It was the early hours of dawn. It wouldn't be long until the sun peaked over the horizon and all the critters of the land would start waking up. Nestled underneath a rocky overhang were two such animals, a dog and a griffin. Both were sound asleep yet, until a vehicle whooshed by on the nearby road.

"What was that?!" Gidget yipped, frightened. She was hugging Tiberius's whole face after being woken up by the passing vehicle. His notched ear flicking in irritation, Tiberius grumbled, "Gidget, for the last time, it was a vehicle. We fell asleep near a road." Looking at the griffin whose face she was still hugging, the fluffy white dog asked, "Wait a minute, you're not Max."

"Of course I'm not your imaginary boyfriend! I'm Tiberius, the griffin you met last night!" Tiberius hissed. Shaking Gidget off, the griffin got to his feet as he muttered, "You keep confusing me with this so-called Max though." Shuffling her paws nervously, Gidget mumbled, "Oh, I did? I'm sorry, I suffer from-"

"From short term memory loss, I get it," Tiberius interrupted. A heavy sigh escaping from him, the griffin got out from underneath the overhang. He gazed up at the sky as it grew lighter out. The sun would be up soon. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Gidget chasing her own tail. Sitting down, he murmured, "Hey, can you bring me the hat next to you?"

"Sure thing James!" Gidget replied. Tiberius facepalmed and growled, "My name is Tiberius, not James." Nevertheless, the fluffy white dog brought the black hat over. Inspecting the human hieroglyphs inside, the griffin huffed. He had no idea what it said. Nudging the hat closer to Gidget, he asked, "Can you read this?" Squinting at the hieroglyphs at first, Gidget lifted her head and answered, "I can. I just need a little more light. The sun should be up soon, that'll be enough for me to read it."

"ATTACK!" Ozone's voice roared. A moment later, something pounced on Tiberius from behind. The griffin knew it had to be the mountain lion. The two rivals tumbled down the embankment leading away from the road. In the meantime, Gidget barely managed to escape Derick and Fox. Grabbing the hat, she ran down the hill with the two predators on her tail.

Finally reaching the bottom of the embankment, Tiberius scrambled to get on his feet. However, Ozone was faster. In a matter of seconds, the mountain lion had the griffin knocked down. The pair rolled around in the dirt, biting and scratching at each other. Pinning his opponent to the ground, Ozone sneered, "Once you're out of the picture, that precious forest of yours will be my new hunting ground."

"Over my dead body!" Tiberius spat. Kicking Ozone off of him, the griffin leaped to his feet and tackled the mountain lion. Tripping over her paws, Gidget rolled the rest of the way down the hill, bumping into the two. Gazing up at them, the fluffy white dog wagged her tail and piped up, "Oh hey! How'd you get down here so fast Gabe?"

"Gidget, where's the hat?" Tiberius questioned, pinning Ozone with one taloned forepaw. Hearing the wind blow, all three animals looked up to see said hat fluttering away with the breeze. His fur and feathers bristling in anxiety, the griffin abandoned the fight as he exclaimed, "Get the hat!" Scurrying after him, Gidget yelped, "Wait for me!"

"You good Ozone?" Derick asked, skidding to a stop at the bottom of the hill. Fox slid in beside the crocodile. Heaving himself to his paws, Ozone coughed, "I'll be fine when the Forest King is dead." Shaking his fur clean, the mountain lion growled, "Come on, let's follow them."

"Dude, let's just go back. He left the forest unprotected. It's right for the taking!" Fox pointed out. Nodding his head, Derick added, "Yeah, he's gone." Whirling around to face his two companions, Ozone hissed, "And wait around for him to come back and kick us out?! I don't think so!" His tail tucked between his legs, Fox asked, "So what are you going to do about it?"

"I'm gonna hunt him down and make sure he never comes back. Then I'll come back and the forest will be ours," Ozone explained his master plan. Turning around, he walked away as he called over his shoulder, "Do not invade the forest until I come back." Wishing their friend good luck, Derick and Fox went back the way they came, leaving the mountain lion to his quest.