"Are you crazy Olivia? That's a slave collar!"

"I know what it is Mark, and I also know it's the only way I will be able to make North tell me what I need to know."

"You're insane rabbit! You are willing to kill me just to find those fucked up mercenaries?"

"I will do what I have to in order to ensure the safety of everyone around me. Now if you had only told me what I needed to know in the first place, I was willing to leave you be. Plus, you said it yourself. If they found out you told me, you'd be dead anyways. I'm just cutting out the middle mammal."

"Olivia don't! You are better than this, I know you are!" Nate sounded as if he was conflicted over my decision. If I was in his place, I would be too.

"Okay! I will tell you! Just get this blasted thing off of me!" North actually sounded genuine, guess fear can do that to a mammal.

"Not until you tell me what I need to know."

"Look, I don't know where they are," I tapped a button and the light started to flash red, "but I know who does!"

I returned the collar to it's default state. North must have been holding his breath the whole time because he released a large sigh of relief. The other's were still staring at me, wondering what to make of the situation. I knew that North wouldn't get hurt, but they didn't and it was killing me having them think I was some kind of … monster. I couldn't do this. Not to them, not to Nate.

I felt a paw on my arm, causing me to move my finger away from the Pip-Boar. It was Holly. She had remained silent this entire time, so I had no idea what she was thinking. I turned to her and she had a very worried look in her eyes. I half expected her to hit me, I mean that's what I did to her boyfriend a few days ago, but instead she just spoke, softly.

"'Livi, what are you doing? This… your not like them so why are you acting this way?"

"I am afraid that if I don't do something, and fast, so many innocent lives will be on the balance. For all I know, Hope could be under siege again from those mercenaries, and I would be to blame."

"You said it yourself, none of them were willing to give you up to them, so they knew what they were getting into, but do you?"

Why is it everyone was always right? Onion, the mayor, Holly, every time I think I am in the clear, that my decision was the best one, someone comes along and reminds me how stupid it was in the first place. I had planned this out so very carefully, the entire time thinking that this is the right way, this is the only way. Now? I need to do something else.

"Go get Drake."

"'Livi?"

I gave her a warm smile. "Trust me."

When they rushed down after I had started to threaten North, Drake must have remained behind, either as backup or simply because even with his jacket, he still looks rather intimidating. I'm not sure who actually got Drake, my eyes remained on North as he was standing there, his eyes making him look like the most pathetic ghoul, no, mammal in the world, but from the rapid change in expression, I knew Drake had arrived.

"Who… or what… is THAT?"

I glanced over my shoulder and saw Drake towering above me. "This is my friend Drake. Now, I am going to be fair. As you can tell, my friends think I have gone a little… overboard with this whole thing, and I probably have. So you better start talking. Who knows?"

"There's a bar, a place where the wasteland's most notorious mammals go. That's where you will find her."

"Let me guess, The Dam?"

"How did you… if you knew already, why do this to me!?"

"We didn't until you confirmed it. Problem is, none of know where it is, and we needed a guide. Figured if you knew everyone, you'd know how to get there."

"I'll take you, just take this off. Please?"

"How do we know that you won't just run away, or betray us to someone?"

"You don't, but if you want to find the place, I know how to get there, and the way to get in. If you kill me, you will never find it."

Figures that a place like that would be hidden. I had already made up my mind on the matter. "Tell us how to get there."

"I's hard to describe."

"Wrong answer." Before anyone could say anything, I pushed the button on my Pip-Boar and the light on the slave collar started to rapidly flash.

"Olivia! No!"

"Stop!"

Too late. The collar finished the priming sequence and created a small popping noise followed by a small plume of smoke. The collar fell to the ground as North dropped on his knees, his paws on his neck. If ghouls could cry he would be weeping his brains out.

"I… I'm… alive?"

"This was all a ruse, see?" I picked up the smoking collar off the ground and handed it to him, "fake."

"But… why?"

"Payback. First you steal those coins from me, then you make me feel like shit. Every time I think of you, I just want to punch you. Now? We're even."

