Author's Note:

Abra-ca-copyright disclaimer!

Ok, you guys lucked out. Honestly, I wanted to add a lot more to this chapter, but I felt rude making you wait for it. Also, the ending just seemed like a good spot to stop. If I'd continued you may have been left at a non-emotional note, and that's just no way to keep you on the hook!

As always, please rate and review, criticize, comment, anything.

Oh, and let me know if you prefer 4-6k word chapters every two weeks or 8-10k every 3. I can do either or...probably.

Anyways, enjoy!

A Tale of Two Thoughts: Chapter 7 (C)

J: I've been crawling in the dark / N: As your eyes start to blister

"Here we are!" exclaimed Skye happily.

"Where? The hallway of mushrooms?" Nick asked, only half joking. He could see that cement-walled hallway they were in now held multiple doors on each side, but he was too tired to speculate on what they were for. As far as he could tell, he'd been up for over 18 hours now, and it was likely morning above ground now, which was a problem for his newly nocturnal life-style. He was not looking forward to the orientation and likely hazing that he suspected he was about to be subjected to.

"No, silly, your sleeping quarters!" Skye chirped.

Nick's ear made the slightest twitch in her direction. How is she still so cheerful? He thought, noting that even if Skye hadn't been awake for as long as he had been, she had been active, electrocuted, walking for at least as long as he had been, and she was pregnant. Wait, did she say sleep?

"You looked pretty beat to me, so I figured you could use a nap before I showed you around the place." Skye said as she opened a nearby door.

Nick could only barely hear her. Past the now open doorway was a tiny room with carpeted flooring, and a small mattress with bedsheets on it that smelled freshly laundered. Even the walls looked inviting as they were either covered in a wooden façade or made of actual wood. To Nick, it was the sight of heaven.

"…and I still have to report to Big Red, then after that I have to check on our generators. Oh! I should also find out what stage orientation is on." Skye glanced sideways at Nick, noting that he was focused solely on the mattress in front of him. "Look, I'll come get you in about eight hours. Until then, just stay here and rest up. It's going to be a busy night for you tonight."

Skye walked out of the room and reached back in to close the door. With the door still open a crack, Skye popped her head back in.

"Oh, and one more thing. These doors don't lock, so if you have anything valuable that you don't want stolen, I suggest you sleep on it." She winked at him before removing her head and closing the door all the way.

"Skye. Glad to see you're back. How did your visit with Mr. Big go? Any word on a cure for mammals who go savage?" Came the boisterous voice of a large, and old, male red fox.

"Thank you sir! Mr. Big said that his scientists have not yet discovered a cure, but his spies have heard rumors of a lab run by sheep that claims to be close. However, he said it will be some time before he can find out for sure as any spy he sends to the lab ends up disappearing." Reported Skye, her body and mind on full alert.

"Interesting, we shall eagerly await his results. And what news did Mr. Big have on production of the Tame Collars and their remote activators?"

"Production of the Tame Collars has slowed. Almost every predator in Zootopia is wearing one by now. However, production of the remote activators has increased dramatically. Mr. Big agrees with your theory that the prey in charge are preparing for a civil war."

"Damn." Swore the red fox. "And if there is such a war, will the rodents of Tundra Town and Little Rodentia fight with the predators? Or the prey?"

"Mr. Big stated, and I quote 'The rodents are sympathetic to the struggles of predators, as every rodent knows it is not the size or shape of a mammal that is threatening, but how they choose to use their bodies. A careless sheep is a bigger threat to a small rodent than a careful lion. While rodents have historically been both predators and prey, the insects they preyed on do not yet threaten their existence. However, rodents operate today as predators in more ways than one. The rodents will stand with the predators.'" Skye took in a deep breath. It was hard to mimic Mr. Big's wheezy voice while speaking such long sentences.

The old fox smiled. "I am glad to hear that. If the prey truly are preparing for civil war by use of those damned Tame Collars and remotes, we will need all the help we can get, especially from mammals who have been ignored so far."

Skye's tail and nose twitched nervously. "Speaking of which, has Sonny come back from his trip to the Pride Lands yet?" She asked, carefully hiding her eagerness.

