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Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/campfires/item_id/2294576-Beast-World
by Twiga
Rated: 13+ · Campfire Creative · Fiction · Animal · #2294576
Animals have taken over a Post WW3 is there any hope for Mankind?
[Introduction]
Dateline: The Earth in the 25th Century, after Mankind has seemed to create a Utopia for himself almost nobody had to work except for the elites everyone was free to spend the day exactly as he pleased, it seemed soon the Scientists would conquer all human frailties and Man would rise to the status of God, then for some reason World War 3 broke out, no one knew what the exact cause was just that it was all of sudden everyone against everyone else! Seemed Man was now doomed to eradicate himself unless a secretive group of scientists working tirelessly in their giant ivory tower found a solution last that was heard from them they were working on a new kind of 'medicine' when suddenly the tower erupted like a volcano! Somehow spreading a mystery serum around the globe when it touched animals they evolved into Anthropomorphic Versions of themselves! What's more Anthro Dinosaurs also appeared! Proclaiming themselves the new Kings of the World they led the Modern Day animals against the remaining humans, Any humans they captured they 'domesticated' with a combination of drugs and magic to make them docile and cow-like slaves now bred to resemble Neanderthals, what remaining true or 'Wild' humans as the Animals call them have created warrens in the ruins of their greatest Metroplisis the Animals seek to destroy the last of the 'Wild Human Mencace' but are frightend of man's technolgy. the Animals so far live a life of Medievil Feudalism, the Dinosaurs became the Rulers of all Animals with a line of Carnotaurus become the Ruling Dynasty of the High King, the first of these Dino-Kings proclaimed that all Animals must now be friends and united against their common enemy Man however there is still great distrust between the carnivores and herbivores and between wild animals and former domestic animals, dairy cows and hens satisfy carnivore's urges with excess milk and unfertalized eggs as the human slaves are so valuable for their labor the animals can't eat them until they absolutly have to, in this slowly recovering world, most Animals live in cities comprised of a single species (A wolf city, a sheep city, a salmon city etc) with the exception of the 'City of Species' a multi-species utopia which has become both a lush jungle and savanna depending on where you are, the humans reconize it as their former city of San Diego, the Dinosaurs meanwhile mostly keep to themselves in what they call 'The Valley of Ancients' which humans would call Cairo Egypt King Goretooth the Carnataurus is almost never seen by modern animals and makes his presense felt by his Pterasaur and Marine Reptile enforcers of his laws, those Scientists who were in the Ivory Tower are still unaccounted for after all these years...

OK sorry about the Long Intro, here are the ground rules.

1.You can play either an Anthro Animal or a 'Wild' human part of the rebellion (Or course you can play an animal with a secret human friend) Domesticated Humans resemble Neanderthals and are mostly mute slaves because of the drugs and magic that keep them docile, there are rumors from far away places that wild humans who are particuarlly 'cute' and harmless looking and showing up looking bedraggled on animals' doorsteps and pretending to be unintelligent to be taken in as pets and are secretly spying on animals, such things are mere rumors and couldn't possibly happen in the City of Species...Right?

2. There will be a rule about names in this story, particurally how animals in this story name themselves, Animals believing themselves 'in tune' with nature will either name themselves after either aspects of nature (i.e. names like 'Wind','Sky' or 'Heart' or in facier cases named after specific plants or stones like 'Alabaster' or 'Lily') Descriptive names (i.e. something like 'Longtusk' or 'Spotted-Fur') or names that combine the two (i.e. the name 'Snow' or 'Snowy' for an animal with white fur or feathers or 'Swift-Wind' for an animal who is very fast) Wild Humans have normal human names most of which animals only understand are coded sounds often from their old relgion Animals don't seem to have last names at all since Species seems to be enough (Would be called 'Longtusk the Elephant' or 'Marigold the Mouse')

