In A beautiful forest,far,far,away from the Pridelands,lived A meerkat named Ajali. He's pretty much A loner and his family was killed by A pack of unknown predators. Ever since,Ajali has always been living in this forest alone and seems okay with it.

He woke up with A yawn and stared into the sun. "What surprises await me today?" He asked himself.

He did his usual morning routine,which was bathing in the nearby pond,getting breakfast (which was fruit,his favorite),and doing push-ups (he seems to find it amusing,not because he wants to stay fit).

Since there was not much to do in A forest,he would usually go back to sleep or just watch the clouds as they went by. Strangely,he never found this boring,not one bit.

Meanwhile,in A vacant wasteland,lived A leopard by the name of Takato.When he was young,he and his family were caught in A wildfire and he was the only who survived. As he grew older,other animals started to avoid him because they thought he was dangeous just because he's A leopard.

Takato continued to sleep because he wasn't exactly the morning type. Suddenly,snarling sounds awoke him from his sleep as three cheetahs surronded him.

"What do you guys want?" Takato asked.

"You know why were here,Takato." One of them said.

"We want to fight!" Anotther one said.

Takato sighed. "Look. I'll tell you the same thing I tell the others. No!"

"Well,i'm afraid you have no choice!!"  All three of them attacked at once.  Takato tried to brush them off as they all bit him at the same time. He swiped them away with his claws. He growled sinisterly and they all ran away.  "You haven't seen the last of us!!" One shouted.  "Tell me something I don't know." Takato said to himself.

"Everyday it's the same old routine. I wake up,the cheetahs appear,they want to fight me,I say 'No.',they ambush me." He sighed. "Why can't things change for me?"

Meanwhile,Ajali decided to leave the forest to see if he could find something he could do to pass the time. "Being in that forest can get boring. There's gotta be somethin' that I could do."  He looked all over the wasteland that was near to see if there was anything,but there was nothing in sight accept ground. "Why...did I decide stay here? There's nothing!"

He kept walking and walking,still hoping that there will be something,when he bumped into someone by mistake.

"Excuse me." He said. "It's cool." The leopard said.  Ajali screamed. "Leopard!!"  He ran back to the forest as fast as he could. "Wait A second!!" Takato said,running after him.

Ajali checked behind him and saw Takato catching up. He sprinted,but the leopard was faster.  When he got back into the forest,he hid in the leaves nearby his resting place as he watched Takato run past.

"Phew! That was close one." He said.  "I'll say." Takato said,standing right next to him.

Ajali screamed again. "Please don't eat me!!  Meerkats are bad for the leopard's digestive system!!"

"Not this again!" Takato sighed.  "What do you mean?" Ajali asked with one eye open.  "It's always the same thing. I try to talk to someone,they scream in fear,and they run away. I'm so sick of that always happening!"

"So your not going to eat me?" Ajali asked with the other eye open.  "Of course not. I'm not that kind of leopard." He answered with A smile.

"Oh. Well,anyways, my name's Ajali." He said as he extended his arm.

"Takato." He said,placing his paw in his tiny hand. "So....you live in this place all by yourself?"

"Yep."

"Dosen't it get lonely sometimes?"

"Plesae! I don't need anyone. I'm fine just by myself." He said as he turned his back with his arms folded.

"Well,.......do you have any friends?"

Ajali frowned. "No."

"Why not?"

"I just don't,okay?"

"That's kind of sad."

"Well,what about you? Do you have any friends?" He asked,facing him.

Takato frowned. "No."

"Hmph. Why am I not surprised? Most animals are afraid of leopards."

"It's so painful to be A leopard. Sure your A fiecre wildcat that no one will mess with,but it gets lonely not having any friends or family."

"No family?" Ajali asked,intrested.

"None."

"What A coincidence. I don't have any family either."

Takato gasped. "Really?"

"Yeah. They were all killed by some preadators."

"Mine was killed in A wildfire."

Ajali was amazed. He never met anyone who didn't have A family before. "So........just out of curiosity.......do you....."

"Want to be friends?"  Takato finshed.

"No! That was the farthest thing from my mind!"

Takato lifted his eyebrow.

"Okay. That was what I was going to say. It's just that........"

"You never met anybody without A family before?"

"Wow! I'ts like you can read my mind."

Takato laughed. "I have that sort of gift."

"So......what do you say?" Ajali extended his fist. "Friends?"

Takato tightened his paw into A fist and touched it to Ajali's "Friends."

Ajali smiled at him. Takato did as well.

"So what kind of things are you intreasted in?" Ajali asked as they walked through the forest together.

"Well,pretty much what all leopards are into, I guess. What about you?"

"Basic meerkat things."