"Not yet my dear. But it is a long trip, and depending on how long he must wait for the counsel of lionesses, it could be a few days yet before he returns." Replied the red fox kindly. "Now, if you have no more questions, I'd like you to check on the generators before getting some rest yourself."

"Well, it's not really a question…" began Skye nervously. "but I did sort of, bring a new member to the Carnivorous Mushrooms." Skye's ears pinned against her head as she looked nervously towards the red fox, expecting an angry response.

Instead, the red fox regarded her levelly. "You know how I feel about gaining new members without the proper introductions" he spoke slowly. After a moment of silence, he continued "so why?"

"I was sort of ambushed by two ZPD officers outside of the entrance. They were using their remotes to set off my Tame Collar." The red fox's face softened. "and suddenly this handsome red fox came out of nowhere. I pretended to faint, and he fought them off, on his own, before they could activate his collar."

"Impressive. I would like to meet this fox. For now, I want you to show him around tomorrow, give him the proper initiation tour, he can join the afternoon's class, they're only on their third day of initiation anyways." Mused the red fox to himself. Realizing Skye was still there, he looked her in the eye. "What was this fox's name?" he asked.

"It is quite the fitting name sir. His name is Wilde." Skye said slowly, having forgotten the fox's first name.

Skye considered herself an observant mammal, she had to be in order to be an Aethyr engineer, and one of the top operatives of the Carnivorous Mushrooms. Yet even she was unsure if the look that flashed across the old fox's face was one of surprise or not.

"Wilde. Thank you Skye, you may leave now."

Skye performed a tight bow, it wasn't necessary of course but Skye felt it an appropriate way to show her respect for the old fox she affectionately called Big Red, and left the fox's office.

"Achar. I want you to go to the new recruit's quarters. Find this red fox, and search him. If he has a stone tablet on him, I want it brought directly to me. You are to leave everything else where you find it." Spoke Big Red quietly towards a corner close to the door.

A rat poked his head out of a small hole in the wall by that corner. "Bang-on boss. Find fox, take tablet, leave loot." He said before scurrying off.

The world was a cacophony of high-pitched squeals, grunts, thuds, and shouts of indignation. Judy kept her face hidden behind her paw as she sighed in exasperation. Chief Snoots had been better than her word and upon seeing Judy's list of items for the officer's training course, had recognized Judy's intent to replicate the course at the police academy, and had set it up for Judy. If only the rabbit officers could have been so accommodating.

Her morning course had gone off without a hitch, most of the experienced officers demonstrated that they still had the ability to perform the obstacle courses smoothly. Particularly, Judy was impressed by Jack's show of ingenuity and forethought. The striped jackrabbit had even beaten some of Judy's records from the academy.

What impressed Judy though, was how he'd done it. For example, instead of jumping off his fellow officers to climb the ice wall, as Judy had done, Jack had quickly taken out his tranquilizer darts and held one in each paw as he proceeded to climb the wall. Normally this would have been a slow approach, except he would hang from his paws while he placed both feet against the wall, then he would kick off the wall, using his forepaws as a fulcrum and swinging around until his outward momentum became upwards momentum before pulling the two darts out of the wall. At the peak of his leap, he would plunge the darts back into the wall and hang from his paws while he positioned his feet for the next leap. In this way, he flew up the wall at the same speed Judy had, only without having to wait for his fellow officers to get in to position first.

Smiling the jackrabbit had come up to her and asked if he'd beaten her time. Surprised, Judy had checked his time and found that he only came up two seconds short. Judy had asked Jack how he knew about her time and he had slyly replied "it's good to learn as much as you can about your superiors." Judy realized that this meant he probably knew of her method of scaling the wall and asked Jack why he hadn't done as she had. His response had impressed her greatly.

"Two reasons. The first being the point of these drills. We've already passed academy training, so you know we can complete them. And it wasn't about speed as the Z.P.D.s test only requires that we be above a certain minimum. Thus, the purpose of these drills could only be about our creativity in approaching the challenge. Since I already knew of your method, using it would betray the purpose of this drill. I had to come up with my own method instead. The second reason, is that these officers are my comrades. If I show that I view them as objects to be used, how do you think they would feel about me in the field? Would they trust me? Would they be willing to assist me? To follow my strategies? The risk wasn't worth taking just to score well in an area that wasn't even being tested during a practice exercise."

