A/N: Please note that I have fixed the issue with Chapter 2. It was showing I posted it as Chapter 2 but it was pointed out to me that it was Chapter 1 being posted again. I have no idea how that happened. I would like to thank MuffledEagle22 for notifiying me of that. I'm glad because that was one of my favorite chapters to write so far. Now, on with the story.

Chapter 6 – Encounters

It had been a little over 5 months since Mayor Fairbreeze had made the announcement about Dylan and his appearance here in Zootopia. Dylan was sure of one thing, he may be in a world of anthromorphic animals, a furries dream, but they were people. In all, they acted like anyone back on Earth would, except, it seemed, they tended to be more accepting. Mostly it was a lot of stares, some mammals trying to be subtle while others were just open about it almost to the point of rudeness. There were those like the Llama who ushered her small child out of the way, holding him close to her and placing her body between him and her little one. Those, he would just smile and wave. Sometimes they would wave back, making Dylan feel like progress was being made. Slow progress yes, but progress all the same.

Some were borderline antagonistic, a few even going so far as to block his way while walking down the street. Dylan would just look them in the eye, nod his head, then go around them, alert in case they tried to use force. It wasn't just predators that would do things like that either. There were prey animals, such as bulls of the various species. Most seemed confused when he offered respect but refused to be pulled into a confrontation.

There had been a couple of demonstrations but neither one had more than a dozen mammals in them. This happened after the papers ran the story about how, as an endangered species, he was entitled to a place to stay, education, and free money. Dylan could understand their viewpoint and wanted to get off of assisstance as soon as possible. Slowly, but surely, he was getting there.

There had only been one instance where a large bull elk seemed about to attack and Dylan subtly shifted his weight, ready to dodge. Fortunately, there was a short chirp of a siren and both turned to see two officers, a tiger and a hippo, in a squad car not more than twenty feet away. The bull elk straightened up and, with a final glare in Dylan's direction, walked swiftly away. Dylan just smiled and waved at the officers who smiled and waved back. Evidently Nick and Judy had been talking about him around the station house.

Some were on the other end of the spectrum, curious about the weird, nearly furless, mammal that so suddenly showed up, and in such a spectacular manner. Most of those just wanted to be able to say that they'd met him "Why, I was walking down the street yesterday and can you guess who I bumped into?"

Dylan had never judged others on what they looked like, just on how they acted, particularly in regards to others. While he'd never really been into the Furry scene all that much, he had friends who were and had even been to a few parties. While he enjoyed himself and could see the appeal, he just wasn't ready to run out and buy himself a suit. But it did cause him to start thinking of what his inner animal would be. Dylan decided that the least he could do was start growing a beard. He hoped it would help.

All of that made it easy for Dylan to go beyond appearances and see everyone here in Zootopia as an individual. That was hammered home a few days ago when one of his few friends, Rick, a grey squirrel majoring in Electrical Engineering, poked him in the arm when they were watching a music video starring Gazelle and asked him if he thought that Gazelle was good looking. Dylan had to admit, honestly, that she was.

Dylan's apartment wasn't posh by any stretch of the imagination. A combination living room/ dining room, a small kitchen barely large enough to turn around in, a bathroom, and a separate bedroom large enough for a double bed, night stand, and a dresser. One of the first pieces of furniture he'd bought had been a computer desk. He'd had to push the dining table against the wall but, as he didn't see himself entertaining much, it would do. It could still seat three other people so that should be good enough, right?

Dylan had also been able to get most of his things back from the ZPD. Everything that is except for his vehicle and the trailer he'd been towing. His Jeep was not legal here in Zootopia because it still ran on fossil fuels. Nick had mentioned he had a friend, Finnic, who might be able to find an engine to fit. However, that would have to wait until he could start bringing in more funds. Until then, he was stuck walking to the bus stop to get to wherever he needed to go.

It was that very reason that found Dylan sitting in the campus library on his laptop with several books piled around him. Pretty much anything dealing with computers was years behind in technology, so he was working on a translation program that would allow his computer to run Zootopian code.

Dylan was in the process of earning his degree in both Computer Science and Mathematics for the second time as well as Business. He'd already looked into getting a job at a gaming company only to find out there wasn't one. Getting a Business degree would help immensely with founding a computer gaming company.

