Meanwhile back inside the store
"Are you kidding me?!" Kyuu exclaimed, as she got in the fox's face. Their little encounter was mostly swept under the rug, as they found a new topic to argue about. "You didn't even finish him properly! Now look what you made Matty do!"
"What?! I hit the heart!" Lùn angrily attested. "That's usually how I finish a person!"
"Are you sure you did? I hear reptile bodies aren't exactly like mammals, pup. Some of them have multiple hearts or something."
"Well I'm sorry I didn't check, I was too busy getting felt up by you , doing whatever that was supposed to be.
Kyuu just scoffed, and just stabbed her blade in his heart just to be sure. No response, not even an involuntary spasm. She was pretty sure he was gone this time. "Well, least he bled out which means I finished him. "
"What?"
" I nicked him with the femy' and the kidneys, that caused a lot of inside bleeding so he was going to eventually bleed out fast, which he did. So in the end I got him." She said fiddling with her knife still lodged in the cadaver's chest. "Guess they will start calling me Kyuu the Dragonslayer when word about this gets out . Better than Psycho right?"
"OH SHUT UP!" The fox snapped at her. "That would just make you Kyuu the Bleeder."
"Ugh, that's a lame name." Kyuu said as she yanked the blade out and started flicking the blood away.
"Besides, I slashed his throat open." Lùn said, scratching an itch under her chin. "So he was going to suffocate or drown in his own blood. Besides why are you trying to steal credit anyway?"
"Because you stole the last one!" Kyuu growled.
"Yeah after you knocked him out with a wet floor cone. Well, Trace and Pick lit him on fire, so it's really their kill. I just put him down. This guy was our kill, and the sheep helped too. So I didn't steal anything."
"Our kill? That means I got to share it with you right?" Kyuu groaned.
"I mean, yeah? We butchered him together." The fox said glaring right in the rabbit's face. "What? Is that a problem?"
"Don't want to share with you." The rabbit grumbled dejectedly like a child not getting her way.
The fox growled, glowering at the dark faced Holland lop. "You really need any more infamy Psycho? What? You plan on being the Psycho Rabbit who took down a Komodo dragon all by her lonesome?" She scoffed at her. "Would love that wouldn't you. A fine notch up there with that Grizzly bear kill. Well dream on, it doesn't work that fucking way you greedy bitch."
"Oh, please." The rabbit rolled her large eyes. "Like it doesn't sound like a great title for you either. That'd be a great boost next to your longhorn kill. Lùn the Dragonslayer. It'd get you closer to the arena's top contender spot that's for sure."
The pygmy's brow raised. "Oh, now you get my name right."
"Yeah, I guess so, Lùn ."
Well face it Kyuu, you'll just have to share that little rumor with me. We're the Dragonslayers." The fox actually twisted her lips in a content smile. "Oh, but don't worry, if you still have reservations about sharing, you won't have to share for long. Don't forget I'm still coming to take you out myself." She said, she pointing a clawed finger in the rabbit's face. "That's a notch I'm definitely looking forward to." Her fangs poked out of her mouth as she started grinning menacingly at her rival. "Hell I can't wait till that day I get to look down at your terrified face right before I stomp the life out of you! I might even practice my laugh."
"Dream on pup. Besides you think you got what it takes to beat someone you like now?" The rabbit smirked, cocky as she leaned into the fox's face.
"Won't be too hard, because I don't fucking like you!" Lùn growled.
"Suuure." The rabbit said smugly, still not believing her as she folded her arms.
"I don't!" The pygmy fox shouted adamantly as she stood up.
"Still don't want to admit it do you?" Kyuu said, rising to stand nose to nose with her.
"I guess I'll just have to PROVE IT!" The enraged fox shouted as she slugged the rabbit, knocking her to the floor. "Would someone in love do that?!" Lùn cried as ran over and kicked the rabbit in the face, knocking her back to the floor as the herbivore tried to recover.
"Didn't say love," The rabbit groggily responded as she roused herself, trying to realign her jaw with a painful crack.
The fox shrieked angrily as she pounced on the herbivore trying to strangle her. "SHUT UP!" She growled loudly as she slammed the recovering rabbit back down to the floor.
