TRICKS AND TREATS: CHAPTER 2.
Two hours earlier, at the streets nearby of the Shopping Paradise.
Judy had just exited from the doors of the Shopping Paradise before it was closed for today... and she was right now walking back to Barbara carrying two heavy shopping bag in her arms.
She of course had a little problems with carrying two bags after she had bought some carrots, bread, cheese, apples, some coffee, apple jam, milk and cornflakes for the breakfast, for Nick the eggs and chicken meatballs... and candies for Barbara's children in the halloween night.
And because of this, the weight of the bags were against her, as it slowed down her going and her arms were getting tired very quickly.
However, Judy did not want to stop and take breath… the distance between of the Shopping Paradise and Barbara's home wasn't long and she was quite sure that she'll make it back there… even though her tired arms under the weight of the bags were disagree with her thougts.
"I can handle this myself, thanks a lot, Nick, I said. "I don't need a car. I can make it by foot. Thanks anyway, Barbara, I said. Me and my big mouth." Judy murmured under of her breath and the weight of the bags.
"Maybe… I should have… accept… Nick's offer... to come… to come with… me to help… with… these… with these bags... or maybe... maybe I should... maybe I should have borrow... borrow Barbara's... Barbara's car after all." Judy complained between of her pantings and with the scolding tone to herself while struggling with the bags weight.
As Judy was about to pass the alley next to her, she saw something in the corner of her left eye in the darkness of alley.
Though she did not saw it clearly, she could bet that she saw the glance of pair of glowing eyes in the darkness of alley... staring right at her.
And because of this, Judy gasped out of fright and stopped in position, turning reluctantly her eyes at the darkness in the Alley.
Judy remained standing in still as she kept staring into the dark alley, suspecting that there was something hiding in the alley's darkness.
However, there was nothing in seen.
But despite that, Judy didn't let down her guard and alarmed state.
Unlike she did back in her childhood time, Judy was not afraid of the dark anymore and did not anymore believe in the bogeymen stalking under of the beds, behind the room's windows nor in wardrobes...
...but the real things such like at the night-time weaker and unsuspecting prey hunting criminals, hooligans and even possible kidnappers, who were always lurking and stalking in the shadows of the alley, was much more concerning thing.
And with that, as well as with a ignorance that what kind of species was lurking in the shadows, Judy started to feel herself a little insecure and bitterly scolded herself for not taking even her elephant tranquilizer pistol... nor her fox partner... with her.
Suspecting that there was someone hiding in the alley, Judy tried to locate the person with her super sensitive sense of hear... trying to catch even the lowest sound of breath or step from the darkness.
But, much to her surprise, she didn't catch anything.
Judy started ot wonder that was something wrong with her ears - which was extremely unlikely, as Judy always looked after the inner and outer purity and the well-being of her ears to keep her sense of hearing in good condition - or was it that the person hidding in the shadows had found out the way to evade being located by her sense of hearing.
Judy started to really worry, because even though the sense of hearing and the speed were her strengths, poor night vision was her greatest weaknesses, because unlike Nick, whose night vision and the sense of smell were in the higher level than her own, she was unable to see anything moving in the darkness.
However, after she saw nothing in the dark alley, Judy started to peek over her shopping bags to the direction to where she was going, as well as over her shoulders to her right side and behind of her back to see that was there anyone else in the presence...
...hoping them to be the witnesses if something would happen right now while standing in the next of the alley.
However, there was nobody in the presence.
Though daring not to let her guard down 'till she has reached to Barbara's house, Judy started to slowly take a step by step forward to keep moving and continue her home trip back to Barbara's.
Until suddenly...
"Well, well, well… what we got here?" Someone suddenly said or hissed, which was coming right in front of her.
The suddenly a deep silence breaking voice startled Judy, that she let out the startled yelp out of her mouth and jumped backwards, away from the source of the sudden voice.
Judy peeked over her shopping bags to see that who was standing in front of her, but much to her confuse, she didn't saw anybody in front of her.
