Author's Note:
This story will focus mostly on Nick, so Judy's parts will be longer in comparison, but only every so often. I will put the age of Nick or Judy in parenthesis beside the chapter title. The years for their births are based on if Nick was 32, and Judy was 25 or 24 in the movie, and a couple of things in Rough Life effect ages as well. The actual date is purely speculative. The first three chapters will be basically an overview of Nick's life with a few details in the most important parts. After that, it will go into much more detail.
Prologue:
June 12, 1982:
"It's a boy!" the doctor said as the little fox kit was born in the free health clinic.
"Did you hear that honey? A boy!" the excited father, Jeff Wilde said.
"I know! It's wonderful!" the mother, Marie Wilde said.
Later, as the parents were in their room, Marie was holding the child, and the doctor came in.
"What's the child's name?" the doctor asked.
"Nicolas Piberius Wilde," Jeff said.
"Good name. I will have the birth certificate finished soon," the doctor said, then left.
The two Wilde parents went back to their home in Savannah Central later that week, with their new son, Nick.
October 12, 1990:
"It's quadruplets!" the doctor said as the four baby bunnies were born.
"What are they?" asked the father, Stuart Hopps.
"Two girls, and two boys," the doctor replied.
Later, the parents were in their room, each holding two bunnies.
"This one will be Judy, this one Janet, him James, and he will be John," Stuart said, who had a feeling something was different about Judy, but ignored it.
Chapter 1: The Initiation (5 – 9) – The Play (9)
(Nick)
"How do I use this?" asked the little five year old fox kit, holding a cassette tape.
"Let me show you, son," his mother said. "Press the stop button on the stereo, then put the tape in like this. Then close it and hit play."
His mother showed him how to use it some more, then he was using it like a master DJ within thirty minutes.
Nick had been given a new stereo and several tapes for his birthday yesterday, and he was really excited. He couldn't wait to show his father he learned how to use the gifts he was given.
When Jeff arrived home, there was some mixed emotions in the mail.
At dinner, Jeff tried to explain to his son what this meant.
"Son. How was your day?" Jeff asked.
"Good! I learned to use the stereo I got!" Nick replied.
"That's great. Look, I need to go away for a few months, but you will still be here with your mother, ok?"
"But why?"
"The Army has drafted me in. They are in dire need of officers, so they looked for the most officer-like mammals around. Apparently, I am officer-like."
"What's 'drafted' mean?"
"It means they picked him to be on their team," Marie said.
"Right," Jeff said.
"Oh, ok," Nick said.
The next day, Jeff Wilde left to go begin training for the Army. At the time, Nick did not know that this was the beginning of the end of the norm. Jeff, after training, signed a twenty year, active duty contract. He signed it because the pay he would receive would be plenty to support his family. He would receive one leave a year to go see his family.
Over a few years, Nick grew up little by little, but Jeff didn't see him much. One day, when Nick was eight, he was at school, and he finally got the courage to talk to the only other fox in the school, Finnick.
"Hello. My name's Nick. What's yours?" Nick asked during lunch.
"Finnick."
"I like that name. What do you do for fun?"
"I like to cook."
"Cook?"
"Yeah. You know, where you put the ingredients together and you get yummy food?"
"I know what cooking is. I like to play ball."
"I do too."
That was the beginning of a long friendship. When Nick was walking home from school that day, he saw a zebra foal with a uniform on that looked interesting. Nick walked up to him.
"Excuse me, but what are you wearing?" Nick asked.
"I am wearing a Junior Ranger Scout uniform. The Junior Rangers go on camping trips, learn cool things, and more. And we are all part of a pack," the zebra said, answering the question Nick didn't ask, too.
"That sounds fun!"
"It is, but you need a uniform, and you need to know the rules."
"I can get those!"
"Good luck," the zebra said sarcastically, then walked off.
When Nick got home, he was so excited.
"Mom! Mom! I have two things I want to tell you!"
"What are they, Nicky?"
