Chapter 03 A true friend?
After breakfast, Larry and Augustinus were ready to go.
"Father, remember we are going to go out with Benny today. You promised." Larry smiled.
His dad made his son's bowtie up and he nodded, "But get to school first, have the homework done and I'll be there. If you don't then I won't come," Augustinus warned his son, "Otherwise we will be working all evening over your homework. Ok?"
Larry rolled his eyes. He nodded, Little Loco arrived, Augustinus gives his son a hug and he then dashed off with his friend to a job and Larry was picked up by the ferret again. Larry waved and he was off again with the class to school.
Augustinus reached his meeting point with his friend. Little Loco nodded and the two had to head into Zootopia's town centre. Today the mission was quite easy, they had to keep an eye on a drug store, which was apparently selling 'illegal' and dangerous substances to the nation. But the police weren't able to prove anything.
Little Loco plucked a few blades of grass from the park bench they were currently seated on and rolled his eyes, Augustinus had a set of glasses on which he could function and work as binoculars quite easy.
"Don't you find all this detective business boring Augustinus?" Little Loco complained whispering, "I thought they would give us a real adventure, but the most we do is sit around watching people."
"Yes, but if it weren't for us then hundreds of animals could cause chaos in a short amount of time. And the police can't be everywhere." Augustinus smiled.
Little Loco agreed, he got this morning's newspaper from his coat pocket and read it. It was at times very boring working as a detective, even if the pay was good for them.
"Suspected activities at three o'clock." Augustinus suddenly whispered.
Little Loco stood up and spotted what Augustinus noticed. Augustinus shifted his glasses, which worked as a film camera. He pretended to wipe a smudged stain on the glass when all he was doing was activating the recording through his glasses.
At the side of the handle of the glasses was a small hole where the USB card was shoved in and could be removed. Augustinus had to keep his head as still as possible to get the recordings as clean as possible.
They discovered a black-dressed male porcupine, walking up to the store with a suitcase and flashing an ID badge at the store.
"You got the stuff?" The porcupine whispered towards the intercome.
A flap opened and the porcupine slipped the entire case into the building, a second flap opened and he received a round package of some green stuff. Augustinus and Little Loco were right on their feet. Little Loco grabbed the porcupine and Augustinus entered the drug store, found the leaver activating animal, which was a hippopotamus and dragged him outside.
"Mr Bigamis, Mr Drake, you both are under arrest for drug possessions," Augustinus said, handcuffing one of them.
Little Loco caught the other one and then led them to the police station not too far. This case was solved a lot faster than they hoped, only about 5 hours, great.
"We could go to the pub now Augustinus, Larry should still be in school now, right?" Little Loco smiled.
Augustinus sighed, "Larry has about one hour left in school. I promised my son to meet his new friend, a Benny Squint he met in school. And he wants us to meet his parents this weekend too."
Little Loco sighed, "Ok ok. We can head back, you get ready and pick them both up. I'll see you Monday."
Augustinus nodded, they travelled back down to the agency and Augustinus headed to the school.
The last lesson was over and Augustinus was, as promised, in front of the Agency's school building. Larry and Benny got out and smiled seeing him.
"Hello, Mr Augustinus." Benny smiled, "I'm Benny Squint. A friend of your son."
"Hello, Benny, nice to meet you." Augustinus smiled, "How are you coping with school? And who put you in here?"
"My older sister." Benny explained, "We got so many siblings, sometimes the oldest siblings have to take care of the younger ones. Like my oldest sister to me, I told her I was going to walk back to our home here and from there she told me we were to return home for the weekend."
Augustinus nodded his head, the three walked together down to Benny's sister's home in the agency. It was a nice small home with a patch of green in front of it, not very big, but big enough for two animals to live in. Benny walked up to the door and knocked on it.
"Benny is that you?" Came a female voice.
"Yes, sis. I did tell you we were going to get visitors." Benny called towards the apartment.
The door opened and a light brown rabbit looked out, Larry and Augustinus tilted their heads confused, she looked only a year older than Benny. She was definitely too young to be his mother.
Augustinus recognised her, however, "Oh hi Amelia. I didn't know you were the mother of Larry's friend Benny."
"Mother?" Benny and Amelia said at the same time.
She shook her head, "No no. But we are going back to our parents this weekend. You two sure you want to come?"
Augustinus and Larry nodded their heads.
