The severe illness that had struck the crew was persisting, and they laid in various states of distress. Soon the light of day faded, and the night settled in on the beach. As the hedgehog laid on the shoreline, he looked up into the slowly spinning star filled sky. When he could focus: none of the constellations made sense, and the moon wasn’t in the right spot either. This had been the farthest distance he had ever travelled, and it was almost as if he had travelled to a different planet. Thoughts drifted to his return to the earth from his moon adventure, and how physically weak he had been. This was similar, but he never thought it would happen since he was not leaving the planet. Thoughts drifted away as sleep began to settle in, and as the various animals fell asleep, a full night’s rest was finally able to be properly obtained. It was not until mid-morning the next day, that they began to rouse from their slumber.
The hedgehog captain stood up, and noticed the world was no longer spinning. Gingerly he took a few steps, and did not feel immediately ill as he had the day before. Smiling at his still sleeping friends, the little hedgehog slowly scampered back and forth from the ship. Now that he had once again obtained his footing, upon returning to the ship, it was strange to feel the ship move. Putting those thoughts aside, as he started to move some supplies down the gang plank. While he tried very hard to be quiet, there was noise involved as he began to roll down a barrel of food along the gangplank. It was not long when several squirrels and chipmunks awakened and noticed what he was up to. Carefully they got to their paws, and started to help slowly move a barrel of fresh water down to the shoreline. After a few trips, the start of a small camp site had been built, with supplies arranged nearby to the gang plank. The remainder of the crew awakened, and gingerly got up to find the world had righted itself.
Pudgy began to pass out rations of hard tack biscuits and water one by one to his crew. The animals smiled and wiggled their noses, before hungrily eating the offered food. Once all had been given their morning meal, the little hedgehog sipped from his cup of water with a grin. As he pondered that the ghost fox had not appeared in his dreams the night before, perhaps it was just as well since he was too dizzy and ill to be able to respond coherently. As the critters ate, they noticed that Argente the silver fox was pacing about slowly at the edge of the campsite. Her dark fur covered ears were perked up, and her face turned towards the inland shore. A short distance away from their camp was a field of tall sea grass, and beyond that was the densest forest that anyone had ever seen. Before she could awaken to talk them out of it, the bunnies had hopped off to explore, setting Argente’s nerves on edge. It was a reckless and foolhardy act on their part, which she would remind them of such upon their return. The last thing anyone wanted was for some animal friend to get lost, or hurt for that matter.
After a short time had passed, the gray fluffy bunnies hopped back, and bounced in front of the female fox. They were carrying strange plants, “look what we found Argente!” The long-eared animals bounced excitedly, but had no idea what they had found? It was long like a carrot, but dark brown like a potato, and gnarled like an oak branch. The trio of rabbits all began to nibble on the strange plant, and wiggled their noses as they spoke in unison. “This thing tastes great, and almost has a smokey flavor, like when Pudgy cooks on the wood fire.” Argente barked with concern, “spit that out! We do not know what that stuff is? How do we know it’s not poisonous?!?!?” The bunnies hopped off with the strange plant, and kept nibbling on it. “NO! WE FOUND IT, IT’S OURS!” The fox was beside herself, but was too weak to chase after the rambunctious rabbits.
The female fox found her left leg being hugged by Pudgy, who looked up at her and wiggled his nose. “Pudgy feeling better, how Argente feel?” She sighed, “still weak. It turns out being stuck on a ship for months, is much harder than any of us expected. But I am getting stronger as we speak, so … what do we do now?” The hedgehog wiggled his nose again, “well, trying to make the bunnies give up their treasure is out of the question.” Argente giggled, “we should build a camp here, that will occupy the crew and prevent any further escapades.” Pudgy nodded, and wiggled his nose, “afterwards …. scout the area. Perhaps we can find any clues as to why the ghost fox wanted Pudgy here?” His living fox friend nodded, and turned around slowly to walk back to the camp. Pudgy gave the order to set up a more permanent camp site.