"Then… you don't… need me?"

"No, I still do, but on different terms. Drake? Fly."

Drake popped his winged arms out of the jacket and lifted to the air. He uncurled his clawed feet showing North what he really was.

"A deathwing! You have a deathwing!"

"The collar may have been a ruse, but Drake is not."

Drake landed beside me. "Drake. Hungry."

"Aww, you poor thing. When was the last time you ate?" I scratched under his chin as he purred. I didn't plan on Drake saying that, but the reaction on North's face? Priceless.

"It… CAN TALK?"

"Yup. He's my new friend, and he is the reason you will take us to The Dam. You see, he's grown very protective of us, so if you try to hurt us, or if you betray us…" I took out some canned… meat? It said it was a military grade high protein meat substitute, but we needed something for Drake to eat after making him promise he wouldn't eat other mammals. I opened it up gave it to him. He downed the whole thing, can and all. I was about to comment that I didn't realize deathwings ate metal, until he coughed and spat out the can which was now crumpled into a small ball.

"Food. Bad. Taste. Bad. Want. Meat."

"We really need to find something better for him," I gave North a very, crooked smile, "know anyone?"

I felt a punch on my shoulder as I turned to see Holly near tears. "You insane rabbit! Why didn't you tell us?"

"That the bomb was fake? I didn't want to risk giving it away, although truth be told, it was ripping me apart in the inside seeing you all like that. I was starting to convince myself that it wasn't a ruse anymore."

Mark's shocked face turned to relief but it was Nate who surprised me when he ran over and hugged me, hard. "I knew you were better than that."

"Sorry for scaring you." I wasn't even thinking and instinctively kissed him. We both jumped back out of each other's grips as we simultaneously looked at Mark and Holly. Holly had an evil grin on her face while Mark had his paw on his face, muttering something about him being a 'doof'.

"So… yeah, North? Once you get us there, you are free to go. Until then. Drake, do not let him out of your sight, got it?"

"Drake. Help."

"Good. It's settled then. Lead the way North."

The good thing about being in the middle of nowhere is that we did not have to worry about much. Sure it was probably over a hundred degrees out, and we did get attacked by these giant scarabs, but we managed to make it to the wall intact, and with a very satisfied Drake. Apparently giant mutated bugs were a delicacy to him. Nate and Markus were kind enough to carve off a few bits of it and pack it away for later. They really had warmed up to him. I wonder if they don't see him as a deathwing anymore?

Once we got to the wall and had traveled a bit, North started to, very hesitantly, look around. I made sure that Drake was always close to him in case he tried anything funny, so that gave me a little freedom to look around. From the base of the wall it was massive in scale. There were cracks here and there, but nothing that seemed to diminish it's structural condition. Good thing too. If this wall really did hold back that much water, if it broke it was wipe out the entire area in seconds.

Holly, Mark, and Nate had returned to their normal selves, but I still feel bad for what I put them through. The only one who didn't make comments about what had happened was Onion, but then again he did know the collar had no explosives. Usually he objects these kind of plans, but either he knew it was going to work, or he gave up trying to tell me otherwise.

"Over here!"

North was standing next to a giant door. I noticed fallen rail tracks similar to the ones that lead to Hope scattered all over. North was standing next to the door staring at a small symbol painted in white. Drake was only a few feet from him, and I am sure that was making North very nervous.

"This the entrance to The Dam?"

"Yes, but… yes it is."

"But? What do you mean but? I don't like buts."

"Nate likes your's 'livi!"

"Buh… shut up Holly!" Yup, she was defiantly over earlier now. I didn't have to look at Nate to tell that his face must have resembled mine.

"You see, The Dam moves. A lot. When you have so many notorious mammals in one place, people are bound to come looking, and the owner's need to keep their patron's safe. This mark? The circle with the double cross? This tells the patrons where it is at."

"So, it's here?"

"Yes. And no. This is one entrance, but it's sealed. The Dam must be moving right now. This symbol says it is going to Junction Two."

"Well, what's the problem North?"

"Junction Two. That's… in Red-Neck territory."

