This is PrinceBalto's sequel to Zootopia: A City of Mystery and Romance.
Premise
Picking up right where Zootopia: A City of Mystery and Romance left off, this continues the story of Nick, Judy and the great mammal city of Zootopia. We start with the stuff that I had cut, as it is still canon. From there, we go into many things: Nick and Judy's first wedding anniversary, Judy getting pregnant and so on, along with new items such as it being revealed that Finnick and Vixey have been undergoing detective training of their own and taking over Foxwood Detective Agency when Nick and Judy leave.
Story
The next day after moving into the their apartment, Nick and Judy woke up early as they had been doing for months. They were thrilled. It would be their first day back at Foxwood Detective Agency after their marriage.
"Can't wait to see what cases we get today," Judy said.
Nick nodded as they got up. They went through the usual routine. Then got dressed. Nick put on his usual attire and got his detective kit and gun, while Judy put on her catsuit. Since they worked together, they took Nick's car to work. Finnick and Vixey were there to meet them outside the office building.
"Welcome back, buddy! You too, Judy!" Finnick told Nick and Judy in an excited tone.
Vixey nodded.
"Come on," she said.
The four of them headed up on the elevator to the Foxwood office. Upon arrival, they got to work. A few hours passed, during which time they devoted themselves to paperwork. Then, after having lunch at the Zootopia Galleria's food court, they returned to the office. Vixey reviewed some of her work when the phone rang. The vixen picked up the phone.
"Foxwood Detective Agency, this is Vixey Wilde speaking. How may I help you?" she responded.
The feminine voice on the other end spoke.
"Hello, Vixey. This is Gazelle. Is Nick in the office? I need to speak to him," it said.
Vixey looked for a moment at the door to Nick's office.
"Yes, he's here. If you can wait a few seconds, I will go and get him," she replied.
Gazelle smiled as she remembered her past history with Nick and his family. It went all the way back to 1996, when she officially kicked off her career and was only just going from being called Kira Hornston to being called Gazelle. She sighed.
"Yes, I will wait. Thank you, Vixey," she said.
Vixey set the phone down on the desk and rushed over to her cousin's office. She opened the door.
"Hey, Nick! We have a call from Gazelle. She says that she needs to speak to you right away. She's waiting on the phone right now," the vixen said.
Nick smiled and got up.
"I am coming," the twenty-nine year old tod answered.
Nick followed her to the desk and picked up the phone.
"Gazelle! Nice to hear from you again. What seems to be the problem?" he asked.
Gazelle was thrilled to hear the fox's voice.
"Nick, I need you and Judy to come to my mansion. A very important possession of mine has been stolen. It seems as if it was done overnight, while I was performing at the Bromeliad Lane Resort in the Rainforest District. Bogo and I would greatly appreciate it if you could assist him and the ZPD. It's his day off, so he will be there too to give you more information," she said.
Nick smiled. Gazelle had found out about Judy leaving the ZPD through Bogo when he had told her about Judy's departure from the ZPD at the end of the day that Bellwether was arrested.
"Sure. We will be right there. Bye. See you shortly," he told her.
Gazelle was pleased.
"I wouldn't trust any other detective to assist my husband and the ZPD other than you, the great fox detective. Bye," she said before hanging up.
Nick put the phone on the hook and rushed to Judy's office.
"Hey, honeybuns, get your stuff. Gazelle has a case for us. One of her valuables was stolen over night, and she has asked us to help find it," he told her.
Judy smiled and stood up to get her gear.
"Great. Let's go," she said.
Moments later, Nick and Judy were in his car, taking off for Gazelle's mansion here in Savanna Central. Meanwhile, at that magnificent home, Bogo held Gazelle close. She was not upset, but she was surprised that someone had managed to get past her security team. Bogo gave a rare smile.
"Don't worry, Kira. The ZPD and I will catch that criminal who stole the Sultan's Heart from its case," he said.
Gazelle glanced at the broken case that had one held the object in question. The Sultan's heart was a large, beautiful ruby. It had been given to her as a gift early in her career by a wealthy male cheetah community leader in Sahara Square, the husband of the female cheetah bellydancing instructor who had discovered her at age sixteen and trained her. Gazelle took a deep breath.
"With Nick and Judy coming, the gem won't stay lost for long," she answered proudly.
Bogo thought about all the stories that Gazelle had told him about her past history with Nick, including when she met him a week after his incident with the Junior Ranger Scouts. She had a soft spot for the fox.
"Well, if he can help solve a city-wide case, he can certainly help solve this," he said.
