Innie’s tail was wagging with extreme excitement as Wolf Chan caught his hood to haul him back before picking him up. “Daddy!” Innie complained, “Wanna get to the boat!”

“I know, but Kapp’n is not going to leave without us so there’s no need to run your little paws off,” Wolf Chan said, smushing his face playfully against the young fox cub that he had adopted.

Innie normally would have pouted but he was far too excited about the prospect of being able to go and visit another island today. Wolf Chan had finally be able to save up enough bells to get his house expanded and Tom Nook was busy sorting out the building work today which meant that the pair had to find something else to do for a few long hours. Since they had pretty much everything sorted that they needed to, food, housing items and toiletries were all accounted for readily, Wolf Chan had decided that it would be a good idea to take Innie on a trip to visit another Island.

Kapp’n was always available for excursions and Wolf Chan had way too many Nook Miles stored up so he figured it would be a nice trip. Plus Kapp’n always seemed to have a knack of finding unusual islands that provided all sorts of wonderful new treats so he was looking forward to it himself.

Settling himself against the light blue fur, Innie giggled, “But I’m so excited! A whole new Island!”

Wolf Chan giggled, pressing a kiss to the top of the young fox’s head, “Oh? You bored of this one?”

“No!” Innie immediately responded, looking horrified at the idea, “Innie loves it here with Daddy and everyone. But a new Island…” for a few seconds the young fox drifted off, clearly thinking how to explain himself and Wolf Chan just took the precious little moment to admire how cute his little baby fox looked in a pale pink coat with white flowers on it. Of course he also had a pair of red trousers on and then a matching pair of little pink shoes with large daisy’s on them. Innie had seen them at Able Sisters and asked so politely for them that Wolf Chan had no trouble buying them in the slightest. Innie could dress how he wanted, Wolf Chan was not going to stop him in the slightest, though there had been a long debate this morning – for all of five minutes – in the young foxes’ mind of if he was going to wear the outfit he now bore or if it was going to be the pink undershirt with the blue and white polka-dot dress.

Innie’s large ears wiggled, “It’s fun to explore a new place!”

“It is indeed,” Wolf Chan said, stepping on the pier and setting Innie down carefully, “Go and see if Kapp’n is ready for you.”

The Turtle had already waved to acknowledge the pair but there was a fondness in his smile as he pretended to be busy with ropes as Innie hurried forward to see if he was ready or not for them. It gave Wolf Chan the perfect moment to transfer the Nook Miles and also do a quick news story update. There wasn’t anything that caught his attention, except a story about a pirate raid on several islands but the authorities were tracking them down. Gullivar had confirmed that it was not him and his crew, as they would never do anything so dastardly. Wolf Chan could only hope that the Bad Pirates never came to their little Island and that no one had been hurt.

“Daddy!” Innie called, waving enthusiastically, “Kapp’n says he can take us to a really nice Island that is made of Candy!”

Wolf Chan raised his eyebrow up at the Turtle who laughed, “It’s always fun to tease the kiddies with. Anything in particular you need?”

The wolf shook his head, “Nope, just a good place to explore and have fun.”

“And make friends!” Innie piped up as he jumped into the boat but was so little of weight that he barely even moved it.

“I thought you wanted Candy?” Wolf Chan asked.

Innie clambered up onto Wolf Chan’s lap as he sat down, “Innie likes Candy but if I eat too much I’ll be sick, so friends would be nicer.”

Kapp’n chuckled and spun his special compass a few times before starting up the engine and pulling out. “Well, let’s see what we can do for you eh?”

The waters were soon lapping at the sides of the boat and Kapp’n sang:

“Sea monster be

misunderstood,
And it's sad.
Known me some sea monsters,
And they ain't so bad!

Sure, they may seem real fierce,
All tentacles and teeth.
Most of 'em got soft hearts.
They be real sweet!

