Chief Catano: "How do you feel about hunting a werewolf?"
Jimmy Frost: "Cooooooooooooooool! Wait, what?"
The Dark Side of the Moon is a Zootopia fanfic co-authored by Berserker88
and Mind Jack. It is a sequel (though not THE sequel) to Born to Be Wilde, taking place roughly nine months after the original fic. Zootopia is much changed after the Count's fall, and not necessarily for the better. The loss of all of Zootopia's major crime lords has resulted in a leaderless criminal empire splintering into many separate factions, all trying to reclaim that open territory for themselves. The ZPD is at the end of its rope just trying to keep it under control.And on top of all that, there seems to be a werewolf-like beast going around eating people. In order to investigate, rookie fox cop Jimmy Frost is sent undercover into the heart of the Lang Family, where they believe the beast originates. But his greatest challenge might just be convincing anyone that he's a rough-and-tumble biker wolf.
It can be read on Fanfiction here or A03 here.
WARNING: All spoilers relating to Born to Be Wilde will be unmarked. Read at your own risk.
The Dark Side of the Tropes Page:
- April Fools' Day: The first chapter was published as an April Fools' "prank", cooked up by Jimmy himself on the ZAA Discord server. See the whole exchange here.
- Atrocious Alias: Jimmy takes on the mantle of "James Wolfe" for his undercover assignment, which Danny begrudgingly admits is a perfectly valid wolf name in this world. Junior is about the only one besides Jimmy who actually seems to like the name, though he would've gone with "Johnny Goodboy".
- Bait-and-Switch: Right after the opening scene has someone being Eaten Alive, we cut to Jimmy's parents, horrified over their son tearing into something while staining his mouth red. Turns out their shock was over him putting ketchup on eggs.
- Carnival of Killers: Judy becomes the target of one in the form of ZAG, the Zootopian Assassins Guild.
- Chase Scene: Jimmy's first encounter with the Beast results in one of these through an underground haunted house attraction.
- Did Not Think This Through: Jimmy agrees to the undercover op a little too quickly and doesn't quite consider all the factors involved. Like the extent of his isolation from his friends, or the fact that he didn't even bother to consult his parents first.
- Enemy Mine: Judy is revealed to have secretly formed an alliance with the VanDals despite the previous animosity between them. She doesn't even know the enemy they're up against yet, but trusts that anything they're worried about is probably something she should worry about too.
- Evil Power Vacuum: Without Reynard or any of the other crime lords around, what's left of the old fox's empire falls apart and they all start fighting each other for control, resulting in what's now known as the Crime Wars.
- Good-Times Montage: Jimmy and Junior have one of these in Chapter 3, visiting several attractions in Lang Land with lyrics provided by a barbershop quartet.
- Human-to-Werewolf Footprints: Well, more like Wolf-to-Werewolf, but Jimmy gets shown a set of these in Chapter 3 as a clear sign that the Beast is coming from Lang Land.
- The Infiltration: The gist of the plot, with Jimmy going undercover as a Lang Family wolf in order to track down the "werewolf" terrorizing Zootopia.
- Make Way for the New Villains: Happens twice in succession in the opening scene. First, Doug Ramses from the movie attempts to bring a bunch of other sheep together in a plot to reassert power. He's soon interrupted by Hella, a dark and mysterious figure who starts to sway the sheep over to her side. Hella is then Eaten Alive mid-sentence by the Beast, freaking Doug out enough to immediately give up on his plans.
- Missed Her By That Much: Nick drives Jimmy away from the scene of the destroyed ice cream parlor, just missing a certain gothic vixen who arrives there.
- Mythology Gag: When arguing with Jerry Jumbeaux, Nick brings up a vandalism case he helped solve for him, a reference to a case from Zootopia: Crime Files. Shortly thereafter, he also wields a Jumbo Pop as a weapon, referencing Disney Infinity.
- One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Jimmy and Junior have a moment like this at the start of Chapter 3, due to the former's misunderstanding of a certain term that he thought was referring to The 'Verse of the Alpha and Omega movies.
- Smelly Feet Gag: While investigating some footprints left by the Beast, Jimmy sniffs around the area for clues, eventually sticking his nose right in one of the prints and taking a big whiff. He then finds out the hard way that giant footprints smell remarkably like giant feet.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted with Danny and Danielle, who prefers to go by Dani. Thankfully, their names are just distinct enough to differentiate them, but Dani is still relieved when Danny exits the scene.
- Tempting Fate: Jerry Jumbeaux angrily rants that he is never letting another fox into his cafe, just before a ZPD cruiser driven by two of them comes crashing through his wall.
- Time Skip: Of about nine months after the original fic, allowing for the Vixens to become ZPD officers and many, many other changes.
- World of Pun: Zootopia was already one of these so Lang Land naturally qualifies, providing as many attractions as it does wolf puns.
