Author's Note:

Hey everyone, I'm back with another chapter! Sorry again for the long delay, but as I said last time, Uni has been pretty hectic over the last few weeks and I haven't really had a lot of spare time. However, classes have just finished for the year, so I thought I'd try and pump out this chapter before I got too stuck into exam study and revision. Just a quick note on this chapter, I know many of you have preferred it when I've taken more artistic license with the scenes and made them my own, but I found that rather difficult with this chapter as I really enjoyed the chase scene in the movie, and I didn't want to loose any of that vibe here. I only hope that some of that rush and thrill come through in this chapter. Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading this one!

Chapter 10: A Savage Encounter

Judas woke slowly. That in itself was unusual, he was usually awake in a heartbeat, leaping out of bed ready to start his day early and full of energy. His groggy mind began to pick out other things that were out of place. The mattress, for one, was too soft and comfortable. His mattress was much stiffer than this. The sheets too, were much softer. There was no scratchiness to them, in fact they felt like silk. He was also warm. Very warm, but in a comfortable way. Usually when he woke up, the night air had chilled the room enough that he had to get moving quickly to stay comfortable. One last thing he noticed was odd. He could hear someone else breathing nearby. He wasn't sleeping alone.

Judas snapped his eyes open as his fuzzy mind finally made that last connection. He was met with a confusing mass of orange and white. He couldn't work out what he was seeing at first until the mass shifted. He blinked rapidly several times to clear the sleep from his eyes until the mass resolved itself into the shape of a sleeping fox. "What the…?" he asked himself in confusion, his mind now racing to reassemble the pieces of his memory from the day before. It all started to click together again. Hustling Nicky into helping him track down the missing otter, being tricked in turn into visiting the naturalist club. The torturous delay at the DMV with Flash the sloth, the late night dinner on their way to Tundra Town where they'd then been abducted by a couple of polar bears. Almost being thrown into an icy river, but being invited to the wedding of the daughter of a notorious crime boss instead. His eyes widened now in understanding. Whose house they were still in. Him and Nicky. His nose twitched, and he started breathing faster. Sharing a bed. Lying nose to nose. Close enough to-

Nicky yawned, opening her maw wide, right in front of Judas, giving him an all too close look at all of her sharp, long, white teeth. Teeth that in another time would have happily made short work of a small bunny like him. He flinched. He hadn't meant to. It had been completely instinctive, but he had still flinched away. And Nicky noticed.

"What's wrong fluff?" she asked, opening her bright emerald eyes to meet his. Despite being rimmed with sleep, and slightly bloodshot, they still sparkled with her irritating wit. "You scared I'm thinking of having myself a midnight snack?"

"Wha- No! I just… I didn't… I'm sorry… It was-" Judas stumbled, sitting upright, trying to come up with some reason for his actions that wouldn't insult her further.

"Don't stress so much, Carrots!" Nicky cut him off. "It was just instinct," she said softly, her eyes darting down for a moment, before bouncing up to meet his again, but now with their regular glint to them. "After all, it was rather unexpected, and we were really close. In fact, how do I know that you weren't trying something scandalous yourself before I woke up," she smirked at the half angry-half embarrassed bunny sitting in front of her. "Perhaps you were trying to sneak a kiss from this sleeping beauty here?" she placed a paw on her chest, expecting to fluster the rabbit even further. What she wasn't expecting was the pillow that came flying out of nowhere to knock that infuriating grin off her muzzle. Quite literally.

"Kiss you!? Kiss you? Why would I be trying to kiss you? You insufferable fox! I barely know you!" Judas was walking across the room already to collect their freshly laundered clothes from outside the door. However, Nicky noticed that his voice was missing the edge of anger and indignation she had noticed yesterday whenever she had insulted him.

"At least he seems to be learning to take a joke," she thought to herself. Although his words still left her feeling somewhat put off though. She wasn't quite sure why though, she had been called many worse things than insufferable before. Before she could dwell on it any more though, Judas passed her clean clothes to her.

