He wrote down the last lines and was already on his way to the mountain that separated Savanna square from the Rainforest district. Its serpentined road was always a pain to drive through, so it was a relief when a highway was built, with a tunnel running through the mountain. Occasionally an older GPS would direct a few mammals onto the mountain, but other than that it was quite peaceful there.

The view was beautiful. You could see Downtown's skyscrapers emerging from the trees in one direction, with the small silhouette of the palm hotel of Sahara Square in the distance, and the rainforest district's long sky trams in the other way. The view would probably be better at night with the light shining from everywhere, but it was still a great view.

"So? Brought your Ouija board?" Judy asked after hopping next to the waiting Nick, who gave a grin

"Ouija boards are for talking with spirits. We need to draw pentagrams and light candles for demon summoning. Get your horror knowledge right. Besides… knowing our luck, our film would be simply about a psychopath."

"Nooo" Judy gave a painful groan "Not another psychopath story. Those are the most boring ones. At least have a supernatural plotline or something!"

"The jump scares do get you, no matter how 'boring' a film is you gotta admit."Nick chuckled "I still remember you jumping on the couch and covering your eyes on the '13th of September'"

"Jump scares are just a cheap way of making a film scary, okay?" Judy defended herself from the accusations. And you are just as easily scared as I am."

"That's not true!" Nick protested.

"Night of the 12 wolves? You seemed like you needed a change of pants after that." Judy said with a victorious grin

"Harr harr. Says the one who told me with a trembling voice to watch something else in the middle of the movie."

"It was boring! Of course, I wanted to watch something else!"

"No-no. Do you know what was boring? 400 days. That was torture. And whose idea was that?

"It was… Yeah… Alright, that was a horrible film, I have to admit. But seemed so interesting at the start. Anyway… I don't suppose you wanted to talk about films, do you?" The doe closed their little film discussion.

"Yeah, to be honest, I didn't message you to talk about a certain thing, I wanted to discuss." Nick leaned to the guard rail of the parking place, that was there to stop the mammals from falling 60 feet into the forest "Just needed to talk to someone. You know. Moral support."

"Well…" Judy laughed a little. "Moral support is my specialty. Give it all you got."

"I need to improve." He got straight to the point. "I mean… Come on… Breaking 100 feet in front of a corner? It's just wasted speed and time. Everyone who is better than me, which is a lot of mammals right now, will easily get passed."

"I already told you… Things are different with hundreds of miles per hour. You need time to slow down, otherwise, you give the wall a warm welcome."

Ignoring Judy, Nick shared his idea "What was that about the… the opposite of the understeer? The oversteer? You said it can be used to do a controlled slide, that could be a faster way of cornering."

Raising an eyebrow, Judy asked "You want to drift with no knowledge of how to do so and THAT car?"

"Yeah… I-I mean I'm a fast learner." Nick tried to reassure Judy "I just need an instructor and I'm back on track."

"Look, I did a bit of research…"

"Of course you did," Nick muttered under his nose

"...And 'muscle' cars, such as your mustang aren't famous for their handling. And drifting… That's absolutely out of the question. You need to intentionally kick your car out of balance, maintain an angle not to talk about quick reflexes… It sounds complicated… Look, as I said you can stop at any time."

"Mama raised no quitter." Nick shrugged "I just need some help but I don't know where to ask for it. I could just run around… Ask every racer with googly eyes… I don't know…" He waited a few seconds and after remembering something he chuckled. "Maybe your old crush could help in this case."

Judy tilted her head in confusion. "My 'crush'? What are you…"

"Didn't you tell me you've had a crush on Jack Savage for a while?"

"Really? Nick… I was 16… Every doe had a crush on Jack's actor back then. Don't tell me you will ask Daniel Crawl to help."

"Not him, obviously. But the guy I talked about yesterday is a splitting image. He even has the stripes on his face and ears. And guess what? He is running by the name 'Jack' on the streets."

"Would he be willing to help?" Judy asked

"I dunno. Hopefully. Seems like a cool guy, but he is more of an organizing mammal than a racing one. We will see. I'll try to get closer to him, but… it will be hard. Unfortunately, he is not stupid or naive. Barely said his 'cover' name, and I still don't know anything about him. Well… I do know that he probably thinks it's the best if he is doing important things by himself." Nick showed the white envelope to Judy. "It was him giving me my money, and not some partner of his. He is either egocentric or just trusts nobody else with important matters."

