[A/N] There are some small changes to this chapter. Mostly Nick's inner dialog. So if you have already read what I posted in the summer, you are welcome to skip this update. If you are curious about what has changed I would love to hear/read any comments you would like to leave.
Loves Bond
Chapter 17 - Tusk Of Boardom
The Tactical Urban Strategic Keratinors division of the Zootopia Police Department was trained and equipped to deal with high risk situations that were beyond the capabilities of normal police officers. They were often deployed to deal with hostage situations, heavily armed mammals or bomb threats. T.U.S.K. was initiated more than half a century ago, when the Predator Rights Movement became violent and armored prey were assigned to deal with the situation. Now, any officer with an exemplary record could apply to join the team.
Nick scoffed at the last word of the acronym, since it meant any horn, or shell growing mammal. The division had originated as a defensive unit to deal with large and aggressive mammals, but with the introduction of predators on the team, they quickly shifted towards heavy assault. As a fox, Nick wondered what his role on the team would be, since he was less than half the size of the next smallest members.
Today was the fox's first day of actual training. Yesterday had been filled with rigorous paperwork and orientations. He also had a complete physical exam that included bloodwork and vision exams, alongside timed laps around a half kilometer track. Now, they were actually putting him to work, but it felt like he was back in the academy again.
The fox stood in a long, empty room, surrounded by thick cement walls that reminded him of some kind of large basement. Along the near end of the room, were several narrow booths, separated by tall, black, foam dividers. A sturdy, wooden shelf was nailed to the dividers at roughly waist level on a wolf. To the left of each shelf, was a single switch.
At around his eye level, the shelf was too tall for the fox to see over and too low for him to walk under, without crouching. He climbed onto a step stool and placed his personal pistol onto the shelf, along with three clips of small-caliber ammo.
He struggled to adjust the large, yellow ear guards that kept slipping down the sides of his head. Even with the rubber bands in place, the wolf-sized ear protection was barely able to stay on his small head. The academy had eventually been able to outfit him with proper sound mufflers, but the TUSK office had only been informed of his arrival two days ago, so it had not been issued any equipment for smaller mammals. For his first week, at least, he would have to make do with what they had on paw.
Lifting the pawgun from the shelf, he checked the weapon to ensure that it was clean and the chamber was empty. Once the brief inspection was complete, he picked up one of the clips of ammo and loaded it into the weapon's handle. Finally, he cocked the gun, switched off the safety and pointed it at a paper target down range.
The target was made from a sturdy sheet of paper that hung from a wire, at the far end of the long basement. Painted on the front side of the paper, was the silhouette of a featureless mammal. It had a large, round area in the center, to denote the body and another circle above that, to mark where the head should be. There were only the two, generic circles, in order to prevent the target from resembling any specific species. The wire the target hung from, was part of a loop that ran back to the booth, where Nick could flip the switch and retrieve the target when he had completed his live weapons practice.
Nick carefully aimed the weapon at the center of the distant target's body and gently squeezed on the trigger. All it took was the slightest touch and the gun responded with a very loud bang, that echoed around the nearly empty room. With the padded barriers and the barely adequate ear protection, Nick only heard a sharp pop.
At the back of the room, the paper target did not respond, nor did a hole appear anywhere on its surface.
Squinting, the fox aimed at the target again, but instead of seeing the featureless training target, it now had a pair of long ears and two, cute, purple spots where the eyes should have been. He lowered the gun slightly and shook his head to clear the image from his mind, but the rabbit shaped shadow would not dissolve.
"So now you come back to haunt me," Nick thought, but his lips also formed the shape of the words.
Lifting his gun back into position he aimed at the rabbit's head.
"Why did you do it?" His whispered voice barely traveled more than an arms length in that sound suppressed room. "Why did you walk out that door and leave me?"
Squeezing the trigger, the shot flew wide, completely missing the target.
The shadow remained silent, yet he felt it taunting him. Its tall ears bounced happily from side to side and the glowing pink nose wiggled cutely.
A black paw shook ever so slightly and a pair of green eyes blinked. Beads of sweat rolled down the fox's brow as he tried to focus on the muzzleless target. He took a deep breath and tried to push away the phantom rabbit's image.
"What did I ever do to hurt you?"
"You did hide those papers from her," the cute yet eerie voice finally spoke.
Another bullet missed its target. The paper didn't even swish at a passing breeze, as the projectile impacted the solid cement wall at the back of the room.
"I said I was sorry. It was for her own good," Nick thought, refuting the dark voice in the back of his mind. "Bogo was in a fury and he would not have been kind to her. I gave him a way out."
"Oh, and what a good partner you are," the voice whispered.
"What is that supposed to mean?" The fox pulled the trigger again. "She still has her job."
"But not a partner to watch her back." Nick's mind wandered back to a convenient store robbery they had responded to this summer.
They were chasing a dangerous mammal in dark clothing through a moon lit alley. When the criminal turned to attack, she took the high ground and leapt over a large trash bin. He went low and took the perp out at the knees.
Together, they reacted like a well oiled machine. They made the perfect crime fighting team. But what had gone wrong. He was still struggling to understand his rabbit's unusual behavior from two nights prior.
"And what was the deal with that stupid news article?" He asked the purple vision.
"You barely even looked at it twice," she replied with a huff.
His eyes furrowed as he scowled back at her. "It was nothing but a bunch of lies and hog shampoo."
"She took it seriously, maybe you should have done the same."
"Why now?" Nick shrugged. "There is already tons of anti-inter propaganda, why did that one matter so much?"
"You really are just a dumb fox," the shadow rabbit's voice, was like a vicious slap across his muzzle.
Nick blinked his green eyes, as his vision slowly returned to the shooting range. He looked down the small gun's sights at the paper target, but once again, all he saw was a rabbit's silhouette. Pulling the trigger he hit the lower corner of the sheet, once again missing the shaded area of the target.
Again, the rabbit shaped target seemed to mock him.
Bang! A hole instantly appeared next to the target's head, but it was still a clear miss.
"Wilde!" A voice broke over the loudspeaker near the ceiling. Behind a bullet proof window, a uniformed boar angrily pounded on the glass, "Your records show that you are a crack shot. Why the heck are you wasting rounds on my shooting range? If you are going to keep pulling this kind of shit, I'm going to start charging you for those."
The fox turned around and gave the Sergeant in the observation booth a weak salute, before popping the empty clip out of his gun. He quickly loaded a second clip into the gun and pointed it at the distant target. In rapid succession, he fired off six rounds, released the second empty clip and loaded the third. Six more shots echoed across the range and the fox set his gun on the shelf, before raising both paws in the air.
When the fox retrieved the target from the wire, Sergeant Razorback shook his head in annoyance. The featureless target now had two long arcs above its head that resembled a pair of tall ears. "Show off," the boar grunted.
