With school ending soon and summer around the corner, its no surprise to see our favorite friends up late playing a bit of video games here and there. Well at least they still know the rules of going to bed at exactly 10PM/11-ish. After a long game battle between Johnathan and Donnie in their favorite game, the two now teenagers fell immediately asleep. Johnathan didn't even mind covering up after falling face first on his soft mattress. He just cuddled with his soft and warm fuzzy blue and black checkerboard patterned comforter. Oh, well... At least he was comfortable.
Donnie on the other hand who lived in the state next door to his was responsible enough to climb under his covers and sheets. He turned his head to a picture of his now grown up older brother who was now a professional basketball player, smiling before turning his head up to where his eyes were facing the ceiling. He listened as the crickets chirped quietly outside his slight open window. The gentle cool spring breeze wooshed by shaking the leaves on the trees, the cars on the freeway zoomed by which made the atmosphere just perfect and calm... very calm.
It was the kind of noise like this that made the now seventeen year old boy fall asleep as if being hypnotized. He would sleep like a rock through this kind of atmosphere undisturbed. And boy did he. Even when the wind began to heavily blow later on that night, and a few dogs started barking loudly in the distance he slept through it. Nothing could wake this dreamer from his deep slumber. A bright light had appeared from around the corner of his house and made its way into Donnie's bedroom through the slightly open window. It flew up and in front of him and splashed on him like water.
The next thing Donnie knew, he was being pulled in to the light. His dream-self did. The seventeen year old was pulled into some sort of heavenly bright light. Donnie shelided his eyes with his right hand as he suddenly felt like he was flying. He felt light as a feather. He turned his hewd away when he heard a magical sound and the light became so bright he thought if he looked at it for just a second he would go blind. Finally the light faded, and he could hear birds chirping. When he opened his eyes he saw it was daytime.
He looked around at the trees and bushes that surrounded him. He was in a forest. 'Where am I?' he asked himself, scratching his short afro black hair feeling dazed and confused about where he was. He continued looking around until he spotted a familiar wooden house that he sworn he seen somewhere. Feeling still lost, he walked up to the house and up the oak wooden steps. He heard the door creak open. His head shot up to see the door open. When he put his left foot on the final step he was greeted with an elderly man who poked his head out from the door.
"Donnie!" he said joyfully with an elder gruffy voice. He waited patiently for the teen boy to enter the house and closed the door. Donnie looked around the place and was immediately met with some sort of nostalgia when he got a better look at the old man. He gasped suddenly. His heart beated a little fast. Suddenly a females hand touched his shoulder which made him jolt hus head over to the left right to see a beautiful teenage girl. She wore a purple shirt and had on a matching skirt. She had long wavy chocolate brown hair that flown down to her waist.
"He's the woodskeeper!" she said to Donnie with a warm smile. Donnie looked beside her and spotted another tall handsome boy with red hair who let out a yawn of boardeom. But all it took was for the woodskeeper to open the small wooden brown door leading to the Sylvanian Forest for all three kids to be suddenly hit with a sudden burst of excitement. Almost as if they were young again. When the bright yellow heavenly light hit them they felt themselves starting to shrink. "Small. Smaller. Smallest," said the woodskeeper until the kids were small enough to fit through the small door.
The three exchanged looks for a moment. Donnie was the first to walk through being the brave one of the three. Johnathan took a look at Tracy and smiled. "Ladies first," he said, stepping aside and motioning his hands for her to walk through into the light. Tracy chuckled lightly: "Thank you." She stepped forward into the heavenly bright light disappearing into it. Johnathan would soon follow.
*
Cool air greeted the three when they entered Sylvianianville. A cool gentle summer breeze blew across the forest. Tracy's hair blew along with it. The three stood lined up side by side like marines. Donnie and Johnathan started talking about something completely random while Tracy's eyes looked around. She stared at a few local houses. One in particular really grabbed her attention, since working in the yard pulling carrots looked like a familiar rabbit. At least she thought. I mean with the blue overalls, brown/orange fur, brown eyes, and smooth buck teeth. She thought she knew who he was. Maybe she was thinking of someone else.
While Donnie and Johnathan were busy chatting away, Tracy walked away and up to the rabbit who seemed very concentrated with his work. "Excuse me. I have a question," Tracy said to the rabbit. He looked up and then stood up fully with a smile. "Hey, you're Tracy right?" He said.
Tracy nodded. "Yeah." She cleared her throat. "Um, are you.."
"Rusty! Yup! That's me!" said the rabbit with a smile of pride.
