"Rawr!" a young voice lightheartedly cried out.

"Hey!" I blurted, reaching back to grab whoever was dangling from my neck. Lo and behold, it was only a bunny. I held it out in front of me like a misbehaved toddler.

She couldn't stop giggling.  "Ha! I scared you, didn't I?"

"Hazel?" I recognized. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just studying here in this tree, I heard you coming, and I saw you look all frantic and whatnot so I thought I'd mess with you!" 

"That, you did," I said as I set her down.

"I kinda missed you! How was your morning run with Jude the dude?" 

"It went well," I shrugged. "Nothing too out of the ordinary."

"No smashed wooden crates?" she asked while winking with a grin.

I rolled my eyes and sighed.   "Not yet,"

"Ohh! I still can't get over this morning!" she laughed hysterically. "That was tooo funny!"

I scratched the top of my helmet. "Definitely won't happen again." 

"Oh, but if it does, I'll be there in the front row seat. Who knows, maybe I'll actually film it this time!" 

"Please no."

"Ha! I'm kidding!" she swatted my leg. "Besides, we don't want animals to study your, quote on quote, 'extraterrestrial' behavior now, do we? Don't worry! Your secret is safe with me."

My heart briefly dropped upon hearing her say that until I remembered Judy mentioning to me earlier today that Hazel already knew I wasn't from this world. Apparently, she figured it out but I wouldn't bring it up with her. Instead, I decided to play it casually. "Speaking of studying, aren't you supposed to be reviewing for finals with Daisy?"

"I was! But then she grew tired of studying and she fell asleep. Ha! So she left me all alone." 

"She's in the tree?" I pointed towards the canopy.

"No, silly! She's inside. We're actually standing on top of her house right now so I decided to just chill in the tree here because it's one of the biggest in BunnyBurrow."

I examined the tree and noticed that it was quite a fair size.

"I see." I steadily observed.  "But don't you guys have a tree as well?"

"We do! But it's too slanted on a hill so my pencils would keep rolling off," she explained while motioning with her paws. "It might be a good place for a physics student who's studying gravity but I'm more into biology so I need a stable environment, you know."

"I get it," I said with a slow, tilted nod.

"Ha! Take that ridiculous thing off." she pointed at my helmet with her paw. "How do I know you're not makin' faces at me under there?"

"You're not supposed to know," I proudly affirmed while tapping my helmet. "Safety first, so I'll keep it on."

"Just one quick peek?" she requested. "I thought I saw something on your cheek this morning." 

"Yeah, you wish."

"Pretty please?" she begged with puppy-like eyes.

I shook my head. "I'm lost so maybe you could show the way back?"

"Alright, alright!" she admitted. "But at least make eye contact with me? Otherwise, I guess I won't be able to show you the way back." she smiled slyly as she checked the time on her watch. "Until then, I'm waiting for you Cherry." she tapped her foot impatiently.

It was preferable to keep my helmet on but she wouldn't let up. Instead of standing here all evening to bicker with a little teenage bunny, I decided to do as she requested. I briskly pulled the helmet off and tucked it under my arm. Instead of checking my sides in case anyone else was watching, I simply gave her a staredown.

This didn't phase her. Hazel's eyes widened in grand astonishment as if she were seeing me for the first time but she already saw me before. A cute bright smile of fascination came over her face which made me feel slightly uncomfortable.

"Okay, that's enough," I said while repositioning the helmet to be placed back on. "Wait, not yet!" she stopped me. "Your eyes... wow... they look sooo pretty!"

Her comment surprised me because I thought all the bunnies here had much better-looking eyes than any human, especially hers and Judy's. My eyes were about a third the size of theirs so I felt there wasn't any competition. "Um, thanks, I guess."

"And your golden fur," She pointed at my head. "Look how it gleams in the sun... so beautiful! Can I touch it?"

I placed the helmet back on my head. "No." I answered as my comfort levels went back to normal.

"Aww..." she expressed disappointment but was lucky enough for me to do such a thing so I didn't care. Either way, that warm friendly smile wouldn't leave her face.

"Okay Hazel, time for you to lead the way." I gestured into the horizon.

"Alrighty, fine Cherry," she griped. "But can you at least let me ride your shoulders on the way home?"

"What?"