"Come on, time to get ready for the new day, 'Sleeping Beauty'," he said sarcastically, "we're on the clock now, time to chase down this lead."

"But it's only five thirty in the morning!" she protested, a little shocked to see that he was serious.

"And?"

"It's too early! We could still sleep for at least another hour or two!"

"Oh come on! It's not that early at all. This is when I usually get up for work anyway, besides, like I said, we haven't got long left before I lose this case…" he trailed off towards the end, realising that if they didn't crack the case today he would lose his job. His dream. Nicky seemed to sense some of his worry, because instead of arguing further, she sighed, sat up, and then took her clothes into the bathroom to get changed. Judas swore he could hear her muttering something about insufferable, impatient bunnies. He smiled. At least they were up and moving. It was a new day after all, perhaps they'd finally have their big break. He turned and quickly dressed himself while he waited for the vixen to return.

As Nicky had pointed out to him, it was still quite early, so Judas was surprised to see that downstairs was already quite busy when they emerged into the same dining hall as the previous night. Several large tables were already occupied with house staff and bulky security guards enjoying a hearty breakfast. He had wanted to get going as soon as he possibly could, but Nicky was not having a bar of that. As soon as she saw all the food on offer, she walked straight to a table, grabbed a plate and began piling it with scrambled eggs, fried tomato, toast, and pretty much everything else she could get her paws on. Judas sighed, "So much for an early start," he thought bitterly. But his mood mellowed as soon as he saw the baskets of fresh fruit, and the selection of cereals on offer. His stomach rumbled loudly, reminding him that he too was in need of a good meal before he could continue investigating. Following his friend's example, he grabbed a bowl, filled it with muesli, fruit and soy milk before sitting down to enjoy a few minutes of peace before the day began in earnest.

They ate in silence, watching as mammals came and went about their business. It appeared to be quite a large and busy household to have so many staff, although, many of them were probably involved in the more shady side of the family business, explaining why there were so many large predators around. As they both finished up their meals, a grey furred wolf walked over to them.

"Good morning," he greeted them, "I see you're up early!"

"Yeah, we've got a very busy day ahead of us today," Judas replied carefully, wondering who this wolf was and what his intentions were.

"Yes, Mr. Big said that you probably wanted to get moving as soon as you could, so he instructed me to drive you back to your car when you were ready," he smiled. Judas quickly realised what was going on. Mr. Big still wasn't comfortable with a police officer in his house, even though Judas had saved his son-in-law's life and Mr. Big had offered his paw in friendship. He didn't mind the thought too much though. Truth be told, he didn't feel very comfortable in the crime boss' lair, and he knew Nicky would be more than happy to get out of there as soon as she could.

"We're ready now," he said, grabbing an apple off the centre of the table as he stood up, catching Nicky's eye and a quick nod in confirmation. "Let's go."

The wolf, who had never introduced himself, drove them quietly back to the parking lot they had broken into the previous night before being captured. Although the ride was far more comfortable than it had been going the other way only a few hours ago, neither of the passengers felt like breaking the silence. Instead, they stared out of the windows at the dark clouds, and heavily falling snow.

It was shortly after six when they stood alone again, watching the wolf driving back up the road, disappearing into the pre-dawn gloom, while snow fell steadily, blanketing everything in fresh powder.

"Well, Carrots, I don't know about you, but the sooner we're out of here, the better! I'm freezing my tail off out here!"

"We can't have that!" Judas snickered, imagining the vixen missing her tail, and finding the concept quite entertaining. "It's just too cute and fluffy! You'd never be able to get any Tod's attention without it!"

"Har har bunny. Let's just get a move on," Nicky rolled her eyes as she hugged her arms to herself to keep warm, and shaking off some of the snow that had accumulated on her head and shoulders

"Alright then, let's go!" Judas smiled brightly, hopping into the driver's seat and turned the engine over, pleased when it started straight away. "Come on! What are you waiting for?" Nicky rolled her eyes at the overenthusiastic rabbit, before clambering up into the tiny cabin, squeezing close to Judas to do so.

