Zoorangers

by Bionichute

When a group of mysterious creatures start wreaking havoc across Zootopia, Nick and Judy find themselves thrust into a legacy of heroes they never knew about, and must use new powers in order to save not only the city, but their whole universe. Features numbers of characters from across Super Sentai history. (Updates whenever I finish an episode)

42. Episode 41 - Calm Before the Storm

Episode 41 - Calm Before the Storm

Festive music played through the apartment, coming from an old radio. Tonight was the best night of the entire year, Kitmas, a holiday where all mammals came together as one and celebrated peace and oneness.

And presents. Lots of presents.

It was one of Judy's favorite times of the year, and she was showing it by having spent the entire week setting up decorations. The walls were lined with the things, holly on the window, a wreath on the door, colored lights lining the walls, and an artificial tree in the corner.

They didn't have real Kitmas trees in their size, unfortunately.

Nick had done as he had the previous years they had lived together for this, and helped as needed, though he had mostly been resting off recent injuries. By this point he could tell this was a bit of a stress relieving time for the rabbit, which was something they obviously needed at this point.

A lucky thing about living in Zootopia was that, due to how the climate was completely controlled, the only time they'd have to put on any heavy clothes was when they went to Tundra Town. And even then, foxes and rabbits grew extra coats during this time, so they only needed to wear sweaters instead of the full get-up like some other mammals had to.

Judy and Nick were sat on the couch, music drifting as they sat and had some eggnog. Judy had wanted to watch some specials, but they still hadn't managed to get a new TV, and the only things that were on were very, very old, and they had already seen them all two dozen times.

"I love Kitmas." Judy said, out of nowhere.

"I know, this is like, the third time you've said that." Nick responded, amused. "This hour."

"Oh, sorry." She said. "I just… I'm so excited for tonight."

"I think everyone is, Carrots," Nick started. "But I'm not sure they have your rabbit-like enthusiasm."

Every year, on Kitmas Eve, the station would have a party, alongside secret gift exchanging. It was one of the few times they were really allowed to let loose, and even Bogo had fun every year.

The rabbit quickly checked her phone. "We should probably head out soon." She said. "The shops are gonna open up in an hour."

"Last minute Kitmas shopping," Nick said. "Not something I'd expect to have to do with you around."

"We've been busy, alright?" She grumbled as she got up, the couch creaking. "We had to clean up everything, get our stuff, go to work, wait for you and Max to recover, fight monsters, it's just been a really crazy week!"

"Don't forget the panicking and anxiety attacks." Nick said, jokingly. The rabbit looked at him, unamused. "…Sorry."

The last week, in addition to moving in, had been a nightmare mentally for the two. Judy was feeling incredibly guilty, having let the Zoolizer fall into enemy hands, and equally as guilty about letting Nick and Max get beat up.

Nick, however, was still in some pain, even though most of it had passed. He had still occasional pains and spasms. It was incredible how a single creature could deal a hit that bad.

"This whole ZooDark thing isn't something we should be joking about." Judy said. "Let's just put it out of our minds for right now. I just hope there's no monster attack today."

"So, wanna go see the tree tonight?" Nick asked, deflecting from the current conversation.

Every year, on Kitmas Eve, a massive Kitmas Tree would be set up in the middle of Tundra Town. It was a sight to behold, a glimmering tower of wonder in the night sky. They had visited every year at this point.

"Uh, duh?" Judy said, getting a smile back on her face. "It's the best part of the best part of the year!"

Nick chuckled, before getting up. "You're right about the presents, we should probably go get them. Who do we have this year, anyway?"

"Francine." Judy said. "I think she's been talking about new earrings."

"That's gonna be a pain to keep at the party." Nick sighed. "Alright, I'll go get ready, and we can head out before-"

Before the fox could finish, his phone started to ring. He pulled it out, inquisitively. His eyes widened as he saw the number.

"Who is it?" Judy asked, noticing the fox's shocked expression.

"Uh, um, bluh…" The fox sputtered for a moment, before clearing his throat. "I need to-to… take this to the bedroom."

He quickly dashed into the bedroom, and looked at the number. His knees were shaking, as he placed his paw to his head. "Why did you have to do this right now?" He muttered to himself.

He took a deep breath, and answered it. The screen flicked to a blank image.

"Hey, mom!"

"Nicky, it's been so long since I've talked to you." A kindly, older sounding voice said on the other side of the phone. "How has everything been going?"

"Oh, you know, fine." He said. "We really need to get that camera fixed. I could get you a new phone, you know."

"You don't have to do that!" She replied, with a laugh. "You already have enough troubles, you don't have to worry about me at all."

"So, uh, why are you calling?" Nick asked, though he already knew the reason.

"I want you to come over for Kitmas dinner." She said. "I really want to see you again, but if you're doing something, then…"

Nick groaned and pounded his fist into his face several times. There was no way he could say "no" to his mom. Not after all this time.

"I'll come over." He said with a sigh.

"Oh, wonderful!" His mother replied. "Do you think you'll be bringing over your partner, what was her name?"

"Judy." He said. "No, I don't want her coming over."

"Why not?" His mother asked. "Not ready to show her off to your ma?"

"No, it's just because…" He paused for a moment. "I don't think I'm ready yet."

"Not ready for what?" Asked Judy, peeking her head through the door.

"Not ready to tell her about-" he quickly let out a shrill scream and dropped the phone onto the bed. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" He shouted, voice a bit shaken.

"I heard you talking about me." She said.

"How much else did you hear?" He asked.

"All of it." She said as she walked into the room, and quickly pointed at her ears. "Why can't I come over to your mom's place for dinner? It doesn't sound like she minds."

"I…" Nick paused for a moment. "Well, you… There's…"

The rabbit crossed her arms, and waited for the fox to come up with an excuse.

The fox growled, and picked up the phone. "Change of plans, Judy will be coming." He said to his mother.

"Oh, wonderful!" She replied. "Tell her not to worry about the food, I'll figure it out. Love you, Nicky!"

Nick sighed, a bit embarrassed. "Bye, mom."

He hung up, and dropped the phone to the bed. "You guys are vegetarians, right?" Judy asked. "Well, I know you are, but is your whole family?"

"My mom is." Nick said, sitting down on the bed. "My dad was more of a carnivore-type, but when he vanished… guess things just sort of fell into place for my diet."

"Oh." Judy said, rubbing the back of her head. "Sorry for eavesdropping."

"No, it's fine." He said. "Well, eavesdropping isn't, that's my thing, but maybe it'll be for the best that you come over."

"Well, if we're doing that," Judy started, clasping her paws together. "Then we better get shopping!"

"You seriously do not need to get anything for her." Nick said.

"I would feel terrible if we didn't." Judy replied. "And besides, we have to do this anyway, so what's one more gift?"

"Twenty to fifty bucks, probably." The fox replied.

"It'll be a small gift!" She said.

A few minutes later, the two were all ready to head out. They stepped out of the apartment, and took in the sun over the city.

"I've lived here for years, and the climate walls are STILL amazing." Judy said, looking up at the sky.

"It's definitely something." Nick replied. "Technology surpasses nature yet again, I suppose."

The rabbit let out a sigh. "I kind of miss the snow, though." She said, ears drooping. "When I was a kit, it was always exciting to get up and head outside to play in the snow around our farm."

"There are a lot of mammals that can't really survive through something like that, it's a necessary evil." Nick said as the two started to walk down the street.

"Just… kind of miss it." She said.

The two walked for a moment, before the sky suddenly went dark. The two looked up, a massive black cloud had covered all of the blue sky that had previously been visible.

"That wasn't there a second ago, right?" The rabbit asked.

"Are we getting a thunderstorm?" Nick said. "Usually that doesn't happen until summer."

"Maybe we should have worn our jackets." Judy said with a shrug. The two started to walk again.

This was quickly stopped as something dropped from the sky. They only caught a brief glimpse of it as their vision was suddenly covered in a blanket of white.

It took a moment, but the two burst their heads through the mound of snow that had suddenly dropped down. They both shuddered as they climbed up onto it, their light weight only causing the snow to press in a little.

The two looked around, the entire area, from head to toe, had just been covered in a thick layer of snow. It was taller than either of them, and was draped across the tops of buildings and throughout the entire street.

The clouds still hung in the air, snowflakes starting to drift down from above.

"W-w-w-what just happened?" Judy asked, teeth clacking as she tried to rub her arms.

"I really hope it isn't what I think it is." Nick said, his breath showing up in front of his face.

"KASASASASASASA!" A voice from above yelled. The two glanced up to spot a spinning, black object. It drifted down through the air before landing on top of the snow on one of the buildings.

"Oooooh, COME ON!" Judy yelled, frustrated.

It was a monster, this one resembling an odd looking umbrella from the waist up, which looked like it was made of straw. A large, red eye stared from the middle of it, and the brims were lined with sharp, white fangs. The top of its head, where the center of the umbrella would be, however, was instead what looked like an inkwell.

The bizarre details continued, as coming out from under the monster's umbrella head were six large appendages, each resembling an ink pen. Underneath those was a set of arms, which were colored mostly black, but had monstrous brown claws at the end, each paw having a white stripe going through the middle of them.

The lower half of the monster was less bizarre, comparatively. Its body, while mostly black, had a large strip of flesh hanging from it, resembling a hideous pink tongue. It's waist was also lined with more of the teeth. It plain black and gold legs, which had the addition of large golden strips from the knees to the lower legs, resembling the clips on a pen. Its feet were also cartoonishly monstrous.

Something also hung from its waist by a string. It looked like a wooden sandal.

"FOOLS!" The monster shouted down in an annoyingly shrill sounding voice. "Be prepared to be buried in the white hell of the legendary Kasabake's Snowy Summer Day technique!"

The rabbit stomped forwards, shaking off the cold, as well as the pain the monster's yelling was putting on her ears. "Why did you have to attack TODAY, of all days!?" She shouted up. "Can't you put this off for two days!?"

"What?" The monster said, confused. "Am I interrupting something? Kasasasa, then that means that I can be even more devious! Prepare to have your day ruined, Zoorangers!"

He started to spin around rapidly, before taking off into the air. "If you wanna stop me, you gotta catch me!" It taunted, before zooming away.

Judy prepared to say something, but all that came out was a frustrated grunt. "Do they seriously have to do this on KITMAS EVE!?" She shouted. It had been a while since Nick had seen her this angry.

"Listen, that guy seems like an absolute dunce," Nick started, grabbing onto her shoulders. "We can take him on, just relax before you have a migraine."

"Right, right." She said. "Let's head after him. I'll let everyone else know what's going on."

"Good, no need getting angry at all this right now." The fox said, calmly. "We'll deal with this quickly and get back to our lives."

---

The umbrella monster spun through the air, zigzagging as it went along. It then quickly zipped down to the middle of a snow covered plaza, coming to a halt before it could hit the snow.

It chuckled to itself as it looked around. "If I keep making snow, then this place will be in ruins in no time!" It said to itself. "Time to get to work!"

The monster started to spin around again, hovering just above the snow. From the inkwell on top of its head, a cloud of ink started to emerge. As the monster continued to spin, the cloud of ink started getting larger, and floated up into the sky, combining with the dark clouds.

"Stop it right there!" Someone shouted, causing the monster to stop instantly. The Zoorangers, Red and Blue specifically, had arrived in the middle of the snow covered plaza.

"How did you find me so fast?" The monster asked, shocked.

"Like you're easy to miss." Red said.

"Just had to look for the spinning thing." Blue followed. "Easy enough to spot that we had our other teammates follow you here!"

"What?"

Silver suddenly leaped down from the sky, landing directly in the snow. "Alright, time to take this small fry down!" He said, trying to strike a pose. He grunted as he tried to move his legs through the snow. "I'm… I'm stuck."

The monster laughed in response. "Kasasasa, is this the back-up? How pathetic!"

Several laser shots then struck the monster in the back, causing him to fall forwards and faceplant directly into the snow.

"Don't treat us like we're nothing!" Pink shouted as her and Green trudged through the snow.

"Sorry, we're a bit late, truck got stuck." Green said.

"Yeah, lots of traffic accidents." Pink followed. "No casualties, but we need to get rid of this snow before anything worse happens."

The monster started to spin around as it laid down, spraying snow directly at Red, Blue, and Silver. It then pushed itself up, hovering in the air. "Peh, pew!" It sputtered, wiping off its tongue. "Even with five of you, you'll never be able to defeat me! Last time, I required a MASTER ninja warrior to be defeated! I'm sure none of you are even white belts!"

"Aren't belts a karate thing, not a ninja thing?" Silver asked.

The monster looked down at him. It then started to spin rapidly, and hurtled directly towards the wolf. Before anyone could react, the monster plowed into him, knocking the wolf several feet back and right through some of the snow.

Red and Blue quickly drew their bladed weapons, and leaped at the monster as it stopped spinning. The two slammed their weapons into the side of the monster's body, and slammed it back into the ground. It bounced slightly as it slammed into the snow, letting it spin around and reorientate itself.

The monster then thrust its arms forward, causing the six pen appendages to fire out blobs of ink, which homed in on the two. They leaped out of the way of two of the blobs, which crashed into the snow, turning the white completely black. They blocked two of the other blobs with their blades, slicing right through them and causing the ink to splatter around.

The last two blobs continued to fly at them, but Silver quickly leaped in and smacked them with his sword, sending them flying back towards the monster. They exploded as they hit the monster, sending it flying back even more.

"Good shot!" Blue said, giving a thumbs up. Silver gave a nod, before the snow collapsed beneath his feet.

"This is going to get annoying." He muttered to himself.

"Too bad you losers can't fly!" The monster mocked as it floated up into the air. "I'll just rain inky black death down on you from up here!"

The monster started to spin around, dropping down more blobs of ink directly towards the ground in hopes of bombing the three. The Zoorangers leaped out of the way as the monster moved closer. Silver had a bit of difficulty, but managed to pull himself out of the thick snow just in time.

The white sheet of snow was slowly turning black as the monster continued to follow the three. Silver grunted as he did his best to trudge through the snow, only barely managing to keep away from the monster's bombing.

"Hey, wait a second…" He said, looking at his sword. He quickly spun the guard to Sun Mode, and then swiped his sword in front of him. A wave of flame fired from it, instantly melting the snow.

"Good idea!" Blue said. "We just need to use our fire power to clear out this place!"

"Got it!" red said, pulling out the Vickscannon.

The rabbit quickly sprinted towards the hyena and bull, who were still stuck in the snow.. "You guys and I will distract the monster while they work on that, got it?"

"Sorry, but we can barely move." Pink said. "How are we supposed to distract that thing?"

"Like this!" Blue said, leaping on top of the hyena's head.

"Hey!"

"Now you just jump up onto Henry's shoulders, and we can do this!" The rabbit ordered.

"What!?" Pink shouted.

"Just do it." Green said, sounding a bit exasperated.