Well, they say nature abhors a vacuum so, if there wasn't one, he was going to create one. While he wasn't ready to come out with the first MMORPG, much less immersive VR, he could start out small with games that was easily playable on the phones and computers here. 'Hell' he thought ruefully 'I can base my games on the ones back on Earth. After all, I'm in a different universe, it's not like I can send them royalties or they can sue me.' That was the thought that caused Dylan to freeze, realizing that he no longer thought of Earth as home.

A small, grey shaped figure suddenly appeared on the table to his left, causeing Dylan to jump slightly. He heard a small, squeeky laugh as he got his breathing and heartbeat under control. "Rick! I swear, you live to scare the ever loving crap out of me!"

The small grey squirrel, Rick, laughed some more and said "Gotta keep you on your toes Dylan!"

"Nah" Dylan said as he shook his head "it's not that. You just enjoy scaring the life out of me."

"Well, there's that too." Rick admitted. He looked over to what was on Dylan's laptop and some of the books that were open. "So, what are you working on? It doesn't look like the homework ol' Fangy assigned."

Dylan chuckled. Rick's sense of humor was one of the things he loved about the squirrel. Ol' Fangy was Rick's name for Professor Fangorn, their instructor in what passed as machine language here in Zootopia. While Rick was actually an Electronic Engineering major, he was taking Computer Science and Mathematics as a minor. Dylan had found him to be extremely intelligent and unrelentingly curious.

Rick had a forthright manner and had endeared himself to Dylan when he had come up to him right after their first class together, stuck out his paw, and introduced himself, not seeming to care in the slightest that Dylan looked like some weird mammal with a terrible case of the mange.

Since that time, Rick had helped to introduce Dylan to several other mammals, most of whom were acquaintnces. The two exceptions were Felix, a coyote majoring in Cellular Biology and Genetics. And Wade, a coyote, that was majoring in Music. These three guys had become close friends in a short period of time and helped Dylan maintain his sanity.

It was through Wade that Dylan learned that, while Gazelle was the reigning queen of Pop, there didn't seem to be a big interest in Country music. It was pretty much relegated to the outlying areas of Zootopia, such as Bunnyburrow.

Dylan hoped he'd be able to change that with a few select songs from Earth. Maybe modify a few to better fit into the geography here. After all, Sweet Home Alabama by Alabama wouldn't exactly be relatable here.

"No, I finished the homework even before I left class, it was rather easy after all."

"Easy for you maybe. Some of us have a harder time of it."

"Do you need help with it?" Dylan asked.

"Nah, I've already finished it."

"Then what are you complaining about?"

"Just trying to get on your last nerve. So, what are you working on?"

"A translation program so I can run what passes for code here on my laptop."

"Oh" Rick stated. He was quiet for a moment when he asked "Have you given any more thought to what we talked about a few weeks ago?"

Dylan nodded. They'd discussed the possibility of reverse engineering his laptop. "I'd like to get a company started first before we do that. Right now my laptop is the only one of it's kind. I'd rather try to re-invent some to the other technology from what I remember of Earth." Dylan looked his friend in the eye and said "We should come up with a name for our company."

Rick jerked upright with a shocked expression and asked "What do you mean by 'we' Dylan?"

"Exactly what I said. I plan on starting a tech company and I'd like you to be my partner and president of the company. I plan on having us building affordable computers, both laptops and desktops and designing computerized tablets the size of my monitor here. I plan on having a division designing games for computers, tablets, and mobile phones."

Dylan turned sideways to face Rick better and leaned over putting his right elbow on the table. "What you don't know is I've already pitched the idea for a game to Horizon for use on their phones but they wanted exclusive rights 'in perpetuity' to anything else I created. They hid that little gem deep in the legalize. Of course I refused to sign the contract. And, since they decided to try and be slick, I'm going to try and run them out of business by doing everything they do, but better."

Rick smiled at him, chuckling slightly "They didn't count on your being a genius with a photographic memory did they?"

Dylan gave his friend a vicious grin and answered "No. No they didn't. I does help at times."

Rick matched his grin. He hated it when some mammals took advantage of others simply because they felt they could so he was all for Dylan's idea. "Prism." he stated.

Dylan looked at him for a second before connecting the dots. He nodded and countered with "Prism Computer Technologies. I'll research the requirements and do the paperwork. We may not be much more than a name on a document, but it's a start. What do you think of that Mr. President?"