"It'd be fun! Plus, I never got a turn yesterday."

"But you're leading the way. You've got two unbroken legs."

"Oh, c'mon Cherry, please? I'll tell you where to go, I promise! Please." she begged. "I've always wanted to experience being tall." 

Not wanting to break a little bunny's heart, I reluctantly gave in. "Whatever, as you wish." I beckoned with my hand, trying to offer her a lift.

"Yay!" she cheered as she immediately used the nearby tree to climb up to my height, hopped onto my right shoulder, and sat herself down.  Well, that didn't take her very long.

"Don't grab the neck." I requested. "And don't fall off." 

"No worries, I won't!" she said with confidence.

I waited for her guidance but she was too occupied with the terrific view from my shoulders.

"Hazel," I called.  " Directions?"

"Huh? Oh, sí, right! Hmm, let's see... You'll want to head straight down that road over there."

"Which one?" 

"On your left."

"Got it," I said as we descended down the hill.

"Mush!" she jokingly commanded which led me to stop in my tracks. "Or not mush, either way," she added.

"That's what I thought," I smirked.  Of course, she'd never know if I were smirking or not.  Gotta appreciate helmets.

We walked through the neighborhood which felt like a hilly maze but we seemingly made progress towards the Hopp's family home. If it weren't for me running into Hazel then I probably never would've found the home in time. The detour I took must've really taken me off course but now we were on the right track.

The teenage bunny on my shoulders was having a wonderful time up there as she grabbed my neck a few times, asked me to run on a couple of parts of the road, and continued to give me directions. She told me where to go but sometimes got distracted by the view and would tell me where to turn right after I missed it. Thus, she operated like a GPS with delayed prompts.

"Ooh, you smell like lavender." she sniffed. "Did you roll through a field of Lavandula angustifolia today?" 

It took me a minute to understand what exactly she was asking.

"No, but I had a shower," I answered.  "Must be the shampoo."

"It smells nice! How'd you do it if you don't mind me asking?"

 "Waterfall."

"Ah, I'm sure that was refreshing! Makes sense for a mammal of your size."

 "Gotta do what you can."

She directed me uphill and pointed the way to another valley where the Hopp's family home finally came into sight. I knew it was the house because it had the large oak tree on top, the long bunny ears above the entryway, and the light blue-colored Hopp's family truck parked in front. Bonnie and Stu must've been home and there were many lights on inside so everyone else must've arrived home as well.

"By the way, Cherry, guess what day it is?"

I shrugged. "Family home evening?"

 "Close! We're having a movie night!"

"Really?"

"Yep! So you better be there because we're watching one of my all-time favorites, Pig Hero 6, woot woot!"

 "I don't have anywhere else to be," I said, realizing that I'd be heading over to Zootopia tomorrow.

"Good! That's what I thought," she said while playfully trying to mimic my statement from earlier.

Within three minutes, we arrived at the front of the Hopp's home and it felt great to be back at home base. Nevertheless, it would all be temporal because staying here would only put this innocent family in danger. I had to leave eventually, I didn't belong, but the bunny family did one heck of a job at taking in a human stranger like me. Especially one that didn't belong to this planet or this dimension.

They kept me alive, well-fed, clean, sheltered, protected, and supported. I owed them big time for everything and felt obligated to protect them from any danger or harm that could come their way. I prayed that nothing would happen to them but I did have the tools to keep them safe. It was all a matter of using those tools correctly as this morning had taught me.

In the meantime, I decided to use this night as a time to relax before heading down to the well-spoken city of Zootopia the next day. I didn't know what the city had in store, I didn't know what it was like, I didn't know what to expect, and I didn't know what the inhabitants were going to be like. At times, I felt nervous but Judy was the most hopeful, confident creature I had ever met so it was hard to feel doubt when she was around. She had a plan and seemed to know what she was doing so I trusted her. After all, who else am I going to trust? A bunny cop and a human soldier roaming the city, what could go wrong?

Luckily, we had the bear disguise being prepared for me. Not only did I hope for it to look decent in appearance but a little comfort while wearing it would be a nice extra. Either way, I promised myself to show gratitude because these little bunnies went out of their way to make it happen.