"Whatever Carrots, just try not to get us killed while we're driving there," she quipped, earning a disgruntled huff from the rabbit as he took off, spinning the wheels on the icy road with the sudden acceleration, causing Nicky's smirk to widen further.

"Shut up."

"I didn't say anything, Fluff."

"You were thinking it, so don't." Nicky just leant back, and mimed a zipping action across her smiling muzzle. Judas just frowned and continued driving towards the mountain range that separated the Rainforest District from Tundra Town.

By the time they had made it through the connecting tunnel underneath the mountains, and had arrived at the address Mr. Big had given them, the snow had long since become a constant, warm, rain, the clouded sky prolonging the night longer than usual.

Unfortunately for the two investigators, Manchas lived several levels up in the canopy, and they had to park on the ground and climb up to the appropriate level by foot. By the time they reached the right level, they were both dripping wet, the rain rolling off their fur, and down their skin. Nicky's mood was similarly dampened.

"Ugghh. Now I remember why I don't come to the Rainforest District," Nicky groaned as they stepped onto a rickety wooden bridge. "This humidity is so uncomfortable, and it makes my tail go all frizzy!"

"Well, at least it's not freezing off anymore."

"True." They both quieted down as they approached the door built into the trunk of the artificial canopy-scraper in front of them. The trunk was wreathed in thick, living vines, and moss grew on the old wooden door, adding to the illusion that the tree was natural, and not the steel and concrete structure it really was. They both stepped up to the front door, and sharing a silent glance, Judas rang the doorbell.

Nothing. Judas rang it again after waiting a moment. Still no response. He frowned. "Mr Manchas? I'm Officer Hopps from the ZPD!" he called through the closed door. "We just want to talk to you about what happened to Emmitt Otterton!" Finally, his ears picked up movement inside.

The door finally creaked open as far as the chain lock allowed. Both smaller mammals peered into the gloomy interior, trying to see in. A single, large green eye emerged from the darkness first, followed by the rest of a black furred panther, dressed simply in a white singlet top, and grey slacks. "You should be asking what happened to me!" the panther, whom they assumed must be Mr Manchas, growled a deep voice, pointing at his right eye.

"Woah! Wait?" Nicky exclaimed, "You mean that a little otter did that?" she asked, staring at the panther's swollen shut eye. Three jagged claw marks raked down from above his eyebrow to his cheek. They looked slightly infected, not surprising considering the environment they were in.

"Sir, can you please let us in so you can tell us what exactly happened between you and Otterton?" Judas spoke up to the large predator.

"You want to know what happened? I'll tell you what happened! He was an animal! I was sent to pick him up for a meeting with my boss, but while I was driving he suddenly went nuts! Down on all fours, tearing up the car! I looked back to see what he was doing before he leaped up and did this!" he pointed again to his damaged face, pain and anger evident in his voice as he continued. "I swerved off the road and tried to get out of the car as fast as possible before he scrambled up onto the roof and disappeared off into the night. He was a savage!"

"Did he say or do anything first before he went 'savage' that might indicate what happened?" Judas asked, intrigued with the unusual story.

"Not that- Oh yes! He kept yelling about the Night Howlers! The Night Howlers!" Manchas replied, drawing out the last word into a semi-howl of its own. He seemed to be getting rather agitated now, reliving the event.

"Mr. Manchas, why don't you let us in so we can help you out properly?" Judas asked again. He was getting sick of standing in the rain, and he wanted to see if there was anything else they might be able to learn. But this request only seemed to frighten Manchas more, he started glancing about, left and right, a wild glint in his eyes. Nicky decided it was time for her to step in.

"Look Manchas, we're here to help. See, we know about the Night Howlers too." This earned her a confused look from the rabbit officer, but she ignored him, and continued speaking to the large predator. "We just want to hear what you know about them, then we'll tell you what we know. After that, we can make sure that nobody else knows what you've told us. You'll be completely safe. After all, what could go wrong when you've got a police officer with you?" she indicated the rabbit to her left. Judas, who by now had realised that Nicky was trying to smooth talk them inside smiled and nodded reassuringly.