"And, here, we have the garage," the gruff looking boar explained. He wore a standard issue police uniform, with sergeant's bars on his arm. Underneath the uniform, his brown fur was coarse and prickly, like he was wearing a coat of thick needles. A pair of large tusks, also jutted viciously from his lower jaw.
Running from the center of the sergeant's head and down his back, was a tall spine of black fur that made him look like a primitive warrior. Despite the boar's savage looking exterior, he was all business and stood ramrod straight, as if he was on a military parade ground, instead of in a police garage.
A uniformed fox followed the sergeant into the high ceilinged room and looked around. The three, box-shaped vans that sat in the vehicle bays, looked like they were ready to charge into action at a moment's notice. Each van was painted black with the letters TUSK marked in white on their flat sides.
Underneath one of the vans, was a boar wearing grey overalls. Several wrenches and an oil pan lay scattered around the mechanic, while he loosened several bolts under the vehicle. He was whistling some obscure tune, as the sergeant and the fox strolled by.
Another police boar, who was showing a bit of grey in his dark fur, was loading several sets of riot gear into the back of the third van. All of the gear was laid out and neatly organized on the table behind the van, as the officer checked it off his clipboard. After inspecting them, he returned each piece to its proper place inside the large vehicle.
"This is Officer Porkins," the Sergeant explained. "He manages our inventory, including the armory. Anything goes missing around here and Porkins' wrath can be quite terrifying." He turned to the older boar who had lifted a large, transparent shield up in his hooves and was carrying it towards the van, "Porkins, this is Officer Wilde. He is joining the team."
Porkins barely looked at the fox before grunting, "A bit scrawny isn't he?"
"Don't mind him," Razorback said, clapping the fox on the back. "He is usually this gruff with everyone. He should warm up to you after a while."
"Ok, Sarge," the fox stumbled slightly at the unusually heavy blow on his shoulder. "If you say so."
"Hey, look, Wilde," the Sergeant declared. "We are all a bunch of misfits here, but when we work together as a team, we get the job done. Now, if you got a problem with that, then you're welcome to head back to wherever you came from."
Nick's back suddenly became straight as a board and his ears perked up, "No, Sir." Under his breath he muttered, "Besides, they don't want me back there."
Whether the boar in charge heard the last part, or not, he did not say, "That's what I thought."
After they passed the third van, Nick spotted two squad cars sitting up on jacks. One, had all the tires removed, while the second, seemed to be missing an engine, but both looked like they were in serious need of a new paint job.
Stepping through a different steel door than the one they had entered, the boar announced, "Next stop, the electronics lab." It was a very short walk down the hall to the next door, but what was behind it, fascinated the fox and his eye bulged.
Inside the electronics lab, was a variety of different equipment, loose wires, and random circuits, laying across half a dozen tables. On the first table, the fox saw a strange device that ran on a pair of miniature tank treads, but had a single, huge arm sticking up from the base. On the end of the robotic arm, was a two fingered grabber that looked extremely creepy, with several small surgical tools attached.
At one of the many tables, sat a pronghorn antelope, wearing a ZPD t-shirt. As the fox and boar approached, the horned mammal was tinkering with a large device that looked like a huge, black 'X'. Each arm of the 'X' was longer than the fox was tall and at the ends, a set of four, vicious blades were mounted. The pronghorn moved his hooves around inside a black ball, at the center of the 'X'.
From Nick's vantage point, he could see that a jumble of camera equipment was mounted inside the black ball. He could also see that the base of the ball had a metal plate, where other devices could be mounted and carried by the large quadcopter.
"Wow, that is huge," Nick whistled.
"Got her off a military surplus auction last week," the pronghorn said, without removing his hooves from inside the machine.
"Officer Fabbro is working on installing some IR equipment, before we take her out for a test flight," Sergeant Razorback explained.
"Do you think it could carry a rabbit?" the fox asked.
The new question caused the antelope to pull his muzzle out from inside the device and look down at the red fox. "It's rated for at least forty kilos, but I should be able to boost that by another five. So yeah, you could carry a small litter of bunnies, or a couple of foxes. Why?"
"Oh, no reason. Only curious," the fox replied, looking at the various gadgets laying, or hanging around the room.
"If you are thinking of cutting your commute time, then forget it," Fabbro glared at the small predator. "This is military grade hardware and requires very specific licensing and a predetermined flight plan to fly, unless you want to get shot down as soon as you take off."
"Ok, Fabbro. I think Officer Wilde gets the point," the boar added. "No one is going joyriding with our new toy." He said the last bit while glaring down at the fox.
"Yes, Sir," Nick responded to the implied order.
Sergeant Razorback looked back at the antelope who had returned to tinkering inside the drone, "Officer Fabbro's team is down a member, so if you finish your training, the two of you will be teammates." The boar strongly emphasized the word 'if'.
"What happened?"
"Don't worry about it, Wilde," Razorback advised. "But, if the two of you want to get along, I suggest keeping your paws off of his toys. He does tend to get a little cranky when mammals start messing with them."
"Whatever, Sarge," the antelope snorted inside the large, black ball.
Back in the hallway, Nick and the sergeant walked past a length of sturdy, brick walls. Along this section of the hallway, were two large, and very thick glass windows. Inside the first window, the fox was reminded of the abandoned subway car that he and his rabbit had found over a year ago. This chemistry lab was much more elaborate and cleaner than the makeshift one that sheep had been using.
The solid door to the lab was sealed, but his long nose could still pick up the faint trace of chemicals. He could smell ammonia and other cleaning solvents, as well as hints of gasoline and oil. The combination seemed like an odd mix between a janitor's supply closet and an auto mechanic shop. Another, fainter scent, gave him a strong impression of the gardening section of the local supermarket.
Thinking about supply closets brought back the image of his bunny. Her soft, grey and white fur rubbed against the cream colored fur on his chest while they lay on that closet shelf. Small, grey paws pulled him close and her scent filled his long nose.
"She walked out of your life," the dark voice whispered again.
"Maybe I should try to call her," he thought to himself, trying to ignore the darker thoughts.
"It's been days. She would have called you back by now."
Despite the harsh words that echoed in his head, Nick still pictured a beautiful, grey rabbit with deep purple eyes. She winked and blew a kiss at him, before she turned and walked away, while wagging her short tail. The image lifted his heart and a sigh escaped his lips.
He tried to hold onto the warm memories they had shared, but the dark voices insisted on tearing those memories to shreds. Their movie nights and cuddling on the train, brought a smile to his muzzle. He even fondly remembered their pillow fights on the couch. From out of nowhere a pillow would slam into his muzzle, followed by the full weight of a flying, giggling bunny. With each image, the long eared shadow would whisper that he should give up and move on.
A soft tear began to form under the fox's eye, before the sergeant's voice yanked him harshly from his wistful daydreaming, "Wilde!"
The boar scowled down at the mooning fox, "I know what you did at that school, but I am not going to let you anywhere near the bomb squad. Not until you have proven yourself and you have a basic degree, in both chemistry and electronics. So, don't even think about going into that room for a very long time."
