Chapter 38 Judy's Fastball Special

Was Nick excited?

Yes, yes he was. How couldn't one be excited knowing that in just a few hours, you'd be able to eat an unlimited amount of blueberries? The excitement was burning inside of him like a marshmallow held over an open flame for too long.

Probably not the best metaphor, but it would do for now...

His enthusiasm was infectious...and it was slightly getting on the nerves of a certain bunny.

"So, is your farm the one providing the blueberries, Carrots?"

Judy nodded, trying to seem excited; Nick's constant questioning was running thin on her. "We're providing some of the blueberries; if we provided all of them, we'd run out of blueberries too fast. You see, the contestants have to eat at least 2% of their body weight in the fastest time to win."

"That doesn't sound too hard," Nick stated, running the math in his head really quickly. "That's only 1.6lbs of blueberries for me."

A smirk appeared on his face. "I'll have this in the bag."

"We'll see," Judy replied, a genuine twinkle in her eye. "Though I've heard that last year's champion will be competing again, and I've heard she is quite tough to beat."

Nick grinned down at her. "I've never lost a food eating competition, and I'm not about to start now, Carrots. Last years' champion will be just that, after I grab the crown this year."

Judy grinned, "We'll see."

The Hopps family arrived at the fairgrounds on three flatbed trailers with built-in benches. It was the only way to get the entire family of 278 bunnies from on place to another. Of course, they had built in the exact amount of seating to fit only family members, which meant they were short one seat for the visiting fox. Nick and Judy had walked down nearly the entire length of the trailer, trying to find an open seat. They passed Jessica, who had told "the fox" he could sit on her lap if he wanted.

They had hurried past as Judy glared at her sister.

The couple finally found the last open seat at the tail-end of the trailer and Nick sat down, patting his lap and giving Judy a wink.

She didn't need to be told twice and hopped onto his lap, eliciting a light 'ooff' from the fox.

The ride to the fairgrounds only lasted 30 minutes, but it seemed like an eternity to the hungry fox, who had skipped breakfast to make sure he had ample room for the bountiful blueberry butchery he'll be benefiting by before too long. They arrived with nearly an hour to spare before the competition, and Judy, being the 'trier' she is, decided that they should explore the fairgrounds until then; she had told him they'd only have to be there ten minutes before the competition started to prepare, thus Nick relented.

The tour of the grounds greatly amused Nick. "So, if this is the blueberry festival, why is everything still carrot-themed?"

"Oh hush you," she playfully shoved the smirking fox, who over-exaggerated the push and fell into a large display of carrot plushies, much to the displeasure of the stall's owner.

Judy's eyes opened wide as she looked past Nick, who was trying to pick himself up out of the cushioned pile of softness. "Oh Nick!" She quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him up, then dragged him a row over to where a massive stuffed carrot hung over a stall with a bored looking rabbit standing behind it.

"Does the lady want to try for the prize?" the stall manager asked lazily, covering his mouth as he yawned. He pointed behind him towards a stacked pile of metal milk jugs. "If you knock all of those down, you can win the 'Big Carrot'."

Judy was jumping up and down in excitement, causing Nick to chuckle at her exuberance. "Oh Nick," she began, her ears folding behind her head as she stopped jumping. "I would love you so, so much if you would win that for me, please?"

Her eyes were wide and slightly shimmering, Nick groaned as he placed a paw over his face. "Why must you always pull the sad bunny face?"

She kept pouting. He peeked out from behind his paw, and he immediately regretted it; his heart nearly melted in those amethyst pools. He huffed. "Fine Carrots, you win. I can't ignore that cute little face of yours..."

The manager of the stall stiffened. "Uh, sir. You know that a bunny can call another bunny cute, but when other animals do it..."

Nick smirked, "...it's still absolutely true. In her case at least." He jabbed a paw towards Judy who punched him playfully in his arm.

The stall manager laughed nervously. "So...um, are you going to play the game? It's only 5 Zoomoleans." He held a softball in his paw, which Judy took quickly, her eyes gleaming.

She eyed the target in front of her, then looked back at Nick. Something, or in this case, someone, caught her eye.

