The polar bear who had been standing silently on guard duty until now suddenly snapped to attention.
His usual lazy demeanor evaporated in an instant, his face darkening as he strode over with heavy, purposeful steps.
“Ha ha ha!
Look at him!
He ate dirt!” Hank the hippo was clutching his belly, roaring with laughter until tears streamed down his face.
But when he wiped his eyes and looked around, he realized his friends had scattered far away.
They were huddled together, necks tucked in, staring nervously at something behind him.
The next second, Hank felt his collar yanked violently, and a massive paw hoisted him clean off the ground.
The polar bear didn’t care if he was just a kid.
His claws flexed slightly, the sharp tips already peeking out.
Nick, who had been knocked to the ground, had been working up the courage to rush to his friend’s defense.
But the moment that giant polar bear came charging over in fury, whatever nerve he’d scraped together crumbled instantly.
He stayed frozen in place, not daring to move.
“Wait.” Kevin had just picked himself up and wiped the dirt from his face.
He looked up, saw the polar bear about to lay into Hank, and caught a glimpse of Nick cowering in terror nearby.
He quickly called out to stop him.
“They were just messing around with me.
It was an accident.” The bear’s claws stopped mid-swing, hovering for a second before silently retracting.
He casually dropped Hank to the ground, pulled a soft towel from his pocket, crouched down, and carefully brushed the mud off Kevin’s clothes and fur.
Then he stepped back to his post, standing like a silent wall.
Hank, dumped unceremoniously on the ground, sniffled.
His eyes were already swimming with tears.
As his butt hit the dirt, he realized with dawning horror that his pants were warm and wet.
He’d been so scared that he’d actually peed himself.
“Ha ha ha!
Nick, look!
He wet his pants!” Kevin reached down and pulled Nick to his feet, grinning as he pointed at the dark, damp stain spreading across Hank’s trousers.
The panic that had lingered on the fox’s face instantly vanished.
He stared at Hank’s pathetic state and couldn’t help but burst out laughing with a “pfft.” Kevin had stopped the polar bear for two reasons.
First, he was afraid that Raymond’s brutal approach would leave new scars on Nick’s fragile psyche.
Second, starting a fight out in the open like this would cause too much trouble, better to keep things simple and clean.
The polar bear had retreated to his original position, but now his gaze was razor-sharp and alert, with no trace of his earlier laxness.
Hank’s little gang slowly crept back.
Lily covered her mouth, Lulu kept her head down, Zack and Zoe exchanged glances, and Henry hung back at the rear.
Their tiny giggles pricked at Hank’s ears like needles.
His pants clung wetly to his legs.
He didn’t even need to look down to know they were all laughing at him for wetting himself.
‘How humiliating.’ His reputation as the king of the neighbourhood was completely ruined.
Hank’s tail bristled with rage.
He choked out a tearful threat: “You two just wait!
I’m telling my mom, and I’m telling my dad, you’re done for!” Then he turned, dragging his soggy trousers behind him, and stumbled off into the glaring afternoon sun.
Watching Hank’s pathetic retreat, wet pants and all, Kevin let out a dismissive snort.
He’d actually thought the little punk was about to throw a punch.
All that bluster and posturing, and that’s all he had?
A wet diaper and a threat to tattle?
Kevin didn’t spare him another glance.
He turned, grabbed Nick’s paw, and left the unpleasantness behind.
The two ran over to the clear stream beside the house and played for a good while longer.
The water babbled cheerfully over smooth, round pebbles.
Nick splashed in the shallows, gasping at the cold, then laughing helplessly.
Kevin crouched on the bank, flicking water with his paw, watching the sunlight turn the droplets into sparkling little jewels.
This quiet, peaceful stretch felt like a gift from the universe, a small compensation for the earlier chaos.
They played until the sky began to deepen.
Kevin figured it was about time, if they stayed any longer, they’d miss the curfew set by Mr.
Big.
He shook the water off his paws, and he and Nick headed back to meet up with Raymond and his crew, planning to say their goodbyes.
But what they saw when they approached the tailor shop stopped them dead in their tracks.
Three hulking silhouettes, like mountains of flesh, were bearing down the street toward them.
That little hippo Hank had actually gone and tattled to his parents.
He’d changed out of his wet pants and was now strutting proudly ahead of a pair of adult hippos.
His father sported a scraggly mustache, his whole face scrunched up like he was perpetually picking a fight.
His mother was even worse, a face full of hard edges, chin jutting out high, the very picture of someone you don’t mess with.
True to the old saying: like family, like child.
The three meaty mountains advanced step by step.
They weren’t even close yet, but their belligerent shouts were already raining down.
“I told you, you predators are all the same!
Not a single one of you is any good!” Hank’s mother was bellowing at the top of her lungs, dragging her son by the arm toward the tailor shop.
Her voice dripped with venom and entitlement.
When they reached the front, she planted her hands on her hips and glared down at Kevin and Nick.
“Apologize to my son!” Hank, hiding behind his parents, had completely shed his earlier cowardice, the same cowardice that had made him pee his pants.
Now he stood tall, his chin lifted so high it nearly touched the sky.
Nick was genuinely terrified by the scene.
His small body instinctively shrank backward.
Nick’s mother hurried out of the shop the moment she heard the commotion.
The moment she recognized the family, her brow furrowed.
She didn’t say a word.
She just bent down, pulled Nick into her arms, and cupped the back of his head, pressing him gently against her chest.
With her not-so-tall frame, she tried to shield her son from every hostile glare and harsh word.
Meanwhile, Raymond had already taken note of the commotion.
His expression remained calm.
He cast a faint, knowing glance at the two polar bears beside him.
The three massive creatures began moving unhurriedly, encircling the area from different directions.
Their heavy footsteps thudded against the ground.
No words were exchanged, no dramatic gestures made, but those three towering figures made the air around them feel several degrees colder.
Seeing the situation escalate, Kevin rubbed his forehead in exasperation.
If a fight broke out here, Nick’s family would find it even harder to survive in this neighborhood.
“Hold on.” Kevin stepped out from behind the polar bear.
“Uncle, Auntie, we were just playing with your, uh…
what’s-his-name?
Eh, not important.
He shoved me first, so we’re even.” Hans, Hank’s father, tried to keep up his tough front, but the moment he laid eyes on those four polar bears, his bravado had already leaked out like air from a punctured tire.
He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing, struggling to hold onto whatever shred of dignity remained.
His wife pursed her lips tight.
The fiery, abusive energy she’d come in with had visibly dimmed.
Then, suddenly!
Before anyone could react, Hank struck without warning.
He swung his chunky arm, landing a brutal elbow squarely in Kevin’s face.
Kevin never expected the little brat to attack out of nowhere.
With the huge height difference, he didn’t stand a chance.
The elbow connected, hard… right on his nose.
The nose.
The most vulnerable spot on any canine.
Kevin was sent sprawling backward onto the ground.
Both paws flew to his face.
A violent wave of throbbing pain and piercing sting shot from his nose straight into his skull, making his eyes water uncontrollably.
Everything blurred.
All he could hear was a deafening ringing in his ears.
Raymond’s expression turned ice-cold.
He lunged forward in one swift stride, scooping Kevin off the ground.
He looked down.
Bright red blood was streaming from the wolf’s nose, trickling past his mouth and staining the white fur around his lips a deep crimson.