Dawn quietly spread across the green forest, causing the nocturnal animals to scurry for their homes and the others to awaken from their slumber. One animal would be returning to their home, but they were not living the nightlife. Trouble was being roused nearby and it was their duty to see what was happening.
The dark, sleek animal jumped into a tree and gracefully laid down to get whatever sleep she could muster. She closed her eyes and waited for sleep to overcome her, but her chance was shattered when a snake slid down next to her and poked her with his tail.
"What's the news?" the green and brown snake asked as he slid closer to her.
The panther opened her eyes irritated and muttered, "Nothing happened besides me losing my sleep."
The snake grinned a sly grin that only snakes can do. "Well, sleep lost is better than another fight." He spoke with a matter-of-fact tone in his voice.
"Yes, well Travis, that's nice. Can I sleep now?" the panther growled as she glared at the python.
"I'm afraid not, Lauren sent me here to get you and I did just that, so I'm leaving now."
The panther followed the snake with her eyes as he left and finally forced herself to stand after he had gone. Yawning, she quietly climbed down the tree.

"Kendall! There you are!" Lauren called when she spotted the black panther approaching. "I need to talk to you about a certain someone." She said more quietly to the feline.
Kendall sighed and gave the lioness her best to glare. "You kept me from sleep to talk about him?" she growled under her breath, but her friend only grinned.
"Of course!" Lauren said in a joking tone, her grin never fading.
Kendall relaxed and smiled slightly. "I should've known..."
Lauren only laughed in response and they continued to talk for a while.

"Hey, Chase! Did you see stars last night?"
"Shut up!"
A monkey and a wolf walked together looking around as they did. The monkey, Daniel, kept trying to make conversation with the shaggy, gray wolf that walked beside him, but all attempts failed.
"What about the sunset?" The brown primate tried again as he stopped to scratch his ear.
"Shut...here it is!" said the wolf as he scratched at a tree.
A black-fured face appeared from the branches and called down, "What?"
"Hey Kendall, it's me!" yelled Chase as he craned his neck upward to see the other animal.
"Hey, Chase." Kendall said a little quieter as she finished climbing down the tree.
The wolf started to pull her aside to tell her something when they noticed that Daniel was following them.
"Hey, Daniel, go...catch a duck!" Chase said quickly, but the stubborn monkey only shook his head.
"What? Why not?" Chase asked, trying to sound utterly disappointed by Daniel's reaction.
Daniel had just finished saying, "It's not nice to share secrets in front of others." when a small wolf cub ran up and said quietly to Kendall, "It's happening again!" the urgent cub pulled on Kendall's fur and looked at her with young, pleading, brown eyes.
Kendall nodded as she looked down at the cub, "Alright – show me where it's at." The cub nodded and ran off in the direction of the commotion, Chase, Kendall, and Daniel following in pursuit.

"What's happening?" Kendall asked the small wolf cub named Kendra as they ran toward a gathering crowd.
"There's a fight!" Kendra gasped short of breath.
Kendall stopped and turned to look at Daniel, "Take care of Kendra. Chase, help me settle this."
Daniel gently pulled Kendra back from the crowd while Kendall and Chase approached the crowd. They pushed their way through the other animals and finally came to a clearing where they saw a black and brown lion swiping at a cowardly hyena that always stepped out of the lion's way.
Kendall stepped forward and yelled in the lion's ear, "Stop!"
The lion jumped back in surprise and looked at the black panther in shock.
"John, what is going on?" Kendall demanded as he continued to stare blankly at her.
The hyena pointed and laughed at the lion, which roused the larger animal's anger.
Kendall glared at the skittish and cowardly animal. She slowly approached him and gave the animal a real and almost frightening glare.
"Go away." She forced the words out with controlled anger, but the other animal just simply laughed in her face.
The black panther growled deep in her throat and caused the hyena to jump away, but he still laughed at her.
Kendall looked over her shoulder at the crowd and scanned it to find Chase. She found him standing next to Lauren and Daniel.
"Get them out of here." She called to him. She was obviously angry enough at the hyena that she didn't want a crowd watching her every move.
Once the three had cleared everyone from the scene, Kendall turned and glared at the coward once more. She was truly angry at this creature, and intended to deal with him personally.
She took a step forward to confront him, but he only jump back about four paces. Kendall growled in frustration and easily jumped on the animal pinning him to the ground.
"You Coward!" She snapped in his face.
The hyena tried to move back, but he still proceeded to laugh quietly at her.
Kendall took a deep breath and dug her claws into his shoulders.
"Stay away from here. Now – get out." She growled deep in her voice as she stood and flung the Coward many feet from her.
"Out!" Kendall roared, and the Coward quickly took the hint.
Chase watched in fascination as the hyena scrambled to get away from there as fast as possible. He shook his head and turned to the dark animal that was slowly cooling her anger. "Why am I glad that you're my friend?" the wolf asked, but Kendall only grinned in reply.

