Episode 1 – Special Assignments
It had been a few years since Zootopia's local heroes, Judy Hopps and Nicholas Wilde, had managed to stop a major conspiracy that threatened the city. In that time, they had grown closer, both as partners at the ZPD, and as friends.
The day was March 11th, 2019, and the two were patrolling in downtown Zootopia, a standard at this point in their careers, and even more standard by this point was not a lot actually happening. At the very most, the two would come across some gangs of teenagers doing very minor offenses, like spray painting or, god forbid, littering.
Needless to say, Nick was getting pretty bored of it.
"Don't you ever find this boring, Carrots?" The fox asked suddenly, flicking up his aviator sunglasses.
"Maybe, sometimes." The rabbit responded as she continued driving down the street.
"Don't you wish something interesting would happen?" He continued, turning to his partner.
"Not at all." She also responded, quite calmly.
The fox's expression turned to confusion, him staring dumbfounded at his partner, as she stopped at a red light.
She in turn locked eyes with her partner. "Well, when nothing's going on, that means that the city's at peace," The light turned green, and she stepped on the gas, turning her gaze back to the road, "And that's exactly what I signed on to do."
"I guess, but…" The fox placed his sunglasses back on his head, and looked out the window solemnly. "It's not really what I signed on for."
"Don't worry, Nick, I'm sure there'll be a bank heist, or a hostage situation sometime soon." She tried to comfort her solemn partner.
Little did the two know, that high above them, on the rooftop of a building just a block away from their car, a strange figure watched them through a pair of binoculars. Setting the goggles away, the figure pulls out a strange cellphone.
"The targets are in sight," It spoke into the phone, "I'll begin the operation immediately." It then set the phone away, and stepped backwards, disappearing into a burst of black energy.
A few hours later, the two had arrived back at ZPD Headquarters, ready to end their day and head back home. All Judy needed to do was head for her desk and write the report for today, which would be quick, since all they did was stop a group of kids from spraying bad words on the side of a building.
At least, it should have been quick.
As she made it to her desk, something there caught her eye, the sunset's light glimmering on a small metallic object in front of her desktop computer.
"What the..."
She got a closer look at it once she sat down in her chair, it was some sort of business card, made of black plastic, which caused the light to reflect of it. Judy tried to keep the sun out of her eyes with her hand as she examined it more. It was almost entirely black, aside from a white stripe going through it, the letters S, P, and D located in the top left corner, and some odd kind of police logo, featuring a strange canine-like head, located on the bottom right.
She flipped it over to the other side, but instead of any sort of identification, it was a white sheet with a message written on it, in clear typeface, meaning it was, most likely, printed and not actually written.
It was addressed to her and Nick.
Before she could read the rest, she rushed down to the break room, where the fox was enjoying a cup of coffee in one of the room's few over-sized couches. This was around the only time the two could get any time in the room, due to them being the smallest officers, and usually not getting any couch spaces. Besides, it's not like Judy would want a break.
He spied his partner rushing into the room, shuffling off the large couch and placing it on the coffee table in front of it.
"Record time on that report, Carrots," He jokingly stated, "Guess we're heading home now?"
"No, not yet, I found..." She uneasily walked over to her partner, and pulled out the card, and shoved it in his face. "This thing on my desk."
"What is that, a business card?" He questioned, pushing down the rabbit's arm.
"It's some kind of note, and it's addressed to us!" She checked the card over again,before continuing. "It's from... some kind of police organization, but I've never seen the emblem before."
"Well, what's the note say?" The fox queried, grabbing his cup of coffee back off the table, obviously he'd have time to finish it.
"It says..." She flipped the card over and began reading it. "To Judy C. Hopps and Nick P. Wilde. It is urgent that you visit behind the ZPD Police Headquarters at 11 PM tonight. I have a very important message to tell you, in secret, signed D.K."
"So a shady meetup behind the police station in about..." He checked his phone for the time. "Five hours. Sounds fun." He replied sarcastically.
"Do you think we should? It's from some form of police force, and I doubt they'd do anything illegal at the Headquarters itself, considering it has cameras everywhere." Judy thought out loud, trying to rationalize it. "But, it could be fake, and something could happen to us, or..."
"I say we do it." Nick said between a sip of coffee. "What's the point in being a cop if you don't have any trouble to get into?"
"Nick, that's not what..." She stopped herself and sighed, there's no way she'd be able to reason with him. "Alright, we'll go, just make sure to bring something to defend ourselves, alright."
"Got it, boss." The fox joked, causing Judy's look of worry to turn into one of bemusement.
"So, what are gonna do for the next 5 hours?"
5 hours had passed, the two had mostly just played on their phones while they waited. Judy had spent her time looking up anything about the logo and letters that were on the card, but she couldn't come up with anything at all. Nick, meanwhile, mostly checked his Tweeter feed and played a few games he had downloaded.
Eventually, the two had to leave the station, the security guards had started to come in, so they waited out in the cruiser for the remainder of the time.
"Alright," Nick eventually said, with a slight yawn, "It's 10:55, I think we should head 'round back now."
Judy nodded, as they both put their stun guns in the holders on their hips, they had managed to grab them before leaving the station, and left the police car to head to the back of the station.
"You find anything on this 'SPD', Carrots?" Nick asked.
"Nothing, absolutely nothing." She sighed, and began to shrug, "Nothing about the logo or the acronym."
The two turned around the corner of the building, and reached the back, where the dumpster and fire exits were located. The dumpster was full, as one would expect when you group a bunch of large, rowdy animals in one building for most of the day.
The clock on Judy's phone struck 11, and from around the other corner of the building, a figure emerged.
The first thing that caught Judy's eye was the head of the animal, which almost exactly matched the logo on the card, and was even more obviously some type of canine... but Judy wasn't entirely sure exactly what kind it was. The closest it came was a wolf, but she had never seen a wolf that looked like it before.
The second thing she noticed was the size of the animal, standing up straight it was around as tall as a gazelle, larger than nay canine's she had ever seen. Then, she noticed it's legs,which were, again, unlike any she had seen before, with large, clawed feet, and completely straight legs, unlike the digitigraded legs on every other canine.
