Chapter 8: The Missing Mammals
Judy and Nick kept their paws at my back while we had already arrived at City Hall. I had to stop reading King Mickey's grimoire for the moment while M2, still in his ball form, was inside my pocket. I was wearing a grey coat with silver armor shoulder padding, I still had both my shirt and jeans since the time I came to this world, and a utility belt that had two pouches with both my Potions and Ethers tightly secured inside.
But I'm probably getting ahead of myself. I know you're wondering why my other coat was replaced with this one and how I got that cool utility belt, and why I called Mickey M2. Well, maybe I should go back several hours and explain why before we come back to this part of the story.
Several Hours Earlier…
I pulled my badge out of my pocket and tapped the screen, then I tapped on the icon where it brought me back to the list of messages from earlier. Only this time, I tapped on the message sent by King Mickey himself while Judy and Nick gathered around me to see the message. At first I thought I was going to get voice mail, but instead a video automatically appeared as it started to load. I turn my badge sideways and the video finally loads.
We see Mickey, but unlike the Mickey we know who's literally standing right in front of us, this one was black with the exception of his face as that was tan. This must be the real King Mickey. He was wearing a sleeveless silver coat with grey armor shoulder padding, grey armored gauntlets on both hands, grey armored chest plate that was over his royal red shirt, black shorts with silver knee pads, and yellow shoes with black crossed straps that formed an X. Right next to him was his grimoire that was floating next to him as it glowed while behind him was his Full Guard spell that looked a little different since it was a bit bigger from the other Mickey whom I flew with. Maybe because the spell grows depending on how much effort it's put into it. "Hello, Tracy Kaden."
My eyes widened in shock while I looked at both Judy and Nick as they too were shocked as I was.
"Yes, I know who you are and I know you're wondering how I know you. Everything will be revealed to you in due time, but not right now at the moment." He sighs as he continues, "I hope you can forgive me for asking Grandmaster Yen Sid to drag you out of your peaceful life in another world with your father and throwing you out into some random world."
Well, that was a great way to spill the beans. I thought to myself. I looked at Judy and Nick again who didn't seem surprised by the revelation that I wasn't from this world. Huh...I guess they must've figured it out themselves. However, something crossed my mind. Who is this Grandmaster Yen Sid?
"In case you're wondering who this 'Grandmaster Yen Sid' is, he's an old guy with a very serious look always plastered on his face. Not to go off-topic about that subject and I know this might seem much to ask, but I need your help. You're the only one I know who has the power to do it." I was a little confused by that part while King Mickey continued, "Listen, not only is my kingdom in danger from a probable attack. The Elemental Guardians along with both my friends and my wife, Minnie, have been separated and have probably been taken or worse trapped within a world and can't get out due to the pathways destroyed. I don't know the full details yet. What I do know is that these people, the ones who wear black robes, are after my book and I have a hunch that it has to do with something that's in my castle." We heard something crash like glass from the background as King Mickey held up a finger. "Hold on a second."
The view turns and we see some kind of robotic arm with a brown coating. The arm pulls back and we see...a human? The face was pale white like he was dead for some weird reason and he was male. His head had some kind of robotic helmet around him which I don't know how this was possible. I looked at Judy and Nick again, who both became shocked again with wide eyes while the fox's jaw dropped from what he's seeing. Scratching the side of my ear, I closed his jaw as his eyes looked at me but I quickly turned my attention back to the screen when I heard King Mickey yell, "Light!"
A ball of light shot out and hit the guy right in the face, sending him back while King Mickey waved a hand and the hole of his Full Guard spell was repaired. "You can't stay in there forever, mouse!" A male voice was heard in the background.
The view turns back to King Mickey as his face turns serious. "I'm going to make this brief so listen closely as this message will not be repeated and will begin self-deletion the moment this video ends. I'm going to leave you with an identical clone of myself who possesses a fraction of my power called M2. I need you to call him out now, give him my grimoire, then turn your badge until this video is facing my grimoire. I'll only give you fifteen seconds to prepare as again this will not be repeated and you will only have one shot. This could mean the difference between life and death if you're not prepared. So please, get started now."
I looked to Judy and said to her, "Start counting." I then looked to Nick and offered him my badge. "Hold this." He seemed hesitant at first. "Just don't touch the screen! Hurry!"
Nick takes my badge while I barely hear Judy counting down the seconds. I quickly got out King Mickey's grimoire and gave it to M2, then quickly took my badge back from Nick as I heard Judy finish counting down, "3...2...1…"
I brought my badge facing the video of King Mickey forward. "I hope you're ready, Tracy, because you won't get another chance. M2, bring my book up with the front cover facing towards this video." M2 did what the king said and brought the front cover up. "Grimoire, show your temporary caretaker the ropes."
The king's grimoire glowed a little and faded, then the book opened and words started to manifest on the first page, but the rest I couldn't understand as they looked like rune symbols.
"This book contains a bit of knowledge for you to know. So study it carefully. I've even thrown in a Foretelling spell to help guide you further. M2 will be your trainer and protector, and he will teach you two unique skills which will come in handy later for you on your journey. The first is the technique called: Full Counter, and the other is Holy Magic. The rest you will learn from him as you continue your training."
"Oh, this is taking too long. Get out of my way, I'll do this myself!"
"Be sure to put in a lot of firepower, Hades." A voice that sounded like a young boy was heard from the background. Hold on, did he just say "Hades"? As in the god of the underworld "Hades"? That can't be. Hades is just a Greek myth from where I'm from. Unless...no way! Somewhere across the multiverse there must be a place where the Greek gods exist, and King Mickey must be trapped in the underworld.
"Tracy, again I must ask you to find my friends, my wife Minnie, The Elemental Guardians wherever they may be, and free them all if you can. You're the only chance I've got left to help." There was a reddish-orange glow. "I've gotta go. I hope we see each other again. Good luck! The multiverse is counting on you now!"
Just like that, the video ended and a loading bar was filling up as it said "Self-Deletion of this video has been activated". Once it was done, it took me back to only one list that had Yax's message. I was completely speechless while at the same time confused. How does King Mickey know me? I sure don't know him. So how come he knows me? On top of that, I was thrown for a loop. Not only do I have to find each of these Elemental Guardians, but I gotta find both his wife, Queen Minnie, and all of his friends which I have no clue who they look like. Not to mention, I was even thrust into the world of magic and somehow I have this power to save them. Why me though? I'm still completely in the dark of what's really going on and what kind of power I possess. So far, I already know that this arctic wolf who was wearing that black robe is definitely one of them and he's after King Mickey's grimoire. However, there was an odd question that crossed my mind. How did he even know that I was the caretaker and how did he know where to find me when I was at Mr. Big's place? Did he somehow get the information about me? If so, then where did he get it? Could it be...No, I don't have any evidence but it's just a feeling.
My thoughts were interrupted when I heard Nick say, "Alright, will somebody please explain to me what the heck was that we just saw and what is the multiverse?"
"Honestly, I have no idea," Judy said. "But I think M2 knows." We turn our attention to M2. "Please, we need to know about this 'multiverse'. What is it exactly?"
"I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to discuss it unless Tracy says otherwise."
I had an odd look while I looked at Judy and Nick. "O-kay..." I said slowly, then looked back at M2. "I give you permission to tell them anything they want to know."
"Very well." Wow, that was easy. "To answer your question as to what the multiverse is. It's a collection of different worlds and universes."
"'A collection of different worlds and universes'?" Nick repeated, confused. "I don't know what that is."
"I think I might have an idea what he means," Judy said. "Tell us more."
"Well, think of one world that looks like this. A world like this one that has modern technology and has creatures like you in this world, and the universe itself possesses the same stars, planets, histories, myths, and legends. However, think of a different world entirely that has the same creatures but are different from this one. For example…" He motioned his hand to Nick. "Take it from this fox. In this world, the current world that we're in, lives in a modern technological world, stands on two feet, and wears clothes. Now in a different world, there could be another fox. One that could live in the far distant past, be it like the middle ages or something, or walks on all fours and doesn't wear any sort of clothes, and does not live in some technological world yet still retains the ability of thought and speech."
"You mean like an alternative reality?"
"Exactly!" M2 snapped his fingers and pointed at her, knowing she got it right. "Each world and universe is different. The video you've all seen from King Mickey is another prime example of another world."
"Whoa," Nick said. I can tell that he was starting to take this in. "Sounds like something out of a sci-fi flick or something."
"Oh, I can assure you that it's no 'sci-fi flick'. It's an actual place where there are many different worlds and realities."
"Well, here's my question," Judy said. "King Mickey said something about 'pathways'. What kind of pathways was he talking about exactly?"
"The pathways are an interwoven web of paths leading to different worlds. However, not all pathways are connected to every world as they have yet to be discovered. If that world is lucky enough to be discovered by a Guardian, then a new pathway is formed. When said pathway is formed, an entryway to the multiverse is unlocked for anyone to step through unless they're given special clearance to enter any world."
I don't know what he meant by that last part, but I do know that these entryways lead to the multiverse. However, something crossed my mind, so I asked, "Are there any ways to get to the other worlds than crossing the pathways?"
"Yes," M2 nods. "There are many different ways to enter different worlds."
"How exactly?" I crossed my arms.
"Well, there's finding an entryway." He simplified his explanation by bringing out each finger to count. "A Master or a Grandmaster Guardian can open up a portal to either the pathways or a single world depending on the pathways connection, that's if the damage on any of the pathways isn't too severe or sealed by a powerful magic spell, or if you wanna use, as King Mickey would say, the loophole method, you can use Contract Magic to send someone to a random world depending on the connection of any known world."
It all started to make sense. King Mickey must've used this Contract Magic to send his own grimoire to Grandmaster Yen Sid so he can give the book to me and the magic could open up a portal to send me to a different world, depending on the connection. And that world is this one, the world where Judy and Nick live because the connection was probably faint. Still, there was another question I needed to know. "Who are these 'Elemental Guardians'?"
"I'm a bit curious too," Nick said. "Who are these 'Guardians' and what's the deal with these grimoires?"
"To answer those questions. The Elemental Guardians are a group of people who carry a single powerful element. Every new generation, a guardian will receive one of the five main elements and a grimoire based on that known element. Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Thunder."
"And let me guess," I said. "Sparx is a Guardian who possesses the thunder element, right?"
"That is correct," M2 nods. "Sparx is The Elemental Guardian of Flash."
"Wow, that's quite a title."