"O-okay then," agreed the panther, still not looking entirely satisfied with the tiny police officer, but willing to take the chance. He closed the door, and the two mammals looked at each other smugly.

"Clever fox," Judas smiled warmly. Nicky just chuckled happily while they heard the chain lock being disengaged. However, a sudden crash of shattered glass inside, followed by a pained groan caught their attention.

"What was that?" Nicky wondered aloud, Judas just shrugged, pushing the now unlocked door open to see if Manchas needed help. The sight that met their eyes, however, froze them in their tracks. Inside the dark room, Mr. Manchas was hunched over, writhing on the floor gasping and groaning for breath. His shoulders were heaving with the deep, shaky breaths, and his paws were scrabbling along the floor, claws extended, leaving long gouges in the floorboards. But even as they watched, his breathing returned to normal, and he seemed to calm down, but he remained on the floor.

"Mr. Manchas, are you o-" Judas started to ask, taking a step towards the afflicted panther. However, as soon as he spoke, Manchas head snapped around towards the sound, nose sniffing wildly. Judas and Nicky were shocked at the expression on his face now. Gone was the fearful, worried demeanour, in its place was a fierce snarl, showing off the predator's mouthful of long, sharp fangs. He eyes had also narrowed to slits, both wide open now, ignoring the swelling around the clawed one. He snarled once, and lifted his forepaw to approach them.

"Run," Judas said quietly, not wanting to startle the jaguar into action prematurely. Nicky didn't need to be told twice. Both animals turned tail and sprinted out the open door, back into the rain just as Manchas pounced towards where they had been seconds before. They didn't need to look back to see if he was following them, his snarls and roars followed them as they ran onto the rope bridge they had crossed moments before, motivating them to run faster.

"What the hell's wrong with him!?" shouted Nicky, glancing back to see the panther leap for the bridge that they were on.

"I don't know! But whatever it is- Woah!" Judas' reply was transformed into a cry of panic as he was catapulted into the air by the bridge. A similar yelp escaped Nicky as well. Evidently, when Manchas had landed on the bridge, he'd caused it to buckle, and flick the fleeing mammal high into the air. Fortunately, they both landed back on the unstable bridge, rather than falling through the canopy, however, it wasn't long before Manchas was right behind them, and they still hadn't reached the other end of the bridge. Judas couldn't see anywhere to go.

"Over the side!" Nicky yelled, quickly climbing the rope railing. Judas looked at her dumfounded for a fraction of a second. "Do it!" Nicky snapped, galvanising the bunny into action. He jumped forward, and grabbed a hold of the railing to his left simultaneously, the resultant torque spinning him over the side of the bridge. As he fell, he caught a glimpse of the wild jaguar leaping through the space he'd occupied only moments ago. He didn't fall far before he found himself landing heavily on an overgrown, mossy tree branch, Nicky just in front of him. They didn't waste any time, but again kept running forwards, grateful for the few seconds the move had bought them when Manchas dropped down behind them.

They dashed forwards, the jaguar again gaining on them despite the slippery surface on which they were trying to run. After all, it was his natural habitat, but his prey were out of their element. A hollow log up ahead, caught Judas's eye as he searched frantically for anyway to escape, or at least buy them more time. The adrenaline coursing through his blood driving his thoughts faster than ever before.

"In there!" he shouted, pointing out the log to Nicky. She simply nodded, too breathless to reply. They scrambled in, again, not a moment too soon, as the jaguar pounced again, his frustrated snarls letting them know that they'd just won themselves a few more precious seconds. Seconds Judas used to do what he'd been unable to earlier. Call for backup.

Back at the ZPD headquarters, Benjamin Clawhauser was carrying out his regular morning routine. That meant he was sitting at his desk, a bowl of half eaten 'Lucky Chomps' to one side, and a half full box of doughnuts to the other, momentarily set aside as he checked in a teenage wolf in handcuffs that one of the night shift officers had just marched in. Of course, while he was waiting for the appropriate forms to print out, he thought he might as well show off his newest app to the teenager. Surely he would appreciate it, even if not many of the other officers, or civilians had so far.

