I did a drawing of the otter named Henry from my previous drawing in his scouting uniform. I also wrote a bit of a pro-log to the story you'll find below.

Just a quick warning though, English was never my best class in school, but I read this over twice to remove grammatical and spelling issues, so please don't be too mad if I did let any slip through.

If you like the story let me know and I'll try to write more, if you don't also let me know, cus I'll never know what I'm doing wrong if no one tells me ^///^;

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this little pro-log story thing

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“State your name” barked the enormous half-dressed egret glaring down at the otter sitting on the ground before him with his hands bound. “H-Hail sir… Henry Hail” replied the otter smiling nervously, “I was reassigned to sergeant Crimson to help with scouting the surface, that would be you right?” The question was ignored as the feathered officer’s annoyance began to turn to anger. “Lies! Nothing but lies,” shouted the waterlogged waterfowl, “no solder under the sergeant’s command would ever do anything this rash without his approval! It’s unconceivable that anyone here would even think of doing anything like this and another thing…”

Henry began to space out reminded of the lectures he often received in survival class when he still lived in the ocean colony or colony 11 as most of the surface creatures call it. They were long and boring and normally about pay attention and this may save your life and bleh bleh bleh other boring stuff. They often ended with him having to clean up all the gross fish guts and scales at the fishery. It wasn’t much fun, but one of the fishing captains always let Henry take his pick of the days catch with him when he was done, so he couldn’t complain. The thought of fresh fish made his stomach grumble. It had been a while since breakfast and the rations Henry was given did not taste as good as what he was used to. It’s been a few days since he was forced to become a surface dweller, but he still wasn’t used to how everything worked up here.

A growling belly should have been the least of Henry’s concerns he realized as he was shaken back to reality quite literally by the enraged egret who was currently holding him by his uniform’s collar and shaking vigorously. “Do you see all the damage you have done!?! Look around! Half the camp is under water!” Pointing out over a newly formed torrent of water on the lower levels of valley encampment, the soaked officer continues shouting “you say you’re here to help!?! That used to be our communications center, and that used to the armory, and that… that tent washing up over here… is where I was sleeping until ten minutes ago when you showed up! We need solders, not a demolition crew… If you were really here to help, then what do you have to say about this?” Henry looked away slightly embarrassed and mutters “They told me to push a button, but there were a lot of them and… I picked the wrong button to push…”

The towering egret stood for a moment speechless exasperated by the response and now visibly shaking with rage. “You… pushed the wrong button…?” he shook his head trying to compose himself and then continued, “alright then… another question? What were you even doing in the caves on the valley’s edge? Those caves were dug when the first colonies were established. That’s a place I would not even think to send a seasoned scouting crew let alone a green pup of a scout like you.” Henry met the officer’s gaze now aggravated himself at the question as there was a really good reason for him to be in the caves. “Don’t blame me for that! We were forced to go into that horrible place by all kinds of horrible monsters and an evil group of bandits, and if I remember right it’s supposed to be the solders of camp’s duty to keep the roads safe between the colonies and the outposts!” Seemingly stunned by the outburst from his previously completely submissive audience, the egret officer begins to falter and stand a little more uneasily “H-How dare you say we aren’t doing our jobs right!?! Do you have any idea what you’ve gotten yourself into? I could send you into the nest of a rift worm with nothing but a stick if I wanted to!” This made the young scout’s heart sink; he had not been on the surface long, but he knew what a rift worm was. The massive subterranean insects are the reason why the first five settlements on the planet were lost and now sit three kilometers below the surface.

The thought of ever seeing a rift worm made Henry short of breath and rendered him unable to speak. “So what do you think that?” demanded the egret smugly. Henry was unable to answer; things just keep going from bad to worse so quickly he could barely think straight. Before the officer could continue, a gruff voice broke into the conversation “That would be exciting, but I say that it is a good thing that you do not have the final say then Edgar.” A brown bear much more massive than Henry but smaller than the large egret steps forward with a gentle smile and addresses the still half-dressed egret, “I wonder though, would you watch the trial in your underwear as well or is this just the garb you choose to wear when you play executioner lieutenant?” The lieutenant stood uneasily once more attempting to stay as straight as his modesty would allow him. “No sir! I did not have a chance to dress before we were flooded out sir! I have however been able to question the prisoner.” Readjusting his stance once more to try and keep from fidgeting, lieutenant Edgar looked in Henry’s direction. “This is private Hail, recently released into your command by…” The bear waves his hand to dismiss any farther comments. “I know, I know… I just finished a quick chat with the other two we scooped out of the flood.”

Henry’s ears perked up as he excitedly calls out “Other two? Are they alright!?!” The bear who Henry figured must be sergeant Crimson nods. “The medic from our patrol said they were with you, but seeing as they’ve been away for so long I sent him to the infirmary, and the hunter who was with you is right behind you. Would you mind untying private Hail before we continue?”

The familiar face of a tall black furred wolf emerges from behind Henry and laughs under her breath. “Are you sure about that? I sort of like him better this way… it’s harder for him to get into any trouble” Ignoring her attempt to keep him tied up and acting like he was a little otter pup that needed watching, Henry squeals gleefully “Raven! I didn’t think you were gonna make it out of there; I’m so glad to see you’re alright!” Raven shook her head and grinned with a sinister smile before starting to untie the excited scout. “Just remember this fish breath; if you ever do that to me again, I’m going to cut your tail off.” Henry stood and grabbed his tail apprehensively once he was free then shook his head to reassure her that he did not plan on doing that ever again; he liked his tail and did not want to lose it anytime soon.

Sergeant Crimson clears his throat to regain the pair’s attention. “So now that we know everyone is well, can I ask you what happened here? I received a message from our communications officer that you were supposed to have arrived a few days ago. What have you been doing since arrived on the surface? New scouts never last long up here without support, so how have you been able keep out of danger before finding your way into our caverns…?” At this Raven laughed audibly. “Keep out of danger!?! I don’t think I’ve never met anyone more danger prone then the fuzzy fish here!” The sergeant looked surprised at this and continued with his questioning “well… how have you managed to survive this long then?” Henry flashes a large smile and stands in the most heroic pose he can muster before answering, “You’ll find no better solder then me! I’m tough and can fight back any of the snarling beasties and evil badies you can…” a sharp jab of an elbow from Raven cuts Henry off. “Oof… Ouch! Why’d you do that!?!” Raven just lowers her head and shakes it. Henry then sighs and grinning sheepishly utters “I’m just really lucky I guess…” Raven quickly adds “and he’s really good at running away.” Groaning and remembering his now aching belly, Henry agrees and nods reluctantly. “Ya know what? Here let me start from the beginning when I first landed on the shore…”