Bugs had been stuck in that cage in the cargo bay for a long time.
"Well, this is just my luck," he moaned to the audience. "I get kidnapped by a cheap computer animated army, I get caged up and I don't get a flight-in movie or a cup of tea or even a view out of dis machine."
Then the machine felt like it had finally landed. Four CGI soldiers came out to take the bunny outside.
Through the bars of his cage, Bugs could see that the rocket had landed on a landing pad next to a huge building. The building had about twelve floors with large grand windows and a large grand brown door; perfect for a light brown mansion that had been around for five hundred years. It was in a live action landscape with real grass, real trees, real hills, real waters and a real bright sun in the real sky.
"Quiet fantasy fancy, ain't it!" Bugs said, admiring the scenery.
Trumpets below out and a large golden litter that was as long as a limousine came out of the mighty doors, carried by twenty strong CGI solders. They put the litter down.
"Behold the mighty Lord Jack Epic!" cried the announcer, as a CGI soldier opened the door of the litter. Out came a tall, short brown haircut man in a suit and wearing sunglasses.
Another CGI soldier opened the door on the right-hand side and out came a strong man with ginger hair in a suit. "Behold the strong Lord Jim Epic!" cried the announcer.
Another CGI soldier opened the door on the left-hand side of the litter and a thin man with ginger hair and glasses in a suit stepped out, but tripped over the first step. "Why couldn't you put the step a bit higher?" he shouted.
"You've asked me to lower it seven times, sir," muttered the soldier who opened the door.
"Well, where's my introduction?" the thin man demanded.
"Behold the brilliant Lord John Epic," said the announcer, not as loud as he did with the other two.
"Field Marshall, what is all this about?" Jack demanded.
"You say you're short on slaves, sir," Jengheng said. "I managed to find one."
The Epics went to the cage and saw Bugs.
"What's up, doc?" asked Bugs.
"Doc?" exclaimed Jack. "I am not a doctor, I am a Lord! So call me 'My Lord' or 'Sir'!"
"Honestly, Dad, I don't see him being any use here at all," John said, surveying Bugs. "He's thin, got a cocky attitude and is…"
"One of Eric's childhood heroes," interrupted Jim. "I think we should give him a present, sir. It might make him behave more."
"Well, we've had fifteen years of nothing but trouble and I can take no more," sighed Jack. "Jim, get Eric here and – "
"And what?" asked a voice behind them.
Jim and John gasped and fell to the ground, but Jack just stood there and didn't move.
"I was going to say, 'And don't let him use magic coming here!'" Jack shouted as he turned around to see a thin fellow dressed in scruffy blue jeans and scruffy grey shirt and worn-out brown shoes.
"Hey, Eric, got a gift for you!" cried Jim.
Eric Epic turned to see the cage and was very surprised to see one of his favourite cartoon characters… in a cage.
"Another slave to add to your collection," said Jack. "Now go and put him to good use. The President of the United States of America will be here in about five minutes."
"Yeah, five minutes!" cried John.
Eric pointed his finger at John and John's glasses shattered into pieces.
"Eric!" shouted Jack.
Eric quickly opened the cage, pulled Bugs out and ran off.
"You'd better be right about this, James," warned Jack. "I think this will only increase Eric's rebellion against me."
"A weak, pathetic sorcerer and a mere cartoon character?" scoffed John, as he inspected his glasses. "What damage can they do?"
"Not letting you see, for one thing!" snapped Jack.
Eric escorted Bugs to the servants' quarters and let the bunny free.
"This may be carrots to you, Bugs, but I have to go to work for my stepdad now," Eric told him. "These guys will fill you in and I will later." Eric clicked his fingers and he vanished.
"Boy, where am I?" asked Bugs. "And what is going on?"
"You're in Epic Mansion and on the Isle of Epics," said a voice. Bugs turned around to see a strange Jim Henson puppet-type unicorn walking towards him. "Hi, Bugs. My name is Sweet Corn."
"How do you know my name?" asked Bugs.
"Eric is your biggest fan," said an approaching giant puppet version of a troll, "and, whenever he watched it, we watched it."
"Yeah, you're our favourite cartoon character, too, doc," said a Gerry Anderson puppet type of a dwarf, who was gathering around Bugs.