Judy gave him top marks.

The stark contrast between Jack's performance, and that of the novice class was what was exasperating Judy so much. While she hadn't expected the newer officers to be at Jack's level, she had expected them to at least be capable of meeting the basic requirements, as she had. Due to the advantages of being a bunny, mainly being able to communicate freely with the other rabbits in Bunny Burrows without frightening them, the rabbit officers needn't be physically exceptional but they should at least meet the minimum requirements.

Instead, she found that most of them had been given their position simply because they were rabbits. Many of them were having difficulties completing the obstacle courses at all, much less with a good time, or creatively. Simply thinking about the training she would have to come up with to get these officers up to par was giving her a headache.

Fortunately, such thinking was quickly put to an end by Chief Snoots. The elephant glanced at the newbies (truly, they had earned the descriptor) with contempt as she watched one rabbit slide down from nearly the top of the wall and take out three others beneath him as he fell. Snoots snorted, before turning her attention back to Judy.

"Officer Hopps, I've got Chief Bogo on the line in my office. He says he needs to speak to you privately. I'll look after these morons until you're done. Don't be long." Chief Snoots said as she turned around and glared at the new officers.

Judy ran quickly to Chief Snoots' office, wondering why Bogo would ask to speak to her privately.

Nick awoke to the feeling of something jostling his fur. In panic, he froze for the briefest of moments until he recalled Skye's warning. Realizing he was being searched, he settled down again with a mental chuckle. He didn't have anything to steal except for the cellphone given to him by Bogo. Nick pretended to be asleep while he noted the animal's technique. It must have been a small mammal, probably a rodent, and they were very good at searching him without moving him too much. If Nick hadn't been awoken by his more…primal senses, he probably wouldn't have awakened at all.

Nick felt the rodent find his cellphone and waited, ready to pounce on the mammal if it tried to steal it. While it probably wasn't worth very much, a phone with a direct line to the chief of police was probably a dangerous thing to have around here. He may not even be after the phone. Wait and see, you can learn a lot more by pretending to be asleep until you find out what he's after.

As luck would have it, the rodent was not after his phone, leaving it in his pocket after briefly identifying it. Interesting, so what are they looking for? Nick felt the rodent find its way to his other pocket. Shit! That's the one with the Tame Collar Remote! From the rodent's sudden stiffness, they must have realized the same thing. Nick stifled a laugh as he heard the barest whisper of a swear from the rodent before it quickly stumbled back.

A few seconds later, and the rodent had completed its search and, having not found whatever it was looking for, left Nick's room.

That was…interesting. They didn't take anything, so either I didn't have what they were looking for, or that was some strange form of security check. No, can't be a security check, otherwise they would have at least looked through the phone. So…someone's looking for something and they thought I might have it, yet the only mammals who know I'm here are myself, and Skye…and whoever else she might have told about me, obviously. Well, nothing I can do about it now.

Having settled the issue in his mind, and knowing he could do nothing about it for now, Nick allowed himself to return to the blissful oblivion that was sleep.

"Officer Hopps! I expressly forbade you from returning to Zootopia!" Came Chief Bogo's aggravated yell through the telephone receiver in front of Judy.

Judy stood on Chief Snoots' desk, the phone receiver layed out in front of her, as she stood over the mouthpiece to the phone.

"Actually sir, you simply assigned me to this post. You never said I couldn't go to Zootopia on my free time." She corrected before she could stop herself. She should have known from the Chief's voice that he was worried about something, and she was just adding fuel to the fire.

"I don't care!" The Chief yelled back, the concussion from the speaker visibly blasting Judy's fur away from her face. "You are not to return to Zootopia until the moment you show up to testify against that elephant, and when you do, it will be under an armed escort! Do I make myself clear!"

