Judy: Previously on Zoomorphia!

Nick: Our works aren't gonna go smoothly, are they? There have always been other stuffs keeping interrupting us from investigation. This time, we were sent to participate a school assembly about dangers in Zootopia, which include the monsters, Savages.

Judy: Anyway, what should we do!? Clawhauser saw us wearing MidniDriver!

Nick: Use the force to erase his memory?

Judy: Like heck we can do that!

Nick: Let's find out what will happen next in Chapter 9!

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The sunlight cast a shadow of the roundish cheetah onto a narrow path between school buildings where the doe rabbit knelt beside the tod fox propping on one elbow. They turned their heads towards the male feline, panicking as they were still wearing the transformation gear on their waists even though they had already detransformed.

The doe pondered what excuse sounded most believable, but then again, she and the tod had these arm-sized black devices with sticking out purple circle core in the center, silver syringe on the left and maroon motorbike handle on the right.

"Oh hey, Clawhauser~ Ah, you see-" Nick tried to explain, hustling his way out like old days.

"Can you get up, Nick? Let me give you paw." Clawhauser unexpectedly walked towards the pair to help the fox up together with the rabbit. "And What about you, Judy? Are you hurt?"

"Aren't you-" She touched her Driver, "-shocked?" voice expressing her confusion.

"I'm surprised indeed but I sorta see this coming."

"H-H-How?" Judy wondered what Clawhauser meant by saying 'see this coming'.

"Well, it's clearly Nick's voice in doe bunny's figure… Easy guess."

Taken aback, she got mind blown by the big cat's honest words, turning to her partner slowly with raising one eyebrow.

"I wouldn't like to admit it, but he's right." Nick nodded, lips compressing.

"Eh?" She frowned. Suddenly, something popped into head. "Hold on a sec! Clawhauser, how could you pass through Savages out there?"

"Ah… The thing is… They all were just finished off."

"What!?" The duo bawled in unison.

It has been only a brief period! Impossible! The bewildered doe and tod could not believe their ears, but then they recalled the recent event.

"I'll take care of the rest." That was what the mysterious silver chrome wolf said.

Did- Did he really kill those Savages in this short amount of time? They speculated.

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After a Savage incident, the officers and the agents went back to check on civilians especially students. The reinforcement which Jasmine called earlier came to clean up the school since there were no monster to fight anymore. On a side note, the mysterious wolf was gone...

"We, SCU, will handle the rest. You guys may leave if you want."

"Thanks, Jasmine. Late-"

"Wait!" A yell interrupted Judy. The revived white horse, Maximus, loped closer to ZPD trio and his feline subordinate. He had taken off his uniform shirt because it was stained with black liquid.

"Thank you, Hopps, Clawhauser, for your time. Fox..." He stared at Nick, who prepared for insults at him. "Thanks… When children asked us what happens after death, I don't even know what to say although I was the one who brought the subject up." He, arm akimbo, rubbed his blond mane troubledly.

"Owing to me, we dodged that bullet~" Nick gave himself credit.

"'Taking indefinite leave for a sleep' huh?" Judy quoted her partner.

"Yeah~" Nick confirmed that they were his words. "I wish I could take a long vacation leave to sleep all day~"

"I'd send you straight to hospital bed, lazy fox! I guarantee you won't wake up any time soon."

"Awe, I'll pass. I'd hate not to wake up, not to see your gorgeous smile~"

The doe rabbit blushed at the tod's rejoinder, her long ears reddening.

"If your work here is done, get lost, Fox!" Stallion about-faced angrily.

"Excuse me!" the doe held him back.

"Ah, sorry!" The horse rapidly turned around. "Where're my manners? You must be busy, so see you later, Clawhauser, Hopp-"

"Don't apologize to me. Apologize to Nick. He has a name. Stop calling him Fox!"

A feeling of unease came over the tigress. She had predicted this incident would occur one day. Her current leader was not a bad mammal (Diligent and dedicated) but he could be obnoxious sometimes and finally, he got on her rabbit friend's nerves.

