Nick: Previously on Zoomorphia!

Judy: It turned out the Night Howler investigation mission that Director Mouse asked us to assist with led us to an essential clue in missing mammal cases, John Silver.

Nick: Must say it's a blessing in disguise.

Judy : Oh! Besides, In the last chapter, Nick and I joined forces with SCU patrol team to protect Clawhauser and other civilians from Savages, not to mention defeat them.

Nick: Pretty confident that I alone could beat all those monsters.

Judy: Ahem!

Nick: "We" could~

Judy : We even put all three of the Hybrid's forms on display. Hustler, Police and Archer form.

Nick: Hustler form's color scheme is the best among them paws down.

Judy: Isn't it just the same colors as your casual look? Light green, grayish-tan, kinda red.

Nick: Exactly~ That's why this form is downright stylish~

Judy: I'm glad that our armor doesn't replicate hawaiian pattern. Anyway, we'd better get back to work.

Nick: Right. I hope no one will interrupt us again.

Judy: Don't jinx ourselves!

Nick: Now the chapter 6~

.-.. . - .-. ... / -.-. - -. - .. -. ..- .

On their way back to the Zootopia Police Department, as they almost arrived at their station, Nick could not help but gaze upon his prey partner, Judy, who was driving a cruiser. He salivated when his stomach grumbled loudly.

"Still hungry? Haven't you just eaten?" Doe's words caught a tod off guard.

The startled fox officer wiped his mouth swiftly with uniform sleeve. "I suppose Hybrid transformation burned more calories than I estimated." He defended his tummy growling noise.

"Though you slept the whole time?" Bunny teased her canine buddy despite her awareness that technically, while being Hybrid, Nick's brain might still function similar to when he was awake. It was just that he was not in control of his body. Therefore, it looked sort of like he passed out into deep sleep.

Finally, both reached a parking lot outside ZPD. Judy and Nick left the car respectively. Subsequently, she instantly remembered what Nick told her in the past that he always felt drained after detransformation. Furthermore, they morphed several times in merely one day. As a result, Judy thought her partner maybe too tired to continue working for now.

Watching orange sky sunset, "It's already late, so how about we file the papers before heading home?" Judy proposed, pressing a car key to lock the cruiser.

"Ah" Nick responded, placing his right paw on his stomach confusedly. That was strange…

.-. .-. . -.. .- - - .-. -.- / ... ..- -. -. . .-.

The next morning, in spite of his usual 'hard to be read' smirking expression and laid-back gesture, the only one fox officer in the main police force seemed a little bit chirpy. This probably had to do with the fact that the following day would be Judy's and his day off, which was rather like children looking forward to weekends.

The duo came across one another at front of Precinct 1 station, then they walked through the gate together and the very first thing they saw was many mammals gathering around a reception desk.

"Did you get injured?"

"We heard you ran into Savages at close range."

"Are you hurt?"

Various officers asked Clawhauser the cheetah questions simultaneously. Hence, the chubby big cat became baffled, unable to reply appropriately. "I-I-I'm al-..." He got alarmed by his cow elephant friend who leaned against the desk while inspecting him. "-right." He completed his sentence awkwardly.

"Are you really alright?" A male dark brown timber wolf shoved his way through a crowd.

"Yep. I've already texted you back that I'm safe and sound. No need to undergo such trouble, dragging yourself to here, Wolford." Clawhauser turned to the wolf wearing military trousers and an army green t-shirt with SCU logo.

Nick and Judy went near the desk. Afterward, they noticed a familiar white-muzzled face which belonged to none other than Wolford, a former ZPD police officer, currently a member in SCU patrol team. He was one of the officers transferred to Savage Control Unit, just like Jasmine Fangmeyer. Moreover, thinking about it, it must be him as well as the rest of patrol team whom rabbit and fox (as Hybrid) encountered a day before. The doe reckoned that the wolf was fairly unrecognizable when he put on tactical gear along with a helmet.

"Well, I still wanna meet you in the flesh to make sure… Y'know, I don't wish to see anything bad happening to my comrades again." Wolford laid his one paw on Clawhauser's table. His blue eyes expressed concern.

"I'm fine~ Relax~" The cheetah smiled genuinely at his canine friend.

"Okay, it's good to see you alive and kicking as alway-." Wolford's mobile phone in his trousers' pocket buzzed abruptly once, which caused him to perk the pointy ears. "Excuse me." He drew out his phone, only to huff with distaste when he checked text message. "Humph… Sorry. I gotta head off to my base. See ya later, pal." He then pushed his way out of the crowd and left the building in a rush.

