six months 》junick

Chapter 1: Assignments

Judy's eyes fluttered open peacefully at the hands of the bright sunlight peeking in through the crack in her curtains. As soon as her eyes were open all the way, a smile stretched across Judy's face as she hopped out of bed. Today was one of those days where she just felt happy for no particular reason. She thought it was because of the pleasant weather posing as another reason as to how Zootopia was perfect; well, apart from the crime rates increasing over the last few years. But surely it was nothing the ZPD couldn't handle.

Judy skipped to the bathroom and turned on the shower, taking off her nightclothes and tossing them in the laundry bin behind the door while the water was warming up. Judy's favourite thing about taking showers was the feeling of the hot water running down her back. It gave her chills but she loved it. Besides sleeping, showering was the only time in the day where Judy could actually contemplate herself and the world around her. She had always been a big thinker, but showering gave her the opportunity to wash herself and come up with a plan for the day.

Once Judy was done contemplating and showering, she switched the shower off and hopped out, drying her fur before changing into her police uniform. Walking past the TV, she switched it on to listen to the news while making herself breakfast. As much as Judy loved to hear what was going on in Zootopia, she didn't like having to hear about all of the crime going on in the metropolis. But, as always, she would get her lecture, along with all the other officers, in roll call later.

Skipping into the kitchen, Judy's ears perked up when she heard the female news reporter's voice from her living room. She listened intently while popping a slice of bread into the toaster and pulling out the butter from the fridge.

"In other news, the criminal predatory gang known as "The Preds' have targeted Zootopia once again. Their known aim is to rid the metropolis of fifty prey as a revenge plot for the fifty predators that were involved in their last attack seven years ago."

Judy wasn't really listening as well as she would have liked to, but she did hear that The Preds have targeted Zootopia again after seven years. She had only been a police officer in Zootopia for three years, living in Bunnyburrow when they first attacked.

Judy hummed to herself as she buttered her toast and ran to the door, picking up her keys and turning off the TV before unlocking the door and stepping out onto the streets of Zootopia. She closed and locked the door behind her before sliding her keys into her back pocket and heading off for work.

The sun shone brightly in the sky as it provided warm yellow light to the city of Zootopia. The air was crisp and calm, and there were the odd few animals walking in different directions, probably to get to work aswell. Judy breathed in the sweet air and exhaled loudly, enjoying the feeling it caused her to feel. She felt happy; no, more than that. She felt ecstatic, and there was nothing that could bring her down from her good mood, not even parking duty! But that still didn't say that she wanted to do parking duty.

"Morning Clawhauser!" She chirped, waving to the cheetah behind the reception desk as she skipped over to him.

"Someone's in a good mood today," Clawhauser giggled as Judy signed in.

"When am I not in a good mood, Ben?" She asked rhetorically, putting the pen back down onto the clipboard and pushing the clipboard over to Clawhauser.

Clawhauser just laughed at Judy's comment as she skipped off to roll call.

Judy took her usual seat at the front desk and waited for Chief Bogo. She was ready for what the day would throw at her, and she couldn't wait to start her day of work.

When the chief did finally arrive, all the other officers cheered and banged their fists on the table until he told them to settle down. Judy never understood why they did that, but she had gotten used to it by now.

Chief Bogo put on his glasses, and looked at the cases in hand before he began talking.

"As you've probably already heard, the criminal gang "The Preds" have made their plan to eliminate fifty animals of prey public," Bogo started. "This is priority number one, as The Preds are a very dangerous gang, consisting of six of the most vicious criminals in all of Zootopia. We still don't know why this is happening but we cannot risk any slip ups. That is why I am assigning Officers McHorn and Delgato to the case."

Just as Judy had finished processing all of the information given by Bogo, which wasn't very much mind you, she actually felt glad that she hadn't been assigned the case. She wouldn't have minded if she was assigned the case, but she was a mammal of prey, which made her a target to The Preds. Despite the fact that ninety percent of the population of Zootopia was prey, if she went after them, it would probably be a dumb move. Of course, she would've loved to be seen as capable to solve such a tough case, but she was content with whatever else was going on in Zootopia.

"Officer Hopps," Bogo said after all the other officers had been assigned to their cases. "Don't think of this as an insult, but I am assigning you to parking duty."

Even though Judy was expecting that, she was still shocked.

"Why?!" She asked. "There were so many other cases I could've taken! Why parking duty?"

"Hopps, you work way too hard as a cop and you deserve a break. I couldn't possibly let you work your brain on The Preds case, and all the other cases weren't of a capacity that would keep you there for long. Knowing you, you would probably get them done in five minutes; then I would have no choice but to assign you to parking duty," he explained and Judy's ears flattened in disappointment.

"Please, Officer Hopps. Don't put anymore strain on yourself and have a nice, relaxing shift," Bogo begged, his voice softening.

Judy sighed and faked a smile for her chief.

"Ok," she replied quietly.

Bogo smiled, which was rare for the buffalo, and handed Judy her vest and hat, which she took and put on sadly.

"Splendid. As a reward, you can go home after lunch and tomorrow I might let you work a real case," Bogo said before leaving the room.

Judy sighed and turned on her heel.

"Yep, perfect," she muttered to herself as she trudged out of the office, ready to start a boring day of parking duty.

~*~

Yeah, I know. Not a lot happens in the first chapter, but shit gets interesting in the next chapter. So, as always, thanks for reading!