"You know, you guys took quite a long time to find, I have to give you props for that," Bellwether chuckled. "You have no idea just how annoying it is trekking through time. Now, I think you all know what I want."

"Yes, we do, and if you think we're just going to hand ourselves over, Dawn, you're out of your mind."

"Oh, I knew that already. Let me ask -demand- it again. Come with me, or lay down your lives. Simple, really. Although I wouldn't mind a little blood spilled. Not after what happened thirty years ago. I think you know what I mean there, John. Think about it, it'll come back to you. You haven't always been honest, Honest John."

"What, you still don't get it? You really don't remember? Boy, you are a dumb fox."

"No one," John snarled, "calls me dumb and gets away with it."

"Fine, then," Bellwether snarled. "I'll prove it to you, if you'd like." With that, she pulled out her gun, levelled it at his head, and…

BANG!

"What was that sup-?" John tried to ask, but his words were cut off by a snarl. His snarl.

"Run!" I shouted.

"Way ahead of you there, Judy!"

Great, night howler. Isn't this just fun?

"Oh, so you thought I wouldn't come prepared? Whoopsie…"

"Electra, scatter! Luke! Nick?" I called for them, hoping that they'd be alright, but Bellwether's goons had them pinned. Luke was in the back of the kitchen, holding a knife sharpener in his paws and failing it around like a madfox. Nick was nowhere to be seen, and me? I was scampering backwards on all fours, trying not to have my throat torn out by my father-in-law. Crap, crap, crap.

Great, now I have myself cornered by a savage fox. Great, I'm dead, they're dead, we're all dead!

Grrrrr…..Well, if this is it, then goodbye, world!

John crept closer, closer, closer. I could see his pupils dilate and his mouth open.

"I'm sorry it had to end this way, Judy," Bellwether cackled from above me. "It's too bad, really. I did like you. Now, bye-bye, bunny."

With that, fangs sank into my neck. I screamed, then,...nothing.

Huh-huh-huh-huh...In, out, in, out, in, out. Breathe. Where the hey…? That can't be right. Where am I? Why does my neck hurt so much?

Then...Bellwether! Where is she? Yeagh!

I sat bolt upright, my forehead drenched in sweat. "Where is she?!"

"Where's who, hun-bun?"

"Geez, Bon, what are you doing calling her hun-bun? We don't even know her!"

"Oh, relax, Stu, all bunnies are related. Give it a rest, would you?"

"Oh, sweet cheese and crackers, Bon. The poor girl's had it rough, can't you see that?"

"Yes, I can, Stu. It took me half an hour to stop the bleeding on her looked to me like it was a fox bite."

"A fox bite? Well, cripes, Bon, why didn't you call the hospital?"

"I thought I could take care of it myself, I mean, I have a hundred and sixty-two kits, I think I can take care of a bite."

"But a fox bite, Bon. Those are bad. They could get infected. Or worse…"

"Stu, stop it."

"Oh, Sweet Karma, that hurts! Where am I?" Huh-whoo, Huh-whoo. In, out. In, out. "Calm down, Judy. You're thirty-two. A grown woman. Get a grip. Get a grip? Are you crazy? You were just attacked by a fox!"

"Judy? That's our oldest daughter's name. That's so neat, you two have the same name. And you look a lot like her, too."

"You're not going to believe me, but…"

"But what?"

"Hi, Mom, Dad. How are you?"

Both of them gasped, and Mom was the first to speak. "Are you seriously trying to convince us that you're our daughter? You look older than me."

"Gee, thanks, and yes, I am. Both your daughter, and older than you, for goodness' sake, I'm thirty-two. Okay, I'm getting a little wound up. Just...listen, okay. You have to listen to me. Please? I know I sound crazy, but…"

The door creaked open to reveal a young black vixen with emerald eyes. "You're not crazy, Mom. I promise."

"Jet, thank goodness you're okay. For goodness' sake, you kits keep growing up so fast...I mean,...," I faltered.

"Yeah, I know. Last time you saw me was a week ago, and I was a baby. Now, I'm thirteen, I know that, too. There's just something about travelling through time. I don't know what it is, but ta-da! Oh, and would you take the Furtari away from Luke and Electra, they've been playing Pawng on it all morning, and they haven't let me play once," she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "You'd think that they'd let their little sis have a turn."

"You would have gotten a turn just now, Jet," Luke called, "if you'd stayed put."