"I met another fox at school named Finnick! He's really cool and we're friends now!"
"That's wonderful!"
"And I want to be a Junior Ranger Scout!"
When Nick said that, his mother's ears went down, and she looked sad.
"What's wrong, Mom?"
"Nothing. If you want to be a Junior Ranger Scout, I will help you become one. Always try to be more than everyone thinks you are."
"What does that mean?"
"It means don't be the stereotype."
"What's a stereotype? Is it like a stereo tape?"
"No," his mother said, chuckling. "You'll learn when you're older."
So, Nick's mother scraped enough money together to buy Nick a brand new uniform, because by God, he would be a part of a pack. It took almost a year to get the money for the uniform, but Marie got it all. When Nick tried the uniform on, he was so proud, his mother was, too. Nick had learned all the rules he needed to know to get in, and Marie signed Nick up. When the time came for initiation, Nick walked proudly up into the building. Nick didn't care the rest of the members were all prey.
"Ok, Nick. Ready for initiation?" asked the chipmunk member.
"Yeah! Pretty much born ready!" Nick replied as he stepped into the room.
The chipmunk snapped his fingers, and the lights went out. A flashlight was turned on in Nick's face. Nick got used to the light, then looked at the chipmunk.
"Now raise your right paw, and deliver the oath," the chipmunk said.
Nick did, then began.
"I, Nicolas Wilde, promise to be brave, loyal, helpful, and trustworthy!"
The chipmunk looked over at the others, then back at Nick. "Even though you're a fox?"
"What?" Nick asked, dumbfounded. Suddenly, the light went out, and he was pushed to the ground. "What did I do wrong, you guys!? Tell me, what did I do wrong!?"
The chipmunk put a muzzle on the poor little fox kit, and started laughing like the others were.
"If you ever thought we would trust a fox without a muzzle, you're even dumber than you look!" the chipmunk said.
Nick got up and ran out of the building, just as it started to rain. Nick tried to get the muzzle off, but he couldn't. He tried lifting the strap over his head, and it came off. Nick threw the muzzle onto the street and started to sob. He sat on the sidewalk and cried for thirty minutes. During that time, he developed a new outlook on life, and a motto.
If the world is only going to see a fox as shifty and untrustworthy, there's no point in trying to be anything else.
And his new motto,
Never let them see that they get to you.
Nick slowly walked home that night, not wanting to talk about what happened.
When he got home, his mother seemed to know exactly what had happened, so she never said a word to Nick.
The next day, at school, the only person Nick would talk to was Finnick.
"Dude! What is wrong with you?" Finn asked.
Nick had an almost expressionless face on.
"I tried to do something last night," Nick said.
"You joined the Ranger Scouts! Awesome! Let's celebrate!" Finn said, dancing around.
"But I didn't get in!" Nick yelled as he grabbed Finnick's arm.
"What? You knew all of the rules better than anyone else!" Finn said, yanking his arm away from Nick.
"But I'm not-" Nick started, then covered his eyes and walked away.
"Not a what?" Finnick asked.
"Just leave me alone!" Nick said, then ran off out of the school, and back to his home.
(Judy)
"Can you come here and help me, Judy?" asked Stuart Hopps, who was in the machine barn, working on one of the tractors.
"Ok!" little nine year old Judy said, skipping over to her father. "What do you need, Daddy?"
"Can you hand me that vise grip over there?"
"Ok!" Judy looked at the toolbox, but didn't know what a "vise grip" was, or what it did, so she grabbed the first thing she saw and handed it to Stu.
Stu chuckled and handed the tool back to Judy. "Judy, this is a screwdriver. This is a vise grip," Stu said, picking up the vise grip from the toolbox.
"Oh!" Judy looked back into the toolbox. "Do you need this?" Judy asked, pointing to another tool.
"That is a hammer drill, and no, I do not need it," Stu said, going back to work on the tractor's diesel engine.
"Judy!" yelled Bonnie Hopps from the door to the barn they were in.
