CHAPTER 1
Alright, you got this. No need to be worried, everyone's proud of you. You're gonna walk out there and everyone is gonna cheer. Yeah… Just flash your award winning smile and everything's gonna be just fine…
"Hey, Nicholas."
Nick opened his eyes, looking to his right to see a bunny looking back at him with concern in her eyes. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." A lie. He most definitely was not fine. Realizing he was crushing the armrests with his paws, he tried to relax. Looking back to the front of the room, he watched the Chief continue giving his speech to the graduating ZPA recruits, a speech he was going to have to continue in just a few moments. " I'm just really nervous." He whispered back.
"Why? There's no reason to be nervous, just go up there and do your best." Judy smiled, trying to calm his nerves.
He sighed. "Easy for you to say. I know you mean well, it's just that lying to me isn't gonna help. I know there are animals out in that crowd who don't think I deserve to be where I am today, I mean c'mon, we pass animals everyday who feel that way."
"So what?" Judy exclaimed, drawing a few annoyed glares from animals around them. She shrunk down into her seat, mouthing an apologetic 'sorry'. Turning back to Nick, she continued, quietly this time. "So you may have "conned" animals out of their money, or at least that's the way some animals see it. But if you think about it, you didn't really. Think of it as good business. Those mice couldn't eat a jumbo pop, unless they were trying to kill themselves. So you saw an opportunity to make money and took it. What's so bad about that?"
Nick shrugged. "Nothing, I guess. Then again, I wasn't exactly honest about the 'redwood'."
Oh yeah, those mice. She smiled at the memory, still wondering how the rodents had fallen for such an obvious play on words. "Well, contractors always lie about what material they're using."
"Still…" His thought was cut short when he heard his named called by Chief Bogo.
"And now I would like to introduce our speaker for today, an officer, now detective, who I have had the wonderful privilege of working with over the past seven years." Bogo shot a semi-playful glance towards the fox, and the fox smirked right back. "Please welcome Detective Sergeant Nicholas Piberius Wilde."
"It's your time to shine buddy," Judy whispered, motioning for him to take the stage. Hooray, my dreams have come true. Nick slowly shuffled up to the podium, the audience clapping politely.
He smiled at the crowd, waiting for the applause to die down. It didn't take long. Great, they hate me already. "Thank you Chief. Now, many of you already know who I am, and how I came to be where I am today. I owe that mainly to my wife and partner, Judy, who encouraged me to be greater than I was and never gave up on me, even when I did."
He looked around at the different faces of the graduates. Each subsequent year after the year he had graduated from the academy, the classes slowly got more diverse, with more and more smaller animals joining and graduating. This year there were even a couple of mice.
"When I was little, I was pushed into being a stereotype because of the way I was treated. Now, that's not an excuse for my actions, but I figured why not if there wasn't anything I could do to help myself. I went through twenty years of my life with that mindset. I wasted those twenty years, twenty years I could've spent helping people, making life better and safer like I do now. When Judy came along, I laughed at her. A lot of people did." He scratched behind his right ear apprehensively. Most everyone is still paying attention, that's a good sign. He paused, glancing toward Judy, who gave him an encouraging smile.
He took a deep breath before continuing. "She preached about the Zootopia slogan, 'Zootopia - Where Anyone Can Be Anything'!" He laughed, and a few animals gave him supportive smiles.
"At the time, it was just a saying that gave the city a good image. Realistically, it was more like anyone could be anything as long as society accepted it. While some animals had it harder than others, almost every animal you came across could feel the pressure at some level. I tried to put her down, to make her realize she couldn't do what she had set out to do. But she refused. It was blind, stupid naivety, she almost lost her job, courtesy of our beloved Chief." The buffalo let out an exasperated sigh, covering his face with his hooves in embarrassment while the crowd chuckled.
"But she did it. Not only did she stop the city from being torn apart, but she showed everyone that you can do anything if you put your mind to it. And she and I demonstrated that no matter what your differences, you have the ability to get along, and together, you can be stronger than you could ever be alone. And so that's the mindset I want to leave you with today. I'm gonna borrow from a well-known speech, but I'm sure the author will forgive me. "Try." Try to be better than you are now. That's the only way we're ever going to be able to truly move forward as a city and as a group. You may receive some resistance, some backlash, but unless you're willing to push past all that, nothing will ever be accomplished. Try to look into each other's souls, and deep down, you'll find that everyone has a good heart, sometimes it just takes a little persuading. Thank you."
