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

Chapter 12: Backup on the Decorations!

"Hey wait a minute" Max said, suddenly remembering something. He scanned around and noticed two people missing from the group. "Where's Timber and Adira?" He asked, realizing he hadn't seen them.

"Oh um well those two had a small quarrel about the guardian and Tazer stormed off. I sent Adira to fix things with him" Timber explained to them assuringly. Azalea caught someone from the corner of her eye and chirped to get Timber's attention. The wolf looked to his right and saw two familiar figures.

"Adira! Tazer!"

He called out as the lions turned to his direction. The fox and snow leopard were back with their heads down and ears low, still thinking about what just happened earlier. The three noticed how nervous they looked which puzzled them. "Hey are you two alright?" Leena asked them placing a hand on her hip.

"Y-Yep" Tazer answered nervously ad he walked up to the wolf, lifting his head up to make eye contact. "Timber. I'm really sorry that I was being hostile to you. I didn't mean to be like that" he apologized, his ears low as Adira stood by her friend, the lioness glanced at her, noticing her cheeks pink. "Adira. Are you good?" She asked her as her spotted friend averted her eyes from her. "Yeah totally. Don't worry. Tazer and I fixed it between eachother" she assured her friend, smiling nervously. But Leena was not convinced. She rarely so the leopard get nervous. Something was up.

Back to the wolf and fox, Timber smiled at Tazer and placed a hand on his shoulder. The arctic fox glanced back at him. "Don't worry Tazer. I know we barely know eachother and you're just trying to look out for your friends. That's what you do for a pack. That's what you and I do. Though, I do hope you will at least let me become part of your pack" he explained to him assuringly as the fox listened.

Tazer stared at him surprised. But come to think of it, he realized he hadn't been exactly welcoming to Timber. Or Adira. Looks like was going to have to work on that. He looked back at Timber and smiled at him. "A friend of Max is a friend of mine. So you're already part of our pack" he told him positively, his tail wagging as Timber smiled, glad to have that sorted out. Max and Leena smiled too, proud of their fox friend.

Meanwhile, Koda spotted his older brother down below. He remembered how they still needed to train for the Jungle Rite tomorrow. The little otter wanted to get ready for it and he was starting to get impatient a bit.

"Hey! Big brother! Can we train now?!" He yelled out as he stood up from the branch that Zinti and Bella were sitting on as they put the flowers but stopped when noticed the little otter. Max looked up at his brother when he called him. "Koda!" Bella and Zinti yelled as he jumped down on a vine, near Twitch who was on the tree. But because he was heavy...

SNAP!

It snapped under his weight and the rest of the vine wrapped around the tree got pulled down. It fell on Twitch, making him fall down along with Koda who slid down the trunk of the tree to save himself from the fall.

"Oof!"

"Twitch!" His friends yelled out alarmed, running straight to them. "By thunder!" Kara said alarmed as he helped Bella get down with his trunk. Higgabottom flew down to the ground and Zinti made an ice slide to get down. The otter was on the ground safe and sound, and rushed to over to untangle his friend who was disoriented.

"Twitch! Are you ok?" Spike asked concerned for his best friend as everyone gather around. Max and Timber started untangling him while Zinti waved her paw in front of his face.

"Aw yeah. I'm fine. I mean sure I fell down a tree, and my head is spinning. But yeah, I'm fine" he said as he felt dizzy, his skins changed colors due to him being shaken up.

"Goodness! I think he might've hit his head" Higgabottom said concerned. "Koda!" Max said angrily, looking at his brother. The otter shrunk back afraid as the lion stood up and walked up to him. "Koda! I know you want to train for tomorrow's Jungle Rite and get ready! But there is no need to rush like this! Our friends worked on the decorations and you ruined it. And you made Twitch fall! He could've been hurt!" He scolded him as the kit lowered his head, feeling guilty.

