Chapter 5: Academy Day

AN: Hello! I have returned! Once again, I apologize for the nearly two month delay, but life got in the way. I was originally going to make this story 6 chapters, but I decided to make it only 5 instead, mostly due to timing reasons. Before I continue the story, I'd just like to, once again, thank everyone who reviewed, followed, and/or favorited this story. Your support means a lot to me, and I'm glad you all are interested in this fic. As a reminder, I don't own anything or anyone in this story, all rights go to Disney. With that, enjoy Chapter 5!

Judy and Nick stood at a street corner not that far from the bridge where Nick still lived (Nick wanted to find an actual place to live that was indoors and was dry and warm, but was now waiting until he earned enough money with his future new job to do so), waiting for Nick's Zoober to come. Today was the day that Nick would leave for the ZPD Academy. Both mammals were a combination of excited and nervous. Judy was mostly excited for Nick, while the fox, on the other hand, was mostly nervous and a little worried about what laid ahead of him. These past few weeks had been nothing but intense and sometimes painful physical and mental training by a certain female bunny, and that same mammal had warned him that things would only get more intense from there. Even though he was dreading the increase in aches and pains Nick was already experiencing, he was excited to go. This was perhaps the only chance in his life he'd get to turn his life around and focus on something other than scamming mammals out of their money.

As he was thinking these thoughts, he checked his phone for what was probably the sixth time within the past hour. Things had not started well for Nick this morning. First, it took him a little longer than he normally would to leave his bridge and meet Judy at the intersection they currently were at, due to the fact that he needed to pack some last minute things. Then, his first Zoober driver cancelled, due to "traffic," whatever that meant. He then called a second Zoober. After waiting for fifteen minutes (Zoober had told him the driver would be there in five minutes), Nick finally decided to cancel his Zoober and call a third one. Now, the red fox hoped that this ride turned out better.

Judy looked up and down the street, also waiting for the Zoober driver. One car drove past the two friends, then another one. After a few minutes, Nick broke the silence by asking, "So, did Chief Buffalo Butt ever give you your job back?"

Judy turned to her friend and replied, "He did, but it took him a while to review my re-application. I swear I was waiting outside his office for two hours yesterday at the most. And, by the way, I thought I told you not to call him that."

Nick gave Judy an innocent look and shrugged. "Sorry. Force of habit."

Judy gave him a look, then once again looked down the street for the Zoober driver.

"What kind of car did your driver say he had again?"

Nick looked at his phone, which still had the Zoober app up.

"A white Impala," he answered, lowering his phone and looking in the opposite direction, shielding his eyes from the late morning sun.

"Sorry your day had to start out like this," said Judy, turning back to Nick. "Not a good way to start your new journey, is it?"

The red fox turned to the rabbit, giving her his best relaxed face. "Don't worry about it. My training doesn't start until tomorrow, anyway."

Before Judy could say anything, a white car came speeding up to the curb, almost hitting Judy. It was all she could do not to yell at the driver or give him a ticket. She was glad she didn't, because when the driver rolled his window down, she immediately recognized the antelope driving the car to be one of her neighbors. She wasn't sure which one, though, since she never saw one without the other. Of course he'd be driving an Impala, she thought, trying her best to keep from smirking at the irony. She was interrupted from her thoughts when the antelope said, a bit rudely, "Hey." Judy turned towards the antelope, still in the car, who was looking at both her and Nick, but mostly Nick.

"Are you Nick," he asked, somewhat impatiently.

"That's me," replied the fox, trying his best to remain calm.

The antelope nodded for Nick to get into the car. Judy and the antelope exchanged nods of greeting before she helped Nick with his bags. As she loaded one of them into the back, the driver turned his head towards her and said, "You know, I could've just driven you here and picked up your friend at the same time." Judy looked at her neighbor, not sure how to interpret his statement. She wasn't sure whether that comment was rude or polite.

The rabbit closed the door and walked to the drivers side, facing the driver directly, and challenged, "Would you really have gone out of your way to drive only a few blocks to drop me off?"

"I mean, yeah, I guess." Judy looked at the antelope, a bit confused. Her neighbors had never been the type to do favors for her. She always thought of them as rude and obnoxious, but that apparently wasn't the case.

The antelope sighed and said to the rabbit, "Look. I know Pronk and I can be loud and it may look like we don't care, but, the truth is, we do. What you did for the city was pretty cool. Sorry we never said anything before."

Judy, still skeptical, studied the antelope, who had now been confirmed to be Bucky, for a few seconds. When she saw no signs of him lying, she gave him a sincere smile and said, "Thanks." She then went around to the rear passenger side of the car, where Nick was standing, still outside of the vehicle.

"Well, I guess this is it, then," said Nick.

"Easy there, Slick. It's only three months. It's not like you'll be gone forever."

Nick gave Judy a sincere smile. "That's true. But, I'll still miss you."

The rabbit returned her friend's smile. "Me, too." The two hugged each other, trying not to think about how long it would be before they'd get the chance to do that again. Nick then reached for the car's rear passenger door handle, only to be stopped by Judy saying gently, "Hey." Nick turned to face his friend, who was smiling at him once again. Nick could've sworn he saw tears forming in the rabbit's eyes.

"Good luck," said the rabbit. "And don't forget to call. Or at least text."

"Okay, mom," Nick quipped as he got in the car.

Judy smiled and shook her head in pretend annoyance. "I'll call you tonight, okay?"

"K, Carrots. See you on the other side."

Judy gave him an annoyed look, not appreciating that remark.

"Sorry, poor choice of words. I meant 'see you in a few months.'"

"That's better," said the rabbit, now satisfied. "And, I'll see you then." She then closed the door to the car. At that moment, Bucky looked up from his phone, where he had been texting someone, and said, "Later, Bunny."

"How many times do I have to tell you," she said to the antelope, annoyed. "My name is Judy."

"Whatever. See you around." Bucky rolled up his window and the car sped off. Judy waved to them both, but mostly to Nick. The red fox, upon catching a final glimpse of his friend, waved back at her from inside the car. As he watched her slowly become smaller with distance, he sighed to himself, now becoming more and more anxious, in both a bad way and a good way, about these next few months. Whatever happens, Nick thought, It had better be worth it. He took one last look at Judy's form, which was now almost a dark speck, before turning around to try and make conversation with his Zoober driver. He might as well get to know his best friend's neighbor, after all.

AN: Well, what did you think? I apologize if this was too short and/or cheesy, I had such a hard time coming up with content for this chapter. In case you were wondering, I am planning on writing about Nick's experience at the Academy, as well as his graduation/first day on the job, but those will be in separate stories that will be written in the (hopefully) near future. Until then, see you all in my next story!