"Guys, thank you all for your concern. I really appreciate it. But please don't worry." Clawhauser calmed fellow officers.

After the cheetah's colleagues, who were standing around the reception table, exchanged looks, nodding in assent, most of them stepped aside to let a burly pinkish-gray rhino having a tall horn and a pink hippo with noticeable two square-shaped teeth present Clawhauser with the boxes of donuts, which the spotted large cat received them gleefully. The officers wished him luck before going back to work.

"Glad to see you unharmed." Said Judy tenderly. Nick saluted mockingly while she was waving her paw to get Clawhauser's attention.

"Hi you two~" He greeted the duo back tiredly yet contentedly as they were approaching him.

"Busy day huh?" Nick inquired in jest, which made Clawhauser start to whine. "Totally. I'm overjoyed that everybody cares about me so much but I mean! My phone has been buzzing as if it's a vibra-" It seemed like his mobile phone interrupted his talk as he brought it up. "Take a look..." He showed the fox and the rabbit a phone screen displaying Furbook Messenger app full of chat notifications.

Both did not want to intrude on cheetah's privacy. However, their curiosity compelled them to peek at his text chats. They perceived that a lot of accounts had sent tons of messages to him, even spotting the messages from Fangmeyer and Rajah. Many unquestionably cared for him.

"Ahh, by the way, why were you there back then?" Nick wondered what the reason behind Clawhauser's presence in the middle of city during Savages' attack was. Following that, the big cat scratch his cheek lightly prior to giving an answer. "I went out to buy some sweet snacks. I have a serious sweet tooth, don't I." Blushing, he chuckled.

At the moment cheetah's eyes darted to right, he popped up out of his seat. "Good morning, Chief!" Doe and tod twisted their heads to the same direction that the feline fellow was looking. "How have you been, Sir?" The tod addressed Chief Bogo formally despite the usual smirk.

"I have to go out for running an errand. Clawhauser, in the meantime, handle the documents." Chief Bogo informed in stern tone as he walked past the reception desk. Clawhauser's eyes followed the chief's movement. He held feline ears back, tail tucked, which made Judy ponder what caused him a sudden expression shift. She was about to utter a question but… "Wilde, Hopps. Do me a favor and take care of numerous cases." Bogo continued ,then exited through the gate.

The cheetah changed a frown to a smile quickly. "Oh! That reminds me! I've prepared CCTV video files for you. They might be useful, I hope. You two can log in the system to watch them right away." He leaned across the desk. His tail curved like a question mark.

"Those're what we need! Thanks a lot! Hurry, Nick!" Eager to resume investigation, Judy towed her partner along by a necktie. Nick glanced back at Clawhauser briefly, catching a glimpse of his smile fading away.

..-. . . .-.. .. -. -. / ... ..- .-. -

"Found anything yet?" The tod asked. He was using his paw to support his head while fast-forwarding the CCTV clips played on his office computer.

"Not exactly… Even though we have already narrowed down somewhat helpful footage, it's still like looking for a needle in a haystack." The doe was absorbed in finding clues.

The pair had been spending the whole morning in their cubicle, just sitting on chairs next to each other in front of their individual work computers. If the missing mammal cases were connected with Night Howler dealers, rabbit and fox officers who were experts in this illegal plant related cases should be able to discover the clues straightforwardly, but even so they could not. As expected from the crime lord, I suppose. He would leave no obvious trace for sure. Still convinced that John Silver involved in these cases ,the doe reasoned while checking the moderate amount of recorded footage in and around the area of Zootopia Institute of Technology where Tadashi Hamada, one of the missing mammals, was seen the last time. It was evident that multiple testimonies corresponded to CCTV clips indicating that Tadashi had possibly remained in Campus the entire time before he went missing. One of the evidences was his motorbike left nearby his lab just like his brother, Hiro, said.

Whilst Judy was busy rewatching the footage over and over, Nick suddenly "Carrots! Take a look." called to her, so she moved closer to her partner along with her office chair.

Judy saw that it was a video clip of a backstreet nearby one local diner in Savanna Central that Nick and she had lunch with Clawhauser and Fangmeyer about a week ago. At first, she was confused what was wrong with this clip until Nick rewound it. She found out that it was recorded on the same day they ate out with feline friends. However, the weird thing was …

"A chunk of this footage had gone missing?" Judy became astounded because the clip skipped the period between around noon and the time after Hybrid defeated Savages.

She picked a case file up immediately from the messy table in order to scan information about Monty the moose, who was last seen at that diner before he turned up missing. The statements confirmed that he headed to the same backstreet appearing on computer screen.

