"Sometimes the most scenic routes in life are the ones that you didn't mean to take." - Angela N. Blaunt
*BONUS QUOTE*
"Call me Ishmael." - Herman Melville, Moby Dick
11:40 A.M
When facing imminent death, many who are asked if they have any regrets, often reply with one simple answer. Traveling - They wish that they had traveled more.
The beauty of the world only goes as far as your own two feet can carry you, since the only way to truly experience a new place is to go there yourself. You can only see so much behind the safety of a screen, and being able to breath in the air, walk upon the ground, and see the sights of a new place can only be experienced in the best of ways; Firsthand.
Nick had heard of such ways of thinking; Of how many mammals regretted not traveling enough throughout their lives. Being the cynical creature that he was, he usually took such notions with a grain of salt, at the very least: He didn't like being told what to believe, and was quite content with his current way of living.
Little did he know, it only took one energetic ball of gray fur to completely flip his world upside down.
When Judy came into his life, he started to rethink his old thoughts alongside changing his old habits. Judy made him realize that there was a whole, big-wide world out there to explore, and that sitting on his tail playing cards with Finnick for three hours a day in between cons was no way to enjoy his life to the fullest.
He opened his eyes, and for the first time, truly realized how much his world had to offer to him.
Aside from the five main districts, Tundra-Town, Sahara-Square, the Rainforest-District, Savannah-Central, and Little Rodentia, Zootopia had several other sub-sections and environments that were less known and even less visited, but still no less a part of the city as a whole: The plumbless depths of the Nocturnal-District, the unending expanses of farmland in Bunny-Burrow, the swampy fields of the Marshlands, and even the dusty gorges of Outback-Island all served their purpose in the city's entirety.
However, there was one back-water hovel that was often overlooked in the grand scheme of things, despite serving as the city's most prominent seaport and harbor.
A humble and simply named sub-district, the Docks serve as Zootopia's largest shipping port; Where commercial vessels carried goods from one side of Zootopia to the other, often going back and forth as they delivered their various cargoes. The Docks also served as a popular place for mammals to store their own private boats and other sea-faring vehicles, since few civilians reside on the actual coast of the city.
The Docks themselves weren't directly connected to the mainland peninsula where the city was erected: Instead serving as a beachhead on the west coast of the surrounding land, only accessible via boat, helicopter, or train. Some people developed conspiracy theories as to why the Docks weren't built on the actual mainland, but Nick would always dismiss such claims as hog-wash: He figured that the city developed and built the Docks farther away from the actual city because the government didn't want some grungy, rustic, run-down dock-town to be front and center for mammals taking the monorail to Zootopia, like Judy had when she first arrived in the city.
Nick personally never saw himself as ever needing to visit the titular sea-port: His way of life simply didn't call for it, and he didn't consider the place as the greatest tourist attraction, really.
But now, faced with the prospect of continuing their vacation in Pawaii, both Nick and Judy realized that The Docks would be their best bet in finding a ride to the island.
Before they left Honey's bar en route to the Docks, their new friend Ivar Obdenberg made sure to tip them off to the likes of a cheap transport to Outback-Island, which they intended on making a pit-stop in for tourist reasons before finally landing on the tropical island of Pawaii. The walrus told them of an old friend of his, a narwhal named John Haddock, who he promised would be able to give them a ride to Outback-Island, at the very least. Ivar instructed Nick and Judy to mention his name when bartering with Haddock, whom the walrus claimed would give them a free ride once he found out that they were friends of Ivar's.
Of course, Nick was ecstatic over the prospect of getting a free ride to Pawaii. Despite being an officially registered district of the city of Zootopia, most public transport boats to both the Outback-Island and Pawaii were quite pricey, and Nick had no intention of paying said fee. He may have been a police officer, but he was still a greedy fox at heart.
Judy on the other hand was slightly apprehensive on the idea of trying to convince Haddock to give them a free ride to Outback-Island. She insisted that the transportation fees on the public boats were something that the two of them could handle financially, but in the end, she gave in to Nick's edging. It's not that she didn't trust Ivar or his suggestions, but she figured that any friend of the walrus must've been quite the colorful character, to say the least.
