Over the Hedge: Second Generation

by starwars4life

Set 15 years after Midsummer Crises. The kids and young adult hedgies are now grown adults and must continue to carry out what their parents have taught them about heists, fun, friendship, love, and family. But will the problems they now encounter as parents and mates make the hedge family grow stronger and larger, or break apart and get smaller?

1. Welcome to the Big Family

Over the Hedge: Second Generation

Disclaimer: I do not own Over the Hedge in any way; DreamWorks owns the movie, and the comic strip characters are the property of Michael Fry and T Lewis. Only the original characters belong to me.

Happy Holiday's for all you Over the Hedge fanfic readers at the time of this chapter's December 18, 2021 original posting! In getting my teaching certificate renewed, I haven't had time to work on stories from early October to late November. I'm finished for now, but will need to do some more work later. In any case, I've been working very hard to make up for that dry spell, and am happy to have once again kept my annual tradition of posting something as an early Holiday's present!

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Chapter 1: Welcome to the Big Family

In the American state of Indiana lies a large suburban neighborhood called the Elysian Fields Estates. Named after the equivalent of Heaven for the brave and heroic souls from ancient Greek mythology and religion, EFE does provide a heavenly place to raise one's family—human family, that is. But humans, despite their far-reaching influence and massive intellect, comprise only 0.01 percent of the total life that inhabits the planet, and only control less than 50 percent of the land on all continents combined. That means humans of all races and ethnicities are the minority population on Earth. The majority of the planet's population on the land, sea, and air, belongs to animals. Humans like those who live in the EFE think they're the masters of their world, and there is plenty of evidence to support this, but if they were to go out into whatever geographic wilderness that lies beyond their influence, they will discover just how small they really are.

A pity then that the humans living in the Elysian Fields Estates cannot discover this because they are forbidden by state law to enter the vast woodland forest located behind a hedge. There, in the woods, lies an animal population so big that it makes all the humans in the EFE seem like a single grain of sand in comparison. Virtually every animal native to the United States lives in these woods whether large and small, timid and brave, noble and dishonorable, good and evil, sophisticated and primitive.

There is one group of animals that embodies all the best and none of the worst of those qualities, a group of close friends and families who have formed a large family. Composed of herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores, they are known by many as the hedgies due to their dwelling being right in front of the hedge separating the human world from the animal world, and how they will go through or over the hedge to heist from the humans for food and possessions.

They started out as a 10-member family: Verne the turtle who was the leader, Hammy the American red squirrel, Stella the stunk, Ozzie and Heather the opossums, and Lou, Penny, Bucky, Quillo, and Spike the porcupines. They used to live in a different forest, but one Spring morning they woke up and discovered that almost all of it had been demolished and replaced with a human suburb named after another fictional land, El Rancho Camelot. Had it not been for a wily raccoon named RJ the group would have died of starvation, and after some hijinks, RJ and a Persian cat named Prince Tigerious Mammhooht Shabbaz—Tiger for short—became the eleventh and twelfth members of the family. RJ had been abandoned by his parents as a young kit and grew up hating the very concept of family as he was forced to live a rough life of stealing and conning others in order to survive, but his time spent with the hedgies in that first week of Spring showed him what he had been missing out on his whole life up to that point and he wanted—no, needed—to be a part of it.

RJ's and Tiger's entry into the family was like the force that caused the stack of dominos to fall over, as the family increased in number after that. A year later and two more adult raccoons Luby and Rick, a turtle named Velma, and a family of bats composed of the father Simon, his mate Celine, and their three daughters Marilyn, Christine, and Claire joined in the group. Stella had married Tiger by then and they had one daughter named Princess De'Ausha who was a shunk-cat hybrid called a skunat. That same year, Verne and Velma married and Luby and Rick had twin sons Roger and Ty(ler). At this time, a widowed female porcupine named Annette and her three daughters Emily, Rachel, and Emma joined the hedgies. RJ married Heather and the two were thrilled when they had twins of their own, Mary and Bernard who were raccoon-possum hybrids called opossacoons. The family couldn't have been happier, but their happiness was nearly ended when De'Ausha got lost while on a heist, but she was found and brought back home by RJ's long-lost parents Rogan Senior and Sarah, and their teenage daughter Rebecca. They revealed the reason they left RJ behind was to protect him from a vengeful wolf pack who were targeting Rogan and Sarah. But just as the three raccoons were accepted into the hedgies' family, all of them almost died from two animal-hating humans, Gladys Sharp and Dwayne Lafontant. They were taken to Verm-Tech but saved by RJ and Rebecca. As a bonus Verne's biological nephew Plushie, who had been a captive at Verm-Tech, escaped and joined the hedgies. All nearly met their demise yet again when Gladys and Dwayne hired a construction company to develop that last wooded area in the El Rancho Camelot Estates where the animals were living. They barely escaped and naturally felt disheartened by the loss of their home. However, this loss turned out to be a blessing in disguise because they soon found the woods boarding the Elysian Fields Estates and gained greater than what they had before.

Life was more glorious than ever for the hedgies who met many new friends, and regrettably enemies. One such enemy was a teenage wolf named Kale whose ruthless pack took over and controlled the entire forest for a time, which forced the hedgies to flee. But Kale was nothing like his pack: he hated being a wolf because he never got to experience any of the love and fun with life that he desired so much, and on his first hunt leading his pack he was injured and abandoned by his them, but the hedgeis took pity on him and nursed him back to health. The time he spent with them finally gave him the love and fun he so craved, and he helped keep the hedgies alive after returning to his pack. Eventually, the continued mistreatment he received from his pack and the love he received from the hedgies—even after he killed some of the hedgie kids' friends and their family members—made him join the hedgies and give up his predator ways. He aided the hedgies and the rest of the non-predator forest population in overthrowing his pack, but his choice came at a high price. His pack godfather (the equivalent of "leader") gave him the worst punishment in all Wolf Society, the "mark of shame," by biting off his entire tail. Reserved only for wolves who commit the greatest crime of betrayal to both a pack and the Codes of Wolf Society, the mark of shame forever disgraced Kale as a traitor to Wolf Society, he could never join another pack, and if another wolf simply laid eyes on him it was his/her duty to end his life immediately and with extreme prejudice. But Kale couldn't have been happier now that he had a family who truly loved him and let him be free like any other animal, instead of being a slave to the Codes of Wolf Society which were rules that all wolves follow in order to be considered the best predators on land.

The next five years for the large family were relatively perfect and sublime. But then there was a time when the family's love was in jeopardy during the middle of summer. Bernard's timidity prevented him from standing up for himself and others in need, which was compounded by low self-esteem of how much unlike a raccoon he was and how much more his sister Mary was like a raccoon. He, along with Mary and De'Ausha discovered that, as hybrids, they were sterile and will never have kids of their own, which made them disown their parents for having kids knowing they would be sterile. Hammy had married a female American red squirrel named Scarlet and they had two sons, Aaron and Sam, but Sam's autism caused problems and Aaron's unwillingness to see his parents' point of view made the two boys run away. Bucky married Emily and had twins—Annie and Drake—while Quillo married Rachel, and Spike married Emma who had a son named Ike. But the porcupines struggled with the hardships of parenthood and almost gave up. Plushie missed his mom dearly and was getting fed up with how Verne and Velma are so unlike his mom, which caused him to go through an adolescent rebellion phase. Heather became gravely injured on a heist which made RJ question is abilities to carry out raids and a father because the stress from being the family co-leader was starting to take a toll on him. Rebecca thought she was gay, was pressured by her parents to become straight, and nearly ruined her relationship with her boyfriend Garrett. Kale's job of protecting prey animals from predators was too difficult, he was chastised by those whom he couldn't save, and he was depressed on being unable to find a lover due to his having the mark of shame. The bat sisters Marilyn, Christine, and Claire argued with each other for their flaws and Christine in particular had some eating problems as her means to cope with her boyfriend's breakup. Everyone felt the pain of Ozzie's death when he passed away from old age, but what made it worse was when they had to nurse Clara another wolf with the mark of shame back to health because of her superiority complex and attitude. Clara also struggled with coming to terms with being the servant of the hedgies—animals she considered lower than dirt—as punishment for insulting RJ and Rebecca the day of Ozzie's funeral, as well as her own troubled past. The focal point was when some of the hedgies old and new enemies came back to kill them out of a sense of misguided vengeance orchestrated by the most evil shrew family that ever walked the Earth.

But all the difficulties, the pain, and hardships only served to make the family grow stronger and closer to each other and those outside of the family that they loved. Thanks to RJ's teachings, Bernard became more courageous than ever, and his heart didn't break when his girlfriend, a raccoon named Patricia, broke up with him because his sterility would prevent him from giving her kits that she wanted so much. Mary and De'Ausha thought their boyfriends, a possum named Elroy, and a skunk named Ladarius, would never marry them for the same reason. But Elroy and Ladarius demonstrated that they still loved them and would marry them whether they're sterile or not. The three hyrbids also realized what they said and did to their parents was wrong and were forgiven and became closer to them than ever before. Sam and Aaron realized the importance of why their parents had to be strict with them sometimes, while Hammy and Scarlet thought of new ways to manage Sam's autism. The young married porcupines learned what it takes to be loving parents and spouses who can manage the new task of parenthood. Plushie cleaned up his act and finally understood the importance of all the rules his uncle and aunt had set for him. RJ learned that his hardships could be dealt with not by himself but with the help and love from the family. Rebecca realized that she loved Garrett more than her gay thoughts and feelings, and helped Garrett overcome his longstanding hatred for Kale killing his first mate. Marilyn, Christine, and Claire understood the importance of sticking together and supporting one another like true sisters should. The family learned to not let Ozzie's death keep them from living their lives to the fullest. And Clara reformed her ways thanks to Kale who now had a partner to help him keep the woods safe from predators.

