Chapter 16
While Noah and the others were gathering up the other animals of Oakton for their rescue, Raccoon had already gathered the rest of the park animals in the middle of the park to show them a sight that would dwell in their nightmares forever. He was proclaiming himself as the park leader once more and showing everyone Surly and his friends in a cage as proof of his power over them all as the dark night sky was blanketed in storm clouds and thunder roared across the sky.
"I defeated Surly in spite of his petty attempts to stop me and Andie has willingly agreed to surrender her position as park leader to me," Raccoon told the animals "And now I am back to lead you all again, and this time with my new partner Miguel, we will make sure that everyone is put in their proper place and should anyone disagree, you can take it up to either our friends the rats or the cats. Either way, you will be sorry and you will obey every rule I say... or else."
"But what about Noah?" Asked a mouse.
"Noah is no longer with us anymore, he met an untimely demise." Raccoon said.
"Because you killed him you big fat faker of a leader!" Johnny shouted angrily.
"I had to do it, otherwise he would have betrayed all of you sooner or later when he grew up and became an exterminator." Raccoon said, unfazed by the Bruiser's angry outburst.
"Noah would never betray us!" Surly shouted in anger "He was just a little boy who needed someone to look after him and you killed him! Why couldn't you have just left him alone!?"
"That's funny, I was going to ask you the same question... why didn't you just leave me alone back when I was the park leader from your childhood to your adulthood? You could've been spared from banishment and a lonely childhood, I could have taken you under my wing, you could've been my successor! But no, you chose to be a selfish rouge, and an outcast and before I knew it, you turned over a new leaf in time to become the new park hero while I was left stuck at sea with no one but myself to rescue me! Do you have any idea how long it took for me to swim back to shore with monstrous fish biting behind me?"
"No and I don't care." Surly said as he crossed his arms "You killed my mother! You had it coming!"
"And I should have killed you when I had the chance the moment your father died as well." Raccoon snarled angrily "Well, now I have a chance to right this wrong, by doing what I should have done all those years ago."
With a snap of his fingers the rats opened the cage and dragged Surly out while shoving the rest of the group back inside the cage. Surly tried to break free from the rats grasp before Miguel held him down with his paw with a wicked smile on his face. Surly felt squished as the cat eyed him and Raccoon calmly watched from a few inches away saying "Good Bye Surly, give my regards to your parents."
"Don't you dare do it Raccoon!"
Everyone jumped at not only the sound of that familiar voice, but the sudden arrival of dogs, domestic cats and all other kinds of pets who had a score to settle with Miguel and his crew. Precious tackled Miguel and bit his tail, making him scream in pain while Surly ran back to his friends and opened the cage before a familiar human loomed over them with a smile on his face.
"N-Noah?" Andie asked, surprised and hoping that this was not a spirit she was talking to.
"I'm here mommy." Noah said with a smile.
"He's alive!" Jamie exclaimed happily.
The female groundhog then ran over to Noah and hugged him tightly, as did Andie, Mole, Johnny, Jimmy, Grayson and Surly, each one happy and relieved their friend was alright before Surly tackled his friend Buddy with a tight hug saying "Don't ever do that to me again pal."
Buddy smiled and hugged his friend back before some rats tried to tackle them. Noah scooped up Surly, Andie and Buddy as Grayson shouted "Run back to the mill, save your family! We'll handle these brutes!"
Noah ran towards the mill as fast as he could as rain began pouring down from the sky but while the animals were busy fighting they didn't notice Raccoon was behind Noah, carrying a sharp knife like stone in his grasp as he snarled and hissed "This time I'm going to kill him myself!"
Once inside the mill, Andie took care of the nasty bite mark by wrapping it up in some cloth like a bandage and said "Don't worry sweetie, we'll find a way to fix this. We may need help from the humans for this."
"I just hope that Raccoon didn't catch anything like rabies or something while he was out there." Surly said "I saw that happen to some human guy once, let me tell you it was not pretty."
"Not as pretty as when I get my hands on you!" Raccoon shouted as he charged into the room.
Noah quickly grabbed Buddy, Surly and Andie and ran upstairs while throwing obstacles to stop the mad mammal from getting closer but he managed to dodge and pass them easily. Noah rushed past his nest and the other nests the park animals had made climbed to the top of the roof of the mill as rain poured down and block the entranced while the boy took great care in not stepping on anything that could cause him to slip. Andie, Surly and Buddy hung on to their friend and realized that they had no where else to go but down, straight down from such a height that could easily kill anyone should they foolishly take a wrong step or jump the wrong angle.
"Oh great, now what are we going to do?" Surly asked
"I... I wish I knew." Andie said.
"I'm scared... I'm really scared." Noah said as he trembled and Buddy tried to comfort him.
That inspired Surly to think of a plan and he said "If Raccoon wants me, he's going to get it."
In a moment Raccoon burst out and climbed on top of the roof of the old mill and walked towards the four with an angry look on his face "No where to go Surly, you might as well surrender."
"Alright, I give." Surly said "You win... just don't hurt Andie, or Buddy or even Noah."
"And why should I leave them alone?" Raccoon asked.
"Because... because they are my family..." Surly said "And they love me no matter what I do. Like Buddy here is not just a rat, he's the greatest brother a guy like me could ever have, he's also the greatest partner and friend I could ever ask in a guy and I would never give him up or trade him for anything in the world."
Buddy smiled happily as he teared up and hugged himself.
