'Sup peeps? We've got another fanfiction from ZeroFoxGiven for ya :D
Author's Notes:
Nyxy: This may be a 'new' fanfic, however the concept is anything but. Before we worked on iSANiTY, we did a lot of brainstorming together and came up with six different fanfiction ideas for Zootopia. After a lot of debate and development, iSANiTY's concept won out and the other five were shelved, so to speak.
Steffi: That is until today! We've decided to take up this particular idea and share the resulting fic with all you crazy awesome readers! It's not our best or most original beginning, but we hope it doesn't suck epically either.
Story Info:
Though the concept was created at the same time, it's quite different from its predecessor, iSANiTY: Cold Hearts.
Where the Lines Overlap is a rather cartoony adventure story that isn't as thematically heavy and focuses more on friendship, survival, mystery, a touch of romance and the wonder of discovering something new (like an island filled with reptiles, birds and amphibians!) There will still be plenty of darker moments (especially towards the end) and of course dangerous edge-of-your-seat adventures to keep things interesting! Rated T for violence, peril, action, a bit of mild language and the occasional suggestive joke or innuendo.
And last but not least, a warning of sorts. Like all our work, it's platonically-oriented and not NickxJudy. We just don't see their relationship as romantic, and adore writing them as close friends, being friends ourselves. There will be an eventual NickxOC pairing, but a reasonably slow burn is the name of the game here. If you don't like this, you probably won't enjoy our writing, so we urge you to check out one of the million other awesome fanfics out there. No point reading ours if you know you won't enjoy it.
DISCLAIMER: If you think we own anything featured in this story, then you're either very delusional or have been living under a rock (or on a deserted island) for too long. We're earning exactly zero cash from this and stand to gain nothing more than a couple of faves and follows if we're lucky. Let It Go, please?
Somewhere on an uncharted island...
"The sun is shining, the air's so humid I might drown and we're about to get hit by a tropical storm. Only thing that could make this better would be the sky falling, don'tcha think?"
Hissy Fit, a tame albino snake, stared silently at his russet-furred companion with an expression of casual indifference. Sighing, the vixen tugged at her sun-bleached shirt and turned her attention to the miles of surrounding ocean.
Though afternoon's light still bathed the rocky shoreline in a golden glow, heavy gray clouds were beginning to overtake the horizon and turn once-inviting waves a deep and foreboding shade of turquoise. Lonely Island and it's inhabitants had of course seen such events before, but all signs pointed towards this being a particularly violent show of nature's nearly infinite power.
"What do you say we batten down the hatches and watch this from inside?"
Glancing over her shoulder at the ever-darkening sky, she nodded in encouragement when the cream-colored reptile slithered off his sunbathing rock and towards her outstretched paw.
"Hm. Thought so."
A harsh wind whipped her fluffy tail into a tangled mess as she retreated inland, carrying the cold-blooded creature towards one of her hasily-constructed shelters. At this time of year, severe storms could be a real pain and the vixen hated to think of how many repairs she'd be stuck doing after it was over.
Well, at least nothing was falling from the sky. Yet.
An hour or so earlier...
Judy stared out the airplane's dusty window with a look of awe, trying her best to take in the swaths of exotic and unfamiliar scenery below. For a while only ocean had been visible, but the vibrant water was currently dotted by an assortment of small islands.
Curious as to why she'd never seen the area mentioned on her oversized map, and knowing Nick was too engrossed with his phone to care, the bunny decided to ask their pilot.
"Mr. Hogg, could you tell me the names of some of these islands? They look beautiful, and we might want to visit them later." Hopefully he'd managed to hear her over the loud humming of the craft's engine.
Taking his beady eyes off the tiny control panel for a moment, the broad-shouldered warthog snorted in amusement.
"They don't have any, and you won't be visiting 'em. All those islands are uncharted, and most of 'em unexplored as well. Tourists ain't banned or anything like that, but good luck finding someone stupid enough to take you out there. Place is a death trap and the locals know it."
Curious and not willing to let the mammal's gruff attitude bother her, Judy tried her best to continue their rather stilted discussion.
"What do you mean by death trap?"
"Lot of weird stuff happens out there. Couple big ships and planes went down nearby, and there've been monster sightings for as long as I can remember. Pretty sure that's where Kit Fairheart disappeared a few years ago as well. Probably lost control of her plane and ditched. Or maybe the monsters got her, too."
He chuckled, adjusting a string of faded foam dice that dangled from the cockpit ceiling.
"I remember when she crashed," Nick half-mumbled, attention still focused on his phone. Judy figured he'd been tuning out the conversation, but apparently not.