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But all that seems like ancient history now, because 15 years have passed, and changes galore happened to the hedgies in that timeframe. The biggest change of all was Mary's life with her mate Elroy the opossum. The two married when Elroy was 21 and Mary was 20, and since then the fully-blooded marsupial and hybrid opossacoon have been traveling across the United States seeing many famous landmarks and living a life of adventure. That was the life Elroy wanted to live, and what a life it has been for him and Mary!

Mary thought heisting from humans was a thrill, but going to South Dakota's Mount Rushmore, New York's Niagara Falls, Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park, Missouri's Gateway Arch, Illinois's Cloud Gate, The Great Lakes, the Monuments in Washington D.C., Tennessee's Smokey Mountains, and The Kentucky Derby at Churchill Mounds are experiences she and her mate will cherish forever and never forget. Like Heather had told her 11-year-old daughter, Mary had to make compromises when she married Elroy, and all that life of traveling meant that Mary and her mate didn't get to live with the hedgies all the time as Mary had originally wanted. But then there was Elroy's compromise for choosing Mary as his mate, because the two returned back to the Elysian Fields Estates after each trip and spent several months with the hedgies before going on another trip. And with good (stolen) cell phones, Mary made video calls to her family daily during her and Elroy's travels so that no one back home was never not a part of her new life, and she was never not a part of theirs.

Now 26-years-old, Mary and the 27-year-old Elroy are currently making their way back to the Elysian Fields Estates after finishing a trip they took to the caves in Iowa. Being a raccoon-possum hybrid, Mary's appearance looks as such. Her overall body shape is that of a white-furred possum, she has a black raccoon mask around her blue eyes, and a bushy raccoon ring tail. But compared to her twin brother, Bernard, Mary appears more possum-like than raccoon with her long possum snout, pink-colored raccoon-shaped nose, possum-shaped paws, a pouch, and possum-shaped ears with white spots on them. Despite all this, however, Mary behaves more like a raccoon than a possum with her quick and effective thinking, daringness, mischievousness, adventure-prone attitude, mastery of the various tools she carries in her pink and black golf bag, and of course a raccoon's urge to steal things even when they already have enough.

Elroy has gray fur, a white-furred face, a pink tail and nose, brown eyes, and black ears with pencil-thin white lines on the top rims making them look sort of like crescent moons with the two points facing downward. Like all young possums Elroy used to have white spots on his ears, but those have disappeared with age, which is common especially for males opossums.

Mary is holding up her cell phone so that many members of her family can see her face as she answers a question as to how she and Elroy traveled back home this time.

Mary: "We stowed away on a train from Iowa back to Indiana, and have been hopping from one semi-truck to the next that have been taking us to the direction of our home where all you are."

Elroy gives a Bugs Bunny voice impression when he joins in by saying, "If it hadn't been for GPS, we would've taken the wrong turn at Albuquerque."

Kale is somewhere off the other end of the phone screen so only his hybrid Hispanic/Latino-Mafia accent can be heard when he says, "Dat cartoon Bunny's accent gives wolves' voices a bad name. Plus I've been trew Albuquerque, so I know you's two went nowhere near there on ya's way to n' from Iowa."

Elroy: "It was just a harmless joke, Kale, lighten up."

Mary: "Which brings me to my next point. We're on foot now and should arrive back in an hour or so. I can't wait to show all of you our photos and tell you a really funny story about how Elroy got us lost in a cave for about four hours."

Elroy crosses his arms and speaks in a defensive yet snarky tone when he retorts with, "Your sense of direction in there was just as bad as mine, baby. And you should be better because you're part raccoon."

Like Heather would, Mary rolls her eyes while sighing in embarrassment when the family on the phone screen snickers and chuckles.

Her father RJ sarcastically says, "I thought I taught you better than that, Mary. What gives?"

Mary: "I'll tell you the full story when we're back home, dad. But right now we're entering a forest with lots of predators, so Elroy and I need to focus on getting through safely. We'll see you all when we get back."

RJ: "Okay, Mary and Elroy. Be careful."

Mary: "No need to worry. You taught me well, dad. Love you."

The hedgies in unison: "We love you too Mary and Elroy."

Mary hangs up the phone, sees at a nearby tree, nods at Elroy who nods back, and the two climb it. There are many trees and each has branches close enough to be traversed by going from one limb to the next. Going through the forest this way will protect Mary and Elroy from all predators who can't climb trees, which reduces the threat to bears, wolverines, and birds of prey. The couple is safe from snakes because, as possum-blooded animals, they are immune to snake venom. Once on a wide branch, Mary puts her golf bag down and gets out a wedge golf club and puts five smoke pellets and one can of pepper spray in her pouch. Though nonlethal, the golf club hits hard and is sturdy, which makes it Mary's favorite offensive and defensive weapon—just like her father's. Elroy reaches into the golf bag to get out a switchblade knife, and then a homemade bandolier that holds a taser and small water balloons full of skunk spray fluid that Stella had filled up prior to the couple's departure two weeks ago. He also gets out a slingshot to shoot the balloons when needed and grips it in his tail. Now ready, the two traverse the treetops, keeping their eyes peeled and their ears perked up, waiting for the slightest sound or sight that will alert them of predators.

After four minutes, Mary's eyes notice a shadow getting in the way of the sunlight on a branch ten feet in front of her. She raises a fist to silently tell Elroy to halt, which he does and goes on high alert himself. When he sees the same shadow go over a sunny spot on the trees, he gets out his slingshot and joins Mary in looking up at the sky. No doubt that there's a bird of prey flying over them, so Elroy's slingshot can hit the avian from a medium distance and Mary's golf club can attack it at short range. The slingshot is a better choice right now because he has more water balloons than taser cartridges, and if he misses with the taser he'd waste ammo that might be needed to fight off a much bigger threat later.

Unlike most prey animals, which Mary and Elroy are, each spouse's parents had taught them how to effectively fight predators. The number one knowledge needed to win half the battle against predators is something Mary learned from Kale: use predator pride against the predator. Because all predators, no matter the species, see themselves as the meanest, smartest, strongest, and most intelligent animals on the planet, this makes them overconfident. Overconfidence is a huge weakness that most predators fail to see, and this situation the two are facing should be no different. Both know they must fight the aerial predator on their terms, and how to make that happen. After Elroy puts his taser back in Mary's bag, the two start casually proceeding from branch to branch while talking turkey.

Mary: "So which was your favorite cave we visited? Maquoketa or Crystal Lake?"

Elroy: "Definitely Maquoketa. It wasn't as dark as Crystal Lake Cave and had lots of vegetation to climb on which gave us some great views that the humans couldn't get to."

Mary: "No way, Crystal Lake Cave had underground waterways and glow in the dark mushrooms."

Elroy: "Oh, you mean the waterways that were acidic and nearly killed us when it ate through your bag's inflatable life raft?! That's when we got lost and there wasn't as much vegetation for us to climb on, which would have given us a quicker way out."

Mary: "The raft could've lasted, like, 15 more minutes, but you had us abandon it before we could get back to the spot we first got on it. We would've gotten out much quicker if we followed my suggestion."

Elroy: "But if we had stayed closer to the humans like I said—"

Mary: "—They would've seen our white fur, freaked out, and try to hurt us."

Elroy: "And how did you forget to pack fresh batteries for your flashlights?"

Mary: "We're nocturnal, we can see great in the dark."

Elroy: "Only if there was other natural lighting in the cave, which there was not at the spot we got lost in!"

Mary: "Quit actin' like a big baby. I got us out, didn't I?"

Elroy: "After getting us lost in the first place. Nice accomplishment."

Mary: "Either way, it means I have a better sense of direction than you."

Elroy: "You couldn't tell left from right if there was a sign pointing to the left and right."

Mary: "Counter argument: here's my left," (holds up her left fist), "and here's my right." (Holds up right fist) "Which one do you want in your face first?"

Elroy: "How about—"

The sound of a screeching red hawk is so loud that it means the raptor is seconds away from the two. The creature had been listening to the married couple's quarrel and waited for the opportune moment to strike, which is now. Sharp talons are extended forward and ready to grip hard enough to reach bone. That's when the two spring their trap for the hawk.

Using their prehensile tails to grip the tree branch they are standing on, they lunge to the side—Mary going right and Elroy going left—so that those deadly hawk talons grab nothing but air. With their tails functioning like a telephone pole worker's safety harness, the opossum-blooded pair swing so that they are now hanging upside down. Mary hits the tail of the hawk with her golf club, which offsets the bird's balance like an airplane losing its tail. Simultaneously, Elroy hits the hawk in the back with a mini water balloon full not with skunk spray but something just as nasty, if not nastier: battery acid. The avian wails in pain as its feathers are burning away with a sickening hiss-crackle sound like a stove boiling water. It crash lands on the ground and starts rolling in the dirt to neutralize the acid.

While that happens, Mary and Elroy, still hanging by their tails, look at each other and have another married couple argument, with this one being real instead of the pretend one they used earlier using their possum acting talents.

Mary: "Don't you think you took it too far with the battery acid?"

Elroy: "Birds can't smell very good, so the skunk spray wouldn't have helped."

Mary: "But listen to the guy, he's in a lot of pain."

