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Judy was giddy and looking everywhere, Zootropolis was a sight to behold. A bright smile adorned her muzzle while she was headed to her new apartment. Soon enough she spotted her new home where she was greeted by the landlady of the Grand Pangolin Arms and lead up to her new apartment. It really had some city charm, even if it was just a single room and not really in the best condition. She had a bed, a shelf, a kitchenette and a desk. She took the keys from Dharma Armadillo after the warning not to lose them and before she could take a step inside, Dharma was gone and Judy spotted her neighbors with some groceries.
She greeted both males happily and was quickly rebuffed by the kudu. "Yeah? Well we're loud." And without missing a beat the oryx added "Don't expect us to apologize for it." The next moment they had slammed the door shut to their apartment next door. Judy blinked before going inside her apartment and taking stock of her new living quarters. "Greasy walls… rickety bed…" and right on cue she could hear a vocal fight of her neighbors. "Crazy neighbors…" and with that she flopped on to the bed with a huge smile plastered on her muzzle. "I love it!"
While unpacking everything she could still hear her neighbors arguing and with a smile she shook her head. The doe thought that maybe it would be fun to live together with a friend in the future. It would certainly cut some cost and be less lonely. She was still a bunny and knew she would crave some cuddling from time to time. Though maybe a friend who wouldn't start arguing about everything.
Her first night was some kind of reminder. This was Zootropolis, also called Zootopia and anyone can be anything. A slogan she held dear to her heart and believed in. So, in light of this realization, she found her head covered by her pillow and her ears burning. She had thought her neighbors were friends. Her first mistake. She had thought they had warned her of their loud fights. Her second mistake. The noises, the words and the banging from next door made very clear who liked their horns grabbed while being on all fours. She bit her lip and sighed. "Well anybody can be anything… and they be lovers…"
She must have talked louder than she thought and the unlucky timing to speak when those two were finished. "You bet!" "No?! You're my husband!" "That's the same!" "No! It's not!" Which left Judy befuddled and she couldn't help but chuckling, till the fight led to round two, make up sex. With a groan she tried to hide under her pillow again.
The ringing of her alarm clock woke her up early in the morning and within a few seconds the excitement for her first day on the force had her clear eyed and bushy tailed. She donned her police uniform with a small Kevlar vest and was out and about. She even forgot the nightly events which had kept her from sleeping in the beginning.
As soon as she entered the ZPD building a lot of eyes followed her. Judy had learned to ignore those stares mostly and went up to the reception to ask for the way to the bullpen. A pudgy cheetah was munching happily on some cereals before Judy managed to get his attention. "'Scuse me! Down here? Hi." The bunny doe was smiling and the cheetah leaned over the desk. "O-M goodness! They really did hire a bunny- What?! I gotta tell ya, you are even cuter than I thought you'd be." Judy couldn't help but wince, but before she could say anything another mammal behind her laughed. "I wouldn't call her cute, I saw her knocking down a rhino in the ring." Judy swiveled around and looked up to see the friendly face of the black bear Bjoern Ursida, one of her fellow cadets from the academy. "Bjoern!" she was happy to see him. "Hey there Judy. Still on the fence if someone calls you cute and is not a bunny I assume?" Judy laughed a bit. "You know it."
The cheetah blinked and gave a sheepish smile. "Oh, wow. I didn't expect that. I should have known better. I am sorry." He looked down to Judy again. "Me, Benjamin Clawhauser, the guy everyone think is just a flabby, donut-loving cop, stereotyping you…" He had a genuine smile. "No offense, but did you really knock a rhino out?" Clawhauser was a bit awed by that and truth to be told he couldn't really wrap his head around that one. Now it was Judys turn to be a bit sheepish. "Yeah."
Bjoen just chuckled. "As I said, don't call her cute. She bested all others at the academy and is the little favorite of Major Friedkin." In turn Judy beamed up to her fellow rookie and then asked Clawhauser how to get to the bullpen. The cheetah looked after them as they made their way to their destination and showed a bit of admiration for the little bunny. She walked with so much confidence which belied her little stature. "Aw… that poor little bunny's gonna get eaten alive." He knew chief Bogo and could already imagine what would happen.
Inside the bullpen Judy was taken aback by the rowdiness of the officers but still made it to the front where she claimed a seat near a rhino officer. Bjoern on the other hand just started to mingle with some other predators which were at to the back of the room. All in all, the others didn't bother much with the new recruits in the room. To strike up some conversation Judy smiled at the rhino and introduced herself. "Hey. Officer Hopps. You ready to make the world a better place?" while she made a fist with her paw for a fist bump.