"Wait, you mean they serve them too?"

"They serve anyone as long as you are willing to pay. Plus they have a strict rule against fighting, and even the worst of the worst will never break that rule."

"Why is that?"

"You will see, that is, if you are not too scared. There is no shame in calling it quits, carrots."

He was starting to act cocky again, and that was making me regret taking the collar off. "Yes there is. Now take us to Junction Two."

"And now it all makes sense 'livi. If he called me carrots, I'd likely punch him square in the muzzle."

"Trust me, it's hard not to."

We continued along the wall, North stopping at each door to check for markings. He said it moved a lot, so perhaps it would move closer to us? The way things have been, I highly doubted it, but I could hope. I really hope Hope is doing ok. If I returned and saw they had been attacked while I was away, I don't know what I would do. I had to keep these poisonous thoughts out of my head.

It took another twenty minutes before we arrived at Junction Two. North said he would go first and make sure it was actually there. I didn't trust him but I had no idea what the symbols meant. I agreed to let him go first. Drake went to follow but before North even got close to the door he turned and ran back to us.

"Hide!"

I didn't even have to question him. If he was telling us to hide, it must have been bad. We all took cover among the railroad debris that lead up to this door, all of but Drake. He was too big to properly hide anywhere.

"Drake! Hide!"

He looked at me and then around him before spreading his wings and taking to the sky. I saw that he had flown straight up and had perched on a large outcropping on the wall. Between the dark jacket, his dark fur and skin, and the darkened wall, he nearly blended in. Thankfully the sun wasn't facing us, so we had a nice shade that was being produced by the towering wall.

"You hear something?"

The voice came from where North had been going. Two giraffes emerged. Now, I have seen a few of their species before since leaving the Burrow, and even more in my books, but these two? They looked nothing like them. They were both wearing red and yellow jackets with matching pants. On their backs I could see a large tank with a hose that lead up along their neck. It was their heads that caused me to shudder. There was something attached to the bottom of their jaws. I pulled out my scope to make sure I wasn't imagining things. Nope. I wasn't. The hoses attached to some sort of device that wasn't being worn under the jaw, it was part of the jaw! I saw bits of flesh and charred fur melding with the metallic components of what ever that device was.

"That's a Red-Neck?"

"Yeah. Those bastards are evil. Even a Steel Guardian would think twice before messing with one of them. And you wanted to go 'pay them a visit'."

"You… what?" Holly's remark must have caught North off guard. "If your that crazy, then… all those stories… they are true, aren't they?"

"Every single one. Bad things tend to follow me. I'll say this North, you have the right to be scared of me. Most the time, I'm scared of me as well." Once the Red-Necks were clear I signaled everyone to get ready. "You kept your end of the deal. You are free to go."

"Deal? That was no deal, more like coercion."

"You can always stick with me, things tend to get… interesting when it involves me."

"No thank you, your on your own from here carrots. Your looking for someone named Blanche. She may not look like much, but she's as fierce as they come. At least, she used to be."

Used to be? Wait, was he not telling me something? I wanted to stop him, but for some reason I couldn't find myself able to. I watched as North headed off in the direction that we came from. I didn't think he's stick around, and part of me was hoping he didn't, but… it would have been nice to have more connections in the wasteland.

"Oh, carrots? Catch."

North tossed something to me before he continuing on his way. For a ghoul he had a pretty good arm, then again the bag he tossed me felt relatively heavy. Wait, this looks…

"You sure it's a good idea to let him go? What if this lead is just another dead end?"

"Well then, we try something else, but something tells me this isn't just another one of his hustles." I opened the bag as I was talking, and pulled something very familiar out.

"Why do you say that 'livi?"

I held up the first one I pulled out, the coin had the word Cunning on one side, with the picture of a fox on the other. "Just a hunch."

I put the coins into my bag as we moved out. Once Drake had seen North leave he landed right beside me. "Follow?"

"No Drake, you don't have to keep an eye on him anymore."

