I moved to a new house, so i was a little busy. But hey, better late than never!

Enjoy!

Chapter V - Tests and Samples

The room was big. The desk alone went as high as the middle of Allen's torso when standing. The chief wasn't small either. The Cape Buffalo sat at three heads taller than him at the other side of the desk and wore a small pair of reading glasses as he shuffled through some papers on his desk. He put them down and looked at the human.

"You've caused a lot of turmoil since you arrived," he said and then proceeded to read one of the papers on the desk. "You made a tiger attack you, almost started a fire in a hospital, escaped said hospital with one of its fire extinguishers, and then caused a traffic jam at one of the most important bridges in the city's downtown," he raised his sight back at the human, "by threatening bystanders with the stolen extinguisher." Allen diverted his view to the sides of the desk. "I'll have you jailed right now if the whole city wasn't on my tail about finding out what you are… So tell me," he took two sheets of copy paper and a pen, he wrote on the one on top and asked, "what are you?"

Alright, here we go. Keep your cool, and this should end fast, the human reassured himself. He brought his view back to the buffalo's eyes, who waited with an unamused expression. Allen answered, "I'm a human… Sir." Not sure of how to refer to the cape buffalo. Bogo stared at him and ordered.

"Spell it." Allen took a moment to answer, taken back by how direct the chief was.

"Uh, H." Bogo started to write as the human said every letter. "U-M-A-N… Human." The buffalo looked up from the sheet of paper to continued the questionary.

"Any other name?" He asked as he tapped the paper with his pen.

Another name for human? Scientific perhaps?, Allen thought, followed by his answer, "Homo Sapiens."

Bogo huffed. He found this whole thing a waste of time and resources. It wasn't the first time a mammal with a skin condition claimed to be a new species for media attention, just to be dismissed a week later, if not the same day, as a scam. But this time, to his annoyance, the whole city joined on it. He was sure that the mammal was lying, especially proved when this supposed never-before-seen mammal somehow had a scientific name. It was just obvious, but he wasn't in the position to argue with the city hall and the "protocol" right now. He would just have to wait for the doctor to prove him right. He wrote it down and continued, "Your height?"

"1,78."

"In feet."

"Uuh, five-ten?"

"Age."

"Twenty-one."

"Full name."

Allen adjusted himself on the chair. "Do I have to?" he questioned. He didn't have a problem with his first name, but his surname was something he preferred to avoid telling people… or animals, for that matter.

The cape buffalo found this suspicious and firmly stated, "Yes, you have." Then with a more wary tone, he queried, "are you hiding something?"

Wrong move there, Allen scolded. It doesn't even matter here. Just tell him. "I'm not. I just don't like it, that's it," He clarified as he gazed to the side. He had no other option but to answer it, so as a reflex, he put a hand on his arm and clutched it. He replied with a sigh, "my name is Allen Alexander," and looked back at the chief.

Bogo thought of asking further questions about it, but he didn't have the time for it. he decided to leave it for a later interrogatory and gave the last question, "Sex?"

"Male," answered the human. The chief finished filling the form and proceeded to sign and stamp it.

"This will go into a temporal record," the buffalo told him, and put the top paper on a file, then handed the bottom copy to Allen. "you'll have to present this to the zebra on the first floor. He will conduct the tests." The human let go of his arm and took the paper which examined. It was straightforward, only containing essential information apart from the questions and answers, everything neatly ordered and signed as an official document.

"Is… that it?" wondered the human. He expected something akin to a police interrogatory, but this was his preferred outcome nonetheless. The chief said flatly.

"Is not," and followed it with an explanation. "I don't have the time for this right now. The mayor wants this to be done as fast as possible so she can be ready for her address later this day, so I asked you the questions that could help the zebra so you can give him that paper and get this over with already." He took the glasses off and slowly leaned forward. "But once your whole scheme blows up, we'll have plenty of time for questions in the interrogation room." The buffalo didn't like mammals messing with his city and wanted to get that message across to the human. Allen shrunk slightly on his seat. Bogo straightened back and spoke, "You can go now." He gestured at the door, "Officer Wolfard will escort you down, and don't try anything funny. He's allowed to tranq you."

