S1 E5: Never Smile at a Crocodile
It was a gorgeous summer morning in London, the temperatures were raising and while everyone were either cooling off in their homes, Judy Hopps and her friends were ready to take a holiday (or vacation if you lived in the USA) when suddenly…
"RAINED OUT FOR THE WEEK?!" cried Wilde.
Dastardly checked his telegram machine.
"Yes, it's going to rain all week with a chance of thunder showers, strong gale winds and the results afterwards is possible flooding" he answered.
"Well, there's always another time" Judy sighed. "The south always gets ugly during storms, especially hurricanes and earthquakes."
Before Wilde could plead with her, Judy then noticed something in the newspaper.
"Uh-oh" she said. "Another case needs solving."
The rabbit pulled out her magnifying glass and places her coat and deerskin cap on.
"While we're gone, you boys stay out of trouble" Judy warned. "Especially Bladebeak."
"Oh, we promise" Dastardly answered with a smile.
But Muttley grinned mischievously. His chance had come.
"And don't get any ideas, Muttley!" added Judy.
"Oh, no, he won't" Dastardly said innocently. "He will stay put like a good boy. I swear it. Right, Muttley?"
Muttley nodded but secretly had one paw behind his back, his fingers crossed.
"Uncross your fingers!" his master demanded.
Grumbling under his breath, Muttley uncrossed his fingers.
"And your tail!"
Muttley growled as he untucked his tail from between his legs.
Judy immediately walked out the door, followed by Wilde.
The minute the door closed, Dastardly then glared at Muttley and the two started fighting.
Later that afternoon, Judy and Wilde returned to their flat from their case.
"That case was exhausting!" Wilde panted.
"Yeah, chasing snakes out of Miss Tiana's garden is no picnic" agreed Judy.
Just as Judy was about to remove her coat, the phone rang. Mrs. Otterton answered.
"Hello, Judith Hopps of Baker Street, Mrs. Otterton speaking."
"MRS. OTTERTON! I NEED TO SPEAK TO JUDY NOW! PLEASE! IT'S AN EMERGENCY!" Dastardly's panicky voice bellowed from the other line.
"Take it easy, Dick, I'm right here" Judy cooed softly, gently taking the phone from Mrs. Otterton. "What's the matter?"
"It's Muttley. He wanted to leave. And when I said no, he overpowered me and ran away."
Judy seethed angrily.
"I was afraid someone was gonna disobey my orders" she answered Dastardly. "Just hang on, I will come and help."
In Dastardly's cottage, Judy used Bladebeak to cut the ropes around Dastardly's hands and untied him from the back of the chair.
"Drat, this isn't the first time Muttley has tied me to this chair" grumbled Dastardly, "and it certainly won't be the last. I had to use my feet to get the phone."
He then adjusted himself and moved his chair for Judy to investigate.
The rabbit searched the entire cottage, examining Muttley's muddy paw prints.
"Okay, from the looks of it, he placed some sun block on and walked through the mud" she confirmed.
Then Judy checked Dastardly's maps on the wall.
"Did he say where he was going?" Wilde asked Dastardly.
Dastardly shook his head. "No, unless he had a witness and paid them to keep their mouth shut."
They all turned to Bladebeak, who gulped and tried to walk away, only to slip on the muddy paw prints and crashed into the now disabled Transformation Chamber.
"You, spill!" demanded Dastardly.
"Oh, uh, the laughing dog had said he was heading for Africa" Bladebeak answered nervously. "Oop! Not that he was…"
Dastardly groaned in frustration as Judy checked the map.
"Oh, no" she panicked. "By now, Africa is overdue for a monsoon."
"Monsoon?" Wilde scoffed. "A little rain can't hurt anyone."
"Yeah, but a lot can kill you! But that's not the worst part."
"What's the worst part?"
"Well, during the wet monsoon, it becomes a swamp, invested with blood thirsty crocodiles."
"CROCODILES?!" screamed Wilde, Dastardly and Bladebeak.
"You mean giant man eating crocodiles?!" squeaked Wilde.
