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?

2. Old Enemies and New Tricks

I'm baaa-aaack! Apologies for the long wait, but I have been busy completing the remaining steps of getting recertified to teach—and have finished! If all goes according to plan at my current (and hopefully permanent) job, I won't have to do any more work like that ever again. If not, it'll be another 6 years before I'll need to do that kind of work. In either case, that leaves A LOT of time for me to work on stories now! Starting with...

Chapter 2: Old Enemies and New Tricks

It's 11 o'clock in the morning when Mary wakes up, having barely slept a wink last night. Like all parents can attest, her three new kids took forever to put down for sleep, were up crying at many times throughout the night, which required Mary to stay up to make sure they were fully asleep before she herself could go back to bed, only for the cycle to repeat. Sleep deprivation is never pleasant, but Mary was prepared for this, it's just been a while since she has had to deal with it—7 years to be exact, when Lauren, Devon, and Niara had been born. She and Elroy quickly had to leave the log and move to their downtime spot to sleep for the sake of the others who needed a good night's rest in order to do today's heist. Elroy needed a little coaxing, but the fact that he is now the new father of Ezekiel, Timothy, and Mira was the ultimate trump card.

As for how Elroy dealt with the biggest hardship of parenting (at least in children's early years), well, he is still asleep, no doubt trying to recover from helping Mary out last night. Mary plans to let him keep resting while she returns to the log to eat breakfast, but the instant she shifts her body upward, Ezekiel "Zeke", Tim, and Mira—snuggled in Mary's pouch—wake up and are up and at 'em. They practically spring out and start bouncing up and down while tugging on her fur.

Ezekiel: "Mama I'm hungwy!"

Tim: "Mama, I'm thirsty!"

Mira: "Mama, I wanna hear a storwy!"

Mary: "Shh! Your daddy is trying to sleep."

Far from dissuading them, the mention of their father only incites the triplets further. The three rush over to Elroy whereby Zeke tugs on his left arm, Tim pulls on his right foot, and Mira climbs on top of his belly and starts jumping up and down on him as if he was a trampoline.

Zeke: "Daddy!"

Tim: "Wake up!"

Zeke: "Time for bweakfast!"

Tim: "And play time!"

Mira: "And storwy time!"

Elroy, now half asleep and half-awake grumbles out, "Shut up, David, go bother someone else," like a kid whose parents are trying to get him to wake up for school.

All three stop and Tim asks, "Who's David?"

Mary: "Your daddy's little brother who bugged him all the time."

Mira: "Daddy has a wittle bwother?!"

Zeke: "We need to meet him!"

Mary: "I'm sorry, but that's not possible because David moved out of this forest, and your new daddy never kept in touch with him, so we have no idea where he lives anymore."

Now fully awake, but grumpy for having the re-live his worst experiences all over again, Elroy adds, "And that's undoubtedly for the best." He uses his right paw to lightly brush Ezekiel from his left arm, lightly shakes his left foot to make Tim let go of it, and picks up Mira and places her on the ground. He stands up, yawns, and stretches his back by arching it, all while loathingly saying, "Kids..." in his mind. When he's done stretching, he looks at Mary and asks, "You sleep like hammered slop too last night?"

Mary: "Yep. But it's nothing we're not used to."

Elroy gives a grim nod and Mary is about to say something to him when their triplets start talking again.

Zeke: "Bweakfast time! Let's go eat!"

Tim: "Let's go dwink some orange juice!"

Mira: "But first a storwy!"

Mary is grateful yet again for being an animal because she doesn't have a job to go to while feeling tired, and can spend all day catching up on some rest. That fact makes her feel bad for human parents who have to deal with all the sleep deprivation and still had jobs and chores to do throughout the day. Not to mention they have to drive vehicles, which risks traffic accidents if one were to fall asleep at the wheel.

That last thought also gives her an idea of what to do next.

Mary: "We can have story time while we head back to the log to eat some breakfast." She reaches into her pouch and pulls out a heavily bent but otherwise undamaged paper back storybook of Peter Rabbit which she hands to Elroy.

Elroy: "Hey, why me?!"

Mary: "I did far more work than you last night, so if anyone needs a break it's me; you slept a little later than I did, so you're better rested; and, as you demonstrated last night, as a fully-blooded possum, you're better at using your acting talents to bring a storybook to life."

Elroy: "But—"

Before he can say anything else, all three kids excitedly exclaim, "Yay! Storwy time!", climb up Elroy's back, and cling on the back of his shoulders.

Mira: "Wead it, pwease daddy!?"

Tim: "Pwetty pwease?!"

Zeke: "Pwetty pwease with sugar on top?!"

Knowing there's no way for him to get out of this, Elroy lets out a brief groan and scowls while saying, "Alright, alright, alright! Just make sure not to squirm around."

Tim: "We pwomise daddy!"

Elroy muses, "It'll be another three years, at least, before they learn how to pronounce their R's...Gosh, I hate little kids' speech!" But he opens the book without delay and starts reading the story.

The instant he does, he finds himself genuinely having fun, and enjoys the "Ooo's", "Ah's", gasps, and chuckles the three kids make as he reads. Just as Mary said, being fully possum means Elroy can read a story better than she will ever be capable of, what with her being more like a raccoon in terms of her behavior and personality. She can read a story fairly good, but not as good as her mate. That's because Elroy takes it to a whole new level as he gets into character even while narrating, makes dramatic pauses for better effect, emits sound effects whenever appropriate, and gives each character in the story his/her own voice whether male or female or young or old. Even as an adult Mary finds herself never outgrowing story time, and her mate is the main reason for that (her father, mother, and brother are a close second reason). If Elroy was a human, he could be a one-man cast of characters and sound effects-maker for the most popular Saturday morning cartoon show.

The biggest indicator that proves Elroy is having a great time is when Mary notices him smiling, and continues to do so even after closing the book while he says, "The end."

Mira: "Best storwy ever!"

Zeke: "Thanks daddy!"

Tim: "Wead it again!"

Elroy's smile widens and he proposes, "How about we flip-flop instead?"

Not waiting, Elroy grabs Ezekiel—who smiles as he knows (and wants to experience) what his new father has in mind—and flips him from on top of his shoulder to the ground. Zeke starts to climb onto Elroy's back while Elroy does the same for Mira, and then Tim who also climb back onto their father three more times each.

Mary, so proud of Elroy and wanting to talk to him about something more serious, decides to let him have a break. "How about you three come over here and play pouch tag?" she offers.

Mira: "Yay!"

Tim: "Not It."

Zeke: "Not It!"

Mira: "Aww, no fay-yer!"

Tim: "Come n' tag us if you want it to change!"

The two boys jump down to the ground and race into Mary's pouch, with Mira following close behind. It looks like a hurricane is happening in there as the energetic joeys frolic and play.

Mary looks at her mate and says, "You surprise me, Elroy." Once Elroy gives her his full attention, she continues, "You have the most experience in raising little kids. You're very good at it—"

Elroy (while rolling his eyes): "—But I hate doing it. I know, I'm weird."

Mary giggles and replies, "You didn't hate reading to them or flip-flopping them."

Elroy: "Not until the soreness kicks in at least."

Mary: "But my main point is, what makes you weird is what makes you most unique."

Elroy jokingly says, "Says the mutant hybrid who is nothing but weird-looking," with a grin.

Mary flatly says, "Ha-ha, not funny Elroy."

Elroy: "My main point being, you're the most unique female in the whole world. Which is reason number 5 why I love you."

Mary: "Okay, now that's a fun play on words. And if you wanna go on today's heist once we let my mom, Lou, and Penny take care of our kids, you can."

Elroy: "I'll only go if you go."

Mary: "I guess that'll depend on how we both feel when it's heist time."

Elroy nods after saying, "True."

The two leave it at that and continue onward, taking turns playing with their kids which makes the rest of the 7-minute trip to the log pass by fast for Mary, but feel like an eternity for Elroy. Regardless of the time perspective, all five are happy to be back with the rest of the family when they arrive. All of the bats are still asleep, but will be woken up when it's time for the heist after 12 noon; Boxer, Percie, Ike and Bea are playing videogames on a second TV the hedgies had obtained once the family started growing larger; Roger and Aleshia are teaching Riley and Ellie how to do some magic tricks; and most everyone else is at the Pad watching the main TV.

RJ: "Heh-hey! How was your first night of parenting?"

Elroy: "Don't ask."

RJ: "Too late. I already did."

Elroy sighs and answers the question with, "Miserable."

Bucky says, "Tell me about it," in an acknowledging tone that sympathizes with Elroy. The porcupine follows up with a more encouraging tone when he says, "But you and Mary are strong, so you'll do just fine."

Mary: "But let's get something to eat first."

Already out of Mary's pouch, Tim says, "I'm sitting next to Gwanddaddy RJ."

Mira: "I'm sitting next to Gwandmommy Heather."

Zeke looks at Mira and says, "No, I am!"

Mira: "Nuh-uh! I alweady called it!"

Heather: "Kids, kids...Chill. One of you can sit next to me, another can sit next to RJ, and the last can sit in between RJ and me."

Possum triplets in unison: "Yes, gwandmommy!"

Heather (blissfully): " 'Grandmommy'...I can't describe how amazing that feels for you to call me that." (Normal tone) "I don't even mind how it makes me sound, like, so old."

RJ: "If you have a problem with sounding old, we can always give you a new grandparent name if you want."

Heather: "No need. 'Grandmommy' is perfectly fine."

RJ: "My dad was 'Paw-Paw' for my sister's kits, Ozzie was 'Big Daddy' for Ike, and 'Grandpa' for our kids, so I think 'granddaddy' sounds good for me." (To Mary and Elroy) "We've been up for about two hours, so we've had our breakfast, but won't mind being with our new grandkids while you both eat breakfast."

Heather (to Mary and Elroy): "We'll also watch over them when they're finished eating to give you two a break."

Elroy can't help but exclaim, "Halleluiah!" while raising both arms up. This makes everyone stare at him in surprise for a moment, making Elroy feel awkward, but the smiles and grins return (which makes Elroy feel normal again) as the family knows all too well the hardships of raising young kids, and the relief when someone else pitches in to help.

Once the possum-blooded family of five has finished, RJ and Heather take their new grandchildren to the "playroom" area of the hedgies' main living space full of toy boxes, coloring books, and puzzles. When his kids have left, Elroy almost faints for real in relief and exhaustion. In spite of the fun he had with reading to them and playing flip-flop, just the mere thought of taking care of his kids seems to drain Elroy of his energy, and actually taking care of them only serves to suck his energy out faster. And whenever he has a break from them, the very moment they leave his sight, he feels his energy slowly start to return—after an hour's worth of lying down.

Mary jokingly says, "Well someone's being overly dramatic. Even for a possum."

Elroy pants within each pause when he says, "Unlike you...I don't have...un...limited...energy."

Mary: "One, my higher energy comes from me being half raccoon. Two, I do get tired from taking care of the kids once they're being cared for by someone else in the family." (Plops on the ground next to Elroy) "And three, the only ones who truly have unlimited energy are Hammy and Aaron."

Once those words leave her mouth, the two squirrels just happen to zoom by, playing tag with Sam, the Quad Squad and Lauren, Damon, and Niara. Elroy thinks it's no coincidence, however. And judging by the lack of their scents, Rebecca and Garrett aren't present—which only means one thing that every adult has come to expect from those two. For out of all the hedgies, the most romantic couple are Rebecca and Garrett.

---

Thirty minutes ago, at their downtime spot after another night of romance, Rebecca and Garrett wake up. Garrett is lying on his back with his legs and arms completely stretched out. Rebecca is cuddled on his right and gets herself up so that their muzzles are only an inch apart, her tail is across his waist, her right arm is fully extended and pressing on the ground directly in front of his left armpit, and her left paw is touching his cheek.

Rebecca: "What is this beautiful thing I'm looking at?"

Garrett: "You're reflection in my eyes."

Rebecca: "Oh-ho-ho, you are a smoothie, Garrett. I know because, well...Just feel your body."

She lightly strokes the smooth fur from his cheek tuff to his chest. She then closes her eyes and French kisses him.

While doing so she reflects on how silly she used to be by not liking any intimate acts of affection with Garrett whenever he visited her. He was always the romantic type, never wanting to hide his affection in the slightest whether it was kissing, hugging, cuddling, or touching, even in public. Rebecca had been so uncomfortable with such actions, but now she has become the exact opposite; she doesn't hold anything back in holding, stroking, kissing, hugging, and cuddling with Garrett no matter if there is anyone watching or not. Garrett greatly appreciated that change in Rebecca, but still can't come to terms with how she has ended up more romantic than him.

