Chapter 4 - Losing Your Dreams
Artwork by Gokhan16
Edited by BeecroftA & OnceNeverTwiceAlways
Judy blinked her eyes open, the bright light hitting her eyes feeling much warmer than the lights above the ring should. Groaning, she started pushing herself up, knowing she had to beat the count before Bianca won...
When no count came, actually, no sound at all, something felt off.
A chill ran down her spine as she fully opened her eyes.
No...no, no, no, no, no, NO!
She was in a hospital room, not the ring.
She was alone. No Bianca standing across from her, no Kitsune in her corner...
Just an empty hospital room.
Where's Nick! The bet!
Judy frantically looked around the room, trembling as the seconds ticked by and no fox came to greet her, or welcome her back to the land of the living like the last time she'd awoken in a hospital bed with him by her side.
Yet this time, he wasn't there by her side. He wasn't there at all.
It was at the height of her panicking that she noticed the small notecard folded in half upon a nearby end table. A tentative paw reached out to it, shaking as she held it delicately in her paws and nervously opened the flap. Closing her eyes and steeling her nerves, she released a breath she didn't know she was holding in.
"He's probably out grabbing you your favorite carrot cake, knowing the carrots here aren't up to Hopps' standards...that's it, Judy. He's just...out..."
Opening her eyes, she lifted the flap.
It dropped to the floor a second later as an audible wail of sorrow ripped from her throat, tears coming soon after. Upon the note, were two, simple lines that crushed Judy's soul.
"Sorry Carrots, you made a deal." ~Nick
"Thanks for the fox, Cutie. He's quite the knockout." ~Bianca
Judy's eyes blinked open, the dream fading while she saw several sets of paws dancing around her like marionettes on strings, or were they just two sets of paws? The roar of the crowd around her came back as she shook her head, as well as the realization of the throbbing within her skull.
Pain...pain...not good.
"THREE"
Judy groaned as she lay on the mat, rolling her head side to side. Did I just get hit by a truck...?
"FOUR"
Leaning her head to the side, she saw the referee counting next to her. Everything came back to her in a flash.
The match.
Her opponent...
...Nick.
"FIVE"
Judy slammed her paw into the mat, pushing herself up to her knees.
"SIX"
Judy stood, wiping her mouth as she began hopping from paw to paw as the referee approached her. "Can you continue?"
She stared at Bianca, who was frowning at her. "I'm good," she said calmly, nodding up at the ocelot. "Just needed a warm up, that's all."
Nodding, the ocelot sent Judy to her corner before restarting the round. Judy came out much more cautiously than before, keeping her eyes on her opponent, keeping her distance while Bianca darted forward once more. Several punches were thrown back and forth, none connecting as a ringing filled the arena.
DING DING DING!
Judy let out a sigh of relief as she dropped her gloves and turned towards her corner. This wasn't how she wanted the opening of the match to go, but at least she wasn't surprised any longer by what her opponent was capable.
Nick was right about this being tough…. Judy thought as she reached her corner with less of a hop in her step than before. Kitsun was already there, a stern look in her eyes as she plopped into the stool placed there.
"She hits harder than Major Friedkin," Judy said with a slight chuckle.
Kitsun kept up her glare. "Did you seriously try to go toe to toe with her just now? Did you see what she will do to you if you keep that up in Round Two? You barely made it past Round One, Judy."
Judy nodded as she gratefully accepted a mouthful of water to rinse and spit. "I know," she replied after the bucket was removed. "I saw some openings and—"
"Those were traps, not openings," Kitsun shot back, silencing the doe. "Do you know how worried Nick was in the stands just now?"
Judy's ears drooped further when she matched her boyfriend's gaze. The tod was frowning, yet the sadness in his eyes seemed to have only grown from before the match. He shook his head, mouthing, 'no bet'.
"You told him, huh," Judy sighed.
"Of course."
"What did he say?"
Kitsun chuckled as she patted Judy's forehead with a damp towel. "What do you think? That you're a dumb bunny for even thinking that you could place his love on the line as a bet. Foxes don't break up with others. Once they're committed to a relationship, that's it."
"Really?" Judy's ears perked back up as she looked at Nick, then over to Bianca who was smiling. "She knew, didn't she? Bianca knew that...but made that bet to throw me off, didn't she?
Kitsun tossed the towel into her bag as the referee began walking back into the ring. "He said if you figured that out, that he'd recall his dumb bunny comment."
Judy stared out over at her opponent, whose own coach was finishing checking her over. She smiled back Bianca, the beige doe raising an eyebrow as Judy thought of something new for Round Two.
