AN: I'm back! I know it's been a while, but I don't have a lot of free time now. I'm working on this pretty much whenever I have free time, though. Anyways, I haven't seen any of Volume 5 yet, it just came out after all, but I'm excited from that trailer.
Responses:
To gamelover41592: I'm happy that I was able to communicate that both Yang and Jaune had something valid to be angry about when it came to the other. That'll probably be the last time, at least for a while, that they're in such direct confrontation with each other. They're friends, and writing them as angry with each other could only go so far. I hope you enjoy what I do with Zootopia!
To commandosquirrel: Yeah, I'm treating it more like how Sora treated being turned into a lion or a merman. But, yeah, it's furries. Gazelle's tiger dancers? Gazelle? Little odd for a kids' movie, I think.
To ssjzohan: Sorry, but... Well, one of them is a bunny. It's the animals I'd planned from the start, and Jaune's animal will make more story sense at the end of the second go around for Zootopia.
To cturner971/Chretner: Why did I choose Zootopia? Well, when I was picking worlds I wanted ones that had some connection – direct or otherwise – to the theme of 'Internal Darkness' and the struggle against it. Zootopia's 'Savage Animals' I thought worked quite well with that idea. And of course they're animals! Sora turned into a lion for Lion King, so it'd be lame if I didn't follow that same logic. Also, I'm almost done with "Fire of the Dragonsouls'" next chapter, so I'll respond to that review in that story.
Anyways, I hope you all enjoy the chapter! Please, leave a review if you feel like it!
Chapter 10: It's a Zoo Out There
"Okay, time for us to land," Yang said as the Gummi Ship finally came within range of their next adventure. She eased back on the throttle, then pressed a few buttons to put the Ship on auto-orbit of the world below. After a few moments, she heard an angry groan, prompting her to look over at Jaune. The Keyblade Wielder was glaring at her angrily. "What, you didn't hurl? That's two in a row, Jaune!"
"That would have made anyone sick, Yang. You're a terrifying pilot!" the Keyblade wielder retorted. He gestured at the wheel. "I've got dibs on next trip, got it?"
"You don't know how to fly," Yang retorted dismissively.
Jaune scoffed. "Cause you do?"
Yang considered what he said for a moment before looking down at the wheel and turning it a few times. Finally she shrugged and said, "Hmph. Point."
Then she turned back to him and tossed her hands straight up, fists clenched in excitement. "But enough of that! Are you ready to head down there?"
Jaune looked out the cockpit's window at the world below. "Yeah. Looks normal compared to everywhere else we've been." Yang nodded and turned back to the ship's controls. Jaune shut his eyes as the still unfamiliar feeling of the ship transporting them down to the surface of the world overcame him, surrounding him with the warmth of a bright Light that seeped even through his eyelids and down to his core. There was a weightless feeling in his gut that would have made him sick if it weren't so gentle in moving him.
Then after a short moment, it was gone. The Light was replaced by the shadow of his inner eyelid and the gravity returned to his universe. Instead, two feelings that were significantly more uncomfortable replaced them. His mouth suddenly felt far too big, and the teeth in it felt incredibly uncomfortable against his tongue, which itself felt like it was threatening to spill from his mouth. He opened his jaw and he found he was right – his tongue lolled out of his mouth before he yanked it back in and shut his mouth. The other feeling was heat – he felt like he was trying to stay calm in a jungle.
Jaune next opened his eyes and looked around. "Yep, that's a jungle," he said simply. He placed his hands on his hips and continued looking around, feeling like something was out of place, though he couldn't quite place it. "Yang! Yang!"
"Jaune!?" The Keyblade wielder's gaze shot up and he caught sight of a pair of feet dangling from a tree, though the thick foliage obscured the rest of Yang's body. Jaune frowned. Those feet were small – a lot smaller than he'd expected. Of course, Yang could have been further up than he thought she looked. Maybe my depth perception is a little screwed up. The feet shook for a while, then the person connected to them tumbled out of the green and plummeted towards the ground, landing after only a fraction of a second. That rules out her being farther than I thought... I wonder what happened.
Jaune ran towards the woman's prone body and slid to a stop with a very confused look on his face. "Uhm... Yang? Is that you?"
The figure groaned and pushed herself up to her knees, shaking her head. "Who else would it be, Vomit Boy?" She turned around and shot Jaune a glare that quickly turned into a look of sheer confusion, then the stifling of hysterical laughter. Unfortunately for her, that same look was mirrored one for one on Jaune's own face. Soon, neither of the warriors could manage to stifle a single laugh, and the jungle began to ring out with the sound of the boisterous peals of good natured, albeit mocking, laughter.
After a short while, the laughter died down. "W-wait, why are you laughing?" Yang asked Jaune. She pushed herself up to her feet and stared straight up at him. "And... how the Dust did you get so tall?"
"Well of course I'm laughing and taller than you, Yang! Look at you, you're a bunny!" Jaune shouted. He shut his eyes and bent over, laughing again.
"What!?" Yang screamed.
"Come on, with ears like those I know you heard me," He said before breaking out in laughter again. He shook his head and looked at her through his laughs again. "Oh, Yang, I'm almost jealous – you look like Pumpkin Pete!"
"Laugh it up, Dog Breath," Yang muttered. The tiny rabbit crossed her arms and glared up at him.