Elroy glances over to the suffering hawk, but quickly looks back into Mary's eyes and replies with, "He was going to eat us; pluck out our eyes and liver first, and then eat us."

Mary: "You're doing it again, Elroy. You still have darkness inside of you. That cruelty and malice you use to justify equally cruel actions."

Elroy: "Well...Yeah, I guess I did take it too far. But you gotta admit that it was kill or be killed."

Mary: "There's always another choice that my family taught me: wound and scare off."

Elroy: "That would take too long and risk us getting hurt, or worse. I just wanted to end it the fastest way possible and I did. That guy" (points to the hawk who runs off into the thicket of shrubs) "killed who knows how many prey animals and would've done the same to us."

Mary: "Now that is true, but it doesn't excuse you for using the battery acid. You could've killed him."

Elroy: "And he could've killed you. I..."

He points upward and the two climb back up onto the branch. When that's done, Elroy holds Mary's paws into his own and looks sincerely into her eyes.

Elroy: "I don't want to lose you, Mary."

Mary: "And I don't want to lose you either, Elroy. But there are other ways for me to lose you besides you dying, and it's if you give in to your cruelty."

Mary's comment makes Elroy think back to how his rage all began. Growing up with nine other siblings in which the older ones could boss him around and the younger ones annoyed the living daylights out of him, all while his parents did nothing to make it stop would drive any creature nuts. But because Elroy had no privacy in his life (and even if he did his siblings would just follow him wherever he went) he did the one thing an angry person should never do: bottle up his foul feelings inside of himself. He took it out with his imagination, going over in his head what he would like to say and do to his parents and siblings. His anger festered inside of himself until it became more venomous than all the poison in the world combined. But there is still hope for him and her name is Mary, his precious mate who will never give up on him as easily as others would have.

Elroy: "I...know. That's another reason I married you, because you can keep me on the straight and narrow path. You redirect me so that I follow my best half, not my worst half."

Mary: "You're not half and half, Elroy, you're 98 percent your true self and 2 percent cruelty, and even then the cruelty is only occasionally. I knew the risks of becoming your mate, and the upsides will always outweigh the downsides."

Elroy: "Thank you again, Mary. Your kindness and understanding makes yourself feel better, and makes me feel better about myself."

The two kiss while hugging and when they separate Mary says, "Let's leave it at that and keep trekking our way back home."

As the two resume their journey Mary quickly reflects on some things before redirecting her attention to staying alert for more attackers.

Though outwardly the marsupials seemed to enjoy the same things—like adventure, excitement, mischief, and each other's company—their personal preferences are living proof that opposites attract. Mary loved being in a family, Elroy did not; Mary liked kids, Elroy hated kids; Mary wanted to live with her family as an adult, Elroy wanted to travel the country.

At the time, two of the things that made her question if Elroy was right for her was how he hated the very concept of family, and didn't want to stay in the woods at the Elysian Fields Estates. He wanted to live a life of adventure and travel, going from one amazing location to the next while he and Mary would have the time of their lives, which was a freedom only possible because they could never have kids of their own with Mary's sterility. There were two main reasons for his hatred of family. First, having grown up with his nine siblings who irritated the living stew out of him, Elroy despised young and older kids. Second, he didn't think too well of his parents, Ruth and Josiah, because after Elroy lost six of his closest siblings, before he even met Mary, his parents had three new kids. To Elroy this was the ultimate disrespect for the siblings he lost who were basically forgotten and never mentioned again. To add insult to injury, Ruth and Josiah didn't start becoming so good at defending their family until after they lost Elroy's favorite siblings.

To have such a family-hating guy like Elroy in a group of animals who entire lives are centered on family seemed like a terrible idea, but Heather had been right when she had told her daughter that Mary is the one who could reshape Elroy's idea on families. As the two dated Elroy's continued interactions with Mary and the hedgies made him slowly warm up to how a real family operates.

What snaps Mary's mind back to reality is the sight of the shadows belonging to several birds swooping toward them. But just as Mary raises her golf club to take a simultaneous defense and offense pose, the bird shadows pass Mary and Elroy completely. Elroy also notices something and whispers his findings to Mary by saying, "They're just crows, not raptors. And whatever it is they want, it's not us. And...*Snnniiiiifffff* something is dead or dying. That way."

Mary follows Elroy's pointing finger. She takes a step in that direction, but Elroy puts a paw gently on her shoulder and says, "You don't wanna go there. We should keep moving before real predators or strong scavengers come to eat the carcass."

Mary: "I know that, as a possum, you have a great sense of smell. And no offense, but mine is better. I have the senses of smell of a raccoon and opossum combined. Whatever it is the crows are going after isn't dead yet. If there's a chance we can save whoever it is, we need to offer a helping paw."

Elroy knows better than to question his mate's hybrid senses, but as a male, can't help but question her choices. "Mary, you can't save everyone. This is Nature we're talking about. It's how she works. Creatures die all the time, and I don't want to add us to the mix."

Mary: "And if it was one of my family members—which is now technically your family members too—would you want to abandon them, or help them out?"

Elroy sighs and says in a defeated yet self-aware tone, "Help them out...Of course."

Mary: "So you wanna lead, or should I?"

Elroy smiles and says, "Ladies first."

Mary: "You want the fishing rod"?

Elroy: "No, I prefer the grapple hook."

Mary digs into her golf bag and pulls out the grapple hook that she gives to Elroy. She then whips out her fishing rod and, like her father RJ taught her, uses it like Batman's grapple gun going from one tree to the next. Elroy is close behind, her Robin in this case. Three minutes later and they have to stop their "fast travel" so as to not get noticed by the crows gathering in the trees 200 feet away. Mary and Elroy use their devices to lower themselves to the ground. Once there they put their tools up and Mary gets out her go-to weapon for bluffing predators away: a paintball pistol with an eight-shot capacity. Although completely nonlethal, it looks and sounds just like a real gun. The mere sight of it alone has scared off most hostile creatures Mary and Elroy have encountered in their travels, and the most Mary has ever had to do is fire a warning shot in the air to send aggressors heading for the hills. Literally armed with that knowledge, the two quietly creep forward, wanting to surprise the crows and whatever possible predator or carrion-feeder that could be attacking someone in need of their help.

Once they hear a scream and the sickening sound of a wet Bash!, Mary regrets not moving in faster and now charges with all her speed and her gun blazing.

Crow: "Gun shots!"

Another crow: "Human hunters!"

Yet another crow: "Everybody scram!"

The birds leave in a hurry but Elroy can tell by scent that whatever creature delivered the killing blow has not been frightened off. He has learned why he shouldn't use battery acid, and instead gets out his taser because using a skunk spray water balloon might affect the animal they have come to help. Mary looks over her shoulder and signals her mate to climb in the trees, which Elroy nods as it means he can hide up there and attack from above if needed. Being part raccoon and running on the ground, Mary is faster and she arrives at a natural ditch first. She ejects the spent paintball gun magazine and loads a fresh clip. She cocks the gun slide and leaps into the ditch the same way a police officer enters the fray with an armed criminal.

Mary: "Run now, or I'll empty my entire clip on you!"

The attacker snorts, turns around, and reveals itself to be a wild boar. It turns out to be female as it speaks in rough yet feminine voice while saying, "Beat it, whatever you are. Unless you wanna end up as sloppy seconds."

Mary: "You see this gun? I'll shoot you dead!"

Boar: "That won't happen."

Mary cocks back her gun's hammer and threateningly says, "Last chance."

Boar: "I've been near humans, even survived a brush with hunters, and this nose of mine tells me that's not a real gun. The shots you used to scare off the mooching crows didn't smell anything like gun powder or cordite. And when it comes to suidaes like me, the nose knows."

Mary realizes the jig is up, but doesn't like making empty threats either, so she fires two shots aimed at the boar's nostrils. The suidae dodges by leaping out of the ditch and before Mary does the same she catches a brief glimpse of the animal the boar had attacked: an opossum, female by scent, and also with the scents of joeys in her pouch—which reek with death. Now Mary is filled with a primal hunger for revenge as she screams, "You attacked an animal with kids and killed some of them?! You sick, twisted pig-of-a-swine!"

The boar scoffs as if insulted—obviously seeing no wrong in her vile and low actions—and her nonchalant voice tone reflects this when she responds with, "Hey, a girl's gotta eat. And survival of the fittest, you dumb broad."

The boar charges for Mary who fires another shot that misses when the boar jumps forward. Mary fires more shots that either miss or hit the side of the boar, causing no damage or harm. When Mary's clip is out she turns around and runs while reloading. When she's finished and turns around her back is up against a large stone. Mary knows it's literally do or die time for her now, because there is no escape. The stone is too smooth for her to climb on, and the boar would notice her trying to run left or right and thus change direction easily.

Mary takes aim and her gun kicks back in her paws that the boar avoids again. Only this time, Mary smugly says in her mind, "Gotcha, sucker!" as her latest missed "shot" never really happened. She wanted to give the boar the impression that she fired again, so that the suidae would dodge only to be in the path of Mary's real paintball shots that she fires with two quick squeezes. One goes straight up the swine's nose, and the other hits it in the eye. The predator reels her head to the side while groaning in pain and frustration, but had been running so fast beforehand that she can't avoid running into a large stone. Mary has gotten out of the way, but has learned by now that her paintball gun won't hurt the pig anywhere except the face which is pointing in the opposite direction of her.

Mary thinking: "As soon as she recovers, she'll come charging at me again, but we've got to finish this fight now and tend to the injured possum and her kids before it's too late."