"Well, I can't really-"

She was cut off by the bull lifting her right off the ground and placing the two on his shoulders. Green let out a snort, before tromping through the snow, his legs cutting through it quite effectively.

"Alright, just prep your blasters, and then we'll take this guy down!" Blue ordered, spinning her own blasters around before pointing them at the monster.

Pink pulled out her dual pistols, and aimed them at the rapidly spinning monster. Green quickly followed, aiming his cannon. The three then quickly unleashed a flurry of gunfire on the umbrella beast. The combined power of the myriad shots knocked the monster right out of the air and into the snow.

"Alright, time for our part!" Red said, prepping the Vickscannon. Silver nodded as he pulled his sword back.

The two quickly unleashed a volley of fire across the plaza, practically melting the snow in only an instant. The monster quickly scrambled to its feet as it noticed, but was quickly shot down by the combined power of Blue, Pink, and Green.

"No, my tactical advantage!" The monster yelled as it got back up, this time successfully. The plaza was now completely bare… but only this plaza.

"Not so strong now, are you?" Red said. He quickly pulled out a red ZooTag. "Let's see if you can handle us on fair ground."

"GAO, RAWR!
BEAT THE BEAST
KING OF THE JUNGLE
BRAVE, GAO!"

The dual blades appeared in Red's paws, before he dashed towards the monster. It stood still for a moment, petrified, before the fox leaped into the air and brought the blades down onto its head. The monster flew back from the strike, and crashed into the side of a nearby building.

"Get rid of the rest of this snow!" The fox shouted as he leaped at the monster again, slashing at it with both blades again as he hit the ground.

Sparks flew from the monster as it stumbled off to the side. "Hah, I can't do that, I just make the weather!" Kasabake said, mockingly. "You'll have to destroy me if you want to get rid of it all!"

"Then we'll do that right now!" Blue said as she leaped in and kicked the monster in the face.

The force of the kick bounced the monster off the side of the building, and over Blue and Red's heads. It rolled across the ground, and got back up, dazed. "You'll have to catch me first!" It said, before spinning up into the air. It continued to laugh as it zipped around the sky for a moment.

Pink and Green instantly opened fire on the monster before it could escape. It crashed back into the ground, and was met with Silver looming over. "You're not ruining today." He said. "You can ruin every other day, but NOT today."

The wolf raised his blade, and prepared to jab it down. The monster let out a screech before it rolled out of the way. The sword pierced through the concrete ground, barely missing the monster. Silver struggled for a moment as he attempted to pull the blade out.

"You guys are really upset, huh?" The monster said as it got back up and stumbled back. The five Rangers closed in on the monster. "I don't get why, but I have more work to do, so…"

A cloud of ink suddenly burst from the top of the monster's head, and quickly engulfed the area. The five started to cough, as the inky black cloud broke through their masks. The cloud dispersed just as quickly, revealing that the monster had vanished.

Judy let out a sigh as she, and the rest of the team, untransformed. "That was less successful than I hoped." She said.

"Well, at least we know we can take the guy." Nick said. "He quickly turned to the other three mammals. "You guys going to the party tonight?" He asked.

"Really?" Emily said. "You're worrying about the Kitmas party and not the monster?"

"Kitmas is far more stressful than that guy." He half-joked.

"I wouldn't miss this party for the world." Max said, cheerfully. The others looked at him for a moment, creating an awkward silence. "Y-you know, because… I don't miss it every year."

"Uh huh." Emily said, glaring at the wolf.

"So, who'd you get stuck with this year for the gift exchange?" Judy asked the wolf, nudging his leg.

"Yeah, don't you get stuck with Rhinowitz every year?" Nick asked. "You gonna get him another horn-warmer this year?"

"Uh…" Max cleared his throat. He seemed obviously anxious. He then leaned down, and whispered something into Judy's ear. "Hey, can we talk about this over there?" He asked, pointing towards an opening between the buildings, about ten feet away.

She gave a confused, but sincere, nod, and the two headed over. Emily squinted, curious at what he would need to talk about…

"You know the whole point of this gift exchange is to keep It secret, right?" Judy said witha chuckle. "If you have to get me something, you should have asked Nick."

"What?" Max said, confused. "No, that's not it."

"Ohhh, you want to know what you should get for Nick!" She guessed. "Well, he's been-"

"No, not Nick either!" The wolf said. "I want to…" He paused and thought for a moment, his tail beating against the wall of the building several times. "You and Nick are… dating, right?"

"Uh, yeah, we are, kind of." She said, rubbing the back of her head. "I wouldn't call it that serious, just casual dates… Wait, where exactly is this going?"

Several feet away, Emily tapped her foot against the ground. "What's got you all wound up?" Nick asked.

"I'm going to go over there." She said, looking directly at the wolf and rabbit.

"Don't, that's incredibly rude." Henry said.

"And also creepy." Nick followed.

"I'm not going to listen to them, I'm just going to… go over there." She said, before she started to stomp over to the building that Max and Judy were next to. She huddled against a wall, and started to listen in.

"What's up with her?" Nick asked, a bit amused.

"I think she has a crush." Henry said with a sigh.

"What is that, her fifth since Dave?"

"Maybe more, I lost count."

The wolf and rabbit continued to talk, without noticing the hyena snooping in on them.

"I… I need to ask how you… ask someone out?" Max said, nervous and quiet.

"You've never asked anyone out on a date?" Judy said, confused. "Like, nobody?"

"I have horrible anxiety issues, of course I haven't!" The wolf said.

"Wait, did you get someone you have a crush on for the gift exchange?" Judy said.

Max took a deep breath. "Yes. Yes I did."

Emily's ear twitched as she heard this.

"I want to ask them out on a date at the party tonight." The wolf explained. "But… I don't know how to do it."

"That's easy!" Judy said, with a slight chuckle. "If you want to start simple, take her to a movie. Just, get the tickets early, and give them tonight."

Max looked at her for a moment. "…Is that it?"

The rabbit nodded.

The wolf placed his hand against his head. "Wow, that's really easy." He muttered, and then looked at her again. "You know this works, right? You've done it?"

"I actually never really asked anyone on dates." Judy said reminiscing. "I mostly GOT asked out a lot… But I turned most of them down."

"Huh." Max said, surprised. "That doesn't really inspire a lot of hope in me."

"Just try it, and if it doesn't work out, then… Try not to worry about it." She said. "I'm sure it will turn out well."

Max nodded. The rabbit quickly pulled out her phone to check the time. "Cheese and crackers, me and Nick have to be at a dinner in the next five hours!"

"So?"

"We have to go Kitmas shopping!" She shouted, before dashing off. She quickly dashed towards Nick and grabbed him by the arm, pulling him off.

"See you guys later!" The fox shouted as the rabbit dragged him through the snow.

Emily sat there for a moment. Asking someone out? Tonight? At the station? Who could it be? There weren't a ton of female officers at the station, and even less that she saw Max actually hang around with. She slowly sat down, sliding down the building and tucking her knees up to her chest.

Then she heard something.

"Oh gosh, she's going to be here in an hour!"

Max quickly dashed out of the alley, unknowingly leaving the hyena with a scowl on her face. She clutched at her knees, before she got up.

She started to stomp over to Henry, who was simply standing there in wait. "You got everything you need?" He asked, sarcastically.

"Oh, I got everything." She said through gritted teeth. "And more than I wanted."

---

Judy and Nick arrived at a store in the downtown area, which hadn't been completely covered in snow. After the sudden downpour of snow, there had been a bit of an exodus from Sahara Central, meaning that the already crowded streets were even more crowded. This could have been a problem, but Judy was just thankful nothing terrible had happened.

The two had been shopping around the town, picking out small gifts. Like the last few years, Judy had bought gifts for everyone at the station - not much, treats and knickknacks they might like, but there was a lot of stuff. As of the moment, they were in the middle of a large mall.

"Do we really have to buy all this stuff?" Nick asked as he lugged around a small bag filled nearly to the brim with wrapped gifts. "We only had to get stuff for Francine."

"No, we had to get stuff for Max, Emily, and Henry since they're our friends." She said, stopping in place. The rabbit was also carrying another bag of gifts, roughly with the same amount in it. "We also have to get something for Bogo, since he's our boss, we have to get something for Grizzoli for helping us with that case, Delgato for helping us out during that one attack, Fangmeyer for-"

"Okay, I get it, you want to say thanks to everyone." Nick said, letting go of the bag and stretching his tired arm out. "But they don't really need it. We're having money troubles, we can't really waste that much."

"But… I like giving gifts." Judy said, ears dropping. "I was always told that Kitmas was about giving, and not getting, and I have a LOT to give!"

"Uh huh." The fox said. "Well, I think we have something for everyone who will be there tonight, and maybe some mammals that don't exist, so can we head to my mom's place now?"

"Oh, your mom!" Judy said, ears popping back up. "We have to get something for her!"

"No, we really don't." Nick said with a sigh.

"What do you think she'd want?" The rabbit asked, ignoring him. "Uh, maybe some jewelry? Some claw polish? …Fang sharpeners?"

"She's not that kind of fox, Carrots." The fox said. "Least, she isn't anymore."

"Alright, you know her better, what should we get?" She asked. "She's probably talked about something recently."

Nick fell silent for a moment, and the started to walk off. "Let's just get going."

Judy glared at the fox as he walked off, dragging the bag behind him. She quickly hopped up to him, effortlessly lifting her own bag. "You haven't talked with your mom much, huh?" She asked.

"I haven't had a… a REAL conversation with her in years." He said, quietly. "The last time I saw her was… probably at my graduation from the academy. We only talked a bit there."

"Oh." Judy said, a bit surprised. Having come from an incredibly close-knit family, the act of spending so much of your life away from them was… alien, to her. "You haven't even seen her at Kitmas time?"

"There was one time, but it got… awkward." He said. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"Alright, alright." The rabbit said. She got she was pushing boundaries… but she was so CURIOUS. What could have happened between Nick and his mom? She needed to find out.

"Can… can I ask what happened between you and her?" She asked. "Just out of curiosity."

The fox sighed. "I'll… tell you outside."

A short while later, after several more stops where the rabbit tried in vain to get something for the fox's mother, the two were outside the mall.

The fox looked at his phone. "My mom lives down in Happytown, we should be able to make it before dinner. Just follow me." He started to walk off from the entrance to the mall.

Judy quickly started follow him, and after a few minutes of silence, hopped up next to him, and waited. "So…?"

"So what?"

"You gonna tell me?"

He sighed again. "I was hoping you'd forget."

"Yeah, not gonna get out of this THAT easy."

"When I was a teen, around sixteen, the dumbest age, I got into a fight with her." He started. "It got bad enough that I ran away from home, and that's how I ended up with Clawbick's gang."

"What was the fight about?" Judy asked, curious.

"It was about… what she wanted from me in the future." He said. There was a brief pause, as if he was searching for the absolute vaguest way to explain it.

"Oh, I get it." Judy said. "Bad time, you got angry at what she wanted your job to be, I get it. My life was like that for a while, but I… never gave up!" She finished, punching her fist into the air.

Nick chuckled, sounding a bit weary. "Actually, I really don't think you WOULD get it…" He said.

"Well, you didn't give up on what you wanted to be, right?" She asked. Nick looked at her, shooting an unamused glare. "Oh, right. The whole… homeless thing. Sorry." She said as she shrunk back

Now she just felt really bad.

"I guess you could say that I got to be what I wanted." Nick said. "But… It's complicated."

"Alright, I'll stop now." She said. They continued to walk through the moderate climate, which combined with the dour mood, really didn't make it feel like Kitmas time.

"Just because of what I said doesn't mean you should be scared of my mom." Nick said, out of nowhere.

"Who said I was scared?" Judy replied with a scoff. "I'm sure she's wonderful."

"She's… she's the absolute, most amazing vixen you'll ever meet." Nick said, wistfully. "She's just… incredible. Even after that fight, even after I ran away… she forgave me for everything. I haven't met anyone else like that… besides you."

The rabbit chuckled. "Sounds like we might get along."

"Oh you definitely will." Nick said. "Her veggie dishes are some of the best I've ever had. In fact, they're the reason I'm a vegetarian."

"Strong enough to send a meat eater to the healthy side?" Judy said. "Must be something!"

The fox remained silent as they continued to walk.

---

"You know that this is illegal, right?" The bull said to the hyena, who was currently peering her head out from the corner of a building. After the fight with the monster, Emily had decided to, ahem, "keep an eye on" Max.

They had first followed him to the train station, where they watched him pick up a female wolf. They looked very similar, with the same shade of gray fur. They also looked to be getting a bit too chummy, complete with a hug. This just, uh, "worried" Emily a bit more, so much to Henry's chagrin,

This had lead them directly to a small outdoor cafe in Sahara Square. "This isn't illegal, I'm just trying to make sure he's alright." Emily stated, staring out at the cafe, where Max and the female wolf sat.

"Uh huh, right." The bull said, leaning against the side of the building. He very obviously did not care about this, though he was fairly certain most of the passing by mammals were interested in whatever was happening. The front of the building next to the cafe was the best hiding spot from Max, but not from anything else.

"Who the hell is she?" The hyena muttered to herself, gripping onto the corner of the building. She seemed to be oblivious of other mammals giving her odd stares.

The two wolves were just sitting there under an umbrella, having a meal and talking to each other. Emily was unable to hear them, given she was at least a dozen feet away, but she could still see them clearly.

She had tried to read lips, but the angle wasn't good. And she wasn't good at it anyway.

"I think you're overreacting to all this." Henry said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" The hyena growled, still not breaking from her stare. "I'm not overreacting, I have every right to be worried about a friend."

"More like worried about your love life…" The bull muttered. This finally got the hyena to turn around and face him. She raised a claw up, and prepared to strike, but he knew she wouldn't do it.

He was right, and she lowered her claw. She then started to laugh. "You think I have a CRUSH on Max?" She said, trying her best to sound surprised and indignant.

"Mmm, yep." The bull responded, rather plainly. "You act like this every time you get a crush."

She laughed again, though this time it sounded more forced. "Why would I have a crush on that… that cabrón!?" She said. "He's the farthest away from my type."

"And all those times you got with 'your type' have ended SO well." Henry replied, sarcastically.

The hyena opened her mouth, preparing to say something to the extent of "You're wrong", but a lot harsher. However, she realized that Henry was right. Over the years she had ended up dating a variety of mammals… none of which were particularly "respectful" of her.

The hyena leaned up against the wall, and let out a sigh.

"I'm not making fun of you for this, you know, it's just that this really won't help if you actually decide to… you know, go anywhere with this." Henry said. "I'm not even sure he realizes you feel anything for him, so maybe you should just… tell him."

"I don't have a crush on him." She insisted, pushing herself off of the wall. "I'm just… worried about a friend. He could no idea who that wolf is, this could end up just as bad for him as all my relationships have. I don't want anyone to experience that."