"Yes" Judy answered. "So, we'll have to be cautious and I'm bringing some chemicals along so if Dastardly, God forbid, drowns due to his inability to swim, I can change him into anything- -"
"Are you crazy?!" panicked Dastardly. "I don't want to change into animal again and I don't want to lose my humanity!"
Judy remembered very well that Dastardly had a tough time with the black dog curse, but Wilde stuck up for her.
"Carrots has tested it on Bladebeak before with a drop of octopus blood and he was able to talk, have his own brain and he changed back after promptly seven minutes." he said. "Dastardly, trust me. She wouldn't do anything to hurt you… unlike previously."
"The point is" Judy interrupted, "Muttley's life could be at stake and you don't want to lose him. It's the only way."
Dastardly felt uneasy of the idea, but he knew deep down that Judy was right.
"All right" sighed the human. "I'll do it. Not for you, but for Muttley."
Judy squealed excitedly and kissed Dastardly on the cheek.
"Oi, I've gone soft" Dastardly muttered to himself.
Judy then packed a suitcase with umbrellas, chemicals in vials, weapons, spare clothes and her magnifying glass. Just as she was about to close it, Bladebeak popped up.
"So, where are we going, Hoppsy?" he asked excitedly.
But Dastardly snatched the axe chicken and threw him to the wooden chair which collapsed.
It was Muttley's idea to throw Bladebeak on an old wooden chair that they could care less about.
"You're not coming with us" Judy answered sternly. "You're going to stay here till we get back with Muttley."
"But-But-But, he gets to go!" Bladebeak protested, pointing his wing at Dastardly.
Dastardly scoffed in disgust. "That is because Muttley and I have been through better experiences of getting hurt or turning into animals that are neither bad or good. Go to your wife."
"I wanna come- -"
"Go to your wife!"
"But, what if- -"
"Go to your wife! Go to your wife! GO TO YOUR WIFE!"
Bladebeak stood there in silence, then made up his mind.
"I don't have to take this" he said, "I'm going to my wife."
He then waddled away.
"Gosh! What a chicken!" groaned Wilde.
Judy shook her head, annoyed.
In Africa, Judy and Wilde rowed a boat through the dark, heavy fog by a lit lantern with Dastardly at the foot of the boat like a pirate captain.
Finally, they reached the swamp and Dastardly then hid himself behind a large rock.
"You sure about this, Carrots?" Wilde asked nervously.
"No" replied Judy, "But it's hard for me to enter this place, it's darker than most places we've been through."
"Carrots? Dastardly?" Wilde whined, pointing at something.
An old, large alligator like crocodile was swimming to the group.
Judy was ready to fight with a spear when she recognized the crocodile.
"Wait, everyone" she ordered.
She then lowered her weapon and hopped to the waterhole.
"Pua, you are a strong and wise leader of your float" the rabbit said to the old crocodile. "Please, as a favor of saving your life from hunters, spare my friends. They are harmless."
"Judy Hopps" the older crocodile replied in a deep voice. "It has been many years. How is your former human arch nemesis?"
"Um… You could say he's slithered out of villainy thanks to my rescue."
Pua explained that he saw their boat and not only did he sniffed them out, he saw Muttley.
"I came to warn you" Pua finally said calmly but full of concern. "A former member of my float is out and about and he will eat anything that steps into our water."
Wilde and Dastardly nervously stepped away from the water.
"You mean Tick Tock is at it again?" asked Judy.
"Who is Tick Tock?" frowned Wilde.
"No time to explain! We gotta get to high ground ahead of the next rainfall and find Muttley now!"
She and Dastardly ran as fast as they could, leaving Wilde with Pua. The fox grinned sheepishly.
"So… have you eaten any animals lately?" he asked Pua.
Meanwhile, Muttley was sipping on a coconut cocktail and sitting on a floating log. He was having a great time.
"Rasm frasm, this is more like it!" he barked with a snicker.
But before he could take a dip in the water, it started to pour.
The canine grumbled and packed his luggage when he then felt the log scaly…
"Huh?"
Muttley nervously hit the log several times and it suddenly let out a hiss. It wasn't a log at all, it was Tick Tock the Crocodile!
"Uh-oh" groaned Muttley.
