A/N: Thanks for all the support and pointing out my mistakes! I totally didn't notice that 'people' part, will correct it after publishing this! I tried to lighten my usage of commas too, hope it is at least a little better now *sheepish grin*. By the way, sorry if I sounded misleading - I'm new on this website but this isn't my first fic. I've written another 2 chaptered fics and 3 one-shots on an Asian fanfic website. (Of a different genre) The environment there is very different though, because even online, I find that a lot of us Asians are still not that outspoken plus most of our first language is not English so I have not received pointers for my writing flaws.
Even though my mistakes are pointed out here, I'm glad to get a chance to learn from them and improve, thank you for helping!
Thanks for commenting velestro1 , stillslightlyfrozen , thejoker122 , theoneforever, someone (Decided to do a thanks section for comments to acknowledge that I've read your comments plus comments tend to be lesser than 'follows' and 'faves', and made with more effort, so well, only doing it for the comments, for now) I appreciate all the follows and favs too, though, really thanks everyone!
Btw, for this chapter, it's my first/second time attempting action scenes (I wrote another one at around the same time for my other Zootopia fic), I've watched some boxing matches and a lot of kungfu scenes and I really hope my words can smoothly convey what I imagined for the scene. Enough of my ramblings, hope you enjoy reading this chapter!
Judy had both eyes locked on her opponent as she readied herself, getting into a half squat posture before she sent a flying kick his way.
Unfortunately for her, her opponent was faster on his feet and he dodged in the opposite direction, sliding forward to the other side of the boxing ring.
Not one to be beaten that easily, she narrowed her eyes in determination as she changed her posture and charged forward again, ready to punch her opponent's right cheek, only to be caught by a sneak attack from him with a kick to her left shin. Instinctively, she bent to grab her left shin, growling softly in pain as she turned to glare at her opponent, who had both his hands raised and a smug look on his face.
Not wasting another second, she tried to throw a kick at him while attempting to grab him with her arms. Unable to avoid the kick he didn't see coming, his attention on her arms, he reacted by grabbing her arms and lifting her unto the air higher than he had expected, before throwing her down on the ground, as he was trained to do.
A loud thwack could be heard, as Judy took the chance to attack her surprised opponent, kicking him again with her stronger leg, and pulling heavily on one of his arms, reversing the two animals' position, as she now pinned him under her arms, locking eyes with him, with her own smug grin now.
Her opponent, the fox and her partner, returned her a grin of his own, "Guess, you're not the valedictorian for nothing"
Judy was about to respond with a laugh but she started noticing how close they both were, snout almost touching, and as if in a trance, stared right into the pair of emerald looking right back at her, both of them were lost in the depth of other's eyes before Nick noticed their situation, and faked a cough to break the awkwardness.
The two hurriedly broke their awkward position, and looked everywhere else except at each other.
"Umm, sorry for the high throw there, I almost forgot how light you are.. did it hurt?" the fox spoke up, to break both the silence and awkwardness.
Judy nudged her partner in the rib hard as Nick turned to stare at her with a "What-was-that-for" look.
A sly grin crept up her face as she replied, "Now, did that hurt?"
"Hey, sly rabbit, revenge not allowed in the ring, remember? "
The pair had taken to doing weekly practices together, not just because they were assigned partners but also because out of all the animals in the force, they were most compatible in size, style and fighting ability.
Especially since, many other larger animals had refused to spar with either of them, complaining that they were too small for them to see, escaped too quickly and were too good at slipping away from under the other bigger animals.
Not that the pair had anything to complain about, if anything, they love the fact they could focus on exchanging blows and exchanging pointers with each other. Being together more often also gave them a better understanding of each other's strength and weaknesses. Not surprisingly, their differences in those tend to complement that of the other rather perfectly.
Nick was stronger with dodging and escaping, while Judy was better with her kicks and counterattacks. Even with how perfectly they seem to match in fighting practices though, they were bound to be moments where they accidentally injure the others and in order to maintain the harmony, they had agreed that whatever happens in the ring stay in it.
"Yes. I remember, whatever happens in the ring stays in it," Judy said, as she hopped off the ring and headed towards their towels and bottles.
As the pair dried off, and gargled down streams of water, Judy couldn't help but recall that quiet moment they had shared in the ring. She shrugged, trying to rid herself of her thoughts, silently reminding herself again that what happens in the ring stays there.
"What's wrong?", Nick asked, upon noticing the bunny's shrug. He had developed a keen eye for all the minute actions of his partner even before he had entered the force, when they had worked together on the NightHowlers case.
"Uh.. I was just thinking of the contact you mentioned, the day we were patrolling Meadowtown, ", she fibbed, not wanting to reveal her true thoughts.
"Contact?", his mind still on their practice itself, not realizing what she was talking about.
"You know, Flash's case?"
His eyes brightened in enlightenment, "Oh yes, Flash Flash, Hunger guard dash. Anddd...", he dragged his voice out a little longer, "uh..he contact; to find out more details, uh yes.."
His eyes darted away suspiciously away for a moment but turned back to meet her amethyst eyes, "How about you go home and rest for now, I'll get the details and get back to you tomorrow? "
The rabbit eyed hin curiously, catching on to his hesitation, "But why? Don't you need my help?"
The fox slinged a hand over his partner's shoulder, guiding them out of the practice room and towards the changing rooms, trying to come up with a quick excuse, "Well, you see, it has been a long day for both of us and right now, this is the easiest part of the investigation, it will be more than enough for one officer to handle it so why don't you just head home after washing up and have some rest?" , he offered the most sincere smile he could.
It wasn't a lie after all, he did hope she will have a good rest.
"Nick, you're acting real suspicious..", she had her eyes narrowed at him now.
"Who? Me? Suspicious? ", Nick held out both his paws, in a surrender stance, still holding a bottle in his left hand. "I'm innocent, officer!" Nick protested, in mocking high-pitched voice.
"Not amused, Nick", the bunny had her arms crossed in front of her now, her eyes staring down her partner.
"You're thinking too much, Carrots... Perhaps you've investigated too many cases, but really, you should learn to trust your partner more, eh... ", he paused as he placed a paw on the door they had arrived in front of , "I'm going into the changing room now, if you really can't trust me, how about following me in?", he teased with a half-lidded smug smile as he turned and walked into the room, waving as the door closed after him.
The bunny could only respond by sticking her tongue out at the door, in annoyance, slightly peeved at her partner's behavior. This was Judy Hopps, one of the most brilliant officer here and the officer who understood Nick the best, he was definitely not fooling her; she could tell right away when he was joking and when he was hiding something.
"Hey Hopps", a male colleague, a wolf, who just happened to walk by, eyed her and the door of the male changing room before Judy turned to him, her eyes widened at what her colleague was probably thinking.
"Uh.. I .. w..was just about to, I mean I was looking for the female changing room. Oh, yes, it's that way. ", she gestured towards her right, before looking back at him, "Sorry, bad sense of direction, " she laughed awkwardly as she slowly back away.
"Darn that Nick", she cursed under her breath as she stepped into the female changing room. "I'm definitely going to find out what you are about to do."
A/N: Sorry, I'm long-winded... just wanted to say this version was my 3rd draft of this chapter and I hope you all don't mind a grouchy bunny. .. I realized she seems to be annoyed quite often in this fic, LOL. But, the other versions, I had a crying and sad Judy... I'd much rather prefer an annoyed but spunky one, what about everybody?