8. The Hatching
The waves collided gently with the sand, making beautiful art on the beach under a bright blue sky with not a wisp of cloud in sight. A soft breeze blew land inward and touched the eggs that had been laid last Easter. This year there had been no need for bunnies to hide the eggs, not with the ten mothers and several helpers to carry on the tradition. Knowing the time was near the females had set out with their eggs, some hiding them and leaving the eggs for candidates to find, and others remaining with their eggs.
At the last count the number of eggs had been hesitantly set to 80, but no-one knew if that number was anywhere near correct. Still, things always worked out on Lantessama and no-one had a doubt that today as well everyone would find a dragon to bond with, with some to spare to sponsor out to other planets.
Finally all the candidates were let loose on the same track where the run had taken place. The females had scattered their eggs all around, many of the untended ones being bunnies who could imagine no other way of being born except to be found. 
The first to bond, though he didn't know it yet, was Kuryo, one of the alien bunnies that had been warped to Lantessama. He was impatiently twisting his ears when the sign to go was given. He leapt forward, stumbling and getting his hind legs caught behind something under the ground.
With a startled shriek Kuryo fell and only turned in time to see a white bunny with yellow siamese markings crawl out of the shell the plush-looking bunny had tripped over. The bunny looked deep into his eyes, almost at a level since the alien bunnies were only the size of a 3-year old human, and sighed happily.
"Kuryo! I found you!"
"Actually I found you, Huzau." the plush bunny commented before returning to the finish line. The chase had not been long for him, but it had been good while it lasted.

Riand looked around and wondered how he had gotten here. One day he had just been ten and happy leading his life, and the next he was having to work through the existence of living plush bunnies and dragons.
The young boy sat down on a rock and sighed. He stared over the waters of the lake and followed the shimmering patches of reflecting light. The wind stirred his hair and he felt a bit tired. Maybe there was jetlag in interplanetary travel.
"I think they try to jump so they don’t have it." He heard someone say behind him.
"Hey! How did you…" he turned and nearly fell.
A red-purple bunny, with transparent wingsails attached to it’s arms and flanks stood behind the rock Riand was sitting on. The boy still marvelled at the sight of a dragon, how could it exist?
"Evolution maybe. All I know is that I am, and that I am Argenyl."
"That’s a funny name." Riand said.
"Yours isn’t very normal either." Argenyl said.
"Oh… ok."
"I smell chocolate." Argenyl said with light in his eyes.
"Oh… yeah, I’ve got this candy bar, somewhere…"
"Your back pocket. Hurry, I’m kind of hungry."

Bastia was busy darting around enthusiastic in her normal way. Her soft green ears darted in every direction as she tried to scan the air for hatching eggs. But there were so many other sounds she couldn’t say where to go.
Disappointed, the trainee sat on her haunches and sighed. Where would she find an egg?
"Maybe you don’t have too…" a calm voice told her.
"Who said that?" Bastia asked, turning around in a fast whirl. A half circle round Bastia stopped and saw a sky-blue bunny looking at her.
"So, what do you say? Maybe you didn’t find my egg, but I sure found you."
"Is it ok that way?" Bastia asked.
"If I say it is. My name is Aveith."

Armand pulled Hannah further. She pulled back, calling out that the rain was too cold. But Armand was stronger and he finally got his twin to come along. Running through the rain, the two 7-year olds were noticed by few other candidates out in the rain, and maybe that was a good thing.
Hannah tripped and fell in the mud. She started to cry a bit and really wanted to go back, but Armand didn't want to turn back, he didn't want to leave before he had bonded a dragon, preferably something cool.
"You never listen to me." Hannah cried, running away in the rain.
"hey! Wait!" Armand called after her, but the rain muffled his words. Nervous and feeling guilty, Armand ran behind his sister because maybe for once she had been a little right. But who had ever gotten something from being out in the rain?
A bit further he found Hannah staring at something colourful through a curtain of rain.
"Ok we'll go back." he told her.
"Quiet!" Hannah told him, "It will run away."
"What?"
"The dragon."
"A dragon? Where!"
The brightly coloured hydra bunny stepped closer, it had three heads, one of which was green, the other was yellow and the last was red. Speaking one by one the heads talked:
"I am Right! I'm always Right!"
"If you're Right, then I'm Wrong. But that isn't fair! I won't always be wrong."
"Quit it you two." the middle head said, "I am Reason."

