Hey everyone!
First, thank you for reading the first chapter and your reviews. It really motivated me to keep on writing.
I have to admit that I made a mistake in the text as red foxes cannot retract their claws, so I changed that part a bit. Sorry, my mistake.
Here comes the second chapter of Nick's savage story and I hope you'll like it.
Sprinting along the dirty alleyways of the Zootopia's slums Nick had only one goal in mind: find Finnick. He really needed a friendly paw right now and Judy was out of the question. That left only the fennec fox. Only then it struck him how few real friends he had. Nick never thought about it before, it was never important. If life has taught him anything, it was the fact that you have only yourself to rely on. Even Finnick was more of a business partner than a friend and they had known each other for years. His thoughts again strayed towards the little, grey bunny that stormed into his life just 48 hours ago. He still couldn't grasp how on earth she was able to slip past the emotional walls he built around himself.
*She sure is something else.*
As he was thinking of her, a new wave of primal rage surged through his mind. Nick let out an agonizing howl and clutched his head with both forepaws. He felt his consciousness fading again. Nick swallowed back a growl that rattled within his throat. But he failed to look under his feet and tripped over a pile of wooden planks, landing heavily on the pavement. The fox was so focused on fighting back the effects of Nighthowler serum, he didn't pay any attention to pain or the fact that he hurt his head and a small streak of blood was trailing down his fur.
Nick's claws were now itching to scratch something. Someone.
*No, nonono, no! Stop it!*, he screamed inside his mind.
Laying on the ground he clasped his arms tightly around his chest, forcing them to stay down. But then his jaw sprung open against his will, biting at the empty air before him. In desperation he grasped his muzzle with one hand in an attempt to shut it back again. To add to the struggle his feet started kicking violently, throwing the nearby junk around. Nick's world was now reduced to being a fierce, red fur ball thrashing on the ground of a dirty alley.
Eventually the savageness subsided, leaving the fox exhausted, both physically and mentally.
When he gathered enough energy to move again Nick crawled to the alley's wall and climbed to his wobbly feet, using the brick wall as a support. After few tiring moments his strength started flowing back, allowing him to stand straight, without swaying.
*Got. To find. Finnick.* He thought, clutching his chest.
Nick walked slowly to the end of the alley while looking if there was anyone who saw his… attack of the serum effects. He was lucky enough that some poor kid didn't walk right into him while he was in that state. Just the thought made him shiver. He had to deal with this as soon as possible.
.
.
At the hospital the doctors finished treating Judy's wound and one of them was now giving her instructions for the healing process.
"Now, remember to rest for the next week. Avoid walking on that leg, it will speed up the healing and won't strain your stitches. You can always use these crutches." The lama pointed to the supports next to her bed.
"Okay, thank you doctor." She replied.
"Don't thank me", he said with a smile "I'm just doing my job. It's good that you wrapped the wound to stop the bleeding or it would have turned out much worse. And speaking of which", he reached to the pocket of his coat and pulled out the red handkerchief, "here you go. We took the liberty of washing it."
Judy took the cloth from his hoof with a happy expression. She ran her paw over the material.
"Really, thank you."
"It looks like it's important to you" the lama observed.
"Oh, it's not mine." Judy let out a chuckle "It belongs to my friend. He wrapped my leg."
"Well, your friend certainly knew what he was doing. Must've had some earlier experience with treating wounds." He stood up from his stool and headed for the door. "Take care of yourself and remember to use the crutches." With those words the doctor left.
Judy fell back on the bed and help up the red handkerchief above her head. It looked pretty old and someone knitted in the words 'N. Wilde'.
"Thanks, Nick." She said to the piece of cloth.
.
.
After a long search, that would've probably been shorter if Nick wouldn't have to sneak from alley to alley to avoid running into any animals, he finally found the familiar van. He quickly banged at the back door.
After few seconds they flew open, with a little fox wielding a baseball bat standing in them.
"Who is it?!" he barked.
In an instant Nick grabbed his friend with both hands and leapt inside the car. He was panting heavily.
"Fin, I need help!" The red fox hissed.
"Tha's my line!" came a muffled reply from the fennec.
Nick blinked and looked down. He was holding the small fox in the air with both paws around his throat. He unclasped them as if was stricken by an electric shock. Finnick fell down on all fours and started coughing.
"Wha… wha's wrong with ya?" He wheezed.
Nick backed away, staring with terror at his paws.
"S-sorry! I'm sorry Fin!"
Finnick sat up and eyed his friend.
"Wha's the frickin' paint on ya neck?
Nick turned around and slammed the door shut.
„You're not to tell anyone what you're about to hear, got it?"
"Huh? Wha's the…."
The red fox grabbed his arm, signs of panic painted on his face.
"No one can know!" He almost shouted.
