Hello dear reader! Thanks for stopping by to read my fanfiction "Amphibia: Explorers of the Wild" based off the titular Disney Channel cartoon series. I adore this froggy cartoon! I've always been such a fan of the charming characters, the sick creature designs, and the beautiful yet terrifying enviornments of Amphibia and was inspired to make a higher-stakes story based off it. Consider this first chapter as a way of 'testing the waters' to see what works. I'm excited to share this first chapter and read people's thoughts on it. Anyways let's get started.
Amphibia: Explorers of the Wild
Chapter 1: Survival of the Fittest
In the middle of the night in a lush forest a thunderstorm stirred. Intense raindrops poured on the tops of trees making leaves shake and sway. High speed winds sent loose twigs and rocks flying. The sound of thunder boomed followed with a blinding strike of lighting. During all of this chaos, a young teen boy runs through the storm in a panic.
The boy's name was Noah Baker. He was a 13-year-old Caucasian boy with creamy white skin, messy dark maroon hair with long parted bangs at the front, down turned eyes, and a long skinny awkward build. He wore a light blue shirt with a green collar and a SJMS emblem in the center, a light grey unzipped jacket, a navy blue backpack, light brown dress pants, and beaten up black tennis shoes with light gray socks.
"Oh god! Oh god!" Noah screamed as he sprinted through storm in a panicked state.
As he ran through the forest across the wet sloshing mud, a horrible ear piercing screech was made by an enormus spider creature that was chasing him. It had charcoal black skin, eight sharp elongated legs, two pedipalps at the front, sharp white fangs, a curved up pointed abdomen, and two parallel pairs of emerald green eyes. It hacked and slashed everything effortlessly in its path with its sharp quickly as the spider drew near, the boy slides into a nearby tree with a large dark hollow to hide. He curls up into a fetal position and holds one of his hands over his mouth to cover his panicked breathing. Noah heard a dozen intimidating sharp footsteps made by the spider outside the hollow, making the boy's eyes widen and his heart pound faster. After a few seconds of the spider surveying the area, it hisses softly and crawls off somewhere else in the forest. Feeling safe hearing the beast's stomps being replaced by the rain, the teen sighs in relief and lowers his guard.
"Wow... I almost just died." The young man said out of breath while chuckling to himself in disbelief.
The teen slouches his back on the bark wall of the hollow while running his hands through his messy hair to calm himself down. After taking a moment to recompose himself, he looked around the dark hollow spotting all the tiny inscets crawling around.
"Eh... It's not a hotel but at least there's a roof." Noah said exhausted while taking off his navy blue backpack.
A groan was made by the teen's stomach and he looked down at his gut with a concerned look as he patted it softly. Desperate for any food he could find, the starving boy unzipped his bag and flipped it upside down to let all the items fall out. There was an assortment of school supplies like books, pencils, papers a laptop, and headphones. The only edible thing he found was a fossilized gummy worm covered in dirt. He swiped it up and scarfed down like his life depended on it. It made him cough violently for a moments as he got through the bitter taste. After swallowing the filthy gummy worm, Noah stared at the ground aimlessly in sadness reflecting on his current situation.
"How did I end up in this mess?" Noah said mumbling to himself while wiping some mud off his jacket sleeves.
While rummaging through the items on the ground the teen boy spotted a tiny worn photo of him and three other girls his age standing next to each other. He picked up the photo and gripped it gently as he recollected the events earlier that day.
...
It was like any normal day for Noah Baker. He lived a simple life in the city of Los Angeles, California where he attended his local school Saint James Middle School. The school itself was pretty standard. The exterior was made of red bricks, had red brick pillars supporting a white roof, and a flag outside with the school's SJMS logo on it. The interior had long hallways with gray tield celings and floors, dark green lockers, and brown classroom doors. Students flooded the hallways to their lockers to get ready for their first class, Noah included. The teen boy casually walked to his locker wearing black overhead headphones blasting music to tune out the other students in the hallway. Noah was very reserved and withdrawn compared his peers. Most people at a glance assumed he was grumpy or tired because of his down turned eyes. On the surface he may look a bit abrasive but actually could get along with others. When around people he's close to he can be observant, joking, and somewhat snarky. Generally the teen will try to keep his head turned the other way whenever faced with a conflict. As Noah went through his unorganized locker to grab his textbooks he heard a fimiliar friendly voice calling for him.
