A Zootopia to Remember
Special April 1st Edition
Nick looked on with his jaw dropping as the Alan, the woodchuck continued to talk with a sneer on his face "If you thought we would ever trust a fox without a muzzle, you're even dumber than you look!"
Nick shook his head back and forth, what was going on?
Still dazed and his muzzle cramped and stinging from the clasps, Nick ran blindly up the stairs and out of the house.
Alan, the woodchuck glanced to his fellow conspirators as he reached down and picked up the baseball bat "You know we can't let him get away, right?"
Zed the zebra picks up a cricket bat while, Willy the wildebeest a second baseball bat, Harry the horse a pool stick, and Bob the hippo, he decided to grab one of the nearby dumb-bell weights.
They looked evilly at each other and slowly climbed the stairs, following the path of the crying fox.
Nick sat with his back to the wall, having successfully finally removed the horrible muzzle as he continued to cry with his head in his arms. Why? Why would they treat him like this? He only wanted to be part of a pack. To belong. For once in his life to not be 'the fox', 'the pelt', the 'lying stinking filth' that everyone branded him to be.
He was better than that. He was more than a fox. He… he wanted to make the world a better place.
Nick continued to rock back and forth until he felt a shadow fall in front of him. He slowly turned his tear-stained face up to a dangling muzzle hanging from the end of a baseball bat.
Alan spoke up in a sinister voice "I think you forgot something, Fox. Here, let me help you." And the bat descended and Nick saw stars and a sharp pain in his forehead.
Slumping to the side, his legs shaking involuntarily he warily glanced up with dimming eyes as the blows continued to rain down on him. He heard a low growl a ways away and saw his mother, suddenly going to all four and leap into the pile of children biting and clawing and screaming.
He passed out.
The police sirens and flashing lights gently drew him from his near comatose state as he felt himself surrounded with warm arms, petting his ears, gekking snarling still going on. He dimly heard a police officer shout something, then suddenly a fire of a gunshot.
The arms tightened around Nick and he cried out in pain then it slowly went dark. He could swear he smelt rain. He always loved the rain.
Judy Hopps was a funny bunny. Everyone looked at her as if she was wrong in the head, but Judy didn't care. She had the best-est friend and he would always protect her. He promised!
She hated Gideon. Foxes didn't have to be like Gideon, despite what her parents told her. She knew of a fox that was kind, compassionate, friendly, and while smug and sly, would always put her first.
A true friend. Ever since the carrot play, she heard snickers behind held hands. How dare her, a bunny, want to be a copy. Well, her parents supported her. Kinda. In their own way. They of course told her she shouldn't be, nor get her hopes up, but Nick always told her to be the best she could and he instilled in her the desire to make the world a better place. He was such a good fox.
Judy snuck up on Gideon mocking her friends with a hand full of tickets and motioned with her paw. Nick snuck up beside her and grinned down at his favorite bunny "Your call, Carrots. I have your back."
Judy snorts, having given up long ago from the Carrots name "Nick, you always have my back. Are you sure you're not eyeing my tail?" Nick gasps quietly and holds up a paw "Aren't you a little young still to think about that?"
Judy gives Nick a gimlet eye "And yet you haven't disagreed."
Nick just smiles with a bit of sweat rolling down his face as Judy pokes a finger in his direction "We'll talk about this later, you."
Nick's comment as Judy moves forward to intercept Gideon made her snort in laughter as Nick said "… but I'm not a ewe!"
Dumb adorable fox.
Judy poked Gideon in the back and taps her foot rapidly on the ground. If not for the fact of her only being 9 years old, the cop outfit would have looked cut… er… adorable.
Nick stood behind Judy, always having her back as Judy's spine got firmer with the knowledge Nick had her back "Gideon, give back the tickets."
Gideon and Trevor both scoffed "And who's gonna make me? You wittle bunny?"
They both laughed then suddenly stopped looking around in fear as they heard a growl from what could only be a predator and gulped.
Shaking it off Gideon growled back and moved toward Judy, claws out and preparing to swing. Judy leaped up and kicked Gideon in the nose knocking him back into Trevor.
They were no longer laughing.
Gideon scrambled up, bearing full fangs and shouting "You don't know when to quit, do you bunny." and leaped at Judy with his claw out.
Judy unprepared just held her ground and closed her eyes. She heard gasps and peeked open an eye and saw Gideon's claw just inches from her face, a larger and far more powerful claw on an older fox holding it at bay. Nick. She loved her fox.
Gideon immediately backed up and looked at his paw as if it wasn't part of him and glanced back to his paw and Judy back and forth as if he couldn't believe what happened.
