A/N: Thank you all so much for the positive feedback I've gotten on this story. This has been a lot of fun, and I hope you enjoy my unique take on the opening events from the movie in this chapter. This story is at nearly 300 views, with several follows and reviews. Let me know how I'm doing!

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When she as just a girl, she expected the world, but it flew away from her reach, and the bullets catch in her teeth…

The tiger stalked slowly towards his prey. Looking out from behind the bushes, he saw a young bunny idly lapping up water. He knew what he had to do. He leaped from behind the crudely cut-out cardboard bushes and "attacked" a little bunny named Judy.

"AAAHH! BLOOD, BLOOD, BLOOD!" She screamed as she fell over backwards, pulling a long red streamer out of a small pocket in her leotard. Jaguar, dressed as a tiger, looked on as his "prey" grabbed a small bottle of ketchup and began to squirt it all over herself, simulating even more blood gushing from her "wound."

The ketchup had been a last minute addition to the performance. Jaguar had said it would have cause too big a mess, but Bobby Catmull thought it was a great idea. Though, pretty much anything Judy did was amazing in Bobby's eyes after Judy had saved him a few days prior. As the ketchup squirted out of the bottle, Judy made sure to overemphasize her fake groans and gurgles.

"And...DEATH." she said, exceedingly overdramatically, as she threw her head back, letting her tongue fall out. She gave the ketchup bottle one more good squeeze for effect. Drums went off in the background, played by Bobby.

"Back then, the world was divided in two. Vicious predators," -Jaguar let out a fairly harmless growl- "and meek prey."

Two cardboard boxes floated eerily down from above, covering the two young ones as Judy quickly pulled the leotard off and slipped what she had worked so hard on. It was going to be a surprise for everyone. Now they could finally see what she had been thinking on constantly for the past few days leading up to the Carrot Days festival. She held up the simple garb, noting the small, fake badge pinned on the front of it. I can't wait for everyone to see this!

Judy quickly threw the costume over herself, then quickly slipped a white robe over top of that while she recited the rest of her lines.

"But over time, we evolved." She could hear Sharla the sheep prancing around outside the boxes, no doubt looking as harmless as intended. "And moved beyond our primitive, savage ways."

The boxes were lifted, revealing the jaguar and bunny in their white robes. They moved together to hold paws.

"Now, predator and prey live in harmony." A small POP went off behind her when Sharla used the party popper to add more effect to their performance. "And every young mammal has multitudinous opportunities." She was really glad she learned the world "multitudinous."

"Yeah," said Sharla, nervous to recite her lines. "I don't hafta cower in a herd anymore. Instead," she grabbed her paper mache space helmet, "I can be an astronaut!"

Off to the side, Bobby Catmull, safely not in a tree, fiddled with a whistle to make eerie space noises.

Jaguar's turn arrived. He tried to summon his most professional of voices. "I don't have to be a lonely hunter anymore." He tossed his robe to the side, revealing a savvy business suit. "Today, I can hunt for tax exemptions. I'm gonna be an actuary!"

As a melodic piano tune played, Judy knew it was now or never. She was supposed to throw the robe off, revealing a farming outfit. Everyone knew that the bunnies of Bunnyburrow were famous farmers, providing the vast majority of produce for all of Zootopia and its outlying districts. She was supposed to do what they had planned from the beginning. But she knew now that she could never be a simple carrot farmer.

Here we go! Judy thought as she stepped forward. "And I can make the world a better place! I am going to be…"

The cheesy crime drama music playing was her cue. She tossed her robe to the side, revealing her dreams to the world.

"A police officer!" Judy stood proud in her custom-made uniform. This was her moment. She just knew her parents would be so proud of her. She could see their faces in the audience, covered in what must have been shock from the amount of pride they felt. Nothing could hold her down now, not even the antagonistic laughing of a certain vile vulpine in the audience.

