Chapter 10: Zootopia:
Zootopia – ZPD Headquarters:
Sora looked around in wonder at all the anthropomorphic animals around him. Even though Zootopia had been a member of the Daybreak Coalition for two years now, the size and scale of the magnificent metropolis at the world's center continued to amaze him. But despite how much he enjoyed the place, he couldn't help but notice some of the wary glances directed at him and Donald when they were out exploring the city's street. Humans were completely alien to the different species of Zootopia and the surrounding towns, and nobody was used to the idea of an anthropomorphic duck on this world either. The suspicion had died down a bit, and the ZPD officers were an open-minded and accepting bunch, but distrust of humans was still present on the Zootopian streets.
The Keyblade Master turned his attention back to the podium as Chief Bogo walked into the room. Since the Hellfire Club base they were going after today was in Zootopia's terriroty, the large Cape Buffalo was given command of the joint strike team for the upcoming battle.
"Alright, listen up!" the Chief shouted, quieting the room as he got everyone's attention. "Hellfire Club forces have been sighted by Coalition Intelligence at the old hospital where Lionheart was operating during the Night Howler crisis. These criminals are a threat to the people of Zootopia, and to the Daybreak Coalition. We go in and hit them fast, hit them hard." All the animals in the room roared, howled, or trumpeted in excitement before Chief Bogo was able quiet everyone down again.
"This is going to be a three pronged assault," Bogo went on. "Francine, McCorn, Higgins, and myself will be on strike team Alpha. We'll be attacking through the main entrance. Grizzoli, Fangmire, Delgatto, Snarloff, and Wolfard will be team Beta. You'll be parachuting in from the helicopter to attack from below. While the Club forces will be busy repelling the pincer attack, Hopps and Wild will be partnered with Sir Donald, Captain Goofy, and Master Sora. They'll enter through the sewers and catch our targets by surprise. We don't know the extent of the Hellfire Club's resurgence, so our orders are to take as many of them alive as possible. Only use lethal force if absolutely necessary. Alright people, LET'S GO HUNTING!"
Everyone in the room let out an excited cheer as the three strike teams headed down to the precinct garage to gear up and roll out. Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde had infiltrated this building before, so Sora, Donald, and Goofy let them take point on their leg of the mission so that things would go as smoothly as possible. The three off-worlders had been good friends with the fox and bunny duo ever since the Coalition made first contact with Zootopia, and it was a blast to be working together again. As they drove through the boroughs of Zootopia towards the tunnels between the Rainforest District and Tundra Town, Sora could only hope that none of the Hellfire Club goons could escape this time. With any luck, they'd be able to wrap this up quickly.
Twilight Town – The Old Mansion:
"Director," Agent Yuffie Kisaragi called out as she raced down the hallways of C.I.N. Headquarters after Cassim, the leader of Coalition Intelligence. "I just made contact with Agent Hooter. Leroys have been spotted in Saint Canard." The former King of Thieves stiffened in surprise at confirmation of further activity from those fiends.
"Is it a full base, or only a scouting party?" Cassim inquired as he looked at the so-called "Great Ninja". Yuffie shook her head in answer.
"It's unclear at this point," she replied. "Vanitas has dispatched additional agents to investigate. Once we receive confirmation, I'll pass the information on to the Defense Force." Cassim nodded before gesturing for young woman to follow him to the command center in one of the new rooms they'd dug underneath the mansion. Originally only a two-story ruined landmark, Twilight Town's legendary haunted mansion now sat atop a mutli-story underground bunker housing several offices, armories, and barracks.
"Any word from Vanitas?" the director asked as he and his subordinate stepped into the elevator.
"Negative, sir," Yuffie answered. "Last I heard, he was spending the night in San Fransokyo." Cassim shook his head in exasperation. The former apprentice of Xehanort always had a tendancy to be off doing his own thing right when they were in the middle of a crisis. Not that he could blame the raven-haired Keyblade Wielder. Being in charge of a network of spies was a rather stressful occupation, and everyone dealt with the pressures of the job in their own way. For Cassim, it was the occasional trip to the nearest bar. His second-in-command, however, had come to preferred more physical forms of recreation. \
Shaking his head to focus on the task at hand, he told Agent Kisaragi to report to him as soon as they received an update on the situation in Saint Canard. If it was just a handful of scouts, then the Coalition military could handle it. But if there was already a Hellfire Club base in the city, then they had two options depending on the size of the facility and how recently it had been established. A relatively new base could be dealt with by a small strike team of C.I.N. agents relatively quickly, while a larger and entrenched one would require the aid of at least one Keyblade Wielder to eliminate.
