Ch. 1:
"You know you can come home whenever you need to," Mrs. Wilde told her son, wringing her wrists as she stood before her son.
Nick stood next to a bus stop, a suitcase next to his feet as he waited to be taken to the heart of Zootopia and his new apartment.
Behind Mrs. Wilde were a couple of friends of the family, Honey a honey badger, Finnick the fennec (and possibly the closest thing Nick had to an actual friend), and Old Goat, who was just a goat that chewed on tin cans all day and spent time with them. To this day Nick had no idea where she had come from. Nick knew them from the market place where his mother sold sweets like pies and muffins (the ingredients they got from a country farm in Bunnyburrow).
"He's not gonna wanna come home, Mrs. W," Finnick pointed out. "Not now that he's going to be a cop."
"I mean if you ever need a break or anything," Nick's mother explained. "City Center is so crowded and loud."
"Mom," Nick began in a reassuring voice, "I've been training for this my whole life, I'll be fine."
"I know, I know," Mrs. Wilde nodded. "And I am excited for you, sweetie."
"We're just also terrified!" Honey spoke up, stepping up and nearly knocking Mrs. Wilde down. "All the animals out there ain't as nice as us, and you haven't changed everyone's opinion on foxes yet."
Nick was all too aware of that, his mouth twitched as the memory of cold metal dampened his good mood. He pushed it away, "I'm a grown fox, I think I'll be able to handle it."
"Just be careful," Honey warned him, pointing a claw at him. "Especially be careful around animals like sheep."
"Sheep?" Mrs. Wilde and Finnick echoed.
"I don't trust them," Honey replied.
"I think I'll be fine," Nick assured her.
"You say that and then you'll run into some rabbits!"
Mrs. Wilde and Finnick exchanged uncomfortable glances before the vixen spoke up, "Honey might actually have a point about rabbits."
"You know how skittish they are," Finnick added, "They think foxes still eat rabbits."
"Bunnies are scared of anything with sharp teeth," Nick replied with an eye roll. "But if they live in the city that's full of predators I think they'll be able to handle a fox with a badge."
A moment later the bus appeared coming to a halt by the bus stop where the other few animals waiting climbed on.
"Okay, gotta go!" Nick grabbed his suitcase and turned to run into the large vehicle. But then he stopped and turned around, pulling his mother and Honey into a hug. "I love you guys."
"Love you too, Blueberries," Mrs. Wilde hugged her son back, kissing his cheek.
"You better call," Honey ordered him, looking on the verge of tears.
"Of course he'll call," Mrs. Wilde replied.
Nick nodded to Finnick who gave him a loose salute, "See ya later, Officer."
"Take care, Nigel," Old Goat called out as Nick waved to them one last time and climbed into the bus.
.
His new home was a small apartment (consisting of just a bed, desk, and mirror) in the Grand Pangolin Arms, Luxury Apartments with Charm. But really it wasn't that much different from the small apartment he had grown up in. Course his mother had better taste in wallpaper.
But the rent was cheap and it was the closest apartment building to the precinct and that kinda made it worth the shifty once over the landlady gave him and his loud/rude neighbors.
"And it's not like I'll be here a lot anyway," Nick said to himself as he sprawled out on the small rickety bed. "I'll be out stopping robber, catching murderers, finding missing children and all that jazz." He smiled to himself, Nick liked to think he didn't give in to energetic bouts of happiness, but at the moment he was in too good of a mood to resist a wag of his bushy tail.
.
The next morning Nick arrived at the precinct right on time, he remembered finding out as a kit how early officers of the ZPD had to get up and he had started practicing at an early age. He hadn't slept in since he was ten.
He looked around at the different animals in the large building, some officers, some civilians, and made his way to a chubby cheetah at the front desk who was enjoying a bowl of Lucky Chomps.
"Heya," Nick greeted, trying not to smirk at the ridiculous amount of Gazelle merchandise on the large desk.
When the cheetah saw him he nearly spewed out his cereal. "O…M…Goodness. They really did hire a fox! I didn't believe it when I heard it!"