As if her thoughts could be heard, Elroy shoots his taser into the boar while he slides down a smooth tree trunk. Having learned from the internet about the anatomy of predators, Elroy knows the heart and lungs of the suidae are protected by the ribcage; therefore, he hits right where it's intestines would be, which aren't protected by any bones. The boar's body convulses in perfect, rapid synchronization with the sound of crackling electrical shocks.

Once the electric charge ends, Elroy is about to load a new cartridge, when Mary says, "No. The battery acid."

Elroy gives her a confused look and says, "I thought you didn't approve?"

Mary (firm and authoritative tone): "This boar killed children on purpose! If she moves, hit her in the face."

Elroy nods in agreement with his mate's suggestion, and understanding why she suggested it. So he says, "My pleasure," whereby he drops the taser, and gets out his slingshot along with another mini water balloon filled with battery acid.

As he walks over to the dazed boar, Mary makes her way back toward the ditch. She uses her nose to pinpoint exactly where the possum mother is and heads for that specific direction. Just as she's about to drop down, Mary hears the boar groan "Uhhhh" while the latter shakes her head side to side. The groan is followed by a splatter sound, which in turn is followed by wails of agony from the boar. Mary looks over her shoulder and sees Elroy coming toward her.

Elroy: "She moved." He then loads a new cartridge into his taser and says, "I'll stand guard while you help the possum."

Mary doesn't need to acknowledge her approval verbally or nonverbally, and takes satisfaction for her mate ridding the world of such an evil creature. She also takes comfort knowing that she can tend to the possum in relative peace.

Mary gets into the ditch and approaches the female possum who is heaving instead of breathing. The full-blooded marsupial has a mixture of white and gray fur, a pink nose, brown eyes, and gray tail. Mary kneels down and inspects the injuries. She sighs in dread while closing her eyes. The injuries are fatal, making the victory over the boar now seem pointless. Mary is amazed that the possum before her is still alive, but correctly theorizes that the mother is just holding on to see and thank who had come to her aid. Sadly, all Mary can do now is try to comfort the dying possum. She gently takes the possum's paw into her own and feels how cold it is, meaning the mother probably has about a minute to live. But somehow, the possum has enough strength to guide Mary's paw to her cheek.

Possum: "You're...s-so...warm...So...heroic...Th-th-thaaank y-you."

Mary shakes her head no and says, "A hero would've saved you. We were too late..."

Just as Mary lowers her head in defeat the possum says, "Ba...bies..."

Mary: "What?"

The possum points to her pouch and stammers out, "M-my...bab...ies. Take them...R-raise them as your...own."

Mary glances at Elroy who mirrors her confused look. Mary turns back to the possum and says, "But I'm a hybrid, I can't produce milk to feed them—"

Mary stops when she sees that the possum's eyes are dull and glassy, her arms are flat on the ground, and she has stopped breathing. The last time Mary had seen a dead possum up close was when her grandfather Ozzie passed away. But his death was peaceful and painless, unlike this poor and unfortunate soul. Mary closes the possum's eyes then looks up Elroy who gives a sad look as well. Mary quickly overcomes her depression and remembers the last thing the possum told her. She reaches into the pouch and starts pulling out joeys which seem to be toddlers—which gives her all the more reason to hate the boar, and to search for survivors.

Elroy gets closer and asks, "What're you doing? Aren't they all dead?"

The first possum joey is dead, but Mary has no time to feel sorrow and is only concerned with one thing: finding any live ones. So she gently puts it on the ground while answering Elroy's question with, "Let's hope not."

Elroy: "She was pretty delirious from her injuries. And I can tell from here that the killing blow was directed at her pouch."

Mary pulls out two more dead joys and says, "We're not leaving her kids behind, dead or alive. And if there's any alive, then get ready to have kids, Elly."

Every single painful memory of the lifestyle Elroy endured from his biological family flashes before his eyes, which makes him yell "KIIIIDS?!" in a horrified tone.

By now Mary has pulled out three more dead joeys but doesn't lose hope. She replies in a stern tone, "I know you heard her dying request. If there's any alive, we're raising them."

Elroy: "But—"

Mary places another dead joey to the side and this time stops her search to look up and face her mate. She looks into his eyes and says, "Yeah, it's not what we planned on...But we'd be worse than that boar for leaving any of her live babies behind." With that, she continues her search.

Elroy: "But you can't produce milk."

Mary pulls out two dead joeys and replies, "One problem at a time, Elroy."

Mary gasps when she pulls out a joey who squirms around and emits a sneeze call that young possums make to signal for their parents. Mary's smile and spirits return to her as she looks back up at Elroy and says, "It's a live one! A boy! 3-years-old by the looks of it, which means we don't have to worry about nursing them. It's like Mother Nature herself is granting me the wish I thought I could never have!"

The movement causes the joey to go out cold, but is otherwise unharmed. While Mary puts the young one down near its deceased mother, Elroy demonstrates that, despite his hatred for kids, he does truly care about the possum babies when he unconsciously pumps a fist and whispers "Yes," at how happy he is that there's still a joey alive. Shortly after that, he prays in his mind, "Just one. I can deal with one. One's a blessing, more is a curse. Mary and I can still go on traveling trips with one kid to slow us down."

All his enthusiasm is destroyed when Mary exclaims, "Another live one! A boy!" while she pulls out the second live—albeit unconscious—possum joey and puts it next to his living brother.

Elroy speaks in a disappointed and monotone voice, "Oh. Uh, great."

Mary decides to address her mate's lack of eagerness later (and she knows why he feels that way) and keeps looking. She says, "I think the ones closer to the pouch's entrance took the brunt of the boar's bite, but the ones in the back were protected by their siblings."

However, Mary's theory is proven wrong when the last two joeys she pulls out have a large tooth mark on their bodies and are not moving. Mary's heart and spirits wilt like a dying flower when she says, "Only two survivors...Two...out of 13," in a melancholic tone. She doesn't dwell on those thoughts for long, because she soon says, "But two is better than zero."

She empties out the things she had stored in her own pouch and then puts the children—her new sons—in there. She approaches Elroy and says, "We can still go on fun trips once our new kids get older. It'll be even more fun with them around, trust me."

Elroy: "But we'd have to keep a constant eye on them to make sure they don't hurt themselves, and carrying them around will slow us down and we won't be able to climb as fast."

Mary: "Those are the sacrifices of parenthood. We have to take care of these joeys. Without any parents, they'll die."

Elroy: "Maybe their relatives will come looking for them."

Mary: "That's a possibility...But until and if that ever happens, we're their parents now."

Elroy: "I'm not gonna like this," (sighs and slumps down in defeat) "but I know you're right."

Mary: "Thanks for understanding..."

Elroy: "But just so you know, I don't fully agree."

Mary nods yes and for no particular reason, the two spouses are silent for almost a full minute. Mary breaks the silence and changes the topic by saying, "We need to give the biological mother and siblings a proper burial."

Elroy: "Can't argue with that."

Mary: "Let's get the hand shovels out of my bag. We'll just fill in the part of the ditch where their bodies are."

Elroy: "Right. As for her," (Points at the boar's corpse) "I say we leave that worthless hog out for scavengers to eat."

Mary: "Agreed."

The pair go to Mary's golf bag, get out two hand shovels and return to the ditch. Just as Elroy sticks his shovel into the side, Mary says, "Stop! We should say something first."

Elroy: "Like what? No offense, but we don't even know any of their names, much less the kind of possums they were."

Mary is stumped, but only briefly because her raccoon-inherited intelligence comes up with just the things to say. Mary takes a deep breath, faces the dead body of the mother (causing Elroy to do the same), and says, "Whoever you are, know that the world is a lesser place without you. You died protecting your children, like a true mother. You held onto your fading lifeline long enough to bequeath me and my mate with the honor, the privilege, to raise your surviving children. And raise them we will, because you have given us something we could truly never have on our own: the miracle of children. We can start our own family thanks to you. We will repay you for your selfless act of love by fulfilling your last request. I promise—we promise—to raise your children like our own sons. They will be loved and cared by us as much as you loved and cared for them, right up to the end of your own life. Right Elroy?"

Elroy: "Right."

Mary then faces the bodies of the joeys and says, "Any death is a tragedy, but the death of young children, who barely got to live out their lives, is the worst tragedy of all. The only reassurance anyone can take from the death of children is that they are in Heaven for sure."

Elroy finds himself nodding in agreement to the next things Mary says.

Mary: "Even if you misbehaved, were bothersome to your mother and siblings, and never stopped demanding things because you felt unsatisfied, you did that because it's only natural for all children to behave that way."

Elroy rolls his eyes unseen as he thinks quite differently from what comes out of Mary's mouth next.

Mary: "You are innocent because you never had time to learn how the world works and were incapable of understanding why your mom told you 'No' or had to discipline you because your brains never got a chance to develop."

Elroy returns to keeping his personal feelings in check when Mary changes her eulogy to something more serious and practical.

Mary: "Two of your siblings are now in our care, and we will raise them the best as we can. They will miss you, all of you, but will never forget you. Whenever they need to be reminded, we'll take them back here. To this special place, where many lives ended but new lives began...Amen."

Elroy: "Amen. That was beautiful, Mary."

Mary: "Thanks Elroy. Now we can bury them."

Each adult gets a shovel full of dirt and tosses it on the dead bodies. The instant that happens, a sneezing sound emits from them. Mary immediately drops her shovel and rushes into the ditch, following the sound that keeps repeating it until she finds, much to her and Elroy's astonishment, that one of the two last joeys who had been bitten by the boar's teeth is alive after all!