An armed escort? That's way over the top!. "Chief. What's going on?" Judy asked cautiously. "You know I can take care of myself, don't forget that I took down quite a few savage mammals both on my own and in a team, I solved the missing mammals case, I was top of my class at the academy. Why do I need an escort? And how did you know I was in Zootopia?"

Judy could hear the Chief take a large breath, then she heard nothing. Judy waited.

After a few moments, Judy opened her mouth to ask if Chief Bogo was still there when he replied. "Didn't forget, just don't care." The Chief's voice was audibly calmer this time, coming across as more tired and concerned than angry. "Look, Judy, one of my officers saw you on the train last night. Honestly, you returning to Zootopia didn't really concern me."

"Then why…" Judy began before she was interrupted.

"What does concern me is that the officer noted that you were being followed. There was a black sheep at the back of the car that was watching you like a hawk. The officer was concerned so she reported it to me and I asked her to follow the sheep. Judy, you were followed the entire night."

"So? I was followed, what's the big deal? Pretty young doe such as myself probably gets followed all the time." Judy replied in a jovial tone. She winced as it sounded fake even to her ears. The Chief snorted on the other end of the line.

"It's a big deal because you are going to testify at the trial of Snobin Thicke, the elephant accused of murdering Edward Wile. The entire case hinges upon your testimony, and Thicke has some friends in high places. You're going to testify in three days, no matter what it takes."

"Yes! Certainly I'll be there, without a doubt." Judy assured the Chief.

"Because you will arive with an armed escort, and I'll be driving you personally." Continued the Chief, talking over Judy as if he hadn't heard her.

"Chief, why are you driving, won't it be easier to have an escort from Bunny Burrows using one of their squad cars?" Judy asked, wondering why the Chief would waste so much time just to pick her up.

"I need the stress relief." Came the gruff response from the Chief.

"Uh…yes sir." Judy replied unsteadily.

"Oh, and one more thing. My officer reported that you were searching for Mr. Wilde. Until we catch the mammals stalking you, you are forbidden from looking for Nicholas."

Judy's heart hammered in her chest as her fear rose. Her ears, which had been relaxed over her back, shot to attention. She couldn't let the Chief stop her, not when she was so close.

"Sir, I have to, I'm so close! I even found his suitcase! Please, you have to let me keep looking!" Judy pleaded with the Chief.

Judy's desperation came across in her voice so clearly that even Yax the yak would have noticed, and so did the Chief. Slowly, deliberately, he answered Judy's prayer. "I will give you one night. If you can't find him tonight, you will bring me his suitcase, I will set my best detective on finding him, and you will give up. You will go with Ella."

Judy physically felt the relief wash over her as she processed what she was being told. She hadn't known how important finding Nick had been to her until Chief Bogo had threatened to take that away.

"Thank you sir." Judy managed to get out as she wiped a tear from her eyes. "May I ask who Ella is?"

A deep, throaty chuckle came from the other end of the receiver. "Oh, That's Chief Snoots to you, Isobella Snoots. Isobella Fantoline Snoots." The Chief hung up.

Judy eyed the new officers as she crossed the training field to Chief Snoots. She was surprisingly proud to note that roughly half of them had successfully completed the course and were currently cheering on their fellow officers.

A group of roughly eight rabbits were currently in a pyramid formation at the base of the ice wall, trying to support their allies as they climbed up to reach the top. As the pyramid reached a height of 4 rabbits, they started to struggle to stand up.

I guess it's a lot harder when you don't have larger mammals to jump off of. Judy thought to herself.

Judy watched as rabbits at the bottom lost their strength and the tottering tower tumbled down

Hey Judy, how do you describe an eight foot tall tower of unbalanced bunnies? Judy imagined Nick asking her. Hare-raising! Judy scoffed at the horrible pun. It was probably something Nick would say too. What, was my pun really that…hare-ibble? Judy fought to keep her face straight. I can't believe I'm imagining Nick taunting me like this. She thought as she put on a slight huff. Aww, are you getting ear-ittated? Nick's voice teased her.

Judy couldn't help herself as she smiled at the puns she imagined Nick making. That smile quickly disappeared, however, when she saw the look on Chief Snoots' face as she spoke with officer Savage.

