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Chapter 5 - Resolve

As the blue portal closed behind them, so too did the adventure they just had. The weapons that they had gripped in their paws faded away as if they never were. Only the memories of their experiences remained to be kept. Alex immediately checked his stuff. His phone was working again, relieving him of his technological withdrawal. The street was empty as the full moon shone brightly in the sky. The wolf resisted the urge to howl like a young pup as he double checked his phone. It was almost midnight; they must have been in that strange world for about five hours. He couldn't believe any of what had just happened was real. Alex gripped his heart with his paws and breathed heavily. The fatigue he felt was at its limit; his limbs felt like Jell-o and it hurt to move around.

He turned to Nick and Judy and bowed his head to them. "Thank you so much for your help, kind officers. You saved my life."

Judy blushed a bit. "I...it's all in a day's work! Hehe! Though that was the strangest day I've ever had."

Nick gave a genuine smile and said, "No problem, but you were pretty good out there, too!" Taking on a more relaxed stance, he continued. "Maybe you should join the ZPD as well," he said with a little sarcasm in his voice.

Alex laughed out loud. The thought of him being a cop was the funniest thing he ever heard. "Haha! Good one, but I am so out of shape. I am so not cut out for that kind of dangerous work. Besides, I'm happy where I am now." The wolf then mumbled under his breath, "Also, I'm sure I make more money doing my current job than a dangerous one where my life is on the line...Oops I said my thoughts out loud again."

Nick chuckled at his remark, finding it not a half bad comeback to his own joke. Judy, however, wanted to discuss more important things. She spoke up, "Well, anyway, this seems like something we need to talk about. Let's try to sum up what just happened." The three spoke in detail about the events that took place. There was a world parallel to their own where spirits dwelled. The spirits that they encountered were of deceased animals, animals that couldn't remember much of their past life. When an animal dies in a horrific way or is filled with a type of lingering hatred or envy against the living, their spirit is filled with malice, and over time, gains power and turns into a creature called a Grudge.

The grudge was the main culprit behind this case, and through sheer luck they were rescued by entities called the primal animal spirits. They represented the first incarnations of ancient animals, and they blessed them with the power to fight in the spirit world. This power was the ability to manifest a weapon from one's soul. It also increased their natural abilities, such as improving Judy's jumping ability, Nick's speed, and Alex's strength. When they defeated the Grudge, its malice disappeared and it returned to its natural state. Then, where the boundary between the worlds was the weakest, a gate appeared to take them back home. The weakened boundary also let them glimpse at what was occurring in real time in the real world as well. It was all so confusing, but after they pieced together what they knew, they started to figure out how the Spirit World worked, if only a tiny piece.

Judy glimpsed at her phone, which was suddenly blowing up with text messages and missed calls from when she was in the Spirit World. Clawhauser was worried when she didn't come back to file some reports. "Oh crackers...Nick, let's head back to the station and finish up our reports."

"Hold on a minute there...we can't just leave things as they are. Hey, howler!" he shouted, referring to Alex, who frowned. Howling was so embarrassing to him for some reason, and he'd done it multiple times today. "Let's have your cell number and information. I'm going to text you an address and time later where you can meet us. I know someone who is into this occult kind of stuff and might have more information."

"Ah, that sounds like a good idea..." Alex said, perking up at Nick's suggestion. Alex swapped phone numbers with the officers and said, "Well, I should go to bed. I don't think I'll be able to move tomorrow morning after all that running. Good night, officers!" Alex started to walk back to his apartment. Judy and Nick replied in kind and watched the wolf head back.

"Hey Carrots, what you do think of four eyes over there?" Nick asked curiously.

"He's pretty nice. I've never met a wolf like him. Who would've known that meeting him would lead to this amazing discovery and all this other crazy stuff? I think we'll be seeing more of him in the future," Judy said enthusiastically as they walked back to the hospital where their police car was still parked.

"I agree. He is interesting, but some things aren't adding up. He seems to be hiding something. I noticed he has a habit of grabbing his neck when something is wrong or if he's scared. Maybe I'm being too analytical, but I just think we should keep an eye on him. He's the only one besides us that we know of who can enter that world," Nick said with a cautious attitude towards the wolf.