"Well, he is a Guardian of Thunder and a master of speed," M2 shrugged. "Anyway, to talk about both the guardians and the grimoires. The Guardians are a group of people who protect the multiverse and bring balance to all of the worlds. However, they're not allowed to meddle with the affairs of other worlds unless it's completely necessary. Now for the grimoires, they are a collection of books that contain magic, and each one is different from the other with its own spells and powers." He shows us King Mickey's grimoire while pointing at the mouse symbol. "Like this one for example and the elemental grimoires with each cover at the front possessing different unique symbols."
"How do you get a grimoire?"
He brought out two fingers and answered, "There are two ways to get a grimoire. The first is when you reach the age of fifteen, you get a grimoire from The Librarium Arcanorum. If a grimoire chooses you, you are bonded to it for the rest of your days."
"Wait, wait, wait, hold on," Judy said. "You said 'choose'. Does that mean that these grimoires are alive?"
"In some way, yes."
This took us by surprise. I didn't know grimoires could choose people to be with, but there was something else I needed to know. "What's the second way to get a grimoire?"
M2 smiled at me and answered, "King Mickey did tell me that you would probably ask that question. Unfortunately, I'm under strict orders not to reveal anything to you. However, he wanted me to tell you this." He bends down and motions his finger as I turn my head, then he whispers into my ear, "It's a surprise until after you find me." I looked at him and he winked at me. He straightens up and offers the king's grimoire back to me while saying, "Speaking of grimoires, I think it's best you get started on reading this so you'll be prepared."
I take the king's grimoire from M2. He did have a point though, I need to be prepared. If we ever run into that arctic wolf and Sparx again, we're dead meat. The only chance we got is for me to read this book and hopefully something might be useful for me to use. I placed the book on my lap and started opening it, but Nick stopped me by placing his paw over the cover and said, "Hold it, Tracy, don't go start reading that book just yet. There's still some other questions we need to know first. What I like to know is that if this isn't Tracy's grimoire, then how come she was able to pull off this hocus pocus stuff back at Mr. Big's?"
"That's...actually a good question, Nick." Judy said. "How is she able to use magic if this book isn't hers?"
"Again, I'm afraid I can't tell you everything." M2 said. "That's a secret."
"Alright, if you won't tell us that, then maybe you could tell us how to stop those two. 'Cause I don't want Tracy risking her life against them."
"Yeah," Nick nods as he agreed with her. "There has to be another way to stop them without relying on Tracy. I mean look at her, she's just a kid for God's sake, there's no reason for her to risk throwing her life away against a hopeless fight that she may not win." He looks at me and adds, "No offense, I'm just being realistic."
"None taken," I shrugged. "In fact, I'm not even sure myself if I can win." I looked at the book and thought, Although, to be a little honest, I'm not sure if anything useful inside this book could help me win.
I heard a telepathic chuckle coming from M2 as I looked at him and he said to me telepathically, You'd be surprised, Tracy.
"And another thing," Nick said. "Don't we have like an army of cops in this city? I mean, surely they should be enough to stop those two, right?"
"I'm afraid that wouldn't work," M2 shook his head. "Guardians are trained in the art of combat the moment they receive their grimoires. Even if you were to send in a hundred, maybe a thousand, trained cops they wouldn't stand a chance because a Guardian can wipe them all out." He snapped his fingers to simplify that. "In an instant."
"What about you? You're King Mickey's clone and you even have his power, so you should be able to hold your own and stop them both."
"I only possess a fraction of King Mickey's power, should I remind you. Yes, I can hold my own against them both." He sighs while bringing his face down and shakes his head a little. "Unfortunately, I can only take so much before I'm eventually defeated." He looks back up at us. "I'm sorry to say this, but I'm afraid I won't be much help in protecting all of you. The only chance we got left so we can even the odds…" He motioned his hand to me. "...is her."
"Wait, are you saying we literally have to put both our lives and literally the entire city of Zootopia in Tracy's little kitty cat paws?"
With a shrug he answered, "If you put it that way, yes."
My eyes widened in shock. I didn't need to look at Judy and Nick again as they too were probably as shocked as I was. It was already bad enough that I have both my friends' lives and the entire city in my paws, but King Mickey said that the multiverse is counting on me which only added more to the burden. Houston, we may have a problem here. "Well, that's just great!" I look at Nick as he leaned back and crossed his arms. "We're dead and the entire city is dead! We may as well start digging a ton of graves!"
"I wouldn't give up just yet, Nick," Judy said as I looked at her. "Don't you remember what happened back at Mr. Big's? King Mickey said that she has the power and there could be a slight chance that maybe Tracy can stop them. Now I'm still against letting her risk her life and hoping there could be another option than this but…" We looked at M2. "We don't have a choice, do we?"
M2 shook his head.
I felt her paw rubbing my back as I looked at her again and she said to me, "I really don't want you to do this, Tracy. You're still just a young girl."
"I know," I said with a sigh. "I don't want to do this either, but what choice do I have. I've already got my tail dragged into this mess and the only way out is to keep moving forward." I looked back at the book that I still held in my lap. "And the only chance I have if I want to live is through this book." I started opening it. "So here's to hoping."
I was at the first page where Nick points at the actual words, then at the rune symbols while saying, "Well, other than these words that I can understand. These symbols here don't make any sense."
"I agree," Judy said, pointing to the actual words. "It says here, 'To the temporary caretaker of this book. Since you cannot understand the magical runes. Do not worry, for this will be the start of your journey. Now, the first thing you should do is take out your badge and scroll through until you find a light-blue dot. From there, tap the screen until you see two choices: 'Items' and 'Accessories'. I want you to tap the 'Accessories' choice where you will find a necklace called 'Black Pendant' and tap on it. Once it's out, put it on. Please be advised that once it's around your neck, you'll feel a bit woozy and pass out. So I highly suggest finding a place to rest first before reading this book again.' This first part must be instructions, but the rest I don't understand."
I recognized what the instructions meant because I've already done this before and I think it could help me understand these symbols. "Guys, remember back at the DMV where I was passed out outside? And all that stuff that happened back at Mr. Big's?" I slide my finger under the words "a necklace called 'Black Pendant'". "Doesn't this ring any bells?"
There was a small gasp from them as they started to catch on. "The necklace!" They said in unison.
Judy takes my necklace out of her utility belt and brings it around my neck with Nick attaching the chain. When the chain was reconnected, the pendant glowed a light-blue before my body glowed the same color. It felt a little strange at first, but I put it aside as I turned my attention back to the book. Only for my eyes to widen as the rune symbols became blurry, then they changed to actual words. "Whoa," I said, marveled.
"What is it?" Nick asked.
"These symbols just changed to actual words, I can read them!"
"Wait, you can actually see it?"
This seemed to confuse me. "You mean you don't see the actual words?" Nick shook his head, then I turned to Judy. "What about you, can't you see them?" Judy shook her head as well. "I don't get it." I looked back to the book. "How come you guys can't see it but I can?"
M2 giggled a little as I looked at him and he answered, "That's because they don't possess magic like you do. So they can't read it. You're the only one who has the eyes to see it."
I looked back at the book again, then gazed at the bottom part of the sentence as I slid my finger while telling Judy and Nick, "He's right guys, look. It says right here at the bottom, 'Please note that as long you wear the necklace, you'll be able to read the symbols. So it's highly suggested that you keep it around your neck until your body adapts to the changes.'"
"'Until your body adapts to the changes'?" Nick repeated. "What's that mean?"
"I think it means that she'll be able to control her powers, once her body starts getting used to it." Judy said before turning to M2. "And you would be able to help her, right?"
M2 nods his head.
"Still, this is incredible." Judy turned his attention to me. "Possessing magic, there's no telling how far you can go with this."
Maybe she's right. There really was no telling how far I can go using magic. Like I already said, the best way to know is just to keep moving forward.
"What else does the rest of it say?"
I looked back at the book and read, "This book contains information and knowledge. If you want to learn, there are two ways to use this book. You can read the book that was made for you from beginning to end, or ask it and it will automatically take you to whatever you want to know."
"What does that mean?"
"One way to find out." I was thinking on what question should I choose first. That was when M2 crossed my mind, so I asked, "Tell me about M2."
Immediately, the pages flipped and Judy gasped a little in surprise, then it stopped as it showed me an image of M2 with the information already there. "Wow, that was fast," Nick said. "What does it say?"
"Well, let's see...Hmm...He has magic and possesses a fraction of the real Mickey's powers, that we already know...He's my protector and will teach me-Blah, blah, blah. That I already know from the video...Ah, here's something that I don't know. It says that he can obey any given command by me. Guess that would explain why he needed my permission for you guys to know." I gave a small smile. "Let's test it." I looked up at the clone and ordered, "M2, stand on one foot."
M2 did what I said and stood on one foot.
"Oh, my God! That is so cool!"
"I'll say," Nick agreed. "He's like your personal obedient servant. Maybe you should teach him to bark like a dog." I glared at him and hit his arm. "Ow!"
"Nick, don't be a jerk! I'm not gonna treat him like a slave, I'm going to treat him like a friend." I looked back at M2 and added while motioning my paw downwards, "Put your foot down." The mouse clone did what I said as I went back to the book. "Now, let's see what else...Ah, here's another thing. It says he can't be a sparring partner because he's under strict orders by the king not to raise a harmful finger towards me. Even if I give him the command, the order will not be received as his contract strictly forbids any such action." I gave a small sigh. "Well, that sucks. He can train me how to use magic, but I guess he won't teach me Full Counter not unless I have a sparring partner." I smiled mischievously and looked at Nick.
He slides away from me a little while bringing his paws up and saying, "Don't even think about it! I'm not a sparring dummy!"
Me and Judy chuckled a little while I waved at him and said, "Oh, don't worry about it. I was just pulling your tail."
Nick scooted back to me and said, "Yeah, har-har, it was a laugh. Anything else that book says about M2 like him possessing his own grimoire?"
I looked back at the book to read a little bit, then I said, "Not really. According to this book, clones don't possess grimoires. They're actually made entirely from condensed magic. So in short, he is made of magic."
"Wow, really?" Judy said, intrigued. "But he looks so real."
"That's the idea. They're given life through the use of the Creation Branch, but have to be identical to the real person. Because one, no one can tell who's who. And two, if the clone looks exactly like the person who made it, it's considered illegal and must be disposed of immediately. There's something else. M2 can only remain in the physical plane depending on how much magic he has left. If he runs low on magic, he's forced to return back to the grimoire until he's replenished. So Ethers will not help him, and I need to take precautionary measures to ensure that he stays replenished or else I'm at risk of waiting a month before I can use him again."
