//------------------------------//
// Cleaning Up 
// Story: Keeper of the Forest 
// by ShowShine 
//------------------------------//

Spike awoke to something warm and wet lapping across his cheek. His eyes cracked open to see Buddy licking his cheek. Spike jolted up and pushed him away.

“Gross.” Spike said, wiping his cheek off. Snowy hopped onto his lap and pointed out the window.

“It stopped rain!” He exclaimed happily. Spike looked out the window to see the sun was shining. The birds chirped and water dripped from the trees. Spike hopped out of bed excitedly. He was tired of being stuck in that castle and needed sunlight and fresh air.

“Let’s go guys!” Spike said happily while putting his items back in his bag. Debbie hopped into the cart and Buddy stretched his legs out. He looked over to his cloak and mask which were hanging up, drying from the rain. No one was gonna come into the castle so he might as well leave it there. He slung his bag over his shoulders and placed Snowy on his head.

“You really want to go outside.” Snowy commented. Spike nodded his head while walking out of the room. 

“I want to check on all of the other animals to see if they’re okay.” Spike stated. Buddy followed him down the hallway, pulling the cart with him. Debbie had a few feathers growing on her, keeping her slightly warmer than usual. They walked outside to see that trees had been knocked over.

“This isn’t good.” Spike said. Snowy stared at a tree that had fallen.

“I used to live there.” He said, pointing at the tree. The trees bark had been stripped off by the lightning and pretty much looked dead. There was no way anyone who lived in that tree had survived that. Spike looked at the fallen bridge.

“How are we gonna get across?” Snowy asked. Spike let his hands glow and two thick vines snaked out of the ground and made its way across the ledge. It dug into the ground across from them. Both of the vines had smaller vines start to grow out of the sides, connecting at the top and making a flat surface at the bottom. A few pink and yellow flowers sprouted out. Now there was a perfect bridge which was way sturdier than the last one.

“Wow it’s so pretty!” Snowy exclaimed in awe. 

“Thank you.” Spike said while starting to walk across. The bridge didn’t shake at all when he walked across. That was impressive because there was a twenty pound roc and a two hundred pound timberwolf on it at the same time. They soon made it across without the bridge even shaking.

“Who should we check on first?” Spike asked Buddy. He pointed his paw in a direction and then imitated a chicken scratching it’s claws on the ground.

“The cockatrices first then.” Spike said while nodding his head.



Spike, Buddy, Debbie, and Snowy entered the cockatrice den. The storm had barely touched that part of the forest at all. Spike saw Beatrice laying in her nest. It looked like she was covering something.

“Hi Beatrice.” Spike said happily. Beatrice gave a look of surprise when she saw him. Buddy went over to sniff her, only for her to hiss at him and hit his nose with his wing. Buddy took a few steps back and whimpered. She moved her wing to reveal three small cockatrice chicks. They looked like balls of fluff. Spike let out a small gasp.

“They’re so adorable!” He cooed. Beatrice picked one up with her beak and walked over to Spike. She patted her claw on the ground as if to tell him to sit down. He sat down in front of her. Beatrice put the chick in his hands and walked back to her nest, checking on her other two children.

Spike stared at the fluffy chick that laid in his hands in awe. The chick opened her eyes and looked at him. He felt himself tearing up because she was too adorable. She let out a sneeze, causing a few feathers to fluff out.

“Are you crying?” Snowy asked. Spike sniffled and wiped the tears from his eyes.

“No I just got tears in my eyes.” Spike said while handing the chick back to Beatrice. Spike stood up and looked at the other chicks. There were two girls and one boy. Beatrice started to clean the one he just handed back to her. He noticed that she was the smallest. He pointed to the first to chicks.

“The boy is Freddy and the girl is Gracie.” Spike said. He looked at the smallest one. “And your Tiny.” Spike stated with a grin. He looked at Beatrice. “We need to go check on Bandit and Ozzy, see you later!” Spike said before walking away. Beatrice waved her wing goodbye before tending to her children. They didn’t have to walk very far to see Bandit laying in his nest and Ozzy  cuddled under his wing.

