Heyo, readers! So happy to have gotten this special side-story done in time for the intended holiday! Yay! This was a lot of fun to imagine, and I hope you all like it!

 

UPDATE!!! For those who enjoy my story, The Door and its sequel The Keyhole, I have BIG news to share! A friend, and an amazing artist, by the names sunnysanjo over on SoFurry and artbysanjo over on Tumblr, is making a fancomic of The Door & Keyhole! The early sketches they have been showing me look great, and if you'd like to get a look at the cover they made, you can find it here on SoFurry!

 

https://www.sofurry.com/view/1953902

 

They have plenty of more awesome art to give a look, which I totally recommend!

And with that, I hope that you all enjoy the latest Found: Side-Story!

 

 

Found: Side-Story: Growlentine's Day Special

 

 

by

 

 

Elite Shade

 

 

Dawn was sitting at her desk, typing away on her laptop. Nearby, Princess Callibrie was curled up and snoozing on her little bed. All of a sudden, the Prench Kowmodo Dragon's eyes popped open, and she leapt up from her bed, scurrying downstairs. Dawn giggled and hit save on her open document.

 

"Looks like Puppy Love and the lambs are home," Dawn said to herself, heading down the steps. She made it to the bottom of the stairs just as the door swung open. Princess Callibire was sitting at attention, waiting and watching. Lily came walking in, holding an armload of paw and hoof-made construction-paper hearts, store bought cards, and a few small bags of candy and a box of chocolates in the shape of a heart.

 

"Hi, Mommy," Lily said, jumping up and down in excitement.

 

"Hi there, sweetie," Dawn said, spying Alice coming in next, blushing, as she seemed to be holding even more cards and candies and even a white teddy bear with a pink bowtie. The young she-wolf looked away, embarrassed. Dawn caught sight of Alice's hidden smile and grinned. "It looks like you two had a very busy Growlentine's Day."

 

"Uh-huh!" Lily said, still jumping. Spotting some chocolate at the sides of her second youngest lamb's mouth, Dawn guessed that all that extra bouncy energy may partially be due to her getting into her candy. The ewe giggled.

 

"Uhm... it's okay," Alice said, trying to sound aloof and cool, but her wagging tail revealed her true feelings. In came Trevor, with a white paper bag and a large red heart on it in his arms, clearly stuffed with his Growlentine's Day haul.

 

"Hey, Mom," Travor said as he ran up to her, excitement in his eyes. "All those hoof-crafted ARG Growlentine's cards I made were a huge hit! Everyone in my class loved working out the puzzles!"

 

"That's wonderful, honey," Dawn said, kissing her little ram on the forehead. He let out a happy bleat just as Vernon entered, with the excited and babbling little Paige in a puppy bjorn, which looked extra tiny on his massive frame, strapped to his chest. He closed the door behind him, his tail wagging at the sight of his mate. Dawn noticed that he had a paw behind his back. Scratching the back of his neck with his free paw, Vernon pulled out a bouquet of roses, twelve total, six white and six red. Dawn took them, her heart fluttering.

 

"Oh, Puppy Love, you didn't need to get me anything," she said, holding the roses up to her nose and smelling them. Vernon's tail started quickly wagging.

 

"I wanted to, Lambchop. Happy Growlentine's Day, darlin'," he said, scooping his smaller mate into his arms, making her let out a surprised and happy squeak, the two sharing a deep kiss. The two break apart, gazing into each other's eyes, their moment of bliss interrupted by the sudden simultaneous buzzing of their phones. Settling his mate on his shoulder, Vern fished his phone out as Dawn did the same for hers. After some screen tapping, they both saw that they had gotten a video from Zach, followed by several messages.

 

Please, ignore that video! Just delete it! This message was followed by a couple more texts from Zach imploring no one to look at the video, and then Wade and Yuri chiming in.

 

Really? Still spyin' on yer pup? Yuri's message read.

 

Come ON Zach, how many times do you have to get in trouble with Vanna before y'all stop? Said Wade's.

 

I DID stop!!! This was just an accident!!! Also, my Kitten knows that I've been workin' through my... slight overprotectiveness! Zach insisted.

