"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." - Mahatma Gandhi
10:00 A.M
Summer morning's light streamed in through the panels of the glass windows, lighting up even the darkest recesses of the attic.
In one of the farthest corners, a large couch held refuge to the likes of two small mammals; A fox and bunny, who both slept peacefully within the enrapturing warmth of the blankets that lay atop them. They clung to one another with a dreary but fervid sense of pre-ignited passion. It would be clear to any beholder that the two of them had certainly undergone a night of steamy pleasure and indulgence.
"WAKE UP, NICKY!" Honey screamed loudly from across the attic.
The fox and bunny instantly bolted upright and glared at the source of the sound. On the other side of the attic, Honey was peering out of the trap-door and staring directly at the two mammals with a crazy grin on her face.
"What's your problem, badger?" Nick called out as he rubbed at his eyes. "We were still sleeping!"
"Yeah, I know: Bar opens in a half-hour, so I need you two outta the attic before then... Wouldn't be good for business if customers started hearing one of ya'll snoring."
Groaning aloud, Nick leaned back until his upper-body had flopped back into the stack of pillows behind him. Judy was too busy snickering to bother saying anything in their defense.
"Alright, fine! We'll go find something else to do... Now shoo!"
Honey grunted to herself and shot a wink at Judy before closing the trap-door, once again leaving the two mammals to the peace and quiet of the murky attic.
The fox and bunny quickly dressed themselves before heading downstairs, where Honey had already prepared a breakfast of bagels and eggs (for the predators, of course). Judy nibbled on one of the bread-rings and talked idly with Nick and Honey while they ate. Eventually, they thanked the badger for her hospitality before leaving the tavern and setting out towards the street, which was crawling with pedestrians, ranging from locals to tourists, cars to bikes, and mice to polar-bears.
"So, what now, fluff?" Nick found himself asking Judy, who walked beside him casually. "There's plenty to do around here, and we got pretty much all week!"
Judy took a moment to ponder that thought, and as she did, her eyes flicked up and stared down the distance directly in front of her. Farther down the cobble-stone road, which itself was flanked by rows of ice-glazed and cathedral-like buildings, Judy spotted an open pasture in a snowy field with a copious congregation of mammals within it. Judy noticed that the complex had several boxing rings around it, and she realized that it must've been a public boxing competition: She'd heard that those were pretty popular here in Tundra-Town, and she didn't see any reason on why not to check it out.
"What about that over there?" She pointed out, causing Nick to aim his line of sight in the same direction. "Let's go check that out!"
The fox pursed his lips and nodded a single time. "Sure, I'm up for seeing a bunch of sweaty mammals beat the pulp out of each-other." He said with a smirk.
And at that, the two of them began their journey towards the pasture, which turned out to be in an open field of a large, snow-blanketed park, with a few scraggly pine trees here and there. They looked around at the sights, and even watched a few matches together, with mammals of all shapes and sizes both watching the fights and participating in them.
"Ya know, you might fare pretty well against some of these guys..." Nick claimed easily. "I'd bet my money on you, for sure!"
"You really think so?" Judy inquired with raised eyebrows.
"Of course! You took on a freaking rhino back at the academy! And won! These guys are child's play to you, I bet!"
"Flattering won't get you anything but a nice kick in the face, slick." The bunny said with a coyish smirk.
"Hey, it's what I do best, apparently." The fox stated as he lazily shrugged.
Out of the corner of her eye, the bunny saw a large wooden platform on the far side of the snowy pasture. There was a middle-aged boar standing in the center of the structure, with gleaming white tusks and tufts of messy hair braided in rows down the length of his neck. In his right hoof, he held a microphone that he soon brought to his muzzle and spoke into.
"Good morning, Tundra-Town!" He announced loudly, causing many of the park's gusts to turn in his direction. "How we doin' today, ah?"
Lots of mammals cheered out in response, and when the clamor simmered down once more, he continued his speech with gusto.
"Alright folks, today we've seen lots of fights, and each and every one of them went down spectacularly! But now, I think it's high time that we start our champions round!"
The crowd let out more cheers and shouts, and a lot of the mammals even started clapping. Not being a part of the local mammals, Nick and Judy hadn't a clue on what was going on.
