The following morning, the train, with its whistle blowing from its engine, came chugging through the beautiful snow-covered Thrushian country, leaving the city of St. Crittersburg behind.

The mighty locomotive plowed up huge furrows of snow as it steamed toward its intended destination; Zootopia.

Inside the train, Judy, Nick, Finnick, and Fru Fru were inside the carriage.

Finnick was forging through their travel papers, while talking to Fru Fru, who was sitting next to him at the window seat. "And so I told that bear... "you kiss me tomorrow, I'll bite your FACE OFF!""

"Oh, my!" Fru Fru pretended to look offended, and laughed with Finnick.

Nick entered the train car carrying a suitcase. He stood overhead, and placed his luggage above Judy. With his luggage stored, Nick cleared his throat and began to sit down next to Finnick, not even noticing Fru Fru.

"Excuse me!?" snapped Fru Fru. "This seat is already taken!"

A startled Nick leapt back up, and scowled indignantly at the shrew. "Hmm, oh, the rodent gets the window seat."

Fru Fru settled back down in her seat, still glaring at the fox.

Nick moved over and sat down next to Judy. He noticed the rabbit fiddling with her necklace. "Stop fiddling with that thing," he stopped her. "And sit up straight! Remember, you're a Grand Duchess."

"Hmph!" Judy crossed her arms. "How is it that you know what Grand Duchesses do or don't do?"

"I make it my business to know," Nick simply responded.

"Oh," Judy said, sarcastically. She continued to fiddle with her necklace.

"Look, Carrots," Nick said to her, "I'm just trying to help, alright?"

Finnick rolled his eyes at the two, and moaned.

"Nick?" Judy innocently said.

"Mm hmm?"

"Do you really think I'm royalty?"

"You know I do," smirked Nick.

"Then stop bossing me around!" hissed Judy.

The fox and the rabbit hastily turned away from one another.

Finnick, on the other hand, was quite amused by this. "She certainly has a mind of her own," he stated.

"Yeah," Nick said. "I hate that in a woman. Especially if they're dumb bunnies."

Judy glared at him, clearly offended. "I am not a dumb bunny!" She declared.

"Right." Nick kept his smirk on, not even bothering to look at her. "And that's not the way a Grand Duchess would speak to her guide."

Judy stuck her tongue out at Nick. But, she quickly turned back to the window before he could see her.

Smiling a little, Finnick took out a score card book, revealing polls he has kept between them; 3 for Nick, and 28 for Judy. The fennec fox added two more points for Judy.

The train continued to travel down from the track.

Later that afternoon, Judy was sitting and reading a book.

Fru Fru was sitting next to her on the windowsill, looking outside at the view of St. Crittersburg.

Nick came back into the compartment, and sat down across from Judy. Clearing his throat, he gathered his thoughts and tried to gain her confidence back. "Look," he started, "I think that we got off on the wrong foot."

"Well," Judy briefly looked up from her book, "I think we did too."

"Okay."

"But, I appreciate your apology," Judy added, with a small smile.

"Apology?" Nick narrowed his eyes. "Who said anything about an apology? I was just saying that we-"

"Please, just don't talk anymore," Judy said, now disgusted. "Okay? It's only gonna upset me."

"Fine, I'll be quiet," exclaimed Nick. "I'll be quiet if you will."

"Alright, I'll be quiet," Judy sarcastically agreed, setting her book down.

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Fine."

The two rebuffed each other, both crossing their arms.

Fru Fru sighed, seeming glad to hear they would be quiet. That way she could enjoy her peaceful look out the window.

After a brief silence, Judy looked out the window and asked, "You think you're gonna miss it?"

Nick scoffed, amused. "Miss what? Your talking?" He asked, mockingly.

Judy huffed at him, annoyed. "No!" She gestured out the window. "Thrushia."

Nick's smile dropped, suddenly becoming flabbergasted by Judy's question. It began to recall something terrible that had happened to him several years ago... the same night of the Hopps family's execution;

Cut to Flashback:

Not too long, after helping Judistasia and her grandfather escape, Nick moaned as he slowly began to regain consciousness.

He gasped himself awake, remembering that the palace's siege was still going on.

