Nick and Judy ON THE CASE (p. 1)

Nick and Judy drove in their squad car through the tunnel; they emerged into Sahara Square and its sweltering heat. Without a word Nick leaned forward and turned the car AC on, gently pushing up the dial every few minutes as the heat got to them.

"So Judy, answer me honestly. You've got two hundred siblings, right?" Nick said, a sly smile appearing on his foxish face. His aviators may have hid his eyes, but that smile was eternal.

"275 you mean." Judy correct him, hearing Nick chortle for a moment in response. "What are you on about today?" Judy asked quizzically, raising an eyebrow towards his partner but only taking her eye of the road for a moment.

"Do you know their names? All of them?" Nick asked with a playful grin, turning up the AC another notch.

"Of course I!..." Judy said, at first sounding offended but her voice trailed off. Nick slapped his knee and laughed.

"Haha- I knew it!" Nick said. "You're a terrible sister!"

Judy gave a cute little scowl. "Hey! That's not nice. Listen my parents weren't that creative you know, there are a lot of Bonnie and Stu juniors in there, I know that much!" Judy huffed. Nick dropped the subject but his smile was still glued on his face. What a smug fox.

It was about then they finally reached their destination, Sahara Silver pawn-shop. They parked in the sandy parking lot and went inside, a small bell announcing their entrance. The counter was being manned by a female camel of middle age; she was flipping through another dumb celebrity gossip magazine; the cover seemed to show a hilariously bad photoshopped Gazelle that made her look pregnant. Judy rolled at her eyes that anyone would read that trash, but Nick was already talking.

"Ms.Camel? We're here on behalf of the ZPD and would like to ask you a few questions about your... harassment complaint."

The camel closed the magazine and tapped her hooves together. "Oh thank goodness you guys are here, He just broke my counter today, I need that fixed and it costs money!"

Nick raised a hand. "Woah woah, slow down. Who did this? Who is 'he'?" He snapped his fingers and Judy blinked, before taking out her notepad and starting to write.

The camel cleared her throat. "Alright; He's a pig, or actually boar I think. He's got some wicked nasty tusks, always gave me the creeps." She said, shaking her head. "Yeah, and he's got a black spot on his nose. His name is Bearson. I remember it because I was like 'you're not a bear, so why is your name bearson?' I asked him that." The camel said, gushing on and on.

Judy looked up from her paper for a second and breathed in to speak; but at that moment the door opened again. A new figure, a man wearing a trenchcoat walked inside the pawn store. He had long white tapers coming from his ear, he was a little shorter then Nick but taller then Judy; most would assume he was a bobcat. But his long trenchcoat made it hard to tell.

The two returned to speaking in a moment, Judy finally asking her question.

"Could you show us the damages, please?" Judy asked politely, the camel nodding and walking over to a nearby display case. The top panel was cracked; beneath it was a large collection of jewelry.

"This is it." The camel said, sighing as she touched the top of the display case. "To be honest I thought he was going to rob the place, but he just smashed it after I told him what he didn't want to hear." Nick paused and pulled up his aviators to look her in the eye.

"What did you... uhh, say to him?" Nick asked, glancing between her and the glass. He must have been REALLY pissed off to smash it like that. The camel snorted.

"I told him I didn't have his stinking amulet! I don't understand that guys problem. He keeps coming to the store, every single day, sometimes twice a day looking for an amulet. I kept telling him that if I get an amulet I'd call him, but he won't stop coming to the store. I don't want him back here anymore after this."

Meanwhile, Judy was writing down this information. "Wait, you said he'd call you? Do you have his phonenumber? For Bearson?" The bunny asked the camel, who nodded her head and retrieved a small sticky note attached to her old wall phone. Judy took the note and tilted it so Nick could see it as well as he stood behind her.

"Hey! I recognize that phone number's area code. It's in downtown. I'll run it through the computer." He said, turning around and leaving the store. As he did, the trenchcoat wearing fellow opened the door for the fox. "Oh- thanks." He said, the trenchcoat wearing man nodded in return.

"Thank you for your service to this fair city." Before dipping away and walking away. Nick thought that was a little weird, but smiled anyway. That was the first time anyone had complimented him on being a police officer... He felt a bit of pride. The same kind of pride he felt when he first wore that nature scout uniform.

