Author's Note:

Well, I hadn't planned to back here so soon, but I had a request from Selaxes (I hope you enjoy it mate!) to do a story on this song by Sweet, so you can all blame him for the delay this will cause to my next chapter of 'Jude the Dude and Nick the Chick'! :P This also ended up being a lot longer than I planned, so I hope you all enjoy it, because I lost a decent amount of sleep getting it done!

"Fox on the Run"

Sweet

The city of Zootopia was all abuzz with excitement. Schools and businesses across the city lay abandoned as mammals of all ages and species crowded instead onto the streets, all dressed in their brightest and most festive clothes. The few types of businesses open today – cafés, bakeries and the like – were doing a roaring trade with the record number of mammals about.

Banners and streamers ran between shops, apartments and skyscrapers celebrating the annual holiday event that everyone had anticipated for weeks. The Spring weather matched the mood of the city well, bright and sunny across all the districts, even in the Rainforest District, where the artificial rain systems had been switched off for the day. Smiles adorned the faces of every mammal about as the hour fast approached.

Everything was in readiness. The roads were empty, while the streets were full. Miles upon miles of temporary barricades held the pressing crowds back from the curb. Large screens had been erected across the city, ready to broadcast the event live to those who couldn't find a place by the side of the road, whilst those outside of the city could watch live from the couch in their living room.

A hush fell over the city as the screens came to life. A countdown. Two minutes to go.

Judy glanced around the assembled officers anxiously. 'Where is he?' she wondered as her foot began tapping out a rapid rhythm on the carpark asphalt. 'He can't be late! Not today!'

"Attention Officers!" Chief Adrian Bogo called loudly, quickly striding past rows of police cruisers towards the assembly of mammals waiting for him. "I have no need to spell out to you all the importance of today's activities," he began after he came to a halt in front of his subordinates. "You all know that our very reputation is on the line here, and that whatever happens out there today could curb or encourage crime rates for the next twelve months!" He slowly scanned through each mammal before him as he spoke, fixing them all with an intense stare. When he reached the rabbit officer, he seemed to halt for a moment longer, fixing her with a further steely glint. "So, I expect nothing less than your absolute best out there!" His gaze moved on to the next officer, leaving Judy feeling exposed and vulnerable.

As the chief finished examining the last of his officers, a dull rumble in the distance quickly grew into the loud, powerful roar of a sports car. All eyes and ears turned in surprise to watch a bright red Ferrari slide gracefully into the carpark, pulling up to a stop right behind Bogo.

"We're upping the challenge this year," the buffalo spoke up, drawing all eyes away from the car, and its mysterious driver, hidden behind the tinted windows. "Last year's Chase ended far too quickly for the masses," he shot Judy a meaningful glance as he carried on, "so the Mayor has asked us to up the ante this time, and he's given us this new sports car to do so."

"That's not just any sports car, chief!" Brian Wolford spoke up from the assembled officers. His mouth was still agape, while his gaze had never left the car since the moment it had rolled in. "That's a Ferrari 488 GTB!" Heads turned to the wolf. Bogo crossed his arms and regarded him with a frown. Brian didn't seem to notice, still drooling over the car. "Three-point-nine litre, twin turbocharged V-eight engine!" he slowly approached the low, wide-bodied supercar, and reached out his paw out to touch the vehicle, but snatched it back at the last second. "She puts out a staggering 492 kilowatts of power and 760 newton metres of torque..." he trailed off when he finally looked up to see his fellow officers staring blankly at him, and his chief glaring at him impatiently. A mask of horror settled over his features as he realised he'd interrupted the notoriously unforgiving buffalo mid-speech.

"That gives her the ability to go from zero to one hundred kilometres an hour in three seconds flat." Judy's ears sprang up to full attention as the familiar voice rang out from behind the car. "And, that's not all," Nicholas Wilde strolled around the bonnet of the car, trailing one finger pad tenderly along the gleaming paint job as he came. Judy's mouth dropped open at the sight of the fox dressed in loose, low-riding, slacks and dirty singlet top that looked big enough for a small wolf. Chunky gold chains and earrings hung off the vulpine in excess, and large, gaudy rings adorned his knuckles, while his usual aviators shaded his eyes. "She'll reach two hundred in only eight point three," he sauntered over to stand next to the chief. "On the straight," he added for clarification.

