Chapter 55: We're All Beastars!
Several months later…
Animals of all species, shapes, and sizes were gathered in the school grounds, on the outside parts of the campus, for the graduation ceremony at Cherryton. This graduation ceremony was very special, as they were going to name a new Beastar, and there had been talks of a sophomore skipping the junior and senior grades.
The students had just finished their graduation walk and were gathered in the grassy area as well. Principal Gon was finishing up his speech. "And now, it is my great honor to introduce you to… Alex Moon!" The older tiger announced. The white wolf in question jumped up and ran to the podium, grinning as he did so.
"Greetings, students and parents of Cherryton Academy! You may be wondering why I'm not sitting with the other students, even though I'm supposed to be attending this fine school. Well, the truth is, I'm not actually a student here! In fact, I'm much older than most of the students here!" Alex chuckled. Several parents gasped, as well as some of the students who hadn't heard about Alex's identity being exposed.
"Yup, you heard me right. I am not a real student. I'm actually a police officer from Zootopia, and I was undercover here as a student. Originally, my assignment was to investigate the Black Market here, and gauge the situation. However, my priorities quickly shifted about a week after I arrived," Alex continued.
Everyone fell silent as they knew exactly what Alex was referring to. "A week into my enrollment here, something terribly tragic happened. One of the students, an alpaca named Tem, was devoured by a carnivore. I put the black market investigation on pause and immediately started to search for the murderer. Here in Cherryton, a predation incident may not be too uncommon, but the city of Zootopia? Predation is practically nonexistent. We have no Black Market to sell illegal meat, mainly because we actually have meat available due to the cloning technology the city has developed," Alex explained.
The animals continued to be silent as they thought about what Cherryton would be like without a black market. "The early days of my snooping around this school were quite exciting. I won't go into detail, but I met quite a few interesting animals. Most notable were Legosi the gray wolf, Haru the white dwarf rabbit, and Louis the red deer. I consider these three animals to be my most closest friends in Cherryton," Alex solemnly said. He made sure to omit the parts about Legosi accidentally finding a Night Howler, as well as the bits about Mizuchi.
In the audience, he couldn't help but notice that Legosi, Louis, and Haru seemed to puff up their chests in pride at being called out by Alex. Haru was riding on top of Legosi's head. "I joined the drama club, and things quickly picked up from there. Louis injured himself during an evening practice session with Tem's replacement actor Zoe. I even had to give Louis painkillers so he could perform to the best of his ability, and damn, did he perform! If we were in the auditorium I'd pull up some of his best clips from the performance, but alas, we're outside, so I can't do that," Alex chuckled.
Louis's eyes shone as he heard Alex praising him. He had no idea that the white wolf officer had held a herbivore like him in such high regard! "Louis performed bravely, pushing through his pain and not showing any signs of weakness until the curtain fell down. After that, we rushed him to the infirmary, and I gave him some medicines that would speed up his recovery. However, Louis was not the only one who had problems that evening. Bill also fell ill, and was taken out of commission. And the lead female actress Ellen also became unavailable. That meant that all three of the lead performers of Adler were in need of replacement!" Alex exclaimed.
Several of the parents in the crowd gasped, not knowing the second night of the performance had such a troubled history. "Now, any normal animal would have freaked out and canceled the performance. I know I would have been tempted to if I were in Louis's position. But Louis? No, he didn't even consider the idea of cancelling the show. He pulled out all the stops- made me the antagonist of the show, made Legosi, who I might add was the most quiet and introverted animal in the club at the time, the lead of the show, and for the female actor? He made little miss Haru here the female lead, and she wasn't even in the drama club!" Alex laughed, pointing to each of the three as he talked about them.
"Under ordinary circumstances most creatures would expect the performance to be a total catastrophic failure. Even I, who had faith in Louis and his decisions, was a little unsure how it would turn out. Well, many of you in the crowd were there at the second night's performance. You personally witnessed the three of us knock it out of the ball park! The show was a huge success, and things calmed down for a while," Alex said.
Alex paused, taking a drink of water before continuing. "Over the course of the next few weeks, Legosi and Haru began to develop a romantic relationship with each other. Now, I know what some of you are about to say. Interspecies love is dangerous, yada yada yada. Thankfully they had me to help them work through it. I'm kind of an expert on interspecies relationships- Judy Hopps, the famous bunny cop from Zootopia? She's actually my girlfriend," Alex then revealed, earning several shocked looks from the crowd.
"However, the happiness would not last forever. For on the day of the Meteor Festival, Haru was taken by the Shishigumi! These two brave young men, Legosi and Louis, came to me, and together we mounted a rescue to save her! They headed to a hotel for the night, and everyone, EVERYONE assumed that they slept with each other. Which is a COMPLETE AND UTTER LIE! I know this because I was holed up in the room right next to them!" Alex yelled.
