The new tales from Zootopia

by Vindictive456

This story is a well thought out work of fan-fiction that will cover in moderate pace how Judy came back to the force and convinced Nick to be her partner, Nick's training to become an officer and his days at the academy, a weird new case involving corrupt mammals and a new dangerous drug, all of that sprinkled with the growing love between Zootopia's favorite pair of officers.

8. Episode 8: Training Montage part 1

Author's note: Hello there everyone. Valiant here once more and, as it was advertised, here is the two parter chapter i promissed a while back. Hoping you all are having a great time and are staying safe and good wherever you are. As you may come to notice, this piece of the story has a few time stamps during some of it, that is a story device that i've seen in one fan fiction a while back and decided to slap it here to give it a better sense of time and place. With that little tidbit out of the way, enjoy the reading and keep being awesome.

Episode 8: Training Montage p. 1

Savana Central / 9:23 A.M. / 48 Days until the academy

It was way past the addition time at the ZPD building, the time when eager and mindful mammals could submit their applications to join in the carrier of law enforcement, but Judy already had everything in order. It was a busy couple of weeks for her, mountains of paper work, two days of further reorientation and reapplying into the force, an entire afternoon to talk important assignment details and take notes with the chief, not to mention being present at the Tundra Town central hospital at the day when Fru-Fru finally gave birth to her daughter promptly named 'Little Judy'. It was an entire afternoon of pictures that were taken and a few happy tears to be shared.

The highest point of that time would have to go, however, to the manufacture and testing of the anti-Night-howler serum, Judy wanted to be right there at the hospital when the mammals would receive the cure and be returned to their original state of mind. Mr. Otterton was one of the first to get the serum and one of the first to wake up on his hospital bed, being received by the loving arms of his wife instead of the constricting hold of a leash around his neck when he finally regained conscience. It certainly was an eventful and tiring period, but now it was all solved and how it needed to be for the time being. The bunny officer finally had some time to kill and some room to breathe, she was going to put it to good use and place her flawless plan into action.

All of the officers had their assignments given for the day and the morning had ran pretty smoothly up to that point, Judy was by her locker, frantically filling a duffle bag with all of the remaining things she would need for the day, it was finally time, after convincing chief Bogo and checking the proper channels she had gotten a place for Nick into the police academy but only if he was able to accomplish all of the requirements to get in by the given time table. It was time for her to administrate his training. After double-checking the bag to make sure all of the supplies were noted and accounted for, she swung the bag over her back, almost loosing balance and falling down in the process, but she stood firm on her feet, closed the metal door of her locker and proceeded to exit the room and make her way to the exit.

After leaving the locker room behind, Judy walked on an immense hallway with long windows by her right side showing the morning movement starting to grow just outside the precinct building, her ears moved around trying to catch any significant sound that came from inside the ZPD but everything was calm so she relaxed and let her ears fell slightly back over her head, everything seemed to be moving slowly that morning, she hoped it would remain that way for the duration of the day. As she exited the hallway and caught a sight of the front door, she saw a familiar shape moving over at the front desk, a big figure with yellow colored fur dotted with dark spots, sharply placed within the dark blue of a uniform and making his way over to the desk from the side entrance of the main hall, called her attention and made her hopeful to cumpriment an old familiar face before heading out for the day.

She approached the front desk and leaned her body to the side to make sure that the mammal organizing a box of his personal belongings was, in fact, the one she thought him to be and it made her release a happy 'gasp' when she confirmed it. There, humming a happy melody as he placed the previously stored items on their proper place, was Benjamin Clawhauser. The chubby cheetah who enjoyed making friends with the other officers, the first one to salute Judy during her first day on the job and avid pop music fan, was back on his original post and he had a smile of pure jubilance. Judy placed the bag she was carrying on the floor and spoke up in order to catch his attention:

- Benjamin!

Clawhauser halted his efforts halfway after hearing his name being called, but as he turned and looked around, he saw no one, that is, until he caught a glimpse of a pair of bouncing, long ears by the edge of the desk, he peeked his head over and saw the glistening purple eyes and the smiling face of the bunny which made him grin even more. He released a little scream as he extended his right paw to cumpriment her and say:

- Hopps! Oh. My. Gosh! It's so nice to see you!

Judy responded to his gesture by using both of her paws to grab his and give it a little shake by giving short jumps and make her entire body holding his paw to bounce up and down, she answered with a cheerful tone of voice:

- It's great to see you too Clawhauser. I missed you so much.

- Apparently, you were not the only one!

Benjamin spoke as such, there was a small touch of bragging in his voice, he turned around and displayed a small mound of gifts placed nearby that were given to him by the other members of precinct one earlier that day, quite a few boxes of donuts among them, he spoke up while looking for something among the pile:

- The guys gave me an amazing "welcome back"! I've been getting gifts like this all morning!

Judy thought that was very sweet. As she smiled, Benjamin picked one of the donut boxes that hadn't been opened yet and presented its contents to Judy as he said:

- Here, you are welcome to pick one, if you want to.

Slightly touched by his action, but not feeling in the mood for something sweet at the moment, Judy politely dismissed the treats by showing off the palm of her paw and saying:

- Oh, no thanks Benjamin. I really shouldn't.

He insisted on it by bringing the box slightly closer to her and saying with his brows moving up and down almost as if he was tempting her:

- C'mon, indulge. I know you want to.

With a smile and a selective motion on her fingers, rubbing them together as her eyes analyzed the wide selection of sweets further, Judy decided to accept the offer and have at least one donut. She focused her eyes on a single one and said while launching a glance at the cheetah:

- Fine. I'll have only one.

Judy picked up the one donut that was covered with a thin layer of powder sugar, after picking it up a small cloud of the treat's powdered white cover sprinkled over the rest, Judy made quick work of her first bite, chomping the donut and delighting her pallet with its taste. The donut was very big compared to Judy's mouth, she could only take a few portions of the treat's total mass at a time, she would dive her mouth and sprinkle her nose with a little bit of the white sugary dust, Benjamin found the few times when her nose twitched to get rid of some of it absolutely precious. After she was halfway done with it she looked at Benjamin and said:

- Thanks Benjamin. I guess I haven't noticed how hungry I was until now.

- You're very welcome. So… where are you heading on this fine morning?

Benjamin asked as he pointed a claw to the huge bag she was taking with her, Judy grabbed the long strap and adjusted it with the intent of placing the bag over her back once more. Looking right at Benjamin as he leaned over the counter she explained herself:

- These are just a few items that I need to begin a training program. A good friend of mine is planning on joining the ZPD and I plan on helping him on doing just that.

- Uh! A 'Good friend'? Color me intrigued! Do tell.