"Well, I don't know if you know, fellas, but Mom's a bit hurt…"

"We know that, Jet. Don't you remember that you're the only Wilde kit that's been awake this last week? We've all been out like rocks. You, as the baby, were awake. Heck, I didn't know what happened until I stumbled out of bed and saw you sitting in the kitchen, sipping coffee. I don't know how you can stand that stuff, but I knew then and there that you were my sister. I hate Bellwether, but at least Mom and Dad won't ever have to buy you diapers."

"Yeah, at least. Come on, guys, get off the Furtari and help Mom. On the double, let's go!"

"Alright, alright, we're coming."

"You know, Jet, I was planning on naming you Holly Marian."

"But when you saw my fur, you scrapped that name and called me Jet Blackthorne instead. Mom, you've told me this story hundreds of times before now, I know it by heart."

"No, I haven't." I opened my mouth to argue, but then I paused. She's probably right. No, scratch that, she is. John bit me around the neck, and my kit was a newborn. Now, a week later in "actual" time, she's thirteen. Karma, I feel so old.

"So, who knows what now? I, for one, sure as heck do not know. And has anyone seen Marian and John?"

"Marian's fine. John, well, he's not so fine, let's just put it that way."

"Why, what happened? Is anyone more hurt?"

"Other than you, Judy, no one."

"You called me Judy. I'm surprised."

"Well, it's what you said your name was, and even if there's absolutely no way that you're our Judy, that's your name is, so that's what I'll call you."

"Anyways, about John?"

"Oh, yes, about him. We found him on the porch this morning, rocking himself back and forth with his mouth clamped shut between his paws. He was muttering something about really hating 'you', or something like that."

"He was sane?"

"Well, I don't know if I'd call any fox sane, but-"

"Bon!"

"Geez, Stu, it just slipped out. And since when do you care about foxes and their feelings?"

"Bon, sometimes I just-ugh. Yes, to answer your question, he was sane. He seemed a little flustered, but yes, sane."

"How'd you calm him down?"

"I gave him some coffee. It winds us bunnies up, but I remember reading somewhere that it calms most non-lapins, including foxes, down, so I gave him a cup. It didn't even cross my mind to wonder how you got here, seven foxes and two bunnies all together. My husband Stu just was walking home a few days ago and saw you nine all sprawled out beside the road and called me straight away. Only one of you, the black vixen- Jet?- was awake. She seemed really scared. I would be too had I been in her shoes."

"So what did you do after that?"

"Well, foxes or not, I'm a mother. I did what my instincts told me (except the "Run away!" part), and hauled you all home in the truck. Foxes or not, I was going to help!"

"And I'm glad you did. But can someone, someone, please get me out of this bed?"

"Okay," Jet said. "I'll take one arm. Luke, you take the other."

"You betcha, sis."

"On your mark, one, two, three, up!" they said, grabbing me under my shoulders and hoisting me to my feet on the floor.

"Okay, everyone to the central room," Bonnie called. "We need some explanations."


5 Minutes Later~

"Okay, so who wants to go first?" Stu asked. "Bonnie and I want to hear from everyone."

"I'll go," Jet said. "On one condition."

"And just what might that be?"

"The suspension of disbelief. Bonnie, Stu- It is alright that I call you that, isn't it?"

"Yes, it's fine, Jet. We won't say anything until you're done. The same goes for everyone else."

"Good. Here goes."


You know who I am, you know my name. But here's the thing- I'm still figuring all that out. Jet Blackthorne Wilde, that's my name; I'm thirteen, but the kicker: no, I'm not. Let me tell you something:

As far as I know, I'm a week old. My family knows it, Electra was telling me about the day I was born- Kitmas Day, 1993. So how does it make sense for a teenaged version of me to be talking with you on Easter Day, 2000? It doesn't. I'm still trying to figure that one out. I know a little bit of the how, but not a bit of the why.

But there's this picture in my head that I can't quite get out. I was sitting on the side of the road there, not doing much besides being a baby, and I heard this little voice whisper in the back of my ear.

Jet, they're going to need you. Have a few years; don't worry, you'll remember. Just hang on a second there, little one.

Then I felt the ground start to shift a little, and I felt like someone was taking me and ever-so-slightly stretching me, almost as if I was pizza dough. It's the oddest thing I've ever felt.

Well, when it subsided, I was left feeling a little off-kilter. That, and everything seemed smaller.

"Wierd. That's-" I clamped a paw over my muzzle. "Did I just-" Yes, Jet, yes, you did.

Then I looked down at myself. "So that's what she meant. Divine intervention. Huh."

Well, you're certainly taking this in stride. Karma herself just came to have a chat with you, and all you can think of is "Huh?"

I am not having this argument with myself. Couldn't she have at least given me some clothes? Fur only goes so far, you know.