Kyuu jammed her hand precariously into the roof of the fox's mouth as she tried to hold her back, cutting her fingers in the process on the vixen's sharp canines.
The vixen's eyes didn't dilate from bloodlust this time like their very first fight, instead her eyes remained focused and clear as she continued to pin the rabbit to the floor. This wasn't some savage beast fighting her again, this was a disciplined fighter now. Kyuu managed to slip her arm free and grabbed the fox's leg, dragging her to the ground where she reversed their positions attempting to get a few solid punches in, however the fox expertly slid her legs in and flipped the rabbit over.
"Oh we're doing this tonight!" Kyuu declared as she turned over and propelled herself at the rising pygmy like a torpedo, smashing forehead first into the fox's snout producing a sharp grunt from the pygmy canid. Striking while the iron was hot, Kyuu flung a swift cross kick at the woozy vixen, landing it straight on target to the liver, the fox shuddered and listed from the shock. Kyuu then went up top and knocked her down with a solid right cross that knocked the sweat from Lùn's face as she twirled limp to the floor. "I owe you a beating for a lot of things anyway."
Matilda's jaw dropped as she stood there at the doorway, watching in disbelief as the two former allies fought each other in a heated contest. You gotta be kidding, they were making out and now they're fighting?!
"S-s-stop it!" She cried out, "This is no place to be fighting! This is YashiAid, not some underground boxing ring!"
She tried to rush over to separate the two, but she nearly ended up catching a loose punch and kick for her trouble, causing her to fall back and just try to get out of the way. "Stop it…" She sheepishly bleated. It was a futile gesture, a dormant cold war had just went superhot between them and no cool heads were going to extinguish this flame.
"Come on," The bruised rabbit beckoned as she bounced back and forth with her dukes up, "Show me what I've been missing out on for all these months!" It'd be just like the park, she thought.
Lùn's eyes quaked as she started seeing the fierce chimera there radiating behind her, it was like she didn't even need her weapons, the same infuriating cocky expression the rabbit had was plastered on it's visage, but Lùn didn't cower. No nightmare was going to stop her this time.
"No...Problem!" Lùn shouted as she angrily rose up and feinted to the side with an uppercut but half-stepped, her ploy drew the bunny in right where the fox needed her as she drove a wicked right hook down into the lagomorph's face, the rabbit was left wobbly, as the fox stung her again with a shot to the eye. The apparition was just that, an apparition. It was just the rabbit she needed to focus on. Kyuu was feebly moving one of her ears out of her face when Lùn grabbed hold of her by the head and introduced the lop's face to her hard knee. The chimera meant nothing, as Lùn stayed focused on her. This wasn't her nightmares.
"You have no idea how long I've been waiting to do that!" The fox shouted ecstatic, as she continued pummeling the rabbit, gripping her neck to stand her back up. She swung one hard right cross to chops that sent Kyuu falling back into a shelf of chips, shaking a few the bags loose that fell to the floor. The rabbit spat a clump of blood on the floor as she straightened back up, looking determined.
"You're making a mess!" The sheep shouted in the background still being ignored.
"And this is for kissing me!" Lùn shouted trying to follow, swinging with an uppercut, however she was too overzealous...she overextended nearly clipping the rabbit's lip. Kyuu realized she caught a break as she leaned back out of the hand's path, just like the shadow, she thought as she recalled the shadow boxing exercise. Kyuu responded just as she did earlier.
"Oh you want payback for that?!" Kyuu shouted, responding to the fox's accusation as she hurled a full force left hook, smashing her fist right in her knife scars over her eye with a loud smack. "You seemed so into it!" the rabbit cried before shifting to the fox's unprotected side for a follow up shot.
She didn't get the yelp she had imagined from the shadow however and the supposed knockout blow didn't floor her opponent at all. Instead the small carnivore didn't budge, being a lot sturdier than their previous engagement. The seasoned canid fighter growled as she answered back with a haymaker straight to the chest, stunning her lapine opponent long enough to slip behind and lift the bunny, dropping the bunny kicking and screaming through another rack of the small potato chip bags with a Suplex wrestling drop she had learned from her sister, Loba.