"Noah, my dude!" a peppy Taiwanese girl shouted while pacing over to him.
Making out her voice the boy perked his head and put his headphones around his neck to hear more clearly. His neutral frown switched to a pleasant warm smile.
"Marcy, what's up?" Noah said happy to see his closest friend.
Marcy Wu was a 13-year-old Taiwanese-American girl who had olive skin, short black hair that was parted to both sides, slightly squinted oval eyes, and a short slim build. She wore a green hair clip on the right side of her hair, a comfey zipped up dark gray jacket with two strings, a front pocket, and a tiny SJMS logo, a green skirt, and a pair of brown shoes with light gray socks.
"I'm- WAH!" Marcy yelped as she accidentally slipped and face planted on the ground.
Marcy was a very outgoing, loveable, nerd who is super smart and loves to share knowledge and bond over her interests whenever possible. She also could be somewhat clumsy.
"I'm okay!" Marcy murmered while giving a thumbs up still face planted on the ground.
Noah walked over and offered a hand to his clumbsy friend on the floor.
"I guess I should've said what's down?" Noah said chuckling with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh hardy har har!" Marcy mocked as she was hoisted up and then dusted the front of her jacket.
Marcy and Noah had been best friend since forever. The two first met in kidnergarten when Marcy noticed Noah playing a handheld video game system under a tree during recess by himself. Without warning, she went up to the lone boy and started geeking out about all her favorite games as he passively listened. Though not talking back much, Noah enjoyed Marcy's company. Despite their clashing personalities, the two became very close due to their common interests in games, movies, and tv shows. Of all the people he has known, Noah felt like he could be his truest self around Marcy.
"I'm doing great! I've just been working on my next Creatures and Caverns campaign. It's gonna blow your mind when it's finished! HA HA HA!" Marcy said eagerly pumping her fists in the air a few times. Noah raised an eyebrow and chuckles at Marcy's eagerness.
"What's been going on with you?" the Taiwanese girl said with her hands resting in her jacket pockets.
"Ah nothing really. I stayed up way to late last night playing Adventure Quest 2: The Sacred Jewl. I got stuck on the stupid insect boss for hours. The dang game is a broken mess!" exaggerated Noah as he closed his locker in frustration.
"Dude, just get the dragon spit wand from the wizard in the second province! That thing is SO busted! Set that sucker on fire! Fwoosh!" Marcy said making finger guns and wind noises with her mouth.
"That doesn't make the game any less broken." Noah retorted playfully while crossing his arms and shrugging.
The two friends walked down the hallway to their classes as they continued to talk.
"Hey, isn't it Anne's birthday today?" Noah asked Marcy switching topics.
"Oh yeah! We're gonna meet up after school later with her and Sasha to hang. I might run a little late cause of PSAT studying though..." Marcy responded unenthusiastically.
"Boo! Studying! One day you're gonna make your head explode with to much nerd junk, Mars." Noah joked as he lightly tapped his fist on the side of his head.
"Yeah I'm sorry. My parents just want me to be in tip top shape for the future. The classic high pressures of an Asian household I tell ya..." Marcy said satirically with a hint of sadness.
Hearing Marcy say that made Noah concerned. It was always the hardest seeing his usually positive best friend get down. Just then the bell rang for classes to begin and everyone dispurst.
"I'll text you once I know where we're going for Anne's birthday. See you later!" Marcy said walking away while waving.
Not wanting to leave off on a negative note, Noah streched one of his arms out and put his hand on Marcy's shoulder to tell her one more thing. This suprised the Taiwanese girl and she turned around with a confused look.
"Remember... Don't push yourself to hard because of others expectations, alright? Do what makes you happy." Noah said with a half smile while giving a thumbs up.
"Thanks, Noah..." Marcy responded with an earnest smile and an agreeing nod.