"As you all know, we hold this festival here in this park three times a year, and each time, the high-light of the fest has always been the champions round, where we allow guests from the crowd to participate in a boxing match against our reigning champion! This year's champion has yet to be defeated, but today may be the day that one of you takes home the victory-belt, and the title of champion!"
More cheers ensued, of which took longer to die down than the other two times before. Nick couldn't help but notice Judy's wide-eyed expression and demeanor.
"Now, let's introduce this year's champion..." The boar started once more, slightly pausing for effect. "Ivar Obdenberg!"
Both Nick and Judy instantly looked to each-other when they heard the name announced: They both remembered Ivar from the other night, where he had gotten drunk at Honey's tavern. They saw a figure emerge from the crowd and clamber up onto the stage, and sure enough, the purple-skinned walrus was now standing on the stage, waving to the crowd while smiling and holding up the aforementioned victory-belt, which looked like a black-leather belt with a large, golden snowflake in it's center.
"Now, is there anyone out there who would be willing to take on our champion?" The boar called out to the crowd, who uttered not a single word.
"Oh, come on!" The announcer groaned. "There's gotta be someone out there! What about you big-guy? No? Bah! Anyone?"
"I'll do it!" Judy shouted at the top of her lungs.
The fox looked over to the bunny beside him, who had one of her paws raised in an effort to stand out. The crowd parted around the two of them, allowing the announcer to single them out. The boar was silent to a count of five before he let out a long wheeze, followed by a rambunctious line of chuckles. The crowd laughed too, with some even pointing fingers and booing at Judy, who visibly shrunk in apprehension.
"Okay, okay... Very funny, cutie... Anyone else?" The boar asked again as he started to turn away from the bunny, but stopped when she shouted out to him.
"Hey, jerk! I'm being serious! And don't call me cute!"
The crowd laughed again, and a few people even started booing at the announcer and cheering at Judy, who straightened herself out a little bit.
"Oh, well I guess we have our first challenger... Who happens to be a bunny! This will be an interesting fight, folks! Get on up here, rabbit!"
Judy puffed her chest out and beamed with pride. She was about to walk over to the wooden platform when she felt someone grab her paw from behind. Turning around, she stared into the emerald eyes of Nick, and was surprised to see trace amounts of concern buried beneath his corneas, but it showed in his expression.
"Carrots, are you crazy? That guy is huge! He's even bigger than Chief Bogo! Don't do this, fluff-butt." Nick stated quickly, his movements rigid and jerky.
"Nick, don't you believe in me?" The bunny asked with wide eyes. "I can do this."
The fox swallowed, nervously looking back and forth between Judy, Ivar, and the crowd around them. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply.
"I just don't want you to get hurt, Whiskers... He'll only need one punch to take you out, you know that, right?"
"I know... In fact, that's another reason why I need to do this: To prove that against all odds, even a bunny can come out on top." Judy replied steadily.
She then stepped up a few feet closer to the platform, locking eyes with the boar announcer, who was smirking right at her.
"I'll do it!" Judy shouted out to him. "Now give me those extra small gloves over there!"
Within two minutes, Judy was outfitted for war.
Her paws had been wrapped in cloth and stuffed into a pair of puffy boxing-gloves, of which were secured tightly to her wrists and fore-arms. She also wore a bunny sized head-guard that was snug against her cranium. Aside from the boxing gear, she wore only her regular clothes, which still consisted of her denim-jacket and Lycra-leggings.
After equipping herself for the fight, the announcer brought her up to the platform and introduced her to the crowd, which had grown considerably larger. Judy didn't blame them, as seeing a bunny take on a walrus was definitely something you didn't see every day. Holding her arm up to the sky, the announcer called out to the crowd;
"Introducing, the first bunny to ever take on the defending champion..." The boar leaned down and spoke softly to Judy. "What's yer name, kid?"
"Judy Hopps, sir." She replied quickly
"The first bunny to ever take on the defending champion... Give it up for, JUDY HOPPS!" The announcer shouted out to the crowd, which cheered loudly from all sides.
