Hey there, readers! I'm so happy to be bringing to you chapter 11 of Found! It sure has been a while. In addition to some real life drama and getting sick, I just haven't had much motivation to write lately. But I'm back at it! Yay! I would like to take this moment to thank WastedTimeEE not only for allowing me to use his amazing characters and version of Zootopia but also for answering my many questions I have about said characters and AU! I would also like to thank, once more, the wonderful Trismegistus Shandy for being such a great proofreader!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Found (Chapter 11)

 

by

 

Elite Shade

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Daddy?" Lily asked with a yawn as Vernon, who had been carrying her, laid her down in her bed, pulling her blankets up to tuck her in.

"Yes, Darlin'?" Vernon asked, looking down at his pup, his heart still filled with joy at being called Daddy.

"Will we get to visit Gramma and Grampa up at the ranch again soon?" Lily asked, looking up at him with her deep blue eyes. The visit to the ranch had ended with another set of hugs from Grandpa, Uncle Zach, and Auntie Vanna, and another big hug/carry from Grandma, who had been quite reluctant to let her three grandpups go. It had only been when Vernon and Dorian had assured her that they would all be up to visit again soon that the older she-wolf finally relinquished her grandpups, giving each one one more squeeze.

Vernon chuckled both at the fresh memory and at the innocent question.

"We sure will. Or else yer Grammy will come down here herself and drag all of us back up to the ranch herself." He smiled at the giggle that this elicited before spying another yawn. "Feel up to another bedtime story, sweetie?"

Lily nodded and curled up on her side, facing the chair Vernon and Dawn alternated sitting in to read from the storybooks they had gotten for their pups. Vernon figured that Dawn was in Trevor's room, already reading to him, or maybe even Allie's room, offering to read her a story as well, with the hope that the little she-wolf would agree. Vernon took a seat and grabbed the current book from the nightstand, The Bunnit, by J. R. R. Mrowlkien.

"Daddy?" Lily asked as Vernon was opening to the page they had left off.

"Yes, Princess?"

"Are you sure that the egg is okay? She won't get too cold?" Lily asked, making Vernon's ears lay flat on his head. Lily had kept the egg she had found close for warmth the entire trip back home. Once home, Dawn had gone out and purchased an egg incubator, which Lily and Allie, the latter of whom had tried to act as though she didn't enjoy it, had decorated it with frilly pink ribbons and bows under Vernon's nervous supervision.

"U-uh, yup," Vernon said, gulping before continuing, "th-the egg's all cozy and warm." The wolf felt torn. On the one paw, seeing how Lily's face brightened up at the possibility of getting a bird melted his heart every single time. On the other, he was nervous that what would hatch would be a raven. The one species of bird that utterly terrified him.

"I can't wait to finally meet Princess Callibrie," Lily said with another yawn.

"Uh... y-yeah, w-we're all lookin' forward to meetin' her when she hatches," Vernon said, before continuing on with the story. He had just finished the part where the three ogres turned to stone when he heard Lily's soft breathing. Putting the bookmark back in, he leaned down to give his youngest daughter a gentle kiss on her forehead before he turned off her bedside light and quietly made his way out of her room. He silently shut her door behind him when he saw his mate doing the same, coming out of Trevor's room. They carefully made their way downstairs, both drifting towards the kitchen, where on the counter, on prominent display, was the large light-blue egg, sitting in the incubator.

"I didn't think Lily'd want to leave the egg's side at all tonight," Vernon said with a chuckle, only a mild nervous tenor mixed in.

"I know," Dawn said, shuffling her hoofs before hopping up onto the stool Lily had been sitting on earlier. She too was nervous around ravens, mainly due to the long history she had with them constantly trying to make nests in her head poof.

"I really hope that this here bird ain't no raven," Vernon said, looking down at the blue egg.

"Well... there's no guarantee that that's what it's going to be, Puppy," Dawn said optimistically.

"True... why, there's lots of eggs from different species of birds that're this color... and maybe this size!" Vernon said, perking right up, and shoving any thoughts of ravens to the back of his mind.

"Absolutely, Puppy Love," Dawn said with a giggle, seeing Vernon return back to his usual upbeat self. She then looked down at the egg and smiled, a thought suddenly striking her. "You know, it might not even be a bird at all. It could be a reptile egg."

"Hey, so long as it ain't a raven, I'll be happy," Vernon said, his tail wagging. Then she noticed her mate stop his wagging, his ears twitching, and turn his head towards the stairs. There stood Trevor, in his AMSS pajamas, slowly making his way down.

"Hey, buddy," Vernon said, walking up to the little black lamb and scooping him up into his arms, "I thought Mommy put you to bed." Vernon comically narrowed his eyes at Dawn, making the lamb in his arms chuckle.

"She did, Daddy," Trevor said, looking unsure about something, "but..."

"But what, bud?" Vernon asked his son.

"Uhm... I th-thought... that maybe th-there might be a... m-monster under the bed..." Trevor said before nervously hiding his face behind his hooves. Vernon and Dawn shared a knowing smile while the wolf rubbed his son's back while still holding him.

