Prologue

Three years ago, a panda was born in a forest that was being cut down. All the pandas were being taken to the zoo by a hunter named Bob and his wife named Blobana, so that the forest could be cut down. They both had over thirty years of experience and threatened to kill all the animals if only one did not go to the zoo. This one sentence that they said creeped the pandas out, so they all went to the zoo. The panda that was just born never knew that she would be the savior of the forest. But her parents were proud from the moment she was born.

Chapter One

After three years of being tortured and threatened, some families had enough and looked for a new forest nearby. But the panda named Becca’s parents were too old to go. Becca and her friends’ families had stayed to care for them.

Becca’s parents would always scream when they heard a panda friend, “Just leave without us! You don’t need us! Your friends can take care of you!”

And Becca and her friends would say “ We’re not leaving, not without you.”

A few weeks later, the hunter came to Becca’s area of the forest, and the hunter whipped the pandas, and took her friends and family to the zoo. Becca had to watch the sad sight of everyone being dragged away by Bob.

A few days later Becca was in the tree house when she heard the hunter’s heavy footsteps and the bark of the hunter’s dog. Becca thought it must be the hunter, because she heard his footsteps, and knew that his were different from her animal friends. Becca looked around for a place to hide. She saw the cabinet that they put their toys in; she didn’t pick the cabinet because it was too full, so she wouldn’t fit. She decided to hide under her bunk bed, but then she realized they didn’t make it well, so the wood had sharp edges. Finally, Becca remembered a hollowed out tree that her and her friends built in case the hunter came. Becca took a few things that were in the tree house, just in case the hunter raided the treehouse, and then hid in the hollow spot, and slid the door shut so Bob could not see the door or Becca. Becca and her friends, Jessie and Katie, (those were not their names to humans, of course) purposefully made a small hole so they could peek through.

Becca could see the hunter fuming, and his face was scarlet. Becca could guess it was because of her, and that was because you could tell that he was looking harder than usual. He was almost yelling what Becca thought was, “Blah, blah, blah!”

No one could tell what he was saying because he was talking in a really wierd voice.

Out in the woods, during Bob’s nap, Bert, the hunter’s dog, looked around the forest. Bert saw the treehouse and smelled the scent of the bamboo and sat there for a little bit to sniff the scent that made him more calm, because it was not the smell of the hunter’s armpit.

The hunter tugged on Bert’s leash, hard.

“Work harder, Bert,” the hunter commanded, giving Bert a sharp but light kick on the bottom of his hind leg. From the hollow tree, the panda watched. She saw Bert howling in pain and wanted to help, but she knew that Bob would just bring her to the zoo. Then, Bert pretended to look, but he faked that he did not see anything. He came to where she was and sniffed, but didn’t do anything.

Later that day, Bert trudged back to the shed on the other side of the forest so Bob could take his afternoon nap. “The hunter will spank me if he doesn’t see Blobona soon, so I better get going” Bert thought. “ But I really don’t want Bob to get paid.”

That afternoon, during Bob’s afternoon nap, Bert thought, “The panda’s name is Becca, because I heard the other pandas calling for her when Bob was taking them away. She seems nice but she would never come out when I’m there because she obviously will know I’m there. I’ll talk to her and hopefully she understands that I really hate Bob.”

So Bert went to the treehouse and started yelling, “Please, come out of wherever you are, I’m trying to help! I’m alone.”  

Becca heard the desperation in his voice and decided to believe him because she saw him get kicked by Bob earlier. So she threw down a can connected to a string and spoke down. She also put down a telescope to see if Bert was actually alone. He was, so Becca let down a ladder to the treehouse and told him to pull the ladder up after him and tuck it into the fake branch. Then she opened the slide door to let him in.

Chapter Two

Becca learned that the dog’s name was Bert, and he was a hound dog. Bert apparently hated the hunter because he treated Bert badly. Bert and Becca met every night to think about how to save her family.

Bert said, “I’ll just get Bob to go there.”  

“No,” said Becca. “That’s going to take to long. I need to get them back before they get  so anxious they start hurting themselves!”

Then Bert realized, “Oh yeah, we need to get there quick, but before we get there we need to make sure Bob doesn’t bring you.”  

But Becca disagreed, “ I need him to bring me there, we just need to find a way for me to leave.”

Bert complained, “But… ”

But then Becca cut in, “We make a plan: hide me from Bob, then when we figure out how to get them out, get me in.”

