Dear reader,
Big /big/ -Adjective- of considerable size, extent, or intensity
Trouble /ˈtrəb(ə)l/ -Noun- difficulty or problems
Big Trouble/big-ˈtrəb(ə)l/ -Compound Noun- a rampaging mecha-panther
-Enjoy
"Nick," Judy yelled as her gray ears flopped about in the wind "When's the last time you rode a motorcycle again?"
"I had a little bike about fifteen years ago, Carrots" Nick reassured the tandem bunny whom rode behind him. Weaving around bits of debris and dodging the tracks of the Mecha-predator, Nick sought to close the distance on the fleeing war machine. "This bike's just like my old one," Nick continued as he barely avoided an upturned car, prompting Judy to press tightly into his back "It's just a little bigger." Nick rolled the throttle on the disheveled blue bike, and jetted down a ruined strait-away.
"And you're sure you've never crashed" Judy asked, face still smushed into Nick's back.
"Have I ever crashed?" Nick looked at his partner over his silver aviators via the bike's single cracked side mirror. After repeating Judy's question back to her, Nick continued; "Not for fifteen years, Fluff." The predator's smile wrapped from ear to ear, as Judy's face crumpled up in dread. Rounding another corner, Nick finally made visual contact with the rampaging behemoth.
"Carrots, this is your captain speaking" Nick loosened his grip in the throttle as he matched the careening war-machine's pace from a safe distance. "We have found our Mecha-Panther…"
Judy leaned out sideways from behind Nick to get a better look of the carnage. A gasp caught in her throat as she watched the metal titan throw a full-sized vehicle from its path as though it were a matchbox car. "Sweet cheese and crackers…" mumbled Judy in shock, long gray ears still flopping about in the wind.
"I think now'd be a good time to make the call, Carrots" Nick lifted his right elbow to allow Judy to better retrieve the radio receiver from his uniform.
Bringing the receiver to her muzzle, Judy thumbed the button and initiated her call; "Dispatch, This is Detective Hopps; over"
However, Clawhauser did not reply. In his place came the steely voice of Police Chief Bogo; "Detective Hopps, this is Big-Trouble; what the HELL is going on out there! Over"
Nick looked over his shoulder as he drove, catching Judy's concerned expression. Big-Trouble was the call sign for the Z.P.D armored transport helicopter. On its own; the helicopter's deployment was bad-news. The fact that Chief Bogo was on board made the situation ten times more dire.
"Chief Bogo…" Judy trailed off as she tried to form a report.
"Call it a 'Mecha-Panther'" antagonized Nick, reaching back to slap Judy's leg for emphasis. Judy swatted at Nick's paw before hurriedly reaffirming her grip on the back of his uniform, as the bike banked sharply around a mangled vehicle.
"I am not calling it that…" hissed Judy, prompting Nick to smile even wider.
"HOPPS!" the intimidating Police Chief's voice threatened to blow out the radio's speaker, and Judy inadvertently juggled the radio in shock before replying.
"Chief Bogo, Detective Wilde and I are currently in pursuit of a l-large…" Judy's shoulders dropped in defeat as she caught Nick peaking over his shades at her in the motorcycle's cracked mirror "Mecha-Panther."
The radio was painfully silent as Nick pumped the air with his fist, swerving the bike in the process. Judy shot the valiant fox a reflected glare as his tale began to wag in her lap.
"A what?" came the Chief's voice over the radio.
Nick's tale began to wag even more at Judy's plight as he wove his way through the carnage.
"A… M-Mecha-Panther" Judy repeated herself, before crushing her embarrassed face into Nick's back. Nick's tail now beat excitedly against Judy's inner thighs, prompting the rabbit's ears to blush at the stimulation. Seizing the moment of confused radio silence, Judy scolded Nick; "Nick, your tail is all up in 'my business'… stop it!"
"Sorry Carrots, it's got a mind all its –YIP!" Nick let out a pained yelp and swerved the procured motorcycle as Judy hopped up and sat-back-down forcefully on top of the fox's tail. Catching Judy's smug expression in his mirror, Nick's ears pinned back in a pained expression.
"We're coming up on your position," Bogo's voice crackled on the radio as the sound of a helicopter filled the air. "And we have visual o-" The Chief had stopped mid-sentence as the massive transport helicopter passed over head. Static still prickled the radio way, indicating that the police mammal had not released the talk button on his hand-set, but rather was reduced to complete silence by what he was seeing. "Did detective Wilde come up with that name?"