Aside from how Rebecca's parents had been the same way in displaying their love, part of this may have been the awkward adjusting it took for Garrett to come to terms with his new marriage with Rebecca. Unlike Garrett, she had neither been married before, nor had she been with any other boyfriends. Garrett had plenty of girlfriends growing up, and Lizzy had been the love of his life until getting married to Rebecca. He had talked to her one night about his unease and remembers his revelation as if it was yesterday.

Garrett had told her, "On the one paw, they say that if someone remarries for any reason besides infidelity that I would be cheating on my first mate. But...maybe, just maybe, if my second marriage is to my true love, to my true soul mate who I'll love and stay loyal to even if she dies before me...then there's nothing wrong with that. If anything, my first marriage to Lizzy who wasn't my true love, means I was cheating on you, and myself."

By the time he came to that realization, Rebecca was too in love with him to slow down her expressions of love to him. It took her no time to adjust to her new marriage with Garrett. After Rebecca's homosexual crises had been solved in large part to when she almost died while fighting off the group of animals who had lost relatives as a result of Kale and his ex-pack, as well as Plushie ratting out his former group of friends who were going to attack human kids just for fun, Rebecca realized she needed to make every moment of her life count. With Garrett, she could experience feelings and a life far better than all the gymnastics she has done in her whole lifetime. Choosing him over her gay feelings, Rebecca and Garrett were married by the end of the week they had gotten engaged, and she gave birth to their four kits nine months later.

And that's where the "fun" began.

Even when they were infants, their quads were already causing trouble by poking their parents in the eye, pulling on their tails with their teeth, and climbing all over Rebecca and Garrett with their oh-so sharp claws. As Lizzy, R3, Gary, and Sare grew, so did their sibling rivalry which made them as feisty as Roger and Ty had been. Of course, there were four of them which meant four times the hassle. Had it not been for the hedgies and Garrett's family to help out, the two may have not been able to handle parenting four mischievous kits. The demand to take care of them left Rebecca and Garrett with little free time, but they made the most of it whenever they had any. Even after eight years into their marriage, raising their quads hadn't become any easier, but Garrett and Rebecca thank Mother Nature for the day they and their kits' lives would soon change for the better. Rebecca had been on a heist while it was Garrett's turn to stay home and look after their kids.

Gary had taken R3's bag of chips, causing R3 to shout, "Hey, give that back!"

Gary: "Come and get it, slow poke!"

Sare, being the drama queen of the litter, came in whining, "Daaa-ddyyyyyyyyyy! Lizzy won't play nicely with me-eeeee!"

Lizzy: "Because all you do is whine and complain about the littlest of unimportant things!"

Sare: "Take that back!"

Lizzy: "Make me!"

All four chased each other here and there, up and down trees while Garrett listened on with an exhausted facial expression. He had bags under his bloodshot eyes from having to keep a constant eye on his kits' rapid movements all over the place. When Rebecca came in from helping with the heist, Garrett looked at her with his peripheral vision and said in a tried but stern voice, "We. Are so. NOT having. Any more kits."

Rebecca: "Uhh, heh-heh. I wish you would have said that three months ago, because..."

Garrett looked over to her with wide eyes and sees her blushing while patting her belly. Garrett groaned in misery while lowering his head and putting it in his paws. Rebecca hadn't been too excited either, but what should have been another parenthood burden on the couple turned out to be their saving grace. First off, Rebecca only gave birth to one kit. Second, their quads had been psyched about the idea of a new sibling and were looking forward to help raise their baby sibling Third and most important, Lauren was truly well-behaved, and unintentionally helps reduce the quads' constant fighting as each quad wants Lauren to look up to him or her more than the other siblings. So it's now a competition of who is nicer and has better manners, to which Garrett and Rebecca are eternally grateful.

Their reminiscing now finished, Rebecca stops stroking Garrett's fur and asks, "You know...we don't heist until after noon...If you want, we have the time."

Garrett: "Very tempting, but we need to get back home and take care of our kids."

Rebecca sighs in disappointment but nods yes and says, "True. We've been a little neglectful lately, but now that Mary and Elroy adopted three joeys we'll need to be around the family more often to lend a paw if they need it."

Garrett: "Not to mention it's been a while since we've done something fun with just you, me, and our five kits. Wha'dya say we brainstorm some ideas while walking home?"

Rebecca: "Sounds great."

The two walk for three minutes when they hear a commotion coming from somewhere. They use their hearing and noses to confirm the scent and sound of a bobcat named Regina, who is facing off with Roaster.

Roaster's voice: "Find ya's food somewhere else, gato montés obstinada!"

Regina's voice: "If you're gonna insult me, speak friggin' English!"

There's a punch sound followed by her yelping "Ow!"

Roaster's voice: "I was gonna translate for you's before you interrupted me! I called you 'stubborn bobcat.' Now scram back to your litterbox of a dwelling!"

Regina's voice: "My home is not a litterbox!"

Roaster's voice: "You're absolutely right...It's the litter dat's put into the box—Booya!"

Rebecca and Garrett look at each other with a grin.

Rebecca: "That is so Roaster."

Garrett: "He was probably keeping an eye out for us while on his patrol."

Deciding they want to hear how the conversation turns out, they two keep listening.

Regina's voice: "You know, I used to be a paisano of your dad's former wolf pack."

Roaster's voice: "Spare me da history lesson, mi papá told me all about it when I was a whelp. Said you's were one'uv dee easiest paisano's to be defeated—by prey animals. Double booya!"

Regina's voice: "Come on, don't you have anything better to do with your time than preventing me from getting a bite of breakfast?"

Roaster's voice: "Sure do, but you's keeping me from it." (Rhetorically) "So how's about I give ya's till the count of three ta crawl back to whatever dump you came from?"

Regina's voice: "Hah! Looks like your 'papá' passed on his weakling acts of mercy to you. He was always a disgrace to his species and all predators everywhere. A real wolf would kill me instead of—Gack!"

Given the sound Regina just made, coupled with the grunting and gasping that follows, it's obvious that Roaster has her in a choke hold.

Roaster's voice: "Do you know about my mom? How brutal she is? She raised me too. I was going to let you off with a warning, but for insulting my papá and underestimating me, I think I'll kill you. It'll be one less predator in these woods to keep tabs on, which'll give me and my family more free time."

Rebecca and Garrett consider intervening because Roaster's dark and serious tone and lack of grammar errors mean he isn't fooling around. But the two decide against it because they have faith that the teenage wolf won't take things too far. Plus, it's always a bad idea to get between a wolf and his prey.

Regina's voice (strained from being strangled): "L-let's settle for a w-warning. P-please!"

Roaster's voice: "Too late. My mom is unbelievably strong and merciless, and she passed her super strength onto me. Like her, I'm strong enough to punch you 200 feet into the air, which is what I'm gonna do. But since cats like you always land on their feet, I'm going to break your legs first so that when you fall back down, you'll go Splat! and paint the forest with your innards."

Rebecca and Garrett actually relax now because they know Roaster is bluffing. Unlike his two siblings, he did not inherit Clara's super strength, which is why he resorts to roasting his opponents with words and fibs that sound convincing.

Regina's fear and desperation makes her voice come out clearly despite Roaster's hold on her when she says, "Don't! Please! My daughter is pregnant and I wanna see my grandchildren! I-I'll leave and never come back!"

Roaster's voice: "Not good enough. Predators like you have said dat lie all'tha time, and you still keep comin' back. So how's about I ensure you keep ya's promise."

Regina's voice: "How so?"

There's a loud Crack-Snap!, and Regina screams loud enough to scare off the birds in the trees above Garrett and Rebecca.

Regina's voice: "You broke my left foreleg!"

Roaster's voice: "Dare's exactly 230 bones inna bobcat's body. Dat's just one. And I didn't just break it, I gave it a non-healing fracture, which means it'll never get better. It's broken for the rest of your life. Now 'scat-cat' before I light your tail on fire! Triple booya!"

Regina doesn't even question how Roaster will possibly do that, she simply obeys.

Roaster's voice: "And if I ever see's you again, I'll do the same to ya's other three legs! Comprendé?!"

Regina's voice: "Yes! I don't even know what that last word means, but YES!"

Rebecca and Garrett decide to continue walking on, accepting that what has happened cannot be changed. They intend to tell Clara and Kale about their son's "noble brutality" but will leave the lecturing or punishment (if any) to those two. They half expect Roaster to head their way—if they are within range of his scent, he is certainly in range of theirs—but the sound of his running paws go in the direction away from the two raccoons, meaning Roaster is continuing his patrols. They also take their mind off what they had heard to continue coming up with ideas that they can do with their five kids.

They have come up with something by the time they get back to the family's living area, but will need to wait until later to tell their kits. Rebecca says the unspoken reason in her head, "Heist first, fun later." And she knows that Garrett feels the same way. Since the mates came back through the "side way" they find Grace and Aleshia together looking at themselves in a mirror hanging on a tree.

Grace: "Doesn't it bother you that we look no different from all the other female raccoons in the forest outside of this family?"

Aleshia: "Yeah, sometimes."

Grace: "It's all the time for me. Whenever we take Kelly to the playground area of the forest, she often ends up confusing her friends' parents with me or you. I don't want to imagine what would happen if she mistakes a complete stranger raccoon for us. We can't be next to our kits all the time, so I think we should do something about our looks, to make us stand out among others."

Aleshia: "I think you're being a bit too paranoid, but I get your point. After all, Rebecca wears red ribbons around her ears, and Luby wears a red bow. Both of those do catch the eye better than being plain, but I'm not doing the same as them. Ribbons and bows aren't my style."

Grace: "Me neither, but check this out."

Grace goes to a nearby thorn bush and removes some leaves on the ground to reveal a hole big enough for her to go into. Unseen, the hole leads inside the middle of the thorn bush which has been trimmed so there are no thorns in the inside-middle, and when Grace returns she is carrying a tin lunchbox.

Grace: "Keep what you have just seen, and what you're about to see, a secret from all others."

Aleshia raises her arm up as if giving a pledge and says, "I solemnly swear I will keep what I have just seen, and what I'm about to see, a secret from all others."

Grace nods with a smile and opens the lunchbox, whose contents inside glow bright and shiny, which causes Aleshia to say "Whooooaaaa...!" in wonder.

The lunchbox isn't filled with food, but with jewelry of every color and shape: rings, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and chokers.

Aleshia: "Did the people you swipe these from chase after you to get their jewelry back, or did you steal it while they were asleep at night?"

Grace: "Night and day, but believe it or not, they didn't chase me even if they caught me red-handed. It's all fake jewelry for one, but like RJ says, for humans enough is never enough. What he didn't mention is that humans have so much they don't know what to do with everything they have."

Aleshia: "Which is why humans have us, to trim down their excessive possessions that they can easily replace."

Grace: "Let's pick something to wear that'll make us more distinguishable from other female raccoons, and simply makes us look prettier than we already are."

Aleshia: "Don't mind if I do."

Grace dumps all the jewelry on the ground and like two school girls in a candy store the two raccoons go through finding things, trying them on, and looking in the mirror to see if it suits them. Wanting the final decision to be a surprise, Rebecca and Garrett quietly walk toward the main living area while the two ladies are still trying things on. When the mates arrive, they are immediately greeted by their five kits.

Lauren: "Mommy! Daddy! You're home!"

Sare: "About time."

R3: "Who takes all night and a good chunk of the morning marking their territory?"

Lizzy: "Yeah, you can't have that much personal territory."

Gary: "Or did it take so long because you have found new territories?"

Garrett: "Oh, kids. I know your mom and I have been very busy lately, but something we've decided is to take a break from what we've been doing and spend more time with all five of you."

All five kits lift their arms up and go "Yay—!" in ecstatic unison, until Rebecca interrupts.

Rebecca: "Starting after the heist, of course."

All five kits put their arms down and go "Aww..." in disappointed unison.

Garrett: "Don't be so blue. How I see it you have something to look forward to, and we technically are gonna spend time with y'all during the heist."

The five kits' faces lighten up again, and just in time too, because with RJ's voice announcing on a megaphone "Gather around for the heist plan, everyone!", everybody knows what time it is. To wake up the bats, RJ selects the siren mode and blares the noise while pointing the megaphone in the direction of the tree hole where they bats have taken roost. He stops the annoying sound when Mordecai emerges and grumbles, "Alright, we're up."

At the second TV, Boxer puts the game on pause and tells Ike, "Sorry Ike, mi hombre, but dis is where my sister n' I gotta go on our patrols."

Ike: "You sure you can't help us during the heist?"

Bea: "Yeah, I thought with five wolves it would lessen the workload and you and your parents would have more time to spend with the family."