Jaune opened his eyes and studied her, analyzing how the once tall warrior looked. The brawler was a soft golden color, and one hundred percent a bunny rabbit. Her nose had turned tiny and pink above a snarling growl that showed off her large bunny teeth. Her feet had become far longer proportionally and much more slender in general, and her boots had turned into tight, brown socks that only covered up to the middle portion of her feet. Other than that, her clothes remained mostly the same. Jaune laughed at the tiny white cotton ball that divided the two sides of her skirt in the back. The woman's hands had become three-fingered crosses between paws and human hands, pink pads like those of a real rabbit at their center. Her robotic hand was less obvious here, the color nearly blending into that of her fur. The main part of her face was the deeper of the two golds, though beneath her nose it turned into more of a golden cream. Yang, once all of nearly six feet tall, had shrunk down to maybe half of that height – if you didn't include the two golden ears that sprouted up a foot from the bright yellow hair that remained much the same, though it looked almost as long as her in this form, leading partway down her legs instead of to the middle of her back. The hair glowing like fire and her now blood red eyes made her look more tall and intimidating, now.
"Bad dog. Look at your own tail," Yang growled, a self satisfied and cruel smirk appearing on her face. She pulled out her scroll and lifted it, snapping a picture of the now incredibly confused Jaune. Then she turned it around and smirked. The horror on Jaune's face caused her red eyes to return to lilac and her hair to fall, the ears subconsciously moving to lay flat against it and blend in with it.
Jaune leaned in to get a good look at the picture. "No..." he mumbled.
Dog was right. Jaune had turned into a golden retriever. He had a long, bright gold snout that extended from his face and ended with a dark black, wet and incredibly sensitive nose. He groaned; now that he knew about it he found he couldn't ignore it in his own field of vision. He really wasn't happy about this. The jowls that curled out on the side of his face weren't helping him feel better. Droopy ears dangled off the top of his head and, now that they went limp from his confusion, flopped in front of his eyes. He huffed, the noise coming out like the whine of an annoyed dog, and pushed his ears out of his face. He caught sight of his own paw that way, the pad at the center covered by his glove, though those of the fingers were clearly visible, a light brown. His pink tongue rolled out and he began to pant – right, a shaggy dog in the jungle. Not the best. He looked down at his feet and shook his head – his jeans were rolled up to the middle of his... calf? Worse still, his shoes had completely disappeared. He was walking around barefoot.
"Yeah, you're barefoot," Yang said as she saw his jowls droop. "Like an animal."
Jaune whimpered and felt something hit the ground. Behind him. He shut his eyes and grimaced over his extended tongue, then turned his head around to look at his drooping tail. He shook his head, then looked up and said, his tongue still drooping from his mouth and causing a lisp, "I wewwy, wewwy hade yoo." He rolled the tongue back into his mouth and tried to get used to it. "I mean, really."
"You'd really rather be the bunny?" Yang asked.
Jaune's teeth bared and he growled, the noise annoyingly like the animal he'd become. Yang had seen Beowolves growl though, so – even as a bunny rabbit – she wasn't impressed. "Yes! I love Pumpkin Pete!"
"Who doesn't? But you have teeth and claws! I have..." Her hand came up and lifted one of her droopy ears. She sighed and let the ear drop. "Well, at least we're both Dust-Damned adorable..."
Jaune glared at his partner dryly for a while. "Did you just call me adorable?" he asked, hoping he could catch her off balance for once.
"Oh, just look at yourself!" Yang showed him the picture again. "Hey, give me puppy dog eyes! It might paw-sibly be the cutest thing I've ever seen!"
Jaune's retort was interrupted by a pair of black shapes rushing over them with an audible whoosh, ruffling the foliage of the trees and sending leaves floating slowly down to the ground. Jaune bared his teeth and the hair of his hackles shot straight up when the wave of pure, evil Darkness slammed into him. He traded a look with Yang and saw her ears had shot up, studying the path of the Heartless and listening for any noise. He blinked and leaned towards her. "Are you okay?"
She jolted and turned to Jaune. "Yah!" She coughed into her hand and slowly raised it to the top of her head to smooth her ears back down into her hair. "Er... Y-yeah. Yeah, I'm totally fine!" She looked in the direction that the Hearltess had bolted and her ears rose slightly. "That was just so loud! These things are like speakers wired to my brain! Ugh... I hate being a bunny..." She shook her head and threw her arms down, causing her bracers to extend until they were ready for use. Steel returned to her eyes and face and the fight replaced the flight.
"Well, hop to it then," Jaune said, then took off, leaving a stunned Yang behind.
Yang was too stunned to laugh. "Did you just –? Jaune, answer me!" she shouted before sprinting after him, easily catching up with her bounding bunny steps. "Jaune, why can you do the jokes but I can't!?"
"I'm funny," came his simple response.
"Funny looking," Yang retorted.
"Ha ha," he muttered. He tightened his fist and the familiar weight of the Keyblade exploded into being in his right hand. His feet padded quietly down the wooden walkway, dog nails clicking against the ground and dragging against foliage that sprouted from below. Yang was completely silent, her smaller size causing her to land without any noise and her smaller nails barely dragging against the wood when her foot flew into the next step. She became impossible for even Jaune's overly sensitive dog ears when rain started to fall from above. Jaune glanced up in surprise. Rain? "Sprinklers!?"
Yang sniffed the air and looked over at Jaune with a jokingly disdainful glare. "And I thought you smelled bad before you were a wet dog," Yang muttered mockingly as they ran.
"Dogs eat rabbits," Jaune pointed out dryly. He bared his teeth. "Maybe I'll eat you if you aren't quiet."
Yang laughed at what he said. She grinned, then said, "That's not nearly as bad as you think it sounds, Jauney."
The Keyblade wielder felt like, if he were human still, he'd have blushed at the fact he'd missed that particular double entendre in his words. "You knew what I meant!" he snapped.
"This way is more fun," Yang mocked again.
"Of course you'd -" He shut up and slid to a stop when he saw that the Heartless had stopped moving, the group of four monsters now stationary as they surrounded their prey in this jungle.