"Meh what's all that noise? Yawwwn" Magus spoke from Max's staff and he appeared out of it, stretching and yawning. He glanced down and noticed Twitch lying on the ground. "What happened?" He asked puzzled, tilting his head. Max looked up at the old spirit and glanced at Koda who avoided eye contact, his foot circled the ground

Max sighed as he glanced back at his old mentor. "Let's just say we need backup with the decorations Magus" he explained to him. Twitch resumed his blue color as Kara and Spike helped him up.

"And I need to have a talk with my brother" he said, placing a hand on his hip as he glared upset at Koda. The otter pouted, not liking to have his older brother upset with him.

"Max"

He heard Leena's voice and she placed a hand on his shoulder as he looked at her. "Go easy on him. I know he was being impatient and it got Twitch's head rattled like the Phoeinx was being shaken up. But you were like that too remember?" She reminded him as the lion thought about it. As much as he hated to admit it, she was right that there were times he rushed things without thinking. Despite Koda and him not being blood related, they had some similarities both good and bad. And Max didn't want Koda to have his bad similarities.

"Alright Leena" he told her as he walked up to kid. "Koda" he said his name, kneeling down to his height as his little brother glanced back up at him. The otter tugged on his sleeve nervously.

"Listen to me. I know you're nervous about the Jungle Rite. We both have no idea what the elders might throw at you or what challenges there will be. And I know you want to do good. But that doesn't mean you should be impatient and impulsive like this Koda" he explained to him calm yet firm.

"I'm sorry. Really. I didn't mean to get Twitch hurt or to ruin the decorations for the festival. I just wanna get ready for this challenge" the otter apologized regretfully. He was really nervous about it. He wanted to complete this challenge and do good in it just like his brother and Timber.

"Koda. I know how you feel about this" Max told him, placing his hands on his shoulders. "Believe me, I was just nervous when I did my Jungle Rite. I doubted myself of whether I can do this. But I didn't rush or panic. I took my time to think. I thought on what I can use to my advantage in the jungle before I made my move. And that helped me to pass my test. And I want you to do the same thing. Ok?" he advised him calmly.

Koda glanced down, thinking on his words. He knew it was true that he tended to rush things alot. Maybe this time he can learn to think before acting. He glanced back at his brother and nodded to him in understanding.

"Now come on. Let's help our friends with the decorations and then we can start practicing. But first...brother hug!" He told him and grinned misheviously, pulling his brother in and ruffling his head. Koda bursted into giggles as he tried to get out of his brother's strong hold. Max was glad to see him laughing and smiling. He hated seeing his brother down like that so it was nice to see him cheered up.

The two joined up to their friends were picking up the fallen decorations. "Alright guys. Let's get this jungle decorated and ready for the festival!" Max told them as he and Koda put their hands out and their friends walked up and joined in, putting their hands on top of theirs. Even Azalea.

"Let's decorate!" They all yelled excitedly and threw their hands up in the air. Everyone got back to work, walking around to the village and seeing what they can do. Twitch had to sit down so he can rest from that fall earlier.

Couple minutes later...

The sun was settting, illuminating the jungle with its orange sky. The gang stood in front of the Great Tree, admiring the decorations. There were white balloons, green palm leave decorations, lanterns on the trees that illuminated the whole jungle and pink flowers on the vines wrapped around the trees and much more.

"Wow" the friends at how different yet beautiful the jungle looked. It was amazing to see their hard work result in something magnificent. "So pretty. I can't wait to see how the festival will be like tomorrow" Zinti commented excited, clapping her little paws.

"This looks amazing. I can't thank you guys enough to helping out" Timber told them gratefully, patting Max's back. The lion smiled at him, glad to help an old friend. He glanced up to his brother who he had up on his shoulder. "Good job Koda. Ma and pa will be very happy about this" he told him as his brother beamed at him. Little did everyone know, Alghazal had been watching them in a tree, hidden in the shadows. His eyes went to Timber, Max and Koda and he smiled warmly at them, pleased of this cooperation among friends to set up the festival.