The Dark Side of the Moon Chapter 1: Hot Fuzz Sundae, a zootopia fanfic

And the eagle has landed! On the fox? Wow, it feels weird actually starting a new story after spending a good six years on Born to Be Wilde. This story begins what can loosely be called "Season 2" of the series, so "Season 1" is obviously required reading, or at least the main story because most everything involving BtBW is going to be mercilessly spoiled right from the outset.

At the time we started that original fic, making something focusing primarily on Nick over Judy (or both of them together) wasn't TOO weird. It was weird for other reasons. And now we're getting even weirder by making an OC-centric fic about Nick's former fanboy and expecting people to be interested in it.

So, to those who are here, welcome! It's gonna be a Frosty time.

Cover art by giftheck

Chapter 1: Hot Fuzz Sundae

Meadowlands

The Cloven Hoof

11:14 PM

When asked if the crime rate in the Meadowlands was still 'peachy keen', Chief Betty Woolworth of ZPD Precinct 8 was quoted as saying: "But of course! I know things have been getting pretty messy for some of the other districts ever since the Crime Wars started, but I'm happy to say that our beautiful Meadowlands remain a bright and shining beacon in these dark times."

The llama then summarized her point with: "There is no war in the Meadowlands" and spat on the reporter.

Remarkably, she had managed to hold on to this position, and her position within the ZPD, for the past nine months or so. And perhaps she did have a point. Comparatively at least, the Meadowlands were doing okay. But like any bright and shining beacon, there was always going to be a dark patch that looked all the darker because of it.

And then there was The Cloven Hoof, which didn't look anything but dark no matter how you tilted your head at it. A seedy back-alley bar, frequented mostly by unfriendly sheep, notoriously anti-pred…really, the only other place in the district with that kind of infamy was a literal asylum. Chief Woolworth all but refused to acknowledge the existence of it, since its very image was so contrary to the one on all the postcards.

In truth, the Hoof may have been all of those things, but it was little more. Rumors that it had been a center of Dawn Bellwether's Night Howler conspiracy were greatly exaggerated. Rumors that it had played a minor role in the conspiracy were greatly exaggerated. It was just a big room full of jerks, disgruntled prey who liked to grumble with each other about how the preds were somehow oppressing them. The establishment was built here, after their original location in Savannah Central had been shut down, in part because they assumed that having more sheep and less police would let them get away with anything.

They found out the hard way that anyone who actually tested that theory was swiftly put down by Precinct 8, because rumors that they showed zero tolerance towards any crime that could endanger their district's positive image were not exaggerated. When you elected the former president of the Meadowlands Homeowners Association as a district police chief, you could expect her to come down on any obvious criminal activity with the fury of a thousand fines.

Problem was, the Meadowlands happened to be a haven for non-obvious criminal activity, a lesson that most criminals learned, and the denizens of the Hoof did not. They naturally chose to interpret this as further oppression. In the end, they simply didn't have the brainpower to actually back up their empty threats.

Until now.

The interior of the bar had been converted with some effort into a darkened war room. Most of the tables had been shoved up against the walls while the chairs and barstools were arranged to circle a solitary pool table under a light right in the middle. A crudely drawn map of Zootopia lay stretched across its surface, held down by a billiard ball on three corners. The fourth had a cue stick stabbed through it, sticking up out of the corner pocket. Someone had tried to make a flag out of it by attaching a picture of a sheep skull at its tip, apparently not realizing that the only "wind" in this room came from a rusty ceiling fan.

And under that limp flag sat their general, a familiar perpetually-bored ram now wearing a different kind of orange jumpsuit. "Okay, so, let's start this meeting on how best to take back our city. But first thing's first, somebody latte me."

A hooved hand reached out to pass him a cup, which Doug sipped from before continuing. "Cold. But whatever, so is my mood. Prison can really change a mammal. Granted, I got busted out by you guys after only a few months, but that's a few months I'm not getting back, you know? Life is too short." He took another sip. "Right, so let's talk murder."

Doug gestured down to the map. "Ever since the Crime Wars broke out, everyone's been focused on only one thing: the crime families." He popped open a box next to him, filled with snack foods that had mostly come from the bar itself.

Opening a bag of shelled peanuts, he poured them onto the map's representation of Outback Island. "There's the Outback Outfit…"

Then came the frozen fish sticks. "The Tundratown Mafia…"

The spicy chicken wings. "The Sahara Band…"

The burger sliders. "The Lang Family…"

And a whole bunch of trail mix. "Not to mention all the unassorted gangs crawling up from Nocturnal and the many, many divisions within the rest. The holes left by our dearly departed crime lords have turned large chunks of Zootopia into unclaimed territory that everyone wants a piece of. So it really looks more like…" He swiped his hoof across the map, scattering the snacks everywhere and blending them all together. "Any questions so far?"

A hoof in the audience raised. "So are you gonna pass those out or what?"

For just a second, Doug had gotten his hopes up. "No, the snacks are symbolic. We're not actually eating them."

"It seems like kind of a waste then, doesn't it? Why bring a bunch of food here if we're not eating it?"

"Look, I was just using a strong visual medium to get my point across. Half of this is meat anyway. Why do you want it?"

"Well, I still want the other half."

"It's all representative of people, Carl. We don't eat people. In fact, we're known to be very against that sort of thing."

Another hoof raised. "Unless it's for the greater good, you mean? Like with the Night Howlers."

Doug pointed at them. "Yes! Like that. Except we can't do that again because everyone and their grandma knows how they work now."

"So who do we target first? The grandmas?"

Oh sweet unfertilized pastures, I miss Woolter and Jesse. "No. This is very simple. We can't do this how we did it the first time. And by 'we', I mean those of us who were actually in the know about Mayor Bellwether's plans, which is how many of us in this room?"

"Just…you?"

"Just me. We have a golden opportunity here, everyone. With the city all up in arms about, you know, this," he gestured back to the mess on the table, "we're the last group of mammals anyone is going to be expecting trouble from. We'll stay hidden for now, surveying the war and gathering our resources, so when it's finally time to strike, nothing is going to stop us."

"What are we then?"

Broken off mid-rant, Doug needed a moment to recover before looking back out into the crowd. "...What?"

"Which snack food are we?"

The urge to throw one of these billiard balls was strong. "I don't know, we can be…marshmallows?"

"That doesn't sound like a very positive image for us."

"It's just the first white and fluffy thing that came to mind, Bill! Apart from the nonexistent cream in my coffee. Now, can we get back on track with-?"

"You're wasting your time."

Every head turned towards the saloon-style doors swinging at the entrance, where another figure now stood. From their position, few would've even been able to see her if not for her long ears. Doug, standing up on a stool, was one of the exceptions.

The gray rabbit was unnervingly still at first, just staring at them through cold eyes like a judgemental statue. Her left eye had a large scar cutting through it, gray and glossy. The right eye was bright gold. She was dressed neatly in a crisp black suit, arms calmly folded behind her. "Perhaps I could offer my own input."

Every head turned back to Doug, who just ran a tired hoof down his face. "Thanks, but no thanks. The last time I was approached by a snappy dresser with a mysterious offer, it ended with me getting blown up by a crippled seal."

She raised an eyebrow. "Blown up?"

"I got better. Point is, I appreciate that you're not a chomper, but I'm still not okay with uninvited guests just walking in and ruining my whole thing. When I'm done presenting my plan, maybe then you could-"

"Your plan? Please." The rabbit suddenly leapt clear over the horned heads separating them and landed atop the map, crushing some innocent trail mix underfoot. "Fly under the radar and pick your competition off one by one? You think you are the only one to come up with that? Is it not similar to the modus operandi of that last 'snappy dresser' you worked for?"

"Worked with. And I suppose you think you can do better then?"

"Naturally. After all, I have something that even you lack, Mr. Ramses." She gave a soft, yet malicious smile. "Personal insight into how predators think."

"Not exactly what I'd call a prime selling point. But while we're on the subject of names, are you going to give us something to call you? Because if not, I could come up with a few."

She paused. "Hella will suffice."

"Cool. And this insight you're so proud of comes from…where exactly?"

"That's not important." Hella turned and leapt back out over the crowd.

"I'm pretty sure it is. Guys, back me up here. We're not really taking this lady seriously, are we?" Doug found himself in the regrettable position of having to rely on his fellow ruminants in the room.

Who were no longer even looking at him. Already, the sheep were taking interest in this new shepherd. He couldn't even be mad about it because this was the exact kind of mindset he had been trying to exploit himself.

Doug slowly leaned onto the table, idly grabbing up some peanuts to munch on.

Hella had landed in front of a small window above her, gazing up at the light of a full moon outside. "Such a breathtaking view. It will be even better without the howls of predators polluting the air."

"Sight and sound are two different things!" Doug pointed out, his mouth stuffed.

She tuned him out, as did the others. "My mother, she was strong prey. The very strongest. Yet even she was taken from me by the claws of a predator. I can still see her sad eyes…looking out at me from behind bars."

"Wait, she's not even dead?"

"Every time I look into the mirror, I am reminded of that terrible loss. The scars pain me to this day."

"And lemme guess, that's how you got the scar on your face too?"

Hella finally looked back at him, sharing a long moment of silence. Then she just stared down at the floor. "That's not important."

The other sheep began offering words of encouragement while Doug just started chugging the rest of his latte.

Slowly, Hella lifted her head and faced the rest of the crowd, her words now burning with fiery determination. "My fellow prey, what happened to my mother cannot be allowed to happen to anyone else! With the light of the moon as our witness, we will purge Zootopia of its predatory scum forever! Follow me, and you'll all be-!"

CRASH

The window shattered above her, raining glass down on the rabbit's head. Hella looked up, mismatched eyes widening at the sight of a massive paw reaching in, jagged claws gleaming before they wrapped firmly around her ears and pulled her outside.

Doug's immediate reaction was something akin to confusion, wondering if he really just saw that or if his latte was even worse than he thought. He was about to ask, but that was when the screaming started.

He had long thought night vision to be an overrated concept, just another trait that proved preds were still savage hunters inside and out. But at that moment, as he could just barely discern a giant, lumbering shape moving around outside, he decided he was still glad he didn't have night vision.

The sounds were bad enough. Heavy, thudding footsteps, claws scraping against the walls, a snarl that raised and lowered in pitch but never went away, the aforementioned screaming from Hella, something like a wet paper bag being ripped open…

No, he realized when blood splattered back in through the windowsill. That was also Hella.