3. There are some catigories of animals who were not Anthropomorphized and are cosidered a 'safe' form of meat mostly brainless animals like bivalves like oysters and mussels things like jellyfish, starfish and sea urchins, bottom line, if it doesn't have a face it's not anthropomorphic so yes in this story all animals with a face are sentiant so carnivores are depenant on milk and eggs, these rare and hard to procur brainess animal meats, and meat from domesticated humans
Name: Glimmer
Age: 16
Sex: Female
Species White Throated Wood Rat (AKA Pack Rat) (Neotoma albigula)
Homeplace: The City of Species
Occupation: Student, Noblewoman
Personality: Mostly mild mannered and easy-going, her recent obsessn has got her in a bit of a frenzy!
Bio: Glimmer named because of her love of Sparkly things, has found herself sitting pretty for a small 'vermin' species because ever since they came to the City of Species from their hard life in the Sonoran Desert, her Father has become Advissor to the Mayor of the City of Species, Mayor Longtusk the Elephant (Comes from a long line of Elephants who have insisted of calling themselves 'Mayor' instead of 'King' or 'Queen' like other places and every animal likes and trusts them) She is small at four feet tall (Their cousins Mice tend to be three feet tall, Darn Mice! Everyone thinks Mice are so cute and sweet while thinking rats are 'mean and ugly' I mean Glimmer has nothing against the Mice she knows but the stereotypes really get under her fur!) Soon will be the Annual 'Middsummer Ball' at the Palace and Glimmer has been working for months on a dress she hopes will outshine all the rests, she has been searching the City for bits of human jewlery she can find to sew into her dress, but she feels it is still not enough, her hunt for human artifacts in the form of jewels might lead her to make some...Discoveries...
Name: Fang Quartz
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Species: White Tiger
Homeplace: The City of Species
Occupation: Student, Nobleman
Personality: Kind, yet tough when needed. Always helping others if they need it.
Bio: Unknown
Name: John Smith
Age: 27
Gender: Male
Species: "Feral" Human
Homeplace: Wilderness near the City of Species.
Occupation: Hunter, Gatherer, Scavenger, Forager, Fighter, Protector - Whatever is needed.
Personality: Looks after them he cares about. Hates them that hunt humans.
Bio: John Smith is a Feral. There is nothing he won't do to protect his herd. A collection of teeth adorns a necklace he wears. The question those on the opposite end of the crossbow bolt or spear pointed at them ask is this - is the one that the teeth got yanked out of still alive, or dead? Pulled teeth heal up, unlike a hole in the head or heart. John's herd means everything to him - any messing with them lose their teeth - lucky ones live, while unlucky ones don't.
It was soon going to be the night of the Midsummer Ball, the Grandest Celebration of the Year, celebrating the height of the warm season, and often a time when Young Animals have their 'mating season' Glimmer had not yet found a mate, as Pack Rats aren't common in the City of Species (Not like those common Brown Rats) but weather or not she found a mate this year, Glimmer was determined to be the Bell of the Ball this year, a gown made from silk the Spiders had donated and dyed bright red, she was hunting for jewels and sewing them into the dress, but the dress didn't seem to have enough 'pizzaz' yet, she needed more jewels!

She had found what was the former city of San Diego's jewerly district, in the City of Speces most of the Animal People live in giant trees that have been magically enchanted to be able to live while being 'Hollowed Out' so it looked like rain forest apartments with clothesline vines going between the trees with animals' laundry hanging from them, Mayor Longtusk being an Elephant was a little too big to live comfortably even in the most giant of trees so his family lived in a palace of stone contructed where the World Famous San Diego Zoo once lay the Mayor's Family lived with their servants and their families which included Glimmer's family as her Father was chief Advisor.

It had been hard leaving the dessert where she grew up, where her Fellow Pack Rats lived, but the desert had been drying up more than usual, the prickly pear they fed on was growing scarcer and scarcer her Father said it was either move or face famine
         Down in the kitchen, Fang Quarts, a white tiger of of many talents was busy cooking a meal for the Ball.
         Wishing he could attend, he continued to cook meals for every kind that was arriving.
First rule of survival was Stay Alive. Best way to stay alive - Stay Quiet.

John was very good at that.

Second rule was to only take what was needed, yet keep notes of everything that might be useful.

John was very good at that.

Third rule was to not to kill, unless it was needed.

John knew when killing was needed, and when it was not. Sometimes beatings and threats of death were more effective than just killing someone.

John checked to make sure that his gloves were on, as he pulled out a thin piece of metal, and worked on the lock to the storeroom, his knife on his waist, along with a few other hand tools and weapons, with his spear and crossbow leaning nearby. Steal the apples, potatoes, carrots, and other long lasting things, maybe something special, and leave. Shouldn't be too tricky.