Looking down at the crowd below her, Judy didn't spot anyone she knew, but there was one face in particular that stood out from the rest: The orange and furry face of Nick, who stood near the front, calmly clapping for her and smiling as she was introduced to the crowd. She met his gaze, and watched as he gave her a sly wink before the boar announcer led her to the other side of the wooden stage and away from the center.
When the rabbit had been positioned on the far left side of the stage, the boar called out to the crowd once again.
"Alright, folks! Now, meet your friendly neighborhood walrus and reigning champion, IVAR OBDENBERG!"
Upon the mention of the walrus's name, Ivar ascended the steps on his side of the platform, positioning himself on the far left side, where he waved a single time to the crowd in front of him.
"You all know the rules: The match goes on until either the timer runs out, or one contestant gets knocked out cold, or knocked out of the ring!"
The gathering of mammals cheered, and Judy could've sworn she spotted Kozlov; One of Mr. Big's goons, somewhere among them in the crowd.
"Speaking of the ring," The boar started audibly. "Today, the walrus and rabbit will be fighting in the finals arena, which is the wooden ring to your right!"
The crowd, including Judy, all turned towards the direction that the boar had pointed out: When she saw where she would be fighting Ivar, Judy resisted the urge to forfeit.
The finals arena was nothing more than one large wooden ring, about twenty feet in length. The only problem being, that it had no ropes, which was what Judy had been counting on to secure her victory. Back at the police academy all those years ago, the only reason Judy managed to defeat the rhino was because of the ropes around the ring, which allowed her to spring off of and use her momentum as a weapon to her advantage. She figured that she and Ivar would be fighting in one of the ringed arenas, and she had planned on using the ropes to defeat the walrus just like she had the rhino all those years ago.
This time, the ring had nothing to her advantage: It was just a wooden circle planted in the flat ground of the snow.
Before the bunny could decide on whether or not she still wanted to fight Ivar, she was already being carted off by the boar to the border of the arena.
"I gotta say, kid... I dunno what you think you'll get outta this, but if you prove me an' everyone else here wrong, then not only is that belt all yours, but you'll have my utmost respect." The boar mumbled into her ear before patting her shoulder and exiting the ring.
Judy looked to the opposing side of the arena some twenty feet away, where Ivar was facing her with his arms held close to his chest and his fists hovering near his muzzle. She heard a blow-horn sound emanate from somewhere in the crowd, which had already gathered around the arena's perimeter to watch the coming brawl. They left about a ten foot radius around the actual wooden ring, allowing more than enough room for the two mammals to duke it out.
At the blow-horn's sound, the fight had officially begun.
Unsurprisingly, nothing happened at first: Neither mammal made any advancements toward the other. Judy needed all the time that she could get to analyze Ivar's stance and positioning, hoping to perhaps find some sort of weakness that she could exploit to her advantage. She started by weighing her strengths and weaknesses. Obviously, Ivar was big and heavy, which hopefully meant that he had a slow swing. His bulky frame would be hard to make sudden turns, and Judy reckoned that he would be easy to knock over if she somehow managed to make him top-heavy and unbalanced.
She reasoned that Ivar must've had a very powerful punch though, and because of her smaller and weaker frame, she had a feeling that all it would take was one to knock her out of the ring... Or to kill her.
Shaking her head and ridding her mind of those thoughts, Judy analyzed the walrus's stance: legs set wide, arms close to body, chest and muzzle exposed. He must've been aware of his top-heavy weakness, since his widened stance would lower his chances of being knocked over. His arms were close to his body, which meant that he was ready for defensive maneuvers, meaning that he must've been expecting Judy to make the first move. Keeping that in mind, the bunny then took to thinking over his exposed chest and muzzle. Most fighters would've kept their fists closer to their jaw-line, to protect against knock-out blows to the face: A hit to the jaw is very effective in knocking someone out.
Though for some reason, Ivar positioned his meaty hands farther down, protecting his neck area. Judy wondered why he would choose to do such a strange stance, but she soon realized: His tusks protected his jaws and a good chunk of his sternum from direct hits! If Judy tried aiming for his jaws in an effort to knock him out, even with her tiny fists, there was a good chance that she'd end up hitting one of his tusks instead. Not only that, but the very center of his chest was also protected by his tusks from blows that would normally knock the wind out of any other mammal.
