(WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD)

EIGHT MONTHS AFTER THE TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT OF FORMER ASSISTANT MAYOR DAWN BELLWETHER

The Zootopia Police Department was beginning to wind down. While the day had been bustling with civility, with ZPD officers entering and exiting, at times bringing the day's usual trouble with them, the evening was quieter than usual. And taking advantage of the quiet evening, was none other than Officer Benjamin Clawhauser, a cheetah, a bit on the larger side. Around the department, he was known for his friendly attitude towards everyone he knew, and his love of junk food. That and the love of his phone. But no one cared too much about his habits, he was easily the most cheerful guy on the job, and the ways things could be sometimes, that was what everyone needed.

And Benjamin had the phone out now, doing his little thing. Whether it was watching the latest viral video on Mootube, or playing with some app, he was smiling, and twirling around in his chair behind that cluttered desk of his.

The two front doors of the department opened, and in the light of the setting sun, two figures entered the building, chatting amongst themselves in a bright cheerful manner. One, an eager, and cheerful rabbit who went by the name Judy Hopps, one of the newer officers in the Department. It hadn't been that long ago when many on the force doubted her abilities as an officer. She was literally the shortest officer around, and compared to the brute strength of other officers, she didn't seem like much. Yet it was Judy who had impressed the entire department in locating fourteen missing animals, and undermining a conspiracy from within their own government to take down any and all predator based animals. This was about a year ago all in all. Though she couldn't have done it without her partner.

That partner? Another new face in the department, and though he wasn't as jittery as his partner, he knew how the streets thought. The fox known as Nicholas Wilde. He was a bit more laid back in his new position, and though his trip to the Department had been a long one, laid out with stereotypes and question in ability, he too had proven himself as a worthy officer, even if he had a bit of a criminal record behind it. But in many ways, it was a valuable asset. He knew leads, he knew what questions to ask, and he knew pretty much everyone in the city. And it was his leads that would help crack Judy's first case.

At first glance, one might wonder how these two could get along. It wasn't an easy road for either of them, and though they had cemented their friendship in the last few months, they still poked fun at each other day after day after day. Whether it was harmless name calling, or ruining each other's selfie.

"...another day, another patrol off the calendar." Wilde said in his cool manner, removing his aviators from his eyes.

"It's nice to have a quiet one once in a while." Hopps replied, itching her long ears in a swift movement. "It still beats parking duty."

"They never last though." Wilde said. "Just wait, tomorrow we'll fun into some domestic disturbances in a local tavern, or we'll find a young cat holding nip. You ever seen a young cat on nip?"

"Oh cool your jets, Nick." Judy said chuckling.

"No really, it's worse than downing ten cups of espresso. You can't talk to them, you can't settle them, you can't-"

THey were interrupted by Ben's cheerful laugh, before he noticed the two officers standing before his desk. "Oh! Nick, Judy, check this out, check this out."

"Another busy day, Ben my friend?" Nick asked, leaning on the desk, giving his usual sly smile.

Ben ignored the sarcastic question and said, "No really, check this out, this has got to be one of the worst Zootopian Factor audition's I've ever seen. This hound can't sing in tune to save his life!"

While he played a video of what appeared to be a Bassett Hound attempting to sing a classic folk tune, Judy simply said, "You do realize that a lot of that show is actually scripted, don't you?"

Nick kept his smile and just said, "Hey, the network's gotta make their silly shows seem interesting somehow, don't they?"

However Benjamin gasped and said, "Oh that's right, the chief wants to see you two, he told me to send you to his office when you got in today!"

"Oh really?" Nick said, "He blaming me for a couple donuts gone missing?"

"Nick, stop it." Judy said playfully.

Benjamin took no offense with the joke and simply said, "Oh, I don't know, but whatever it was, it didn't seem too important, but then again, with his attitudes, I can never tell what's important anymore."

"Well, I guess we won't exactly find out what it's about standing here, shall we Nick?"