The two friends gave each other a fist bump before departing their seperate ways for class.
...
A thunderous boom from the storm snapped Noah back to reality stopping his train of thought. The teen boy sat in silence watching the down pour of rain for a few moments before looking back down at the photo. He placed it inside his pocket and then dragged his dirty backpack to the side to use as a pillow. As Noah laid down on his side to head off to bed he clenched both of his fists and pressed them gently together, remembering his best friend to comfort himself.
Marcy... Wherever you and the others are... I hope you're safe..." Noah said trailing off in his words getting sleepy.
The teen then closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep as the storm continued through the night.
...
The next morning was a complete contrast to what the conditions were the previous night. The sky was a clear blue and a gentle wind brushed across the lush forest. Many of the small creatures who hunkered down were now awake and making peaceful ambient noises. The diverse and large foliage and dirt ground glistened with water from the previous night's storm. Noah, being cautious about any potential predators nearby, slowly peered his head out the hollow and surveyed the area. When he thought it looked clear the boy crawled out and streched his arms in the air while yawning.
"What a night!" Noah groaned feeling sore from exterting his energy yesterday.
The teen, with his arms still up, sniffs the air only to be met with a horrible fowl stench. Running in the wet rain and mud the previous night had caused him to smell... well like wet rain and mud. He gagged out of reflex while puffing his cheeks.
"Blagh! Yeesh that's ripe!" blurted Noah in disgust pinching his nose.
"Maybe there's some body of water nearby I can use to wash my clothes?... Oh! I could also probably catch some fish to solve my food problem while I'm at it!" Noah said scratching his head with his index finger and then pointing it up in brilliance.
Noah wandered the forest for about an hour searching for any nearby bodies of water. In case if he stumbled on any hostile wildlife, the teen carried around a long stick with a sharp white rock tied with a shoelace at the tip as a make shift spear. After exploring for sometime the boy could hear the sound of running water in the distants.
"Yes! Sweet, sweet water!" Noah exclaimed with tears in his eyes jogging towards the sound.
Pushing through green bushes while panting heavily, he found the source of the sound. A running river with clear crystal water sparkling from the sun. Without a second thought, the boy rushed over to the river desperate for a drink. He dropped his spear to the side and got on his hands and knees.
"Oh yes! Come to papa!" Noah said eagerly before dunking his head in the river like it was an apple bobbing game.
After a good few seconds of drinking, Noah pulled his head out of the water and made a satisfied exhale feeling refreshed. His feelings of satisfaction were cut short when he felt a bunch of tiny little pinches on his face.
"Huh?" Noah mumbled with a puzzled look as he placed his hand on one of the itchy spots on his face.
Noah graced something tiny that felt wet and squishy. He picked it off his face to find that it was a little chubby blood-sucking leech. It had a dark brown segmented body with red beady eyes.
"Well would you look at that." Noah remarked casually with a calm look.
Taking a few seconds to process what was on his face, Noah's demeanor quickly changed to a wide eyed fearful expression with bloodshot eyes. The boy then screamed at the top of his lungs which echoed across the forest, scaring some nearby birds away.
"AHHHH! Getitoffgetitoffgetitoff!" Noah shouted while aggresively shaking his head and smearing his hands on his face to swipe off the leeches.
Not far away from where Noah was freaking out, a small slender amphibious creature was curled up in a ball resting on the river floor. It was about the size of a medium dog. It had smooth brownish green skin with peppered black spots that trailed along its back, a light peach underbelly, four fingered forelegs and hind legs, a rounded face with two black dot eyes and a rounded cat like smile, two big red fluffy external gills on each side of its head, and a long pointed tail with a rounded oval fin. The creature opened one of its eyes as it was woken up by the racket on the surface. It made a curious whimper noise and swam up to the surface to see what the comotion was. It perked its head out of the water and spotted a strange bipedal creature near the edge of the river screaming as it picked leeches off its face. The amphibian tilted its head to the side with one gill perked up and the other flopped down, similar to a dog's ears. Noah finally pulls off the last blood-sucking leech and throws it on the ground with the others. The tiny gross parasites flopped around on the grass like fishes out of water. Now with his adrenaline settling down, Noah walked backwards and plopped down under a nearby tree to take a few moments to breath.
