Chapter 62

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Sorry for the minor delay, I was updating my with a short story and tumblr with a plug for someone this morning, along with setting out to write a bunch more for season 2. And in doing so, updating this just slipped my mind until the great Maxojir reminding me.

So apologies. However, going on, season 1 will be updating in the (for me) evenings due to my new job. Likewise, the update schedule for season 2 will be affected. -That is going to be interesting for a few reasons I'll discuss in time, though rest assured that they'll still be regular and fairly common.

Oh, and as for that plug, Darkflamewolf's novel IS OUT! Legend of Ahya Book 1, Target of Interest, is fast paced and exciting. Please, go check it out or see if you can share/ promote it if you can.

Anyway, with no other delays, back to the scheduled programming.

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"What's happening?"

"I'm not quite sure," Mr Fox said, looking down at Ash. They were standing outside Kris' apartment, having heard that he had just got back. A bit surprised he wasn't being taken straight back to the tree, but fair enough, home was home.

Nick though, who was standing next to them, had his ears folded down. His tail was swishing about, his fur on end.

"William?" Mrs Fox called.

There was a long pause before the door slowly unlatched itself, the haggard tear stained muzzle of the older todd poking out.

"William!?" she cried, "What happened?"

He trembled slightly. "She knew he was getting out…"

"She? Who?"

"A guard. This one guard that had been causing trouble," he said, beginning to shake. He started to trip over his words as his claws curled out. "They'd… they'd moved her away, bu-bu-but… She knew he didn't do it! But she… -she didn't care! She couldn't l-l-let a fox go unpunished. She couldn't let him win. Could she? Could she!?"

"Sweetie," his sister-in-law sniffed. "What did she do to him?"

"We can make sure this doesn't go unpunished," Nick said, "you think that we'll let just let it go after all we've done?"

Dr Silverfox barked out a half cry-half sob, slamming his paw into the wall. "She didn't… she didn't do it in mammal! She got others to… to…"

"To do what?" Ash asked.

His uncle looked down, holding his gaze for a second or two, before shaking his head. "I… I don't think you should see it, Ash."

The young fox's eyes narrowed. "He's my cousin."

"-And I don't want you seeing him like this."

"Ash," his mother warned, holding a paw out onto his shoulder. He shrugged it off.

"I want to help."

"I've already called for help, thank you!" he hissed, making Ash flinch back. "Listen, just go, this is my son, I…"

He was cut off as Ash, breathing out, dove down onto all fours and slipped through the crack in the door. He ignored the yell of shock from his uncle and the call from his mother. He didn't care. He was going to help his cousin. He reached his bedroom door and stepped in. He was going to help Kris. He was…

He froze as he saw the figure on the bed, curled up into himself and tightly clutching a pillow, all while buried thickly under a pile of heavy covers. "Kris?"

"I said…" his uncle yelled, charging in and grabbing Ash's wrist in a vice like grip.

"Ash?"

He cut off as Kris' words spoke out, the silver fox sitting up. Ash looked on as his cousin stepped up and held him tight, the red fox returning the favour. "Said we'd get you out."

"Yeah," he said softly. "What you are doing here?"

"I'm here to help you."

Kris' ears dropped slightly. "That's… that's my job…"

Ash's ears dropped slightly back. "I can tell Agnes you're still the same then."

Kris chuckled, looking away and scratching behind his ear. "Yeah, I didn't fail her, huh." He trailed off, looking into the corner of the room.

"Kris?" he asked, pausing as he looked down, fur standing on end as he saw his tail. "Your…"

There was a sharp intake of breath from him, before he let it out. "I know," he said, stressing it out. "But please," he asked, "I can manage it. It's nothing, really, not compared to…" He broke off, looking away. A tear flowed down from the corner of his eye.

"What did she threaten you with?" his father asked. "On top of this, what else…"

"-Why do you keep presuming I was hurt," Kris spoke, almost calmly. "Why do you insist I was injured, or…" He took a breath in and out, turning away, chest beginning to pump in or out. "Why can't you think for a second that I got through this okay and just want to leave it behind me."

…

"Because this isn't you," Ash cut in. "I know something's wrong, your father does, so tell us. What is it?"

