Chapter 1
It was a hot summer day in the Australian outback. The sun shines brightly and warmly. Trees, bushes, large canyons surround the entire area, and a large monolith called Ayer’s rock stands in the middle of the outback. A flock of kookaburras flew to the surface while a flock emus runs through the Australian plains.
A male Koala with an Australian accent named Steven sleeps at a on a Sydney red gum tree while sucking his thumb. He opens his eyes and says, “Wait, did I just do that?” The koala sighs as he puts his paw on the tree. Afterwards, he stretches his arms and yawns widely with his teeth showing and says, “Good morning troupers, good morning Kelly, Burchel, David, rise and shi…” He opens his eyes, looks up at the top of the tree, and sees that his group has disappeared. “What?” Steven climbs further and further up the tree until he hangs on a tree branch. “Where did everybody go? They all left without me? But where’s my…”
Steven looks all around the outback while he hangs on a tree branch until he spots another fully planted tree 6 steps ahead of him. “Oh I bet they must be over there!” Steven exclaimed, “I’m coming troupers!” The koala climbs down the tree, grabs a vine, and swings himself through the outback until he hits into another tree ahead of him. A snake approaches to him and hisses at him, causing to Steven to scream, “AAH! Wrong tree!” The snake chases Steven out of the tree and Steven swings another vine towards another tree ahead of him.
While in the tree, a large evil wedged-tailed eagle opens her wings widely and squawks. Steven screams in terror and the eagle tries to catch with her beak and her talons. The koala knocks her over with a tree twig as he runs up the tree trunk and the eagle chases him through the branches and bushes. Steven quickly jumps out of the tree while the giant eagle soars out of the tree with her wings opening. Steven lands on the ground and runs towards the fully planted tree ahead of him. The eagle flies towards him as he still continues to run. While running, Steven grabs a twig, wraps to of its tips with a fine, creating sling shot, picks up a rock, and shoots it towards the eagle. While she is hit, she continues to chase Steven and gets closer to him until he flips the tip of a medium sized tree toward her face, causing her to fall into the sky.
Steven rushes towards the fully planted tree and begins to climb higher and higher up to the surface. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a male voice with Australian accent says, “Good-day mate.” Steven is now startled as he screamed and slides down the tree to the source of the voice which reveals to be a male red kangaroo named Nigel. The kangaroo smiles and says, “Hello.”
Steven turns his head towards Nigel and replies, “Oh, man! You scared me, mate. Almost gave me the willies.”
“What brings you on this tree, mate?”
“Well, that’s for me to know and for you to not butt in about.”
“You’re trying to make yourself taller, aren’t you?”
“No, no, I’m not trying to make myself taller! Just because I’m short doesn’t mean I don’t have dignity! Now if you don’t mind, ‘sir’, I’m kind of in the middle of something.” Steven begins to climb up the tree.
“Oh yeah, like what?”
“Finding my family. What else?”
“YOU’RE family. Up in this tree?”
“Sure. Where there’s more plants, there’s more koalas.”
“I wouldn’t go up that tree if I were you.”
“Believe me, I’m what I’m doi…”As soon as Steven grabs another tree branch, a snake pops out of bushes and hisses at his face, causing him to fall off the tree trunk and hang on a tree branch where Nigel is standing next to.
The kangaroo giggles, “It’s a snake tree, you little ankle-biter.”
“Ay, I ain’t no ankle-biter, ya over grown rat! I’m Steven!”
Nigel says sarcastically, “Oh so you’re Steven!” Nigel jumps on a tree branch, “Well what coinkidink. I’m Nigel!” He puts his face down towards Nigel and says with a baritone voice, “And you’re trespassin.”
“Trespassin?”
Nigel jumps off the tree branch and says, “Just marked my territory, mate.”
“Marked your territo…” Steven looks down and sees bunch of kangaroo dung and urine at the bottom of the tree. “Oh God!” Steven kicks his short little feet back and forth and wraps them on the branch. The koala covers his mouth with paw as his cheeks swells up, almost causing him to puke. “Oh, I think I’m gonna be sick.”
Nigel laughs briefly and remarks, “you know if this task is too difficult for you, there’s no shame in calling it quits.”
“I ain’t quitten for nothing, mate! Especially, when my family is out there, somewhere.” Steven continues climbing up the tree.
“Hmmm, I don’t know, mate. It could be dangerous out here. Especially for a… cute little koala such as yourself.”
Steven stops climbing, slides one inch from the surface, and says, “Call me cute again, I swear to god, I will scratch you!”