"Only Fluff can call me Fox, Clever fox, Sly fox, you name it~" The tod, grateful to the doe for standing up for him, lightened up the mood.

"That's not helping, Nick!"

"I'm sorry… Officer Wilde." Maximus bowed. "Please, excuse me, I must get back to work." He walked away.

"Good grief. Sorry." Jasmine apologized for her leader, then "Hang on, boss!" caught up with him in a rush.

Three of the ZPD officers used this opportunity to greet students and teachers informally, taking photos with them, before leaving the school. Along the way in a police car which Judy was driving, they were having a private conversation.

"Basically, whenever you two transform, Nick's soul will be transferred to Judy's body?" Clawhauser, sitting humpbacked on back seat, asked to make sure.

"Who says red foxes have no soul?" On passenger seat, Nick jested.

"Does that mean Nick's body would be left unconscious and defenseless?"

"Correct, it's a huge drawback of Hybrid." Judy confirmed with the curious cheetah.

"And you have 3 forms in total? Light green torso one, police uniform one, and hooded tunic one" Clawhauser counted on his fingers.

"Yeah, more or less." Nick tilted his head back.

"Just to be clear, we don't mean to put ZPD logo on Police form. It just happens." Judy waved her right paw around shoulder level.

"So, you use those Midnight... thingies to transform?"

"Bingo~ Jinx!" The duo coincidentally replied at the same time.

"One more question, where do you keep your morphers?"

"I carry mine with myself most of the time." She gave a straightforward answer.

"H-How do you oftentimes carry something that big with you!?"

"I have my own method." Judy frankly spoke.

"You heard her." Nick delivered a deadpan response.

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"In all honesty, you both are real heroes!"

"Shh!" Nick and Judy placed one finger vertically over the lips.

Rabbit, fox and cheetah officers continued their conversation at the reception desk in the next day.

"Could you keep it down? This is Nick's and my ultimate secret. Here're our yesterday reports." Judy handed Clawhauser the reports about previous day's event.

"Toddangit, why so many assignments? Missing mammals, Night howlers, yadda yadda yadda." Nick complained childishly.

"There! Speaking of missing mammals and Night howlers, you cracked the missing mammal cases and exposed ex-mayor Bellwether's evil scheme when you, Judy, started working here in ZPD and you, Nick, wasn't even a cop yet. Two of you are heroes who saved Zootopia back then!"

Judy was flattered by Clawhauser, rubbing her nose while averting her eyes.

All of a sudden, an idea came into Nick's mind. "Carrots! There's someone probably helpful we haven't interrogated yet!"

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Turning left and right to and fro in searching, Jackson Rajah the bengal tiger officer paced across ZPD's hallway.

"Oh, Hi Jackson~" Clawhauser saw Rajah heading towards the reception desk.

"Hi Benjamin. Did you see Wilde, Hopps? I can't find them anywhere." The tiger had already checked those two's cubicle but they were not there.

"Ah, they've just left. They said they found a new lead."

Appalled by the fellow feline, "On their own!?" Rajah raised his voice.

Clawhauser plugged his ears with his fingers due to a loud sound. "Chill out! What's going on?"

"I…" Rajah cleared his throat which turned sore after speaking up abruptly. "...may realize who's behind this time missing mammals..."

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"Great to see you alive and wool, ma'am~"

"Oh ha ha, so funny." A small white sheep inmate laughed dryly at Nick's pun.

"I'm aware that you don't wanna meet us, so better you cooperate, faster we can let you go-"

"Go where? Back to my cell? Senior Officer Hopps..." She interjected.

The police duo paid a visit to a correctional facility on the outskirts of Zootopia and at the time, they were interrogating a ewe sporting an orange prison uniform, ex-mayor Dawn Bellwether, inside a dim concrete interrogation room.

Judy ignored questions from the mastermind behind one of the biggest crimes in Zootopia's history. "Because you and your men used Midnicampum holicithias to produce a dangerous serum, I bet you know who John Silver is."

"Pardon me, Midnight-what?" Bellwether, seated behind a steel table opposite to a pair of officers, asked.

