File type: Text File (.txt) [Download]
-----------------------------------------
Practically every mammal familiar with the city knew that Zootopia has 12 unique ecosystems within the city limits. The most recognisable and iconic were the major districts of Sahara Square, Tundra Town and the Rainforest District, but there were also the minor districts like Little Rodentia, the subterrain Nocturnal District and the winding rivers of the Canals, each as distinct and unique as the mammals that inhabited them.

The Meadowlands was one of these minor districts, primarily designed for sheep and other grazing mammals, it was a hilly area with a temperate climate and winding roads that snaked over meadows and moorlands. Due to its proximity to the Rainforest District, and the fact both used much of the same climate technology, it wasn't uncommon for fog banks to roll in from the adjoining ecosystem.

It’s buildings were, likewise, created for grazing mammals, with many constructed close together for those with an instinct to herd. These formed neighbourhoods and unofficial housing compounds that could be made up of multiple families of many generations. Though it primarily housed Prey species, Nick knew a few predators that called it home, as the construction style had the consequence of making housing relatively cheap.

The school they had been sent to was a squat building with grey walls and faded white woodwork, that sat among several other buildings in a campus like structure. On arrival they had been escorted to the Gym by the schools principal, an elderly ram. They now stood either side of the ZPD’s official speaker, a goat who, rather than giving a rousing speech on careers in law enforcement, was droning through a pre-prepared monologue on obeying the law in his bleating monotone.

Nick felt sorry for the audience, whoever wrote the file had failed to mention they would be teenage mammals, all of which were falling asleep as the goat continued on, even the typically energetic Judy looked ready to nod off where she stood.

As he seriously considered using the speaker for an impromptu taser demonstration, something caught his eye.

There was a vixen seated at the back of the audience, like every student she wore the school uniform, a white shirt with a black jacket and pants. Her head hung in such a way that she appeared either uninterested or snoozing, but Nick had hustled enough mammals to recognise her posture as anything but. She was watching someone.

With sunglasses concealing his eyes, Nick discreetly observed. Seated right at the end of the row, the vixen had an unobstructed view of the rear left of the gym, where the Vice Principal, a nervous looking Okapi in a formal blouse and long, belted skirt, was having a hushed, and heated, discussion with a teenage lion. He had a dark brown coat and a black mane, with his most distinguishing feature being the scar over his left eye. Whatever he was saying clearly had the Okapi on edge, she nervously wrung her hooves as the lions muzzle twisted in a silent snarl.

Nick caught movement as a small dark shape clambered up the wall behind the Vice Principal, before leaping to the Okapi's belt. As the shape moved it came into focus and he realised it was a mouse with light brown fur, also wearing the school uniform.

Keeping his eye on the rodent, the fox watched as the lions aggression kept the Okapi focused on him, leaving it unnoticed as it stealthily moved along her belt to where several keys hung precariously from a string. Swiftly undoing the loop that held it in place, they clattered noisily to the floor, snapping everyone back to life.

With a nervous smile as the auditorium stared at her, the Okapi went to pick up the scattered keys, but surprisingly, the lion quickly knelt down and did it for her. Handing them over before leaving with a huff, though Nick noticed him tuck something into his pocket.

The fox continued to observe as the predator left the gym by one of the outside doors, looking back at the Okapi, he saw no signs of the mouse. In addition, the vixen had also disappeared, likely during the brief commotion. Curious as to where they had gone, he slipped after the lion, Judy shooting him a pained look as he exited the gym.

With his species natural ability to sneak, it was easy for Nick to follow the big cat down a corridor and out into the school yard. It was clearly in need of some work, with cracked concrete and a broken pair of basketball hoops either end of an overgrown pitch. Scanning for the lion, he spotted the predator disappear behind a shack on the other side of a chain link fence. Approaching it, he smirked, discovering that part had been cutaway and expertly stuck back together with glue dots, making it easy to remove and replace.

“These kids know what they are doing,” he muttered, stealthily opening the gap and slipping through, ears pricking as he approached the shack.

"I got the key," said a male voice.

"Great," replied a second, this one female. "Let me make an impression, then we can get inside."

Slowly peeking around the shed, Nick saw the wayward vixen take the key from the lion and press it into a square of wax. It was then the mouse popped up from inside the lion's mane, and he picked out a tiny red bow behind one of her ears.

