A riot.

The word kept spreading through the zoo. That was what they needed. That was what they dreamed of. That was they lived for. That was what they feared. A riot. What would happen?

Tao was just sitting in his lonely enclosure, like he did every day, when the word finally reached him via Lay. “Yah! Mr. Panda, Kris is planning a riot. Are you with us or are you against us?” the monkey babbled to him.

Lay, as everyone called him even though his name was Yixing, was the King lion Rumbleroar’s messenger. (They once used a parrot named Moonkyu but he was transferred to a different zoo.) Kris, the lion prince, was highly respected, but he had no power until his father passed, which could be any time now. Lay served them both, only doing so for the gossip and the spare mangos Kris smuggled from the zookeepers for him.

“I am so lonely and have no reason to be against you. I will serve Kris loyally,” Tao answered. He was the lone panda in the entire zoo. Aside from talking with Xiumin, the newborn and curious polar bear in the exhibit next to him, he was so left out. Every human ignored him, instead favoring Xiumin.

Lay laughed his monkey laugh and replied, “When the zoo closes, we’ll meet here in your cage since you have the most space and the stupid human guard doesn’t come this way. Sound like a plan?” The monkey laugh echoed once more and he disappeared over the exhibit’s wall and over to the polar bear exhibit.

Night soon fell over the SMTown Zoo. Tao curled up in his bed of leaves against a tree. He might as well be comfortable whilst the rebellion met. Slowly but surely, animals began to make there way to his enclosure. The first to arrive was an owl who went by Kyungsoo. He was wise, as most owls are, and very motherly. He’d come and check on Tao when he was just a cub. Now, Kyungsoo visits Xiumin and the tiger cub twins.

Speaking of the twins, Kai, the older of the two, jumped into the habitat. Sniffing around as to survey the area of any danger, he finally confirmed it safe and nestled next to Kyungsoo, who in turn began to pet him. Kai’s purring was the only sound in the enclosure.

A small cry broke the near silence, turning Tao’s attention away from the owl and tiger. Attempting to get over the fence, Xiumin had managed to get himself stuck at the very top. He was shaking and crying in fear mostly of the fall. Tao, also with a slight maternal instinct, picked himself up and prodded over to help the poor cub. Reaching up and gently grabbing him, Tao brought him down into his arms and shushed the crying polar bear. It was at that moment when he sensed another animal had joined them.

Quickly turning around, keeping the sniffling Xiumin clutched as close to his chest as possible, Tao took in who had entered his home, shocking him to say the least. Standing on the edge of the exhibit, a golden lion with a lushes mane stood staring at him, a monkey hanging on his shoulder. It was none other than Kris and Lay.

“I’d like to thank you, Tao, for allowing us to use your enclosure and for joining us,” Kris spoke coming towards him. Lay found himself a tree to hang in. “This place is certainly much larger than mine and my father, though it isn’t entirely suitable for someone like me.” He came to a stop only a meter from where Tao was. “May I ask whom you are carrying. I wasn’t aware another panda had joined the zoo.”

Realizing he was still, in fact, carrying Xiumin, he sat down, settling the cub down in his lap. “He is Xiumin, the newest polar bear cub. He’s not a panda. Xiumin meet Prince Kris,” Tao introduced him. The cub stared up at the lion before him in curiosity, his head tilted slightly to the side.

“Please, just call me Kris. Father is very ill. He’ll probably pass soon. Once he does, then we’ll proceed with the plan we are here to discuss,” he began. “Soon, I’ll be the King and I won’t let you down.” He bowed his head slightly to Tao before padding over to lay under the tree Lay occupied.

“He’s weird.” The sound of Xiumin’s voice startled Tao out of his thoughts.

“Shush you. He is the heir to the throne. You need to treat him with respect,” Tao scolded.

“But Tao, he basically ignored me,” Xiumin whined, squirming in his lap.