The expression that Rick gave him was identical to the first when he said questioningly "Mr. President?"

"Well, who else do you think I'd have as my right paw mammal other than my best friend?"

Rick was taken aback by Dylan's statement. When he'd first realized that the mammal that had been mentioned in the news was in one of his classes, he'd decided to befriend him. After all, the poor mammal was all alone in Zootopia and probably needed a friend. The ensuing weeks since Rick had introduced himself had shown him that he'd made the right decision. Dylan was a wonderful person, smart, funny, helpful, and a genuinely nice guy. But, he'd had no idea that Dylan and he had come to be that close. His tiny heart swelled "I accept! It's a good thing we're both straight or I'd kiss you."

"When have I ever said I was straight cutie?" Dylan said as he tilted his head to the right and widened his eyes.

Rick was taken aback by that question. When had he mentioned his sexuality? "I, uh, that is, uh..."

Dylan laughed and pointed his finger at his friend and watched the shocked expression change to a rueful one as Rick began to understand he'd been had. He laughed at himself as well for falling for that. While he loved his friend he didn't love him in that way.

"Well," Dylan stated as he stood and put his laptop into his shoulder bag "I have to start heading to my next class. We're starting the section on Business Ethics."

"Sounds like the people at Horizon never took that class."

"Probably not." Dylan acknowledged as he grabbed the books and put his into his bag with his computer. The remainder he placed in the book bin to be replaced on the shelves by the staff. When he'd tried to do that himself he got a lecture from the stern faced Alpaca that ran the library about the library procedures. It was one of the many minor things that Dylan had to get used to.

He fist bumped Rick before leaving the library, his mind already multitasking covering his upcoming lesson, outlining his business plan for the paperwork he'd need to file, thinking of various venues he'd need to check into for some gigs as well as what songs he could use to begin increasing the popularity of country music here in Zootopia. All the while leaving enough awareness of his surroundings so that he didn't inadvertently step on any smaller mammals or, in turn, get stepped on by any bigger ones.

oooOOOooo

Stan didn't really like coming to this place. For some reason it always made him feel cold inside which, for him, a career criminal, was saying something. Stan didn't plan on being a criminal, but society kept believing that, becauses he was a fox, he was a criminal so he decided to stop fighting it.

But here is where he was told to meet The Boss, so here is where he came. He'd been here before of course, he just avoided doing so as much as possible.

Finding his way to the thick wooden door, Stan knocked before opening it and walking into the office. Only to be confronted with a very illegal, very large, slug throwing pistol. No benevolent weapon this.

Freezing in place, afraid to move a whisker, Stan's eyes ran from the gun, to the large paw holding said weapon, up the arm to see The Boss smirking at him.

"Uhhh, Boss?" Stan said nervously.

The Boss smiled evily before saying "You should be more aware of your surroundings Stan. I need you to stay vigilent. If you can't stay aware of what's going on around you how can I trust you to NOT BE FOLLOWED!?"

Stan shrunk in on himself as The Boss bellowed the last few words at him. "I'm sorry Boss, I promise not to make that mistake again!"

With a look that spelled doom for Stan The Boss said "You had better. If I can't trust you then I have no need of you. It would inconvience me only slightly to have you replaced."

The Boss sat down in his chair and placed the pistol on the desk which only eased Stan's nerves a very minute amount. It was still pointed in his direction after all. The Boss's chair was covered in what appeared to be the skin of some reptile. Stan shivered because what kind of mammal would use the skin of something living to make furniture? He was sure he didn't want to find out.

The Boss leaned back in his chair and barked "Give me what you have!"

Stan nodded and began his report "Sir, the East Side Ravagers report that they have consolidated their hold on Happytown and have started making their presence felt in Deersborough. The Brutal Bunch say they have expanded into Gnu York and have met with very little resistance so far. Our assets in the Rainforest District say they have claimed the Black Jungle, Ficus Grove, and the Canal District. They wanted you to know that they are following your orders and staying away from any of Mr. Big's interests."

"For now" The Boss interrupted.

"Yes sir." Stan continued "The Night Runners have Hyenahurst, Big Dunes, and the Canyonlands covered. Their brother chapter, The Happy Slayers are reporting that the Alley Cats leader, Redtooth has refused to accept your authority and has started pushing back."

The Boss frowned at this morsel of information. Seeming to look into the distance, he stated in a slow, deep voice "Send in Belisarius."