"Hey, after you Carrots." Nick said, beckoning for the rabbit to take point.

THe chief's office sat on the second floor, and the door was usually closed. Most of the time, Chief Bogo, a stern and straight to the point buffalo usually worked on pending cases, and assigned certain officers to those said cases. Though Benjamin claimed that at one point he'd caught the usually stern chief playing with a dancing app on his own phone.

"So what do you think our friendly Bogo wants with us?" Nick asked.

"I don't know, it's actually been a while since I was in his office, he usually just gives us our assignments during briefing." Judy replied as they approached the closed door.

"Well...I don't know if we should be worried or we should be honored." Nick said. He gave a playful knock on the door, and said, "House cleaning."

Through the door they could hear the in-no-mood for games voice of Bogo, who said, "Cut it with the play, Wilde, and get in here."

Judy frowned. "You didn't do anything I should know about, did you?"

Nicholas look down to Judy, and said, "What? Of course I didn't. I actually kinda find it hard to do that kind of thing around here."

"Nick, really!" Judy said as they opened the door.

"I'm just kidding, Carrots! I'm not gonna jeopardize yours or my jo-"

"Hopps, Wilde!" Bogo said as the door opened. His desk was pretty clear except for a few folders, and he had a smile that attempted to be friendly on his face. "How was your patrol. Busy day?"

"Well chief, actually-" Nicholas began, before getting cut off.

"Who cares?" Bogo said, before looking down at the things in front of him, before beckoning to the two chairs in front of his desk. "Sit down, and close the door."

Now Judy was actually a little nervous. While she trusted Nick with her life both on and off the job, he was still unpredictable. A simple joke in the department had at times been misread by fellow officers. And there had been reports filed against him for his behavior. Judy knew it, but Bogo had done a great job at keeping an open mind, he assigned them both tough cases, and they hadn't let hi down before. She took her seat, her ears hiding behind her back as she looked up at the towering figure of Bogo. Was something wrong? Had Nick's playful attitude gone a little too far? Or worse...had she let the force down in some way?

As she began to wrap her mind around anything that might be a factor, Bogo's voice caught her by surprise. "Something wrong, Hopps?"

"Nope!" Judy said, attempting to be chipper. "Just...a busy day, as usual."

"Well, I hope you two are up for a little more because I'm assigning you two to a rather large case."

Nick smiled and said, "Well that sounds just great, tell you what. You can tell us all about it tomorrow during the briefing. I'm gonna go change out of my uniform and-"

"No, we're going to talk about it now." Bogo said, sliding the folders in front of him.

"Is there a reason for this?" Judy asked.

"Yes." Bogo said looking to Judy. "Mainly it's because I want to get it out of the way now. But for more technical reasons, this case is out of the ZPD Jurisdiction."

Nick frowned. "Out of our jurisdiction? Then...why are we getting this case to begin with?"

"Well...long story short, you both have been performing beyond your expectations. You both got a nice clean record, very few complaints from the locals, and you've cracked quite a few cases that aren't always so easily cracked. And so I believe that such skill could be put to better use. We've decided to nominate you both for an officer exchange program."

"Exchange program?" Judy asked frowning a bit. "Sir, aren't we doing just fine here?"

"You're doing great, Hopps." Bogo said reassuringly, and you will both be missed. I mean, don't worry, this exchange isn't gonna last forever, but I'll be honest, I'm kinda curious to see how you two would handle yourself with one of the...bigger cases. So...for a couple months, we've decided to send you to Paris."

"Paris!" Nick said with a smile. "The city of romance, I'm sure Carrots and I will fit in just perfectly there!"

"Nick." Judy said, giving her partner a playful glare.

"You may actually fit in in more ways than you may think you realize. You may be our first fox here in Zootopia, Mr. Wilde, but n Paris, you'll be answering to an Inspector Carmelita Fox, among the brightest officers across the sea."

"Is she expecting us?" Judy asked.

