H O N E Y   S H O C K

Chapter 1 ~ BEAR VALLEY

Deep in the past, bears used to kill humans. No one really knew why, but at the start of every spring, these huge beasts would emerge from hibernation early and descend into the valley, scaverging for food and causing widespread havoc. If they saw a human, they would attack. Farmers, hikers, children, it didn't matter. But they especially hated hunters, tearing them to shreds with their merciless claws.

The Bear Valley Times reported dozens of people mauled to death every year.

The people tried to shoot the bears, or set traps, but that just made the bears angrier.

A legendary hunter, who couldn't bare the killings, gave a stirring speech before the people, "This carnage has to stop! We must build shelters for the bears, provide them with honey, so they can sleep peacefully and not wake up early from hibernation."

And so they did. The town folk built a string of wooden huts in the surrounding forest, and set up bee hives where hungry bears could replenish themselves after a long winter slumber.

The huts were such a success that no one ever got attacked again.

The bears loved their huts, and began making them bigger and more comfortable using tools left by the humans, eventually constructed magnificent bear mansions.

Koji loved hearing these stories from his grandpa, Jiji, who could talk for hours about the founding bears and their visions for a magnificent valley where bears and humans lived in harmony.

Chapter 2 ~ SUSHI

It was a lovely day for the spring hunt. Traditionally the family would hike up the mountain together to catch cherry salmon migrating upstream from the sea. However, these days most prefered to stay home and order Ubear Eats.

Jiji and Koji were the only ones this year to make the trip, navigating through thick forest and relying on their bear instincts to find their way along the overgrown tracks.

Koji struggled to keep up with Jiji, who was as old as the hills, yet quick as a fox. "How did he know the way?" Koji wondered, soaking up every detail.

From a distance he could hear a waterfall, music to his ears. The gruelling climb made Koji so hungry that he could almost taste the salmon sliding down his throat.

Jiji stopped suddenly, ears pricked, "Can you hear that?"

Koji could just hear his stomach rumbling.

"Wasps. Lots of them."

Then he shrugged, and they continued to wind their way up through thick woods.

"Woohoo!" Jiji cried out as the waterfall came into view, "Let's get ourselves some juicy salmon!"

They climbed onto a ledge just below the cascading water, and waited.

Koji savoured the fresh water splashing his face as he caught his breath.

Jiji looked sharp.

Then suddenly, a flash of pink jumped passed their noses. As quick as lightening, Jiji stuck out his paw and a flapping fish impailed on his sharp claw.

And before he could say "sushi," Jiji stuffed it into his mouth. "Sweeeeet!" he grinned, washing it down with a swig of fresh water. "OK, your turn."

Koji swished his claws every time a pink fish flashed passed, but nothing stuck. Jiji helped him position his paw just right, and finally he landed a big juicy mother! He was so hungry he didn't even notice how fast he stuffed it into his gob. Bear bliss!

Koji ate at least 5, and Jiji nailed at least double that.

"Baba loves these too. We've been coming here since we were young cubs," Jiji reminisced. "She's a bit too frail these days to do the hike so I'll grab her a few choice ones." It didn't take him long to nail three superb specimens as they sailed through the air trying to jump over the waterfall. He carried them to the river bank and carefully wrapped each one in leaves.

While Jiji took a nap in the sun, Koji skipped stones on the water, seeing if he could make them jump more than 5 times.

A sparkling purple rock caught his eye. He gave it a quick polish on his fur and stuffed it into his bag. "This is going to look great in my collection," he said happily to himself, "Mmm, I wonder what it is? I'll take it to the library and look it up."

Jiji stirred. He looked magnificent for an old fella as he jumped into the cool water to refresh himself before doing some bear-chi, which Koji copied.

"What's on the other side of the mountain?" Koji asked.

"Oh, you don't want to go there. My grandfather went and came back as fast as he could. Madness! Bears eat monkey brains for breakfast! And people hunt down bears and skin us alive, chop off our paws and leave us for dead."

