"Rise and shine, rise and shine!"

Hunter blearily opened his eyes, seemingly only moments since he closed them. "Buh?" he said, intelligently.

A fanged smile appeared in front of him, causing him to jerk backwards in surprise. "Rise and shine, Hunter! It's a new day! Time to learn how to be a cop."

"I already know how to be a cop," he grumbled. "It involves much more sleep than this."

Furrington poked him. "Up and at 'em, Hunter!" He turned and started rousting Tibbs out of his bunk.

Sighing, Hunter swung his feet out of the bunk and dropped to the floor. Around him, the other cadets were frantically putting on their clothes. He grabbed his sweats from the dresser next to the bunk and put them on. First thing in the morning was always PT. Friedkin had explained that it was a great way to get the blood flowing and prepare for the day ahead. Hunter had explained that he learned best after a good ten hours sleep. After the explanations had been concluded, Friedkin's way had prevailed, due less to Hunter being convinced she was right, and more because she outranked him, massively outweighed him, and had much sharper teeth than he did.

The cadets trotted outside, as Hunter finished lacing up his shoes, groaning as he felt something- presumably nothing important- pop in his back as he leaned over. Furrington, seeing him lagging behind, trotted over.

"Come on, Hunter, let's get moving!"

Furrington was a jaguar. Jaguars were definitely large for cats, but compared to humans- even considering that many Terran mammals were of a bit larger size than Hunter was used to- not particularly intimidating. Hunter, on the other hand, was all of six foot, heavily built (not to say fat) and in the worst possible mood. He turned a baleful gaze on Furrington.

The jaguar flinched slightly, but rallied. "Don't you look at me like that, cadet!"

"Like what?" asked Hunter curiously. "Like I'm considering how quickly it would take to strangle you, skin you, and turn your hide into a coat in this godawful cold weather?"

Furrington swallowed. "I actually hadn't gotten all that-"

"Are you getting it now?" Hunter bent back down and leisurely tied his shoelaces. "Because I can do it again if you didn't."

"That's one lap, Hunter," said the jaguar, his voice slightly higher in pitch than normal.

Fortunately, the instructors hadn't realized that humans had much greater endurance than most animals. One lap was hardly a punishment. Though to be fair, at Hunter's age it wasn't trivial either. "You bet, boss. Now give me a sec to tie these shoes." He looked up again at the jaguar, who gulped and stepped back at his expression. "I'm old and decrepit, remember?"

The instructor nodded nervously. "One minute," he said crisply, trying to regain some of his authority. "Or it'll be two laps." He turned and trotted out of the barracks, not quite fleeing.

Hunter sighed and followed.

The rest of the cadets glanced nervously at him as he headed towards them. Friedkin stood silently. She saw Hunter coming and growled. "Furrington, I told you to get his butt out here!"

"He's coming, Major!"

"Not fast enough!" She pointed at Hunter. "Move!"

Hunter was trying hard not to be intimidated by the polar bear, but his efforts in that direction had thus far been stymied by the fact that she was a freaking polar bear. He hurried up and fell into the formation. "Cadet Hunter, reporting as ordered!" he shouted.

"I didn't tell you to report, Hunter!"

"Oh, right. Cadet Hunter, not reporting in acordance with orders not received!"

Friedkin narrowed her eyes at him. "That's one lap, Hunter."

"Respectfully, Major," said Hunter, snapping to attention, "Much as I regret informing you that you are misinformed, Major, I have to inform you of the information that Officer Furrington informed me that I was already to form up, and if I were missed in formation despite being formally informed to formate, this would result in the information being informed for me that I was to do one lap already."

For a long moment, Friedkin just stared at him. Then she turned back to the group. "Jumping jacks! Ready, go!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"So how do you get away with it?"

Hunter, who was currently eating some eggs and what he was pretending was ham, glanced over at Tibbs incuriously. "Get away with what?"

The warthog leaned closer. "Snowing the major like that."

"What? Oh, it's just a little trick you learn when you do police work for a while. You just make things difficult enough that it's not worth the trouble to discipline you, but not so deliberately difficult that it is worth the trouble to discipline you." He took a bite of his food and grimace. "Tell me again how you guys eat this stuff?"

"What, would you rather eat real meat?" asked McHorn, sitting down across from them. He stared at Hunter belligerently. "That's what you humans do, isn't it? Eat mammals?"

Hunter pointed at him with his fork. "Don't tempt me. I've never tried rhino before."

Eland, sitting a few seats away, made a moue of distaste. "That's a little creepy, Hunter. I don't think threatening to eat mammals is a good way to get along."

The human shrugged. "In all seriousness, humans don't generally eat sapient beings, the distant past notwithstanding. We're not the Karathi."