The figure turned to them, the moonlight catching it's eyes, briefly making it look incredibly threatening as it stood there. Eventually, it walked forward, revealing itself more clearly to the two officers.
The figure was quite clearly male, and dressed in a long coat, which was colored black, with red and white highlighting, similar to how the card was formatted. The right side of the coat's hanging bit had those letters again, SPD, while the logo was embroidered on the right side of his chest.
Judy had also noticed that the claws she had only seen in the dark looked less like normal, grown claws, and more like metal claws, with a hint of the metal trailing up his legs. His hands were relatively normal looking, covered with black and blue gloves.
However, the head was where it began to get weird again. His head had multiple distinct fur colors, the lower part covered in white fur, while the upper half was covered in strange blue fur, each of which were separated with black fur that ran all the way around his face.
The creature got closer, and the two officers backed away, reaching for their stun guns.
"Do not worry." It spoke, in a deep, commanding voice, "I am not here to harm you." It soon got on one knee, kneeling to make eye contact with them.
"My name is Doggie Kruger," He introduced, "I'm the chief of the SPD, or Special Police Department." He pulled out a strange mechanical device, again marked with SPD, and pressed a button on the top, causing it to flip open and reveal a badge, which was similar to the logo on the card, but gold, and with extra wig details, and five triangles above it.
"So, you're the one who left this card?" Judy asked calmly, edging her arm away from the stun gun. The badge gave her a sense of calm, this guy was probably official.
Nick soon did the same, and asked a question to the strange wolf, "So, what exactly did you want to talk to us about?"
Kruger got back up on both legs, and began to answer, "The SPD has chosen you to test out some experimental weaponry that we have created." He pulled out a large, steel briefcase. Whatever he was talking about was in there.
"What!?" Judy yelled, but before she could continue, Kruger began again.
"This isn't a request, Officer Hopps. You two are the only possible candidates for this, so at the very least you can take them and consider." His voice suddenly sounded even sterner than it had before, nearly emulating Bogo's "contained anger" voice.
He tossed the briefcase to Nick, who, while managing to catch it, stumbled backwards and flat onto his back, the briefcase's weight crushing him.
"Officer Hopps," Kruger began to ask, looking the rabbit directly in the eye, "You're here to protect and serve, correct?"
"Uh, yes, sir." She nervously answered. Briefly, she turned to Nick, who was still striggling to get the briefcase off of him.
"Well, you have more people counting on you now than you could ever imagine. I hope you know what to do." Kruger cryptically stated, confusing the bunny officer.
"Uh, little HELP HERE!?" a voice from beside her yelled. Breaking from Kruger's stare, she turned to see Nick, still trapped under the briefcase.
"Oh gosh, sorry Nick!" She rushed over to help him, grabbing the handle and pushing it a slight bit off Nick, giving him just enough room to move his hand under it. The damn thing was heavy, so it took their combined strength to actually push it off.
"Took you a while, but, thanks, Carrots." Nick said to her, catching his breath between words.
He looked up, and looked around confused for a second, which caught Hopps' eye.
"What is it?" She asked.
"Where'd Kruger go?"
She looked around, and it was true, Kruger had completely vanished.
"Weird." Nick said as he finished looking around, "So, should we just take this thing back home, or...?"
"We'll check what's inside tomorrow, after work." Judy answered.
Nick grabbed the briefcase's handle, dragging it across the ground as they returned to their cruiser, the only one still parked.
However, high atop the police station, a familiar figure watched them drive away through binoculars.
Pulling out a cellphone, it began to talk into it, "Mission accomplished, Kruger out."
Judy and Nick had been sharing an apartment for the last two years, since Nick was basically considered homeless before he had joined the force, and needed a place to stay. He had only planned to stay for a few months, but the months had turned into a year and a half at this point. Judy had suspected a few reasons for why he had stayed, but he payed half the rent, so she didn't entirely mind.
What she did mind was the messes he usually made, but that's for another time.
It was a rather nice apartment, large enough for two people, a small kitchen, a living space, and most importantly, two bedrooms. Judy had remembered what the fox said when he found out, "You're loss."
The two had gotten into a good routine, Judy would wake up Nick, they'd eat breakfast, get ready, and then head out to the station to start their day.
Today would go about the same, but it would be their last truly peaceful morning for a long while.
As the two ate breakfast together, Judy having a small carrot salad, while Nick had blueberry waffles, Nick began to converse.
"So, did you have a bad sleep last night?"
"Yeah, last night was..." She searched for a word to describe it, as she shuffled a carrot around with her fork, "Strange?"
"Mmm." The fox mumbled, his mouth full of waffles. He swallowed and continued, "What kind of weapons do you think are in there?" he finished, staring at the briefcase on the counter.
"I'm not sure I want to find out." Judy replied, refusing to look at the briefcase. "Why would they pick us to test weapons, anyway? You'd think they'd have some of the big guys test it."
There was a brief silence, but it was quickly broken as Nick walked over to the briefcase.
"Can we-"
"No, Nick." Judy cut him off before he could finish. "At least, not before we get more info on those SPD guys."
"Alright, alright." The fox begrudgingly complied. He looked at the stove, as the green numbers blinked. 4:30.
"Hey, Carrots, it's time to go to work now." He told her.
Soon enough, the two were off on another day of police work.
The morning had, again, gone as normal, Bogo handed out relatively simple assignments to the officers during roll call, mostly just patrol work, and a few minor investigations. it was a very slow period for the entire precinct.
After roll call was finished however, Hopps had a few questions for Bogo, who she quickly approached once Nick and the otehr had left the room.
"Uh, Chief." She nervously asked the large buffalo in front of her, his back turned to her.
"What is it, Hopps?" He asked apathetically, as he usually had when she asked anything.
"Have you ever heard of the Special Police Department?"
Bogo's ears perked, and he turned around to talk to her face to face.
"The Special Police Department, hmm?" He chuckled, " You mean one of the worst wastes of tax dollars in Zootopia's history?"
Judy's nose twitched in confusion, "What... what do you mean, sir? What was the Special Police Department?"