“Hah, yeah right, you little ankle-biter. Hey why are your ears so freakishly big?”
“I don’t know, why are your legs so freakishly long?”
“Well why are you so freakishly…” Nigel lifts up his ear and hears the squawking of the wedged tailed eagle flying towards them. “Oh croikey!”
“Welp, that’s my cue. Goodbye!” Steven quickly climbs up the tree towards the branches, bushes, and twigs.
“Ay, you can’t go up that high, mate. That thing is gonna kill you faster!”
Steven continues grabbing one branch after another as he swings himself up the tree trunk and climbs it all the way to the surface until the eagle bursts through the tree and swipes at him with her claws while she bites him with her beak. The koala grabs a branch and fights her off with it. Steven falls off the tree and the eagle grabs his foot as she flaps her wings out of the tree. Steven hits the eagle in the chest repeatedly with his stick until Nigel jumps towards the eagle and kicks it down in the ground. Steven asks, “Wait, what the-
“There’s no time for that!” Nigel exclaimed, “We gotta move!” Nigel grabs Steven by the wrist, puts him on his back, and hops towards the Australian outback. The eagle rises from the ground and charges towards both Steven and Nigel through the desert-like plain. The flying eagle tries to catch Nigel with his talons, but the kangaroo continues to hop faster and faster through the plain. Nigel continues to hop rapidly up and down the slopes of the outback until he slides down the sand-like mountain while the eagle continues to pursue him. The kangaroo surfs and sways side to side as he zooms rapidly down the hill. Nigel exclaims, “Wooohoooo!!!! This is livin’, ay mate?!”
Steven responds, “Ah, if you call sliding down this enormous hill straight to our deaths while a giant vicious predator is trying to chase us and eat our bones, then yes! This would be livin, mate!”
Nigel takes three extra hops as he continues to slides downwards the bottom and responds, “Hang on tight, mate!” The kangaroo slides straight towards a giant thorn bush as he gets closer and closer towards it, causing Steven to scream horrifyingly as he clings onto Nigel’s back. Nigel slides further towards the bushes until he jumps 15 feet above the ground, hopping over the giant thorn bush until he grabs on to the edge of the mountain-like rock plates. He carries himself up the surface of the rock plates and continues to hop as the eagle continues to chase him.
The giant rock plate of which he hops on is staked enormously with a couple of other heavy stones below it and its measured to be 30 feet tall. The other giant rock plates ahead of it were staked the same way.
As soon as Nigel hops towards the edge, the large rock plate hurls over and budges into the other rock plate ahead of it. Nigel continues to hop from one giant rock plate after the other as they keep crashing down. When Nigel hops on the final rock plate, he hops 12 feet towards a ledge until he grabs a tree branch attached to it. The red kangaroo looks back at the eagle and continues to hop and slide down the hill until jumps from another hill after that. Finally, he jumps 17 feet from the mountain and fall right into a small chasm in the middle of the desert.
As soon as Nigel slides all the way inside of the chasm with Steven on his back and his paws and legs touching the walls of the chasm while looking up at the surface, the eagle soars towards the kangaroo as it continue to flap her wings and squawk. As she gets closer and closer, Nigel grabs the dirt-like sand from the ground and throws it into the eagle’s eyes as she flies away.
Afterwards, Nigel begins inhale and exhale with relief and says, “Its alright, we’re safe now.”
Steven makes a disappointed yet aggravated look on his face as he slides off his back and into the ground while Nigel lands safely on the ground. Steven still lies and on the ground and says, “What the hell was that!”
“Uh, how about, ‘thank you, Nigel, for saving my rear from what could have been a major tragety!’
“Ay, tragedy or no tragedy, I would have had that bird in the palm of my...’
“Alright, alright, lie down before you poop yourself, you little bush baby.”
“Will you just let me finish?!!”
“I Just saved your life and you couldn’t even thank me for it?”
“Are you bloomy joking, mate?! I’m a grown marsupial! I can take care of myself faster than what you can, ya overgrown rat!”
“Funny,” Nigel remarked, “I always, thought that you look more like a bear to me.”
“Bears are giant vicious behemoths with noses that are just as pointy as the snout of a Tasmanian devil.” Steven points to his nose, “DOES THIS LOOK LIKE I HAVE A SIMILAR NOSE TO A BEAR?!!”
“Mmmm, seems like it.”
Steven begins to moan in agony, “I need to get the hell out of here and see my troupers before night fall!!”