"And you're sure stalking him is the best way to get that across, huh."

"Oh, just shut up."

Max bit down into his sandwich. "I'm glad you decided to visit for the holidays, L." He said to the wolf sitting in front of him. A winter coat hung from her chair, and she was dressed ina n outfit that was still probably too warm for Sahara Square. She didn't seem to mind, though.

"Hey, you're the one who asked!" She replied with a laugh. "Besides, talking to you over the phone was starting to get boring. I prefer physical interaction."

"I mean, I don't, but…" Max replied, nervously. "But, uh, I still enjoy your company, you know."

She rolled her eyes at him as she took a sip of coffee.

"You're still planning on coming to the thing tonight, right?" Max asked.

She laughed in return. "Really, you think I'd come all the way here and then NOT go?" She said. "Of course I'm going, dummy."

"Oh, good." Max said. He attempted to take another bite of his sandwich, but quickly noticed something in the air.

Heavy, dark clouds, looming directly above them. "Oh, come on." He muttered, putting the sandwich down and getting up.

"What are you doing?" L asked, a bit confused.

"Uh, do you mind getting back to the car?" He asked, starting to grimace a bit.

"Why? I'm not gonna melt in a bit of rain." She replied.

"Just go back to the car." He replied, a bit more firmly.

"...Are you alright?"

There was a sudden clap of thunder, and rain started to pour down from the sky at a ridiculous rate. The raindrops bounced off of the umbrella, and onto the sand around them, moistening it in practically a second.

"I'm taking this isn't normal, is it?" L asked.

"No. It isn't."

She gave a quick nod, and dashed out from under the umbrella. One of her paws sank down into the malleable sand, which she managed to pull out with minor trouble, before heading off to Max's car.

Max stepped out from under the umbrella, and looked up into the air. He quickly spotted a spinning, whirling thing in the sky, made more obvious by how pitch black the backdrop was. An obnoxious laughter emanated from the sky as well, as the spinning thing started to lower to the ground.

"Kasasasasasa!" The monster laughed, as it reached just above the ground. The ahndful of other mammals ran in fear as it started to speak. "Looks like I managed to capture some helpless prey!"

"Yeah, sure whatever." Max said, a bit irritated. "You know what you're interrupting right now? It's kind of important."

"I don't care!" The monster shouted, before lashing its arms forward. Two blobs of ink raised from the monster's inkwell tip. The wolf prepared to dodge, but found himself unable to move.

He glanced down, noticing that he was nearly knee deep in thick, moist sand.

He glanced back up, and watched as the ink blobs shot at him. He covered his face, preparing for the impact.

Instead, several projectiles fired from out in front of a building, which struck the blobs and caused them to explode.

"What!?" The monster shouted, turning to the building. Pinka nd Green were standing there, on a paved sidewalk.

"Do your transformation thing, Max, we'll distract him!" Pink shouted.

"Alright, thanks for-" The wolf stopped himself. "How did you guys get here? I didn't even call you."

"NOT IMPORTANT!" The hyena shouted. Her and the bull quickly fired several shots at the monster, hitting it directly in the face.

Max quickly transformed into ZooSilver, and then burst from the sand. He drew his blade as he flew through the rainy sky, and brought it down directly onto the Kasabake. He knocked the yokai out of the sky and into the sand, where it struggled for a moment.

With a grunt, Kasabake unleashed a burst of air, pushing msot of the sand away and letting it float back up. "You just got lucky!" It shouted. "With this entire area covered in downpours, it'll turn into the world's largest quicksand pit! You'll all be stuck and left for the pickings!"

Silver looked around for a moment, at the area, and then at his feet. He moved one of his legs back and forth, with only slight pressure. He then pulled his foot out, with no issue.

"Hey, looks like the sand doesn't stick to my costume!" The wolf said. "Guess your plan's gone inside out!"

"What!?" The monster shouted. It glanced over at the much more heavily armored SPD Officers. "Well, you might be able to move around, but how about your FRIENDS over there!?"

The monster started to spin around, right as Silver figured out what the monster was implying. Wind started to whip up, pushing in the direction of the two officers. The rain flew at the two thanks to the sudden burst of wind, and they started to be pushed back. Pink started to tumble back, but was quickly grabbed by the paw by Green, who's weight helped him stay planted on the ground.

Silver briefly considered calling up Nick and Judy, since this looked like trouble... but then he remembered that they were at a dinner right now, and that would be rude.

He also remembered how much of a wimp this guy was the last time they fought. As he watched the monster spin for a moment, he got an idea.

Moving fast, Silver quickly spun the guard of his blade around, switching it to Moon Mode. He lashed the blade forward, shooting a laser whip out. It wrapped around the monster's legs, but started to pull the laser whip in as it spun around.

Suddenly, the monster stopped, unable to spin anymore causing the wind to stop. "H-hey, what just happened?" The monster asked. "I can't spin!"

It looked down at its legs, which were now almost completely wrapped up in the whip. "Looks like you're a bit WRAPPED up!" The wolf started. "Maybe now you'll be more on TOP of your game.

"What did you emphasize top-"

Silver quickly pulled his blade back, causing the whip to start retracting back into the blade. Almost instantly the monster started spinning again, this time in the opposite direction, and without any control of its own.

The monster let out a scream as Silver quickly lashed his captive up into the air. He quickly slammed him into a nearby building, and then down into the sand. Finally, he pointed the blade upwards, balancing the monster as it spun.

"Check it out!" Silver started. "Looks like he's SPINNING in the rain!"

Green shook his head while Pink let out a loud groan.

"Alright, let's get this creep out of here." Silver said, suddenly sounding a lot more serious. He lashed the whip around a bit, positioning it so that the top of the monster's head was pointing directly towards Pink and Green. "Let's finish with some target practice!"

Pink and Green readied their weapons. "Hey, whoever hits its eye gets to drive next." Pink dared.

"You're on." The bull replied.

The two started to fire at the monster's head rapidly, causing a cloud of explosions to blanket it for quite a while. They were still firing as the end of the whip finally retracted back into the sword.

The flaming explosions vanished, and the monster dropped to the sand, starting to sink in the process. It thrashed around for a bit, either trying to escape the sand or having a tantrum, before it finally got out.

"How is this POSSIBLE!?" The monster shouted, frustrated. "I can't be beaten by just THREE of you! This is humiliating!"

With a whining yell, the monster started to spin, and then flew off into the sky, creating a small hole in the darkened clouds.

Silver walked up onto the pavement, before transforming back to normal. Pink and Green followed suit. "We should probably go and see if anyone's in trouble." He said.

"Yeah." Henry replied. "Thankfully the city thought ahead, most of Sahara Square's sand is only a few inches deep."

"Yeah, this is really just more of an inconvenience than a disaster." Emily said. "But it is kind of our job, so, we'll get going." She turned to the bull. "By the way, I get to drive."

"No way." Henry said. "You didn't hit that thing in the eye, I did."

"He yelled in pain the loudest when I shot him, so that means I hit his eye." She continued.

"You couldn't even see anything!"

"Well neither could you!"

Max looked over at his car as the two continued to argue. Its wheels were sunk under the sand a bit. He quickly ran over to it, wading through the sand, and opened to door up.

"You alright?" He asked L.

"Yeah, of course I am!" She said, smiling. "That was… that was incredible!"

"Oh, did you see all that?" Max asked, sounding a bit embarrassed.

"...Were you hoping I didn't?"

"Well, I just thought… maybe you wouldn't have seen it through the rain."

"It's hard NOT to see something like that." L said. "You did know that I knew you were a superhero, right?"

"Uh…"

She rolled her eyes. "Again, hard not to hear about that."

"Fair enough." He muttered. "I… I have to go and check if anyone needs help." He explained. "I'll be back soon, alright?"

"Got it."

"Well, I probably hit his eye MORE times." Emily said to the bull, who just rolled his eyes. He quickly noticed something out of the corner of his eye, however.

"Maybe you should be keeping your own eyes open a bit more." He joked

The hyena looked back, and saw Max talking with the wolf, who was sat in his car. She let out a frustrated growl, and clenched her paws together. She started to storm off.

"So, I guess I get to drive now?" Henry cheekily asked, as he caught up with her.

"Fffine, whatever." She replied, now sounding VERY upset. The two arrived at the truck, and shook off their wet fur. Henry looked at the hyena.

He let out a sigh. "Want me to call up Nick and Judy and tell them what's going on?" he asked.

"WHY would I want you to do that!?" She shouted. "I'd look completely CRAZY to them!"

"Sheesh, just asking." He said, pulling out his phone. "I'm going to call them anyway to tell them what happened."

"Whatever."

---

The rabbit and fox stood outside an old, single house. It looked like it had been standing for years, the paint faded and most of the structure having degraded. It matched the rest of Happytown's... depressing surroundings, but an air of comfort seemed to surround it.

"Is... is this your house?" Judy asked as they stepped towards it.

"Yep." He said. "It looked better back in the day, trust me. Rest of this place did, actually."

He let out a sigh, a bit of an uncomfortable sounding one. "Let's head inside before anyone notices us." He said, heading down the walkway a a much faster pace. The rabbit was surprised for a moment, before following.

She walked up the steps to the door, right as Nick started to rapidly, but lightly, knock at it. "You seem a bit more... worried, than I expected." She said, a bit surprised and confused.

"This isn't exactly the best place in town." He said as he stopped knocking. He then pressed the doorbell. "We're pretty well known, don't want to be jumped by some try-hard, right?"

"Uh huh." Judy said. She had been a bit suspicious of Nick the entire day, which was something she admittedly felt bad about. She knew he was hiding something from her, but she couldn't tell just WHAT it was. As she looked at him, a voice came from inside.

"Coming!" It shouted. It sounded like Nick's mother.

Judy shook off her suspicions at that moment. She was trying to peer into things she likely had no reason to know, it was her natural curiosity getting the best of her. Better to not be weird and just have a good would be the best for both of them.

After around another minute of waiting, they heard a lock start to move... which was then followed by the door's lock opening. Opening it wide open was an older fox, around fifty or so. Her fur was a much lighter shade than Nick's but it had definitely been the same color at one point. She was relatively fit looking, and wore a pink dress that seemed to brighten up the world.

Almost instantly she locked Nick in a big hug. "Oh, Nick, it's been so long!" She said.

Nick let out an embarrassed laugh as Judy looked on, slyly. "Mom, please." He muttered.

She looked at the rabbit, who gave a quick wave. "Oh, I'm sorry," She started, breaking away from Nick. "I forgot you were bringing company."

She grabbed Judy's paws, and started to shake them. "Pleasure to meet you, Judy. I can call you that, right?"

"Of course!" She said with a laugh.

"Well, you can call me Mary." She said, letting go of the rabbit. Judy shook her paws, the fox had a pretty tight grip to her. "Mary Wilde."

"Nice to meet you!" Judy replied.

"I'm so sorry to keep you waiting, I just had to..." She looked at Nick, nervously, and raised a paw up to cough into it. "...Clean up some things." She finished, before popping back into a more upbeat mood. "Anyway, do you enjoy roast carrots, Judy?"

She laughed in response. "I'm a rabbit, I love every type of carrot."

"Good, good." She said, before looking at Nick. "Don't worry, I made some things for you too, Nicky."

Nick let out a groan. "Mom, don't call me that. Not in front of Judy."

"Oh, I'm sorry." She said, sounding a bit more ashamed than you would think.

The two headed inside, giving Judy time to examine the house some more. It was very... green, an olive green with very tacky floral-patterned wallpaper. Now she knew where Nick got his fashion sense from. Aside from that, it was very homey and cozy, a lot smaller than Judy's home... though what else was she supposed to expect?

"Come sit down in the living room!" Mary said as she headed for the kitchen. "Sorry if it's a bit messy!"

Nick walked in, while the rabbit just peered in through the hall. There were only a few seats, with particularly large, warn one sitting in front of a TV, with a pile of crossword puzzle books sitting next to it. Nick stood in the middle of the room, just seeming to bask in it. It was obvious he hadn't been here in a long time.

There was a certain... oddity, that Judy had caught. The walls, both in the entrance hall and the living room, had nails hanging from them. The kind of nails you would hang pictures on. There was even faint outlines of various different frames. It looked like the pictures had been there forever, so... had she just taken down all of the pictures?

Why had Mary done that?

She was quickly knocked out of the thought as her phone started to ring. She quickly pulled it out, and answered it just as swiftly. "Hey, Judy," Henry said as he showed up on the screen. "You at the dinner thing you and Nick were planning?"

"Yep, I am." She replied. "...Is that all you called to ask?"

"Well, no- Hey!"

The phone was quickly snatched by Emily, her face showing up on the screen."That monster showed up a bit ago," She said. "Started making it rain in Sahara Square, we're going around making sure nobody's in trouble."

"Oh, that's good- Wait, the monster showed up!?" She whisper yelled. "Why didn't you call us!?"

"Relax, Jude, we took care of the monstruo tuerto easily, no problem!" Emily said.

"If me and Nick were there, we could have defeated it for good." She said, nearly growling.

"She makes a good point." Henry said. Emily rolled her eyes in response.

"Well, we didn't want to... interrupt your dinner." She said, quickly coming up with an excuse. "You shouldn't be mad at us, you know? It all ended up fine."

"If the monster got away, it could just get stronger, and we'll have even MORE trouble to deal with!" The rabbit continued. "I am NOT willing to put up with that today."

"Another good point." Henry said. This time Emily growled at him.

Judy let out a sigh. "Whatever, just calls us next time it shows up. This dinner isn't as important as protecting the rest of the city."

"Alright, gotcha." The hyena said, before hanging up. The rabbit let out a grunt, and looked up.

Nick was still standing in the same spot, he hadn't moved for the last few minutes. The rabbit raised an eyebrow, and walked up to him. A quick tap on the shoulder snapped him out of it.

"Whoa, what?" Nick said, sounding a bit confused.

"You alright?" Judy asked. "You kind of... spaced out for a bit, there."

"Yeah, just..." He let out a sigh. "Memories, you know?"

"I guess."

The fox quickly turned around, and headed into the hall. He quickly went up the stairs, located next to the door. Judy's eyes followed him until he disappeared from sight.

The rabbit started to look around again, noticing the odd picture-less walls. There were a few shelves as well, which looked like they had also had pictures removed from them. She ran a paw across one of the shelves, there was only a slight hint of dust.

"Alright, I think dinner should be ready in-" Mrs. Wilde started as she walked back into the room. "Where did Nick go?" She asked.

"Upstairs." Judy said. "He's acting a bit weird."

"Probably just being sentimental." She said with a small, but upset sounding, laugh. "He has trouble letting go of things, you know."

"I've caught onto that." Judy said as the elder fox walked over to the large chair. "I'm guessing that's why he doesn't visit often."

