The heat almost seemed debilitating as the four children approached the spacious body of water. Upon getting a closer observation of it, they saw that it was quite murky in appearance, and other than the few fish faintly seen swimming about, there was rarely any movement in it. The only sound the children could really hear was the sound of the birds as they sang happily from the pines in the far distance.

The hyena cub of the group quickly put on the blue-colored swimming goggles he had brought with him, adjusting them slightly so the nose cover was where he needed it to be. He slowly walked over towards the cloudy-looking water and placed a paw in it.

"Water's not too bad," he informed to the three behind him. "Temperature of it is still cooler than this beating heat, I'll tell ya that much." The hyena pointed to the porcupine and margay behind him. "Celia, Sawyer, you ready?"

The two he had called out to stepped forward and joined him at his sides. The fourth mammal of the group, a pig with white fur and gray spots, sat down on the dirt ground and placed his hooves on his knees.

"Hey," Celia the porcupine called to the pig, "you gonna join us or what?"

Shaking his head, the pig replied, "I'm staying up here, guys. I'm scared to go in there. What if the 'Aquatic Fox' is swimmin' around in that water?"

"The what?" Sawyer the margay asked. Turning his head to the hyena, he inquired, "Levi, what the heck's he talkin' 'bout?"

Levi replied, "Just some bullcrap myth goin' around 'bout some fox-lookin' creature with gills and what not that lurks in the lake." Looking over at the scared one of the four, he remarked, "Pua, don't tell me you actually believe in all of that garbage."

The white pig responded, "I really do, though. Austin said that he saw it one night, and he wouldn't lie about-"

The hyena snickered. "Don't make me laugh," he scoffed. "you mean to tell me that your takin' the word of that wimpy armadillo? What would that dork know about this stupid legend? Just like you, he always curling into a ball at the first sign of danger. But, whatever, you suit yourself." Looking over at both Sawyer and Celia, he asked, "Come on, you two. Let's go enjoy the water while Mr. Worrywart over there sits around like a bump on a log."

For a good bit of time, Levi and his two friends swam around in the lake's water in silence, propelling themselves to where it started to get deeper. The hyena had always thought that swimming, no matter where it was taking place, was an enjoyable activity, and he felt like he could swim in this tranquil area forever.

The water was a bit cloudy and not there wasn't much to see, but it didn't stop him and his friends from enjoying their leisurely activity.

His mind returning back to what he heard a little bit ago about that stupid legend, he mentally snickered. Seriously? he thought. The Aquatic Fox? What a bunch of malarky that is! There's not a freakin' soul in this water except us and some stupid little fish.

Just then did the trio see a large shadow brush past in the distance, swimming faster than anything he had seen before. Sawyer and Celia came to a halt and started to swim back a few spaces, kicking her paws to stay afloat as they looked around for whatever it was that they all saw.

Absolutely nothing was there.

At this point, Levi mentally decided that it was best to shrug the whole thing off. The porcupine and margay behind him followed his lead as they made a right and made their way back to where they all started from. As they did so, they all saw that shadowy shape breezed passed the three of them once again.

Upon seeing how much closer it had gotten to them this time around, Celia was the first one to respond to it with a frightened reaction. Her instincts kicked in and she started to swim off in the other direction, leaving Levi and Sawyer behind.

They immediately followed her as she continued to dart away, the two felines remaining a good distance away from her as they did so. Not even a few seconds later, they both saw that Celia had come to a sudden halt.

That mysterious figure that was in the water, which seemed to be following them for reasons unknown, gave them a third startle as it scurried underneath them. It started to encircle the three friends where they currently were in the water. With the trio surrounded the figure made itself visible to their eyes.

What he and the others saw before them had the appearance of a vulpine, but also had some very unusual characteristics. The fox-looking creature, just like the speculations of its existence said it did, had a set of gills on its muzzle. Its russet-colored paws appeared to be webbed and unusually large. And most of all, its eyes almost seemed soulless as it stared at the three of them.

This can't be real, Levi thought. The whole Aquatic Fox thing is just a myth. It can't be real!

But, much to his dismay, it was.

"Supposedly those three managed to get back to safety, and the whole legend went from a schoolyard rumor to an actual report in Bunnyburrow's newspaper. Looking back it all it seems really silly, but it sure managed to scare the heck outta me and some of my sisters when we were little."

Nick nodded his head, continuing to look at the sunlight's reflection against the water of the lake Judy brought him to. "Good thing that doesn't exist, Carrots. That'd be pretty scary."

The doe sitting beside got up from off of the grass on one knee and looked out at the glistening skies before walking back. "Alright, Slick," she said, "I'd say it's time we head on back to the farm."

The views in this particular spot in Bunnyburrow were pretty spectacular in Nick's eyes, and he felt the need to capture it in a picture. He pulled out his phone and snapped the best photo he could take. The vulpine started to walk alongside his bunny once again.

His eyes darted down towards the screen of his phone, which still showed him the picture that he just took a few seconds ago. Within the portion of the snapshot that showed the water, Nick saw something that looked a little bit unusual. He zoomed in, and what he saw made him let out a small gasp and his eyes widen in disbelief.

He swore to the gods that he clearly captured a red-furred and webbed paw sticking out from the water in that picture.

Author's Note: Hey there! Even though Halloween was a few days ago, I still found myself in the mood to write yet another story that had a bit of creepiness to it.

The whole concept of the "Aquatic Fox" was originally going to be a much-larger, full-fledged story of its own, but I decided to trim it down to this.

'Til next time! :D