By the front counter
Matilda just sat there on the floor while two continued laying into each other, propping her weary head on her knuckles. She heard the whirring noise of one of the many Zoombas she'd turned on making its rounds down the aisles. She barely paid it any mind, even as it bumped into her shoe. She was too busy wondering when tonight would end.
"Whoo, this is kinda good." A high pitched voice said below her. Matilda lazily peered down and saw both the two mice brothers alive and well, though they looked worse for wear as if they had been in ground zero of a building made of flour.
"You guys are still alive?" She asked.
"Eh, luckily that shelf we were on was stocked with stuff like tissue paper and paper towels. Broke our fall." The plump engineer stated. "I see you gals got him, uh...good, from the looks of things...yikes." He said, visibility cringing from the mutilated cadaver. Matilda didn't particularly want to look towards the varanid's mutilated corpse either, quickly turned away from the body,
"Yeah, they um… they got him." She said, pointing to the two brawlers. "I just wish they would stop fighting."
"Yeah, they'll probably tire themselves out or one will get dropped eventually. Might as well just let nature take its course , so to speak. Say you want in on this bro?" Trace asked, flinching as he saw Lùn take a devastating cross kick to face. "That rabbit sure has a wicked kick."
"Yeah, but I'll bet my bonus on Vespa. No way a carnivore's gonna lose." Pick said.
"Wait, you mean my cut that crazy silver fox gave you because you blabbed too much!" The older rodent said shoving his brother's fuzzy head under his armpit.
"You're the one that lied, Phil!" The youngest strained as he tried to squeeze from his brother's grip.
"No one asked you to tell the truth, Marcus!"
"Oh come on" Matilda shouted, losing her patience, pulling the rodents apart and holding them in front of her face. "It's bad enough they're fighting and I can't do anything about it, now I have to deal with you two as well?"
"Relax. Just little brotherly horseplay. Honest. We ain't that serious. Put us down please." Trace begged as he dangled in her hands by the scruff of his neck. "Those two just seem to have some bad blood going on."
"Yeah, well that bad blood is wrecking my store!" The sheep grumbled, letting out a defeated sigh as she sat cross legged, waiting for the two girls violence to sputter out or reach a conclusion. "All this because I was nice…" She said, pouting. "I'd call the cops, but my phone is dead again."
"Rex, Phil. Never seen a Flat-tooth like her last that long against a Sharpy." Pick commented.
"Probably cuz Vespa isn't trying to maul her." Trace added. "See, if she really wanted to kill her, she'd just rip into her from the jugular."
"Yeah, our fox is just hammering at her. Like she forgot she has claws."
Matilda ran her fingers through her wool, stretching her scalp underneath as she tried to think of ways to solve the problem.
Her large blue eyes widened as an idea came to her. "Wait, you two know the fox girl right? Can't you get her to stop?!"
She looked down when they didn't answer and saw the two of them trying to open a candy bar. The sheep frowned and held out her hand.
"That's 90 Yen for that Melon Bar!" She said very sternly, dropping down to their level. Stressed or not, she still had a job.
"Jeez, Jeez, fine." Trace said, pulling a folded bill from his pocket. "Also no, the fox and us, we uh.. just met tonight, so I don't think she'll listen to us."
She'd definitely gotten better, Kyuu thought, getting back up, nearly coughing up a lung in the process. The fox had folded her good with a surprise knee to the gut. The vixen actually had a decent fighting shuffle this time around she noticed as the fox bounced around.
But I'm good enough! She thought as she charged forth, ducking a flurry of anticipated clawed swipes and hit the fox right in the chest with a few quick jabs of her own. Another swipe nearly clipped her scalp when she took advantage of the swing, slipping under and rocking Lùn with a swift 'cut to canid's sensitive snout. She finally heard the yelp she had desperately wanted to hear before pushing in with a flying side kick, knocking the canid on her ass. "That's for earlier when Matty went to the front." The rabbit declared.
Meanwhile Matilda still sat on the sidelines, still unsure how to get them to stop. It'd be a fool's errand for someone as timid as her. But still they were making too much of a damn mess. What was she supposed to do just let them pewter out? Half the store would be in shambles by them she reckoned. There was another crash and coffee beans spilled out all over the floor after Lùn smashed Kyuu's face into the coffee bean dispenser. The sheep finally got fed up and thought to hell with it. She was going to stop this somehow. As she got up she saw one of their yellow mop buckets with the mop still inside and soon inspiration struck.
