Day three part 2: Base Ops

The small fox was just about to head out with the cheetah when a noise from behind caught his attention. The kits head swiveled around to see the wolf from moments ago chasing after them causing him to stop in his tracks while she caught up. His ears lowered as he listened to the wolf’s mandate of no working together with one another, watching as she turned to head back toward camp. Zenny let lose a small sigh under his breath as it looked like him and his new friend would have to wait on getting better acquainted, for now he had a job to accomplish and just one hour to do it. Getting a better grip on the bag in his maw he turned and began heading out alone towards the edge of the forest leaving behind the safety of the camp.

Charon was disappointed he couldn't keep an eye on the young fox because he was just that, a young fox. The cheetah trusted the red wolf's decision. Before they separated, he called out to Zenny. "If you find yourself in any type of trouble just give a yell," as he headed towards the beach to find herbs and food stuffs from an area he was familiar with.

It struck him odd he had never really heard the fox say anything or make any type of sound. He sure hoped the youngster would find his journey in the forest safe.

Charon arrived at the beach with 45 minutes to spare so it meant he had 30 minutes to look for edible and medicinal plants and 15 minutes to come back to the camp. He thought of actually fishing but it was hit or miss with the food gathering technique.

The feline's first order of business was to find plants which might help with first aid. It was by luck he found some aloe vera plants growing. He looked at his sack then at the growing plants. He had to remember this location because while he could harvest some of the leaves of the plant, it would be wise if safely transplanting some of them so they could be grown back at the camp.

After picking some of the more healthier parts of the aloe, he decided to find fresh fruit. While meat was his most favorite part of any meal, fruits would have more nutritional value to all those back at the camp. Again, hoping to mark the areas of where he found the fruit would prove most beneficial for return visits if not from him but others, he trekked more into the forest itself. He found mangoes and papayas and for those of a chocolate sweet tooth he found some cacao pods.

After thirty minutes of searching, his alarm went off. Finding his way back to the beach he headed back towards the tent city, hoping his haul would be sufficient for the red wolf.

The little fox entered into the dense foliage and immediately began sniffing the scents on the air taking in the many unique smells of his surroundings. His nose filled with a sweet scent he’d recognized from his previous trips gathering food back home and began moving in the general direction.

Making his own trail as he went he broke through to a dimly lit clearing and scanned his surroundings, spotting the purple passion fruit growing off several vines wrapped around the trees in the area. Dropping the bag in the middle of the clearing and prodding it open with his nose he began moving from one vine to the next carefully picking up the delicate fruit in his mouth and dropping it into the open bag.

After only a few minutes of gathering he’d amassed a sizeable amount of the delicious fruit from the generous area, at least what he could easily reach on the ground in his current roughed up state. Grabbing the bag tightly in his maw he began making his way towards the smell of some nearby mangos. Out of the corner of his eyes he spotted a strange pineapple looking fruit lying on the ground and paused, head cocking to the side curiously. Loosening his grip on the bag momentarily he made his way over to sniff at the foreign new fruit taking in its rich tropical scent.

The fur atop the back of his neck slowly crept up as he got an odd feeling he was being watch, as though he was not alone in these woods. Erring on the side of caution and feeling uneasy about the whole situation, the kit decided to leave the mystery fruit behind and hurried his way towards the mangos so he could finish and get back to the safety of the camp.

Bushes upon bushes of the juicy fruit came into view as he set his bag down once more and began collecting as much of the ripe fruit as the bag could hold. After a few moment of collecting the bag was more than three quarters of the way full, the woven material stretching to accommodate its contents. As he turned to pickup the bag and begin his trek back to camp, the sound of a nearby twig breaking caused his ears to perk up and his tail to stand at attention as his heart started to pound furiously.

In the blink of an eye his jaws had clamped down on the top of the bag as he began an awkward sprint back in the direction he’d came. Despite the weight of the bag, his adrenaline kept him moving at a breakneck speed as he burst back into the safety of the camp with plenty of time to spare.

Taking a moment to catch his breath, he looked back from the area which he’d come and noticed a few of the fruits lying in a path. Upon inspecting his bag, he noticed that a small hole had formed in one of the corners causing a few of the contents to escape. Noticing the strange stares he was getting from several of the recruits around him he quickly gathered a few nearby fruit back into the bag and carefully made his way towards the base ops tent.

Shard finished his polishing work on the table and smiled as he could clearly see his reflection on the surface. "Perfect" he said to himself with satisfaction. Then he turned his attention to the generals chair. It was a surprise to find it remarkable clean, all that really needed doing was a quick brush and it was perfect. After that he collected the cups from sunny and placed them in a nice neat order all lined up. Now all that was left was to clean around the coffee maker.

Charon was walking back to the tent when he found several fruit and other assorted goodies lying on the ground. 'Strange,' he thought. 'Well, waste not want not.'

He began to gather the fruit which was lying on the ground when he found Zenny scurrying back to the tent himself with a mango falling out a small hole in his bag. 'Ah, that explains it,' the cheetah said to himself, bending over to pick up the vile fruit trying to escape consumption from the camp.

He went inside the tent and found the young fox breathing hard from his exertion and foray in the forest. The feline placed a hand on the fox's head and ruffled it. "Next time, you better tell your fruit to stay in your bag," Charon said smiling. "No one wants your fruit to disobey you and try to escape."

He handed Zenny the few fruit he had found on the path back to camp and placed them in his bag. "And better tell the red wolf about your bag as well."

The cheetah stood at attention as he too lowered his bag to the floor filled with goodies and the aloe plant leaves he had found.

Once Shard was finished he took a step back and took a good look at the work he had done. The Desk was so clean you could eat off of it, the tent floor was clean,not a speck of dirt. He'd gotten rid of the rings from where the cups had been standing, he'd even gone so far as to arrange the cups from biggest to smallest and sat them neatly next the the Kettle. "Well looks fit to entertain her Majesty as a tent in a training camp can be" He said with a nod to himself. Turning to leave he made sure he picked up the bag of crumpled up notes had had placed in the corner. "It was nice to meet you miss Sunday" he said with a smile before he left the tent and began making his way back to the Base Ops tent. 'I wander how many will be back from the gathering mission' he thought to himself.

Just want to say to those that follow this thread that the new forums are at http://forum.overlordcomic.com/

Go ahead and register over there, get your character info set up and whatnot, and get ready for RP stuff! We're aiming to have it started up again after Megaplex.