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Another day in the beautiful city of Zootopia where the sun shone and birds chirped happily, some mammals working and others playing, some making plans, some relaxing. There was everything in the city, hustle and bustle and calmed times, a city that never slept either way, just because some mammals were nocturnal and kept it alive when the others slept.
Two of those many mammals were actually planning a night for themselves, but not our conventional night, not at all, they were planning a ghost hunt. They weren’t known for doing this, but one convinced the other to do it.
“You got the camera ready? The sensor?” Nick Wilde, the fox, asked his bunny partner, Judy Hopps.
She sighed. “This really sounds stupid, I never saw a ghost, I don’t know how you convinced me to do this.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.” He said in a singsong voice, smirking.
“Yes, they’re ready.” Judy plainly said. “You’re taking this too seriously, I don’t think we’ll find anything, these are just scary stories.”
Nick shook his head from side to side. “Little faith bunny, you’ll see, it’ll be fun! Not everything has to be work.”
“I didn’t mean work is fun… but this sounds silly.” She crossed her arms, not really amused at the whole situation she was in.
“Come on, don’t complain this much, I can tell you this is gonna be fun, when did I lie to you?” Nick asked and, when Judy was about to answer, the fox instantly replied. “Don’t answer that question.”
The bunny just sighed exasperated. “Alright, we’ll stay some minutes in that mansion, if we don’t spot a ghost, we get back here.”
Nick thought about it while getting everything ready. “That sounds good, but if we find one, you’ll have to invite me to the next coffee. How’s that deal?”
Judy smirked confidently. “Good enough.”
“We all win! Now help me with all the stuff we need.” The fox grabbed a box and a backpack while Judy held a plastic bag that was heavy. “Everything set, let’s go.” He raised his fist in the air, happier than expected for doing a ghost hunt.
The mansion they went to was situated at the skirts of Rainforest District, almost in Canal District. It has been the base of many horror stories due to its mysterious background. No one knew for certain what happened with it and the little amount that investigated, they couldn’t go further inside. Some got scarred for life from what they’ve seen, others never talked about it. In the end, a lot of mammals thought it was a set up to create a myth, they didn’t have proof to argue against it being a myth. But this time, Nick decided he’d be the first one uncovering its inner secrets.
They reached the door of the big mansion and put everything down. The mansion looked abandoned, with white covers on the furniture, some spiderwebs, but still fancy with the decoration. Due to the dust, the walls were dark, but even so, you could still see the design of the painting. That alongside big windows, makes someone think which kind of rich mammal would own it.
The fox unpacked the sensor and put it at the door.
“And you think the ‘ghost’ is gonna open this door, right.” Judy mocked Nick upon seeing his actions.
“Excuse you, I found out that this helps detect a ghost, not that it actually will open the door.” Feigning offense, the fox answered. “I’m the most informed mammal here, so let me do my things, country bunny.” Now he smirked.
Judy just snorted. “Resorting to call me out by my origin, what a gentlemammal.” Again used a mocking tone.
“Then don’t mock me.” He gave one last glance before taking another device and putting it close to the stairs.
The bunny couldn’t help herself and decided to look around while the fox was doing his stuff. The paintings still remained intact, but they were kind of creepy: One was a goat with one hoof over the other and an average expression, looking to whoever was painting her. She turned around and saw an elderly couple of bears with a big white house behind. The male was holding a pitchfork and both had serious faces. She kept looking at many paintings until she heard Nick.
“Well, it’s all set, time to start this ghosthunting!” He sounded pretty excited, grabbed the camera and turned on the recording. “Say some words for the mammals that will watch this!”
Judy snorted again. “Yay, we’re gonna see ghosts…” Obviously, she sounded annoyed.
“More energies, Carrots, this is exciting.” Nick tried to give the good vibes, but she still didn’t feel it. “Let’s see what we can find.”
They started walking, went upstairs, Judy behind Nick to let the fox record everything for his ‘followers’. They reached a really long and dark hall, even in the soft light of day, it still looked really dark, and each minute that passed, the dawn was coming. Soon it’d be dark enough to start looking for ghosts. Even with the idea that they won’t come out so easily during the day, Nick thought they’d feel one at least, that’s why he decided to be earlier at the building.
They opened a door for a bedroom, with no windows but with a painting of a male pig looking straight. It really gave the creeps.
“Uuh! We reached a really mysterious room… and even scary for some.” He imitated the whisper of a ghost. “Spooky, isn’t it?”
