Hello guys. Once again, I'm late (less than before, but still late). It's becoming really hard for me to find the time to write, but I will finish this story no matter what and no matter how much time I spend before updating.

BUT ! I have something else to say, I've found an editor. Thanks to him, the first chapter "Trouble in Tundra Town" has received many improvements. It is much more detailed, the scenes have much more credibility and it has no more grammar mistakes (and the WildHopps moments are better too). So I highly recommend the most curious of you to read this new version.

Otherwise, here is the new chapter. Enjoy your reading !

Chapter 07 : Just for 80 000$

About three-hour drive in the north of Zootopia, the mountainous region was very spatious and diverse. The climate varied from one place to another. From the southern hill where the sun was always shining to the high snowy peaks where the cold was freezing, also passing through the more humid wooded cliffs.

Moreover, all these areas spanned hundreds of square kilometers. The area was not named the Great Massif for nothing, and although it was known for its spaciousness, there were relatively few inhabitants. The slopes were too steep to build genuine modern cities. Moreover, Zootopia was a city so important and developed that it attracted almost all the animals from the surroundings areas, preventing other potential cities to emerge. It required courage to live in the heart of the Great Massif. There were no grocery stores, no hospitals, no schools and no offices. Anybody needed to be a hermit to live in such a remote place, but it was worth it! The landscapes were beautiful in every season! It echoed the calm and serenity which were mostly guaranteed.

But that day, there was one person who was feeling worried.

Somewhere in the medium-altitude mountains, there was a charming wooden house. It was well established, near a river and with the start of the forest in the background. This solitary house was a little above a small village in a valley. The scenery was beautiful. It was spring, the snow began to melt in the valley and left room for budding flowers, but the high mountains were still covered with a thick white coat. A loving place.

But inside that house which looked so peaceful, so perfect, there was a secret. Deep inside, in a dark cellar, there was an unconscious fox. He had his paws tied against a large wooden pillar. Nick was sequestered.

He wasn't alone. A big bear was pacing around the room, visibly upset. There was also a third person in this moment, "the other fox."

He was sitting on a barrel, playing with a yo-yo, while the largest mammal was going around and around in circles.

"It's impossible!"shouted the bear. "Since when is he unconscious?"

"Easily more than thirty hours. Maybe thirty-five now. "

The bear quickly glanced at Nick.

"Damn it ! It was not supposed to happen." He turned his head again toward his partner. "It was not supposed to happen!" He repeated with accusation in his voice.

The fox laughed, which made the bear even more upset.

"What are you laughing at ?"

"Nothing. I think it's just funny that, of all the police officers who could have pursued us, it had to be our scapegoat." He said playfully, still playing with his toy.

"We should not have been followed! Especially by him! "

"Hey, hey, you shouldn't have driven at full speed in front of his house. "

"Are you implying it's all my fault? How could I know that he lived in this neighborhood? What about you? You hit him in a public place. "

"Nobody saw me doing it."

The bear growled and looked at Nick again.

"What we gonna do with him? If the cops ever find him... "He didn't finish his sentence, instead, he gave a powerful punch on the wall. "I will not go back to jail! Not again!"

"Relax Teddy, I read the newspapers. Although the plan was a bit… improvised half-way, people still believe Nick is responsible for the theft, while we have the booty."

"Do not call me Teddy!" He yelled again while shattering to pieces a barrel with his powerful paw. "Do you want to suffer the same fate as this fox next to us?"

The fox gave him a sly smile. "I just try to calm you. No one saw us. The ZPD will not discover us that soon. "

The bear started again to pace around the room, while his partner remained silent for a moment.

"Maybe, but one day or another, the ZPD will find suspicious the loss of their colleague."

"For the moment everybody think he fled because of his crime. Things go well for us. "

"We can't deny this risk. Moreover, he'll eventually wake up. We can't leave him here forever, it would be too dangerous."

The fox smiled again.

"True thing. What do you suggest ? "

"We must get rid of him."

The fox continued the back and forth movement of the yo-yo, rhythmically swinging his wrist up and down. He never met his partner eyes.

"Oh ? You'd be willing to go so far to protect 80,000 dollars? "

"Don't tell me that, you know we have no choice."

The fox finally raised his head and looked at his partner with a dark gaze.