"All right, all right! Tone it down, will ya?" Finnick shoved off his friend's paw.
Nick's ears flattened in embarrassment. "Ah, yeah… sorry about that."
The fennec glared at his friend for a long moment and eventually sighed and sat down with his arms crossed.
"So wha's the story?"
Nick rubbed his temples and sat in front of his friend.
"You probably won't believe me but…"
.
.
Judy left the hospital in high spirits, ready for whatever the world had to offer. To her surprise the first thing the world decided to throw at her was the chief of ZPD waiting by a patrol car at the entrance of the building. She approached him on her crutches.
"Sir? What are you doing here?" The bunny greeted him with a salute.
"At ease Hopps." He raised his hoof. "I'm just here to make sure you're not doing anything reckless again." The buffalo opened the passenger's door. "Get in, I'll drive you home."
Judy was a bit taken aback by the offer but recovered quickly and made her way to the seat (with little help from the chief).
Their drive was very silent at first, the rabbit unsure if she should say anything or even what to say. And when she finally opened her mouth Bogo beat her to it.
"I owe you an apology, Hopps." He stated, eyes fixed on the road.
Judy's little jaw dropped down. The grumpy, stubborn and strict chief Bogo was APOLOGIZING?
"When you came to the precinct I thought I'll have to deal with some kind of political nominee, with no skill or heart for the job. That's why I assigned you the parking duty, hoping that would minimize the possible damage to the police's image. And yes, I know how it sounds, but believe me, in our line of work having a negative feedback from the public can cause very serious problems. However…" Bogo glanced at her. "You have proved me wrong. I'm sorry for not giving you a chance."
Judy was speechless for a while but finally managed to find some words.
"Um, thanks chief. That's very kind of you to say."
"Hrmpf! Don't think I'm getting soft on you. The moment you're healed I want to see that furry butt at the station and ready for duty. Is that clear?" He grumbled at her, his usual demeanour kicking in.
The rabbit practically radiated happiness at hearing this. She saluted sharply.
"Yes sir!"
.
.
Finnick shook his head, holding it with both paws. "Wait, wait, wait. So yuz tellin' me tha' you're one of 'em savage mammals from the TV?"
Nick rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, yes and no."
Finnick raised his eyebrows.
The red fox waved his paws anxiously. "I mean, I got hit with that serum and practically went savage but on the other hand I was able to stop myself. I didn't really bite or claw anyone."
"Why?"
Nick blinked. "What?"
Finnick crossed his arms. "Why didn't ya? Ya had them cops everywhere, didn't ya despise 'em? And even tha' bunny of yours, what's 'er face, Julia? Foxes did eat bunnies before ya know."
Nick haven't got the slightest idea how to answer that, but as usual in these type of situations his silver tongue worked on the 'automatic' mode. "First of all, her name is Judy. Secondly, she's not mine in no shape or form. And thirdly…
"I didn't ask ya about the bunny." The little fox cut in with a smirk.
Nick's brain caught up to what he said and wished he could erase it. He cleared his throat. "My point is that I didn't want to attack anyone!" And only in his mind he added: *At least not Carrots. Not her. * He shook off the thought. "I had no reason to."
Finnick shrugged as he patted his trusty baseball bat. "I often hit mammals."
Nick sighed. "You don't count. You don't need a reason."
The little fox grinned in response." Yeah, cuz I like it."
The red fox actually sniggered hearing that line. Finnick let out a loud laughter. This made Nick relax a little. It actually felt good to engage in such small talk.
"Well… I still need to do something about this. And I can't really go with this to anyone."
Finnick gave him a smirk. "Wha' about your little bunny friend?" He teased, but Nick didn't take the bait this time. Part of him wanted to say that that's the last thing he'd do, because he couldn't get out of his mind the fleeting moment of terror in her eyes when they were in the museum. He didn't want a repeat of that as it could scare away his new friend for good.
"She's straight as an arrow and would drag me either to ZPD or a hospital." He shook his head.
"Yeah, they'd muzzle ya too." Finnick observed as Nick twitched hearing this. The fennec was one of the only two mammals who knew about Nick's fear of muzzles and what caused it. The red fox was sure that saying this was Finnick's own way in voicing his support for the decision of hiding the fact of being savage.
"Tell ya what" His little friend stood up. "If ya can stop once, ya can do it again. We'll train ya, so that ya can control it."
"Train. How?" Nick's ears perked up.
Finnick gave him a grin. "Tha's my piece of tha pie. Ya only need tha know to be at the Junkyar' after midnight."
"Junkyard? What's there to do in that… Ok, wait." He raised a paw. "Maybe I don't want to know."
"Tha's the spirit! Meanwhile fish ya head from the gutter, we got work to do." Fin picked up his elephant costume.
Nick shrugged, he had not much else to do till midnight.