Stan swallowed with difficulty due to his suddenly dry throat. Using Belisarius was like using a sledgehammer on a fly. When he was called in things got very, very messy. However, Stan answered in the only possible way if he wanted to stay in one piece "Yes sir! I'll contact him right away sir!"

"See that you do!" The Boss said, madness seeming to swim in his eyes.

Stan nodded and left as quickly as possible without making it seem like he was running away, no matter how much he really wanted to.

oooOOOooo

Dylan slid into the bench next to Nick. In the months since they had found him in The Meadowlands, Nick and Judy had become fast friends of his. He loved Judy's bright personality and enthusiasm as well as Nicks more laid back manner and his, oft times, understated sense of humor. Every couple of weeks or so they would get together, have lunch and catch up on how things were going.

"Wazzzzzuuuuup?" Dylan announced as he sat down.

Both mammals winced with Judy actually cringed as Nick responded "Please tell me that's not the new street slang!"

Dylan laughed and said "Nah, it was something from Earth. I just wanted to mess with you guys." Nick and Judy groaned.

"It should stay there." Judy deadpanned.

"You're lucky we're friends Dylan. Just for that you get to pick up the tab" Nick smirked.

"For friends like you? I'll even let you order water with lemon."

"Har Har" Judy faux laughed. "So, how have things been going? Met any nice lady mammals yet?"

Dylan winked at Judy and said "I have, but all of the really good ones are already married." Judy blushed. Then he sobered a little. Judy was always asking him about his social life. He had to be honest with his friends as they were the only ones he could confide in. "I have, but as far as asking them out on dates? No. Whenever I try to work up the nerve, I start thinking about Alexis and back off. I'm not even sure if any would care to go out with me."

Nick stayed rather quiet at this point, letting Judy take the lead in the conversation, as was his wont. "Nonsense" his wife said "you're an awesome person, they'd just have to get to know you!"

Dylan smiled "That may be part of the problem. I may still be too 'new' to Zootopia. Rick set me up on a blind date with one of his sisters friends, a cougar named Rachel. She was a no show. I don't know if there was a valid reason for it or not, but maybe more time needs to pass."

Dylan then segued into a statement "So, rumor has it that someone skinned a panther named 'Redtooth' and nailed his skin to the door of a warehouse in the Downtown District."

Both his friends looked startled at that revelation with Judy's expression warping into a very serious one as she asked him "Where did you hear that? We're trying to keep that out of the press."

"Word on the street. I walk pretty much everywhere I go and I hear things. The whole area where I live has been buzzing with gossip about it."

Judy relaxed. Nick took up the conversation "It seems somethings riled up the various gangs around Zootopia. We think that Redtooth resisted being pushed out of his territory and was made an example out of. Just be careful my friend, Judy and I would hate for you to get hurt."

Conversation stopped when the waitress came over and took their orders. Dylan surprised his friends when he ordered a bug burger with fries. Unknown to them he'd been feeling adventurous a bit earlier in the week and found that he actually enjoyed it.

Their lunch desolved into small talk. Judy and Nick, being trained law officers, did notice that they and their friend didn't receive as many stares as they used to get. Maybe things were beginning to calm down for Dylan.

oooOOOooo

Dylan was getting home late. He'd stayed at school to attend a lecture on the future of computer languages and how they could be used in various industries. He was able to just catch the last bus home and had started walking in the direction of his apartment when he heard laughter that he recognized from various nature shows that he'd watched, hyena. It was coming from an alleyway just ahead.

He could hear words but he wasn't close enough to make out what was being said, just that there seemed to be several different male voices.

"No, don't!"

'Shit!' Dylan thought as he recognized the scream was from a lady. He quickly looked around and spied a mop with a wooden handle. It was sized for a larger mammal, being about six feet in length. 'Perfect!' He placed the mop section against the stairs it had been leaning against and, with a quick kick, broke it off right where it went into the metal mop head.

Now armed, he quickly rushed to the alley to see four hyenas, all wearing jean vests with similar patches, some sort of gang emblems he guessed. The scream had come from a female wolf with light grey fur with a slightly darker saddle holding her arms in front of her covering herself. Her blouse was hanging from the paws of one of the hyenas.

Dylan didn't even think about what to do, he just did it. Bullies, no matter who they were, infuriated him.