"How did you remember me?" Tracy asked him. She was curious to know since it had been so long since she visited the Sylvanian Forest. 10 full years to be exact.
"I have great memory!" Rusty told her. He lifted over a huge sack of carrots over his shoulder and began walking to the front gate of his house when the front door opened, "Rusty, are you heading down to the bank?" his mother asked.
"Yes, mom. I got the carrots all packed and ready to drop off!" Rusty replied with a grunt. He nearly dropped the sack since it was heavy. But he managed to use his muscles that he has obtained from years of transporting heavy bags of carrots with his dad. The second time he nearly dropped it Donnie came running to help. "Thanks, Donnie!" Rusty said.
"How do you remember me?" Donnie asked with a confused expression.
"Easy. Memory," Rusty replied. He and Donnie carried the large sack of carrots together down to the bank to be deposited while Packbat watched with a pair of binoculars from a tall tree branch he was standing on. "Must be deposit day!" He says with an evil chuckle. He pulls the binoculars away from his face and swoops down to the ground to find a sleeping Gatorpossum resting against a tree. "Gatorpossum, get up!" Packbat shook his partner awake. He grumbles and wakes up, shaking his head from side to side. "Who did that?! I'm awake!" he says.
Packbat sighs already getting annoyed and tells his partner that Rusty and a few other of those humans were back.
"Where?!" Gatorpossum quickly starts looking around fast enough that it makes him dizzy. Packbat faceplants and lets out an annoyed sigh. "Just follow me!" He starts to walk away.
After depositing the carrots, Johnathan, Tracy, Donnie, and Rusty were all relaxing in Rusty's secret hideout. They were talking about their lives after they parted the first time. Rusty explained to the three humans that he was still helping out with the family and such. He asked Tracy about her life and she explained that everything was going smooth. Her parents still fought, but not as bad when she was younger.
"That's good. My parents rarely fight anymore too," Rusty said. He kicked back on a chair and closed his eyes. He had his left foot crossed over his right which was tapping against the floor. His hands were thrown above his head. The three humans sat leaning against the wall in silence before Donnie broke it with a question.
"So, what now?" he said.
"I don't know," Johnathan shrugged. The group stood up and headed out. around for a bit while deciding on what to do. Tracy mentioned they should just explore the forest a bit or lie in the grass and watch the clouds. It all sounded like fun. But would get boring after a while. Besides they were teenagers now.
While the group continued talking, Packbat had made his way to the bank. Sneaking in seemed easy since it looked like Chesser was out on a lunch break. He started searching around for the sack of carrots that Rusty and the kids dropped off.
He managed to find it behind the counter sitting untouched. He lifted the heavy brown sack and walked out carefully while making sure nobody was watching him. He put the sack down for a second and picked it back up again, carrying it over his shoulders. "I got them! Finally! And nobody's around to stop me!" He started his journey down the dirt path back to his place feeling satisfied and proud on pulling off another successful robbery.
Buster, who was passing by with his sister Scarlett after visiting Hollie and her family were walking back to their house when they spotted the big sack of carrots being carried away by someone.
At first they thought it was maybe Rusty since he was the one who was dropping off the carrots. It couldn't be him the two thought. He would never just walk on past the bank. Something was wrong. Very wrong. They decided to follow the figure until they got close. When they slowly neared the figure they realized who it was.
"Now that I got the carrots! I can make a plan to have Gatorpossum capture those kids!" Packbat laughed before stopping in his tracks when he heard...
"Freeze, Packbat!" shouted Buster.
The vampire bat turned his head around. He could barely see Scarlett and Buster standing behind him. He immediately started to walk faster until he lost track of them after into a nearby bush. He watched as Buster and Scarlett frantically began to search around for him.
"We should go warn Hollie and Rusty," Buster said turning around and running off.
xxx
"We can go for a walk," Rusty suggested. He got up and motioned for his three friends to follow him. They walked along a dirt path while laughing and joking around when suddenly a shrill cry caught the attention of the four. When they went to turned to see who it was, they saw Buster and Scarlett running full speed towards Rusty and the group. Scarlett stopped when she nearly tripped over her dress. "Rusty... the carrots!" She said between heavy pants. "Packbat... carrots!"
"Packbat stole the carrots!" Johnathan guessed.
"Yeah!" Scarlett nodded.
"And he's sending Gatorpossum along to catch you guys!" Buster added.
"Who?" Asked Rusty.
"The humans!" Scarlett said.