Judy shot Nick a death-glare as his ears perked up in excitement. Turning his attention to the sky; Nick threw the now circling helicopter a thumbs-up.
"Of course he did…" Bogo grumbled over the radio. "We've already deployed all of Sahara Square's cruisers for your extraction, but they're all tied up in this… thing's war path."
"Mecha-Panther" corrected Nick, earning the fox a wrap on the back from Judy.
Bogo continued; "We currently have two units of localized SWAT, which are mobilizing as we speak."
Judy shot Nick a look of hope, as her pilot continued to chase down the metal war-cat.
"However," The Police Chief added crushing emphasis as he spoke; "We only have one shot at stopping this thing. We need to know where it's going so we can head it off with the SWAT units. We tie up those last two units… and we're dead in the water until we can mobilize the other districts…"
Judy shifted her attention to the bulldozer as it effortlessly smashed a fire hydrant open, leaving a water-spout in its place.
"So tell me detectives…" Bogo paused, prompting one of Nick's ears to pin back for better reception. "Could either of you venture a guess as to where it is headed?"
Judy took a deep breath before keying the receiver. Judy's mouth opened to speak, but no words came out. The rabbit detective's mind went completely blank, as she grasped at proverbial straws in a desperate bid for a clue. However, Judy had nothing.
"The wall…" it was Nick who broke the silence. "It's headed for the wall… Mistress-Mecha seemed awfully upset with the walls before she went all Lawnmower Mammal."
Judy's mouth snapped shut in surprise as she let go of the talk-button. Shooting Nick an impressed expression via the cracked mirror, Judy brought the radio back on-line. "You catch that chief…"
The line stayed dead for an impassable moment. The sterling roar of the motorcycle's engine fought with the thumping of the helicopter's blades before clashing with the orchestra of destruction ahead of them. Finally Bogo spoke; "If Detective Wilde is correct; then we may be on the precipice of disaster… If those walls fail; it could set off a chain reaction which would Boil half the city to death and freeze the other…"
Nick and Judy exchanged worried glances as Nick extended his leash on the rampaging disaster.
"We have to initiate the emergency protocol… Stay on the Panther detectives; I'll fetch the Climate-Crisis advisor… Big-Trouble; out." The line went dead for an immutable second, before chiming the Z.P.D. emergency alert tone. The Chief of Police began feeding instructions for a city-wide evacuation as the armored helicopter broke away from the chase.
Judy fed Nick a reflected look of desperation and worry as she turned down the radio's volume.
Returning his attention to the road, Nick's eyes bulged in shock as he slammed on the brakes. The motorcycles' rear tire locked, and the duo fishtailed to a stop in front of the climate control wall. Putting his feet down to stabilize the bike, Nick bit the inside of his cheek in dread as he watched the Mecha-Panther claw at and attempt to burrow into the impenetrable wall.
Judy hopped off the back seat of the bike and walked around for a better view. From their station, about 50 meters away from the carnage, Nick and Judy felt helpless. Looking about, upturned and trampled cars choked all roads into the arena in front of them. Snapping her head to the side, Judy caught the sound of the Zootopia emergency broadcast system; feeding from the radio of a crumpled sedan. Mammals fled the scene in panic, creating an isolated ghost town.
"So…" Nick drug out the words as he grimaced at the scene in front of them. "You s'pose we should try and stop it or pick up cheer-leading, Carrots?"
Judy let a nervous chuckle escape herself. Turning around, Judy's face dropped in horror as Nick, and his bike, we bulldozed sideways by a mountain of striped fur.
"NICK!" Judy screamed as the third and final Storm launched Nick into the side of an upturned mini-van. Judy's heart shattered as her mind's-eye replayed images of Nick, tied to a spine-board, being loaded into an ambulance.
Nick drifted through the air in slow motion as his attention shifted from the monstrous female hyena's contorted smile, to the crippled and mangled bike he was being thrown from. Nick couldn't help but think about what a shame it was to trample such a beautiful machine. Nick really liked that bike…
Flat-backing into the side of the van, Nick limply slid down into the ring of debris which surrounded the derelict vehicle. Landing broken-side first, Nick felt lightning strike as one of his shattered ribs gave way and folded into the soft tissue of his lung. Nick would have howled in pain, but his faculties would not come to him. Having wracked his skull in the impact, Nick was now trapped in his own head as a knotted string of barely conscious thoughts. For Nick, the world played out as an indescript spin-cycle of color which turned in slow motion.
