Stories From Time (Bonus)

by BenMH02

Summary:

These are bonus stories for the ‘The Nick Of Time’ saga. While all three main parts are a retelling of Back To The Future as a Zootopia AU, these bonus stories here are almost entirely my own original stories to expand that world.

So what’s up with that carrot pen anyways? What did Judy apologise for?
How did the Enchantment Under The Sea Dance at the Carrot Days Festival play out in the initial timeline wher Judy didn’t interfere with Bonnie's and Stu's first meeting?
What’s that storie with the barn and the tractor all about?

In these bonus stories, you will find out these things and more.

Notes:

All the bonus stories for part 1 are already done, but the part 2 extras are currently still a work in progress. (as of the first bonus chapter releasing)

With some of the bonus stories for part 3, I want to wait until I have seen Zootopia 2 before I write them.
(This is primarily because of one character that I assumed would be in Zootopia 2 based on the lithograph that was shown off at D23 2024. But as the teaser trailer and later the first proper trailer came out, I found out I was wrong about one role / character. Either I will need to rewrite small sections of part 3, or I will explain this discrepancy in the first bonus story of part 3.)

And when I say ‘bonus story’, I mean something that I initially intended to be just one chapter, but so far, 4 of the 7 completed bonus stories had to get split up into multiple chapters. So when all is done, I expect this bonus content to be maybe anywhere from 50k to 100k words. I really have no clue yet. xD

Chapter 1: Carrots And Blueberries: Chapter 1 - New Acquaintances

Summary:

Curiosity meets ingenuity. The very first meeting of Judy and Nick, as well as Finnick.

Notes:

This 3-chapter bonus story takes place before part 1. I guess you could consider it a prequel of sorts.

Time and date: 21:53 - Saturday, 20th June 1981

 

“Remember to be wary around predators. We have bears to fear, say nothing of lions, and wolves, weasels… You know what, pretty much all predators, and Bunnyburrow’s full of ‘em. And foxes are the worst.”

Stu was having a stern talk with Judy after she had given her parents an exciting update from school. The doe had always liked playing guitar, now she had finally found three other mammals to form a band with. There was a woodchuck, a squirrel… and a racoon.

The latter of which greatly worried Stu. He had sat down his fourteen year old daughter after dinner to inform her of such. “Dad, he’s so shy, Rhoy wouldn’t keep a fight going even if he got bullied,” Judy reasoned. “You only just met him, though. Right?” interjected the older buck. “You know what trouble Gideon keeps causing…” He sighed. “I just want you to be safe, okay dear?”

Judy took those words to heart. She wanted to be safe too. There were currently no predators in her life, so who was she to defend someone she knew nothing about? Sure, the racoon in question played bass guitar in her band but there wouldn’t be a need to hang out after practice. The doe would much rather spend time with her crush anyways. Everything considered, though, she still found it upsetting just how dismissive and disrespectful her father was when talking about predators. Gideon Grey was a jerk that just so happened to be a fox, but Judy also knew plenty of bunnies who were jerks.

Thinking back to what she liked to do in her free time, Skippy had asked Judy to come to Happytown later this night to hang out at a new spot the two of them hadn’t been to before. So nearly as soon as Stu had left the room to spend the rest of the evening preparing another basket of produce for a bully baker, the rebellious teenager decided to grab her skateboard and sneak out of her room to meet a handsome buck late at night.

---

Time and date: 22:27 - Saturday, 20th June 1981

 

Before Judy had even arrived at the planned spot Skippy had suggested, the bunny had to pause. A large and intimidating cape buffalo was talking to a buck.

“Sheriff Bogo, I didn’t drink anything!” he insisted. “Like I told you already, I was only asked by my friend’s parents to take the bottles to my parents as a gift.” The enormous bovine grunted disapprovingly. “Splendid. In that case, I’ll accompany you to them,” Bogo said, causing two grey bunny ears without black tips to droop down. This was bad, Judy had to help somehow.

“Hey, Skippy,” she greeted with a forced dose of happiness. The buck’s ears shot up, then they drooped down again. It seemed he didn’t want the doe to see him in such a compromising position. The buck’s nose didn’t stop twitching slowly. “Ju… Judy,” the nervous bunny stammered. “Hopps,” Bogo greeted bluntly. “Good evening, sheriff, what’s going on?” she asked daringly.

“Might you have any alcoholic substances on you?” The bovine asked. Judy’s ears had been alert before, now they shot up a little further. “Excuse me?” the doe asked in surprise. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

After another grunt of disapproval from the largest mammal in this conversation, it was Skippy who continued talking. “Sheriff, she has nothing to do with this,” he insisted. The two teen bunnies exchanged worried glances. “In any case,” the booming voice demanded everybunny’s full attention. “Whitaker, I will accompany you to your friend’s parents. If the two bottles in your backpack did not originate from them, you will have to have a stern conversation with your own parents. Slacker!” The buck looked positively terrified, Judy was now certain he had wanted to surprise her with some drinks to impress her. What a silly boy, the doe was already head over heels for him.

“Hopps,” Sheriff Bogo continued. “You better not keep loitering here either, this neighborhood might be unsafe and I don’t want to arrive at work tomorrow, just to find a report on my desk about one of my officers needing to rescue you out of a precarious situation.” The doe hadn’t been in this part of Bunnyburrow before. It had always been her assumption, however, that there were no traditionally dangerous areas in the whole Tri-Burrows. She tilted her head to express her confusion.

The sheriff sighed. “Let me give you some pocket change’s worth of free advice, young lady. Almost every citizen who lives here in Happytown is a predator. There are only a dozen foxes living in Bunnyburrow and they all reside in this jurisdiction.” This information was new to the lapine, she was curious about this uneven distribution.

“Just last week, I had to respond to a call in person. You see this dilapidated garage over there?” Two bunny heads turned and followed the hooved finger of a cape buffalo to look at an unsuspecting building. It was squeezed between a construction site and an empty plot of land. “This place of residence belongs to Doctor Nicholas Wilde, a dangerous lunatic. He claims to be a scientist and inventor, but let me tell you, this fox is a real nutcase, an untrustworthy lowlife.” This gave the bunny pause, she had just heard some certainly very harsh accusations from the sheriff. She wasn’t surprised, most of these colourfully expressive words would accurately describe Gideon Grey too.