“Why are you stressing about this whole endeavor anyway, mate?”
“Why am I stressing about it?! This may come as shock to you, mate, but where I come from, I’m their leader and my job is to keep them safe!”
“So why did they leave without ya?”
“I don’t know? Maybe because I was too…demanding, controlling, I guess.”
“Wow, if I was your family, I would leave you right there and then, mate.”
“But that’s not point, you rodent! I needed to be with my family so that I can feel…you know…secure.”
“Are you telling me that your afraid of the outback?”
“No, no, I’m not afriaid, I’m not scared, I’m just….I just needed some company so that I would feel safe, alright?”
“Safety?” Nigel asked with curiousity, “is that what you think this fuss is all about?”
Steven makes a bored yet annoyed look on his face, “don’t rub it in so hardly, mate. We both know what its like in the outback.”
“Yeah, but its not all that dangerous out there. In fact, I have got a feeling that you’ll like it just the way it is.” Suddenly, Nigel sees a scorpion on Steven’s back while the koala still looks up at him. “Uhhh….”
“What? Why are you looking at me like that, mate?”
“Now Steven, just, don’t…don’t freak out.”
“Something is behind me, isn’t it?”
“Well…”
“Come on, be honest!”
“If I told you, you would totally freak out.”
Steven turns his whole body around towards the wall and then turns back to Nigel. “I don’t see anything behind me.” Suddenly, the scorpion stings his back, causing him to scream, “OW! God! What was that? A little…” Steven turns his head, sees the scorpion, and begins to panic as he screams and moves around while scorpion jumps off his back and runs away.
Nigel laughs and said, “I told you, you would freak out.”
“Alright, no more fun and games. I need to get to see my troupe before sundown! And fast!”
“Well there is this legendary Araborian tree in the middle of the outback, on the side of the river, which is a newly found habitat for an entire group of koalas who lives there as their own home.”
Steven rapidly climbs up to Nigel’s face, “Really? A whole group?!”
“Oh yeah, a thousand of them, males, females, joeys, at least from what I’ve heard from a kookaburra…”
“Well, what are we waiting for, we’re running out of time, lets go!” Steven jumps from his face and runs towards the exit until Nigel catches him on his paw and brings him towards his muzzle.
“Whoah, whoah, whoah, hold on just a minute, mate. Its not gonna be that easy going on a long treacherous journey by yourself.”
Steven sighs “Yeah, I already know that for a fact.”
“So that means I would have to take you there myself. But you’ll have to get something for me, first.”
“And what’s that, mate?”
“Berries.” Steven looks at him with annoyed look on his face. “Yes. You heard right. 20 blueberries from one of the trees next to the great pond otherwise I’ll starve to death and I will not be taking you anywhere. So here is the deal…you will give me 20 blueberries and I will escort you to the Araborian tree where you can see your troupe. And this task will only be for one minute. 20 blueberries. One minute. Can’t cheat, bribe, or squeal your way out of this one.”
“You know, I would be so happy reuniting with my own clan that I would forget I would even met you.”
“I knew you would see it my way. So my little teddy bear, do we have a deal?” Nigel lends his paw towards Steven.
Steven gives him a stern look on his face, “If I say yes, will stop calling me your little teddy bear?”
Nigel laughs, shakes Steven’s paw and answers, “Whatever you say, fuzzball. Alright mate, hang on tight!” Nigel puts Steven on his back and hops towards the exit and then makes a giant leap out of the hole and towards the Australian outback.
The kangaroo hops through the sand-like slopes of the outback as the wind gusts through their fur. Steven puts his paw against his eye and asked, “Is the sun always this bright like this?”
“Eh, you’ll get used to it when you get out more.” The two animals explored through the large mountain ranges as they head towards the large Australian oasis in the middle of the desert. A migration Australian birds of every species flies over the two animals as they head towards the oasis which reveals to be a land filled with exotic plant life and Australian animals such as emus, wombats, camels, echidnas, frilled lizards, crocodiles, wallabies, tree kangaroos, platypuses, and snakes. In the middle of it is a large river where the crocodiles go into. “Here we are, Stevo,” Nigel exclaimed, “Welcome to the outback!” Steven looks at the oasis in awe as he stares at all the animals that lived there. “Charming, ay mate? Why you should see it in the summer, that’s where those greens really pop!”
The red kangaroo hops through all the animals of the outback and continues hop through the oasis. “This is the outback?” Steven asked
“Oh yeah, it is.”
“But this looks more like an oasis.”