The entrance that the two giraffes came out of was large, tall enough for even the largest mammal. There was a faint light inside as I checked my Pip-Boar. No signs of any threats. Good. Hopefully this would be an easy job. Get in, get the information we needed, and get out. Nothing is ever that simple, not with me at least.

"Hey Drake, can you and Onion stay out here? Just in case things don't go as planned, I'd like to know we have backup."

"Drake. Stay."

"Do you really think things will go sour?" Mark had a very worried tone to him.

"Better safe then sorry."

The walls of this place must have been pretty thick because we traveled at least a hundred feet or so before finally ending up at a very large train car. I remember these things from my books, they traveled the rails carrying mammals between destinations. My entire time traveling the rails to Hope, I never saw one. The car was pretty large. It was tall enough for a giraffe, but it also had tiny doors at the bottom, probably for rodents. I thought it was kind of odd that large and small species shared the same car, but then again, all the stations I came across was just as equally divided.

There was a large rhino outside the door dressed in a torn black shirt with what a white tiger skull painted on it. His pants were also just as ragged as his shirt. In his paws he carried a very large gun. I didn't recognize it but Holly did.

"That's a combat shotgun, a real nasty looking one too. I love it!"

"You mind focusing fluff?" Mark seemed to both tease and reprimand Holly.

I moved forward towards the door when the rhino blocked my way. "Invite only, and I don't think you are on the list."

"But, you haven't even looked."

He pointed his gun right at me. "Leave. Now."

I was nearly about to activate B.A.T.S. and show this guy a thing or two, I've taken down bigger, but was distracted by by a loud static pop from a speaker I didn't notice before.

"Let them in Boris."

He put away his gun and moved to open the door. It must have been a very solid door because even the large mammal had to put his weight into opening it. The four of us headed into the place, and I noticed three things right away. First, there was a similarly dressed shotgun wielding rhino on the other side; second, this place was much larger than it looked from the outside, and there were mammals of all shapes and sizes just drinking, laughing, and otherwise conversing like civilized mammals. Three? There were very large guns mounted on the walls, and all of them had just trained on us. Fuck.

"Welcome to The Dam!" the voice was emanating from speakers scattered around the room, "listen up folks! We have a special 'guest' with us today! The 'Hero' of Hope! Now, as I know many of you know this rabbit, I would like to remind you, and inform her, of our one and only rule. No violence of any kind! So please, 'Hero', come and enjoy a drink on the house!"

He sounded… happy. The looks that we were now getting after the announcement? Not so much.

"That's that cunt who took the boss's robot!"

"That fucker was the one who took out Baily and her team!"

"You sure we can't kill her Sam?"

At least five more mammals added their opinion on me, some using swears I didn't even know existed, but not a single mammal followed up on their threats. I had seen that every time a 'patron' had made a comment, a turret pointed in their direction.

"Wow, you really are a popular one, aren't you 'livi?"

"What can you say Holly, I get around."

We walked up to the bar and a bison greeted us, in what seemed to be the typical rude fashion I have come to know and love. "What you have, boss says you can each get one drink on the house."

Nate was the first to order, probably because he was the only one who actually drank. "Bourbon please."

"You really drinking at a time like this Nate?"

"Can't turn down a free drink, it be rude."

"You got any Rad! Cola?"

"Wait, you actually drink that stuff Mark? Isn't it radioactive?"

"Yeah, but, I have a soft spot for it. Better than that crap Nate drinks."

"What about you ladies?"

"I'll take a carrot juice." The bartender stared at me like I just ordered a glass of blood. "What? Last time I drank something it didn't agree with me."

"Yeah, but you ended up with a fox in your bed! I'll take a…"

"Holly!"

I heard Nate spit out his drink as Mark just started to laugh. This would have been a nice night if we weren't preoccupied with our mission. I casually glanced around the room as I took a sip of my juice, and while I saw plenty of stares in my direction, not one of them matched the description of a Legionary.

I returned my view to the bartender and locked eyes with his. "Actually, I am here on business. I am looking for someone named Blanche."