Judy charged the massive hyena's blind side. Lunging into the air, Judy landed a powerful double kick in the square of the female's broad shoulders. Rebounding off her target, Judy landed and realized her full boar assault hadn't even staggered the immovable object.
The hyena turned about, laughing at Judy's "Kick". The iron female charged the rabbit officer full speed, affording Judy only a moment to roll off of the train tracks. Spinning around, Judy recoiled as the hyena collided with the side of a car, knocking it onto its side.
"Lighting, Rain and Thunder" laughed the lumbering female as she turned about to face Judy. "Lightning strikes, and the rain is all consuming…"
Judy shuffled back away from the approaching Storm in a bid to maintain her distance.
"But truly it is the Thunder which strikes terror in the hearts of mammals…" the hyena now loomed over Judy. Opening her mouth to laugh, the hyena was interrupted as a piece of rebar collided with the side of her head, bending around the contour of her skull.
Snatching up the bunny (whom hung from the end of her impromptu weapon) by the wrist, the hyena pulled Judy up to eye level, and shook a single digit in the universal signal for "NO". Throwing Judy heavily into the middle of the street, the hyena peeled the rebar away from her skull before tossing it to the side.
Nick turned around, slowly recovering from Judy's death-march to the top. Catching his breath, Nick staggered over to edge of the mountain where Judy was standing as though she were a statue. Nick's eyes bulged and his breath caught at the landscape that unfolded before him.
A patchwork quilt of frozen city-blocks stretched out for miles and miles, only punctuated by dozens of little frozen bunny-hills that perforated the rolling earth's surface. Each hill was adorned by a few lit windows, which shone out like stars that had been captured by the icy expanses. Above him, Nick could see all of swirling creation dance about the heavens, billions of stars shone out as pin-pricks of light against the inky void.
Nick's mind swirled and went blank again as it attempted to piece together its contents and inputs. Lightening rolled behind the fox's eyes as music began to play for him alone.
Judy began to tire as she slid under the massive hyena, delivering a normally-devastating elbow to the inside of the cast-iron mammal's knee as she passed. Judy's blow ricocheted harmlessly off the impervious predator's "weak-point". Judy had been at odds with Thunder for what felt like hours, evading obliteration and delivering harmless blows. In a distracted moment, Judy's attention landed on Nick instead of the task at paw. In-between her own pants, Judy thought she saw Nick blink and start to move.
A scream of pain tor through Judy as an iron heel cut through the rabbit's distraction, and into the top of her foot. Pain rocked Judy's body as the bones in her right foot gave way under the hyena's blow, which pinned her to the spot. Pulling her arms up in a feeble attempt to guard herself from the incoming back-paw, Judy's whole body was rocked as she pivoted sideways about her trapped foot. Catching on a piece of rubble, Judy's body levered about the fulcrum, and her knee broke inwards. Bile rose in the rabbit's throat as her vision threatened to gray out from the pain.
Releasing the rabbit's trapped and mangled foot; the hyena grabbed a fist-full of Judy's ears and yanked her up to eye level. The crippled rabbit trashed weakly at her captors grasp, prompting a nasally giggle to escape the smiling predator.
Nick's vision flashed white hot as his brain was snapped back online by Judy's scream. Focusing in on his partner, Nick's system was flooded with adrenaline as he watched the scene unfold in front of him.
"Hay!" Nick yelled as he clambered back to his feet. Nick's shout was cut to a gurgle as his battered lung spilt its contents into his airway. Fetching a piece of concrete from about his feet, Nick spat blood to the side before hurling the stone into the back of the striped hyena's head.
Freezing solid, the impervious hyena's attention shifted from her rabbit, to the assailing fox.
"Hay, Daddy-Issues…" Nick yelled, garnering the hyena's full attention "I'm talking to you!"
The hyena dropped Judy, whom landed painfully on her mangled limb and let out another howl of pain. Turning around to face Nick, the hyena carved a slow menacing swath towards the fox.
"Yeah that's right!" Nick barked, a growl forming in his chest. "Come and get me!"