“Oh yeah that too, mate. Everywhere here is part of the outback, where the surface here soars, and the neighbors are as colorful as you get. Any typical species would enjoy being comforted in their own little zones inside of sinkholes and what not. But not us, we have everything we needed here. Food, safety, shelter from the trees, enough berries and leaves to feast on forever, and best of all, we, my friend, have water! Lots and lots of water!” Nigel hops on the river rock pathway that sticks out of the water. The Kangaroo hops on a crocodile’s snout and the crocodile rises out of the water, snapping his jaws at Nigel as he hops away from the river.
“AND CROCS, TOO?!!” Steven asked, terrifyingly.
“Yeah, why not, mate” Nigel answered, “They just come up every now and then, once you stumble into their territory. You get used to it.” Nigel hops through all the walking animals of the Australian outback.
An emu named Ellen walks on the side of Nigel and said, “Hey Nigel, whats up?”
Nigel responded, “Nothing to it, Ellen!”
A frilled lizard named Larry walks on the other side of the kangaroo and said, “Lookin’ good long legs!
Nigel responds to the frilled lizard, “Thanks Larry!”
Steven looks around and asks, “you know these animals?”
“Ha-oh, yeah, mate. We go way back! Especially since I was a little joey.”
“Alright, so, I get the berries, give them to you, and then its off to the Araborian tree like you promised.” Steven gets hit by a tree branch and falls off of his back. “OW!”
“Sorry about that mate.” Nigel picks Steven up from the ground and brings right on his back as he continues to hop through the wide-open oasis.
Steven sighs, “The sooner I get to the berries, the better!”
“Well I’m glad you said that, mate. Cause we’re riiiight… here.” Steven hops off of the kangaroo’s back and looks at the purple berry bush on his right side.
“Huh, blueberries on a bush, eh, no problem.” The koala begins to pick out the purple berries from the bush until Nigel stops him.
“No, no, no, no, mate. Not those kind of berries.”
“What?”
“Just from waaayyy up there.” Nigel points at the blueberries on the top of a Sydney red gum tree, leaving Steven with an awestruck reaction.
“That long way up there! On the top of that big red tree?!!
“Oh yes sir-ee!”
“Are you bloomy joking, mate?!! What makes you think that a short stubby little mammal like me can…”
“You are a koala, are you not?”
“Well of course I am!”
Nigel grabs Steven by the waist and places him on a tree branch in front of him. “Then its about time you should realize that climbing must come easy.”
“Have you even tried hopping up there?”
“Yes, but no matter how many times I do, I just couldn’t even reach up there. Look!” Nigel jumps up and down repeatedly as he struggles to reach the top of the tree while stretching his right paw. “See?”
“Couldn’t you just climb up there?”
“Uhh, Stevo, I’m a kangaroo! Does this even look like I’m built for climbing?!!! Look at my feet for crying out loud! They’re enormous!!”
Steven sighs with digression, “Alright. I’ll see what I can do.”
“Oh and there’s one other thing too.”
“I got this one, mate.” Said Steven as he climbs up the tree until a large snake pops out of the bushes of the trees and hissing at Steven, causing him to scream and fall onto Nigel’s paws.
“The snakes also live here.” Steven begins to moan in an annoyed tone of voice. “Ay, remember our deal, Stevo. You want me to take you to your troupe or do you want me to starve?”
Steven sighs again, “Alright, lets get this over with.” The koala climbs up the tree with his claws and looks up to where the snake slithers on the tree branch, hissing quietly and looking down at Steven. Steven leaps on a tree branch as he holds on it with a firm grip and quickly stands on top of it, staring at the snake as it hisses at him with its razor sharp fangs showing. Steven says to himself, “This is definitely how I’m gonna die.” The koala leaps through the treetop and lands on the upper length of the tree as the snake slithers towards him. Steven screams and climbs faster and faster up to the surface while the snake catches up to him as he slithers faster and faster around the tree.
Steven leaps on one tree branch after another on both sides while he climbs higher and higher up the tree. The snake catches up to him even more as it bites at him repeatedly until the slithering reptile charges towards him, causing him to fall down towards another tree branch until the branch pushes both Steven up towards the top of the tree. Steven continues to climb towards the blueberries until the snake bites him on his foot. The koala breaks a large branch off the tree and hits the snake off of his foot and tossing it away from him. The two snakes from the bottom slithers towards Steven as the koala climbs through the berries, grabs a stick full of berries, and peaks out of the tree as he reached to the top. Steven looks down towards Nigel and exclaims to him, “HEY, I GOT IT! I GOT IT!”
