Zootopia 11
OOO
Geez I knew school would be difficult but this is ridiculous. Any way I've worked on this chapter here and there to the best of my ability so don't think for a minute I forgot about you turd monkeys. So another big shout out to ADutchMarine you get another 2 rutabagas. Comments like that really help me to continue writing. But I noticed something about every story I have ever written. I get to the point where I hit 16000 words and my brain losses interest in the story. It happened with the spyro story I have and I haven't touched that in over 5 years. And the same almost happened to this story. Same with the 40k, adventure time, mass effect, call of duty, LOTR, star wars so on and so forth I hit a certain spot and my mind just goes
"nope I am not doing this anymore!" but honestly the amazing feedback ive gotten both as a compliant on the story as a whole or genuine criticism, it really helps me continue the story knowing that so many people enjoy what ive tried to create.
…
Alright enough of the sappy sh!t! time to get my underwear clad rear end into gear.
So for the rest of the story when something is said in English I will underline it to clarify the difference in chat otherwise the rest of the spoken language in the story is all "animal common". I use the term animal common because, other than a lack of a better term, the movies in the future might actually produce a name for their language.
"again I thank you all for those who commented and I hope you enjoy the chapter"
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five months. We were cooped up in that hospital room for five months doing nothing but learning this animal common. The language itself wasn't very difficult, hell I'd even say it has a decent amount in common with both German and Spanish. Though other than that the similarities end. Sure the alphabet got translated already and that took them a week. But to learn all the words you used to know but in a new language? Boy that's the challenge here. As we both progressed we would pick up more and more of the doctors and nurses conversations. Eventually it got to the point that we could almost communicate in full sentences in common. Though when it came to serious issues between myself and James we spoke in English. It was our fall back so to speak. A way for it to be just us, two soldiers who trusted each other and a language no one else understood. We could talk through our problems together without any eves droppers. Well except the monkey, she might be about the only one who understands what we say to each other. She never said anything about it though. In fact, the only reason we are even suspicious is every time we speak English her ears perk up and she instantly drops whatever it is she's doing to writes down notes on a note book. Can't really blame her though she done nothing but ask us questions about where we came from. We kept the war stories to a minimum for her sake. We told her about the almost cryptic similarities between our world and theirs.
Three months into our language lessons they finally let us out of the room. Mainly just to the cafeteria and the hospital physical therapy room. We had been lying in our beds for four months at that point. Surprisingly it was more of a gym then a physical therapy room. I guess when you have to help animals the size of mice all the way to an elephant the weight rack can get a tad excessive. We both worked out regularly to get our strength back up and ran as well. We had gotten used to the constant eyes that where always on us when we would work out. Though the clothes they gave us where meant for monkeys WITH tails. So it was kind of awkward at first to have shorts with a hole in the poop deck. We also got most of our combat fatigues back. My digital camo that only blended into a grandma's couch and James' light tan and dusty green camo uniforms. We never wore our jacket tops just the pants, boots and undershirts. There really wasn't a need for the jackets now that we were outside a combat theater. That leads to another funny human only trait, and that is boots. Shoes are almost nonexistent in this world so when all the people that live here see a couple of humans with their feet all wrapped up they don't know what to think.
It was about four months in when one of them decided it would be a good idea to give us access to the internet in their world. I nearly face desked when I clicked the little globe icon and the first website I saw was "zoogle" and after many hours of research and browsing I think I had a pretty good idea of how this world worked. It wasn't so much racism that was an issue in this world it was specism. And even that for the most part had died down for a more recent issue. Interspecies relationships. For some reason the population of this city seemed half and half on the issue, most just trying their best to stay clear of the fallout. The more I read the more angry I got. The closer to the present I got the more violent actions were taken against people … mammals who were in these relationships. Some of the most recent involving murders. I eventually stopped searching social issues and did some digging into their military. I was very shocked to find it was almost nonexistent. When I asked about it I got this long answer I didn't quite understand, something about peace agreements between other nations of this world. It didn't exactly make sense to me but if it works then I can't complain now can i?
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"no … I don't think that's how it works" I said to James.
"I'm telling you mate it's just like football" his cocky smile plastered on his face
"but the ball isn't even egg shaped" the smile faded from his face when he realized I was referring to American football. The sound of the door opening drew us out of our conversation. First walked in Sarah and both of us were pleasantly surprised, followed immediately by a very angry looking buffalo.
"DON'T, say a damn thing" he started, before either of us could retort.
"you want to get the out of this hospital?" this caught both our attentions.
"good, now we have a bit of a problem down at the police station. We've had a bit of an accident involving YOUR gear that was recovered from the crash site. One of my officers is now permanently off active duty and will probably never walk again." He huffed continuously through his offer/explanation?
"I want you to disarm all the weapons we brought in." he glared at us letting his demand sink in
"and if you do. I'll let you two out of this hospital, but you will have a 24 hour police guard following you everywhere you go." We glanced at each other and back at him.