Percie: "True, but us twos've gotta relieve nuestros padres so dey can have some downtime to demselves. And dare's still lots'a predators 'round deese woods, but once we bash a few more'a dare heads in, they should finally start to get da message dat they shouldn't be comin' here no more."

Boxer: "Not ta mention wolves'ud attract lots'a unwanted attention durin' a heist in broad daylight onna weekend when most humans are still home."

Percie: "Besides, with dee amount of food you's'll get from the description of da house Bernard told us about, the rest'uv you's prey critters are gonna have mucho más free time in da imminent future to spend wit us."

Note: In Spanish, "mi hombre" means "my man," "nuestros padres" means "our parents," and "mucho más" means "much more."

Bea sighs and says, "Great reasons, like always. But we're gonna get extra meat to last your whole family for two months."

Percie: "I like da sound'a that. Take care, Chica Espinosa y Erizo Saltarín."

Bea and Ike smile at the mention of their pack-names which mean, "Thorn Girl and Leaping Sea Urchin" respectively. And after hearing Emma call out "Ike! Bea! We're waiting on you two," the porcupine and wolf siblings head their separate ways.

When they get to the meeting circle, Roger says, "Aleshia and Grace aren't here either. I wonder what's keeping them?"

Rebecca: "Oh, you'll find out soon enough."

Ty: "Do you know something?"

Rebecca: "Not the full story just yet. We'll all find out that together when they get back."

Ty: "Since when did you like speaking in riddles? I get that enough from Roger and his magician-talk."

Roger: "Does thouest hath something to say about mine eloquent linguistics?"

Ty (rhetorically): "You do realize no one talks like that anymore, don't ya?"

Roger: "Indubitably. I just talkest that way to annoy thee."

Ty rolls his eyes. But if anything puts his mind at ease, it's the sound of Grace's voice saying, "Sorry we're tardy to the party, but as you can see, Aleshia and I have been busy rejuvenating our appearances."

Aleshia's voice: "Hope you all like it."

When all the heads turn to the side and after Grace and Aleshia emerge from behind a bush, everyone is momentarily speechless, in awe at the two ladies' new looks. Grace is wearing earrings that resemble Christmas ornaments that are purple circles with a ring of fake diamonds going around the middle, while Aleshia is wearing a fake pearl necklace.

The awe-struck staring would have gone on for a little longer had Simon not asked, "What're we missing?" This prompts Scarlet to describe the new and improved Grace and Aleshia to the bats who, despite not knowing what any objects look like, are still courteous enough to go "Ahhh."

Kelly: "Mommy, you look so pretty!"

Ellie: "You too mom!"

Riley: "Stunning!"

As for Roger and Tyler, they walk toward their mates like zombies, which makes Aleshia and Grace quickly close the distance by walking briskly toward them.

Roger: "Honey—"

Ty: "Baby—"

Roger and Ty simultaneously embrace their mates and say in unison, "You look HOT!"

After sharing a kiss, the twin brothers then realize a flaw in what they have just said, and stammer out some corrections.

Roger: "Er, I mean. You always look hot—"

Ty: "—A-all the time. It's just that—"

Roger: "—You look hotter—"

Ty: "—Yeah, than you normally do."

Aleshia: "What you originally said was good enough, babe."

Grace: "I figured Aleshia and I look so similar to other female raccoons that we needed something to make us stick out more from the rest of the crowd."

Emma: "Happy day! I'm no longer the only female in this family who wears jewelry."

Aleshia: "But we'll go into the details later. Because in case our gorgeous-er looks have distracted us all, we've got a heist to review and carry out."

RJ: "You're speakin' my language, Aleshia. We'll be doing a heist Bernard came up with today. You have the floor, son."

Bernard steps forward and says, "We're hitting the Chang house today." (Uses the tip of his golf club's grip to point at the house on the map of the suburbs). "They're gonna leave at 12:40 to go catch a movie. Scouts, tell me what you observed."

Ty: "The inside is guarded by numerous pets: two dogs, seven cats, a parrot, two rabbits, and if you really wanna know, four hermit crabs and two fighting fish."

Damon: "Man oh man, that's almost enough animals to start a small pettin' zoo."

Roger: "But you wouldn't wanna pet these animals, no sirree."

Although she's too young to go on heists, Kelly inherited her parents' wits and love of learning, which makes her ask, "What breeds?"

Grace: "The dogs are a Pitbull and gull dong. The cats are a Siamese pair, a Bengal, a Scottish fold, and three American wirehairs. Both rabbits are lionheads."

Tiger: "The Changs must have as-ham of roodehs to hold onto so many dangerous animal breeds."

The others understand that Tiger just said "a lot of guts" in his native tongue, as he has taught the family almost every Persian word.

Rachel: "All the animals have been trained to attack intruders which is why there's no house security system."

Aaron: "Yeah, 'cuz the pets are the security system."

Patricia: "Only the parrot isn't dangerous, but it can be loud and sound an alarm for the other animals."

Owen: "That's why it's the job of me, my mate Christine, our son Lucas, Marilyn, Mordecai, Claire and Bertram to take a curtain and put it on the bird cage."

Marilyn: "It won't stop the bird from squawking, but at least it won't be able to tell the other pets where we are."

Rebecca: "The best thing to do would be dealing with those pets first. Once they're no longer a threat there won't be any interference."

Garrett: "The only question is: how do we do that?"

Bernard: "I was waiting for someone to ask that. Which brings me to the real challenge to raiding this house: the backyard."

Rick: "What kind of things are in the backyard of the house?"

Aleshia: "It's full of your 'classic' Verminator traps—courtesy of Pierre the Verminator of course. With the help of his 22-year old son Dilbert who now attends Verm-Tech, along with his 21-year-old girlfriend Glenda LaFontant."

Verne: "Gladys's and Dwayne's daughter...Rotten apples don't fall far from the trees."

Roger: "At least there isn't a Depelter Turbo, which is still illegal."

Heather: "But that didn't stop those Verm-Tech wacko's from developing a defense grid similar to what that monstrosity used."

Luby: "And their technology has become better. Before we moved to the Elysian Fields Estates, the traps and Depelter Turbo sensors would trigger if any animal the size of the selected category walked into its laser-sensor field. Then Verm-Tech started getting complaints from pet owners, and faced multiple lawsuits for injuring pets."

Plushie: "Which should've been the end of Verm-Tech, until they promised to improve the trap sensors to target only vermin animals instead of pets...As if they weren't animal haters already, now they're specists."

Rick: "The only upside is that the traps have been changed to where they're nonlethal. No more spikes or blades, just things meant to trap and hold until the verminator comes to collect."

Hammy: "Wait! Remind me how pets are safe from the Sniffer traps?"

Rachel: "The trap sensors are programmed to recognize the biometric signals given off by the collars the pets wear."

Sam (scratching his head): "Which, uh, means?"

Rachel: "The traps won't activate if the sensor field detects the pets' special collars."

Ellie: "So is the plan to steal their collars and wear them to protect ourselves?"

Mary: "That sounds too easy to be possible."

Bernard: "And you're right. No matter how clever we try to convince them, these pets won't give up their only means of walking in the backyard safely. Plus, there's not enough collars for all the heisters to wear."

Quillo: "Which is why me and Emma—the best ones with electronics—are gonna hack into the trap sensors and alter the programming to target whatever animals are wearing the pet collars."

Ronny: "The old switcheroo."

Spike (to Quillo and Emma): "You two also gotta disable the traps' alarm that'll make a verminator come check on the yard."

Elroy: "How did you guys find all this out without getting caught?"

RJ: "We were listening in on the day Pierre and Dwayne installed the improved traps in the Changs' yard. We all know how boastful humans can be, especially verminators."

Bernard: "So back to the heist plan. After Quillo and Emma do their handiwork, the next step is getting the pets to come out to the backyard where the hacked sensors will make the traps turn against them."

Ladarius: "I can make 'em leave with much less effort." (Points at his raised tail)

De'Ausha: "Mama and I can also use our 'weapon' if things get too dicey."

No one objects which causes Bernard to nod and continue with, "All those who drew the short straws or are too old to go on the heist will still have a part to play as our monitors."

Lizzy: "But isn't the Changs' house in the middle of the suburbs instead of boarding the hedge? How will they be able to keep an eye out for us?"

RJ: "Using two drones with cameras attached to 'em; one for the front yard and one for the back."

Claire: "Any curious humans who do see the drones will just assume it's neighborhood kids playing with their toys."

Bert: "There you go, a bind bat emphasizing the sense of sight."

Mordecai: "Aw man, I thought my mate would say something like that."

Christine: "It's first come, first serve."

Claire: "It wasn't my intention, but I'll gladly take the credit anyway. Heh-heh."

Bernard: "Just remember, drone operators, to not stay still for too long. Make it look like you're kids playing with their toys."

Ike: "Aren't all you glad we used my idea of the drones?"

Bucky: "We sure are, nephew. Before, we'd have to post some guards or monitors outside both the yards. But now we can all be inside the house to make things go faster."

Verne: "But even with all these precautions, expect the unexpected. Things can still go wrong no matter how well-planned they are. And all of you know I speak from experience, not because my tail is tingling or paranoia."

Heather: "We all have reminders of that lesson, Verne...and I'm one of them."

The family quickly and silently reflects on a heist 15 years ago when Heather almost died, and suffered some permanent damage to herself that has sadly prevented her from going on heists.

Like usual, the happy, go-lucky Hammy gets everyone's somber minds back to more pleasant-mooded topics when he quickly asks, "Will Kale, Clara, Boxer, Roaster, and Percie be coming along this time? Will they? Will they? HUH?!" without pausing between words.

Plushie: "They're busy on their patrols, but we've told them when and where we'll be doing the heist. So if they get done early, they can come help us. But don't count on that. Besides, I'd say with 47 of us going to the Changs' house we have more than enough animals to defend ourselves."

Bernard: "That about sums up the plan. Any questions, comments, or concerns?"

Mary: "I've got a comment. You sure have come a long way from how you used to be, little brother."

Bernard: "We all have, sis, because I didn't come up with this heist on my own. Each of us pitched in."

Mary: "Yep, and I'd love to see the plan in action, but as a new mother, Elroy and I will need to take care of our new kids."

Elroy thinking: "Yet another reason why adopting those three joeys has ruined me and Mary's life of adventure and excitement."

As if he could hear the possum's woes, Lou speaks up by saying, "You know something, how about all us older folks take care of Zeke, Tim, and Mira while you and Elroy go on the heist, Mary?"

Penny: "Yeah, because you just got back and haven't been on a family heist for a long time."

Luby: "Plus, we could use your golf bag items. We'd have three bags worth instead of two."

Mary (to Lou): "You'd do that for us? Thanks!"

Heather: "Your new kids can watch what their new mom and dad do on one of the drone control/monitors."

Kylie: "I just wish I had a job besides monitoring for this heist."

Dexter: "Me too."

Kelly: "Me three."

Damon: "Me four."

Niara: "Me five."

Lauren: "Me six."

Simon: "But you kids know the rules: you all drew straws and came up with the short ones. We leave things to luck and chance to select which teens and kids get what job so there's no arguments."

Celine: "Besides, all six of you are masters at controlling drones, so think of it as your chance to shine. And me, my mate, Lou, and Penny have to stay behind because we're too old to go on heists, which we miss doing. So we know how you feel."

The two skunks, raccoons, and bats sigh in disappointment and wear long faces, but don't say any signs of disagreement.

Celine: "And don't make those faces at me."

Niara: "How'd you know, Auntie Celine?"

Celine smirks while saying, "Mothers know best."

RJ: "So we're all good?"

Hedgies in unison: "Yes!"

Rick: "Then let's quit flapping our lips and get the wagons ready for travel!"

Cheers follow and the family gets prepped.

However, they underestimate the intelligence of their verminator sworn enemies who had not told the Changs—and ipso facto, the hedgies—everything that their new traps can do.

---

The Changs have five kids in addition to their 18 pets, and therefore needed a large backyard to enable lots of space for playing outdoors. Fortunately, they are one of the wealthiest families living in the Elysian Fields Estates. The backyard is slanted slightly downhill, surrounded by a wooden fence, and spans 45 yards long and 25 yards wide. This makes it big enough to have shrubs and bushes, a trampoline, and a small meditation garden complete with a fountain. But the centerpiece of entertainment is The Sandlot-sized tree house in the middle of the yard with the wrap-around deck, slide, swing set, stairs, rope ladder, and pole that's in the middle of the yard. The tree house and real house were designed by Mr. and Mrs. Chang who are the owners and operators of a successful carpentry company.

The three-story real house is big enough to enable each child to have his/her own bedroom, and includes a rec room with a pool table, a personal gym, a woodwork shop, and a home theater. Needless to say that with all this money and amenities, comes a palace-sized pantry and refrigerator which will be the hedgies' main goal.