Mary: "I don't believe it! We have three kids now! Triplets! It was playing possum all along. It's a miracle!"

Elroy is speechless both out of surprise and dread that they now have three kids to raise. All of the trips he and Mary had planned to go on are canceled for a long time, possibly forever. He is not a happy camper about that, but is able to keep that from showing on his face, lest he angers his mate who can be quite the assertive one.

By now Mary has finished bandaging and inspecting the miracle joey and happily announces, "It's a girl! Oh, let's name her Mira, short for Miracle!"

Elroy: "I think we should wait and see what her other siblings call her before we rename her Mira."

But at the sound of her adoptive father mentioning the name, the joey giggles and coos in happiness.

Mary: "I think she likes it." (To the girl joey) "How does that sound? Mira?" The girl makes the same noises of approval as before, so Mary smiles at her and says, "Then it's settled. Your name is Mira now. Let's have you join your brothers."

Mira's injuries cause her to fall fast asleep. Once she is safely snuggled in Mary's pouch, Mary looks at Elroy and says, "We've gotta think of names for our other kids too."

Elroy: "You're letting your excitement get the better of you, Mary. If these three have other relatives, we'll need to give them to their rightful guardians. And you've made it harder for yourself by giving one of them a new name. We should wait around here to see if any of them show up."

Mary: "I...guess you're right. But since we're gonna be long overdue to return to our family, once we finish burying the mother and siblings, I'd say that gives any surviving relatives enough time to come by and claim guardianship of the kids."

Elroy: "It could take weeks for them to come looking for the dead mother."

Mary: "Possums' senses of smell are great, so they can follow the three's scents to our home. And if it takes weeks, then that means the relatives aren't living anywhere nearby, which only makes it all the more important for us to fulfill the promise I made to their mother when I gave her eulogy."

When Elroy gives a long face, Mary gets frank with him by saying, "If you have any other misgivings about us taking in these three joeys as our own, tell me right now."

Elroy nods and says, "I will never leave you for any reason, but I'm not going to be as happy with our marriage if we have three kids to raise. You know that, besides how much I love you for who you are, I married you because we couldn't have kids. I thought your life was fully happy with only me, just as my life is fully happy with only you. You have made me the happiest possum on Earth. Haven't I made you the happiest opossacoon on this Earth without children?"

Mary walks up to Elroy and puts a gentle paw on her cheek. "You have made me the happiest opossacoon on Earth, so never doubt yourself...But Elroy, when we exchanged our marriage vows, you promised to do whatever it takes to make me happy."

Elroy twiddles his fingers and nervously says, "I, uh, did say that."

Mary: "I said the same thing to you, and I sacrificed the chance to live with my family all the time in order to make you happy by living the life of travel you've always wanted. But I've always wanted children. Children will make me even happier than the happiest female oposacoon on this Earth. And think of how happy our family will be to have new grandchildren, cousins, and playmates?"

Elroy: "I...yeah. You're right."

Mary: "Like I said before, this isn't what we expected, but doing unexpected things that are necessary is a part of life. And don't worry, I'm sure you'll learn to love being a father just like you learned to love family by spending time in mine."

Elroy's facial expression indicates that he finally understands and is on-board with what his and Mary's new life must entail. His voice tone reflects this. "You're right...again. Sorry for doubting you, love."

Mary: "I forgive you. Once we're done burying them, we'll head home and introduce the family our new kids."

Elroy: "Sounds great!"

The two return to work putting dirt in the ditch. However, Elroy doesn't mention that he had been lying her with his earlier expression and voice tone. Opossums, by nature, are masters of deceit in ways besides playing dead, so as he keeps burying the dead Elroy says in his mind, "That's what you'd like, Mary, but that's not the right thing to do. If you or anyone else isn't willing to do the right thing, I will. I just hope it doesn't come to that."

It takes them 30 minutes to finish the burial and to place a gravestone on the spot. Then, the two newly-crowned parents head on home. Ready to add more members to their ever-growing family.

---

An hour later and Marilyn the 39-year-old fruit bat hears and smells the scent of the two coming long before anyone else does, but she doesn't announce it until they are almost within eye sight. True to her somewhat snarky nature she sarcastically announces, "Well, look who finally decided to show up."

She pauses to await the laugher at how she, a blind bat, said for the others to look. Only the kids aged 10-14 laugh, while those younger don't comprehend the humor, and anyone 15 and up rolls their eyes or groans at the bad pun. Marilyn doesn't mind what the reactions are, and continues before anyone can vocally respond to her earlier remark. "We were getting worried that you two had been attacked by a predator."

Clara, the 35-year-old wolf and Kale's mate says in her gruff Mafia accent, "Me n' my family would patrol dose woods dey called us from if it wasn't too far from the regu'la perimeter dat counts as part'a dee Elysian Fields Estates Woods."

Kale, also 35-years-old, nods in agreement and adds, " 'Course we can't cover all woods's, oth'awise dare'd be no one ta protect all the prey animales here. But on'tha plus side, there've barely been any predator attacks since we started our pack, amiright los niños?"

Three 14-year-old wolf triplets—two boys and one girl—say "Sí papá," in unison which makes Kale and Clara smirk in pride at how their marriage has produced their own wolf pack with the surname Predator-Quellers.

Like all wolves who earn their names based on a talent unique to only them, Clara earned hers for her habit of clarifying her attitude. She has predominately light-gray fur and a thin black stripe running down her back as if her spinal cord is being highlighted on the outside. Surrounding the black stripe is an X-shaped regular-gray-colored pattern that takes up most of her dorsal side. Her face-fur is regular-gray, save for the five black bangs that hang down from her forehead and curve upward and cross over her right eye like check marks. Her entire ventral side from the chin down is so light-gray that it's practically white. She has dusty rose colored eyes, meaning the irises are a perfect mixture of pink and purple combined. Finally, she has no tail and lots of scars on her body, the biggest on her underbelly where her ribcage is.

Kale's original name was meant to be Gale for how his nose could track down prey even trough gale-force winds, but his late parents thought the name sounded girly and made it Kale instead. He has light-brown fur everywhere on his body except for the text-box-shaped regular-brown-colored pattern running down his dorsal side which has dark brown stripes in the center, as well as some regular-brown fur on the top of his head and the middle section of his face that goes down to the nose. He has no tail and there are numerous scars on his body, the most noticeable being the scar going down from the top of his head to his leathery black nose. Lastly, Kale's eyes are colored grape in which the irises are predominantly light-purple with thin streams of regular-blue mixed in between.

Their firstborn son earned the name Boxer because he has the unbreakable will of a boxer who keeps getting up after being knocked down. Their second born is also a boy named Roaster because he has a taste for roast beef and for roasting his opponents with words. The youngest is their daughter named Percie, because of how persistent she is. Both wolf parents look at their kids and reminisce in pride at how their own physical features have made it into their offspring.

---

Boxer has white fur on his ventral side, and light-brown fur from the bottom of his eyes to the back of his neck, as well as most of his forelegs, almost all of his left and right side, and all of his hindlegs and tail, save for the tip which has white fur. Gray fur covers the upper part of his forelegs, his dorsal side, the base of his tail, and all of his face. His dorsal pattern looks like a wide knife with two tips which are the gray fur areas of his forelegs. Finally his eyes are thistle-colored, in which the iris is mostly purple with streaks of blue.

Roaster is four different shades of brown: the bottom of his eyes, to the mouth, neck, ventral side (including the tail), paws from his ankles down, and where his front fore-shoulders meet his back are so light brown they're almost white. He has regular-brown fur around his eyes, on his lower neck, the back of his forelegs, and the lower sides of his hind legs that make a roughly upside down V-shape with his left and right side of his body. He has dark brown fur in a Y-shape from his forehead to his nose, the upper part of his neck on the left and right side, the front of his forelegs, the upper sides of his hindlegs, all of his hindquarters, and all but the tip of his tail. Chocolate-brown fur covers the dorsal side of his neck, the shoulders of his forelegs, his dorsal side past the white-brown fur and to the uppermost sides of his body, the base of his tail and the tip of his tail. His eyes are purple mix in which the dark purple streaks of the iris closest to the pupil almost overtake the light purple of his outer iris.

Percie has light brown fur in circles around her eyes, the gap between her ankles and paws on her forelegs, and all of the fur on her hindlegs' ankles. White fur is on her cheeks down to her ventral side, including the tail, and the backs of all her legs, Light-gray fur is on the front of her forelegs, a skinny upside down V-shape above the white fur on her ventral and left and right body sides, and above the light-brown of her hind legs. Regular gray fur is on her left and right forehead, the bottom half of her neck, left and right body sides (above the the light gray fur), all of her hindquarters, and all but the tip of her tail's ventral and left and right sides. Dark gray fur is down her face in an upside down Saints logo, forms a ying-yang-like structure on her foreleg shoulders with the regular gray fur, a thick Y-shaped pattern on her back, and on the tip of her tail. She has her mother's check-mark-like bangs, but they cover her left eye instead of right. Lastly, her eyes are sea blue in which the iris is a perfectly-balanced mixture of light- regular- and dark-blue.

---

Kale and Clara only spent a few seconds thinking about their kids' looks and refocus on the family's conversation when RJ the raccoon tells his daughter and son-in-law, "We're just glad you two made it home safely, Mary and Elroy. And can't wait to see all the pictures you took on your latest trip."

