The canine growl and dropped ears in front of him made Nick do the same, wondering just how far this aggression was going to go before one of them broke and managed to defeat the other. He looked at the flash of sharp teeth as he heard, "You're going DOWN, Wilde. No sneaky night-crawling FOX is going to defeat me!"
He should have been used to this by now, having heard it most of his life. But it was harder to ignore when it came from somebody who was supposed to be a teammate. He growled harder, under his breath, and put his nose down toward the ground so he could lean into the rope and pull harder.
The shouting and hooting and catcalls around him seemed to fade away as he looked up again and focused his eyes on the recruit at the other end of the rope. His vision narrowed and receded away from any peripheral awareness as he concentrated, and forced the entirety of his attention on the sneering white wolf in front of him. Nick appeared to ignore the sarcastic comment entirely as he dug the claws of his feet as deeply into the dirt of the training field as they could bite. His hindpaws were almost entirely rotated to the left and he felt his tendons creak as he pushed into those anchors as hard as his slim body could, pulling on the rope that reached across the mudpit.
He ignored the self-satisfied grin of exposed wolf teeth in front of him and noticed the twitching uncertainty of Pete's eyebrow. He obviously hadn't expected the smaller fox to halt his steady pull, and was starting to wonder what to do next. The back edge of Nick's muzzle lifted up just the tiniest bit as the plan came into his mind... now he just had to make it work.
Nick let one of his hindpaws slip a few inches, then he let loose of the rope for about a tenth of a second. Pete was quick enough to see the slip, but couldn't maintain his balance as the sudden slack on the rope made him take a wild step back. Nick didn't drop his stare for a moment as dug in and heaved on the rope for all the length he had in his long and wiry back.
The sudden shout of "WhuaAHH!" and the splat of the black mud in the pit was as much a welcome relief to him as it was a most satisfying sound. He immediately let go of the rope and dropped down to his elbows and knees as he closed his eyes and just panted toward the ground for a few seconds. He was still seeing a few bright spots dancing around behind his eyes, so he kept them closed... but at least the roaring sound of the loud and boisterous group of recruits all yelling at the same time came rushing back to his ears.
"Wilde! That was just outstanding!", shouted the young looking tiger who was jumping up and down in front of him. He quickly dropped to one knee and took hold of the fox's arms, helping to stand upright again. "You made me 10 bucks doing that, but WOW it looked really tough to pull Pete over the edge!"
Nick opened his eyes and smiled tiredly, lolling his tongue out one side of his muzzle as he kept on panting. "Yeah Stripes, I think he weighs... twice as much as I do. I'm just glad... he was so overconfident." His eyes seemed to stop jumping around, and he stretched down to touch his paws on the ground a couple of times before shaking himself all over. "Wow. I think that was a tougher pull than I expected it to be."
Tom was looking behind him, at the shouting group of recruits. Nick turned and looked to see Pete being pulled out of the pit by a couple of grey wolves, looking about as happy as... well... a white wolf who'd just been thrown into a pit of black mud. He looked up at the red fox, dropping his ears and growling. But, just as quickly he looked down, throwing his ears to the sides, and dropped his tail to the ground.
He stepped forward and held out a paw. "Good job, Wilde. I really thought I would get you there, but... I can't beat a sly fox today, can I?" He looked at Nick a bit sideways, with a half-smirk, showing there was no hard feelings. Nick just smiled wide, dropping his eyelids halfway down - grabbing the muddy paw and saying, "I told you to beware the sly fox, Puffball. If I can't out-muscle you, then I will out-fox you." He showed his teeth a bit before slapping his muddy paw on the wolf's shoulder. He turned and walked slowly toward the restroom kiosk on the training grounds.
Tom came up beside him and bounced up and down a couple of times. "Oh! Oh! I knew he couldn't get you, I just knew it!"
Nick looked up at the excitable cat and smirked at him, "Well, he -almost- did. And I guess even the winner gets muddy?" He sighed and held up his paw. "I need to go wash this off. Hey, what time is it anyway?" He frowned and looked up toward the sun. Tom looked at his phone and said, "It's almost 14:00 hours. What did we have on the schedule today?"
Nick's eyes widened, and he looked up again. "Oh, heck. We have 'Legal Pursuits and Codes for Arrest' at 14:30. I guess I better head to the shower instead." He took a turn to the left, heading for the dorms, as Tom followed along behind him. The tiger said, "Didn't we already cover all those legal requirements last week?"