"The who?" asked Tibbs.

"The Karathi. Oh, right, you haven't met them. Count your blessings." Hunter shoveled another forkful of eggs into his mouth. "They're these lizard things. No, bug things. Lizard-bug things."

"And they eat sapients?" Tibbs looked ill.

"They eat anything. It's sort of their thing."

"Seems like humans should get along fine with them," said McHorn.

Hunter sighed. "Yeah, humans eat mammals. But not sapient mammals. The ones we eat are just animals."

"Yeah, but they're not that different from us," pointed out Eland. "I mean, how do you know they aren't sapient, or nearly so? I mean, we are."

"Oh, that's just silly," said Hunter dismissively. "Look, you guys eat bugs, right?"

"So are you right now," said another cadet, a wolf, pointing to Hunter's plate.

"Please don't remind me of that, I'm trying to eat here. So how do you know that bugs aren't sentient? Or if they might be in the future?" Hunter pointed to the meat on the wolf's plate. "For all you know, that bug's poor family is at home in the dunghill, crying out their eyes over their ma being eaten." He resumed his breakfast.

The wolf glanced down at his plate.

"No, because we'd know if we-" he paused. "I mean, we would, wouldn't we?"

"Ants have a pretty advanced social structure," said Eland thoughtfully. "How do you define intelligence, anyway?"

The other predator cadets all stopped eating and frowned at their plates.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Friedkin stared at Ajuagar. "Say that again."

The sergeant, looking desperately unhappy, sighed. "The predator cadets won't eat any of the insect meat or fish in the cafeteria."

"That's not the part I meant."

He closed his eyes. "Until they can be assured that arthropods and fish are not sapient."

"Yes," said Friedkin. "That's the bit I wanted to hear again." She sat down heavily at her desk. "I assume Hunter has something to do with this?"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Twenty seven charlie, are you clear for this code four at forty-two twenty-eight Badger Street?"

Nick growled under his breath. "This is getting ridiculous."

"It's a busy day," said Judy, though with some frustration in her voice. She picked up the mike. "That's clear. Clawhauser, we kinda need a break, here. We're trying to do a follow-up investigation."

"Sorry, Judy," said the cheetah over the radio. "Calls come first."

She sighed. They'd tried several times to get over to a local Fellowship church during their shift, but it the calls just kept coming. With the tension between the Terrans and the humans, a lot of mammals were on edge. To top it off, nearly half the on-duty officers were trying to stop a riot that had started from a peace march downtown. The irony of that was apparently lost on the rioters. "Fine, what is it?"

"Caller says there are two mammals in suits walking around the neighborhood threatening residents," read Clawhauser. "Says they seem to be some kind of religious zealots."

Judy rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. There's all kinds of doomsayers out and about right now-"

Suddenly, Nick grabbed her paw with his and pulled the mike over. "We're on it, Clawhauser."

Judy blinked at him as he released her. "What are you doing? That call could have held a bit longer."

Nick was already making a U-turn. "I heard from someone in my old neighborhood that there were pairs of mammals going around prophesying the end of days." He gave her a significant glance. "Saying the humans will come smite us with their righteous wrath."

Slowly, Judy nodded. "That sounds familiar."

"Uh-huh."

Moments later, they were in the caller's neighborhood. Nick pointed out two mammals walking down the sidewalk, looking rather stiff and self-important. "Think that's them?"

"Either that or they're the best-dressed dope dealers in this part of town."

He pulled the car up next to the two mammals, a jackal and what he believed to be a mink. Some member of the weasel family, anyway. Nick got out and smiled at them. "Evening, all."

They regarded him warily. "Good evening," said the mink slowly. "Is there a problem, officer?"

"No, no problem. Just got a call two mammals were going around scaring the neighborhood." Judy came around the car and watched them, one paw resting near her baton. Their last experience with the Fellowship had not been pleasant.

"They should be frightened," said the jackal solemnly. "The gods have returned, and they are displeased with their children."

"You mean the humans," said Nick. "Right?"

The jackal nodded. "Long ago, almost all mammals believed in the gods," he said. "Then, the time of apostasy came. Many different religions arose. And now, with the gods having actually returned in the flesh, it is time for all mammals to repent." He looked questioningly at Nick, a fanatic light in his eyes. "I wonder, officer, if you yourself might not consider repenting?"

Nick and Judy shared a glance before he looked back at the jackal. "Maybe. How long does it take?"

"True repentance for one's sins takes a mammal's entire life," replied the jackal.

Nick glanced at his watch. "I've got about two hours left in the shift. How far will that get me?"

Both the other mammals frowned. "It is not meet to discourse so lightly on such serious matters."