Then the sole light in the room flickered off and the spectacle vanished from sight. As did most everything else. Doug again reconsidered his stance on night vision.

And for once, he was confident that every other sheep was on the same page. No one moved a muscle, that much he could tell even with his limited eyesight. They all just stood there in the darkness, listening to more fun sounds. Like chewing.

Hella hadn't seemed like a particularly big catch to him, but she was apparently pretty tasty based on how long this was taking. He wondered how long it would take to devour any of them, which came with many bonus questions like what his chances were if the thing made it inside, if he could reasonably escape in the middle of the ensuing chaos, and how likely the others were to just throw him to the beast and make a run for it.

Being the smartest one in the room had its downsides.

The chewing stopped, and he could hear the footsteps walking away. Which they would have to do, in order to reach the front or side entrance to the bar.

But Doug's questions would not be answered. Complete silence filled the room as the light kicked back on, no trace of what had happened aside from the broken window and the blood surrounding it. More compelling evidence was likely to be found outside, but the mute, wide-eyed stares of his fellow sheep told Doug that none of them were in any kind of doubt.

He finished his latte. "Right. Meeting adjourned. I'll see you all never."

Tundratown

Frost Residence

7:14 AM

"Son…what are you doing?!"

Henry Frost gasped, standing at the entranceway in shock. Eyes widened behind thick glasses at the sight of red splattering everywhere.

"We didn't raise you this way!"

The young arctic fox didn't even seem to hear him, growling ravenously as his jaws tore and ripped and shredded, they too soaked in red.

"What is it, dear?" asked Abigail Frost, approaching the scene herself before Henry hastily blocked her off.

"You can't look, honey! It's too horrible!"

"What are you-AAH! Jimmy! Why?!"

Henry swallowed hard and stepped forward, shielding his wife from further trauma. "Now Jimbo, I know your mother and I have been a lot laxer with you as of late, but that is no excuse for this kind of radical behavior!"

Finally, Jimmy looked up from his breakfast. "Mooom, Daaad, I'm telling you, there's nothing wrong with putting ketchup on eggs!"

"Son, if the ZPD handled food crimes, you'd have to arrest yourself." Henry put an arm around his wife's shoulder in comfort. "There, there, it's going to be alright."

She gave a shaky nod. "I'm sorry, Jimmy. There have just been so many changes lately. I forget sometimes that you're an adult and you can make your own decisions."

"I just don't get where the confusion comes from, is all," said Jimmy, still dressed in his full-body snowflake pajamas and fuzzy fox slippers.

"Yeah, it's not like he's some kind of weirdo," added Wallace, the stuffed Wallabeanie perched atop his head.

Henry looked at the plush, then down at Jimmy, whose mouth was currently full. He didn't question it, as he and Abby had learned long ago that down this road lay only madness.

Jimmy finished up his questionable choice of a balanced breakfast, wiping the evidence from his lips. "I guess I did make kind of a mess. Sorry, I'm in a bit of a rush. Big day today."

"We understand," Henry assured. "And we're both really happy for you. Just be careful out there, alright?"

Abigail gave him a playful nudge. "You know we don't have to worry about him. Our little Jimmy is a tough piece of hail. Besides, he'll be with his friends and I can't think of a safer place they could be going."

"You do raise a good point, dear," Henry chuckled, turning his attention to a television playing idly in the living room. "And it does make me feel better whenever I see something like that."

"Hmm?" Jimmy turned around in his chair, looking out at the screen himself. It had been easy enough to tune out the news while he was eating, not really wanting all of that negativity first thing in the morning. But now he could see and hear that it was actually something good.

"…remain baffled over the actions of escaped fugitive and former Night Howler conspirator Doug Ramses, who turned himself in out of the blue earlier this morning. When pressed for a motive, his only response was 'Nope', a word he continued to repeat several more times in succession."

Jimmy frowned and slumped over the back of his chair, his tail waving slowly from side to side. "A little sus, but still a 'yay' I guess?"

"Yay!" Wallace cheered.

"Don't discount your victories, sport," Henry advised, giving him a hearty slap on the back that nearly sent Wallace flying. "You'd be surprised at the kind of impact a single arrest can have."

"Come on down to Lang Land!"

The news channel had abruptly gone to commercial, the volume shift making Jimmy jump and Wallace with him. On the screen was an image that made the fox and his parents wince: the gates of Wilde Times.

"Are y'all sick of seein' this old place?" asked a heavily-modulated male voice. "Across the street? In your dreams? On the Internet? Well so are we!"

A cheesy explosion effect engulfed the entire screen, taking Wilde Times with it.

"That's not exactly how it happened…" Jimmy said.

"But close enough," Wallace replied.

The billowing clouds kept rolling as a figure popped up in front of them. They wore a big, fluffy yellow coat that trailed on the ground, purple star-shaped sunglasses, a red top hat, and an electronic gilded dog collar. The hammy lupine announcer known as Danger Dan was at least exactly how Jimmy remembered him, just in even flashier clothes.

"The Lang Family has gone straight and we've straightened out the whole park with us! No plots of megalomania from some cane-twirlin' dickhead here! Just a good way to liven up your night down here at Lang Land!"

Danger Dan left the screen as the park's logo appeared, a full moon with a pair of wolf ears and the words LANG LAND strewn across it in red and yellow text. The explosions had not stopped.

The logo vanished and Dan reappeared, with them now alternating back and forth over poorly-filtered videos of commercialized mayhem.

"Leave all your worries behind in a theme park experience that's fun for the whole family, genus, and species!"

"LANG LAND!"

"Awaken your inner animal as you visit attractions brought to you by our previous Alphas!"

"LAAANG LAAAND!"

"Never go hungry with a wide variety of tasty treats, equally unhealthy for predators and prey alike!"

"LAAAAANG LAAAAAND!"

"Greet our dedicated security staff as they ensure your protection! Wolves are the best at sniffin' out trouble!"

"LAAAAAAANG MOTHER[BLEEP]ING LAAAAAAAND!"

In complete contrast to the rest of the commercial, it ended with just an image of their address, phone number, and a simple, snappy jingle.

"We hope we'll see you soon, and have you howlin' at the moon!"

Then it switched to something about bath soaps while Jimmy scratched his head. "I'm not sure you can say all those words in public adverts."

"I think most of the ad budget went into their lawyers."

Henry cleared his throat, tugging on the collar of his sweater vest. "Yes, well, these are tough times and we all deal with that in our own way."

"More power to them for seeing the light, right?" Abigail asked.

"Right!" Jimmy agreed, his tail wagging. "I'm happy for the Langs. They're really not so bad once you get to know them."

As the television turned back to the news, Jimmy caught a glimpse of the time and realized he was now running late. "Gah! I gotta get ready! Those sneaky wolves distracted me!" He darted out of his chair and back up to his room, flinging Wallace onto the table. Abigail had thankfully moved quickly enough to grab his ketchup-covered plate and pull it away before the plush landed on it.

"Good save," Henry said, patting his wife on the shoulder. She didn't acknowledge it at first, instead looking down at Wallace expectedly. "…Are you waiting for him to thank you?"

She jolted. "What? No. Of course not. That would be silly."

Jimmy rushed back downstairs moments later, now in full uniform as he adjusted his tie mid-sprint. He still had the time to snatch Wallace back up, then give both of his parents a hug and a peck on the cheek. "See you guys later! Love you lots!"

"Good luck, Jimbo!"

"Take care!"

Jimmy walked out the front door ready to greet the day, Wallace tucked under his arm. He circled around to the side and opened their garage, not having a car of his own just yet but arguably having something even better. He grunted a little as he wheeled the sleek white form of Dinosaur Killer out into the driveway, sticking Wallace in the newly-added sidecar and giving his realistic skull hood ornament a friendly pat.

His parents had raised some concerns at first about his safety in owning a motorcycle, but after pointing out that this thing had survived both an honor duel and a giant robot attack, they weren't really able to argue against him riding it to work. At least now he had a helmet and pads to go with it. Hopping on, Jimmy revved up the bike and drove out into the street, waving one last goodbye to his home before taking off.

Compared to Judy's stuffy apartment, Carla's undersized yet oversized familia, and the continuing housing nightmare that was Nick Wilde, Jimmy was always kind of grateful for having a relatively normal living situation. He had a moderate two-story home with average furnishings, mostly stable parents (both of them at that), and a simple, ordinary morning routine.

"Heading out, Mr. Frost?" asked a reindeer manning a security booth. His antlers were adorned with little bells that he could apparently shake violently to raise an alarm, but Jimmy had yet to see them do more than jangle a bit as he turned his head.

The fox drove up to the side, giving a friendly nod. "Yeppers, Mr. Nickel! Big day today!"

"Good to hear! Just be careful out there. Don't let your guard down just because it's a special occasion."

"I won't let you down, don't worry."

"Nothing shall escape these eyes!" Wallace helpfully added.

Mr. Nickel laughed, hitting a switch on his nearby console. "You have a good day now."

"You too!"

With a low rumble, two large metal doors opened out in front of him, only a bit tougher and thicker than the surrounding plexiglass. Jimmy waited a moment for them to open all the way, then drove out between them to exit the dome.

The young tod had been told more than once at multiple stages of his upbringing that he lived inside a snowglobe, but it was only this year that he could respond to that with "Yeah, I know. If you squint a little you can see it from here." It wasn't like his family wanted to move into the dome, per se. It started when several of their wealthier neighbors had gotten together, petitioned the government for protective measures, and after spending way too much money, erected the thing around a small chunk of Tundratown that just happened to include them, the Precinct 3 building, and most other places City Hall deemed important enough.

And then they named this new sub-district the Shangri-Llama Estates, practically advertising its isolation from the outside world and turning it into a sales pitch.

There were surprisingly few complaints about it, at least on the inside. Especially once it was discovered that the glass was strong enough to withstand blows from, say, polar bears. Most of the criminal element had been smart enough to get the heck out before they ended up trapped inside with the cops. Now it was just another form of gated community, one where you couldn't just climb over the gates. (Not that it stopped mammals from trying. It wasn't uncommon to look up and find someone playing on top of the "sky", usually felines who had climbed all the way up there without any kind of plan on how to get back down.)