There was plenty of doubt in the doe’s mind, however, that this Dr. Wilde would be similarly unpleasant. She was curious about him now. Should the doe perhaps investigate? If Skippy would be taken home without her, and with nothing better to do, perhaps it might be fun to actually get to know a real predator. “Dismissed,” Sheriff Bogo concluded. Then, without another word from either of the two men, the cape buffalo led an uneasy buck to his car and drove off.

Judy wasn’t a bully or a criminal. Only warily exploring that run down garage would be enough to satisfy her curiosity. She would leave before anyone would ever know about her presence. The mischievous and intrigued doe glanced around. Being only fourteen years old meant that she couldn’t go to prison yet, so she hesitated even less than she probably should have. Nobody was anywhere in sight to witness her first and only ever break-in.

The lapine approached the garage, it stood behind a fence. Luckily there wasn’t a lock on it, so instead of needing to climb over the thin metal wires while carrying a skateboard, Judy could simply open it like a gate. How would she proceed from here, though? Surely the actual building itself was better secured against intruders, right? A walk around the whole structure concluded with all windows found to be shut. The doe wouldn’t break any glass panes or cause any other damage, of course. She just wanted to have a look around. This naturally left the front door on the left side as her next immediate destination.

Slowly, Judy tried the door handle. She made sure to make as little noise as possible, so as to not alert any neighbours. The door was locked. The bunny’s ears stood up casually as she pondered her options. An idea crossed her mind, it was nearly too stupid to even try. With one foot, the doe lifted the corner of the doormat.

There was actually a key hidden beneath. Judy honestly did not expect this. She picked it up and tried it, quickly finding it to fit into the door’s lock. After returning the key to where the bunny had found it, she opened up the entrance.

Slipping into the room immediately confronted the teenager with the smell of a fox. It wasn’t as bad as Gideon’s usual smell, was it even bad at all? Perhaps the baker’s usual scent did not represent foxes in general but merely one that did not shower regularly. Judy closed the door behind her.

The bunny stopped and took in her surroundings. There were a lot of shelves and boxes. A television set, a radio, as well as a couple of clocks were some recognizable items present in this room, though a lot of other things were here too. There was a table with a lot of tools scattered around. Beside them laid a lot of papers, they looked like blueprints of sorts. Ice cream wrappers and pawpsicle boxes laid in a messy pile near but not inside a rubbish bin. Judy scrunched her nose at the sight. She left her skateboard at the door.

With alert ears and a wiggle or two of her nose, the adventurous bunny proceeded further into the room. She passed a mirror, not paying any attention to it, then the most unusual sight greeted her. There was a toddler! He was left entirely unattended! The bunny gasped.

The baby was dressed in a cute elephant costume and fiddled around with the fabric. Before the doe had the time to process what she was observing, the young predator scrunched his nose, turned, and froze. Judy stopped dead in her tracks too, her ears shot up and her nose started twitching. Both mammals had wide eyes.

The baby blinked once or twice, then he waddled closer to the bunny. He slowly stepped right past her to look at himself and his adorable costume in the mirror. His eyes looked rather odd but at least he appeared to be greatly fascinated.

“All right, Big Guy,” a voice called out from behind some shelves. “Let’s try the red ones this time. Your favourite flavour.” Judy’s ears felt like shooting up even further, she whipped her head around in time to see a slender red fox come into view. This one was an adult, nearing his elderly years already. He carried a box of store bought pawpsicles. His nose started to move very slightly, then his ears shot forwards. The second fox had likewise smelled the bunny!

The lapine’s nose was twitching, she had wide eyes. The larger predator too looked rather surprised, at least temporarily, as he looked for the intruder. After a brief moment of the most awkward and tense eye contact Judy could ever remember having, the adult predator continued on with his task, placing the box with frosted condensation on a table. Without addressing the doe, he opened it up and started moving its frozen sugary contents into another container, this one was shiny metal. The vulpine then took it and carried it to an odd machine. The fox inserted the metal container into an open slot, like it was a matching drawer.

As the adult pressed a few buttons and adjusted some dials, the baby in an elephant costume waddled over to him to look on in more speechless awe. It appeared like he had only recently learned how to walk upright. Did infant foxes learn how to crawl on all fours first, before learning to stick to their hind legs?

A lapine nose was only barely calming down again. For as long as she could remember, Stu had warned his daughter to be wary of all predators and especially foxes. Now Judy was standing in the same room with two of them! Granted, one of them was a helpless little baby, maybe he was even cute. The costume by itself certainly could be described as such. And the other of them didn’t look nearly as threatening as Gideon did. At first glance, this predator made the bunny wary but she tried telling herself not to make any poor assumptions just yet.

With alert ears, the doe kept looking around nervously. There were so many old boxes and scattered papers. The slender vulpine stood in front of the strange machine, one hand at his chin, the other hanging down leisurely. He looked almost nervous. “What…” the bunny stammered out. “What’s all this about? What’s going on here?” Judy felt rather out of place, because she was. Why would she think asking this fox about something like that would be a good idea when she was the intruder here?

“I want to sell these Jumbo Pops to Jumbeaux’s Cafe,” the predator explained smoothly, pointing out the now empty box of rather small treats. He sounded confident but at the same time sceptical. The doe tilted her head in confusion. “The wild prairie is my favourite time period and not just because of the name. Back then, Jumbeaux’s place was still run by the founder. I’ve read he was an elephant called Jerry. So why not try and get them into the business of selling elephant sized treats too?”

Confusion was at the forefront of the bunny’s attention, though she firmly remained wary too around the taller predator in front of her, even if she didn’t want to. Her father’s words just stuck too deep in her mind. The odd machine exuded noises of bubbling and hissing. “I’ve done the calculations. I figure if I’ll get these small pawpsicles and put them through this enlarger machine of my own construction, I can easily make two-hundred bucks a day. I’ll only need to sell them to the cafe at Carrot Square and call it a day.”

This sounded like a scam to the lapine. Judy was rather disappointed, she had expected better from a sly fox. The doe glanced around some more, finding unpaid bills and letters that looked very official and like the predator was in serious trouble with the law. It was something about finances or taxes, the bunny didn’t bother looking closer.

“So what are you doing here, Carrots?” the fox inquired. Had this chomper just had the shameless audacity to call a bunny ‘Carrots’? “I…” the doe stammered. Had she had confidence and been drastically more disrespectful in this situation, she might have called this fox ‘Bunnies’. Judy was a little disappointed in herself because she honestly couldn’t think of what foxes actually liked to eat. “I heard you’re a wacky scientist and got curious,” she explained. It technically wasn’t a lie, the doe was honest.

