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.

9. Episode 9: Training Montage part 2

Author's note: Quick heads up, it took me quite a while to get this second part done, it is lengthier than the previous chapters before it, but i garantee that what happens during it is very much worthy it. Enjoy.

Episode 9: Training Montage p. 2

Sahara Square/ 10:15 A.M. / 37 days until the academy

For any mammal who was not used to the lack of vegetation found over at Sahara Square, any time of the day was perceived as a difficult challenge. The desertic part of Zootopia had extremely differing living conditions when it came to its thermal spectrum, by the day time, the sun would boil the sands and force most mammals to seek shelter under a shade or inside one of the buildings placed in such a way into the shifting dunes to preserve the internal temperature which was actually pretty comfortable; But, by the night time, the temperature would drop like a hammer and the cold air would brush off back into the zones of lower air pressure of the city only for the cycle to start all over again on the next day.

The blistering heat spreading over the district was the main stage for Judy's next training plan for Nick on that fine day, she had him sticking to simple physical exercises and theorical applications until that moment, but, when she heard a piece of news over the precinct television, that made her move up one of her most daring training regiments on the schedule of the little black notebook. After waking Nick up and telling her about the trip they would have to make the pair did not waste a lot of time in boarding an express train until the southeast side of the district, the one stretch of the desert where the wind was unpredictable and tons of strides had to be made by city hall along the years to assure the safety and living conditions of the mammals who lived at the mercy of the unpredictable weather.

Nick was following Judy who had her face buried in the little notebook on her paws for most of the way, she waked him with a rather hasty way and only told him that they had to get to Sahara Square as soon as possible, not much beyond that. He was intrigued by what she might have in store for him but it was also easy to see that he was very grumpy, they walked out of his door in such a hurry it didn't give him enough time to sip a nice cup of coffee, Nick always gets grumpy when he doesn't have his coffee. By the time the sandstone sidewalk started to become a long section of miniscule silicate grains being gently pushed by the wind, Nick felt he couldn't contain his curiosity anymore and asked:

- Do you mind telling me what's the plan for today now carrots?

Judy closed the notebook and turned to him in a hurry, she didn't really mean to rush Nick into training so thoughtlessly but she also felt like she had to seize the opportunity to elevate Nick's training at once. Believing that keeping suspense over the current situation was not going to help him improve in any way, Judy decided to just say it:

- Sorry if things have been a little hectic since this morning Nick, but if it all stays the course I know it will be worth it.

Judy reached by her side pocket and retrieved a small plastic bottle containing a scented white cream, she placed a small quantity of it over the palm of her right paw and spread it around with both paws before she passed it over her nose, her face and at the base of her ear buds, Nick watched as she did that and she showed him the little bottle before asking:

- Do you want any sunscreen. I heard that the sun can get a little too intense at this hour.

Nick decided to give himself an extra layer of protection against the sun, he received the little bottle from her and passed the cream over himself in the same manner, after he was done with that and gave Judy the bottle back she asked of him

- Did you study the map of the training course that I drew as I asked?

Nick searched his mind for a second and recalled a doodle of a map in one of the pages from one of Judy's notebooks, the scale did seem a little off but the scribbles made by the bunny showed the obstacle track with stretches showing off some of the most brutal weather conditions of the entire city in its course, Nick turned to her and answered:

- Yes, I remembered it. Even on paper and bad scale it looked really intimidating.

Judy looked at him and released a small huff of frustration from her nose, she spoke out to him:

- My scale is not… that bad, is it?

Nick chuckled as he walked past her, he said to her:

- I'm just messing with you carrots. I saw the map and all the paths across the track that depict the different districts, I take it we're here to get the desert portion of the track out of the way.

Judy was following close by as he spoke and she gave one quick step to position herself in front of Nick before getting around to answering him:

- That's right. I remember having a great deal of trouble when I took on the desert portion of the training course, but I developed a great trick to get across it and I will teach it to you today… assuming the intel I got on the weather is on the spot.

Judy stopped her walk by a small bus stop at the edge of the commercial avenues of the district, she leaned by the side of a pole by the bus stop and moved her eyes around as she took in a few extra details about the district. There were plenty of stores and small stands selling cheap souvenirs with images of the desert and a few of its iconic spots, various rocky formations and plenty of tents selling items meant to ease up the heat sensation of tourists passing by, Judy was very much surprised when catching a glimpse of a tent that sold big blocks of ice with differing sizes for mammals to carry around in a way to battle the heat.

As Judy was just checking the clock and turning her head to the sky to check if the intel she acquired about the weather was solid. Nick was close by, sweating by the pound thanks to the heat that, by his perspective, got worse somehow, after whipping a bit of sweat going down on his forehead, he approached her, getting out from under the comfy shade he had just found, and asking her:

- So carrots, what's the plan for today? Are you going to bury me alive in the sand and tell me to find my way out back to the surface on my own?

Judy put her phone away and asked with a great deal of astonishment in her voice:

- Do you actually think I would do that to you?!

- I don't know. You already made me run across half of the savanna and do more push-ups, pull-ups, chin-ups and flexes than I could possibly care to count and now we are both taking a stroll at the middle of one of the world largest sand boxes. At this point I would not put it past you to placing me into some kind of impossible challenge with the intent of teaching me some… lesson about team work, or something like that.

Judy shook her head and walked a few steps off in the direction of the open desert, she placed a paw over her forehead to check further into the distance, as she saw the cloud formation advance closer over the blazing sands, she turned around slowly and spoke to him:

- Nick, the plans that I have for your training program are not a series of impossible tasks for you to overtake, it is a carefully thought out set of instructions to follow so you can get a handle on your limits and, if you wish to do so, push yourself past them. The physical aspect is the one thing that we'll need work as a team, when it comes to the theory I have a feeling your sharp mind will take care of the rest.

The fox enjoyed being complemented by his so called 'sharp mind', he walked with a pace that resembled a simple dance, sliding his feet on a short perimeter around Judy, carefully studying her. With a very considerate tone of curiosity, Nick called her attention with a motion of his head twitching his muzzle upwards for a fraction of a second, she didn't notice that last piece of action, but Nick's walk called her eyes to him as he asked:

- That's what you did right? Pushed yourself past your limits. How much?

Judy used her shoulder to push her body away from the pole on which she was leaned on previously and answered him with plenty of confidence in her voice:

- I would say a healthy amount.

Nick showed a little side smile in face of that, he watched as Judy began giving little hops while locked in placed and giving deep breaths taking that as his cue to get prepared for the start of the training regimen of the day. He took a long glance in the direction Judy was staring during her preliminary motion but the only thing he saw was the open landscape of the desert, he leaned closer to her and asked:

- So… are we going to take a jog across the desert? With the sun blasting full force at us?!

Judy stopped moving and answered his question with a bashful tone:

- Well… sort of.

Nick took that answer with a cautionary stance, Judy seemed to be waiting for something crucial to happen that day, Nick looked over the distance and saw the clouds in the sky moving with increasing speed, he also noticed the citizens, the camels and dromedaries close by, hurrying along to take shelter thoroughly closing the doors of their places. Nick squinted his eyes and took another look at the distance, the new image forming in front of him send shivers down his spine and made the fur on his tail stand on end.

The wind began to blow, stronger and stronger, the dunes began to sway and shift little by little as the grains of sand, which made them, elevated into the air forming an immense curtain that dragged itself across the desert. Nick's mouth hung open with that sight, but as his eyes were filled with dread Judy's eyes filled with determination, staring at the storm almost as it that event was an adversary with equal force to hers. She directed her eyes at Nick and asked:

- Ready?

Nick had a face of total panic at that time, he looked at the bunny and at the storm and answered her with a very tangible iota of fear, almost yelling at her:

- Carrots, that is a straight up sand-devil! There is no way we're making across THAT in one piece.

Judy reached into her side pouch and pulled two accessories that she acquired to make their trip across the sands easier, two pairs of goggles that had rubbery straps on their sides to properly stick them over their eyes and protect their sights from any stray pockets of sand flying through the air. She handed one of them to Nick and said:

- Here put these on. They'll help.

As she took the time to put her own pair of goggles over her eyes and wait for him to get ready, Nick did not put his goggles on however, he held the spectacles firmly in his right paw and continued to protest against that course of action:

- Carrots please, this is crazy! Do we really need to do this?! Isn't there a better way?!

- Nick, just listen to me!

They were both practically yelling at each other as the wind was growing louder and stronger by the second, she continued:

- I know this looks bad, crazy even, but I know the trick of how to get through the sand storm, it is a big part of the academy track and if we lose the chance to get this out of the way for your training we may not get another chance! Just trust me and have faith on yourself, you're going to be fine! I know you can do it!

Nick stared at the storm and saw how fierce it looked, he took another look at the bunny and saw that there was only one course of action according to her look, he hoped that he would live to regret that at some point and put the glasses on tight around his eyes before speaking out to her:

- I sure hope you know what you're getting us into carrots.