A couple hours passed, and many trips to the ship and back occurred. A tent was set up using the extra sail fabric meant for repairs in case of a storm, allowing a place to rest in case of rain or sun exposure. Next to the tent was also a place where the barrels of water and food could be distributed more easily. Their sailing ship the Determined remained moored off the shoreline, and was gently bobbing up and down in the ocean water just feet away from them. Several animals remained on board the ship to ensure it was safe, and choosing to remain sea acclimated in case they needed to quickly escape. Out in the distance, dark clouds could be seen heading away from their camp and into the open ocean to the east. This left many to wonder what those bears on the ship were doing, and if they were alright? Work quickly dispersed any day dreaming, and in time the campsite had been built.
As the day continued on, the little hedgehog wandered around the camp site to help build. There was also an ulterior motive to his actions, as he wanted to check on his friends, and confirm they had recovered. All in all, they were slowly getting better, and were starting to return to their normal happy selves. Their appetites were returning, as well as the need to run around and play. While Argente would have preferred to keep the critters on task, she too saw the need to let everyone decompress after such a long trip. When evening finally came around, rations were passed out once again, and the camp site was full of laughter and silliness. Pudgy even had made a small fire, which sent light dancing around in all directions. Even Mr. and Mrs. Field mouse joined in on the festivities, before returning back to the ship to keep watch. Once more, the crew slept better than they had ever before, all the way through the night and into the early morning.
Last to awaken the next day was Private Pawl, who woke up and rubbed his eyes with his webbed paws. The otter had been dreaming of his home, and his friends along the river. Those thought quickly disappeared when he could see Pudgy dressed in his adventure outfit nearby. The hedgehog was talking with Angeliki Raven, who had returned to camp earlier that morning just past sunrise. There was also a crowd of critters were surrounding them in a semi-circle. The black bird chirped as she laughed, and was on the fourth telling of her story. The demigoddess was constantly being interrupted with questions, and had to repeat her story several times to address the concerns. As Private Pawl joined his fellow otter Sargent Miller, he listened intently.
“Ok … ok … ok … everyone. Let me repeat … one more time! After we landed on shore yesterday, I flew to the west of our landing. I see that you have all been quite busy setting up camp, which is a very good thing. We are going to have to be here for quite a while. As you can see behind us, there is a short distance to the tall grass, which then turns into a forest. That forest is in fact the start of a series of jungles so dense that it was extremely difficult to see the ground as I flew. The trees tower high into the air, and are full of life with many birds and animals. It took almost an hour for me to navigate the canopy, to reach a huge grass field which stretched a fair distance. At the edge of the field was a shallow lake, full of fish and other aquatic life. It was past the lake, that I flew over the start of a field of shattered rocks. The rock colors do not match what we have back home, almost seemingly that of a volcano. I landed on a huge boulder, to rest and surveyed the surrounding land. It was then when I could see our destination, and confirmed that from the field of rock forms the outer barriers of what Pudgy calls Mount Apo. The mountain is gigantic, with steep jagged rock covered slopes. There is no way that we can walk here, the only option would be to fly to the summit.”
The little hedgehog had remained quiet as he listened, and adjusted his mining helmet as he pondered. Once the raven had stopped speaking, and the other animals quieted down, he raised his paw. “During your exploration, did you see any friendly animals, Angeliki?” The raven turned to her hedgehog friend and nodded, “yes Pudgy … all manner of tropical birds that are native to this island. They greeted me warmly as I flew past, but were busy with their daily tasks. There were also these black birds with yellow rings around their eyes, that were quite talkative to me when I landed at the field of rock. I could see green parrots in the trees in the distance as well. They waved, but stayed on their perches in the jungle canopy that surrounded the lake. The foliage is so dense on the ground, I could not see any ground animals. That is not to say they are not there though; I expect this land to be full of life.”
Argente nodded, “while we should be welcoming should any local animals who stop by our camp, as we are guests on their island, perhaps an eye to security should be paid with respect to our ship? Once we complete this adventure, we need a ship in order to return home.” Sergeant Miller nodded, “I concur Argente. Private Pawl and I will maintain ship security, while the away mission commences.” The fox had been listening from her spot at the edge of the gathering of critters, before she had addressed the group. Turning her gaze back towards the tall grass where the bunnies found that strange plant. It had been half a day since the unauthorized excursion, and other than some terrible bunny gas, the rabbits seemed to be alright. “Pudgy … we should decide who is going to stay on the ship, who remains here at camp, and who heads off for the exploration deeper within the island.”
