A Choice Beyond Pride

Chapter 4 "Action Forest Exploration"

My sincerest apologies for those anticipating the continuation of this story. I suppose I became distracted by other matters, causing this story to lose priority. I will attempt to finish it now.

After an uneventful stroll to the outskirts of Unikingdom, Hawkodile, Unikitty, and Puppycorn arrived at the entrance of Action Forest. They stopped and gazed up at the torii gate standing in their path before walking beneath it.

The three friends immediately began exploring the strange environment, searching for any possible clues to help solve the mystery of Dr. Fox's disappearance.

"Be careful you two, danger could be lurking anywhere," warned Hawkodile, his stance alert and ready for battle.

"Aw, no worries, it's all good!" assured Puppycorn with a smile as he tripped on a rock he didn't see, falling flat on his face.

"Puppycorn, you need to be careful!" warned Unikitty in a loud whisper.

"Sorry sis," apologized Puppycorn. "I'm just excited when I get to do cool stuff with you and Hawkodile. Hey, I know! I'll go ask someone for help!"

"Who are you going to ask?" questioned Hawkodile, holding a massive log above the ground with one arm. "We're literally in the middle of a forest, there's no one here. And if there was, I'd definitely sense them for sure."

Puppycorn, not hearing Hawkodile's question, ran off in a hurry through some bushes. Not one minute passed before Puppycorn called out to his friends; "I found someone!"

Hawkodile and Unikitty glanced at each other with perplexed expressions. "Well, I'm not going to find her under this giant log," sighed Hawkodile, throwing the heavy object to the ground, "do we follow him?"

"I guess," shrugged Unikitty.

Their confusion ceased when they saw Puppycorn crouched on the ground, staring at a small black beetle. "Hi, what's your name? Mine's Puppycorn! Are you doing well? I know I am!" he greeted excitedly, wagging his stubby tail.

The beetle, being a beetle, didn't respond. It simply yawned and twitched its antenna, likely oblivious of Puppycorn's presence.

"Uh, lil' bro, thanks for trying to help, but that's only-"

"Shh, sis! I'm trying to have a conversation!" shushed Puppycorn, glancing to Unikitty behind him, "Rude!"

Puppycorn continued to stare at the beetle, expecting a reply as he gazed at it with big, curious eyes. Unikitty and Hawkodile stood there in silence for a solid minute, hoping Puppycorn would lose interest so they could move on. Unfortunately for them, the young pup remained agog. However, he did begin to grow perplexed.

"Huh, I think we're gonna be a while," said Puppycorn, sitting upright with his eyes remaining fixed on the beetle, "You might wanna go look somewhere else, I'll catch up. "

"Oh thank goodness, finally," sighed Unikitty in relief. "C' mon Hawkodile, we'd better go look around some more."

"Affirmative. I'm thinking we should investigate that tree with obvious, tiny scratch marks all over its trunk, indicating a struggle took place at some point," suggested Hawkodile, pointing to a tree to their right. "It makes me oddly... wary."

"What? Oh c' mon, don't be silly!" laughed Unikitty. "Why would a tree with scratches and a little bit of orange fur stuck to it have significance? Now that's just crazy talk."

Hawkodile broke into a nervous sweat. He hadn't noticed the orange fur! It almost looked as if something relatively small, orange and furry was dragged off by someone, and tried scratching at the trunk to get away; 'something' like Dr. Fox. Was she attacked by a wild animal?!