It is one in the afternoon. Maggie and Richard and several other friends: Curly, Sid, Stinky, Phoebe, Sheena, Nadine, Iggy, Lila, and Rhonda are going to be participating in an Easter egg hunt. The bunny, which is being hired as the Easter bunny, just appears to be someone in a suit and has just made a special appearance in the park for the kids to see him. On a clear, sunny, beautiful afternoon, the pigeons nibble on crumbs near an elderly man sitting on a park bench, reading a newspaper. Little birdies and butterflies fly around and feed on the cherry blossoms and other flowers nearby.
Back on Vine Street, the girl bunny watches Gerald and the football-headed "bunny boy" walk out of Sunset Arms. The boys run off and notice all the sudden that another bunny is chasing them down a narrow alley, surrounded by apartments.
The chase continues when they run over to the park, getting barked at by angry dogs on leashes and being pursued by the girl bunny with the beautiful eyelashes. She then gets distracted by a larger Easter bunny. That person in a mascot bunny costume is hiding colorful eggs, while Arnold and Gerald escape her, as she climbs to the top of a tree.
She hangs onto one of the branches a goldfinch is standing on and accidentally falls to the ground, hitting her head. She is not hurt but the goldfinch, the state's state bird, took off.
She knows that someone is behind the costume, and when she removes the mascot head she discovers that it is a man she knows already.
Surprise is her response. "Principal Wartz!"
"You are going to get me fired, Miss Long Ears!"
The bunny does not seem to listen to him. Hopping with her hands and feet together, she steals her pink basket of eggs because she is assuming that Wartz took hers by mistake. Wartz is furious. Taking his place, the bunny skips in an open grass area, tossing colored eggs.
When she realizes she had run out of eggs, she is then spotted and attracted by people who feel that they are attracted to her. The crowd of several lighthearted spectators in the park, especially fashion and newspaper photographers, journalists, children and families, believe in the Easter bunny, that they have found the real one. It was similar to that of a fashion show. The stunned creeps watch her every move in a series of cute, feministic poses. She would rest her head on her hands and pretend to fall asleep, to cry and cover her face with her ears, do a cat stretch, hop like a frog, or practice her ballet techniques. She would pick several flowers at one time and smell them as if she is holding onto her heart. She would hold her chained locket in her arms, twist and stumble. She would blow a kiss, turn her hips around, run her cheeks, make less of an expression on her face, etc. The point is she is attempting to act like a real rabbit as herself. Bunnies are usually quiet towards human beings, so she pretends to be a mime. Children do not mind taking photographs with the Easter bunny. Most of the time she is with the children, she looks at the photographers with a blank expression on her face like "What?"
Phoebe and the gang have run into Gerald, Ludwig and Wolfgang (two bullies from P.S. 118), and another Easter bunny in the park, this one with green eyes. Lila Sawyer is saying that people here in the city never see an Easter bunny so handsome as someone about her size, neither do the other kids. She kisses the bunny on the cheek before Arnold tries to hide his face.
Gerald says "We were just chased by a girl bunny and then we met up with Wolfgang and Ludwig, then we found you guys."
"Who's that kid wearing a costume?" Stinky Peterson asks.
"Don't tell anybody his name." Sid says.
"So you boys are hanging out with the Easter bunny" says Nadine.
Gerald says "That's right."
Ludwig says, "What about the hunt?"
Wolfgang van Altz kicks him in the stomach and tells him to shut up.
Phoebe Heyerdahl has an idea that just came into her mind. Since she and the rest of the gang have their baskets, maybe they can help the Easter bunny hide the eggs instead of taking part in the Easter egg hunt, which is coming up.
The girl bunny hides behind a tree and sees as many as fifteen kids splitting up with their full baskets of eggs. She knows one of them could be the bunny boy.
She takes out the chained locket from her basket and looks at it. "Oh Arnold, oh love, my sultry preteen in bunny pajamas, why should I hold you only whilt I dream, even whilt I find you?"
The kids hide the eggs where no one will be able to find them easily in the park, in the tall trees and bushes, under the flower beds, under the benches, on the sidewalks, or even in the grass. While Arnold skips around throwing colored eggs, the girl bunny spots him again. He keeps hopping around when suddenly, "Wow!" He could not resist the beauty of the most beautiful long-footed creature in the park. He was so stunned that she would be the perfect bunny to date with. She comes out of the bush and is dancing her way towards him. He picks up a few dandelions under the shade of beautiful cherry blossoms and starts to whistle, stomping his feet. He and the bunny later walk closer together and begin to kiss.
