Nick and Judy were driving in there police cruiser for there latest patrol assignment. "You know this place we're going to?" Judy asked of her fox husband.
"Not especially. I know it exists but I never had reason to come to this place." Nick noted. "From what I've heard. Everything happens here." Nick continued.
"Everything how? In our line of work that almost always means something bad." Judy said inquisitively.
"Well, I've never seen it in person myself. But... well from what I've heard it's more serial weirdness." Nick said.
"Well, that wouldn't be unfamiliar to us, eh Red?" Judy said as they arrived at a public thoroughfare. It looked like a typical inner-city neighborhood. She stopped the cruiser in front of an apartment building. "123 Sesame Street... seems normal enough to me." She said as the two got out of there car.
"Everywhere looks normal at first glance Carrots... well almost everywhere," Nick said as he looked to the left of the apartment building. There was a courtyard area, some sort of restaurant, and some sort of fix-it shop. Nick then looked to his right and saw a single trash can, surrounded by crates. And next to that was a line of salvaged doors that made a wall behind the can.
"Yeah... seems like a good neighborhood," Judy said, then a warm looking cape buffalo exited the apartment. "Excuse me, citizen, we're from the ZPD-"
"Good morning, I'm Gordon. Welcome to Sesame Street." Gordon, the cape buffalo said and shook Judy and Nick's paws.
"It's like Bizzaro Bogo," Nick whispered to his wife.
"Right..." Judy said, noticing a similarity between this Gordon and Chief Bogo. "I'm Officer Judy Hopps, this is my partner (in more ways than one), Nick Wilde." Judy introduced. "We've been assigned to patrol your neighborhood for the day."
"Well, you'll be happy to know that Sesame Street has no crime what-so-ever," Gordon said proudly.
"But this place is right next to Happy Town!" Nick said incredulously. "The most crime and poverty-ridden slum in the entire city! I can't even smell that dump from here."
"And it's been an uphill battle to maintain Sesame Streets reputation and status since I took up leadership of this community back in 1969," Gordon said cheerfully. "I'd show you around, but I'm running late as it is for my job. But I've got a helper that can show you around." He then went over to the wall made of doors and knocked on one of them. "Oh Big Bird, I need you to show some folks around!"
"Oh... he's got some weird platypus hobo living back there," Nick said, then out from behind my doors came a six-foot-tall yellow bird. "Okay! I was not expecting that!"
"Hi! I'm Big Bird!" Big Bird introduced with a high-pitched childlike voice. "Welcome to Sesame Street!"
Nick was bewildered by this site. But then again since joining the ZPD, he had seen, among other things, Vampires, killer robots, Norse gods, time travel, and that time when they went to the zoo with Pandora, Olaf, and Davies, and birds kept trying to attack Judy. So a six-foot-tall yellow bird was almost normal for him. "Uh... hi. I'm Nick... Officer Nick Wilde, ZPD. My partner and I are here to keep the peace." He said as a songbird went off and a butterfly flew past. "Yes, really, we're here to make sure that no serious mischief happens around here."
"Well, I'll show you around." Big Bird then knocked on the trashcan. "Oscar! Oscar are you in there? Oscar!" Eventually, a small fury green creature emerged. "This is Oscar, Oscar the Grouch."
"Did you wake me up from my nap... for this?!" Oscar asked incredulously.
"Morning to you too sunshine," Nick said sardonically. Everyone then noticed that Judy was transfixed on Big Bird. "Oh no... sorry about this. Carrots!" Nick said, snapping Judy back to reality. "This bird isn't going to hurt you."
Oscar then stifled a laugh. "You... afraid of Big Bird?"
"Hey! I've been through a lot lately!" Judy said defensively. "Birds were attacking me all last week... it came to a head when we went to the zoo, and I almost got carried off by a harpy eagle."
"To quote my brother-in-law. 'The only good thing to come out of this whole affair was the food, the souvenirs, and the memories we made for little Pandora and Olaf.' Of course, he said that shortly after he got home, and found himself locked out of his home." Nick went on. "But I agree with him... you were going to show us around?"
"Oh right!" Big Bird said. "Let me show you around my place first." Big Bird then led the two officers behind the door wall. "This is my home, where I live."
"How... how old are you?" Judy asked. "Where are your parents?"
"Well, I'm six years old, and my parents live with my Granny Bird-"
"SIX?!" Judy yelled in surprise. "A-A-And your parents don't live with you?!"