"Wilde."

"Yes Chief?"

"Can I continue?"

"Of course, sir! Be my guest!"

"Why thank you," the buffalo glared at the smug fox, grinding the words through gritted teeth. He turned back to the rest of his officers. "As you have all probably guessed by now, Officer Wilde will be playing the part of our crook this year."

"Sir!" Nicholas gasped dramatically, drowning out the audible whimper coming from the direction of Brian Wolford, "Is that because I'm a fox?" he demanded, feigning insult.

"Shut it, Wilde!" Bogo snapped, "Otherwise I'll place Officer Hopps on parking duty for a month!" Nick's mouth slammed shut with an audible click, to the laughter of his co-workers. His eyes finally met Judy's and his ears flicked back along his skull at the sight of her furious expression, eliciting more giggles from the group. Although he might tease her about being cute most of the time, there was certainly nothing cute about the bunny when she was really ticked off at the fox, and he wasn't going to risk being the one getting her assigned to her least favourite job on the force.

"Now, as I was saying," the Chief resumed, "Officer Wilde will be driving the Ferrari and will be this year's criminal. The same rules apply as every other year. You have two hours to chase, corner, and arrest him. You may use any of the streets within the designated Chase zone, but cannot leave the barricaded areas and risk civilians. Remember, safety, especially around them, is our first priority, and if you have to break character to ensure that, then do so! Any questions?" The assembled officers all remained quiet, all being familiar with the program. Well, all except Wolford who was barely restraining his whines of despair at not being the one to drive his dream car.

"Good! Then get to your cruisers! We begin in fifteen minutes! Wilde will have a two-minute head start." Ordered pandemonium broke out as mammals all rushed to their various vehicles to ready themselves for the event. There was an extra edge of urgency to their movements this year, as none of them had any experience with going up against a car so above their own cruisers in terms of performance and handling. What the driver brought to the table was yet to be seen though.

Three mammals remained where they were however.

"Can I help you, Officer Hopps?" Bogo asked the rabbit whose eyes were still fixed on her partner.

"Huh? Oh! Sorry Chief! I was still, well, surprised? Why wasn't I told that I was going to be without a partner for this?"

"That's part of the job, Hopps. You have to be able to cope with the unexpected. You might not have a partner to rely on when you want one. Yes? What is it now, Wilde?" The buffalo turned to the red fox who had been waving madly at him. The fox quickly began shaping his paws into various shapes in the nonsense sign language that Judy remembered from the night at the Asylum more than a year ago. At least, she had thought it was nonsense. "Yes, you can speak again, Wilde. I can't keep you silent forever," he sighed. "Unfortunately," he added under his breath. "Be ready in ten," he instructed the pair as he plodded back towards the mobile command truck where he would be overseeing the day's activity.

"I'm sorry, Carrots," Nick pre-empted Judy's question, holding up one paw to silence her. "I wanted to tell you, but the Chief, and the Mayor both insisted that this be kept quiet so as to prevent anyone preparing ahead. Especially you."

"Hmm!" Judy was clearly not impressed, but there was nothing she could blame the fox for. Instead, she changed tack. "What on earth are you wearing, Nick! It looks horrible!"

"Yo girl!" the fox's accent suddenly shifted, and he slurred his words slightly until his voice was no longer the quickly recognisable one Judy had grown accustomed to. "I ain't no Nick! The name's Ni—"

"I don't want to know your name," Judy cut her partner off, miming quotation marks with her paws. "I don't care about your stupid gangster character, particularly his sense of style!" She wrinkled her nose in mild disgust, giving him the once over again. "You looked so right before," she muttered. Nick raised an eyebrow quizzically at the statement, and Judy's ears blushed slightly, realising she'd spoken out loud. "In your uniform! You look good in your uniform!" Nick's smile widened, teeth flashing in mirth as the rabbit flushed deeper red. "I just—! I mean—! Garrgh! We'll see if that smile of yours is still there when I run your tail into the ground out there!"

"Pah! Good luck, Fluff Butt!" Nick cackled, "There's no way you'll catch up to me while I'm driving this beauty!"

