Ask Special; It's Enough Part 2/2

 

The Only Thing Hopps Have to Fear (Special)

 

This was a commission/blog post for my Askdawnandvern blog. We were discussing Zootopia stuff in the Patreon Server and the talk went in the direction of the Hopps family, and sheer size of rabbit families in general. I think we were specifically talking about the tithe in aLAW, and mammal marriages. Particularly the bouquet toss and the showdown between Ada and Melly. That drifted to talking about the brutally violent event a bouquet toss at a rabbit wedding must be like,  and me joking it would look like the Doom box art.

So the commission was pitched pretty immediately, and I was paid on the spot without my consent. Lol.

In context, I'd imagine all bunny bouquet tosses at weddings are like this, and the Hopps family are no exception. In context I'd imagine Judy would warn Nick about this, which of course the tod would not take seriously at all. Judy would go on to reassure him she doesn't take the whole 'bouquet' traditional seriously anyway, and that she's not pushing him to marry her. She actually intends to stay out of the toss altogether. But much like with the bouquet landing in Clover's lap by chance or fate in aLAW, the bouquet ends up in Judy's lap. In that instant, it's like a switch flips, and suddenly the doe is all in on defending the bouquet and her mate as the bouquet brawl continues. Now Judy stands against the horde, protecting her prize, (both the bouquet and Nick) from the encrouaching mob of Hopps doe's looking for that wedding blessing. Can Judy run out the traditional '10 minute fre-for all' timer and secure that tod? Well if anyone's got a shot, it's Judy. After all, a Hopps doesn't know when to quit...but I suppose that goes for most of the other girls too doesn't it?

(DOOM MUSIC INTENSIFIES)

Thanks for the Comm!

-Wasty

Ask Dawn and Vern; Weirdopolis

 

(Wasty: First, before I get to the actual meat of the questions, I'll tell you it might be best to treat your idea like a televised show to start with...sort of in the vein of supernatural. What I mean is you can make a lot of shorter 'plot of the week' stories in the setting to both build on the world's lore and wet your appetite for the more overarching story you'd like to tell.  

Off the top of my head I can think a few 'episodic ideas' to suggest. Perhaps breaking up a ring of smugglers that are bringing something that would be 'totally benign in the outside world, but to many races in Weirdopolis it acts as a drug. Like holy water that demons use to get high, or pixie dust candy being used by actual pixies to get stuff done twice as fast. You could also pick a cryptid to pursue for an episode, like a new creature comes to the city and starts wreaking havoc, only to be tracked down to find out that all of those things were accidents because its species inadvertently causes bad luck wherever it goes. Or it could be a shapeshifter masquerading as a specific famous cryptid that they have to clear the name of. Or you can have a story that plays on appearances featuring a creature that looks obscenely hostile being framed by a creature that looks totally cute and innocent despite being the one responsible for something horrific. I had an abandoned pilot for something like that featuring two aliens, one styled after the aliens from aliens, and the other styled after a cartoony version of a grey alien. The grey alien was evil to the bone, and vaporized people and did all sorts of terrible things, but the more menacing-looking alien would get blamed. And now, let's turn it over to Dawn and Vern...)

Dawn: Oh how creative! I love the idea! 

Vernon: Yeah, sounds like a real interestin' concept that'd be really fun to read.

Dawn: That said, I don't think being 'conjoined' would be a good move for us...what with that probably having to make us related in some way, and thus we couldn't be together romantically. 

Vernon: I dunno what I'd wanna be...makes me sound like I ain't all that creative but really, I'm just purty happy bein' a wolf.

Dawn: Well it's not like you only play yourself during BnB Puppy Love, you come up with plenty of interesting characters for Gus' campaigns, so don't sell yourself short.

Vernon: Well, why don't y'all go first Honey Lamb...maybe iffin' I got something to play against I'll get the creative juices goin'.

Dawn: Mhh...*Scratches chin thoughtfully* I don't think I'd want to stay some sort of sheep...just because it feels sort of...limiting considering the space. And I'd honestly prefer to be something tall...ooh...y'know what weird legendary creature I've always had a soft spot for? The Flock Ness Monster. It might be fun to actually play as one in a space like this.

Vernon: That cause of yer 'Scottramish' Heritage?  

Dawn: I mean, it's still an interesting creature regardless, heritage or not. Of course, I guess playing as what most who actually believe in the Flock Ness Monster believe to be something similar to a Plesiosaur, I wouldn't just be tall, I'd be huge! Probably as big as Giselle if not bigger...

Vernon: And famous to boot...after all, there's only one of y'all, unless ya count those few stray 'other' lake monsters scattered about...which are probably just attempt's at creatin' tourism buzz.

Dawn: Well I suppose that would give me a good angle to stay a writer...after all who wouldn't want to read the 'Flock Ness Monster's" autobiography? 

Vernon: An autobiography on the Flock Ness Monster? That'd probably have to come out in multiple volumes considerin' how long that ol' gals been supposedly kicking around Scottram.

Dawn: *Giggles* No shortage of materials there, that's for sure. What about you Puppy?

Vernon: Hmm...well...I reckon...What about a Hellhound...one o' Hades own sinful soul trackers who 'er supposed to drag them folks back to Hades...dependin' on yer religion anyway. I could have a lot o' fun developin' a conflicted character like that...born from Hades but tasked with what you'd call a heavenly duty, sendin' bad souls where they belong...O' course that would lend me to doin' detective work probably...But I think I'd probably moonlight as Miss 'Flock Ness' bodyguard.

Dawn: I need a bodyguard?

Vernon: Of course y'all do, yer a famous cryptid! For every mammal that'd want to meet ya there'd be another that wanted to hunt and bag ya just so they could say the 'got' the Flock Ness Monster.

Dawn: I suppose...but I'd probably be very much a recluse or hermit if I'm basing this on the actual Flock Ness Monster. Trying to stay out of the public eye, keeping book signings to a minimum, avoiding cameras...how often would I need a bodyguard?

Vernon: Well, there ain't nothin' to stop someone from breakin' inta yer house iffin' they find out where ya are.

Dawn: Aside from the probably 3,000-pound dragon-like monster that lives there? *Giggles*

Vernon: Well, maybe this Hellhound's a bit smitten by ya too...Makes it hard to hang up his hat keepin' ya secure iffin' it means bein' away from ya fer too long...