"Wait, hold on a second," Nick said. "What are Ethers and what's this Creation Branch?"
"That I'll show you soon, and as for that, I think it has to do with creating something using magic. Other than that, the rest I don't know yet till I read the book." Bringing up my badge, I wanted to know how to use this. "Tell me about these badges."
The pages flipped and stopped as it showed me one page that had an image of the badge with both the knowledge and the know-how to use it while on the other page it showed me the same colored dots that are already known about, but the other dots were new as I hadn't seen them yet. There was a golden dot, a grey dot, a brown dot, a blue dot, and a red dot. Right below, there was a description of each one. Most of them I already knew as I was reading those five other dots.
The golden dot represents CURRENCY as it'll allow me to use any sort of money throughout the multiverse and I can either spend it using my badge or bringing it out depending on how much. However, depending on what world I'm in, I won't be allowed to bring out my money and must resort to spending it using the SHOP section of the badge. This part got me a little curious, but I decided to hold-off on that.
The grey dot represents SHOP as it'll allow me access to buy certain things like those Potions and Ethers for starters along with other useful things like weapons, accessories, clothes, and even armor by using my currency inside my badge. However, there were other accesses that I cannot use like buying and upgrading my summons until I form a contract, which honestly I don't know what that is yet, or buying any high-grade stuff until I reach a certain rank.
The brown dot represents WARDROBE. Similar to the STORAGE section, it allows me to store only things that I wear on my body. That right there actually sounds cool. Now for the blue dot, that represents MESSAGE. This will allow me to send a message, either through text or video, and send it to any known Guardian who has the same badge as I do or I can send any message to any known contact from across the multiverse. That's only if I've given the contact information from any known person. As for the last dot, this one was called SCANNER, and it says that it'll allow me to scan any known object so I can gain information or store it in the STORAGE section.
"What with all these colored dots?" Nick motioned his paw to them before pointing on the golden dot. "This one I do like 'cause I can tell that one must be good."
"You're right, it is good. These colored dots are called 'Sections', and the golden dot you just pointed at was the CURRENCY section."
"'Currency'? Are you saying you have money?"
"I don't know," I shrugged. "That I'll find out soon, but first…" I looked through the other page and learned a bit about the ranking system of the badge. The badge itself is broken down into colors. The black color, one that I possess, represents no rank which puts me in with the grunts as they are considered weak. The porcelain color represents rookie-rank with somewhat improved skills while the copper color represents low-rank and has actually improved a little.
Now for the other ranks, they each have a star with different colors on them. Bronze color with no black-star makes them Privates, so like the low-rank they have much improved skills that have yet to develop. A single black-star ranks them to First-Class while another star puts them into Second-Class. Silver color with no white-star are Corporals as they command both the grunts and privates. One or two white-stars improves their classes, but having a third or fourth star grants them the ranks of Sergeant and Lieutenant with the last star being Captain. As for the gold color, they are Elite Guardians. However, if they have a red star in their rank, they are Master Guardians. The last color in the rank is platinum as they are Grandmaster Guardians and are considered powerful with a crystal star. To achieve a rank, I have to show my worth to either a Master Guardian or a Grandmaster Guardian.
With that part done, I read a bit more about how to work this badge. Immediately, I smiled in delight and said, "Ooo, here's some interesting things about this badge."
"What does it say?"
"It says here that once I gain a grimoire, I get both a carry bag and a badge, which that part I already know. However, when I gain said badge, no one other than the carrier is allowed to have their thumbprint scanned." I looked at Judy and added, "That means, anyone who tries to access my badge will be immediately shocked as it will activate the security system." I looked back at the page and continued, "When the thumbprint is scanned, it is immediately bonded to my signature and not only do I have access to the sections, I can even use voice command to access the sections much faster while even giving it other commands."
"What kind of commands?"
"Like this. Badge, grant access to both Judy Hopps and Nicholas Wilde." My badge said Command Accepted, then it went straight to the SCANNER section before it said Scan access users for Judy Hopps and Nicholas Wilde. I brought my badge in front of Nick. "Smile fox." A scanner suddenly appeared, surprising him as he gave a perplexed look. When it was finished, a picture of him in his perplexed expression appeared on screen, making me and Judy giggle a little from that. Turning my attention back to Judy, I brought my badge up to her as she straightened up and smiled. The scanner did its work as it showed a picture of her. The two pictures of Judy and Nick shortened before vanishing in a flash, and my badge saying Access Granted for users.
When that was done, Judy said, "Wow, amazing! Looks like we don't have to worry about not touching this screen without letting it shock us this time."
"Yeah, this time," I agreed. With that out of the way, I wanted to know about my money, so I ordered, "Badge, show me my currency."
It took my command and brought me over to the CURRENCY section. The moment it opened up, we gasped in shock.
"No way!"
"It can't be!" Nick said before snatching my badge and giving a good look at the screen. He closed his eyes and shook his head, then rubbed his eyes with his arm and opened them. "I'm not imagining this." He brings my badge over to Judy who takes it from him. "Carrots, this is real!"
"I know," she agreed. "But I'm still finding this hard to believe."
I can't say I blame her. What all three of us saw just now was a 10B. That meant I have ten billion currency that was literally stored in my badge. How can this be possible?
"What are you? A rich kid?" Nick asked me.
"No," I answered with a shake of my head. "My dad works at a Gourmet Store and makes a decent kind of pay. There's no way we can be rich."
"Then how do you explain that?"
"I don't know," I shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."
Judy hummed, then asked M2, "Do you think there's a glitch in her badge?"
"Badges don't glitch," M2 answered. "They're not handmade and have data on them. They were created through the use of magic, so they don't make any sort of mistake."
"If there's no mistake, then this is truly real." Judy looks at me. "How did you even get all that currency?"
"Again, I don't know. It's not like I did anything to earn it."
None of it just doesn't make any sense. I still couldn't figure out how or why I got that much currency. Guess I can chalk that down on the mystery list.
"Well, whatever the reason." Judy gave me back my badge. "There's a lot of things you can buy with that kind of money, like...uh...the mall. Yeah, that sounds like a good start."
"Tsk, you kidding me, Carrots," Nick said. "Why go with that when she could easily buy a piece of Zootopia."
I giggled a little at Nick's little joke. Although Judy does have a point, I could buy an entire mall with this kind of money. On the other hand, I already know about the SHOP section. So maybe there are other uses in that spot that could come in handy whenever we cross Sparx and that arctic wolf again. "Actually, I have a better idea, but that'll have to wait for later. Right now, I think it's high-time I show you guys something. Badge, take me to my storage and open up the items." Taking my command, it brought me over to the STORAGE section and opened up the items. It was there that I showed them the list that had both the Potions and the Ethers. "This is something that I found while we were at the DMV." I pointed.
"What do those do?"
"I'm not sure. Badge, give me a description of both the Potions and Ethers."
Words appeared on the screen as my badge showed me this:
Potions: Vials containing healing properties to cleanse small wounds and restore strength somewhat.
Ethers: Vials containing replenishing properties to restore magic somewhat.
"What does that mean by 'restore magic somewhat'?" Judy asked while pointing at the Ether description.
"Honestly, I'm not sure," I answered. "But the description about the Potion does say that it can heal small wounds. So how about we test it."
I hit the yellow back arrow button to exit out of the description, then I tapped on the "Potion" where it showed me a question that said How many do you want? There was an arrow pointing up as it showed me "0". The moment I tapped it, it changed to "1" where a bottom arrow appeared and there was a green circle and a red circle with a white X. I tapped on the green circle and just like before, the screen glowed and a small glowing ball of light popped out as it expanded a bit, revealing a glass tube with a cork and inside it was filled with green liquid. Taking the Potion out of the white ball, it returned back to my badge. Looking back at Judy, I already noticed the cut she received from Sparx earlier as I told her, "Let me see your arm."
She offered her arm to me and I pulled the cork out. Gently, I raised it over to the cut where the blood had already dried while my tongue was out, and I let a small green liquid drop over the cut. It didn't take long as there was a small green glow and the cut was gone. "Whoa!" Judy cried out, amazed, rubbing where the cut used to be. "It actually works!"
"So it does," Nick says.
"Well, your turn Nick." I offered the Potion and Nick took it. "Just try not to snuff it up your nose."
I snorted while Nick said to Judy, "Oh, trust me, I have no intention. 'Sides, even if I did, my nose is still a little swollen from that kick I got from that kid." I laughed a little. "Although…" He had a curious look and took a few sniffs. "Hey, it actually smells pretty good. It smells like lemon-lime."
"It does?"
"Yeah, take a whiff."
He brings his arm over to Judy while carrying the Potion as she smells it. "Wow, it really does."
"Seriously? Let me see." I moved his paw over to my nose and got a good whiff over the vial. "Wow!" My eyes widen in surprise. "It really does smell like lemon-lime." He took his arm back while I added, "But does it taste good?"
"Only one way to find out."
He takes a sip and smacks his lips a little. "How do you feel?" Judy asked.
He shuddered a little and answered, "A little tingly all the sudden and it's traveling all the way up my-" He didn't finish as his nose glowed green for a second and vanished as it returned to its original color. "Hey!" He rubbed his nose with his paw. "It doesn't feel sore anymore." He points at the vial. "This thing works like a charm." He gave it back to me while I put the cork back on and he added, "What's in that stuff?"
"I don't know," I answered, then I smiled a little. "But I think we're gonna need all of it. Just in case we need it."
I got off my seat, gave the book to Nick, then started using my badge to get out not only the last four Potions, but all five of the Ethers as they were all laid down from where I sat. The Ethers were in the same glass tube as the Potions. Instead of green, they were blue. "You're gonna need a lot of pockets for these," Nick said.
I shook my head and smiled amusingly at his joke. However, something crossed my mind as I was curious about something. Bringing my badge, I ordered, "Badge, take me to the WARDROBE section and open it." My badge obeyed and opened up the WARDROBE section. It was there that me, Judy, and Nick, saw this list:
Low-Grade Coat
Low-Grade Utility Belt
"Give me a description of the Low-Grade Coat and Low-Grade Utility Belt."
New words appeared on the screen as we saw this:
Low-Grade Coat: A coat capable of protecting the wearer from magical ailments, somewhat.
Low-Grade Utility Belt: A belt capable of holding Potions (Small) or Ethers (Small). (Maximum: 10)
"What does this mean?" Judy asked while pointing at the Low-Grade Coat.
"I think it means this coat can protect me from Sparx's lightning attacks." I answered.
"Do you think it'll work?" Nick asked.