"Kit Fairheart," the bunny cop mused, "one of the few truly unsolved modern-day mysteries. Disappeared without a trace while trying to break a flight record, and no wreckage or body was ever found despite extensive search efforts. Cases like that used to fascinate me when I was younger, but I always found it heartbreaking and I could never bring myself to watch the interview with her father."
Nick shifted his position slightly, glancing out his own equally dusty window with a somewhat blank expression.
"Yeah, that was a sad day for predators everywhere. It was all a stupid under-planned publicity stunt on her part, but still, would've been nice to see a fox in the record books for once." There was a distinctively cynical tone in his voice, eyes fixed on a few wisps of silver cloud.
Maybe she was being selfish, but Judy didn't want the conversation to take such a depressing turn. It was their first real day of vacation, having spent the previous one checking in and out of airports and hunting for a last-minute hotel that didn't violate at least ten health codes.
"It's not quite a record book, but The Zootopia Star did call you a hero," she enthused, trying to lighten the mood.
Her best friend laughed, sliding the phone back into his pocket and looking decidedly more cheerful.
"Always the optimist, Carrots. I won't argue though. You of all mammals should know I am pretty heroic."
The bunny smiled and shook her head. "In your dreams, you dumb fox. I've had to save your fluffy butt so many times that I lost count."
Wearing his signature smirk once again, Nick watched her from behind glossy sunglasses.
"Right. The ZPD wouldn't have solved half those cases without my help, and you know it." He crossed his legs and leaned back lazily, waiting for a reaction.
"As if! Your talents mainly consist of pawning off the boring jobs and causing prank wars that I always end up taking the blame for."
"Alright, alright, so I get you into trouble sometimes," he said with a sly grin and dismissive flick of his wrist. "I'm always there to get you out of it again though, aren't I, Fluff?"
Judy rolled her eyes at the fox. He could be exceptionally annoying sometimes, but she wouldn't trade their friendship for anything.
"I guess so," she giggled, already beginning to enjoy their time off.
The two mammals continued to banter cheerfully for another hour or so, drowning out the plane's noise with their own amusement, and in Judy's case, her favorite music.
She'd closed her eyes and was happily absorbed in Gazelle's latest release when she felt the plane jerk sideways and bounce harshly. Looking around in confusion, she immediately noticed an uneasy expression on Nick's face as he tried to catch a glimpse of the windshield and whatever lay ahead.
Though Mr. Hogg's plump form and horribly-patterned retro shirt made viewing difficult, the problem was obvious.
Something resembling a miniature hurricane swirled ominously on the horizon, illuminating in brilliant gold whenever a streak of lightning split through its murky depths.
"Those are some strange clouds, and we're not supposed to land for another," Judy quickly checked the time on her phone, "hour or so. I'm sure our pilot knows what he's doing, but it is a little unnerving."
As yet another gust of wind caused the plane to shudder, she could tell her partner was having none of it.
Shouting over the noise of the engine, Nick tried to get the attention of their grimacing pilot, who was currently flying them right into the heart of a developing tempest.
"Hey Fly Boy! I don't wanna question your pig-headed authority or anything," he called mockingly, "but you said you checked the radar for storms before we left."
Grunting angrily in response, the mammal held his ground. "I did."
"Really? Are you sure? Because if I've ever seen something that screamed 'storm approaching', this would be it."
Not taking his eyes off the rapidly-approaching cloud bank, the warthog reached for his lucky dice with an expression of poorly hidden concern.
"Shut up, fox. You're right," he growled, "Never checked the radar. Don't need to. Instinct's never failed me before."
"There's a first time for everything," Nick called unhelpfully, watching as the heavyset mammal banged on a crackling communication set while Judy unpacked emergency floatation devices.
"Just in case," she mouthed as his green eyes widened, having been trained by the police academy to remain calm and minimize panic in even the most perilous of situations.
When the rain hit, however, it was a blinding wall punctuated only by bone-chilling flashes of electricity. Visibility crippled, the tension only grew.
Muttering a few choice phrases that nearly caused the bunny to cover her innocent ears, Hogg continued to attempt radio contact while the plane teetered and lurched unnaturally to the left.
"Hold on," she half-whispered, wincing when Nick was slammed into his window with an unfortunate thump.
Removing his sunglasses and rubbing the side of his face, her partner stared at whatever was beyond the streaked and rain-soaked glass with a hollow expression.
"At this point, I don't think holding on is going to help much." The fox's usually sarcastic and smooth tone was eerily deadpan.