Even with a home theater, the Changs only use it to watch movies on Blu-Ray, or streaming services. But when it comes to those big-budget, highly anticipated, blockbuster-quality movies, they prefer to see those at the downtown IMAX with its massive screen and D-Box seats that move and vibrate in perfect synchronization with the on-screen action. The movie the Changs are seeing is two hours and thirty minutes long, which gives the hedgies more than enough time to get the food they need and make it back home before the humans get back.

Hovering high in the sky are two drones, with one being controlled by Kelly and Lauren, while the other is controlled by Niara and Damon. Lou and Penny are next to the latter and Heather, caring for her three grandchildren, is near Kelly and Lauren. The skunks' drone is stationed at the Chang's front yard, and the raccoons' is stationed at the backyard.

Niara: "I see tha garage doh openin'."

Lou has a walkie talkie and presses the talk button to say, "The hatches are open. Move up people."

A few seconds later and Kelly says, "Okay, we see can see our family."

Heather speaks into her walkie talkie, "We have a visual on all of you. Hang tight until we give the all-clear."

RJ's voice: "Copy that. Split up gang."

The 47 hedgies who came to the house show up outside the fence. Some are on the right side, others are on the left, and the remainder are at the back.

By the time each group stops moving, Damon sees the Changs' car and says, "Thay-yer they go. Les' wait till they leave the 'burbs." About a minute and a half later, he sees the car turn onto the main road out of the EFE and says, "Thay gone."

Lou says, "The hens have left the nest, and flown the coop. Move in!"

Bernard has another walkie talkie and his voice replies, "Got it. Okay Quillo and Emma, do your thing."

Penny: "Oh jeepers, here comes the part where one of our sons and daughters-in-law has to reprogram the traps."

To get the porcupines over the fence, the hedgies brought two blankets. They put them flat on the ground, let Emma get in one and Quillo get in another, and then throw them up with all their strength. The adult porcupines clear the fence and land on the trampoline. Rick and Luby climb the wooden fence and toss two pairs of goggles onto the trampoline that Quillo and Emma put on. Because it's only the early afternoon, the lasers used to trigger the traps are invisible to the naked eye, but are perfectly seen with the "thief vision goggles" on. Emma and Quillo see the lasers, look at the control panel on the tile patio, and judge that the distance from the trampoline to that is 10 feet. One at a time, they jump from the trampoline, over the laser-security-filled grass part of the yard, and land next to the traps' control panel.

The two take off their goggles and Quillo looks in the direction of the fence he had come over and says, "Okay, we need our tools."

Rick and Luby climb the fence and toss over two small zipper bags full of everything the porcupines will need to reprogram the lasers. After opening up the control panel, Emma uses the screwdriver to get to the wiring. Quillo gets out an instruction booklet for the control panel the hedgies had obtained and copied on their printer on the same day the traps were installed, and then gets out some wire cutters that he will use to snip the proper ones that are in charge of determining what the traps target. Before doing that, Emma gets out a device that looks like a multi-channel GPS Wi-Fi detector that electricians use to determine which spot in a house would be the best for a Wi-Fi modem. With it, she plugs in an extendable wire into a port in the control panel and looks at the reading on her device's screen.

Emma: "Normal readings. Pulses are strong for all systems. We gotta be quick when reconnecting the wires because if even one pulse is dead for 10 seconds, the whole system will shut down, and if more than one pulse is dead after 10 seconds the system will send an alert to Verm-Tech. But most likely, Pierre will notice since he and his wife live in the EFE."

Quillo: "And we need the system fully operational in order to trap the pets...So there's no room for error."

Quillo is about to cut the sheaths away from the wires when he notices the rope necklace that Emma is wearing with a wooden square big enough to show the capital "EI" letters carved in.

Quillo intentionally says, "Still wearing that necklace the real Ike gave you," as an observation instead of a question.

Emma: "Yep. But after mine and Bucky's 'necklace fiasco,' it's just a good luck charm now. Me, my mate, and kids know it's a memento to the real Ike, a sign of our friendship, not romantic relationship. I don't wear it constantly like I used to, and that's perfectly alright with me."

Quillo doesn't need to her to explain anything else, because he remembers the details of how she acquired the necklace and of the "necklace fiasco" like it was yesterday. It had been given to her by a porcupine named Ike that all the six porcupines had met in Ohio when a tornado sent them to that state, where they nearly got killed by the brother of the snake that had killed Emma's father. In the short time they spent there, Ike and his friend Dr. Liam helped the then-teenage porcupines survive by giving them shelter and advice on the coral snake named Carl who was killed by Ike, but at the cost of his life. Before the battle, Ike had developed a crush for Emma even though she was in love with Spike, and made her the necklace as a gift of his feelings for her. Since his sacrifice, Emma never took the necklace off and named her son Ike as a reminder of Ike's heroism. But 15 years ago, her love of the necklace caused some issues with her marriage and motherhood that she, Spike, and their Ike had solved together.

Note: Again, I must thank TheIceAgeMan77342 for letting me use his Adventure Awaits 1 story as part of my OTH expanded universe. Read that story to get the full details of Ike and Dr. Liam.

However, there is one thing that puzzles Quillo, so he asks, "Whenever I look at you you're always wearing it. So when do you take it off?"

Emma: "Whenever I'm bathing, going to bed at night, and with Spike."

Quillo: "You're with him all the time and have your necklace on. What do you mean?

Emma smirks and says, "None of your business."

Quillo chuckles while smiling wide enough to see all his teeth. He doesn't press Emma anymore and returns his attention to the wires. The control panel has a blue, black, yellow, green and two red wires. "Okay, if I'm reading the instruction booklet right—and I'm certain that I am—"

Emma: "—Heh, nerd—"

Quillo: "—We need to cut the first red wire and connect it with the cut yellow wire, which then must be connected to the cut green wire with the black wire, and finally connect the cut blue and second red wire. Doing all that will rearrange the system to target whatever animals are wearing the collars." (Thinking) "Who says real men don't need instructions."

But real man or not, Quillo knew he couldn't do all the rewiring alone when he first reviewed the instruction booklet, which is why Emma has to help out. He looks at her and says, "Okay, it's time. Does that device of yours have sound cues to let us know whether the pulse is still active or not?"

Emma: "Yes. Lemme set it."

While she does that Quillo gets out a second pair of wire cutters, puts them next to Emma, and uses his wire cutters to cut the sheaths from the other wires. Emma sets down her device just as he finishes and picks up her pair of wire cutters. The device sounds like a heart monitor, with each of the six wires' pulses making Beep sounds. The two look each other in the eyes and can tell that they are ready and focused. Emma mouths off "Three, two, one," and the cutting and rewiring begins. The device gives off one flat line sound after the other until all six pulses are down. Since there are six wires, Quillo handles the three on the left side of the control panel and Emma takes care of the three on the right side. Despite all that could work against the pair, they pull off the rewiring without a hitch, as indicated by the six Beeps! that happen.

Emma: "Awesome job, Quillo."

Quillo: "You too, Emma. But it's too early to celebrate just yet. We won't know it's safe for any of us until we do a 'test.' "

Emma: "You're right—Not It."

Quillo: "What, no 'ladies first' this time?"

Emma: "The longer we argue..."

Quillo: "Alright. I'm on it."

Quillo dons his goggles again and goes to the closest trip-laser trap: an iron-gnome maiden fitted with fox trap-like clamps instead of spikes. He turns in a way that will enable him to step a hindfoot into the laser's path, but Emma will also be able to take his paws in her own and yank him back to the tile patio in order to avoid the trap if it's triggered. Once his paws are in hers, Quillo takes a deep breath and steps his hindfoot on the laser. When nothing happens, they breathe a sigh of relief, and raise their voices to say, "Step 1 finished," to the rest of the family waiting behind the fence.

Ronny's voice: "Way to go, dad!"

Everyone except Stella, De'Ausha, Ladarius, the bat sisters, their mates, and Lucas scales the fence and walks through the now-safe yard. The reason for the former 10 not to be among the others is because Step 2 involves making the pets flee into the backyard whereby the reprogrammed traps will 'take care' of the domesticated animals. To do that, those 10 need to go through the front door while the rest hide around various points in the backyard, away from the doggie door built into the backdoor.

All of this is seen on the drones' cameras which then switch positions so that it looks like human kids are controlling them. Those controlling the front yard drone make it hover over a crape myrtle tree roughly 15 feet from the front porch. From that angle, the animal monitors can see De'Ausha using her cat climbing ability she inherited from Tiger to reach the front door's lock and unlock it with a lock pick. She doesn't open the door lever yet, not until Stella and Ladarius get up next to the door and are in the position to push it open, and the bats put on swimmer nose clips and fly up holding the curtain they will use to put over the parrot's cage.

De'Ausha says, "Heah goes nothin'!" and pulls the door lever down.

Remembering all the shooter games he played with De'Ausha, Ladarius shouts out, "Breaching, breaching!" as he and Stella push the door open with all their might.

A multitude of animal voices say various expression of surprise, but it's shortly followed by one of the cats shouting, "Intruders!" followed by a hiss in aggression.

The pitbull bravely claims, "You picked the wrong house to break into! Battle stations everyone!"

The parrot squawks and says, "Go for the eyes and gizzard!"

One of the Lionhead rabbits adds, "Just cause we're cute little bunnies doesn't mean we can't kick some—AAAAAHHHHHHH! SKUUUUUNNNNNNKS!"

The other pets scream too, but only the three American wirehair cats rush toward the backdoor. The gull dong dog rallies those who stayed by saying, "There's nine of us and three of them!"

Parrot: "Um, I'm in my cage."

The gull dong exhales sharply in annoyance and says in a vexed tone, "Okay, eight of us." He immediately goes back to his tone full of bravado when he says, "My point being, we can take 'em out before they stink up the place!"

Scottish fold cat: "Which'll mean maire lovely treats fer us all, sance we'll make oor oowners prrroud!"

Ladarius: "Sorry to jet, but we on'tha clock he'ah."

With that, Ladarius does to the Chang house what Stella did to Gladys Sharp's house so many years ago. The pets are sent into coughing and gagging fits, and through that noise one of the Siamese cats rasps out, "Outside! Nah-oooooowwww!"

There are no objections and the eight pets not in a cage flee as fast as their four legs can carry them. As for the parrot, one would think it was part possum with the way it bawls in loss when it shouts after the eight runaways, "You pricks! You forgot about me-eeee! Traitors! Shame on all of you, your families, and species' lineages! Oh, the humanity! THE OVERWHELMING, STENCH-FILLED HUMANITY!"

The bats drop the curtain over the cage so the parrot can't see the hedgies when they eventually come in the house, and to help muffle the noise the bird will undoubtedly keep making during the whole heist.

As for the animals that fled, they don't give a second thought about running out the doggie door and straight into the backyard. Even better, their ears are too full of the sounds of coughing and their other senses are too occupied with the skunk spray stuck to their bodies that none of them hear the American wirehair cats' warning not to come into the grass. One by one, the eight pets fall victim to the Verm-Tech traps disguised as common lawn furniture and accessories: flower pots with croquet wicket-like clamps, yard lights with sleeping gas, fake flamingos that drop from below with cages instead of spikes, a birdbath with cage bars that extend to the ground, sprinklers that tighten around the body (formerly the sprinkler guillotine), the clamp-based iron gnome maiden, statues with ropes that snags a leg up, and a gazing ball that falls off its pedestal to trap the animal inside like a hamster ball.

The hedgies emerge from their hiding spots around the yard and ignore the cries of pain, bewilderment, and threats as they get to the backdoor, put on gas masks, and then head inside with their wagons.

None of them are aware that, since they first stepped foot into the yard, their actions have been monitored by more than those controlling the drones. For as it turns out, the traps with any eyes, along with the bumps on the patterns of non-eyed things such as flower pots, the birdbath, and the gazing ball pedestal have secret built-in cameras like nanny cams that show footage to the Verm-Tech campus.

---

Monitoring the specific cameras is none other than Glenda LaFontant, the daughter of Dwayne and Gladys. Glenda has her father's big blue eyes, mole on the left side of her face, large nose, and wide mouth. Other than that, she looks just like her mother with a thin body, arched eyebrows, and black hair. Unlike Gladys, Glenda's hair is long and goes halfway down her back, but she has it in a ponytail. Dissimilar to both her parents, Glenda grew up with an interest in animals and is currently working on her zoologist degree at Verm-Tech. Because she isn't the kind of lady who wants to harm animals, she chose not to become a verminator, and works at the surveillance control room in the captured animals building.

Even after seeing the hedgies enter the Changs' yard and how the traps incapacitated those they were designed to protect Glenda can't help but admire the wild animals.