The buffalo took a seat from a nearby set of desks, clearly this was going to take a bit. "Back in the 70s, there was a strange phenomenon around alien invasions and visitations, mostly caused by an influx of movies. The Mayor at the time clearly feell for it too, since he set up a sort of makeshift police squad that was formed to protect cities from aliens."
"Sir, that sounds crazy."
"Oh, it was, the whole thing lasted about a year before it was disbanded, it ruined the economy for a bit too." He got up from his seat, "What made you ask about that, Hopps?"
"Oh, noth-nothing. Just, y'know... wondering." Hopps awkwardly tried to excuse.
Bogo looked at her, unconvinced, but then snorted and headed off. Soon, after a bit of confusion, Judy headed out as well.
She made it to the cruiser, where her partner was waiting, sunglasses covering his eyes, and sipping from a cup of coffee.
"What took you so long, Carrots?" Wilde asked sarcastically.
"I got some interesting info about the SPD from Bogo." Judy answered, opening the car and getting into the drivers seat.
"Ooh, lay it on me." Nick replied back, getting a big grin on his muzzle.
Doing as requested, she laid it on him. "Well, for one, the Special Police Department doesn't exist anymore, and hasn't existed since the 70s."
"You know you didn't have to ask the chief about that, right?" Nick said, pulling out his phone. "Coulda just looked it up online. Which I already did."
Judy facepawed, groaning. She felt like an idiot.
"I found something interesting too, look at this," He held his phone up to her, which displayed an image.
The image was of a logo, depicting the planet Earth, with several stereotypical UFOs hovering around it, and a faceless feline dressed up in police garb holding a strange looking gun. Below the Earth it said Special Police Department.
"The logo that Kruger guy had wasn't even the correct logo for what he was claiming to be." He pulled the phone back and scrolled to another page, "And if you think that's suspicious, check this out, there's absolute no record of Doggie Kruger ever existing, the only Krugers listed in the records are a family of pigs!"
The mysteries were pilling up in Judy's brain, she couldn't even think with all the strange things going on involving this Kruger guy.
"So..." She gasped out as she managed to wrap her head around the situation, "That guy was potentially some crazy mammal claiming to be an officer, and also gave us a false name?"
"I suppose, yeah." Nick answered back.
"Then we should turn that briefcase in as evidence and file a report on him!" She loudly stated.
"Actually, Carrots, I'm gonna say we should open it."
Judy stared dumbfounded at the fox. Why would he want to open a potentially dangerous object that was given to them by a crazy mammal?
"Alright, one..." He held up his index finger, before reaching behind the seat and... pulling out the briefcase.
"YOU BROUGHT IT HERE!?" Judy screamed at him in frustration.
"Whoa, whoa, calm down, Judy." He said as he placed the briefcase on his lap. "See, this is millitary grade quality here." He knocked on the briefcase, causing a loud metallic sound. It was definitely meant to withstand damage.
"Second," He held up a second finger, "He not only knew our names, he also knew where we work, and knew what desk you sat at. The guy's got connections, obviously, and messing with an animal with resources and connections is ALWAYS a bad idea in my book."
"So, what's your point?" Judy asked Nick, confused.
"Basically, if we don't want to be killed in our sleep, I'd say it would be best to open this thing and check out these 'weapons'." He calmly answered, using air quotes when needed.
"I..." She stopped herself, and took a deep breath. "Alright, fine, we'll open it now." She said, trying not to be angry with the fox's blatant misconduct.
"Alright, let's crack this nut open!" Nick said excitedly, searching for how to open the briefcase. He suddenly stopped for a second, and looked at the top of it. "Wonder what that stands for." He asked.
Judy leaned over to get a look at what Nick had found. On the top of the briefcase was a large, engraved V shape, along with a strange stylized animal face. It didn't match the logo that Kruger was wearing. Another lie to add to the pile.
With a loud click, the briefcase swung open, revealing the mysterious weapons Judy had been worried about, and Nick had been intrigued by.
"Oh thank god." Judy let out a sigh of relief as a disappointed frown came across Nick's muzzle.
"These are the secret, untested weapons?" He asked himself.
In the briefcase, there was simple two strange wristwatch like devices, oval in shape, and both colored a drab grey. The face of the watch-thing had two eye-like holes, while the middle was dominated by a nose-like button that pushed out from the otherwise flat surface.
"Well, we really got duped, huh?" Judy said with relief, jabbing her elbow into her agitated partner's side.
Nick pulled out one of the watches, which even came with a watch-like strap. Nick looked at it in disappointment.
"There's gotta be..." He angrily said, placing the watch on his wrist, which it fit perfectly, "Something to these, right?"
His question was answered a few seconds later, as the watch began glowing a bright red, and shaking rapidly, producing a horribly loud shriek. Nick tried to hold his arm still, but he could feel a burning sensation where the watch was, which was causing him even more discomfort.
"Judy, what's happening!?" He yelled to his partner over the loud sounds the thing was making.
"How should I know!?" The rabbit responded back, pulling down her ears to try and escape the noise.
A few second later, the noises, lights, burning, and shaking had all stopped, and Nick rubbed his eyes to help make them less blurry. He looked down at the watch, and noticed it had changed. Instead of a gray, it was now colored a dark red, and had two short, pointed bits sticking out of it now, and with the eye-like holes and the nose button, it now resembled a fox's head instead of a watch, much like the one seen on the briefcase.
"Holy..." Hopps yelled, rubbing her eyes as well, and turning to her partner, "Are you okay, Nick?"
"Yeah, I'm..." The fox paused, taking a deep breath, and looking at the wrist-device again, "I'm fine, just a bit shaken up."
Judy looked at the watch, just noticing it had completely changed, "What happened to your wrist... thing?" She asked.
"How do you expect me to know, Judy!?" He snapped, "It just kind of happened!"
"Calm down, Nick." She tried to help the fox calm down, "Just take some deep breaths for a second." Which the fox complied to.
"Now, try taking it off."
Nick turned his wrist over, trying to find where he had latched the strap onto, only to find that there was no way to separate it. He then tried to tug it off, it would probably go around his paw... but to no avail, the thing wouldn't budge.
"It won't come off." Nick said to his partner, trying not to panic.
"This isn't time for joking around, Nick. Take it off." Judy demanded.
Nick stuck his wrist in front of her, "You try to take it off, Carrots." He demanded back.
