Heyo, folks! I am super excited to be able to bring to you the second chapter of The Key! This took a while to write, but still, it was loads of fun to finally get out! Let me know what you think! Also, once again I'd like to remind everyone that I've started working on my story Animal Kingdom Come which can be found on Fictionpress, Archive of Our Own, and ScribbleHub! I hope that, if you haven't already, you'll consider giving it a read! Thank you!

The Key (Chapter 2)

by

Elite Shade

"Okay, let's double check to make sure you have everything, sweetie!" Judy said, consulting the large yellow notepad in her paws where the checklist lay. She was presently wearing a yellow t-shirt and jeans.

"I think you meant to say septuple-check," Nick quipped from the driver's seat, a smirk on his muzzle. He was wearing a blue Pawaiian shirt with his khaki slacks today.

"It never hurts to be prepared," Judy said, looking over at the fox tod with a pointed look.

"Yes, dear." Nick chuckled at the roll of his mate's eyes, the small smile at the corner of her mouth not going unnoticed. Judy turned to the back seat with a wide grin on her face, looking back at her kit and his friends, all of whom were dressed in their ranger scout uniforms. Just a pawful of years ago, Nick would never have guessed where his life was going to lead. He never imagined he would meet the love of his life, become an officer of the law, or adopt a kit! And now, here he was, his mate beside him as he drove them to her hometown so that he and his son, and his son's friends, could go on their very own Ranger Scout camping trip.

It almost felt a bit surreal. The fact that his former partner in crime was driving the rest of the troop in his van following behind them compounded that feeling. Of course, the fact that Finnick's nephew, Darryl, pulled the classic emsad chinchilla eyes/em in order to get the fennec to volunteer to help with the carpooling as well as to join in on the camping trip itself was a great source of amusement for Nick. Well, that and Scoutmaster Greene riding with them. The chatty deer buck was no doubt talking off one or both of Finnick's large ears.

"Alright, boys, First-Aid kit?"

"Check, Mom!" Eli said, unzipping his large backpack and pulling out the white plastic container with a red caduceus on it.

"Flashlights?"

"Check, Mrs. Hopps-Wilde!" Isaac yipped, pulling out a few brightly colored flashlights. "Along with spare rechargeable batteries, all fully charged!"

"Filled water bottles?"

"Check!" Mike proudly professed, pointing to a large pack that he, as a mouse, couldn't lift, his own tiny pack filled with supplies just for him in his size. He reaches over and unzipped a pocket to show off their filled canteens and spare water bottles.

"Extra clothing?"

"Check!" Chorused all three.

Down the list Judy went, all the while Nick watched as the countryside passed them by. In the distance, he could see the Welcome to Bunnyburrow sign, with it's spinning population meter, still ticking up. He had learned, very quickly on his first visit to Judy's hometown, that that was more of a running joke than an actual tally.

"Are we forgetting anything?" Judy asked the boys, who seemed excited.

"Compases?" Nick offered, a small part of him excited that he could contribute to a ranger scout excursion.

"Check!" The boys all proudly pulled out their own compasses.

"Alright. I've marked on the map where cell-service is limited or non-existent and where it's strongest, so just in case, you can call for help at any time. And just to reiterate, Nick and I will be staying at the farm, so you can also come get us, day or night, ok?"

The boys nodded, Isaac now smooshing his face against the glass to see the rolling hills, and the forest starting to creep up on the landscape.

"This is so COOL! I've never been out of the city before!" Isaac's tail was swishing back and forth so quickly, it was a tan blur.

"Emergency long-range radios?"

"That's a ten-four for a check, Mrs. Hopps-Wilde!" Lyla's voice cracked through the speaker of the walkie-talkie on Eli's backpack, the human boy already starting to blush a little. "Over."

Judy chuckled. "Copy that, Lyla." She gave her son a wink, which caused the human boy's ears to turn a bright red.

"Fluff, I know I've brought this up a few times now, but I would feel remiss not to, once again, ask if maybe this is a little much? Eli and his friends are not going to be going too far away from the farm, and it's in the Bunnyburrow Woods, not exactly the deep unexplored wilderness."

At that moment, from where he was sitting on Eli's lap, Ollie let out a squeak, rolling over so Eli could gently scratch his belly.

"See? Even Ollie agrees with me."

Judy rolled her eyes.

"Preparation is key for the Ranger Scouts, Slick." She turned back to the boys. "Now, back to the list. Flare guns?"

Nick sighed, a smirk on his muzzle as the warm feeling in his chest returned.

