Animal Jam: The Raccoon Alpha

Chapter 1

Sunlight slowly swept into a half open tent, waking a small raccoon. The raccoon yawned, still feeling sleepy. But she knew that she had to help her brother with his farm work. The raccoon slowly got up and stretched her short limbs, getting ready for another day living in her tribe.

She groggily walked out of her tent, the sun warming her ruffled fur. She went towards the farm, which was located on the far east of her tribe.

"Hey Lydia!" Lydia's brother, Scorch, greeted as she approached him.

"So, need some help with harvesting the carrots again?" Lydia asked, her eyelids drooping.

"Nope, no need."

"What am I supposed to do then?"

"I don't know, go daydream about the mountains or something." Her brother teased. Lydia angrily glared at him. She hated when raccoons would make fun of her dream to explore what was beyond the mountain.

Lydia walked away from her brother, leaving him to finish his work. The raccoon sighed, thinking about what she could do to help the tribe. She had always wanted to explore and discover new things, but she knew that she couldn't. She'd be trapped in this little spot for her entire life.

"Everyone gather around the firepit!" The commanding voice of their tribe leader, Radius, called out. Lydia slowly walked towards the firepit with her other tribemates rushing past her.

"One of our elders, Umbra, has passed away recently. We will miss him dearly."

Lydia gasped in shock. Umbra is dead?! She thought. She was very close to the old raccoon. Lydia would always listen to what Umbra had to say, although she was more interested in the stories he told about a land called Jamaa. According to Umbra, Jamaa was a peaceful land with guardians called Alphas to protect their beloved land from evil creatures called Phantoms.

Everyone else dismissed the stories as just myths, but not Lydia. She would stay up late in the night, thinking about the fascinating tales Umbra told her. Tears started streaming down Lydia's cheeks. Out of all the raccoons in our tribe, it had to be Umbra!

Scorch, full of sympathy for his little sister, patted Lydia's back, trying to comfort her. "Lydia, it's alright, Umbra's in a better place now,"

Lydia continued weeping for Umbra. He was like a father to her, unlike her actual father, who never paid any attention to she and her brother. Umbra's mate, Tenebris, walked up to the greiving raccoon and put a paw on her shoulder.

"I.. I miss my mate as well, young one. But everyone knows we're all going to join our ancestors someday.." Tenebris said reassuringly.

"But it won't be the same without him! He was like the dad I never had!"

Tenebris froze and didn't say anything after that. She quietly walked away, leaving Lydia to weep.

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"Mommy! Daddy! Help us!" I cried out, tears streaming down my face. The phantom tightened it's grip around us, unsheathing it's claws beneath it's tentacles.

Me and my sister screamed in pain as the evil creature laughed menacingly.

"Alura, Kiara! I'm coming!" I heard my father yell, running towards us with a sword in his hand.

"Dad! Please hurry! It hurts so much!" Kiara yowled next to me. My sister and I continued shrieking until we could take no more.

The last thing I saw was a pair of flapping wings.

Lydia woke up, sweat running down her forehead. She anxiously looked around for any signs that her nightmare may have been real. The small raccoon sighed in relief.

This is the third time I've this stupid nightmare! Lydia thought angrily. Ever since Umbra's death, her mind had been plagued by the same dream.

Lydia sighed and walked out of her tent. Could this be a sign that I should explore what is beyond the mountain range? Lydia said in her thoughts. Hmph, if I said this to Radius, he would be laughing in front of my face.

Lydia stopped and gazed at the majestic mountains that towered above her tribe. What could be beyond those mountains? She wondered.

"Move out of the way!"

"Oops, sorry!"

My gosh, you could have just said excuse me. Lydia groaned and walked towards the farm, thinking she could help her brother today.

"Hey, Scorch, can I help you with today?" Lydia asked, looking at her brother.

"Yeah, I really need help with loading the crops into my wagon." Scorch replied as he grabbed a few carrots and placed them inside the wagon.

Lydia looked at the pile of crops Scorch had harvested. And from the looks of it, there seemed like a lot of them.

"Alright, I guess..."

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Lydia had finally finished loading the crops into the wagon. She sighed in relief as drops of sweat ran down her head.

"Great, now I can finally get some rest-"

"Everyone gather around the firepit! Our shaman has a terrible thing to announce!" Radius shrieked.

Lydia groaned. Great, what now?! She thought as she padded towards the firepit. Her tribemates came rushing in, with fearful expressions on their faces.

"What's happening?!"

"Are we all going to die?"

"Will we have to move to the mountains?"

"Calm down and let the shaman speak!" Radius yelled angrily as an old raccoon stepped beside him.

"I have gotten a warning from our ancestors," The old raccoon, Heres, said in his croaky voice.

"They have said that the ground beneath us will start to shake and crack, swallowing us whole!"

The crowd gasped in fear.

"The end is nearing! Keep an eye out!"

"Do you seriously believe that old goon? Because I honestly don't," Scorch whipered to Lydia.

"Scorch, you know our shaman is never wrong!" Lydia replied angrily to her brother.

"So you're going to believe that we're all gonna die?" Scorch hissed.

"If the shaman says it, then yes!"

"Come on Lydia, Heres probably misread the signs from our ancestors or something." Her brother rolled his eyes.

Suddenly, the ground began rumbling beneath them.

"Oh no.."

A/N: I'm sorry that this took so long to write! School just started and I kind of had to rush this chapter!