Dawn: Aww...Puppy. You're sweet...But remember...I'm a big girl in Weirdopolis...and how big are hellhounds?

Vernon: Hey Wade and Gizzy make it work, I'm sure we could too.

Dawn: *Snickers* Well let's see, based on that I'd imagine a lot of our adventures take place sort of touring around the different places you could access from Weirdopilis. Signing books in the city itself, the fringes, the spaces between, other planets, etc...and whatever trouble we could run into doing that...

Vernon: Considerin' I'd be huntin' wayward souls on my downtime, I'd probably end up draggin' miss Nessie with me on a few cases involvin' malevolent spirits.

Dawn: We'd probably end up in Hades a few times too...considering what your work entails. So as for how much of our adventures would take place in the city versus the overall Weirdverse you've created, I couldn't say...especially considering my true home would be in Flock Ness.

Vernon: maybe the deep reaches o' Flock Ness connect to the fringes o' Weirdopolis...considerin' the nature of the place, I imagine there's a lot o' entrances to the city scattered all over the world...

Dawn: Well that certainly makes it easier to tie things together, and move around Animalia with ease.

Vernon: Either way, I think Gus could have a field day with this one...he loves weird worlds in RPGS, and I don't think y'all get weirder than this.

Dawn: It would probably be way on the back burner...Gus already has three back-to-back different campaigns already lined up for the group...so that probably frees him up for a new concept...sometime around Paige's fifth birthday?

Vernon: *Chuckles* Yeah, we're all livin' busy lives nowadays...but I don't think anyone's busier than that goat...well aside from maybe you Darlin'...

Dawn: Oh please, I stay home and I write and watch the lambs...there's a lot of downtime in there...usually spent staring at the computer screen while stuck on a specific passage of a book, or just falling asleep with Paige on the couch.

Vernon: And here I thought y'all were a mornin' person.

Dawn: This ewe needs her afternoon nap...especially if I want to keep up with a night owl like you. *Giggles*

(Wasty: Yeah, I'm sorry if this is a thinly veiled excuse to use my newly designed Deirdre Black Character with slight modifications. I'm just really in love with her design right now.)

Villians of the Bellheroverse

 

This one was a loooong time coming. I've been sitting on these asks for quite some time, eager to answer them as I already had most of the ideas fleshed out in my head even before they were submitted. However, my health and the amount of work it entailed to keep it in line with the previous "Bellheroverse" pages had me continually pushing it back to work on more pressing projects or to simply rest through being sick. But today, finally, we take a look at just some of the villains in the Bellheroverse, some small timers, and some seriously deadly foes.

Chamille Leona - Code Name: Chame-lion. Threat Level: Minimal

"All spliced up and nowhere to run."

Growing up as a hybrid is a rough start for any mammal. Even in a progressive city like Zootopia, being a mixture of two different species, even marginally different ones would make life that much harder for you, at least before the existence of hybrids became somewhat more acceptable in recent years. That said, Chamille was no exception thanks to her half-tiger, half-cheetah status. Born from a broken family, with an absent father and a mother who often seemed disgusted at the very sight of her, Chamille's early life started on very poor footing. Of course, things only got worse once she started school and began venturing out into the public. Her attempts to make friends would not only lead to scorn, but sometimes direct abuse and the adults in positions of authority didn't treat her much better. She heard the whispers, she could see the way their muzzles curled in distaste at her mere presence despite their attempts to sound diplomatic. 

It didn't take her very long to learn that the best course of action for someone like her was to try and keep her head down and disappear. To pick a trait to hide, and do her best to obscure everything about her family to the best of her ability. Yet despite her best efforts to lean into her cheetahish appearance by covering her stripes wherever they cropped up, it never fully stopped the whispers, the hateful sneers, the judgment. Often she found herself wishing she were truly invisible, so that not only would she avoid the glare of her bullies, but so she wouldn't have to look at herself anymore, and the body she had come to despise.

It was during her adult years, and with her enlistment in the Zootopian Reserve that her life started to turn around. For the first time in her life, her appearance was a distant second in terms of importance to her ability and skill, at least by her superiors anyway. Her speed and swiftness was unmatched by even some of the highest-ranking officials in the outfit, and thus despite her hybrid status, she rocketed through the ranks of the Reserves, eventually earning a position on one of the organization's most elite strike teams. For once in her life, Camille was respected, perhaps even feared by some. It was a good feeling, one she quickly came to revel in. The vacuum where a sense of ego had never developed soon became oversaturated with pride and the adoration of her subordinates, and she became addicted to it. So naturally, when researchers working with the upper echelon of Zootopia's government came to her with a proposition regarding 'powereds', informing her that her status in the military along with her hybridism made her the perfect candidate for an experiment they were attempting, she enthusiastically agreed to take part in it.

The researchers she had aligned herself with had long since been in the business of trying to extract where the amazing, super mammalian abilities in natural born 'powereds' came from. They told her the intent was to arm the Zootopian Reserve and the ZPD with the ability to combat rogue powereds on an equal level and to eventually allow all mammals great and small to be super instead of a select few favored by fate alone. And like a fool she took them at their hollow words, accepting their alleged altruistic goals blindly thanks to the fog of praise and accolades they laid upon her. They told her that she would be a hero. A true hero, as she had chosen her powers rather than had them simply placed upon her by some unknown providence. 

They were trying a new compound, one that had failed to yield results in any of the other test subjects they had tried. But apparently, the compound showed promising results when allowed to bind to hybrid DNA over that of pure-blooded species. The nature of the mixed genetics seemed to allow the compound to better integrate itself into a mammal's full genetic makeup. Dreamy with praise, compliments, and reassurances, Camille signed off on the experiments, and took her bold shot to become a 'real hero'.

