time to fall back to sleep, Mikey sat up rubbing his eyes and let out a largest yawn he'd managed in ages, well last night was also his first full night's sleep, that had been free of nightmares, ever since they'd moved from the valley.

Standing up, Mikey could feel his stomach rumble with hunger. Only now realising he hadn't eaten since yesterday, Mikey immediately set about foraging for food.

After fumbling in some nearby bushes for what he'd hoped to be raspberries and instead finding poisonous dark purple things, he remembered the apple tree he'd seen yesterday.

Although the season had just ended and the flood had pretty much stripped most of the larger plants bare, he was sure he had seen some tasty looking apples near the top, and with this thought in mind, he set off in the direction he could last remembered seeing it.

About ten minutes later Mikey was lounging in the fork of two branches, of the before mentioned tree, and after thanking his father for instilling in him the sense of direction only a creature like his dad could possess, he immediately began stuffing his face with bites from every apple within his reach. Although admittedly these late-season offerings were a bit toward the bitter side, he was enjoying himself nonetheless, at least until a voice from overhead interrupt his one possum apple party.

"Honestly Michael, if your father were half as gluttonous as you, he would be far too fat and lazy to get anywhere," laughed a familiar voice. Mikey looked up and spotted the source resting few branches above himself. Marlon, a fearsome looking falcon whose position as Mikey's father's best friend had earned him the duty of Mikey's round the clock babysitter whenever his father wasn't around, and neither of them particularly enjoyed this arrangement.

"Whaaf oo ant," Mikey asked, attempting to talk through a mouthful of apple, which at the look of intense amusement on Marlon's face, he decided to swallow before attempting speech once more, "What do you want Marlon."

"The same thing as always," answered Marlon, fighting back laughter at the sight of all the apple remnants sticking to Mikey's face, "To make sure you're safe."

"Well I think you'd be happy to know I'm still fine as ever but thanks for the check up, now don't you have somewhere else to be, Corbin told me Dad's missing," shot Mikey, who was now cleaning the apple pieces of his face, only now realising what a sticky pelt truly felt like.

"Oh yes, well you know my duty and I can't break it, even for that," Marlon now spoke with that annoying smugness he always seemed to reserve especially for Mikey, "Anyway I wouldn't advise being alone, Corbin tells me there's been more sightings. I believe that would be why he's looking for you father."

Mikey didn't answer, the moment Marlon had mentioned sightings he'd known what the falcon was talking about. The Stalker; a mysterious hunter which had only appeared recently and was now spreading panic and fear everywhere but he was far too full and sleepy to be bothered discussing such a grim yet boring subject.

He had by now had finished clearing the last of the apple off his face, began to climb towards the top of the tree to catch a nap in the warm morning sunlight before swimming in the pond to remove the sticky patches that now covered his face and the upper half of his body.

"What are you doing Michael?" asked Marlon, watching Mikey climb up toward the higher branches.

"Catching a nap if you must know and I don't need your permission to do that, do I?" Stated Mikey irritably, wrapping his tail around the highest branch he could reach.

"As if you needed any more fattening up," Marlon began, taking another shot at Mikey's happy-go-lucky personality that he so despised, "Seriously, if it's as much as I can do not to devour you right now, what do you think that Stalker's going to do?"

Mikey busied himself in finding a comfortable hanging position in which to sleep, before letting out a yawn and returning Marlon's insult with an attack of his own, "Don't worry, if he finds me, I'm sure you can fight him off, Wild Falcon."

Michael chuckled as he heard the unmistakable sound of Marlon beginning an aggressive advance but thinking better of it.

The reason for this remark bothering Marlon so, was that about a year ago Mikey had "accidentally" overheard Marlon and his mate, Stace, while they were "being intimate".

Mikey now considered himself blessed to have some ammunition to use on Marlon whenever he started making things personal and never ever missed a chance to use it.

'Finally I might be able to get a good day's sleep as well' thought Mikey closing his eyes just as a buzzing began somewhere in the distance.

'What the heck is that sound'.

Mikey opened his eyes to look for the source of the irritating noise.

"Do you hear that, Marlon?" he called down, to the falcon who was currently busy scanning the ground for any mice that might come after the apple cores Mikey had dropped and hadn't heard anything.

"What?" Marlon asked back annoyed by the sudden interruption.

The noise was getting louder, it wasn't a distant hum at all now, it sounded more like a distant yell getting steadily louder.

"That noise," Mikey called again.

"I don't hear anything, are you sure you didn't dre-"

Mikey never heard the rest of Marlon's statement because at that moment, what had definitely been someone's terrified yells, reached a loud crescendo and Mikey was struck hard and painfully from the tree by something large, soft and travelling through the air at an incredible speed.