This is the first fanfic I have been able to work and put all my effort on. I've always had a hard time keeping motivated or stable enough to give the time needed for this, especially when I have such a hard time concentrating. Still, the right medicine and therapy have made it possible for me to get down to it and finally work on something that wasn't school or college. So, I hope that is at least not painful to read, and if there is any improvement I can make, please tell me, because I want to make this as good as I can.
Anyways, enjoy!
Chapter I - Arrival
A strong wind was blowing through Savannah's Central streets. Giving a funneling effect, the buildings were speeding the breezes that came from the south sea, making them fast enough to make a small lemming tumble down after a day of office work. The wind blew through the parks, rustling their branches and taking some leaves with them and moving the grass, making subtle waves on it as the wind went its course. Kits were undoubtedly enjoying it; some parents prepared, brought their cubs along with some kites after the weather forecast on ZNN this morning, And Allen, he could feel that breeze blowing and rustling his clothes.
He laid on a small patch of land filled with trees and other plants on one of the multiple and omnipresent green areas of Zootopia. He rested there, with his consciousness empty and silent. He was lying down. No thought crossing his mind, no worries to cause any problems. He felt really calm, a little at peace even, but not for too long. He gave a slow and big breath, his chest rising as he took on the fresh air going over and around him. But this peace was soon cut short as he noticed something odd where he laid. Flinching his eyebrows, Allen was sure he could feel some grass under him, something that never had a good relationship with his skin.
He moved his arms to feel the ground, groping and grabbing it, coming to his conclusion. This is definitely grass. dammit. Allen opened his eyes and promptly noticed the clear sky and shining sun, which he blocks by lifting one of his arms. Am I outside? He wonders. He sits up, and while scratching on his sore arm, he found out that he didn't recognize where he was sitting, let alone any of the buildings and streets that could be seen over the army of trees, palms, and bushes surrounding him.What... What is this place? I don't remember there being this kind of green spaces in the city, or how I got here... Was I kidnapped? What was I even doing before getting here?
Leaning forward, he gets up from the ground and dusts his shorts, looking around in quite the confusion. And as he stands there, scratching his sore limbs, he ultimately decides on stepping forward and up to a tree. He grabs onto the bark and leans his head through one of its sides, in between bushes and palms. He examines the streets in front, and as he starts taking on the view, his eyes widen in perplexity and amazement. With this view, he can immediately assure that he's far away from home, or at least in a spot he was never before in the city.
The buildings had an architecture he has never seen in his life, from plants and roots embedded on the sides to completely asymmetrical shapes. The buildings close to him had windows of irregular shapes. Almost none of them lacked any kind of curve or circle on their corners. But the buildings in the background, those were outlandish. Towers of rock, glass skyscrapers with the shape of horns and plants, some with animal patterns painted on them, all of them something he has never seen or believed could be built. He stood there, looking in wonder and fear. Where the hell am I!? He queried, trying to search through his memories about a place like this to no avail. Soon, this search was cut short, and so was this display of weirdly organic shapes by a speeding car, startling and putting Allen out of his trance over the buildings. This veered his attention back to the ground, where he found quite the oddity in terms of vehicles. But not only that caught his attention. There was a central detail, reason for such strange cars, a detail that pretty much froze his blood and stopped his thoughts: There were driven by animals.
After that realization, a pair of wolves passed in front of him, making him jump back and hold tighter onto the tree, his heart racing and the palms of his hands starting to sweat. He pushed against this fear as he got close to the bushes again and could see what he thought could be toy cars; Allen got on his knees, siding some palms. He watched closely as they drove past his sight—each one operated by a small rodent of some sort. His mind thrown into a puzzled and panicked situation that soon grew as a big paw stepped in front of him, making him recoil upwards and hug the tree again. A tiger just walked in front of him. A tiger too!? I'm gonna get eaten alive in this place! He feared. Once again, he peered through the bushes like prey trying to make sure danger has passed. But his perceived threat just got bigger. The place was full of any kind of mammal he could come up of the top of his head.
He could see rhinos on the phone, mice walking on the sidewalk, giraffes on cars tall as they are, herds of any kind of antlered and horned animal. All in all, quite the breathtaking and crazy spectacle for a weak heart, enough to make Allen flop back to the ground. Looking deep into the sky, his mind unraveled at everything. He didn't know what to make of this situation. He didn't know what to do and started to panic on the ground, his skin going from a slight tan to pale, the fight and flee response kicking in.
You have gone insane, Allen. Or you need to run. Now.