Bugs wasn't feeling scared, but he was feeling very confused and a little nervous, since strange live action puppet creatures was gathering around him. "That's really great, docs," the bunny said nervously.
"All right, guys!" cried an old voice. Everyone turned to see an Edgar Bergen puppet-type of a brownie walking towards them. "That's no way to treat the new slave here."
"Slave?" exclaimed Bugs.
"Just like from the movie Space Jam, I know," said the brownie, "but in this story, you are a slave just like the rest of use. But we are friendly. The name's Chocolate. Chocolate the Brownie." Bugs bravely shook hands with him. "You've met Sweet Corn the Unicorn, Trolley the Troll and Daniel the Dwarf. And you've met our boss, Eric Epic. Now, come on, it's time for entertainment."
"What are we going to watch?" asked Bugs.
"Probably the crowd throwing tomatoes at us," said Daniel. "Let's go, mate!"
Bugs followed the puppets outside.
The dining room was as grand as far as grand could go. It was big as a rocky cave and had cream painted walls with a lot of large grand glass windows. It had the longest, strongest wooden table with about fifty seats, with a dozen chandeliers hanging above them.
Sitting on the seats were the Epics and the American President and his wife and his Senate.
"Eric!" shouted Jack. "Bring on the entertainment!" Then he turned to the American President. "I promise you, Mr. President, this will be very entertaining."
"Hey, I trust you with my life," smiled the President. "After you helped me maintain order in all of America with those new laws, I am entirely in your debt."
"Yeah, because you've been brainwashed by me," said a moaning voice on a microphone. Everyone turned to see Eric on the big stage with a microphone. "Just checking it works," he explained before he went off the stage.
"Bring on the puppets!" yelled Jack.
Chocolate, Sweet Corn, Trolley and Daniel walked on the stage.
"Hello, everyone!" greeted Chocolate. "What's cooking? Roasted chicken? Roasted ham? Or a roast of comedy? Hey?"
There was a brief pause.
"Yes, we're wasting time, aren't we?" smiled Chocolate. "So, Daniel, which country makes wine that is both blazing hot as a pepper and cold as snow?"
"What?" asked Daniel.
"Chile! Get it?" Chocolate was laughing, but no one else was.
"Let me try, Choc," said Daniel. "How can you tell if an elephant's been in the fridge? By the hairs on the butter from his…"
"Anyway!" interrupted Chocolate. "I now present to you the good old slapstick part. Ladies and Gentlemen, Trolley and Sweet Corn."
Trolley was chasing Sweet Corn around the room with his enormous cane. Sweet Corn stopped and kicked the troll through the legs which made him stop and drop the cane on his think head, causing him to fall down.
The audience booed them all.
While serving the food – without magic – Epic, in his butler suit, saw what was happening on stage. He quickly ran backstage, where he saw Bugs getting the props and customers ready.
"Hey, Bugs," greeted Eric. "No need for that. You've got to go on stage and save the show."
"But, Doc, if no one knows you're a sorcerer, how can a cartoon guy like me go on stage?" asked Bugs.
"You'll see," smiled Eric. He lifted his straight arms up and down.
Later Bugs was pushed onto the stage. He looked at the audience who didn't seem to be a bit surprised.
"This is the best you can do, Eric? A man dressed up in a Bugs Bunny suit?" laughed Jim.
"What are you talking about? I am – " Bugs looked at himself and saw that he was in fact a live action costumed version of himself like at Warner Bros. Movie World on the Gold Coast, only without a man inside of him. " – a man dressed up as Bugs Bunny."
Bugs did the best dance as he could do, but because he was now live action, he had certain limits to what he could do as a cartoon. And if that wasn't bad enough, the audience wasn't a bit impressed.
"This is the best entertainment you could bring, Bugs?" shouted Jim, rising from his chair. "Well, I suppose you do deserve something for your bravery and courage facing us. Here it is."
Jim threw a bunch of tomatoes at Bugs. On the stage, Bugs was preparing to get covered in tomato juice, when a tennis racket appeared in his hand. With it, he sent the tomatoes back to the audience, which exploded on the table.
"Couldn't you set the donator like two seconds earlier?" groaned John.
"Shut up, John!" snapped Jim.
"Eric!" shouted Jack.
The puppets were cleaning up the mess of the table, while the Epics were having a word with Eric.