"Are you familiar with Gazelle?" he asked innocently. Receiving nothing more than a non-committal shrug in return, he decided to prompt further, "You know, the Angel with horns? Greatest singer in our time?" This time the wolf gave him a small nod, confirming he did know who the cheater was gushing about. Ben held up his phone for the young wolf to see the music video playing on the screen. "Hang on, keep watching," he giggled quietly.

The video was of the popstar in question, dancing along to generic pop tunes. All of a sudden, she was joined on screen by one of her tiger backup dancers, except, with a picture of Ben's face crudely pasted over the face of the real dancer.

"You're one hot dancer. Ben-jamin. Claw-hauser." Came a tinny, computerised rendering of Gazelle's voice from the phone's speaker.

"See! It's me next to her!" he squealed excitedly, missing the tortured look the young delinquent gave his arresting officer, and the understanding look he got in return. "It's not really," Clawhauser sighed mournfully. "But did it look real?" he asked desperately, before answering himself "It looks so real! I wish it could be real," he frowned. Glancing to the side, a blinking red light on the radio scanner finally caught his attention. "Hang on just a sec," he excused himself, putting the phone down and pressing the receiving button on the system.

"CLAWHAUSER!" a high pitched roar echoed loudly through the foyer, causing many mammals to turn their heads in confusion towards the source. Unfortunately for the cheater, he'd been right next to the explosion of sound and had jumped several feet into the air, nearly knocking his favourite pink Gazelle mug onto the floor.

"Clawhauser here!" he managed to gasp in response, "Who's this?"

"Clawhauser, its Judas. Listen to me carefully!" Judas' voice came through the speaker again, not yelling anymore, but Ben could tell that something was very clearly wrong. Judas sounded out of breath, angry and even scared. That last one caused Ben to worry most, Judas wasn't the kind of rabbit to scare easily. He could also hear the sound of smashing wood, panting and snarling coming through the speaker as well. His training took over, and he automatically sent an alert over a separate intercom system to the First Responders team.

"We have a 10-91! Jaguar gone savage! Officer in distress! Rainforest District, Vine and Tagunga!"

"It's pronounced Tu-hunga!" a separate female voice came through the speaker, someone Clauhauser didn't recognise.

"Officer Hopps, I'm sending backup right away! They'll be there soon!" he waited for a response, but didn't hear anything. "Hopps! Do you copy?" still nothing. "HOPPS!" he yelled into the speaker. When no response was forthcoming, he abandoned the two-way channel, and instead made a broadband call to all the police channels.

"This is dispatch calling all cars in the Rainforest District! Dispatch to all officers in the Rainforest District. We have a 10-91 on the corner of Vine and Tujunga. Something about a jaguar gone savage, and an officer in distress, who can get there fastest?"

"Damnit!" Judas cursed as he watched the pawheld radio plummet out of sight into the canopy below. He'd lost his footing and would've gone over too if Nicky hadn't thrown her arm out to grab his, jerking him back upright, but jarring the radio out of his paw in the process. He didn't have long to mourn the loss of the radio, the jaguar had seen them escape the log and was again chasing after them. Looking forward, Judas felt a glimmer of hope rise in his chest. "There! Head for the sky trams!" he shouted, pointing to the wooden platform hanging out into open space in front of the.

Judas and Nicky put on an extra burst of speed, the promise of escape lending them enough speed to put a few extra feet between them and their pursuer. But even still, they couldn't hope to keep up that pace for long, and by the time they reached the platform, they were slowing again. Judas chanced a glance behind to see how close Manchas was, just in time to see him leap through the air straight towards him, paws outstretched. Judas quickly ducked to the left, feeling the jaguar's claws barely scrape along one of his ears. "Too close! Too close!" was all his mind could register, instincts taking over the dodging now. Scramble right. Roll left. Jump… NOW! Each time, only barely avoiding being mauled by the huge predator. Bounding forwards again to doge another swipe, Judas caught hold of a lamp post, spinning around it to redirect his momentum away from Manchas.