Nick Wilde, the ever sly and smug grinned fox, was dressed in his police uniform and enjoyed a Pawpsicle, something he used to sell bootlegs off on his con mammal days, as he watched the cars and mammals pass by through the police cruiser window. Though it didn't look like it through his aviator glasses coupled with his trademark relaxed snout and posture, Nick was very aware of his surroundings at the time, searching for anything out of the ordinary. Across the seat, on the wheel of the cruiser, was Judy Hopps. One of the best officers Precinct 1 could proudly give to the city and police partner of Nick. She was paying close attention to the road, keeping an attentive ear on the scanner if anything was to come down close to them. However, their work didn't stop either of them from engaging in conversation and, Commonly, playful banter.
"So, you seem to really like those pawpsicles, are they that good?" Judy questioned, without taking her gaze off the road. Crossing through Sousten Street.
Nick lifted an eyebrow with curiosity while peering at Judy. "You've never tried one before?" He asked with interest.
Judy thought about it. She doesn't recall ever buying one, or at least trying one, so she answered. "Well, we tend to have local treats at the burrows, so coming by anything processed like that is rare." A nostalgic smile and gaze soon appeared on her face as she longed for a homemade cezerye.
Nick noticing her smile, spoke, "I didn't know frozen carrots were that good" Smirking, he finished his pawpsicle with one last bite. Then he put the wooden stick on a small paper bag they had left from the morning coffee and muffin.
"Har har, I'll let you know that our carrot popsicles were the most sold treat every year at the Bunnyburrow's fair," Judy gave a smug look to Nick as she kept driving through the streets.
A playful expression of doubt marked the fox's face. "Now that I think about it, we've never addressed your cannibalistic tendencies, Carrots." He stared with a smile, waiting for the banter to continue.
Judy tilted her head, looking for a second at Nick from the corner of her eye, and spoke. "Neither yours. Or are you confessing that you have never eaten a carrot, Orange?" The bunny answered before correcting herself. "I mean, orange fur, not orange as an orange, of course." She gives a weak laugh.
"Nice try, Carrots, but I think you should stick with your other nicknames." Nick adjusts his aviators before speaking again. "Also, my fur is more of a red than an oran-" Nick is quickly cut off by the static coming from the scanner, a voice coming in.
"43. There is a 415 in course at 34 walnut street: a tiger and an unidentified mammal. One male, the other only suspected. It seems that there was a fight. Do you copy?"
The mammals looked at each other for a second, both with a smile that showed they were ready to act. Judy soon takes hold of the microphone. "43 here. We copy. We are moving to the location of the disturbance." Judy puts down the microphone and speeds to Walnut Street.
Turning the sirens on, the Vulpine turned to Judy. "Unidentified mammal?" He questioned with a raised eye brow.
Looking straight into the streets, Judy replied. "We'll know once we get there," veering into Walnut Street.
"Hey! Are you ok!? I didn't mean to hurt you!" A formally dressed tiger was kneeling over the newly arrived human. "You came out of nowhere! You scared me!" The tiger tried to clarify. The human wasn't answering, so the tiger assumed it was unconscious. "C-come on, wake up!" The tiger got his hands close to the human but backed them off, not sure of touching the human in fear of hurting it further; after all, he has never seen a mammal like it before.
The tiger looked at the human closely and grinded his fangs; it was bleeding from claw marks on its face. He assumed that he might have hit him with his paw open, clawing its face after hitting it. He was on a tight spot right now. He had to wake it up and make sure that it wouldn't press charges after this. He looked around; they were some other mammals starting to approach, so he knelt closer. "Hey, heeeey" He shook the human slightly, trying to wake it up, being too exasperated for bothering about how delicate the mammal might be. "You are gonna get me into a lot of trouble." The tiger was close to panicking. "I was supposed to go to a job interview right now. Wake up!"
A crowd was already taking shape around the two. Recording, taking photos and whispering between each other. As a reaction, the tiger covered his face from view. This was a nightmare. There was no way he was going to get another job opportunity if this goes viral. And then, as his luck couldn't get worse, he heard from a distance the sirens of a police car blaring in his direction. He curled over his knelt leg and whispered, "I'm ruined..." in defeat.
The police car parked close to the crowd. The mammals turning their view to it as a crackle and buzz were heard. One of the officers spoke through the car speaker. "All right, folks, the show is over. Disperse now so we can address the situation." Asserted the bunny on the wheel.
Judy placed the microphone on its holder and left the cruiser on standby. The fox and the bunny glance at each other. "Do you think someone tried to steal the tiger's milk?" Nick Joked before opening his door. "It could have been prey-predator tensions." Said Judy, following suit and opening her door too.