"I didn't ruin your dinner with the President!" protested Eric. "You know your spoiled brat of a son threw the tomato grenades in the first place!"
"You call my sons, who have managed to prevented every war from happening and secure peace everywhere with Jim's strength to control every army in the world and John's brain to control all the politicians on the planet, SPOILED BRATS!" yelled Jack.
"You know fully well, Jack, that everything you have ever done was because of my magic!" shouted Eric. "And I feel like I've enslaved the world for your own selfish gains!"
"Fifteen years and you still think the world revolves around you?" Jack chuckled. "It was my idea to use your magic to make the world a better place. So, therefore, I'm the hero, not you! It's very lucky that our relationship with the President of the United States isn't ruined."
"Why worry?" scoffed Eric. "You know he's under a trance; a trance you made me put him under. He thinks you're helping him rule the country, when actually you control him."
"He's not in a trance if he doesn't know he is," said Jack.
"Yes, he is, Jack!" snapped Eric.
"I take you into my home and my family and this is how your gratitude? By giving me nonsense for fifteen years?"
"You're the nonsense, not me!" Eric shouted.
"Just get this room cleared up and get straight off to bed!" shouted Jack. "I expect better behaviour from you in the morning!"
Jack and his sons left the room.
Bugs Bunny, still as a live action suit, came by carrying a tray of carrot juice. As he put the tray on the burnt-up table, Bugs went back into a cartoon character.
"I know this seems to be confusing for you, Bugs," smiled Eric, "but you did really well and I want to thank you so very much. You were my childhood hero and you're still my favourite hero."
"Well, with dat magic racket appearing in my hand, you actually saved my life, too," smiled Bugs. "So, thanks! And the way you stood up to your family, awesome! But, Eric, why do you put up with dis? Why don't you just run away?"
"Because Jack Eric is immune to my magic and people who are immune to magic can control sorcerers and sorceress," Eric told him.
"Control? Ha!" laughed Daniel.
"You always say that everything Jack has done is because of you," said Trolley.
"That's because it's true, Trolley," said Eric. "He became a success only since he found me in the orphanage. I remember the time he was just a coffee boy at a hotel that was losing money. Then he was so desperate for money and power that he went to see someone who was cleverer than him, though he'll never admit it. He came to an orphanage – the one where I was at – then he saw me play your cartoons on the wall. He saw my magic! Then he adopted me for one reason – to use my magic to help him rule the world. If I refused, he'll control me to destroy the world. That was the only choice I had. He forced me to make coffee so tasty that the hotel would be turned into a coffee shop. The coffee was so successful that coffee companies, like Costa or Starbuck's, would lose money and would have to work for Jack. He became so successful and powerful. He was not knighted, but made into a Lord by the Queen! Then the more money and power he got, the more he wanted. So he bought every supermarket, every car company, every building loan companies, every movie company – that CGI army was created by Pixar, Dreamworks Animation, Microsoft, Apple, you name it – and every government not just in England but everything on this planet."
"So how did your puppet friends become slaves?" asked Bugs.
"When Jack decided to move this unknown island," said Eric, "he found my friends here. They were so scared that Jack wasted no seconds trapping them and making them his slaves."
"Lucky Eric is here to support us, because he is one of us," said Chocolate.
"This will never end as long as I have my magic," said Eric. "I have tried everything I can to get rid of my magic."
"When you say everything you can…" Bugs said.
"I meant there's one way," said Eric, "but it's so dangerous and I don't want anyone dying for it. But, if you must know, there are five magic orbs somewhere in this world or somewhere in the universe and, if we find them, I can perform the spell to rid me of this magic and the whole wide world – and probably the universe, if I can – will be free again."
"But what about all the wars and crimes that have been prevented by your father?" asked Daniel.
"What about all the education the kids are getting?" asked Sweet Corn.
"And what about yourself?" asked Chocolate. "If you get rid of your magic, won't you be getting of yourself?"
"It will be a shame that countries will get their wars and their crimes back," said Eric, "but that is something the people themselves should sort out, not by my magic. Kids and grown-ups should have holidays, not just work and school all their lives. Controlling the whole world with my magic isn't the solution to all the problems of the world when it is a problem itself. As for myself, if it will make the world a better place, then I'm willing to lay my life down and my mind is 100% made-up."
"Well, if that's how you feel," said Chocolate, "then let's go find the orbs."