Disclaimer:

The following is a fan-based fiction. Zootopia and its characters are owned by Disney. The songs I reference here belong to their respective artists as well.

For your convenience, all the translations will be put in these brackets []


(The song Mirror Lake by Susumu Hirasawa begins to play.)

Chesterization proudly presents

A Zootopia fanfiction

Signum

(Song ends)

"It was supposed to be perfect; the perfect vacation for the two of us. Somewhere far away from all the prejudice in Zootopia; and a little closer to the tropical sun." That's what I thought, days before I found myself clinging to this piece of…something. Waves upon waves of violent sea slapped against us. The strong wind made rain drops felt like bullets, definitely not the vacation I have in mind.

It was near impossible for me to steer this piece of debris. Or at least I think it was debris. Everything around me was dark. The salty water that held my chest and the sky above were pure black. Occasionally, things lit up with a strike of thunder. That flash of light couldn't help much. But, it did grant me short moments of peace. Peace, knowing that the mammal that I hold on to with one of my hands was Judy. I paid too much attention to her that I did not question the thing that was saving our lives. Though, I swear that its surface felt like flesh sometimes. Flesh resembled that of elephants' but rougher, like sand paper.

Judy and I couldn't get onto a lifeboat. Not because we were late. But because well, we were less, quote unquote 'Important.' Even after the Titanic had made into a film, we animals still think. 'Heh, we have learned so much from the tragedy. We can build unsinkable ships now.'

I find it rather funny that the lesson they take away from that was not making sure there are lifeboats for everyone. Instead, it is, 'we need not worry. After a feel tweaks, we will regain control over nature. Nothing can stop us; we are mammals after all.' Well, I guess whoever had said that, were wrong.

Though, it was lucky for us for things to have happened that way. Why? Because I'm sure as hell those who were on the lifeboats were all dead by now. It's so strange. Usually, I have this feeling of satisfaction whenever I'm right. But, satisfaction was not what I felt as I held on to that piece of something. No. What I felt were dread and concern. Concern that my less than impressive strength could keep us on, whatever this thing was.

And despite my best effort to keep myself awake with fear and concentration. I still passed out at some point, trusting our fates on something, as we floated to, somewhere.

Chapter 1: "Welcome to Hon Dao."

Judy gradually regained her consciousness. Her body felt heavy. The overwhelming dampness and dried salt on her fur urged the rabbit to wake up. Her thought rang. Wake up and do something to reclaim comfort. She wanted to obey. She wanted to take a long warm shower. She wanted to do them all so bad. But the exhausted body would not let her. The large body of sand underneath seemed to have a life of its own. It held Judy in place. This made the process of getting up infinitely harder.

Judy could rest a little longer. True, but the grains of sand and salt in her nostrils told her otherwise. Physically, she was in a similar position to those who suffer both depression and anxiety. Feeling the unchained craving to run away out of fear (for something was wrong); accompanied by powerlessness and exhaustion. All made for a nasty concoction that turned mere two minutes into an hour-long torture session. After the stench of dried blood and flesh had wormed its way through the microcracks between the grains of sand in her nose, she decided to make a desperate push. She must get up.

Judy started by lifting her head up. She opened her mouth and took in as much air as possible. Salty air and specs of sand jumped into her mouth, latching onto her tongue. The rabbit fought the urge to spit them out. Getting up was the priority. Also, she could not afford to lose any more water. Soon, she overcame the grip of the sand on her face. In the back of her head, she swore that the ground was trying to get her to die in the most embarrassing position of all. Die lying down, that was not going to happen to her. Not to Judy Hopps, the first rabbit officer.

She lifted her head up. Her eyes could finally see again. Coconut trees, sand, and the sun. No doubt, she was on a beach. Fortunately, it was not a deserted beach. She could see shacks and houses in the distance. Before she could soak in the scenery, Judy caught up her breath. She inhaled, felt something in the back of her throat, then coughed, expelled all the sand from her mouth (at least most of them).

