A/N Woo-Hoo! Chapter two! I'm surprised I got six followers already, and a favorite! I see many familiar names, thanks for the support! This story is going to be rather short, possibly around 6-8 chapters. Please review, Let me know what I can improve.

Keep in mind I do want this to be faster-paced writing, less detail and such, but if it doesn't flow well or it's too fast let me know!

Some of you might be able to guess who/what the culprit is, and who James and Tanya are. All will be revealed next chapter!

...

Nick and Judy were in their cruiser, driving away from Mr. Paradit's home. Though they were still shocked by what they had found, they were more concerned by their lack of findings.

"Hopefully we get a lead soon because that gave us practically nothing," Judy said.

"Why don't we try to talk to his friend, Paul was it? See what he knows."

"Yeah. We're gonna have to go back to the precinct to get some information on him, we should drop off the phone and that bit of fur at the lab while we're there."

"Sounds like a plan," Nick said. He looked out the window at the damp day. The coziness of being in the car while it rained had worn off. Their raincoats had only done so much, and being cold and wet while sitting in a car on a dreary day was not very relaxing. To add to the discomfort, their drive was getting more and more treacherous as the storm worsened. Visibility was low and the roads were slick.

"Nothing too severe but a bad day for a picnic…" Nick mumbled to himself.

"Hmm?"

"Nothin carrots, just remembering the forecast today said 'nothing too severe' but it seems to have gone a little haywire."

"Yeah, I'd say…" She said as she strained to see what was going on around the car. The rain was very heavy at this point, and the thunder was virtually constant. She wondered whether they would even get back to the precinct.

They were a few blocks away and visibility was only a few car lengths. Judy had to rely on GPS just to see where they were. Luckily though, she spotted the garage doors of the ZPD. They slowly rolled open and Judy couldn't wait to get out of the storm. The sound of rain was nice when it wasn't deafening, and this was especially the case with her sensitive hearing. She pulled in and made her way to their spot. She parked and the two got out.

"Well if that doesn't mark the beginning of the rainy season I don't know what does," She said as they closed their doors. They got into the precinct and began walking to the lab. When they got there, Hurriet the sloth was excited to see them, though it took a few seconds for her face to display this.

"Hey… guys!... How's… it goin'?" She said. They reluctantly started chatting with her.

….

Meanwhile, the snow leopard and deer were investigating the scene for themselves. The deer was sweeping the grass with a broom while the snow leopard was slowly scanning the wall.

"Tanya this really doesn't seem like it's getting anywhere," he said.

"Well if you think of a better way to get little prickly hairs out of grass you let me know," she said. He continued sweeping but was growing more restless by the second. It was only a minute or so before he made another comment.

"These things sure live up to their name, irritating," he said. Tanya shook her head, smiling.

"It's urticating, not irritating."

"OK, seriously, what's the difference?"

"Just shut up and sweep silly," She said, resuming her search. One of the holes was particularly interesting to her. In it, there seemed to be a piece of a claw. She went up to it with a tweezer and attempted to pull it out but she struggled to do so.

"James, could you give me a paw here?"

"Really tawn-tawn?" He replied, holding up his hoofs, feigning offense.

"A hoof! A hoof! Sorry!" She said, genuinely concerned she had offended him. He laughed.

"Oh my god, you are just too much sometimes," he said with a smile as he took the pliers and got to work removing the object from the hole. After a while of frustration, he finally got it. He pulled out the slender, dark brown tip of a claw. Tanya looked at it and immediately nodded to him.

"Yeah, that looks like what we should be expecting…" She said, leaving James in shock.

"Well, this is gonna be interesting…" He said.

….

Meanwhile, Nick and Judy were still chit-chatting with Hurriet. Nick looked at his watch and his eyes opened wide for a moment. He nudged Judy to let her know it was time to get down to business.

"Wow! really? isn't that great? Oh! anyways, we're bringing in some potential evidence for a missing mammal case," Judy said, pulling out the cell phone and fur sample.

"So… I'm guessing… you… want… to have… the fur… analyzed… and… data… extracted... from... The phone?"

"Yep! That'll do it for us, thanks Hurriet!" Nick said as he tried to rush out of the room with Judy.

"Cya… guys!" She said as the two left. Judy closed the door.

