Here you go folks, the next chapter.

Why Am I Nick Wilde?

By VoltienDalchen

Chapter 9: Deus Ex Machina?

This is harder than I thought, what with my difficulty walking and stuff. Getting out of the room was hard enough.

I take a peek down both sides of the hallway, making sure the tigress and her son weren't nearby. I nod silently to myself before proceeding. I find the front door, but my advance is halted by the presence of the son, who is on the floor playing with a toy airplane. I curse silently and decide to head back. As I go down the hallway my right ear moves back as I hear somebody coming in my direction.

"Crap…" I say silently to myself.

I quickly hide in my room again as the tigress passes by. Once I make sure she's out of sight, I go down the direction she went and find another door to enter: it's the bathroom. Once I'm inside, I sigh softly and silently with relief. I look up to find a window in front of me and I smile. After opening the window, the very thought of freedom enlivens my bold decision to climb out.

I end up outside on the street with my face on the ground after having fallen from the window. I groan in pain before slowly picking myself up. I pant heavily as I walk-run towards the direction where I think the bunny went (my weird fox nose is able to pick up her bunny scent, strangely enough). The small amount of pedestrians who pass by try to avoid being near me, or they turn back and stare at me. I ignore them, and press onward.

Okay...this is crazy…it's difficult to be walking under my condition, yet I refuse to quit. I might end up dead after this…then who knows where I'll end up…

After a few minutes of walking I find myself in a tram station with hundreds of other animals waiting to get on the next tram, all different species and sizes, but Hopps was nowhere to be seen…I guess she already took a tram.

I sigh softly before I hear a distinct "ting, ting" coming off from the station's speakers. The animals that surround me quickly gather by the edge of the track.

Digressing for a bit: it's quite amazing just how integrated the animal kingdom is here. Animals like lions and tigers are standing side by side with zebras and deer. Predators and prey were living together peacefully…or so I had initially thought.

This one female elephant next to me looks down and gives an angry expression, obviously not happy to see me. The sheer size of this animal made me gulp silently. I stare down towards the ground whilst still panting heavily from my trip. Once the tram arrives I get ready to enter, but the elephant bumps into me, causing me to fall on the ground in. Once I recover I am one of the last animals to get inside the tram.

What the hell just happened? What did I do to get her to do that to me?

I sigh softly as I am forcibly constricted by countless animals riding alongside me. As the tram moves through the gigantic metropolis and its different districts, I think to myself, maybe I should head to the police department? Maybe I can try to get Hopps to find me there? I politely ask a nearby animal for directions and it instructed me to get off after the 6th stop.

After about twenty minutes (thankfully giving me time to rest), I find myself in the heart of the city, or what I assume to be the heart of the city. I do remember this place, though: this is where we went to find the raccoon in the cyber café, which means the police department is definitely nearby.

I get off the tram right next to the police department and make my way up the steps to enter. The inside is huge! I mean, I don't remember police departments being this elaborate in design where I come from (maybe they are? It sucks having amnesia).

I arrive at the front desk to meet with the receptionist, which turns out to be a cheetah…a really fat cheetah…a really fat flamboyant cheetah. I lean on the counter as I pant heavily with exhaustion.

Once the cheetah notices me he gasps loudly and covers his mouth with his paws, "Sir, what happened!?"

"H…Hopps…where…is she?"

The cheetah moves out of the desk and escorts me to a seat. Once I'm seated, I clutch my stomach as I say softly, "Please, I need…to talk to her."

"Stay here." He says before going back to the desk to speak into some sort of microphone. While he does, I sigh softly to myself before I slowly close my eyes and lose consciousness.

…...

A bright white light…a bright white light is all I can see. Soon, it resolves and I find myself able to see again. I'm in a garden, surrounded by lush vegetation and a number of ruined columns that litter the landscape. The air is silent…there is no noise to be found. The sky is littered with clouds but they're motionless. There is no wind.

…it seems as though time itself is non-existent here.