"Tell him thank you for me, okay Kitsun?"
"I can do that, you dumb bunny."
As she stood and Kitsun grabbed the stool, Judy placed a glove on her paw. "I know you don't want me to fight her toe to toe..." Kitsun grimaced but let Judy continue. "However, I think I've figured something out that should make Round Two a showstopper."
The vixen shook her head. "You bunnies. You don't know when to quit, do ya?"
"No-pe." Judy replied, popping the p.
"Just don't lose on points again this round, Judy," Kitsun warned. "If that happens again, your only hope of winning this for the ZPD would be a knockout in the final round, something that has never happened to Bianca before. Stay safe and fight smart."
Judy turned back around just in time as the referee signaled both bunnies forward. Punching her gloves together, she decided two things as the bell rung to start the round.
One, that she was still going to win that bet against Bianca. And two...
She started forward with a cold stare at her opponent. That if nobody has knocked you out before...then that means I am going to be the first.
Judy had plans for this match. She had plans to wipe that smirk off Bianca's face. Plans to win her bet against this bun who had the audacity to try and steal her boyfriend from her. And, as the time between rounds ended, one thought pervaded her mind...
Losing wasn't in those plans.
As the bell rung, signaling the start of Round Two, Judy ran forward. The canvas flew past as she wound up her right arm, grinning, as she saw the shock and surprise on Bianca's face with the furious pace Judy wanted to set for the second round.
The cream colored doe ducked to her right, barely avoiding the blow and sent a slam of a punch onto the left side of Judy's already bruising face in retaliation.
Got ya...was the thought on the mind of both bunnies at that singular moment.
Bianca, with a practiced ease, shot her right forward for a follow up cross, her left glove and arm hiding the surprise Judy had prepared. At the precinct, only Nick was known to be a more clever mammal in hiding their intentions, which came as a surprise to most working there. How could such a bubbly, happy, I-wear-my-personality-and-emotions-on-my-sleeves bunny be so...sly?
With the light overhead punch as a distraction, even at the cost of the hit to her face, Judy's plan fell exactly into place.
As Bianca's glove came crashing into Judy's bruised and swelling cheek, it was followed quickly by Judy's own left paw slamming into Bianca's stomach at full force.
Bianca's eyes bulged as she felt like she had been folded in half. "Wha-?!" She grimaced at the pain contorting her abdominal muscles. She hits like a truck... Her eyes darted up to see the grin on her opponent's face, her mouth whispering a phrase she knew all too well herself.
"It's called a hustle, sweetheart."
The pain grew in intensity as Bianca nearly crumpled at the force of the blow. This bun packs a punch…. She groaned as she backed away. Bianca raised her gloves, panting slightly as she tried to predict the ZPD officer's next move. A flicker of worry shot through her mind, one doused as quickly as the fires she extinguished at work.
She would not lose her fox a second time.
Bianca went for a counter with her left to create space, but found her entire side cramping from the earlier pain. Her shot went low and hit, but barely had any effect on the grey doe who absorbed the body blow easily and responded with a right straight.
Gloves up! Bianca raised her gloves in a practiced motion, muscle memory at this point, with how many matches she'd fought. Again she dodged right, parrying the punch with her left glove. What is she doing? Bianca thought. This is completely different from Round One...what is her plan?
The answer came with another explosion of pain from a second, thundering liver shot from Judy. Bianca's eyes widened as she gasped at the pain from her stomach.
HOW!?
Bianca grunted in pain at the second hit in mere seconds to the same spot, the accuracy of the punch hitting directly on the previous location. Stars flooded Bianca's vision as this time she did crumple around Judy's glove, the blue fabric nearly being enveloped as her body wrapped around it. Never had Bianca felt such a powerful blow, not in any of her prior matches, and that inkling of fear from before surged forward like the waves of the ocean. The bright lights above were nothing compared to the stars clouding her vision.
The blonde furred doe wobbled on her feet, trying to rise up, to bring her gloves up and go on the defensive until she could adjust to Judy's new style of fighting. Her gut rebelled at the motion, twisting itself as she tried to straighten. She pushed herself though, struggling through the pain as she rose. She isn't worthy of Nicholas! Bianca kept repeating to herself, giving her mind and body strength through the persistent chant. She'll never love him as much as I did...
Straightening finally after what felt like minutes, but was a mere fraction of a second, she went to step back, give herself a foot of space and to prepare her defense when Judy came at her again. A wild right haymaker swung around her raised gloves. Bianca's eyes widened in horror as the punch came hooking around, her vision of the cheering, howling crowd and bright lights above being overshadowed by a blue glove careening towards her face.