Now 52-years-old, the raccoon's once brown fur has become gray, save for his dark brown mask, white ventral side, and a now regular-brown stripe (formerly dark brown) running from the back of his head down to the base of his tail. Two things that have been unchanged by age are his blue eyes and the three white rings on his tail. He basically looks like his parents, Rogan Senior who passed away two years ago, and Sarah who passed away four years ago, both from old age.

Mary: "You taught me everything I know, dad. You never have to worry about me. By the way, where's mom?"

RJ: "Taking a nap. I tried to wake her up, but—"

Heather says, "—That was five minutes ago, I'm up now," as she walks to Mary and hugs her. She then says, "You didn't think I was going to miss the arrival of my own daughter now, did you?"

Mary: "Heh-hehe, never mom."

Heather the opossum has white fur, sky-blue eyes, white spots on her ears, a black tail, and white bangs on the middle of her forehead that curve down a centimeter between where her eyes are located. Although only 47-years-old, Heather, as a possum, has advanced aging and has the mind and body of a 65-year-old. Admittedly, this is better than most possums (who would have the mind and body of a mid-70s-year-old in their late 40s) because Heather has been working out in her free time ever since having kids, and it has improved her health tremendously.

Looking at Elroy, Heather asks, "And how's my favorite-only son-in-law doing this day?"

Elroy: "Doing good, all things considering."

RJ and Heather notice his voice isn't as cheery as it normally is, and RJ asks, "What do you mean?"

Elroy: "Well—"

Before he can go one, Bucky's and Emily's 15-year-old porcupine twins, Annie and Drake, come running up and tug on Elroy's left and right arm, bouncing in excitement while doing so.

Annie: "Did'ja bring us souvenirs like you promised, Unky Elroy?!"

Drake: "Yeah, yeah? Did'ja!?"

Spike's and Emma's 14-year-old daughter, Beatrice (Bea) latches onto Mary's left arm while Quillo's and Rachel's only son, the 14-year-old Ron/Ronny latches onto her right arm, both mirroring their cousins' giddy movements and voice.

Bea: "Auntie Mary's gotta have them in her bag, I betcha."

Ron: "You got me a toy like I asked for, right? Not a statue or a picture."

Ike, Spike's and Emma's 18-year-old son steps in to manage the situation by saying, "Easy my buzzin' cousins and lil' sis. Mary's not Santa Claus."

The younger teens clam down, but are visibly disappointed. That is, until Ike says, "She's like Mrs. Claus, and Elroy is Santa. So we're gonna get souvenirs from both of them. Who's with me?"

Bea, Ron, Drake, and Annie collectively yell "Yeeeaahhh!" while raising their paws, their energy restored by Ike, their mischievous ringleader. Lou and Penny rolls their eyes in both embarrassment and acceptance of how their grandchildren have turned out. Both are 70-years old and have brown fur, gray quills, and brown eyes. But the grandkids take after their parents, all of whom are now 39-years-old. Bucky, Quillo, and Spike have blue eyes, and look just like Lou except that Bucky's ventral fur is colored regular-brown, Quillo's is light brown, and Spike's is dark brown. Emily, Rachel, and Emma have brown eyes, white and grayish fur, and black and white quills. Emily is the tallest of her three sisters and married to Bucky; Rachel is the second tallest and is married to Quillo, and Emma is the shortest and married to Spike.

Ike has light brown fur, blue eyes, black and white quills, and dark brown ventral fur. Annie has brown fur, gray quills, and regular-brown ventral fur. Drake has white and grayish fur, black and white quills, and regular-brown ventral fur. Bea has white and grayish fur (including her ventral side), brown quills, and brown eyes. Ron is named after the female triplets' late father and has blue eyes, brown fur, black and white quills, and light brown ventral fur. Like Rogan and Sarah, their mother, Annette has passed away from old age.

One of the many raccoons among the hedgies is Tyler who says, "Listen to yourselves...You're taking about Christmas when it's not even the month of December."

Grace, his mate, joins in with, "Yeah, as if Christmas doesn't come too early and end too late as is."

Roger, Tyler's older yet more imaginative and somewhat more childish twin brother, buts in, "Well, Christmas in July is a thing."

Ty: "We're in the Springtime, doofus! Has your magic top head grown into your brain?"

Roger pulls out his classic magic wand and says, "You tell me." He taps the hat on his head which vanishes in a puff of sparkly purple smoke, and then reappears on top of Tyler's head. "You're wearing it," says Roger before Ty can even make a sound of surprise.

The brief but effective magic trick gets Roger's kits—11-year old son Riley and 9-year-old daughter Ellie—to applaud and go "Yay, daddy!"

Ty wants to yank the hat off his head, throw it to the ground, and stomp on it, but that would set a bad example for his and Grace's 8-year old daughter Kelly. Instead he casually takes it off while sarcastically remarking, "You know, you could always ask me to be in your magic acts like you do for your kits, and mate, and everyone else except me."

Roger: "It wouldn't be as fun."

Roger's and Ty's parents, Rick and Luby chuckle at their sons' mellowed-down but still-present sibling rivalry and murmur to themselves.

Rick: "The more things change..."

Luby: "The more they stay the same."

Luby is 52-years old and her formerly light-brown fur is now light gray. She still has her ocean-green eyes, a dark brown mask, white ventral fur, and a red bow on the top of her head between the ears. Rick is 58-years old and has blue eyes, a black mask, white ventral side, and his fur is still a mixture of brown and gray. Roger is 29-years-old, has a black mask, ocean-green eyes, and brown-gray fur covering his whole body without white ventral fur. Tyler is 29-years old, has blue eyes, a dark brown mask, brown-gray fur, and white fur on his ventral side. Aleshia is 28-years old, has gray fur, green eyes, a black mask, and a light-brown tail with five black rings.

Riley is named after Rick's late brother who had been killed by a bear when he was 5-years-old. The new Riley has brown and gray fur mixture, a white ventral side, green eyes, a black mask, a dark gray tail with four black rings, and black gloves and socks markings on all four paws. Ellie has brown and gray fur mixture, ocean-green eyes, a black mask, a light brown tail with three black rings, black socks and gloves markings, and only has white fur on her nose and cheeks down to the bottom of her neck. Grace has light brown fur without a white ventral side, hazel eyes with gray flecks, a dark brown mask, and a dark gray tail with five black rings. Kelly has regular brown fur, a dark gray mask, her face has a thin white-fur circle from her eyebrows, cheek-tuffs, and nose; dark brown gloves and socks markings, and a tail with four white rings and four black rings.

Seeing that the situation has resolved itself, Mary answers the porcupines' earlier question with, "No worries. We brought souvenirs for everyone."

Four 15-year-old quads-born raccoons run up practically out of nowhere and surround Mary and Elroy. Two are boys and two are girls, and all are the kits of Rebecca, RJ's little sister, and her mate Garrett. The firstborn daughter is named Lizzy, the first son is named Rogan III (or R3), the second son is named Gary, and the fourth daughter is named Sarah/Sare. Lizzy is named after Garrett's first mate who had been killed by Kale when he was a teenager whereby his pack took over the woods. Needless to say those actions made it hard for Garrett to get along with Kale, but thanks to Kale changing his ways to protect animals as well as Rebecca's love for her then-boyfriend, Garrett is now one of Kale's best friends. This Lizzy and her other three siblings resemble Garrett in that they each have auburn-colored fur including their ventral sides, charcoal-colored masks, and black stripes that go from their noses to the part of their backs between both shoulders. The only way to tell the quads apart is that Lizzy has teal eyes, R3 has ocean-green eyes, Gary has regular-green eyes, and Sare has aqua eyes.

Lizzy: "I was born first, so I get my souvenir first."

R3: "I'm taller and more mature, so I'm getting mine first."

Sare: "Pah-leeese, you're named after an astromech droid from Star Wars."

R3: "Am not! I'm named after my grandfather, just like you're named after your grandmother!"

Gary: "Mom and dad obviously love me the most if they went through the extra effort to give me my own original name, so my souvenir comes first."

A fifth girl raccoon kit, aged seven, then comes up and says, "Well, I'm the youngest."

Immediately, the "Quad-Squad's" attitude shifts from hostile to docile and caring as Lizzy says, "Oh, of course Lauren. We're sorry for fighting."

Sare: "And for forgetting about you."

Gary: "You go on and get your souvenir before any of us."

R3: "Because we love you the most of all, baby sister."

Lauren smiles and gets her souvenir, then her older siblings get theirs. Lauren is named after the sister of RJ and Rebecca's late mother Sarah. This Lauren looks exactly like Rebecca in that she has dark brown fur everywhere except her white ventral side, has a dark brown mask, and a black stripe running from her forehead down her back to the base of her tail. The only thing she inherited from her father was his blue eyes.

After giving the five siblings their souvenirs, that's when Elroy notices something that he says aloud, "Where's Rebecca and Garrett?"

Lizzy (annoyed tone): "They're out marking their territory."

Gary (ditto): "For, like, the third time today."

Lauren (ditto): "They do that so often."

R3 (ditto): "And they never invite us. They just have us stay with our cousins and aunts and uncles and go off."

Elroy and Mary—as well as all the other adult hedgies—know what "marking their territory" really means, and it's nothing like what it sounds. Scarlet, Hammy's 51-year-old mate wants to change topics and tells the raccoons, "Oh it's nothing you five would be interested in. It's boring grow up stuff."

Hammy, the 52-year-old American red squirrel zooms up and says, "But we're grown-ups and we're not boring."

Sam, Hammy's and Scarlet's 20-year-old son says in a disabled-sounding voice, "We never boring. Happy fun family, all times."