He snapped, his paw sweeping around to cut at his neck only to halt, a fur's width from Ash's skin. The red fox jolted back, only to see the silver paw begin to tremble, Kris stepping back and looking at it, a slow look of fear growing on his muzzle.

The red fox blinked. "You… hurt someone, didn't you? Is that it?"

"Ash!" his uncle yelled, only for Kris to step up, a haunted look on his face as he dove through the pair, making to the bathroom. "Kris, please… Why won't you speak to me?"

He looked back, his face trembling. Eyes closing, he glanced away, only for a new voice to cut in. One not common to him, yet eminently familiar all the same. "Kristofferson?"

He blinked, looking over to see a binturong stepping in, a soft look of concern on her face. "Dr Amy…?"

"Yes," she said, walking over.

"Is Ash…"

"No," she said, giving a glance over at a slightly indignant red fox. "But you are…"

He huffed out. "I'm okay…"

"No, you're not."

"If you're here to help me, maybe you should think about how that sounds," he said, muzzle folding up slightly.

"Didn't you say something like that to me?" Ash asked, pivoting around him, paw on his shoulder.

"Well in that case it was true," he hissed.

She looked on, pausing for a second, before stepping down to his level. "Are you scared?" she asked. "Or is it that you'll think they'll think less of you?"

"Or is it that you don't want Beavis to quote-unquote beat you?" Ash asked, the room going quiet. Kris' ears tilted.

"Beavis?"

"It was him," his father said, cutting in. "He planted the howlers."

"But…" he spoke. "Why? Why did he do it? What did it mean?"

"It was a joke," Ash said slowly. "A prank. He'd meant it for me, but got the wrong locker."

"Yeah," his father sighed. "And that DA wasn't even interested in you. He had his own crazy vendetta against this banker wolf, thinking she was this vigliante or something, and only did what he did for 'the principle'.

There was a long pause, before Kris chuckled. It was short, it was brief, it was cut off by a choke.

He laughed again.

Then a second time.

Each briefer than the last, before a sniff came out.

He began laughing and crying and then sobbing, collapsing to his knees and bawling out into his paws. His father grabbed him and gathered him into his chest, holding him along with Ash, rocking him back and forth, only for his breath to start to get faster.

And faster.

And faster.

"Kris?" His father asked, as Dr Amy's eyes widened.

"Panic attack," she said, standing up. "Give him to me. Grab a paper bag. Quickly!" Dr Silverfox did just that, as she took an unresponsive Kris in her paws and guided him back in, down onto his bed, speaking as she went. "Okay, we're going to get you upright, okay. It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay…" She slowly moved his body up so he was sitting, back against the bedrest, pillows cradling him on both sides. He didn't react, he just kept on breathing, shaking faster and faster.

In-Out, In-Out, In-Out, In-Out…

Finally, in came the bag, and she narrated to him the fact that she was putting it over his muzzle. It began catching his breath as she verbally helped him with his breathing. Cautiously, Ash held his paws, looking up to her, unsure. She looked down and gave him a nod, and slowly, surely, he began to recede.

In-out, in-out, in-out…

"Come on, there you are," she said.

His eyes went up to meet hers. "I screwed it all up…"

"Well, once you've calmed down, we can go over it, okay? Does that sound good?"

"I screwed it all up," he sniffed.

"Does that sound good? We let you calm down, and we can go over it?"

"I scr…"

"Kris, can you hear me?"

"Y-yeah," he said, looking up and down. He began shaking slightly again. "There was no point…"

"There never was," his father said, trying to comfort him.

"It was all just…"

"I'm sorry…" Dr Amy put in.

"It doesn't even make me feel better that… that I took it for Ash…" he sniffed. "Though that's because he wouldn't have screwed it all up, he'd…" He cut himself off, freezing.

"Kris," his father spoke. "You didn't screw up anything. I don't care if you hurt any of those mammals in there either, you were just trying to survive. They're criminals after all, you did what you had to do. Now please, let us help you! Let her help you."

Pointing over at Dr Amy, Kris followed his gesture and looked at her.

