Big Paw Hunters

Chapter 3:

A Hunting We Will Go, and to the Victor go the Spoils

Sheriff Prongs, a well built, white tailed deer buck was getting up there in years. Despite this, he prided himself on still being in fairly good shape physically and mentally but by the great prince sometimes he swore that these bunnies would be the death of him! Seated beside him was Judge Bramble a rather petite, black-faced, white coated ram whose manner in the courtroom was as stern as his wool was curly and His Honor Mayor Jack Cotton who was a large brown hare.

His younger Deputy, a slightly built, grey wolf named Wolften was still sitting at a table set up in the town hall with a silly grin on his muzzle and a red and white checkered napkin tied around his neck. He had been eagerly waiting for this contest for hours and was barely able to focus as the final four entries were finished and put back on the table. Sheriff Prongs snorted as he finished putting up the scores and sat at the table. Giving his deputy a warning look, he waited for the explosion he KNEW was going to happen once the bunnies tallied the scores.

The Stumptails, Leaps, Coneys and Hopps were all packed into the hall as were a great many other townsfolk and next to Otto Hopps was a large chalkboard with various scores on them. It read something like this….

Stumptails Salad 4 Root Vegetables 3 Leafy Vegetables 3 Bread and savories 4 Fruit 3 Dessert 3 Bonus 2

Coney Salad 3 Root Vegetables 2 Leafy Vegetables 4 Bread and Savories 1 Fruit 3 Dessert 2 Bonus 3

Leaps Salad 4 Root Vegetables 3 Leafy Vegetables 3 Bread and savories 2 Fruit 4 Dessert 3 Bonus 2

Hopps Salad 5 Root Vegetables 4 Leafy Vegetables 2 Bread and Savories 3 Fruit 5 Desert 4 Bonus 3

On the table were the remains of the desserts, a custard bread pudding, a frosted cake, a fruit filled tart and his personal favorite, a warm raspberry cobbler with some sort of sweet ribbon laced raspberry ice cream.

Shaking off his sugar high and focusing Wolften got up as Cyril Stumptail snorted angrily and waved a paw at the board. "What's the meaning of this then? That can't be right?"

Looking pleased Stu Hopps bounced on his hind paws a little and slid his hand paw under one of his overall straps as he helped Bonnie Hopps up from her seat.

The sturdy bunny couldn't completely keep his pride out of his voice as he offered, "We agreed to let the Sheriff, Mayor Cotton, Judge Bramble and Deputy Wolften decide this time Cyril."

Stomping closer Cyril Stumptail again added up the figures before realizing that Otto Hopps was sitting right there and beside him were two kit carriers. This in itself wasn't anything new, almost every family here abouts had kits, cubs, pups, calves or lambs of all ages around but something about these two seemed a bit off. One was a gray bunny kit and the other a russet fox but…they seemed a little more different than just being predator and prey kits beside each other.

Cyril was anything but stupid, after all farming wasn't for sissies. A wrong decision could ruin a farm generations old and like most leporidae he noticed little ones of any species. Despite his nagging feeling, especially since he didn't remember hearing about any vixens being in the family way recently it was the disappointment over losing to Stuart Hopps AGAIN that was first on his mind.

Ignoring this in favor of saving face in front of the townsfolk Cyril turned to Stu Hopps and admitted, "I remember that Stu. And I'm bunny enough to stand by my word there."

At this both Sheriff Prongs and Deputy Wolften relaxed slightly. Just then Otto happened to look away from his son-in-law and into the child carriers and gasped waving his cane dramatically, "Bonnie! The littles are GONE."

"What?! Stu help me look for them."

"They can't be GONE! Judy and Nick will never believe this!"

"Calm down everyone, now just stay in place and we'll…."

Deputy Wolften kept his wits about him as everybunny and their neighbor began to mill around and even to go outside hoping to catch sight of the missing toddlers whom most assumed to be Hopps bunnies. Rushing to the carriers he sniffed to find their scents and then turned to try and track them through the crowd. The scents were those of very young mammals and as expected there was a strong flavor of Bunny but also fox…. Wolften groaned and rushed to Sheriff Prongs, who was trying to calm old Pop pop Hopps as he teetered off his seat and tried to go around the table.

Bonnie stopped Wolften and said calmly, "The kits are our grand kits from Zootopia, they are Nick and Judy's kits and are Half Bunny and Half Fox. Their names are Ella, a grey furred Bun and Ridley a russet furred Fox and they are …."