"Coming!" Judy said as she skipped over to her mother.
"Can you go tell Jacob to come in for lunch?"
"Ok!" Judy skipped out of the barn and went to the edge of the carrot field. She started jumping and waving, trying to get her brother's attention. The large articulated 4x4 tractor in the field stopped, and the bunny inside it climbed out and walked over to Judy.
"What's going on, Judy?" Jacob asked.
"Mommy said it's time for lunch!"
"Oh man! I was so caught up in disking the field, I guess I lost track of time! Let me go turn the tractor off and I'll be in soon." Jacob turned and went back to the tractor and turned it off, and followed Judy back home.
After lunch, Jacob continued disking the carrot field, and Stu went back to work on the broken-down tractor.
Judy was sitting in the shade of a tree near the barn her dad was in. She was thinking about the farm life.
Farm life is great, but I wish there was some excitement. Judy thought. There is very little adventure on the farm. Sure, there is a lot of fun things to do, but nothing overly super exciting. What could I do that has more excitement, adventure, and fun? And what can I do to make the world a better place?
The next school day, Judy was in class, preparing for the Carrot Days Festival school play.
"Thousands of years ago, the world was a dangerous place," said a voice, while a young dear wandered around a jungle. "A world where predator and prey didn't get along." A cougar followed the young deer. "A place where savage beasts lurked in every shadow." The cougar leapt up and revealed that this was all on a stage in a play. The cougar fake attacked the deer with his big stuffed paw gloves, and the deer fell down, pulling red ribbons out and handing them to the cougar, who pretended to eat the "intestines."
"Blood! Blood! Blood! And death! And that is why I'm glad I live today, because back then, I would be lunch," the young deer said, still lying on the ground.
There was a lone clapping sound. "Good job, good job," the armadillo teacher said as the deer pulled a squeaky heart out and handed it to the cougar, who put it in his mouth. "Ok, that's enough. That's very graphic. Thank you, you are fine, and, please pick up your intestines."
The deer and cougar walked over to the seats, and sat down next to young Judy. "Hey! That was great! You had me at 'blood,'" Judy said.
"Ok! Melody mammals, you're up next! Rory, Woody, Sally, and Judy," the teacher said, as she started to play the piano.
What do we love about our city?
That's why we sing this little ditty.
We'll all be what we want to be,
'Cause you told me about this opportunity!
I want to work with wood, because I'm a woodchuck, sang Woody.
I'm a raccoon, so I'm gonna drive a trash truck, sang Rory
And squirrels like me wanna sell some nuts, sang Sally.
And I'm a bunny so…
Judy stopped singing as the teacher continued playing.
"I wanna grow carrots!" the teacher whispered.
"But, I don't want to grow carrots," Judy said, and everyone moaned.
"Judy! What is your problem?" one student asked.
"What? I don't!" Judy said as the teacher walked up to her.
"Everyone take a five," the teacher said. "Judy, it's, it's just a song."
"Well, it makes it sound that since I'm a rabbit, I only have a future in carrots. What if I wanted to be an astronaut? Or a paramedic? Or—"
"Judy, look. Certain mammals are just better at some things than others. When I was your age, I wanted to be a firefighter. But armadillos ball up at the first sign of danger, so I became a teacher."
A little bear cub boy walked up to the teacher and tugged on her sleeve. "Missus Amadillo?"
"Hang on, Warren!" then she turned back to Judy. "I'm not saying that you can't be what you want to be. I'm saying that what you want to be should be realistic." Judy's ears dropped.
Warren tugged harder. "Missus Amadillo! Missus Amadillo!"
"Warren! I'm talking to—"
"Bobby Bobcat is up the tree again! Look!" Warren pointed out the window to the tree, where Bobby was up on a high branch. Everyone ran outside to the tree.
"Bobby! Just stay calm!" Missus Amadillo said.
"I can't get down!" Bobby sobbed.
"Take a deep breath! Just like last time!" Missus Amadillo said.
