This story is a rewrite of a much older story that I posted over a year ago. It has since been deleted, though I believe that this version is much better. Enjoy!
I
Elimination Night
The bus ride home was silent, despite the ongoing stirring outside the open windows. After their surge in the recent weeks, this was not how they figured they'd go out come playoff season. After three weeks of playing like the best team in the league, no one had predicted that they would revert to their midseason slump.
It left the team, to say the least, disappointed—disappointed that they could not extend their fortune past the regular season. After struggling toward the bottom of the league for most of the season, the Royals had finally managed to pull themselves together and somehow squeaked into a playoff spot with just a few games left.
To the outsider who noticed the team's recent surge, it would seem that they would be able to carry their luck at least through the first round of the playoffs, but to their misfortune, it just didn't work out for them. The outsider, however, would not be a fool to believe this; in fact, many organizations believed that they would have to prepare to face a red-hot Royals team in the second or even third round.
But even with a disappointing postseason run to end the season, it would be outlandish to believe that their season as a whole was a letdown. At the turn of the new year, no one would have expected the Royals to even qualify for the playoffs. By that time, panic had settled in for the team, the front office scrambling to resolve the discord in the locker room.
No one on the team knew what sparked the turnaround. Fortunate bounces, pucks somehow finding the back of the net—they weren't sure what to credit, but by the end of the season, they were projected as frontrunners to win the playoffs, despite being a low-tier playoff team.
Rookie center Ace Wolfburne could have counted several situations that, had he played them correctly, would have won them the game. He blamed his over aggression; had he not charged into the offensive zone prematurely, he wouldn't have drawn up a detrimental offside call and possibly could have won the game. It would have forced a deciding fifth game, which would have been at home. He was confident in their ability to win that one, riding on the momentum of a win tonight, but unfortunately, it just wasn't to be.
No one sat next to him on the bus; some offered to do so, but he dismissed them. Paw on his muzzle, he leaned back and watched as life proceeded on the sidewalks of downtown Zootopia.
There was a lot on his mind, including speculation of the next ZHL champion, his plans for the offseason, and the position of the Royals hockey team come late October, when the next season begins.
Sure, their recent surge brought a notable growth for the team, but the disputes from earlier could not go unignored. Perhaps the best option was to find what reinvigorated them halfway through the season, and then try to maintain that. Yes, thought Ace, that'll do fine for now.
The bus came to a stop for what seemed like the thousandth time. The downtown games, such as their most recent one, were the worst; while it may only take about fifteen minutes to get from their arena in Tundratown to the district border, it could take up to an hour to travel half the distance for downtown games. Even the trips to and from games in Savanna Central, which were on the other side of the city, took less time.
Ace soon grew bored staring at the same sidewalk, so he turned to his phone. The first thing he did was open a calendar and count the days until the next season would begin.
167 days. Perhaps he could bump that number up just a little bit more, since the league has not yet revealed who would be playing that opening night.
The bus finally reached the tunnel to Tundratown and began picking up speed. Ace turned off his phone and decided to wait until they arrived back at their home arena.
Ace yawned and didn't catch himself dozing off until several minutes later. When he did, their destination was already visible. He sat up in his seat and waited as the bus pulled into the parking lot of their home arena.
Once the bus had stopped, everyone filed out like normal and began to carry everything inside, headed toward the home locker room. Ace's load didn't consist of much; just his helmet, gloves, a couple of sticks, gloves, and his skates. Some of the older players had a bit more to carry, especially the team's two goaltenders.
As expected, Coach Buck pulled the team aside for one last discussion before the offseason. It took about a minute for him to find a platform, and he ended up settling for the stairs leading up to the arena entrance.
"Okay. I won't even ask for your personal ratings this time," he said. "I can already tell you guys are feeling dejected right now. All I can really say is… just, incredible work this past month. I owe it all to you guys for the way we finished the regular season."
A murmur of agreement found its way through the crowd.
"The only thing I can ask right now is, who still wants to play, after tonight?"
That specific question seemed to rejuvenate at least a bit of the team's spirit, as a surge of paws and hooves shot straight into the air.
Coach Buck nodded. "Sure you guys do. Until next season, though. We'll be having offseason meetings here Saturday afternoons until August, starting this weekend. Come if you're in town, but we all understand if you're away for a bit. Just make sure we know beforehand. For now, though, we'll break here."
Some of the players turned away immediately and left for home, though most of the team, Ace included, headed inside to put their equipment away.