 

WE WILL TALK ABOUT THIS WHEN I GET HOME, GOOFBALL!!! Came Vanna's reply. This was summarily followed by a laughing wolf emoji from Yuri, and a rolling eyes wolf emoji from Wade, and Trent adding in a rolled up newspaper.

 

OMG!!! They're sooooooo CYOOOTE!!! Qali chimed in, including some heart emojis.

 

Dawn and Vernon looked at one another, and simultaneously tapped on the video. After a few seconds of buffering, it started to play.

 

Earlier that Day in the Northern Meadowlands...

 

"Thanks again for helping out, guys!" Lizzy said. The young female grizzly bear was wearing an apron and a headfur-net as she lightly dusted the heart-shaped sugar cookies, freshly coated in pink icing, before her with red and white sprinkles. She and the rest of the friend group of young mammals were all dressed similarly and working in the back of Lizzy's family's bakery. Prowldilock's Family Bakery was painted in bright red calligraphy on the big shop window out front. Mina and Travis were alternating between making more cookie dough and preparing the baking sheets.

 

"Hey, it's no problem, Lizzy," Travis said, the beer buck smiling at the bear.

 

"Yeah! This is a lot of fun!" Mina quipped, the goat girl looking proudly at the fresh batch of cookies she had cut out of the dough using the heart-shaped cookie cutter.

 

Marcus would swap out a finished batch in the ovens with the new trays of fresh cookies and, while waiting for the latest batch to finish baking, would help Aiko and Lizzy apply the icing and then sprinkles on the ones that had cooled enough. Finally, Ty was assisting Lizzy's mother, an even bigger and very motherly mama bear named Molly, with transferring the cookies to the prepared packages, sealing and stamping the boxes. Lizzy's father was overseeing things, his left arm in a sling and his right foot wrapped in a bandage while he had a crutch tucked under his right arm.

 

"Well, we really appreciate it, kids," Lizzy's dad, Dexter, said with a lopsided grin, and a slight wince as he tried to test the strength on his sprained ankle. After getting a massive order for some kind of Growlentine's Day singles' mixer for several large rabbit families at the community center, at the last minute no less, Lizzy and her parents had scrambled to keep up with their current orders as well as this new one. All in addition to having prepared some other sweets and treats for other mammals that had apparently waited until the eleventh hour to think of what to get for their mates.

 

During the scramble, while taking the trash out in a rush, Dexter had slipped on some black ice. A malfunction from the Tundratown environmental freezers had caused a surprise cold front to slam into the Southern Meadowlands, and trickle up a little north. While Molly had to take her mate to the hospital, Lizzy had worriedly kept her friends updated on what was going on. The other young mammals had all volunteered, one after the other, to come down and assist any way they could. Lizzy's parents had been shocked to return to find their back kitchen fully staffed by Lizzy and her friends.

 

"We're happy to help, Mr. Ursa," Marcus drawled.

 

"Plus, the free cookies don't hurt," Ty said with a snicker while Mina flashed him a look.

 

"Well, you kids deserve it," Molly said, ruffling the young raccoon's headfur. He blushed and pretended to sulk while she quickly washed her paws.

 

"I think we might be nearing the end of the order," Aiko said, looking at the stacks of boxes.

 

"I think so, and then I think we'll be able to take it from here," Lizzy said, hearing a jingle and moved out front to work the register.

 

"And while I may have sprained my ankle, I can still drive our delivery truck just fine," Dexter proudly said.

 

"Oh no, honey-bear," Molly swatted him lightly on his uninjured shoulder, "you are gunna sit by the register and let me handle the deliveries, while you ice that foot, which you should be doing right now. So scoot!" Dexter grumbled and limped away.

 

"If you'd like, Mrs. Ursa, I don't have any plans until four, so I might be able to help with at least dropping off these cookies?" Travis offered.

 

"That would make it go so much faster, thank you Travis, deer," Molly said, beaming at the smiling buck.

 

"Ooooh, I think someone's got plans to spend Growlentine's Afternoon with Caaaaaaleb!" Mina giggled, making Travis blush a little.

 

"Well... we may have agreed to see a movie together," he said, his tail making little flicks of excitement as he swapped out the trays in the ovens.