Koji shivered.

"They built a railway once between the two valleys, but the mountains were so unstable that it was abandoned."

Chapter 3 ~ A BLOODY BATTLEFIELD

Slowly, Jiji and Koji packed their bags and wandered back into the forest to get some honey. They knew an old hive, secret knowledge that had been passed down through the family.

As they got close, Jiji slowed, the hairs on his back bristling.

"Everything OK, Jiji?"

"See that trail of dead bees?" he replied, deep concern in his voice.

As they followed the line of carnage, the bee hive came into view, completely in ruins.

"What the hell? The wasps must have gone mad! I've never seen such butchery!"

Dead bees lay on the ground in the thousands, a few wasps still writhing beside them, wings missing, bodies slashed, stingers broken off. A bloody battlefield.

The hive had been chewed up as if the wasps had deliberately made it impossible to rebuild, which didn't make any sense to Jiji.

"There's nothing for us here," Jiji said sadly. "Let's go."

He didn't say another word as they made their way down the mountain.

It was dark by the time they got home, and Jiji slipped through the gate to the hut out the back where he lived with Baba.

Looking over his shoulder he said tiredly, "Good job today, Koji," adding, "Could pick us up some honey from the shop tomorrow? You can use the cart."

"Sure, Jiji. I'm sorry about the hive. I'm sure the bees will return."

"I don't know. We'll see. At least our bellies are full of salmon, you'll sleep well. "G'night, Koji."

Chapter 4 ~ HONEY DEFICIT

Koji opened the front door, greeted with the familar sounds of his dad snoring on the sofa, sumo blaring on the TV, pots and pans clanging from the kitchen, and his mum and sister at each other's throats.

"Hi mum!"

"Hi Koji! How was the hunt?"

"Oh, it was great! We ate more than 5 salmon each!"

"Ewww!," Lina squeeled, screwing up her face.

"I'm sure your grandfather was happy about that," his mum said. "Did you bring back some honey?"

"No, sorry. The hive had been destroyed by wasps."

"Oh, those pesky creatures. Oh well, can you go into town tomorrow and pick up a few pots? We're almost out."

"Sure, mum."

"And get some honeyed accorns too," his sister Lina piped in.

"Sure, sis."

He crept past his dad on the sofa, who opened one eye."

"Koji! Just in time for the final sumo match. Come and sit down."

"I'm a bit tired. Think I'll just go to bed."

"Did you get some honey?"

"Not this time. Wasps had destroyed our hive."

"Mmmm. Make sure you get some extra from the shop tomorrow. And pick up a copy of the Bear Valley Times, I want to get the sumo results."

"Sure dad."

"Good boy."

Koji slowly climbed up the magnificent staircase to his room. His grandfather Jiji and his friends had built this house from scratch. He loved the smell of the wood and burning lamps, Jiji had insisted on using only top quality oil. Koji knew every creak, and did a zigzag to avoid making any noise in case his brother was asleep.

Koji crept into the bedroom he shared with Andy.

"About time!" his brother yelled out. He always talked too loud when wearing headphones. "Where's my honey?"

"There wasn't any this year."

Quick as a flash, Andy jumped off his bed and grabbed Koji by the legs and tipped him upside down, shaking him violently.

"I said I didn't have any!" Koji screamed.

"I'll find it." dropping Koji and emptying his bag. A few stones and leaves dropped out.

"Hey, they're my stones!"

Andy kicked them away in contempt.

"Well, go to the shop tomorrow and get some extra honey pots."

"OK."

"Wanna hear my new song? Me and Riley have been working on it all day."

"I'm a bit tired. Maybe tomorrow. Is it the same one, 'Paradise Lost'?"

"Yeah, Riley added a new verse, so friggin' cool."

Koji had a lot of respect for Riley, thought he was a genius. But he'd already heard 'Paradise Lost' more than 5 times.

"Maybe later. I've got to sleep so I can wake up early and go into town to get your honey."