Judy groaned, and attempted to take the device off as well, only to find that, no matter what she did, pulling it, twisting it, it just wouldn't move.
"Alright, not joking about that." She panted, "So, you have a suspicious device stuck to your arm, what are we supposed to do?"
Nick shrugged, but noticed something on it.
"Hey, does that look like a button to you?" He asked, pointing towards the nose-shaped bit.
"I suppose it could be?" Judy guessed, shrugging, "Maybe pressing it will do... something?"
Nick nodded, and then lightly pressed the button in, causing... nothing to happen.
"Well, it was worth a-"
Suddenly, the eyes on the device lit up a brilliant blue, distancing itself from the device's new red coloring. The lights soon merged together, forming the shape of a familiar figure, Doggie Kruger.
"Hello, officers." The hologram said to the two, who stared at it with intrigue.
"What you are about to hear might surprise and disturb you, but I guarantee you, it is one-hundred percent the truth, as I swear on my duty as an officer." Kruger said, crossing his heart as he finished.
"While it was unfortunate that I had to lie to you to get you to take these, I can now tell you the truth. I am not a part of the Special Police Department, but instead a member of Special Police Dekaranger." He continued, pulling out the strange device from earlier.
"Special Police what!?" Nick said loudly to his partner.
Suddenly, the hologram turned to Nick, "I'll get to that in a second, Wilde." It said sternly.
"I don't think this is a pre-recorded message, Nick." Judy said worriedly to the freaked out fox.
"Indeed it isn't, Hopps. As of right now, I am communicating with you from another universe. While I could get into specifics, it would be best for you to learn those later. All you two need to know is that a group of criminals and villains has managed to escape to your universe, and plan to destroy it." He finished.
"Sorry, but this sounds absolutely insane." Nick said to the small, glowing figure. "Alternate universes? Where are you getting this from?" He laughed.
"Trust me, Wilde, this is no joke. If the predictions are correct, they will begin the invasion of your city in a matter of hours. Without those devices, your world has no defense against them." Kruger stated, absolutely seriously.
He turned to Judy, and looked her directly in the eyes, "Judy, last night I asked you why you became a police officer, correct?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah, it's because I wanted to help everyone in the city." She answered nervously.
"If you want to continue that mission, you will also put on the device." He demanded.
"But..." Judy asked, quizzically, "We're both officers, right? Why would I need some special weapon to deal with criminals? Wouldn't it be better to use brains, and not brawn?"
"Sometimes, Hopps..." The hologram broke eye contact with her, and clutched one of his paws, "Sometimes normal people can't deal with things like this. Now put on the device. Remember, the code word is 'Zoo On'." The hologram vanished, finishing with that cryptic statement.
She looked over to Nick, who reached down to grab the toppled briefcase, and pulled up the other device.
Judy took a deep breath, and strapped it onto her wrist. This time, she felt what Nick had before, the loud noise, the painful burning, and finally the glowing, which was a deep shade of blue this time instead of red.
Soon, it was over, and the device was stuck to her wrist as well. It had also changed, while still looking similar to Nick's, it was colored blue, and had two large rabbit ears replacing the shorter fox ears.
"So, what do we do now?" Nick asked her.
Judy sighed, "Patrol duty." She said wistfully, grabbing the steering wheel and stepping on the gas.
Soon, the two were off.
Kyuemon looked from atop a building. The thought of a world without humans both intrigued and disturbed him. The sight of all these creatures walking on two legs was strange, even though Kyuemon had been involved in some strange events on his own.
He continued to watch, noticing a few shops below where he stood, obviously some sort of shopping district, but the one that caught his eye the most was the hardware store nearby. It reminded him of a long time ago.
However, the nostalgia was cut short when the tapping of footsteps was heard behind him.
He quickly turned, seeing Enter, hands in the pockets of his long coat, goggles over his eyes, and wearing a smug look on his face.
"What are you doing here." Kyuemon sternly questioned the human.
"Well, we are a team, are we not? You'd expect us to work together as well." He answered, putting on a look of faux-confusion.
"I don't work with others that well." Kyuemon said, turning back to the street.
"Neither do I." Enter responded back, turning serious very suddenly.
Something had bugged Kyuemon about Enter, ever since they met only a few hours ago. He looked human, but he didn't seem human. He seemed at the same time cold and emotionless, but also eccentric and manic, and both could show themselves within only a single sentence. It was beginning to bug him.
Kyuemon turned back to the "human", who he knew was still there by the piercing feeling his stare was giving, "I have a question, are you actually a human?"
Enter burst into uproarious laughter, before quickly calming down, "I am an Avatar created by Vagrass, designed to infiltrate the human world and destroy them." He explained, coldly.
"So, you're some kind of robot?" Kyuemon continued questioning.
"Oui oui, isn't it magnifique?" He responded, turning back to his flamboyant personality.
Kyuemon chuckled, "I don't suppose you'll do any infiltration here, especially not in that form."
"Non, non! The WONDERFUL Omnipotent has given me something special." He boasted.
He snapped his fingers, causing a ring of red energy, which resembled a mass of ones and zeroes, to form around him, and in only a few seconds, disappear, revealing that Enter's human form had been replaced by that of an anthropomorphic cheetah.
It was obviously still Enter, he still stood tall and lean, with his long coat nearly reaching the ground, his goggles still covering his eyes, and his spiky hair still remaining.
"It seems our new master is fond of irony." He said to himself.
Kyuemon stepped back in amazement, "What an amazing ability, Enter." He complimented. "How, exactly, did you come across it?"
The newly feline Enter stepped forward, already comfortable on his new legs, "As 'some kind of robot'," Enter mocked, "I am very easilly able to adapt new abilities, which is what the Omnipotence granted to me." He explained, snapping his fingers and returning to human form.
"Now, what bout you?" He in return asked the yokai, "How do you think you're going to get any info looking like that?"
Kyuemon scoffed, "I'm not here to gather info, I'm here to cause as much destruction as I can." Kyuemon said as he turned back to the street again.
"Well, good luck with that, mon chèri, I have some important things to learn about this universe." He said, finishing by snapping his fingers, returning his cheetah mode, and then leaping to the next building over.