A pair of dark auburn hind paws touched the ground. Belonging to a slim red fox who was setting his sunglasses on his uniform's right chest pocket. Stepping out from the other side was a grey bunny, wearing a custom neoprene suit and a Kevlar vest. The crowd seemed to have partially dispersed, leaving a space for the two officers to go through. The two police mammals closed their respective doors and walked towards the disturbance at the crowd's heart, where a distressed tiger and an unconscious human laid.
The people eager to give their version of what happened started to shout at the officers for attention. "That creature attacked him! I saw it myself!" Exclaimed a pig. "I saw it from a distance! The tiger went savage on it, and It clawed all its fur off!" said a giraffe while it pointed to the two mammals amid this mess.
In answer to the growing fight between the mammals to have their voice heard, nick stopped to signal at the mob to calm down. "Please, people. You are making our job harder. Control those snouts for now. We will first examine the situation ourselves and then ask for everyone's testimony." The crowd seemed to quiet down, except for some mammals who were really angry at the tiger or predators in general and were quite verbal on it. But they were soon pushed to the back of the crowd.
With the crowd cooling down, the pair kept walking the few steps left until reaching the origin of the commotion. They could see a tiger knelt over in distress, Holding his muzzle down in a retracted position over another mammal. They stopped for a second, both unable to recognize which mammal could be. Then They looked at each other, the bunny just saying to the fox, "We'll see what the paramedics have to say." and then signaling him to get in position as she goes over to talk with the tiger.
"So, could you tell us what happened here?" Judy got to the side of the tiger, and Nick went to the other side, out of the tiger's sight, ready to dart him if something were to happen.
"Officer, please, it wasn't my fault!" the tiger said, looking up to Judy from his paws.
Judy backed off slightly. "We aren't accusing you, but something happened here, and you seem to have been part of it." She held a paw up to indicate the tiger to keep calm. "For now, we need you to accompany us to the precinct until we clear everything."
"But my interview! I must get there in time, please!" The tiger implored.
"Should have thought that before attacking that thing!" Yelled an elephant to the back of the crowd.
Nick signaled the elephant to keep quiet, which the pachyderm answered by yelling, "I take no orders from a smelly pelt!" Which only got Nick to give him the thumbs up, followed by the elephant getting ejected from the crowd.
Once the conflict resolved itself, Judy spoke to the tiger again, "We'll talk with the people in charge of it to try to arrange another one, and we'll do what we can to make this process quick. So please, collaborate with us." The bunny looked straight to the feline, waiting for him to respond.
During the wait, Nick took a closer look at the other mammal. He has never seen someone like it. It was a fur-less mammal that is as tall as a gazelle but still had plenty of curly fur on its head and cheeks. However, he couldn't waste too much time looking at it, he still had to keep an eye on the suited tiger, but he saw bleeding and the mammal's paleness. So, he got the two-way radio off his multipurpose belt and called to the precinct; Hoping that the medical team knows what it is and how to help it, "Nick Wilde calling. We have an injured, unconscious, and unidentified mammal of medium-high stature. We need a small medical team to be dispatched to 34 Walnut Street."
"Repeat, did you say "Unidentified mammal"?" answered a rhino through the radio.
"Yes, I'm unable to recognize it," answered Nick.
The rhino hesitated at first. But he knew that there was no point in further questioning if the mammal needed medical help, so he answered, "Alright... Dispatching a medical team to your location. It should arrive in 10 minutes." followed by a buzz, ending the request.
Nick put the radio back into his belt, putting his full attention on the feline.
After two minutes of mostly silence, Judy spoke again, "Sir, we can't wait for too long," in a more empathic voice. The bunny knew that the tiger was on a really tight spot, so using the stern police tone wouldn't help the situation.
During that time, the orange furred cat tried to find a way out of there. He thought of two paths to follow. The course of running away, hoping to not get cached and elude the police until he got to his interview, but that would just make things way worse, he reasoned. There was the path of asking for pardon and plead as much as he can for them to let him get to his interview. Still, he got to the conclusion that not only would that not work, but that he was surrounded by mammals with phones and cameras. And having everyone he knew seeing him like this on the news wouldn't be good either. He only had one reasonable option. So, he sighed and said, "Just take me to the car..." while lowering his paws.