The odd machine finally stopped making bubbling sounds. Instead, a red lamp on the side started blinking rapidly and the machine beeped loudly. It was rather unpleasant to the lapine’s sensitive ears. “All right, here goes nothing,” the fox expressed with a hopeful tone as he flicked a lever to turn off the odd device. Judy lowered her ears casually, she was also immediately hopeful this strange machine had worked. Doctor Wilde pulled out the metal box, took a deep breath and then looked inside.

Two fox ears immediately lowered in apparent disappointment. A clawed predator hand reached into the container to retrieve what was inside. The Doc lifted a wooden pawpsicle stick out, the treat itself was goopy, it dripped off slowly. This thing did not look any larger than before. However this machine was supposed to work, it did not do the trick. “Sorry, Big Guy,” excused the adult. “Better luck next time.” The red fox let out a big sigh.

“C’mon, Nick, ya say that every time,” said the deepest voice Judy had ever heard. The doe’s ears shot up all over again, she glanced for the source of the voice. Only a baby fox in an elephant costume met her gaze. He looked amused, nearly smirking. “I don’t think this idea’s gonna work out. Why dontcha go back to that collar thing? That old thing looked more promising than this hunk of junk.”

Judy’s mouth hung wide open, her nose picked up the twitches again. She stared intently at this tiny little predator. He was talking, how was a baby talking? Why was his voice so deep? The doe glanced up to the other fox in the room, hoping for some sort of explanation. Huge infuriating disappointment greeted her in the form of the smuggest and most insufferable of all smirks. “Wha… How…?” the disoriented teenager stammered, she wasn’t following.

“Hey, Big Guy, looks like the costume works,” the tallest mammal in the room remarked. “Do you think Mr. Piggie is gonna fall for it too?” Judy looked between the two foxes, she found the shorter one of the two pulled off his mask, revealing rather gigantic ears. His fur was completely tan. “…He’s so small though…” Judy wondered out aloud. The tiny predator started growling threateningly, the bunny immediately felt her heartbeat pick up. She was suddenly on edge, why did this adorable little child frighten her so much?

“Listen, gal,” he said, addressing the nervous lapine. “I don’t know who ya think you are that you sneak in here. Just don’t call me small and we ain’t gonna have any problems, understand?” The bunny’s rapidly twitching nose did nothing to hide her current emotions. The little fox, perhaps this was an adult fennec, talked not aggressively, he rather appeared annoyed. “S… Sorry,” Judy stammered. “Don’t worry about him, Carrots,” claimed the taller fox while the shorter one left the room. “It’s a sensitive topic, especially coming from a cute bunny.”

“What? Hey!” Judy immediately retorted. “Don’t call me cute! Or Carrots!” The doe was miffed at this annoying fox. First he and his buddy had tricked and embarrassed her, now he insulted her! “See?” the smug predator replied calmly. 

He tipped over the big metal box to empty out the molten ice cream. “Am I to understand that it’s a sensitive topic?” he asked, playing clueless. Judy’s ears drooped down. ‘Cute’ was not really an insult, it was just not something anyone should call a bunny. She supposed the same was true for fennecs and pointing out their size.

Judy sighed, she wanted to change the topic. “All right, Slick Nick,” she started, daring to come up with a nickname of her own. “Do you have other machines here? Any that work?” 

“Do I have other machines here?” The vulpine repeated the doe’s words while stowing away the thing he was working on. “Well yes. Yes, I do. Let’s skip the other question for now.” The fox looked smug and casual but Judy’s ears lowered regardless. The implication was that nothing here was functional. The bunny wasn’t sure how long she should stay. She had come here initially to find out more about this particular fox, she might as well stick around for a little while. He certainly didn’t appear to mind.

“Did you build everything here?” the doe asked with mild but genuine interest. “Which is your favorite?” The predator looked up from the sink, where he was washing any ice cream off of his hands. A smile crossed Wilde’s face, he seemed to like this question.

“I once built an automatic blueberry picker,” the Doc announced. “I love blueberries so one could naturally assume this is my favourite of my inventions.” Judy had a suspicion something wasn’t quite right about it, though. She had her ears up casually and tilted her head in interest. “Unfortunately,” the vulpine continued after a brief pause. “The claws had a hard time differentiating between ripe and unripe berries. And they gripped the plants too roughly. In the end, it was less of a hustle to just pick the berries myself.”

The bunny smirked. “I come from a family of farmers,” she revealed. “Plants need to be treated with care by real mammal hands.” The fox nodded in agreement as he stepped closer to the doe again. “What do you guys grow? A bunch of carrots, I bet,” Doc asked smugly. Judy rolled her eyes. “Yes, the Hopps family, a family of bunny farmers, grows carrots,” she confirmed reluctantly. “They’re my favourite, believe it or not. But we also have fields of potatoes, pumpkins, some wheat, lettuce, anything really. Even blueberries grow on our farm.” This certainly caught the predator’s attention. It would seem Judy had gotten her answer. Foxes, or at the very least this particular individual, liked to eat blueberries.

This conversation was all right, as far as the lapine was concerned. She had not, however, come here to introduce herself. Judy had decided to visit Doc Wilde’s place because she wanted to find out more about him. “Are your inventions always supposed to make things or harvest stuff?” She inquired. “Not exactly” the vulpine informed. “I’ve also got some other things. Be it measuring devices or transportation or other practicalities for day to day life. Of course I don’t build all the ideas I have, it would both be too expensive and impractical.”

“What sort of ideas do you skip?” The doe asked. “Just the silly things?” The red fox gave the bunny a questioning look. “What?” she asked nervously, getting immediately a little defensive. There were several more seconds of silence. The little fennec from before returned with normal clothes for someone his age. He casually sipped on a fresh cup of coffee. Without the baby elephant costume, he looked to be around the same age as Doc Wilde. Judy guessed the two of them were in their late fifties perhaps.

“You know, for an intruder you ask a whole lot of questions,” the smug fox called Judy out on her actions. Two bunny ears flopped down, a smirk remained firmly on the fox’s face. “I…” the bunny looked for a reason. She figured that honesty wouldn’t be a bad option here. “I already told you, I was curious about you. When I saw all those crazy things here, I figured, why not stick around to find out more? You know?” It made Judy uneasy just how little of a reaction the vulpine showed. His tiny companion kept sipping his coffee.

