Ch. 5:
Manchas's house was a nice canopy in the Rainforest District, though Nick could've done without the all the water dripping into his fur.
He knocked on the door, "Mr. Manchas? Nick Wilde, ZPD. Hey, we just wanna ask you what happened to Emmitt Otterton."
Judy walked to stand next to him and for some reason grabbed his arm, he glanced at the bunny and saw her nose was twitching. The door slowly creaked open and a feline's eye stared at them through the shadows.
"You should be asking," a voice began before the door opened wider, stopping for the chain that locked it, "What happened to me."
Nick jolted in his spot and Judy took a step back upon seeing the scarred claw marks that covered the jaguar's right eye.
"Whoa. A teensy otter…did that?" Nick asked while Judy swallowed, her paw reaching up to caress the three scars on her cheek.
"He was an animal…" Manchas began, his voice rising into hysteria. "Down on all fours…he was a savage. There was no warning! He just kept yelling about the 'night howlers' over and over, the 'night howlers'!"
Judy glanced at Nick who gave a small shrug, he had no idea what 'night howlers' were. But then the rabbit's eyes widened and she turned to the jaguar, "So then you know about the night howlers? That's good, that's very good. Because you see, sir, the night howlers are why we are here."
"That's right," Nick quickly caught on, "So if you can let us in you can tell us what you know and then we'll tell you what we know. Alright?"
Manchas seemed to consider this for a moment before nodding, "Okay." He shut the door to unlock the chain and Nick couldn't help giving Judy an impressed look.
"You are a clever bunny," he stated.
She shrugged with nonchalance, but the good mood was erased when a scream from the other side of the door reached their ears. Tail now bristling Nick stepped forward and opened the now unlocked door.
Inside Manchas was on his paws and knees, spasming uncontrollably
"Mr. Manchas?" Judy breathed her nose back to twitching.
"Buddy, are you…okay?" Nick asked.
The spasms stopped and still on all fours Manchas looked up at them, his wounded eye now open, both pupils vertical slits. He snarled at them and his body moved to pounce. He had gone savage.
"Run," Nick breathed, taking a few steps back, "RUN!"
Judy didn't' have to be told again, they both whirled around and sprinted back to the bridge as Manchas tore after them, primal and deranged.
"What is wrong with him?" Judy asked as they tried to run across the slippery boards of the bridge.
"I have no idea!" Nick yelled back, "But I know we need to jump!" He leapt over the railing of vines, Judy doing the same, making it just in time before Manchas reached them. The two landed with painful grunts on a thick branch below but they weren't safe yet. Nick hurried to his feet and forced Judy to do the same, "Keep running!"
Manchas jumped after them, landing on his paws effortlessly before continuing his chase.
The two ducked into a hollow log too small for Manchas to slip through, so instead the jaguar jumped on top of it and used his thick paws to shrew through the wood in an attempt to get them.
"Keep your head down," Nick ordered the bunny as they crawled through the mossy log, he pulled out his police radio. "Officer Wilde to dispatch!"
They had just reached the end of the log when Clawhauser finally answered and told him he'd send them back up. But as Nick crawled out of the log the radio slipped out of his paws, Nick almost going with it if not for Judy, grabbing his arm and pulling him back to his feet with a strength he didn't expect from a rabbit.
The two made it to a gondola platform and tried to make there way to an arriving sky tram. But Manchas leapt and Nick was forced to jump back out of his way, his damp feet sliding on the wet platform and he almost went over, luckily his claws scrapped across the wood, dragging him to a halt but leaving him hanging off the platform.
Meanwhile Judy had reached the sky-tram opening the door and turning around only to see Nick wasn't there. "Fuzz!" she cried out in panic when she saw him.
Nick was dragging his body back onto the platform, "Get out of here!"
The gondola started to pull away, Judy trying to stop it but to no avail, leaving her stranded on the edge of the platform with Manchas stalking forward, muzzle pulled back to reveal his sharp teeth.
Judy's eyes widened and she looked to be hyperventilating, her small chest going up and down at an alarming rate. "Listen," she tried breathlessly, "You may think you want to eat me but in actuality-"
The jaguar pounced and Judy slammed her eyes shut, braced for the attack but it didn't come. She popped her eyes open to see Nick had managed to handcuff Manchas' leg to a metal post.
Judy slowly tried to creep past the jaguar, "You're tense, I get that, everyone's been there, so let me just give you a little personal space-" Manchas snapped at her and she bolted, accidentally slamming into Nick as she did so and sending them both over the edge. Nick just managed to grab a vine, his other paw instinctively grabbed Judy's and then they were swinging through the air.
Judy held onto him with both paws, staring down at the thick canopy bellow. "Fox, whatever you do, do not let go."
Nick got an idea, "Hey, I'm gonna let go!"
"No you, WHAT!?"
Working out his aim Nick silently counted to himself while Judy spluttered her disapproval, and then feeling like he was jumping off a skyscraper in the hopes of sticking the landing, Nick let go.
The two careened through the air with screams before gravity shot them down and they landed exactly where Nick had hoped, in a thick netting of vines that caught them and held their weight. Of course the fox hadn't planned on getting tangled in the vines, Judy sprawled across his stomach.
The rabbit looked around them, processing they were alive and even looking up at the platform where Manchas roared down at them. They look at each other with stunned relieved but in Judy's violet eyes is also awed disbelief.
"Fuzz…you saved my life."
It was Nick's turn to shrug with nonchalance, "All in a day's work for an officer of the ZP-" the vines snapped and once again they were falling-" DEEEEE!"
They plummeted through more vines and thick leaves and were just about to hit a cement parking lot below before the vines attached to their legs stop them right before the impact, and the two instead end up tied together, hanging upside down and swaying slightly.
Judy was still trying to catch her breath while Nick let out a kind of relieved yet hysteric chuckle right before his ears caught the sound of sirens and a squad car pulled up. The two offered smiles as Bogo stepped out and walked over to them.
The buffalo shook his head and glared at the fox and bunny, "Well this should be good."