 

"Not like you aren't excited to go see Geoff when we're all done here," Ty shot to his sister, earning him a quick hoof to flick one of his ears, Mina then rushing off to wash her hooves.

 

"Do you have any plans for today, Ty?" Lizzy asked, walking back in, a grin on her muzzle. The raccoon boy just looked away.

 

"Well... Growlentine's day is really just a holiday that exists because the corporate overlords decided it... but maybe..."

 

"OOOOOH! Who with?!" Lizzy asked, quickly bounding over in excitement and picking the shocked raccoon boy up in her paw.

 

"Lizzy, if Ty isn't comfortable talking about it, then you shouldn't pressure him," Molly lightly scolded her daughter as she took Ty from her paw and shooed her to go wash again. She gave the blushing raccoon boy a hug before setting him down.

 

"Oh, sorry, Ty," Lizzy said, looking abashed.

 

"I-it's fine... I'm... just gunna spend it with a... friend, that's all," Ty said, composing himself while trying to look aloof, yet a small smile at the corners of his muzzle was visible to any who looked. There were several shared knowing smiles.

 

"Hmm... what about you, Marcus and Aiko? Any special Growlentine's Day plans?" Mina asked with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. Marcus and Aiko, who had been giggling at their friends' antics, suddenly stopped, made eye contact, and quickly looked away, red tinting their cheeks and stammered for an answer.

 

"I... uh... I'm just gunna go walkin' in the woods with Bruno later," Marcus said.

 

"And I have to... uh... watch my little sister, Arika, later!" Aiko said. The red panda girl looked back up at Marcus, before looking down at the cookies she was working on again. There were more shared knowing smiles to be had. It wasn't much longer before the last of the cookies were baked, decorated, packaged, and loaded up into the delivery truck. It was just after noon with the kids, aside from Lizzy, could head on out and get to their various plans. It was then that Marcus and Aiko found themselves walking together up one of the worn paths towards the forest. Both were wearing coats, Marcus's being his much loved tiger striped-coat, and scarves. Marcus, who had left the house hoping that he and his friends could have found time to get in some more practice for their band, had brought his violin in its case with him. The human boy had been pleasantly surprised to find that Aiko had done the same with her smaller violin in its case.

 

"Uh... s-so... Aiko," Marcus said, rubbing the back of his neck like he'd seen his Uncle Vernon do on many occasions.

 

"Yes?"

 

"I was wonderin' if... maybe you'd like ta go ta our usual meet-up spot fer a little... duet?" Marcus blushed deeply, internally cringing and thinking he had just sounded so weird for suggesting such a thing.

 

"Oh," Aiko said, also blushing, but while hiding a smile and trying to smooth her headfur and not look disheveled. "That sounds like fun!"

 

"A-alright then," Marcus said, internally excited, but hoping that externally he was coming across as aloof and cool. Taking a left, the two pre-teens walked through the chilly forest, chatting amicably. Soon, they were in the clearing that Marcus had first met Aiko, and the rest of their friend group. He sighed, feeling a sense of happiness and calm wash over him.

 

"So... did you have a song in mind?" Aiko asked, walking over to the nearest tree stump to set her violin case down on and open it. Marcus set his down next to hers and started popping the latches.

 

"Uh... w-well, we do a lot of... experimentin'... with songs I mean! Ahem... that I thought we could try an... improvised one?" Marcus felt awkward suggesting it, having not thought ahead about what kind of duet they would play, and mentally chastising himself for being such a dork. The red panda girl thought about it, feeling excited at the prospect.

 

"Oooh! That could be a lot of fun!" She double-checked the strings on his instrument, and a surprised and happy Marcus quickly started doing the same. Soon enough, they were facing one another, unaware of the hidden spy camera disguised as a bird's nest, facing right at them. "Uh... how do we start?"

 

"I guess... I'll start with a tune that we try to maintain and... go from there?"

 

"Okay!"

 

Marcus cleared his throat, and began, He started with a light melody, it being something that made him think of a pair of snowflakes dancing on the breeze. Aiko followed along, the two quickly playing in harmonious sync. Then, without thinking, Marcus opened his mouth and began to sing.

