Ladies, gentlekin and cryptids of all shapes and kinds, welcome to chapter five. This one is a little shorter but was hard for me to write. I have officially started back to school now but I am still having fun writing this. I hope you guys enjoy this one.

I remain your obedient servant,

Thrash Evaine Lovelocke

Still dumbfounded by the appearance of the tall creature on the stage, Judy and Nick did not speak for several minutes. The snake creatures cheered and hollered in cacophonous joy and the strange pearl-shaped lights seemed to glow brighter. Unsure of how much she was imagining, Judy could have also sworn she saw electricity arcing between a few of the limber females. Slowly and carefully, Judy raised her phone back up and then stopped. She suddenly remembered the last time she tried something like this. She quickly input her password and silenced her notifications before turning on her camera and setting it to record.

The tall one wielded her staff patiently, gesturing for the crowd before her to quiet down. She smiled with an air of superiority around her and the gentle movement in her shoulders told Judy she was laughing. Trying to hold her phone steady and making sure she was properly adjusted, Judy zoomed in on the creature. After another few moments, the snakes had become silent enough and she began to speak.

"We, one of the most ancient societies of the world, appear to have been forgotten in the modern day. I take you back, my faithful ones, to nine centuries ago. The year I was born was marked as a great year for all of us. Only a handful of you may remember those times, but I know I was meant to be a sign of hope. Then, we were forsaken by those of the deep. They travelled to the other waters and left us behind. It took them days, the days turned into weeks, the weeks to months, the months into years, then decades and soon centuries. Seven centuries and fifty-three years, to be exact! They had promised us more beautiful waters and plentiful potential by which to live. We were denied this. Now, we have come to the pinnacle of evolution. The city whose motto so many live by. They stand above us. They walk and chatter and live in the absolute assurance of their safety. We worked for a very long time and with very little success to raise ourselves to be strong enough to take on anything the surface can throw our way but look at them now!"

Judy gazed in amazement at what happened next. The tall creature waved her scepter and an image of several Zootopian citizens standing in Savanna Central was shown on the wall with a rippling effect as though there were a veil of water over a projector screen. The amazing thing was that there was no projector that Judy could see. There was no light being cast forth from any other source. She turned around to Nick to ask him if he was seeing something she wasn't but Nick was too fixated on the queen-like figure at the front of the room and just before Judy could actually make her words come out, she spoke again. "They have… forgotten the ability to use any semblance of magic!"

An uproarious sound of laughter came from the snake things and Judy heard Nick try to silence a snicker. She turned around and gave him a questioning look. "Sorry," he snorted, "but the… the mouse in the corner of the image. Look at him! He's carrying a cigar made for, like, elephants or something! Who does he think he's impressing with that?"

Surely, Judy looked into the bottom of the displayed image and saw the rodent in question. It was true. She couldn't help laughing. She managed to stay quiet but she could not deny the hilarity of that sight. "Think he's taking it to Mr. Bigg?" She asked Nick. The fox only responded with a shrug as he went back to listening.

"There is much left to do, but the hard and harrowing part of waiting has left us. In only a few weeks' time, the Zootopians will be celebrating the anniversary of their city's founding. This day, whether by some cruel joke played on our ancestors or by sheer horrid coincidence, marks, too, the day that we were abandoned by the other creatures who swam for the lights that we could not see. This day, as it is currently known in our history, will be erased from the calendars of our abyssal empire. Instead, it will be known as the day we reclaim our immortality!"

The naga burst into a cheer. "Farhaira nagani!"

"It will be the day we stake new roots for our empire!"

"Farhaira nagani!"

"It will be the day we sink the world beneath the seas once more!"

"Farhaira nagani!"

"And it will be the day we are at last able to restore our knowledge to the world!"