We entered the house, the front door sticky notes were gone, and everyone was hustling, bustling, and chatting about each other's days. Hazel slid down my cloak to go greet her siblings and Judy was there to warmly greet me as well. It was great to see Bonnie and Stu as well but Judy wished to show me something so she quickly led me towards another room of the house. On the way, I located the clothes hamper so I rapidly tossed in the pink towels until Judy pulled me by the gauntlet into another series of pink hallways within the house. Sometimes I felt like this house just kept going and going without having any end. At this point, a theme park map wouldn't be a stretch.

A couple of seconds later, we made a sharp left, ascended one set of stairs, and found ourselves in a new medium-sized room that was entirely filled with numerous arts and crafts. Everything in the room was either bunny or carrot themed but it was obvious that a ton of TLC was placed into each object. Baskets, dream catchers, pottery, wood carvings, and clothes to name a few were all well organized throughout the room. At the center table, I spotted a packaged wrapped in burlap that had the shape of a sleeping bag. Donovan brought it over and asked me to open it.

Wow. It felt like receiving an early Christmas gift. I and a few other eager bunnies worked together to see what was inside and it was a nice beautifully crafted...

... Tail.

It was a brilliant white color, just like the suit. The length spanned three feet, it felt incredibly fluffy, the craftsmanship, or, should I say, the craftsmammalship, was top-tier, the structure appeared realistic, and it even had an adapter to attach to my combat belt. Pretty nifty, I must say. These bunnies definitely worked their tails off. Even the tail's length was adjustable so being a wolf or a bear was equally likely at this point.

"Try it on!" "Yeah, try it!"

I listened to their voices and placed the tail right above my tailbone. My brown cloak draped in the way so I shaped my gauntlet nano-particle fingers into a blade, Edward Scissorhands style, albeit, less exaggerated, and I cut a small hole for the tail to fit through. Now I could almost pass as an animal warrior. Never in my life had I admired my behind until now. With humans, we usually focus on the abs or the biceps but rarely do we ever admire our posterior features. I guess we never had any reason to until now.

"So, what do you think?" Hazel inquired.

"It's pretty cool, I guess," I said while trying to make it look like I wasn't really posing. Not going to lie, I admired it greatly. This was probably because it marked the first step of blending into this world.

"You like it, don't you Cherry?" Judy laughed.

"Oh, he definitely does!" Donovan concluded while reaching for his back pocket. "I'm definitely getting a picture of this." He snapped a photo.

"Almost there!" someone commented. 

"He's lookin' great!" 

"I think it's perfect," another remarked.

Being at the center of attention surrounded by thirty bunnies wasn't my strongest suit so I tried my best to play it cool by not doing anything foolish. The room was tall enough for me to stand in but not breaking a light fixture while posing would be a good start. So far, I was doing well with this furry little audience.

"Thank you guys... for doing this." I bowed in gratitude.

 "No problem! We actually had fun working on it."

"And there's a little more where that came from. The tail was kinda the big one but wait until you see the rest!" 

"Yeah, did you tell him about the wings?"

"Wings?" I gasped.  These young bunnies were clearly losing it.

Hazel smiled.  "Ha! Good one Violet! Sorry Cherry, we didn't really make you wings." 

I turned to inspect my rear extremity once more and nodded.  "I figured, but the tail alone is worth the price of admission."

"Right? Who would've thought that the Hopp's family was so capable of crafting and carrot farming?"

 "Yep! That's us! More costume pieces to be revealed shortly."

"How much do I owe you?" I inquired.

"Oh, shush. It's a gift Cherry. From us to you."

I couldn't help but smile at their warm gesture. Before I could speak, Bonnie and Stu called everyone down for dinner so the little bunnies filed their way out, took one last look at the beautiful tail, and disappeared into the winding hallways. The only ones remaining in the craft room were me, Judy, Hazel, Donovan, and, of course, little Cotton. Donovan peeked outside for others passing by before he closed the door to ensure we were alone.

"Now, one big thing that remains is disguising your helmet or mask thingy." Donovan pointed at my head. 

"Or whatever he calls it," Hazel shrugged.

"Yeah, we make helmet look...like...fluffy!" little Cotton innocently cheered.

"What? This?" I asked while desperately trying to sound confused. "Clearly it's my face. It's definitely not a helmet." 

