Chapter 5 Punch Drunk Buns
Artwork by Gokhan16 (found on DeviantArt)
Edited by OnceNeverTwiceAlways
The only thing that kept Judy on her feet, and not staring up into the overhead lights, was the thought of holding Nick in her arms after the match. She stayed on her feet, if barely, as she swayed side to side, stars swimming throughout her vision, but...she was still standing tall.
Judy raised her blue gloves, arms wobbling as she stared ahead at the bunny opposite her. Bianca was in near the same shape, stumbling slightly on her feet, ears drooping and limping slightly on her left leg. The pair, to all those watching, appeared spent and exhausted, and even the referee was nervously watching the two does as the bell rang, ending the second round.
Bianca broke the silent stare-down between them. "How are you still standing?"
Judy tried to speak, coughed when she found her voice strained, then managed to stammer, "I should say the same thing to you."
"Boxers!" the referee appeared between them. "To your corners!"
Both boxing bunnies barely made it to their corners before collapsing onto stools placed there by their trainers. Neither rabbit heard anything Kitsun or the fire chief was saying to them. Amethyst eyes stared into those of a deep azure, determination burning brightly in both, not flickering or dimming in the least.
Bianca stared at Judy. Last round...I will not surrender. For Nick!
Judy glared ahead at Bianca. I will finish this...I won't give up. For Nick!
The bell rung for the final round, though both does were deaf to its sound. The movement of the referee asking them to stand is what drew them up and towards each other.
The reason for the brawl lay forgotten in both their minds. Only one thought dominated everything inside their minds...
Nicholas Piberius Wilde...and who would be calling him theirs after this.
DING
Both buns hurried from their corners, right fists already primed as they charged forward. All attempts at strategy gone from their battered and boxed minds. Instead, it appeared that both decided if they couldn't outwit their opponent...
...they'd simply crush them.
Judy and Bianca met in the center of the ring, both buns slamming tremendous left and right hooks forward. The sound of their gloves connecting with each other's cheeks crescendoing through the auditorium, along with a roar of approval from the crowd.
Judy felt her head twist to the right, pain cascading through her cheek as she stumbled slightly at the power of the blow. She whipped her head back around, gloves up, ready to attack as she saw Bianca recover from her own stumble.
"I can't lose..." Judy gasped, reaching into hidden pools of energy within herself as she ducked a right jab, and followed it up with a left jab of her own. Bianca's next punch slammed into Judy's defense, and it took all her willpower to keep the blow from sending her own gloves back into her face by the punch's sheer force.
How can she still have this much left in her? Judy thought with a grimace as she began circling her opponent, tossing out quick jabs and counter-punches. Judy connected with another right jab after faking a left cross, though just as quickly took a right hook to her side. Judy winced, but was glad to see that she wasn't the only one stumbling after repeated blows.
Judy kept up her guard, but kept her gaze laser focused on her opponent.
I just need an opening...
"Ryan?" the fox looked at Nick, whose fingers deftly typed on his phone's screen.
"Yes, Nick?"
The red fox, without turning his watchful gaze from the match, passed along his phone to Ryan. "I want you to give this to Bogo." Nick passed his phone over to the other tod, who looked at the message in surprise.
Ryan only needed to ask one question. "Are you sure?"
For the briefest flicker of time, Nick's gaze shot to the other tod. "Positive. Bogo and the Fire Chief need to know, and I'm sure that Buffalo Butt can make them crack."
Nodding his head, Ryan left his seat and headed for where Chief Bogo sat. Nick barely noticed the movement, instead watching Judy intently.
"Come on, Judy..." he said with a hushed voice.
"Uh, excuse me, sir?"
Chief Bogo grunted in annoyance, his gaze not leaving the match in front of him. "Not now."
"Sir, Officer Wilde sent me."