The rhino gave a reluctant fist bump and nearly knocked her off the chair in the process. A tigress gave her a warm smile all the while and before anything else could happen officer Higgins, a hippo announced the arrival of the chief. While everyone snapped to attention and started to stomp Judy couldn't do much but admire the chief. It didn't take long to reign the rowdy bunch in with a few stern words by the chief.
Chief Bogo was a muscular cape buffalo and exuded a no-nonsense attitude. "First item on the docket… we need to acknowledge the elephant in the room." While looking at the female elephant he nodded. "Francine, happy birthday." Which lead to another eruption of rowdiness, but it settled soon as Bogo spoke once more. "Second, I should introduce some new recruits. But I'm not going to, because I don't care." The answer to that were some chuckles of the older officers which were already familiar with the attitude of their chief.
"Assignments! Officers Grizzoli, Fangmeyer, Delgato… your teams take patrol in the Rainforest district. Officer McHorn, Rhinowitz, Wolfard, your teams take Sahara Square. Officers Higgins, Snarlov, Trunkaby: Tundratown. Take Ursida with you." All the while the officers stood up an took the files handed out with their respective tasks. Before leaving the room Bjoern flashed Judy a smile. "And finally, our first bunny, officer Hopps." Judy straightened her back in anticipation and Bogo took a deep breath. "Parking Duty. Dismissed."
Judy deflated a little. "Parking duty?" then she ran after the chief. "Uh, chief? Chief Bogo?" And Bogo turned around to look at her. He was right in his assessment about his new recruit he had made beforehand. "Sir, you've sent all others on patrol duty. You probably forgot, but I was top of my class, I can handle…" Bogo interrupted her. "Didn't forget. Just don't care." Visibly Judy started to get more agitated, but remained polite. "Sir, I'm not just some 'token' bunny."
Nothing helped and Bogo didn't budge from assigning her to parking duty. So, after he left, she stomped her foot in rapid bunny style. "I'm not just going to write tickets, … I'll break some records. I'm gonna write 200 tickets! Before noon!"
Chief Bogo sighed as he sat down in his office. "That bunny is gonna be a lot of trouble." It was the same every year. The valedictorian was assigned to precinct one and was an overachiever which needed to be treated to a healthy dose of reality. The academy was not real life and nothing was ever enough preparation to face the real dangers. Same as all the other times he assigned the dreaded parking duty to knock the new rookie down a peg or two. Though this time he wasn't doing it just for the same routine as always, but he was concerned for the small bunny. In his mind it really wasn't such a good idea to assign such a small mammal to a big city force.
Even if he didn't show it, one of his top priorities was to get all officers back in one piece at the end of the day. Not that it was always possible, but stopping to strive was the same as a crushing defeat. Sure, Judy Hopps had been top of her class, but she still was at a much higher risk for being just a bunny. He was not really happy with the situation. The biggest questions were with whom should he partner her up and to which district assign.
But for now, he had to go through the reports of the increase in violence and the increase in positive drug tests. Those damn gangs seemed to start a bigger venture in the lucrative drug segment of organized crime. It was unfortunate but the mobsters of Zootropolis seemed to have reconsidered their stand on drugs, or there was a new budding syndicate in the city. Either way both notions didn't bode well…
Judy, true to her word, managed to write 201 tickets before noon. Even if one ticket had been for her own parked duty car. Still, she was happy with herself and thought about a small break. But before she could do that, her ears picked something up and she was drawn to a small alley. Cautious she neared and looked down. "Here you go." A weasel had received money and gave a tiger a small bag with some blue pills. "Thanks man…. SHIT!" The tiger had spotted her and ran off like the devil himself was after him. It didn't take long for the weasel to look over his shoulder and running off himself.
In a split-second Judy ran after the presumed dealer, throwing hat and vest away. "STOP! Stop in the name of the law!" Which just prompted a sneer from the weasel. "Catch me if you can Cottontail!" The chase went through Savannah Central and the tumult got the attention of Officer McHorn but Judy had ignored him and sped after her target. The chase continued and within a few moments she found herself in Little Rodentia, amongst frightened mice and shrews.
She managed to catch up to the weasel after he had wreaked a bit of havoc and flung him onto the street and over a small donut joint. Without any hesitance the weasel kicked the giant ornamental donut at her and she ducked, before she turned around to catch the donut. She prayed that she would be fast enough before the donut would crush a mouse. Just in the nick of time she managed to catch the giant donut before it would've crushed a female shrew. With deep breaths Judy smiled at the little shrew and complimented her hair, before turning around and running back to where the weasel started to get up.
