Third Person POV
The next morning, Bambi was walking with his mother, Willow, and Jeanette through the woods as the sun shone, and birds sang in the trees. A couple of squirrels and chipmunks looked down at the fawn from the top of a branch, and one squirrel commented with a grin, "Walking already? Well, whattya know?"
As the two deer and the fox walked along, the whistling of a quail was heard not far away. And sure enough, a mother quail with her chicks appeared in front of Willow. "Good morning, Willow," the mother quail greeted the doe.
"Good morning, Mrs. Quail," Willow replied with a smile.
Jeanette soon appeared beside Willow, unintentionally frightening the quails. "Oh, a fox!" gasped Mrs. Quail.
"Wait!" Jeanette cried, feeling sorry for herself, "Don't run away! I-I'm not like other foxes!"
The quails all stopped scurrying, and then Willow spoke to them with a smile, "It's alright. Jeanette is a friendly fox. She only eats berries and bugs."
"I'll prove it to you!" Jeanette grinned nervously as she lifted a rock up with her paws and nose.
Jeanette's POV
I tossed the rock away, and then I found lots of ooey, gooey worms and beetles. I gulped as I looked at them with disgust, for I had never eaten a bug before – not even in my human form. But I guessed that if Simba in The Lion King could do it, I could do it, too. So, I lapped a big, juicy earthworm up with my foxy tongue, and then swallowed it quickly. I moved my lips a bit and said with surprise, "Hey! That wasn't half bad."
I looked at the quails and smiled to them, "See? I won't harm a chick – or mouse!"
All the baby quails giggled, easily giving me their trust.
Mrs. Quail grinned at her babies, and then she asked Willow, "And where's the young prince this mo…" It was that moment when Bambi appeared beside his mother, and then Mrs. Quail greeted him, "Good morning, Bambi!"
"Good morning, young prince!" the baby quails greeted him.
Then, the quails all scurried on their way; the last one in line stopped to tell Bambi and me, "Goodbye!"
Bambi walked away a bit, and I decided to follow him. Another female voice greeted, "Good morning, young prince!"
Bambi and I stopped to look around, and then the little fawn saw a mother opossum with her joeys, all hanging upside down from a tree branch by their long tails. Bambi moved his head to look at the opossums in a new point of view.
"Good morning, young prince!" all the joeys said in unison to Bambi.
I walked over to Bambi and suggested to him, "Come, Bambi, we shouldn't wander away too far from your mother."
So, Bambi and I walked off, and then we saw a tunnel of dirt being made in the ground. Suddenly, the tunnel stopped, and then a mole popped up from under the ground. "Good morning!" he greeted to us. He looked up at the sky and commented, "Nice sunny day!" Then, the mole went back into the ground to continue with tunneling.
Bambi and I walked some more, and then the fawn decided to jump along some tall blades of grass. As he jumped over one big blade, he got stuck on top of it, and then he fell down on the ground!
Third Person POV
Thumper and his rabbit family were hopping along when they saw Bambi fall down. "What's the matter?" asked the little cream-colored rabbits, "What happened?"
"Did the young prince fall down?" Thumper asked as Willow arrived to check on her son, "Is he hurt?"
Willow looked at Bambi and replied, "No, he's alright."
"He doesn't walk very good, does he?" Thumper said.
The mother rabbit sternly looked at Thumper and said, "Thumper!"
"Yes, Mama?" the little rabbit asked as shame came over him.
"What did your father tell you this morning?" the mother asked sternly.
Thumper thought for a moment, and then said as he moved his foot in an apologetic tone of voice, "If you can't say something nice… don't say nothing at all!"
"That's right," Jeanette said as she came out of the grass to join Willow and Bambi, "After all, he's very young, still."
The mother rabbit gasped as she brought her children closer to her. "Oh, a fox!" she cried, "Don't hurt us, please!"
"Oh, but it isn't what you think!" Jeanette pleaded, "Please! I don't wanna hurt anyone – I-I-I have been… uh, chosen for the little prince's um… bodyguard!"