Bobby started breathing deeply, when his instincts made him climb one branch higher. "I don't know why I did that!" Bobby continued to sob.
One boy pointed to the branch Bobby was on. "That branch isn't gonna hold him!"
"Ahh! Somebody call the police!" Missus Amadillo screamed.
"He's gonna fall!" Judy said.
Missus Amadillo curled into a ball. The laser pointer she uses to show where things need to go was hanging out of the ball she was in. Judy took it and turned it on and shined it next to Bobby. Bobby chased it down the tree, and just as he got down, a police cruiser drove up, and a tiger officer got out and witnessed Judy saving Bobby. Everyone cheered for Judy saving Bobby, and Bobby hugged her.
The officer walked up to Judy and chuckled. "That was some quick thinking! What's your name young lady?" the officer asked.
"Judy Hopps, sir."
"Well, Judy Hopps, you are a hero," the officer said, putting a ZPD Junior Detective sticker on her chest. "You know, you should think about being a police officer one day."
"Pfft! Her? She can't be a cop, she's just a bunny!" one hyena student mocked.
"You know son, this is Zootopia, where anyone can be anything."
Judy had a huge smile on her face.
I know what I want to be! Judy thought.
On the night of the play, the entire thing was rearranged because some kids got sick, so Judy had the lead part. Missus Amadillo let Judy say what she wanted to.
"Fear. Treachery. Bloodlust," said Judy as she wandered around the stage like a bunny would have a thousand years ago. "Thousands of years ago, these were the forces that ruled our world! A world where prey were scared of predators. And predators, had a biological urge to maim, and maul, and—"
A tiger cub jumped out of the cardboard bushes and attacked Judy. Judy screamed and fell down. "Blood! Blood! Blood!" Judy said, pulling red ribbons out and throwing them. Judy started fake choking and squeezed a bottle of ketchup onto her chest. "…and death." Judy moaned one last time, squeezing the bottle.
In the audience, Judy's parents moaned.
Bobby Bobcat was doing the music, and he did some dramatic drumming to add a feeling of fear to the play.
Judy got up. "Back then, the world was divided between two. Vicious predator!" The tiger cub hissed. "Or meek prey."
Large paper sacks were lowered over them. Bobby did more dramatic music. Sharla the lamb danced around, throwing confetti.
"But over time, we evolved, and moved beyond our primitive, savage ways." The sacks were lifted up, and Judy and the tiger had changed into white gowns. "And now, predator and prey live in harmony." Judy held the paws of the tiger cub, and Sharla exploded a party popper over their heads. "And every young mammal has multitudinous opportunities!"
"Yeah!" Sharla said. "I don't have to cower in a herd anymore." Sharla pulled the gown off, revealing an astronaut costume. "Instead, I can be an astronaut!" Bobby played a slide whistle and made the sound of a theremin.
"I don't have to be a lonely hunter anymore," said the tiger, who pulled off his gown to reveal a business suit. "Today I can hunt for tax exemptions. I'm gonna be an actuary." Bobby played a riff on the piano.
"And I can make the world a better place!" Judy said. "I am going to be…" Bobby played funky police tv show music on a cassette player. Judy pulled her gown off revealing a police officer costume. "A police officer!"
There was a lone laughing in the audience. "Bunny cop? That is the most stupidest thing I have ever heard," said a young fox wearing overalls.
"It may seem impossible to small minds," Judy said, putting a police hat on her head as she leaned towards the fox. "I'm looking at you, Gideon Grey."
Gideon made a confused face, and sneered at Judy as a few mammals in the audience chuckled.
"But just 211 miles away stands the great city of Zootopia," Judy said, while a cardboard cutout of Zootopia was lowered onto the stage. "Where our ancestors first joined together in peace, and declared that anyone can be anything!"
The audience started clapping. "Thank you and goodnight!" Judy said as the curtain went down.
Outside, Judy was walking along with her parents down to the carnival rows. "You know it's not night yet, right?" Bonnie asked Judy.