Before the weasel had time to stop padding his own back, he was face to face with the rabbit… and promptly and effectively capture with the giant donut. With a smirk she read him his rights, while the weasel could only grumble. It didn't take long to escort him out of Little Rodentia where she was greeted by McHorn. "What was that all about?" he demanded and took the weasel of her paws. "I saw him sell some pills to a tiger, as soon as they spotted me, they ran." McHorn was a bit speechless, but shook his head. "Officer Hopps, we have to inform headquarters and drop him off."
Judy was giddy with excitement, even if she tried to maintain a professional face, while giving the precinct the head ups via radio. They arrived at the precinct and McHorn escorted the weasel to the holding cells. Before Judy could even say anything, a deep booming voice called her name. She looked up and saw chief Bogo, pointing to his office. Without hesitating she ran up the stairs and followed her chief into the office. He signed her to sit and commanded her to wait, while he left the office. Bogo remerged after almost 30 minutes in which Judy had began to reflect what was happening.
The meeting with the chief went differently than Judy had anticipated. She had to sit in front of him on a chair way to big for her and she felt like she was a little kit again in front of her school principal. It hadn't taken long for Judy to realize she would be getting scolded.
"Abandoning your post, neglecting to inform the precinct, going after a presumed criminal without partner or backup, while not even armed due to parking duty, inciting a scurry, reckless endangerment of rodents but to be fair… you caught a criminal and after initial investigation and scouring the suspect, it is clear that he is a drug dealer." That gave Judy a bit hope and her ears were on their way up from the drooping position from before, but as soon as chief Bogo leaned forward her ears fell back again. She gulped because the chief really seemed pissed and after everything, he said… she could understand why. Judy had made a lot of mistakes, some not even befitting a rookie…
"Sir, I…"
"Shut your tiny mouth, now." Bogo slammed his hoof on the table and Judy sat back down; she hadn't even registered that she had stood up on her chair.
"This is the reason you were assigned parking duty. You are a greenhorn, overly eager and don't know when to quit. Still, I expect more from the valedictorian of her class than those mistakes who could have killed her, or innocent bystanders. I would ask what went through you mind, but I don't care. I demand more of my officers. I assume that you are able to follow orders and procedures. You chased a drug dealer who may have been armed without asking for backup. I should suspend you for this Hopps."
"Sir, I just don't want to be a meter maid… I wanna be a real cop. And I'm sor…" Judy tried to explain herself and to apologize. "Life isn't some cartoon musical where you sing a little song and your insipid dreams magically come true. So let it go." There was an uneasy silence between them and Bogo huffed, while crossing his arms. Truth to be told, he was glad that there was an arrest of a drug dealer. Especially since those blue pills were probably that awful new night howler drug. But he could not reward her for the reckless behavior. "You will be on parking duty for the next two weeks and I don't want to even hear the squeak of a complaint from you. You will review the rules you broke today in your report, with citation. One more misstep and you'll be back to the academy and then delegated to a small backwater town. Did I make myself clear?" Bogo grumbled. He still wasn't fully onboard with such a small mammal being on the ZPD force…
Judy nodded and added a depressed 'Yes, Sir'. She was dismissed for the day and sent home. She trotted back down, while she ignored the sympathetic looks of the other officers. It was clear that some officers had heard what happened. There was no delusion, this would make the round through the rumor mill. Her ears were burning in embarrassment and for her this was similar to a walk of shame. She was even forced to make a report of her 'lost' vest and hat… and of course had to get them replaced and donned them reluctant.
The doe was glad when she finally arrived home where she sat down at her desk with a depressed groan. She still wore the new vest and laid the hat on the table. Before she could do anything else, her phone vibrated. Looking at it she steeled herself. Her parents wanted to MuzzleTime and with a deep breath and a fake smile she accepted the video call. The initial banter wasn't so bad, even if Judy had to lie about how great her first day on the force had been. It went downhill as soon as her mother spotted her meter maid vest. It would be an understatement to say her parents were elated, that she landed the 'safest job' on the force. Still, to hear her dad say she wasn't a real cop had hurt something fierce. She managed to choke off the conversation and slumped in her chair. After a deep breath she tried to motivate herself. "Tomorrow's another day…" Of course, her neighbors had to hear everything. "Yeah, but it might be worse!" "Leave the meter maid alone! Didn't you hear her conversation? She feels like a failure!"