"You'd be willing to go back to prison?"

"No, I will not kill him. You, you will. "He said quietly.

The now surprised fox became motionless for a moment, then he smiled again.

"You want me to dirty my hands instead of you so you can use me as a bait if the cops happen to come here? That's so meeean from you, Teddy !"

"My name is NOT Teddy!" He shouted again, leaning toward his partner. "Give me a reason to not tear this damn tongue of yours. You don't even need it to communicate."

The smile of the fox became even more sly.

"Hm... 'Cause you need me?"

"… That's right." The bear sat up. "And I'm counting on you to carry out my orders. You have no choice, Dan." He said with an authoritative tone.

The fox chuckled silently. "I love you too, big boy."

The bear growled. "Enough joking. I want him dead, now! Proceed as you please." He was about to leave but his partner called him out.

"Wait! Can I ask you a request?"

"How dare you ask me a request? What is it?"

The large mammal turned back to him, and he was surprised to see all the seriousness in the eyes of his partner.

"Let me have a conversation with him, at least once."

The bear hesitated a moment. He gave a quick glance towards Nick, then looked again at his teammate.

"Fine, I will wait until he wakes up, if it doesn't take too long. But once your chit-chat is over, promise me to kill him without waiting any longer." He turned around and walked to the stairs, leading the ground floor. "You stay here to keep an eye on him. And please, never call me by ridiculous nicknames again."

The fox stood straight and did a military hand salute that he intentionally exaggerated.

"Yes, Boss! As you wish, Boss!"

The bear sighed and left the cellar.

Far away, Judy was still driving, accompanied by a small fennec.

"Ouch !"

"What's wrong bunny cop ?"

In the car, Judy had her teeth clenched and a paw was pressing her stomach.

"Nothing. It's just that my fever hasn't passed yet, and I feel I have aches all over my body." She coughed.

"Do you want me to drive?"

"No, I'm fine."

It's been a long time since the two little animals had started their journey. They had just crossed the border of the Great Massif. It was still night, and only the bends in the road indicated them they were truly in a mountainous areas.

Judy and Finnick remain silent for most of the journey and there weren't many people on the road. The silence was occasionally interrupted by a coughing Judy. Somehow, Judy enjoyed the silence. It wasn't distressing, but quite refreshing. It helped her to forget her fears, at least for a moment and for a moment only, because now, Nick was back in her mind.

"I hope he's fine."

Finnick didn't say anything until they approached the entrance of the first village they encountered.

"We should stop here." He said.

They parked near the town hall and went there to ask the list of the villagers. Overnight, most city halls remained open, occupied by nocturnal animals. Unfortunately, they learned that there were no bears nor any fox that lived here. They get back into the car, and Judy let out a long yawn.

"Let's go to the next village." She said.

"No, we should sleep. You're too tired to drive. I don't want to die now."

Judy sighed. "And what about Nick ?"

"He will wait. How could you rescue him if you barely stand up? We will be much more effective tomorrow morning."

Deep down, she knew he was right, but she was too worried to sleep. Finnick comfortably lay down on the passenger seat. He then closed his eyes, ready to sleep.

Judy instead pulled the radio of her patrol car and contacted the ZPD for the second time of the night.

"Judy Hopps to base, I am now in the village of Samoens in the south of the Great Massif, please, transmit the following message to the chief : I'm currently looking for the missing officer Nicholas Wilde and the two main suspects of the robbery that occured in the boulevard Haussmann. I'd need some backup."

She waited a few seconds before finally getting a response.

"I copy that officer Hopps. But Bogo he's probably sleeping now, and it will take some time before the backup reach your position."

"I know, but I stay in the village for the rest of the night and there are enough nearby villages here to allow me to remain close by while continuing my investigation."

"Fine. We will keep you informed tomorrow." The radio emitted.

She put down her radio in its holster. She leaned her head back against her seat and let out another sigh. Then nothing, silence returned. She looked at the stars through her window. It was the same stars as the ones she had seen on the beach. The lack of pollution and the altitude made them seem brighter. While she was staring at the stars, she reached as high as she could her arm. She could barely touch the top of the glass. The stars were so... elusive. She smiled stupidly. "It's not about how badly you want something, it's about what you are capable of!" Bogo's words came back in her mind. She remained pensive for several minutes. She never closed her eyes meanwhile, she just couldn't sleep. She doubted, and she was afraid, as if her fever alone wasn't enough! She laid her head against the glass, her eyes still staring the sky. Occasionally, she coughed… again.