Note: the following is based on the Over the Hedge comic strip dated 8/11/2021.

Knowing this, her boyfriend, Dilbert "Dill" Stanton waltzes up to her and says in a flirty way, "Who wants to watch wildlife webcams anyway, when you could be out in the field with me catching them?"

Glenda: "Hey there, Dill. Slow day at work, or you just comin' by to distract me from doing my job again?"

Dilbert: "Right on both." He kisses her cheek, then lets her do the same to his.

Each had been childhood friends since they were young due to Dwayne's and Gladys's friendship with Pierre Stanton and his wife Mary Anne. Like all boys, Dill played rough with his best playmate—pulling her hair, throwing stuff too hard, and giving her his self-proclaimed "noogie of death"—but Glenda was smart enough to realize from an early age that he was doing that because he liked her. Not to mention she had some creative ways of getting back at him, such as putting "kick me" signs on his back, wearing "I'm with stupid *arrow pointing at him* shirts," and using some handy-dandy duct tape on his mouth. The pranks stopped when they went to middle school, where they became closer to each other because the two of them were nerdy outcasts. Neither of them played sports nor hung out with the popular kids, but they both shined at the chess club, math team, and robotics team, all of which they continued through high school. Their talents at strategizing, quick thinking, and tech-savviness made them a formidable two-person team at every school technology team competition. Alone they were good, together they were unstoppable, and now in college they are inseparable. They already acted like a married couple with the nagging and fighting and "My way is better than your way" talks, and agreed to marry once Glenda graduates. As they have done their whole lives since meeting each other, they don't mind some friendly banter every now and then.

Glenda: "But to answer your question, some humans are endlessly curious about wildlife. I mean, c'mon, look at the raccoons and porcupines. They're so cute."

Dilbert: "Until they bite your face, you die of rabies and it's a closed coffin funeral because, you know...your face."

Glenda: "Ah, so in your case some humans are equally terrified of animals at the same time."

Dilbert: "And was that a possum or a raccoon I saw just a moment ago?" Suddenly a new idea hits him, borne of something his father, Pierre Stanton, had talked and shown Dill photos of. With an edge to his voice he says, "Rewind. Now!"

Glenda (sarcastically): "Yes, sir. As you command, sir. Right away, sir." Despite her sarcasm, she didn't say it in a way to spite him back for his bossiness, but rather because she knows the look in his eyes and the tone of his voice that means he's about to go "on the hunt."

When she rewinds, Dill sees what he was looking for and says, "Freeze it there."

Glenda hits the pause button and looks perplexed at the animal being shown. "Is that—?"

Dilbert: "—A raccoon-possum hybrid...What house are those cameras set up?"

Glenda (rhetorically): "Did I just give you some work to do today?"

Dilbert: "You sure did. Wanna come along?"

Glenda: "You know me, I'm not a field lady. And I still have two more hours until my shift ends. But no worries, I'll watch the show from here."

Dilbert: "Suit yourself. More fun for me."

As Dilbert walks away, he pulls out his cell phone, selects the first number on his speed dial, and after the person on the other end picks it up, Dilbert says, "Hey dad, guess what me and my girlfriend have seen..."

---

Even full of a green cloud of skunk stink, the inside of the Changs' house was nothing short of a palace. Having lots of money to spend, the humans had artifacts and treasures in the form of samurai armor and weapons, paintings of Japanese historic figures, Japanese World War II relics, ancient written scrolls, and elaborate furniture and furnishings. It was like walking into a museum—one that had all the comforts of a sleek and modern home.

Bea: "Jeepers, this house. Is. So. Totally. AWESOME!"

Having lived with humans for a long time, Tiger is more aware of the workings that go into decorations like the ones displayed in the Changs' home, and can't stop himself from sharing his insights with the others by saying, "It makes my former master's home look like a shack by comparison. Most of these artifacts are not replicas, so they were either passed down from generation to generation, or purchased for quite a hefty sum of money. I personally believe both."

RJ: "The Changs must have very deep pockets to blow a couple thousand dollars on some of these things."

Verne: "This is probably the richest family we've raided from."

Bernard: "If this is what their living room and den looks like—"

Mary: "—Then I can't wait to see their pantry and fridge!"

Lizzy: "Not to mention the toys they can afford their kids."

Sare: "Can we stop by the playroom and check it out?"

Gary: "Yeah! I betcha they have the 7 foot 6 inch G.I. Joe aircraft carrier toy!"

R3: "And I bet they have the full-sized Star Wars vehicles toys and the action figures that go along with 'em, not the Micro Machines Action Fleet lineup!"

Sare: "Told ya you were named after a droid from Star Wars."

R3: "Was not! I just happen to like Star Wars."

Ironically, Rebecca, the raccoon who gets distracted with her spouse the most, is the one who refocus everyone's attention to the heist at hand, showing that those in RJ's family bloodline have natural leadership skills. She speaks in an in-charge voice tone that clearly indicates there will be no debate or argument afterward when she says, "We'll take care of the food first, and only if we have the spare time later will we explore the rest of the house."

As expected, no one objects because they all understand that no matter how impressed they are with the monstrosity that is the Changs' home, heisting takes priority over everything else—for the family's safety. There is always the chance that something could go wrong and threaten everyone's lives, so the sooner they take care of what is necessary the sooner they can leave. Even the kids and teens understand this, and are alright with it as it was one of the first lessons their parents gave them about heisting from humans.

Still, Riley makes an interesting remark as the animals make their way to the kitchen when the kit says, "Maybe we can have a staycation at the Chang's house next time the humans go out on vacation."

Roger: "That, my son, is a stupendous idea!"

The others nod in agreement with smiles on their faces and twinkles in their eyes. Only Rick adds another insight with, "Since the Changs' pets are too dangerous for anyone but the Changs to take care of, they have to take them to a kennel while on vacations, so the house will be unguarded..."

Aleshia: "Note to self: have the best staycation at the Changs' sometime in the future."

By the time the words have left her mouth the hedgies enter the Changs' kitchen, and everyone is speechless at the wondrous sight their eyes are beholding. The kitchen is connected to the dining room, both which look like—and are about the size of—a small restaurant. The industrial-sized refrigerator has three doors, the freezer next to it resembles a two-door refrigerator, the kitchen island is practically a bar, and the dining table is as long and elegant as the table in a king's palace during medieval times. Even Verne and Velma are impressed.

RJ, Luby, and Rick are the only ones whose feet aren't glued to the floor from awe-struckness, and move over to the pantry door. Upon opening it they too become immobile, and their brains' pleasure centers feel like they are on their honeymoons. Far from being a mere cabinet with shelves, the Changs' pantry is a massive 50x10 foot walk-in room that looks like a mini-mart. The bottom up to the 15 foot ceiling is full of food, and there's even a sliding ladder on a rack that travels the length of the room.

Luby: "I have died and gone to heaven!"

Rick: "Best. Pantry. Ever!"

RJ wipes the drool from his mouth and gets his head back in the game when he says, "Let's stop staring into dreamland, and start loading these wagons!"

His comment makes everyone start getting to work. Given the size of the animal family, they have brought four wagons with them and intend to fill each as much as the amount RJ had stolen from Vincent those many years ago. But because there is so much to load, every family member is needed, and the high shelves and cold storage items means those who can climb must carefully toss down items that those on the ground must catch without dropping.

Bernard: "Someone gimme the time."

Mary reaches into her pouch to look at her cell phone and says, "1:10."

Always one to get caught up in numerical calculations by heart, Verne says, "That leaves us until 3:30 for the movie to end, and then about 20 more minutes for the Changs to come back home at roughly 4 o'clock. A total of 2 hours and 50 minutes. Our family has 61 members in it, and 14 are behind the hedge and not here, so that's 47 of us here raiding. There're four wagons, so if we assign about 11 family members per wagon, while factoring in the strength of all those here based on their age, it should take us about 2 hours to load the wagons. We couldn't bring our off-road golf cart because there isn't enough room on there for four wagons, and it was a 20 minute walk to go from the hedge to the Changs' house. So add the slowdown of transporting four fully loaded wagons and that gives us 30 to 40 minutes to get back home. All this will take us 2 hours and 40 minutes, so it's gonna be close. Everybody got all that?"

All he receives are blank stares and Plushie says, "And you have made my brain hurt..."

Velma: "Let's try to reduce that time by going fast. Just make sure no one risks breaking something."

Bernard gets out the walkie talkie and says, "Monitors, it'll take us about 2 hours and 40 minutes to arrive back home. You read me?"

Lou's voice: "Load and clear."

Bernard: "How much battery life do our drones have?"

Penny's voice: "30 minutes. We've already had to pilot them back to us for a recharge."

Verne: "Does that mean we'll be without our lookouts every 30 minutes?!"

Heather's voice: "Don't worry, Verne. Drake and Quillo made the suggestion of "stagger-charging" our drones. Long story short, we charge each drone in a way that ensures one drone is hovering over the house y'all are in while the other one charges and then the lookout drone returns just as the newly-charged drone enters the airspace."

Simon's voice: "To compensate for recharge time, we've got a total of six drones, not just two."

Celine's voice: "All of this means there won't be a time those with working eyes aren't keeping watch over the Changs' house."

Verne sighs and says, "That's a relief..."

Bernard: "Keep up the good work, folks, and we'll do the same here."

Damon's voice: "Roger."

Niara's voice: "Copy."

Grace's and Lauren's voices in unison: "Over."

Dexter's and Kylie's voices in unison: "And out."

Now with full reassurance, every member of the family can loot the food in peace. Unaware that there is a storm brewing. A storm in the shape of verminators, who will be assembled at the Changs' house at the same time the hedgies will finish loading their wagons.

The largest downside to raiding from human houses in the Elysian Fields Estates is that it has allowed certain humans the time to understand that these animals are professionals, and therefore a professional response is needed to try and quell this group of forest creatures. But thanks to frequent run-ins, the animals know how to spot verminators. As a result the latter have come up with a most ingenious yet simple way to sneak up on the hedgies and launch a surprise attack.

Both Dilbert and his father Pierre came up with the plan, and are accompanied by two additional verminators each of whom has his and her own vehicle loaded with traps and gizmos designed to give those who use them a major advantage in a capture and/or disposal job.

If that isn't bad enough, Pierre has a personal vendetta against the hedgies ever since RJ had stolen his box of cupcakes several years ago. And being Dwayne's and Gladys's best friend, he has the desire to bring the original group of hedgies to his friends so they can have some revenge.

As he gathers his things, Pierre has a smile on his face which seems all the more noticeable given his poor choice of attire. Pierre is a Caucasian man with short black hair, a goatee, and wearing blue overalls, a white t-shirt with a skull on it, yellow-rimmed and orange-lensed goggles, green gloves, brown boots, and a red baseball cap. He says in his sick and twisted head, "This time I won't fail."

---

Back at the hedgies' home, the kids who have stayed behind have gotten a good system going with how they recharge and send out the drones, which has kept them busy but still bored and envious of those who got to go on today's heist. Every time one of the drones has to return to recharge, they have radioed in the "All clear," call sign to the raiders which indicates that no humans have come up to the Changs' house. And although the trapped pets in the back yard have been trying to gain any nearby humans' attention, the tall fence would prevent any person from peeking over to see that something is amiss. So any walker-bys simply assumed the pets are just making noise like all pets do.

The only real activity on the road today is the cars parking at the house across the street from the Changs for a seven-year-old's birthday party. The cars started arriving 40 minutes ago, and to deal with the boredom, the drone operators have been zooming the cameras in to look at the birthday presents being brought into the house, and guess what they might be based on the size and shape. The adult animals have allowed it because it was only a minor distraction, it helps keep the kids who stayed behind with them from getting frustrated with monitor duty, and most of the young ones' attention is still focused on the Changs' house.

Damon: "Sho wish I was with mama and daddy..."

Niara: "That's 'bout the 50th time yo said that. Give our ears a break an' start pilotin' that drone'a yos back heah ta recharge."

Kelly: "We're almost at the house with our freshly-charged drone, so Lauren and me will take over the boring monitor duty for you until you send out your next drone."

It takes only a minute for the fresh drone to arrive, and when it does Lauren says, "Here comes four more cars."

Kelly: "Two SUVs and two trucks to be exact."

Penny: "Jeepers, if they're going to the birthday party across the road they sure are arriving pretty late."

Lou: "They're probably from out of town."

Just as Penny nods in agreement, the four vehicles do something that makes Heather bat an eye.

Heather: "Hm, two are going down the road and...are parking near the back of the Changs' house. The others...are parking in front of the Changs' house. If they are party guests, why aren't they parking on the side where the other cars are?"

