The sound of absolute silence resonated across the small park outside of the city, and the afternoon sunshine bathed the area with a fair amount of light. In one particular spot in the park was a fairly-sized tennis court, being occupied by no more than two mammals.

Occupying one side of the paved court, Nick walked a few steps up with a tennis ball in one paw and his racquet in the other. The fox was currently winning the friendly little tennis match he was having with his partner, and that seemed to make him happy in a way. After all, it was the vulpine's companion that always seemed to beat him at tennis.

"Match point, Carrots," he remarked, his attention fixated at his bunny who was on the opposite side of the tennis court.

The two of them managed to have tied scores, and this would be the moment in which one of them would break said tie and be the winner of the match. A smirk on the vulpine's muzzle gave off the undeniable and unmistakable impression that he already believed he would win.

"You ready?" Nick asked.

Judy adjusted the white sun visor she was wearing and gripped onto her racquet. Her tail twitched as she waited for Nick to serve, a competitive expression on her muzzle. "Oh, yeah. Ready."

"Alrighty, here it comes," Nick replied.

With that, the vulpine threw the tennis ball up into the air slightly before hitting it with his racquet with much force. On the other side of the space, Judy backed up a few paces as the ball came flying through the air. With a powerful swing, she sent it back to Nick's side of the tennis court.

The fox ran a few paces to the right, following the direction of the ball that seemed to swerve in direction. The ball soon enough came back to Judy, who started to run swiftly to the left in the direction of it. With a grunt, she swung it back to Nick. The vulpine swung his racquet, slightly flinching at how fast the ball was approaching him. However, his racquet ended up swinging at nothing but the air; Judy broke their tie and was now the winner.

As Nick paused a moment to catch a breath after all of the running he did, he caught sight of his companion celebrating her beating him once again at tennis. Judy whooped with delight, her gray paw making a fist that she gleefully pumped in the air.

"Is there a hole in that racquet of yours, Nick?" she said jokingly to the fox.

"Very funny," Nick huffed.

The vulpine shook his head as he walked over to a bench a few paces away, quenching his thirst with the bottled water he brought along with him. As he continued to take a few seconds and sit down for a moment, Judy walked over and sat on the opposite side of the bench alongside him.

"Whew," the doe said, taking a quick sip from her bottle of water before looking over at the fox beside her. "Good match, Slick."

"Yeah," Nick breathed. "It's a good match 'cause you won, Carrots."

"Naturally," Judy replied, grinning widely.

"You never told me how you managed to get so good at tennis, Fluff. I mean, is their any other skills or talents of yours that I don't know about, hmm?"

The doe smiled, leaning her head back with a slight chuckle. "What can I say, Slick? I'm a rabbit with many talents."

"Seriously, though. Where'd you learn to play tennis so well?"

"You can thank one of my brothers for that. He enjoyed got his own tennis racquet one year as a Christmas gift, and he started practicing at this tiny little park we had nearby. The place wasn't much to talk about, but it served as a good spot for him to practice his swing and such. Soon enough, he started teaching me a couple things about playing tennis as well."

The vulpine nodded his head, paying his complete attention to the rabbit's little anecdote. "Remind me next time we go to Bunnyburrow to ask your brother for a couple pointers, will ya?"

Judy started to laugh again. Sending a nudge to her companion's shoulder, she remarked, "I dunno. It'd probably take more than a couple of lessons to help fix that swing of yours."

The fox snickered as the words hit him. "That wounded me. Besides, my terrible swing isn't that bad if it managed to beat you at the last match we had here awhile back."

"That was 'cause I let you win that time, Nick."

"No, I'm pretty sure that I won that time fair and square."

The doe huffed and shook her head, going along with the fox who seemed to be in denial. Her racquet in paw, she got up from the bench and gestured for Nick to get up as well. "Ya up for another quick game? We still got some time."

"All right," Nick murmured, getting up and walking over to his side of the court as he bounced to the tennis ball in his one paw. "Wanna bet that I win this round?"

"Seriously, Slick? You're making wagers for a tennis match?"

"Hey, sometimes a good bet makes you play a little bit better. Let's out the competitive attitude a little more, if you know what I mean."

"Whatever you say, you dumb fox."

"Okay, so what'll be the wager?"

The rabbit pondered for a moment. "If you win," she started, "then I take you to that restaurant you've been dying to check out across town, my treat."

The fox's tail wagged at the idea of what he would receive if he won, but then he cocked his head after thinking about it for a few seconds. "So what's the catch?" he pondered. "What happens I don't win? I'm a little apprehensive about finding out what misfortune you got planned out in that sly mind of yours."

Nick had reason to have a sense of apprehension at accepting a bet that was of Judy's proposal. After all, every single time that he happened to lose one of those bets, the consequences more than often resulted in the vulpine doing something that he defined as embarrassing or unfortunate. There was no doubt in his mind that Judy, who looked him in the eye on the other side of the tennis court, had something up her sleeve.

Judy put on a sneaky grin. "Just don't lose," she said, "and then you don't gotta worry about a thing."

"Okay," Nick replied, his voice hesitant. "Here goes nothin', Carrots."

The ball was served, and the new tennis game between the fox and rabbit fully commenced.