"You didn't, huh?" Nick asked with a rise of his eyebrows. He wondered if that had been an insult though the wide eyed cheetah didn't seem the type.
His guess was proven correct when the cheetah must've caught on to his thoughts and gasped in horror. "I didn't mean it like that! I have nothing against foxes! It's just there's never been a fox officer before-not that there shouldn't be! I mean me? Benjamin Clawhauser who everyone thinks is just a flabby donut loving cop? I don't do stereotypes I swear!"
"It's okay, Spots," Nick allowed his lips to turn up, seeing he wouldn't be bothered too much by this large cat. "But uh…speaking of donuts…" He pointed at his neck and with a little verbal coaching Clawhauser managed to grab the donut stuck between the fat rolls of his neck.
"Think you can tell me where the rollcall will be?" Nick asked and Clawhauser pointed toward a door that led to the bullpen. Nick loosely saluted him with two fingers before heading off, "Enjoy your donuts and Lucky Chomps, Spots!"
Inside the bullpen Nick was a little disappointed to see the only chair available was one up front, he was more of a back of the class guy. But considering this room was full of lions, tigers, bears, wolves, elephants, and more (i.e. animals larger than him) he supposed sitting up front wasn't the worst idea.
"Heya," he used the same greeting he did on Clawhauser to the rhino but all he got this time was an eyeroll. "Nice to meet you too," the fox added sarcastically but wasn't bothered; he did just start after all they didn't know what he was capable of.
And if any of these animals thought shifty once over's and eyerolls were going to send him packing then they were clinically insane.
"TEN HUT!"
All animals rose to their feet, Nick doing the same but having to stand on the chair, as an intimidating and gruff looking cape buffalo walked in, Nick had been told about him-his new boss: Chief Bogo. And by the stomping of the rest of the room he was well liked by his officers.
"All right, all right," Bogo spoke in a voice that made Nick's teeth vibrate. "Everybody sit."
The animals obeyed and Nick followed suit, nearly smacking his chin on the table edge as he did so. The fox listened as Bogo first congratulated an elephant by the name of Francine since it was her birthday, though Nick couldn't help cringe at how rough the celebrating got. And then he mentioned that they had new recruits but he had no interest in introducing him, Nick frowned as the rest laughed but he remained calm, it was going to take more than that to get under his fur.
But then his ears pricked as Bogo explained how they had fourteen missing mammals, all different species, and it was priority number one that they find them. Nick dug his claws into the table as Bogo gave the officers their assignments, practically salivating at the thought of his first case being a missing mammal case.
"And finally, our first fox," Bogo glanced at him. Nick stood up straighter but then: "Parking duty. Dismiss."
What?
"Wait-wait-wait," Nick jumped off his chair and hurried to the buffalo before he left the room. "What do you mean parking duty?"
"You don't know what that is?" Bogo asked dismissively.
"I know what it is," Nick felt his tail bristle and tried to calm himself down. "But there are fourteen missing mammals, let me find one! I mean, I was valedictorian of my class in case you didn't know."
"I know," Bogo said flatly. "I just don't care.
"I'm not a token fox, Chief," Nick was able to keep the bite out of his voice.
"Then writing a hundred tickets today should be easy," and with that Bogo left.
Nick let out a sigh and hung his head for a moment before taking a deep inhale, brining with the air his Wilde Determination. "Alright, Bogo baby you want a hundred tickets? I'll give you a hundred tickets, in fact-" with his fingers interlocked he stretched his arms out, popping his knuckles as he did so. "I'll give you two hundred. I'll even shake up the system and do it before noon."
.
Nick was glad for his resolve because if he had been a lesser mammal he may have burst into tears at the sight of his new vehicle, a tiny three wheeled thing that went maybe two miles an hour if that.
"You're so pathetic," he laughed almost hysterically. "You're the most pathetic piece of metal I've ever seen."