Benjamin placed his elbows over the counter and put his paws under his chin, this made his cheeks puff up and accentuated the curiosity in his eyes, that made Judy giggle, she decided to take a little bit of a time to justify her actions to her friend, she sat over the bag and took another little bite of the donut, she took time to chew and swallow it before beginning to talk:

- I have this friend called Nick, he is a fox, he was a key witness and he helped me get to the bottom of the missing mammals case, we had a little bit of a… falling out. I felt really bad about it, about… some of the things I said to him.

Benjamin placed a paw in front of his mouth and sounded a little gasp as his sense of drama started to tingle after hearing the pauses on her delivery and the tinge of sadness that got mixed in her voice, he just knew something serious must have happened, but her sincere smile returned as she took a quick breath to continue speaking and that showed him that there was a whole lot more to that story:

- We patched things out recently. We talked a lot and hung out a bunch, he even helped me move out to a much nicer place here in the city. I will always be grateful for that. Now, he wants to go to the academy and join the ZPD, that is why I'm heading out to begin his training.

Clawhauser was speechless, he felt such a growing passion from Judy's words, it felt as if he just had to learn more about this new intriguing character in her life, but before he had the chance to ask her any more details about him, Judy took one look at her cellphone to check the time and realized that it was already quite past the time she had charted in her plans. With her eyes shooting open in shock she yelled out:

- Oh, sour grapes! I'm am already late! I have to go now!

Judy ate the last portion of her donut in a single bite and didn't even chewed on it properly before swallowing it, she hoisted the duffle bag onto her back, nearly losing balance once more in the process, and darted to the front door of the precinct. As she was just leaving with a series of quick scampers towards the doors of the building, she turned around and waved her paw as she delivered a lightning fast farewell to the cheetah:

- Sorry to leave in such a hurry Benjamin but I got to go. It was really great to see you again. Bye for now. Have a nice day!

Not sure on how to answer that and also impressed with the small mammal's speed, Benjamin was left by the front desk just waving and wishing her a friendly goodbye when, in fact, she was already long gone and out of hearing reach:

- Oh, okay. Bye, Hopps.

Judy dashed through the streets, the movement was starting to grow by the minute with cars and transport trucks passing by increasingly more, her jog up to Nick's apartment was close to Olympic levels of dedication, she crossed paths with a few larger mammals and jumped clear off a huge puddle of water that covered a good portion of the street near the curb side of a cross walk, an impressive feat considering her size compared to the obstacle and that she was still carrying such a heavy bag during all of it. Judy took the momentum of her run into consideration and got a huge impulse from her bunny legs right by the edge of the sidewalk, clearing the entire stretch of the wet hindrance and landing cleanly on the other side, keeping her paws and her cargo dry and also impressing a young wombat who witnessed her epic leap from the other side of the street.

As she closed the distance with the apartment building where Nick lived she began to slow down, taking one last look at her cellphone to make sure that she would get there no problem, she opened the GPS application and breathed easy saying to herself:

- Wow! I'm making great time! I should really get into exercises like this more often.

Only a few blocks before reaching Nick's place, Judy captured a delicious scent coming from the other side of the street, there was a café with an open selection of dishes displayed in a welcoming glass counter, cakes, pies and treats had their sweet smells mixed with the very noticeable aroma of coffee and, according to a small board placed by the entrance, there was a special discount for a full meal set that day. Judy, figuring that it might be nice to bring some food to enjoy before training, approached the establishment and asked for a two mammal course, the antelope over the counter handed her two Styrofoam boxes each containing a set of light sandwiches, cups with freshly squeezed orange juice and two muffins.

Continuing on her original path with a bag on her back and a plastic sack carrying food in her right paw, Judy walked with a moderate pace until she arrived right by the street where her final destination resided, only thing was, there was something amiss. Sitting right in front of the apartment building there was a familiar looking van with an iconic paint job on its side, also, resting by the back of the van, wearing a black bowling shirt and a pair of sunglasses too big for him, there was a fennec fox, just listening to some music on his phone while he waited for something. Surprised to see him, Judy approached and asked:

- Finnick? Is that you?

A silly question, but she was legitimately surprised to encounter him. The diminutive fox removed one of his ear pieces and cumprimented her with a nonchalant salute:

- Hi there fuzz. How's it hanging?

Finn was not the type of mammal who went for small talk, although he did seem unusually cheery that day and disposed to pull out a conversation, he hopped out of the back of his van onto street level to talk with Judy eye to eye, sort of. He approached her and asked:

- What do you got there?

Finnick was pointing a claw to the small plastic sack in Judy's paw, she hoisted the food filled bag slightly up and answered:

- It's some food that I brought for Nick and for myself. If he is really going to give his all during training, then he needs lots of energy.

Finnick sounded off a single chuckle after hearing that, he turned around to get the back doors of the van closed while he spoke to Judy:

- Good thinking. Food is the best bait you can use to get his lazy tail out of bed.

Judy watched as the little fox hopped in the air to grab the door handles and swing each door closed, it took a while for the comment to sink in, after he finished closing the vehicle up and began walking towards the driver's seat, Judy decided to ask with a surprised tone:

- Nick is still asleep?!

- Yeah. I popped in yesterday to play some cards and we finished up pretty late at night. His place was a mess when I came by, just a heads up.

Judy directed her eyes to the building, not really sure what she was looking for, she said with an air of confidence:

- I have one hundred brothers back home. If there is really a mess in there it cannot hold a candle to the ones I had to help clean up.

Judy directed her eyes back down to earth and noticed an important detail related to Finn's van and, more importantly, where it was parked specifically. She pointed a finger gesturing to the vehicle and said:

- You know? I'm pretty sure that your van is a classified as a category 2 transport and it is distinctively not permitted to park one of those within the accessing proximity of a fire hydrant.

Finnick halted his moves and directed an alarmed look to the side walk she was pointing at. She was right. There was a yellow fire hydrant inches away from where the van was parked, a close enough distance to incite a parking ticket. With his deep voice now set into a frustrated mode, he spoke:

- God damnit!

Judy placed a paw in front of her mouth to hold out a laugh, she put Finnick's worries of getting a parking ticket at ease by saying:

- Relax. I am off the clock. I'm pretty sure I can let this one slide.

Finn's ears twitched a lot from side to side, he sort of does that sometimes when he is thinking a lot about a certain subject, after he was done thinking he raised his paw and spoke with a laugh well-hidden at the back of his throat, it was a little hard for Judy to identify that even with her augmented hearing because the tinge of Finnick's voice was so deep, but she was sure that he still sounded well humored and sincere:

- You know what? I had my doubts about you fuzz, but you're actually pretty cool.

Judy took heart by that complement, she gestured with her paw running over the strap of the bag and spoke up:

- Thanks… I think. No one has actually called me 'cool' before, so this is new to me

Finnick didn't give a lot of mind to that, he opened the door to the driver seat but he didn't enter the vehicle immediately, instead, he turned around to face Judy and say with a serious tone in his deep voice:

- Look, Nick told me that he wants to get into this whole 'cop' thing, he says he wants to continue hanging around you and make sure that he can do it. I think it is a crazy idea, but, to be fair, he has got away with way crazier things in the past.