Andy shrugged. "Anyway, you wouldn't know a good song if it hit you in the face," and started doing air guitar on his bed as music blared from his headphones.

Koji did his usual preparation before bed: marked off a day on the calendar, arranged his rock collection, curled up in his scout blanket, cuddled his teddy, and fell into a deep bear slumber. While most bears dreamed of honey, he dreamed of rocks.

Chapter 5 ~ HONEY RUN

Koji wheeled the wooden cart down the track to the edge of town, where he was greeted by humans along the way, asking him about his family, his rock collection, or the scouts. No one was scared of bears since they had comfortable shelters and free honey.

The shop was at the top of the main street, and so was the library, and decided to drop in there first.

"Hi, Ms. Honda!"

"Koji! Good to see you. Did you find a new rock?"

He pulled out his purple gem, "Wow, I've never seen one of those," the librarian gasped.

"I found it while hunting with grandpa."

"Shall I help you look it up?"

"I think I'll be OK," as he excitedly walked toward the section with rock books.

There was rarely anybody in the library, except for the girl in the corner doing her homework, and he waved shyly. She waved back.

It took Koji quite a while, but finally he found a match and was sure that was his rock. He couldn't quite read what it was, although he knew most of the letters:

"O as in Koji, A as in Andy, L as in Lina, but he didn't know the second letter.

He took the book over to Ms. Honda, "Could you help me read this letter, please?"

"Let's see, it's P as in Penny," as she looked over to the girl in the corner.

The kind librarian said to Koji, "It has a 'puh' sound. Can you read it now?"

"Opal?"

"Correct! It says here that opals are quite rare around these parts, usually found in countries such as Australia," spinning the globe around and pointed to it. "What a treasure!"

Koji grinned ear to ear! He took out his pad and pencil and carefully wrote down: "O P A L"

Koji packed up his desk, and scurried off, waving to Penny as he left.

Next stop was the shop. He wheeled his cart over the road.

A bell rang as he entered the shop. "Koji. How are you?"

"Good thanks, er, Mr. Shopkeeper." He could never remember his name, but it didn't seem to matter. There was another man in the shop he'd never met before.

"Um, I need honey for grandpa, grandma, extra for dad, mum, extra for Andy, Lina, some accorn drops, and an extra pot for me."

"Sure, Koji." The shopkeeper looked up at the honey shelf, a bit surprised that stocks were running so low, he better get more in quick before the bears noticed.

"Let's see, so you need 9 pots..."

"Oh, and one extra for our scouts camping trip this weekend," Koji added.

"Er, sure. And did you go hunting this year?"

"Yes, me and grandpa got lots of fish, but our bee hive had been destroyed by wasps, that's why I need so much honey today."

The shopkeeper looked at the other man, "Another one!"

The man wrote something down in a notebook, "Can you tell me where that was?"

"Oh sorry, it's a family secret."

"Koji, this is Bill from the 'Bear Valley Times'"

"Nice to meet you," Koji said, remembering he had to get the paper for dad. "Can I get a copy of your newspaper?"

Bill laughed, "Sure!" and handed him one from the pile.

"A lot of bee hives have been destroyed lately," Bill said, "which is very unusual. Let's hope the bees can rebuilt soon, we wouldn't want to run out of honey," that thought sending shivers through everyone in the shop. The two men helped Koji load his cart, and off he went home, winding his way up the hill and back into the forest. "I'd better tell Jiji," Koji muttered to himself.

Chapter 6 ~ OLD CROW

First stop was Jiji and Baba's house, the squeaky gate always giving Koji away.

"Morning!" The old couple we sitting on the balcony sipping green tea.

"Morning! I've brought your honey." Koji unloading two pots from the cart. "Guess what? The newspaper man said there have been a lot of bee hive attacks," holding up the Bear Valley Times.

Jiji turned to Baba, "This is more serious than I thought."

"Koji, how about we go visit Old Crow? He'll know what's going on."