"Did he tell you about our... fight?" Mary asked. Judy nodded. "Did he tell you what the fight was about?"

"No, but I don't feel like that's something I should pry into." She said, lying about how much she really wanted to know.

"I was so stupid." Mary muttered. She quickly cleared her voice and turned to the rabbit. "Anyway, want to know what we're having?"

"Carrot salad?" Judy guessed. "Nick told me about your cooking, said it was phenomenal."

"He said that?" She said, sounding genuinely shocked. "Maybe he HAS gotten over it..." She muttered quietly under her breath.

"So, uh... why did you take down all your picture frames?" Judy asked.

"Oh, shoot, you noticed that?" She replied.

"I'm very observant." Judy said. "Hoping to become a detective some day, you know."

"I took the pictures down... because they had Nick's father in them." She explained, albeit a bit awkwardly. After living with Nick, the rabbit had started to pay closer attention to potential lies. Apparently lying didn't run in Mary's side of the family, because she wasn't good at it.

But it wasn't right to judge others just by how they talk, and it would be even ruder to point it out. "So, what was your husband like?" Judy asked, sitting down on a nearby green couch. "Nick doesn't talk about him that much, but he didn't seem to have anything... negative, to say."

"John was a wonderful fox." Mary said. "Optimistic, loyal, could talk his way through a deal... just wonderful to be around." She started. "He was Nick's biggest supporter, he always wanted whatever was best for him... Never thought much for himself, though."

"What do you think happened to him?" Judy asked. "Nick thinks he just vanished."

"Like I said, Nick never lets go of something." Mary replied with a sigh. "I think the mob got him."

Judy's ears popped up. "He was with the mob?"

"He made a few deals, mostly because his business wasn't as successful as he hoped." Mrs. Wilde sighed. "He wanted to make sure that me and Nick would have a roof over our heads, but he couldn't pay them back." She fell silent for a while. "At least, that's what I'm assuming happened."

Judy raised an eyebrow. "Why do you 'assume'?"

"The day he disappeared, he just... said he had some important business... and then he was gone."

"No other details?"

Mary shook her head. "Absolutely nothing, but it's probably what happened. Apparently he was last sighted around Tundra Town, so..."

"I'm sorry." Judy said, with a sigh.

"It's fine, but... try to avoid bringing it up at dinner." She said, with a faint smile. "I don't want to start another fight."

Judy smiled back. "Don't worry, I won't."

Mary's ears popped up. "Oh, speaking of!" She said. "Go tell Nick that we have an hour left until dinner, I have to make the carrots are alright!"

She quickly dashed off into the kitchen, which was only the next room over. Judy considered what she had learned for a moment, before hopping down from the couch. She noticed something odd... well, it would be less odd if things weren't odd enough already. Despite the rest of the house being barren of any pictures, there was one on the small TV stand. It was face down, making sure that no one would be able to see the actual picture without touching it.

Certainly odd, but probably not something for her to dabble in.

She was incredibly tempted to look, though, but she held back and headed upstairs.

The upper floor was just as cozy as the ground floor, and the exact same fainted green color, with the exact same tacky floral patterns. There were only a few rooms, accessed by a thin hall. Two bedrooms and a bathroom, this would have been a nightmare for a rabbit family to live in.

One of the doors was closed, and the one on the other side of the room was open, but very clearly lead to the bathroom. There was only one other door, which was open.

She headed to it, and peeked inside.

The room, which had the same wallpaper prevalent in the rest of the house, was strangely still furnished. There was a dresser, a lamp, and a rather rickety looking bed, with generic superhero-themed blankets on it. Nick was laying on the bed, which he was slightly too large for, and staring up at the ceiling.

"You alright?" Judy asked as she walked into the room. Nick didn't turn to look at her, but he did respond.

"She kept it exactly the same." He said. "This is just how it was when I left."

Judy looked around. The room was, relatively speaking, fairly clean for a place that hadn't been touched in a decade. Mrs. Wilde had probably cleaned up some, but Judy had expected him to cause more of a fuss before leaving.

"I thought that was only something that happened in corny movies." Judy said as she walked up to him.

"I did too." Nick sighed. He quickly sat up, and looked at a closet in front of him. It was open, showing a few boxes and other objects which had looked like they had been there for years. He motioned his paw towards Judy as he got up. "Hey, check this out."

He headed to the open closet, Judy following behind him. He went to his knees, and pulled out a small shoebox. Pulling the lid off revealed that the box was lined from one end to the other with old comic books.

"These were my dad's collection from when he was a kid." He said, pulling out an incredibly old looking issue of The Bat. The fox flipped through a few pages. "These things inspired me a lot when I was a kid..." He let out a sigh, before falling into silence for a few seconds. "...Wonder what happened?"

Judy cleared her throat, deciding, wisely she thought, not to respond to that rhetorical question. "Your mother said that supper will be ready soon, so..."

He let out a sigh. "That means I have a while to be by myself, right?"

The rabbit groaned and rolled her eyes. "Nick, seriously, this is YOUR mom's place!" She said. "She hasn't seen you in years, I can tell how much she misses you. She probably hasn't seen anyone lately. Go talk to her for a bit at least."

The fox got up, looking a bit grumpy. "I hate your guilt trips." He sighed as he headed out of the room.

Judy examined the room for a minute, before poking her head out the doorway. "Can I look around your room?" She asked the fox, who was starting down the stairs.

"Uh, alright?" He said, turning to look at her. "Just... don't touch anything too... sensitive, alright?"

"I'll try not to." She said, before heading back into the room. She had no idea what was "sensitive" and what wasn't, but her curiosity was killing her at this point. She needed to know at least something about what was going on, and maybe snooping would help.

As long as she didn't bring it up at the dinner table, it would be fine. Right?

She started by looking around the room itself. It was very sparse, a few old stuffed toys on the bed, not much else beyond that. Especially nothing that would be eye opening. She checked the closet next. It was shaped like a two door closet, but it only had a single door, meaning that it was practically impossible to get into if the closet was being used. There only looked to be a few boxes inside.

Of course, being a rabbit, her smaller size and more acrobatic build helped her squeeze through the cracks between the cardboard, letting her check boxes had a few interesting contents, mostly books, records, and CDs. Again, nothing eye opening. Well, nothing besides the revelation that Nick had a terrible musical taste even back then.

Then, she noticed something at the very back of the closet, buried in a corner. It looked like it had been haphazardly tossed inside, with no real thought.

She grabbed it, and then snuck back through the boxes. Examining it in better light revealed that the thing was COVERED in dust, even more than the rest of the room. Like it had been sitting there for even more decades than Nick had been gone for.

She wiped the cover off, wiping off a very physical amount of dust. It looked like the dust had gathered onto the dust, as the cover had been bleached, turning from what looked like a red to a faint pink.

There wasn't a title on the book, but there was a name.

"Nick Wilde", written in rather poor pawwriting.

Judy let out a gasp. Did she just find what she thought she found? Did she just find Nick's childhood diary?

She reached for the cover, this could be what she needed to get some answers. But she froze. Nick said not to touch anything sensitive, and this was definitely sensitive. She let out a grunt, and shook her head. She couldn't do this, not right now. That would be terrible.

The best she could do as she tried to fight herself was look at Nick's name. She noticed a few details, other than it being very crude. She noticed that part of it, specifically from the "k" onwards, looked like it had been scratched out and then written over. That was definitely curious. It certainly didn't help her with not reading the thing, anyway.

Almost a few seconds after noticing that, she opened it, almost by instinct.

'Well, maybe reading one page wouldn't hurt.' She thought to herself.

She started to read. The first page was written in the same crude style, and had a... noticeable amount of errors, and covered a lot of the page..

"dear diary

mom and dad said to rite in you becuz im going to school tomorow. dad wants to now what hapenned at school but he nows im scarred to talk about it. i dont have any thing 2 rite cuz i didnt go to school"

Judy let out a small laugh. Nick not being able to talk about emotions and what he's doing? The more things change, the more they stay the same, she supposed. She flipped to the next page.

"dear diary

i went to school today. it was ok. i didnt learn a lot but we started on the alphabet. dad taught me that all ready though. i dont think the kits there like me they just went away when i tried to sit with some of them. is it becuz im a fox? the teacher acted wierd to but i dont know why"

Judy raised an eyebrow at this. For one, this was fairly depressing considering how Nick's life went... but the teacher acting weird was definitely something out of the ordinary. Maybe she'd figure out what was happening if she kept reading.

She read through most of the pages quickly. Most were just simplistic recounts of kindergarten classes, with the writing getting... slightly better, as it went on. Not by a whole lot, but it was getting more consistent and not as large. Most of the entries talked about how the other kits there didn't seem to enjoy being around Nick, no matter how much he tried. It was starting to get depressing, to be honest.

Then, she came to a page that seemed to give her hope.

"Dear diary!

I'm really excited! Today at school some of the kits asked if we could be friends! After school was over they asked me if I could meet them in the park. I'm so happy I might actually have friends now."

Unfortunately, as soon as Judy thought about this, things turned sour. There wasn't any way this would end up good, or else Nick's life would have been a lot different. She took a deep breath, and turned to the next page.

"dear diary"

That was all it said, the rest was blank, writing wise. There were dark spots around the page. They looked like they could have been tear drops. She quickly turned to the next page, which was blank. That must have been the last entry Nick had wrote before he tossed it in his closet.

"Hey, Carrots, I-"

Judy quickly turned around, just as Nick was walking in. He had noticed the diary immediately, and went wide-eyed.

"Nick, I..." She started as the fox walked towards her, still glaring. "I didn't mean to... I'm..."

He quickly snatched the diary out of her paws, and opened it. In a single swipe of his claw, he slashed through most of the pages, leaving them as shreds that floated towards the ground. Judy kept watched as the fox started to tear even the blank pages out, and then worked on trying to tear the actual cover apart. He didn't have the strength to, so he just threw it to the floor.

"Supper's ready." He said, flatly, before walking out of the room.

The rabbit looked at the shredded paper on the ground, and then let out a sigh. Hopefully she could explain what happened at the dinner table.

She slowly headed out the room and down the hall.

---

The monsters clamored around the table, passing drinks and talking to each other. Even Kyuemon, who was usually very anti-social with the rest, was taking part. The only monster not there, besides the currently incapacitated Long, was Enter.

"Here's to taking a break on this horrible day." Sambash said, raising a bottle of whiskey. The three other monster raised their respective glasses in return.

"Christmas, bah!" Yogostein said, before taking a sip of his cocktail. "A day of 'peace' and 'harmony' is the worst for us villains!"

"Working this holiday's sins against it have proven enjoyable, in my experience." Kyuemon said, taking a sip of sake from his own bottle.

"Its just super nice to take a break, you know?" Yabaiba said, before sipping from his juice box. "Sometimes this villain deal can just be too much! Like lately, you know?"

"Oh, I know it." Sambash said, before looking over to Kyuemon, who was sat across the table. "You sent a monster out, though, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did." The fox yokai said. "It was a weak one, however. It should be able to get enough Chaos Energy to keep the Omnipotence happy, and let us take it easy."

"So, you don't actually care if this guy gets destroyed?" Yabaiba asked, surprised.

"He's an idiot and a tool, his destruction means that we can just move on to better plans after today." Kyuemon said.

Before they could continue their relaxing break, the four fell silent as Enter walked into the room. He was now wearing a completely black longcoat, and slowly walked past the table.

"Where exactly do you think you're going?" Kyuemon asked, standing up.

The ghostly image of Savage suddenly burst from his back, and glared at Kyuemon. "We're going to go rend some flesh, foxy." It growled. "Let us be."

"Savage, not now." Enter said with a sigh. The spirit returned to his body, and the android turned towards the villains himself. "Pardon, Kyuemon, me and Savage were just planning to go out and... well, you know."

"Can you NOT do something stupid today?" Sambash growled. "This is a break, you know, you can't just go back to work on a break."

"Not without ruining it for the rest of us!" Yogostein said.

"Just remain in the base for a few more hours." Kyuemon said. "I have a monster out there already, he'll gather enough energy."

"Hah!" Savage laughed as he popped out of Enter's body once again. "But can whatever you've sent out destroy the Zoorangers?"

"Does that matter?" Kyuemon asked. "Now that we know we don't have to destroy them to win, we can just use them-"

"You're buying that?" Enter said. "You're so gullible. We're leaving."

Enter started to walk towards the exit, before there was a sudden burst of wind. With a yell, Kasabake flew through, and crashed into the floor.

"Is this the monster you sent out?" Enter asked, with a light, degrading chuckle.

The monster clambered to its feet, out of breath. "M-master Kyuemon!" It said, walking towards the yokai leader. "I'm not strong enough to beat those Zoorangers! I got beaten by just three of them!"

Sambash and Yogostein let out small laughs, causing Kyuemon to turn and glare at them. He turned back to Kasabake, and let out a sigh. The fox monster quickly pulled out a Chaos Badge, and flung it at the monster.

It impaled itself on the monster's inkwell, and then absorbed itself into it. The monster started to convulse, as all the black parts of his body began to become splotched with red, including the ink inside his inkwell. The Chaos Emblem appeared on the inkwell, engraving itself on the glass.

The large pen appendages underneath his umbrella head suddenly stretched out, forming into long, spider-like legs and lifting him off the ground. The length of the new limbs were completely red, and were disturbingly long. The monster's arms then quickly retracted into the underside of the umbrella, before bursting out of the sides of the paper, slightly larger looking as well.

The monster's underside started to transform drastically. First, a large, black and gold patterned abdomen burst from its back. The abdomen ended with a large pen-point. The rest of the underside morphed, the legs dissolving and turning into a large mouth, the edges of it lining up with the curves of the umbrella.

The monster then started to grow, becoming easily larger than any of the monsters there by a few feet. It let out a roar, revealing its mouth full of sharp teeth, and a leg shaped prehensile tongue, complete with a foot wearing a sandal at the end.

"CHAOS KASABAKE!" It roared, it's voice having gotten deeper. It quickly stomped out through the entrance, leaving the villain behind.

There was a brief, surprised silence.

"Yikes." Sambash said, breaking the silence.

"Well," Enter started, a small smirk growing on his face. "Color me impressed."

"Are you still planning on doing something stupid?" Kyuemon asked.

"No, of course not." Enter said as he headed towards the exit. "I don't do anything stupid."

Kyuemon let out another sigh as Enter exited the base. "That guy is going to get us all killed." Yogosetin said.

"Or, best case scenario, he gets himself killed." Sambash followed.

"Let's hope neither happens." Kyuemon replied.

---

"So, why are we here again?" Henry asked. Emily and him had arrived in the Rainforest District a while ago, just as the sun was setting, and were currently parked in a lot.

"Well, think about it," Emily said from the other seat. "That monster attacked Savannah Central, then Sahara Square, its attacking all of the districts." She explained. "It'll probably go after the Rainforest District next. Probably save Tundra Town for last, to make sure it gets to ruin everything. Which WE won't let it do!"