Gazelle smiled and hugged him tightly. For a long moment, she remembered how they met. Their relationship began in 2014, when she was performing at a ZPD charity event. She had gotten the opportunity to meet Bogo, and the two hit it off. It wasn't long before they began dating. In early 2015, he proposed to her, and, that summer, they got married. They didn't have a child, as Gazelle had learned that she was incapable of having children. On Bogo's end, it was because he did not want to risk giving the criminals he went after another target. He worried about Gazelle frequently, and that was the reason that he insisted that she only hire the best security team that Zootopia, indeed, the entire kingdom, had to offer.
"I will be fine, my love," she had told him.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Gazelle went to answer it. As usual, her bodyguards were nearby. She found Nick and Judy there and greeted them warmly.
"Come in. It's so good to see you," she said as she hugged Nick.
Nick chuckled.
"Good to see you too, Gazelle," he replied.
Gazelle smiled.
"Nick, to me, you will always be that adorable kit I met back in 1996," she told him.
Nick sighed and smiled.
"Thank you. Now, what is the problem?" he asked.
Gazelle took out her phone and brought up a picture of the Sultan's Heart.
"This is the Sultan's Heart, given to me by the husband of my bellydancing instructor. It was stolen from its case. Come, I will show you so that you can search for clues," she said.
Nick and Judy followed her into the house. Bogo was waiting by the remains of the case that held the jewel. He smiled at them.
"I hope that you can solve this as well as you did the Night Howler case," he told them.
Nick nodded.
"Is there any security footage?" he asked.
Bogo motioned for them to follow. He and Gazelle took them to the security room. Bringing up the footage, Nick and Judy watched until, suddenly, Nick paused it. He saw the thief and had a realization.
"The suspect was a fox," he said, being able to see the tail in the footage.
Judy's eyes went wide. Oh, why did the culprit have to be a fox of all mammals?! She was worried that, if this news got out, it might cause trouble for foxes, just like her inadvertent statements about predators during the press conference had. Meanwhile, in an apartment in Savanna Central, a beautiful young adult Red fox vixen looked at the Sultan's Heart. Her name was Bella Vulpes, and she was the thief.
"You beauty!" she exclaimed.
Bella had been a thief since she was a teenager and prided herself on having regularly evaded the ZPD. Around eighteen or so, she turned to stealing jewels and other valuables. She lived a double life, going to school and socializing during the day and stealing at night. A routine activity was using her beauty to charm unsuspecting wealthy male mammals and then swiping their valuables. More than once, she had hit the natural history museum. However, the Sultan's heart had been too much of a prize to pass up. Back at Gazelle's mansion, Nick and Judy were looking for more evidence.
"No fingerprints," Nick said.
Judy put a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, don't worry, Sparky. We will solve this. That fox will be captured, just like Bellwether was," she told him.
Nick smiled at his wife, knowing that, together, they were unstoppable. Meanwhile, in Sahara Square, Jack Hopps, the brother of Judy, was having a meeting with a special someone. That someone was Regina Pawson, a gorgeous skunk bellydancer that lived in this part of the city. It was his day off from his job at the Natural History Museum, and she was not doing anything either.
"Nice to see you again, handsome," the skunk said as he picked her up at her palm tree apartment.
Jack nodded and took her by the hand as they left for their destination. They had met last month at the dinner for Nick's 29th birthday, which was attended by both the Wilde and Hopps families, at a 1,001 Nights-themed restaurant at the Zootopia Galleria. Regina had been giving a bellydancing performance there and the two hit it off. Now, they were dating.
"I hope you will like the aquarium at the Palm," she said.
Jack took hold of her hand.
"Oh, I know that I will," he answered.
Regina began telling him more about it. Back in Savanna Central, Fabienne Manchas, once called Fabienne Growley, walked out of the ZNN building and straight into the arms of Manchas, her beloved husband of one month. She had awhile before she had to begin preparing for the next newscast.
"How are things, my love?" he asked.
Fabienne smiled sweetly.
"I am fine, dear, but...well, last night, I started thinking about something," she replied.
As they began to walk away, Manchas eyed her.
"What would that be?" he asked.
Fabienne smiled.
"Please, don't take this as me requesting it right now, because I am not ready, but, at some point, I would love to have a little baby cub of our own," she said.
Manchas looked deep into her eyes. Baby mammals born from an interspecies couples were so rare as to be virtually unheard of.
"It will change everything," he answered.
As they walked away, Fabienne sighed.
"We have been through a lot of change already," she replied.
They continued to talk about the matter. In the jewel heist case, Nick and Judy were headed to a place where they could get some answers. Wolfard, the ZPD's resident tech expert could do amazing things with his technology, among them taking security footage and making it better quality.
"Wow, technology has really advanced," Judy thought to herself when Nick thought this idea up.
No sooner had Nick parked the car did his phone go off. Pulling it from his pocket, the fox saw that it was Vixey. He answered the phone, wondering what his cousin had to say.