Judy rolled her eyes. “Not even close, I found scarier things at work.”
“Come on, don’t break the ambience I created.” Nick wanted her to keep the game. He wasn’t a firm believer of ghosts, but sometimes he wanted to have fun doing silly things.
The fox kept recording the place, the bed, the closet… everything, while the bunny waited close to the painting for her partner to finish. It didn't take long until that.
“This will be good for scaring others.” He chuckled. “Let’s go!”
Judy only sighed, but felt something creeping on her back. She looked and the painting was there, unmoving, but the eyes almost felt that they were looking at her. “Is it me or the temperature is dropping?”
“You feeling the ghost experience, Carrots?” Nick smirked, looking at her.
“Maybe it’s just that it’s getting cold outside.” She looked around and at the painting again… She swore she saw the eyes moved to look elsewhere. “Huh? Must be my imagination.” She then walked out with Nick… and the eyes followed her.
They reached another room that Nick pushed open. The low temperature was starting to be felt on their fur, but it was bearable. This room contained a lot of stuff that was saved there: Boxes, more paintings, vases and some brooms. Only the boxes had a white sheet on them.
“A cleaning room, some boxes… I wonder what they have.” He uncovered the sheet slowly from one of the boxes and covered his snout, but still he coughed. “Wow… They’re… stamps! Amazing!” He overexaggerated his tone like he was a ZooTuber. “This mammal really liked to collect!”
“That sounds cringe even for you, Nick.” She couldn’t help but chuckle at how he put his voice.
“Hey! Some ZooTubers do this and get views, let me try it.” He kept recording the rest of the room.
Judy scanned, from her part, every part of it, but nothing was out of the ordinary, it was all old, dusty and simple, just another cleaning room with more age, but her detective part made her scan the place. She was on her own thoughts when she heard a bang that made her jump.
“Eep!” Judy looked back and the broom was on the floor.
“Got that on camera! Good trick, like this, we’ll get some views!” Nick mocked her a bit from the reaction.
“Don’t laugh at me! I didn’t do this, it just dropped itself.”
The fox chuckled. “It was just standing there, how would it fall itself without any wind?”
“...I cannot explain it… for now. But I don’t believe it was a ghost.” She crossed her arms and looked aside.
“Alright, miss skeptical, we’ll see what you'll believe in after this experience.” Nick smiled, like a challenge was on the table.
As they were going out, the set of eyes from the paintings were seeing them leave the room…
They were looking for something else or if a ghost made its appearance, but to no avail, the rooms looked normal and there was no weird noise at all.
“Well, this didn’t go as expected.” Nick lamented and stopped recording. “I thought we’d find something, but it seems like they were only rumors.” He shrugged.
“I told you, waste of time. We could have used this time to watch some film or do something more productive.” Judy said, smirking at him.
He turned around. “We did some exercise, am I wrong?” And smirked back.
“That’s true, guess you did this just a bit right.” Judy decided to walk back their steps. “Let’s go home.”
Nick sighed, his disappointment was immeasurable and his day was ruined, but still could turn it around with quality time with his bunny… or it’s what he thought at first, since his ear flicked.
“Did you say something just now, Carrots?”
Judy turned his head. “No, why do you ask?”
“Then probably was just my imagination.”
“Maybe you’re hoping to see a ghost and your mind is tricking you.” She said in a soft tone.
The fox shrugged again. “And still, the temperature keeps dropping here. I don’t know why.”
“It’s becoming night, that’s probably it.”
Nick chuckled warmly. “Yeah, probably you’re right.” He stopped a moment and opened his eyes wide, which made Judy stop in her tracks. “C-Carrots?”
“What’s wrong? Looks like you've seen a ghost.” She mocked him, but Nick didn’t laugh at all or made an attempt to mock back. “Nick?” Now she has grown serious.
The fox pointed slowly to the painting. The bunny turned, but only saw a static picture, which made her furrow her brow. She didn’t see what was wrong.
“If this was an attempt of a joke, it didn’t work.” Judy was kind of annoyed and turned around again, but Nick didn’t take his eyes off the painting.
“I-It… moved. I swear, Carrots, it moved!”
“Stop it, you’re not gonna make me believe in ghosts.” She was getting pissed now even if she liked Nick. “You can do better than… this…” She stopped dead on her tracks as she saw what looked like claw marks in front of her. “What the…”
Nick looked at the marks wide eyed. “Is… this really a ghost? What ghost leaves claw marks?”