Judy let her shoulders down and directed her ears straight at Finn, paying solemn attention to every word he was saying, Finnick continued after taking a short breath:

- Wilde vouched for you, he thinks you're cool too, he placed a lot of trust in you. That is a great thing since… I haven't seen him opening up to a lot of other mammals besides me. That being said, I want to give you something to help out. As a sign of good faith and all of that.

Judy really appreciated those words, it was really touching to her the way that the little fox was showing his admiration for the effect she had over Nick. Finnick hopped inside the van, not even expecting an answer from her and reached for the glove compartment, he opened the little sliding door by the right side of the front seat and retrieved a single silver key that was placed at a hidden spot inside the compartment. He jumped out of the van and extended his paw to give the key to Judy, she didn't really understand what it was for but she guessed it was very important, with the metal item held in the palm of her left paw, she directed her eyes at him and asked:

- Finnick, what is this?

- That's a spare key for Wilde's place.

Judy's eyes shot open in surprise, it was obvious that she was going to ask why did Finn had that in the first place, anticipating the inquiry, Finnick showed the palm of his right paw to her and answered prematurely:

- Long story. There was this huge party and the idiot let his original key fall into a storm drain on the way home and we decided to exchange keys in case of emergencies, sort of a gentle mammals agreement. I'm trusting it to you for now, I won't be needing it anyway.

Judy pressed the key in her paw, she wasn't sure about the origin story of the item but she was now sure it was the real deal and it was really important, before she could get a thank you across, Finnick was already getting into the van and preparing to head out on his way. She ran close to the van's side window and asked:

- Finnick, wait! Where are you going?

The little fox turned the engine on and was already looking for a booming soundtrack to pop into the sound system as he answered:

- I'm heading out of town for a few days, is a family thing. My cousin needs me to come by her home in Foxton and watch a few things for her. I'm leaving that key in your care until I come back, so don't lose it.

Judy held the key close to her chest, she stood in a stance similar to a devoted soldier speaking to a superior officer and answered:

- You can rest easy. I'll take good care of it.

- Solid. Take care fuzz.

Judy waved and was ready to get inside and head up the stairs to get to Nick's place, but before getting to the front door of the building she heard Finnick calling out to her one last time:

- Hey, wait up! I forgot to tell you something!

She turned around and heard him speaking:

- Wilde is a nice mammal but he hides it really good underneath a big pile of wise cracking bullshit, if he gets too much on your nerves, don't take it personally, also, don't hesitate on kicking his ass.

Judy could not hold her laugh back, Finnick had the best of intentions and he also knew better than most how Nick's mind worked and how to get a point across to him, Judy nodded with her head meaning that she understood what was meant at the time, Finnick gave her a thumbs up and drove off into the distance. Now, she was finally ready to enter and get things started. Judy climbed the stairs and went straight into the hallway with a wide selection of white doors separated from each other by a distasteful wallpaper, Judy searched until she found the third door one door on the hallway that she was looking for, she inserted the key given to her by Finn and the lock spun without any trouble allowing her entrance.

After closing the door behind her, Judy found out that the apartment was shrouded in darkness and her eyes took quite a while to get used to the dim illumination of the new environment, there was only a faint beam of light getting into the apartment from a nearly closed curtain at the far side of the living room. Judy did her best to reach the source of light without any bumps, avoiding any major obstacle in her way, it was hard to distinguish the exact nature of each object she passed by at first since she couldn't see very well in the dark. After she reached the other side of the apartment she opened the curtains by grabbing one of the drapes and pulling it to the side with one wide motion of her arm, letting the light into the place and revealing all of it to her sight.

Judy's eyes traveled plenty of times around the residence belonging to Nick, it wasn't such a mess as Finnick made it out to be. The space was still a little disorganized but it was quite welcoming, upon further inspection Judy saw that she was in a kitchen area similar to the one in her place only made with bigger appliances having the physiology of a larger mammal in mind for their use. The stove was small and it had an empty pan left to rest on top of it, there were a few used plates and glasses left on top of a modest looking round wooden table along with a familiar looking deck of cards, nearby there was also a counter separating the kitchen from the living room. Judy walked past the counter taking note of a few things as she paced making a quick reckon of the place.

There was a small, rectangular glass coffee table placed over an old, rough looking carpet on the floor, the couch was spacious but it was nearly completely occupied by various stacks of books and tomes neatly organized in piles of twenty each, there was a huge television set bolted to a wall in front of the couch and, placed near the wall behind it, an enormous and old looking wooden drawer cabinet with small models of different automobiles placed over it. Each model was the representation of a variant vehicle and it all seemed to be organized in a symmetric line up from oldest to newest. As a finishing touch there were a few posters and portraits hanging on the wall around her, just one or two pictures depicting Nick alongside a few friends and a few showing off great athletes in spectacular moments of action.

After scoping the place, Judy let the duffle bag rest over the carpet near the foot of the couch and went deeper into the apartment in search of Nick's room, there was a short hallway on the right wall and by the end of it a door with a round knob leading to Nick's room. Judy gave a short hop in the air to reach the knob and turn it with both of her paws, since she didn't have paw pads like Nick to acquire friction over the smooth metal of the knob she had to try extra hard to turn it and get the door to open up. After undoing the latch, the door began to slowly swing open revealing the resting place of the fox, Judy looked to the side and caught a glimpse of a bed placed by the nearby wall, positioned on the mattress there was a big mount of pillows providing maximum comfort to the one still deeply asleep over it, Nick was right there under the sheets having his torso expand and retract at a steady rhythm as he breathed and having his head rested soundly over the biggest pillow of the bunch, a cushion that was clearly made for a mammal much bigger than him.

Judy turned on her cellphone and adjusted the brightness setting of the screen to get some light and directed it to the ground so she could walk around without tripping over any object that might have been left on the floor, she approached the bed frame from the side and called to him in a melodious whisper:

- Nick.

The fox's ear twitched for a second signifying that he heard her but not enough to wake up, Judy decided to call to him again, this time she reached up and gave his shoulder a gentle nudge in an attempt to wake his body as well as his mind:

- Nick. It's time to wake up.

Nick pressed his eyes shut and his muzzle frizzled up almost as if he was about to launch an angry snarl but a small grunt coming from his throat let Judy know that he was waking up little by little. Without opening his eyes, the fox asked with a sleepy voice:

- Carrots? Is… that you?

Judy smiled with the fact that he seemed awake and answered his question with a soft retort:

- Yes Nick, it's me. I came to wake you up.

Nick twitched a bit on the bed, his ears moved in the direction of her voice and his nose sniffed the air to confirm that the bunny was indeed inside his room, although, suspecting that he was imagining things, he asked, keeping his eyes closed:

- Is… this some kind of… weird dream?

