During their struggle against Melcarba, Golem takes a crushing blow to his shoulder; though he downplays the injury for his friends, it's clearly still bothering him after the battle ends, much to everyone's concern. That night, Hare has a distressing nightmare that spurs him to check on the giant after waking. Tiger secretly watches as he slips over and does... something he can't quite make out, thanks to Golem's body blocking his line of sight. All he's able to see is some odd glimmers of light.
The following day, the Searchers get ambushed by a pack of terror dogs. One of them manages to corner Hare, going for his throat — but when the wolf bites down on his bandana, they hit something hidden underneath the fabric, triggering a fiery reaction. Panicking, Hare rejects Genki's efforts to assist him and flees deeper into the forest.
After driving the rest of the pack off, the others look for him, with Tiger tracking his scent. Rather than finding their friend, however, they run into a young leaf hare who calls himself Juniper, acting wary of them... and who smells exactly like their missing member. Realizing that this alone likely won't be enough to convince anyone, Tiger breaks off from them to follow and confront Juniper privately.
...It doesn't go well. In a fit of pique, Tiger attacks Juniper, expecting him to counter in the same way Hare normally does... but Juniper reacts more defensively, getting a bitten arm for his troubles. Once he's pried free, he flees the scene, leaving Tiger trying to explain his reasoning to the rest.
Juniper soon finds himself confronted by Strach and his pack; the leader of the terror dogs offers him the chance to act as bait for the rebels in hopes of saving himself, only for Juniper to laughingly dismiss the notion, goading them into a chase. Just when he's caught and cornered, his disguise damaged, the Searchers arrive in time to save him... and see that yes, he was Hare all along.
Hare then reveals some of what he's been hiding from them when Mocchi gets clawed across the face, blasting the wolf responsible before tending to his injuries, healing his wounds and saving his eye. After the rest of the warumon are driven away, the group finds a place to make camp, and he reveals the Phoenix's Tear to them, explaining how he obtained it and why he's been hiding its existence from them.
Now that they know, he thinks it's best if they part ways, afraid of drawing further attention to their group. Genki and the others convince him to stay; the only one who doesn't argue against him leaving is Tiger, who sees that he's outvoted. Instead, he suggests that Hare stop hiding his true appearance, which he reluctantly agrees to, dropping his disguise.
This fanfic contains examples of:
- Adaptational Backstory Change: This version of Hare is younger, has a history with Evil General Durahan, and the titular pendant, which enables him to use several magical abilities.
- Ambiguous Situation: Was the nightmare Hare had an Anxiety Dream or a warning of what could happen if Golem's arm wasn't tended? Hare himself isn't sure, but opts not to take the chance.
- Angrish: Suezo descends into this after Hare reveals he hadn't really considered what weaving stronger illusions around himself looked like from the outside, unintentionally freaking the others out.
- Armor-Piercing Question:
- Hare answers Suezo with several of this while discussing Melcarba:Hare: (referring to the idea of Melcarba not being programmed with cognizance) ...That'd be the kinder way to do it, anyway.
Suezo: Kkt... kinder?! What's kind about that?!
Hare: If you were going to be used as nothing but a weapon, would you want to know that? That there was more to life, but you weren't meant to experience it? That so far as they were concerned, you just... existed to serve them? To fight and die for a cause you never chose, because they said so? - After learning that Hare made himself look older through an illusion, Genki gestures at him while asking "This isn't ...you...?" Hare falls silent at that before offering a hedgy "Not... really."
- Mocchi asking if he really wants to leave also throws Hare off badly.
- Hare answers Suezo with several of this while discussing Melcarba:
- Big Damn Heroes: Tiger and the other Searchers arrive just in time to save Hare from Strach and the other terror dogs.
- Book Ends: The story starts with Golem being injured by Melcarba, and Hare trying to heal his arm secretly, not wanting the others to find out about the Tear. During the final battle with Strach's pack, Mocchi gets seriously injured; this time, Hare doesn't attempt to hide what he's doing, too focused on ensuring he doesn't lose an eye.
- Call-Back:
- Hare's comments about Melcarba remind Golem of Monol's story about the origins of Muu, and he wonders whether that was what Hare was specifically thinking of at the time.
- Tiger reminds the others that Hare has ditched them before; Suezo retorts that Tiger has not only done the same, but his attempt to leave got Holly injured.
- Holly notices that her pendant reacts to Juniper, prompting her to reveal to the others how she'd previously seen it reacting to both Tiger and Hare when they first met.
- Cassandra Truth:
- Being able to tell that Juniper smells just like their Hare doesn't make it any easier for Tiger to convince the others that they're one and the same.
