The golden rays of the sun jumped from object to object. Its yellow peak eventually reached all the way up to the top of the sky, illuminating a small cave on the beach of Cape Town, South Africa. Otto the Octopus and Groot the Elephant recline in their cave, joyously munching on blueberries. As Otto enjoys his snack, drops of blueberry juice dripped throughout the water. Unbeknownst to the relaxed duo, a sliver of black oil begins to drift into Otto’s pond from a corner of the cave. A cruel human was dumping toxic chemicals into Otto’s little pond! The potent chemicals visibly diffused throughout the pond despite the fact that there was only a single Erlenmeyer flask of chemicals. 

Otto -- oblivious to the chemicals that were seeping into his body -- suddenly felt extremely tired. The ever-perceptive elephant, Groot, quickly noticed his dear friend’s ailment, “Otto! Are you alright? You seem exhausted . . . perhaps it’s a sugar rush from the blueberries? You’ve eaten so many of them that your entire pond is pitch black!”Otto responded,“I’m not sure, Groot. This feeling is very different from my normal sugar rush; I feel like there is a layer of sweat coating my skin and a heater in my head!” Otto’s pain and Groot’s discomfort strained their normal friendship. The two animals were normally joined by the hip, and their personalities fit together like a puzzle. The sudden awkwardness was extremely unusual, and added more stress to the situation. The sun gradually descended between the mountain peaks and below the treeline, a dim shadow of its former self. The clouds shone as red as Otto’s glowing forehead, presenting his intense fever. “Perhaps the night breeze will do you some good?” consoled Groot tentatively.

From the depths of the unlikely pair’s despair sprouted a scintillating orb of light. Groot glanced up in utter amazement, as a meteor streaked across the sky, shining brightly against a backdrop of stars. The shooting star guided the eyes of the animals to a telescope which was not there before! The meteorite was so convenient that it was almost like a map, some supernatural guidance towards relief for the suffering, pitiful octopus.

Groot rushed up to the telescope, and peered in. Suddenly, Groot’s eyes fell upon a plant resembling an umbrella far from the cave they called home. Groot decided he would hike across the land, and retrieve the mushroom for his friend.

The elephant departed from his native home in Africa towards the distant island of Madagascar. He traversed the three kilometer high Drakensberg mountains, smuggled himself across six-hundred miles of the tumultuous Mozambique Strait, and made land of the shores of a foreign nation. Standing adjacent to Groot’s sprawled-out trunk was that umbrella shaped object, a golden mushroom with frills like gills and a stalk the sheen of brass. It seemed incredibly tantalizing to the exhausted elephant, emaciated from his many months of travel. However, as Groot reflected upon the image of the still-tormented Otto, he restrained his already outstretched trunk and carefully plucked the mushroom and stored it.

As he dragged the mushroom back to the cave, he began preparing to create a medicine. Devastation soon swept over him as he accidentally dropped the mushroom into the water. But his regret was swiftly swept away as the mushroom implanted itself in the depths of the little pond. It was like magic; the mushroom, which grew incredibly fast, sucked up all the toxic chemicals from the water. In the next couple days, the friends celebrated the clean water with an extravagant water party for all of the animals and sea creatures alike in Africa.