"Alright, makes sense." Henry said, nodding his head. "You put a lot of thought into this excuse."

"Oh, yeah, I know-" She stopped and glared at the bull. "This isn't an excuse, Horns."

"Uh huh." The bull said. "Then why are we parked here?"

"It's just a parking lot. Better to explain things while not driving."

The bull pointed at the window, directly at the car next to them. It was Max's silver sports car. The two were parked outside of tourist attraction, a tower made completely out of a tree. It was impressively tall, and had a large pathway carved into its sides which lead to an observation deck, perfect for sightseeing.

"Well, if the monster DOES attack, we'll need Max's help-"

"We followed him here." The bull said, rubbing his temples. "You're just worried about that wolf he's with."

"I am NOT!" Emily growled in response. "I'm being ENTIRELY SERIOUS here!"

"I don't know why I let you talk me into these things." Henry muttered. He quickly turned the key, starting the car up.

"Hey, you can't-"

"Yes I can." Henry said. "I'm taking you home, and maybe then you can think things through before the party tonight."

"NO!" She shouted, quickly batting the bull's hoof out of the way. She yanked the key out of the ignition.

"Oh, come on!" Henry shouted. "That's going to damage this thing, you know!"

"I don't care!"

"Give back the keys!"

"No, I'm not leaving until the monster shows up!"

"Em, please, just-"

They heard a light knocking at Henry's side of the truck, causing the two to stop fighting. The bull looked out, seeing that it was Max. He was looking at them with a confused look. He quickly rolled down the window. There was some heavy wind, causing the wolf's ears and fur to be pushed along with it.

"Oh, hey Max." He said.

"What are you two doing here?" He asked.

"Oh, Emily was-"

"Worried that the monster could attack here!" The hyena interrupted. "If it did, we'd need to work together to beat it, right?"

"Uh, alright." Max said.

The wolf's car window rolled down, revealing the female wolf from earlier. "You know these two?" She asked, a bit concerned.

"Uh, yeah." Max said. "They're work buddies."

"If you don't mind me asking, who's your lady friend?" Henry asked.

"Oh, right, I didn't get to introduce you all!" Max said. "See, this is-"

Before he could finish, there was a large burst of wind, stronger than any that had happened the last few minutes. It knocked the wolf off of his feet, sending him to the dirty ground.

He got back up, but before he could continue, there was the sound of someone above them screaming in fear. "What the hell?" Emily asked, concerned.

Max looked up at the large tree that hovered above them. His eyes widened as he spotted the observation deck, which was now tilted to one side. "Oh god!" He shouted. "The wind just knocked the deck out! We need to go help!"

The hyena and bull quickly got out of the truck, and were met with harsh gusts of wind. Henry was fine due to his size, but Emily was nearly knocked over.

"Was it even this windy ten minutes ago?" The hyena asked as the three started to run to the carved path.

"We were up there just a bit ago!" Max said. "The wind's been picking up for the last half hour!"

"If the wind keeps up," Henry said as they reached the path. "It'll be a hurricane in no time."

"A hurricane in winter?" Emily said, as they dashed up the path. It was carved wood, with the walkway itself being made of the trunk of the tree, and part of the tree's bark forming railing. "That's completely ridiculous." She finished.

"Yeah, which means this can't be natural." The bull replied.

"So, you think the monster's doing this?" Max asked.

"He does have weather controlling powers, it would make sense."

Emily quickly stopped running, and pumped her fist into the air. "Hah, I was right!" She cheered.

Henry rolled his eyes in response.

"So, if the monster is here, does that mean we should transform and get him?" Max asked.

Henry shook his head. "He might not even be near here." He said. "It could be causing this from a remote location."

"So, we're just gonna transform and go save those tourists, right?"

The bull nodded.

The three quickly transformed, and then started up the path again. As they continued upwards, the wind got worse and worse, as leaves, twigs, and rodent-sized cars flew into the side of the tree. It would only be a bit until the observation deck would be knocked completely off the tree.

After a few more minutes, the three reached the deck, a circular, definitely artificial platform tat had been connected to the tree by four bolts, each connecting to a branch. Two of the bolts had already come off, and the tree branches on the other side were starting to bend precariously. The entrance to the deck, a set of stairs placed at the end of the walkway, was hanging directly above them.

"Who built this place?" Pink asked.

"Someone who loves money more than individual lives?" Silver followed up. He looked back up, and examined the deck for a second. "How are we supposed to fix this thing?"

"Don't think that's a good idea." Green said. "Even if we worked a way to bolt it back down, the branches on the other side have still had a ton of pressure put on them. It could still just snap at a moment's notice."

"So, just gotta go in there and save everyone?" Pink said, cracking her knuckles. "Alright, can do!" She paused for a moment, before turning to Silver. "...How many mammals were in there?"

"I dunno, maybe... seventy? A hundred?" He replied. "I didn't count them."

"Fair enough, but... That's gonna be a lot of work." Pink said. "How are we supposed to help everyone in there? We can't do it one at a time."

Green looked around for a moment, including off the side of the tree, before looking at Silver. "Go inside there and find something sturdy." He said. "Wrap your whip around it."

"Okay." Silver said.

"Em, go in there and try to help calm everyone down." The bull continued. "Try to get everyone to move to the side of the building that's tilted up."

"Oh, I get it." Pink said. "Once wolf boy here's found something to get a grip on, he comes down and helps counterbalance it."

"Got it." The bull said. "And you need to do it QUICK."

The two nodded. "Come on, I'll help you up." Silver said, reaching his paw towards Pink. She grabbed on, and the wolf leaped up into the small hole at the bottom of the deck.

They landed in the deck, which was fitted with nice carpeting, and windows lining the entire room. Unfortunately, now wasn't the time to sight-see, as there were easily a hundred or so panicking mammals of all shapes and sizes. A pile of tables, chairs, and broken dishes were piled on the opposite side of the deck, right up against the windows... which were starting to crack under the pressure. There was also a large pole in the middle of the room, connecting the floor to the ceiling.

As soon as they landed, the deck bounced slightly, and the two instantly lost their balance. They fell down, and clung by their claws to the carpet.

"At least we know we have a bit before the glass breaks." Silver said as he glanced down at the window.

"Yeah, good to know if one of us loses our grip!" Pink growled.

Pink looked around at the mammals. There were a handful of larger mammals, like elephants, doing their best to stay on the side that was tilted up, while the smaller and middling sized mammals seemed to be doing their best to stay in one spot. The ones their size were doing the exact same thing they were at that moment.

"Alright, I think I know what I'm supposed to do." Silver said. He let go of the carpet with one of his claws, and reached for his sword. He quickly flicked it to Moon Mode the best he could, and then lashed it at the pole. It wrapped around several times, and the wolf gave it a quick tug to make sure it was secure.

"Alright, I'm gonna head back down!" Silver said to the hyena. "Once its evened out a bit, get everyone over there!"

She nodded, and the wolf clawed his way up to the exit, using his foot claws to help him. He quickly reached the outside, the whip still connected the pole, and dropped down next to the bull.

"Good job." He said. "Now, give me that sword."

"Excuse me?"

"Do you really think you can counterbalance that thing?" Green asked. "I'm the only one of us heavy enough to do that."

"Uh, alright." Silver said, handing the bull his blade.

"It is secure, right?"

"Yeah, I checked."

"Alright, let's hope it holds."

Green took a deep breath, before leaping off the side of the tree. The whip wriggled a bit as the bull fell more and more, before it snapped straight. As soon as that happened, the tilted deck suddenly started to fall back down - but only by bit.

To the mammals inside, this was quite a shock. Several of the larger mammals got back to their feet, trying to keep steady on the still unbalanced ground. Pink got up as well, finding that it was capable of keeping balance like this.

"Alright, all of you!" She shouted. "If you want to get out of here alive, you have to go stand on THIS side!" She finished pointing towards the opposite side of the deck.

After a few seconds of quiet, the mammals all started to head over to the other side. As more headed over, the decks tarted to fall back into place. Once everyone was there, there was now a far less perilous drop between the entrance and the tree-carved pathway.

Silver quickly poked his head through the entrance. "Alright, I'd say its safe enough!" He said. "Okay everyone, let's head back to the ground!"

There was a stampede of mammals as they all rushed towards the exit. They exited one at a time, or several at a time depending on how large the mammals were. Silver and Pink helped some down once the deck started to go bend back up. Eventually, the deck was cleared.

Finally, the whip started to retract, pulling Green back up onto the top of the handed Silver back the sword, who quickly retracted it in full, loosening it from the pillar.

Almost instantly, the deck snapped back, the pressure breaking the branches and causing it to fall to the ground with a massive crash.

"That could've been a disaster." Silver said, with a sigh of relief.

"But we managed to save everyone, without any trouble." Green said.

"Wait, what if there's more mammals in danger?" Pink asked. "With this kind of wind, the Rainforest Distract is a death trap!"

"You're right!" Silver said, shocked. "We need to go help everyone else!"

"NOT IF I HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT IT!"

The tree suddenly started to shake. The three looked over at the other side, and watched as the massive Chaos Kasabake climbed up onto the top, pen legs jabbing into the wood. It stood roughly twice as wide and twice as tall as the bull.

"Oh, that's not good." Pink muttered.

"How d'ya like my upgrade?" The monster asked. "It's time to blot you little pests out for good!"

The monster raised its front pen legs, and fired two streams of blood-red ink at the three. They quickly dodged out of the way, but were suddenly struck in the back as the wind blew the ink back into them. The ink started to melt into their suits, causing a horrible burning pain without even touching their skin.

The monster let out a laugh as the three fell to their knees in pain. The spider-umbrella-pen-ghost stomped towards them. "Time to put a period on your sentences!" The monster quipped.

Silver let out a pained groan as he attempted to get back to his feet. "I'm not going to let you ruin today!" He growled, helping himself up with his sword. He quickly lashed his blade forwards, launching out the laser whip. it lashed forwards, but the monster's front legs quickly lashed forwards rapidly, striking the whip. It limply fell to the ground, and then fizzled out.

"You guys seem a bit aggravated," The monster started. "Am I really getting in the way of something big?"

"Are you an idiot?" Pink said. "Today's a holiday, jackass!"

"Ooh, really?" The monster said, clapping its large mitts together. "I've never gotten to ruin a holiday before!"

The hyena growled, before she pulled out her pistols. Green followed by aiming his cannon. The two quickly fired at the monster, causing a flurry of explosions on its face. "Bleh, that tickled!" The monster grunted. "I say its time to take the wind out of your sails and finish you for good!"

The red ink in the monster's inkwell started to bubble, before it spat out a large blob of ink. It slowly transformed into a massive cloud. The cloud suddenly started to spew out wind, causing the three to latch onto the wood of the tree as best they could. Silver had some extra edge, as he dug his blade into the wooden ground.

"Pests!" The monster snapped. "Time to put your foot where your mouth is!" The monster's jaw snapped opened, as its foot-tipped tongue slithered out.

"First, I WISH this guy could get his metaphors straight," Pink started. "And second, that's EXTREMELY GROSS!"

The tongue whipped around in the air for a few seconds, the foot wriggling its toes in preparation as well. It suddenly lashed forwards, striking directly in front of Silver. The force of the strike caused the wolf to fall off balance, and the sword to dislodge. He fell to the ground, and wind suddenly picked up.

With a single large burst of wind, the three were flung off of the tree in a split second. The monster let out a laugh in triumph.

"So long, Zoorangers!"

---

The two foxes and the rabbit were sat at a small dinner table. There was a bowl of salad placed on it, made out of lush greens and various other fruits and veggies, but mostly out of roasted carrots and sprinkled with blueberries. It was a really good meal.

Unfortunately, the atmosphere had become unbelievably awkward.

After what had happened upstairs, Judy and Nick hadn't said a word. They just ate in silence for a while. The bunny attempted to say things a few times, but quickly shut herself up before she could make it worse.

"You know, when I invited you two over, I was expecting this to be... less depressing." Mary joked. "What's going on?"

"Fluff here decided to snoop around without asking me." Nick said, tapping his fork against his plate.

"Nick, I'm sorry." Judy replied. "I regret reading it."

"'Reading'?" Mary said. She thought for a moment, before letting out a gasp. "Did you find Nick's old diary? We lost that thing decades ago."

"She sure did." Nick said. "Read the whole thing, too."

"In case you're worried, I didn't find out about your big 'secret' from it, Nick." Judy said.

The fox's ears popped up and his tail twitched. "What are you talking about? I don't have a secret."

"Your tail's all puffed up." Judy said. It was a sure sign of a fox being scared. They were pretty easy to read.

"Oh, his tail puffs up pretty bad when he gets embarrassed, too." Mary said.

"MOM!"

"I don't know what you're hiding Nick," Judy started, with a sigh. "And I will admit, I really want to find out... but you don't HAVE to. Whatever it is, you can tell me when you want to."

"How do you even know I have a secret?" The fox asked.

"All the cryptic things you've said and done over the last while." Judy said. "Also how this place had all of the pictures taken down, and how you reacted to me reading your diary. Pretty big red flags."

"Oh, were the pictures that noticeable?" Mary sighed.

"Kinda, yeah." Judy said with a small chuckle.

Nick sighed. "I'm sorry for lashing out like that." He said. "I should've known that you'd get your ears into something while you were here. Just how you work."

"Glad that's sorted out." Mary said, smiling warmly. "How's the salad, anyway?" She asked Judy.

"Nick wasn't lying." She replied. The salad was really dang good, maybe even better than some of the ones her own parents made. And that was part of their business.

"It really is good, mom." Nick said. "It makes me..." He paused for a moment. "It's... really good."

"Do you want me to pack the leftovers for you?" Mary asked. "Maybe the recipe?"

"Yes. Please."

They ate for a few more minutes, before Judy's phone started to ring. "Oh, hold on a second." She said, getting up from her seat. She quickly answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey, Judy!" Said a nervous sounding ZooSilver as he showed up on the screen. She couldn't make out where he was. "How's the dinner going? Everything fine, not busy?"

"It's going... fine, I suppose." She said. "Max, where are you?"

"Oh, you know, in the Rainforest District. Nice weather."

"Why are you transformed? Judy asked. "Are you in the middle of a fight?"

"Maaaybee-"

"Oh, just get on with it!" Pink shouted, somewhere below the wolf.

"Okay yeah, we're in a lot of trouble and need your help really quick." He said.

"Oh gosh, we'll be there ASAP!" Judy said. She was starting to panic a bit, noticeable by her sudden uncontrollable foot tapping. "How long do you think you can keep fighting?"

"Oh, I think we can hang in there for a bit." Silver said. There were two very distinct loud groans from off camera. He quickly hung up after this.

"Well," Judy said, turning back to the table. "Looks like we have some work to do."