Celine has the walkie talkie and pressed the talk button to relay what's happening to the heisters by saying, "We've got two cars parked in the front yard of the Changs' home and two parked near the back. They look normal and they're probably late guests for the party across the road. Heather, Lou, and Penny are keeping their eyes on them."

Bernard's voice: "As long as they don't do anything out of the ordinary or investigate the back yard, we're good. We're fixing to head back home, too. You're gonna love the food we've obtained!"

Celine gives a lopsided toothless grin and says, "Can't wait, Bernard..."

Still watching the drone's video feed, Lou, Penny, Heather, Kelly, and Lauren see the people who get out are dressed normally with short sleeve shirts, long pants, and boots. What isn't normal is when the humans open up the SUV trunks and hard top truck beds and pull out netguns, shock rods, tasers, Fabreez grenades, tranquilizer guns, and other devices that the hedgies know are Verm-Tech weapons!

Heather gasps, runs over to Celine, takes the walkie talkie and says, "All four of them are verminators in disguise! Armed to the teeth! Get out NOW! We'll keep our eyes on 'em to provide you all with the best way to avoid or attack them!"

Penny looks over at Damon and Niara who are giving stunned expressions and tells the skunks, "Get that new drone in the air, pronto!"

Lauren: "Hey, why's that person pointing at us?"

By the time Lou runs over to get behind Lauren's and Kelly's drone remote, the video feed turns into static and the flashing red light indicating that the drone has been disabled starts blinking. Undeterred by the loss of the drone, Lou tells the girl raccoons, "Rewind the footage and pause and zoom in on the human who was pointing at the drone!"

It only takes five seconds for the girls to pull up the footage and two more seconds to zoom in on the still image. Kelly tilts her head in question while she asks, "Is that a real gun?"

Lou nods in grim acknowledgement and responds with an equally grim voice tone when he says, "With a suppressor."

Heather hears the observation and gives the horrible news to the listeners on the other end of the walkie talkie.

---

Heather's voice: "They've got a real gun with a suppressor and took out our drone. You're on your own until the next drone arrives."

Bernard: "Got it. We'll be extra careful. All you do the same when you fly the drone near here."

Heather's voice: "When we do send drones in, we're gonna use the big ones. Have the wagons ready for travel."

Bernard: "Brilliant, mom! We'll get to it. Over and out."

RJ: "Okay people, change of plans, we need to leave using Escape Plan 44."

Elroy: "Remind me what that is."

Scarlet: "Full Offensive-Defensive Retreat."

Christine: "Out which door?"

Garrett: "Back door. The traps still won't target us, there's more objects we can use for cover, and we can use the pets as body shields if we need to."

Even if someone wanted to object, the sound of the front door being kicked open leaves no room to do so. Instead the family rearranges themselves so that the slower or younger ones are pushing/pulling the wagons, and the faster and more experienced ones are getting weapons out of RJ's, Mary's, and Bernard's bags.

Upon hearing the cock of a net gun, the parrot squawks out one more ominous message in a triumphant tone, "It's the trophy room for you, fleabags!"

De'Ausha, Stella, and Ladarius take the time to run over to the hallway table where the bird cage is sitting atop and knock the table over, causing the cage to fall to the ground with a resounding Crash!

Parrot: "Aw gross! My owners haven't cleaned out the bottom of my cage yet, and it's all over me!"

The hedgies ignore the parrot's further complaints and are in the backyard in no time.

Spike: "Now comes the hard part: getting out of here."

Velma: "The back gate is the only way out, but it'll be guarded, possibly blocked off by the verminators' cars."

Scarlet: "We also need to find a way to make it easier for our drones to get the food."

Hammy: "Any ideas, RJ?"

RJ: "I'm thinkin', I'm thinkin..."

When a verminator's voice from behind the gate says, "Blow the door off. We'll pay this family for the damages." The whole family starts to feel the panic creeping in.

Aaron says, "Think faster, Uncle RJ!" in a rushed and stressed tone.

For some odd reason, RJ's mind, despite all his wits and experience, is a blank. He stammers out, "I-I-I don't know."

When the back gate is blown off its hinges using a military-grade breaching charge and two verminators—one Hispanic woman named Mariana and another New Zealander man named Steven—come through, RJ's eyes widen and he yells, "I don't know!"

Ellie then points while shouting, "Up there! The hammocks in the tree house!"

Verne: "This is no time for relaxing, Ellie!"

Tyler: "No, wait! It's genius! It's crazy enough to work!"

Verne: "Huh?!"

Aleshia: "That's my girl! Use the hammocks as netting for our big drones!"

Roger: "Fast climbers: head up there, cut those down, and wrap 'em around the wagons! Weapon wielders, buy them time!"

He couldn't have said that at a better moment, because the two verminators who came in through the front door now arrive in the back yard, and are none other than Dilbert and Pierre. Dill is a chip of the old block and looks exactly like his father, except he wears normal looking clothes instead of Pierre's eye-strain-inducing ones.

Pierre: "Well, well. We meet again. Small world, eh?"

Not in the mood to listen to any more of his boasting, Roger gets out his magic wand, twists the tip to activate the sparkler, and throws it at Pierre as the latter starts aiming his suppressed handgun. The wand perfectly fits through the small barrel of the suppressor, but the sparkler end is sticking out the opposite end of where the gun is.

Ty: "You missed!"

Roger: "Au contraire..."

This magic wand turns out to not be a magic wand, but a wand-sized firecracker painted black and white to resemble one. It explodes like a skinny stick of dynamite, destroying the gun. It also does severe damage to Pierre's hand, as seen when the man reels back to scream in pain, holding his damaged hand with his unhurt one.

Dilbert: "DAD!"

Pierre: "My hand! That rotten trash panda blew off my friggin' pointer and thumb! Don't play with 'em, just kill them! KILL THEM AAAAAAAAAALLLL!"

With a fire of vengeance now burning in hit gut, Dill wastes no time dropping his net gun and whipping out a shock rod and setting it to full power. The verminators at the opposite end of the yard come charging toward the hedgies as well. It is at this moment that the animals realize the danger they are in. Although wearing regular clothes has reduced the amount of weapons and gadgets the verminators can carry, it increases their mobility. Not only that, but new verminator requirements have them train as rigorously as police officers; meaning the days of Dwayne are over, now all verminators are fit and fast.

But so are the hedgies. With Hammy, Aaron, Riley, Ellie, Grace, Ty, and all the bats going up the tree house to cut the hammocks loose, Rebecca and Mary get ready for a maneuver. Mary was Rebecca's first gymnastics student, and the two practiced gymnastics not only for evasion, but also for attack. Mary wraps her strong prehensile tail around her aunt's leg, and starts spinning, with Rebecca aiding her niece by running in circles.

Judging the speed to be perfect, Mary says, "Next full spin!" and once she rotates another 360 degrees, she lets Rebecca go and the middle-aged raccoon does a series of flips in midair as she barrels toward Mariana. The latter had been too busy aiming her net gun at the multitude of animals that are still on the ground to notice Rebecca, and then gets a face full of raccoon. She is protected from Rebecca by wearing a paintball mask, but only momentarily. Rebecca climbs to the unprotected back of the woman's head and bites off the mask strap. She would have scratched or bitten the human in the head, but the woman reaches up and grabs Rebecca by the scruff of her neck. Rebecca can't get free no matter how much she struggles, but just before the Hispanic woman can use a stun gun on the raccoon, a golf ball hit by Bernard smacks hard into her hand. The human instantly drops Rebecca, but runs behind a crape myrtle tree to recoup and think of a new strategy.

With the fight already going so well for the animals, RJ and Verne start to wonder why only four verminators showed up to capture such a large group of animals. But curiosity killed the cat, as Steven the New Zealander says, "One out!" and the hedgies facing him start to run away when he gets out a grenade-like object and tosses it to the ground. It detonates on-impact and delivers an electrical shock to everything in a 10 foot radius. The verminator avoids being shocked when he had jumped up, and by the time he lands the grenade has already burnt out. Unfortunately, about a third of the hedgies had been electrocuted; nonlethally, but enough to offer Mariana time to net gun four in one shot. Just as Rick and Luby go over to cut the net open with knives, one of the netted hedgies says, "Look out!"

The married couple leaps to the side and avoid getting hit by Dill's shock rod that would have proven fatal—as implied by the human-fist-sized hole in the ground that was zapped by the shock rod!

Rick: "Take him out next!"

The other animals look at Dilbert who stares right back at them, his eyes full of rage. "Ooo-ooo. Taking a liking to me? Then come at me: all at once, or one at a time! Either way I'm gonna skin each and every one of ya, and force the alive ones to watch me do it!"

RJ and Bernard throw their golf clubs at the human while Mary, Garrett, Rebecca, and De'Ausha keep the other two verminators at bay. Dill bats the clubs away with ease, but that had been a diversionary tactic, as Gary fires a water gun that hits the tip of Dill's shock rod. Dill is protected by the rod's rubber handgrip, and by his quickly letting the rod go, but Gary's attack has shorted out the weapon, rendering it useless.

Their deadliest weapons are no longer available, but the verminators have some new tricks up their sleeves. Mariana gets out a grenade and tosses it. Aleshia sees it first and shouts, "Jump!" which the family does. Unfortunately, it's not a shock grenade this time, but a tear-gas one. The suffocating coughing and burning of the eyes is something that sends the family blindly running any direction to escape it, but most run into each other which causes them to fall to the ground, still at the mercy of the tear gas and verminators.

Then, Mother Nature lends the hedgies some help when a powerful gust of wind clears away the tear gas, and sends it over to the woman who had thrown the grenade. Still, most of the animals are too busy coughing and rubbing their burning eyes, which leaves them open for more attacks by the other two verminators. The sound of the hammocks landing on the ground below the tree house provides a two-edged sword. It distracts the verminators from attacking the ones still recovering from the tear gas, but also will jeopardize the success of the heist if the food can't be prepared for travel should the verminators go near the tree house.

Still in control of the situation despite the unexpected setbacks, Dilbert looks at Steven and says, "Get the ones at the tree house, Steven. I've got the others."

Steven nods and runs over to the tree house, while Dill refocuses on the animals near him. It's at this moment that he realizes the animals are too close to him. Quillo and Emily smack Dill with their quill-filled tails, but as expected he is wearing quill-proof boots. As before, the initial attack was a diversion, as the Quad Squad—who had been on the outside of the tear gas grenade's blast radius, and thus mostly unaffected by it—climbs onto to start Dill biting and clawing him furiously.

Lizzy: "How dare you—!"

R3: "—Hurt—!"

Sare: "—Our family—!"

Gary: "—You lousy—!"

Lizzy: "—No good!—"

R3: "—Animal-hating—!"

Sare: "—Scum-bag—!"

Gary: "—Freak show!"

Unable to shake the raccoons off of him, Dill acts like he's on fire and stops, drops, and rolls. The quads are more shaken than hurt from the human's weight, but let go of him to prevent getting truly injured. Dilbert is still seething from the pain of his injuries when he hears a bunch of animal chittering noises. Unbeknownst to him, it's Ladarius saying, "Yo Sam! Remembah my fav'orite quote from CoD: 'When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is no longer our friend!' "

Sam: "Okay!"

Bernard: "Sam! *Cough-cough* use this!"

Bernard tosses a backscratcher that Sam fails to catch, but picks it up so quickly that he might as well have caught it. Sam hesitates as he asks his best friend, "My paws be better?"

Bernard: "Just trust me!"

Sam knows he can trust him. Ever since he was a baby, Sam took an instant liking to Bernard. The opossacoon's dynamic facial expressions and hand motions "spoke" to the young Autistic squirrel in ways words could not, creating a silent connection in which Bernard seemed to know what Sam wanted or meant to say long before the squirrel could speak real words. Their bond was already strong, but it became unbreakable when the two were attacked by a gang of bullies, and then fought off the same bullies like brothers-in-arms 15 years ago. The current situation reminds Sam of the victorious fight he had achieved with Bernard, which gives him extra confidence in the opossacoon's advice.

So Sam makes his way over to the downed Dilbert, sees the unused grenade on his belt, runs within backscratcher-range to it, and pulls the pin using the backscratcher just as Dill rolls on his back. As expected it was a good call of Bernard to have Sam activate the grenade from a safe distance, and even better timing on Sam's part, because when it explodes quick-drying superglue pastes Dill to the ground. Had Sam pulled the grenade pin using his fingers, he'd have been stuck to the ground along with Dill.

By now the rest of the family has recovered from the tear gas and RJ announces, "Two down, two to go!"

Just as the words leave his mouth, Mariana comes in with a pistol-like tranquilizer gun and, correctly judging RJ to be the leader, fires at him. RJ sees her, gauges where she intends to aim, and dodges—but is too late. No longer as young as he once was, he is slower and gets hit. He tries to fight the sedative but even a raccoon in his prime wouldn't last longer than five seconds, so he falls to the ground, out like a light.

