Adapa never flinched, never blinked, never moved even one millimeter from his position. But just then, the ferns and bushes began to rattle and shake in different places randomly, as if someone or something was moving through the grass very rapidly. It wasn't obvious what it was, but there appeared to be more than one of something closing in on the area where the light tail tapping sounds had originated from. From her vantage point, Belle could see over the tall grass and notice several small trails heading directly for her position at the moment they were being made, as if something small was pushing the grass down as it ran through the foliage and leafy plant life on the jungle floor. Was it a pack of hungry felines? Or maybe worse, a pack of Xamoyoan raptors.
The jungle was a dangerous place, and the shrouded claws were even more dangerous. There were gasogators, giant spiders, sky rats, sawquitos, flizards, dinosaurs, xamatopithecus, death bellies, gigantopedes and all sorts of other bizarre and strange monsters or creatures living in the jungle, many of them having yet to even be discovered. But as the mysterious animals closed in rapidly, surrounding Belle on both sides of the turtle trail, it soon became very apparent at what this hidden potentially dangerous threat was. They seemed to make their appearance all at once, about 10 of the tiniest cutest furriest squirrel-like rodents anyone had ever seen. They were standing on their hind legs, holding tiny pointed wooden spears and makeshift bows with little arrows the size of pencil sticks. Some of them were wearing adorable facial war paint or funny caps, belts and fish-skin pelts, or small makeshift pieces of armor made from tiny bones. But apart from these very basic tools, they were completely naked and barefoot, having only their own natural body fur as any sort of covering. These were of course, the xamoyoadapiformes.
The tiny little 2 foot tall lemurian primates surrounded the 9 foot tall giant opossum in a circle of spears, pointing their weapons directly at Belle within striking or prodding distance. "Icky baka mui chichi! Baka mui! Apada, adapa! Machi!" one of the tribal looking squirrelly monsters chirped, barking commands up at the opossum before poking her gently with his bone-tipped spear, which had been fashioned to the small wooden shaft using hardened tree sap. It was difficult to tell whether he was being angry and serious or ticklish and playful, for his words were fast and squeaky like that of a small chipmunk.
But one thing was definitely clear about this sudden unexpected encounter with the arboreal proto-lorises. Belle had apparently distracted them from their hunt. Unbeknownst to anyone before that, the lemurian primate up in the tree was only causing a distraction. The other squirrelly rodential primates had been sneaking around the bushes slowly and quietly, circling around Treda, the large turtle focused on their home tree in a hilariously crazy attempt to capture her with ropes. They were going to ambush the enormous Xamoyos turtle, that is, until they suddenly heard Belle's approach and completely forgot what they were doing, focusing now on her instead.
"Ahhh, ha ha, adapa kapa. Biggy chupa." One of the xamoyoadapiforms giggled, pointing his arrow at Belle while drawing back his bowstring and narrowing his eyebrows. "Kibi kibi? Looky looky, adapa toesy fingy pinky!" another one chimed, pointing excitedly as the others looked in awe down at Belle's hands with open jaws. "Oooo!" all 10 of them seemed to marvel at once. It was obvious they were communicating with one another as they stopped and huddled together, whispering for a moment amongst themselves before turning all at once and looking back up at Belle, this time with funny bucktoothed smiles on their whiskery faces as they became less adamant about fighting.
"Okie dokie, follow me." The original adapis that poked Belle with his spear said, this time in a more friendlier manner using Galactic Common to speak as he turned and started walking back into the high grass. Soon, the other nine xamoyoadapises lowered their weapons at ease and started to follow behind the first one, who must have been the leader of their small little hunting party as they too began to disappear back into the ferns and tall grasses from whence they had arrived. If she looked back, Belle would notice that the one lonesome squirrel-like watchman up in the tree had still not moved an inch. Adapa was still having his showdown, locked in a staring contest with Treda.