Meanwhile, Judy finished interrogating the camel and left the store now, clicking her pen off and entering the car. Surprisingly, it was nice and cool. Nick put his sunglasses back on, grinning at the bunny.

"Hey carrots, I started up the car and the AC before you got in. Your welcome." The fox said arrogantly, making Judy go 'ugh' and roll her eyes. She knew he was just messing around, but still.

After a minute of driving with playful ribbing and jokes abound, a slight bump made the two look around alertly.

"What's going on out there?" Judy asked nobody in particular, glancing over at Nick worriedly. Nick pulled down his shades and pointed in the distance.

"Look!" He said, a genuine look of fear on his face. It was a huge dust cloud coming right for them on the road!

"Nick, pull over. Nick you got to- Hey!" Judy was tossed to the side as Nick made a sharp turn, unexpectedly turning the cruiser down an alleyway and parking it behind a building. Just then the two of them could hear a huge amount of sand and dust barrel past; the scratching sound and weather was terrible; it seemed like they might have been forced off the road if they were driving in these conditions.

"You scared me there Nick." Judy said, wiping a bead of sweat from her head. Nick didn't rub it in her face this time, but he did smile.

"I told you carrots, I know everybody. I've also been everywhere. When a scheduled dust storm rolls around, you should look for cover." Nick said, tapping his hands to his knees as he waited at the storm.

"Wait a second..." Judy said suddenly, something running through her little bunny head. She tapped on her phone and opened up the weather app. "Nick- look." She said, pointing at the screen. "There was no scheduled dust storm today; I know they do it to spread the dust around so it doesn't pile onto roads or businesses but there wasn't one today! That was a freak storm."

Nick's cool visage crumbled. He looked at the phone and then at Judy, pulling up his aviators again and looking her right in the eyes. "What, was it a glitch or something?" he asked, hoping Judy's technical expertise could explain it.

"I don't know..." She said, her ears alert and noticing a change in the sound. The dust storm was ending, so she turned the cruiser back on and backed out of the alley. She watched as the streets filled up with confused looking mammals; all confused by the sudden storm as well.

"Seriously, if anyone should be used to a dust storm it would be the residents of Sahara square. What screwy weather..." Judy said, making a mental note to report this. If she didn't hear about it in the news tomorrow.

----

It took about two hours for Judy and Nick to return to downtown and track down the home of Mr.Bearson, Tno thanks to the bad traffic. They parked outside of the red bricked building and got out of the cruiser. But before they entered the building they heard a scream and saw an otter pointing to the roof.

Running across the street, Judy followed the Otter's finger and saw a large pig, with tusks, on the roof, standing very close to the edge.

"Hey! Be careful up there! Come down!" Judy yelled. Nick looked scared for a second, looking up but unable to see the roof from this angle. But when he met Judy's eyes he turned tail and ran inside the apartment complex with great speed, running up the central stairs as fast as he could.

"Get away from the edge! Mr.Bearson!" Judy hollared, using both hands to cup her mouth and give her voice more reach. The boar actually reacted to her last words, surprised she knew his name, but then Judy saw the tree's branches move. "Get down! Get down now! Look out!" Judy screamed as loud as she could, worried the boar couldn't hear her. The wind was beginning to pick up...

Meanwhile Nick was rushing up the stairs. Nobody was using the stairs at this hour it seemed, so he had a mostly clear shot. At least he thought he did until he bumped into a trenchcoat wearing mammal walking down the stairs at the same time he was going up. He looked back for a second, but a loud scream coming from outside awoke him and he ran up the stairs busting onto the roof.

The boar wasn't here. The wind was dying down. Nick looked off the ledge and saw, to his horror, the dead pig on the sidewalk. A nearby mother held her child's eyes away, and a white wolf in a suit was checking the man's pulse. He looked like a doctor of some kind. But the thing that caught Nick's attention most of all was Judy's expression. It was a horrible, pained face. She had obviously never seen death before. Nick's heart sank at what he saw, he wished he was there to support her but he was just stuck up on this roof...

Then, he saw the trenchcoat wearing man exit the building the same way Nick had entered. The trenchcoat wearing bobcat turned away from the injured boar, who wasn't far away, and just started to walk. Nick narrowed his eyes, why would he act so nonchalant around this chaos? Then it suddenly hit him.

"Stop that man!" He yelled out at Judy, pointing to the trenchcoat man, who looked back for a second and then broke into a sprint. Judy sprung into action within a second, crossing the street and nearly getting hit by a passing car who was paying more attention to the accident then her and running after the trenchcoat man. Nick also snapped to his senses and barked down to the bystanders.

