The Time Traveler's Guide to Zootopia

Chapter 37: The Hustler

For the first time in what felt like forever, I slept like a rock.  No nightmares, no harrowing visions, and no imaginary human-to-animal transformations like that time in Bunnyburrows.  Best of all, I didn't need three alarm clocks to jolt me awake.  I simply woke up on my own.

Without a doubt, it was the best rest I've had in weeks.

As soon as the sun broke through the curtains, I hopped out of my bunk, prayed, threw on my blue cloak, and went right out the door.  Today was going to be a great day, I just knew it.

While the animal cadets were sound asleep, I went outside to run a few laps around the grass field.  The air felt fresh and crisp.  The sprinklers activated on my final lap but I didn't care.  If anything, it felt rejuvenating so I ran straight through them, not caring how soaked I got.

As I ran, tiny water droplets formed around the neck.  I could feel the coldness around my bare skin which didn't seem right.  I stopped under a nearby tree to remove the helmet.   After careful inspection, nothing egregious stood out except for a few receding nanoparticles along the neck's base.  It was small enough that it wasn't noticeable but it was large enough that moisture could enter.  

Regardless, I had other matters to focus on today.  

I returned the helmet to my head and ran back to the dorms for my textbooks.  They were neatly placed next to a room heater for two days to dry off when one of the elephants did a water prank on me three days prior.  Hopefully, the pages were still intact because I would need them.

In fifteen minutes, there would be a final exam on Sloth Interrogation Techniques so I had to study fast.  I barely read through any of the seventeen chapters that were assigned to us, mostly because I fell asleep on the job.  Cadets claimed it was one of the hardest exams at the academy, right after the exam on how to drive safely around rodents in Zootopia.  

The last time I took a practice test, I accidentally flattened every tiny road cone that represented a Little Rodentia citizen.  There were just too many blind spots.  The mouse instructor got so panicky that he nearly fainted.  Running over a mouse in my world wasn't such a big deal but Zootopia treated the situation in an entirely different way.  Thus, the liability alone was stressful enough.   

Flunking both tests seemed inevitable.  But today would be different.

With brewing confidence, I opened up the wrinkled textbook and did a power study.  Time was short so I only focused on the final paragraphs of each chapter.  I figured that'd be enough since all the main ideas were summarized towards the end.

Soon enough, the cadets all caught up to me and we anxiously awaited outside the classroom.  The instructor would arrive at any minute to proctor the exam.  Thus, everyone tried to cram as much knowledge into their furry heads as possible.  Some used phones, others used tablets, while I used the hardcover textbook.   A bit ironic, considering I came from an era of advanced technology.

At that moment, I scanned the textbook pages into my HUD to study them virtually.  The programmed interface would automatically highlight key concepts while disposing of the redundant information.  Hopefully.  I should've done it earlier but it was better late than never.

Since I no longer needed the hard book copy, I tossed it into the trash, earning a few suspicious stares from the animals.  They must've thought I was either overconfident or giving up.  Little did they know.