- I do! Trust me. Now protect your muzzle, lower your ears, lean down your back, tuck your shirt and keep moving otherwise you *are* going to be buried alive!

Judy went walking ahead with heavy steps and Nick yelled out as he followed her:

- GREAT! THAT JUST ABOUT *FILLS* ME WITH CONFIDENCE!

The bunny and the fox went ahead and braved the storm with the fast moving grains bombarding their fur from every possible angle, sipping into the gaps of their fur, nearly drilling into their skin and the wind pushing them around threatening to throw them away into the distance, but they did their best to keep moving on in a straight line with sound stares and heavy, fast paces, Judy taking the lead while Nick followed close by.

Judy had to elevate her legs quite high so they would not be impeded by the sand closer to the surface of the ground which was constantly shifting to the side and providing a very precarious foothold for her, Nick was having a worse time, his larger body made him less aerodynamic and his tail was flailing around through the wind like a flag and throwing his entire body off balance. About one third of the way across the raging winds, Judy turned her head trying to face him and asked:

- How are you holding up back there?

It was hard for him to hear her clearly in those conditions, he tried to get closer to her so she could hear his answer without having to yell it out excessively against the wind:

- I think I'm doing fine, but I also believe I just swallowed a bug!

Judy smiled after hearing that he was still trying to keep on high spirits despite the situation. She did an effort to let him know that they were still not done by turning to him once more and yelling out:

- Just watch out for the wind-slaps. They can be pretty treacherous!

- The… 'What'?

At that precise moment, as if on cue, a particularly strong gust of wind hit the two of them, Judy had her feet firmly planted as well as she could into the sand, Nick was caught completely off guard and thrown inches up into the air and off the dune they were currently on. The fox fell back first over the sand but the wind was not done with him just yet, he rolled down, scattering sand everywhere over his body, pushed further by the storm and by gravity itself until he reached the very base of the dune and was left struggling to get back up. Judy looked to the side and saw him rolling down, she went to help him:

- NICK!

She yelled as she darted in his direction, sliding down over the side of the dune until she reached his position, she leaned down to reach for him and ask with concern:

- Are you alright?!

Nick raised from the sand to release a little cough and answer her:

- Yeah!... *Cough*… Just… showing the desert who's boss!

Nick tried to rise up out of the dirt all the way but he almost lost balance and fell again after realizing that some of his members were almost buried entirely under the sand, he raised his leg up as much as he could to get it out of the ground and spoke to Judy after he had his body entirely resurfaced:

- Wow! You weren't kidding when you said to keep moving!

- I know. Now get up, we're not done yet and neither is the storm.

Judy helped him get back on the right track by pulling him off the ground and guiding him ahead, luckily there was still plenty of sunlight to show them the way. And so they went ahead, almost a full hour braving the rest of the way, being constantly hit by slaps of wind packed with sand that tried to throw the two of them off their path, but they continued on and on until they reached the very eye of the storm and got a short moment of stillness before the path to the exit was clear to them. They crossed the last stretch of the storm and celebrated with the little breath they still had left as they achieved their goal together.

After what seemed like an eternity of unpleasant step after unpleasant step across the desert, they managed to escape the sand storm in one piece, with the exception, maybe, of their protective goggles, the cheap plastic apparatus that they wore to protect their sight across the sand torrent were now scratched having their lenses worn out beyond repair and had to be disposed of. After they were done tossing the goggles out and catching their breath out of the storm's range, Judy noticed that they were close to one of the most famous landmarks in the entire city, the Palm-tree Hotel and Casino, a gigantic structure shaped like a resplendent tree from the desert, a monument of ostentation shaped like a tall tree from an oasis made so to resemble a beacon of civilization's apex right in the heart of the dunes.

Judy decided to stop close by so they could get more rest and something cold to drink, she sat herself by the concrete edge of a beautiful fountain built on a big courtyard near the entrance of the hotel, there was a ton of movement there, plenty of mammals walking around, entering and exiting the big tree-shaped structure. As Judy sat down to wait, Nick went off into the distance to find a street vendor selling cold beverages, he returned soon enough with two cans of soda in his paws, he called out as he approached her:

- I'm back. Here you go.

- Thanks.

Nick gave her one of the cans, he wasted no time in tearing open the metal latch on the other can in his paw and sipping from its refreshing contents. Judy didn't open her can immediately, she seemed awfully busy staring over at the immense glass and metal palm-tree close by, Nick took another short sip from his drink and decided to ask her what was on her mind, he gently bumped her with his left shoulder and asked:

- Hey, what's up carrots? You don't like the drink? I can get you another one.

Judy turned to him, her purple eyes showed a bit of surprise and her ears were held high as she shook her head and answered him in a hurry:

- No. The soda is fine. I'm just distracted, that's all.

Judy went on to open the metal latch from her can and take in the drink sip by sip, Nick finished his drink and crushed the hollowed can in his paws to toss it into a nearby trash container, as he returned to sit alongside Judy by the fountain, she watched the way he moved and sat down, he seemed to have some sort of restriction in his movement, concerned with his current condition, she asked:

- Is everything okay?

Nick looked at her, squinting his eyes as he did so because of the glim of the sun refracting at the windows of the building nearby, and answered her:

- I feel fine carrots. All things considered, I just took a beating from a massive sandstorm and now I have a ton of sand chafing me in a few awkward places, but aside from that, I feel alright, in fact, I feel great. It almost feels like I can take on the desert all over again!

Judy smiled and patted his shoulder as she delivered her words to that:

- It must be an adrenalin rush. It's going to take some time before it wears out in you.

They remained sitting over the fountain's edge, Nick waiting for Judy to finish her drink and admiring the calm breeze that brushed his fur in direct contrast with the sand storm still raging in the distance. He took another gander at her and saw how her eyes were fixated at the building nearby, he nudged her gently on the shoulder and asked:

- What's on your mind carrots?

Judy didn't move her eyes away from the structure, she merely asked him:

- It's beautiful, isn't it?

Nick looked at the big palm tree and asked her while pointing a claw in the direction of the ostentatious monument:

- What? The palm-tree?

- Yes! It's so big and fancy-looking. I saw it on the day I came to Zootopia and thought it was gorgeous just like in the pamphlets. I wonder how it looks from the inside.

Nick shrugged that off, raising his shoulders and speaking out with a nonchalant tone of voice:

- Meh, it's alright.

Judy turned her head his way quickly after hearing that answer and the tone in which it was delivered, having her mind burning with curiosity, she asked him:

- You have seen the Palm-tree from the inside?!

Nick raised his brows as he answered in the same tone:

- Yeah. It's no big deal.

Unsatisfied with that answer, Judy pressed him to speak further on it:

- What happened?! How did you get inside?! Did you win a prize or something?!

Nick raised his body from the fountain, standing close to Judy as he unveiled his tale referring to one of his most daring and fun escapades:

- A few years back some rich stallion was set to get married and he rented out the entire first floor of the palm-tree for the wedding party, it was all the city talked about for a whole week, naturally, I just had to sneak in.

Judy placed her feet and paws together, leaning forward over her seat by the fountain to listen to every last detail of the story, Nick proceeded:

- Finnick and I got ourselves a couple of waiter outfits and crashed the party, there were bright lights, good music, paparazzi everywhere and the food was incredible, just thinking about it makes my mouth water. It was an amazing party,… but it wasn't all good as I thought it would be.

- How so?

Nick stopped giving the tale the initial bit of flair he was going for, he leaned by the fountain placing himself close to Judy and continued speaking:

- The drinks were fancy but terrible, the employees wore these horrible fake smiles during the whole ordeal, there were a lot of mammals smoking and most of the guests were all rich fat-cats, tossing their fortunes away by the roulette and card tables when they could've been doing so much more with it instead, like helping mammals that needed that money more than them. I did my best to enjoy the rest of the evening, I got around the hotel, told some jokes, getting a read on the few worthy gests who were actually having fun, I even got inside the elevator and snuck a peek from the top floor.

Judy drew some air and could not resist in asking:

- How was it?!

Nick closed his eyes and smiled as he remembered the feeling that he got from seeing the entire desert at night from the very top, he turned his muzzle around as he answered:

- Breath taking. Simply breath taking. Definitively on my top ten spots around the city.

That made Judy bounce with even more excitement, Nick also decided to point out a very intriguing aspect that he figured out during his night of partying:

- Do you see that big topiary in the middle of the main lobby?

Judy squinted her eyes and soon identified the place he was pointing a claw over, a gorgeous space inside the palm tree where there was situated a sizeable garden behind a thick curved glass, a spot with potted trees and plenty of flowers of different species for the tourists to see and appreciate, she turned her eyes back to Nick and answered him:

- I see it.

- Of all the plants inside of that thing, about half of them are fake.

Judy gasped and turned her face to Nick as he distanced himself from her to lean back in his original position, with a voice filled with incredulity about that new fact, she said to him:

- Fake?! Really?!