Bogo snorted, unwillingly letting his gaze leave the match and one of his best officers, who just had taken a head shot and was stumbling backwards, chased by the fire fighter opponent. "What does he want?" The cape buffalo saw Ryan standing near him, holding out a phone.
"He said you'd want to see this."
The phone's screen was turned on, annoying Bogo who reached into his pocket for his glasses.
"Still needing those things?" the fire chief, an impressively large ibex, said with a grin.
"Shut it, Hornsby," Bogo growled before looking down at the screen.
His eyes widened almost immediately, followed by a look of shock directed at the fox. "Is...is he sure of this?"
Ryan nodded.
Bogo cursed. "Great..."
The fire chief laughed. "Of course this match is great. The fire department will finally beat you this year. Just look at Bianca wailing on your bun."
"The match isn't important anymore!" Bogo snarled, gaining the attention of his fellow chief, whose attention was still split between his friend and the boxing match below.
"Whadda you mean?" Hornsby stated, wincing when he watched Judy duck beneath a hook that might have knocked her head off and connect a right uppercut with Bianca's chin, staggering the blonde doe.
"This!" Bogo said, shoving the phone in front of Hornsby face. The ibex read silently for a moment before a frown, then a scowl, crossed his features.
"You've got to be scatting me. Let me guess, Wilde found this?"
Bogo nodded.
"Great..." Hornsby got up, his enthusiasm for the match dwindling to barely a smolder at the news. "Isn't this his and Hopps' third one in as many years?"
Bogo grunted in annoyance as he stood and waved for Ryan to follow him. "Three mayors, three years. All for different reasons."
Hornsby took one last look at the match below, shaking his head as the two officers made a beeline for the mayor's box, followed quickly by a muttering fire chief. "Should have done a calendar..."
The grey doe dodged another series of jabs from her opponent, dodging back before countering with a left jab of her own, pushing Bianca back. Gotta get past her defenses! Judy thought before faking a right jab, following it up with a left hook. Her gloves barely missed Bianca's head, the blonde doe taking a step back and...
Judy blinked.
Did Bianca just...wince?
Judy paused, gloves up as she watched her opponent carefully when she noticed it. The barest of smiles crossed Judy's face. She did wince! As the two does circled one another, with the timer ticking down on the round, Judy's mind was in overdrive trying to deduce what had caused the flicker of pain in the firefighter.
Bianca, seeing Judy distracted, leaned heavily on her right leg in preparation for a heavy right cross. Just got to knock her gloves aside and—
"Gah!"
Bianca let out a warble as pain shot through her leg. She didn't need to look down to see where the pulsing pain was coming from. The scar that was gifted her so long ago that took her out of the boxing circuit for good, and away from Nicholas. She let out a slow breath, her right cross flailing as the energy put into the punch evaporated into thin air.
As she looked up, leg still trembling, her eyes widened in horror at the smile on Judy's face, as well as the blue tinged glove slamming into her right side.
Bianca was lifted off her feet at the force of the blow, striking her core as her eyes widened in shock. The air from her lungs left her in one big whoosh, leaving her gasping for breath as she landed on tipsy paws. Barely able to stumble, again wincing in pain from the pressure of landing on her bad leg, another blast of pain shot through her as a second punch, another liver blow, crashed into her left side.
Nick...
A memory of the red fox smiling down at her, wiping away a tear from her eye after a particularly hard loss years before flickered in her mind. His words of comfort and his warm embrace in the past left a single tear trickling down her cheek in the present as the future in the form of a blue glove came barreling towards that same cheek.
I got her this time! Judy thought, connecting with the second liver blow. Judy was panting heavily, nearly using the last of her reserves in this final flurry of hits in the hope it would either knock Bianca out or give Judy the points she needed to win.
Just thirty seconds left in this final round!
Seeing Bianca completely dazed with her paws lowered to her waist, Judy revved back her left arm, summoning the last of her energy.
"Gaarrrraaaaggh!"
