Hey guys, apologies for not releasing this before Thanksgiving or even during the Thanksgiving weekend (TwT). But I suppose better late than never.

Yeah, I know Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron has absolutely nothing to do with Thanksgiving, but I love the native american culture and characters in this film and I personally consider it one of my personal Thanksgiving films. Spirit also has a lot to be thankful for given all he goes through, so I'm counting it!

I was originally going to make a more original fic where Judy was bringing Nick to dinner ala Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, but I thought that would've taken me longer so I didn't go with it. If all's well next year then maybe I'll eventually write that or maybe I'll add more to this one. We'll see :)

I'll be posting a new chapter (the Epilogue) to my A Zootopian Christmas Carol fic from last year, so look forward to that. And I'm gonna try and release a one-shot crossover chapter between Zootopia x Klaus. So keep an eye out for that too! :D

…

Nick: Tod of the Wilde

Part 1: Captive

Nick had always been a fox who had a wild, untameable heart. Ever since the day he was born, he was a free spirit. He would look up to the sunny blue sky and he would feel like he was one with the eagle, soaring wherever he wished to roam.

All of that had changed however, when some strange prey animals wearing clothing that was as blue as the rivers arrived near his tribe. Nick had tried to lead them away from his mother and the other predators from his village when the invaders tied him up and took him prisoner.

They had tied his mouth with an odd cage-like device and tied him to a pole to tame his 'savage' nature. They tried to have him work in their enclosed village by having him pull heavy items, but he refused. It was then that they decided to tie him to a pole and deprived him of food and water for three days.

During the days that he was forced to fast, there came a shocking surprise when the blue prey animals had brought in a new prisoner into their camp. Although unlike Nick and the others, he wasn't a predator, he was another prey animal - a striped hare to be exact and another 'savage' native to the land, not an outsider like the others.

They had tied him to a post nearby Nick and was also deprived of food and water for three days. Unlike Nick however, they didn't muzzle him.

Native prey animals like the hare were not unheard of. Nick had met some in the past whenever his tribe had to trade with them. Though his tribe of predators bore no animosity towards prey animals, Nick personally felt some minor distrust towards them due to the stories he had heard about the outsider prey animals. After all, prey animals were prey animals... weren't they?

The hare tried to be friendly to Nick, but Nick didn't want anything to do with him. All Nick wanted was to find a way to free himself from his predicament and rush back home to his tribe.

Even staring up at the starry sky he wondered if his mother and the others missed him. He wondered how they were getting along without him there to guide, lead, and protect them. We're they safe?

Nick sighed, sadly. There were so many fears running through his head. He didn't even want to think about these blue clothed prey animals going after his tribe and making slave workers out of his village just like they had of the other predators that were muzzled and trapped there with him.

He couldn't let that happen to them! Nick lowered his head, wondering how he could escape when suddenly he heard...

AWOO…

Nick's ears stood upright. Was that a wolf? he wondered.

In response to the howl, some of the enslaved wolves tried to howl but couldn't because of their muzzles. The only true audible response to the howls was the hooting of an owl. Only it wasn't an owl, it was the striped hare hooting at someone on the outside.

In response, the mystery howlers tossed a stone knife over the wall. It luckily landed just within the hare's reach. He took it and hid it behind his back just as the union soldiers' morning bugle rang throughout the fort. Soldiers gathered for their briefing alongside their colonel, a large cape buffalo named Colonel Bogo.

A red deer soldier stepped forth, saluting his superior, "With the Colonel's permission, sir. Incoming patrol reports hostiles heading north."

"Uh-huh," uttered the buffalo, not really paying attention to the young deer and keeping a vigilant eye on the fox as he in turn gave the buffalo the evil eye.

"The railroad has expressed concern, sir. Particularly if the hostiles prove to be predators," continued the deer, "They've requested additional patrols."

"How long has it been, sergeant?" Colonel Bogo asked, aloof.

"Sir?" asked the young sergeant.

"The red fox. How long has he been tied?"

"Three days, sir," answered the deer.

"Good," replied the buffalo. "Fetch my whip and a shovel and bring him into the worker's corral. Let's see if we can break his spirit this time."

Nick was brought into the corral, his face still muzzled and his paws tied in front of him. Prey soldiers surrounded the corral to watch and learn how to properly break a predator's spirit.