- Yup. An employee opened the glass to do some quick maintenance during the night and I checked it myself, 100% plastic.

- Aw! That's so boring!

The bunny said so with disappointment in her voice, Nick took a little bit of air and continued the story towards its 'epic' conclusion:

- Sadly, just as I was getting into the swing of the party, my adventure came to a sudden end. The security staff caught wind of us crashing the party, it also didn't help that Finn tried to get one of the bride's maids to fall for him attracting more attention to us, we tried to make a run for it but in the end we got booted out of there all the same. From that day on, one Nicholas Wilde was forever banned from the majestic Palm-tree Hotel and Casino.

Judy had such a mix of emotions at that time, she gasped slightly but didn't know if she should laugh or not, with her paws in front of her mouth she asked while having her voice slightly muffled:

- You were banned from the Palm-tree?!

Nick moved his eyes from side to side in an inconspicuous manner to guarantee that they could not be heard by any prying sets of ears, he came closer to Judy's right ear and whispered:

- Legally speaking, I'm not even suppose to come close to this fountain.

Judy hopped away from the fountain to get on the ground and look right at Nick's face, his smile was just delightful from seeing her that way, the mixture of cocky and proud on his face was not reassuring for her, she tried to take that part of the conversation serious but it was not possible, not with the face he was making. She bumped his arm and said trying to disguise her laugh, unsuccessfully:

- You did not just say that!

- I did. I'm not allowed within a set distance from the palm tree, and yet… here I am, breaking the rules. That's the price you pay for hanging out with me carrots, I am a renegade, a lose canon, and now you're my accomplice.

Judy began to walk away from the fountain, she tried leaving Nick and all of his silliness behind, he followed her close and kept attempting to unnerve her by speaking in a teasing tone as they distanced themselves from the palm-tree:

- You're a criminal carrots.

- I'm not a criminal!

- You're a law breaker.

- Stop that!

- You took a gender on the dark side!

- I don't even know what that means!

Nick stepped faster to position himself near her and get his joke across all the way:

- That's from Star Wars.

Judy slowed her walk down, she looked at Nick, leaned by her side and spoke out:

- Oh, I never seen Star Wars.

Nick released a loud gasp that was actually legitimate after hearing that, Judy didn't get that, she looked at him with a brow raised and asked:

- What is it?

Nick gestured with his paws as he delivered each piece of his inquiry:

- What kind of mammal… goes an entire life… without seeing Star Wars?!

Judy felt like she was pressing a few buttons on Nick's perspective, she delivered her sincere opinion on the matter as she believed it would make him more heated during the argument:

- I don't know. The whole thing just seemed so… ridiculous.

- It's a bunch of samurai monks with mind powers flying through space and battling evil droids and clones using laser swords. What part of that is ridiculous?!

The argument between them lasted the entire walk to the train station and beyond, Nick made a point that he would make sure for Judy to watch the classic saga of movies when they were done with the training, after the train ride was over, Judy accompanied Nick back to his place and each of them took a bath to get rid of the sand that got stuck on their furs, it took a while for Judy to finish bathing since Nick's bathroom was much different than her own being made for a mammal slightly bigger than her.

During the following days they kept their training regimen restricted to the theorical part of the studies, Judy had to keep working day to day at the precinct to make up for the days she was missing by going off to train Nick and the fox had to make do without the bunny's guiding presence by hitting the books himself. They returned to the desert to work out on the harsh conditions during a few more days, as soon as the desert portion of the training plan was fully crossed off the list they advanced to the next stage.

---

Rainforest District/ 01:14 P.M./ 26 days until the academy

The days kept rolling by and the training was going great, it was about time to tackle the rainforest and all of the challenges it might bring, only instead of hiking across the wooden sky-roads that were so meticulously built around and above the trees, the pair had to hike around most highway accesses and take the road less traveled for their exercise. They were at the very bottom floor of the rainforest past the quaint stores and residences and into terrain that resembled a swamp, spots near the very ground where it was abundant to find huge puddles of mud and water, rocky terrain and huge portions of the tall tree roots swelling out of the ground.

Judy was doing her best to walk around the faulty terrain as she looked over the map, but she was getting more confused about their path with every step, the map marked on the screen in her paws was glitching and recalculating fairly often and after half an hour walking about the dense, damp jungle every tree started to look the same. Frustrated with the aspect of being lost she released a little grunt as she looked over the map on the screen once more, Nick came closer and asked:

- Something wrong carrots?

- Nothing is wrong, I just think there is something wrong with my GPS. I feel as if we are walking in circles.

Nick looked up and reached one important conclusion:

- Probably because we are.

- What?! How can you tell?

He pointed a claw upward at the higher point of one of the tree stumps around them, Judy directed her attention at a curious purple plant growing by the side of the tree, Nick waited for her to catch the precise trajectory he was pointing at and explained:

- Right up there is Topanga lane. That is one of the most famous streets of the rainforest, it is known for an enormous orchid that grows alongside the trees. I suspected that there was something amiss with your guidance system because we came past it twice already.

Judy released a loud grunt and nearly tossed her phone away into the forest out of sheer frustration, she decided that they should rest somewhere nearby so that they could get their bearings and start training later, Nick followed along and soon they found an ideal spot to sit down and catch their breaths. By the base of a huge tree there was a hollow spot with an old stone bench, the stone made for it was so old that it had moss growing around it, but it was better than sitting on the floor. Judy pointed a finger to it and said:

- Look! We can sit over there.

As she turned around to face Nick she saw as he had his face directed upwards, almost as if he was not listening to her:

- Nick?

Judy called to him to ask what he was looking at, the fox gave a single step back and spoke out as he did so:

- Carrots, you might want to move away from that spot.

- Why? What are you…?

Before Judy could finish her question an enormous blast of cold water came from the trees above completely soaking her, the bunny, now absolutely dowsed from head to toe, sounded out a loud gasp after getting hit like that and her jaw stayed dropped after finding that her fur was soggy along with every single one of her clothes. She turned around, feeling the water dripping down her back and found Nick with a face that screamed the fact that he was holding his laughs in, speaking to her:

- We call those bucket-leaves. They can bend and hold a big load of water before they tip over and let it all drop. It's too bad I didn't bring a towel… or a camera for that matter.

The fox released a torrent of laughs and Judy could only shake her fists around with anger and embarrassment, she was absolutely livid, it looked like everything on her plan was going wrong. Felling defeated, tired and cold she retreated to the hollow spot under the tree and sat down by the bench with her arms crossed, Nick followed close after his laughter died down just in time to hear Judy saying:

- It's official: The rainforest does not like me.

Nick laughed as he launched himself back over the bench, Judy thought that the reason for his continued chortle was just to mess with her, but she couldn't even predict what came next. Nick moved his eyes over her and said:

- You're not the first mammal to think that way.

Judy didn't understand that, but she didn't even have to speak for Nick to know he had peaked her curiosity. The fox unveiled a story that was sitting on the back of his mind for quite a long while:

- Many centuries ago, when the first set of explorers was planning to take claim of this land, they started to notice that doing so was not as easy as they initially thought. The terrain was uneven no matter where they went, the ground was muddy so it was hard getting around and they could not even cut down the trees because there weren't tools big enough to do so in a convenient amount of time for their expeditions. However they chose to look at the situation, it always looked like the forest itself was conspiring against them, against progress.

Judy looked around her, she was not the kind of bunny who believed in forest spirits or things like that, Nick continued his story shortly after a well-placed dramatic pause:

- It took a while for the mammals of Zootopia to understand that they had to work *with* the forest, so, they did just that. They constructed the cabins and bridges connecting the top of the trees, they harnessed just enough wood from the branches instead of cutting the entire forest down to build what they needed to build and they made great use of the terrain that was proper for use. Many other attempts to brave the rainforest were made in more recent years, mayors from every era of Zootopia tried constructing roads and other larger structures around here but the same problem turned out, the forest just wasn't ready for that sort of thing, so we had to make the best out of what we had, that is why the Rainforest District is built like this.

Nick gestured to the forest all around them and Judy began to understand better why that part of the city was built that way, Nick placed his arms on the back of his head as he relaxed even more over his seat, but his story wasn't over:

- Also there is the wendigo to worry about above all else.

Judy looked at him, not knowing the meaning of that word, she squinted her eyes as she turned to Nick and asked:

- What? What is a "wendigo"?

Nick returned to his previous stance to tell the most suspenseful part of his story:

- A local legend among these parts. Some centuries or so ago there was the tale of this Sargent who tried making an advanced outpost somewhere inside of the forest but he soon found himself lost and most of his troops got sick with some mysterious infection. The guy went completely insane and when the hunger hit, he ate an entire platoon while they were asleep. After eating the different mammals that made his platoon the spirits of the forest changed him so that every part of his body would be a piece of one of his soldiers. From that day on he was cursed to wander through the deepest part of the rainforest as a sick spirit called the wendigo, always wailing in pain and looking for something to cure his ever growing hunger, it is a very popular legend, I think they even made a movie out of it.