Ker-rack!
Bianca's head snapped to the side, her left foot leaving the ground completely at the power of the strike. Stars blinded her vision as the world turned sideways and the canvas below seemed to rise to greet her. Her body bounced once on the mat as she groaned in pain, back arching as it hit the mat while she reached a glove to her bruised face.
The referee was on her in an instant.
"ONE"
"TWO"
They're counting?
The thought woke Bianca with a start. It was only the second round! She'd never been knocked down before the third in her career. Even when she had fought against Mia St. Barn, she'd only gone down in the fifth round, but went on to win by the seventh.
This was impossible...
A flash of red appeared in her vision as the stars receded. The emerald eyes that caught her gaze sent a trill of power through her.
She would not go down this easily.
"THREE"
Bianca rolled onto her stomach, forcing herself up to her knees. She felt her anger and love combining, honing her senses and drowning out all noise around her. The roar of the crowd faded to a dim whisper while the gentle scraping of the referee's claws tacking on the canvas seemed to magnify a hundred times. The heavy breathing of her opponent sounded like a bass drum sounding in her ears, and she could easily hear Judy saying, 'This isn't over...isn't it.'
"FOUR"
No...Bianca thought as she stood to her full height, head bowed as she breathed in deeply once...then twice. Raising her head, she focused her gaze on Judy who stood in the opposite corner, bouncing on her feet. Azure eyes met amethyst and a surge of adrenaline coursed through Bianca's veins.
"Far from it," Bianca stated as she raised her gloves bouncing on her feet. "It's only just begun."
"Ready?" the referee stated, standing between the two boxers. At the nod of both, she swiped her paws down and the fight resumed.
"Go Judy! WOO HOO!"
Nick and Ryan glanced over at Kitsun, who was on her feet, cheering for the grey doe and gaining quite a deal of attention while doing so. The popcorn she had bought was littering the floor and, with her most recent jump to her feet, over several nearby mammals as well.
Nick didn't let his gaze linger for more than a second on the energetic vixen, quickly switching back to the fight in front of him. Bianca was on the ground, woozily getting to her feet while shaking her head clear.
This isn't good for either of them…. he thought morosely. That is only going to make Bianca fight harder, and Judy doesn't know what she is capable of when angry...
Nick did, and it was that thought which had him gripping his chair's arms so tightly he was leaving claw marks in the plastic. His stress did not go unnoticed.
"Nick?" Ryan asked. "You alright? Nick? Hello?" The other tod finally waved a paw in front of Nick's face. He soon grabbed it and tossed down until it no longer obstructed his view. "Okay, something's wrong, Nick, what is it?"
Nick grimaced as Bianca got up at the four count, even more so when he saw the fire in her eyes. "All of this is wrong. I didn't say that they could make that wager over me like I'm some sort of...plaything or object to own."
Ryan's ears lowered. "Yeah, I can see that." He took a casual glance at Kitsun who was again seated, staring intently ahead as the two rabbit does circled each other. "I wouldn't want to see Kitsun make any bet like this either. I'm sorry this has happened."
"And why did it happen?" Nick growled, watching several punches tossed back and forth. "Why do you think that these two were randomly chosen for this and that this is the first year that they've been decided by weight class?"
Kitsun blinked and turned to Nick. "I thought they always did it by weight class, didn't they?"
Nick shook his head. "No, this is the first year they've done so. I checked—Ah, Judy! Don't rush in!"
Nick's tail poofed out in worry as he gripped the seat in front of him. The raccoon in the seat started to yell but stopped when he saw the intensity in the tod's eyes.
Ryan looked between Nick and the two does, Judy slamming punch after punch into Bianca's defense while the latter was against the ropes. "Wait, are you saying that this was all set up?"
"Yes..." Nick snarled. "There are no such things as coincidences. And seeing how the organizers of this were losing money each year, they needed a show-stopper to bring it all back in."
The three foxes watched as Bianca surged forward, clinching onto Judy while pounding the grey doe's sides. Before the referee broke it up, Nick could see his bunny wincing at the strikes. Shaking his head, he glared towards a slightly raised area on the opposite side of the ring from their group. A group of well dressed mammals, all members of the city council, were gleefully talking with one another while others on their cell phones had matching expressions.
Nick scoffed. "I think I know who planned all this to happen."
"Who?" Ryan replied, following a slight nod of Nick's head towards the council-mammals.