But that was something Jimmy had left behind for now. Dinosaur Killer had been built with speed and agility in mind, much like its driver, and that helped Jimmy find the quickest, safest route to get to Precinct 1. But traffic at this time of morning was relatively busy anyway and he was a uniformed officer of the law, so despite his parents' worries, he made the trip perfectly fine. He was just glad they'd learned how much he could handle before all this went down

A question that Jimmy had never thought to ask, but would soon become very relevant, was just how much he really could handle.

Savannah Central

9:41 AM

"Have you seen those Lang Land commercials, Snowball? Crazy, right?"

Nick turned in the driver's seat of the patrol car, glancing over at his partner as they cruised down the road.

Jimmy perked up, distracted from his intense vigilance of staring into the souls of anyone they drove past. "Oh yeah, definitely. Crazy like a wolf."

"I'll allow that one." Nick chuckled, shaking his head. "I still can't believe they actually went through with it. Gotta admire the dedication of those dum-dums."

"I bet you've been saving up a big stack of wolf jokes for the occasion, huh?" Jimmy asked knowingly.

"I have, but I'd actually feel a little bad about using them now. Maybe I'll just use the lighter ones. Make them think it's funny because it's true and not make them want to redefine comedy with my face."

This wasn't a topic Jimmy liked to bring up, but… "How is your home situation, by the way?

Nick didn't stop smiling, but he could see the joy leaving the expression. It remained frozen on his muzzle, as if he just couldn't be bothered to frown. "Let me put it this way. I was woken up this morning by a brick flying in through my bedroom window. It had a note attached that read: 'Git out fraud! Yu don deserve that badg!' Exact spelling."

"Aw, Nick. I'm sorry-"

"I'm not done. So I start to clean up the broken glass when a second brick crashes through my other bedroom window and lands on my tail. It too had a note attached that read: 'Don't let those window smashers hurt you! We still love you, Hero Fox!' Followed by a concerning number of hearts."

Jimmy struggled not to resume staring at pedestrians. "That's…rough. I'm sorry that happened."

"Don't be. Now I have an easy microcosm I can bring up the next time someone asks me how my home situation is. And anyway, my lupine security detail chased them off like always, so no harm done."

"Aside from your tail and the broken windows?"

"Well yeah, but I thought that was implied."

Jimmy lost his struggle and turned away, only for Nick's arm to wrap around his shoulders and pull him closer again. He grinned. "Hey, come on, I'm just being dramatic, Snowball. Thought you knew me better than that."

"I do. And I know when you've got your mask up."

It still didn't waver. "Look, it's my social life that got ruined, not yours. You've still got plenty to be excited about. Today's a big day, right?"

That got a small smile out of him. "It is…"

"And I know you're excited about that. Aren't you, Snowball? Aren't yooou?"

Jimmy's smile began to widen and his tail wagged. "Why are you talking like that?"

"Who's a good junior partner? Who's a good junior partner? You are! Yes you are!"

"Nick, stop it!" Jimmy grinned back despite himself, his tail thumping loudly against the seat. "Okay, yes, I'm excited! I can't wait!"

His work done, Nick finally let him go and put both paws back on the wheel again. "Glad to hear it. But don't get too hyped up just yet. We still gotta do our jobs for a while. A simple patrol in less simple times. Nothing the two of us can't handle though, right?"

"Right!"

"Hmmm…" Nick pondered. "Something about that statement is bothering me. We missing someone?"

Jimmy looked confused for a moment, but suddenly shot up straight, "Oops! I forgot about Wallace." Jimmy placed the plush up on the dashboard, hanging him from a string wrapped around his torso like a pair of fuzzy dice.

"Finally! I've been yelling for hours!"

Nick nodded. "Ah yes, our patrol route just isn't the same without those black, soulless eyes staring at me."

"Don't flatter yourself. I physically can't look anywhere else."

Nick jabbed a firm finger at Wallace. "No. I am not getting into an argument with you again.

"Only because you know you'll lose!"

"As I was saying, we just gotta finish our patrol and then we'll be good to go."

"Should be a piece of cake," Jimmy agreed. "This is still one of the least crime-ridden districts."

Now Nick frowned, his claws tightening around the wheel. "Right…but you never know what could go wrong. Nowhere is 100% safe."

Jimmy's tail finally slowed. "Yeah, but the chances of something big happening that we'll specifically be called on is pretty slim."

"Slim, but not impossible. And we could always just spot something while we're out on patrol too."

"We're still cops though. We're not likely to see that happen right in front of us in broad daylight."

"Still could though."

"But it probably won't…"

"But it could."

"But it won't!" Jimmy snapped, tail flaring back up. "Why are you being such a downer today, Nick?"

"I'm not! You're jinxing us and I'm making a valiant effort to counteract it!"

"Oh." Jimmy calmed down again instantly, returning idly to his duty. "…See anything yet?"

Nick looked out his own side. "Well, I see Jumbeaux's Café. That place brings back memories. Doesn't look busy either…" He smirked at the younger fox. "Wanna bet I can snag us a couple of frozen treats before someone catches me slacking off?"

"Betting with you seems like a terrible idea."

"That is the correct answer. Vanilla?"

"Vanilla bean. I'm feeling bold."

"And I'll have-"

"Be right back!"

Pulling in to park in front of the place, Nick hopped out and headed inside, leaving Jimmy and Wallace behind to discuss the growing impact of such overt plushism on their friendship.

It was getting a little heated when Nick emerged from the parlor again with something to cool them both off. Grinning, he held out two oversized ice cream cones, one vanilla bean and the other blueberry swirl. "Whooo's ready to scream?"

A bullet whizzed through both cones, making them explode in Nick's paws. He yelped and fell back, staring in horror at the sweet and delicious double homicide now staining the sidewalk.

"NICK!" Jimmy lunged for the driver's side window, and after unbuckling his seatbelt, managed it the second time.

Both heads turned to where the bullet had come from. To Nick's left they saw a badger in old-fashioned mob clothing, flanked by several other nocturnal mammals. They looked just as surprised as the two foxes. "...We didn't see the cop car," the badger admitted. "Sun was too bright." This despite the fact that every one of them was wearing sunglasses, wide-brimmed hats, or both.

Nonetheless, they were telling the truth, as the actual targets on the other end of the sidewalk now made themselves known. "You think puny bullet can bring us down?" growled a polar bear mobster also flanked by several others. Despite his boasts, the bullet wound was very visible in his leg and he was noticeably limping. "We will flay your mangy pelts to make throw pillows!"

"Or perhaps a rug," said another bear, smirking as he caught sight of Nick. "What are the odds that mighty 'Hero Fox' would be here as well?"

Nick slowly turned his head to force a smile at Jimmy. "Yes. What are the odds?"

Jimmy returned a nervous smile of his own.

The awkward silence was broken as both gangs raised their weapons again and opened fire, the nocturnal mammals taking cover behind overturned tables while the bears hid around the corner of the café itself. Caught right in the middle of them, Nick would have been shredded by crossfire had he not already shoved himself back through the front doors. "Hey, Jer! You still got that refusing service sign? I think you might need it!"

"What did you do?!" growled the grumpy pachyderm proprietor, slamming his trunk on the counter.

"How is this my fault?!"

"It's always your fault!"

Meanwhile, Jimmy had scrambled out of the patrol car through the opposite side door, crouching up against the vehicle as the gunfire continued to sound. The streets were already empty by now, the once-busy pedestrians clearing off with an unfortunately practiced ease. Jimmy held up his radio. "Officer Frost to Dispatch! Gang fight breaking out in front of Jumbeaux's Café! Nocturnal and Tundratown assailants involved! Requesting backup!"

"Back off! This territory is too hot for your kind!" the badger yelled.

"And it's too bright for yours!" the bear retorted. "You don't respect these frozen delicacies anyway!"

"Of course not! Do you even know how ice cream is made?!"

Jimmy took a peek around the edge of a tire as big as he was, tranq pistol in paw. He had a clear shot at the Nocturnal knockers, but not the Tundratown tusslers. Just as well, since he didn't carry tranq doses strong enough for polar bears anyway.

A well-placed dart sunk into the shoulder of a raccoon, who slumped over and onto the head badger. Shoving him off, the badger spotted the glint of Jimmy's pistol before he fired again, grabbing a naked mole rat and yanking him into the path of the next dart. The hairless rodent was so heavily-clothed to block out the sun that the shot didn't even break the skin. "Hey, the cops are siding with Tundratown!"

"No, we're not!" Jimmy insisted. "We don't like them either!"

"Did you hear that?!" one of the bears hissed. "The cops say they don't like us. They must be siding with Nocturnal!"

"We don't like any of you! On principle!" That didn't help Jimmy's case either as now both gangs were concentrating part of their fire on him. "Requesting backup!" the fox yelled into his radio.

Another large car soon pulled in and Jimmy breathed a sigh of relief, up until he saw all the festive felines and other desert mammals hopping out and joining the firefight as well. As that happened to put Jimmy directly in their path, he was quick to climb back into the patrol car, crawling across the seats on his belly.

"Buckle down, soldier! Engage the enemy!" Wallace encouraged.

The car's glass windows weren't as strong as the dome, but they were successfully blocking the shots. For now. Before that could change, Jimmy slammed a foot on the gas pedal and pulled into reverse, taking him out of the three-way crossfire as he quickly radioed in again. "Mariachi mobsters have arrived on scene! They are heavily armed and playing action music! These guys are out for blood!"

And then another car arrived, this one full of mystery mammals in billowing brown cloaks. It ceased to be a mystery as soon as they threw those cloaks off to reveal that they were wearing…absolutely nothing at all. "Now there are Outbackers here too! It's a full-frontal assault!"

His left window shattered. While he was now in a less opportune position for three of the gangs to shoot at him, the bears had a clearer shot than ever. Jimmy screamed and ducked, arms over his head as glass rained down on him.

"Jimmy! Be careful, they're-AGH, I'M HIT!"

The other unfortunate side-effect of Jimmy's move was that the patrol car was no longer blocking the bullets of the Sahara and Outback shooters, some of which now pierced through the front windows of Jumbeaux's Café and shattered them as well.

Nick had overturned a few tables of his own in the interim, with some effort as they were built for megafauna. With them he had constructed a veritable wall from one end of the parlor to the other, catching the stray bullets harmlessly. He sat up on what used to be a table's singular leg, loading up his own tranq rounds as he eyed the elephant ducking behind the counter. "Told you this would work."

