Born to be Wild Chapter 3

After 15 minutes of walking, JP and Kelsey made it to the Cave of the Elders, while Mortimer, being a bird, simply flew over. Craig and Wildernessa came shortly after riding on Cheesesticks, and Mortimer landed on Kelsey's head. After fixing his hair from the bumpy ride, Craig walked to the front of the cave and knocked. After a few seconds, Mark, one of the Elders, opened the door.

"What is it this time?" He asked.

"We plan on going to the Maryland Zoo to free some of the animals and release them back in their natural habitats." Answered Craig. "However, none of us can drive yet, and we don't want our parents to find out, so we were wondering if one of you could drive us there."

"You're lucky we have our driver's permits." Replied Mark. "I'll drive you to the Maryland Zoo and back to Herkleston. We'll drop the animals off at the Baltimore Inner Harbor and the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, where they will be shipped out to faraway countries. As for the payment, you have to give me a prized possession from you, Kelsey, and JP. We will head out tomorrow at 10 AM."

"I will give you two Bring Out Your Beast trading cards." Said Craig.

"I will give you my warrior wings." Said Kelsey.

"And I will give you a Dino-grabby." Said JP.

"Are you crazy, JP?!" Asked Kelsey. "You only have one left, and the previous one sank in the overpass!"

"It's fine." Said JP. "I can win another one when the carnival comes back to town, or get another at the Trading Tree."

"Wait!" Said Craig. "How come you're helping us? I thought you don't like working with kids."

"That's a lie!" Said Mark. "I can tolerate children, just not 30 at once. Besides, this journey reminds me of an anime movie from last year: Stacy and the Magic Rose. Anyway, it's settled. Tomorrow at 10 AM, I will give you a round trip to the Maryland Zoo in favor of your offerings." Craig, JP, and Kelsey went back to their houses to find their items to trade in, while Wildernessa walked home with Craig to explain the plan to him.

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When Craig came back to his house, he searched his room for Bernard's BOYB trading card collection book.

"Aha!" Said Craig, pulling the book from the book shelf. "Let's see what Beasts I could trade in. Definitely not Beast Snare or Squeakers the Infected. Well, Mark did say he had a slime snake. I guess I'll give that back to him." Craig pulled Ick-Arus (pronounced Icarus), the snake card, out of its pocket and placed it in his sack. "Which other one should I pull out? Muscle Clops? Firebird? Groblin?" Craig then heard the door open. It was Bernard.

"Craig," He said. "It's your turn to wash the dishes. I told mom and dad that I was going to go on a lunch date with Alexis in 15 minutes, and I don't want to be late! What are you doing with those Bring Out Your Beast cards?"

"If I tell you, can you please promise to keep it a secret?" Pleaded Craig.

"Alright, Craig." Said Bernard, closing the door. "I don't want to get upset before my date, after all."

"Okay." Said Craig. "There's this girl who lives in the woods named Wildernessa. Her job is to help animals in distress. She wants me, Kelsey, and JP to help her free some animals at the Maryland Zoo."

"Have you lost your marbles, Craig?!" Said Bernard. "You know that animals are better off in captivity!"

"I know," Said Craig. "But Wildernessa, the girl I'm helping, spoke this over with Stacks at the library for four weeks, and they concocted a plan to release them in protected wildlife reserves across the globe. However, I don't want mom or dad to know about it because they'd be worried sick. Instead, Mark, one of the Elders of the Creek, will drive me and my friends to the zoo, but I need to give him a piece offering. I told him I'd give him two BOYB cards, but you said you were saving them to sell them for college money. I was afraid you'd get mad at me again."

"It's alright, Craig." Said Bernard. "You can give him two cards, but you need to find two replacement cards of any kind. Deal?"

"Deal." Said Craig, and the two brothers shook hands. "Besides, I already found one card that actually belonged to him. Now the problem is I don't know what other card to give him." Bernard then took the book and started flipping through it.

"How about one of my Bushallo?" Offered Bernard. "I have more than one, and they're pretty cheap." Bernard then pulled out a Bushallo card and gave it to Craig.

"Thank you, Bernard." Said Craig. "I never saw this side of you before."

"We're taking social skills classes at high school." Said Bernard.

"One more thing." Said Craig. "If anyone asks where I've gone, tell mom, dad, and Jessica that our class is taking a field trip to Washington, DC."

"Got it!" Said Bernard. "Now if you excuse me, I have a lunch to attend to." Bernard then started whistling a familiar tune, exited Craig's room, and closed the door. Craig then walked over to his drawer and placed his card book back inside.

"Where could I find replacement cards?" Craig asked himself. "Perhaps Kit has a pack at the Trading Tree! But she won't give it away for free. Maybe one of my treasures will change her mind!" Craig opened his closet and retrieved a comic book, a toy robot, and those turtle toys from when he and his friends first encountered Wildernessa. While digging through his 'treasures', Craig couldn't help but notice the empty bug tank on top of his shelf. After putting his collected 'treasures' in his sack, Craig walked over to the tank and prayed.

"I miss you, 88 Legs." He whispered. Craig decided that he might need the tank in case they run out of cages to put the animals in, so he put the tank in his sack. He then exited his room, locked his door, and headed to the kitchen to wash the dishes and then have lunch.
Author's Notes: The song Bernard is whistling in this chapter happens to be 'Almost Like Being in Love', a novelty song from the late 1940s. It plays during the credits of Groundhog Day, as well as an improvised version in Antz. It sounds something like this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0gyX0psbFI
The Dino Grabby that JP mentions in this chapter are the ones he got at the Trading Tree in the episode 'Under the Overpass.'

The 'warrior wings' Kelsey mentions in this chapter were from the episode 'The Brood', in which Craig, Kelsey, JP, and Mortimer get trapped in their stump during a cicada swarm. However, they were just leftovers from her Halloween costume from last year.

The Dino Grabby and Warrior Wings will appear again in Chapter 4.
Bring Out Your Beast is a card game in Craig of the Creek, spoofing popular trading card games like Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! In the episode 'Bring Out Your Beast', Craig borrows Bernard's BOYB cards so he can play the game at the Splintery Butt. Here are some of the cards that were featured in the episode that also appear in my story.

Bushallo
Ick-Arus
Squeakers the Infected

Beast Snare
Firebird, Groblin, and Muscle Clops are unofficial names that I gave these following three cards.

You know how in Craig of the Creek, Craig has a bug tank with a red lid on a shelf in his bedroom?

Well, ever since I noticed it, I wondered what kind of animal was in that tank. I even tried emailing one of the people who works on the show, but I couldn't get any answers. Until then, I guess it is safe to guess what animal is/was in there. What I think was in the tank will be revealed in Chapter 5.
The comic book and robot were one of Craig's MANY treasures in the Craig of the Creek episode 'Too Many Treasures'.

The robot is the blue one in the closet pile behind a comic book to the right of the blue ribbon.

The turtle toys Craig finds in his closet are the turtle toys from 'Wildernessa'.

The movie that Mark mentions, Stacy and the Magic Rose, is a spoof of the anime film 'Mary and the Witch's Flower'. In the movie, protagonist Mary Smith discovers a magic flower. This leads to a series of events that ends her up in Endor College For Witches. Head Mistress Madam Mumblechook and chemistry teacher Doctor Dee secretly want the flower so Dee can concoct a spell that can turn people into witches. They have previously tried testing the spell without the flower on exotic animals, but instead turns them into Pokémon rejects.

Thankfully, these animals get turned back to normal with the help of Mary and a boy named Peter.

I'll give Mary and the Witch's Flower a full review some time this fall.