"We will explain everything once we get home," Benny promised.
Larry and Augustinus headed back home and packed two small backpacks for the weekend, as they got back to the exit of the Agency, Amelia and Benny had their stuff packed too and they got into Amelia's car.
Amelia and Benny were both born in Bunnyburrows.
Augustinus looked a little scared that they travelled so far away from the agency and that he'd have to spend an entire weekend with rabbits, rabbits that under a natural instinct would be his and Larry's breakfast. Urgh.
Larry was quite the opposite, he was smiling over his face and looking in awe around the countryside they had entered after leaving Zootopia and the Agency's hiding place. Well of course, Larry hasn't been away since Augustinus left his ex-wife's home.
"We'd got to warn you about a few things." Amelia said facing the foxes, "I don't quite know what our parents want from us all of a sudden, but if they write and ask us to be home it has to be urgent. And mother and father aren't used to predators being in Bunnyburrows, so please don't growl, drool, hunt or hurt anyone in our family. That could cause them to harm you."
Larry and Augustinus nodded their heads, this was the first time ever that they'd been in Bunnyburrows. The four left the car, Larry and Augustinus carrying their backpacks on their backs and Benny and Amelia walked up to the farm. Benny sighed and knocked on the door.
The door opened and Larry and Augustinus were faced with an elderly grey rabbit, holding a walking stick in her hands and her body was sunken in on itself. She clearly looked like she was in her 40s easily. Hundreds of other rabbits were in the house itself.
She looked up and glared at the rabbits before herself, "Amelia, Benny it's about time you got home. Come in now. And you two... whatever, too."
Her voice was not very warming but sounded like she's eaten a bitter mushroom or such. Larry and Augustinus were taken back shocked by her rude behaviour but followed the rabbits anyway.
Inside the house were even more rabbits. One older rabbit and clearly the older females mate and most likely father of Benny and Amelia. And several other younger female rabbits holding baby rabbits in their paws and a lot of them have a male rabbit next to them.
They all halted their chatter as they saw the two foxes following Benny and Amelia.
"A... Amelia, Benny, who are they?" A young rabbit asked, pointing at the foxes.
Benny smiled, "Family, these are Augustinus Wilde and Larry Wilde my best friend and he is attending All Paws United with me at the Agency's school."
Larry smiled and shook a few hands before sitting with his father down, "Thank you that we are allowed to be here."
"Mother." Amelia suddenly spoke up and looked at the older female, "The Agency is quite pleased with my work with them. But why did you ask us to return all of a sudden to Bunnyburrows? I was doing fine at the Agency and Benny is developing to become an Agent too?"
"Because we got some good news for you, Amelia." The mother said smiling, "You know James Ulrich? The male rabbit from three rabbit farms from here? He's accepted our proposal for you to be his mate. You are to marry him this weekend."
"We have yet to find a female for Benny, but we are sure to find someone soon." The older male rabbit smiled.
Benny almost choked on his drink as he glared at his father, was he serious? Him and marriage and mating? No thank you.
"Excuse me, father." Benny sneered.
Larry and Augustinus blinked as they looked across to Benny.
"I am not some fluffy mating rabbit. I'm still quite young and I'd like to pass my school and college degrees at the All Paws United academy before marriage can even come into the cards. I might even ask them for a job at the Agency." Benny pointed out. "So I can't cope with any distractions at the moment of building a relationship with an unknown female rabbit."
The male and female adult rabbits blinked quite surprised and looked at Benny as if he'd grown two more ears and an extra head.
"Say that again Benny." the male rabbit sneered angrily, "You're refusing a proposal of a female rabbit and throwing your life away for... for just some drunk fighters of an agency? Where you don't even know if they will give you a job after school?"
"I've felt more at home at the All Paws United agency than I ever did here. All you've ever done since I was born is bang one another constantly and command all the older rabbits around just so your family tree can extend and interwind with as many different rabbit families here in Bunnyburrows as possible." Benny snapped. "At the academy of: All paws united, they don't talk about sex or such, they sharpen your skills, they train you up to develop a personality as an individual, you can find good and strong friends there and they believe in you to become more than just a mating creature."
"TAKE THAT BACK!" The female rabbit suddenly screamed at Benny.