One of the Heartless turned towards them, revealing its full appearance to the two. It was a large, purple creature resembling a tiger that prowled about on all fours. Black lines crisscrossed along the back of its body, leading down to a menacing tail that flicked back and force, causing the serrated spikes along its length to slice through the air. Its mouth glowed yellow from within, matching its eyes, and what looked like poison magic dripped from its fangs. The monster's legs were long, lithe, and all purple, with poison tipped black claws poking out of its paws. The Heartless turned more to look at them and both Jaune and Yang had a single name run through their minds – Predators.
The first of the Predators leaped towards them, landing on top of Jaune before he could do anything but bring his weapon up defensively. Jaune was on his back, now, strugglinga gainst the Heartless's strength to keep from dying. The Keyblade was locked into the Heartless's jaw and was thus the only thing that kept its poison fangs from digging in to Jaune's throat. The rain of the sprinklers continued to pour out and wash away the poison magic that pooled on the ground.
Yang rushed past Jaune, trusting that he could handle himself, and towards the three other Predators and the people that they were hunting. She jumped into the air and was immediately thrown far higher into the air than she'd thought she would go. "I hate this!" she screamed as she soared over the Predators and the prey, the Heartless and people both staring at her with confused looks – or whatever it is Heartless could muster in place of bemusement. The people – or animals, Yang supposed – were oddly like she and Jaune themselves. The first was a tiny gray bunny, her ears pointing straight up as her steely eyes fixed on the soaring, screaming Yang. She was dressed in a uniform of a blue shirt and pants, a black vest with a police shield on the chest over it. Her feet had the same odd, sock-shoes that Yang had. The other was a fox, who looked far more disappointed at his 'savior' than his partner despite his surprise. He wore a green button up with a loose, purple striped tie handing from the collar, and then a pair of khaki pants and no shoes. His bushy, rust colored tail extended from his back. The fox grunted dryly and said, "Dumb bunny."
Yang's gut slammed into a tree branch and her arms flew forward. "Ow..." she groaned before sliding backwards and landing on the ground with a heavy, painful thud between the predators and the two animals. Yang groaned, sitting up, and rubbed her back where it had slammed into the wood. "Yang strength plus bunny legs is a bad idea..." She glanced up at the animals and grinned nervously before surging to her feet and raising her fists at the tigers. She moved closer to the animals and tightened her fists in front of her when the memories of Gaia came back to her. She wasn't going to let that happen again.
Jaune was still struggling against the Heartless, angling the Keyblade and swinging it to his left. The Heartless' head was shoved along with the weapon to the side and it hit the walkway, rolling away from Jaune and giving him enough time to push himself up to his feet. The rain of the sprinklers stopped falling. Jaune ran at the Predator as it got its feet beneath it and readied to pounce at him again, shadowy sinews tensing. Jaune raised the Kingdom Key like a bat over his shoulders when the Heartless finally let all that tension go at once and it shot towards him. He swung the attack and the Keyblade collided with the Heartless' face. Green bile flew all through the air and landed around Jaune even while the Heartless itself was thrown off course and crashed into the ground.
Jaune howled out and covered his nose with his sleeve before stumbling back. "Ugh... what's that smell!?" he shouted out before his eyes locked onto the glowing green puddles of death. He grit his teeth behind his sleeve and glared at the Heartless, on its feet again. "I hate being a dog." He clashed with the Heartless when it jumped at him again. He swung his Keyblade to the side and caught the Heartless' poison claws before they could dig into him. The Darkness of the Heartless' claws sparked against the physical Light before Jaune spun out of the way. He yelped – the noise coming out like a dog's bark of surprise and pain – and began to fall toward his back when his paw found a puddle of Poison. He threw out the Keyblade and used it to keep himself up so he could move away from the puddle. The Heartless slashed at him with its poison claws again and Jaune stumbled backwards, ignoring the throbbing pain that was running from his foot and all through his body. He raised the Keyblade above his head. "Cure!" Green light surrounded him and the wound on his feet sealed shut, the pain turning to a dull ache, much easier to ignore so the Keyblade Wielder could jump forward, sliding through the space between the leaping Heartless' claws, and bisect it. A crystal heart flowed towards the sky.
Yang, meanwhile, grabbed one of the Predators by the wrists of its front paws and spun, putting extra power behind her throw towards one of its kin. The Predator slammed into the claws of the other's, carving a deep gash in the Heartless' hide. It roared out in pain and swiped blindly with its front paws. One of the attacks managed to catch the monster that had wounded it by the jaw and sent it tumbling away. The third of the Predators tried to catch her from behind, but Yang was quick enough to turn and prepare for its attack. Her fist slammed into its face, fire sparking from her knuckles and hair, the sparks and force causing the monster to explode in a cloud of shadow and fire. "Whoa, whoa! No fire, crazy!" Yang turned towards the scared and disturbed bunny. "Trees plus fire? They may be wet, but then again fire isn't supposed to come out of someone's hair!?"
Yang rolled her eyes but reigned in her excitement at the fight. Still, she couldn't resist saying something. "I thought you were a bunny, not a chicken," she remarked coolly, earning a chuckle from the fox.
"What, Carrots?" the fox asked when the rabbit glared at him.
Yang turned and kicked the injured Predator that came her way, the blow shattering its face and turning it to ash that dispersed around Yang before disappearing into the Darkness once again. She smiled and lowered her leg. "Never mind. Yang strength plus bunny legs is the best idea!" She roared out in excitement and leaped towards the last Heartless, raising her fist in front of her. "HELL YEAH!" Her fist slammed into the monster's face and she shot through it like a bullet, the Heartless dissolving behind her. She landed on her feet with a grin and turned around. "Nice..."
"We did it!" Jaune and Yang shouted, turning to one another. Jaune bent down slightly and held his hand out to give her a high five. Her moods fell, and she whispered under her breath, "Jaune... don't forget I'm usually taller than you..."
"Sorry," he said sheepishly. He stood up but kept his hand low. "Don't get angry..."