Shouldn't be, of course, was the key phrase.
Name: Blood Horn
Age: 23
Gender: Male
Species: Carnotaurus
Homeplace: The City of Species
Occupation: Nobleman, Military Officer
Personality: Hard nosed, stoic, no nonsense
Bio: Third child of the heir to the throne

==========

Captain Blood Horn grimaced as he let himself be fitted for his outfit for the Midsummer Ball. Of course, Captain Blood Horn was always grimacing. He grimaced when he executed a well thought out plan that caught a band of wild humans. He grimaced the one and only time he led his unit into an ambush laid out by wild humans and barely got them out alive. He grimaced when his grandfather the king gave him another medal for a successful wild human hunt. Blood Horn even grimaced when one of his brothers had another whelp that knocked Blood Horn down one more notch on the line of succession.

Not that Blood Horn wanted to be king. Or rather, he wanted to be king for twenty-four hours. That's all the time he needed to get ride of a lot of the nonsense that had been instituted, Then one of his brothers could take back over, and let Blood Horn get back to the business of eliminating feral humans.

Blood Horn's grimace was more pronounced than usual, though. At his family's "requestt," Blood Horn was expected to make an appearance at the Midsummer Ball in full military regalia. It was a complete and utter waste of his time. Blood Horn was the most successful human hunter in his grandfather's service. Attending fancy social events was a waste of his time and his training.

Blood Horn kept his opinion to himself, however, and stoically endured the fitting of his dress uniform.
Funny thing writing this addition from the library because AT&T announced something is weird about our internet I noticed it last night when all of YouTube's words were in bold and italics then when I tried to check my Email this morning all the words were invisible, oh and about Blood Horn being in the City of Species, that's not where the Dinosaurs live, the ruler of the City of Species is Longtusk the Elephant, the Dinosaurs rules from the Valley of the Ancients in Egypt the City of Species in an Diego

Glimmer was about to dart back out of the palace again when she went past her Mother doing some embroidery...

"Where are you off in such a rush to?" Asked the Mother Pack Rat

"My dress needs more jewels." Glimmer said

"Don't you think you have enough?" Her Mother asked "I love sparkly things as much as you do but soon gown will be more jewels than dress!"

"If such a small creature is myself is going to stand out at the balls I need to wear something spectacular!"

"I don't like you poking around that area on the outskirts of the city!" Her Mother said "You know just outside the city is that tangled heap of old war machines where the wild humans make their warren! You know how those humans are constantly starving for meat, and are constantly searching for pretty young female herbivores like yourself because their meat tastes the sweetest..."
         "I'll go with her."
         Looking to the new voice, they find it to be from the white tiger cook, Fang.
         "I've been meaning to go and get a few fruits from where she's heading. If she's willing help me, I'll help her find jewels."
John watched, and listened. He got out of the path, and hid. He would need to follow the pair, along with anyone else. There were secret gardens all over, that helped to provide fruits and vegetables for the herd. He also knew of where gems were, both those that had been cut, and those that were not cut.

The one rat had been wrong - most ferals didn't go after anthros for meat, although in leaner times, it wasn't uncommon to turn the dead into jerky or other such things. In fact, them that went after anthros in order to collect their meat tended to get a crossbow bolt in their head, with a tooth added to a necklace, for putting the herds in unnecessary danger.

John checked his weapons, to make sure that they were secured to him. They were good. He was good.

Now, to wait, and watch.
"Sir?"

Blood Horn was making minor adjustments to his dress uniform when the Utahraptor, Gunnery Sergeant Steady Claw, stepped into the doorway of Blood Horn's fitting room.

With the exception of the Royal Constabulary (the royal enforcers of King Goretooth, consisting of Pterasaur and Marine Reptile enforcers commanded by a Spinosaurus named Sawfin), one rarely saw dinosaurs outside the Valley of Ancients. And sightings of members of the royal family outside the Valley of Ancients, even minor ones like Blood Horn, were rarer than teeth on a hen.

Non-anthropomorphic hens, that is.

But for some reason, the Royal Family felt that a royal presence was required at this year's Midsummer Ball in the City of Species. True, Blood Horn and the dinosaurs in his unit spent more time in the world beyond the Valley of Ancients then other dinosaurs (other than enforcers) ever thought about. But Blood Horn travels took him to the lonely and deserted places of the world. Hunting feral humans in no way prepared him to do whatever he was expected to do for the Royal Family at the City of Species' Midsummer Ball.

Blood Horn was just happy to have his unit's senior NCO along with him as his aide-de-camp.

