(A/N: IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ! Hello, everyone. As you can see, I've begun a new story, but I have a VERY important message about this story that I need to give before we get into it. And that message is, this is NOT my story. Let me explain. A few months ago, I stumbled across a sequel fan-made film on YouTube. A person by the name of Mauricio Velazco, who goes by the YouTube name of Browntable, is the one who wrote, directed, mostly voiced, and animated this amazing fan-made sequel. I was so taken by it that I decided to put it in novel form. But I give credit where credit is due, so this is the disclaimer. I may be novelizing it, but the whole creation of this baby belongs to Mauricio Velazco. Since he released the film in chapters, I will be posting links to his individual chapter videos along with the chapters I'm releasing. I HIGHLY recommend checking it out, it's truly amazing, and I'm actually shocked that Disney hasn't offered him a job if they've seen it. In any case, before I put this story out there, I just wanted everyone to read this to know who to truly thank for its creation, and to check out the videos if you're interested. Now let's get to it.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is just a novelization of a fan-film. All credit for the story and its original characters belongs to Mauricio Velazco/Browntable.

"RETURN TO ZOOTOPIA"

Chapter 1: Return

The time changed to 8:30 in the morning, and with it, the sound of the alarm filled the room. It only buzzed for a few seconds though before a small hand covered in gray fur fell upon it, silencing the alarm. The owner of this hand, however, had already been awake for a while, sitting in bed, reading a book; they were used to getting up early.

Closing the book, Judy Hopps pushed away the covers and climbed out of bed, slipping on her pink bunny slippers, an ironic choice of footwear considering that she was, in fact, also a rabbit. But this rabbit had places to be, and so she made her way across the room, emitting a yawn as she stretched her arms out while passing the map taped to her wall that was used to connect a series of events and suspects. It was something one would expect to find in the home of a police officer, which only made sense because Judy was, in fact, a cop. The first bunny cop at that.

Reaching into her closet, she grabbed a light blue shirt off the hanger and slipped it on over her tank-top as she made her way over to the mirror, giving her reflection a smile. At the same time, in another part of the city, another alarm was going off. Only this person was asleep, and it wasn't in a bed.

Nicholas Wilde's green eyes popped open as he laid in the drawer of a dresser that he used as a bed, one of his arms hanging out to just barely touch the floor. It wasn't the most comfortable place to sleep, but he made it work, and he had slept in worse places before. He was just grateful to have a place to sleep at all; some animals had none.

Unlike Judy, Nick was a little less graceful as he hopped around, trying to slip on his pants as he scrambled to get ready for the day. Grabbing his favorite green shirt and tie, he attempted to slip both on at once, briefly getting stuck inside his shirt as he rushed to get dressed. He continued to rush down the stairs while in the other part of the city, Judy leisurely brushed her teeth, having budgeted her time a little better.

Like Judy, Nick was also a cop, albeit a little newer to the position, but he too was also the first of his species to join the force, that species being a fox. Many things had happened leading up to their current positions, but the two of them were actually partners, and good ones at that, having uncovered a major scandal involving assistant mayor Bellwether's attempts to turn the prey of the city of Zootopia against the predators by drugging them with Night Howler poison to cause them to go savage in a ploy to gain power. Both of them were now consider hero cops, despite Nick not actually being a cop at the time, and they had been officially working together on cases for the past six months now.

But today they were not on duty. And so Judy happily made her way to a bakery while Nick grabbed their squad car to pick her up. She munched happily on a roll as she headed over to where she had told Nick to pick her up, and he soon rode up in their squad car. With no work today, the two of them had plans to spend the day together, and tonight in particular was something they were both looking forward to.

Gazelle was currently the biggest popstar, and tonight was her concert, an event dubbed Animalia. Both were very excited for it, as were all the others in attendance. And as the night passed and the animals cheered, danced, and sung along with the popstar, it proved to be an event that they knew no one would ever forget.

The concert wasn't just a normal event, it was one for charity. But as successful as it was, it had to eventually come to an end. And as Gazelle finished her final song, cheers and applause erupted as she gave thanks to the crowd that had come out to see her. And somewhere in the crowd, Nick turned to Judy and gave her a smile.

