Zach’s eyes open after being in darkness for a while. The fox stretches and lets out a yawn, yet no other sounds are produced. He looks around the hotel room; the white, plaster walls seemingly bright in contrast to the red blankets of the bed. “H-huh? W-where am I? How’d I get here?” He gets out of and examines the interior of his room. Drawing back the curtains, he makes out buildings at a maximum height of four stories and cars scattered about. His eyes widen as the scenery is all too familiar to him. “Oh no… Not Heroto… Why am I in Heroto?! How did I even get here?!” The fox bolts for the exit, but upon jiggling the handle, he fails to open the door. “I can’t be trapped in here…” He makes his way to the center of the room and scans around. “Now what do I do…?”
His attention is soon drawn to the television set across his bed, having been turned on automatically and showing a picture of a wolf smiling. “Greetings newcomers, and welcome to your first day in Heroto!” utters the narrator. “We are certain that in the days to come, you’ll find our nice, little town quite relaxing and refreshing. Feel free to wander down Main Street and browse our elegant shops, take a relaxing soak in our famous healing springs, or sit in and enjoy our delicious meals from our restaurants! Come and meet our protectors, Team Rescuers, and learn all about their day-to-day job; keeping our streets free of crime and helping others in need. Now, by visiting our cozy, small settlement, you have agreed to follow our rules. Should you feel unhappy or unwell about where you are, or what you’ve done… Worry not! We are here to listen and help you in any way or form!”
“Hmph…” Zach turns away from the screen with arms crossed. “What a load of baloney…”
“And…” The narrator continues. “Should you come back… Years later… Your conscious and curiosity finally getting the better of you…” His tone has changed to dark and sinister, prompting Zach to look back at a slowly transitioning screen from a peaceful, happy wolf to one with sharp, smiling teeth and black eyes for a horrifying look. The fox’s eyes widen again as his mouth opens with surprise and fear. “May you journey through the dark and the mysterious, finding incomprehensible horrors waiting for you eagerly to return… All certain they might find you. Perhaps they’d watch you from the shadows… Their deceiving smiles giving false hope, watching and waiting patiently for their turn at a warm welcome. Or perhaps, they won’t let you roam around or figure out your role in the world you’ve left; a world that’s theirs now.” The television begins to flash and whir, causing Zach to back up in reaction. “Welcome home, Flawed Fox.” The wolf’s face materializes out of the screen, reaching out with a snarl and growl as it comes to life, out from the television. It towers over the fox, dwarfing him in size.
“Oh crap!” Oh crap! Oh crap!” Zach sprints to the door and jiggles the handle again. “Come on! Come on!” Just as the wolf is a quarter of the way to him, the door swings open, causing Zach to collapse to the ground. It takes him only three seconds to get back up and run down the hallway, away from the monster wolf. He jogs down, only to stop before a dead end with nowhere else to turn. Zach makes an about-face, watching the wolf sprint on all fours toward him before pouncing. Zach shuts his eyes tightly and screams, for it’s the only thing he could do, as death comes for him.
Suddenly, the fox opens his eyes and sits up quickly after letting out a yell before clutching at his chest and pants, attempting to catch his breath. Looking around, Zach finds he’s back in his apartment and sees the time is seven o’ seven in the morning. After easing his breathing back to normal, he gets out of bed and starts his early morning routine; brushing his teeth, brushing his fur, and donning his blue bandana. He then exits his apartment and shuts the door behind him. The fox pauses after taking a step, noticing something under his foot; a book with a black cover. “What’s this?” He bends down, picks it up, and examines it further. “A book?” Zach opens it up to see various sketches of cartoon characters and sceneries. “Whoa…” On one page is a pencil-drawn image of three cartoon bears in front of a hill made into a home. In front of them is the short warthog with brown hair, surrounded by them as they all comfort her. “The warthog…” Sifting through further, he finds more sketches of the warthog herself, as well as other pictures; a sketch of Winnie flailing her arms in a hallway, ranting, to which the fox snickers at. Next page, he sees a napping Ralph on the lobby couch. One more flip shows the fox himself entering his apartment in his blue cap and backpack beside the blue bandana he wears. He presses his palm on the picture of himself. “Man… She captured me really well…”
His ears twitch to the sound of footsteps from around the corner of the hallway. He looks up to see the brown-haired warthog herself, walking back toward her apartment. “Excuse me, Ma’am! I believe you dropped this.” The warthog pauses and faces Zach, who extends the closed sketchbook to her. She remains frozen, keeping her gaze on him. 
“My sketchbook!” the warthog goes. “I must’ve dropped it on the way passed.” She walks over to the fox, takes the sketchbook back from him and packs it into her sling carry-on. “Um, thank you, Fox.” The warthog makes an about-face and heads back to her apartment door.
 “You have amazing drawings, by the way.” His comment causes the warthog to freeze in place again. “I like them a lot.”
The warthog pivots back to him. Her cheeks pink in blush. “You… like my drawings?”
“Of course. You are very talented.”
The warthog woman turns her head away. Trying to hide her blushing face. “I… You’re quite a kind fox…” Zach gives her a smile before turning back to his door and locking it. “Hey…” The fox turns back to her. “Do you have any plans today, fox?”
“Well… I was going to go out and look for a job…”
“You have an interview?”
“Not really…”
“If you’re not too busy, would you like to join me for some coffee?”
“Um… You know what, sure. I would love to, Miss-” 
“Emma,” goes the warthog. “My name’s Emma.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Emma. I’m Zach.” Zach meets her by her side and the two walk down the hall together, making small talk as they descend the stairs. 