Mary and Bernard yell "Dad!" and many others say "RJ!" in shock, which makes the two remaining verminators confident that the tide has turned, even though the humans can't understand what the animals have just said. Wanting to ensure the tide turns in the humans' favor, Steven gets out a whistle from his pocket and blows hard into it. Like a dog whistle, it causes havoc on the hearing of the animals while doing nothing to the humans. But Verne, Velma, and Plushie are unaffected because, being turtles, they don't have as good hearing as the mammals in the family.

Plushie leads the counter attack by lying flat on his back shell in front of a motion-sensor sprinkler. As what happened to his uncle the first time Verne encountered the human world so many Springs ago, the water sprays Plushie hard enough to make him spin on his smooth shell, increasing his speed. But unlike Verne, Plushie is in his prime at 32-years-old and far more experienced in being flung around thanks to all the crazy stunts he did with his late mother and former group of friends. He gets control of his momentum and turns sideways so that he bounces and gets launched into the air. As this was going on, the humans are too busy trying to get easier targets and completely disregard the turtles. After all, what can a slow, harmless turtle do? Answer: a lot. Plushie hits the left side of Steven's face shell-first, causing the man to drop the whistle. This is followed up immediately by Verne who is armed with a miniature croquet mallet and hits Steven's shin. The man hops on one leg while holding his recently-injured area with both hands.

Velma, armed with a tennis racket looks over and says, "Bucky get the front, Quillo get the back, Rachel get the left, Spike get the right!" All porcupines know what she intends to do and quickly get in position. Once there, Velma hits Steven in the other shin and he falls to the left—directly on top of Rachel's quill-filled back. The scream of pain Steven emits is so loud that if humans had colonized Mars, it would be registered as a loud whisper on the Red Planet. He is silenced soon when Stella approaches his head and sprays him, the stench so strong that he passes out.

Seeing now that the turtles aren't as harmless as she had thought, Mariana reaches behind her back and pulls out a weapon that has the shape and size of a super soaker, but the color of a shotgun. The weapon's tip has six pistol-sized gun barrels mounted on a ball, and each barrel can swivel left and right, up and down. She presses a button near the gun's trigger guard which causes six purple laser sights to emit from the gun barrels. The ball of the gun tip allows each barrel to follow the direction of each laser which targets six different animals, two being Verne and Velma, the others being Spike, Mary, Stella, Ladarius, and Bernard.

Remembering a world-famous catchphrase, Mariana sneers and says, "Hasta la vista, baby" in an imitation of a world-famous actor's voice. She squeezes the trigger and six tranquilizer darts shoot at the animals. Though still wanting to kill the animals, she is using tranquilizers in order to make it easier because animals that are asleep are better targets than animals running around. But because of the laser sights, each animal knows who is being targeted and avoids getting hit when Verne and Velma hide in their shells, and the rest dodge. Seeing the flaw in using laser sights, the woman turns those off and fires using only her eyes. She tranqs Spike, Stella, Scarlet, Sam, Sare, and Riley, which makes the woman the primary target of the animals. They start throwing projectiles of all shapes and sizes at her, but each one of them misses when she gets out an extendable pole that has four metal squares running down the center, which open up and form a shield.

Pierre: "Yeah! That's it! Get 'em Mariana!"

The animals still grossly outnumber the verminator, but with her new tools Mariana might as well be a one-woman army. But in the same way that Verm-Tech keeps updating their weapons and gadgets, the hedgies have a few new tricks of their own because their cavalry has arrived. At first Mariana thinks she hears a helicopter flying overhead, but when she looks up she becomes perplexed at the sight of four heavy-duty xFold Dragon drones that come flying in. Each is 6x6 feet long and wide, has 12 propellers (six on top and six on the bottom), and is capable of lifting 1,000 pounds. Each drone hovers over a food wagon and each of those have been pushed on top of four laid-out hammocks from the tree house.

Despite the arrival of the drones, the hedgies' job just got more difficult. Grace says it best when she raises her voice and tells the whole family, "Protect the bats at all costs! If they get taken out, there won't be anyone to load the wagons onto the drones!"

The protection mission is made all the more challenging because there are only seven bats, which means they can only help secure two wagons at a time, and the other hedgies now have to protect them from the humans since the bats will be vulnerable while doing their part. The verminators are also smarter since Dwayne's time since they hear Grace's chittering noises and put two and two together when she points at the drones while the bats grab parts of a hammock with their toes and lift up to reach and attach the hammock to the sled-like undercarriage of the drones. Mariana cocks her gun and aims toward the bats, while putting her shield in the shotgun holster on her back that protects her from attacks from the rear. But the shield doesn't reach past her waist, meaning every part of her from below the belt is unprotected.

Another mistake the verminators have made is thinking that the animals wouldn't be able to fight back effectively once RJ was taken out of commission. But ever since the midsummer crises the group faced 15 years prior—one of which was how leading the ever-growing family was too much for only two co-leaders—RJ and Verne have shown the whole family the ropes of good leadership and now any adult can be a good leader. Patricia takes charge for now by saying, "Quill spears! Aim for her legs!"

Garrett and Rebecca reach into RJ's golf bag and pull out sticks with porcupine quills duct-taped to the tips. One could say the pair are ready for a global-scaled sports competition when they throw the makeshift spears at Mariana's hamstrings with the speed and accuracy of Olympic javelin athletes. Each spear hits Mariana just as she squeezes the trigger of her tranq gun. All six shots go wide and hit the ground, the fence, or a trapped pet. Unfortunately, one of the tranqs hits Lucas, and the power and speed of the projectile sends him hurling up and in through a tree house window.

Marilyn's and Owen's senses besides sight enables them to form a clear picture of what just happened to their son in their minds, which makes them gasp and shout, "LUCAAAAAASSSS!" in horror.

They drop the hammock edges they were lifting and are about to fly up to get him when Elroy says, "Don't! Keep lifting the hammock netting onto the drones! We can't let this raid be for nothing! One of us will go help Lucas!"

Owen: "He's our son! Marilyn and I aren't leaving him!"

Bernard: "Elroy's right! We gotta stick to the plan! I'll go save him!"

Bernard is already running toward the tree with the tree house in it when Patricia calls out, "But you're still afraid of heights!"

Bernard looks back at his mate and says, "I don't have time to argue or be afraid! Just keep me covered!"

Everyone in the family, young and old, wants to object because they all know of Bernard's deep-rooted acrophobia. When he was two-years-old he had fallen down a tall tree and has been afraid of heights all his life. Ironic for a raccoon-possum hybrid since both separate species are great climbers, but the pain and mental trauma of the distance he fell made him acrophobic and basophobic, even to this day. However, Patricia also knows like the rest of the family how Bernard's determination can make him overcome anything, even his deepest fear. But she knows better than anyone else knows because she saw him do it 15 years ago when, in an attempt to make him leave her and her then-boyfriend Peter alone, she and Peter had climbed into a very tall tree. But Bernard miraculously scaled up the whole height to talk to her about how much he had changed since earlier in that summer, and how much he loved her and wanted her to be his girlfriend again. Having known Bernard for 22 years, she had noticed the steel-reinforced look in his eyes and equally constitute voice tone he had used when he had addressed her moments ago after she mentioned his acrophobia. That meant he has the same unbreakable will to save Lucas just as he had when he climbed up the tall tree to talk with her all those years ago.

Knowing this, and that the others are unaware of it, Patricia tells the group, "You heard him! Keep the verminator off his back!"

Patricia couldn't have said it at a better time because Mariana has recovered from her leg injuries and is about to renew her attack on the bats, when she sees Bernard—a much bigger and easier target to hit—running past her and toward the tree. She aims her gun but doesn't get the chance to fire when she has to turn to her left, which leaves her arms open for attack. Mary hits a golf ball with her club that hits Mariana square in the elbow. She yells in pain and drops her gun which is caught by Rick, his two sons, and Rebecca who aim it at her belly. Ladarius mans the trigger and squeezes, sending all six tranquilizer darts into Mariana who falls to the ground unconscious.

Ladarius: "Sweet dreams, moth'a freak'ah—"

Pierre's voice: "Take this!"

None of the animals have the chance to fully turn to face the man they thought was out with two missing fingers, when a flash grenade Pierre had thrown goes off, temporarily blinding everyone except the bats. Not only are the animals in the yard affected by the blinding flash, but so are the drone operators whose screens fill with bright, white light. With their fingers still touching the remote controls, this makes a drone carrying a wagon of food veer to the side and get stuck in a tree branch on the tree house. Pierre's goggles protected his eyes and he wastes no time using this advantage against the animals. He reaches in his cargo pants pockets and throws several CD-sized objects in the hedgies' midst. He then goes over to Dilbert and uses a spray on him that makes the glue become like gum, allowing his son to easily get back on his feet. As for the objects he had thrown, many disoriented hedgies walk onto them and their paws become snared in miniature fox traps.

Dilbert is just as surprised by his father as the animals are and asks, "But your hand?!"

Pierre smirks and hold up both hands, showing that all fingers are still attached. He says, "All part of my plan to misinform these critters who I know can understand us. Sorry for misleading you too, but as they say, 'In order to deceive your enemies, you must first deceive your friends.' "

Dilbert pats Pierre hard on the back and says, "That was brilliant, dad! You da man!"

Pierre: "Now let's verminate some vermin—as father and son!"

Dilbert nods and gets out a taser while Pierre gets out a shock rod. They each choose some victims and approach the animals in the fox traps. But before either humans can attack, a sudden gust of wind from their right, coupled with a loud buzzing sound makes them look in the direction, and now they find themselves running for their lives! One of the drones not loaded with any food has gone on offense and starts chasing the two humans, those steel propeller blades threatening to slice and dice their upper bodies to ribbons. Because of this, the rest of the hedgies are able to recover from the flash grenade and help free those caught in fox traps. Thankfully, the smaller traps mean less power in the grip, so no one's paws are seriously injured. They still hurt, though, which means some of the best weapon-wielders can't go on the attack.

When the drone chasing Pierre and Dill causes the pair to trip over a captured pet and fall down, things get worse because Pierre spins while doing so and his shock rod hits the drone, making it short out and fall on top of them. It only weighs 42 pounds, so it is easily shoved off by Pierre who now, as it turns out is very angry.

Pierre: "That's it. I'm going native on all of you..." He reaches to pull something from the back of his belt, "Or should I say, Native American!" He has pulled out a tomahawk that gleams in the sunlight.

He sees Mary and pulls his arm back as he gets ready to throw his weapon at her. A different weapon hits his hand instead—a pocket knife that Bernard had thrown from up in the tree house's wrap-around deck. The opossacoon's blade only goes through the muscle and doesn't hit any bones, but that doesn't change the fact that Pierre now has a pocket knife stuck in his hand, or the pain that engulfs the man. Unwisely, Bernard turns his back on the humans and is about to resume his adrenaline-driven search for Lucas. On instinct, Dill grabs the tomahawk and throws it at Bernard to avenge his father. The male opossacoon doesn't know who shouts "Bernard, duck!" but he obeys without hesitation, which saves his life. The tomahawk actually cuts a few hairs off the top of his head, but otherwise misses him entirely. It lands expertly on the branch where the stuck drone has yet to free itself. This gives Bernard the idea to use the tomahawk to cut the branches and free the drone. But first he goes into the tree house—which has all the comforts and furnishings of a small cottage minus plumbing, central heat/air, and electricity—and he finds the unconscious Lucas. He puts the young bat in his golf bag, climbs out the same window, and steps out onto the branch when he hears Lizzy yell, "Lie down, Uncle Bernard!"

Bernard does so and avoids getting stabbed by the same knife he had thrown at Pierre, which Dill had removed and just used. But in a strange way, perhaps being hit by the knife would have been slightly better because when Bernard lies down he sees how far down the ground is. He pants and starts sweating as his acrophobia and basophobia kick in full force.

Patricia sees this from where she is and starts running to the tree to help her mate. She also gives him a pep talk by saying, "Bernard, get your head back in the game! Don't think of the height, think of Lucas! Think of the food that'll prevent us from having to go on another raid for two months!"

Those who are not busy fighting Pierre and Dill also join Patricia by saying things such as, "You got this, Bernard!", "We believe in you!", "Go Bernard, go!", "You can do it!"