"I have a short fuse, so that's a tall order," Yang muttered. Jaune just groaned.
"Do you two have a license for those weapons?!"
Jaune and Yang blinked once, still staring at one another, before turning towards the rabbit in the police uniform. The gray bunny's finger was pointed at the two and she was scowling. "What?" Jaune and Yang said simultaneously.
"Carrots..." the fox muttered under his breath. His palms slammed into his face and he shook his head in disappointment.
"Do you two have a license for those weapons?"
"License?" Jaune asked.
"For weapons?" Yang inquired.
The concept to them was completely foreign. Owning a weapon on Remnant was basically a requirement of living. Almost mandated by the Kingdoms if everyone didn't already own some weapon or another. So... the concept confused them. "Why would we need a 'license?'" Jaune asked.
The fox looked up dumbly. "W-what?"
"If you don't have a license for your weapons, I'm going to have to arrest you!" the bunny shouted, voice firm despite the fact she was faced with people who had taken down three monsters that could – each – have torn her and her partner apart.
Jaune laughed and dismissed the Keyblade. "What weapon?"
Yang's bracers retracted. "Yeah, I'm confused. What are you talking about?" she asked, voice basically drowning in false innocence.
The two animals yelped in surprise and jumped backwards. "I... uh..." the rabbit began, desperately trying to figure out where the Keyblade had gone and how Ember Celica had become a pair of non-threatening bracelets.
"What?" the fox shouted. He pointed between Yang and Jaune. "... I need to know how you did that. It would be great for some -" he turned and saw the rabbit giving him an angry glare. "- some, uh... respectable business opportunities."
"Sure," the gray rabbit muttered dryly. She returned her glare to Yang and Jaune. "You can't just have weapons without a license."
"Maybe if you had one they'd take you more seriously," the fox pointed out, stuffing his hands in his pockets and grinning slyly at the other animal.
"A cop that doesn't have a gun?" Yang asked in surprise.
"Oh, tell him about how you tried to police Polar Bears! I bet a weapon would've been nice there!" the fox mocked.
"Nick!" the bunny snapped. She sighed at the fox's unrepentant grin before she turned towards the two who had saved them. "Fine, since it's obvious I can't take them from you – or in some cases, where they are – I guess I'll let it slide for now." She glanced between Yang and Jaune before extending her hand towards Yang. "Officer Judy Hopps, the officer that is searching for the missing mammals throughout the city."
"And I, as Carrots forgot to mention, am her smarter, taller, better looking accomplice. Nick Wilde, entrepreneur, at your service," the fox interjected, holding out his hand towards Jaune.
Jaune and Yang glanced at one another for a moment, then took the hands extended towards them. "I'm Yang Xiao-Long, beauty, brawler, and badass," Yang said as she shook Judy's hand. She let go and gestured at Jaune. "And the shag carpeting is Jaune Arc. Clumsy, but adorably so. He's a dog through and through, after all. Oh, and clever. Sometimes."
"I feel like that if this was anyone else it would be vaguely racist..." Jaune muttered under his breath. He shook his head and grinned. "She forgot to mention how humble she was, but otherwise pretty much right."
"Ha!" Nick shouted dryly. He jabbed his thumb at Judy beside him. "Don't worry, bunnies have a tendency of rushing through things."
Jaune raised an eyebrow and glanced between them. "So... what was this about missing mammals?" he asked. Missing anything almost always meant that the Heartless were involved, and Heartless weren't likely to surrender to a police officer's authority.
Judy smiled and scoffed, understanding what Jaune was really asking. "Thank you for offering help. Really. But, look, I can't get civilians invol -"
"Why am I involved then? I'm a civilian, too. Or did you forget, Carrots?" Nick mocked, his voice full of mock surprise and pain from being 'forgotten.'
Judy growled angrily. "I can't get any more civilians involved." She looked away from the fox. "It wouldn't be right to get you involved when you have nothing to do with what's going on."
"You aren't going to get far if those Heartless kill you. You two couldn't do anything to them," Yang pointed out. She crossed her arms. "And we can take them out."
The fox grimaced. "I would prefer to live through this." He shrugged. "But that's just my opinion, Carrots."
"Besides, we're just going to follow you anyways," Jaune stated, simply and honestly.
Judy glanced up at him and her foot began to tap faster and faster against the wooden walkway. Finally: "Urgh, fine." The foot slammed harder than before and she nodded. "You can come with us."
"Great!" Yang shouted, throwing her hands up and stretching up to her tip toes slightly. Her arms fell and she rubbed her chin. "So... uh... what are we doing?"
Judy nodded and slowly began to explain, "There have been a rash of disappearances in Zootopia over the past year. All of the animals that vanished have been predators – a cheetah, a tiger, and most recently an otter. I was only able to start investigating this because... well, the chief doesn't want a tiny defenseless bunny on his force." Yang narrowed her eyes. Tiny? Defenseless? She wanted to give this guy a piece of her bunny mind... "If we don't find a lead on the animals in the next few hours, I'm fired. Nick was my first lead, which is how he got roped into this." Nick saluted lazily. "Somehow he's been good company."
"Aw, Carrots. A compliment for little old me?" he asked. He took on a toothy grin. "You shouldn't have."
Judy ignored him. "There's a jaguar who lives near here that might know something about what's going on. We were heading to his home when those... Heartless animals, you called them?"
Jaune and Yang both nodded. "They aren't animals, though. They're..." Jaune searched for the words that wouldn't sound insane to someone from a world where magic and monsters weren't usually a thing. "... something a lot more dangerous."
"Not animals, hm? Won't try reasoning with them again." The gray rabbit sighed and continued her story, "Well, then those Heartless appeared we were stopped and looking for a way out. You stumbled in and saved us before we could figure our own way out."