Eventually all the animals had gathered. Though there were only 12 of them, the group seemed strong and had a lot of influence around the zoo. Among the group, there were two from the petting zoo, Luhan (a deer) and Sehun (a rather frustrated looking bunny). There were also two of the most influential in the whole zoo, Chanyeol (the happiest and bounciest elephant anyone had ever seen) and Baekhyun (a very friendly and fun giraffe). With them around, support wouldn’t be a problem.

Kris addressed the herd. “Thank you all for coming today, and thank you Tao, again, for letting us meet in your home. The twelve of us are going to be the core of this movement. Feel free to come to me for anything. The movement is relatively simple. We, the animals of SMTown Zoo, deserve our freedom. Let’s take control of the zoo as our own. No more humans running the show. If this displeases you, I suggest you leave now. Any questions?”

A silence fell over the group. No one moved. Slowly, Chen, a badger, raised his paw in the air. “Can I be your second in command?” he asked before flashing a crooked smile.

“I’m sorry, but that position has already been taken by Suho,” Kris apologized motioning over to a penguin standing at his right. The penguin bowed before everyone. All at once, everyone burst out laughing. A penguin? A penguin was supposed to help lead them? It was simply absurd!

Tao stood up from his spot, gently putting Xiumin on the ground. “Yah! Yah! Quiet!” he yelled effectively shutting up everyone except Chanyeol. “If Kris had faith in him, so should we!” He sat down amongst the silence, since during his speech, Chanyeol had finally stopped laughing.

“Oh thank you, Tao. Thank you so much!” Suho proclaimed. “Please have faith in me everyone!” he turned to the group and shouted enthusiastically. There were a few groans, coming from Kai and Sehun otherwise everyone else remained silent.

“Everyone, go and gather some support before dawn breaks and the humans come back. And by all means, do not let the humans find out about this!” Kris preached. “This meeting is adjourned.”

The animals began to trickle out of the panda exhibit. Lay and Tao had to help Xiumin back over to his. Once all the animals had left, Kris once again approached Tao.

“I’d like to thank you again. Your support is very much appreciated, so thank you.” He bowed before jumping over the fence to head back to his den.

~*~
 

Weeks passed and King Rumbleroar’s condition continued to worsen. Kris stopped coming to the meetings in order to watch over his father. Fortunately, the plan was coming along well. They had managed to gather quite a lot of support.

Luhan and Sehun were especially successful in gaining support. They had gather Sungmin (another bunny), Shindong (a very funny pig), Siwon (a horse that little kids were allowed to ride) and Onew (a crazy chicken) amongst other animals. Just about the whole petting zoo was on board with the plan.

Kai had persuaded his twin, Taemin, to join as well. Lay convinced all the monkeys to help, including the most liked of the monkeys, Eunhyuk. The aquatic animals were pretty much all on board. Some of them still were skeptical as to how they’d be free without dying. Donghae, a feisty fish, cleared that up quickly, saying that Kris would never let them die like that. Reptiles weren’t really a problem, having Heechul (the conniving snake) on there side was the best.  Almost the entire zoo knew about the plan, and the stupid humans were just clueless.

Kris showed the next meeting. His head was down. When he lifted it when the meeting started, his eyes were set with a strong look. “The riot will commence. By my power as King Kris! Let the battle begin!” he roared. The twelve of them began to cheer. “Start letting out the animals. When the humans get here in the morning, we’ll show them who is stronger.”

They scattered. The animals began to hide. When the zookeepers arrived, the zoo would look abandoned. Boy, they were in for a surprise.

Dawn broke and the zookeepers arrived. They were laughing, just enjoying the morning and getting ready to start their day of work. Their moods immediately dropped when they saw the animal cages empty. They instantly began to panic; one of them called the owner; another of them called the police. It was at that moment the animals chose to reveal themselves.

With Kris at the head of the army and several others of the larger animals such as Yunho (a bear), Kangin (a gorilla), Chanyeol and Jaejoong (the elephants) behind him, they definitely looked terrifying.  With a roar, they charged.

The zookeepers attempted to flee out the front gates of the zoo, of which they had entered. Unfortunately for them, Leeteuk (a lemur) led Key (a fox) and Henry (a chipmunk) behind the zookeepers and closed and the gate. All three of them were good at lock picking. They, along with Lay and Eunhyuk, had helped release all the animals from the cages.

