Zootopia: A Raccoon's Rescue
A cynical teenage fox named Nick learns the joy of helping out someone in need on Halloween Night when he rescues a little raccoon kit in trouble.
I decided to make this very short story just for fun, it is based on the character of Jake Runnel from Zootopia: A Raccoon's Redemption (Rated M). Enjoy! I originally posted this last night as rated M, but have changed it to T because it fits this rating category better.
I do not own the rights to Zooptopia or any of its characters. This story was written solely for the reader's enjoyment and without any profitable purposes. The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this story are fictitious.
The young red fox stopped and listened, the pounding sound caught his attention again. "Damn," he muttered to himself as he crossed the street and walked towards the alleyway. As he got closer, he heard familiar voices and quickly moved deep into the shadows.
"Ha..ha..ha!" he heard the teenage zebra laugh. "We taught that little shit who's in charge around here, come on show me his candy."
The smaller woodchuck grinned and held up a plastic pumpkin. "Dibs on the peanut clusters," he said to his larger friend. "You know I love those nut bars."
Nick Wilde's eyes narrowed in anger as he watched his childhood bullies crossing the street. Several years ago they had muzzled him when he tried to join the Junior Ranger Scouts, but he was now sixteen and no longer the naive pushover he once had been. The past few years of living on the street had hardened him both physically and emotionally. He ears twitched as he heard some banging and sniffling from a nearby trash bin. Not your problem, he told himself. Anyone stupid enough to go trick-or-treating around here deserves being beat up and shoved into the trash. He turned to leave, but the crying intensified reminding him of the last time he cried, that night in the alleyway across from the church.
Never get involved! The words of his partner and somewhat mentor came rushing into his mind. The fennec fox was right that everyone needs to learn to fend for himself. The crying intensified and the fox looked back at the bin. He sounds like just a little kit, probably didn't know better. Shoving his paws into his ragged old brown jacket, he sighed and walked over to the bin. "I hear you in there," he yelled. "Hold on and let me get this crap off the lid!"
The fox grunted as he shoved and tossed off the bricks and trash bags that the bullies had put on top of bin to keep it shut. Then he pushed the lid open with a bang and peeked inside, a pair of scared eyes looked up at him from among the trash. "Come on out," he said as he offered his paw to the little kit. "You can take the mask off too,"
"I can't," the little kit sniffled as he reached up and grabbed the fox's paw.
As the kit climbed out of the bin, the fox chuckled, "Sorry, I didn't know you were a raccoon. I guess you better keep the mask on!"
The little raccoon wiped his eyes and smiled.
"Dressed like an astronaut?" Nick asked as he reached over and helped knock off some of the trash from the raccoon's costume. It was obviously homemade, a white sweatshirt painted to look like a spacesuit and his helmet was made from paper mache. Whoever this kit was, his family didn't have much money. "You make it yourself?"
"Yep, I worked on it for weeks and now it's ruined," tears were welling up in the little guy's eyes again.
"How old are you kit?" the fox asked. "You look too young to be running around by yourself."
"I'm eight!" the raccoon replied. "Thank you for helping me out of the trash bin."
Putting a paw on the little guy's back, Nick directed him towards the street. "You shouldn't walk around here by yourself at night, don't you have any friends?"
"They went to a party and I only live a couple of blocks away," the raccoon answered in a sullen voice. "I guess I need to get home now. Some Halloween I have had, bet up and they took my candy." The little guy sniffled again as he slowly shuffled down the street.
"Hey kit!" Nick called out. "There are still a few houses on your way home, so let's clean you up and hit them up for some goodies."
The raccoon kit smiled, "Really?"
"Yeah, really!" the fox laughed. Digging through the trash, he pulled out a relative clean plastic shopping bag and after a few minutes of tucking and tying, he got the costume somewhat presentable. "If anyone asks you about you costume being a little torn, tell them your spaceship crashed."
"Will you go trick-or-treating with me?" the kit asked.
"I'm a little too old for that, but I'll walk you home," Nick replied.
Nick stood back and watched the raccoon as he went to each door and rang the door bell, calling out trick-or-treat. Laughing at the kit's excitement and obvious good time he was having, it brought back memories of when he was younger and more innocent. Often the adults would see him standing on the sidewalk and after complimenting him on chaperoning the little raccoon they would give him some candy too.
Finally they made it to the little guy's apartment. "I had fun, thanks for going with me tonight!" the raccoon said and he suddenly hugged the older fox. "My name's Jake, what's yours?"
"Yeah, kit it was a blast!" the fox chuckled. "You can just call me a friend. Now go on, your family is waiting."
Watching the raccoon enter the building, Nick stuck his paws in his pants pocket and sighed as he walked down the street past the now darkening houses. Your turning soft fox, he admonished himself. I hope Finn doesn't find out, he'll never let me live this down. Then smiling, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a peanut cluster to eat.
Happy Halloween!