Colonel Bogo stood before Nick and cut the rope at his paws with a knife. Nick massaged his wrists in pain, while he kept his cautious gaze on the buffalo.

Colonel Bogo took a shovel and tossed it to Nick's side, towards the direction of some slave worker predators that had muzzled mouths. They were digging trenches all around the fort for the soldier prey animals. "Work!" ordered the buffalo.

Nick growled quietly, lightly bearing his teeth at the buffalo.

"Work!" ordered the buffalo once more. Nick snarled at him again, bearing more of his fangs at him this time.

Colonel Bogo nodded at his defiance, then suddenly pulled out his whip without warning and took a swipe at the fox, "I SAID WORK!"

Nick jumped, barely escaping from the whip with a slight graze at his head. Bogo lashed at Nick once again, "Work!" The buffalo kept whipping his whip while Nick struggled to dodge him. As large as the buffalo was he was fast at swinging his arm.

They kept up like that until Colonel Bogo finally managed to corner Nick into one of the corral's corners. Bogo struck him a couple of times before Nick tried to crawl under the buffalo, but Bogo managed to grab him by the tail, "Where do you think you're going?!"

The buffalo used his greater strength to toss the fox across the corral.

"Oof!" Nick groaned in pain after he rolled on the ground a couple of times. "You might as well give up fox, there's no way you are ever escaping this place. So you better get used to civilizing yourself and working for us-"

Nick waited for Colonel Bogo to come closer and tossed sand in the larger animal's eyes.

"Aah! Why you little!" Bogo began whipping wildly, barely able to see, but he managed to strike Nick's back a couple of times.

Aware that he was no match against the larger buffalo with brute strength alone, Nick rolled, dodging one of Bogo's lashes and grabbing the shovel from the ground. Nick ran quickly to Colonel Bogo and whacked him with the shovel, bringing the buffalo down to one knee, but not down for the count. "Agh!"

Bogo lashed at the fox, wrapping the whip around the shovel and pulling both the shovel and the fox towards him. Bogo quickly gripped Nick by the neck and tossed him down to the ground.

"Uhnf!" Nick immediately tried to get up, but Colonel Bogo stomped a foot right onto the fox's head, keeping him down on the ground. Nick grunted in pain and kicked and writhed his body all over the place, trying to escape, but the buffalo wouldn't remove his foot from his head. Nick then tried to push up. He managed to lift his head and upper body slightly off the ground. Almost there…!

But then Bogo stomped him back down! Pinning his head to the ground once more. "STAY DOWN, FOX!"

Nick yelped in pain and wriggled and writhed under the buffalo's hoof but it was useless, try as he might, the buffalo was just too heavy! As expected, Nick eventually gave up. He laid still, breathing heavily in exhaustion and humiliation.

Colonel Bogo observed how the fox stopped fighting. It was a tough fight but at last he had managed to tame the savage predator. Bogo composed himself, "You see gentlemammals, any predator can be broken."

The other soldiers applauded Bogo, while the surrounding predators and the striped hare watched with sadness and shock at Nick's defeat.

"There are some who think the west will never be settled," Bogo continued boasting, his foot still resting on top of Nick's head. "The northern railroad will never breach Zootopia." Colonel Bogo turned his attention to the striped hare tied at the post. "A hostile Savage...will never submit to providence. And it is that manner of small thinking that would say that this fox could never be broken. Discipline, time, and patience are the three great levelers."

Nick's gaze fell on the muzzled predators outside of the corral. They lowered their gazes and returned to shoveling, their spirits further broken and disappointed.

Nick lowered his own gaze too, disappointed in himself. But then…

Something snapped in him. A resolve of sorts started kicking in.

Sometimes a fox has got to do, what a fox has got to do, Nick thought with a new spur of determination. And this was one of those times.

The buffalo noticed, "Fox?" he spoke sternly.

Nick then quickly sunk his claws into the dirt surrounding his face and began digging a hole around his head. He dug as fast as he could, freeing his head out from under the buffalo's foot. Colonel Bogo moved back, losing his footing as Nick reached behind his head, tugging and pulling until he finally removed the muzzle from his face.

He tossed the device at Bogo's feet. The buffalo scowled, but then noticed the fox bearing his fangs at him. "No! Fox don't you dare!"