Just then there was a thump and squealing and cooing. The adults turned to see both kits sitting with the tablecloth around them where they had pulled it off the table. Ella was covered with the remains of the fruit tart busily stuffing herself with that and bits of cake. And Ridley was dripping with what was left of Bonnie's cobbler and trying to scoop up melting ice cream with his paws. To everyone's surprise, it was Cyril Stumptail who laughed, picked Ridley up off the floor and offered the foxy boy some of the bread pudding from the tablecloth to occupy him as he took out his own handkerchief to try and wipe away the mess from the wiggling fox kit's sensitive eyes and ears.

"Stu it looks like these two have their own score cards and it looks like they won."

Bonnie Hopps took her grandkits in paw and soon had them straightened out with the help of one of the large mammal sized sinks in the restroom and the experienced paws of Mrs. Leaps. Feeling the let down from all the excitement, Bonnie decided to get everyone back home and get things settled for supper. After inviting the Sheriff and Deputy to come out for dinner on Sunday and shaking Mayor Cotton's paw with an apology for causing a scene she began getting everyone organized and loaded up to get back to the farm.

Gratefully the rest of the kerfluffle swarmed Ella and Ridley once they were clean and after Stu and Otto were finished shaking Cyril's paw and Judge Bramble's hoof, the Hopps caravan loaded up to head home before dark.

Deep in the wooded ravine the ZPD's finest were having a bit of trouble themselves. The ATV's were sturdy and well maintained but this was a heavily wooded area and going over a small hill and down the far side gravity had decided to have it's way and now Wolfard's Medium to large scaled ATV was sporting what looked to be a punctured tire from landing hard on a sharp branch.

Wolfard looked at his companions from his place beside the ATV's tire and whined, "I'm sorry guys, I didn't even see that coming."

Judy smiled reassuringly and offered, "Accident's happen Ralph. Why don't we check around here for anything unusual while Nick patches the tire and gets it pumped up,"

Nick looked startled for a second and asked, "wait a minute, why am I elected Mr. Fix it?"

Judy turned with a sweet expression to say, "Because you have the patch kit, the pump, the compressed air AND because Wolfard knows more about Big Paw than you while I know this area. If I let you two loose without me I'm afraid you will get lost or fall over one of the ridge lines or get stuck in poison oak or stung by bees…."

Wincing at this litany of potential disasters Nick held up a paw to offer. "You made your point Carrots. Just don't leave me here by myself too long. You and Nature boy there have a look and a sniff and I'll get this done. But I want extra dessert AND my own personal carrot picking expedition when we get back to the farm tonight."

Matching Nick's smirk with one of her own, Judy agreed saying in an exaggerated Podunk accent, "You've got yourself a deal there city fox. You just leave the trail blazing to me and my trusty sidekick here and we'll be back in two shakes of a bunny's tail."

Wolfard almost said something about the sidekick crack and the carrot picking expedition before his common sense kicked in. Ignoring Nick's cackling as the lithe fox hopped up onto the wide tire to examine the puncture, the Wolf shook out his fur and trotted after the bunny who was already moving past the ATV's toward a line of underbrush headed Southeast.

Nick had applied the patch from his repair kit and was holding the tough material down so the adhesive would seal properly when his ears perked and instinctively he went on full alert. He heard faint rustling but a quick look around showed him that there wasn't much wind. His nose quivered but whatever had set off his instincts didn't do so again. After a few minutes he got out the compressed air and his pressure gauge and began to fill the tire.

Wolfard followed Judy's scent and bounded after her excitedly wagging his tail. He took out his cell phone and made sure it was fully charged just in case. Judy smiled to herself as her instincts kicked in, Wolfard was a friend and a sweet goof but he was also an apex predator. Keeping a trained ZPD officer like Ralph off balance wasn't going to be easy.

Judy hid a worried look and considered the best way to lead Wolfard to the first place they were supposed to check for clues. Timothy and Basil were the ones working with Pop pop this season and he had assigned them to help with this and she trusted them but….She glanced behind herself and snuck another peek at the giddily happy Wolf following her. Somehow this didn't feel like the right thing to do, he really LIKED that silly show and she didn't want to disappoint him….