"Yes, Sir," the fox nodded and followed his new, superior officer down the hall.
The next window, looked down on a large, empty room, with a big steel table in the center. The walls of the room looked like they had been scorched and battered, while the table was covered in so many dents, it might have been run over by a herd of elephants. This was clearly where the bomb squad practiced disabling explosive devices.
Continuing on, the sergeant led Nick up two flights of stairs, to an area that resembled more of the typical office building. It had soft carpets and painted walls, instead of the cold stone and bricks in the basement. There was even a potted fern in one corner of the hallway.
Sergeant Razorback opened a door halfway down the hall and strolled inside with the fox on his heels. Inside, was a plain room with a few, plush chairs, that could have come from any doctor's waiting room. A second, smaller hallway connected the waiting room to several office doors.
When the boar entered, a grey wolf stood and saluted crisply. "At ease, Lieutenant Zanne," the sergeant called. The lieutenant strongly reminded the fox of another grey wolf he had worked with back in Precinct 1, but this version was several years younger.
"Zanne, will be your Sniffer Instructor," the boar began to explain. "He will test your abilities to detect and track not only wanted mammals but also dangerous substances and illegal contraband." He tapped the fox's muzzle, causing the smaller mammal to sniff loudly, "Your nose will become an effective weapon in our fight against crime. I expect you to show us what a real fox can do."
The boar opened the door and turned to leave, "He is all yours Zanne. I am certain you can make a good sniffer out of him." He then quietly closed the door and left.
Looking down at the fox in the middle of the room, the wolf spoke first, "Let's get something straight. I am not a fan of foxes, but the Chief trusts you and Sarge thinks you have potential, so prove me wrong. Many canines wash out of this course and I will not make it any easier for you because of your smaller size. You survived the academy, and this will be no different."
"Yes, Sir," Nick saluted smartly, not wanting to provoke his trainer on the first day. He was glad that the wolf was honest and Nick would not begrudge the larger canid those speciest feelings towards foxes. "Let's get started then."
"Eager, huh? I like that." The lieutenant pulled a thick, black cloth from his pocket and tossed it to the fox. "Cover your eyes with that." Once the tod was blindfolded, he continued, "We will begin with a simple test to ascertain your current skills, and then, work up to harder and harder challenges."
With the blindfold in place, the image of the beautiful rabbit returned, but Nick shook it off and tried to focus on the other mammal in the room. "I am ready," he declared confidently.
"Then follow me," Zanne said as he stepped towards the smaller hall that was connected to the waiting room. Before taking the left branch, he turned back towards the fox and spoke in a tone that Bogo often used when giving orders, "And do not remove the blindfold, until I tell you."
Nick nodded and the wolf strolled down the hall, quickly outpacing the blinded fox. He could hear that his instructor had entered a door near the end of the hall, but had also left a clear scent trail for him to follow.
Lifting his nose, Nick sniffed the air and slowly followed the wolf's trail. He could tell that the lieutenant had not used a musk mask after taking a shower this morning, but instead had applied a heavy cologne. The fox never used the brand, but he knew the bottles all carried the image of an old-style, sailing vessel. With the strong scent, it was easy to follow the wolf.
Nearly halfway down the hall, the scent swerved slightly to the right. At first Nick thought nothing of the odd move, but when he took another step forward, his nose caught the faint hint of wet soil and something else that reminded him of the rainforest district. He stepped to the right and reached out his paw and felt a broad leafed plant. "Sneaky wolf," he muttered under his breath.
Further down the hall, the wolf's scent shifted to the left and Nick smelled the dry sand of a windblown desert. He also smelled something that reminded him of a bitter fruit and thousands of sharp needles. When he passed this obstacle, he did not extend a paw to touch the dangerous plant.
Arriving at the open door, he turned towards the wolf who was still waiting on the other side. "Good job," said the instructor. "Most trainees fail that their first time." The wolf stepped aside and made a gesture that Nick could not see, "Have a seat."
Stepping through the door, Nick sniffed at the air. He might not have been a rabbit but he still had excellent hearing. His sharp ears could have easily detected the sounds of mice crawling behind a wall, but unlike his ex-partner, his hearing was not good enough to detect the faint sound of the wolf's slow heartbeat less than half a meter away. Except for the wolf, the room was silent and as far as he could tell with the blindfold secure across his eyes, it was empty.
He took several steps forward and still smelled nothing. Then, straight ahead, he detected the smell of long dried, wood varnish and wool cloth. There was a chair nearby, possibly in the middle of the room. He sniffed around and determined that indeed the chair was directly in front of him.
With his paws stretched out, he felt around for the chair while he cautiously stepped forward. The chair, once found, was medium sized, and unlike those in Precinct 1, it was only slightly too large for the small fox.
Climbing up the wooden side, Nick sat down in the chair and leaned against the cushioned back. This chair did not have any arm rests, but the plush, wool cushions were moderately comfortable. He was in no danger of falling asleep in such exquisite comfort, but it was far preferable to the hard, steel-and-plastic that he had become accustomed to at the ZPD.
The door closed and the wolf stepped towards the fox with a familiar clinking sound of metal chains, "I am going to bind your paws so that you focus entirely on your nose for this next part of the exam. If you have any problems with being bound, we can stop immediately. No hard feelings, but good luck with your next assignment."
"I understand," Nick stated firmly and held his paws out in front of him.
"Behind the chair," the wolf demanded.
Nick struggled to reach both paws around the back of the wide chair, but, after a few moments, he was able to smoothly bend his elbow around the uprights. The lieutenant locked his paws in the cuffs leaving the fox securely bound to the chair.
"This next test is for identification," Lieutenant Zanne explained. "I will present you with a series of items and I want you to tell me what they are. This is why your paws are bound. We don't want you to accidently reach out and touch them."
The sound of a panel slid open from the fox's right and the wolf walked over to where the noise had been. He retrieved something from the open panel and carried it around and presented it to the fox's long nose, "Give it a good, strong whiff and then tell me what you smell."
Nick inhaled deeply of the item in the wolf's paw. The strong cologne filled the air and was interfering with his senses, but he was certain that the lieutenant had deliberately splashed some on his paw. It was a good distraction and would help weed out a strong nose from the weaker ones.
Sniffing again, he blocked out the cologne and began to sense something that reminded him of the clothes that his girlfriend liked to wear. He pictured the pretty, pink and blue top with the thick bands of color that she wore when laying around the apartment. The memory of the beautiful rabbit lounging on his couch with her soft, hind paws in the air while reading, brought a smile to his muzzle and his heart began to race.
"Rabbit," he uttered the first word that came to mind after his second sniff.
Scoffing, the wolf pulled the cloth away from Nick's nose, "The Chief did say you had a smart mouth. It's fine by me if you fail this test. That just means I don't have to put up with a smart tail like you much longer." Walking away, he returned the first item to its place and a second panel opened.
