CHAPTER 8: Meeting The Animals


Buster fidgeted slightly as he sat on the stool in the small cubicle. It was completely dark inside, and even the rabbit's excellent eyesight failed to find anything to focus on in the darkness. Despite this, he could feel that he wasn't alone in the small room.
After a minute or so of complete boredom, he was slightly startled as a small, dim light in the cubicle's ceiling lit up. In the opposite corner from him were two small rabbits. Buster watched the two animal toons as they paused and sniffed around cautiously.
"Aw, aren't you little guys cute?" he whispered, smiling a bit.
One of the rabbits was muddy brown, the other pure white. Both seemed rather at ease in the strange cube and took small hops as they began to explore the small area. Buster walked over and knelt down. He reached a paw out to the brown rabbit. It turned and looked up at him briefly, then returned to its exploring. When Buster's hand came into contact with it, however, it winced slightly and quickly moved away.
"Hey, what's with you?" Buster whispered. The brown and blue rabbits scowled at each other. The white rabbit seemed to be paying no attention to the scene, and began sniffing at Buster's foot. Cautiously, Buster touched a paw to that rabbit. It continued to sniff about. Buster stroked the white rabbit's fur gently, the rabbit appearing to welcome the action.
Buster looked back over to the brown rabbit, which was sitting a few feet away watching him. He watched the rabbit's eyes and face curiously, and tried to guess what the rabbit was thinking and why it had been upset.
"Eee-okay," he muttered, bewildered.

In another cubicle, Furrball Cat had decided to curl up in the corner and take a nap in the complete darkness. Suddenly his cube lit up and he was greeted by two other cats, not unlike a million other toon cats one might see slinking down any city alley. Furrball had an advantage over many of the other Tiny Toons in that he was very fluent in his own species' language of Toon Cat. He stood up and eyed the two new cats and gave a tiny "Meow?"
The three cats regarded each other with equally agreeable expressions, then broke into joyful playing and frolicking, chasing and pouncing on each other like three young kittens.

Shirley the Loon's eyes were greeted with the sight of two beautiful wild loons, their brown backs merging with speckled white patterns on their wings. Their alert, black heads glanced this way and that, one seeming to be much more aware and active than the other. Shirley clasped her hands together as she took in the splendor of the gorgeous birds. She eagerly took a step towards them. In an instant the more active loon extended it's wings and flapped about noisily in an instinctual attempt to distance itself from Shirley. Shirley gasped and jumped backwards. "Like, Eek!"
She fell against the opposite wall as the loon landed back on the floor and resumed its stand. The other loon had taken no action, and was busy preening itself. Then it looked at her squarely. It waddled slowly over to her and pecked one of her bright orange webbed feet.
"Hey! Like, Ouch!" Shirley said, retrieving her foot and glaring at the bird. The loon merely eyed her, then walked away.

Hamton sat quietly on his stool as if he were still in class, hooves in his lap, when two young wild boars appeared before him. He grinned sheepishly at them. Each boar was almost twice his size, with sizable tusks. Hamton waved a timid hoof at them. "Hehe... Hi, fellas."
The two boars grunted and rooted their snouts around the edges of the cube floor, eventually making their way to Hamton.
"Um, read any good books lately?" he asked, shakily. The boars buffeted him softly with their snouts, apparently finding him uninteresting. As they moved away Hamton stepped off his stool. Sensing that the boars were more or less safe, and curious to learn more himself, Hamton extended a hoof and ran it along the side of one of the boars, feeling its rough, hairy side.

One by one, each of the Tiny Toons slowly became acquainted with their new guests, as the Looney Tunes stood around the cubicles. Now and then they would exchange a whisper, but generally they remained silent as their pupils' reactions were carefully monitored and their thoughts recorded by the two foxes who slowly circled the cubes.

Buster sat for several minutes, as the brown rabbit seemed to look equally concerned back at him. Deep down, Buster thought he heard a voice echoing from behind him. He turned and looked about, wondering if someone in the cube next to him had said something. Seeing no one, he turned back to the brown rabbit, and felt an odd wave of realization come over him. One by one he removed his white gloves and set them on the floor. The brown rabbit turned his head, eyeing Buster with large dark eyes. Buster tried again, reaching out a blue, ungloved paw to the rabbit. To his surprise, the rabbit rose and lollopped towards him. Buster laid a paw on its back and felt a great wave of happiness fill him.
"Yes!" he whispered, feeling that he had accomplished something very important.