"Yeah. I just got caught up in the play, I should have said 'good afternoon,'" Judy said.
"Judy, do you ever wonder how your mom and me got to be so darn happy?" Stu asked, changing the subject.
"Nope!" Judy said, still skipping along.
"Well, we gave up on our dreams and we settled. Right, Bon?"
"Oh, yes, that's right Stu. We settled hard," Bon said.
"You see, that's the beauty of complacency Jude. If you never try anything new, you'll never fail."
"I like trying actually!" Judy said, jumping onto some hay bales.
"What your father means. Hon, is it's going to be difficult for you to become a police officer, impossible even.
"Right. There's never been a bunny cop."
"No!"
"Bunnies don't do that."
"Never!"
"Never."
Judy stopped. "Oh. Then, I guess I'll have to be the first one!" Judy said, perking up. "Because I am going to make the world a better place!" Judy said, doing a flip off of the hay bales.
Stu chuckled nervously. "Or, uh, heck, you know, you want to talk about making the world a better place, no better way to do that than becoming a carrot farmer."
"Yes! Your dad, me, your 275 brothers and sisters, we're changing the world!"
"Yeah."
"One carrot at a time."
"Amen to that. Carrot farming is a noble profession."
"Just putting the seeds into the ground."
Judy saw a few of her friends walk behind a tent, while Gideon Grey and his friend Travis followed them.
"Ah, at one with the soil," Stu said, while Judy stopped listening. "Just getting covered with dirt."
"You get it honey. It's great to have dreams," Bon said as Judy followed Gideon.
"Yeah! Just as long as you don't believe in them too much," Stu said, realizing Judy wasn't there. "Where'd the heck she go?"
Behind the tent, Gideon was bullying Judy's friends. "Give me your tickets right now, or I'm gonna kick your meek little sheep butt!"
Gideon pushed Sharla, who had the tickets. "Ow! Cut it out, Gideon!"
"Baa! Baa! What are you gonna do? Cry?" Gideon said as he took the tickets and put them in his pocket.
"Hey! You heard her, cut it out!" Judy said walking up.
"Nice costume, loser! What kind of world are you living in where you think a bunny can be a cop?"
"Kindly return my friends' tickets," Judy demanded holding her paw out.
"Come and get 'em!" Gideon said, patting his pocket that held the tickets. "But watch out! 'Cause I'm a fox, and like you said in your dumb little stage play, us predators used to eat prey! And that killer instinct is still in our 'dunnah.'"
Travis leaned over to Gideon and whispered, "Uh, I'm pretty much sure it's DNA."
"Don't tell me what I know, Travis!" Gideon hissed back at him.
"You don't scare me, Gideon," Judy said stepping forward.
Gideon shoved Judy down. "Look at her nose twitch! She is scared!" Travis sneered.
"Cry little baby bunny! Cry!" Gideon taunted. Judy got the courage and kicked Gideon in the face. Her friends ducked behind a tree. "Aw, you don't know when to quit, do you?" Gideon unsheathed his claws and growled as he came closer to Judy. He slashed at her face as she screamed. She put her paw to her cheek and looked at it. She gasped when she saw the blood. Gideon put his paw over Judy's fresh cut and held her to the ground. "I want you to remember this moment anytime you think you will be anything more than just a stupid, carrot-farming dumb bunny!"
Gideon and Travis left.
Judy's friends ran over to her. "Are you ok?" Sharla asked.
"That looks baa-d," said the other sheep.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Judy said, getting up. "Here you go." Judy handed Sharla the tickets. She had snuck them out of Gideon's pocket.
"Wow! You got our tickets!" Sharla said.
"You're awesome, Judy," said the other sheep.
"That Gideon doesn't know what he's talking about!"
"Well, he was right about one thing," Judy said, putting her hat back on. "I don't know when to quit!"
Author's Note:
The play rehearsal is heavily based off a deleted scene from Zootopia. I thought that with modifications, it would fit into the story very well.