Nigel looks up to him with surprise as he stands on a rock next to the tree and says, “Whoah, I don’t believe it! Way to go, mate!”
Nigel places his tail on a porcupine’s quilts, which startles and hurts him, “OW! Wow!” the kangaroo screams as he jumps towards the tree causing it to slowly fall to the ground. Nigel slowly turns his head and utters, “Uh, oh!” The giant tree begins fall steadily as the all the animals of the outback looks at it with full attention. The small animals behind the tree scatters away and Steven hold on to the tip of the tree with his dear life. Nigel picks the quilts off of his tail and hops towards the end of the tree as it falls into the sand. Steven falls off the giant tree and Nigel opens his paws with his arms up as he hops rapidly through the outback, saying, “Don’t worry, buddy! I gotcha! I gotcha!” Steven falls right into Nigel’s arms as he pushed the kangaroo into the sand while holding him in his arms. The tree falls into the ground in front of him with a clashing booming noise causing most of the berries fall into the ground.
The Australian animals of all species gather around the tip of the fallen tree and devour all the blueberries from the branches. Nigel looks awe-struck with a worried expression on his face as he watches the animals eat the berries and carries Steven in his arms. “Well,” said Nigel, “That happened.”
“Yeah, it did.” Steven added, with exhausted tone of voice. “And also this.” Steven brings out a stick filled with blueberries and shows them to Nigel.
“Ayyy!!! You got what I wanted! Up top, Stevo!” Nigel raises his paw towards Steven and both of them high fives each other.
“Can you please put down, mate?”
“Yeah, sure thing.” Nigel drops Steven on the sand. The koala rises from the sand and shakes the sand off of his fur and then walks towards a rock on his four legs. Nigel picks and eats the berries from the stick. “Thank you so much for catching me these berries, mate! I’m starving!”
“Don’t mention it, long legs.” Steven walks up to a rock and lay down on his back, while catching his breath. “If you need me, I’ll just be laying down right here and expect to be carried off by some predator of some kind.”
“Really? But what about your troupe? Your family!”
“What’s good of achieving anything if you have to go through all that trouble…for some berries?”
By the time Nigel swallowed one of the berries, he looks worried and concerned at Steven and looks at his berries. “Have you…ever tried one of these?”
“Never had one, never will.”
“You sure about that, mate, cause these are some of the freshest blueberries in the outback! I think you might go bonkers for them.”
“Bonkers?” Steven gets up on his feet and walks towards him. “Nigel, ever since I had to woke up early in the mor…” Nigel stuffs the berries into Steven’s mouth and the koala yells with his mouthful, “What’s the big ide…” Steven slowly chews the berries in his mouth and continues to chew more and more as he starts humming with his mouthful, smiling with his mouth closed as he enjoys the flavor.
“Ah? Ah? Come on, mate! Are they the best or are they the best?!”
“Mmmmm!!!!!!” Steven swallows the berries blissfully, “Good lord! I haven’t tasted anything like it!”
“I know right!”
“Keep it coming, Nigel!” Nigel stuffs another set of berries into the koala’s mouth and Steven stuffs the berries into the kangaroo’s mouth in return. As the two animals eat and swallow the berries, they both laugh with each other as they continue stuffing berries into their mouths and faces. “BERRY FIGHT!” Steven throws a berry into his face.
“Well two can play that game, mate!” Nigel throws a few berries at Steven. The two animals continue to run and move around as they continue to throw berries at each other. Nigel swipes all the berries with his tail and Steven catches all berries in his mouth and falls off the rock that he was standing on. The kangaroo looks down to him and helps him up on his feet. “How about it, mate? You still wanna go to the Araborian tree?”
“Pfft, Of course! Why else do you think I’m out here?”
“Alrighty lets go.” Nigel swipes Steven on the top of his back and hops away from the fallen tree and towards the wide-open outback plains.
“Okay, so far, so good. We only have until sundown until we reach the tree. No more fooling around! Time to get serious!”
“Well, by the looks of the shadows on the ground and that sun in the sky, its still early morning so couldn’t we just have a little fun?”
“Hmmm… eh what the heck! What cha got in mind, Nigel?”
“Well…”
Nigel throws Steven up towards the tallest trees repeatedly to reach the mangos until he finally catches the mango fruit from the tree, splits it in half and the two animals eat the fruit.