Donnie, Johnathan, and Tracy all gasped in shock. Capture! Why did Gatorpossum want to capture them? They didn't do anything. Scarlett and Buster didn't have time to explain. Rusty motioned for the group to come back to his house.
They immediately began coming up with plans on how they could stop Packbat and Gatorpossum from capturing Tracy, Johnathan, and Donnie and get the carrots back. They sat at the kitchen table brainstorming ideas when one hit Donnie. He explained to the group that Rusty, Hollie, Buster, and Scarlett distract Packbat and Gatorpossum while he, Tracy, and Johnathan get the carrots. It shouldn't be too hard.
"Sounds like a great idea to me," Rusty says with a nod.
"I agree," Hollie nods as well.
It was settled. The plan seemed simple and easy to follow. They didn't have anything to worry about right? Well as it turned out, Gatorpossum and Packbat were way ahead of them. They had secretly planned to set a few traps around the forest near Rusty's hideout so they could catch both the humans and Sylvanian's. Nobody was able to stop them! As so they thought when Psckbat was walking by and ended up getting caught in his own trap.
The vampire bat hung upside down dangling from a rope that was tied tightly around his right ankle. "Oh! Gatorpossum!" He called out furiously, flailing his arms. "Get me down from here!" He swung back and forth like a pinata frantically trying to break free. "Gatorpossum! Help! Grr! Where did that fool go?"
As it turned out, Gatorpossum was resting by a tree after setting up the last trap. He was unaware of the frantic screams coming from his trusted companion. He did however manage to open his eyes in time after hearing talking to see the Sylvanian's and their humans friends walking by on their way towards Packbat's place. He chuckled and decided to go back to sleeping until they passed and then followed them.
Gatorpossum followed the group who were too busy talking to each other didn't suspect a thing. He hid behind trees whenever someone decided to turn around like something was following them. Every so often, Tracy would look back with caution and suspense to see Packbat or Gatorpossum was following them. "What's wrong?" Johnathan asked her.
"I got this weird feeling!" Tracy kept walking with her head turned behind her. She turned back around and continued walking. She felt as if something wasn't right. Something was going to happen, and it wasn't going to be pretty.
xxx
After a short walk, the group had finally made it to Packbat's house. Buster offered to go in first to see if Packbat was home, but Donnie stepped up and offered himself to instead and began climbing the wooden ladder until he reached the front door. He knocked and opened it. It was dark. Too dark to see anything. Not even a switch or cord was visible.
Donnie stepped inside closing the door quietly behind him. He started walking around for a minute before tripping over something. His body thudded loudly against the wooden dirt floor.
"Are you okay?" Hollie yelled up after hearing him fall.
"Yeah, I'm cool," Donnie stood up dusting some dirt off of his shorts. He continued walking around until he felt something like a cord brush against his face and pulled it. A light came on and he could see. He turned around and found out what he had tripped over. "Carrots!" he said. He saw some had spilt from a bag of some sorts. A brown sack filled with fresh orange carrots.
"Uh, Rusty, I think I found the carrots!" Donnie yelled aloud.
"Good!" He heard Rusty yell back. "Grab the bag and let's go!"
Donnie bent down and grabbed the bag by the brown tight leather and lifted it up in his arms like a big box. He started walking towards the door when something pushed him back. He stumbled backwards and fell on his back with the bag of carrots pressing against his chest. He heard Buster yell up to him: "Watch out!" and Scarlett adding: "Gatorpossum!"
Donnie pushed the bag of carrots off his chest and looked up to see the big purple beast holding Tracy up by her shirt with one hand and Johnathan by the other. They were kicking and squirming trying to break loose of his grip.
"Well, well!" he began. "Looks like I've caught myself three sneaky humans!" He dropped Johnathan and Tracy on the ground and tied them up to each other using whatever rope he had.
"Let us go, Gatorpossum!" Johnathan demanded immediately struggling against the restraints. His brown eyes turned angrily to the chubby purple beast. His muscles tightened against the leather ropes so much that it began to hurt and press hard agaiihis skin. He really tried his best but couldn't loosen them up. They were too tight! Tight as a belt. He growled with furious rage when Gatorpossum started to speak. "Ooh, is this gonna be fun!"
Outside, the Rusty and the group were trying to figure out ways on how they could save their friends now that Gatorpossum had captured their old friends again. Buster suggested they barge in with a mud attack but Scarlett immediately objected that plan since she didn't want to get her dress or paws dirty.
