A/N: Hey all! I might not able to update this story for a week or two due to mid-year exams coming up. So enjoy this little chapter for now. I wish those who take exams… much luck and may the knowledge be with you!

Stairway to Heaven

'Nick! Where are you?' I screeched. The ceiling had crumbled into bits and the ground had opened into a giant sinkhole, as if our footsteps were enough to destabilise the crumbling building. The detritus of what was left of the ceiling was all over the floor. However, it had too conveniently made a stairway up to the next floor of the building.

Suddenly, a shuffle in the multitude of pebbles alerted my ears to Nick's presence. I whipped around, finding Nick with battered arms and a bruised tail. 'Nick, I swear if you dare scare me like that again, I'll…' He stopped me, delivering a swift undeniable kiss to me, before smiling. 'I'm alright, Carrots. Nothing I've never experienced before.' His voice betrayed a slight bit of pain, but he continued. 'Don't worry for me. What matters is that we complete this case. You hear that, Judy?' I stood stunned. He only called me by my name when he was serious. Being a serial prankster, he was almost never serious. I nodded, allowing us to proceed up the stairway created by the rubble.

We proceeded on to the next floor… and to the next one. This time, this storey was about 20 metres tall, about 100 metres wide and 150 metres for its length. It was in a better state compared to the rest, with dust everywhere, and pawprints on the floor… pawprints? 'Nick! Look?' I pointed eagerly at the pawprints, hopping around. He rotated his head slowly, nodding at the new evidence we had found.

'Alright, this is heating up…' All of a sudden, the rusting PA system we didn't know existing blared up. 'And it will heat up, honey dear. Enjoy your stay here… or maybe not!' An evil voice cackled over the PA system, whilst the floor magically sealed itself up, and the rubble started crumbling around us. The exit was so far, but it was there. 'Welcome to your first round, ladies and gentlemammals.' The voice spoke with a hint of… happiness? 'Remember that game where you imagined the floor was lava? Well… the floor is actually lava! And it rises about 18cm per hour, so you best hurry to the next arena, playthings.' The PA system stopped working abruptly.

The rubble we were standing was only a mere 3cm over lava, meaning we had to plan what to do in 10 minutes, or we were roast rabbit and fried fox, pre-heated for dinner. There was just a little issue: Nick was injured. And so was I.

'Alright. We got to hop on to that rock over there. You see that?' I pointed to the big lump of granite which was more elevated above the lava than we were.' I checked my pockets for anything that could help. Some rope, a tweezer, a knife, my phone, some rocks, blueberries (yum), and a small pebble. Nothing we could use, really.

I hopped over to the other side pretty easily, as it was only 3m away. Nick did so as well, his refined skills courtesy of the ZPD training program. Now, on to the next jump… I was about to jump to it but it was quickly consumed by the hungry lava, waiting to devour us. The hidden cameras probably displayed our confusion, and the PA system reactivated: 'Oh, forgot to say this, but the lava flows in at an incremental rate, so you best hurry up before it speeds up to fast, hmm?' I cursed the voice on the PA system, before receiving an electric shock from the floor. 'Uh-huh, bad girl.' The voice seemed to taunt me.

With a bounce to my feet, I and Nick simply raced to the exit, waiting for the next obstacle. Another room opened up to us, its stainless steel doors opening and closing silently. The voice opened up again, seeming waiting for us. 'Well… it seems like you enjoyed that… fiery challenge. Now… we have this little… challenge for you two. Since you two love lava so much, here's a vertical lava climbing wall, exception is… the footholds are actually very unstable, and crumble in 30 seconds. And also, the lava from the room before you is flooding in, so you best plan out your route before I collect your burnt carcasses. Have fun!' The voice spoke airily, before closing the PA system. True to its word, the lava began immediately. I mentally visualised the steps… 'left boulder… then up there, do a hop up to the right…' It was clear that Nick had already planned it when the voice was speaking, and had started climbing the 20m cliff. He pranced from boulder to boulder, like he had done this before… maybe to escape? I shuddered, quickly following the route and the markers I had set. Soon, I had surpassed him, who had chosen a slightly slower route, presumably to account for his injuries. I took the shortcuts I could, careful to make sure none of my boulders fell and landed on Nick.

I kept up the pace, as so did Nick as he… managed to find some… creative uses for his tail, so as to speak. Using it as a… tailhold? When there was no other way to get up. I grinned at his ingenuity, knowing that he would be able to beat the lava.

'Right… left… top right, 2 metres… top left, 1 metre…' The handholds had become increasingly shaky as expected, leaving me to wonder: Was it because of old age, or was because there was a lesser need to replace them as more mammals had fell off in the earlier stages… I shuddering, wanting to shake off the imagery of mammals falling to their doom.

Finally, I reached the pinnacle of the place. Nick was about to, too. I outstretched my paw, ready to give a paw shake. He grabbed my hand, accepting it.

SNAP

Both of his footholds snapped, causing me to lunge backwards, and him to strengthen his grip.

Nicholas Piberius Wilde. ZPD Officer. Ex-hustler. Potential boyfriend. Was. Now. Hanging. Over. A. Pit. Of. Lava.

A/N: I'm really sorry for the cliffhanger… get it? Hanging over a cliff? (winces at bad pun) I really shouldn't make puns. Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter, and good luck to all for their finals. Rate and review as always, and peace.