Her fist shot forward, slamming into Bianca's right cheek. The blonde doe's head snapped to the side, her eyes going wide as her arms went limp.
"Got her!" Judy whispered, breathing heavily as her opponent slipped, tilting and nearly collapsing onto the mat. Letting her gloves down for the first time that round, Judy heaved in a deep breath, her arms feeling like lead as she watched Bianca falling...
"What...?"
Judy paused, jaw hanging open as Bianca somehow managed to catch herself mid fall, her gloves mere inches from touching the canvas.
The crowd parted before the two miffed mammals, sensing the hostility surrounding the odd pair as they moved through the crowd of mammals towards their destination— a slightly raised, cordoned off area near the entrance to the arena. Their approach was noted by the guard, a bison officer, who unlatched the entrance rope for them to pass.
The steady clip-clop of their hooves ended as they passed onto the carpeted, plush surface of the mayor's box.
Bogo stood like a weathered statue with a cold, calculating glare upon his muzzle while his counterpart, Hornsby, maintained an equally impregnable gaze. Their attention was not focused on the match below, where they would have seen their two finest pummeling one another, but on the short, pudgy grey wolf currently laughing with a squirrely looking anteater.
A curt snort from the cape buffalo halted the conversation in front of the two plains mammals. The wolf turned around, a smile on his face as he saw his two guests.
"Ah, Chief Bogo and Chief Hornsby, what a pleasure to see you tonight! Come!" He waved to several empty seats nearby. "Sit down and enjoy the match."
Bogo snorted in disgust.
"Enjoy this, Mr Nottingpaw?" Bogo waved his hoof at the arena, where Judy and Bianca were busily exchanging blows.
"Of course!" the wolf exchanged jovially. "Why, your two bunnies are pulling in quite the haul this year. Those kits at the hospital will be greatly benefited by their efforts.
It was Hornsby's turn to snort. "You mean, you'll be the one benefitting from them bludgeoning each other."
The wolf's eyes narrowed. "And how would that be? I have pledged quite a bit of money so if anything I'm at a loss."
Bogo leaned forward, glaring down at the mayor who moved back slightly from the imposing mammal. "So then," Bogo began with a sinister grin. "Then I'm sure I wouldn't find any accounts in The Grand Camel Islands with your name on them after this match is over with any sort of money in it skimmed from this match?
"Abrupt and to the point as ever, Chief," Hornsby chuckled darkly as the wolf visibly paled beneath his fur.
"I have no idea what you are talking about—"
"Really?" the ibex stated, walking forward. "Because as it turns out, an officer who isn't quite happy with his partner and friend beating each other senseless below seems to have found a certain...what was the account name again, Bogo?"
"Sherriff's Advisory Fund."
"Ah yes, that account." Hornsby's voice grew colder, the thin veil of frost in his tone turning into a avalanche of cold apathy towards the wolf. "And he certainly didn't notice how as the funds on that counter above us go up, the amount in this account increases at a similar order."
Mayor Nottingpaw gulped. "I…. How...how could he know something about a personal bank account?"
Bogo chuckled, frightening the wolf further. "I was told to tell you, quote: he 'knows everyone'. Including several bankers that are close acquaintances with him that had some 'anonymous tips' for him regarding bank fraud with public moneys."
The clink of metal sounded across the now silent box, the pair of pawcuffs in Bogo's hooves stopping all rational thought in the wolf's mind.
"Mayor Gisbourne Nottingpaw, you are under arrest for-"
A resounding scream shattered the moment, turning everyone's attention towards the ring.
"Gaarrrraaaaggh!"
Bogo nearly dropped the pawcuffs at what he saw. "Oh dear heavens..."
Judy blinked in utter disbelief, gloves held in front of her as she stood, stunned. "No way..."
Bianca teetered on her feet, arms swaying slightly as she slowly raised her head. The two does made eye contact, determination flaring within Bianca's sky blue eyes. "I'm...not done yet.."