Kyuemon took one more glance at the strange character he was partnered up with, before turning back to the street for the last time.
"Well, I suppose it's time that we get started." Kyuemon said to himself, "Arise, Jukkarage!" he yelled, causing eight different springs of red energy to appear around him, which soon summoned his faithful stone soldiers.
They leaped down the building, with a crash.
It had been a few hours since Nick and Judy had left for patrol, with the thoughts of Kruger's words still hanging in their minds, it made for a very uneasy ride, even though, much like yesterday, nothing had actually happened, especially since they had been stuck at a red light for five minutes. But once again, Nick was the one who started up a conversation after a period of nothing much.
"What do you think these things actually are, Judy?" He asked, not in his usual carefree way, but in a more somber tone.
"I... I don't know, Nick." She admitted. "Maybe it's some sort of... space weapon?" She tried to answer, grasping at straws.
"That's a pretty out there answer for you, Carrots." He joked, "But I guess we won't learn until we turn them on, huh?"
"Nick, it's probably not best to do that in the car." She scolded.
"Yeah, I know, but Kruger said we'd need them today, and we don't actually know how to turn them on." He responded, shuffling back into his seat.
"He did give us the code word," She pointed out, "'Zoo On' or something weird like that."
"Is that even proper grammar?" The fox questioned, fiddling with the device on his arm.
"Not really, but it's what he said the code word to activate it was, and I don't think we should go around questioning inter-dimensional space cops."
Suddenly, a call on the police radio blurted through the speakers, "This is Officer Rhinowitz, we've got an assault in progress on Bovine Avenue, requesting all-" There was a brief pause, as a loud explosion ad a scream could be heard through the speakers, "Requesting all officers!" The rhino finished, panic striking his voice.
"This is Officer Hopps, we'll be right there!" She said into the microphone.
"Why would they need all officers on an assault?" Nick asked.
"Nick, did you not hear the explosion? I think there's something going on." Judy responded, determination filling her voice.
Nick pulled out his phone and opened the GPS app, "Aw great, Bovine Avenue's on the other side of Downtown." He bemoaned, "Finally something interesting happens, and we're gonna miss it!"
"Bovine Avenue?" She asked, looking at her partner with determination, "I know a short cut there."
Suddenly, Judy put the sirens on, causing most of the cars to shift to the side of the road, letting her speed through.
Soon, the pair were closing in on Bovine Avenue, still speeding their way along. It turns out Judy's short cut was just driving really fast. On the way there they had noticed several ambulances driving past, and smoke rising from the general direction of the road.
Then there was another loud noise.
"Christ, is this an assault or a terrorist attack!?" Nick yelled.
They had finally reached the street, and Judy made an incredibly sharp turn to make it in, nearly launching the fox out of his seat.
What they saw made their hearts sink.
Around thirteen wrecked police cars, maybe eighty or so injured mammals, some awake, some unconscious in the ground. Judy had to quickly stop when she noticed she was rushing right into a makeshift police barricade, with eight cars lined up from building to building, and every officer in the precinct lined behind them, some laying down, bloody and bruised, and some still standing tall.
Of most important note was Chief Bogo, holding a megaphone, presumably in an attempt to talk with whoever had started this chaos.
The two skid to a halt, and rushed out of the car and into the ranks of their fellow officers.
"Chief!" Hopps yelled to the large buffalo.
"Hopps, good timing, we've kind of gotten ourselves into a mess." The chief answered, with a to the point tone.
"No kiddin'!" Wilde replied, "How many officers do we have down?"
"Around ten, including Rhinowitz." The Cheif answered.
"Okay, what exactly is going on here?" Hopps questioned.
"How should I know?" The buffalo responded, irritated, "Why don't you try asking the psychopathic fox over there?"
Judy was a bit confused, so she went to one of the police cars and hopped onto the outer lining of one, giving her just enough of a boost to peek over it.
Well, it certainly... looked like a fox, kinda. The face was very fox-like, but looked fake, plastic, like a theater mask. Much like Kruger, Judy had never seen a fox this big before, and it wore strange purple and yellow robes, decorated with barbaric looking tiger designs.
The person just stood there, not even paying attention to the police. But then, something else gained Hopps' attention; The group the creature seemed to be allied with. These things didn't even look organic, they looked like stone, and their skin seemed to be made of tiled floor, and not any type of normal skin. They didn't even appear to have faces, but they did carry large blades.
Judy hopped down from the car, and grabbed Nick by his arm, walking them out of hearing of the other cops.
"Okay, we have a situation." Judy said to her partner.
"I think that's pretty obvious, Carrots." He sarcastically responded, clutching his right arm from the rabbit's surprising grip, "Wish I could have seen what this fox looked like. Probably wasn't as handsome as me."
"That thing wasn't a fox." Judy quietly yelled, pointing in the direction of the chaos. "Bogo was just trying to apply something he knew to whatever that... thing is."
Nick looked at her, obviously confused, but intrigued by what the rabbit was getting at.
"I... I think it's one of those criminals Kruger warned us about." The rabbit finally blurted out.
The realization finally dawned on Nick's face, as a sly grin grew on his muzzle, "So what you're saying is that we use these new weapons to kick some bad guy butt, right?" he cheerfully asked.
"Kruger said to keep this a secret, remember? We can't just use..." She paused, looking at the device locked onto her wrist, "Whatever these things are in front of everyone!"
"So, what, we just get everyone out of here, and make ourselves sitting ducks while we try to use the weapons?"
Judy looked around, and she noticed one of the buildings, "I've got an idea." She quickly stated, running behind the closest building, with the confused fox following behind her.
"We'll use the fire escape to get to the top of the building, and we'll figure out how to use them from up there!" She excitedly told her partner, pointing to the top of a fairly nondescript apartment building.
"I guess that works?" The fox said, accepting his partner's strange plan.
Judy quickly rushed below the fire escape's ladder, and, using all of her leg muscles, leaped up, grabbing the first bar and pulling the ladder down to their level.
"Hurry up!" She yelled to her partner as she began to climb, getting him to rush over and start climbing as well.
