A bit earlier- The Livestock Tower, Yanshii street.
Lightning struck outside the warm and cozy tower's office as another torrential shower drenched the busy Back-Alley below. The fireplace crackled in the background almost drowning out the soft whimpering of fearful children. A middle-aged cougar sat casually on the edge of his fancy colonial-style desk while four lions carefully inspected six children he had lined up stripped of all of their clothes. He said nothing, but he was anything but calm.
Yes or no?
"Yes"
Or
"No?"
A bead of sweat rolled down his face as he stared impatiently at his potential clients, fingers interlocked, waiting for an answer. His long tail squirming behind him, beating softly against the desk, betraying his true mood. He slightly adjusted the collar on his tropical Aloha shirt. It felt like it was too tight all of a sudden, but his shirt fit fine, if anything he knew it was looser as he had recently lost weight cutting back on expenses. It was just his nerves.
C'mon, give me an answer, damn it! He frustratingly hung on for the four lion's decision with bated breath as they poked and prodded at the 'products'. C'mon, you can just look at 'em and say yes. Just say yes and hand me the money. Stop dragging this out.
Another soft whimper escaped the lips of one of the kids as one of the felines picked one of them up by the arm. The cat dangled him in the air and looked under his armpit for blemishes. Crap, they were being really extensive, he thought, that was Number 3 right, wasn't it?
He wasn't too worried about the boy's well being all things considered, but that was no way to handle a herbivore child. A big knuckledragger like him might rip the fragile boy's arm right out of its socket, and then he'd have messy blood all over his expensive rug. He'd paid good money for that.
Clumsy brutes, the lot of them, the cougar thought, irritated.
He hated hosting in-depth inspections like this anyway. They took forever. Normally he'd just euthanize the products, clean them up, wrap 'em, and just have them delivered. Nice and simple. But oooh no. Not with the Shishigumi. They had to send these jokers down here, he angrily grumbled to himself. Bastards just took over his nice office to do this little annoying looky-loo. His eyes darted towards one of his white rabbits in the lineup. He had a bad feeling about them.
Just hurry up, he thought. They're all white you idiots. Take them and pay me! His eyes glared at the inspectors like nuisances.
"Hey! Wannabe! What the hell are you lookin' at?!" One of the creeps indignantly snarled at him, noticing him staring; a scarred lanky lion, in a fancy black suit, scraggly tan mane slicked back into a pompadour. He reeked of Silvervine. "You keep your peepers off me, ya hear? Punks like you make me sick."
"Right, right. Sure thing." Baresto replied, putting on an almost cowardly voice, placating with false weakness that he almost couldn't bear stomaching for much longer. " Just hurry up and buy, you smelly bastard." He said quietly under his breath. The cougar, going by the name Baresto, averted his eyes and began lightly prattling away impatiently on his desk. Fucking silvervine addict, he grumbled. Guy reeked of the stuff.
He wasn't really much one to judge, he dabbled in the stuff himself from time to time, hell he could probably go for a pick-me-up right now with everything going sideways in his life like it was. But this jerk? The guy had to snort the shit 24/7 and he was really getting on his nerves.
He'd been on his ass ever since they came up here. One of those proud types. Gotta remind everyone in the room that he's a quote-unquote King of Beasts. Fucking typical male lion macho bullshit. And because he was a cougar, in their eyes, Baresto was a pretender. Wannabe. Pretender. False lion. Faker. Prideful rhetoric crap that lions like loudmouth over there usually cast down on his kind.
The Panthera leo family always spewed at members of Puma concolor for their unofficial nomenclature: mountain lion, as if it were some kind of affront to their heritage. He didn't come up with the name, it was just their species looked similar and they were around the same size. Some other beast back then thought they were lions or lion-like at least. Not his fault his kind couldn't roar like them. He'd heard it all his life, and he didn't feel like listening to it now, but he kept his trap shut about it because this deal was crucial.
Were this a few months ago, Baresto would have had his own muscle show these goons some fucking manners. He knew all too well that Ryota and Brock, a muscular Siberian tiger and a heavyset American brown bear respectively, his enforcers, were more than ready to throw down with these so-called "Kings of Beasts", but he also knew such action right now was ill-advised, especially without the backing of his former benefactors, the Kumagumi. Which meant kowtowing to these ingrates for now.
"So..uh fellas? Is everything to your Boss's liking?" He asked, again adjusting the collar on his colorful flower print shirt. At least hurry this along, he thought.
"Shaddap!" The same lion snapped viciously at him, shaking clenched fists at him for even daring to open his mouth. "No one said you could talk!"
"Shutting up. Right…hahaha," He chuckled and grinned. Repressed rage rippled through the cougar's body as he weathered another urge to lash out at the punk. It's my fucking office! You don't tell me that I can't talk, you sonuvabitch! It almost emerged, but a tactical bow hid his true feelings out of sight as he silently cursed the upstart. The cougar grit his fangs as he looked down at his expensive oriental rug.