"That was fun, don't you think?" he asked rhetorically; it was obvious that everyone present had had a very good time. He glanced at his watch and saw that it was currently 11:02 P.M. "It's kinda getting a little late, so, um… I think we should head home."

Judy smiled at him. "Not just yet, I want to check how much money we've collected so far."

With that, she started heading over to where she had seen their boss, Chief Bogo, had been in attendance with Benjamin Clawhauser, a fellow officer who worked the front desk at the station as the receptionist and radio dispatcher. As the chief, the buffalo was usually all business, while the cheetah was far more laid back, an overweight, donut-loving, cliché cop to be exact, but both Judy and Nick were on good terms with them both, particularly after they had earned the chief's respect in the Bellwether case, having not only taken her and her cronies down, but having located all 15 missing animals that had disappeared over the weeks since she had put her plan into action.

Seeing the fox and bunny make their way over to them, Bogo greeted them with a nod. "Hopps, Wilde…" He crossed his arms, displaying his tough guy exterior, contrary to his fanboy side of Gazelle that he had displayed during the concert. "I see the two of you are enjoying yourselves."

Judy's smile never left her face; she was no longer intimidated by Bogo's harsh and stoic nature. "Yes, sir!"

Next to her though, Nick couldn't resist making a sarcastic remark, especially since he now knew how much of a fan the chief was. "If I actually liked Gazelle, I would enjoy this a little bit more."

Bogo's expression never changed as he chose to ignore the fox's snarky remark. "You two better not be getting too comfortable. Tomorrow I want you working hard at 6:00 in the morning on the dot."

Judy resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Even when he wasn't on duty, Bogo was still the Bogo. "Chief, we just wanted to know how much money we've collected today."

It was Clawhauser who answered as he raised the clipboard he had been holding to glance at the numbers. "Well, since you asked so nicely. Hmm, based on my estimates… thanks to this charity event, we've collected 50,000 dollars!"

Nick's face fell slightly. He'd been hoping the night would be more successful. "50,000?" He glanced at Judy. "That's a little low."

She, however, was more enthusiastic. "The amount of money raised is only 10 percent of what's gained."

Nick considered this and decided that she was right. He just couldn't help it though; as a former con-artist, it was in his nature to always strive for big bucks. "Well, hopefully the Homeless Shelter puts it to good use."

Bogo let out a sigh and glanced at the crowd that had begun to depart. "Well, I guess it's time to pack up." He motioned for Clawhauser to follow him. "Let's get going then. Come on."

"Yes, chief!" the cheetah eagerly replied, having found a kindred spirit in the buffalo after discovery that he was just as big of a Gazelle fan as him.

With a smirk on his face, Nick turned to his bunny companion, knowing she would immediately know the answer to his question. "Judy, car?"

Just as he expected, she pointed in a certain direction, knowing exactly where their destination was, even in this crowd. "Parked that way!"

Nick almost laughed, even now she always tried to be aware of her surroundings; she truly was meant to be a cop. "Alright, I'll drive." He turned back to their cheetah friend and boss as the two larger animals attempted to find a way out of the crowd and gave them a salute. "Clawhauser, nice to see ya. And Chief Bogo, rest that ego tonight, yeah?"

The buffalo just grunted at him, not appreciating the snarky remark. Nick was well aware that Bogo wasn't a fan of his humor, but that just made him want to push the chief's buttons all the more; he really couldn't resist.

Thanks to Judy's sense of direction, and their smaller size, the two of them were been able to make their way through the crowd rather quickly, and were soon back at the car. They hopped inside the vehicle, which was really designed for the larger animals that the police force was primarily made up of, but they made it work.

Strapping herself in, Judy turned to Nick and playfully commented, "Alright, Nicky, let's get going."

Nick made a sound that was a cross between a laugh and a scoff. "Heh, no, only my mom can call me Nicky."

This just made Judy smile all the more. "Oh, isn't that just adorable."

He cut his eyes at her as he started up the engine. "Aww, you're so funny."

He pulled out of the parking space and they began driving along, just barely managing to beat the crowd. Judy propped her head on her palm as she looked out the window, watching as they made their way through the parking lot and onto the street. As they rode along though, she began thinking about what Nick said. He didn't talk about his past that often, and he mentioned his mother even less. It made her curious why, and she glanced over at him.

"You know," she commented, "I've never seen your mother."

