Tony walked up to a tree and picked some acorns off the lowest branch to eat. He suddenly felt something on his tail and looked down. Haley was tugging at his tail to get his attention. When she realized she had succeeded, she let go sheepishly.

“Hi!,” Haley said nervously.

Tony glared at her. “Can I help you?,”

“Oh… Well... um… I know it's the great migration to Valley's right now and... I come with you to wherever you’re going?,”

“What?! No,” Tony said angrily.

“Aw come one, please. Can’t I just go with you. I can’t find my parents anywhere… And with this wild cat around-”

“I said no,”

Tony kicked Haley away, not hard enough to hurt her but hard enough to send her tumbling into the bushes. 

"I've got enough problems without having to take care of a kid. Especially a fox kid," Tony said and continued to eat.

While he was eating, he could hear some birds were flying above him.

“Man, I love the fact that we are travelling together, makes it a lot easier to avoid predators,” one bird said,

“Yeah. I don’t have to be fast. I just gotta be faster than you,” the other bird teased.

The two shared a laugh. Tony rolled his eyes.

“Ew. Sappy. Crappy. Baloney," Tony said and continued to eat.

Another bird looked down and saw the acorns on the tree.

"Acorns!," he exclaimed and dove down towards the acorns.

"Wait no! Wolf kid, watch out!," a female bird called out.

Tony looked up just in time to see the bird dive right into him sending him tumbling over a hill completely winded.

"Acorns!," the bird exclaimed again, got up and flew away without so much as an apology.

"Ow! Thanks...," Tony growled, standing up.

When Tony stepped with his hind leg, he felt an extreme jolt of pain.

"Ow! Oh no! Nonononono!," Tony freaked out.

Tony tried to walk again only for the same thing to happen. He could walk on it, but it was painful and caused a limp.

"Twisted. Dang it!,"

Tony sat down and gathered materials to make a splint. He would be able to walk ok in a day or two but until then he was vulnerable. Had he been with a pack, this wouldn't really be an issue because he would have other sets of eyes. But now he didn't have that. He suddenly remembered the little fox kit. She wasn't old enough to help with much but she was something. Beggars can't be choosers. Tony sniffed the air trying to locate the fox kit. He finally caught her scent along with something else, something bigger but not as big as a wild cat or bear.

"Huh? What is that?," Tony said and followed the scent.

Tony pushed his way through some bushes to see the fox kit standing on a rock talking to a coyote couple. All 3 members of the conversation looked mad, he was able to make out a bit of it.

"He did that?," the female coyote asked sounded outraged.

"Jeez. What a jerk," the male coyote added.

Tony groaned and put on a fake smile, walking over to the group.

"Hey, there you are kid. I've been looking for you. I forgive you for yanking on my tail. Come on, let's go," Tony said, turning back around towards the path.

Haley scowled at him before turning back around in a huff.

"Well... look who came crawling back," the female coyote said.

"Wait a minute... this is the wolf?,: the male coyote asked accusingly.

Tony saw that Haley wasn't following him and began to walk back towards the rock.

"Kid, come on let's go," Tony ordered.

The two coyotes got between Haley and Tony.

"Why don't you just get out of here wolf?,"the female said.

"Yeah Haley doesn't want you around," the male one said.

Tony was getting annoyed. "And since when do animals help other species? We usually just leave each other alone,"

Haley scowled again and slid off the rock. "Come on guys lets go,"

The 3 of them walked off.

"Hey I thought you needed someone to go with you to Valleys," Tony said following them.

"Like you care," Haley scowled.

"We'll be taking Haley to Valleys. But thanks to you this kid may never trust anyone ever again," the male coyote said.

"Shame on you! She's only a kit," the female coyote scowled.

"Shame on me?," Tony looked completely annoyed. "Oh ok. If that's the way you wanna be, fine!,"

"Ok,"the coyote male said and they both turned around to follow Haley.

"And I hope you're equipped to deal with all the trouble you'll be having with that kid," Tony said nonchalantly.

The female coyote gasped. "I can't believe you! Trying to frame this sweet kit as a troubled child,"

"Oh no no no. You don't understand. I'm not taking about her. I'm talking about the predators she'll attack,"

The coyote male slowed down looking nervous. "Predators?," he gulped.

"Oh yeah. You didn't know? Do you have any idea how many animals are gonna wanna eat this kid? She's basically a quick snack at her size," Tony stated.

The female coyote started to look nervous too.

"We're not scared. Right guys?," Haley said and continued to walk.

"Uh right," the male coyote said.

"Of course not hun," the female coyote replied.

"Oh you should be. Especially this time of year, food's gonna be scarce. Predators may be driven to act... bold to get their meal. It doesn't help considering what animals eat foxes,"

Haley was starting to get nervous herself. Tony walked up to the coyotes.

"There are bears, and cougars, and lynxes, and... snakes would probably try to eat a kit to keep a fox from , oh and lets not forget eagles and hawks," Tony said, actively trying to scare them.

Haley gasped. "You... You guys aren't afraid of any of those animals are you?,"

"What? Nononono!Of course not," the male coyote lied.

The female coyote pushed an annoyed Tony in front of them.

"It just seems like this wolf really wants to go with you sooooo we'll see you. Send a bird if you need us," the female coyote said, grabbing the male by the ear and dragging him away.

Haley looked unsure as the coyotes walked away. Tony approached Haley.

"Look kid... If we go now... no hugging... we walk fast. We stay on the path and if you keep up cause I'm not slowing down or coming back for you...," Tony took a deep breath. "I won't kick you away again... And I'll feed you,"

Haley thought for a second. "Well.... I guess that's fair," Haley answered.

"Good, let's get going,"

Tony began to walk off. Haley ran to catch up.

"Wait... I don't know you're name,"

"You don't need to. We're only gonna be around each other for a few days,"

Haley glared at him. Tony saw the look and sighed.

"It's Tony," he answered reluctantly.