"Judy, good, you're back. Officer Savage just got a call from Carrot-Top high, a gang of students are beating up one of the other students. Their teacher does not want to get involved. You and Savage go split them up."

Judy barely had enough time to get out a "Yes ma'am!" as she raced after Jack, who had begun sprinting towards the parking lot where the police cruisers were waiting.

Following Jack, she watched as he approached a medium-sized cruiser. In one fluid motion, Jack leapt over the roof of the car, grabbed the handle to the driver's side door and opened it as he landed in a crouch, then sprung backwards into the vehicle, rotating slightly in the air to land on the seat and facing the steering wheel. Not one to be out-done, Judy motioned for Jack to roll down the window as she approached. He did so, and she leapt through the open window on the passenger's side, feet first and grabbing the roof with her paws as she sailed in to halt her momentum. Judy landed squarely in the passenger's seat and looked at Jack as she strapped on her seatbelt.

Jack merely smiled and began driving as soon as she had her belt on. The tires screeched on the road as they tried to catch a grip.

"Impressive manouvre." Jack said as he drove.

"You too." Judy replied. Jack kept driving, his focus on getting to the school as quickly as possible.

"So, do you have family at Carrot-Top high?" Judy asked.

Jack turned the car sharply, tires screeching so loudly that Judy had to cover her ears.

"Doesn't everybody?"

"Fair enough."

"How's the newbies' training going?"

Another turn. Another screech.

"Honestly, it's pretty bad. Only half of them even made it over the wall. I know we're rabbits, so we don't have the advantages of raw strength and size, but I had expected them to make up for it with creativity." Judy sighed.

Jack snorted, his eyes never leaving the road. "so they need some creativity training? Good luck with that."

Judy's ears went to attention as she relished the chance to vent. "I know right? I mean, I have a few plans but…"

"We're here." Jack interrupted, drifting the car until it stopped perfectly in front of a large, three-story, orange-bricked highschool. The roof was, predictably, painted green.

Judy's ears dropped at the interruption, but they perked right up again as she heard the muted sounds of fur-covered flesh hitting fur-covered flesh amongst the cacaphony of children screaming. She bolted out of the car.

"Hurry! They're in the back!" She called to Jack behind her as she raced around the building and towards the back yard of the school. As Judy rounded the corner of the building, she saw a small crowd of younger mammals crowded around a full-grown pig wringing her hooves and worriedly watching a writhing bundle of bunnies that were out on the soccer field.

"Officer Hopps! ZPD! Break it up!" She yelled as loudly as she could while she raced towards the bunnies. Most of the bunnies backed off from the poor mammal sprawled on the ground. Some of them with looks of surprise, some with shame, and surprisingly, some with anger and frustration. One rabbit gave one last kick at the mammal on the ground, Judy winced as the poor mammal cried out from the force of the blow.

"Stop!" Judy yelled as that rabbit ran off. Judy wanted to run after him, to bring him to justice, but the mammal lying on the ground in pain was more important. An officer's primary objective is to protect the innocent, not punish the guilty. Judy approached the mammal curled up on the ground, recognizing it as a young rabbit.

*fwwwwp*

Judy turned to the sound and saw the rabbit who ran lying on the ground, a tranquilizer dart in his thigh, and Jack rounding the corner with a smirk on his face. Nodding her thanks, she turned back to the rabbit on the ground.

Judy surmised that the attack must have been a brutal one. The rabbit on the ground was barely conscious. While it was curled up in a tight ball, Judy could already tell that it had at least three broken bones, bruises, and multiple lacerations from the nails on the assailants' feet. The poor rabbit's clothes were barely recognizable as such.

"Shh, it's ok little one, I'm here now." Judy soothed as she reached out to the rabbit. The rabbit merely whimpered and shuddered at her touch. Judy's heart broke.

"Judy," Jack gulped upon seeing the state of the rabbit, "the paramedics are here now. She needs to be taken to a hospital."

Judy stepped to the side, allowing the paramedics full access to the injured rabbit. While the paramedics performed first aid, applied splints, and checked the young rabbit's vitals, Judy stayed by her side, stroking her ears in the same way that comforted most young rabbits.