"Okay... I should have seen something like that coming in a place like this." Noah said tuckered out while closing his eyes.
Just as Noah let down his guard he heard a splash come from the river. The teen boy quickly sprung up and tightly gripped his spear ready to fight.
"Gah! I swear to god I'll kill every last one of you parasitic peices of-!" Noah growled before abruptly stopping in the middle of his sentence.
Noah was stunned at what he saw in front of him. It was a quadruped amphibious creature sniffing around the grass where he had thrown the leeches. One by one the amphibian slurped up the parasites on the ground like they were pasta noodles. The teen boy scowled in disgust and curiosity while lowering his weapon. The creature with a fat leech in its mouth turned its head towards Noah and stared at him with a blank expression as it swallowed the parasite whole. Noah was on high guard once more and pointed his dull spear at the creature while his arms and legs trembled slightly. The amphibian casually strut up to the scared teen trying to sniff him.
"H-hey! Stay back! I'm warning you!" Noah pathetically threatened as he waved the flimsy spear around the creature's face.
The amphibian made a gentle purr noise and blinked its black eyes, clearly not understanding the threat. The aquatic creature crawled up to Noah's legs which made the boy fall backwards and shut his eyes tightly in fear.
"Please don't eat me! There's no meat in these muscles! I probably taste really bad!" Noah pleaded fearing the worse.
Going against the boy's expectations, the amphibian poked its head into one of Noah's jacket pockets and pulled out a leech that got stuck in it.
"Oh... You just wanted a snack, huh?" Noah said to the animal realizing it didn't mean any harm.
After swallowing the leech, the creature quickly backed away from Noah and dashed towards the edge of the river. It looked back at the human one more time before diving in. Noah simply said nothing and tilted his head as he sat there alone under the tree.
...
Sunset was quickly approaching. Not wanting to repeat the previous night's events, Noah had set up a temporary camp for the night. With the remaining daylight he had left, he built a tent using nearby branches and large blanket sized leaves. He also created a small but duable fire place. Noah sat crisscrossed next to the fire weak and alone. He had failed to capture any sort of fish liked he planned and was starting to get dangerously hungry. So much in fact he resorted to sticking a bunch of leaves onto a stick like a kebab and roast it over the fire.
"Maybe... Maybe I could pretend its a cheeseburger?" Noah weakly mustered as he ripped a burnt leaf off the stick and chomped it down. He immediately gagged and spit it out.
"Ah! This is hopeless!" shouted the starving boy in anger throwing the leaf kebab.
"I'm alone, I have no food, everything wants to kill me, and worst of all I'm never gonna see my family or friends ever again!" Noah cried with tears rolling down his face while hugging his legs.
"If this is my punishment for caving into that horrible choice! Well then!... I deserve this..." Noah said in defeat as he laid back on the grass looking up at the orange and purple evening sky. The sounds of cricket chirps and nocturnal birds started to fill the air.
While laying in defeat, Noah heard a branch snap nearby which made him sit up in fear. The boy breathed heavily for a few seconds looking around the dark forest for any hostile creatures. The teen stopped panicking as soon as he spotted the adorable culprit. It was the amphibious creature that had eaten the blood-sucking leeches at the river before. It had been following Noah at a distance for quite sometime. It was sitting on its rear with its forelegs and hind legs tucked in, its ear like gills perked up, and its long tailfin on the ground.
"Oh! It's you again. Sorry, if it's more juicy leeches you're after, I've got none. I'm probably gonna die soon so if you wanna use me as food that's cool." Noah said nonchalantly depressed while laying back on the ground looking at the sky.
The amphibious creature, despite not understanding english, understood Noah's suffering. It could tell his hunger based off his growling stomach. It gave a sad look with its gill like ears drooped down. The creature crawled away into some bushes and came back a few moments later with a freshly caught fish in its mouth. It went up to Noah and dropped the wet fish flat on his face, which made a gross squish sound. He didn't even flinch just because he was so weak.
