Yes, I did change the summary of my story. It wasn't to my satisfaction. I also can't rule out that I might change it further. I'm more than often not easily content with things. My ideas are mainly jigsaw pieces of how I believe it should look and it takes time and alterations to get them to fit the way I desire. I hope you don't mind. (I try to limit changes to summaries and such, though sometimes I feel like it should be better).

4. The First Punch

== Nick ==

As I was guided towards the nearest monument, I checked on Judy's whereabouts. Not that I had reasons to question that she wasn't where she had to be. On the other hand, there was a first time for everything, and that idea gave me a restless gut. In a split-second I scanned the fruit stand. I thought to see the checkerboard pattern of her cyan shirt and a shard of the white cap I had given her. She was there, that was good and my intestines calmed. She was watching and I trusted that she knew that she had to follow us. She was clever enough to figure that out. She was the smartest rabbit I knew. Not that I knew a lot of them, but that didn't alter the fact.

The monument I was led to, was a beautiful fountain in which the marble statues of two camels sprayed water from the jars they were holding into the surrounding basin. The ferret began his lecture on the history of the creator, whilst I had another peek at Judy. She ensconced in a group that was waiting for the bus. Listening to the hustler's speech, I could help wondering whether the art history he told me was true. I wanted to remember looking it up afterwards, although chances were I had lost interest in verifying it by then. As he spoke, he constantly plucked his sweater to keep my attention away from his facial features. It were tiny things like these that you only detected if you had done a similar scam yourself.

As a real tourist, I drew out my phone to make a picture of this 'novel' sculpture that graced my eyes, when the anticipated moment occurred.

"Would you perhaps like me to take a picture of you with this majestic piece of art?"

He was going to steal it, that was unquestionable.

"You are too kind, sir." I exaggerated.

I handed him my phone and made my way to the edge of the water ornament. I swear to god, if Judy didn't grab this thug, who was about to take off with my property, she was going to buy me a brand new phone from her own salary, plus interest for loss of the emotionally valuable documents that were on it. Of course, I wouldn't mention that those precious items consisted mostly of the selfies we had taken together.

My prediction was correct. As I stepped onto the stone ledge, ready to have my picture taken, the ferret began ploughing through the mass of animals on Sahara Square, attempting a moonlight flit with his illegally obtained device. I went in pursuit immediately, knowing already that I wouldn't be able to catch up with him before the second hoodie would show himself to throw me off the hook. In the corner of my field of vision, I detected more movement. It was Judy, who was also fighting the dozens of bodies in order to gain passage. She had set her eyes on the ferret as well. I sighed relieved. She was there to back me up. I slightly resented myself for doubting her, were it only briefly and in my own mind. Judy never disappointed me, she never could. I literally slapped myself to get my senses back together and I adjusted my goal. Finding the partner in crime was my task as I knew from experience that once my colleague had locked onto her target, there was no escaping.

Suddenly, the thief made a sharp turn left, unwittingly straight towards Judy. I hoped that he wouldn't fall into her claws before the other swindler showed his face. If he would, then the latter wouldn't be so inclined to continue the plan and would dodge the bullet.

But my worries were unfounded. The quick turn had been the cue for his doppelganger, who appeared in front of me a second later. I had dawdled long enough. I dropped my act and accelerated. The guy who I was following now, had no rush as he left the plaza and headed into an alley. He was under the impression that their plan was working out splendidly. He figured that nothing could befall him if he would get caught. They had probably done this a dozen times before, perfecting it, rooting out any possible flaws. Too bad for him that he'd soon learn otherwise. Just a few feet more and I'd be able to grab him. I bet he was already rehearsing his plea of innocence inside his head.

"Gotchya!" I cried as seized him by the shoulder.

"Hey, whatchya doin'!" He replied truculently.

"Sir, you are under arreeehhh..."

My voice got stuck like an old cassette tape. The animal I was holding completely threw me off guard by removing his hoodie and uncovering a pair of characteristic, tall ears. I recognized the beige snout and daring eyes anywhere.

"Finnick?!"

He looked up and was equally surprised by whom he was dealing with.

"Nick?!" Finnick outed, "what the hell are you doin' here?"

Finnick was the only animal I had ever grown to appreciate as more than a necessary partner for my plans. We had a history together, both in the art of swindling as well as in leisure time. We even shared an outhouse where we'd stay low when things got messy. Having spent more days there than I was willing to admit, we had become good friends and really knew what to expect from the other in any type of situation. I might have said that I had never known true friends, prior to joining the ZPD, yet this was just partially true. I regarded Finnick as more than a friend. He had been my brother, who had had my back when things had turned for the worse as I had done for him. Maybe it was due to both of us foxes or maybe due to our long partnership. Either way, I knew for sure that I couldn't apprehend someone that I regarded as family.

"Nick?" He repeated.

"Finnick, you got to leave."

To my regret, I could see that the reason for my presence dawned on him.

"Wait, are you here to arrest me?"

I bit my lip and stared at the ground ashamed.

"Yes…" I admitted.

"Why, man. I thought we were a team? Is your career so important to you?! You said were brothers once. Remember you said that to me?" He said wronged.

"I know! And we are!" In an instant, I made the sole decision I thought to be fair. "… That's why you're going to hit me."

"Wait, what?" He questioned flabbergasted.

"You're gonna hit me in the face and escape."

"Are you crazy? Look at us." He compared our sizes with his paw. "Nobody's gonna believe I hit you up there!"