Judy's eyes opened wide and a chill went down her spine, she began to feel cold as a chilly wind invaded the hollow tree where they were sitting, that story was rather scary and she felt a touch of dread hitting her chest. Nick raised from the bench and spoke as to reassure her:

- You don't have to be afraid carrots. The wendigo is just a myth, no one has actually seen the thing.

- A… afraid?! I'm not afraid! I just… don't like that kind of story, that's all.

Nick poked his head outside the hollow tree and his nose smelled the fresh scent of the rain that had hit the district just an hour ago still present in the air, he took one long sniff of the air making his chest expand nice and slowly before deflating, Judy raised her body from the bench and approached Nick, she leaned forward and saw the look of serenity in his face, she was interested in his thoughts at that time and decided to ask:

- What are you doing?

Nick took a short new breath of air in his lungs and answered her:

- Nothing much. I just like the smell of the rain. It smells so great, it's this very scent that makes me like the rainforest so much.

Interested in continuing his line of thought further, Judy nudged him with her shoulder and asked:

- Have you ever thought about living around here?

Nick shook his head from side to side almost as if he was giving his thoughts a gentle nudge to jump-start his raciocinium, he turned to face Judy and answer her:

- Once upon a time, I thought about getting a place somewhere around here, but, upon additional thinking it didn't seem like such a good idea after all. This place is really nice but it just seems to be so far away from everything else in the city, in addition to that the dampness in the air does horrors to my fur and few things in this world smell worse than a wet fox.

Judy smiled with that, she tried getting a signal on her phone so that they could continue on their planned route and get their training under way but it was still really hard to do so, her smile was soon replaced by a scowl of disapointment and she decided to simply ask Nick:

- Nick.

- What's up fluff?

- Do you have any idea where we can find a place called Meriadino's Square?

Nick thought hard on that, he had to reconstruct a rather flimsy model of the district inside of his head before getting around to answering Judy's question:

- I think we're close. If I take the sky-roads as a fixed point of reference then… I think I can get us there.

Judy stored her phone back in her pocket and let the fox guide her on their path to the aforementioned destination. They left the tree with a hollowed base behind and continued on their way until they found a small path made with concrete bricks, some of the rocks were cracked and popping out of their original positions, but they still made for a generous path to be treaded across the rain forest. Trying to throw some talk away to pass the time, Judy decided to say something:

- I got to admit that I kind of missed the rainforest. I didn't have a lot of time to enjoy it last time we came here.

Nick recalled the time she was referring to and opted to ask something that was sitting on his memory for a while:

- Do you know if that guy who lived around here is doing okay? That panther called Manchas.

Judy turned to Nick as they continued to trot ahead over the concrete bricks and answered his inquiry:

- I swung by the hospital to check on the mammals that received the antidote for the night-howlers serum, everyone woke up feeling fine, including Mr. Manchas.

Relieved after hearing that, Nick asked further more:

- Does he remember anything from what happened that time?

- It's a little different with each mammal. They only seem to recall a few bits and pieces from the time they spent under the influence of the serum. I think is sort of like waking up from a long dream.

There was a little moment of silence after that explanation, aside from the sound of their steps and the noises of the rainforest around them, there weren't any words between them for a few minutes. Nick was stuck wondering how it would feel to be stuck in that situation, become utterly wild, unhinged, he imagined it would be empowering but he wasn't too thrilled about the price that came with it. Doing an effort to break the silence Judy spoke out:

- I actually talked with Mr. Manchas after he waked up, he seemed very happy to be out of that pinch.

Nick turned to her, seeing her little smile and her purple eyes shining with the little beams of light that broke through the top of the trees, he walked with a pace to better accompany her and said:

- That's great.

- But I think he is a little mad because we cuffed him to that light post.

Nick leaned his body slightly ahead to face her and respond to that:

- To be fair, you were the one that cuffed him to that post, I was only trying to not get ripped into shreds.

They gave a few more steps until both of them realized that the little road had come to an end, coming into a clearing in the forest housing a large park where there was a big jungle-gym made up with various metallic devices for physical training that were protected from the rain by an enormous marquee supported by four metal beams symmetrically placed around it. There were monkey bars, horizontal poles, suspended rings for exercising and plenty of other devices meant for gymnastics, all of them remarkably dry thanks to the cover up provided by the marquee. Nick thought that he was going to get tired fast after catching a glimpse of the training course, but what happened was the exact opposite.

After beginning with a simple set of sprints and two consecutive sets of chin-ups it felt like his body didn't want to stop moving, Judy made some effort alongside Nick and that got him more motivated, the irrigation system that kept the usual humidity in the air was not set to activate on that day and that made for a smooth day of training for the two of them, Nick seemed to be getting the hang of everything better than Judy expected, now there was only a few last things to get out of the way to prepare him for the academy life.

---

Savana Central/ 9:30 A.M./ 15 days until the academy

Nick woke up suddenly, there was no sound of an alarm clock drilling into his ears, there was no bunny nudging him to get out of bed, his eyes simply opened and he was wide awake, that was very unusual for him. He raised from his bed without understanding why his body was behaving that way, it was Saturday morning and he had the habit of enjoying a long stay over his mattress as the hours stretched and he tossed time away in his sleep, that was not the case now. He felt alert, he felt ready.

He walked in the direction of his closet, softly pulling one of the curtains aside by the window on his way just enough to let some light in, he let the sun shine inside his room and walked ahead to open the double set of doors of his closet, he saw a huge group of shirts placed nicely on the hangers organized by color, a heap of pants sorted by material and length on the back followed by a collection of various ties placed in a little drawer right in front of him. As he reached his right paw to pick the perfect combination of attire to start the day he noticed something very important that he hadn't noticed before.

Glued on the closet door by his left side there was a full-body mirror that he had placed there so he could see himself entirely and make sure that he was presentable for a full day of work, only now, the image in the mirror was very different from the one he was used to seeing, he was not wearing the usual green shirt, khaki pants with a nice tie to go along with it all placed around his neck, dressed only in his boxers, Nick stared at the mirror and his own visage staring back at him surprised him greatly. The result of his daily training combined with the new diet Judy had suggested him was showing off in spades.

His shoulders were now much broader and his arms were looking stronger, slightly thicker, his chest was puffing out in a nice way and he felt as if his belly was much more resilient that it used to be, his back was straight giving him a nice stance and his legs felt much tougher. Nick didn't have the super strong physique of a movie star but he still felt pretty powerful after seeing himself like that. He delivered a simple set of movements as he flexed his muscles around and admired the results of his efforts, with a certain appreciation in his voice he asked:

- Goodness! Who is that handsome devil staring right at me?

Nick really believed that his improvements were merely cosmetic but there was the lingering feeling of more to come, sure enough, his phone rang and the emoji of a carrot appeared on the screen. He closed the doors of his closet and went on to answer the call, he put the phone to his right ear and heard the voice of the bunny on the other side:

- Nick, good morning.

- Good morning carrots.

- Did I wake you up?

Nick scratched his eyes as he answered her question:

- No, I'm awake. I just woke up in fact. So, what's new?

Nick noticed that there was another sound besides Judy's voice over the phone and he asked:

- What is that sound? Where are you?

It took a little long to identify that that sound was the noise from cold wind blowing over, Judy adjusted her phone on her ear by the other side of the line before answering him:

- I'm by the edge of Tundra town, the winds are really picking up today and I had to come by so I could set up your next training course. Grab a coat and meet me here as soon as you can, I'll send you the address.

Nick looked around inside his cozy room and imagined how that feeling of comfort was going to be ripped away by the cold air of the frostiest part of the city, he released a little sigh and spoke to the bunny:

- Alright, I'm coming over there, just stay put and don't catch a cold until I arrive, okay?

- Got it. See you soon.

Nick turned off his phone and prepared himself as fast as he could, he got a hot shower, dried his fur up, reached into his closet to grab a coat and went off to meet Judy by Tundra Town. The address she had given him over a little text message was far away from the train station so Nick thought it best to grab a cab and meet her in a swifter way, he was already placing high hopes for the training he would take on that day.

---

26 Minutes later/Tundra Town

After crossing the wall separating the savanna from the glacier, Nick had to walk a fair amount until he reached Fish tale, it was a small commercial avenue where a lot of mammals stopped by to purchase food and supplies. There were a few stores and street corners illuminated with neon lights but there wasn't a steady flow of movement like many other commercial areas from that district.

Nick took one last look at the address in the text message and thought to himself:

"Curfusia avenue at mane… isn't that an old basketball court?"

As the fox walked by the snow covered sidewalks, his nose picked a sweet scent in the air, there was a tea shop right by the other side of the street he was passing, luckily the smell of the fish market had stayed far behind otherwise he might not have noticed it, he thought it would be a nice treat to get Judy something warm to drink, that morning was particularly cold. He purchased a medium size cup and continued on his original path.