"Or you could've stopped them from breaking my windows in the first place," Jerry snapped back. "And now I've gotta replace the tables too. Thanks a bunch."

"Don't mention it. Kinda reminds me of that vandalism case we solved for you. Not to imply you're being ungrateful or anything."

"I'm still not entirely convinced you weren't behind that!"

Nick stood atop the leg, peering over the rim of the table to trade shots with the band mooks and bare mooks outside. He hit a caracal, who dropped his gun and briefly lifted a trumpet to his lips to play a mournful note before he went down. This prompted a returning shot from a dingo that chipped the table's edge, getting close enough that Nick winced from a brief ringing in his ear.

He looked back at the elephant. "Alright, I'll make this really simple. Either you help me out here or those thugs are gonna get in. And if they do, vandalism is gonna be the least of your worries. Especially since I'll probably end up having to use your soft serve dispenser as an improvised fire hose or something. I know you've seen me on TV! Don't think I won't do it!"

"How do you know I've-"

"Because everyone has!"

Jerry grumbled something likely derogatory in response that Nick didn't bother to interpret. "Fine, fox. What do you want from me?"

"To start with, is there anything about the layout of this place that I should know about?"

SLAM

Nick glanced up at the hulking figure of a polar bear now standing at the entrance to the kitchen, then back to Jerry. "Like a back door, for example. That one's on you."

Not bothering to shoot, the bear just lunged across the room at him, shrugging off two darts that Nick managed to stick in him before the fox was forced to move. He leapt off the table leg as the bear's fists came down on top of it, rolling across the floor as he headed towards the counter. "Jerry, give me a Jumbo Pop!"

"Oh, not this aga-"

"Just do it!"

The bear tore off the table leg, wielding it like a club as he advanced on Nick. But he had to stop for a moment to laugh derisively when he saw the fox grab a Jumbo Pop from Jerry's trunk and brandish it at him. "You think wooden stick and artificially-flavored treat can hold back my strength? No wonder you used to rely on bunny cop so much."

He swung down, a blow that would have flattened both Nick and his oversized snack if he hadn't immediately side-stepped it. "I make my own way." That was the only warning the much larger mammal got before Nick once again hopped onto the table leg, running up it to reach the bear's head and swinging his Jumbo Pop hard into the side of his cheek.

It broke on impact, and the Jumbo Pop wasn't doing much better, scattering little red chunks across the floor along with one of the bear's teeth before the ursine collapsed onto his side. Nick proudly hoisted the empty stick over his shoulder. "I guess too much sugar really is bad for your-"

"No," Jerry said firmly. "It's bad enough that I know you're not paying for that one either, but I will not tolerate puns."

"Would you say that you reserve the right to refuse service to any pun?"

"Why yes, I think that would be…" The elephant stopped, narrowing his eyes down at a smug Nick. "Fox ban reinstated. Get out."

"In a minute. Lemme just check in on my partner. Poor thing's probably worried sick about me." Nick very casually leaned back up against his makeshift barricade, ignoring both the unconscious polar bear nearby and the gunshots still pelting the other side. "Hey there, Snowball. How are things out-"

"AAAAAAAAH!"

"So not great then?"

A loud vroom caught his attention and Nick quickly got back up on a different overturned table leg to peer outside again. The first thing he saw was the continuous spray of bullets from every side, followed by their police cruiser driving haphazardly through the middle of it. In addition to Jimmy and Wallace, it now had the additional passenger of another polar bear clinging to its roof.

The cruiser zoomed to the left and vanished from Nick's sight. Slowly, he radioed in again. "Uh, Jimmy? You need a little help out th-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The cruiser drove back to the right, now with a badger, a camel, and two wombats also along for the ride.

Nick hopped down. "Okay, it was great seeing you again, Jer, and I hope we can someday rekindle the glorious friendship we once shared, but for now I gotta go stop my junior partner from becoming a statistic, see ya!" Stopping only for a second to kick away the loose bear tooth in his path, he took off for the back entrance.

"Clawhauser, where is that backup?!" Jimmy screamed, dodging around the many paws reaching in to try and grab him. The cruiser wildly zigzagged back and forth, mainly because he was also wildly zigzagging back and forth. "We've got a large-scale gang war going on over here!"

Finally, the cheetah answered. "Uh…yeah, I heard you. It's just…we kinda have four more of those going on right now…"

"I just meant in this district!"

"So did I…"

"...Oh."

One of the polar bear's fists broke through the windshield, making Jimmy scream again and drop his radio. As Nick himself had done long ago, he grabbed the nearest shard of broken glass and stabbed it into the bear's paw. He roared and withdrew, giving Jimmy time to briefly suck on the finger cut he'd given himself before a wombat's paw reached through instead and grabbed hold of Wallace.

"A Winter Warrior Wallabeanie! These beauties are bigger than eva!"

"NO! I do not consent! Stranger danger!"

Jimmy didn't even hesitate to draw his gun and dart the attempted plushnapper in the arm. He released Wallace and also pulled back, followed shortly thereafter by an unconscious wombat hitting the hood and rolling off.

"Is he-?"

"He's fine! Keep driving!"

Almost on cue, the other wombat burst in through the passenger's side window, wielding a knife in his mouth that Jimmy hoped had been there the whole time. Pulling it out, he yelled and leapt at him, which the fox responded to by lifting his foot off the gas pedal for a second and kicking him back. The wombat hit the door hard enough to knock it open, sending him out into the street.

In the same motion, Nick jumped in from outside and pulled the door shut again. "I see you're having as much fun as ever."

Jimmy was more confused than relieved. "Nick? How did you catch up to us?"

"Catch up? You've been driving back and forth across the same two blocks for the past five minutes. I just waited."

The past five minutes were honestly somewhat of a blur to him. "Cool. But backup isn't coming, so we're kinda in trouble."

"Seriously. These guys are a pain in the butt, almost as much as this broken glass. Good thing they're fighting each other as much as they are us." The commotion above them was only getting louder. "I don't know about you, but I'm not going up there. I worked hard to shake off that joke."

"Okay, I'll do it then. Take the wheel."

"Sure, I-wait, no, that wasn't a suggestion! Snowball!" Jimmy had already climbed out, only his feet and tail still hanging down through the window. Nick had no choice but to jump into the driver's seat, which at least had less broken glass.

Jimmy poked his head up to the rooftop, where the struggle continued unabated. The camel traded blows with the badger while the polar bear beat on his two humps like a pair of drums. (It didn't help that they were decorated to look like drums.) "Excuse me, sirs and/or madams, could you please remove yourselves from our roof? We generally need it."

He was ignored completely, the remaining three unruly passengers apparently no longer finding the cops worth their time. Somewhere along the line, the cruiser had indeed been turned around again and was now heading back to where it started. But as Jimmy gave up on the polite approach and once again reached for his gun, someone beat him to it.

One of the wombats had gotten unsteadily back to his feet, still holding the knife he'd tried to attack Jimmy with. Out of blind spite more than anything, he threw the blade as hard as he could at the assembled rooftop mammals.

It struck the polar bear in his bent leg, making him lose his balance and outright fall on top of the camel, who cried out in pain and reflexively shot a hoof up into the chin of the badger, who swung a dazed arm back around that ended up slapping Jimmy instead, who then fell back into the car and on top of Nick's lap, causing him to accidentally make a sharp turn while simultaneously forcing his foot down onto the pedal.

Back inside the café, Jerry Jumbeaux was busy using his trunk to apply a cold towel to the polar bear's swollen cheek. "How does that feel?"

"Nonexistent. I am adapted to much colder. But gesture is appreciated."

Jerry grunted. "Damn fox, always making a bigger mess of things than they were to begin with. That's it! I don't care what mammals think of me, I am never letting a fox inside these walls again!"

VROOOOOOOOM

They both looked up, only getting a glimpse of bright lights before the ZPD cruiser came crashing through the front of Jumbeaux's Café, with three terrified riders, two panicked drivers, and one wounded Wallabeanie facing the end with dignity.

Jerry screamed, the bear screamed, they all screamed, for there would be no more ice cream.

10:28 AM

Sometime after the foxes had recovered and the remaining criminals had fled, backup arrived. They surrounded what few bricks were still standing of Jumbeaux's Café, investigating the leftovers and consoling the very distraught owner.

It was all they could do to keep him from attempting to assault the two officers now sitting in the back of an open police van.

"Am I…going to make it?" Wallace asked. Having valiantly taken a bullet during the struggle, the plush was now laid over Jimmy's lap while the fox lifted his tiny shirt, pinched out the projectile, and bandaged the wound.

"There. You're going to be fine."

"Will it give me a cool battle scar?"

"It went into your stomach, so it kinda just looks like you have a big belly button now."

"Dangit!"

"Hope I'm not interrupting something." Chief Bogo placed a hoof on one of the van's open doors, glaring down at the vulpines.

Nick wisely answered first. "No, sir. Just sitting around in the center of the apocalypse." His answer was not much better.

Bogo pinched his brow. "As helpful as ever, Wilde. This isn't going to be easy to reimburse. It's the worst property damage I've seen in…I'd like to say 'a while', but I'm not sure last month counts." He slammed his hoof back against the door. "Regardless! We do not need to make it worse by driving our cars through buildings!"

Jimmy raised a paw. Bogo froze in his tirade, briefly befuddled until he remembered which officer he was dealing with. "Yes, Officer Frost?"

"Carla did that once, and it saved the lives of multiple officers from a burning building." Bogo just silently bore holes through him, something his horns were likely physically capable of doing. "Just…saying?"

"Do I really need to explain why ex-Officer Hyenandez is not a good model of proper police conduct?"

"No, sir…"

Nick cut back in before he did anyway. "Chief, with all due respect, this is sort of just the way things are now. Like the weather. Partly cloudy, chance of bullet showers, dress heavy."

"You're inheriting your father's sense of humor. Knock it off."

"Yes, sir."

Jimmy tried to avert his eyes by watching the other officers arrest the few crooks who had either been incapacitated or simply couldn't escape quickly enough. This thankfully included both of the naked wombats. "Phew. Good thing Judy wasn't here to see this."