Ace set his helmet on the bench and leaned his sticks against the wall in his niche of the locker room. The rest of his gear went on the floor.
"Are you going straight home or are you staying for a bit?" asked Felix. The snow leopard also seemed somewhat glum, but he had just finished his third season compared to Ace's first, so he had a little more experience with losing.
"I'm going home," said Ace. "It's almost midnight and we're all tired."
Felix just shrugged. "All right. See you at practice, then?"
Ace headed for the exit. "Sure thing."
It had taken until now for Ace to realize that his first season was over, even though the first-round antics in the other division were still ongoing. As he strolled away from the arena on a spring night in Tundratown, he couldn't help but review his season overall. What were his best—and worst—moments as a rookie?
Surely, his fondest memory was being awarded the Rookie of the Year award at the end of the regular season, but that was an out-of-game moment, only meant to highlight all the happenings of his first season. Perhaps his favorite in-game memory was his lone hat trick that season, or the multiple go-ahead and game-winning goals he was involved in.
As for a worst moment of the season, he could count several blunders made in the midseason slump. If he wanted to, he could even count an error earlier during tonight's game as one of the worse moments of the season.
The area around him was mostly empty, although a few stores, mostly chain restaurants, were still open. There were usually only a few mammals inside a given store this late at night.
Even the subway station wasn't very crowded, save for a few other mammals waiting for different trains. If tonight's game had finished in regulation rather than double overtime, then the station would be a lot more crowded.
Ace considered himself lucky that he at least arrived at the station before it closed for the night. The large cross-district lines were closed by now, but the shorter, more local lines generally remained online for a bit longer. If the local lines were also out for the night, then Ace would have to walk an extra mile just to get home. It's only happened once before, after an overtime game in Savanna Central, but one time was enough to make him hope that they were home on time after every game.
It took three stops to get from Mogul Street to Flurry Street, which was the street closest to where he lived. The general mood of the area remained unchanged, although the stores here were a bit more crowded.
He decided that it wouldn't hurt to grab a quick drink on his way home, so he deviated toward the single café in sight. There was no one else inside aside from a fox and a bunny—unusual to see them around here at this time, especially since he didn't know of any bunnies from Tundratown.
"Just a small hot chocolate without whipped cream, nothing else," said Ace, handing his card to the wolverine at the counter.
"Name?" asked the wolverine.
"Ace."
The wolverine swiped the card and handed it back to Ace as the receipt printed. Once it was finished, he tore it and gave it to Ace, who folded it and stashed it in his pocket.
The wolf took a seat, waiting. For a moment, he was tempted to take a peek at the numerous news articles relating to his team's recent elimination to the Brawlers—the hot-takes—but he decided to hold off until the more serious discussions begin.
The bunny picked up her phone from the table. "Hello?" she said.
Ace tried not to eavesdrop, but it's difficult to avoid listening when no one else in the building is talking. He probably wouldn't be able to make a conversation out of it anyway, since he couldn't even hear what the caller was saying.
"Tundratown," she said before another pause. "Oh. Uh… okay. You want us at Crevasse, then?"
"Ace," the wolverine called out.
Ace stood up and walked to the counter, taking his hot cocoa. "Goodnight," said the wolverine.
"Goodnight," said Ace as he turned toward the exit.
The moment he stepped outside, however, something—Ace didn't see what it was—charged straight into his side, knocking him winded. Having not expected anything, Ace's phone flew right out of his paw and onto the snow.
Ace didn't know what had hit him, even after he was given a moment to clear his head of what had just happened. His drink had also fallen from his paw, several drops spilling onto his face and jersey, though most of it just ended up on the snow.
Something locked around his right leg, so Ace began to struggle out of instinct. His shin stung as he kicked and twisted in his attempt to break free, but whatever had a grip on him was not relenting.
His initial response was to struggle more, even though all it did was make his leg feel worse. The grip on his leg—it felt somewhat like teeth sinking through his jeans—only seemed to tighten as he writhed about. He could feel as the row of pointy objects sunk further into his skin. Whatever was holding it began to move, and his body left a trail in the snow.
Ace attempted to find something to grab onto, to prevent him from moving, but found nothing as the nearest light pole was already far out of arm's reach. There was the option to dig into the snow and try to hold on that way, but that wouldn't last him more than a few seconds.
Soon, though, he passed by a stop sign, for which he stretched out and luckily grabbed a hold of.