Lùn hurled a wild right hook and narrowly missed the evading rabbit, and promptly got a solid kick to the gut for her troubles. While recovering, she caught the rabbit in her woozy vision and dodged another kick. She winded back for her counter when a grey blob forcefully invaded her peripheral vision. The fox paused as she tried to make sense of what the hell was going on, while still trying to keep her guard up. A quick glance to side revealed the sheep swinging a mop in both of their faces.
"What the hell are you doing?" The fox snarled at the sheep as she swatted the dirty hanging mop strips out of her face while keeping an eye on her swift opponent.
"I need both of you to stop FIGHTING!" She screamed, as she jabbed the mop head at them. "This is so UNNECESSARY!" She shouted, jabbing them again.
"Stay out of this Matty-san!" Kyuu warned as she leaped into a screaming spin kick, but deceptively canceled the kick upon landing to slug the fox hard when she tried to counter. The lapine's fist had already penetrated the fox's swing. The half-sized canid grunted as she took the force generated by the spin right under her ears. Lùn was seeing stars as the floor started approaching rapidly.
The fox was barely there as she found herself being pummeled when the rabbit straddled her chest.
"This bitch has been- waiting- a long time- for this! Isn't that right?! Is THIS what you wanted? Huh?" Kyuu shouted as she resumed hammering away at the stunned fox's facial scar. Another blow right to her left boob, woke the fox causing her to yelp in anguish.
"Not going to keep her waiting for long!" The rabbit cried as one of her punches caused crimson blood to explode from the fox's nostrils.
Frustrated, Lùn was began to snarl like a feral creature as if each blow was starting to loosen her self control. She wanted to beat her fair, but now thoughts of biting were becoming stronger.
Take the easy way…bite her. Her instincts screamed. Rip her arm off!
No… She thought, gonna put her away like THIS! She screamed internally as she snuck a solid right hook right in the lapine's cheek, giving her an opening to reverse their position and put her on top. "No, I want THIS!" She screamed at Kyuu as she laid in another punch, this time right to the rabbit's bruised eye, followed by another and then another.
The sheep just sat down on the floor next to the mice, hopelessly lost as to what to do. "You're both impossible." She said, throwing the mop away. "You are wrecking my store worse than the lizards!" The young ewe groaned, frustrated unsure when they'd stop. Maybe they'll get tired or something, she thought.
"Both of you knock it the fuck off!" A much more mature and stern voice commanded.
Matilda and the mice both turned around to four new people standing in the middle of the doorway. They weren't lizards thankfully. Instead they looked to be all canines.
Lùn froze like a statue as she knew exactly who it was. Kyuu paused as well, trying to see who it could be. Maybe San and that white fox he was dating? As she looked towards the door, it was the gray looking fox - the bodyguard.
Lùn had almost forgotten her sisters were coming. She was glad to see Raira still in one piece, though she was looking very rough as she supported herself in the arms of the Akita Inu from the Jewelry store. The Boy Scout, she had called him. It wasn't just her either, almost the whole Futekigo clan was there minus Priscilla and Ferro. They must have come straight from the arena.
Lùn looked down at her adversary, both breathing heavily, both excited like when they kis- Lùn quickly sought to change the subject as she shook her head. She un-balled her fist and let go of the herbivore's tank top, while Kyuu stared right back up, chest rising and falling as her lungs tried desperately suck in much needed oxygen.
The pygmy fox composed herself and began crawling off when out of nowhere the rabbit struck her face with a swift sucker punch, the scrappy lop seemingly being unable to resist getting in one last cheap shot. All bets were off as Lùn tackled the rabbit once more.
"You rotten bitch!" Lùn screamed as she gripped her intending to choke the life out of her.
"Lùn! That's enough!" A different voice said as a large hand rested on the pygmy's shoulder as she looked down at the bunny. "Let it ride." It was her sister, Fa. The Bat-eared fox mix squatted down next to them and looked her closest friend in the eye. "Come on Loony. We still have to run a business. And she is business." The little fox looked up at her, then looked back at the rabbit who was actually smiling despite the bruised and bloody appearance.