"Something smells fishy here." Also looking at the file, Nick assumed there must be something happening around the portion of time which was cut out.

"I gonna check other videos from surrounding areas, in case they may lead us to more clues." Judy slid back to her computer.

"Hold your horses~" Nick touched a backrest of Judy's seat to attract his partner's attention. "We work as partners and we gonna crack these cases together." He winked at her. Accordingly, she could not help but giggle in response.

"Judy! Nick!" Clawhauser, gripping the edge of partition wall, appeared at their cubicle out of nowhere.

"Benjamin? What's the matter?" The surprised bunny quizzed. The duo shifted their attention to the cheetah who resumed talking. "You might wanna see this." He then left. The doe eyed the tod. He just gave her a shrug and they followed the feline officer afterwards.

The trio shortly arrived in a station break room where they found some of other colleagues gathering there while watching a wall-mounted television. Judy and Nick tilted their heads up to watch it as well.

The television was showing a live broadcasted press conference of three leaders of the main forces or organizations defending Zootopia's security; Chief Bogo, the head of the ZPD, standing on the dais with the director of the DIB, Mickael Mouse, being upright on a podium in order to be visible for the press and next to them was Maximus the SCU team's leader.

So this is why he seemed to be in such a hurry earlier huh? Judy guessed. Soon after that, her interest was caught by the news headline. ' SAVAGE AND MYSTERIOUS FIGURE' What's mysterious figure? She questioned in mind.

It appeared like the duo did not miss anything crucial since Cape Buffalo was about to get to the point. "-As you all have already known, SCU is a team under cooperation between ZPD and DIB in order to deal with the unknown beings which first showed up out of nowhere in Rainforest District roughly a year ago. They come in many shapes, still have some features in common such as similarity towards mammals like us but their fur and skins are purple. What's more, their behavior is… ferocious in the same or higher degree than those victims in Night Howler case that happened several years previously; hence, the name ' Savages'."

Behind the organizational heads, multi-monitor displayed images of various Savages in many different places and points in time. Their appearances ranged from savage mammal-looking to monsterlike, mutated and uncanny. Some photographs were blurry as if they were taken from far distance or hastily.

Bogo paused to check the press's reaction, looks like they're interested in another topic more, before he resumed his speech eventually.

"Moving on to today main subject matter, there are pictures and clips of the other bizarre creature shared in internet lately. Records show that the very first encounter with her… or him? was a period nearly after Savages' arrival." He sounded uncertain when specifying the creature's gender. The monitor behind them switched the Savages' images to pictures of a strange red armored rabbit with fox tail,... Hybrid.

The officers watching the broadcast began to discuss among themselves once Hybrid's pictures popped up, including Nick and Judy. "Is this how we look like nowadays?" She whispered to her buddy.

It had been a big while she looked at Hybrid's reflection during the time both uniting as the armored cross-breed. In addition, she had never searched or even desired to look up information about Hybrid on internet. Therefore, all the blurry images, silhouette and drawing pictures took her by surprise.

"Umm, I'm quite positive we don't look like that." Whispering back, he pointed at a sketch of supposed Hybrid, exaggeratedly bulkier than real one, also having vicious fangs and fierce eyes similar to comic book characters, in a background.

"We can't identify this life form yet. According to its outward aspect resembling a cross between a leporid and a canid, we dub it with a codename same as what mammals call it on internet, Hybrid ." Bogo just referred to Hybrid as 'it' for convenience's sake.

One of the reporters at press conference raised her hoof. When Chief nodded at her, a zebra lowered her arm and raised a question instead. "Does ZPD have any connection with the hybrid creature?"

The question was too specific. Fortunately, Bogo had been prepared for this type of questions. "You must reach that conclusion due to ZPD logo visible on Hybrid's head sometimes-"

"Oh yeah… Forgot that Police form basically looks like your field dress with ZPD hat." Nick murmured at Judy as she contemplated the fact that whenever both transformed into Hybrid, all of the armors, helmets, accessories and weapons manifested physical appearances on their own without any of her or Nick's control.

"But! I can assure you that we at ZPD have nothing to do with it-" Bogo's posture tensed up. Consequently, Mickey decided to interject before the buffalo behaved too aggressive in front of public. "This hybrid guy is full of mystery. Heck, we don't even know it's a threat or not?"

The mouse waited for reporters to note down, then carried on. "Nonetheless, it obviously acts outside the law. No clue which organisations it was under. That's why we aim to capture it for further investigation."