When the wolf retrieved the second item, he heard it make a soft, scraping noise, but as the larger mammal walked around to the front of the fox, Nick could easily make out the dry and dusty scent. He barely had to take a whiff before he knew what the item was.
"An old, hardbound book from Sergeant Razorback's office," the fox declared promptly. "Volume three, on The History Of The ZPD, I believe."
"What?" The wolf seemed slightly shocked by the fox's answer.
"The Sergeant's scent is all over the book, and I remember seeing that one missing from his bookshelf this morning."
"Alright," the lieutenant stated flatly, as he returned the book to its cubby hole. "You won't get any extra credit for excessive details. Describing the item and its owner is more than enough for now." A panel slid closed over the book and the third one opened.
With the new item held in front of his nose, Nick smelled iron, plastic and fresh, potting soil, like you would find in the gardening department at the supermarket. He also caught the faint hint of two, distinct, wooly mammals.
"It is a small garden tool, possibly a trowel or a hoe, meant for a single hoof. The tool was used this morning by a goat but was more recently handled by a sheep," the fox answered confidently.
"That is very interesting, Officer Wilde," the wolf noted. "We will have to work on the age of scents more at a later time."
Putting the garden tool back into its compartment, Lieutenant Zanne closed the panel and opened the next one. As soon as the tiny door slid open, Nick immediately recognized the scent that wafted through the empty room. "Blueberries," he blurted out before the wolf had a chance to even lift them out of their small alcove.
"Fine," the larger canid said with a shrug. He closed the panel with a small grunt, "We won't even bother with what they are sitting in then. Instead, let's move onto the last item."
Nick heard the next panel slide open and the wolf exhaled as he reached into the small niche. He could not be entirely sure, but he thought he heard a tinkle sound, like a very tiny bell. When the wolf held his paw in front of the fox's nose, Nick could not smell anything on the first sniff.
A second sniff and all he could sense was the very faint, metallic smell of a paperclip. His ears however told him that the wolf must have been holding something larger than a tiny piece of metal. The wolf flexed a single muscle in his paw and Nick once again heard the tiny bell sound.
Inhaling a third time, the fox detected a faint scent of pine, cinnamon and chocolate. He also thought he smelled hints of peppermint and glue. The wolf's strong cologne drowned out any fainter scents that might have remained on the unusual object.
"Winter," the fox finally replied. "Specifically the winter star festival. Possibly an ornament of some kind."
The lieutenant's voice was pleased when he placed the last item back in its cubby hole and closed the panel, "Well, consider me impressed, Officer Wilde. Rarely anyone gets that last one, since it has been sitting in a dusty box for over a year."
He paused for a few seconds before continuing, but Nick could hear a rustling noise from behind the wall where the items had been stowed. "I am sure by now, that you have already guessed what is about to happen next."
The wolf opened a medium sized door in the wall to the fox's right, before walking behind the chair where Nick was still bound. He pulled the pawcuff keys from his belt and began to undo the clasps. "The final task is to retrieve the items that I just showed you, and bring them back here as quickly as you can. Remember, the blindfold is to remain covering your eyes at all times during this test. The timer starts as soon as the cuffs have been removed from your paws." The last few words left his lips less than two seconds before the metal cuffs clattered to the floor, but the fox was already running for the door.
Beyond the door was another narrow hallway, but unlike the previous room, this hallway was filled with the scent of many mammals. It smelled as if the entirety of Precinct 1 had walked through here in the last five minutes, while many had even been overly flatulent directly in front of the door.
Not deterred but the offensive smells, Nick turned around and sniffed at the wall where a long shelf sat level with his nose. He stood up on his toes and sniffed the shelf. In the first slot on the shelf, he smelled Officer Delgato near the piece of cloth. Next, he picked up the scent of a female goat carrying off the Sargeant's book. And third, Fabbro's scent was near where the garden tool had been. The blueberries had been removed by a large mammal that smelled exactly like a hippo, and the ornament had been lifted by the Sergeant himself.
Following the Sergeant's scent, he raced blindly into a wall before he realized that he was in a maze. The boar's scent twisted and turned through the maze, it even crossed the hippo's and Fabbro's scents several times.
When he finally tracked the scent to one of the many dead ends in this twisting maze, Nick detected that the boar had placed the ornament on a bushy pine tree that was covered in glass balls, bells and peppermint candy sticks. How was he going to find the right one now? The lieutenant said that this was the hardest item, now Nick understood what he meant. There were at least two dozen ornaments on the tree to choose from, and Nick was certain that he would fail the test if he picked the wrong one.
The boar's scent was all over the tree, like the larger mammal had rubbed against it, or hugged it. Why would the gruff swine have hugged the ornamented tree? Then it dawned on the fox. He sniffed around the back of the furry plant. Sure enough, there was a single ornament hanging from a high branch, on the back side of the tree that was covered in a thick coat of the Sergeant's scent. With his eyes still covered, the fox gently plucked the glass ball from the tree, before he ran back the way he had come.
Ornament in paw, Nick knew that he was being timed and returning back to the start to follow each mammal's tracks would be a huge waste so he sniffed the air, hoping to detect one of the other items. The first items that came to his nose were the blueberries. They smelled like they were directly on the other side of the wall from where he stood, but after turning three corners, he was not any closer to finding them.
Instead, he found the hippo's trail. And after three left turns and one right turn, he stumbled across the berries, closed up inside a round, woven basket. He grabbed the basket in his paws and sniffed around for the next mammal's scent.
After two more turns, he ran across Delgato's scent, where it crossed with the goat. He could also smell the cloth close by, so he chose to follow the lion instead. When he reached the next deadend, he bumped into a wooden barrier that stood between him and his goal. Feeling around with his paws, he found the split in the closet door and quickly opened it. Inside the closet, hung several items of clothing, but only one smelled like rabbit. He yanked the rabbit's shirt off its hook, before he turned around and sprinted back to the last intersection.
With three items in paw, he followed the goat's scent to what seemed like a standard office cubicle. A small, five wheeled, office chair had been moved across the goat's scent and nearly tripped up the swiftly moving fox. Nick could not detect the scent of the book, but the goat's scent was smeared all over the desk. The fox sniffed across the top, where the goat had deliberately rubbed their hooves and down the sides. He pulled open each of the drawers, and in the second one, he found the book.
One item left to find and he did not know how long it had been so once again he took off running. He knew that the electrician he had met less than an hour ago was the one who had picked up the garden tool. Nick also suspected that Officer Fabbro was the most intelligent of the bunch and would go out of his way to make the fox's life difficult. Would the pronghorn use one of his drones to hide the tool and throw off his scent?
Nick quickly realized that he could not simply follow the antelope's scent to find the garden tool like he had done with the others. He had to think about this differently, he would have to track the item directly. Going back to the start was also out of the question, since he was running out of time.
All of the items had been hidden in common locations, near items of their own kind or in places that would mask their scents. Where would a trowel hide in an office setting? A supply closet would be too obvious and he would never be able to find one blindfolded.