"Huh? F-food!" Noah chirped happily sitting back up holding the wobbling fish with both hands.
Noah's uplifted spirit made the dog like amphibian perk up as well, making its big tail fin wag and bark. Noah turned his attention to the generous creature.
"Thank you!... C-can you bring me more?" Noah communicated clearly to the creature pointing at the fish.
The amphibian, after taking a few moments to process the directions, nods its head in approval and dashes off back into the forest for more fish. Noah stared at the creature run off and simply smiled while chuckling to himself, feeling genuily blessed for the first time in this unforgiving wild. A few minutes later the creature had gathered more than enough fresh fish for Noah to feast on. The aquatic animal calmly sat next to Noah and happily watched him chow down. After gorging the majority of the fish like a beast, Noah gave a satisfied exhale and patted his full stomach followed with a burp. At this point the sun had fully set and the sky was covered with clusters of stars and a blood red moon.
"Oh man that hit the spot! You saved my life, little guy!" Noah exclaimed with his arms wide out.
The creature happily barked and without warning crawled on to Noah's lap and curled up into a ball to show him affection. It made a subtle purring noise as it did. The young man was a little creeped out by the wet slimy skin at first, but he toughed it out and reciprocated with a pat on its head. The teen boy was simply amazed by the golden heart of this wild animal.
"You're one upfront critter you know that? Kind of reminds me of someone I know..." Noah said calmly with a hint of sadness thinking about his best friend Marcy.
"...I wonder what you are exactly?" Noah questioned to himself pulling out his Biology class textbook he had in his backpack.
As Noah flipped through the pages, the creature yawned and stretched its body before crawling off Noah's lap to eat the rest of the discarded fish pile.
"Blah, blah, blah...Ah there we go! This looks an awful lot like you!" Noah triumphantly said pointing at the page.
"Let's see...Necturus maculosus, better known as the common mudpuppy, is a species of aquatic salamander. Key traits of this amphibian are that it's active at night, lives in bodies of fresh water, and has an appetite for almost anything." Noah read aloud looking back up at the mudpuppy chomping down all of the fish pile in a matter of seconds and then burping up a fish skeleton afterwards. Noah laughed and sat the textbook down.
"Sounds about right! Though I disagree about you being just a 'common' mudpuppy." Noah playfully remarked walking over to scratch under its chin.
As Noah and the mudpuppy bonded next to the campfire they suddenly heard a suspicious noise coming from the forest. This caused the two to be on guard, Noah picking up his spear and the mudpuppy standing in a defensive stance.
"Who's there?!" Noah shouted while scanning the area.
The mudpuppy growled and barked as it sensed a dangerous presence coming from the forest. In a dark shadowed area the mudpuppy was barking at, four emerald green eyes slowly opened one by one accompanied by a fimiliar hissing sound.
"Oh shit..." Noah mumbled realizing what it was.
It was the giant carnivorus spider that had chased him the previous night. The orange glow emitted from the fire must have caught its attention Noah thought. The colossal spider creepily crawled its way out the darkness towards the camp. Its leg joints made bone chilling cracking noises and each step it took sounded like a sharp knife piercing through flesh. Noah and the mudpuppy instinctivly pressed their bodies together as the spider drew closer.
"Stay back you hell spawn!" Noah screamed throwing his make shift spear with all his might at the spider. The spear didn't even make it half way to the creature and it gently fell on the ground. The arachnid gave a confused look at the worthless spear on the ground and then looked back up at Noah and the mudpuppy squinting its eyes while hissing.
"Oh no." Noah said under his breath as he realized what trouble he was in.
The monsterous spider let out a terrifying screech which sent Noah and the mudpuppy flying back a little. The two ran inside the sloppily made tent to hide. This didn't work as the spider effortlessly used one of its sharp pedipalps to slice the tent open.
"Hey! I spent forever making that!" Noah pouted.
The spider tensed itself up ready to lunge at the targets. Noticing Noah was paralyzed in fear, the mudpuppy made the quick desicion to tackle the boy out of the spider's range. Noah rolled away while grunting in pain.