How could it have all gone so horribly wrong? The most painful, agonizing procedure she had ever endured, and in the end it had left her unable to control her powers, and in intractable pain whenever they chose to manifest The ability to cloak herself, true invisibility, that was the aim of the experiment. But the attempt to infuse her with said ability didn't take in the way the research team had aimed. The compound proved to be wild, unstable, and often left her wracked with pain whenever a sudden onset of camouflage forced itself upon her. For so much of her life, she had wanted to be invisible, to disappear, and now in some cruel twisted irony, she had gotten her wish. She hadn't been warned of such side effects, and what's more, she hadn't been told she had signed herself away to the lab and Zootopian government as an asset by agreeing to the procedure. She was no longer a mammal, but a tool and a test subject, who wasn't allowed to leave the lab, and would become dependent on her captors for injections to help stabilize her condition while they researched a more permanent fix. When she became obstinant, when she refused them, they would withhold pain medication until she became cooperative. 

She spent five long years in hades, nearly going mad while they poked and prodded, with every attempt at a true fix for her condition falling flat. In the end, it took a sheer force of will to endure the pain and get some degree of a handle on her powers, and an even greater will to hide that showing of control from her captors. Through the blinding pain and agony, one thought had managed to persevere, and that clear goal would allow her to endure the kind of treatment that would have driven lesser mammals insane. She was going to get out or die trying.

In time she got great at pretending to be drugged out of her mind, to be fading in and out of consciousness. She learned quite a bit from the loose lips of researchers who thought she was beyond hearing them. About how they sought to sell superpowers to the highest bidder abroad, and at home to allow the government total control over what kind of mammal would be allowed to be a powered at all. They sought methods to erase a natural powereds abilities, and they had yet to create a synthetic power that didn't come with a major flaw that left it completely unmarketable. All their dirty little secrets came to light, as well as the various access codes and methods to deactivate security protocols that would be vital to navigating out of her prison, and Camille dutifully filed them away as she planned her escape.

Then one day, her captors came to her cell only to find the feline missing. The alarms were sounded, crying out into the crisp clear night of the Saharan Square sky, but by then she was long gone, taking with her a suitcase full of morphine and swaths of very valuable and damning information about what the lab had been up to and just who they were working for. She had even sabotaged their whole network on her way out for good measure, setting back their research by about ten years in the process.

Camille has the power of true invisibility which renders her undetectable by even infrared scanning. With great concentration she can even control the visibility of specific regions of her body rather than a purely blanket cloak, however, her power comes with a price as going invisible to any degree causes her immense pain. She keeps this in check with a steady supply of opiates and has a distribution system plugged into her at all times whenever she's pulling a heist of some sort, as while she can grin and bear through some degree of pain thanks to having been practicing at pushing through it for years, it can still become unbearable depending upon the degree of invisibility. However, even without relying on her powers, she's still an expertly trained ex-special operative and extremely limber, a deadly combination for close-quarters combat.

Since escaping, Camille has mostly sat on the damning data stolen from the lab, saving it as an emergency measure to keep her and Zootopia's more corrupt elements in government in a sort of stalemate. Should they try to aggressively neutralize her, the information will be automatically distributed via a dead mam's switch. This is what has allowed her to pull increasingly high-profile jewel thefts across all of Animalia with significantly less pursuit than one would expect. But all that's done has fed her ego, and made her grow increasingly cocky with each new scheme. The fact that her morals are loose, and her services sold to whoever pays her well enough or does enough ego stroking hasn't helped her make any friends either, with even the renegades dealing with her at arm's length lest she tries to pull something over on them. But eventually, the patience and fears of those who once held her yolk will wear thin, and the data she stole will matter little if it means removing a long-term thorn in a lot of very powerful mammal's hides. 

And in case you were wondering, while she has no lion blood in her veins, her name was chosen because it had the best alliteration. Not like she's worried about anyone calling her on it anyway, they'll never see her coming regardless.

Duke Weasleton - Code Name: Duke Whizzleton. Threat Level: Moderate

"Always in the wrong place at the wrong time."

That's the story of Duke's life, a perpetual case of just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Duke wasn't born with his superpowers, in fact, he had only come into them shortly before Hopp Speed arrived in Zootopia. It was supposed to be a simple, low-effort gig. Just keep watch while some... more large and intimidating-looking mammals than himself pulled off a heist at what was supposed to be a largely abandoned research facility in the Rainforest District's Cliffside. What he hadn't known was that he was meant to be the patsy should the job go south. And go south it did, just not in the way anyone expected.

An explosion ripped through the quiet atmosphere of the cliffside, the building suddenly erupting in a tower of flame and trapping the hapless weasel inside. A self-destruct sequence, meant to keep the materials in the facility from being removed by unauthorized personnel had been triggered. Duke's partners in crime had barely gotten back to him with the package when the facility went off, killing his cohorts and knocking him unconscious. When Duke came to...he was still inside the burning, crumbling structure, but something was wrong. Everything around him seemed to be moving at a sloth's pace. The lick of the flames, the falling debris, the sights played before him as though it was a film reel being played at 1/10th the speed. 

Not willing to look a gift horse in the mouth, Duke began to run out of the building, the scenes around him slowing even more as he cleared the burning structure and ran deep into the dark cover of the rainforest district. Taking a moment to catch his breath, the weasel finally noticed the strange blue liquid that had soaked into his fur, and crackled with periodic darts of static. It appeared that whatever had been in that package those bigger mammals were looking to smuggle out of that place had ended up plastered all over him during the unexpected explosion. Whatever the compound was, it had saved his life. And as Duke would soon discover, it had bestowed upon him the gift of superpowers.

By the time the more warped events of this version of Zootopia take place, Duke has gotten enough of a handle on his abilities to be able to pull off several petty thefts and robberies to enrich himself. His super speed, coupled with his ability to compress his body to fit through all sorts of tight spaces quickly earned him the top spot as one of Zootopia's slipperiest criminals. His string of successes made him bolder, cockier, and he rapidly developed a sense of being completely and totally untouchable. That was until Hopp Speed put an end to his crime spree in a more wild version of the chase from the film, which while still ending in little Rodentia, requires Judy to trap him in one of the hamster tubes instead of the big donut, presenting him to the ZPD in the equivalent of a handy pneumo-tube sealed at both ends.

Completely humiliated, the weasel becomes increasingly obsessed with his new rival in the rabbit super cop and trying to humiliate her just as she had humiliated him. However, with each thwarting by the fastest mammal in the ZPD, his obsession turns from desiring simple humiliation to her utter destruction as his mental state rapidly declines. This isn't all madness simply driven by a down-on-his-luck mammal reaching his breaking point, but rather the signs of something much more troubling that the little weasel only discovers in the later stages of his madness. 