The rabbits all looked at her with confusion, but Willow looked down and smiled at them, "It's alright. Jeanette only eats bugs and berries. She's a vegetarian fox. Trust me."
Jeanette smiled at the rabbits with her lips closed, and then Thumper said, "Well, anybody who's a friend of the young prince is a friend of mine!"
The mother rabbit formed a cautious but sweet smile, and then all the little cream-colored bunnies climbed on top of Jeanette's back, hugging her and nuzzling her.
The girl-turned fox blushed and giggled a bit, and then Willow turned to Bambi. "Come on, Bambi," she coaxed, "Get up. Try again."
The bunnies all looked at Bambi and chorus, "Yeah! Get up! Come on, Bambi! Try again!"
Bambi slowly got himself back onto his wobbly legs, and then stood up again. He walked beside some shrubs and bushes, and all the little bunnies followed him. Jeanette smiled, and then decided to join them. "Remember!" the mother rabbit called to Jeanette, "Don't harm my children, and don't let any harm come to them!"
"And keep an eye on Bambi, please!" Willow added.
"Don't you worry!" Jeanette assured as she looked back, "I don't even like the taste of raw meat! Like Willow says, I'm a vegetarian!"
Jeanette watched as the two mothers looked at each other, and Willow assured the mother rabbit that everything was going to be okay, for her foxy friend had meant no harm to Bambi throughout the previous night, and even sang him a lullaby.
Jeanette's POV
I gave myself a nervous smile and a shrug, because I couldn't possibly understand how I was winning the trust of these adorable animals so quickly. After all, this was the wild, and foxes usually eat rabbits. But this was LONG before Zootopia was ever released; still, I had to remain cautious and stay true to my word of being a vegetarian, even though I longed to eat a Big Mac from McDonald's right about that time.
Soon, I saw the bunnies all hop down a little edge of gravel by some grass, and then Bambi tried the same thing, only to slide and fall down again! I ran to Bambi's aid and asked him, "Are you okay, Bambi?"
Bambi just smiled at me while all the bunnies giggled; Thumper ran off and eventually came to a log. His siblings, Bambi, and I all followed him. Thumper pounded his foot against the bottom of the log, and then he said gleefully, "I'm thumpin'! That's why they call me Thumper!"
"That's why they call me Thumper!" repeated an echo in the log.
"Thumper!" the gray bunny called into the log, creating another echo.
He then made a whooping noise of glee, and then he, his siblings, Bambi, and I all ran into the log and then came out of the other side. When we got out, I laughed and said, "That was fun!"
We walked and hopped along until we came to another fallen log. "Looks like we'll have to jump over this one," I said. I moved back a few paces, ran forward, and then jumped over the log; I landed on all fours like a cat.
Thumper and his siblings did the same, but Bambi was a little nervous. Thumper looked at him and coaxed, "Come on! You can do it! Hop over it – like this!" He then hopped over the log again, and all his siblings joined him.
"Hop over it!" the cream-colored bunnies said to Bambi, "Hop over it! Like this!"
I, meanwhile, was looking on the ground for some beetles, and so I turned my head and coaxed the fawn, "Come on, Bambi! You can do this!" Then, I went back to looking for bugs to eat. Maybe my animal instincts were slowly coming to me now?
Bambi, in the meantime, moved back a few paces, and then jumped over the log, but he landed on top of it, instead! All the bunnies laughed, and then I walked over to check on him.
Thumper looked at Bambi and said as he shook his head, "You didn't hop far enough!" Bambi moved one of his forelegs over the log, and then Thumper said, "That's it! Now the other one!"
Bambi moved his other foreleg over the log, but he ended up getting that leg on top of his other leg, causing him to stumble forward, and then fall on the ground!
I ran over to Bambi and asked, "Oh, little prince! Are you okay?"
Underneath Bambi's rear end, Thumper poked his head out from under the fawn's tail and asked, "Gee whiz, what happened that time?"