"M-hm, Carrots. We would have flown off in a spaceship piloted by a mythical 'human,'" Nick said dryly.
"Ha!" Jaune shouted too forcefully.
Nick raised an eyebrow. "Are you -"
He was cut off by Yang laughing even more forcefully. "Ha ha ha ha ha! Human! Spaceship! HA!"
Nick stared at Yang and Jaune's forced, terrifying smiles for a few moments. Then: "I think they might be crazy. I'm less confident about their help now, Carrots." He took a step away from Jaune and Yang, who both grinned nervously but only succeeded in coming off weirder. "Significantly, actually."
"Well, you were the one who pointed out we'd need humans with spaceships to save us if we meet those Heartless animals again, Nick, so don't complain that I followed your advice for once!" Judy snapped back. She nodded at Jaune and Yang. "Come on, we're not too far. If we hurry, we might be able to save Mr. Otterton and my job."
S M H S
"From what Mr. Big told us, Manchas lives up here. It won't be much longer before we get to his home," Judy explained as they turned a corner onto Tujunga street, another walkway made up of wood rather than a real street.
Jaune and Yang plodded along behind the gray bunny and her fox partner, keeping wary eyes out for Heartless that could attack from anywhere within the shadowy recesses of the rain forest. "Good. The last time I was in a rain forest, my friends got ambushed by criminals, so this is kind of unsettling," Jaune explained before his eyes darted from one side of the walkway to the other.
"Wait, what?" Yang asked. She looked down. "But the last time you – Ruby was ambushed by criminals?"
"They were after you," Jaune said without thinking.
"They were – Junior..." Yang growled. She shook her head. "Who goes after someone's sister for revenge?"
Nick looked over his shoulder. "I think you just defined mobsters, Tiny."
Jaune snickered. "Tiny..."
"Shut it, Pupper..." Yang growled threateningly.
"You two are weird, and we've been to a Naturalist's Club," Nick said, turning away and shaking his head.
"Ugh, why'd you have to bring that up?" Judy groaned angrily. She slammed her fist into the fox's arm, but he just laughed it off. "Why didn't it hurt you as much as it hurt me?"
"Oh, it did. I just got a lot out of watching your pain, Carrots."
"I do not understand Zootopia," Jaune said under his breath.
Yang laughed and nodded. "Weird place with weird people." She looked up at him. "I think we could have a lot of fun here, Eats-his-own-Vomit Boy."
"Oh, cause I'm a dog. Hilarious," Jaune muttered. He shook his head. To Judy and Nick: "Are we there yet?"
"Yes! We are!" Judy shouted. She bounced in place, rising to a height slightly higher than Jaune and the similarly sized Nick, before landing quietly. Jaune and Yang studied the building, a small one or two room apartment that looked like it was built into the surrounding trees with leaves crisscrossing over the roof. "Let's get to Manchas and save those animals!"
Jaune, Yang, and Nick followed Judy at a walk, arriving at the front door a few seconds after her. She was already knocking on the door with the impatience of a rabbit having a bunch of carrots dangled in front of its face. "Mister Manchas? Mister Manchas! ZPD, can you open up please?"
"Go away!" came the reply from within.
Judy frowned and shook her head before knocking again and faster. "Mister Manchas, I'm investigating the disappearances of the predators in Zootopia. You were the last one to see Mister Otterton before he disappeared; we need your help to find out what happened!"
There was only silence from within the the building. "Mister Manchas?" Judy asked. "Mister Manchas, please open the door!"
"Uh, let me try something," Jaune said, pushing past her and summoning the Keyblade back to his hand.
"What!? You can't destroy his home and kidnap him, I won't let you!"
"Not the plan. The Key shape isn't for show, Judy," Jaune explained. He tapped the end of the magical weapon against the door in front of him and there was a dull flash. The Keyblade vanished and Jaune reached out to push the door open with one finger. "See, it's unlocked!"
Nick gaped at what had just happened. "... How?"
"Uh-uh, Nick. If it doesn't make any sense and we don't know how, we can say the door was unlocked. Not nearly as illegal to enter the house now."
The fox blinked. "Judy, I... I don't think that's how it works..."
"Really?" She stepped behind Nick and shoved him as hard as she could. He stumbled forward, eventually passing through the open doorway and forcing himself to a stop in front of a terrified panther. "But now there's a no good lowlife breaking in! I have to go into the house."
Judy walked through and stood beside Nick before nodding at Manchas. "Hello Mister Manchas. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"
The panther was not in great shape, a long jagged line running over one of his eyes, which was milky and damaged from whatever created the scar. His other was filled with terror as it darted around the room. His clothes were in shambles, with the wifebeater he was wearing ragged and stained by sweat. His sweatpants were loose and covered in thin tears. He finally answered a moment later and the fear from his eyes was evident in his voice, "Yes. I do mind."
"Let me rephrase!" Judy said. She pulled out a carrot shaped pen – Nick winced when he saw it – and a small paper notebook. "What happened to Mister Otterton?"
"I... don't... have anything to say..." The jaguar was growing more nervous by the second.
Judy moved forward to say something else, but Jaune cut in. "Please. Animals are getting hurt, and no one can find out why. We need to know what happened so we can keep it from happening again." He gestured to himself, then the fox, then the jaguar all in turn. "To me, to Nick... to you or the people any of us care about."
"Look, I'm not going to lie and say if you help everything's going to be Kumbaya and happy, but at least it won't be worse. Manchas, saving Zootopia at least starts right here, with you..." Nick added simply, hands in his pockets. Judy gave him an intrigued glance for a moment.
The jaguar considered Jaune and Nick for a few moments, one good eye looking between the two for a while. Finally: "I picked Otterton up at the Naturalist club yesterday, and he was acting insane. Shouting about monsters and mind control. He wanted me to take him to you – to police. For help, for protection, I'm not sure which. But he said something about the disappearances. And as soon as he told me, he went insane. Something... evil took him over. He jumped through to the front of the limo and he just... like a wild animal, savage and... Dark."
