CHAPTER 1
Ivy and Bella lay in a warm patch of sunshine. The town they were in at the moment, Zanesville, ws an ordinary stereotypical town. The houses were small Victorian houses, and since the townsfolk were such nature lovers, they had many lush bushes and trees. They called it the Zanesville Forest.
Beams of sunshine shone all around them, warming everything in sight. It was a fairly happy day, as you could put it. But every happy day must have a downside and a silver lining. The other strays that lived in Zanesville were the downside, as friends were the silver lining.
A mangy mutt came up to them, snarling in defiance. Zanesville had many strays because the folk were nature and animal lovers, and they had lots of chickens. They feared that the animals would hurt their chickens, so they did not have any house pets.
"You," the mutt growled, curling his lip ferociously. "Are in my territory. GET OUT, YOU DISGUSTING STRAYS!" He started barking at the top of his lungs, and he moved around while doing it, so he sort of looked like he was trying to resist hurting them, which he was way too small to do.
"It's not your territory," Ivy retorted smoothly, lashing her tail furiously. Why did every other stray want to fight for territory? "You're a stray as well as us. So we can hunt here and you can't claim it." She huffed and glowered at the dancing mutt, who had stopped at this time.
"Yes, I can. You're so dirty! I'm a mixed breed, you have to respect me! A mixed breed like me would keep himself clean. I'm not purebred, but at least I am neat! Unlike you!" The mutt huffed, eyeing them in disgust. He glowered back at Ivy, still snarling. His tiny legs had rashes on them, and his torso had a wound. He was in pretty bad condition to be fighting them.
"You might be clean, but you're selfish. Well, if you can claim this territory, then we can too. Want to fight for it?" Bella said coolly. She wagged her tail in satisfaction, knowing that he'd surrender because he was facing two animals. Specifically, strays like him. Bella knew she could hit him and then he'd run away, whimpering, but he was very young and foolish, so she couldn't do it.
"Uh, actually, I need to go now and find food in the trash," The mutt muttered. "Goodbye." He sprinted away as fast he could, which was slow compared to Ivy and Bella. He was a small mutt, probably maltese-pug mix. He was sauntering instead of running, so he looked like he was dancing again. Pretty awkward, right? They thought so, and they were already turning red from trying to resist laughing at the maltese-pug mix, who was shooting them dirty looks.
"Obviously he couldn't fight two to one," Bella rolled her chocolate-brown eyes. "Scaredy-squirrel." She scratched her ear. Two fleas had nestled in, but they scrambled out frantically when Bella was scratching.
"I gotta hunt now. I'm getting hungry. You see if you can find any good stuff in the trash," Ivy meowed. She bounded nimbly away, tail flicking. Her jet-black pelt disappeared in the shadows.
A scavenging mouse darted into a hidden patch of grass, nibbling a seed that had fallen onto the ground. A sunflower seed, since the townsfolk mostly ate them. The mouse pricked its ears, suddenly alert. It squeaked twice, then went back to eating the sunflower seed, humming a soft tune to itself as it chewed, its cheeks puffing out like an average chipmunk.
Ivy crouched, slinking silently toward the mouse. She braced herself, then she sprang. Her paws slapped the mouse onto the ground, and she gave a swift killing bite to the neck, and the mouse fell limp under her paws.
She dug a hole and buried her mouse, then caught a squirrel and a thrush. She stuffed her mouth and took the mouse back and headed for their temporary camp. Guess what happened when she arrived?
"Bella!" She called, her mouth stuffed with prey. "I got food! Time to eat!" She sat down and spat the prey out, relishing the taste of fresh-prey. So good… I must savor this… She thought, closing her eyes.
Bella padded out from under a bush. "I was doing my business." She sat next to Ivy in the center of the clearing awkwardly. She muttered something under her breath that Ivy couldn't hear.
"You mean…" Ivy stuttered, unable to say the next words. She coughed, shuddering, her tail curling around herself protectively. She definitely didn't want to say the wrong words to Bella, the ultimate fighter.
"Shush!" Bella barked, taking a bite of squirrel, her favorite kind of prey. "Oh, wait. Who's going to get the thrush?" She cocked her head curiously, waiting for Ivy's reply. After that was a long moment of silence.
"We'll save it. If there's no prey tomorrow, we'll eat it," Ivy meowed flatly, eyeing the plump thrush. Its legs stuck out at an awkward angle and blood marked its neck where Ivy had injured it.
"I'll carry it," Bella offered, shrugging. "You hunt, so I don't really have a job except guarding our leftover prey." She pretended to lunge at an intruder, bowling the air over and raking her claws at the dirt.