The crowd erupted into cheers and applause. Nick smiled and blushed shyly as he stepped down from the stage.
"See Nick? I told you everyone would love it!" The rabbit smiled and gave him a hug. Nick smiled and blew out a sigh of relief. "I am never doing that again."
"Oh stop it." She punched him playfully on the arm. "They loved you!"
So they did, so they did. Nick smiled. Never in his life would he have thought people would like him, that they'd cheer for him no less. But there he was, at a police academy graduation no less. Life sure did have a way of changing things for the better, if you'd allow it.
After the graduation ceremony concluded, Nick and Judy decided to just go out to eat. This year's batch of recruits had been quite a bit larger than years past, making the ceremony run quite late. They chose to go to IHOPP, the 'International House of Palatable Pancakes. Despite the odd name, the food was delicious. Nick ordered a grilled critter burger, and Judy chose a simple Caesar salad.
While they waited for their food they made simple small talk. "Do you think Bogo's gonna be mad at me?" Nick asked, regretting making his comment about the Chief and Judy.
"For what?" She smirked. "Hurting his feewings?"
Nick laughed, imagining the huge hulk of a buffalo crying in a corner because someone hurt his feelings. Bogo would sooner smash someone into the ground than let anyone see him cry. Is he even capable of crying? His thoughts were interrupted by the waiter, a rather large elk. He brought out their food, bid them a good meal, and left.
As they ate they made simple small talk until Nick reached into his pocket and pulled out a small little box. "So, yesterday I stopped by that pleasant little candy shop, the one owned by Luca Ursus. Anyway, I found these delicious little chocolates and you just have to try them." He held out the box for Judy to see.
She eyed them suspiciously, picking one out and examining it. "What's in them?"
"Well, there's an assortment of dark, milk, and white chocolate shells. Then on the inside, there's either a raspberry or strawberry filling, or a chocolate cream." He paused to pop one in his mouth. "Occasionally you'll find one with some kind of nut, like roasted peanuts. Try one, they're really good."
Judy shrugged. "Alright…" She picked up a white chocolate one and sniffed it before setting it in her mouth. "It's really sweet! And… crunchy?" She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "What did you do?"
His muzzle pulled back into a sly grin. "Oh, I must've forgotten." Her heart started to fill with dread. "My friend Luca is a bear, and as everyone knows, bears absolutely love bugs."
I'm gonna be sick. "Nick, why?" She whined, trying to scrape bug bits off her tongue.
He clasped his paws together like a therapist. "You see Carrots, you actually do like consuming members of the insecta class." He lowered an imaginary pair of glasses. "By tricking you into eating one, I have revealed to you that your imaginary fear of bugs was just that, imaginary. How does that make you feel?"
"Well, first of all, I thought the chocolate was good, not the bug, definitely not the bug. Second, I'm a rabbit, and rabbits, as everyone knows, have never before eaten a living creature, well, at least not on purpose. I'm happy that you want me to try new things, but some things just aren't going to change."
Nick just sat there, expressionless. "Can't blame a tod for trying." Looking over at a clock on the wall, his eyebrows raised in surprise. That can't be right. He took out his phone to corroborate his findings. "Jeez Louise, Judy, it's 1 in the morning! Don't we have to work tomorrow?"
Her eyes widened in surprise. "Shoot, you're right, we better go."
They left two twenties on the table as payment and rushed out the door, nearly running down a very well dressed jackrabbit in the process. Ooh, that's a nice suit, Nick thought in admiration. Gotta get me one of those. "Hey, sorry sir!" He yelled over his shoulder, trying to keep up with Judy. Instead of responding, the rabbit ignored him, and continued down the sidewalk at a brisk pace, keeping his head down. Rude… Well, maybe he just didn't hear me.
Turning his focus back to running, he and Judy ran back home with the hope of getting at least a few hours of sleep before heading off to work in the morning.
Alright! First chapter done. I'd like to thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. This is the first story I've ever done, so bear with me. I know this may have seemed like a boring chapter, but every story needs a beginning, this one just happens to be a slow one. But trust me, things are gonna start picking up quickly! :) So, if you wouldn't mind, please follow and favorite my story, or just follow it and you can decide if you like it later on when things get exciting.
Well, I guess that's it from me. Until next time! :D