"Sounds reasonable," Judy noted. "Doesn't really show an egocentric figure, more of a cautious one. Just think about the trouble the missing money would cause. Your Jack would get into big trouble if one of the bigger payouts went missing."

"Yeah sure…" Nick shook his head. "If I showed up with the chief and a few other officers on my side, I guess that would have been a strike to his 'Cautious' mentality, huh. I don't know what to think of him yet." He placed his elbows on the iron fence and starred in the distance while supporting his chin with his paws

"And I thought you were the better judge in other mammals' personalities." Judy teased but got no reaction from the fox. He was too deep in thoughts.

"I need a strategy, but I lack the information to make one… If only I could..." He shook his head and looked back at Judy. "But, that's my problem, isn't it. Let's talk about something else. When will you be back in duty?"

"Tomorrow morning." The rabbit answered immediately. "Why?"

"Well, If you had been assigned to the night shift I'd have a few 'Get out of jail for free cards.' if you know what I mean."

"You know it's risky, but we can do that a few times, I can see it happening." Judy said, thinking heavily about the ways to make Nick get off easily" I can request myself to work during the night, get the others off your chase to stay alone with you, and I can slowly fall behind, nobody will pick up on that, but it will be suspicious after a few times. So use your cards wisely."

"Always nice to count on my partner. What would I do without you?"

"You'd probably be on the streets selling Pawsicles." Judy grinned, receiving a slight chuckle from the fox.

"Ouch. That hurt… But yeah… Fair point."

The rest of the afternoon was spent talking with each other, not mentioning again any of the racers or Nick's undercover job. He did need to visit a phone store, just to buy a simple phone he will use for calls only. It wasn't that hard of a task. He patiently nodded as the store employee told him everything about their newest prototype. The zebra did a good job in that. If Nick wasn't here to buy a cheap one he might have considered buying the promoted phone.

With everything done, he was ready for the evening. He was already in his car 1 hour before the discussed time. It was tempting to just go and cruise the streets but he also knew it was riskier. So he waited, checking the time every 5 minutes on his phone, and growling impatiently with each clock check. When he decided it was time, he slowly rolled out and headed towards his destination.

Arriving at Clover street, he was a bit worried that he had gotten screwed over, but spotting 2 cars, he gave a relieved sigh. Closed in on the small street, to see a badger and a skunk talking to each other next to their cars, laughing at the other's jokes. He also saw his targeted rabbit, a few feet away from the talking mammals, leaning towards a building with crossed arms, looking at his feet.

"Ah, you arrived. Good." Jack acknowledged after glancing at the fox. "We are waiting for 1 more than we can start."

"And if he doesn't come?"

"Don't worry about that, it has never happened before." Jack shrugged, "Just wait 2 more minutes."

Hoping it was the perfect time to give a few questions, Nick rolled next to Jack and got out of the car.

"You know… I'm curious." He leaned to the wall too" You are running these races on the streets, but… What good does that do to you? Or you just keep your '10%' for yourself?"

Jack looked up and down on Nick with suspicion in his eyes "Curiosity is a bad trait on the streets. Why do you care?"

Yep, too straightforward. Nick noted to himself. "Well, If there is something I know about the 'streets' is that nobody is doing anything just for the others. Or if you do, you are a jackass. Sorry for the wording."

Jack finally made a slight smile. "You aren't stupid bud. However, the reason I do this is none of your business. But to answer part of your question, No, I don't keep any of the money for myself. It all goes to the 'setup' crew." On Jack's part, the discussion was over, but Nick wanted to know more.

"About that radio... It's not exactly something you can get in every store. Yesterday I got lucky with the cops, but next time… it would be better to know if they are planning something against me. Where can I get something like this? Do I need to make a phone call or..."

"Are you poking your red nose into everybody's business? I just talked to an old friend and pulled a favor. No, you can't get this anywhere unless you are planning on raiding the police station. And before you ask, no, I won't save your sorry ass with my friend. It was a one time favor. He will arrest me too with no regrets in case he catches me. It was awkward for him too and I don't want to make him more uncomfortable. So if you thought I have a few connections with the police… No, I don't."

Nick was already dancing on thin ice with his questions. For now, the rabbit didn't seem to notice anything but if he keeps asking these questions, he might. Maybe one more…

"Arh I was hoping I could get one of these too. I bet the big crews have one." He said with a dreaming face. "It must be nice to be known everywhere in Zootopia, even if it's only your car. Do you know any of the big guys?"

"If you think about the 3 crews that are all over the news… Yes… I do. What's more, I know each one of the leaders personally."