But because of her poor night vision, she failed to see that there was the shadowy figure staring at her from the edge of the alley's darkness and who was leaning against one of the alley's walls. Even the lampposts light did not reveal his presence to Judy.
However, the lampposts light revealed only the end of the figure's long snout with the dark-gray backside and white-gray, making it clear that the figure was presumably a timber wolf.
However, the shadowy figure kept most of his faces, as well as most of himself, covered by the darkness of the alley.
"Who's there?" Judy asked, trying to keep herself calm and not to show the fear.
"Dr. Nermal, as the service of the lost bunny." The strager, calling himself as Dr. Nermal, said to Judy from the shadows, causing Judy to turn her head to the direction from where the speaking came from... only to see the blank darkness.
Judy kept staring at the darkness in the alley, now knowing that there was indeed somebody but not knowing its species and unsure that was the figure7wolf either friend or threat... but, following Nick's teachings to her, that whatever was in this wolf's mind, she definitely wasn't gonna let the figure/canine to get to her.
"Don't be afraid of me, little bunny. Dr. Nermal doesn't want to do anything bad to you." The stranger added from the shadows, with the friendly manner.
This one came one again from the front of her, causing Judy to turn around to look behind of her shopping bags to see this odd stranger stalking her.
However, she found the street in front of her empty... again.
"Do you feel yourself unsecure? Are you afraid to be so alone in the dark streets at this time of the day? Do you need a company to take you to your home?" The stranger asked once again with the friendly tone.
However, Judy remained silent, but she was slowly getting frustrated as it started to fee llike this stranger was playing with her.
Judy also remained suspicious of that stranger lurking in the shadows, despite his friendly tone and his so-called claims for the good meanings.
And the whole encounter with this weird stranger also reminded her about the direct order her parents gave to her when she was a little bunny kitten.
Never trust nor speak to the strangers.
However, Judy's eyes started to get a bit used to the darkness as she saw, though not clearly, someone leaning against the wall within the shadows in the alley... and much to Judy's discomfort, the stranger eyed her quietly and through of every detail of her form like somekind of feral predator waiting for a right moment to strike.
"Excuse me, sir... but I'm afraid of nothing and I don't need the service from the stranger, less the stranger's company to take me back to my place, thank you and good evening." Judy said, with a bit rude and frustrated tone, as she turrned away from the valley and kept walking... and struggling with her shopping bags... forward on the street.
And as Judy was leaving from the scene, the figure eventually came out from the alley's darkness... ...revealing himself as the large gray furred and slender timber wolf after all.
The wolf seemed to wear a long and night-black circus magician's coat and hat, a circus clown's dark blue striped pants, green-orange lattice shirt under the coat and long and black clown shoes, which was uncommon to the mammals of Zootopia, where most of the population didn't wear the shoes. The wolf also had a long grey chin beard, large clown classes and tall black top hat on his head. He had also two long canine teeth.
The wolf walked out from the alley to the streets and started to follow Judy... eyeing Judy's small and slender bunny form... including her cotton tail.
"Awww, aren't you cute, little bunny. Dr. Nermal is a lucky wolf. Dr. Nermal likes much of a such of cute little bunnies like you." The wolf, revealing himself as a Dr. Nermal, said to Judy as he kept following Judy.
Judy's ears rocketed upright after catching the word of "cute" and her a bit startled and nervous expression on her face turned immediately to the annoyed expression, as she locked her scolding eyes on the one who had dared to say the word "cute" about her.
"Excuse me, Mr. Whoeveryouare, but for you to know that only bunny can caall aannootthheerr bbuuunnnnyyy ccuuuu…" Judy was cut off her words, as her voice turned from speaking to murmuring.
Before Judy could even react, Nerval had quickly took out the strange-looking and in the end of the chain hanging watch from the pocket under of his cape and hanged it in front of her eyes. The wolf then started to swing the watch gently from one side to the other in front of Judy's eyes and kept doing it.
The watch seemed to be a quite usual watch, with the clock hands and the machinery within it, but as the wolf swung the watch from the side to another in front of her eyes for a several times...