They all looked at each other briefly before giving me a long blank look.

"Umm, Cherry? They know."

"Really?"

They all nodded their heads together in unison.

 "Great," I thought.

"Yeeaah, we kinda figured it out," Donovan conceded. "But don't worry," Judy comforted. "It's just us."

"No one else knows," Hazel commented.

"And we'll keep it that way," Judy finished. "Pinky promise everyone?"

We all gathered in a circle, locked our promises in together, and I thought we'd do some sort of team chant but thank goodness we didn't. Instead, we remained completely casual and acted like there was no alien in the house. They explained to me that once everyone was in bed they'd work on the helmet by adding finishing touches to the disguise. Honestly, I was quite excited to see what they came up with. Whatever it was, I knew it'd be awesome because the tail I wore testified of their crafting abilities.

For the 275 bunnies this place housed, it was a miracle that only 7 of them knew the full truth. However, a small doubt came to mind.

If the other bunnies were involved with making a tail, then wouldn't they see that as a little suspicious? In other words, why on Earth would they randomly help make a false tail unless they knew it was for a nonanimal creature such as myself? While making our way towards supper, I pulled Donovan aside in the hallway to ask him the same thing and share my doubt. Fortunately, he convinced his bunny siblings that I once had a glorious tail until it froze off to a pole in Tundra Town so they offered to build me a makeshift one. I didn't care how the story went as long as they bought it, in which case, they did. Phew!

Everyone gathered in the dining hall eager for a delicious evening bite until it was revealed that Stu forgot to preheat the oven. Goodness, that was fun to watch! From across the room, I spotted the temperature knob hadn't been turned yet, I was going to say something, but I decided to savor the moment. Either way, the cherry smoothie filled me up from earlier today so I didn't feel too hungry. Stu celebrated too early by dramatically opening the oven door only to reveal that the carrot bread didn't even start baking.

'Oh cripes!' he blurted numerous times. Yep, 'Oh cripes' is right Stu.

Thus, I bought myself fifteen extra minutes so I decided to sneak out of the house and check on Stu's farm truck. Luckily, no one spotted me; at least, I don't think anyone did. I felt a little bad for not telling him about the oven so I decided to work on his truck to cut him some slack. He managed to get the car running since this morning but the main head gasket was still cracked and wouldn't last much longer for the next few days. Using my nano-tech, I shaped my fingertips into various tools and went to town on that engine. There were numerous sites of catalyst buildup so I cleared those out and then I created a heat bond around the points of stress to eliminate the gasket cracks. Everything about the car was smaller compared to the ones in my world so I had to be careful as to not break anything. After five minutes of delicate shimming and welding, the car was just about fixed. I had desires to test it out but the startup noise could've easily alerted anyone, especially a family who was born with giant ears so I had to wait. I've worked on cars before so I was 97% sure it would start up better than it did before. Until tomorrow, it would have to wait.

After closing the truck's hood an idea came to mind after using those repair tools. Why not make claws? I thought to myself. It shouldn't be too hard plus it'd be a neat thing to have in case I encountered wolverine or black panther.

Now, I'm definitely not referring to 'The Wolverine' or 'The Black Panther' but rather 'a wolverine' or 'a black panther'. Surely the city of Zootopia would have a couple of them there, one of them named Logan, I hoped. Ever since Judy and Hazel were showing off their claws this morning, it was my turn to do the same so I twiddled my fingers in an attempt to manipulate the nano-particles. Nothing.

I tried again but the claws wouldn't retain their shape. Strange. I guess it was because I hadn't created those shapes before since the ones I could create were those that I've done before. A few attempts later I made some progress but the particles kept reverting back to their original positions. Instead, I echoed my neuron pulses to create shapes based on what I already knew such as a flathead screwdriver. It was a stretch but my fingertips soon converted into five fine-tipped flatheads total, one for each finger, and it appeared like claws from a distance. They weren't sharp but they definitely had some potential.

Trying to focus harder, I made another close attempt to sharpen the tips even further but the particles ended up reverting back to their original configurations. On the sixth try, I suddenly heard a few young voices calling my name from a distance which distracted me to another failed attempt. The bunnies were looking for me so it was time to go. "Meh, forget it, screw this." I blurted as I stood back up to abandon the cybernetic manicure and walk back to the house. Perhaps another time.