Allen glanced back at the door and back at the chief, who seemed to get impatient. So with a push from his right hand, he got off the chair and walked to the door, which, even when it was as tall as the chief, still had the handle close enough to the ground for most mammals to open it. People will keep doubting you if you don't get your thoughts together. He held the handle. So try, no. BE more confident. He opened the door. Let's go.

"Is everything ready?" asked a zebra in a white coat. Doctor Hoofington was called to lead the new mammal tests, based on him being the doctor assigned to Allen when he arrived at the hospital this morning.

"Everything in order, doctor. We are just waiting for the mammal to arrive," answered a spotted dear in scrubs as he finished labeling a series of sample tubes and put them back on a small table at the side of a phlebotomy chair. Buckley was selected along with another nurse, a female leopard, from S.C. General Hospital to assist with the tests. Apart from the hospital staff, there was one other mammal, a soon-to-be doctor tigress sent by the "Zootopia Institute of Fundamental Sciences" or "ZIFuS" for short, to record the whole event on behalf of it.

Those were supposed to be the only mammals to take part in this affair. Still, as a surprise to the zebra and his staff, they received a call from the hospital that informed them of a last-minute addition to their team. Soon after, a maned wolf had arrived and claimed to had been sent to assist in handling the new mammal. However, he seemed reluctant to follow instructions and dismissed every role suggested to take at the procedures except for one. He was now in charge of the phlebotomy, where he would take the blood samples and store them for further research. They all were in a repurposed meeting room, where a laptop and tools laid over the long central table. Opposite to the entrance, they'd set up a phlebotomy chair for the blood samples and the proceeding tests.

Two taps from a claw were heard at the door. The zebra opened it as he was the closest to it and found the wolf and human that stood behind it. A pleased smile appeared in him in the presence of the two mammals as he greeted them, "Good afternoon, Mister…" he directed his view down and read the tag on the canid's uniform, "Wolfard!" The wolf nodded back, and Hoofington addressed the other mammal eagerly, "and good afternoon to you!" The human lightly waved his free hand as the zebra stepped back and continued, "you almost made me lose my wits this morning." He gestured for them to come in. The wolf preferred to stay outside as Allen entered, at whom the doctor chuckled and wagged a hoof, "but I knew it wasn't going to be the last time we met." He closed the door and turned back to the rest of the room.

The police officer had leaned on the wall outside and guarded the only exit. Allen stood in the middle of everyone present, still holding unto the form in his left hand. The tigress had already a camcorder pointed at the whole group while the leopard set up a laptop to write down the doctor's observations. The spotted deer gathered tools from the table, prepared to hand them when needed. Right next to the clinical chair stood the maned wolf, where he wrote swiftly on a brown notebook, indifference displayed on his muzzle.

Allen, puzzled by the zebra's greeting, asked him, "We've met before?" Then he realized, "oh, before that." He raised the paper. "I was told to give this to you, doctor..."

The zebra took the form and answered, "Hoofington." He lifted it closer to his view. "I was the doctor in charge of you at the hospital, Mister…" He squinted at the paper, then glared over it. "Alexander."

The human raised his hand and was quick to reply, "We don't need to be that formal." His hand swayed slightly. "Just call me Allen or Al. That would be enough." The doctor seemed to agree, but his attention had moved to the tall canid nurse, who had an arm aloft, pointed at the room's wall clock. The doctor smiled back at Allen.

"Allen it is, then," he noted and motioned at the chair behind the human. "If you could please sit there." Allen looked back at it. The maned wolf resumed his writing. "We could start what we are all here for."

Though there was a semblance of hesitation within the human, it wasn't enough to stop him from doing a beeline at the chair. When he left the chief's office, he told himself to have more confidence, and for that, he had to stop being so fearful and insecure in this other world, so this was a perfect start.