The rabbit then hyperventilated, restored her oxygen reserve. After her lung had filled with a comfortable amount, she repositioned her hands. She tried to get her head as high as possible. Her arms were shaking from losing heat and exhaustion. She tightened her muscles, steady her arms. Once she had done that, Judy transferred strength in her reserve to her legs. Judy breathed in relief after feeling the tips of her toes moving on her commands. She moved her legs, and gradually got herself up.

Finally, she was back on her feet. The first thing she did was checking behind her. Strange, there was no sign of debris of any kind. She could see pieces of trash washed up on the shore. None of them belonged to the cruise ship, however. She turned back, had a wider look at the beach. Judy found the source of the stench. In the distance, were decaying bodies, but not the kind she was expecting. They were just fish left to dry under the sun. Distributing these fish on the sand were a black and two calico cats. Their clothes suggested that they were all females. The cats just have a quick glance at Judy, then resumed to their task.

Judy's mind immediately reminded her of something utmost important. She put her hands round her mouth, amplifying her sound. "Nick, where are you?" She called out to her partner. The fox did not answer. To her dismay (with a hint of despair), all she had were more prying looks from the feline residents. There were just blank stares instead of that sly and smooth voice. She tightened her eyebrows, took another deep breath and shout. "Nick! Are you there?" A louder voice did not work it seemed. It did not attract Nick, just more gazes from the cats. She turned to her left trying to avoid those piercing gazes.

Then, two tabby cats, one gray female, one orange tabby came into her view. In front of them was three large buckets. The two cats were hiding in the shade provided by an umbrella made out of wood and torn fabrics. In the limited darkness, their eyes glimmered at Judy. The distance between her and them made the lights appeared, eerie.

The light emitted from those glowing marbles silenced Judy. Her ears twitched slightly, feeling an uncanny discomfort. The cats then looked down, forget about the bunny, and returned to their work. They were digging their claws deep inside each fish, ripping out gills and bones with surgeon precision. Soon, each fish achieved a clear separation of flesh and bone in a matter of seconds. Their hands' movements and the dirty yet fluid sound they made, was hypnotic to Judy.

"Co co on khong?" [Are you okay, miss?]

A voice broke her trance. It was the female black cat. She was no longer far away; instead, she was dangerously close to Judy's personal space. She was so close that the rabbit could taste the sweat-infused scent of blood. Before she could try to understand what language the cat was speaking, she asked the cat. "Hey, have you seen Nick. He is a red fox. We were ship-wrecked-"

"No noi cai quy gi the?" [What the hell is she talking about?], A male voice this time. The orange tabby cat was behind her. The rabbit jolted from the sudden appearance. Judy wanted to ask How did you get there that fast? , but instead, she was trying to reclaim some personal space. They were standing too close for comfort.

While Judy was moving away from both, the black cat shrugged. "Co Me Thien Nhien moi biet." [Only Mother Nature would know]. Judy told the cats to back off in a respectable manner. Afterward, she bombarded them with series of questions (where she was, what happened, etc...). Her pace behind these questions slowed down as she went on.

The tabby cat pointed at Judy. His claws drenched in crimson. "Heh, nhin ho kia. Lam nhu noi cham lam minh hieu duoc tieng ay. De thuong that." [Heh, look at her. As if talking slower would make us understand her language. How cute.]

The black cat aggressively waved her hands in front of Judy, signaling her to stop. Once the rabbit obeyed, she showed Judy her palms, her sticky and fish's slime coated palm. With a smile, the black cat snapped her fingers. The sound of the snap was loud enough that Judy could not respond any other way but to wince.

Before long, a large lump of sand rose up. The rabbit hopped backward. The thousand years old instinct told Judy that whatever was under that was a predator-the dangerous kind. Seconds later, she was proven, half wrong. A black kitten burst out from the sand. The little thing shook her head, expelled the leftover sand on her fur. For some reasons, only her upper body was above ground. If not for the sudden entrance, Judy would have found the kitten to be adorable.

The black cat told the kitten; her tone was strict and commanding. "Nga, mang cho me cai ay." [Nga, bring me the thing].

The kitten put her index finger on the rim of her lip "Cai ay nao me?" [What thing, mom?]

