For this chapter, I'm using one of Hiccupisnotuseless's ideas, which is The Tortoise and the Hare! Thanks so much to everyone who provided ideas for me; you're the BEST!
And now, KanaMac presents…
'Once Upon A Time' a Big Hero 6 fanfiction.
()())(())()
The brilliant flash of light brought Gogo, Hiro, Tadashi, and Aunt Cass to the middle of a grassy meadow in the countryside.
"This is not home." Aunt Cass squeaks, staring off into the green expanse.
Despite the situation, Hiro felt at ease. The meadow was filled with assorted wildflowers and soft grasses. The sunlight felt nice and warm on his cheeks and there was a soothing wind whispering from the west.
A yell disrupted the calm.
"OH MY GOD!" Gogo had lost her cool tone.
Hiro scrambled to his feet to aid his friend. "What is it?"
Then his eyes got really big along with his aunt's and brother's. Gogo had changed. She had a large hard green shell on her back like a backpack. Her arms had a greenish tint to them and her legs probably did too, underneath the black leggings. At least her facial features hadn't changed, except for the same greenish color.
"I-is my face okay?" she gasps.
Tadashi tries to smile. "You look fine Gogo."
A horrified realization came to Hiro's thoughts. Gogo must be some sort of reptile…she's green and has a shell…a turtle! Of course!
"Gogo! You're a turtle!" Hiro yelled.
Gogo froze. "What did you day? No way! I can't be a turtle! Does it make me slow? God, you know I can't stand slow!" She got into position to run and bolted.
It was a very very slow bolt. The movement was like she had a thousand cinderblocks as her feet or something. She clenched her feet, straining and pushing herself to go faster, but to no use. The lightning fast Gogo Tomago was reduced to being as slow as a tortoise. No pun intended.
Letting out a frustrated growl, she slowly leaned against a tree in the meadow.
But it wasn't a tree at all. It was a lanky and tall and soft thing. Gogo raised her eyes to the 'tree'. The 'tree' was Fred. Almost Fred. He looked really weird. There were no words to describe the oddness she saw in Fred.
Replacing his green monster face beanie were two long blonde furred ears. His nose had morphed into some sort of gerbil-like twitching nose with whiskers springing out in every direction. He even had a cotton ball of a tail on his behind. He had paws instead of hands.
"Fred? Is that you?" Gogo whispers, still in the state of shock.
"No, I'm Fred," he answers cockily. "The Bunny."
"Fred!" Hiro calls to them with the rest of his family in tow. He sees his comic loving friend and starts laughing. "Are you a bunny?!"
"Yup!" Fred thrusts his twitchy rabbit nose into the air proudly, causing Hiro to laugh harder.
Hiro rolled in the grass chuffing with uncontrollable giggles. Tadashi shook his head and tried to help his brother up, but he was like a wriggling fish that kept getting away.
"Gogo's a turtle and Fred's a rabbit!" the younger Hamada guffawed. A sudden serious expression overtook his features like a cloud. "Wait! I think I know what we're in right now. We're in that fable called 'The Tortoise and the Hare'! That means Gogo and Fred have to have a race!"
Tadashi nodded. "I think you're right buddy. Alright gang; let's get to the starting line!"
()()()()()()()
"The race starts here beside this peach tree." Tadashi explains. "You go down the path, past the pasture and the farm, over those hills, and to the finish line over there. Aunt Cass will be waiting there for you guys."
"I'm keeping an eye on Fred, and Tadashi will keep out for Gogo." Hiro added. "Just to make sure no one cheats. You guys know this story, right?"
"NO!" Gogo and Fred shout.
"WHAT?!" Hiro yelps loudly. "But this is a really common fairy tale! You should have heard of it from somewhere!"
Fred cleared his throat. "When I was a kid, I never read books. Ever. I'm all about comic books, man! I've never heard of 'The Tortoise and The Hare.' Is it like a comic book?"
"I'm a bit worried." Tadashi whispers to his brother.
"As soon as I learned to walk, I was riding bikes and making robots and stuff. I didn't have time to read books!" Gogo retorts. "Can't we just make up a plot?"
"No. We have to go with the original storyline." Hiro turns to Tadashi. "We have to help them without getting too involved, or it might mess things up."
Gogo and Fred look at the brothers. 'Is this going to be a problem?"
Tadashi glances nervously at Hiro. Hiro does the same. "Nope! We've got your backs!"
The competitors walk up to the starting line; a line drawn into the dirt. Gogo looked severely angry and Fred just looked happy to be here, like always.
"ON YOUR MARKS. GET SET. GOOOOOOOO!"
()()()())()()
Fred used the ground as his launch pad and was off into the dust, zipping up the hill. He was already close to the top. Yelping, Hiro clumsily ran after him to make sure he didn't do anything stupid.
