(Another BIG cameo here, by the wonderful  mistybun )

Spring sighed as he leaned against the wall. The big animatronic rabbit hadn’t been so drained after a performance for years and he was a little concerned. It had gradually been getting worse the past few days, but he had always been able to make it back to his room for a quick charge to get him through.

Tonight, though, was different. He leaned with his back against the wall, his legs angled to prop himself up. He felt like he was about to crumple to the floor under his own weight. It was all he could do to keep himself upright, much less make his way back to his room.

It wasn’t too long before the new night-shift technician found him and rushed over. The young brown bat immediately placed a hand on the big bun’s forearm.

“Hey! Hey, are you okay?”

Slowly lifting his head, he turned towards the bat, blinking. “Huh? Who’re you?”

“Screamer. Here, let’s get you down to Parts and Service.”

Nodding mutely, the rabbit pushed himself up off of the wall and almost immediately started to collapse. Rushing forward, Screamer caught him as best he could, giving out a grunt. The animatronic towered over the five foot six inch bat, having a full two feet on him. Not to mention he was heavier than he looked. Still, he pushed himself up under one of his arms and steadied him. “Think you can walk if I help you along?”

Not wanting to waste any more energy than necessary, he just nodded. Leaning heavily on the tech, they shuffled their way down the hall and into the service elevator. The door slid closed behind them and Screamer punched the button for sub-basement 2.

Once the elevator doors slid open, the two of them hobbled their way across to the door to parts and services. Carefully helping Spring up onto a work table, the bat doubled over with his hands on his knees for a moment, trying to catch his breath.

Spring turned his head in his direction, a look of concern on his face. “Are you okay?”

“Huh? Heh.. Yeah.. just.. Out of breath. Gimme a second.”

“Gotcha. Sorry about this. Just.. I don’t think my battery’s holding a proper charge lately.”

Screamer nodded and stretched, extending his wings as he bent almost completely backwards before straightening up and folding them so tight and neatly behind his back they almost seemed to vanish behind him. “I can replace that for you if you want. Upgrade it, even!”

“Upgrade, huh? Well, whatever you think’s best, I guess.”

“Wonderful! I shouldn’t even need to power you down to do it!” He grabbed a set of wires with alligator clips on the ends. He steps over next to the big bunny on the table and nods respectfully, “May I?”

Spring blinked. This was the first time a tech had actually asked or shown any kind of respect or concern. He was surprised, but pleasantly so. Nodding, he gave a little smile. “Go ahead.. Uh.. please.”

Nodding, he carefully opened the big bun’s chest compartment and clipped the ends to the power terminals where his existing battery was kept. Turning away for a moment, he came back carrying a box labeled “MDM Labs”. The box itself looked a little old and dusty, like it had been stored away for a while. Brushing off the dust he opened the box and carefully removed something that looked like a cross between a battery and a model of a space station.

“Let’s try this.”

Spring was about to ask what it was when Screamer attached the clamps at the opposite end of the wire and Spring was jolted with a surge of energy. He actually let out a gasp as the bat looked him over carefully. “You okay?”

He nodded, grinning. “Yeah, just never went from an almost dead battery to fully charged in one shot like that!”

Nodding, he carefully swapped the two batteries, keeping the big rabbit online the entire time and carefully closed the chest panel, tossing the old battery in the recycling bin. “There we go. How do you feel?”

Sitting up, Spring hopped off of the table to his big metal paws. “Like a million bucks! What kind of battery was that?”

“Well, according to the paperwork, it was actually a radioisotope generator, or an atomic battery. If the information is accurate, it never needs charging and there shouldn’t be any drop-off in energy output for a good long while.”

Spring nodded. He could feel the energy filling him up, tingling over every circuit and actuator. Shivering a little, he stretched luxuriantly, his fingers a few inches from the ceiling when he felt a little surge of power and gave out a groan, then froze as he felt his hand lie flat against the tiles overhead.

“Uh.. Screamer? I think…”

The bat turned to see the slightly bigger bun, then blinked as he surged larger, his head slamming upwards, breaking through the drop ceiling and exposing pipes and electrical conduits. Spring crouched down in front of him, shivering as he felt his size surge again, bumping into the blushing bat.

“Oh boy… How long did you say this can go before the power levels drop off?”

The bat gulped, rubbing the big rabbit’s shoulder and feeling it swell even larger in his hand. “A few… hundred years…”