Jaune frowned at how expected that was. The Heartless must have been the cause of this – or else some person or group was in charge of the Heartless in Zootopia. Either way, it sounded like Darkness was forcibly being awoken in the Hearts of the animals in Zootopia. "He just lost control?"
"His claws were like fire," Manchas said, gesturing at his scarred eye. "And he moved faster than I thought anyone could. He cut me and almost flew out of the windshield. I thought I was going to die. The last thing he said – the Night Howlers..." Manchas' voice became ice.
"Do you know what happened to him after that?" Judy inquired after jotting down the information Manchas had just given.
"You... believe me?" Manchas asked, voice growing slightly more steady.
Nick laughed dryly. "We just saw panther monsters made of darkness that spat acid. I don't think this is too crazy."
Manchas sighed in relief. "I th-thought I was going crazy, I – " His eyes widened suddenly and Jaune felt a wave of Dark energy pulse off of his shoulders.
"CRAP!" Jaune shouted. He summoned the Keyblade up to his hand before shoving Judy out of the way and bringing it up in front of him. Manchas' claws crashed into the Keyblade, accompanied by an explosion of black flamed, and Jaune was pushed backwards. The jaguar's eyes had become slits of gold and black, the black flames now rising from his shoulders clear in those eyes as well. Jaune grunted against the jaguar's sudden, savage strength and tried to keep himself from getting pushed backwards. He glanced over his shoulder at Judy and Nick's terrified faces. "We need to run!"
"Run?" Yang asked, a grin spreading across her fae. "But this looks like a real fight!"
Jaune shoved as hard as he could and the jaguar was thrown backwards, colliding with the wall on the opposite side of the house. "Yang, we can't hurt an innocent, you know that!" He bolted from the building, grabbing Nick's arm and Judy's and dragging them out of the house.
"Aw... you're no fun..." Yang muttered sadly before jumping out of the house, too, and slamming the door shut behind her. She brought a Fire to her hand and aimed it at the metal lock of the doorway. The heat fused the metal and locked the door. Yang flinched backwards when Manchas' body slammed into the door, shaking it violently. "Er... yeah, let's go!" She bolted down the wooden walkway, easily catching up to the fox, dog, and bunny that were running away together.
"What just happened?" Nick asked angrily as he got onto his own feet and began to run without being dragged by Jaune.
"Talk later!" Jaune and Yang snapped.
It was at this time that Manchas finally broke through his door. Jaune yelped as shards of wood covered in black flames shot all the way towards them, singing his golden fur slightly. From behind came a primal, rage filled roar of a predator about to hunt down helpless prey. Jaune cast a scared glance over his shoulder. "AH!" Jaune jumped to the side and narrowly avoided the thin blade of Darkness that had come from the jaguar's claws. The blade crashed into a tree and left a large, deep gash in its trunk that burned a purple-black for a few moments after collision.
"Where are we going to go?" Jaune asked, regaining his footing and continuing to run.
"Uh... The gondola! Right, then a block or two!" Nick shouted. He motioned with his hand. "We might be able to trap him there... somehow? Or get trapped."
"ZPD, this is Officer Judy Hopps! Send any available units to the gondola near Tajunga!"
"It's pronounced Ta-hunga!" Nick shouted while he glanced over his shoulder. Manchas, running on all fours and the now ragged sweatpants the only thing covering him. "WE ARE GOING TO DIE!"
"We'll meet you there. Draw his attention. If you need to set anything up, we'll try to give you time," Yang commanded, sliding to a stop and quickly turning to run back at the jaguar.
"We can't hurt him!" Judy shouted.
"We won't," Jaune stated. He nodded them forward, silently demanding the others listen to Yang before he too turned back to help Yang keep the jaguar at bay. He jumped over the golden rabbit, Keyblade raised above his head. Yang dashed forward, sliding to her back and placing her feet under Manchas' chin before he could bury his claws or teeth in her body and tear her to shreds. Then she lashed out as hard as she could and the jaguar was sent flying into the air, where the Keyblade slammed him right back down. Yang prepared another kick, but the feral jaguar seemed to sense it was coming and the black aura around his body seemed to swivel and push him out of the attacks' path. Yang kept going with the momentum of her attack, however, easily sliding past Manchas' claws before they could carve her to bits.
Jaune caught her hand as she passed him, jamming the Keyblade into the trunk of a tree as he passed it to stop himself from moving too far. He twisted around the weapon, over it, and then back down to throw Yang at the jaguar. Water began to fall from the sprinklers once more and Jaune's grip on his weapon began to slip before he tightened it and the Keyblade responded to his heart's call, the grip on the handle becoming rougher and less liable to slip.
Manchas growled and leaped up at Yang, the Dark aura around his body flaring violently and stretching out in front of him in the shape of massive claws. Yang slammed her fist into the one that was closest, fire exploding from the point of contact. The resulting Light caused the solid shadow to recoil in pain, but the other claw was able to lash out and slam Yang to the side. Her path took a right angle and she slammed into a tree on the side of the walkway.
"Yang!" Jaune shouted. He turned his attention back to the jaguar and growled threateningly, the noise coming out much scarier than usual due to his canine nature. He let go of the Keyblade and began to fall towards Manchas, twisting until his open palm was aimed straight down, his body trailing in a straight line behind it. The Keyblade appearing in his hand and he twisted until the tip was pointed at the still rising jaguar. Keyblade and shadow clashed, summoning up energy of Light and Darkness that burned and crackled as they mixed. His weapon tore through the dark aura, but the collision sent them both tumbling away and back to the ground. Jaune landed heavy, but remained on his feet, while the jaguar was scrabbling back to a quadrupedal position.