I remembered why Finnick had been such a good partner. His mind was as conniving as my own. He too sensed almost instinctively when something would play out as trustworthy or not.

"Yea, we know that… Those sucker cops don't." I grinned, shocking myself by how easily I insulted my friends at ZPD.

He hesitated for a moment, but then raised his fist to do as I had asked. I bent over on one knee so he would be able to strike me down. I shut my eyes, waiting for the pain to come, yet we got interrupted by the precarious sound of metal being disintegrated with immense force. I shot back on my feet, glancing back at Sahara Square where I had heard the explosion. A panicky mob was frantically trying to flee the central plaza. In the backdrop I spotted an elongated car, filled with three feet of sweltering flames as the fire chewed through the interior of the vehicle and darkened the scene with a black mist.

"Carrots!" I whispered horrified.

I felt a paw tugging my shirt.

"C'mon Nick, we gotta go!" Finnick shouted to me.

I freed my clothes from his grip.

"No, I gotta find Judy. You go back to your truck, fast!"

He was dazed by my decision, however he didn't waste time by trying to talk me out of it.

"Oh and Finnick!" I called out, stopping him before he took off.

"Please make sure we don't meet under conditions like these again."

He smirked and gave me a single nod. Then he sprinted away, vanishing into the crowd and I hurried myself to the danger zone, to save my purple-eyed bunny.

== Judy ==

A loud sizzling tormented my ears. I tried to get back on my feet, getting no higher than hands and knees. I coughed harder than my lungs could appreciate and rubbed my sore ribcage in an attempt to lighten the pain. I scanned my environment to discover what happened, though most of my vision was impaired by the black fog, cast by the fire. Inches before me lay a motionless, ochre shape. It was the ferret I took down after Nick had tricked him into springing his trap. I crawled over to him and felt the artery in his neck. He was alive. Unconscious, but seemingly unharmed. I remembered cuffing him when the car detonated behind us. I turned hundred-and-eighty degrees to check what was left of it. By now it was a bonfire that steadily pumped toxic, non-transparent fumes into the sky above. I saw a couple of more bodies lying in its vicinity. My gut told me three of them were too close and in mortal danger.

After a set of agonizing coughs, I rose to my feet, finding my visibility became even less. I dropped back to all fours and moved over to them this way. Every step closer to the burning wreck I felt the temperature climbing. The combination of heat and physical strain soaked my cyan shirt in minutes.

The first I reached was a lady Oryx. She startled wide awake after a single nudge and needed no further encouragement to run for safety. The second one, a boar, I was able to leave in the care of a pig who had chased after me to assist me. I thanked him before heading to the last one. This polar bear was closest to the raging pyre, only six feet or so. He had a gaping flesh wound in the back of his leg, a metal shard still embedded within. It had been propelled by the shockwave and bored itself into the poor animal's calf. He muttered something I couldn't hear, yet as his eyes were closed, thus I reckoned he wasn't addressing me.

"Sir, please. I need you to get up."

He gave me no answer. There was no time to lose. I had to act quickly. The smoke from the car was getting denser and I had no idea how long we had before we'd start suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. Moreover, it was fairly possible that the bear would bleed out with a gash as big as this one. He needed serious medical attention.

"Please wake up."

Getting no response again, I did something that would sicken me if I'd ever think back of it. I pricked my finger into his wound, sending an excruciating spasm across his face, waking him up.

"Sorry for doing that." I spoke sincerely apologetically, "but we have to get out of here and I'm not strong enough to carry you on my own."

My patient tried to support his own weight, yet he simply wasn't able to.

"I can't walk. You have to leave me." He wailed, gripping his leg in pain.

"Carrots!" I heard a faint voice.

"Nick!" I cried out in happiness, "Over here!"

"Carrots! Where are you?" He replied with clear concern in his voice.

I kept calling so he could follow my voice, as the smoke hampered all vision. He kneeled down next to me and did something I'd never forget. He hugged me so firmly, he squeezed the air from my lungs. And to think I already had so little air in this smoke.

"Thank god you're okay." He said. "You are okay right?"

He let me go and looked me over to confirm it. I tried to convince him I was, yet he wanted to make sure himself. I admired the fact that he exerted no fear whatsoever for the searing flames behind us. It gave me tickles in my tummy that he was prepared to put himself in harm's way for me.

"Nick, I'm fine." I said eventually. "He isn't."

The bear was about to lose consciousness again. Mentioning him fortunately stopped that.

"We need to get this guy out of here. You get his other shoulder."

"Okay." Nick agreed, crouching under the patient's other armpit.

Together we dragged him away as best we could, inch by inch. However, the further we got, the slower we got. The smoke was taking its toll on us and with every passing second, I felt like we weren't able to make it. Nick assured our friend that we were going to be fine even though he, as well as I, was aware of the risk of another explosion, if the fire reached the gasoline tank.

Suddenly, a couple of large statures loomed up from the grey clouds. It was fire-fighters, consisting of elephants and hippo's in yellow, heat-resistant suits. They quickly took over the injured polar bear as well as carrying both me and Nick to the safer side of the plaza. Just as fast as we got into it, we were back out of the warzone.

Hey, me again. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. For those of you who haven't read my one-shot, there I mentioned Nick and Finnick sharing an outhouse too. I liked the idea, hence I brought it up here again. And for the Finnick-fans, do not worry, this isn't the last bit of him in my storyline. Anyway, cheers and see you in next update!