As the hedgehog rubbed his chin with his paw, a small roar of excited voices began to ring out from the crew of animals as they all spoke at the same time. The hedgehog raised his paw, and the group started to settle down. “Mr. Bunny …please take Bouncy and Hoppy with you, and start scouting for food around the camp. We need to start to replenish our supplies, to prepare for the return trip. Our squirrel friends can help as well, but please do not stray far from the camp.” The bunnies nodded and bounced happily. “Pastor Blue Jay, can you please remain on the ship along with Mr. and Mrs. Field Mouse? Miller and Pawl will also remain, to keep an eye on the ship, and the camp as well.” The ship assigned animals nodded and started to head back to the ship. The remaining crew members were assigned various tasks, as well as given specific items to look for with regard to the supplies.
Argente, Angeliki, and Pudgy would proceed inland to reach the lake as described earlier. Along the way, they could hopefully find some animals who could provide further information as to what is going on? If they were lucky, they might even bump into the enigmatic ghost fox that kept contacting Pudgy. With the tasks assigned, Pudgy climbed up onto his fox friend’s back, and watched as she turned around to start to pad towards the tall grass. As the animals at the camp waved, every one began to separate out to head off to work at the tasks at hand. Turning back around, the little hedgehog watched as the raven had taken flight once more, and flew past inches above his head. The black bird was starting to ascend into the sky, and soon disappeared into the jungle canopy ahead of them.
Argente sniffed at the plants, “Pudgy … this looks like grass. But it doesn’t smell right, everything is off on this island.” As the two friends passed through the green leafy plants, they could see the thin blades. It almost was feathery, and it tickled the hedgehog’s nose. The base of the plants was a light brown, with the green not starting until at least a foot from the ground. “Pudgy think this stuff almost looks like cat tails? Maybe it floods here?” The fox nodded, “that makes sense Pudgy.” As the fox weaved between the grass, she started to find a game trail that other animals had used. The animal in question was not as large as she was, so she did her part to widen it. But it was a fair bit of luck, as soon they were making considerable progress towards the edge of the jungle. In the distance, the sounds of birds could be heard, but the calls were all different.
After an hour of careful navigation, the tall leafy grass began to change into a series of much thicker clusters of plants that had huge dark green leaves. Their shapes were ovular, with thick lines that almost looked like the veins in a human’s wrist. They were a lighter green, and almost seemed to be bursting with liquid. Some leaves had been cut, either by unseen animals, or weather. The liquid was dripping, and smelled sour. Argente opted not to taste it, when Pudgy reached out his paw and started making icky noises. Thin white bark covered trees were starting to appear as well, with their branches full of small and fair green leaves. As the fox navigated around a plant with long green tubes hanging from its branches, the hedgehog tugged at her black fur gently. Stopping, she looked up, “those look like those banana things that Cobalt has at his house.” The little critter bounced happily, “Cobalt didn’t like those … but Pudgy did. I wonder if we can harvest those for the ship?”
They were lucky as the fox approached, and found a branch had snapped and a cluster of the bananas were on the ground. The hedgehog slid off of Argente’s back, and scampered over to their find. “Bananas have this peel that it is hard to remove, but Pudgy brought tools.” The resourceful critter unclipped his mining pick, and then started to whack at one of the fruits, and was able to separate it from the branch. As he worked at the top of the fruit, the fox started to hear movement around her. Tiny heads started to poke out and from behind the dense clusters of jungle plants. Their heads were elongated, and short stubby round ears, with dark gray fur. Tiny needle tipped pale pink paws were holding onto the leaves, and little black eyes stared at Pudgy.
As Pudgy worked at the plant, he was able to cut the top open, and started to work down the length of the plant’s body. The pale green interior started to become exposed, sending a sweet smell into the air. As Argente padded closer, she pawed at the fruit, and then pulled a piece out and popped it into her mouth. It was not as sweet as the yellow ones that Cobalt had at his house so very long ago, but it tasted wonderful. “Oh, my Pudgy …these tastes great. I think we will need more; we have some visitors.” As the hedgehog looked up, he could see what almost looked like shrews peeking out at them from all around. The little critter scampered around and cut out a piece of the squishy fruit and nibbled. What the two friends had found were not bananas, but actually were plantains. It is like its yellow cousin, but had a much different taste. You could even eat the peel if you were hungry enough, properly prepared of course.