"Alex!" Legosi whimpered in embarrassment, and Louis and Haru laughed. Louis giggled as he scratched Legosi underneath his chin affectionately, and even planted a quick kiss on the gray wolf's cheek.
"The weeks after the Meteor Festival were relatively quiet. The investigation was progressing smoothly, and the list of suspects was getting narrowed down. But then SOMEONE-" Alex pointed his claw at Legosi and changed his tone of voice to a scolding type, "-decided to open his mouth and act all suspicious and inquisitive in the drama club. That ended up nearly costing Legosi his life, for he got attacked by Riz the evening that he asked those questions," Alex said.
"Thankfully, Legosi recovered from his injuries, and embraced himself for who he was. I discovered Riz's identity, and tried to arrest him. However, he overpowered me, and I was sure that he would kill me. But a small group of brave students banded together to fight Riz, and although they were injured, they bought enough time for Legosi to arrive and stop that murderer from hurting anyone else. I am proud to call all of them my friends," Alex happily said. His tail began to wag, and he looked out at the crowd, beaming at each and every one of the animals who had chipped in to protect him.
"Jack! Collot! Miguno! Durham! Voss! Haru! Bill! Els! Tao! Kibi! And Legosi! All of you, come to the stage right now!" Alex hollered out. They all came up to the stage and stood in front of Alex. The white wolf grinned as he took several medals out and placed them on the animals' necks. "These medals are Zootopian medals of honor, awarded to those who perform great acts of heroism when the time called for it. You all courageously took a stand and protected my life. That is the mark of a hero. Now, if I could, I'd name all of you Beastars here and now, but unfortunately that's not how things work," Alex chuckled.
Tao puffed up his chest with pride, his prosthetic metal arm glinting in the sunlight as he and the others accepted the medals, and they all started to go back to their seats before Alex stopped them. "Hey! Just because not all of you are getting the award of Beastars doesn't mean that you're getting any other awards!" Alex laughed, and they turned around and got back on stage. "I managed to pull some strings, and all of you certainly had the grades for it; I just helped guarantee it. All of you are getting paid scholarships to Zootopia University!" Alex cheered. An older female skunk, Alex's sister Blossom, wearing a graduation hat and robe, presented all of them with scholarship certificates to Zootopia University.
"All of you may now take a seat for the next portion of my speech," Alex then announced. Jack, Collot, Miguno, Durham, Voss, Haru, Bill, Els, Tao, Kibi, and Legosi nodded their heads and went back to their spots in the crowd. "It is time to crown the next Beastars. This is a great honor, virtually unparalleled by any other role in this society. Those who are named Beastar stand out in society because of their special ability to unite both predator and prey animals together despite their differences. They are the beacons of hope and inspiration that transcend discrimination! The animals that strive to make the world a better place for everyone, no matter who or what they are!" Alex cried out, and his voice was full of passion as he said this.
"This year, the All-Organism Council decreed that they would name whoever caught Tem's murderer the Beastar. However, after a bit of persuasion and reasoning, they decided that they would name MULTIPLE Beastars from Cherryton, due to a lack of proper candidates from the other schools in the council!" Alex declared. The crowd gasped at this.
"That's right folks! Cherryton is naming not one, not two, but THREE Beastars this year! LEGOSI! Come on up to the stage!" Alex called out. Blushing, the gray wolf slowly stood up, lifted Haru off of his head and set her on the ground, and then walked up to the podium and looked directly into Alex's eyes.
"Legosi. You have been an amazing friend to me. You've helped me regain faith in the world, and you bring light into every life that you touch. You are like me; you look past the flesh and fur of an animal, seeing only the soul underneath; it might make you a little socially awkward, but trust me, it is a blessing," Alex told Legosi. The gray wolf chuckled nervously and shifted around.
"For outstanding heroism and bravery, as well as the unrelenting spirit that many animals in this school have rallied behind you, I now name you… BEASTAR. You are the first hybrid student to ever be named Beastar. Take this honor with pride, and go out into the world!" Alex solemnly said. The whole crowd burst into applause and cheering.
"THAT'S MY GRANDSON!" Gosha yelled out happily. "LE-GO-SI! LE-GO-SI!" The drama club whooped.
"You should probably say a few words too," Alex whispered as he hugged Legosi. The new Beastar gulped, stood up at the podium, cleared his throat, and took a deep breath to collect his thoughts before beginning to speak.
"Thank you guys, really…I'm gonna be honest, this is very overwhelming, but really thank you. Y'know, this now makes me think back to when I was just some simplistic zombie. I was just kinda on my own a lot, didn't wanna get in people's way… but I guess you could say there was somewhat of a change. I wasn't even that social with my dorm mates..," Legosi began reminiscing as some laughter was heard.