As mentioned in Camille's story, there hasn't been a single synthetic-powered treatment created that doesn't come with a massive or crippling drawback, and Duke's abilities are no exception. With Hopp Speed, her body developed to work with her power. She can push her limits and recover from going overboard without suffering significantly.  However, Duke wasn't made for his power, it was thrust upon him, unstable and without limits. The very use of his super speed is slowly destabilizing and decaying his atoms, which is in turn is warping his mind more and more as the cell decay increases. And if the weasel doesn't find a way to get his condition under control, he will eventually break down into an atomic smear of base particles. That is if he's even still sane enough to care at this point.

Aster Bellwether - Code Name : Rampage. Threat Level: Extreme 

"The shared sins of the father."

Doug's research died with him on that fateful day. All the information as to the nature of what that rather unique compound buried deep within the fabric of the night howler flower, and what it could do to a mammal lost in the lab crash that killed everyone save for Judy Hopps, Nick Wilde, and Dawn Bellwether, who would eventually become beholden to the power of that mystery compound. 'Bleatdown' was born that day, and Zootopia, nay all of Animalia trembled before her power. Of what a meek, weak little prey mammal could do when pushed to her full potential. And while many of the mammals who saw her glorious birth cowered in fear at the unbridled strength on display, there was one mammal who was rapt in awe. After all, he had witnessed her original birth, the frail weak little runt that would just barely keep their family name on life support. He knew the former Dawn more than she knew herself, and that's what made her transformation all the more awe-inspiring for him to witness. That power, that raw force...this was what he needed to make the dream he had tried to tirelessly instill into his daughter realized. A world where prey was stronger than predators.

This version of Aster, while losing Doug as his direct contact, still would wheel and deal among the upper echelons of Zootopia's political figures in order to seed his sinister plans for the future of the city. However, his plan in the Bellheroverse is significantly altered. Instead of pursuing night howler as a purely terrorist agent, used to get revenge on the city at large and force his vision of a Ewetopia, he seeks to achieve it by getting to the root of Dawn's power, and exposing all of Zootopia's Sheepfolk to the compound. Naturally, this is a tall order. With Doug gone, and his research gone with him, Aster and the rams at his disposal are back at square one when it comes to isolating this mysterious power source. But it wasn't entirely a loss. After all, thanks to Aster's connections to rams in high places, they had access to the only known current source of that power, Dawn herself.

Naturally, his plans suffered a setback when Dawn escaped and went missing, especially since after the five years they had her at their mercy, they had gotten very close to finding a method of replicating the compound, as well as neutralizing it. Aster's agents on the ground had developed a theory that they could harvest the compound directly from Dawn herself since they had very little luck with the flower. By drawing Dawn's blood from her during the stage of imminent transformation, they could in theory implant Dawn's abilities into another mammal. What's more, if they were to cycle Dawn's blood completely with new, untainted blood while administering an 'anti-compound' they had developed, they believed it could neutralize her powers permanently.

The catch? Dawn's blood would have to be transfused into a direct relative with the same blood type for their best shot at a successful transfer. Fortunately, Aster shared his daughter's blood type. Unfortunately, Dawn was still MIA, supposedly skulking around with those Renegades behind the fog of Zootopia's hidden places. He would have to lure her out, to draw her to him so the deed could be done...and what better way to lure his daughter home, than with the love the little ewe still managed to hold for her mother.

It wasn't hard to convince Clover to go along with his plan, a few swift back hooves and his timid little mate was on board. The problem came from making sure Clover's apparent need to contact her daughter managed to carry all the way out to the deepest nooks and crannies of Zootopia. And that was done by planting Clover in the Zootopia Mayoral debates and having her hijack the question segment by begging Dawn to contact her. It didn't take long for the ewe to quietly reach out to her mother, and after assurances that neither the ZPD nor her father was involved, Dawn went to Clover in secret, even keeping it from her fellow Renegades for fear they would try to stop her.

The needle went in so easy, he had merely stepped out from the shadows and with the slightest effort implanted the syringe deeply into her neck. She was out like a light before she even had time to register her father's piercing glare. Only the ember of his cigar burned in her consciousness as everything faded to black. Dawn would wake up in the Woolery Winery, the same place the climatic showdown took place in Rehab, but with a wildly different outcome. Merely the sound of her father's voice, mockingly reassuring her would send her into a spasm, the urgent need for Bleatdown to come out swinging. But it would all play right into Aster's hooves, and the transfusion would go off seemingly without a hitch, leaving Dawn powerless and weary as Aster bursts free from his own restraints. The ram known as Aster is no more, now...there is only 'Rampage'.

Rampage is essentially the 'Abomination' to Dawn's Hulk. Super strength, super agility, and nearly invincible under most conditions, Rampage is truly a force to be reckoned with. As for his differing appearance compared to Dawn, with his flesh a deep crimson and his horns and wool having darkened to almost jet black, this is the result of having used Dawn's blood as the primary method to infuse himself with her power. However, the reign of Rampage is short-lived compared to the other villains on this list as his plan quickly unravels with the appearance of the Red Moth.

Having tracked Dawn to Clover's home, and finding a beaten and bruised Clover on the floor, Dawn's frantic mother conveys to Vernon what Aster is up to, and where she thinks he might have taken Dawn. Vernon arrives on the scene shortly after Aster's successful infusion, and just in time for the ram to try out his new powers on his uninvited guest. Despite the wolf's best efforts, he is beaten, battered, and rendered almost half-dead by the powerful beast in Aster. Dawn can do nothing but watch as the poor wolf gets clobbered by her father's might, and when it looks as though he's going to finish Vernon off, Dawn pleads for Aster to stop, and declares her love for the wolf.

Both amused and disgusted, Aster begins to tease his daughter, playing with Vernon's limp form as though he were little more than a mere rag doll and reveling at the life he now held in his hooves. However, he tires quickly of this game and readies to make the killing blow against the wounded wolf, but he is interrupted within mere inches of ending him when a massive blue-clawed fist smashed into his face. To his surprise, Dawn has transformed despite efforts at neutralizing her. The ram sneers, spitting the trickle of red ichor oozing from his maw. He was sure he could handle her, he always had been able to after all. His little Dawnie just needed a bit more training to remind her just who was in charge.