With the sudden burst of adrenaline, the two made it to the top of the building in what felt like a minute or two. Looking over the side, they spotted the weird creature, Judy even spotting Nick's face contort when he got a look at it.
"Yeah, definitely NOT a fox." He admitted, "Now, lets try to get these things working."
They both looked nervously at the devices that gripped their wrists. There was only one button, and they both knew the bizarre code, but what would happen if they didn't do it exactly right? Something devastating could happen!
Nick looked at his equally nervous partner. He needed to make her feel brave about this.
"I'll go first." He gulped.
"No, Nick, we can do this to-" She was interrupted by the fox stepping forward, ignoring her plea.
Taking a large breath, nick raised his arm high up into the air, as far as he could manage it, and then slammed it down, yelling out the code he had made fun of only 40 minutes ago.
"ZOO ON!"
Suddenly, a large burst of red light surrounded him, not as bright as when he had put it on, but still bright enough for the rabbit to have to shade her eyes a she backed away. The light swirled around her partner, as loud, wild animal noises permeated from it.
"NICK!" She yelled in fear.
In only a matter of seconds, the light had finished, and what was standing there looked... different.
It still retained the shape of a fox, but was also covered in what looked like loose spandex, with white gloves and boots tipping the hands and feet. The spandex even seemed to cover the tail, which swished back and forth. But what was most interesting was the head, which looked like a helmet, stretching out across the fox-like muzzle, and even covering the ears. A large visor covered the general area where the eyes would be, as well, forming a jagged pattern.
"N-Nick?" The rabbit nervously stepped forward towards the strange being.
"What the?" It said, looking at it's hands, tail, and other parts of the body. "What in the world happened to me?" It finished, and Judy recognized that it was definitely Nick's voice.
"Is that what these things do?" Judy questioned, looking down at her own, "Is this some kind of weird... super suit?"
"I dunno, Carrots," The suited Nick said, "But it feels... really good." He continued, clenching his fists, "Like, I feel really powerful now!"
Judy, again, took in a deep breath, "I guess it's my turn to go now, hmm?" She asked, knowing the answer.
"Do as you please, Judy."
Judy also raised her hand into the air, and also slammed it down onto the button, yelling out the ridiculous code as she did.
"ZOO ON!"
The same for what happened to Nick happened to Judy, as she was surrounded by blue energy, that swirled and produced strange noises. Soon enough, standing there was Judy, dressed in a suit much like Nick's.
Her's, despite retaining a lot of the same details, had a vastly different helmet, which covered her ears, and didn't expand far from her face. He tail was also covered in the suit, which she quickly realized wasn't some sort of spandex, it felt different, more spacious.
"Gotta say," Nick said, hand on chin, "Blue is definitely your color."
He couldn't see, but he knew she rolled her eyes at his remark.
"So, what are we supposed to do now, plan maker?" He asked.
"Well," She tried to answer from behind her new helmet, "Considering we don't entirely know how to work these, I say we go down there and... fight them?"
"Sounds good to me," Nick said with a burst of confidence, "But we gotta have a flashy entrance."
"What do you-" It soon became apparent what he meant, as he backed away, and then ran at full speed forward, leaping off the side of the building.
"NICK!" She yelled, but realized it was fruitless, and leaped off as well, following his lead.
To perhaps only Judy's surprise, the fall didn't kill them, and only resulted in the ground cracking as soon as they landed.
"Whatta rush!" Nick yelled out.
This caught the attention of the fox-masked creature standing before them.
It let out a loud laugh as it turned to them, causing the duo to shudder a bit, and began to speak, "Well, isn't this interesting? I thought there weren't supposed to be any of you here."
"Well," Nick replied back, pointing at the monster, "We don't know what that means, but we're gonna kick your butt!"
"Hmm, can't have that this early, can we?" The creature remarked to itself, as it then materialized a small, metallic, star shaped object in its hand, "I suppose I'll give you a taste o what's to come, before I kill you, that is."
Behind the fox monster was a hardware store, with a large, blue chainsaw displayed in the window. Quickly, it threw the object at the store, without even turning around. With a loud crash, the glass was shattered, and the object pierced the chainsaw, causing a burst of purple smoke to come from it.
"I suppose I should give introductions before you die." It said calmly, "I am Izayoi Kyuemon, one of the bringers of this universe's end. And what, exactly, do you two call yourselves?"
Judy looked around, looking for something to reply with, but the only thing she could notice were the dozens of officers watching from behind a wall of police cars, some with obvious fear on their face, some with confusion, and some with what looked like excitement.
"Wouldn't you like to know!" She finally blurted out. What a lame comeback, she thought to herself.
"I suppose it, doesn't matter, you'll be noting but dirt by the time he's done with you." Kyuemon turned to the smashed window, still billowing with smoke.
The two saw something the struck a bit of fear into their hearts, two glowing yellow eyes, rising from the smoke, much, much larger than either of them. The smoke burst, revealing that where there was once a normal chainsaw instead stood a monster.
Nearly entirely metallic, with white and blue parts, and a strangely weasel like head. It stood tall on two legs, much unlike a small weasel, but what frightened them the most was the hands, each armed with a chainsaw blade that curved downwards.
"Let me introduce you to Kamaitachi," The fox-thing said, still no emotion in his voice, "the first of my Yokai Monsters, and the last you'll ever see." With one last disturbing laugh, Kyuemon vanished in a burst of purple smoke.
With Kyuemon gone, the large mechanical weasel stepped down from the window it was created on, it's piercing yellow eyes staring directly at the two armor clad heroes. Quickly, he was surrounded by the stone-like creatures, more than there were before, and all of them began moving towards the two cops.
"What are we supposed to do here, Blue?" Nick asked his partner, nervously.
"Uh, I suppose we just have to..." She tried to answer, herself still terrified of these strange monsters, but she felt a sudden burst of determination rise up in her heart as she stared at them.
"Guess we just have to FIGHT THEM!" She yelled, rushing forward toward the mob of monsters. As soon as she did, the monster began to charge forward as well.
"Blue, wait!" Nick yelled to his partner.
Only a few meters into her sprint, Judy found herself lifting off the ground, leaping into a massive jump, one of the highest and longest she had ever seen, let alone performed, which she quickly turned into a flying kick, landing her foot directly onto one of the stone creatures.
