Credit:

* All Zootopia characters in this chapter belong to Disney

* Sonic, Tailsko, and Robotnik (mentioned) belong to SEGA/Sonic Team


After I noticed that my partner stared at the glass of 'Giraffe-Vision' listlessly, I had to reach for her, grab the collar of her shirt, and haul her to her apartment. That's where I could let her go and made her go to her room. I took the deer bus to go 'home' and turned in myself. So much for my nocturnal ability, I needed my well-rested sleep and to get ready for the work in the morning. Once morning arrived, I got up and got myself dressed after a well-received shower.

"Ugh," I shook my head as I pinned my police shield on my blue uniform. In my thoughts was that thoroughbred was an awful choice of candidate for mayor.

Perhaps it was my instinct that didn't approve him being mayor as I put on silver aviators. I shook my head once again as I reached for the door and exited my 'home'. Not wanting Chief Buffalo Butt to catch me - and drape my body on his back, like a 'cape' as he called it - I put that thought aside for now. I got on the deer bus and sat in the back row. As the bus approached the diner named 'Snarlbuck', I got off and went into the building. I placed my orders for two bunny-sized cups of coffee, and I paid for them. I sat on the seat in the 'to go' area and waiting for the cups to be ready. I lowered my snout to my chest and scratched behind my ear as I tried to put the thought of that news from yesterday behind. I lifted my snout as the waitress brought the cups of coffee to me in a cup holder. I thanked her as I took them and left the building. I replaced my aviators on my snout as I walked toward the road. After read the time list at the bus stop, the next one wouldn't be present for a half hour, which was longer than I could deal with.

I raised my paw to wave the taxi cab down, "Yo, Cabbie! Need a ride here!"

The first one was no luck as the desert warthog gave me a thumbs-down in anger while he drove past me without slowing down. I sighed then I shifted my attention back to the incoming traffic and waved down the next taxi cab. This time, it was an arctic vixen who she stopped on a dime. I opened the passenger door in the backseat and stepped in.

"To where, sweetie?" she asked as I shut the door and got comfortable in the seat.

"Precinct One, if you may," I responded before I added, "You can drop me a building from there if you like."

"Alright, sweetie. You're one special fox. So cannot let you be late," she said as she turned her attention to the road and started to drive.

I exhaled softly as the ride went through the city silently. It seemed like she took my suggestion well. She pulled up on the side of street just a building away from Precinct One. She looked over her shoulder and laid her eyes on me.

"It's on the house. Congratulations on becoming a police, sweetie," she admitted with a warm smile.

I smiled back as I opened the door and stepped out, "Thank you. I would take your cab over another if I need a quick ride. And I will be sure to pay in advance, if necessary."

With the cup holder in my paws, I legged my way toward Precinct One. I really hoped that Carrots had regained her senses and was back to normal. I made a quick trip into the building, passed a hello to the dispatcher, and reached the bullpen in the time for a roll call. I sat down on the chair that Officer Fluff and I shared and then I passed a cup of coffee to her.

"Atten-Hut!" Officer Higgins shouted.

As Chief Buffalo Butt walked in, the first bunny cop led to me and whispered, "You're just in the time."

Before I could responding, the boss yelled, "Alright, alright! Enough! Officer Hopps and Officer Wilde, you both get your tails in my office right now!"

I frowned at his choice of words before Carrots and I got off our chair and worked our way to his office through the door close to his podium. I threw the cup holder into the horse-sized trashcan, as it had served its purpose.

"What did we do to be in his office?" she questioned after she sipped her coffee.

I shrugged, "He maybe wants to be a daddy and wants to spank us."

"Nick!" she said before she punched my right shoulder, which made me switch the cup between my front paws so I could rub my sore muscles with my southpaw.

We arrived in the chief's office, sat down on the rhino-sized chair, and waited in the silence. We drank at least half of our coffee before we heard the pounding of buffalo butt's hooves from the hall. Normally we would joke with each other, but with Chief Buffalo Butt having sent us to his office, it seemed little bit… heavy and dark, to be honest. Plus I lost my strength to speak. The cape buffalo entered the room and worked his way to his desk, where he sat behind his desk.

"So do you know why I called you to my office?" he questioned with his elbows on the desk and the tips of his hooves touching each other.

"No, sir," my partner responded, which worked for both of us.

He looked at me as if he had expected me to be snarky and speak out of turn, as he had done for the past few months. Then he spoke again, "Alright. You both cleared and closed the 'Missing Mammals' case months ago. So it should be easy for you to take this special case from two members of another city, outside Zootopia."

"I am sure you didn't want us here just to fetch the case file?" Carrots suggested, which raised the point of us being in the cape buffalo's office.

Our boss nodded as he tapped the end of his hooves lightly, "Of course, you both are not taking this case on your own. And I don't want to listen to your rants about partnering you with other officers in my rank. It was their request to take you in."

I blinked in the stunning news before I looked from him and to her. This bunny was full of surprises sometimes. Perhaps it was her instinct that found the reason of us being here instead of in the bullpen.

"Let's get on to the introduction. Their names are Sonic the Hedgehog and Mila 'Tailsko' Prower," Chief Bogo confirmed as we heard two different set of pawsteps; one was fast-paced and one was steady.

