The forest was a playground for Ben and Lucy and their animal friends, but one day machines came and destroyed the forest. Ben’s and Lucy’s animal friends were moving out; their home was demolished. They didn`t know who destroyed the forest, so they climbed to a nearby hill, to take a look with the binoculars. Ben saw the machines driving back towards a giant, old castle in the distance.
The fox who was leaving the forest told them that the black castle is the professor Hubert’s house and that he is planning to build a rocket launch pad. The problem is that he needs a lot of room to create the launch pad and that the fire from the rocket's exhaust will start a fire so everything around the launch pad will be burned after the takeoff. That is why he is building it far away from his castle.
Ben and his squad had an idea: they would dress up in scary costumes and scare the professor by pretending to be a forest ghost who came to a stop him from burning it. The squad went to the attic and found their costumes. They put on their costumes and decided to begin their journey to the castle. Before leaving to find another place for his family, the fox told them to beware of the many dangers which are ahead of them on their way to the castle; mentioning the creatures that live inside the river, the snakes and the mighty winds that surround the castle.
After a day of walk on their journey to the castle, the squad was caught by night and had to build a base camp near the deep and mysterious river. According to the fox's story, the river is home to a giant monster, lurking somewhere beneath the water’s surface. With the fire crackling and the owls hooting, night fell, and the crickets started their evening melody. Somewhere around midnight, a loud splashing noise coming from the river woke up everyone. They went to see what is going on. A huge dark shadow suddenly jumped in front of them. It had large eyes and smelled like fish. Squirrel Sally threw some burning branches onto the beast. The monster, being scared of fire, jumped into the river. The squad went back to the camp and fell asleep only after few hours after the tiredness overcame the fear.
The next day was foggy and cold, but they needed to get to the professor`s castle and stop him. Finally, they arrived at the woods next to the castle. The forest was creepy and eyes stared at them from every corner. Slowly they were approaching the professor's home. The sky was red and it was getting dark when Lucy spotted the castle right ahead of them. They were in front of the castle, but they didn`t know how to get inside. They noticed a window and climbed up into his lab. Inside, working at his desk was...Professor Hubert. He did not notice them because he was working on his project. On the wall next to his desk was a map which had a cross, marking the destroyed place in the forest.
The squad decided to execute their plan: to sneak into his lab at night one on top of each other, creating a scary shadow that will boil the blood in the professor`s vanes. The professor was sitting and reading when he saw the terrifying shadow on the wall. He screamed. The shadow asked him: "Why did you cut down my forest ?“ The professor was terrified. He said that he was building a rocket and cut the forest because he needed a place for his launch pad away from his castle because the launch will burn everything kilometres around.
The forest ghost told the Professor that he must stop his plan. Professor Hubert was so terrified that he listened and gave up his plan of building the launch pad in the forest.
The squad arrived home after few days. Flowers were blossoming, birds were chirping, and the squad were happily hugging each other. Two years later, the professor built the launch pad in the middle of the huge lake in which the river was flowing, so the rocket didn’t burn anything.
Even today, some fifty years later, Ben is looking at the photos of him and the squad playing in the forest. Ben, now a grandpa, is telling this story to his grandchildren. Generation after generation, the story of the Forest Squad is being told everywhere in the forest, and maybe, but just maybe, you will hear it someday.
mentor: Marina Moćan
OŠ Pantovčak
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