Chapter 25: A Storm is Brewing
Stone misses the surfing finals and Reggie wins. Stone's brother Storm gets out of prison.
The busy and usually boisterous surf side bar became almost deathly quiet when Stone Kole walked into it and looked around. The silence was almost complete, except for the television's ever constant droning of the Zootopia Sports Network Channel on the overhead televisions.
"The Zootopia Small Board Surfing Finals were marred with controversy today," the anchor announced. "First and foremost was the absence of the four time champion Stone Kole, who was in court and missed the completion."
"Judge Warner refused to reschedule the hearing over the court's jurisdiction from today despite Mister Kole's attorney's request, effectively keeping him from participating in the annual Zootopia Surfing Finals…"
"The four time champion surfer was being sued for assaulting a former reporter…."
"The court's jurisdiction of the case had been challenged by Mister Kole because the alleged assault took place outside of the city's limits…."
"Controversy over the scoring of the points between surfers…"
All eyes were on the small surfer in the blue teal sleeveless tee shirt and baggy khaki shorts. "Come on everyone, I'm here to celebrate Reggie winning the Finals!" the fennec fox yelled out. "Let's party dudes!"
The conversation began again, but was somewhat subdued as the fox made his way over to the table where the meerkat sat with several of the other surfers. "Stoney, we missed you on the waves!" Reggie called out as he stood and faced his friend. "It just wasn't the same without you kicking my tail today."
"Naw brah, you totally shredded those waves," Stone replied with a smile as he took the beer offered to him by one of the other surfers. "You were on game today and even if I had been there you would have won."
"I can't believe the crap Bonaparte pulled by protesting the points," a wiry Koala nicknamed Ace grumbled. "Talk about a sore loser."
Catcalls filled the bar and the fennec fox looked up at the image being broadcast. It was that film clip of him and Karen at the campsite over in Seaside and they were stark naked, although the station did pixel out their private parts. Then the camera panned in on the fox's snarling teeth and the punch he gave the similar sized groundhog. "Damn they are still showing that!" he protested.
"Good looking squeeze Stoney," Someone called out. "If I get a full size poster of her, you think she'd sign it for me?" The fox shook his head as laughter filled the bar.
"Yeah, just ask…I sure she will," he called back to the amusement of everyone. "And by the way she isn't my squeeze, she's my fiancée."
"Lucky you!" someone else called back and everyone laughed.
"Lucky me," Stone sighed as he sipped his beer and shook his head again. "You don't have to go home to an angry cat tonight and she will be pissed that this is being shown on the air again."
The conversation picked up again and laughter began to fill the bar as the surfers and their friends began to party. Someone cranked up the jukebox and played some old beach band music.
"So the case was dismissed," Reggie asked as he sat down opposite of the fox. "I heard that there was no legal doubt it would be, but it took long enough today to even make it to the docket."
"Warner kept delaying the hearing throughout the day, it was almost like he was trying to keep me there," Stone grunted. "I'd swear that the whole damn thing was to keep me from competing.
"I may have won, but without you being there everyone is saying I'm not really the champ," the meerkat said with a sigh.
Stone's ears drooped and he clutched the beer in anger. The meerkat jumped back in surprise as the small fox turned with a snarl and made his way to the bar, where he climbed up on the bar top and yelled for everyone's attention. "Listen up!" he growled and everyone looked over at the fox. The bar had become quiet again and all ears twitched waiting to hear what Stone was about to say.
"Get off the bar fox," the seal behind the bar top objected, but the little fox's look made the bartender go silent.
"You all were there today and I saw the whole competition on replay," Stone called out. "Reggie was the master on the board and he pulled some tricks that I could have never done. So stop this shit that he really didn't win, because trust me he would have kicked my tail like he did Bonaparte's." There were mutters of agreement as Stone raised his beer towards the meerkat. "To Reggie Yossarian, Zootopia's new champion!"
