I headed as fast as I could with Viper into the town. The closer we got to the source of the scream, I could also make out yelling noises, as though they were cheerful noises. My first thought was that it was most likely a group of drunks. It wasn't exactly uncommon that this sort of thing happened from time to time. The only thing though was that it was the middle of the day so that theory went quickly out the window. By the time the pair of us came face to face with what was going on, it turned out that it was bandits robbing stores.

Unlike most bandits I've encountered, these guys happened to be wolves instead of the usual buffalo jerks who pillaged the town whenether they got the chance to. There seemed to be a large group of them too. At least eleven of them were robbing the surrounding stores, taking whatever they could get their claws on. Money, food, even cloths and fabrics. Seemed they were more scavengers than robbers judging from my first impression of the walking fur bags.

I had rarely seen wolves before, so the second I saw these guys, my first thought was on how wild and ugly they looked. Although that may have had something to do with their shaggy fur and filthy armor. Within a matter of seconds, half of them began to notice us and slowly advanced with whatever weapons they happened to be carrying. Mostly just flimsy looking swords and spears. They even tried growling to intimidate us. How cute. I turned to Viper with a smirk.

"You take these guys, I take the looters"? I suggested, pointing out the remaining six wolves behind their defending brothers as they took what they could as fast as they could. Thankfully all the villagers had fled so there was no need to worry about them taking hostages. Viper turned to me for a second and huffed angrily.

"Fair enough".

The closest wolf attacked at once with his spear and tried stabbing Viper with its sharp stone tip. She easily avoided it and grabbed the spear with her tail, yanking it out of the wolfs paws. She spun it round and simply clonked the thief on the top of the head with the blunt end. I took the advantage to slither as fast as I could at the wolf as he held his head in pain and jumped at him, managing to bounce off the top of his head over the small wall of bandits and made my way onto the ones that were too stupid or too greedy to flee, which happened to be all of them.

The second I landed, I ducked an incoming sword and swung my tail around the attacking wolfs left leg and pulled causing him to fall over backwards. A second pull caused him to slide forwards a little more where I could release my grip and smash my tail into his face with a quick lightning jab move. The hit was vicious enough to cause the wolf to whine and hold his face in pain. He wasn't going to be getting up anytime soon. The remaining six dropped what they were doing after seeing their friend get beaten down and attacked me all at once. Just as well I've been in worse situations.

As the first one rushed up to me with his weapon in paw, I quickly jumped into the air and spun forwards, bringing my tail down onto him, sending him onto the ground before he even had the chance to attack. Not even a second passed before I leapt at the next one, wrapping around his neck and paw which carried his sword and pulled, using his weight against him. He was forced to spin round in order to avoid falling over. As he did, I tightened my grip around his arm, straightening it. I pulled again and the sword cut clean through a wolfs spear, rendering it useless. The wolf that I was wrapped around crashed head first into the wall and I was free to let go of him since the impact was more than enough to knock him out for me. I landed in front of the wolf whose spear had just been chopped in half and I jabbed him in the stomach as he remained distracted by how easily his weapon had been destroyed, and followed it with an uppercut with enough force to send him backwards, into another wolf, almost getting impaled by his sword as they both fell.

The second I looked onto the next wolf, he had gotten the jump on me and brought his spear down at me. I barely avoided the spear in time. One millisecond too late and the sharp stone would have pierced my abdomen. I had no time to think about it as I grabbed onto the spear and allowed the wolf to pull the spear back up, pulling my body along with it, getting me close enough to headbutt him. It wasn't enough to stop him but it served as a quick distraction so that I could hop off the spear with my tail still around it and pull it over my head, throwing the poor wolf into the one I had just previously thrown earlier.

So far, things were going well. I kept out dishing the pain to the attacking wolves while Viper did the same with her group. The more I fought, the easier the fight became. The wolves were beginning to lose their strength and energy. Eventually they would start to flee or surrender. At least the ones still conscious would. Four of them still stood, ready for more.

But I'll skip the details and make a long story short. I basically kicked ass.

In the end, the wolf bandits had been dealt with. The ones that hadn't run away were now just lying around, unconscious. The only thing I needed to do now was to just wait around for the imperial guard to arrest these chumps and take them to Chorgom.

"Can I talk to you about something"?

I turned to Viper who had a serious look on her face. She seemed quite ticked off, just like she did earlier. Had I done something to anger her? Then again, looking at our relationship, when isn't she?

"Uh... Sure"?

She signaled for me to enter the closest house. I gave her an odd look. She repeated the motion. Okay...

I did what she asked and entered. Upon seeing the inside of the building it looked more like an old bar rather than a house. Behind a counter, it was easy to notice several bottles containing different wines. As I slithered further into the room, Viper closed the door behind her. She wasn't taking her eyes off me. At least until she slithered past me, grabbing one of the many bottles behind the counter with her tail before finally speaking.

"Your master is no fool, I must admit. Turning the tables against me and souring my plans within the first few days of my discovery. If it wasn't for those meddlesome wolves I could have dealt with both of you at the same time, and now I find time running shorter than I could have hoped".

"Viper"?

"And because of it, I must advance my plans as soon as possible. Seems your suffering will begin sooner than I would have liked. Though I must admit, it shall be fun to watch you beg for your life once I'm done with you".

The bottle she was holding was smashed against a nearby table.

I didn't like the sinister look she wore.

She lunged at me with the bottle and tried to stab me! I barely caught her tail with my own as the remains of the glass bottle was just centimeters from entering my eye! What was she trying to do?! Has she lost it?!

"Yes, keep up this pitiful resistance. Allow yourself to turn to hope".

She wasn't letting up! She was beginning to overpower me! The glass bottle got closer and closer!

"What are you trying to do to me"?! I snapped, beginning to lose my grip! Sharp glass was the only thing my left eye could see as it got too close to me!

"Oh it's not what I'm trying to do to you". She smiled a wicked grin. "It is what you are trying to do to yourself"...

Her eyes flashed a sickly orange, forcing me to shut mine due to the brightness! When I opened them, she was gone, but the thing that freaked me out the most was that the bottle was still a very short distance from me, and that...

My eyes widened. My tail was grasped around the neck of the broken bottle.

Panicking, I threw the bottle away, hearing it shatter upon impact with whatever it had just hit. The floor, the table, the wall, I didn't care. I just burst out of the house, and into an all too familiar figure.

"Mike? What are you doing in there"?

It was Viper. The real one this time. At least I was sure it was this time. Still, it didn't stop me from feeling a little uncomfortable around her.

"I uh... bandit attack"...? I spoke unsure of my reply.

The wolves were still there, crumpled up in a heap moaning away. At least I knew that they were real. Not sure whether to take joy in that or not. At least Viper believed it.

"I see. I hope you didn't leave Mantis in the same way after... well, you know".

Wait. She wasn't with me when I was trying to kill him?! Then, that means that I've been with that fake for well over twenty minutes and I hadn't even noticed! I could have been easily killed without knowing it!

"But it doesn't matter". Viper brought me out of my thoughts. "At least you're okay".

Even with what was meant to be a heartwarming smile, it didn't stop me from flinching the second her tail touched mine. Her smile faded almost as quickly as it had showed.

"Mike"?

"I need to speak to Shifu. Right now". I muttered before heading off. At least, I tried to.

"Would you like me to come along"-

"NO"!

...

"No... thank you Viper. I'll be fine alone".

I slithered away as quickly as I could. It was clear that the sooner I spoke to Shifu, the better. Though it didn't stop my heart from feeling a little heavier.

...

Shifu has some explaining to do I reckon. Cheerio!