The pygmy nodded silently, raising off once more, but soon her temper flared as she swiped her razor sharp claws across her Kyuu's face. Kyuu grunted painfully as the nails ripped through her flesh, running deep enough to leave two bloody lateral claw marks just under her left eye.
"Loony?!" Fa shouted.
The fox's big sister grabbed hold of her and hoisted her away from the rabbit. Kyuu winced as she started putting pressure to stop the bleeding.
"It's what she gets." The fox said, grinning wickedly, satisfied with her handiwork.
Kyuu didn't attempt to retaliate, instead she just oddly smiled right back as if proud of the fox.
"A bit fitting don't you agree, Psycho? Lùn said, her fangs showing as she snickered. "You gave me two slashes on my right, now you have two across your left. That finally makes us even, though next time I'll give you more!" She shouted, struggling in her sister's arms.
"Promises. Promises." Kyuu cheekily said, even as she winced while continuing to press the wound.
Raira cocked her head at them in confusion."You two fuckin' done with your little play date?" She growled as she limped in between the two. She looked furious, but gave Lùn a proud wink and smile when she turned her back to the rabbit. Raira at least sympathized with her, still it was fleeting as she went back to clan matters.
"Boss lady said no fucking fighting, unless money was involved. Ain't that right Fa?"
"That's correct, Lùn, Onēsan was very clear. " The Bat-ear mix, stated feeling a bit conflicted. She sympathized with her sister, but Lùn knew the rules and this was a violation.
"Explain yourself." The silver fox said, looking at both her little partner and the rabbit. "Make it good."
"It was just a bit of sparring . Right?" Kyuu said, answering first and thinking about her encounter with the spider monkey in the park. "That's all it was."
Lùn actually grinned and chuckled at the rabbit's comment. "Sparring?" Lùn quietly questions, before more confidently confirming. "Sparing! Yeah, we were sparring. She was giving me some pointers. Her guard was down is all."
Raira just shook her head at the both of them. "Sparring? You're gonna have to work on your cover stories, TNT. A fox is expected to be quicker than that." She gave the rabbit a once over and looked back at her diminutive sister. "Least you didn't kill each other, still there has to be repercussions. You got to pay for those marks on her, Lùn. Right Fa?"
Fa looked at Raira, confused. "Um." She looked to her sister and back Raira.
"Kid, you gotta be quick too if you're gonna be second in command. What's your verdict?" Raira said dismissively. In a way she was grooming both of the young vixens for the hard future of Inarigumi life. Fa could be the next Priscilla or even Ten, if she worked at it.
Still unsure, the Bat-ear mix agreed with the sentence. "Yeah. Lùn should just get off with a warning."
"Warning? That seems about right." Raira said, popping her nails out. "Alright, TNT get ready."
Lùn closed her eyes as she braced herself for the punishment. She felt Raira's hand pressed down on her shoulder to steady herself so she wouldn't miss. The pygmy's breathing sped up as she waited for the prick, but it never came. She opened her eyes to see the silver fox, down on one knee pointing her sharp claws in her face.
"Don't you two fight again unless you get permission, ya hear? Next time you will get one over your eye. You understand?"
"Um, yes. I understand." She still felt like she had missed something, no swipe or cut? "Uh..no punishment?"
Raira rolled her eyes and poked Lùn on one of her fresh bumps. "What are you talking about, you seemed to have taken your beating like a champ. Do you need another one to get the message?"
"Oh, no." She readily responded, catching on quickly to what Raira was doing. She was being lenient. "I understand."
"Good kit." She said, patting her on the head carefully. "Now I got some questions."
Raira soon recognized the black one's remains as the thug that got away from the shoot out. He really must have chased her all the way over here. She also got a whiff of the pungent odor wafting in from the burnt lizard spying the still smoldering smoke coming in from the back.
"Just what the fuck happened here?" She asked. "This looks like that Dokugumi guy I shot at. You took these guys down? And also why is she here anyway?"
"About that, I got tracked by these Dokugumi creeps after the job. I thought I had lost 'em, but they found me. It wasn't easy, but we took 'em out." Lùn said, rubbing the blood from her bruised nose into her sleeve. "As for her, she just was here already. Guess she just shops here."