"You really should just call it 'Night howler', Carrots."

"I'm messing around~ I know Night howler's a binomial name. Mind you, what do I gain by answering your questions?" The ewe sheep sneered.

"If you behave well, we might be able to reduce your punishment." The bunny attempted to compromise.

"So I can get out of here quicker? Please~ I'd rather be safe 'n cozy in here than live in society full of mammal freaks." The sheep crossed her arms.

"Mammal freaks?" The fox looked perplexedly at her.

"Y'know, savaged- I mean Savages." She quickly corrected herself. "Plus, the city is in bad shape. There's no mayor, only committee as acting mayor. Who wants to be mayor when the city is under terrible circumstance-"

"Quit going off topic. Answer us. What relationship do you have with John Silver?" The bunny made a stern expression.

"Just to clarify, I do not collaborate with predators. Besides, that prosthetic armed bear is a drug lord. Why would he get involved with the pesticidal flowers back then? He may trade them now but that's because they became illegal plants. What's more, if we had indeed worked together, wouldn't we have splintered when he learned my true goal?" She launched into a monologue.

Chatty as always… The twosome thought to themselves.

"In a nutshell, you do know him." The fox summed up briefly. "He's still just distributor. Why in the world would somebody buy loads of Night howlers from him? An antidote for the night howlers has already been created."

"Oh, trust me. Night howlers can be used more than for concocting the serum. Oh wait, it's not like you believe I'm telling the truth anyway." The sheep tucked her left leg under her steel chair.

Eventually, both cops started to question how many percentage of what Dawn Bellwether said could be trusted.

"Tell me one thing, officers." She demanded. "How do you ZPD and a security agency normally deal with Savages?"

Nick and Judy exchanged looks, supposing there was no harm in answering Bellwether this question; therefore, "Sending the specialized unit to eradicate them." she replied.

"You mean 'kill' huh?" Bellwether lowered her gaze.

"Why?" Nick was suspicious of the sheep's body language.

"Nothing~ That's right… That might be the best solution. Good luck protecting innocent civilians, officers." Bellwether stared at Nick and Judy back and forth.

It was obvious that she messed with the cops, which made the duo feel as if they were not supposed to waste their time with this ewe any longer. After prison wardens came to bring the ewe inmate back to her cell, the doe and the tod proceeded to another interrogation at a visiting room.

"Officer Hopps! Officer Wilde! I've been waiting for you!" A blue inmate costumed large golden brown lion greeted them cheerily.

"Good afternoon, former mayor Lionheart." Judy greeted him back.

Calling this interrogation was not quite accurate. It was more like the duo were casually interviewing Bellwether's predecessor, Leodore Lionheart, a culprit who imprisoned animals that turned savage during night howler incident, at a visitor table. They hoped to earn some useful information from him.

"We heard that you'll be released from jail soon. Congratulations sir~" Nick congratulated him.

"Right~ All the hosting seminars really paid off." Lionheart clasped his paws. He had volunteered for numerous community services, especially hosting seminars on political science. Moreover, he behaved himself well during his sentence. Consequently, his prison sentence was reduced.

"Thank you both. I've got inspiration to write a book about the time I falsely imprisoned 15 mammals, got arrested by the very first rabbit and fox officers, then sentenced to jail."

"So... Mr. Lionheart, may I ask you about that? When you captured those animals..." Judy ended a pep talk.

"What about it?" He did not sound upset one bit.

Accordingly, she carried on. "Whom did you hire to capture the savage mammals back then?"

"My subordinate timberwolves. You'd have already known, shouldn't you?"

"You didn't hire any criminals, right?" She rephrased the question.

"Well, I was a mayor of Zootopia at that time. I had plenty of resources. No reason to spend more money than necessary. In fact, it helps misleading cops."

"How?" Judy wondered.

"You may not know this, Officer Hopps, but more than a decade ago, there was an infamous kidnapper terrorizing the city; thus, the police officers except new recruits such as you would be misguided." Lionheart elucidated.

