A.N. from Redbat132: *This is inspired by the Guardians of Childhood book series. Most specifically, Second book of Guardians of Childhood called 'E. Aster Bunnymund and the Warrior Eggs at the Earth's Core!'*


Chapter 2

"Hey, Lea," Ben called out, waving at the blonde teen who is in her Pooka form. "You looking forward to the Easter egg hunt for the little ones?"

"How can I not be? The Jocklin Sisters were eager of me to help out in hiding the eggs both inside and out of the Grant Mansion," Lea/Hope said, unable to hide her grin. "Feels nice to be a big help under Bunny's part to be believed in."

Ben smiled. The blonde teen had been surprised and humbled when the sisters asked her for help and it turned out the kids were getting really excited about Easter coming up. "Well, how about you come to the kitchen? Sasha made milk-chocolate chip cookies along with some other cookies."

Eagerly, Lea joined Ben in going to the kitchen and they were soon eating the sweets and drinking some cold milk to go with the treats.

"Mmmmm! Milk chocolate chip cookies are so good!" Lea stated, eating her large cookie that she picked from the plate after transforming into her Pooka form. "The dark and white chocolate chips are okay in the mix, but I love milk chocolate the most!"

Rachel smiled. "My sister is one of the best cookie bakers in the Mansion," she said. "Whampire especially loves them."

"Because they are sweet just like my angel," the Vladat said, giving Sasha a loving look that made her blush a little and giggle.

Suddenly, the female Pooka felt something weird in her stomach. She placed a hand on it and nearly groaned in discomfort. Something the others noticed.

"Lea, Sweetie? Are you okay?" Sasha asked in worry.

"Yeah. Never better," Lea managed to say, breathing steadily. "Just in case, which way is the nearest bathroom?"

"Five doors on the right of the hallway by the staircase," Rachel said.

"Cool. Thanks," Lea said quickly, making her way to use the facilities.

Once arriving there and closing the door, the not-so-good feeling suddenly stopped for her.

"Huh...That was weird," Lea admitted to herself, checking the mirror. "I don't feel like using the toilet anymore. Maybe I'm catching a bug in my system?"

She looked at her fuzzy face, her eyes, and her tongue to check for any signs of being sick. Sure enough, Lea couldn't find anything. Although, as a rabbit-like creature covered in furry, it seemed hard to tell.

"Maybe I should go to Dr. Frankenstri-" Lea suddenly paused when seeing something on her sides. Her eyes widened in shock.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The scream immediately startled the Grant Mansion residents. So much so, that they hurried over to the source.

"This isn't happening. This isn't happening. This isn't happening," Lea's voice repeated in freak out mode.

"Lea! Are you hurt?!" Whampire questioned, knocking on the door.

Ben brought out his Omnitrix. "Stand back. I'm gonna break the door down," he said.

"No! That's not necessary!" Lea shouted from the other side, catching the Alien-Hero's attention. "I just discovered something shocking."

"What happened, hon?" Rachel asked.

"…Before I explain and come out, I need to know. Did Frankenstrike or anyone else messed with Sasha's recent batch of multi-chocolate chip cookies?" Lea asked, a little weary. "Is this some kind of Easter prank?"

"No, not at all, young one," Alien X said. "Why do you ask?"

In response, Lea opened the door to reveal herself wrapped in many towels around her waist. Despite not being wet. "Okay. What I am about to show you all could be very disturbing. Promise none of you will freak out?"

The request caught them by surprise, but Sasha nodded. "Lea, I'm sure whatever it is, it's not as crazy as some stuff we've seen," she said.

"And believe me, this family has seen its fair share of crazy stuff," Rachel said.

"True," Snare-Oh said.

"All right…You were warned," The female Pooka sighed, taking off the towels to reveal her problem.

Ben and the others gasped audibly at what they saw. Lea as Hope had three pairs of arms on the sides of her body!

"Holy cow," Whampire said in surprise.

"I know! It's horrible!" Lea wailed, using her first set to cover her crying eyes while sitting down with the other two sets wrapping around her legs. "I'm a multi-limbed rabbit freak!"

"Oh, sweetie, you're not a freak," Rachel assured, petting on the blonde rabbit's furry head for comfort. "None of us see nor think that of you."

"Of course not," Alien X said, also comforting the girl. "I'll admit, this is rather curious, but you are not a freak. I'm sure there is a reasonable explaination for it all."

