Zootopia was as bright and busy as Judy thought it was …
The train ride was almost overwhelming in its picturesque awe …
The different biomes, the waterfalls, the towering buildings, the climate walls … Judy almost didn't notice when she arrived at her station, glued to the glass as she was …
Getting out of the train was almost already challenging … Judy refused to use the small mammals exit, preferring to go through the general path …
Mammals of all sizes and species walked all over with that busy haste of the big city, like they were already late to be whatever they were going … many distracted with their phones or their own conversations, making Judy jump and dodge out of the way lest she gets kicked by a distracted giraffe …
The streets were clearly marked, wide paths for larger and medium mammals and cordoned paths where small mammals had to traverse, tiny mammals had their own lanes, nooks and crannies between everything else where only they would fit, with tubes that almost shot them between their own tiny stations …
Judy barely arrived at her new home and she couldn't wait …
*** *** ***
The Zootopia's Police Academy central, was incredibly big …
Judy stood at the gates of the institution she would be living in for the next six to nine months of training …
The entrance gates were big enough that vehicles for megafauna could drive through unimpeded … The batch of recruits went inside … all medium to large mammals …
The central police academy was made with those sizes in mind … Judy could have chosen to go towards the small mammals division, there was a place for her there … but that wasn't the point …
Judy had something to prove, she loathed the looks she received, she loathed being looked down upon … she would prove that a small mammal like her had a place, she would take on the challenge and she would be the first to do it …
*** *** ***
Major Friedkin was, what many would consider, a temperamental female.
She served her time in the military and was brought over to Zootopia decades ago to transform wimpy, sorry excuses of mammals into well bred cops that would serve Zootopia well …
And as Major Friedkin looked at the current batch of recruits, she couldn't help but glare at the small thing that stuck out like a sore thumb … The bunny …
Why would a small mammal take ‘advantage’ of the absurdity that was the Mammal Inclusion Initiative ? Major Friedkin didn't know and she didn't care.
Her Academy had standards and as long as those standards weren't changed in favor of political moves and grandeur deluded mammals that thought wishful thinking was enough to beat biology and simple physics …
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Major Friedkin blinked her eyes and huffed, her train of thought derailed as a new wave of anger at the current Mayor invaded her mind with presence of the bunny at her class …
[Major Friedkin] “Whatever, political paw or not, cottontail gets the same treatment as everyone else, I’m not changing my standards because of stupid regulations, I don't care how loudly that Lion yells … “
Major Friedkin took a deep breath and started the introduction …
[Major Friedkin] - Listen up cadets, Zootopia has 12 different districts inside city limits, the sub-zero Tundratown, the scalding hot Sahara Square, the always damp Rainforest District to name a few … -
Major Friedkin walked around the cadets taking their measure, how they were listening, how they were reacting.
She stopped in front of them once more.
[Major Friedkin] - … And you will have to master all of them before you hit the streets or guess what ? YOU’RE DEAD -
Major Friedkin saw some cadets flinching, but the bunny only looked more motivated …
[Major Friedkin] “So you got guts cottontail ? Not bad …”
Major Friedkin gave the bunny a satisfied look before continuing.
*** *** ***
Judy laid on her bunk bed … her body hurting in places she didn't know she had … and even after a bath, she had sand in places she didn't know it was possibly for it to get in …
That polar bear of a woman was a slave driver … Traversing a scorching sand storm, going over a obstacle course filled with mud and slick with slime … the ice wall and the frigid water below it …
And the humiliation at the toilet … Judy didn't even want to think about it …
Major Friedkin voice almost played on repeat … You're Dead … You're Dead … You're Dead …
Out of all cadets Judy performed the worst … bottom of the barrel … Dead more times than anyone else …
She could see the other cadets laughing at her back … she could see the looks of pity of the ones that weren't laughing …
It didn't matter, tomorrow was another day … and she would make them eat their words …
Judy Hopps wasn't a quitter …
*** *** ***
Major Friedkin smiled at her star cadet …
Cottontail had it in her … Friedkin knew she was being harsh on the small farm gal, but she knew that the Bunny had the guts …
After all, as a Major, Friedkin knew how spite could make a mammals move …
And as cottontail started rising through the ranks, fire in her eyes … Friedkin knew she was right … Bunny girl was hungry for the top spot and she was going to take it …
***
Faster, Stronger … Judy couldn't let up her training of she wanted to show them …
The weeks passed and Judy died less …
Months passed and Judy didn't die anymore …
By the end of her time there, Judy held the top spot, she was already valedictorian … but there was still a challenge left …
Unarmed combat was the last course Judy didn't have the top spot … in overall ranks, she already had valedictorian on the bag … Judy wanted to have the top spot on EVERYTHING … she wanted to prove that she could beat them at their own game, smaller or not …
***
Rhunor Groundbound was the Immense Criminal challenger for the unarmed takedown course … he was a big Rhino, well trained on the ring and his opponent was staring a hole through him …
Major Friedkin called her Cottontail, but Rhunor knew better, that hell bunny wasn't to be messed with … she was one ring of the bell away from jumping at him …
And while many might laugh at the notion of a regular small bunny gunning towards a Rhino of his size … they didn't know this specific bunny, there was nothing regular about her … the Hell Doe already took the top spot in all other classes and his was the only one left to go …
She was just too tiny to knock him out in any reasonable time to get the top spot, but Rhunor had a feeling Judy Hopps wouldn't be taking her time running circles around him …
The bell rang and the bunny dashed … Rhunor tried to swing at her but the position was always awkward with how low he had to punch …
Rhunor saw the Bunny sliding between his legs in the blink of an eye … Rhunor turned quickly to face her, his eyes widened as he saw a bunny flying towards his face feet first … He raised a guard to block but the bunny was coming so fast and her legs were so strong that Rhunor’s block was blown through and he ended up punching his own jaw with a knockout blow … ten seconds flat on the clock …
As the Rhino was kissing the canvas, he heard a single voice speaking above the silence of the other cadets.
[Judy] - YES !! I FINALLY GOT YOU !! FIRST AT EVERYTHING, EAT THAT CHUMPS !! -
[Major Friedkin] - Goddamn good job cottontail, Rhunor, you're DEAD -
The mirthful laugh of major Friedkin was the last thing Rhunor heard before he took a nap on the ring.
*** *** ***
Judy looked at the mirror, her uniform pristine, her valedictorian medal pridefuly displayed in her chest … She was ready to receive her honors from the Mayor himself …
***
Judy looked at the few dozen of her family members that came to the presentation, she smiled and waved at them as she got up the stage were the Mayor Lionheart finished giving his speech and would now symbolically pin the badge on her …
[Lionheart] - … And with that, I'm proud to announce that my mammal inclusion initiative has produce the first small mammal cop of Zootopia city center precinct one, the valedictorian of her class, Judy Hopps … -
Judy stood proud, turning towards the rest of graduates, a grin on her face as Lionheart bended over to pin the badge on her chest.
Judy Hopps was finally a cop … not any cop, the first Rabbit cop in a precinct for larger mammals …
She proved that she could do it …
*** *** ***