When following the boar's scent trail earlier, he remembered smelling freshly potted soil. There were plants around this office, and all he had to do was check each one. Nick sniffed the air and rushed towards the nearest potted plant.
In a short stretch of hallway, the fox found his first quarry. It was a tall clump of bamboo in a large, stone pot. To his luck, the soil had been freshly disturbed. He did not smell Officer Fabbro nearby, but the scent of a strange boar was all over the plant. Carefully, Nick reached his paw between the tall shoots and felt a plastic handle. Without a second thought, he pulled the trowel free from the bamboo and raced back through the maze towards the room where Lieutenant Zanne waited.
The fox stumbled through the door to the training room gasping for breath as he dumped the five items onto the chair. He threw his paws into the air and declared, "Done."
Looking on, the wolf didn't even clap at the fox's success. "Where is item number six?" He asked coldly.
"Now, wait a minute," Nick confronted the lieutenant. "You specifically said to collect these five items."
Pausing, the wolf exhaled towards the ceiling. He took a deep breath before replying, "So I did. Well then, Officer Wilde, it seems that you have completed your first trial. You can remove the blindfold now."
Nick removed the thick cloth from around his eyes and squinted in the dimly-lit room. Sitting on the chair were the five items that he had collected from the maze beyond. There was a black t-shirt for a small mammal that was so filthy that it could have been found on the side of the street or in a trash bin. The exact book he knew was missing from the Sergeant's office, a dirty trowel, a round basket filled with blueberries, and a crystal ball covered in swirls of blue glitter. On the bottom of the ball, Nick noticed that the glitter formed the number seventeen.
"Good job," the wolf declared. "You completed the course in three minutes and twenty eight seconds. It is a fair time, and one we hope you can improve on in the future."
Nick cautiously climbed the stairs to the third floor of the abandoned apartment building. Graffiti and random splatters of paint seemed to cover every wall in the stairwell. Junk lay everywhere, and he had to work his way around a torn and stained mattress that lay across the steps.
Ahead of the fox, Officer Hepardo had reached the top of the stairs and was closing in on a broken door. The cheetah was dressed in tactical body armor that completely covered his chest and a shielded helmet. When the spotted feline reached the half open door, he put his back to the wall and held up a clenched fist, giving the sign to hold.
Following behind Nick was a pronghorn antelope who wore similar armor, but his helmet was also equipped with a pair of IR goggles. On Officer Fabbro's wrist, he wore a small touch screen computer that was connected to the ZPD's information network. As he reached the top of the stairs to join the fox and the cheetah, he pointed at his eyes and then held up three fingers.
The fox nodded at the antelope's silent signal that there were three targets on this floor. He turned and sniffed through the space left under the door that hung half open by one hinge. There were no fresh scents of any mammals nearby, leaving the hall on the other side of the door clear.
Quietly, Hepardo pulled open the heavy door while Fabbro aimed through the opening and Nick knelt down to cover the lower angle. The loose hinge creaked as the door swung open and threatened to fall off the wall, but the strong cheetah leaned the metal door gently against the wall to keep it from falling on his companions.
Carefully, Nick poked his nose around the corner, making sure to point his high powered paintball gun down the length of the hall. More trash and graffiti filled the hallway and a makeshift tent had been erected out of an old tarp and a broken bed frame. "All clear," the fox called as he stepped into the long hall.
The cheetah came second, with the antelope covering the rear. As a group, they worked their way down the hall, checking each open door one by one. When they reached the first door that was still attached to its hinges, Fabbro signaled that their targets were beyond the door. The walls in the old apartment building were thin and the tech's goggles could detect the shapes of mammals on the other side.
Officers Wilde and Fabbro took up positions at either side of the door while the larger cheetah prepared to throw open the door. The antelope silently counted down with his hooves while the fox tensed.
They had already lost one member of their team downstairs, and Nick was unfamiliar with their dynamics. This was the first time he had been through a training exercise with these mammals and it was his own inattention that had gotten Officer Ronson tagged out early. With the three remaining members of the team, they were about to charge into an unknown apartment room where three, skilled officers waited to ambush them.
The officers inside the next room were playing the part of criminals, who were holding out inside this building. Nick's team was assigned to assault the building and put down any resistance. A single shot from the paintball guns was considered enough to tag out a unit on either side. The perps were supposed to have well defended positions, but the assault team had more advanced equipment and intel.
When the count reached zero, Fabbro made a fist with his hoof and nodded at the cheetah. Hepardo swung open the door and yelled into the room, "ZPD, throw down your weapons and come out with your paws in the air."
A barrage of paint projectiles flew through the open door in response to the standard ZPD warning. The wall on the opposite side of the hall was peppered with random splatters of paint like a young kit's art project. While the first burst paused, a second burst of blue paint followed, turning the doorway into a death trap for anyone who tried to stick their head around the corner.
Nick realized that the paint was flying around chest high on Officer Hepardo, so he decided to make his move from much closer to the floor. When both paint bursts paused for a few seconds, the fox was ready. He popped his head around the corner and took appraisal of the room.
The apartment had been almost thoroughly stripped bare. A few shreds of flowery wallpaper remained stuck to the walls where several predators had slashed the cheap wood with their claws. Broken furniture lay scattered around the floor, creating numerous obstacles to trip over. Along one wall, a torn and urine stained sleeping bag sat next to the remains of a hastily erected campfire.
In the middle of the room, a large couch had been overturned and was being used as cover by at least one of Nick's targets. After less than a heartbeat had passed, a lightly armored boar lifted his head above the couch and the fox splattered the front of the perp's muzzle shield with a ball of red paint.
"You, little shit," another boar called from behind the couch. The new boar shot from the end of the couch instead of over the top like his partner had moments before.
Ducking out of the way after he tagged the first boar, Nick dodged the shots as they made a blue mess on the floor. Blindly, Fabbro fired into the room roughly where the second boar had been, splattering the far end of the couch in red paint.
When Hepardo joined the spray, the cowering boar fled from the couch and ducked through a door into a side room. Seeing the perp fleeing, the cheetah rushed into the room to pursue as he fired his weapon.
A third boar, who had been hiding in the kitchen, easily popped the charging cheetah in the back with a single round of yellow paint. Unphased by the tag, Hepardo continued to rush towards the bedroom.
"Your dead, boy-o," the boar in the bedroom called as he repeatedly pelted the cheetah with blue balls of paint. "Get on the floor and act the part."
After a few choice words, Officer Hepardo finally sat down on the floor, near the extinguished campfire and tried to stay out of the remaining combatants' way.
While the cheetah was arguing with the trainer in the other room, Nick and Fabbro signaled to each other and moved to flank the perp who had fired from the kitchen. The fox went left, while the pronghorn moved to the right.