Slowly, unsteadily, Bianca raised her gloves, taking a wobbly step forward and towards Judy. The grey doe shook her head, her own determination flaring as she took a weak step forward as well.
The two met in the center of the ring, a hushed silence dominating the arena as all mammals waited with baited breath, knowing this to be the final exchange of the night. The fury of the prior minutes was nearly gone, both fighters exhausted and pushed beyond their limits, yet still they pushed on.
Only a few knew why they fought.
Kitsun gripped Ryan's paw tightly, nervousness for her friend rising within her. "Come on Judy."
Bogo stood gaping in awe at his officers tenacity.
Hornsby sat in the nearest seat available, stunned into silence with the rest of the crowd.
Two hundred and eleven miles away, two bunnies held each other in their arms, whispering prayers for their daughter.
Across the ocean, another set of parents whispered identical prayers for their own flesh and blood.
And Nick—as the two does raised their shaky fists, bodies trembling in pain and exertion—felt the world slowly down around him, a cold sense of dread frostier than Tundratown enveloping him.
And, in the center of it all, a pair of bunnies who weren't so different from another—the first of their species in their respective fields, both claiming the same fox as their own, and willing to give their all for him—threw with what little energy remained in their sore and battered bodies, their final punch.
The crowd fell deathly still.
Judy's blue glove smashed with an audible 'thwack' into Bianca's cheek.
Bianca's red glove crashed into Judy's muzzle with a harsh, 'thump'.
In the audience, a single fox screamed.
Nick briskly took off the helmet, gasping in panic and already on his paws as both Judy and Bianca anxiously took their own helmets off.
"So..." he began, crossing his arms across his chest, slowing his panting while recomposing himself. "I think we all have learned something, tonight."
Bianca had a notable blush spreading through her ears as Judy nervously chuckled. "That...Bianca has a mean right hook?" the grey doe answered with a cheeky, albeit uneasy, grin.
A grin that quickly disappeared under the disapproving look from Nick.
Judy huffed, thinking back onto the rapidly fading memories. "I think I've learned that maybe I jump into things a little too quickly. Even if things are way over my head..."
"And your ears as well," Nick added, which seemed to only deflate his partner even further. Rolling his eyes, he walked up to her and hugged her gently. "Just don't try anything like this in real life, okay?"
"I'm just glad it was in the PIXAR machine and not real..." Judy muttered. "I would have hated to feel what those punches were like."
"Same here," Bianca added, watching the scene before her with fondness. "Wish I had my own fox like Nick..." she muttered under her breath.
"What was that?" Judy asked, peeling herself away from her husband to look at her friend.
"Nothing!" Bianca stammered, before looking around quickly. "Now come on, you guys are being mushy enough as it is, and there's a line behind us. And I think you owe me, Judy."
"Huh?" Judy asked, still in Nick's embrace, both police officers looking at her in confusion.
Bianca just nodded with a smirk as she leaned forward. "Well, since I can't have foxy over there," she glanced at Nick, "Then I think I need to find me a fox that might measure up to his stature…. And I'll need a wing-bunny to help me with that."
Judy looked back at Nick. The tod put his paws in his pockets and shrugged his shoulders. "If you want to, Fluff. And, Bianca?"
"Yeah, Nick?"
Nick gave off his most charming smile. "I just so happen to know a guy."
Judy leveled a glare at Nick. "No."
"You don't even know who I was going to—"
Judy crossed her arms across her chest. "No, not him."
"Come on, I think that they'd—"
"Bite each other's faces off," Judy offered.
"Sounds fun," Bianca added with a mischievous grin. "Is he your brother, Nick? Twin, I hope?"
Nick smiled. "Something like that."
Judy groaned.
"Niiiiiiiicccckkkk!"
The three of them walked out of Fitwik's, listing off the names of some places that Judy and Bianca could visit to help their foxless friend out. They were halfway down the street before the obvious question occurred to both bunnies.