The kangaroo hops towards the jungle, jumps up to a rock with Steven on his back, grabs a vine and swings himself through the jungle as Steven cheers with his two paws up in the air. Nigel swings on one vine after the other until he tosses Steven towards the vines and the koala swings and surfs through the trees. The two animals race each other happily through the jungle on their vines.
Once they make their way out of the jungle, a pack of hungry dingoes charges towards them. Nigel and Steven grabs the tree branches and fights of the pack with their branches while Nigel kicks the dingoes with both his feet and his tail and Nigel continues to hit the dingoes with his branch until he charges towards them with his razor sharp claws and teeth. The two animals grab a giant log from the jungle and knock all the dingoes away from them. The kangaroo and the koala high fives each other with a smile, Steven mounts on his back, and Nigel continue to hop towards the Australian outback.
Nigel throws Steven towards the air like a football and the kangaroo hops forward towards the top slope with his arms opened and catches him in his hand. Nigel slides down the enormous sandy slope of the hill with Steven in his hand and the two animals laugh with enjoyment. They look over towards the river rapids with a log right next to it. Nigel turns to Steven and asked, “Have you ever surfed on a log before?”
“Nope.” Steven answered.
“Welp, first time for everything.” He grabs Steven’s paw and hops towards the log, “Come on!” The kangaroo tosses the log into the rapids with his tail and leaps onto the log while he places Steven behind him. Nigel and Steven spread out their arms as they ride through the rapids.
“Are you sure this is safe, Nigel?”
“Just stand behind me, mate! And if anything happens just climb on my back!”
“Alright, I’ll, take you word for it.”
The two animals continue to surf on a log while riding through the fast river rapids. The water pushes the log further and further through the rapids, then the two animals surfs all the way down towards the slope of the river rapids. Steven smiles at Nigel and Nigel smiles back.
Suddenly, a crocodile bites at Nigel, causing him to climb on Nigel’s back. A pack of other crocodiles appears from all sides of the rapids and chases the two animals while their surfing through the massive waves of the rapids. Steven looks up to the large boulders, jumps up towards them, and knocks the stick off of them, causing the large boulders to fall on the crocodiles.
Steven lands on Nigel’s shoulder as the two animals high fives each other with their paws. Afterwards, the two animal friends continue to ride through the waves of the rapids as surf and slide through the river.
They ride towards the large and enormous waterfall; Nigel makes a gigantic leap from the log and into the surface with his large legs. The kangaroo continues to fly through the air as Steven rides on his shoulders, shouting, “WOO-HOO!!!” with his fists in the air. Nigel continues leaping in the air until hops on another log in the river and lands safely on the ground near the river. The two animals sit near a tree while sitting right next to each other, watching the river. “That…was, totally amazing!”
“I know, right?”
“Hey, um, thanks for saving me from that eagle, mate. I really appreciate it.”
“Ay, no problem, Stevo. That’s what we kangaroos do best!”
“Hey, um, I’m sorry if I call you an over-grown rat, or anything else I said about you.”
“My apologies too, mate. I guess we both got a little carried away.”
“Yeah.” Nigel and Steven laugh for a brief second. Steven begins to sigh, “Ay, mate, I got a little confession to make.”
“What is it, mate?”
“I’m not really the leader of my clan. More often than not, sometimes they just somewhat pretend I’m invisible. Literally, its just…when you happen to be in a large colony of koalas, you just happen to be the least important of your clan, you know?”
“Yeah, I know that feeling too, mate, I always feel like an outcast in my clan too. They just think I’m too slow to keep up.”
“I know, right?” The two animals laugh. “You know, maybe I don’t have to go to the araborian tree. Maybe I could just, hang with you.”
“You mean, as a roommate?”
“That and as a brother!” Steven lends out his paw, “What do you say?”
Nigel claps his paw into Steven’s paw, “I’d like that very much, mate.” Nigel brings Steven on his back.
“Outback bros?!”
“Outback bros!” Nigel hops away from the tree and hops through the large and enormous Australian plains, surrounded by grasses and trees on all sides.
“Now what would be the perfect place for us to stay in?”
“How about that big mountain-like rock over there?” Nigel points his finger towards a giant rock monolith called Ayers rock.
“You mean, Ayers rock?”
“Yeah, that would be the perfect place for us to hang.”
“Well what are we waiting for, lets go!” Nigel hops towards Ayers rock with Steven on his back.
Suddenly, they hear a loud screech of a large eagle. They look up and see the wedged-tailed eagle soaring towards them with her talons opened. The kangaroo hops faster and faster towards Ayers rock as the eagle tries to catch them with her talons.
