After our overly-cheesy pawshake, I then waited for Nick to come while casually chatting with Hope. He certainly seems to be an energetic and enthusiastic person. He reminds me a lot of Leina…
"So tell me why you decided to visit Zootopia!" He asked eagerly.
"Uh…" I thought of a right excuse, "My parents got sent to work in Zootopia, so we had no choice but to move here. We just arrived recently as well."
"I see. So how's Zootopia for you so far?"
"It's pretty darn great. Better than my old city, at least…" I smiled at him.
"…oh yeah! I'm going to enroll in Brightwall Academy this year. Since you look like the same age as me, I assume you're seventeen?" Hope asked, changing the subject.
"Yeah. I just graduated from eleventh grade last month."
"In that case, let's enroll to Brightwall Academy together!" He exclaimed gleefully.
That…doesn't sound too bad actually, but…
"I…I'm not sure…" I said, lowering my head. "...but I'll think about it."
"Hey, no rush. I understand." He smiled at me.
"…thanks." I raised my head, smiling back.
About half an hour had passed and I could see a police vehicle parking in front of the inn. Rushed footsteps then came running inside the inn. I could see a fox in a police suit frantically looking around the inn with a worried expression. It was Nick. I waved my paw at him and he finally noticed, running towards me.
"Ken! Thank goodness you're all right!" Nick hugged me tightly. I was surprised at his sudden emotions; usually he would always tease someone or making sarcastic remarks, but this time it felt different. It was pure joy.
"H-hey…not too tight…"
"I know…but I'm just so happy you're okay." He squeezed me more but finally released me after a minute or so of hugging. Nick took me to a more private place, leaving Hope behind. I made a 'be right back' sign on my paws to him. He made an 'okay' sign back, and then I followed Nick from behind.
"Where's Judy?" I asked nonchalantly.
"Oh, Carrots? She was busy doing some other things the Chief asked her to." Nick replied. "So…how did you escape from them?"
"I…honestly don't know. Something inside of me kept telling me to get out of there, so I decided to look for a way to escape that facility. And here I am."
"Facility? You were taken to a facility?"
"Yeah, at least that was my mind told me. The building seemed very big, and there even was an underground section of it!"
"I see. Did you take anything from there that might help us find the culprit?"
"I did take these gears with me." I said, showing the taser and the tranq gun underneath my shirt. Nick visibly gasped.
"Did you…managed to use them on someone?"
"Well…I did tranq a polar bear." I smiled sheepishly. Nick could be seen facepalming.
"Anyways, you can take them off now since it'll do nothing useful for you at this point."
"Okay." I took off both gears out of my belt, handing them to Nick.
"Alright. So I assume that's all?"
"I also took some pictures of a letter I found on my way out and some more of a highly suspicious person." I said, showing the pictures I shot to Nick.
Nick narrowed his eyebrows in question before turning his head to the phone. "Okay, let's see…" Nick started inspecting the images. "The letter's kinda unreadable, don't you think?" He finally showed his smirk. I only rolled my eyes.
"Look at the bottom left."
"Hmm…?" Nick's gaze wavered down, and a slight surprise could be seen from him. "Heh, I haven't seen this name in a long time. Olivier, huh?" He muttered.
"Do you know him?" I asked.
"Yeah, we've been in a part of a business once in the past before I became a cop. I never thought I would see him, or at least his name like this."
"What kind of business…?"
"Let's just say it was borderline illegal. But that was in the past." He smiled.
"Okay…is this raccoon that Olivier guy?" I swiped my phone, showing the pictures of the raccoon to Nick. He visibly gasped again.
"…yep. That's definitely him. He still hasn't changed one bit."
"Then…are you going to arrest him? Come to think of it, why did you apprehend those guys yesterday anyway? What exactly were they doing?"
I saw Nick biting his lips. "Night Howlers." He mumbled.
"Night…Howlers? If I recall correctly, the mayor who got jailed were using them for turning predators into savages, right? What about them?"
"I don't know where they obtained those Night Howlers, but…they were definitely smuggling them."
I tilted my head a bit. "Wait, I thought you and Judy destroyed all traces of the Night Howlers. How come they were smuggling it then?"
