Chapter 183: Blueberry and the Brain.
"Yahs ben a whole in the roof and now it legs in HERE TO FRUEE U FROM THE EVULZ OF MERTOCRISY! I WILL SHOW U we were all surprised and so we stared at him."
-Krai24, Ruffin's adventure
When Hazel, Hyzenthlay and Holly assembled the night's guarding schedule, they were surprised to see Hawkbit volunteer for the task. The grey buck did not explain his motivations, but the truth was that, despite his lack of interest in guarding, he thought it would be less humiliating to volunteer, than to find himself ordered to do it after everyone else in the warren had had their turn. He was given the first slot, and was partnered with Blueberry; the kitten appeared very proud to be entrusted with such a task.
The two rabbits assumed their posts once everyone else had gone underground for the night.
-"So you're the one who doesn't remember anything," Hawkbit said.
-"Yes, that's me, unfortunately."
-"Don't feel so bad, I'm sure you'll get all your memories back soon."
-"I don't think so. I would need something to help me remember, a familiar place or something. From what you've told me, I've only been at this warren for a few days, so I won't find anything really familiar here."
-"I suppose you're right...but I can't think of any other solution, other than waiting and hoping for the best."
-"I could perhaps venture forth on a journey away from this warren, to seek out my past. If nothing triggers my memories here, I may find it elsewhere."
-"You wouldn't last a day out there on your own, the elil would make an easy meal out of a young kitten like you."
-"Yes, you may be right..." Blueberry fell silent for a few moments. "I'll have to bring someone else. I don't know who, but I have the time to think about it, I'm not leaving tonight. The priority is to guard this warren."
-"Right...guarding..."
Hawkbit was unenthusiastic, and made no attempt at hiding it. He lied down in the grass to be more comfortable, but keeping his eyes open: it was his duty, after all. As time went on, however, his mood appeared to improve. On a few occasions, he went on a short run around the warren. After one such run, he came back with a large grin.
-"You know, this isn't as bad as I expected," he confessed. "I can lie down, relax, look at the view, run casually, have fun, none of those weird obstacles and fighting moves Bigwig is so fond of. And in fact, because I'm staying up late, I'll have an excuse to skip training tomorrow morning. I should do this more often."
-"You really hate owsla training that much?" Blueberry appeared distraught by Hawkbit's confession.
-"I do." Hawkbit's eyes went wide. "Please don't tell Bigwig this though," he was quick to add. "I don't want to be kicked out of the owsla. Sure, I hate it, but I know I need it, especially if Woundwort is going to attack."
-"You should consider yourself lucky," Blueberry said with a sigh. "I would love to be in the owsla, but nobody has invited me to join it yet."
-"I...really don't understand why you would want to put yourself through that." Hawkbit shuddered. "But if you're that interested, you should speak to Pipkin in the morning. He'll probably let you join the junior owsla."
-"I don't want to join the junior owsla! I want to join the regular owsla, not some glorified baby-sitting club."
-"Ambitious, aren't you?" Hawkbit chuckled. "Look, a warren isn't dug in a day. If you do well enough in the junior owsla, maybe Bigwig will let you graduate to the regular owsla once you're older."
-"Looks like I'll have to do something really brave to impress Bigwig, then."
-"Uh..." Hawkbit was starting to worry he might have given Blueberry the wrong idea. "...don't overdo it. You are a tiny young kitten, after all."
-"Is that what caused my amnesia? Did I do something dangerous to impress someone, only for things to go horribly wrong?"
Hawkbit was ill at ease. The truth was that another kitten, Snowdrop, had buried Blueberry alive, hoping he would die. Should he bluntly tell him that? He soon decided not to: what Blueberry didn't know wouldn't hurt him, and if he didn't know who was responsible, he would not be able to seek out revenge either.
-"Yeah, something like that..."
At that moment, Hawkbit spotted other creatures, approaching him and Blueberry. It was Pinky and the Brain, but since they had never met before, neither rabbit recognized them. Before the mice could sneak into the warren, Hawkbit stepped right in front of them, blocking the way.
-"Halt! State your business!" he said, attempting to sound forceful.
Brain sighed. Those annoying rabbits were at it with the questions again. This time, however, he was prepared, having learned from the previous evening's mistakes: he had brought tranquilizer darts. He fired one, and it landed directly on Hawkbit's chest. The grey rabbit looked down in annoyance.
