The Best Of Both: Camp Cretaceous OC

Up the River

Max kept his eyes shut, staring into the black void as his mind spun. He felt so lost, overwhelmed and hurt. Here they were, in the middle of unknown, dangerous territory and  he was here feeling sorry for himself. He couldn't afford that. He couldn't dwell on what has happened to him while they were still in so much danger. He had to do his part and stay alert.

Not like he was being very helpful in the first place.

He picked up the sounds of Ben returning, and everyone climbing into their boats. For a moment, he found himself unable to get up, but forced himself to his feet anyway. He wobbled slightly as he got up, his headache growing worse for a moment before receding again. 

He climbed in with Sammy, Zayna and Darius and the two boats began to trundle through the water once more.

"Hey, you all right, bud?" He heard Yasmina ask from the other boat. He knew she wasn't talking to him, but he listened in anyway, if just to distract himself from his headache.

"Okay...," Ben said slowly, turning around with a grim expression on his face. "I think I need to tell you something". Before he could say anything more, Max's boat rocked hard from impact under the water.

"Woah. There's something there," Darius called from the front of the boat, leaning over the front and looking into the water. 

Everyone followed his gaze, and saw a dark shape moving through the water, bubbles rising to the surface. It followed their direction, seemingly studying them as it made slow movements in and out from between the boats. "Oh, come on. We just got back in the water," Sammy exclaimed.

The shape suddenly stopped and the bubbles began to grow. Whatever was there was rising. Too soon, the water broke and a giant brown head, two small ears and two small black eyes were looking back at them.

The Hippopotamus looked at them with an inquisitive look and slow, deliberate grunt. "It's just a big old Hippo," Kenji sighed in relief. "Kind of cute".

Max let out breath he had been holding, looking at the hippo. A whole second passed before he his eyes widened and fear gripped him. "Crap! A Hippo!" He shouted. 

The Hippo roared, showing off its giant mouth and teeth and coming towards them. "Go!" The boats sped off right before the animal could chump through either of them, but the Hippo was close behind them, having no trouble running through the water after them.

"Can't these things go any faster!?" Ben cried, watching the Hippo charging after them. Next thing they knew, the Hippo was gone, sinking into the water and disappearing. "Where did it go?" The jungle was quiet for a moment, the water going still around them. 

The water between the boats exploded and the Hippo's head appeared between the boats, knocking both of them away. Max's boat hit the shoreline and was beached. The Hippo turned towards Kenji's boat and snapped at them. Kenji reached into one of their supply baskets and pulled out a mango. "Eat this!" He shouted.

"Are you kidding me?" Ben cried.

"Seriously!?" Darius added.

Kenji threw the mango, missing the Hippo entirely, the mango splashing into the river. The Hippo turned from the boats and to the mango in the water. The Hippo then...ate the mango, briefly searching around for more,

Ben and Darius glanced at each other. "Throw more! Throw more!" They both shouted.

"Ah. I can't believe this is working," Kenji said as he threw two more. Just as before, the Hippo gobbled up the mangoes, its interest in its previous prey all but gone. Kenji went and picked up another and lazily tossed it outward.