As soon as his feet touched the wet platform he knew he was in trouble. The water had reduced the friction of the platform to next to nothing.

"Woah! Ahhh!" Panicking, he scrabbled all four paws against the platform, trying to gain any traction with his short nails, but nothing he did could slow him down enough. He slammed hard into one of the wooden barriers, winding him as he was twisted to the side by his motion, sliding through the gap between posts. In a last ditch effort to avoid a fatal fall, he curled his left leg around one of the posts before he slid further. It was enough to stop him. Barely.

"Oh crap!" he gasped, looking down at the dark void beneath him as he swung precariously upside down. "This is not how I thought today would go," he muttered darkly, trying to catch his breath, and slow his racing heart. Suddenly a voice from above reminded him that Nicky was still in danger.

"Get in Carrots!" Nicky called back, pulling open the door of one of the trams as it slowed down over the platform. "Jude? Where are you?" she turned around, searching for the bunny when he failed to respond. All she saw though was Mr. Manchas slowly stalking towards her now that she was cornered. "Oh no! He didn't! He-he's-" her fear was temporarily allayed though when she heard a voice calling out over the rain.

"GO! Get out of here Nicky!" Nicky glanced over to the side of the platform where the voice came from, spotting the bedraggled rabbit struggling to climb back onto the platform. "There's no way I'm leaving him like that!" she thought, letting go of the tram door without really thinking. But as she turned back to the approaching jaguar, she suddenly regretted her decision. His face, although snarling, seemed so viciously smug as he padded slowly to the trapped fox.

"Haha, buddy!" she laughed nervously, falling back to her last option. Try and sweet talk her way out of this. She didn't for a second think it was going to work, but what else could she do? "One predator to another, please, just- Agghhhh!" Manchas pounced.

When she didn't feel sharp teeth and claws ripping the flesh from her body, Nicky dared to open her eyes again. She was crouched on the very tip of the platform, cowering from a death that never came. Mr. Manches was lying in a heap in the middle of the platform, just starting to stir.

"Come on!" Judas yelled, and Nicky looked up to see the grey rabbit standing behind the jaguar, his hindpaw cuffed to a lamp post, restraining him from reaching Nicky. She quickly followed the officer's directive, and edged carefully around the jaguar, who was just managing to regain his feet.

"Well, it was a pleasure meeting you Manchas, but I'm afraid we really must be going," she joked anxiously. Unfortunately for her, it seemed Manchas didn't really care for her joke as he lunged at Nicky again, sending her sprawling into Judas, and the barrier he'd just managed to climb up. However, this time the weight of two mammals slamming into it was too much for the bamboo posts, and it shattered, spilling the two screaming mammals over the edge.

Grabbing madly for anything he could, Judas managed to catch hold of the vine that had bound the posts together with one paw, and Nicky's wrist with the other. Holding tightly to each other and the vine, they swung underneath the platform and almost went vertical on the other side, before beginning their reverse swing.

"Please, Carrots! Don't let me fall!" Nicky cried out desperately, looking down at the empty sky below them. But Judas had other ideas.

"I'm going to let go!" he called as they passed through the bottom of their swing. He could already feel his paw slipping on the wet vine, and on Nicky's wet wrist. He wouldn't be able to hold on much longer anyway.

"Wait! No! What are you-Arrgggghhhh!" All of a sudden she was flying through the air again, with nothing to hold onto.

Their flight through the rain lasted both an eternity and an instant for the duo. Nicky felt certain she was about to die, and Judas was praying fervently that his harebrained scheme would actually work, and they wouldn't end up as a grey and orange splats on the ground far below.