"I'm going to sleep. It's a full moon tonight, so you can do your howling ritual thing…" Ivy yawned and padded under a bush. Scraping moss into clumps, she turned in a circle and flopped down into her nest. In a few moments, she was asleep.
Bella did not howl. She sat, looking at the moon and stars that were flashing ever so brightly at her. She had a flashback to when she first met Ivy, the wonderful, old time where they'd become best friends. Bella wished she could still have that moment, over and over again.
She barked, scrabbling uselessly at a tree. The squirrel disappeared within the leaves. Her stomach was going to burst. Her ribs showed a sign of weakness that any predator would take as a sign of prey.
An agile black figure gracefully swept past her, leaping onto the tree after the squirrel. Within a moment, the figure appeared with the squirrel in her mouth. She was a sleek black cat, an American Shorthair.
"Want to eat it?" The cat asked, shoving the squirrel to her. She shrugged nonchalantly like she didn't care about prey. The squirrel was so tempting, a plump brown figure with juicy flesh that would sure make a good dinner.
Licking her lips, Bella ate slowly, feeling much better afterwards. She savored the tang of blood and flesh in her jaws at the moment. It was her instincts as a wild dog, a stray that fought for her own survival in the world with mysteries. "I'd like to accompany you," She announced. "My name is Bella. Nice to meet you."
"I'm Ivy. I'm sure we'll be good friends." Ivy meowed, and they traveled away, town after town. The two had traveled past the mountains, visited many villages, and met new friends on the way, having lots of fun and making new beginnings.
Bella yawned, with the thrush in her mouth. She padded to the bush where Ivy was sleeping, her black flanks rising up and down. Bella curled next to Ivy, the prey safely hidden between the two, and she fell asleep, falling into a dark hole.
The next morning the two friends woke up at dawn, and they took their prey, said goodbye to their temporary camp, and set off to the next village. Bella winced as she stepped on a pebble.
"We should head North. That's what Arrow said. You know he's good at directions." Ivy suggested. They headed North, and eventually, after a few hours, they saw a village in the distance.
Ivy thought about Arrow, her best friend before she met Bella. Arrow was a golden American Shorthair, like Ivy, except the fact that Ivy had black fur. She had known Arrow since they were little kittens, and before Ivy and Bella left Riverdale, Arrow had told them that he had traveled to villages before and to head North. He had said they would find a diamond kingdom called Diamond Kingdom. Inside there was a huge palace all made of the most expensive, strongest diamond walls with a whole army of defenses and they had the most gold in the world.
"Alright, then. I think we should get to that village first. It looks like there is a lot of prey there. We could seek more advice from strays there!" Bella suggested. Her silky light brown fur swayed as they bounded on excitedly.
It was dark and creepy, each shadow looked like arms reaching out for them, to snatch them and kidnap them. Even though it was only morning, the shadows made the forest unnecessarily eerie. Bella gulped as the sound of a hawk echoed menacingly through the foggy air.
Ivy made it through first and located the small province once more. "Come on. Bella, we're almost there!" she exclaimed, her tail waving excitedly. "We're here! We're finally here!" Ivy gasped. The large village was busy with people. Cars honked, lights flashed, and the beautiful aroma of pizza drifted in the breezy air.
"Whoa," Bella breathed. "The sign there said that this place is called Flowtown!" There were a lot of dogs, but they all had strange wrapping clothes on with long lines that a human held. They were basically connected to each other. "Why are those strays attached to strangers?" Bella asked, curious to know the answer.
"Arrow's friend, Delaney, told me that some people keep strays as pets. To make sure those strays don't run away, they put them on a rope that I think is called a leash…" Ivy replied, lifting her head up to the sky thoughtfully. "I wonder if we can talk to them if they know directions to Diamond Kingdom.
The two strays swiftly moved away from the road and settled in a small area at the corner of a park. The bayside park was a small area for the community of Flowtown to relax and exercise. On one half of the park there was soft grass under your feet and it was super comfortable and nice to lie down on. On the other side of the park was a beach with sand and salt water. In the summer many people would come and sunbathe in the nice warm sunshine. But since it was Autumn, the leaves were covering the ground and the beach was ever so cold, it was closed.
As Bella and Ivy were searching for prey, they saw a lonely Golden Retriever sitting on the sidewalk. "Hi, my name is Bella. What's yours?" Bella asked politely, trying to keep her face straight as a little bit of pity crept into her eyes.
