The fox and rabbit stood next to the nature trail's path marker, awaiting an update from their friend that had just walked into the forest that had been casted into darkness. While they were all enjoying the nighttime tranquility of their little camping trip, Jack had revealed to them something that they didn't know about him before.
It turned out that the buck was actually a believer in Bigpaw. Skye thought it was quite silly of him to place his faith in such a thing, but he was quite interested in the concept of its existence out in the forests. He hoped that anytime he went to a nature preserve like this one, he would be able to capture a clear photograph or video that would eliminate all skepticism and provide solid evidence that Bigpaw was a real thing.
The jackrabbit, although this was meant to be a simple and relaxing camping trip, came prepared with everything he needed to go looking for the mysterious creature that remained a debated thing. With him was his camera that also a mode that captured clear visuals in nighttime, two walkie-talkies, one of which he took with him and the other he left with them to keep informed, and some other miscellaneous things he said were necessary to finding him.
"So…" Judy said to the fox beside her with a sigh. "Think Jack'll be lucky enough to spot Bigpaw?"
"I dunno, Fluff," the fox replied with honesty. "I'm not sayin' that it isn't possible." He paused a moment. "Never been a believer in him bein' real, though. Always thought it was a myth."
"Yeah," the bunny said in agreement. "Never thought it was real either. But if he were out there somewhere, that would be pretty cool to get evidence of him."
Nick chuckled and started to smile. "That reminds me of this rumor that went around my school when I was young. Some kit came back from a trip over Christmas break and said he saw the Abominable Snowmammal in the forests outside of Tundratown."
Judy couldn't help but laugh alongside him as he told his story from back then. "A yeti right outside of Tundratown?" she inquired.
"That's what he told us that day, and for some reason I actually believed him that day," Nick continued. "Was too gullible to put it together and realize that there was no such thing. Same applies to some of the other bizarre hoaxes that I remember hearing back then. Like the time somebody said there was a ghost that occupied an old and empty building that was in my town."
"Was there a ghost in it?" Judy asked curiously.
The tod shook his head. "Nope. Just another schoolyard rumor. My old friends and I decided to check it out one time and it was false."
"What about the rumor that if you place your tongue to a frozen pole, it gets stuck to it?" the doe inquired. "I heard that one a lot in the winter when I was in school."
"Now that's something that's actually true," Nick replied with a nod of his head. "You ever see that Christmas movie where the kit gets dared into doing that?"
Judy laughed before turning her attention over towards the path that Jack went down some time ago. "Wonder how far Jack went traveled down the path already," she said.
"Well, we better see what he's up to right now," Nick replied, retrieving the walkie-talkie Jack had given him earlier from his pocket. Holding down the button on it, he held up to him and said, "Striped One, this is Blueberry. Come in, Striped One."
A moment later, he heard Jack's come through with a surprisingly good signal. "What is it, Wilde?" he asked in response, his voice sounding like he didn't want to be disturbed right now.
"Carrots and I were just making sure you were doing okay," the fox replied. "Making sure Bigpaw didn't swipe you and take you back to his lair."
"Har, har," Jack responded a few seconds later. "Bigpaw doesn't have a lair; they live in caves or anywhere that they can camouflage. Anyway, I'm near where that article I read said somebody spotted him. I just set out what I think will be able to lure him near so I can photograph him."
"What's that?" Nick wondered.
"From that show about Bigpaw hunting that I've watched, it turns out these two guys were able to attract him by putting out a jar of peanut butter."
The vulpine started to chuckle and shake his head. He couldn't believe how serious the buck on the other end of the walkie-talkie was about all of this stuff. "Jack, only you would pack a jar of peanut butter on a short camping trip."
"Hey, everybody's got their own ideas on what to bring with them for a trip into the wilderness."
"So what do we do if he's not really there?" Nick asked the jackrabbit. "This is like that time somebody said they saw a flying saucer outside Savannah Central and you believed it."
"That was a real thing and you know it, fox," Jack said in debate. "We can't be the only living things in the universe. There's too much evidence that there's other life somewhere. How do you explain those weird circles that appear in corn fields overnight?"
