The sun, the heat, and the cool breeze, which was far too rare, were the first sensations felt by Arun. The vet opened his eyes, realizing that he was indeed back in the normal world. His passage into the world of pets had lasted much longer than expected and it made it almost weird to be back now.
Like the first time, the time seemed to have stopped while they were there. Shuu had his paw in the young man's hand, and was again the little meerkat he had always been.
Withdrawing his paw gently, the mammal gave him a quick look, but yet full of confidence. He knew what they had gone through, and even though they were the only ones who knew about it, it was an experience he would never forget.
"You can come out, he is trustworthy, believe me." Immediately, the two other meerkats who were fearfully hidden in the hole timidly showed their heads, then their whole body approaching cautiously.
"Here are Meng and Lia, two meerkats that are part of the same colony as me." Shuu quickly introduced her two friends and Arun did the same.
"I'm Arun, a vet. I promise you I won't hurt you, Shuu can assure you." Said the young man with a benevolent smile. The two meerkats began to relax more and more, and curiosity took over suspicion.
"Wow, I had never seen humans... I didn't think it was so big !" Meng said, looking at Arun more closely with an intrigued look.
"How did you end up here ?" Asked Lia who was sitting on the floor in front of the vet.
"As I told you, I'm looking for someone. A big black bird, to be more precise, I have to find her as quickly as possible to help her to get her owner who was abducted by a stranger." Arun quickly explained, who summarized his situation.
"If we had seen a bird like that pass in the sky, we would quickly have hidden underground... It's not really the animals we appreciate the most." The meerkat closest to him declared, shuddering.
"They're waiting for us to have our backs turned to jump on us ! While we look for food, it can be easily done."
The life of a wild animal should not be easy every day... Putting your life in danger every time it was necessary to go to get food, it was complicated.
"Anyway, the one I'm looking for is way too big to target you, you'd be just a little treat for her." Arun laughed, as the two meerkats froze in fear.
"A treat ?! What size is she ?"
"She's many times bigger than me." Just to imagine a bird like this, Meng and Lia were petrified with fear.
"Sorry, we can't help you, we don't want to die today !"
"Hey, wait ! He really needs help, we can't refuse him that." Shuu said who was planning to help his human friend. After all he had done for him, it was the least possible thing to allow him to find this famous bird.
"And why would we do that ? We have no reason to put ourselves in danger for a stranger." Replied Meng, who was not determined to give her help. Shuu sighed, and finally decided to speak. He was going to have to explain to them everything that had happened...
"Listen, we actually..."
"If you help me, I'll bring you several baskets full of insects you like. You won't have to hunt for a long time, and you won't have to take any more risk." The vet offered confidently, cutting off Shuu's words. No need to explain everything, they did not really need to know all that... And it did not matter, now that he could no longer go to the pet world or use the [Pet Pact] .
"Baskets... Full ?!" Lia had approached, biting the vet's hook. If what he said it was true, then the few risks she would take today would allow her to stop taking some for a long time...
"And how can we be sure it's not a lie ?" Meng, meanwhile, was still suspicious and unwilling.
Shuu approached the meerkat with a serious and confident air. She had never seen her friend so sure of himself, and the brutal change in his attitude was almost disturbing...
"I assure you we can trust him, and if you don't trust him, then trust me. I'll take all the responsibility in the case where he lies to us." Stated Shuu, which caused Meng to change her expression immediately. She still did not trust him... But if Shuu was so sure of himself, then she did not really have a choice.
"All right, we'll help him. But I didn't see a single bird of this size in the area." She answered a little frustrated, turning her head to one side.
"Me neither, actually..." Lia added.
"No problem ! You must know Arun, but we're meerkats. We live in colonies in underground tunnels, it's the best protection against predators, so we'll ask for help from the others ! We're many, if we all look for this bird we can find it quickly !" Shuu explained with a smile, motivated to help his former partner.
"I need you to tell others, explain the situation and ask for help."
"Understood !" The two small meerkats nodded at their friend's request and quickly plunged into the hole from which they had came.
"Believe me, Arun, we'll find her in no time ! Our gallery network stretches for several hundred meters, so we'll search the whole area hoping to find her."
Arun smiled at the little meerkat, glad to see him as determined and enthusiastic. Fighting his fears had helped him to take a big step forward. He was no longer the fearful little animal that was afraid of losing everything because of a predator. He had become a confident meerkat who had the ability to pull others up. In the end, this [Pet Pact] was not useless at all, and seeing the positive evolution of Shuu filled him with pride.
"Thank you very much. I'll continue to look at the surface, I'm counting on you !" Arun jumped as he got up, also akin to this contagious enthusiasm. He did not have a minute to lose.