"That's right," she said softly, slowly taking the bag off and stroking his head. "I'm here to help you, you poor sweet…" she froze, seeing his eyes widen slightly, lips pulling back in fear. Paw off his head, she backed away as he slowly recovered. "Was it where I touched you?"

He shook his head.

"Was it what I said?"

He nodded.

"I'm sorry," she carried on. "But I'm going to try and help you get better."

"R-really?" he asked.

"Uh-hu…"

"I… I'm fine, I…"

"No you're not, Kris," she said softly. "Someone terrible did an awful thing to you. You're still shaking and scared, but I'm going to help you get better, okay?"

…

"Okay?"

Slowly, he nodded.

"Okay, we're going to just let you calm down a bit and then we can start talking about what happened. Does that sound good?"

He nodded, only for the nod to turn into a shake. "No, I…"

"Is it your father and Ash being here?" she asked.

He looked up, glancing at them.

"You can tell whatever you want to me, and you can know I will say nothing, nothing, to them."

"Promise…"

"Something better," she said, "Client-patient confidentiality!"

He paused, closing his eyes and letting a tiny laugh escape out.

"Does that sound okay?"

"I… I think," he said.

"That's great then," she said. "We'll go at your pace. Just take as long as you need."

After that, for the next ten or so minutes he was silent. Dr Amy excused herself for a short break, taking his father out for a quick talk, before stepping back in. She was surprised to see that Ash had crawled into his bed, next to him, but given that the larger fox was clutching onto him, head laying down and making contact, she felt it was fine for now.

Eventually though, she asked him to leave, and it was just her and him.

Finally, quietly, she spoke. "What happened?"

He breathed in sharply, the binturong and fox holding each other's paws as a tremor shook through him. "Matt…"

"Matt?" she asked, stepping down next to him and slipping a paw behind his back. "Was that someone who hurt you?"

"He was like Ash," Kris said weakly.

"Like him?" she asked, head tilting.

"He… he was… I was trying to help him."

There was a pause, her eyes widening. "Why?"

Kris nodded. "He… He was very young and scared, he didn't understand. I was trying to… trying to protect him," he sniffed. "That morning, he came up to me… He warned me. He said she…"

"She?"

He shivered. "A serval guard, who hated me," he sniffed. "As I was a fox, and she felt I belonged there, and needed to be hurt. The others found out and sent her away, but she wanted to win… She came into his cell the night before. She was telling him that me leaving was me being a sneaky fox. I was leaving him. I needed punishment. She wanted him to help her. She wanted him to help her…"

"But he stood by you, didn't he?" Amy said, smiling.

"I... " he began, for the first time in the day some form of grin growing on his muzzle, only to tremble. "I did… He should have…" he sniffed. "He should have…"

"No," she began. "You did something really kind. Why?"

"Why?"

"Yeah, you could have just looked after yourself, but you chose to try and help him, even though he'd done something to be put in there." She paused, a look of concern on her face. "Didn't he?"

He nodded. "He… He killed a joey. He doesn't even understand. But…"

"But you tried to look after him even then," she said.

"What else should I have done?" he asked, looking at her. He then turned, looking up at his father. "I was doing the right thing. Dad... He always taught me to look after those who were weaker… That's what I have to do! If… If I don't, who… Who I am? And I… he was weaker, I was…"

She sniffed, leaning in to hold his paws tighter. "You were very brave, and very kind…"

Kris flinched back, looking down. "I screwed it up," he sniffed.

"Was it because you left him?" Amy asked. "Even if you were just there for one week, you were a real friend when you needed him. You still helped him more than anyone else. And remember, he told you about her, didn't he? He could have kept it a secret, but he told you. Because he chose to. He wanted to, because even though he was losing you, he knew what you'd done. So you didn't screw him up…"

"He got hurt, it was my fault…"

"Take your time," she said.

So he did.

A minute or two later, he spoke again. "It was okay at first, they were talking… I was going home," he smiled. "They were all happy. We were first in for lunch, all these mammals were patting me on the back." He looked down. "Patting me down on my…"

…

"Kris?" she asked.

"Armando…"

"Who's he?"

Kris's eyes began to widen. "I screwed it up," he yipped, trembling. Amy reached for the bag, only for him to collapse forward, beginning to cry into his paws. "All those mammals I hurt! I hurt, because I… I just had to win, I thought I was…" He began sobbing, the therapist holding him.