Moving past the couch, Nick spotted the first boar sitting behind the couch trying to wipe the red paint from his muzzle shield. A long, open counter separated the central room from the kitchen, but the fox could not clearly see his target over the high surface.
Fabbro had moved forward and was prepared to circle around the kitchen divider, but he also could not see exactly where in the room the third boar was hiding. One swift paw signal towards Nick, and the fox began to take pot shots over the counter to draw the boar's attention.
When the perp began to shoot back at the fox who had also taken cover behind the couch, the antelope made his move. He rushed around the kitchen divider and popped the shooter twice in the back and once on his kevlar helmet.
The exchange in the kitchen had only taken a few seconds and the boar in the side room had not had a chance to take cover before the fox was headed in his direction. There was little in the way of cover in the abandoned bedroom, except for a bare and empty closet. With the doors missing, it was little more than an alcove. Luckily the closet could not be seen from the bedroom door, so boar number two quickly ducked inside before the fox came into view.
Once again, Nick and Fabbro took up positions on each side of the door. When they peeked around the corner, the last boar was nowhere in sight. The tech lowered the IR goggles over his eyes and spotted a large heat signature crouched in the closet, but neither he nor the fox had a good angle to hit the target.
After the antelope signaled that the boar was hiding in the closet, Nick took a couple of shots, but the few drops of splashed paint that managed to hit the perp would not count for a tag out. It had to be a clean hit. Knowing that he was under fire, the boar blindly fired back, causing the fox and pronghorn to duck back behind the door.
Several exchanges of paint later, Nick pointed to a broken table top that lay on the floor. Fabbro nodded at the fox's suggestion and made a circling motion with his hooves. The broken table was too heavy for the smaller mammal to carry on his own, so the antelope would have to lift it up.
Nick provided cover fire while Fabbro retrieved the table. Once the antelope was ready, the fox grabbed a broken bit of wood and on the count of four, tossed the stick into the room behind where he thought the boar had been crouched.
When the broken chair leg clattered to the floor, Nick's sharp ears thought he heard the boar turn around. Before the round piece of wood had rolled to a stop, the fight was over. Fabbro charged forward with the broken table blocking the view of the distracted boar, while the small fox crouched behind the impromptu shield.
The antelope only took two steps into the room before Nick had a clear shot of the closet. He stayed low, as he aimed his paintball gun around the side of the broken table. Spotting the boar who had turned to the side as the stick rolled across the floor, the fox took the shot.
Red paint splattered the trainer directly in the center of his chest and he dropped his weapon and raised his hooves in the air. He stood up and casually wiped at the paint on his armor. Pointing at the cheetah who sat in a corner of the room, the boar explained, "That is two down boys, one more and you're out."
"Understood," Officer Fabbro replied as they headed back out of the room.
"Stop talking to the dead," the larger boar from the main room demanded as he continued to wipe paint from his helmet.
Walking back towards the main stairs, the pronghorn tech looked at his wrist computer. He turned towards the smaller officer as he explained the situation, "Ten total targets in the building. We took down six so far, that leaves four more."
"Ok," Nick replied as the pair returned to the stairwell. "Do we know where they are?"
Pressing some buttons on the small screen, Fabbro shook his head, "External cameras show heat and movement on the fifth floor, but nothing on four. They all seem to be grouped roughly in the center of the building though."
"Could be good, or bad for us?"
"With the way the Sarge likes to set up these trials, it is usually bad for us."
"I am confident we can figure something out."
Scoffing, the antelope replied, "Overconfidence can be fatal in our line of work."
The stairwell to the fourth floor was barricaded and blocked, so the pair had to switch back to the other end of the building and take the other set. When they reached the next floor, they found that the route up to five was broken and unclimbable so they had to traverse the entire length of the building once again.
When they reached the top floor, they found that the door was completely gone. Fabbro held up a fist to halt their advance and pulled a small mirror from his vest pocket. The mirror was attached to a wire handle and reminded Nick of his last visit to the dentist.
Poking the mirror slightly around the corner, the pronghorn twisted it around until he could see down the hallway. What he saw made him shake his head before he passed the mirror to the fox.
Using the mirror to peek around the corner, Nick saw that the hallway was barricaded by broken furniture that had been stacked into piles. The piles only reached up to head height on the fox and beyond them he could see five mammals total, instead of the expected four. He saw two warthogs, a buffalo and a wolf, standing at the ready near the piles of junk. Further back, he spotted a goat that was not wearing the same gear as the other four.
"So what is the plan?" Nick asked.
"Well, under normal circumstances, we would have tossed in teargas a long time ago and then darted everyone," Fabbro explained. "With the stairs broken and blocked, we are stuck with this route."
"What about the roof?"
Fabbro pointed to the landing they were standing on, "Stairs don't go any higher from here. We would have to go outside to get to the roof."
They were stuck. The defenses seemed insurmountable with no way to sneak up on the defenders or get around them. "Think positive," Nick thought to himself. "What would my energetic little bunny do?"
"She isn't your bunny anymore," the phantom rabbit had returned.
"I know," he agreed with the dark voice in his head. "But I know she would have gotten us out of this predicament by now. She was always quick on her toes."
"She's not here, you might as well just give up and go home."
Nick glanced at the antelope hunkered next to him while the fox argued with himself. "These guys have a lot more experience than I do, but they are really not the think outside of the box type of cops, like she was."
"They already told you that they don't trust foxes." He swatted at the air like he was shooing away an irritating fly.
Looking around the trash that littered the stairwell, the fox began to scratch at his chin, "What did you say about teargas?"
"It's standard procedure against a well defended position like the one we're facing," the antelope waved his hooves as he spoke. "Incapacitate the defenders before rushing in."
"Is there anything around here that looks like a tear grenade?" Nick walked down to the lower landing and began to rummage through some of the junk.
"What are you getting at Wilde?"
"We don't have any real gas, but what if we used a distraction instead?"
"Like you did with that broken table leg earlier," Fabbro snapped his fingers.
"Exactly!" The fox exclaimed, pulling out a pair of empty beer cans from the pile of trash. "Now, how do we make them look like live grenades?"
"I have an idea," the antelope said, taking the cans from the fox. "Stand back."
Several minutes of scavenging later, the pair of officers each held one metal can that had been filled with sand and rocks and covered in red paint. Each can had a small paper fuse hanging out the open end which the antelope quickly lit. When the fuses burned down inside the cans they began to belch small clouds of harmless smoke.
"Ok, now," Fabbro called as he looked around the door and tossed his can towards the barricade. "Grenade!" he yelled as the smoking can sailed through the air.
A second can joined the first and they rattled loudly when they hit the floor. With the smoke and metallic clatter, all five mammals behind the makeshift barricade turned to look at the cans.
When the defenders turned away, both the fox and the antelope leapt through the door, firing wildly down the hall. The cans only smoked for a few seconds so the hall never filled with enough clouds to obscure the defenders. In less time that it took for the attackers to fall to the floor, they had sprayed all five mammals with multiple rounds of red paint.