Just as he thought previously, the address he was guided to was an old basketball court left deserted with the hoops on each side falling apart with icicles forming on them and located near an old frost covered park by the northern edge of the tundra, Nick came close to the place and saw the bunny sitting by a familiar looking van right alongside the fuzzy face of an old friend. Nick came closer with quicker steps cutting through the snow and cumprimented his two companions:

- Hi there!

Judy responded him with a sweet smile, Finnick's greeting was not so courteous:

- 'Bout time! I've been freezing my tail off over here!

- It is nice to see you too Finn.

Judy hopped out of the van and came closer to Nick so she could get the explanation of the day's exercise out of the way, before doing so, however, she detected the sweet scent of the tea in Nick's paw, she pointed a finger at it and asked:

- What's that? It smells good.

Nick extended his paw holding the plastic cup to her and delivered his answer along with the beverage:

- It's peach tea. Thought it would be nice to bring you a little something to warm up.

Judy picked the cup from him using both of her paws to hoist the cup near her lips and not spill the drink, after taking a single swig from the drink she released a hum of delight and thanked Nick for it:

- Thank you Nick.

- Think nothing of it fluff.

Nick took a look behind her and saw Finnick grabbing a lawn chair from inside the van and adjusting it over the snow, Nick asked:

- Hey Finn! You want some tea?

- Pass.

Judy invited Nick to walk with her as she kept on drinking the tea in her paws, Nick leaned closer and asked her:

- What's Finnick doing here? Is he part of the training?

Judy took one quick swig before answering that:

- Finnick found me on the way to here, he gave me a lift and asked if he could help out with the training, I told him that he could stick around for moral support if he wanted to.

The little fox complemented to that idea:

- Mostly I just came by in case you got hurt, thought it ought to be funny!

Nick shook his head to that, figuring it was his friend's own way of delivering moral support. Judy continued to guide Nick more into the ball court until they were near the very center of it that is when Judy made her big unveiling:

- Nick, what I am about to show you is a true test of strength and determination, I picked this place because it was abandoned and it was perfect to set it all up, this is the ultimate barrier you must come across on your training. Meet my arch nemesis!

Judy gestured with her paw showing to Nick a huge wall of ice that was placed by the center of the ball court, there was some snow forming by the very top of the barrier but that exaggerated gesture just left Nick confused more than anything else. He pointed at the icy monument and asked of her:

- Carrots, you know that's a wall right?

Judy made a new gesture with her paw pointing to the entire wall all over again and putting some more emphasis on her deliverance:

- This is not just *a* wall. This is *the* wall!

Nick smiled smugly, trying to understand what was so important about that particular obstacle, supposing that there was a deeper meaning to it, he asked her while doing his best to transfer some of her dramatic flair into his own voice:

- Fine. What am I supposed to do with 'the' wall?

Judy released a small humorous sigh after hearing Nick's tone, she pointed up on the wall and explained the objective of the training exercise:

- It's all pretty simple, all you have to do is reach the top of the wall and get down by the other side. You start a little sprint right over there next to Finnick's van, jump onto the wall and climb until you reach the top.

Nick looked at Judy after taking into consideration every point of her instructions, after she was done talking he felt compelled to ask:

- Reach the top? That's it?

- That's it.

- I just have to… climb this thing and that's the whole deal?

- Simplicity itself.

Nick looked up and down on the wall suspecting that it might have some sort of hidden surprise in store for him, but after meticulous studying he saw that it was just one big hunk of ice waiting to be climbed by him. He decided to get things started already, he walked to the position pointed by Judy next to the van and got into a running stance, crouching down into the snow covered floor and getting ready with some deep breaths that made his mouth release a few puffs of mist thanks to the cold, Judy saw that he was ready and gave him a signal to go:

- Whenever you're ready.

Nick dashed towards the large barrier, kicking up some snow behind him in the process, he approached the wall and kept some of his momentum as he began to climb. The first set of ascents were easy to him, Nick was digging the tip of his claws into the ice to give him some better support as he rose up but there wasn't too much time before he noticed that he was losing some speed on his way up.

The ice was commencing to feel more and more oppressive as he climbed higher and higher, a few slips and hold-ups along his way only made so that the cold would have more time to hit him and slow him down even more, the thermal sensation was digging its way into the tips of his fingers and into the bases of his paw pads, nearly at the top his claws began to feel numb and lose their grip, he slowly slid down the side of the wall brandishing increasingly louder as he did so:

- No, no, no, no, no, no, nooooo...

And just like that, he was back at ground level, and he left a set trail of claw marks on his way down carved over the ice. Judy was siting close to the van and decided to speak to him from a distance to check if she could raise his morale while also convincing him to keep on trying:

- Don't worry Nick, no one makes up the wall on the first try. Shake it off and try it again.

Finnick was sitting next to Judy holding off his laughs, Nick walked back to his initial position with heavy steps and dashed towards the wall once more, now with renewed grit, he jumped against the ice surface and started to climb once more, this time with increased effort, but again he started to feel the hard bite of the cold drilling into his skin as he was just reaching the top, only this time he was resolute to not let that stop him. He quickly stretched his right paw up and reached for a small indentation that he saw sticking out of the ice, but instead of getting his claws to dig into it as he originally planned, his paw slipped over the ice causing his fingers to close shut and the rest of his body to lose its grip over the ice barrier. Mere centimeters close to the top, Nick felt the harsh pull of gravity taking him full speed back to the ground:

- Oh, shit!

He exclamated as he noticed that he was now falling back first right over the snow beneath him, the cushioned blanket of cold water broke most of the impact from his fall but it didn't do much to ease his spirit from the annoyance of having failed to reach his goal a second time. After Judy saw the harsh way that he reached the ground she yelled out and asked with concern:

- Nick, are you okay?!

The fox raised from the ground and walked back to his initial position as he answered to her concerns:

- I'm fine fluff, just getting ready for another one.

The fox took a little more distance to get a more favorable run, Judy was apprehensive at that moment, she didn't want him to overexert himself to the point where he would no longer be able to move around in the cold, she gestured with her paw as he walked a bit closer to her and back into a running stance:

- Nick, you can stop for a moment if you want to.

- Are you kidding me? I'm about take this on like a boss!

He pointed a claw ahead and yelled out in a futile attempt to intimidate the inanimate object to his whims:

- You hear that 'wall'?! I'm coming for you! You're going down!

Finnick was just laying about, sitting on his little lawn chair and tasting a nice sub sandwich, almost gasping in humor with some food still in his mouth, the fennec fox turned to Nick and asked:

- Dude, you know you're talking to a wall, right?

- I know! Shut up!

Nick continued doing the same set of actions trying to reach the top, about three more times he climbed up the wall and nearly reached the top just to slip up and come back down to the ground, on the fourth attempt he placed in motion to climb the ice, his blood was boiling and his mind was doing its best to ignore the effects of the cold over his body. Once again Nick jumped onto the side of the ice wall but half way over the jump he noticed that his paws wouldn't close the way he wanted, once he noticed that, however, it was already too late. Instead of grappling the base of the wall to absorb the impact, his body slapped against the ice barrier and he fell to the ground without having climbed a single inch and brandishing a howl of pain and frustration as he hit the floor:

- GOD DAMNIT!

Judy was very concerned with him, she knew that the exercise was a true lesson in determination but now she was very worried that he might have really hurt himself, she raised from her seat and began to run until she got close to him and asked while he was laying down on the cold floor:

- Nick, are you hurt?!

With his voice emitting a low shriek of discomfort, he answered her:

- Just my pride… and my tail… also maybe some of my ribs.

Judy helped Nick get up and guided him to Finnick's van so he could sit down, get warm and regain his strength, Finnick opened the back doors as soon as they came closer and watched as the bunny supporting some of the weight from the fox leaning over her, helped Nick sit down and gave him a thick blanket to help him escape the cold to relax some more. Nick was now under the comforting embrace of the blanket and, as soon as he felt his body's thermal sensation get back on more appropriate settings, he turned to Judy and said:

- Thanks for the help carrots. I did not think that this was going to be so hard.

Judy sat next to him on the back of the van and passed her paw over his right shoulder covered by the blanket to reassure him some more, as she reminisced a bit about her own past experiences at the academy, she spoke to him:

- I'm sorry you had to fall so many times Nick, but the ice wall is the last stretch for you to complete the training track, it was really hard for me back in the academy, I thought you would have an easier time with it.

Finnick's ears twitched for a bit after hearing that, he was standing just outside the van hearing their conversation, he directed his eyes at the wall by the ball court and imagined how that bunny who was not even much bigger than him could make her way up and over such a harsh obstacle. He called Judy's attention and asked of her:

- You really made it past that wall fuzz?

Judy turned to Finnick and answered him:

- I did, except the wall over at the academy was much taller than the one I had set up here, there were other mammals racing to the top as well and there was also the matter of the huge moat filled with frozen water right in front of it.

