Chapter 4

Ned was walking around with Horton again through the jungle. But there was something funny going on. The trees seemed to be getting higher and higher and soon enough, Ned felt a little nervous again, just like when he had his encounter with Vlad.
  
  Horton noticed his friend was nervous and said, “If you really want to know, we’re coming towards the Wickersham Brothers’ home. Just be careful. They might kidnap you because they’ve never seen you or anyone like you before.” Ned nodded. He would try to keep his feet firmly on the ground so that what Horton said wouldn’t happen.  

Ned felt a tap on his shoulder. He freaked out, turning around. No one there. He continued to walk. After a while, he heard something and felt something brush against his hair. He looked up, but all he could see were trees.
  
  Ned kept walking. He tried to catch up to Horton, but came to a halt when he heard something go, “Hoo, hoo!” He whirled around and freaked out again, falling to the ground. This creature was blue or purple – Ned couldn’t tell.  

“Who…what…um…who are you?” Ned said, his voice shaky. The creature walked closer and said, “I am Wickersham Monkey. I am Yomu.” Ned tried to smile as he said, “Nice…nice to meet you…” The monkey smiled, but it was an evil smile. Ned stopped trying to smile and continued to back away, but it was too late.  

Yomu got him, grabbed him by the foot and brought him up into the treetops. As they went higher and higher, Ned opened his eyes to see what was going on. All around them, there were monkeys – many of them! Ned gulped. What were they going to do to him?  

When they got to the top, Ned felt Yomu give him to someone else. He looked at the new holder. This monkey was a little fatter. The monkey was looking at him weird. Ned grit his teeth – he was scared to death now. The Wickersham looked at his brother and smiled. “Good Yomu, he is good food.”  

Ned gasped. He looked around, trying to find a way to escape. But the only thing that kept popping up in his head was Horton. That finally gave him an idea. Ned took a deep breath and then screamed at the top of his lungs, “HOOOORRRRTTTOOON!!! HEEEEEELLLLLPPPPPP MEEEEEE!!!!!”  

Horton turned around. He saw, in the distance, Ned hanging from the tree. Horton gasped. He readied himself and then started to run, gaining speed. As he got closer to the tree, he lowered his head until finally, he head butted the tree, causing the Wickersham to drop Ned, letting him fall.

Horton looked around to find a way to make sure that when Ned fell, he didn’t get hurt from gaining speed. Horton finally found a log on a high rock. He grabbed a big rock with his trunk and got top of the rock and onto the log. He measured the time and where Ned would fall.
  
  When it was exactly right, he threw the rock onto the other side of the log hard, which launched him into the air. It seemed as though he wouldn’t get there in time, but luckily, he extended his trunk and Ned landed on it and slid onto his back and hung on.  

Horton looked at Ned and said, “Hang on, they’re going to be following us for a while now. Just hold on tight!” Ned nodded, happy that Horton had saved him. Horton ran for a long while and it seemed like he would never stop.
  
  They passed by many places, destroying plants and trees and throwing people off. The Wickershams followed until they finally got tired and stopped, going back. Horton looked back to make sure they weren’t following anymore. Bad idea. When he looked back, he saw a mud puddle, but it was too late to stop.  

Horton said to Ned, “Get ready! We’re about to get dirty!” Ned looked up and forward. He groaned, but knew that Horton couldn’t stop at the speed he was at. Ned closed his eyes and after a few seconds, felt liquidy goop all over him.  

He opened his eyes. Horton looked at him and he looked back at Horton. They both started laughing. “That was fun!” Ned said through laughs. Horton nodded. “I haven’t had this much fun since I don’t know when!” Ned smirked – he had an idea – as he picked up a handful of mud and threw it at Horton who laughed.  

After playing in the mud for a while, they walked over to the pond to wash off. Horton used his trunk to get the mud off of him. He turned to Ned, “Hey Mayor, ya need any help?” Ned shook his head. “I’m fine!” he said, shaking himself off.  

Now it was Horton’s turn. He sucked water into his trunk and then poured it over Ned’s head. Ned was saturated now. He looked at Horton. “Thanks…” he said sarcastically. Horton smiled as if Ned had said it without the sarcasm.
  
