Chapter 10 – Is This a New World?
Adrian continued to laugh as Nick and Judy ran, the two of them trying desperately to escape the angry villagers. "What did we do to deserve this?" Nick asked as they ran. Suddenly, just after they ran past a thick part of the woods, Judy jumped into a bush, grabbing his paw in the middle of the jump, and pulled him with her. The two vanished quickly, both staying perfectly still as they held onto each other.
The villagers began speaking in Pandanese, the two mammals freezing in place as the boar looked to the goat. Then with a grunt, he led them down the path. As soon as Judy could no longer hear their hoof steps, she slowly exited the bush and exhaled a breath she hadn't known she was holding, followed timidly by her partner, "What the heck?" Nick asked as he placed a paw to his chest, "What was that about? We just got here."
Judy simply shrugged her shoulders, then the two turned towards the path they had just taken. Glancing towards the villagers once, they decided to leave before they came back.
Back in the building, the chief didn't hesitate at all, ducking and turning to the side, he easily slid through the thin door frame, and looked around. He could easily see the disturbed part of the ground, spying where Judy and Nick had been hiding earlier, and with a grunt, made his way further in, followed closely by his teammates, Wolford the wolf, Ai the bunny and Gurē the black fox with white stars spattered on his fur. With a grunt, he moved forward, some hast in his step but also an air of caution. He heard Wolford sniff the air, "Hey!" he said, getting the attention of all three of them, "They went up there." As soon as he finished talking, he pointed a single claw towards the door leading to the stairs.
"I'll never fit in there!" Bogo said as he gestures to the thin stair well.
Gurē smiled, "Too-eh bad chief!" he said.
"Not a chance Kitsune!" the large buffalo said as he pointed a hoof to the fox, thinking that the use of the tod's last name would seal the deal, "You're not going up there without me!"
"Chief we might not have time to argue." Wolford said in response, "We need to get to Hopps and Wilde before Adrian decides he's not going to play fair."
With a simple growl, he turned, "Wolford, when you find them, signal me from the window, I'll see what I can do from there." Then with a quick point of his hoof, he spoke again, this time with unmistakable authority, "Keep an eye on these two!"
"Yes sir!" the wolf said as he saluted the chief of police, then the three of them scaled the stairs as Bogo turned and exited the door.
Judy and Nick once again ran, but this time ad a slower pace. The two reaching the edge of the woods quickly, and glancing around, "Well played!" they heard from everywhere, "You were able to escape a mob of angry and scared villagers." Nick could easily hear the sarcasm that dripped from every word.
"Yah, too bad!" Nick said with a cocky smile. Then in silence he picked up his bunny friend, and dashed forward, quickly entering into the now empty village. With a slink and a smooth duck, he entered underneath one of the houses that was raised up from the ground, built on noticeably uneven ground. He gently set her on the ground and peeked out the other side of the floor he hid underneath, "What is going on?" he asked himself, and turned to Judy, "Got any plans? I'm fresh out."
"You get us into the village, and you don't have a plan?" Judy hissed in a whisper.
"Hey, let's not forget it was your idea to switch the serum for the blueberry, it was also your idea that saved our tails when Adrian was going to use his staff again. Face it, Fluff, you're better at planning than I am." His grin was infectious, and at the same time frustrating, he had effectively placed her in charge while avoiding a complete insult to himself at the same time.
With a sigh, and a smile, she gave in, "Fine," she said, "What did you see out there?"
"Well, behind the house is more housed, and something I can only guess is restaurant of some kind." he told her.
"What kind of restaurant?" she asked.
"How am I supposed to know?" the fox said, "The kind that has two entrances and steam. Probably vegetables or something."
Judy simply shook her head, "Well, the entire village is out there hunting us, let's head to the restaurant and make our way from there."
