Chapter 65: A Skinny Fox?
Jake works out and Nick finally realizes what is going on.
The raccoon was huffing and puffing when he leapt from the balance beam and landed with a staggering thump upon the padded gymnastic mat.
"Again!" a stern voice commanded as the aged black bear slapped her paws together in apparent agitation at her student's performance.
Nick wanted to laugh when the she-bear launched into a string of very animatedly expressive words in her native tongue about how slowly his best friend Jake was moving before he got back onto the beam. The raccoon had hesitated while he yanked off his tee-shirt and threw it towards the grinning fox, then with a grunt, he pulled himself back onto the beam.
"NOW!" the bear named Natasha growled as she shook her silver-tipped cane at her student.
"It's hard to believe that he pays to be so abused!" an opossum lifting paw weights chuckled from across the room. Nick knew the possum was named Benny and was a trust-fund brat who never really worked a day in his life, but instead, he spent too much time at the gym while looking to pick up unsuspecting female patrons. Jake always called him an eternal frat boy who lived on his granddaddy's money, addicted to fast cars and fast chicks. "I am starting to think that Runnel is a bit of a masochist. Twice a week, they go through this routine for two hours, but at least he hasn't fallen on his noggin again!"
Nick just nodded as he looked back at the raccoon on the balance beam. Jake had that lean muscular physique that gymnasts have, but he never was a real athlete. No, he was a former burglar, a retired thief who had amazing talent which he had once applied in a rather lackluster manner. Although Jake had "gone straight" and was now the principal owner of a security firm, he was still a suspect in several unsolved burglaries that had been committed before he went to jail. Nick also knew there was a string of others, which due to the questionable legality of ownership of the items stolen from the victims, were never reported to the police.
"You know he's gotten better ever since he was shot with that Night Howler junk," Benny continued. "It's just too bad he got those creepy eyes, I mean a raccoon with pale yellow pupils is damn weird. Maybe he should get some of those colored contact lenses?"
Jake was now pushing himself off the beam using only his arms, his legs and tail were thrust into the air straight above him. The raccoon was surprisingly strong for someone his size.
"Yep, he's gotten better," the possum commented. "He couldn't have done that before." There was a sudden thump and a curse, Nick quickly looked back to see the raccoon was now sprawled flat on the mat. "Well, he still can't do that too long," Benny laughed.
The she-bear stood over the prostrate raccoon and peered down at him. "Lazy!" she softly said now in a fond manner. "But you are old, too old and fat for Natasha to make a world-renowned gymnast out of your lazy bones."
"Hey, I'm not even thirty!" Jake objected as he sat up. "I'm not that old!"
"Too old and too lazy," the retired world-renowned gymnastics coach teased. "That is all for today. Now go home to your children before you hurt yourself."
"Yeah…yeah…yeah," the raccoon sighed as he stood up.
"Next time you bring the babies for Natasha to cuddle and not that skinny fox!" the bear chuckled as she pointed her cane at Nick.
"He thinks he's gotten big and fat," Jake snickered.
"I'm not that fat!" the fox objected and then he saw the grin that the raccoon was giving him.
"You are too skinny!" the black bear snorted. "You need to eat more meat! Who says you are fat?"
"My wife…" Nick began to reply and then he saw Jake had started laughing hard with his paws over his muzzle. "Wait! What have you and Carrots been up to?"
"Well, you started it!" Jake chuckled. "You've been teasing Judy for weeks now that she is getting slow and so we figured that as vain as you can be about your looks, we'd tell you that you were getting fat."
"You mean that I've been eating all that salad for nothing?" Nick growled. "I've eaten so much lettuce that I swear my fur is turning green!"
"Kvass, da! You need to drink healthy kvass and eat more cod with potatoes!" Natasha chimed in. "You are way too skinny."
"I'm going to kill you Runnel!" Nick snapped out as he chased the raccoon towards the locker room. "You owe me lunch…some real food with fries…yeah, lots and lots of greasy salty fries!"
"By the way those two are acting, you'd swear they were brothers!" Benny said as he shook his head.
The large she-bear only laughed while she leaned upon her cane.
Benny and Natasha have known Jake long before he was shot with the Night Howlers, they are mentioned in Zootopia: A Raccoon's Redemption, Chapter 28: Pillow Talk.