- Hare later uses this to justify not telling the others about the Tear right from the start; if he'd made that claim right after they met, when they only knew him as a Con Artist who'd tried stealing from them, they would've naturally assumed that he was spinning another lie.
- Catapult Nightmare: Hare sits up after having a nightmare about Golem's arm falling apart, covering his mouth to avoid crying out.
- Cerebus Retcon: Typically, Tiger attempts to eat Hare's face only for the rabbit to catch his jaws and fend him off. Tiger attempts to exploit this by attacking Juniper in order to expose his identity... but rather than reacting the same way, Juniper responds more defensively, causing Tiger to bite down on his arm instead.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Hare reveals that he was using an elaborate, flame-woven illusion to make himself look older, Suezo questions if this means Tiger got beaten by a kid. Tiger isn't pleased by him pointing that out.
- Contrived Coincidence: Hare points out that the rest of the Searchers likely would have seen him claiming to have a magical pendant of his own this way, given how Holly had the Magic Stone.
- Didn't Think This Through:
- A double example occurs when Tiger attacks Juniper, expecting him to counter the face-eating attempt the same way Hare normally does: by catching and holding back his jaws. Instead, Juniper shies back and covers his face, leading to that arm getting bitten. Juniper sardonically Lampshades this later, mentally chiding himself for thinking Tiger might hold back.
- Played for Laughs when Hare shows the others how he can alter his appearance; having never shown this off to anyone before, he doesn't fully grasp how it appears from the outside. (Namely that his body is completely engulfed in flames.)
- Double Take: Suezo does one upon first noticing that Hare's much smaller than he remembers.
- Eye Scream: Implied when Mocchi gets clawed across the face; the extent of the injury is never fully described beyond the fact that the blow crossed over his right eye, and Hare rushes to heal it.
- Failed a Spot Check: Suezo's particularly surprised to hear that the Magic Stone has reacted to the presence of others, given how he didn't notice it himself.
- Flat "What": Suezo's response when Holly suggests that Tiger's claims about Juniper might not be off the mark.
- For Want Of A Nail: Aside from the more obvious divergences from Canon, the plotline gets kicked off by Golem taking a nasty blow to his shoulder from Melcarba's cannon, with Hare deciding to try and secretly heal the damage without revealing his powers.
- Foreshadowing:
- Trying to help Hare after seeing the fireburst clip him, Genki notices that the way the flames are moving makes it look as though they're part of his shoulder itself, attributing it to the heat haze distorting his vision. Turns out this was actually due to how the spell that lets him pass himself as older works, weaving magic around himself.
- When the group first meets Juniper, Holly cups her hand over where the Magic Stone is hidden under her tunic, discreetly looking down. She later reveals to the others that it reacted to him.
- Golem holds no grudge against Hare for keeping secrets, privately noting that They're Called "Personal Issues" for a Reason and that 'they all have truths like that.' He reflects upon some of his own personal examples of such things in Reminiscence.
- Healing Hands: Hare has the ability to heal, which he uses to tend to Golem's arm... though he attempts to do so without anyone learning about it. Later, he openly uses this same power to save Mocchi's eye.
- Hesitation Equals Dishonesty: Variation; when Mocchi asks if he wants to leave, Hare hesitates before honestly replying that it's not about what he wants but what he believes is logical.
- Hypocrite: The moment he first glimpses the Tear, Tiger mistakes it for the Magic Stone and angrily accuses him of stealing it. Ironically, as Holly had noted earlier, he stole the Magic Stone from her when they first met.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each chapter's title starts with F; the majority are one-word titles, and those that use multiple words mostly go for alliteration, save for the final chapter: "Full Disclosure".
- Ignorance Is Bliss: Discussed; Hare suggests Melcarba's AI might have been deliberately limited so that the robot couldn't realize how awful it was to have been created as a war machine.
- Internal Reveal: Holly informs the others that her Magic Stone reacted to Juniper, and that she noticed similar reactions back when they first met Tiger and Hare.
- It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Given the chances of General Durahan coming after him if he figures out his location, to say nothing of Muu potentially taking interest, Hare feels it's best for him to split off from the others after the Tear's exposed. Genki and the rest disagree, ultimately convincing him to stay.
- Lie to the Beholder: Hare uses the Tear to disguise himself as the leaf hare Juniper. Once this is exposed, he reluctantly admits to the others that he's been using a more elaborate version of the same power to make himself look like an adult.