 

"Twilight nears, and out come the stars," he sang, his eyes meeting Aiko's, and with a smile, she followed suit.

 

"This special time between the day and night is all ours." And like that, as they played, they alternated who would sing a verse while their violins continued the melody.

 

"In the growing dusk, two hearts will beat as one,"

 

"Together they will shine so bright that they won't need the sun."

 

"Just when it seems the dark will swallow you whole,"

 

"All it takes is just one spark to light up the soul!"

 

The pace of the melody picked up a bit, and just as in sync as their instruments were, the two sang harmoniously together.

 

"There's enchantment when you're near,

 

Everything becomes so clear.

 

When I'm together with you, it's like I can feel,

 

Magic has become real!"

 

Now the music coming from their violins was more lively and filled with excitement, as the two went back to trading verses, starting again with Marcus, with Aiko singing the alternate ones.

 

"The moon is out, and shining bright,"

 

"The time has come for our hearts to dance together in the moonlight."

 

"With you beside me, I feel I can fly,"

 

"You make all the bad times feel like just a lie."

 

"Together our hearts can sail and explore,"

 

"Together our hearts will spark and soar!"

 

Now their bows were dancing across the strings, Aiko giving a little spin for a flourish, the two pouring their hearts into the song. After a little more of playing the melody, together they harmonized one last time.

 

"There's enchantment when you're near,

 

Everything becomes so clear.

 

When I'm together with you, it's like I can feel,

 

Magic has become real!"

 

Slowly the music came to an end, Marcus having moved closer while Aiko had absentmindedly hopped onto a stump without missing a single note. The two pre-teens looked deeply into each others' eyes in the sudden quiet, the song they had just improved still playing in their minds. They smiled as they both leaned in, their lips brushing one another, almost as if in a trance. The moment that their lips brushed one anothers', the spell was broken, and they both quickly turned away, blushing so deeply as to turn both their faces crimson. Taking a minute to compose themselves, and back away from each other a little, Aiko cleared her throat.

 

"W-well... that was so much fun!" She meant it, and glossed over the not-at-all-kiss.

 

"Y-yeah... maybe we could... try that again... sometime?" Marcus offered, praying he didn't sound like a weirdo and make Aiko not want to be his friend anymore and--

 

"I'd like that," she said, hugging her big bushy ringed tail to her chest and partially hiding her face in it, trying to figure out if she'd read too much into the offer or... other things.

 

"... Me too!" Marcus composed himself and quickly put his violin away, with Aiko putting hers away. Picking his case back up, he shivered a little from a sudden breeze. "I-if you'd like... maybe I could... walk you home?"

 

"Sure," Aiko said, grateful for her fur, and smiling up at Marcus. As the two walked back the way they had come, the hidden camera in the nest vibrated a little. And back at Marcus' house, Zach got a notification on his phone while he was giving Rose a bath. Curious, the law wolf saw it was some kind of a video. Tapping it, he suddenly remembered the hidden camera he had snuck away and set up, that he had swiped from Ulric when he hadn't been looking, and forgotten about. This was before he had sworn to Vanna he would stop spying on Marcus and his friends.

 

"Oh no... oh by Oldwin's beard, no," Zach said, panicking and setting the phone down while he quickly rinsed off the giggling and babbling Rose, and drained the tub. As he picked her up and dried her with a towel, he started muttering to himself.

 

"Okay, okay, so far no one knows about the video... I just gotta erase it and then go and get the camera, and no one will ever know about any of this!" His tail wagging, he looked at where he had set his phone down, only to find that it wasn't there. There was a sudden DING that drew his attention down to little Rose, who was smiling up at him, playing with his phone. He gently took it from the little wolf/tiger hybrid and looked at the screen, his blood running cold. Somehow, in the few seconds of playing with his phone, Rose had sent the video out in a group text to all of his contacts.

 

"Oh... no... oh... I'm in trouble," he said simply as Rose toppled over to her side, squealing in delight at the funny face her daddy was making. As Zach was tapping the screen, trying to find some kind of mass delete function that didn't exist, that's when he started getting notifications from his brothers, his sisters-in-laws, Vanna's parents... Judy and Nick as well as their parents... he briefly wondered why they were included in his contacts... as well as Gazelle...