"And Andie, she's not only the most beautiful squirrel in the park, she's fearless, independent, compassionate and everything I could ask for... the only thing I regret is that I should have told her that I loved her sooner. Heck, if she wanted to I'd marry her faster then a heartbeat. And if we end up having kids together... I hope they are just like her."
Andie smiled as she began to tear up and knew that she would marry him in a heartbeat as well.
"And Noah here, he's one incredible kid... at first I thought humans were nothing but oversized jerks... but that all changed when I met Noah here. He's proof that humans are not only big in size, they're big hearted as well and smart and caring and practically just like us in every way! And this boy, my wonderful, amazing son... he's everything I could ever ask for and more."
Noah smiled as he wrapped his arms around himself and grinned. At first Raccoon looked like he was rethinking about everything... but then he smiled and said "Then let's see if he really is smarter then he seems."
Before they can stop him, Raccoon tossed the knife like stone at Noah like a spear and the sharp stone struck him right in the stomach! Noah screamed in pain and backed away, before he tumbled through the hole of the mill and landed with a thud inside his nest.
Surly, Buddy and Andie looked down at their wounded friend and were horrified by this before Raccoon grabbed Surly and dragged him over the edge of the mill and suspended him in the air "I'm through playing Mr. Nice Guy Surly, and I have had it with you."
Before he could let go Andie and Buddy attacked the raccoon and slashed and bit him like savage animals and Surly managed to get away as he watched the angry rat and squirrel attack as his anger built up and soon he charged towards the raccoon and with a strong punch in the gut, he knocked Raccoon right off the edge of the roof and the Raccoon fell into the river with a splash and was captured by the other animals along with Miguel.
After catching their breath Surly, Andie and Buddy ran back down to check on their human friend and Andie was the first one to each Noah's side as he curled up in a ball with a teary look on her face "Oh my baby, my beautiful baby!"
"Medic, where's a medic when you need one?!" Surly exclaimed in panic.
"Is... Is Raccoon gone?" Noah asked weakly.
"Yes, he's been captured and... he won't hurt anyone ever again." Andie said as she wiped away her tears sadly "I just wish I could help you!"
"You don't have to." Noah said with a smile.
The squirrels and rat were confused and watched in surprise as Noah stood up and said "Don't worry guys, i'm not really hurt, I was just pretending to fool Raccoon."
"You... you mean you aren't seriously hurt... but how..." Surly asked in shock.
Noah removed the stuffed toy Rose gave him and said "I managed to stuff this under my shirt in case Raccoon tried to do something and the toy saved me from the stone... i'm sorry I had to trick you as well, but I had to make it look believable or he wouldn't buy it."
Surly, Andie and Buddy smiled before they laughed and embraced their child in a loving hug... before Noah said "Guys... there's something I have to tell you."
"What's that?" Surly said.
"I... that whole ordeal Raccoon put us through made me realize something... all this time I thought that hiding me from my own kind was the best choice to protect me... but now I realize that I was just acting like a coward by hiding from my problems instead of facing them... I know what you promised AJ and all... but I think it's high time I finally stop hiding and tell the whole world my ability to talk to animals. I don't care what will happen if I do, I will not let anything stop me ever again, not bullies, not folks older then me, not anything... I'm going to be brave and survive like you guys... and maybe I will be adopted by a human family, one who I can inspire to love you guys as much as I do... but don't worry... you're always be my family no matter what... I just hope your not upset."
At first they looked hurt but then they realized that the boy was right and smiles grew on their faces as Surly said "Yeah... come to think of it, it would be better if we help you find a good forever home with a human family. And I already know the perfect one."
"The vet? The one who's having a baby?" Noah asked.
"Yes, and i'm sure they wouldn't mind adding one more baby into the family." Andie said "Just have them promise to visit us time to time again."
"I promise I will... if you do one more thing." Noah said
"What's that?" Surly asked.
"Don't forget to invite me to your wedding when you finally decide to wed." Noah said.
"That won't be a problem... I've made up my mind." Surly said before he pulled Andie close and said "Andie, before anything else happens, there's one important question I want to ask you... Will you marry me?"
"Funny, I was going to ask you the same question." Andie said with a smile before she added "And yes!"
the two embraced in a loving kiss and Noah smiled as he said "Well, now that that's settled... how am I going to face the orphanage ever again after what I did to them?"
"Don't worry kid, we can work something out." Surly said.
The next morning everyone in the park was told about what Noah had decided and everyone was sad that Noah was leaving but they were willing to help him get settled into a new human family and back into human life. While they were working out a plan to help Noah out Rose came along and the boy found her smiling that same old smile of hers with Surly on his shoulders.
"I see your friend is doing fine." Rose said.
"Yeah, Surly and I have had a long day yesterday, but we managed to survive." Noah said before he added "Hey, what happen to those crazy purple squirrel fans?"
"Didn't you hear?" Rose asked "Surly is not rare anymore."
"What?!" Surly and Noah asked in surprise and shock.
"Yeah, they found a whole dray of purple squirrels all the way in Detroit, Michigan and everyone left to see them." Rose said "Of course this means that Surly isn't as special or much of a treasure anymore."
Surly smiled as he sighed in relief and Noah said "Believe me, Surly is glad to hear that."
"So where are you going?" Rose asked.
"I'm going to fix a problem I should have taken care of a long time ago... wanna come?" Noah asked.
He offered her hand and Rose took it, fallowing him all the way to the orphanage with the entire park community behind them and boy did they have such a story to tell when they got there.