Chapter 5: A Visit From A Familiar Friend! What's Wrong With Legosi?


When Alex came to, he saw a white room in his surroundings, and instantly jolted up. His back barely hurt anymore. "Am I dead?" the wolf asked.

"Whoa, there! Settle down! Jeez, you woke up fast!" Bill yelled. The tiger seemed surprised to see Alex up.

"How long was I out? Hours? Days? Weeks?!" Alex demanded. The dog from the carnivore dorms, Jack, was also present. Checking his watch, Jack's eyes widened.

"You've only been unconscious for about twenty minutes! Now lie back down, Alex. You need rest!" Jack told the white wolf.

Legosi studied Alex, and Alex was reminded of the way his friend Leah looked at him. It felt like Legosi was staring into his soul. "What even happened to you? You were bleeding pretty badly, and Bill couldn't help but lick your wound a little," Legosi wondered.

"Bill did what?!" Alex growled.

"Hey! We can't control our instincts one hundred percent of the time! Besides… it tasted good," Bill countered.

"I heard you got a bed dropped on you by Mizuchi! You must have done something bad to piss her off!" Jack exclaimed.

"Yeah, actually, I was pushing someone else out of the way of that bed. They could have gotten hurt pretty badly if I hadn't intervened," Alex explained to the three schoolboys.

"All right, that's enough you three. I need to get a report of what happened from the victim," a familiar voice said. A dingo stood in the doorway, and Alex's tail wagged happily as he recognized the figure.

"O-of course, Officer Lem," Jack meekly replied. The dog and his two friends left the room. "Get better soon, Alex!" Jack wished.

"Oh, don't worry. I will! I'm a fast healer," Alex responded. The door closed, and the cop locked it behind them. "Lem, old buddy, old pal! How're you doing!" Alex happily exclaimed. The wolf stood up and hugged the dingo.

"Alex, it's great to see you! Though I never would have imagined seeing you outside of Zootopia," Lem greeted.

"It's a crazy story about how I winded up here," Alex told his friend.

Lem and Alex had been cadets in the Zootopia Police Department training program, and the two of them had developed a good friendship as their training had progressed. It was somewhat like a brotherly relationship, although Alex always performed better than Lem, and Lem strived to match Alex's level of performance.

After Alex explained to Lem that he was at Cherryton undercover investigating the murder of Tem, Lem nodded and was interested in Alex's endeavors. "You know, I think I might have a potential lead for you… could be nothing, though," Lem suggested.

"Tell me," Alex earnestly said.

"There's a black market in the back alleys of this town, used for selling meat and other less savory acts. Unfortunately, us cops have no power in that area. But I know two animals who may be able to assist with your investigation. One is a black Congo lion named Agata- he's one of the few good guys in the Shishigumi, which is this gang of lions. Their leader is really dangerous. But Agata may be able to help pinpoint any students who have been to the black market. My hunch is that whoever killed Tem was already eating meat prior to the murder. But don't arrest him or anything. Just tell him that Lem says hi, and he'll open up," Lem explained to Alex.

"All right, and who's the second animal of interest?" Alex inquired.

"He's a panda named Gouhin. Gouhin is basically the doctor of the black market, and also serves as a psychologist. He deals with any predators that become dangerous to others and he's one of the other good guys in the market," Lem continued. Lem's phone then went off. He checked it, sighing.

"That's the police chief. He wants a full report of what happened and why I'm taking so long," Lem told Alex.

"You should let him know that I'm actually a police officer undercover. Keep it under wraps from the rest of your squad, though," Alex told Lem.

"Will do," Lem replied. The dingo walked out of the room.

After Lem left the room, Alex laid back down and decided to rest for a little while. There was a few hours left before he needed to meet Louis. He would need to be back at full operating power in order to be ready for keeping watch over the school grounds like Louis had asked him to.

A few hours later, Alex had gotten his dinner and was back to one hundred percent. Walking through the school courtyard, he was impressed by the architecture and the care put into the school. There was even a massive fountain. In front of the drama club building, Alex noticed Legosi pacing back and forth anxiously. "Legosi?" Alex called out.

The grey wolf jumped up, startled by Alex's voice. "A-Alex? What are you doing here?" Legosi asked nervously. Alex put up his paws, showing Legosi that he was not there to fight.

"Relax, I'm not here to cause any trouble. Louis assigned me to keep watch over this area so that he and the other actor guy wouldn't get in trouble," Alex explained.

Legosi relaxed, tension leaving his body. "I really don't want to get in trouble for this. Hey, I have an idea. Why don't I show you around the school grounds since we're here together?" Legosi suggested. Alex nodded.

"Sure thing," the white wolf replied.

They walked around the school grounds, talking about life and how the school was for Legosi. The gray wolf noticed that Alex would always dodge the questions that Legosi would ask him when it came to his personal life. Alex stopped and turned around while they were in the gardening club's greenhouse. "I need to ask you a question. Who do you think killed Tem?" Alex then asked.