"I'm sure we can fix it," Amy reassured him. "If we know what happened, we can fix it."

Slowly, he calmed down again. "Before… the day before, they told me… Those getting out, they'd get spanked or something… It was a tradition, or… I didn't like it, but they said they all went along. This bison, he was the one who they said… He had the most time left… But I didn't think anything of it when, the other one I guess, said it was time. He came to me, saying he was doing it. So I went in, and…" His eyes welded shut, a whine coming out of his mouth.

"Kris?"

"There were others in there. A… A hare that had tried grabbing my tail, and a goat who had tried to fight me, and a pred hating ram and a howler hating jaguar and…"

"And?"

"A wolf," he whispered, "This creepy wolf. He had Matt by his scruff, and Matt was crying, and he was looking at him, playing with his tail… If I didn't tell them what I did, and do what they said, they were going to let him…" He breathed in and out. "The prison wasn't punishing me… they would… they said the sneaky howler fox deserved it… I deserved it… And if I fought, the wolf…" He sniffed, beginning to cry. "That wolf had Matt, he'd…"

"Oh Kris," Amy said. "I'm sorry. You didn't deserve that…"

"It wasn't about me!" he yelled, making her flinch back, eyes watering. "I… I could manage with them grabbing my scruff, and that hare holding and shaving my tail, moaning while he… I could make sure they didn't see my cry… I managed as they made me freeze myself in the shower. I could manage that, and I looked into their eyes, show they weren't getting to me! Showing them that I could beat them! And then the hare… He… He…" Kris let out a sob. "He said that I was a dumb selfless mammal, and that maybe the only way to get me was to… To hurt Matt. To let the wolf have his fun."

"Oh that poor, poor…"

"I saw and heard him begin to cry," Kris carried on, trembling. "That was because of me!"

"No," she said.

"All I was trying to do was to help! That's who I am! I could… I could deal with them scruffing me. And cutting down my tail and making me not feel like a fox, and that hare playing with it and my ears, and thinking I was going to end my life freezing in that shower… But all I… All I did was get Matt," he choked off.

She held him tight.

"Then he came in."

"Who did?"

"Armando," Kris said.

...

"He tried to stop it," he said, his voice a whisper. "He tried to order them to stop, the jaguar just yelled at him to go, this was their business and he's only a Capaybara. And… and if he got into a fight, he wouldn't get his parole, he'd… we'd…" He trembled again, sniffing. "I screwed it up. He… He didn't have to do it. He didn't… He didn't go, he stayed, saying he'd fight for me… The hare asked if he could play with Armando next, saying he'd enjoy it, the others agreed… Except the jaguar, he said it was only against me, and left when they turned against him. But… But… He tried to fight back, he didn't have a chance at first. I think it was just dumb luck his friend Luka arrived. Kangaroo… He saw what was going on and charged right away, freeing his fried. Armando was free again and tried to come for me, but he's just a capyabara… He wasn't a fighter... They tried to fight, but there were just too many. Luka got a good kick, he knocked the wolf away from Matt, knocking him out against the wall, and Matt ran out to get help. But he slipped… They jumped on him, with his legs on the wet floor, he couldn't get up. And Armando…" Kris sniffed. "I heard something break."

…

"I tried to fight them off him…"

…

"She was waiting outside," he said vacantly. "She ordered us down and grabbed me… She marched me by my scruff, telling me that justice hurt. She told everyone out loud that Armando and Luka andLuke and the wolf attacked me… The jaguar and bison tried to save us... " He sniffed. "When she threw me in my cell, she said that traitors get what they deserve. I should enjoy knowing my friend wouldn't get out because of me… and everyone would hate Matt as a snitch… She locked me in, until she came to take me to my dad."

.

…

"I think I tried to forget it, or just move past it, try and get out and…" he said, weakly. He began to tremble. "I saw Dad. I just wanted to be home."

There was a long pause before Amy, finally, spoke. "You were a very, very brave boy there," she said.

"No," he shook his head. "I… I let them win. I mean I should have surrendered. Let them think they won. Not let them hurt…"

"You mean you should have just let them hurt you? You did what any brave mammal would do then. Just because it backfired doesn't mean anything."