"Call and Ambulance and make sure he gets to a hospital!" Nick yelled down at the people on the street, the wolf giving him a big wave to show he understood. Nick then turned and, with a running start, jumped from the roof of this building to the next, grabbing his transmitter and nearly screaming into it.

"ZPD this is officer Nick Wilde in hot pursuit of suspect in downtown; requesting backup. Repeat we are chasing a suspect over!" He said, putting the radio back into its holster and taking another difficult jump.

Meanwhile Judy down on the street chased the suspect on foot. His long trenchcoat and tall ears made him somewhat easy to track, but dodging and weaving through the crowd was tough for her small size; she had to avoid getting stepped on! She looked up and saw a blur of orange cross between the rooftops again, and she winced. She winced every time he made that jump. She really did wish that they had traded places; She would be up there doing the tough jumps and Nick could be down here and slip through the crowds like he always did.

But there was no time for that now; she had a suspect to chase. Why was this guy running? She really hoped they could catch this guy and get a lead on this case! In that moment, a large elephant man turned a corner ahead of the trenchcoat wearing bobcat. He skid to a halt, the elephant looking surprised as he saw the man skid to a halt and slam into his chest. Right behind him was Judy. She saw the Elephant's eyes dart between the suspect and the cop, and with a smooth motion of his trunk he grabbed the cat's neck and hoisted him up in a chokehold.

"No! Uff!" The cat said, tossing his arms around and scratching the elephant, who struggled to hold him. Judy saw the man reach into his pocket and pull out a strange looking object. It looked a bit like a flute with colorful fabric tassels, rattling around in his hand while the other tried to pry the elephant off him.

"I call upon the winds! The primal winds!" he shouted, crazed. Judy's eyes opened at the strange talisman he was holding and his words; was he insane? Judy then felt it, a tiny stirring of wind coming through downtown. Her ears perked up and then she shouted.

"Nick! Careful Nick! Nick!" She shouted, turning away from the suspect as the wind started up. She looked up and with horror saw Nick on the roof. "Get down! The wind!" she shouted, but the wind got very strong now, so loud it drowned out her words- Nick looked unsteady, getting low to the roof to hold on, but a satellite dish from a nearby roof smashed into him and knocked him down.

"No! NO!" Judy screamed as she saw Nick fall, before he managed to grab on to a window-sil with his bare claws, only one hand keeping him up. At that moment she heard a pained yelp and turned her head to see the cat finally scratch his way out from the elephant's grip, continuing to run away. She ignored it completely, running to save Nick.

Nick was dangling over an ally with nothing under him. Judy ran as fast as she could and saw a dumpster just a few feet away parallel to his wall. She slammed into the dumpster and pushed with all her might, but she was unable to move it. She almost started to cry at her futility, but as she pushed with her legs and back she saw the elephant, standing there and watching in shocked silence.

"Help! Please! He's going to die!" Judy said, the elephant snapping into action, charging forward as Judy heard Nick cry out, falling down. In that single second she ducked to the side, falling onto her side and opening her eyes to see Nick scratching the wall in a panic as he fell down to the ground...

The elephant slammed the dumpster with such force it lurched forward, sparks flying as he pushed it underneath the fox, just in time for him to fall into the trashcan; Judy getting to her feet and rushing to the dumpster. She jumped to the rim, looking inside and seeing no side of him.

"Nick!? Are you ok?" Judy asked. She heard a groan, and then saw a orange paw reach out and grab the lid near her foot.

"Carrots... You're supposed to use a mattress." Nick murmured, finally raising his head out of the trash with a banana draped comically on his muzzle. Judy squealed in happiness and jumped into the trash can with him, hugging him tight. She opened her eyes after a few seconds at the panting Elephant man.

"Thank you so much for your help." She said, nodding at the elephant man. He snapped out of it and gave a salute with his trunk.

"No problem mam, just doing my part." He said, turning to return to his business. Judy then helped the fox out of the dumpster and he looked around.

"I'm guessing he got away?" He asked, holding his side in pain, a little banged up from the landing.

"Yeah. But we're going to report this to the chief. This is bigger then we thought." She asserted, Nick nodding in agreement. They began their long trip back to the cruiser, they knew this day wasn't over yet...