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The Crooked Carnival Caper

A Zootopia Story

It was sunny and clear, the grass was trampled and dotted with pawprints, younglings of every kind ran about cheerfully and the air was thick with balloons, music and the smell of funnel cakes and pies and other delicious treats of questionable nutritional value. Everything was as it should be at the county fair.

Nicholas P. Wilde squinted in the sunlight, trying to see the screen of his cellular phone clearly and make sure none of the rabbits ten feet in front of him got left out of the picture he was trying to take.

"Okay everyone, now smile and say 'Leeks!'"

"LEEKS!" said two hundred and eighty-one voices as the fox tapped the camera icon on his phone screen and immortalised the image of the Hopps family all standing together at the front gate of the fair.

As soon as Nick had taken the picture, a flurry of fuzzy bunnies scurried in every direction to join the fun among the multi-coloured tents and food stands. As the bunnies dissipated, three remained standing in almost the same pose they had been in for the picture. Mr Stuart Hopps and his wife Bonnie, and their daughter, Judy Hopps.

"This will look great on your computer desktop," said Nick as he tapped the screen a few times and sent the picture to Judy's phone.

"And this one will look good on my phone background," said Judy as she took out her phone and pulled Nick closer. "Smile for the camera, handsome."

Nick did as Judy pressed her cheek against his and took a picture of the two of them with the fair as the background.

"I'll have it printed and framed so it can go up on my wall," said Judy happily as she pocketed her phone and took Nick's arm. "C'mon, Nick, let's go have some fun."

Stu and Bonnie Hopps watched with smiles on their faces as their daughter and the fox vanished among the flurry of colourful attractions of the fair.

"Who would have thought of it ten years ago…heck, even one year ago," said Stu as he watched his daughter with a mixture of fatherly pride and wonder.

"Certainly not you, carrot cake," teased Bonnie as they walked arm-in-arm towards their family stand, where they sold tasty treats made from fruits and vegetables grown on their family farm.

It had been somewhat of a shock at first, when the Hopps family watched Judy walk off the train holding paws with a fox. But Nick quickly became beloved among Judy's younger siblings with his funny stories and playful antics. Stu became Nick's Number 1 Fan almost immediately on account of the fox's ability to sit and listen to his wisecracking for hours on end, adding funny quips here and there, not to mention his uncanny ability with playing cards which gave Stu's card-playing skills a run for their money.

It was the first vacation Judy had taken since she became a police officer assigned to Precinct 1 in Savanna Central, Zootopia. She had planned on taking her vacation in her hometown of Bunny Burrow, taking time to relax and unwind with her family and at the same time introduce them to Nick. Everything had gone far better than she expected, and she felt that the old prejudices her townsfolk held against other folk of certain species would soon be consigned to the history books.

It had been a week-and-a-half since Judy and Nick arrived in Bunny Burrow and today Judy was looking forward to a good old-fashioned day of fun and games at the county fair with her family and her friend.

"What an adorable little baby chick plushie!" squealed Judy as her eyes caught sight of a little yellow baby chick plush toy that was a prize at one of the carnival games.

"Step right up, folks! Are you a dead-eye with darts? Three tries for a buck! Hit the bull's-eye and take home a prize!" bellowed the cheerful carnival barker, a large grey boar with colourful clothes and a pinstriped hat.

Judy tugged Nick's paw towards the game booth and fished in her pocket for some change.

"Watch me land the dart dead-centre," she said confidently as she paid the booth owner and took her three darts in her paws. She had practiced quite a lot with her father when she was younger and was sure she could hit the target with perfect aim.

"Hmmm….I'll bet you can't hit the bull's-eye on your first try," whispered Nick with a cheeky grin.

Judy smirked and narrowed her eyes, following his game.

"I'll bet I can. I could do it with one paw tied to my back and both ears covering my eyes," she played along.

"Not happening, sunshine," teased Nick.

"What're we wagering, Wilde?" said Judy.

"Ooh, alliteration," crooned Nick teasingly. "Oh, I don't know. How about a blueberry pie against…"

"Haha, blueberry pie? You're losing your touch."

"Hehe," laughed Nick and leaned in closer to her ear. "Blueberry pie against…say…a date?"

Judy's heart skipped a beat and her cheeks felt warm when she heard that last word. Nick noticed.

"Of course, if you don't wanna bet…"

"Oh, you're on!" said Judy. "If I don't hit the bull's-eye on the first try, it's pie."

"Poet, didn't know it," said Nick with a wink.

Judy giggled.

"And if you hit it on the first try," said Nick, "I'll take you out on a date that will set the bar for dates so high, it'll take a giraffe on stilts standing on tippy-toes to reach it."

"Done!" said Judy, laughing and feeling her heart swell with excitement. "Okay, here goes."

Judy gripped the dart in her paw and closed one eye, studying her target. Then, with one move, she flung the dart hard and true at the target.

A hollow thump! And…it landed on the outer circle.

"Cotton rot!" said Judy under her breath. "Missed!"

"The first shot is always to get the feel of it, missy! Come on, now! Show us your skill!" said the cheerful boar barker.

Judy took aim and threw her second dart, which landed in the second ring just around the bull's-eye.

"There you go, little lady! The third one's the charm!" said the boar.

Judy took a deep breath and concentrated on the target. Then she lightly threw her third and final dart, which flew straight and true at the centre….only to deviate at the last second and land beneath the second dart.

"Well, nice try, missy! And here's your prize!"

The boar held in his trotters a cute little Gazelle doll.

"Huh?" said Judy. "But I…"

"Go ahead, missy! Everybody's a winner at Old Todd's Game Gallery! Step right up, folks! Try your luck, all for a buck, take home fabulous prizes…"

Judy smiled as she stepped away from the booth with her little Gazelle doll in her paws.

"I know Clawhauser will go bonkers when he sees this doll. I might give it to him as a memento. Can you imagine the look on his face, Nick….Nick?"

Judy suddenly stopped and looked up. Nick was nowhere to be seen.

"Huh? Nick?"

Then she felt a tapping on her shoulder. She turned around and her nose bumped lightly against the warm nose of her dear friend. Her eyes met his green eyes.

"So, what'll it be, Carrots?" said Nick in a suave voice. "Candle-lit evening at the Bison Bistro? Or late-night movie and a limelight stroll in the park?"

"How about blueberry pie and lemonade on the porch as we watch the sunset, Romeo?" chuckled Judy as she tucked her arm around Nick's waist. "I lost the bet."

"I'd say it was a win-win situation," said Nick as they walked.

"Where did you scoot off to, mister?" asked Judy.

"Funny you should ask," said Nick, holding something up in front of Judy. It was a cutely decorated carrot cupcake.

"For me?" said Judy delightedly. "Oh, Nick, you shouldn't have."

"But I did, because I know they're your favourites and I know they just don't make them like this anywhere else but at the fair, am I right?"

"Right you are," said Judy and happily reached for the cupcake, only to realise her paw was holding the Gazelle doll.

"Oh, can you hold this for me, please?" said Judy as she gave the doll to Nick and took the cupcake.

"Nice! I bet Clawhauser would give a week's worth of doughnuts for this doll."

"That's what I was thinking!" said Judy as she munched her tasty cupcake.

"I figured you'd settled for the baby chick plushie."

"This was a consolation prize," said Judy. "One of my sisters is bound to win the baby chick."

"Very likely," said Nick.

"Juuu-dyyy!" came the voice of Stu Hopps from a stand nearby. "Jude! A little help!"

The Hopps family had a food stand every year, and every year business was excellent. The whole family took turns at the stand so they could all enjoy the fair and also help with the family business.

Judy and Nick walked to the family stand to find Stu and two of Judy's younger siblings working away.

"Jude, your mother and I want to go into the funhouse for a while," said Stu. "Would you mind taking care of the stand until we get back?"

"Sure, pops," said Judy. "C'mon Nick, this'll be fun!"

While the parents went to have their fun, Nick and Judy and her two siblings manned the stand. They sat on stools and greeted the fairgoers. Refreshments were given, money was taken, many familiar faces were greeted and smiles exchanged.

"I'll be right back," said Nick after about half-an-hour at the stand. "Gotta take care of some business."

"Where you goin', Uncle Nick?" asked Judy's little sister.

"Just gonna go get something over there, around the barn. See you in a minute."

"Don't forget to wash your paws after you finish your business," whispered Judy with a cheeky grin.

"Haha, you know, I might just do that," answered Nick.

As he walked away and mingled with the crowd, Judy looked at everything around her and thought how great it was to be in her hometown, with her family, enjoying a well-deserved holiday, and having Nick over to enjoy with her.

Nick approached Old Todd's Game Gallery and stood in line. In front of him was a small lamb with his caretaker, a kind-looking old St. Bernard lady with a purple handbag.

The lamb had uncanny aim, Nick noticed, as all three darts landed dead-centre on the target.

"Now there's a natural if I've ever seen one! Good shot, little buddy!" praised the boar.

"Did you see that, Nana?" said the lamb.

"Yes indeed, my pet. You're quite good!" said the kindly old St. Bernard nanny.

"Judy could take lessons from this tot," thought Nick as he watched Old Todd the boar give the lamb a fluffy yellow baby chick plushie, just like the one Judy had wanted earlier.

"Step right up, pal! Everyone's a winner at Old Todd's! Come try your luck, it's only a buck!"

Nick paid the boar and grabbed the three darts.

"Taking home a prize, are we?" said Old Todd.

"You betcha!" said Nick, closing one eye and lining his aim.

"How about a nice teddy bear for the young 'uns? Or maybe a box of candy hearts for your girlfriend?"

"I'm thinking that yellow baby chick will do the trick."

"Good eye there, sonny! Now show us your mettle and stick 'em darts right in the middle of that there target!"

Nick flung his first dart at the target and, to his surprise, it landed right in the centre.

"Now there's a dead-eye! You've been practicing, sonny! But I betcha you can't land it twice!"

"Lightning never strikes twice, but I…just…might!"

Nick's second dart landed right beside the first one, dead centre.

"Well, I'll be darned, we have a pro here! I'll be outta prizes before I can say 'Oo-De-Lally'!"

"Oo-De-Lally golly what a day!" said Nick as he flung his last dart at the target and it landed right between the others, displacing them slightly.

"I ain't never seen such prowess, sonny! Name your prize, you've earned it!"

Shortly, Nick was walking back triumphantly with the yellow baby chick plushie in his paws. He spotted Judy and her siblings sitting at the food stand and stealthily approached from behind.

"Peekaboo," whispered Nick, making Judy jump slightly and her siblings giggle.

"Back so soon?" said Judy as she turned to greet him. "Did you cut to the front of the line, or did you just run to the woods instead?"

"Why, Miss Hopps, you know I would be incapable of such deeds," said Nick with a sly look. "Oh, by the way…what's that on your lap?"

"On my lap?" mussed Judy as she looked, and almost jumped again.

It was the fluffy baby chick plushie.

"Wha…oh…it's so adorable! Nick…how…"

"Let's just say I can write that obligatory entry in my scrapbook," said Nick with a grin. "'I won my girl a prize at the county fair'. Cliché, I know, but can you blame me?"

"You sweetheart! C'mere, you!"

Judy threw her arms around Nick and hugged him tightly, planting a heartfelt kiss on his cheek.

"You can write that one too," whispered Judy into Nick's ear. "'My girl kissed me at the county fair'…"

"…'in front of her folks'," finished Nick, and Judy realised her mother and father were just coming back from the Funhouse and had witnessed her outburst of affection.

She blushed and tried to act natural while her siblings giggled at the scene. Nick acted cool as a cucumber as Mr and Mrs Hopps returned to the stand.

It was Judy's little sisters' turn to have fun. The two fuzzy bunnies were named Isabelle and Bianca. They walked paw-in-paw with Nick, each holding one of his paws, as their eyes feasted on the attractions left and right. Judy walked beside them and smiled to herself, thinking how great it was that her sisters were so fond of Nick and how her family had warmed up to him immediately.

"Let's get on the merry-go-round!" said Isabelle. "Judy, will you come with us?"

"Yes, please?!" said Bianca as they pointed at the merry-go-round.

Judy smiled happily and nodded.

"Sure, girls! Get in line and we'll get on."

Nick took a picture of Judy and her sisters on the fairy carriage pulled by a wooden snail, just before the merry-go-round started turning and the music started up.

As the girls had their fun, Nick looked around the other tents. He was checking a douse-the-clown stand when suddenly his toes felt something in the grass.

"Hmm…"

Nick picked up something from the grass and saw that it was a dart. In fact, it was the very same dart from Old Todd's Game Gallery. Nick looked beside him and saw that he was standing right behind Old Todd's tent.

"Someone must have shot right past the target and it went through the other side of the tent," said Nick to himself and he took a step forward to go to give Old Todd back his dart.

Then, he noticed something. On the back of the tent, there was a circular hole.

"Hmm….what if…I could…"

He took aim and threw the dart at the hole, but immediately realised it would fall short.

But then….something peculiar happened. The dart swerved upwards in mid-air and flew right through the hole as if magnetised.

"Huh?"

Nick looked cagily at the hole. Had he imagined it?

"No. Impossible."

He glanced back at the merry-go-round. Judy and her siblings were happily laughing as they enjoyed their ride in the wooden fairy carriage.

"I wonder…"

Carefully, Nick walked up to the back of the tent and peeped in through the hole.

He could see Old Todd chatting happily with a pig child and parent as the youngling threw the darts at the target. The kid missed two and landed one near the centre and got a plush doll as a prize, happily skipping away with his parent. Then a young dog walked up and gave it a try. And then, Nick noticed something.

Old Todd flicked his trotter at something beneath the counter of his stand…a switch. And something seemed to power on close to Nick. Upon closer inspection, he saw the back of the dart board and noticed an electric device concealed behind it.

"Is that….a magnet?"

It was. An electromagnet was attached to the back of the dart board, and every time Todd turned it on, the customer's darts would fly straight at the centre and land a bull's-eye. Nick remembered the dart he had thrown through the hole in the tent, and sure enough, he spotted it on the floor at the foot of the electromagnet.

"But…why would he rig the game to make some customers win?"

There was a number of reasons why. Maybe he had too many prizes and needed to give away some. Or maybe he wanted to get customers hooked with 'beginner's luck' and make them play more rounds. Or maybe he just wanted to be nice to the younglings and give them more of a chance.

Nick pondered this as he watched a sheep child miss every shot, a Chihuahua lad land three perfect bull's-eyes, and a horse miss one out of three.

"Nick!"

He suddenly felt two warm paws on his shoulders and turned around to meet the purple eyes of Judy, who was beaming from the fun ride with her sisters.

"Whatcha lookin' at, Peeping Tom?" teased Judy.

"Um…nothing, just watching the dart game."

"Uncle Nick, can we get some cotton candy?" asked Isabelle, tugging at his paw.

"And some lemonade?" asked Bianca.

Nick smiled warmly and nodded, giving them both a pat on the headand putting the thoughts about darts and magnets in the back of his mind.

"Sure, girls. My treat. Let's go."

"Yay!"

It was late afternoon and most of the fairgoers had seen and done everything they had wanted to. And it was then, as Nick and Judy were strolling together and chatting merrily, that a smooth voice called to them.

"Are you two looking for excitement and marvels beyond your wildest dreams?" said the voice of a female panda with exotic makeup at the entrance of a tent decorated with moons and stars. "Enter a world of marvel and mystery, of hypnotic trances and marvellous feats! Madame Mystique shall show you what lies beyond the veil of reality."

Judy looked sideways at Nick.

"What do you say? Shall we?"

"We shall," said Nick.

But just then, Stu appeared out of nowhere and rushed towards them.

"There you are, Nick! I was looking all over for you!" said Judy's father. "Do you mind giving me a paw for a while? I need help loading the stand back on the truck."

Nick smiled and looked at Judy. Stu looked sheepishly at his daughter.

"You don't mind if I borrow him for a minute, do you, Jude?"

Judy smiled.

"Sure, pops," she said. "Go ahead, Nick."

"Tell me how it went, okay?" said Nick as he walked away with Stu.

"Sure thing," said Judy and she walked into Madame Mystique's tent.

The air was heavy with the scent of incense and herbs inside, there was a platform that served as a stage and some wooden seats for the audience. There were some fairgoers sitting and waiting for the show to start. Judy sat next to one of her neighbours, Old Nana Bernardine, who was a nanny and had been a nanny ever since Judy had memory. She was taking care of a lamb, who was sitting beside her eagerly waiting for the show.

"And now, my dears, we shall start with wonderful acts of mystery!" said Madame Mystique as she walked on stage. "The world of reality and the world of wonders are divided by a thin veil. And some of us have the ability to…push it aside!"

She made a gesture with her paw and was suddenly holding a bouquet of flowers. The audience clapped.

"Mystical forces control this world, and if we learn to shape them…"

She waved her paw around the bouquet.

"…we can make of the world whatever we wish!"

With a flick of her paw, the bouquet vanished. And suddenly, everyone exclaimed in awe. To Judy's right, a young sheep girl was holding the bouquet. She didn't know how it got there.

"Neat-o!" said the sheep girl.

"And now, for my next act I shall need a volunteer from the audience. And I see one very eager one right there! Come along, my darling."

Nana Bernardine stood up and walked eagerly to the front. Judy happily applauded with the crowd as the old St. Bernard lady walked up on stage.

"Sit on this stool, my dear, and tell me your name."

"Everyone calls me Nana Bernardine, dear."

"How charming, my sweet. Now, look closely at this watch," she took a golden watch out of her pocket and dangled it in front of Nana Bernardine "and concentrate…concentrate very carefully…hear the sound of my voice…and only the sound of my voice…"

The audience watched as Madame Mystique waved her paw and Nana Bernardine suddenly closed her eyes and seemed to fall asleep.

"Now, my dear, remember when you were a young pup skipping about. The fun and games and dances you enjoyed!" said Madame Mystique. "Share with us, my dear."

Suddenly, Nana Bernardine, without opening her eyes, stood up and danced an old-fashioned dance perfectly and without missing a step, all while singing merrily. The audience cheered and laughed as the old St. Bernard moved as spryly as a young pup in spring. It was an incredible sight.

Madame Mystique looked at her watch and pocketed it, then she told Bernardine to sit down again.

"Now, you will wake up when I count to three, my dear, and you will hear applause. One…two…three…"

Nana Bernardine opened her eyes and looked rather dazed. Everybody cheered and applauded and the sheep girl even tossed her bouquet of flowers on stage. Judy applauded happily, wondering only for a fleeting moment when Nana Bernardine had agreed to be part of the show.

Judy took a deep breath of fresh, bracing air as she and Nick sat down on the porch to watch the sunset. They sipped cool lemonade and admired the carrot fields in the light of the setting sun.

"It's like stepping back into my childhood," said Judy. "All those quiet evenings with my parents after a long day helping with the farm work."

Suddenly, she felt a warm paw envelop her paw and hold it snugly. She turned her head to meet Nick's gaze, shining in the sunset, with an aura of peace and serenity that made her smile happily.

"So, how was the mysteeerious jouuurney into the wooonders of maaaagic?" said Nick, waving his paw and making Judy giggle.

"It was fun. She's quite the actress. Even Old Nana Bernardine made a really good act of being hypnotised by her and danced like a March hare, which was pretty mind-blowing for her age."

"Hypnotising is not that hard, really."

"Is that right, mister?" asked Judy with a sideways grin.

"It's pretty simple. All it takes is some…skill."

Nick looked deeply into her eyes, charming her completely with his big green gaze.

"Some proper timing," said Nick softly.

Judy felt Nick's paw gently rubbing behind her ear. It felt very good and gave her a relaxing, lazy sensation.

"Mmmm…so nice," she said.

"And you can make anyone do anything you tell them to," said Nick, holding her paw warmly. "You just have to make it happen."

Judy closed her eyes and felt the lovely sensations of Nick's paws caressing her sweetly. She was overpowered by the pleasant feeling of serenity and togetherness.

"Mmm….Nick…"

She felt his face close to hers. Closer, and closer. Her lips parted…she knew she would not resist, and she would not have resisted for anything in the world.

Their noses touched. She giggled. They felt their lips move as if on their own volition, closer…an inch away…a hair's breadth…so close…

"Judy! Nick!" came the loud and jolly voice of Bonnie Hopps. "Dinner's ready!"

Nick and Judy snapped out of it and sat up suddenly, their eyes wide open, startled by the sudden interruption.

"Um..uh…okay, Mom! We'll be right there!"

"Right away, Mrs Hopps!"

They looked at each other and suddenly saw the funny side of it. The burst into laughter, a very welcome laughter, and then got up and walked together to the dining room to join the family for dinner.

It was close to midnight when Stu Hopps finally stood up from the table after a lively game of cards with Nick.

"Well, Nick, if we'd been playing for cash, I'd be one broke bunny by now," laughed Stu.

"I promise I'll teach you everything next vacation," said Nick.

"You must come over for the holidays," said Stu. "The fields are covered in snow, we go out and sing carols with the neighbours, it's an old-fashioned fun family occasion."

"That's a D and an E and an 'efinitely," said Nick, getting up and stretching his arms.

"Dad," said Judy, walking in with her pyjamas, light pink ones with cartoon carrots on the sleeves. "Do we still own the house or is Nick the new landlord?"

"Har har," laughed Stu. "I might learn a thing or two from Nick during the holidays, Jude. Then we'll see if anyone beats me at a poker game ever again."

"Stu, honey bun," said Bonnie Hopps, walking into the room in her nightgown and two mugs of warm tea. "Bedtime. Judy and Nick have to be at the train station tomorrow for the noon train."

"It's been a great vacation, Mrs Hopps," said Nick. "I really enjoyed staying with you and meeting the family."

"As a matter of fact, we were just making plans to have Nick over for the holidays," said Stu, patting Nick on the back.

"So I heard," said Bonnie, looking slyly at her husband. "Well, cup of tea and off to bed. Here you go, Nick, it's my special blend."

"Thank you, Mrs Hopps," said Nick, accepting the mug of tea.

"Good night and sweet dreams. Come along, carrot cake, let's get some shut-eye," said Bonnie, taking Stu's paw.

"Good night, everyone," said Stu. "See you in the morning."

Stu and Bonnie exited the room, leaving Judy and Nick alone. The two looked at each other and smiled. They had enjoyed their time together with the family and were looking forward to returning to Zootopia the following day and getting ready to resume their lives as police officers at Precinct 1.

"My parents love you, Nick," said Judy, taking his paw and leading him to the sofa nearby. "Dad would never invite someone to spend the holidays with the family unless he really took a liking to them."

"So glad to hear that, Carrots," said Nick.

"And mother's special blend of tea is her most carefully-guarded asset," said Judy. "She would only brew it for someone she really likes."

Judy leaned closer to him on the sofa, feeling his fuzzy warmth close to her.

"I see you becoming a favourite relative here, Mr Wilde," said Judy softly.

"Nothing would please me more, Miss Hopps, than to be that favourite relative," said Nick, setting his chin on top of her head and rubbing her fur softly.

They sat in silence for a while, enjoying each other's warmth.

"Well, time to go to dreamland," said Judy. "Tomorrow is another day."

"How I hope you'll always stay," said Nick, rhyming with her sentence.

"How poetic, Mr Smooth Talker. Does it run in the family?"

"I don't know, we'll have to find out, won't we?" said Nick, giving her a wink.

Judy blushed and giggled.

"Oh, Nick, you are trouble, and you know it."

"Mm….I know. And you know too."

"I do know."

"And you know something else."

"And what would that be?" asked Judy.

"You know you love me," said Nick, his eyes narrowed with mischief.

"Do I know that?" asked Judy playfully. "Hmmm…"

Then suddenly, she landed a sweet kiss on his lips, leaving him with a surprised expression on his face.

"Yes. Yes, I do," said Judy giggling.

Nick sat there stunned for a moment in the afterglow of her kiss.

"Heehee, you should see your face. I'll take a picture of you and post it all over so the world can see."

Nick smiled and regained his serene expression.

"Now I'll have sweet dreams," he said.

"I bet you will," said Judy, taking his paw and helping him up. "Well, see you in the morning, dream boy."

They hugged affectionately and said good night, Judy going to her room with her sisters and Nick going to the guest room down the hall.

The clock struck noon as the train rolled into the Bunny Burrow Railway Station. The Hopps family, all two hundred and eighty of them, were present to see off Judy and Nick.