The two vulpine had their eyes shot open with incredulity, the training over at the police academy now sounded more intimidating than ever despite the relaxed tone of voice Judy used to deliver that important fact about her own time on the training course. Nick leaned close to her and asked:

- How the hell did you even do that?!

Judy smiled and gestured showing the palms of her paws:

- It was not easy, no claws on me, you know? So… I had to tackle the wall through a new angle.

Judy took some air and released a huge puff of warm air through her nose, she told her tale right after she felt like she was up for telling it:

- My drill sergeant, Major Freadkin, had this curious habit of telling us we were dead every time we failed during an exercise, every time we fell down, slipped up or got stuck on a particular nasty obstacle, she always yelled out 'You're dead!'. She was specially harsh with me. During my time at the academy, according to her own count, I died a total of one hundred and ninety-three times. Most of them were due to the wall.

Judy finished the first part of her story while pointing to the ice wall outside the van, she continued shortly after:

- I decided that enough was enough, I took one whole day on the course to try getting over the wall, five times I tossed myself on it and I fell into the moat on all five of those times, on my fifth attempt the cold got to me, I pushed my body way past its limit and fell to the water one final time, that was when I felt like my body didn't want to move on command, I was blacking out inside of the moat and I could've drowned, that is, until Major Freadkin scooped me out of the water, she was mad and impressed at me. That's when it finally hit me.

Judy took a deep breath before proceeding:

- She pushed me around so much because she was trying to see what I was really made of, she wanted to make sure I wasn't a quitter, after she pulled me from the training course, she told me the secret of how to get over the wall and I made it my own.

Nick was about to ask about that last part, but Finn beat him to it, the fox realized that his diminutive friend was just as invested on that story as he was. With his deep voice giving up a few pinches of excitement, Finnick asked:

- What was the secret?

Judy pointed into the air as if there was an invisible wall in front of her, she waved her pointing finger gradually up on the surface of the unseen wall as she explained:

- You have to make a schematic of yourself going up the wall before jumping on it, a little map that will show you the path inside your head, I know that is very difficult to pull off specially when you're dashing into the wall at full speed so… I came up with a new way on the spot.

Judy felt a bit awkward discussing that with others, but after a few seconds she came around to telling it:

- I used the other cadets who were climbing up the wall as stepping stones to get to the top.

Nick and Finn could not believe what they just heard, both of their jaws were hanging and Finnick was the first to say something:

- That is the coolest shit I've ever heard!

Judy laughed so hard at that, she thought about what she did at the time in the same way but she also had to speak her mind in the form of a tough protest:

- Even then, I technically cheated my way up the wall, so I still had to find my way up without any assistance before my academy days were done.

Judy shook her leg as she was sitting down, trying to find a more comfy position, a thought came into her head all of a sudden, an impulse to take action and so she did, she raised from her original position and hopped out of the van back into the bare cold air, Nick did not understand what she was doing and decided to follow her while trying to call her attention:

- Carrots? What are you doing?

Judy got herself on a set distance facing the wall, she stretched her legs out and after her muscles were ready to overtake a fair amount of effort she answered him:

- I'm going to show you how to conquer the wall

Nick detected the tone in her voice and checked the look in her eyes, that was the look that she had when she had a clear, single daring thought in her mind, almost identical to the one she gave the sandstorm, he tried coercing her to stop:

- Carrots, you don't have to do this.

- I feel like doing this.

She directed her sight back to the wall and spoke out with a healthy amount of cunning in her voice:

- I think I'm up for it. There has been a long time since I did it and I think it will be… What's the word?

Judy felt a little short on adjectives at that moment, but Finnick was nearby and complemented her line of thought with a proper word:

- 'Cathartic'?

Judy turned around after hearing that and thanked the little fox for his linguistic back up:

- Thanks Finnick.

- You're very much welcome.

Judy finished getting ready and darted towards the wall, she had her path up already planned out and was ready to thread through it, Nick tried reaching and placing a paw over her shoulder to hold her back but she was already out of his reach, with a big leap she tossed her body onto the wall and held on with all of her finger strength to the few spots on the ice that were ideal for her to climb. Judy placed one paw after the other and slowly but surely she made her own way up on the ice wall. It was hard for her to keep a steady pace as she climbed, the sting of the ice was making itself noticeable around her body specially on her torso, but she had to keep her body as close to the wall as she could so she could get a good enough grip over it and that included her center of gravity, her short coat of fur was doing very little to protect her against that uneasy sensation.

There was a split second when she almost slipped and fell down, she was two thirds of the way up and Nick was sure she was going to tumble to the ground and get hurt, he was set to go to her and help out only there was no need for it, by the last stretch of the wall she swung her lower body tossing her right foot over the top of the wall and pulling the rest of her body upwards the rest of the way, she was sitting nice and pretty right at the top with a satisfied smile on her face, she looked around and then down to the two mammals staring at her from down below and said:

- It's actually nice up here.

Finnick watched the whole thing, believing that it all actually happened took a whole lot longer, the fennec fox walked near Nick who had a ridiculous smile on his face after seeing the bunny reaching the top. The two of the stayed side by side and Nick's ear twitched as soon as his friend spoke out:

- Wow! She's really cool!

Nick nodded his head subtlety in agreement and got into his own position to run, climb and reach her atop the ice wall, the fox breathed a few puffs of warm air from his mouth and rubbed his paws together to get some more feeling back to them, he leaned close to the ground to get into a running stance more efficiently but he was halted into a hasty course of action by the voice yelling from above the wall:

- Nick! Make a map inside of your head before coming up.

The fox squinted his eyes as the cold wind blew a small draft into his face, his pupils moved frantically drawing what seemed to be a dotted line that swayed and bent until the very top of the obstacle. Speaking with whispers directed at himself, Nick calculated the best path up:

- Up, right, right… No. Up right, up, left, right, up, up… that's it!

With the path clear and his drive to climb born a new, Nick dashed once more and tossed his own body, claws out, shoulders in, nose up, on the wall and began to climb again. Retracing the steps he had drew previously inside his mind, Nick followed the directions while speaking them out loud so he would not sway from the objective:

- UP! RIGHT! UP! LEFT! RIGHT!...

On the final extent of the climb, just as Nick placed his claws on the top of the wall, Judy thought about extending her arm and help him get the rest of his body up, but he didn't need it, just he had seen her doing prior to him, Nick got just enough purchase to swing his lower body upwards with enough force to get up. With his chest short on breath, Nick placed himself at the top but his wheezes for air were shortly becoming a smile of victory. As the pair sat up on the wall Nick got just enough of his breath back to turn to Judy and say:

- You were right. It is kinda nice up here.

Judy bumped Nick's shoulder gently and congratulated him for taking the challenge that gave her so much strife a while ago head on, Finnick approached the very base of the wall and yelled out for the two of them:

- You two are going to stay up there the whole day or what?

Nick looked down and teased his friend, jokingly inviting him to take the challenge as well:

- Come up and take a seat Finn, the air is plenty fresh up here.

- Thanks, but I'm just great where I am right now.

Judy was very proud of Nick, she thought about treating him to a nice meal as a reward for being such a diligent student and following her teachings so well, before her suggestion was made heard, Nick decided to propose a friendly wager to her, he came closer and poked her shoulder before speaking up:

- Hey, want to get down and race back up? Ten bucks say I can reach the top first.

Finnick was listening to that suggestion from down below and immediately took an interest to it:

- Hey, I'll take those odds! Take him on fuzz! I can cover the bet for you!

Judy was normally very competitive with that sort of thing, but she didn't want to get into that kind of competition right then and there, the cold was getting more intense and she felt like they should rest before any other lesson was taught. She gestured with her paws to both of them and said:

- I think that this has been enough climbing for one day. Let's all take a rest for now.

Nick was a little disappointed from hearing that, he slid down the wall and waited for Judy who followed soon enough, they were both tired but they felt satisfied with the results, they returned to the warm interior of Finnick's van, closing the two doors and letting the environment get subtly warm by the second. Judy released a short huff of air from her mouth and said with a proud tone of voice:

- Well… this is it. I taught you all of the points from the training course. You are ready.

- Am I?

Judy recalled the days preceding that one, how Nick went along with her plan, studying, making an unearthly amount of effort to go through with it all, he seemed stronger, faster, more confident, but there was still one last thing that he needed to do before he was truly ready, something that she had to prepare him for and it was not going to be easy in the least:

- There might be one last thing, but you might want to leave it for another time.

Nick hopped a little over his seat and claimed that he could still keep that rhythm going for a lot longer:

- "Another time"?! Carrots, my mind and my body are firing up and they have the need to go full steam, I don't want to stop now. If you got anything else that might get my blood pumping for a little while longer than hit me up.

Judy felt that dash of overconfidence and exhilaration that was flowing from Nick, Finnick, sitting in front of the wheel, did not much care for that, it appeared that just from seeing the two exerting such a big endeavor had left him somewhat tired already. Judy decided to give it a try and give Nick one final lesson since the day was still far from over, she crawled out of her seat in the back and walked near the front of the vehicle to show Finn a picture on her phone depicting an address she was planning on visiting:

- Finnick, can you please take us to this location?