With the enemy completely drenched, both the fox and antelope stood up and threw their fists into the air. They whooped and cheered at their own accomplishment, "Oh, yeah!"
After the small pair high foured, they saw the red painted buffalo scowling down the hall in their direction. He waved his hoof at the civilian dressed goat who was also splattered in red paint. "You killed the damn hostage!" The buffalo yelled.
Finnick meticulously walked around the edge of the large, rectangular table. A very shallow trough lined with a soft, green felt, filled the top of the table, while a wide rim ran around the outside. Along the rim of the trough were six holes roughly the size of a full grown fox's fist. Eleven different colored balls lay scattered around the table, each with their own unique number.
One ball, that sat near the center of the table, was completely white and had no number written anywhere on its smooth surface. Finnick watched the pure white ball as he walked around the table carrying a smooth, tapered pole that was nearly as tall as the table was long. Every few steps, the small fox would lower his head until it was nearly level with the table and squinted at the white ball.
"Nick," the fennec said with a broad smile towards the red tod sitting on a tall stool that overlooked the pool table. "I really want to thank you for hooking me up with that wild bunny."
The small fox set the butt end of the pole down on the floor and rubbed a small brick of chalk on the narrow end. He lifted the pole and stretched it across the table until it nearly touched the white ball he had been eyeing earlier, "Whoo wee, that was a night to remember."
With his left paw resting flat on the table, Finnick laid the pole across two fingers and drew it back with the other paw. One swift jerk of his right arm and the long pole struck the cue ball, causing it to race across the table. In the blink of an eye, the white ball struck a blue striped ball marked with the number ten. Upon impact, the ten rocketed into the side pocket with a loud clatter, but the white ball rolled back several paw lengths before it came to a gentle stop.
Sipping at a tall glass of amber beer, Nick watched the balls on the table with little interest, while the smaller fox continued to talk.
"I am so glad that I didn't get totally sloshed that night," the small brown tod declared as he struck the cue ball again. This time the white ball bounced off a side bumper and collided with an orange striped ball with the number thirteen written on the side. The thirteen ball nudged the side of a pure yellow ball before falling into a corner pocket.
Walking around the table again, Finnick looked for another shot. He still had the nine and eleven balls to sink, but they were both stuck behind three other solids. The small fox had to decide if he would consider breaking up the pack and leaving the table to the red fox.
Lining up the next shot, the fennec continued to speak, "Did I tell you, that she actually called me back?" Without even looking, he swung the cue stick and set the ball in motion. "Wanted to start seeing me all regular like."
When none of the balls fell into any pockets, he stepped away from the table and passed the pole to the taller fox. "I would have never guessed, in a million years, that a bunny would ever want to date a guy like me."
Walking up to the table, Nick set his beer glass on the railing and saw that Finnick had left the cue ball in a terrible position, "Can we not talk about bunnies right now, pal?"
Nick took a long sip of his beer and looked for the nearest ball he could sink. The cue ball was stuck between the nine, the eleven and the five balls. He would have to move those balls out of the way if he wanted to knock the one ball into the nearest pocket. The five would have to go through the three ball or the nine, before it found a pocket. Finnick really had left him with a pile of crap this round.
"Why," the smaller fox asked without so much as a smirk, as he watched the red fox struggle to find a shot. "What ever happened to the rabbit you were so hot over?"
The red decided to try for the one ball. Instead of holding the cue over the five and striking the white ball from above, he lined up over the one itself and aimed low. "She is not 'The Rabbit', Finnick," Nick declared angrily. "Her name is Judy. And she left. She walked out the door like a bad break. You know what the worst part is, huh?"
"I am guessing you are going to tell me."
"She sent her neighbors to pick up the rest of her things," Nick waved the stick around like he could hit something with it.
"Those antelope brothers?" Finnick asked in shock. "How could they ever fit inside your small apartment? Wouldn't their horns ruin your ceiling?"
"They are definitely not brothers."
"Oh, oh my," the fennec uttered in feigned shock.
"Bucky and Pronk made me carry everything down to their car while they argued about who was going to drive." The red fox once again bent over and aimed the long stick at the cue ball.
"Why did your rabbit leave you in the first place?"
The reynard lightly hit the cue ball low and quickly pulled the stick out of the way so the ball could roll back towards the solid yellow one, "I screwed up." After several seconds, the white ball nicked the solid yellow one, barely knocking it into the hole. "I don't want to talk about it right now."
"Why didn't you go after her?"
Choking, Nick waved the stick across the table in a wide arc. "And have some good samaritan call the cops when they see a fox chasing after a rabbit at night. No thanks!"
His next shot bounced off the eleven before it came near the six. The cue ball collided with the side wall and bounced back towards the center of the table, causing Nick to growl half heartedly before passing the stick back to Finnick.
"Ok, fine, mammal," the smaller fox replied. He stepped back up to the table to look for his next shot. "I get it. You don't want to talk about bunnies, but get your damn beer off the table, so I can shoot."
With a loud groan, Nick retrieved his glass before sitting back on the stool he had previously occupied. He took another long sip, followed by a loud belch, "I'd rather not talk about anything, at the moment."
Finnick walked around the table a second time while keeping his eyes fixed on the white ball, "You know how much I hate taking your money when you are like this?"
Nick raised his glass to the small, brown tod, "Now, we both know that is a lie."
Seeing that both the five and eleven balls had moved, the small tod saw a possible shot at the yellow striped, nine ball. It would require a rebound off the side wall, but it was still a fairly easy opportunity. Lining up the angles, Finnick spoke again, "Maybe you should start seeing other mammals bro." He struck the cue ball and watched it bounce off the bumper, "I know a nice young vixen that kinda has the hots for you."
Focused on the bottom of his glass, Nick never saw the nine ball drop into a corner pocket. "A vixen? The only young vixen you know is Carla." He set the empty beer down and waved at the bartender for a second one.
"No thanks, pal." The tone in his voice loudly declared that he could care less. He didn't care that Finnick was running the table, nor that Carla was interested in him. He didn't care if the bartender brought him another beer, or if he fell off the tall stool, into a pile of his own vomit.
"Geeze, Red," Finnick gasped as he looked for the best way to sink the eleven ball. "I have not seen you this messed up since Trish."
"Would mammals stop saying that name!" Nick slammed his fist into the pool table, causing everything to jiggle slightly.
"Seriously, what is with you and women?" The small fox set aside the cue stick and looked at his friend. "Any time you find a nice girl, you date for a few months and then she goes and rips your damn heart out."
Finnick grabbed the beer from the bartender as he passed by the table and took a sip before Nick could lay his paws on it, "Then you drink yourself stupid, until I have to drag your sorry tail out of the gutter before it gets run over or something."
"Well, thank you, for caring so much." The red fox reached to pull the fresh beer from his friend's paws, but the smaller fox turned away, keeping the bigger one away from the toxic brew.