"It means I failed," he cried, as the door opened, his father stepping it. Kris looked up, tearing his head away in shame. His father came in to touch him but he threw his head away, not wanting to look at him. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry Dad."

"Why?"

"You always… you always taught me to… to stand up and be brave and help mammals… That… That was who I was. That was who I always was," he sniffed. "I was the mammal who helped others. But I failed. All I did was get a mammal hurt! Three mammals, a stranger, a friend and someone I was looking after, hurt! And if I'm not the one helping them… If I just get them hurt… Then who am I? Who am I?"

…

"Who am I?"

…

"Son…" William croaked, as Amy stepped away. "You're my boy. You're Kristofferson Silverfox. You're brave, mature, kind…"

"Not anymore," he sniffed.

"So who was I then?" Ash asked, stepping in. There was a pause as the three looked at him. "I was broken too, once. But I was Ash Fox before and Ash Fox after. So if you getting broken means you're not Kris, then who am I?"

"But you were…"

"I was what?"

"It was different…" he sniffed. "You were always…"

"'Different'?" Ash asked, eyes narrowing.

"Needed help… Young… Little… You were like Matt. You needed my help."

"And now you need mine," Ash said.

Kris shook his head. "No. I…"

"You do."

"If I can't help you…"

"What, you think I can't take care of myself?" the red fox asked, paws on hips.

"Not well, no! That's why I needed to help you! But I can't now as I'm… I'm a failure… I just get mammals hurt! I'm sorry…"

…

"You think you're the big grown up fox who has to look after everyone?" Amy asked. "Right?"

"Not anymore…"

"Because you never were," she said.

"But…"

"You aren't some perfect mammal put into this world to stand head and shoulders above the rest. You're a kind, wonderful, caring young mammal who's just been through something terrible. Some horrible mammals tried to tear that away from you, didn't she?"

He sniffed and nodded.

"They did it because they wanted to get in one last win," she carried on. "To end the day thinking they'd conquered you, and that was the end of it. But they only win if you let them win. And every, single, day going on is a chance to beat them. A chance to show that they are wrong. But that only happens if you try and make sure that they do not win over you. And for that, you will need help. You don't have to do this alone and I will be there, all the way, to help you."

"So will I," Ash said.

"But you're…" Kris began.

"It's my job to look after you, even if I didn't owe you for helping me," he said. "I'm your older cousin, and don't you forget it."

There was a long pause, before a tiny laugh broke through Kris' muzzle, like a single ray of light through the clouds.

"Kris?" his father asked.

"I forgot," he said, a tiny smile briefly appearing on his muzzle.

"Well I'm not going to let you again, little cousin," Ash said. "I'm going to look after you going on. I'm going to protect you."

"You can't even protect yourself."

"I'm going to ignore that."

"It might… it might get annoying."

Ash crossed his paws. "I'm going to be annoying. Sometimes the person helping you needs to be annoying."

"Amen," Amy said, looking down at Ash. "You've been helping so much, and I'm certain your cousin will be helped so much by you in his future." She then turned down to the silverfox. "Please. You don't have to do this all alone. You don't have to be this ubervulpes all the time, you don't have to define yourself by helping others. It may not feel right at first, but let mammals help you. What's the worst that can happen?"

He began to shake. "Their lives get screwed. Matt… Armando… Luka..."

"I'll call the warden," his father said. "I'll tell him exactly what the capybara did to help you, and how your friend was hurt, and he'll know that that rodent was a brave mammal that stood up for what was right."

"You… you will?" Kris asked, beginning to light up.

"Of course I will," his father agreed, as Amy chimed in.

"See, you didn't screw up. Matt will get help, they'll probably move him away from that wolf. And those mammals won't be punished for helping you. And you know what?"

"What?" he asked.

"I bet you they were proud to try and defend you. They wanted to. They wanted to help you and Matt, because you two deserve help. And are you going to turn around and say that they shouldn't have? That you were too mature for help or anything?"