The next day Alex took the day off work, his body sore and throbbing in pain. It hurt to move around, and even breathing caused him distress. Just as Nick mentioned, he texted Alex a place and time they would meet up. The message said to meet them at the otter psychic named Madam Lutra at 8 pm. Apparently it was located across from a naturalist club in Sahara Square. After sleeping in some more and struggling to get out of bed and put on some clothes, he forcibly dragged himself to the meeting location.

He made it with a few minutes to spare and was greeted by Nick and Judy in plain clothes. Nick was wearing his typical green Hawaiian shirt and tie with brown pants, and Judy wore a red short-sleeve shirt and jeans. "Hello, officers! It's great to see you again!" he said enthusiastically while wagging his tail.

"Hey there, Alex! And you don't have to be so formal. We've been through so much together in just one night after all." Judy said, trying to help him relax his speech.

"Oh r-right, it was Judy and Nick if I am not mistaken. Sorry it took me so long; I rarely come to Sahara Square," he said while mumbling. "Actually, it's rare for me to leave my apartment at all... I'd rather not waste the energy to be honest." Alex's bad habit of saying his thoughts out loud shown through again, which he quickly apologized unnecessarily. "I can't believe naturalist clubs exist, though." he said, pointing at the one across the street. "Those places where everyone inside is nude! That's so embarrassing! I'd feel like a pervert if I walked into that kind of place."

Judy heard his statement and felt embarrassed, remembering her past visit to the place in question. Nick lightly elbowed her saying, "Yea, only real perverts like to go to places like that to see naked animals. Right, Judy?" he said, grinning mischievously. Judy glared angrily and proceeded to step on his tail, causing Nick to wince and stop his line of teasing.

They headed inside and entered a dark and dimly lit room. Alex and Nick were nocturnal animals by nature, so they had no problem with the lack of light. Judy struggled, but managed to find her way with the melting candles spread throughout. Suddenly the lights in the room turned on and an elderly female otter dressed in purple robes appeared through the nearby curtain. With the room lit, Judy could see it was decorated with dream catchers, tarot cards, special charms and other stuff like that. "Welcome, my children. I am Madam Lutra at your service. Ah...Nick, my child, it has been some time...I've heard whispers that you have graduated from scam artist to a police officer. I offer you my congratulations."

"Scam artist?" Alex said, whispering to Judy.

"It's a long story. I'll fill you in another time," Judy whispered back.

Nick smiled at the old woman, paying no mind to the whispers behind him. "Thanks! Hey, you are good with all this occult stuff. What can you tell us about the Spirit World? We are doing some research on it and wanted to know all about it."

"Ah, the spirits! It's strange that you would want to know more about them, Nick, but I will divulge what I know." The old woman offered the three of them a seat near a table in the center of the room. A crystal ball was adorned in the center of the table. The three of them sat down and listened to the old woman's tale.

"Long ago, this world was naught but a barren wasteland, until the spark of life graced our world. This life was born from the power of the Spirit of the Planet, the source of all life that we have come to know. Each and every species of animal and plant was given life by the planet's spirit. Yet spirits cannot co-exist with the life forms that were created. They exist on a different plane of the same world and are responsible for providing life. When our bodies perish, our spirits ascend to that plane so that we maybe return to the planet and continue the cycle of life," she said solemnly.

"So if that's true, that means this world and the spirit world are like two sides of the same coin..." Alex mumbled to himself as he listened.

Nick wasn't one to believe such an origin story about the world, but he humored her and asked her a question. "Have there ever been cases of spirits entering into our world and causing mischief?"

"Of course, Nick! Ever been to an actual haunted house, a place where someone recently passed away, or a place that is extremely sacred such as a shrine? You can't deny that there are unexplained occurrences in these locations. Mysterious shivers going down your spine, whispers in your ear, noises you hear in the distance. Those are the spirits reaching out into our world, as the boundary is weaker there and they are able to have a more direct influence. Most try to interact with us in peace or curiosity, but there are malicious spirits that have been reported to try to kill the living out of envy," she said with a grim expression.

