Chapter One

It was a sunny day within the bustling city of Oakton as signs of autumn started to show all around on the leaves of Liberty Park. People were spending some of their time walking through the park while others had a quiet picnic with either their friends and/or family. A group of humans were sitting on a purple and white picnic blanket with their picnic basket in the middle while they chat with one another and threw an occasional joke time to time. They were unaware that they were being watched by two animals that were hiding in the tree, looking down at them. They were none other then Surly and Buddy, who were hiding on the highest branches of the tree and staring at the picnic basket the humans had between them.

"Okay Buddy," Surly said as he turned to look at his friend "You remember what to do?"

Buddy saluted his friend before he began to climb down the tree towards the ground. Once he was on the ground, Buddy began to quietly sneak towards the basket so that the humans wouldn't notice him. Once he reached his destination he climbed into the basket and waited for one of the humans to reach in and take something from the basket. Surly let out a chuckle as he plugged his ears with his fingers as he waited for the action to begin. Sure enough, not to long after, one of the humans reached into the basket to grab something. Just before he could grab a packet of nuts, Buddy popped his head out of the basket and stuck out his tongue at the humans. Once they saw him, the group of humans got up and screamed as they ran out of the park in terror. Surly smirked as he climbed down to the ground from the tree and approached Buddy as he stood near the picnic basket with a smile on his face.

"Good work Buddy." Surly praised as he clapped a hand on Buddy's shoulder "I've never seen humans run that fast before. Now come on, let's see what's in this basket."

The two friends climbed into the basket to see the food inside it. They saw the packet of nuts in the basket but there were also other kinds of food that they had never seen before. Surly made his way to an open packet of twist pretzels and pulled one out to examine it for a moment. He sniffed at the strange food item for a moment, frowning in thought before he took a bite out of it. After chewing on it slowly, he swallowed before he turned to look at Buddy, who was holding a marshmallow in his paws.

"Hmmm... not bad. A little salty but other then that not bad." Surly said

Buddy took a bite of the marshmallow, chewed on it for a while before he smiled and gave Surly a thumbs up to show his friend that the marshmallow was good.

"Looks like we've stumbled upon a lot more then just nuts Buddy." Surly said as he placed the pretzel down and climbed out of the basket with Buddy fallowing right behind him "Now all we have to do is find a way to get this basket all the way back to the mill."

Buddy looked at Surly with a puzzled look on his face. How were they going to get the basket to the old mill, where the animals were storing food for the winter this year? Surly thought about what to do before an idea came to his head.

"Buddy, go and get the Bruisers," Surly instructed "I'll stay here and guard the basket."

Buddy nodded before he quickly ran off to look for the groundhog brothers. Surly watched his friend go for a moment before he sat down on the ground and leaned his back against the picnic basket. He turned his head towards the sky to watch a few clouds pass by overhead and let his thoughts wander back to the day that he changed and went from a selfish outcast to helping the park out in any way he can for them.

'Things have been a real life turner for me.' Surly thought with a soft chuckle 'Who would've thought that I would turn over a new leaf when it came down to the heist? I'm glad I never have to see Raccoon's smug face ever again after what he tried to do to the team. Too bad we didn't think about giving that faker the boot earlier when we had the chance.'

Then his thoughts drifted all the way back to the day he and Andie were younger and that kind and wonderful human woman who took great care of them when they were orphaned at a young age. A sad frown came over his face as Surly thought about Addison. He hadn't seen her in years, he tried to find her before but he couldn't remember her address and ended up getting lost and giving up before heading back to the park.

'I wonder how she's doing?' Surly wondered sadly 'And... I wonder if she still remembers me and Andie... or maybe she forgot all about us.'

Surly continued to watch the clouds for a while before he heard the feet of Buddy and the Bruiser siblings running towards him. He stood up and watched them come towards him with a smile on his face.

'Oh well... wherever Addison is, I hope she's living a happy life.'