Mary let out a sigh. "I guess something was bound to happen." She said, wistfully, before turning to Nick. "I just can't seem to keep you here."

"Well, you know how this works." Nick said as he got up. "Protecting the city is a very spontaneous job." He started to walk into the living room. "C'mon, Carrots, let's go."

"You're not going to say goodbye to your mom?" Judy said, giving the fox a confused stare.

"You heard Max, they're in trouble." He said, turning to face the rabbit.

"They also said they can hold out for a bit." Judy replied.

"It's fine, Judy." Mary said. "It sounds like there's some trouble."

"No, Nick, you say goodbye to your mother." Judy ordered. "And MEAN it."

"What about the others?"

"I'll go on ahead." She said. "You can get there just as quickly."

The rabbit quickly turned around, and grabbed onto Mary's paw, shaking it firmly. "Thank you for the wonderful meal, ma'am. We'll definitely be coming back."

"What?" Nick said, shocked. Judy had dashed off before he had even finished.

He turned to look at his mom, who got up out of her seat. "Uh... see you later, mom." He said, awkwardly. "I'll just be-"

Before he could finish, his mother hugged him again. "Nick, I am so proud of you." She said.

"You're... what?" He said.

She let go. "I'm incredibly proud of you." She said. "You've grown up into exactly the fox I would've wanted you to be."

"But... What about...?"

"I don't care about that any more." She said. "You're you, and that's what matters most to me now. I was the one in the wrong back then. If you hadn't made that choice, you wouldn't be where you are now."

Nick tried to find something to say. "I... I'm still not sure if that was the right choice, though..."

"Oh, shut up." Mary said. "You're everything you wanted to be when you were little. You're a hero, and you have a wonderful life. You made the best decision of your life."

Nick was flustered, and a bit embarrassed. He wasn't used to compliments, especially after an entire life of being considered nothing but a crook and a liar. "...Thanks." He said, quietly.

Mary walked over to the TV stand, and picked up the picture frame. "This is my favorite picture of all of us." She sighed. "The three of us look so happy."

"I thought you said you stopped caring about... that?" Nick said. "Why do you still have pictures?"

She let out a laugh. "Nick, I have no other pictures of you." She said. "If I had photos of you now, I would absolutely cover the walls with them. But for now, this is all I have."

She sighed again, before opening the picture frame and pulling out the photo. She handed it to her son. "Why are you giving this to me?" He asked.

"I know you have a hard time expressing your feelings." She said. "When you feel ready to tell Judy, give her this picture. It'll be a good place to start."

Nick looked at the photo for a moment. "Thank you." He said, before hugging her in return.

"I love you, mom."

"I love you too."

A moment later, Nick was at the front of the house. Judy had gone, but some tire tracks had been left behind. The fox took one more look at the photo, before folding it up and slipping it into his pocket.

"Not today." He said to himself. "But... soon."

---

The rabbit's bike skid to a halt in front of the large tree. It had been around fifteen minutes since Max had called, hopefully everyone was alright.

She hopped off, and looked around for a moment. She noticed a large piece of rubble next to the massive tree, and briefly wondered what had happened. Before she could ponder for much longer, a burst of air hit her, causing her to stumble for a moment.

"Usually not this windy." She said. "Probably related to the monster."

She placed her paw on her helmet. "Silver?" She said into the commlink. "You there?"

"Yeah, we're here." He said. "You at the bottom of the tree?"

"Yeah, I've been here a few minutes." She said. "Where are you guys?"

"Look up."

Blue quickly looked up. Hanging roughly eight or nine stories above her was Silver, hanging by his blade, and Pinka nd Green hanging by him in return. The blade's whip had dug itself into part of the tree's trunk, letting him hang on and not fall to their deaths.

"How in the world did that happen?" Blue asked.

"The monster got an upgrade, he's a lot stronger now." Silver explained.

"Also it picked a really bad spot for us to fight it." Green followed.

"Red and I will get you guys down from there..." She looked around. "Once he actually shows up, that is."

The rabbit's ears twitched as she heard another motorcycle engine nearing. She turned towards the exit of the parking lot, as Red zoomed in on his bike.

He practically leaped off, sword ready as he landed. "Sorry for being late, I'm ready now!" He shouted.

"Calm down, firefox." Blue said. "The monster's not here by the looks of things, no need to fight yet."

"Oh, alright." Red said. He quickly looked at her. "Don't ever call me 'firefox' again, alright?"

"Sorry." She replied, before quickly shaking it off. "Silver, Emily, and Henry are stuck up there, and we need to help them down before we take the monster on."

"Okay... How are we going to do that?" The fox asked, looking up at the three hanging mammals. "They're not next to the walkway, so we can't just pull them in."

"Hah, easy." Blue said. "We just have to get up to the part where the whip and the walkway meet, then we can pull them in!"

The two quickly ran up the walkway, reaching that very point. Blue hopped up onto the wooden railing and looked down. The three were still a story or two underneath where they were, which could potentially be a problem.

"Alright, Red, do you think you can hold me out a bit?" Blue asked, turning back to the fox.

"Excuse me?"

"Just stand up here and grab my paw," She started. "Then I'll grab onto the whip, and we can pull them all up."

"I dunno..." The fox muttered, crossing his arms.

"Would you rather grab it instead?"

Soon, the fox was standing on the edge of the railing, grabbing onto the rabbit's paw. He leaned back as she grabbed onto the whip, and then instantly fell backwards. The two were flung back in, with enough force to bring the energy whip in with them.

"Alright, that went smoother than I thought it would" Blue admitted.

The two started to reel the whip in, and eventually pulled the three other rangers onto safe ground.

"I'd like a bit of a more detailed explanation of what's going on here." Blue said as the three recuperated themselves.

"The monster made a wind storm, which knocked the sky deck here off of its bolts." Green explained.

"We managed to save everyone that was inside, but the monster's still running around here." Pink followed.

"And the wind is still bad." Silver finished.

"Judging by the wind, the thing is still in this area." Green continued.

"But you have no idea where it could be by now, right?" Red finished. "Is this going to be another thing where we race around the city trying to find a monster?"

Suddenly, the tree started to shake. It stopped for a moment, before happening again. It was starting to get closer.

"Alright, guess that I'm wrong."

The five quickly readied readied their weapons as two large, clawed hands reached up and grabbed onto the side of the railings. The massive head of Chaos Kasabake the rose up as well, and glared at the five.

"Really, you can't just stay dead?" The monster said, sounding disappointed. "I still have one more part of the city to ruin before the day ends, and you guys keep getting in my way!"

Without saying anything, Blue quickly started to fire at the monster with her blasters, specifically aiming for the eyes. "Ow, ouch, hey!" The monster shouted. "What are you trying to do?"

The rabbit then leaped forwards, and delivered a kick directly to the monster's eye, causing it to fling back for a moment. It let out a grunt, and then turned around, crawling downwards.

"Heck was that about?" Red asked.

"I was trying to knock it off." Blue said. "A fall from this height would probably dangerous, even for something that... big."

"Wait, that guy's an umbrella, right?" Silver interjected.

"In a loose sense he could be called that, yes." Pink responded. "What're you getting at?"

"What happens when umbrellas get caught in the wind?"

"They blow away!" Blue answered. "If he's latching himself to the tree somehow, then that must mean he knows what will happen."

"So we just need to knock the inkstain off the tree, and then it'll be out of our faces for a while." Red guessed.

Blue nodded. "Hopefully it'll go away until tomorrow."

The five quickly rushed down to the bottom of the tree, and almost instantly spotted the spider-monster-thing, clinging to the tree bark by his pen-tipped legs. "It looks like you dunces really just want to be blown away by me!" It mocked as it climbed down more towards the base.

"Actually, all we really want to see is you... getting... blow up!" Red said. "Sorry, I'm a bit off my game right now."

"It's fine." Blue said. She quickly pointed her dagger at the monster. "Time for this spider to get flushed down the drain!"

"Damn it, that was a good one!" The fox muttered to himself.

The monster let out a laugh. "Good one, how are runts like you going to knock me down!?" It mocked. "I've dug my legs in deep enough that not even a hurricane could unlatch me!"

Blue glanced at the others. "Alright," She started. "I think I have an idea, we just need to get this all set up." She said. "Em, Henry, you two distract it, we'll get it off the tree."

The two nodded in response, and readied their guns. They started to fire at the monster rapidly, as Red, Blue, and Silver ran towards the tree.

"Hey, stop it!" The monster shouted. "What are you even trying to do!?"

The other quickly ended up underneath the monster. "Silver, fire a few flames at it to loosen the thing up." Blue ordered. Silver nodded, and quickly spun his blade's guard around, switching it to Sun Mode.

He thrust the blade upwards several times, firing off a flurry of fireballs at the monsters legs. The flames collided, causing the monster to let out a yelp, and its legs to catch on fire. It pulled one of its legs out in an attempt to start cooling them down, but realized that was a mistake.

"Better stop drop and roll!" Red yelled up.

The monster let out a frustrated growl as its legs continued to burn.

"We can help you with that!" Red said, pulling out a red ZooTag.

"GAO, RAWR!
BEAT THE BEAST
KING OF THE JUNGLE
BRAVE, GAO!"

The twin blades appeared in his paws, before he leaped up into the air and started to spin around. He leaped up high enough to slice directly through three of the monster's six legs, leaving the stubs locked in the tree's bark.

It roared in pain, as Blue pulled out her blasters, and fired at the other three legs, softening them up more. She then readied her daggers, and threw them directly at two of the legs, severing them.

The monster let out another pained yell as it lost balance, and swing down, slamming the top of its head into the tree. Silver quickly leaped up, and slashed through the leg, causing the monster to fall to the ground with a large crash. It thrashed around for a moment as it attempted to get back to its now severed legs, which were bleeding red ink.

Eventually it managed to flip over, and let out another roar as it stomped its stubs on the ground. "Time for us to fight on equal footing, freaks!" It said.

"Looks like you missed the weather report, inkstain." Red said.

"Yeah, you're going to be going for a little winter holiday." Blue said. "And hopefully stay out of our way for the rest of the evening!"

"What?" The monster said, confused. Its query was answered as a gust of wind started to blow. The rangers braced themselves as it continued to get stronger and stronger. "Wait, no!" The monster shouted. "I made this storm, how can it- waaah!"

With one final push of the wind, the monster was knocked off of its stub feet, and flung through the air. It tossed and turned as it flew, smacking into several trees as it continued along. "You haven't seen the last of meeeeeeeeeeeeee!" It cried as it vanished off into the horizon.

Judy let out a sigh of relief as she untransformed, alongside everyone else. Almost instantly, the wind started to calm down. "Well, that's one thing we don't have to worry about right now." Nick said, rubbing his neck.

Without saying anything, Max rushed over to his car, leaving the four others behind. He quickly opened the passenger's door. "You alright?" He asked the female wolf.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said, looking up from her phone. "Buuut, if we don't hurry up, we'll be late for our dinner." She said, waving the phone around.

"Oh, poop, it is soon, isn't it?" The wolf said. He quickly turned back to the others. "Guys, I have to go! I'll see you all later tonight!"

"Got it!" Judy shouted back, giving a thumbs up.

Silver quickly got in the car, and drove off, leaving everyone else behind.

"So, who was he talking to in there?" Nick asked.

"Em thinks its his girlfriend." Henry said, bluntly.

"Oh, come ON, Horns!" She growled, delivering a swift punch to the bull's side.

Nick let out a chuckle. "Seriously, Em?" He said. "Why are you getting upset about that?"

"It's because she has a crush on Max." Judy said.

The three looked at her, surprised.

"What?" She said. "She's been acting weird around him for like, two months, it's really obvious."

The hyena let out a sigh, and drooped down. "I don't know, I just got really upset when I saw him with... someone else." She said. "Maybe if I had said something to him, but I... guess I just wanted to keep up the tough act."

"Yeah, probably." Nick said, bluntly. "But, if that's who he wants to go out with, it's Wolfbane's choice."

"You're right." Emily said, with a disappointed sigh.

"Hey, don't look so down!" Judy said, hopping up and giving the hyena a punch in the side. "You two are going to the Kitmas party tonight, right?"

"Yeah, pretty sure we are..."

"Well, Max is going to be there too!" The rabbit continued. "If you want to tell him how you feel, you can do it then!"

The hyena stood up straight, a smile growing. "Yeah, you're right!" She said, confidently. "I can do that! Maybe everything will turn out alright."

"Well, we still have a few hours left until the party." Nick said, glancing at his phone. "You guys up to anything?"

"No, not really." Henry said. Emily nodded, looking a bit embarrassed.

"We're going to go see the annual Kitmas tree lighting in Tundra Town Square." Judy said. "That starts soon enough. Wanna come with us?"

Henry and Emily looked at each other, and then both shrugged. "Sure, why not." The hyena said.

---

A short while had passed since Chaos Kasabake had been blown away in the wind. Right now, it was dark, and he was in the middle of nowhere in the Rainforest District, flipped upside down, and almost eye-deep in mud.

Needless to say, this wasn't how he was expecting this all to go.

"Maybe I should have actually fought back." It muttered to itself.

"You're looking rather down there, Kasabake." A voice said.

"Who's there?" The monster said, rocking side to side. "I'd turn around to look at you, but I don't have a neck!"

"Ugh, do we really have to put up with this guy?" A second, more snarly voice responded.

"He's amusing." The first voice said.

Chaos Kasabake soon found himself being grabbed by his abdomen, and was then suddenly flipped over onto his stumps with a huge splash of mud. He slowly turned around with pained steps, until he saw who it was.

"It was ZooDark, with Savage floating up above him. "Bonjour." The evil ranger said.

"Hey, you're that guy who was making fun of me earlier." The monster said. "Why did you help me?"

"Like I said, you're amusing." ZooDark responded. "I'm also curious about how rough the Zoorangers have been treating you."

"I know, right?" Kasabake said. "I get them fighting me, but they've just been rude and mean! It's like I barged in on some kind of major holiday!"

ZooDark placed his gloved hand to his chin, and thought for a moment. "Why did we just assume that they didn't have a form of Christmas here?" He asked.

"Hello?" Savage said, waving a skeletal claw in front of Enter's face. "You have a spirit who's existed from the beginning of time stuck in you, I can tell you anything." He said. "They have this thing called Kitmas here where all the good children in the world get presents or something. It's childish and boring, I'd rather there be a holiday about murder."

"That sounds exactly like Christmas." ZooDark said, before letting out a small laugh. "Say, Kasabake, do you want to help me ruin a holiday for this city?"

"Ooh, I'd love to!" The monster said. "But... I still don't have any legs. I can't really move around without them."

"Let me handle this." Savage said. He held his claws up, black energy gathering in them. He then thrust them both towards Chaos Kasabake, the energy flying from them and into the yokai's body.