"We'll call you later when we get home," said Judy, hugging her mother and father. "Thank you for everything."

"I'll be counting the days, Jude," said Stu.

"Safe trip, sweetheart," said Bonnie.

Then they turned to Nick. Nick smiled warmly and extended his paw, but he was surprised when the bunnies walked up to him and hugged him warmly.

"We'll be expecting you for the holidays," said Bonnie.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," said Nick.

"Take…take care of our little girl out there, Nick," said Stu, his voice breaking. "Keep her safe."

"I will. I promise," said Nick, feeling moved by Stu's words. "I'll keep both eyes on her tail at all times."

A little late, he realised how weird that could have sounded, but fortunately nobody else noticed. The train sounded its whistle and Nick and Judy grabbed their suitcases and boarded.

"Good bye! See you soon!"

Everybody waved as the train closed its doors and began moving, slowly picking up speed and heading towards Zootopia.

"Ahh…now that was a great vacation," said Nick as he and Judy settled down on their seats.

"So, mister…you'll be keeping both your eyes on my fluffy little cottontail at all times?" said Judy with a cheeky smile, her eyes narrowed.

Nick sat up.

"Y…you heard that?"

"Loud and clear. And quite frankly…" said Judy, rubbing the underside of his chin with her paw and gazing into his eyes arrestingly, "I wouldn't want it any other way."

She snuggled up to him comfortably as the train sped across the countryside. The windows showed the progressive change of terrain as the farmlands gave way to dense forest and hills. Nick watched the scenery as Judy slept comfortably beside him, snuggled up to his warm body.

Some people who walked by noticed them. Their reactions were varied: some shocked to see a rabbit and a fox together, others smiling with joy at the sight of them, feeling that slowly the world was moving forward and leaving behind the old prejudices.

The train sped on towards Zootopia, taking Judy and Nick back to the city that they had helped so much, a city which they would continue to help, both with their duties as police officers, and with the example they set as the best of friends and budding young couple.

"O. M. Goodness! I cannot believe my eyes! It's an authentic, numbered, limited edition posable Gazelle figure!" said the jolly voice of Benjamin Clawhauser at the front desk of Zootopia Police Department. "Hohoo! Pinch me, I'm dreaming! Where oh where did you find this treasure, Hopps?!"

"I won it at the fair," said Judy as she gave him the doll. "I had no idea it was valuable."

"Only the most collectible Gazelle figure on the planet, they only made 1,500 of them before the mould was destroyed in a factory mishap, they are all numbered and price gougers are charging a paw and a tail for them online. See, see the number under the left hoof? This one is number 640! Hahaa! This is my new lucky number. Oh, when those resellers find out I got mine for free! They'll flip out!"

"Well…um, I'm glad you like it, Clawhauser."

"I'm in your debt for a million bajillion and one years, Hopps!"

"Don't mention it, it's my pleasure…"

"Now, cutie, do you wanna stand here next to this amazingly collectible snow globe, or do you wanna stand next to my nameplate and cast your reflection on it?" Clawhauser was now talking to his new doll, making it walk and choose where to stand on the desk.

"Um…okay, I'll leave you two alone," said Judy. "Gotta run!"

"Wave goodbye to Officer Hopps, cutie," said Clawhauser, making the Gazelle doll wave at her. "And thank her for bringing you home to daddy."

Judy sat down at her usual seat in the briefing room, right next to Nick on the same chair.

"So, did he do somersaults in mid-air or just run up the walls hooting?" asked Nick with a sly wink.

"Little bit of Column A, little bit of Column B…" joked Judy as she saw the Chief walk into the room with their assignments.

"Alright, settle down everyone!"

Everyone sat down and listened to the day's orders.

"Some pranksters in Savanna Central think that spray-painting night howlers on the sides of buildings with the caption 'Flower Power' is the ultimate definition of funny," grumbled Chief Bogo in his usual gruff tone. "Perhaps these hooligans are in need of a few art classes at the Ursus Frostworth Juvenile Correctional Institution in Tundratown. Hopps, Wilde, I want you to keep an eye out for any jokers and show them the ZPD's sense of humour."

"Or lack thereof," whispered Nick and several colleagues snickered behind their paws.

Shortly, Judy and Nick were climbing into their squad car and getting ready for their patrol.

"So, Carrots…have you decided yet?"

"Decided what?"

"What you're gonna wear on our date this Saturday night?"

Judy missed the keyhole with the car keys and her cheeks flushed.

"Nick, I thought I lost the bet. Remember?" said Judy jokingly as she turned the key into ignition and started the car.

"You lost that one, true, but you haven't lost the one we're going to have now," said Nick, taking his aviator sunglasses from their pouch.

"Which is?"

Nick smiled slyly.

"I'll bet you these pranksters, which we will catch before the day is over by the way, are sheep and Bellwether sympathisers and trouble-makers who express their immaturity by defacing public property with controversial graffiti," said Nick.

"Hmm…and if they aren't?" asked Judy, grinning and narrowing her eyes.

"Trust me, they are," said Nick, adjusting his aviators. "My instincts are tingling."

"Well, Mr In-Stinks," said Judy teasingly, driving out of the precinct garage. "We'll see if your intuition leads us on the right track."

"This is Officer Hopps! We have a 586 on the corner of Acacia and Nile, public defacers spotted, Officer Wilde is moving in to apprehend!" Judy hastily spoke into her radio transmitter.

"Copy, Officer Hopps…all units, public defacers spotted on the corner of Acacia Avenue and…"

Judy raced across the street and joined Nick as he chased three sheep down an alley and cornered them at a dead end.

"Hooves where I can see them!" said Nick and three young sheep held their hooves above their head, one of them dropping a can of spray paint.

"No sudden moves!" said Judy.

But as Nick cuffed one of them, the two remaining sheep shot off, trying to run past Judy.

"I said…"

With a terrific move, Judy swept her foot and tripped one sheep, then jump-kicked the other one, sending it flying against the wall with a loud thud.

"…no sudden moves!"

"Awesome skills there, Hopps!" said Nick as he cuffed the second sheep and Judy cuffed the final one. "I wonder, do rabbits kick harder than hares, or was it the other way around?"

"Keep talking and you'll find out," said Judy with a playful smirk.

They heard the sirens of two other patrol cars, meaning the alley was secured and there was no escape for the perpetrators.

"You have the right to remain silent and refuse to answer questions, anything you say may be used against you in a court of law…." Judy recited them their rights.

"We know the drill, rabbit!" sneered one of the sheep. "All you cops are the same, defending the corrupt system for the spare chops they thrown you at the end of the day."

"…you have the right to an attorney," continued Judy, ignoring the sheep's comment, "if you cannot afford one…"

The sheep were brought into the Precinct under the stern eye of the officers and escorted to the detention area. Nick and Judy filed the papers and walked out into the lobby, watching the sheep as they disappeared behind the detention area door.

"There will always be those who stray from the flock," said Judy.

"And there will always be good shepherds to bring them back," said Nick. "Particularly ones with a mean left kick."

"And snazzy shades," said Judy.

"Remind me never to tick you off, or you'll go 'flying tiger, crouching dragon' on my fuzzy little butt," said Nick.

"Your fuzzy little butt is safe with me, sunshine," said Judy with a grin.

"And what is that supposed to mean, Officer?" asked Nick, his face full of mischief.

"You'll figure it out…this Saturday night," said Judy with a hearty wink.

Just then, a large figure came out of one of the side doors and walked their way. It was their colleague, Officer Higgins, the hippopotamus.

"Did you see this yet?" he said, holding out a flyer.

Nick took it, and he and Judy saw that it was a flyer for a carnival, just outside the city.

"Well I'll be a gopher's nightgown," said Nick. "One day we go to the fair, and the next, the fair comes to us."

"Wow! Where is this?" asked Judy.

"Just outside the city," said Higgins. "My cousin sets up his booth every year. Thought I'd plug for him a bit…"

Higgins was cut off by a loud, gruff voice booming from above the hall.

"Hopps! In my office," said the voice of Chief Bogo.

Judy jumped a bit, startled.

"Excuse me," she said and walked up the stairs to Bogo's office.

Nick and Higgins walked over to the coffee machine, where several of their colleagues were getting their dose of caffeine.

"I wonder why Bogo didn't decide to become a dentist instead of a cop," commented Nick as he watched Judy walk up the stairs.

"Do you?" chuckled Higgins. "Cause I certainly don't!"

He scrunched up his face to make the best imitation he could of the Chief.

"Next patient!"

Several officers around them snorted into their coffee.

Judy walked cautiously into Chief Bogo's office and pushed the door closed behind her. The huge buffalo was sitting at his desk with her report in his hoof.

"Have a seat, Hopps," said Bogo without looking up from the file.

Judy jumped up onto the chair and made herself comfortable, at least as comfortable as she ever felt sitting in front the Chief's desk.

"You and Wilde did a great job, my felicitations," said Bogo as his eyes scanned the paper. "We knew that the possibility existed that there would be copycats trying to follow in the steps of Dawn Bellwether and her flock. What's important is to let the community know that such acts will not be taken lightly."

Bogo set down the report on the desk and removed his reading glasses. He looked at Judy straight in the eyes.

"As you are no doubt aware by now, the annual fair that is held on fairgrounds a short distance outside the city is starting tomorrow. It is an occasion that brings folk from all over the neighbouring counties together, not to mention countless citizens of this city."

"Higgins told us about it," said Judy.

"Yes, I imagined so. He won't shut the buck up about it for at least a week."

Judy suppressed a giggle.

"In light of recent events, I want to make sure the fairgoers are provided with extra security. I'd like to deter any troublemakers who would find it amusing to disrupt the peace at a public event such as this."

He paused for a moment then went on.

"I'm assigning you and Wilde and two more to watch over the fair."

"Patrol…at the fair?" asked Judy.

"There will be three shifts," said Bogo. "You and Wilde will take Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Clawhauser will give you the full schedule once I've pep-talked everyone. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!" said Judy, standing up and saluting on the chair.

"Good," said Bogo, with one of his rare smiles.

He sat in silence for a moment, looking at Judy.

"We're moving forward, Hopps," continued Bogo. "Thanks to you and Wilde, and to your efforts last year in cracking the night howler case, many of the old…concepts…that people had about each other in this city are going away. My only hope is they go away for good."

He looked at the map of Zootopia on his wall to the right.

"You and Wilde set an example for our community. I'd like you to be present as much as possible in the public eye so people can see that our city is an example of harmonious living and equality. Any vandals or troublemakers who might make use of the fair to promote their disruptive behaviour should be deterred. I want this to be the best bloody fair that this city has ever seen. Do you understand your responsibilities, Hopps?"

"Yes, sir," said Judy. "Every bit."

"Good. Off you go, then," said Bogo. "Tell Wilde to come to my office."

The music and colours were a swirl of joy and excitement as Nick walked among the attractions, looking all around him at the folk of different species having fun. Everyone was enjoying the carnival, even the weather seemed to make an extra effort to be bright and cheerful.

"C'mon! Try and douse me! I dare ya!"

Nick looked to his left and saw the Douse-The-Clown stand, with a brightly-painted bear sitting in a chair above a pool of water. A small ferret child paid for three balls and stood at the front of the booth, aiming for the target. His first pitch fell short by a foot.

"C'mon! I haven't have a bath in weeks!" said the bear-clown. "And I ain't having one now by the looks of it!"

The ferret child squinted and threw the ball as hard as he could, but it landed just below the target.

"If I had a penny for every miss, I'd be swimming in a money bin by now!" said the clown.

Nick walked up behind the kid.

"Hey, little fella," said Nick. "Need a boost?"

The kid smiled brightly as Nick hoisted him up on his shoulder.

"Now, give that clown a bath, kid," said Nick encouragingly.

The little ferret threw the ball fast and hard and it hit the target square centre. A loud buzzer sounded and the clown's chair was tilted forward by a mechanical arm, making the clown fall into the pool below.

"Help! Gurgle! Sharks! Squid! Swordfish!" wailed the clown as he thrashed in the water.

"Wow, thanks, Officer!" said the ferret child happily as Nick put him back on the ground.

"Anytime kid. Keep practicing that fastball and you'll make it to the major league," said Nick with a wink.

"I will!" said the kid as he ran off to the other games. "Thank you!"

Nick smiled happily as he watched the kid disappear among the attractions. He remembered a time when ferrets and stoats were not allowed at certain day-care centres because people assumed they would cause trouble and pick on the smaller younglings. Foxes were not allowed in many places as well. They were denied service at diners, people crossed to the opposite sidewalk if they saw one coming, they were denied credit at banks…

…and now here he stood, a police officer for the Zootopia Police Department, in impeccable uniform, making his mother proud and being an example for the community.

"Bogo is right," said Nick to himself. "We are moving forward. And there's no better direction to move in than forward."

As he walked past a tent decorated with moons and stars, a voice called to him.

"A familiar face approaches, and one filled with curiosity," said a misty voice nearby. "Madame Mystique sees it all. The handsome police officer with a heart of gold enters the world of wonders and mysterious feats of magic and is amazed beyond his wildest dreams."

"Madame Mystique?" said Nick as he recognised the panda in makeup. "I missed your show at the Bunny Burrow fair. But my friend told me all about it."

"Then allow me to show you the world of wonders, fine Officer," said Madame Mystique.

Nick looked around him. Everything was well and people were happily strolling around enjoying the carnival.

"Why not?" he said to himself. "It'll only be a minute or two."

As Nick sat down in the back row inside Madame Mystique's tent, she started her show with the bouquet of flowers appearing out of nowhere. Then she made a statue disappear, shattered a vase and then covered it in a handkerchief and made it whole again, and finally she came to the hypnotising act. The audience was enthralled.

"And now, my dears," said Madame Mystique. "I shall need help from a member of the audience. And I think my eyes have caught one handsome gent right in the back. Officer, won't you help me with this next trick?"

Everyone applauded as Nick walked up on stage. He was pretty well-known by now and many people cheered for him from the audience.

"Now, dear Officer Wilde," said Madame Mystique, reading his nametag. "Look closely as this golden watch in my paw. How it shines! How it shimmers! Look closely, concentrate…focus…"

Nick did as she told him, smiling and playing for the audience. But then…

"…concentrate…focus…"

His focus became unfocused. Nick felt like he was dreaming, falling asleep and unable to wake up.

He felt a fuzzy warm feeling in his mind, complete silence…except for a sweet soothing voice.

"Juggle," said the voice.

"But…I can't juggle…" Nick's mind responded.

"Juggle, my sweet. Juggle these pebbles. Go ahead."

Nick saw some brightly-coloured pebbles in his paws and started juggling them as if he had been a juggler all his life. In the distance, he heard cheering and applause. He heard a familiar voice, a voice he loved to hear more than anything…

"I never knew you could juggle, Mr Big Top Star," said Judy's voice in his mind. "The circus lost a brilliant performer, it seems."

"Juggle some more," said the voice in his head. "Knives this time. Don't worry, they won't harm you. Go ahead."

Nick juggled all sorts of things, thinking how easy it was and wondering why he hadn't tried it before.

"Very good! You may put those flaming torches down now. Now, my sweet, you will wake up," said the voice in his head. "On the count of three. One…two…three…"

In a second, Nick's eyes focused on Madame Mystique's face. He was back in the tent, on the stage…and there was a tray with pebbles, knives, and torches which had been extinguished just then.

"Huh?" Nick felt confused, but then he heard the audience cheering and applauding.

"Thank you, my sweet," said Madame Mystique. "That was quite breath-taking."

Nick smiled and decided to play along. He bowed for the audience and stepped off the stage.

The show was over. As the audience filed out of the tent, they talked about the amazing juggling act that the fox police officer had done.

Nick stood for a moment outside the tent, dazed and somewhat confused. Did that really happen?

By the looks of it, yes. The fairgoers were amazed, the objects with which he juggled were there…but…

"I don't know how to juggle."

Nick looked back at the tent entrance. Had Madame Mystique really hypnotised him?

His ears were ringing.

Judy saw a familiar face among the fairgoers. An enormous polar bear was carrying a small female shrew in his paws, taking her wherever she wanted to go. The shrew was holding an even smaller shrew, an infant. Judy recognised them immediately.

"Fru Fru!" said Judy happily and waved.

"Judy!" said the tiny shrew, signalling for her bodyguard to lower his paws so Judy could greet her. "Hii! Long time no see!"

"I know, right?" said Judy, giving her friend the gentlest of kisses on her cheeks. "Enjoying the fair, Baby Judy?" she added, smiling at the cute little baby shrew who shared her name.

"Oh yes we are, right honey? Give godmother a kissy."

Fru Fru's baby was named after Judy. The friendship between Judy and Fru Fru had started in the strangest of ways, when Judy had saved Fru Fru from being squashed by a giant doughnut in Little Rodentia. This event earned Judy the love and respect of the entire family, the head of which was Fru Fru's father, the notorious crime boss Mr Big.

"Daddy is having a business meeting with some old friends," said Fru Fru. "So I had Marcel bring me and Baby Judy to the fair."

Judy doubted she wanted to know what kind of business her father, Mr Big, was discussing with his friends.

"That's great!" said Judy. "Would you like to walk with me for a while?"

"Of course, honey," said Fru Fru.

Judy walked beside Marcel the polar bear, who towered over her.

"So, Judy, how are things going with your handsome fox?" asked Fru Fru.

"Oh, well…we're going on a date," said Judy, blushing lightly. "Saturday night."

"Really?! Oh, honey, have you decided what to wear yet?"

"N-no, not yet. Truth be told, I haven't really done this before…it's all so new to me."

"Well, it's settled then. You and I are going shopping this Saturday," said Fru Fru. "We'll doll you up like a princess and your handsome prince will fall to your feet. Marcel, we'll be picking up Judy this Saturday. Call Mr Manchas and make sure to make all the arrangements."

The polar bear nodded in acknowledgement.

Judy smiled and felt glad to have a friend she could count on for such an occasion. Girls' day out, shopping and having fun together…it sounded very exciting and new.

"All units respond, we have a possible 10-11 in the parking lot, Officers Fangmeyer and Delgato may require assistance," said the voice from Judy's radio.

"Copy that. Officer Hopps, I'm on my way," responded Judy. "Sorry to run, Fru Fru, duty calls. I'll give you a call later!"

"Go get 'em, Judy!" said Fru Fru and waved goodbye. "There goes your godmother, Baby Judy," she said to her child. "One day, you're gonna grown up to be just like her."

The night was warm in the city. Judy and Nick walked together along the sidewalk on their way home, watching the few people going about on their late errands. It had been a long day, quiet for the most part, only one incident in the parking lot had required their attention, when two pigs had had an argument over a parking space and almost ended up putting up their trotters and duking it out.

"I couldn't help noticing the pigs flinching when Fangmeyer showed up," said Judy.

"'Little pig, little pig, I'll have to take you in'," said Nick, doing his best impression of Fangmeyer. "'Not by the hairs of my chinny-chin-chin!'" he went on, making a pig impression, "'Then I'll huff and I'll cuff and I'll bring you both in!'"

Judy laughed heartily as she held his waist for support. A few passers-by glanced at them, some amused, others amazed. It was still uncommon to see a bunny and a fox chumming so naturally, but they all knew that it would become increasingly less strange in the years to come.

"You'll never guess who I saw today at the fair," said Judy and Nick at the same time, then looked at each other and grinned.

"You first," they said in unison, then laughed together.

"Okay. Scissors, Paper, Rock!" said Nick.

"You're on," said Judy.

They played a round, and Judy won.

"Fru Fru and Baby Judy," said Judy. "With their bodyguard, naturally. And she's taking me shopping on Saturday."

"Sounds like fun," said Nick. "I take it she'll help you pick out a dress for the evening?" he added with relish.

"Maybe," said Judy, playing along. "I guess we'll find out Saturday night, won't we?"

They smiled warmly at each other. Judy hugged his waist a bit tighter and Nick pulled her a little closer. Judy rested her head against his chest as Nick nuzzled the top of her head with his nose.

"Your turn," said Judy. "Who did you meet today at the fair?"

"Madame Mystique," said Nick. "From the county fair, remember?"

"Really?! And did you go inside her tent?"

"Yup, she insisted upon it."

"Did she, now? So, how was the mysteeerious jouuurney into the wooorld of wooonder?" asked Judy, waving her paw theatrically and making Nick chuckle.

"She's pretty good at her act," said Nick. "And so am I, gotta be honest."

"Wait…you volunteered to help with her hypnotising act?" said Judy, snorting with laughter.

"Well…kinda," said Nick.

"I wish I could have seen that!" laughed Judy.

Then something came to Nick's mind. Something that felt like a distant dream. He remembered hearing a voice in his head, far away…

"Carrots?"

"Yes, Mr Magician's Assistant?"

"Can you juggle?"

"Juggle? No, I can't," said Judy. "My brother Peter can, though. He used to freak out mom by juggling utensils in the kitchen. Forks and knives and the like."

Nick was silent.

"Why?" asked Judy. "Can you?"

"No…but I did."

"How is that?"

"Well…at least I think I did. When I was on the stage, Madame Mystique did the whole golden watch thing, and I kinda felt fuzzy and sleepy…and I think I was juggling. By the looks of the audience, it sure felt like it was real."

They walked in silence for a while, thinking about what Nick had said.

"Do you think…I mean…it is possible…that a person can hypnotise other people and make them do things they normally can't?" asked Nick.

"I don't know," said Judy. "I mean, it is possible to make people do things without thinking."

They both remembered the night howler serum and how it had turned the predators in Zootopia violent and uncontrollable.

"But to wave a watch in front of someone and put them in a trance…well, I don't know. My money's on maybe."

Nick nodded. It was strange indeed. But strange things have happened to them, so it wasn't completely out of the realm of possibility. And then again, it could just be a simple mind trick that anyone could do with enough practise.

They stopped in front of Grand Pangolin Arms, her apartment building. Nick had gotten an apartment two blocks away from Judy's building. They were within walking distance of each other, so every evening after work they would walk home together.

"Well, it's been a good day," said Judy, standing in front of Nick on the front step of her building so they were face-to-face. "Normal routine tomorrow."

"That it is," said Nick, taking both her paws in his, looking into her eyes.

They stood there for a while, admiring each other, holding paws in silence.

"Well, I'd better get home," said Nick finally. "Gotta make some phone calls, arrangements, before calling it a night."

"Yeah, me too," said Judy. "I promised Fru Fru I'd give her a call."

Neither of them moved, though. They stood there, holding paws, smiling and stalling.

"Oh, who are we kidding?" said Judy. "C'mere, you!"

She hugged him tight and kissed his cheek. Nick hugged her back and kissed her forehead, nuzzling behind her ear with his nose.

"I'll see you tomorrow, sunshine," said Nick once they finally let go of each other.

"That you will," said Judy as she skipped up the steps and into the building.

As she got to the last step, she blew him a kiss and walked into the building. Nick happily walked the rest of the way home, humming to himself and feeling everything was well in the world.

Judy walked into her apartment and placed her things on the table beside her bed. She glanced at her window and saw her baby chick plush toy, the one Nick had won for her at the fair, sitting on the windowsill looking cute.

"Miss me, little fluffy?" said Judy and tickled its belly. The baby chick chirped a few times. Judy tickled it one more time and it chirped, then she turned to her dresser to get some comfortable clothes.

No sooner than she had unbuttoned her uniform, her phone rang. She checked the caller ID and saw that it was her parents.

"Hi guys!" said Judy, answering the phone.

"Judy! How are you, sweetheart?" said her mother, Bonnie.

"Fine! How are you guys?"

There was an awkward pause.

"Um…where's dad?" asked Judy, noticing her father was nowhere to be seen on the screen.

"Honey…I guess it's safe to assume you haven't heard about Nana Bernardine?"

"Huh? No, what happened?" asked Judy alarmed. "Is she alright? What's the matter?"

"She…she's facing charges for armed bank robbery."

"WHAT!?"

There was silence. A long, stunned silence. Judy looked at the image of her mother on the screen.

"Well, don't leave us in suspense! Go on, tell us what happened!" came the voice of her neighbour, Bucky, through the wall.

Judy frowned at the wall behind her.

"Pipe down in there!" she said, then turned back to her phone. "Sorry. Mom, what happened?"

"Nana Bernardine was brought in by the sheriff this afternoon. She had robbed the Stoat Farm Bank in Bunny Burrow and drove away in her station wagon. When the sheriff and his deputies got to her house to arrest her, she was asleep, and said she didn't remember anything. Your father went to talk to the sheriff just a while ago."