He didn't deserve to be treated like this! He used to cater to even the elite damn it! Hell, he could even remember when the CEO of the Horns Conglomerate of all beasts once graced his establishment once a few years back for an order. You'd think he'd be considered big time after that. Now he'd been reduced to getting shut down in his own damn office! That's what the lack of a sponsor did to your reputation around here. If the Kumagumi hadn't become a grisly statistic of the Back Alley's brutal ecosystem a few months ago, no way would these jokers be treating him this way.
He rose, putting on his best confident face. He was anything but the word confident, however, he looked it at least, somewhat. His eyes went towards his guards, their hands hovered over their weapons, waiting for him to give the word. He gave the both of them a quick and subtle head shake, no… not now. They only needed to act if things got too heated. He could withstand this verbal abuse as long as he got what he wanted, his money.
Finally one of the lions addressed him, a much reserved-looking lion, much brawnier than the scarred one. Young, barely into the middle of his twenties, but mature with a developing flowing mane of ebony brown around his head with a pair of plain glasses that barely fit on his massive face.
"Are these really the only 'brights' you have?" The bespectacled lion asked. Though obviously a younger beast, his booming voice made the older cougar feel inadequate by comparison. Yeah, he called the shots of the four of them, Baresto could tell.
The mountain lion twiddled his thumbs as that question cut through him like a knife through butter. Only? Did he think something was up, he wondered. He guessed it was inevitable, he was playing with a bad deck anyway after all.
"Y-yes. Yes." He answered truthfully, trying to sound innocent. They were his only presentable commodities, the healthiest of his whole stock to be even more honest.
"Our boss requested twelve 'brights'." The lion said, his jowls drooping downward into a frown. Baresto's heart sank right along with them. He was in trouble.
"Many of us in the Back-Alley aren't blessed with a good education Mr. Baresto, but we can count. " There was almost a growl to the bespectacled lion's voice despite his calm demeanor. "This is half of the agreed-upon order of twelve ."
'Glasses' was a different cat. No flashiness, no belligerence. Serious and focused, but one could still pick up an air of annoyance. It annoyed him to be here in a place like this, and it annoyed him that things were not in order. In fact, Baresto could really infer that the lion didn't like dealing with him at all for some reason. The cougar made an audible gulp and quickly glanced at his boys, giving them the signal to be ready, as he tried to cook up a reasonable excuse.
The truth was, he had had more brights or white-pigmented/albino animals when the order had been made but an ill-timed case of Cholera had struck the pens just before spring and he lost most of his stock. Normally he could procure a few pure-white children from District 0 in a matter of days, but with a lack of funding and assistance from the belated Kumagumi, a shortage of heads, and running off the store's own recent income, there was not much he could do except to scrounge up what he could, and 'what he could' were these six morsels.
"Numbers 12, 6, 8, 5, 3, and 9 are all we have left at the moment." He responded, truthfully as he eyes the products; two bulls, a colt, a male rabbit, a male llama, and another female rabbit. Seriously speaking, most of the children downstairs were naught but sickly inedible gristle living on borrowed time at this point. He wouldn't even dare sell those products, not even to a starving beast. He'd have to dispose of them soon or they'd have an even bigger problem.
'Scarface' just snickered at the cougar's phrasing. " At the moment? Can you believe this guy?"
The cougar nervously bowed and just let more of the truth slip through, "We are currently having a shortage and well…"
Another of the lions, a big serious-faced cat with an even darker toned mane than 'Glasses', cut him off. "We came here for what we agreed on! You said you had plenty over the phone! Our boss is expecting a banquet!"
"And he wants only the purest white animals." 'Glasses' calmly added. "He considers himself a gourmet and has a tongue for these things; he accepts only the best ingredients. Hence why you were considered. You stated and promised that you had twelve."
"Well...there were other customers before and well-" Baresto tried to lie, backing away, but they didn't buy it.
'Darkmane' got snout to snout with him. "Other customers?" He growled, baring his fangs and popping out his claws. 'Scarface' moved in as well, surrounding the cougar and blocking him from the view of his men. "These other customers were more important than us?"
"Well, we have a first-come, first-serve policy-" The cougar squeaked out, almost losing his voice as he attempted to build on the fabrication, however, they gave him no audience as 'Scarface' suddenly threw a wild punch.
"Piss off with your fucking excuses!" The scarred wild one growled as his fist landed hard upside of the overseer's head, sending him down to the floor. "I knew you were a piece of shit as soon as I saw ya!"