"It should, the description said it'll protect me from magical ailments. So I guess that lightning should be considered a magical ailment. But I doubt that'll protect me long because I can still get hurt."
"Which is why you have the Potions so they could heal you." Judy said.
"And I think I know why you even have the Ethers," Nick said. "Because M2 is going to teach you magic and whenever you use it, this will help you restore it. Exactly how the description said it would."
Guess it all started to make sense. The only way I can pull through this is to use these. With a sigh, I said, "Well, here goes nothing."
I tapped on the "Low-Grade Utility Belt" first and it showed me a question that said Do you wish to equip another item? It seemed to be a bit easy while I saw those same circles from earlier because now I can tell I can equip more things, so I tapped on the "Low-Grade Coat". When that was done, I tapped on the green circle and the screen glowed. Three circles with the same runes and hexagram symbol appeared, and floated out towards me. The first circle floated towards my midsection and glowed as it went around, creating the utility belt that was now around my waist. "Tracy?" Judy said as she and Nick watched. The two circles went through my paws and over the sleeves as it was changed from dark-blue to grey, then the last circle went over my head as it expanded and went past my head as I watched the rest of my own coat that I brought from my world transform into a different one.
When it was finished, all three circles glowed and went back inside my badge and I saw the image of my own coat be displayed for a moment, then it was changed to words as it said "Coat". I started looking at my new things as they were amazing. "Wow!" I spread out my arms. "This is so cool!" I did a little spin to show-off my friends. "What do you think, guys?"
"You look really sharp," Nick said with a nod. "Almost like you're ready to face-off against that arctic wolf."
"Or probably Sparx," Judy said. "He's probably gonna be our main concern."
"Well 'almost' isn't enough."
"What do you mean?" Judy asked while Nick raised an eyebrow.
"Don't you guys remember when you told me that I was trying to pull a sword out from King Mickey's grimoire?" The two of them nod at me. "Honestly, I'm not sure if I can do it again. So if I'm right, there should be guns inside the SHOP section, or maybe something like grenades that can explode, or flashbangs that can blind them."
"That...actually doesn't sound like a bad idea," Nick said, liking my idea.
"I second that," Judy agreed. "We do need something with a bit more kick. I highly doubt any of our weapons in this world can stop them."
Now that we were in agreement, I was about to order my badge to take me to the SHOP section, but M2 stopped me by placing his hand on my muzzle and said, "Hold it, Tracy. Before you start your little shopping spree…" He tilted his head ahead. My eyes widened as we nearly reached the city.
My two friends looked to where M2 tilted his head and Nick said, "Uh-oh, might wanna cut this short."
I took the Potions first and put it in the pouch as they were slid in side by side before I did the same thing with the Ethers. Next, I took the book from Nick, then I ordered the mouse clone, "M2, change into that ball form and get inside my pocket."
"As you wish."
M2 turned back into a ball and flew inside my pocket. I wasn't sure how much magic he uses when in that form, but I knew he must've used a lot to defend me against Sparx. So once nobody is watching, I'll order him to return back to the grimoire. I have to be sure he stays replenished whenever I truly need him. When we finally arrived, we stepped off the sky tram while I opened up the grimoire and started reading. I probably didn't notice that my two friends were already ahead of me and I was dragging behind, so I felt my friend's two paws placed at my back to keep up at their pace. "You just keep reading. Will tell you when we're there." Nick told me.
I stopped reading for a moment as something crossed my mind and I asked the mouse clone telepathically, Hey M2, I know that I or my friends haven't asked you this but what is a Foretelling spell?
It's a spell that foretells certain events that may happen.
The moment he said that, my eyes widened. You mean it foretells the future?
Well, not fully. The spell can't actually foretell everything, but it can tell you what might occur in the form of words and give you certain hints.
"Like in a riddle," I muttered.
"What was that?" Judy asked.
"Oh nothing."
While my friends continued to lead me to City Hall, I learned a bit more through the grimoire. The first thing I learned was magic as they were broken down into branches. The very first branch was the original tier magic that had both attack and support spells that went from one through five. The first tier is more of a standard version of the spell. However, the other tiers were a little different but had a much stronger version of the original spell. For example: Fire is considered first-tier magic, Fira is second-tier magic and is stronger than the first, Firaga is third-tier magic and is stronger than the first two, Firaza is fourth-tier magic and is a much stronger version of the other three combined, and Firaja is fifth-tier magic and is considered the most powerful of all the other four. I even read that when using these tiers there's even a list as to how each of them were classified:
Second-Tier Magic either has an "a" or "ra" at the end depending on what spell.
Third-Tier Magic either has an "ara", "aga", or "ega" at the end depending on what spell.
Fourth-Tier Magic has a "za" at the end but can coerce with an "a" or an "e" depending on what spell.
Fifth-Tier Magic has a "ja" at the end but can coerce with an "a" or an "e" depending on what spell.
The second branch was called Contract and it was the same name as the section on my badge. This branch possesses two techniques: Summoning and Creation, and this branch was considered sixth-tier magic which takes a lot of magic to use either of them. Summoning is about forming contracts with either people across the multiverse or with a spirit in The Spirit Realm. I don't know what that place is yet, but I'll probably find out about it when I read more. There were even basic instructions on how to form a contract with someone. When I read it, I immediately smiled as I had an idea on what I intend to do before I leave this world. Now for Creation, this technique allows anyone to create anything. Be it like a clone, an object, or bending anything to my will. To do that, I have to form a contract of my own but I have to be specific or it won't work at all.
That technique seemed to have merit. All I have to do is think of what I want to create and my magic would do the rest. There seemed to be an unlimited amount of ideas that I can use against those two. However, the moment that thought crossed my mind, I saw those rune symbols dancing around my vision. At first I thought I was seeing things, so I closed my eyes and shook my head a little. The rune symbols vanished from my sight and I heard Judy ask, "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, it's nothing."
The next thing I learned about was the magical aura. It is the inner being of a Guardian which allows them to use magic. Depending on how much I put into it, I can become stronger. The problem is, I don't know how to work it. However, what I already know is that the aura allows the user to fly and cast magic. What I didn't know is that when I control it, I can move faster than any person, move objects that are twice as heavy as me, or jump higher than any normal person would. That actually looked a little interesting and it was a good thing I got M2 so maybe he could teach me how to properly control my aura.
I was about to read more when Nick said, "Might wanna stop reading and finish whatever you've haven't read yet. We're here."
We were at the entrance to City Hall. It was too bad I didn't see what the building looked like, but I bet it would've been awesome. Anyway, I put the grimoire back inside my bag and we went inside. Believe me when I say this, the place inside was really cool. It didn't take us long for us to find Assistant Mayor Bellwether, who was already on the floor by her rear in front of a door with folders and papers scattered everywhere around her. Her floppy ears drooped and she said with a sigh, "Oh, mutton chops."
I don't know what happened, but I felt kinda bad for her, so I rushed over to her first. When I got down to the floor and picked up a folder for her, I said, "Hey Assistant Mayor Bellwether."
Her eyes looked at me. She wore the same glasses, necklace, coat, and bracelet, but was now wearing a white shirt with black spots and an orange skirt with white markings on it. "Oh, hello there," she smiled. "Pleasure to see you again." Her eyes were looking down and up, probably because of the new coat and the utility belt I was wearing. "I see you got yourself some new threads."
"Thanks."
"Assistant Mayor Bellwether," Judy said as we looked at her while she too picked up a folder. "We need your help."
After we picked up the papers and folders for Assistant Mayor Bellwether, she took us to her office. Honestly though, it didn't look much like an office. The door was literally in between a bunch of "URGENT" boxes as many of them were stacked nicely with the front of her door having a sign attached with tape that said "OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT MAYOR" while below it there was a sticky note that had "PLEASE KNOCK!" written in black marker. At first I thought she was going to lead us to a basement where her office was. Luckily I was wrong as her office was right near a boiler. There were more of those "URGENT" boxes, filing cabinets, a desk that had a computer, and a lot of other stuff. Even though her office didn't look much. At least she made it look like one. Still though, how could one small sheep put up with all this?
As Assistant Mayor Bellwether was typing away while I watched from behind near Judy, she said to the small sheep, "We just need to get into the traffic cam database."
While we were waiting for her to finish typing, I saw Nick touch Bellwether's pom-pom, then he starts to feel her wool. "So fluffy!" he whispers happily.
"Hey!" Judy whispered loudly when she noticed him touch Bellwether's wool.
"Sheep never let me get this close."
I snorted while Judy said, "You can't just touch a sheep's wool!"
"It's like cotton candy."
"Stop it!" She tries to swat Nick's paw away but he pulls back at the last second and she swats Bellwether's wool instead, causing it to wiggle. I snorted even louder and covered my muzzle with both paws to prevent myself from laughing at how funny this was.
Judy quickly puts the wool back in place just before Bellwether turns to her and asks, "Where to?"
Judy inhaled and pulled away, then she composed herself and answered, "Uh, Rainforest District, Vine and Tujunga." She glares at Nick, who just stood there with his arms behind his back and grins.
Bellwether finished typing and we saw a map filled with camera icons on the computer. "There! Traffic cams for the whole city." She taps her hooves while continuing, "Oh, this is so exciting, actually." She placed her hooves on her chest. "I mean, well, you know, I never get to do anything this important." She pushed her glasses up.
"But you're the Assistant Mayor of Zootopia."
"Yeah," I added. "I mean shouldn't you be doing something like really important stuff." I motioned my paw to all the things around her. "Other than all this?"
"Oh, I'm more of a glorified secretary." She waved a hoof at me before her ears drooped a little. "I think Mayor Lionheart just wanted the sheep vote."
Wow, seriously? It sounded like she was being used for personal gain and didn't get to act like Assistant Mayor. Instead, she was treated like some secretary and could barely do anything important to help the city.
"But he did give me that nice mug." She showed us a coffee mug filled with pens and pencils that had the words "WORLD'S GREATEST DAD" on it, with dad crossed out and over it has "ASSISTANT MAYOR" written on it in red marker.
"Oh," Judy said.
"Well, uh, that's...nice," I said in a small but fake smile.
"Hmm, feels good to be appreciated."
Yeah, I don't think "appreciate" is the best word. She's more underappreciated and it's like she's being treated no different to what happened to Judy and me. I mean, seriously, why do big mammals always treat such small creatures so badly? I tapped Judy's arm with the back of my paw to get her attention as I mouthed, "She's really not appreciated."