"I understand how important this is for you, but we can't ignore protocol, especially in a situation like this, but I promise. We will help you out once we solve this. Until then, follow me." Judy gestured softly to the tiger towards the cruiser and waited until he was on his hind paws to start walking to the cruiser. Leaving Nick to take care of the other mammal and the crowd while she gets the feline into the backseat.
Even though the situation was solved, for the most part, the crowd still lingered, taking pictures and whispering about what the mammal could be.
"Is it a pig?" Asked a sheep as it looked to the mammals at her side.
"Have you ever seen a pig in your life?" retorted an ox from the back of beaver.
"Didn't you hear the giraffe? It must be another tiger that got its fur clawed off!" Declared the beaver in front of the ox.
Nick heard most of the whispers, but none seemed to fit what he could see from the scene. The tiger didn't seem like it took part in a fight, and the other mammal didn't have another injury apart from the claw marks on its face.
He stood there trying to figure out what could lead to this. But again, there was a yell from between the crowd, "Excuse me, Officer! I have proof of what happened here! I recorded it all on my phone!" A timberwolf in a gray hoodie and sweatpants pushed through the crowd, trying to get to the fox.
Nick smiled at this. This could either be significant evidence or just plain fun, so he spoke. "Then show me, Director. We need to know how this movie went!" gesturing to the Lycaon to approach him.
The wolf seemed excited to show her video to the officer, fantasizing about her recording being broadcast on the news. "Here. I was testing the macro lenses, trying to record some beetles on a bush from the other side of the street." The wolf got to the side of Nick and played the video.
Nick looked with his full attention at the red cased phone. Looking at the screen, he could only see a pair of blurry beetles walking around between some leaves. He told the wolf. "Not gonna win a contest with this, sis," as a way to fill the silence for now.
"Uh, well, is a new phone and-" The wolf was cut when she and the fox's attention turned back at the video, which showed some bushes and palms rustling. "Here, this is where everything happens," pointed the canid.
Nick held the other side of the phone to have a more stable look at what was happening in the video. After the shrubs shook, the view pulled back to see the whole of the scene. A furless mammal came out running between the bushes and palms in a purple shirt and brown shorts. Almost getting hit by a car, it looked back in a panic as it kept running and then hit a deep in thought tiger. The tiger jumped up and, reacting instinctively by the sudden bump, hit the mammal on the head, making it fall unconscious. The recording went on as the tiger pulled his cheek-fur in the realization of what he just did, then kneeling down and looking around, the other animals on the street starting to agglomerate around him.
The Vulpine gave a big smirk and opened his snout to say. "Can I get a copy of the video?" As he took his phone out.
"Oh, sure, sure. Bluefang?" The other canid looked up from his phone, waiting for an answer.
"That's something you shouldn't search on Zoogle images. And yes. Let me turn it on" Nick flipped the check on his phone's menu, just as Judy came back to the scene.
"How is he?" inquired Nick, looking up with his smooth sight.
She approached the two canids and said. "He is calmer now but still lamenting his interview." She stopped in front of them and asked her partner. "By the way, finished noting all the testimonies?" While putting her paws on her hips.
"Just look by yourself" Nick nudged his muzzle at the wolf for it to show her phone.
The timberwolf reacted and turned her phone to Judy. While zebra said from within the shrinking crowd, "He got a video!" in excitement.
"Video evidence, awesome." Judy got close to the wolf. And as soon as the video started playing, an ambulance's sirens could be heard approaching the street.
Nick walked back to the cruiser, leaving the lapin to review the evidence while waiting for the paramedics to arrive.
He leaned on the front of the car, telling the mammals that slowed down as they passed to watch what happened to keep going with their day. Nick brought his phone up again, rechecking the video, trying to find any more clues about how that weird mammal got within the small green space in the middle of the street.
The ambulance finally arrived, and the fox looked up from his phone and said, "The doctor is in," getting his phone back into his pocket and signaling for the ambulance to park close to the cruiser.
Once the ambulance was behind the police car, the backdoors opened, and a pair of gazelles in paramedic uniforms stepped out carrying a stretcher. Nick led them to the fur-less mammal, which was easier to see due to the crowd having dissolved except some mammals who were recording the scene. They got to the side of the unconscious human and set up the stretcher to get the mammal on top of it, but once they got a better look at it, they just stared. They looked at each other, and before starting the procedure, one of them asked the officers. "Do any of you know what mammal it is?"
End of Chapter I
Well, hope it was good! I'll try to find the time to work on the next chapter. It probably wasn't a good idea to start this while in college, same with not doing it in my first language. But I had great fun, and it was quite a stimulating experience, so I think it's worth it.
Anyways, until next time, have a nice day/night!