Blood began dripping from Baresto's lip, soaking into his expensive rug. Fucking… He started to say as he started to get up. That was it! Fire shot up into the mountain lion as he quickly got up ready to lash out, however, both Shishigumi stomped him back to the floor simultaneously, ending any reprisal just like that.
The bear, Brock, went for the revolver at his hip, but the fourth Shishigumi goon, a mohawked red-maned lion with a bandana covering his muzzle, had outdrawn him, producing two stainless steel semi-auto pistols so quick that it seemed like they had materialized out of thin air. The barrel of one pressed against the ursine's skull and the other pointed at Ryota the tiger. A quick and silent head shake gesture from the masked gangster made both goons reconsider. Brock and Ryota begrudgingly obliged and the beating of their helpless boss continued.
Strong clawed hands jerked the surprised cougar off of the ground and hurled him against his desk, another blow came to the back of his head, slamming him face-first down into the hard desktop. His arms were twisted like balloon animals behind his back and then he was yanked up lifelessly like a ragdoll, turned around, and promptly got the wind knocked out of him by a gut punch that made him belch up more gobs of blood on the floor.
Gasping for precious air, the cougar slouched in his arms, but 'Darkmane' didn't allow him the courtesy of resting on the floor. Instead, he held him up while the scarred one closed in for more punishment.
"Come on faker… take your lumps like a real lion ." 'Scarface', taunted, his tail swaying playfully behind him as he started to put up his dukes and shuffle like a boxer. "We know you're full of shit!" he shouted, slamming another hard right hand dead-on into the mountain cat's eye and then another in his ribs.
Baresto felt something shatter down below; his ribs. It became hard to breathe and he violently coughed up blood onto the lion's fancy suit. 'Scarface' paused briefly to look at the stains on his jacket then glared furiously at the injured cat. It wasn't intentional, but Baresto couldn't help but slightly grin.
"Oh, you're fuckin' dead! Hold him up, Dolph!" His attacker roared as he swung hard, sending a blow careening right into his jaw, dislodging some of Baresto's fangs and sending them flying across the office. The cougar's head drooped down towards the floor as he hung limply in the lion's grip. That didn't stop the scarred one though as he continued to tenderize the cougar's abs, laying in choice combos. Eventually, the dark-maned lion finally let the cougar drop to the floor a bloody heap.
'Scarface' growled annoyed. "C'mon Dolph! I was just starting to warm up!"
"He was becoming dead-weight, Free. He's heavier than he looks." The lion apologized to his colleague.
"I" cough "assure you" cough "there is no deception! It was merely a misunderstanding..." The cougar gurgled, jaws leaking more blood like a faucet onto his expensive carpet.
'Free' didn't give him any reprieve, striking him again with a kick to the stomach. The lion had on steel toe leather shoes with studded spikes on the end of them and did they hurt .
"No wonder the Kumagumi went ass up with fucking jokers like you running their business!" 'Free' taunted, kicking the cougar again and again with little sympathy or mercy. Baresto put up his arm to shield himself, but only ended up making it worse.
Crack!
"Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaahhhh! Aaaaahhhh!" All of a sudden, the highest-pitched yowl they had ever heard filled the room after the cougar felt the bones in his wrist shatter. The cat's eyes watered like a faucet as he curled up into a ball to protect himself from the scarred cat.
The frightened children looked on in silent awe as they watched their head caretaker, practically God for them for as long as they could remember, get beaten to a bloody pulp by the more fearsome feline. The mountain cat screamed his lungs out until his voice began to fail him.
Free began laughing like a maniac as the cougar screams began pewtering out and he began to writhe on the ground, holding his injured wrist in his arms like a newborn. "You hear that Dolph? He even sounds like a little cat! Meeooow! Hahahaha!" He taunted some more as he pressed his shoe onto the injured wrist and began grinding hard. "Your kind never deserved to be called lions in the first place! Go ahead scumbag...meow for me again."
"That's enough Free." 'Glasses' spoke up, rubbing his ears. "I'm having a hard time trying to concentrate over here. Cut him some slack."
"Alright, Ibuki," Free said, catching his breath and straightening up his clothes. He pulled out a comb and fixed his slightly mussed-up mane as he walked away from the sobbing mess on the floor. "Fuckin' pussy." He said, lobbing one last insult on the injured feline.
Ibuki frowned at them and shook his head as he returned to his inspection. He was looking at the llama child again. He pressed his prescription glasses closer in. Juvenile, if he had to guess, age ten or eleven. His wool on closer inspection was actually a bleached blonde hue and not a true white. Not only that the boy was emaciated for his size.
Ibuki's clawed fingers ran over fatless ribs like a xylophone. A poor specimen. One would barely get any nourishment from this runt, let alone a decent meal. In some small way, pity began to worm its way into his mind if only briefly. This back-alley was a cruel world. The fact that the overseer was trying to sell them this poor soul almost made him reconsider allowing Free to continue his brutal discipline, but he held off.