Director's words triggered a fuss among the press. Both heads of police force and intelligence agency found this a perfect opportunity to let Maximus step in. They sent him a signal through glances. The stallion nodded his head in understanding.

"It can be seen that Hybrid is capable of ending Savages by oneself. Typical task forces would not be able to arrest Hybrid, except SCU team, who has proper equipments, only." He publicly informed.

"What do you two think?" Clawhauser, stepping closer to the duo, asked a question which drew their attention to the rounded big cat.

"Uhh…" Judy hesitated as she was still comprehending information from the broadcasted press conference. "Seems like Chief and others handled the press pretty well." She finally gave her opinion.

"No, I'm talking about Hybrid." He specified while typing on his phone, and then handed it to her.

The bunny received the cheetah's phone which is as large as a tablet for rabbits. She held it with both paws.

"Yowza! Is Hybrid that big a deal!?" Judy got shocked to see lots of search engine results about Hybrid coming up after searching on internet.

Nick, leaning closer to his partner, scrolled a screen with left fingers before tapping a link direct to one blog. After that, a page was revealed to be a collection of video clips from various sources, Furbook, Tweeter, Znapchat, et cetera. Although the clips were recorded in many locations of the city Zootopia and on numerous periods of time spanning over a year, they shared a similarity… They were all about Hybrid.

The fox officer gradually scrolled down, randomly clicking on the videos to play them. The first clip the duo watched together was uploaded on the previous day. Apparently, there was a mammal who recorded Hybrid police form, fighting against Savages, with a smartphone from inside a car. Fox and rabbit remembered the event well like it was yesterday because it really did happen yesterday. They recalled that they asked Clawhauser and two civilians to take cover in Hybrid's vehicle. The fox skimmed through the video showing Hybrid yanking a chain to pull Tanuki Savage in and throwing a right punch at it, tying she-cheetah monster up and shooting at armored rhino.

The second vid was a jam cam's record of Hybrid archer form firing a number of arrows at a pack of wolf Savages. This battle happened in Sahara Square about several months previously.

Next was a clip taken from hotel balcony. Apparently, camera zoomed from quite a distance; therefore, the video was slightly blurred, yet clear enough to tell what was going on, Hybrid hustler form twisting MidniDriver's handle back to use Critical Break then jumping high to kick elephant Savage right in its face.

The fourth vid was another Hybrid archer form clip, one of the earliest fights. Hybrid got dragged around by hippo Savage after accidentally shooting a grappling hook arrow to it. Furthermore, they did not know how to detach the wire from a wrist at that time. It truly brought back memories when the duo were inexperienced as armored cross-breed fighter.

"Carrots, check this out." Nick highlighted one video, a first-person view shaky cam of confusion during evacuation from Savage. Both a squirrel who held a camera in right paw and his girlfriend were almost stomped on by much larger mammal. Luckily, a chain wrapped around them, then pulled them out of danger in time. They moved quickly through air. Next, Hybrid police form caught them in arms.

In the clip, "Please run away from here fast." Nick in Hybrid's body spoke to the squirrels with his best attempt of handsome deep voice. The camera focused on a stylish red helmet with navy police hat; thus, it looked as if Hybrid was talking to the viewers. Right after that, the armored mixed breed put them down prior to heading back to fight.

Judy read the video's title. Super ZPD officer? , which made her guess this might be one of the causes leading mammals to jump to conclusion that Hybrid was associated with ZPD.

"It spells out 'cool', don't ya think? This clip's among my faves." The tod commented, obliquely boasting himself.

The doe shaked her head in amusement but she then changed her expression to more serious. "Hang on a sec! You've seen these videos? Why have you never told me about these!?" She turned sharply toward the tod.

"In my defense, you used to tell me that you sorta dislike finding yourself on the internet cuz it weirds you out. That's why I've never spoken of this with you." Tod breathed, quietly enough only sensitive eared bunny heard him. Doe pouted in response to his explanation.

"So what do you two think of them?" The cheetah repeated a question.

"Th-Them? I- Isn't Hybrid the sole being?" The rabbit got anxious, wondering how her friend possibly knew Hybrid was more than one mammal or he actually knew their secret?

"Well, we can't specify Hybrid's gender yet. Also, it's somehow rude to call city's hero 'it'." The feline friend explained with a genuine grin.

"Hero?" She was perplexed once the word 'hero' was mentioned since she had barely heard praises for Hybrid. Moreover, she viewed that it was their responsibility to protect and serve the city. Therefore, she had not considered her and Nick's Hybrid alter-ego a hero.

"How do you feel about them?" Clawhauser persisted in asking for the duo's opinions.

