Underlings - The Beginning

[Knalriki]

This story is based off of my RP "Underlings". It explains how the Big Cats and Underlings came to be and where the rivalry between the two began. This story is not separated into chapters. Instead, it is divided by the passing of seasons. Comments welcome! Have an idea for the story and want to share? Post your suggestion, and I just might involve it in the story!

May become a comic~


Characters:
Ranbul - A young panther with an unusually long tail and big yellow-green eyes.
Wintre - A short-tempered young panther with pretty blue eyes.
Caso - A somewhat nervous wild dog with big ears and brown eyes.


Without firther ado, let the tale begin!



WINTER

Normally, the forest was warm year-round. Life flourished here, given the gift of sun and lush, fertile soil. It was early in the season, though, and the wind wasn't as gentle as it usually was. It seemed to howl as it swept through the forest, bringing a strange scent with it. Among the creatures that lived there were two panthers, named Ranbul and Wintre. The two were young, and they had been drawn together after their parents, like may animals that lived there, had been shot by poachers and dragged away to be skinned for their pretty black pelts. Ranbul and Wintre were a lively pair, and they often annoyed other creatures that lived there with their noisy play. They themselves, however, didn't much care about what the other animals thought.

"Come on, Wintre!" Ranbul would cheer, bouncing around her. "Let's go to the river again!"

Wintre would grunt and put curl big black paws over her eyes in an effort to block Ranbul out, but her eager companion would insist on it until she caved and obliged. Ranbul knew she would, so he would keep cheering and bouncing in circles around her until she did. "Alright, fine," Wintre would grumble after several minutes of bouncing and cheering. "Lead the way."

So we arrive on a very familiar scene: Wintre curled up on a rock, her paws over her eyes, while Ranbul was, true to form, bouncing around said rock and chanting, "River, Wintre! River! River! River!"

"Ran," Wintre groaned, using her nickname for him, "would you do me a favor for once and shut up?" Ranbul, of course, just ignored her and kept right on chanting. Wintre was silent for a while, then she finally grumbled her usual "Lead the way." and they were off.

"Hey, Wintre," Ranbul said, his eyes bright.

Still half-asleep on her paws, Wintre just grunted.

"Do you think I'll catch a fish this time?"

Ranbul's friend grunted.

"Maybe it'll be a big one!"

Grunt.

"That would be so cool...Then we would have something nice to eat when we're done playing!"

"Mm."

"Hmmm.....But I guess we'd have to hide it, 'cos I bet that bird will try to steal it again."

"And?"

"Then it'll be all dry...I suppose we could try to open it before we hide it..."

"How about we eat it when we catch it?" Wintre suggested a little snappily.

"That sounds great!" Ranbul sang. He suddenly broke into a run, the excitement clear in his eyes. Sighing, Wintre followed. As annoying as she found him, she was glad to have someone to keep her on her toes. Life would be so boring without Ranbul around.

Ranbul stopped earilier than Wintre expected; she tried to stop, crashed into Ranbul, and the next thing she felt was water. Water, everywhere, in her nose, her ears, her eyes. And it was cold. She tried to find the bottom with her paws, but terror flooded her when she couldn't. She pumped as best she could to the surface, her lungs screaming for air. Finally, she broke the surface of the water with a splash. She gasped, drinking in the air. It was hard to stay afloat...Suddenly, she remembered who she had bumped into.

Panic rising in her, Wintre looked for Ranbul. She swung her head all around, looking for anything, but the water was unyeilding. "Ranbul!" she yelled. "Ranbul!" Something bumped into her. "Ranbul?" she said, relief in her voice. Her relief, though, was short-lived, as the thing bobbed to the surface, revealing itself to be a floating piece of wood. She grabbed onto it and started calling Ranbul's name and looking for him again. She was so worried about Ranbul that she didn't even notice a long-legged creature on the shore until it sank its teeth into her scruff and pulled her ashore.

"Hey!" she yelled, trying to fight against whatever it was. Suddenly, she was freed, dropped on the dry ground. She took a moment to catch her breath, then glanced up into the eyes of what looked like some kind of...dog. She curled her lip at it. "What do you want?" she growled, getting up. She stumbled and fell into a sitting position. Fine, she would look for Ranbul that way.