The next thing Nicky felt was not the hard ground below as she'd feared, but vines and leaves, slapping her face, and tangling her limbs. Catching at her clothes. Slowing her down. Holding her. When she realised she wasn't going to fall to her death after all, she turned her shocked face to the rabbit beside her. He was wearing a smug, but surprised smirk on his face, and for the third time in the last 24 hours she felt what everyone else must feel like when she pulled a con over them and left with a smirk on her face. She decided it was not a situation she liked being in all that much. On the other paw, she was alive, far more than she had expected just seconds ago.

"Rabbit, you saved my life! Again!" she gasped, still trying to come to terms with the situation. She glanced back to where the slavering jaguar paced, glaring at his prey that had somehow managed to escape him.

"Ha! Well I guess that's just what we police officers are here for!" he smiled back.

"I just have two questions though."

"Hmm?"

"First, how'd you know these vines would hold us?"

"Well, I, uh. I kind of just hoped they would you know?" Judas smiled weakly.

"You hoped?" Nicky exclaimed.

"Hey! I didn't exactly have a lot of time to come up with a three stage plan or anything! Plus, I was about to slip anyway!" Judas snapped back. Nicky just rolled her eyes, and asked her second question.

"Secondly, how do we get down?"

"Um. Now that is actually a good question," he answered, looking around. They were nestled in a nest of vines both too high above the ground to try climbing down, and to far below the canopy-scraper above them to easily climb out. "Let's just get ourselves untangled first, then we can wait for backup to get us down.

"I guess that makes sense," Nicky replied, twisting her arm out of several vines it was trapped in. Judas had it easier. Being smaller than Nicky, he was able to wiggle his arms and torso out of the vines in a matter of moments. However, as they were too busy extracting themselves from the web of vines, neither of them heard the creaking and snapping until it was too late.

"Arrgghhh!"

"Waaahhh!"

They both yelled as the vines supporting them suddenly gave way, and they were falling for what felt like the millionth time that morning. However, the canopy was much denser at this level, and it wasn't long until they started slapping into huge leaves, and flexible branches, each absorbing some of their fall.

Again, it was vines that saved them from becoming a couple of furry puddles on the road below. They fell through a dense net of thinner vines, which pulled tight around them as they fell, but also bound them tightly to each other. Finally, their fall was arrested as the vines caught on the branches above and held fast as the bundle of fur and vines swung wildly about a few feet off the pavement.

Judas was alive, that much he knew. Somehow, he had survived yet again when by all rights he should be dead, or at least severely injured. All he had was a couple of scrapes and bruises, nothing to worry about. He cautiously opened his eyes, wary of whatever new threat should face him. He wasn't quite ready for the one that greeted him though.

A pair of bright green orbs stared right back at him, close enough that he could see his own startled reflection in them. The orbs blinked rapidly a couple of times, and Judas realised that they were Nicky's eyes. "Sweet cheese and crackers!" he thought, trying to pull back, but finding that the vines were too tight for him to move far, instead he was held tight, his muzzle squished up close next to hers.

"Gee Carrots," Nicky mumbled, her speech hindered by a certain rabbit almost being squished into her jaw, "we've really gotta stop meeting like this. I don't think my life insurance covers bunny induced canopy diving." Before Judas could think of a suitable rejoinder, the sound of approaching sirens intruded, and he breathed a sigh of relief as several squad cars pulled up around them.

"Finally! Now we can get out of this mess!" he smiled, Nicky just chuckled nervously. Judas frowned, about to ask her what was wrong, but his question was answered before he could even ask it.

"Well, I'm sure this is going to be good," snorted the deep bass of Chief Bogo from behind him. Judas cringed, of course he'd have to be the one to come to their rescue. At least he could finally show his stiff boss that something serious was indeed going on, and that he was making progress. All in all, despite nearly falling to their deaths several times in the last few minutes, Judas felt hopeful that things were finally going right!

A.N.

Thanks again for reading guys, it really makes my day to see that people like what I'm writing! Unfortunately, like I said last time, I've still gt a lot on my plate at the moment with exams coming up fast, but without classes, I might be able to write up another chapter quicker than this one came out, but I make no promises! Anyway, I'll catch you all later, I need to get some sleep now!