"I think you're forgetting that I caught Delgato last year in under twenty minutes!"

"Didn't forget, just don't care!" the fox gave his best Bogo impression, causing the both of them laugh.

"Well, I guess we'd best get ready, otherwise our fearless leader might well put us on parking duty after all! Good luck, Judy, you're gonna need it!"

"Hmmph!" Judy frowned at the fox for a moment, before shifting posture to jut out one hip with her paw on the other, a bubbly smile gracing her face. Nick's smile vanished. "You know, you have a really handsome face, Nick," the doe battered her eyes at the now uncomfortable looking fox. "But the rest of you is out of place!" the suddenly harsher tone unsettled Nick even further. He swallowed hard. "When I win this chase, you have to promise never to wear that trash again. Got it?" The fox nodded mutely. "Good!" the doe's cheery voice returned as quickly as it had vanished. "Good luck out there, partner!" she spun on her heel and started back to their cruiser, bouncing her hips back and forth as she walked. After a dozen paces or so, she snapped her head back over her shoulder, catching her partner staring at her rear. "You are going to be the one needing it!" With that, she left her confused and thoroughly unnerved friend behind.

"And it's begun folks! This year's Culprit, Officer Nicholas Wilde, driving a bright red Ferrari 488, has left the start line! And, wow! What a car that is! We're in for a real treat this year! Last year's champion cop, Officer Judy Hopps, is Wilde's current partner, so we're bound to see plenty of rivalry on the road today! The rest of the officers will give chase in just over a minute, but with a car like that, who knows if they'll be able to catch him in time! Remember, we'll be tracking the positions of all cars live on the screens all around the city so you can see where they are at all times! Wow…!" The male voice booming over the loudspeakers situated throughout the city trailed off for a moment before he resumed again. "Don't blink ladies and gentlemammals! That Ferrari moves fast! It's like the wind! Oh! And here go the rest of the officers! The Chase is on! Let's see if they can catch this fox, or if he'll outwit them all!"

"Damn! He just shot past us on Baobab Drive, heading East!"

"What? He was in Tundra Town only five minutes ago!"

"No! He's heading North on the I.D. towards Rainforest! He's taunting us!"

Judy sat in her cruiser, fuming as the different reports spilled in over the radio system. They'd been chasing the fox for upwards of forty minutes without any hint of success. Any time any of them had managed to get at all close to him, Nick had slammed the accelerator down, screeching out of the traps laid for him, leaving the officers floundering behind to the laughter and jeers of the crowd. It was embarrassing! Judy hated being embarrassed.

"This isn't working," she opened the channel to the other cars. "He knows all our tactics, and he knows how to use that car to evade them. If we keep this up, he's still going to be driving circles around us two days from now, let alone two hours!"

"What do suggest, Judy?" Clawhauser's voice came through the car's speaker, the dispatcher was stationed in the mobile command centre, coordinating the efforts of the team.

"Well, he's probably expecting us to use standard tactics, and so he knows what's coming before it even happens. It's time that we start using what we know of him to predict his moves."

"And how exactly do you suggest we do that?" Rachel Fangmeyer's voice crackled in, her and Brian were currently stationed in the Canyons sub-district, hoping to catch their elusive quarry in the windy streets if he came through there.

"He loves to tease and taunt us. He's doing it now! So, let's give him the chance he won't ever give up. Let him humiliate me." Judy grimaced at the thought of letting the fox embarrass her in front of the entire city, but if it gave them a chance to catch him, then she had to try it. "If I start trying to chase him down directly, I doubt that he'll get to far ahead. He'd never pass up the chance to hold something like this over my head."

"And then you can chase him into a trap?" Officer Delgato chimed in. Judy respected the experienced lion, but he tended to be rather unimaginative at times, and that was why she'd so easily caught him the previous year.

"I doubt he'd fall for that so easily, but it's worth a shot. At the very least, we'll know where he is at all times, and that'll help us to formulate a better plan. See where he goes, and where he avoids. Clawhauser, can you monitor his route and search for any patterns?"