Judy shook her head to recover her senses. “I don’t know and I don’t want to keep here, this place is giving me the creeps.”
“Maybe this will help to have some content for other mammals.” He tried to turn on the camera, but it didn’t. Upon seeing the problem, he found the battery was empty. “What the heck? It was full a moment ago!”
“Did you turn it off completely?” Judy asked.
“I sure did! I don’t know what just happened but…” Nick sighed deeply. “Coming here for nothing I guess. Let’s go back then.”
The bunny kind of felt bad for him, seeing his disappointment, and decided to say something. “Hey, we’ll have time for each other, right?”
The fox sighed, but smiled. “I guess so. Let’s go back and watch some show.” That seemed to light him up a bit, which made her feel better.
They went downstairs where the devices were, just to gather them up. The sensor and the psychophony detector were untouched but they’d have to see what it recorded, since the sensor never lit up. Nick put the things in his backpack and headed to the door, tried to open it but was stuck.
“Huh? It doesn’t open.” He tried once again to turn it but wouldn’t budge. This is weird…”
Judy rolled her eyes. “I know how much you wanted to see a ghost, but the joke isn’t funny, Nick, just open it.”
“It’s not a joke, Carrots, it doesn’t move.” The fox then crouched and looked in the lock. “Let me try…” He put out his claw and made some moves inside. It seemed like he finished, since he pulled the claw out, but he wasn’t smiling. “The lock is open… How can this be?”
“Uh… Nick…” Judy’s voice sounded afraid.
“One moment.” He kept on looking inside.
“Nick… Look…” She was tugging from his shirt.
“I’m a bit busy now.” At the next tug, he got up. “Okay, Carrots, you win, what’s so important to…” He looked where Judy was looking and saw an armor standing not too far from them. “to… to…”
Judy was frozen in place. “I-I saw it moving… It got closer…”
Nick’s breath turned a bit heavy and gulped. “H-Hey, buddy, if we bother you, w-we were just going to l-leave… The door is locked so… Look, we don’t want problems, we just-” He stopped talking when the axe was thrown at them. They ducked and dodged it, but the weapon got stuck on the wall. “...want to leave?”
“Run!” Judy screamed and both got up quickly and went upstairs.
The armor was following them, not running but walking fast. The fox and the bunny looked around, they had some little time to find an exit, since the armor wouldn’t catch up with them that quickly. Then they spotted the windows, maybe it could be a way.
“Why’s it so pitch black?! We were here in the evening, it’s impossible!” Judy exclaimed, this was making her stop believing what she believed.
“No time to lose, Carrots, we have to open it!” Exasperated, Nick answered.
Not wasting time, Judy went to open the window, but the small lock neither budged. She grunted, trying to open it, but it was impossible. “This won't open either!” Then decided to look through the window and that left her bewildered… The floor they were in had a long fall to the ground in her eyes. “Wait, this is impossible, the fall is like we are on the fourth or fifth floor, but the set of stairs isn't that long!”
Nick groaned. “Things are getting even weirder… We have to leave this place!” As soon as he finished, he heard the armor coming up. “Let's hide now!”
They both resumed their run and, upon turning to the right in the hall, they got into a room just on the right when they turned. They hid there and waited silently until the armor went past.
It worked. As soon as they knew, slowly creeped back out, seeing there was no one there.
“This is a nightmare, we have to find a way out.” Nick said and, suddenly, he had an idea: He pulled out a walkie-talkie and gave it to Judy. “Let's split up, if we find the exit, we tell the other with this.”
The bunny looked at the device and then to the fox. “Splitting up is not the best solution… We can be ambushed by anything at this point.”
Nick sighed. “This is the only thing I can come up with to get out of here fast.” He crouched and looked at Judy in the eyes. “I'll be fine, and I know you will. We have a job to do, and we'll do it. We're the best, right?”
Judy couldn't resist this sweet side of him and smiled a bit. “Yeah… the finest if Zootopia.” Then they did a fist bump. “Not even ghosts can stop us.”
“That's the spirit, Carrots… And you said ‘ghosts’, which means-”
“I still don't believe in them.” She cut him off.
“Worth a try. Let's go then.”
With that, both splitted up, Judy to the left, Nick continued the path they went to for hiding. In the mess of the mansion, they'd have to give their bestest as partners and find a way out, not an easy task, would they do it?
Nick kept on searching for a door, window, something that could work as an exit, but all was locked except for the rooms. It was tiring him out, how could they find it if this was the situation?