"Finally ready, Gunny," Blood Horn told the raptor. "Sorry, haven't worn this since my nephew's presentation. What's our first order of business?"

"The militia's anti-human unit commander wants to give us a tour," Steady Claw told him.

Blood Horn nodded and let the raptor lead the way.




Meanwhile John Smith didn't know it but one of the his Herd's Spiritual Leaders, a Native American Shaman whose name was similar to the Animals' Pine Leaf (She often clashed with the Christian Priest and other Monotheist Leaders, it was not easy having many kind of humans living so close together and trying to maintain their individual cultures) But anyway Pine Leaf had, had a vision she saw that peace with the animals was needed if Humanity was to survive, in her vision she saw the Pack Rat and the White Tiger had the potential needed and Blood Horn had to be neutralized weather that meant destroying him or reforming him she did not know.

But Pine Leaf was the one who had been leaving jewels out in the open for Glimmer to find, she felt now was the time to set the trap, she laid out one of the best gems they had.

"Oh Fang Quartz!" Glimmer exclaimed "Look at that one! That is the biggest shiniest ruby I've ever seen! I must make it the centerpiece of my gown!"

Little did Glimmer know that ruby was tied to a string to take into a hole that the humans had prepared for her...
         ...and all it took was for her to pick it up to set it off, opening the ground beneath her."WOAH!!"

         Seeing her fall, Fang dashed towards her, and grabbed her hand. "Hang on Glimmer, I got ya."

         Little did he know a second part activated, shooting him with a dozen darts filled with a sleeping potion.

         Feeling himself getting drowzy, he quickly pulled Glimmer out. "Crud."

         Unfortunately, as he began to doze off, he saw that she too was hit with the dart, before darkness overtook him.
John watched. He'd had a feeling that the spot had been trapped.

"Never steal the obvious bait," he muttered. He stayed hidden, just in case. He didn't know exactly who had set it up, or if there was a third part to the trap - some were like that.
As the Pack Rat and Tiger fell in the hole they fell on a cushion of leaves the Humans had provided.

"Now..." Said Pine Leaf "We must prepare for them to wake up...Renaldo, have you got the TV prepared yet?"

Several Humans were working on repairing the Technology of their former world.
         it wasn't till a hour later that both Glimmer and Fang woke up in the hole and started to shake the dizzyness off.
          Glimmer, you alright?"
         "Yeah, I think so, but where are we?"

(Character is Glimmer not Shimmer)
John had started to come forward, carefully looking for more traps. He soon got to the hole. He looked down. "If you want out, it will cost each of you a tooth." He lowered a rope part of the way - out of reach of the pair.
"John!' Came a voice John knew "Will you hold off on the 'dentistry business for a while?! We wanted them to fall in this hole!"

"Pine Leaf?" John cocked his head

"I have seen for a long while..." Came a withered old human woman from the darkness "...That we Humans must make peace with the animals if we are to survive. I have seen in my visions that these two animals will be the wedge that get's us to peace negotiations with the animals..."

For their part Glimmer had jumped into Fang's arms and both the Rat and the Tiger were trembling because they saw young healthy humans surrounding them, with blow pipes with more darts and very strong ropes.

"Now we're going to kidnap you for a little while." Said Pine Leaf "And will keep you until we're convinced you're on our side."
         Looking around the top of the hole, Fang decided staying calm was the best shot of getting out in one piece..
         "Kidnapping huh? Alright, but I gotta warn ya about something. This young lady here, Glimmer, I promised her folks I'd protect her. If you harm her, you'll learn why they camm me Fang the hard way."
         Listening, the old woman came close to see him.
         "Then what do you suggest, young cub?"
         "Call off your dart shooters, help us out of here, and we'll listen to what you have to say."
"Doubt that they'd seriously harm you anyways," said John. "It's not our way."
"If we let you kidnap us..." Glimmer said "...What are you going to do to convice us."

"Tell you stories..." Pine Leaf said "...Prove to you we're not the horrible creatures you think we are."

A man with olive skin and short black hair rolled out a cart with a strange black square object on it.

"This..." PIne Leaf said "...Is called a Television Set, In the olden days humans used them to watch many things, sometimes news from around the world, sometimes fictional stories called movies or TV Shows, you know how you animals have plays in the theater right? Well on TV such plays could be recorded so we could watch the same show with the same actors over and over again."