"I see." Nick nodded, causing Judy to wonder whether he seriously knew whom the lion referred to or not.

"Let me guess. You came here for some clues to solve the new missing mammal cases."

"Uhh, well..." She was embarrassed to be read easily by the friendly yet imposing lion.

"I'm in here." Lionheart leaned forward. "It's highly probable that I've heard jailers or other inmates talking about the current situation in the outside world. Speaking frankly, with Savages roaming around the city right now, it's not surprising if some mammals… disappear. We have no idea what they really are. Some rumors say they are aliens. Some say they are beings from different dimensions. Or even bio weapons. Nonetheless, many are convinced that these monsters came from Cliffside because it was the first place where they showed up, wasn't it?"

He dropped a truth bomb… The truth that Judy was not aware of… Wrong. Actually, it was the the truth that no matter how well she knew in her heart of hearts, she did not want to acknowledge it… She would not like to think that mammals who had gone missing fell victim to Savages...

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Nick and Judy expressed their gratitude to Lionheart for his time. They left the prison, hanging around the Rainforest District in the late afternoon to gather their thoughts before they returned to the station.

While experiencing the unique moist cool atmosphere, they gazed upon the 300-ft gothic clock tower which had not struck the bell for few years since the beginning of renovation. Nick was leaning against their police cruiser as Judy was organizing thoughts to take down notes with her trusty carrot pen.

"You still carry that pen around?"

"Yep. Why not? I even recorded the interrogation just now for relistening later."

"But you didn't notify them of recording."

"In my defense, they didn't ask~" Speaking tongue-in-cheek, she winked at the tod near her.

"Sly bunny~" He smirked.

She looked obliquely across the city road. Subsequently, something immediately grasped her attention. "Hey Nick, what kind of canine is he?"

He looked in the same direction as his partner. "Oh, that's a St. Bernard, dog derived from wolf." He identified breed of a grey shirted tan-pawed slender brown dog who astonished the doe since she had never seen this breed before. In fact, she had barely met dogs in general.

They observed the business casual St. Bernard, standing on a footpath, long enough to notice a red panda sneaking around him, so they stayed cautious in case the red panda was a pickpocket.

Shortly afterwards, a running plain white van came to a stop on roadside in front of the dog. At the same time, he brought out a handkerchief to cover his nose, then sprayed perfume at the red panda. She was tranquilized later on. He picked her up into the van before it immediately ran off.

Without second thought, the duo got in their cruiser to pursue the van. The police siren loudened reverberantly, driving the van to flee faster.

"Officer Wilde to dispatch! Officer Wilde to dispatch!"

The only response they received over the police radio was buzzing noise, which can be presumed that their signal got jammed.

"We won't catch up with them-" Judy sounded anxious. She glanced at her canine partner reclining the passenger seat. "What are you doing?"

"Getting ready~" Nick putted on his MidniDriver.

Knowing what he was up to, she putted on her driver. They subsequently transformed into Hybrid Police form and summoned the automag, spinning its cylinder, sparks flying out.

Driver side car window was lowered. Hybrid stuck the left paw with the pistol out of the car to shoot a shining tiny bomb. It exploded above the moving van, sending electromagnetic pulses throughout the vehicle system to instantly disable it. Luckily, thick mist helped concealing the armored blend's presence.

Right after the van stopped moving, a group of criminals hurried to get out of the white van.

"What about this lesser panda, sir!?" A middle-aged hyena asked the dog politely.

"Leave her. She's just gonna slow us down. Now, move!" He ordered, letting others escape first, then soon followed.

Hybrid carefully stepped out of a car to avoid attention. Following that, they looked at the red panda in the abandoned van to make sure that she was safe. Once they confirmed her safety, Hybrid chased the criminals straightaway.

St. Bernard guided other mammals through a smooth grey stoned street. They turned around the corner, entering an alley between red brick townhouses.

The armored bunny officer with a spiky yet fluffy fox tail hunted down the gang of animals who attempted kidnapping. When they went around the same corner, Hybrid's legs stopped short as they found those criminals running towards a trip of caprid Savages. At that moment, they were in Police form. If they had used their pistol, there would have been a lot of risks that the bullets might accidentally hit the mammals.

