PART ONE   

I looked around my cage. I could tell by the tag on the front, even though I couldn’t read, that it said ‘FAILED EXPERIMENT!’ How was I a fail? Well, for example, I had bunny ears that were only pink. They wouldn’t change color like the rest of my fluffy body. Plus, I was also a wolf, with bunny ears! Then the meerkat came back from being experimented on and yelled,

“It’s me! Mario!” 

He had a meerkat body, but now he had a Mario overalls pattern on his fur and a super Mario hat. 

“I bet they’ll get a new meerkat and make it Luigi,” a meerkat (Bartholomew) with a bunch of spikes out its back muttered, looking angry that the scientists made his best friend act like a sicko. 

“Stop whining,” I muttered. 

“Easy for you to say, 06-79! You don’t have any friends!”  Bartholomew squeaked. 

Ugh, I thought as my fur turned blood red with anger, I don’t have any friends because nobody  wants to be friends with a failed experiment. I felt extremely tired of everything. Then a scientist started talking. Another power of mine, to understand human language.

 “Are we going to get more paranormal animals to test on, in that forest that has a hole leading to a whole new forest, by the way?” the female one asked. 

“I’m pretty sure we will,” said the other.  

My ears perked up in hope. Maybe I could go there, I thought happily. All the creatures I could meet. All the fun I could have. I fell asleep that night dreaming of life there and having LOTS of friends. 

The next morning, a scientist pulled me out of my cage with a collar and held an electric whip in the other hand. Probably to make me feel intimidated by him. Then the tests began.
The scientist chained me to the floor.

“Bro! No need to get all aggressive!” I shouted in my best Kevin Hart voice. What? Scientists turned on the TV for us sometimes if we were being impatient. I’m the only one who knows what they’re saying, of course. They say a lot of curse words sometimes. Also, scientists can’t understand what I’m saying. 

The first test for me was beginning. They wanted to see my color reaction to things they do to me. 

First, they dropped my favorite treats in front of me. I turned a bright pink as I feasted. I can’t resist, okay?! Then, one of them zapped me with one of the things called “testing guns.” Humans are rude! They test it on experiments! My color first turned red (for anger) and then a bruise colored purple. Yes, it looked disgusting. 

Then they did nothing and stood there. My fur turned teal. It meant I was feeling normal. I was sorta happy but not. Then they showed a big image of a wolf being chased by a hunter. I turned orange. I was emotional now. Then it showed the wolf dead. I turned a somber blue.

“Ok, 06-79, your first test is over! Time for the second one,” one of the scientists shouted.

For my second one, they put me in a wind thing. They wanted to see how long I could stay up there. The wind would die down by the second.  The scientists were trying to see how much wind could support me if they gave me wings. Yeah, people can do that! 

“Y’all stupidos! I wanna get wings now! So I can soar above your heads and escape!” I shouted at them, as one person gave me a thing I had to wear for it. Wait… why wasn’t I wearing a head-protector? Then, I got pushed off the thing, and I never thought I’d say this, but the scientists have never made me feel so happy in my whole life. I turned a bright, bright pink. The brightest I ever had. My bunny ears didn’t match the rest of my body even though I was pink. I felt the wind getting lower, but I didn’t pay any attention. I had been flying! I had so much joy inside that I could explode! Like explode!!! Then the wind couldn’t support me anymore, so I fell. There were these words in my mind. 

                Falling…..

                          Falling……..

                                    Falling…….. 

PART TWO         

I woke up. In my cage. Bleh. My bowl had slimy stuff inside it. I ate it because I was hungry. Then I saw a scientist pointing at my cage.  

“Mr. Gorista said that 06-79 would be placed in the machine that kills failed experiments tomorrow.”

What?! They were gonna kill me? This was bad! Like really bad!

Then the other one said,  “Me and the team are going to get more paranormal animals from the forest tomorrow. Other people who don’t work in Future Labs will have to deal with a bunch of security.” 

“Where exactly is this forest?” the first guy said. I have been asking that same exact question!

“You dumbo! It’s literally on the other side of the river F. Labs are on!” 

That was all the info I needed. I started chewing on my cage super hard. I kept going. I felt the wire hitting against my teeth. It hurt, but my life depended on it. After a while, the wire broke and I could get out. Then a loud noise broke out. It was a siren. Then a bunch of scientists burst into the room. They were all shouting all at once, and I couldn’t understand. Then I charged through them and went down a bunch of things that I’m pretty sure are called stairs. 

Finally, I went out the door and I was outside. Oh, there were so many things to smell! But I had to concentrate. I ran fast. Quicker than I have ever run. Pretty soon, I got to the river. My only problem: I didn’t know how to swim!

 PART THREE

I tried to remember how to swim, but it was a very long time ago when I had to figure that out. I remembered two things. #1: if you’re going to put your head underwater, hold your breath! #2: Kick with your legs. 

Okay, that was actually helpful. Thank you, memories. Then I leaped into the water. My head plunged down for a second, then I raised it back up. I kicked and kicked hard, fighting the currents. I was almost to the other side! 

“Ya—” 

I began, but a large current swept me down the river. I saw a drop at the end of the river. Waterfall! I clung onto a rock and pulled myself up there. Then I made a far leap. I still landed in water, but I was close enough to get onto shore. Oh, that was close! I panted and rested for a moment, but on the other side of the river, I saw some scientists. 

No breaks yet! I told myself. First get to the forest, then nap! 

Turns out that guy near my cage wasn’t lying. There were a bunch of human guards stationed in the area. I turned black and snuck into where there were less guards. I blended into the shadows. 

        At last! I was in the forest. I just didn’t know I’d feel so lonely. Then a voice came out, “You’re not from around here, are you? I’m Uniko.” 

PART FOUR                                                                                                                                                                 “These are my other siblings: Rose, Thora, Koman, and Gonga.”  Uniko showed me a bunch of wolves who looked like they would give me a serious beating.

They looked exactly like their sister. Except Rose had a pink pearl on her head and Thora had a purple one. Uniko had a blue one. Koman and Gonga were identical, black with no pearls. All of them snarled.

“What is she!?” Rose growled. 

“A science experiment, that’s what!” Koman howled.

“Stop it, guys!” Uniko snarled. “She’s my friend.” 

  The siblings exchanged glances.

“Fine, she can live with us. As long as she causes no trouble.” Thora muttered. 

Uniko gave me a happy smile. When nobody was looking, I turned a happy bright pink and walked right behind them.