Ch. 2: A New Case to Crack
"What are you smirking about," Nick demanded. The two were on their way back to Zootopia via train. They had left a pack of rabbits who wanted Judy and Uncle Nick to visit again.
Judy's grin grew at she looked up at her friend, "No reason, I just like being right. No wonder you're so smug when that happen to you it really is great."
Nick frowned, "Right about what?"
"I knew my family would love you and they do," she lifted her head proudly.
"The kids loved me," Nick pointed out, "The adults… I'm not so sure about, especially that grandmother of yours."
"The kids make up seventy percent of the family," Judy argued, "That's close enough for me to be right." She playfully punched his shoulder. "You're officially a member of the Hopps family."
"Oh, no," Nick playfully moaned, "I'm going to have to hop around, wiggle my nose, and eat nothing but carrots now, aren't I?"
"That's what we do," Judy shrugged.
"Well, might as well get started," Nick said acceptingly. He then started to wiggle his snout in an exaggerated, cartoon-y way, making Judy giggle.
"Officer Wilde reporting for duty," he jumped up with gusto and Judy suspected he was mimicking her. "I am hot on pursuit! Woo hoo! I popped the weasel!"
The two nearly fell over in laughter, Judy's cheeks heating up; she had told Nick all about her first chase in exquisite detail.
"Did you seriously say that," he asked between laughs.
"Yep," Judy's cheeks hurt from smiling, "I saw the opportunity and I took it. You can ask Clawhauser and the rest of the precinct."
"I will," Nick promised, "Speaking off."
He perked his ears up and a voice spoke through the train's intercom: "Now arriving at Zootopia."
They smiled at each other, "Duty calls."
The two walked through the large, vast city. The view never ceased to take Judy's breath away. As for Nick, well, she was never good at telling if the fox was impressed or not.
"I should've brought souvenirs," Judy suddenly realized with a moan, face-palming.
"Oh no," Nick said without worry. "Poor Bogo and Clawhauser are going to cry when they find out you didn't bring them the famous carrots of Bunnyburrow."
"Your sarcasm is getting stale," she replied dryly.
Nick opened his mouth to retort when a sudden crash interrupted them.
They turned to see a pig and panther glaring at each other, spilled fruit at their feet from a now ruined fruit stand.
"Vacation's over," Nick muttered as the two pulled out their badges.
"You knocked my fruit down on purpose," the pig almost growled.
"And you wouldn't sell me any fruit!"
"Alright, alright," Judy jumped in between the two, "Let's break this up, we're all friends here!"
"No, we're not," the animals snapped so viciously Judy almost jumped out of her fur.
"Okay, we're not friends," Nick slipped in between them to stand by his partner's side. "Then let's stop for the sake of the fruit. Enough have been harmed today. Plus," he pointed at his badge, "I'm sure if I look hard enough I could find some law being broken. Causing traffic, fruit endangerment…"
"Is that a threat," the panther snarled, making Judy's brow furrow. She stood up straighter, "How about we try to figure out what happened?"
"He knocked down my fruit," the pig yelled.
"You refused to sell me fruit," the panther snarled.
"You're a predator! You don't eat fruit!"
"Calm down, calm down," Judy tried to gently push the panther back; she was more worried about his anger than the pig's. "I understand you're upset but there's no need to-"
The panther snapped at her, Judy barely jumping back in time, her mouth opened in shock. Nick immediately stepped forward, blocking the panther from her, his own teeth bared and looking angrier than she had even seen him.
"Stop it!" he snarled at the animal, "If you're so upset about not buying fruit that you'd try to attack my partner then how about you cool off in a jail cell!"
Sudden sirens had Judy relaxing against Nick as Officer Richard (a rhino) and Officer Wilfred (a wolf) appeared to help break up the fight.
The panther, seeing larger animals with badges coming, dashed leaving Nick yelling insults at him.
"Are you okay," Nick asked Judy after she explained the situations to the two officers who calmed down the pig.
"I'm fine," she assured him, then turned her eyes to where the panther disappeared. "That was really weird."