Nigel hops towards the top of the tree and makes a powerful leap towards the edge of Ayers rock. As soon as Nigel climbs up towards the top of the giant rock monolith, the eagle hovers above them with her wings opened.
“I guess this is it, Stevo!” Nigel laments, “We’re done for! I never should have picked Ayers rock in the first place.”
“No!” said Steven, assertively.
“What?”
“I came too far to give up now! We chose Ayers Rock as our new home, now we have to fight for it!”
“Your right! This rock is our home! And we should fight for it!”
Steven picks up a branch from the ground of the mountain and responds, “Ready Nigel?”
“Ready Steven!”
The eagle flies towards the two animals that are standing on the top of Ayers Rock. “CHARGE!!!”
The eagle zooms towards Nigel and the kangaroo kicks the bird in the beak with his large feet while standing on his tail. The eagle fights off the kangaroo with her claws, wings and beak while Nigel fights her off with his claws, tail, fists, and feet. Steven lunges towards the eagle and hits her hard with the tree branch in his hand. The eagle knocks the koala off of her and the two animals fights each other with their claws until Nigel knocks the eagle away with his tail.
The wedged tailed eagle soars towards Nigel and the kangaroo swipes her away with her tail. Steven leaps towards the bird’s back and tries to pull her wings until the eagle pushes him up into the sky and catches him in her talon. The eagle soars through the other side of the plain and throws the koala to the other cliff near the waterfall.
Suddenly, Steven looks through the bushes and sees two eagle eggs inside the bushes. Steven opens his eyes and looks over towards the eagle behind him.
Meanwhile back at Ayers rock, Nigel puts up his fists, ready to punch the eagle as the bird unsheathes, ready to scratch the kangaroo until Steven climbs towards a near by tree and leaps towards Ayers rock, climbing with his claws while carrying two eggs in his other arm. When the koala finally reaches the top and says to eagle, “HEY!” The eagle lands on the top of the mountain-like rock and looks over to Steven’s attention. “Are these yours?”
The eagle walks towards Steven with a surprised look on her face and said, “Where did you find these?”
“I found them in the bushes near the waterfall, why?”
“I’ve been looking everywhere for these eggs.”
“So…you’re must be the mother.”
“Yes, I am.”
“Well, in that case.” Steven lends her the two eggs towards the eagle. “Alright, do whatever you want with me. Whatever your gonna do, I can take it.”
The eagle opens her giant massive wings and Steven looks away with his eyes closed until he feels her soft wings around his body. He opens his eyes and sees the eagle giving him a big warm loving hug with tears in her eyes. “Thank you!” cried the eagle, “Thank you so much for finding my babies!”
Steven hesitated for a second and responded, “Your…your welcome.” The koala hugs her back.
The eagle turns around towards the eggs, she counts them but then looks worried, “Wait! There are only two of them! One of them is missing!”
Nigel looks to the other side and sees another egg hanging on a tree branch on the other side of the rock monolith. The kangaroo looks to the other side and said, “Be right back, miss.” Nigel slides towards the tree branch. He hops on the branch, causing the egg to fall until the kangaroo catches the egg with his tail. While holding onto the egg with his tail, Nigel climbs up to the surface of Ayers rock, hops towards the eagle and lends her the egg, “Here you go, mam!”
The eagle flies towards his chest and gives him a big hug, “Oh thank you so much!” The bird flies toward the ground of the mountain, “I am ever so sorry I attacked you both. I just got so overreacted when I lost all three of my babies!”
“Yeah, I know how that feels.”
“I just went half crazy looking for my troupe at the Araborian tree.” Steven added.
“The Araborian tree?” The eagle asked, “I know where that is!”
Nigel and Steven said together, “You do?”
“Yes!” The eagle gathers all three of the eggs with her talon, “Follow me!” The bird flies towards the left side of Ayers rock, Steven mounts on Nigel’s back and the kangaroo follows the eagle to the other side of the monolith. While following the flying eagle, Nigel slides down towards the bottom and makes a powerful leap from the bottom of Ayers rock to the open plains of the outback.
Nigel and Steven continue to follow the eagle through the wide-open plains of the outback as he hops to the top of the slope. The sky soon turns orange as the sun begins to set.
When the three animals finally reach to the top, they discovered a large and enormous oasis with a gigantic tree filled with koalas called the Araborian tree. Steven reacts with a smile, “There it is!”
“The Araborian tree!” Nigel added.
Steven looks up to the eagle, “Oh thank you so much, miss!”