"Yes, even if she may not be thrilled that she's pretty much being forced to accept outside help. She's been on this particular case for years, with little success. Perhaps you two can help find her some success."

"Okay then, Chief. Who are we dealing with?" Nick asked, snagging a child's sucker from a candy tray on his desk, and sticking it in his mouth. "Point us in his direction, we'll find him, be back before lunch next week."

Bogo chuckled at that, and it made Judy slightly uncomfortable. Bogo wasn't the one to chuckle. "Not 'him', Wilde. They."

"They?" Judy asked.

"They, Ms. Hopps." Bogo said. With that he opened a folder and slid it in front of them, which revealed some information on a large purple hippopotamus. "Target number one, name, Murray. A hippopotamus, a bit on the dumber side, but packs one crazy punch. Last name unknown, he goes by his alias, 'The Murray.'"

"Not much of an alias if you ask me." Nick said holding the small red sucker loosely.

"Murray. Got it." Judy said.

"Target number two." Bogo said, opening up another folder and sliding it in front of them, revealing a small green turtle. "Name, Bentley, last name also unknown. A turtle-"

Nick gave a bit of a laugh. "A turtle with a criminal record, why has this guy not been bagged yet?!"

Bogo waited for Nick to finish he laughing, and as it died down, he said, "May I continue?"

"By all means." Nick said.

Bogo cleared his throat. "This...turtle...may be one of the most difficult targets you've ever- no, scratch that. He is one of the toughest targets you'll ever face. Don't judge the reptile, he's got the best weapon a criminal can utilize...the mind. Don't think he'll be any easier to capture just because he's a turtle, he's the brains of this whole operation these three put together."

Judy nodded, "Right, so who's number three?"

Bogo looked to them, holding the folder in his hands, and said, "Target number three is priority one." He opened up the folder and slid it in front of them, revealing some information on what appeared to be a raccoon. The photo wasn't clear. "His name is Sly Cooper, he's wanted in more countries than I care to count, the son of the infamous Cooper line of thieves."

"The Cooper thieves? Always thought those were just stories." Judy said.

"Slightly exaggerated stories perhaps, but the linage is there. Sly's been on the run for years now, and I'm sorry to say I don't have a lot of information on him. He hasn't been seen since his last sighting in Bombay."

"India?" Nick asked. "The guy gets around."

"Remember, Wilde. He's part of a lethal team. And he takes after his family heritage...he's a very talented thief. He made off with the Firestone of India in his last sighting, but intelligence believes that he's targeting a Police Headquarters in Paris. Why? I don't know...and don't care. That's where you two are supposed to come in."

"You want us to grab the Raccoon?" Nick said. "Consider it done."

"You can count on us, Chief!" Judy said looking up from the folders.

Bogo gave a small relaxed smile and said, "I know I can. You bring this crook to justice, and we'll keep Zootopia nice and clean for your return. Ben's got some more details for your case down below. Once you get it, get your things ready and head for the airport."

"We're leaving already?" Nick asked.

"Of course. Paris is a long flight...and let's not forget that by the time you get there...people will be starting their day."

Nick sighed and rubbed his face. "Stupid time zones."

"Then we'll be off."

"Do us proud you two." Bogo said, "And rest well...it's a long flight."

Thanks for checking this out! It's just a little something I'm experimenting with. I'm a huge fan of anthropomorphic characters, and I absolutely loved Zootopia. It's a fun movie, and if you've not seen it, I highly recommend it. However I enjoy anthro characters from other places as well...and one of my biggest favorites comes from the franchise, Sly Cooper. And the idea came to mind...what if Zootopia's newest officers found themselves assigned to his case? This may as well be a small novelization of the very first film, but told more through Judy and Nick rather than Sly's perspective. So...if you have a PLayStation two or three go find the Sly games. They're great.

Small notice, I do NOT ship Judy and Nick, so if you're hoping for romance, you'll likely end up disappointed here.

And I hope you guys enjoy this little experiment I have started to hopefully get me back in the writing spirit!