Beautiful Feelings

Chapter Four

We approached the rope bridge that lead to the panther's house. "All right lets go." Judy said and I continued to stare at the bridge. "You guys go ahead. I'll wait here." I said softly as they both turned around to look at me. I stood right before the bridge started and Judy walked over to me, "You taught me how I could do anything, I'm not leaving without you." She said grabbing my paw and smiling. "Let's go." I said quietly as she lead me on the bridge. "See it's not so bad." She said and I nodded at her, we reached the door and Nick knocked softly. The door cracked open revealing the panther, "We have some questions ours the otter you transported a few days ago." Judy said and he looked around. "He did this!" He said and we all looked at his face, his face was all scratched and Nick tilted his head to the side, "Wow. A little otter did that to you?" He asked and the panther nodded. "He just went savage. No explanation. He just kept yelling about the night howlers!" The man said and we all looked at each other. "So you know about the night howlers too?" Nick asked and Judy smiled at me. "Well why don't you let us in and we can tell you everything we know right after you?" Nick asked and the panther considered his options. "Okay." He said softly as he closed the door to unlock it, "Clever fox." Judy said and Nick shrugged his shoulder. Then we all stared at the door, there was a scream from inside the house. Nick knocked on the door, but it opened slightly just enough for us to see the panther on all four legs and growling at us. "Run." Nick said quietly and Judy and I ran. He followed behind us quickly but the panther was also behind us. We ran down the bridge put it snapped under all the weight. I reached into the air and grabbed at morning, weightlessness taking over my body as my fur blew around me. Suddenly my back hit against a tree and I screamed out on pain. Nick quickly helped me up and we followed Judy. "We're going to try and get in those!" She yelled pointing at the lifts. She pulled out her radio and called for backup. Her radio dropped beneath us as we continued to run from the panther. We made it to the bridge Nick let go of me to run to the lift, Judy and I were cut off by the panther. Judy backed up and I followed her and I felt weightlessness again, Judy grabbed my paw as she grabbed the edge of the bridge. "Hold on!" She yelled as I held onto her tightly. The rain fell against my fur and I held on tighter. I heard Nick calling for us and I could hear him talking to the panther. "Judy!" I yelled and she looked down at me, "Fling me to the other side!" I yelled and she shook her head no, "You'll fall!" She said and I shook my head, "I'll be fine!" I said back as I let go of her hand and grabbed onto the bottom of the bridge. I held myself up and climbed back next to Judy, "Hold on!" I said as I climbed up and pulled her up. I looked back at the panther and took Judy's cuffs and cuffed him to the pole. Nick tried to get around the panther but it lunged at him at the last minute. Nick ran into me and Judy and we fell off the side again. Judy grabbed a rope hanging from the side and grabbed onto Nick, I felt Nick grab onto my arm and he held me up. "I told you I would protect you." He said and I quickly grabbed onto him with both paws. "Do not let go!" I screamed to Judy. "I'm letting go!" She said and both Nick and I looked up at her. "WHAT?!" We screamed as she let go and we swung towards a tree. We landed safely on the vines and we all laughed, "Wow Juds. You saved us." I said and then we all fell again. The vines wrapped around all three of us and we were tangled together. We all laughed and struggled against the vines, cop cars pulled up right in front of us. Chief climbed out the car frowning at our predicament. We eventually were cut down and Judy explained to the cops what had happened. "Don't you need to go tell them what happened?" Nick asked and I shook my head. "No, she's got this under control." I said walking with him back up to where I chained the panther. Everyone stopped and I stopped behind them, "We'll have to squeeze through." I said to Nick and he followed behind me as I walked through the other officers. Judy stood and there was nothing, "Wow. Real good job Hopps." Chief said and I walked over to him. "There was a panther there!" I said and he looked down at me, "Really means something to me coming from a fox. We had a deal. Badge Hopps." Judy looked down and I stopped her. "You gave us 48 hours. We still have time." I said and he stared down at me. "Wait a second, you have them 48 hours to solve a case you have solved in weeks?" Nick said walking over to Judy and I. "They do still have time, and we have a very big lead to follow." Nick said grabbing my paw and leading me towards the lifts. Judy followed and he opened the door for us. We all three climbed in and rode off leaving all the other officers behind. "Thank you, Nick." Judy said softly and Nick smiled at her. "Don't mention it carrots. You guys deserve better treatment than that." He said looking down below us. "Yeah, thank you." I said and he continued to look down. "Nick?" I asked when he didn't acknowledge me. "The traffic cams. Abigail and Judy! The traffic cams caught everything!" He said and Judy smiled. "If only we knew someone with that kind of access." I said and Judy smiled. "I know a person!" She said and  I smiled at her. "Who??" I asked and she looked down at her phone, "Assistant Mayor Bellweather." She said and Nick nodded. "Yeah she'll have clearance to look." He said and I nodded in agreement. The three of us rode the lift back to the station, we had our lead and we had our team.