The driver was already revving up the engine to get out of the cold tundra when Judy pointed to the little screen to show him the image, he raised his shoulders and let them down slowly as he gave his answer:

- Sure. I was going that way anyway.

The van started to cut its way over the thin cover of snow over the streets and head back to the more cozy climate of the savanna, Nick came to sit a tad closer to the front and complained as he got comfortable once more wrapping the sheet around his body:

- Hey! How come when I want to go somewhere you are never this compliant?

Finnick was quick to answer him:

- Because I'm not your shofar Wilde, also, she is asking politely! You might wanna try that sometimes.

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34 Minutes later/ Eastern savanna

After entering the Savanna once more, Finnick had to stick with driving through the streets near the edge, the traffic in Zootopia was getting crazy and it was mid Saturday morning, he kept complaining how the excess of mammals driving around and cluttering the streets was making them drive around with a really slow pace, Judy didn't mind that, she always enjoyed moving around the city, no matter the time it took. After a while they got to the address shown by Judy, it was an old gym, there was the mark of a blue star by the sign over the front door, appropriately named 'the blue star gym' in huge letters, Judy grabbed the duffle bag near her, exited the van and approached the front doors of the building.

Nick was left by the van guessing what she was about to do, Finn was stuck with a similar mindset, Judy reached to the lever that held the double doors together and they opened without much effort on her part, Nick saw her gesturing for him to follow close with a single wave of her paw and he replied to that immediately, he got down from the van shutting the door behind him and walked inside the old building not knowing what awaited him. Finnick's head was burning with curiosity, letting his inquisitive thinking get the best of him, he got out of the vehicle and dashed to the doors just in time to see what was inside as Judy jumped near a switch to turn on the lights.

The inside of the gym was nothing too surprising, it looked very much like any other gymnasium that you might see in an old movie about training for a big fight. The ceiling was quite tall, there were barbells and weights of different sizes scattered across the floor, punching bags placed on strategic positions across the left side of the room and by the center of it all, a big boxing ring with elastic ropes guarding the edges and a flexible although resilient walking floor, meant for fighters of all sizes who wished to square it off against one another.

All things considered the place seemed to be in much better condition than it would appear from the outside, the floors were clean, there wasn't a big layer of dust over the equipment and the ring itself looked spotless, almost like it was just waiting for a duo of fighters to hop on it at any time. Nick watched as Judy searched over the content of her bag until she found a something specific that he couldn't see accurately what it was, she placed the sort of item she just found aside and walked near him with a set of training gloves and a dark, sleeveless shirt, she approached Nick and the fox asked as she got close:

- What is this place carrots?

Judy explained while giving him the gear he was going to need for the lesson:

- A fellow officer of mine called Fangmeyer told me about this place, she comes around here along with some of her friends to train from time to time and she recommended it to me. Here. Put these on.

- Oh, okay.

Judy walked quick, she grabbed her bag by the strap and walked to the other side of the ring out of Nick's sight in order to prepare herself, Nick was not sure what was about to happen but he felt a tad uneasy, Finnick just sat himself down over a wood seat of a long bench placed nearby. Nick put on the gloves and took off his coat to put on the black shirt, in the meantime, Judy was taking off her own clothing and replacing it with a new attire, she returned to the fox's line of sight now sporting a pitch black top that pressed over her chest making it look unbelievably firm and a pair of navy blue shorts that made the movement of her legs much easier.

Watching the bunny reappear and step over the ring with the image of a professional fighter felt a bit exciting for Nick, he had watched tons of fighting on television and had already guessed that he was about to undertake combat training, with Judy's signal to get himself over the ring he grabbed one of the ropes to get up the platform more easily and heard as she asked him out loud making her voice echo around the walls of that enormous place:

- Are you ready Nick?

Nick adjusted his gloves on his paws and asked her just to make sure:

- Ready for what exactly fluff?

Judy began to stretch her muscles, much like she did earlier, only this new set of stretches seemed much more active than the previous one, she rotated her shoulders a couple of times and moved her elbows to the sides one at a time, she bent her neck to the right, to the left and, finally, she bent herself down for a bit, she took one long breath before placing the palms of her paws over her waist line and slowly moving them down her legs until they reached a certain position, she slowly released the air from her lungs as her torso bent forward and her hands slid down over her legs almost reaching her ankles. That last stretching action made her prop her buttocks up and Nick immediately felt the need to look away from that, his eyes moved upwards to look at the ceiling after realizing he had spent a few seconds staring at her cotton tail, that made him feel a tad awkward.

Judy bent her body back up until her back was straight once more and took a new breath of air before she explained it to Nick:

- One very important part of the academy lessons will be active combat training, once you become a police officer it is quite possible that you will find enemies who will not surrender so easily. As such, I will teach you a few basics about how to outmaneuver an opponent and definitely overpower an oposing mammal.

- Cool.

Judy saw Nick's face and slowly walked to the center of the ring, Nick saw her just standing there and chose to approach her, as they were standing right in front of one another's sight, the fox shook his paws for a second and asked her:

- So… now what?

- Hit me.

Nick's eyes shot open in shock and Finnick, who was still sitting nearby, stood up over the bench as his ears intercepted that order coming from her, the little fox definitely had to see how that lesson was going to unveil after that. Nick leaned his body slightly ahead and asked Judy once more while looking straight at her:

- Come again?

- Put your paws up and hit me with a good one.

Judy raised her right paw and pointed to a fixed spot on her cheek:

- Right here.

Nick raised his paws, but they were not meant to be used for a fight, he quickly waved them around making a dismissive gesture while giving one step back to distance himself from her and the likelihood of a fight. He looked at her while trying to call that whole deal off:

- Whoa, carrots! I'm not going to hit you!

Judy gave one step closer to him in an attempt to rule out the step he took to get away from her, of course her legs were shorter than Nick's so the distance between them was still noticeable. She kept her eyes placed over him as she asked with a pinch of disappointment in her voice:

- Why not?

Nick remained in place as he tried to make his case:

- Fluff, I'm almost two times your size, this wouldn't be fair, if I come swinging at you I don't think that is going to work out... for one of us.

Judy smiled thinking that his way of showing restraint was very sweet, but if the fox was going to face off against the worst the city had to throw at him he was going to need honed instincts for battle. She decided to come closer with one other step and give his arm a little bump with her fist, as soon as Nick took note of that gentle hit, Judy said in an endeavor to get him more riled up:

- Aw, don't worry. I promise I'll go easy on you.

Nick's right ear twitched after hearing that, his eyes locked at the bunny as she waved her head to the side causing her ears to wave around in a subtle motion that only brought out the cockiness in her look even more. Finnick heard that jab directed at Nick loud and clear, trying to add some more fuel to that spark, the fennec fox exclamated with increased volume:

- OooooooooooooooH!

- Shut it!

Nick yelled out and pointed a claw at Finnick who was just outside the ring, he returned his full attention at Judy and began getting ready for a simulated scrape against her. Hoping to not hurt her too much during the exercise, still believing that his size difference would give him an unfair advantage against her, Nick raised his left paw, shaped it into a fist and said:

- Alright, here it comes. You asked for it.

That is when the truth of the situation daunted over Nick. Before his attack had come too close to make contact with the intended target, a sudden flash surprised Nick and made him halt his move, a hefty amount of pressure was placed at the front of his muzzle in such a quick and precise manner that his focus became staggered and his brain didn't make a note he had just been hit until much later. The fox let his paw down and gestured as his mouth let a loud shout escape between his teeth:

- OUCH!

With his nose now experiencing a sharp dose of pain and both of his paws resting over his muzzle, he asked with his voice being muffled but still being very much audible:

- WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!

Finnick laughed so loud after witnessing that, it took him a while to understand what just happened inside that ring, but as soon as he did, there was no stopping his laughter, watching the fox tumbling back after such a lightning fast hit did not do anything to slow his chuckles down. When Finnick finally took in enough air to speak, he answered Nick's question:

- She knocked your block off Wilde! That's what happened!

Nick was outright astonished at that point, the bunny hit a straight shot at him and he was completely dazed, he turned back to her, she didn't even flinch out of her stance, he pointed at her while one of his paws was still placed over his nose and he exclamated:

- You… hit me!

- I don't recall ever saying that I wouldn't fight back.

Nick still had quite a hard time believing how strong Judy actually was for her size, either that or he just had one lousy glass jaw, he kept rubbing one paw over his muzzle and sounding off one sharp inhale between his teeth. Judy, thinking that he was just being overly dramatic at that point, decided to call him out saying:

- Oh, quit being such a cry baby. I didn't use that much force to hit you.

- Yeah… right.