"Do you think you could… you know… say a few words for me? Just to show them what I could do? I'd really like to run with the big names."

"Woah slow down there, buddy! You have a lot of rep to earn before you get to run with them. Stick with the playground for now. You get recognized, you will have a shot in impressing them, just be patient. But I'll tell you what. If you win this race you'll be already noticed. I'm not saying you will be able to challenge a crew, but they will definitely look at you as a possible challenger."

"So just win the race, huh? That's it?" Nick asked, thinking there would be a catch

"I didn't say it will be easy. It will be much harder compared to yesterday one. Right when you think you are winning, bam. You just got yourself a 2nd place. So watch your back, and try to keep the line… otherwise, someone will take over. Ah, speak of the devil." Jack turned to a red-silver Senzako Rx8, which slowly rolled next to them. The windows were tinted black, so Nick had no idea about the identity of the mammal sitting there, but assuming from the size of the car he couldn't be bigger than a wolf. "Alright, let's get this party started, ladies." The rabbit clapped and signaled the 2 other mammals to take their places. The badger and the skunk fist-bumped each other and sat inside their own cars. Before doing anything, Jack listened in to the police radio, and Nick heard the voices too

"1-21, supervisor requesting a status update on ongoing 10-80." Clawhauser's former voice was heard

"Dispatch! We are still going, he's not stopping! Requesting roadblock on Pack road. Also, most of my cover units are gone, repeat, my cover is gone. I need 10-78 ASAP"

"1-21, we're setting up a block at the requested location. Backup is about 2 minutes away from your position."

"Dispatch! 1-42 here reporting from code 3 chase, I lost visual. My car took a bit of a beating, going back to the station."

"Affirmative. Supervisor requesting to set up a quadrant south from Berry lane, every available unit head that way."

"This is 1-46 closing in on the north-east side of code 6, requesting air support. This is a big zone to cover."

Poor Ben. Nick thought to himself. If someone, he worked the most out of all the officers there. Keeping an eye on multiple ongoing chases and making important calls became one of his daily duties. While he wasn't the only one answering the radio, he was definitely the best one. Who would have thought that the goofy looking receptionist was this great at ordering units around? Most of the time when they caught someone, it was greatly his merit.

Jack looked up with a satisfied look on his face "Alright, the police are quite pinned down out there, expect a smooth race. Rules are the same as before, hope you all brought the entry fee."

With hidden pain, Nick gave his 100 dollars to the rabbit. If he was still going with the pawsicle business it would be half of his daily earning and it will only get more expensive.

"Where will I start?" Nick asked, after lending the money and giving out his new phone number. The road was too small for them to start next to each other.

"Next to the Rx8." Jack pointed at the location.

"Wait. So I will start behind those guys?" Nick asked. "Why do I start behind them?"

"Evening the odds." Jack shrugged and before Nick could ask anything else, the hare was already in place to start the race. "Alright, everybody is here. We can start a bit earlier." He made two circles with his finger signaling everyone can start up the engine. They all did as such. Nick heard the 4 engines starting up. His heart already started beating faster, even though they were only at the starting line. He looked at the 3 held up fingers of the rabbit. It changed to 2 and finally one and after that, Nick's official second race finally started.

His disadvantage of starting from the 2nd line turned out to be as annoying as he expected. His car wanted to bolt out of the area, but the one ahead of him didn't let it. As the road was tight too he had no chance to take over, so all he could do was give an irritated growl and stay close behind. The Rx8 seemed to break down, or some other thing might have happened to it, because it fell behind quickly. After the first corner, it was already nowhere to be seen. Well, one less opponent to worry about. Nick thought to himself. However, he was still in third place, and even though he shadowed the one in front of him, the other in the first place gained more and more lead.

"C'mon just give me just one small window." Nick gritted his teeth. No matter how hard he tried to take over, the car in front always closed the opportunity on him. He leaned slightly left, it did the same. He tried peeking to the right, with the same result. It started to get on Nick's nerves. "You two are on the same team huh?" The fox made the assumption. There was no way someone would rather focus on him and let the leader escape like that. Only the winner gets anything. They must be working together.

"You want me serious huh? You got it!" He made a plan. It was obvious he won't win again just like that. His car alone won't make the cut. Is Jack testing me? The quick thought ran through him. Maybe he wants to know how I manage to win from a disadvantaged position. Is that what it's all about?

He lured the car in front, to the left side of the road. It was clear that the badger's tactic was to block him at all costs. Maybe he could take advantage of that at a corner. His car was definitely accelerating more quickly than the car in front. He knew that by simply having to hold back by trying to not collide with the car ahead.

