Cherry and Katie Go To Ferngully

chapter 4

The gang walked along to find the Magi Crysta had told them about. While they did, Batty found a bundle of fruit and decided to take a snack break since he had used up a lot of energy flying with Cherry and back and forth throughout the forest. Crysta was very captivated by Cherry and Zak being humans.

"I've got so many things I want to ask you." the fairy told them, as they walked. "Like, why have humans returned to the forest? And what was that monster that tried to eat you?"

"That wasn't a monster." Zak replied, jumping from a branch. 

"Yeah, that was a machine." Cherry added, dropping and landed on a moving catepillar. 

"What's a machine?" Crysta asked, petting the insect.

Cherry cringed and got off from it, shuddering that it touched her.

"It's a thing... For cutting down trees..." Zak tried to explain. He and Cherry saw a mysterious shape that looked like monster eyes and stood back, continuing to walk.

"That's terrible!" Crysta sounded devasted. 

"Only if you live in a tree." Zak joked.

"I do live in a tree." Crysta defended.

Zak looked back at her. He felt like he had hurt her feelings, so he stayed quiet.

"Sorry Crysta, Zak and I don't live in trees," Cherry said, trying her best to climb up. "We live in houses, well, I do anyway. I'm not sure where Zak lives."

Crysta flew after them. "You didn't have anything to do with that machine, did you?"

Zak hesitated. He and Cherry were kind of responsible for that, but they couldn't tell Crysta. She even looked worried and insecure that her new friends were probably responsible for her home being damaged and the release, unknown to them, of Hexxus.

"No, no, of course not." Zak replied. He then dropped from the branch and landed on a now broken mushroom.

"Hey, slow down!" Cherry called, gripping on the branch. She then slid off from it and landed on the mushroom, face first. "Owch..." she groaned in more pain.

"How could we have anything to do with something that eats trees?" Zak asked as he helped Cherry up and tried to fix the fungus.

Crysta flew, still feeling insecure. "Could it come to FernGully?"

"Oh, no, of course not, you've got nothing to worry about." Zak walked off.

"Why?"

"Because, it's...um... Trapped..."

"Oh, I know!" Crysta had an epiphany. "By those red marks. It can't go past them! Well, they must be magic."

"Yeah!" Zak beamed. "You know, you're pretty smart, fairy."

Crysta flew in front of him. "I want to learn magic like yours."

"Yeah? Well, here." Zak jumped from the branch and landed by a leaf. Crysta followed as Cherry struggled. "Come on, kid!"

"Don't call me kid!" Cherry grunted, trying to go around like the others. "I'm older than YOU! Kids these days..." she scoffed, then dropped and landed with her legs over her head and groaned in agony. "I should've stayed home and stared at the wall... Everything bad happens when I leave the house!" She then looked around and saw Zak and Crysta were gone. "Hey, guys!" she called then wandered as she saw a turned over tulip flower. She then saw a light go off from under the flower. "ZAK!"

Crysta gasped in fright as Zak lit a match. Cherry lifted the flower up, then it closed over her back as she fell on her stomach, looking in.

"What is it?" Crysta asked, afraid of the flame.