"You know what your problem is, pal?" Finnick set the glass down far out of Nick's reach and picked up the pool cue again. "You get too attached." He lined up a bank shot and hit the eleven ball, causing it to spin sideways, barely missing the seven before falling into the side pocket.
He looked around the table once again. All he had to do now was sink the black, eight ball to win the round, but it was obvious that Nick was not interested in playing. The nearest ball to the cue was the seven, so he set his sights on sinking that one next. "Now, me and this country bunny already agreed not to take anything seriously."
With a light tap, the solid, red ball rolled into the same pocket that had taken the eleven. Taking another stroll around the table, the small fox continued to talk, "We just want to roll around in the hay a little and then go our separate ways, no strings attached."
The three ball was on the other side of the table, but it was a clean, straight shot to the opposite corner. With the slightest bit of backspin, he could even set it up to sink the green six. Taking the shot, Finnick's tone almost sounded like he was scolding the younger fox, "But you, with you it's like you have this noose around your damn neck, just waiting for the girl to pull too hard." The small fox held up both paws in the air, and then made a snapping motion to emphasize Nick getting his neck broke.
Picking up the tall pole again, Finnick walked to the other side of the table without noticing that Nick had also moved around the table. Only three balls remained, and if the fennec set the cue ball up after each shot, it would have been an easy run to clear the table. "Take my advice."
One swift motion and the green ball practically jumped into the side pocket. "Roll around under the sheets a few times and forget about this rabbit cop."
With a barely contained snarl, Nick glared back at his small friend, "You just don't get it do you, Finnick." Nick grabbed the beer off the stool where Finnick thought he had placed it out of the red fox's reach.
In one long gulp, Nick drained the glass and slammed it back on the stool. Without another word, he turned his back on the desert fox and stormed out the door.
As the heavy metal door barely missed his long tail, he ignored the voice of the small fox that called after him. "Damit, Nick. You drunken fool. Get your ugly tail back in here!"
It was dark and pouring heavily outside, but the depressed fox did not seem to notice. He had no idea where he was going and didn't care if he got there or not. The cold rain ran off his fur like the jungle ferns in the Rainforest district, but his clothes were quickly soaked.
There were no streetlights in this part of town, even the parking lot of the bar was barely lit. Turning onto the sidewalk, he headed up a small hill. He did not care where the street led, as long as it was away from the miniature fox and his talk of girls and annoying bunnies.
The darkness surrounded and enveloped him, bringing back the purple-eyed phantom. She hovered on the edge of his vision. Turning his head, all he saw was a tree or a small car parked on the side of the street.
Why did thoughts of this overly enthusiastic and emotional bunny fill his mind? She was brave and strong, and so adorably cute. Those tall ears and flick of her fluffy tail caused him to gasp in the dark and his paws stumbled on a small crack. Normally his natural night vision would have allowed him to navigate these streets unhindered, but a thick haze hung over everything.
Shaking his head, he tried to clear his mind, but the rabbit weighed heavily on his thoughts. Something kept nagging him about their last conversation, but he could not quite put his paw on it. Judy had been trying to tell him something, but he had been too groggy to listen.
He should have told her about those transfer papers. If he had not woken from a long nap, they could have worked past that little mistake, but there was something else that he felt was missing. Stepping over a discarded and soggy shoebox, Nick struggled to remember everything that happened that night.
Looking back at the rain soaked box, he remembered the soggy newspaper. A light clicked on in his brain, but it did not help guide his steps. It had something to do with that dumb article. What had it been about?
Inters in the ZPD. The article mentioned that there were several mixed couples on the force that were destroying our way of life. Did Judy really believe the tripe that author had been spouting? No, she couldn't. It was obvious that everything in that news column was discriminatory trash.
What if she did believe it? Judy said that her friends and family hated us being together. She even asked if we were doing the right thing. Maybe she believes that it can't work, that our relationship is doomed to fail. "Oh, Judy! How could you be so blind?"
Cold determination filled the fox's muzzle as he trudged up the rainy hill. He had believed that this bunny was somehow different, that she could see past the fur, to the mammal beneath. He was wrong once before, but why did he keep rushing back to this rabbit? Why did he feel so drawn to her, like a bear inexorably pulled towards the honey pot?
Filthy, muddy water splashed over him, as he sank into the gutter. He wanted to let it wash him away, to carry him out to sea, where he would not have to deal with dumb bunnies or cops or any more speciest mammals.
Living among the fishes wasn't so bad. He could rent a boat and become a fisher mammal, or sail out to the horizon. There were tropical islands out there that had never heard of bunnies, or foxes, for that matter. All he had to do was sail out past that bright sunset.
The sun kept getting brighter and brighter until it split into two. When the two suns nearly ran him over, they made a loud, blaring noise that hurt his ears. A small, brown creature jumped out from behind the two suns and strolled over to where the pathetic fox was trying to sail away in that filthy gutter.
"Wilde," the creature yelled in a deep, angry voice. "Get your sodden tail out of that muck and into the van or I will kill you myself."
Nick struggled to sit up, but he slipped in the rushing water. He would have surely gone under the torrent except for a small pair of brown paws that pulled him back, "I can't carry you on my own, you big ungrateful, ball of soggy red fluff."
The fox blinked at the strange, small creature that had struggled to pull him out of the water. He saw that the creature's twin sun chariot waited for him, so he stood up and tried to climb into the seat.
"Sit down and shut up," Finnick yelled as he closed the door behind Nick. "And if you make a mess on the seat again I am making you clean it up."
"Why should you care?" Nick sobbed.
"I keep asking myself the same damn question," the desert fox replied.
"Who could ever love a fox like me?" The red fox mumbled coldly.
"What does that even mean?" Finnick asked. But the other fox was sound asleep with his long muzzle planted into the dashboard.
The small, brown fox shook his head as he put the van into gear, "I will drive you home, but I am not carrying you up those damn stairs, again."
[A/N] Thank you for reading, or rereading this chapter. It contains a lot of references to other fan fiction, art and media. T.U.S.K. is loosely based on the Tame Collar version of the movie and bits are from yitexity's Savage Company comic. I wonder if anyone can spot the other references in this chapter. For Finnicks pool game, I actually drew out the table for each play so I could keep track of where everything was at any given time.
On a positive note, I just accepted an offer for a new job and will be starting the first of next year. For anyone who has been following me since the beginning I will not be following the same pattern the last time I got a new job. Taking such a long break was a big mistake on my part and may have caused the story to head in a completely unexpected direction. No I am not going to stop uploading, because this time I still have ten more chapters already completed. I do have three more left to put on paper before part 2 is complete, but the northern hemisphere's spring is when I am the most creative so I should be able to get them out fairly quickly.
Another good note. RandomChibiGirl on Deviantart has been doing a wonderful job drawing quick pen sketches of each chapter for part 1. She has also done the cover art for part 1 and 2. I would be awesome of everyone could stop by her Deviantart gallery and say hi.