 

"Oh... Rose... I may have ta use you as some kind of cute little shield... can you do that for Daddy?" he asked the baby in a whimper, receiving only giggles and coos as she reached out with her little orange and black striped paws to touch his muzzle, while her long tail that ended in a fluffy tuft swish-wagged in excitement.

 

Back at Dawn and Vernon's House...

 

"Lamb sakes, Zach," Vernon said with a chuckle. On his phone, he saw more of the family chiming in, as well as Vanna's mother, father, and sister.

 

"Oh, goodness, he even sent it to Judy and Nick, oh! Mom and Cameron apparently got it too," Dawn said, unable to prevent a snicker.

 

"Huh, looks like Gus and Mel got a copy too."

 

"Joel and Megumi as well... wait, do you think this got sent to Marcus' phone?!" Dawn wondered, trying to see if his number was included.

 

"Oof, it doesn't look like it, Honey Lamb, but Joel and Megumi did... and isn't Megumi l'il Aiko's aunt?" Vernon asked.

 

"Ooooh, no one can tell those two that we all saw a video of their... cute little moment!"

 

"Agreed," Vernon said, quickly typing as much and adding it to the cascade of texts. After a few moments, others started readily agreeing, with Xavier pointing out that it was a special moment for the two and should remain as such. Just then, the doorbell rang, making Vernon and Dawn look at it in surprise. Walking over, Vernon opened it to reveal a trio of wolf boys, all looking around nine or ten-ish, if the older and much larger wolf had to hazard a guess. The boys' tails were all wagging as they looked up at him.

 

"Is Alice home?" the one in the middle piped up with a happy yip. Vernon noticed that all three were holding identical red gift boxes with pink hearts printed on them. He kept a cool and passive exterior, while internally, he felt the burgeoning of what would, in time as his girls grew and became teenagers, become his protective wolf dad instincts.

 

"Who should I say is askin'?" Vernon asked, the three pups starting to look a little unsure of themselves, before the one on the right spoke.

 

"Gary, Barry, and Larry Waggersons... uh... Mr. Hunter-Bellwether."

 

Vernon sighed. "Alright, wait here." He closed the door and called out for Alice.

 

"Remember to be nice, Puppy," Dawn said, rubbing in between her mate's splayed ears.

 

"I am, Lambchop, I am," he grumbled a little, before composing himself as his oldest pup ran up to him.

 

"Hey, princess, there's three pups outside lookin' like they wanted to give ya a gift." Vernon quickly noticed the pup's eyes roll.

 

"Oh geeze, is it Gary, Barry, and Larry?" Alice asked, sounding a bit annoyed. Vernon and Dawn nodded, watching in curiosity.

 

"They been hasslin' ya, sweetheart?" Vernon asked.

 

"No, they're just kinda dumb and I think are trying to compete over who can give me the best gift, since I'm the only she-wolf in our class," Alice said, matter-of-factly. Dawn clamped her hooves to her muzzle to keep from giggling at the situation, since Alice didn't appear to be particularly perturbed, and instead annoyed.

 

"Want me ta get rid of 'em?" Vernon offered, his voice tinged with a little hopefulness. But the pup just shook her head.

 

"No, I got this," she said, walking to the door. She flung it open, a single eyebrow raised, to the sight of the three brothers wrestling with each other in a pile right there in front of the door.

 

"She likes me best!"

 

"Nu-uh, butt-sniffer! She likes me best!"

 

"You're both wrong and both butt-sniffers! I'm the one she likes the most!"

 

Seeing Alice standing there, her paws on her hips, looking unamusedly at them, the trio froze mid-wrestle, suddenly scrambling to untangle themselves and present their gifts. Before any of them could say a word, Alice's face morphed into a terrifying Glare, a perfect imitation of her Grandmaw Audrey's.

 

"I told all three of you that I wasn't interested and to leave me alone! BUZZ OFF!!!" she snarled. Tails immediately tucking themselves between their legs, the three yipped and ran off, barrelling over each other as they did so. Vernon had to stop himself from chuckling, but couldn't stop the smile or his wagging tail. Alice smiled and shut the door.