Eamon was in a bad mood. He hated rain, well he hated almost anything, and certainly his sister aka the root of all evil who had gotten him here. She could never do anything right. All day long she would run behind him, never giving him any piece and when he yelled she started to cry immediately. Who could understand girls? Who could understand sisters?
Kicking away some dirt, managing only to get himself wetter than he already was, he screamed out in frustration. He sat down on a somewhat sheltered stone near the road and thought that he might as well go back. It was raining, he wasn't going to find anything out now.
"But I found you." a sly voice said from the shadows.
Eamon turned frightened and saw three sets of red eyes look straight at him, "You are afraid." the voice said a bit surprised. The six eyes came closer and suddenly a three-headed hydra bunny stood in front of him, "I'm not that bad." it said, "Not yet anyway. I'm Vil'Pein."

Kilmajo walked slowly through the dunes. The orange plush bunny lived for this kind of challenge. The rain poured down, lightning messed with his mind and he could smell almost nothing but ozon.  Carefully feeling the wind with his whiskers he tried to get a look of the dunes. Just around the corner there was a slight imperfection in the pattern and Kilmajo knew it was an egg. The bunny started to run and turned a corner just in time to see two brown-tipped ears pierce out of the egg. Within seconds the entire bunny dragon in the colours a beige and brown was standing among the dunes.
"Hello." Kilmajo said, not knowing if the bunny would run or stay.
"I will stay, Kili." Said the baby male, "My name is Flan."

Konyni, the yellow plush bunny of six that had entered the hatching, was running through the meadows leading to the dunes. From his perspective the meadows were heaven, surely he should find many eggs around there, but either dragon bunnies weren’t fond of meadows, or they buried their eggs deeper than Konyni would think, because he hadn’t had any luck. But luck is a wondrous thing and Konyni’s was about to change.
He was nearing the dunes and a small creek arched inward for a short distance. Konyni waded through and looked surprised to find an egg where he had expected it the least. Near the edge of the other side the current flowed up and around an unseen obstacle, a hidden egg.
Quickly rolling it out, Konyni tapped the shell to see if there was still life inside. To his relief, a soft scratching came from the inside. Minutes later cracks had appeared all over the egg and it was ready to break. Out spilled a blue-siamese indigo bunny male.
"Are you ok?" Konyni asked..
"As good as could be expected." The dragonet answered staring into Konyni’s eyes, "I’m Lynus."

Tessa followed Kaninchen onto the dirt roads around the lake. She looked at the meadows on the right and the forest on the left. She would love to run through either of the areas, but Kaninchen pushed on further. Finally the light blue plush bunny twitched his ears and sniffed the air.
"I know where you should go." He said.
"You do?" the young girl asked.
"You have to walk straight to the meadows and look behind those bushes."
"Are you coming?"
"I have to go that way." The bunny said.
"But…" Tessa stammered thinking that she wasn’t ready to go alone. Even Hannah had her brother. She only had Eamon and she would stay far away from him.
"You are stronger than anyone else I ever met." Kani told her, "It’s not far, and you won’t be alone when you get back."
"If you say so." Tessa said, lowering her head.
With a wave Kani was off and Tessa was left alone. All she could do was go where Kaninchen had told her to go. She pushed away the bushes and looked inside, seeing a bright pink dragon sitting next to eggs.
"Hello." Tessa said, "Kani told me I should come here…"
"Then you must want one of my children." Girth said, "You are welcome to stay."
"She won’t have to, mommy." A tiny voice answered, "I think she’s mine."
Tessa turned surprised and saw a baby pastel red, bunny-eared, heart-winged, chubby dragon look at her. "My name is Mashiara, Tessa."

Kaninchen dashed through the meadows, following the voice that was calling him. He had known where Tessa needed to go, how he didn’t understand, but he knew that it was right. He dashed to the very end of the track and stopped when he saw the eggs in plain sight. Three of them, all rather small but with the gleam of promise.
Kaninchen stepped closer and waited. Yes, this was right, he needed to be here, but why?
"For me of course." A soft feminine voice said.
"It was you…" Kani said startled.
"Let me introduce myself, Nijntje is the name."
"Hiya."
"A man of few words." Nijntje smiled, "But some chocolate might be all you need to get me."
"Ehm, I left my chocolate with Tessa. She was hungry and…"
"I see… well, I guess I should admire you for taking care of the young. I would rather have had the chocolate myself, but I have made my choice."
Releaved, Kani smiled at the orange-yellow glider bunny and followed her back to the start to satisfy her need for chocolate.

The purple plush alien bunny, Berenice, leader of her crew had given up trying to see how her crew was doing and had finally left her son alone to find an egg. Her mother instinct was strong, but she knew she would regret not getting the chance to bond.
Thinking, she nearly fell over a small shuddering mound of dirt. Berenice had found an egg. Cheering inside Berenice jumped up to face the egg. Aiding the dragonet inside by tearing away some of the shell Berenice finally got her reward, a glimpse of dark red.
"Some help." The female hatchling remarked dryly, "I’m stuck."
"Certainly, Juara."

Continue to Picnic

Lantessama Isle
The Bunny Run 2004
**
All images found with google