The burst of laughter caught him by surprise, though, as Nick doubled over convulsing. He wiped a tear out of his eye and straightened up to look the tiger in the eye. "Stripes, I'll tell you what a certain bunny told me earlier this year. You can't EVER study enough to be prepared for the streets of Zootopia..."
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Judy looked over at the table as her phone started buzzing, and vibrating, and playing her favorite Gazelle song. She smiled, picking it up, knowing that ringtone.
"Nick! How's my partner doing tonight?" She opened the mini-fridge and dug through a plastic bag for a carrot, listening to the most dramatic groan of pain and anguish she could imagine. "We were doing sprints and hurdles ALL day long. Tell me again how you survived this torture while you were here?" She folded in on herself trying not to laugh, but managed to only hold it down to a quiet snort on the phone. "First you get used to it, Slick. Then you get tougher. I think that's the entire point."
She listened to him grumble for a bit, then he inhaled and said, "Serve and protect, Carrots. It kind of goes against what I've always believed in, but it's what I vowed to do when I got here." She could hear the pops and crackles of his joints as he rolled over and stood up on his squeaking bunk. "Are we still on for Saturday, then?"
"Oh, sure. I'll bring you one of those nasty fish burgers and then we can talk about the best ways to disarm a suspect in an emergency situation." She smiled as he laughed at that and said, "It's a date, carrots. I'll work on my best takedown techniques until I see you."
She almost laughed at that, but just listened to her fox breathing for a bit. And after a moment, asked, "What's on your mind, Nick? You seem distracted."
He breathed in and out a few times, inhaling with a pause, and finally blurted out, "You were right."
Judy sat down on the bed and waited for a minute, but then had to ask, "Right about what?"
Nick exhaled all the way out and seemed as though he wanted to growl, but he didn't. "The muzzle", he whispered.
She dropped her ears down and breathed in, eyes wide. She asked quietly, "How did it go?"
"Well, it wasn't FUN - obviously." Nick laughed nervously. "Fortunately I was able to just lay on the mat while the other recruits roughed me up, cuffed me, and threw it on my face. The instructor, that angry Lynx Pamela, she kept telling me to fight back against them more - but it was all I could do just to not panic when we were doing the arrest practice."
Judy leaned back into her pillow and felt a bit relieved. She knew how tough it had to have been for him. "Well, I'm glad that you got through it okay. I knew that they were going to do that to you."
"HA! Yeah, some of them seemed to enjoy it a little too much." His rough breathing seemed to slow down a bit as he tried to relax and forget about the earlier events. "Thank you", he said very quietly.
She closed her eyes and pictured his face for a moment, as she said, just as quietly, "Anything for you, Nick. I'm just glad it helped."
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"Recruit Wilde! You are required in the captain's office. Now!" Nick looked up from his lunch tray and dropped off the bench. He didn't bother clearing it away, he just jogged out of the room and down the hall to report to the training-captain's office. He was waved inside almost immediately, and climbed into the only chair in front of the captain's big wooden desk.
"Wilde, I just don't know if I can pass you for this training course." Nick flopped around in his chair and sat down, just staring open-mouthed at the large hippo behind the desk. "I question whether or not a fox of your temperament is actually capable of contributing to the ZPD by being a good officer. And I don't think it would be the best thing for the department. Do you understand what I'm saying, fox?" He tilted his head a bit, looking at how shocked Nick was with one eyebrow raised and wondered what sort of reaction this might bright out of him.
Nick had been in a positive mood, knowing that he had been doing well. There were SO many hurdles that he'd come past, trying to get this far. Now, here he was, faced with the training-captain telling him that a FOX couldn't have the "temperament" to be an officer? Telling him that he was no good because of who was? Showing him that he really WASN'T worth anything in the eyes of the rest of the world around him?
He had never hate-cried before in his life, but he had fear-cried before and he recognized the familiar feeling of being so completely out of control of what his face was doing. That tightening of his eyes, the tears that flooded those eyes so fast that he couldn't clear them away, the arch of his eyebrows, that way his muzzle scrunched into the most miserable expression of sadness and loss. His vision was completely blurred out by the uncontrollable tears, but he could still see where that obnoxious hippo was sitting behind his desk.
"No, I do NOT understand why that would be in the best interests of the department, SIR!", putting as much sarcastic emphasis on that last word as his considerable talents could. "I have done a tremendous amount of work just to BE here! And I have been at the TOP of my class in all departments. The physical courses were HELL, and I worked my ass off as I've been training here! I've been making myself a better mammal all this time, and I do NOT need some fat, lazy HIPPO telling me that I would be unable to contribute to the ZPD - OR that I wouldn't make a good officer! Explain THAT to me, if you would! SIR!"