“You know, last time I checked, the front door was locked,” he mentioned. “You, uhm, you forgot the key outside,” Judy reasoned. “It just laid there under the doormat.” The bunny’s nose twitched occasionally. “Finnick,” the taller vulpine started, indicating the fennec with a half empty cup of coffee in his hand. “…told me that any moron could find that key and break in but I think it’s actually quite secure. Anyone dumb enough to look for a key under the doormat wouldn’t be an efficient thief or be of much concern.” The doe’s ears moved up, she furrowed her eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean, I’m not here to steal anything or cause trouble!”

“Ah? See? You proved my theory,” the fox teased. “Urgh, whatever,” Judy admitted in defeat, putting two fingers to her forehead in annoyance. “But rest assured, Fluff,” Wilde continued, now with a new nickname for the doe. “I don’t mind you being here. I’m actually glad someone’s finally interested in my inventions.” The smug smile turned into something that looked less fabricated. The fox almost appeared genuine in his appreciation. Judy smiled too.

“And to answer your question, one of the ideas I was dead focused on for a while, but never got around to constructing, was another sort of enlarger, if you will.” Doc Wilde indicated the molten pawpsicle remains in a normal sized bowl. “One for electromagnetic waves, though. I wanted to make something that can help me reach bigger amounts of electricity I might need for future projects.”

This idea sounded interesting to the bunny. There was just something about it that stuck with her. “Listen, Doc,” she started. “It’s getting a bit late and I should head home. Sorry about the surprise visit, next time I’ll ring the doorbell.” Judy moved closer to her exit when she noticed another smirk on the predator. “Good luck with that,” he wished smoothly. The bunny was confused by this, she tilted her head. “Wha? Uhm, thanks?” She replied with much uncertainty.

“Doorbell’s busted,” informed the little fox, Finnick, as he had been called earlier. “It ain’t working. Either ya keep knocking until someone opens the door or ya use the key.” Judy was still in awe of his impressively low voice. “Oh, all right,” she chuckled nervously, as she grabbed her skateboard and headed out.

Notes:

Not only is this the very first bonus chapter to come out, It’s also a mid-week chapter!
And today’s special occasion: On the 4th of September 1885, Doc Brown saves Clara Clayton from falling down a ravine.
On the same date, but in 2024, I completed the first draft of part 2 of this crossover story, still as script form.

 

This chapter coincidentally takes place on the birthday of Marty McFly. Once I realised, I didn’t retroactively want to add it as a plot point though. Judy’s birthday isn’t known canonically, so I keep it the same way in this story.

I don’t know how to spell the racoon’s name from the melody mammals. I sort of assumed it’s ‘Rory’, but the Zootopia Wiki spells his name as ‘Roary’. I don’t know, and I can’t be bothered to investigate and fix the spelling for every single time the name gets mentioned.

Nick and his taxes... It's always the same story, no matter the timeline xD

Finnick thinks ‘that collar thing’ looked more promising? Hmm, now why would that be...?

Hehe, having Judy be surprised about Finnick not actually being a baby was fun to write. Especially after writing all the 1885 scenes, their first meeting is probably at least as important to me as the first meeting between her and Nick. And the tiny fox does not like getting called small or little or miniscule. I’m not sure where it comes from exactly, I think I picked up that detail from Guardian Blue, so consider it a reference :p

The line ‘Which is your favorite?’ is a direct quote from Guardian Blue season 3, when Judy talks to the chief.

Chapter 2: Carrots And Blueberries: Chapter 2 - Hospitality And Hostility

Summary:

Excitement might be loud. Disappointment might be louder.

Time and date: 07:01 - Thursday, 25th June 1981

 

It had been a few days since Judy had paid Doctor Nick Wilde a visit. She couldn’t quite put her thoughts into words, but something about this fox intrigued her. Maybe it was the feeling of doing something forbidden, a bunny being on good terms with a fox. Maybe it was the kind and wholesome first impression he had left on the doe, or perhaps his inventions were to blame. Either way, he seemed like someone who the doe could easily get along and have a lot of fun with. The first impression the vulpine had left on the bunny was one of a funny uncle perhaps.

Judy did want to visit the fox again, she had an idea. Maybe amplifying electromagnetic waves wasn’t all that this thought concept could accomplish. “I’ll go out, practicing with the band today, okay?” the teenager called into the warren as she already had a foot out of the door. “Don’t come home too late, Jude,” her father instructed. He gave his daughter a hug and she kissed his cheeks. Then the skateboard fell to the ground and off it carried a young bunny.

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Time and date: 07:23 - Thursday, 25th June 1981

 

Shuffling could be heard inside the laboratory of one Doc Wilde. There was a little bit of grunting and surprisingly heavy footsteps, considering they likely came from a red fox or perhaps even just from a little fennec. Judy raised her hand and knocked on the door. The soundscape of this building’s interior did not change. The teenager tried knocking another time. Still, there was no response. “Doc?” she called out, knocking for a third time.

Finally the footsteps became much lighter, they approached the entrance. There was a click of a key getting turned, then the door opened up. “Carrots, you came back,” greeted the slender red fox. Judy lowered her ears in annoyance. “Carrots? Really?” She asked with a smirk. “Why don’t you come in,” Wilde offered. A fennec was walking by, carrying a box somewhere else. “Hey, uhm, Mr.” the bunny greeted. “Finnick is fine,” the tiny vulpine with the lowest voice introduced himself. “Or just Fin if ya outta time.”

The two taller mammals in the room approached a table with far less items scattered on top than the first time Judy had been here. “So, what brings you to my den?” asked a fox with a smirk. The bunny huffed in amusement. “Do you have any updates on that electromagnetic amplifier thing?” she asked. “Unfortunately no,” replied the fox quickly, as if he was ripping off a bandage. “Why are you asking?” The bunny felt a bit awkward to bring up her own thoughts to an inventor with more ideas than he could turn into reality. It had been bugging her, though. Maybe Doc Wilde might like the creativity.

“I’ve been thinking,” she started. “Do you reckon it would be possible to build a different version of that thing?” The fox tilted his head. One of his ears pointed upwards while the other one pointed off to the side. The young doe really wondered what her father might think about this sight. “The electromagnetic enlarger, you mean?” the vulpine asked for confirmation.