A knockdown drag-out fight ensues, the factory catching fire as Aster and Dawn trade blows and knock each other into extremely flammable equipment. As the building turns into literal hades around them, completing Aster's demonic visage, Dawn manages to get the upper hoof, forcing Rampage into a wall. Rampage struggles, confusion wracking his adrenalin-filled mind as his strength starts to wane. But Dawn is only ramping up, her rage building as she clasps his horns and repeatedly slams his head into the wall over and over again. All the abuse, all the pain, all those memories forced to the surface all at once. She no longer saw a mammal in the ram pinned beneath her, but a demon, her father's true face as it had always been.

His strength withering rapidly, panic and fear overtake him as he tried to brace himself from each successive blow. A loud crack, and the horn Dawn was gripping came off in her hoof. Reeling it back, she glared at the demon, then back at the crumpled form of Vernon behind her, and then back at the shrinking devil. With a roar, Aster's own horn found itself planted into his chest, ripping clean through into the wall and pinning his body there. Quickly his monstrous form began to shrivel in spots, parts of him returning to normal while others remaining large and gangly as his synapses began to fire wildly. Pain, confusion, terror, those were his final thoughts as the last glimmer of light flittered from his fading yellow irises. He struggled to maintain his gaze on his daughter's cold, emotionless eyes, without an ounce of love held within them for the ram before she turned away, scooping Vernon's broken form into her arms and escaping into the night. Leaving Aster to be swallowed by the hellfires of his own making.

Vernon lives, if you're wondering, though it takes months of physical therapy, and some augments courtesy of Gus to get him back to fighting fit. All the while with Dawn at his side, with the wolf making his own admission to loving her just as much as she loves him. The pair are unsure how they'll make the relationship work with Dawn's 'abilities' being directly tied to her emotions, but they are both more than happy to make a go of it. And despite the pain that Aster caused, his research that Melanie was able to glean from Dawn's experiences has helped make some decent headway in creating something that will allow Dawn to willingly suppress Bleatdown, even if she still can't outright be rid of it.

The King of the Cetaceans - Threat Level: Extinction Class

"The time of the land dwellers has come to an end."

Ulric was crazy, certifiably nuts. But even a broken clock is right twice a day, and Vernon wasn't stupid enough to ignore the red flags despite how impossible the scenario it painted seemed.

Ulric and Honey had been out for the long haul, off to solve yet another mystery that the veracity of which had long since been disputed. And while they had failed to find the Loch Ness Monster, or Catsquatch in their previous travels, they were certain that they had actually found the lost city of Cetacea. It had started with a strange signal, one that had cropped up periodically on radio stations worldwide since the onset of radio. however, the weird broadcasts were rare...and sparse. The clicking noises being relegated largely to background interference, and later cross-station contamination. But Ulric was nothing if not a determined wolf. When he got stuck on a subject, he went over every scrap of info he could find twenty times over. As it turned out, those broadcasts were clearest over the Atlambtic ocean, and more pressingly, in the last six months, they had started to crop up with increasing frequency and regularity.

The cause? The Cetaceans, the lost race of aquatic mammals that had hidden themselves away after the great awakening, advancing by leaps and bounds in quiet isolation while the rest of the land mammals were still throwing spears. At least, that was Ully's argument. And what's more, he believed they were co-ordinating something, plotting something big. The increased broadcasts were evidence of this, and the tighter they got to one another, the closer we were growing to that critical point. But whether it was a good thing or a bad thing, he couldn't be sure. However, the fact that there had been an increasing number of cargo and civilian vessels disappearing across the Atlambtic was a definite sign to err on the side of a less-than-ideal scenario. Ulric and Honey's rental trawler would become another one of those casualties much to Vernon and the rest of the Hunter Family's distress. Another son gone...the number now falling to five and leaving Audrey devastated.

But that wasn't the end of Ulric's contact with Vern. One last email, out of nowhere, terse, direct, short. "They're coming, tell Ma I'm sorry."

Even with the advanced warning, shoring up some level of preparedness and even a tenuous level of cooperation with Hopp Speed and her other 'registered heroes' behind the back of the Peacekeeper's as a whole, they were still woefully unprepared when those pale, hideous looking armor clad creatures rose from the surf at Sahara Shoals, and began vaporizing every mammal they came across. With technology that appeared practically alien, these soulless beings from the depths made quick work of the ZPD and even the Zootopian Reserves in Sahara Square. It was a quick, merciless affair, nothing but charred mammal skeletons left in the wake of the creatures as they convened on the grounds of the Palm Hotel, their detestable monarch planting the banner of his people into Animalian soil and loudly declaring, in clear Animaglish to the surprise of all who could hear, 'The time of the land dwellers has come to an end."

Despite the best efforts of the Zootopian Renegades, the Peacekeepers, and any hero or villain they could get their paws on, nothing seemed to be able to stop the relentless march of the mad Cetaceans. No pleas for treaties or truces were heard by the clammy creatures. They had but one desire, to wipe every land mammal, from the smallest shrew to the greatest giraffe from the surface of the planet. To leave the fossil record as the only testament to the existence of all life on land. They slowed in pace in Tundratown, the weather seeming to disrupt their land suits, but only slightly. It was only by dumb luck on the part of the Red Moth that the tables began to turn when the beasts marched on the Rainforest District.

It was the first time he had to tangle with one directly, and after managing to disarm it despite its augmented strength, he struck at the Cetacean foot soldier with all his might. Sadly, Vernon lacked Bleatdown's strength, and soon the beast got the upper paw, and began strangling the life out of the poor wolf. In desperation, Vernon wildly slammed one of his night howler grenades against its armored hide. At first, it appeared to do little more than leave a trail of deep blue slime across his glimmering golden armor. However, within seconds the wolf felt the strength leave the Dolphin's grip around his throat as it began to rapidly pale. Releasing the wolf it began to screech in anguish, clawing at its suit as its deformed cranium began to pulsate and darken. The brain visible under the beast's translucent skin growing a deep blue before its entire skull ruptured within the dome, turning the pure blue water inside into a slurry of meat as the dead soldier slumped to the ground.