Using her momentum, she jumped directly off the monster's featureless face, launching herself back, and knocking over at least four of the monsters onto their backs. She landed gracefully, putting up her dukes, rearing for more.
"Wow..." The fox muttered to himself, "Better not let her steal the whole show!" A sudden burst of bravery plunging through his body, Nick wound up his arm and rushed forward into the fray.
His rush also lead into a leap, but due to him not having the same leg strength, it was, while still impressive for a fox, not as impressive as Judy's. However, he managed to reach up to the face of one of the stone monsters, and with a spectacular spin, he hit it in the head with his armored tail, causing the thing to drop it's weapon and topple over.
He quickly backed up next to his partner, the two daring the monsters to get them.
"Heh," The weasel thing stepped forward, pushing aside two of the eight remaining stone soldiers, "You guys might think you're string against these chumps, but let me, the great Kamaitachi, show you TRUE fear!"
Suddenly, the revving of chainsaws filled the air, as the two blades attached to the weasel's arms began to spin around, "WIND CUTTER!" it yelled, slicing first with it's left, and then with it's right.
In almost a blink of an eye, Nick and Judy instinctively jumped out of the way, as two bursts of wind fired towards them, and while they were nearly invisible, they cut through the pavement, and continued behind them, going right through the building the two were standing on less than five minutes ago.
As the two looked back at the building, a faint cross-shaped mark began to slowly get more prominent, and soon enough, the entire structure began to collapse under it's own weight, turning into nothing but a pile of rubble.
The two gawked at what had just happened, as they heard the chuckling of the creature behind them, who they slowly turned towards.
"Hah! Guess I'm stronger than I remember!" The Kamaitachi laughed to itself, not noticing the anger brewing in the two heroes standing before him.
"You..." The red fox clenched his fists, barely containing his fury at this monster, "You just ruined people's lives!" He yelled, perhaps the angriest Judy had ever seen him, "People lived there, and now they have..." He clenched his fists again, his rage turning into sorrow, "Nowhere to go."
"You expect me to CARE!?" The monstrous weasel responded back, "Get 'em!" It yelled to the stone warriors, causing the eight remaining to rush forward towards the fox.
"You're gonna pay, you monster." Nick growled, reaching behind him, and suddenly finding himself pulling out a sword.
Judy briefly caught a glimpse of it, it was shaped like a fox's tail, complete with a brown tip, but thin enough to act as the blade of a sword, and with a very small handle, just large enough for Nick to wrap one paw around.
Before she could registered what had just happened, Nick rushed towards the monsters.
"RED!" She yelled to her partner, reaching out, trying to stop him.
Soon enough, Nick was in the fray of monsters, using his new sword to nearly effortlessly slice through four of the eight soldiers, causing them to burst into puffs of purple smoke. Soon after, Nick was locked, sword to chainsaw, with the mechanical monster.
Judy patted herself, searching for some kind of weapon to use, like what Nick had pulled out in an almost instinctive manner. She searched, and suddenly felt something materialize in her paws. She pulled her paws out from behind her, and looked what she was now holding.
Two small objects, obviously some form of dagger, but shaped and colored like carrots, and the handles shaped like cartoonish leaves. The sight of this made her groan. She couldn't "admire" them for long, as a shadow cast over her.
Hopps looked up from her weapons, to find one of the soldiers glaring down at her, it's weapon raised and ready to strike the rabbit. However, as quick as she could, she jabbed one of the carrot knives into the thing's stomach, and before Judy could realize what she had done, the monster was gone in a puff of smoke.
Judy spun the blades around in her paws, she had never handled knives like this before, so she had no idea how she did it so effortlessly, and then dashed forward to the three remaining stone monsters. Quickly, mid-dash, she threw her daggers into two of them, and then performed a leaping kick on the last one, all three vanishing.
Only a few feet away, Nick and the weasel continued sparring, his smooth sword clashing against the monster's many bladed chainsaws, sparks bursting every time they hit.
"Hah!" It laughed to his face, "You two really are just rookies!" In a flash, Nick found himself flung back by the monster, who was clearly only toying with them at this point.
"AIR CUTTER!" It yelled again, the chainsaws revving, and two familiar bursts of wind quickly gliding towards the fox, who held out his blade, which managed to somehow block the bursts that had previously cut down a building. Pushing with both arms, the fox stepped forward, slicing the air in half, creating multiple explosions behind him as the bursts launched harmlessly to the ground behind him.
Judy watched on, amazed by what her partner just did, despite him not even seeming to realize, as he ran straight back towards the Kamaitachi. Seeing her partner so determined, Judy decided to rush towards the monster as well, both blades in paw. Despite being farther away from the monster, Judy's light physique and fast feet got her there first, where she struck the monster, currently only looking at the red fox, directly in the back wit both of her daggers.
"AUGH!" It yelled in pain, turning around to face the rabbit who had just harmed him. Soon enough, though, another burst of pain flashed through his mid section, sparks scattering from the wound.
The fox that he had ignored for a second had slashed through him with that sword, the pain was immense, but all he could see in front of him was the two heroes, standing side by side, weapons clutched in their hands as they defiantly looked at him.
Rage filled it's eyes, as it began slicing at the two, chopping directly through the concrete as they swiftly dodged every strike it attempted, and with every dodge came yet another injury, as they sliced the weasel whenever it was vulnerable, keeping a close distance. Its anger was building, and the two could see it's previously yellow eyes turn to dark red.
"I'm done playin' around!" It yelled, beginning to rev up it's saws once again, "You two half-pints are gonna get SHREDDED TO PIECES!"
Without warning, the weasel began flinging its arms around shooting off dozens of air bursts, a swarm of them attempting to slice the two to bits. Luckily, they could feel their instincts tell them when to get out of the way, as they nimbly dodged each slice.
"How is this happening!? There's only two of you this time!" The monster was beginning to panic, teetering back from the shock of these two animals managing to evade every attack he made.
As quickly as it could, it rushed back towards the two, striking at them again and again, this time much more sloppily, which they responded to with even more hits and blocks, it was clearly beginning to break down.