Glimmer and Fang looked at each other, the Animals did fear the humans and their electronic and mechnanical technology they couldn't understand so at least they were learning something."

"Go on..." Fang said

Pine Leaf pulled something out of her satchel "This is a VHS Tape the first device so that common humans could watch their favorite shows whenever they wanted, eventually they got replaced by DVDs and even more sophisticated devices, but in this world, we've found the ancient VHS tapes are what we could get to work on our TVs we've had to jigger with so they could run on our homemade generators...This tape in particular..." She said as she took it out of it's case "...Was a 'sold-as'blank' tape meaning many years ago I human used this tape to record whatever particular shows they fancied so these tapes are a lot like what a famous human story said about a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get!"

Popped the tape in the VCR, and Glimmer and Fang were mesmerized, first show was a reality lifestyle show called 'Trading Spaces' where two families recorated each other's rooms then was the series finale of a human TV Show called Dawson's Creek.

"What did I tell ya?" Renaldo said to John who had come into the hole "Everyone loves TV!"
         Shaking himself out of it, Fang looked to the old woman.
         "Okay, I'll admit. That was entertaining."
         Giggling, Glimmer nodded in agreement.
"Could you get to the important part?" asked John. "Also, where's the treats? Stories are always better with treats."
Then Glimmer's fur stood on end as she remembered something.

"My parents are going to be worried about me," She said "They're going to want to look for me, and Blood Horn the Carnotaurus is here in the City of Species."

"We know." Said Pine Leaf "That's why to continue your 'education' we want to take you to our warren, since you've both been such good sports so far, we're asking if you'll come with us willingly and we won't tie you up."

"Can I at least leave a letter for my parents?" Glimmer asked

"I really don't think that's going to help." PIne Leaf said she turned to John "What did you get on your food gathering mission."

John opened his large sack wasn't even half full of apples, carrots and potatoes. "Was only beginning to feel the sack when I heard these two announce their little adventure near our gardens I had to follow them."

Pine Leaf sighed she wished John didn't have such a 'lone wolf' attitude feeling he had to do all his missions himself saying it was 'too dangerous' or other humans to come as close to the Animals as he did but because he felt he had to do everything himself he often ended up chasing the proverbial 'two rabbits' and ending up with neither.

"We still have an excess of nettle soup and some flat bread, our guests can eat that."
         After Setting Glimmer securely on his back, and with the help of a couple of vines a couple of humans tied to a couple of sturdy tree's, Fang climbed out and was almost knocked back down by John.
         Only Fang cought his fist and lifted John up to his face, making him gulp.
         "Try that again, and I'll turn ya into rat stew for stealing from my supply fridge. Got it?"
         Nodding he understood, Fang dropped him back down and followed the old woman.
"Always someone that's touchy," said John. He looked at Pine Leaf. "I saw the big lizard going on a tour with the militia commander. I don't think he's going to think that highly of humans and what we can do anyways. More than a bit arrogant in my opinion."

"Don't underestimate him," said Pine Leaf.
"There is intelligence suggesting a fairly large human community in one of the area of ruins on the outskirts of the city,' Gunnery Sergeant Steady Claw stated. "One with a fairly complex social infrastructure. Or so the intelligence suggests," the raptor added.

"Exaggerations made by local academics pressured by the publish or perish atmosphere they're forced to operate in, highness," Major Key Stone interjected. Key Stone was the anthropomorphic rhinoceros who was the commander of the local militia's anti-human unit. "Admittedly, we do have a problem with a few strays setting up nests in the old ruins. But there isnt a true wild human in a hundred kilometers of the city."

Blood Horn made a noncommittal grunt, which made the rhino commander even more nervous than he already was. Nobody knew what to make of an actual member of the royal family visiting the City of Species. Outside of the enforcers of the Royal Constabulary, one rarely saw any of the reptilian denizens of the Valley of the Ancients beyond their own borders. One certainly didn't see members of the royal family, even members with reputations like Blood Horn.

So Major Key Stone was given the job of showing the visiting prince the city's cutting edge anti-human division. Everything from training to the "war room."

Blood Horn was less than impressed. The department in charge of catching human strays in the Valley of the Ancients was more impressive than Major Key Stone's unit. Blood Horn should know. He had taken over the Human Catchers at the age of thirteen. At the age of eighteen, when Blood Horn received what was supposed to be an honorary commission. Instead, Blood Horn would form the world's most efficient anti-human unit in the world. Two years ago, Blood Horn had eliminated every wild human within two hundred kilometers of the Valley of the Ancients.