...causing Judy to lock her eyes on it...
...its screen started to glow strangely, until Judy suddenly hear the watch's seconds hand making the strangely in her ears deeply echoing sounds, sending at the same time after each move from the second to another a harmless and glowing yet her visions shaking waves, that even escaped over the watch's screen's borders.
It was like some kind of hypnosis, as it started slowly but certainly have its grasp over Judy's mind...
...judging from her eyes, as the similiar glowing waves started to run along her eyes from the center of her eyes.
Judy's eyes followed intently the deep echoing sounds and glowing shockwaves releasing watch's going, as her eyelids started to slowly slip over her eyes out of out of nowhere appeared hypnotic fatigue.
One by one, Judy's ears, jaw and arms slowly dropped down, dropping at the same time Judy's shopping bags to the street.
Judy even started a bit move like she was in drunk... in the high level, of course. At least she barely managed to keep her balance.
"Easy, easy, my little tiny friend." Nermal said with the gentle tone, which sounded deep and echoing in hypnotized Judy's ears and mind, but the wolf didn't stop swinging the watch before of Judy's eyes, as the bunny focused so deeply, obsessively, hungrily to the swinging object in front of her.
Eventually, Nermal stoped swinging the watch before of Judy's eyes and placed it back to the pocket under of her cape, but Judy remained in her hypnotized state.
Nermal grinned widely like the clowns as he eyes the hypnotized bunny in front of him.
"Yes… yes… you're now under my power. Under your master Dr. Nermal's power, little one."
"I... am… under… your… power… my... master… Nermal." Judy moaned slowly under hypnosis.
Now Nermal chuckled (first heartily and then sinisterly) at this.
"You know, little one? I'm sure that you're the brisk children, really. Aren't you?" Nermal asked.
"Yes... master... I... am... brisk... child." Judy moaned.
"And do you know why Dr. Nermal likes the brisk little children like you?" Nermal asked, but he did not wasted time by waiting the answer.
He gently grabbed from Judy's head with his right paw's clawed fingers, without hurting her, and turned her head to the left and then from left to right and then back to the left and yet again to the right.
Nermal then removed his fingers from Judy's head.
"You don't, little one? We'll, because the children loves candies as Dr. Nermal does and they have to be brisk to earn their candies. They know how to sneak in the candy shop undetected and steal as much candy as you want to..."
Nermal them grabbed Judy's head with his right paw's fingers yet again, lifted her up from the street, turned her around and dropped her gently on her feet to the ground... but this time, he did not removed his fingers from around of Judy's head.
Nermal then kneeled down so that his head was next to Judy and pointed with his finger back at the Shopping Paradise... especially the candy shop's showcase.
"Do you see that shop? Do you see it?" Nermal asked from Judy, after which he pulled Judy's head backwards and them back to forward to make Judy to "nod".
"Good, because I saw you coming out from there, I'm pretty it's not too difficult for you to break back in and have some sweet candies. After all, it's soon Halloween and the Halloween is the time of candies."
Nermal then handed to Judy's paw somekind of homemade hacking device.
"Now when the Shopping Paradise is closed, all what you need to do is to shut the buglar alarm system down with this and break back in, find the direct way to the candy shop from there and steal sweet candies."
Judy, without any hesitation, due of her state under of hypnosis, started immediately run towards the Shopping Paradise's doors.
"Hus on! On your way my little long-eared friend! On your way to steal some candies!" Nermal shouted after her.
It did not took long from Judy to get over the car road and reach to the Shopping Paradise's doors.
And once there, Judy started immediately hacking to the burglar alarm's system with the hacking device Nermal gave to her to shut it down.
Judy was police officer and not the computer technician, but there was apparently something in Nermal hypnotic watch that had planted the information of the hacking into Judy's mind through of the hypnotizing process...
...which Judy to accomplish successfully the hacking into the security system and shut it down.
And after which, she was allowed freely to break through the class doors class and step inside of the building… without any sound of alarm.