Judy giggled, she found the image of her friend struggling to wake up simply precious, she was half tempted to snag a photo of him, but she held out on that. Judy got a little closer and answered his question:

- No Nick. This isn't a dream. I'm really here.

- Figures.

Nick displayed a grumpy expression on his still sleeping face, he picked up one of the pillows placed nearby and placed it on top of his head in an attempt to snuff out any following sound that might hit his senses, from underneath the pillow he spoke up:

- If this was a dream I would be hanging out by the beach, with a freshly opened coconut in my paw… and getting a nice tan in the process.

Slightly annoyed with his apparent refusal to get up, Judy nudged the pillow with the palm of her left paw and spoke up with a marginally louder volume in her voice:

- Nick, you got to wake up. We're supposed to start your training routine today! We have a lot of material to go over and not a lot of time until the academy selection.

Nick removed the pillow from his head, Judy was convinced that he was going to wake up without any more complaints, but, instead of opening his eyes right away, Nick turned to his side over the mattress to face Judy and raised his right arm showing off the palm of his paw. The fox's paw slowly reached over to Judy and rested gently right atop her head and between her ears, Judy didn't understand what he was doing but that felt rather nice. The rough but gentle palm of the fox's paw rubbed gently against her scalp and she felt a tingle that rushed over her skin and quickly turned into a nice sense of serene warmth taking a hold of her, suddenly she felt a little tap above her head as the paw traveled to her right cheek to deliver another tap, unsure of where that was going she called out to him:

- Nick?

There was no answer, Nick's paw just continued to run over her head, petting her slightly almost as if he was looking for something:

- Nick?!

Judy called out again, but Nick still didn't answer, he just kept on doing what he was doing before until his paw passed over her face and booped her on the nose. Fed up with that, Judy got a hold of his paw and asked with the definitive intent of getting a straight answer:

- Nick! What are you doing?

Showing off a slick smile now occupying his sleeping maw, the fox answered:

- Looking for the snooze button.

Judy was not amused, she tossed Nick's paw back at him and spoke out:

- Nick, just wake up already! We need to get started right away!

- Fine, I'm going. Just give me a quick minute to get ready.

Judy watched as Nick raised from the mattress, the small light from her cellphone screen was enough to let her see the silhouette of the fox moving up and stretching his body out making his muscles extend and his bones crick into place. One thing was amiss though, it took Judy a few seconds to notice that he was shirtless and that immediately made her uncomfortable, she directed her eyes to his face and saw him yawning, revealing his tongue curving up along with a gleaming set of sharp fangs as his mouth opened all the way up. Judy had never seen a predator waking up so close to her until that day, the sight of Nick's physical make up on display sent a signal of worry into her mind but she also found it fascinating, it was very hard to deviate her sight from him. As Nick's eyes opened up and began to adapt to the lack of light in his room, Judy turned her head away in a hurry and made a line to the door, before exiting the room she heard Nick's voice asking of her:

- How did you come inside anyway?

Without directing her eyes back at him and holding the frame of the door half open, Judy stopped moving and answered him:

- Finnick gave me his spare key. He let me borrow it until he comes back in a few days. Told me he was going to visit a cousin of his.

Nick used the claws of his left paw to gently scratch beneath his chin as he thought about that, it immediately came to him that he should say:

- Must be Lorely, her daughter is a real firecracker, Finn gets called every once in a while to watch over the little pup. Both of them are super fun to hang out. He'll probably be up in Foxton for a couple of weeks.

Judy made her way out of his room simply giving Nick a nod with her head and a throat clearing sound as a retort before leaving the room behind and leaving Nick with enough space to get dressed and get ready. She retreated back to the kitchen where she placed the plastic bag she was bringing over the table to separate the food items inside. Meanwhile, Nick was getting inside the bathroom in his room to get a little once over before heading out, he turned the light inside of the bathroom and the shine felt a little aggressive to his eyes before he got used to it, he grabbed a scoop of water from the sink and tossed it on his face to wash it over. After that, he picked a shirt hanging on a hook nearby, a pair of pants placed close to his bed and got out of the room, he didn't even bother to put a tie on as he usually did every morning, he had a felling he was not going to need it.

As Nick closed the door to his room behind him and walked out of the hallway, he was immediately received by the bunny who started speaking non-stop with a rapid barrage of words that he could not grasp in its entirety:

- Nick, I'm so glad you're finally awake! I brought a couple of documents and vital notes that you'll need to take a look so you can get a leg up on the selection for the academy, I got a plan made specifically for you in terms of your training regimen and I also prepared a small map of Zootopia so I can get a better grasp on the training grounds we could use for…

Nick showed her a pointing finger before interrupting her with a single low sound coming from between his fangs:

- 'Shhhhhh'…

Judy stopped talking abruptly before hearing the fox speak with a much lower setting than hers, asking:

- Carrots, do you hear that?

Judy made her ears move in every direction after Nick asked that and placed a paw close to his ear as if he had heard some noise in the distance, the little, fuzzy auricles above her head twitched and waded from side to side in the hopes of capturing any particular noise that Nick might be referring to, after a few seconds of her looking and still not identifying a sound that was not from the outside world, Nick delivered his answer:

- That's my brain… still getting in gear. Give me a moment to get something to eat and then you can get me into the system.

Judy placed two paws in front of her mouth and apologized:

- I'm sorry. I got a little excited.

- No worries. Sorry for the mess.

Nick began to walk over the apartment having the kitchen as his main goal for the morning, Judy politely dismissed his apology for the state of his home:

- Don't bother apologizing. I've seen way worse messes back home in Bunnyburrow.

Nick put one paw into the kitchen and his nose was already able to catch a sense of something that smelled delicious, curious about what may have been, he followed to the origin of the smell which was already taking a hold of the air in his apartment and found a duo of small container over the table close by. He pointed a claw to it and asked:

- What's that?

Judy hoped towards the kitchen and answered promptly:

- I stopped by a little café on the way here and got us some food, I brought you a turkey and toast bread sandwich, a light muffin and a fresh orange juice.

Nick sniffed almost as if he was holding out a cry and spoke in his signature jokey tone:

- My hero.

Nick and Judy sat down to enjoy the food she brought, unfortunately for Judy the table was too high for her, Nick had to grab a few of his comic books and stack them to make an improvised booster seat for her on the one condition that she didn't move excessively while seated over them. Nick was delighting himself with the sandwich, after two bites he turned to Judy and said with a little bit of food still in his mouth:

- Wow! Is this Galileo's turkey sandwich? They always know just the amount of salt to put on it.

Judy laughed as she began to chow down on her sandwich made specifically for a small herbivore like herself, she took one swig of her orange juice as Nick decided to ask:

- So… now that I got some food in my belly, what is it that you were going to tell me?

Judy wiped her mouth and swallowed the bite she just had quickly before getting down from the chair to answer him. She went to grab the duffle bag she left resting over the carpet, she opened the zipper and began to unload the contents from within. Inside the bag there were books and notebooks that looked plenty old, a few years at least, there was a recently acquired map of Zootopia folded into a neaty little square and, at last but not least, a small notebook with a subtle black cover. Nick was curious and began picking some of the objects to analyze them closer:

- What is all of this?