As Thumper got out from under the fawn, Bambi and I heard chirping, and then looked up. Birds were up in the trees, feasting on little berries. As I looked up, I hoped that a berry or two would fall from a tree, and then I could eat it; I didn't want to scare the birds away with my foxy appearance. But then again, maybe those berries were poisonous?
Bambi and the bunnies all looked up at the birds with curiosity, and then Thumper said to the fawn, "Those are birds!"
"Bir…" Bambi said out loud, "Bir!"
The bunnies and I looked at him with awe. "Oh, my goodness!" I gasped, "Bambi, are you…?"
"Look!" Thumper cried with excitement, "He's tryin' to talk!"
"Bir!" Bambi said.
"He's trying to say, 'bird'!" one of Thumper's siblings said.
Thumper hopped closer to Bambi and coaxed as his nose twitched, "Say, 'bird'."
"Bir," said the fawn, also twitching his nose.
"Bird," said Thumper.
"Bir!" said Bambi.
Thumper shook his head and corrected, "Nuh-uh! BIR-DUH!"
"You can do it, Bambi!" I coaxed the fawn.
All the cream-colored bunnies chanted to Bambi as they jumped up and down, "Come on! Say, 'bird'! Say, 'bird'!"
All the birds flew down towards Bambi and chirped. The fawn took a deep breath, and then shouted, "BIRD!" The effect of his shout made us all fall down (well, the birds actually flew away).
Third Person POV
Thumper and Jeanette watched as all the cream-colored bunnies laughed, and then ran off to their mother. "He talks!" they cried, "He talks! He talks, Mama! The young prince said, 'bird'!"
Willow and the mother rabbit all smiled at them, and Jeanette looked happily at them as she ravaged up some berries lying on the ground; she thought they were delicious!
Bambi walked away and repeated playfully, "Bird, bird, bird, bird, bird…" He suddenly saw a butterfly, and then decided to follow it. The butterfly flew away under a big, hollow tree, and Bambi caught up with it. Then, the beautiful bug landed on the tip of the fawn's tail. Bambi looked at it and cried, "Bird!"
Thumper and Jeanette had followed Bambi, and the bunny corrected the deer fawn with a grin, "No, that's not a bird! That's a butterfly!"
"Butterfly?" repeated Bambi, he looked at his tail, and tried repeating the word, but the butterfly was already gone!
I saw something big and yellow off in the distance and asked, "What's that?"
Bambi looked in my direction, and then ran off to see what it was. "Butterfly!" he called as he saw the big yellow object Jeanette pointed out.
But Thumper giggled and corrected, "No, that's a flower!"
Jeanette caught up with them at the flower field as Bambi repeated, "Flower?"
"Uh-huh," Thumper answered, "It's pretty!" He then stuck his nose into the flowers and sniffed them.
"Purdy," Bambi repeated as he also sniffed into some flowers. But as he was sniffing, he suddenly felt something touch his nose, and then he slowly lifted his head up, revealing a young, blue-eyed skunk nosing him.
Jeanette gasped as she saw the skunk, but then she realized that skunks are friendly members of the weasel family, so she shouldn't feel discouraged.
"Flower!" Bambi said as he saw the skunk.
"Me?" the skunk asked with confusion.
Thumper laughed out loud, while Jeanette tried holding back her own laughter. Thumper rolled around on the ground and then laughed, "That's not a flower!" He turned to the skunk and said, "He's a-little!"
"Only a baby," I added with a grin.
"Oh, that's alright!" the skunk smiled, "He can call me a flower if he wants to." He chuckled and blushed, "I don't mind."
"Well, my name is Jeanette, by the way," the girl-turned fox said to the skunk, "And I promise not to hurt you. I-I'm the young prince's… friend!"
Bambi smiled at her, and then he looked at the skunk and declared, "Purdy… purdy flower!"
"Well, I guess Flower will be his name," Jeanette shrugged, "Come, Bambi, we can't keep your mother worried."
Flower, the skunk, just laughed and hugged himself as he sighed happily, "Gosh!"