He only realized he'd spoken aloud when the conversation between Nick and Bogo came to an abrupt halt, both of them now glaring at him. "B-Because she's not good around naturalists, I mean."

"Good save," Nick muttered, turning back to Bogo. "Where is Carrots anyway? She's been surprisingly unpunctual lately."

"Not this time. Apparently, she's already at the ceremony and so she would've shut her radio off," Bogo answered, a bit bitterly himself.

Nick blinked. "That's not for another hour and a half…"

"It's just as well. She wouldn't have made it in time to help, but she would've tried anyway."

"Only Carrots could be late by being early."

"Her level of discipline is only growing though," Bogo said, narrowing his eyes at him again. "I would actually be surprised if she pulled a stunt like this now. Don't think I don't notice when you're trying to change the subject, Wilde!"

He shrugged. "It was worth a shot."

"An attitude you're embracing just a bit too much lately. You're lucky I need all the officers I can get, Wilde. It has unfortunately forced me to become more…tolerant over the occasional destruction of a small-time business. You're still here because neither of you has yet crossed the line into being an outright liability. I suggest you not change that."

Jimmy looked away. Nick did not.

"Anyway, I believe you two have a miscarriage of justice to attend. We'll discuss your punishment later." And like an upset parent, he left it at that, having a lot more to deal with at the moment.

Nick finally took his eyes off the buffalo's back, only to find Jimmy now staring at him. "He's right, you know. You're not yourself, Nick."

"It's funny how everyone gets to decide what I'm like except for myself." Nick stood up. "Don't worry about it, Snowball. We need to get going."

"But Nick-"

"I'm fine. Nothing more to see here anyway." He hopped back into their patrol car, which had actually made it through the incident mostly intact, followed by a reluctant Jimmy. Weaving their way back out of the scene through a few more, they soon took off again.

As they left, they passed by a vixen with purple eyes and a black hoodie heading to the scene. She scowled at the sight of the ruined ice cream parlor. "Ugh, seriously? I just saved up enough money for a cone too. This sucks!" Slumping, she walked back off again.

12:02 PM

Zootopia Police Academy - Ceremonial Stage

Despite Nick's cavalier attitude about the time, driving to the ZPA took up quite a bit of it, considering it rested well outside the limits of the city itself. And once they finally arrived, the parking lot was already full and they got their morning constitutional just walking the rest of the way.

"How was I supposed to know?" the older fox defended himself. "I didn't have to drive here myself the first time! Though with the amount of prep we had to do, it wasn't exactly quick either."

"I remember!" said Jimmy, who much more fondly remembered his time at the academy in general. "Waking up, dressing all nice, and then taking my seat as I watched you get your badge!"

Nick looked back, seeing the smaller fox grinning behind him. "Right. And, uh, what about your badge?"

"Well, I graduated with the next class."

"And?"

"Oh, that was cool too. I remember being sad that you weren't there to watch anymore, but happy that I was being sent to train under you!"

"By the machinations of my father, but let's just ignore that part."

"Ag-reed!"

"And now you'll get to watch someone else on stage, just like old times."

"Yep! Shame we had to leave Wallace in the car though."

A strong wind rushed by, over which the faint cry of "Plushism!" could be heard from far behind them.

Once they made it to the stage, it was no surprise to find that most of the seats were also taken. And yet, the only remaining set of two was close to the front, guarded by a casually-dressed hyena who spotted them as they came in. "There you are! Finally!" She waved to the two foxes over the crowd, as if they would have any trouble picking her out when she was one of the few mammals not wearing blue.

"Nothing to fret about, Pepper," Nick greeted as they approached. "Just trying to keep you on your toes."

"That would imply I didn't expect you to be late," Carla replied. "Still glad you made it though. It was getting tiring keeping anyone else out of these seats."

"I'm surprised you managed it," said Jimmy.

"Don't be. Whenever anyone got too close, I just reminded them of my prior work experience with metal folding chairs."

Nick glanced down at her currently inactive ankle bracelet. "I know you got a special exception to come out today, but you should probably lay off the threats of physical violence unless you wanna extend your house arrest even further."

That instantly killed the hyena's good mood. "Do you want the damn seats or not?"

"Yes, please!" Jimmy eagerly sat himself down before Nick could respond. He just gave a shrug and took the other seat.

By the time he did, a rabbit thumping her foot had left her own seat and was now standing in front of them. "You almost missed the whole event, you know."

"And we missed you, Carrots. You really should've been there this morning. As far as spontaneous gang wars go, I give it a solid 6/10."

Judy deflated. "Sorry. We kinda found ourselves heading in this direction and we just kept going," she said sheepishly, shaking out her light brown trench coat.

"You mean you actually took time off that you didn't have to? And here I thought being a detective would make you busier somehow."

"I'm plenty busy!" Judy huffed, as if genuinely offended by the notion. "Being a detective carries so much more responsibility! We have to personally investigate and solve crimes on our own now!"

"Yes, of course. That sounds entirely different from anything we've done before."

"We didn't have trench coats though," Jimmy pointed out.

"Hey, the kit's got good taste!" Another mammal came up to stand next to Judy, and only a bit over her. The sharply-dressed wolverine wore a gray tank top over camo pants and combats boots, and while she had no trench coat, her black aviator jacket and shades certainly made her stand out. "But believe it or not, there is more to it than that."

Detective Sigrid "Siggy" MacTalon hadn't always been a part of Precinct 1. She was actually a fairly-recent transfer from Precinct 8 in the Meadowlands, brought over to instill a bit of her natural assertiveness where it was needed most. And after Judy, and only Judy, had been promoted to detective, now she was the bunny cop's new partner.

Jimmy looked to the bunny cop's old partner, who was faking being completely cool with this as well as ever. "So…what have you been up to lately?" he asked, trying to take Nick's mind off of it.

He probably should've picked a different question. "Oh, you know, breaking up minor gangs here and there, a few big busts, and now we've got a new missing mammal investigation. Hey, kinda like what Wilde and Hopps here had when they first joined! How's about that?"

"How's about that?" Nick echoed.

"Oh! Not to put you down or anything, maggot. Gah, sorry, that just slipped out!" Detective MacTalon's 'natural assertiveness' came primarily from spending most of her upbringing in military school, a background she never quite shook.

Carla, of course, liked her a lot. "Up high, sister!" They exchanged a high-four.

"Down low!" MacTalon moved her paw down, then socked Carla in the gut when she went for it. "Too slow!"

"Urk! Good one."

"We should get back to our seats, Sigrid," Judy advised. "I think they're about to start."

The wolverine nodded. "I'll see you guys later. Glad you could make it. Oh, and Frost?" She gave a wink. "Congrats."

The younger fox smiled. "Thanks."

As the detective duo returned to their seats, the rest of the assembled crowd began to settle down. All eyes were on the stage now, where the mayor of Zootopia was stepping out from behind a curtain to approach the podium.

Nick couldn't hold back a slight grimace. "Is it bad that I miss Manchas?"

"You're probably the only one who does," Carla replied. "No way was the guy staying in office with the Crime Wars all over the news. The people just wanted a mayor who wasn't corrupt, running a citywide conspiracy, or connected to the mob."

"So fourth time's the charm?" Jimmy asked.

"Charm is about all he has going for him, admittedly."

Dressed in a sharp black suit and a bright yellow tie, the striped hyena tapped on the mic, grinning wide. "Welcome, everyone! Are you feeling blue today? I sure hope so, because that's the color we're here to celebrate!"

The crowd broke out into a subdued, somewhat forced applause, mixed with sounds that could have been laughs or just uncomfortable coughs. This was the typical reaction to a speech from the newly-elected mayor, Charles "Charlie" Chuckles.

"He's not that bad," Jimmy defended. "He believes in bringing joy and laughter to a city that needs it now more than ever. There's nothing wrong with that."

"Apparently, the polls agree," Nick admitted. "Though the whole 'emergency election' aspect does raise a few questions. Did he even win the hyena vote?"

"Yes, actually," Carla answered. "Most males voted for him just to stick it to the females, and some females voted for him too because they found a male making a grab for a position of power to be sexually arousing."

"Okaaaaay, that's enough about hyena culture forever, thank you."

"I don't get it," Jimmy said.

"You will."

"Some may say they don't need no stinkin' badges, but we all know differently!" Chuckles continued, his mirth unwavering. "No one is getting to just go out and enjoy our beautiful city anymore! Well, that's a problem our fun police are going to solve! That's 'police who are fun', not-"

"Sir, we should move on," whispered a much smaller mammal by his feet. The voice was quiet, but not quiet enough to avoid being picked up by those close to the front, especially those with canine hearing.

The speaker was a brown bat wearing suspenders, thick black-rimmed glasses, and a bowtie half the size of his head. While Mayor Chuckles was often a comedian more than a politician, Assistant Mayor Brian P. Batley served as his straight mammal.

"Getting two preds in office at once is pretty impressive though," Nick had to acknowledge. "Never underestimate the small mammal vote. Heck, if my criminal record wasn't public knowledge now, maybe I could've run for mayor."

Carla snorted. "Now that I'd like to see."

"But we should get started for now!" Chuckles said, as if nobody had seen or heard a thing. "Now presenting: our new graduates from the Zootopia Police Academy! When I call your name, please come up and receive your badge!"

Not quite the personalized ceremonies that Nick and Judy were used to, Chuckles began to recite names, the proud cadets stepping out from behind the curtain to be given their badges by a flapping Batley, then sitting down in a row of chairs like they were on an assembly line.

Nick was tempted to keep snarking about politics, but he kept being disrupted by a bushy white tail repeatedly smacking him in the arm. Its owner was oblivious to this, grinning ear to ear while staring in wide-eyed anticipation at the stage. Nick smiled. "You know what? This is a proud moment for you, Snowball, so I'm just gonna let you have it."

It didn't take much longer until they heard the name they were waiting for.

Or rather, the names.

"Pearl, Opal, and Crystal Vixen!"

Apparently, not even the ZPA was willing to separate them in any fashion. The Vixens outright skipped out onto the stage, their fresh and polished police uniforms doing absolutely nothing to diminish their looks. If anything, they wore them exceedingly well, as evidenced by the dropped jaws of many onlookers.

Jimmy just kept grinning to himself, but despite being a bit off to the side in a crowd of dozens, the Vixens' heads all instantly turned in unison to grin back at him. "HIIIIIIIII, JIMMY-WIMMMMMY!"