Just then, Skye came walking over to where Nick and Judy were standing. "Jack still on this whole 'Bigpaw hunt?'" she said, using air quotes.
"Yeah," Judy said to her. "Nick was just talking to him. He just said he was going to wait out there and lure him close to get good footage of him."
Walking over towards Nick, she held out her paw and asked, "Mind if I talk to him for a sec?"
"Sure thing," he replied, handing it over to her.
Skye shook her head and walked away a couple of steps. "Can't believe he's this adamant about this shenanigan," she muttered to herself. She held up the walkie-talkie to her mouth and said, "Jack, you there?"
"I'm here, Skye," Jack responded about two seconds later.
"Why don't you come back with us to the campfire?" the vixen asked. "We can all roast some s'mores." She was hoping that mentioning s'mores would make him abandon his whole silly expedition, as he was always a big fan of those whenever he had them.
"We can enjoy those in a little bit, dear," he responded, the sound of him crunching presumably on the fallen leaves of the forest floor also audible through the speaker. "I'm prone to believe that I hear something large approaching me. I think I oughta-"
The next sound to come from the walkie-talkie's speaker was a noise that sounded similar to someone took a clumsy fall. Not even a second later, the buck calling loudly for help was what followed, sending Skye into a sudden state of concern for what was happening.
"Jack?" she called back. She then looked over at Nick and Judy and said, "Come on. We better go find out what's going on."
The fox and rabbit that were standing by the sign followed the vixen's lead as they all ran down the passage, into the dark forest.
"I think something's over here," Skye said. "I can hear some noise in that tree over there."
Nick and Judy followed her as they all went over to the tree she had pointed to, looking for Jack. There hadn't been anything dangerous within this area that could have sent the rabbit crying for help, so what happened?
The three mammals approached the tall-standing tree that Skye heard rustling sound coming from, hearing some sort of struggling sound come from it as they approached.
"What is it?" Judy asked.
"Don't tell me that Jack actually managed to catch the real Bigpaw in that tree," Nick chimed in.
"Nope," Skye responded, shaking her head. "The only thing that Jack managed to catch in the tree was himself."
A couple of inches off the ground, Jack was dangling upside down with his leg caught in some sort of thick and strong-looking thread, resemblant of twine. "Hey, guys," he said with embarrassment, waving at them.
"What the heck happened?" the vixen demanded to know.
The striped buck let out a heavy sigh. "Well, when I thought I heard something coming this way, I started to run back a couple spaces. Needless to say, I end up accidentally stepping into the extra trap I set up to catch Bigpaw. That's how I got where I am right now."
"Oh, Jack..." Skye muttered. How typical was it of him to end up getting himself in such a situation. "Just don't move. We're gonna get you down."
"I can't move from this spot at all, dear," Jack responded.
"How are we gonna get his leg out of that?" Judy inquired to Skye.
The vixen slipped the backpack off her back, unzipped it and started looking through its contents. "He's lucky I always bring something in case of emergencies like these," she said.
A Few Moments Later...
"Well, that was... unexpected," Jack said despondently as the four trekked back where they came from. After several seconds of silence had passed, he said, "I swear, though, that I heard something out there that didn't sound right. It was like... some sort of howling."
"Jack, how do you know that howling isn't from those wolves we saw carrying their camping supplies awhile back?" the vixen inquired in reply. "You know that every time one of them starts to howl, any others that are with them start to howl along."
"This wasn't that kind of howl," Jack answered, refusing to believe that Bigpaw was a myth and that whatever he heard was some logical coincidence. "It was a bit deeper than what a wolf would make."
"I think we better stop the Bigpaw hunting for now and just go have some s'mores," Skye said to him as they continued walking.
"I could go for a couple of those right about now," the striped lagomorph responded.
The four mammals made their way to back to where they had their stuff placed. Meanwhile, although they were all completely oblivious to it, a tall, brown-furred creature with unusually large paws watched from far out in the distance, standing there for a brief moment before walking behind a nearby tree.