“H-hurry! Hurry! It’s this way! Toto found something interesting!”
“I-I’m coming! You’re moving too fast again! T-Toto!”
The two little reptiles ran through the forested woodlands that surrounded a small village hidden from the world around it. Since the first time the two little lizards had run through here, time had gone by and the two families had grown closer than they had ever been. Each one frequently visiting the other whenever they had the chance to do so. The two in question were ones quite well known to be seen together a lot by this point. The one trailing behind was a blue and white reptile with a toothy maw and red gloves over his hands and fingers, he had a long, crooked tail and feet with three long claws for toes. Yellow stripes adorned his body along with an odd symbol in the chest.
“B-but...Toto wants to hurry! Might be gone before getting there! Toto never saw anything like it before!”
The one running ahead of him was much smaller, with brown scales and a tan belly. The little lizard ran as fast as it’s tiny legs could take him, which despite his size was surprisingly fast. The brown reptile had a long, thick tail, surprising for one of its size, with tiny feet each adorned with a single thick rounded claw incapable of scratching anything. Above all...what was most interesting, was the large skull that served as a mask to cover his face, with the creature under it kept secret from the world. He wore a pink cape around him, covering the top half of his body, as if wrapped in a gentle blanket to keep him protected from the world.
The two little reptiles ran through the woods for some time, dodging tree after tree in the lush, green forest. They ran deeper and deeper still, the beach they stopped at before having long since been passed by. The larger blue reptile finally began to catch up to the smaller one, who seemed to be running out of energy and stopped running ahead. Once stopped, the little one rested on a nearby tree to catch his breath, giving the larger of the two a chance to catch up. He sat down next to the smaller of the two, as the caped lizard panted, exhausted from all the running.
The blue and yellow scaled reptile placed a single gloved paw over the little ones head before looking into the sky.
“So...what is it that you were in such a rush for, Toto?”
The little one, known seemingly as Toto, looked up at the larger ones face, his wide eyes bearing the innocence of a small child. He simply shifted his head to look up, letting the other’s paw stay put as it slid over his mask.
“Toto found something interesting...like...group of wood, um...trees? Toto never saw it before, Veevee.”
The other larger lizard, Sven, or more affectionately, “Veevee”, eyed his little brother curiously. Surely a group of trees was a terrible description of what he saw, but perhaps he was unsure what to call it. Regardless, Sven nodded and moved his paw off the little brown reptiles head and took of the glove. With the hand now free, he held his little brother’s hand and and stood back up. Now that the two had a chance to catch their breath, the blue reptile smiled as he walked alongside his little brother.
“Then let’s see~ I’m sure it’s really interesting! B-but...slower this time…”
Toto nodded and walked with him as the fallen leaves of the cooling months crunched under their feet.
Toto lead Sven to a small clearing next to a river, with trees surrounding the edges of the bank. The area was partially forgone, with webs in various places and an eerie silence about the area. Despite the odd atmosphere the little brown lizard seemed unfazed by the scenery, while Sven on the other hand, shivered a bit from how unnerving the clearing was. Still, Toto skipped along, and led his older brother to a quiet, hidden away riverbank. Resting at the edge of the water, was a simple low raft, strung together tightly so no water could get through the wooden beams. Atop the strange object, at what was presumably the back, was a tiny white flag, propped up on a small wooden poll. What purpose it served escaped the young blue reptile, but no doubt, it added some flare to an otherwise dull design. The raft seemed just large enough to fit the two of them side by side at a glance.
“This is what Toto found! Isn’t it neat! Toto wanted to try it with Veevee!”
Sven, while excited by the prospect, worried about how far out they were, and where the river may lead, but given the chance to sail for awhile with the young lizard was certainly not something he wanted to miss. Plus, he thought, how dangerous could it be…? Sure it is further out than they usually go, but it was still the same forest as always and still the same one they were in when going to the beach from before. Toto must have some knowledge of it, lest he would probably be more terrified.
So with that, and his resolve reinforced, Sven nodded and walked over to the raft with his little brother in tow. The two got on the raft and sat side by side, and with a single push by Sven, the strung together logs slid into the river and bobbed a bit before settling overtop the crystal clear waters of the river.
As the boat traveled slowly along the river currents, Toto’s excitable nature overcame any amount of uncertainty in the situation, the little brown lizard darting his little hand in every direction so Sven could see. Sven himself, despite his reversions at first, began to enjoy the ride as well. The trees that lazy passed by, the birds flying overhead and the many different sea creatures swimming alongside them made the slow rafting a lot of fun for the two children.
