Credit

* Zootopia characters/film scenes in this chapter belong to Disney

* The certain character that made a nameless appearance in this chapter belong to IDW Publishing/SEGA (Let's see if you can find that character!)

While I held the blue shirt over my chest, I could see over my shoulder that the elf mammalian was coming into the space between two middle-sized mammalian clothes racks. He was the reason why my partner immediately alerted and warned me. I instantly threw the shirt into the storage and turned my attention to my rabbit friend, who was almost frozen in fear, hunching over the edge of the storage. I sidled between him and the storage, forcibly getting him to straighten his torso and withdraw his forepaws from the storage when I moved in between him and the storage. I wrapped my arms around his body, sans his ears, as I turned to face the hefty mammalian, seeing that person pull out an air-pumped pistol to aim at Nick's back. I felt a chill run through my veins as I watched the culprit attempt to shoot us, but I had to keep my cop demeanor on my face all the time, as it was part of training, even though I was off duty. I knew that everything would be alright since I texted Officer Fangmeyer about that mammalian's attempt to kill our Officer Wilde just for his red 'rabbit' pelt.

"… !" I slightly quivered, seeing my memory of that jaguar attacking returning to my sight, only that it extended to just him jumping and attacking me.

Nick and I were in the rainforest as I heard the sound of the panther growling inside the treehouse. Blinking; I looked over my shoulder to see Manchas charging out of his house on his four paws and chasing me and my partner. We ran through the wet jungle to survive Manchas' relentless attacks. Blinking; I gasped as he lunged at me. I slipped under him; he only missed me by an inch. Blinking; I cuffed his leg to the pole, which caused him to jerk in the middle of his lunging attack on my partner. Blinking, I watched us fall through the vines, which wrapped around me and Nick together tightly. We ended up suspended above the ground just as Precinct One cops, including Chief Bogo himself, showed up.

"Hm," I growled softly as I watched the elk mammalian slowly squeezing the trigger, only when the blue-uniformed tigress… er, Giselle Fangmeyer emerged from the clothing rack behind him. She reached to grab his armed paw and lifted it so he would shoot at the ceiling, causing him to be bewildering with the line; 'What the-".

Suddenly, I felt my red-furred partner sighed on my shoulder just before she drove the elk mammalian onto the ground and proceeded to stop that mammalian from attempting more attacks or escaping. She even wrestled the weapon from his fore-hoof. I felt Nick loosen up in my arms as I stroked his back gently with my left forepaw, doing my best to comfort him in the scary situation. I turned my attention down to the red rabbit.

I smiled as I rested the bottom right of my jaw against his temple, "While you were a red fox, you hold it out like a boss. But as a red rabbit, you experienced your first fear. I am sure you could understand the reason I was like this when I tried to deal with… the savage jaguar…"

I tailed off once I realized that I remembered more than just Manchas trying to lunge and eat me. My partner loosened up the grip around me and pulled his face from my shoulder and my jaw to look at me. We exchanged an astonished stare.

He asked, "You remembered more of that case?"

"Yeah…" I nodded lightly, beginning to extend the details with a relaxed expression on my face, "especially the part where Manchas attacking me. I also remember more details beyond that, like cuffing him to the pole when he focused on attacking you. Even before that, we had to run away from him while he darted out of his house. And we were suspended in the air when the cops arrived. That just returned to me."

I watched him blinking as he realized that this kind of attack in the shop had triggered my recovering memory. I sensed that someone was staring at us and I glanced up to see Giselle Fangmeyer, Chief Bogo, and Officer McHorn lining up in the wide open of the shop. I withdrew my forepaws from Nick, and he gulped before turning to face them. The chief crossed his arms. I blinked and found myself in the lobby of the apartment with my partner walking towards the elevator at a slow crawl, like the speed of Flash the Sloth. It was because he carried the suitcase on his back. I turned my head to the desk, where Dharma Armadillo worked, and I walked to the desk to greet her.

"Hello, Dharma. That red rabbit over there is Nick Wilde if you were not sure. He's my partner in ZPD. I just want to get this out of the way as soon as possible," I explained to the landlady. She glanced at him then nodded with a hint of smile, "Ok. It's a good thing that you told me just now. So, I take it you were with him last night?"

I nodded and thumped my paw pads onto the table that separated me and the armadillo mammalian. I smiled, "Yeah, I had to rely on his mother's method and place to keep my senses under control. So, I appreciate your understanding of my absence last night."

She turned her attention to me and nodded with a smile on her snout. I turned, withdrawing my forepaws from the table, and walked to the elevator so I could open it for Nick. Once we were inside the elevator, I pushed the button to my floor, watched the door close, and the elevator lifted us to the floor I selected. When the door opened, I reached to hold it to let my partner step out without having trouble with it. Once he was clear of it, I followed after him and reached in my pocket to get the key out. I heard him grunting softly, suggesting I go ahead, and I complied as I held the key tightly in my forepaw. I unlocked the door to my room and opened it to let the red rabbit jaunt inside. Once he turned his back to my mattress, I stepped in and closed the door behind me.

