Chapter 1 – Introductions
The city was alive that morning as news papers were being read by more citizens than usual. Mammals of all kinds were chatting amongst themselves of a certain recent event. A wager of the ridiculous amount of 20,000 dollars was made, and the headlines started calling him a mad mammal. He proposed that he could travel around the world in 80 days.
It had been two days since the proposed wager, and others, not even affiliated, started making wagers of their own on the matter, whether he would succeed, fail, vanish or even die in his supposed impossible adventure. It felt like the city was a little out of hand on the matter, while a few regarded it a waste of time and rather trivial.
Constable Hopps was in a sour mood as her taxi made its way down the streets of Zootropolis. She disliked the taxi system on the city, mostly because of the steam powered automatons made to look like feral horses on all fours. But her main reason for her dis-contempt was discovering her current assignment wasn't one given by respect of her peers but rather to push her away. She was a small grey bunny and for the most part rejected by her colleagues for being a small grey bunny.
The cobblestone roads shook the carriage bobbing it up and down as she peered out the windows taking in the area. To say the area had more class was an understatement, it was a far-cry from her own neighbourhood and her small one room apartment. Here the rich lived and they tended to have one 3 levelled building all to themselves. "What does one do with so much space?" she thought to herself.
The taxi came to a halt and the horses let out a blow of steam from their joints. "We've arrived constable. That will be 1 dollar" Of course the department wouldn't even cover her taxi ride, and of course they made her pay out of her own pocket. The taxi system was already unreliable and overly expensive, but its unique feature of automatons was unlike any other on the globe, which caused it to become somewhat of a tourist attraction. Plus the underground trains had yet to reach this part of the city, so her options were very limited. She opened her purse and pulled out almost all her coins to pay her fare.
She picked up her suitcase and stepped out of the carriage.
"Have a lovely day mam" The driver tipped his hat and pulled a lever.
The horses gave a small spasm as the clockwork inside them whirred into motion and they began their mechanical trot. She turned on her heel to face the building belonging to the eccentric mammal. It was like all the others, too big for comfort, especially for someone who lived alone. She climbed the steps leading the main door and pressed the door bell, to her surprise it was a fairly normal ring, at least for an electrical door bell.
She what felt close to ten seconds before hearing someone approach from behind the door. She put an authoritative pose standing up straight as the door unlocked and opened, and there he was. He was dressed rather well wearing a pair of beige trousers and a white shirt around his arms were a pair of gold armlets holding his sleeves, in his paws was a towel he seemed to be drying them with. And his gaze upon her was rather disinterested with his bright emerald green eyes.
"Yes, can I help you?" He said looking still rather disinterested.
"Mr, Wilde? Nicholas Wilde?" She asked.
He let out a sigh "I've already stated, I'm not taking any interviews. Good day." He began to close the door on her, and she quickly placed a paw holding it open.
"I'm constable Hopps, I was assigned to you by the council and the Reform Club." She said, a mild hint of irritation seeping into her words.
He looked at her up and down with a clear expression of doubt, she felt even more irritated by this.
"You are not in uniform Constable." He said. She rolled her eyes.
"If I'm to be travelling with you, I'm not to be wearing any form of official attire outside of the city, let alone another country." She responded with a sigh added to the end. He thought about this for a second.
"I reckon to avoid the accusation of an invasion..." He jokingly concluded.
He opened the door and tossed the towel to the side behind him.
"I assume you have at least some form of identification on you?" He asked facing back towards her. She placed her suitcase down and pulled out her badge from her pocket.
"Do you have any identification Mr Wilde?" She asked teasingly. He pulled up a newspaper from the window sill next to the door and held it next to his head.
"That's me" He responded with a light chuckle.
The front page had in big black letters "Crazy Eccentric Fox To Travel The World Before Losing All His Fortune" next to the headline was a photo taken of him that seemed to have caught him by surprise. He was at least still well dressed and groomed in the shot.
"Come in Constable." He opened the door all the way and ushered her inside.
She picked up her suitcase and took a few steps inside and took in the life of a rich mammal. The hall was large and tidy, with a very classical design, stairs leading to the upper floors and a large grandfather clock, which looked incredibly complex in design and clockwork that also told the date, was next to an arch that led to a study. Nicholas closed the door behind them.
"Does the Constable want anything? Coffee... Tea perhaps?" He offered. She looked back at him.
"Tea would be fine, thank you." She said.
"Very well. Make yourself comfortable in the parlour." He left to the back rooms down the hallway.
Hopps entered the room. It was like a personal library full of books and science equipment, two red single leather couches and a large red leather couch separated by a coffee table in the middle of the room. A large globe was in the corner and she decided to approach and examine it.