“Yeah, that,” Judy specified. “What input do you plan to use for it? Maybe it could be a microphone, or, say… an electric guitar?” The fox made wide eyes, he was surprised. Then a smirk returned to his muzzle. “First of all, I wasn’t planning on pursuing that particular idea,” Doc Wilde disappointed. “Secondly,” he continued. “Making a traditional sound amplifier out of this is a feasible idea. I like it.” Judy was surprised but very positively so, to hear a real scientist approve of her idea.

“And lastly,” the fox continued. “Are you meaning to imply, Fluff, that you aren’t just a bunny who likes carrots, who farms carrots, is called Hopps, but that you also fulfil yet another stereotype by being a mischievous teenager who likes to play guitar? Next thing you’re gonna tell me, you like rock and roll.”

“I…” the doe stammered. “Sure, I mean, who doesn’t like rock music?” she asked sheepishly. “What do you like to listen to, huh?” The foxy smirk that stared back at the bunny was nearly too much for the doe. “I think I’m a decade or three too old for that stuff,” Wilde said. “I’ve got nothing against it, but it’s also not my favourite by any means.”

The teenager smirked and rolled her eyes. Finnick approached another box to pick it up, it looked like he was really struggling. “Hey,” Judy called for the fennec’s attention. “Need some help?” the two foxes who couldn’t be more different in size exchanged curious glances, they both looked surprised. Judy figured her sudden offer came rather abruptly. Her line of thinking was that she wanted to make things even for breaking in the other day and upsetting the shorter vulpine.

“Thanks,” he replied. “I think I got this, though. If ya wanna help, ya can move the rest of that junk into that little box over there.” The smaller tod pointed out a whole lot of tools scattered about on the table, then he indicated a light blue and light green box. “Nick refuses to clean it up and I can’t be bothered.”

Before Judy had the chance to ask the red fox for any more information, he quickly moved over to the table and started sorting the tools himself. “Thanks for the offer, Fluff, but I think we got this,” he hastily exclaimed. “I like to sort my tools myself, they are supposed to have a very specific order.” The bunny’s smirk grew larger, the little fennec had just tricked his buddy into cleaning up, he had done it with such ease. “Heh, sly fox,” she commented to the smallest mammal in the room. “My dad had a toolbox like this when I was little.”

“Had? Why would he get rid of it?” The curious fox questioned as he was already half complete with his current task. “It, uhm…” the doe started awkwardly. “It broke,” she not quite lied. “What a shame,” Doc Wilde said sullenly. There was a brief moment of silence as all the tod’s tools were back in the box.

“So how come you have time to be here?” the vulpine inquired nonchalantly. “Isn’t it the final week of school? Shouldn’t you be studying for your last exams?” Judy’s ears shot up stiffly.

“Carrotsticks with spicy onions!” she swore. “No thanks, I’ll have my blueberries,” joked the larger predator. “What time is it? I gotta be there at eight!” The lapine was immediately very stressed, she didn’t want to be late for school. “It’s ‘bout the same time as yesterday around this time,” remarked the smallest mammal in the room. “Relax, Carrots, you still have thirty-one minutes,” calmed the red fox. This did little to ease the hectic bunny’s nerves, however. “I left my backpack at home!”the doe thought out aloud. “I told Skippy I’d meet him at Carrot Square before school, I gotta hurry!”

Just like that, the bunny’s limbs twitched sporadically to push the surprisingly jittery lapine towards the exit door. “After Fin and I are done cleaning up, I’ll take a look at what I can do about that amplifier idea of yours, okay?” The friendly fox offered. Judy was in a hurry but had to pause after this latest statement. “You… you’re really gonna build it?” she asked hesitantly.” The tod gave the doe a warm smile. “I’ve been meaning to, I simply didn’t have the space or the time.”

“Th… thanks!” The bunny said earnestly. “I gotta go.” Judy grabbed her skateboard and was off.

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Time and date: 23:58 - Wednesday, 15th July 1981

 

“Doc? Wilde?” a bunny called out as she knocked on the door. “Hello?” There was absolute silence inside the scientist’s laboratory. It had been nearly a month since Judy had shared her idea for an amplifier with the vulpine, though he hadn’t mentioned anything about it since. It was the doe’s assumption that Doc Wilde had not actually worked on it at all. The two mammals had socialised a couple of times, though they had always kept any conversation topics rather shallow. Judy checked her digital wrist watch. It was just a minute before midnight, why was Doc Wilde absent? The bunny knocked for another time. “Cheese and crackers,” she murmured. Doc Wilde had left a letter in the mailbox of the Hopps warren, inviting Judy to his place, at this very time. Why would this fox invite the bunny and request she’d show up exactly on time, only to be late himself?

Two bunny ears twitched, they picked up approaching footsteps. Judy turned around. “Doc, You’re late!” she complained, greeting the red vulpine. His fennec companion wasn’t with him for once. “A fox is never late, Ms. Hopps,” he responded without missing a beat. “What do you mean?” The doe retorted with mild annoyance. “I was waiting here for…” the predator cut her off, however. “Nor is he early.” The lapine tilted her head in confusion. “He arrives precisely when he means to.”

“You said you wanted me to be here at midnight!” Judy reminded. Instead of replying with words, the vulpine looked at his wristwatch, then he turned it to allow the lapine to see the time. Judy looked at her own clock too, they both turned in unison.

 

Time and date: 00:00 - Thursday, 16th July 1981

 

“It is exactly midnight and we are both here,” the smug fox explained as he unlocked the door. “I fail to see why you’re so riled up.” Judy was annoyed, she hoped to make her face look accordingly. It was hard, though, to keep her lips from curling upwards at the silly nature of this situation.

The two mammals entered the room, though Doc Wilde immediately stepped in front of the doe, turned around and stopped. “Now, Carrots,” he started. “Don’t expect too much, I did not have time to calibrate it yet,” warned the fox. Judy was confused. “What do you mean?” the questioning teenager asked. “It means I can’t guarantee that this latest machine I’ve built functions exactly as intended,” the tod explained. “You’ve built the amplifier!” Judy interrupted with a lot of excitement and alert ears. “Bingo!” confirmed the vulpine. He stepped aside, revealing a huge speaker. The bunny’s mouth hung wide open. “Haha! Pretty Sneaky, Slick!” she celebrated, lightly punching the fox’s side in excitement.