Trevor had already bolted, running away as if the ghosts of BunnyBurrow were after him. Gideon glanced around nervously, and looking at his paw that had a very noticeable hand bruise of a much larger and older fox around the wrist, and shaking out his wrist ran after Trevor shouting back "This ain't over bunny. No idea what is going on, but you won't always have it work out this way!"
Judy snorted, picked up her hat and brushed it off placing it back on her head. Her loving fox brushing off her back from the leaves and grass.
Her friends slowly walked up to her, wide eyes and almost terrified. Judy looked on confused "Guys, what is wro…" Sharla interrupted her "How did you stop the claw to the face? It literally stopped just inches from your cheek!"
Judy rolled her eyes, her friends were always like this, ignoring Nick "Guys, fox fox has a name, he's Nick. He protected me of course."
Sharla shared looks with the others and slowly nodded "Yea… uh. Nick? Yea, thank you for saving Judy. We… uh, we should get back to the fairgrounds."
Judy held out the tickets to Sharla who almost absently picked them up "Uh, thanks Judy. We'll see you… uh… you both later, right?"
Judy sighed "Yea, we'll be around. See you!"
They finally smiled and waved as they ran off back to the fairgrounds, Judy letting out a sigh and dropping her smile.
"Nick, I'm sorry. I was hoping they would finally acknowledge you. You know, the one good fox in BunnyBurrow."
Nick fondly rubbed Judy's ears and smiled down at her "Don't worry about it Carrots. As long as you're here and appreciate me, it doesn't matter what others think or say."
Judy did what Judy always did. She beamed up a smile.
Years have passed and Judy was panting heavily while literally crawling to her punk in the ZPA. If not for Nick she'd have given up right from the start. Everyone was against her, except for Nick.
Nick joined ZPA with her and she was lucky to be able to bunk with him. The very sweaty fox in question panting beside her and giving her a nice leg massage to work out the cramps from the 30 mile run.
30 miles. Insane. Before she could barely do 1 or 2. Now she was able to keep up with all the other mammals, even exceed them. She was still ranked first in all the runs, and with her constantly sparring against Nick she raised to the top of that, too.
Nick was amazing. How he picked up fighting on the streets, working in the under-city and studying all the martial arts. Nick said he always had access to any library at any time and just spent the time reading and practicing.
Judy was so jealous.
At first, like back in BunnyBurrow, they would ignore Nick was even there. They even tried to pretend he wasn't there. Then when he caught her a few times from harming herself. They changed their views. They still looked creeped out whenever they glanced at Judy and Nick's direction but no longer said anything. They even started to greet Nick which made both her and Nick very happy.
Months passed and Judy continued to take the lead in everything. The shooting range was a tough one for her but with Nick's help he steadied her aim and with just no time at all she was the best shooter at the range, well, behind Nick of course. He was a crack shot. Amazed everyone.
Graduation came before she knew it and she managed to get Valedictorian in no time. She waited patiently for Nick's name to be called as salutatorian but he wasn't picked. It was Shaw, the Lion. Then they kept calling names, but no Nick. When the last name was called and Nick was not called she glanced up to Nick who smiled sadly down to her and shrugged.
Judy stomped over to Franklin and stomped her foot until she was noticed "May I ask why Nick wasn't allowed to graduate?"
Franklin grimaced a bit and glanced around making sure they were not overhead then sighed and leaned down eye-level with Judy "Judy, Nick didn't quality. I'm sorry."
Judy nearly growled "What do you mean didn't quality? He scored higher than I did in most things."
Franklin sighed and rubbed her head "Yea, amazingly enough I saw some of it. I honestly would not have believed it if I didn't see it, but still, I asked and nothing could be done. With Nick's… background… he wouldn't quality, I'm sorry Judy."
Judy screamed. Loudly. Drawing everyone's attention to her and was about to berate Franklin when she raised a paw "However. Special… shall we say conditions… have been met and Nick is allowed to be your.. partner for as long as you need him."
Judy nods her head firmly "I'll always need Nick."
Franklin sighed and smiled wistfully "Of course you will. For what it's worth, if things were different, Nick would have probably bested you at valedictorian."
Judy beams "Of course he would have. He's a great fox. And my best friend."
Franklin nods her head slowly as they both retreated. Franklin sighs and rubs a paw down her face "I need to warn Bogo. But I'm glad he gave me the history of that fox. I… wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it with my own…" Franklin just shakes her head and walks back to her office, lost in thought.
Mayor Bellwether slammed her door shut as she sat down in a funk. That damn bunny was supposed to blame the predators for the savagery, not mention past experience with the night howler flower causing similar effects, nor mentioned that it didn't cause savagery, but intense fight or flight and blind fear in the mammal dosed. Fear always worked. But she couldn't leverage it if that damn bunny didn't play ball.