"Hahahaha...bunny cop!?" Gideon said as he slapped his knee. "That is the most stupidest thing I ever heard."

Judy didn't let his words phase her. She stepped forward, putting her police cap on. "It may seem impossible to small minds…" she gave him a cutting look, fitting for a criminal such as himself. "I'm looking at you Gideon Gray." She smiled at his ensuing growl. "But, Just 211 miles away stands the great city of Zootopia! Where our ancestors first joined together in peace and declared that anyone can be anything!"

A round of applause filled the room as Bobby hit a few chords of organ music to close the performance. Judy and the others took a bow. "Thank you and good night!"

She looked up, seeing her mom and dad smiling. I hope they really enjoyed it! She looked to Jaguar, Sharla, and Bobby, giving each of them a thumbs up. As the audience began to clear out, Judy stepped over with several of the stagepaws to help clean up. For a brief moment, she was filled with pride in her announcement to the world. She looked up at the backdrop she and her friends had made of Zootopia. A place where predators and prey work together to make a difference. A paradise like that has to be protected, and one day I'll be the one to do it.

After finishing cleaning, Judy saw her mom and dad waiting at the exit for her. They looked a little concerned. Judy figured it must have been the ketchup. Too much, I guess.

She ran to her mom, hugging her. "How'd I do, mom?"

Bonnie looked to her husband. He nodded back cautiously. "You...you did great bun bun!"

"Yeah, Jude…" Stu added. He knew they needed to talk with Judy, so he knelt down to her level. "Sweetie...we need to have a little chat with you."

The three of them walked out of the barn where the talent show had taken place. Stu figured he might as well be the one to start the hard conversation ahead. Stu and Bonnie were holding on to Judy's little paws as she skipped. Stu was afraid that if he wasn't holding her, she'd simply bounce away. He tried breaking the ice softly.

"Judy...you ever wonder how your mom and me got to be so darn happy?"

"Nope." she replied quickly, oblivious to what her father was trying to communicate.

Stu pressed on. "Well...we gave up on our dreams and we settled. Right Bon?"

Bonnie tried to sound as sweet as possible to her daughter. "Oh, yes, that's right, Stu. We settled hard." 25 sets of kits'll do that to a doe she laughed to herself.

Stu continued. "See, that's the beauty of complacency, Jude. If you don't try anything new, you'll never fail."

Judy pulled her paws from her parents, eying a row of haystacks coming up. "I like trying, actually." She hopped up onto the row of haystacks, continuing skipping along. Her parents had to pick up the pace to keep up.

Bonnie tried her paw at pulling the little bunny back down from her dream orbit. "What your father means, hun, is it's gonna be difficult...impossible even, for you to become a police officer."

"Right, there's never been a bunny cop." Stu added. "Never."

Judy's eyes fell for a moment. "Oh…" Relief washed through Bonni and Stu. Maybe Judy would understand after all- "Then I guess I'll have to be the first one!" Judy shouted as she perked back up and kept skipping. She hopped off the row of stacks. "Because I am gonna make the world…" she hopped onto the side of a food cart, launching into a backflip. "...a better place!" she posed cutely as she landed.

Her parents exchanged more concerned looks. Their words were falling on completely deaf bunny ears.

"Or...uh...heck you know, you want to talk about making the world a better place…" Stu moved over to one of their carrot produce stands the Hopps had set up for the festival. "...no better way to do it than becoming a carrot farmer!"

Judy looked over to her parents carrot stand, and then back to her parents. She was glad her parents were happy as farmers, but she already knew her place.

"Yeah," added Bonnie. "Your dad, me, your 275 brothers and sisters...we're changing the world! One carrot at a time."

"Amen to that! Carrot farming is a noble profession!"