"All of this in 80 days?" She thought she spun it around noticing it was quite heavy and quickly forcing it to stop, she followed the seam at the equator and found it would open to reveal a hidden liquor cabinet inside, with some rather expensive looking brandy. She scoffed at the all too cliché arrangement.
"Let's not get too comfortable Constable Hopps. It's only 10 in the morning" The Fox was standing in the archway holding a tray with what looked like an expensive tea set. She closed the lid of the globe
"I was just musing over it. I reckon the globe and the contents inside must be somewhat responsible for the task you've set yourself to do" She said walking towards the fox.
He placed the tray on the coffee table and sat down on one of the single couches before leaning over to serve the tea and handing her a cup.
"Now, constable... why do I get the impression you don't want to be here?" This caught her a little off guard as she sat on the other couch
"Well... I guess because honestly, I don't want to be here" She said stirring her tea with a rather detailed silver spoon.
"Hmm, I'm starting to think we have both been fooled." He said pouring his own tea
"Why do you say that?" She asked, with a hint of confusion. He brought the tea to himself and began to also stir
"Well, I was not expecting a..." He pointed to her with the spoon gesturing to all of her.
"A bunny!" she finished.
"Quite. I was told I would be assigned someone for protection" He sipped his tea.
"Those bastards..." She said, causing a bit of shock from the Fox.
"Pardon?" He asked
"They asked us to have someone volunteer to follow you to make sure you were not to cheat on this venture."
This made Wilde grin "Ah yes, can't have the shifty fox pull a fast one... and you volunteered?" He asked taking another sip of his tea
"I was asked to volunteer." She said, forcing down on the word asked and her previous irritation returning to her tone.
"Ah, and I guess no one else was asked to volunteer?" He questioned. She shook her head, looking into her still full tea cup.
"Well, I reckon since we are most likely stuck together, we might as well make the most of it and get properly acquainted." He said. She looked up at him as he continued "After all I don't want to keep having to call you constable out of your jurisdiction" He sat back into the couch, crossing his leg.
"Oh, Judy Hop... Judith Hopps" She quickly corrected herself, Judy was mostly exclusive to her friends, plus she felt the upper-class fox would not really use it
"Judy Hopps, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I'm Nick Wilde" He said performing a slight bow from his sitting position
"The pleasure is all mine." She said somewhat mechanically that even she felt a little awkward, her mind went back to the clockwork horses and how they could have made a better introduction
"Indeed... How's the tea?" He asked.
"It's good." She said in another automatic response for politeness.
"That's amazing considering you have yet to drink any" He chuckled.
"I'm sorry, my mind is adrift this morning." She apologised, taking a sip of her tea, and it was in fact quite possibly the best tea she had ever had.
"And how about now?" Nick asked.
She took another sip, closing her eyes to savour the flavour.
"I was right the first time" She responded.
There was a short awkward pause of silence between them both. Nick decided to end it
"So, tell me, how long have you been a constable, Constable?"
Judy looked up to him almost embarrassed to answer
"... About five days" she said looking away.
"And how does one of your social stature become a constable?" She took some offence to the question, but decided to respond honestly but still vocally irate.
"By working hard, and proving myself. I've made sacrifices and will continue to do so until no one, not a soul on this earth can dare ask questions like that" She hadn't realised she had gotten up.
"A touchy subject, I see" Nick was unphased by her small outburst.
She was annoyed, but she regretted her following words.
"And how does a fox become as wealthy as you?" She felt embarrassed, not by her question, but the rather accusatory attitude she delivered it. She was about to apologise but he spoke out
"Oh you know, the usual. Grand theft, illegal gambling, tax fraud, racketeering..." he chuckled.
She sat back down on the couch.
"I apologise." She said looking into her tea cup
"Don't, I can see you and I have quite a bit in common. If you must know, my father opened a shop of imports and exports, and things were certainly not easy when we started." He let out a sigh "But as luck would have it one day I overheard two gentle-mammals talking about a type of brandy from the east that they could not get here, I placed the order secretly without my father's knowledge, by the time he found out, they were already on the way..." He paused "Yes they, I hadn't realised at the time, but I placed the order for two thinking I could sell two bottles, turns out two meant two crates" Judy took another sip of her tea before talking.
"Oh dear, I take it your father did not take it well?" She asked with interest.
"The two crates cost us 30 dollars" Judy let out a small gasp of shock "So no, my father did not take it well. And neither did my hind quarters shortly after" He took the last sip of his tea before placing it down on the tray. "Later, I was able to find one of those mammals and gave the word of the brandy for sale. He asked me for a price I told him 10 dollars, you know what he said?" Judy shook her head "He said, still cheaper than travelling all the way there, and asked me to hold two bottles for him" He smirked "It wasn't enough to pay off the crates but it was a great start" Nick smiled and looked at nothing almost lost in thought "By the end of the week we had sold a whole crate of 10 bottles of brandy, and made a small fortune." He looked back at Judy "Along with some connections and other requests times got better. Eventually, we began to be a part of those more fortunate social classes, albeit certain prejudices continued, and they never really ended. Certain parties were very exclusive for us to be around." He kept his composure not showing any signs of malcontent. "We had each other, and he did eventually apologise to my posterior. It was a gamble, and I promised him I would never take on a wager I could not win."
