A long, long time ago, way before humans, there was a village full of animals in which there was a tortoise. This Tortoise, however, held severe animosity towards a certain someone. That someone was a platypus! Despite the Platypus being loved by the entire village for his extreme physique, the Tortoise despised him for it. The Tortoise believed that the Platypus's popularity should have been apocryphal. Generally, the Tortoise was a nice person who was liked for his sense of humor. The Tortoise believed that his physique was just as good as the Platypus's, just that it was not recognized enough, or so he thought. The problem was, he was extremely out of shape. He usually walked about 40 steps on a good day! He never ate healthy, his meals consisted of burgers and steaks. He never once thought of eating plants. However, this all changed one day… One sunny afternoon, while the Tortoise was taking his usual pond walk, two teenage turtles approached him. At first, they seemed to mind their own business. Suddenly, one of the turtles busted out laughing.

“ Why does he look like that!” he said.

“ Sir, not to be rude, but you look like you need to work out haha!!” the other one said.

    It was at that moment when the Tortoise realized that he was out of shape. As soon as he got home, he looked at himself in the mirror.

             “ How have I come to this point?” He sobbed.

     From then on, the Tortoise promised himself that he will never be made fun of again. The following weeks, he started to walk more. Instead of walking his general 30-40 steps a day, he began to walk about 400 steps a day! Instead of eating his grease-filled burgers and snacks, he began to eat lettuce and more varieties of plants. He had started his long, demanding diet. He began to eat only plants from now on! As the weeks passed, his body began to slowly feel and look better. It seemed as if all of his hard work had begun to pay off. The turtle looked better than ever! However, this did not stop his resentment nor jealousy towards the Platypus. One cloudy day, whilst walking to the park on his tight schedule, he tripped. However, this caused one giant problem for the Tortoise… he had to complete his 30 minute walk 10 minutes earlier because of how long he took once he tripped! As time passed, it slowly came down to five minutes. The chances of the Tortoise getting on time to work seemed more impossible by the minute. 3 minutes left until he had to be at work, yet he was still at the halfway mark on his walk. Suddenly, his leg started twitching, his adrenaline spiked. It was at that moment in which he spaced out. 

   Once he realized where he was, he was already back at work! Suddenly, he remembered what had happened. He remembered the feeling of the brush of the wind on his face. He was extremely exhausted. The beat of his heart matched those of drums. How could he have covered such a distance in a short amount of time? The reality was that he had run for the first time in his life! After work, he ran back to his house and started to run anywhere and everywhere! He felt as if he was young again! However, this new skill increased his ego exponentially…

    Back at the village, the Platypus was doing his usual posing. Suddenly, the Tortoise came storming in as fast as thunder! The news of the Tortoise learning how to run spread like wildfire among the villagers. They had given him a new nickname, “Thunder Tortoise.”

     There they were, the Tortoise and the Platypus, staring each other down. At this point, the Tortoise was in great shape, but the Platypus was in even greater shape. 

“ It seems as if we’re the same now,” said the Tortoise.

“ We will never be the same” stated the platypus.

   At that moment, with all his courage, the Tortoise ran to the Platypus with all his speed and might. Silence filled the village plaza… The Platypus looked completely unfazed. Suddenly, the Platypus flipped the tortoise and started spinning him using his shell. It was utter humiliation for the Tortoise, the Tortoise was destined to lose. Upon realizing this, the turtle was preparing for his last move, an unpredictable move. The Platypus gazed at the turtle. The turtle got in his running stance and at the last moment, he ran! The platypus and the villagers were left in disbelief. The turtle ran far, far away, never to be seen again.