Nick squeezed his eyes tight, straightened out his muzzle, put on his best "hate-look", and opened his eyes to glare at the training captain as well he was able to under the circumstances. It took a few blinks, but he was finally able to see the hippo's face.
He expected to see that same speciest dislike of foxes that he spent most of his life learning to try and ignore. Instead he found a kinder expression than he was expecting, just waiting for him to finish protesting and insulting. Nick just froze and didn't move, not knowing what was going on and also not knowing why he suddenly lost control like that. It was like all of the frustrations of the last few months just flooded straight out him with none of his usual control.
"I've watched you, Wilde. You're good at what you set your mind to. You're doing better out there than mammals three times your size, and that shows just how hard you really want this." He sighed and leaned back, looking down at his desk. "What I need to know is your motivation. ARE you here for the ZPD? Or are you just here to prove something to somebody? Because if you're just trying to be a tough guy, then you'll end getting somebody killed someday." He planted his massive paws on his desk and stared straight through Nick's eyes.
Nick looked down at his lap and appeared to shrink just a bit. After a couple of tries, he said, "I'm here because I want to be a better mammal than I was when I was younger, sir." He leaked a few more tears, but he didn't mind them quite as much this time. "Officer Hopps showed me what it is to care about making the world a better place. I laughed at her, the first time she said that... but I think I understand what she meant now. She helped me, more than anyone will ever know. Now I'm finally going to be able to help other mammals, instead of just taking something from them. I'd like to do that now, instead of being who I was before."
He didn't look up when the captain started his light chuckle of, "Hurr, Hurr, Hurr...", but he did understand that the hippo wasn't being speciest. He was just forcing something out of his recruit that Nick was sure he wouldn't have given to him otherwise. "I knew you had it in you Wilde. Keep up the good work. Dismissed."
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Judy's phone buzzed with a text message, so she pulled her cruiser over to take a look at it. It was from Nick, which made her smile and droop her eyelids just a bit.
= Sharon is making us pound sand today. Had pleasant thoughts of Tundratown, and washing all this sand out of my fur =
She had to laugh, remembering the polar bear's talent of abusing her students on the training course.
= Just don't fall a thousand feet to the mud. She says mean things if you do that. =
She was about to put the car in gear and go patrol around the next block, but the phone buzzed quickly with a reply.
= Hey, Fluff. Thanks for all your help before, getting over my... problems. I may not have been able to do this if it wasn't for you. =
Judy sighed and thought back on how hard it was to do that to her fox, the one she cared so much about, her soon-to-be partner.
= Just glad I was able to help, floof-tail. You work hard, I know you'll do a good job there =
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Only two weeks into the job, Nick had to chase down a serval cat who'd just robbed a store register. The serval was so panicked by the whole experience when Nick caught him halfway down the street that he was trying to bite the fox, so he had no choice but to muzzle the poor cat.
His reaction was so immediate and so fearful that Nick couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Cuffed, laying on the ground in a quivering mass of fur, knocking his head on the ground to try and get the muzzle off his face.
Nick called Judy on the radio and had her bring the car over. He carefully picked up the shaking and shuddering furball and sat holding him in the back seat as Judy drove to the station.
"Shhhh, it's okay kit. Just hold still. We're almost there." He looked down at the "criminal" he clutched to his chest, and understood. This youngster had obviously had a tough time in his life, and Nick couldn't just disconnect himself from somebody so obviously in the grip of fear and panic and pain.
But he still smiled, knowing that he'd be able to help somebody who probably didn't even deserve to be arrested. He held on tight to the cat and just petted his ears, not even caring if it seemed odd or what the other officers might say. Judy certainly didn't mind, and that's all he cared about. He already knew that he would be carrying the little cat in his arms right through the lobby of the precinct station, just to go book him for a robbery - but he also wondered if there was some way to help him afterward.
He looked up at his favorite fluffy bunny, as she drove, and thought how wonderful it was that she could give a gift like that to him - even if he hated it at the time. She had given him confidence, and peace of mind. She had even helped heal wounds that he didn't even know he'd had. He wondered how much it had cost her to do that, at the time. It had obviously upset her as well, even though he was almost too upset to notice while she was doing it.
He wondered if maybe she'd be willing to help the kit out as well? He certainly seemed to need it...