He looked off in the distance. "No…"

"There we go," she said softly. "It's going to take a long time to help you. You'll be scared, you'll be worried, but you are a sweet, brave, boy." She leant forward and hugged him. His eyes opened wide and he trembled a little, before holding her back tight.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," she said, letting him go. She paused, looking to his father. "Mind if we talk?"

He nodded, before giving Kris a soft kiss and leaving.

The two were left alone.

Ash held on to his paw.

"I'm scared," Kris said.

"Getting help won't change you."

"I'm not… I'm not scared of that."

"Agnes…"

"-I said I wouldn't change," he sniffed.

"She will understand, and she will care for you," he promised. "I'll make sure she does."

"I'm scared."

"Of what?"

"Nothing. I'm just scared."

.

.

"Hello?"

"Nick?"

"That's me," he said, slowly coming in. The fox cop paused as he saw the sight in front of him. Kris, asleep, was wrapped up, Ash around him, protecting him. The older fox smiled. "You're a good mammal, you know that?"

"I try to be."

Nick nodded and sat down, pausing as Kris began to whimper. "I'll…" he began, only to pause as the silver fox clutched Ash hard, waking up with a gasp. He looked around, panting, before slowly coming around. "Hey…"

"Hello. Nick."

"I…" the fox began. "I don't know if this will help. When I was younger than you, a group of mammals betrayed me, did something short and nasty and horrible to me, as I was a fox." He looked down. "It was probably far less than what those mammals did to you, but I let it rule my life for decades. I was a fool." He looked up at him. "Please, you are a wonderful mammal. Don't let them rule you. Please."

"I'll," he sniffed. "I want to say yes, but… But I'm not sure anymore."

Nick sighed. "We'll try to help. All of us, but please let us."

He nodded.

"And one thing we can give you, that I didn't get, is some level of control over those who hurt you." He paused. "The mammal who framed you in the first place is in custody. But it already looks like he's going to get off with far less than it deserves, if at all. Some of the officers want to offer him a deal, give up where he got the howlers from, and let him get off. They think it'll mean they can stop bad stuff being done. Others say he deserves to get as much as they can throw at him, which isn't nearly what he deserves. I think that only one mammal gets to make that choice." He reached up his finger, and pointed at Kris. The fox shied away, only to pause.

"It was Beavis, right?"

"Yeah," Ash said. "For a prank "

"I don't…" Kris began. "I don't think I really care what happens to him," he said, holding a shaking paw out. "I imagine him getting free," he flipped his paw, "I imagine him getting decades." There was a pause as he looked down. "Nothing. Honestly, I'm more curious about finding out where he got those things than anything."

Nick looked away. "I guess then, maybe you'd be okay with him getting this deal then. Thanks for letting us know."

And with that, Nick began to leave, along with his father and Amy, leaving the silver fox to ponder.

"-Wait."

They all turned back.

"I think… I think I know where he got them from," Kris said. "It's unlikely, but there's a mammal who might lead you to where they truly came from, and needs help far more than him." He paused, a tiny, hopeful look growing on his muzzle. "And… if you could help him, I think that might make me feel like there was some reason behind this all."

"And will that make you feel better?" Amy asked.

"I don't know… But I think it's the right thing to do."

.

.

"This is inmammal treatment."

"I know right, this is sooooo boring," Beavis Jr whined. "Why can't those idiots just chill." He walked over and knocked on the one way mirror. "Helllooooo?"

"Hey," his father said. "Don't wind them up further."

"Oh come on…" he began to moan.

"No, you come on!" his father yelled.

His son blinked, looking on. "Dad? I thought you were on my side."

"Of course I am, son," he lectured. "Yeah, the ZPD are totally over reacting, but you still did this thing, and were it the other way around damn right I'd want you in jail. You're just lucky that I'm your father and I'm willing to raise hell for you that you probably don't deserve."

"But… Dad? This was a…"

"Prank," he said. "Yeah. But there's a difference between sticking a whoopie cushion under a teachers butt and this! For cuss' sake, if you really hated that dumb fox why didn't you just disassemble his car and assemble it on the roof!"

"He doesn't have a car."

"Oh you know what I mean!"

"What," he scoffed. "Like muzzling him?"

"Well there's one example," his father exclaimed.

"Huh, like it's any different."