  “Want some more!?” Horton asked, sucking in more water. Ned panicked and tried to run through the water, but the jet of water, pushed him straight in. He tried to say stop, but ended up with a mouth full of water.  

He got up and, and before Horton could shoot more jets of water at him again, he grabbed his trunk and faced it towards Horton, making it so when Horton pushed the water out, it would go towards him. It worked! Now Horton was soaked. Ned laughed, still holding Horton’s trunk. Horton joined in until they heard a dark and dangerous female voice make a ‘hmph’ sound. They gulped and turned around.  

###  

Chapter 5

“I should have known you would be such a trouble maker!” Kangaroo growled, looking at Ned. Horton stepped in front of Ned. “It wasn’t his fault, honest! The Wickshams brought him up to their home. I had to save him! We got away, but accidentally landed in mud and had ot wash ourselves off. We had a little water fight and then you came along and started yelling and…”  

Kangaroo interrupted. “I don’t care. You have destroyed many things in Nool as you were ‘running from the Wickershams’! I will not have that happening.” She looked at Ned, who was blushing. How long had she been watching us? he though. She ignored his now-really-red face and said, “I am very disappointed in you. I expected much more from a ‘Mayor’. I’m afraid to say it’s time for you to go back to…”  

Horton jumped in front of her. “NO!” he shouted. She gasped. “What was that!?” Ned looked at Horton, stunned as well. Horton seemed to almost be in tears. “You can’t!” he said, his voice a little strange due to the fact that he was holding back tears. “I haven’t heard from him for a whole year and now you’re making him leave!? WHY??? He didn’t do anything wrong!!”  

Kangaroo was astonished. She had never seen Horton so upset. For once, she actually felt back. She looked at Ned. Then, she sighed. “Oh! All right! He can stay! But he has to go back once in a while!” Horton smiled and gave her a hug. He turned to Ned, who was smiling. Horton then shouted to the sky, “YES!!!!” He was crying Tears of Joy!  

***  

“I should really be getting back now,” Ned said. It was getting dark and the forest seemed a little scary to Ned. Horton grabbed Ned and pleaded, “lease!!! Stay tonight!!! Please!!!” Ned looked down and said, “But I haven’t seen my wife, Sally, all day. She might be worried about me.”  

He looked back up and his expression changed from sadness to guilt as he saw Horton’s face was an ultimate pleading. Ned couldn’t help it, so he groaned and said, “Fine…but I’m leaving and going back tomorrow…” Horton hugged Ned, “Thanks Mayor!”  

When it was around 10:00, Horton and Ned went to sleep. Horton lay down, Ned leaning against his side. Morton decided to join them and slept on Ned’s lap. Horton smiled as he watched his friends sleep peacfully. Finally, he went to sleep himself.  

***  

Though all of them were sleeping peacefully and safely, others were not. For deep in the jungle, there was danger. Though no one knew it at first, but there was a new villain in Nool named Leo. He was a lion trying to kill Kangaroo so that he would become the new leader of the Jungle of Nool…  

***  

Jessica, a kind of bird, was sleeping when she heard a noise tat wok her up. It was like a low growl. She listened closely as the growl became more recognizable, but it still wasn’t natural to her. There was no one in Nool who made that type of noise. So, she decided to get up and investigate.  

She walked around, following the noise, making sure to be quiet as she walked. But what she didn’t know was that no matter how quiet she was the creature would always hear her. Jessica didn’t realize this at all as she wandered farther away from her family and into the darkness of the Nool at Night…  

When Jessica was at the berry bushes, she stopped and listened. The noise was gone. She listened closely…but, “ROOOAAARRRR!!!” She screamed and ran as a giant beast jumped over the bushes and attacked her. She escaped just barely, but the beast left a single scratch right on her beak.  

She ran as fast as she could, darting this way and that! Everywhere, she could hear the sounds of swift moving paws, low and evil growling, and could see the evil eyes of the beast. She ran forever, the beast running after her, occasionally it would catch up and try to get her again.  

Finally, she found a high enough tree and used her small wings to fly up. The creature tore off a bit of her feathers as she flew up, but nothing more. She watched as the beast slowly backed away after a while. She didn’t know who the beast was, just that he wanted to kill and only kill…

--To be Continued.--