"Aw, well then, how about we go up and check together?" Vernon offered.

"Okay!" Trevor said, instantly feeling much less nervous. Vernon started to carry Trevor back up the stairs, with Dawn falling in step beside him, and back into his room, where they found Alice standing, hugging her stuffed bunny, Princess Floppington.

"Alice?" Dawn asked, startling the black pup who let out a yip and literally jumped. Alice whirled around and spotted the three, swiftly using one arm to hide her stuffed bunny behind her back.

"I-I... uh... I w-was checking up on Trevor," she said, her ears laying flat and her tail tucking itself between her legs, as though she had been caught doing something wrong. Dawn was struck by how she seemed just like Vernon when he got caught doing something he shouldn't, and she had to stifle a giggle.

Like father, like daughter, she thought to herself.

"Well, what a good big sister you are," Dawn said, stepping forward to ruffle her eldest daughter's headfur. Alice tried to maintain her serious composure, but her wagging tail was a dead giveaway.

"We were just about to check to make sure that there weren't no monsters under Trevor's bed. Maybe you'd like to help?" Vernon offered, setting Trevor down and patting his head poof.

"Uhm... okay," Alice said, once more finding her paw in Dawn's hoof as the ewe led her to one side of the bed, while Vernon and Trevor took up position on the other side.

"Okay, on the count of three," Vernon said, "One... two... three!" And he dropped to the ground, briskly followed by Dawn, Alice, and then Trevor. The latter two were both trying not to snicker out loud, and only being mildly successful.

"Hmm..." Vernon said as he looked around under the bed. "Well, I don't see any monsters down here. What d'you think, Honey Lamb?"

Dawn rubbed her chin as she squinted and looked around. "I have to agree with you, Puppy, this area is completely devoid of any monsters. What do you think, kids?"

Trevor started to look nervous again before both seeing for himself that there wasn't anything other than the blue carpet of his room under his bed and smiling. "Nope. No monsters!" The black lamb said excitedly.

Alice looked around a little bit, even sniffing the area for anything other than what she expected to smell under the bed, and came up empty. "Yup, nothing's here," Alice said with a big yawn.

"And with that, I think our little search party is done fer the night, and that two of our members need to get some shuteye," Vernon said with a rumbling chuckle as he stood up, scooping Trevor into his arms again and setting him back down on his bed.

"And let's get you back to bed as well, Allie," Dawn said, holding out her hoof. Alice started to shuffle her paws again as she looked conflicted about taking Dawn's hoof.

"Something the matter, Sweetheart?" Dawn asked.

"Uh... m-maybe it would be best for me to sleep here tonight... y'know, to be Trevor's watchdog, just in case..." Dawn smiled and looked to Vernon, whose tail was slowly wagging as he smiled back.

"That sounds like an excellent idea, Allie," Dawn said, turning to Trevor, "so long as your brother doesn't mind."

"I don't mind, Mommy!" Trevor said from where he was laying. With that, Dawn pulled back the blankets and helped Alice in to the bed next to her brother. Alice tried to roll her eyes, but Dawn saw how relieved she actually was. And she and Vernon both noticed the small smile that their eldest child tried to hide when they tucked the two of them in.

"And maybe the two of you wouldn't mind another bedtime story," Vernon offered as Dawn nodded, hopping up onto the stool next to the bed and grabbing one of the books from the nearby shelves. Despite their earlier excitement, it didn't take more than a couple of pages in before Trevor and Alice curled up together, Alice hugging Princess Floppington close to herself, and were fast asleep. Dawn and Vernon both softly kissed their foreheads before heading back out, turning out the light, and mutually deciding to head to their own room.

 

Meanwhile, Back in the North Meadowlands...

 

"HONEY!!!" Ulric nearly yelped in excitement as he jumped where he sat in their tent. He was looking down at the tablet in his paws, his tail thumping against the ground.

"What happening?" the badger asked as she poked her head in through the open flap. She winced and lifted her infrared goggles to regard her mate.

"LOOK!" Ulric said, taking a second to tap away at the tablet's screen. He then passed it to Honey, who hit play. It was video footage from the network of cameras that they had set up, the numbers in the top right corner of the screen indicating that it came from the group in the northern quadrant. The video started to play, and for a few seconds, there was nothing but footage of the woods. Then she saw it. A figure ran across the screen. Honey paused and brought the images back, slowly. She couldn't make out very much detail of who or what had run across the camera, as they seemed to be wrapped in a large dark coat, but still, it had piqued her curiosity.

"It looks like a mammal in a coat, Ully, but what they're doing way out here running around at night, that's pretty suspicious," Honey said, much to Ulric's apparent joy.

"Clearly we've flushed out catsquatch, and so they put on a disguise to throw us off their trail!" Honey shook her head a little.

"Ully, why would a catsquatch wear a coat? Also, catsquatches are around seven to nine feet in height. I set up those cameras myself, and whoever that is, they're around five feet."

"Well... maybe it's a juvenile one that got lost from their super advanced hidden underground city! OH! Or maybe it can shape-shift!"