"They must've produced a new set of them. But for what…?" Nick's voice trailed off, thinking of something.
"Well whatever it is, they should definitely be arrested!"
"You're right. As much as it pains me to arrest an old friend, I can't let someone get past the law. I've promised Judy." He said, clutching his chest. "So where is this facility you were taken to?"
"It's not too far from here. It's in an isolated location, though, so it might be quite tough to find it. I didn't really pay much attention to the way either, but I'll guide you the best I can!"
"Heh, you're full of fire kiddo." He said, rubbing my head. "Okay, I'll go back to the car for radioing Clawhauser back at the station. You stay here, I'll be right back." Nick left the inn, heading for his car. I went back to Hope who had been waiting for me while looking at his phone.
"I'm back. Sorry if that took so long." I sit next to him.
"No worries! You were practically speaking to a cop, so I don't mind at all!" He said, smiling as always.
"Thanks." I smiled back at him. We didn't speak for a while, but Hope broke the silence.
"He really cares for you, huh?"
"H-huh!?" I was taken aback. "I-I guess…" I paused, not knowing what to say. "I've only known him for a couple of days, along with Judy. I was surprised at his concern at me, though, I've never seen anybody do that to me, aside from my old friend."
"I see…" Hope said. "So…where do you live?" He changed the subject again.
"I…I'm currently living with that officer. At least until I got another place to settle in."
"So you're not living with your parents?"
"That's, uh…" I struggled to find the right words without making me suspicious.
"…I understand. Let's talk about something else." He cut me out.
"No, that's okay. I wasn't exactly close with my parents, and I've always lived by myself in my old city. "
"Oh…but still, should you be telling me something this personal?"
"Heh, we're friends, right?" I winked at him. He laughed afterward.
After a while, Nick came back into the inn. He walked towards me with a happy expression.
"So how was it?" I asked him.
"Pretty good. They'll send some forces here." He smiled.
"That's great then!"
"Yeah, but it won't be easy apprehending them. We should stay vigilant at all times."
"I see. So are we gonna go?" I asked him.
"Yes. I'll be waiting in the car outside. You say goodbye to your new friend here." He looked to Hope with a smirk on his face. Then he walked away and exited the inn.
"He's a charismatic person, isn't he?" He commented.
"Pretty much." I scratched my head. "Well, I better go." I stood up.
"Wait." He stood up as well. "Let's trade out phone numbers!"
"Good idea." I smiled, taking my phone. We then synced our numbers to each other.
"Okay then." We both put our phones back. "Nice knowing you Ken. Goodbye!" He waved at me as I walked to the door. I waved back, saying goodbye as well. I left the inn and strolled to the only police car in the parking lot. I went inside the back seat and was greeted with Nick and a wolf wearing a ZPD shirt. Or is that a sweater? Either way, it was nice to see another officer.
"Hey there. The name's Wolford." He introduced, reaching his paw at me.
"I'm Ken." I took his paw, making a pawshake.
"So Ken. I hope you'll guide us correctly. We don't want to end up in some lost forest, do we?" Nick said, still smirking.
"Err…I'll try…?"
Nick left the parking lot and drove towards my point of directions. After the fifth turn or so, I finally saw the building.
"There it is!" I said, pointing to the building to the right behind a thick wall of snow.
"Well, I'll be darned. There really is an abandoned facility here." Nick remarked in surprise. "Looks pretty well guarded, though."
"Duh. There're at least twenty mammals in there." I told him.
"Yep, harder than I thought." He mumbled to himself.
"We should wait for the others to come." The wolf said.
"Of course, we don't want to dive in headfirst there without backup, do we?"
So we waited for Nick's reinforcements to come. After a rough ten minutes or so, I could see a bunch of cars coming behind us, and…two choppers!? This is insane, I thought this would be a normal apprehension. But better be prepared than sorry, right? Nick picked up the radio and told the other officers to advance towards the facility. Nick started driving as well. And so we arrived at the place, with police cars surrounding it. There was almost no way of escaping the police armada. This is gonna get interesting.
I wonder what will happen next…
Well, the site was being a dick again and didn't show the story on the fiction list. Anyways, this update is pretty short, but it's nearing the end of the first arc! I'm really excited! So as always, I will see you on the next chapter. Good night!