With that, the two of them peeked again, and bolted from underneath the house. Keeping the buildings between them and the villagers, they ducked into the closest door of the restaurant. With a turn, Judy peeked out of the sliding wooden and paper door, and backed away slowly as she slid it the rest of the way shut. "I don't think they saw us!" she said and turned, seeing cubbies and baskets rather than tables. Nick also looked around, seeing a what looked like a piece of fabric. "What kind of restaurant is this?" Judy asked, as she and Nick moved past the curtain.
"This isn't a restaurant." Nick said softly as his ears lowered down and eyes widened. There in the steam, he and Judy could see five females, two sheep, an albino bunny and two doe deer, each of them bathing. Nick quickly gulped nervously, but for some reason, couldn't turn away, until Judy pushed him. When he looked to her, he could tell she was fuming, how long had he been staring at the girls. "I'll go and check out the other side!" he said quickly, and took off, quietly sliding the door open and shut as he made his way to the other side of the bath house. "What's wrong with you Nick!?" he whispered to himself harshly, "I don't know, how was I supposed to know this was a bath house, I thought it was a restaurant!" he answered the thought. "Great, now I'm arguing with myself!" With a sigh, he placed his paw to his forehead, and leaned against the cubbies, all of them empty. "How am I so bad at saying three stupid words?" he asked, "I've been trying for days now, why can't I just tell her? It shouldn't be that hard. 'Judy, I love you!' See, easy right, but no! Every time, and the longer I put it off, the more I screw up! Like just now! I'm just…" he couldn't even finish his sentence, he had no words for how badly he was doing. "Why is this so hard?" he finally asked himself, and reached for the curtain, parting it just enough so he could see into the actual bath. Some steam still hung in the air, like it had just recently been used. He sighed again, and this time, let the curtain close, "Now what?" he asked, "Think Nick!"
Wolford and the two Pandanese couple quickly made it up the stairs, seeing the door open on the second floor, Wolford snuck forward, peering into the world, and was quickly overcome with awe. He then heard Gurē say something, but couldn't understand it, until his wife, Ai, responded in the same language. "Hey!" he whispered, "Speak so that I can understand you!"
"Dis is Dark Magic!" Ai said, "Something even we of da ancient-o bunny island didn't know about."
"You mean you can't do something like this?" Wolford asked.
"No." Gurē said, "And if she cannot-o do dis, den Adrian cannot-o do dis, not by himself."
"Not by himself?" Wolford asked as they moved to the room next to the new world, "But didn't he make that timeless world before?"
"Dat was wit the power of-e de Chrono Stone." Ai told him, "An artifact dat was destroyed-o centuries ago. How did he re-forge it?"
"He did not!" Gurē said with confidence, "I had to have been given to him by dat doragon."
"A dragon?" Wolford asked as he opened the window in the nearby room.
"De same-e doragon dat trapped us in-e dat crystal." the black fox told him.
"You two have a lot of explaining to do!" they three of them heard from outside the window.
There, level with the window, arm leaning against the open sill, stood Bogo.
Gurē let his nerves fray, he had never seen a water buffalo fly before, and he was pretty sure they were a good twenty or so feet off the ground. Ai on the other hand, jumped off of the fox's back, and leaned on the sill itself. "How-e are you doing dat?" she asked and looked down. Bogo, stood straight up in a metal contraption she hadn't seen before, it had a metal arm that bent in the middle and at the vehicle. It was colored orange, and had a platform where Bogo stood, the platform fitted with short guard rails that were chipped painted white. "Ahhh!" she said in awe as she leaned further forward, curiosity overtaking her common sense. She slipped, sliding forward until the large buffalo grabbed her by the back of the kimono.
"What dragon?" Bogo asked as he placed her inside the room, and then began to climb in himself.
"De black-a doragon dat I battled centuries ago." Gurē said as his nerves came back to him.
"Chief!" Wolford said, catching Bogo's attention, "You have to see this." The wolf then waved his paw to the buffalo, urging the chief of police towards the open door to glance into the door they knew Judy and Nick had gone into.
"This might take a while." Bogo said, his eyes opening wide in surprise.