"HIIIIIIII!"

Batley flew up, pushing the mayor's jaw back into place before collecting the badges. "Three at once? Hope this doesn't become a trend…" Carrying all three badges haphazardly in his talons, the bat pinned one to each Vixen's chest, immensely grateful that their uniforms came with name tags.

Finally, Nick could hold himself back no longer. "You know, when you first told me they were going away for nine months, I assumed something else might have happened in that shower."

Without even looking away, Jimmy answered. "Oh, no, they can't make babies. Those parts don't work anymore."

The sheer bluntness of the response combined with the fact that it was coming from Jimmy of all mammals struck Nick absolutely speechless. This happened to be one of the few guaranteed ways to get Carla to laugh and now the hyena was visibly struggling to contain herself.

Continuing to tune out everything except each other, Jimmy and the Vixens just kept exchanging looks until their moment was interrupted by the rest of the mayor's announcement.

"These three glamorous gals made a real showing back at the academy! I am proud to assign them to the lush canopies of Precinct 4: The Rainforest District!"

His words were followed by a loud shattering sound, or perhaps that was just four different hearts breaking at once.

The Vixens tried to form a response.

"But…"

But even they couldn't hog the spotlight forever. Chuckles eventually had to usher them into their seats to bring out the next graduate.

Polite as he was though, Jimmy couldn't pay attention to any of them.

1:07 PM

Once the ceremony was concluded, the newly-inducted officers were called back behind stage for some final instructions regarding their placement. Meanwhile, friends and family members were set up at tables for a complimentary lunch, which they accepted with great gusto.

Mostly.

"Uuuuuuungh…" Jimmy poked sluggishly at his combination fruit/cricket salad with a plastic fork. Occasionally, he'd get as far as jabbing one or the other and lifting it towards his mouth, only to drop it and groan again.

One of the crickets turned out to be only mostly dead and saw this moment of weakness as a chance to escape. It leapt boldly across the table, landing on Judy's carrot cake and making the rabbit squeak and swat it away in reflex. "Jimmy, it's going to be okay. Not everyone can make it into Precinct 1."

Judy's words gave him the burst of energy his food could no longer provide. "But they were top of their class, nearly perfect scores across the board!"

"Yeah, mainly because of the whole 'trained assassin' thing," Nick pointed out, taking a bite from his blueberry donut.

"Right!" Jimmy thought that over for a moment. "Ooooh, maybe that's why Bogo wasn't happy about them joining."

"Excellent deduction, Snowball. Keep that up and you'll make detective in no time."

The other current detective, MacTalon, raised a claw as she swallowed the piece of fish she was chewing on. Like her, it was out of water. "Hold up. You're telling me those three hot-ass foxes are actually hot-ass assassins? I thought that was just an exaggerated rumor."

"Afraid not," Carla said, taking off a big chunk from a drumstick. "I know you're new to this crowd, so I'll give you a little warning, chica. When it comes to us, there's very little that's just exaggeration. Like…what's the craziest thing you've heard?"

She laughed. "Probably the giant robot you guys took down. But that was just Count Reynard's special effects, right?"

Silence.

"...Well shit. Uh, what else?"

Carla leaned forward. "You need further examples?"

"No…I guess not. Just trying to establish a baseline here."

"The baseline is 'get out while you still can'."

"That does raise a good question actually," Judy brought up. "How did the Vixens even get accepted in the first place? At the time, I assumed they just evaded the background checks, but they were on TV with the rest of us during the Wilde Times attack. I doubt the news cameras gave them any shortage of screentime either."

"Oh, that's easy!" said Jimmy, his positive energy returning. "They made a strong showing of their inherent goodness and that, plus my impassioned letter to the academy, convinced them to give the girls a chance!"

The rest of the table exchanged skeptical looks. MacTalon breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh good, that one's not just me."

"But it's truuuuue!" Jimmy whined, once again slumping over. "Not that it matters now, since they still separated us."

"Hey, it's okay, Jimmy," Judy assured, leaning over to put a comforting paw on his knee. "You'll still see them around plenty."

"I don't think there was any doubt about that part," said Nick.

"And just think of how much good they'll do for the Rainforest District. They must have gotten assigned there because that's where they were needed the most."

"Am I the only one wondering why they didn't get assigned to Tundratown?" Carla suddenly asked, making them all look at her. "Given their natural affinity to the cold and their background with Mr. Big and his connections, you'd think they would be much more valuable in Precinct 3. The precinct chiefs tend to allocate their resources like that, especially in times of crisis. Not to mention just wanting their officers to be comfortable in their natural environments." They all just kept looking at her, making her roll her eyes. "The fact that I graduated illegitimately doesn't mean I didn't read, okay?"

"That is weird," Judy admitted. "But there must have been some reason behind that. Maybe the Vixens know something."

"We have literally no idea."

"Are you sure you-AAH!" Judy jumped back, as did Nick, Carla, and MacTalon. Jimmy did not, as all three Vixens were hugging him so tightly that he was incapable of movement.

"Hey, girls," the trapped fox said, his voice muffled in a way that would make most jealous. "Congrats on making it through."

MacTalon had nearly reached for her gun. "Holy shit, how did those maggots sneak up on me?"

"We're, like, very good at what we do," Crystal replied.

"Meaning…assa-"

"Massages!" Pearl squeezed Jimmy just a bit tighter. "We can make you so relaxed that you won't even know we're there!"

"That still sounds very concerning actually."

"Don't worry, they'll grow on you," Nick said, gesturing to Jimmy. "They might as well have in his case."

"Why so glum, Jimmy-Wimmy?" Opal asked, stroking his head. "I can literally smell your emotional distress."

Jimmy managed to poke his head out into the light of day again. "Because we got split up. Aren't you sad about that too?"

"Oh, of course."

"So sad."

"But, like, we'll still see each other plenty."

Judy raised her arms in a 'told you' gesture, but no one could blame Jimmy for not noticing from his current position.

"Really?" he asked.

"Really," Pearl answered with a peck on the cheek. "Honestly, it was so much harder staying at the academy, only able to see you over MuzzleTime."

"This is my kind of muzzle time!" Opal said, nuzzling her muzzle up against his.

"But we, like, stuck it out because we knew how much it meant to you." Crystal playfully batted his tail. "Just a shame we couldn't be here for your birthday. We'll never miss another one eeeeever again!"

"It really wasn't anything special…" Jimmy muttered. "We just stayed at home. In the dome. Had some cake. Singing was involved. Wasn't even drabble-worthy really."

Nick nodded. "And we're all very happy that your 23rd birthday was far less eventual than my 33rd."

"Oooh! We'll be turning 23 ourselves soon!" Pearl said excitedly. "And now we'll get to celebrate that with our Jimmy-Wimmy instead!"

Nick nodded again, only to stop and gape in shock once his brain fully processed that. "Wait a minute. You're telling us Jimmy is the older one?"

"Uh huh. What, that wasn't obvious?"

"Hoo boy…I'm gonna need to lay down after this."

Meanwhile, MacTalon scooted a bit closer to Carla and whispered. "I need an update. Is Officer Frost…romantically involved with one of them?"

"He's romantically involved with all of them."

"I-I'm sorry?"

"I tried to warn you. Just wait until you meet Wallace."

"Is he dating him too?"

"No, that's just his plush toy that he talks to," Nick cut in. "But if you're still on romance, Carla here married her sister."

She slammed a fist on the table and snarled. "For the last time, we were not related until after we married! She is a goddamn rat!"

"Oh my god…" MacTalon leaned back, putting a paw to her head. "Military school did not prepare me for this."

The Vixens finally pulled away, all grinning down at the still-seated tod.

"So we were, like, thinking…"

"Since we all have literally the rest of today and tomorrow off…"

"You could so come to visit us later…"

"At our place!" they all said in unison.

"W-Wha-?" Even though he'd been released, Jimmy felt just as rooted to the spot as ever. "That…sounds interesting. I'd be curious to see what your place is like."

"And I'm sure you'll get the grand tour," Nick said, already having a pretty good idea where this was going.

So did Judy. "Right! So…it's been fun, but Sigrid and I really should get back to work. We only took like two hours off for this."

"Try not to be too shocked," MacTalon joked, she and Judy exchanging a high-four and running off together, leaving a good chunk of their respective meals behind.

"And off they go…" Nick muttered, sighing to himself. "Carrots and I were never that gung-ho with each other."

"Guess I'll take that home with me. My siblings love scraps," said Carla, collecting the remainders. "And I better head out myself before my ankle bracelet turns back on. This would be a real poor place to have that happen. Stay safe, Jimbo."

Nick smirked. "Well, by the sound of things, he doesn't need to worry about protection."

Carla looked back at him, confused. "What are you talking about? He should never go in unprotected! All it takes is one mistake and it can lead to irreversible consequences!"

"Don't worry, we live under the dome too," Crystal said.

"See? He does have protection," Carla said, smugly, before turning to Jimmy. "Just be vigilant. You never know when you might get a hole in it."

Carla left the table as well, leaving only the foxes. Jimmy smiled. "I missed getting to hang out like this."

"So did I, Snowball." Nick calmly sipped his drink. "So did I…"

As the Vixens went back to cuddling him, making up for lost time, Jimmy's eyes wandered out into the crowd.

It was there that he caught sight of a very unusual zebra, almost hidden behind a parked car. All he could see clearly was a dark brown tweed jacket, a black turtleneck with vertical white stripes, and a pair of shades with one white lens and one black. Despite concealing his eyes completely, Jimmy could tell the zebra was looking straight at them.

And he knew Jimmy was looking back, only giving a slight smile before walking away.

"Hey, girls…did you see-mmmph!"

That was all he got out before he was once again trapped in the Cuddle Zone.

Tundratown

Shangri-Llama Estates

5:55 PM

Jimmy couldn't quite find it in him to be sad or distressed in any further capacity for the rest of the day. Most of which he spent recapping the events of the ceremony to his parents in excruciating detail, and the events of the gang war in as little as possible.

Eventually, the three former assassins came to bring Jimmy safely to their place, an irony they all cheerfully ignored. They had little regard for the laws of physics either as the Vixens came riding in on a skidoo, a snow-crossing vehicle intended for use by a single medium-sized mammal. The three of them not only shared the ride, they managed to squeeze their passenger-and-a-half on it as well. "Baaaai, Mr. and Mrs. Frost!" Pearl waved. "It was so good seeing you again!"