The Island that they arrived at was brightly sunny, filled with palm trees and had a few cliffs that Chan was glad he had brought his portable ladder with. Innie virtually charged off the boat, tripping over the side but saved from face planting into the stones below by the quick reactions of his wolf dad.

Safely set down, with his paw being held, Innie began to explore the new island in earnest. There were lots of trees that had oranges in them, which Wolf Chan helped him to collect as they would be nice for a different type of harvest and also could be planted to give them orange trees back home. Innie wasn’t entirely sure about the orange when he first saw them, as they looked more like a rubber ball than anything else but Wolf Chan just patiently peeled the fruit, took a section and gave it to Innie.

Sniffing the new fruit, Innie carefully took it into his mouth before giving it a chew. His eyes widened in surprise, ears practically vibrating in happiness because he loved the taste so much. “Can I have more please?” he asked, already reaching his little paws up to try and grab the fruit and Wolf Chan laughed gently before handing the fruit over to the little cub.

“Not too much now, or you’ll have too full a tummy for your lunch,” prodding the youngster in the stomach, which made Innie laugh, Wolf Chan set off to explore the rest of the island. It was far smaller than their own, of course, but it was more than enough to get around whilst the house renovations were underway. Though the rest of the island didn’t hold anything much more of surprises, a few coconuts on the palm trees, an abundance of weeds which could be sold to Leif when he turned up on the Island again and an interesting bottle with a new food recipe inside it which sounded like it could feed at least ten animals. It was called Seafood Risotto and from the little picture insert it looked good.

In the centre of the small Island was a large pound and there were many shadows of large fish which made Wolf Chan smile. He carefully set about putting down a chequered cloth and pulling out a picnic basket, he set up a fine looking little feast and pulled out his fishing rod, “Looks like we’re going to get lots of fish here, baby.”

“Yay, fishies for tea,” Innie sang as he plonked himself down on the side, “Can we have them with chippies?”

“Of course,” Wolf Chan replied, reeling his rod out into the water with a satisfying plop. “Though this may take a little while, did you bring something to keep you entertained?”

“Books and colours!” Innie said, digging into the basket to pull out his colouring books which was one of his current obsessions.

Wolf Chan nodded and soon the only sound that surrounded the pair was the gentle scribble of Innie’s crayons on the paper and the occasional plop as the fishing line was pulled in and then set back down again.

After a long time though, Innie had coloured several of his pages and was starting to get a little bit angsty so dug back into the basket to pull out a small ball from within. “Daddy, is it okay if Innie plays ball?”

“Just stay within sight, sweetie,” Wolf Chan replied, wrestling a koi Karp into the fish bucket to put in stores once they got back.

Smiling brightly, Innie threw his ball and then chased after it, going all the way around the outside of the pound which was safely within eye sight of Wolf Chan. He giggled and rolled about happily, getting covered in grass stains and mud but it didn’t really matter as the washing machine would take care of his clothes and he could have a bath tonight which would be mega fun. Because Innie knew that Wolf Chan had gotten him the special bubbles that smelt of sweeties and another rubber ducky to play with. It would be so fun.

A wild throw saw his little red ball bounce off a couple of rocks and then fall down into a hole. “Oh no!” Innie raced up to the spot, “Daddy! Ball fell into a hole!”

“Coming, Innie,” Wolf Chan called, “Don’t try and get it yourself.”

“Won’t,” Innie replied, before turning to look at the hole, only to blink in surprise when he found that the ball was already poking itself out of the hole it had fallen down. Tilting his head to the side in confusion, he made a little noise and reached forward to prod it. Which naturally caused the ball to drop down into the hole once again but this time accompanied by a couple of squeaks of confusion. Innie’s ears twitched at hearing a couple of voices whispering to one another before the ball appeared back at the top of the hole.

Innie turned to look at Wolf Chan and pointed, “Daddy, I think someone down there.”