"Oy, be careful! The walls in here are very thin. If one would simply throw the suitcase onto the bed, it would blow the wall down!" I suddenly remembered how frail the wall was and I had to warn Nick before he decided to be fierce with the suitcase, considering how impatient he was.

The suitcase was carefully set on the mattress with my help. We opened it and began putting our clothes into the cabinet. We had to hang up our police uniforms on hooks on the wall on the opposite side from the cabinet. Once we had all the clothes unpacked, I put the closed suitcase under the mattress and straightened the blanket. Nick and I sat on the mattress then we looked at each other.

"So, while we are separate and our senses went haywire, how can we get them back to the correct level on our own?" he asked, suggesting setting up some tactics to deal with them while we are apart. I agreed with him because it was a challenge for us to hold them in while we were on our own, like what happened yesterday morning, "Well, we already have one method… for me, it's your face. For you… it's my heartbeat…"

When I mentioned the word; 'heartbeat', I couldn't resist smiling and put a forepaw on my snout as I giggled softly. That was enough for him to scowl at me and give my shoulder a light slap.

"Oh, stop with that tease. You're stressing me out that I am beginning to grit my back teeth!" he growled at me while relaxing his arm. I continued giggling as I squinted my eyelids tightly, "Ah, sorry, you're just so adorable being conked out like that. But…"

I worked to stop myself from giggling more. Once I strained myself back to normal and the vibe of funny faded away, I opened my eyes and inhaled to finish the sentence, "… alright, you should keep my heartbeat in your mind so you can get yourself under control."

He nodded in understanding and got off the bed, walking around me to the spot to my left side, where the mirror should be. While he was walking, I kept my focus on him, turning my head to follow him. He stood before the wall and looked at the empty spot and shook his head.

"Where the hartebeest is the mirror?" he criticized. I shrugged and shook my head slowly, "It's been two weeks - and an extra day - since I placed an order."

"Ah!" he threw his head back, splayed his forepaws in the air, and turned away from the spot to walk back to sit beside me. I my head turned, following him, as he baffled, "I swore I'd get that delivery mammal to bring one in as soon as possible. I just can't stand delays."

"Perhaps they sent a sloth on the delivery," I jested with a small smirk on my maw.

Of course, he was just experiencing his first bunny stress about something other than my small tease. With him sitting on the mattress again, we began our discussion on various tactics to deal with our new senses, beyond the first one that we developed during our stay at Mysteria's apartment. Many tactics were not great, and we were on our last series of chatting.

"I know that you cannot rely on the noise-tuners for a while but… how can you figure out other ways?"

"Relax! I am trying to think of a way… Hmm… Aaah! This is hard, since we are out of funny bones from our prized bags."

"Do you want my picture in your wallet?"

"Ah, no! What if anyone has seen it and believed that we are dating…"

"Haha… it sounds like you want a kiss from a beautiful gray fox?"

"Hardy har… keep that snout away from me."

I chuckled as he swayed his forepaw on my snout, pushing my head away from him. I fished my cPhone out to check for the time, which was about time for dinner. I smiled as I clicked on the button that turned on the idle mode on my phone.

"Ok, I think that it's time for us to go and have an evening meal," I admitted, pocketing my device.

Nick and I got up to leave the room, locked the door, and walked down the stairs, wanting to exercise our legs a little. Once we reached the lobby floor, we were greeted by Dharma again, but in person, rather than behind the desk. I blinked as I looked at the armadillo with a bewildered glaze.

"In our appreciation for your solving and clearing the Missing Mammals case, I would like to invite you two out for dinner," she offered. I was still too bewildered to answer so my partner did, "Sure thing, Miss Armadillo, we would appreciate going with you. Right, Carrots?"

I blinked and nodded my head in agreement, considering that it was a good idea to improve my reputation as a cop in Zootopia and see that she was in a good mood to have dinner with us. The three of us went out of the apartment and got in her cruiser. She drove us to the diner named 'Lemur-Tails as Anything' and we all went in there after we got out of the cruiser. A lemur waitress brought us to our table. I noticed that she was as gray as my fur and had a pair of amethyst eyes. She also had two small napkins lounging on her uh… prehensile tail, that must be it. While she led us to our table, I noticed that there were few tables in the wide room. Once we sat down, I gave Dharma a wondering glaze, however the waitress caught on and gestured to me to the ceiling.

"Ah, just look up and you will understand," she suggested gently.

I blinked then lifted my snout up and turned on my Night Sight, using a little of my energy, to see what was going on up there. I blinked in surprised as I saw more tables attaching to the ceiling- no, stealing-net ceiling. There were the bat mammalians hooked on the nets circling their hanging tables, acting as if they were 'sitting' up there. For their drink and meal, I didn't see them and figured that they were on the 'underside' of the upside-down table as I saw one of them reach to pull a cup to slurp up a little. The bats on the table near mine turned to look at us, waved at us with their thumbs, and toasted us for our success. I smiled and waved back to them with my right forepaw slightly. The waitress had already left.

"Cheers!" I chirred to their toast.

