I make no apologies.
Disclaimer: Zootopia, etc is owned by Disney. Sonic, etc is owned by Sega. Kitsune society, and how it is portrayed in this fic, is owned by technically no one but if you want to use it please let me know so I can read it and see how others use it. (It's influenced by a book I wrote years ago, not quite the same but the similarities are there).
"What do you mean, 'lied to'!?" Judy said loudly. This was one of the Zootopian Underground's leaders, why wasn't he more concerned? If Chief Bogo had found out that he'd been lied to, he'd be on a roaring rampage trying to find the mammal that thought it was a good idea. That said, she never did find out what Nick put in some of his reports...
"It happens from time to time. No biggie. I'll just send out another team from me and get the answers from them. Usually we just send out one team, and get the answers from their Nine," Ray explained patiently, shrugging.
"Who's team was it?" Nick asked suddenly.
Ray looked thoughtful for a few moments, his eyes glazing over as he searched his memory. "Not sure...hold on, I have the reports around here somewhere..." Ray said, suddenly diving behind the office desk quicker than they thought someone of his size to be able to. They heard desk's drawers open, and quickly ran over as they heard him curse loudly.
They found him nursing a bump on his head. "Damn things. I forgot I already opened the top one..." he murmured, quickly skimming over manila folders. Eventually he found one, labeled 'Outing Reports', and brought it out even as he hit his head again.
He growled lightly as he plopped the folder down. To Skye, the folder looked like any other professional folder she had ever seen. To Nick and Judy, however, they saw a few things that stood out to them. One, it wasn't dusty. This alone meant that it had been opened and used quite frequently, especially as dusty as some of the other ones were. Two, it was folded in such a way to allow easy access at all times, even if closed.
Ray opened it quickly, revealing simple typed up documents. He looked only for one thing; the date, judging by his constant murmuring of the date a few days ago, as he flipped through them. Eventually he picked out one, and raised it up as if it was the Chosen Paper of the Gods.
"Here we go. September 18th, 3026. 'Under received orders from Nine Astra, the group was of the proceeding: Reporter Hardnut, Investigator Kellin, Investigator Wrex, and Specialist Isan. The group proceeded as followed; raised up in the area known as "Savannah Central", we encountered a riot early on. Investigator Kellin suggested to go ask what was going on. In doing so, he was punched out by a boar. Investigator Wrex laughed, and gave the boar five dollars. Reporter Hardnut suggests to demote Wrex and Kellin.' Huh. In tiny little writing here it even says simply 'Denied, dirtbags!'.
"It continues on to say they eventually found out it was about predator vs prey feelings, and then decided to come back down to the Underground. Does that sound about right?" Ray asked, holding the paper down so Nick and Judy could read it.
"It does, but that was also a year and a half ago, maybe a bit more...something isn't right," Nick said. Judy continued to stare at the paper for a minute, before she pointed at something.
"Hold on a second, what does this asterisk mean?" she asked, pointing to a tiny dot next to the date. Ray squinted, and looked closer at it. He looked confused for a moment, right before his eyes started to glow with an eerie light. Judy's Gemfield sense, which had been going full blast since entering the Underground, suddenly screamed at her.
"Huh. Well what do you know. I didn't see that. Someone put an illusion over it, tied to that asterisk, which you wouldn't notice unless you actively tried to see past it. Wonder how long that's been going on..." Ray said aloud, as he quickly made another chair for himself and read the report again.
"Well, it says pretty much the same thing, but the fact there was an illusion tied to it says something. I know that Nine Astra wouldn't do that though, she has my full confidence."
"Is that because she has your full confidence, or that you still try to hit on her?" Bill said, leaning against the wall now. Skye looked up in shock, as she had forgotten the large...primate? What was he anyways...was there. He was surprisingly quiet.
"Shut up Bill. Hand me the phone would you?" Ray asked, holding out his paw. Bill grabbed something from behind him attached to the wall, and sent the cordless phone soaring over the small gap with ease. Ray snatched it and dialed four numbers quickly, as if he knew these numbers by heart.
He waited only a few scant seconds before a voice picked up. Judy and Nick both turned their ears towards the phone, although they noticed that they didn't even have to be able to hear the conversation. Bill had apparently turned it up extremely loudly, based on how far Ray flinched.