After catching a tram and finally leaving Tundra-Town, the fox and bunny then positioned themselves in the look-out dome, as they almost always did. Watching the landscape whirl by in front of him, Nick took to eyeing Judy carefully; Watching her as she stared out the window and into the distance. He wondered what she was thinking about.
"Don't worry cottontail." He started with a half-lidded smirk. "We'll get to Pawaii nice and easy, I promise."
Judy returned a smile of her own before retraining her gaze back out of the window, focusing on a particular point in the coming horizon.
She hadn't spoken, but Nick didn't mind: He could tell that she was pretty excited about their new adventure. Her beautiful purple eyes shined with an electrified sense of excitement, and her posture was hyper and jumpy. She paced around the cabin, occasionally stealing glances outside, perhaps hoping to catch a glimpse of their approaching destination.
As always, Nick seized the chance to tease her for being the dumb bunny that she was.
"So, lemme guess... You don't know what a narwhal is?" The fox questioned with a grin, showing off his pointy teeth.
Judy's ears instantly shot up to their full height upon hearing Nick's sardonic inquiry. She whirled around and pointed at him while thumping one of her feet.
"Now, don't just assume that, Slick! I may be a dumb bunny, but even I know what a narwhal is."
Nick smirked. "Really now?" He began slowly. "Then enlighten me - What is a narwhal?"
"Well, they're pretty big and pretty wide... Uh, I think they used to fight polar bears a lot back in the old times? Kinda like how foxes and bunnies did."
"Close enough. They do have a pretty tail-kicking facial horn, though!"
Rolling her eyes, Judy retrained her gaze back on the horizon. Their tram was currently gliding over the strait of water to the west of the city's mainland. Nearing ever-closer, Judy could see their destination rapidly approaching as they closed the distance.
Meanwhile, the fox had paced over to the behind of the rabbit, where he had leaned down and rested his head on the top of Judy's, positioning his own between her long ears and joining her as she stared out the window. The bunny momentarily glanced upward when she felt the weight of Nick's head offload itself onto her own.
"Foxes and bunnies..." Judy repeated quietly, her brow furrowing and nose twitching all the while.
Her sudden comment made Nick don a quizzical look across his muzzle.
"What about 'em?" Nick asked before chuckling. "What about us?"
"Oh, I was just thinking. Don't worry about it."
"Come on fluff, don't be like that! You can tell me!" The fox countered, causing the bunny to sigh and shift her weight momentarily before replying.
"Alright... I know this might sound kinda weird, but I was just wondering what it would be like if foxes and bunnies could... You know..."
"Have children?" Nick guessed.
"Yeah... Have children." The bunny confirmed.
For the longest time, Judy had wondered what it would be like to be a mother. She had spent her youth avoiding male rabbits and denying their offers of courtship, and her early adult life nearly exclusively revolved around her and her own work. Of course, things changed when she met Nick, and although she knew all too well that she'd never be able to have any children of her own, the thought still lingered.
"Children huh? You mean like, biological children?" The fox inquired with raised eyebrows.
Judy nodded her head in response to the fox's question.
All the while, Nick noticed that the bunny's eyes had been trained on the floor to her right, and that she was biting her lower lip. He also saw her ears lower themselves like they usually did whenever she was embarrassed or flustered. The fox stifled a slight laugh at the sight, also choosing to rub Judy's shoulders reassuringly.
"What, you don't mean hybrids, do you?" He asked, causing Judy to giggle aloud. "What would we even call those things? Funnies?"
"Or boxes! Imagine that!" The bunny added, giggling.
After the innocent laughter had subsided, the two mammals stared lovingly into each-other's eyes for a few short moments. Nick slowly spoke aloud;
"You know Carrots... We might not be able to, eh... Produce... any children of our own... But that doesn't mean that we can't have a family one day."
"What do you mean?" Judy found herself asking with a puzzled expression.