A dark shadow crept along a lone path just out of sight. The creature sat down and waited for something to pass by. Finally, It's hopes were fulfilled when a black panther was walking toward it. The panther had her head down and was muttering under her breath. The shadow stood very slowly and silently, and then it suddenly leapt at the panther in attack.
Kendall hit the ground with such a force she didn't realize what was happening. She shook her head to clear it and jumped up, her teeth and claws barred. Soon, she heard laughter. Only then did she realize that she had tricked, and she sat down and tried to look angry but failed.
The cheetah roared with laughter as she clutched her sides and rolled on the ground. Finally she managed to say, "You should have seen the look on your face!"
It was then that Kendall relaxed into a small grin of her own. "Jessica...Jessica..." she said in a pathetic tone.
The cheetah stood, still laughing, and shook the dust off.
"I love doing that." She muttered.
Kendall only shook her head and they walked off together.

A small bobcat roamed the forest with nowhere in particular to go. She was known for causing trouble, and that was exactly what she wanted to do. The bobcat's name was Jessica, and she sat down with a small pout. Not having anything to do was worse than she imagined. She sat and thought of things to do.
'Starting rumors is always fun.' She thought.
The brown-spotted creature absentmindedly bit at a claw.
'Maybe I can make something up about someone...but who?'
She frowned in frustration and sighed.
'What about that other "Jessica"...she gets on my nerves. Other animals always confuse me with her!'
The bobcat crossed her forearms and rested her head on top of them.
'I think I'll she'll do...but who are her friends? She's a friend with that Kendall creature...'
Suddenly, her face brightened and she leapt up and ran off to find someone, anyone, to start a new rumor with.
Kendall lazily lounged about in her tree. She looked around seeing no reason to do anything but be lazy. She was about to close her eyes when Travis hissed in her ear.
She jumped and growled at him.
"You just have wonderful timing don't you?" she asked irritated, but he only shook his head.
"You won't guess what I just heard." Travis said slyly.
Kendall sighed and relaxed. "Oh? What was that?"
Travis slowly slid up a branch and said, "That you and Jessica weren't friends anymore."
Kendall stood sharply and growled. "Where did you hear that?"
"It's been going around. Apparently, Jessica doesn't like you anymore. Everyone is talking about it." Travis looked at Kendall with a wondering look, but Kendall only snarled.
"That's nonsense!" the panther snapped, but Travis only slithered away in reply.
Kendall sat down and shook her head.
'Absolute nonsense! Who would think that?' Kendall shifted now uncomfortable.
'She and I are best friends! Why would anyone think that we aren't friends anymore?' The panther took a deep breath of frustration.
'I mean, we are friends, but Jess has been acting differently...has she? No...that's nonsense...is it? Of course it is!' Kendall shook her head and closed her eyes against the growing headache.
'I really don't want to believe those nasty rumors, but what if they're true? Why would someone start those for no reason? There has to be a reason behind all this, or other animals wouldn't be saying those things...I have to find out what's going on...but Jess and I are still friends...aren't we?'

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page