The bespectacled lion sighed as he moved on to the last child, a female lop rabbit. She shivered and trembled before him as his fingers ran along the curves of her body. He felt uncomfortable, touching a young female like this, she couldn't have been much older than twelve. Still, he had a job to do, so he started to focus on the more important features such as her quality. She was just meat, nothing more nothing less.
She felt plump, tender to the touch, a far cry from the boy, her fur was soft. Lots of meat. There was one problem. Her texture felt...off. As his fingers ran along her back he a powdery substance stuck to his fingers. His first thought was maybe dandruff or dust but as he looked at his fingertips he saw nothing white on his golden fur.
He cautiously licked his finger and found an almost bland flavor. Tasted like... flour. He then looked closer at the rabbit and began to shake her and more of the white stuff began to come loose from her body. Soon dark-patterned marks began to appear on her body and it was clear that this wasn't an all-white rabbit. Suddenly the lion's head tilted towards the manager who picked himself up against his own table and as soon as their eyes met, he knew; they had been had.
"You think we're stupid don't you?" Ibuki asked, raising his brow at Baresto.
"I-I don't catch your mea-" The cougar's eyes soon saw just how screwed he was as they saw the mess of flour under Product Number 9. The lion's calm facade soon faded, replaced by a fearsome visage fitting of the title King of Beasts.
"Well I,- Ryota!" He shouted at the tiger, passing the buck. "You told me that Number 9 was a 'bright'!"
The Siberian tiger looked at him dumbfounded, completely clueless. "No, I didn't boss-"
"Yes, you did. What do I even pay you for?" He winked at the tiger to play along. The tiger was more of a bruiser than a thinker, but he caught the intent in a snap.
"Forgive me, Boss." The tiger covered, bowing fervently before his boss and the lions. "I apologize greatly for disappointing you and your guests-"
"Good help you know…" Baresto quickly tried to rebound. "I mean we can maybe work out a deal, right?"
The lead lion wasn't buying it at all. "Cut the crap," Ibuki said, fixing his glasses annoyed. "This runt isn't a bright either." He said, jerking the young skinny llama forward alongside the rabbit. "He's an average llama with a blonde coat and his underfur is tan. Not pure white, thus not what we are looking for."
"Yeah, you bums tryin' to get over on us!" Free, accused pointing his finger at the overseer. "No deception, huh? I fucking knew you creeps were a bunch of crooks."
The mountain lion froze in place, panic set in. "Number 3?" The puma asked, assuming he referred to the young llama. "Uh, I can assure you that Number 3 is more juicy and delicious than he looks. I remember his parents had very good genetics-"
"Don't bullshit me!" Ibuki growled loudly, starting to become just as intimidating as the others. "This pathetic excuse for meat is nothing but gristle. You got any more lies for us?"
"Perhaps I can throw him in at a reduced cost." The cougar reasoned, fear saturated his voice. The lions began to close in for the kill. " Instead of 84 million yen for the lot, I can knock it down to 50."
The lions still didn't stop.
"I can do 35!" Baresto offered in a panic, he closed his tight as he waited for the inevitable to occur.
"35?" The scarred lion paused. His eyes lit up and his tongue drooped out his sharp mouth. "Ha ha, maybe we're being too harsh, eh Ibuki? That's what I call a deal! How 'bout it? That sounds good to you Sabu? Dolph?"
"Yeah, that sounds fai-" The masked lion began to croak.
"No." Ibuki interrupted, raising his hand to silence his partners before addressing the manager. "You said there would be brights here overseer. You said you had twelve . You have four ." Ibuki growled, rolling up his sleeves, revealing odd tattoos on his forearms. Sharp fangs poked out of his mouth as stared down the mountain lion. "Our boss already hates fake lions like you. He hates liars and cheaters even more! "
The other lions began rolling up their sleeves as well and brandishing their claws as they turned their attention to the overseer and his guards. Baresto backed up towards the wall and his guards formed a small perimeter around him as they prepared for a rumble.
"Look, I'm sorry for the untruthfulness," Knowing the odds were not in his favor, began to plead for his life. "I really am sorry, but I need to make a profit here! I'm in a bad spot! With the Kumagumi gone, it's hard to procure quality fresh meat anymore. Please. Mercy, I beg of you!"
The bigger lion exhaled and silently shook his head. "Fine, 21 Mil."
"21?!" The cougar asked, exasperated. "But…"
"We're only taking the bulls, the colt, and this rabbit." He specified, pointing to the much larger male rabbit. "We ain't paying you for what we didn't come for. 21 Mil is the new deal."
"But, what about 9 and 3?" The puma asked, puzzled.
"Keep 'em. Pawn your sickly runts off on someone else." The bigger lion answered. "Our boss only wants the brights, so we're only paying for the brights. You are lucky enough that these other specimens are quite large."