"Hello?" he began.
On the other end, Vixey grew excited.
"Nick, guess what? Finnick and I just officially completed our detective training!" she exclaimed.
Nick felt a smile come across his face. As it was on speaker phone, Judy could hear it too. Vixey was more gleeful than she had been in a long time. Since the conclusion of the Night Howler crisis, she and Finnick had been training as detectives.
"That's wonderful, Vixey. Congratulations," he told her.
Vixey giggled.
"Finnick was thrilled too. Last night, he gave me the best kiss he has ever given me," she replied.
Judy laughed playfully. She knew from experience that Finnick and Vixey were as much in love as she and Nick were. She couldn't resist giving a statement of her own.
"Good to see that you're keeping your man happy," she said.
Suddenly, Finnick, who was nearby, joined in.
"I am one happy fox," he added.
Nick looked at the clock. He knew that Wolfard was waiting for them, and that they had an appointment to keep.
"Well, Vixey, it was good to hear from you again. I have to go. See you soon," he said.
Vixey knew that his business was urgent from the tone in his voice.
"Bye, Nick," she answered.
He then hung up the phone. He and Judy then headed into the ZPD. Soon after, Wolfard got to work. It took quite awhile, but, soon enough, the video was fixed. They could see the culprit in perfect detail.
"Our crook is a vixen," Nick said.
Judy was amazed at what Wolfard had just done. The wolf cop made a copy of the fixed footage and gave it to Nick and Judy. Now, the ZPD could begin making headway on the case. They said goodbye to Wolfard and left, saying that they were going to get this to the news. Nick and Judy got into the car and began heading for the ZNN station. The footage was shown on the news, and a number provided for a reporting hotline. It wasn't long before they got a call from a wolf family, who stated that they knew the vixen and that she lived in their apartment building, providing the number of her residence.
"Excellent. Now, we just need to get in there," Nick stated.
Working with Bogo, a plan was made. Judy would go undercover as an underground jewel buyer and purchase the Sultan's Heart. After the purchase was made, the ZPD would come in and arrest her. Soon, it was time to go. Judy bravely went to Bella's apartment. The vixen answered the door.
"And you are?" she began.
Judy smiled, keeping in character.
"My name is Esmeralda Cottontail. I am an...underground buyer of jewels. I have heard that you have a beautiful one in your possession," she said.
Bella looked at her curiously. This bunny looked a lot like Judy Hopps, the bunny who had saved the city with that fox. Reluctantly, she let Judy in.
"Come in, Ms. Cottontail. I took this gem from the home of Gazelle," she continued.
Judy smiled. This was too easy.
"By the way, what is your name?" Judy asked.
Bella sighed and smiled politely.
"Bella. Bella Vulpes," she answered.
As soon as Judy saw the jewel, she began the talks. Bogo had given her several thousand dollars with which to make the deal. Sometime later, it was made. As planned, because Judy had been wearing a wire, the ZPD came in to arrest Bella. The vixen was shocked.
"You are Judy Hopps!" she exclaimed.
Judy nodded.
"The one and only," she replied as she was handcuffed by the ZPD officers.
Bogo picked up the jewel, ready to return it to Gazelle. With the ZPD was Nick. The fox detective smiled proudly at his beloved wife. He couldn't have been happier in that moment. Following that, Nick and Judy went back to the mansion with Bogo in order to return the Sultan's heart to Gazelle. She was thrilled, hugging Nick tightly.
"Oh, thank you, my old friend!" she exclaimed.
Nick hugged her back.
"You're welcome," he said.
Nick and Judy then began to head home. Time began to pass. In November, Jack and Regina got engaged. On Christmas night, Manchas and Fabienne conceived a cub, much to their delight when they found out. Later, some time after their first wedding anniversary, Nick got some major news from Judy.
"I'm pregnant," she said.
Nick's eyes went wide for a second, but then he embraced her in joy.
"Oh, Judy, that's wonderful news!" he told her.
Many things changed in that time. Nick and Judy left the detective business, passing Foxwood to Vixey and Finnick. They then bought a house, selling their apartment. Judy went on to give birth to a hybrid son that they named Hunter. He had brown-orange fur and one green eye and one purple eye. He also looked very fox-like, but had a bunny's nose and tail, as well as fox ears that were larger due to the bunny genes in him. When the doctors pondered how they should refer to him, Nick came up with the answer.
"He's a Fobbit," he said.
Nick and Judy couldn't have been happier. Things were really looking up for them. For a moment, it was hard to believe that a meeting in Nick's office two years ago, when the city was nearly torn apart by Bellwether's evil deeds, would lead to all this. Oh how wonderful it was.