"Can you really make a copy from that?" she asked, a scottish accent colouring her words.

"Olivia, have I ever let you down?" answered the vixen with a smug grin.

"Vicky knows what she's doing," backed up the lion.

"I know Kovu...it's just...this is important."

Vicky dropped the wax into a plastic bag before pocketing it.

"Make sure that doesn't melt before you get home," stated Kovu.

"Relax guys, this isn't my first rodeo."

"Isn’t that speciest?"

"No idea, but let's get what we came for before the ZPD’s most boring finishes his speech."

Nick sniggered quietly at the remark, observing as the vixen unlock the shed before disappearing inside with her friends. Quietly moving closer, he peered around the door frame.

It was full of boxes. Several open ones were filled with magazines, handheld consoles, watches and even jewellery. Bikes, skateboards and even a mo-ped were stacked against the back wall. Set against the left hand wall under a window was his proof, a workbench with several pieces of jewellery, a few watches, and several precision tools laid out on the surface. A small bookcase, filled with notebooks and manuals sat next to it. The vixen pulled one out and opened the cover, quickly flipping through the pages while Olivia hopped off Kovu’s paw onto the desk.

“Okay,” said Vicky, snapping the notebook closed. “Good news is that there's nothing in there about a sale, which means it must still be here.”

"At least that jackass Pye wasn't in today," snarled Kovu. "I would have ripped her apart."

"Adding bodily harm to a breaking and entering charge really isn't a good thing at your age."

Nick, having heard enough, stepped into view as he spoke, and Kovu immediately put himself between the officer and Vicky.

"Back off cop!" he growled. "Unless you think you can take me by yourself?"

"I’m not going to ‘take you anywhere" he replied, carefully raising his paws. "However, it's clear there's something going on here. Let me guess, this Pye is selling confiscated property and you are all here to retrieve something?”

"What's it to you?" snapped Olivia, from the desktop. "We tell you something you'll either not believe us or take us in anyway."

"Now thats an unfair assumption," he calmly replied.

"Most cops are unfair, especially here" stated Vicky, striding over to Nick, arms folded across her chest, vibrant green eyes slowly appraising him.

"I knew you looked familiar, you and that rabbit are from the nighthowler scare.”

"Guilty, as charged,” he responded, trademark grin in place. “I tell you, the fame is hard to live with, I can't go anywhere without raving fans throwing themselves at me."

The stern faced vixen actually smiled a little at the quip.

"Kovu, I'll hear him out. You help look for Olivia's locket."

"But Vicky," retorted the lion. "He's still a cop, you said yourself that we can't trust them."

"I'm making an exception for one of the only two cops that saved us all from that sodding sheep, now find that locket before everyone in the gym wakes up!"

With a murderous look towards the tod, Kovu turned and began searching through boxes.

Vicky stepped up to Nick.

"Never thought I'd see one of us in that uniform."

"Well, I never thought I'd ever wear one," he replied. "Things are changing."

"Not fast enough, or always for the better," countered the vixen.

"No, but we do the best with what we have, which brings me to this."

Nick gestured at the shed space behind them.

“Very clever how you pulled it off, getting the key must have been especially tricky to plan. Which means that locket must be really important to your friend.”

Vicky looked back over her shoulder, rubbing her arm nervously before she spoke.

"The teachers mostly take this stuff from predators. Although only a few are in on this part of the operation.”

She led him to the desk where Olivia was scampering over every piece of jewellery as she searched for her locket.

“Pye is a teacher here, but she’s really more of an appraiser or a fence. You can see most of this is typical teen stuff, easy to shift to a crooked pawn shop or sell online. But sometimes they take something really valuable, that's when Pye breaks it down to make it harder to find, and easier to sell.”

There was a squeal of joy from the desk as Olivia pulled a tiny gold locket from inside a cup full of brass chain. He paws shook as she opened it, revealing pictures of a pair of adult mice, who stared lovingly back at her from the canvas.

Vicky smiled as her friend held the locket close, struggling to keep from bursting into tears.

"We can’t prove anything, so instead we take back what they steal from us. You know how foxes are treated by mammals. To them we are shifty and untrustworthy lowlife thieves, and our friends are guilty by association.”

