October 31st, 2004

It was another Halloween, and another day in the life of Vergil Vespertilio, a twelve-year-old bat that was the resident 'freak' at school. If it wasn't the fact that his family was one of the few bats that didn't live in the Nocturnal District, then it was because he was a hybrid; specifically, his mother was a fruit bat while his father was a vampire bat. While he looked like a fruit bat, it was the enlarged fangs that gave away his heritage.

As Vergil sat on a bench in Zootopia Central Park, he watched as the other kids ran around in their costumes. He was in costume as well (dressed up as Remus Lupin from the Harry Otter movies) but wasn't invited to play or go trick-or-treating with anyone due to him being so 'different'. The bat sighed to himself as he watched them go about their evening, wishing that someone would at least talk to him.

"Hey, what ya doing?" said a female voice.

Turning to the other side of the bench, Vergil was surprised to find another kid sitting there. She was a pangolin the same age as himself, with a reddish-brown hide and a tan underbelly. Her costume was as Kim Possible from the cartoon of the same name.

"Um, I'm just sitting here, watching as everyone else has fun," Vergil said, a bit awkward as he had never really talked to a girl before.

"Then why don't you join them?" she asked.

"Because I'm the weird kid," the bat said. "Everyone in school judges me, for being a bat, for my parents, for my eyes."

"I think your eyes are cool," the girl said. She skootched closer to Vergil and took off his glasses, which gave her a better look at his heterochromia eyes; the left one blue, the right one red.

"Um, your eyes are nice too," Vergil said, quickly grabbing his glasses and putting them back on.

The pangolin giggled as she blushed a bit. "Please, I just have brown eyes." She then held out a hand. "I'm Pamela, by the way."

"Vergil," the bat said, taking her hand in his wing and giving it a shake.

"You're pretty big for a bat," Pamela said.

"Most fruit bats are actually of a medium size, it's the insectivores that are small," Vergil said. "I, uh, read a lot of books, so I know these things."

"That's cool," Pamela said.

"What are you two doing?" said a scratchy voice.

Waling up to the two was a raccoon wearing a sci-fi space uniform and carrying a toy blaster. His hazel eyes scanned the two as he hopped up on the bench between them, struggling a bit due to his size.

"We're just talking," Pamela said. "I'm Pamela, and this is Vergil."

"Well, I'm Rocky, though everyone calls me Rocket," the raccoon said. "So, are you guys part of the losers' club as well."

"We're not losers," Vergil said, "just different."

"Well, as far as I can tell, the three of us are all outcasts," Rocket said. "I'm a kid that's into sci-fi and mechanics, Pamela here is a mammal that everyone mistakes for an armadillo, and Vergil… well you're just a bunch of things that kids our age will pick on."

"Pretty adult thing to say," Pamela said. Vergil nodded.

"When you grow up with your uncle because you lost your parents, you learn to toughen up quickly," Rocket said.

All three kids sat there, watching as the street lights came on and the time for trick-or-treating was upon them. Suddenly, Pamela got up from her seat and jumped to the ground.

"Come on guys, it's time to go get some sweets!" she said.

"Sure, why not," Rocket said, getting up as well.

Vergil sat there, then got up as well, but not before calling to his newfound friends. "Vex!" he shouted. The two turned to him. "I always said that if I found friends, I wanted to go by Vex."

Pamela smiled. "Then, Vex, let us go into the night and get some treats!"

"And maybe play a few tricks," Rocket said, rubbing his hands together.

"You know your name is the exact same as a comic book character, right?" Vex said to his raccoon friend as they walked into the city.

"Wait, really?"

[***]

12 years later

Vex groaned as his alarm went off, signaling his time to awake. Flipping off of his hammock bed, the now 24-year-old bat sighed as he grabbed his glasses from the nearby dresser. Pulling them over his eyes, he blinked as he got started on his day. Slipping on some black basketball shorts and a white T-shirt, he made sure to grab his badge before heading out into the main part of his apartment.

In the main room of the apartment (which was more of a condo, featuring three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a main living room/ kitchen combo) was where his two closest friends, Pamela and Rocket, were hanging out making breakfast.

"Good to see you up on time for once," Rocket said, passing Vex a cup of coffee to help with the wake up.

"Hey, I'm a narcoleptic, my body sleeps whenever it can," Vex said, "and sometimes that means I sleep extra or not at all."

"Here's your meal," Pamela said, sliding some homemade pancakes onto his plate.

"Thanks Pam," the bat said, giving her a peck on the cheek.

"Your boss called today," Rocket said, "sounded like he needed you at the station for once."

"First of all, Chief Bogo is not my boss," Vex said, taking a sip of his coffee. "As a member of Interpol, I work for the well-being of all animals, not just Zootopia."

"Even though you've been stationed here as a Private Eye for the ZPD," Pamela said, digging into her own plate of pancakes.

"Hey, it was determined a long time ago that Zootopia would always have an Interpol agent in its jurisdiction in case of a national crisis," Vex defended himself. He took a bite of his food. "Second of all, he can wait for me. There's still at least an hour or two before the roll-call at Precinct One."

"Actually, you have about 30 minutes until roll-call," Rocket said.

"WHAT!? Why didn't you wake me sooner?!" the bat exclaimed. Jumping up from his seat, Vex kissed his girlfriend goodbye and gave his best friend as fist bump as he grabbed his bag, wrapped his purple scarf around his neck, and put on his grey jacket as he headed out the door.

When he got outside the building, Vex flew off to catch the nearby bus on his way through downtown Zootopia. As he came closer to the ZPD Precinct, the bat could only imagine how his day was going to go.

Author's Note

Hello readers! The Dragon Saver is back for another story in the world of Zootopia, but instead of superheroes, this time we're adventuring into the main world we all know and love, though with some new characters and plot twists.

Vex, Pamela, and Rocket are characters from my previous story, but these versions are different interpretations of them. Also, Rocket is not the same one from the Guardians of the Galaxy, he's just a different version of that one.

I hope you enjoy this new take on the Zootopia story!