"And yet, here you are, with an idea of travelling the world alone in 80 days?" Judy stated rather than questioned.
"It can be done. I believe it can be done in even less time, I just gave myself a few days for the unexpected"
She gave one last sip of her tea before realising her cup was already empty.
"You are quite the optimist." She said placing her tea cup on the tray
"That I am. Also, you are wrong about me travelling alone. After all, you will be accompanying me on this impossible journey" It may have been all that led up to this exact moment that had kept the thought out of her mind, but now that it was said it finally occurred to her she was about to travel the world.
"I... oh my lord... what have I gotten myself into?" Nick could almost feel her sudden tension as she placed a paw to her forehead.
"I take it you haven't travelled much before?" He asked.
"No. I'm from the Burrows and that's the largest distance I've ever travelled."
"I could relieve you, maybe ask for someone else?" He suggested out of sympathy.
Judy jumped from her seating.
"NO!... no, I... I think it's something I can manage" Nick felt she was holding something in, but didn't pressure her any further.
"Very well, this is the itinerary, there is no itinerary. So don't make plans for any specific locations on the globe, we might not pass them or have the time to visit them." He said. There was a sudden increase in enthusiasm in his tone
"I hadn't really planned..." She was interrupted before she could finish.
"Ultimately this is not a voyage, but a race, so we travel light. Anything we need on the road, we buy."
"Mr Wilde... I'm not that wealthy" She said looking away
"You needn't worry about that, all you have to do is make sure I don't cheat." He gave a half smirk.
She decided to add something
"I will be paid... win or not, The Reform Club has promised me 100 dollars upon our return... I can repay you any expense on my part once we return"
He gave a soft chuckle
"Constable, I would hear none of it... plus, and at the risk of sounding patronising, those earnings will not cover a quarter of the travel, but don't worry your mind on the matter" He was right, it did sound patronising.
The fox got up from the couch and made his way to a finely crafted box on a shelf.
"And this little contraption, is all we need for proof" He opened it to reveal a rather expensive looking camera "This here is a Dry Plate Automaton Camera, and with it, we shall take photos of ourselves at our destinations" He took the camera out of the box "All we have to do it, set this up, put the plate in this slot, place this magnesium charge here. Press this button and..." the camera made a short whirr before a huge flash blinded the eyes of Judy
"Ah!" Was all that escaped as she quickly covered her eyes.
"And that is it." He said
"I'm blind!" she said rubbing her eyes and blinking.
"No, that's normal. It will pass soon" Her vision was white and out of focus, but she could see it coming back.
"Why would you do that?" She questioned as he removed the square plate he had placed in the camera
"It helps with the photography process. The flash burns the image much faster than your everyday camera, causing it to be done it split seconds rather than the time it would normally take"
Judy squinted at him, the irritation returning to her expression
"A bit of warning would have been nice."
Nick put the camera away in its box. The grandfather clock in the hallway gave a few gentle chimes and struck eleven o'clock.
"Ah, it's almost time for lunch. Well Judy, I need you here bright and early say around six in the morning."
"Mr Wilde... I want to ask you if there are any... low-income hotels in the area" She asked with some apprehension looking up at Nick.
"Not that I know of... I'm sorry constable, this really isn't the kind of area for low income... anything." She let out a sigh from his response.
"I can try the local department to see if they have any barracks." She noticed a change in his expression.
"Judy, why not stay in one of the guest rooms here?"
This shocked her
"Mr Wilde... I'm not sure that is appropriate" There was some indignation to her tone but he laughed it off
"Oh pish posh. I have more than enough room in the house, and those old fashioned ideals are dying. After all, this is the nineteenth century..." she wasn't convinced.
"This is not a family house Mr Wilde. People will talk when a bachelor has company for the night." She said in a stern voice.
He started to make a very odd squinting face as if trying to force an idea to his mind
"...come with me" He walked out of the room and made his way to the stairs, Judy sighed and slid off the couch, grabbing her suitcase before somewhat reluctantly following behind him.
Author's Notes.
Hi, thanks for taking the time to read my story.
This is my first published fanfiction, so I would really appreciate all forms of criticism.
I took some inspiration by the videogame 80 Days, but I wanted to create an original plot that somewhat comes from both the novel and the original book.
I hope you all enjoy this tale.