“Come on, Wilde, you know how to find a way out, just focus.” He reminded himself. Still, he was looking around, checking every part of the hall… but no idea came to his mind.
He swore he heard something and turned around, a bit scared for if it was the armor… but his surprise was big when he saw Judy. He breathed, relieved.
“Carrots, I thought I said to split up and communicate, what are you doing here?” Although he was happy, he also felt kind of annoyed.
The bunny smiled. “I found an exit, follow me.”
The fox tilted his head and shrugged, maybe this was one of her antics. He followed her at her rhythm, looking around, but having faith that she finally found it. But he noticed something wrong: They were taking the same path as before.
“Uh… Carrots, you sure? We’ve been here.”
“I’m sure, trust me.” She replied without turning around.
Nick trusted her, but this was giving some off feelings to him, since something was off…
They reached a door, she opened it and it was a black room with no windows or other doors. She stopped in her tracks and Nick did it as well.
“Carrots? You… sure?” The fox asked again. The bunny didn’t respond and turned into dust. “Judy?!” He ran to what was left of her and kneeled down. “What is happening?!”
Something on his back creeped up from the floor… something dark. Nick felt a chill down his spine, wanted to quickly turn around and was pinned to the ground forcefully. As he opened his eyes, saw what it was: It had a canid appearance with a long snout and red eyes, long fingers on its paws and pitch black body. Its eyes were literally staring into the fox’s soul and he started to panic a bit.
“H-Hey, buddy, n-no need to be l-like this, we c-can talk!” He desperately tried to get away from its gap but couldn’t.
“I don’t wanna talk.” It let out a demonic voice, which made Nick freeze. “I want to do something else with you.”
The fox gulped hard. “I-I hope it doesn’t mean y-you’ll k-kill me…”
“Tschk.” The entity replied. “Not at all… I need you for something… else…”
Nick couldn’t scream, just waited for what the dark being wanted to do, and he was in so much panic now that he couldn’t think of a way to get out…
Judy was searching for her part for the way out but, same result as Nick: Nothing at all. But at least, she got lucky to not find the armor that wanted to kill them for some unknown reason.
“I can’t dig anywhere, I cannot get inside any place to find a hole… Nothing, no exit!” She was losing all hope now, but slapped herself mentally to get back on track. “This is not you, focus, you can.”
Her eyes went up as she heard something on her back and instantly hid after a corner. She peeped and saw Nick standing. She let out a sigh and got out of her hiding spot.
“I thought you wanted to split up, anything the matter?”
“Found an exit, let’s go.” The fox replied. Judy felt his answer was weird, but who knows what was on his mind? She decided to follow him.
After some walking, she noticed that they were walking down the same path they were before. Still tried to find somewhere to get out, but there was nothing she left behind. Then, the question came.
“Are you sure it’s around here, Slick?”
“Yes, I am, come on.” Again, a dry answer… Now Judy got upset.
“Where are you guiding me? I need a clear answer now.”
The fox stopped suddenly. “For an exit, of course, you don’t trust me?” He didn’t turn around.
“I’m not trusting a fake Nick.” She replied, stern. “Where is he?”
The supposed Nick turned around. “What do you mean? It’s me.”
“What do you do for a living?” She suddenly asked.
“I do some deals and I get profit from it, remember?” The fox smiled a bit, trying to get to her.
“You’re NOT Nick. He wouldn’t answer me how you did and you didn’t call me ‘Carrots’ not even one time. Also, you lied about your job.” She frowned and tightened her fists. “Tell me where Nick is and get out of my sight.”
The fox slowly turned to dust, not before letting out a chuckle. Judy’s angriness got down after all seemed calm, she didn’t hear anything else around her, but her calmness became agitation when some thought came to her mind.
“Wait… If I got this thing that looked like Nick, then he… Oh, sweet cheese and crackers, Nick!” She ran for her life, trying to get to the fox she cares for, finding him and getting him out of there.
Her speed was even double than normally, Nick was in danger, it’s what she thought, so she had to act fast and get to him now. She looked room after room, inside of each of them, screaming his name. She couldn’t find him, no matter how much she looked around. The hope was decaying and she was panting. She was desperate now because her attempts were in vain, but still she tried… and that gave her a result.
“Nick!” Judy spotted the fox unconscious in one of the rooms, ran up to him and kneeled, putting her ear on his chest and breathing relieved. “He’s alive, thanks to the stars.” She attempted to wake him up by some shaking. “Nick, wake up, please, we have to get out.”