"Ow... Huh? Little guy! No!" The teenager shouted reaching out his hand recognizing the mudpuppy's sacrafice play.
The amphibian was then swooped up by the spider's large pedipalps and was carried off into the dark forest, all while making sad whimpers as it was taken. Noah without a second thought got back on his feet and sprinted to follow the eight legged beast. Normally he would have just let nature take its course, however he couldn't stand by and let an innocent animal, especially one who saved his life, be killed all because of his mistake.
"Grrr... GIVE HIM BACK YOU BASTARD!" Noah roared. For a moment it seemed that his pupils had glown a slight purple.
Noah grabbed a thick stick off the ground and lit the top of it with the fire place to use as a torch. The teen boy rushed into the dark cramped woods following the sound of the mudpuppy's cries. Following the destructive path the beast left behind, eventually the teen stumbled upon the spider's den. It was a deep cavern on the side of a cliff that had dripstones on the celing and bones scattered across the rugged floor. Hesitating for a second, Noah gulped nervously before entering the beastly spider's domain with his torch in hand. The place smelled of death. Each small step Noah took echoed from acoustics of the cave. At the end of the cavern, the terrified teen spotted the ginormous web the spider had sown. On the web were the skeletons of the spider's previous victims. It consisted of birds, rodents, and what strangely looked like a bipedal frog. Not having the time to be skeptical, Noah ducked behind some nearby rocks and watched as the spider spun a web restraint around the mudpuppy's body and then stick it on to the giant web. Noah narrows his eyes ready to sneak past the beast to its web to save the amphibian, knowing he wasn't strong enough to fight it head on. Unfortunately though he steps on a frail bone causing it to snap getting the spider's attention. The spider wastes no time rushing towards the invader of his cave, making horrifying screeches as it did. It was a game of cat and mouse, with Noah running around the cavern as the spider attempted to hack and slash at him with its leathal limbs. One of the spider's legs managed to back hand swipe at Noah, sending the boy flying and hit the cave wall. The mudpuppy whimpered and wobbled in its prison as it watched the human get injured. Noah now sat limp against the rugged wall with his torch rolling out of his hand next to him. The injured teen was still conscious but tightly cornered. The spider slowly crawled up to the boy getting ready to finish him off. Thinking this was it, Noah raised his voice to speak to the mudpuppy.
"I'm sorry, little guy! I wasn't able to save us! Now... We're gonna die and become gross spider poop..." Noah humored readying to embrace death. The mudpuppy stared on with its gills down sadly.
"Worst of all... I'll never get to beat that over powered insect boss in Adventure Quest 2... Wait a minute!" Noah said in a moment of realization.
The defenseless teen looked over at the lit torch next to him. He recollected the advice Marcy had given him to deal with the video game boss he struggled on. With a determined smile, the boy grabbed the torch and held it high above his head.
"Set that sucker on fire! Fwoosh!" Noah pridefully yelled throwing the torch directly at the spider's face.
The spider screeched in agony as the fire quickly spread across its entire body. It stumbled wildly around the den knocking into everything in the cave. The chaos the flaming spider created caused some sharp dripstones to fall from the celing and cut the web restraint on the mudpuppy setting it free.
"Yes! I beat the boss! HA HA HA!" Noah celebrated with some rapid fist pumps in the air similar to how Marcy would.
The mudpuppy quickly dashed over towards the celebrating teen and pulled on his pant leg to remind him of their current dire situation. Seeing their chance, Noah and the mudpuppy booked it to the exit all while dodging falling debris. Just as the two were approaching the exit, Noah looked over his shoulder to see the enraged spider doing a powerful bumrush towards them as a last resort before burning to death. Noah and the mudpuppy screamed in unison as the spider charged at them. Luckly a giant thick dripstone from the ceiling came crashing down piercing through the spider's cephalothorax. Blue blood gushed out from the aracnid's fatal wound. The spider let out one last horrifying screech as its green eyes went dull and its long legs went limp. Noah and the mudpuppy dove out of the cave just in time as the entrance collapsed in on itself. The two rolled on their backs and breathed heavily from exterting themselves.