-"Hey, what was that for? You...I...I don't feel so good, all of a sudden..."
The sedative was rapidly taking effect, and Hawkbit soon passed out.
-"Not to worry," Brain said, seeing the horrified look on Blueberry's face. "He'll wake up in a few hours with no memories of what happened. Anyway, you're next."
-"Don't worry, brave father Hawkbit, I'll avenge you!"
Had Hawkbit been conscious, he would have been left shocked and confused by Blueberry calling him "father Hawkbit". Even Blueberry himself was left surprised by his own words. The kitten gave a powerful kick of his hind legs, right onto the mice, sending them flying into the air. Pinky squealed in excitement.
-"Weeeeeeeee! This is just like a theme park ride, isn't it Brain?"
Brain, meanwhile, was terrified. He had not expected such a violent move from a young kitten; had he known, he would have put him to sleep before Hawkbit. While still in mid-air, he quickly aimed his dart gun and fired; the dart hit Blueberry in the ear. Bullseye! He joined Pinky in screaming, however, once he realized that he was about to land on a bed of spiked nettles.
Blueberry, meanwhile, was feeling very satisfied with his successful attack.
-"Too bad Bigwig wasn't there to witness this..." he said, before realizing that he too had been hit by one of Brain's darts. "Oh shoot."
The tranquilizer dart had an unexpected side effect: Blueberry was starting to get his memories back. Before he could fully process what he was recalling, however, he fell unconscious.
Brain lingered among the nettles for a while, in too much pain to even consider moving. Pinky was similarly stuck, but unlike Brain, he seemed to be having fun. Typical Pinky, finding pleasure in the most ridiculous circumstances.
-"I'm going to need help here," Brain finally said.
-"I can't, I'm stuck too," Pinky said, pointing out the obvious. "Don't you have a brilliant plan to get us both free?"
Brain sighed. The problem with having a nitwit as a friend is that he could never help, it was always Brain who had to come up with all the solutions. In the current situation, he could only think of one: painfully extract himself from the nettles, carefully pick the remaining ones off his body, then free Pinky, and remove the nettles on him too.
The first step was relatively quick and easy; the second one, despite Brain's best efforts, was much slower. Every movement Brain made was painful, but the sooner all the nettles were gone, the sooner the pain would be gone too. Releasing Pinky turned out to be much easier, since Brain didn't bother to remove the nettles; it would be up to the dim-witted mouse to do it.
-"Now, be quiet Pinky. In order to complete my work, I need absolute concentration."
-"Right-o, Brain."
The two mice made their way back to the top of the Down. Before going underground, however, Brain fired one more dart on each guard: it had been a while since he had first arrived, and he didn't want them waking up while he and Pinky were underground.
They had hardly made into the first tunnel that they already encountered someone else, this time of their own species.
-"Hey Brain! It's so great to see you again, I'm sorry about last night, I overreacted, and I wish to thank you for what you did. I don't understand the details, but finally the rabbits can understand what I say! Although that didn't stop one of them from saying that I was replaced by an imposter..."
While Hannah's voice sounded much better, Brain had no desire to listen to her: he just wanted to finish measuring the burrows. Therefore, he fired a dart at her.
-"Ouch," was the last thing she said before falling unconscious.
-"Aw Brain, what did you do that for?" Pinky lamented. "I liked her."
-"Do you want one too?" Brain asked, waving the dart gun threateningly in front of Pinky.
-"...not really."
For the rest of the mission, Pinky remained silent. Brain kept his dart gun close by, should it be needed, but all the other rabbits they encountered were asleep, and none of them woke up. After the final burrow was cleared, he proudly looked at his device.
-"At last, Pinky! All the burrows have been measured, I will soon know exactly where to place my device to cause a complete cave-in."
-"Egad, Brain, brilliant! Oh wait no...what if one of the rabbits ends up growing to, like, 50 feet in height?"
Brain whacked Pinky, as punishment for the absurd thing he had just said.
-"Come, let us go back to the lab before those darts wear off."
The two mice returned above ground, and scurried off. Before leaving, however, Brain fired several more darts onto Blueberry. This served no meaningful purpose: since the mice were leaving, there was no point in keeping the rabbits asleep. While Blueberry's attack earlier was justified, Brain still wanted revenge.