Zootopia: Stone Kole in Hang Ten!
Stone Kole is a male fennec fox in The Official Zootopia Handbook which describes him as the "three-time boogie board champion". This is a story of his adventures, a coming of age story about a carefree beach bumming surfer and his friends who are growing up along Zootopia's Gold Coast.
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. Thank you to Disney for the movie.
Chapter 1: The Briefcase
Our little surfer Stone Kole and his best friend Cooper find a mysterious briefcase washed up near their beachfront camp and it contains more than our two little surfers expect. It also brings a visit from our two favorite big city cops.
The sea gull swept high into the deep blue afternoon sky, riding the wind's currents above the shoreline that ran along the part of the city of Zootopia called Sahara Square. In the distance the artificially made dry heated air strained against the cool wet wind blowing in from the sea, creating a perfect updraft for the sea loving bird. Past the Great Dunes to the south the solitary bird flew as it continued its flight along the coast, until finally below it was the section of the district which was informally called by the local residents as The Strand. This was a popular section of the beach and was full of motels and hotels, along with the assorted businesses which catered to the tourist crowd. Where there are tourists, there was usually plenty of trash and with growing anticipation the white and black feathered bird circled looking for a place to land.
Various buildings lined The Strand's famous Boardwalk, which was a lovingly cared for wooden plank walkway which separated the touristy businesses from the sandy beach and the sea beyond. Bars, photo galleries, candy shops and numerous tawdry souvenir shops were lined up along the walkway, above these were condominiums, apartments, and hotels. In the center of it all was the grand Carnival with its exciting rides, game booths, and food stands. Towering everything was a huge Ferris wheel and the vintage roller coaster with their bright lights which acted as a beacon for all those seeking adventure. Further up the coast, the bird could see ritzy Sandy Cove with its luxury condominiums and its protected harbor which bristled with sailboats and fancy yachts. Further north, beyond the harbor, were the icy waters of the Polar Straits and looming even beyond that was the Great Wall which separated the snow from the sand.
Before the predatory and opportunistic bird could land, an alarm sounded and the seagull was attacked by a fast moving brightly red painted drone. The mechanical guardian whirled up to harass the unwelcome bird and drive it away from the beach. Flapping its wings to flee the unwelcome machine, the bird quickly fled eastward towards another distant shore on the other side of the strait. Watching the gull flee the city were two rats in the tan uniforms of the city's Department of Fish and Wildlife. They high fived each other as they recovered the drone. "That's one less winged menace that is not going to try to get a mouse or a mole on our beaches!" one of the rangers announced over the radio before he returned to scan his radar.
Unlike the city's shoreline, the land that the gull was flying towards was dark and more primal. A thick forest of huge pine trees reached up into the misty sky and below the majestic cedars was a dense understory of ferns and bracken that covered the ground. The air here was much cooler and the bird could see a large ferry churning its way away across the waters towards the city beyond. Gliding over a small village called Seaside, with its brightly painted houses which were tucked in a small cove. The bird circled before landing on a sandy beach to find shelter before the sun began to set in the far west.
The warm afternoon sun shone down upon the beach, the tide was now on its way out and the bright blue green colored water had begun to calm down. No longer were the waves crashing down with the ferocity that they had earlier in the day and because it was off season, the two friends were the only two mammals who could be seen on the white sand for miles around.
"Those earlier waves were total gnarly brah," Stone Kole cried out as he came to shore. "They were dumping and then BAM, it totally flat dude!"
His friend Cooper looked over as the skinny tan colored fennec fox in the black wetsuit carried his surfboard towards him. The small fox suddenly stopped and shook the water out of one of his big ears. "Aw come on Stoney, is this when I supposed to call back with good on ya mate or maybe something like blimey bloke, let's throw a shrimp on the barbie?" he wallaby finally asked.
The fox stopped and looked at his friend, the hopper was sitting on the sand next to his board and had his shiny dark blue wetsuit unzipped down to his furry grey waist. The small animal was trying to enjoy the last of the late summer's sun before the cooler night began. Stone laughed at his friend's remarks before replying, "That's what the public wants, brah!"
"I don't care what they want, BRAH! I only care about beating you in the next match and bringing home the big bickies this time."
"Not going down, I'm the three time small board champ. But speaking of cash, you got any? I'm getting tired of canned beans and whatever I can catch in the surf. I'd love a juicy hen for dinner tonight."
"Let me toss you up a salad. Maybe some yummy rice rolled in sweet dried seaweed, curly dock, watercress, and nettle tips. Blimey, I think I may even have some that glasswort left!"