I do, and I'm freezing!

Yes, and you're also a young vixen now. Look, Jet, you may not like it, but you're not a baby anymore. You can deal with some cold. Good thing you have a winter coat.

But it's cold!

Mm-hrm, and you're playing right along to the whiny vixen stereotype.

Since when do you know any stereotypes?

Since when have I been a teenager? Look, can we not do this, please? You're sounding like a baby.

There's no you or me, we're one and the same. Besides that, you are technically a baby.

Oh, leave it.


"That's just about when you guys showed up. You want to take it from here, Mr. Hopps?"

"Sure."


One Week Earlier

"I was just walking home from the market last week- they had a special on root vegetables, and I wanted to stock up, so I'd gone down to get some before they ran out. We're in Bunnyburrow, so you'd better hurry to the market because the fresh veggies will be gone in a heartbeat. Bunnies do get sick of carrots, you know.

"Anyways, I was just passing by the neighbor's fields, and I saw this pile of mammals by the roadside, and I thought, "Maybe it's just some bunnies snuggling together." But as I got closer, I could see that that wasn't the case, not the case at all. In fact, there were only a few bunnies, most of the mammals were foxes, and they were all out cold except for one, that would have been you, Jet. You were just sitting there, staring off into space and mumbling about something. You remember that, dearie?"

"Yes, I remember."

"Well, I saw you guys by the side of the road and I couldn't very well leave you there. I don't care if I hate foxes, I help mammals in need. So I called my wife, and she sped down in the truck. We piled you all in and hauled you here to the warren. You guys have been out for the last week. We were hoping you'd all wake up, and thank Karma you did."

"I thought Karma was a fox goddess?"

"She is, Jet, but we rabbits believe in her too. Sometimes we just need a little more balance than we have, and we look to Karma for that. Now, once Stu had brought you all here, it was my turn."

"Cripes, Stu, what did you do? I sent you for veggies, not a mixed bag of mammals. Some of them are foxes to boot! What on Earth were you thinking?"

"That they could use our help, that's what! Come on, Bon, just help me get them in the truck. Forget about the fox part, load them on the truck and let's get them back to the warren and get them warm."

Well, we did that- got you home and all cleaned up. Let me tell you, it's been one heck of a week, Judy. Jet's been the only one awake this whole week, and she's been fretting her tail off about you. In fact, she's been crawling into bed with you and curling up beside you. That girl really likes you, let me tell you. There's something more than friendship between you two. I don't know, it seemed almost daughterly.

Anyways, you seem to be doing better, dear. I'm glad you are.

"I'm glad you are, dear. Now, do you care to tell us why, for one, you keep calling us Mom and Dad; two, why you're with all those foxes; three, what they're doing calling you Mom; and four, what all of you are doing here?"

"More than glad to. Let's do first things first, that seems to be the simplest. Why do I keep calling you two Mom and Dad. Well, that's simple, really, it's because you are. I know you're expecting an explanation, but I have a request."

"What might that be?"

"Just listen and say nothing until I'm done."

"We've already been asked that, and we said yes, so why are you asking again?"

"Just agree, okay?"

"Okay, okay, don't get all wound up."

"Okay, here goes."

"Thirteen's a bit young to get married, even for rabbits, but you two did, and began doing what rabbits do: having kits. Your first litter was an anomaly- just one kit. August fourth of 1991 brought you Judith Laverne Hopps, after her grandmothers. She's right outside the doorframe, you know- eavesdropping.

"Judith, you get-" Bonnie began.

"No, it's okay, I don't mind. Well, I know one thing, and that's that she wants to be a police officer. You don't want her to, she's your little cotton ball, I can appreciate wanting to protect her. But this summer, something's going to happen to her that's going to define her whole world.

"You know the Grey's kit, Gideon?"

"Yes, I do. I don't trust him at all, the nasty little bugger. He's a bully to everyone, and his parents won't stop him."

"Well, at the Carrot Days festival this summer, she's going to be scratched by him after putting on her play: 'Nice costume, loser. What kind of world are you livin' in if you think a bunny can be a cop.' Those will be his exact words to her. He'll shove her in the dirt and tell her she can't ever be a cop, then claw her."

Upon hearing this, Bonnie and Stu gasped together. "What?!"

"I swear to Karma that it's the truth. He did, and that just made her more determined to become a cop, and it made her hate- and fear- foxes.

"Fast-forward fifteen years. J. L. Hopps is not only a cop, but Precinct One's best."

"Gee, thanks a lot."