"The Grudges! That explains what happened to Alex, Nick!" Judy said in a soft voice while trying to contain her energy.

Alex grabbed his neck again, which now had a black collar instead of bandages, remembering what happened yesterday. "Yes, I can attest that I have experienced those things, especially the malicious spirit attack," he said grimly.

The old otter woman looked at the wolf with sorrowful, empathetic eyes. "Ah, my poor child. Even with my old eyes, I can tell you have a very powerful spirit. You are more sensitive to spirits than other animals, just like I am. Yet I sense terrible things in your future..." The otter took out some fortune telling tarot cards and began a reading. "My my, I've never seen this before. I've done a reading on your future multiple times and they all come up with the same result: disaster. The odds of that are nigh impossible. Please be careful. Death is close to you, my dear wolf."

"D...Death...?" Alex grabbed his neck again, shaking. His mind was trying to remember something, something horrible. He told himself to calm down and stop thinking about it. Memories that have been buried need to be forgotten. "An impossible reading, disaster in my future... I'm sorry, I need to step out. Thank you for your time," Alex said as he quickly walked out of the shop in a panic. His heart was pounding a million miles a minute. He had to sit down on the sidewalk as he had a mini panic attack. He never thought about stuff like this, but with what occurred yesterday, the Spirit world, being attacked, learning that he was super sensitive to spirits... it was all but inevitable that he would be attacked again. There had to be a way, a way to stop spirits from attacking him or other innocent animals, a way to save others from the same fate.

Judy and Nick quickly followed out of the shop after Alex and found him sitting on the sidewalk. By the time they arrived he had calmed down a bit. "I...I'm sorry. That got too weird for me, but I was thinking. There is a high chance that I might get attacked again and there might be others who might get attacked as well. If those Grudges get too powerful, they might be able to kill others as well." He took a pause and stood up to face the fox and bunny. "Even though I'm not an officer like you guys who protect living animals, I... I want to save the ones who can't pass on in the Spirit World, so that they can't hurt the living, so they can be at peace. I won't force you two to help me, but you two have been though the same experiences I have. I want to let you two know that I plan on going back there and try to help out whatever spirits I can. Even if it's dangerous...I feel like I can't just sit back and wait for another Grudge to attack me!"

Judy and Nick looked at each other and whispered amongst themselves, most likely discussing the wolf's resolve to explore the spirit world. Judy turned to Alex and said, "Even if it's dangerous, I can't let you go by yourself. As an officer, I feel obligated to keep you safe, and besides, I feel like we are friends already. I want to help you out too!"

"I'm with Carrots over here. This sounds like quite the adventure, and it will give me something to do when I'm bored," Nick said, trying to play it off nonchalantly, but deep down he was excited at such a prospect. "But how are we supposed to go back there?"

Alex had an idea. "Remember that blue gate that we took to get out of the Spirit World? When I listened to Madam Lutra, she said the boundaries are weak in certain places. Those places must have similar gates. In our free time we should go look for gates, and if one of us finds one, we'll call the others and we can get together to explore."

"Sounds as good a plan as any!" Nick said, grinning. "I look forward to working with ya, Howly!" he said, extending his paw.

Alex shook his paw and nodded. "Same here!" He also shook Judy's paw. "Thank you so much!"

Judy smiled happily at the wolf. "No problem! I'm so excited. I feel like I'm not only the first bunny police officer of Zootopia but the first officer of Zootopia's Spirit World!"

"Well, it's getting late. I should be heading home," Alex said after he checked the time on his smart phone. He got embarrassed a bit. He wanted to become better friends with these two, but he never had many friends growing up due to his shyness. "W-well, if you ever want to hang out when you guys are off duty, give me a call! We can look for gates or just...hang out or something..." he said, not being able to make eye contact.

Judy nodded, saying, "Sure, no problem!" Nick nodded as well, wondering why he was acting so shy. He was so confident a few moments ago, but he suddenly reverted to his original mental state.

And so, with Alex's mind set and Nick and Judy both on board to help out, a new adventure that would uncover the hidden side of Zootopia had finally begun.