Dear reader,
Duke here, and I wanted to welcome back all of the fans of my previous work. I would also like to welcome anyone who is new to my work, and I would like to take a moment to suggest reading The Fox In Bunny Burrows (Which can be found by going to my author's page). This story starts the day after the events of that story and makes heavy references to the aforementioned work later on. In any case, I hope you're all as excited for the new story as I am.
-Enjoy
Judy absentmindedly admired her silver engagement band from its home on her outstretched paw, all the while Nick struggled to squeeze through the civilian gate to the miniature city of Little Rodentia.
"Carrots, I'm glad you like the ring and all…" Nick struggled to catch his breath as he fought to squeeze through the rodent entrance to the mini city. "But I think I'm stuck. Can you please help me?" Nick's elbows gave way and his upper body splatted onto the pavement.
Judy giggled at Nick's plight. From her vantage point, Nick looked as though the wall that separated the miniature district from the rest of Zootopia had been built over top of him while he was sleeping. Judy blushed a little as she imagined what the view from the other side of the wall might be.
"I don't get how you made this look so easy," grumbled Nick as he lifted his head from the ground.
"Bunnies are made of rubber," Judy replied matter-of-factly. "It's why we bounce."
Nick exhaled deeply and shot Judy a half-lidded glare before making a last-ditch effort to squeeze through. "I swear… this radio's gonna be the death of me!" Admitting defeat, Nick squeeze himself backwards and disappeared back into the wall. Moments later he climbed the wrought-iron fence of the mini-district and landed on the other side, next to his partner.
Stopping to catch his breath after the embarrassing ordeal, Judy took the opportunity for some lighthearted teasing. "Look at you, Officer Wilde, we aren't even married yet and you're already domesticated." Judy giggled as she went to pinch Nick's belly.
Nick swatted her paw away defensively as his nose caught a sour-whiff of air. Following his nose; Nick lifted his arm to find that during his ordeal he had sweat through both layers of his uniform, and now sported dual pit-stains.
"Very sexy," cooed Judy patronizingly as she saw Nick's embarrassment. "I didn't even know foxes could sweat."
Nick's arms dropped to his sides in exasperation as he stared straight up into the sky. He cursed the powers that be for his equipment. "Foxes sweat from their noses and paw pads," Nick groaned. "And if we would have taken the construction access like I said, I'd still have my dignity."
"Come on, officer wet-and-Wilde," Judy laughed as she pulled out her note-book. "We got a case to crack."
Making their way through the mini-district, the duo were amazed at how truly little, Little Rodentia was. Even walking single file, they took up two lanes of traffic on any road they walked down. Finally making it to the latest crime scene, Nick and Judy cordoned off the area and prepared to investigate. However, there was a small problem.
"We're still too big!" groaned Judy as she knelt to look into a tiny window. The scene of last night's abductions was a narrow brownstone, from which all 15 residents had been abducted. "How are we supposed to find clues if we can't even fit into the crime scene?"
Judy turned around to look at Nick, whom was absentmindedly leaning against an apartment building that came up to chest height on the fox. "Nick!" Judy yelled at her offending partner, "Don't lean on that, there's animals living there!"
Nick's posture stiffened as he sprung off the side of the building. Looking down, Nick's ears pinned back in embarrassment as a tiny rodent opened a window on the side of the building to yell at the "giant" fox. "Carrots, I hate to be that guy…" Nick pleaded as he waved apologetically at the disgruntled mouse. "But this place makes me feel like I'm having a bad trip."
Judy rolled her eyes before returning her attention to the crime scene. Getting down on all fours, Judy brought her head to street level and looked in through the front door of the brown stone. Judy's face crumpled up in confusion as she noticed that the doors had been torn from their tiny hinges, and that the front-door jamb was smashed inward. "A forced entry…" Judy mumbled to herself. Looking further into the building, she saw that the dry wall inside the reception area was broken all the way down the hall. Turning her attention to the stairs, which lead to the upper floors, Judy noticed that all of the wooden railings that lined the staircase had been broken off their bases. "It looks like a cannon-ball rolled through…"
"Hay, carrots!" Judy sat up in shock as she was pulled from her thoughts by an excited Nick. "Look at this tiny fire-hydrant I found; It's freaking adorable!" Nick eagerly outstretched his paws to present an itty-bitty yellow fire hydrant to his still sitting partner. Judy's eyes briefly lit up with excitement at the fox's gift, before her ears pinned back in concern.