"This is Beta."
"Beta! This is Ray, how're you doing beautiful?" Ray asked as he quickly turned it down. He was grateful for that, because it probably saved his ears as the vixen started to yell at him.
"Kalk! I don't care if you are a Nine now or not I will head over there and -"
"No need for that Astra! Yeesh. Just a question," Ray said simply as he covered up the mouthpiece and whispered, "Vixens." He turned back towards the phone as he finished his statement, "Look Astra, take a look at your outing report from September 18th, 3026. Mine had an illusion on it tied to an asterisk; I had to pierce it to see through it. Is it on yours too?"
"Give me a second Kalk." They heard the rummaging through papers as Astra looked over something. "Yeah I have it too, but I don't see a difference. Kind of weird though. I don't remember authorizing my team to do it, did you?"
"No. I'll look into it from my side, send out another scouting team. Think Nine Rian's responsible? It's his type."
"It is his type yeah. Good catch Kalk. I'll look into it," Astra finished as she hung up abruptly. Ray looked at his phone.
"And somehow, every time, she forgets to tell me she loves me. Oh well, just a matter of time!" Ray said, smiling as he tossed the phone over to Bill.
"Matter of time, sure. If you're waiting until the end of it."
"Ouch. Anyways, thanks for bringing this up. We'll take care of it from here on out. Any other questions to add to this infodump?"
"Do you know anything about Gemfield?" Judy asked.
"Gemfield? Never heard of it. What is it?"
"It's a type of drug. Looks like a small crystal, changes a lot-"
"Oh, you mean Chaos Crystal? This kind of stuff?" Ray asked, reaching into the middle drawer as he pulled out a small translucent crystal, only a bit bigger than his fist. It sparkled with an internal energy not unlike the Chaos Emeralds.
Judy's Gemfield sense went crazy. "Yeah that's exactly it!" she exclaimed, stepping behind Nick but only a small bit. Nick noticed and moved forward just a bit more protectively.
"Yeah, I know plenty about Chaos Crystal. Or...Gemfield, I think you called it? Sorry, is this making you uncomfortable, Miss Hopps?" Ray asked, suddenly moving to put the glowing crystal away. She didn't nod or shake her head, but she also didn't move until it was put away. To her, something screamed 'not right' about that crystal, and it wasn't that a sample had suddenly exploded on her earlier.
"What is...Chaos Crystal, exactly?" she asked.
"Chaos Crystal is just that, crystallized Chaos energy. We, we being the Chaotics, tend to use it for a lot of random stuff. It's layered within the buildings around here, as they can absorb Chaos energy easily, which proves useful for us Nine-Tailed. Some of us also use it recreationally, assuming we're not dumb donkeys about it and think before we smoke it."
"Smoke? You don't...grind it to a powder?"
"Powder...ize it? That seems excessive. No, if you do that you can't control the side-effects, and it being Chaos energy and all..."
"Can do just about anything," Nick finished. Ray nodded.
"Yep. Most of us Chaotics that do crystals tend to do it only with trusted friends. It makes us feel...relaxed, I guess. Kind of hungry. It does kind of fry the brain, although some researchers are looking for medical benefits because they like doing it so much."
"So it's marijuana."
"For Chaotics, yeah. For you guys though...I think a more apt base description would be ecstasy, or LSD."
"Where does it come from?" Judy asked this time.
"Comes from a lot of places. Most crystal like the one you just saw are waste products from our energy plants. The really pure ones have to be made by a Nine-Tailed, or some other Chaotic with a lot of energy. We can actually use them to give ourselves a recharge, actually."
"Is that how Inu Wasahara lives up top?" Judy continued the 'interrogation'.
Ray stared at them blankly. "Who?"
"He's a tanuki, from the Zootopia News Network. Been there for several years actually."
"Oh, if he's a tanuki probably not. The only Chaotics that have to absolutely live near fountains of chaos energy are kitsune, although some like the wargs or sasquatch find it a lot more comfortable."
"Or jackalopes?" Nick asked.
"Or jackalopes, them too."
"Any idea how this stuff can get on the surface?" Judy intruded before Nick could derail the conversation further. He gave her a faux glare as he realized her tactic.