The mother stomped her feet. The impact made the kitten cupped her ears in irritation. "Cai ay. Cai dich thuat ay, cai me moi duoc tang hom qua." [The thing. The translator thing, my gift from yesterday.] The mother said, in a louder tone.

The kitten's finger moved away from her lip and pointed upward. "Ah, con biet roi, me cho ti." [Ah, I know, in a moment, mother]. She said, before going back underground. She just buried sand above her, refusing to show the rest of her body. Judy just stood there, frozen. On the contrary to her exterior reaction, he mind was overloaded and running at a frantic pace. What the hell is going on?

A moment later, the kitten returned. This time, in her hands, was a large sea snail shell. The patterns on the shell were rather intriguing. At first glance, they just look like random patterns on any old snail shell. However, once Judy focused her vision on them, they started to look like faces. All the faces were different in term of appearances. One thing they have in common? The looked like they were screaming in agony.

The kitten presented 'the thing' to her mother with utmost respect. "Da day me." [There you go, mother].

The mother took it with one hand, patted the kitten with another. The kitten then went back in the sand. She then slowly walked toward Judy. Her hands moved the shell close to the rabbit's face. The cat whistled. Judy's ears then perked up. She would have sworn that she heard dripping noise coming from within the shell. The noise was getting louder until something emerged from the shell.

"Oh, cheeses and crackers! WHAT is that?" Judy screamed before taking a few more steps back.

The black cat said, "Dung so, no hien lam." [Don't be scared, it's gentle], before she moved the snail closer to Judy. "Chi can noi vao day" [Just speak into this]

Judy shook her head, as her body was shivering.

The cat urged them to speak into the creature. "Thoi ma, cuu noi dai di."[Come on, just do it]

The tabby cat grew impatient. "Quen ba no di." [Forget your ancestor]. He tried to grab Judy by her shoulders forcefully. The bunny officer may be on vacation, but he reflex was not. Judy dashed to the side, evaded his grip. She then had a quick look around and made an escape route in her head. Before her feet could go that route, a high pitched sound rung in her ears. Her ankles started to itch.

She looked down, the sand underneath had covered her feet, slightly above her ankles. What the hell?

The black cat did not intervene. Not so much as a word of concern. Instead, she just moved closer and said, "Day, chi can noi, 'toi la mot con tho ngoc, ngoc, ngoc'." [Here, just need to say, 'I'm a dumb, dumb, dumb rabbit'].

Judy tried to lift her feet up. She did not know if she had hallucinated it or not, but the sand rose as she did so. She pulled her left foot up, a little more force this time. That was when she realized; the sand did not rise. Instead, it was dragging her down. High pitched ringing sound intensified once her lower half was underneath the sand. The black cat lowered the shell. The creature stretched itself out further, reaching for the warmth radiated from Judy's cheek.

Judy closed her eyes. But the image of the grotesque being had already edged in her mind. The creature inside, its body was no different than a slug. However, the head, the head was not something familiar to Judy. The head (or if one could call it that) had no eye. Instead, it looked like a sunflower. A flower with every one of its petal replaced with cat ears. No, the petals did not look like cat ears, but they were cat ears. All were wiggling, seemingly perked up to listen to Judy's quiet pleas. The middle section, the place where a normal flower housed their seeds, was teeming with round, dark brown lumps. As the ears felt Judy's breath caressing their rims, the lumps cracked open. In between those cracks, were pupils, cat's pupils. All were looking straight at Judy.

Judy tried to reel her head back. "No, please, get that away from me." Her short breath broke her voice a bit. "And please, let me go." She squirmed some more in the sand, but it did nothing. The sand just held her tighter. She could feel an invisible hand grabbed the back of her head and forced her to face the creature inside the shell head on. Judy gritted her teeth, expecting a slimy touch, a bite, or a burn on her fur.

Before the creature could touch her face and crawl across it, the black cat withdrew the shell. The tabby behind her back just scoffed, "Thay khong? Dau co gi la kho. Dua ngoai quoc ngu" [See? It's not that hard. Idiot foreigner] and walked away.