Hollie made a suggestion that they try and scare him like they did that one time which could work. The group darted back to the Wildwood residents to gather material for a costume that would for sure scare Gatorpossum into running away or having no choice but to let the kids go.
Rusty suggested making a giant ghost costume since he knew that Gatorpossum had a huge fear of them.
Back at Packbat's place with the vampire bat still dangling from his trap getting extremely dizzy from all the blood rushing to his head, Gatorpossum had found a way of torture for Tracy, Johnathan, and Donnie. A torture mechanism that was really making them all feel sick and disgusted. Where Gatorpossum found these creatures that were slithering all over the three innocent teens was beyond them.
They were truly disgusting though and smelt like mud and filth. It felt like a cool jiggly Jell-O against their skin when the mysterious creatures slithered around them like a snake. "Get them off! This is so gross! Ew!" Tracy moaned defeated. Johnathan and Donnie couldn't stop whimpering and whining as they thought that these tentacle like creatures were something like eels or snakes which they were truly terrified of.
"Get them off! Please!" Donnie begged. His body tensed against the ropes. His fists clenched and unclenched. His heart wouldn't stop pounding and his mouth was completely dry from swallowing every bit of salvia. His eyes couldn't be taken off the mysterious dark green things. He quickly bolted his eyes to Johnathan who looked like he was going to pass out from shock.
"Get them off me, get them off!" He said in a fearful shrieking voice. He kept flinching and turning his head. His breathing was heavy but calm.
"Not a chance. You seem to be liking them, right?" Said Gatorpossum who had picked up another dark green tentacle creature from a silver tin bucket that sat next to him. He planned on releasing it onto Tracy since she didn't look as fearful as Donnie and Johnathan.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Assuming it was Packbat returning to see if Gatorpossum had captured the kids, the purple gator creature walked to the door and opened it immediately where he was met with the biggest and most fearsome thing that he was deadly terrified of.
His eyes widen and he dropped the squirming wet creature he was holding. He held his hands in front of him and he began to shake. "G-g-g-g-ghosts!" he stuttered. His was voice shaky. It almost sounded like he was in the middle of an earthquake.
"Release them!" said the voice in a creepy unearthly tone.
"W-who?" Gatorpossum stuttered.
"Release Donnie, Tracy, and Johnathan. Or else you'll be haunted forever!"
Right away Gatorpossum got to work untieing the three teens and picking up one by one the tentacle creatures and putting them back in the bucket. The sheeted ghost turned to stare at Gatorpossum raising its arms up above his head and saying loud and clear: "boo!"
Gatorpossum screamed and immediately bolted out the door, falling and landing hard against the dirt ground. He got back up and continued running as fast as he could without looking back. "Ghosts!" he shouted. "Ghosts!"
Johnathan, Donnie, and Tracy laughed as do did the figure under the sheet. Tracy pulled the sheet off of whoever was hiding under it. "Scarlett," she said.
"Yup. Now come on, grab the carrots and let's go," she said.
xxx
Back at the Wildwood house, everyone was sat at the dinner table chattering when. Mr. Wildwood called for everybody's attention. He tapped a spoon gently against his glass. All eyes went to him. "I'd like to say thanks to our wonderful friends for helping get our carrots back," he raised a glass in the air. The rest of the Wildwood family stood with their glasses in hand. "To our new friends!"
They sat back down and began to eat their respected dinner which consisted of steamed carrot soup with a side of freshly diced carrot sticks. The teens dug in immediately and savored every bite. Towards the end
"I wonder what ever happened to Packbat," Rusty wondered. He hadn't seen him since morning when he stole the carrots from Buster and Scarlett. He thought for a moment before shrugging it off. Like he was worried about him. After all he did attempt several times to steal from him and his family.
As it was revealed, Packbat was still struggling to free himself from his trap. He had almost gotten the rope loose when Gatorpossum came running down his path crashing into him which caused him to fall face first into the dirt trail. "You fool!" He growled rasing a hand in the air. "I still don't know why I still trust you!"
"Sorry, boss," Gatorpossum chuckled nervously helping his boss up. Packbat was stumbling like a drunk while trying to maintain his posture. He was still extremely dizzy from being left hanging upside down all day.
xxx
Another day in the Sylvanian Forest was done. They said their goodbyes to their rabbit and fox friends who yelled just as the three went through the yellow portal; "Come back anytime!" and "You're always welcome."
Now back inside the woodskeepers wooden cabin, the teens were brought back to regular size. Each said their goodbyes to one another and even the woodskeeper who showed them the way out. So ends another story, and remember: "May all your wishes come true."
To be continued