"Are you thinking about Nick?" Finnick's deep voice startled Judy and she quickly turned her head. He was still lying on the seat. His eyes were closed but he wasn't sleeping yet.

"Yes." She felt a little embarrassed. "Is it so obvious?"

"Well... yes, it seems obvious." He continued with a mocking tone: "Since a while ago all I can hear from your whispers are Nick, Nick, Nick, Nick, Nick, Nick. Where are you ? And Nick, Nick, Nick, Nick."

She blushed a little and turned her face to the glass.

"I just hope he's okay."

"Oh, and that too."

Judy was almost pouting before the window, and Finnick could feel her annoyance.

"I'm sure he's fine. I mean... he knows how to defend himself, isn't it? You learnt how to fight in the police academy, right? "

She looked at him again. "That's true. We still do some trainings at least once a week in the precint."

"Is Nick doing well in self-defense?"

"Mh... Yes, he's quite good. Even if he doesn't always take the training seriously at times. "

"This is the dumb fox I know."

Speaking about Nick reassured her a little. She even smiled as the memories of her friend in the exercise room came back to her.

This exercise room, it was located in the basement of the precint. Nick and Judy were practicing shooting. At fifteen meters of the target, Judy pulled the trigger of her dart gun and the projectile went straight toward the target before piercing it on its center.

"Yes!" She exclaimed. "I'm the best shooter of all the ZPD! Wu Hou! "She jumped up.

"Don't get carried away, Carrots. My turn now." He went beside Judy and pointed his gun toward the second target. He had his casual sly smile on his face. "Let me show you who's the boss here. Learn from me, sweetheart." He pressed the trigger. The dart went right ahead and reached the target! But not in its center. Nick's smile turned into a grimace and Judy had to make an effort not to burst out laughing.

"Nice try Nick, but I'm still the real boss here."

Nick sighed but then gave a smile to Judy.

"Okay, okay. I admit, you're strong Carrots, definitely worthy to be my partner."

Judy smiled playfully in response.

"I always hit the exact spot I want to target, sometimes without even looking."

Nick' eyes widened. "Does that mean you targeted my butt on purpose that day?"

"Hm... No. It was funny, though. "

"Funny? It hurts! And I slept for hours! You can't even realize."

Behind the two partners, Clawhauser appeared and caught them both in his arms.

"Heeeeey guys! How are you two doing? "

Judy smiled. "Fine, thank you. Seems like you're doing well too."

Nick couldn't speak, as his muzzle was pressed against the cheetah's waist. He gesticulated a little and the largest mammal quicky loosened his grip.

"So..." She continued. "Are you practicing on your shooting too?"

He looked away and rubbed his neck. "Hm, no. I've already trained this morning before my service and I must say I'm really too bad at this."

"Come on Benjamin." Judy said. "You're not as bad as you think."

The cheetah smiled shyly. "Thank you, but it's not a coincidence that I am assigned to the receipt, after all."

"Oh, come on Sweetie." Nick called him by the new nickname he recently found for his colleague a few days ago. "Don't sell yourself short. Do you want to work your muscles with us ?"

Judy approved Nick's proposal. She liked it when he let out his sneaky attitude aside to support his friends. It was one of the points that she loved about him : his generosity.

Clawhauser smiled again, more cheerfully this time.

"Yes, I will. I need to burn some calories." He tapped his belly.

The three officers walked a few steps to reach the weight machines.

There were enough machines to exercise each muscle, and for a whole regiment. Some devices were recently ordered for recent recruits with smaller size, especially for Judy, who was delighted that finally the precint took her size into consideration.

She, Nick and Clawhauser did some warm-up. Then they all got on a treadmill. They weren't alone in the room, in fact, there were almost all the officers. It was early evening and all the animals who were working daytime ended their service with one full hour of exercise.

Everyone was occupying a different exercise device. In their corner, the three mammals chosed their own settings, all opting for different speed. In ascending order, Clawhauser was running at low speed, Nick at reasonable speed, and then of course, Judy chose the fastest speed.