"Certainly can, Judy. If nobody else objects, I suggest Officer Hopps takes charge of this plan, as she knows Wilde the best." A chorus of agreement filtered in through the radio, and Judy began ordering her troops. Within minutes, the majority of cruisers had been repositioned around the city in an attempt to herd their prey into a tighter area. They didn't push too hard, as they were wary that he might smell the trap and slip out of the cordon. All sightings were reported quickly, and it wasn't long before Judy spotted her foxy friend for the first time during the chase.

"You can run, but you can't hide from me, Wilde," she muttered under her breath as she mashed her foot to the floor, fishtailing out of the side street to pursue the red blur of a car.

"Ha!" Nick smirked as he saw the police cruiser emerge from the side street to try and chase him down. "When will they learn that there's no way they're going to catch me in this beast?" He began to flex his foot on the pedal, instantly feeling the response of the powerful machine beneath him, when the sight of a familiar grey paw in his rear-view mirror caught his attention. "Aha! There you are, my lovely bunny! I was wondering when you'd show up!" he smirked wider, and eased his foot off slightly, allowing the cruiser to slowly gain ground as they sped through the streets, stimulating cheers from the assembled crowds.

Suddenly, the buildings hemming them in on either side gave way to the openness of Fountain Park at the centre of the city. Tens of thousands of mammals were crowded into the park watching the race unfolding on massive screens stationed around the perimeter. Nick glanced up briefly to see one of the screens displaying a countdown time of fifty-eight minutes remaining above a schematic of the city streets. Cartoon faces displayed the locations of each patrol car, and the mammal driving them, as well as his own get-away car. A sly smile formed on his face as a new idea came to mind. "Oh, this is going to be fun!" he snickered.

Judy's eyes narrowed as she pushed her foot down as hard as it could go, but it was already flat to the floor, the engine screaming in protest at the rough treatment. Even so, she was barely inching towards the red sports car ahead.

"Now!" She yelled into the radio, springing the trap on the unsuspecting fox. Two cars shot into the 'T' intersection before the fox, blocking his path completely. Meanwhile four more cars made their presence known by driving up the side streets they'd been hiding down, blocking off any side escape routes. Nick was hemmed in on three sides, with Judy chasing down his rear. 'We might finally have him!' she thought triumphantly. But then she watched in horror, and not a small amount of awe, as the sports car seamlessly slammed into a power turn, tyres screeching as they slid along the pavement in a one-hundred and eighty degree pivot. He zipped past her, heading back down the road they'd come up just as she began to react, his masterful manoeuvring having thrown her momentarily off balance. Judy slammed on her own breaks, downshifting several gears at once and violently jerking the steering wheel about, trying to emulate Nick's move. Instead, she ended up in an undignified spiralling doughnut.

"Arrgghh! Carrot sticks!" she screamed in frustration as her car finally came to rest, facing towards one of the buildings lining the street, and the crowd of shocked mammals watching from the footpath. She restarted the stalled car, and took off again in the direction of her partner, furious at their close miss.

"We almost had him!" she growled into the radio.

"Don't stress, Hopps," Wolford's voice consoled, "he obviously must know how to handle that car well. He must have been training in it for weeks!" Judy grunted, reluctantly agreeing with the wolf, remembering that Nick had indeed been absent quite a lot over the past few weeks and had been rather circumspect about the reason as well. She caught sight of the red car as it took a left turn ahead, and she went into pursuit mode again. After a few more turns, Benjamin Clawhauser's voice crackled in over the radio again.

"Hey, Jude? You're still tailing Wilde, right?"

"Yeah, of course. Why?"

"Well, he's just gotten back on the same road he was on before. It's like he has specific route… Just let me check something… Oh!"

"'Oh', what, Ben? What have you found?"

"He's, um, well, uh."

"What? Just spit it out, Ben!"

"He's going to turn left at the next intersection."

"What? How do you know thaaa…" Judy's question trailed off as she watched the car glide left around the next corner. "Ben? How did you know he was going to do that?"

