Max Adventures: Elemental Guardians Episode 4: Protector Of The Wilds

Chapter 1: An Encounter in the Past

20 years ago

It was a bright day in the jungle as a young lion cub jumped and leaped through the lush green wildlife. "Woohoo!" He yelled out excited as he landed onto a log and took the chance to remove something off his back. A baby otter swaddled in a yellow blanket.

"Hi Koda. How's my little bro doing?" Max asked him playfully and the kit giggled. The cub chuckled and put his brother back on his back before jumping off the log.

"Help!"

"Huh?" Max said surprised as his ears perked at a call for help. His eyes went to the edge of the jungle where the call came from. The cub walked up to his side for a look and his eyes widen in alarm.

Down below, a young chameleon and hedgehog kit were in trouble. They were on a ledge at a waterfall and the hedgehog was clinging on a mango tree, the branch bending from his weight as he held on terrified. His friend tried to reach him but was still a little far.

Max's eyes widen in alarm. He scanned around and spotted these long vines covering the rocky walls of the waterfall.

Max smirked and stepped back before he ran and jumped off the ledge, grabbing onto a tree branch as he swung on it and let go, latching onto the vines.

"Alright Koda. Let's go do some rescuing" Max said and Koda squealed excited as he started climbing up the vines.

"Hang on Spike. I'm coming" the chameleon told him as he carefully moved closer as his best friend whimpered afraid. "Oh Spike. How did you even get to that tree without falling?" He complained, his feet shuffling while also trying to keep balance, small rocks fell down below with each step. The young chameleon look down for a moment and gulped terrified at how far down below but that's when his eyes caught Max and the pup climbing up the vines, the young lion reaching up first on the cliffs.

Max got startled for a moment of how high up he was while his little baby brother just looked curiously. "Koda lets not tell Ma and Pa about this ok?" He told his brother as he cautiously crept to the chameleon.

"Hi. My names Max. We're here to save you" Max assured him optimistic but he noticed Spike trying to swing on the tree to get to a mango but unknown to the hedgehog kit, the tree was starting to bend from his weight and the movement. Max's eyes widen alarm.

"No wait! Don't-" he tried to warn him but SNAP! The tree broke from the weight, sending the hedgehog down...almost.

"SPIKE!" Twitch yelled alarmed and, without thinking only on saving his best food loving friend, jumped down, catching his friend by his feet. With his quick cat reflexes, Max caught Twitch by his tail, struggling to hold him and pull him up. Now the hedgehog and chameleon were hanging off the edge with the lion cub struggling to hold them up.

Spike's hands was starting to slip and Twitch was losing grip because of how heavy his friend was. "Hang in there Spike" Twitch said, trying to assure his friend but Spike was too heavy and he slipped out of his hands, the chameleon, frantically trying to catch him again too late.

Max and Twitch watch horrified but then a white blur pounced on the hedgehog and a vine shot out and latched onto a nearby tree, bringing the hedgehog to safety on the ground.

Max and Twitch were stunned by this sudden new rescuer. The white blur turned around to look up at them. It was a wolf pup with brown eyes and a brown leaf shaped mark on his forehead.

Max smiled at the wolf, amazed by his rescue skills. His ears perked at some cracking and he looked down, seeing the rocky edge under his feet was crumbling. Gasping and looking at the chameleon, he nodded making a decision and using all the strength he could muster for a cub, Max swung the chameleon to Spike and the wolf.

"We got you Twitch!" Spike yelled out as he caught his best friend. But at that moment, the edge crumbled under Max and the cub lost balance and fell down, his hand cut on the sharp stone in the process.

"No!" The wolf pup yelled alarmed as the hedgehog covered his eyes scared. Max was falling straight to the water. "Hang on Koda!" He told his brother, closing his eyes but SWOOSH!

Max opened one eye but both opened in surprise when he saw he hadn't hit the water. He saw the green grass. 'Wait why is this grass....furry?' Max wondered, realizing he felt something furry on his arm.

Suddenly, he felt something rock under him and he fell on the ground. The cub shook his head and turned around. His eyes widen in awe at seeing a large majestic deer who looked at him. But this deer had a jade amulet shaped like a leaf around his neck.

Max hissed in pain when he felt his hand hurting and he looked at it, seeing a fresh red cut across his palm. He quickly looked over his shoulder to check on his brother, the little otter laughing as if nothing happened. Max smiled relieved.

Then, a bright green light illuminated and he turned towards the deer, the gem glowing and the deer engulfed in green light, its shape changing and Max was in awe and surprise when the deer changed from normal to a person like him.

The deer now held a staff and smiled at him calmly, his eyes going to the cut on the cub's hand. He knelt down and gently took the cub's hand and held it with both hands. Gentle green light appeared and swirled around Max's hand and the deer's as Twitch, Spike and the pup watched in amazement.

The green energy vanish and the deer let go of Max's hand. The cub looked at his hand and was surprised to find the cub healed, like it was never there. He looked up at the deer smiling. The deer smiled back at him, turning to the other three kids before he walked away, green glowing leaves emerged and swirled around him with magic, teleporting him and he vanished.

"Whoa" Max whispered amazed as he stood there, realizing later on that he had just been rescued...by the Guardian of Nature.