In the jungle, a man that had jaguar ears ant tail watched as a girl with grey bunny ears and tail hopped around innocently as a young females voice rung out. "Fear. Treachery. Bloodlust. Thousands of years ago... these were the forces that ruled our world. A world where prey were scared of predators." As the girl spoke, the half bunny female stopped in front of a pond to take a drink as the half jaguar male continued to stalk his meal and ready to pounce. "And predators had and uncontrollable, biological urge to maim, and maul, and..."
"Ahhhhhh!" Young nine-year-old Judy Hopps wore a skin toned ballet suit and fell to the floor of the stage as she continued to do her stage play and make groaning sounds and yelling 'blood' as she used red ribbon to represent blood spouting out of her and then layed flat on the floor and used a ketchup bottle to splatter it over her stomach to show her blood covering her body. "And... death!" She lied on the floor for a few minuets as a young boy with jaguar ears and tail in a skin toned ballet suit with a few jaguar prints put his arms that were stretched out to his side and she stood back up and continued.
"Back then the world was divided into two. Vicious predators," she gestured to the boy as he raised his clawed hands and growled as she continued. "And meek prey," she said as she put her hands over where her heart was and made a scared expression. Then two boxed covered Judy and the boy as they changed into their new costumes as Judy continued to narrate. "But over time, we've evolved," she said as the boxes were lifted and a young boy with black puffy hair and sheep ears and tail in a white angle gown danced around as Judy continued.
"And we've moved beyond our primitive savage ways." Judy and the half jaguar boy had changed into angle gowns and held hands and faced each other. "Now predators and prey live in harmony. And every young mammal has multiple opportunities," she said as she gestured to the half sheep boy. "Yeah. I don't have to cower and hide in a herd anymore. Instead, I can be an astronaut!" The boy took off his gown and showed an astronaut costume and put on a helmet.
Judy gestured to the half jaguar boy as he spoke haltingly. "And today I don't have to be a lonely hunter anymore. Because today I can hunt for tax exemptions and be an actuary!" The boy took off his gown and showed a suit. Judy stepped up and spoke what she could be. "And I can make the world a better place. I'm going to be a police officer!" Judy took off her gown and showed a police officer uniform and placed a hat on her head. There was a laugh in the audience and Judy turned to see a chubby boy with fox ears and tail and a boy with weasel ears and tail laughing at her. Gideon Grey and his friend Travis. "A bunny cop! That is the most stupidest thing I have ever heard in my life," he said as Judy continued. "It may seem impossible to small minds- I'm looking at you Gideon Grey," she added, earning a glare from the half fox boy.
"But just two hundred and eleven miles away is the city where our ancestors first made peace... Zootopia!" The background changed from a rainforest scene to a picture of a city in the distance with the word 'Zootopia' was painted over it. "And it was there that they said that anyone can be anything. Thank you and good night!" Judy and the two boys bowed as the curtains closed.
Later, still in her officer outfit, Judy skipped between her parents with a paw in one of theirs. "Judy," her father said. "Do you ever wonder how me and your mother got to be so darn happy?" "Nope," Judy replied. Judy never thought about it since she had so many siblings and she always had to remember their names since they looked so alike.
Everyone was part animal and her family was all rabbit. She had huge bunny ears and grey hair kept out of her face with a carrot clip and as long as her ears in two pony tails so it looked like she had two pairs and she also had a grey tail. "Well," her father started, "we gave up on our dreams. And we settle, and hard. Right, Bon?" "Oh, yes, Stu," her mother replied. "And we settled hard." "Yeah that's right. And you know, that's the beauty of complacency, Jude," her father said. "Because if yo never try anything new, you'll never fail! And who wants to fail, right?" "What your father means, honey, is that it's gonna be difficult-impossible even- for you t-to become a police officer." "Yep", her father agreed. "Because there's never been a bunny cop," her father said. "Too dangerous," her mother said.
Judy was quiet for a minuet. "Well... then I'll be the first one!" She bounced off a cart and spun around. "Because I'm gonna be the first one and make the world a better place!" "Oh, now here's a safer way to make the world a better place," her father said as they stopped in front of their carrot cart. "Being a carrot farmer is the best way to make it a better place." "One carrot at a time," her mother said. "Me, your dad, your two hundred and seventy-five brothers and sisters are changing the world." As they continued to talk, a sound caught her attention.
She looked to see a half sheep little girl and boy and another young bunny head to an activity behind a booth, passing Gideon who seemed to have an eye on the tickets the young half black sheep girl held in her hands. He motioned for Travis to follow him as he followed the group. What is he up to now? Judy wondered as she followed them. When she saw what was going on, Gideon was already trying to get the tickets. "Give me your tickets right now or I'm gonna kick your meek little sheep butt!"
Gideon pushed the head of the girl almost causing her to fall. "OW! Cut it out Gideon," she said as he snacked the tickets out of her hand. "Baaa! Baaa! Baaa! What are you gonna do? Cry! What good'll that do?" "Cut it out," Judy said as she came out of the corner where she was hiding. Gideon scoffed and just put them in the pocket of his overalls. "Look at this. Nice costume! What kind of world do you, a loser bunny, think your livin' in where you think a bunny can be a cop." Judy tried to keep her cool as she held out her hand. "Kindy return my friends tickets."