"You're welcome, Nick. But as I was saying, on her first day, she ran into a fox, and what did she think but that he was going to do something illegal. So I followed him."

"Guilty as charged." Nick spoke up. "I was doing something illegal, no surprise there, right? Anyways, Judy followed me; tricked me into helping her with her case."

"What are the magic words?"

"Felony tax evasion."

"Gotcha, Slick. Yes, I blackmailed him into coming along with me for my first case, telling him that otherwise, the only place that he'd be selling his Pawpsicles was the prison cafeteria."

"You wound me, Carrots. Yes, she hustled me good. But long story short, we solved the case (it was the sheep), and Nicholas Wilde became Zootopia's first fox cop. What a turnaround."

"About the sheep- Dawn Bellwether, the Assistant Mayor, or in her words, 'more like a glorified secretary.' Well, it was her, and off to jail she went. Only problem is, with our penal system, money can get you pretty much anywhere."

"Including into the prison where she'd had Jack Savage send us."

"Savage? I know that family."

"I'm sure you do, and you're related to them, aren't you?"

"Yes, as I said, all bunnies are related. But Jack's just a kit."

"That's the point we're trying to get across here. We're not from this time, we're from 2021. If you'd just let us explain, we'd get there faster. Here's the thing: in the world where we're from, Jack Savage directs the ZIA, and he's a nitwit."

"Hey!" Jack protested. "I am not!"

"Maybe if you had paid more attention, Dawn Bellwether wouldn't have escaped from jail. Chew on that, Savage."

"Fine, fine. You have me there. But I'm sick of dealing with your mistakes, Jack. I'll have you know that I hold you personally responsible for all of this."

"Ooh, scary, Wilde. What are you going to do, kill me?"

"You know, you're quoting Bellwether."

"If I cared- which I don't- I wouldn't be doing it. But I'd like to hear your plan, Wilde. You say it's all my fault, and I've yet to hear you propose a solution to all of this mess. Yes, granted, I may have gotten us into this, but at least I'm actively trying to get us out."

"Actively? Hah! Your definition of 'actively,' Savage, is the oddest I've ever seen. You know, if I were a casual observer, I'd swear you were actively trying to do as little as possible.

"Look, guys- Dad, Jack- quit trying to kill each other, okay? You're giving the Hopps quite the fright."

"All I'm asking," Dad growled, is that someone take responsibility here. I don't care who it is, it can even be me. I'm sick of wandering about without a plan."

"It's sort of hard to plan for time travel, Nicholas."

"Shouldn't have built those bombs, Savage."

"Let. It. Go. Take a few breaths and consider not ripping my throat out."

"Fine. What do you propose?"

"You know, I think that that's the calmest I've ever heard you, Wilde. But what do I propose? You're right, Nick, I have nothing. None of us has anything. No one here ever thought it was possible. Before you say anything-"

"But-"

"But nothing, Nick. I built them, but it was purely hypothetical science. I never even considered the fact that they might do their job, I just thought that they'd be one hell of a weapon, explosive power considered."

"May I interject?" Marian asked.

"Yes, Marian?"

"Well, Jack, I, for one, think you're one dumb bunny. What were you thinking?!"

"No clue, Mrs. Wilde," Jack said, his ears flat against the back of his head. "Not. A. Clue. But since we all want solutions, can everyone relax for a second?"

"T-That would be much appreciated," Stu stuttered. "I never knew a fox could get that angry."

"Me neither, but I don't know any other foxes besides the Greys. Seriously, though, what should we do?"

"Not a clue. What do you think?"

"Well," Electra interjected, "since I'm getting dragged along, can I have a say?"

"Of course. What do you think we should do? I'm stuck."

"Well, ask John, why don't you?"

"You're crazy, Electra."

"I'm a Wilde. What else did you expect?"

"I thought you were a Stehlen?"

"Is this really what you want to talk about? We have more important things to be doing. Besides, Nick and Judy are adopting me, weren't you paying attention?"

"Probably not," Jack muttered. "Mrs. Hopps, will you get John, please?"

"Of course, Mister Savage."

"Please, Jack is fine."

"Okay then, Jack. I'll get him."


10 Minutes Later

"So what happened back there, John? Something about "you?"

"Not y-o-u, e-w-e. Bellwether."

"That makes more sense. What did you: y-o-u, for clarification, mean when you were muttering on the porch back there?"

"I heard her say something before I went under."

"Could you tell us what that was?"

"Of course. She said, and I quote, 'Don't you know I'm the low woman on the totem pole? Can't imagine what that'll mean when you're up against the big guns.'"

"Well, looks like things just got interesting."

"No kidding."