As Stu continued talking, Judy heard Sharla and her brother Gareth behind her. Her attention was immediately pulled away from whatever her dad was talking about. She looked to see them running past the Whack-a-Carrot game with her little sister Paisley. Sharla had her hard-earned tickets in her hoof. But what caught Judy's eye was a certain shifty fox eying her friends as they walked past. Gideon Gray...up to no good again I'm sure. She watched as he and Travis followed after them. Judy was immediately uncomfortable and decided to follow. She'd catch up with her parents later. She had work to do.

After following them to a small clearing behind the game booths, she saw what she feared. Gideon and Travis were doing what they did best.

"Gimme your tickets right now or I'm gonna kick your meek little sheep butt!" Gideon gave Sharla a small shove.

"Ow! Cut it out, Gideon!" Sharla cried.

"Baa baa!" Gideon snatched the tickets from her and shoved them in the front pocket of his overalls.. "What are you gonna do? Cry?"

Judy had seen enough. This fox had pushed her and her friends around enough. "HEY!"

Gideon and Travis's gazes fell on her. "You heard her. Cut it out."

Gideon scoffed at her. "Nice costume, loser. What crazy world are you living in where you think a bunny could be a cop?" He approached her, looming over her. Gideon was easily twice her height. But Judy knew she had a job to do, and surely even a fox such as Gideon could be reasoned with. "Kindly return my friends tickets." she said as she reached her paw out.

Gideon arrogantly patted at the tickets. "Come and get 'em, but watch out! Because I'm a fox." Gideon held his claws up in a mock savage display. "And like you said in your dumb little stage play, us predators used to eat prey." He heavily punctuated "eat" as he leaned forward, flashing his teeth. Judy's instincts screamed at her to run at the sight of such teeth, but her resolve held her in place. She knew she had something to prove. He leaned closer to her. No matter how hard she tried, he could still smell a small amount of fear. He pressed in, "And that killer instinct is still in our dunnah."

Dunnah? Judy thought.

Travis chimed in from behind him. "Uh...I'm pretty much sure it's pronounced 'DNA'."

Gideon's eyes fell for a moment as Travis ruined his intimidation factor. "Don't tell me what I know, Travis."

Judy forced herself to step forward again while Gideon was distracted. "You don't scare me, Gideon-" her words were cut short by a forceful shove. Gideon had launched her backwards with both paws. She hit the ground with a thud that knocked the wind out of her. She looked back up to Gideon who was leaning over her.

"You scared now?" His muzzle had a mean smirk on it as he stood over her.

"Look at her nose twitch!" cried Travis. "She is scared!"

Gideon leaned down further, mocking Judy. "Cry little baby bunny!"

Fear and instinct to flee welled up inside Judy. She was an awful mixture of furious, terrified, ashamed, and indignant. Why does he hate us so much? That smug look of his… Suddenly, Judy's anger began to win her inner turmoil. This disgusting fox leaning over her...she tried the civil route, and it didn't work.

"Cry! Cr-" Gideon was caught off by two large rabbit feet kicking him square in the muzzle. Judy felt a rush of adrenaline hit her as the fox staggered back. That'll teach him… But it wasn't enough. Gideon didn't fall over like she had imagined. Instead, he still stood tall. He reached to his lips with his paw, bringing it back to see a small amount of blood on them. His eyes changed back to hatred and he looked fuming with anger. "Oh, you don't know when to quit, do you?"

Judy gasped as he brought his claws into view. No...what have I done? He's going to… Her thoughts were cut short as a searing white pain crashed onto her cheek. His claws thankfully weren't as sharp as they could have been, but she still felt the gashes they had ripped on her face. She reached her hand up instinctively to the wound, pulling it back and seeing blood. This is all going wrong...why can't I stop him?

Gideon got down on his knees, forcibly putting his paw on Judy's face to hold her down. He was over her, on top of her, overpowering her. Her fear ran unchecked as her body froze, the rapid twitch of her nose giving it all away. Gideon brought his face, his teeth, closer to Judy's.