She nods her head in agreement with me. The intercom on Bellwether's phone beeped and I heard a very familiar voice say, "Smell-wether!" Yep, no doubt about it, it was Mayor Lionheart's voice. The one I heard the other day.
"Ugh, that's a fun little name he likes to use." She looks at me and Judy. "I called him Lion-fart once." She looked at Nick, who nodded, while she reached over for the phone and I giggled a little before turning her attention back towards Judy and me. "He did not care for that. Let me tell you, it was not a good day for me." She hits the answering button and says to Mayor Lionheart, "Yes, sir?"
"I thought you were going to cancel my afternoon!"
"Oh, dear," she starts to get off her chair. "I better go." She makes her way towards the door before turning her attention back towards us while continuing, "Let me know what you find. It was really nice for me to be-"
She was cut-off as the intercom beeped again and Mayor Lionheart's voice called again, "While we're young, Smell-wether!"
"Oh!" She quickly rushed towards the door and grabbed the door handle, grunting as she briefly struggled before opening the door and rushing out. Now I feel even more bad for her from what she's going through. I hope one of these days when Lionheart is no longer in office, Bellwether should be more suitable for Mayor because I think she could get things straight around here.
"You think when she goes to sleep, she counts herself?" Nick asked jokingly.
"Oh, shush," Judy said as she sat down on the chair.
"Hey, M2, you can come out now. The coast is clear."
M2 floated out of my pocket and turned into his physical form again.
"Alright, M2," Judy said. "Where was the last place you saw Sparx?"
"Hmm, let me see…" It took a moment for him to think until he pointed a spot at the screen. "I believe it was here."
She clicks on the area where we see a video of Sparx hovering above the treetops. Exactly where M2 and I were. "Here we are," Judy said. We watched as Sparx built up the electricity on his katana, then sliced through the air in a circular motion as a slash of yellow electric energy shot out around him and destroyed half of the treetops as they were in the air for the moment before descending.
"Whoa!" Nick said, astonished. "Did you see that?" He made paw motions towards the screen. "That kid just took out a lot of trees with just one stroke of that sword! Anyone would probably notice that by now other than that explosion!" I sighed a little as my ears folded and I rubbed my arm from the reminder of how strong he is, and I'm still scared of wanting to face him in a fight while Nick continued, "Seriously? How strong is this kid? There's no way Tracy can go against that-"
"Nick!" Judy said through clenched teeth. "That's not helping her!"
M2 placed both hands on my shoulders and gave them a gentle squeeze. Don't worry, Tracy. He spoke to me, telepathically. Remember, I promised that I will guide you when the time comes.
I even felt someone scratch behind my ear, making both my ears raise up in attention while I heard Judy say to me, "It's okay." I looked at her as she smiled. "Try not to think about it and focus on the other things."
I smiled and nodded, then Nick said as he pointed to the screen, "Hey, look!" We turn our attention back to the screen and see another robed figure who arrived at the scene. However, we didn't see a white tail as it wasn't the arctic wolf we encountered earlier. So who was this? Better yet, where was Manchas? It looked like Nick had the same thought I did as he said, "Who's this and where's Manchas?"
"I don't know," Judy answered as we watched both our mystery robed figure and Sparx fly away. "Let's go back a bit and find out what really happened." She went back to the map and clicked on another camera icon. We see footage of Manchas chasing us into a log, then M2 using Full Counter against Sparx's spell before he used Thunder Shield and there was an explosion, causing the screen to turn static, and now I was seeing Manchas on top of the arctic wolf with some kind of grey dual-sided spear that kept the jaguar from reaching his face, and Nick and Judy swinging off a vine which that part I didn't see since I wasn't there while me and M2 were busy being chased by Sparx.
We watched as Manchas was surrounded in grey aura and was sent sailing until he was suspended in midair. The arctic wolf flicked the back of his paws, grey aura surrounding him for a moment before dissipating and was back on his feet in an instant, then he motioned his paw as Manchas came towards him. He raised a fist and hit him square in the jaguar's face, sending him flying backwards again.
I watched horrifyingly as he repeated the process a few times before grabbing the jaguar's neck and slamming him down hard on the ground. He raised his spear and was about to stab him, but Sparx appeared at the last second and used his sword to block it, then the other robed figure descended from above and landed behind him. The arctic wolf looks at him and turns around as he seems to argue with him. We couldn't tell what he was saying because there was no sound on the screen. "What is up with those two?" Nick asked. "Aren't they supposed to be like allies since they wear the same robes?"
"It doesn't appear that way," Judy answered.
The arctic wolf made an arm gesture for Sparx to stand aside, to which he did. He raised his spear again, but the other robed figure stopped him by wrapping his arms on both his neck and chest. "Guess they really don't see eye to eye," Nick said.
It didn't take long until the other robed figure released him. The arctic wolf turned to look at him with glaring eyes as he was talking to him before the other robed figure nodded and the arctic wolf's spear vanished while his grimoire floated back inside his robe, then he pulled his hood up, tilted his head for Sparx to follow him, and flew up with Sparx following. The other robed figure went towards Manchas and raised his arm. Me and Judy could only gasp in shock as Manchas was surrounded in flames. I covered my muzzle with my paw as I nearly gagged. I think I'm gonna be sick. M2 gently rubs my back as I turn my eyes away from the screen. "Wait a minute, hold on," Nick said. "Look closely." He points to the burning Manchas. "He's not really burning. If he was, his clothes would've started burning as well."
I squinted my eyes. Nick was right, Manchas wasn't burning at all. So what is this? "Hey, you're right, Nick," Judy said. "He really isn't burning. So what is this?"
"Ah, I know what that is," M2 said. "That's an elemental healing spell."
I was a little surprised that there was healing magic revolving around elements while Judy said, "Elemental healing spe-Wait a second! Are you saying that guy is an Elemental Guardian?"
M2 nods his head. My eyes widened in shock and I hoped to God that this wasn't happening, so I asked, "Please don't tell me that I have to…" M2 nods his head again as I groan and place a paw on my face. I don't know what to say, except I have the worst luck in the entire world. It was bad enough that I have to deal with Sparx. Now I have to deal with this figure as I can plainly tell that this was a guardian who possessed the fire element.
"Hold on," Judy said. "Whoever that is." Judy points to the figure on screen. "That one doesn't look like it's being controlled unlike Sparx. So why does Tracy have to fight against this one?"
"Well, if you're worried that Tracy would risk her life to defeat that figure. Don't be. I can assure you that it won't be a fight to the death."
This seems to take me by surprise. "Then why does she still have to fight whoever this is?"
I was a bit curious myself as M2 answered, "I'm afraid I can't tell you." He looks at me. "That's for her to discover herself once she's ready." He winks at me.
"Hey, look!" Nick said as we turned our attention back to the screen. Only to see the figure flying away from Manchas, lying down and completely healed.
Everything looked quiet on the screen until we see a black van suddenly appear and out came two wolves in black clothes. They didn't look like that arctic wolf and I don't know what type of animal they were. We watched as they were looking around at the destruction that Sparx and that arctic wolf caused before turning to look at Manchas while Judy asked, "Who are these guys?"
"Ugh, timberwolves," Nick answered. Well, that at least answers what those wolves were. "Look at these dum-dums."
Manchas was back on all fours, shaking his head and looking at the timberwolves, baring his teeth at them. Guess this means healing magic doesn't reverse savagery, only healing physical wounds. They slowly approach Manchas, then the jaguar lunges at them and a timberwolf fires a net, trapping the jaguar. Judy gasps as the wolves drag the captive jaguar while Nick said, "Bet ya a nickel one of them's gonna howl." Just like that, the wolves howled. "And there it is. I mean, what is it with wolves and the howling? It's like-"
"Howlers," Judy said. "Night Howlers! That's what Manchas was afraid of! Wolves! The wolves are the Night Howlers!"
I was a little sceptical of that theory. The reason why was that Manchas didn't mention anything about wolves or how Otterton became savage in the first-place. Something about this seemed off. On the other hand, I could be wrong though, but I can't just shake this feeling that we're missing something to the puzzle as to how they both went savage.
"If they took Manchas-"
"I bet they took Otterton too."
"All we gotta do is find out where they went." Judy switches through the footage of where the van was going, till it showed us the van going through a tunnel out of the Rainforest District, but when she changed the footage to Tundratown where the van was supposed to come through it didn't appear. Almost like it just disappeared. "Wait, where'd they go?"
"You know, if I wanted to avoid surveillance because I was doing something illegal, which I never have," Judy smiles while Nick uses the mouse. "I would use the maintenance tunnel 6B." We see a footage of a tunnel that had a "MAINTENANCE TUNNEL" sign over the entrance and right next to the walls had "6B" on both sides of the entrance. "Which would put them out…" He changes the footage and we see the van exit out of that tunnel. "...right there."
Judy was impressed, can't say I blame her as she said to him, "Well, look at you, Junior Detective." She crossed her arms and added, "You know, I think you'd actually make a pretty good cop."
"I'll say." I agreed. "I think you look better as a cop than some street con trying to get fast money."
"Ugh. How dare you and shame on you kitty," Nick said jokingly to us while me and Judy chuckled. Nick follows the van through more footage. "Acacia Alley, Ficus Underpass, South Canyon."
"Mmm-hmm, they're heading out of town." We then see the last piece of footage showing a long stretch of road. "Where does that road go?"
Nick clicks on the mouse and it doesn't show anymore footage. "I don't know. Can't get anything else from here."
"Well, guess it's up to me then," I said as I took out my badge.
"What're you doing?"
"Just watch, Nick," Judy answered for me.
Tapping on the screen, I slid my finger until I was at the MAP section and tapped it. The screen came to life as the holo-map remained flat from where I first used it, then I moved my paw upwards as it enlarged. "Whoa!" Nick said shockingly as I looked at him. "You had a map with you this whole time?" I answered by nodding my head. "Why didn't you use it before?" I was going to answer that but he cut me off, "You know what, don't answer that. It's clearly obvious it'll draw too much attention since it's not from this world. Anyway, continue what you're doing."
I shrugged and continued where I left off. "Take me to South Canyon," I ordered my badge. The holo-map zoomed in until it showed me the same canyon where that van went. Now, I'll I gotta do is find the road. The question is: How do I work this map? So far, I already know I can change its shape. What else do I don't know? Getting a little curious, I slid the holo-map right as it zoomed backwards, then I went the opposite direction as it zoomed forwards. Trying a different approach, I kept my paw at the holographic screen and moved it a little as it followed to wherever direction I wanted to see. With a smile, I offered the badge to M2 and said, "Hold this." He took it from me and I cracked my knuckles and wiggled my fingers. Keeping one paw at the screen, I zoomed and searched while saying, "Alright, road, where are you?...Aha! There you are!" I followed the path to where the van took until I saw a strange building. It was on a portion of land right in the middle of a waterfall that was connected to a bridge.