"Good my little friend… good. Excellent job." Nermal snarled, rubbing his paws together.
The hacking process took from Judy about less than fifteen minutes...
...but it took from her more than twice of that time inside of the Shopping Paradise...
...before the rabbit eventually re-appeared through of the broken door window to the doors of the Shopping Paradise and rushed back to impatiently waiting Normal in the mouth of the alley, holding on her tiny little paws the huge (for the elephants) wrapped bar made from…
"Excellent! Walnut chocolate!" Surprised yet delighted Nermal exclaimed with the eager but quite impatient tone and without the hesitation, the wolf grabbed the bar from Judy's paws.
"You're not only the cute but also really brisk and good bunny, to Dr. Nermal's taste. My congratulations." Nermal said...
...after which, the wolf hafl-unwrapped the bar and started greedily to eat the bar.
"Thank… you… master… Nermal." Judy moaned, with the black expression.
Nermal, however, didn't care. His focus was completely in chewing the chocolate bar. Judy's hypnotized form was only the air to him at the moment.
"(Slurps!) Walnut chocolate is Dr. Nermal's the greatest favorite!" Nermal said with his mouth full and his lips covered with the chocolate.
After eating half of the chocolate bar with two big mouthful, Nermal wrapped the remaining half of the bar back into its packet and placed it to another bigger pocket under of his cape, after which the wolf turned back at Judy.
"Come with Dr. Nermal, my little friend. You may be even more useful to Dr. Nermal." Nermal said, as he placed his right paw to Judy's back and gently pushed her forward, gesturing her to follow him to the dark alley.
"Yes… master… Nermal." Judy moaned.
And with that, both Nermal and Judy headed towards the alley.
But suddenly…
"Judy! Carrots!"
The sudden shouts from a small distance alerted Nermal so unexpectedly that he turned around to see that who had shouted.
And during of his escape, Nermal's right elbow hit to Judy's forehead so hard that she fell over on her kneels to the street, in middle of her dropped shopping bags.
And after seeing that somebody was coming from behind of the van, which had stopped next to entrance of the Central Park in the next door.
Even with the help of the lampposts, Nerval didn't saw clearly that who the incoming shadowy person was, mostly thanks to the darkness of the night.
But in the belief that he has been seen, the wolf decided to make a hasty retreat to the alley and, thanks to his cape which he wrapped around of him while entering to the alley, quickly disappeared into alley's shadows, leaving Judy, still under of the hypnosis, behind.
And as the shadowy person made it to the scene, the light of the lamppost revealed the person to be Nick Wilde.
"Judy! There you are!" Nick shouted, half relieved but also shocked, especially after seeing Judy on her knees in the ground, with the expression of the feeling of pain, shaking her head and stroking with her paws her forehead.
Nick, with the beelief that Judy had got under attack, took out his own elephant tranquilizer pistol and quickly made his way to her.
"Carrots. Are you okay? What happened?" Nick asked after he reached to her, and gently extending his left paw towards her in attempot to wrap it around of her waist and lift her back on her feet from the ground.
But within seconds after he touched ger, Judy suddenly turned around and punched with her into the fist squeezed paw to Nick's left cheek. And the bunny's punch's impact was so hard that the fox fell backwards and failed to keep his balance... which was followed by the fox falling on his butt to the street.
"Ouch! Hey, Carrots! What was that for?" Nick asked, surprised of whar Judy just did as he lifted his left paw up and started to stroke with it his sore cheek to make the slight pain in it to fade away.
"No one non-rabbit calls me cute and…" Judy shouted with the tone of voice of her very own, which meant that she was her normal self...
Judy took her battle-ready stance and turned around to see her "attacker", only to gasp in shock as her eyes went to wide and her paws jumped via the reflexes over her mouth, after the surprised/shocked bunny realized that who she had just punched.
"Oh, N-N-Nick! I'm-I'm sorry. I-I'm so, so, so, so sorry for that! I-I didn't meant to! I-I m-m-mistook you for some-someone another w-who... I... I... I... I'm so sorry, Nick." Judy said nearly with the panicking voice...