Lùn glanced over her shoulder at Kyuu still sporting that cocky grin on her dark face. "She did her part though, couldn't have taken that bastard down without her, much as I hate to say it."
Raira took a solid look at the grisly remains of the dragon. "You two took him down?" She whistled. "Damn good work TNT. See that's why Priscilla put you in the arena. You got the guts and the smarts. Just why were you and Psycho fighting though? Seems like you made one hell of a team."
Lùn paused to consider her reasoning, but just gave a plain and simple answer, "Because she's a massive cunt. That's why." She said, glaring the rabbit who just looked right back amused.
Raira sighed, she could relate. "Eh, Fair enough," The silver fox looked at the small sheep attempting to sweep up the mess both girls and the lizards had made. "Who's that?"
"Uh...that's the store clerk." The pygmy explained. "She uh...helped us take these creeps down too and y'know the reason I was able to call you guys in the first place."
"Hmm. Well unfortunately, we have to keep her quiet. Grab her." The silver fox ordered, giving the half-wolf Loba a signal.
"Wait wha-what are you doing?" Lùn asked her sisters as both she and Kyuu, of all people, stepped in front of the frightened corriedale. They exchanged quick glances before staring down the other foxes.
"Yeah, Matty didn't do anything to you!" Kyuu shouted, brandishing her daggers. "Leave her alone!"
"What are you doing, Lùn?" Raira stated as she folded her arms. "You're interfering with Inarigumi business."
"Rai, don't kill her! Why?" Lùn protested and feebly beat against Loba's legs, trying to push back against the wolf hybrid like a frustrated child fighting back against an older sibling. But Loba just brushed her aside. Kyuu stepped in front of the sheep blades at the ready.
"Lùn, she knows too much," Raira stated matter-of-factly, "We're already trying to escape a beasthunt, we don't need to leave witnesses."
"It's not right!" The little fox cried out as she frantically shielded Matilda. "There has to be another way."
"She's a loose end. If she rats and we get identified, we're all going to prison. I ain't about to risk that for your bleeding heart, I'm sorry. Move out of the way."
Gin the Japanese Akita Inu spoke up, the brindle furred dog standing right in front of Raira and glaring right into her blue eyes. "Violet , there might be-."
"Boy Scout," She said, addressing him with a snarl. He had some gall to interfere with their business. "Just what the fuck are you doing? This don't concern you."
"Look, I know those painkillers they gave you are making you antsy Violet , but you are going about this all wrong. If we just stop and think about this, we can see there's probably another less violent way."
The dark fox raised a brow at the sharp-eared dog's candidness. "Think? I am thinking." Her raised voice inferring her growing annoyance. "Lamb Chops here is a liability, simple as that. The professional thing to do is eliminate her from the equation. You want to be professional right? Professionals get rid of loose ends."
"I am trying to be Professional!" He barked at her, raising his arms. "I'm tired of people, innocent people dying because of me or my decisions! Just wait a few minutes to listen. What if we use this situation to our advantage?" He proposed.
"Take these bodies here…" He said, stepping as close as he could to the deceased onyx reptile without stepping in his pool of blood. "They were terrorists right? And the Jewelry Store isn't that far from here."
"Yeah, so what?" Raira said, tilting her head at him.
"What if...you know... we just frame the Dokugumi guys for all this huh?"
"Pooch…"
"No, no no no...listen, there could be a way to spin this in our favor if we play this right. I remember their leader saying something about like a terror act. Something about getting back at the other beasts. They killed-," The dog took a moment to compose himself. "They killed my friends because of that and that scarfaced bastard, the one we dropped a ceiling on… h-he told me it wasn't even sanctioned by their boss."
The silver fox just rubbed the top of her head, tryin to process the dog's seemingly cockamamie story. "So, you're saying these guys were rogue?"
The dog snapped his fingers. "P-precisely! Said they were there for a crystal trinket my boss had."
Now that she thought about it, that scar faced bastard they dropped a chandelier on at the store was Gar, he typically was out there when it came to the Dokugumi, from what Raira remembered. Guy probably belonged leading some cult rather than running about with some street gang. So, she wouldn't put it past him to be doing some crazy crap. Of course during her carefully planned heist of all things...rotten luck. Still she had no clue what that had to do with sparing this herbivore.