But despite that he was soon on a parking meter montage, collecting tickets from cars of all shapes and sizes, though he'd admit to himself the giraffe sized car had proven difficult. However he wasn't surprised, and pulled up a smug smile when he looked down at the ticket machine that showed off two hundred. He glanced at a nearby street clock just before it struck noon.
"Boom!" Nick laughed and bowed to his nicknamed Joke-Mobile, "Effortless, please, please, hold the applause."
He stretched and looking around the street, it was getting warm as the midday sun beat down on his red fur and he decided he earned a break, or at least enjoy some air-conditioning.
Spotting a nearby elephant-sized ice cream shop Nick tossed his ticket machine into his Joke-Mobile and hurried across the street to step inside. Opening the large door he was blasted by cold air and an angry voice:
"I don't want no trouble, so beat it!"
The elephant behind the counter (who Nick assumed was the owner), was glaring down at someone the fox couldn't see from where he stood, elephants and other heavy mammals in live were blocking his view.
"I'm not looking for trouble, mister."
Nick walked farther into the store in time to see the mammal in front of the line speak again: "I just want to buy a jumbo pop for my little niece."
It was a bunny, a very cute bunny with gray fur and big violet eyes, wearing a pink shirt that was tied in a knot at the stomach and faded jeans. Beside her was a younger bunny with light fur and wearing an elephant costume.
The older rabbit leaned down to be at eye level with her niece, "Do you want the red or the blue, honey?" She had a country accent that Nick realized must be from some place like Bunnyburrow.
The tiny bunny waddled to the display case and pointed at the red pop, "That one, Aunt Judy!"
Nick chuckled to himself, placing his paws in his pockets before turning on his heel to head back outside; now that his fur was cooled he realized he was in more of a bug burger mood then anything.
"Come on kid, back up. Listen girl, there aren't any rabbit ice cream shops where you're from?"
Nick stopped in his tracks.
"No, there are, there are," the rabbit-Judy-said. "But my niece, Mina, here"-the little bunny hurried over to accept a pat on the head-"Is crazy about elephants, wants to be one when she grows up."
Mina threw the hood over her head and let out an endearing 'toot-toot' noise. "Isn't that adorable?"
Nick smiled at the two rabbits, they were adorable.
"I'm all she's got you see," Judy went on, "And who am I to crush her little dreams?"
The elephant rolled his eyes rudely and pulled a sign forward, "Look you probably can't read rabbit but the sign says we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone, so beat it!"
Nick scowled as the elephant behind the rabbits made an impatient noise and little Mina looked ready to cry. Straightening his collar Nick marched over to stand beside the two rabbits.
"And does the sign also say you reserve the right to ignore the health code?"
Judy stared up at him in surprise and Nick noticed she had three scars on her left cheek that resembled claw marks. The elephant narrowed his eyes at him, "There's no parking meters here, fox."
"I'm a cop, actually," Nick replied smugly, flashing his badge. "And I'm curious…do your customers know they're being served mucus flavored ice cream?" He nodded to the employee behind the elephant who had been fixing a cone without the use of a proper trunk glove while a nearby customer spewed his ice cream in his date's face.
Nick smiled down at Mina, "Maybe you should rethink letting this future elephant have a jumbo pop." He smirked up at the parlor owner, "Otherwise I'd be forced to call in the health inspected and who wants that?"
Judy crouched next to Mina, both casting the elephant doe-eyed looks. He let out an annoyed groan, "It'll be fifteen dollars."
Judy grinned up at Nick as she jumped up and put her paw in her pocket, but the smile quickly vanished as the rabbit desperately searched her person. "Oh no! I forgot my wallet!" She let out a depressed moan, "Seriously, Judy, you'd forget your head if it wasn't screwed on." She knelt next to her niece and kissed the little rabbit's cheek, "Some birthday huh? But please don't be mad at me, I'll make it up to you somehow." She stood up and smiled sadly at Nick, "Thanks anyway." She pulled Mina out of the shop, the little rabbit staring sadly at the jumbo pops.
Nick furrowed his brow in determination and pulled out a twenty, slamming it onto the counter, "Keep the change."
Nick carried the jumbo pop out the parlor, the two rabbits following after.