“Anything for you, gents!” said the eagle, “I better find a better place for these eggs, thank you both for everything!” The eagle flies to the other side of the oasis and the two animals wave their paws goodbye.
“Your welcome!”
“So long, miss!” Nigel added and then turns to Nigel on his back. “What do you say, Stevo?”
“Lets do this, Nigel!” The koala responds with a smile and the kangaroo leaps from the top slope and slides all the way towards the grassy ground and hops towards the giant tree.
The clan of koalas wakes up and from their naps and sees Steven riding on Nigel towards the tree. One of the koalas points his finger towards the koala, “Hey look! Its Steven!”
All the koalas smile and climb down the tree towards him and give him a big hug. A female koala named Kelly jumps towards Steven. She gives him a big hug, a kiss on the cheek and cried, “We miss you, Steven! Where have you been?”
“I was tagging along with my buddy, Nigel!” Steven answered. “He’s the real hero!”
Nigel waves his paw with a smile, “Hey, how are ya?”
“Where have you guys been?” Steven asked.
Kelly explained, “There was an enormous sand storm that swept all of us away! After the storm cleared, we tried looking for you but then we were chased away by predators! And that’s how we end up here!”
“We’ve waited so long for you to come here in this tree.” Said one of the koalas, “And it looks like you got an escort.”
“Well it was nothing really.” Nigel responded until a small rock hits him on the head.
The kangaroo looks to the other side and sees a group of kangaroos at the lake. A female red kangaroo named Jenny hops towards him and said, “Hey Nigel.”
“Oh hey Jenny,” the two kangaroos gives each other a big hug, “I wonder where you were all this time.” Jenny gives Nigel a kiss on the cheek.
“Geez, Nigel,” Steven smirked, “I didn’t know you had a mate.”
“You’re quite the lady’s man, yourself, mate.” Nigel remarked.
“He is right, you know,” said Kelly as she hugs Steven and gives him a kiss on the lips.
Steven leaps off the tree, stands in front of Nigel and said, “Thanks for everything, Nigel.”
“My pleasure, Stevo.”
“Alrighty,” Jenny added, “Lets get a move on. We gotta migrate.”
“Wha-…migrate?” Steven asked,
“Yeah,” Nigel answered, “Every now and then, we kangaroos would have to go to place to place to find more food.”
“Wha-...would I ever see you again?”
“Eventually. Though chances are we couldn’t come back until the next year or two. Or maybe for a long time.”
Steven begins to look sad, “So…I guess…this is goodbye, huh?”
“I believe so, mate.”
“Well,” Steven lends out his paw, “So long, Nigel.”
“Take it easy, Steven,” Nigel shakes the koala’s paw and hops towards the other kangaroos as they hop towards the field. Steven waves his paw in the air until he looks sad with his ears lowered.
Kelly jumps towards the ground, walks towards the male koala and said, “Hey Steven, are you alright?”
“Yeah-yeah, I’m alright,” Steven, responds with a sad tone of voice, “It’s just…well…I only just met the guy, and I never had any friend who would just be as fun as he is. I mean, I got ever wanted but…what’s the point.”
Kelly touches his cheek and turns him over to her, “Do what makes you happy.” Kelly kisses him on the lips, Steven smiles at her, and walks towards Nigel.
Nigel hops towards the other kangaroos with his legs pressing through the sand until Steven pulls his long tail, getting his attention to stop. “OW!” Nigel shouts as he turns his body towards the koala, “STEVEN, WHAT THE HECK!”
“Nigel!” Steven exclaimed, “I just gotta tell ya, those days of hanging out with you were the best I ever had!”
“What?”
“My whole life I’ve been living in a tree with other koalas and all we had to do is to stay there in case any of us would be in danger! I don’t want that life anymore! I want to explore to places I’ve never been! See things never I get to see! Meet new animals and…”
Nigel laughs with his paws up, “Say no more, say no more! Just climb aboard, mate.” Steven leaps and climbs up to his back. “Hey Jenny!” The female kangaroo got his attention, “You and the kangaroos take a five minute rest at Ayers rock. We’ll meet you there by nightfall.”
“Alrighty,” said Jenny, “Hurry back!” Jenny leads all the kangaroos towards Ayers rock in the distance.
“Thanks dear!” Nigel looks towards at Steven on his back, “Ready Stevo?”
“Ready Nigel!” Nigel hops towards the other side of the outback, leaps and slides down the slope, hops on a log in the river and surfs through the rapids towards the sunset.
The End