Larry quickly went on all fours and growled lowly, glaring at Benny's mother and father. He saw they suddenly pulled knives out to attack them. Larry and Augustinus fended them off Larry had the female rabbit pinned to the ground and Augustinus the male rabbit.
"Now you listen here you twit," Augustinus growled, "Benny will go with us back to the Agency, he will live there, train and become a successful agent. You just wait and see. If either of you dares to contact him again about your twisted 'arranged marriage idea', I swear to you, I will let you disappear and make it look like an accident. Am I understood?"
Larry blinked, and he and Benny stepped back shocked. Larry knew threw hacking his dad's phone what he meant with 'letting someone disappear'; it was not nice. The rabbits seem to get the message, the two foxes and Benny got up and walked out of the house, back into the car and they drove back to the agency.
As the evening fell the four finally reached the homes. Benny walked with his sister to their homes and Augustinus walked with Larry into their home.
Larry had so many questions for his father, it was just weird. The two foxes made some tea, sat in the living room and Augustinus held his head, that was the first time in years that he threatened someone with death.
"Dad... what do Benny's parents mean with: Find someone for Benny?" Larry said, he didn't quite understand the meaning yet.
Augustinus sighed, "Well... you've seen his father and mother together and have children, right Larry?"
Larry nodded his head. Augustinus bit his lips and quivered a bit. Despite the fact he only just met Benny, he could see the rabbit was going to fight with all he had for his own independence and won't be tied down by something as complicated as love.
"I'm guessing," Augustinus continued, looking hurt, "Benny's parents are going to try and find him a female rabbit. He then has to date her, court her into a marriage and then from February to September or such they'd be mating and he'd be forced to become a father at his young age."
Larry's face dropped shocked, "B... But Benny is still a young kid himself."
"Rabbits don't care about ages, Larry." Augustinus sighed, "They just care about extending their families all the time. Even if they can't literally afford them. I'm sure you've seen at the side, as we passed the Bunny Burrows sign the flip chart thing, right?"
"I'm guessing it's the counted popularity of Bunny burrows. And it grows all the time because somewhere a female just gave birth?" Larry guessed, nodding his head.
Augustinus nodded his head too, "Bingo Larry. And that's what they want to force Benny into."
Suddenly Larry saw a text message come through from Benny.
"Oh, sorry dad. May I see Benny for a few hours? He said he needs someone to talk to." Larry said after reading the text.
Augustinus nodded his head, Larry left his home and headed to the meeting spot with Benny.
Benny meets Larry at the park. The two friends headed to a Hollywood swing and sat side by side on the swing. Slowly but steadily kicking back and forth as Benny let the afternoon events run back through his mind.
"You can bet you're blue eyes on it, Larry, I won't ever let my parents marry me off like that. I like the Agency and have felt more at home here than I ever did with mom and dad." Benny said, looking upset.
Larry nodded, "I'm sorry the meeting ended so badly Benny. My dad just seems to care about your education and that you've got your own strong will than what your parents expected."
"I know." Benny smiled, "So I've promised myself to never see my family again."
Larry was taken aback, he looked at his friend and Benny leaned back in the swing, seeming to be very sure of his decision.
"B... but they are your family Benny." Larry pointed out.
"I've never felt like I could fit in with them anyway. Ever since I've lived with my sister at the Agency, and especially after meeting you, I see you more as my family than my own parents." Benny smiled, taking Larry's hand.
Larry blinked, "B... Benny, you mean as your brother? Even though we're not related by blood?"
Benny nodded his head. Larry felt tears fall from his face as the two hugged each other. They smiled and Benny suddenly had an idea.
"May I show it further?" He chuckled.
Larry blushed, Benny pushed Larry back into the grass, climbed on top of him and started carefully scratching his stomach. Larry's eyes widened and he felt a smile spread, he showed his teeth and his pink tongue hung out in his mouth. He started feeling really warm and happy as he panted more and kicked his back leg up a bit.
Benny chuckled, "I thought you might like this."
He continued up and down his stomach and then his head and ears, Larry's face blushed as Benny scratched him around a few times. He felt his uneasiness about his best friend melt away and Benny was feeling better too. They laughed a bit and Larry embraced his best friend.
"No matter what Benny. I'll be by your side." Larry smiled.
Benny nodded and they got up and felt better already. They had to head back to the Agency. Larry headed to his home with his dad and Benny headed to his home with his sister. Both promised to work more together.
Quanktumspirit: "Please review."