Era of the Tame Collar

One Last Chance

Judy watched as the savage fox escaped through the fence of Little Rodentia, and ran out of her sight. She put the doughnut statue back on top of the correct building from which it was knocked off of, then began apologizing to the nearly crushed citizens. Many of them were furious at her for being destructive.

"I and my twelve sons could of been killed!" screamed a female mouse. Judy began ignoring their complaints and walked to the exit of the small city. Once she was out, she was met with the other officers. They were not happy with her.

"Just what we needed. A bunny on our crew. And now criminals are getting away" said an elephant.

Judy ignored the nasty glares and rude comments that were being made about her as she walked back to the station with the other officers. Once she got inside, she was met with her chief. She knew that this couldn't be good. He's always aggravated at her for something.

"You tore up much of Little Rodentia, nearly crushed citizens, and let the criminal get away." said the water buffalo.

"Yes but sir-" Judy started.

"I am not finished!," he yelled, "You were lucky enough that we've kept you this long! Do you think the mayor asked me what I wanted when she assigned you to me? I didn't want a RABBIT on my team! But did I have a choice? You got your chance. And now you're screwing it up. You failed at three tasks today. You couldn't even keep the fox from running out the front door! How can we expect you to catch him if you can't even stop him from running out the front door!?"

Judy flinched at him yelling loudly. He didn't seem to calm down.

Once she realized he was finished, she began to speak again, trying to fix what she had broke.

"Sir please, I realize I made a mistake. Let me fix it."

"No. You've had too many chances, Hopps. I'd say it's time for you to pack your suitcase and head back to the rural areas, because you're fired."

"But Chief!" Judy cried.

"No!"

Judy was getting frustrated. She didn't know how to save herself from losing her job. She was beginning to panic even more when she heard a familiar voice. She noticed her chief looked towards the door in shock. She turned around to see Mayor Swinton standing in the doorway. Chief Bogo got up and walked over while Judy stayed in her chair.

"May I help you Ma'am?" asked the water buffalo.

"Did I hear you say you were going to fire Miss Hopps?" she asked.

"You did".

"Why exactly?"

"She's been disobeying and not doing her job correctly." he said.

"But she is a rookie. You have to give her a chance to work her way up in the ranks. She deserves to be given a chance just like every other mammal on this police force. You're making it unfair. In fact, I demand you give her one more chance to prove herself."

"What? But you can't just.."

"I can, actually. Give Officer Hopps one more chance. Make her catch that fox. And if she does, she keeps her job."

"Mayor Swinton, you can't possibly expect me to.."

She gave him a dirty look, just daring him to go on.

"Alright! Hopps has been given another chance."

He turned back to the bunny. Mayor Swinton walked over to Judy and shook her paws.

"I have great trust in you, Judy." said the mayor kindly.

"Thank you Ma'am!" said the bunny. The mayor left, and the two were left alone again.

"Uhhh... I will give you 48 hours to find this fox and catch him". said Bogo.

"Is there a catch?" she asked.

"If you don't bring him back here in two days, you're fired." he finished.

"Ah. There it is. Um..Deal."

"Splendid. I figure you know what to do and how to find him. I wish you luck" he said sarcastically. Judy hopped down from the chair and walked out the door, ready to begin the search for the savage fox.

Nick walked through the crowded streets of Zootopia. He kept making his way towards Tundra Town. He knew he had to lay low and try not to bring too much attention to himself. Many mammals now knew of his accident, and they may notice him. But he was still going to find a way to fix all of this. He had to know who that wolf was in the trench coat. Surely there was a larger explanation to this.

His feet soon hit snow, the white fluff crunching underneath his feet. He needed to find Koslov. Koslov had told him, if he needed help, to come to him. Nick thought that perhaps now was that time. He started searching for the old polar bear.

Back at the police station,

Judy started her search for the fox by going to the computers and checking the traffic cams. She looked up Little Rodentia, and saw the recent events that occurred. She saw herself running back for the doughnut statue while the fox made a break for it. He squeezed through the fencing and kept on running. She clicked on the next camera, showing the fox running down the road. Then the next. Then the next. 

Putting cameras all over the city did help sometimes when searching for escaped criminals. Judy clicked on the next one and saw that he had tried to start blending in with the crowd. He kept low. And she noticed he was heading towards Tundra Town. This scene was only recorded a few minutes ago, which meant he was still there. Judy quickly grabbed her dart gun and ran to her vehicle. Of course, they didn't give her an actual police car. 

They made her drive around in a small vehicle that only drove about thirty miles per hour. She had to get there fast.