Ibuki made a subtle motion from the masked lion to bring up the briefcase they had brought with them and placed it on the cougar's desk. He opened it and inside was the 84 million yen that had been promised.
The cougar's greed could be seen through his eyes, almost turning them green with dollar signs as he practically drooled over the money. He instinctively reached for the whole briefcase, but the masked lion silently began taking individual stacks out and placing them on his desk, quickly reminding him that he was getting a fraction instead of the full price. He couldn't help but frown a bit, but his throbbing wrist and aching body didn't allow that sad feeling to linger. He was lucky to get that.
"So, it looks like we got a deal." He said, thrusting his good arm towards Ibuki, hoping to complete the deal with a Western customary handshake, the Lion merely stared at him as if he were infected with some plague. The cougar soon realized that it would probably be best to bow, so instead bowed before the lion, but again oddly enough his gesture went unanswered.
The lion barely even acknowledged him before sliding a cigarette to his lips and motioning for the other lions to start corralling the children out of the room. "Let's hurry up." He ordered the trio as he took a nice relaxing drag.
As they left, shuttling the 'purchased' off to their fate, the one called Free, paused looking at the young rabbit girl still partially covered in flour. "What about the girl though, Ibuki?" Free asked, tongue sliding out of his mouth, as he looked at the girl with hungry eyes. The girl recoiled away out of fear, huddling next to the llama boy.
"What about the girl, Free?" Ibuki answered, annoyed.
"C'mon. Look at this tasty-looking fluffball, huh?" Free asked, staring at #9 with insatiable drool dripping from his fangs. "Look how juicy and delicious she is, let's take her too. The Boss won't mind us getting a little snack, right?"
Ibuki heaved a sharp sigh as he looked at the kids then back to the lion. The answer was clear on his face: no. "Free, we're here on business for the Boss, with the Boss's money. He gave us this money to buy what he wanted and that's all we're getting." He growled.
"Yeah, but we got plenty of cash left-" The lanky cat started to whine, but the larger lion put his hand on his associate's shoulder and pulled him in close.
"Money that we didn't get ripped off with, Free. Remember we're returning with not even half of what we were supposed to get."
"But…" It was clear Free thought about just taking her by force, but the overseer's guards had formed a tight perimeter around their boss. He couldn't just beat the cougar up again without a serious fight on his hands. "Rex, Ibuki...c'mon."
"Look when the Boss puts you in charge you can dictate what we buy," Ibuki growled, putting his foot down. "Until then we're getting what he told me to get and only what he told me to get. Now let's get the fuck out of here."
"Aaaaargh! Alright." Free grumbled, his head drooped down towards the floor and he heaved a depressed sigh. "Always gotta be a stifler, Ibuki. Wish I was in charge," he grumbled, as he exited with the other lions.
"If you were in charge, we'd be neck-deep in hookers and silvervine, Free!" The one called Dolph joked, patting him on the shoulder.
"What's wrong with that, Dolphy-boy! Ha ha!" The wild one cackled, picking up his spirits.
After all the children and lions left, only Ibuki stayed behind briefly to finally address the overseer. He fixed his glasses once more and gave the cougar and his lackeys a piercing stare. "I suggest you take this money and get out of town tonight ." He warned.
"Are you threatening me?" Baresto asked, bewildered.
"I'm giving you advice," Ibuki stated very plainly.
"But I can't jus-" The cougar's eyes quaked and his whiskers drooped as he slumped back into his seat, looking as if a stroke were coming upon him. He had a feeling what the lion meant. His ill-advised gamble cost him big, not only in his pockets but his status as a resident of the market. "Can't you just…" He asked, looking back up only to see the lion showing him his back as he headed for the door.
"Goodbye, Mr. Baresto." The lion said with finality, not even bothering to look back. The door closed behind him and it was just the cougar, his guards, and the two remaining children. All silent with only the crackle of the fireplace and the patter of the downpour outside to keep them company.
"God…" The cougar murmured as he leaned forward and rested on his good arm. "Just like that..." His beige pallet dropped down a few shades dramatically as he began looking around his fancy expensive office.
"Boss?" Brock asked, "You ain't worried about that threat are ya?"
"You aren't?!" Baresto screamed at the bear, getting red in the face. "Those bastards hang their enemies up outside their lair! You wanna hang out there with them, huh?!"
The bear shut up and held his head down, trying to avoid saying anything else stupid.
The stressed cougar grabbed hold of his ears and began tearing at some of the soft fur lining the inside. "Fuck… why did I think they'd fall for that?" He cradled his head in his palm, looking very pale and sick. "Eeeeh fuuuuuck!"
"I thought it was a good plan." Ryota the tiger chimed it.