The young kit tried to move, but couldn't. Nick looked down to see that he was tied to a chair. He also noticed the muzzle was still strapped over his jaws. "Wh... what's happening to me?" He muffed through the muzzle.

He looked up to see a couple of rhinoceros guards standing by, ready to interrogate him.

"All right, Fox, where are the Dowager Emperor Otto and Grand Duchess Judistasia?" The leader of the guards asked with a glare. "We all know you had something to do with it!"

Nick tried to put on a brave face. "I don't know what you're talking about!" He insisted.

"Don't! Lie! To us!" yelled the lead rhino.

"Either you tell us where she is..." another soldier threatened him, "...or else..." he pulled out a Bowie knife at the last phrase.

Nick's eyes widened in horror at the knife. "No!" He exclaimed. "No! What did I do wrong?!" He tried to struggle free, but no avail. "Please, what did I do wrong?"

The rhino soldier went over to Nick, took hold of his left arm, and used his knife to cut on the kit's bicep, leaving a deep bloody X-mark on it.

"What did I do?!" Nick cried out in pain. "NO!"

"That settles it!" announced the leader of the guards. "Starting tonight, you are to endure seven weeks' worth of hard labor with our chain gain!"

All poor Nick could do was cringe and wince in pain at his injury.

"Get up, you crybaby!" Another rhino guard ordered, as he untied the ropes from Nick.

The guards forced the young fox to work in part of a chain gain, outside the streets of St. Crittersburg.

Once the guards were gone, Nick leaned against a nearby wall, panting. The fox kit struggled to get the muzzle off his face. He managed to remove it, and threw the muzzle away from him with a grunt. Then, Nick grasped onto his arm where his cut laid, now permanently. He tried to hold back his tears. But he gave in, and began to sob quietly. He sat down, and rubbed his eyes.

The poor kit was stuck working in hard labor for seven weeks.

One day, while sweeping up the sidewalk, Nick stopped for a brief moment and put his paws in his coat pockets to warm them up. When he did, he felt something in one of his pockets. He pulled it out, and looked to discover that he had Judistasia's music box with him.

Nick stared at the music box, astonished. He glanced around to make sure no one saw him, and stuck it back in his pocket.

When he was finally free from labor, Nick dared to never speak of his punishment to anybody, that he held onto the precious gift Otto had given his granddaughter, the night before it all happened, and that he was the one who helped Judistasia escape the siege of the palace.

Back to the Present:

Aghast by the memory, Nick's ears pinned down as he trembled a bit. He looked down and clutched onto his left bicep. But then, he quickly snapped himself out of his PTSD, put on a casual face, and answered Judy's question with a simple, "Nope."

"But it was your home," said Judy.

"It was a place I once lived," Nick responded, shortly. "End of story."

"Well, then you must plan on making Zootopia your true home."

Nick was getting uncomfortable with this discussion, and lost his patience. "What is it with you and homes?!"

Judy stood up from her seat, while Nick lifted his legs up and positioned them where the rabbit was sitting.

"Well, for one thing it's something that every normal mammal wants," Judy explained. "And for another thing, it's a thing where you-"

"What?" Nick said, impatiently.

"You know..." Judy began to lose her own temper with the fox, and grunted. "Oh, just forget it!" Blocked by Nick's legs from leaving, she climbed up onto the seat and walked over them.

"Fine!" Nick stood up, turned away from Judy, and crossed his arms with a solemn look on his face.

Fru Fru was unable to cope with the fox and the rabbit constantly bickering with one another, herself. Still, she leapt from the windowsill onto the seat. "Wait for me!" She called to Judy.

Judy looked down at the shrew, picked her up, and placed her on her shoulder.

Just then, Finnick entered the compartment.

Judy looked relieved to see the fennec fox. "Thank goodness is you! Just, please, remove him from my sight!" She pointed at Nick, who mocked her words.

Finnick frowned at Nick. "What have you done to her?"

"Me?" Nick turned to Finnick in surprise and confusion, and pointed at Judy. "It's her!"

"HA!" Judy growled at Nick's accusation. "Come on, Fru Fru!"

With that, she stepped outside the car. Judy slid the door shut, and angrily stomped down the corridor.