Judy decided to step in. "Listen, we actually are somewhat interested in what you can tell us about the humans. Have you spoken with them?"

The mink looked to the jackal, who appeared surprised at her sudden interest. "There are few prey that are interested in the church," he said, suspiciously. "Though we welcome all," he added.

"Not many prey, huh? Why is that?"

"When the prey defeated the predators, they had already cast aside the old ways," explained the jackal. "The predators, too, in large part adopted the ways of their conquerors. The Naturae Libri teaches that all mammals once worshipped the true gods, however."

Both the cops' ears stood up in sudden interest. "The Naturae Libri?" asked Judy.

The jackal and mink nodded in unison. "The book of nature," translated the jackal. "Our holy book." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, new-looking, leatherbound book. "You may have a copy, if you wish."

Nick took it. "Thanks. So where is your church, anyway? My partner and I might want to attend."

"Just around the corner," said the jackal, pointing. He looked pleased at Nick's interest. "Take a right, then look for it three blocks up on your left. It's a small building, but sufficient to our needs. We look forward to seeing you there."

Nick smiled, showing his teeth. "I'm sure you do. Well, it's getting late. Maybe leave this block alone for the time being?"

"The hour of reckoning has come," said the jackal as the two cops started back toward the patrol car. "Though it is written that of that day no mammal knoweth the hour, no, not the angels of heaven, surely the return of the gods is a sign."

Nick and Judy turned back to look at them. "A sign of what?"

The jackal just smiled. "Of great things to come, Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps."

Judy stared at him. "You know who we are?"

"Nothing is hidden to those who have eyes to see, and ears to hear," said the jackal. "Go in peace." With that, he and the mink turned and walked off.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"You need to listen to this," said Judy. She read from the Fellowship's book she had been given. "And lo, I heard as it were the sound of thunder, and I saw a light fall from the heavens, and it turned night into day. It fell amongst the trees and smote them down with a sound like unto ten thousand lions roaring. And it slew the very land, making all who stood upon it sick unto death."

Nick frowned. "Sounds like the Human-Mammal war. They dropped some nuclear weapons, you know."

"I read up on it. Like the Deadlands east of here," said Judy. "Still highly radioactive after all these years."

"Which is kinda weird, if you think about it. All the other irradiated regions have long since become more or less safe," said Nick. He shrugged as he pulled into their space back at the ZPD station. "I guess it was a particularly big bomb." He looked at his partner. "So what about that concerns you so much, anyway?"

"It's not just that," said Judy. She hopped down from her seat and held up the book. "It's the whole thing. This is pretty historically accurate, from what I've been able to check."

"So?" Nick locked the doors of the patrol car. "Lots of mammals had oral histories of that time."

"But there are some other weird things, too. Supposedly this was written about six thousand years ago. But it predicts the Prey-Predator wars, the defeat of the predators, the founding of Zootopia-"

"What?" Nick looked shaken. "That can't be right." He pulled out his phone and punched in a search on Zoogle. Almost immediately, he found what he was looking for. Slowly, he relaxed. "No, it says here that the book was almost certainly changed after the events took place. In other words, the so-called predictions were written after things had occurred."

Judy frowned. "Are they sure of that?"

"Pretty sure." Nick was still reading. "There are textual clues, no one has ever found a copy dating back more than a few centuries ago- it makes a lot more sense than if the book was actually predicting the future."

"I suppose," said Judy slowly. She followed Nick into the locker room, where he shrugged off his vest and uniform shirt. "So what's the plan?"

"The plan, Carrots? Isn't it obvious?" He reached into his locker and pulled out a shirt which he regarded critically. "Do you think this will work?" He held up the shirt to his chest.

She raised an eyebrow. "Work for what?"

"To go to church, of course." He waggled his eyebrows. "We've got some repenting to do."

Smiling, Judy rolled her eyes. "Didn't that jackal say it would take our entire lives?"

"Then we've not a moment to lose. For one thing, we need to go by our place first."

"Why's that?"

He leaned forward. "Because," he said conspiratorially, "I thought we might do something that we could repent for."

"What do you mean- oh." She blushed. "We'd better get going, then."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"So can anyone tell me the elements of the offense of burglary?" The instructor, a lawyer from the Zootopia District Attorney's office, looked somewhat hopelessly over the cadets, whose eyes had a distinctly glazed appearance. "Anyone?"

Hunter raised his hand. "Within the city limits, an actor enters without effective consent of the owner, with the intention of committing theft or another felony," he said, bored.

The lawyer blinked. "Yes, that's right. Well done."

The rest of the class gave him wary looks. "What?" he said. "That's basic, guys."

"Yeah, but you haven't volunteered for anything since we started," said Eland.