"Seriously, Officer, I can't thank you enough. This is the sweetest thing I've ever witnessed."
They stopped on the sidewalk, "May I pay you back?"
"Nah, my treat," Nick winked at her. "To be honest you could've been trying to rob the place and I might have helped." He glared at the shop, his muzzle once again feeling tight, "I really can't stand mammals like that, but I guess they're everywhere." He smiled softly at Judy, "But don't let them get to you, you're a great aunt and a really nice girl."
Judy glanced at the ground for a second in a bashful manner, "Aren't you the charmer." She met his eye, "It's rare to find such a gentleman, Officer…?"
"Wilde," Nick offered his paw, "Miss…?"
"Hopps," she shook his paw, "Judy Hopps." She took the jumbo pop, having to hold it with both paws.
"As for you," Nick crouched down to be at Mina's eye level, "I grew up being told I could never be a cop but all I had to do was believe in myself and here I am." He pulled out a junior ZPD sticker and placed it on her chest. "If you wanna be an elephant then by God you be an elephant, Mina." The small rabbit smiled up at him.
"We need to go, honey," Judy told her niece, "Thank the nice fox."
Mina wrapped her arms around Nick's neck and squeezed, he chuckled awkwardly and patted her back, besides family he wasn't all that comfortable with contact. The two rabbits walked away, Mina giving him a goodbye 'toot-toot' before they disappeared around the corner.
.
Nick was on ticket two hundred and fifty three, feeling pretty good about himself, when it all went downhill.
Placing said ticket on the car he noticed a familiar shape across the street, little Mina.
"Hey!" he called out, starting to walk over, "How're-"
Nick stopped walking when he saw the little rabbit was standing by jars of red liquid that was being poured down a storm pipe. His eyes followed said pipe up to the roof where Judy was melting the jumbo pop. Once finished she jumped back down to the ground and with Mina's help placed the full jars into the back of a truck, and after buckling up Mina she drove off. Nick followed.
Anger rising he watched as the rabbits refroze the pop juice into little pawpsicles, sold them to lemmings, and then sold the pawpsicles sticks to some mice at a construction sight.
When the scam was over he watched from afar as Judy counted out the money before giving some bills to Mina, and then a van stuffed with loud young rabbits appeared and stopped beside them.
Judy picked up Mina and walked over to the vehicle.
"Done making my daughter a criminal?" the driver asked.
"Aw, come on, sis," Judy said, "I'm teaching her business and life skills-and giving her an allowance."
She kissed Mina on the temple before placing her in the back of the van with the other bunnies who joyfully greeted their aunt.
"Remember I need to baby-sit Rich tomorrow," Judy told her sister. The other rabbit rolled her eyes before starting the van and driving off.
"I love you, too!" Judy yelled after her, waving goodbye.
She turned around to see Nick, paws on his hips and glaring. "What's up, doc?" she asked.
"So is this what you do?" Nick asked with disgust, "Get a nice guy to stand up for you and then lie to him? Attractive."
The rabbit smirked, one paw on her hip and the other holding a pawpsicle she saved for herself, "It's called a hustle, sweetheart." Her accent was gone.
Her ears then drooped then her eyes grew wide, "And I'm not the liar. She is." She pointed down the street and Nick looked to find no one there and then mentally smacked himself because did he really just fall for that. He turned back in time to see Judy turned the corner, with a growl he followed after her.
"I could have you arrested, you know," he snapped as he walked past her.
Judy was eating the pawpsicle, "Heh, for what?"
"Selling food without a permit for one," Nick growled, "And then you transported undeclared commerce across borough lines, and then you false advertised-"
Judy suddenly pulled out a slip of paper and showed it to Nick, "Permit," she flipped it to the other side, "Receipt of declared commerce. And I didn't false advertise anything, , good day." The two stopped at a cross walk.
"In what world is selling pawpsicles sticks to mice and telling them it's redwood not false advertising?" Nick demanded.