Zootopia – Cliffside Asylum:
I'm just glad these tunnels are big enough for a human to crawl through, Sora thought to himself as he, Donald, Goofy, Judy, and Nick crawled through the storm drains leading out of the abandoned hospital that was now serving as a base of operations for the Hellfire Club. Judy and Nick had come through this way a few years ago on the trail of a missing mammal case, so they took the lead. The sewers weren't designed with larger species like humans in mind, but there was just enough room for Sora to crawl his way through the pipes. Since Donald was shorter and Goofy skinnier, they had an easier time fitting through the plumbing. As the quintet climbed higher and higher through the large metal tubes, the building shook around them as the ZPD strike teams stormed the asylum.
"We need to hurry," Judy whispered from the front of the procession, gesturing for everyone behind her to pick up the pace. "We can't let too many of them get away." As the group double-timed it through the pipes, Nick couldn't help but reflect on how much things had changed for the better in Zootopia during the last five years alone. As a cop, he'd gotten a lot more respect than he'd ever gotten before, and inter-species prejudice had finally begun to die down. He'd become a fantastic cop, and after Zootopia joined the Daybreak Coalition, he'd been recruited into the Intelligence Network because of his role in the Night Howler crisis. And just a few months ago, he'd gotten proposed to Judy after being her partner on the police force for nearly five years and her boyfriend for four.
He brought himself back to the present as they emerged from the pipes into an empty room in the hospital. Since the had experience fighting the Hellfire Club, Sora, Donald, and Goofy took the lead from there as they walked through the hallway that had once housed the victims of Assistant Mayor Bellwether's hate plague. A flash of light from Sora's Keyblade and the door was unlocked as they raced out of the empty lab and into the corridor. Sirens blared and the building continued to rock under the force of the ZPD assault. With the addition of the third strike team, the base quickly fell, and within the hour, Zootopian police officers were escorting handcuffed Leroys and bizarre creatures that looked like elves wearing porcelain masks.
The hospital's laboratories were being used to create more of Yzma's animal transformation potions. Considering the fact that the "scary beyond all reason" potion maker had spent the past six years in Radiant Garden's dungeons, the fact that her work was still in use by the Hellfire Club was a little alarming. Either that gerbil-like scientist Hamsterviel had managed to reverse engineer her techniques based on samples, or the Hellfire Club was preparing a jailbreak. With the villainous henchmen in custody, most of the ZPD officers were heading back to the precinct to lock up the little a Defense Force gummi ship could arrive to help with the interrogation. Only a few officers remained behind to finish mopping up the evidence and gear left behind.
The quintet was about to head out the door and climb back into the police van when Judy's ears perked up. As the bunny cop began sniffing the air and Nick began looking around in the dark, the hairs on the back of Sora's neck stood on end. The group whirled around to find three figures in plain brown robes. And the heroes' alarm only grew when they saw what the robed intruders were carrying: a box full of animal potions, and an open back full of Night Howler bulbs.
Since humans don't exist in the world of Zootopia, I figured that there would be a choice between having Sora, Donald, and Goofy taking on Zootopia-like animal forms (like I did for Sora in Sherwood Forest back in The Xehanort War), or, since birds aren't anthropomorphic in that universe, have them stay the same and have Zootopians seeing humanity as aliens be a semi-major plot point. I figured that the latter would be more interesting, so I went with that. And yes, the interquel during the timeskip will have a chapter showing the Coalition's first contact with Zootopia. And while the movie never makes anything explicit, after the ending of the movie, I ship Nick and Judy, and that will be mentioned in the next chapter, along with more background on what happened in Zootopia between the end of the movie and now.
Figured we should have a short scene to pop in and see how things are going with some of the side characters. I figured Yuffie would make a good spy with her whole "great ninja" thing, so I have her as an intelligence operative in this universe. It's probably hectic at Coalition Headquarters, with Vanitas being the Maria Hill to Cassim's Nick Fury. And that's right folks, after San Fransokyo I'll be treating you all to a Darkwing Duck world. ;)
Now the plot begins to thicken as The Legion begins to take a more active role in the plot. The goals and motivations of the mysterious organization are supposed to remain a mystery until the very end of the Acolytes of Chaos saga, so expect lots of seemingly random moments or acts to make a lot more sense in hindsight when you see the big picture.
Yeah, I know the movie never made it clear if Judy and Nick would hook up later on or if they were just friends, but they had such good chemistry together that my head-canon lands on the side of romance in that debate. I understand that not everyone thinks that they should get together, and I respect that. I just feel that because of their chemistry together in the movie, the odds of Nick and Judy becoming a couple in any sequels, spin-offs, or other follow-up material are extremely high.