Then Bert replied, “Fine, but we’re going to have to get a map of the zoo.”

So the next day, Bert got Bob to go to the zoo, and Bert took a map that had the whole zoo in it while Bob was admiring his work of capturing the pandas. Bert could see the pandas crying, but he could also see the anger in Bob’s eyes, He was still mad about Becca. Right before Bob turned around, Bert put the map in his pocket in the coat his old, nice owner made him. He hid the map under the dog treats.

Bert came back to the forest for Bob’s afternoon nap. As soon as Bert made sure Bob was in deep sleep, he went straight to Becca’s tree house and brought some snacks like bamboo shoots, which Bert liked to eat also but in a different version. They ate and read about the zoo. Then, they made their own map of the underground.

Becca said later, “Did you see my family?”

“Yeah, I told them that you were okay, and they were all so glad!” Bert said.

“Great,” said Becca with tears in her eyes.

Then Bert said, “ They get mad and sad sometimes. Is that usual?”

“Yeah,” said Becca

But Becca was having a storm of thoughts in her head.

What if Mom, Dad, and my friends aren’t okay? What if they die? Why did this happen? Why and how?

Then Bert cut through her thoughts and said, “Are you okay? You look sad.”

“I’m fine,” said Becca.

Then a sudden thought rushed through her head: What if I’m not okay?!

That night, while Becca was sleeping, Bert came. Becca could see that he was distressed. Bert complained, “Bob is sending me to the pound because he said that I am too lazy.” He had tears in his big hound dog eyes.

Becca was a problem solver and knew what to do. She thought and said, “Look, make him think that you caught me, and help me get my family back faster!”

“Great idea,” said Bert as he climbed down the rope that was disguised as a branch. As Bert walked back to the shed. He could feel the mushy mud and the crunching leaves. He thought, Why did I have everything taken from me?

That thought stuck with him for the rest of the long, long night. The next day, Bob said that the construction would start in one week. Bert raced to the treehouse to tell Becca that they would have to hurry up a lot. And so they set to work. Bert and Becca worked all day all night, and then at 2:39 a.m. Becca finally figured out, “We’ll go to Bob tomorrow, and he is going to bring me to the zoo. Later that day, you come and bring the map we made during Bob’s afternoon nap. Then, you go back to the shed so Bob doesn’t get suspicious and then…”

Her words were cut off by a large thumping noise,

“Bert, get out of wherever you are!” called out Bob.

“Climb down the rope quietly. The plan is still the plan, right?” whispered Becca.

“Sure!” said Bert.

Then, he climbed down the rope and went with Bob, giving Becca a wink.

Chapter Three

A few days later, Bert brought Becca to Bob. Bob was so happy that he could finally get his money for getting all the pandas to the zoo. He was so happy that he could upgrade to an actual house instead of a shed. Becca was keeping a secret from Bert. She was going to bring presents for her family. She thought, “Maybe they have presents for me. After all, today is my birthday!”

Once they got to the zoo, Becca realized that there were over one hundred pandas there, and that it was going to be very hard to bring all the pandas back to the forest, but she knew she had to.

Becca explained the plan to her family and all the pandas at the zoo. Then, they waited until nightfall when the last person left the zoo. Becca climbed her way out of the fence, and her mom said, “You have improved in your skills.”

Then Bert came, and they got all the pandas, young and old, out of the zoo cages, and they began to make their way out of the zoo. When a zookeeper came, she almost got jumped on by all the pandas! But, finally, they escaped the zoo.

When they got back to the forest, Bob had just gotten up to check on Blobana. He saw the herd of pandas and called Blobana from the shed to bring the guns, but they were no match for the pandas. With Becca and Bert, the Pandas were able to shoo Bob and Blobana out of the forest.

Back in the forest, they celebrated. They celebrated the fact that they weren’t in the zoo anymore, and the fact that Becca, their savior, had a birthday the day before. They were so happy that they weren’t threatened to death anymore. Meanwhile, at court, Bob was suing the landlord of the house that he was was living in because he didn’t get a refund. And the construction workers were also mad at Bob for not giving the money back for the project, so Bob had a lot of court issues to deal with. Bert was now treated as family with the pandas.

And now, if you want to see what happens to Becca’s children, just read the story again with some tweaks, because history repeats itself! And there, you got it!

The End!