The sounds of paws crunching loudly over thick snow sounded across the horizon, and with it the two figures continued to make their way up to the top of the hill. Almost getting to the spot of where they needed to be, Nick and Judy trekked onward.
"I'm telling you, Slick," Judy said, continuing on her persuasions to the fox. "We should've went and just tried out that steeper path back there when we had the chance. I've always wanted to try out snowboarding, and that spot that we passed up looked pretty fun to me."
"Our definitions of what looks fun are a little bit different," Nick replied, breathing steadier as he continued to climb. "'Cause what you said looked fun looked pretty dangerous to me. Call me what you may, but that hill back there just looked way too tall and steep for my tastes."
"C'mon, Nick. What happened to your sense of adventure?"
"I still got it, but it just wasn't applicable in this case. Besides, my tail was tingling when were nearing that path before passing it up."
The bunny giggled. "And what the heck does that mean?"
"Whenever the tail tingles, it means that it's probably unsafe. It's a survival skill us foxes have adapted over time."
"I have never heard of such a thing." And it's because he's probably making that up, she additionally thought to herself.
"Consider that one of the first lessons in Survival Skills 101, Nick Wilde Edition."
Within a few moments, the doe and her companion made it to the very top of the fairly-sized hill. For a brief moment, the two stared back at the spot they had just walked up to. While it wasn't as steep as the paths that were designated for the others participating in snowboarding or skiing, it looked like a good place for the two of them.
Every little bit of scenery in this area had been kissed with a thick blanket of nothing but pure whiteness, making the atmosphere perfect for any type of snow-related activities. The scattered paw prints from a variety of mammals could be spotted practically all over, the shapes they left in the snow appeared to sink deeply into the ground. A couple of kits and families could be seen sledding down the particular hill. A few of them could be seen with snowboards, too, doing very small tricks across the snow in an attempt to look cool.
Exhaling heavily, Nick set the sled down on the ground as his lungs filled again with the cold air around him. Colored to resemble aged wood and free of any customization whatsoever, the sled looked as if it had been used by others for quite some time now.
"Alrighty, Carrots," Nick said. "All set! You ready to go?"
Extending a paw, Nick held onto the rabbit's grasp as he lead her over to where he had set the sled down. Judy happily stood beside him, a radiant smile written upon her.
For a short moment, she thought back to when she was younger and how unexplainably fun it was whenever there was enough snowfall in some parts of the Tri-Burrows to go sled riding. Her mind's eye started reminiscing of her and her friends sledding down various hills with the widest smiles upon them.
"Geez," she said, her mind coming back to the present moment. "It's been ages since I've went sled riding. This brings back so many good times from when I was younger."
"Well, you're in luck. 'Cause you happen to be in the presence of a fox who that's an expert at finding the best sled riding spots."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, it's among my many admirable qualities."
Judy shook her head at Nick's words. Brushing off some of the light snowfall that got on her bright pink coat, she plopped down onto the sled. Nick followed soon after and positioned himself right behind his leporine companion.
"Going for a new amateur sled-riding record: Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps!" Nick proclaimed loudly, his voice an imitation of a narrator that one would hear commentating a major sporting event.
"Onward, Slick," the doe in front of the vulpine stated, a fist being pumped in the cold air.
With Judy's compelling remark, the vulpine tried to get the small sled in motion. His placed paws onto the freezing snow as he tried to create enough force to propel them forward.
As Judy lounged up against her fox, the sled started to pick up in speed. With the height of the hill and the centrifugal force placed upon them, the fox and rabbit were sent speeding away. It had almost been too much speed, more than what Nick was preparing for.
With widened eyes, the vulpine leaned back as they speedily went ahead. Within their sledding path, unfortunately, was some kind of unidentifiable object that stuck up slightly from the ground. They were going way too fast to somehow steer away to the side and away from what was upon the ground.
A sudden bump came from underneath as the sled swiftly continued in a straight line. However, Nick ended up losing his balance at the bump and fell off the sled sideways and onto the blanket of white that surrounded everything.
Getting up, the vulpine shook his head, dusted the snow off of his clothes, and ran down to meet back up with Judy. It was a good thing that he accidentally fell off when they were only a short distance from the bottom of the hill, or else it would have probably been a little bit of time for him to catch up with the rabbit.
When Nick got back to where the sled had come to its complete stop, the first thing the he saw was the doe chuckling at how he had ridiculously fallen.
"Seriously, Nick?" she said in between gasps of laughter. The doe got herself up from where she was seated and stood back up upon the snow. "The only bump in the path, and you sent the sled in that direction."
"Don't blame me, Carrots," Nick replied. "If anything, we should probably be blaming whatever was sticking out of the ground for screwing our path up."
Judy joked, "What about being the expert at sled rides?"
The fox innocently chuckled. "Yeah," he breathed, "I kinda forgot to mention in there that I've fallen off of many sleds in my time. Even ended up breaking a couple of 'em, too. But it's okay if you make a mistake or two every now and then, right?"
After his remark, Nick ended up being a little too late to detect the flying snowball that came towards him.
Author's Note: I know that spring has already sprung, but this short story involving winter time started to take form in my head and I needed to get it out. I don't know why, but there's just something about the snow and winter and the like that's just so fun to write about. :)
Hope y'all enjoyed this one. It's a little bit short, but I hope I did a good job with this fun little story. and thank you once again to everyone who's been reading and enjoying my work here.
'Til next time!