When Judy caught sight of what he'd been watching so intently, she could've sworn her heart skipped a beat.
The warped left wing was starting to detach, flapping and vibrating every time a gust of wind struck the aircraft. Judging by Hogg's quivering voice, he'd noticed it too.
"Mayday, mayday," he barked, "wing repair ain't holding up in the storm and we're over open water. Do you roger?"
Radio silence, then a burst of garbled static.
Neither of the terrified passengers knew if whoever he'd been trying to reach made out a single word of the distress call, but Judy wasn't taking any chances. Keeping her breathing steady, she helped Nick put on his flotation device before securing her own and double checking their seatbelts. Confident she'd done all she could, the bunny focused on further improving their chances.
"Hogg, we need to land this plane right now." There was an uncharacteristic edge to her voice, and the craft's pilot took immediate notice.
"You crazy, rabbit? I can't see two inches in front of me, and even if I could, there's nowhere to land. We say a prayer and keep flying. There's no other choice!"
Grabbing hold of a carry-on bag, Nick's ears were pinned back as he watched the scene unfold.
"I don't really wanna die because some guy with a disco problem was too lazy to follow flight protocol, but I guess there's no other choice," he mimicked sharply. If the situation hadn't been so traumatizing, Judy would've had to laugh.
Seconds passed before a mechanical clunk shuddered throughout the airplane's flimsy metal hull, replacing the engine's steady hum with agonizing silence.
Pounding manically at the control panel in a last-ditch effort, Hogg bit his lip.
"Engine's stalled out, are you kidding me? Guess we're hitting the drink now," he muttered, doing everything possible to keep his rickety aircraft in a steady glide towards the churning and blackened waves below.
Nick and Judy shared a matching expression of horror, sure they were about to perish during the fall.
To Hogg's credit, he managed to keep everything together until below seventy feet, when the wing was ripped away with a sickening metallic crunch, tearing the craft's rusted body into three separate peices that would come to rest a few hundred yards apart on the ocean floor.
Knowing there were only seconds left before impact, the bunny grabbed her best friend's paw and squeezed as tightly as she could. He returned the gesture, a minor comfort as they plummeted downward.
"I promise this time I won't let go," she cried, right before the left side of the wreckage struck a passing wave and began rapidly taking on water. Undoing her seatbelt with a fluid grace that surprised even the mammal herself, she gasped for breath and plunged underneath a swirl of raging froth.
Nick had already freed himself from the twisted confines of crumpled metal, arms wrapped tightly around a suitcase he'd managed to salvage. Fur swaying in the warm current, the mammals shared a wide-eyed glance underwater before paddling to the surface relatively unharmed and clinging to their makeshift life raft.
Judy had insisted on searching for Mr. Hogg, but they'd been unable to locate the seemingly doomed animal.
Though many swells proved too large to fight, the pair drifted slowly towards what appeared to be one of the larger uninhabited islands, eventually coming to rest on a small patch of sandy beach surrounded by jagged coastline. Exhausted from the day's events, they collapsed in a soaking wet heap, still clutching the suitcase that had served as their raft.
Coughing a bit from accidentally breathing in water, Nick frowned. "What exactly did you have against staycations again?"
Throwing her head back and nearly losing grip on the surprisingly durable bag of supplies, Judy laughed until tears streamed down her face and mingled with sopping gray fur.
Nick watched her, looking somewhat confused. His comment hadn't actually been that funny, but she was grateful to be alive, and if the bunny were being honest, more than a little shaken up.
They'd originally wanted an island vacation, and it looked as though the two friends were going to get one after all, even if it wasn't exactly according to their best-laid plans. Life sure was funny sometimes, wasn't it?
Nyxy: So that's that, folks. Major credit to my dear friend Steffi, who did most of the work on this chapter while I edited. I haven't really been up to writing recently but I pushed myself to work on this and I hope turned out okay.
Steffi: Aw thanks Nyx, and don't worry, you helped plenty. Anyway, we hope you enjoyed the first chapter of Where the Lines Overlap, and we'll have another up in a few days. For all you iSANiTY readers, don't worry. An update is coming, Nyxy's just been distracted by her real life.
Nyxy: So for those of you interested in a little more information, the story will be set on a 'lost' island filled with creatures (birds, reptiles and amphibians) believed to only exist in urban legends. The location is very loosely based on Madagascar and the Galapagos, where many species can be found that are exclusive to an individual island.
With that out of the way, we thank you for reading and wish you a good day/night :3 Faves, follows and kind words are always appreciated if you liked it and want more! Til next time, ZeroFoxGiven is signing off :D