Chapter 112: Bullied


Freddie learns an important lesson.


He nimbly ducked and danced backward a few steps to avoid the blow, but by doing so he walked right into his opponent's trap. A footpaw kicked out and caught the raccoon in his stomach causing him to give a surprised grunt as he doubled over and then before he could react, another light blow caught him to the side of his padded helmet. Falling backward onto the taupe-colored padded mat, Jake groaned while he raised his paws in surrender.

"You are getting slow!" the red panda in a simple medium brown monk's robe admonished him as he stood over the raccoon. "You used to be faster."

"Ah come on, Lee, I was still in college back then!" Jake protested as he took the dark brown furred teacher's paw.

"And you were chasing my sister Sonya too!" the older red panda laughed as he gave the raccoon a knowing grin. "She was just too naïve to realize that you saw her as more than just a friend and you were too scared to ask her out on a real date."

"As the coyotes say, it was only puppy love," the raccoon chuckled as he brushed off his white judogi and adjusted the straps on his sparring gloves.

"You have become sloppy in your attacks."

"I don't get to practice or even exercise as much as I should. It seems that most of my life is spent either working or chasing after my two boys."

"Winter's Eve is coming up fast, have Nicky and Freddie told you what they want Santa Paws to bring them?"

"Not really, I'm sure that Freddie is going to want something musical and I hope it isn't a drum set. Things are bad enough with him always playing that school recorder he got back in second grade, the coyote flute he got from Elder Walker, the mandolin that Nick bought him at the Ren Fair, or the ukulele Marie and I got him in Pawaii," Jake sighed as he took a fighting stance. Then he seemed to have dropped his defense when he added, "Oh yeah, I think I forgot to tell you about the accordion?"

Facing him Lee also dropped his fighting stance and stared at the raccoon in surprise. "Your ten-year-old son knows how to play all those instruments?" he asked. Just then the raccoon swung his right foot paw low and swept the paws out from under the red panda. Lee gave out a grunt as he tumbled down onto the mat.

"The art of distraction is something we former thieves know about," Jake said with a grin as he offered his paw to his fallen instructor.

As he rose to stand, the red panda gripped the raccoon's offered paw and yanked forward, pulling Jake over his shoulder and tossing him onto the mat behind him. "And judo is something we current martial arts instructors know about!" Lee laughed as he took a fighting stance. "Does Freddie really know how to play all those instruments?"

"Yep and the scary thing is he has learned most of what he knows from watching videos online," the raccoon answered as he stood up and shook his arms. "Then once he knows something, he teaches Cheri."

The red panda kicked at the raccoon who managed to dodge the blow. "So what is Nicky interested in? Does he have any hobbies?"

"Reading comics and online games mostly, although he has been doing a lot of gardening this year. He is constantly calling Judy's father Stu with questions about growing things. I have to admit his crops usually look better than mine."

"Isn't Marie's father a farmer too?" the red panda asked as he danced back, avoiding the raccoon's punch. "Maybe it is in his blood?"

"Great, I have a musician and a farmer for sons," Jake replied as he blocked Lee's counter strike.

"Well, at least you don't have to worry about either one of your sons following in your pawsteps," Lee said. "No second-generation professional burglars."

This took Jake by surprise and he hesitated briefly, just long enough for the red panda to strike again.

Jake found himself flat on his back looking up at Lee, who was grinning down at him. "The art of distraction is something we martial arts instructors know a little about too!" the red panda said with a wink. As the raccoon stood up, Lee asked. "When I met you, you were a bit of a bookworm. Did anyone ever push you around in school, were you ever bullied?"

"I kept mostly to myself. I was focused on wanting to go to college, getting my degree, and then finding a well-paying white-collar job so I could move out of Happy Town," Jake answered. "Sure some of the other kits said mean things about me always studying, but I pretended that I didn't care and just avoided them. I knew that getting a good education was going to make me better than them, or so that is what I thought."

"So you thought?" Lee asked.

"Sonya made me realize that there was more to me than that, she also taught me that there was more to life than what I found in my books," Jake answered. "You should know that I only started taking your classes because she was in them?"

"I quickly realized that because when you started, you spent most of it staring at her."

"Then I met your grandfather and he tried to teach me how to meditate, he had to send her away during my training sessions because she was a distraction."

"but then your father was killed."

"I fell apart, what little money we had was quickly gone and I was ashamed about being homeless. In my anger and despair, I forgot all that Grandfather had ever taught me about being true to your mind and spirit."

"Both he and Sonya were heartbroken when you just left. You just disappeared from our lives."

"It was tough living on the streets, I crashed both mentally and spiritually. Then I became a burglar and found new friends on River Street. Friends who understood what I was going through, for they had been there themselves."

"And then you got caught."

"Caught and jailed."

"Did you ever get into any fights behind bars?"

"Only a few times, but I generally got along with the other prisoners and even made a few friends. Well, all except for a few warthog gang members, especially one named Chopper who constantly bullied a young fox. He started physically pushing the poor kit around one night, I mean really bad, and I could not take it anymore. I picked my cell's lock and then got into their cell. Although Chopper was bigger and stronger, I used what you taught me about the martial arts. After I was finished with him, I took the kit back to mine and Ratzolli's cell, the guards were not much surprised finding him there the next morning. They didn't like those gang members either and so it never got reported. After that, Chopper and the others kept their hoofs off the kit until he was released."

Jake removed his gloves and tossed them into his duffle bag. "I ran into Chopper and his gang a few years later when Nick and I were falsely arrested. The fake guards dumped us in the middle of the night in the prison's dining hall with our paws still cuffed and he and his gang were there to greet us."