"We... We're alive! We are the champions!" Noah announced greatful to be alive.
The mudpuppy got up on all fours and playfully tackled Noah while licking his face and wagging its tailfin, cherrishing the victory over the colossal spider with him. An unatural thick green slime from the mudpuppy's spit slathered Noah's face, however the boy couldn't care less being so happy in the moment. The teen then wrapped his arms around the slick long amphibian for a hug and simply laughed as the dawn of a new day blanketed the sky.
...
The sun had risen once again on the forest. Noah and the mudpuppy had returned to the trashed campsite after their triumphant victory against the giant spider. The teen scrapped up all the suppiles he could into his navy blue backpack and walked to the nearest exit of the forest with the mudpuppy by his side. Noah and the mudpuppy eventually reached a tree opening that casted a bright light signaling the edge of freedom. Noah pivoted around and got on his knees at the mudpuppy's level to say his goodbyes.
"Well... I guess this is where we part ways, little guy. Thank you again so much for saving my life!" Noah said with a genuine smile.
The mudpuppy perked its head and barked as a response to Noah's gratitude.
"Here's a little something for you for the road." Noah said reaching into his jacket pocket pulling out a dead blood-sucking leech he had found on the ground near the camp.
"I'm sure it's not as good when it's dead but I'm sure that doesn't matter." Noah chuckled as the mudpuppy slurped up the dead leech from his hand.
Noah got back on his feet and started to walk off into the opening towards his next unknown destination. The mudpuppy tilted its head in confusion and then started happily following Noah. The lost teen noticed this and stopped to turn around.
"Are you following me? Don't you have a home or family you need to go back to?" Noah said curiously.
The mudpuppy responded with a sad slouch while looking at the ground aimlessly.
"Oh you don't have anyone, do you?" Noah said with a sad tone understanding the body language.
The teen boy related to the lonely mudpuppy. Like him, Noah was stranded in some crazy hostile world not sure where his family and friends were. Thinking about how much the mudpuppy did for him, Noah simply couldn't deny it company.
"...You know I'm lost too. I'm trying to find my friends and a way back home. Worst of all I'm not even sure where to start." reciprocated the lost teen.
"Say... In case if I came across any more giant carnivorus spiders, it wouldn't hurt to have a pal fight by my side. AND from what I've seen, you are one tough waterdog." Noah said building up to his question while scratching his chin.
The mudpuppy perked his head up and looked with an intrigued face with its tailfin wagging slightly hearing Noah's tone of voice.
"What I'm saying is... Would you wanna come along with me to help? You know just for the time being." The teen said optimistically raising an eyebrow.
Excited about Noah's offer, the Mudpuppy leaped up into the air into Noah's lankey arms and wildly nuzzled his rounded brownish green face against his. The water dog happily barked over and over as if it was saying 'yes, yes, yes!'.
"Woah! I take that as a yes?" Noah chirped while laughing.
The mudpuppy leaped back on to the ground and stood proudly next to his new human friend, ready for adventure.
"That settles it! Come on! We got a whole world out there to explore-..." Noah said before cutting off the middle of his sentence.
"I just realize you don't have a name, huh." Noah said pondering on what to call his new mudpuppy companion.
Noah looked down at the mudpuppy's cute innocent smiling face. Its smooth skin slightly glistened from the bright sun which stood out to the teen.
"You look kinda squishy... like a gummy worm. How about I call you Gummy?" Noah questioned to the mudpuppy while pointing at it.
The mudpuppy closed its eyes and arfed cheerfully liking Noah's idea.
"Alright then, Gummy! Let's get going!" Noah said excitedly as he pointed towards the parted trees.
Noah and Gummy dash towards the blinding light between the trees as they left the forest to begin exploring this mysterious and dangerous new world. The adventure for Noah to find his friends and a way back home was only just beginning.
That's it! I hope you enjoyed reading the first chapter of my story. Again, please let me know your thoughts because I'm totally up for ideas and suggestions on where to take this series. Hope you have a good rest of your day!