"Them," Nick replied. "I'm sure if we check on the funding for this event this year, we'll find the trail leads to them and, somehow, them padding their pockets while Judy and Bianca get black and bruised. I'd be willing to bet that less than 40% of the money this event raises actually ends up helping the kits like it's supposed to."
Kitsun gasped. "Would they really do that?"
Nick raised an eyebrow.
Kitsun shook her head. "Never mind, dumb question..."
The three foxes went silent, their mixed emotions now focused on the match. Nick could hear Kitsun offer a quick prayer for Judy and Bianca, while Ryan softly gripped her paw in his own. Nick just went back to staring at his current girlfriend and his old flame tearing each other apart for the greed of other mammals.
The two does circled, increasingly wary of the other as they traded light jabs and quick combinations. Both would jump back, then reply with a jab, ending any momentum the other hoped to build. Judy was hoping to build on the momentum of the first minute of the round, knowing that if she could keep that up, she could tie in the points, giving herself a good head of steam going into the third and final round.
That and it would be easier to keep Nick if I can keep her down… .the grey rabbit thought as she tossed another left jab, followed by a lightning quick right hook. Bianca dodged both, rearing backwards on her paws to escape the second.
Judy's eyes widened. An opening...
Judy bolted forward, a series of jabs peppering Bianca's defenses as the blonde bunny ducked and batted the punches aside just as fast. She kept at it, firing punch after punch until the firefighter found herself leaning against the ropes.
Gotta keep this up!
The police bunny pounded Bianca's defense again and again, sneaking in a stomach blow or glancing blow off Bianca's head when her guard would move. A wave of euphoria burst through Judy, her gloves moving quicker than ever.
A right cross snapped across Bianca's defense, pushing her gloves to the side and Judy saw Bianca's crystal blue eyes narrowed at her. Before Judy could place a jab in the opening, Bianca bounced off the ropes and towards her, wrapping her arms around the grey doe before pounding her sides at close range.
Judy tried to fight back, but with her arms caught between them, she couldn't do more than struggle, attempting to force her arms out of the clinch.
It was then Bianca growled as she sent another wincing blow into Judy's side.
"Nick is mine," she hissed as another blow landed. "He was mine before, and I won't let you steal him away from me."
Judy managed to get one arm free as the referee came bounding over, punching at Bianca's head. "I haven't stolen Nick. He chose me!"
The referee was between them in an instant, pushing them away from each other. "Back it up, back it up, ladies."
She forced the two smaller mammals away from each other, their stares icy as they were ordered back to their corners. Judy watched as Bianca pounded her gloves together, hopping back and forth in place. Judy repeated the gesture as the referee dropped her paw, signaling the bout could continue.
Both bunnies bounded forward, crashing together in a flurry of jabs and crosses, hooks and uppercuts. Judy winced as she took a heavy hit to her chin, staggering her back several steps with Bianca close on her heels. The next right jab from Bianca nearly smashed into Judy's cheek, the doe barely avoiding the close call and could feel the glove against the fur of her cheek.
Gotta make some distance... Judy thought, using the momentum of her dodge and converting it into a wide, swinging left hook that...
Judy's eyes widened as Bianca ducked easily beneath the blow. Oh no...oh no, oh no, oh no! Now off kilter and wide open, Judy could barely bring her arms in as she watched in horror as Bianca rose up, her left glove curving towards the grey doe's stomach.
Judy's arms caught the powerful blow completely. She gasped as her arms were forced into her chest, her feet rising off the mat at the sheer force of the uppercut that she knew would have been lights out if it had connected. Bianca's glove rose steadily, lifting Judy further off the canvas before slicing between her arms and, finally, crashing into her gut.
Judy wheezed in pain as her arms folded to her sides, eyes widening in shock. How could someone hit so hard...she wondered. She lifted her eyes, seeing the mad glint of victory in Bianca's own, her mouth whispering a horrifying sentence to Judy's ears.
"He's mine now."
Judy couldn't even react before Bianca's followed through on her powerful blow with a crushing right jab that smashed into Judy's beaten stomach. For a moment, Judy's vision swam, lights blinking as she felt herself thrown backwards. Her paws finally connected with the ground once more, though she stumbled backwards, her back hitting the corner post hard.
"Gah!"
Judy's arms hung limply over the top ropes. Her knees were shaking and legs barely holding her up. She raised her head, seeing Bianca grin as she walked towards the grey doe shaking in the corner. Trying to stand straight, Judy slumped back against the post, breathing hard as the fighting spirit she felt within her began to flicker and fade.
