When Instinct Falls is a Zootopia fanfic authored by Upplet
.
Taking place three years after the events of the film, the story follows a married Nick and Judy as they continue their lives as officers of the law, all the while combating against the most powerful criminals in the city, and learning more about themselves along the way. At its core, When Instinct Falls is a crime-drama epic with an additional focus on romance and adventure.
It could be read on Fan Fiction.net here or Archive Of Our Own here, but has since been deleted by the author on both platforms.
This fic provides examples of:
- Animal Stereotypes: Like in the original movie, this fic likes to play with them:
- Vampire bats such as Vladzotz Fangpyre and Lucy Sang are straight examples of the Bat Out of Hell stereotype, both being dark, sadistic, and literally bloodthirsty.
- Ratsputin mentions that his species (rats) is seen as slimy and untrustworthy, much like himself, and that he entered a career in the news industry to disprove it.
- Iluka Rombahe is a tasmanian-devil with an unsurprisingly huge temper problem.
- Harlan O'Conall is a strong, honorable wolf.
- As a lamb, Mary Ewever fits the stereotype of being timid and physically weak.
- The mole Eugene is quite literally The Mole, spying on the ZPD for Al Catpone.
- Butch the kangaroo fits the Boxing Kangaroo stereotype to a T.
- Battle Amongst the Flames: Nick's fight against Vladzotz Fangpyre in chapter 23, "Endgame", during which Vladzotz's mansion has caught fire and is gradually burning down around them.
- Battle in the Rain: Judy's fight against Lucy Sang in chapter 114, "Judy at the Bat", takes place during a stormy night in the jungles of the Rainforest-District.
- Blackmail: Ratsputin's forte, thanks to his media connections – enough to make Charles Augustus Milverton proud.
- Bowdlerise: A "clean" version of the story can be found on FF.net, which contains various edits to tone down the elements that give the story its M rating, most notably replacing the sex scenes with cuts to black (though it's made clear that they happened).
- The Caper: In chapter 70, "The Council of Crime", the crime-lords of Zootopia plot an arson attempt at Precinct One.
- Career-Ending Injury: Nick suffers a crushed kneecap in the climactic showdown, rendering him unable to return to the ZPD in his present state. He remains hopeful that he'll eventually return.
- Chase Fight: A few in some of the story's more prominent action scenes, such as Nick vs Vladzotz in chapter 23, "Endgame", and Judy vs Lucy in chapter 114, "Judy at the Bat".
- Chekhov's Gun: Vladzotz's locket and Ratsputin's cane are highly tied to portions of the story's plot.
- Climax Boss: Most of the major arcs end with one, usually between Nick/Judy/the ZPD and the main villain of the arc. A few examples are:
- Nick facing Vladzotz - one of the most feared and prominent antagonists in the story - in a fiery showdown in the Nocturnal-District, in chapter 23, "Endgame".
- Nick and Judy tracking down Iluka in the crumbling caves beneath the Deciduous-District, in chapter 86, "Buried".
- Judy's fight against Lucy in the depths of the Rainforest-District's jungle, in chapter 114, "Judy at the Bat". Subverted, given that Lucy isn't the main antagonist of that story arc.
- Collapsing Lair: Vladzotz Fangpyre's ancient family mansion in the Nocturnal-District and the seat of his criminal empire, Castle Fangpyre, is burned down in the third arc finale.
- Darker and Edgier: The original movie was your usual Disney fare, apart from a few frightening scenes, mild sexual innuendos and heavy themes such as racism and political conspiracy. This fanfic has a lot more violence, blood, actual deaths, mild swearing, intoxication, sexual elements, and drug use.
- Death by Irony: Some of the story's villains go out in ironic ways. Vladzotz is defeated in a fire, the same way his old family had died. (Subverted, given that Vladzotz survives and goes on to continue his reign as the story's most prominent antagonist.) Ratsputin, one of the smartest characters in the story, takes his own life after his master plan is foiled by something he hadn't predicted. Iluka is so blinded by his own rage that he doesn't notice the edge of a cliff behind him, and subsequently slips and falls. (Subverted, given that he too survives his defeat.)
- Easter Egg: The story is filled with many references to TV-shows, movies, games, and more.
- Filler: By
Word of God's own admission, the first 14 chapters are mostly just "romantic Wildehopps fluff with minimal plot direction", going so far as to call them "completely skippable" for those who desire to jump right into the true plot of the story in chapter 15. - Everyone Can See It: Despite doing their best to keep their romantic relationship a secret for their own safety, Vladzotz and Lucy's association quickly becomes a point of gossip within the criminal underworld.
- Happily Married: Judy and Nick, for the most part.
- Interesting Situation Duel: Some of the story's major fight scenes fall under this, including:
- A Battle Amongst the Flames as the ZPD fights its way through a burning, collapsing Gothic mansion, trying to save Nick as he's chased by an evil vampire bat mob boss.
- A fight between Judy, a female rabbit, and a one-ton walrus boxing champion.
- A brief Sword Fight between Nick and a rat.
- A chase scene in a crumbling cave system beneath the Deciduous-District, complete with an Ancient Tomb, rage-induced tasmanian-devils, and plenty of dynamite.
- A Battle in the Rain between Judy and a vampire bat thief in the Rainforest-District.
- Interspecies Romance: Nick and Judy are a proud couple in this story.
- Land Down Under: Outback-Island and its inhabitants capture pretty much every Australian stereotype there is.
- Lemon: The story includes several sex scenes - Five in total, four of which involve Nick and Judy (in chapters 3, 29, 49, and 106), and one of which involves Vladzotz and Lucy (in chapter 67). It should be noted that by Word of God's own admission, the sex scenes are designed to focus mostly on characterization and development, rather than being purely sex for sex's sake.
- Psycho Serum: Night Howlers make a comeback in the seventh arc as part of Al Catpone's villainous plan.
- Rivalry as Courtship: Vladzotz Fangpyre and Lucy Sang begin as criminal rivals before falling in love.
- Shipping: In-universe, many of the officers at Precinct One ship Nick and Judy, to the point that they even engage in shipping bets on them.
- Similarly, Vladzotz and Lucy are shipped by their fellow villains.
- Sinister Surveillance: Ratsputin has direct feed from various security cameras around the city that he uses in his blackmailing schemes.
- Story Arc: The fic is split into seven main arcs thus far, each centering around a different central plot, and most centering around the arc's main villain (often being one of Zootopia’s crime-lords) and their district territories, with intermissions between. These are:
- Arc 1/Wildehopps arc - Chapters 1-6
- Arc 2/Bunnyburrow arc - Chapters 7-14
- Arc 3/Vladzotz arc - Chapters 15-24
- Arc 4/Jack Savage arc - Chapters 24-38
- Arc 5/Ratsputin arc - Chapters 39-65
- Arc 6/Deciduous District arc - Chapters 66-86
- Arc 7/Al Catpone arc - Chapters 87-119
- Time Skip: The fic features many small timeskips to keep in line with the believability of real police investigations, ranging from a few hours to several weeks, with the largest being 4 months.
- Tragic Keepsake: For Vladzotz, it's a locket with a family photograph, the only memory he has of his deceased wife and children.
- Transplant: Lucy Sang, originally of Born to Be Wilde, has a prominent role in this story.
- Wham Line: In chapter 35, Judy is eavesdropping on a secret meeting held by Jack Savage. The visitor shocks Judy, who can only whisper one name identifying who it is."Vladzotz..."
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: Nick's relationship with his father is lacking, to say the least.
- World of Pun: It's a Zootopia fic, so animal puns are naturally everywhere.
