The hare watched from the stands with over a thousand other cheering and whooping beasts as the show commenced with a blinding flash of pyro techniques and bouncing energetic acrobatics. Flips were done through flaming hoops by a pair of ferrets, a daring squirrel was fired from a cannon, his horrific and messy death diverted by a small net that was held by two otters- oh, how marvelous it all was!
The doctor sat back in the stands with a sigh as the opening act slowly dwindled, reducing from a large group to only two performing magicians, until the ring was completely empty. And then- POOF! There was the ring leader, a fat mouse with a booming laugh, waving his hat and cane to the audience. He had a fancy striped coat with a bright red bow tie, and oh god was he disgustingly cheerful!
The audience of course gave out loud gasps of surprise and wonder, but the doctor simply shook his head and smirked. He could clearly see the cracks of the trap door! He chuckled as he saw a pair of young otters, each of them maybe three seasons old, sitting on their fathers lap. Their eyes were as wide as dinner plates as they stared in awe at the mouse bellow as sparks now flew from his wand.
Oh, how missed being that young!
He began to let his eyes wander and gaze at the audience as the mouse began to do a large and pompous speech about the mysterious of the unknown, the smoke from his wand that once shot sparks was now twirled and flicked as the mouse made random symbols in the air as he spoke. Gods did he hate these gypsy's and there cheap shows!
His gaze finally fell on his old friend, the skipper of otters, sitting among his gang of rough and tumble mustelids. He groaned as the otter spotted him and gave him a stupid smile, waving at him as if he were saying, "Yeah, I made you come to this!"
Just what was so interesting about this? It was nothing more than cheap tricks and flips, the hare thought as he let his ears droop lazily against the sides of his head, if skipper literally just dragged him here as a joke, making him waste his hard earned money- that darned otter had just got his last "free" flu shot from him! He thought spitefully.
Then, abruptly, the lights went out in the massive tent with a loud echoing boom. Now what? The hare thought with mock horror as beasts around him started to yammer nervously, young ones crying and whimpering. The deep voice of the ring leader boomed throughout the tent.
"You've heard of Cluny the Scourge, seen castle Greymorg brought down by a lowly fox, and now I present to you…"
Large spot lights turned on, one by one, to illuminate a cloaked figure. The beast stood alone at the center of the ring, absolutely still, his entire body hidden by a thick white cloth. Despite his hate for these kind of childish scares, he couldn't help but sit up and peer down with the rest of the crowd at the figure. Hell, he thought to himself as he stared at the mysterious figure, try me, gypsy, show me what you got!
He watched as the fat mouse walked up to the cloaked figure, joined by a small squirrel in suspenders. The mouse looked around at the crowd of confused and curious eyes, removing the top hat from atop his head he spread his arms akimbo, yelling to the audience with gusto,
"THE MONSTER OF MALEBROOK!" As if on cue, the small child grabbed the end of the cloak and yanked it off of the figure. Causing the beast to stumble forward, the entire crowd gasping as the now naked creature fell before them.
Everybeast, including the doctor, stood up from their seats in shock as they stared at the thing that laid before them.
So, uh, everyone's good pal ferret decided to upload something. I nice short story…. About a man, and a monster! ...And yes there's a reference to Jade Tealeafs story... I LOVE IT SO MUCH!