Even in the dead of night the Palm hotel was a place of energy and life. Around it multicolored searchlights danced, scratching the sky with claws of pink, blue, and green. Running up its sides were rooms flanked by lights ending beneath a canopy of immensely sized palm leaves.
Under that canopy a taxi stopped, the door opened. A female gazelle exited the cab to enter the hotel. As she did so the driver, a lazily dressed zebra spoke in a voice kept going by the coffee poured through it. "So this is were the famous Gazelle is staying?"
"I always stay here as most of my fans know."
"Well it's definitely a nice place." He wasn't lying. The front wall of the building before them had a plate of glass surrounding a pair of revolving doors. On the left there was a lounge of multi-sized chairs for all kinds of mammals, on the right a massive, bean shaped pond with palms in the center of the two protruding points. To the extreme right, a stand of newspapers closed at this late hour, opposing it a restaurant that was closed as well. Towards the back there was a circular reception desk with a massive tee whose limbs extended almost as a second roof. Beside the cab there was a fountain of a grand scale with water spouts spraying hundreds of gallons hundreds of feet into the air, so large in fact that lake was more fitting name.
"My agent won't allow anything less."
"Humph, wish I had...", his words were cut short with the sound of shattering glass. Both looked up at the sound's source. Just beyond the building, silhouetted against the light of the moon, the shadow of a mysterious figure could be seen falling past the walls of the palm hotel. The two watched, dumbfounded, as the figure continued to fall, landing in the fountain beside the cab. In only a few seconds the figure surfaced, then swam quickly towards the two. It pulled itself out of the water then shook to dry, as it did so a flash lit him up. Gazelle turned to see a moose holding the phone that the flash came from, then turned back to look at the figure in front of her. The figure had turned to look at them, another flash lit up his face and frame. It was a bunny with fur, skin, and clothing dark as the cloak of night. On his chest he wore a cross belt, on his shoulders a cape that ran a length down his thighs before stopping at a withered end, above his cape on one shoulder there was a strap holding a pole with a sharp, bent blade. His eyes were bent with a scowl, on his snout he had a small mask of black plastic.
"W-who are you?", the pop-star's voice trembled in fear of the one who had apparently smashed his way through a room in the very hotel she was to stay in.
The figure looked at her, on his face he bore a scowl, "Grim."
His ears twitched, tripped by the sound of a far off siren. Moving quickly he ran to a storm drain, disappearing through the opening in the pavement.
.
"...witnesses reported a mysterious, black bunny jumping out of the building and landing in the fountain...", four hours before a very wet, and very foul-smelling Grim had returned to his room, a small, dingy apartment buried deep in the heart of "the den".
"..While we don't know why Doug was murdered", on screen there was the image of the police chief Bogo. At the sight of the buffalo's face Grim's nearly shot out to grab the remote, stopped only by the desire for the buffalo to finally give him credit. "we have confirmed that the mysterious Grim is responsible for his death. Officer McHorn will run the footage that confirms his involvement.", his image vanished, replaced by footage portraying the scene of the night before. On the screen an image of Doug's room, dark, still containing the then sleeping body of the sheep. On the ceiling a vent was pushed out then pulled into the duct behind it. From the opening dropped the silhouette of Grim which landed silently on the floor. Taking a moment to examine his surroundings, Grim removed his weapon from his back. Taking it in paw he scraped its blade across the floor leaving, he knew, the skull of a rabbit with its ears still attached, a mark he left at every crime scene he visited. Then, spinning the scythe to its dull, rubberize end hit the floor to pull the lamb out of his slumber. The footage skipped ahead to the point were the two faced each other, each holding their preferred weapon in paw. Grim held his scythe, the weapon's strong build and single blade he liked more then any other tool. Doug faced him, in one paw he held a small net-blaster, in the other an air powered, duel-shot tranquilizer. The lamb moved first, firing a net and a dart towards the rabbit. While the net wrapped around him Grim brought his cape in front of him. The dart stuck in the cape but went no further. The net forced Grim backwards, throwing him on the floor. While the tape lacked sound Grim had heard the lamb's laugh.
However he was not entangled, a fact soon learned when he threw the net off him. Now free, he struck, jumping onto the now astonished ram's face. Grabbing the lamb's wool with his free paw Grim spun to the Ram's backside. Here the tape skipped again but Grim knew what happened next. He thrust the blade of the scythe into the lamb's back, killing him instantly. Now Grim stood over the Ram's dead body, wiping the blood on his blade on the ram's shirt. Then, turning to face the window and balcony, he removed a small, black disk from his cross-belt. After taking a minute to return the scythe to his shoulder her ran towards the window, tapping a button on the disk just before running into it. Instantly the window broke into millions of tiny shards allowing Grim to run through its now empty frame. Running onto the balcony he jumped, sailing over the short half wall and diving towards the fountain twenty floors below.
"Now are there any more questions?", the buffalo's face reappeared on screen. For several seconds the press room he stood in was filled with frantic questions regarding the bunny. "No, this is not the first time this rabbit has attacked. He has been active for several weeks though he usually targets mob bosses and this is his first high-profile murder." Again the questions thundered over him. "We know he has been active for a while because he leaves this mark at every scene." On the screen behind him an image of a rabbit's skull with ears appeared. The questions started again but then stopped after they found themselves drowned out by one reporter's shouting.