...before the bunny kneeled diown next to the fox and and stroked gently with her own paw Nick's cheek that got the hit from her punch… placing even a small but sweet kiss to there as comfort for the fox.
Judy's kiss to her sore cheek made Nick to ablush a bit, as he closed his eyes and lowered his ears aganst the back of his head.
"Nah, Carrots. I'm good." Nick said with the calm voice...
...until his eyes snapped within seconds open and his ears jumped upright.
"Woah, woah, woah! Wait… did you just said that somebody called you cute? Who did call you a cute?"
Judy did not waste her time but quickly turned her eyes from Nick to look to the spot where she had seen the shadowy figure... only to find it to be empty.
The wolf was nowhere to be seen, much to her confuse.
What just happened? He was right there, but then he... Judy thought.
"Judy?" Nick said, catching the bunny's attention.
The confused bunny then turned back face to face with Nick.
"There was someone in the alley, stalking/speaking to me from the shadows after I exited from the Shopping Paradise. I tried to ignore him and his presence and continue my way back to Barbara's, until I heard him calling me cute behind of my back and I tried to turn around to scold him for calling me cute because of him being non-bunny animal, until everything just went in black in my eyes and my entire mind. Then I found myself on my knees in the ground, stroking my sore forehead like someone struck me to my forehead or something" Judy explained shortly.
Nick's instincts quickly got their spark.
This information told him that someone indeed attacked attack Judy from behind.
Whatta cowardly act to attack from behind against the smaller mammal... who happens to be a cop and the certain bunny! Nick thought.
"You better to check that is everything save." Nick suggested, gesturing Judy's wallet.
Judy did was Nick told her to do.
She checked her jeans' each pocket, finding only the empty candy papers, the keys of her apartment and her mobile phone. Judy also checked her wallet… twice if some of her photos of her, Nick and her family, needed cards, or money was missing.
Surprisingly… nothing was missing... much to the duo's confuse.
"That's odd… somebody attacked you from behind but he stole nothing from you… not even a single dollar nor your debit card." Nick said, rubbing his chin out of confusion.
"Yeah, that's quite odd." Judy agreed.
Suddenly, the bunny turned her head at the fox.
"What are you even doing out here, Nick? I though you were still at Barbara's."
Now Nick took the scolding expression on his face.
"Correction, Carrots. Where the heck you have been? It usually doesn't take from you four hours to visit in the shop and then come back. It is now a ten o'clock at night." Nick said, showing the time to Judy from his watch.
Judy took on her face confused and also questioning expression.
"What? Four hours? Ten o'clock at night? But I exited from the Shopping Paradise before eight at o'clock with my…"
Judy turned around and saw her shopping backs were lying on the ground.
And it was the mess. Half of the eggs were destroyed, two milk cans damaged that the milk was draining out of their jars and glass jam jar was broken and messed everything within one of the shopping bags...
...and yet she had no knowledge that how in earth she had dropped them to the ground.
"Oh sweet cheese 'n crackers. There goes a half of the eggs, milk and the whole apple jam, and all remaining is covered with the jam." Judy said instantly depressed and dropping her ears down.
Nick landed his comforting paw on her shoulder.
"It's okay, Carrots. Half lost eggs, a couple lost milk jars and the broken apple jam jar is not the End of the World. I'll help you to clean this mess up and gather together what's left from your shopping and take the survived food back to Barbara's. Okay?"
Judy looked at him and nodded with one of the sweet smiles on her lips.
And with that, the fox and the rabbit kneeled down to the street to gather everything that was left from Judy's shoppings into one shopping back, and they proceeded by gathering the broken eggs and their packet, the damaged jars of milk and the shattered pieces of jam jar into another shopping bag, which they threw into one trash can when they passed the one.
Nick also offered to carry the remaining shopping bag the rest of their home trip for Judy, which gladly Judy accepted.
TO BE CONTINUE...