"I don't know James should we help him?"
"Hmmm honestly couldn't hurt our situation if we did" he said shrugging his shoulders. The large buffalo was close to visibly shaking with anger. He wasn't able to understand English and probably thought we were plotting something. Only Sarah being there calmed his nerves.
"screw it why not" I finally said
"sure we'll help you. But you might want to calm down before you give yourself a heart attack buffalo"
Myself and James were already in our uniforms so we just got up to follow him. Immediately outside the door was the snow leopard and the Shepard in riot gear. I look annoyingly at the buffalo before asking Berkley if it was really necessary. She shrugged heaving the seemingly too big shotgun. I smirked as I walked by her.
"safeties on" I told her walking behind the buffalo. Honest to god I didn't actually know but when I heard the soft click of the safety turning off I couldn't help but wear a shit eating grin. It probably freaked her out a bit too. As soon as we left the hospital we were swarmed by animals of all sizes that had to be news teams. Most of the larger animals where held back by the line of officers most of which rhinos. A few of the smaller animals in the crowd managed to sneak through. Suddenly I had a small light brown rabbit directly in my face with a microphone.
"is it true humans still activally hunt!" she practically screamed it in my face. I shrugged my shoulders.
"some do" the small rabbit already had her face back in the camera.
"you heard it here first, humans are blood thirsty killers looking for prey to hunt!" the rabbit attempted to coax the camera rabbit with her to make a hasty exit. Not before I caught her by the scruff of her shirt and lifted her to be face to face.
"now wait just a damn minute that's not what I said and you know it rabbit!" the camera rabbit just continued rolling obviously not wanting to miss the shot of his boss about to get chewed out.
"ya some of us hunt but it's a very small number of us, so don't go slapping the blood thirsty monster label on us unless we deserve it!" I let the rabbit reporter go and the two quickly vanished into the crowd of new mammals. At this point the rest of the crowd was in an uproar screaming over each other to shout questions at us. I didn't catch even a snippet of any question before the buffalo and the two officers forced us into the back of a swat van. For a split second I was worried when the doors slammed shut. That feeling went away the moment the two officers started peeling off the swat helmets and storing their weapons on racks inside the van. The ride was short and silent. I assumed we were only a short distance from the police station to begin with. Once there we exited the van outside the front door.
Really the front door not an underground garage or something like that?
The old buffalo huffed and motioned us to follow him inside followed by Berkley and Uncia. Behind the reception desk was a rather large cheetah face down in a phone. The buffalo just walked by ignoring the officer whose attention was clearly off his work.
"oh M goodness" I looked over to realize he was staring at myself and James.
"what's up with your buddy?" James whispered to Uncia. She shrugged and said it was a Clawhauser thing. The bubbly cheetah continued chatting away
"I didn't think I'd get to see a human today! Oh you have to let me take a picture of you two! Oh wait where did I put my camera? HUH! Did I leave it at my sisters after the last gazelle concert? Oh no! you two have to try some of her music she's amazing! "the cheetah droned on and on without an end to his banter in sight. A small nudge from Berkley brought me to the realization that I should just walk away. I shrugged, which seemed to be contagious at the moment, and followed Berkley and the buffalo. Uncia and James followed, only after the cheetah was pried off James by a rather glare intensive leopard.
"thanks love" he said. I know what a brit means when he says love but the leopard clearly didn't. her face was bright red under the white and black fur and her ears where pinned to the back of her skull in embarrassment, James none the wiser. I have to remember to bring that to James attention at some point. Rounding the corner, I was greeted with a large grey slab of metal jutting from the wall. Clearly an armory door.
"our little deal is still in effect humans, but if you try anything we have armed guard in there with you" I smirked at the hollow threat and I heard James give a short laugh behind me.
"sure thing buffalo, besides maybe you guys could learn a thing or … "I rounded the corner and I was not prepared for what I saw. The room was a long room maybe 40-50 feet back and about 20 across on either side were weapon racks, most of which were empty. Running down the middle was a table bolted to the floor that ran almost the length of the room. On said table was the vest and rifle of everyone they pulled out of the crashes. I gulped down tears as I saw the names labelled on each rifle, on each vest. This wasn't opening old wounds, this was ripping them open and pouring acid in them. I turned around and looked at James.
"alright I'll take the British gear you take the U.S., that way it'll hut less." James simply nodded in agreement. There was one thing I had to make sure I did before we started.
"James" I said. He only nodded in understanding. He stood next to me hands clasped behind his back and feet spread shoulder width apart. Myself standing in the same pose. Quickly slamming my heels together and snapping my hands to my sides I yell out
"present!" James follows my lead as I give the command. All around the room the animals are confused. Not sure what to make of the spectacle in front of them.