"Really weird," Nick agreed, glaring after the animal as well. "He's lucky Rick and Willy arrived before I lost my temper."
Judy placed a paw on his arm.
"You two just got back, right," Wilfred asked. "So you don't know then…"
The two smaller animals stared up at him, "Know what?"
Judy and Nick sat in Bogo's office where they waited patiently for him to arrive.
Nick still seemed on edge from the fruit stand, Judy decided to try and cheer him up. "You were very brave, a regular knight in shining armor."
Nick's ears lowered like he was embarrassed before sitting up straighter, puffing his chest out. "I'm a cop. It's what I do."
"Next time I'll have to save you," Judy decided with a nod.
Hearing the door behind them open they turned around to see Chief Bogo walk in.
"Welcome back, Hopps, Wilde," he greeted, taking a seat on the other side of the desk.
"Glad to be back, Chief," Nick grinned. "I gotta tell you it wasn't easy waking up and knowing I wouldn't be seeing your handsome face."
The Chief rolled his eyes, "We don't have time for your jokes, Wilde. This is serious."
He tossed a folder onto the desk, Judy seeing blurry pictures of animals facing off against each other, looking ready to tear each other apart.
"Since you two left Friday regular fights are starting to break out all over the city."
"Is it only predators and prey fighting," Judy asked warily.
Bogo shook his head, Judy noticed Nick relaxing ever so slightly.
"Yesterday an elephant and giraffe nearly crushed a family of rodents when they started arguing over a parking space."
"I know parking space is how animals get slashed tires," Nick replied with a thoughtful frown, "But I've never heard of someone nearly getting stepped on because of it."
"It's like the fruit stand," Judy pointed out. "I can understand the panther getting upset sure, but he's a predator, he doesn't eat fruit. There was no reason for him to try and attack that pig."
"And there was no reason for him to try and bite you," Nick snarled, obviously still sour about the whole thing.
"We need to figure out the real reason behind these outbursts," Bogo told them, his eyes dark with thought.
Judy looked down at her feet and tried to think. "Maybe everyone is just starting to feel crowded," she pondered out loud. "Zootopia is big and it definitely has a huge population."
"There's not much we can do about that," Bogo told her.
"No, but the point of Zootopia is to remind everyone that we can all live together in peace. We just need to remind them."
She glared at the ground, her thoughts rushing, feeling her partner and Chief's eyes on her. What was a good way to get everyone's attention…?
Her head shot up, her ears at attention as an idea finally hit her, "Gazelle!"
"Really," Nick didn't try to hide his exasperation. "Now's not the time for a concert, Carrots."
"Now's the perfect time," Judy looked excitedly to him. "Gazelle is a huge believer in co-existence between prey and predators! And all of Zootopia adore her! If we can get her to talk about this, well, it certainly wouldn't make the situation worse!"
She looked to her Chief who was nodded; she remembered that he was a big Gazelle fan.
"It's worth a try at least. Maybe I should-"
"Leave it us," Judy interrupted, grabbing Nick's arm and dragging him out of the office. "Let's go talk to Clawhauser!"
Clawhauser, of course, was all for Judy's plan 110%.
"But she's on tour now, oh," he moaned, picking up another donut and devouring it one gulp.
"When will she get back," Nick asked, taking the donut the cheetah offered him.
"In a few weeks," Clawhauser answered.
Judy frowned, "I don't know if we can wait that long. If we could just get into contact with her…"
"Unfortunately celebrities don't leave their numbers on billboards," Nick replied.
"I wish," Clawhauser sighed wistfully, resting his chin on his paws. "You know, before I got into the police business I had dreams of becoming her manager."
Nick's eyes suddenly bulged like he had just realized something. He placed the half-eaten donut on the desk.
"You've got a plan," Judy told him.
"I have a thought," Nick corrected her. "I may know somebody who knows somebody who may be able to call Gazelle."
Judy shook her head in an exasperated/fond way, "That's so you. Let's go find that somebody, then."