Andy sat and watched the two wild foxes stare back at him from the opposite corner of his cubicle, his mind flooded with conflicting thoughts. He wondered how the foxes would react to him, and what his reactions should be, To his delight, one of the foxes began to slowly move towards him. It stopped at his foot and sniffed it briefly. To Andy's greater delight it lay down on the floor and began to clean itself right there next to him. He heard it mutter, "Hmmm... strangest fox I've ever seen."
But Andy knew a little more about what was going on in these cubicles than he had told the Tiny Toons, and his delight was quickly quenched by a heavy feeling of sadness as the truth hit him. He shook his head at the fox next to him. "Of course you don't fear me--you're not the real fox. You're just the one from my mind."
The second fox had not moved from its corner. It cowered there, as if frightened by something. It's ears were flat against its head as it's eyes darted wildly, a clear expression of wild fear on it's face. Every time Andy tried to move towards it, it yelped and clawed at the wall, desperately trying to escape. Its actions were accompanied by chilling waves of cold and sadness that struck into Andy' mind like dagger. The sensation was so intense it sent chills down Andy's spine, his tail becoming frizzled as the sensation swept through him. He sat back down in complete confusion as his mind cleared. He stroked the other fox next to him.
"What's wrong with him?" Andy asked.
"Donno," the fox answered. "You got any food on you? I'm a bit starved."
"Nothing," Andy shrugged. "Sorry."
Andy tried talking to the frightened fox in the corner. It responded by barking wildly and crying out in some unfamiliar and bizarre tongue Andy did not recognize, causing another wave of chills to wash over him. The fox's eyes glowed eerily back at him, filled with a strange, unearthly light.
"I... wish I could... understand," Andy muttered. Suddenly the light went out and the cube was enveloped in complete darkness once again. Andy felt an odd sensation of coming and going within the cube, presences brushing past him like silent breezes, along with curious sensations of feeling very alone and abandoned, before dissolving into nothing in the darkness. Then the darkness was pierced by a thin shaft of light that grew wide as his cubicle door was opened.
All around him, the Tiny Toons were emerging from their cubicles, some looking completely confused, others looking refreshed and happy. They were again reunited with their mentors and the outside world as they jabbered about their experiences to them.
"Eh, piece of cake. Those rabbits and me got along just fine."
"Those snobby mallards! I'm sure they snubbed me!"
"Like, I have no idea why I never tried to learn more about myself, or some junk."
Andy slowly stepped out of his cubicle, shaken, and feeling very heavy- hearted. He was helped out by the two fox scientists.
"Nono... I'm all right," Andy said, waving the two off. He walked over to where the Tiny Toons had gathered. Despite their varied reactions, the toons had all been weakened from the experience with their animal counterparts. They all looked drained and tired.
"Well, that was fun, Prof.," Buster commented tiredly. "Now, would you mind explaining what this was all suppose to prove?"
Andy glanced about calmly. "Your questions will be answered when I see you all again tomorrow." He tried to sound chipper and at ease. "Your reactions have all been monitored, and tomorrow you'll have your first period with me, where we will discuss what went on here today. You will also receive copies of your profiles, and find out a little something unexpected about the animals you met today. Until then, go home, rest, and be yourselves. Class dismissed."
As the Tiny Toons and Looney Tunes slowly filed out of the gymnasium, the vixen handed Andy a clipboard full of profile and test results from the Tiny Toons. He took the clipboard and glanced at it briefly, before nodding his thanks and heading out of the gym.
"Poor fellow," the vixen muttered, shaking her head. "Did you see his eyes?"
The fox nodded. "I've seen it before in other toons. This was more than a simple Nel-Shada evaluation for him."
The vixen frowned. "It's a bit odd--that second fox didn't come from anyone around here."
"I know," the fox said coldly. "Another force was involved. Nevertheless, it served its purpose."
The vixen scratched her chin thoughtfully, and the two began to dismantle the empty cubicles.