Suddenly, the train's intercom blared out loud;
"Welcome to the Docks." A robotic-sounding voice greeted from the intercom.
Curiously, Nick peered outside the domed window. "Looks like we're here, Whiskers." He thumbed in the direction of the exit. "Let's go!"
And at that, the fox took the bunny's paw in his own before pulling her towards the train's sliding glass doors. They quickly exited before scanning their new location.
Upon stepping outside, the first thing either mammal noticed was the smell: The whole place reeked with an aroma of fish, sunbaked seaweed, salt, and wet wood, all carried by the soft breeze that ruffled through their fur. The monorail that had taken them to their current location whirred to life before gliding down its tracks, back to Savanna-Central. It had left Nick and Judy standing on a pristine sandbar, with a cobbled path in front of them leading up to the Docks. They followed it up to a wood boardwalk, and were at last met with the sight of one of Zootopia's strangest districts. The web of boardwalks that stretched out before them was crammed with rustic, grungy structures - Splintering towers of old wooden ships fused together into large buildings. As the fox and bunny made their way down the length of the main boardwalk, it became apparent that almost all of the buildings were like this. The Docks was a sprawling village of timber and plank, a bewildering maze of decks and cabins, and a sleepy fishing town built from the flotsam and jetsam of old shipwrecks. Above them, a large wooden sign in the shape of a smiling fish spelled out, WELCOME TO THE DOCKS!
To the west of the wooden village, a forest of palm trees sprouted from behind sand dunes, and as Nick peered over the edge of the boardwalk and into the murky water of the canals that flowed between them, he could see the splintering columns of wood that held up the Docks. Many were encrusted with barnacles and moss. Even further below, built into the sandbar that served as the very foundation of the sub-district, a whole new world could be seen shimmering beneath the surface of the water. Underwater pathways lined with seashells cut through gardens of kelp, and various marine mammals could be seen darting in and out of open sandstone buildings. Nick spotted a flabby elephant seal swimming around with a bag full of oysters. The porpoise waved up at Nick, who returned the gesture with an easy grin. The seal yelled something that must have been some sort of greeting, causing bubbles to spew from his mouth, though Nick heard nothing. He just nodded and chuckled, watching as the seal vanished into a sunken building.
"Oh wow... Look at this place!" Judy murmured, eyes wide with awe. "It's amazing!"
"It's smelly." Nick added, his nose scrunching in response to their odorous new location.
"You're such a spoil-sport, Slick."
"Just pointing out the obvious." He retorted. As they meandered down the boardwalk, both mammals took in the many sights to see.
The entire port was bustling with mammal activity, ranging from rats scampering up and down bridges of rope, to seals and sea-lions carrying boxes of cargo and other materials back and forth from various ships. On land, all of the marine mammals shuffled around upright on their back flippers. Judy noticed that although the village buildings were fashioned from those old-timey wooden ships (No doubt for both cost and sight-seeing reasons), the actual cargo boats were more modernized - Built from metal and carrying shipping containers piled high with goods. The nearby public docking grounds were choked full of smaller boats and maritime vehicles ranging from jet-skis to yachts and even tiny canoes.
Eyeing over the rows upon rows of watercraft, an idea suddenly reached Nick's mind.
"We should buy a boat." The fox claimed before making a box with his fingers. "Picture it: Captain Nick Wilde! Now that's a title that I could get used to."
"Captain?" The bunny snorted jokingly. "You can barely drive a car without swerving. What makes you think that you can captain a boat?"
"My unrelenting good looks, fabulous fashion sense, and brilliant sense of sarcasm. Need I go on?"
"Only if it stops you while you're ahead." Judy proclaimed with a smirk of her own.
They both allowed themselves some good-natured chuckling. Nick always enjoyed bantering with Judy, and vice versa - They both simply had such perfect chemistry, and could go on for hours on end on a single topic alone. But despite the levity of their current moods, both mammals soon realized that they still needed to find Ivar's friend, a narwhal named John Haddock, so as to try to convince him to give them a free ride to Outback-Island, and eventually, to Pawaii.