"Hah! That run-down sorry excuse for a mercenary? She's been here for days trying to drown herself in booze. What you want that tail-less runt for?"

"That's none of your business, actually. Just point me in her direction." I threw back the cold carrot juice, trying to act tough, but only succeeded in getting a brain freeze.

"Over there, next to that jukebox."

"Oh, you have music!" Mark's face became wide. Huh, I didn't know he liked music, then again he is always whistling something, just never knew what it was.

"The damn thing's been busted as long as I've worked here. Sam keeps wanting to pitch the hunk of useless scrap, but Mal won't let anything get thrown out, no matter how useless it is."

Nate downed the rest of his bourbon and I saw his ears become perky. "Busted?"

"You guys wait here, I don't wanna risk scaring, or provoking, her."

Mark and Holly agreed but and kept on drinking, but Nate was not in his chair. I looked around and saw him over near the jukebox. I moved over to him and grabbed him by the ear.

"What are you doing?"

"It's broken. I can't leave it broken. Plus music always lightens the mood, or at least that's what Mark says."

"Fine, but don't go making a mess of anything. Your paws are still recovering."

Apparently he didn't need his paws because he already had a screwdriver in his mouth and I think he mumbled an 'okay'. I guess when you have the itch. Of course I don't think I have ever tried to fix something with my mouth before. Except hunger. You can easily fix hunger that way.

Next to the jukebox was a pool table, but from the looks of it, it looked more like target practice for a felines claws. On top of the table, dancing around with a sword in one paw and glass of some kind of liquid in the other was the tiniest mouse I had ever seen. Her fur was such a bright white, that if she was in pre-war Tundratown, she probably would have been mistaken for a snowflake. It didn't help that she was dressed in a loose fitting white shirt and wore some loose fitting white pants. The only thing that wasn't white was the black belt around her waist that housed two more swords like the one she was swinging around. Usually mice like her have a long agile tail, but like the bartender said, it was gone, a small stump sticking out of her pants.

"Umm, excuse me, are you Blanche?"

"Who's asking!" Her voice squeaked like the rodents in my Burrow, but she had a forcefulness about it. It was the loudest tiny squeak I have ever heard. She was also drunk. Very drunk.

"My name is Olivia Springs and…"

"I don't care if you are the queen of the moon, go away."

"But I…"

"Go away!"

"No!" I slammed my paw onto the table and the force knocked her down, causing her sword to fly over to the edge. I could feel everyone staring at me as silence filled the room. I ignored all of them. "I came here for something, and I am NOT leaving until I get it!"

Blanche pushed herself up and just stared at me. The ferocity she showed was replaced by pity, her pity. "Look at me. Look at me! I can't even stay standing. I used to be something, I used to be someone!"

Now I felt bad. She sounded like she was on the verge of crying. The room was still, as if all focus was on me, the 'Hero' who was yelling at a small, crippled, drunk, mouse. I was about to turn around and yell at them all to mind their own business when the jukebox kicked in playing some upbeat song. The most surprising part? These mammals, these stone cold killers, started to sing.

"Hey! That kid fixed it! You see Sam? I told you it was worth keeping! Hey Simon, get that kid another drink, on the house!"

Nate looked very proud of himself as a bunch of the mammals cheered him for fixing it. He settled up at the bar again, probably getting another bourbon as he looked over at me, a large smile filled his face. I returned the smile before fixing my attention on the mouse again.

"Look, I am sorry if I yelled at you, it's just that, I need your help."

"Why me? Who sent you?"

"An… acquaintance of mine, suggested that you might be able to help me. I am in trouble, and because of that, many more lives are in trouble as well. For some reason, someone hired the Legionaries to…"

Her face went from sad to stern. "No. I ain't going back to them. They…" she rubbed the base of where her tail was.

"I don't need you to take me, I just need you to tell me where they are."

"Look girl. Those guys, they are mean. Not a 'I will burn down your entire home' mean like those Red-Neck ass-twats, but a 'I will eat your mother alive if they pay me enough' mean. I tried to join them once, and look what happened. Who has ever heard of a tailless mouse! I can't even keep my balance, yet alone fight anymore! I am washed up."