Bernard's courage returns along with his adrenaline which prevents him from being afraid and instead makes him focus on getting to the tomahawk. It takes about a full minute for him to chop off the branches that are keeping the drone in place, but when it gets free and flies up it's almost like he can see his mom's smiling face on the camera looking at him. The drone itself seems to be smiling as it flies away, carrying one of the wagon loads of food. It's followed shortly after by a second drone full of food. The battle on the ground is also going well for the animals who have backed Pierre into one corner of the yard and Dilbert in another corner. The two humans have run out of weapons and gadgets, and are too far from their fallen comrades to get Steven's and Mariana's weapons. Ladarius is about to use Mariana's multi-direction tranq gun to hit Dill and Pierre, when Elroy says, "No, Der. Too easy. I've got a better idea."

The humans see Ladarius lower the tranq gun, but only feel more afraid when many of the animals make their communication noises and nod their heads in agreement while smiling. Mary, brandishing her golf club, goes over to two of the pet dogs while Roger wielding his knife that he often swallows for magic tricks, goes to two of the cats. Neither hedgie has any trouble getting the collars off the pets. They remember where the traps are in the yard and avoid those as they make their way back to the humans. They have no problem putting the collars on the unconscious Steven and Mariana, and when it's time for the father-son duo, Elroy shoots Dill with the man's own taser while Luby shoots Pierre with a taser she got from Mary's bag. As the humans convulse they are unable to stop Mary and Roger from fastening the pet collars on their ankles. The animals turn around and walk away, when Dill and Pierre, blinded by their rage once the electrocution from the tasers have worn off, run after the hedgies. As expected, they get snagged by their own traps. And even when Steven and Mariana wake up, they will meet the same fate.

The whole family thinks the same thing about the irony: "Verminators, prisoners of their own devices."

Patricia spends the least amount of time enjoying the afterglow of victory when she climbs up the tree to see Bernard leaning against the side of the treehouse, catching his breath from chopping branches and trying to recover from the crash now that all the adrenaline has left his system.

Bernard: "Thanks for the *pant* help, Pat...Couldn't have *pant* done it without you."

Patricia doesn't care that Bernard is covered with and stinks of sweat, she practically hugs her whole body around his while she says, "Oh, Bernard! That was so brave of you to save Lucas! I knew you could do it!"

Bernard doesn't return Patricia's hug, but smiles and looks at her to say, "Thanks dear..." After kissing her, he finally catches his breath and says, "Now let's climb down before I faint. You know I hate heights..." with the haste showing more than the humor, meaning he is not kidding. Patricia still giggles and the two descend from the tree house and take part in the congrats and jubilation.

With only three working drones, the hedgies have to remain in the yard until one of the drones returns to pick up the forth wagon of food, but when it's done the family excitedly exits the yard and heads back to the direction of home, knowing that their victory here will send a message to the verminators, those they have defeated and those who have been watching them.

However, the hedgies are too quick to pat themselves on the back, because the entire fight was lost by the verminators on purpose. For as Dilbert says in his mind, "Now we know their tactics. We lost the battle but will win the war. As Sun Tzu said, 'All war is based on deception.' And a war is coming."

He then remembers that the lead raccoon was among the animals hit with a tranquilizer, which causes him to grin evilly as he muses, "A war on all fronts..."

---

Once back home, the family chooses not to fully celebrate the successful heist until after those who had been tranquilized wake up, which luckily happens around dinner time. Despite how everyone in the Changs' yard and everyone behind the hedge went through the same things, it seems like each family member has a different version of the story to tell. Even so the general mood is one of celebration and happiness. Of all the different conversations and stories being re-told, the one about and among Bernard has the most relevance.

Niara: "We the ones who got blinded by that flash 'nade while controlin' the drone. I tried ta steer away from tha tree, but all I could see was white in my eyes."

Damon: "But Bernard's quick thinkin' with tha hatchet saved the day!"

Kelly: "We saw him on our drone's monitor too! He threw the knife back at the human!"

Mary puts a paw on Bernard's shoulder and says, "And to think, you used to not be able to hit a golf ball. Now look at you, a pro heister!"

Bernard: "Your absence from heisting hasn't dulled your skills either, Mary."

Heather: "I'm so proud of you both, Mary and Bernard!"

Mary and Bernard in unison: "Thanks mom."

Heather: "Wha'dya think, RJ?"

RJ is sitting on a nearby stump with his paw resting on his chin. Until now everyone had been too occupied with their conversations to notice that RJ is the only one among them who isn't as happy or psyched about the heist. Heather looks at her mate quizzically and asks, "RJ? What's the matter?"

This makes everyone look at their regular mammalian co-leader in question as well. With all eyes on him, RJ sighs and continues to stare into nothing as he says, "My mind went blank when Aaron asked me what to do when things went sour. And then I got hit by the tranq—after I knew where she was gonna shoot. I guess I'm starting to lose my touch..." Before anyone can tell him to chin up, his tone and mood change when he looks up at the second generation of animals and says, "But that's why all of you are here, and there no way I could be more proud or happy of you! Your ingenuity, your abilities, your intelligence, and your ability to keep calm under pressure are what we need to rely on from here on out! Sure, some of us 'old folks' still aren't outta the game yet, and I'm in no mood to retire anytime soon, but now I've got a new reason to love heists. And that's to see how you can surpass me and he rest of us who taught you everything we know! Sorry for being mopey until now, I just had to work through my day's defects and come up wit something amazing to say."

Verne: "I knew that's what you were doing all along. The look you had when you started talking is just your thinking expression. And as for all you former kids, well done on getting this heist done! We can have lots of R&R time thanks to you all! I speak for all of us adults when I say the future of this family is in good paws, and hands, and claws!"

Plushie: "Thanks, Uncle! Now let's all get back to partyin' like it's 1999!"

Everyone agrees and when the wolves arrive back from their patrols it's truly all smiles and the celebration party is one for the books. They have the right to celebrate because Like Patricia had said, today's success will prevent them from having to heist for two whole months; such was how much they raided from the Changs' amazing house. The last time they had raided this much food was when they stole from a grocery store, but back then they had had the element of surprise, inside help, and a lot of luck. Times have changed now and the world has become a more unsafe place for animals, but these animals are thriving and will continue to thrive from one generation to another thanks to their love, patience, and understanding. These thoughts are what make everyone sleep well once they decide to turn in for the night.

Inside the log, once everyone has fallen asleep, Patricia opens her eyes, gently nudges Bernard whose eyes also open, and asks him, "Tonight?"

Bernard's raccoon-inherited mischievous side in shown in his smile and the twinkle in his eyes. He nods and the two carefully walk around the sleeping hedgies and make their way outside in the moonlit and star-filled sky. Bernard had already made a note in advance and posts it in the log's entrance/exit so that anyone who wakes up will be able to see it. When they look back into the other's face, they passionately kiss with their tongues and don't stop until they are forced to break away to gasp for air. Once that's over, Bernard extends his elbow gentlemanly, and says, "Shall we?"

Patricia wraps her arm around his and says, "Lead the way."

It's been a long time since either of them has been on a date night, which is the perfect way for these two to unwind in their own way after today's harrowing heist and the post-victory celebration. They go on a walk, frolic in a meadow, leisurely swim in a pond, and head to their favorite downtime spot for a late night snack of Twinkies and pop tarts that Bernard has stashed in a nearby tree. All of this they do with little to no talking because they know and love each other so much that, like Sarah and Rogan Sr., Pat and Bernard can communicate with each other using the look their eyes and the feeling in their hearts. It's nothing they haven't done before, just something they treasure whenever they need a break from the hustle and bustle of their family life. Out here on their own they are content and free, able to express their true love and passion for one another in any way they desire. No matter how many times they go on a date night, they always reflect on how Patricia and Bernard got back together after what was supposed to be a permanent breakup 15 years ago.

Unlike De'Ausha and Mary, Bernard neither married his childhood crush until last year, nor did he get back together with her during that midsummer 15 years ago. After finding out that Bernard was sterile and could not provide her children that she needed to be happy, Patricia had spent seven years dating countless would-be lover male raccoons, and then another seven years going through five mates. No matter how sweet and loving each boyfriend and mate seemed to be, they just didn't work out. At first, it seemed like the marriage to her fifth mate would finally give her the lover she had been looking for ever since breaking up with Bernard, and she even had two kits with that former mate. However, it all came down to the same problem: none of the other male raccoons she dated or married truly loved her like Bernard did. All they ever wanted was to have a mate and kits with her just to have a mate and kits, not because they wanted to spend the rest of their lives loving her. Each time she broke up or divorced, Bernard was always there to provide her comfort as her best friend, but Patricia was so stubborn and couldn't take a hint when the answer was in front of her face. She kept thinking that she had to have kits to be happy. After her dream marriage to her fifth mate turned out to be yet another waste of her time, she divorced him, let him keep their kits, and went to the one she should have been married to all along.

Bernard, despite making peace with Patricia's initial decision to only be her best friend, had always believed that, deep down somewhere inside his heart, she might come back to him, and his prayers were answered. Patricia should have seen this coming sooner because Bernard never tried to find another girlfriend, and was seemingly happy to be single if that's what his life turned out to be. But in reality he was just waiting and hoping that Patricia would come back to him, which she did. She proposed to him and confessed what she had learned from 14 years of failed lovers and marriages: she would rather be happy and loved without children, than unhappy and unloved with children. Her former fifth mate, Gerald and their two kits, Max and Wendy, still live in the woods, and come to visit their now-stepmother and stepfather every now and then. Gerald also remarried and had another kit, Jessie, with his current mate Miranda, so life (and new life) has happened as the gears of the world have turned, and like clockwork everything has taken its proper place.

Unlike their parents, the relationships of at least three couples in the second generation of hedgies is proof that opposites attract. Just like Mary and Elroy, and Kale and Clara, Bernard's and Patricia's personalities are very dissimilar. Patricia is headstrong, Bernard is compliant. Patricia is straightforward, Bernard thinks things through. Patricia is bold, Bernard is shy. Patricia has a lot of confidence, Bernard just has confidence. Patricia is not easily frightened, Bernard is basically his grandfather Ozzie's replacement. Even so, these quirks are why the two need each other every day because like all true lovers, Bernard helps Patricia in ways she can't help herself, and Patricia helps Bernard in ways he can't help himself.

And like usual, Patricia ends her and Bernard's trip down nostalgia lane when she tells him, "This has been such as fun night, Bernard. But let's turn in and get lots of rest tonight. Tomorrow my brother, his mate and kits, and my parents will come by to visit."

Bernard: "Heh, you think I'd forget? I've been looking forward to that all week long."

Patricia smiles, but her eyes are telling a different story about her mood. Bernard, as Patricia's soul mate, notices this and asks, "What's really on your mind, Pat?"

Patricia: "Well...first off, I love you and never want to be with anyone else."

Bernard: "Ditto."

Patricia: "And I married you knowing you'd be unable to give me kits. But ever since Mary and Elroy arrived home yesterday with three joeys they adopted—without even trying, I might add—I thought about how we've been trying so hard to adopt some kits who need new parents...And..."

Bernard sighs and says, "Don't tell me...?"

Patricia gives a grim nod yes and says, "The kits we wanted to adopt were taken in by someone else while we were on the heist. I called my brother's mate when we got home, and she told me the news."

Bernard: "Did she say who adopted them?"

Patricia rubs her arm and confesses, "I hung up before she could tell me. I was so heartbroken I didn't want to hear anything else..."

Bernard puts a paw on both of her cheek tufts, kisses her on the lips, and says, "It's okay, Patricia. There will always be someone else for us to adopt. Like you said, Mary and Elroy got so lucky and they didn't even try. Fortune will smile on us one day because we're so good. Good people always get rewarded in this life or the next. We just need never need to give up hope."

Patricia: "Even so, let's go ahead and do it."

Bernard: "Of course."

The two get on their knees to thank Mother Nature for all she has given them, and then humbly request that they will be blessed with their own children to adopt one day. This is something the two of them have been doing every night since they got married, and after a year has passed, their prayers have not been answered. Or worse, in their most recent case, their prayers were about to be answered, but then didn't end up coming true. But still, the two have each other which is all they'll ever need, and each knows this. Like RJ had told Bernard and Mary 15 years ago, kids are a bonus not a necessity to living a full and happy life with one's true lover. That knowledge enables Bernard and Patricia to sleep soundly and peacefully when they cuddle at their downtime spot and doze off.

And prayers from the heart are always answered, but sometimes not in the way the prayer-giver asks. For two creatures stumble into their midst. Two creatures that can be dangerous as they are charming, and the former seems truer, because the creatures seek out and latch themselves onto Patricia and Bernard as the two sleep, but the raccoon and oposaccoon are too fast asleep to notice.

---

Like always, I'm sure you found the wait worth it! And starting now is when I'll get into the real and new conflicts. You'll find out what they are and how they impact the story and characters when chapter 3 is posted—which won't be nearly as long as the wait for chapter 2, I promise!

So long for now!