"Farhaira nagani! Ssashala morne to priemia!" They chanted this several more times and the tentacled monster did little to calm them down. Her gentle but echoing laughter cascading through the walls like waves on an ocean. Judy was absolutely dumbfounded. She had never seen so many people of any species organized in such a militaristic way. She was nearly unable to feel her limbs, but she knew she had to get ready to move. She sensed this grand meeting of the, as the leader had called them, naga was soon to end anyway.

An urgent fear came over her as she suddenly realized her hiding spot was not as flawless as she had originally thought it was. She slowly crept backwards and gestured for Nick to follow her. He did with a little reluctance. He seemed just as nervous about making any noise as she was. The two of them crawled slowly back through the strange tunnel that they had come in through. With the image of the naga now in her mind, Judy felt a whole lot more paranoid about wherever she was. The walls were tight and did not offer any room for her to wiggle around in. Claustrophobia was never a problem that she had faced before but this tight space was making her feel nervous. She inhaled deeply and paused for a moment before continuing to move on. The relief that she felt when she at last saw the light at the end of the tunnel was almost palpable to her. She twisted a little to fit her waist past the hole in the wall of the strange building and sighed happily at the prospect of being able to stand up again. Only now did she begin to feel all the pain of the crawling and laying she did while she was in the vents.

"Oi, vey. Talk about your tight fits," Nick groaned as he stretched out behind her. "If I never have to go through something like that again it will be too soon."

Judy felt her back pop as she tried to unstiffen her joints. The thought most present in her mind was how the naga seemed able to be watching somewhere far away without the use of a traditional camera. For all she knew, the naga were already watching her with some sort of strange ability she did not understand. She did not understand. That was not an issue that Judy Hopps was faced with very often. The most major threat she had faced up until that point was one that she could counter blow for blow. This was a different scenario entirely and it frightened her. There were not many times she considered herself to be scared at her situation. The only times she could think of were when she was faced with death by hypothermia at the hands of Tundratown crime boss Mr. Bigg and when the feral Renato Manchas had attempted to kill her. "How on Earth are we going to explain this to Chief Bogo?"

A short chuckle came from Nick. "Well, it's not like we haven't explained weirder things, right? Telling him about a whole bunch of big reptiles with… lighting-y things and tridents and long tails should be a cinch, right?" He laughed with his usual level of confidence.

Scratching her head, Judy could not help feeling like that would not work out as simply as that. "They didn't see us, did they?" She asked him.

Nick formulated a response as he dusted himself off. "I really hope not. If they did, we're probably about to have the mother of all bad messes barreling down on us." Judy sighed exasperatedly at that. Nick continued. "Seriously, though, we'll need more evidence. Show me that video." Judy opened her phone and went to her gallery to let Nick look through the videos she took while they were watching the naga's congregation.

While Nick watched the video, Judy went out into the hallway and looked around for any sign of a potential hidden camera the naga might be using to watch them. She still did not understand how that camera seemed to be hanging down in the middle of the street when it was observing the Zootopians. A sound that she could barely hear came from the second floor. "Hey, Nick. What do you think that was?" Judy asked, training her ears to the ceiling and listening carefully.

"What was?" Nick asked as he came out of the room and handed Judy her phone. "I don't think I heard anything."

She pointed up and whispered. "I think someone is upstairs. If it's one of those snake things, I want to try and take a picture of it. An up close photo will give Chief Bogo undeniable proof." Sighing, Nick agreed with a nod and gestured for her to lead the way upstairs. Judy padded as quietly as she could to the staircase and made her way up the stairs. Nick followed close behind.

The upstairs was even darker than the downstairs as only one window at each end of the main hallway permitted any form of light. Nick flicked several light switches near the staircase all to no avail. His predator animal eyes made it easier for him to see and Judy's well trained hearing skills made it possible for her to navigate almost as if by a form of echolocation when need be. Granted, she was no bat, but she made it work. The silence on the second floor was almost terrifying. There was no breeze to make the curtains move or to stir up any of the dust. The ambiance made Judy's instincts flare up and she felt like she should be running. The silence, and her urge to leave, were both broken by some creaking sound coming from a door down the hall. She walked softly and carefully down the hallway to the third door on the right where she determined it was coming from. Nick was still behind her but followed closely.

