Part 9 (2/2)
”Itlook-drawn.” ”Exactly,” Delores whispered. They were in the middle of a forest somewhere, but no forest that they had ever seen before. Zabana was right. It was as if they had stepped into the middle of a drawing, with the texture of gra.s.s and leaves and the bark of trees suggested by pen strokes, all filled in by colors much too bright to come from nature. And it was worse than that. She looked at all her fellows, then down at her own hands, solid flesh-tones now outlined by deep black borders. Not only had their surroundings changed, but they had changed as well.
”We've come to an animated world,” she announced. ”And we ourselves are animated!”
”Bark bark yip arf!” the newly drawn Dwight the Wonder Dog suggested.
”Actually,” Louie translated, ”Dwight thinks we're rotoscoped.”
”Look!” a high-pitched voice called from somewhere out among the trees. ”We've got visitors!”
”No!” Doctor Dread screamed as he struggled futilely in the grip of the jungle prince.
”Not them! Anything but them!”
Something small and brown and fluffy jumped from behind a bush.
”It bunny rabbit!” Zabana exclaimed.
”How cute!” Delores added, unable to help herself.
”How terrible!” Dread interjected as he stopped struggling and started to shake. ”This can't be happening!”
The newcomer wriggled its nose in Dread's direction, then spoke in that same high, clear voice that had come from the trees. ”And not just any bunny rabbit. My name's Bigears. I'm the leader of the pack.” The rabbit waved an adorable pink paw. ”Say, isn't that Dwight the Wonder Dog?”
”Bark bark, yip!” Dwight answered cheerfully.
”Everybody knows Dwight the Wonder Dog!” Officer O'Clanrahan added animatedly.
”Urk-” Dread grimaced as if in pain.
”Hey, maybe some of my buddies would like to meet Dwight the Wonder Dog,”
Bigears suggested. ”What do you say, guys?””There even more bunnies?” Zabana inquired.
”Hey, there's rabbits all over the place,” Bigears replied proudly. ”You've landed in Bunnyland!”
”Gork-” Dread looked as if he might lose his lunch.
Another pair of bunnies, one gray, one white, came hopping out of the woods.
”Here's a couple of my pals,” Bigears explained. ”Meet Pinknose”-the white rabbit took a hop in their direction- ”and Fluffytail!” The gray rabbit followed suit.
”Gurp!'' Dread seemed to be having some sort of spasm.
”Wow,” Delores replied, unable to keep the wonder from her voice. ”All these bunnies. Is this where-Thumper lives?”
”Nah,” the first bunny said deprecatingly. ”He's got a contract with another studio.
Got a swelled head, won't even write to his old buddies. We've still got some of his relatives, though.” He raised his voice to call back to the bushes. ”Hey, is Thumper's cousin around here somewhere?”
”Sure!” a much deeper voice answered. ”Be right dere!''
The ground shook as the bushes parted.
”Grork!” Dread remarked. All the other newcomers, Dwight included, gasped collectively as a very, very large rabbit stepped out into the clearing. This new bunny had regular black and white spots all over its body. However, the most outstanding thing about this rabbit was that it stood some six feet six inches tall.
”Dey call me Bouncer,” the very large rabbit announced.
”I can-hold it-no longer!” Dread managed between gritted teeth, ”Gleep! Nerp!
Gibber!”
The supervillain threw his arms in the air, then fell to his knees. His head jerked back, his shoulders forward. His hands twitched, then his feet, followed by his eyebrows and his ears. His snakeskin cowl fell away from his head, and his slicked-back hair stood straight up from his scalp. His eyes rolled rapidly about in their sockets, as his tongue darted in and out of his mouth. There was also smoke coming from his nostrils and inner ears.
That was only the beginning. Everything that was happening to Dread started to happen faster. One moment, he was a ma.s.s of twitches and spasms, the next he was moving so quickly that those around him could no longer discern any individual features or limbs-only an indistinct metallic green blur.”I had no idea it would be this dramatic,” Louie whispered.
AH of a sudden, Doctor Dread stopped. Now, however, he didn't quite look like Doctor Dread. Perhaps it was those black wizard robes with the golden runes, robes much like the ones Dread had worn when he was about to sacrifice Delores to the Volcano G.o.d. Except there was a difference: Now, those robes seemed like they belonged.
”Nyahahahl” the reclothed villain remarked.
The rabbits looked up (or, in the case of Bouncer, over) in fright.
”It's Malevelo!” all the bunnies cried together.
The former Doctor Dread whipped something from inside his robes: a foot-long stick with what looked like a cardboard star pasted on the end. At least, Delores thought, that's the way it was drawn.
Dread/Malevelo smiled nastily. ”And you'll have to face my Wizard Wand of Wonder! Bunnies, prepare to die!”
The newly created wizard pointed the star-stick at the bunnies. There was an explosion that did not extend as far as the rabbits. When the very dark smoke cleared, black ash covered the wizard's face. He waved the wand again, but it disintegrated in his hand.
”I'll get those dratted rabbits if it's the last thing I do!” Dread/Malevelo shrieked. And with that, the wizard ran off into the forest. As she watched the villain retreat, Delores could swear that the runes across the back of his robes spelled out three words: SOUVENIR OF BUNNYLAND.
The bunnies all laughed merrily.
”Malevelo still hasn't learned!” Bigears exclaimed.
”He keeps trying to get us with his stupid tricks!” Fluffy tail added cheerily.
”And they always blow up in his face!'' Pinknose cheered as she doubled over with laughter.
”Yeah!” Bouncer a.s.serted. ”He should know by now- n.o.body wins in Bunnyland but bunnies!”
”I knew he was afraid of this place for some reason,” Louie admitted with a s.h.i.+ver. ”I sure as heck didn't know it was that.”
”Yep,” Doc replied. ”I don't think any of us would have knowingly condemned even someone as rotten as Dread to a fate like-Bunnyland. I mean, it ain't the hero's way.”
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