"Well... I'm a bird. That's just what we do." Big Bird said. "At least that's how my Mommy Bird explained it. Besides, everyone around here helps me. Last time there was a hurricane through here, Gordon and Susan let me sleep in their apartment."
"I am just so confused..." Judy said in resignation.
"Well aside from all that, this is a pretty cozy place," Nick commented. "But what about the rest of the street?"
Big Bird led the two to Mr. Hoopers. "This is Mr. Hooper's store."
"And that must be Mr. Hooper," Judy said.
"No, I'm Alan." The tiger said. "Mr. Hooper... passed on in the eighties. And the stores changed hands since then. Do you need anything Big Bird?"
"Well, I could use a bird-sneed snack." Big Bird said.
While Big Bird was eating. "Excuse me... Alan. But can you tell us if anything around here has gone missing, or people?" Judy asked.
"Well now that you mention it, my storeroom has been rather bare lately. I'll go back to check for anything specific." Alan left the counter.
Nick and Judy got a better look at some of the other patrons. Besides Big Bird. There was a little furry red creature eating a sandwich. A strange-looking man with a stripy shirt and oval-shaped head, happily eating bland looking soup. The man at the end of the bar caught there attention.
"A vampire?!" The couple whispered as indeed, there was a being, who was dressed in the stereotypical finery associated with Vampires. He was counting pieces of cereal in his bowl.
Judy sent a picture of this purple being to Anna Blackpaw for confirmation. This was followed by an unamused emoji, followed by a text. "He's not a Vampire... he's in a number reflective surfaces." Anna then sent photos of the relevant reflections. "He's just some weirdo that's baffled the Undead Community for decades. We don't know where he came from, or why he's even more fixated on counting then the average Vampire. But the one thing we know for certain is that the Count Von Count is HARMLESS."
"-two-hundred and eighty-three pieces of cereal in my bowl! Ah-ah-ah!" The Count laughed joyfully.
"He just finished counting, didn't he?" Anna asked through text.
"Well, I'm done." Big Bird said, then Alan returned from the storeroom.
"Here's a list of everything that's gone missing from my storeroom in the last week." Alan then handed a list to Nick and Judy.
"Cookies?" Judy said in disbelief. "Who'd steal cookies?"
"Well Cookie Monster likes cookies... but I don't think he'd steal cookies anymore." Big Bird said. "Let me show you the fix-it shop. It's where people go to have their things fixed."
"Oh really?" Nick said sarcastically as Big Bird continued the tour. After that, he showed them Around the Corner. Including 456 Sesame Street and the Day Care Center, the Furry Arms Hotel, the Birdland jazz club, 10 Sesame Street, and the Finders Keepers shop and Dance Studio therein, a nearby subway station, the local park, and a new stand with Oscar manning it.
"I'll be honest, this kind of petered out around here," Nick said. "I mean a subway terminal and a new stand?"
"Who asked for your opinion?" Oscar asked.
"Sir, I hate to be the one to tell you this... but the newspaper industry is a dying medium," Judy said.
"I know, I don't sell them for news," Oscar said. "Trust me, some of that stuff is garbage even Grouches won't touch. No, I sell this stuff for Grouches." Then without warning Finnick came up to the stand, quickly got a newspaper, and left.
"The heck was Finnick doing here?" Nick asked.
"He's a Grouch," Oscar said.
"No surprise there," Judy whispered to her husband, they both chuckled.
"Well anyway, it's almost playtime with Mr. Snuffleupugus. Bye-bye!" Big Bird went off.
"Well I won't lie Nick... this place is weird," Judy said as a letter X flew by humming under her breath. "And that's counting the haunted mansion that my brother is living in."
"Yeah... this place feels unreal," Nick said. "Like some kind of kids puppet show." Nick then saw a blue furry creature googly eyes, and his arms filled with boxes of cookies. "Excuse me sir, but did you pay for those?"
"Me got them from Cookie of the Month Club!" Cookie Monster said.
"Are you sure about that?" Judy asked. "Because we've heard that Hoopers Store has cookies missing."
Cookie Monster gasped. "Me am shocked! Shocked me say! That you, an officer of the law would accuse ME. A law-abiding member of this community, of that most deplorable of crimes!... cookie theft!" He said indignantly.