"Sure! I can find some more rocks and pick up some leaves for Tomi while you guys drink tea," Koji said diplomatically, knowing those guys could spend hours and hours talking politics in the 'tea house,' an old hut that his great grandfather had built in the middle of the forest. "I'll give everyone their honey and come back."

After another strenuous hike, they approached the hallowed hut.

Old Crow was standing on the porch, obviously happy to see them.

"Koji, do you want some honey acorns?"

"Sure!" They were always a bit stale and chewed up, but it made Old Crow happy to be generous, as he was a born miser.

"Jiji, come in. I have some blackberry juice I think you'll like." Old Crow threw Koji some acorns, while Jiji climbed into the hut his father built but somehow Old Crow had made his home.

After sipping tea and making small talk, Old Crow pulled out a bottle of Blackberry Juice, strong homemade liquor that Jiji liked very much.

"So, Old Crow. We've known each other a long time. Enough of the small talk. What's going on with the bees?"

There was a long silence, as they both took long sips of their juice, and Old Crow poured another round. "It's the monkeys," he said quietly, looking around warily. "They showed me a map of all our crow's nests. Said they'd destroy them all unless we did what they asked."

"Which is?" Jiji asked, raising an eyebrow?

"Distribute these among the wasps," he said while holding up a map of bee hives throughout the valley.

"With instructions for the wasps to completely destroy the hives," Old Crow continued.

"But why?" They both sat there quietly, deep in their cups.

It's was almost dark by the time Jiji emerged, and he could hardly stand up.

"Come on, I'll help you home," Koji said, holding Jiji steady as he tried to walk.

Chapter 7 ~ BEAR SCOUTS

After a long hike through the mountains, the boys prepared their camp for the night, and said their bear scout oath.

They sat around the fire and got ready to do what bear scout love to do: eat honey and tell stories. They pulled out their honey pots from their bags, but two of the boys looked sheepish, "Um, I don't have any honey," one of them said.

"Me, neither," the other bear said.

"What! You know it's bear scout tradition!"

"I know, but we couldn't get any honey at the shop."

The other bears had never heard of such a thing. There was always free honey, otherwise the bears would go mad.

"I wonder if it's got anything to do with the wasps attacking the bee hives?" Koji said.

They shared out their honey, and Miji started telling a funny story about a prank he played on his older brother, dipping his hand in cold water and then hot water while he was asleep to make him pee his pajamas.

"Did it work?" one of them asked.

"Nah, but it makes me want to pee now!" And they all laughed.

Miji went over to the bushes, and came back excitedly, "Hey guys, there's a bunch of monkeys on the other side of those rocks!"

They all creeped up quietly to have a look.

"Let's scare the crap out of them!" Miji whispered.

Bears love to scare monkeys, but their parents always warn them to be careful, because those nasty creatures will come back and bite you one day.

"Ready, one, two, threeeee!!!"

The five bears all rushed out at once, growling and baring their teeth, "Grraaaawww!!!"

The monkeys leaped up, scared witless, running in all directions.

The biggest one dropped a map.

Chapter 8 ~ THE MAP

Back at the fire, the 5 bears examined the map and wondered what it was. Eventually Koji said he could recognize the waterfall where he went fishing with Jiji.

"How about we go there tomorrow, and find out what these X marks mean?"

"Woohoo! Could be treasure!" Miji exclaimed. That sounded like a lot of bear fun, so they slept well that night and woke up early for the mission.

Once they got to the waterfall they followed a narrow track to the first X.

"There's nothing here," said Miji looking confused, "Let's try the next X."

So off they trotted through the bushes, but again, they couldn't find anything.

After a few more Xs, they were about to give up, when Simon the youngest bear looked up and said, "there's a crow's nest, shall we get some eggs?"

"Wait a minute, crow's nests!"

Now they realized that each of the Xs marked out a crow's nest. Why did the monkey's have this map?

"I'd better get back and tell Jiji," Koji said, "somehow I think this is a clue to what's going on."