Judy approached him again, she grabbed him by his left paw and guided him back to the center of the fighting ring, she began to make small adjustments to his stance so it would be easier for him to react and less prone to telegraph his own attacks:

- Look, keep both paws up, protect your face and your chest, keep your stance wide but not too open, loosen your shoulders and get ready to move or I *am* going to hit you again.

Judy left Nick to better figure his new fighting posture and went ahead to start a new round with him, she placed her body just a few steps away from him and signaled with a simple motion from her paws:

- We can go again whenever you're ready.

Nick released a frustrated huff of air from his nose and spoke out while tightening the glove around his right wrist:

- Alright carrots. Get ready cause I'm not holding back anymore.

Judy looked at him with her signature stare of defiance and Finnick just took the chance to prep his cellphone and begin filming the entire thing. Nick lived up to his words and advanced with the full intent of immobilizing the bunny, using his own size to block any chance she could have used to dodge out of the way of his advances, Judy expected that, on the first set of hits that he tried to deal out on her didn't come even close to a hit, she merely dodged and waited for any opportune moment to strike.

Nick kept stepping forward, he swung his fists left and right, but Judy just swayed around giving short hops to the sides, striding away from any dangerous hits, Nick tried a quick jab on the right side but she leaned her body slightly down to the left, followed the line made by his extended arm and got in close to deliver one quick jab of her own right on his gut. After feeling that hit, Nick retreated with a paw over his belly but he came back to the fight shortly after.

Judy watched as Nick came closer to continue with his assault, but she decided to take the offensive this time around, after dodging anorher one of his punches she started swinging, stepping back and forth as she delivered a barrage of hits that had no sign of slowing down. Nick did his best to stay on his toes, he stepped back to get some space and collect his thoughts but it was all in vain, the bunny kept advancing over him, peppering his body with hit after hit:

"Fuck! She's fast!"

He thought so after felling one strong jab coming from her connect against the left side of his ribcage. Judy had the right idea during the match, she noticed how Nick's shoulders seemed to click before going for a direct hit, she came in close, staying inside the area that was favorable for her to deliver heavier hits and went primarily for his blind spots. Finnick, still filming the match outside the ring, watched in absolute astonishment as the bunny demolished the fox in a one on one bout.

When Nick saw the opening he needed to strike, he decided to use it, he gave one huge step forward and readied himself to dish out a fast straight punch, his tail swayed to the left and Judy's quick eye took that quick motion as a hint for a heavy attack that was coming her way. As Nick propelled his fist over her, Judy performed an epic reverse jump to escape out of his range, a quick backwards hop that was short in height but still carried plenty of power behind it. She remained calm, keeping her arms in a fighting posture, expecting a following blow and it almost looked like she made her body glide away from his punch by the way she made her entire body flow seemingly into the air.

While drifting away from his hit, she tucked her legs in whilst she was in midair and, as soon as her feet touched the ground, she gave one huge leap, proppeling her body ahead and darting like a torpedo right at Nick's face, showing that her arm was winding up for a devastating counter attack. Nick saw the fluffy opponent flying right at him and instinctively placed both of his forearms in front of his face to act like a shield, he waited for another harsh impact over his skin, but… it never came.

He separated his arms and checked around to see what was going on, to his surprise, Judy was nowhere to be found, or so it seemed at first glance, that last hit was nothing but a fake out. Judy took the chance to get behind Nick and take him down for good, he felt a little wind passing by his tail fur, alerting him for her presence, but he was a second too late on that. Judy planted the tip of her foot on the back of his right knee and that immediately made him loose balance, Nick was falling to the ground within half of a second, he tried getting up but the bunny was already over his body pinning him down for good, pulling his arm back and impeding him from continuing.

After seeing that his vulpine comrade was done for, Finnick began to hit the base of the ring and count it out the time Nick stayed on the ground:

- 1… 2… 3… HE'S DONE!

Judy understood that as a clear sign of victory and let go of Nick, he was lift gasping on the ground with most of his body hurting, not even sure if he should get back up. Judy leaned down after seeing that Nick turned his body around but remained laying on the floor, she looked at him and said:

- Good job.

Not getting what was so good about any of that, Nick looked at her and spoke out:

- "Good job"? Why are you saying that?! I got destroyed! You destroyed me!

Judy gave a few steps around Nick and explained with calm demeaner:

- True, but you had a lot going for you during the fight and I saw it. You have power, great reflexes, nice battle instincts, you just have to worry about bringing it all together during a fight.

Judy sat herself close to Nick on the floor, she placed her legs in a lotus position and leaned close to him once more to ask:

- Aren't you going to get up?

- No thanks, I'm just going to stay here to… catch my breath, also rebuilt my fragile ego. If you don't mind.

Judy giggled, hearing Nick admitting defeat was something else and she knew it could not have been easy to him. Finnick climbed on the ring and ran close to the two of them, he hovered over Nick and showed him the screen of the cellphone:

- That was awesome! And I got the whole thing recorded right here.

Nick did not much care for his friend's tone, he looked right at Finn and said:

- That's great Finn, now delete that if you don't mind.

Before Nick could finish that thought Judy interrupted him:

- No! Don't delete it!

Both of them turned to her, she explained the reason behind her protest:

- We can review the footage later, see how you came up short. It's a great coaching technique to improve the fighting of trainees.

Finnick sat himself down on the ground and pointed to the fox sorry state, pouring more salt on Nick's wounded self-image, the little fox spoke up:

- Beaten into the dirt by a bunny. There is no greater indignity.

Nick raised his upper body from the ground and said, gesturing a thumb to the bunny close by as he asked Finnick:

- I'm sorry. Do *you* care to have a round with her?

Finnick looked at the bunny raising from the ground and cracking her knuckles together, she glared at him with a challenging look as she did so, the fennec fox lowered his ears and swallowed some air before giving an answer

- Ahm… No thanks… I'm… I'm good.

Nick watched his ally clearly quaking in fear and launched a satisfied smirk before saying:

- Yeah. That's what I thought.

Nick finally decided to raise from the ground, he passed a paw over the few spots on his body that carried the more painful marks left by Judy, she placed a paw over his arm and asked:

- Is everything okay?

- Define the word… "okay" to me.

Judy sounded a sharp inhale and apologized to him:

- I'm sorry if I hurt you too bad Nick. I tend to get carried away.

Nick returned his body to a straight stance and gave his answer to her:

- Oh, trust me, I know that.

He checked around just to make sure all of his members were still working right and the mixture of physical efforts started to take a toll over him. Nick was sore and tired beyond anything he thought possible, he walked to the corner of the ring and leaned over the pole giving support to the ropes, Judy followed close and was about to extend her arms to help him but the smile on the fox's face assured that her help wasn't necessary at the moment. He turned to her and asked:

- Damn, carrots! Where did you learn to tussle like that?!

Judy waved her paws in a sort of awkward manner, she placed them together in order to remove her gloves and answer Nick while she was at it:

- My brothers and I hung out a lot together, we we're always rough housing whenever we wanted to, we also watched a lot of wrestling matches on the weekends.

Finnick dashed closer to her after catching that last bit of information:

- Whoa there fuzz! You're into wrestling?! No way! Which fighter is your top pick?

Judy grabbed one of the ropes nearby and tugged on it as she searched her mind for a good answer to that:

- Well… Underdog is a great one, picked up a lot of useful grapples from watching him. Dominator is also a good fighter, I practiced a lot of powerful strikes based on him. But if I had to pick my favorite one… I would have to go with Spotter.

Finnick grinned after hearing such an in depth analysis of one of his all time favorite sports, he hopped close to her and shouted:

- Alright! Spotter! I thought I had seen that move you used before! That was a dead ringer to the Pain Train Dash!

Nick thought that it was nice to see those two getting along so well, he had a nice smile on his face as he leaned to rest over the corner of the ring, he tuned out the noise caused by Judy and Finnick's conversation and grabbed some shut eye for himself right there, it daunted on him that he was starting to push himself way past his limit without realizing it.

After the trio left the training gym behind they stopped by a local diner to get some food, it all seemed to be going on so fluidly, Nick felt like the time until his departure for the academy flew by. Judy had dragged him across the entire city and thanks to her putting all of her smarts and grits on the line for him, he felt more ready than ever before. He appreciated all the lengths she went for him and he was going to make sure all of that time and effort wasn't going to waste.

A few more days passed by and Nick knocked out all of the last bits of training on his own, just reviewing some last details in the books he still had a few doubts on and getting a sliver of exercise during the mornings leading up to his departure. Judy went ahead for the precinct files and sent a report for the academy headmaster in advance telling that the fox was heading there with special recommendations by her but he was to be treated like any other recruit. This was it, the official start for Nick's academy experience.

Author's note: Well... this is it. What did you all think about this two parter? I put a lot of my free time into it and i think I'm going to rest for a little bit before taking on the next chapter, gives me time to adjust the order of a few things along the way. Give me your opinion and tell me if you would like to see something new in my page, I'm always up for new ideas. Take care and keep yourselves nice and healthy.

Until next time.