Another small sound came from behind the door. Judy flinched for a moment and moved her paw to her stun gun. "Nick," she whispered, "did you hear sounds like that when you came up here the first time?" The fox shrugged and shook his head. Judy was not at all wanting to open the door. She hesitated for a long time and Nick made no move to encourage her to. This whole place was a different kind of terrifying to her. What if there was a type of naga she had not seen earlier behind this door? What if it was something else, even?

After several minutes, no more sounds came from the room. Nick, breathing a hefty sigh of relief, patted Judy on the shoulder. "Hey, come on. We can still get some evidence. You wanted to show me that meat in the fridge, right?"

Within the relatively short amount of time Judy and Nick had been working with the Zootopia Police Department, there was one thing they had learned to do: pay very close attention to everything. Armed with that knowledge, Judy jumped up and twisted around to deliver a kick to Nick's face. The fox growled in pain and fell sideways but as he landed his movements became erratic. "I never told you there was meat in the fridge."

Nick's movements proceeded to become even more twitchy and uneven, making Judy become very afraid at his writhing in the dim light. She knocked on the door rapidly. Through Nick's warped groans that were now starting to sound like snarls and hisses, Judy heard a responding knock and took a few steps back. "Move aside!" She warned before charging at the door and lunging her feet towards it in a leap. The door broke easily, not having been well kept, and on the other side was Nick Wilde bound in a series of ropes. His snout was covered by a plastic bag which had only a few small holes in it. How he had been able to keep breathing was beyond Judy. "Oh, my God!" She gasped as she began to tear at the ropes on his snout. She remembered her knife and took it from her belt. Making sure that the dull side was facing to Nick, she cut the rope vigorously and managed to pry it off. With a deep gasp, Nick breathed again. "Are you okay?" She asked.

Judy cut the rest of the ropes and Nick sprang up, scrambling to the wall. "He's a… a snake! He's out there, Judy. He's waiting!"

"Nick, come on! He won't stay down for long. Come on! We have to go!" Judy said urgently. She tugged on Nick's paw as she holstered her knife. The two of them ran out the door and to the stairway. Nick bolted down but Judy stopped at the top and looked back down the hallway. A mass of scales was writhing over itself and slowly gaining balance. Judy called down at it. "Who are you?" This question did not seem at all important. What was she meant to do? Document someone who was not meant to exist?

The face of the creature finally displayed itself as it came around. Short tentacles extended down from the chin of the creature and fangs lined its mouth. With a hissing snarl, it responded to her. "Ssashala morne to priemia!" It yelled. Then it moved with rapid speed at her. Judy screamed and somersaulted down the stairs. Nick was already outside and waiting beside the car. Judy exited the building as fast as she could and jumped over the hood to get in the driver's side door. The naga burst out of the door and hissed at them. It looked ready to charge for the car but Nick got inside and urged Judy to drive desperately.

Stepping on the gas, Judy veered out of the parking lot as fast as she could. In her fright, it took her a long time to notice that the sun was going down. How had they spent that much time in there? Chief Bogo was going to kill them.

On their way back to Precinct One, Judy explained as much as she could about the naga. The things she had to say did not seem to do Nick's frayed nerves any favors but she felt he had the right to know. Once they had pulled into the parking lot, Nick fell into his seat. "I… I saw him on the second floor and tried to take a picture. He heard the floorboard creaking and… I've never seen something move so suddenly."

Judy consoled Nick as best she could by putting her paw on his and nodding. "It'll be okay, Nick. You don't have to worry. I got some ev…" Then she remembered. Reaching into her pocket, she grabbed out her phone and immediately went to the gallery. She scrolled up and down and back. "No. No. No!" She groaned. That was why the naga had asked for her phone. All of her videos of the tall creature and her congregation were gone.