"Ah, just a theory at the moment," the cheetah paused for a moment while Judy continued to speed after the fox. "Now," Ben resumed, "he should double back shortly. Look for a wide intersect—"

"Too late!" Judy cried out as the red car again pivoted neatly, zooming back past the rabbit in her cruiser. She caught a momentary glimpse of a grinning, red-furred, face before the Ferrari was rapidly shrinking in her mirror. Judy again slammed on the breaks and swung her car about, but with the warning and experience, she avoided completely spinning out this time. However, the screeching of rubber on the road, and the terrible stench it belched out reminded her of the of the superiority of her opponent's vehicle.

Grimly, Judy continued to follow the untouchable fox, sticking closer than before now with advance warnings coming through the radio from the operations van. But time was still ticking down. They had already been chasing Nick around the city for an hour and forty-five minutes, and time was quickly running out for the pursuers. Never in the history of the annual Chase had the ZPD failed in trapping their 'crook' but this was the closest they'd ever come to failure. It wouldn't look too good on their record. 'I guess it's now or never!' Judy grimaced. She hated putting all her eggs in one basket, but if they didn't catch Nick soon, then they'd never live it down.

"Ben! I need to know what he's doing! We're running out of time!"

"He's, ah, he's writing," came the lame response through the radio.

"Writing?!" Judy asked incredulously.

"The city is tracking your route. Nick's making you spell out a message." Judy groaned. Although she wasn't particularly surprised. It was the sort of thing the cheeky vulpine would do.

"What's it say?" she demanded.

"Um, 'I heart Nick'. With a love heart."

"WHAT?!" Judy yelped, almost missing the turn to the right the fox was taking. Numerous chuckles and whistles filtered in over the radio as other officers reacted to the revelation.

"You're on the long stroke of the 'K' right now."

"Fine," Judy growled into the radio, silencing the remaining laughter. "If that's how he wants to play, then he's on. Ben, where should he finish the 'K'?"

"Corner of Fjord and Glacier roads in Tundra Town. He'll come up Fjord."

"Okay. All teams, make your way there right now. Full cordon, and this time, I want extra cars ready to come in behind me. We'll need every single car to make this work. Clawhauser will coordinate all directions with you. It's time I gave our slippery fox a call."

Nicholas Wilde was happily humming away to his victory playlist, counting down the dwindling minutes until he won bragging rights over the entire precinct, when Gazelle's 'Try Everything' suddenly cut into his mood. It took a few seconds before confusion faded to understanding. Judy was calling. He pressed the accept button on the console.

"Well, hello there, Fluff! Calling to concede defeat?"

"Har har, Slick. No, actually, I was wondering if you'd like to make a final wager, before we end this?"

"Oh? What's the wager?" Nick asked, intrigued, keeping an eye on his mirror to make sure the rabbit wasn't going to try anything while they spoke.

"Dinner. Tonight. Mi Casa on the edge of the Plains. The loser pays." Nick's ears flicked forward at the bunny's no-nonsense tone. She was up to something, he realised.

"Sure, I'm in, but you know that there's no way you're going to win, right?"

"That's alright. I don't have a problem paying for our first date. That's a fox thing anyway, right?" Judy's sweet voice floating through the car's stereo had the same effect on the fox as a sledgehammer to the gut.

"Date?" he barked, swerving suddenly to the side, and foot simultaneously mashing the accelerator down at the doe's statement. He jerked the wheel back, straightening up, and eased off the gas, panting heavily. In his panic, he failed to notice the cruiser slowly gaining ground on him.

"But of course, Sweetheart," Judy's falsely sweet voice crooned, "After all, now the entire city knows that 'I heart Nick'." The fox's eyes went wide, and his ears slicked back against his scalp. Maybe, he'd taken his fun a little too far this time he realised belatedly.

"I was thinking we could have our wedding at the beginning of Summer. What do you think?"

"Wedding?" the fox whimpered, shrinking back into his chair.

"I know that only gives us a couple of months, but you know us bunnies, right? We don't like waiting! Hey, how many kits should we have? I was thinking, four. Maybe five?" Nick only whined incoherently in response, the speed of the conversation putting even his driving antics to shame. "Litters, that is of course!" Judy finished, in an overly bubbly tone. By this stage it was all Nick could do to keep the car driving straight, his mind roiling in turmoil, a horde of terrifyingly cute fox-rabbit hybrid kits chasing away every rational thought.

