Chapter Text
2025-05-01:
“That was almost a disaster!” Carlos said, as the four of them waddled awkwardly out of the doctor’s office covered in ultrasound jelly.
“Almost?” Foxy Red said. “This is terrible! Right?”
Nick looked down at Judy with concern, and Judy stared at the ground in deep thought, with the palm of her hand pressed against her still flat belly. “On one hand, it’s terrifying and terrible.” Judy said. “I just don’t know how, or if, this baby could possibly make it in the world.” She looked down at her own tummy again. “But at the same time, this is the exact miracle I’ve been wanting for so long. I remember blowing a dry dandelion and wishing for this exact thing.”
Nick stepped closer to her and put his hand on her shoulder. “I’m here with you, to support you, no matter what you decide. Forever and ever.”
“For all we know, maybe that second doctor lied about everything as an excuse to put gel on everybody too.” Carlos interjected awkwardly. “Maybe he had pre-recorded video playing on the TV and he does it all the time, I don’t know! It feels easier to believe than a fox rabbit hybrid!”
Judy started crying a little bit. “I hope not! I hope it’s not all a big lie!” She wiped her tears away with her still goopy arm. “I don’t know, it’s all so overwhelming.” she continued. “On one hand, I worry that I’d be cursing this poor baby to live some horrible half-way between life. And on the other hand, I think that I owe it to them to try my hardest to give them the opportunity to live and thrive. I don’t know what the right thing to do is. But I know my heart tells me I want to have this baby.”
“I was hoping you would say that.” Nick said, lunging forward for a hug.
“That, that’s beautiful!” Carlos said, tearing up. But Foxy Redd just looked down on him in worry.
“Okay, now, can we get home and get cleaned off?” Judy asked, holding her arms out awkwardly. Nick and Carlos both laughed and they started to head home.
Later on, Carlos Conejo and Foxy Redd were laying in bed at night. Carlos was trying to cuddle up to Foxy like he usually did, but she was cold and distant, staring at the ceiling. “What’s wrong babe?” Carlos asked. “Why do you seem so sad?”
“Haven’t you thought it through?” Foxy whispered bitterly. “They don’t need us anymore. We spent all this time and effort to set up this partnership. But now they got what they want and we’re going to be left out in the cold!”
Carlos sighed. “Even if they did, we’re going to figure things out together. I promise, okay!” Foxy wished that she could take her boyfriend’s promise to heart and fully believe him. But no matter how much she longer for that comfort, she knew the truth was that nothing was certain.
Some time later, a young capybara was walking down the street, in the downtown area of the rainforest district, licking an ice cream cone. Suddenly, a brown bear cub walking by knocked her down, making her ice cream fall to the sidewalk. “Oops!” the bear said, laughing.
“Hey, you bumped into me!” the capybara girl said as she got to her feet. Her gaze moved from her scraped knee up to the intimidating antagonistic bear child, and what appeared to be her younger sister snickering behind her.
“You got ice cream on my boot!” the bear said in anger. “How come every time we have to come down here, you jungle animals are always so clumsy?”
“I didn’t do anything!”, the capybara protested as she stood tall against the bear.
But the bear shoved her and knocked her back down again. “Clean off my boot!” she demanded. “Or else!” she said, clenching her fist. “Do it, swamp rat!” Her little sister still stood behind her egging her on.
“Hey! Leave her alone right now!” a voice suddenly came from a little ways away. The two bears and the capybara all whipped their heads to the side to see a small but spunky bunny standing a little ways away. She was glaring at the bullies and holding her fist in the air.
“What are you going to do about it?” the bigger bear scoffed, straightening her back to let her full height be known.
“Now!” the bunny yelled as she hurled a chunk of asphalt, just big enough to fit in the palm of her hand like a baseball, at the big bear. Just then, from the alleyway behind the bullies, jumped another rabbit and two fox children. They all started throwing rocks and chunks of the street at the two bears as well. The capybara scurried off and around the corner while the bears held their arms up to shield their faces.
“Let’s get out of here!!” the younger of the two bears said. And the two bears fled across the street, towards an old parking lot.
“Where do you think you’re going?” came another voice from behind them. The younger bear turned around and screamed at the top of her lungs. Bounding towards the two of them was an animal she had never seen before. She was a mostly red mammal with a big set of hind feet. She had a small roundish red tail, almost shaped like a water drop, with a light grey tip. Her ears were long and floppy, almost like a dog’s. She had a confident and mischievous smirk on her face as she chased down the two bullies. Her goofy smile revealed an odd set of teeth with both sharp canines as well as a couple of big shovel-shaped front incisors. The mysterious animal bounded past the younger bear and then barrelled into the older one.
“Hey, get, get off of me!” the older bear said as they tumbled around on the worn down parking lot. The bear couldn’t tell how old the other kid was, because she didn’t know the grown size of whatever animal she was. But she struggled and fought back just the same.
Eventually, the two rabbits and two foxes who were throwing rocks before rushed over and started kicking and stomping on the big bear whenever they saw an opening. The little capybara ran over and managed to get a kick in too, but mostly she just stood around watching in excitement. Meanwhile, the younger of the two bears broke down into tears.
“Hey, what are you guys doing?” came the voice of an adult in the distance.
“Oh shoot, let’s get out of here!” said the girl fox.
“Nothing mama!” said the bunny boy mischievously as he and his siblings crossed the street and met up with a tall fox lady with black eyeliner and a shiny red dress. It was none other than Foxy Red! “We were just playing around.” the fox boy said, wiping his nose.
“You guys weren’t getting up to trouble again, were you?” asked Carlos Conejo, who walked up with his hands full of grocery bags.
“No! No! We weren’t! We promise!” the five children all started saying at once. They got on the bus which took them to the residential part of the rainforest district. Eventually, they got off and skipped happily across the many different bridges and wooden tree-top paths that connected the bus stop to that house across from Tygerious.
“Hey J.J.!” Carlos said to the hybrid child, when they arrived to the front porch, his arms still full of grocery bags.. “Why don’t you open the door for me.”
“Huh?” the fox-bunny said suspiciously. “Isn’t it locked? Why me?”
“Just hurry, I’ve been carrying this heavy stuff for forever.” Carlos said.
“Okay, okay, fine.” J.J. said, opening the creaking wooden door up. The other four kids looked at each other and giggled.
“Now would you turn on the lights?” Foxy Red asked.
“Okay…?” J.J. complied.
“SURPRISE!” everybody yelled as soon as the lights came on. J.J.’s face lit up as she saw her mom and dad, Nick and Judy, holding up a big sign that said “Happy 9th Birthday!”. Balloons and birthday decorations were everywhere, and confetti fell from the sky. She looked around and saw Tygerious holding a big present. Clawhouser was kneeling down next to him fussing over their son’s hair, an adopted Okapi.
J.J. ran past her parents and towards the Okapi. But before she got there, she turned back to give her parents a hug. “Thanks mom! Thanks dad!” she said. “This is the coolest thing ever!” Nick and Judy both squeezed her tight.
“Glad you think so, sport. We put a lot of effort into getting everything right.” Nick said.
“Can I go play with my friend now?” J.J. asked patiently, as her parents continued to hug her.
“Of course you can!” Judy said with an almost tearful smile. “Go have fun!”