He sat down. All the eyes pointed at him, and expectation filled the room. Hoofington made sure that the felid nurse was ready to take note and put on a pair of latex gloves handed from the spotted deer.

He pointed at his gloved hoofs and playfully reassured the human, "Don't worry! It isn't one of those tests." The maned wolf stepped to the corner as the doctor approached and ensured the tigress student was filming. "Is just procedure," he giggled and patted him on the shoulder. Even after the stress and scare of this morning, the zebra kept his sympathetic and merry attitude. He glanced at the wall clock and muttered, "Alright, let's begin." To the displease of Allen, the doctor started to prod his hoofs all around his head. "Starting from his skull," he combs the hair back. "The most notable difference from the referred 'new mammal' is his uneven distribution of fur and skull proportions. His cranial vault, which is significantly bigger than his facial features, is coated on long, curly, and brown fur. Quite oily too."

Allen didn't understand most of the words that came from the doctor, neither did he liked the contact, especially now that he started to probe his mouth with a dentistry mirror. He submerged himself into thought. This must be how Daniel's pets feel when he wants to be a showoff… Speaking of which, where could he be now? Wait. His expression soon changed as a memory had hit him. Hoofington was oblivious to it. His attention focused on Allen's teeth. A forest! He came there to find me, to talk with me… But why? The memory was feeble. He wandered through an old forest for a reason he can't recall. Then he heard his brother call for him through the woods, something that made him upset at the moment. The memory cuts short just as his brother finds him…

He replayed the events on his head as the doctor got handed tool after tool to check all that he could to make sure this was indeed a new mammal, until he spoke directly at him. "Mister Allen? Are you here with us?" called the doctor. The human's attention got brought back to the room, and he noticed that the zebra had stepped back, waiting for an answer.

"Uh? Oh, sorry. I've had a busy brain lately, but I'm here now," Allen explained. The tigress had stopped recording, and the spotted deer was cleaning the instruments.

"Welcome back, then," Hoofington answered, and with a smile, asked him again, "we'll have to take some blood samples from you, just five vials. Are you ok with that?" The maned wolf had propped the notebook in the table's drawer, obscuring where the sample tubes stood, and held a tourniquet.

The human disliked needles. A record with inexperienced nurses made him unnerved at the mention of them, but he reasoned, They all have to be the best of professionals, right? The zebra and the deer were sent because they knew me, but the other two must have been sent for being the best nurses to assist them! He gazed at the canid to his left. His gloomy view didn't help, and neither did the leopard, whose laptop froze at times. Still, he went with it. He'll just have to find something to talk about to keep him distracted. "Yeah, I'm ok with that, but… What do you think of all this?" he asked in hopes of starting a conversation as the maned wolf tightened the tourniquet.

The zebra got the tips of his hoofs together and chuckled, "You need to use a better shampoo." This gave a smile to the human. "Now, being serious," his voice relaxed, "I don't know what to think." The human flinched. The maned wolf had started to draw the blood as the doctor looked to the side and reflected on this day, "I'm confident on saying that I've never seen a mammal like you, but there's still a lot of questions. Not only medical but of where you came from, your ancestry and, if you haven't done it yet, of what's going to happen to you." His vision returned to Allen, and he finished with, "But that's for later." He approached him and took a card from his pocket. "Here," he handed the card to the human, "If you ever need a check-up or are open to accompany me to the ZIFuS for more tests, call me, and I'll arrange it." The canid had finished taking the blood and put the last tube with the others. Four vials sat on the table, obscured by the notebook and outside of the other staff's sight. The maned wolf had used the notebook and his advantageous position to store the fifth vial on his pocket out of the other's staff sight and proceeded to put the rest into a small ice cooler as he was told to do.

Allen took the card and pointed out a problem, "Thank you, but… my phone blew up this morning."

End of Chapter V

Phone batteries can be feeble things under certain strains, and so can be Allen, but he's managing for now.

Anyways, have a good day/night!