Some asked where I went but I explained that it was all to go get some fresh air. Nothing more, nothing less. Dinner was finally ready, Bonnie and Stu really outdid themselves again, and everything smelled like it came from the finest bakery in Bunnyburrow. True, I hadn't been on this planet for too long, let alone visited any other bakery but I knew exactly what I was talking about. I didn't feel too hungry due to being nervous about tomorrow but I had a little Costco sample size of everything to keep it all balanced.

As I gradually warmed up to it I began to crave more and more items as they were being passed around the room. The carrot bread, in particular, was remarkably flavorsome so I took one more piece of that but I also had to grab a handful of berries as well. Can't miss out on those.

The raspberries and huckleberries were two of my favorites while blueberries were at the top of the list. I wasn't sure why I loved them so much, other than the fact that they had a plethora of admirable brain-boosting properties such as memory, de-aging neurons, and improved cell signaling. Another thing I liked about them was how easy they were to ingest because they simply phased right into my helmet filter with relative ease. Usually, there was a slight delay with other foods, due to them being potentially spoiled, but the blueberries simply passed straight through without any problems. Thus, they were perfectly safe to consume and it gave me another reason to rejoice.

With plenty of helping paws, we quickly cleaned up supper so there was enough daylight to go outside and participate in numerous fun activities. Outside felt like an amusement park because there were fluffy bunnies almost everywhere, from the branches of the oak trees, the open grass fields, the front porch, and the ample hilltop. The family members played things like hopscotch, tag, ninja-tag, hide-and-seek, kickball, dancing, tree-branch swinging, rolling down the hill, racing, chalk art, and soccer.

Sadly, there wasn't any rugby going on so I decided to stick with soccer for the rest of the evening. They invited me over to play so I thought why not. Would size matter? I was about to find out.

Donovan and Hazel were designated as the team captains so Donovan picked me first and then Hazel picked Judy. The game commenced and I scored the first goal...

...on our team's goal, that is. It was a bit embarrassing but I grew determined to make up for it. Judy went in for the block but my imposing size slowed her down and resulted in me scoring three goals for our team, so 3-1.

It felt wonderful winning a game on a sport that I found inferior compared to rugby. Both sports were fun of course but soccer was more about the legwork whereas rugby allowed me to use both arms and legs which is why I enjoyed rugby.

However, my rugby pride got the best of me once we reached halftime. The score was 7-3 but Judy began scoring goals on us like crazy and I don't know what had gotten into her. She had that strong ambitious look on her face as she moved swiftly and nimbly through my blocks which rendered them completely ineffective despite my height. She slid under, jumped over, hopped over, and dodged through all my defensive stances because she eventually learned my weaknesses and used them against me. Clever bunny.

By the time we reached the final quarter, the score was at 8-17. We had an intense match, they put me as the goalkeeper and they had two other bunnies both play as goalkeepers to balance it out. Finally, the ending score was...

17-27.

That was too bad... I suppose bigger wasn't always better. As far as Rugby goes, better wasn't always bigger. Our team had lost big time. Not only was Judy an excellent soccer player but everyone else also did incredibly well. Hazel could play while texting on her phone and Donovan was well skilled with those long-range kicks.

We played a few more games until everyone else decided to hang out, chill on the hilltop, and chat about the wonders of life. I wasn't much of a talker for I thought silence was golden but all the other bunnies had plenty to talk about. I overheard some talking about the carrot festival, a lightning strike, school finals, sports, music, art, the farm, and the sunset.

All this serenity gave a sense of being in the shire and I was sure going to miss it. Everyone here was happy, joyful, cheerful, and at peace because the family was back together again. It was a bittersweet moment because I had to leave this place tomorrow morning and go where I needed to go. A human never belonged here or ever should've been here so this was the right thing to do for the sake of this innocent family. At least I wouldn't be alone and Judy would also have to leave this place as she's already done numerous times for work.

While we were enjoying each other's company, time was flying by fast and it was getting late as it always does. We filed our way into the Hopp's family home, I crawled my way through the front door, a couple of bunnies kept playing with my tail, so I crawled faster to stay ahead of them. My, they sure seemed to enjoy the fluffy tail as much as I did.