"It was red wood," Judy explained easily, "With a space in the middle, wood that is red." She tossed the now bare pawpsicle stick into a nearby trash can as the sign turned green and she walked across the road right behind a porcupine. She looked over her shoulder and grinned at the fox, "You can't touch me Fuzz I've been doing this since the day I was born."
Nick stomped after her, "Maybe but I bet lying to an officer wouldn't look good on your record, which I'm sure is already not pretty to look at."
Judy let out a annoyed sigh as a group of wildebeest walked around the porcupine and by extension she and Nick. "There you go again with the officer thing." They reached the other side of the sidewalk and she turned to walk backward, paws behind her back as she examined him in his bright orange vest, "You're not an officer, you're a…what's the male word for meter maid? Meter…nah, maid works for you." She turned on her heel and kept walking.
"I'm the newest member of the ZPD, rabbit," Nick nearly snarled, he remembered Honey's words of warning and wish he had followed it.
She smirked over her shoulder, "You know, I can read you like a book. Small town fox, only one parent, seen too much crime, wants to change that. But you know how that story ends?"
"I put predators centuries back and eat a rabbit?" he couldn't help but say, he knew that wasn't going to help his Improve-the-opinions-of-foxes-planned but he had been prepared to deal with jumpy creatures, not this annoying piece of work.
"No, you'll realize one: not all animals get along, especially around devious foxes that would rob them blind. Two: your dream of becoming a big city cop ends because, uh oh, no one wants a fox as their partner and you're lucky they trust you with parking tickets. And three: you realize that no one will take you seriously. No one."
Nick had followed her into a trash littered alley, "And then you'll scurry home with that cute fluffy wuffy tail between your legs." She wiggled her hips for emphasis before pulling away a loose board of a fence, but before she stepped through she turned to him, "Know what you'll do then?"
Nick rolled his eyes but he had always had a morbid sense of curiosity, "Let's hear it."
"You're a fox aren't you? You'll end up back on the other side of the justice system, where you belong." She shrugged a shoulder and disappeared through the fence, leaving Nick scowling after her.
How dare she? She was the very definition of what was wrong with Zootopia, the reason he had become a cop in the first place, he imagined she'd laugh at the thought of predators getting muzzled.
And even though he knew the best thing to do was leave and go back to his job he still went after her, nearly getting stepped on by a rhino in the process.
"Careful now, it won't just be your dreams getting crushed," Judy called out before Nick hurried to her side. "Now hold on!"
He stepped in front of her and she took a step back, "I don't know who you think you are but I can assure you the last thing that's gonna bring me down is some pawpsicle hustling bunny who thinks she's better than me because she has flat teeth!"
She raised her eyebrows at him, her lips pouting for a moment before she spoke: Okay, look. Take this from a sweet lil bunny who had you rolling on your back," she mocked in her accent before changing her voice to normal. "Everyone says Zootopia is a place where you can be anything you want, well that's only partly true. Ninety percent of the time they're going to see you as what you are, an untrustworthy fox who thinks he can be a cop. But hey, I'm nothing if not optimistic so I'll tell you the good news about that ten percent of partial truth, both you and I did beat at least one of our stereotypes." She pointed both paws to her, "I'm the sly bunny." She opened her paws to him, "And you're the dumb fox."
He flinched, those words too close to home. "I am not a dumb fox."
"Sure you aren't," she smirked nastily, "Just like that's not wet cement."
Nick's fur bristled when he saw that, indeed, he had stepped into a square of wet cement, a group of beavers staring at him in a mixture of disbelief and anger.
"You're never going to be a real cop," Judy repeated, her voice quiet for a moment, factual. But then her snark returned quickly, "You're a handsome meter maid though. Who knows, maybe you won't eventually fall into a life of crime and end of dead in a ditch. Thought somehow I doubt it. Anyway, you hang in there, Robin Hood!" She gave a wave, disappearing behind a car and then she was gone.
Nick growled as he felt the cement hardening around his feet and the underside of the tail. This had been a horrible first day but on he did have one piece of good news.
Zootopia was a big city, and odds are he'd never see that awful bunny again.