"What is that place?"
"I don't know," Judy answered Nick. "But it looks to be abandoned."
"Well, it doesn't look abandoned now. 'Cause that's where Manchas and Otterton are."
"Hey," M2 said as he pointed at the holographic screen. "There's a sign over there that has some kind of name. Try and zoom in."
I followed where M2 was pointing and zoomed in. It was there that we saw a gate that had two statues with their arms spread; one an antelope and the other a bear, and above it said "CLIFFSIDE". "What's 'Cliffside'?" I asked while touching the holographic sign. The moment I did that, a hexagonal diamond appeared above the gate, stunning me. "What did I just do?"
M2 chuckled and answered, "You just placed a marker."
I looked at him oddly. "I did what now?"
"When you tap on something within the map, a marker is placed on the area. Here, let me show you." Doing what I did, he moved his hand down as the holo-map turned flat again, then he pressed it downwards and the screen glowed, showing an actual map you see on a GPS where the marker I left was showing the location of Cliffside.
"Whoa!" I took back my badge, marveled at what M2 just did. "I didn't know you could do that."
"Well, there is more information concerning your badge that you hadn't read yet."
Guess he's right though, I still got more to read and I'm only halfway there to finish it. Turning to face my friends, I showed them the map and said, "Alright guys, this is where we have to go."
Before leaving City Hall, Tracy sent M2 back in the grimoire, and will call him whenever she truly needs him. The three mammals called a taxi cab with a male deer driving at the front and telling him they needed to head in this location when Tracy showed him the map and where they needed to go. This made him wonder why, but Judy showed him her police badge and told him it was police business. With a shrug, he started driving to the exact location.
While they were on their way, Tracy went back to reading the grimoire and started back where she left off. When she read about grimoires, she skipped some things as she already knew about it from M2. What she didn't know about was that not only were their unique spells and powers, there was also Magical Arts. Each Guardian had his or her own unique art, ranging from the elements to simple powers. But she wondered, what was her Magical Art?
Putting that part aside, she read about fighting techniques. One in particular was hand-to-hand combat that revolved around Martial Arts. Now that was something she became interested in. However, there were other techniques, ranging swordplay from a small-sword to a greatsword, gunplay that revolved around either firearms or handheld weapons much to her surprise and knowing that she was right as there was weapons like these to buy, archery that revolves around using bows or crossbows with arrows, spears that range from a simple trident to a lance, war weapons that revolve around either a hammer or an axe as they use brute force to overwhelm the opponent, and the other was shieldplay where you can attack or defend using only your shield which that sounded a little strange for her. What can a simple shield do except defend?
There were other techniques that surprised her. Ninjutsu was one of them as it revolved around attacking from the shadows or using illusions to fool the opponent and overwhelming them with blinding speed. That sounded almost peculiar. Was Sparx somewhere around the "Ninjutsu" category? M2 did say that he was the Guardian of Flash and a master of speed, so maybe it could be possible. She'll probably have to ask him once he's been saved. Their main weapons were basically any kind of weapon, ranging to kunai daggers, shurikens, bo staffs, tekko kagi claws, to even coercing with Martial Arts as that one was always the first to learn, swordplay, gunplay, archery, and spears. Mages were a balanced group as they focused on attack, defence, and support, and either possessed a staff or a wand. They are usually considered the backbone of forming a team or teaching new recruits who don't possess any kind of weapon, except the first two already mentioned, the art of the mages. Synergists are more on the supportive side and can coerce with the mages. They don't possess any sort of weapon but do possess the ability to use their magic to create weapons, items, or anything of the sort. For example: Potions. They even possess the embodiment of Creation which can coerce with the Contract Branch magic along with any other techniques and is considered rare and highly recommended they be brought to the ranks immediately. That last part sounded a little interesting for her as they were like blacksmiths, crafters, or even fighters as they seemed a bit special. Unfortunately, a synergist with that type of power is only seen once or twice every generation. The last two techniques were both medics and dual-wielders. Medics are in the same class with the supportive group as their job is basically healing and can coerce with either the mages or synergists as they are the key to creating items like the Potions and the Ethers. Dual-wielders obviously use two weapons and can coerce with all the other techniques except staffs, wands, or war weapons.
There was another thing that she did learn while reading the grimoire. Other than buying weapons in the SHOP section, there were weapons inside the grimoire. However, not everyone who receives their grimoire can get a weapon. The reason was that 30% of the guardians can obtain such a thing while 70% do not have the probability of obtaining a weapon within their grimoire. The first 15% are mostly elemental guardians but have little chance of obtaining one and the other 15% who are not elemental guardians also have little chance of getting a weapon out of the grimoire. Those who manage to get a weapon out of the grimoire are said to be destined for greatness. When a weapon is out of the grimoire, they possess transformational powers that allow their weapons to change from their original form to a much different form and cast powerful spells, but that all depends on what weapon they have and how many transformations it can take. To unlock those transformations, they need to use certain items and allow a synergist to begin the process of making a transformational form.
From what she already knew from Judy and Nick. A sword had almost come out of King Mickey's grimoire. The strange thing about it was that the grimoire isn't hers to begin with. So why is her weapon coming out of the king's grimoire? That only added more to her list of questions that needed to be answered. However, there was a small problem. She had no idea on how to get the sword out again and this time pull it out. The last time happened so fast she barely even remembered or how it triggered. Could it be that she got angry that her friends were about to freeze to death because of Mr. Big or was it because she got scared of losing them that she didn't want to see her friends get hurt and that could've been the trigger? Either way, she needed to find out the answer for herself.
Getting back to where she left off, she started to learn about The Spirit Realm. It is a dimensional realm which can only be accessed by Elite, Master, or Grandmaster Guardians and is the home of many spirits. Every spirit is different and unique with many different types of powers, ranging to the elements to simple spiritual abilities. There was even a hand drawn example of a lizard that was called a salamander. When a spirit has formed a contract with a Guardian, they are bonded to them unless their contract is either terminated or the Guardian has died. On top of that, the Guardian is given a new type of power known as Spirit Magic and is considered seventh-tier magic and the most powerful to use. That seemed to really interest her, because with the combination of both the magic of Guardians and the spiritual magic of spirits, they're a force to be reckoned with.
The next thing she learned about was the multiverse itself. Some of it she skipped because of what she already knew from M2, but what she didn't know about was the laws of the universe. It was a little complicated to understand at first, then with careful reading, she began to understand. Each universe is different, however, depending on what world you're in. The world she came from was filled with humans that knew nothing of magic and only used illusions to create their very special kind of magic. The world she's now in was different as animals acted like humans, except they weren't, and like her world knew nothing of magic. The difference was race. One world has humans and the other doesn't. So to fix things, the law of the universe in this world changed her into a cat based on her persona in order to blend-in to this world without causing any chaos and unbalance. If she were to leave this world and universe, then she'll return back to her human form. Whenever she enters a different world, she'll remain as she is or change into a different form. If she remains at her human form, depending on what world she's in, her clothes will either stay the same or change into something else to once again blend-in.
The other pages she had to skip were both about M2 and most of the information about her badge. What she didn't notice was at the very corner bottom of the right-side, there was an arrow and at the bottom of it said "More Info At The Next Page". It was there she learned more about the badge. It had both a camera and recorder inside but could only be accessed through voice command and not through a section. She didn't understand why, maybe because it was trying to save room or something. There was even a voice recorder and a mind scanner. That one is only used to wipe away memories in case one too many witnesses know too much and replace them with false memories given to them by the Guardians. The only way the mind scanner could work is unless someone doesn't possess any magic. The next thing she learned about was more about the SHOP section and the list of the only items she'll only get due to her having no-rank. The first was the weapons list:
Low-Grade Sword
Low-Grade Spear
Low-Grade Bow w/Quiver of Arrows
Low-Grade Shield
Low-Grade Staff
Low-Grade Wand
Low-Grade Magi-Gun
That last one looked a little interesting, but it still sucked for her. There was no explosives or anything truly useful she could use against that robed figure, the arctic wolf, or even Sparx. Those probably won't even defend her long as they'll break in less than a few swings from Sparx's blade. On the other hand, looks can be deceiving. So maybe she can find some use for these weapons. However, she did look at the accessories list while one at the very top was very familiar to her:
Black Pendant
Black Earring
Black Ring
Black Armlet
Black Bracelet
Black Charm
Black Band
All the accessories, except for the "Black Band" since that is considered a 10 pound weight lifter to be attached to either arms or legs, each give a temporary boost as long as they remain attached to clothes or limbs. However, there was a warning which Tracy thoroughly read. Due to her body being a bit inexperienced in controlling magic, she needs to only keep one or two items with her. Any more over that will cause a strain to the body and put it at risk.
Taking the warning to heart, she had a feeling that once she gains a rank, maybe she'll get better weapons and accessories. The next list she looked at was the items list meant for consumption. Only this time she could buy them unless she could afford them as these don't require rank to get them while there was a description for each one, but had to skip the first two since she already knew about them.
High-Potion: A vial containing healing properties to cleanse wounds and restore little strength.
Mega-Potion: A vial containing healing properties to completely cleanse wounds and fully restore strength.
High-Ether: A vial containing replenishing properties to restore little magic.
Mega-Ether: A vial containing replenishing properties to completely restore magic.
Elixir: A vial containing healing and replenishing properties to cleanse small wounds, and somewhat restore strength and magic.
High-Elixir: A vial containing healing and replenishing properties to cleanse wounds, and restore little strength and magic.
Mega-Elixir: A vial containing healing and replenishing properties to completely cleanse wounds, and fully restore strength and magic.
Those Elixirs seemed more useful, the same as those other Potions and Ethers, but they were probably expensive. She had nothing to worry about. As long as she had a ton of currency, she'll probably buy a whole lot of Mega-Elixirs and use them in case she needs them. However, there was a note specifically for her. It told her that whenever she finds or receives an item that can be used for her, she needs to head to the CONTACTS section where she will find these familiar numbers: 777-0339. It will connect her to a special synergist who will help her and she needs to say the codename "Starchild". This seemed a little strange for her. What's so special about that contact? She'll probably have to find out about that later if she finds an item that can be useful. Whatever item that could be.