No wonder he's the reigning champion! He's too heavy to knock out of the ring, and he's too tough to knock out! The bunny thought to herself.
All of this happened within a span of no more than five seconds. Soon enough, no doubt tired from waiting and bolstered by confidence, the walrus made the first move; Shuffling forward surprisingly fast and swinging at the bunny. Gasping, Judy instinctively dove to the right to avoid getting hit: Ivar may have been quicker than she first thought, but Judy was even faster.
Getting a target at his side, which was exposed due to his off-mark swing, Judy leapt off of the wooden platform and twisted in mid-air, using her powerful legs to plow into the side of Ivar's gut with exceptional force. Springing off of the walrus, Judy landed expertly on her feet a few meters away, where she gazed at the lumbering walrus. He didn't seem to be very affected by Judy's hit, but he did get shifted a few inches from the force of Judy's legs.
"Ha-Ha! You are fast, little bunny!" The walrus called out gruffly. "Even Ivar didn't see you coming!"
Judy wondered why the walrus always seemed to refer to himself in the third-person, and momentarily lowered her guard at his comment. That cost her, as when she briefly lowered her raised paws, Ivar lunged over and swung right at her. Judy's lightning-fast reflexes allowed her to dodge his punch, but the bunny's shoulder was nicked by the edge of Ivar's fist, causing her to slide back a few meters before her paws caught traction on the wooden surface.
"Ivar is going to give you the one-two punch treatment!" The walrus called out from the other side of the ring.
The crowd exploded into cheers and shouts, and even a few boos that Judy didn't bother searching out or even thinking on: She learned her lesson the hard way, and wasn't going to look away from Ivar anymore. Keeping her eyes locked firmly on his towering form, Judy clearly saw his right leg step forward as he moved in towards Judy for another swing. With her senses and reflexes on high alert, Judy easily managed to dodge his third punch, this time even landing a few of her own into Ivar's kidney-region, her paws darting forward and landing several times on the walrus's back as she flew by.
She took advantage of the moment: She only had a few seconds before Ivar was back on his legs and coming right at her again, so she took to thinking about what she could do to take him out. She very quickly glanced to the nearby timer, concluding that she still had roughly half-a-dozen minutes until the fight was declared a draw. Though she could easily keep up her game of dodging his punches and simply outlast him until the timer ran out, Judy wanted to win: She wanted that belt and that title, but more importantly, she wanted their respect and admiration.
She was not going to lose, or even let this match end in a stale-mate: She was going to win.
For some reason, Judy's mind reintroduced an old quote that she had heard long ago: That a person's greatest strength could also be their greatest weakness. She looked at Ivar's twin tusks, and then suddenly, she knew what she had to do to win.
"Come and get me, Obdenberg!" She taunted. "You gonna let yourself lose to a little doe like me?"
Judy watched Ivar glare at the crowd, which were now laughing copiously from her insults directed at the walrus.
That must've caught onto him, because Judy saw his eyes narrow and heard him growl broodingly from the other side of the ring. He closed the distance between the two of them, running straight for Judy with one fist raised above his head and ready to swing. Instead of running away, this time Judy darted straight toward Ivar and dropped to the ground; Throwing her lower body towards Ivar's legs, which she plowed into, and using every ounce of strength that she could muster, pushed as hard as she could.
It went exactly as planned.
Ivar toppled over, his momentum and body weight causing him to fly forwards and land chest first into the wooden platform. The crowd was murmuring loudly, but Judy quickly recomposed herself before scampering over in front of Ivar, hoping that her plan had worked effectively.
Sure enough, when she reared around his muscular shoulders, Judy came face to face with Ivar, tusks planted straight through the wooden floor-boards, anchoring him in place to the ground.
She leapt into the air and pumped her fists around as she let out a victorious shout: She'd turned one of Ivar's greatest strengths into his new weakness, as the walrus was now completely immobile, stuck.