"We always need sloths at the worst times," Nick said. Judy looked at a clock on the wall. It was already one thirty. They quickly headed back to their office to get information on this Paul individual. Judy sat down at her desk as Nick watched her monitor. She was able to find him in the database, as he too had some nonviolent drug offenses.

"I think this is him, Paul Winfred, he's a sand cat, 23 years old… charged with possession of catnip… here we go, contact info," she read off as Nick took down his address and phone number.

"Should I give him a call?" Nick asked. Judy nodded her head and kept reading. Nick dialed the number and waited for him to pick up. It was an odd hour of the day to be calling but Nick had hope. After a few rings, he answered.

"Hello?"

"Yeah hi, is this Paul Winfred?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"Great, this is Officer Nick Wilde, ZPD, me and my partner were assigned to find your friend, Steven. We were wondering if you had time for some questions?"

"Uhhh… yeah, I think I'd be available, you guys have a time in mind?"

"As soon as possible really, not to rush you but the sooner the better."

"Well I'm just at home right now, my boss gave me the day off after Steven was declared missing, so you guys can just come on over. Do you have my address?"

"Yep. The storm might slow us down, so I'd say we'll be over in about an hour, is that alright?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Great, cya in a bit."

"Bye."

Nick hung up to see Judy staring at him with a huge, dumb smile on her face.

"What carrots?"

"I've just never seen you make a phone call before, you were so polite and professional, it's hilarious!" She said. He thought about it for a second and gave a little laugh.

"Yeah, I am kinda like another person. I guess I still got a little con man in me don't I fluff?" He said, genuinely amused by his old habits. She smiled for a moment and gestured to leave. She got out of her chair and started walking, Nick following alongside her.

"So you think it'll take an hour to get there?" She asked.

"Well with that storm raging it might be even longer," he said. They went back to the garage and got in their cruiser. They put their seatbelts on and Judy pulled the car out of its spot. They headed to the exit again, and the officer on garage duty lifted the door for them. As it arose, it revealed a bright, sunny day.

"Huh, imagine that," Judy said.

"Looks like it's gonna be a much quicker drive than I anticipated…" Nick said, shocked.

The drive was short indeed, and before they knew it they were at Paul's house in Sahara square. It was a rather typical, smaller sized house in a quiet suburban neighborhood. They went up to the door and rang the bell. They heard footsteps inside and moments later a sand cat opened the door, a look of surprise on his face.

"Hi… guess we're a little early?" Judy said meekly, hoping they hadn't interrupted anything with their premature arrival.

"Oh no worries, I just had no idea it was you two! I didn't connect the dots when you said Nick Wilde, who woulda thought I'd have some celebrities showing up! Come on in," he said as he stepped aside and gestured to them to come in. The two shyly smiled at his kind remarks, Nick waiting for Judy to enter first.

"Can I get you two anything to drink?" Paul offered.

"Oh no I'm alright, thanks," Judy said.

"No thanks, thats alright," Nick said. Paul took a seat in an upholstered chair, offering the two a seat on the couch diagonal to it. They took their seats, Judy closest, and began their questioning.

"Well, Mr. Winfred, I'd like to start off by saying we know about Steven's Catnip dealing and the fact that you buy from him, so if that comes up, just know that it's OK to tell us anything. Since this is about a separate case, nothing you say can be used as incriminating evidence against your or Steven," she said.

"Oh good, I was a little worried about how to handle that," he said, relieved. Judy began the interview, wanting to understand their relationship better.

"No worries. So, you and Steven are pretty close friends?"

"Yeah, I'd say. We've known each other for about 7 years now, since high school, and we pretty much went through college together."

"So, you're close enough that you'd be the first one he'd call if something was happening?"

"Well, not for more serious stuff, for things like this, strange noises and whatnot, yeah. For anything more serious he would have probably called his family, or the police obviously."

His description of the phone call being 'not serious' intrigued her.

"So, when he called he didn't think it was anything serious?"

"No, it was just like 'hey I heard some weird noises isn't that crazy?' kind of thing. When we heard the clicking it got a little more serious." Judy jotted something down, his reference to 'the clicking' sparking her interest.

"What kind of sounds was he hearing?"

"Well, at first he said it was just plants rustling around but in the middle of the call there was this horrible tapping and scratching sound, like something was going after the outside walls. After that, he said he wanted to check it out and hung up."