"Why don't you try changing back?" Ben suggested, helping his friend calm down. "Maybe you'll get your original form in the process after being human again."

"I can't, Ben! I don't know what would happen if I do try that!" the upset Pooka answered, nearly choking on her tears. "I could end up having the same problem in human form, too! I'm not taking any chances!"

"Okay, calm down," Sasha said.

Just then, they heard young voices and Lea gasped.

"There's no way I can go out there with the Grant Mansion kids seeing me like this! I might traumatize them!" Lea said, using her ears to cover her face in shame while still crying.

"Lea, it's alright," Whampire said soothingly.

Just then, Alice and her brother Daniel, along with their sister Joy, and their To'kustar cousin Angel came down the hallway. "Hey, guys, what's going on?" Alice asked.

Daniel was first to see Lea and he looked curious. "Who's that?" He asked.

Rachel took a deep breath. "Kids, this is Lea, also known as Hope the Pooka. She's like a female version of the Easter Bunny," she said.

Alice's eyes widened. "You mean like Bunnymund?" She asked, remembering when she and her siblings and cousin had met the Easter Bunny.

"That's right," Sasha said.

Daniel then noticed something. "Look, she's got multiple arms!" He said in excitement. "That's so cool!"

Joy and Angel began moving closer to Lea in curiosity. "Bunny!" Angel said with a giggle.

"Bunny!" Joy echoed happily.

The Pooka was shocked to see the kids weren't running away from her.

"You…You don't think I'm horrific?" Lea/Hope questioned shyly, making sure she heard correctly while slowing down her crying.

"No way," Alice said. "You look really cool."

"But, I have more than two arms," Lea protested.

The girl shrugged. "Uncle Four Arms has four arms," she said. "And Aunt Rachel told us that we have some other uncles that have four arms too."

"Yeah! In fact, this looks like one of the powerups Easter Bunnies do when eating chocolate!" Daniel exclaimed, running to the living room and bringing out a book from the Guardians of Childhood series to share a drawing picture page, coming back to them. "See for yourself!"

Lea looked at it and saw it mentioned Katherine's point of view when learning about Pookas, especially when first encountering Bunnymund. "How long have you guys had this?" She asked, wondering how Daniel had the book version of the Guardians.

Sasha shrugged. "It's been in our family for as long as Rachel and I can remember," she said. "Our parents used to read it to use when we were little."

Ben looked at the page before looking at Lea. "So, when you ate that chocolate chip cookie…"

"The milk chocolate must have reacted my pooka form from the Vitamin D it had to strengthen muscles," the female Pooka finished, looking at her other set of arms. "Along with multiplying limbs, too, apparently. I had no idea that was possible."

"Looks like anything is possible with magic," Alien X said thoughtfully.

"I wonder why we never see Bunny use the powerups from eating chocolate himself," Ben asked.

"Not sure. Maybe he stopped having them for a reason," Lea shrugged. "But Bunny seems capable without the chocolate to give him any extra power. Although, it would have been nice to know I can use chocolate powerups before facing Khyber. That might have come in handy."

"No doubt," Snare-Oh said with a nod.

"If you weren't called Hope, I would have called you something that goes with your extra arms," Ben said.

Lea raised a furry eyebrow at that. "Oh, really? And what would that be?"

"I'm thinking...Spider-Thumper," The Omnitrix Wielder answered. "Because you have that many arms of a spider and you're a rabbit that hops to the beat of her own heart."

"Spider-Thumper...That's actually not a bad name," Lea/Hope admitted. "However, I don't think I can shoot webs like some spider-themed heroes I know. Besides, whose ever heard of a spider-rabbit themed super hero?"

"What's wrong with that?" Daniel asked simply. "I think that would be cool."

The girl smiled at the boy before happening to glance up and see Whampire smirking. "Whampire?" She asked.

"I wonder if your multiple underarms are ticklish," he said.

Lea went to run, but Alien X caught her and snapped his fingers, making feathers appear. "Come on, everyone," he said. "I think Lea could use a bit of cheering up."

That was met with agreement and Lea was soon squealing with laughter as her captors playfully twirled the feathers all over her ears, stomach, underarms, neck, and feet, not missing one of her sweet spots.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! GUHUHUHUHUHUHUYS!" She laughed out.

"Cootchie, cootchie, coo!" Snare-Oh cooed, using a few feathers to tickle Lea's palms, which were surprisingly just as ticklish as her feet, making her laugh harder and squirm more before they stopped and let her rest.

