The rain was heavy and constant, as it had been for what seemed like days and days. This created slippery mud under the leaves of the forest floor and made navigation around the base rather difficult. The base, as it is called, appears as a large pile of leaves in a small forest clearing. This however, was only a fraction of the base. The whole base consisted of a hollowed out system of tree roots, the remains of an ancient leviathan. Sections of the roots that protruded above ground were covered with a loose layer of the forest floor to avoid enemy detection. Such an expansive and intricate base could belong only to an influential people who had a definite belief in what they were fighting for; these people were the Ossayans, a race of opossums that make up a part of the land that all creatures collectively refer to as the Infinite Forest.
        In this particular root bunker we find Private Winston Stonak, a soldier drafted into the opossum army just three weeks prior. Ready and alert, he peered out into the forest from an opening in the bunker. Winter was fast approaching, and it was that time of year when all non-migratory animals scattered to find ways to secure themselves for the Winter. Unfortunately, there was a sign that the upcoming winter would not be without famine, and this caused a wave of panic and desperation throughout the forest. It was a bad growth year for acorns and other tree nuts, and this was to affect their main consumers, the deer, turkeys, opossums and squirrels, whom all ate nuts, a stable in the winter diet. The deer and turkeys of the territory Deluc, working in close partnership; had developed an oak orchard over the years. Even with the impending short supply, they were confident they had just enough acorns for everyone to last through the winter. Unfortunately, this meant they would probably be unwilling to trade to anyone else, and very few opossums or squirrels were brazen enough to try and steal from the orchard, which was guarded by large bucks many times the size of the smaller denizens.
        Fear of a terrible winter famine had the squirrels of Tulok in the midst of a revolution, and a new, fearless leader had taken power by the name of Mr. Fangs. Mr. Fang's idea was simple, seize large nut hoards from wealthy squirrels and redistribute them evenly to the population. The nut count was so low however, that after a rough estimation of the number of nuts in each nut-bearing tree owned by the squirrels, even redistribution would allow only two nuts per squirrel for the whole winter, not nearly enough for survival. However, this did not faze Mr. Fangs, who felt that an invasion of the nearby opossum territory would supply ample nuts to him and his people.
       A month had passed since the squirrels first tried seizing the opossum nut supply. The size and endurance of the opossums was keeping the ever-reliant squirrels at bay. Many opossums considered eating the flesh of fallen squirrels if the war was to last into the cold of winter, which would give the opossums an additional food supply. This despite the fact that such an act would be considered crude and barbarous during peace times.
      Winston was beginning to become drowsy when he heard three knocks from outside the bunker. It was the messenger, and three knocks meant to report to HQ; which was located in the heart of the root structure. Quickly, he made his way through a series of rounded hallways and eventually entered the boardroom, taking a seat next to numerous other soldiers.
Soon after, General O entered the room, and considering he was normally a jolly soul, it was ever more devastating to see a grim look spread about his face. “The squirrels are planning to invade Eastern Deluc. They’re already camped out in Western Deluc and will probably attack sometime tomorrow afternoon. I received this information from Major Ghostface, who unfortunately, is no longer with us. He was shot on his visit to Tulok for negotiations and used the last of his energy to report back and tell me what he overheard.” The whole room exploded with anger, opossums were some of the friendly and fair of negotiators, if a negotiator was killed, it could only mean that the enemy could not be reasoned with. Gradually, the group settled back into silence.
“Unfortunately, the squirrels have grown too powerful for us to fight on our own, we are going to need the help of the ground squirrels, who have promised their alliance to us. Once again, anger rose thought the crowd.
“I know, they’re freeloading and stupid, but they have a lot of insight on the strategies and weaknesses of the squirrels, I’m afraid they’re our only hope. Now, I want you to all form a line. You will each be given a leaf with the name of a ground squirrel. He will be your partner and hopefully, a valuable asset in battle.”
            Winston took a place in line, and before he knew it, was face to face with the general. “Private Winston Stonak, your partner is Zing, he said handing the young private the brown leaf with the ground squirrel’s name scratched into it. When everyone had been assigned their partner, they took their seats. “You are to leave tomorrow before dawn, and meet up with your partner by the bridge in western Ossay by mid-morning, then keep moving into Western Deluc. Time will be of the essence, so you will need to hurry.” The general finished, and dismissed the audience, most of who headed to their bunks for the night. Winston would need all the sleep he could get for the day that was to come.
Just before dawn, the Winston and the other opossums left the base and started their way towards the bridge. Several hours later, Winston could finally see the bridge in the distance, and the brown mass nearby that were the ground squirrels. When the group reached the crowd of strange little people, they formed a straight line, holding out the names of their assigned partners. Gradually, each ground squirrel saw his name and joined his partner, including Winston’s;
“Me Zing, we fight together, beat bad guy,” he communicated brokenly.
“Hey buddy, how about letting me do all the talking!” Winston said, he was tired and did not want to hear the little ground squirrel.
Unfortunately, Zing did not listen to Winston and pandered on as they headed for West Deluc. His chattering was both endless and pointless, and Winston was beginning to wish for some thing that could stop Zing’s rambling mouth. When the two reached East Deluc, Winston got his wish, two sharpened bolts made from sticks flew pasted him, sticking into a nearby tree. Winston withdrew his own crossbow when Zing placed his paw over it.
“No. me have better idea, we break into headquarters!” Zing said.