*** 

The two animals sit across each other at a table of a small Pawbucks not too far from the apartment complex. Both of them have tall cups of coffee by their side. 
“Zach, I want to thank you again for my sketchbook.”
“It’s no problem, really,” Zach says.
“Also, I appreciate your compliment. It means so much to me to hear you like my work.”
“You’re welcome.” Zach smiles. “I admire someone with talent and creativity.”
“Unfortunately, my dad doesn’t think so…”
“Your dad?”
“During the times I would draw, he’d always insult my work… He thought it was a waste of time and not useful for me. He would often rip up some of my drawings and toss them in the garbage. Sometimes even throw them into the fireplace, where’d they burn up. Worst part of it all; my mom would stay quiet and wouldn’t take my side through any of it. She was no help and unsupportive. I decided I had enough and left.”
“And now you’re out here all by yourself?” The warthog nods. “Aw, gee… It’s not always good to be pushed to your limits… I’m sorry…”
“Don’t be,” spurts the warthog. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I feel you, though.” Zach relates to her story by telling his. “When I was little, I wanted to be like my idol, Captain Red Mask. I wanted to save people and fight crime… All the other kids of the orphanage I grew up in thought I was a pest, though… After a while, I just stopped. They still continued to belittle and bully me.”
“That’s horrible! Didn’t you tell the caregivers?”
“They didn’t really do too much… I was still bullied and outcasted… Everyone thought of me as a flawed fox. Then, there was Team Rescuers.” Emma asks him what he means, causing him to recount his experience with the hero group. “They were no different than the other orphans… They saw me the same way…”
“Ugh, I can’t stand people like that!”
“After a while, I decided to leave Heroto and start a new life.”
“I’m sorry you went through all of that…” Emma puts her hand on his arm. “It’s never good to be singled out…”
Zach looks away with his ears drooping. “No… It’s not... Not good being hated, either…”
“You said you were looking for a job,” Emma begins, trying to change the conversation. “Have you had any luck so far?”
Zach’s ears shoot back up as she turns back to her. “No… Not at all… I’ve applied to many places, but I’ve haven’t been lucky so far…”
“There anything in particular that you are looking for?”
“Not really… Why? Is your job hiring anybody?”
“Not unless you know how to fix computers really well. And I mean really well, like troubleshooting, IT, and such…”
“Oh… Probably not, then.”
“I can help you find work, though. I don’t normally talk with my coworkers, but I can ask around to see if there’s anybody hiring.”
“Thank you, Emma. I appreciate it.”
“Hey, no problem. I’m just happy to meet another friendly face. It’s not easy to live on your own and start from the ground-up.”
“No… Ralph has been the only other kind soul, really. Winnie, eh, sometimes, but not too much, really…”
“The rabbit and chicken?” asks Emma. Zach nods. “I… haven’t really warmed up to them, yet… I’m not sure if I’m ready to get to know them.”
“One step at a time,” goes Zach. “It took me a while to get to know them, too.”
“Really? What was it like to come here?”
“Well, it’s a long story actually…” Zach begins to tell his story of coming to the city. Emma takes a sip of her coffee as she listens passionately.

***

The two animals walk up the stairs and amble down the hall, chatting and smiling. “Well, what do we have here?” The voice of the chicken stops them just a few inches past her doorway. They turn to see her leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed in a pretzel form. “Already made friends with the new girl, fox?”
“You don’t know that,” Zach tells her.  
“Oh? So then, I suppose your chatter with her from before was all my imagination, huh?”
“Eavesdropping again? You’re so nosy.”
“That I am.” She claims. “So, foxy boy, you going to share her with us or what?”
“Winnie, stop it.” The rabbit appears from his doorway. He joins in on the conversation. “It’s not right to interrogate them. You’re not a police officer.”
She pivots to Ralph, quickly. “What?! I’m not interrogating them; I’m just interested to learn about piggy here.”
“Her name’s not ‘Piggy,’” states Zach in defense. “It’s Emma!” 
“Emma, huh? Not quite a fitting name in my opinion.”
The fox covers his mouth and turns to her. “Sorry… I didn’t mean to blurt out your name.”
“You’re fine,” Emma tells him. She takes a step forward. “Forgive me for not interacting with you guys; I was shy and unsure how to approach you. But, after meeting Zach, I don’t mind getting to know the rest of you.”
“Well, why not start?” Ralph holds out his paw with a smile. “I’m Ralph. Pleasure to formally meet you, Miss Emma.” Emma grabs his paw and shakes it.
“Yeah,” Winnie adds. “And I’m Winnie. Guess it’s nice to meet you.”
Ralph takes his paw back. “Hey, do you want to come in to my place? I was just about to watch a really cool superhero movie!” 
“Ooh,” Zach comments. “I’m interested, now.”
“Sure, Zach. Emma, what about you?”
“Well,” Emma rubs her arm. “I guess I wouldn’t mind.”
The rabbit looks back up at the chicken. “Winnie?”
“What?” responds the chicken.
“Want to join us for a movie?”
“Not really… But, since I have nothing else better to do today, I will. So long as none of you sit too close to me.”
“You have nothing to worry about. Come on in.” The animals follow Ralph into his apartment. And that’s how all four of their friendships truly began.