"Oh no..." Finnick groaned teasingly at Nick, "...an unspoken attraction?"

"ATTRACTION?!" Nick gasped, now agitated. "For that skinny little brat?! Have you lost your mind?!" He moved past Finnick towards the door.

"I was only asking a simple question!" claimed Finnick.

Nick stormed out of the compartment, slamming the door behind him. ""Attraction"? Ridiculous!" He muttered to himself, as he stomped down the other end of the corridor.

Meanwhile, an explosion came crashing through brittle limb, navigating their way toward the train and the suspecting travelers, Bellwether's wolf minions had caught up with the train. Rocketing beneath the train and its engine, they left a wake of flames on the track behind them.

The green wolf demons crawled all over the train engine, before entering it through its open dome, causing the engine to glow red and overheat, speed up, and began to rattle as if it were about to fall apart, with steam wheezing from the locomotive.

As nighttime began to approach, Finnick was walking down the passageway of the train with his passport.

He passed by an otter couple, who were also looking at their own passports.

"Last month, the traveling papers were blue," the husband discussed with his wife. "But now, they're red."

Hearing this, Finnick stopped to merely look at the otter couple's passports. Indeed, their print was in red. The fennec fox looked at his own passport, to see that his document was forged in blue ink. He gasped, upon realizing that his and his companion's passports were outdated.

"Papers!" One of the guards called out. "Papers, please!"

While the otter couple went up to the calling guard, a flustered Finnick turned abruptly and quickly made his way back to his train compartment to warn Nick.

"Outta my way!" He pushed past other coming animals, once again startling them with his height and deep voice.

Finnick opened the door to the compartment, and went in. He approached Nick, who was looking at his own passport. "That's what I hate about this government," he told Nick. "Everything's in red."

Shocked, Nick stood up and stared at their outdated passports. "Red?!"

"I propose we move to the baggage car, quickly," Finnick suggested. "Before the guards come."

"I propose we get off this train!" stated Nick.

The foxes quickly grabbed their baggage from the rack.

Fru Fru was still looking outside the window. Suddenly, she spotted Bellwether's green wolf minions passing by.

"Uhhh, Judy?" She looked down at Judy, who was fast asleep on her seat. "Nick?" She tried to alert Nick.

"Not now, shrew!" He brushed her off. "We gotta go!"

Fru Fru frowned at him, disgusted that he was ignoring her completely. She looked back out outside, to see one of the minions leering at her just on the other side of the window.

Squeaking in terror, Fru Fru leapt off the windowsill, and scurried away out of the compartment.

Nick knelt down to wake up Judy. "Hey," he shook her a little.

Unexpectedly, Judy suddenly flailed her arm up, and slugged him right in the nose.

"Ow!" Nick fell backwards into the opposite seat, covering his nose with a paw.

Waking up, Judy sat up in shock. "Oh! Sorry, I thought you were some..." she cut herself off, upon seeing it was Nick. "Oh, it's you. Well, that's okay then," Judy frowned, and started to lie back down.

But Nick grabbed her by the paw, and pulled her from the bench seat towards the compartment door. "C'mon, we gotta go!" He told her.

"Where are we going?" asked Judy.

"I think you broke my nose!" complained Nick. Still clutching onto their suitcases and covering his nose, he hurried after Finnick down the corridor.

Exasperated, Judy slipped her coat back on. "Men are such babies," she said, under her breath.

"I heard that!" Nick called out.

"Good!" Judy snapped, as she followed the foxes down the corridor.

The four entered inside a baggage car.

Judy closed the door behind them, while Nick looked around in the car. "Ah, yes," he whispered. "Yes, this will do nicely."

Finnick turned back and glared at Nick. "She'll freeze in here."

"She can thaw in Zootopia," Nick simply told his partner.

Judy looked at Nick, suspiciously. "The baggage car?"

Nick and Finnick both responded with a little chuckle through grinning teeth.

"There wouldn't be anything wrong with our papers now, would there, Maestro?" asked Judy.

"Of course not, your grace," lied Nick. "It's just that I... I hate to see you... forced to mingle with all those commoners."

Judy was not convinced by the feigned smile on Nick's face.