Her ears swiveled around as she heard a distinctive clacking sound coming from just above the height of her upright ears. Wolfard's training kicked in and he jumped over to Judy while extending himself sniffing hard to try and find the source of the noise since his eyes were fairly useless in these woods. Judy gulped as she was suddenly covered with a large canine who to her utter surprise let loose with a sharp howl that echoed in the trees. She realized that he was calling for the rest of his pack, meaning Nick but before they could do anything else Wolfard's phone promptly went off with a DING and then Judy's phone began playing the distinctive tune Nick had recently programmed for himself.

Answering her phone she heard her fox as he panted, "Carrots, Thank the creator! Where are you? I can't track very well out here, You KNOW I'm a city fox born and bred."

"Easy there Slick, Wolfard and I heard something and his training kicked in. Can you use your compass app to head Southeast? We will head along our back trail until we meet you."

Not more than ten minutes later they were all moving back towards the ravine where Judy wanted to let Wolfard check things out, when Nick froze and Wolfard almost flattened him into the dirt. Flailing his arms and swooshing his tail Wolfard managed to avoid squashing his smaller pal but Judy wasn't so lucky and was pinned between her fox and the wolf. Ralph leaped backwards and Judy hit the dirt before bouncing back to her feet and peering around Nick who was gaping at something on the dirt trail.

"Carrots! That's not even possible. Is it?"

Across the trail were several large, wide paw prints that weren't quite like anything he had ever seen. Judy made sure to take pictures with her phone and record video and after poking Nick he too took out his phone and began to try and document the weird prints. Then he stopped and demanded, "Wait just a brush tailed minute here. Why are WE doing this?!"

Nick and Judy turned to see their pal Wolfard sprawled back along the path blinking up at the tree branches over the trail.

"Ralph?"

Judy giggled as Nick sighed and continued, "Come on Buddy, this is your rodeo, I'm just the clown here."

Wolfard managed to sit up holding his phone but he couldn't say much. He managed a goofy expression as he stared at the prints before blurting out.

"Guys, This is SOOO COOL!"

Nick and Judy grinned at their co worker who was fumbling with his phone and muttering to himself.

"Easy Ralph, we have three days and Nick and I will help you all we can."

"But you need to breathe okay, Ralph, BUDDY."

Wolfard snapped out of his funk and began to follow the tracks right off the path. Nick grinned and nodded to Judy and the two of them followed after him. As they continued, the three kept alert and sure enough, as they moved along Wolfard suddenly paused and gestured to his left. Judy looked and had to hide a grin as she saw a series of broken branches leading down toward the creek bed. Ralph began to document on his phone talking into the microphone as if he was a TV documentary announcer. "The brakes appear fresh and are at about Tiger shoulder height and are heading in a fairly straight line Northwest towards what smells like fresh water."

Judy bounced along with Nick dodging various smaller branches and leaves and adding in an occasional comment, "Sutters Creek is right ahead about a mile and a half or so. I didn't realize you would be able to smell water that far away Ralph."

Both Nick and Ralph glanced at their bunny companion and exchanged a quick look that Judy caught before Wolfard focused back on the trail of broken branches.

Judy winced and asked, "I put my paw I my mouth and said something dumb again didn't I?"

Nick pulled her in for a quick hug and answered quietly, "Not exactly, but…you KNOW Wolfard is one of the top noses in all of Precinct One and…well,."

Judy sighed and admitted, "Sure, Ralph is a trained sniffer but that doesn't mean anything as far as distance. Does it?"

Shrugging Nick admitted, "Not exactly, but….Just so you know, I qualified AND passed Sniffer training too. And all members of the Canid family have really good noses. Especially for a natural need like oh water or say telling what a mammal's scent is giving off."

Judy froze and narrowed her eyes warningly at her fox who held up a paw and offered, "NOT that it's a big deal in the city much. The scents there are extremely muddled usually but out here in the boonies. Well even I can tell we are heading towards water now."

Rolling her eyes Judy humphed and added, "okay I get it I was being a dumb bunny again alright? "

she glanced ahead and sped up to catch up to their friend and added as she joined him near a small opening between the trees. "Sorry about that Ralph,"

He wolf grinned, careful not to show too many teeth and offered a fist bump to both Judy and Nick, "No Worries there Judy, My Nose, Your Ears and Nick's quick Wit's together we are a great team, and together we will find and document Big Paw! Am I right or what?"

Nick grinned and agreed, "Sure thing Bud."