The duo were about to yell to the criminals in order to bring them to a halt. It turned out that they ran past the monsters which merely stood there on all fours and let them through.

Lost for words, Nick and Judy tried to get their heads around what just happened. Why didn't those monsters attack? Out of the blue, the Savage s pounced on Hybrid. Duo as one counterattacked by firing a gun. However, shots without aiming were hit-and-miss. Despite few bullet holes, the monsters persisted in assaulting the target.

One Savage bit on Hybrid's right arm holding the pistol, one bit on the left leg, another shoved the front of Hybrid with horns. Even though it did not hurt, it was tough for Hybrid to move. In addition, the rest of a monster trip were on standby to attack.

At the critical moment, a silver flash fell ahead of the united duo. The reflective paw grabbed the nape of the Savage biting the arm with black armlet before yanking it away. Once Hybrid's right arm was free, they promptly shot the nearby monsters in the heads.

Hybrid turned to look at the rescuer. It was the same silver chrome wolf they previously met. He threw the monster he was grabbing upward, then "Volt Strike" uttered calmly while crossing his arms above the head, both knifepaws glowing. When it dropped, he struck it with paw chops. It fell to lie on the floor, eventually breathing its last.

The combined doe and tod had several big questions to ask but it was not a good time since they were facing the dangerous beasts.

"Duck!" Nick shouted to the wolf.

"I'm a wolf, not a duck."

"Get out of the way!" He reworded. Hybrid tossed the gun to hold in left paw and then raised it before the right paw twisted the handle back. " CRITICAL BREAK " The pistol fired a energy ball which later exploded similar to a firework. The beams came down to strike other caprid Savages.

However, some of them survived Hybrid Police form's finishing move, skedaddling. Hybrid charged off to pursue the remaining Savages.

"Sit tight, Hybrid." The wolf blocked the way, "Track down those Savages." whispering through some sort of wireless communication.

"Bac-" "Back off, wolf." The fox in rabbit's body said out loud to drown out her voice.

"Don't call me a wolf! How rude! Name is Bolt." Jokingly offended, he introduced himself, pointing thunderbolt strips on his abdomen. "Shouldn't you do your fuzz job? Taking care of the victim first? Leave the rest to me."

"He got a point. Plus, he can defeat multiple Savages on his own… Fuzzy fuzz." Nick told Judy softly.

She sighed, somewhat fed up with the situation, not to mention his pun.

Ultimately, Hybrid headed back to the van prior to the wolf vanishing.

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At a later time,

"Where is Sir. Pan?"

"He's left." The hyena replied.

From an outside perspective, mammals were meeting up on a mezzanine with stair in an old warehouse beside Rainforest District's river.

"Is there anyone following us?"

"I don't think so. Even if there is, that mammal must be stupid-"

"Hi~" A fruity male voice came from an entrance of a warehouse, preceding a white tundra wolf entering the warehouse. "So, this is your hideout huh? I have couples of questions for your boss. Is he here?" He unzipped his groovy black leather jacket.

After the mammals on the mezzanine shared a look, they bursted out laughing.

"Alone!? What a joke. Like a moth to a flame." The hyena scoffed at the uninvited guest while two mammals descended the stairs to shut a gate.

Next, few caprid Savages came out of the shadows to surround the wolf. Indicated by healing burn marks on their skins, they were the same ones that encountered Hybrid earlier and survived. The fleering criminals expected him to be horrified.

"Argh! Thank you!" Unanticipatedly, he grew relieved. "I prefer fists to do the talking. Mittens, hack security cams. I'm gonna have some fun." Seemingly, he talked to himself, rolling up his jacket right sleeve.

"Switch on" The wolf uttered calmly.

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12/06/18: Is it just me or Rainforest District has impression of United Kingdom, like quite rainy? By the way, it's been 5 months since I posted the first chapter. I gonna try release new chaps faster... I hope.