I blinked and turned my attention back to my table with my night sight turn off, seeing Nick smile at my response. Our dinner went quickly; we ordered our meal at a cheap price, devoured our it, and we all paid for it - one-third the bill for each of us - and before we knew it, we were walking out of the diner to Dharma's cruiser. Once we walked into the apartment, the red rabbit and I bade my landlady farewell, as we proceeded up to the floor where my room was. When we were about to go in the room, I volunteered to stand out and allowed my partner to change into his night clothes. After he stepped out, I went in to change into my night clothes. I lay on my bed with my limbs splaying out and called him back in. He walked in and looked at me, immediately laughing at my stunt.

"Ah, that's a good one, Carrots. So, are you ready to turn in for the day?" he asked. I nodded and he closed the door to lock it. He flipped the switch to turn off the light then I spoke, "With your back to the door, go five paws ahead."

With my night sight turning on, I watched him pacing five steps ahead as instructed. I smiled warmly as I arranged the next part of the instruction in my mind.

"Good, turn to your left and throw your back on the mattress."

He obliged, and after that, he snuggled his back to my front with his long ears tucked between our torsos. Just like our afternoon nap, we conked out within a minute. Oh, and I turned off my night sight so I wouldn't strain myself again. With him tucked safe in my arms, I had a dreamless sleep. When my biological alarm struck, I woke up and saw that it was already morning. The red rabbit quickly sniffed as he was off the bed and left the room. I was not sure where he went, but I could only guess that he had to go to the restroom. I got up to go to the bathroom for a quick wash up and put my cop uniform on. Upon returning to the room, I walked to my cabinet, where I had left my badge, as I clicked my chest armor in place. I picked up the badge and placed it on my armor. I reached to pick up my mouth-cleaning supply; toothbrush, toothpaste, and a cup to rinse my mouth out.

"Hm-hmm," I hummed as I walked to the door and opened it, startling Nick as he was about to grab the door. I sang, "It's your turn to get dressed for duty."

I stepped past him with his flabbergasted glaze locked on his face. I grinned as I heard the door shut behind me. I went to the bathroom to brush my tee- er, fangs for a couple of minutes. Drinking and spitting to rinse out my mouth, I returned to my room and found my room unoccupied, so I just put the mouth-cleaning supply away. I left the room with the door open for him. I walked towards the stairs and heard his wet pawsteps thumping behind me. I smiled and perked my ears up as I approached the stairs. A full minute later, I heard the door shut and lock then I turned to see Nick coming up to me in his cop uniform. He pawed the key to me. I noticed that he was wearing the same uniform that I used to wear… well, before I became a fox. We walked downstairs and were greeted by Dharma once again. Since we were up early, she gestured to us to come into the staff room so we could have our breakfasts. I practically groped her and laughed with her as we ate our meal together. This meal was almost a clean one that wouldn't smudge my fangs after I had brushed them.

"Thank you," I beamed at my landlady as we finished our morning meal and cleaned the table, readying to leave the staff room. Nick grinned as we stepped out of the building, "What a great lady she is."

I nodded in agreement as we stood at the bus stop. The bus came up and we got on. On the second stop, Emmitt got onboard and greeted us. He blinked in surprise at Nick's appearance when I introduced the guys.

"This is Nick Wilde," I politely introduced. I brushed and soothed my partner's shoulder as Emmitt replied, "Ah, it's good to see you again, Nick. So, what brings you two together on this bus. The last time I saw her, she was on her own."

"Ah, it's… a vivid transformation that we had to recover from. We had to work together to keep our senses straight…" I answered, quickly glancing both ways. I chuckled nervously, "No pun intended."

He nodded in understanding then went to sit down with Nick and they had a blast time chatting together. I smirked as I turned to see Yuri Grayfur already sitting down in his seat and I greeted him by waving my forepaw. He beamed and waved back to me. I felt my chest warming a little then we broke contact. I returned my attention to Nick and Emmitt.

"Ah… at least you won't be late by a minute or two this time around," the florist exclaimed. I blinked and recalled my conversation with him yesterday, "Yeah. We talked about this yesterday. Now that you're with me, it's a big improvement."

The otter nodded to my response then looked at the precinct approaching. I turned my head to look at where he was looking then I reached to get my partner's attention.

"It's our stop. Let's get off," I urged as I half-patted and half-grabbed his shoulder.

"Ah, right. It's nice to see you again," he nodded and waved to Emmitt as we went to the bus door once the bus stopped.

I glanced at the red rabbit as we jogged towards the precinct, checking on his wellbeing, "Are you sure you can handle your problems now?"

"Yes, I am trying my best to keep myself together with… the sound of your heartbeat. Ah, blast you!" he replied and then growled at my sudden laughter.

We went through the entrance and paused once we saw the dispatcher desk up ahead with Benjamin Clawhauser behind the desk and Officer Wolfard standing in front of the desk with a bewildered glaze at me and Nick.

"Hmm… Ah, Chief Bogo…" Ben began with his index digit pressing on the radio microphone button. He smiled, "Officer Hopps and Officer Wilde have arrived!"