"Take care of our little snowcone, girls!" Abigail waved back. "Congrats on your new jobs! Drive safe!"

Nothing about their setup could be called safe, but at least now it could be called official. Crystal reached around to the front and turned on a flashing light, Opal made siren noises, and then Pearl took their police skidoo out for a drive. Despite the fact that they were no longer permitted to wear their actual uniforms and this too was likely frowned upon.

Unsurprisingly, they got plenty of attention but no harassment on their way home. Once they came to a stop, the Vixens all hopped off the vehicle to let Jimmy stand again. The tod was a little dizzy, but had plenty of paws to catch him when he stumbled off. Blinking a few times, he looked up at the building now looming over him.

Like the Vixens themselves, the three-story rectangular abode was mostly white and looked like it wanted to pounce on him, but in a good way.

It seemed their home was attached to their place of business, the latter occupying the entire first floor. Jimmy could see their logo hanging over the front door, a set of three stars with the Vixens smiling out from them. And below that:

ORION

Massage & Spa

"We're happy to rub you out!"

"Impressive," Wallace said. "The rare triple entendre."

The second floor of the building was where they actually lived, as Jimmy spotted a lamp and some furniture through a set of three windows. The third floor didn't have any windows, but was likely an attic or something, sitting beneath a pair of giant fox ears on the roof.

"Home sweet, like, home!" Crystal called out. "What do you think, Jimmy-Wimmy?"

"It's a bit bigger than I expected."

"So were you. Now come on, we'll show you around!"

As soon as they opened the front door, causing a bell to jingle, a strong scent of lavender nearly bowled Jimmy over. It was mixed in with another alluring scent not quite like pheromones, as those were technically illegal, but close enough that some laws were probably being bent.

While the outside already looked inviting, the interior of the spa really went all out on the idea. It was decorated with oak wood materials and furniture to give it a warm and fuzzy feeling, like living in a cabin in the middle of a winter storm. It had a homey atmosphere to it that felt surreal in a cold place like Tundratown, and perhaps that was part of the appeal.

Though the entire place had been locked up for all the time the Vixens were away, it looked immaculately clean, likely the result of some quick spiffing up for his arrival. Jimmy did his best to look appropriately impressed. "Whoa! You girls didn't have to clean up so well!

"I'm gonna just ignore that one because I also think it's cool!"

"Awwww, thanks!" Opal cooed. "Go ahead and take a look around, literally everywhere!"

Jimmy wandered over towards the reception area. Around the front desk was a warm carpet with a desk and some velvet couches facing a brick chimney. The fireplace was currently unlit, but he now understood the purpose of the giant ears on the roof.

As he looked over the desk though, he noticed something amiss. While their cleaning job had been thorough, it was rushed enough that they seemed to have overlooked one thing. An answering machine sat atop the surface, dusted off but not looked at too closely as a blinking yellow light caught Jimmy's attention. "Hey, it looks like you got some messages while you were gone."

"Hmm?" Crystal asked. "That's odd. We disconnected our business line before we, like, left."

"Well, someone wanted to call you." Jimmy pressed the button before anyone could stop him.

[You have 27 new voice messages]

"Huh. Less than I'd expect, to be honest."

The Vixens shared uneasy glances with each other.

[Playing messages]

A rough voice spoke. "Hey there, girls. It's me again. I was interested in coming in for another appointment. I want a massage, shampoo rinse, and to discuss 'removing' one of my competitors. Now I was thinking-"

The Vixens launched themselves from the top of a chair and leapt halfway across the room, landing between Jimmy and the answering machine as Pearl quickly pressed another button.

[Message deleted]

"S-Silly us. We must have forgotten to disconnect the other business line…" She and her sisters forced smiles, laughing nervously.

Then the next message played. "G'day, shielas!"

"Oh no…"

"Just wanted to get an offer in before anyone else. Our side has the biggest bucks and the fewest clothes, so you'd fit right in! To start-"

[Message deleted]

"Ugh." Crystal pinched her brow. "We started getting spammed with these, like, constantly after the Crime Wars began. Every side wanted us to work with them, not really grasping the whole 'reformed' thing."

"But you were clearly fighting against them at Wilde Times," Jimmy said.

"They literally just thought you guys were paying us more."

"¡Hola! Just wanted to get an offer in before anyone else. I have a list of names for you to peruse, señoritas, and I want them all strung up by their-!"

[Message deleted]

Jimmy winced. "You'd think this would be the sort of business where you wouldn't leave voicemails."

"You would think, huh?" Pearl squeaked out.

"Is there some kind of extra charge for the number of times you stab someone prior to death? Because if so, I want the maximum amou-"

[Message deleted]

"Looking for something quick and painless, but also really grisly. Like, nightmare induc-"

[Message deleted]

"So exactly how many ways CAN you skin a cat?"

[Message deleted]

There were still 21 messages left. And Jimmy, as the unwitting audience, could only stare at the increasingly-mortified Vixens as they went through each one, forced smiles getting wider and wider.

"How much would it take for you gals to just whack the mayor?"

[Message deleted]

"I swear this isn't a fetish thing, but I want you to kill someone using your-"

[Message deleted]

"Sorry, forgot to add that I'd like to send you a hidden camera to set up. Oh, but it isn't a fetish thi-"

[Message deleted]

"Can you do that exploding heart technique from 'Kill Bull'? It's a fetish thing."

[Message deleted]

"Howdy! Just wanted to get an offer in before anyone else. I-"

[Message deleted]

"Vould draining a target's blood be off the table? The Bat Pack and I vanted to throw a celebration feast over-"

[Message deleted]

"Me again. Looks like the mayor problem solved itself, huh? But actually, the new mayor kinda sucks too, so maybe we could-"

[Message deleted]

"Greetings, my girls. I'm aware that you're intending to leave us and would like to-"

[Message deleted]

"Where do you stand on chainsaws?"

[Message deleted]

"Ciao! Just wanted to get an offer in before anyone el-"

Finally, Crystal just yanked the phone out of the wall, wires and all, yeeting it through a window. The artificial winds within the dome came rushing in. "Booooy, it sure got, like, chilly all of a sudden!" said the arctic fox. "Who wants dinner?"

Following a quick board-up job, they all migrated upstairs. The atmosphere up here was even more relaxed, but thankfully lighter on the strong perfume that was starting to make Jimmy's head spin. He didn't get the chance to admire their living room for very long though before he was whisked into a romantic candlelit dinner around the table. They had chosen spaghetti, partially because Jimmy was fond of it and partially in the hopes of setting up a certain cliché. Wallace had been planted in front of the television so that he couldn't ruin it.

Jimmy couldn't shake the feeling that, much like the spaghetti, this night was going to get saucy.

He spent a long time just nibbling on a single strand before he became aware of the three of them staring at him lovingly from across the table. Jimmy quickly slurped it up, realizing this was the first real 'date' he'd been on in a while. And he wasn't that great at coming up with conversation topics even in his daily interactions. "Nice to…have you back. Um, how was the academy?"

"You should know." Opal smirked. "We've literally been in contact on a daily basis."

"W-Well, yeah, but I meant, like, overall."

"Careful. We're starting to rub off on him," Crystal giggled.

"Don't we always?" Pearl asked, elbows on the table and chin in her paws. "And it's not like we've told him everything. We have been so diligent, haven't we, girls?"

"Super diligent!" They both nodded eagerly.

"We were so unstoppable out on the obstacle course."

Pearl sprinted across the Tundratown ice field, effortlessly passing the other cadets. "Wow, I don't know what the big deal was. This is so easy!" She flung herself onto the ice wall and began to climb, her tail sashaying back and forth.

No one else was on the wall yet, mainly because they kept getting distracted staring up at her and running headlong into it.

"Way to knock 'em DEAD, oyster poop!" Major Friedkin yelled.

"And, like, even better in the ring."

Crystal ducked and dodged around the polar bear swinging at her. He was clumsy and uncoordinated, quite unlike the professional bodyguards she'd gotten acquainted with.

Acquainted enough to know their weaknesses.

A few moments later, the large ursine was on the floor, having fallen victim to a few jabbed tickle spots. Crystal stood victoriously atop his convulsing form.

Friedkin blew her whistle. "I am fairly certain that maneuver is NOT in the textbook! But good job, cookie cut!"

"We even got to practice mock scenarios based on literally real life cases."

Opal sat calmly behind the desk while Friedkin read from a card.

"Mammal A is holding a gun on Mammal B. Mammal C rushes in and tackles Mammal B to the ground. Mammal B then reveals that they were actually secretly hoping Mammal C would tackle them all along. Does this make the actions of Mammal C any less heroic?"

"Literally no."

"You'd be surprised how much that one trips people up."

"We are so totally prepared for life in the ZPD!" Pearl finished. "And like I said, we haven't told you everything. The three of us took our time away as an opportunity to teach ourselves something new. Very outside the curriculum, but we think you'll like it."

"Really? What is it?"

"That's, like, a surprise." Crystal winked. "You'll just have to wait and see."

"Not as big of a surprise as our district assignment," Opal said, leaning back in her seat. "But we'll literally always be together, even if we have to spend more time than we'd like away from you."

"I guess it won't be so bad," Jimmy admitted, idly twirling his spaghetti. A blush had become visible on his white cheeks. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that."

"It's, like, super sweet of you to memorize cheesy romantic proverbs for us!"

"Absence helped teach us more discipline too," Pearl added. "We haven't glomped you once since we got here. Our self-control is so much better now!"

He blushed even harder. "So then which one of you is currently playing footsies with me?"

Pearl and Crystal immediately whirled on Opal, who hit her knees on the table in the rush to pull her perpetrating peds away. "Ow! It's not my fault we're literally solemates!"

"True. I guess it's our Jimmy-Wimmy's fault for being so irresistible," Pearl giggled. "But we forgive you."

"Thanks. I…forgive you too."

"For all the PDA's?"

"That too, but I meant all the bad stuff you did…before you met me."

The Vixens' home wasn't terribly well-heated, given their typical clientele, but Jimmy's words had sucked what warmth remained right out of the air.

"How much do you know?" Opal asked.