Or maybe it was unlucky. He gritted his teeth as his leg stretched out. He attempted to get a view of his attacker, and it shocked him to find that the attacker was a jaguar, walking on all fours. That was when he realized that those weren't teeth-like objects; they were literally teeth!
Looking back, he found that the fox and bunny had followed him outside. Perhaps it was because he was attacked the immediate moment he stepped out, so they were able to see him through the window. But what could they do to a jaguar, being only half their size?
Ace took note of that and turned his attention back to his adversary. He couldn't pay attention to how much his leg burned right now; he would have to address that later, once he's out of this situation.
The wolf nudged his leg a little bit to the right, in an attempt to reposition his leg in the jaguar's mouth so it wouldn't hurt as much. It was a move he regretted instantly, as it only amplified the discomfort in his leg. The rubbing of skin and fur against teeth in the snow caused his leg to go numb. Although he had just attempted to ignore the pain, it became so severe that it demanded his attention. It could not be ignored, and Ace winced before he began kicking with his free foot.
It took him a while, but soon he managed to land a clean kick with his left leg, straight to the jaguar's maw. The kick didn't stun it for long, but it was enough to free his other leg from its teeth. He could barely feel the teeth sliding off his leg as the jaguar loosened its grip.
Suddenly he wished he had something with him—his helmet, a stick, anything he could use to fend off the jaguar for just a bit longer.
But he had nothing, and his leg put him in no condition to fight, so his only choice was to try to drag himself away. The café was still visible and, to his luck, it was the nearest open building. The fox and the bunny had almost reached him. He didn't know which to try to reach.
On one side, the fox and the bunny were easier to get behind, but given their size, he doubted they would be able to fend off a jaguar by themselves. On the other, he trusted a building more than two smaller mammals to protect him, but it would be much more difficult to reach, especially in the condition his right leg was in.
It didn't matter, however. He tried to hobble toward the two other mammals, dragging his right leg in the snow. He got no further than a meter past the stop sign before the jaguar caught up. He heard something snap, as—despite the numbness in his leg—an even greater agony in his leg arose, worse than anything he had experienced before.
He howled as his leg swung forward, and he landed on the snow flat on his back. Another noise emerged, sounding like the clanking of metal hitting metal, and then another, this one sounding like multiple sirens.
There was a click, and then multiple grunts and growls, but Ace couldn't tell what was going on. The lack of feeling in his leg clouded his mind—he could see and hear everything, but he couldn't put the sounds together.
It took him a while to realize that the jaguar was not tearing him apart. The sirens grew louder, and there was another click along with the sound of chains. Has a savior arrived?
Ace rolled over and gritted his teeth before trying to get up again, but his right leg crumpled the moment he attempted to put any weight on it. As the sirens approached, the sound of engines reached his ears. He collapsed again.
Breathing heavily, he shook his head. Help...?
Once the squad had arrived, the target had already been incapacitated. For the ZPD, it was a lucky coincidence that two of their officers happened to be waiting in the path of one of their targets. While it was certainly questionable as to why they were off-duty at a Tundratown café near midnight, that didn't matter to them; what mattered was that they had detained one of the targets for that night.
While the streetlights caught the spilled drink immediately outside the café, the police required flashlights to get a good view of the more important parts of the attack. There was the savage jaguar, still thrashing about around the stop sign, leg cuffed to the pole, and then there was a trail of blood leading to the injured wolf. He was still conscious, but it was clear that he couldn't walk. Nick winced upon seeing how awkwardly the wolf's leg was bent.
It was midnight once the ambulance arrived. They were quick to act, carrying the wolf away on a stretcher. Nick informed them of the cause of injury, and then they left, bound for the nearest hospital.
"No, I didn't know until Clawhauser gave me a call," said Judy. "Then it sort of just happened outside, and we didn't notice it until the jaguar already had him."
"How many reports of savage mammals have we gotten tonight?" asked Nick.
"Too many," said Bogo. "And we can't tell if some of them are about the same mammal or not, but we do know for sure that there's been more than one."
"But it really just came out of nowhere, right? Like, what, half an hour ago?" continued Nick. "Was there any sort of forewarning, or something?"
"Not that we know of. But there's going to be a lot of investigating around these sites."
"And what of the wolf?" Judy finally asked.
"We don't know who he is, at least not yet. We'll know once you check in tomorrow. Just go home for now. I've still got a mess to deal with north of here."