"Or maybe it's just a homeless mammal who got lost in the woods..." Honey responded, keeping a level head.

"That's just what they want us to think!" Ulric's response involved him pointing straight down.

"Like I said, it's pretty suspicious," said Honey, "but let's see if we can't find out more about this individual before we start jumping to conclusions."

Ulric sighed but nodded, eagerly taking back the tablet and tapping away near frantically. "Let's see if we can't track it with the drone!"

A few more taps and, just outside their tent/command-center, and camouflage-painted square drone winked on with a red light. Its four propellers started spinning, and soon afterwards, it lifted off.

"Ully, remember how expensive the drone is, and try not to fly it into a tree again," Honey cautioned.

"I only did that twice, Honey," Ulric said as he remotely guided the drone with the tablet, flying it towards the location where the camera had caught the hidden mammal.

 

Back at Dawn and Vernon's House, One Restful Night Later...

 

Dawn inhaled her mate's scent as she cuddled up close to his neck, feeling safe and secure in his arms that held her closely. Visiting her in-laws was always a pleasant experience, but Dawn was definitely happy to be back in her and Vernon's own bed. Deciding to relax a bit more before attempting to wake her Puppy Love, Dawn snuggled in deeper to his ruff. And then the bedroom door flew open.

"MOMMY! DADDY! IT'S HAPPENING!" The pair sat bolt upright, Dawn still in Vernon's arms. Vernon looked confused as to what was happening, and looked about sleepily.

"What's happening, Lily?" Dawn asked as she tried to extricate herself from her mate's arms.

"The egg's hatching!" Lily said, running up to the side of their bed and jumping up and down. She was wearing her pink OMO pj's, her brown headmane waving back and forth as she jumped. The mention of the egg hatching brought Vernon out of his sleepy confusion and back to reality.

"O-oh... a-are you sure, Princess?" he asked, setting Dawn down.

"Uh-huh!" was Lily's giddy response. "I got up early to watch the egg, and it started moving! And then it cracked a little! C'mon! Hurry! Princess Callibrie's almost here!" Lily said, grabbing ahold of Vernon's paw and tugging in an attempt to get him up and out of bed. Vernon grimaced, yet tried to make it into a smile, and got up, Lily letting go and bolting out the bedroom door, down the hall, and down the stairs.

"It's gunna be a raven, Lamb Chop, I just know it," Vernon said, his tail already tucked.

"Try to stick to the positives, Puppy," Dawn said, stretching a little as she hopped out of bed, adjusting her nightgown.

"I know, Honey Lamb, but I can feel it in my bones. It's a raven. And it's gunna be the biggest raven in the world to boot!" Vernon whimpered a little as he followed the diminutive ewe out into the hall, noticing that Trevor's bedroom door was already opened, suggesting that all three of their children were down in the kitchen.

"Vernon, we don't know that at all," Dawn said, feeling a sense of dread. They too quickly made their way downstairs to find all three of their lambs up on stools at the kitchen counter, staring intently at the egg in the incubator. As the couple approached, they noticed that the egg was indeed rocking back and forth, and that there were now a few cracks on it. There was a crunch, and the cracks got wider.

Vernon frowned as he leaned in closer. Dawn scooted another stool nearby and climbed on top of it, looking down at the egg. There was something moving that she could see in the openings. After a few more moments, the egg split open, and there was a collective gasp at what was now before them all. In the very center of the remains of the egg was a small, bright green lizard with black stripes going down its back. First came a sigh of relief from Dawn and Vern, and then there was a collective "Awwww" when the small reptile let out a chirp.

Lily held out her paw, and the lizard climbed right up in and sat there. It was just barely big enough to sit in the center of Lily's paw. The little lizard looked up at them all with its yellow eyes and let out another chirp.

"Hi, Princess Callibrie," Lily said, her face bright enough to light the entire room. Dawn and Vernon had both been wondering where she had gotten the name from, but so far hadn't found anything to explain why their youngest chose to name their new pet that.

"Well, she's just a little cutie," Dawn said as she leaned in closer to get a better look at the baby reptile, who looked up at her and blinked, chirping again.

"I'll say," Vernon said, a wide grin on his muzzle. He was practically beaming, no doubt due to the new family pet not being a dreaded raven. They were then surprised when the lizard reared up while still facing Dawn, and then hopped onto her face. The ewe was startled as the lizard scrambled up her face, and burrowed into her head poof. Dawn could feel the lizard curl up before it let out another chirp.
Vernon choked back a snort of amusement, while their lambs all giggled at the display.

"I think she likes your wool, Mommy," Trevor suggested, while Dawn rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless. While she had had bad experiences in the past with ravens attempting to nest in her head poof, the adorable little lizard she considered to be a special exception.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And there you have it folks! I've been wanting to introduce Princess Callibrie for a while now! Fun fact: in WastedTimeEE's AU, birds and reptiles have all been pretty much domesticated, with avians taking up mostly the roles of dogs, whereas reptile mostly take up the roles of cats. I hope that you enjoyed the new chapter, and please feel free to leave a review!