A thunder of hoof steps caused the hyena's attention to snap sideways; just in time to catch the full fury of a charging Cape Buffalo. All 1,300 pounds of Police Chief Bogo collided with the immovable hyena, and carried her off her feet and into the side of a dumpster. Impacting with righteous fury, the green-steel container folded around the careening mega-mammal. Absorbing a volley of blunt rending-claws with his thick hide, the Chief of Police reared back before delivering his good-night-kiss with a thunderous head-but. The hyena's maniacal laughter was cut short as the final storm was quelled.
Returning his attention to the crumpled pile of Judy Hopps, Nick bolted to her side. Without saying a word, Nick scooped up the sobbing rabbit and made his way to the grounded helicopter which had been his saving grace.
A disheveled Billy goat ran towards the mangled duo, gesturing madly at the mecha-panther which had all but broken into the wall, and yelling about the impending disaster.
Nick's attention made no detour as he plodded his way towards the armored transport. Elbowing past the ranting mad-mammal Nick set Judy down inside the aircraft's passenger bay.
"Detective!" the goat pulled at Nick's sleeve.
"Not now," growled Nick, as he attempted to console his mangled girlfriend.
"Detective!" continued the goat "we need to stop tha-"
"Not! Now!" yelled Nick, knocking the goat backwards with the sheer force of his words alone. Spitting blood off to the side, Nick returned his attention to Judy, whom still sobbed over her mangled limb.
"Hay, Carrots…" Nick's voice shook more than his paws as he tended to his battered love. "Hay, look at me…" Judy was near inconsolable and it broke Nick's heart. "Judy!" Nick patted her cheek in a desperate bid to regain her attention.
Judy bit down hard on her lip and forced her sobs down to a dull whimper.
"Hay, there we go…" Nick scrubbed away a trail of tears from Judy's cheek with a shaky padded thumb. "You're ok, Fluff… You're gonna make it…" Nick's expression was in unreadable mask as he shifted his attention to Judy's leg which lay at an odd angle.
"How's your head?" Judy asked in between sniffles.
Nick let a chuckle escape him as he pulled Judy into a hug. How Judy managed to be concerned about him in her current state was a mystery, but Nick loved her that much more for it. "I'm fine…" Nick's reply was cut short by a painful bout of coughing, which culminated in the fox spitting a mouthful of blood off to the side. Pulling in a wheezing breath, Nick could feel the adrenaline wearing off.
"Oh my god, Nick…" Judy brought her paws to her mouth in horror as she watched Nick wipe the bright red froth from his lips. "Your ribs… are you okay?"
Nick couldn't help but start to laugh as Judy placed a worried paw on his battered side.
"Nick, this is serious!" Judy made to lean forward, but recoiled as lightning struck her leg. With a pained gasp, Judy slammed herself back against the wall of the helicopter's cabin.
"Whoa there, Carrots" Nick choked as me knelt beside his mangled lover. "Just breath…"
Judy blew a shaking breath through her nose as she regained her composure. "What's so funny, Detective?"
Nick let a shaky chuckle escape him as he kissed Judy's head. "I love you, Carrots" Whispered Nick, taking one of Judy's paws in his own. "Don't you ever forget that."
Lightning flashed in Nick's brain as the song came to a close. Stepping back from his partner, Nick made a deep bow at the ocean of giggling bunnies. Turning around, Nick gestured to the live band eliciting cheers from the sea which encircled the dancefloor. Returning his attention to his fiancé, Nick opened his mouth to speak.
"Detectives…"
Nick snapped back out of his own head, and turned a fiery glare at the offending goat.
"We are about to have a very big problem…" the Billy-goat scientist pointed to where the predatory machine had breached the wall.
Shifting their attention to the wall, Nick and Judy watched in vile amazement as the mecha-panther unearthed a massive electrical cable from the bottom of the breached wall. Rearing back, the war machine lunged forward and snapped its jaws shut on the monstrous cable. Static filled the air as the monstrous machine seized up and finally collapsed with the cable still in its jaws.
The trio's ears flicked about as something curios happened. Like a sound that you don't recognize until it's gone; the wall went completely silent creating a deafening audio vacuum. However, as quickly as it had left, the noise returned with a vengeance, whirling and whining its way to a fever pitch.
Nick and Judy's hair prickled and began to stand on end as a wall of cold engulfed them. Nick's ears folded back has he realized he could see his breath… in Sahara Square.
Oh hot-diggity!
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-Enjoy the next chapter!