Meanwhile...

"Any movement?" Jack asked from his hiding spot, which today was a public trash can sitting next to a tree on the sidewalk. He was dressed in a dark gray jumpsuit with a day-glow yellow vest and a matching hardhat, with the plan being that if he's found, to claim he's a city maintenance worker performing an inspection. Walter was sitting at a nearby park bench, pretending to be reading a newspaper, dressed in a charcoal gray suit with a red tie, trying to look like a businessmammal.

"Not yet," Walter whispered into the mic in the cuff of his suit while pretending to take a sip of coffee. "It looks like Mr. Prancington is content to just sit there feeding those ducks. At least he's using duck feed instead of bread, contrary to what most folks believe, that's actually really unhealthy for ducks to eat."

"Ducks are overrated anyway. Now the turtles at this pond are the stars of the show." Jack peeked through the eye holes in the receptacle to stare at the middle-aged chocolate brown horse standing at the edge of the pond, seeming to enjoy tossing food amidst the gaggle of water fowl that had formed around him. He was wearing a light blue sweater and khaki slacks, with a large pair of thick glasses.

"You don't think he made us, do you?"

"Not a chance." Jack's ears perked and twitched. "He's gunna make the exchange the moment the buyer shows up."

"Got eyes on someone heading his way," Skye whispered into her own mic, doing stretches in her jogging outfit as she did so. "Warthog in the shirt and jeans incoming."

"Copy," Walter said.

"Copy, got eyes on the new guy to the party, and he's got a duffel bag that looks like a perfect match for the one resting near Mr. Prancington's feet. Also, Skye, I appreciate the flirting, but you need to control yourself when we're on duty." Walter could hear the snicker in his partner's voice as he spoke, no doubt alternating between watching the shady warthog and ogling the cute arctic vixen wearing the tight running outfit and doing stretches.

"Really, Jack?" Skye asked, and Walter predicted that she had a slight blush to her cheeks.

"Really. But I think after we make this bust, we'll have a little down time, and then I can help get some of myself out of your system." Walter knew by now that Jack was more than likely puffing out his chest.

"Focus you two," Walter chastised the pair, tensing up as the warthog sidled up next to the horse and also started to feed the ducks. "It's going down. Save your flirting banter for when we're not on the job, please." He got up and folded his newspaper under his left arm, picking up the briefcase sitting next to him on the bench. He started to walk while looking casual, all the while he was maneuvering himself nearby in case anyone tried to run.

"I was not flirting! But, copy that." Skye finished her stretches and began to jog in place.

"... I think you're just jealous of my natural animal magnetism," Jack said, zooming in the police camera with him in the trash can, filming the two suspicious mammals through yet another hole cut in the side. They watched as the horse and the warthog seemed to be making small-talk. Just then, said warthog reached down and 'accidentally' grabbed the horse's bag, and started to walk off with it, leaving behind his own.

"And we got 'em! Let's bag and tag 'em!" Jack leapt out from the trash, his camera slung over one shoulder. Two squad cars pulled up from where they'd been waiting, Chaz and Arnie getting out of one, Delgato and Francine exiting the second, and slightly larger, vehicle. Their tranq guns were drawn, and the warthog bolted. Skye was in his path and already had her own tranq gun out. He skidded to a halt, his hooves now raised. Walter sighed and relaxed a little internally as he approached, his own tranq pistol drawn, all while Delgato and Arnie were ordering the two onto the ground.

Jack ran over to the bag the warthog had been carrying, and unzipped it, gloves on of course. "Ooooh! Looks like we got us a match for the stolen jewels, buddy." The striped hare looked over at Walter and flashed his human partner a wink. "Just as I said they'd be."

Jogging over to the bag by the horse, Skye snapped on her own latex gloves and popped it open as well. "And here's the money! A pretty large payday if you ask me."

"Overall, a pretty good bust." Jack strutted on over to Skye, who was bagging the evidence, puffing out his chest. "So, Skye, how about once we're done with everything down at the station, you and me go catch a movie? Maybe that new Wicked Deceased movie? If you get scared, you can always cuddle closer to me for protection."

Skye snorted and rolled her eyes. "Didn't you get so scared from that last one that you had to leave the theater?"

Jack furrowed his brow and shot Walter, who was not at all looking away, a dirty look. "Last time I go to a movie with you, Walt!" The hare then turned back to the vixen and waved a dismissive paw. "I had a minor stomach bug, that's all."

"Sure. I'd love to," Skye said with a chuckle.