Neither one of them noticed a green light glow under the crack of the door.

Outside, the wolf demons flew underneath the train's carriage car. There, they worked together to pull the couplings apart. Then, the runaway locomotive and baggage car was separated from the dining car by an explosion.

The engine continued to overheat.

Inside their car, the quartet felt the explosion, and fell backwards upon impact. Nick and Judy fell into a pile of baggage, half-buried in it.

Finnick got back up, and rushed to the rear door to look out and see what was going on.

"What the heck was that?" Nick cried out, alarmed.

"I dunno!" cried the little fennec fox. "But there goes the dining car!" He pointed out the door, revealing that they had been separated from the rest of the train. "And I wanted to try their special!" He moped.

Fru Fru snuck out from under a leather bag, and dusted herself off. "Hmph! Some train ride!" She angrily scoffed.

As they struggled amidst the luggage, Judy tried to get out from underneath Nick. "Get off of me!" She angrily muffled.

"I'm trying!" yelled Nick.

Judy tried to move a suitcase, only to kick Nick in the rear with her foot.

"Ow!" They both cried.

Finnick went to look out the window to peer at the train engine. Frightened, he could see the locomotive billowing out lots of smoke and sparks and fire raining down. "Uh, Nick?"

"What?" Nick moaned, as she rubbed his sore spot where Judy kicked him.

"I think someone's flambéed our engine!" shrieked Finnick. "And it sure as heck ain't look too tasty to me!"

Judy and Nick moved forward to see that the engine was blowing smoke and fire.

"Something's not right!" said Nick. He opened the door, and jumped onto the ladder on the engine's tender. "Wait here, I'll check it out!" He told Judy and Finnick.

Going to observe the steam engine, Nick climbed up the ladder to the top, and ran across the coal tender.

The fox jumped down into the engine room. Inside the cab, it was bright orange and blazing hot. Nick shielded his face from the intense heat. Peeking out through his fingers, he could se that nobody was driving the burning train engine.

"Anybody here?!" called Nick.

He grabbed onto the brake lever to pull it. But it was so hot, that the fox yelped and brought his paw back, narrowly dodging an explosion of fire. He scrambled back to the baggage car from the burning locomotive in a hurry.

In the baggage car, Judy, Finnick, and Fru Fru were all looking out the door in fear.

"I don't like this, Judy!" cried the shrew.

"We're going way too fast!" agreed Judy.

At that moment, Nick jumped back in front of the others, dirty and singed. "Nobody's driving this train!" He warned them. "We're gonna have to jump!"

The group hurried over to the side door.

Judy's eyes widened. "Did you say "jump?!"" She asked in shock, as Nick opened the side door.

They all looked out to see a sheer cliff dropping into a deep chasm.

Fru Fru fearfully shook her head when she saw how far down the chasm was. "No thank you!"

"After you!" Judy told Nick.

"Fine!" Nick said, agitated. "Then we'll uncouple the car."

Hearing this, the minions undercarriage flew over to the coupling between the baggage car and locomotive. There, they melted the coupling, so it could not disconnect.

Nick jumped back out onto the coupling . "COME ON!" He cried. "I need a wrench, an axe! ANYTHING!"

Finnick struggled for a moment to pull a toolbox near the door. "Here!" He handed Nick a hammer.

Nick took the hammer, and repeatedly banged the coupling to uncouple the baggage car from the possessed locomotive.

Judy and Fru Fru searched desperately through the baggage compartment.

Just then, something caught Fru Fru's eye. She spotted a wooden crate, labeled; DANGER: EXPLOSIVES.

"Look, Judy!" She pointed out. Fru Fru leapt off of the rabbit's shoulder onto the box.

Judy looked down at the box full of dynamites, and smiled.

Nick kept on trying to separate the cars. But the coupling was welded good and tight, that it would not disconnected. Just then, the head of the hammer snapped off.

Nick stared at it in shock. "Come on! There's gotta be something in there better than this!" He snapped, furiously throwing the broken hammer away.

Judy came out, handing the fox a lit stick of dynamite.

Nick looked at the dynamite, impressed. "That'll work!" Sticking it onto the coupling, he gestured the others toward the other end of the baggage car. "Go! Go! Go!"