The fox slowly opened his eyes. “C-Carrots? What just… happened?” His voice was lightly weak.
“I found you laying on the floor. What did you see?” Judy asked, concerned and holding the fox in her arms.
Nick put a paw on his head. “I just saw a weird black figure in front of me, he said something about having plans for me but… I’m alive…” He looked around the room, confused. “I don’t really know what happened.”
Judy scanned for wounds or anything on the fox. “Do you feel hurt anywhere?”
The fox patted his body a bit, caressed his sides, arms and legs… no pain at all. “Nope, I’m totally fine.”
The bunny sighed relieved. “I’m so glad you’re okay… Can you stand and walk?”
The fox nodded and got up without help. “No worries here, all is okay.” He smiled as he usually does.
That made Judy confirm that was the real Nick. He got his backpack again and walked outside with the bunny by his side to the hall. The temperature went normal again, they didn’t hear the armor walking, they looked to the window and got closer.
“Now the color is normal and the distance to the floor from here is normal again!” Judy exclaimed. Then she tried to open the window and the lock wasn’t shut, it opened normally. “And it’s not closed anymore! The nightmare is over!” She jumped happily.
“Easy, Carrots, we still have to get out.” Nick smirked and continued his path downstairs with her behind.
Now, when the fox tried to open the door, it really opened and they could go outside. Nick and Judy did a high-paw, going outside and walking back to their places completely unscathed… or so they thought…
“...And that was the story.” Nick finished telling the tale to his friend Finnick.
“Pfft, you expect me to believe that? That’s a bad story even for you, Wilde.” He snorted and almost laughed at what he was told.
Nick just shrugged. “Up to you if you don’t want to believe me, but it’s genuine!” He took a sip of the beer he was sharing with the fennec fox.
“In your dreams, Nicko. You find a beast and it doesn't do anything to you? Everything went to normal? Too many slopes in your tale.” Finnick drank the rest of his drink. “Get a better one next time.”
“You can ask Carrots if you’re not sure, but it’s exactly what happened.” Nick continued smiling. “I’d have proof, but the camera got out of battery and I don’t know how, so nothing got recorded. I’m so unlucky. “He put his paw on his chest dramatically.”
“Blame the luck for your mistakes.” Finnick got up. “Now get out, I have to have my sleep to work tomorrow, money doesn’t grow in trees.”
“I love you too, buddy.” Nick got up, exiting the van and making his salute, doing a V with his fingers. The fennec closed the door of the van and the fox finished his can, throwing it in the trash.
Nick had now to go back to his place in the night, a pleasant walk, and not too long, good enough for the last walk of the day. The streets were almost empty, not even cars were passing by, and that was relaxing for him. That was until…
“Hey, fox.” Someone said from behind. Nick looked by the corner of his eye, not losing his trademark smirk. It was a boar, with the company of a pig and an anteater and all of them were showing their knives. “To the alley. Now.”
Nick shrugged and got in the alley as commanded, unusually calm. He turned around, smiling on his way. “You know, it’s better not to threaten someone you can’t beat.”
The pig laughed. “Oh yeah? If that’s what you think, show us.” He spun his knife on his hoof, frowning and ready to launch.
“I warn you, guys, let me out of here and I won’t do anything to you.” His voice started sounding really off as he kept talking.
The anteater felt a chill on his spine. “Y-You don’t scare us.” He replied, with a tone of voice that suggested that he was lying.
“That’s right, you talk a lot, but come at us.” The boar again replied.
Nick sighed and closed his eyes. “I…” He opened his eyes and the sclera became yellow and pupils were slitted, his voice turned demonic. “warned you.”
Nothing was heard about those three mammals again, when the paramedics got to them, they could only declare them dead. No reason was found, their bodies were untouched, but they weren’t alive. In the end, they said it was “natural causes”. Nick was unscathed and kept on doing his life. His voice went back to normal as well as his eyes, but the “soullesss” bodies kept appearing and no one knew the causes behind it. Only someone knew about it… the demon inside Nick. It possessed his body and the soul of Nick was a prisoner inside, the entity took his life and memories and still kept on doing the fox’s life. The demon wanted to feast on some souls, but it was smart and only attacked those who weren't close to the fox… and criminals were its best bet. The entity wanted a stronger body, but this one helped carry it inside of him temporarily. The demon didn’t mind to get less numbers of souls, after all… it was worth a small loss for a great gain.
Next time you see Nick… try to run from him… or your soul… will be consumed…