"Really?!" Jack's ears perked up at that, and his left foot started to thump in excitement.

"Absolutely. And we'll just see how long you can last in this one! It's supposed to be even gorier!" Skye's tail started to swish back and forth while she placed her paws on her hips, and quirked an eyebrow.

"If you two are done flirting, we need to get these two back down to the station for booking," Arnie rumbled, making the two officers jump. Walter snickered as he helped carry the evidence bags.

Elsewhere...

"Okay, class! Today it's Sarah's turn for Show and Tell!" The female kangaroo in the light blue sundress motioned for the little human girl to come to the front of the very colorful classroom. Sarah smiled wide as she walked up, wearing her favorite pink overalls, a white shirt underneath, her hair bunched together into two short, bunched up pigtails. In her hands was a white and brown spiral seashell that she proudly held up to show her classmates, some giving the appropriate Oooh's and Aaaah's.

"This is my favorite seashell from my collection! It's a naw-uh, nawty... OR! A naw-til-us shell!" Sarah was ecstatic to have been able to pronounce the hard word from memory alone. "A naw-til-us is a seffa-low-pod, like an octopus or a squid! But they have shells like these! They live in the ocean and swim backwards and are really smart!"

Moving on to the Q&A portion, Sarah spotted a skunk boy bouncing in his seat, holding his paw up.

"Yes, Jason, you have a question for Sarah?" Mrs. Bouncer nodded to the boy.

"How'd you get it?" Jason asked.

"My Uncle Reggie gave it to me as a present when he visited last week! He got me and my brothers all seashells!"

"Mary? You had a question?"

The little wolf pup wagged her tail and barked. "Do they get to be giants? Like giant squids?"

"My Mommy said that this shell is ten centimeters in dye-am-ma-ter, and that this is about as big as they get... but she did also say that there's lots of really deep places in the oceans that haven't been explored yet, so there could be even bigger ones down there!"

There was another chorus of Ooohs as the questions continued.

Out in the Bunnyburrow woods...

"Excellent job, Kimi," Scoutmaster Greene said with a satisfied nod as he looked over the teen tigress' green and white tent as she finished setting it up.

"Thank you, sir!" Kimi said, standing up and brushing some dirt off her scout uniform. While not too thrilled that she and Lyla would be sharing a tent, she was excited that it was at least right next door to Eli, Isaac, and Mike's tent. Looking around the clearing, she spotted the human boy in question, leaving the clearing to help gather kindling and firewood with Isaac and Darryl, the little chinchilla riding on Eli's shoulder instead of Mike. The young mouse was presently sitting on Lyla's head, offering gentle advice and encouragement to Ned and Ted, the two seeming to be struggling with keeping their tent from collapsing. Adam and Chuck had already left with Nick to locate a source of fresh water. Finnick was near the center of camp, gathering up large rocks to make a circle for the campfire.

"C'mon guys, we've been over this before, and I know that you know how to set it up." Mike sighed as Ned and Ted, while still under the tarp of their tent, began a shoving match.

"It's Ned's fault!"

"Nu-uh, it's Ted's!"

"Is not!"

"Is so!"

"Boys," Lyla said, putting her hooves on her hips and flicking her little zebra tail in irritation. "That's enough! Shoving and blaming each other isn't going to get your tent all set up any quicker. Now, out from under the tarp and back to square one!" The two figures under the blue and yellow tarp froze, mid-shove, and then quickly scrambled out. They both stood up straight, looking abashed, and saluted Lyla.

"M-ma'am, yes, ma'am!" They said in unison, including the stutter.

"Excellent diffusal of the situation," Scoutmaster Greene said as he approached the younger herbivore. "Keep it up and you'll be earning your Indignant Chastising Badge sooner than you think!"

"Thank you, Scoutmaster," Lyla said happily enough, though with a quirked eyebrow. After the deer buck went over to give some helpful tips to the fennec in their group, Lyla looked up at Mike as he leaned forward on her head. "Indignant Chastising Badge?"

Mike silently held out his badge booklet that Lyla took and held up very closely to her right eye to read.

"Oh wow, it's actually real... and very oddly specific."

"Yeah... Ned and Ted are great guys, but there's lots of scouts like them out there..."

Just outside the clearing, Isaac was already scampering about, grabbing random sticks and sniffing around, his tail a blur of happiness. "Oh yeah, there's a Big Feather in this region." The coyote boy turned to his fellow scouts, waiting for their responses.

"Big Feather?" Eli asked, curious, while Darryl began to shake his head.