All he had to do was, get next to the badger, his car would take care of the rest. He leaned so left his wheels almost hit the curbstone, but his plan worked so far. His friend there copied exactly what he was doing. As a sharp turn was coming, it gave exactly what he needed. A short time of not being watched constantly. He waited for the car in front to push the brakes. When it did, Nick got out of the slipstream and made his move. He forced the other car to stay in the inner lane, giving him less road to use for the turn. It slowed down more and that was all Nick needed. He almost collided with the building because of his momentum, but after getting the control back, he just left behind that badger with no problem.

"There we go!" The fox couldn't help but give a victorious grin. However, the race was far from complete. With still more than half the track ahead of him and another opponent to overtake he focused on the road again. He had quite the gap to work down. He only spotted the skunk for brief seconds before disappearing behind the walls. He was gaining on him but the time lost while trying to overtake the previous car seemed to hurt a lot.

His trusted car did it's best in closing the gap so if he lost this, that will definitely be because of his fault and not the car's. Every time he had to slow down he pushed the gas impatiently as soon as he could to reach his rival, however, this usually resulted in forgetting to shift back and almost stalling the car because of low RPM.

Finally, he was in the same position as before, a few feet behind the other car. Overtaking seemed unfairly easy. The tight road turned into a 4 laned space paradise, with all the possibility for Nick to variate his strategy. He was probably supposed to overtake the previous car here, with no chance to recover from the lost time. But now he just made a distracting left and a sudden right, and bam. Already next to the stressed Skunk, who swapped his stare between the fox and the road. Nick gave a grin and a quick 1 finger salute before leaving his other opponent behind too.

Now all he had to do was enjoy the view and lay back. The engine kept on complaining because of the high RPM. The reasonable choice would have probably been to shift up and Nick almost did but stopped halfway reaching for the stick. He had some unpleasant experience with the 6th gear he didn't want to relive again. So he was there hesitating whether he should or shouldn't shift up.

Looking in the mirror he saw the car behind still getting further and further from him so there was no need for bigger speed. He placed his paw back on the steering wheel. There is no way he is losing this. He just can't possibly...

Glancing at the mirror again he saw something he hoped to never see again. The Senzako, he saw falling behind at the start, now gained a lot of speed all of a sudden. It avoided the skunk's car just as easily as Nick did and now it was on its way to do the same with Nick. How did that guy manage to close up so fast? Nick wondered, while frequently swapping his attention between the road and the mirror. 60 feet.. 30… 20 … and it was already on Nick's tail.

Now the fox found himself in an entirely new situation. He never had to defend a position. To his luck, a corner was coming so simply the speed difference didn't decide everything. They had to turn on another tight road. He could try to defend his position there.

He did what he could. Slowed down, defending the inner lane and potentially blocking the car to take over. He heard the screeching of the tires but it wasn't his car that gave this sound. He looked into the mirror again but saw nothing. Looked to the left and… the rx8 was there, sliding around him on the longer way. They left the corner head to head each other. At first, he thought he still came out as the winner of their little fight, as his car slowly inched a bit further from his rival, but this hope quickly faded as the Rx8 whooshed away from him after a horribly timed gear shift.

Everything was lost. He saw the finish line but he was too far away to do anything. He helplessly watched as the Senzako crossed the line with him being pushed back to 2nd place. All of his work, the effort he put into the race was worth nothing. He just lost at the last corner.

Having no information and will to do other races he just decided to go home. 1 race per night wasn't too effective, but what could he do? Losing races isn't effective either.

He was rather on autopilot while driving to his rented garage, and when he closed the door and pocketed the keys it didn't change. He was constantly thinking about his next move. He needed a plan to follow, even a seemingly stupid one. Anything would be better than just going with the flow. As he was walking under the moonlight and with the distant siren sounds echoing, he finally came up with something like an idea. It was like this. He needed a teacher. He just saw a driver who overtook 3 racers on the last mile. He knows where the winner will be tomorrow morning. It doesn't require a complicated thought chain to connect the dots.

It wasn't likely that his plan would work out exactly the way, he wanted it to, but it was a plan. It was his wacky and unlikely plan. They might make a fool out of him, they might be laughing at his pathetic attempts but he has to at least try. He smiled a bit as a 4-year-old cheesy pop song just came into his mind and wouldn't leave for anything.

I wanna try everything, I wanna try even though I could fail...

Damn you, Judy… You poisoned my music taste...

He chuckled while he kept on humming the annoyingly catchy song