As the new counter culture grew beyond the bounds of festivals and protests … The new generation watched as an overwhelming majority of predators and even some prey pushed politics forwards in favor of individual freedom and less towards the stable herd the previous generations lived in …
This new light in the city that reflected over to the world pushed new conflicts to surge once more, as the new narrative took place …
Years of fear under a cold war made it easy to suppress overt competition, but under this new change taking place, some voices spoke louder …
And most times, a loud minority made more changes than a silent majority.
***
The loud youth, composed by predators willing to take risks brought changes to Zootopia and through Zootopia, changes to the world.
Even the most conservative mammals had to make allowances, small tweaks to the status quo, a new model of civility … one where confrontation wasn't a taboo.
Sports bloomed as competitions such as them were now seen as a ‘safe way’ to make confrontations.
Zootopia’s founding countries took to those changes and made competitions between themselves, pride in the culture and country received allowances in the larger narrative of the new status quo.
Science bloomed as those same countries competed against one another.
The space race.
The international stock market.
The entertainment industry and the soft power it enabled.
And finally, the technological explosion that came with the advent of the personal computer and its complimentary internet.
It was a slew of immense changes that happened in the span of a single generation … those same youths responsible for that counter culture got older … they entered the new job market and the ever-changing economy of a big city like Zootopia …
The economic boom saw many of those loud voices rising in status, entrepreneurs willing to invest in new, risky ideas, becoming the new rich … others took a political career, making the new laws, steering the new machine of the city …
The young and loud minority grew older and silent, now no longer preoccupied with their freedom, but with their jobs and families … their values changed, they wanted to keep everything that was theirs, they wanted to keep it for a long time … they wanted stability …
But the new city wasn't the same as before, the new machine ran faster, was more unruly and unpredictable, … it was a little bit too free … And to have stability you couldn't have all of that … you couldn't have edges that were too sharp …
Most of those voices became the very same ones they fought against in their youth … they did push the pendulum, and it was now swinging back.
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The silent majority learned their lesson, now they just needed to wait to take their turn … the pendulum was going their way now …
***
Big's Incorporated became a hometown name, but they went on downsizing their operations.
The politics changed and the lobbying game in Zootopia became infested by the big sharks of the outside … External influence grew with Zootopia's wealth, control of the city’s narrative became an expensive game to play …
Fabiano Big grew older, the boldness of youth left him, the loss of his Nana to old age marked him and grief makes a mammal lash out, even at those undeserving.
Mr Big stepped out of the big scene, content on being ‘old money’, his company no longer in the spotlights, but just another solid name that people don't even think about anymore, a staple that was simply there since forever, people just knew about it.
***
The Fire Starter tea that made it all possible became something of a cultural relic, the proper ‘brew’ being anonymously made public before Night Howlers became as regulated as the Poppy if not more …
The deluge of new ‘drugs’ using Night Howlers in their mix made it so that a wave of anti-drugs sentiment took hold.
Improper preparation, dangerous mixtures or simply the use of heavier drugs cut with Night Howlers made it so that drug related violence and drug related deaths had a sharp increase, especially since the violent bouts caused by Night Howler overdose became increasingly common.
In the wake of that wave of anti-drugs sentiment, came a series of bans on drugs and the cultivation of related plants. This in turn caused a massive increase in drug trafficking and gang violence that further incentivized the anti-drugs sentiment.
The new laws created during that tumultuous time made it so only a select few enterprises were allowed to get their hands on said plants.
Botanic cultivation and experimentation became an exceedingly big business, just as big as the pharmaceuticals.
Technological advances and heavy lobbying made it so that intellectual property now applied to plants, a farmer could no longer plant the seeds of his own harvest if those seeds were patented … laboratories could no longer make medications that were once cheap like insulin, everything was patented and hidden behind a paywall so expensive only those same big players were able to pay.
Underground labs became something of a common occurrence, medicine and drugs illegally made for the poor, most times with sketchy quality … and small farms became something of the past, only big heirloom farms were able to keep going, as their seeds didn't fall into the new patented world of the law.
***
The machine was modified, the status quo got polished, but the pilots were the same … people stayed people …
*** *** ***
Bunnyburrow is one of the more prolific peripheral districts of Zootopia, responsible for the production of the vast majority of the food Zootopia consumed.
The district is mostly composed of Leporidae, with the vast majority of the population being Rabbits with the odd Hare and small predator families spread around.
One of the more prominent of the Rabbit's families were the Hopps, the owners of one of the biggest heirloom farms in the district, providing high quality organic produce in bulk to a hungry Zootopia.
Their family was big, as were many Rabbit families. Between their countless sons, daughters and all manner of ‘family’ related people, there were many that weren't farmers, and while only a few ended up practicing law, a few out of hundreds means at least a dozen.
Those were very necessary when the Hopps fought against the big agribusiness trying to encroach Bunnyburrow, because they knew better than to let it get inside in the first place.
Stu and Bonnie Hopps were part of the Fire Starter movements and they didn't grow up dull like many others, they raised ambitious rabbits that pursued those different professions despite not many rabbits being in said fields.
They had other dreams in their youth, but responsibility towards their community made them settle, and settle they did.
They raised their sons and daughters into the creed of dream big but keep your feet on the ground.
The Hopps as a family pushed new laws and made Bunnyburrow pride as providers and the farmer profession received a resurging bloom as a result, their generational family farms were protected by district law and with the community at their side, the Hopps were safe and settled as a community name.
*** *** ***
Judy Hopps was born to that family, another Rabbit out of a dozen.
Since she was little, the law always fascinated her … it was common for Judy to be all over Hopp's burrow stuck to the shadow of the family lawyers.
Her brothers and sisters knew Judy was close by ears high up listening to their endless discussion, and thought most of them weren't criminal lawyers, there was no end to the complaints about bad police work being done by incompetent cops that didn't even know the law they were enforcing … how that made their jobs and everything else twice as hard as it needed to be …
And that lit a spark in Judy's eyes … she could be a good cop, she could be a great one even … and there weren't many Rabbit cops around, so she could even be the first one to do it …
***
It was that moment Judy fondly remembers as she took the interdistrict train towards Zootopia.
Judy knew she was proud, maybe even a bit too proud sometimes … She didn't want to be just a cop, she wanted to be the first Rabbit cop as her kit self dreamed … but that was harder in practice than it sounded … Zootopia was big and it had a long history to boot, being the first to do something wasn't easy, but that's why the Small Mammals Initiative gave Judy a chance.
She could be the first small mammal to pass the academy district made for bigger mammals, she could be the first one to do it, make the world a better place and be the example for others to follow …
It might be a bit hollow but Rabbits understood the need to be unique more than anyone else … That is why despite not encouraging her in this frankly dangerous pursuit, the Hopps did what they could to support her.
Law studies, training and a big chunk of change for her to move into Zootopia proper and be able to attend the ZPD central police academy …
***