"What happened?"

"They weren't the only ones who mysteriously got out of their cells that night, some of my friends, and friends of my friends, also showed up and sent them running."

"You are one lucky coon," the red panda laughed.


A few days later, Nick's paw was gripping the front door's frame in an effort to block the enraged raccoon standing behind him inside the house. "Jake, get control of your anger!" the fox pleaded. "You need to calm down!"

"How can I?" Jake growled. "That's my son out there!" He was pointing towards Freddie and where the young raccoon was still on the ground of the church's playground across the street. A teenage rhino was standing over him and two zebras were gathered behind the bully.

"The boys need to learn to stand up for themselves," the fox calmly spoke, although his hackles were raised in anger. "Let's first see what happens before we intervene."

"He's being bullied!"

"That is something I know about. He needs to stand up for himself or it will break him just like it did me."

Stepping between the larger rhino and the fallen raccoon was an angry coyfox vixen, whose growls could be heard across the road. Cheri was trying not to flash her canines as she stood facing down the much larger boy.

"What are you going to do princess, chew on my ankle?" the rhino sarcastically laughed as he cracked his knuckles.

"I wouldn't worry just about her!" Nicky said as he joined her. Billy too had stepped between Freddie and the bullies, the skinny coyote was trying not to look afraid.

"I could beat all four of you up with one hoof tied behind my back!" the bully laughed. "Come on squirts and show us what you got."

The two zebras standing behind their friend joined in his mocking.

"Is the widdle foxy half-bred gonna cry?" one of them snickered out and then reached over and bumped the other zebra's outstretched hoof.

"Go run and tell mommy that we hurt your wimpy boyfriend," the other zebra brayed out.

Across the street, Nick held Jake firmly back.

Cheri didn't attack, but instead lifted her muzzle and gave a long howl.

"Why'd you do that?" the rhino scoffed.

"You don't know a damn thing about coyotes, do you?" Nicky laughed as he helped his brother stand up.

"What does that mean?" the bully asked in confusion.

"Hey Larry?" one of the zebras frantically called out.

"Shut up dude, I'm about to give these furballs a beat down like they never had before."

"L…L…Larry!" the zebra cried out.

"WHAT?" the rhino snapped as he turned to look at the zebra and he stood there in shock when he saw his two friends hoofing it down the street in a panic. Behind him now stood a half dozen teenage coyotes, with more running down the street towards them. "Shit!"

Within moments, the bully was surrounded by dozens of young coyotes. "You see this is the thing about picking a fight with a member of a pack," Nicky said as he stared up in defiance at the larger rhino. "You just don't pick a fight with one of us. No, you pick a fight with all of us."

The bully began to cry in fear as he ran down the street after his friends.


It was later that same day when Nick heard a soft sound coming from inside of the playhouse tucked in the branches of the old oak tree and slowly he climbed the rope ladder which led up into the wooden castle-shaped building. As he opened the door, he could hear sniffling and saw a young raccoon balled up on the sofa. "Freddie, are you okay?" the fox gently asked.

"I'm…I'm…" the raccoon began to say, but then he began to cry again.

"Shhh!" Nick soothingly said as he sat down next to Freddie. "Tell me what's wrong."

"I...I...there was a bully today on the playground and Cheri had to defend me," Freddie sniffled out. "I was afraid and let him push me around."

"Cheri is your best friend and of course she is going to stand up for you…" Nick began to answer.

"I don't know how to fight!" Freddie sobbed. "I don't like fighting, I like singing."

"That's okay," the fox sighed as he pulled the crying raccoon kit closer to him and gently rubbed his godson's ear. "You shouldn't have to fight.

"But my poppa knows how to fight, he beat up a rhino!"

"Your father was lucky and took down Ronnie Charger by surprise."

"Still…"

"Freddie, do you know what to do if someone bullies you?"

"Tell the teacher?"

"Yes, tell the teacher, your dad, your mom, Aunt Judy, or me. Tell an adult."

"But if you do so, they will call you a snitch," the young raccoon sniffled out. "They will tease you for being a wimp."

"Maybe, but did you even realize what happened today?" Nick said. "You've got something which that big bully didn't have and that is real friends who will stand with you. His friends just ran away when your friends and members of the pack came running to help you."

"Still…" Freddie began to say.

"Your Aunt Judy is one of the most courageous police officers on the force," Nick continued and the young raccoon nodded in agreement. "But she knows when she has to call others to back her up, just like Cheri did earlier."

"I still wish I knew how to fight if I have to, just like you, Aunt Judy, and Poppa."


Several days later, the two young raccoons looked up at the taller, older red panda in the brown robes who was standing in front of them. "The secret to the martial arts is that there is so much more to it than just knowing how to fight," their instructor began. "It is also knowing that fighting must always be the last option."


Both physical and psychological bullying can be a serious problem. In the movie, Nick was bullied and it ruined his life, it made him embrace almost every negative opinion that others had about his species. Furthermore, not only did it make him bitter and cynical, but he also learned to hide his true feelings from not only others but also from himself. Who can forget when he told Judy, "never let them see that they get to you". Judy was also bullied, first when as a child by Gideon Grey, then Major Friedkin at the Police Academy, later by Chief Bogo, and even verbally by Nick. However, unlike Nick, she refused to let their actions define who she was in life and instead became more determined to prove them wrong. In the end, Judy did prove her bullies wrong and, although he doesn't face his bullies again, Nick learned to let go of the bitter anger he still felt and move on with his life too.

So did Nick give Freddie good advice? What would you have told him? Let me know in the comments.