Wolf Chan frowned and reached to take the ball from the hole, realising that Innie could have easily gotten it which was strange. But as he lifted it up, he briefly saw a small white face that looked shocked before retreating back into the shadows with a squeak. Handing the small fox his ball, Wolf Chan knelt down to look further and tutted when he realised that it was too dark to see anything. “Hello,” he called out gently, “Is someone down there? Are you hurt?”

There was silence for a few seconds, before a tiny little voice went, “No.”

Wolf Chan’s ears pricked up, the voice sounded so young and terrified, “Hey, it’s okay if someone’s there. I’m Wolf Chan and I’ll help you out if you’re stuck.”

Something tapped on his side and he turned to see that Innie was holding out a yellow and red plastic torch to him as well as his ball, some fruit and a blanket. “Thank you, baby,” Wolf Chan said, pressing a kiss to the young fox’s head before turning back to the hole and clicking on the light.

Immediately there were three separate cries of shock and Wolf Chan felt his heart break at the sight. A tiny little sandy coloured puppy and a fluffy yellow chick were clinging to one another, looking absolutely soaked to the bone and standing in front of them was a small white ferret who was trying to look fierce but looked more like he was going to break into tears at any given second. All three were clearly underfed, soaked and in need of a good cuddle.

“Hey,” Wolf Chan called out more gently this time, “It’s okay, I’m going to help you.”

The ferret shook his head, “No!”

“But you are all cold and wet and I bet you’re hungry too?” Wolf Chan asked, figuring that the ferret was probably a little older than the other two. “I’ve got some oranges and Innie’s brought blankets.”

“No!” the ferret said again, though only after a seconds pause which showed he was listening.

Innie popped his head over, “Daddy will help! He the best ever! He gives the best baths and makes great soup too!”

“Oranges?” the puppy asked, having been sniffing the air, coming closer to the ferret looking hopeful and Wolf Chan quickly grabbed one from their stash and lowered his paw down so the pup could take it.

Which he did without a moments hesitation before running back to the chickie with a cry of, “Lixie! Orangies!”

Wolf Chan watched as the little chick uncurled slightly and blinked at the fruit which his friend was unpeeling and offering to him. A little feather reached out to take the offering and the chick began to eat.

The pup wandered back to the ferret who was looking a mixture between furious and curious and was also offered a piece of the fruit. He took it more slowly than the chick but still took it and when he seemed to realise that Wolf Chan wasn’t going to do anything nasty to the food, he turned his little face back up towards the light. “No bad?”

“No!” Innie cut in before Wolf Chan could, “Daddy the best Daddy in the world! He tucks me up at night with all the blankies, makes soup when I’m ill and reads the best stories ever! He help and make you all happy and warm again.”

The ferret blinked, seeming to think this through as he stared at Wolf Chan. The wolf smiled warmly at him, “I’m Wolf Chan, what’s your name?”

“Jiniret,” the ferret replied softly.

A dimple appeared on Wolf Chan’s cheek as his smile grew, “And you’re little friends?”

“Bbokari,” Jiniret pointed to the chick, “Muppy,” he said, pointing to the puppy who looked a bit confused but seemed to accept it.

Wolf Chan smiled, “Well, in that case, do you three like fish and chips and hot milk for supper?”

The sparkly eyes that all three sent him confirmed that this was indeed a trend with small, fluffy animals and within the next half hour he was back on Kappan’s boat, heading back to their Island with three new sons to look after.

Innie was showing Muppy his colouring book, whilst Bbokari and Jiniret happily napped on his lap. In a way he was glad he had done the house renovations now, even if he wasn’t quite sure that there was going to be enough room for them all but he would try his very best. Though for now, he had priorities in getting all three bathed, fed and wrapped up in the warmest clothes before he did anything else.

Being a Daddy to one fox was hard work, adding three others was sure to bring about a whole knew layer of mayhem but the wolf already knew that he couldn’t give them up now. Even if he didn’t know how they had ended up in a random hole in the ground on a deserted island.

 

authors blabbering: I realise that I changed a name but it just made it easier for typing purposes