"How can you say that if you haven't…"

"Go find someone else and leave me to drown my sorrows in a drink."

"I can pay you."

"I don't want your caps! Now leave me alone!"

There was a feeling in my gut that she was the one. She said she tried to become a Legionary, so she had to know where they were. But if she wasn't willing to take money for her information, what else can I give her? I've only known her for a few minutes, but already I can tell that her emotions were stemming from her tail, or lack there of. What if I could…

"Tell you what Blanche. Give me twenty minutes. If I can't convince you by the time is up, I will leave and never return, deal?"

"Not like you can do anything to change my mind, but I'll bite. Might be worth a laugh. Deal."

I think I had enough spare parts in my bag to do this. I had to try. I found an empty table and took out all the scraps I had. Wires, bits of electronics, some of those antennas that I took from that eye-bot what felt like ages go. I felt like I was missing something. The others must have saw me because they had joined me at the table.

"What you doing 'livi?"

"Blanche, that mercenary North told me about, she refuses to help. She won't even take money in exchange."

"Kind of a lousy mercenary to refuse money."

"I don't think that's it. She's missing her tail, and from the looks of it, she feels useless without it."

"That's stupid, I've seen plenty of mammals function properly without a tail before. Hell, Nate's nearly burned his off a few times. Ain't that right bro?"

"Just the fur! Not like I chopped it off or anything."

"Still, I feel that if I can help her, we can make major headway in this."

"What you gonna do, regrow it for her 'livi?"

"In a way, yes. Nate, you have any parts on you?"

"Does he have any parts. The Wizkit's a walking workshop!" Holly slapped Nate's back nearly causing him to drop his drink.

"What ever you need, it's yours."

I spent most of the twenty minutes working. Thankfully Nate had parts to spare. Hell, I think he had more parts on him than my workshop at Hope! No wonder he needs so many pockets. Between my scraps and his, I was able to create the perfect 'gift' for Blanche. One that I was hoping could win her over to my side. I didn't need her to take me anywhere, all I needed was information on where to go. It's a win win, she gets a new tail, I get to find this fucker that is after me. I took it over to Blanche who had resumed clumsily dancing around while drinking more.

"Your two minutes late. Sorry. Go away."

"What? No I am not!"

"My watch says otherwise."

"Your not even wearing a watch!"

"It's small, like your brain. Go away."

That little… no, it's got to be the alcohol talking, not her. I tossed my creation at her and it landed at he feet. She stopped dancing and looked at it. With her tiny paws she picked it up and started to… caress it?

"Is this a… tail?"

"Yup, I just made it."

"You just made it? Now?"

"Here, try it on, it might sting a little, but…" I showed her how it had a small loop that could fasten around her waist. She took it and was just about to drop her pants. I quickly placed my paw between her and the rest of the bar. I don't know if getting undressed in public was a thing around here, but she should show a little decency!

"Ow!"

"Told you. I'm not a surgeon, so there was no way to have me attach it in that manner, but then I remembered that a mammal's body, specifically the nervous system and the brain, are very similar to a computer. I have this robot I built that I use this self healing nano-filament wire to fix his harder to reach places. I can program it using my Pip-Boar to seek out a specific area in him so that it pretty much fixes itself without me needing to strip him down."

"Ow! You said it will sting a little!"

"I meant, a little while. Thanks to my friends input, I was able to keep the tail small by having it draw power from your very nervous system, just like your old tail would have. You might have a headache for a few hours, that's due to the nano-filament finding a new home in your brain."

"My brain! What the fuck did you do to me ass-twat! Tell me now before I…"

She stopped as soon as she realized that her new tail had just picked up one of her swords. She stared at it as if she just ran into a friend who had long since passed away. She swung it back and forth a few times before pulling out her other two swords, one in each paw. She started to swing them around in such a graceful way that it looked as if she was putting on a show for us. I could tell that her tail wasn't moving as fluidly as it should, but I don't think she cared. Then she looked at me and jumped…

She landed right on my shoulder and started to hug me, or as well as someone her size could.