The zookeepers scattered. That didn’t worry Kris. They would wait where they were for the reinforcements that they were sure to come. The others could handle the five humans. It was the police that was most worrisome.

As one of the zookeepers escaped, he was suddenly overcome by the sight of Zhou Mi’s peacock feathers. Quickly making a detour, he stopped immediately at the sight of Minho, a buffalo, rolling towards him. Jonghyun’s hyena laughter echoed as the zookeeper was rolled over by Minho and lost consciousness.

Two of the others had escaped over to the marine animals pools, hoping to avoid all the animals. There was no way the animals could have convinced the sea creatures to join them, right? Wrong!

Rising to the surface of the pool of water, Junsu (a dolphin), Yoochun (an Orca) and Changmin (a shark) launched an attack of water at them. Yoochun’s tail hit the water with a great “slap” and a gush of water went over the edge of the tank, dousing them. Junsu and Changmin began spraying water at them while Yoochun rose his tail for another splash. The zookeepers finally ran off towards the reptile house… big mistake…

Running into the reptile house, they were met with every single creature out of its cage. At the head of all of them was a cobra by the name of Heechul and the largest reptile of all of them Hangeng, the Komodo dragon. The two stumbled back just to slip over the puddle of water they the created coming into the room. If they hadn’t lost consciousness from hitting their heads on the ground, getting hit by Hangeng’s tail definitely did the trick.

With three zookeepers down for the count, the other two were just digging themselves deeper into a hole. Soon, the two were corned by Ryeowook and Baekhyun (the giraffes) and the petting zoo animals. Attempting to escape, one of them tripped right over Yesung, a slow turtle. The other was tripped by Kibum, a mole, who just seemed to come out of no where. To finish them off, Kyuhyun, the lazy kangaroo, came and hit them. It was just a safety precaution.

All five zookeepers were gathered up and tied to the flag pole by the entrance. When reinforcements came, they’d be used as a bargaining chip. Thankfully, Kyungsoo could be their negotiator. He was a wise owl after all.

To the relief of all the animals, there was only one reinforcement, the owner of SMTown Zoo, Lee Sooman himself. “We will give you your employees in exchange for freedom!” Kyungsoo squawked.

Sooman started laughing. “Ooh, I’m so scared. There’s no way I’m letting my animals take over my zoo. Now back to your cages, all of you!” he yelled back. Kris roared ferociously causing Sooman to step back slightly. “Quiet Kris, I know you are as gentle as a house cat.”

That comment angered Kris, but not as much as it angered his army. Tao was the first to react. Letting out a roar himself, he sprang forward alongside Yunho to defend Kris. Upon seeing his comrades defend him, Kris let out one more roar and sprang forward, landing on Sooman. He bit into his shoulder, causing the human to cry out in pain. He growled an order to Sooman in which Kyungsoo translated.

“Get out of my zoo.”

Scared to death, Sooman squirmed away from Kris and ran as far away as possible. The zookeepers were thrown out of the zoo, as they were no longer needed. Victory had come to the animals.

That night, the original twelve met one last time in Tao’s exhibit.

“I’d like to thank everyone for their cooperation and their faith in me,” Kris spoke before them. “Tomorrow, we’ll begin transferring animals out of here. Sea animals have priority since they must always be in water. Afterwards are the arctic creatures. We’ll have it arranged to get you guys in the coldest places possible. From there on, everyone else follows. Birds have already been allowed to leave.

“I know that this very well might be our last time together, but it was thanks to all of you that we were able to earn our freedom. I know that visiting each other would be very hard for some, but if you see any of us, let’s promise, we’ll welcome each other with open arms,” Kris said.

Two wings, two hooves, 7 paws and a trunk were all placed atop of one another, the twelve of them promising to be friends forever.

“We are one! We are EXO!”

I hope you enjoyed. If there is any confusion please comment, or just comment if you like it. I'm very proud of this, so I really wish you had fun reading it.