"Well sure. Has to be brought up from us. The crystals don't last long on their own, they usually degrade if they go too far from a leyline. They're not dangerous...radioactive at least. They just emit a lot of energy, that's all."
"Any way to track it?"
"To track the energy?" Ray asked, looking thoughtful for a few moments. "Not really, considering it's Chaos energy and all that. I suppose if you could track Chaos energy you could try via that, but I've never heard of someone tracking via Chaos."
"Where in the Underground do mammals or Chaotics bring it up to the surface?" Judy asked, thinking out loud. She caught Nick's eye, who merely smirked out of the corner of his mouth. Good, they were on the same page again.
"Usually by Savage's place, or the National Zootopian Bank of the Rainforest District."
"Wait, the bank is in on this?"
"Not sure actually. All I know is they get an order for it, Nine Rian's the one who processes all of them, and then sends it up."
"Who's Nine Rian?" Nick asked. He had gotten out his notepad a while ago and was writing down many of the notes and questions that he was coming up with. He didn't need to check if Judy was recording it; it was obvious she was. She had yet to fail to record any conversation she was a part of.
"Ignar Rian. He's a red Kitsune, much like yourself Nick, who is the third Nine for this district, alongside Astra and myself. He's a piece of work, that guy. Showed up four years ago, and despite having all of the proof that he lived here for years before that no one could remember him. Not entirely unheard of, really-it's a popular prank on certain people- but an entire population? I doubt even a Nine-Tailed could do that."
"What does he get out of the drug deals?"
"Same thing as many others, I'd guess. Vixens, money...there's no short supply of either already, as a Nine, but I'm guessing Rian just wants more for some reason."
"You seem remarkably well-informed."
Ray stared blankly for a moment, before breaking out into a nervous grin. "I plead no self-condemnation?" he asked smiling, laughing softly as Bill chuckled.
"How are you connected to him?"
"I do remind you that the Underground is, in fact, it's own city-state with its own laws," Ray started seriously, "so that means bureaucracy. A lot of it. Rian comes the Nine meeting every two weeks with a report of how his 'side business' is doing. I hate to say it but it brings a lot of revenue to the Underground. We wouldn't be able to do half of what we do without it, or without a Nine-Tailed's direct interference."
"What does that mean?" Nick asked, before Judy shook her head at the fox.
"They can't grow much down here as it is. Plants require natural sunlight. I'm sure if we check the records of a lot of farmers and grocery stores we'd find that around 4 months ago, or whenever the Chaotics got here, we'd find a large jump in the amount of sales," Judy explained. Ray nodded.
"Oh I remember that. It took me ten minutes to get to checkout that day, versus five."
"Not now, Nick."
"Bill, could you show our guests back to the elevator? And Savage, really, you're not asleep. I can tell. I'm sorry to the both of you to suddenly ask you to leave, but I do have a lot of work to do. Once Savage wakes up, feel free to ask him if you wish to come down here at any time," Ray asked politely, motioning the three visitors out the door.
Nick and Judy shared a glance, before nodding and started to head back. Judy grabbed Skye's arm to make sure the arctic vixen went with them, despite a plea of "But wait, I still have more-".
Bill waited only a moment to make sure they were exiting. "Are you sure that's wise, Ray? They're going to come down again. They have all the evidence they need to launch investigations down here."
"No, it probably wasn't. But on the other hand, if Rian thinks that we don't have our own second-lives, then he's got another thing coming. He'd best be prepared for when those two storm down his door."
"Judy, Nick, why'd you do that?" Skye whined as she was pushed out the door. They did have a lot of questions left, but what they had was more than enough to launch of official investigation into the parts of Zootopia that Ray had mentioned.
"Because we have enough. We have proof of the details of the Gemfield case, thanks to you, we know where it comes from, thanks to this, and we know where. Kalk wasn't going to talk much more I think, not unless we had something more," Nick explained. Judy nodded at his rationale.
"It's best that we leave on his good side. Based on your expressions earlier, I don't think we want to be on his bad side," Judy said.
Nick turned to the grey bunny, "Could you actually see through all of his illusions easily?" Judy nodded. "Wish I could do that. I felt like I was so small next to him, like he was a giant or something."
Skye nodded, "I got that feeling too. Especially when he revealed that those were just illusions. If he can control all of that, what's stopping them from simply taking over everything? What's fake and what's real? Is any of this actually real, or is this all just created in the mind? Scary as hell to think about."