"Thank you! I never thought I would have a tail again, I feel complete again!"

"It will need a few adjustments, but consider that your payment. Now, will you help us?"

"Blanche Tailoway, at your service." She bowed very gracefully. "Now, let's go find you some Legionaries."

—

Fallout: Zootopia After Show

Featuring:

'Stripes in the Morning'

[Stripes]

"Good morning Zootopian wasteland! This is Three-D… whoops, wrong story. This is your friendly zebra reporter C. Stripes coming at you live from the Savanna Caller building! Now I'm sure many of you have been asking yourself: 'Hey Stripes, you say you're a reporter, but who do you even report to?' Well, today's After Show will be covering that very question! As many of you may or may not know, within the wasteland there's a popular radio station called the Savanna Caller. Now, while it mainly broadcasts music, from time to time we have very helpful and even informational tid-bits. Got the idea from this other radio station, what was it called again? Universal News Radio or something like that. I think it's host is a tree headed dog or something."

[Max]

"You're getting off track. Again. HOW."

[Stripes]

"Oh, yeah sorry. That happens from time to time."

[Max]

"I've noticed. How many times do we have to go over this before it finally sinks in? "

[Stripes]

"Now, what was I talking about? Oh yeah. The Savanna Caller. You see, about, I don't know, forty years ago? There wasn't a single thing to listen to except static and the occasional distress signal. I think there was this other thing, something about some society hidden under ground in some kind of nocturnal district? Okay! Okay! Sheesh. You see that folks? Well, I guess you can't, well I assure you I saw my life flash before my eyes just now. Thank you for that Max."

[Max]

"Just get on with it."

[Stripes]

"So anyways, forty years ago there was this one little publication, I think it was called the Survival Guide? Forget the name of the woman who made it. Think she was a brown rat with a mole? Or was that a brown mole with a rat? Let's just say there's a surprising number of mammals who lack the ability to read such publications, with no centralized education to provide these basic amenities, so it didn't go over too well. That's when a bear named Koko stumbled upon the ruins of the main Zootopia News Network broadcasting facilities and took it upon herself to create this great station that welcomes any mammal to tune into. This is where I should put my obligatory 'please send them any music you find' message that I promised to add. You see, it's mammals like you that help bring the sound to the wastes."

[Max]

"You know that I burned that recording of yours, right? No one wants to hear your glass shattering singing over the radio. I'm surprised they even put up with you giving them these so called news reports of yours."

[Stripes]

"Well that explains why I haven't heard my rendition of 'Try Everything' on the air. I figured it got lost in transition. I'll have to hoof deliver another one when I go pick up next week's pay."

[Max]

"Wait. You get paid? Where the hell is my cut?!"

[Stripes]

"You never asked. Plus where do you think I get all this energy after you cut me off?"

[Max]

"I thought you were finally surviving on sun and air alone. Apparently I haven't been paying close enough attention though so now I think I'm gonna have to beat it out of you...Probably live over the air waves...I know a couple mammals out there who'd just love to hear that."

[Stripes]

"Well, I think that's my cue to end this show, but before I leave, I'd like to send a shout out to all the folks over at the Zootopia News Network. The digital news site, you know the one with the dot-com? They've been kind enough to not only feature this world around us, they've been getting a great artist to follow me around painting my portraits."

[Max]

"Dear God, please tell me you were wearing clothing around them, I swear this beating'll be worse if you weren't…"

[Stripes]

"What kind of mammal do you take me for Max? I'm a distinguished gentle zebra. I would never stoop that low. These are tasteful pictures, or will be at least. Tune in during a future interview once I finally catch up with said artists, he had a quirky name, was it Quirky? I know he's a middle child… Anyways, that's it for today's episode, tune in next time for a special interview with none other than the Mayor of Hope, Jessabell Swift! Take care everyone!"

[Max]

"Don't you even think about ending this transmission so soon Stripes! I've been promising a reco-"

-Emergency automated response system activated...Please stand by for further instructions...-