"You know how many times we've had this conversation?" he asked rhetorically, his tone taking an edge to make it seem like he was annoyed, but when he spoke again, the edge in his voice had become more humorous. "Exactly once, and I'd like it to stay that way."

"Pfft," Judy muttered in amusement, glancing out the window again and spotting a faster route. "Take this right."

"Gotcha, Carrots," he replied, using his pet-name for her. It had annoyed her when he had first started calling her that, but now she found it to be very endearing, especially when it became apparent that it had gone from being something condescending that he had called her to a name of affection.

They fell silent for a while after that, simply enjoying each other's company. However, as they continued to drive, things began to feel a little awkward, and Judy found the need to break the silence. She wasn't sure why, but tonight she was feeling a little… vulnerable? No, maybe that wasn't the correct term. Maybe needy? No, that wasn't it either, but she was definitely feeling something.

"I had fun tonight…" she finally commented. She glanced at him to see his reaction. "Did you have fun?" She took on a more teasing tone. "Or is that an emotion that you don't have?"

Smiling in amusement, he cut his eyes at her. "Wow, you think I can't have fun?" He gave a mock laugh. "I'm hurt."

She let out a small laugh of her own. "You know, you're actually a pretty good dancer."

He gave a nonchalant shrugged. "Yeah, well, I'm more of a singer, not a dancer."

"Why not?" she asked curiously.

"Not my thing, sweetheart."

Judy's heart jumped slightly at the "sweetheart" remark, even though she knew it didn't really mean anything coming from him. Still, she liked it when he called her that. "Well, you should. Dance… more often."

She glanced out the window as they began crossing over the bridge. It may have been night, but the city was alive with light, and the full moon hanging in the sky just made everything even more beautiful as it bathed everything in a pale light. Judy stared at the lovely sight as she began to try to work up the nerve to say what she wanted to say now that the conversation had headed in this direction.

"Y'know…" she began, looking back at him hopefully, "there's another concert in a few days." Then, remembering what he had said to the chief, she quickly added, "Not Gazelle this time. You might like it."

"Like I said," he replied, not missing a beat, "I don't dance!"

"Come on!" she said eagerly. "Come with me, it'll be fun!"

Placing his hand over his heart, he feigned being hurt. "Oh, oh, I'm sorry! I thought that was an emotion I didn't have!"

She couldn't help but to laugh at that. "Fine, I lied… your dancing stinks."

"Well, talk about hurting my feelings."

Judy crossed her arms. "The only reason I wanted you to go with me to another concert was so you'd make a fool of yourself and I'd get it all on video."

He continued to play along; busting each other's chops was just part of their friendship. "Not surprised, coming from a clever little bunny like you."

"And you almost fell for it. Take this left."

"Mmm-hmm."

They fell silent again, and Judy suddenly felt shy. The hand she had pointed to the left with made its way to the back of her neck to rub her fur. She watched Nick out of the side of her eye and noticed his eyes quickly dart towards her a couple times before returning to the road. She couldn't be sure, but now it looked like he wanted to say something, but wasn't sure what. She waited though, giving him the chance to speak, hoping he would. Hoping he would tell her… what?

"Hey, uh…" he finally said, suddenly sounding a little awkward, and there was a long pause before he continued, "you look nice today. I like your shirt."

Finding his compliment cute, she plucked at her top. "Pssh, this old thing? I've had it for a while."

He gave a small shrug. "It suits you."

Something was telling her that that hadn't been what he had actually wanted to say, but she decided to run with it. "I like your shirt."

He gave her a small laugh. "Now this thing is old."

"Well, it suits you," she said, returning his compliment as she ran her eyes up and down him.

"Well, thank you, Officer Hopps. Glad to know my shirt meets your expected standards of suiting."

Now it was her turn to laugh. She loved how he could always make her laugh. Sadly though, it looked like their time together was coming to an end as she saw her apartment coming into sight. "Officer Wilde, this is where we stop."

Once again without missing a beat, he held up a finger as if making an announcement. "Aaaand ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived at our destination! Thank you for choosing Air Wilde!"