And saying that damn fox was a partner to find it. A damn fox helping a bunny. How ridiculous could things be? Bellwether would never believe it. A fox? Trustworthy? But Bogo knew something. He just smiled, sadly, and looked at Hopps like almost a proud parent. What was the deal with that?
She'll get to the bottom of it, she'll have Doug look for that fox and we'll see how that bunny likes being eaten by the very friend she trusts. If nothing else, she'd dose that bunny with so much night-howler she'd just spout gibberish in her hellish nightmare world for the rest of her life.
Good luck getting an antidote when you're drenched in the stuff. That rabbit pissed her off and it's about time she realized who the boss was.
Judy was knocked down into the pit, having ran into that stupid tusk and cut her leg open. She only heard Nick's warning too late and Nick was too far away to help her at the time.
So they found themselves now down in the pit, Bellwether looking above them like some sadistic mastermind, and holding a gun that used to have blueberries but now contained the serum. Apparently the dumb sheep had spares.
Hearing gun cock she looked up to see a mean glare as the despot spoke up "I was hoping to shoot your fox and make him eat you but with just you I'll have to settle to shoot you enough times to make you a drooling psychopath."
Judy quips "You mean like you are now? And Nick is here with me now, you could at least acknowledge him."
Bellwether blinked in confusion and smirked "If he's there with you then he must have done what all predators do. Run off and hide." She lifts the gun and takes careful aim.
Judy just blinks in confusion. Nick is right beside her, with a glare and a more serious look than she's ever seen. She glances up to Nick "Nick? What is going on."
Nick just smiles sadly "Later Carrots. Let's stop the mad sheep first." and glances up to the sheep and snarls. Loudly.
Bellwether jerks in shock. Did that bunny just growl? No, she hasn't even moved. What the hell was that? Where did it come from?
Bellwether snarls herself "Bye bye, bunny." and fires. Once… twice… three shots.
The first is intercepted by a large red paw, the second and third splatter against the gaudy Hawaiian shirt of the fox who courageously stepped in-front of his bunny.
The gun falls out from numb fingers and bounces on the ground as Bellwether looks on to a fox that she could swear was not there before. A fox doused in night howler. A fox who seemed to be 100% immune to it and was glaring with eyes of death back to the sheep.
Bellwether didn't even acknowledge having her wrists cuffed behind her. Her two guards numb as well and staring down into the pit.
Chief Bogo looked over the pit, his eyebrows going up the only surprise he had. The fox looked him in the eye, smirked and gave a two finger salute. Then walked behind his bunny and put his arms around her.
Bogo continued to stare a few minutes, shook his head, then shouted out "Someone get a ladder and get our officer out of that pit." With his subordinates scrambling he rubbed his head. He didn't believe it at first. He knew that fox, of course he did. Both the fox and his mother. For years now. He made it a point to visit them every anniversary and talk to them. Apparently he has new things to talk about now.
Removed from his remnoscents they get Hopps out of the pit and into medical care. Apparently she didn't need stitches, so after some glue and antiseptic and a bandage she was good to go.
She walked up to Bogo and gave her report and looked around. "Nick? Where is that dumb fox."
Bogo smiled sadly down "Nick left. He seems to believe you are good to handle this for yourself."
Judy seemed confused and not a little hurt "But… he never said he was going to go. I need to thank him for his work and help. Without him I don't think I could have done this."
Bogo smiled slightly "I'm sure you could have, but I was about to visit Nick and his mother in a bit. I usually do it later tonight but how about you join me? You can meet his mother."
Judy bounced, or tried to until she realized her sore leg and cringed and smiled "I would like that. I kept asking Nick about his mom but he always deflected. He told me that I'll meet her eventually when I visit them both where they live."
Bogo breathes out from his nose and nods "Well, no time like the present. Come along, Judy."
Judy smiles and bounds after Bogo but her mind freezes up thinking 'The Chief just called me Judy. He never does that. What is going on?'
Bogo continues to drive to the west center of Zootopia. It's one of the nicer areas, know for the woodlands and historical sites. In a word, a beautiful area. Judy was impressed. She didn't think Nick was this rich and made a comment.
Bogo just tightens his hands on the steering wheel "The Wildes currently preside in the Woodlands. It has a nice overlook of the city. I think you'll appreciate the view."
Bogo continues on then stops, and gets out of the car and beckons for Judy as he walks up a stone walkway up the hill to beneath a pair of trees and some wild blueberry shrubberies.
