Author's Note:
Well, you thought this story was over, but this story is far from over! Once he's started, an author never stops until he has finished the story. Let's see what Nick and Judy are up to now that they've tracked down the culprit. It's been around a year, but I'm still in the saddle.
As you may recall from last time, Nick and Judy had found a lead on their suspects and headed outside of town to catch them. She passed off Nick as a feral fox and they took him to some remote location on the outskirts of town.
She followed the tracking device to some strange building, where two wolves were guarding it.
"Rats! Guard wolves!" She thought. "How am I gonna get past them?"
She pondered for a moment and then, she came up with an idea.
"ARROOOOO!" She howled in a whispering way.
Just then, the wolves started howling like crazy.
"Ugh! Curse this gut instinct...ARROOOOO!" the first wolf howled. "AROOOO!"
"Don't do that..." the second wolf strained. "You're gonna...AARRRROOOO! Make me do it too! ARROOOOO!"
"Come on, let's...ARRROOOOO...get outta here!" the second wolf struggled to stop howling.
The two wolves then went away to get themselves under control.
Judy ran past the security bar and headed right towards building to see what was going on. She couldn't just walk inside, she would get caught. Just then, she turned around and saw the air vent. The duo then walked into the vent and started crawling upstairs.
"For a vent, it's actually pretty roomy." She remarked to herself. "I guess this is what happens when you are as small as a bunny or a fox."
Just then, she turned her attention to some sort of glowing room from one of the vent ducts. "Look! I think I see something!"
Using her bunny-leg power, Judy kicked open the vent door and the two unlikely pair went down to the floor, where he found Nick in some sort of containment cell.
"Bout time you arrived, Carrots." said Nick. "I was getting worried."
"Don't worry, I'll get you out of here." Judy said as she pressed a red button that opened up Nick's cell.
"Gee Judy, I'm impressed." Nick folded his arms.
"That's an advantage that comes with being a rabbit." Judy giggled. "You know Nick, I'm starting to think I misjudged you. I mean sure, you may seem a little rough around the edges, but when you get past the canines, snarks, deceit, sneakiness, and claws, you're a pretty smart and resourceful guy."
"Thanks, you're not so bad yourself." Nick deadpanned. "But anyways, this is where all the missing mammals are located. Take a look!"
Judy turned on her flashlight and saw that there were cages everywhere and animals were inside all of them, acting feral and freaky.
"Nick! Look!" Judy exclaimed. "These are all the animals that have gone feral! Emmet Otterton, Mr. Manchas, everyone! But where could they be coming from?"
Suddenly, there was some sort of noise coming from outside the room.
Judy gasped. "Someone's coming! Quick hide!"
The two slinked over to behind a cabinet and saw a lion and an armadillo coming into the door.
Nick gasped. "It's him! That's the guy who is running this operation!"
"I don't want to hear excuses!" the lion roared. "I want to hear results!"
"Mr. Lionheart, please, we're doing everything we can." the armadillo said meekly.
Judy used this opportunity to record the conversation on video.
Lionhearted continued scolding the man, "Really? Cuz I got a dozen and a half animals here who've gone off the rails crazy- and you can't tell me why. Now, I'd call that awfully far from doing everything you can!"
Just then, Lionheart's collar went off.
"Ugh!" he growled. "Stupid shock collar!"
"Sir, it may be time to consider their biological components." the armadillo explained.
"What the heck are you talking about?" asked Lionheart.
The doctor began to explain, "Well, the only animals going savage are predators, and we have to let people know we have them! We cannot keep it a secret forever!"
"Hmm... Great idea. Tell the public..." Lionheart sarcastically said. "And how do you think they're gonna react? How do you think this will affect the rest of predator-kind? ZOOTOPIA WILL BE RUINED!"
The shock collar went off again after Lionheart's outburst.
"Well, what if Swinton and Bogo find out?" asked the doctor.
"They don't know, and we are going to keep it that way!" Lionheart sternly said.
Just then, Judy's phone rang. It was her nosy parents again. She frantically tried to silence her phone, but that didn't go unnoticed.
"Someone's here!" Lionheart gasped.
The doctor gasped. "Sir, you need to go, now!"
As soon as Lionheart left, the badger pushed on the intercom. "Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Security! Sweep the area!"
The alarm sounded really loud.
"Let's get outta here!" Nick exclaimed.
"Why not?" Judy shrugged.
The intrepid duo tried to get to the exit, but the door to the cell triggered shut. Just then, the wolf guards approached them. Judy panicked and tried to think of some way to escape. Just then, she saw the giant toilet conveniently located in the cell.
"Nick! Can you swim?" she asked Nick.
"Sure...why?" Nick replied.
Judy grabbed Nick's arm, jumped into the toilet, and flushed themselves down. Just then, the wolves stormed in, searching for the intruders...and saw swirling toilet water disappearing down the drain.
Hopps and Nick fly through the water slide like tubes of the sewer system, cascading over a waterfall. Both scream. They land in the river below.
Nick popped up first, wondering where Judy was. "Judy?! JUDY?! COME ON! JUDY!"
Judy emerged, gasping for breath, holding up her bagged phone. "We gotta tell Bogo! Come on!"
Back at Chief Bogo's office, he was busy doing some sort of important business (he was using some kind of Gazelle dancing application for his phone), when all of a sudden, one of the cops barged in.
"Chief Bogo!" the cop screamed.
"Not now!" Bogo put his phone down.
"Wait, is that Gazelle?" asked the cop.
"No!" Bogo said, trying to silence his phone.
"I am Gazelle, and you are one hot dancer...Chief Bogo." Gazelle said on the application.
"Hogjowls, can't you see I'm working on the feral animal cases?!" Bogo barked.
"That's what I came to talk to you about sir..." said Hogjowls, breathing heavily. "... Officer Hopps just called... She found all of 'em..."
Bogo's eyes widened. "Wow! I'm impressed. Rally up the troops and get us down to where she is, right now!"
Meanwhile, Nick climbed out of the river and back onto dry land.
"A little help?" Judy held out her hand as she tried to climb out.
"Sure." Nick grabbed her arms and helped her get out.
She smiled at Nick, and he did the same, feeling a bit fuzzy inside. Just then, they noticed they were still holding hands, to which they quickly pulled away.
"Boy, that was a bit weird..." Nick chuckled.
"Yeah, weird..." Judy blushed.
Eventually, police cars and helicopters surrounded the asylum, coming to arrest Lionheart and his cronies. Judy, flanked by Bogo and other cops, took Lionheart out of the building and into the police car.
"Leodore Lionheart, you have the right to remain silent!" She snapped. "Anything you say or do will be used against you in a court of law!"
"But you don't understand. I was trying to protect the city!" Lionheart tried to explain.
Judy barked. "You were just trying to protect your reputation and not accept the truth!"
Lionheart tried to talk to Judy. "Listen, we still don't know why this is happening. It could destroy Zootopia for good!"
"Tell to the judge you creep!" Judy slammed the door in Lionheart's face. "Now to get back to the station and sort this out. Come on, Nick!"
"Coming Judy!" Nick said, proudly flashing his Junior Detective badge.
Author's Note:
Like I said, once an author has started, he keeps on doing it. Stay tuned for the next chapter really soon.