Chapter 21: WildHopps Furever!

All things must come to an end and so does this tale.

"Because storytelling, and visual storytelling, was put in the hands of everybody, and we have all now become storytellers."

- LeVar Burton


Judy and Nick's Apartment near Walt Disney World

Judy stood there wrapped only in a white terrycloth bath towel as she stared at the charcoal gray jacket and slacks draped across the bed; it was a far cry from the usual medium-to-light blue police tactical uniform she wore to work every day at Disney. A light gray blouse hung from the bedroom door knob next to Nick's normal green tropical print shirt. "Well, that is a change," Judy softly said to herself.

She had to smile when she heard Nick begin to lustily sing the song "September Morn". The fox in the shower had a good voice, not nearly as great as the late legendary singer Neil Diamond, but he could carry a tune. But then again, his voice actor, Jason Bateman, was once a member of the Mumford and Sons Band. "I wonder if Jason is going to have to go back on the road with the band to make money during the actors' strike?" she mused.

"Hey, Carrots!" Nick called out from within the bathroom. "Did the new outfits arrive? This is supposed to be a dress rehearsal for our new show at Tree of Life Theater!"

Yes, but Nick, they didn't change your outfit.

"Darn, I was hoping they would give me a white blazer and maybe a light blue silk shirt. I wanted to rock that 80's Miami Vice retro look!"

"Slick, I don't think the world is ready for that yet!" she giggled.

There was the whirling sound of a hair dryer, unfortunately, their apartment was built for humans and didn't have the fur dryers that they used in Zootopia.

"It will be good to see the whole gang again!" the fox called out loud enough to be heard over the dryer. "We haven't seen Clawhauser, Bogo, Weaselton, Priscilla, and Flash since we filmed those Disney Plus shorts. Did you hear from Fru Fru?"

"She is staying at the Four Season Resort since it was the only five-star hotel that would allow polar bears. You know how intimidating Raymond and Kevin can be to some humans."

"Yeah, big white-furred muscular bears in black suits are intimidating. They certainly are not as fluffy and cuddly as those bears in the Coke commercials," Nick scoffed before he turned on the hair dryer again.

There was a pounding on the apartment's door. "Wilde! Hoops! I'm here," a deep voice called out.

"Nick, why is Finnick here?"

The whirling noise cut off before the fox answered, "He is going to ride with us to the rehearsal."

"I'm not riding in that death trap of a van!" Judy protested. "I don't think it is even street legal in Florida."

"I'm sure he came by Uber or taxi. Go tell him I'm not ready, he is an hour early."

With a sigh, Judy pulled on her robe and went to open the door only to find it already open and the small fennec fox was rummaging through their refrigerator, looking for something to drink. "Hey, how did you get in here?" she snapped at the small fox.

"I'm a fox and we can get into almost anything," Finnick replied.

"You're early, Nick is still grooming."

"Sorry, but I just came from Mickey's office. I was trying to convince him that for the show's grand opening, we should have Shakira do a duet with Gazelle."

"That would be fantastic!"

"I don't think it is going to happen, Mickey is concerned because Disney is cracking down on expenses. I keep telling 'Sir Bob' that he needs to dump ABC television, it's a financial boondoggle."

"I'm pretty sure that a brilliant CEO like Bob isn't going to take financial advice from a fennec fox. Especially not from someone who inherited their fortune from a father who allegedly made it by running pump-and-dump schemes on the stock market," the rabbit sarcastically remarked.

"A fox has to make a living," the small fox replied with a shrug of his little shoulders.

"So you are wearing another bowling shirt? I thought you told Disney you didn't want to wear any bowling shirts again?"

"They told me it was a bowling shirt or that damn elephant costume, are they going to make you wear that cop uniform again?"

"No, they sent a gray pantsuit and a light gray blouse instead."

"That figures."

"What figures?"

"We are dealing with Disney."

"Finn, you are not making any sense. Just what are you getting at?"

"Maybe they are trying to downplay the WildeHopps thing before it goes any more public? You know how they love including their liberal messaging in everything, so perhaps they decided to change which team you were playing for...or in this case who you were playing with." Finnick answered with a sarcasm-filled smirk.