There were a lot of buttons, dials, needles on indicator readouts, this was not merely a little amplifier box. No, this was a huge piece of furniture, it towered far over even the tall fox. “You actually built it!” the doe celebrated. “Of course I did,” assured the tod with a huge smirk, rubbing his arm in apparent pain where Judy had tapped it.

With a key, the vulpine unlocked an on-off switch on a terminal. A green light turned on next to it. He flipped more switches, illuminating various components of this device. Power indicator lights lit up on consoles. Doc Wilde twisted various knobs to dial in the machine just as he wanted it. Needles on gauges jumped to life.

“I gotta get my guitar from home!” Judy mentioned eagerly. “Wait right here, I’ll be right back!” The bunny nearly ran out the door when the fox stopped her. “Carrots, wait a second,” he called out after the doe. “I managed to borrow someone’s guitar temporarily, just to calibrate this amplifier.” The bunny’s smile was nearly larger than this fox could smirk, she was reasonably sure. “It’s right here,” he continued, picking up a blue guitar with no shortage of scratches on the dirty finish. This was an old instrument that did not receive nearly as much care and attention as Judy would have hoped it would. It would suffice for now.

The doc connected the instrument to the amplifier, causing a low but already quite loud background humming sound to fill the room. He handed the guitar to Judy, who took it with interest and anticipation. She plucked each string a few times, tuning them a little as she went on. Then she started a live demonstration of her skills.

Doc Wilde seemed genuinely surprised to find Judy could actually play guitar. He must had assumed that she would strum around without knowing how to produce a single chord, but the bunny was playing a whole song. The fox slowly swayed his tail from side to side as he stood there, listening to the music. The doe had great fun, she soon moved from chord progressions and instead moved on to melodies and solos. The entertained predator briefly moved elsewhere in the messy garage, though the lapine did not let this deter her. While he wasn’t looking, Judy turned up the volume a little. She could enjoy the music better that way.

The fox returned with a record player and a bunch of vinyls. Judy stopped playing to see what he was up to. Neither of the two mammals said a word as the Doc put on a record and started it. It was traditional wild prairiern music. “Try playing to this,” he requested. Judy was unsure. “This?” She asked with uncertainty. “I mean, sure, I guess.”

The fox kept his smile up as the bunny reluctantly started playing something that frankly would have sounded better on an acoustic guitar. Why the tod would suggest something so comparatively boring to test out his new gigantic amplifier box was beyond the doe. “I guess, it’s got a beat and you can dance to it,” she commented, wanting to find something positive to say about the music choice.

Lacking the knowledge of how this piece progressed, Judy struggled a little to play along. She kept having to adjust her chords to accommodate for changes in the old song. The scientist had a big smile on his face regardless. “You’re good,” he complimented. “You should dance,” dared Judy with a mischievous smile, trying to bring more exciting variety into the song. The tod shook his head sheepishly. “Am I a dancer?” he asked. “No, no I’m not.”

The lapine rolled her eyes. Without missing a beat, she hopped closer and bumped the fox’s side with her hip. Finally, the suddenly less stubborn predator started moving. To call this dancing would have been very generous, however. Doc Wilde merely spun his hands around while stepping from side to side. Judy burst out laughing but kept playing regardless.

Soon enough the song came to an end, though the bunny made sure to stretch out the end in a quick progression of notes. It sounded like a spectacular ending to a song, on par with how Lion May would end most numbers during his live performances.

“Do you have anything more exciting?” Judy asked. “Something closer to rock or maybe pop?” The fox rolled his eyes. “You sure live up to some stereotypes,” he teased. The bunny huffed. She went to strum around some more. “Let me see if I can find it…” the Doc mumbled. He looked through his collection of record discs. The doe’s ears were hanging down casually. “This is the only rock music I have,” he announced. “It’s Jailhouse Rock by Elkis Presley.” The bunny’s ears moved up in interest.

“I know who wrote that song,” mentioned the doe with a roll of her eyes. She liked this tune. The predator put it on and stepped back. The first 2 notes, Judy didn’t play along. They started off the song, so the bunny didn’t yet have the right beat or speed. The second pair of notes were already dominated by the guitar-playing teenager.

The first verse didn’t last very long. Once the chorus started, however, Judy really got into a groove. She hopped along, playing not just what was on the record but expanding on it with her own improvised melodies. It wasn’t anything too fancy but at least it sounded better than nothing. There was a brief guitar solo where the bunny felt like a real rock star, though she did have to admit one thing. This original version of this number was a lot slower than she would have expected, having heard only more modern interpretations by younger rock bands.

Far too soon, the song came to an end. Without asking and before the fox could put on the next record, the lapine picked up the stylus and carefully moved it back to the start of the song. For a second time, Judy gave a private concert to a lucky predator. She had a lot of fun and from the look of things, Doc Wilde was enjoying himself too.

The bunny turned up the volume again. The scientist did nothing to stop her, she hadn’t put it all the way to the maximum output anyways. One day she would, it became a new goal of Judy’s at this very moment. For now, however, she kept playing and playing. The record disk had run out for a second time but the lapine barely noticed.

She kept the other instruments going in her head. Her playing turned into a faster and louder solo. There were plenty of mistakes, be it a finger on an incorrect fret or going out of beat for a few bars that turned out to be quicker than the doe was capable of playing. The Doc kept looking at the bunny and her skillful but at the same time very amateur-like performance. He didn’t hear what Judy had also missed initially. The front door opened up and very heavy footsteps entered.

“Wilde! And is that Hopps?”

Judy immediately stopped playing at the dominant sound of a certain cape buffalo’s booming voice. She lowered her ears nervously. “Hey there, if it isn’t Sheriff Bogo,” the fox greeted with apparent indifference. The doe assumed he was annoyed by the interruption to the party.

“Shove it, Wilde,” the bovine commanded. “Hopps, what are you doing here? I have ordered you to stay clear.” The bunny was annoyed by the sheriff’s insistence on dictating her personal life. Before she could voice her opinion, though, the largest mammal kept talking. “And why are you making such loud noises? Did it not cross your mind to look at the time?”