"..." Judy became reluctant to talk, afraid that she may make a wrong move.

"As far as we concerned, no comment~" The smirking fox put his right elbow on top of bunny's head. The weight he placed on her brought back her calm.

In order to prevent herself from losing her cool again, "I've just remembered something important! Let's get back to work, Nick! Excuse us, Benjamin." Judy made up an excuse. She returned Clawhauser his phone. He stared her back while she accompanied by Nick left the break room.

Judy felt emotionally bushed. She could expect some mammals took interest in Hybrid, still she did not anticipate such overwhelmed attention.

On their way back to their cubicle, "Since tomorrow is our day off, wanna crash at my place tonight? We can watch a film together~" Nick proposed.

"Sure thing" Judy imagined that a decent movie night with her best buddy must relieve a great amount of stress. "But first, we need to finish examining the footage." She reminded him of their work merrily.

"Then, it's set~" Nick grined wilder at his partner.

...- .. -.. . - / -.-. .-.. .. .-. ...

"Get away!" Mammals rushed into another train compartment, muddling passengers inside that compartment. An Asiatic wild dog who was holding his daughter up followed other mammals before putting the pup down.

"Get the door! The door!" One passenger shouted. The wild dog hurried to shut the door but then he got reluctant because there were a water deer and a brown bear trying to escape to this compartment from feral mammals who were wounded, bleeding and noticeably… corpselike.

"Just shut it!" The same passenger directed panically, forcing the wild dog to shut the door.

Nick (in Hawaiian shirt without his signature tie) sighed, "Why nobody tries to shoot down those zombies?" complaining about a film, 'Train to Burrow', taking place on a train, as a zombie apocalypse breaks out.

In evening, at tod's apartment, he and doe were watching the film released approximately two years earlier, one year prior to Savage first appearance, while sitting comfortably on each side of sofa.

"They keep running to next compartments over and over. When will they fight back?" He complained constantly.

"Even if they are zombies, to think that they used to be mammals like us, it's hard to get over it." Judy, wearing her casual clothing, expressed her viewpoint. "Plus, were there someone carrying firearms on train, that would mean station security fails, wouldn't it?" She posed a question worth thinking about.

Nevertheless, "If you're scared, ya can hop into my arms, Fluff~" the fox digressed from a subject, teasing the bunny. Consequently, she sneered at him.

Later on, "As usual?" Judy grabbed a grooming brush from a sofa side table.

"How generous of you, Officer Hopps~" Nick beamed at her.

"Gimme your tail before I change my mind." She beckoned.

Nick then shifted closer to Judy, laying his fluffy tail on her lap. She straightaway brushed his tail expertly. Both found grooming and being groomed relaxing, so it had become their thing whenever she visited his place. He was so enchanted by gentle grooming sensation that he dozed off in front of television.

When Nick woke up, he saw movie credits were rolling. He clearly missed a large chunk of the film. He expected Judy to make fun of him falling asleep during grooming but when he turned to her, she was sleeping while hugging his tail.

The fox looked fixedly at the sleeping rabbit. His stomach growled as he was licking his flew…

Meanwhile, SCU vans were speeding down the road in Tundratown. The agents arrived at the scene where there were recent reports of a Savage going rampage. It was supposed to be a rodent. However, according to the reports, it was as enormous as a bison, having extra limbs and palps.

SCU agents discovered a vaporizing corpse matching the monster's features which they were informed about. The steam coming out the lifeless body melt some snow on ground.

Maximus grunted. His breath could be seen under cold weather. "Darn you, Hybrid!" He presumed that it had to be Hybrid , seeing that there was only one having ability to take care of Savages in such a short time span, or should be...

"Did you hear that? Seems like all my credits got stolen." On rooftop of a nearby building, the moon casted a shadow of wolf's silhouette. The moonlight reflected on silver chrome body.

"Isn't that actually favorable for us? It'll make our jobs easier." Mammal on the other end replied through some kind of wireless communication.

"Yeah, yeah." The metallic wolf sarcastically agreed before disappearing in darkness.

- - / -... . / -.-. - -. - .. -. ..- . -..


15/04/18: That was a long delay… Many things had happened lately. I suffered from anxiety and depression which came out of nowhere again. Moreover, my life has become train wreck. Everything is unpredictable and it can be frustrating when things do not go as planned, so can't promise when I will release next chap anymore.

- I tried splitting paragraphs to be smaller sections. Hope it's easier to read. I also just learned the noun words, canid and leporid, for canine and leporidae.

- The series doesn't called Hybrid, so there will be more to come~ But until next time, have a magical time~~