"I want you to remember this moment…"

Her mind was screaming, racing at breakneck speeds. Suddenly every detail was overwhelming her senses. The smell of dirt, a fox, fear...permeated every part of her. She was helpless under his weight. Why? Why is he doing this? Why can't I stop him? Why did I try to do anything? All of this over some stupid...the tickets! Judy's eyes caught the tickets sticking out of Gideon's front pocket. With the position he was in, they were just within her reach, if she could only...

"...the next time you think you will ever be anything more than just a stupid carrot-farming dumb bunny!" Gideon yelled at her as he shoved her head back down to the earth. The small impact shook her head a little, but she knew it was finally over. Gideon and Travis walked off, likely feeling proud of themselves.

It took everything in her to hold back the tears, but she had to. Sharla, Paisley, and Gareth had ran back over to her.

"That looks bad…" said Gareth, seeing her cheek. Judy reached up to wipe the wound again.

"Are you okay, Judy?" said Sharla, meekly.

Forcing her body to move, Judy began to pick herself up. "Yeah. Yeah I'm okay." she said, lying. Sitting up, she revealed the tickets. A small victory in the face of defeat. "Here you go."

"Oh! Wow! You got our tickets!"

"You're awesome, Judy!" said Gareth. Paisley started clapping furiously behind her.

Judy stood up and began to dust herself off, seeing her cap in front of her on the ground.

"Yeah, that Gideon Gray doesn't know what he's talkin' about!" Sharla's voice carried the same disdain Judy felt earlier. But now...Judy felt something different.

She may not have won the war, but there was a small victory today. She'd managed to do something, even though it wasn't much, in the face of fear. Gideon may have thought he won, but Judy wasn't done yet. He was going to pay for what he did, not just to her, but to her friends, and her family.

She walked over to her cap. "Well, he was right about one thing." Picking it up, she placed it firmly on her head again, right where it belonged. "I don't know when to quit."

Judy felt a tiny paw on her side. She looked down, seeing Paisley. "Judy, you're bwave!" Despite the pain in her cheek, Judy smiled. She reached down and picked her little sister up. "Come on, Paisley. Let's get you back to mom and dad."

"JUDY!" Bonnie screamed as she ran to her daughter, carrying Paisley. "Where did you go off to?"

Judy put Paisley down, letting her run along. She ran to her mom, hugging her.

"Your father and I were a little worried when you left while we were talking...Judy?" Bonnie looked down, seeing her daughter beginning to shiver and sniffle. She knelt down as she pulled Judy back, seeing the tears coming down her face.

"Judy, are you...oh sweetie what happened to your cheek!?" Bonnie inspected the three lines of red on Judy's cheek. Judy sniffed hard, more tears coming down her face. All the bravery she had mustered while confronting Gideon was gone. She was with her mom, and didn't have to be brave anymore, so the tears flowed. "Judy, what happened?"

"G-Gideon Gray was pushing my friends...and he st-stole their tickets, and so I tried to stop him…"

"That fox did this to you?"

"Uh-huh...he pushed me, so I kicked him...and he clawed my cheek…" she reached herself forward and attached herself back to her mom.

"Judy...we told you to stay away from him!" She picked her daughter up, holding her close. She doesn't realize how badly this could have gone.

"I was just...I was just trying to make a difference, like you said."

Bonnie lightly stroked at Judy's ears as she scanned the festival for her husband. He was going to be furious about this. "It's okay now, bun bun. I have you."

"I tried being brave, momma." she pulled a big sniffle in. "I got their tickets back for them."

A wash of guilt came over Bonnie. "Judy, you should have come to find me or your father, and told your friends to get away too."

"But…"

"No buts, little miss. Now, let's go find your father and get everyone home. We'll talk more about this tonight."

A few hours later, Judy laid in her bed. A late evening storm had come through Bunnyburrow, as if only to accentuate her mood. The rain fell lightly against the roof of their home, flooding the long halls with the sounds of pit pat pit pat pit pat. What had started as a wonderful day had ended badly for the young doe. She wasn't sure what had hurt worse: Gideon's claws or her father's words.