"A large unknown, and supposedly nearly sentient, bird species that lotsa mammals claim to see, yet no one has ever found any definitive proof of in the history of... ever," Darryl spoke, his deep voice always a bit of a surprise to Eli.

"That's because they're wiley. But so am I! Just like my great, great, grampa Wile E! He went hunting for one and almost caught it a bunch of times! And the only reasons he didn't catch the one he was hunting are because it was so smart... and also due to the fact that just about all of the equipment he was using was actually incredibly faulty and dangerous."

"Oh yeah... didn't they make a documentary about him?" Darryl asked, climbing down from Eli to walk about and also grab sticks.

"It was more like a series, but yeah. It's pretty amazing he actually managed to survive long enough to meet great, great grandma."

"I-I'd like to see them." Eli offered his friend with a smile. Isaac yipped happily back.

"They were portrayed more as comedies than as serious documentaries." Darryl chuckled, grabbing some more kindling.

"Still, I bet they're really interesting." Eli started to try and imagine what a large sentient bird species would look like.

"They are! Also they prove that, if nothing else, my great, great grampa was really resilient! And so am I!"

"Huh?" Darryl looked over at Isaac in curiosity. The coyote pup whirled around, a gleam in his eyes as he pulled out two cameras from his pockets.

"I brought two high resolution cameras with me. One that can be hooked up to a motion sensor and has night vision, and one which can see body heat! I also brought some extra rope for tripwires and a large net! I'm gunna catch it and prove that my great, great grampa wasn't crazy!"

"Ah geeze..." Darryl said, looking up at Eli. "Betcha ten bucks that he ends up catching himself in his own net."

"O-oh, uh, sorry, Darryl, but I don't think my mom and dad would be too happy with me gambling," Eli said awkwardly, to which the chinchilla snorted and shook his head, a smile at the corner of his muzzle.

"You know, you can be a bit of a mammalscout, right?"

"Aren't all of us here technically mammalscouts? Or, well, in a branch of the mammalscouts…"

Darryl chuckled and reached over to clap Eli on the back of his calves.

"We sure are, buddy. Now, since Isaac looks like he's a little too preoccupied with setting up his little trap, we should get back to gathering more kindling." Isaac was scurrying about, running around trees, and using his thumb, his tongue sticking out, to try and find the best angles. Or so Eli assumed as he and Darryl started to quickly grab more sticks.

Back at the Hopps family farm...

"Worried, sweetie?" Stu asked as he approached Judy while she was sitting on the porch swing, Ollie sitting at her feet and chewing a squeaky rubber steak, causing it to let out little squeaks from time to time.

"A little. Though Nick and Finnick are with them, and their scoutmaster is really experienced when it comes to wilderness survival." Judy smiled as her father took a seat next to her on the swing.

"I take it that you did a thorough background check on him then?"

"Dad!" Judy blushed but nodded. "Well... I mean, after everything that happened..."

"No, I get it, Judy." Stu chuckled, looking off at the sun that was approaching the horizon, the sky turning a peach/orange around it and a greenish blue hue further away, with a darker purple in the distance. The scant few clouds were all a bright pink, looking like floating cotton candy to the two rabbits. "When it comes to your own kits... you just start imagining the worst possible things that can happen. It makes you want to take every possible precaution you can think of, and then some. And on top of all of that... then you have what happened..."

Judy pulled her knees up to her chest as she sat on the swing.

"Dad..."

"Bad things do happen, Jude. The world can be a pretty scary and chaotic place at times. Being careful can help a lot... but going overboard with it can sometimes... maybe push the ones you were trying to protect away." Like Judy's ears were already, his own started to droop.

"Oh, Dad," Judy said, giving him a smile. "I know that you and Mom were just worrying about me."

"Yeah... and we always will. Just like we fret over Poppy starting up that dress-making business of hers right here in town, or Kenneth working towards that marine biology degree. But, still, I just wanted to let you know that we're so proud of you. And that no matter what, Eli couldn't have ended up with a better mother or father to look after him."

Judy sniffed and wiped at her eye, finding herself suddenly pulled into a hug, one that she happily reciprocated.

"By the way, Jude the Dude," Stu said when they broke apart, "I was meaning to ask you. Why aren't you out there camping with them?"

"Partly because I felt that this was a great bonding experience for Eli and Nick, and partly because I'm gunna be meeting Gideon and Sharla for something. They'll be coming by after they're done closing up shop in a little bit."

I hope that you all enjoyed the new chapter! Thanks for reading!