Thus, they were running for a moment and at the end of the tenth minute, Clawhauser was starting to show signs of strain. He gasped increasingly stronger while Nick and Judy kept a stable breathing. His race was becoming softer and after a few extra seconds he became almost breathless.

"I-I can't... keep running ... I want to ... stop."

"Hey, Sweetie, don't give up yet. I'm sure you can still run a bit longer." Nick said to him, and just after, it was his turn to start gasping a bit.

"I-I... I will try." The cheetah forced himself to continue his race after having decreased the speed of his treadmill.

Judy happily smiled at Clawhauser who was trying his maximum, and it made her even more spirited.

"Come on guys ! One leg after the other, keep the pace! One ! Two! One ! Two! "

It had been twenty minutes, and surprisingly, Clawhauser was still running. Nick looked stupefied at his bunny friend who was still maintaining her speed, without even changing the pace of her breath. He said nothing and continued his race, he was panting louder and hesitated to slow down, but his ego prevented him to stop! Not before Judy, and above all not before Clawhauser.

A few minutes later, both the fox and the cheetah had their eyes closed and protested while forcing their legs to run. And because Nick didn't see anyone give up before him, he decided to complain instead.

"W-W... Why ? Why are we doing this ?"

"Well, one hour of full training, Bogo's instruction!"

"D-Damn… Th… The Chief… will cause our death."

Judy was the first to stop, after thirty minutes of running. She had kept throughout the race her good mood and her energy didn't seem to decrease. No, actually, she seemed even more energetic than before as she made some jumps on the ground.

She was quickly followed by Clawhauser.

"Ah! I… can't take it… anymore! "

He stopped and painfully laid his body down on the floor, panting loudly.

Nick stopped too but he was still standing, or rather he was trying to keep standing. His head tilted down toward the ground and he was gasping as loudly as his predator friend, leaving his long canine tongue fall down. Judy looked silently at her two colleagues who were trying to catch their breath, but then she saw Nick raising his head to meet her eyes.

"So... Carrots? What was that ? You stopped after thirty minutes... while I ... I held longer !" He was clearly barely standing and was gasping in a very ridiculous way. "At least twenty more seconds !" Judy said nothing and just wondered what was going on inside his brain. Nick then sat and took another deep breath, leaning his head backward.

"Well, thirty minutes is a normal time, Nick." She finally said. "You should have lowered the speed though." She then turned to Clawhauser. "But I am very glad you have finished your session Benjamin, you were great!"

"Th-Thank you." He lifted his upper body to sit. Meanwhile, Judy walked beneath a traction bar.

"Time to train the upper body now." She jumped to reach it, then began a series of sit-ups with her leg suspended at the bar.

"How can she find the strength to continue?" Clawhauser said almost shocked.

"Don't pay attention to her, she's not like us, she's not normal."

The two grinned at each other and Clawhauser then began to do some stretching, all alone though, because Nick prefered to rest on the ground.

"Seriously, I'm all torn up." He rested for a while, and finally Judy joined them after having finished her extra exercises.

"Hey, Nick, you should do your stretching too."

The fox grumbled a bit and finally sat. He imitated Clawhauser as he spread his legs and stretched his arm to reach his foot, first the left one, then the right one.

"By the way, where is Bogo?" Asked Judy. "Usually he also joins us with the rest of the officers."

"Listening to music Gazelle?" Nick said sarcastically.

"I think he's doing some cleaning upstairs." The cheetah answered, between two deep breaths.

"He's doing cleaning? You mean it seriously? " Nick replied.

"Yea, he's very concerned about the image of the precint. For him "cleanliness is as much important than order and discipline."

"I didn't expect that."

"Nick?" The fox turned his head toward Judy who had just called him.

"Yes Carrots?"

"I need your help again."

"No problem sweetheart."

Nick sat in front of her. Judy spread her legs and Nick pressed his feet against her knees and grabbed her paws. Nick leaned backward by putting pressure on Judy to make her bend forward, forcing the stretching in her legs. He drew back until Judy sent the signal.

"Stop."

He then held the position for several seconds.

"Oh ! You two do your stretching together now? "The cheetah had a huge smile on his face.