- These are some of the books that I had to study to pass through the academy's toughest exams, they give extensive explanations about laws, codes of conduct, civil codes along with police tactics and procedures, you will need to learn those to better communicate with other officers in other precincts.

The pile of books appeared intimidating at first, there were at least ten large tomes with prolonged texts about all of the subjects listed by Judy and he was not looking forward to reading them. However, most of his worries were laid to rest when she presented to him a few notebooks with varied cover designs, most of them filled until the last page with important notes, she explained to him:

- You won't have to worry about recording all of it in your mind, I do know that can be a pretty harrowing task. These old notebooks have my own personal annotations about police work, I don't have them marked but they are much easier to understand.

Nick opened one of the notebooks and noticed how a lot of the transcriptions were organized, procedures and codes were all separated in neat little squares drawn out by paw and there was even a subtitle system at the very first page to better capture the importance of each subject, Nick was rightfully impressed. He released a little laugh, Judy didn't understand if there was something funny in what she said so she asked with a little uncertainty:

- What is it?

- Your writing is really nice. I noticed there are little stars on some of the pages. What are they for?

- Oh, they're parts where I was getting stuck during basic training and a few advanced classes along the way that I had to catch up on. Shouldn't be a problem for you.

Nick closed the notebook and went on to grab another book and quickly scroll through it, but his eyes deviated from the pages as soon as he heard Judy demonstrating the last item she had retrieved from the bag:

- The thing you must absolutely have with you at all times, however, is this.

She showed the black notebook with both of her paws holding it on clear view right in front of her, Nick put the book he had on paw down and reached to grab the notebook, there was a moment of hesitation when his paw stopped in the air, unsure if he was actually meant to have it but a quick gesture from Judy let him know it was okay. Nick held the notebook in his paws and opened it, he read the words scribbled on the first page out loud:

- 'ZPD Training Program… Version 2.1'?

A tad bashful from having included that last piece into the title, she explained:

- The first version had a lot of time constraints that I wasn't sure about at first so I had to upgrade it… twice.

Nick just smiled with lazy eyes at her, but the make of his look changed considerably once he opened the black notebook and caught a sight of his agenda from that day on. All of the pages were filled with categorized charters and time tables about what he should do and when he should do it, the totality of his days for an entire month or so where completely filled with exercise and study routines and that became more apparent with every page he turned. Judy raised her body and stood up over the pile of comic books made to be her seat, she leaned over reaching with her arm to point and gesture at the notebook and explain:

- I came up with a system to get you to take the most out of your training experience, I factored in the traveling time until we reach different biomes where your training will take place, the favorable time slots marked in blue are the best study hours and I even took into consideration our differing physiologies to add new training tactics I wish to experiment.

- Wow, carrots! I am impressed… also a little scared.

- I guess that I did go a little overboard with my line of thought.

Nick continued to turn the pages and felt compelled to ask:

- You didn't factored in 'bathroom breaks', did you? Because my body follows its own clock when it comes to that.

Judy laughed and reassured him aware that his question was made as a bit of a joke:

- No, you can relax.

- Alright. So… when do we begin?

Judy got off of her seat with a short hop to the floor and answered without hesitation in her voice:

- Right now.

Nick closed the notebook as he saw Judy hopping off the chair and take the folded out map with her, surprised by the answer and not sure if it was a joke to get him pumped up or something of the sort he asked:

- Wait, you mean 'right now' as in 'right now'?

- I told you, we got a lot to go through and not a lot of time so we need to start as soon as possible, the little black notebook covers that as well.

Judy picked up the map of Zootopia and unfolded it little by little, she continued her explanation after having the big piece of paper safe in her paws:

- I'm going to have to divert my time into helping you and covering my shift at the ZPD, which is not going to be easy, as such, you will need to cover what you can on your own when I am not around. This training program that I presented to you will push your body and mind to the limit just like I did when I started training and our first step is to begin mild exercises to get you ready for the big stuff.

Nick watched as she placed more and more details of her plans out, in his perspective, Judy looked like an engine of perpetual motion and optimism, she was even willing to cut time off her actual job to help him achieve the set of mind and body needed for the academy life he had ahead of him. Nick gave one step closer to her and asked:

- Are you sure that you'll be okay doing that? Taking time out of your job just to help me out? Because I don't want you overexerting yourself or getting in trouble with chief Buffalo-butt just because of me.

Judy smiled at him and gave her reassuring confirmation:

- That's really sweet of you to say Nick, but you don't have to worry. I have everything in order to successfully direct your training and work at the precinct with plenty of time. So, you can rest easy.

Judy laid the map on the floor, it was almost a rug covering a good portion of the kitchen floor, she picked up her cellphone and pulled out the GPS app to recall the trajectory for the training she had planned out earlier. With her cellphone in her paw she gestured towards Nick and spoke out:

- You might want to get a lighter set of clothes. We are going to get a lot of exercising done today. Bring a little bottle of water too.

Nick thought for a little while and then spoke out to her:

- I think I have an old set of gym clothes inside one of my drawers, let me check.

Nick went on to look for the set of clothing he was referring to in the drawer cabinet by the far wall of the living room, most of the items contained within the wooden compartments were objects that he hardly used anymore, clothes, electronic gadgets, even clothes, many things that he forgot he had and didn't have much sense to donate or throw it away. He opened the first drawer and roamed through the clothes inside, among other items, but after not finding what he was looking for, he closer the drawer and went straight to opening another one and search some more. Judy was done with double-checking a training route over the map and decided to approach Nick, she folded the paper map into a little square once more and walked closer to him.

Judy watched as he kept on his frantic searching, she leaned her body by the side of the medium size cabinet to wait in anticipation, Nick closed the second drawer with a touch of frustration and went on to look inside the third and last drawer. Judy decided to pull out some conversation as he looked and asked:

- So… I feel like I have to ask: Why do you have so many pillows on your bed?

Nick didn't diverted from his search, he continued to turn the items from the drawer around as he answered her question:

- Because I like absolute comfort when I sleep. The one pillow that I got to place my head on I actually got from a stock sale for big mammals. Best money I've ever invested in the name of my long sleeping nights.

Judy let her little smile show for his answer, she looked at the

- Are all of these yours?

Nick diverted his eyes from the drawer and directed them up as he looked into what she was referring to, the collection of model vehicles over the drawer cabinet, he smiled as he bragged about his collection:

- Just a few items that I picked up along the years. They are vintage, same as the comics, so look, don't touch.

Judy laughed a little loud after hearing that, Nick sounded like a kid trying to protect his toys from prying paws that might break them, she came a bit closer and spoke out:

- Seriously Nick? I can understand you being so protective of your toys, but the comic books don't seem all that important.