Pudgy waved and wiggled his nose, “oh boy this does taste good! Hey, would every animal like some too? There’s more than enough to share.” The creatures started to gingerly emerge from the plants, with one heading out quicker than the rest. Reaching Pudgy first, the little hedgehog cut a piece and passed it over to the rodent. Gingerly it took the fruit, and started to nibble. “You seem nice … whatever you are. We can never get into these plants, and can only eat the scraps left by the larger animals.” More of the shrew rats approached, and in time the plantain was quickly eaten. The peel was also starting to be nibbled upon by several others, who looked at Argente with unblinking eyes. Pudgy waved, “my name is Pudgy Hedgehog, and this is my friend Argente Silver Fox. Who are you?” The shrew rat who had approached first waved as he licked his tiny lips.
“My name is Puddle, we shrew rats have lived here all our lives. Never have we ever seen, nor heard in the stories of old, of a hedgehog or a fox. There is no such word in our language, and there are no descriptions that even come close to animals such as you. Where have you come from?” Argente giggled, “nice to meet you … I am sure of that. We have travelled from very far away.” The little hedgehog was working to open a second plantain and chatted with the shrew rats nearby. “Pudgy and friends built a big ship, and sailed almost 3 months to get here.” A nearby rat waved her paw, “what’s a month?” The critter nodded, “Hmm … ok … let Pudgy explain different way. We travelled on the water for 90 days and 90 nights to get here. We travelled from the east, from the direction of the rising sun.” The rats’ mouths dropped open as they stared with unblinking eyes.
The silence around the plantains was palpable, until the next fruit was opened and a line of hungry animals were served the sweet contents within. Once the next meal had been eaten, and there were many full bellies, Puddle spoke once again. “That would explain things … you came from the water. We have always wondered what lay past the horizon. But, why have you come here?” The hedgehog nodded, “in lands where Pudgy and Argente live, terrible monsters did things to hurt Gaia. The great spirit Unetlanvhi appears in the skies several times, to strike down the monsters.” The rats looked confused, “what is a U net something?” Argente nodded, “Pudgy told us it looks like a giant eagle in the skies. Long feathers, and fire covered talons.” The rats shrieked, “there are terrible birds here just like that! They strike from the air, and steal our friends away. We can not leave the safety of our homes, lest we are eaten.”
Pudgy looked at Puddle, “have you seen an animal that looks like Argente? She would be silver, or glowing white, with stripes in her tail.” The shrew rat nodded, “she came through here a long time ago. The fox as you call your friend, ate several of my cousins as she passed into the interior. Are you here to stop her?” The hedgehog wiggled his nose, “Pudgy need to find her. She has been coming to Pudgy in Pudgy dreams for months now, because there is something on Mt. Apo Pudgy needs to do.” The shrew rats nodded in unison, “if you can make her go away, we will be forever grateful. We have lived in fear of her ever since she came to our land. The water rises ever constant, and our homes are flooded and destroyed. We know not why …”
Argente looked at her friend, and then back at the rats, “the same thing is happening to our land. We were able to sail out ship through the center of our land, where there was no water before.” The little hedgehog nodded, “something is happening. Our home used to get cold, and the rain would turn white, into something called snow. There is no more snow, and it is only warm now all the time. Winter was a time of cold, and animals would sleep through it, but that no longer happens. Something very wrong has happened, and Pudgy needs to find out what?” The shrew rats nodded, “this place used to be warm and rainy all the time. It has started to cool, and dry out. Water that once covered the land has now dried out, and revealed what once laid below its surface. The birds tell stories of the surrounding islands sinking beneath the water, and the animals fleeing to safety. How can we help you Pudgy?”
The little hedgehog nodded, “we need to find a way through the jungle to reach a grass field that is beside a body of water that is beside a field of rock.” Puddle nodded, “we know of the place that you speak of Pudgy. We will take you to the edge, where it is safe. If we venture from the safety of the tall plants, the terrible white chested birds will swoop in and eat us. Follow us …” The rats bounced happily, and started to scurry through the plants. Pudgy clipped his mining pick to his backpack, and then scampered behind the parade of rats. There had been close to a dozen of them, and soon the hedgehog was behind the parade as it weaved through the plants. Argente giggled as she followed behind, and marveled at the trees as they passed through. Trunks as large and dense as oak trees could be seen, but the bark looked completely different, with the branches stretched out while interweaving with each other.