"But….Nana Bernardine. Everyone knows she's the gentlest soul on Earth. She wouldn't harm a fly."

"Everybody knows that," said Bonnie. "But the surveillance camera caught it all."

"But…how…Nana Bernardine…?"

Judy was stunned. Someone she had known all her life, suddenly turning criminal.

"No," said Judy. "No, it's not possible. There must be a mistake."

"We hope so, sweetie," said Bonnie. "Nobody believes she did it, not even the sheriff, but the tape shows it. It's just…hang on…that's your father calling. Sorry, honey, I'll call you back when we have more details. Byesie-bye."

"Bye…mom…" Judy muttered as Bonnie hung up.

For a long while, she sat there stunned, looking at her wall, looking into empty space, trying to make sense of it. But it didn't make sense.

"Why would…" Judy said to herself. "Why would…no, there has to be a mistake. She's not a criminal."

"Guess you never really know someone," came her neighbour Bucky's voice.

"Except simple-minded prats like you," came the voice of his roomie, Pronk.

"Hey, shut up!"

"You shut up!"

"You shut up!"

Judy raced across the entrance hall, whizzing past Clawhauser at his desk.

"Good morning, Hopps, what's the….rush?"

She leaped up the steps four at a time and climbed up to the Chief's office.

"Chief!" said Judy, knocking on the door. "Chief Bogo! I need to talk to you!"

"Slow down, Hopps," said a gruff voice behind her. "You'll leave your fur behind if you don't."

It was the Chief. He opened the door to his office and Judy walked in behind him.

"Chief! I need permission to take leave and go to my hometown," said Judy. "Something came up!"

"I thought I said 'Slow down'," said Bogo as he sat down at his desk. "Okay…start from the beginning."

"Chief…one of my neighbours…one I've known since I was little…everyone has known for years…just committed armed robbery at a bank," said Judy. "But nobody believes she did it. But the surveillance camera caught her. And I need to talk to the sheriff at Bunny Burrow…I need to go and see for myself."

"I needn't tell you it's out of our jurisdiction, Hopps."

"Please, Chief. I need to go and speak to Sheriff Shepard."

"And I need you here and now, where you belong. Let the Bunny Burrow Police handle it."

"Chief!" said Judy, standing on her chair and setting her paws on the desk. "This is important…for me. Just this once. I need to look into this. Please."

"Hopps," Bogo started. "If I granted leave to every officer on a whim…"

"Please!"

The Chief went silent. He and Judy stared at each other for a while. He knew that her intentions were good. He also knew that she was probably right.

Bogo let out a long sigh.

"Alright."

There was a long pause. Then Bogo spoke again.

"You're the best I have here, Hopps," said Bogo. "Let me make some phone calls. I'll let you know as soon as I have an answer."

"Thanks, Chief," said Judy.

"You can go now."

Judy climbed off the chair and walked to the door.

"Hopps."

Judy turned around to see the chief looking at her. His expression was unreadable. Not angry, not annoyed…was this pity?

"You can know a person all your life, and one day that person can give you a big surprise," said Bogo. "You never truly know anybody one-hundred percent, Hopps. Keep it together, okay?"

"Okay," said Judy, closing the door behind her.

"And she didn't remember anything?"

"Nothing at all. It's like it all happened in her sleep."

Judy and Nick walked down the sidewalk on Mamba Avenue, watching the goings and comings of people. It was a bright Wednesday with not a cloud in the sky, a perfect day for the fairgoers. Judy's mind was clouded, however. She tried to grasp at one thought, but they all seemed to fade like smoke when she tried.

"It just doesn't click. Why would she rob a bank in broad daylight, full of people she had known for years, and then drive home and take a nap like nothing happened?" said Nick.

"Nobody believes she did it, not even the sheriff," said Judy. "It just doesn't make sense. I have to go there and see for myself. I have to."

"I'm sure Buffalo-Butt will give you leave," said Nick. "After all, it's you. The finest of Zootopia's Finest."

"If I could just…gather my thoughts," said Judy, her face full of frustration. "Grrr…I can't focus."

"You're too tense," said Nick.

Just then, he looked ahead and saw a sign above a shop. He had an idea.

"I know what will help you calm down and focus, and maybe even cheer you up," he said. "A nice doughnut at Mollie Moo's."

"I don't know, Nick."

"A nice carrot cake doughnut, and a cup of coffee."

"I think I'll pass, I really don't feel…"

"A nice hot freshly-baked glazed carrot cake doughnut," he said in a suave voice, "served on a warm plate, with a cup of delicious fragrant coffee, with some pumpkin spice in it, just a smidge…"

Judy couldn't help smiling and looking up at Nick.

"Alright, you've convinced me, Mr Temptation," she said. "I accept."

Nick opened the door for Judy and a rush of sweet freshly-baked pastry scent met her nostrils. She felt lifted at once.

"Morning, Mollie!" said Nick as he and Judy sat down at a table their size beside one of the ample windows. "Carrot cake doughnut, glazed, and pumpkin spice coffee, times two."

Mollie Moo, a jolly-faced cow behind the counter, nodded and went to the coffee machine to get their order ready. She poured coffee and placed two freshly-baked doughnuts on warmed plates she kept in a warming cabinet above the counter.

"There you go, Officers," said Mollie as she brought them their order on a tray. "Enjoy."

"Thank you," said Judy.

Nick poured some pumpkin spice syrup into a mug of coffee, stirred it and gave it to Judy.

"Thanks," said Judy softly, setting her paw on his across the table. Nick left his paw there, allowing her to fondle and caress it as she sipped her coffee.

The swirling scent of coffee and his company seemed to soothe her. Judy was soon smiling as she nibbled her tasty doughnut.

Nick poured some pumpkin spice syrup into his mug and watched it swirl. The swirl spiralled in his mug into a pattern that seemed to go on and on. He watched the spiral as it spun, feeling hypnotised by the shape and blackness that looked like a void, empty and eternal.

Hypnotised? Nick suddenly thought of something.

"Carrots?"

"Hmm?" said Judy.

"You said it was Nana Bernardine who robbed the bank."

"Aha," said Judy.

"The same Nana Bernardine I saw at the dart booth with the sheep kid while you were on the merry-go-round with your sisters?"

"Ah...yes," said Judy.

"The same Nana Bernardine who made a spectacle later, dancing like a March hare in Madame Mystique's tent?"

"Y-yes," said Judy. "The same. Why?"

"Well, call it conjecture," said Nick. "But…do you think maybe…just maybe…"

Nick paused for a moment.

"What if she didn't commit the crime?"

"But Nick…the camera…"

"I know, but hear me out. What if she didn't commit the crime willingly? What if someone made her do it? She says she doesn't remember anything. Nobody in your hometown believes she could have done it either. Well, what if she was sleepwalking, and someone made her commit the crime in her sleep?"

"In her sleep?" the thought had not occurred to Judy. "But how…"

"What if she was hypnotised?"

They both went silent. The silence was so intense they could hear a kettle whistling in an apartment across the street.

"But…who could…?"

"I think we both know someone," said Nick.

Immediately, a face came to Judy's mind. A black-and-white face heavy with makeup.

"Madame Mystique?"

"It's a longshot, I know," said Nick. "But…what if she somehow put Nana Bernardine under her spell?"

"But…Madame Mystique is at the carnival here, Bunny Burrow is two-hundred and eleven miles away."

"Like I said, it's just speculation. But there may be a connection."

Judy thought of what Nick said. Nana Bernardine did seem to be genuinely hypnotised inside Madame Mystique's tent. Judy seriously doubted Nana Bernardine and Madame Mystique had any previous agreement for her to act like she was in a trance. And the way she danced…

"Nick, do you think she really can hypnotise people?"

"I am not discarding that possibility."

"She made you juggle," said Judy. "And you can't juggle, can you?"

"I could try, but I'm afraid I'd have to pay for the broken mugs."

Judy finally grasped a thought.

"Nick…we have to question her."

"We have to watch her first," said Nick. "Before we jump into conclusions, we have to keep an eye on her. But we have to do it carefully. Right now, we have nothing on her, and if she is indeed the culprit and suspects we're onto her, she might dash and then we'll never know for sure."

"Watch for anything suspicious, right," said Judy. "Act natural and keep an eye out."

Nick could see that she was feeling better. Now she had something on her mind that could be a lead, and could arrange her thoughts better. A little doughnut and some coffee can work wonders sometimes.

"Refill, Officers?" said the kindly Mollie as she came to their table with a fresh pot of coffee.

"Yes, please."

Judy was typing a report at her desk later that afternoon when suddenly a large hoof set a paper beside her keyboard.

"Sign it, Hopps," said the voice of Chief Bogo. "Your leave is tomorrow. I managed to work it out sooner rather than later."

"Tomorrow?" said Judy, taking her pen and signing. "That's great, Chief."

"You can catch the midnight train and be at your hometown early tomorrow," said Bogo. "Do everything you have to do and then catch the evening train and be back tomorrow around midnight."

"Yes, that works."

"I've put McHorn on carnival patrol in your stead," said Bogo, taking the signed paper. "I want you here bright and early on Friday, Hopps."

"Yes, sir!"

As Bogo left, Judy quickly sent her mother a text message.

"Will be there tomorrow. Must look into Nana Bernardine case."

The midnight train was five minutes away from departing. A few late-night travellers boarded the train and found their seats, opening magazines and listening to music through their headphones. Judy stood with her overnight bag in front of Nick on the platform, with an expression of confidence on her face.

"I'll find out as much as I can," said Judy.

"I will too," said Nick. "Luckily I'm on carnival patrol tomorrow and the day after, so I'll keep an eye on Madame Mystique. We'll get to the bottom of this."

"We will," said Judy, admiring her handsome partner and feeling a surge of gratitude towards him.

She reached over and took his paw in hers. They looked at each other in silence until the loudspeaker announced that the train would be departing soon.

"Well, that's my call," said Judy. "Wish you could come along."

"Holidays," said Nick.

"Yeah, of course," said Judy. "It'll be a happier occasion."

She fell silent. Nick smiled and opened his arms.

"Get in here, you."

Judy set her bag down and they hugged warmly, sharing their hope and warmth in a tender embrace.

"I'll see you Friday morning," said Judy.

"Say hello to everyone for me," said Nick.

"Will do," said Judy, and with that, she boarded the train.

Judy sat down beside the window and watched Nick as the train moved slowly. At the last minute, he blew her a kiss, which she returned just as the train sped out of the station and picked up speed towards her hometown.

Just as Zootopia disappeared behind her in the dark night, Judy's phone vibrated. She got a text message.

She checked it and giggled. It was from Nick, and it was a single line:

"U know U luv me."

"I'm so glad you decided to come, Jude," Stu Hopps said as he drove Judy to the police station in Bunny Burrow. "Nobody has any clue about what to do."

Judy was munching on a sandwich and sipping tea as they drove. She had arrived an hour earlier and her parents had picked her up at the Bunny Burrow Station.

"Maybe, with your expertise, you can shed some light on all this," said Stu.

"I hope so," said Judy.

They arrived at the Bunny Burrow Police Station, a modest building manned by a pawful of police officers. Small town police stations rarely saw any action. Small towns remembered crimes from ten years ago and still talked about them from time to time. Something like this bank robbery was unheard of in a peaceful hamlet like Bunny Burrow.

"Well, here goes," said Judy and she stepped out of the truck and walked into the police station.

It was almost like a living room with desks inside the police station. The front desk was occupied by Old Ben, a shaggy dog police officer who had been on the force for as long as Judy could remember.

"Why, hello there, little lady!" said Old Ben jovially. "If it isn't the star of the county, young Officer Judy Hopps!"

"How are you, Mr Ben?" said Judy.

"As well as a well, little lady," said Old Ben.

"Is the sheriff in? I really need to speak to him," said Judy.

"Oh, he's in alright," said Old Ben, turning around in his chair to face the door behind him. "Hey Shep! Judy Hopps is here to see you!"

"Tell her to come on in," said the voice of the sheriff behind his office door.

Judy walked into the sheriff's office, which was almost like a picture gallery, the walls lined with photographs of the sheriff's family, his friends and colleagues. A few trophies stood in a cabinet next to the window, a water cooler, and the desk.

"Little Judy," said the sheriff, Donovan Shepard, a middle-aged sheepdog.

"Good morning, Sheriff Shepard," said Judy.

"My, how you've grown. I remember you skipping about with your brothers and sisters on your pop's farm. And now look at you. You're a perfectly beautiful young lady. And a full-fledged police officer in the grand city of Zootopia. Who would have thought of it?"

Judy smiled and sat down in front of the sheriff's desk.

"It's always nice to come back home and catch up with old friends," said Judy. "I wish I could have come under brighter circumstances."

"You and me both, darlin'," said the Sheriff.

They fell silent for a moment until Judy spoke again.

"Mother told me the news," said Judy. "I couldn't believe it when I heard it."

"Nobody could believe it. I was the one who took the call," said the Sheriff. "I had Dotty the banker repeat it to me three times over the phone before I was sure. She said Nana Bernardine had walked into the bank, pointing a taser at the manager, told them to put the money in a bag and then she took it and drove off in her station wagon. When we got to her house to arrest her, the poor gal was asleep, and she swore up and down that she had never moved from her bed."

"And she had the weapon and money with her?" asked Judy.

"That's the weird part, Judy," said Shepard. "The weapon and the money are nowhere to be found. We've searched the house inside out, and nothing. Her station wagon is empty. We've searched every nook and cranny along the way, and nothing. And she can't tell us anything. It's like she really was asleep all along and never committed the crime."

"Sheriff," said Judy. "Do you believe she committed the crime?"

Shepard sighed and opened a drawer in his desk.

"No," he said. "Nobody does. But I'm afraid what we believe won't hold up in court. Here, I'll show you."

Shepard took a flash drive from his drawer and plugged it into his computer. In a moment, they were looking at the surveillance tape from the bank.

"Okay, there, see?" said Shepard. "Just before closing time, she walks in."

Sure enough, the unmistakable figure of Nana Bernardine walked into the bank with something in her paw. Judy looked at it closer and saw that it was a baby chick plush doll, just like the one Nick had won for her at the county fair a few days ago.

"She used the plush toy to conceal her weapon. Then, she sets the toy on the counter and reveals the weapon to the manager. Aims it at him, they exchange words. The tellers empty their registers, put the money in the bag they pass around. She grabs it, takes her plush toy and runs, and then Dotty calls me on the phone, you can see there."

"And…what happened after that?"

"The tape from the parking lot," said Shepard, clicking on the 'next' button. "There, she gets into her station wagon, and drives off."

"Wait…go back a bit."

Shepard paused and backed the video a bit.

"Is there someone in the car with her?" asked Judy.

She looked closely and saw that Nana Bernardine placed the plush toy on the passenger seat and drove off. From that angle, she couldn't see if there was anybody in the backseat.

"That's where the tape ends," said Shepard. "I'm afraid it's just too clear. There's no mistaking her, or her car."

"But there's still the question of whether or not she was alone," said Judy. "Someone could have coerced her into committing the robbery."

"It's a possibility, but like I said, she won't tell us anything," said Shepard.

"Maybe she'll tell me."

Shepard went silent. Judy looked up at him. They both knew what the other was thinking.

"It would only be a minute, Sheriff," said Judy. "You know, from one cop to another, a favour. You can never have too much help, you know."

"I know," said Shepard, pausing and finally deciding. "Alright. Just fill in this form…" he said, taking a paper from his desk, "…actually, just sign at the bottom, I'll fill it in for you. Barkins will let you in."

"Thanks, Sheriff," said Judy. "Oh, and Sheriff…um, could I have a copy of the security tapes?"

Shepard hesitated.

"Look, Hopps…if your department were to ask for the tapes for investigative reasons, and the proper papers were filed, there would be no problem."

"I know," said Judy. "But from one cop to another, just this once. You know you could use the help. You'd do anything to help Nana B. I know you would."

Judy casually left her keychain on the Sheriff's desk. On it was a carrot-shaped flash drive. Shepard got the message.

"Okay, Judy," he said. "Just this once."

He took the keychain and plugged the flash drive into his computer.

"The hearing is on the 26th," said Shepard as he copied the files. "That's two weeks from now. If you can find anything before that day, anything that could convince the judge…"

"I'll get to the bottom of this, Sheriff," said Judy. "There has to be a clue somewhere."

"Let's hope so," said Shepard, giving her back her keychain. "The last thing I want is to see my old sitter behind bars."

Judy sat in the interrogation room waiting. It was an empty room with a table and chairs and nothing much else. The door to the room opened and in walked Deputy Barkins escorting Nana Bernardine.

"Ten minutes…give or take," said Barkins with a sad look on his face. Nana Bernardine had been his sitter when he was a pup. It pained him to see her in cuffs.

"Right…um, Barkins…the cuffs…she won't need them in here," said Judy.

Barkins hesitated, but finally gave in. He took the cuffs off Nana Bernardine and pulled the chair for her.

"I'll be outside…if you need me," he said, exiting the room and closing the door.

Once the door was closed, Nana Bernardine burst into tears. Judy stood up on her chair and reached across the table to hold the old nana's paw.

"It's okay, Nana," said Judy. "We know you didn't do it. I know you didn't. And I'm gonna help find out who did."

The old St. Bernard wiped her tears with her sleeve. She felt somewhat comforted by Judy's words.

"Now, I need you to tell me, what happened that day?" said Judy. "Slowly, don't leave anything out."

"I…I left Woollace at his folks' house," said Nana Bernardine. "They thanked me, paid me, and I drove off to my house. When I got there, I realised Woollace had left his stuffed toy on the table at my house. I was mighty tired, so I decided to take a nap and later I'd go back and take him back his baby chick doll. I went to bed, put on some soft music in the record player…and I fell asleep."

Judy nodded as she listened carefully.

"And…and the next thing I knew, Sheriff Shepard and his deputies were in my house, taking me in for bank robbery."

"But you never left your bed," said Judy.

"No, I sleep like a log, everybody knows that. And I explained to the Sheriff everything I'm telling you, but then they showed me the tape. And I…I couldn't believe it."

Judy remembered something Nick had said, and then something else came to her mind.

"Nana," said Judy. "Did you dream anything?"

"No, I don't remember any dreams."

"Did you ever go to sleep and wake up somewhere different? Like sleepwalking?"

"I never sleepwalked in my life."

"But maybe…well, you were thinking of taking Woollace back his toy, right? In the surveillance tape, you had the toy with you. Maybe you were dreaming about taking the toy back, and maybe you were dreaming of some game you used to play when you were little…cops and robbers, or something, and it got mixed up in your dream…and you sleepwalked and acted it out…"

Judy was rambling, trying to make sense of it.

"But then where did the stun gun come from?" asked Nana. "I don't own any weapons."

"Oh…right," said Judy.

Nana didn't own a stun gun. In fact, Judy was sure she could count on one paw the amount of folks who owned any sort of weapon in Bunny Burrow. To her, that was a clear sign that Nana had not committed the crime; someone had to have given her the weapon, and then taken it, along with the money. But who?

She felt like she hit a dead end.

"Honey," said Nana, suddenly remembering something. "I…I think there's something I didn't tell the Sheriff. The money and the stun gun in the tape, they are nowhere to be found…"

"He told me," said Judy.

"And neither is the baby chick doll."

Judy stopped and stared in silence for a while.

"The plush toy is gone?"

"It was on the table at my house last time I saw it. But it wasn't there when the sheriff came."

"It was in your car in the tape, you took it to the bank…but you didn't take it back to Woollace afterwards, did you?"

"No, they would have said so if I had."

"So wait…in the tape, you take the baby chick plushie into the bank, set it on the counter, then take it in your car…and suddenly the money, taser and plushie all disappear?"

They didn't know what to make of it.

"Nana, please concentrate and think hard. Did anyone from outside Bunny Burrow talk to you recently?"

"No."

"Nobody? Like any strangers who talked to you, say…at the county fair?"

"No…wait…yes."

Nana Bernardine suddenly remembered.

"Yes, there was this kind lady with lots of makeup. I think she was a fortune teller or a magician."

"Madame Mystique."

"Yes, that rings a bell. And the owner of the dart booth where Woollace won the plush toy."

"Old Todd."

"Yes, that's it. But…does that have something to do?"

"It might," said Judy, taking Nana's paws in hers comfortingly. "Listen, Nana, can you keep a secret?"

"Of course, dear."

"Okay. My partner and I have a hunch, and that's all it is for now, a hunch. We think you might have been put in a trance. Hypnotised. And whoever did that to you, made you rob the bank in your sleep. It's the only explanation I can find."

"Hypnotised?"

"Yes. I know it sounds farfetched, but if you think about the circumstances, well…it's a possibility."

"Put in a trance. But…by whom?"

Just then, the door opened and Barkins walked in.

"Sorry, Hopps, that's it for now," he said sadly.

"Okay," said Judy, then turned to Nana Bernardine. "Don't worry, Nana. We'll crack this case. I promise."

Nana Bernardine smiled for the first time since the whole incident started.

"I know you'll get to the bottom of this, sweetheart," she said as Judy walked out of the room. "Say hello to your partner for me."

While this was happening, Nick was keeping an eye on Madame Mystique at the carnival. He walked past her tent and said hello, then cautiously watched her from afar. Once she had her audience and moved into her tent to perform her routine, Nick walked closer and peeked in from outside.

Everything went the way it should. Nothing strange.

There was a small audience of mostly children and a scholarly-looking wolf inside the tent. Madame Mystique did her hypnotic trick on the wolf and made him do silly things for the kids to laugh.

Then Nick felt it again. A ringing in his ears, like a distant kettle whistling. The last time he felt it was after he walked out of Madame Mystique's tent. After he had done the juggling act.

The act was over and Nick cautiously walked away and acted natural. Nobody noticed anything out of the ordinary, all the kids were happily chattering as they exited the tent.

But Nick's ears were still ringing.

"Officer Wilde!" said a voice not far away.

Nick turned his head and saw a group of familiar faces. It was the Otterton family.

"Good morning, Officer Wilde!" said the Otterton boys.

"Good morning!" said Nick with a cordial salute. "Enjoying the fair?"

"We most certainly are!" said Mrs. Otterton.

"Say hello to Officer Hopps for us!" said Mr Emmitt Otterton.

"Will do!" said Nick. "Y'all have a good time!"

The two Otterton children waved and Nick waved back, watching as the happy family blended in with the crowd.

It was then that Nick noticed his ears weren't ringing. And he also noticed something else. He was standing next to a tent with a small circular hole in it. And a loud jolly voice could be heard coming from the tent.

"Step right up, folks! Everybody's a winner at Old Todd's Game Gallery!"

"Well, I'll be giraffe's walking stick," said Nick to himself. "Look who decided to set up shop here."

Nick peered through the hole in the tent and saw exactly what he had seen at the Bunny Burrow fair. Old Todd the boar was running his game booth as usual, and his trotter would flick a switch from time to time to turn on an electromagnet behind the targets. And the winners would take away cute-looking fluffy baby chick plush dolls.

"And I still can't imagine why he'd cheat to make the customers win," Nick said to himself.

Nick looked a little closer at the electromagnet behind the dart board and suddenly saw it move. It moved off centre, and the customer who was throwing darts missed the target entirely.

"Or lose…"

Nick watched Old Todd's trotter closely and saw that the switch under his counter moved in two directions. When he pushed it right, the customer won. When he pushed it left, the magnet moved off centre and the customer missed.

"The plot gets thicker," thought Nick. "So that's why Judy missed her shots. The magnet made her miss."

He looked back at Madame Mystique's tent. She was ushering people in and doing her routine, same as before.

"That's two suspicious things at the same carnival," thought Nick. "Is there any connection? Detective Wilde is on the case."

And Nick's ears were ringing again.

Judy had very little to eat during the day, so her appetite was excellent when the Hopps family sat down for supper that evening. There was nothing like a homemade meal to lift her spirits and fill her with hope and energy after a long day. She had spent the day going back and forth between the bank and Nana Bernardine's house, trying to find anything suspicious, any clue that could lead her on the right track. She had asked the neighbours if they had seen anything out of the ordinary. They hadn't.

"So, sweetheart," said Bonnie after the table had been cleared, bringing a mug of warm tea for Judy. "Did you find anything?"

"I'm afraid not," said Judy, sipping some tea. "But I think I have an idea, which is just an idea at this point, but might turn into something."