Judy nodded and offered, "We better pick up the pace a bit if you want to get to Sutters Creek and have time to explore before we have to head back. If you want we can bring overnight camping stuff for another trip, but it won't be as comfortable as the Warren."

Wolfard grinned again and added with a wink as he surged ahead following the now sporadic trail of branches and disturbed bark on some of the trees, "Well we city Wolves like sleeping comfy so your family's hospitality is appreciated for sure."

"Let's see how successful we are and then decide if staying overnight will be necessary. I'm an old fox and need my comfy bed and my Carrots to cuddle."

"Ow" Nick rubbed his shoulder where Judy had boxed him for that remark. "You keep giving me those bruises Officer Hopps and I'll have to file a grievance."

"Well then Officer Wilde, I'll just file a motion with M.R. to have you apply for your old age pension."

Wolfard held up a paw and shushed them as faint and then slightly louder clacking noises came drifting from somewhere ahead of the trio. "Judy, you are the Ears of this outfit, can you take us in the direction of that clacking noise? It doesn't sound natural and if it's mammal made we should find out who is around so we can avoid getting in anyone's way."

Judy nodded and was all business as she took point, leading the way for a bit before Wolfard took over again. After about an hour of trudging through the woods, Nick was willing to call it a day, especially since there were now clouds of midges and other insects buzzing around. He flattened his ears back and watched his companions hoping to see that they too were getting tired of all this nature. Then he snorted to himself as Judy vaulted gracefully over a downed tree followed by the ever eager Wolfard. Gathering himself, Nick leaped over the log and rolled slightly to pop back onto his hind-paws.

Wolfard gave him a thumbs up and Judy blushed as she gave him a kiss after admiring his smooth move. "Slick moves there city fox."

As they reached the creek Wolfard noticed that the far bank rose fairly quickly from the rather flat and overgrown areas on this side.

Turning back towards the woods they had just come out of, he filmed several shots of the broken tree branches and then a wider shot of the creek here before offering, "Let's see if those strange paw marks are around here before we start heading back."

Judy and Nick both nodded and began filming with their phones as well sweeping along the banks looking for any disturbances. Much to Nick's surprise he again found several smudged marks that could, maybe be parts of paw marks like the ones they had filmed in the woods.

Wolfard's tail began to swish excitedly as his ears perked and he offered, "It looks fairly shallow here and the current isn't too fast for someone as large as me, I'm going to check to see if any of these marks show up on the other side of the bank. I'll only go about 200yards either way and then we can head back to the ATV's for today."

Nick ginned, "my aching tail thanks you oh mighty hunter."

"Hush YOU, besides for an old fox you look positively delicious and this will give me a chance to show you JUST how much I appreciate having you out here in the big bad woods to protect a little bunny like me Mr. Wilde."

Catching the bunny in mid jump as she made to hug him, Nick growled softly, "Is that SO Mrs. Wilde? Well then I hope Wolfard takes his time."

As they fell together beside the creek Nick whined as his hip took the brunt of their fall on the fortunately fairly soft dirt of the creek's edge. "Who am I kidding here Carrots, You will probably have to carry me back to the ATV's if this keeps up."

Both the fox and the bunny snickered and began to nuzzle in the sunshine beside the creek and neither noticed when two bunny sized shapes bounced from rock to rock and crossed the creek about fifty yards downwind of all three ZPD officers and high tailed it back into the woods headed roughly in the direction of the clearing where they had left the ATV's.

As the Hopps clan was getting everything ready for dinner, the older teens working the roadside stand were surprised when a large mammal sized, muscular, ZPD police cruiser pulled up to the stand and a very well built tigress got out and ambled easily over to the building, carefully removing her aviator styled sunglasses and placing them in the front pocket of her standard uniform shirt. Two pairs of long brown ears popped up from behind the slanted display of at least a dozen different kinds of fruits, vegetables and what smelled like fresh honey which sent the tiger's whiskers quivering. Sternly suppressing a smirk as she recognized the sight and smell of the blueberries that Nick and Judy often shared down at the station the tigress bent sightly so she could see the bunnies face to face making sure to stay back a bit.

A bit nervous at the sight of the MUCH larger than they were used to predator, Annette Hopps offered cautiously, "Can we help you mam?"

Nadine raised a brow and started to speak, the sign on the little stand said Hopps Family Farm so she figured she was on the right track, but with how many bunnies there were who lived in the Near- Borough back home it was no guarantee that these bunnies were actually Judy's family until she asked.