Gideon laughed at her as he patted the tickets. "Come an' gettem. But watch out, 'cause I'm a fox. And like you said in your dumb little stage play we us to eat youse bunnies. And we still have that killer instincts in our 'Denna,'" Gideon revealed his claws and tried to scare Judy as Travis spoke. "Uh, Gid? I'm pretty sure it's prounounced 'DNA.'" Gideon rolled his eyes and pushed him back. "Don't tell me what I know, Travis." Judy tried to get back on the subject of trying to get the tickets back. "You don't scare me Gideon." Suddenly Gideon pushed her to the ground.
"O, yeah? How 'bout now?" Judy looked up at Gideon slightly terrified as Travis and Gideon laughed. "Look at her nose twitch! She's scared!" "Cry baby bunny, cry!" Judy's last nerves snapped and she kicked Gideon in the nose, blood starting to drip out of it. "Oh you don't know when to quit, do ya?" Gideon held up his left hand, put his claws out, and aimed at Judy's face causing her to shriek slightly and for her friends to gasp. Judy felt her left cheek and realized that there were three claw marks on it, blood starting to trickle out slightly.
Just when she thought he would leave her alone, he held her head on the ground and still held out his claws. "I want you to remember this moment every single time you think you'll be anything more than just a stupid, little, meek carrot-farmin' bunny!" He let her go and ran off with Travis following him. Judy tried to get up but the pain kept her down for a moment as her friends came to her. "Are you okay, Judy?" "That was baad." They helped her up as she replied. "Yeah...yeah I'm okay. Here's your tickets." Judy held up the ticket as her friends thanked her.
"That Gideon Grey doesn't know what he's talking about," the half black sheep girl said. Judy picked up her hat and dusted it off before putting it back on. "Well, he was right about one thing. I don't know when to quit."
15 Years Later: Zootoipa Police Academy
Twenty-four-year-old Judy Hopps was waiting to get started by warming up for whatever training session was set for the officers-in-training on the cloudy day. She heard the half polar bear woman instructor blow her whistle and turned to a kneeling positon. "Alright, listen up, cadets! Zootopia has twelve unique ecosystems within its city limits. Tundratown, Sahara Square, the Rainforest District, to name a few. And your gonna have to master them all. Or, guess what? You're dead!"
The group was led to an area that resembled a windy, sandy plane. "Scorching sandstorms," the instructor said as the group tried to crawl across. Judy was in the back and having trouble crawling through. Stupid ears and pony tails, she thought as a bunch of sand covered her and the instructor yelled at her. "You're dead, bunny bumpkin!" Next thing they did was... "Frigid ice wall!" Many of the cadets had climbed up the wall while Judy just slid down and into the ice water at the bottom earning another yell from the instructor. "You're dead, farm girl!"
Next they were led to a boxing ring and Judy was placed in gear and in front of a half rhino man with a huge horn and extremely taller than her. "Enormous criminals!" the instructor yelled as the man punched Judy, causing her to hit her back against the corner with the instructor yelling in her face "You're dead!"
For the beginning of her time at the academy, the only thing the instructor yelled at Judy when she failed was "Dead! Dead! Dead!" Even when Judy tried to use the giant toilets they had for big species humans and ended up falling in it, her instructor yelled at her from the next stall. "Filthy toilet. You're dead, fluff but!" But Judy didn't give up.
Then, one day, she was jogging on her own and voices from her past, even an insult from her instructor returned to her mind. "Just quit and go home, fluffy bunny!" "There's never been a bunny cop. Never," her father had said. "...just a stupid, little, meek, carrot-farmin' bunny," Gideon Grey had told her. But they just motivated her to keep going. At night he would study a book the instructor recommended for them and did pull-ups on the bunk ladder. Then one night she went in the bathroom and looked at her hair. She didn't have any scissors but she had a pocket knife on her so she used that to cut off her pony tails and left it short. She kept the hair out of her face with her old carrot shaped hair more she tried, the better she got. By the time she graduated, she was at the top of her class.
"As mayor of Zootopia," Mayor Lionheart said at the ceremony where she would earn her badge, "I am proud to announce that my mammal inclusion initiative, has produced its first police academy graduate. Valedictorian of her class, ZPD's first rabbit officer, Judy Hopps." Applauds erupted from the audience as Judy waited for her badge. "Uh, Assistant Mayor Bellweather, the badge." "Oh, yes." A half sheep woman about Judy's height with big, white hair came up to her and pinned a police badge on Judy's uniform.
"Congratulations, Officer Hopps," Bellweather said. "I won't let you down, ma'am. This has been my dream since I was a little girl." "Well, it's, uh, a real big day for us little guys, huh?" "Bellweather, please," Mayor Lionheart said, pushing her out of the way. "Alright, Officer Hopps, show those teeth." The mayor and Judy stood side by side while thousands of photographers took their pictures.