Once the rabbit was loaded in to the ambulance, Judy moved to join her inside the ambulance but was stopped by a young lamb.

"Officer, I'm so sorry, but you can't come. She's in pretty rough shape and will need at least two paramedics treating her on the way to the hospital. We don't have enough room." The lamb told Judy.

Judy could tell from her voice that the poor lamb was rather new to her job, and was visibly upset by the condition of the young rabbit. "I understand, you're just doing your best to look after her. Please, make sure she gets the treatment she needs." Judy replied softly.

"Yes officer, I promise." Replied the lamb solemnly.

Judy watched as the ambulance doors closed, and the paramedics drove off to Bunny Burrow's hospital. She took a moment to collect herself, then turned towards the gang of young rabbits who Jack had corralled into remaining, mostly by threatening to tranquilize anyone who had participated in the assault if they attempted to run off.

As Judy turned to face the young assailants, her ears flattened sharply across her back, her eyes narrowed in anger, and her amethyst eyes turned harder than diamonds and flashed with the lightning of her fury.

"Would someone care to explain, what the horseradish that was about?" Judy quietly gritted out as she glared daggers at the rabbits lined up in front of her.

For a moment, none of the other rabbits dared speak. Finally, one of the larger rabbits spoke up with a defiant look on her face.

"We were only trying to help her." She said in a tone that suggested she thought that was obvious.

That answer was the wrong answer as it clearly infuriated Judy more. Eyes narrowed to nearly a squint, Judy stomped right up to the rabbit.

"And how the figs does nearly beating a rabbit to death help her!" Judy screamed at the offending rabbit, unable to believe the stupidity of the answer.

Apparently the large female was only just beginning to realize the contradictory nature of her statement, as she found herself unable to respond. One of the smaller males seemed to have the answer figured out however.

"We had to! We tried talking to her, but she wouldn't listen to us. We were just trying to make her listen!"

Judy whirled to face the new speaker, visibly disgusted at his logic. "Explain to me how violence makes people listen." Judy hissed at him.

Silence.

Disgusted, Judy yelled at the crowd. "Nothing? Can no one explain to me how hitting someone makes them listen?"

The large female spoke up, clearly frustrated. "But she wasn't listening to us! We had to make her listen! She was going to die!" she screamed at Judy.

"Oh, so you decided to hasten her death did you? Let me ask again. How did beating her up make her listen?"

The only response Judy received was an angry glare.

"Is she listening now? Was she listening when she was curled up in a defensive ball? Did she receive your kicks and say 'oh, yes, I see, you make a good point'? Do you think she understands your reasoning now that you've broken her leg and ribs? Do you think that now whenever she sees you, she'll say to herself 'oh, there's the rabbit that beat me up, I really trust her and value her opinions'?" Judy punctuated each question with a loud thump of her foot as she glared angrily at the rabbits before her.

Judy looked each rabbit in the eye, trying to drive her point home. As she did, many of the rabbits looked down in shame. Judy noticed Jack had also taken the teacher aside and they were talking quietly.

"When you beat her up… god, 'her' I don't even know her name." Judy said, disgusted at herself for not asking earlier.

"It's Jade, her name is Jade Hopps." A tan rabbit quietly spoke out while staring at the ground.

Jade!? Oh God! My sister! Judy wanted to run to the car, speed to the hospital, and force her way to her sister's side, she wanted to arrest each and every one of the rabbits in front of her, she wanted to hit them.

Judy restrained herself, this was a lesson she needed to teach, and one she needed to follow.

"When you beat Jade up, you were not making her listen. You were not convincing her of your arguments. You were not showing her why you were right and she was wrong. All you were doing, was venting your own frustration on to her." Judy lectured through her clenched teeth. She was still fighting with all she had to not run to her sister's side. I can't help her now.

"Your violence only demonstrated that you were not skilled enough with words to convince her. Violence is the tool of the desperate."

"But we were desperate!" the tan rabbit spoke up.

"What's your name?" Judy asked.

"Cream." Came the shy response.

"Ok Cream, were you friends with Jade?"

"Yes! We were trying to protect her!"