Nick and Judy cringed. "It's... just that you're the most logical culprit," Nick said.
"This is also true." Cookie Monster said. "Me also sneak unguarded cookies sometimes... but me have been learning self-control. Besides, Hoopers Store is sacrosanct! Nobody steals from there!... unless... oh no." Cookie Monster said in shame. "Me... might have been sleepwalking again."
XXXX
"So... you brought in a monster, for eating cookies in his sleep," Bogo said with a bemused look on his face.
"Chief, that guy was loudly lamenting the whole thing. He was insisting on a life sentence!" Nick said.
"And unless things have changed, he's still swiping Clawhauser's junk food as we speak," Judy said.
There were sounds of a ruckus outside of Bogo's office. "COME BACK HERE YOU BLUE MENACE!" Clawhauser shouted.
"Me am doing this for your good! This not healthy for cheetahs!" Cookie Monster replied.
"Yeah, he's a real character isn't he?" Bogo said. "Confidentially, this isn't even the first time that he's been brought in for eating things he shouldn't. Back in the eighties, I've got him on record for eating Gordons Volkswagon" He said, looking like he was trying to not laugh at the entire situation.
"There was a method to assigning us to patrol Sesame Street, wasn't their sir?" Judy asked.
Bogo stood up from his desk and looked out of a window. "You two have been through a lot recently. Both on, and off the job. You might not know this, but I do pay attention to how my officers are doing."
"Well, it wasn't a big secret," Nick said as he showed pictures of Judy being attacked by birds.
"I'm not just talking about Judy's week-long bird attacks," Bogo said. "I'm referring more to what you two found in Forrest Vale. It's obvious that your both anxious about what's going on there. Mulerson rebuilding his robot army, the Legion of Night moving freely, Long-Fang readying for who knows what... all three of them working together more or less."
"Yes... those monsters don't deserve to walk free." Judy brooded.
"I know, but this entire situation is bigger then we would have wished for," Bogo said. "Which brings me to why you'll be on patrol in Sesame Street till further notice... that particular corner of Zootopia. I don't entirely understand it, but that place brings peace of mind that I haven't found anywhere else in the world."
"Then how come I didn't know about before today?" Nick asked.
"Did you have a particular interest in finding peace of mind?" Bogo asked, Nick tried to think of answer but didn't say anything. "My point is, you two need a vacation. But you can't right now as we need all hands on deck, so I figured that patroling Sesame Street, for now, would be the next best thing for you."
"So you knew that Sesame Street doesn't have crime?" Judy asked.
"Yes Hopps, I knew," Bogo said. "Now, assuming that we're done-"
Then Cookie Monster darted into the office, his arms filled with junk food, and he hid behind a plant. Followed by Clawhauser bursting in, and promptly leaving without looking harder for the blue glutton. "That should not have worked." Cookie Monster shrugged. "Well, me not look gift horse in mouth." He said as he sat down with a box of donuts. "You not mind if I eat here?"
"Just clean up after yourself when your done," Bogo said, he then threw a handheld vacuum cleaner at Cookie Monster. "Don't. Eat that."
XXXX
A week later, Nick and Judy were having lunch at Hoopers Store. "So your liking Sesame Street?" Alan asked.
"Yeah, it gets kind of boring. But it's a welcome break after all the excitement." Judy said. "And it's taken a bit of getting used to with all the monsters, and the talking letters and numbers, and... whatever Ernie and Bery are."
"I'd chide you Carrots... but yeah, what are those guys exactly?" Nick said.
"I've never really been clear on that myself," Alan admitted. "Anyway, enjoy your lunch."
Judy's phone then vibrated, she saw that there was a text from Anna Blackpaw. "I gotta take this." Judy checked the text.
"The Dragon and his steel legions are moving. Get to Forest Vale as soon as possible." The test read.
"Nick, do you realize what this means?" Judy said as she showed the text to Nick.
"Yes... it means we have enough time to eat lunch before we need to beat feet," Nick said.
"But your lunch is huge!" Judy said anxiously. "And you got pie!"
"Just. Be. Patient. Carrots... honestly. It's not like there's a time limit, sheesh." Nick said as he got into his hoagie. "Besides, his blueberry pie is easily the third best I've ever had. And the best had your family's blueberries."
Judy sighed. "Well... I suppose it would be alright." She said as she ate her sandwich. "Almost as good as my mom's food."