With a slash from Nick's sword, the monster was knocked backwards, struggling to stand, but still managing to stay up. That was, until it heard a loud cry.
"HEADS UP!"
The rabbit had jumped up, and boosted herself off the fox's head, annoying him, an then threw her daggers straight into the creature's face, causing an explosion that knocked it down.
"Let's finish this." Nick said with a snarl, raising his sword up above his head.
He then moved it counter-clockwise, gripping the handle as hard as he could. Suddenly, the blade burst into flames, not seeming to bother the fox, but startling Judy, and causing her to jump out of the way quickly as he suddenly swung it forward.
The flames caused the sword to extend, easily up to twelve, fourteen feet ahead of them, far surpassing the distance that the monster laid from them, it attempting to get up as it closed in.
"FOX FIRE SLASH!"
With a deft burst of light, the elongated flame sword cleaved through the monster, it suddenly returning to normal size.
Somehow, the monster was still alive, as it staggered forward, "I can't lose! Not again! You two..." The Kamaitachi pointed towards the two, before teetering over into a fall, "You two aren't even ninjas!" With that last message, the finally fell over, creating a large explosion.
From the explosion came two things, the first being the chainsaw, which smashed onto the ground, turning from a tool to a bunch of broken parts. The second, was the small metal object that Kyuemon had thrown before, which landed with a clink against the street.
Seconds after, the explosion had left behind only a small fire, confirming the monster's demise.
With a loud sigh, the fox fell to his knees, exhausted from the action. Shortly after, the rabbit did as well. Neither could even say a word, they could only hear each other's tired breath. However, another sound from far away broke their ears, causing them to sit up and look down the street.
It was the sound of cheering, clapping, celebration. In the ruckus, they had forgotten about the entire police squad that was observing them.
"You guys rock!"
"Are they super heroes?"
"That was awesome!"
"ARREST THEM!"
The last of these cheers came froma rather angry buffalo, Chief Bogo to be exact, who yelled from his megaphone, directly into a few other officers' ears. Quickly, the two heroes burst from their sitting position and ran off, using the last of their adrenaline to carry them behind a building, a very angry buffalo right behind them.
From behind the building, the two fiddled with the devices on their wrists, attempting to get them to turn off, as they heard the clopping of Bogo's hooves heading directly towards them.
"Blue, how do we get these things off!?" The fox yelled to his partner, shaking the device in a hurried attempt to figure it out.
"Just try hitting the button!"
"Oh yeah, I guess that was pretty obvious."
They both hit the buttons, causing a burst of red and blue energy to surround them, leaving them back in their police uniforms, stunned about what had just happened.
Luckily for them, Bogo had not seen the bursts, as he just rounded the corner, alongside officers Fangmeyer, a wolf, and Marshall, a koala. What they saw when they turned were two very frazzled officers, staring at them.
"Wilde! Hopps!" The buffalo yelled at the two, causing them to stand to attention, "Where were you two!? Did you see the two criminals that ran through here!?"
"Criminals? Whaaaat criminals?" Nick stepped forward, attempting to gain back his composure, "Only two... officers of the law, back here!" It was clearly failing.
"Chief," The wolf asked his boss, "Why exactly are those two criminals anyway?"
"Yeah, they did kind of save us." The koala added.
"Property damage, vigilantism, and murder." He responded back to the two, with obvious frustration.
Murder? The word rung heavy in Hopps' ears, that... thing... was going to kill many mammals, it was out of self-defense... right?
The chief turned back to the two dazed officers, "What happened to you two, anyway? You look like you just ran a marathon. Through Hell."
The two didn't look good, alright, they looked sweaty, out of breath, and their fur was standing up, and ruffled.
"Well, uh..." Nick scratched his head, trying to come up with an answer.
Judy brushed herself off, and then stepped forward, standing in for the confused Nick, "Those... things, that attacked those people, freaked us out really bad, so we ran and hid."
Bogo looked them in the eye, and snorted, "Reasonable, under the strange cirumstances, but this is going on your records." He said sternly, "And you two are positively, absolutely, one hundred percent sure that you didn't see any multicolored weirdos run through here?"
"Swear on my badge!" She crossed the police badge on her chest with her finger, Nick soon following after.
"Yep, only us two, panicking behind this building." Nick continued.
"Alright." Bogo snorted, "Fangmeyer, Marshall!" He turned to the two officers, "Tell everyone else to search the area for those two." The two officers nodded, and then rushed out in front of the building.
"You two," Bogo said, turning back to Nick and Judy, "Go back to headquarters. Whatever actually happened to you isn't making you helpful in this search." He finished, placing his hooves against his temples.
"Got it, Chief!" The two said in unison.
It was only a few seconds after the two had returned to the cruiser that Nick decided to speak up.
"'Cowering in fear behind a building', huh?" He said strapping into to his seat.
"It's the best I could do!" She responded, also buckling in, "Besides, I didn't see you coming up with anything better."
"Wait, better thought," The fox continued, not phased by his partner's words, "What the hell just happened?"
"I'm not sure." Judy quietly said, stepping on the gas.
"Did we turn into super heroes for a bit there, or am I misremembering?"
"I think we did, Nick." Judy said, much louder, "I didn't know you could fight like that."
"Except I can't, Carrots." He responded rather upfront, "And last time I checked, neither could you."
Judy quickly pulled over, she'd require full attention to discuss the current events, "Wait, were you also just kind of doing things..."
"Instinctively?" They said at the same time, looking directly at each other.
"Yeah, I guess you could say my body was kind of moving on it's own, huh?" The fox said, leaning back in his seat.
"You got really intense for a bit there, Nick, what happened?" She asked.
"What?"
"When, when the monster thing destroyed the building, you got really intense. You didn't calm down until after we turned back."
"To be honest," The fox answered, slinking down into his seat, placing his hand on his forehead, "Most of it after that was kind of a blurr, I don't really remember anything until after it exploded."
"Strange." Judy said, mostly to herself, "Also, why did you keep calling me 'Blue'?"
"Why did you keep calling me 'Red'?" He asked back.
The two continued to talk about all the strange events that had just occurred, with no knowledge that they were being watched from the top of a nearby building, by a tan cheetah in a pair of strange goggles.
"Well, isn't this interesting."