They all took cover behind some boxes.

As Nick held onto Judy, he asked the rabbit, "What do they teach you in those orphanages?"

They ducked their heads in preparations.

The dynamite then exploded on the coupling with a loud BOOM! The engines tender was blown away from the baggage car.

The wolf demons looked back to see the baggage car had separated from the locomotive. Growling in disapproval, they raced ahead of the train, towards a bridge up ahead of them.

The engine and its coal tender sped up ahead, with the baggage car not far behind.

Finnick tried to turn on the brake wheel, while Nick used his jacket to put out some fire from the explosion.

"The brakes are out!" Finnick warned.

"Turn harder!" Nick simply told him.

Finnick kept trying to turn the wheel. Only then for it to break off, with the fennec fox now holding it.

"Don't worry!" Nick assured them. "We've got plenty of track. We'll just coast to a stop."

Suddenly, a big boom caused the gang to fall down.

Bellwether's minions murmured gleefully as they united into one large minion. Together, they destroyed the bridge in a flash of green fire.

The trio stared out at the crumbling bridge, and all gasped in horror.

"You were saying?" Judy calmly asked Nick.

The baggage car kept picking up speed, heading downhill toward the collapsed bridge.

Nick looked back into the baggage car for something to stop them. He noticed a chain holding down some cargo, getting an idea. "I've got an idea Finnick, give me a hand with this!" He ran over and grabbed the chain, with Judy behind him.

Finnick turned to go over and aid Nick. Only for him to lose his balance, and fall into a box.

Nick carefully edged his way out of the car. The ground whizzed by beneath him as he lowered himself underneath the baggage car. "Hand me the chain!" He reached his paw up, expecting Finnick to be there. He looked stunned upon seeing it was Judy handing out over him with the chain. "Not you, Carrots!"

"Finnick's busy at the moment!" A disgruntled Judy told him.

Nick eventually accepted the chain from Judy, and hooked it onto the undercarriage.

As he was doing so, he looked at the front of the train to see twisted steel flying back at him like shrapnel.

"No! No! Aaaagghhh!" He yelled.

Luckily, Judy was able to save Nick from the debris by pulling the chain up, just as the shrapnel whipped by, shattering a tree.

The fox landed on top of the rabbit. As they were catching their breath, the two stared at each other for a moment. Their eyes met; Judy's amethyst purple ones looking into Nick's emerald green ones, stirring some distant feeling.

Nick was the first to snap out of it. He blinked, and looked back to see the shattered tree receding in the distance.

"And to think, that could have been you," Judy commented to the fox.

"Hey, if we live through this," Nick said to Judy, as he dusted himself off, "remind me to thank you. Now hurry - there's no time to lose!"

By this time, the damaged baggage car and the train engine were getting closer to the gorge, near collision course with the broken bridge.

Fru Fru looked out to see how close they were, and screamed. "I CAN'T WATCH!" She turned away, covering her eyes.

"Here goes nothing!" Nick said, in an uneasy tone. "Brace yourselves!" He took the chain and flung its other end out the back. He looked out to see the hook bounce around, until it finally got caught on the tracks.

It was strong enough to pull the baggage car, causing it to turned sideways as it separated, plowed through the snow and began to slow down.

The baggage car continued to slide after the train engine, both getting closer and closer to the gorge.

"Well, there is our stop!" announced Judy.

Fru Fru clutched onto Judy's shoulder, and braced herself for any more impact.

Joining paws together, the trio all screamed as they jumped off the baggage car, landing safely into a snowbank.

Nick and Finnick had also managed to take their luggage with them, as well.

They watched as the overheated train engine and the ruined baggage car both sped all the way to the broken bridge, and then plunged off of it. They came to a crash, ending with a loud explosion into balls of fire, smoke, and flying sparks at the bottom of the gorge.

The group all panted from their near-death experience, as they listened to the fire from down in the chasm.

Nick then glanced at Judy in amazement. "Carrots, you saved my life!"

"Well, that's what else we do back at the orphanage," Judy responded.

"Well, I hate trains," Nick said, changing the subject as they all got back up. "Remind me never to get on a train again."