It didn't take Vernon long to put what happened together. Checking the suit, it was clear the night howler he had desperately stabbed at the beast as though it were some sort of holy relic had trickled into his whatever regulated the Dolphin's breathing equipment. He was sure technology like that was meant to filter out most bacteria and pathogens, but in the case of the night howler, not only had it bypassed or totally overwhelmed whatever filter they had, but they were deathly allergic to the plant.

Quickly the Red Moth parroted the news to his compatriots, and from there to all the heroes putting in the good fight that Night Howler was the key to beating the beasts back. The remaining science and military forces around Zootopia went into rapid production of night howler-based weaponry to stem the tide. And just as quickly as the Cetaceans as gained as much ground as they had, they were being driven back to the sea. The King of the Cetaceans dying, clawing for breath at the foot of the banner he had placed in Sahara Square just a week prior as his troops retreated in terror.

"I'm afraid the land dwellers are here to stay." The Red Moth leaned down to mutter as the King's head began to swell. "And we ain't gonna stop till we've driven ya to the doors of Hades itself..."

The cetaceans are a formidable force to be reckoned with despite them looking visibly fragile under their suits. They have mild psychic capabilities mostly in the range of thought transmission and creating noise in one's head. Though their species has no powereds among them to date, their advanced weaponry and intellect give them a significant edge against pretty much anything modern mammalian society can throw at them save for the powered mammals among them. Were it not for their severe allergic reaction to Night Howler, they would probably be unstoppable.

------

Phew, that was...a lot. My write-ups for these ideas just get longer and longer....but it's hard to turn it off once it gets going. Hope you guys like the art, and thanks for the asks! I'm going on thanksgiving break now!

Runner up Sam Hain Costumes!

 

Here's a follow up to last week's Belated Sam Hain post to keep the spooky fun going for just a little longer. I thought up some good costume/character combos to take a stab at and show off for you guys...naturally I picked a sort of random scattershot of characters based on those ideas because...well if I wanted to dress up the entire cast this would take till the new year.

So I picked my favorite ideas, and put the pen to the tablet to show them off to you.

First we have Giselle, who I was torn on. The first and obvious idea was Farigiraf, the new pokemon evo for Girafarig. But literally, everybody is doing that to their giraffe characters, so I decided to save that for next year. I have to credit Elite Shade for the 'Siren Head' idea, as they featured that as Giselle's costume in the "Found Sam Hain Special" which you can read at the link below.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13128859/34/Found

Give it a read, it's adorable! 

I also had the idea for a Mommy Long Legs Costume from Poppy's Playtime as a good pairing for the spindly and long Giselle, though I'm not condoning the game maker's practices. I just like Mommy Long Leg's design and thought it was fitting. So I decided to show off both ideas.

Next, and this one has been a long time coming, it's Ulric as Dale Gribble from King of the Hill! I must say, I do take some elements of Ulric's base character from Dale...usually more of Ully's extreme behaviors, so it was natural I'd want to revisit that connection in a Sam Hain costume. I imagine Ully feels Dale Growlbble is probably the smartest character on that show, and misses the comedy of it.

For this next costume idea, I had the thought of using a costume before I had a character for it. When I considered Lady Demtrescue from Resident Evil 8, it was between Ada and Vanna as they were both big gals. However, when it came down to personality, I imagine Ada could better pull it off, and so the choice was made.

Last we got Gus and Melly rocking Geralt and Yennifer from the Witcher series, which...I mean I feel it just perfectly suits the pair in terms of interests, I think this is actually my favorite of the costume sets, which is funny because it was a last minute add. Still, Gus and Melly being a happy dorky couple is adorable.

Don't forget to check out Elite Shade's Sam Hain special of FOUND! 

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13128859/34/Found

Seriously it's awesome! See you next week with a return to the normal ask format.

-Wasty

Ask Special Collection; The Hunter Pack; the next generation Pt 5

 The final round-up. The last page of this collection is sort of a retread of characters we've all seen a lot of at this point. Allison, Edison, and Paige are all pretty fleshed out by now, as well as how they get on with their parents...at least in terms of what I wish to divulge at this time.

But it also felt weird to just...leave them out. Having shown them a bunch of times, and as they are as adults a few times, I decided to take a stab at the in-between years. With Paige now around 10 years old, about when her older brother and sister were adopted, and both Edi and Alli are in College and technical schools respectively.

Basically showing off how the family dynamic has developed between the three of them even though Alli and Edi aren't always home anymore.

Paige and Edison's relationship;

Paige and Edison are close, though maybe not as close as her's and Allison's relationship. And while it's undeniable that a great deal of Paige's nerdier traits were inherited from her parents, there's no doubt that it was Edison who shaped her taste in games, probably by and large due to the fact that Paige was more likely to stand in as Edi's player two than Allison was. Edison's love of scientific pursuits also rubbed off a little on Paige, as despite her tomboyish nature she is rather fascinated by space and similar intellectual studies that Edi hooked her onto, especially when he talks about it. Not enough to seek a career in such a field as Edison has, but enough to cheer her brother on from the sidelines.

The past ten years have seen Edison suffer a bit of turmoil, as well as a deep pre-teen-years depression that lasted for a while. This is because Edison began suffering from fainting episodes that led to the discovery of him having a goat ancestor who passed on the fainting gene to him. This condition basically made him ineligible from ever becoming an astronaut and essentially crushed his lifelong dreams. It took a long while for Edi to work through that with the help of his Ma, Pa, and Uncle Gus, but eventually he was able to pull himself back up by his haunches and make the decision that if he couldn't be an astronaut, he'd get a job working as close as he safely could with them and aim for a job at mission control. At 21, Edison is in college working on his engineering degree, as well as studying methods to get a better handle on controlling his emotions to minimize his chances of fainting even more.

Allison and Paige;

Allison is essentially the sibling Paige looks up to most, and connects with the strongest. With both being tomboys, Allison was always able to provide her sister with outlets to channel her more aggressive and wild tendencies. While Dawn and Vern would teach Paige how to ride a bike, Allison would teach her all the cool and risky tricks. If Dawn and Vern would teach Paige to swim, You can bet it'd be Allison teaching her how to do flips off the diving board. That was and is their relationship, sister and mentor to sister and pupil. 