"Is this the same Hopps family farm whose daughter Judy Hopps…." Nadine ducked her head a little lower to see under the slanted terracotta tiled roof (bunny sized and so small for a tiger even before taking into account it was just a little roadside stop) when words failed her completely.

Nadine Fangmeyer, Precinct One's resident paw to paw expert and Sargent of her own T.U.S.K. unit was just about as tough as she thought she was but that was before she was ambushed again by the devastatingly effective secret weapon of Bunnyburrow. Sternly conquering the urge to run the tigress braced herself.

Tumbling from behind the stand came a rolling sea of little balls of fluff. Last time she and Wolfard had been out this way was when Nick and Judy had been working on uncovering that whole plot by Furzer Corporation and she knew what to expect this time. All ears, paws and fur with huge innocent eyes, the kerfluffle surged forward and squeaked at the sight of the tigress before dozens of wiggling noses took in her scent and then all she heard was "Stripey!" Before being overcome by the tidal wave of tiny bunnies. Shocked into action, Annette and Darlene jumped to the rescue but it still took almost ten minutes to completely uncover the tigress.

Groggy from the assault Nadine managed to mutter, "So Fluffy, Ugh,"

Before getting shakily to her feet and offering a careful paw to the two older bunnies. I'm Nadine and I work with Judy. I came out to…."

Both Buns jumped sharply as though on springs when Fangmeyer's phone went off with a sharp DING! And then several more in quick succession. Sighing Nadine ignored her phone and asked quickly since the kerfluffle was once again eyeing her from around the back of the stand on both sides. "I am looking for Wolfard, Ralph Wolfard. He's supposed to be staying with Judy Hopps' family. Am I close?"

Both nearly adult bunnies nodded gesturing behind them to where she could see a large barn and a pair of silos. The one on the left offered, "That's the North barn, the main house is right up the road, just keep going until you see a wide opening in the split-rail fence on the right pawed side of the road and the sign that says Hopps."

The one on the right chimed in brightly, "You can't miss it as long as you don't speed. It's probably a little low to the ground and small for you since it's bunny sized, but most things are around these parts."

Both bunnies turned in sync to demand, "Able, Carl, Denise…take the kerfluffle back to the house while we break down the stand. And send Jeremy with the bigger pickup truck."

Nadine smirked and replaced her sunglasses as three other nearly grown bunnies looked cautiously over at her and began to heard the fluffy mass of cuteness across the nearby field. She suppressed a chill as she recognized the bright blue flowers planted around the crops and noticed that even the youngest of the bunnies gave them a wide berth before nodding her thanks to the two does.

Looking at her messages on her phone she had to work hard to keep from snorting with laughter as yet another 'update' on the Big Paw hunt appeared on her screen. Starting the cruisers engine, she settled in for the last part of the drive and DID snort once the window was closed and she knew the bunnies wouldn't hear her. Since her plans to visit with her parents had fallen through she didn't have anything pressing and Judy HAD offered to have her visit sometimes so…there was no time like the present. Surprising Ralph might not end up being a good idea, but, with all the supposed proof he, Nick and Judy were coming up with her instincts were telling her that being here to keep an eye on them was going to be a very good thing.

AN: Just a quick shout out, Fox in the Henhouse helped me with the woodsy bits and clues, and the ring-tone Nick programmed into Judy's phone for himself is That's How You Know from the Enchanted Soundtrack. ('cause I think he would be a romantic sap, all the while trying to maintain his 'cool' laid-back image on the job of course)

Also in this chapter I blatantly used the phrase farming isn't for sissies from a different fan fiction that I can't recall now.

I also got the name Cyril Stumptail and the family name Stumptail from King in Yellow's Zootopia story called Who Do You Trust on although it is only a name and not actually a full fledged character there.

Bailey Hopps is a really well done O/C by Selaxes on Ao3 (but I only used the name Bailey NOT any other part of his character for which I apologize since I didn't get to ask either of these authors if I could use these names.)

Annette and Darlene are a tribute to two of the original Mouseketeers.

I also used and referenced Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps excellent story Always My Sly Bunny Always My Dumb Fox here by using his pharmaceutical company called Furzer and the fact that Fangmeyer and Wolfard are ambushed by the Kerfluffle in this chapter. (this is actually where the idea for this what if came to me from so I wanted to reference it here.)