The bunny boy and bunny girl take one step further and hold each other while kissing. This romance gets interrupted when Curly Gammelthorpe discovers the both of them. Identifying the male, he comes directly behind him and takes the hood off. The bunny boy turns around when he hears laughter in the background, from Nadine, Stinky, and Curly himself. They now find out the secret. It's Arnold!
Noticing her mate is a human being, the female bunny starts to hate him by shoving him. Arnold pulls his hood back up and speaks. "All right, pretend it's not me."
"But we know who's who, football head!" says Wolfgang.
Stinky finds the two bunnies. "It looks like you're in love with someone your own size!"
"I am?" Arnold asks. He turns to Wolfgang and says, "I wish you were dead."
"Don't say that towards Wolfgang" says Phoebe. "He might hurt you again."
Arnold apologizes.
Within minutes, the others meet up with them and Arnold is thinking about playing a game of football.
"I got a ball right here, Arnold!"
"Great!" says Arnold. "First…oh let's say it's Easter and…"
He is interrupted by a squirt of water in his face and the kids start laughing. Arnold spots someone hiding behind the entrance to the park and notices that everyone is quiet and not leaving.
He continues. "Okay, everybody close your eyes. Pretend Arnold is not here. Poof! Be gone!"
Brainy is hiding behind the wall, armed with a water gun, and knows which bunny is Arnold.
"Now…" says Arnold "Open your eyes!"
Suddenly, Brainy was squirting water at the bunnies' faces and causing the huge group of kids to spread out. This is just a game. What is more fun than that? Brainy has not only one or two but three water gun, fully loaded. He can take two guns and shoot them in the head and face. The bunnies run off, Brainy the Geek has binoculars in hand, and he ruthlessly squirts classmates until all the white disappears from the face of a football-shaped head. When the girl bunny notices Brainy, he has a surprise for her.
"I'm going to…do something to you little…Geek Bait!" says the girl bunny. And then he ends up squirting her in the face and sneaks away. Arnold and the girl bunny begin to notice that their faces have started to change. They both noticed that their faces had turned from a whitish to a peachier color through squirts of water.
The girl bunny can now recognize the face of a classmate. "Arnold! What are you doing here?"
Arnold has a thought in his mind, "This is unbelievable! She can actually talk!" But then he notices a strange but straight line running across her face, which stops at the nose and keeps on going. Then he finds out that the girl bunny is just someone in a costume.
Arnold wants to tease the kid in a costume by grabbing onto her. "I got your nose!"
The girl is getting pretty frustrated but Arnold happens to discover that the whiskered nose is a nose mask; he uses his two hands to pull it up. But the girl does not want to reveal herself and she is getting him to back off. She turns away with Arnold right behind him.
"I'd like to see what's under that hood of yours if you don't mind." says Arnold as he grabs her head. "Now relax! I wanna know who you are. Please!"
"Let go of me, football head!" says the girl bunny. "I swear I'm gonna hurt you!"
Arnold notices a back zipper and pulls it down a little; but when he pulls her eared hood down, he discovers another white hood. This one does not have fur on the ears but it is made of tightly-thin, silver armor. The angry girl's hair is not shown, because it is tucked beneath the hood.
"Who are you?" He asks.
"Crimeny" says the girl bunny as the kids begin to meet back up by the bench near the park entrance. "I just can't reveal myself, Arnold."
The kids begin to laugh.
She continues. "I can't reveal myself. I'm in a costume."
"I'm sorry?" says Arnold.
"Got that right. I told you I was going to hurt you!"
Maggie comments, "Hey Richard, was that the same costume you made for Arnold?
Richie replies, "Well I offered the costume to Arnold and the mystery kid on purpose."
Rhonda walks back over and asks, "Do these costumes look the same?"
The "mystery kid" must be the bunny girl. She puts her eared hood up and straightens it.
Richie says, "Yes, definitely. They are just the same prototype, except Arnold doesn't have the mask or the extra white suit beneath it. The other bunny doesn't have the whiskers covering her cheeks.
Nadine says, "Never before, in my life, have I seen a bunny costume so tight like that, Arnold.
Phoebe asks, "Are you talking about the "mystery kid?"
"Naw." Stinky tells Nadine. "She's talkin' bout Arnold."
"I am the mystery kid, jerk!" The girl bunny says.
None of the kids know who she is, because she is wearing a pressurizing, white hood.
But Arnold does recognize her face and is actually the first person to guess her name. "Helga?"
"How did you know my name?" the girl asks. "You're not supposed to know my name!"
"Helga Geraldine Pataki?" Phoebe asks Arnold.
"Exactly." says Arnold.
"You're right." says the girl. She immediately shakes her head and intends to say something mean, as if she were a bully at school. "I mean you weren't supposed what my name is. Think of it this way. You are not the Easter bunny you think you are, scaring the geez out of me, bucko."
