'I swear Thunk! If you don't start controlling that croc mutt of yours, I'll stuff & use him as a personal foot rest!' 'Please Eep, no! Douglas didn't mean it! He just, uh…wanted to play tag?'

Now I was seeing red. 'Since when does tag involve growling & snapping at one's heels?!'

Honestly! I felt ready to bring forth the wrath of The End at this point! Figuring out how to help Cloak adapt to a crazy enough family, I didn't need to deal with another pet intent on killing him! Out of all of them…..Douglas!

Chunky & Flare on the other hand, had been total pussycats towards Cloak!

'Having trouble Eep?'

Even with Dad behind me, already I knew there'd be a smirk on his face. Don't get me wrong, talking Dad into letting Cloak stay had been far easier – no comparison needed. Oh he'd tried to argue back at first, but Mum completely swooned upon seeing him. 'Aww! Eep where'd you find this cute little one!'

After that, the debate was pretty much won. But he'd made it clear that any trouble that ensued with Cloak after would be on me. Though he'd said the same thing when Guy & I had brought our red Bear Owl Flare home. But she'd had no trouble integrating into our brood – then again she was the 2nd largest pet we had (after Chunky), which probably helped in asserting herself amongst the rest. But the minute I let Cloak step outside, Douglas gave him a clear as day Death stare & went on to chase him. How could Dad blame this on me?!

'Ugh. No Dad, I got it. 'Even though it's not my fault!'

Dad gave a confident shrug. 'I did say another pet would be one too many.'

I clenched my teeth together. 'Says the man who brought over half of them to Tomorrow – across a chasm.'

That shut Dad up.

I ran after the pair, cutting off Douglas' path. Cloak used the chance to climb atop the main canopy tent, tentatively looking over to see if Douglas followed. But I had him grasped by the scruff at this point. I stormed over to Thunk & shoved Douglas into his arms. 'I'm trying my best with my pet, is it too much to ask you to do the same?'

'I don't know Eep. Douglas just doesn't listen to "No" related things.'

My eyes narrowed. 'Tough. You're both going to end up hearing that word a lot from now on! I know you're a pushover Thunk, but this is getting ridiculous! And believe me when I say I'll step in if Douglas crosses the line again.'

Thunk & Dad remained silent, but my anger was still there.

Then Guy called me over. 'Eep, do you mind helping check over the traps on the west part of the beach?' I looked at Guy's expression, which told a different story to the words he'd just spoken. But letting off steam here wasn't going to do anybody any good. I sighed, then nodded. 'Yeah, sure.'

After checking over several traps (which so far had only caught a few Piranhakeets & Quail Beavers), Guy broke the silence.

'Did you really have to be as hard on Thunk as you did?'

I knew there'd been a reason to why he'd asked me for help at that exact moment.

'Well, to be honest Guy, who else is ever hard on him?'

I'd stumped him there.

'I guess that's true, but not everyone's as tough as you don't forget – me included!'

'Pffft! Point taken, I admit I let my frustrations get away from me a bit, I'm just saying it wouldn't hurt for him to be assertive when necessary.'

I looked up at Cloak (now on my head). 'And it wouldn't hurt for you to stand up for yourself either, you've got claws – use them!'

Suddenly Cloak lifted his head & jumped to a nearby tree. He screeched loudly towards something several metres ahead. It was a Punch Monkey searching through one of the nets we'd set up to catch fallen fruit. We knew the best way to get rid of these pests was to bribe them, but this monkey already had what he wanted! Fighting them was out of the question, as (my Dad) knew from previous experience. But before we'd even thought anything through, Cloak glided down rapidly, landing on top of this monkey. 'Cloak NO!'

But Cloak lunged at the Punch Monkey scratching it right across the nose. The thieving monkey retaliated by throwing a punch – Cloak; fangs bared, grabbed hold of its fist & bit down hard. I'd never heard any living thing scream as loud as that monkey did just then.

They took to the trees, Cloak gliding to avoid any further punches. He jumped on a palm tree, shaking off several coconuts. The monkey fell back in a heap as the hard fruit crashed on top of him. Cloak headed back down towards the punched out primate, but by then anyone would've had enough. He scrambled away towards the forest, leaving the fruit untouched.

I let out the breath I'd been holding as Cloak glided onto my shoulder.

'When I said stand up for yourself, I didn't mean go for something of that calibre!' Cloak lowered his ears. 'Still, Douglas won't be hard to deal with now, will he?'

2 Days Later:

'No Douglas! Bad Crocopup!'

As déjà vu would have it, Douglas once again made a beeline for Cloak. I knew where this was headed….at least I thought I did.

Cloak headed towards the canopy tent. But then took off on a glide straight towards Douglas…& promptly bopped him one over the head!

Douglas yelped & bounded away, tail well under his legs.

It took everything I had for me to stop there & and then from laughing to the floor!

As Cloak landed on my back, I ducked back into the trees. Turns out Guy had the same idea. His expression said as much.

Then Douglas dashed past us, Thunk struggling to keep up. Cloak (once again on my head) fluffed up his fur & made an unmistakable snickering noise. Guy's next sentence proved fatal to my composure. 'Douglas hard to deal with?'

That did it – we were on the floor within seconds, thank Tomorrow these trees blocked sound out so well!