As an adult, and tackling technical classes on the side while working at Val and Amelia's garage, Allison is at home more than her brother, as Edi opted to live on campus even if it was just downtown. This allows for her to spend more bonding time with her little sis, which is something she wouldn't necessarily admit she loves, but that's mostly because she still tried to maintain that air of imperviousness to her in terms of emotions, at least around Paige. In truth, much of Allison's decision not to stay with Val and Kodi while going to her technical school was largely in part because she was reluctant to strain that bond with her little sister, at least more so than Edi.

When left to keep an eye on Paige, there's usually always an 'incident' that occurs while the parents are away. Something gets blown up, or electronically fried, or possibly even lit on fire, which can be a headache for both the Hunter parents and Allison despite her usually being the one to encourage it. But with Paige, she knows she'd be doing her a disservice if she wasn't letting the pup take risks and express herself in her own, weird way. Even if that means they might break a window or two in the old family home with a potato canon, it's worth it to hear that giggle from Paige.

The Overall Dynamic;

Naturally, the three pups have a very tight bond. Regardless of blood relation or not, they are siblings to one another, for better or worse. Alli still teases Edi, and criticizes his taste in films and other media as being dorky, but by now it's become their back and forth. Allison the greasehound and Edi the flopper, siblings that would die to protect one another, and of course little Paige. By this age both Alli and Edi are slowly developing a weird hybrid relationship with Paige that's somewhere between parent and sibling. They indulge her interests and play alongside her, but they also watch over her and are keenly concerned with how she's getting along in life and school when they aren't around. It'd be hard to find a closer set of pups than this trio, despite the age gap. 

Alright, so that's all and I am officially lore dump vomit exhausted. On Patreon, I'll be releasing some speed drawing recordings of some of these sessions with a little commentary probably sometime tomorrow. So those interested who aren't in the patreon, I'll link it below.

For patreons I'll also be dropping some more art and speed commentaries for some more recent works I did, so keep an eye out.

Thanks for reading, I hope you guys liked this...I know it was probably a lot, and it was a little sloppy as it was written on the fly based on the nuggets of information I cultivated and reviewed repeatedly inside my head before putting them to these posts. Still, I hope it was anenjoyable aside from the usual content...

-Wasty

Ask Special Collection; The Hunter Pack; the next generation Pt 4

 Trenton, Qali and Lumi; (The other Hunter family hybrid)

Initially, I think I wanted Paige to be the only hybrid, and even then Paige's creation was one I struggled with in terms of actually going through with. I think shortly after Rehab was completed, on the old blog, I asked you guys what story they wanted to see next, before pitching the ideas I had lying in the back of my brain. I remember at the time I think I discussed both Dawn and Vern taking hyphenated names, and one of the stories centering around a possible hybrid pup. Then I received a comment telling me that both the hyphenated names and the hybrid pups were a bad avenue to pursue. And while I stuck to the hyphenation regardless because I thought it would be a very Vernon thing to do to insist Dawn embrace her old name, I did bench the Paige project. It was only after the word of god (Zootopia's creators) said hybrids were definitely a thing, did I revisit the idea and find the story to be told there. Still, Paige was initially meant to be the one hybrid in the family, as reasons will be established in the last Bellhunter story as to why Dawn and Vern managed to win the pregnancy lottery so to speak, and why it would be harder for species that were genetically further apart to have pups on average, at least for some time as the methods to assist such pregnancies got better.

I'll admit, Lumi (Named by Unformed8) was created totally based on the prospect of making a very fluffy girl. That was one of the reasons Trenton and Qali were chosen to have a hybrid, the other happening to be that foxes and wolves would logically have a smaller species gap genetically speaking. It made the most sense that if Trenton and Qali made an aggressive attempt to have a hybrid child, there's a better chance of them succeeding than say, Zach and Vanna. So two years after the birth of Paige, and after a great deal of trying and taking weird fertility enhancers and taking advantage of other medical procedures, Lumi is finally born to Trenton and Qali. 

Lumi is sweet and excitable but is also capable of keeping a pretty cool head thanks to her father's genetics, which is a good skill to have when it comes to being picked on by Piper or other mammals at school for being hybrid. On top of that, Lumi's genetics make her early years and adolescence rather awkward in terms of appearance. She's got her mother's extra sleek build but quickly develops her father's height as she grows making her a bit a beanpole...or string bean as her father affectionately calls her. Piper likes to mock her by calling her stickly or stretch, and tends to be especially vicious to her and Paige for being hybrids. She also has poor eyesight, which just adds another aspect for Piper and others to tease about. While Lumi tends to be very cool and calm in the face of teasing, she'll confide in Paige, and especially in her parents when something really gets under her pelt.

Lumi is a Daddy's girl, and even though he sterner than Qali is, Lumi pretty much has her Dad wrapped around her fingers from the day she was born. She's also very much a cuddle bug, and loves hugging and curling up with her parents at every opportunity.

As an adult, Lumi's genetics seem to finally come together in a truly spectacular fashion. With the height of a wolf and the sleekness of a fox she becomes a true beauty, so much so that she becomes a fashion model and designer, as she had always had a bit of a passion for creating outfits and clothes during her pre-teen and teenage years. Her industry name is 'the Kitsune', as her features seem very reminiscent of the ancient legend of 'Kitsune spirits' in Japanda, and she subsequently names her fashion line 'Kitsune'. As an adult, she's considerably more confident and cool, and is even better at dealing with the occasional ribbing from Piper, as well as dishing out clap backs. 

Paige and Lumi; BFF's;

With Lumi and Paige both being hybrids, they have an immediate connection that's stronger than the ones they share with their other cousins. They have much of the same struggles and uncertainties to deal with, and their personalities sort of complement one another with Paige being the more of the fighter and Lumi being more of the negotiator. If Paige is going to get into a fistfight with Piper, you can bet Lumi will be the one to pull her off the little otter if the parents aren't close enough to break things up. Also, both sets of parents are more prone to setting up playdates for the pair over the other local cousins due to them both being hybrids and logically, at least to the parents, could do with the solidarity.