Yang leaped out of the foliage a moment later, hair soaked through by the sprinkler rain that quickly turned to steam when her hair lit up in a bright yellow. Jaune noticed, for the first time, that in this form her entire body glowed that flaming yellow when she was angry. "Yang, we can't hurt him!" Jaune shouted when he forced himself from his stupor.
"I don't think that's actually an issue!" Yang snapped, though the glow disappeared. Her hair and fur were dry now, though they quickly became soaked through again after a few seconds. She slammed an uncharged fist into the claw that swiped at her and then looped her fingers around it, instinctively charging her fingers with her own interior Light so that the energy didn't become formless in her grasp. Manchas roared in confusion when he was torn from the ground suddenly, spinning away from the ground before being tossed away. He swiveled midair and was already on his way back by the time Yang began to fall.
"Do you think that we got Nick and Judy enough time?" Yang asked when she landed softly on the ground beside Jaune.
"Let's hope so," he replied, turning and sprinting down the road towards the gondola that Nick had indicated. Manchas took a moment to roar a challenge to the retreating warriors and Jaune could hear the jaguar gaining on them.
Yang grunted angrily. "You know, if you'd let me hurt him this would be over by now..."
"And an innocent guy would be hurt. We need to help him, not turn him into a bloody pulp," Jaune retorted simply. He turned a corner with Yang and found Nick and Judy standing at the edge of a long, cement walkway. "What's wrong?"
"The gondolas aren't coming!"
"So?" Jaune asked Nick while he turned and prepared to cover them again. There wasn't a response. "W-were we planning on catching him in a gondola?!"
"That's a great idea!" Yang shouted.
"NO IT ISN'T!" Jaune snapped. He glared back at the jaguar. "Gondolas wouldn't be able to hold him for more than five seconds!"
"Why are you yelling at us?"
Jaune groaned angrily. "Sorry, I'm just a little concerned with how we're about to die standing next to a bunny cop without a gun and a conman fox."
"Can we actually try now?" Yang asked.
Jaune sighed. "No... But I might have a plan that won't kill him!" He looked around and noticed, suddenly, that the sprinklers had stopped pouring. "Yang, there's a sprinkler up there! Hit it with a Fira."
"Sounds a bit strong, but you're the boss!" she said, hair flaring up in excitement. "I've been burning up for some excitement." She launched the spell upward and grinned, her own joke and the pyromania flaring up in her gut making her excited.
The flames collided with the metal sprinkler and the surrounding leaves, immediately causing the water on the tree to evaporate. The remaining strength of the spell was more than enough for the leaves to spark into true flames around the sensitive water source. It began to rain immediately, water spraying out from every sprinkler and down towards the two. "Yang, cover Nick and Judy!" The blonde nodded and leaped over, fists colliding in front of her as she got close and shot out a reflect spell around them. Before it was complete, Manchas leaped forward and stretched his ethereal claws out to rend Jaune in two. A streak of panic rose in the Keyblade Wielder's gut and a surge of power ran through his body. "Dark Thunder!" Black electricity flowed out of the tip of the Keyblade, and the effect was... let's just say Yang would call it 'Stunning.' The black thunder traveled between the falling droplets of water and channeled out in every direction, even harming the one who had cast it. Jaune roared in pain but pushed through it, refusing to faint and let the spell die before Manchas was knocked unconscious. Speaking of, the jaguar was basically thrown backwards by the sudden magical discharge, and the lightning began to course all over and through his soaking wet fur and clothes, the water amplifying the voltage passing through his body. Judy, Nick, and Yang weren't much better off. The reflect wall had been raised enough to prevent them from dying, taking up a large percentage of the energy that would have fried the fox and gray bunny inside out without the Aura Yang had or the Darkness that was amplifying Manchas' body. They were the first to fall unconscious.
Manchas was dragging himself towards Jaune, shrieking in pain as his aura began to falter and die around him. "NO!" Jaune screamed. The electricity flowing from the Keyblade intensified suddenly, yellow and black sparks flying out of it like a stream of destruction until, finally, the jaguar went down. Jaune dropped the spell and looked over his shoulder. Yang was on one knee. "Oops..." Then, as one, they fell to the ground and let the world turn black around them.
S M H S
Jaune groaned. "Every. World. This happens on every world," he groaned under his breath before pushing himself to his feet. He was shaky, and the world smelled like burnt fur that stung his overly sensitive nostrils and reminded him – vaguely – of Yang and Ruby's pet dog Zwei. He couldn't entirely remember why, given he'd only ever encountered the animal a few time, but the thought of the small dog's joyful grin wouldn't leave him. Jaune shook his head and looked around. "Y-" he winced when his muscles spasmed, the last reminder of his ill-conceived Thunder. He grimaced – Dark Thunder. He forced the words out. "Yang!" He looked around, vision returning, and froze when he caught sight of the animals surrounding him. An elephant, a water buffalo, a lion, some wolves. All of them were dressed in police uniforms just like the one Judy wore. "Uh... H-hi?"
"He's awake!" one of the cops shouted, and everything went crazy. Guns were pointed at Jaune from every direction and some of the larger animals lumbered threateningly with what looked like cannons held in their hands. Instinctively, and probably to his own detriment, Jaune summoned the Keyblade to his hand and raised it in front of him. "Drop your weapon! Now!"
He fought off the urge to bare his teeth as he considered his options. He could A: Let them shoot him and die. B: Stop them and hurt what looked to be thirty cops. Or C: Do as they said. None of these options sounded particularly good. Getting arrested would mean they would find out he wasn't actually from Zootopia – no records of a Jaune Arc in their computers, after all. Dying, obviously that's bad. And he wasn't the kind of guy to attack cops, after all. Still, why were they aiming their weapons at him? "Stop! I told you, Chief Bogo, he helped us!"