"Okay pooch, get to the point! What does all that have to do with our witness here?"
"It's simple, we um… we misdirect. Y'know."
"Wait Rai…" Fa, said injecting. "I think I get what he's getting at."
Raira, gave the young Bat-ear mix an exhaustive look, but relented. While Raira, typically had seniority here, officially, the young girl was second in command when it came to Futekigō Clan business, and the older silver fox did wish to teach her to voice her opinion on matters. Against her better judgement she let Fa chime in.
"Let's hear him out." Fa proposed. " I think he's onto something."
"See!" Gin shouted, pointing at the bat-eared fox. "You get it, right?" The dog's curled tail straightened as he became excited now that he was getting somewhere with them.
Weighing her next words carefully, Fa simply stated. "You're talking about hearsay? Since the Dokugumi guys are dead, the sheep should have the final word on what happened? So we're expecting her to keep her mouth shut about our involvement and tell a fabricated story?"
"Yes! That's exactly what I mean! Overseas, terrorist groups used to massacre entire villages and blame it on us and the local militia, horrible stuff, but it worked. They made us look like the big bad invaders and the locals bought it. Made our job over there harder as they just called us devils and what not."
"This ain't some third-world country, Boy Scout." Raira spouted, losing her patience. "We'd be trying to fool the police, not some religious poor people."
"I get that, just bear with me here. Here it won't be that far from the truth." The dog said, wagging his tail vigorously as he got more excited. "Just tell the nice clerk here, in exchange for a few generous bills thrown her way, she tells the story of how these monsters were trying to sow fear in the city. I mean the motive is there. Make the Komodos the prime suspects. All this will look like some organized terror attack. That throws the heat off of us, and we get away. Solves all our problems."
"You think they'll buy that?" Fa asked, head tilted as she scratched behind her large ears.
"This is near the Back Alley right? They got vigilantes all over the place don't they? Remember the stories about that one tall fox with the metal muzzle that picked up crazed carnivores off the streets last year or hell that panda doctor with the freaking crossbow. Or how about that one wolf kid stormed the Shishigumi tower to rescue that little rabbit. There's all manner of crazy stuff around these parts. Not that hard to believe a vigilant customer came in late at night and helped save the day. They'll be so busy running that story, that they'll forget our little excursion. "
"So what, you think they will chalk up what happened here to some vigilante?"
"I mean the sniffers are gonna smell our little accomplice's scent around here anyway." He said, thumbing at his nose. "They'll just reason that some rough customer came in, did what had to be done and just fled the scene. I'm sure our fluffy friend here would love to tell that story, right Miss?"
"O-of course." Matilda piped up in a hurry. "I'll say whatever you want me to say. Please, I-I just want to go home."
Raira, just gave the dog a look that screamed whatever. "Fine. This doesn't work Fa, it was your call. Also that hush money is coming out of your percentage Boy Scout. Your idea, your pay cut."
The small girls all drew a sigh of relief, and the dog's floofy tail curled up behind him, his smile faltering a little at the mention of a paycut. The silver fox patted him on the shoulder and snickered in his face. Gin just sighed.
"If no more innocents have to perish tonight, I can rest easy with that." He said very solemnly, while looking at the scared sheep. "No more unnecessary deaths."
"You hear all that Mutton Chops ? You get to live. You follow that story to the letter and you'll have a nice cut coming to you in about a half a month, blab and you'll end up being a nice cut on the market." She said with menace that sent chills down the sheep's back.
"Understand? You bleat a word to anyone else about this though and we have people who can find you."
"Yes, ma'am." The sheep bleated nervously. "I understand fully, these guys were trying to rob the store, kidnap me and my customer. And we managed to defend ourselves with the help of an unknown vigilante. That's it right?"
"That's good enough I guess," Raira said, unimpressed. "Lùn, go get the loot," she ordered. We're getting out of here." The pygmy nodded dutifully and made her way to the back.
"You just gonna completely forget about us, huh Violet? No one's gonna ask if we're alright?"
"Oh you guys are still here?" The silver fox looked down at them, with dull surprise. "I thought Lùn was supposed to drop you guys off a long time ago."