"Anything that could help would be welcome," said Stu.

"Nick and I have a working theory," said Judy. "One that's still in progress. We think someone made Nana Bernardine commit the crime."

"You mean someone was with her and forced her to rob the bank?" asked Bonnie.

"More or less," said Judy.

"But she'd remember, wouldn't she?"

"Yes, and there's the snag," said Judy. "And that's where Nick suggested that maybe she wasn't awake when she robbed the bank."

"Not awake?" asked Stu. "What do you mean?"

"Maybe, she was sleepwalking," said Judy. "And maybe the person with her used a hypnotic trick to make her rob the bank."

Stu and Bonnie went quiet and looked doubtful.

"It would explain how she doesn't remember anything," said Stu. "She took a nap, woke up surrounded by deputies, no memory of the crime."

"But to do everything while being asleep?" asked Bonnie. "A little farfetched, isn't it?"

"Stranger things have happened," said Judy as she took a sip of tea.

The three sat in silence thinking about it. Something was dodgy about this whole affair. Judy felt that the essential missing piece of the puzzle was somewhere between the missing money and whether or not there was someone else in the car with Nana Bernardine on that day.

The late train arrived a few minutes before midnight. Nick was standing on the platform at Central Station, watching the passengers descend.

Suddenly, he felt someone hug him tight from behind, someone small and fuzzy and warm.

"Hey you!" said Judy as she surprise-hugged Nick.

"Wha…I didn't see you get off the train," said Nick.

"I must be getting better, then," said Judy as Nick turned around and hugged her tight.

"Sly bunny," said Nick playfully.

"I learnt from the best," said Judy, planting a playful kiss on the underside of his muzzle.

They walked paw-in-paw to the escalator. There were few people around, some cafés and refreshment stands were still open.

"Come on, Carrots, I'll buy you a drink and we can talk about your trip," said Nick.

Judy accepted happily.

Meanwhile, sitting on a park bench not far from them, a panda lady was drinking tea from a thermos and seemingly waiting for someone. She didn't wait long. Someone sat down beside her, an old grizzled boar wearing a hat low over his face.

"Well?" said the panda lady.

"It worked," said the boar. "We're about to hit the jackpot."

"We have to do this carefully," said the panda. "One thing is pulling it off in a backwater town with three cops per square mile. This is a big city."

"Exactly," said the boar. "It'll be easier to hide."

"Maybe," said the panda.

"Nobody will suspect," said the boar. "We'll be gone in two weeks, cops will have their perps, case closed. Clean as a whistle."

"Maybe," said the panda. "Just don't get careless. I still think it's too early to try and hit a big target."

"Come on, Madame M, where's your spirit of adventure?" said the boar.

"Sitting right next to my spirit of caution," said the panda.

"High rewards demand high stakes," said the boar.

She said nothing, just got up and walked away.

"I can prove it," said the boar. "A test. Tomorrow night. Just to show you it'll be perfect."

The panda stopped. She turned around and looked hard at the boar.

"Alright," she said finally. "Just to make sure."

"You won't regret it," said the boar.

With those words, they both walked away in opposite directions and disappeared into the night.

Judy was telling Nick all about her trip and her encounter with Nana Bernardine as they sat at a late-night café near Central Station. The more they discussed the facts, the less sense they made.

"It doesn't add up," said Nick. "If Nana Bernardine had known you all your life, and everyone else in Bunny Burrow all her life, and everyone in a small town does know everyone else…why would she rob a bank in her own backyard?"

"Exactly," said Judy. "Everybody in that bank knew who she was, and had known her for years. She didn't bother to wear a mask or anything. And then she just goes back home to bed like nothing happened."

"It definitely sounds like she's taking the blame for someone else's crime."

"And what backs that theory is the money. Where'd it go?"

Judy told him about the missing money and how the Bunny Burrow officers had searched high and low and had not found it.

"And they searched the house?" asked Nick.

"Up and down, inside-out, and nothing," said Judy.

"The money had to be somewhere, unless…"

"Unless it wasn't for her," said Judy.

"Exactly," said Nick. "If someone was giving her orders..."

"…then that someone must have ran off with the cash," said Judy.

"Yes, but who is that mysteriously elusive someone?"

"It had to be someone outside of Bunny Burrow…someone who was there for a spell and then moved on."

"Someone like a travelling performer?" said Nick.

"Yes!" said Judy. "And it fits perfectly with the county fair."

Then they both remembered Madame Mystique.

"I kept an eye on her," said Nick. "She goes through her routine at every show. On the surface, she just looks like a regular travelling performer. I can't see how she could have placed Nana Bernardine under her spell if she was hundreds of miles away. Maybe she called her on the phone?"

"Nana Bernardine doesn't own a mobile phone," said Judy. "She's old-fashioned and uses a regular landline telephone."

"Okay, scratch that," said Nick. "But, did she have a phone on her when she walked into the bank? Let's see the surveillance tape again."

Judy had saved the video of the bank surveillance camera on her phone so she could show Nick. She took her phone out and played the video once more. They both watched carefully.

"She doesn't have one on her," said Judy. "Maybe whoever was in the car with her put her in a trance…if there was someone in the car with her…"

"Wait…what's that?" said Nick.

"What?"

"Rewind it a bit, I think I saw something."

Judy restarted the video and Nick looked carefully at each frame.

"There! When she walks into the bank…is that a plush toy?"

Judy suddenly remembered the baby chick plush toy.

"Oh yes, Nana Bernardine said that Woollace, the lamb she was babysitting, left it at her house."

"It's the same as yours," said Nick, looking carefully.

"Yes, it is," said Judy. "You won it for me at the fair."

"From Old Todd's Game Gallery," said Nick.

He fell silent and looked into empty space. Judy wondered what was on his mind.

"Penny for your thoughts," said Judy after a while.

"It may be nothing," said Nick. "And it may be something. Remember Old Todd's dart game at the fair?"

"Aha."

"And remember you missed your shots?"

"Yes."

"Well…I forgot to tell you before, it seemed like something trivial. But Old Todd's game is rigged."

Nick explained to Judy all about the magnet behind the dart boards and how Old Todd flipped a switch to make some customers win and others miss on purpose.

"But…why would he rig the game to make some customers win?"

"I'm still working on that one," said Nick. "But it is suspicious, isn't it?"

Judy nodded, thinking about what Nick had told her.

"I'd really like to get a closer look at that dart booth," said Judy.

"And that magic show," said Nick.

"But we don't have enough here for a warrant."

"Not yet," said Nick. "But I have a feeling we're onto something."

He looked at his watch and saw that it was 1:00 AM.

"C'mon, Carrots, you need to get some sleep. I'll walk you home."

The carnival was in full-blown furore on Friday afternoon. The lines were long, the rides were packed, popcorn and cotton candy got sold almost as fast as it was made and the joy was palpable.

Nick and Judy came walking along opposite ends of the same aisle and met in the middle, right behind Old Todd's Game Gallery.

"Sure you wanna do this, Carrots?"

"Sure I'm sure," said Judy, looking around. "Just a quick look."

"Okay," said Nick, peeking in through the hole in Old Todd's tent. "As soon as he turns his back…now!"

With his foot, Nick lifted the tent just enough for Judy to sneak under. Quick as a rabbit, she disappeared under the gap and Nick stood there, acting natural and keeping an eye out for Madame Mystique. They agreed he'd give her the signal when Madame Mystique's show was about to start.

Judy crouched behind some boxes of prizes and watched carefully from the gap between two boxes. Old Todd chatted cheerfully with his customers as they threw their darts. She watched closely as Old Todd switched the magnet on, made it move to the left, or turned it off.

"Which customers win? And which customers lose?" wondered Judy as she watched closely.

A small poodle child and his father played and won, a horse played and lost…sheep lost…wolf won…dingo won…moose lost…coyote girl won…elk lost…

"I think I'm starting to see a pattern," Judy thought to herself.

"Boy, I suddenly have a craving for a nice, juicy carrot right now," said the voice of Nick from the other side of the tent. That was their signal.

Judy was about to move, when suddenly…Old Todd turned around and came towards the boxes.

"I've got a special prize for you in the back, son!" he said to an excited little wild dog child who had won. "A cute little baby chick that chirps when you tickle its tummy! The grand prize!"

Judy flattened herself behind the boxes, hoping he wouldn't notice. Nick could see from the hole and acted immediately.

"Now, where did I put those fluffy chicks…" mussed Old Todd as he moved closer to Judy's hiding place…just a few feet and she'd be discovered…one foot away…

"Hey! Is that you, Old Todd?!" said a loud, jolly voice from the front of the booth.

"Huh?" said Old Todd, looking behind.

It was Nick! He ran to the front of the booth and greeted Old Todd jovially as if they were long-time friends.

"I remember you! You were at the county fair in Bunny Burrow! I won a prize for my lady friend from your booth, remember?"

"Oh! Hey there! I remember you too!"

Old Todd turned around. That gave Judy a chance to scurry out of the tent. Quick as a flash she escaped the tent, just as Old Todd turned around again to fish for the prize in one of the boxes.

"I'll be right with you! Just as soon as I give the winner o'er there his prize!"

Old Todd walked to the front of his booth with a baby chick plushie and gave it to the wild dog child.

"Wow! Thanks, mister!"

"Come back anytime, son! Everybody's a winner at Old Todd's."

Then the boar turned to Nick.

"Say, you were the gent that won at the Bunny Burrow fair with three perfect bull's-eyes."

"That's me," said Nick.

"Say….you're a cop…er, police officer?"

"Yes indeed, ten months on the force," said Nick. "Say, you don't mind if I have another shot at the darts, do you? Just to make sure I didn't lose my touch."

"Why of course not, Officer! Go right ahead! This round is on the house!"

"Much obliged," said Nick, taking three darts in his paw.

Judy, behind the tent, stood on tiptoe and watched through the hole as Nick got ready to throw his darts. Old Todd secretly flipped the switch to the left, making the magnet move away from the centre. Nick threw his first dart and missed, landing it on the board next to the target.

"Hmm…must be getting rusty."

"The first pitch is always the practice one, Officer! Go on, show us your mettle!"

Nick threw the second one a little off centre, and it landed on the second ring outside the bull's-eye area. Judy noticed Old Todd's face twitch.

"Well, whaddaya know? You're right!" said Nick cheerfully. "This next one is gonna hit dead-centre."

Nick threw his dart towards the right-side of the board, purposefully throwing it off target. Then, as if magically, the dart moved towards the target and hit right in the middle of the bull's-eye.

"Aha! There you go!"

"Amazing, Officer!" said Old Todd, but there was a nervousness in his voice.

"Well, that was fun," said Nick, "but I gotta run! Be seeing you around, Todd!"

"Have a nice day, Officer! Come back anytime, everybody's a winner here!"

Nick walked away and turned at the corner of Todd's tent, then turned again at the back, where Judy was standing acting natural.

"Sly fox," said Judy.

"That was a close one," said Nick. "Care for a walk?"

"Sure do."

They walked away from Old Todd's booth, looking around them and greeting familiar faces.

"Did you see anything strange?" asked Nick.

"Well, he wanted to make you lose this time," said Judy. "Could it be because he saw you in uniform?"

"Could be," said Nick. "He seemed pretty surprised."

"If he's doing anything dodgy, I'm sure he doesn't want a cop catching whiff of it."

"Did you notice anything about the customers?"

"Yes," said Judy. "The winners…they were all canines."

"I have another hunch, but I gotta test it first," said Nick. "As soon as Madame Mystique has her next show, we'll see if I'm right."

They waited for Madame Mystique's next show to start as they stood close to the refreshment stands. All sorts of treats were available: popcorn, cotton candy, candied apples, ice cream sticks…

"Kinda makes me wanna sell a few Pawpsicles," said Nick with a mischievous look.

"Your Pawpsicle-selling days are over, mister," said Judy, fake-punching him on the arm.

"Alas," said Nick, fake-longingly.

Finally, Madame Mystique walked into her tent when she had enough people in her audience to start her show. Judy approached and walked into the tent, sitting in the back row.

"And now, my dears, the wonders of magic and mystery…"

Her show went on as usual. Then, at the end, she chose a coyote girl from the audience, the same Judy had seen at Old Todd's booth. She was holding her fluffy baby chick plush toy.

"And now, my dear, look closely at this watch…"

The coyote girl seemed to go into a trance and was soon singing a lovely song as if she were an opera singer all her life. Then she sung Gazelle's latest hits perfectly while dancing exactly like her favourite pop-star.

"Clawhauser could do that without being hypnotised," thought Judy and smiled to herself.

"Now, my dear, you will wake up and hear applause. One…two…three…!"

The coyote girl snapped out of it and looked confused. Then everybody applauded, Judy whistled and stood up on her chair. The coyote girl smiled and bowed for the audience. She was still confused, but she played along.

As the audience walked out of the tent, Judy felt a paw on her shoulder. She turned around to see Madame Mystique towering over her, smiling with a face caked with makeup.

"Why, hello there, my dear," said Madame Mystique. "I remember you from the Bunny Burrow fair."

"Why yes!" said Judy, making use of her acting skills. "I loved your show and just had to see it again."

"You're welcome anytime you want, dear," said Madame Mystique. "The wonders of the forces of mystery beckon to us from all corners."

"That they do," said Judy, walking to the entrance. "Well, back to work I go."

As she walked out of the tent and walked around it, she saw Nick rubbing his ears and frowning.

"Nick, I think I have something….um, are you okay?"

"My ears are ringing," said Nick. "It's happened twice before, whenever I'm around this tent. Come on, let's find a shady place to talk."

Judy and Nick sat down comparing notes under a shady tree in the parking lot. Their shift was almost over and the second shift officers were coming in little by little.

"How're your ears?" asked Judy.

"Fine now," said Nick.

"When did you start feeling this?"

"Right after Madame Mystique did her hocus-pocus on me for the first time, then every time I walk around her tent," said Nick.

"That could be a clue," said Judy. "We have to keep that in mind."

"So, did you notice anything strange?"

"She hypnotised that coyote girl," said Judy, "the same one who was at Old Todd's booth."

"Do you think there's a connection?" asked Nick.

"The baby chick dolls," said Judy. "Woollace was with Nana Bernardine at the Bunny Burrow fair, and Woollace won a baby chick doll, and Madame Mystique hypnotised her…and two days later she committed the crime."

"Do you think the baby chick dolls are a code of some kind?" asked Nick.

"They might be," said Judy. "We have to keep an eye out for that coyote girl."

"And the other winners at Old Todd's booth," said Nick.

Their shift was over. Nick and Judy climbed into their squad car and Judy drove back towards the city.

"So, little lady," said Nick, his tone now suave. "Tomorrow is the day."

"Yes…it is," said Judy, feeling a little flutter in her chest.

"I have a surprise for you," said Nick. "But I'll just let you in on this: the dress-code is formal."

"Formal? Mm…oh, Mr Wilde, what are you up to?"

"You'll find out…tomorrow night."

It was 2:00 PM when Judy's phone rang. She saw that it was Fru Fru.

"Hiii honey!" said the voice of her friend. "Mr Manchas is outside, we're all waiting for you."

"I'll be right down," said Judy excitedly.

She descended the stairs three steps at a time and walked outside. A pristine white limousine was parked in front of Grand Pangolin Arms, and a familiar face stood before the passenger door: Mr Manchas, the jaguar she and Nick had helped cure from the night howler serum ten months ago.

"Miss Hopps," said Mr Manchas with a kind smile, bowing and opening the door for her.

"Get in, honey!" said the jolly voice of Fru Fru as Judy got into the limo. "Your beauty trip starts now! Would you like a drink?"

"Sure," said Judy. "Club soda is fine."

Marcel, the polar bear, poured Judy a glass of club soda as Mr Manchas started the car.

"Thank you."

"Had a busy week, Judy?" asked Fru Fru as she sat on the armrest beside Judy.

"Yes, it was hectic," said Judy. "I had to go to my hometown and come back in the same day, and three days of carnival patrol. But I was really looking forward to today."

"We'll have so much fun, Judy. First we're going to get your dress, then we'll choose a fragrance, then to the salon and I'll introduce you to Stacey, she does wonders…"

Judy had never had so much fun shopping before. The stores in the city were chock-full of all sorts of things and Fru Fru knew them all, and everyone seemed to know Fru Fru and Judy, and they were all cheery and kind and very helpful.

They met several of Fru Fru's friends who were thrilled to meet the one and only Judy Hopps in person, the heroic bunny police officer who had cracked the night howler case ten months ago and had saved Zootopia from disaster.

She tried on dresses by the dozen, each more lovely than the previous. They settled for a beautiful purple satin dress that sparkled in the light and looked absolutely fabulous.

"It brings out the colour of your eyes, honey," said Fru Fru delightedly as she admired her friend in the mirror.

Perfumes, purses, lingerie, jewellery, all sorts of lovely feminine delights paraded like a blur before Judy's eyes. And for everything, Fru Fru paid. She wouldn't hear a word of it when Judy bashfully offered to pay for an expensive perfume.

"It's my treat, honey," said Fru Fru with her face full of adoration towards Judy. "You've done so much for me and for our city, you deserve all the love in this world."

Judy didn't know what to say. She wished she could become Fru Fru's size just so she could give her a warm, heartfelt hug.

Fru Fru saw it in her face and walked to the edge of Marcel's paws, opening her arms. Judy nuzzled her friend's cheek ever so gently as Fru Fru hugged her cheek as best she could.

"Thank you…" were the only words Judy could manage to say with her voice shaken by emotion.

Judy felt nervous as she rode in the limousine all dolled up and perfumed with her beautiful satin evening dress and holding a lovely purple purse. The city looked different tonight. The lights were soft, the air was still…she felt her heart thumping as Mr Manchas drove up a lavishly decorated driveway lined with baby palm trees and brought the limo to a stop in front of a beautiful entrance.

"How…how do I look?" quavered Judy.

"Like a princess going to her first ball, honey," said Fru Fru.

"I…I've never done anything like this before…" said Judy. "Truth be said…nothing really prepares you for the moment…"

"Oh honey, you'll have so much fun," said Fru Fru. "Just think about that. You and your prince charming are going to enjoy every bit of the evening together, it will be the most magical evening of all."

"O-Okay…" said Judy, taking a deep breath. "Yes…we're going to enjoy our evening."

"Oh, and Judy, just one more thing," said Fru Fru. "Marcel?"

The polar bear nodded and took from his suit pocket a small box, opened it and Judy looked in awe at what was inside.

It was a beautiful necklace with a shiny purple gemstone, glimmering radiantly in the light.

"A little gift from daddy," said Fru Fru as Marcel took the necklace in his claws and very gently placed it around Judy's neck, fastening it securely. "Now you're all set to shine. Manchas will drive us home and then come back to drive you two lovebirds anywhere you wish. He's all yours for the evening."

"Oh, Fru Fru, I can't…it's so…you've done so much for me today…"

"It was my pleasure, dear," said Fru Fru. "Now go on and charm that handsome fox of yours and have the best evening of your life."

Judy felt overcome with gratitude. She kissed Fru Fru's cheek and thanked her as Mr Manchas opened the door for her and offered his paw.

"Have fun, Judy!" said Fru Fru as Judy stepped out of the limo.

Judy's eyes immediately caught sight of a familiar face. But what a difference!

Nicholas Wilde, smiling gallantly as he approached, dressed in impeccable tuxedo, bowtie and all. He took her paw and kissed it gently, his eyes fixed on her astonished gaze.

"Good evening, my fair lady," said Nick. "You look absolutely breath-taking tonight."

Judy's voice could not find its way out. She was so overwhelmed that all she could do was smile and gaze. Nick offered his arm and she took it, walking with him towards the entrance of the elegant building. Golden letters above the doorway read 'Maison du Bison.'

As Judy walked into the entrance lobby of the Maison du Bison, holding onto Nick's arm snugly, she could not believe her eyes. The chandeliers seemed to rain hundreds of droplets of crystallised light, the carpets were immaculate, and the wallpaper was pristine.

"Oh, Nick," she whispered enthralled. "This is beautiful."

"Good evening, mademoiselle. Monsieur," the butler greeted them. "This way, please."

The butler led them to the elevator, where the porter opened the door for them and greeted them warmly. The elevator was decorated with marble and the back wall was made of glass. They could see all of Zootopia as they went higher and higher up the building. The lights of the city shone in Judy's eyes as she gazed upon them.

"Nick…how…how did you manage to…" her voice broke with emotion as she admired the beauty of the city from the elevator.

"For you, my dear," said Nick in a romantic tone, "I would do it all again, from the very beginning…knowing that you would be there."

His words were balsam. They made Judy hug his arm a little tighter as they admired the view together.

The elevator stopped at the top floor. The porter opened the door for them and tipped his hat.

"Good evening, Mademoiselle Hopps, Monsieur Wilde. This way, please," said the maître, an elegantly-dressed otter, as he showed them to their table.

The walls were all made of glass, so they could see the entire city and the land beyond as far as could be seen. Judy wished she had four more eyes to see everything around her.

Nick pulled a chair back for Judy, and she gracefully sat, admiring the beautifully laid table, listening to the soft music being played on a stage by an orchestra at the far end, and taking in the whole thing with joy in her heart.

"Nick…I never imagined…never in my life…I'd be sitting in a place like this."

"Dreams come true, my love," said Nick as he sat, putting his paws on the table. "You taught me that lesson, and I have held it dear ever since."

Judy put her paws on his, caressing them softly.

"If anyone had told me a year ago…I never would have believed it."

Nick gently lifted one of her paws and kissed it softly, looking into her purple eyes.

"Believe it now?"

Judy blushed and felt her chest flutter with joy.

"Yes."

While this was happening, a van appeared across the street from the Maison du Bison, and drove past, turning left into an alleyway between the beauty salon and the antique shop. It was a brown van with the words "Granny Mae's Flower Boutique" painted on the side.

"All set?" asked a gruff voice behind the wheel.

"Yes," responded a garbled voice through a radio transmitter. "Just as soon as everyone is in position. Do you have visual contact with our helpers?"

"Yup," said the gruff voice of the driver. "All three are ready and in position. We've got a few more minutes before the next patrol car drives by, then it's show time."

"You do understand what to do if things go awry."

"Keep calm, roll on," said the driver's voice. "There's no way they can suspect. Our helpers will take the hit, will remember nothing and will say nothing."

"Good. Let me know as soon as the cops roll around the block, and then we'll get started."

"Roger that," said the driver, opening the glove compartment and pulling out a fluffy baby chick plush doll. "Over and out."

The evening was magical. Everything was delicious and intricately prepared to absolute perfection. The conversation was pleasant and Nick was so handsome and charming, Judy felt like the past week had all been a dream and that she was somehow in paradise for a night.

"Our finest sparkling wine. On the house," said the waiter as he poured them each a glass of sparkling wine.

Their gazes met over their glasses of bubbling wine. Judy lifted her glass a little. Nick did the same.

"To my dear Nick," she said.

"And to the many years of joy ahead of us," said Nick.

"Salute."

Their glasses clinked pleasantly, and Judy savoured the bubbling, delicious fruited flavour of the fine drink.

Suddenly, the orchestra began playing a lovely, soft tune. The violinist let out the most enchanting chords, accompanied by subtle piano notes. Everyone went quiet. Nick stood up and walked to Judy's side.

"Dear lady, may I have the honour of this dance?" he said gallantly, offering his paw.

Judy felt like she was walking on air as she took his paw and he led her to the dancing floor in the middle of the room. As Nick placed one paw around her waist and held her other paw warmly, all the while gazing into her eyes, a beautiful voice began singing a song. Judy saw a lovely mouse girl singing sweetly as the orchestra accompanied her voice with such musical perfection that it felt like the angels themselves had descended from the heavens to soothe their hearts with their song.

"Dream by night, wish by day, love begins this way,

Loving starts when open hearts, touch and stay…"

The voice was bewitching, her words enchanting, but even more enchanting was the gaze of her handsome fox as they swayed to the rhythm of the song, dancing elegantly in front of an enraptured audience.

"Nick…" Judy choked out, overcome with emotion. "This is the most wonderful night of my life."

She could say no more. Her head leaned against his chest as they swayed, wishing this lovely evening could last forever.

As the music ended, everybody applauded and congratulated the lovely young couple for their marvellous dance. The people felt it was a fine example of how love could bring together everyone, no matter what kind.

Judy and Nick bowed elegantly before the audience. Several familiar faces smiled happily seeing the two so beautifully decorating the night with their affection.