The energy flowed into its body, and coursed into its six severed legs. From the stumps, black energy started to rise, and formed into new replacements for the last ones. A misty, black aura surrounded the monster as it let out a roar. "I feel... even more strong now!" It roared as it stomped its new feet around.

"There's only a few hours before Kitmas starts." Savage said.

"If we want to ruin it, then we need to find the 'heart' of it." ZooDark said. "And, considering this city, there's only one spot that truly fits that mark."

"Lead the way, and we can do this together!" Kasbake cheered.

ZooDark just shook his head in response, before heading off.

---

In the middle of Tundra Town, a massive, artificial tree had been set up. It was larger than most buildings in the area, and towered over even giraffes. It was covered in different decorations each year, but always tipped with a large, yellow star that let out a warm glow. Every year, mammals from all parts of the city would come to see it as it lit up at night. It was something Judy had never missed the few years she had been living there. Heck, even with Nick's pessimism in some places, it was something he would always go to without complaint as well.

It felt nice to be heading there with some new friends.

"That thing is massive." Emily said as they looked up at the tree. The four were all bundled up in warm clothes, something they never really got to wear for most of the year. "I think the last time I saw it in person was when I was seven." She continued. "Every other time was on TV. The screen doesn't do it justice."

"I know, right?" Judy said. "It feels like they make it bigger and bigger each year."

"I can assure you that this is the exact same tree, every year." Nick said. "At least, for the last while, it gets replaced every so often."

"It's definitely a marvel of engineering." Henry said. "Pretty impressive for a holiday that only half the world actually celebrates."

The four waited around, as a larger crowd started to gather. "How long until this thing lights up, anyway?" Emily asked after ten minutes.

"About a half hour, maybe?" Nick said, checking his phone. "Forty minutes tops, usually goes up around eight."

"Oh, hey, guys!" Shouted someone from behind them.

They all turned around to see Max, along with the female wolf from earlier, running towards them and waving.

"Maybe you'll get a chance earlier than you thought." Henry whispered to the hyena.

The two were also bundled up, and ran over to the four quickly. "I'm sorry, I never got to introduce myself earlier." The other wolf said, holding out her paw towards Emily. The two started to shake paws. "My name's Lisa, I'm Max's-"

"Girlfriends, yeah, we could tell." Emily quickly said.

The two wolves suddenly looked really shocked, and then glared at each other. "I'm... I'm his SISTER." Lisa said.

Emily let go of Lisa's paw, and her jaw hung open. Henry started to laugh, as Judy just clenched her teeth. "Oooh, boy, talk about an embarrassment." Nick said.

"Oh, god, I'm so sorry." The hyena said. "I just... I saw you two out together, and I assumed... I'm really sorry."

"It's okay." Lisa said, still sounding a bit embarrassed. Max looked completely mortified however. "I moved out of the city for work a few years ago, Kitmas time is the only time I get to see the rest of the family."

"Did it really look like we were on a date?" Max said, thinking back.

"Yikes, don't let it get to you, Maxy." Lisa said, quickly nudging him with her elbow. "It was just a mistake."

"We need to plan things out better next year."

"But yeah, we come see the tree every year." She continued, before glancing around. The crowd had gotten even bigger. "I'm guessing most of the city does too!"

"It's... it's a tradition!" Judy said, trying to move on from the awkward mistake.

Nick looked on as Judy, Lisa, Emily, and Max continued talking. He felt at the photo in his pocket. Why did he bring it with him? He wasn't sure, but it was making him think... maybe tonight would be the best time. He reached into his pocket and felt at the photo more, before letting out a sigh.

"Something wrong, Nick?" Henry asked. "You look a bit down."

"I... I want to say something to everyone, but..." He stuttered for a moment. "I'm... nervous."

"You, nervous?" Henry said, surprised. He thought for a moment, and then nodded. "Alright, if you're having trouble, why don't I help you?"

"How?"

"I'll tell everyone that you have something to say." He said. "That way, it'll ease you in better. But I'll let you know beforehand."

"Uh, alright." Nick said, without thinking.

"Of course, if you don't want me to, I can just forget it." The bull continued.

"Uh, just give me a minute." The fox said, shaking his head. He quickly walked over to a clearing, and started to think. This went on for a few minutes, as he weighed the pros and cons.

But he was quickly distracted, as something from the tree started to shine. It was rather annoyingly bright, but something from it felt... wrong. He quickly checked his phone. It wasn't eight yet, so the tree shouldn't have been going off...

He turned around, seeing a large, glowing sphere hovering directly above the tree. He headed into the crowd, where it became apparent that nobody else there was sure what the sphere was either.

"Is this a new decoration?"

"Reminds me of New Year's."

"It looks like its moving..."

Nick quickly found the rest of the team. "So, they decide to set the sun up early, or is this weird?" He asked them.

Emily shrugged. "Kinda just fell from the sky." She explained.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Judy said, tapping her foot. "I think this might be monster related."

"Well, there's three options." Nick said. "It's a new decoration, the world is ending, or-"

All of the sudden, the orb started to pulse in and out, the light starting to become more and more intense as it continued. It suddenly grew to a massive size, and impaled itself directly on the star. With a POP, a fountain of red ink suddenly spilled out over the crowd, including the the others, and the snow.

"-Or it could be that." Nick said, rubbing the ink from his face alongside the others.

The crowd started to panic at the sudden attack, their screams not managing to cover up monstrous laughter from above. Judy managed to clean her eyes off just in time to see Chaos Kasabake fall from the sky, larger than before. It fell directly onto the tree, wrapping its legs around it and causing it to tilt.

As the rest of the gang, besides Lisa had cleared off their eyes, they watched as a figure hopped off of the back of Chaos Kasabake. It landed in the snow, and sent an instant pang of dread and despair through them.

"Ah, nice to see you five again." ZooDark said as he stepped towards them, drawing his own rapier.

"L," Max started, helping his blinded sibling up. He quickly wiped the ink off of her eyes. "You need to get out of here." He said.

"What? Why?"

"Just run." He said.

She noticed ZooDark.

"Oh, okay, got it." She said, before dashing off.

Max turned back to the monster.

"Oh, did I interrupt something?" ZooDark said. "Maybe, say, a holiday?"

"Are you really that petty, Enter?" Judy asked. "Are you really going to ruin Kitmas for everyone in the city, just because?"

ZooDark thought for a moment. "Yes. Yes I am." He said. "And I suppose you five are dumb enough to try and stop me, hm?"

"Oh, you know we are." Nick said, as he and Judy pulled out the sun and moon shaped ZooTags.

They quickly transformed, drawing their weapons and then dashing at ZooDark. Max quickly started to transform into ZooSilver, and then pulled out a small disc to shift into Rampage mode. Emily and Henry readied their armor and weapons. The three prepared to follow Red and Blue, but Chaos Kasabake quickly leaped off of the tree, crashing in front of them.

"How bout you take me on first!?" The monster roared.

"Good idea, you'll be a good warm-up." Pink retorted.

Kasabake gasped in shock. "How dare you?!" It yelled. "I'll show you all how great Kasabake is!"

Its mouth quickly opened, before the foot-tipped tongue launched out towards Silver. The wolf dodged out of the way as the foot slammed directly into the snow, but the monster swung its giant mitt at the wolf at the same time, knocking him into the snow. The monster raised one of its legs above Silver's head, and prepared to bring it down.

Pink and Green started to fire on the monster, causing it to fall off balance. As the two distracted the monster, Silver quickly aimed his gun arm at the yokai's underbelly. he fired a few shots, and then activated the jetpack, causing him to skid through the snow and then arc up into the air. He quickly fell back to the ground, back on his feet.

Blue and Red drew their weapons as ZooDark glared down at them. He then let out a short laugh. "Even when there was three of you, you couldn't touch me." He said. "Why do you think you can do it now?"

"You messed with the wrong holiday." Blue growled. She quickly dashed forwards and leaped up, bringing her blades down on the dark ranger. He blocked the double strike with his rapier, and then pushed her back to the ground.

"Wouldn't be the first time." ZooDark responded.

The two then rushed at the monster at the same time. "Lemme handle this." Savage said, appearing from ZooDark's back. He flew at Blue, a strand of dark energy connecting him to Enter's body, and started to swipe at her. ZooDark himself turned to Red.

The fox leaped up and attempted to jab the android with his staff. It extended rapidly, but ZooDark managed to catch it in his hand with little effort. ZooDark shook his head, disappointed.

"Wrong move, jackass."

A sudden burst of fire flew from the staff's end. The force was enough to knock ZooDark to the ground. He started to get back almost instantly. "You are all so annoying sometimes." ZooDark said, sounding a tad bit more agitated.

Blue continued to block Savage's fast and furious swipes, only barely managing in some cases. "C'mon, rabbit!" The spirit monster mocked. "You gonna try to hit me or what!?"

"I would if you had any openings!" She retorted.

"Oh yeah!" The monster laughed, without breaking his constant wall of attacks.

Blue was starting to get annoyed. She prepared for another block, but this time angled her blades in a way that they ended up sliding between the monster's claws. "What!?" Savage let out, surprised.

"Just because you have no openings doesn't mean I can't MAKE one!" She said, before pushing the claws away, revealing Savage's body. She quickly let go of the blades, and then performed a dropkick, right into the monster's chest. The spirit beast was knocked back, in pain.

Suddenly, ZooDark started to spark for a moment. He clutched at his own chest as a sharp pain shot through it. "Looking a bit off there," Red started, noticing the monster's pain. "Something up?"

ZooDark let out a growl, before flinging his hand forward. It fired out an erratic flurry of dark energy projectiles. Red quickly spun his staff around, blocking the energy bolts as they flew at him.

The erratic fire caused some of the bolts to fly past the fox, and strike at Silver, Green, and Pink. The energy struck at them and the ground, causing snow to explode around them.

Chaos Kasabake stomped towards the three distracted rangers, and prepared to slam his hands down on them. The three managed to recover in time, and quickly leaped out of the way as Kasabake's hands came down. Pink went to the right of the monster, Green to the left, and Silver right underneath it. The three continued to fire at the monster as they met up on the other side.

"I think you three need to SIT STILL for a bit!" The monster up for a moment, the monster fired out bursts of ink out of its abdomen, The three were struck with the sticky ink, wrapping them and leaving them tied up on the ground.

ZooDark rushed at Red, and the two started to clash weapons. "Have you heard the story of the Go-Busters?" The dark ranger asked as he jabbed his blade downwards.

"Yeah, I did!" Red said, stepping out of the way as the blade impaled itself into the snow. "They lost their parents, because of your old boss."

"Oh, I see Blue Buster informed you." He continued, before swinging his blade upwards, flinging snow at the fox. "But did he tell you what day it was when Vagrass attacked?"

"What?" The fox said, wiping the snow off his visor. The sword smacked him directly in the chin, knocking him to the ground.

"Today was the day Vagrass attacked." ZooDark said as he walked up to the recovering fox. "Today was the day their lives were ruined. And you're getting up set at me for attacking a tree?"

He knelt down, and grabbed the fox's helmet with his free hand.

"I could do so much worse." He said. "I could destroy this city and all you love. Wouldn't that be a hell of a way to ruin Christmas?"

"It isn't just a tree!" Blue shouted as she continued to fight against Savage. ZooDark rose up, and turned to look at her. Without looking back, she continued. "The tree is a symbol of togetherness and hope! Right now, it's a beacon of light that shines through your darkness!"

"Very dramatic," ZooDark said. "But it isn't even a real tree."

"Does that matter!?" She shouted back. "This tree still standing means that we all can get through this," She continued, still continuing to clash with Savage. She quickly started to lash out more, breaking through the monster's defense in a matter of seconds. "...No matter how ROUGH-" She quickly slashed both swords down, cleaving right through Savage. The two connected monsters reeled in pain in response. "-It gets!" She finished.

ZooDark shook off some of the pain, and let out an annoyed grunt as he recovered from the blow. "Togetherness, hope?" He said with a scoff. He then noticed the three rangers that had been incapacitated. "Let's see if I can destroy both those things for you."

He leaped off, and landed next to the three. He tossed his rapier up in the air, and caught it by the handle, blade pointing down. The three started to struggle as ZooDark examined them. "Let's see..."

"STOP!" Red shouted as he started to run at the dark ranger. Savage got in his way, and the two started to spar.

With Red distracted, Blue made the run instead. "No you don't!" Savage yelled." He suddenly appeared in front of Blue, causing her to skid to a halt. He slashed at her before she could stop, and then vanished, reappearing back in front of Red in order to strike at him again. The monster continued to teleport between the two, keeping them from ZooDark.

"I think you'll do nicely." ZooDark said, looking at Pink. "Weak and insecure."

"If I could spit out of this thing, I would." She retorted.

"Hush." He said, calmly. "Think of yourself as a martyr."

"Don't!" Silver shouted, managing to flick his legs and hit ZooDark in the shin. "Kill me instead."

"Oh, another hero willing to sacrifice himself." ZooDark said. "What is it with you all and being so willing to risk your lives?"

The wolf quickly turned to the bull next to him. "You gonna pitch in, or...?"

"You''re the one who started it, so..."

"Oh, I know." The dark ranger said. "I'll just kill all of you."

He raised his blade, poised to stab it directly into the hyena's heart...

Suddenly, a snowball flew directly into his visor.

Everything fell silent.

"...What?" The dark ranger said, feeling at the snow on his visor.

Suddenly, another one hit him. He turned towards the thrower. It was Lisa, who was gathering snow in her paws in preperation. "Get away from them!" She shouted, before throwing another one at the monster.

"L, I told you to get away from here!" Silver shouted.

"Yeah, like I'd just leave you to die!" She shouted back, throwing another snowball at ZooDark.

"A relative, I presume?" ZooDark asked. He looked at her. "Not worth my time. Kasabake, kill that girl."

"Yessir!" The monster said, before stomping towards her. Silver let out a yell as he struggled more.

"DON'T YOU DARE!" He yelled.

Lisa backed away as the massive monster peered over her, eye shining in the dead of night. "Time to rub you out, pest!" It said as it approached her.

She was frozen for a second. She shouldn't have tried to help, she should've just...

Her eye quickly flicked to to the tree. Suddenly, it started to light up. A blinding burst of lights of all kinds bloomed to life, covering the white snow in a technicolor dance. The star on top started to shine a glowing yellow, and spun around. The monsters stumbled back as the light overpowered them.

"Eight already?" Red said.

The wolf suddenly felt something inside her. Building up her courage, she threw another snowball at the giant spider monster, hitting it directly in the eye. "Hey!" It shouted. "That stings!"

"You know how often I get to see my brother!?" She shouted, throwing another snowball. "ONCE A YEAR! I'm NOT letting you jerks ruin this!"

Kasabake started to stumble back as snowballs continued to hit him. "Enter, help!" It cried.