"I DON'T PAY YOU TO THINK!" The stressed cougar erupted into a frustrated rage. "GET OUT! GET OUT!" He screamed, clawing his good hand at them. "AND TAKE THEM WITH YOU!" He shouted, referring to the remaining children. "FUCK!"
"S-sure thing Boss." The brutish duo said as they shuffled the two adolescents out of the office, while their boss planted his face down on his desk to stew in his misery.
The two could swear they heard sobbing from within before the doors closed, but said nothing until they were a good distance down the hall.
"You really think the boss screwed up with those Lion guys?" Brock asked, breaking the ice. "I already know he's probably going to be pissed that we let him get hurt like that. But he seemed more worried about what that lion guy had said."
"It was pretty ominous. Plus I haven't seen him like that since we heard the news of Boss Kamasuki's death. We felines have a sixth sense, you know. If he's freaked out he's gotta reason to be." The tiger quickly glanced over to his partner. "You scared?"
"Hell no. Those lions wanna try us, we'll be ready for 'em. Plus you got me on your side." The bear boasted, flexing his muscles. "I used to be Kumagumi, you know."
The tiger tried to hold back his laughter, but couldn't help himself. " Used to, right!"
"Fuck you Ryota. I cracked heads back in my day." The bear said pridefully. "I got this job as a favor from Mr. Kamasuki himself. He brought me out here cuz I got results."
"Well… that didn't help the boss out any a few minutes ago." The burly tiger sardonically commented.
"You didn't do shit either Ryota!" The bear was quick to point out. "Muscles ain't nothing to a bullet in the brain."
"Pfft, Muscles," The tiger poked the bear in his rotund gut. "What muscles? I bet they let you go cuz you were too fat!"
"Fat or not, I can still kick your striped ass!" The bear threatened, grabbing the tiger by the back of his neck. "You wanna go?"
"Ah, forget it." The tiger said, wrenching himself free from the bear's grasp. "Look on the bright side, chum. At least you didn't get caught up in one of those ambushes a few months back. Those Dokugumi creeps were brutal, I hear. Very brutal. Hell, Kamasuki got it the worst."
"Eh, like this is any better. Rather go out in a blaze of glory than rot in this filthy tower." The bear pridefully stated, thumping his chest.
"If you call getting your face melted off by one of those plague lizards, glory? Yeesh." The tiger replied, wincing just thinking about it.
As the two neared the elevator, they spotted a scrawny-looking casually-dressed leopard by the door, wearing bloody gloves and an apron. He smelled really bad and had a noticeable nervous twitch.
"Shiggy, what are you doing here?" Ryota asked, fanning his nose. "God, you reek."
"Well…" Shigeta started awkwardly. "Um, a few more of the kids... well… they didn't make it past supper. Was gonna ask the boss what I was supposed to do."
Ryota looked down the hall to the closed door and just shook his head. "Yeah, Boss isn't in any mood to deal with stuff like that, Shigeta. Just get rid of 'em, alright? Take the bodies far away and dump 'em."
"Don't eat them!" Brock barked at him, knowingly poking his fat finger into the leopard's snout. "Do you know what Cholera is?"
"C'mon… I wouldn't do that." The shifty-looking spotted-cat insisted, with a creepy grin.
"Don't play coy Shiggy, we see how you look at the kids when you make your rounds." The tiger snarled at him. "We knew what we were getting when we hired you." He said as he called the elevator back up. "Don't. Eat. The. Bodies. Remember, Boss said he'll shoot you himself if he catches you again. Tellin' ya now, he ain't in the mood to bluff."
Shigeta's ears perked up at the mention of the boss. "Went that bad huh? I heard he was entertaining some bigwigs tonight." The leopard asked curiously, seemingly concerned. "If he's upset that means we ain't getting a sponsor then?"
"Boss pissed 'em off real proper," Brock explained. "They even beat him up."
"Shit, that means we ain't never going to get any good meat up in here again. At least for a while." The leopard groaned, feeling depressed.
"Of course that's all you care about, sniffing the fresh meat!" Ryota accused, shaking his head at him. "We have bigger concerns than getting more bodies in here, Shiggy! We might have to close up shop completely!"
"Not so fuckin' loud you moron!" The bear shouted as he slapped the tiger upside the head. "The boss might hear."
"For real?!" Shigeta exclaimed. The leopard's face then lit up. "That means we can eat the bodies right?"
"Of course not!" The tiger roared at him. "God, you're like a broken record."
"But we're not gonna sell 'em." The leopard whined. "So why not? C'mon… I can just eat around the sickness." He pleaded pathetically.
"Quit being an idiot you fucking junkie!" The tiger fur spiked as he gripped the leopard up by his bloody apron. "You don't need to get yourself sick when we're so short-handed!"
"Tsk, like you guys would care if I got sick." The skinny leopard jerked himself free of the tiger's grip and rolled his eyes.