I can barely move…. Judy thought, trying to push herself up and shake off the grogginess in her mind. Her body felt numb below her waist, and her movements felt slowed. A tear appear at the corner of her eyes at the realization that this could be it. She had gone in over her head, just like Nick had always warned her she ended up doing. Usually his warnings were about smaller things, but...this time...
...this time, she would lose Nick, and that made it all worse. She tried to move again, her arms failing to budge as that light within her flickered to a dwindling flame.
I'm sorry, Nick…. I lost you.
Unable to move through the pain, Judy tried to accept what would happen as she watched Bianca rear back her right arm. Judy's arms and legs might not have wanted to respond to her, but her ears worked perfectly, catching the growing roar of the audience as they sensed the end of the match soon approaching. She caught the sound of several distraught friends from the ZPD, crying out for her to pull through. Of Bianca's supporters in the ZFD, shouting congratulations to each other. Though one voice cut through them all, her ears perking and righting towards his voice.
Nick's voice.
"Judy!" His tone cut through the cries of a thousand mammals, the concern and worry lacing each syllable so clearly she felt more worried for him than for herself. She could imagine him standing in his seat, paws gripping the seat edge in front of him, tail bristling behind him.
"Don't give up!"
Just three words. Three words had her paws tightening inside her gloves. Those three words echoed inside Judy's mind as she watched Bianca's punch, aimed center at Judy's face, ready to smash her into the post and into oblivion.
"I win."
They weren't spoken in anger or malice, just pure satisfaction. Judy's eyes widened, then narrowed as those two words from Bianca reignited the smoldering candle of Judy's spirit back into an inferno. Through sheer force of will, Judy strained against the pain within her, standing tall as Bianca's match ending jab neared. All Judy saw was red coming at her, a Cheshire grin on the rabbit's face who was delivering it. With her right arm still reared back over the ropes, her left hanging loosely by her side, Judy did the only thing she could...
She tilted her head.
Bianca's gloved paw grazed her cheek, but that is all it did. The tan rabbit was stunned, frozen in place at how her certain victory had been pushed back.
But she...Judy...was...
She had seen the look of utter despair in the other doe, seen how defeated she had been. Every opponent Bianca had hit with that combination had been either instantly floored or, in one case, tossed easily through the ropes and onto the floor.
She had never missed.
Bianca blinked back her surprise, eyes widening as she heard Judy growl, "You win?"
The firefighting rabbit saw the right hook coming, but her bewilderment kept her stunned in place until it was too late, Judy's second sentence snapping her back into focus as a blue glove slammed into her face.
Nick was watching the fight nervously, watching how Judy hung off the corner post like a rag doll.
This was what he was afraid of since he'd learned of the bet the two does had made.
He still couldn't believe that Judy had done it. After so many times of telling her how her impulsiveness was going to get her into trouble, she did so yet again—and on an even grander scale than anything before...well, at least since their Night Howlers case together. The fox was gripping the seat in front of him, the lynx sitting in it nervously looking back at the frantic fox.
Bogo needed more time to figure this out...and Nick desperately wanted his girlfriend to not get hit anymore tonight.
Either way, it was a lose-lose situation. Either he helped Judy and open her to more pain in the coming moments, or let her take a fall and hope she was okay.
"Judy!" Nick yelled, hoping she would hear him while worry and guilt welled inside his gut. "Don't give up!"
I hope I just did the right thing...
"Hell No!" Judy slammed her right glove into Bianca's face with as much force as she could muster. She followed through with the hook, watching as her opponents eyes registered the shock of the blow as she tumbled backwards, head snapping to the side.
Judy took a step forward, panting heavily as she finished her swing. "Stay...down..." she huffed as Bianca's back left foot caught her fall. The blonde doe's eyes flashed back at Judy as she leaned back.
"No...!" Bianca roared, and, before Judy could blink, a red glove came sailing in towards Judy's face. Eyes widened as she felt a crushing force slam into her nose. Amethyst eyes saw nothing but stars as she stumbled backwards, head snapping up to see the overhead lights looking down on her.
"You're coming with me..."
Judy barely heard Bianca's challenge as she teetered on her feet, the world upending as she felt her eyes roll backward. Her whole world rotated as she slowly fell, seeing the victorious gleam in Bianca's eyes, then the overhead lights, Nick's face full of shock and him shouting something at her...
...followed by darkness.
AN: Hate me for that opener? Thought of that yesterday and had to do it. (sorry not sorry)
And it doesn't look good for Judy now, does it. Facing a pro boxer with Nick's heart on the line? Even I don't know if she can pull through, especially with already being knocked down, seeing stars and heading down again. She'll need a miracle to pull through this match with Nick's heart still hers.