Hazel wouldn't stop talking about the movie we were going to watch so she herded us into a large family room that was about two-thirds the size of the dining hall. While not quite as big, it was a considerable size, even for someone like me, and it had a large digital 70-inch screen situated in the middle. Behind the screen were numerous seats of different shapes, sizes, and dimensions that ranged from chairs, sofas, love-sacs, pillows, and stools. Some were in the shape of carrots, others resembled bricks of hay, while the rest were simply pink in color. Good taste, I suppose.

Multiple bunnies were crowding from behind so I walked over to the back of the room to allow them entry. It felt like coming to a bunny-themed movie theater that was going well above and beyond carrying capacity. If someone were to ask me how many bunnies I thought could fit in a room then I would've answered seven about a week ago; Now, my answer was seven times seven. Goodness, I stood all amazed at how big this family was!

Judy was getting popcorn for her siblings while Hazel was preparing the device to play movies so I made my way over to the table between her and the T.V. to see what those colorful objects were on top.

Turns out, they were all movie covers that resembled films that were vaguely familiar to me from my previous simulated world. Wow, they all must've been those Digital Versatile Disks, or DVDs, from the olden days. In my world, these things would've been classified as antiques if it weren't for their strange-looking animal variations.

I saw titles under Floatzen 2, Giraffic, Meowana, Wreck-it-Rhino, Wrangled, and, of course, Hazel's 'favorite', Pig Hero 6.

"So...," I grabbed the movie and examined the case. "This is the one?"

"Yep!" Hazel answered with her back turned, facing the DVD player while connecting the cords. "It's one of my favorites. You're going to love it!"

"But it says six on it."

"So?"

"So isn't there a part one, part two, part three, and so forth?" I wondered.  "This looks like part 6."

"Huh? No silly.   I wish there were that many movies.  But it says six because there are six heroes in the movie."

Made sense.  I should've known so I set the movie down and returned to the back of the room. All the bunnies were eagerly seated like most audiences were in theaters and they all peaked in excitement when Judy and a few other siblings brought in large bowls of freshly popped popcorn and passed them around. They all had slightly different colors with one being orange in color that was set down closest to me.

I pointed. "That's gotta be carrot popcorn."

"No, this is cheese popcorn." a young bunny nearby corrected me while grabbing a pawful. "I don't think that even exists, I mean, who in their right mind would eat 'carrot' popcorn?"

Umm, you? I thought to myself. However, I didn't say anything.

Once the popcorn bowls were evenly distributed throughout the room, Judy dimmed the lights, Hazel started the movie, and I leaned against the back wall to see what type of movie this was. It's been forever since I watched any movie and this would be the first time doing it on a foreign planet which initially felt weird to think about.

As the movie was going through some previews, Hazel and Judy beckoned me to join them on the left front row. However, I shook my head at their kind offer because I didn't want to block anyone's view. Hazel didn't take 'no' for an answer so she came over to where I was, grabbed my hand with both paws, and pulled me over to where she and Judy were sitting. It all felt awkward because a big man like me was doing perfectly fine in the back row alone but they insisted so I had no choice.

The sofa was too small to comfortably sit in so I sat on the carpet floor with my back leaned against the base. Having a tail took some getting used to so I had to angle the tail a bit to properly sit down. This allowed other bunnies more room to sit in the chair behind me and more bunnies piled in as the previews finished. I swear, every time a bunny came through that door it was a bunny that I'd never seen before. By the time the movie started, the room likely had an audience of over seventy-seven bunnies, plus an oversized human.

I peeked over my shoulder to see Judy texting someone named Nick and both were exchanging their fair share of messages which made her smile. I didn't read the messages but whoever this bunny named Nick was, I imagined he must've liked Judy a lot based on all the hearty emojis he was sending her.

Five minutes into the movie, five more bunnies came into the room. Jeez, they just kept coming and coming and Cotton was one of them. She ran over to Judy to sit in her lap while the other bunnies sat in the chair behind me since everywhere else was full. Hazel pretended that she couldn't see the screen well so she used that as an excuse to sit on my lap for the rest of the movie, which caused a few other bunnies to follow suit.

Great. Now I'm trapped here. The bunnies were adorable, nothing would change that, but they had a complete disregard for personal space and I worried that my legs would soon fall asleep. Or worse, the bunnies would fall asleep.

