The Black & White Saga: Chapter 1 - A baby critter

A defenseless pink little ball rolls down the grassy hill, and tumbles to a stop before the embankment a little ways from the river's edge. The little critter unfurls on the soft grass, and supports itself unsteadily on its small little paws. The thin layer of white fuzz on its delicate pink skin trembles like a leaf shaking in the gentle breeze.

"Little Skye, where did you go?" a clear, pleasant voice calls out.

"Mii…. mi mi mi, miiiii," whined the little pink fuzz ball.

The sound of soft foot steps coming from the top of the grassy hill fell into rhythm with the rushing sound of water flowing down the river. Soon a girl in a loose long black wind breaker, and soft fitted dark pants walked down the grass covered hill. Lunette spotted the little pink fuzz ball waiting for her near the embankment, its delicate newborn eyes squinted into a thin line in her direction, as if accusing her of taking too long to find him.

"Alright, enough of your little temper," the girl said as she walked up to the embankment with a small smile, and bent down to pet the little critter on its fluffy head.

"Miiii….." purred Skye.

The girl lifted the pink fuzz ball into her arms and headed into the bamboo forest next to the river. At the edge of the forest, short spiky plants with long buds can be seen growing in rows, like a fence between the bamboo forest and the grassy hill. This spiky plant was called the steel rose. With its extremely tough metallic roots that spread out like a wall below the surface of the ground, it is a natural barrier to control the rampant growth of the bamboo plants from spreading beyond the forest. Lunette's thick dark brown short boots crunched on the stones and dried leaves that lined the path on the forest floor. Attracted to the girl's warmth, Little Skye quickly snuggled into her wind breaker. Along the road, the girl occasionally stopped to dig out some tender bamboo shoots and tossed them into the woven basket on her back. The short, simple dagger she pulled from her basket made quick work of separating the newly sprouted bamboo from its roots. There was no need to worry about over harvesting, as bamboo tend to grow back very quickly. The forest was plentiful and vast, so she quickly filled her basket with bamboo shoots.

After walking for about an hour, Lunette and Skye came to a wide clearing in the bamboo forest. Skye lifted his head up, and scanned the clearing, while twitching his little nose in the air. One end of the clearing lead to a quaint wooden bridge that linked both sides of the riverbank. The other end of the clearing lead deeper into the bamboo forest. Among to shades of green of traditional bamboo, small patches of red and purple could also be spotted in the sea of bamboo. The bamboo with tints of red or purple in its leaves and stalks are variations of the traditional green bamboo plants. The red bamboo contain fire elements, and the purple bamboo contain lightning elements. They are rarely seen due to the unique conditions that are required for them to grow. They spread sporadically through out the huge bamboo forest from two of the mountains that exist deeper in the forest. Mount Phire, which lies to the west of the river, and Mount Maelstrom, which is located directly to the north east of the clearing. Mount Phire is a dormant volcano where the red bamboo thrives. Mount Maelstrom, is the tallest mountain in the bamboo forest. Every time there is a thunderstorm, lightning would strike the top of the mountain, thus leading to the evolution of the purple bamboo. Lunette and Skye trekked quickly toward the side of the clearing heading to the depths of the forest.

"Whoosh!" All of a sudden they felt their surroundings heat up quickly, and see a bright yellow orange ball of fire flying toward them.

Lunette sighed, while Skye opened his mouth in shock and held his little fuzzy cheeks with his tiny paws. Lunette lifted her hand and formed a light transparent shield around herself and Skye. When the fireball hit her shield, the fire elements scattered and dissipated into the air.

As they walked closer to the edge of the clearing, they saw a small hill of bamboo stalks piled on the grass. Most of the bamboo were light green, but there was one stalk on at the edge of the pile that had a reddish tint. At the left side of the bamboo pile, another pink critter with fine white fuzz could be seen laying on its back, with its head near the end of the reddish bamboo stalk. One paw was stroking its round belly, while it rolled its head back comfortably, and squeezed its eyes closed in contentment.

"Burp… " A small fireball came out of the mouth of the little pink fuzzball on the grass, and fizzled out until only a round black scorch mark is left on the grass. More scorch marks could be seen in the vicinity of the area where the tiny critter was resting.

Lunette's mouth twitched, and she called out in a stern voice, "Gaia, was the red bamboo tasty?"

The little critter on the ground jumped up immediately upon hearing Lunette's voice. Gaia spread her paws out while shrugging her shoulders, and shook her head while she cutely squeaked out, "Miiiimi mi."

Lunette and Skye simultaneously glanced at her right paw, which still had traces of red bamboo sap all over it. Gaia followed their eyes to her right paw, and quickly hid her paws behind her back, before squinting her eyes and smiling at them even brighter.

Skye held his head in his hands and shook his head slowly before giving Gaia a helpless look. His silly little sister thought she could get away with it after eating red bamboo sap behind Lunette's back. She specifically told them before they left home today that they could not eat any parts of the bamboo yet. Their infant bodies cannot currently handle directly consuming bamboo, especially not bamboo enriched with spiritual energy. Though both cubs were over one week old, Arcadia's spiritual energy rich environment enable spirit beasts like them to develop their awareness quickly. They currently have the intelligence of human toddlers.

"No bamboo milk for 3 days," Lunette announced. Gaia gasped in horror, and immediately rolled back onto the grass, and pretended to faint with one paw over her head. Holding her dramatic pose for three seconds, she then opened one of her eyes to peak at Lunette's reaction. Skye rolled his eyes at her act.

Lunette kept her poker face on and ignored her antics. Inside however, she was struggling not to smile. Her inner heart was swooning over how cute the two little cubs were. Little Gaia was not even two weeks old yet, but she already knows how to use her assets to her advantage. If she indulges her too much, she will become a spoiled cub in no time. Little Skye was just too adorable. They both are. She fears it will be too easy to be tempted to spoil them rotten. "Sigh… Child care is not easy…" thought Lunette.