"And that was the last you heard from him?"

"Yeah," he said. That line of questioning had revealed that Steven was in the house when the claw marks were made, but it seemed it was time to move on.

"Hmm... can you tell us more about the nature of his dealing?"

"Sure, um… I guess he wasn't really a dealer in the traditional sense. He basically just got enough to share most of the time. Sometimes we'd buy a little from him but normally it was just us hanging out and nipping with his stuff."

"And when you say 'we' you mean

"Oh, just me and maybe another friend or two. Steven and I were… are real close so mostly it was just me and him, but sometimes we would have another friend or two."

"I see," Judy said, taking a moment to reflect. Nick had been quiet so he decided to chime in.

"Do you know by chance who he bought catnip from, or where he bought it?" He said.

"No, from what I recall he had an agreement with his dealer that it was all secretive, he didn't tell anyone and neither did the dealer, so he could stay away from the gangs... You don't think they did this do you?"

"We think is possible but we don't really know yet," Nick said, apologetically.

"Geez, I hope he's alright. You guys don't know if he's ok or not, or where he is, or anything?"

"No, sorry," Judy said quietly. Nick continued.

"did you notice Steven acting strangely at all in the last few weeks?" He asked. Paul thought for a moment.

"I mean, I don't think so. I hadn't been seeing him all that often but he seemed to be his usual self." He said. Nick and Judy looked at each other, but neither of them had any more questions for him.

"Well, I think that about wraps it up for us. Thank you so much for your time." Judy said.

"It's the least I could do for my friend. I'm glad to know they've got two of the very best on the case." Paul said with a smile. They all got up and Paul showed them to the door. They waved as they got in their car and Paul disappeared back into the house.

"Seems like a good guy, can't imagine he'd be hanging around with any sort of low lifes," Nick said.

"Yeah, poor Steven…"

"We gotta get the guy who did this," Nick said, resolute. Judy gave him a nod of agreement and started the engine, driving away from Paul's house. It was getting too late in the day to do much else so they decided to call it quits. On the way to the precinct, Judy dropped off Nick at his apartment. Nick stopped to discuss before he got out.

"So, what are we doing tomorrow?" He asked.

"Well, if the lab doesn't come up with anything we should probably talk to some neighbors, maybe family too."

"Sounds like a plan to me. Cya tomorrow then carrots."

"Goodnight"

"You too fluff," he said as he opened his door and jumped out. He waved as she drove off. He got to his apartment and changed into more comfortable clothes before making himself dinner.

As he ate, he thought of what might have happened to Steven. The interview with Paul was pretty inconclusive. It seemed like gangs weren't going to be the issue, and the claw marks were only more mysterious now that they know he was in the house and heard them being made. Tomorrow is another day. He thought.

Meanwhile, Judy was parking the cruiser again and heading to chat with Clawhauser for a bit. She told him about what they had found. She talked about the claw marks, the strange noises, and the fact that it probably wasn't gang related. This lead Clawhauser to an interesting conclusion.

"It's totally monsters," he said. Judy rolled her eyes.

"Ben it could be a million things. What if it was a scare tactic? What if he's skipping town and had to distract police? Who knows, what if he just went insane?"

"I don't know Jude, seems like monsters to me."

"Yeah sure, what are we supposed to report? That we can't do this guy justice because he was attacked by monsters? And what kind of monsters anyways?"

"Well, that's for you two to figure out."

This made her roll her eyes again.

"Clawhauser it's not monsters."

"It's totally monsters."

"Alright, when we find the mammal who did this, you have to buy dinner for me and Nick. If it's 'monsters,' we buy you dinner for a whole month, sound like a deal?"

"The bet is on hun-bun!" He said, as seriously as he was capable of. They shook paws and left the precinct. They walked together a bit before having to part ways. Judy got to her apartment and made herself a microwaved dinner. As she ate, she entertained the possibility that it was a monster, or monsters as it seemed.

Even though she wanted to think of it from a legal and policing point of view, she found her imagination going wild. She imagined fleshy creatures that were dark red in color, with black eyes and long fangs. Their limbs had two digits with long pointy claws. It was her personal idea of evil. She didn't want to have nightmares and decided to distract herself, but the damage was done. That night, her dreams were haunted by the creations of her own imagination.