The walrus's hazy yellow eyes locked onto her as she positioned herself directly in front of his nose. Now that his face was down to her height, the walrus was unable to move, and also unable to protect himself from her blows, Judy was now free to swing at his unprotected face. The many mammals of the crowd around them were now pointing at Ivar, laughing as he struggled to free his tusks from the floor-boards.
The bunny scurried back a few feet before sprinting right at Ivar, jumping and plowing her powerful legs directly into Ivar's nose at the last second, where she heard a satisfying crunching sound as her feet connected with his thick muzzle.
When she had gotten to her feet, Ivar still hadn't managed to free himself, and was now cursing gruffly through his bushy mustache of whiskers. His nostrils were pouring blood profusely, and he tried dislodging his tusks from the wooden boards, but couldn't manage in the position that he was in. Soon giving up, Ivar groaned and relaxed his body, going limp and unmoving as he lay sprawled out. Meanwhile, the crowd was cheering spectacularly, with many mammals even chanting Judy's name over and over in admiration.
"WE HAVE A WINNER, FOLKS!" The boar announcer shouted out loudly, his hoofs thrown excitedly against his head. "JUDY HOPPS IS THE BRAND NEW CHAMPION!"
The crowd went nuts, but even through the chaos around her, the bunny was able to make out the cheering face of her husband, who had his jaw-dropped in amazement as he clapped his paws together again and again, cheering for her as loud as anyone else, if not more. Judy smiled at the sight of him, but didn't get to relish it for very long as the crowd soon rushed her and carted her off back towards the wooden platform where she had first been introduced. The bunny was planted in the center of the platform and then presented the belt, which was nearly as big as her entire body.
Though, through the cheering and applause, and behind the smiling faces of all the mammals in the crowd: Judy spotted Ivar in the distance, trudging away from the arena that he had just lost in. The bunny couldn't help but look back at the floor of the arena, which was now stained crimson from the blood of the walrus's nosebleed.
Judy's nose twitched and her ears drooped against the back of her neck as she watched Ivar walk away from the park and distance himself from the scene. With her long ears shooting up in sudden determination, Judy leapt from the platform and tried running after the walrus, but was stopped by the crowd, who began to congregate around her as she tried to weave her way between their bodies and legs.
Her attempt was in vain, as she was soon flooded with questions and congratulations from the many mammals, all hoping to get a handshake and glimpse of the new champion.
Judy could still see Ivar's sulking form through the gaps in the crowd; His mighty silhouette slumped in defeat as he trudged away in seeming humiliation.
In that moment, she felt like the biggest loser in the world. Her victory: worse than meaningless.
Earlier that morning...
The ZPD headquarters was as busy as ever; With dozens of mammals ranging from criminals being escorted to civilians filing complaints. Clawhauser manned the receptions desk, jovially assisting guests and relaying communications back and forth with officers in the field. They chatted, laughed and lounged about in the commons, all enjoying themselves.
However, one brooding buffalo was not taking part in these activities and events. Instead, he lumbered in solitude throughout the many halls of the building, searching for one single room in particular: The ZPD archive was his destination. The archive stored information on thousands of mammals, and thousands more were uploaded onto the computer files. Bogo wasn't sure what he was looking for in specific, but what he did know was that whatever he found he would have to use to his utmost advantage.
With nearly thirty years of experience at the ZPD, and roughly thirteen years as it's chief of police, Bogo had seen and dealt with all forms of crime and mismanagement. He knew blackmailers when he saw one, and he knew how to deal with them to the most effective degree. The water-buffalo could have easily thrown together an arrest warrant and brought in Ratsputin for questioning, but Bogo had no desire to go through the hassle of doing such. Besides, he had a feeling that something was amiss with it all...
He took the rat's extortion with a grain of salt, however, since it seemed rather unprofessional of the rat to make such a trip to the ZPD, only to drop a bomb-shell like the one that he had threatened upon chief Bogo. Carefully thinking over what Ratsputin had said that night, along with pondering his rights and regulations, Bogo came to the conclusion that Ratsputin's blackmail couldn't bring his career to an end: Not only did it appear to have too many moving parts, but it just didn't seem like the most effective threat in the first place. It would undoubtedly put a serious dent in Bogo's reputation and grandeur, but it simply wasn't enough of an incentive to make Bogo give in to the rat's whims.