Nick stopped looking through the opened drawer in front of him, he placed his body in a straight stance and made Judy quit speaking like that:

- You bite your tongue officer carrot breath! First of all: These are not 'toys'. These are scale models of real life vehicles and I have been collecting these for a long time. Second of all: What is wrong with my comic books?

Judy shrugged his question off, she got around to answering him after walking around closer to the couch and pulling one of the manuscripts from the pile:

- I just think that these stories are silly. I mean… just take a look at this one.

Judy showed the cover of one of the comic books, Nick had a sour look on his face since that particular story was one of his favorites, he walked closer and asked:

- What's wrong with the 'Bulk'? He's really cool!

- C'mon! A bunny scientist gets bombarded by gamma rays and then he gets the power to turn into a raging green furred monster when he gets angry? That is utter nonsense!

Nick snagged the manuscript from her paws and displayed an outraged expression as he defended the plot of the legendary super hero story by simply yammering:

- It's not 'nonsense'! It's science!

- You know? Most times when a mammal, any mammal, gets hit with gamma radiation, they die. That's science!

Nick leaned her way as he launched his justification:

- That's the best part of it all! It's the fact that he had a one in a million chance of surviving and he not only survived he became better, plus there is so much more than a "Jekyll and Hyde" flare to the story. It's the allusion that good deeds and heroics can come from anywhere, even the most unexpected places.

Judy raised a brow in face of the fox's explanation, he had clearly spent a lot of thought in that description about the big green hero from the story. She reached for another comic book in the pile and showed it to him:

- What about this one? 'Spider-Monkey'?!

- What's wrong with Spider-Monkey? He is awesome!

Judy launched a single laughter before opening the book and analyzing the story in a hurry being guided by the colorful images in each one of the pages:

- He is a pre-pubescent primate that gets bitten by a radioactive spider and gets the ability to climb up things and above than average strength. I mean… look at this.

Judy pointed a finger at a particular picture that had the titular hero unmasked and working at a small workbench on the devices that were attached to his wrists, she spoke her point across:

- He created these little 'thingies' to shoot webs from his hands. I get that it was to keep the whole 'spider' motif but he could just as easily been called 'The ant' or even 'The gecko'.

Annoyed with her line of thought, Nick snatched the other book from her paws and spoke out as he put it away back in the pile to organize it later:

- Could you please stop poking holes at my comics plotlines?! You're ruining the traces of childlike wonder that are still contained within them!

After getting that one final laugh, Judy leaned herself by the couch and waited for Nick to find the set of clothes he was looking for at the back of the last drawer, a modest, sleeveless, black shirt followed by a set of dark green shorts. He rushed into his room so he could change into them as Judy anticipated the start of their first training session with her right foot tapping on the floor. Nick came back to the living room, dressed and prepared and saw Judy moving in the direction of the front door, he walked close behind her and asked:

- So, what's my first task for the training?

Judy picked her cellphone and double-checked the route they were going to take for the day across the savanna, she began speaking trying to show the map in the small screen to him while she was at it:

- We are going to divide your lessons across the entire city. Since there is a stretch at the academy grounds representing each one of the varied biomes across Zootopia, I figured that there is no better training ground. We'll have to start small by taking a quick jog around the savanna district, and then…

- Cool! Let's jet!

Nick spoke so as he darted to the front door leaving Judy behind to catch up with him, surprised by his enthusiasm, but also suspicious it might have just been overconfidence, Judy walked with long strides closer to Nick so that she may stop him from going anywhere unprepared. She shouted out the door as the fox was already reaching the stairs leading down to street level:

- Nick, wait up! You don't even know where you're going!

The answer coming from the fox already descending one of the steps was as such:

- That has never stopped me before. Today's not gonna be any different!

Judy closed the door that he had forgotten open and mumbled to herself as she flipped the key into the lock:

- Oh, dumb fox! We're five seconds in and he is already going off plan.

She finished closing the door and darted in pursue of the fox:

- Nick! Wait for me!

Judy hopped down the stairs and found the fox waiting for her at the front door of the building, she nearly bumped right on the legs of a bear that was carrying a few groceries with him up the steps. A little mad with Nick's apparent impatience, Judy approached him with a noticeable frown, but the only answer he had for that was a simple:

- Hey. What took you so long?

- Nick, you can't just run off on me like that, we have a schedule to follow through. Look, I pulled out a GPS on my phone that should point us on the…

- Carrots, I don't need any global positioning system program to tell me where to head out to. I just go right ahead and do stuff. You said it yourself, we don't have a lot of time, so let's just head out and do stuff already!

Judy put the phone away and looked at Nick, he seemed really excited for this, she looked straight at him and asked:

- Are you sure that you don't want to take a quick look to be better prepared?

- These streets have been my backyard for as long as I can remember. You don't have to worry your fuzzy little head with me, because if the first thing you got for me is a simple jog around the savanna then this is going to be a cakewalk.

---

45 Minutes later

- Holy Crap… *gasp*! I'm… dying! I'm… *Wheeze*… going… to die!

Nick said as such while he leaned against the wall of an alley close to him and his right paw was reaching for his chest to feel the potent beating of his heart against his ribcage. It felt like his body had run an entire marathon with the pace he had to give just so he would keep up with Judy, her on the other paw, seemed to still have her body firing up in all cylinders by making a repetitive running motion while locked in place in front of him. Showing off her stamina with plenty of overconfidence and making a mental comparison to the moment they started the jog, she approached him, still maintaining a steady movement with her body, and asked him:

- What ever happened to "cakewalk", Mister hotshot?

Nick took a deep breath to pump a big dose of oxygen into his system and complained straight at her still having a short breath wind in his voice:

- That was before we took that turn five blocks back and went up Shapiro lane! You do know that this street was originally built by the side of a small mound to connect the two halves of the savanna, right?! It's one of the longest and steepest inclined streets in this city!

Judy stopped jogging in place, she walk a little further away from Nick and spoke out with a touch of irony in her voice:

- Well… I might have heard of that particular bit of information when I put this path on the training schedule and I thought about telling you all about it right at the start of the run. However, I thought that since you like to just get out on the streets and do stuff without a proper plan, why not leave it be and make it a surprise?

Nick was so tired, it felt like his legs were going numb and about to give up on supporting him, he leaned his entire back on the wall of the alley and tried to support his upper body further by leaning ahead and placing his paws over his knees like a supporting rail, he pointed one claw at Judy saying:

- You're evil. Did you know that?

Judy didn't even try to hide her smile, she patted Nick on the side of his arm as a way to reassure him, she grabbed him by the scruff of his arm's fur and guided him out of the alley. Nick looked around and saw a big patch of grass right ahead, in no time at all he recognized as Markaroth Park, they were right by a very friendly neighborhood and it felt like just the right place to catch a breath. Judy pointed out to a small wooden bench placed by the sidewalk and said:

- Here, let's sit down to rest a little.

- Alright.