I explore the area for a brief minute. I find a sign nearby that reads, Hill Tower Gardens. I stumble across a reflection pond with what appears to be statues in the middle. I inspect the pond, looking for my reflection, but find none…it's as if I don't exist…

I then hear a giggle and I turn right to see a human has suddenly appeared next to the pond: a human girl. She looks at her reflection before looking up at me. I step backwards the moment she stares into my eyes: she seems to know I'm here...and I seem to know who it is...

The stare goes on for a few seconds until…

Wake up…wake up, Nick!

The dream suddenly ends and I wake up, startled. I shake my head to get rid of my tired state. I then look down as my eyes adjust to the environment. Next to me is Officer Hopps: not the least bit pleased.

"What were you thinking!?" She asks angrily as I wipe my eyes, yawning, "Nick!?"

"I had to…"

"Put your life at risk?" She retorts.

"You're not doing this alone…" I lower my eyebrows at her.

"Nick, don't you know how bad you look right now!"

"I don't care about that…"

She lowers and shakes her head in frustration, "Nick, I'm taking you to the hospital, and I'll make sure you stay there." She gets closer to me but I bare my teeth slightly at her, "I need to finish this with you…"

"I will not be responsible for you!" Hopps says.

Hopps grabs my arm before I stare into her eyes, "What about Finnick?" I ask softly.

Hopps stops moving and looks up at me in silence. She lets go. The bunny is about to say something in response but is stopped by the cheetah, which returns with water, and a box of what appears to be donuts. He offers it to me, "Finally awake! You had me worried there for a sec', here!" I take the water and drink it (this is the first time I actually drink something here, and I must say it's refreshing! It tastes much better than what I remember water tasting back when I was a human). He then opens the donut box and brandishes twelve donuts, "Oh, don't take those." He points to the sprinkled donuts on the side, one of which I was about to take, "Those are mine." He laughs, "Just kidding." I try to decide what to take. Meanwhile, Hopps is contemplating what I had said. I take a donut and the cheetah offers to Hopps but she refuses.

"Hope you feel better!" He says before he returns to his desk to continue working. Hopps looks back at me and sighs, "Look, I know Finnick was your friend…"

"I have to do this with you…Mr. Big is probably, most definitely, the reason why I'm like this." I retort, standing up slowly.

"Maybe so, maybe he's the reason you have amnesia and what not, but this is dangerous."

"I'm in danger either way…" I say back to the bunny cop, "Who's not to say that Mr. Big would have found me after you left, endangering everyone else around me." I sigh softly again, "Look Hopps…at least let me help you with this one more time…I have to know why I'm involved in all of this…"

She scratches her chin and narrows her eyes, "I'll put you in protective custody."

I slap my hands/paws against my sides in protest, "Come on…Really!?" I almost shout in defiance.

"My custody." She smiles and I stop myself after she says this.

So, she's finally letting me tag along again?

"…finally come to your senses, huh?" I cross my arms for a brief moment.

"Just figured you would keep bugging me with this." She grins and folds her arms the same way to mock me.

"Uh huh, so now that we got that out of the way…what's the plan?" I sit down again before she slaps her paws together, "Well…um…I managed to run the plate the yak gave us. They added me into the system finally."

"Soooooo?" I brandish my hand in a circular motion.

"So...I was on the next tram to Tundratown before they called me regarding your recent, unnecessary, visit to the ZPD."

"Unnecessary?" I retort, giving a sly smile, "I'm sure I came here to bug you."

She rolls her eyes, "Anywayyyys, we need to head now to the Tundratown Limo Service and find the right car."

"Easy enough, right?" I stand up, sighing, "I feel ten times better finally…ow!" I clutch my stomach before Hopps almost laughs to herself, "How good is your walk right now? You came a long way after all."

"Pretty good."

"Alright, Nick, let's do this." She gestures me to follow her out of the police department before I think to myself.

That girl in the dream…what was that all about?

I shake my head, "I'll worry about that later." I say to myself before I follow Hopps outside.