As time passed the two little lizards energy and excitement began to wane as they prepared to disembark. Sven and Toto looked to the sides of each other but noticed that the once small river had widened to the point that they could no longer see the bank. Toto, now shivering out of fear, began to huddle up close to Sven, as Sven, while still scared for himself, did his best to keep on a brave face for his younger half.
The two were stranded on the raft, forced to let it drift into whichever direction it chose, but this time, the two were unable to enjoy the forced ride. Sven pulled Toto close to him, telling him to close his eyes so that he didn’t see how the once beautiful area changed shape. Unbeknownst to the little brown dino, the once beautiful water turned to a sickly green, the bank they once knew turned into large trees whose roots reached to the bottom of the water for nourishment. Under the raft, the once small fish following the two were replaced by larger, more sharklike figures, that circled the small raft. The creatures lurking below seemed to know that above them, two younglings sat atop the vessel, providing an easy meal when they capsized.
Toto, who’s curiosity could only be sated for so long, proceeded to move one of his hands away from his eye to see the world around them. Sven, seeing his little brother do so, quickly looked to him, overcome with worry.
“A-are you scared?”
Toto tried his best to look away, keeping a single eye covered but his other one open to see around them.
“O-only when my eyes are open…”
Sven, downtrodden by the fear his little brother was slowly being taken by, pulled him close and let him rest in his arms. Toto laid his head down as his big brother rested his arms around his tiny body. As the little one’s tail wrapped around his side. Sven himself was scared, that was certainly true as well, but he had to do what he could to put it to the side. He had to do his best to be brave….if only for Toto.
And with that, the two stayed together, with Sven resting his head overtop the little ones head, they drifted to sleep while on the water.
---
The morning sun shined brightly in the sky, the rays of light hitting the children directly causing the blue and yellow lizard to awake. He got up and felt Toto’s tiny form still nestled close to him. What was most interesting however, was that...they seemed to no longer be out in the water. The raft pulled into a bank and ended up marroning itself on a beach, much to his enjoyment. Picking up the still sleeping Toto, Sven carried him over to a nearby tree alcove and placed himself and his younger brother into the small crevice under the tree. The two laid there in perfect silence for what could be felt like hours.
In the distance, shouting could be heard, calling out the names of the two children as loud as can be.
“Totooo! Sveeen!”
“Toto! Sven!”
Those voices were instantly recognizable to the little blue lizard, Ray and Sol! How they found them was a mystery to Sven, but he never felt happier to hear them call out to them. Sven stood up, making sure to hold Toto as tightly as he could and called back to them. With the voices soon meeting up, the familiar faces of the two older reptiles greeted them. Sven stroked Toto’s back, prompting him to open his eyes, and as he did he saw the face of Ray, beaming and smiling as grateful as he alway had been. Immediately Toto lept into his arms, crying his eyes out as he talked incoherently to explain what had happened. Sol himself rested a paw over Sven's’ back, pulling the little blue and yellow lizard to his side, as Sven himself did what he could to restrain himself, but a few tears let themselves regardless. Sol looked down at him and smiled, speaking in a hushed tone so that only they both could hear.
“You can cry all you need to...You did a good job as his older brother. Keep him safe alright?”
Sven nodded, still trying to keep himself from crying as best he could. He didn’t feel the compliment was well deserved, given that he himself was just as terrified as Toto was, but he took it nonetheless.
Ray, now with a once again, sleepy little lizard tucked in his arms, began to walk back towards the other two.
“Now that we found our boys...again, who wants to go home and make some poffins? Might be a nice little treat to ease everyone’s nerves.”
Sol nodded as Sven happily agreed to the prospect of sweets. No matter how he acted, his childish innocence and excitement over something as delicious as poffins overcame any fear he may have had previously. Still, as the group walked, the large red reptile, with white hair, glasses atop his snout and black markings over his body could not resist the question that needed to be asked.
“Wait...how can you make Poffins without refined oil?”
The smaller of the two, a frilled yellow lizard with orange bands around his legs and a black hoodlike coloration over his head, all ending with a bright bandanna around his neck resembling that of setting sun, smiled at the question presented to him.
“That my friend, is something of a secret~”
The group laughed lightly as they made their way out, leaving the lonely raft at the bank it had once departed from.
Niu-ka Featuring Sven and Toto! 