“That would mean certain death my friend, the squirrels have an impenetrable boulder fortress armed with snipers looking over every side. I think I’ll pass on your plan.” Suddenly, several bolts flew right past where the opossum’s head was a second ago, hitting the ground.
“Well, there’s nothing we can do but keep moving, and I guess the fort is our main target, so let’s see what we can do,” Winston said changing his mind.
Winston followed Zing, to his fascination; the ground squirrel seemed to instinctively know where the squirrel’s bolts would hit. They kept falling all around them, but not once were they hit. Zing lead Winston right to a wall, where he dug under, making sure to create extra room for the larger opossum. However, when Winston crawled through, he was greeted by a group of squirrels waiting for him on the other side. Immediately Winston looked around for Zing, there was no sign of him. Either the ground squirrel became spooked and flew, or he was a double crosser. Not that Winston had much time to think about this, he was immediately gathered up and taken deep within the bowels of the fortress, where he was thrown down in front of a bulky, menacing squirrel with large, pointed incisors, it was Mr. Fangs!
“Well done opossum, no one has ever gotten this close to the base, so as a reward I decided to show you the very core, what do you think?”
“Nice and sturdy, but a little cold and emotionless” Winston replied
“Yes, just the way I like it, it’s finally nice to have an outsiders opinion. It really is too bad they’re probably won’t be any more after the impending winter,” he snickered.
“How could you disrupt the order of things by taking from the food supply of others?” Winston said angrily
“Disrupt the order? This is the order! It’s called survival of the fittest opossum. We welcome all of you outsiders to fight against us, and so far what we’ve seen from you opossums has been pretty convincing. However, there is another thing that I have not yet mentioned.
“What’s that?” Winston sneered.
“You know something I need to know, and I’m also stronger than you. That means that I could threaten your life for that information! Tell me where your people’s nut supplies are hidden or I’ll bite your head off!”
“How do I know you won’t do that anyway if I tell you?”
“Well, let’s just say that your chances of survival will increase. Another thing is that your comrades will be better off, think about it; if you give me the information now, I won’t have to find another opossum to question later.
“Do what you will, I have strict orders not to give away top secret information,” Winston said ever vigilant.
“Very well, it doesn’t matter to me. It only means that I’ll be having opossum for dinner!” the tyrant said grabbing Winston. Mr. Fangs hauled Winston up to his head and placed the opossum’s neck right between two sets of menacing incisors”
“Goodbye opossum,” he uttered. Right when he was ready to bite down, something began bashing against the wall for the fortress, loosening them.
“What the hell could that be?” Mr. Fangs said, a hint of worry sounded in his normally arrogant voice. The tightly packed boulders that made up the wall finally broke loose of one another, and a large furry head peered in, triumphantly roaring.
“A bear? How? They’ve been gone for years? Mr. Fangs became a nervous rattle as the leviathan forced itself into the base, turning it to ruins in the process. Mr. Fang’s personal regrouped and fired a barrage of bolts at the creature, but its hair was so thick that they couldn’t reach flesh. In response, the bear swiped through the group and sent them flying into the shy. Mr. Fangs, fearing for his own life, dropped Winston and tried to flee; but he couldn’t escape. One wall of what was once a fortress remains standing, and the very thing that once provided him safety had become a trap. He could only back against the wall as the bear closed in on him.
“I have no regrets!” he uttered. Immediately after the bear lowered his head and began shaking its head violently, after which he gulped something down and turned to Winston, but now he seemed content.
“Uh, the Ossayan people and I really appreciate the help you have given me, but could you please not eat me as well? It would be very anticlimactic.” Winston said nervously.
“No worry, bear won’t eat you!” a familiar, small voice said from way atop the bear.  
“It’s you! You really didn’t abandon me!” Winston said happily.
“Of course not! I get bear while you distract squirrels so they surprised when bear attack!” Zing said making the long climb down the bear’s side using its fur. “This bear a close fried of ground squirrels.”
“I was about a second from death you know, you could have been a little quicker,” Winston joked.
“My timing impeccable and spot on, I make sure you not die.” Zing said finishing his ascent down. Somehow, Winston could tell he really meant what he said.
          Afterwards, Winston, Zing and the bear were declared war heroes, and a Treaty of Wellness was signed between the territories, with a squirrel named Groomer representing the Tulokians.With the death of Mr. Fangs, the war was officially at an end. The deranged squirrel had been the only thing holding the army together, and what was left of the Tulok army was unorganized and uninterested in fighting. Luckily, Tulok also had a rebel force led by Groomer, a member of the previous Tulokian order. The army had already experienced a harsh attack by Mr. Fangs’ army, so they went into hiding at an undisclosed location until they were strong enough to provide formidable resistance again. With the news that Mr. Fangs’ was dead, they came out of hiding. Many of the soldiers under Mr. Fangs’ rule were too afraid for their lives to do what they believed was the right thing, so they were gathered up by Groomer and his men, and welcomed back into the old society; which Groomer was to lead.
          It turns out there never had to be any real shortage of nuts for the squirrels. The squirrels from the distant valley of Sift actually had quite a surplus of nuts in their territory; walnuts had been growing especially well there for some reason. All they wanted in return for the nuts were several rolls of moss, which was overly abundant in Tulok. Mr. Fangs’ knew about the surplus of nuts, and chose to ignore the easily solution in favor of invading bordering territories so he could claim their land and resources. Some leaders what what’s the best for their people; others only want what’s best for themselves.