I turned my head to my left. I blinked and gasped as the orange-furred kitsune walked up to me. I felt strong thumps in my chest while she smiled at me. We were introduced to each other for my and my partner's next case. She was dressed in a white t-shirt, a pair of faded overalls, and white gloves. Her blue eyes were what drew me to her.

"She's Mila 'Tailsko' Prower. But it's better to call her Tailsko," the hedgehog called out behind me, which snapped me out of my cloud nine.

I shook my head to get my mind together, which I found my voice, "My name's Nichola Wilde. But I preferred 'Nick' or 'Officer Nick', as it says on my business card."

"With the introductions out of the way, I would like you lot to go to the private interview room. I've got other work to do at this minute. And I don't like you being in my way while I am working," Chief Buffalo Butt pointed out before he dismissed us.

My partner and I got off the chair and walked our way out of the office with Sonic and Tailsko. I eyed the vixen who walked beside me. That allowed me to add some details on her - she was at least half of a fox head shorter than I am. Just simply looking at her made my throat dry like the desert in Sahara Square. So I averted my attention from her and brought my cup of coffee to slowly drink a good amount of warmed liquid to wet my throat. That had the advantage of not making her feel uncomfortable. We arrived at the private interview room, which was soundproofed keeping anything inside the room while the door is locked. Officer Fluff and I sat on one side of the table while Sonic and Tailsko took the opposite side.

"So… what made us so special?" I questioned, which earned a punch on my shoulder that nearly made me drop my cup of coffee.

"Corny," Sonic chuckled as I rubbed my shoulder again before he continued, "But yes, one of our friends from our place told me that you two are the best. So for this case, we need your help, both of you."

I blinked as I sipped my cup of coffee before I shifted my attention to Carrots. We appeared to be confusedly by the newcomer's choice of words. She shrugged as she sipped her drink. We returned our attention to our company.

"There was an escaped fugitive… more of escaped villain that managed to get in Zootopia, slipped out of our paws - his name is Ivo Robotnik," Sonic explained.

I took another sip before I set the cup down and pointed an open paw at the hedgehog as I spoke, "How easy can we recognizing this… Ivo Ro-Butt…ink?"

"Robotnik," the blue hedgehog answered while he held back laughing. His partner added, "That villain is an overlander. And he's completely furless, all but his mustache."

I slapped my palm on the table with a sigh, "You're telling me this mammal shaved himself butt-naked? I would just stick to 'Ro-Butt-Ink' as I see it fits."

"Nick!" Officer Hopps snaked at me before she threw another punch on my poor shoulder, which increased the soreness. My body drove to the left in the force of her punch.

"You can call that, Rick. And by the time we arrived here in Zootopia, he disappeared from the tracker. Right, Tailsko?" the blue rodent pointed out and looked at his partner with his two words.

The orange-furred vixen nodded in agreement, "Yes. Just vanished from our sight as soon as we landed our paws on Zootopia land. So we will be glad to accept your help to take this villain down as soon as possible. Know that villain, he's really terrifying at creating anything related to science."

I made a grieved gaze at the thought of this 'madly scientist' theory before I pointed my snout to my bunny partner. It appeared that she had the same idea as I did. We both knew about this case - Dawn Bellwether had us going through this conflict before. And we didn't want to experience that trouble again.

"Right, we like to put the stop on that 'villain' of your. As we went through that kind of trouble before…with our own 'villain'," I answered with a nod once my attention was back to the new duo.

Carrots finished the moment for me, "And we are not going through that trouble again. Who knows that will knock us down this time around. Nighthowler Dosage was enough to get us into a messy situation, or worst, risk of losing our jobs."

"Yeah, and that's how we became aware of your biggest successful. That news wasn't just limited to Zootopia. So I take it that we are all in this together," Sonic stated, which finalized the decision as he closed the file.

His response was three nods in silence. He smiled as he spoke again, "Alright. Let's get together in twenty minutes. See you when you're ready, Nick and Judy."

I blinked as I turned to my partner, who passed her empty cup to me, before I watched her get off the chair and walk to the hedgehog. I sighed and hopped off the chair - no pun intended to Officer Fluff's birth name - before I worked my way to the door and exited the room. Once I was out of the room, I brought my cup to my mouth and downed whatever was left. It tasted bitter and cold, now that I had left it too long. My ears flicked as I listened to the steady pawsteps behind me. Once I, along with my secret admirer, reached the trashcan that I passed on the way to the office. I tossed the cups in. I turned to Tailsko as she was about to lay her palm on my shoulder. She suddenly withdrew her paw to her hip.

"Ah, Nick. I knew of how you checked me out, so I want to let you know that it's not a good time for… us to put it in fast gear. It's… It's…" she admitted, started to averting her attention as she became anxious of her choice of words.

"I take it that you stopped drinking 'Fall in Love on First Sight' tea?" I pointed out with my palms on my hips as I had to get to the point.

She brought her right paw to her muzzle to muffle her fit of giggling before she spoke, "Yeah. I had a bad history with my previous mates… and ended up hurting them. So… take it easy, ok?"

"Noted," I nodded before I pasted a smile on my muzzle and lifted my good paw to her, proceeded to pawshaking with her as I continued, "So let's be friends for the start?"

She accepted, "Friends sounds good."