A loud voice boomed from behind them, "Because they're good mammals, that's why." They turned to see that Bill was finally coming out, a large grin on his face, "One of the keys to becoming a Nine is to not want the job of Nine, but still be dedicated enough to do it."
"That makes sense," Skye said, looking up at the cavern ceiling. It didn't, really, but she wanted to avoid thinking about the kitsune, or even the Underground as a whole. Just thinking about it made her realize how small she was compared to some of the giants. She idly wondered if this is how mice felt every day.
"Now come, we have to make the return trip, and it is not a quick journey," Bill said, motioning them onward as he led them back. The underground city was still just as lacklusterly populated, although now there seemed to be a fair bit more traffic. Nothing that could be considered crowded to a Zootopian mammal, but still a noticeable increase. Some of them stopped and stared for a moment before going on with the rest of their day, whereas others didn't seem to stop at all.
Bill led them a different path, avoiding the Wargs' territory, before they got back to the tall pillar that represented their end step. Judy was sure that Bill had taken a shorter route this time than before. When pressed, he merely grinned and shrugged.
"Alright, come back now. When will Savage wake up?" Bill asked as he started the elevator to go back up. Judy thought about it as Nick pounced on the opportunity.
"Oh, he's been awake for a while now. I just think that he appreciated that I was carrying him this entire time, so he hasn't complained or said anything. Quite mature of him, I'd say," Nick said, smirking as he got a 'hey!' from the rabbit. The sasquatch chuckled as he waved them along.
"So how much have you heard, Savage?" Nick asked as he dumped the rabbit unceremoniously on the elevator. He ignored the quick 'ow' from him as he whipped out his notebook again.
"A bit. Ray must like you guys, he was never that talkative with me," Jack said, getting up and brushing himself off.
"Well also we're cops, so that probably had more to do with it."
"How is a beat cop more than a federal agent?"
"You mean a desk bunny right Jack? I knew where you worked in GUN, and it definitely wasn't field work," Skye cut in. Jack growled at her. "Oh no, a killer bunny. Whatever shall I do? Save me brave hero!" she mocked, diving behind Judy.
The rabbit looked at her oddly before shrugging. "You do know that now we have plenty of evidence of you trafficking a class 3 controlled substance. Which is to say, Jack Savage, you are under arrest," Judy said.
"You need me, you know. To get you back there. I'm the only one that knows how to operate this elevator on topside," Jack reasoned.
"You mean by pushing the button underneath your desk? Sorry Jack, you just got out savage'd. By a bunny, of all things," Nick said while shaking his head. Jack stared at him for a moment before realizing that yes, it appears the fox had been paying attention.
He sighed and held out his hands in annoyance. It wouldn't get too far, both Nick and Judy knew, but the case was just getting started, and there was still a long time to go.
To: Miles Prower
From: Judy Hopps
Subject: Chaos Tracking
Hi Miles,
Is it possible to track Chaos energy? In the Underground we found the mammals responsible for it, but as they technically aren't a part of Zootopia we can't really do too much about it yet until they come topside. We'll be waiting for them, but in the meantime it was revealed that Gemfield can be tracked using the Chaos radiation it emits. The mammal we spoke to had no idea if it was possible or not, so I thought we should ask the Chaos expert.
Thanks!
-Judy Hopps
To: Judy Hopps; Nick Wilde
BCC: Adrian Bogo
Subject: Re: Chaos Tracking
Attch: Chaos Tracking
Yeah it should be possible. The trick is to find the right signature. It's chaotic, so it changes, but once you have the signature you can just keep tracking its changes.
I whipped up a quick program which should help out. Just install it, turn on your wireless adapter, and put in the right coordinates. It should keep tracking until you turn the program off as long as you stay in range. The problem is, of course, right now you need to enter the coordinates manually, so you'll have to know where it is ahead of time. I'll keep trying to improve it, but I'm not sure how much help I can be considering I can't be there myself.
By the way, watch out for Espio. I haven't heard from him in a while, which almost always means he's up to something. Be wary of guitar places.
-Miles Prower
And yet more of an infodump. Eventually, this story will have a plot. I swear. It's just a bad one.
Until Next Time.
