Chapter 153: The Obscure Solutions.

"It's both a wretched and a wonderful thought at the same time."

-karrenia, You Me, and the Moon

The reason why LH had not answered when Debbie had called, was that he did not hear the phone ringing: he was too busy doing many things he would not have done had he been at work. He visited the local fair and played all the games. He then went back home, where he hacked his neighbour's WiFi and used it to illegally download video games. He tried to play them, only to rage quit at the first sign of trouble. He taped a picture of his boss Fredrick to the wall and practised knife throwing, with little success. He then tried throwing darts at it; he still failed to hit the target.

While all these things were exciting and fun, LH still found himself getting bored. Everything is more fun when doing it with a friend, but Debbie was dealing with the kidnapping. He would need someone else. He had the perfect candidate in mind. He drove over to this friend's house and rang the doorbell; by then, it was morning.

Unbeknownst to LH, this friend was the same person who had been threatened by cartoon character on the train. He was startled and terrified as he heard the doorbell. He was convinced that the rabbits had found his house; in a few minutes, he would face an onslaught of dynamite and anvils. He stayed absolutely still, holding his breath, not making the slightest sound. Maybe they would go away. Or they might just teleport inside the house: since they were animated, the laws of physics wouldn't apply to them.

LH rang the doorbell several more times; his friend did not open the door. He briefly wondered whether perhaps there really was nobody home, until he remembered something: his friend had given him a spare key. He unlocked the door and started to open it, when it hit something, preventing him from opening it more than an inch or two. LH was left momentarily confused, but this did not stop him. He pushed as hard as he could, and soon the door was open wide enough for him to squeeze inside. He was then able to confirm his suspicions: there were several pieces of furniture in front of the door. Couches, chairs, tables...he peeked into the living room, and saw that it was completely empty, all the furniture there had been moved in front of the door.

As he closed the door again once inside, the alarm system started to blare. This was also new, there was no alarm system the last time he had visited. Since he did not know how to turn it off, he stuffed tissues into his ears; his friend would handle the rest later.

Suddenly, a vase crashed on the floor in front of him, shattering loudly. A second vase hit him on the head moments later; it did not hurt much, but it was VERY confusing. He soon spotted his friend at the other end of the room, throwing several additional objects as LH got closer.

-"Hey, it's me! Stop that!"

The friend stopped, not so much because of LH's pleading, but because he run out of things to throw. It was only then that he realized that the person in his house was one of his closest friends, not the attackers he was expecting.

-"The lack of a response, the furniture, the alarm system...didn't you think, even just for a moment, that maybe I didn't want to see anyone?" he said.

-"...no." LH felt really dumb answering this, but it was the truth. "Do you want me to leave?"

-"No, now that you're here, you can stay, It'll be two of us against Babs Bunny."

-"Is that your new girlfriend? I take it the relationship isn't going too well, with everything you were throwing."

-"She's not my girlfriend. She's a cartoon character out to destroy me."

-"I see." LH scratched his chin. "Are you drunk?"

-"Of course not. I have not consumed alcohol in several days." The friend sighed. "You don't believe me, do you?"

-"I don't know. That's not why I came here, though. I was hoping we might be able to do crazy things together, since my girlfriend is too busy with other things. I'll protect you from the evil cartoon bunny and all that."

-"Do you promise to keep me safe?"

-"I promise."

-"In that case, let's go for it. You know me, I do crazy things every day in my car."

LH chuckled nervously. His friend had been known to drive recklessly, and had even gotten into a major accident a few days before.

-"Eh...how about I drive this time?"

Blackberry spent a large part of the morning searching for the best spot to dig the new escape tunnel. She ultimately decided that it would start close to the original caverns, but would then go in a different direction to avoid disturbing the unstable soil. There would be three exits at equal distances across the length of the tunnel, the last of which would be in the area of the "message tree" in a nearby forest, the meeting spot between Hazel and Campion before the fall of Efrafa. The exits would be hidden when not in use, to prevent other creatures from stumbling upon them. The tunnel would also have to be wide enough for two rabbits side-by-side, so nobody could get trapped inside. Due to the massive length of the tunnel, it would take several days before the work was finished. On the first day, she recruited Pipkin and Strawberry to help her.

Strawberry was definitely taking things more seriously than when he had first arrived at the warren, and was digging reasonably fast. Pipkin, however, wasn't doing too well. Due to his smaller size, Blackberry knew he wouldn't be able to dig as fast, but it seemed he wasn't really paying attention, and the expression on his face was one of sadness.

-"Come on, Pipkin. Why do you look so sad?" she asked. "If you don't want to dig, it's fine, I'll find someone else."

-"It's not the digging," Pipkin said. "It's Blueberry."

-"I understand. What happened to him is tragic, but at least he's still alive. Many rabbits would have died had this happened to them."

-"That's not it. It's..." Pipkin signed, wondering whether it was a good idea to mention this after all.

-"You can tell me anything, Pipkin, and I'll do my best to help."

Pipkin took a deep breath.

-"He was going to help us bring back Leo by using the phone, but now that he lost his memory he won't be able to do anything!"

Blackberry was startled by Pipkin's confession. She had expected that he would have been close friends with Blueberry and that the friendship would be in trouble because Blueberry had forgotten about it, but instead it appeared the issue was something else entirely, which somehow involved a third rabbit. She would need to speak with Pipkin alone.

-"Strawberry, keep digging straight ahead, we'll be right back."

Strawberry nodded, and got back to work.

Blackberry, meanwhile, guided Pipkin to the nearest burrow at the end of the tunnel.

-"I feel there's a lot to this situation I don't understand," she said. "Could you explain? Start from the beginning."

-"So, a few days ago Leo mysteriously vanished..."

-"Vanished? Didn't I see him this morning?"

-"There are two rabbits called Leo. Just like you're not the only Blackberry anymore, there's also Bluebell's lover."

-"I see. So one Leo is still here, while the other mysteriously vanished?"

-"That is correct. So, he vanished and went back to his own world, the human world. But based on what Silverweed showed me, he was sad and would be interested in coming back."

-"Thanks for clarifying that, but I'm still not quite sure how Blueberry fits in all this."

-"I'm getting to that. I don't know how to bring back Leo, so I thought it would be a good idea to contact him with the phone."

-"What is a phone?"

-"Spartina says that humans use them to communicate with each other. I got one at Nuthanger Farm, but I don't know how to use it. Blueberry seemed to know, and was going to contact Leo."

-"And he most likely forgot how to use the phone, along with all other past memories."

-"That's exactly the problem." Pipkin seemed about to cry. "Now we'll never get Leo back!"

Blackberry hugged Pipkin tightly.

-"I'm sure we'll find another way to get him back."

-"How?"

-"I don't know, but we will find something. He was brought here once, the procedure could most likely be repeated."

-"Sorry to interrupt, I couldn't help overhearing," came another rabbit's voice; moments later, Silverweed hopped over to the two rabbits. "I might be able to use my powers to figure out how to use the phone. After looking at the Efrafans, and Blueberry, it will be great to use my powers for good."

-"Are you sure that's possible?" Pipkin asked. "The phone is definitely not alive, and probably does not have a heart to look into like the rest of us rabbits."

-"I don't know if it's possible. All I know is, I'm going to try. Where is it?"

Pipkin guided Blackberry and Silverweed over to his burrow, where he had left the phone. Silverweed inserted one of his claws in the headphone jack; the graphics on the screen started to blink rapidly.