Chapter 2: Darts


Does Nick have a fragile ego? Think about his interactions with Judy, how he belittles her when they first meet as if he wants to prove his superiority and then tries to slow down her investigation. I view his sarcastic wit as being a coping mechanism, a way to defend himself when he gets into a tight jam or becomes uncomfortable. In Zootopia: A Raccoon's Redemption, Jake discusses Nick with Judy. "I know Nick has a fragile ego," the raccoon continued. "He covers up his feelings with sarcasm and his wit. Look, he's had a hell of a worse life then I've had. I mean outside of work, his only real friends are you, me, and Finnick. Why do you think I let him win most of the time when we play handball or even darts? It's because he gets so happy when he wins."

Jake of course also has his own ego problems, including that he always feels he is inadequate and therefore goes out of his way to please others so they will like him.


THUNK! The dart missed its target and hit the corner of the board. "YES!" the fox cried out as he pumped his fist into the air and flashed a victory sign. "I won again!"

The black and grey furred raccoon dressed in a white dress shirt with its sleeves rolled up, along with blue dress suit pants and a red and blue stripped tie which was loosened at the neck, just sighed and sat back in his chair as he watched his jubilant friend. "I guess I just choked on that last throw?" he finally said with another sigh. "You win again, I'll buy this round."

"First I have to pee," Nick Wilde said as he turned and walked across the room toward the back of the building. Weaving in and out of the crowd of mostly off duty police officers, the uniformed red fox made his way towards the restrooms. The bar they were in was named the Green Dragon Pub and was what some would call a "Cop Bar" because of its location near the police station. In the evenings, you would often find it was full of off duty police officers relaxing over dinner and drinks after a stressful shift.

"You threw the game!" a lion in dark blue police fatigues rumbled out as he plopped himself on a large chair at the end of the table where the small raccoon was sitting. "You let him win again."

Jake Runnel turned to face Officer Bob Johnson, the large lion was sipping on his beer and had an amused look on his face. "My paw slipped…" the raccoon began to say, but seeing the grin on the large officer's face he just let out another sigh of resignation. "Look Nick is my best friend and he is very competitive, he also had a bad day with another complaint about him being a fox and so if I purposely lose a game or two of darts to make him happy…" he began to explain.

"You're a good pal," the lion muttered as he cut off the raccoon by lifting one of his large paws. "Wilde does have it tough out there, always having to go the extra mile just to prove himself to the public. I don't know how many times we've gotten complaints of a fox impersonating a police officer?"

"It doesn't help that those asshats in Internal Affairs are always poking around, trying to find some little infraction to pin on him," the raccoon added as he nodded at the waitress, the pretty ibex doe nodded back as she began to pour them another pitcher of the dark brown brew.

"IA is always after Wilde and the wolves," the lion shrugged. "It's that idiot Forrester, he hates canids."

"He sure does try to make Nick's life hell," the raccoon growled. "Can't Bogo see that?"

"So how good are you at darts?" the lion suddenly asked as he stood up and walked over to the board where he grab a pawful of the pointed projectiles before he returned to the table and handed one to the raccoon.

Jake looked around and seeing that the fox hadn't returned from the bathroom, he glanced over at the dart board behind him before turning to face the lion again. With a grin he flung the dart over his shoulder and knew from the lion's gaping mouth that he had struck the bullseye. "I'm really not that good," he lied.

The bar was deathly quiet as the fox stepped out of the bathroom and Nick noticed that everyone was staring at the raccoon with what seemed to be a look of awe on their faces and then suddenly all eyes swiveled towards him. "What?" he asked. Then realizing his zipper was open, he turned to close it and muttered, "Sorry." Awkwardly the conversations resumed as Nick worked his way back towards the table where Jake and Bob were sitting.

"What was that all about?" Nick inquired as he sat down. "Just what did you do now coon?"

"Nothing…" the raccoon began to reply, but the fox just raised his right eyebrow in disbelief. "Nick I have been lying to you… kind of."

"Are you talking about purposely losing to me in darts?" Nick laughed.

"You knew?" Jake asked as he gave a thin smile.

"I caught on pretty quick little buddy," the fox grinned back. "No matter how hard I try to lose, you just get worse."

"So how about another game, no holds barred?" Jake asked as he sipped on his drink.

Bob leaned back and rolled his eyes rolled towards the ceiling as he chuckled, "My money is on the raccoon, fox!"