"One! Don't take that tone with me. Two! I was ten, you're fifteen, I'd expect some additional maturity. Three, of course it is."

"How?"

"Well one doesn't involve stuff that makes preds go loco!" his father yelled. "Can you blame them for being crazy about it? Where did a fifteen year old woodchuck even find three stupid nighthowlers!?"

"I just found them…"

He was cut off as the door opened up, Peter Refu coming in, a grim look on his face. He was followed by Kii Catano, who was looking very happy. "Not exactly," she said, sitting down. The two woodchucks sat down, their lawyer waving for them to stay quiet. "You see, it just so happened that the mammal you framed met another mammal behind bars," she explained, bringing out a picture. She turned it around and watched as Beavis' worried look turned grim. "Do you know this mammal?"

"N-no…"

"Matthew Wiler. Originally listed as a wolf on his birth certificate but recently re-classified as a coywolf following the investigation." She paused, eyes narrowing. "At the start of a ten year sentence for the murder of Jessamine Publedima, a two week old wombat joey. However, on interviewing him, it lines up that he was also unknowingly paid to be a drug mule. In return for serving his sentence in the city mental hospital, in order to aid in his rehabilitation, he has directed us to where he was dropping these packages off." She looked at him and smiled.

"-You don't know it's him," Beavis spurted out.

"On the contrary," she said, "a long time ago a kangaroo gave us some pictures, showing a brown furred mammal taking on a package of nighthowlers. Due to the low quality, we had issues discerning what mammal it was but, after learning that a pup was involved, everything clicked into place. A bit of cross referencing, and both confirmed that they were in the same place, unlike you on some maps you were filling on."

She looked on as the woodchuck began to tremble.

"Oh, and one more thing," she said. "He recognised you in a line-up as assaulting him to steal that box. As you can see here," she said, moving forward some papers. "-He was hospitalised later that day having been beaten. Must have been rough attacking him, wasn't it?"

"I… I only hit that stupid smelly mutt a few times!" Beavis yelled, Refu telling him to be quiet, not that it helped. "He was only a crook, he deserved it! He was smuggling nighthowlers you stupid cat, nighthowlers!"

"Something quite irrelevant to the fact that you assaulted him, he was hospitalised for it, he can pick you out. Again, given your following remarks and those character witnesses I mentioned, you're potentially looking at five years. Not in a reform school, but in the full on prison. However, for some reason, I'm feeling generous today." She pushed forward a piece of paper. "Under this deal you'll serve three years as a full on prisoner for that assault, concurrently with the reform school one for planting the evidence." She stood up. "I'll let you think about it."

And out she went, walking briskly into the office behind, paw out to grab Basil and Dave. The former smiled. "I never thought you to be the generous one?" he asked.

"Oh, don't get me wrong," she said. "That, as Nick Wilde would say, is called a hustle, sweetheart."

"A hustle?" Dave asked.

She nodded. "It turns out that that pup, who's so young I do have a bit of sympathy for, even though I fully empathise with his victim's parents, either has a learning disability or is just hopeless at telling species apart. He believed the poor wombat he attacked was a woodchuck… Though to be fair, he's not the only one to make that mistake. -Regardless, while he did pick out the right woodchuck, he only did so with voice recordings played over each, some advice from our Silverfox at play there. He had no clue about the faces, but immediately picked out that woodchuck's voice."

Basil burst out into a laugh. "So you…"

"Was creative with the truth," she said, pausing to look through the mirror. The younger woodchuck was crying into his father's arms, he himself arguing and pleading with their lawyer. "Similar to the hospitalisation. While he confessed to attacking him there, most of those injuries came from some rather angry gang masters. However, he was able to provide us with far more useful info than our woodchuck friend ever would, and give us enough to tip the balance there." She paused, looking back through the mirror, Beavis Sr shaking his head and grabbing a pen, signing a document. He then gave it to his son, who was begging and screaming, the father just shaking his head and throwing up his paws in response. "Even if our anonymous marmota did decide to fight it, he confessed enough to at least argue for some time up there. He deserves to know what he put that fox through, all for his little 'prank.'"

"You have your justice first then," Basil said, breathing in and out. "And after that it's time for us to find our truth."