Blood Horn's ambition was to establish similar "No Wild Human" zones around every major city in the world by the t8me his oldest brother took the throne. If he weren't at the City of the Species on a diplomatic mission, he wouldn't mind starting that mission here and now.

But Blood Horn was here in his capacity as a member of the royal family, not as commander of the world's top anti-human unit. So Blood Horn gave Steady Claw the signal for "We'll Talk Later" and asked to see Key Stone's War Room again.

"We will lead you to our warren," Said Pine Leaf "Follow us."

Glimmer however still didn't feel good knowing her parents were already worried about her heading to this area in the first place, however she also knew she couldn't say 'Hey the humans took me and Fang because they want to make peace' she and Fang would be hanged for treason for that!

She found on the ground a large peace of loose bark...

"Glimmer you coming?" Fang asked

"Just a moment!" Glimmer said "I need to...Uh...Powder my nose!"

She took out of her pocket her feather quill (Donated by birds from their naturally shed feathers) And wrote what she thought would be a convincing story.

'Hey Mom and Dad,

Don't freak out, but Fang and I were approached by some Pigs from Trotter Town, they said they're having a crisis! Their land is drying up and crops aren't growing so they wanted both Fang's and myself's expertise so we're going to be in Trotter Town for the next few days, I really wish I didn't have to miss the Midsummer Ball, but after seeing what happened in our own desert we got to see if this is spreading!

Love
Glimmer'

She pinned her bark note to a nearby tree and ran to catch up,

Trotter Town the city of the Pigs, was formerally Oxnard California once there the Pigs were only too happy to take over the cultivation of strawberries as they believe themselves to be the consumant gourmands of the Animalia.
         As they walked, Fang took notice of the many ingredients and plants that overtook he once well busy city they were traversing through before eying John.
         "So, Pine Leaf was it? What's the kid's story? He seem's to really hate helping us."
         With a heavy sigh, Pine Leaf told them of John's past and need to do things on himself.
         "I'll admit, I understand his reason. But even I know he'll need it later on."
         It was then they came to a a frightening pile of machines from the war all piled and tangled together so there was no easy way to know what the entrence was, Pine Leaf opened what looked like a hatch.
         "Welcome to our home. Please, make yourselves comfy."

(Author's Note I stated earlier that their home was a pile of old war machines, they need a home that is not easily broken into)
(John's 27 years old - not a kid).

"You really want to know," said John. "I had a brother - key word - had!"

"What happened?" Glimmer asked.

"I made a mistake, and that mistake cost him his life," said John. "He was older than me, by five years. He went on a foraging mission, and I tagged along. Problem was, I made a noise, and that noise was heard by some patrolling wolves. My brother found me before the wolves did, and we had to run. He hid me, and then played Decoy, to keep them away from me. They caught him, and then..... The next time I saw him, he was Dead, like any other human pet. Here's a question - got something to make them Alive again?"
They entered the bizzare mettalic world of the warren, as they entered the Main Hub the kind of 'Town Square where all the humans gathered, a bunch of small human children ran up to them.

"Oh Miss Rat!" Said one little girl "You're SO cute and fuzzy! Can I pet you?"

"Oh Mr. Tiger!" Said another little girl "Your fur is SO pretty! can I stroke it?"

Glimmer and Fang were both a bit taken aback by this not sure they felt about stickly little human hands getting their fur and clothes all sticky.

"Don't be alarmed." Said Pine Leaf "They've read storybooks and know in the past human children had pets, they've been asking things like 'When will the animals be our pets again?' of course as they get older they realize our relationship with the animals is not going back to the way it was, but in many of the books the children had full on conversations with their pets so they don't think anything unusual about having a talking pet."
         Hearing this, and seeing Glimmer's uneasyness, Fang decided to suck up his pride and got down to one knee and hald a hand out..
         "Here ya go young one, have a feel."
         Taking him up on his offer, the young girl gently stroked a hand through the fur, sighing at the softness.
John walked away from the scene. He had a small amount of envy for the children's nievaty, and innocence on what happened out there.