"If it gets the boring damn lawyer out of the room faster, I'll recite the whole Criminal Code from memory," said Hunter irritably.

"I beg your pardon," said the lawyer, miffed.

"Granted," said Hunter graciously. "Just try to get to the point faster next time."

"Cadet Hunter!" Friedkin stuck her head into the classroom. "Sorry, Mr. Kohl," she said to the lawyer. Her eyes fell on Hunter. "Cadet! Front and center."

Hunter got up and walked up to the major. He snapped to attention, clicking his heels for good measure. "Yes, major!" he shouted. "Cadet Hunter ordering as reported!"

Friedkin frowned slightly, but ignored it. "You have a visitor."

"I do?" Then he nodded to himself, realizing who it was likely to be.

"Come on," said Friedkin irritably.

Hunter followed her into the cafeteria. As he had suspected, Tavi was there, standing on the table so she was closer to head height to him. "Officer Tavi, you can have ten minutes," said Friedkin. "And I'm only doing this because you said it was for an investigation."

Hunter walked up to Tavi. "How you doing, rookie?"

Behind him, Major Friedkin harrumphed loudly. "Cadet Hunter, this is Officer Tavi. She is your superior."

Hunter glanced over his shoulder. "Right," he said dryly. "I forgot." His back straight, he saluted smartly. "Officer Tavi. Good to see you, ma'am."

Friedkin stared at him suspiciously. "Good, Hunter. If you acted that way with everyone around here you'd be doing a lot less PT."

Hunter shrugged. "But I'd be having a lot less fun, major."

"We're going to have a little heart-to-heart soon, Hunter."

"Always looking forward to it, ma'am."

With one last glare, Friedkin left the room.

Hunter looked down at his former rookie. "So what can I do for you, ma'am?"

Tavi rolled her eyes. "Call me rookie. It sounds much less disrespectful." Her eyes flicked to the door Friedkin had left by. "You know, this would be a lot easier if you just went along with the flow, Zach."

Hunter sat down next to her, back to the table. He stretched out his legs, getting some of the kinks out after sitting at the small desks in the classroom. "Tavi, maybe I deserve this and maybe I don't, but the fact is that I'm a veteran officer being treated like a kid still wet behind the ears."

The mongoose looked surprised. "Human kits are wet behind the ears, too?"

"What? No, it's just an expression." Hunter looked thoughtful. "Odd, now that I think about it. Humans have always anthropomorphised other mammals, even before we knew about you guys."

"Anthro-what?"

"Ascribed human characteristics to non-human things," explained Hunter. "It's kinda weird, when you think about it. Sort of like how you keep thinking that tank of yours is a person."

"He is a person!" squeaked Tavi indignantly. "He hates baths!"

"It is a tank," said Hunter patiently. "Yeah, it has a pretty sophisticated AI suite, but it was programmed to act like a thinking being. It's not actually one."

"How do you know?"

"Because it was created by us, not evolved like-" Hunter trailed off.

Tavi narrowed her eyes at him. "Evolved like humans, you mean?"

Hunter sighed. "Change of subject, all right? Why are you here? Not that I'm not glad to see you, but..."

She clearly wanted to pursue the previous subject, but finally shrugged. "We raided Mr. Big's house a few days ago."

"Yeah?" Hunter leaned forward. "That's the mouse that tried to have me killed, right?"

"Shrew, actually. And yes. Turns out he only was trying to kill you because Prometheus wanted you alive."

Hunter stared at her. "That was his only reason?"

She shrugged. "Apparently."

"He only wanted me dead because someone else wanted me alive."

"Well, he wasn't particularly happy with you embarrassing him, either."

He sighed. "What a terrible reason to die." A thought struck him. "Wait, did you say Prometheus wanted me alive?"

"That's what Mr. Big heard," confirmed Tavi. "Whoever this Prometheus character is, he put the word out that you weren't to be harmed."

"With friends like these," muttered Hunter. He looked at Tavi. "So I take it Prometheus is active in the underworld?"

"Maybe I should explain from the beginning," said Tavi.

Author's Note: Not the funniest of chapters, but there one or two decent jokes, I hope.

A quick word on things and stuff. I am probably going to be ending the series with this story (though I've got some ways to go here). That's not definite, but as much as I've enjoyed writing and as glad I am that at least a few people enjoyed it, I need to focus on something else for a while. Maybe try and get going on one of my ideas for a novel that I may actually publish. That said, I really appreciate the great support, especially from you guys who've been around since the beginning. I'd never have written around 200,000 words without your kind words and enthusiasm, and many of you have really helped me get better as a writer.

As I said, still a ways to go in this story, but I wanted to give ya'll a heads up that this is likely to be it.