"That ain't true." The bear retorted, trying to reassure him. "We need all the help we can get around here."
"Bullshit, I'm unappreciated in my time and you know that." Shigeta frowned as the elevator arrived.
Ding
"Oh, we appreciate you, Shiggy." The tiger joked as he stepped in with the children, barely holding back a snicker. "Who else are we going to get to clean the cells?" He slapped the leopard on the back.
Shigeta just glowered and said nothing else as he entered behind them.
It was tight in the carriage with the two larger carnivores, Shigeta stood very close to the children, a bit too close in Ryota's eyes. Shigeta's fingers were already inching towards the rabbit's floppy ears. The tiger subtly shoved the other feline away and then managed to squeeze the children behind himself and Brock.
"You know the rules, Shiggy," Ryota told him, narrowing his eyes at the leopard. "Hands off the merchandise. We need to make a profit."
"What about this tyke?" The leopard asked, pointing at the scrawny-looking llama. His jaws began to drool as the thought of how tasty the boy would be fluttered in his mind. "He doesn't look much better off than the ones downstairs. Maybe I ought to take him too. C'mere kid." He reasoned, reaching for the boy's arm despite the brown bear in front of him making it difficult to worm his arm way back there. Suddenly he felt a wet slap on his face, and then suddenly he felt a sharp sting in his right eye. It was sticky and wet, like slime. The kid had lobbed spit at him!
"Fucking!" He shouted, wiping the thick loogie from his eye and reaching out for the kid's long neck. "I'll wring your neck you little sack of shit!"
The boy, Number 3, quickly backed away to the edge of the elevator's walls as he tried to evade Shigeta's grasp. The leopard, undeterred, jumped at him, desperately trying to reach over the resistant tiger and the bear's shoulders, and grabbed a handful of the wool atop the boy's head. The boy mewled softly as the feline started hauling him off the ground. Suddenly he was dropped back to the floor when the leopard made a sharp yowl.
"Ow!" Shigeta cried. He looked down and saw the young rabbit female, Number 9, punching him over and over, as hard as she could muster though it was nothing much more than an irritation to the large carnivore. Suddenly her teeth sank into his leg. "Oow!" Shigeta cried once more. The tiger and bear both burst out laughing at the leopard.
"You little!" Shigeta shouted, kicking the tiny bunny away and popping his sharp nails ready to rip the little kids apart, however the other carnivores had had their fill of his antics. He would not lay another finger on them.
"Back up, Shiggy." The ursine ordered, silently sniggering between himself and the striped feline. "Leave the products alone."
"Hey what are ya doing?! Quit protecting them damn it! He spit on me! And she bit me!" He snarled, snapping his jaws viciously at the tiny runts, cowering behind the more reasonable adults.
"Ha ha!" The bear let out a hearty chuckle. "Yeah, San's a notorious spitter. Kid's got aim." Brock remarked. "And Kyuu is one you got to watch. Real aggressive, sometimes she gets into fights with the other does in her cage and she'll bite your hand if you ain't careful. Kamal almost lost a finger feeding her a few months back."
"Well her cage is empty now, shouldn't have much to worry about that anymore," Ryota commented. "Also, serves you right, Shiggy." Ryota chuckled. "Leave the merchandise alone."
"San? Kyuu?" Shigeta asked, looking at the bear quizzically. "You named them? Don't tell me you guys are getting attached."
"Yeah sorta… he's San and this is Kyuu." The ursine said their names with a bit of a drawn-out western accent. "I like the phonetics, makes it easier to remember which is which without looking under their feet. They answer all the same."
Ding
They reached the bottom of the basement and the stench of death almost made them gag before the gate even opened. Shigeta wasn't wrong, they had lost quite a few souls from the smell of things. They unceremoniously pushed the janitor off of the carriage first to keep the youths safe.
"Hey!" Shigeta snarled in response. "I'll leave the little ones alone, alright. Jeez! No need to be rude!"
"Come on Shiggy, get to work, "Ryota ordered as he began herding the little kids off to their cells. "Get those bodies out of here before these tykes catch the illness too."
"Sure thing Ryo." The leopard said as he slipped on his face mask.
"And don't eat 'em! Seriously! You'll get sick!" Brock added loudly as the leopard slinked down the corridor. "You think he's gonna do it?" The bear asked the tiger as they escorted the little herbivores.
"Oh totally," The tiger answered, not even skipping a beat. "Guy has major issues. I bet he crawls back here feeling like crap."
A few hours later - Just outside the Livestock Tower
Pat
Pat
Pat
Pat
Gobs of water splattered to the top of Shigeta's head as the smell of the alleyway welcomed him back to the land of the living. He was wet. He hated being wet. Almost all felines did.
