me?" Sally asked in shock. "Did you just say I look like crap?"
 

Eric returned his gaze to his aunt. He shrunk back. "Well, uh...better to hear it from family than a stranger, right?"
 

Sally shrugged. "I suppose. In that case, you look like Shaggy from Scooby Doo." With that, she walked into the house.
 

Eric looked back towards the deer. It was at the edge of the forest now. It stopped and looked back, right into Eric's eyes. It stared at him for a minute before disappearing into the forest. Eric tilted his head curiously.

Why did that deer look so familiar?

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Raven walked quietly through the darkened forest. It was getting late and the sun was setting. He quickened his pace, hoping to get home before anyone noticed his absence.
 

"Raven!" A small voice called. Raven slid to a stop, and his eyes met with the Gloria's violet gaze. "There you are!" She smiled wildly as she cantered up to him.
 

"Hey Gloria." He greeted. His voice was not deep, yet not childish either. But it was a little more feminine than most bucks.
 

"Raven, where have you been? Your mother's so worried she has everyone in the forest looking for you!"
 

Raven's eyes widened. "E...Everyone's looking for me?" He swallowed. "That's...not good. Umm...I was just, you know...visiting some new friends."
 

Gloria coyly laid her ears back. "I...I missed you...at the rut. I was hoping to...I dunno...at least see you there." She looked up at him pleadingly. "Did you rut with any of your new friends?"
 

Raven laughed a little. He didn't laugh very often, so it was pleasing to Gloria to hear him emote.
 

"No...." He answered defensively at first. "I mean...of course not. I...I didn't feel like rutting this year. I don't think I'm ready. You know? My velvet didn't even come off."
 

"Oh." Gloria sighed in relief. "It's good to wait. I wasn't ready this year either. Maybe...we'll both be ready next year."
 

"Yeah. Who knows." Raven looked up through the trees, noticing the darkness blanketing the world around them. He looked back down at Gloria. "We'd better get back before it gets too dark."
 

"Yeah." Gloria giggled, relishing her time alone with Raven. "We don't wanna get in trouble."
 

"Oh, you're IN trouble!" Geno's deep voice shattered the twilight.
 

Gloria backed up as Geno charged. Raven lowered himself submissively as his Geno skidded to a stop in front of him, his ears pinned against his skull.
 

"Geno! I'm sorry!!" Raven begged.
 

"You're SORRY? Do you have any idea how close we are to Northern Point? To the Man Trail?? Are you crazy?! Dad would drop his antlers if he knew where you were!"
 

"That's...sort of why I snuck away before he left." Raven shrugged.
 

Geno reared on his hind legs. "You SNUCK away?? You purposely missed the rut?? That's against the forest law and you know it! That's not to mention how badly you freaked mom out!" He began pawing at his brother.
 

"Geno, knock it off!" Gurri shouted as she joined the scene, followed by Syndica.
 

Gurri pushed Geno back; Geno obliged reluctantly.
 

"Do you see where we found him?!" Geno argued. "He needs to be punished for breaking the law! Dad would have..."
 

"But you're NOT dad!" Gurri shot back. "So stop trying to be!"
 

Geno went to reply, but remained silent, knowing she was right. He looked away angrily. Gurri then turned to Raven.
 

"Are you alright, Raven?"
 

Raven stood up straight and nodded. Gurri nodded back.
 

"Good. Now let's find Wylee, River and Tobiano and head home."
 

Raven looked at his sister curiously. "Tobiano? Who's that?"
 

"THAT would be me..." A strange voice entered the conversation.
 

Tobiano boldly strutted towards Raven while River and Wylee joined the others. Tobiano got very close to Raven's face, smiling flirtatiously.
 

"So you're the one everyone was going crazy to find!" She eyed him up and down. "You're cute. Not a big buck...but really hot."
 

Raven swallowed nervously and gave a crooked smile. Gloria growled and pinned her ears.
 

"That's...nice of you to notice." Raven managed to cough out. "So, I take it you're new?"

Tobiano stepped closer, batting her long eyelashes. "Sure am. Just joined the herd. That means we'll be seeing a lot more of each other."
 

"Ah..." He shifted nervously. "Well, there's not really a whole lot to see..."
 

"Wanna bet?" She winked.
 

The other deer exchanged glances with one another. Syndica in particular noted her cousin's infuriated glare; she recognized the bite of the jealousy bug quite well. Geno cleared his throat, catching Raven and Tobiano's attention.
 

"If we're all done here...I think we should head home."
 

With that, he started to walk away. Gurri shrugged and followed him. River and Wylee followed next. Raven started with them, Tobiano clinging to his side. Syndica looked at Gloria again.
 

"You coming?" She asked.
 

Gloria growled and reluctantly followed the group. Syndica brought up the rear. No further words were needed. Gloria's feelings on the whole situation was plain as day.

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Winter: Three hundred miles north of Bambi's Forest

Rambo pawed at the ground, unearthing some forage. He picked through the half-frozen offerings. He was much slimmer than he was during the rut, having lost a lot of conditioning during the long trek home, also having lost his antlers for the time being. Around him were several other bucks, also antlerless, who watched Rambo intently.
 

"C'mon Rambo! Tell us what happened next!" A grey buck begged.
 

"Yeah." A tan buck chimed in. "Did you kill that little Prince or what?"
 

"I had no designs on killing him. I just wanted to knock him out long enough to breed his sister." Rambo admitted. "But just as I was about to bring down my mighty hoof, a huge log fell from above and knocked me into the water."
 

A massive dark figure passing by stopped to listen in on the story.
 

"Where the heck did that log come from?" A sable buck asked.
 

Rambo sneered at the memory. "The buck played dirty. He had friends up there that dug the log free. A skunk and a rabbit."
 

The figure perked up his ears, his green eyes narrowing with anger.
 

The other bucks laughed heartily.
 

"What luck!" The grey buck chuckled. "To lose by default because of a couple of vermin!!"
 

Rambo simply rolled his eyes, ignoring the heckling by the other bucks.
 

And that's when HE stepped out from the shadows. Upon seeing him, the other bucks scattered. Rambo looked up and immediately bowed his head in respect.
 

"Hello, Uncle." He said diminutively.
 

His voice was deep and harsh. "Don't you 'hello uncle' me. You're a disgrace. Losing to a buck less than half your size and his PETS." The older stag scoffed viciously.
 

Rambo cringed at the harsh words. "It was not my intention to dishonor you, Uncle."
 

The stag glared down at his nephew coldly. "What is the name of the buck who made you look like a weakling?"
 

"Geno, sir." Rambo answered, keeping his eyes down. "He is the young Prince."
 

The stag lifted his head in interest. Rambo continued. "His father is the Prince, but he wasn't present at the time."
 

A growl arose in the stag's throat. He looked down again at Rambo.
 

"The Prince must be defeated. And his son."
 

Rambo snapped his head up, shocked. "But why Uncle? Can I not simply have a rematch with th..."
 

"NO!" The stag roared. Rambo lowered his head again. "You will NOT be returning to that forest again. I will not allow you to make a fool of yourself twice."
 

"Yes Uncle." Rambo agreed sadly.
 

"I will be going to that Forest. I will kill the son. And then I will kill Bambi."
 

Rambo slowly picked his head up. "Bambi?"
 

"The Prince." The stag snorted at the memory. "We have a score to settle."
 

The stag----Ronno---stood straight and proud.

Despite his crownless brow, he was still a formidable and intimidating creature.
 

"I will kill them both. And that forest will, at long last, belong to ME."

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