As the hours passed, the shrew rats showed the safest and quickest way through the jungle. For the first time in their lives, Pudgy and Argente saw a monkey. They were not like the ones on tv: and were quite small, with gray fur and bulging brown circular eyes. They clung to the tree branches above, and looked on with strange looks. Birds of all sorts could be seen, and chirping in various distinct tones, including the black birds that Angeliki had described. Argente saw an animal that almost looked like a baby deer, but its leys were short and spindly. She had no idea what it was, and when it spotted the fox, it had shot off into a large green bush of some sort. In time though, they reached the edge of the jungle, and the edge of the grassy field could be seen. Puddle signaled everyone to stop, and spread out, which his friends did to allow their new friends to pass by.
As Pudgy reached the grass, he turned to Puddle. “Thank you for showing Pudgy and Argente the way through the jungle.” The shrew rate wiggled its nose and waved its left paw, “thank you for the fruit. Now that we know those things can be opened, we must try to recreate what you did for ourselves. Good luck with your quest to rid our land of the silver terror. Keep an eye to the skies, for the Agilia … the sky terrors. You will recognize them by their white chests, you must run and hide, or they will fly off with you and eat you.” The hedgehog nodded, and looked at Argente. The female fox nodded, “thank you Puddle,” wiggled her ears and watched as her hedgehog friend climbed up her leg to get onto her back. The shrew rats waved, as they started to fade into the jungle plants once again. In time, they were left all alone, but not quite as tiny black eyes peeked out between the leaves.
The fox feeling refreshed from the plantains, and having a proper stretch from the ship, felt like her normal self. In the open grassland of the fields, she was able to speed up and cover a greater distance. What Angeliki described was much bigger in person than what was relayed. Before the humans disappeared, and the world changed, this field was a huge rice paddy. The humans had cleared the jungle, and then flooded the area to grow rice. Rice needed the wet conditions to grow, and it was a staple in the human diet of the area. However, with no humans in the world to tend the fields, the rice stopped being planted. The means they once employed to flood the fields never were put back into place, so the land dried and was covered with a carpet of wild grasses and plants. Which was just as well, because the strangest looking cows that Pudgy had ever seen could be seen grazing in the distance.
They were jet black, with horns on their heads. But it was not like the steers from the Texas lands, the horns stuck almost straight up and were triangular. The two horns almost shaped a V above the cow’s long face. There were other cows in the area as well, though their horns were much smaller and stuck out on either side of their heads. As the fox continued her quick pace, she could see the lake in the distance, with many of the large herbivories drinking water from the shoreline. The “lake” was the last remaining water for the rice paddy, and had been slowly draining out from a decaying dam at the end of the fields. Also not helping matters was the arid conditions forming, with the rainfall starting to fall less each month.
A shadow quickly passed overhead, causing Argente to look up. There was a huge bird, whose brown feathers stretched almost six feet from tip to tip. “ARGENTE RUN! THAT BIRD HAS A WHITE BELLY!” The little hedgehog had spotted the white feathered underneath, and held on as his fox friend immediately picked up speed. As they quickly approached the lake, the water was too deep to cross, so the female fox turned and began to run parallel with the shoreline. She ducked and weaved between the large black animals, who called out with their distinctive moo sounds. What the two friends interpreted as cows, were in fact water buffalo, and were annoyedly stomping their hooves into the mud as the fox passed by. They watched as the large bird quickly flew overhead, and was stalking the fleeing animals.
Argente was holding her breath, as the animals had an odor that was indescribably bad. They did not care, and were letting loose their bowels, whether it was clear or not. As the fellow cows walked through the mess to reach the water, the female fox artfully kept dodge to stay as clean as she could. However, the cover that the large animals provided soon rat out, and once more they were passing by open grassland. The lake was narrowing, and soon could easily be crossed. The distinctive cry of what could almost be described as an eagle could be heard, and the bird was coming in for an attack run with steel gray talons extended out. Pudgy buried his face into his fox friend’s fur, and held on for dear life, as she quickly dodged and jumped across the water to reach the other side of the lake. The predator flew quickly behind them, and a pale blue eye turned to look at the hedgehog clinging onto the back of the silver and black fur covered animal.