He must have passed out in the alleyway. That meat had to have been tainted as they said. Perhaps he merely had hallucinated that crazy panda from before. Whoever heard of a doctor out here anyway? However, he soon got a quick dose of reality when he tried to stand back up.
Try as he might, he couldn't get up. Something was holding him in place and his body felt drowsy and weak. His wrists were latched together and there was a loud rattle with each movement he made. He opened his eyes all the way and looked down. To his terror, he saw he was indeed tied up, although now he was tied down in a sitting position and his chain was fastened around some old drainage gutter. He lurched forward trying to get some slack, but the chain was taut and gave no leverage.
"You're awake." A familiar but unsettling gruff voice spoke above him.
Shigeta tilted his head up and his spots nearly jumped off of his body in terror as he realized he saw the giant muscular panda maniac from before standing above him under an awning, dry and out of the elements while he was left sitting out in the open, getting wet in the pouring rain. He had to know this was unquestionable torture for a cat like him.
"Just after I finished recon too. What good fortune." The panda, Gouhin, remarked sardonically, putting aside a pair of binoculars.
"Get me out of this!" The leopard snarled and demanded or rather he would have if he could talk properly. His jaws were locked in place with a wire mesh muzzle, likely to prevent him from biting. He shook and jerked about like a wild beast before tuckering himself out again. It was futile.
"So, Shigeta." The scarred bear spoke, popping a squat down next to him. "Here is how this works. I just scoped out that tower of yours over there; your story checks out. Minimal guard presence, so somebody's home. However, I still need your assistance. I need a layout of the place for starters. How many floors? What are your buddies packing? We talking rifles, handguns, bats, etc?"
Fuming, Shigeta gave the panda the ugliest and defiant look he could manage. No way would he help him, not even if he did beat him down into a bloody pulp. "Fuck... You!" He managed to growl through his closed lips.
"I knew you'd feel that way." The panda said with little surprise. He turned briefly and dropped a backpack full of equipment down before him. "So while you were out, I went and got some of my party favors ready so we could have a reeeeal nice time. First…" he said, reaching for the muzzle. "Let's make this a more interesting conversation." He grumbled, reaching behind the leopard's head and began unfastening the leather straps.
As soon as the headgear came loose, a foul-mouthed stream of curses spewed out of the feline's mouth like a bursting dam. "FUCK YOU, GRAMPS! GO EAT SHIT AND DIE! I AIN'T TELLING YOU SHI-oooooof!" A big black fist crashed like a meteorite against his skull, cutting him off.
"And they say you felines are so unpredictable." The panda commented nonchalantly, cracking the knuckles of his clenched fist. "Here I was expecting you to realize I don't tolerate such behavior by now."
The leopard eyes went all shaky and red, becoming almost a blur as heavy rain continued to pour down on his throbbing head, some of it getting into his eyes. Fuckin rain, he thought, trying to see straight. He saw a large black and white shape pick him up off the ground and plant him back up against the hard wall.
"So, wanna try it again?" The ursine doctor asked.
Shigeta had a splitting headache but still had enough faculties intact to remain defiant against his captor, despite the sheer strength disparity between them. "I said go fuck yourself, Bamboo Breath. I ain't tellin' you shit!" He slurred. He actually got a chuckle out of the panda.
"Ha ha ha! You got spirit, I'll give you that. So since you're gonna be difficult, we get to have more fun." He produced a very large syringe from his bag and held it up for the leopard to see. "This-" He announced, "-Is my own little cocktail made up mostly of Sodium thiopental. Layman's term: Truth serum, I don't usually use it, but all the same, when I do, I like to call it ' Incentive. '"
The leopard recoiled as far as the chain would allow as the bear closed in on him. "Wait...wait… that's just movie stuff right?! Right?! There isn't a real truth serum, right?"
The panda grinned like a mad beast ominously as he squeezed a little liquid out for effect before holding the scrawny feline down and jabbing the needle right into the fearful leopard's neck.
"What the hell kinda doctor are you?!" The young leopard whimpered as the needle pierced his skin and the panda slowly pressed the injector down. "Ain't you got that Hippo Oath thing or whatever?! You can't do this to me! Whatever happened to 'do no harm?!'"
Gouhin just shook his head as he finished injecting the liquid and heaved an annoyed sigh. "Okay, first off, it's 'Hippocratic Oath', Genius. Second, that's not exactly how it works; everyone always gets that part wrong, and finally, let me be clear; you're not my patient… you're a hostage. "
For character reference: Baresto is supposed to be the manager guy from Chapter 33 who pulled Louis from the cells (I'm assuming he's a cougar cuz of the short ears, long tail, and whiskers)
Brock is supposed to be the work that made Louis, San, and Kyuu go back downstairs. (Because it looks like he was supposed to be a bear with the large claws and stubby tail)