"FOX!"

"I guess we need to find you a vixen to play with and not a tod?" the small fox snickered.

"Quit teasing my bunny," Nick said as he walked into the room. He was dressed in his usual green tropical print shirt and had his dark indigo blue and red striped tie hung loosely around his furry neck. "Carrots, are you going to get dressed or are you planning to wear your robe to the rehearsal?"

The smaller fox's noise twitched and he cocked his head when he sniffed the larger fox's scent. "Wilde, why do you stink like a pumpkin pie?"

"It's my new pumpkin spiced shampoo, I love how it smells."

"Well congratulations you do smell," Finnick sarcastically scoffed at first and then he became serious before he added. "Look, Nick, we held a meeting of Disney foxes last night."

"Wait, why wasn't I told about the meeting?"

"Because it was about you and Judy. We all felt like something had to be done about her father."

"Just what did you all do?" Nick demanded with a menacing growl.


Bunnyburrow

The farmer paused and leaned against the broken tractor when he saw a car traveling down the dusty gravel road toward the family farm. Reaching into the back pocket of his denim overalls, Stuart Hopps pulled out a grimy handkerchief and wiped his oily paws. "Looks like we've got company, Dad!" his oldest son Adam called out.

Stu replied as he squinted toward the approaching car, "I wonder who it might be?"

"It looks like there's a red fox behind the wheel, " Adam answered. "It isn't Gideon either."

"It's Wilde! He has a lot of nerve showing up here! Go get my fox taser."

"Dad, don't you think maybe you two should just talk? Judy loves..."

"GET MY TASER!" Stu snapped as he angrily stormed toward the car that had been parked near his house. He frowned when he saw that Bonnie and about a dozen of their children had come out of the backdoor. She glanced toward him with concern.

"You're not welcome here, you mangy no-good...," he paused and his eyes widened in surprise when the car door opened and a different fox exited.

The dashing fox in a hunter-green colored tunic swept off his cap and dramatically bowed toward the farmer. "A good afternoon to you, kind sir. My name is Robin..." he began to introduce himself, but couldn't finish for he was swarmed by dozens of excited bunnies.

"Where's Maid Marian?"

"Did you bring your bow?"

"Is Skippy with you?"

They peppered the handsome fox with questions and he gave a good-natured laugh in reply.

"Children, leave Mister Hood alone," Bonnie called out as she curtsied to the fox. "Would you care for some tea?"

"Thank you for your offer of hospitality, but I must speak with your husband first. My presence here may not be so welcomed after what I've come to say."

"I'll put the kettle on and you are always welcome in our home," she answered as she gave her husband a warning stare.

Turning back toward Stu, Robin put on his cap and gave him a smile. "Perhaps when can seek some privacy in the barn, for I have much to say."

"Huh?" the awestruck farmer muttered as he just stood there gawking at the legendary fox.

"Come, let us speak!"


Magic Kingdom, Disney World

Nick held her paw as they strolled down the now-empty boulevard toward Cinderella's Castle, the fox and rabbit had just finished a very late dinner at the Be Our Guest Restaurant in Fantasyland. "Are you okay, Slick?" Judy asked the fox, noticing that he seemed to be trembling.

"It's a bit cold tonight and my winter coat hasn't fully grown in yet," the fox lied.

"Here, let me warm you up," the bunny offered as she snuggled into his arms.

They stood there looking at the castle before them, it was brightly illuminated. Judy's ears shot up when she saw that someone was still inside the building. She was going to comment to Nick about it, but the fox had stepped away from her and she heard him mumble, "Now's the time."

The bunny's nose gave a confused twitch when the fox went down on one knee before her. "Nick, what are you...," she began to say.

He took her hand and smiled. "Judy, when we first met, I thought you were this naive country hick from the carrot farm, but you've become my best friend and now my lover." He paused and nervously swallowed, fumbling for something in his shirt pocket.

