Chapter 1- Fox

Where Am I? A cave? The only light came from water that trickled down the rugged stone walls and pooled around me. The water glowed, shifting from color to color as its light danced across the walls.

"Wow" I whispered, only to hear myself yip softly.

Strange. Four paws, a tail, pointy ears and lots of fur. I'm a fox? Hopefully I'm a fox. I don't have anything against dogs, but I'd much rather be a fox if I had to choose between the two. And ... yep, Im a girl!

"Awesome!" I yipped as I finished my self examination and focused back on my surroundings.

I was alone in the middle of a glowing puddle with no signs of other animals. It was strange to wake up in a glowing puddle, but I was also only a pup. For there to be a child, there needs to be parents right? And as I'm a fox, I should have a litter right? Yet I was alone.

"Humph." I felt indignant at their absence. I liked the idea of having brothers and sisters. I didn't so much like being alone in a strange place with weird fruitloop water.

I stared at the water accusingly and contemplated it. Was it drinkable? It smelled normal, but would normal water glow? If I drank it would it make me glow and change colors too? That might be fun. I looked at my fur. I couldn't tell the exact color in the strange lighting but I thought it might be some sort of gray, maybe a dull brown. Being rainbow would be a lot cooler.

Working up the courage, I prayed that it wouldn't turn me into a from and took a small sip. And....and....oh...Oh! Hmmmm. I sighed in contentment and drank some more. I really like rainbow water. It made me feel like all my pores were opening and being washed and cleaned by a crisp, cool stream. I drank more and more, It had become a need to keep drinking. Like there was no life if I stoped. I couldn't stop, I needed more and more and mor- There was a pang in my belly that snapped my attention away from the water. It was visibly bloated and felt like it was about to explode. Dangerous. The water was dangerous.

I tried my best to scoot away from the puddle, now much smaller, but didn't get far due to he pain of my near bursting stomach. Spent, I curled up trying to find a comfortable position for the severe food coma I felt coming on. As my eyelids got heavier and heavier I looked back at the remaining water around me. Just one more sip wouldn't kill me right? Just one more sip....

---

I woke up to a nearly dark room. The glowing puddle gone and only the dull glow from the water trickling down the walls remained as it slowly tried to reform the puddle drop by drop.

"No! My Puddle!" I barked. Where had it gone? What happened?

I jumped up and searched around the room. I hadn't noticed before, but there wasn't even a tunnel or door. With so little light I was beginning to feel claustrophobic.

"My Puddle~" I whined. Thats what I would focus on. No need to think about how I was trapped in a stone cave with no exit. I mean who knows how far underground I am or if the light will fade away of if a wall will collapse or even how long the oxygen in here will last. Nope. Let's find more water. Yep. I cleared my mind and began examining the water flow. If I was going to die anyway, might as well focus on the things I like right? More fruitloop water, here I come!

Backtracking the flow of the water I found three places it seemed to be leaking from. Interestingly enough, they seemed to be relatively close to each other, like if I could chip away at the rock in the middle of them I might find the place where the trickles of water converge. I balanced on my hind legs to get a better look. This was no easy feet. It was hard enough walking on my unsteady baby legs, and putting my full weight on my back legs wasn't going to last for long. But I didn't lose hope. After all legs were made of bone and muscle, they would only get stronger with hard work and perseverance.

I scratched at the rock with my claws and found purchase where the water had found its way between the slabs of stone and worn some of it away. The perfect place for me to wiggle my little claws in to try and loosen up the rock and pull it away from the other slab. I wont lie, I didn't really have any hope to to accomplish anything but it was a hell of a lot better then doing nothing for days upon days. And thats truly how long it seemed I was in there. I'd found myself a nice little routine of waking up, lapping up any water that had managed to accumulate, stretching, then balancing on my back legs to wiggle my claws into the stone to try and loosen and widen the hole. When my legs got tired I stretched some more, rested, then moved onto the next water source. This continued until I was tired enough to sleep, and when I woke, the whole thing started again.

Slowly as time went by my legs got stronger, my balance got better and surprisingly, the biggest change was my claws which had hardened into formidable tools. So formidable that they even began to have an effect on what I'd begun to assume was near immovable stone, until one day-

"Crash!"

A whole chunk of the ceiling came down! Specifically, the chunk I'd been whittling away at since I woke up.

"Success!" I chirped, jumping in excitement. I'd been slow to jump away from the falling rock, leaving my side sore and scratched, but that all faded away at the sight of the rainbow water pouring in from where the rock had fallen away.