Chapter 3 : The Fateful Meeting

A/N: Well, here's chapter 3, so enjoy!

Toonity, E-day plus 1

7:35 AM

Babs, still tired, and losing more energy by the minute, walked slowly past Busters' house and noticed he was sleeping in the yard, and oddly enough, there was a man limply sprawled next to him! She rushed over, and pulled a handy bucket of water out of her pocket and splashed it on the two. Buster woke up suddenly.

"Wha- oh Babs, it's you. I had the most horrible dream last—why am I outside?" He then noticed the man coughing next to him, and his eyes bulged out of his head. "AAAAAHHHH!" He jumped inside his burrow and hid, only his ears and the tip of his head sticking out.

Babs asked, perplexed, "Why are you screaming, and who is this guy?" She then noticed the non-tooniness of the character and put two and two together. "Wha—Huh? How'd this guy get here? It-It isn't possible!" Buster, still hyperventilating, whispered, "I don't know, but he isn't supposed to be here." Babs rushed to hide beside Buster.

Brennan woke up coughing, when a bucket of cold water was splashed on him. "Mom! What the flip?" He tried to sit up and felt an intense pain in his head and he fell over again. "Unngh, not feeling so good…." He then opened his eyes and saw the pastel colored sky and the disturbingly yellow sun. "Where am I?" He looked around and saw the two bunnies staring at him. "What the…. MUTANT RABBITS!" He tried to bolt upright, but fell groaning to the ground when a bolt of lightning stabbed through his skull. "Oh man, just kill me now!"

Buster slowly crept out of his hiding spot and approached him. "Are you alright?" Brennan yelled, "Heck no, what does it look like? I feel like someone hit me with an anvil!" Just then, an anvil plummeted to earth, landing near him. "What the heck?! I coulda been killed! Why are there people chucking anvils around?" He slowly stood up and limped towards the bunnies. "Look, I don't care if you're gonna eat me, but please just do it now!"

Babs said, "Why would we ever eat you? We're vegetarian!"

Buster added," We would never do that! Not to mention, we would be in our rights, you flying into the air and leaving a hole in my front lawn! That'll cost money, money I don't have, to fix!"

Brennan asked, "Sooooo.. you're not going to hurt me?"

Babs said, "Oh heavens no! why would we?"

Brennan, still hurting, muttered," Well that's all fine and good but I'm still in a strange place with giant talking bunnies wearing clothes, and the sky and well, everything is messed up!" Buster replied (having heard with his excellent hearing), "Well… on that note, I think I can explain some of that. You see, you're in a place called Acme Acres, and we're Buster and Babs Bunny." "No relation." they chorused.

Brennan dazedly said," Hey those names sound familiar… But you can't be real! You're all just characters from an old cartoon!" Babs and Buster, delighted, ask," You recognize us?"

"Well, yeah, but not many others would. I've watched all your old shows and even read some of your fan fiction."

Babs then noticed that she no longer felt sick and tired. She said, "Oh, Buster, someone still recognizes us! That's so wonderful! This makes me feel so much better!" and gave Buster a big kiss on the lips. Buster turned red and stammered, "That's great, Babsy." Brennan then noticed his stomach was growling and his lips were chapped. "Hey, do you have any food and water? I'm starving." Buster said, "Sure. One bowl of carrot stew and a glass of water coming right up!" He started to walk to his burrow, but was stopped by Babs.

"Oh no! You can't cook carrot stew at all! Let me do it," Arguing all the way to the burrow, they jumped inside, followed by Brennan.

Savoring the actually quite good carrot stew curled up on the couch, Brennan asked," So what exactly has been going on for 17 years? I mean, your show was canceled in 1995." Buster said, "Well, since Acme Looniversity is a junior high school and high school combined, and since you've noticed that we obviously live long lives, (I mean, look at Bugs! Going strong, and he's turning 75 next year!) we've just been going to school hoping our show would come back in Reality."

Just then, an alarm clock rang, and Gogo Dodo, an interesting (read insane) fellow that seemed to be everywhere, smacked both the rabbits with a mallet, and said, "Cuckoo! Cuckoo! If you're late to school, you're cuckoo!" then jumped back inside the alarm clock.

Brennan winced. "Are you guys alright?" Babs said, woozily, "Just give us a sec and we'll be fine. Oh yeah, stay here. Since you're from Reality, we really wouldn't want all of Acme Acres to panic if you showed up. You can use Buster's Lametendo, ok?" Buster growled, "Hey! Did you ask me before giving permission for him to use my stuff?" Babs winked. "If you don't want to be hit by a mallet, yes, I did." "Oh, all right, he can use my stuff. But no carrots, you hear me?" muttered Buster. "Of course! I'll survive on that ramen you've got in the cabinet." "Well, see ya in 7 hours, Brennan" they said.

Brennan soon got bored of the Lametendo living up to its name. "Oh man, the graphics are hurting my eyes! This is bad even for 1995! I wish I had an Xbox 360, and some Halo." Just then, out of nowhere, an oddly shaped video game system boasting, 'Xsphere 360' hit Brennan on the head."Ow! And just when my headache went away. Hey, what's this?" He picked the Xsphere up. "Yes! I love cartoon physics!" He plugged it in and spent an hour blasting aliens away with Halo: Beach. After he finished the game with his legendary skills, (being ranked in the top 1000 video gamers in the world did that to you) he decided to take a nap. He soon fell asleep on the couch.