That being said, the water-buffalo still had his doubts...
Theoretically, if Ratsputin truly was such a threat to social security, with his blackmailing and all: If he really was the king of blackmail like the rumors had claimed, then why would the rat bother trying to threaten the chief of the ZPD with a threat that wouldn't even work? It just didn't make any sense, and Bogo himself was head-strong and determined to unravel the mystery behind this. To do that, he needed to start with the basics; Info, credentials, intelligence, everything he could gather on Grygorri Ratsputin.
Eventually, Bogo arrived at his destination, with which he immediately entered. Opening the door and setting foot inside one of the archive rooms, the water-buffalo took in the sight of the many computers, filing cabinets, and other documentations of pretty much anyone in Zootopia that have had the pleasure of getting a mugshot.
Bogo walked around for a while, eventually coming to a halt at a computer. Sitting down, he logged into the database and began scrolling through lists of names and addresses. Soon enough, he encountered the name Grygorri Ratsputin, of which he instantly selected.
He was then brought to a page dedicated to the aforementioned rat. In the top right corner, there was a picture of his harsh and angular face, with those cold, calculating black eyes staring right into the lens of the camera. Sifting through his background history, Bogo managed to gather new and insightful information regarding his suspect.
Apparently, Ratsputin was a widowed father of three, and a newspaper-business tycoon who owned and managed multiple big-names in the news industry. Bogo reasoned that that was how the rat spread word of the dirt he'd gathered on other mammals: By having his newspaper articles publish the information and spread it around the city for all to see. Thankfully, Bogo wouldn't have to worry about that, or at least, not yet.
Shaking his head back and forth, Bogo retrained his gaze upon the screen before continuing to read.
He recalled how several years back, Ratsputin and some of his printing-presses were accused of spreading black-brokered information on Gazelle, claiming that she had been a drug-addict. The rumors were scandalous and caused quite a hitch in her career, and although she denied the rumors at first, of course, she eventually came forward and admitted that she'd been delving into the likes of several illegal drugs.
When the questions rolled out, Gazelle admitted that she had been threatened into subservience, and ordered to abandon her cause in the predator-prey protests, which at the time, were ravaging the city and suburbs with riots and disagreements. Gazelle claimed that she had been blackmailed, and that her conspirators threatened to release the information of her drug-abuse to the public, unless she stopped her peace-rallies in the defense of the predators.
Of course, she didn't stop her peace-rallies in the end. Sure enough, not too long after the night-howler incident had ended, several major newspaper organizations had begun to print articles covering Gazelle and her drug-abuse situation.
Everyone was shocked at first, but eventually, people started asking questions: How did these newspaper businesses just suddenly find out about it?
And at that, everyone looked to Grygorri Ratsputin. He was the head of most of these major news outlets, after all.
As Bogo recalled, City-Hall, which highly disapproved of blackmail and extortion (yet for some reason had not declared the action itself illegal), had summoned Ratsputin to a committee conference, where they questioned him on the scandal. The event instantly became a conspiracy, as Ratsputin was later accused of blackmailing one of the committee members who had interrogated him. In the end, the rat got out free of any charges or sanctions, but has since been piled high with suspicions and accusations.
Bogo continued to sort through the information, learning more about the history of the rat's business empire, his criminal-record (which was suspiciously clean), and even his backstory. Knowledge is power, and Bogo knew that if he would have to outsmart a blackmailer, he'd have to have some information of his own.
Soon enough, the water-buffalo had concluded his research, and promptly shut down the computer before exiting the archive and headed towards the briefing room, intent on filling in his officers on several high-priority cases and crimes that needed to be dealt with.
Though all the while, Bogo pondered over what needed to be done in regards to the rat and his threats.
He needed someone who knew everyone. Someone who was smart, and could go toe-to-toe with Ratsputin himself. He needed... He needed...
Bogo's eyes rested on a single empty chair at the front of the room for his daily briefings.
"Ugh... Of all the mammals..." The water-buffalo grumbled, rubbing at his sinuses. "I can't believe that I have to use him."