“I always check the time,” Doc Wilde remarked. “Then how come you allow a minor to cause a noise complaint?” This confused Judy. She thought there were no buildings on either side of this laboratory. Perhaps she had turned up the volume a little too much after all. “Sheriff, I’m…” The bovine cut off the bunny again. “Why are you here, Hopps? Did you decide to come here?” This question confused the bunny. The fox had invited her. “Doc Wilde has asked me to…”

“Doc Wilde?” Sheriff Bogo repeated. “Y… Yes,” the uncertain lapine confirmed. “He asked me to meet him here tonight, and…” “And you actually followed his request?” The bovine asked in stern exasperation that contained more lecturing than Judy had ever heard from Stu her whole life. “Sir,” the teenager tried to get heard. “Yes, I came here because Doc Wilde asked me to. He said he had something he wanted to show me. Why do you act like that’s a problem?” The doe was honestly a bit fed up with this cow.

“Have you not listened to me at all?” the sheriff asked. “He is a dangerous lowlife! If you stick around him, you will end up in big trouble, young woman.”

“Listen, Sheriff Buffalo Butt,” the Doc tried to chime in. Judy had to suppress her giggles upon hearing that nickname. “Shut your chomper mouth now, fox!” Bogo demanded. This was outrageous to Judy. “As I understand, you have invited a minor at a late hour at night, talked her into making noise, and who knows what else you have planned.” The cape buffalo must had been misunderstanding something, it had been Judy who wanted to play louder, not Doc Wilde.

The front door opened up again and two more police officers walked inside. There was a big rhino with a far less intimidating but certainly not harmless aura around him, as well as a hippo. “Sure, come on in,” the fox greeted passive-aggressively. “It’s not like I have a doorbell you could use.” This comment prompted a deeply intimidating glare from Bogo. Judy knew the doorbell wasn’t functional as of a month ago. The bovine turned and addressed the bunny.

“Go home, Hopps. Do not impede our investigation by loitering here.” Judy didn’t want to leave yet. This was just a noise complaint, why would they need to stop outright? They could continue at a lower volume.

“Wilde, you are hereby under arrest for causing a disturbance and for undetermined suspicious activities with a minor.” The two officers who had arrived later surrounded the fox and put him in handcuffs. His ears were down and he looked disappointed. This was absolutely outrageous! Why would these officers arrest Doc Wilde if he hadn’t done anything illegal?

“Wait!” Judy interrupted, as the two officers already approached the exit with a restrained vulpine. “Sir, the noise complaint is my fault. Don’t arrest the Doc, please.” The sheriff sighed. “Let me explain it plainly, Hopps. You, a fourteen year old minor, were invited here by a middle aged to elderly predator. A fox. There will be a thorough investigation into just exactly what intentions this so-called doctor had.”

Judy’s nose was twitching. She glanced at Doc Wilde and back at the buffalo. “Sheriff, he built…” she got cut off again “Hopps.” The bunny received a firm stare-down from the intimidating bovine. The doe turned to face the suddenly guilty looking fox. He shook his head slowly. “Sir,” she started, before turning back to the sheriff. “Confiscate this amplifier or something, I don’t know. But there is no need to arrest him… I think.”

“Carrots,” the predator whispered to the bunny. “Stop talking, it’s gonna be fine.” The rhino officer put a large hooved hand on the scientist’s shoulder. “What was that, fox?” he asked. “No, Doc,” Judy insisted. “They can’t just arrest you!”

“Hopps! Do you know how many times I have had to respond to a call or send my officers out here to deal with this slacker?” Sheriff Bogo asked. “Foxes are deceiving. We have found nothing of criminal relevance yet but it’s only a matter of time until we do. He claims to be a scientist and inventor but let me ask you, what has he ever accomplished?”

“Nothing, I guess,” Judy replied to the best of her knowledge. Inventions didn’t need to function all the time to be successful, though. They could be fun while they failed too. Besides, the amplifier speaker seemed to function exactly as intended. “Even if his other machines don’t work, that doesn’t mean he has bad motives, right?” the bunny reasoned. “I mean, Doc Wilde isn’t that bad for a fox. I would know, my dad keeps getting visits from one of them.”

“Your father?” Sheriff Bogo responded dismissively. “That slacker? And even after all the trouble and hardship your family has faced at the hands of foxes, you still come here and defend this one?” Judy was outraged at this point. How would she get it into this bovine’s thick skull that Doc Wilde was not like other foxes?

“Okay, so what if I come here by my own will? I’m willing to take that risk of becoming another victim of a shifty lowlife. And if he shows his true colours, I’ll just not show up again. I know to be wary around predators and especially foxes, but so far, Doc Wilde seems to be okay. I mean, maybe it’s an act, but I can deal with that when I have to.”

“No!” the sheriff barked. “ I will have to deal with that when I send officers out here and give your parents bad news. Now. Go home.” Judy eyed the cape buffalo for at least five or six seconds. Her eyes were furrowed. Finally she lost the staring contest. “Fine,” she practically spat out as she grabbed her skateboard and stomped off.

---

Time and date: 13:16 - Friday, 24th July 1981

 

It had been a few days. Harvesting the fields turned out to be as boring as every year. Judy did not like helping out. Thankfully, she wasn’t asked to as much as her siblings were. Finally, on a cloudy Friday afternoon, Judy found the time to check up on Doc Wilde again. She hadn’t visited him since Sheriff Bogo had interrupted a fun night of music. There hadn’t been any interactions or even just communication between the fox and the bunny, besides those couple of previous visits. She missed hanging out at his place, it was fun. With a skateboard below her feet, the teenager had made her way to Happytown.

The scientist’s laboratory was locked. Judy had found it like this every time she had been here so far, it was quite the opposite of unexpected. What was less usual, however, was the absence of any sounds inside. The lapine knocked on the door. There was no answer. She tried again with the same non-existence of luck.

Perhaps neither Doc Wilde, nor Mr. Finnick were currently home. Judy sighed, she decided to try again the next day. Thankfully, there were no other plans that would cause any scheduling conflicts.

---

Time and date: 11:43 - Saturday, 25th July 1981

 

Another day, another attempt to re-establish contact with the red fox scientist and his little fennec sidekick. Judy actually tried the doorbell for once. Perhaps the fox had repaired it. It would seem he hadn’t, no sound could be heard upon pressing the button. As per usual, the doe reverted to knocking manually. There was no answer initially. After trying for a second time without a reply, Judy figured she didn’t want to leave again just like that. With one foot, the bunny lifted the doormat.

No key was hidden beneath.