"Judith Laverne Hopps...I told you to stay away from that fox!"

"But daddy...he started it!"

"You're a bunny, Judy. Bunnies don't fight foxes, we RUN AWAY. That's what we do. Staying safe is our number one priority, our instinct. We didn't survive for thousands of years by fighting predators head on!"

The scene played over and over again in her mind. Judy thought she was doing the right thing. She saved her friends, even if it cost her something. That's what brave people did, isn't it? She tossed in her bed, making a loud huff as she rolled to her side.

"Bravery isn't a bunny thing. It's a...a wolf thing! It's a rhino thing! It's a...any mammal other than bunnies!"

"I had to help my friends!"

"You could have gotten yourself KILLED, Judy!"

"Someone had to do something! I can't just let Gideon get away with bullying-"

"I've had enough of this, Judith. It's all that crazy wolf cop's fault. Putting ideas in your head that don't belong there."

"Stuart! Don't you think you're being a little hard on her? She's just a little doe…"

"No Bonnie, she's MY little doe. And I won't have her galavanting around town pretending to be some kinda hero! This, this costume only feeds that delusion!"

"No, daddy! Give it back, please!"

Tears welled up in her eyes. All her dreams, her hopes...were sitting in the bottom of a trash can now. She was glad it was raining. The sound of the rain muffled her soft sobs. She reached up to wipe her eyes, and her paw felt the bandages on her cheek. The pain was still there, still real. Her cheek was slightly swollen, and she could feel the pressure on it as she pushed the tears from her eyes.

"Foxes hate us, Judy. They always have, they always will. It's in their blood, their nature!"

"I just wanted to help…"

"You can help by dropping this cop thing and focusing on reality for a change."

"I don't want to be a stupid carrot farmer!"

"Judith, don't speak to your father that way!"

"Young doe you've got 275 siblings who know their place in this world. Hopps farm, that's what we do. It's what we were made for!"

"Well maybe I don't want to be a Hopps anymore!"

Judy knew she was different from her siblings. She was different from any other bunny she knew, and she knew lots of them. Bunnies didn't become cops...they weren't heroes. But she just...had to try. She thought if she could prove herself...maybe they would see what she did. Her mom seemed to at least somewhat believe in her, but her dad...he didn't understand. All he knew was fear.

Beside her was her little stuffed bunny. She held it up, eyeing it in the dim light coming from a lamp towards the end of the bedroom. The stuffed bunny's eyes were happy, a stitched smile on it's face. The big, shiny Junior ZPD Officer badge on it glowed in the light as her mother's words came back to her.

"Judy...sometimes the world isn't perfect. Sometimes mean mammals come around, and we just have to carry on trying to be the ones who make the differences we want to see."

Judy's tears began to dry up. Her dad was right about one thing: she did need a dose of reality. And she got three of them right across her cheek. She knew Gideon was in the wrong today, and she knew Gideon started the fire. She also knew that someone had to do something before Gideon's actions really did hurt someone.

"Us predators used to eat prey!"

How could he be so mean? So cruel to those around him?

"I want you to remember this the next time you think you will ever be anything more than a stupid carrot farming dumb bunny!"

"I'm not a dumb bunny." Judy whispered, holding her stuffed toy close. Gideon was wrong, and she would prove it. Her dad might not want to, but Judy knew she had to stand up for those who couldn't, for those who were taught not to.

"That's how you can create your own little paradise. You be the mammal you want to see in others."

"Remember the Zootopia motto: Anyone can be anything."

The rain got stronger. As she finally started closing her eyes, Judy let the sounds of the rain drown out her thoughts and pull her finally towards sleep.

Life goes on, it gets so heavy, the wheel breaks the butterfly, every tear a waterfall

In the night, the stormy night, she closed her eyes

In the night, the stormy night, away she flies

To dream of para, para, paradise...