Chapter Fourteen
When Judy, Isabella and Susan arrived at the ZPD the first thing they noticed was a group gathered around one of the cages the ZPD would keep criminals inside until they were taken to jail. Judy and the others pushed the other spectators aside until they reached the front of the group and gasped at what they saw.
Inside the cage was Ella, but now she was behaving like a feral as she snarled, growled and walked on all fours on her hands and knees like Logan and the other ferals at the circus. Judy was horrified by this and so were Susan and Isabella who stood there in shock and horror at the state of their friend.
"What happened to her?" Isabella asked.
"Someone turned her into a feral!" a rhino said, answering the human's question "That's so awesome! I can't wait to see the ferals at the circus!"
Judy got angry and said "Awesome? My friend's daughter has been turned into a feral, possibly for the rest of her entire life, and you think it's awesome!? I can't believe it!"
She stormed off and grumbled under her breath while Susan and Isabella walked off, but not before they caught up with Kiana, Chris, Stan, Logan and Jason.
"I can't believe it." Chris said "I can't believe it... I saw it with my own eyes but I still don't believe it."
"Ella's become a feral... How did that happen? I mean I know because Mr. Wilde told us but... you know what I mean."
"Speaking of Nick, where is he?" Judy asked
"He's alone in the bullpen, probably drowning in a puddle of his own tears." Jason said.
Without another word, Judy ran over to the bullpen and, just like what Jason said, she found Nick sitting at their chair, well, more like huddling himself and crying a little. Judy approached him easily before she jumped up and sat next to him saying "Nick? Are you alright?"
"No, my daughter's gone savage, how do you think I feel?" Nick asked "But that's not the worse part of it."
"What do you mean?" Judy asked
"I followed Ella to her date and then we got into a fight and then I... well, she hurt my feelings and I was so mad that I told her... I hated her." Nick explained "Then the wolf who destroyed the clubhouse shot her and the next thing I know she's barking an snarling like a... like a... I can't even say it."
Judy patted his shoulder and said "Nick... i'm sure whatever happened wasn't your fault."
"It is!" Nick replied "Because of me my daughter's lock behind bars and... it's the Night Howler thing all over again... but worse... Oh Judy, now I know how it feels... why did it have to happen like this?"
"Don't worry Nick, if we can cure animals from Night Howler Sickness, we can cure Ella from whatever happened to her." Judy said
"But we don't know what's wrong with her." Nick said
"I do." a familiar voice said
Judy and Nick yelped at the voice, nearly causing them to tilt and fall over when they looked over to see David approaching as he said "I know what's going on and what the circus ringmaster is really doing."
"What are you talking about?" Judy said
"Well miss officer, I'm terribly sorry." David said "But you see I lied when we last talked. I know what the fight was really about... it was about turning civilized humans into ferals for our show."
"What?!" Nick and Judy gasped in shock.
"You see, we were all in this terrible scheme the ringmaster and his brother cooked up." David said "They plan to start the great hunt all over again but this time with wild savage humans hunting animals. Ever since he heard about Zootopia's Night Howler sickness, he perfected the same sickness on humans, turned them into wild savages and forced them to preform in the circus. Kiana didn't want to, but they forced her like they forced me to keep quiet when I found out about their plans."
Nick became angry and said "Oh yeah? How did he keep you and Kiana quiet you big fat circus faker!?"
"With these." David said as he dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out a collar, a collar with electric sparks that sparked the moment Nick nudged it "It's an electric collar, every single animal in the circus has one. The clowns, the musicians, the acrobats... even Kiana has one. All but the ringmaster and his brother. They make us wear these collars under our clothes to hide them and they use them on us whenever we try to break routine and try to run away from the circus. I managed to break mine and escape without anyone noticing... Now I've come because I need your help saving the others."
"Why should we believe you?" Nick asked with a snarl.
"Because those bears plan to kill everyone in the circus and frame the feral humans for it, everyone will die... even Kiana, and I don't want her to die any more then you, but we have to work together to stop him. We can put an end to the madness before it begins but it'll take everyone's help to defeat those bears and save everyone. I can help bring back Ella, but we need a very clever plan."
Nick stared at him with a frown for a moment before a smile curled up his lips and said "Then why don't we use their plan against them? We can turn the tables and those dum dums will never see it coming."
"Will it work?" David asked.
"Hey, if we can outsmart Bellwether, we can outsmart those bullies." Judy said before she whipped out her phone and said "I'll just call in a few recruits and we'll have our own circus troop up and ready. After all, what better way to get around a circus then becoming part of the show?"
David was so happy he hugged Nick and Judy tightly, which made them gasp for air as he said "Oh thank you mates! How can I ever repay you?!"
"You can let us breathe for one!" Nick gasped.
"Oh, sorry!" David said as he put them down and the pair gasped for air "Sorry about that, I used to lift weights for show but I retired from it."
"Gee, I wonder why?" Nick asked sarcastically.