- Meaningful Name: Juniper's name comes from the genus of coniferous trees and shrubs, with the Latin root of junio, or young. Fitting, given that Hare's using his youthful, evergreen appearance to throw the others off his trail.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Implied when Juniper doesn't counter Tiger's attempt to eat his face in the way he anticipates, leading to him biting down on his arm. Tiger promptly goes into shock, freezing up and not resisting the others' efforts to pry him off.
- Mythology Gag:
- Mocchi describes himself and his friends as the 'goodies', referencing the English dub using the same term (along with calling the villains/warumon 'baddies'). Suezo promptly struggles to contain his laughter at the childish-sounding phrasing.
- While rejecting Strach's deal, Juniper declares that he's a good guy. In the original Monster Rancher game, the leaf hare subspecies had a Dub Name Change to 'Good Guy'.
- Never My Fault: While defending his actions to Genki, Tiger blames Juniper/Hare for not countering his attack in the same way he's used to; he expected to be blocked and held back, rather than getting to follow through and actually hit his target.
- The Nose Knows: Tiger's spent enough time around the others to be familiar with all their scents; as a result, he's able to tell that Juniper smells exactly like Hare.
- Not What It Looks Like:
- Played for Drama in "Firecracker"; while Hare's not harmed when the Tear bursts into flames, it definitely looks like he was, and it's only compounded by how he bolts from the scene to avoid explaining himself.
- Played for Laughs when he finally shows off some of the Tear's abilities to his teammates, including how he made himself look older... a process which entails being Wreathed in Flames again.
- Playing with Fire: The Tear enables Hare to use fire magic, though he's reluctant to do so in front of the other Searchers... until Mocchi gets hurt, anyway.
- Revealing Cover-Up: After running away from the others, Hare disguises himself as Juniper using the Tear's illusionary magic... which includes appearing to them as his actual age, hoping to throw them off his trail that way. Instead, this ultimately helps ensure that they find out more about his original deception.
- Signature Laugh: Strach's proposal spurs Juniper to burst out laughing with "Muhamuhamuhamu~", which would have exposed his identity to any of the other Searchers were they present.
- Skewed Priorities: Played With; Juniper recognizes how dangerous it is to take the time to construct another way to carry his things, but still takes the chance after finding some sturdy vines. Partly because his arm injury makes it more pressing to have an alternative. The delay still gets him in trouble.
- Spanner in the Works:
- Groza, one of the terror dogs under Strach's command, accidentally bites down on the pendant hidden under Hare's bandana while trying to tear out his throat, setting off a fiery explosion and spurring Hare to run off afterwards.
- Tiger's familiarity with Hare's scent enables him to make the connection between him and Juniper, something Hare never anticipated.
- The Magic Stone reacts to Juniper in much the same way it did to Tiger and Hare in the past, alerting Holly to the idea that the leaf hare is just as important.
- Tempting Fate: While arguing with Tiger, Suezo points out that the wolf's previous attempt to leave the group himself led to Holly getting seriously injured, while nobody got hurt as a result of Hare running off. Later on, Mocchi almost loses an eye to one of the terror dogs.
- Tranquil Fury: Downplayed; while discussing Melcarba's situation, Hare notably keeps his voice calm, heat simmering beneath the surface... until Tiger dismisses everything he just said as being 'overdramatic', spurring Hare to snap at him.
- Turned Against Their Masters: Discussed; Hare suggests that Melcarba's AI may have been deliberately limited in order to prevent the war machines from recognizing their grim situation and rebelling. Golem later notes that this was what happened with Muu.
- Unreliable Expositor: Tiger notes that Hare is glossing over a lot during his explanation of how he got the Tear, choosing his words carefully and avoiding details.
- What the Hell Are You?: Strach asks this of Hare after seeing him light one of the other terror dogs on fire. Hare mentally snarks that he's 'Dead, probably,' given the pack's obvious numbers advantage.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Genki demands this of Tiger after he attacks Juniper without any apparent reason or provocation (that the others are aware of).
- Suezo reacts this way to Hare's unexpectedly fiery demonstration of how the Tear's illusionary properties work.
- Wreathed in Flames:
- Downplayed after the Tear flares up; Hare's arm and shoulder are temporarily covered in flames, which Genki naturally assumes is due to his fur burning.
- Crafting an illusion like the one that let him pass himself off as an adult involves this as part of its process. Once again, it gets mistaken for something less voluntary.
- You Shall Not Pass!: When Hare flees the first fight with the Terror Dogs after getting injured, Genki makes sure none of the warumon are able to immediately follow him.
- Younger Than They Look: Deliberately Invoked by Hare, who figured out how to use the Tear to make himself look like a fully-grown adult.