The dog ignored her and dove into the water. Shocked, Wintre carefully got to her paws and yelled, "Hey, wait a minute! Who are you?" The dog was a surprisingly good swimmer for a dog; Wintre decided to follow its head, bobbing over the water's surface. She followed it for a good while until it bobbed back to shore and shook out its splotchy fur. "Where's Ranbul?" she demanded. "Is he okay? Whi didn't you rescue him?"

The dog, panting, shook its head. "I saw him," it said between breaths, "your panther friend, I mean. He's okay, but headed downriver. There's no way I could catch up to him."

Incredulous, Wintre knocked the dog to the ground. It couldn't have been much older than she was, but she was still bigger than it. She pinned him there. "Why. Didn't. You. Try?" she growled, staring the dog in the face.

"H-Hey," the dog stammered, "I tried, okay? I would have, but he's was too far away, and the current's too strong here. Follow him if you want, he'll end up in some lake or something farther down, I'm sure, just let me go!"

"A lake?" Wintre said, getting off of the dog. "Where would it be? Hey!" she snapped, seeing that the dog was turning to leave. The big-eared canine froze and turned.

"It's pretty far," he said, "but I'm sure you could meet him there without losing him."

Wintre considered, then asked, snappy as ever, "What's your name, dog?" Her blue eyes glared at him.

"Caso!" he barked, jumping.

"Hm," she grunted, glancing at the river. "Well, if we're going to catch him, we need to go now."

"H-Have fun with--Wait, did you say 'We'?"

Winter turned back to Caso, a dark glint in her eye. "You lost him, now you're gonna help me find him. Now come on, let's go." She butted the dog with her head. Caso yelped and started off downriver, nervously glancing over his shoulder at Wintre every few moments.

----

The two had been following the river for some time now, and Caso had gotten a little more used to Wintre's presence, as had Wintre adjusted to Caso's. The duo had just climbed down a cliff, which the river cut into. The forest had thinned out, and now they were walking down a stony slope. Above, the moon hung, round and beautiful in the night sky.

As they continued down the slope in the silence, Caso said, "This Ranbul fellow sure seems important to you."

"We've spent almost our whole lives together," Wintre replied. "After the poachers killed my parents, I had no one to take care of me. I was completely alone. I spent several days alone, hungry and cold. I was so lonely back then; I was miserable. I considered killing myself. I'd thought, who would care if I died, anyway? My family was dead, and I had no friends."

"Sounds rough," Caso murmured, blinking. "I would've never imagined that you would try to kill yourself."

"I wouldn't think of it now, either. But back then, I didn't realize it, but I was sick. It wasn't like a cold or an infection, it was in my mind. I never thought I would have friends, that anyone I got close to would die. I had always thought it was my fault my parents had been killed--I was afraid that I had some kind of curse or something. So one day, I climbed up into the top of the tallest tree I could find. I was about to jump when I heard claws scrabbling on the bark below me. Sure enough, it was Ranbul." She laughed. "After he convinced me to come back down, I trusted him. He was, or rather, Ranbul is my stronghold. No matter what happened, I knew I could always find my way back to him. Back home."

The two were silent awhile. Finally, Caso said, "Wow. I guess if it were me I would go after him, too."

Wintre slowed to a halt. When Caso noticed, he turned, a question in his eyes. "Let's stay here for tonight," she said, gesturing to an overhang nearby.

"You don't want to keep going?"

Wintre shook her head. "It's really late, and from the looks of things, this is going to take more than a day or two."

Caso shrugged. "If you say so." The panther and the dog crept up under the overhang and curled up at opposite sides of the little den. They were both asleep in seconds.

~~~~

Wintre blinked open her blue eyes to see that sunlight was just beginning to peek over the horizon. She yawned, then turned to the sleeping form of her companion. "Ranbul, we need to get moving...We have to get downstream..." As her eyes adjusted to the drakness of the stone den and she saw Caso's spotted fur, the previous day's events came flooding back to her. The dog still seemed to be asleep, so she carefully slipped outside. Staring up at a tree near the river's bank, she finally leaped, scaling the tree with some effort until she was resting on a branch that hung over the stream. She stared at the churning black water, and wondered if Ranbul was even alive. She'd heard stories from some of the forest animals that most who fell in died...

She shook her head and looked downstream. In the dim dawn light, Wintre could just make out the shape of the stony hillside, how the slope gradually lessened, and stone turned to sand. Narrowing her eyes, the young pantheress realized she could just make out where the black thread of the stream became a black disk.

-----

To be continued....

[VesVes]

This is awesome! I can't wait for more!

[Hopping Rox]

Loving it, great job