As they did so, they noticed that the powerup wore off and their friend was back to having two arms now.

"You're back to normal now," Whampire said.

"Oh, thank goodness," she said in relief.

"By the way, if you get special powers by eating chocolate, then what do you think the other flavors do?" Alice asked curiously.

"...Don't know." Lea answered, looking at the kids. "Does the book mention which chocolate does what extra ability?"

"No, sorry," Daniel said.

"Maybe you could experiment," Rachel said.

"We could do it in my lab," Frankenstrike offered.

Lea looked curious before nodding. "Okay," she said. "I suppose that would be okay."

Soon, Lea went in the lab with Rachel and Sasha bringing out different chocolate flavored cookies.

"Okay, Lea. If at anytime you don't feel good, let me know," Frankenstrike said. "I have a special formula that can help out should it be needed."

"Alright," she said, glad he was prepared for in case things went awry again. She took a deep breath and felt Whampire rest his hands on her shoulders.

"We're all here, Lea," he said soothingly.

She nodded, feeling better and smiling. "Thanks, Whampire," she said.

"Test number 1: White chocolate," Frankenstrike responded, handing the female Pooka a white chocolate chip cookie.

Taking another breather, Lea grabbed the cookie and took a bite out of it. She didn't feel any discomfort like before when finishing it.

"Huh...I don't feel anything different. Do I look different anywhere?" Lea asked her friends, looking at herself curiously.

"No, no physical difference," Sasha said.

Suddenly, Lea sneezed and an egg popped into existence, one that had legs. "Look!" Alice said in surprise.

"Hey, just like in the Warren!" Daniel said excitedly.

Lea sneezed again, creating more movable eggs. "Oh, frost," she groaned, seeing there was now at least two dozen eggs in the room.

"Okay, so it looks like white chocolate allows you to come up with eggs just like the ones in Bunny's home," Rachel said.

The girl sniffled. "I better send them to the Warren," she said, seeing the eggs had gathered around her. "But I think the tunnels would be a bit dangerous for them. Alien X, can I trouble you for a portal to the Warren?"

Nodding, the starry alien did so and the eggs were soon safely in the Warren. "Okay, I feel better now," the girl said.

"Test number 2: Dark chocolate," Frankenstrike said, having Ben give the Pooka the next cookie.

Lea was unsure about this flavor. "Ugh, dark chocolate? It's okay, but always leaves a strong taste in my mouth."

"It won't be too bad, Lea," Whampire reassured her.

"Go on," Snare-Oh said encouragingly.

"Okay, okay, I try. But I doubt it will be anything good," Lea muttered, taking the cookie to eat.

After a few seconds, Lea felt her ears start to twitch until they started moving like helicopter blades and lifted her off the ground. "WHOA! What in the name of frost?!"

"Helicopter ears!" Daniel said with a giggle.

The flying Pooka started flying around the lab uncontrollably until crashing into a wall and slowly falling down to the ground in slight pain.

"Ow...I'm okay," she assured in slight grunting, weakly lifting her arm to wave it on her behalf.

"That was something else," Rachel said.

"Definitely didn't expect that," Sasha said.

"You know, when I dreamt and wished to fly on my own without Jack Frost's help, this is not what I had in mind," Lea admitted, getting back on her feet with Ben and Whampire's help. "Especially the fact that I have to eat one of my least favorite chocolates in doing that again."

"Should we do a few more tests?" Frankenstrike asked, having written down everything so far.

"Nope! I'm good," Lea responded, raising her hand to stop the testing. "I think I've reached my limit of powerup testing, and I feel like I should enjoy the rest of this holiday to bring hope for everyone."

"That you should," Alien X said in agreement. "There's plenty of time to see what else you can do as a Pooka, but for now, let's all enjoy this holiday together."

"Can we watch the Easter Bunny special?" Alice asked hopefully.

"Now that sounds like a plan," Whampire said.

"I'll get the popcorn," Rachel said.

"I'll get the drinks," Sasha said.

"We'll get the living room set up," Snare-Oh said, indicating to himself and the other three aliens.

"I'll help you guys," Ben said.

"Me too," Lea said.

"We'll get the movie," Alice said as she and her siblings and cousin headed for the bookshelves that contained the movies.

Lea smiled, having a feeling this would be an Easter unlike any other.


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