Nick’s face fell at the vixens words.

“You sound like me over a year ago,” he stated. “I used to think I could never be anything than what society labelled us.”

“What changed?” she asked.

“A stubborn rabbit blackmailed me into helping her,” he replied.

Vicky blinked for a second before she and her friends burst out laughing.

“That little cottontail blackmailed you? That’s hilarious!”

“Laugh it up all you want, but she is one sly bunny.”

“And you, are one dumb fox.”

“So she keeps reminding me,” finished Nick with a smile.

As the laughter subsided, Vicky sighed.

“I know what you’re going to say, that you could take this to the ZPD. But it would just lead to trouble for us or some other mammal down the line. The Meadowlands precinct is full of corrupt, specist grazers."

"Then, maybe I could speak to someone at another precinct..."

"No!"

"Alright,” he relented. “No cops. But, if you ever need something, call me. No matter what it is, Carrots or I will make the time to speak with any of you three."

He slipped a business card between his fingers and offered it to her. Vicky tentatively took it, like she was expecting it to explode at any moment. It was black with the ZPD shield depicted on the front, on the back was Nick's name and the number of his work phone.

"The rabbit is called Carrots?" snickered Olivia, now perched on Kovu's shoulder.

Nick chuckled as well.

"Her name is Judy Hopps, and let me tell you she is the best thing to ever happen to me, and this city."

Vicky looked up from the card and smirked at the smile that was plastered to Nick's face, he was clearly smitten.

"Hopps to Wilde, do you copy?"

The fox’s radio suddenly crackled to life.

"Ten-four Officer Hopps," he replied smoothly.

"The presentations finished, we've got to move on to patrol," she stated.

"Understood, I'll meet you at the car."

He clicked off the radio, aware that the three teenagers were suddenly looking very apprehensive.

"Like I said, I'm not going to tell anyone," he stated. "Let's get out of here before you three are missed."

Exiting the shed, Vicky locked it behind them and passed the key to Olivia.

"Get that back into the office before the end of the day," she ordered.

"Aye Aye, Captain," replied the mouse, giving a mock salute.

Vicky smirked as her friend hopped back into her spot by Kovu's ear.

Slipping back through the fence, Nick turned to the students.

"Think about what I said, you might not trust cops, but you can trust me and my partner."

"No promises," replied Vicky.

Saying their goodbyes, Nick returned to the cruiser, where he found Judy banging her head on the steering wheel.

"Urgh!" she cried in frustration. "That speaker was just, so...urgh!"

She slammed into the wheel once again, this time reeling back as she hit a little too hard.

"Ow," she muttered, rubbing her forehead.

"Careful there fluff, don't want to damage that pretty face," he teased, stepping into the vehicle. “Let me get that for you."

Nick leaned in a lightly kissed the bump, causing Judy to smile.

"Thanks Slick," she replied, scratching the foxes chin.

"Mmmm, you know what that does to me," he purred, tail wagging.

"Then maybe we can do some more tonight," she teased, withdrawing her paw. "So where were you this whole time?"

"Talking to a few of the kids who thought the speaker was as boring as we did."

"Ah, so that's your excuse."

He smirked.

"Believe it or don’t Carrots, but they were good kids, a little rough around the edges, but so was I. Although, there was this vixen..."

He trailed off.

"What is it?" enquired Judy.

"She reminded me how I was before we met, although she’s at least putting her skills and instincts to use in an almost positive way. Makes me think about my own time at high school."

The fox was silent for a moment, before shaking his head.

"Sorry, got lost in thought."

Judy frowned, Nick had ever really opened up about himself, even after they started dating. To see him like this made the bunny wonder what his teenage years must have been like. She would have pressed for answers, but they were already late for patrol. So she settled for putting a comforting paw on his arm.

"Whatever it is, you know you can talk to me, right?"

He looked at her wide amethyst eyes, seeing the worry and love they held for him, and laid his paw over hers.

"Always."

They smiled at one another before stealing a quick kiss.

"Now, on to patrol duty, then off to Clawson's big event," he stated.

"Lets just hope the weather holds," replied Judy, looking up through the windscreen. "There's a storm brewing up there and I’d rather not be caught in it."

"Never say never, Carrots. The universe often makes mammals eat those words."