Judy opened her eyes. She was bewildered. Her rabbit feet were on the sand, not underneath it. There was no trace of sand on her body, despite the fact she was nearly submerged in it and were lying on it a second ago. Now that she paid attention, that ringing sound in her ears had subsided. In its absence, was a mild migraine. The pain caused by it was weak, not enough to make her collapse. But, strong enough to keep her urge to bolt out of place as soon and as fast as she could in check. So, unlike those protagonists in horror movies, she did not stay because of idiotic curiosity. Something made her stay.

After a few moments of quiet confusion, Judy noticed that the creature started to glow. At first, it was a faint blue light. Something about that shade of color was just mesmerizing to her. Her muscles were still tense, and the urge to escape still lingered. But her brains and eyes were drawn to the light. As the creature crawled (or slide) back inside, the light grew brighter. Its glow pierced through the shell. As the light turned white, Judy's eyes widen.

The black cat then made a beeline for high pole on the beach. Her movement was swift and soundless. After the pole was in grabbing distance, she looked up at a rusted megaphone on top of it. She then dropped the shell on the sand then picked it up with her tail. The cat got her claws out and jumped on the pole. She started climbing it, with speed almost the same as her running speed. The pace and her finesse made Judy both awestruck and jealous.

Once the cat was at the top, she violently shoved the shell into the megaphone. The sudden shock did not concern the creature, much. In a few second, it slowly squirmed out. This time, its head took the shape of a predator's mouth, completed with fangs and teeth. It extended its body, allowed the mouth the stretch further. The mouth opened wide.

Judy stood still, frozen in place. Questions churned and wrapped around her mind. Before she could even try to comprehend any of them, the creature glowed to its brightest. The mouth immediately spread a ghastly sound. It was low-pitched sound, unlike anything Judy had heard before. Judy felt like her eardrums were under assault. As if that creature violently coiled its body and rammed straight for her middle ear. She took the rims of her ears and pulled them down. It was a desperate attempt to block out the horrid sound. Unfortunately, it did not work. As the creature increased its volume, her headache became stronger. This time, the pain was enough to bring her to her knees.

Unknowing to Judy, the sound waved created by the creature reached all to way to the center of the island. The vibration of that ghastly sound caused a church's bells to ring. And the sound of those bells was what plagued the island fully. Judy could not hear much of the bells, for the creature's sound had overpowered it. After 30 seconds of screaming, the creature closed its mouth and retracted its body. The ghastly sound came from the creature subsided. That headache inside Judy's head disappeared. That made the rabbit released the pressure on her ears. She could hear the whisper of calm wind in the air. The coolness of the wind relaxed her muscles substantially. She felt at ease all the sudden.

The black cat took the shell off the megaphone and slid down the pole. Moments later, every cat around the beach waved and smiled at Judy. Those plastered-on smiles were mirroring Zootopia's overblown commercials rather flawlessly. The black cat took a step back, returned Judy her precious space. Judy turned back and saw the tabby had disappeared. His footprints were on the sands, led back to the shade of his umbrella. He also joined in with the smile and wave crowd. His fangs are a bit more menacing, though.

Seeing Judy's confused expression, the black cat stuck out her right hand, offering a handshake. It somehow made her look more like a Zootopian than some foreigner on a remote island. The black feline greeted in a perfect Zootopian accent. "Ah, now we can speak your language. I am terribly sorry for Cam's behavior." She gestured at the orange tabby. "Please, search your heart the ability to excuse him." She then bowed. "And please, forgive us as well. A few minutes ago, we were ignorant." She stood upright. "However, now, thanks to Mother Nature, we no longer are. Let's begin on a better note, shall we?" The cat gave a quick bow, "Welcome to Hon Dao; a quaint little island that lives off the generosity of Mother Nature. My name is Mun. Glad to be your acquaintance. " She gave Judy a heartwarming smile afterward.


Author note:

Thank you so much for reading. If you enjoyed what you have just read and wished to see more, please follow or leave a review. They would give me the motivation to write more for everyone. All feedbacks will be appreciated. If you find anything lacking or flawed in my story (grammar, word use, etc.), please tell me in the reviews as well. I shall do my best to update these chapters sooner and make them more polished. This is one of my first stories so, please forgive possible mistakes in the future and help me fix them.