Judy placed herself in front of the bench and gave a little hop backwards giving her body just enough altitude to land bottom first over the seat, as for Nick he just tossed his entire body over it like a sack of potatoes, letting his muscles loosen up with his head leaned back over the seat and his tongue sticking out as he drew long breaths of air. Judy pulled her cellphone out as to make sure that they were still good when it came to the time table for the day, but she decided not to give it too much thought since they were just starting it out, she put her phone back in her pocket and began to look around taking in the nice view of the streets and the park near her leaning forward over the bench with a priceless smile. She turned back to Nick who seemed to be more rested and asked:

- This place is really nice.

Nick released a huff of air from his nose and gave a follow up to her line of thought:

- Markaroth Park is one of the best tourist spots in the savanna. Did you know that it was the main stage for quite a few important events that made the city better for a lot of mammals?

Intrigued by the new piece of information about the city Judy inquired wanting to learn more:

- Really?

- Oh, yeah. Lucius Markaroth, real forward thinker. He believed on giving everyone a chance to speak up and give help for those who really needed it, he was the one that helped lay the foundation planning for a lot of parks and buildings across the city. There is even a memorial with his bust sitting in the other side of the square.

Judy bounced over the bench and her tail twitched for a second out of the little bit of excitement that hit her at that moment, it was always a nice treat for her to learn a bit more about the history of the city and Nick seemed to know quite a lot about it. She turned to him and spoke out:

- That's really cool.

- Yes, it is.

Nick witnessed a few loose details of the views ahead of them, a few children playing around and a lot of other mammals just relaxing or getting some work done in their mobile devices while on the move, there was a big empty patch of grass in the center of the park, the rest of the terrain around it was the home to small trees symmetrically placed away from one another, as for the very center of the location, it was temporarily occupied by a few families just hanging around, sitting about and talking. He noticed how happy and relaxed all of them were imagining if they were celebrating the fact that the savage outbreaks were finally done. Nick called Judy's attention by patting her shoulder and pointing out to the clean patch that caught his eyes:

- You see that spot over there? The one surrounded by little trees?

Judy didn't have to look very hard for it. Her eyes turned to Nick and she answered with a small:

- Uhm-hum.

Nick made a little gesture with his paw and explained:

- Once a year they used to build a little stage right over there. A bunch of singers got their very own time to shine and brighten up other mammals days right over there. Including Elphant John himself.

Judy released a little gasp after hearing that, the mention of the great artist's name made her heart jump a little, her father and her brothers loved to hear his songs on a regular basis back in Bunnyburrow. Her ears darted up and she turned to Nick meeting his cocky smile as she did so, thinking that he was merely trying to pull some sort of elaborate prank she asked:

- You're joking!

- No. It's true! There was this small event some years back and there were rumors that he was visiting the city during some time-off from the bigger stages around the world, some sources said he was wearing a full disguise to fool the paparazzi. I guess he just couldn't help himself when it came down to showing off because there are dozens of stories about how the entire neighborhood went nuts when he climbed on stage and started singing.

Imagining the face of the singer giving a surprised appearance right on that spot gave Judy a little spark of excitement that steadily grew within her, she rested the entirety of her back on the bench and released a statement:

- Wow! I wish I could've seen it.

- Me too fluff. Me too.

Felling relaxed and noticing that Nick had recovered his breath after the short break, Judy got down from the bench and called him out to follow her by signaling with her paw:

- Break time is over slick. Time to hit the trail.

Nick sounded a little disappointed from hearing that:

- Aw…! Can't we stay here a little while longer?

- This first stretch was just to test out your body and get it better accustomed to exercising. We still have a long way to go and we still have to make our way back.

- Wait! What?! We are making our way back?! Without transportation?

Judy bent her left foot back until she managed to grab it by reaching her left paw backwards and give herself a little stretch, she proceeded on her talk by saying:

- I told you that this was going to be hard. Now get up, we got to keep going.

Nick got up from the bench but his face already showed that he was not looking forward to the second half of the jog, noticing that, Judy decided to cheer him up, she reached to him and gave his arm a little bump, she added to that by saying:

- Cheer up Nick. We have another break in the schedule and we can get something to eat while we are at it, my treat.

Nick thought about that for a second, not wanting to turn down the possibility of more free food, he wanted to take her on that offer but she added to her line of thought by saying:

- Plus, we are not going to give the same grade of effort on our way back. It will be a leisurely stroll and there will be no more uphill walks, I promise.

Fully reassured and confident in her words, Nick shook his shoulders up and down to loosen his joints up a bit, he raised his legs one at a time and gave each one a shake to let his muscles know he was about to move again, he put both paws on his hips and asked as he finished getting ready:

- So… what's our next stop?

Judy checked her phone and answered:

- Not very far from here. Just ten blocks or so that way.

She pointed in the direction that they were meant to go and Nick was already calculating the most likely spots where it was going to take them. The high commercial district was not far from there and he already had a list of which places to go and which ones to avoid memorized, he moved his eyes down to look at her, sometimes forgetting how much shorter she was compared to him, and reputed:

- Alright. Let's get moving, I'm already hungry and I get grumpy when I'm hungry.

Before getting to move ahead with full speed, there was a voice, a small voice calling out from close to the bench asking for one of them:

- Nicholas?

Both of them turned around and met eyes with an elderly female hedgehog who was approaching them with her stubby legs giving her a limited motion forward and letting her be noticed by the two of them. Nick took one look at the small creature's floral pattern dress and the way she had her quills over her head placed in an elegant and orderly manner, along with the small silver earring on her left ear, the little touch of nostalgia hit him on the spot, he let his shoulders relax and gave one step close to her as she asked again:

- Nicholas, is that you?

With a smile on his muzzle, the fox answered with a friendly salutation:

- Hey there Ms. S.

- It is you!

Nick had to get down in one knee to better look and cumpriment the hedgehog lady who got in a bit closer and placed herself with open arms over his chest. He simply gave her a pat on the shoulder and a single laugh after seeing how little she had changed in so many years, astonished by the sheer size of the fox, the hedgehog stepped back and spoke up:

- You grew so much! Last I remember I could carry you around your house and now I can barely get my arms around you! It is so great to see you again!

- It is great to see you as well.

Judy approached to see the genuine smiles on the faces of the two mammals, the little hedgehog gave a few skips backwards and asked to Nick as she took another look of him from head to toe:

- What is it that you are doing around here Nicholas? You rarely come all the way up the hill.

Nick gestured a paw towards Judy as he delivered his answer and took the opportunity to introduce her:

- My friend Judy and I were going in an exercise routine. I'm trying to get into shape and she is helping me out.

Judy waved her paw giving the nice, prickly, little mammal a friendly hello, she paid the gesture back but turned back to Nick seconds after to rant and admire the effort they were making:

- Oh, you young folk and all of your exercising. If my generation possessed half as much energy as you we might just gotten more things done back then.