Lila Sawyer looks around the park and Helga catches her.
And Helga says, "Hey! Are you staring at the grown-up in a costume? He's not the Easter bunny. I am the Easter Bunny!"
"What happened to your face, Helga?" Lila asks. "Your fur got shaved off?"
HELGA looks blankly at her without saying a word and turns to the bunny boy obnoxiously, thinking he is a hypocrite. "You think you're the Easter bunny at City Park, but you're not."
Iggy has a football in his hands and passes it to Arnold who hides it behind his back and smiles.
"I'm saying, Geek Bait, you're stalking me, like you're coming up to me and trying to kiss me, football head! Be yourself!"
Richard begins to chuckle behind him when Arnold turns around and asks, "Why are you laughing? It's not funny."
"Girls are so mean!" says Richard.
"What did you say to me you little jerk?" Helga says
"Hey!" says Arnold. "Are you ready for some football?"
"You bet I am" she says. "And this time we're gonna kick your head!"
"You mean Arnold is the football?" Sid asks. "He has a ball in his hands already."
Helga puts a blank expression on her face, and then she makes a deal. "Oh yeah? How about this!" She pauses to make the other kids nervously anticipate an answer. And then she continues.
"I think the boys should be on one team and the girls on the other."
Arnold disagrees and says "Maybe we should even it out a little bit."
"You're right. It's Battle of the Sexes."
So Arnold, Richard, Gerald, Sid, Stinky, Ludwig, Iggy, and Rhonda are on one team and Phoebe, Maggie, Helga, Curly, Wolfgang, Lila, Sheena, and Nadine are on the other. This is not the "Battle of the Sexes". Helga's plan would have worked out better – if there were fewer boys in the group.
Arnold has not noticed any yellow birds lately, but something wacky happens. A group of yellow ducklings want to join Arnold's team. Helga is jealous.
"Don't tell me you've been messing around with other chicks!" says Helga.
"No!" says Arnold. "Did they think I was a bunny? I mean, I was hiding the eggs but I didn't see the chicks."
"I hid some eggs too, football head! Let me guess. You don't love me." She puts back on her nose mask.
Stinky cracks up and says, "Naw. The eggs were hidin'."
While the kids laugh, Arnold tries to tell Helga "I swear. I love you. Period. Now let's start the play."
"What time is it by the way?" Rhonda asks. "I'm just curious."
Arnold glances at his wristwatch and realizes it is after two o' clock already. "It's ten after two."
"At least we still got time" says Gerald.
"Guess what, Arnold! Your team just lost!" Helga says. Arnold teammates started to get angry while thinking the game is over.
"But…" Gerald argues. "The game hasn't started yet!"
"C'mon Gerald" Arnold says as he and Gerald walk away. "We're headed for Canada."
"Where are you going, football head?" Wolfgang asks. "The game's just begun!"
Gerald suddenly sees a convertible driving fast down the road towards him and Arnold and gets his attention. "Look out!"
A pedestrian light signals the boys to safely cross a one-way street, but the light is not properly working. Arnold quickly turns around and then…slapstick! He gets hit by the car. Thankfully Arnold is not injured, but the kids laugh and ridicule him. And thankfully, he did not go under, because if he did he would choke on monoxide. The driver, Miriam Pataki, Helga's mom, is an alcoholic. But she is glad she has not been drinking in the car.
Her husband, Bob, is riding shotgun with him now. "Miriam, pull over dear!" he asks. While giggling nervously, Miriam is staring into the boy's eyes and his cute face and there is an urge in her mind to pull over, shift to rear, and then to neutral to claim a parking spot. She starts to feel guilty that she might have killed an innocent creature.
"Roadkill." she faints.
"Miriam," Bob decides. "Are you okay? You must be having a problem."
"No, it's just that…"
Bob interrupts her. "Do you know where Helga is?"
"I don't know. The last time I saw her was just this morning."
"You helped her put on the costume she was going to wear for a beepers commercial."
"You can say that, but you know little Maggie Ann gave it to her as a birthday present."
"Yeah, I remember that."
"That was the cutest costume I ever seen."
Bob breathes heavily. "I've seen it. Let's switch places." They get out of the car and Bob suddenly sees kids laughing. Gerald catches up to Arnold who just slipped away from the convertible.
Helga conspires, "You know Phoebe, I think I'm going to do a prank on Arnold. I kissed him one time and this next kiss maybe his last."
"Where do you think he's going?" asks Sid.
"Who knows?" says Helga. "He might as well fail to disguise himself. What's he gonna do now? Lay an egg?"
While the football-headed kid walks down the street, the kids think he could be passing gas and start laughing at him. At least they think they could not have much fun without the Easter bunny around.