"Nick," Judy asked politely, peaking past her partner's hips. "Where did you find that?"
Nick's excited composer was entirely snuffed out as his ears flattened back in realization. Turning to look behind himself, both Nick and Judy caught view of a small spout of water that jetted out from a hydrant-sized hole in the side walk.
"Nick!" shouted Judy as she realized where her partner had found the tiny hydrant. Springing to her feet, she snatched the hydrant from Nick with a glare.
"I swear, it was like that when I found it," defended Nick as Judy angrily stormed past him in an attempt to replace the hydrant.
After jamming the miniature public-service back into the concrete, Judy turned around to scold the disaster-prone fox. "What are you doing?" demanded the angry rabbit. "We have forty-three missing mammals, and you're busy destroying public property! Can you not take anything seriously?"
"At this point in our relationship, you should expect that I am prone to not thinking," said Nick very matter-of-factly, as he crossed his arms at Judy.
Judy slapped a paw to her face in exasperation as she let out a frustrated groan. "Nick…"
"Okay…" Nick dropped his guard after seeing how truly on-edge his partner was. "Give me the run down, carrots. What'd you find?"
Instantly perking back up at the opportunity to return to the case, Judy enthusiastically recounted her findings. "There's signs of forced entry on the ground floor. However, I can't figure out what's going on with the walls..." The Duo knelt to look in through the destroyed front door of the mini-apartment building.
"It looks like someone was a little too big for the building…" mumbled Nick as he stroked his chin in thought.
Judy cocked her head to the side in confusion as Nick continued to explain. "See how all the railings on the stair case are broken off? A mammal who was too big for the building probably did that on their way up. And the smashed drywall probably happened as the perpetrator made their way through the building."
A smile lit up Judy's face as Nick finished his explanation. "Look at you!" Judy said, playfully punching Nick in the Shoulder. "Junior detective Nicholas Wilde hard at work!"
Nick shrugged as he explained; "Something similar happened when I crammed Finnick into a mouse-house when we were pups."
Judy opened her mouth to comment before being silenced by Nick's outstretched paw. "I'll tell you that story later," Nick assured as he got to his feet. "But first we should talk to an old buddy of mine. He hears everything in these part."
In a flurry of honking horns and angry mice, the titanic detective duo had made their way to the heart of little Rodentia. Nick knelt behind Chet's Cheese, a local staple of the mini-district, and the previous home of one of Nick's few legal jobs. Nick spoke with Chet, a rotund Deer-Mouse with abnormally large ears. Meanwhile, Judy attempted to clear the traffic jam that had formed behind them as they had walked through the tiny-city.
"Nicky!" Chet squeaked with open arms. "The prodigal-pup returns, How are you, son?"
Nick picked up the little mouse and brought him to his chest for a hug, all the while making sure that Judy wouldn't see his soft-spot for the tiny mammal. "It's good to see you pops," Replied Nick after setting the mouse back down behind the restaurant. "It's been ages, they don't exactly let foxes like me stomp about Little-Rodentia anymore."
The pair shared a laugh as they recalled their long-gone past together. "You're a cop now, aren't you, Nicky," said the mouse as he gestured excitedly at Nick's uniform.
"I sure am, pops," replied Nick, polishing his badge with the underside of his wrist. "I'm actually a detective as well."
The rotund mouse looked as though he might faint from joy at Nick's announcement. "Awe, Nicky, you were always such a good pup. It does my heart good to know you're doing okay now." The mouse shot a smile at Nick before sobering up for business. "So, I s'pose you're not here just to say 'hi'. What can ol' Chet do for you today?"
"Well pops," Nick whispered to Chet, prompting the little mouse's abnormally-large ears to perk up. "I wanted to know if you knew anything about the missing mammals."
The cheery mouse's composure became that of dead-seriousness and remorse. Shaking his head, Chet told Nick; "I ain't heard nothing, son. Whoever's doing this isn't leaving anyone behind." The mouse wrung his paws as he continued. "Last night; everyone in the building across from mine disappeared. Gone!" Chet snapped his tiny fingers for emphasis. "But I can tell you; I got woken up by laughter last night. Unfortunately when I finally got up to check, the laughter was gone. I'll bet my best cheese; whomever took those mice, was the same animal that was laughing."