“Carrotsticks, what’s going on?” Judy mumbled. Immediately after ending this sentence, she quieted quickly. There was a sound inside the lab, someone was home. The bunny put an ear against the door to try to hear into the room more easily. She could make out a faint sound of a sigh, then some slurping. “Doc? Hello?” Judy called into the lab. There was still no answer. “Wilde?” came another call, it was accompanied by knocking. A sensitive lapine ear kept listening, hearing more sounds of drinking. “Hey, I can hear there’s someone inside. What’s going on?” the teenager tried again.

After another second or three of silence, finally there were footsteps approaching the entrance. A key turned and the door opened up. Anticipating a red fox, Judy looked up and saw nobody. She turned her gaze downwards to find a highly annoyed fennec with a mug of coffee in one hand. “What do ya want, rabbit?” he asked with his deep voice and an unusually angry expression.

“What’s going on?” the bunny asked nervously. “Where’s Doc Wilde?” The doe tried to glance into the room, finding it unusually empty. “Why would you care?” the fennec asked with a hint of a growl. “You have some nerve showing up here.”

This gave Judy pause. She lowered her ears and tilted her head in confusion. Her nose probably twitched once or twice too. “I…” she stammered. “Is everything all right?” she asked with genuine worry. “Please, I’ve not seen him in a week.” The little fox with tan fur furrowed his eyes in suspicion, or perhaps it was confusion. “What’s yo deal, bunny?” he asked cryptically. “What… what do you mean?” was the response the vulpine received. “Last week when he showed me the new amplifier, Police came and caused trouble. There was a noise complaint because of me. I just wanna know that he’s not in jail or anything.”

Finnick eased his tense expression. He looked just as confused as Judy herself now. He let out a heavy sigh. “I don’t know what you’re all about,” he started more quietly and without any hostility left in his voice. “It’s probably best if ya don’t show up again.” The bunny’s ears shot up. “What?! Why?” she blurted out. “Is Doc Wilde in prison? That can’t be right!”

“He ain’t in jail,” the fennec revealed. “But all his stuff basically is.” The longer this conversation went on, the further Judy’s confusion grew. “Nick said they took it all as evidence or whatever. He told me it was your idea or somethin’. I ain’t got a clue what happened exactly.” The bunny’s nose was twitching for sure now. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “I… Well I didn’t want him to get arrested!” she reasoned. “Will the Doc ever get his stuff back?” Judy was getting very worked up.

There was another sigh, it sounded tired and annoyed more than anything. “Leave,” the fennec commanded. “Now’s not the time for emotional bunnies. I’m sorry, but Nick ain’t in the mood to see ya again.”

The fennec closed the door quietly, leaving a dumbfounded bunny outside. Judy was battling her tears. She had far from a full picture of what had happened. To her, it almost sounded like Doc Wilde lost all his stuff because of her! How could that be? This couldn’t be right!

Notes:

Why would Stu get rid of that wonderful toolbox? Hmm...

I found this story needed something more after the scene where Judy is telling Nick about her idea for the amplifier and leaving for school. I couldn’t come up with anything, though, that wouldn’t either be irrelevant or stretched out filler stuff. I struggled to convey in this chapter how Judy quickly felt emotionally attached to Nick. From her point of view, they are good friends and hit it off right away.

Finnick is not there when scat hits the fan, because I thought it would be too difficult for me to write such an emotionally complex scene with him in it, at least in this context.

Given the age gap with the foxes in their late 50s and Judy being 14, perhaps she sees Nick as this father figure she never had with Stu. But there aren’t any scenes that properly convey that. As it stands right now, I honestly think this bit of the story lacks substance and is a little boring.

A fox is never late. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.
Just in case you forgot :p

This is a reminder that the ‘wild prairie’ in this story is equivalent to the ‘wild west’. And the music from there has a beat and you can dance to it, or so I’ve heard ;p

Maybe someone should warn Judy about not putting up the amplifier to full volume...

To be honest, I don't know if ‘suspicious activities with a minor’ would have been such a big concern in 1981. But it’s obvious that Bogo is just trying to find just about anything he could pin on Nick to get him behind bars.

 

This week in time: September 1st - September 7th
It's Back To The Future 3 week!

• On the 1st of September 1885, Doc Brown writes a letter to Marty in 1955 and hides the DeLorean time machine in an abandoned mine.
• On the same day a few years later, in 1897, Peter William ‘Pee Wee’ McFly participates in National League, as seen in the animated series.
• On the 2nd of September 1752, Verne Brown interferes with Benjamin Franklin’s kite experiment. This also comes from the animated series.
• On the 2nd of September 1885, Marty arrives in 1885 on his quest to rescue Doc Brown.
• Back to the National League. On the 2nd of September in 1897, Marty substitutes for Pee Wee McFly. Likewise in the animated series.
• On the 3rd of September 1885, Marty meets Mad Dog Tannen for the first time. He reunites with Doc, and the two of them think about how to get back home to 1985.
• Also on the 3rd of September, though in 1979A (the dystopian timeline where Biff has the sports almanac), Biff’s lobbying is successful and Hill County legalises gambling. This event is reported on in a comic.
• On the 4th of September 1885, Doc Brown prevents Clara Clayton from falling down a ravine, saving her life. They fall in love at first sight.
• On the same date, but in 2024, I completed the first draft of part 2 of this crossover story, still as script form.
• On the 5th of September 1865, Hill Valley officially becomes a city.
• On the same day 20 years later, there is a festival in Hill Valley. The clock in the clock tower on the courthouse gets started for the first time.
• Depending on the timeline, during this festival, either Mad Dog Tannen shoots Doc Brown, or Marty saves Doc from getting Shot.
• The next day, on the late evening of the 6th of September 1885, Doc says goodbye to Clara. She doesn’t take it well and he spends the remaining night at the saloon.
• On the 7th of September 1885, Doc Brown would have died, had Marty not come back in time to save him.
• Of course, on that very same day in a different timeline, Marty goes back to 1985. Doc stays in 1885 with Clara.
• And finally, on the 7th of September 1893, Doc forgets his and Clara’s anniversary and travels to 2017. Verne accidentally comes along too, as seen in a comic.

I decided not to list all the events from 1885 that take place in this crossover story of mine. I would love to tell you all about them, but I don't want to spoil some adjustments and new additions I came up with for this project. I already did in earlier author notes, but only little bits here and there ;p

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 2 of The Nick Of Time