The microphone and camera turned to face her. She was a brown bunny with blue eyes dressed in a suit with a black tie. "Why didn't you know this was a rabbit before?!"
Bogo lifted a hoof to stop her, "We did not have footage of him previously and also..."
"He's been leaving a rabbit's skull everywhere he goes, I have have been reporting on this story for months now, at every crime scene there have been witnesses testifying to his existence. At every scene his description has been the same."
"If you knew all this why didn't you say something?"
The rabbit's face twisted with anger, "I did!", she pointed a finger at the chief, "But you and your department won't listen to any one if they're a bunny!" Bogo said nothing but glared in past the camera into the face of the smaller bunny. Unfazed by the bull's glare she continued. "You didn't listen to Cotton and you would't listen to me!"
"Cotton was volatile and insubordinate. He gave no reason to..."
Once again the rabbit raised her voice, Grim could imagine her barring her teeth at the buffalo, "You say that because he was a bunny, you say it because he was smaller then you were, you say that because you're afraid..."
Bogo turned a hoof, the mic moved away from the bunny, a fact made known by her voice being muffled by the distance between them. The camera turned back to her just in time to see her being dragged out of the newsroom by a hippo and rhino.
The screen went black, in his paw Grim held the remote, a finger on the power button. After a few seconds of silence his phone buzzed, an alarm he had set the night before to remind him of his "office" call.
.
The "office" was in Kozlov's palace, a restaurant of immense scale with walls, ceilings, and floors coated in thick ice. Even the chandeliers were coated in ice and even had icicles dangling beneath them, in fact the only thing in the entire room not covered by ice was the chairs on which the patrons sat, kept free by the warmth of their rumps. While the building seemed (and functioned) like a legitimate business it did, in fact, serve as a front for its owner's criminal activities. Within there were many scores of preds, each wearing a collar of black with a small, round device attached to it. From the plates of many, the smell of fish wafted. Just over two years ago the smell would bother him but now it had no effect.
Surrounded in the smell the owner sat before a plate of halibut fried to perfection. He wore a jacket of black atop a turtle neck of a similar shade. round his neck he wore a pair of gold necklaces, on his finger he bore a band of gold, on his face an expression blank of expression. Turning he saw the bunny, and, saying nothing, pulling a wad of cash from his coat pocket and tossed it towards the bunny.
Grim took the cash, and stuffing it into his pocket, turned to leave.
"You see the news? Think she will find you?", the polar bear's voice was deep, rough, intimidating.
Grim stopped, turning back to face the bear, "If she does she'll end up like me."
The bear spoke again, "If she does point her to me, okee-doke?"
Grim turned quickly, his teeth grinding. Soon he found himself outside of the restaurant. Stopping he turned to see the image of Bogo on a poster for the ZPD. Walking quickly he drew a paw out to touch the face of the paper. As soon as his claws touched the surface he brought it down, tearing four lines across the face.
Taking a step back he glared at the torn image, "That's for Cotton."
Behind him a voice unfamiliar to him spoke, "That was so unnecessary."
Grim spun on his heels, his scowl deeper then it usually was. Behind him there was a skunk dressed in a suit of fiery orange with protruding shoulder-straps on its sides.
On her waist she wore a belt of red with a small sack hanging off it, small, circular plates with the red sketches of a fiery pheonix in a background of black held the shoulder-straps in place. In all, the outfit seemed out of place, her suit looking as if she had stepped out of some medieval movie. "That chief," his voice was raised to a shout, his paw pointed towards the torn poster, "killed Cotton!"
The skunk rose a brow, "I doubt that."
Grim's scowl further deepened, "He did, Cotton's gone!"
The skunk took a step forward, placing a finger over his heart, "Cotton's here."
"Can't tell you how many times I've heard that."
"Then let me prove it." Her paw left his chest and moved into the sack on her side. "Meet me here in your death suit and I'll show you that Cotton still lives."
She pushed forward a card, Grim took the card and examined it. On its face there was an address, an address Grim neither knew nor recognized. "Not that I'm ungrateful but...", he stopped as he looked up to speak to the skunk. Somehow she had left without his knowledge. Looking back at the card Grim sighed and stuffed it in his pocket.
OK, finally I have Grim in a story of his own. Just in case you guys are wondering, this is the first part of a much larger series I've been wanting to do for a long time. The series is called Nature's Wonders and will consist of multiple mini-series such as this one. For the time being, the series will focus on introducing the multiple OCs in the series before Nick and Judy join in. Some of the mini series may include, Nature's Wonders; Fire and Ice, Nature's Wonders; The Digiaverse, and Nature's Wonders; The Lone Wolf (Some may or may not be omitted, we'll see). I expect Nick and Judy to join in at the start of Nature's Wonders; The Awakening. Please, please tell me what you think of Grim so far and what your opinions are on the idea.
Special thanks for Blazeneko for suggesting the idea of doing this in a mini series.