"Nick...?" she began to ask again, but her eyes widened in surprise when he pulled out a diamond ring, only to drop it onto the pavement.

"So much for being a sly fox," he joked before he snatched the ring up and held it towards her. "What I'm trying to say is, will you marry me?" Judy launched herself into his arms, almost knocking him over as they kissed. "I guess you are saying yes?" he chuckled as she hugged him.

"Of course I am!"

"Good, let's get this ring on your finger before I drop it again." He slipped the engagement ring onto one of her left paw's digits and grinned when she held it up to admire it.

"Nick, this diamond must have cost you a small fortune! How did you afford it?"

"You're worth more to me than that ring."

"Still, maybe we can return it for something more affordable?"

"Always the practical farmer's daughter. Trust me that I got a great deal on the ring."

"Nick?"

"I'm a fox, you know that we have our ways...no, I didn't steal either," he quickly added when he saw the skeptical look he was giving her.

"I sure wish I could my mother could see this," Judy sighed.

"Well, you can go show her the ring."

"I guess I could go back to Bunnyburrow when...," she continued.

"No, I mean right now," he interrupted. The fox was pointing at the castle behind her.

The bunny gave a surprised gasp when she turned and saw the group of animals standing in front of the castle. Robin Hood was waving his cap and Marian stood beside him with her paws grasped together in glee. Little John towered over the two foxes. Mickey and Minnie stood next to them and were waving. Honest John tried to appear nonchalant, but Todd and Vixey were excitedly clapping. Finnick was laughing as he too waved at them. Behind the small fox was Kevin, the polar bear stoically stared at them as he safely held Fru-Fru in his massive paw. Benjamin Clawhauser was bouncing up and down with excitement, while Chief Bogo just stood there with his muscular arms crossed, giving them a thin smile. Flash began making a very, very slow thumbs-up gesture, and Priscilla held his other arm.

Suddenly Little John stepped aside and behind the bear stood Bonnie and Stu.

"You got my Mom and Dad to come here!" Judy cried out. "How?"

"Actually Robin talked them into coming, you should already know by now that no one can say no to the Prince of Foxes, " Nick laughed as he followed Judy while she ran toward her parents.

The crowd of family and friends surrounded the happy couple. "Hey, Rob, is that one of the jewels we swiped from Prince John when we were dressed as gypsies?" Little John whispered to Robin Hood.

"It was and I gave it to Nick."

"You kept some of the jewels?"

"I did."

"I thought our thing was stealing from the rich to give to the poor?"

"We did just that, Johnny, and by giving everything away didn't we also become poor?"

"I guess so?"

"See, we did give everything to the poor."

"Wait, we gave to ourselves?"

"We were poor weren't we?"

"Yeah, but..."

"Since we were poor, we were therefore obligated to give something to ourselves."

"Why does that even make sense?" the bear pondered.


Judy and Nick's Apartment near Walt Disney World

Yanking the wool blanket around his body, the fox tried to squirm around enough to find a comfortable spot on the living room rug. "This isn't my idea of how to finish a romantic evening!" he softly fussed.

"Shhhh!" Judy admonished him from where she was lying on the sofa. "My Mom and Dad might hear you complaining."

"Yeah, you rabbits can hear everything."

"Hush!"

"Why didn't they just stay in one of the hotels?"

"You don't make family have to pay to visit you!"

"Why didn't we stay in a hotel?"

"Nick, stop whining it is only one night!"

"You could have offered them the sofa, why did they get the bedroom?"

"They are my parents!"

"This is turning out to be the longest night of my life."

"Really, Slick?"

"Okay, there was that night when I got stuck inside a wall at the Heyenahust Mall sideways with Finnick stuck just above me. His butt was sitting on my head and we couldn't move..."

"Wait...what? Why were you and Finnick inside a wall at the mall?"

"Never mind."

"Nick Wilde!"


Actually, Jason Bateman did do a video for the song "Hopeless Wanderer" by the Mumford and Sons Band and was not a member.

Finnick is making fun of the fact that Disney CEO, Bob Iger, was awarded the title of Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II before her passing in September 2022.