The last two things she learned before reaching the end was more about the SHOP section. Other than buying the things like the list she's already seen, she could also access other shops across the multiverse. However, depending on what world, she won't be able to access all the shops. The second thing she learned about was the map but most of the information was skipped as she already learned it from M2. What she didn't know about was that she could mark more than one location. Whenever she travels to that location, the marker is automatically removed, and she could even keep the screen to what it actually calls "Low-Grade Screening" so that way nobody would notice the holographic screening like before. With everything read, there were the last two sentences she read before the rest of the pages were blank.
That is all that this book can teach you for now. The rest you must learn from experience as you continue on your journey.
She sighed at this while closing the book. Guess that this meant she would have to learn things the hard way. Nobody told her that this was going to be easy to begin with. At least she got a head-start to learn things through the book so she could be prepared more easily. Not to mention she had one advantage to learn the other things she hadn't learned yet from the book. And that was M2. She wondered what other things he could teach her, other than the technique Full Counter and Holy Magic?
No sooner had she closed the book, they managed to arrive at the gates of Cliffside where the taxi cab parked right at the entrance. The three mammals left the cab and ran upwards till they reached a rock to hide behind while their ears heard the sound of the waterfall cascading over the cliff and light rain fell above their heads. Looking over the rock with Judy's ears standing at attention, they see more timber wolves. The first ones were near a toll booth and a barrier gate. Nick and Tracy look at the rabbit cop and she points her thumb. The fox and the cat nod at her and they follow her to avoid being seen by the first two timber wolves.
Getting to the toll booth, they watched as one timber wolf came out without noticing a trio of mammals and the other was still guarding the barrier gate with his back turned. Nick got both of the girls' attention, then he made rapid signs with his paws by putting two fingers in front of his eyes, placing a paw on his chest, did a fingered walk on air, pointed at the two girls and lightly smacked a fisted, made a paw butterfly, and made other signs that not even the two girls would understand and ended it with a pinch of his ear and two thumbs up before crawling his way over to the otherside of the toll booth.
With Nick's back against the toll booth, he and the two girls looked at the first timber wolf. He was tall and slender with pure white fur from head to tail, black nose, brown eyes, and wore a black trench coat and navy blue pants. When he caught a whiff of Nick's scent, the fox and the two girls hid while Nick gasped as the timber wolf continued sniffing, slowly making his way towards him where Nick was hiding. The fox could only cling to suspension as the timber wolf was getting closer, then the wolf stopped as his tall pointy ears perked up when he heard a "Awo-Awo-Awoooo!" coming behind him where Judy cupped her paw, had her head up, and already howled. He quickly turns around, cocks his head to the side, throws his head up and howls.
The other timber wolf who was at the barrier gate, quickly goes towards him. He wore the same thing as the white timber wolf does but wasn't as tall as him and had dark brown fur with white at the muzzle, black nose, and icy-blue eyes. "Gary, quit it! You're gonna start a howl."
"I didn't start it!" The white wolf named Gary said to the timber wolf in front of him.
Judy howls again with Tracy joining in. Gary and the other timber wolf threw their heads and howled. Like a chain reaction, the other timber wolves across the bridge threw their heads up and howled. Taking this as a chance of distraction, the two girls go around the toll booth while Judy pulls Nick's paw and whispers, "Come on."
The three mammals ran across the bridge while Tracy couldn't help but giggle a little in delight. If they weren't sneaking around, she would've used her badge to record this as it was kinda cool witnessing a pack of wolves howling at night. As the wolves continued their howling, they came to a rocky ridge where they put their backs against it. Nick could only look at Judy and said to her with a smile, "You are a clever bunny."
"Don't thank me," Judy said as she looked to Tracy who was next to her. "Thank her, it was her idea."
Indeed that was true. While Nick was playing bait to the timber wolf, Tracy got Judy's attention and made a howling gesture with both paws cupped to her muzzle. The fox was a little surprised to know about this as Tracy smiled, playfully swiped her paw a little, and meowed at him. Nick shook his head and chuckled a little, then his eyes gazed upwards with Judy and Tracy following his gaze. What they were seeing was a sewer pipe that had running water coming out of it. Their only way to get inside the building without being detected by the other wolves. They managed to climb up to the sewer pipe, but the tunnel looked a bit dark up ahead. So Tracy asked M2 telepathically, Hey, is there some kind of spell that I can use to light up the darkness?
Of course, M2 answered. There is a spell that's a part of the Holy Magic side that I can teach you. But where are you exactly?
Yeah, long story short, we managed to arrive at Cliffside, snuck around some timber wolves and we're about to go through a sewer pipe. Believe me, it stinks and it's a little dark. She notices Judy about to take out her smartphone and activate its phonelight, but she places a paw over it and tells her, "Hold on. I have a better idea."
Alright, to use this spell, just imagine a flashlight that's turning on. Once you see that, say "Light" and the spell will do the rest. It won't take a lot of magic and it's very handy when using it to light-up dark places or use it for combat.
Combat?
The spell that is used for combat is called "Pearl", another spell that's part of the Holy Magic side, but I'll demonstrate that later if we have the time.
Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes, raised a paw, and concentrated on the image of a flashlight. Seeing the image, she imagined it turning on. "Light!" Her paw glowed and out came a ball of light as it floated in front of them. She opened her eyes and said excitingly, "Yes! I did it!"
"Alright, Tracy," Judy said as she patted her back.
"Way to go, kid." Nick ruffles her head. "You casted your very first spell." His look changed to confusion with Judy feeling the same way. "Wait a second. How did you manage to cast that spell? M2 wasn't there to teach you."
Tracy tapped the side of her head and explained, "That's because M2 placed The Mind Link spell so we can communicate better through thought. Even if he's in the grimoire, he can still teach me a little along the way."
"Oh…" Judy and Nick said in unison as they understood.
"Well, come on guys, follow me. Time's wasting."
Tracy led Judy and Nick through the sewer pipe while playing with the ball of light just so she could know more about how it works. Other than just being a glowing ball, it somehow followed her paw movements, then putting her paw down as the ball remained afloat and didn't follow. She tried moving it with her eyes. That seemed to even work as it moved side to side and up and down. Wanting to try another test, she focused on the ball to come to her paw. It did as she kept it flat on her paw. Finding a sewer grate that led to some part of the building, she lets the ball of light float up as Nick was the first one to open it, then the three mammals poked their heads out and saw they were in some kind of room, but it was hard to tell what it was.
Judy pulls out her smartphone and activates its phonelight, adding a bit more light while Tracy guides her ball of light around the room. Climbing out of the sewer grate, they gazed around at old beds, boxes, clothes that were covering something that none of them even knew about, a wheelchair that looked new, and other pieces of junk. To Tracy, it appeared that they came to some kind of storeroom, but had no idea what the actual building itself was. For Judy, her eyes studied the beds a bit thoroughly before coming to a conclusion of what this building was as she said, "It looks like this was a hospital."
"Hey, guys, look over there," Tracy said as she pointed to a steel door where her ball of light was shining.
The three of them slowly went towards the door with Nick in front and Judy and Tracy behind him, keeping their own lights at his back. The fox slowly but cautiously slowly extends his paw to reach the door handle to open it. Only for him to step back and push Judy forward while saying to her, "You know, after you. You're the cop."
Judy looks at him, annoyed, and turns off her light, then she looks at Tracy and tells her, "Turn off the light."
With a nod, Tracy wanted to try something. So focusing back to the image of a flashlight, she imagined it turning off, but she clenched her paw as the ball of light vanished. "Wow, cool."
Judy opens the door and peeks through, seeing an examination bed, CAT scan screens showing a brain, and other pieces of equipment. Nick peeks through her ears and looks around. "Okay, all clear," he whispers before slowly moving backwards. The rabbit cop rolls her eyes and sighs.
Taking out her smartphone again and turning its light back on, she looks around the room. "Huh, all this equipment is brand new." She starts recording everything she sees.
"Carrots," Nick said as he points at the floor, revealing claw marks while Tracy was feeling them with her paw.
"Claw marks."
"No doubt about it," Tracy said as she looked up at Judy. "This is similar to what happened back at Mr. Big's limo."
"Yeah, but these are huge, huge claw marks, Tracy," Nick said to her. "Way different than what we saw. I mean, what kind of-"
He was interrupted as a tiger roared and pounced on the glass of a cell, startling Nick and causing Tracy to yelp as they ran back to Judy with the teenager coming back to her on all fours while the rabbit cop gasped. They could only watch as the tiger growled and paced back and forth. Looking at a hallway, the rabbit cop shines her light as they see more cells. Going towards the hallway, they see more mammals, each of them still in their savaged states. For Tracy, seeing them on all fours made them look like actual animals. Instead of being held in a zoo, they were held here against their will or being experimented on. The latter sounded too terrifying for her to imagine that possibility.
Each mammal they passed growled at them. One in particular gave a familiar roar as Judy shined her light at the top left corner, finding an already healed yet still savaged Manchas growling and looking at them while still down on all fours on top of some LED lights that remained off. "Mr. Manchas," Judy whispered to Tracy and Nick.
Tracy went ahead as this was making her uncomfortable seeing that jaguar again while Nick looked at Manchas' file. She looked at one cell and could barely see anything in the dark. Her vision suddenly turned light-green, due to being in the body of a cat, and sees a familiar otter that she's seen from the photograph on all fours with only a pair of dark green corduroy slacks, exactly how Yax described it, and in front of the otter laying on the floor was a pair of broken glasses. It was undeniable. They finally found Emmitt Otterton!
"Judy, come over here!" she whispered as the rabbit cop stopped looking around and went next to her. She hears snarling while pointing to where Emmitt was and telling Judy, "Look."
Judy shines her light to where Tracy was pointing and finds Emmitt, who chitters and runs under the bed. "It's him. We found our otter. Way to go, Tracy." Nick joins the two girls as they get closer to the glass. "Mr. Otterton," the rabbit cop says to the otter reassuringly while he sniffs and looks at them with black eyes. "My name is Officer Judy Hopps. Your wife sent me to find you. We're gonna get you out of here now."
He pounces on the glass, chittering and snarling, making them jump back as they land on their backs while Nick and Tracy yelp, and the otter runs off somewhere in his cell. "Or not," Nick says. "Guess he's in no rush to get home to the missus."
Standing back up, Judy started counting, "Eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen...Not including Manchas, it's...it's fourteen." Her eyes started to widen. "Chief Bogo handed out fourteen missing mammal files...They're all here. All the missing mammals are right here."
"But why are they all here?" Tracy asked curiously.