And it was then…that Judy caught something out of the corner of her eye.

Three individuals walked into the maison…with street clothes. A poodle, a dingo and a coyote girl.

"Good evening, y'all!" said the poodle loudly. Everyone looked around, rather startled. "Hope you're all having a wonderful time! Now let's all make it even more wonderful by putting all your valuables in this bag…"

He produced a coarse brown bag from his coat.

"Monsieur," said the maître, walking towards them. "You cannot walk in here like that…"

"Or you'll what, son?" said the poodle, whipping out a taser.

Everyone gasped. The dingo and the coyote girl whipped out tasers too, pointing them menacingly at the people.

"Please, no violence," said a young raccoon waiter.

"Get back there, boy!" said the poodle, kicking waiter in the midsection.

Judy and Nick looked sideways at each other and nodded. Quietly, they walked in opposite directions, Judy picking up a cheesecloth along the way and Nick picking an unopened bottle of champagne.

"C'mon, everyone! We ain't got all night!" shouted the poodle, pointing his taser around at the patrons. "I'll zap one of you on the count of ten if y'all don't cooperate! One! Two! Three!"

Then out of nowhere, a rustling sound and a whoosh, and Judy leaped into the air with the cheesecloth in her paws, and threw it at the coyote girl's face.

"Huh?"

The coyote girl was distracted, giving Judy the chance to disarm her and sweep her off her feet with a leg swipe. The coyote girl fell to the floor and Judy quickly used the cheese cloth to tie her wrists together and her ankles to her wrists.

While this happened, Nick popped his head out from behind a table, aiming the champagne bottle at the dingo.

"Oy!"

The dingo looked in his direction just as a loud POP sounded and the cork came flying at him. The cork landed right between the eyes, knocking him down.

Judy and Nick ran to each other's side, and confronted the poodle. Cornered, the poodle aimed his taser at them, not knowing who would strike first.

"Don't move! I'll zap you! I swear," said the poodle.

"Put the weapon on the floor and turn around, on your knees, your paws on your head," said Nick, taking his wallet out and flashing his badge. "Police! You are under arrest for attempted robbery, assault and disturbance of the peace."

"You'll take me in for murder before the night is over!" said the poodle, aiming his taser squarely at Nick and bracing himself to shoot.

But before he could squeeze the trigger, a heavy cheeseboard flew across the room and struck the poodle on the side of the head. The impact knocked the poodle out cold. Nick looked to his right and saw a familiar face.

"Thanks, Flash! I owe you one!"

"Any…time.…Nick."

Judy turned to see the smiling face of Flash Slothmore giving Nick the thumbs-up.

"Sorry for the disturbance, everyone," said Judy. "Everything is under control."

The entire room applauded. Judy and Nick looked at each other and couldn't help smiling.

In the lobby of the Maison du Bison, Chief Bogo was taking a statement from the owner of the establishment as Judy and Nick sat on a sofa waiting. The perpetrators, all three of the unconscious, were taken to the precinct.

"And if it hadn't been for your two courageous officers, Monsieur Chief, our guests would have been robbed of their valuables."

"Thank you, Mister Bison. We'll handle it from here."

Mister Bison walked towards Nick and Judy, who stood up as he approached.

"Mademoiselle Hopps, Monsieur Wilde, I cannot put into words how grateful we are for your gallantry," he said, giving them both two kisses each on their cheeks. "We are in your debt. You are welcome here whenever you wish! Guests of honour!"

"Just doing our job, Monsieur Bison," said Judy.

"Serve and protect, that's what we do," said Nick.

As Mister Bison walked away to attend to other matters, a voice came from across the lobby.

"Chief Bogo," said Officer McHorn. "Should we bag this as evidence?"

Judy and Nick looked and saw a baby chick plush toy sitting atop one of the coffee tables.

"Nick, look!" said Judy.

Then suddenly, the baby chick began chirping.

"Bag that thing and make it stop that annoying chirping, McHorn!" said Bogo.

"Yes, sir!"

Judy turned to Nick to say something, but…

"Nick?!"

She saw him on the floor, on his knees, holding his ears with his paws, his face contorted seemingly with pain.

"ARRRH!"

"Nick, are you alright?" gasped Judy.

"AARRGG…MY EARS!"

As McHorn bagged the plush toy and walked out of the room, Nick suddenly stopped writhing. Judy helped him up and saw that he had a dazed expression on his face.

"Nick, are you alright, sweetheart?"

"I…I don't know," said Nick, seemingly confused. "Suddenly, my ears were ringing and…I heard someone…talking…"

"Hopps! Wilde!" called Bogo.

"Chief Bogo," said Judy, turning to him. "I think I should get Nick back home. Like…now."

"Home? But you two…"

"…might have had a few more drinks than we intended," said Judy, hoping she sounded convincing.

Bogo opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He just sighed and nodded.

"Alright. Go home and get some sleep, you two," said Bogo. "Report on my desk, Monday morning."

As Mr Manchas drove Judy and Nick home, they sat in the limo, holding paws and talking about the earlier events.

"Remember at the fair? You said your ears were ringing when you were close to Madame Mystique's tent."

"Yes, but she was nowhere near tonight," said Nick. "At least, we didn't see her anywhere."

"No," said Judy. "But I'm pretty sure she or whoever the hypnotist is was behind this. Did you notice how all three perps were out cold?"

"Yes," said Nick.

"Yet only two of them were knocked out," said Judy. "That coyote girl, I tied her up but she was awake when I did so. And shortly after Bogo and the rest arrive, she was sleeping like she'd been knocked out."

"Weird," said Nick. "Like someone put her in trance from afar…"

"I'll bet you anything that the perpetrators will remember nothing when brought in for questioning," said Judy. "It's just like the Bunny Burrow bank robbery, and I think at this point it's safe to say our prime suspects are Madame Mystique and Old Todd. The ringing in your ears, the baby chick plush toy…there's a connection there, I just know it."

They paused for a moment, thinking about it.

"Now, how are we gonna convince Bogo to look into those two?" said Nick.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," said Judy.

Mr Manchas stopped the limousine in front of Grand Pangolin Arms.

Judy and Nick walked down the hallway and stopped in front of her apartment. A welcoming mat with carrot motifs greeted them as they stood there in front of the door.

"Well, this was certainly a night long to be remembered," said Judy brightly.

She noticed Nick didn't have his usual expression. He looked somewhat glum.

"Nick?" said Judy. "Sweetheart, what's the matter?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just…well, I'm sorry our date was disrupted," said Nick.

"Are you kidding? It was great!" said Judy. "Heehee, any date in which we get to kick some tail and arrest some baddies is beyond awesome. We're unstoppable, you and I."

He smiled slightly, though he still felt it could have gone better.

"Hey," said Judy comfortingly, looking up into his eyes. "It was you and me. Together. There is no better way to be."

She placed both her warm paws on his chest.

"I had a wonderful time, Nick, and it was the most magical night I've ever had. And I would do it all over again, every bit of it, sweetheart, knowing that you would be there for me."

Nick felt cheered up by her kind words. He smiled and gazed into her lovely eyes.

"Remember what I told you the other day?" said Judy, her eyes gazing into his, her paws sliding up to his shoulders.

"Aha," said Nick.

"Well, your fuzzy little butt will be safe with me, honey bun," said Judy. "It was a wonderful night and everything was beautiful. So…here's a little something to make the night just perfect."

Without warning, Judy hugged Nick around the neck and stood on tiptoe, pulling him close to her. Then, closing her eyes, she pressed her lips to his, and kissed him passionately.

Nick was surprised, but only for a second. He enveloped his beloved bunny warmly in his arms and wrapped his fluffy tail around her, lifting her off her feet. Their lips entwined and danced to the symphony of their hearts' love. Their paws caressed each other as they kissed, enjoying every sensation to its fullest, wishing time could stop at that moment.

After a long while, they pulled back from their kiss, their eyes opened and their gazes fixed upon each other. They both had tears of joy in their eyes, their hearts fluttered, they felt warm and happy.

"Well, mister," said Judy. "I think we should call it a night."

"Yes," said Nick, placing her gently back on her feet. "Tomorrow is another day."

"I'm looking forward to our next date," cooed Judy, playing with his bowtie.

"Next Saturday, then?" said Nick on the spot.

"That's a D and an E and an 'efinitely," said Judy musically.

Nick opened the door for her. Judy stood in the doorway for a moment, admiring her handsome fox.

"I'll see you in my dreams, carrot muffin," said Judy sweetly.

"That you shall, my fair lady," said Nick with a warm smile.

One last playful kiss, and Nick turned and walked down the hallway, feeling like singing out loud and skipping all the way.

Judy giggled as Nick disappeared around the corner, and closed her door.

Chief Bogo stood with his arms crossed outside of the interrogation room window. Judy and Nick stood beside him, listening to the police counsellor, a bat lady named Opal, speaking to the coyote girl who had been at the Maison du Bison attempted robbery.

"But I'm telling you, I've never been to the upper-class district in my life," said the coyote girl. "I don't know how I got there. Suddenly I was in a squad car and cops were all around."

"But surely you remember something, dear," said the counsellor. "What is the last thing you remember?"

"I brushed my teeth and went to bed," said the coyote girl with tears streaming down her cheeks. "And that's the last thing I did before I was brought here."

As the coyote girl was escorted out of the room, Bogo and the counsellor spoke.

"Same circumstances," said the counsellor, perching herself on Bogo's ample shoulder. "This makes no sense, Chief. All three of them swear up and down they never left their bed. They're all telling the truth, their heart-rate did not skip a beat during the questioning, no hesitation, no sweating or trembling paws. None of them can remember anything."

Bogo let out a long sigh, which was usually a sign that he was annoyed or stumped by something.

"Alright," said Bogo. "Thank you, Counsellor. Hopps, Wilde, in my office."

Judy and Nick sat down side-by-side on the same chair as Bogo placed three files on his desk in front of them. On the files were the pictures of the three canines who had attempted the robbery at the Maison du Bison.

"Accountant," said Bogo, pointing his hoof at the poodle. "College student," he pointed at the coyote. "Professional surfer," he finished with the dingo.

Another long sigh of annoyance and the chief continued.

"No previous records, blood tests clean as a whistle, upstanding citizens with no motive whatsoever," said Bogo. "And none of them can remember anything about Saturday night!"

"What about the weapons?" asked Nick.

"No record. They were never on the market…parts don't match with manufacturer…my guess is parts were acquired from different sources and assembled by the mastermind."

They sat in silence for a minute or so, processing the new facts.

"It's exactly like the bank robbery in Bunny Burrow," said Judy.

"I was getting there," said Bogo. "I took the liberty of telephoning the sheriff over at Bunny Burrow. He has agreed to send me copies of the surveillance tapes and case files for investigation. Whatever wild scheme was attempted successfully in Bunny Burrow is spreading to Zootopia now, and beyond if we don't pull the plug on it."

Judy and Nick remembered the surveillance tape from the bank. Judy suddenly thought of something.

"Chief, what about the plush doll?"

"Had it examined this morning. Nothing," said Bogo. "It's just an ordinary everyday carnival prize."

"A carnival prize that was given away by Old Todd at the dart booth," said Judy.

"And not just to anyone," said Nick. "He chose who won and who lost."

"I'm not following, Wilde," said Bogo.

Judy and Nick told Bogo everything they had gathered so far. About the magnet in Old Todd's booth, about Madame Mystique and her hypnotising act, about the baby chick dolls and how there was some connection between these things.

Bogo listened carefully and finally spoke.

"All this…did you piece this together yourselves?"

"Yes," said Judy. "Just from observing and following the clues from the Bunny Burrow robbery and the attempted robbery at the Maison du Bison."

Bogo sat in silence, looking straight ahead into empty space.

"It is borderline nonsensical," he said. "But stranger things have happened. What you say…might actually lead to something."

"If we could just get a warrant…"

"And there's where we hit our first problem, Hopps," said Bogo. "No judge in his right mind would issue a warrant based on what you have so far. There just isn't enough to go with."

"But if we don't act now, they might give us the slip," said Judy.

"You think I don't know that?" said Bogo gruffly. "Look, I want to catch whoever is behind this as much as you, but there are procedures to follow. If we had some solid evidence linking the carnival booth to the attempted robbery and the bank robbery at Bunny Burrow…"

He stopped at that.

"Well, we won't solve anything sitting here," said Bogo. "Dismissed."

Judy and Nick hopped off their chair and walked to the door.

"Hopps."

Judy and Nick turned around to see Bogo with that rare, unreadable expression.

"I know you have a gut feeling, and good cops usually do. Sometimes you have to trust your gut when all else fails," said Bogo. "But even you have to admit that this is just too outlandish."

Judy was distracted as she put the car into gear and drove out of the precinct garage.

"We have to get that warrant," said Judy as they turned onto Mamba Avenue.

"No arguments there," said Nick.

They drove a few blocks in silence.

"Bogo is right. Sometimes you gotta trust your gut, and let your brain figure it out as you go," said Judy.

"Yes. Problem is, though, judges aren't exactly known for trusting their gut in anything, except the buffet line," said Nick.

Judy couldn't help chuckling. She knew what he meant. Judge Hodgson, whom they saw occasionally at the courthouse, was a large pig with a belly as round as a watermelon.

"We need evidence. Hard evidence," said Nick. "Something that will unequivocally tie the robberies to Old Todd and Madame Mystique. Truth be told, even we can't be sure they're the true culprits, despite all the signs that would point to them."

"Sadly, that's true," said Judy.

At the carnival, everything was joy and entertainment. But a certain boar was nervously watching Madame Mystique's show, not paying attention to the act.

As Madame Mystique finished her show, the audience walked out of the tent. All but the boar, who sat down nervously.

"So…" said Madame Mystique, once she was alone with the boar. "That was your wonderful fool-proof test to demonstrate the brilliance of our plan, was it, Todd?"

"It wasn't my fault," said Old Todd.

"Oh, really? Then whose fault was it, pray tell me? Because as far as I'm concerned, you insisted upon hitting an upper-class establishment with little to no security to rob the snobs of their trinkets, except you weren't counting on there being off-duty cops among the attendees. It sounds distinctly like it's your fault."

"Well…one minor hitch…"

"Minor hitch?! You idiot! There were COPS at the restaurant! Which means they'll be investigating what happened, which means they'll probably find out about the robbery at Bunny Burrow, which means they'll most likely trace a connection, which means they'll come asking some very uncomfortable questions."

"They ain't got nothing on us, Madame M, and you know it," said Old Todd. "Our helpers won't say a thing. Last thing they'll remember is gettin' into their jammies and going to bed."

Madame Mystique couldn't think of anything to answer. She just pursed her lips and walked towards the entrance of her tent.

"One more heist…one more…and then we're outta here," said Old Todd. "The Lemming Brothers Bank. Then we'll hit the road and not stop until we reach St. Canard or some other faraway city."

Madame Mystique sighed and nodded. Old Todd sighed in relief.

"Now get out of here. They shouldn't see us together," said Madame Mystique.

"You won't regret it, Madame M. You won't regret it."

"I certainly hope not. Now begone!"

Judy and Nick had lunch together at Sheila's Café, a quaint café overlooking the Old Outback Bridge just north of Savanna Central. The owner, Sheila, was a koala and she had met Judy and Nick seven months earlier during the Bridge to Everywhere incident. It had been an ugly incident in which Judy almost ended up at the bottom of the bay while going after the escaped prisoner Singcor Swim, a platypus who had led a series of violent protests against the politicians at City Hall. Singcor Swim was the founder of the Outbackers For Equality movement, a group that vehemently defended Outbacker rights, sometimes taking things too far.

Thanks to Judy and Nick, the Outback Island residents were able to get help from the new mayor, Vince Mousawitz. Mayor Mousawitz did his best to make sure everyone in the city had a voice and could have their problems solved by the proper authorities.

"Business has been ripper ever since they repaired the Old Outback Bridge," said Sheila brightly as she brought Nick and Judy their bill. "I owe you two so much."

"It was our pleasure, Sheila," said Nick as he paid the bill. "Anything to help our city move forward and keep its citizens happy."

Sheila brought Nick his change and gave them a little pastry box with two cupcakes decorated with little koala faces.

"For my favourite police officers," she said.

They thanked her and walked out of the café, going back to their squad car.

"You know, Nick, I was thinking," said Judy as she started the car.

"I thought I heard wheels grinding," teased Nick.

"That was probably just your stomach, running on fumes," retorted Judy with a playful smirk.

"Touché," said Nick.

"But seriously…I was thinking about something. The baby chick plushies. So far, there was a plushie at both crime scenes. One in Bunny Burrow, one here."

"Yes. The one from Bunny Burrow disappeared, though."

"Aha. And I think it might have been because the crime was successful. We thwarted this last one, so they left behind their baby chick plushie."

"Mm-hmm."

"I'm pretty sure it's a code. Some kind of signal. The baby chick plushies are given to the winners at the booth. The winners then commit the crimes. That coyote girl, the college student. She was at Old Todd's booth the day before the attempted robbery. I saw her. And she was in Madame Mystique's tent also."

"So Old Todd selects the winners, who take the baby chick plushie as a prize. Then Madame Mystique hypnotises them. So the baby chick plushies are a code to let Madame Mystique know whom to put under her spell."

"Yes…well, maybe."

"Hmm…"

Nick thought of this for a while. As Judy stopped at a red light, he spoke again.

"Something has just occurred to me."

"I'm all ears," said Judy.

"Goes without saying," said Nick mischievously.

Judy giggled and fake-elbowed him in the midriff.

"Making bunny jokes now, are we, Mr Comedic Genius?" said Judy.

"Sorry, had to be done," said Nick.

"Comedy is all about timing after all, isn't it, slick?"

"Darn straight."

The light turned green and Judy drove on.

"I was thinking maybe we can ask one of our colleagues for help," said Nick. "Wolford or Fangmeyer. We could ask them if they could volunteer to win at Old Todd's booth, go to Madame Mystique's magic show, and then wait and see if they sleepwalk or do anything suspicious."

"Do you think they'd be game?" asked Judy.

"No harm in asking," said Nick.

Judy stopped at the end of the block and parked their squad car. They got out and walked side-by-side along the sidewalk, watching the movement at either side of the street.

"Why not try it ourselves?" asked Judy after a while. "You know, get one of those baby chicks and test our hypothesis?"

"Old Todd didn't want me winning the second time I played at the booth," said Nick. "My guess is because he saw I was a cop."

"Wolford and Fangmeyer are cops, Old Todd wouldn't let them win either," said Judy.

"Only if they're in uniform," said Nick.

"In uni…aha! I see where you're heading," said Judy. "You mean ask them to pose as regular customers, in street clothes."

"Exactly," said Nick.

Judy thought of it more and traced a plan in her mind.

"This…could actually work," said Judy.

Their thoughts were interrupted, though, by a loud scream and shouting inside the store they were walking by.

"SHOP LIFTER!"

Judy and Nick stopped. They turned their heads and saw inside the window of a store that a shopkeeper was yelling at someone to stop.

"SHOP LIFTER! HEY! STOP!"

"Do I take this one?" asked Judy.

"I'll do it," said Nick serenely.

He walked to the door of the shop and casually put up his foot. The door burst open and the thief shot out…only to trip on Nick's foot and fall on the sidewalk in a heap, dropping his bag of loot.

"OOF! OWW…!

"Nice one, slick," said Judy as she quickly cuffed the thief, a weasel wearing a white sleeveless shirt and gym shorts. "Ah, I've been looking forward to this day."

"This ain't what it looks like," said the weasel, whom they both recognised as Duke Weaselton.

"Can it, Weaselton. You're not talking your way out of this one," said Judy. "We caught you dead to rights."

"I'll bring the car around. Don't go away," said Nick as he walked to the end of the block, where their squad car was parked.

The shopkeeper, a leopard lady wearing an apron and nametag, burst out of the door and stopped in her tracks.

"Oh, thank goodness you were here, Officer!" said the leopard lady. "Not a moment too soon!"

"Don't worry, ma'am, we'll be taking him in and he'll be sitting in a cell for quite a while," said Judy with satisfaction as Duke frowned and struggled against his cuffs.

Judy picked up the bag Duke was trying to run off with, and saw that it was full of toy cars. Judy looked up and saw that the store was Lady Hypanthia's Toy Emporium.

"Stealing toys now, are we, Duke?" said Judy. "Just when one thought you could sink no lower."

Nick stopped the car in front of the toy store and got out, opening the rear door.

"Chauffeur service for one Duke Weaselton?" said Nick with a smirk. "Luxury scenic ride deluxe, final destination: the slammer."

"Ah, blow it out your windsock, Wilde," snapped Weaselton.

"You kiss your mother with that mouth?" said Nick as Judy made him get into the car.

Once Weaselton was safely locked inside, Nick opened the passenger door for Judy.

"Milady," said Nick gallantly as he bowed for Judy and held the door open for her.

"Looks like this will turn out to be a great day after all," said Judy as she buckled up and Nick drove them back to Precinct 1.

In the recreation room of Precinct 1, Judy was throwing darts at a dart board and hitting near perfect bull's-eyes with every one. Fangmeyer was sitting at the table, reading a magazine.

"Mad skills you got there, Hopps," said Fangmeyer, looking up from his magazine.

"I knew I hadn't gotten rusty," said Judy. "That dart booth at the carnival is fixed."

"You mean Old Todd's booth?" asked Fangmeyer. "I was there yesterday."

Judy's ears perked up.

"Really? Did you win?" she asked, although she knew the answer.

"Sure did," said Fangmeyer. "I got a cute little baby chick plush toy that will sit pretty in my collection…"

He stopped abruptly.

"You didn't hear me say that!" said Fangmeyer.

"Say what?" asked Judy innocently, taking mental note of what he said.

"Er…um…"

"Oh, by the way, did you go to the magician? Madame Mystique?" asked Judy innocently.

"Magician?" asked Fangmeyer, relieved to change the subject. "Naw, I skipped that one."

"Really? She's a pretty good hypnotist," said Judy. "She put some of her audience members under her spell and made them do all sorts of things."

"Hehe, they're all phoneys, every one of them," said Fangmeyer and returned to his magazine.

Judy returned to her dart board, her mind racing. Nick's plan had somehow already played out, and they hadn't even had to mention anything. It was perfect.

"Well, that's my time," said Judy, looking at the clock and skipping toward the door.

Judy spotted Nick walking down the corridor and hurried to him.

"Nick!" she said. "I got good news!"

"You're taking belly-dancing lessons with Clawhauser?"

"Close," said Judy with a sideways grin. "I just spoke to Fangmeyer. He went to Old Todd's on his day off, yesterday, and he won a baby chick plushie!"

"Well, I'll be an elephant's bathing suit," said Nick. "So our plan…it kinda already happened."

"Yes!" said Judy. "Well….kinda."

She explained to him that Fangmeyer had gone to Old Todd's booth and had won a baby chick plushie. However, he had not gone to Madame Mystique's show afterwards.

"Hmm…" said Nick. "So Madame Mystique didn't have a chance to do her magic on him."

"Yes, but still, he has a plushie," said Judy. "Old Todd clearly targeted him."

"Yes. All we gotta do now is keep an eye on Fangmeyer. He's sure to do something suspicious."

"Exactly," said Judy.

"Do you know where he lives?" asked Nick.

"No, but I do know how to find out," said Judy.

Just then, Chief Bogo came walking down the corridor. He spotted Judy and Nick and nodded in acknowledgement.

"My felicitations, Wilde," said Bogo as he walked past. "That weasel has been a thorn in my hoof for a long time. Now he's where he belongs."

"Thanks, Chief," said Nick.

He walked into one of the side doors.

"I'll be right back," said Judy as she walked to the front desk.

Nick waited for her in front of the bulletin board. Wolford walked by and nodded. Then stopped.

"Hey Wilde," said Wolford. "How did you manage to get a table at the Maison du Bison? They charge like twelve bucks for a glass o' water."

"I've been on my own since I was twelve, mon amie," said Nick smoothly. "Clearly, I've squirreled away some dough throughout the years."

"No kidding?" said Wolford. "My wife would go bonkers if I took her there for our anniversary."

"Then make it happen, sport," said Nick with a cheeky wink.

Judy walked up to the front desk, where Clawhauser was checking his phone and sipping a fizzy drink.

"Hello Clawhauser!"

He looked up from his phone and smiled.

"Hopps! What a surprise!"