Not being able to move hardly at all, I decided to pay attention to the screen and watch the rest of the movie with everybody else. The first thing I noticed about this movie was that all the actors were real. Meaning, that none of it was computer animated since the animal characters in the movie were filmed using live-action mammals. Very interesting, I pondered.

The story itself wasn't too bad and it explored a good many things. It talked about the future, microbots, technology, gadgets, a young sidekick, advanced weapons, artificial intelligence, saving the world, science, stopping a vengeful villain, and a white-suited pig bot. For some unknown reason, all of these things felt slightly familiar to me. Based on the front cover I sorta knew why Hazel picked such a movie for all of us to watch.

Overall, it ended up being a great show and I appreciated the storyline. I fell asleep a couple of times due to the exhausting morning run we had today but I managed to watch most of it.

It was now time for bed and a couple of bunnies in the room were already fast asleep, including one that was on my lap. Bonnie, Stu, and the babysitter named Chelsie from earlier today all came in to take them to their beds and tuck them in for the night. Judy cradled her tired little niece Cotton while Hazel picked up the little bunny from my lap and took her upstairs. Watching them both carry their siblings was such a tender moment for it demonstrated how loving they were as sisters.

In fact, both the Howel family and the Hopps family were collectively remarkable and it was an honor to be among them. I knew other families existed out there but these two families were hard to beat and no family from my previous world came close to beating them.

Tonight was the last night with them so I felt it necessary to take in every moment I could because I had no way of knowing what might happen the next couple of days.

I headed to the garage and decided to get a good night's rest before the big day tomorrow. No bad dreams, no broken crates, and no flashbacks from the war. Just a good night's sleep.

I removed my helmet, fell backward on the bed, and immediately shut my eyes to doze off for the night. My body was too tired to move so I laid there as still as a rock and fell into a deep deep sleep.

A couple of hours later, I opened my eyes upon the sight of sunlight bleeding through the garage door windows. Did I really get some decent sleep? Yes, I most certainly did. I couldn't believe it and had to pinch myself to make sure. I even checked my hands and I still had all five fingers without a single strand of fur. Good, still human.

Thus, this morning was already off to an excellent start and it wasn't even seven o'clock yet. All the vegetable crates were intact, my body was well-rested, and I was nervously excited to go to the big city.

Thus, all was well and all was in my favor. Judy told me yesterday that we'd be leaving first thing in the morning so I had to make haste and get ready.

Bed made, check. 

Garage clean, check.

 Cloak, check.

Fluffy tail, check.

Morning pushups, check.

Water, check.

Gauntlets, check. 

Weapons, check. 

Boots, check.

Helmet,

Hold on, where'd my helmet go?

I frantically searched the cupboards and drawers in the garage but it was nowhere to be found. Behind the crates, no. Under the bed, no. And under the toolbox, no. Where could it have gone?

Without the helmet, I'd easily be spotted so I had to find it fast. I tried to go outside but there were already bunny neighbors roaming about across the street. With no other option in mind, I pulled the hood over my head and looked down to conceal my face.

Like a hooded Nazgûl from Lord of the Rings that would find the ring, I would go out there and find my mask.

I snuck out the back door and began my search, hoping it would be done in the next twenty minutes before we left. With great stride in every step I took, I moved across the property with such outspoken determination until I realized that it was misplaced.

Before I could enter the house, and at the corner of my eye, I spotted Hazel on the front patio relaxing in a swivel chair with her feet up on the banister. On the floor next to her was a large white object that resembled what I was looking for.

However, it wasn't exactly what I thought it was.

I approached Hazel and she stopped what she was doing to turn and face me. "Morning Cherry! How are we doing today?"

As I took one step closer, I squinted my eyes to reveal that something wasn't right.

"Wait, is that... my helmet?"

 "Yep! It sure is!"

"You gotta be kidding me..."

"Nope! We worked on it late last night. "

I picked up the helmet and couldn't believe what I was actually seeing. No way that just happened.  Pink and white glitter everywhere.

"Since when did polar bears have pink noses?" I asked.

Hazel smiled. "I think it's kinda cute!"

I shook my head  "Whatever your definition of cute is, it needs some work."