Nick and Tracy turned to another steel door at the end of the hallway while Judy gasped as they heard beeping like someone typing a code before the door made a boop sound and started to open. Judy quickly turns off her phonelight and they run towards an empty cell, hiding low with their bellies on the floor. "Enough! I don't want excuses, Doctor, I want answers!" A familiar voice that Tracy remembers yelled. She and her two friends peeked and saw a lion, who the teenager could tell right away that he must be Lionheart, the mayor of Zootopia, walking into the hallway. He wore a dark blue business suit with a pale blue business shirt and red tie with a gold clip under it.
Right next to him was a honey badger who Lionheart called a doctor. The honey badger wore teal doctor's clothes and a white coat while carrying a clipboard. "Mayor Lionheart, please," the honey badger said in a female voice. "We're doing everything we can."
Judy starts her recording again and brings up her smartphone while Mayor Lionheart says, "Really? 'Cause I got a dozen and a half animals here who've gone off the rails crazy, and you can't tell me why. Now, I'd call that awfully far from 'doing everything'."
"Sir, it may be time to consider their biology."
Judy became confused by what she meant while Nick and Tracy were a bit suspicious about what she said.
"What?" Mayor Lionheart said, confused. "What do you mean 'biology'?"
"The only animals going savage are predators. We cannot keep it a secret. We need to come forward."
"Hmm, great idea. Tell the public." He placed a finger to his lips in mock thinking. "And how do you think they're gonna feel about their mayor…" He gestures to himself before shouting in the doctor's face, "WHO IS A LION?! I'll be ruined!"
Judy, Nick, and Tracy looked at each other in worry.
"Well, what does Chief Bogo say?"
"Chief Bogo doesn't know." Mayor Lionheart pointed a finger at her before leaning into her face. "And we are going to keep it that way."
Tracy was lost in her thoughts. Something felt way off. So far, she could already tell that Mayor Lionheart was trying to protect his job, but the way he was doing it had more reason than just that. If word were to get out about these savaged mammals, there's no telling what would happen to the city of Zootopia. On the other hand, word was bound to get out eventually and Mayor Lionheart can't keep these animals against their will. There had to be another way to help them than just keeping them prisoners. However, there was something else that crossed her thoughts...and that was concerning "The Night Howlers". She's seen the timber wolves and yet nothing happened to the predator mammals as they were already savage to begin with. They were just the search and delivery mammals to bring in any predator who's become savage, and they didn't call themselves Night Howlers. Mayor Lionheart didn't seem responsible for causing these predators to go savage and she highly doubted that he probably knew about these Night Howlers. At least not yet as she needs to ask him face to face. There was something missing to all of this. What was it?
Her thoughts were interrupted when Judy's phone rang and she frantically said in a hushed voice, "Oh, no, no, no!"
Tracy looked at her, seeing Judy tapping at the screen while the teenaged cat whispered to her, "Shut it off! Shut it off!"
Too late to stop the ringtone from echoing, Mayor Lionheart looks around, trying to find where the noise was coming from. "Someone's here."
"Sir, you need to go, now!" Mayor Lionheart runs out of the hallway. Before the doctor closes the steel door, she adds, "Security! Sweep the area!"
A red light blinks above the steel door and the alarm bell blares. The door of their cell they were in automatically closed. Nick and Judy tried to pull the door open to no avail as it was locked by a code. "Guys," Tracy said as she saw the silhouettes of the wolves behind the door. "We've got a problem."
Nick gasped as he and Judy saw the wolves behind the door as well. It was only a matter of seconds before they came in. "Great! We're dead. We're dead. That's it." He walks up to a toilet without even realizing and leans on it. "I'm dead, you're dead, Tracy's dead. Everybody's dead!"
Judy had a sudden idea while Tracy said, "Not yet we're not. I'll call M2 immediately and will fight our way out."
"No, I have a better idea. Can you swim?"
This confused her as she answered, "Of course I can swim."
"What about you?"
"What?" Nick answers Judy, confused as well. "Can I swim? Yes, I can swim. Why?"
Judy took a plastic bag out of her utility belt and placed her smartphone inside, then she climbed on the toilet. "Come on!"
Nick and Tracy put two and two together as their eyes widened in disbelief. "You have got to be kidding me?" They said in unison.
With another boop sound, the door opened and out came three wolves holding taser guns with laser sights. One was sniffing around the hallway, trying to catch a scent, he pointed his gun towards the same cell the three mammals were in. Only to notice the toilet post-flush and cocks his head to the side in confusion. The three mammals screamed as they slid down the pipe before coming out and falling down the waterfall outside the building. As they were falling, Judy goes into a dive position, Nick twists and turns in the air, and Tracy's legs kick the air while she and the fox continue to scream until they land in the water.
Nick was the first to pop up through the surface, gasping for air. "Carrots! Tracy!" Tracy emerged second, coughing out water. "Where's Judy?"
"I don't know!"
Judy emerged last while gasping for air, holding up her phone in the bag. "We gotta tell Bogo!"
At the ZPD, Chief Bogo was sitting at his desk, grinning as he was watching a video of Gazelle dancing with a tiger dancer with his face on it. He was trying to take his mind off of what happened the entire day. So far, he had already told his men who Tracy and M2 were, and where they came from. Only to shock them as this was hard to even believe. It made sense to them somehow of what transpired yesterday as not all of them were that dense to know the shockwave that struck Zootopia. It was clearly unnatural. He knew that he could trust his men. Now came the part where he had to literally call-in the entire police force, telling them that they had to go on a mammal hunt and this was a code blue alert. He explained to them, in small detail while leaving out the rest, that an arctic wolf has just attacked an officer and nearly killed not only a fellow police rabbit, but two civilians in one night. Worst of all, a male child fox is forced against his will to commit these heinous acts with him. With the word out, half of the police force were out finding these black robed individuals wherever they were.
For the last several hours, he hadn't received word of the black robed arctic wolf and the child fox in custody. It was already bad enough that he had to wait for something to happen. He was already deep into the missing mammal cases. He needed to take his mind off of the main problem and was confident enough to know that his police force should be able to bring in those two without too much trouble. "Wow, you are one hot dancer, Chief Bogo." A computerized voice of Gazelle said.
Clawhauser bursts through the door, forcing the chief of police to quickly put his smartphone away. "Chief Bogo!"
"Not now!" Chief Bogo said embarrassingly.
Clawhauser recognizes that music as it was the same as his app. "Wait, is that Gazelle?"
"No!" He tries to cover his phone with his hooves.
"I'm Gazelle, and you are one hot dancer."
"You have the app too?" He was so overjoyed to know that he wasn't the only one that got the Gazelle dancing app, that he literally placed his fists up to his face and cried out in excitement, "Ooooooh, Chieeeeeef!"
"Clawhauser, can't you see I'm working on the missing mammal cases?" He motioned his hoof towards a map that had pictures of the missing mammals and where they were last seen before disappearing.
"Oh, oh, oh, yes, of course! About that, sir. Officer Hopps just called. She found all of'em."
Chief Bogo became stunned at that. He didn't know what to say.
"Wow, I'm impressed!"
It didn't take more than an hour and a half to call-in the police force to go to the direction of Cliffside left by Judy, and start storming in with a police squadron of cars and helicopters. Sirens wailed and searchlights from the helicopters shined from above as the police rounded up the timber wolves along with Mayor Lionheart, who was being led by Chief Bogo, now in handcuffs. The searchlights shined down on Mayor Lionheart and the chief of police while Judy said to the lion, "Mayor Lionheart, you have the right to remain silent. Anything-"
"You don't understand!" Mayor Lionheart interrupted. "I was trying to protect the city!"
"You were just trying to protect your job."
"No. Listen, we still don't know why this is happening. It could destroy Zootopia."
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law."
A hippo cop brings in the honey badger doctor in handcuffs while Nick and Tracy follow behind until they stop in between a rhino cop and an elephant cop. Nick was wearing a pair of shades and holding a coffee cup that said "Snarlbucks Coffee". The two mammal cops look at the fox, and he shows them his police badge sticker and walks off, taking a sip of his drink. Tracy sighs as she was about to follow Nick, but before she could take another step, she feels a shock going through her head and sharply looks up.
"Hey," Nick said to her while raising his shades up as he noticed she wasn't following him. "What's the matter?"
"I don't know."
Nick and the two mammal cops looked up at the building. There was nothing up there. The fox bends down and takes off his shades. "What do you see?" he whispered.
He was prepared to make a run for it back to Judy and Chief Bogo, and tell them those two have returned and they have extra company. Instead, Tracy gave another sigh and shook her head saying, "Probably nothing." She places a paw at her face and starts walking. "It's been a long night and I haven't had any sleep for several days. I just hope we find a hotel to stay in, then I'm going to bed."
Nick catches up to her and rubs her back with his paw. "Yeah, you're right. We're gonna need a lot of rest for tomorrow."
What nobody noticed, not even the helicopters as they were too busy keeping their searchlights trained below and hadn't even looked above the rooftop, a lone robed figure stood with its robe flowing against the wind and arms were crossed. It watched the spectacle from above, but its eyes were trained right at Tracy. It was a little surprised that she managed to sense it even if it managed to reveal a little bit of its power. Maybe it was probably instinct that she felt. It didn't matter to the figure either way. Uncrossing its arms, it said in a male deep tone of voice, "I hope you're prepared, little girl. 'Cause sooner or later you'll have to fight against Sparx. You'll need his help if you're going to get stronger. It'd be a waste if you failed now and have that grimoire stripped from you. Although, I wonder…" He smiled behind his hood. "What does King Mickey see in you?"
At last, the missing mammals are found and we can finally close off this little story-arc. Unfortunately, this is only the calm before the storm as Tracy still needs to find The World Key. What's bad enough is that not only she's burden with the task on finding the missing Elemental Guardians and King Mickey's friends along with his wife, she must protect both Zootopia and her friends. And to add-in more of the bad news, she must fight against a mysterious robed figure who possesses the fire element but isn't controlled by dark magic. Who is this mysterious Elemental Guardian? Oddly enough, Tracy must fight against this one, but this fight isn't a duel to the death. So why must she fight against this Guardian? The answer is yet to be revealed in the story. Not to mention the fight against Sparx is drawing closer than ever. Now that Tracy has learned a bit from reading the grimoire and has learned a new trick thanks to M2. Will it be enough to save him from the dark magic that's still controlling him? That's to be expected somewhere in the story.
Right now, I'm going to be taking a break. Don't worry though, I'll be back. I just need a breather after working on these two long chapters. More chapters to come when I return, but I'm not sure how many. Till next time, I'll see y'all later for now!