He leaned over his desk to look at Judy.

"You gotta tell me, Hopps. You gotta tell me everything about your date at the Maison du Bison! Ooh, did you know Gazelle goes to dine there every other Saturday! Ooh, you didn't happen to see her, did you?"

"Um, no, she wasn't there this time," said Judy.

"How did you manage to get a table at the Bison! Oooh, I'm so jelly! It's like the crème de la crème of fine dining and entertainment."

"Well, actually…" said Judy, thinking of something. "…I might be able to talk the owner into giving you a VIP table. He owes us a favour, after all."

"You would!? Oh, Hopps, I'd be in your debt for a billion trillion gazillion and one years!"

"Don't mention it," said Judy. "Um, by the way, I wanted to send something to Fangmeyer, but I lost his address. Do you happen to have it on you?"

"Oh sure, let me pull it up," said Clawhauser distractedly as he daydreamed. "Gazelle, your humblest and most devoted admirer, Benjamin Clawhauser. Ooh, I'd die of excitement!"

Judy waited with her notepad and carrot pen.

"Oh here it is," said Clawhauser. "It's Lupus Rex Suites, Apartment 306, 11037 Nile Avenue."

"Got it," said Judy, jotting it down. "Thanks a lot!"

"Oh, I can only imagine the thrill and the glamour…" Clawhauser continued to daydream.

As Judy walked away, she smiled to herself.

"So that's how Nick does it," she thought. "I could get good at this."

She returned to Nick, who was reading the postings on the bulletin board in the hallway.

"Got it," said Judy, telling Nick how she'd obtained Fangmeyer's address.

"Sly bunny," said Nick with a grin.

"I'm getting there," said Judy.

She looked at the time on her phone.

"Well, another day's work done," she said. "How about supper at Dinah's Diner?"

"A scrumptious proposition," said Nick as he and Judy went over to clock out for the day.

The night was rather quiet. Judy and Nick sat down on the park bench sipping coffee and watching the entrance of the Lupus Rex Suites building. Fangmeyer had gone into the building an hour earlier.

"Do you think we'll run into the masterminds?" asked Judy.

"I hope we do," said Nick. "If we can catch them in the act, that will definitely close the case and help clear Nana Bernardine's name and the names of the three from the Maison."

"I doubt they'd risk getting seen, though," said Judy. "When you think about it, a carnival is a perfect front."

"If they are the ones behind it, they must have a hiding place for the loot," said Nick. "Banknotes are traceable to the banks they were deposited at. If we could find where they're hiding the dough, we could prove they're behind this."

"Which is exactly what we need to do," said Judy. "Hey! Look!"

They saw Fangmeyer walking out of the building and crossing the park. He was carrying a baby chick plush doll!

"I knew it!" said Judy. "C'mon, Nick, let's see where he goes."

Nick and Judy followed Fangmeyer from a safe distance. He turned a few corners and finally stopped.

"Lemming Brothers Bank," said Nick, looking from the alley across the street at the familiar building.

"So that's their next target," said Judy.

They watched as three other canines slowly appeared: a dingo, who arrived in a blue van, another wolf and a Chihuahua. All but the dingo stood beside Fangmeyer in front of the bank. The dingo kept the engine running on his van. Clearly it was their escape vehicle.

"How are they going to…"

Judy began, but stopped when she saw the wolves, Fangmeyer and the stranger, walk to the wall of the bank and form a living ladder. The stranger stood on Fangmeyer's shoulder, and then the Chihuahua hopped up and climbed to the top, reaching an air vent just above his head.

"They're breaking in!" said Judy, her cop instinct kicking in. "C'mon, Nick."

"Wait, Carrots," said Nick, holding her back.

"But they're…"

"If we interrupt them now, that will be two crimes we prevented. The masterminds will take the hint and skip town, and we'll never catch them then," said Nick. "If we follow them and see where they go, they might lead us to the loot, and to whoever is behind this."

"News flash: They have a van. We don't have a car," said Judy.

"Oh, we do now," said Nick, looking down the street and seeing someone familiar in a familiar parked vehicle. "You stay here. I'll be right back."

Nick walked casually out of the alley and down the block, pretending not to notice anything. Judy watched Nick from the shadows, wondering what he was up to.

He approached the vehicle he had spotted. It was painted with a wacky decal of a fox warrior god holding a beautiful fox goddess, a cheesy sword-and-sorcery theme that wouldn't be out of place on the cover of a pulp novel. There was a small someone sitting in the driver's seat, looking at a magazine. Looking, not reading.

"Well, hellow there, Finnick!" said Nick cheerfully.

The occupant of the van jumped with surprise and quickly stashed his magazine under the seat.

"Wha…Nick?!" said Nick's former associate, the fennec fox named Finnick. He was the owner of the van, which doubled as his home.

"Long time no see, buddy!"

"What the heck are you doing here?!" said Finnick.

"Oh, I just saw my old business partner and long-time compadre and figured I'd come and say hello! Say, by the way, Finnick old pal…I have a question."

Nick looked inside the van. Finnick narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"Is your insurance on the bro-mobile up to date?"

"Insurance…what are you talkin' about?!"

"Well, I don't mean to alarm you, but you see…there's this new law that Mayor Mousawitz had proposed and it passed, and it states that any vehicle owners who owe more than three months of insurance can have their precious vehicles impounded."

Finnick's eyes went wide at the word 'impounded.'

"Now, I'd hate to be the one to have to do this, Finn old pal, but I am a cop after all, and…well, you know. Nothing personal, it's just my job," said Nick. "Ah, this is the part of the job that pains me…"

"You wouldn't!" snapped Finnick.

"Oh, I would have to. Otherwise, well…I wouldn't be doing my job, would I?"

Nick saw triumphantly that Finnick was properly shaken.

"Of course, we're friends and we go way back," said Nick. "So I could pretend we never had this conversation, if you…oh, I don't know…lend me your van for a few hours."

"WHAT!?"

"Of course, you don't have to," said Nick. "But I'd hate to be the one to have to send your precious bro-mobile to the pound and have you pay that ridiculously high fine at City Hall…"

"Grrr….FINE!" said Finnick, opening the door and stepping out of the van.

"You are a pal, you know that?" said Nick. "I'll bring her back to you at the usual place. Won't take long."

"I'm warning you, Wilde! If you put one scratch on my ride…"

"Don't worry," said Nick with a snarky grin. "I'm sure your insurance will pay for it."

Finnick walked away fuming.

As Finnick disappeared into the night, Nick waved to Judy, who had been watching and listening from the alley. She approached the van and got into the driver's side.

Nick was sitting in the passenger seat, with a smug look on his face.

"Pretty smooth, huh?" said Nick.

"What? Your negotiation skills? Pfft," said Judy smarmily, buckling up. "Seen them already. Not impressed, sunshine. You wanna impress me? Take the wheel for a while, then we'll talk."

"Ouch. Cold as ice," said Nick with relish.

He adjusted his rear-view mirror so he could see the dingo in the blue van, still waiting for the others to pull off their heist.

"They're on the move," said Nick as he watched the bank robbers run to the van with bags of money.

"Right," said Judy, starting the van. "We follow them from a safe distance. Tail them until we find out where they are heading. Then we call Bogo."

"Sound plan," said Nick, taking out his phone

The bank robbers hopped into the blue van and the dingo stepped on the gas. They drove away, not noticing Judy and Nick in their van at the end of the block.

Judy stepped on the gas and tailed them, staying a block away at all times so they didn't notice them.

They turned left on Mamba Avenue, right on Coney Street, left again on Acacia Avenue…

"Where are they going?" said Judy as she followed them.

Suddenly, they noticed the street light ahead turning yellow, and the blue van accelerated to beat the light.

"They're speeding up!" said Nick.

"And so are we!" said Judy and floored the pedal.

The blue van shot past right as the light turned red. Judy drove like a bullet behind, going right through the red light.

"Just went through a red light," said Nick.

"Cop didn't see it, I didn't do it," retorted Judy with a wry smirk.

Nick couldn't help laughing.

The blue van exited the city and sped along Meadowlands Highway. Judy and Nick followed from afar.

"They're heading in the opposite direction from the carnival," said Judy.

"They must have a drop-off point," said Nick. "Hiding the loot at the carnival would be too risky. They probably stash the cash elsewhere and collect it once they skip town."

In the distance, flashing lights suddenly lit up and a loud horn sounded. It was a drawbridge signal! It was going up for a ship to pass through.

"Yes!" said Judy. "We got 'em, Nick! We'll corner them at the drawbridge!"

But then, suddenly, the blue van shot forward like a bullet, racing towards the drawbridge!

"What the hay!?" said Judy.

"They've got nitro," said Nick. "Two can play at that game. Quick, the lever in the middle, beside the cup holder! Pull it!"

"What does it do?!"

"It's the nitro! You know…in case of a getaway."

"Oookay…I won't read too deep into that."

Judy reached for it and pulled it! They shot forward like shot out of a cannon.

"Illegal to use…not illegal to have!" said Nick as they raced towards the drawbridge in hot pursuit.

"The law is a strange thing!" said Judy, keeping the wheel steady.

The blue van ran right through the wooden road gate, splintering it to bits. It raced to the edge of the drawbridge just as it was starting to go up. Then…

"Cotton rot!" said Judy as they sped after them.

The blue van jumped the gap between the two sections of the drawbridge and sped on down the road.

"You might wanna consider hopping back to the other side of the sound barrier before we suffer a truncated lifespan," said Nick.

"We can make it!" said Judy, speeding on.

"Carrots! Don't even try!"

"They're getting away!"

"Stop the van!" said Nick. "We won't make it."

"Yes we will!"

"No, we won't!"

"Yes we will!"

"Carrots!"

"Yes we will! Yes we…no! We won't! Hang tight!"

Judy slammed the brakes! The van skid in circles out of control on the pavement. Nick held onto the seat and closed his eyes as they skid and spun and finally came to a stop a few feet from the drawbridge, which was already a solid wall of metal and concrete in front of them.

"Whew! You okay, Carrots?"

"Ask me again in a few seconds…when the world stops spinning. Oh…"

Judy closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it go slowly.

The headlights of the blue van could be seen in the distance until it disappeared over a hill. And it was gone.

"They got away," said Judy. "Now we'll never know where they stashed the loot."

"Well, it wasn't a total loss," said Nick brightly as he held his phone in front of her.

Judy watched and saw that Nick had recorded the robbery, the chase and, more importantly, had zoomed in on the license plate.

"We can check and see who owns that van," said Nick. "Who knows? Maybe we can get some prints. If we get a match with Old Todd or Madame Mystique…"

"…that will be enough for a warrant!" said Judy excitedly. "Way to go, Nick!" she playfully punched his arm.

"Now let's get back to the city," said Nick. "Finnick will have kittens if we hang onto his bro-mobile any longer."

Judy and Nick took turns sleeping on the park bench in front of Lupus Rex Suites, waiting for Fangmeyer to return. Judy was fast asleep, snuggled up against Nick, who had his arm around her. He looked down at the sleeping bunny and thought how cute she looked. Judy smiled in her sleep and murmured something unintelligible. It was the most adorable sight ever.

Nick bent his head over her face and kissed her softly on her forehead. Judy snuggled closer to him in her sleep.

It was 5:00 AM when finally Fangmeyer walked across the park and crossed the street towards Lupus Rex Suites. Nick followed him with his eyes and waited a few minutes until Fangmeyer was up in his apartment.

"Well, this is it," said Nick. "He's probably back in his bed by now."

He turned to Judy, who was still asleep beside him. It pained him to wake her, but duty called.

"Carrots," said Nick, giving her a kiss on her nose. "It's time."

Judy stretched her paws and yawned, flexing her little pink tongue as she warily opened her eyes.

"Mmm….Nick…what time is it?"

"Just past five in the morning," said Nick. "You know, staying out late in the park isn't so bad after all."

"Mmm…I'd take a nice comfy bed with a thick quilt and fluffy pillow right about now," said Judy.

"You'll get your wish soon, Carrots. Come on, let's go and check on Fangmeyer."

They got up and walked across the street, climbing up the steps and entering the building.

The lobby was mostly empty, just a sofa and a coffee table and a front desk with a pig clerk sitting and looking at his phone.

"Hey!" said the pig, looking up and seeing Nick. "Wrong building. Get lost, fox!"

Nick winced at the comment and immediately flashed his badge. The pig went pale, his eyes wide.

"Uhh..uh…Officer!"

"As you were," said Nick sternly as he and Judy walked past him and got into the elevator.

"You have a quiet job here, Porkins," said Judy, reading the pig's name tag. "It would be a shame to lose it."

"Y-yes, Officer!" said Porkins nervously as the elevator door closed.

The elevator door opened on the third floor. Judy and Nick walked down the corridor until they reached Number 306.

"Shall we ring?" asked Judy.

"I suppose so," said Nick, ringing the doorbell.

They heard footsteps inside, and keys jingling, and the door opened. Their colleague Fangmeyer was stading there in his pyjamas, his fur was tousled and his eyes were sleepy like someone who had just gotten out of bed.

"Wha…Hopps? Wilde?" he said half-asleep. "What are you doing here?"

"We have to talk," said Judy.

"Can't it wait till tomorrow?"

"It is tomorrow."

"Huh?"

Fangmeyer looked behind him at the clock and saw that it was almost time to get up.

"But…I just went to bed…arrg….I need to sleep earlier."

"You didn't do much sleeping, Fangmeyer. You've been on quite an adventure," said Nick.

"What do you mean?"

"Let's get inside and we'll explain," said Judy.

"Is this some kind of joke?"

"If it is, you're not gonna like the punchline," said Nick, taking out his phone.

He played the video of Fangmeyer at the bank, running with a big bag of money into a blue van. Fangmeyer looked, and it didn't register at first…but then…

"Wait a minute…that's ME!"

"Shh…let's get inside. We'll explain," said Judy.

Finally, Fangmeyer opened the door and let them in. The expression on his faced was awestruck.

The three of them sat and drank coffee as they watched the video again and again. Fangmeyer could not believe his eyes.

"But…I never left my room."

"Where's your baby chick plushie?" asked Judy.

"In my room with the others," said Fangmeyer. "I mean…urr…"

"Go get it," said Judy.

He left the room. Nick and Judy looked at each other. They knew what the other was thinking.

"It's gone!" said Fangmeyer from his room.

"Yup," said Nick.

"But where…why…how…" Fangmeyer came back to the kitchen with a dazed expression. "What the heck is going on here!?"

"We don't know, but for the moment I suggest you turn yourself in," said Nick. "Just go and talk to the Chief and explain it to him."

"Explain what?! I have no idea what happened!"

"Explain that somebody framed you and made you rob the Lemming Brothers Bank in your sleep," said Judy. "Do it before the surveillance tape of the bank gets to the station and they come and take you in."

Fangmeyer was thunderstruck. He had no idea what was going on. It was like a bad dream, but there was no waking up from it.

"Well, you know what to do," said Judy, getting up. "We'd better get a move on."

She and Nick said goodbye and left, leaving Fangmeyer sitting at his kitchen table staring into his coffee.

The briefing room was packed and noisy, as usual. Everyone was present. Judy and Nick sat down at their usual seat. Fangmeyer was with the Chief, explaining as best as he could what Judy and Nick had told him.

Chief Bogo walked in and took his usual spot at the podium.

"Alright, settle down! SHUT UP!"

Everyone fell silent. Bogo briefed them on the situation.

"Pay attention everyone! This is the third case in a week! The circumstances of the robberies are all the same. The perpetrators are people with no previous records and no motive. They somehow have their memories tampered with and remember nothing of the events! I want everyone to stay alert! As of this moment, all off-days and leaves are cancelled. I want everyone alert and on-call, 24/7. We will not rest until we catch whoever is behind this. Your assignments…"

The blue van from the Lemming Brothers Bank heist was tracked down and turned out to be owned by the dingo who was behind the wheel. He was an Outbacker who worked at City Hall. The van was brought in along with the owner.

The lab results of the van were a tad disappointing, though. Prints were identified, but they belonged to the four who robbed the Lemming Brothers Bank and nobody else. Judy and Nick's hopes were dashed when the lab found no prints besides the ones they already expected.

"These guys are experts," said Judy as she and Nick watched the surveillance tape of the bank heist for the third time at her cubicle. "They leave no signs that they have anything to do with the crime. All the blame goes to the people they manipulate into committing the robberies, who can't remember anything but nonetheless are responsible for the actual crime. Cotton rot! Why can't we just get one good piece of evidence?!"

She played the video again.

"Fangmeyer wasn't even at Madame Mystique's tent and he still fell under her control," said Judy. "How does she do it? If she does it at all. That's the worst of it. All our speculation could end up being just that."

Nick was silent. He watched the screen without moving a muscle. After a while, Judy turned from the screen and looked at him.

"Nick, have an opinion," said Judy.

"Do I have to?" asked Nick.

"Yes. Your bunny lord commands it," said Judy.

"Well…I noticed something strange," said Nick. "Can you play the surveillance tape of the Maison du Bison again?"

"Okay," said Judy, clicking on the video.

"No, no, the other one," said Nick. "The outside camera."

Judy switched videos and they watched. It showed the three perpetrators of the attempted robbery walking into the building. The coyote girl was holding a baby chick doll.

"That's when they walk in," said Judy.

"Yeah…wait a minute…" said Nick. "Keep watching the screen."

They watched. Nothing happened. The camera was pointed at the entrance. They could see a bit of the street and the front entrance, and that was it.

"There," said Nick finally, after about four minutes.

"What?" asked Judy.

"Go back a bit."

Judy did, and Nick pointed at something on the screen.

"That van," said Nick. "Granny Mae's Flower Boutique."

"Aha."

"Does that ring any bells?"

"No. I never heard of Granny Mae."

"Exactly."

Judy paused the video and looked at Nick, who looked back at her.

"Now, switch to the Lemming Brothers surveillance camera," said Nick. "The front entrance."

Judy did. They watched for about six minutes until…

"There is it again," said Nick.

"It's the same van!" said Judy.

"Yup. Suspicious?"

"Hmmm…yes."

"Ah, but it gets better," said Nick. "Open the video from my phone."

Judy's heart raced as she did. This could be their ticket to finding the real mastermind.

"There," said Nick. "When we…ahem," he looked around to see if anyone was within earshot, "…crossed the red light," he whispered.

Judy looked at the video and spotted the van. It was on the adjacent street.

"It was following us," said Judy.

"No. It was following them."

Nick clicked on the 'next' button. It showed when the blue van exited the city to get onto Meadowlands Highway. And sure enough…

"There," said Nick, pointing at the brown flower van, which appeared parked on the side of the road in front of an emergency phone booth. "It seemed to know exactly where the blue van was heading, and it drove ahead making sure the perpetrators headed in the right direction."

"So that's our guy," said Judy. "The driver of the van from Granny Mae's Flower Boutique."

"Yes. Only there's one little detail," said Nick, taking out his phone and dialling a number.

Judy waited, wondering what was next.

"Yes! Granny Mae's Flower Boutique? I'd like to order a dozen roses for…huh? This isn't Granny Mae's? But this is the number they gave me," said Nick on the phone. "Is Mr Emmitt Otterton in? Yes, let me speak to him, please. Thank you."

Nick waited on the line.

"What're you up to?" asked Judy.

"Wait and see…..Yes, hello? Mr Otterton! A pleasure to speak to you! This is Nick Wilde. Officer Wilde, from the ZPD. Yes, same to you. Oh, just fine. How's the missus and the kids? That's great! Listen, Mr Otterton…was this the number to Granny Mae's Flower Boutique? No? Yes, I thought it had to be a mistake. That flower shop went out of business when I was a kid. Well, I'm thirty-two now, so that makes it more than twenty years ago."

Judy's ears perked up.

"Aha…yes, anyway, say hello to Mrs Otterton and the kids for us. Yes, she's here. Yes, I'll tell her. Okay, you have a good day, Mr Otterton. Bye bye."

Nick hung up and looked at Judy. She was stunned.

"Well, Carrots," he said. "Looks like we're looking for a brown van painted with Granny Mae's Flower Boutique. My guess is stolen, but it could have been bought by another owner who decided to use it for less-than-honest purposes."

"How did you…Nick, how did you figure…"

"Because, baby-carrot-cakes, I used to live down the street from Granny Mae's, and she closed up shop long before you were born," said Nick, tapping her nose playfully with his finger. "Now let's go tell Bogo what we found and have everybody in this precinct on the lookout for that van."

Old Todd walked into Madame Mystique's tent that afternoon. She was just finishing a show and the people were exiting her tent.

"Is it done?" asked Madame Mystique.

"Yes," said Old Todd. "I had the wild dog plant the doll in the fox's apartment. But I don't get it, this is more than I bargained for."

"Those two police officers, the ones who showed up at Bunny Burrow and here…they are Judy Hopps and her partner," said Madame Mystique. "The same ones who cracked the infamous night howler case last year."

"What was that case about?" asked Old Todd.

"Clearly you don't read the papers," said Madame Mystique. "But it doesn't matter. The point is they are smart and having them whiffing around is certain to spell doom for us. They already caught our associate, that odious little weasel. Duke, was he? Such a vulgar, common name. He's sitting in a cell at the precinct, awaiting his trial."

"But what you're suggesting…"

"Is the only way to go about it," said Madame Mystique. "Eliminate them from the picture and make it look like an accident, or better yet…a murder. That will throw the cops off our scent. While they are distracted, we get out of here with the cash. It's that simple."

"I dunno, Madame M, this is too risky," said Old Todd.

"Like you said, one more heist and we're gone," said Madame Mystique. "We just have to wait until the cops are distracted, then nobody will notice if we quietly sneak out of town."

"I hope you're right," said Old Todd.

"I am," said Madame Mystique. "Now go back to your booth. I'll let you know if something comes up."

The work day ended and Judy and Nick clocked out. Bogo was at the entrance hall as they walked towards the front door.

"Wilde, Hopps," said Bogo. "I want you to remain alert. Anything comes up, I need everyone to be ready to answer immediately."

"Will do, Chief," said Nick.

"We're still tracking down the van," said Bogo. "As soon as the results are in, we can identify the new owner and it may lead us to something."

"Let's keep our fingers crossed," said Judy.

As they walked out of the building, Judy looked at Nick. He looked tired but satisfied. They had worked long hours and had actually made some progress. She felt they were close to cracking this case.

As they walked side-by-side, she felt a surge of affection towards him. Her arm moved as if on its own volition and wrapped around his waist. He looked down at her and smiled warmly, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her closer.

"You did great, Nick," said Judy.

"Just doing my job, Carrots," said Nick humbly.

"Are you kidding? With your city smarts, you single-pawedly pointed out that van, and now we might actually find out who the mysterious driver is," said Judy. "Nobody else could have done that."

"Ah, well…things you pick up when you live off your wits," said Nick with a homely smile.

"You know, I really wanna do something for you," said Judy. "Something special. How about I cook you dinner tonight? I can make my mom's special carrot casserole. She taught it to me and all my siblings when we were old enough to cook."

"Hmm…actually," said Nick. "How about I cook you something tasty at my place? That way we'll be together and alert in case we get any calls, and we'll get to have dinner and chat."

"You…cook?" asked Judy, genuinely amazed.

"I can hold my own," said Nick.

"Okay! Great! Tell you what, I'll get the groceries," said Judy. "Just text me a list of what you need. I'll stop by my apartment and freshen up a bit, and I'll be right over."

"Sounds like a plan," said Nick.

They stopped at a corner to wait for the crosswalk light.

"There's a grocery store halfway down the block," said Judy. "Why don't I go and get the stuff and we meet later at your place?"

"Works for me," said Nick. "I'll leave the door unlocked."

"Great. See you at eight!"

Just as the crosswalk light turned green, Judy jumped up and landed a kiss on Nick's cheek. Then she scurried off to the store.

"Catch you later!" she said waving.

Nick waved back as he walked across the street, struggling to think about the ingredients he was supposed to text to her as his paw touched the spot on his cheek where she had kissed him.

Judy pushed the door to Nick's apartment open easily with her back. She was carrying a bag of groceries in one paw and her overnight bag in the other paw.

"Nick!" she called out. "It's me, Judy!"

No answer. She closed the door with her foot and walked into the living room.

"Nick?" called Judy, placing her bags on the coffee table in front of the sofa. "Are you home?"

Then suddenly, a loud voice came from somewhere near. It sounded muffled, but somewhat melodious.