It was late in the evening when Karen finally got off work at the hotel and returned to her parent's condo that overlooked the beach. She found her fox outside on the balcony asleep in one of the lounge chairs and it was quite evident that he had drunk too much. With a sigh, she shook him and Stone muttered something unintelligible before he let out a cute little snore. Sitting down on a chair opposite of him she looked over at the fennec fox and wondered about their future, she loved Stone deeply but she also knew that they could never have children and sooner or later he would have to retire from being a professional surfer. With a yawn, she looked toward the beach and the dark sea beyond before turning her attention back to her fiancée. "Come on stud, let's go to bed," she softly said as she gently shook him awake.
His eyes opened and he at first looked up at her in confusion and then, with a grunt, sat up and tried to stagger onto his feet. "Oh you're home, how was work?" he slurred out as he finally gained his balance and let her lead him into the bedroom.
"Same as usual with the rowdy guests who are staying for the surf competitions," she softly chuckled. "A few misbehaved, but nothing major so far."
She watched as the fox began to strip, he peeled his shirt off to reveal his slightly lighter tan colored chest fur and then dropped his shorts. The fox was thin and wiry, like a lot of his fellow surfers, his tail slowly swished behind him before he sat down on the bed and looked up at her. The only light was from the moon outside that shone through the window. Her green eyes narrowed as she looked into his brown ones. "Well it's your turn to undress," he said in a husky whisper as he gave her a drunken smirk. By the time she had unbuttoned her blouse, he had passed out sprawled across the sheets.
"That's my fox," she sighed as she gently covered him with a sheet and finished undressing. "You could never hold your booze Stoney."
It was early in the morning when she felt him stir and snuggle further into her embrace before they both contently nodded off again.
Later that morning in another part of town, a scarred sand cat in a blue suite looked over with contempt at the middle aged mongoose wearing a red fez, who was sitting at his office desk and then at the white rabbit which was standing next to him. "Da boss delivered as promised, he got the fox out of the competition and it ain't easy buyin off a judge like that," he angrily snapped at the mongoose. "It also ain't his fault your boy didn't win neither. Either way yose are gonna live up to the deal or else!"
The mongoose just stared at the desk in defeat and his secretary a white rabbit looked as if he was going to object, but then winced as the jackal in the tan suite who standing behind the cat gave a dangerous smirk. Bonaparte's father finally nodded but didn't reply. "Good we'll be in touch, understand?" the cat grunted as he wheeled around and charged out the door.
"So Chucky, what'll you think he'd do if he found out that the boss payed off a couple of the judges at the surf completion to make sure his kit didn't win?" the jackal laughed as he climbed into a large black sedan.
"Nutin, what can he do?" the cat chuckled. "The boss is a smart cookie and played both sides. Without the fox in the competition, everyone's money was on the mongoose to win and so he put his cash down on the meerkat, made a bundle on that bet too!"
"Speaking of that fox, let's go pick up his brother Storm, he's getting out of the clink about now," the jackal added as he leaned back into his seat with a sigh.
"That's the plan," the cat chuckled. "I'd hate to be that scumbag today, the boss already has a job for him and it's a dozy."
Outside of the stout brick penitentiary, a fennec fox in a cheap blue suit and white open collared sport shirt smirked at the guard standing at the doorway as he reached into his pocket to pull out and snap open a pair of sunglasses. "So what time you get off Phil?" he inquired in a sarcastic tone.
"Why do you want to know jerk?" the uniformed prairie dog snapped back.
"Just wanted to know how much time I have to make love to your wife before you get home," Storm Kole chuckled as he picked up his bag and looked with both anticipation and some trepidation at the approaching black sedan.
Excerpt from Stone Kole in Storm Warning:
Zootopia's favorite small board surfer is getting married, but things turn sinister when his brother Storm is released from jail with a contract to kill their father Finnick. This is the third and last story of the Stone Kole Series.