 

"That's my girl," Vernon said, ruffling her headfur.

 

"Oh, sweetie, if they were giving you trouble in school, you can always tell us," Dawn said, sliding down her mate to pull her lamb into a hug. The black wolf pup blushed and her tail started to wag.

 

"L-like I said, they're just kinda dumb and annoying, that's all." Just then, there was a knock at the door, and Alice turned again to open it. "I thought I told you to buzz-- oh! H-hi, Jake." Now standing on the top step was a gray fox kit around Alice's age. He flinched a little from her angry tone, but relaxed when she did. He was holding in his paws a box wrapped in white wrapping paper with red hearts on it.

 

"Uh... h-hi, Alice," Jake said, looking up at Vernon and gulping, his big bushy tail tucking itself a little, but the kit continued. "I... uh... I wanted to give this to you in class... b-but, with L-Larry, Gary, and Barry all fighting each other... around your desk..."

 

"I-I know," Alice said, blushing again, paws behind her back as she kicked at some imaginary dirt. Dawn wanted to coo, while Vernon almost chuckled again. He spotted a pair of gray foxes standing out on the sidewalk, figuring them to be the kit's parents. He recognized them as the family that lived a few houses down.

 

"Would you like to come in and visit Alice fer a little while while us and yer folks chat fer a bit?" Vernon offered, making sure his voice was loud enough for Jake's parents to hear, deciding that the kit was alright. Alice blushed more as she looked up at her dad, but Jake smiled and looked back at his parents hopefully, seeing them approach.

 

"That sounds like a great idea to me," the male fox, who was wearing jeans and a pink t-shirt. His mate was wearing a white one with the words Foxy Mama written on it in red.

 

"O-okay..." Jake said.

 

"I'm Jason Uroc," Jake's father said, holding out a paw for Vernon to shake.

 

"And I'm Leslie," said Jason's mom. Dawn and Vern introduced themselves, while Alice and Jake continued to smile and blush at one another. Upstairs, Trevor was on his computer, quickly uploading a video to his ZooTube account, making it private so that those who figured out the puzzles on their Growlentine's Day cards from him could go to the link.

 

"This is gunna be so much fun!" Trevor bleated again, really hoping that Cassie, the cheetah girl in his class, would be the first to figure it all out. The two having been making and exchanging puzzles they had made for each other for a while now. Only recently, had the two started getting into analog horror, and had started mixing that in with their puzzles. Currently, Trevor had made a video using some editing tools to give it the old fashioned VHS video feel. The little black ram had thought up a story that he thought would be cool and fun.

 

"Hey, Trevor, whatcha doin'?" Lily asked, making her big brother bleat in surprise and jump. The young ram turned to see Lily standing there, now holding a giggling Paige.

 

He sighed and smiled at his baby sisters. "I'm just uploading this video as part of the Growlentine's puzzle I gave out to ZooTube," he said, showing tLily the muted video playing before him.

 

"Ooooh! What's it about?" Lily asked and held Paige away from the keyboard, the little baby sholf babbling and reaching out for it with her little paws.

 

"It's about this extra-dimensional place I'm calling... The Legrooms!" Trvor puffed out his chest proudly as he said it. Lily looked at the video, with repeating halls, fluorescent lighting, and mustard-yellow walls.

 

"Wow! Do ya think folks'll get inta it?" She asked, looking up at her big brother, eyes shining in amazement, little Paige imitating her big sister. Trevor then rubbed the back of his neck like Vernon did.

 

"Well, I hope so. But it probably won't get that much attention. Still, it's a fun project to work on!" It was then that Trevor noticed a multicolored bracelet made of beads on Lily's wrist.

 

"What's that?" he asked.

 

Lily smiled wide and held up her wrist, the beads spelling out BFF. "Paul made me a friendship bracelet! Which was a real surprise, 'specially since I made him one in secret! I made it to look just like the ones Mommy and Daddy wear, and I guess he got the same idea!" Trevor smiled, taking a second to finish uploading his video, before taking Paige from Lily, and starting playing with both of them.

 

 

And there you have it folks! I hope that you liked reading this as much as I did thinking it up and writing it! Also, Happy Growlentine's Day everyone!