"I got a star on my car and one on my chest…" came a jolly singing voice from the bathroom, not far from where Judy stood, halfway down the hall between the bedroom and the living room. "Stun gun on my hip and the right to arrest…"

With a smile on her face, Judy tiptoed to the bathroom door, which was half-open, and stood against the wall, listening to Nick as he sang in the shower.

"My siren a-screamin' and my flashin' red lights, I work all day and I work all night ,just a-keepin' law and order, tryin' to do what's right…"

Judy suppressed a giggle behind her paw, listening to her beloved fox hit every note with uncanny accuracy.

"If your drivin' too fast like you shouldn't do, you can bet your boots, I'm comin' after you,if you wanna race then get on a race track, 'cause if you try and run away I'm gonna bring ya back…"

Judy listened to the entire song, trying hard not to giggle out loud. Then she heard Nick stepping out of the shower and drying himself. She quickly returned to the living room and sat on the sofa, waiting for him.

Nick walked out of the shower with a towel around his waist, playing air guitar and humming to himself.

"You're quite the singer, Mr Wilde," said Judy from the sofa as he walked by.

Nick jumped with surprise and his towel almost fell.

"Wha…when…did you…!" his eyes were wide with surprise.

"Just now," said Judy.

"Well! Aren't you the stealthy one," said Nick, gripping his towel firmly.

"I brought the groceries."

"Awesome…let me just get decent…"

"Oh, don't bother on my account," said Judy mischievously.

"My my, Officer Hopps, what would your mother say if she heard that?" said Nick with mock disapproval.

"Unless your apartment is bugged, we won't have to worry about that," said Judy, her eyes narrowed. "And if it is bugged, well…Hi mom!"

Nick chuckled as he walked into his bedroom to put on some clothes. He returned shortly, dressed in a comfortable T-shirt and joggers.

"Now then," said Nick. "Let's get these groceries in the kitchen and whip up a lovely meal, shall we?"

Judy giggled.

"If you don't mind," said Judy. "I'll make myself comfortable in your humble abode."

"My humble abode is your humble abode," said Nick.

As he lifted the grocery bag from the coffee table, Judy opened her overnight bag and fished for some things, putting them on the coffee table: fur conditioner, shampoo, a brush, pink bathrobe…

Nick couldn't help noticing.

"Overnight bag, huh?" said Nick. "Am I reading too deep into it?"

"Nice choice of words, slick," said Judy with a hearty wink, flashing a cute pair of silky undergarments at the bottom of the bag. "Now get in the kitchen and crank us out a meal."

"Your wish is my command," said Nick, smiling warmly as he walked into the kitchen with the groceries.

He placed the bag on the kitchen counter and emptied the contents. Leeks, olives, mushrooms, blueberries…

"Hmmm…"

Nick looked at the blueberries and remembered the night howler serum. It had been blueberries that saved them and were instrumental in catching Dawn Bellwether and her flock. Blueberries grown on Judy's family farm.

And he also remembered something else. Pebbles.

"I wonder."

Nick took some blueberries and tried to juggle them over the sink. They fell with a loud clang, he didn't catch one of them.

"Everything alright in there, Chef Excellence?" asked Judy from the living room.

"Um…yes, everything's fine," said Nick. "Did I really juggle those pebbles?" he said to himself.

"If you don't mind, I'll step into the shower for a moment," said Judy. "Gonna freshen up…and get into something more comfortable."

"Make yourself at home, Carrots," said Nick as he sorted the vegetables.

As he lined his ingredients, Judy's face appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. She looked at him with an alluring expression.

"No peeking, mister," she said mischievously.

"I wouldn't dream of it, Officer," said Nick with a playful smile.

Judy blew him a kiss and went into the bathroom. Nick walked to the small blackboard that was on the wall beside the refrigerator and wrote down the ingredients in order with chalk.

"Okay, time to whip up something fabulous," he said, reading the list one more time.

Nick placed the blueberries back in their basket and was about to move to the sink, when he stopped.

"Hmm…let me try again," he said, taking two blueberries and juggling them. "It can't be all that hard."

It was easy enough with two…until he dropped one and it rolled under the table.

"Aw, drat," he said, bending down and retrieving the berry. "Well, I guess I can't juggle after all…"

He stopped dead. On one of the stools, sitting down like a creepy sign…was a baby chick plush toy.

"What?" said Nick. "How…did this…?"

Then he looked in the direction of the hall.

"Judy," he said to himself. "That bunny. Playing tricks on me like that. She reminds me of myself, almost."

The baby chick plush toy suddenly started chirping. And it was then that he felt it again. His ears started ringing.

"What?"

Then suddenly it turned to pain. Intense, severe pain.

"Arrrgg!"

Nick fell to the floor, writhing in pain.

"No! Get out of my head!"

And then all went dark.

Judy enjoyed her shower. The water was so warm and the tub was so ample, she felt like singing.

"I told the witch doctor I was in love with you…"

This was fun, she thought to herself. Singing in the shower was actually something she could get used to.

"..Ooh, eeh, ooh-ah-ah! Ting tang, walla walla bing-bang!"

The bathroom door opened. Judy didn't notice.

"You've been keepin' love from me as if you were a miser, and I admit I wasn't very smart! So I went out and found myself a guy who's so much wiser, and he taught me the way to win your heart!"

Suddenly, through the shower curtain, Judy saw a silhouette. A familiar one. It was Nick, and he was holding something in his paw. Something long and pointy.

"Nick!" said Judy, grinning and frowning, her paws on her hips. "That joke was funny in like 1968. Welcome to the future, honey bun."

She thought he was re-enacting a famous scene from a horror film, where the killer snuck up on the victim in the shower with a knife.

"Or….maybe you just couldn't resist having a peek?" said Judy teasingly. "Naughty fox, taking advantage of dis cute widdle bunny while she's in the shower."

Nick didn't answer. He just edged closer.

"Maybe just a little peek…" said Judy, opening the curtain just slightly.

Then it happened.

Nick roared with fury and ripped the curtains down. His paw brought a kitchen knife down where Judy's face would have been if she hadn't dodged to the right.

"Okay, Nick! This isn't funny anymore!" said Judy angrily. "Time out, Norman Bates, you've crossed the line….Nick?"

Nick lunged at her again, and Judy dodged to the left and leaped out of the tub, almost slipping because her feet were wet.

"Nick?!" she gasped, looking into his eyes, which were vacant. "Nick, honey! What's the matter?! Snap out of it!"

Nick lunged at her again. Judy shot out of the bathroom and into the living room.

"Nick, snap out of it! It's me, Judy! Hopps! Carrots!"

Nick ran out of the bathroom and lunged again. Judy dived behind the sofa just in time. She rolled underneath and emerged from the other side, racing into the kitchen.

"Not you too, Nick," Judy thought desperately. "Please, no…not Nick."

She turned around and saw Nick running at her. In desperation, her paw closed around the first object within reach: The pepper grinder. She swung it at him and powdered pepper flew all over Nick's face and nose.

"Ahh…achoo!"

Nick dropped the knife and closed his eyes. He sneezed, wiping his face with his paws. He couldn't see. Moving sideways, he knocked over a stool, on which a baby chick plushie had been sitting. The plushie fell down and rolled on the kitchen floor, stopping near the door.

Judy backed away and tried to support herself, but suddenly her paws slid on a rough surface and her claws scratched the kitchen blackboard, where Nick had written all the ingredients. The screeching noise it made was unbearable.

"Aahhrr! Make it stop!" cried Nick, his eyes teary, cupping his ears in pain. "Make it stop!"

Judy realised the sound had made him snap out of it. She clenched her teeth and scratched the board once more, making Nick scream with pain. Then, with a tremendous leap, she sprang across the kitchen and jump-kicked him hard right in the belly.

"OOF!"

Nick flew back through the kitchen doorway, back into the living room, winded. Judy glanced to her left and saw a table cloth folded on the counter. She picked it up and jumped onto Nick.

"Sorry about this, love," said Judy. "But I have to."

She wrapped Nick up in the table cloth and tied a knot around his midsection, leaving him unable to move, like a fly in a spider's web.

Nick coughed a few times and passed out.

Nick opened his eyes warily. As his vision came into focus, he saw the roof of his apartment, part of his sofa, and Judy, in her pink bathrobe, kneeling beside his face, with a wet towel in her paws.

"Nick!" said Judy with a relieved smile. "You're awake."

"Awake…I didn't go…to…sleep?"

He tried to get up but realised he was all tied up in a tablecloth.

"Um…Carrots? Did I miss something?"

"You don't remember?"

"Remember what?"

"What happened just a few minutes ago?"

"Er…kindly fill me in," said Nick.

Judy told him everything. Nick's face was taut with shock.

"No…no, tell me I didn't."

"It wasn't you, Nick," said Judy comfortingly, rubbing his cheeks. "There was someone inside your mind, making you do things…it wasn't you."

"In my own home…" Nick felt as though something sacred within him had been violated. "In my own home, trying to make me kill my own girlfriend…"

Judy couldn't help feeling warm when she heard him say that last word.

"This…has to stop…" said Nick. "We have to stop this!"

Suddenly, they heard something from the kitchen. It was a chirping noise. Judy recognised it as the baby chick plush toy, but it sounded off-key. Maybe the chirping mechanism had been damaged when it fell to the floor.

Suddenly, Nick started to convulse and writhe, struggling against his bonds.

"Ahh! Make it stop! Make it stop!"

Judy stepped away from him and suddenly it all clicked.

"No! I won't listen!" yelled Nick. "Not Judy! No, go away! Get out of my head!"

Judy raced to the kitchen and snatched the baby chick doll. She tore it open with her teeth and found the chirping mechanism. Opening it, she quickly took the battery out and it stopped.

She heard Nick's thrashing stop. Quickly she returned to his side to find him whimpering.

"Noo…don't…not Judy…not my Judy…go away…"

"Nick," said Judy softly, straddling him and looking into his eyes as she held his cheeks gently. "Honey bun, I'm right here. You're safe now. Nobody is going to hurt us."

She untied him and threw the tablecloth to one side. Nick pulled her to his chest and embraced her with a tight, desperate hug, wrapping his arms and legs and tail around her as if wanting to keep her from slipping away from him.

"It's okay, sweetheart," said Judy softly, hugging him tight. "I'm here now. Nothing bad will happen to either of us."

She moved her face closer to his and kissed him. They said nothing for a long time, just snuggled together on the carpet, hugging tightly and feeling each other's warmth and wishing they could stay like this forever and ever.

Judy placed the pieces of the baby chick plush doll on the coffee table as Nick brought two mugs of freshly-brewed camomile tea to soothe their nerves.

"This is it, Nick," said Judy, pointing at the little chirping device she had pulled from the plushie. "This is how they do it. Every perpetrator who committed those crimes did so unknowingly, against their will. And every one of them won a baby chick plushie from Old Todd's booth. And here's how Madame Mystique controlled them from a distance. With these baby chick plushies."

"So this is kind of like a wireless mind-control device," said Nick, looking at the chirping mechanism. "Old Todd made the customers win, Madame Mystique placed them under her spell, and she somehow made them respond to the chirping in this plush toy."

"Yes…but there's something else."

Judy looked at Nick.

"Why didn't it affect me?"

"You weren't hypnotised by Mystique."

"Neither was Fangmeyer. But he was at the bank robbery."

That was true. It didn't make sense. If Fangmeyer was never under Madame Mystique's spell, then why was he affected?

"And why are all the perpetrators members of the canine family?" asked Judy.

"Maybe she can only perform her trick on dogs and wolves," said Nick.

"And coyotes…and foxes," said Judy.

They went quiet. Judy edged closer to Nick and hugged him around the waist. Nick stared into empty space, wishing he could make sense of it.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to him.

"This is some high-tech stuff," said Nick.

"It is," said Judy.

"I…know someone who might be able to help," said Nick. "An old…associate of mine. He's totally into this tech stuff."

Judy looked up at him.

"I'll just bet that if we take him this plushie and show him all the parts, he might be able to tell us more," said Nick.

Judy nodded. Any little bit of extra information would help.

Suddenly, beneath her arms, Judy felt Nick's tummy rumbling.

"Oh…um, sorry," Nick looked embarrassedly at her.

Judy smiled understandingly.

"You know…we could always order a pizza."

The building they stood before looked like it was new…in 1955.

"Are you sure about this, Nick?"

"Trust me, if anyone knows about tech stuff, it's Garth. He's a wizard with everything electronic."

They walked into the building. The entrance hall led into a dusty lobby. Judy followed Nick to the far side where a door to the basement stood ajar.

"Charming," she thought as Nick pushed the door open and they descended along a creaky staircase that ended in a single landing with a door that had a 'Radioactive' sign painted on it.

"He's pretty eccentric with his décor," said Nick as he opened the door.

"You don't say."

The only way she could describe the room they were in was as an in-door junkyard. Old computers, tables piled high with gadgets and gizmos, hunks of metal with levers and meters on them, tools of every kind…it was a madman's playground.

"Oy! Garth! I know you're in there…somewhere!" said Nick.

"Nick!" said a voice from among all the junk. "Long time no see, old buddy!"

An enormous pair of eyes suddenly emerged from behind a hulking old computer. It took a few seconds for Judy to realise that it was a young opossum wearing oversized goggles, dressed in greasy overalls and several tool belts.

"Hang in there, I'll be right with you," said Garth, removing his goggles and jumping up in the air, latching his long prehensile tail on the pipes that ran on the ceiling and swinging dangerously above the metal piles.

With a tremendous leap, Garth the opossum did a somersault and landed right in front of them. Judy was stunned at his prowess.

"Nicky P, my main man! The fox that rocks, the name of the game! The one and only dungeon-master of mischief himself!" said Garth and gave Nick a complicated series of high-fives and pawshakes.

"S'up, Garth?" said Nick,

"Hey! You brought company! Hello there, Officer Hopps!" said Garth, taking her paw gallantly and kissing it in the old-fashioned manner.

"I read all about you in the Zootopia Times," said Garth. "Not to mention the Duckburg Daily and the Cape Suzette Gazette. You're quite the heroine."

"Um, thank you very much," said Judy, still unaccustomed to being famous.

"Did I mention I have your body pillow?"

"Er…what?"

"Uhh…so, let's get down to brass tacks, shall we?" said Nick loudly and quickly.

"Alright, Nicky mah boi! What'll it be?" said Garth, turning to his main computer, which was camouflaged among all the other computers and gadgets. "Any public records you need your name wiped off of? Or do you need to tinker with the stock market a bit? Sneak peek into McDuck Enterprises, perhaps?"

"Erm…not this time, Garth," said Nick sheepishly, giving Judy a sideways glance.

"Well then, set the course, Cap'n!" said Garth, moving an imaginary warp drive lever with his paw. "Warp Seven, engage!"

"I need you to tell me what this is," said Nick.

He held the baby chick plush doll and the chirping mechanism in his paws for Garth.

"Well, hello poultry plushie," said Garth, taking the baby chick and the chirping device.

He examined them for a few seconds.

"Hmmm…interesting. Let's go to the operating table and see what little fluffy here has inside, shall we," said Garth, moving to a table amidst the junk piles. It was lined neatly with tools.

Judy and Nick watched as the opossum took a tiny screwdriver and opened the chirping device, then put on his magnifying goggles and looked at every little piece of the device, taking it apart and examining it thoroughly.

After twenty minutes of silence, Garth spoke suddenly, making Judy and Nick jump a little.

"Well, folks, to end your suspense," said Garth, "this is a radio transmitter. Much like the ones inside mobile phones. It's not terribly uncommon, but I've never seen anything like this one before. It's been heavily customised and some of the parts used in it came from a vintage 1977 Sloth Wheels model car. I've only ever seen one toy store carry them, and that's Lady Hypanthia's Toy Emporium in downtown Savanna Central. The radio portion is pretty run-of-the-mill, but there's something super strange about it. Let me connect it to my computer and I'll show you."

Garth took the tiny device and connected some wires to other wires on his computer and opened a programme that showed a sound graph.

"Okay, now pay attention."

Nick cupped his paws over his ears. Judy understood his reaction.

"Don't worry, Nick, you won't hear it," said Garth. "I've muted the speakers."

Nick was reassured. Garth tapped a few keys on his computer and the sound graph distorted to show some green lines in what seemed like a pattern.

"When you power it on, it transmits a signal," said Garth. "It repeats it at 2.5 second intervals. But I don't get why they'd transmit a signal that practically nobody will hear."

"What do you mean?" asked Judy.

"The signal is transmitting at 60,000 Furtz," said Garth. "That frequency is way too high for most people to hear. Heck, it would take a bat or a wolf to hear something like this."

"Or a coyote," said Judy.

"Or a dingo," said Nick.

"Bingo!" said Garth. "Most canines would hear it. Didn't you say your perps were all canines?"

"We didn't say that," said Judy.

"Oh, must have read it in your files, then," said Garth matter-of-factly.

"Read it in…hold on! How did you read…?"

"Please! ZPD's firewall is good for skipping rope with."

"Erm, more importantly," said Nick quickly."What is the message saying? Can you decipher it?"

"Let me bring it down a few notches, then we can listen to it without having our ears bleed," said Garth as he tapped some keys on his computer. "Okay, here it is. It'll play slower, so listen carefully."

He turned his speakers on and they heard a garbled voice. It sounded eerie.

"Kill…her…kill…her…"

Two words. But the effect was electric.

"Looks like someone wanted you dead, Officer Hopps," said Garth. "And they used Nick to do the dirty work. You were probably getting too close to cracking the case so they decided to have someone off you in inexplicable circumstances. Nick takes the blame and goes to prison, and they run off Scott-free. You almost gotta admire them, huh? Of course, they are evildoers so they deserve to be put on ice," he quickly added.

"How…did you figure all that out?" asked Judy amazed.

"Ever play those point-and-click Sherlock Holmes games on the Carrot II computer?" asked Garth. "It's a lot like that, only instead of a 'You Won' screen, we get real criminals in jail where they belong."

"Garth, how come you never applied to be a police investigator at ZPD?" asked Judy.

"Well…nobody ever suggested it."

Nick and Judy glanced sideways at each other.

"Now that you mention it, though, I like the sound of it. Officer Garth O' Possum, Zootopia Police Department. Pretty catchy, eh?"

"Hold on," said Judy. "The chirping device…you said it used parts from a Sloth Wheels toy car?"

"Yes indeed," said Garth. "More specifically, vintage 1977 models with the spring coil made of steel and the see-through windows. Built to last. I have quite a collection over…er….that away…somewhere over there."

"Toy cars!" said Judy. "That's it! Duke Weaselton was stealing toy cars from Lady Hypanthia's Toy Emporium!"

"So he's the supplier!" said Nick. "He's giving the parts to the culprits so they can fix the chirping devices according to their needs. Nobody would suspect toy cars could be used in the crime."

"That low-down filthy louse!" said Judy. "That disgusting, dirt-eating, lying…"

"Ahh…there's just something so sexy about a girl who can swear like a sailor," said Garth with an ear-to-ear grin.

Judy's face went pink and she fell silent

"So the modus operandi is as follows," said Nick.

"Wooo, pulling out the fifteen buck words, are we, Nick?" said Garth.

Nick just chuckled.

"The dart booth is to select who the next victim will be," said Nick as he pieced it all together. "Old Todd makes the canines win because they can hear above the range of most other folk, then he gives them the baby chick plushies. Madame Mystique hypnotises canines only, so somehow she's using the device inside the baby chick dolls to do it, meaning she's a fraud. She can't hypnotise anybody, only animals who hear in the 60,000 Furtz range."

"Her watch!" said Judy. "She must have one of those radio transmitters inside her watch."

"Bingo! Which is why her hocus pocus won't work on you, Carrots," said Nick. "It wouldn't have any effect on you or anyone else who can't hear in that range. And that's why she didn't do her hypnotising act when there was more than one canine in the tent. She didn't want anyone to get suspicious. But I noticed something odd when my ears started ringing every time I walked by her tent. Bam! That solves the mystery of my ears ringing."

"Can I marry your brain?" said Garth.

Nick grinned.

"Better get in line, lover boy," he said, pointing behind Judy. She giggled.

"Anyway. The baby chick plushies are somehow transmitting orders," he continued. "I'm pretty sure she has radio equipment somewhere that can transmit to the baby chick dolls and make her victims commit crimes while in their sleep, by hypnosis."

"The van!" said Judy. "They probably have radio equipment in the van! Then use it to transmit and move around without raising suspicion. Except they did."

She winked at Nick.

"Right you are. The victims are in deep sleep, so they don't remember anything," said Nick. "They pose as members of a travelling carnival so nobody suspects anything. Until now. We have enough evidence here, the baby chick plushie and the radio equipment inside are definitely sufficient grounds to lock them up."

"So you're going to bring it to 'em, aren't you?" said Garth. "You're gonna bust these crooked carnival capers."

"Yup! They're gonna pay for their crimes," said Nick.

"Insert 'You Won' screen here," said Garth.

"We have to show this to Bogo," said Judy. "We definitely have enough to put those two behind bars."

"Hmm…" Garth examined the baby chick plushie closer. "Nick, do you mind if I hang onto this for a while? I might be able to reverse-engineer this doo-hickey and find out where the signal is transmitting form."

"You could do that, Garth?!" said Judy excitedly. "Really?"

"Anything for you, cute little bunnikinns," said Garth.

Judy frowned, but Nick put his paw on her shoulder meaningfully. Garth was the very definition of isolated from society, and to say he was socially awkward was the understatement of the century.

"Gimme a few hours," said Garth. "I'll whip up something and we'll catch these crooks."

"Right," said Nick. "Garth, I owe you one, big time."

"You'll get my consultation invoice," said Garth as he tinkered with the chirper.

"Well, we'll stop by later, Garth. In our squad car. Then we can all go to the station and tell the Chief what we've uncovered."

"Works for me," said Garth as he worked away. "Say, Nick, when's our next D&D gathering?"

"Oh, er…send me a text, to remind me."

"You changed phones like six times since we last spoke," said Garth. "And so have I, in the interest of full disclosure."

"Ah, yes…that's true," said Nick. "Well, let me just write it down for you."

He did and left his number beside Garth.

"Much obliged. See you later."

"That you will," said Nick.

"See you, Garth," said Judy. "We can't thank you enough."

"For you, mon chéri, anytime."

Judy and Nick turned to leave, weaving through the maze of old computers and machines.

"Hey Nick, what do you call a skimpy swimsuit for rabbits?" asked Garth suddenly out of the blue.

"Eh…I dunno," said Nick.

"A bunnykini! Hahaaa!" laughed Garth. "Tell that one to Flash next time you see him!"

"Will do, heh heh!" said Nick as he did his best to laugh along with the opossum.

"Well, now I see where you got your humour from," said Judy with a teasing grin.

As they walked back upstairs and exited the building, Nick looked sheepishly at Judy and opened his mouth to say something. But Judy spoke up before he could utter a word.

"I won't ask," she said simply.

Nick's mouth closed and he smiled.

They walked two blocks in silence until Judy piped up.

"Nick, what's a body pillow?"

"Errm...Zoogle it at your own risk."

The warden escorted Duke Weaselton into the interrogation room. He cuffed his paws to the table and made sure he was securely restrained before exiting the room. Duke scowled at him as he left the room, wondering what this was about.

The door opened again, and in walked Judy and Nick, each carrying a heavy book.

"Well, whaddaya know! It's Flopsy the Copsy and her foxy!"

Judy and Nick said nothing. They closed the door and placed the heavy books on top of the table, one on top of the other. Then Judy propped up her phone against the books with the screen facing Duke. And they stood at either side of the table, arms crossed, not saying a word.

"If you think you're gonna get anything outta me, dream on, coppers," said Duke. "Ain't nothing you can do that's gonna make…me…mamaaa…AAAH!"

"Hello, Duke," said a smooth voice coming from Judy's phone.

It was Mr Big, Tundratown's most notorious crime boss, and Fru Fru's father. Small as he was, his image dominated the screen on Judy's phone. He was sitting at his desk…or rather, on his desk…and his face was stern and unsympathetic, as usual. Several thuggish polar bears in suits could be seen behind him.

"I hear you've been a naughty boy lately, not that it should come as any surprise."

Duke almost fell out of his chair. Mr Big was every bit as intimidating over a video call as he was in person.

"Stealing toys from innocent children, are we? And just when one thought you could sink no lower. Just when one thought you'd reached the bottom of the barrel, you discover that if you lift up the barrel and tunnel under, there's your new low."