"Not much." He rubbed his arm uncomfortably, starting to wish he hadn't brought this up. "I mean, I always got the general concept of what you three did, but I didn't need the details. You used to be bad guys and now you're good guys. That was enough for me, at first."

"At first?" Crystal pressed.

"It's just…I heard those voicemails and…I've been told I have a very good imagination…"

"We never actually offered most of those services," Pearl insisted. "We were more professional than that."

"Killers," he said, making them all jolt. "Professional killers. Which makes the exact method kinda moot, doesn't it?"

Pearl's ears pinned. "Yes…"

Jimmy nodded. "Like I said, I always understood that. And I forgive you. But I do have some questions. You know, before we continue…this."

The Vixens all looked between each other, silently arguing over who should answer him first. That task finally landed on Crystal. "O-Okay?"

"Do you remember my summer coat phase?"

They were all caught off-guard by that one.

"Y-Yeah, I do!" Crystal piped up, still on-edge. "You were, like, even more adorable than usual!"

"You literally looked like a precious cinnamon roll!" Opal agreed. "Shame we could only see it over MuzzleTime."

"Right. But the thing is…" He pointed his fork at them. "That only happened to me. You three never lost your winter coats. Why?"

"W-We, like, told you that already! We spent so much time in the Tundratown course that we must have never triggered the change!"

"It literally happens probably!"

"Nuh-uh. I've seen pictures of you in old police reports and read your descriptions from witness statements," he explained. "No one has seen the Vixens in summer coats. Ever."

"Okay, fine! We've had hormone treatments to make us look this way permanently," Pearl confessed. "That's not such a big deal, is it?"

"So there are records of this?"

"Uh…"

"Then there was the first time we…you know…and I was worried about…you know…and you said it was fine because you couldn't make babies anymore, which in hindsight I maybe shouldn't have left it at-"

"Jimmy, come on, isn't this a bit much?" Opal pleaded. "Just because we're all cops now, that doesn't mean we need to literally background check each other."

"I know," the tod sighed, no longer eating at all. "I hate having to talk about this, but you know we need to eventually. I've done some growing up, and that means discussing icky grown-up things that keep away bad stuff."

"Like murder?" Crystal asked.

Jimmy looked up in shock.

"A-As an example of a grown-up thing!"

"Well, yes," he replied. "I guess the main issue is that I don't really know anything about your pasts. I know what you were, but not so much the how and why. When and where would also be nice."

Opal tugged nervously on the collar of the uniform she was no longer wearing. "Do we have to talk about the past?"

"We literally do."

Nobody spoke for several moments. "I won't judge," Jimmy promised, smiling disarmingly. "I'll just sit and listen, like a good boy." He started eating again, stuffing his face full of lukewarm spaghetti so that he physically couldn't talk.

And he fell into their trap when one of those stray strands connected his lips to Pearl's. "Gotcha!" Before he could respond, she wrapped a paw around the back of his head and pulled him in for a much deeper kiss.

Jimmy suddenly had a little trouble remembering what he wanted to talk about. "O-Oooooh, wow. Um, but seriously, we really should…" He blinked a few times. Somewhere during that blissful moment, the Vixens had disappeared completely.

Only to reappear on his side of the table. "We can so talk about that later, okay?" Pearl purred, running a playful claw under his chin.

"Let's literally just focus on the present for now," Opal suggested, nuzzling into his cheek.

"And, like, maybe even the future." Crystal slowly licked his other cheek.

"W-Well, that's, uh, one o-option, but I'm j-just a l-little concerned is aaaaaall…"

He wasn't sure whom, but one of them kissed him again. After that, everything else fell into a haze.

Maybe this CAN wait.

The Next Morning

While the rest of the building may have largely followed a certain numerical theme, the Vixens only had one shared bed, which was oversized even for all three of them. Jimmy vaguely recalled asking why that was sometime last night.

Now he knew.

The tod yawned, his head slowly poking out from the web of white, furry arms he seemed to be enveloped by. Most of his body was covered in lipstick marks and all of it tingled. This feels like a loss, but it also doesn't feel like a loss.

"Morning, Jimmy-Wimmy," Pearl said wearily. This set off a chain reaction that awoke all three of them.

Crystal stretched, one arm behind her head that pulled the other one up. "Did you, like, have a good sleep?"

Opal scratched her ears. "Not that we literally slept much."

It felt redundant to blush at this point, but Jimmy did anyway. "R-Right…"

Opal scratched his ears. "Did you enjoy?"

His tongue lolled out and his tail wagged. "Yeeeeeees."

"As much as last time?"

"That was a while ago…"

"Too long," Crystal agreed. "But I bet you never, like, forgot it." She reached down below the covers. "Or how good we are with our paws…"

Jimmy's eyes bulged. "W-Whoa, hold on!"

"Hmm? What was that?"

"S-Slow down! I-guuuh!"

"I don't hear you telling me to stooop!"

"I can't take belly rubs!"

His leg started kicking violently at the sheets.

"Boy, you so can't," Pearl giggled. Glancing under there herself, she too found something interesting. "Now what do we have here?"

She reached down, her paws clasping around a white, fuzzy thickness and tugging at it.

Wallace was very displeased. "I have been used in ways that make me question my existence."

"Awwww, I like the inquisitive types!" Pearl gave the Wallabeanie a hug before laying him on a pillow (facedown) and returning her full attention to the tod still nestled between them.

"Anything to make you happy, Jimmy-Wimmy. We had so much fun."

"You literally do have a beast inside you once you get going."

"And the, like, beast on the outside isn't half bad either."

"That's not a nice thing to call Wallace," Jimmy chided, still recovering from wanton belly rubbing. "Anyway, now that we've gotten all…that…out of our system…I believe we were talking about-"

"Oh, what's the rush?"

Jimmy suddenly found all three sisters smiling down at him. "We literally have alllllll day together, remember?" Opal asked. "So how about we just treat you to something nice this morning?"

"Like breakfast in bed?"

"Close enough~"

Jimmy's phone rang. He wasn't sure if he should be relieved or disappointed. "Uh…could you get that?"

Pearl reached over to the nightstand to grab the ringing phone, then passed it to Crystal, who passed it to Opal, who held it to Jimmy's muzzle and hit answer. "Hello?" he said.

"Is this Officer Jimmy Frost speaking?" asked an unfamiliar female voice. It must have been early for her too because the question was followed by an audible yawn.

Jimmy immediately yawned in response, followed by the Vixens and likely anyone reading this. "I am he…er, Frost speaking. Who is this?"

"Right, I guess we've never met, huh? This is Chief Kii Catano of Precinct 4. Just call me Kii if you want. The full title's kind of a pain anyway."

"Um, okay?" Maybe he was just still a bit out of it, but this seemed highly irregular. "And what can I do for you, Kii?"

"You're connected to the Vixens, right?"

"Not at the moment. I-I mean, yes! We're…close."

The Vixens were being very courteous right now stifling their giggles.

"Awesome. When you get the chance, could you bring them down to my office? I've got something real important to discuss."

They stopped giggling, now just looking very confused. As did Jimmy.

"I thought they had today off."

"Oh, I wanted you to come along too."

"It's also my day off." He never would've talked back like this to Bogo, but Catano's demeanor was surprisingly unintimidating for a police chief.

"I know, I know. And believe me, I get the joys of sleeping in. Heck, I fell asleep in my cruiser on the way to work this morning."

"Oh my god…"

"Relax, it was parked this time. But like I said, this is important and I really need all of you. I've got a very special assignment here and time is kinda of the essence."

"I don't even work for you."

"Maybe not yet, but the transfer paperwork won't take THAT long to process."

Jimmy bolted upright, now fully awake. "Transfer?!" He whispered an apology to the Vixens he'd just toppled over, gently grabbing the phone from Opal.

"You didn't…oh, this is awkward. Yeah, you've been transferred to Precinct 4 as of last night-ish. Surprise?"

He sure was. "W-Why…?"

"Officially, you're being disciplined. Something about a destroyed ice cream parlor? Which I need to ask you about later because that sounds amazing. I could read the official report, of course, but then I'd have to go searching for it and that would take minutes…"

Jimmy remained silent.

"Okay, I can see this is a bad time. You just rest up for now and I'll call back a bit later-"

"Wait," he stopped her. "You said that was 'officially' the reason, right?"

"Did I say that?"

"You did."

"You so did."

"You, like, did."

"Literally did."

"Oh hey, you're all here."

"That's what you said," Jimmy pressed, now determined to get more info. "So what's the unofficial reason then?"

"Well, that's really the part I wanted you to come in for. It's a lot to explain over the phone. But if you're gonna twist my tail like this, I guess I can give you a hint."

The four arctic foxes all leaned in, faces pressed together.

"How do you feel about hunting a werewolf?"

Jimmy's eyes lit up, his worries momentarily forgotten. "Cooooooooooooooool! Wait, what?"

I'd just like to point out that this one chapter is longer than the entire first arc of BtBW. Certainly shows how far we've come since then, or at least how many words we're willing to put out at once.

And all without actually getting to the main plot of the story yet! That will be next chapter. This one was more to establish how much has changed in our strange and self-aware version of Zootopia, and there's plenty more changes we haven't yet shown.

Of the most striking, there's our change in leadership. For those who don't know, Charlie Chuckles and Brian Batley have an interesting history. They first came into being when Upplet asked Jack and I to make some mayoral candidates for his story "When Night Falls". Chuckles was my contribution and Batley was Jack's. While they didn't end up winning there (spoilers?), now we get to see just what these two can do for the city, for better or for worse.

Detective MacTalon is another character of Jack's. You may see her pop up again elsewhere, but here she's sort of a stand-in for anyone being introduced to this series without prior context. (Which is actually several people I could name thanks to various fic-sharing events over on Discord. Those are always fun.)

Anyway, while this story IS going to have Jimmy as the primary focus, those close to Jimmy will also be getting some of the spotlight. That includes Nick, in a smaller but still significant role, and especially the Vixens. Much like Carla and Priscilla, we're taking a relationship that was mostly played for comedy and delving into some of the issues that might actually crop up in such a relationship. So that bit at the end wasn't just the aftermath of a gratuitous sex scene (and as much of it as we could show while still staying "clean"), but a sign of fractures to be explored.

#FrostyBitches. You guys wanted this, and now we're dissecting it. :P

Shoutout to Merc_Marten for suggesting the chapter title.