Still, he wasn't going to ruin it for them.
The Humans warmed up a big cauldron full of some green nettle soup, Fang was well familar with this type of soup he had served it he knew it was popular with herbivores, he also knew the stinging nettle was a wild herb so he figured the humans gathered it from the wild without stealing from the palace
"We have plenty of gardens for the more common stuff," said John. "I only take what's needed, especially if it's rare, especially if it's necessary to diversify the genetic stock." He pulled out a potato. "For instance, this one, and a few others, aren't for the stew pot - these will be seed potatoes for this exact sort next year. It has more vitamins and the like compared to the ones we more commonly grow. And let's not get started on the different varieties of summer squash seeds I've acquired and sorted - easily two dozen of them."
Now we'll take a brief moment to take a peek at that tree where Glimmer left that note, that area on the outskirts of the city because it was so close to the human warren hadn't exactly become a 'ghetto' or a 'slum' but most of the Animals had abandoned the area in search of safer patures, all that were left in the the Tree Apartments were mostly the Insects, Arachnids and other Creepy Crawley Critters, and they mostly stayed in the canopy level apartments because even when they didn't see the humans roaming around they could smell that they had been around.

However while Pine Leaf had been mostly leaving the gems for Glimmer to find, other creatures had been finding them to, one of them a Yellow Garden Spider named Lemon Tree about as large as Glimmer at four feet tall was climbing down her tree in hopes of finding more beautiful gems herself, not realizing where they were coming from,

However coming down the tree she noticed something was on the trunk that wasn't there before, she went around it and noticed it was apiece of loose bark that had been pinned to the tree, someone had used it for a note! Lemon Tree read the message, she smelled the piece of bark, she smelled the scent of Pack Rat and she knew what species Mayor Longtusk's Advisor Was, thankfully because humans frquented the area so much she disregarded the smell of humans and didn't think the Pack Rat and Tiger scents had anything to do with the usual human odors, if she had done some more intense 'scent trail analysis' she might have discovered the Pack Rat and Tiger seemed to be following the humans, but she didn't do that instead believed what the note said about going to Trotter Town and felt she had to go to the Palace to inform her parents where their daughter went!
         Back in the warren, Fang was busy being smothered of may young human kids as Glimmer only began to try and hold back a giggle as she noticed one of them managed to place bows of his ears and tail.
John looked at the scene, and smiled. It reminded him of his more innocent days.

He looked at his necklace. Most teeth belonged to those he'd merely beaten or otherwise bested. Only a few had been from them he'd killed - in such cases, it had been him or them.

He didn't know if Pine Leaf's visions were true, as he saw them as gobbledygook, but she was wise in other areas.

Truth be told, he didn't like having to kill. He wouldn't have minded being able to sit down and have a chat with one that wasn't after him.
"On rare occasions." John said "We have stolen eggs and dairy when someone was really ill, you know needed more Vitamin B12..."

"All right children." Pine Leaf said "I think that's enough playing with the animals! It's almost time for supper!"

Meanwhile Lemon Tree went over to the Palace Gates

"State your business for coming here." said one of the Rhino Guards (Not Key Stone)

"I found a note on my tree I believe was written by the Mayor's Advisor's Daughter." Lemon Tree said holding up the note in her spindly spider hand
         As the kids all rushed off, Fang took the ribbons off carefully.
         "Cute kids. Wished they kept the ribbons off though."
         Giggling, Glimmer only thought of ways she could do it to him.
         "Oh, I don't know. You seemed kinda cute with them.
         Looking to John, he shook his head in mock shame.
         "Go ahead, ya know ya want to."
John frowned. "Tempting as that might be, I'd best go keep an eye on that lizard," he said. "I doubt he'll be too happy with your local militia. Those fellas might get lucky on occasion, but they aren't professionals."

"What are you going to do?" Glimmer asked.

"Just watch him," said John.
The Great Squirrel Philosopher. Cliff Eastern Wood, once observed, that "An animal has got to know their limitation."

General Hiss-a-lot, the anthropomorphic rattlesnake that headed the city's militia (which was entrusted with enforcing the law), knew his limitations. He was, when compared to the chief law enforcement officers of other cities, generally inept. Heck, he had humans practically living in the city itself. And the head of the militia's anti-human team, Major Key Stone, was even worse than the General.

But the City of Species didn't really need much in the field of law enforcement, and that's what the Genera gave the denizens of the city.

So when one of the ceremonial guards escorted a spider in with a note from the daughter of a Mayoral Adviser, the General almost went into a panic. The last thing the general wanted was for ineptness to come to light durng a royal visit!