Mr Big paused to let it sink in, and continued.

"I hear you have information that might help a lot of people, but are unwilling to share. So here's how it's going to go: I'm giving you two choices. You can either refuse to tell my granddaughter's godmother and her stalwart companion everything they need to know, and go quietly back to your cell for the rest of your sentence thinking how clever you are. But the moment you step out of prison, my men are going to pick you up and you're going to come over and pay me a little visit, Dukey. And believe me…it won't be as pleasant as it was the last time you were here."

Duke swallowed hard.

"Word of advice: grow a nice thick winter coat while you're in the slammer, because things are going to get nice and frosty when I'm through with you," said Mr Big with relish. "And then there's choice number two. You tell them everything they need to know, they close the case, and you spend the rest of your sentence in prison knowing that you did the right thing, and thus avoid a great deal of discomfort."

Duke looked at Judy, then at Nick. Both their faces were stern and unmoved.

"I'm making you an offer you can't refuse," said Mr Big. "Ciao."

And he hung up.

"Okay…okay…I'll spill the beans," said Duke, shaking like a gelatine cube.

Judy held up her carrot pen to take the confession.

"Start talking," she said, pressing the RECORD button.

"…and so I sold them to Todd. He gave me big bucks for 'em. I didn't ask any questions."

Chief Bogo listened to the recording with his eyes wide.

"I don't know how you do it, Hopps," said Bogo. "But this is our golden ticket."

Then came a knocking on his office door.

"Come in," said Bogo.

Judy, sitting on the chair in front of Bogo's desk, turned around to see Clawhauser walk into the office.

"The results for the van identification came back," said Clawhauser. "It was purchased by one Todd H. Boaringer two years ago, in an auction. We looked into Boaringer. His list of offences is two pages long. Known accomplices: Pandaki Kumamoto, known by her carnival name Madame Mystique, fortune teller and magician. Her list of offences is almost as long as Boaringer's."

"That will do, Clawhauser. We've got them," said Bogo. "Well done Hopps. I want everyone in the briefing room immediately."

There was another knock on the door.

"Come in," said Bogo.

It was Nick, and he had someone with him: Garth O' Possum.

"Greetings and salutations, Chief!" said Garth. "I got a little something you'd like to see."

Garth held up the chirping mechanism and a sheet of paper. It was the schematics with details about the parts and their functions.

"Um…who might you be?" asked Bogo.

"Garth O' Possum, mechanical genius and computer operator extraordinaire, and recently Junior ZPD Officer," said Garth, showing Bogo his sticker badge on his shirt. "On this sheet of paper is everything you need to know about the devices that the perpetrators used to control their victims and coerce them into committing crimes on their behalf, thus taking the blame and leaving the real criminals out of the spotlight."

Bogo took the paper and read it. Nick, Judy, Clawhauser and Garth all waited for him.

"This…is incredible," said Bogo. "Briefing room. Everyone. At once."

Bogo stood at the podium in the briefing room. For once, everyone was silent and eager to listen.

"Alright everyone! We have our perpetrators! Dim the lights, Higgins."

Higgins did, and Bogo switched on the projector, showing the pictures of Old Todd and Madame Mystique, along with their long list of crimes.

"I want two teams!" said Bogo, showing them an aerial view of the carnival. "Team One will be at the entrance of the carnival, making sure they don't run away. Team Two will move in and arrest them. There will be people at the carnival, we don't have time to clear the area. I want everyone to exercise caution and good judgement. All canine officers must wear earplugs; the perpetrators use a sonic device that can affect officers with hearing ranges in the upper ten thousands. Your positions…"

Everyone listened, got their assignments and rushed to their squad cars. Bogo himself would go and oversee the operation.

"Hey, Chief!" said a voice in the back. It was Garth.

Bogo was surprised to see him. He hadn't noticed the opossum walking into the briefing room, but he didn't have time to say anything.

"This is a tracking device I whipped up," said Garth, giving Bogo a small gadget with a screen and some knobs. "It can detect where the radio signals sent to the baby chick dolls are coming from."

"I see," said Bogo, holding the tiny device in his massive hoof. "Perhaps one of our…er…less corpulent officers can operate this device. Hopps…"

"I'm on it, Chief!" said Judy as she jumped onto a desk and took the device from Bogo.

"Okay, then. Let's get moving."

Judy and Nick drove through town with Clawhauser in the backseat, heading towards the city exit.

"All this tension is making me hungry," said Clawhauser.

"You don't say?" said Nick, grinning and looking sideways at Judy, who struggled not to chuckle.

"Hopps. Can you please stop over there for a minute?" said Clawhauser, pointing at a doughnut shop.

"Clawhauser, we're on our way to make an arrest," said Judy.

"It'll only take a minute," said Clawhauser.

"Grrr…alright. Make it quick," said Judy, slowing down and stopping the squad car in front of the doughnut shop. "If you drop any crumbs in our squad car, I expect you to clean them up."

"Don't worry, I can be very tidy," said Clawhauser, opening the door.

"Emphasis on 'can'," Judy muttered under her breath.

"Hey! Look over there!" said Nick, pointing at something farther down the block.

Judy looked and saw that it was the Mystic Springs Oasis, a naturalist club where she and Nick had had to go into ten months ago during their investigation of the missing mammals.

"Oh cripes," said Judy, rolling her eyes. "Don't remind me..."

"Oh! The Mystic Springs Oasis," said Clawhauser smiling. "I haven't been there in a while."

He got out of the car and walked to the doughnut shop.

Judy and Nick sat looking into empty space, processing what Clawhauser had just said, their eyes wide.

"My mind just went to a place I hope it will never go to again for as long as I live," said Judy.

"Mine too," said Nick. "And now I need mind bleach."

They looked at each other and shuddered.

The fairgoers noticed the heavy police presence. Four squad cars were parked at the entrance of the carnival, and three more were parked a short distance from the road beyond.

Judy switched on the tracking device that Garth had made, and she and Nick followed the beeps, with Officers Higgins and Anderson behind them. Then they spotted it.

"Jackpot," said Judy, pointing at the brown van with Granny Mae's Flower Boutique painted on the side. "Ten to one the money is in the van."

Higgins brought a wheel clamp and locked it securely on the front wheel. Then Anderson forced the lock and opened the back. Sure enough...

"Holy fifteen-buck-van-with-fifty-thousand-worth-of-equipment!" said Nick.

The inside was decked with electronics. A box of baby chick plush dolls stood in the corner, and some toy cars in a bag.

"Looks like the carnival is over for the gruesome twosome," said Judy triumphantly.

Chief Bogo marched through the crowd, heading straight to Old Todd's booth. He saw the boar going about his shtick as usual.

"Step right up, folks! Try your luck, only for a buck! Hit the target...oh, good day, Officer!"

"Good morning," said Chief Bogo as he stood in front of the booth and rested his elbow on the counter. "How's business going?"

"As good as one can hope," said Old Todd. "Gotta make a living somehow."

"Yes, and from the looks of it, you are making quite a tidy profit for a carnival booth owner, aren't you, Mr Boaringer?" said Bogo, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Ermm...come again?"

"Does the number eighty thousand and six hundred sound familiar to you?" whispered Bogo.

Old Todd's face went pale. Bogo knew that he had shaken the old boar. Eighty thousand and six hundred was the exact amount of money that was stolen from the Lemming Brothers Bank.

"Umm...er...who...I mean...how did you..." stammered Old Todd.

"Oh, a little baby chick chirped it to me," said Bogo triumphantly.

Old Todd edged backwards into his tent.

"Um...er...I don't think...um..."

"Todd Boaringer, you are under arrest..." started Bogo, but suddenly, the boar shot out of the tent by the side-flap and made a run for it.

Bogo ran after him.

"ALL UNITS!" said Bogo into his radio. "HE'S RUNNING EAST, TOWARDS THE FERRIS WHEEL!"

Old Todd charged through a funnel cake stand and raced towards Madame Mystique's tent. He burst into the tent, finding her on the stage performing her flower magic trick.

"The game's over, Pandaki! Let's split!"

Madame Mystique jumped off the stage and ran towards the entrance of the tent, followed by Old Todd. Her audiences looked confused, wondering what was happening.

"I'll distract them," said Madame Mystique and pulled a smoke bomb out of her garment.

She threw the smoke bomb into the crowd and it exploded in a puff. Loud screams and commotion ensued, giving the two perpetrators a good diversion.

"The van!" said Old Todd. "It's in the parking lot!"

They ran through the crowd but stopped near the entrance, seeing the police cars blocking the gate.

"We're trapped!" said Old Todd.

"Lucky for you, I prepared for such an occasion," said Madame Mystique. "To the funhouse. Hurry."

They turned around and saw Officers Delgato and McHorn coming towards them.

"Other side," said Old Todd and they bolted around a cotton candy stand, narrowly dodging Officer Rhinowitz and Chief Bogo.

"They're heading towards the funhouse!" yelled Bogo. "Two at each entrance! Trap the in!"

Old Todd and Madame Mystique ran into the funhouse entrance, pushing aside everyone in the line.

"We've got them!" said Bogo. "Stay here, Rhinowitz! Delgato, McHorn, cover the exit!"

But suddenly, something burst out of the side of the funhouse. A pickup truck!

"They have a getaway ride!" said McHorn.

"TEAM TWO!" yelled Bogo into his radio. "THEY'RE ESCAPING IN A BLACK PICKUP TRUCK! BLOCK THEIR ESCAPE ROUTE!"

Judy heard Bogo's voice on her radio and waved to Nick to follow her. Nick's ears were stuffed with cotton, so he could not hear.

Just as they got into their squad car, a black pickup truck crashed through the wooden fence a short distance away from them, bypassing the police barrier. It drove over the rough terrain and bounced about, heading towards Meadowlands Highway.

"It's them! They're getting away!" said Nick.

"Not this time!" said Judy. "Hold onto your brush tail!"

She started the car and floored the pedal, shooting off after them.

"This is Officer Wilde! Perpetrators are fleeing west on Meadowland Highway!" Nick said into the radio, pulling the cotton swabs out of his ears. "Officer Hopps and I are on their tail."

"Copy, Wilde," said the voice on the other end. "We're right behind you."

"This time you're going down, creeps," said Judy behind her teeth, leaning over the wheel like a racer as they pursued the fleeing truck.

They shot past a familiar landmark. The emergency telephone booth where the brown van had been parked the night of the bank robbery. And just ahead...blinking lights and a loud horn...

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" yelled Judy as she saw the drawbridge signal flashing.

"We can corner them at the drawbridge!" said Nick.

"They're not slowing down! Look!"

The black pickup truck sped past the broken road gate and shot across the bridge just as it began to elevate.

Judy sped on towards the bridge, clutching the wheel hard.

"Carrots!" said Nick. "We've been here before!"

"We can make it!"

She held the gas pedal down hard with her foot.

"This time we can make it!" she said, her eyes glued on the bridge.

"I hope you're right about this!"

"Hold onto your seat!"

They reached the end of the elevating drawbridge and...

"Sweet cheese and crackers..." muttered Nick as he felt his tummy going to his feet.

The squad car was airborne for all of two seconds...and then plummeted down onto the other half of the bridge.

BAM! It bounced twice and sped on down the other side, right behind the black pickup truck!

"We made it!" said Judy.

"In one piece!" said Nick.

They both laughed out loud and shared a fist-bump.

The runaway pickup truck sped down the road, just a few yards ahead of them. Judy kept the wheel steady. They were gaining on them fast.

"They're trying to reach the county line," said Nick.

"We'll intercept them before they get close," said Judy. "The others are probably stuck at the drawbridge."

"If we...WHOA! WATCH OUT!"

The black pickup truck slammed the brakes and started swaying back and forth. Judy dodged it by a hair's breadth and slammed the breaks also. Just as they came to a stop, the truck shot past them.

"Dirty trick!" said Judy, flooring the gas pedal once more.

"They're not gonna make taking them in an easy task," said Nick.

Judy drove at top-speed and was just a foot away from them. Then, she opened her window.

"Take the wheel, Nick!"

"What!? What are you doing?!"

Then he figured out what she was doing.

"Carrots! I know what you're thinking, but unless you have a flask of Gummiberry juice in your pocket, don't...even...try...aii!"

Before he could stop her, Judy leaped out of the window and onto the pickup truck...just as it swerved away.

She barely made it. Her paws closed onto the edge of the tailgate, her body hanging in the wind dangerously.

With a tremendous move, Judy pulled herself over the edge and landed on the floor of the pickup bed. She took her stun gun out and crawled to the front.

Madame Mystique and Old Todd were inside, sealed and beyond her reach. There was no way she could make them stop.

"Cotton rot!" said Judy under her breath. "Maybe I didn't think this through."

Then her eyes turned to the right...and she saw a box. It was half open and inside were...

"Darts!"

It was Old Todd's box of spare darts to replace the ones that got damaged at his booth. Judy opened the box and took a pawful of darts.

"Well..." she said, moving to the back of the truck. "This is either very smart...or something else altogether."

She threw the pawful of darts under the truck...and she heard a loud BANG! A wheel had busted!

Nick sped right beside the truck, now destabilised and swerving dangerously.

"GRAB MY PAW!" said Nick, extending his arm out the window.

Judy tried to jump, but every time she tried, the truck swerved away.

"JUMP! I'LL CATCH YOU!"

"NICK!"

"JUDY!"

And then, the truck tipped over!

"AAHH!"

Judy jumped. She closed her eyes, feeling nothing beneath her, sure that these were her last seconds of life...only to be gripped firmly by the paw and pulled in through the squad car window, landing on a lap and embraced tightly by a warm, familiar arm.

Nick hit the brakes as he held Judy tightly, watching the pickup truck tumble and skid on the asphalt, until it came to a complete stop.

Judy and Nick approached the pickup truck. It was lying on its side, its wheels spinning slowly. Out of the broken windscreen crawled two figures, battered and woozy: Madame Mystique and Old Todd.

"Urrrg," muttered Old Todd.

"Beaten by a backwater bunny and a trashy fox," groaned Madame Mystique under her breath.

Judy and Nick looked sideways at each other and nodded. Nick knelt down and Judy jumped onto his shoulders.

"Cop didn't see it..." said Judy as she leaped off Nick's shoulders and round-house kicked Madame Mystique in the jaw, knocking her out!

Old Todd looked aghast, but before he could utter a word, Nick's fist connected to his face and the boar fell to the ground, out cold!

"...I didn't do it!" finished Nick as Judy landed from her jump right beside him, and they high-fived.

And just then, they heard the sirens of the rest of their fellow officers arriving in their squad cars.

At first, they were uncooperative. But finally, they gave in. Old Todd and Madame Mystique confessed to their crimes. They told the police where they had stashed the loot. The banknotes were found and traced to the Stoat Farm Bank in Bunny Burrow and the Lemming Brothers Bank in Zootopia. Everything was recorded and registered and broadcast on ZNN for the entire city to see. Judge Hodgson was less than sympathetic when the time came to pronounce their sentence.

Mayor Vince Mousawitz was proud to award an Exceptional Merit Medal to Judy Hopps and Nicholas Piberius Wilde in front of the press, extolling their virtues and emphasising that they served as an example for the community. A rabbit and a fox, awarded medals for courageous and intelligent duty at great personal risk, for the entire city to witness. Chief Bogo was right. The world was moving forward.

Mayor Mousawitz also awarded a Good Citizen Award to Garth O' Possum for his invaluable help in cracking the case and finding the true culprits behind the mysterious robberies.

"Aww, shucks, it was nothing, really," said Garth into the microphones. "So this is what a 'You Won' screen feels like in real life. Gosh, I could get used to this."

And he was met with thunderous applause.

Nick and Judy walked out of the courthouse after witnessing justice being imparted. Suddenly, from the crowd, a familiar face came running towards them! It was the coyote college girl, now cleared of all charges. She was carrying two bouquets of flowers.

"Thank you so much!" she said, hugging Judy and Nick and giving them the flowers. "I can never repay you for all you've done! I study Forensic Science, it's my final year. As soon as I get my diploma, I'm heading straight for ZPD and I'm going to work with you! You are my heroes!"

And with that, without warning, she kissed Nick's cheek and ran away blushing like mad.

Judy smirked and looked sideways at Nick.

"Well, slick, looks like I've got competition," she said. "You should get yourself a PO box for all your fangirl mail."

"Oh, shush, you," said Nick, grinning and chuckling with her.

Nana Bernardine was acquitted. The sheriff and his deputies and half of Bunny Burrow were present when the judge pronounced the verdict. Nana Bernardine hugged Judy with tears streaming down her old eyes. She could not express her gratitude.

"We knew it would all end up well, Nana," said Judy as she held the old St. Bernard's paw and walked her out of the courtroom amidst cheers and congratulations.

"You two are the most wonderful pair of detectives since Watson and Mr Holmes," said Nana Bernardine, looking fondly at Nick and Judy on the front steps of the Bunny Burrow Courthouse. "I must bake you a pie or a cake...or something. I do not know that I can thank you enough, my dears."

"Seeing you smile and seeing your neighbours celebrating this day is more than enough thanks for us, dear lady," said Nick gallantly.

Sheriff Shepard offered to give Nana a ride to the town hall, where the police staff was organising a party for her. As Nana sat in the car, she looked at Judy, holding Nick's arm and smiling back at her.

"You chose well, honey," said Nana, smiling and giving them a knowing wink. "Let me know the date, and I'll bake the cake myself.

As the sheriff's car drove away, Judy felt herself go pink in the cheeks.

Duke Weaselton walked out of the prison gates. His sentence was over, and he was once again free to do as he pleased on the streets.

No sooner than he reached the sidewalk, though, a large black car pulled up and three polar bears in suits surrounded him.

"NO!" yelled Duke aghast. "I DID WHAT HE WANTED!"

The polar bears snatched him and stuffed him into the car.

Shortly, the polar bears roughly pushed Duke into the familiar study where, atop a large mahogany desk, sat Mr Big himself.

"Duke," said Mr Big. "You made the right choice, my lad."

Duke smiled warily, looking around him.

"You helped my granddaughter's godmother close her case, and for that, you have my gratitude."

"Um...it was nothing..." quavered Duke.

"However, there is one little matter to discuss," said Mr Big dangerously.

"Er...what would that be, Mr Big, sir?"

Mr Big grinned evilly as Marcel, one of his thugs, snatched Duke by the scruff and dangled him above the carpet.

"NO! NOO! I DID WHAT YOU WANTED!"

The other two bears removed the carpet and the false floor, revealing the infamous pit of gelid ice and freezing water.

"You're a bad apple, Duke," said Mr Big. "And a bad apple spoils the others."

"MERCY! PLEASE!"

"I may not earn an honest buck, but I know where to draw the line. And that's something you have not learned, Dukey."

"I'LL MEND MY WAYS! I'LL DO ANYTHING! ANYTHING!"

"That you will, my boy," said Mr Big as he watched the weasel dangle over the deadly pit. "Because from now on, you're working for me. I'm going to straighten you out and make sure you learn never to cross certain lines. I'm teaching you respect and loyalty. Every move you make, every sneeze, every cough, I will know of it before you think of it. And if you ever step out of line again..."

Marcel let him go. Duke plummeted and shrieked until Marcel caught him again by the leg.

"Do I make myself clear?" asked Mr Big with a big smile.

"YES! CRYSTAL CLEAR!"

"Good."

The polar bears replaced the false floor and the rug, making the dreadful pit disappear.

"Marcel, take this piece of scum and throw him out," said Mr Big, waving his paw.

Marcel nodded and carried Duke away in his paw.

"Oh, and Marcel..."

The bear paused, listening. Duke swallowed hard.

"...make sure he lands in something as filthy as he is."

Marcel nodded in acknowledgment, carrying Duke out of the office and closing the door behind him.

As the door closed, Fru Fru came into the study, carrying Baby Judy, and walked to her father's side.

"Daddy! It's almost time for your soap opera."

"Is it, baby? Well, I'll be right there."

Then he looked at his granddaughter and smiled. Baby Judy smiled back.

"Granpapa!" she gurgled in her babyish voice.

"Who's my little pudding cake?" said Mr Big, taking his granddaughter in his arms. "Who's Granpapa's little poppet? Koochie-koo!"

Epilogue

Snow covered the carrot fields and icicles hung from the trees. A cold wind swayed the bare branches and blew gusts of powdery snow into the valley. But indoors, all was merry and warm at the Hopps family household. Bunnies dressed in festive colours gathered around the tree to watch their big sister put the star on top, a tradition in the Hopps family.

"Okay, smile for the camera, everybody!" said Bonnie Hopps as she took a picture of everyone around the tree.

Standing out among all the bunnies was Nick, wearing a green knitted sweater that brought out the colour of his eyes. He stood next to Judy, dressed in purple, who had the star in her paws.

"Okay, now let's put the star up, Judy," said Stu Hopps as he filmed the moment with his camcorder.

"Alright, dad," said Judy. "Um…Peter, can you get the stepladder?"

"No need for that," said Nick as kneeled down and offered his paws. "Need a lift, my love?"

Judy giggled as she climbed up carefully onto Nick's shoulders.

"Elevator, going up."

Nick stood up and firmly held her legs as she steadied herself.

"All set, Nick," said Judy. "Let's reach for the stars."

He hoisted her up and she put the star at the top of the tree neatly. She switched it on and it glimmered with a golden light that filled the room with its gleam.

"Bravo!"

"Yay!"

"Way to go, Judy!"

"Three cheers for Uncle Nick!"

"Hip hip..."

"Hooray!"

Everybody applauded as they watched their lovely tree shine with the light of the ornaments.

"Did you make a wish, Judy?" asked her little sister, Isabelle.

"Yes," said Judy as she sat comfortably on Nick's shoulders, caressing his fuzzy cheeks.

"And it's about to come true," said Nick with a sly grin.

With an acrobatic move, Nick swung Judy off his shoulders and into his arms. Then, wrapping his warm tail around her like a scarf, he pulled her close and kissed her passionately. Judy was so surprised she could barely think, but the feel of Nick's warm lips kissing hers was overpowering. Her ears fell limp. She closed her eyes and hugged him tight, her paws caressing his face and neck as they kissed lovingly with the light of the tree shining behind them and giving off a wonderful effect.

Everyone applauded and cheered, and many 'Awww's' were heard.

As Nick pulled away from their kiss and nuzzled her nose with his, Judy's eyes opened and she gazed upon the face of her beloved fox. Caressing his cheek, she tried to tell him how much she loved him and how much he meant to her, how every moment they spent together was a blessing. But the words would not come out.

"Nick…"

"Merry Christmas, my little carrot muffin," said Nick softly, kissing her playfully once more.

"Oh Nick…"

Her lips trembled and she sniffled. Big tears of joy rolled down her cheeks and she let them flow freely.

"Awwww, get in here, you," said Nick, hugging her tightly to his chest as her eyes streamed with mirthful tears. "You bunnies…so emotional."

Her sisters giggled. Little Isabelle piped up.

"Are you gonna marry Judy, Uncle Nick?"

"Izzy…" said Bonnie Hopps, giggling embarrassedly.

Nick turned to Isabelle, smiled and narrowed his eyes, pretending he was thinking hard.

"Hmmm…that's a good question, Izzy. Do you think your big sister would like to marry me?"

Before she realised it, Judy blurted out: "YES!"

"Well, I guess that answers your question," said Nick, winking at Isabelle.

There was a stunned silence in the room as Judy realised Nick had just proposed in the cleverest way imaginable, and she had just accepted Nick's proposal.

Sly fox, she thought, feeling her heart sing with joy.

Then it was Stu's turn to shed tears.

"They grow up so fast…" he wiped his eyes with his handkerchief as his wife hugged him.

All the little bunnies giggled as they watched their sister glowingly happy, cradled in the warm arms of her beloved fox. Surrounded by family and loved by her dear Nicholas P. Wilde, Judy Hopps felt this was the happiest moment in her life, one she would treasure for the rest of her days.

"So, who wants to sing some carols?" said Nick loudly.

"Me!" said all the bunnies.

Judy giggled merrily as Nick held her close, seeing her family so happy around her.

"Care to join in, Carrots? It's the time for love and joy and cheer, after all," said Nick happily with his face filled with mischief as Judy's siblings and her parents all laughed merrily and cheered.

"Couldn't have said it better myself," said Judy as she happily joined in.

The End