Panda Quests

Panda Quests

By Rosalind D H and Sage F W

Chapter 1- introduction

A essay on the different panda tribes and their territory

There are 4 panda tribes

The first one is The Diamond City of Pandas where the citizens have large eyes that sparkle like diamonds, and a light blue hugh. The city is known for having beautiful beaches, full of sea creatures you couldn't find anywhere else, for example, the fwumf, a fuzzy seabird that loves to knock over sand castles.  Diamond pandas also really like to cuddle. The Diamond City is in the middle of a large field on the edge of the ocean, and their houses are made out of grass and bamboo planks.

Second, there is The Union of Aquamarine Pandas, who are always extremely sleepy, and  because of this their city is covered in large fuzzy hammocks. They live on an island and they get the building material for their houses from driftwood found on the beach.  A trait of the aquamarine pandas is that their eyes glisten, almost like they are about to cry. They are the closest city to Diamond city.

Across the bay, is The Land Of The Ruby Pandas, the third tribe, which can be kind of grumpy, and have big bushy frowny eyebrows. They live on a large mountain range in stone houses, nestled around the mountains, with dark plumes of smoke billowing from the chimneys. They have the best mines and military power,  but have explored little of the far mountain peaks.

There is also a tribe full of normal pandas that are black and white with no special markings. They live in a crowded and busy city made out of tall stocks of bamboo. Their city is the largest but also the most crowded, with small streets and big towers. 

All four of the tribes do not like mixed breeds. An example of a  mixed breed would be a panda from both the diamond, and ruby city. They would be outcasts to their tribe. Even though mixed breeds are prohibited, all of these tribes have agreed to peace. They have paths and bridges that connect to the others, and like to trade through these ways. 

Some tell  stories about a fifth panda type, with lush brown fur, who live in a hidden jungle with jade mint growing in it. Jade mint is said to be able to heal any wound, or sickness. Most pandas don’t believe in that tale though. 

Chapter 2 - Somebody

Near these panda kingdoms, there was a vast, formidable, jungle on an island. It had parrots in every color imaginable, mud puddles here and there, trees covered in vines reaching high into the sky, ferns as big as boulders, and a beautiful twisting river, and all on its own in the middle of that, there was a little panda cub named Willow. 

Willow was a panda with beautiful cute eyes and black and white spots right where they should be. her eyes were always pooling with tears like fresh raindrops. She lived in a leafy cave that had been her home ever since she was cast out from her cities. She was part Diamond panda, and part Aquamarine, so she was an outcast to both kingdoms. 

Willow spends most of her time braiding flowers into chains, and munching on the abundant bamboo. She lives on her own, and has been all her life, except for the small period where she carried a little lady bug around on her paw.

One day Willow was out searching for the bright yellow flowers that had been sprouting all over the jungle on these warm, rainy fall days, for her latest flower chain. She filled up her woven bamboo basket, and then stopped in a clearing to snack on the skyscraper bamboo growing around it.

Her eating was interrupted by noise from the forest near her. She stood up, dropped her bamboo, and listened alertly. There were not many predators on the island, but every once and a while, one would pop out and chase her, so she was always alert when she heard noises that sounded bigger than a colorful bird or small ground mammal.

With caution, Willow went to the edge of the clearing and peeked out from behind a tree to see what was happening. There was a brown and white thing, about her size, yipping quite a lot as it ran through the underbrush. Willow knew that this hadn't made all the noise, and her questions were answered shortly by a weasley smaller mammal, chasing the brown thing. They were each moving fast, so Willow couldn't tell what either of the animals were until the smaller one let out a growl. That was the growl that made her instincts kick in.

She hadn't encountered one before, but she knew these evil yellow weasels were dangerous. They were yellow throated martens, the vicious cousin of the weasel. These meanies were small, but would kill an animal bigger than them. Willow realized she had to help the thing it was chasing.

Looking around the clearing, she found a big stick, and lugged it up into a tree behind her.

Willow watched as the chase continued, and when the martin was under her, she swung her stick to hit it. After missing, she waited for them to come around again, all the while the brown thing running around and making melodramatic noises. It was slowing down, tripping over foliage, running in circles and getting all scratched up. The martin was practically snapping at it’s stubby tail, but this time she swung, the stick collided with the rude martin's face. It yelped and ran away, leaving a disgruntled little animal running around a little until it finally realized there was no predator anymore.

Willow climbed down her little tree, placing the stick back on the ground. She carefully made her way to the area where the brown thing was sitting, looking dazed.

It was small, about her size except a little rounder, and had white on most of its face, and in a stripe around its midsection. Those markings were just like hers, a pandas, but this panda had brown around its eyes, ears, arms and legs.

“Are you a panda?”

The weird thing jumped, and turned around to see her. “Who are you?”

“Answer me, what kind of animal are you?” Willow was using her scariest voice just to be safe, because she had never seen anything like it before.

“I'm a panda! My name is Coco Bean.” said the brownish panda.  “Who are you?”

 “I’m the one asking questions. Why do you have brown markings? What are you doing on my island? I have never seen another panda near here before. Where are you from? What was that thing chasing you? Do you live in the Diamond City?” Willow  added as she noticed Coco Bean’s cute eyes.

 “No.” Coco Bean said, still dazed “Why are you interrogating me? I have lived here my whole life. It was chasing me because I accidentally walked too close to its den. 

“I have never seen another panda around here. That’s why I want to know what your deal is. What about your family?” Asked Willow.

“I was kicked out. I don’t remember anything about my past except that my mom was a beautiful Diamond panda named Blackberry and my dad was a panda named Pumpkin. ” Coco answered sadly.

 “Why are you lying? I know you are!” Willow said. 

“What? No! Why would you think I was lying?”

“Because my mom's name is Blackberry, so stop lying! I saved you!” Answered Willow.

“You're the one who saved me?

“Yeah. I hit the martin with a stick”

“Thanks-Wait, Are… Are we sisters?” Asked Coco Bean.

“No, that's ridiculous.”

“But if your mom is a panda named Black Blackberry and my mom is a panda named Black Blackberry that means we're sisters.” Coco sagely pointed out.

“Well maybe. It must just be a misunderstanding though. Oh, and my name is Willow.”

“It’s nice to meet you, sister.”

The sisters had lots of fun together. Willow showed Coco (a nickname for Coco Bean) how to braid flowers into chains, and she was shown Coco's favorite places to play and the best bamboo groves. They found a grove of flowers a few days earlier and created a game.

“Whoever gets the coolest thing wins!” Coco yelled over her shoulder as she sprinted through the grove.

“Hey! no fair! you got a head start!” Willow yelled after Coco. After several minutes Coco had found a flower in the shape of a star, and a boot, a gold coin and a rat skull. Willow had found a rainbow flower, a massive pine cone, the other boot and a sick of bamboo with a face painted on it.

“30 more seconds!” Coco called and they both began frantically searching. “I am so going to win when you see what I found!”     

“Wow, look at this.” Said Willow, who was staring at something in the grass and who looked like she was in a trance. 

          “What is it?” Said Coco as she walked over. “Oh, Wow.” She bent over and picked up a glowing flower bud. Suddenly it exploded into colorful powder.  

“You win.” Coco said.

To be continued in the next edition