General Hiss-a-lot called in Captain Sharp Scent, the anthropomorphic wolf who was head of SWAT (Select Wolf Attack Team). The General gave the Captain the note, and told him to escort Lemon Tree back to where she found the note. From there, Sharp Scent and his team were to track down the daughter in question, and bring her back. Forcibly, if necessary. The Captain was to use discretion. The general wanted neither Commissioner Tracking Jest (an anthropomorhic heyena who was the civilian oversight of the militia) nor Sharp Tusk (one of the Mayor's sons who was also hs liaison to the militia) to get wind of a potential "incident." He certainly didn't want Prince Blood Horn finding out about it.

Captain Sharp Scent grinned as he accepted his instructions. He hoped the little girl had gone to Trotter Town. He amd his men loved terrorizing the pigs.

After supper, which was mostly Nettle Soup with a side of Pita like flat bread just fine for Glimmer but Fang still felt rather hungry, he hoped he could get back outside soon.

Pine Leaf asked the two Animals to follow her, She led them into a room, there were several humans whereing something called 'Head Sets' and working with strange machines

"This is our secret Central Control." Pine Leaf "Not all the humans know this room exists...Here we listen to the information given to us from our various spies."

"You have spies?" Glimmer asked

"We train our prettiest and smartest children from a very young age." Pine Leaf said grimmly and we send them to the various animal commuites from the Domestic Animal Towns of Trotter Town and Cowpens to as far away as the Hippo City of Kiboko in Africa, since we're not aquatic we obviously can't go to the Fish Communities under the sea, other human communities send their children as spies, but we here can listen to them all, they show up on the doorstep of an average animal citizen ideally one with young children, looking begraggled and little bruised, the pretend they can't talk and often the children will beg their parents to let them keep the 'cute' human as a pet, there they secretly spy on the animals, we don't want to harm you we just want to learn more about your culture, what makes you tick."
         Thinking, Fang understood the meaning.
"Gotta admit, it's definently a good form of spy network. Have they all gone that smoothly though?"
         With a heavy sigh, Pine Leaf eyes dropped to that of sadness.
         "Unfortunately no. Sometimes they are found out and killed. Some don't even make it to the destination at all due to feral versions of human, or beasts looking for a easy meal."
         Rubbing his chin, he looked to the younger kids.
         "We need peace."
John was soon near where the note had been left, well, a little ways away from that particular tree. He noticed that the note was gone.

He hoped that whomever found it bought the rat's claim about heading to pig town.

He pulled out an apple, and carefully started to slice it, carefully eating pieces of it. He made sure to keep an eye out as he did. He had a feeling that someone was coming.

That was when he saw the wolf. He knew that wolf, not just from the times he'd been in the city, but from when his brother had been taken. He wanted to kill that wolf, but, there were rules. Killing them might put the rest of the herd in danger.
Unlike the anthropomorphs who made up Major Key Stone's Human Control Unit, the wolves who made up Captain Sharp Scent's SWAT team were efficient, disciplined and deadly. The phrase "well oiled machine" came to mind when watching the wolves scour the immediate area.

Sharp Scent let a low growl issue forth from his throat at the stink of humans that overlaid everything. Sharp Scent had petitioned for years to have SWAT take over the city's effort to control the wild human problem. Sharp Scent felt that Major Key Stone's ineptness had gone fom embarrassing to criminal.

A smile came to Sharp Scent's lips as he began devising a way to use this missing rat daughter situation to merge wild human control into SWAT, with Sharp Tooth in controlnof both. Sharp Scent was sure that if he could just present this case to the visiting Prince Blood Horn in the right light, the carnotaurus would put prssure on the mayor to put Sharp Scent in charge of the wild human problem.

One of the other wolves came trotting up to Sharp Scent. "No signs or scents of any hogs, Captain. This area hasn't seen any pigs for at least a fortnight. We have got a trail for the pack rat, though. There's a tiger who's been in the area, too. And wild humans. Lots of wild humans."

The SWAT commander thought that it was a travesty that Major Key Stone had let the wild human proiblem get this out of hand. Well, that just meant an opportunity for him, Sharp Scent decided.

"All right, squad, stay liquid and keep your heads on a swivel," Sharp Scent told the other wolves as they began cautiously following the pack rat's trail, wary of any traps that might have been set by the wild humans or anyone else in the area.
Well the period of my long time alone is coming to an end also the Campfire has been good but very tiring need a little break before continuing

The End!

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