Meanwhile, several inches past the starting line, Gogo the tortoise was going as fast (slow) as she could. She felt tears of embarrassment prickle at the corner of her eyes. She never lost a race. She didn't want to lose; especially to somebody like Fred.
Her shell felt like a million tons. If only she could take it off. If only she had her bright yellow bike with electro-magnetic suspended wheels that made her as fast as lightning.
Suddenly, she stopped. Tadashi walked up to her with worried eyes. "Come on, we can't lose to Fred and Hiro. Let's get moving!"
"I can't." she whispers. "I'm so slow. I'm not even a foot into the race. I could never beat Fred."
"Gogo, don't be like this please! I know you can do it!" Tadashi urged with shining eyes.
For Gogo, the world had always moved too slowly to her. She had the need for speed. That's why she was always extra early to appointments and sped through tests and went around everywhere on a bike of her own invention.
"Gogo, please!" Tadashi pleads to the green girl.
Then it came to her. She didn't want to lose to the hare. But a will more powerful than that came to her. She would rather lose horribly to him than to give up now. She didn't want to show that she was a bad sport.
Gogo started to plod slowly along the path.
Tadashi acted like her personal cheerleader, whooping and yelling out encouragements. He was jumping up and down like a kid. Gogo laughed softly.
She would never give up.
()()()())())(())()
Fred the hare was speeding along the path with Hiro running and panting to catch up with him. He paused and asked his companion if they should take a break. Hiro shook his head no and panted wildly.
"The author of this story must be stupid!" Fred said aloud. "Even I would know that a rabbit is lots faster than a turtle."
The two came to the farm. There were rows and rows of veggies that dotted the plain. Fred's eyes widened and his mouth began to water.
"Hey Hiro," Fred had a sheepish look in his eyes. "I never ate my veggies, you know. Now seems like a good time. I mean, Gogo's still way back there and all."
Hiro grins. "Sure. Eat up Mr. Rabbit."
Fred hopped over to the row of carrots and began digging up the orange vegetables from the earth.
Hiro looked over his shoulder and saw the tiny speck of green that was Gogo, working hard to get her way up the second hill. He had to buy her more time.
"Fred?" Hiro called. Fred looked up with a bunch of carrots stuffed into his mouth. "Could you get me some radishes? I think there are some over there." He pointed to the farthest side of the plantation.
()()()())()()
She had done it. Gogo has passed a soundly sleeping Fred. What a lazy chump of a bunny. The hare was snoring away on top of a mountain of carrot ends. She almost smiled, and then remembered the length she had yet to go.
Along the way, Gogo had noticed all the beauties of nature around her. She saw the way the sunlight would illuminate the sky's blue color and how the trees could sing and how each and every rock was different. For the first time, she could smell the sweet pollen in the air and could watch as the wind made patterns.
Her life was so fast that she never was able to savor these things. They were all blurs. Maybe she should go a bit more slowly. Ugh. She still hated that word.
Could turtles sweat? Gogo was sweating a lot that it slicked her hair and made it uncomfortable to continue.
It was almost the end of the day. The sky was turning a beautiful pink and bruised shade of purple and orange (she never saw that before).
Weary and exhausted, Gogo looked up. She saw the most welcome sights in the world. Cass Hamada stood at the finish line, waving her arms back and forth excitedly.
"I'm almost there!" She told herself and Tadashi. The older Hamada smiled and pat her head.
At the moment, she couldn't care if Fred had beaten her. She just wanted to get to the line and go home.
Gogo crested another agonizing hill on her slow legs and was a couple feet from the finish line. Tadashi ran ahead of her and to the finish line, beckoning her to follow. "You can do it!"
With a final shuddering intake of breath, Gogo walked slowly past the finish line.
Aunt Cass and Tadashi cheered happily. Gogo realized that Fred and Hiro weren't there yet. She felt confused at the prospect. "How did I beat Fred?"
"Speaking of which, here he comes now!" Cass laughs.
Fred came barreling toward the finish line with Hiro at his heels. Hiro looked happy to see Gogo, while Fred looked like he had a bad stomach ache.
The hare had lost the race against the turtle.
"But…how?" Fred pants. "I'm so much faster…"
They all looked at Gogo. She smiled with all her sweat and green skin and heavy shell and hard work. "Well Freddie, I guess sometimes slow and steady wins the race."
Fred passes out just as the same blinding light of transportation bursts around them. This time, it hopefully takes them all home.
()()()()()()
Thank you for reading!
Please leave a suggestion in the review of another fairy tale if you've thought of one! I'll probably use all the ideas at one point in this series! Hope you liked chapter! Stay tuned for the next!
Happy Holidays!