Judy shook her head in amusement as he pulled up to the curb. She climbed out of the car and he exited as well, playing the part of the perfect gentleman in escorting his fair lady to her door. They didn't make it that far though as Judy came to a stop beneath the streetlight as in the distance fireworks began to go off; the last few from Animalia. She and Nick watched them as they lit up the sky for the next few minutes, and when they came to a stop, they knew the night was now finally over.

Judy turned to Nick, and he to her, and they simply stared at each other for a few moments before she broke the silence. "Well, Officer Wilde, I had a lovely evening." Unable to resist, she added, "Very, dare I say, fun."

He smiled in amusement. "Officer Hopps, even though I can't possibly comprehend what fun is, I had it as well."

She giggled. "So, um… good night, Nick."

"Good night, Judy. I'll see you tomorrow."

He said that, but neither one of them moved. Nick continued to stand there, looking as if he wanted to say something more. Judy wanted him to say something more. She wanted to say something more. No, not just say something, she didn't want him to leave yet. She wasn't ready to say good night, and she shyly rubbed her arm, that same feeling she had felt in the car when she had attempted invite him to come to another concert with her returning.

"Unless…" she began, trying to work up the courage to say what she really wanted to say, "you want to come up for a coffee or something?"

She gave him a hopeful look, hoping he would accept her invitation. She wasn't entirely sure what would happen if he did, but she hoped he would all the same; she really wasn't ready for him to leave yet.

Nick's eyes widened, and he suddenly appeared uncertain and shy. It wasn't often Nicholas Wilde came across as flustered, but there was really no other word for it, and he seemed to be having trouble finding his voice. No, it was more like he had been rendered speechless, and was trying to come up with something to say.

"I, um… not…" he muttered nervously. But then he seemed to regain his composure and cleared his throat. "Officer Hopps, that won't be necessary." He gestured back towards their vehicle. "I'll just be taking this car back to the station."

If Judy's ears weren't already hanging down her back, they would have drooped as she was overcome with disappointment. "Oh, well…" She quickly pulled herself together and gave him a smile. "Good night."

"Uh, yeah… good night," Nick replied, still seemingly caught off guard by her invitation.

Still feeling disappointed, she maintained her smile as she gave him a departing nod and turned to head inside. She couldn't help but feel surprised by her boldness in extending such an invitation. Coffee, she had actually invited him in for coffee. Or something. She had really hoped that it had been the "or something" that he had been interested in. She'd said coffee, but deep down, she knew she had meant something else.

Nick watched her go, still feeling flustered by her invite. As she opened the door, she glanced back at him and gave him another small smile accompanied by a wave, and he waved back. Even after she disappeared inside and closed the door, he remained where he was for a short while before letting out a sigh and returning to the car.

The moment the door closed, he sighed again and dropped his chin onto the steering wheel as he was overcome by regret. Groaning loudly, he sat up and immediately began berating himself for his stupidity.

"Wow, I can't believe I just blew my chance," he scowled himself. "Coffee. Coffee! You know what that means!?"

He dropped his head down again, this time landing directly on the wheel, his forehead hitting the horn, and it began blaring.

Inside, Judy entered her apartment. She could hear the horn blaring outside, and the disappointment she felt began to disappear as she imagined Nick banging his head down on the steering wheel in regret, and an amused smile crept up her face. She headed over to her bed, pushing the Play Fox magazine off and grabbing one of the stuffed bunnies she had aligned on the headboard of her bed, hugging it to herself as imagined Nick beating himself up over turning down her offer.

So tonight hadn't been the night. But that was ok, she could wait.

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

Nick knew it was late, but he needed to make the call, having forgotten to make it earlier due to his busy all day with Judy. Her little invitation had just served to remind him of the importance of getting a place of his own since he had been living in the home of his childhood friend and former partner in crime, Finnick.

Pulling over to the curb, he pulled out his phone and dialed the number of the porcupine in question, hoping to close the deal, or at least set up a meeting in order to do so. He tapped his fingers against the steering wheel eagerly as he waited for the person on the other line to answer, and his face lit up when he heard him.

"Mr. Bateman," he said, glad to have caught the porcupine who would hopefully become his new landlord, "the name's Nick Wilde. Do you remember me?"

There was a moment's pause before Mr. Bateman replied. "Oh, yeah. I do."

Nick smiled. "Yeah, I wanted to let you know that I finally got the money to buy that apartment and I'd like to know when we could meet up."