"My name is Angeline, and I'm absolutely starving!" Angeline sighed, eyeing the squirrel in Ivy's mouth, looking as if her mouth was watering. She looked up desperately and longingly at Ivy and Bella. "I…" She shook her head and lied down, fiddling with a paw.
"Oh, in that case, you can come eat with us, we have nothing else to do today," Bella said, shrugging. She smiled brightly at Angeline as her eyes filled with delight. "Just our usual traveling, you know."
"Okay, thank you so much! I haven't eaten in days!" Angeline exclaimed, sighing in newfound relief. She gobbled it all up in one bite and let her tongue loll out, panting to get cool air.
They led Angeline into their little corner spot and plopped down the squirrel. The Golden Retriever gulped it down with a few bites and licked her lips, getting all of the flavor off her mouth.
"Mmm! That's the best food I've eaten in years! I mostly just scavenge in the trash cans. The humans leave lots of food there, but be careful of the brown stuff, my mother died of it. I think it's called chocolate and it's poisonous," Angeline exclaimed. "Make sure to never eat it, it'll kill you, or you'll get badly injured."
"I'll make sure I never eat it! I want to journey to Diamond Kingdom and achieve my goals! I think I've heard about chocolate…the wise and old dogs back in my old neighborhood called it 'the goo of death', and of course everybody laughed at that!" Bella giggled at the thought.
"Well, I heard of the goo of death from–oops, I mean chocolate from my mother," Angeline shrugged. "She's overprotective, so she taught me about poison ivy, Botulinum toxin, and salt. A lot of things to worry about."
"I'm going to hunt two more pieces of prey for Bella. I'll be right back!" Ivy hurried away, pouncing on a vole. After that she went after the small robin that perched on the ground while Bella clawed the vole on the ground.
Angeline stared in awe and amazement as Ivy hunted, flicking her tail gracefully. "Wow, where did you learn how to hunt?" She asked. "Strangers just fed me some meat and I ate it up."
"Ivy taught me a little bit on the way here, but I still haven't gotten it that much yet," Bella explained, her chocolate brown tail wagging as she puffed out her chest importantly. "After all, I can fight!"
As the afternoon passed, Ivy was teaching Angeline how to hunt, pounce and double catch. They laughed and played around until it was about time for dinner. They all lay on the ground, panting and wheezing.
Bella and Ivy waited until Angeline came back from her hunt, when she came back she got a cardinal, ground mole, and a rabbit in her mouth. She trudged over to the corner spot and spat out all of the food she got.
"I did the best that I could," Angeline said, grinning embarrassedly. She took the cardinal for herself and tore out meaty flesh and devoured it, chewing loudly, then swallowing. "It's not really a lot."
"Oh my diamonds, Angeline, the rabbit is the hardest prey you can get because they're so fast and good at dodging, I've only gotten a few in my life!" Ivy said. "You should come with us to continue our expedition, we really need you!" Ivy looked serious, as if they were in terrible danger.
"Ivy and I are on a quest to find the Diamond Kingdom. It's really rare and we are going to leave this town tomorrow, so you should make your decision now," Bella explained. "We're going whether you like it or not, it's a really important expedition to us, you don't know what it feels like."
"Okay, okay, I'll go with you. I've heard of this before, my friend Mochi told me that if you find the kingdom then you get a prize," Angeline responded, shrugging, a faraway look in her eyes. "I'd absolutely love to get a prize! I'm a nice but competitive dog, but I'd definitely not be a bad sport!"
"Great! We'll leave tomorrow morning," Ivy meowed cheerfully, shoving the plump rabbit toward Bella, who looked up at her with a shocked expression. "Bella, you deserve it. You guard the prey, so you should get as strong as possible, to defend the food we have."
"Come on, it's getting dark. We better make a den, we might meet some unwanted creatures," Angeline suggested. She scraped some moss from the ground and piled it into a circle. "This is all the moss we have, so we'll have to share a nest."
"Um, I don't really like to touch other animals, I'd rather sleep on a tree where there are soft leaves. Next time, if we have separate nests, I'd gratefully take one, but this time, no thank you," Ivy meowed. She leaped onto the nearest tree and curled up, closing her eyes. "You guys go ahead."
"Well…I'll sleep with you, Angeline!" Bella said quickly, casting a glance at Ivy, who looked calm instead of her usual fury at Bella for not remembering something. She and Angeline curled up on the nest, and fell asleep quickly. "Ivy just likes her space. She's independent, you know?"
Ivy yawned and also fell asleep. She thought about everything that had happened. She longed to see Arrow again, and she felt that she was ready to go to Diamond Kingdom.
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