"Then things started to change. Alex joined our dorm, Tem died, and then the two of us started to bond. Because of Alex, I started to put myself out there, and be less timid and shy. And now, look at me. I have a lot of close friends, and I even have a boyfriend and a girlfriend," Legosi smiled as he looked at Louis and Haru. The gray wolf bowed before walking off stage. Alex soon went back to the podium.
"Thank you, Legosi, for that wonderful speech. As far as our second one, I will say, there was some intensity, but I'm glad to see some growth in this individual. And that individual...LOUIS! Come on up here!" Alex yelled. Louis made his way over to the stage as the crowd applauded.
"Louis, my friend. It is with great pleasure that I offer you this role of Beastar. You have always had a prominent presence in Cherryton Academy, even when you took two months of leave off. Let me be honest; people were starting to think you had been eaten in the Black Market, though I kept telling them otherwise," Alex spoke.
This earned several chuckles from some of the crowd, mainly the ones who knew that Louis was alive the whole time. This included Oguma, Ibuki, Agata, the Shishigumi, Bill, Haru, and Legosi. "Now, it is time for me to reveal to all of you the truth about Louis's whereabouts. The 'official' story is that he had been attacked by a group in the black market and had to be hospitalized. Well, the thing is… he was living with those lions the whole time. And he still lives with them. They are a rowdy and rambunctious group of felines none other than… the Shishigumi!" Alex revealed.
Several horrified shrieks were heard as several herbivores scooted away from the group of lions, except for Oguma, who was holding hands with Ibuki. "While you were turning an ignorant and blind eye to the darkness of the city, the black market, Louis was thriving in it! While Legosi lived in the light and never had meat grace the tip of his lips, Louis ate it on practically a daily basis! He saw a group of criminals, and a section of the town which was dangerous to both herbivores and carnivores, and decided that it would not hurt any more innocents! Louis became the new leader of the Shishigumi and made the Black Market safer, cleaner, and a better place!" Alex ranted, really getting into it now.
"Louis brought LIGHT to the darkest parts of Cherryton! No longer will young, vulnerable students of this academy become lustful meat addicts! No longer will random passerby get shot and torn to shreds! Louis took the truly evil criminals that dwelled there and with the help of the Shishigumi, put them behind bars! In the span of months, he's done what the Cherryton police force couldn't do for decades: made the Cherryton Black Market a better place. I know that many herbivores will disagree with me for what I'm about to say, but it's the truth. Most carnivores need meat," Alex passionately exclaimed.
The crowd fell silent as they digested Alex's words. "Now, let me preface this by stating that I have not eaten meat in over a decade and a half. I only did it once as a child, and it was a life or death situation. But yes, once a carnivore has had their first exposure, it can become a crippling addiction. Some of them don't have the mental strength, will, and fortitude to quit. So they continue to eat meat. I'm telling you though, that it should not be considered a crime! If they aren't hurting anyone, they should be allowed to eat it. Now, I'd like Ibuki, the leader of the Shishigumi, and Oguma, the head of the Horns Conglomerate, to come up to the podium and say a few words," Alex added.
The CEO deer and the ex-mafia gang leader climbed up the stairs and stood up at the podium, their hands never letting go of each other. "You first, 'Buki," Oguma whispered in the lion's ear. The glasses-wearing lion nodded his head before clearing his throat and speaking into the microphone.
"Meat!" Ibuki shouted out, drawing the attention of any carnivores who may not have been focused on the lion. If they hadn't been paying attention before, they would be now. All of the crowd's eyes were locked on Ibuki, and their ears were anxious to hear what the Shishigumi's leader had to say on the subject.
"It is both a blessing, and a curse. That first bite of that juicy, succulent forbidden food… as Alex once told me, it is like the fruit from the Garden of Eden," Ibuki stated. Several of the predators in the audience nodded their heads in agreement, knowing just how delicious their first taste was.
"After that first time, eating too little will give them withdrawal, and eating too much will make them a danger to themselves and to everyone around them. However! In moderation, it is perfectly safe! Many people assume that the animals who live in the black market eat meat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert. While I'll admit that's true for a small few of the residents there, I can assure you that it is not true for the majority of us carnivores! We space it out. Once, twice, or thrice a week, we eat meat. Sometimes for dessert, or for a well deserved treat after a long day of work," Ibuki announced.
"That's why my company, the Horns Conglomerate, has partnered with Iris Corporation to provide this city with the same experimental cloning technology that Zootopia uses to fulfill the needs of their carnivore population. That will be all from me and my new mate, thank you for listening," Oguma cut in with his announcement. The deer grabbed Ibuki by his tie and yanked him down from the podium, giving the Shishigumi leader a quick peck on the cheek.