The tall pudgy camel named Salazar was dressed in a spotlessly white jellabiya and as he leaned back into some plush cushions while taking another drag from a tall decorative brass hookah which was sitting before him on a gold tripod. Looking down at the small fennec fox, he blew the white smoke into the air. "So Storm Kole, they have returned you back to our embrace," the camel mused as he reached for a date that was on a silver platter.
The fox tried not to frown as the camel tossed him the morsel and he mumbled his thanks as he chewed the sweet treat, he knew better than to insult his ruthless boss by refusing the humiliating gift. It symbolized that the criminal mastermind who sat on the royal blue cushions before him more or less owned him, a bond that the young fox had foolishly forged when he was still an angry youth. "Thank you Sidi," he said with a bow.
"So my little wayward friend, what am I to do with you now that you have returned?" the camel acted like he was musing the small fox's fate, but Storm knew that a decision had already been made and Salazar was only dramatically toying with him. "You are young and look like a puppy, perhaps I can find you a place in one of my brothels?" he teased with a chuckle. "You would be popular with some of our more perverted clients."
Storm could not help but grimace at that statement, although he did contain his anger. All those years in jail, he had made it quite clear, a few times in a very violently dramatic fashion, that he did not do that. "But such would be a punishment and not a reward for you little one," the camel continued. "You should be rewarded for your loyalty in not revealing any of our little family's secrets, perhaps when we finish I will arrange for you to visit such a delightful place as my guest? I have several new vixens that you might like to visit, since you have been denied a female's embrace for so long." Storm tried, but failed to keep his tail from wagging at the thought of that prospect and it did not go unnoticed by the smiling camel.
"But I have a mission for you to prove your loyalty, one that is very difficult but necessary," Salazar continued to speak as he puffed on his pipe again, blowing the smoke into rings above Storm's head. A rough looking sand cat in a blue suit handed him a file and he opened it to see a photo of a red fox in a police uniform.
"You want me to do what to this cop?" he asked with concern. "Ain't this Nick Wilde?"
The camel puffed again before he leaned forward. "That fox has been a thorn in my side for months, he and his partner have been picking away at my street operations. So far they haven't upset nothing major, but he has interfered with one scheme after another!" the camel snapped in anger. Then he relaxed and leaned back again into the cushions. "But alas, he is protected somewhat by my associate's in Tundratown, who have taken a liking to his partner and she has taken more than a casual liking for her partner."
"A bunny and a fox!" Storm couldn't help but blurt out in surprise. "You've got to be kidding."
"So if I cannot hurt the cop," Salazar said in a menacing voice. "I can hurt him other ways to warn him off."
Storm turned the page and his blood froze when he saw the next photo, it was his father Finnick! He struggled not show any emotion, but looked up at the large camel and gave a thin smile. "So what do you want me to do?" he asked.
The camel leaned forward and looked into the fox's eyes, "Simple my little friend, I want you to kill him!"
Although the small fox had no great love for the father who abandoned him and his brother Stone, he knew that this was wrong. Impassively he stared back at Salazar before he nodded.
The Stone Kole Series:
Zootopia: Stone Kole in Hang Ten! - Stone Kole is city's favorite three-time small board champion surfer and all the beach bumming fennec fox wants to do is surf the waves. He soon finds out that life is more complicated than that when he seeks out a father who never knew he was born, comforts his best friend who has been rejected because of his lifestyle, and deals with the fact that he is in love with a cat.
Stone Kole in Dark Paradise - Zooptopia's favorite small board surfer and his pals travel to an exotic tropical island to be in a movie, but the gang soon learns that everything is not as idyllic as it seems. On top of that, the fennec fox is in love with a sand cat and gets caught up in the WildeHopps mixed species controversy. This story contains voodoo, zombies, and there's also a pesky pirate ghost too!
Stone Kole in Storm Warning - Zootopia's favorite small board surfer is getting married, but things turn sinister when his brother is released from jail with a contract to kill their father Finnick. This is the third and last story of the Stone Kole Series.