ZooDark let out another growl, this one loud enough to show that he was well and truly angry. "You can't kill one dog!?" He said, before starting towards Lisa. "You've certainly been a pain, you mongrel!"

Lisa quickly turned as ZooDark suddenly appeared right in front of her. He rose his sword, preparing to bring it down on her. The wolf braced herself, but another snowball suddenly flew out of nowhere and hit him on the face.

It had come from a small lion cub. While the fight had been going on and distracting everyone, a large crowd had slowly formed. They had been inspired by Lisa's bravery and every single mammal, large and small, held a snowball in their paws.A suddenly flurry of snow came from the crowd, as snowballs of all sizes rained down on ZooDark and Kasabake.

"Not your lucky day, huh?" Savage mocked. With a growl, ZooDark forcibly called him back. He grabbed onto the spirit monster and held him up, causing him to be hit by some of the snowballs.A particularly large one, thrown by an elephant, knocked the two to the ground.

Using this chance, Red quickly dashed over, and cut the three from the sticky ink with his claws. He helped them up and away as ZooDark and Savage got back up, turning towards the Zoorangers. Blue quickly started to walk towards the others.

"This is what I mean!" Blue shouted. "It might be a fake tree, but a symbol of hope is still HOPE! Even if you did manage, you'd never be able to destroy the hope in this city!"

"Everyone here is going to live through this." Red followed from the rabbit. "And we're going to make sure of it!"

Silver, Pink, and Green nodded, and the five quickly gathered together in a group.

"No matter how much damage you cause, no matter how much you threaten," Blue started, pointing towards ZooDark.

"YOU AREN'T RUINING KITMAS!"

Suddenly, a green and red light started to glow at the rabbit's paw. It faded after a moment, but left something in her grasp. It was a half red, half green ZooTag, with a tree image on it.

"What is that?" Red asked.

"I think I know." She said, grasping the ZooTag. "Red, we're going back to our normal forms." She said.

"What?"

"We need to form the Zookaiser."

"Oh."

The two shifted from their solar and lunar modes back to normal, and pulled out their usual weapons. "Ready to go, guys?" Blue asked.

"Always am." Silver said.

"I mean, why wouldn't we?" Pink said. Green just gave a nod.

Red, Blue, and Silver tossed their weapons into the air, which quickly combined into the Zookaiser. They caught it, and Pink and Green prepared to fire their own guns.

"Kasabake!" ZooDark shouted. "Get them!"

The spider monster was still being pelted by the snowballs, but quickly turned and started to stomp towards the five. Blue plugged the multi-colored ZooTag into the Zookaiser, causing energy to gather in its barrel.

The monster stomped closer and closer as the energy continued to charge. "Alright, GO!" Blue shouted. Red pulled the trigger, and Pink and Green fired their weapons.

"MERRY KITMAS BLAST!"

The energy fired out, forming into a large, decorated tree. The monster tried to stop, but found the tree piercing directly through its eye, and then out the other end. The tree-shaped projectile continued on after it flew through Chaos Kasabake, and headed straight for ZooDark. It hit him, causing a large explosion.

"Looks like I'm the one who got squished!" Kasabake moaned as it sparked and stumbled around, before erupting into a massive, red and green explosion. Several sparks flew out of the spectacular explosion, which in turn exploded in a dazzling fireworks display. A small fountain pen also flew out of the explosion, and landed in the snow. When the explosion cleared, a Chaos Badge fell to the ground as well.

"Wow, that was something." Red said, in awe.

ZooDark stumbled from the remains of the explosion. "You just got lucky." He growled. "It won't happen again."

He then burst into dark energy, and vanished.

The five let out sighs of relief shortly afterwards. "Thank god that's over with." Red said.

The Chaos Badge suddenly burst from the snow, and then flew off into the outskirts of the city. It burst into red light, which formed into Chaos Kasabake, completely restored. "TIME TO PUT AN END TO THIS STORY!" The monster roared as its legs stomped towards the city.

Red let out a sigh, before pulling out a red ZooTag. "Alright, let's get this over with."

Red, Blue, and Silver called upon their mechas, as well as ZooShishi, which quickly formed into the ultimate form of ZooRobo. The mech formed and crashed into the ground, and started to stomp towards the monster. It quickly swing at the spider with its sword, causing it to reel back in pain.

The monster roared, before a cloud of ink burst from its head. It flew directly at ZooRobo, and started to cloud around its head. The mech was blinded, and thrashed around for a few moments. "Augh, we've been blinded!" Blue shouted

"Chance!" The monster gleefully laughed. Kasabake stomped forwards and slashed at ZooRobo with its claws, causing it to fall back instead.

The mech was knocked out of the cloud of ink, and fell to the ground. It started to get up, but the monster suddenly lashed its foot-tongue at them. It rolled out of the way, before jumping back to its feet. "This is starting to get annoying." Red said, as the mech flicked its cape.

The monster shot its tongue out once more, this time aiming it directly at the robot's face. ZooRobo caught the tongue before it could hit, and then raised its blade. "Wayth!" The monster said. "Don doo iht!"

The mech brought the blade down, severing the tongue from Kasabake's mouth. ZooRobo then dropped it to the ground as the monster clutched at its mouth, yelling in pain.

"Alright, let's just finish him off." Silver said. "If we don't do it soon, we'll be late for the party!"

"Got it." Blue said with a nod. She pulled out the Kitmas-themed ZooTag again, and glanced at it. "...I wonder if this thing will work with our robot?"

"I don't see why you shouldn't test it." Red said with a shrug.

She plugged the ZooTag into her control panel. Suddenly, ZooRobo's sword started to glow red and green. It raised it to the air, where an energy mirage of a Kitmas tree appeared around it, extending high up into the air, larger than the actual blade itself.

"Nice." Red said.

"SILENT NIGHT SLASH!" Blue shouted as ZooRobo brought the blade down on to the monster. It cleaved directly through it, the energy disappearing shortly after.

The monster let out a pained yell. "Looks like my sentence ends with a period!" It shouted as it started to spark. It let out a scream before it exploded.

As the explosion erupted, this one just as fantastic as the last one, ZooRobo turned around and struck a heroic pose.

The mech disappeared, and the three returned to the ground. All five untransformed after this, and after a few minutes, the crowd had gathered back around the tree. "I'm glad nothing bad happened." Judy said. "This could have gone so much worse."

"Yeah, it really could have." Nick said, thinking back to what Enter had told him. He shook it off, and looked back at the tree. He then looked at everyone around him.

The group started to calm down and relax for the next while. Emily and Lisa got into a friendly conversation, while Max and Judy talked as well. Nick remained silent for the entire time, with Henry not taking his eyes off him.

The bull cleared his throat. "I believe that Nick wants to tell all of you something." He said.

"What!?" Nick shouted, glaring at the bull. That wasn't what he said he could do.

"Really?" Judy said, raising an eyebrow. "You gonna spit it out tonight, huh?"

"I, uh..." The fox said. "...Can we go somewhere where no one else is listening?"

"I don't think this involves me." Lisa said. She gave her brother a pat on the shoulder. "You go enjoy the party, I'll be Mom's." She said.

"I'll meet you there." Max said. The two hugged, and then Lisa headed off.

A moment later, the five headed away from the crowd. "I thought you were okay with me not saying anything." Nick whispered.

"If I hadn't done anything, then you never would have said anything anyway." The bull retorted.

He had him there.

Nick stopped several meters from the rest of the crowd. "So, uh, what are you going to tell us?" Emily asked.

"Well, I..." Nick started, before gulping. He felt at the picture in his pocket. "I wanted to tell you all something... important."

Suddenly, his eyes widened. Oh god, he shouldn't tell them all, not like this not right here not right now

but he couldn't leave them hanging. Lying his way out of this situation would be incredibly obvious at this point, so he needed to come up with something else important, and most importantly, true.

He cleared his throat, and took a deep breath. "I just wanted to say that, uh..."

By this point, Judy knew that he wasn't going to spill out his actual secret. That was just how the fox worked, he wasn't really capable of getting his emotions out without effort, and something that important would probably be incredibly difficult. Still, she was interested in whatever he WAS going to say.

"I..." Nick paused. "I love all you guys."

That was definitely shocking.

"My entire life, I never felt like I belonged anywhere." He continued, pacing around. "Even after becoming a cop, I always felt out of place. But... but after everything that's happened, I think I found... where I belong."

Tears started to well up in his eyes as he looked over the stunned mammals. "All that stuff about you guys being family?" He continued. "That wasn't me exaggerating. I know it might not seem like it, but I'm happier now than I have been in thirty years. I know it's only been less than a year, and I know that the world's in danger... but with all five of you, I just... I just want to thank you all."

There was stunned silence from the fox's sudden, impassioned admittance.

"We love you too, Nick." Judy said. "You've been difficult with all of us, I feel, but..."

"No one else like you." Emily finished. "That's what makes you so great."

"yeah, no matter how pessimistic, sarcastic, annoying, or insufferable you get," Max started. "I'm glad to be your friend."

Henry gave an approving nod.

"I'm... glad all of you think so too." The fox finished.

"Alright, time to finish this sentimental moment!" Henry said, cheerfully. He scooped up the other four into a large hug, almost, but just barely mot, crushing them. "Group hug!"

Nick tried to let out a laugh, but it came out as a wheeze.

---

An hour had passed, and the five had wound up at the station's annual Kitmas party. It happened late at night, and not everyone could be there for various reasons, but everyone who could showed up. It was the funnest the station ever got, outside of the Halloween party.

Even Bogo loosened up a bit. He still got angry when something stupid happened, but what he considered stupid was slightly more lenient.

The gift exchange was already well underway, and Judy and Nick had already given out their gifts. Everyone that could make it was in the lobby, waiting for them to be called to hand out their gifts. There were only a few more gifts left to give out, and that included Max's gift.

Judy was hanging around the refreshment table, which mostly had punch and such. A small staircase had been attached to it so the smaller officers could access it. She was scooping out some punch for her and Nick, but suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around, and saw Emily.

She glanced around for a moment, and then started to whisper. "Hey, so, if Max wasn't on a date with anyone... why did he ask you about romantic advice?"

"How do you know he-?"

"I was eavesdropping." Emily said.

"Oh, of course." Judy sighed. "I don't really know why, maybe he's going to ask someone here out?" She continued, scooping some punch into a paper cup.

"Well, do you think..."

"Oooh." The rabbit said. "You think that he's going to ask you out tonight, right?"

The hyena nodded.

Judy shrugged. "Maybe he will, maybe he won't, we won't know until its his turn."

Meanwhile, several feet away, Bogo was looking at a list of names on his clipboard. He glanced up from it. "Officer Wolford!" He shouted. The wolf, who had just been in a conversation with Delgato, jolted up and turned stiff. "It's your turn!" The chief continued to shout.

The wolf became incredibly nervous as everyone turned to him. "Who'd you get?" Delgato asked.

"Well, I, uh, um, uh..." He sputtered, before glancing around. He quickly found Judy and Emily, the hyena in particular looking a bit excited. He then glanced over to Henry, who was reading a book over at the far side of the room.

He then looked at Delgato, and took a deep breath. "I, uh... I got you."

Emily's excitement faded as her ears started to twitch.

"Oh, nice." The tiger said.

The wolf held his breath as he pulled out a present. It was wrapped in red and white stripped paper, and was noticeably flat. He handed them to Delgato, who started to unwrap it.

Inside the wrapping were two movie tickets. Delgato looked at them, quizzically, and then looked at Max. "Movie tickets?" He said, a bit confused.

"Well, that movie you've been talking about is coming out soon," The wolf started, rubbing the back of his head. "So, I thought, maybe, we could... go see it together? Like... a... a date?"

There was a surprised gasp from everyone in the lobby... aside from Emily, who's jaw had just dropped open.

"You're asking me out on a date?" Delgato asked.

Max nodded.

The tiger shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

Almost instantly, the wolf passed out.

Henry walked over to the punch table, which Judy had quickly hopped down from after this event, though Emily was still staring slack-jawed into the distance. The bull tapped her on the shoulder, but got nothing. "You know we didn't actually put our names in the draw, right?" He said.

Emily groaned in response, jaw still hanging open.

Judy headed outside with two cups of punch. Nick was sitting on the steps, and looking up into the night sky. She sat next to him on the steps, handing him the cup of punch. "Sounds like something went on in there." The fox said.

"Max asked Delgato out on a date." Judy said, frankly.

"Huh."

"You're not surprised by that?" She asked.

"I would be if I cared about stuff like that." The fox said. "Just let him be."

"Oh, I don't think him being gay is bad, its just surprising."

"Hm."

"Why don't you come inside?" Judy asked. "It's fun."

"I don't really feel like it this year." He said. "It's nice to just be somewhere quiet for a bit."

"You thinking about your mom?"

"Kind of, yeah." He said. "Also been thinking about the monsters and stuff."

"Are you scared?"

"...Maybe a bit."

"Well, I don't think you should be." She said, confidently. "Think about what happened tonight. We managed to take down Enter and a monster, that means we can win, right?"

Nick smiled. "Nice to have your optimism around." He said. The rabbit chuckled in response.

They both fell silent for a bit, enjoying the relaxing feeling of the night. Eventually, Nick broke the silence. "Judy, can I tell you something?"

"Is it about your secret?" She asked, playfully.

"I... maybe..."

"Then no, I don't want to."

The fox looked at her confused.

"I don't have any right to know." She said. "I was just incredibly rude earlier, I shouldn't have tried to intrude on anything private."

"Well, I want to tell you."

"Do you want to? Or do you feel you HAVE to?" She asked. "Because you don't HAVE to. If whatever this is means so much to you, just let it come out naturally."

She stood up, and stretched out. "I'm going to go check if Max is alright, want me to get you some more punch?"

"No." Nick said, sounding like he was lost in thought.

"Alright then." She said with a chuckle. "Merry Kitmas." She said as she headed back into the station.

"Merry Kitmas." The fox replied, before letting out a sigh and falling quiet. He pulled out the picture in his pocket. He unfolded it, and stared at it for a minute.

He quickly ripped part of the picture, only a bit from one side, and crumpled it up into a ball. He got up, and tossed the ball directly into the garbage. He then looked at the rest of the photo.

It was a picture of his mom and dad, looking happy. As happy as the day this picture was taken. Happy for him.

He folded the picture back up, and slipped it back into his pocket. "Mom was right, I shouldn't care about that anymore. I made the right choice." He thought to himself.

The fox looked back up to the night sky.

Oh whoops

I totally meant to get this out this late and didn't just slack off for two months. It's to coincide with Kyuranger ending. Yeah, that's it. Also Kyuranger had it's entire run while I was writing this fic, that's really weird.

A lot of character stuff in this episode, and maybe some controversial choices. I hope I didn't make what Nick's secret is too obvious. Also, only 9 episodes left after this, that's pretty exciting.

Next time, stars and beasts and maybe both