"I don't think the lady appreciates your behavior asshole." He practially growled out.

At his statement, the four gang members turned toward him as the female wolf looked up and saw him for the first time. Dylan recognized hope in her features. He just hoped that he could live up to it, four to one odds weren't very good.

"Hey look boys, fresh meat!" One of them, the one with the lady's blouse in his paw and evidently the leader, snarled, pitching the last two words low so they sounded more threatening. It worked. "Get him!"

The other three hyenas pulled out large knives, each blade easily nine inches in length, and began advancing on him, laughing the entire time.

Dylan was grateful that he had become knowledgeable in weapons during his martial arts training. He had the mop handle in his hands which emulated his favorite weapon, the Bo. He was sure they would kill him if they could. Pushing his fear and nervousness down he opened his awareness and brought his staff into position to either attack or defend.

The one in the center, either more eager or more overconfident, jumped forward hoping for first blood. He was very fast but Dylan had muscle memory going for him, making him just a fast. The hyena was dissuaded when Dylan thrust the front, rounded part of the handle right between his eyes, followed by the butt end being swung up into the underside of his muzzle hard enough to not just break his jaw with an audible 'crack' and knock him out, but lift him more than a foot off the ground before falling into a boneless heap.

The other two, noticing the fate of their brother, slowed and split, trying to come at him from opposite directions. Normally this would work. However, Dylan had trained against multiple opponants. Dylan swung his staff sharply against the back of what passed for the knee joint of the opponant on his left as he turned and side kicked the other. Neither hyena had expected such a move since they had never been exposed to human martial arts.

The opponant on his left lost his balance and fell backwards as Dylan's other adversary was sent flying back several feet into the alley wall, hitting it with an audible thud, as well as a violent explosion of air from his lungs.

The one enemy out of the way for the moment, Dylan thrust his makeshift Bo in an lightning fast strike against the foe on the left who had scrambled to his feet, hitting him right where the solar plexus would be on a human. Even though his training was against other humans, it seemed to work on hyenas as well as the breath in the hyena was forced out just as the others was. This hyena just gave a heavy grunt as he suddely fought to suck in a breath.

"Hold it right there Mange Boy!" Dylan heard the leaders voice. He looked up and saw that the hyena had grabbed the lady with his left arm around her chest forcing her tight against him. The leader had, even with everything going on, grabbed one of the lady's breasts, leaving no doubt as to what he had originally intended to do. The other hand held a knife similar to the others against her side, the tip in postion to stab her in the ribs.

The leader laughed and then grinned "Either you drop your weapon of I'll just rape the bitch's corpse instead!"

Dylan paused, looking into the poor wolfs eyes. They were so very blue as she looked back at him. He didn't want her hurt but he knew they were probably both be killed if he gave up. He noticed that her eyes narrowed just before her hands flashed down to the arm that was across her chest, brought it up before her muzzle, and bit down HARD. Dylan heard the crunch of bone.

The leader screamed as he tried to jerk away from the lady. Dylan took advantage of the distraction to swing the handle up aggressively into the leaders wrist, breaking it and causing him to lose his grip on the knife. Said weapon flew through the air and landed behind some garbage cans sitting against one of the walls. Taking a step forward and twisting in place, Dylan then brought the staff down in a blur onto the leaders muzzle with a satisfying crack of breaking bone. The leader shrieked before losing conciousness.

Still aware that there were more enemy's behind him, possibly already recovering, Dylan stepped forward and started to turn when he felt liquid fire run from his right shoulder to his spine. Dylan hissed at the pain was but his training caused him to reflexively thrust his staff behind him and he was rewarded with a loud yelp as he felt a slight give before it had moved back a bit more.

Dylan turned to see three hyenas, two he had been fighting that were stumbling out of the alley into the street, and another that had appeared out of nowhere now backing away, holding both the knife that had cut him in one paw and his abdomen where a red stain was already spreading from underneath the other.

Dylan held his position until the last one had reached the street then turned and ran. He turned around to the blue eyed wolf and asked "Are you okay?" as sirens were heard in the distance.

A/N: Wow! Over 4800 words for this chapter! I know that my chapters aren't as long as some Fanfic I've read, but, I did say that each chapter would last as long as I needed them to be. A lot more action here and it's just started. For those of you who have stuck with me so far, I hope that it was worth it.

Speaks With Spirits out...