The pair stood in sober silence, as Nick scrubbed his chin in thought. "Laughter, eh?"
"Yeah, but it wasn't happy laughter," assured Chet. "This was something else, borderline maniacal." The tiny mouse shook his head as he straightened out his chef's apron.
"Well thanks anyways, pops" Nick said as he continued to ponder the lead. "I'd better get off your tail before you send my partner and me out on a delivery."
The chubby rodent laughed as Nick picked him up for another hug. "Is that bunny your partner on the force?" asked Chet as Nick set him back on the ground.
"Not Just that," Nick said as he pointed to his own ring-finger, and then at Judy.
Chet's tiny face lit up with joy as he made the connection. "That's my boy!" the miniscule mouse all but jumped for joy. "Look at you, all grown up! I'd better be invited to the wedding; don't leave little-old me out to dry!"
"Wouldn't dream of it, pops," Nick told the mouse as he turned to leave. "If you're not careful, you might end up catering the whole event."
Chet laughed as he made to go back into his restaurant. "Say hi to Finnick, won't ya?" Chet turned to yelled as he closed the back door to Chet's Cheese. "Make sure he keeps his snout clean."
Nick nodded and waved at his old friend as he closed the back door to one of Nick's many homes. Turning away from the mini-restaurant, Nick made his way over to Judy whom had just finished clearing up traffic.
"Chet didn't give me much to go on," said Nick, prompting Judy's face to melt in disappointment. "However, he did say he heard someone laughing the night that building got cleaned out."
Judy wrung her paws as she tried to piece together a mental puzzle. Exhaling deeply, Judy decided to shake up the conversation; "How do you know Chet?"
Nick's eyes lit up as he reminisced about his child-hood. "When I was a little pup, I used to work for him. Finnick and I were delivery-boys, back when they were more 'laxed about larger mammals coming into the district. Come to think of it, we're probably the reason why they don't let larger mammals in." Nick laughed as he remembered his old job. "It was the first and one of the only legal jobs I've ever had. I had to help out after my dad left…" Nick's voice trailed off.
"I'm sorry, Nick…" said Judy, reaching out a paw to comfort the saddened fox. "I didn't mean to stir up bad memories."
"I'm fine, Carrots" replied Nick as he flattened the front of his uniform with his paws. "I just think it's stupid they don't let kids work in the district anymore."
Judy noticed that Nick had dodged around what had actually bothered him, but elected to let him continue.
"They still let larger mammal work construction and utility," Nick pointed to a sewer-cap that seemed uncharacteristically large for the mini-district. "I can't see why they don't let kids earn a few bucks like Finnick and I used to."
Judy's brain jolted into over-drive as she looked at the sewer-cap that seemed too big for the road it was stationed on. Grabbing at Nick's arm, she was at the edge of a revelation; "S-say that again…"
"Like Finnick an-"
"No!" Judy cut in. "The other part!"
"They still let larger mammal work construction and utility?" replied Nick, not sure of what Judy was hinting at.
"That's it!" Judy shouted, bouncing into the air in triumph. "The broken walls, the oversized sewer-grates; our kidnapper is a larger mammal that came out of the sewer! That's why there's no witnesses!"
"Because he's not getting in and out of the city by road" said Nick, putting together the pieces as well. "There was a sewer-grate right out front of the brownstone; He's using the sewers to hit and run!"
"But what about the laughter?" questioned Judy, slowing her excitement at the small hiccup in logic. "Are we looking for some sort of crazed lunatic?"
"That or someone who's high on…" Nick's eyes widened as he was struck by sudden realization. "Carrots, do you know what's built directly under Little Rodentia?"
"No, why?" Judy cocked her head to the side as she returned Nick's excited gaze.
"The gateway to drugs and nightlife, Carrots" Nick said as he began to wring his paws together in excitement. "Little Rodentia sits squarely on the biggest passage way to the Nocturnal district."
Oh hot-diggity!
Did you just read the whole chapter? Did you enjoy it? If you did, then read another! But before you go, please be sure to write a review, leave a favorite, or make a suggestion. I do this for me, but also for you guy. So please, give me your thought.
-Enjoy the next chapter!