Aaron, Sam's 19-year-old younger brother, pipes in, "There's plenty of fun for everyone around here. But seeing and hearing about Mary's and Elroy's adventures is the funnest non-moving thing for me!"

Hammy has emerald-colored eyes, buckteeth, red fur covering his body except for the white fur that goes from his cheeks to his loins, and a dark red stripe running down his back. Scarlet has the same height, weight, and fur color of Hammy with the exception of brown eyes, red fur-freckles on her white cheeks, a curlier tail and a lack of a stripe. Sam and Aaron have red fur and white ventral sides. Notable differences are that Sam has brown eyes, white cheeks without any freckles, and a female-curly tail that has a dark red stripe running down his back. Aaron has green eyes, light brown cheeks with dark brown fur-freckles, a male-bushy tail, and no stripe down his back. Sam has autism, but has been improving his speech considerably despite a few "kinks" that need some more work.

Wanting to join in on the fun, Bernard, Mary's 26-year-old twin brother waltzes in and says, "Just when I get used to being treated like an only child, you come back in and shake things up, Mary."

Mary notes the joking tone Bernard just used and does the same to him when she responds, "Well someone sounds awfully jealous. I guess you won't be getting your souvenir anymore."

Bernard's mate, a 26-year-old female raccoon named Patricia (Pat), comes in and says, "You could always give me two souvenirs."

Stella, the 55-year-old skunk says with her trademark sass, "If anyone's gettin' two souvenirs, it's me and Tiger's grandbabies."

Tiger, the 57-year-old Persian cat puts his paws on Stella's shoulders and nuzzles her face while saying, "Those are the greatest gifts of all, my love." (Rhetorically) "Who needs material items like a prince when one can feel greater than a king with our daughter, her mate, and their kids?"

De'Ausha, Tiger's and Stella's 29-year-old daughter and her mate Ladarius, a 29-year-old skunk, walk up holding their adopted children, their daughter Niara and a son Damon, each aged 7-years-old.

De'Ausha: "You always so smooth and honest, baba."

Ladarius: "But if our souvenir is air freshener like what we got last April Fool's, someone's gettin' gassed hard."

Niara: "I hope it's somethin' shiny!"

Damon: "I hope it's a toy gun!"

Stella is striped skunk with green eyes, and Tiger is a Persian cat with white fur and blue eyes. De'Ausha is a skunk-cat hybrid or skunat who looks like a thin Persian cat with predominantly white fur, black stripes on her back and tail which is shaped like a skunk's, but has a small dab of Persian-cat-brown fur on the tip, her face and green eyes match her mother's, and she has a big black cat nose like her father. Ladarius/Der (pronounced Dare) is a striped skunk with green eyes, a brush-top hair style, and short whiskers and chin fur that resembles a beard. Niara has brown eyes, jerry curl head-fur that hangs down, and two wide white stripes cover most of the fur on her back and tail, leaving one thin black stripe that goes down her spine and to the tip of her tail. Damon has teal eyes, his head-fur is in a high top curly mohawk style, and he has one white stripe running down his entire dorsal side starting from his head fur to the tip of his tail.

Verne the box turtle, his mate Velma, each aged 79 (but for turtles that's middle-aged), and their 32-year-old nephew Plushie approach the skunks while trying to walk toward Mary and Elroy. Verne has green scales, a brown shell, and a large nose. Velma has tan-scales, a purple bow on her head, along with the same shell color and nose size as her mate. Plushie has green-tan colored scales, a shell that has black patches among a mainly yellow color, and a large nose.

Verne: "And I hope it's something that will make you two happy and feel like you were there with Mary and Elroy."

Looking at Elroy and Mary, Plushie says, "Your trips remind me of what my real mom and I used to do before getting caught by the Turtleman. Just there's less stunts involved and more sightseeing."

Velma: "What I love most about your pictures is there are so many and they're so amazing that there's no need for us to go on it ourselves. It's like we were really there with you two."

Simon, the 70-year-old fruit bat says, "Speak for yourselves," while pointing to his sunglasses.

His mate Celine—also 70-years-old—adds, "Now don't kill the buzz, Simon. It's the smells, tastes, and sounds that Mary and Elroy bring to us that makes us feel like we were with them on their trips too."

Their middle daughter, Christine who is 39-years-old says, "The smells of the places they've been that they catch in an air-tight bottle may not last long once opened, but we savor them every second. Right honey?"

Christine's 37-year-old mate, Mordecai, nods and says, "Right as rain."

Their 6-year-old daughter Kylie and 5-year-old son Dexter give fanged smiles. Dexter speaks first with, "And don't forget tastes."

Kylie: "Fruit from different places is always interesting to sample."

Marilyn's 40-year-old mate Owen says, "But like the smells, they only last until we have finished eating them."

His 10-year-old son, Lucas adds, "So we ration out the fruit as long as we can, and take our time eating them."

Claire the youngest of the 39-year-old bat triplets says in her shy voice tone, "At least the sounds can be replayed for us all to enjoy whenever we want."

Her 42-year-old mate, Bert(ram) nods and says with a smile, "I was wondering when someone would go deeper into hearing. I was about to do it myself, but you beat me to it, Claire."

Simon, Celine, Marilyn, Christine, and Claire have brown fur and black wings, have three small "finger-claws" located between the shoulder and the tip of their wings, are as tall as Hammy's shoulders, wear sunglasses, and carry tiny retractable canes when on the ground. The only way to distinguish the triplet bat daughters is that Marilyn has the longest tail of the sisters, Christine has the second longest tail, and Claire has the shortest tail.

All the newcomer bats also use retractable canes and sunglasses. Mordecai is as tall as Hammy, has light brown fur, regular-brown wings, and two small white spots on the places where his head meets his ears. Kylie has dark brown fur, light brown wings, and her tail is black. Dexter has brown fur, black wings, and one white spot on his forehead. Owen is a few inches shorter than Marilyn, has black wings and black fur everywhere except his orange-furred neck, chest, and upper back. Lucas's wings are black, his fur is a mixture of brown and black, and only has a small ring of orange fur around his neck. Bert is the tallest bat at slightly taller than Hammy, has brown fur and light brown wings, and black fur on his neck that resembles an ascot.

Seeing how their fun little game has overstayed its welcome, Mary and Bernard decide to drop the charade and embrace in a hug. Bernard says, "I missed you, big sis."

Mary: "And I missed you, little brother."

Like his twin sister, Bernard has the white fur and body shape of an opossum, blue eyes, black mask, and a raccoon ringtail. Unlike Mary, Bernard has raccoon-shaped ears and paws, a short raccoon snout with a black-colored possum-shaped nose, and a dark brown stripe running from his forehead down his back to the base of his tail. Patricia is an all gray raccoon with a light-brown tail that has seven black rings, a regular-brown mask, and air force-blue eyes. The two had broken up when Bernard revealed that he was sterile, but after many years of failed mates who failed to bring her true happiness, and after some deep soul-searching, Patricia decided to marry Bernard, her first and true lover.

Just before Bernard lets go of Mary, he feels something strange coming from her stomach area. "Hey, what was that just now? I swear it felt like something wriggling."

Mary's face brightens up as, in her enjoyment of listening to her family's comments, she forgot about the three possum joeys she and Elroy saved.

Mary: "Oh yes! Everyone, the reason Elroy and I took so long to get back here is because we found something far more precious and valuable than any souvenir."

RJ: "Like what?"

Mary: "Not what, dad, who." Mary reaches into her pouch and everyone gasps in awe when Mary pulls out the possum joeys. "Meet the latest additions to our family, and your new grandkids mom and dad!"

Many wows and congratulations ring through the air, which wakes up the three joeys. One of the boys asks, "Who're you?"

The other boy asks, "Where are we?"

The girl asks, "Where's mama, sisters, n' brothers?"

Mary's joyful mood turns somber, which makes everyone else become quiet and listen closely as they are about to find out the story of how Mary and Elroy found the three.

Mary looks at the three and tells them, "I'm Mary," (while pointing) "And he's my mate Elroy. We tried to save your mother from a boar, but were too late..." After a sigh full of despair Mary continues, "Your other 10 siblings also didn't survive."

The three's groans quickly turn into cries, which causes Mary to hug them gently and let them wipe their tears on her fur. When it's clear that they need a good-mood boost, Mary says, "But we weren't about to leave you three survivors behind, were we Elroy?"

Elroy looks at the kids and says, "Yep, so Mary decided to adopt you all. I'm glad, but we should've at least waited for your mother's family to come looking for you first. Do you have a father or any aunts, uncles, and cousins?"

One of the boys shakes his head and says, "No."

Kale: "And even if they did, don't count on tha relatives coming by, Elroy. Possums're naturally solitary, so I doubt that any parientes will come lookin'."

The family knows that Kale had said "relatives" in Spanish, and that it's best to go with what he says because, being a wolf, he is endowed with intelligence greater than most animals. He also used his wolf senses to listen and learn from the human world, meaning there's an eight out of ten chance that he's right the first time.

If his words aren't enough, Heather adds in another insight. "Kale is right. My parents were living by themselves before I was born, and so did dad and I until we met this family."

Elroy sighs and finds himself unable to resist including his own experience. "Yep, it was the same thing with my family too. No grandparents, cousins, uncles, or aunts; just parents and siblings. And they all moved out of these woods once my parents passed away last year."