"Aww, why'd you cut my speech short? I had a lot more to say!" Ibuki whined as he walked with Oguma back to his seat with the Shishigumi. "Because if I didn't stop you, you would have been up there for the next half hour yammering about your favorite food. You know that I'm a very busy buck, Ibuki. Besides, don't you remember that I've scheduled some 'playtime' after this ceremony?" Oguma chuckled as he sat back down with the Shishigumi. "He's got a point, boss!" Agata teased. Ibuki's cheeks went bright red from Agata's remark.
"Anyways, take it away, Louis!" Alex blurted out, attempting to steer things back on course, and the deer stepped up to the mike. "Thank you everyone. It is definitely an honor to become a Beastar. I will say, I really didn't think it'd end this way, especially after working in the dark so much, while Legosi worked in the light. It was quite a rough ride especially with what happened after I left Cherryton…" Louis slowly said.
"But the Shishigumi took me in, treated me as one of their own. We laughed together, cried together, ate together, and we became a family. More so than Oguma had ever treated me. I saved Ibuki's life once, and that was when I returned to school. However, I still lived with the Shishigumi. Oguma came to see me one night, met Ibuki… and things have never been better. I now have two dads, and a whole lot of brothers," Louis chuckled.
"At first, I didn't want to be a Beastar. But now that I am one… I'm happy. Especially considering the fact that my wonderful boyfriend is a Beastar with me! Thank you everyone, and I hope you all continue to shine bright!" Louis grinned as he said this, locking eyes with Legosi and nodding.
Louis walked off the podium, and Alex went back into the spotlight. "Now, we have our third and final Beastar to be named. This may seem strange, but this one is for outstanding academics. This award goes to none other than… Haru!" Alex announced. Gasping, the white dwarf rabbit began to walk up to the stage, but then she was interrupted. "OH HELL NO! There is no way in hell that fucking whore is getting named Beastar! There has to be some kind of mistake!" A girl's voice shrieked.
A young harlequin rabbit stomped onto the auditorium stage. "Mizuchi!" Alex hissed. The bully glared at him and suddenly delivered a swift punch to the white wolf's crotch, causing him to stumble backwards. "This is preposterous! The good name of Beastar will not be sullied by a slut!" Mizuchi screamed into the microphone. "HEY! What gives you the right to call her such slanderous names!?" Ibuki growled, glaring at the harlequin rabbit.
"Oh, the mafia boss is telling me not to call people names? Well, guess what!? I have evidence! Signatures of several males who admit that they've slept with this rabbit! A sexual predator like her would be a disgrace to the honorable role of Beastar!" Mizuchi exclaimed. "What if she was chosen to be Beastar because of that!?" Kibi piped up in the audience, and everyone turned their heads to look at the anteater. "What?! I mean, it's a possibility! A Beastar needs good social skills, and Haru obviously possesses them!" Kibi innocently pointed out.
"Damn right I do! I have social skills!" Haru confidently said as she puffed her chest up in pride and tried to get up to the podium. "And Mizuchi, if I was a 'sexual predator', then surely I would have been outed as one? Every single one of those boys came to ME and consented. I never did it with ANYONE that didn't want it," Haru sneered, shooting a withering gaze at the endangered lagomorph.
Mizuchi huffed before being dragged offstage by Alex. "I'd like to thank everyone here! All the boys I slept with, you were good, but you weren't what I was looking for in a relationship. The two other Beastars? They're my boyfriends. And before I get any remarks! Polygamous relationships are common among rabbits!" Haru said.
"But anyways. I've become much stronger thanks to the bonds that I've formed during my senior year here. I didn't make many friends before, I just was quiet and kept to myself. A lot like that silly gray wolf over there!" Haru chuckled, pointing at Legosi. In response, the canine Beastar blushed, smiled, and wagged his tail.
"Thank you Haru, but I believe it's now it's time to finish the ceremony," Principal Gon spoke, and many of the animals in the crowd breathed a sigh of relief as they now knew that it would be over soon.
Alex cleared his throat before speaking again. "When I look out at the freshmen, sophomore, and junior students who didn't graduate this year, do you know what I see? Potential. Unbridled, brimming potential," Alex said.
"And much like these three Beastars, I know the lot of you can have what it takes to put that potential to great use. For you and for everyone around you, friends, loved ones, and many more. Whatever dream you may have in life, whatever determination you carry, no matter the pain or suffering, never give up. Keep showing your potential and make a difference much like these three have done," Legosi, Haru, and Louis smiled and held each other's hands.
"Every one of us has a story to tell. It may not seem important, but it truly is important to the lives of everyone around you. Be the hero of your own story. Try to make the world a better place. Become someone that others can look up to! You already are well on your way to doing that. Put forward a little bit of light into the lives of your friends and family," Alex passionately spoke, moving his paws around animatedly.
"And above all else, believe in yourself. For we are ALL BEASTARS!"