with enemies like these who needs friends

There was a skitter of sharp claws, a squeak and then a woosh as Armando slid off the outcropping. He hit the ground with a solid thud that echoed down the gully. The little panda sat there a moment to rub at his smarting backside. He'd misjudged how steep the outcropping had been. Had things gone smoothly he'd have carefully slid to the edge and then lowered himself down. There still would have been a hefty thud when he hit the ground but at least he would have been able to control his descent. His paws, then, would be tingling and not his rump which had much less experience with his weight.

All he'd wanted to do was get out of the cave he'd been in. There was something creepy about it that just didn't sit well with him. When the weirdest little mouse he'd ever seen skittered past him glowing like some never-seen-the-sun fungus he'd known it was time to get out. So Armando had taken the nearest tunnel and booked it to the surface. And then promptly slid down the outcropping and busted his butt.

After dusting off his rump Armando felt around in the dark for his hat. If it had fallen off just a few feet further from the rock it would have stood out like a sore thumb thanks too the too-bright moon. His claws found it in the dark. Like his rump, he dusted it off. Unlike his rump, he then put it on his head. Whew, okay. Crisis averted. Now where to next...