Nick pounced on all fours and Colonel Bogo tried to make a run for it, only to have Nick's jaws clamp right on his rear! "Aaaagh!" Bogo screamed in pain, jumping all over the place and twerking his rear in a very comical fashion to remove the fox from his hiney.

The surrounding predators and hare laughed at the sight, while the soldiers watched with concern for their colonel.

Bogo continued hopping around like a fool, until he lost his footing and fell face first right on the fence of the corral, breaking a gap through it.

Nick finally released him and stood back, a piece of the buffalo's blue pants still hanging from his mouth. Bogo's subordinates quickly ran to his side and helped him up, all the while a resonating silence filled the air.

The silence was at last broken when the worker predators began cheering through their muzzles and applauding the fox's actions. The hare meanwhile, smiled wide, equally impressed by the fox's defiance.

Bogo's jaw dropped in horror. This one fox had revitalized their broken spirits. "Are you alright, sir?" asked a zebra soldier, but a furious and humiliated Bogo pushed him away.

"Get off me!" He pointed to a kudu and an oryx that stood near Nick, "Soldiers! Muzzle and secure that fox!"

They did just that, grabbing Nick by the arms, while a bull came up and muzzled him. Once certain that he was secure, Colonel Bogo took the zebra soldier's pistol and walked over to Nick, pointing it at him the whole time.

It was then that the striped hare had had enough. He cut through the rope binding his paws with the knife he had received that morning and hopped over to where Nick and Bogo were. Moving quickly, the hare hopped as high as he could and fell slamming his feet down over Bogo's gun, causing it to shoot down at the ground instead of at Nick.

The hare then gripped Nick's soldier and swung around, kicking the oryx and kudu square across the face, bumping one's head over to the other one's and knocking them out cold.

"Come on!" shouted the hare to Nick.

Nick followed without question, but not before grabbing the fairly large pistol that Bogo had dropped. The two small mammals ran until they spotted a post that had a handful of digging predators chained up to it. Nick struck one of the posts repeatedly with the butt of the pistol, until the post broke off and slid downward, allowing the chained predators to become loose and free. They scattered and Nick and the hare continued to run ahead.

They jumped into a holding pen, running past several imprisoned and muzzled predators. Once they were nearing the end of the pen, the hare grabbed the pistol from Nick's paw and pulled the hammer, he aimed at the lock at the end of the pen and shot it. The pen's lock immediately broke off the door, allowing the door to swing wide open.

Nick and the hare pushed through the opening and the enclosed predators followed suit, following them out in a horde. The prey soldiers were helpless to wrangle up so many loose predators that all they could do was watch as they all headed toward the front gate.

Nick and the hare thought they were home free, but stopped in their tracks when they noticed that a rhino soldier that had tried to brand Nick three days before stood in their way. The rhino looked determined to stand his ground, but that didn't worry Nick or the hare. The two smirked at one another and moved aside, allowing the horde of larger predators to barrage through the rhino.

The rhino gulped in a panic and the next thing he knew, "Oof!" He was knocked to the ground and trampled by dozens of predators - and Nick and the hare of course.

Nick and the hare ran and ran, as did the other predators behind them. Nick cheered as best as he could through the muzzle, as did they with victorious fists in the air. They all parted ways eventually with the predators breaking into two separate groups and heading their own way.

All except for Nick and the hare.

I wasn't sure what exactly happened back there, Nick thought as he ran, And I wasn't going to stop to ask, all I knew was that I was heading home!

The hare kept following behind Nick, more so when the hare noticed that Nick's back was bleeding. The hare then howled like a wolf, to which Nick rolled his eyes. What was wrong with this hare?

It didn't take long however for Nick to realize to whom it was that the hare was howling to.

Nick's eyes widened when he noticed a female gray rabbit running gracefully beside them. Nick could feel his jaw gape in awe at her - his gaze glued to her gorgeous amethyst colored eyes and a very fetching headband with a white and black tipped feather that perfectly complemented her tall black tipped ears.

Next thing the fox knew, the bunny stopped before him, forcing him to stop in his tracks. The bunny smiled at him and he couldn't help but smile back at her. What was it about this bunny that was making him feel paralyzed, but in a good way?

He didn't have much time to think about it as he was soon surrounded by a couple of new male prey animals. Other members of the hare and doe's tribe it would seem. Nick glanced around him and sighed internally, Great, more prey animals…