Nick gave her a little side smile and a scratch on his head, the little hedgehog walked a few steps along the sidewalk before turning around and asking of the fox:

- Say, do you want some cookies? I made a fresh batch this morning and was just about to get a few more ingredients at the super market when I found you.

- Well… that's up to my friend here Ms. S. She is the one holding the helm on our practice.

Judy didn't have to think too long before giving her answer, she shrugged it off with her shoulders and reassured Nick by saying:

- We can take off for a little while and grab a little bite. I don't mind it, we got time.

Happy with Judy's decision to waste just a little bit more time to relax, Nick began to follow the friendly hedgehog, with Judy right behind them, until they arrive on to the steps of a three story building close by, the hedgehog started to climb the steps but she turned around and asked them to wait for a moment:

- Just hang here for a second, I'll grab the cookies from upstairs and put it in a little bag for you two.

- Okay Ms. S.

The hedgehog disappeared inside the building as Nick and Judy were left to wait for her return sitting side by side over the steps watching the scenery of the park in front of them for a little while longer. Curious about the nature of the relationship between Nick and the mammal that just entered the building, Judy asked of him:

- So… is she an old friend of yours?

Nick turned his head to look at Judy and answered her:

- Sort of. Ms. Serena used to be my neighbor when I was just a pup, she used to babysit me and come by to talk with my mom all the time. She is really nice. She moved to uphill Savanna to stay closer to her grandkids. Sorry we took a little detour from training fluff.

Judy dismissed that with a little gesture of her paw and answered to that:

- Don't worry about it. I'm sure this will not take too long from our training time. We still have just enough time to get started on police codes and conduct when we get back.

Nick launched a little unenthusiastic bellow as he raised his paws slightly to the air and shook them while saying:

- Yay… I can't wait.

Judy could sense the sarcasm in his tone but she didn't give it too much mind. After a short wait, the front door of the building opened and Miss. Serena reappeared now carrying a small transparent plastic bag filled with at least twelve of the round sweets and wrapped close by a neat little pink bow shaped in a simple butterfly knot, she gave it to Nick and spoke out:

- Here you go. Now you won't have to sneak a stepladder to get them from way up on the fridge whenever you want one.

Nick release a little laugh as his mind was overtaken by a rerun of the countless times he was busted trying to get some of those same cookies before dinner when he was younger. Serena turned to Judy and came closer to her as Nick was lost in thought, she extended a friendly paw to the bunny and bid her farewell for now as she spoke out:

- It was real nice to meet you. Do your best to keep this one out of trouble. He is a real live wire.

Judy launched a single laugh and complemented to her line of thought:

- *Pft*… Don't I know it.

Serena waved farewell for the two of them, proceeding on her way to run her errands for the day, Nick looked at the little plastic bag in his paw and started to undo the lasso of the bow to try out one of the sweets contained inside, he grabbed one of the cookies and felt his mouth salivate as he imagined his jaw crunching it between his teeth. Nick's quick snack was halted, however, as Judy's voice made itself heard as she asked him:

- So… above all else, you were a cookie thief.

The fox looked down to meet eyes with her, the little bunny's violet eyes were fixed on him as if she was interrogating him but her friendly smile broke that façade on the spot, Nick gestured his paw in the air while it still held the cookie in its grasp and he answered:

- Officer, I neither confirm nor deny my involvement in any sort of sugary treat related robbery of any kind. Frankly, it is beneath me.

- Right.

Judy watched as Nick placed the cookie inside his mouth and began to delight his pallet with it, he turned to her and asked while still having his mouth chew the sweet treat:

- Hum! Do you want one? It's oatmeal raisin.

Judy snagged the entire bag of cookies from Nick's paw and went on to tie the bag with a bow once more, Nick was a bit annoyed by that. He tried reaching for it after swallowing the cookie he just had and asking of her as she moved the bag away from his grasp:

- Carrots! What the hell?! Give it here!

Judy showed him a pointing finger to halt his movement as she impeded his reach towards the little tied up bag in her other paw, she spoke out:

- We can have the rest of it together after we stop for lunch, we still have an entire second half to run at this jog so we better get into it right away.

Nick pouted and tried to persuade her into giving him one last treat:

- Oh, C'mon! Can't I have one last cookie before we get going?

- The sooner we get to the end of our run the sooner you can have your cookies. Now, go on and get in gear!

Judy pointed a finger to the trail shown by the sidewalk stretching ahead of them and Nick, seeing that she already had her mind made, returned his body to a running stance and got prepared once more for the rest of the jog. Judy got positioned alongside him and began to run with moderate speed, Nick followed soon but he didn't seem very excited for it, not even the prospect of food was enough to lift his spirits n at that moment. Determined to put some much needed pep in his step, Judy turned to him during the start of the run and yelled out:

- C'mon slick! None of that weak sauce while we're on the clock. Get into the groove and hustle up already!

Nick raised his arms to get the rhythm of the run in a more fluid way and answered her with an impatient tone of voice as his legs sped up to keep pace with her:

- I'm hustling! I'm hustling!

With that their training finally began in the right way, the rest of the day went just like Judy planned, they stopped by the western side of the savanna, had a little something to eat followed by the little bag of cookies which was a very welcome delicacy in Judy's opinion, they strolled back on their previous treaded track and returned to Nick's apartment to get his studies underway and crossed the initial items from the itinerary within the pages of the black notebook out of the way. After the training for the first day was complete, Judy returned home and left Nick to review what they had studied so far.

Nick spent some of the night unable to sleep comfortably, even with all of his many pillows, he spent the first hours of the night with his body sore and his muzzle buried in the police notebooks left by Judy and found himself a little time to read one of his comic books before going to bed and, at long last, getting to sleep. The next day came by and the routine was much of the same, Judy arrived to wake Nick up and explain the trajectory she had charted across the savanna for their training and she had Nick doing so much physical activity in regular intervals so his body would get used to it much faster.

On a particular nice day, they passed by the park near the front doors of precinct one and she challenged Nick to a push up contest as an incentive to get him to exercise more actively, the loser would pay up for lunch, of course she won. Nick had to swallow a lot of his pride seeing as he lost to her by a landslide, by the end of the competition he was left gasping for air and defeated over the grass while the bunny was still going strong with her own set of pushups and letting the fox know that he still had one long way to go.

A few more days went by as they confronted the entirety of their training schedule across the savanna together, when the time arrived on the schedule for Judy to return to work, she had to put a lot of trust on Nick and leave him alone to pursue some of the solo portions of the agenda since she still had a lot of obligations back at precinct one, she was always received there by Clawhauser's friendly face by the front desk and the cheetah still had a ton of questions about Nick. The fox was getting the hang of the studies and, although his muscles were becoming unbearably sore from all the physical effort put into his daily routine and his brain felt close to overloading with all the new information, he was slowly starting to feel better accustomed with that by each passing the day, not knowing that his training was about to shift into a whole other gear.