"I heard a rabbit once who told me she had troubles limiting herself to solo stretching because of her being too much flexible."

"Shush!"

"But it's the truth." He said amused. He slowly took back his original position for relaxing Judy's muscles.

"Aw my goodness! You look so cute together, I totally support this."

Judy was a bit embarrassed by the comment but Nick seemed rather amused.

Then a polar bear passed right beside them.

"And you didn't even see all the stretches they've been accustomed to, Clawhauser." He went on his way without stopping by and Judy started to blush.

"Oh really? So I should come more often to see that."

Nick's smile faded and he let himself fall back again.

"I'm really exhausted." He growled.

Clawhauser looked a little worried about his fox friend. "What mission have you been assigned to today?"

"We chased a koala for almost an hour for violating speed limits." Judy replied.

"Yes, and Carrots's driving was even more dangerous."

Judy punched his waist and caused him to yelp.

"One full hour of car chasing? It must have been dangerous."

"Indeed. I was afraid for my life." Nick said with an exhausted tone. He sighed and began to complain again. "I still wonder why Bogo takes so seriously our training sessions, as if we haven't enough problems during work."

"Don't say nonsense, Nick." Judy replied calmly. "He just wants we keep ourself healthy, that's all."

"I don't call that... keeping ourself healthy. The chief is giving us more and more tough missions since the Nighthowler case. It's raining missions, over and over."

"This is the proof that he now trust us." She said, resuming her stretching... her solo stretching this time. "And I think this is his way of thanking us."

Nick frowned. "Thanking us ? By yelling at us constantly? "

In the room, some animals turned their face toward them to listen more carefully the conversation about their superior.

"It's true he's sometimes harsh. But I think he actually cares a lot for all of us... a bit like a father."

Nick couldn't help but laugh at the end of her last sentence.

"A father ? Bogo? Carrot juice must have damaged your head Cottontail. It's like imagining wearing a tutu."

"I'm not kidding Nick. I sincerely think he cares for us much more than you think."

Nick seemed doubtfull and winced at her.

"He maybe care about us but, to think of him as a father… there are limits. I mean, there are tons of things to say about his leadership."

Meanwhile, Bogo appeared in the training room as he was walking down the stairs. Everyone became silent in the room except Nick, who had his back turned to the stairs and haven't noticed his presence yet.

"First, he keeps yelling at us while assigning us a lot of work. But on his side, he doesn't do anything! He merely sit before his desk, reading the paperwork time to time or listen to Gazelle's music in secret."

Clawhauser and Judy's eyes widened, Bogo was now right behind Nick. No one dared to tell him though.

"You think he like cleaning? No, actually he's so bored that he doesn't know what else to do. And besides, I find it funny for a buffalo whose mouth smells so bad to be actually concerned about cleaning."

The buffalo loudly cleared his throat, and Nick immediately turned tense as he recognized the familiar sound.

"Officer Wilde?" Nick turned around very slowly to make eye contact with Bogo. The police chief had a smile on his face, and it signaled nothing good. Everyone knew this smile was the kind of smile that presaged the calm before the storm and everyone felt uncomfortable.

"Looks like I found a volunteer to do the cleaning." He said very quietly while keeping the same smile. "Just when I was thinking I didn't want to clean the public toilets. You wouldn't mind scrubbing the toilets, Officer Wilde, would you? "

Nick swallowed his own saliva and tried to find his words to soften the situation.

"Hm... Chief... You know... You know I don't really mean what I said, right? It was a joke."

"Cleaning chores for three months! In the whole precint!" He yelled. His eyes became threatening and his tone startled everyone in the room.

"Follow me, you start with my office."

Bogo turned around walking toward the stairs and Nick followed him, hesitantly.

In the room, McHorn smiled when the two were leaving. "Enjoy your alone time with daddy." And then everybody started to laugh in the room, except for Judy and Clawhauser.

In the car, Judy's smile turned into a sneer. Yes, Nick could be really dumb sometimes.

She remained still lost in thought. The memories of the time spent in the precint brought her solace.

"Hey!"

Once again a deep voice brought her back into reality. She turned her head to look at the smaller animal.

"Do you have feelings for Nick?"

She instantly blushed.