Legosi took a step back, surprised by the sudden question that had come out of nowhere. "I really don't have any idea, and I don't want to throw any names out in case I'm wrong," Legosi calmly said. Alex sighed. The cop knew that asking the question straight-up would get him few answers.

"Fine. Then who was Tem friends with? Aside from you and Els," Alex responded.

This struck a nerve in Legosi, and he stepped back once again, his leg brushing up against something uncomfortable. The gray wolf shivered. "Ugh, what kind of plant did I brush up against?" Legosi muttered out loud.

Alex looked down at the wolf's foot, and his blood turned to ice. He thought that his days of dealing with the midnight flower were over. Fate must be playing a cruel joke on him. "Shit. Shit. SHIT!" the white wolf cried out. He grabbed Legosi and yanked him away from the blue flower.

"Alex, what's wrong?" Legosi wondered. The gray wolf was unsettled. From his initial assessment of Alex, he knew that very few things would scare the white wolf.

"I thought that there wouldn't be any here," Alex panted, not paying attention to Legosi's words. Alex set his backpack on the ground and began rummaging through it. "Legosi, I need you to keep your mind focused on the way you are right now. You just came into contact with a dangerous herb that distorts the mind," Alex told Legosi.

The gray wolf was taken aback by Alex's statement. "Mind-altering plants? You're joking, right?" Legosi nervously chuckled. Alex glared at the wolf, and Legosi knew instantly that the white wolf was dead serious about what he was saying.

"Have you ever heard of the Night Howlers?" Alex said as he continued to search through his bag. "I know it had something to do with the city of Zootopia. Why do you ask?" Legosi curiously replied.

"Two years ago, there was a group of anti-predator animals that weaponized the flower and extracted a chemical compound from the plant that essentially turned any animal who came into contact with the compound into a mindless beast. It didn't matter if you were a predator or a prey. If you were hit by one of the pellets, you were a danger to everyone around you. Though that year the only targets were predators, in an attempt by the current mayor to drive all the preds out of the city," Alex began.

Legosi nodded his head. "And then what?" The gray wolf said, desperately wanting to know more.

"A trio of animals- a white wolf, the first bunny on the Zootopia police department, and a sly, deviously cunning fox- were able to put a stop to the plans of that sheep. It broke the heart of the previous mayor's son, as he was in love with Dawn. But I digress. Anyways, the next year there was another election. A new power player, this rabbit named Miles Walker, was running for office, and was about to win. He had built this homeless shelter for all of the animals in the city. I used to be homeless myself, and I was torn between voting for Miles or for my best friend Kimba, the son of the mayor that I had previously mentioned. But it turns out that Miles had a few screws loose in his head. He saw the homeless citizens of our city as a disease, and the Night Howlers were the cure. The guy had created an even deadlier version of the Night Howler serum- an airborne, odorless agent that he released into the shelter. It was a literal bloodbath, animals tearing each other to shreds. Even the prey animals were turned into monsters, literally biting off parts of predators. The carnage escaped from the building and onto the streets... even I wasn't safe from the flower's influence," Alex explained. He shuddered at the memory, he, his girlfriend, and his best fox friend wearing gas masks and fighting their way through the horde of mindless, savage animals.

Legosi wondered what else Alex was hiding from him. "So, uh... what's going to happen to me? You have an antidote right?" Legosi asked.

"I'm looking for it, Legosi. It's either in my backpack or in my car," Alex reassured him as he started tossing things aside in search for the antidote.

"Phew," Legosi sighed in relief. Ever since he had brushed up against those flowers his bones had started to hurt.

"For most prey, skin and fur coming into contact with the flower has an extremely slow reaction that takes several hours to turn them savage, and a simple shower will cleanse their fur of the chemical. For most predators, coming into contact with the flower causes a quicker reaction- thirty minutes to a half hour. Though some animals have an extremely fast reaction, fifteen minutes is the quickest I've seen anyone turn," Alex said.

All of a sudden, Legosi felt something snap, and the noise was audible to Alex. Alex's ears pointed straight up, and his eyes widened. "Fuck! It's already beginning to rearrange your skeletal structure!" Alex cursed. He started tossing things out of his backpack, which had an impossibly large amount of stuff crammed in.

"A-Alex, hurry!" Legosi cried out. Many snapping noises could be heard as the wolf sank to his knees, then was forced onto all fours by his changing bones.

Alex pulled out the serum triumphantly, a vial filled with green liquid. "GOT IT!" the wolf yelled. "Keep me… from… hurting… someoorrrrrgah!" Legosi moaned. His vocal cords faded as the transformation completed. Alex faced the growling gray wolf, fitting the vial into a syringe gun. For the first time ever since the Night Howler gas attack, Alex felt fear strike into his heart.