Due to his impaired sensibilities, he missed the subtle signs of entrapment that he had so easily avoided over the past two hours. He was now driving slow enough that Judy could have caught up with him at any time she wanted, but she held back. Meanwhile, he drove past several side streets, barricaded by police cruisers, without even registering them. His mind was only focused on one thing, keeping a safe distance between him and the psychotic rabbit pursing him.

'But not too much distance,' a small voice echoed through his turbulent thoughts.

The admission was enough of a shock to shake him back to reality. But it was too late. Cruisers pulled into the intersection ahead, while more turned the corner behind Judy, blocking completely his previous escape route. He was cornered and he knew it.

"Oh," he said simply, feeling foolish for falling for what he now knew was nothing more than a simple distraction technique. He glanced at his oversized, gaudy watch. He had three minutes left. All he had to do was avoid capture until time was up, and he'd still win.

Nick slammed the breaks, stopping almost dead on the spot. "Time to run now, Wilde," he muttered to himself, throwing open the door and darting out towards the crowd of cheering spectators.

"Suspect on the run! I repeat, Fox on the Run!" Colonel Higgins shouted over the radio, the excitement of the chase clearly getting to the middle-aged hippopotamus. Judy, however, had anticipated the move by her partner, and was already in pursuit of the fox. Because she was smaller than Nick, she could easier duck around and between larger mammals than he could, and so she quickly ate up the distance between them.

"You're mine, Nick!" she shouted as she drew closer. "Give up now and I won't order anything too expensive for dinner!"

"Never! You'll have to catch me, Carrots!" Nick ducked out of the crowd down a snow lined alleyway, reducing the rabbit's advantage over him. She was still the faster of the two though, and Judy continued to gain on the fox.

"It's over, Nick! You know I will catch you!"

"I only need to last a few more seconds!" As if to emphasise his claim, they heard the masses start counting down. The exact value and meaning of what was being chanted was lost on the pair as they focused solely on each other. One on holding off the inevitable, the other on speeding it up.

Nick raced towards the exit of the alley, spying a gap between two elephants and made his way directly for it, squeezing every last ounce of speed from his legs. He was already panting heavily, leaving thick clouds of fog in the frigid air, the prolonged sprint slowing the athletic officer down. He dove for the gap.

As he sailed through the air, his ears finally registered the meaning of the chanting in the crowd, and a smile crept onto his face slowly as time seemed to pause. '…One…'

A cannonball collided with his back, sending him spinning as he crashed into a snow drift. Then everything went dark.

Nick lay still for a moment, relishing the chill of the snow on his burning limbs, and the warmth on his back. 'Wait! What?' He sat up quickly, poking his head out of the drift to see thousands of mammals staring blankly at him. Total silence flooded the street. Judy's head popped up beside him, and they both stared at each other.

"Who won?" they asked each other simultaneously. Both shrugging in answer, they turned to the crowd for the answer. But no one seemed to know.

A remote drone descended from the sky, pointing a camera at the two befuddled mammals, broadcasting their faces across the city.

"Ladies and Gentlemammals!" the commentator's voice echoed throughout the city in the unearthly silence, "It would seem that for the first time in the history of the annual ZPD Chase… we have a TIE!"

At the announcement of the verdict, the city erupted in noise. Cheers, howls, beys and roars filled the air with a cacophony of celebration. Hooves stamped upon the pavement, and paws clapped together in joy. Children and adults alike yelled, laughed and cried with enthusiasm. Never before had the city of Zootopia experienced a moment like it, and it was unlikely ever to do so again. But for a certain rabbit and fox, they could have been at the bottom of the ocean for all the notice they paid everyone else.

"So, what does that mean?" Nick asked, still confused by the strange conclusion to events.

"Well, you're not getting out of dinner tonight if that's what you're wondering," Judy smirked. "But we'll split the bill." She placed a paw lightly on Nick's arm. He glanced down at the contact, then back up to the deep violet eyes of his partner.

"I wouldn't dream of it, Carrots," he smiled softly. "This fox is done running."

A.N.

Well, just like Nick, I think it's time I stop running and try and get some sleep now. I hope to 'see' you all soon when I next update my main story! I'll get onto that as soon as I can!