“I see that you two are getting along.” Spike commented. Bandit jumped in surprise before pushing Ozzy to the other side of the nest. Bandit puffed out his chest to seem tougher and let out a squawk. Spike let out a chuckle.

“I saw the whole thing Bandit, I know that you’re just a big softy.” Spike teased. Bandit let out an angry caw and flapped his wings angrily. Spike smiled. Bandit turned his back from him, letting out an angry huff. Ozzy got out of the nest and held up berries as an apology. Snowy let out a soft gasp and hopped off of Spikes head, landing on the ground with a thud.

“Are you okay, that sounded like it hurt!” Spike exclaimed. Snowy got up and brushed himself off like it was nothing before grabbing some berries and eating them.

“It didn’t hurt at all.” He said while continuing to eat berries. Spike brushed that off because it wasn’t that far of a fall, it just sounded painful. He looked around to see no berry bushes anywhere. Ozzy must have went through the storm to get those. Spike looked at an empty spot and let three bushes grow. One was a blueberry bush, the other was a raspberry bush, and the last one was a strawberry bush.

“There, now you don’t have to go to far to get food!” Spike said. Ozzy let out a happy chirp and hugged his leg. “We have to go now, but I’ll see you later.” He said while putting Ozzy back into the nest. He smiled and curled up into Bandits side.

“Lets go check on Peewee.” Spike said as he placed Snowy on his head.



They entered the phoenix den to see trees had been knocked over. There were broken nest scattered all over the ground. All of the phoenix’s must have hid. Looking at it made Spike feel terrible. He took Snowy off of his head and took a few steps forward.

He lifted up his hands, making vines thicker than the trees emerge from the ground. They wrapped around the trees and lifted them up. He placed the uprooted trees back into the ground. Spike started to sweat slightly from the weight of the trees. A group of phoenix’s flew down and watched as he continued to lift up and fix the trees.

After Spike lifted up the last tree, he let out a gasp of air, trying to catch his breath. Buddy reached into his bag and pulled out a thermos filled with cold water, handing it to Spike. He took a few gulps of water before putting the thermos back into his bag.

“How will I fix the nest’?” Spike asked himself. He looked on the ground to see sticks and leaves scattered everywhere. The ground was still wet which made mud. Spike started to pick up some sticks and leaves before slathering them with mud. He stuck them together making a small nest. He flew up to a tree and placed the nest on a branch. As he picked up more sticks for another nest, he notice a few phoenix’s had started to make there own nest.

This was going to be a breeze.



Spike stood up, admiring all of the work he had done. Their were way more nest then before and he had even grown a few flowers around the trees. It made him smile. The sunset really topped it off, adding color to the scene.

“Let’s go Buddy.” Spike said while turning to him. Buddy laid next to the cart sleepily. Debbie was bundled up in the blankets and Snowy laid on her head, both asleep. Spike grabbed on to the cart and started to pull it. “You can go home and get some rest, I’ll be fine.” He said to Buddy. Buddy let out a whine and followed Spike.

“Fine you can make sure I get home safely and then get some rest, okay?” Spike stated. Buddy’s tail started to wag and he nodded his head. They both left the phoenix den and walked through the forest. The birds chirps were dying down as the got ready to sleep. Spike stopped walking when he heard something that wasn’t a bird. It sounded like a kitten yowling in pain. He looked at Buddy who was looking in the direction of the noise.

Spike walked in the direction of the noise until he had found a log. The noise was coming from in there. He peeked inside to see a manitcore kitten. Her ears were folded downwards and her eyes were closed shut. She couldn’t have been more than a day old. 

Spike reached in and grabbed the kitten, causing her to calm down at the feeling of warmth. Buddy sniffed her curiously. Spike looked around to see that their wasn’t another manticore in sight. Mothers would never abandon there babies like that. Her mother must have put her in the log during the storm and left to keep her safe. Spike looked up at Buddy.

“I have to take her with me.”