The crocodile grinned and opened his mouth to eat the canine in one chomp.
Yelping, Muttley jumped onto a vine and Tick Tock chomped, nearly biting the end of the dog's tail!
A rock suddenly hit Tick Tock on the head.
"Oi, clock head!" shouted a familiar voice. "Get away from my dog!"
Tick Tock turned away from Muttley to face Judy, Wilde and Dastardly over a rocky cliff.
"Yeah, pick on somebody your own size!" Wilde growled.
"Rastardly, do something!" Muttley yelped.
"Muttley!" Dastardly gasped, seeing his dog hanging on the vine. "Stay there, I'm coming!"
Though scared, Dastardly jumped off the ledge and fell into the water with Tick Tock diving after him.
Resurfacing, Dastardly gasped for air and turned to Judy.
"Go help Muttley, I'll try to keep him occupied!" he ordered.
"Okay, be careful!" Judy answered.
The rabbit tied a vine around her waist and held onto another in her paws.
"Wilde, give me a boast!" she ordered the fox.
"Are you crazy?!" panicked Wilde. "You're gonna get yourself killed- -"
He accidentally pushes himself and Judy off the ledge. She grabs a vine and grabs Wilde's paw and they swing back and forth in the jungle.
"Whatever you do, do not let go!" Wilde whimpered.
Judy then noticed a tangle of vines underneath Muttley. It was in the middle of the canopy.
"I'm gonna let go!" Judy said with determination in her voice.
"What?!"
"One… Two…"
"No, don't! CARROTS!"
Judy let go of the vine and they flew over the swamp and land on Muttley's vine.
The two then helped Muttley down onto the vines and they embraced when they heard Dastardly yell.
Dastardly wasn't gaining the upper hand, Tick Tock had him in his jaws struggling to open them to save himself.
"Oh, no!" Judy cried, "Dastardly is in trouble!"
Sensing his master is in trouble, Muttley jumped off.
The vines under them broke and Judy and Wilde land on the canopy leaves. They both get tangled up in vines a few feet off the ground.
Dastardly continued to fight Tick Tock, but he couldn't hold it much longer; his strength was failing him and his clothes ripped due to avoiding stomach acid and the struggling.
"Oh, come on, you big git!" complained Dastardly. "Haven't you had enough?!"
Tick Tock ignored him and snapped his jaws shut, only to feel something biting him.
Muttley battled the crocodile, who spat out Dastardly and the human fell into the water, unconscious.
Judy and Wilde gasped in shock.
"Dick!" panicked the fox.
Judy dove into the water, swam down and caught Dastardly just as he was sinking to the bottom. Then, she effortlessly swam back to the surface.
Wilde rowed the boat toward Judy and helped pull Dastardly in.
"Let's fetch Muttley and get the heck outta here!" Judy said breathlessly but anxiously.
Muttley was gaining the upper hand. He poked Tick Tock in the eyes and tricked him into crashing into a rock wall. Then, the canine jumped into the boat as it rowed away from Africa.
The animals cheered and high fived each other while Muttley let out a victorious howl.
Dastardly slowly woke up, slightly panicked.
"It's okay, Dick" Judy reassured. "We got Muttley."
Muttley licked Dastardly's face, but his master was furious than relieved.
"How could you do that to me?!" Dastardly screamed. "Don't ever do that again! I can't let anything happen to you! Remember the Big Ben fight? The crash knocked you unconscious for God knows how long?!"
Muttley grumbled and snarled viciously.
"Don't give me that attitude! You're lucky that you weren't killed!"
Muttley laughed, thinking his master was pulling his leg.
"We're not joking, Muttley" Judy said sternly. "During a monsoon, crocodiles tend to come this way and if we didn't show up, Tick Tock would see to it that you would fit within his skin."
Hearing this, Muttley drooped his ears with shame and whimpered with big, sad eyes that Dastardly couldn't even ignore. He was really sorry.
"Don't worry, boy" Dastardly cooed softly, petting Muttley. "When we get home, we'll relax by the fire and you'll have a nice bath."
"Rasm frasm bubble bath!" Muttley laughed.