"Well, we should probably be on the lookout for any narwhals 'round these parts. Did Ivar give you John's address?" Nick asked Judy, who met his gaze.
"Sorta. Ivar said that he lives on his boat, The Trafalgar, and that it's anchored somewhere in the public docking area." She replied easily.
"Then I guess that's where we should start." The fox concluded.
Nick let out a contented sigh. All the while, he eyed the sea of boats and rigging in front of him, knowing that somewhere out there, their ride to Pawaii was waiting.
12:00 P.M
It took them nearly a half hour of searching before they finally found John Haddock's boat, the Trafalgar.
The fox and bunny explored the maze of docks and boats, both eagerly scanning the environment around them, analyzing the names on the various boats and other maritime watercraft. Eventually, they managed to come across a decently sized boat anchored near the corner of the harbor. It was roughly thirty feet in total length, and had a pair of large double-motors near the stern, and a tall metal pole sprouting from the center of the deck, which itself was made of wood. The cabin and hull were made of metal, and had an old, peeling paint job of blue with a white trim lining the boat's brim. The cabin was outfitted with hazy yellow windows that were stained with sea-salt and other suspicious blemishes. Overall, the Trafalgar looked like just your average crusty, run-down, beat-up boat.
Though, neither mammal dared voice that thought aloud, for the boat's captain didn't exactly look to be the most savory type of mammal.
Sitting in a folding chair on the ship's deck, a cantankerous looking narwhal lounged with his flippery feet propped up on a wooden crate. His opal-like skin looked smooth and slightly wetted, and was colored a mesh of deep, dark blue, and pearly white, with speckles of gray in between the converging colors. The narwhal's head was topped with a floppy-brimmed fishing hat, and he wore a navy blue trench-coat and beige cargo pants, of which were stained and damp with various mystery liquids.
But his unquestionably crowning feature was the massive, six foot long horn that emerged just above his upper lip, right where his nose would have been if he had one. The horn was spiraled and smooth, tinted yellow with age, but still as sharp as ever. A few fish hooks were embedded into it like darts.
Judy wondered how he breathed without a nose, but soon noticed a deep and watery sound, no doubt the narwhal's breaths, but they sounded as if they were coming from behind him rather than in front of him. The bunny didn't ponder on that fact for very long, though, as her attention focused on the narwhal as he straightened out his spine and took in a deep breath through his mouth, as though he were preparing to speak with them.
Instead, he simply doubled over and sneezed harshly, a thick cloud of mist and water droplets spewing from a spot just above his shoulders, and behind his hat.
Oh, right. Not nose. He's a narwhal. Narwhals have blowholes... Judy recalled. A part of her was proud that she had remembered that fact.
The narwhal recomposed himself, and looked up from his floppy-brimmed fishing hat, glaring at Nick and Judy with eyes like marbles; deep and black as the ocean itself.
"Can I help ye?" He asked, his tone sounding more annoyed than concerned or helpful.
The narwhal's voice was watery and deep, and it sounded as if he'd been a smoker for most of his life - Like his lungs were filled with half water, and half nicotine.
"Ah, yes, actually!" Nick piped up from behind Judy. "We're looking for a John Haddock. I'm guessing that's you?"
"Ye got that right, boyo." The narwhal made a snorting sound from his blowhole. "And I'm guessing that you're Nick Wilde?"
"Yeah... W-wait. How do you know me?"
"You kiddin' me? Yer Zootopia's first fox cop. That ain't no small achievement, boyo."
Haddock nodded approvingly at Nick, and then pulled out a smooth wooden pipe from one of the pockets on his trousers. His flipper wrapped around the pipe, and Nick imagined it must have felt like trying to pick up a pencil with an oven mitt. Still, Haddock seemed to manage just fine. He held the pipe in between his beady teeth and ignited it with a match, inhaling deep before spouting out a ring of smoke from his blowhole.