"Why this question?" She looked away. She wasn't expecting that. Although she knew that several people around her saw their relationship ambiguously (especially Clawhauser), she didn't expect the question to be so direct! And she didn't expect Finnick to be the one to ask.

"Nick is... my most precious friend, but that's all."

Finnick didn't answer right away. He was still lying on the seat, and didn't move.

"A friend, huh?"

Judy looked at him again, with a bit of annoyance in her eyes.

"Why do you feel concerned?"

"Yes, it's true, it's not my business. Sorry." He said stoically.

There was a brief silence, then Judy said:

"I mean... I'm a bunny, and he's a fox. We cannot..." She could not finish her sentence. "It's not..." She sighed and looked down. She felt wrong. What was she thinking? She didn't know herself, but something inside her told her that what she was about to say was not appropriate for her convictions and beliefs.

"Yea, you're right, it would be gross."

Judy frowned and looked surprised. What was that? She didn't speak, though, she was too much surprised by the enormity of his words.

"I'm not the only one, there are many mammals that find interspecies relationship gross. Especially between prey and predators."

Judy became increasingly uncomfortable, and upset, too.

"Wh-What are you saying?"

"Ah! So you do love him." He said with a grin. "I thought I'd say what you were about to say."

Judy was more and more confused.

"Sorry Finnick but, what's wrong with you? Saying all of this to me... all of a sudden. "

"And what's wrong with you?" He replied calmly.

"I thought you were that famous bunny cop who preached tolerance, the acceptance of differences, the community-life between prey and predators, and now, you were about to say you could not love someone because of his... differences?"

"I-I love him! But I don't mean it as... I don't know if…"

"You don't know what ?"

Judy didn't know what to say. She was perplexed and started to reflect on her feelings, her real feelings, but she couldn't clearly identify them. She didn't know what to think.

Beside her, Finnick spoke again.

"Okay, actually, it's still a bit of my business. Nick was once my former partner and he let me down once he became a cop. He became a cop for you ! That's why I can say that he care a lot for you, perhaps more than you think."

Judy could understand Finnick's frustration over Nick. But there was actually a point she found unclear.

"Are you... jealous over me ?" She felt the question being a bit awkward, and she feared a bit his reaction. Finnick was indeed surprised. He looked at her, quietly, before grinning.

"Me… Jealous ?" He laughed a bit, but then recovered his seriousness. "Well… In fact, maybe a little." He then remained silent for an instant, but was still grinning a bit. Judy was all the more surprised by his reply.

"Finnick, despite what you may believe, I don't think Nick left you behind. Even if he's now a cop, even if he joined the "other side" as you say, it doesn't matter. You two are still friends. I think he care about you too."

Finnick growled a bit. "I'm not looking for your pity, bunny cop. I hate this."

He was silent for a few seconds and then continued:

"Actually, I don't care whether you love him in a friendship or in a romantic way, and it is true that I'm rather intolerant about interspecies relationship. But I want to be sure he hasn't decided to be with you for a simple state of mind. Because otherwise, I'd really feel betrayed. So that's all I can wish for an old friend."

Judy was very attentive to Finnick's word, as she knew Finnick being very sincere and surprinsingly thoughtful. She really thought she could understand how he was feeling.

"You should not let public opinion deflect your feelings. You should not care about everyone's opinion, nor mine."

Judy looked again at the starry sky, still listening to him, though.

"You should rest now, little bunny." He yawned. "And same for me." He closed his eyes, but Judy continued to think about Nick for a bit longer. But before knowing whether her feelings existed or not, she had to first save Nick. For now, that was the first priority! And she had to be fully healthy to achieve this goal.

She forced herself to close her eyes, and though she had trouble falling asleep, she finally ended to enter into the world of dreams.

Far from there, in the medium-altitude mountains, in a charming house, there were two foxes. Very slowly, Nick was waking up after forty hours of unconsciousness.

The "other fox", Dan, still sitting on a barrel, carefully watched his long awakening.

"Hi, there." He said with a sly smile. "Nice to meet you."

Before I go, I realized I never thanked my readers before for reading this fanfic, and it's quite a shame.

Thank you. It's a pleasure to read your appreciation on the story for each chapter.

See you for the next chapter which risk to be long, 'cause there will be lots of contents (can't tell more right now).