"What could possibly be so dangerous, that you would resort to violence just because Jade wasn't listening to you?"

"Well, she told me she had a…" Cream began.

"She lives with a fox!" Spat out the defiant female. "She was going to get herself, and her whole family brutally killed just because she felt pity for a savage beast! See, we had to make her listen!"

Judy couldn't believe what she was hearing. Why does it always turn back to prejudice against foxes? Wait, are they talking about Gideon? "Do you even know the fox in question?" She asked, defensive of her friend.

"Does it matter? All predators turn savage eventually, that's what my daddy told me. It's even on the news. If we didn't do whatever was necessary to make her listen and kick him out, he would have eaten her and her whole family."

"The mammal you are talking about with such ignorance has a name. His name is Gideon. He's a wonderful, caring fox, who has been with our family for months, whom I have personally known for years. He looks after the kits, including Jade, prepares their breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. He is a beloved member of our family who we all trust." Judy defended her friend. "Have any of you ever tried one of Jade's lunches?"

Cream meekly raised a paw.

"Was it good?"

"Amazing, the best I've ever eaten." Cream responded.

"Do you think a mammal who didn't care for and love Jade, would spend the time and effort to make her something that good, along with two hundred other rabbits?" Judy asked, shooting a withering glare towards the defiant rabbit, who had been about to open her mouth.

Tears formed in Cream's eyes as she seemed to be convinced by Judy's words, but Judy was too angry to care. "Oh stop it, I saw you kicking her with everyone else, and you dare call yourself Jade's friend." She scoffed at the crowd.

"Listen up." Judy spoke as loudly as she could. "I will personally make sure an officer visits each and every one of your families to investigate what could possibly make you all think that violence is an acceptable form of communication. Any of you old enough to be charged with assault and battery will be charged, those of you too young will also face disciplinary action both at home and at school. Actions are not without consequences, you're old enough to know that."

"You're the one who'll learn about consequences when the fox goes savage and eats your family." The defiant rabbit mumbled under her breath. Judy ignored her. "You will not take out your shame or frustration on Jade again. When she returns," If she returns Judy thought. "When she returns, you are not to speak to or touch her unless she approaches you first. If she chooses to forgive any of you, I suggest you do your best to become worthy of her forgiveness." Judy purposely caught the eyes of the few rabbits who looked ashamed or horrified at what they had done.

Judy then turned to Jack and called out to him. "Officer Savage! Do we have the names of all the students involved?" A few of the students looked surprised at the name. Judy heard a few of the students whisper his name amongst themselves.

Jack called back curtly. "Yes. Mrs. Swinton has provided me a list." The pig in question, looked incredibly nervous as she nodded.

"Good. All of you, get back to your classes, and think about why violence is a stupid way to have an argument." Judy sternly addressed the students.

"But you're a cop! You use violence all the time! You're just as bad as us!" called out the large, defiant female.

Judy was insulted that she could think of the ZPD as no better than a violent gang of school children. "No. The police only use force when necessary, we do not use violence! When we use force, it is to protect the innocent, not to win an argument. Force is only useful for stopping mammals, not convincing them." Judy stared down the quieted rabbits. "Now get to class." She said, punctuating each word with a pause.

The students walked towards a pair of doors located at the back of the school, the adrenaline from the entire affair was clearly wearing off. Some of them were wearing angry expressions, some looked ashamed, and some were outright crying. Judy didn't care. She just had to get Mrs. Swinton's statement, debrief Chief Snoots, and then she could rush to the hospital to see her sister.

Judy took a steadying breath, counted to three, then walked over to Jack and Mrs. Swinton. As she approached, she caught part of Jack's tirade, spoken slowly and quietly, but with clear anger in his voice.

"…you are bigger than them, stronger than them, and one would hope, smarter than them. If you can't keep your own students in line, then you are unfit to be their teacher. And you'd better hope I don't find out that you were corrupting their young minds with your vile, bigoted opinions or I swear to god you will never work with children again." Jack finished chewing out the teacher and looked at Judy as she came to stand beside him.

"Come on officer Hopps, I've already taken her statement. We need to report Chief Snoots."