"Nick?"
"Yes?" Nick answered Judy, his arm wrapped around her waist.
Judy looked pensive for a moment, before she and Bianca nodded at the same time. "Who won?" they both asked in unison.
Nick raised an eyebrow. "You don't know?" he asked.
They shook their heads. "I don't remember anything from that final punch on," Judy admitted.
"Neither do I," Bianca added. I just remember seeing Judy's glove come at me and...nothing."
Nick inwardly groaned. "Do you really want to know?"
Both does nodded.
Heaving a sigh, Nick rolled his eye, realizing what he said next could potentially start an actually rivalry. Knowing how Judy would pull it from him at some point, Nick relented to their request. "It was a tie."
"What?" both Judy and Bianca shouted at once. "How?"
"Double knockout," Nick stated before looking at them. "And, before you even think of anything, no. You two are not going to try and break that tie."
His reply left both does grumbling, yet they relented to the tod's request.
"Fine," Judy huffed, folding her arms as they walked along the street.
They neared Bianca's apartment, only a few blocks from their own. Judy and Bianca hugged and exchanged ideas for which night Judy could help with Bianca's fox-lessness situation while Nick moved away to call a zuber for him and Judy.
The two does exchanged grins as Judy leaned in close to Bianca.
"I don't know about you," she whispered as Bianca grinned. "But I really want a tiebreaker."
Bianca nodded. "Girls night next week at PIXAR?"
Judy's grin broadened. "Done."
Judy turned when she heard a car pulling up and Nick waving her over. "See you next week!"
"Bye!" Bianca said with a wave as Judy and Nick got into the car and settled in.
It was quiet for a moment before Nick broke the silence.
"You know…. You may not have won tonight in that experience," Nick said quietly so that only Judy could hear. "But I still think you're the best bunny around."
He placed a tender kiss between her ears, before grimacing. "Wow...you still smell like fire and soot, Carrots." His nose wriggled as Judy huffed and elbowed him in his side. "But I think I know how to clean that up."
"Oh..." Judy drawled, an alluring smile appearing. "Do tell..."
Several Weeks later
Judy took off her headset, whooping and hollering while Bianca grumbled next to her.
"Lucky hit," Bianca muttered while grinning.
Judy flashed her a smile. "Oh, that was more than lucky my foot. I totally got you this time."
"Right, right," Bianca said as the two does laughed and went to pull away the curtains of the PIXAR machine. "So what does that make our score now? Two and two, with two draws?"
"Actually..."
Both does flicked their ears up in alarm as they turned towards the sound of the very familiar voice, only to spot Nick with his arms crossed across his chest standing outside the PIXAR machine with a smirk. "Judy's now ahead with three wins to your two."
Judy's grin widened as she whooped again, doing a quick binky while fist-pumping. When she landed, her grin changed to confusion quickly. "Wait, how do you know?"
It was Nick's turn to grin. "We signed up for the PIXAR mailing list. Every time we do an experience now, we are mailed it the very...next...day..."
Judy and Bianca's mouths and ears dropped as Nick chuckled and turned towards the door. "Let me know if you have a tie-breaker next week, and I'll just come and watch with you."
Nick left out the door, leaving two stunned does behind him. Judy turned to Bianca after a moment. "I think I'll have a new opponent next week..." she said, grinning.
"Nick?" Bianca asked with the same smirking grin.
Judy nodded. "Nick."
AN: AN: And there you have it! This was my first foray into writing any type of sporting event story, as I am not big into sports, period. Though for the past year I have been researching different sports to try and figure out why they are popular and to understand them better. So I hope that this story came off feeling realistic to the sport of boxing, as the only boxing I've seen was while doing research for this story. (seriously, I didn't even know the difference between a cross and a jab before writing this... XD) So please let me know if this felt right, or that I hit the right emotions, no pun intended.