Judy looks around in morbid curiosity, a stone steeling into her cut and chills start to run up and down her spine. "Um… Chief? Why are we at a cemetery?"
Bogo stops and looks down at a rather large marble headstone. Judy stops and gasps, her paws covering her mouth as tears start to stream down her cheeks "Oh… Nick!"
Nick P. Wilde.
Loving Son. Leading in Love.
The heart of a ranger, the hope of the future.
Let's all make the world a better place.
Born: October 4th, 1984, Died: February 19th, 1992.
His mother's headstone right beside him, the death being the exact same day. The same day as Judy's birthday. The same day she was born.
Judy, openly crying falling to her knees over Nick's grave hiccups out a strangled "You dumb fox, I love you."
She feels a soft paw against her cheeks, and glances up to a faded after image of a smiling fox as he kisses her gently on the lips, for the first and last time, before fading away in a twirling of blossom petals.
She feels a paw on her shoulder and looks beside her to see Chief Bogo kneeling beside her.
Chief Bogo sighs and speaks up "I come her every year, on this anniversary. Happy birthday by the way." Bogo smiles faintly then looks back to the gravestones.
"I shot nicks mother that day. " Judy tenses up as Bogo continues "We were given a report of a savage predator who was attacking children. When we arrived a bunch of children were laying around the fox, bleeding profusely, and she was currently entangled around a small fox bleeding horribly. We asked her repeatedly to step back, and when she refused and outright growled I made the shot. It was meant to be a debilitate shot but she jerked and moved her head into the shot. I was aiming for her shoulder. She died instantly."
Judy started crying all over again as Bogo rubbed his face "The fox child, who I knew was Nick, was dying as well. Apparently from what he whispered out who I killed by mistake was the child's mother, who was comforting her son after he was brutally assaulted by the other children in a hate crime."
Judy nodded her head and said in a low voice "What happened to the other children?"
Bogo sighed "Lived. Still in jail. They want from juvy straight to maximum sentence. I made sure of it."
Judy looks to the side "Made sure?"
Bogo nods his head "They were children of affluence citizens. They tried to buy their way out of trouble. I… insisted… they do not. Then it was revealed Nick wasn't the only one, just the one most brutally assaulted. He was the 31st predator assaulted by the children. The parents were in on it. It was a fiasco."
Judy grits her teeth and spits out "Good. They deserved it."
Bogo freezes then rubs Judy's shoulder "Nick wouldn't have agreed."
Judy chuckles remorsefully "I guess we'll never know."
Bogo sighs and stands up after giving his blessings and helps Judy stand "No. Probably not."
Judy sighs "So you all humored me when I said I was partnered with a fox?"
Bogo winces then suddenly smiles "Well, until the damn fox proved he was more than just a ghost."
Judy blinks "What do you mean?" Bogo grins "Hopps, something that's not there can't block night howler pellets, can it?"
Judy blinks slowly and glances back to the gravestones, patting it with a paw "Thanks Nick, love you you goof."
A paw out of nowhere wipes the tear going down her cheek, with Bogo's gasp of breath and Judy's craw-laugh as Nick grins "I'm not going anywhere Carrots."
Judy puts her paw into Nick's and smiles "Off to make the world a better place?"
Nick grins "In this world and the next."
Judy hip-checks Nick and smiles lovingly at her fox "I'll hold you to that, Slick."
Bogo continues to stare, his jaw closing and sighs "It's going to be this way forever, isn't it. I should retire early. Maybe get a few new bottles of scotch. Can we even officially hire a ghost as an officer?"
Bogo glances up to re-assure and yup, the damn fox was still mostly solid. He had a feeling that the damn fox will be seen by everyone now.
Glancing around at the children in the graveyard pointing at Nick and the parents with hands over their mouths Bogo sighed again "Yea… it's going to be a long long week."
Judy and Nick, oblivious share another kiss, solid… substantial… not bad for a ghost.
Judy licks her lips and pounces on Nick who geks out in surprise as Judy thinks 'not bad, we can do better….'
The alarm goes off and Nick stretches covered in a rabbit still kissing his muzzle "Not that I mind, Carrots, but any reason for the extra affection?"
Judy stares down to Nick, her dream of last night blending with the reality of the morning "Just happy I have my fox. In any reality, you're my box."
Nick confused, but assuming she had a strange dream just smirks and kisses her back "And you'll always be my bunny. Come on, we need to get ready if we're to get to your parents by tonight for the black carrot meeting."
Judy gasps and rushes, totally naked to the showers "Get in here before I grab some fox tail."
Nick laughs "You saying you are expecting to give me tail?"
Judy leans out of the shower "only if you hurry up, dumb fox."
Nick hurried.