He woke up when Babs and Buster jumped in, rattling the ground with the weight of the backpacks from school. Brennan yawned, stretched, and groaned. "Oh, man, it's hot in here, and my back hurts." Buster and Babs looked up from their homework at the table and stopped, their jaws dropping open and hitting the floor. "Um, Brennan? It looks like we have a problem." They stared in disbelief, for Brennan had shrunk a few inches, most of the hair on his body was now light blue, and there was a faint black outline around his body. Most disturbingly, it appeared that he was growing a tail out of the small of his back!

Brennan asked, "What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Buster said "Well, you appear to be, um…. turning into a toon." Brennan scoffed, "Yeah right! What elaborate practical joke is this? Any second you're gonna pelt me with cream pies."

Babs said, "For once we're not kidding. Here, look." She tossed a handy mirror to Brennan. He looked inside and saw his now light blue hair.

"Well, that's just great! What am I going to tell my mom when I get back home? 'Hi mom, I'm a cartoon now?' She won't take that well." Buster suddenly remembered something. "Oh crap, Bugs, as principal of the Looniversity, he'll be able to tell when another toon enters Acme Acres if they are school age! You're not…. School age are you?" Brennan said, "Sorry, but I'm right in the middle of ninth grade." Buster started pacing. "If we can't get you a toon before tomorrow, there's going to be an awkward moment soon when you turn toony enough to catch Bugs' attention. I just hope it doesn't happen in the middle of school. Bad things could happen. The last time Bugs got that feeling during school hours, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot showed up, and I still remember that day." He and Babs both shivered.

Babs just then got an idea, and a lightbulb popped into existence above her head, just to be snatched by Buster. "Sorry, Babs. No light bulb takes today. I need that for the spare bedroom, because I'm out of light bulbs."

Babs said, "That's all right Buster. My great idea more than makes up for the light bulb."

Brennan, impatient and worried, said "Spit it out already, then!" Babs said, "Why not get Calamity to make a machine! He's one smart coyote, and if we can convince him to build it without knowing the reason, we can use it when he's in school tomorrow!"

Buster said, "Well, it's worth a try Babs."

Babs then said while already starting to move, "Then there's no time to waste!" She grabbed Buster by the ear and hopped outside. "Stay here Brennan. We'll be back in a bit!" Brennan sighed. Another couple hours of Lametendo and Xsphere.

Earth 2, E-day plus 1

4:00 PM

Dr. Halsey sighed. "Sorry to call you out of retirement, Noble 6, but we registered a solar-system wide tremor yesterday, something possibly caused by alien interference. Ever since your traumatic near-death on the Glassing of Reach, I know you don't have much tendency for missions involving possible combat, but all the other Spartans and Special Ops teams are out-system on assignments. I need you to investigate these odd spots of tachyon disturbance on the planet. Also, watch out for Covenant spy teams. I know we're not at war anymore, but they'll be itching for a look at these spots also, and we know that, allies or not, they have spy teams here." and with the grace to look slightly embarrassed, "Just like we have… recon teams in their territory."

Noble 6, armor no longer grey and new, but pitted, blackened and scratched from years of taking on enemies to humanity, saluted. "Yes, ma'am. Consider it done."

On an Eagle, heading to the nearest tachyon disturbance, Noble 6 checked his venerable, but still lethal, weapons. The original Assault Rifle, still in service while waiting for replacements and largely unchanged after 50 years of use, his M6 personal sidearm, the DMR, the single-shot version used during the Fall of Reach, and his combat knife, notched and pitted, the record of 25 years of survival on a nearly destroyed planet. His superiors were more than happy to let him use the obsolete weapons and the ammo sitting in warehouses, useless and wasting space. He had proved that he was still as lethal as any other Spartan using the new weaponry. The only known Spartan still living from the Human-Covenant War, that lethality and experience had come with a heavy price.

Dropped off on a ridge half a mile from the disturbance, he ran up the rarely-used dirt road, leading to a homestead demolished several years ago. He sidled around the corner of the ridge carefully, his DMR in his hand. The first thing he noticed was a Covenant spy team clustered around a strange spot. Some Grunts conducted various scientific tests, while an Elite, its back turned to the ridge, kept watch over the group. He quietly slunk over behind the Elite, but before he could pull out his knife, a stick snapped.

The Elite, startled, turned around, roaring. Noble 6 reacted quickly – punching the Elite right in the chest. He stumbled backwards, and tripped over a rock. He roared as he fell, "You shall pay for this, Demon!" However, before it could recover its balance, it fell into the spot and its roaring cut off as it disappeared from sight. Noble 6 pulled out his Assault Rifle and cocked it. Before he could fire, the panicked Grunts all leapt into the hole, taking a chance of death rather than certain death at his hands. He knelt to take some readings, but when he pulled out his analyzer, he turned around to check the area, and brushed his toe against the spot. Feeling a strong suction, he resisted, but even his monumental strength was no match for the spot, and he was gradually sucked in.

His analyzer beeped, and the voice of Dr. Halsey rang out. "Noble 6, you're not reading on my scanners, and I don't see your transponder. Please respond….. Noble 6? Noble 6? Come in! Do you read me?..." The voice steadily kept on, but faded with the setting sun.