"So you have the forty-five hundred bucks?"

Nick nodded. "Yup, I have four thousand five hundred…" He trailed off, letting out an uncertain laugh as he realized that the number Mr. Bateman had just said was different from the one he had in his head. "Wait, I'm sorry. Four? I thought we agreed on two?"

Mr. Bateman's tone suddenly changed, becoming much firmer and less friendly. "The prices have changed. I've just been offered four thousand dollars for this apartment."

He put extra emphasis on the new number, letting the fox know just how much better of a deal this was. Nick wanted to groan at how unfair the sudden change was. While they hadn't made any official agreements, they had settled on a price of 2,500. To suddenly up the price by another two grand, Nick didn't exactly have that just laying around.

"Sir, we had a deal," he told the porcupine, trying to keep the frustration out of his voice.

"We never agreed the apartment was yours to begin with, Mr. Wilde. You either come up with more than four thousand dollars or I can't let you have this apartment."

Nick ran his hand over his face. "You gotta be kidding…" he muttered under his breath.

Nick was no fool. He knew full and well when he was being taken advantage of. Had Mr. Bateman actually been given a greater offer, he wasn't sure, but it wouldn't surprise him if the porcupine was just trying to get the best of someone who was down on his luck that didn't have a choice.

Honestly, he didn't know why this surprised him. He'd learned long ago that animals could be cruel and deceitful, and would often take advantage of others. He'd seen it all throughout his life. Zootopia wasn't the utopia it was portrayed to be. Everyone took advantage of everyone else. And he had been no exception. Having learned this lesson at such a young age, he'd thought that this was just the way things were. People did what they needed to get by.

While he prided himself on literally being as sly as a fox, as the stereotype went, he could also now admit that he was ashamed of his past with the way he would scam others to make a quick buck. And he had been good at it, often working with Finnick to make a rather decent amount of cash on a daily basis. He was a regular con-artist, able to turn almost any situation around for his benefit. That is, until he met her.

Meeting and getting to know Judy had caused him to look at the world in a more positive light, causing him to leave behind his more cynical beliefs and start to see the good in others. It made him want to be a better person, she made him want to be a better person. So he had cleaned up his act and gotten his life together. And he could honestly say, he was much happier with his life.

Not that it didn't have some drawbacks. Turning his life around like this hadn't come cheap. Heading down the straight and narrow path had cost him a pretty penny, even with his job as a cop. He'd had to pay off a lot of debts and take care of several other issues with the money he had saved up from his con-artist days, and it didn't leave him with much left over. But in the end, it had been worth it.

It did leave him a little short on cash though, but he had managed to scrape together the required amount agreed upon by him and Mr. Bateman to get the apartment he wanted. But now the price had unexpectedly nearly doubled? Talk about being thrown a curveball.

"Sir, is there anything I can do?" he asked, unable to keep some of irritation from slipping into his voice.

"You don't have forty-five hundred bucks?"

Obviously not. Getting your life in order after having been a con-artist for nearly his entire life didn't exactly leave one rolling around in cash. There was no point beating around the bush though. "No."

"Hmm," Mr. Bateman muttered thoughtfully. "Have you ever given a back rub to a porcupine before?"

And that was where he drew the line. Nick may have been in need of money, but there were some lines he would not cross. "Yup, this conversation is over." Her hung up the phone. "You've gotta be kidding me…"

For the second time that night, Nick face-planted against the steering wheel, causing the horn to begin blaring again. This time though, it was followed up by an angry animal shouting down to him from the building next to him.

"Hey, shut up! I'm trying to sleep!"

Lifting his head, Nick looked out the window guiltily and waved up to whoever it was he had awoken. "Yeah, yeah! I'm sorry. Sorry."

Starting up the engine, he pulled back onto the road and began heading to the place he currently called home and looked like he would continue to do so for quite a while yet.

(A/N: And that's the first chapter. Did it catch your interest? Once again, all credit goes to the one who really came up with this story, I'm just novelizing it. If you're interested in seeing the actual video, I posted the link to the first installment down below, just replace the DOTs with actual periods. If you watch the whole series before you read this, well, that's up to you, but I'll be posting every other week like usual and posting the video links with each installment. Stay tuned for more to see where things go from here.)

wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=mZf8Bcr4uak