Jessica was leaning against a pole several stalls away, smirking at the fox and rabbit. She seemed to mouth the words, "He's mine", which caused Judy to growl a little. Nick looked down at Judy, then where she was staring and grimaced.

"Okay, that's enough of that," Nick said, quickly grabbing Judy's arm as she had already wound back her paw, ready to the throw the softball directly at her sister's face. Jessica's eyes flew open and she darted around the side of the stall, disappearing from view. "I won't allow you, to let her, ruin your day, okay? Besides, you throw like a bunny, so I don't think you could hit her from here," he added with a lazy smirk.

She glared at Nick, causing him to nervously take a step back from the angry bunny eyes staring into his soul. She pointed behind him and his eyes followed her paw towards a dunk tank game a good 100 feet away from where they were standing. She got into a pitcher's stance and wound up her arm, then threw the ball so fast, it was a blur.

It nailed the target dead center, sending the surprised antelope sitting above the dunk tank toppling into the water below him.

Judy turned around, a very satisfied look on her face as Nick's jaw dropped. "You were saying, Slick?"

"Um, I needed that for you to play the game, you know."

They both looked at the stall manager, who was trying to glare at them, but suddenly had a semi-frightened look when Judy looked in his direction. Nick smirked.

"You said, we only had to knock down the milk jugs right?" Nick nodded to Judy, mouthing the word, "pen". She nodded, then reached her paw inside her pocket, pressing down on a button on the carrot-shaped object within.

"That's correct, just knock down the jugs and you win the "Big Carrot"," came his reply.

"Good, that's good," Nick murmured, looking down at Judy who pulled her paw from her pocket with a wink. "Remember how we took down that cheetah last month?"

Judy grinned up at Nick, "I sure do."

Nick matched his grin with a smirk as Judy jumped up into Nick's waiting paws, grabbing her legs, and forming herself into a tight ball. Nick took a few steps back from the stall, and focused on the tower of milk jugs.

"Now hold on just a carrot-picking minute," the stall owner blubbered as Nick closed one eye.

"One Judy fastball special, coming up!"

Nick wound up and then threw Judy with all his might towards the jugs. The rabbit turned in mid-air just as she neared the targets and slammed her feet into the bottom milk jugs at full force.

The metal jugs cracked before the entire tower collapsed backwards, with most of the jugs shooting out past the back flap of the tent.

Judy stood, dusting her paws off before hopping up onto the table between her and Nick and began reaching for the large carrot plush hanging above them.

"You..you cheated! You can't do...THAT!" the stall worker yelled, pointing at Judy, then at Nick.

"On the contrary, my fine, fluffy friend," Nick replied, motioning to Judy, who retrieved the carrot pen from her pocket. She pressed the play button.

"That's correct, just knock down the jugs and you win the "Big Carrot,"a voice repeated from the pen.

Nick smiled. "You only said to knock down the pens, not how..."

The stall owner's jaw dropped as Judy grabbed the carrot, complete delight in her eyes. She winked at the stall owner. "It's called a hustle, sweetheart."

With that she jumped off the table and walked away from the stand, one paw around the carrot that was nearly twice her size, the other reaching for Nick's paw. He grabbed it, pulling it up to his lips and pressing lightly against her paw.

"Were we too harsh on him, Carrots?" Nick asked as they were a comfortable distance away. Judy shook her head.

"Nah. Those jugs were filled with lead and he's been hustling rabbits for years with that game. I think we're the first ones to win, actually."

Nick burst into laughter, nearly doubling over as the pair began heading for the stage where the blueberry eating contest would be held. He wiped at his eyes, still snickering as Judy cuddled against the massive carrot in her arm. "I have trained you too well, Carrots."

Judy smirked at him, then pulled him in quickly between two nearby stalls. She tossed the carrot up to him, his reflexes helping him barely catch it. At the same time, Judy grabbed his tie and pulled him down to her eye-level. She had quite the devious look in her eyes as she pulled his lips into hers. They separated quickly, Judy noticing with satisfaction the confused look on Nick's face.

"Oh Nick ... you ain't seen nothing yet!"

Kiss Count

Nick: 34

Judy: 38

AN: So, originally I had this chapter as the blueberry eating contest...then I had this idea and it kind of...grew on its own. I hope you enjoyed it! :)