The tight friendship maintains into adulthood, although they don't get to see each other as often as they'd like. Lumi's career keeps her extremely busy, and on the move. But that said, every time they manage to reunite in Zootopia, the pair probably revel in each other's company more so than any of the other cousins. One could argue the pair were actually sisters were it not for their drastically different appearances. But considering the menagerie of different species making up the respective Hunter broods, that might not be too much of a stretch for most.

Okay, one more sheet to go. 

-Wasty

Ask Special Collection; The Hunter Pack; the next generation Pt 3

 A new day, a new sheet, this time covering Xavier and Ulric's family units. Yes, even Ulric gets to be a Dad, although who's raising who is questionable. Thankfully Honey's there to keep him wrangled. Anyway...

Xavier, Malcolm and Elizabeth;

So we've already seen Elizabeth Hunter (Maiden name Meypole) in the 20 years later ask set. As an adult she is an accomplished violinist, and plays in a big orchestra. Which one? I haven't figured that bit out yet. Naturally, her love of the violin was something she carried with her as a kit, the instrument acting as sort of...Well, the rawest way she can express her emotions and speak from the soul.

Xavier and Malcolm first come into contact with her when she's about seven years old, as Xavier takes on a family court case involving Elizabeth's mother. In a similar fashion to what the 'emergency trio' suffered through, Elizabeth's mother was also a damaged individual. Though whereas the hyena pups birth mom was crippled by her cultural beliefs, Elizabeth's Mom had deep mental issues that always kept her on the verge of being institutionalized. Elizabeth was also with her birth mother a lot longer than Yuri's boys, which subjected her to abuse for several years. The abuse running the gamut from mental to physical. This abuse would eventually culminate with Elizabeth's Mom trying to burn down the house with Elizabeth locked inside, which became the catalyst for the court case. The fire leaves Elizabeth with severe burns on her face, the left-hand side of her torso, and arm down to her paw. (Might be hard to make them out on the sketch as everything is...well sketchy.)

During the trial, Xavier gets to know the sweet, shy, and polite skunk girl, and grows close to her, each night returning home and blathering on and on to Malcolm about the poor girl whose plight really moved him. Despite having never met her personally, Malcolm is the first to suggest they make the move to adopt her once the trial ends, and keep the poor girl out of the system. And after a lengthy discussion, the pair agree to take the dive and become parents. Naturally, Elizabeth is thrilled when Xavier and Malcolm ask her to be their daughter, and the adoption goes off without a hitch.

Already shy, Elizabeth has issues with self-confidence which were only worsened by her burn scars. Early on in her time being adopted into the San Fransisgoat Hunter Pack she dresses rather frumpy, and with heavy coverage even in the summer. Her outfit of choice usually includes an oversized hoodie and fingerless gloves to cover as much of her burns as possible when going to school or being forced to be outside. She only feels...sort of comfortable being exposed among her adoptive parents, and even then she still reflexively tries to cover her face on occasion, usually when caught by surprise or off-guard.

Even before being adopted, she loved classical music, specifically pieces featuring the violin. And so, noting that, Xavier and Malcolm buy Elizabeth a violin of her own for her first birthday with them, as well as payout for private lessons in order for her to learn how to play. This is something not only Elizabeth delights in, but takes to with gusto. Mastering the instrument by her teenage years and going so far as to compose a myriad of her own deeply personal violin pieces. With encouragement from Malc and Xav, she's able to overcome her shyness and self-confidence issues and go on to play in school recitals, plays, and eventually concert halls.

Regarding Elizabeth and Omari;

Despite Piper being a pain in the ass, and picking on her as she does with most of the other cousins, Elizabeth really bonds with the emergency trio, and specifically Omari. The similar circumstances involving their abusive birth mothers, and how that affected them saw them become closer than they were to some of their other cousins. But more than anyone else out of the trio, it was Omari who'd spend most of the time talking to her. He would talk about his interests, his growing appreciation for science and medicine, and his insecurities. And Elizabeth would share her own insecurities, her love of music, and even a few of her private violin concertos just for him. This closeness led to the two cousins catching feelings for each other going into their teenage years, which would eventually bloom into full-on love in their early adulthoods. While Yuri protested the two getting together due to being cousins, despite not being blood-related, Xavier and Malcolm were as always very supportive and encouraging.

Ulric, Honey and Arturo;

Initially, I had planned against giving Ully and Honey any pups, as Ully was too irresponsible, and Honey wasn't really one for 'traditional family structure'. I hadn't even planned for the pair to get tithed or married, but rather simply be monogamous partners with at most a couple's contract or whatever I called it in LAW where the two are recognized as legally sharing resources. And while I intended to keep that the case, the idea of them raising a pup kept coming back to me...tickling the back of my skull until Arturo began to form.

Arturo is a pudgy, sensitive kid who's generally very open to weird ideas. He looks up to his adopted Mom and Dad with a sort of awe and wonder, much in the same way Wyatt looks up to Vanna and Zach. No one is cooler than his parents, and that's especially true when it comes to his oddball father. In terms of Ully and Arturo's relationship, I imagined it to be very similar to Dale Gribble and Joseph from King of the Hill. (You can guess who's who in that connection) With young Arturo looking up to his Dad despite his obvious craziness and wild and baseless theories. That said, with Ully being...well Ully, he's not exactly A-grade father material when it comes to safety and setting boundaries. Naturally, this puts Honey in a weird position where she's almost raising two kits rather than one. That said, despite Honey acting as the 'buzzkill' and authoritarian in the family unit, Arturo doesn't love his mom any less than his crazy Dad.

Young Arturo's summers growing up are filled with all sorts of wacky escapades involving his Pa, including annual Catsquatch hunts, ghost hunting in spooky locations, and weird and irresponsible science experiments, but as an adult, those become treasured memories. And despite all that would have been working against him, Arturo grows up to be a kind, intelligent and well-adjusted male who ends up becoming a popular Animalian and Zootopian history teacher at the Zootopian University. While he has largely grown out and away from taking everything his father taught him as gospel, the lessons instilled in him by Ully and Honey fueled a thirst for history and seeking truth. And while his lesson don't cover topics like 'Catsquatch' or 'ancient aliens', he's always open to hearing folks talk about such topics. And he also makes sure to allocate some vacation time to go 'catsquatch' hunting with his parents every summer.

Onward to page four!

-Wasty