"So what brings ye here to the Docks then, hmm?" The narwhal questioned as he sucked on his pipe.
"Well, my lovely wife and I-" Nick wrapped his arm around Judy's waist and pulled her to his side. "-Are trying to get to Outback-Island, and then to Pawaii from there and-"
"Lemme guess then, boyo..." Haddock interrupted. "Ye want me to cart ye off to the Outback, free of any charge, aye?"
The fox locked eyes with the bunny who shrugged before looking back to John and voicing her own thoughts.
"Yeah, pretty much... But don't worry! I-I mean, we got sent here by a friend of ours, Ivar Obdenberg, and he said that-"
Judy was interrupted when Haddock snorted from his blowhole, spewing out a thick cloud of smog, along with a few trickles of water.
"Ivar sent ye?" He questioned, to which both Nick and Judy nodded in confirmation.
"Well then, why didn't ye say so! A' course I'll take ye to the Outback! Anythin' for good ol' Ivar."
Nick coughed into his fist. "Well, I was going to say so, but I was interrup-"
"Come on aboard, lads! I'll get ye to the Outback in no time, no time at all!" The narwhal promised, rising from his chair with a grunt.
Haddock then paced over to the boat's cabin, limping noticeably on his right flipper, before opening the hatch and stepping inside. Nick and Judy both looked at eachother and breathed sighs of relief before clambering up onto the comparatively larger boat. From within the cabin, they heard machines whirring to life, and soon enough, the engine started with an audible groan and a few sharp popping noises. Alongside the sound of the waking Trafalgar, the fox heard Haddock call out to him specifically.
"An' don't be worrying about no charge, boyo! Consider yerself lucky to know Ivar, but even without that factor, I'd still be willin' to at least give a cost reduction to the fox and bunny that practically saved Zootopia, all those years ago! Oh, an' do me a favor while yer at it, and unfasten that rope that's tyin' us to the dock, boyo!"
"Sure thing, Haddock... And uh, could you not call me boyo?"
"No can do, boyo!" Haddock emphasized mockingly. "I'm the captain o' this ship, and my word goes! Just be grateful that I ain't chargin' ye fer the ride!"
Grumbling beneath his breath, but still grateful that their ride was without charge, Nick tried to ignore Judy's persistent giggling while he undid the rigging that fastened the Trafalgar to the nearby dock. Soon enough, all the rope was piled back on board, and the three mammals were on their way to their next destination.
Hey everyone!
Hope you enjoyed this latest new chapter of ours. Regardless, I know exactly where the story will be headed for the coming few chapters, and I have a feeling that you all will very much enjoy what I have planned, so that's a great thing! Anyhow, you know the drill: Be sure to leave a nice review telling me your thoughts with this latest chapter of mine, and if you haven't already, do please follow/favorite, as each and every single one is highly appreciated and accepted!
That being said, I have one more thing to mention before I sign off! For starters, some of you may have noticed my brand new title image! I absolutely love it, and would like to thank Giantepik (devientART) for contributing this lovely piece of work to the likes of my story. Thank you so much! That being said, if any of you have (or are considering) contributions to the likes of my story, do feel free to share!
That's all for now my friends! I hope you continue to read what remains. Either way, I thank you for your interest and support!
'Till next time...
Peace!
PS: I know that narwhals and seals and walruses don't technically have legs or feet, even, but here's how I designed them: I gave Ivar, John Haddock, and all the other marine-mammals actual legs that they can walk upright with for both the sake of convenience/logic, and to make them seem more fitting to the Zootopian environment. I mean, come on, how ridiculous would all these marine mammals look if they were just flopping around with their fused tails? It simply doesn't work, I'm afraid. I headcanon that their limbs are more so just unfused versions of their old flippers, making a pair of pseudo-legs. They still have webbed appendages, and can't stay away from a source of water for very long, either. Just thought I'd shed some light on that idea of mine, for ya.
Also, because of how huge they are in all forms of reality as we know it, whales (excluding narwhals) don't exist as sentient creatures in this story.
Thanks for reading! :)