Mary looks back down at the three joeys with a smile. "I'm an opossacoon, half raccoon and half possum. You see her?" (Points at Heather) "She's my mom, and he's my dad." (Points at RJ) "Because my parents are two very different species of animals, I was born sterile and can't have kids with Elroy. But if you want it, I'd be more than happy to adopt you. Your real mother asked me and Elroy to take you with us and raise you as our own kids, and that's what we intend to do. I promise that you'll be loved and cherished here with us in our big family. I daresay you'll have a better life with us than without us. So wha'dya say?"

The three nod at each other, look up at Mary, and the girl says, "Yes pweez!"

Mary almost sheds tears of joy, but holds them in and says, "Thank you! Thank you so much for letting me be your new mother!"

Penny: "Jeepers, this family keeps getting bigger and happier all the time!"

Lou: "Do you three have names?"

The first boy says, "Joseph."

The second says, "Walter."

The girl says, "Cary," but pronounces it as "Care-wee."

Joseph: "But I don't wike it."

Walter: "Me too."

Cary: "Me thwee."

Mary muses, "Mother Nature really is on my side today," then says out loud, "Then would you like for us to rename you?"

All three shout "Yes!" in excitement.

Mary holds up the girl she had named and announces, "Then your name is Mira for sure, because it was a miracle that we discovered you. We thought you were dead until we started burying your family and we discovered you had been playing possum." She looks at Joseph and Walter and says, "As for you two boys, well, we haven't decided yet."

For a brief moment, Elroy's disdain of the prospect of raising small kids disappears, and he finds himself unconsciously wanting to name them, when he says out loud, "Maybe Ezekiel and Timothy...? Those were my favorite brothers' names...late brothers' names."

Scarlet: "Sounds great." While pointing at each child she says, "We can call him Zeke and Tim for short."

Hammy: "Just like I'm Hammy for Hamilton."

RJ: "And I'm RJ for Rogan Jr."

Stella: "Then it's settled!"

Verne: "Let's give Ezekiel, Timothy, and Mira the proper welcome into our family!"

With that, the group hugs commence, but the family has grown so much in the past 15 years that they have to take turns. Nevertheless, the hedgies couldn't be happier with three more kids to add. The only exception is Elroy who still isn't sure about his becoming a father, but he figures it can't be too hard with so many animals to help out.

Elroy thinking: "Maybe it'll be easier than I thought." However, his own experiences with his parents and siblings causes his mood to shift from hopeful to cynical as he finishes his thoughts by pondering, "But I'm not getting my hopes up. That's what I did with my family and it only made things worse."

Sadly, Elroy seems to be all alone in his opinion as everyone else is as joyful as can be. Ezekiel has light-gray fur with patches of black, two large white spots on each of his ears, a pink tail, and yellow eyes. Timothy has dark-gray fur all over his body, a gray tail, no spots on his ears, and brown eyes. Mira has white fur with regular-gray patches, a black tail, almond-colored eyes, and a series of white semicircles all around her ears.

Being the honest guy he is, Bernard tells Mary with a smile, "Just so you know, I'm dying of jealousy," whereby he clutches his heart, goes "Uh! Uhhhh!" and faints just like his grandpa Ozzie would. But before any giggles or eye rolls can occur among the onlookers, he instantly sits back up and says, "You are always better than me at almost everything, and now we can add 'being the first sibling to get kids' to the list."

De'Ausha can't help to but in with, "But I'm th'a first hybrid to get kids, so Mary, you got the silver medal."

That makes everyone chuckle, including Mary who extends her paw, pulls up her brother, and then says, "Thank you," with her own smile. "But count your blessings, Bernard, because now that I'm a mother, Elroy and I will need to care for our kids and won't be able to go on heists for a long while."

RJ: "No worries. This family is so big that not everyone can go on a heist at the same time anymore, even if a few of us haven't gotten too old to do it—but I'm not one of 'em."

Verne: "But now's not the time to talk about tomorrow's heist you have planned. Right now let's introduce our new niece and nephews to the rest of the family, and having Elroy and Mary share their latest vacation with us in full."

Voice: "Introduce our what-now to the family?"

Everyone looks over and sees Rebecca (who had spoken) and Garrett coming into the hedgies' main living area. Rebecca is 37-years-old, has dark brown fur everywhere except her white ventral side, a back stripe colored black, a dark brown mask, wears two short red ribbons around her ears, and her eyes are colored a fusion of ocean-green and teal-blue. Garrett is 39-years-old, has auburn-colored fur, blue eyes, a charcoal-colored mask, and a black stripe going from his nose to the part of his back between both shoulders. Their five kids take turns shouting out their greetings now that the parents are back allegedly from "marking their territory."

Gary: "Mommy and daddy!"

Lauren: "There you are!"

Lizzy: "You missed Aunt Mary's and Uncle Elroy's return!"

Sare: "And souvenirs!"

R3: "And their new kids!"

Garrett: "Their kids?"

RJ: "Hammy? You mind filling these lovebirds" (winks at Rebecca and Garrett) "in on what they've missed?"

Hammy salutes with his tail sticking stiffly up diagonally and says, "Yes, RJ, sir!" The zany squirrel zooms over to Rebecca and Garrett and recaps everything they have missed by talking as fast as a machine gun without pausing. Fortunately, he's easy to understand so neither raccoon spouse needs a repeat of anything. Once Hammy is finished, he zooms back to Scarlet and his boys. Rebecca and Garrett then congratulate Mary and Elroy from where they are standing. They have to wait their turn to see their new grand-niece and grand-nephews, but when they meet them they couldn't be happier.

Garrett looks at his kits and says, "Looks like you five have new relatives to play with—again."

Lizzy: "They're gonna like me the best!"

R3: "Nuh-uh! They're gonna like me more than any of you combined!"

Sare: "You wish!"

Gary: "I'll be the best cousin to them, just you wait!"

Lauren: "I think we'll need to let them decide, if they even want to. I mean, I think it's more important for them to love us equally."

Rebecca chuckles while walking over to her youngest daughter and pats her on the head. "That's my Lauren, 'The Great Compromiser' or as your Uncle Kale calls you, 'El Gran Transigente.' "

Having heard that, Clara groans and looks at Kale to tell him, "Even aft'a marryin' you's, I still teenk Spanish is a dumb language."

Kale gives her a one-sided smirk and says, "Duly noted...and dare's nothin' you can to ta change it. Mis bisabuelos came from Mexico, so it's part'a my heritage."

Boxer: "And ours! And by-da-way, he just said 'my great-grandparents,' mom, which is me n' my siblings' great-great grandparents."

Clara: "Good ta see you like speakin' Spanish, Boxer. Just make sure you's don't forget ta translate for me."

By the time she's finished, Mary has brought Zeke, Tim, and Mira to the wolves who make sure to smile without showing teeth. Even then, the three are terrified.

Ezekiel: "Woooolllllvvvves!"

Tim: "Scare-wy!"

Mira: "Hide me, mama!"

Mary: "Shhh, it's okay kids. These are good wolves who don't eat animals anymore, and they protect prey animals like you and me from real predators."

The three newbies don't listen and all climb back inside Mary's pouch, shaking rapidly from fear. Mary sighs and tells Kale and his family, "Sorry guys. Just give them some time and they'll learn to like you."

Percie: "S'no prob, Mary. We's used ta prey critters judging us by our species."

Roaster: "As much as folks're taught not'ta judge a book by'is cover, that's exactly what folks end up doin'."

Kale: "Not as much as they used ta judge your mom n' me, lemme tell ya."

Clara: "But enough mopin'." (Clears her throat and speaks loud enough to be heard) "Listen up everyone, now dat we've met our new relatives, it's time for us wolves to head out and start our patrols again."

Boxer: "Aw c'mon, mom! Can't we stay ta see Mary's and Elroy's pictures and hear dare stories 'bout dare recent trip?"

Kale: "I teenk we can spare about an hour. Don't you, Clara?"

Clara: "Well..."

Boxer, Roaster, and Percie hold out their paws in a prayer hand gesture, sit in a way that makes them look like they're begging, and simultaneously say, "Pleeeeaaaassseeeee?"

Clara scoffs with a smile and answers with, "Okay!"

Roaster: "Arrrrriba!"

Percie: "Olé!"

Boxer says, "Hurra!" but is pronounced with a silent H due to his Latino/Hispanic accent.

It only takes eight more minutes for everyone to properly greet and meet the three new possum joeys. Then the large family spends the rest of the day and late afternoon hearing Mary's and Elroy's tales of their latest vacation, as well as showing the pictures and videos they have yet to reveal to the family, and giving the bats things to smell and eat. Ezekiel, Timothy, and Mira are the most excited of all as they have found themselves with two new and adventurous parents who also promise to take them on future trips once they're older.

After dinner the family goes over the plan for tomorrow's heist, and then does their own things until it's their bedtime. Life couldn't have been more perfect for them...

Until tomorrow's events happen, which will start a chain reaction that will put the hedgies' through new and old life trials that will test the limits of their tolerance, courage, and love.

---

Phew, so many character appearance descriptions and mathematic calculations for ages, but hopefully this story is off to a good start for you. If not, then it's gonna get better, I promise! And this story will have different kinds of dilemmas I haven't covered yet in my other OTH stories, so don't worry about things getting too repetitive.

And no I'm not retconning anything, or changing my mind when it comes to Bernard marrying Patricia. I always intended for Patricia to get back together with Bernard when they became adults. But the details of the reasoning for that, as well as things about the other new and old characters, will be revealed throughout the story.

Hope you have a Happy Holiday's at the time of this original December 18, 2021 posting, and will see you next time!