"ARMS!" I yell out. Both me and James snap our right hands to the crook of our eyebrow. This was what needed to happen. These men died in the line of duty, and deserved at the very least the respect of those who survived, those still able to give them respect. For several second me and James stood there, perfectly erect and right arms raised. Tears rolling down both of our faces. The room was silent, the animal's breath catching in their throats as if not daring to interrupt the ceremony in front of them. Never had any of them seen anything like it, even the hardened buffalos features softened.
"order … arms" we lower our hands to our sides and relax.
"alright let's get this done"
OOO
We worked fast. Wanting to get out of the situation as fast as possible. We quickly sorted the ammo by types into different crates. Grenades, smokes and explosives into another crate. Gear like the night vision goggles and optics got logged and locked up into one of the side cages. The rifles and vests where stored next and the last thing we did was peel the name off of every vest. We burned the name tapes, there was no need to keep those bad memories even if they were locked in an arms room. When they closed that massive grey door it's as if they cut the last reminder of the horrible war we left behind. We could finally move on. We were on our way out of the police station with the group we came in with.
"well a deal is a deal." The buffalo stated.
"Uncia, Berkley don't let these two out of your sights. When your done take them to complex 2B" the buffalo began walking away before either of the officers could protest. There was a long silence that followed as the four of us looked back and forth between each other.
"so! … whose hungry?" Uncia blurted out to end the silence. Both me and James were mentally exhausted we just wanted food, shower and some sleep. We really didn't care what order we got it in.
OOO
We reached a place a couple of blocks away from the police station. It was called Al Capony's, when I asked about the name they said it was named after a famous gang leader back a couple hundred years. Again this worlds creepy similarities to my own sends my head reeling. I just can't grasp how it's so similar. Regardless pizza is pizza and I'm not one to turn down some free food.
"so humans had pizza as well?" Berkley asked. Both James and I nodded. Taking a quick glance around the other patrons seemed on edge. Though probably not as on edge with the fact we had two police officers with us.
"yes, though it was around our entire world each place often had their own spin to it."
"like what?" Uncia asked. This time James spoke up.
"well British pizza often had breakfast foods on them. Eggs, potatoes, sausage stuff like that. The Americans had all sorts of stuff on theirs."
The pizza finally came out and the waiter left in a hurry. Me and James grimaced when we saw that the pizza had crickets and fried grasshoppers on it.
"well let's face it brit. We have defiantly eaten worse." We both took a slice from the table. We didn't really notice the restaurant went silent. Every animal in the place was watching us, some of which had their phones out recording us.
"heh remember east Georgia mate? Dear lord yanks can't cook" he took a bite out of his slice.
"Thems fighting words brit" I proceeded to take a bite out of my slice as well. All in all, it wasn't a bad taste, the crunchy texture was something to get used to so I just imagen they were crunchy bacon bits.
"hmmm I give it a 6 out of 10" James spoke up through a mouthful of food. The two officers looked at each other.
"what you don't like crickets?" Uncia asked.
"in all honesty I've never eaten bugs before." I responded grabbing another slice. Clearly they were glad we liked it for never trying it and it really wasn't that bad. We all sat around telling stories and just generally enjoying the evening.
Maybe we could get used to this.
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I don't know what I expected the complex to be. But a rather nice looking apartment building was defiantly not one of them. So after pizza the two officers escorted us to the apartment complex. The front was gated so the officers had to go through the process of buzzing us in. once in we went up the elevator and finally our room. well rooms I should say, I didn't realize they would be splitting us up. After spending 5 months in the same hospital room and countless more in the same foxhole you feel a little empty inside. But hey! There's a bed! So empty or not I'm happy. James went into his room, he said his good nights to everyone before shutting the door. Then Uncia locked it from the outside, telling James she did as much as well. I looked over and Berkley.
"what worried were going to run off in the middle of the night?" she gave me a deadpanned expression before saying
"yes" and slamming the door shut without a moment's hesitation. I chuckled and heard the door click as well as the promise of them letting us out first thing in the morning. Turning around I took in my surrounding in the apartment. The walls where a dusty green and yellow. The carpet a dirty brown and the furniture had seen better days. But compared to some of the bombed out buildings and foxholes I've slept in it was paradise. It had a main room and kitchen and a bedroom off to the side. Deciding I had enough emotional turmoil for one day I decided to hit the hay. Peeling off my boots, socks and pants I pulled the covered back. Sinking into the comfortable material I almost passed out right then and there. Pulling the covers up I was out almost instantly.
Today could have been far worse.
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Well folks it's been a challenge for me, I've only been able to get scraps done here and there but here it is. Chapter lengths will be lengthened and insanity with be brought in by the truck load. All in all, I'm pleasantly surprised by most of the feedback. Thanks to all whole help me out by commenting and PMing.
Rutabaga count
ADutchMarine: 3
Everyone else: N/A
Stay awesome and I'll see you in the drop zone trooper!
LtSolarFlare signing off