"His little bunny friend broke my nose!" a Water Buffalo snapped in response. Jaune saw he had bandages wrapped around his face, a small patch of red present at the center. He turned to the side and revealed Judy, standing next to Nick and a handcuffed Yang.
The golden rabbit raised her hands – resisting the urge to break the cuffs then and there – and waved at Jaune excitedly. Then she turned back to Chief Bogo. "You surprised me by waking me up. Believe me, when I saw your badge I toned it down a lot. It's why you aren't on fire!"
Bogo's response was dry disbelief. "Yang, don't antagonize the chief," Judy commanded. "It isn't fun to watch."
"I don't know. I'm having fun," Nick noted simply. His dry smile refused to disappear when Bogo's scowl turned to him.
Judy turned and hissed out, "Shut up, Nick..."
"Look, Chief, we can't worry about this right now. We need to find Mister Manchas – he went savage, he could be hurting someone in Zootopia as we speak! If we don't find him and stop him, people could die!"
"A savage jaguar, Hopps? There was no jaguar, savage or otherwise, here when we arrived. If there was one, it would've just killed you. Besides, like I said earlier, this isn't the stone age. Animals don't 'go savage.' Unless of course every jaguar just looks savage to a little bunny like you."
Nick scoffed. "Hey, Chief, I saw it too." There was a lot more disdain in that word when it was Nick that said it. He pointed his thumb at his own chest. "Judy's doing a lot more for the animals that have disappeared than you have, so don't go around accusing her of things. She's at least brave enough to try something."
Bogo looked like he wanted to strangle Nick to death. Instead he turned towards Judy and decided to take out his frustration on her. "Badge. Now. You failed, so hand it over."
"But –!" Judy began.
She was cut off by Bogo's hoof-hand appearing palm up in front of her face. "Now."
Judy stared, petrified by disbelief and surprise, for a few moments. Jaune glanced between the stunned rabbit and Nick's increasingly rage filled face. Judy slowly reached down to her chest when she realized everyone was staring at her. "O-of course, S -"
"No."
Everyone in the rain forest turned towards Nick, who placed himself in between Judy and Bogo. "Excuse me, Fox?" Bogo spat through his bandages. His hoof-hands clenched into fists at his side.
"I said no. She still has time. Time you gave her. So she hasn't failed. She doesn't owe you anything," the fox snapped, his hand sweeping across his body in a physical denial of what the chief was saying. Judy stared at him in a combination of surprise and gratitude. Jaune smiled and nodded at the display of friendship.
Yang stopped thinking clearly. Her hands flew up above her head and tore the handcuffs around them to pieces. "Yeah!" The gaze of every animal turned from Nick to her. Yang blinked once and let her hands drift together above her, though the grin never disappeared. Her voice took on a falsetto sing song, like a four year old caught in a lie. "I'm still captured..." Jaune couldn't help but snort in laughter at that, which only caused Yang's joyful grin to widen.
Nick cleared his throat. "My point is, she isn't turning anything over. You gave her 48 hours, so she has... Ah! `10 left to find Otterton. And that's exactly what we're going to do. So if you'll excuse us, we have a very big lead to follow and a case to crack," he said simply. He grabbed Judy's wrist and pulled her towards the end of the gondola port, where Jaune could see that someone had restarted the machines that moved them and a red box was incoming. He and Yang edged slowly towards it at first, moving through an ocean of confused and slightly stunned giant animal police officers before making a break and sliding to a stop beside Judy and Nick. The fox gave a lazy, irreverent salute. "Next time we meet, you'll be pinning badges to Judy's uniform, Chief Big-Butt." Then, with barely another glance at the water buffalo now shaking with rage, he walked towards the end of the port and through the open gondola door, grabbing Judy's arm and pulling her in with him. Jaune and Yang followed close behind and watched Bogo's right eye twitch at the door as the gondola was taken away.
The group traveled in silence for some time. Jaune and Yang waited for some direction, since they were meddling in Judy's affairs. Nick was just staring contentedly out over the rainforest, the only visible things in the darkness the trees and occasional light. "Thanks, Nick," Judy said after a few moments, when the Chief and other officers were completely out of sight.
"Never let them see that they get to you," Nick said, shrugging after casting a glance in her direction. He frowned and looked out over the canopy. "If you're a predator... you're nothing more than a savage animal to a lot of people. If you're a bunny, you're just a tiny animal getting in the way. Don't let them see you care about that, and they'll stop bringing it up." His eyes shut tight and Jaune thought he caught sight of flecks of water running through the rust fur. "Usually."
Yang and Jaune both glanced down, remembering Blake's plight. "It can get bad for some p – animals. But you're better than them, and if they underestimate you it's even easier to sneak up and wallop 'em!" Yang shouted. She threw her fist out of the gondola and grinned. "That's what my friend Blake did." She looked over at Jaune. "And Good-Boy over here. No one thought he could do anything, and here he is. Stronger than me, sometimes."
Jaune smiled appreciatively. "Aw, you're being nice. We need a camera to commemorate the moment," he said dryly, trying to fight off his own tears.
"Ha, you too... Cameras!" Nick shouted. He looked down at the early traffic of Zootopia, cars honking and bustling across the roads. "There are traffic cameras all over the canopy, and a road right by the gondola station!"
"So we can see if anyone picked Manchas up and follow them on the traffic cameras!" Judy shouted when she connected the dots that Nick had just finished connecting himself.
"Which means we can find them..." Jaune said before he grimaced. "If... if we can get into the system. Something tells me Chief Bogo isn't going to agree after Nick's... impassioned defense of you."
Judy grimaced. "Urgh... probably not," she agreed, groaning in annoyance. She placed one paw on her chin. "But, now that I think of it, I do know someone who might." She looked in the direction that the gondola was moving and grinned. "And she works at City Hall!"