"I may be an omnivore, but still I would like something tasty," the fox grumbled. "Maybe some coconut grubs roasted over the fire?"
"I'm not the bloke who hit the turps with those two fancy sheilas from the city and spent his whole wad. That and the fact you still have to pay off your back taxes."
"I'd rather face a shark then that IRS dude again. I'm surprised he let me keep my pecker, the gods know they took everything else."
"So the answer is no? I'll share a salad and you can pull some clams."
"I'm tired of sea food!" the fox pouted. "I want some real meat!"
"If you had listened to Angie, you could have pickled some gull eggs this spring," the wallaby admonished the fox. "You want to go hunting tomorrow? Maybe we can bring down one of those winged monsters?"
"Seagull still isn't chicken. Okay, I'll go get me a few clams while you make the salad."
"That's the spirit mate!" Cooper laughed.
Stone walked down to the outcropping and then gingerly climbed out onto the rocks before he crawled over to a tidal pool. After selecting three of the largest mussel he could find, he turned to go back up the beach when something black caught his eye. Carefully he crept over the rocks to where the object was floating and saw that it was a briefcase of some kind. After much pulling and shoving, the small fox dragged it across the rocks and onto the sandy beach.
"Hey Cooper!" he yelled to the wallaby, but his friend had already gone down the path through the dunes and back to their semi-permanent camp. Tugging, he dragged the briefcase along the sand and down the trail towards their camp.
The wallaby heard the small fox's curses before he saw his friend and went to investigate. "What you got here Stoney?" he asked as they pushed and pulled the case into the camp and near the fire pit.
Their camp consisted of an old beat up camper, which had been cheerily painted with blue, red, and yellow stripes. Next to that was a rickety old shack made from various sized driftwood boards with a tin roof. Nearby were a couple cheap plastic chairs and an old broken hippo sized surfboard which they had propped up on cement blocks to make a table. Behind all of that was a brand new screened gazebo with a small hammock inside. It wasn't much, but for the two friends it was home.
Stone looked at the case and tied to open it, but the lock was keeping it closed. "I don't know Coop? It was washed up on the rocks," he finally answered his friend. "Let's open it up, maybe it'll tell us who it belongs to or at least have something we can use."
"Salvage rights," the wallaby added with a grin. "You bloody well got to love maritime law!"
They took a hammer to the lock, but it didn't budge. "Where's a raccoon when you need one," the fox grumbled. Finally after a few more whacks the lock came off and tentatively the two surfers opened the large briefcase.
"Fair suck of the sav!" the wallaby whispered in awe as he lifted out a pawfull of cash. "How much do you think is in here?"
The fox's eyes seemed to glow golden in the firelight as he pushed over and dumped out the contents into the sand. "More than enough to buy me a chicken," he replied with a grin.
"Mate, we need to call the cops. You know we can't keep this!"
A look of sadness came over the wallaby's companion as he stared over at the pile, "You're right Cooper," he sighed in disappointment.
The next morning they hauled the briefcase to the sheriff's office in the nearby village of Seaside and the old walrus recounted the cash in the case before filling out a report. "So we will put this away and if no one claims it in thirty days it's yours," he said with a smile. "But I think that the ZPD will be interested, because this almost matches the amount stolen from a courier across the strait in the city last week."
The briefcase did match and the amount of cash was very close to what was stolen, so two officers from the city showed up the next day to collect it. Stone and Cooper watched as the grey uniformed rabbit counted the cash, twice. "Hey Nick!" she called over to her partner. "It's about five bucks short of what was reported by the zebra!"
The red fox in the dark blue police uniform leaned back in his chair and looked over at the smaller fox and the wallaby. Then he sat forward and sniffed around the inside of the briefcase for a few moments before he grinned and replied, "Don't worry Carrots, five mere bucks is only...ahhh...chicken scratch! I think our owner has more to worry about then his missing cash." Reaching over, the fox ran his claw along the inside of the case and a false top fell open revealing several small baggies of white powder.
"Eight balls!" Judy exclaimed. "So our victim is really a coke dealer."
Disappointed, the little fox and the wallaby had both beaten a hasty retreat back to their bikes. The little fox was carrying a brown paper grocery sack containing a roasted chicken. As Stone rode off into the distance, Officer Nick Wilde leaned back in his chair again and gave the rabbit a smirk. "A roasted chicken for catching someone movin' chickens, I think that's a fair deal," he laughed.
"Chickens? What do chickens have to do with cocaine?"
"Aw Fluff, didn't you learn anything during all those fancy crime courses you took? Movin' chickens or flippin the birds is street slang for selling cocaine. Either way, someone is going to have a bad afternoon when we get back."