Letting out a cry, the large bird quickly course corrected and banked hard while flapping. It circled around, and then started to come in for a landing in front of the fox. With brown feathers fluffed out and extended, it was making its presence known as the strangest face of a bird came into view. In many ways, when you looked directly at it, it seemed to be square, but from the side it was a normal shape for a bird. The beak was quite large, and a steel gray color, with two huge circular pale blue eyes staring out. On the top of its head were more white feathers, but they had dark brown highlights, and almost seemed to be like a head dress that the native Americans once wore during their ritual dances. The brown feathers were ringed in white, and the belly feathers were pure white to cream in various shades.
Argente slid to a halt, and perked up her black tipped ears as she readied herself to sprint again. “Who are you, what do you want with us?” The female fox snapped, while trying to make herself as menacing as possible. The bird continued his attack stance, keeping his wings stretched out and fluffed. “I do not mean any harm to you, but given your posture, I must assume you wish harm to me.” The fox did not trust the large bird, and gingerly took a step back, but soon found the weight disappearing from her back. The hedgehog had slipped down her leg, and was standing beside Argente. “Pudgy, what are you doing? I might need to run again … get back on me now!” The bird looked down at the hedgehog, in his adventuring outfit. The pale eyes softened, “I have dreamed of this day for such a long time Pudgy. I just wish you had come sooner, when my home was much larger.”
The little hedgehog wiggled his nose as he hugged Argente’s silver fur covered leg. “Does Pudgy know you,” the critter asked with a curious look. The bird nodded as he folded back his wings, and grinned as only an eagle could. “When I was a human, and on twitter, my name was Davervk. I invited you to come out to the Philippines, and you said you would, once Cobalt got a passport.” The little hedgehog bounced happily, and then scampered past the fox and up to a large feather covered leg. The little critter started hugging Dave, “oh boy! Pudgy finally glad to meet you too Mister Dave! This is Pudgy friend Argente Silver Fox!” The eagle nodded and waved his left wing at her, which resulted in a small wave with a black tipped paw from the fox.
As Pudgy released the hug, he scampered back over towards Argente, and looked up at the eagle. He towered over them, at almost three feet from the ground. “Boy Mister Dave, you are bigger than Cobalt. Cobalt is an eagle too, but he looks completely different.” The former human nodded, “it would appear that somehow, I was turned into an agila … or Philippine Eagle. They were quite rare if I remember correctly, but as to how I came to be one, I do not know. A long time ago, I was heading to work like any other typical day. Traffic was heavy, and I was going to be late, until all of a sudden people started to disappear from the cars ahead of me. I found myself in a gray void, that was neither warm nor cold. It was like I was sleeping, but somehow awake. Then the next thing I could see, was me sitting on a branch high above the jungle.”
The hedgehog started to tell a greatly shortened version of what had happened to the humans. As the eagle listened, he walked slowly beside Argente and Pudgy as they continued towards a field of rocks that ran at the edge of the grass lands. By the time the end of the story had been reached, and the owls had their grand Parliament, the eagle realized that it was not just his islands nation home that had been affected. It was the entire world, with no humans left anywhere. The world once more had returned to the animals and plants, to live freely without interference once more. Dave fascinated by the tale, asked to hear the long version. So, with the sun starting to set in the distant western skies, Argente eased her body down beside a split granite boulder, and watched as her hedgehog friend began his grand tale. Dave nestled down as only an eagle could, and listened with unblinking eyes. The little hedgehog also was acting out parts of the story as well, which meant the show was very entertaining. After many hours passed, a very tired hedgehog had just reached the part where Unetlanvhi destroyed the moon dinosaurs’ pyramid base. He fell asleep standing up, which resulted in Dave chirping softly. “Good night Pudgy, good night Argente, we can talk more tomorrow.” The sleepy silver fox nodded, and reached out with her paw to pull her hedgehog friend closer towards her. As the critter slid over, he sighed happily, and the trio of friends all fell asleep under a star filled sky full of the natural wonders of the universe on full display. The temperatures started to fall, as a cool wind blew down from the mountain above them. Silently Mt. Apo stood, waiting to reveal its mysterious purpose, to the animals from the lands of the sunrise.
Pudgy's Adventures 