"Yeah, well we got trapped in here just like them AND we helped them take out one of those hulking dinosaurs too AND we almost died doing it! I think that warrants a bonus!" The eldest brother shouted like a boisterous politician, trying to milk whatever they could out of their involvement in tonight's fiasco.
"Uh..." Raira, just cupped her palm on her scalp. Great now I got to deal with these mercenaries, she thought. "We'll see. Maybe." She answered, just trying to placate them.
"You're damn right maybe ! We want repercussions for tonight! We put our lives on the line to help your little friend, we deserve a little something like hazard pay."
"I think you mean remuneration , bro." The youngest mouse corrected.
"Quiet, Pick. I know what I said."
Raira just ignored the two as silently stood there waiting for Lùn to come back. She was really more focused on trying to fight off a massive headache, as the painkillers numbed, but didn't entirely alleviate the constant pain she had been in for hours thanks to the bomb shrapnel lodged in her body.
"Hey you two are still alive!" Kyuu's relatively booming voice shouted down at them, her tone threatening as she scowled at the two mice. "You still got my Zippo I lent you?
Pick nervously clung to Trace's back as the giant rabbit stomped over to them, looking for her lighter. "Uh, I think it's probably buried under all that debris after the dragon knocked the shelf down. We didn't have time to look for it, plus stuff was probably too heavy for us to lift."
"Oh great…" She weakly groaned as she didn't feel like digging through a bunch of rubble just for a cheap lighter, but she also didn't want to pay for another.
"Oi, Flopsy. You need a ride?" The silver fox said as she patiently waited for Lùn to return. "I see you're kinda beat up, and well...we're heading in the market's direction."
"Oh what? We're friends now cuz I helped out your little sister?" The rabbit teased, very smug, folding her arms. "No way."
The silver fox snarled as she fought through pain to rush down the relatively small rabbit, she opened her mouth and revealed her much more developed row of teeth making it abundantly clear she wasn't Lùn. Her greenish-blue eyes shrank to pin drops as her muzzle receded over her gums. "Don't you test me you little dome head , the last bitch that did that got a grenade shoved down her throat. I'm just trying to be fucking nice, you hear meuughhh..." The Fox winced as her injuries started to get the better of her as she dropped the rabbit and doubled over on the floor. The dog quickly rushed over and collected her, supporting her on his shoulder.
"Easy." He whispered in her ear, trying to keep her standing. He gave the bunny a disapproving shake of his head. "Hey, uh...look I don't know anything about you people, but she's just offering you a ride. Okay? Simple yes or no would have done."
Kyuu looked towards the ground, and thought a bit about it. "Uh, no. I think I got one….right, Matty? You were gonna give me a ride before right?"
The curly headed sheep nodded, still trying to sweep the clutter from the floor. "I'll ride you over there like I promised. But only on a few conditions."
"One-" She said before taking a deep breath. "NO MORE FIGHTING IN MY STORE!" The sheep screamed at the top of her lungs, actually making the rabbit feel even smaller.
"And second, you'll have to help me clean this mess up and explain the story to the police when they arrive. Then I'll ride you to your place. You caused some of this, only fair you help clean it up." She heaved a heavy sigh as she continued brushing away debris. "If I don't get this place cleaned up you won't have to worry about the first one though."
"Um, Sure." Kyuu said timidly, surveying the carnage left in their wake. They'd made quite a mess, not counting the destruction caused by the dragon brothers. This would take a while, but it was the least she could do after she had helped her. It wasn't like she had much to do tomorrow anyway outside of training. Besides she trusted Matty a hell of a lot more than the foxes and she was in no condition to walk now. "Yeah, I'll help out." She said, looking around for another broom.
The Inarigumi started to make their leave once Lùn retrieved her backpack from the pharmacy. The fox and the rabbit's eyes locked one last time, Lùn squinting at her with a stare of death before giving the mice brothers a lift. Kyuu cheekily blew a kiss at her much the fox's ire, who stomped off with her head held high.
The silver fox was the last to leave as she supported herself in the Akita's arms. It was clear she intended to law down the law one last time.
"Remember our deal, Miss YashiAid." The grey furred fox she groaned, pointing a finger at Matilda who was sweeping up glass with the long push broom. "Stick to that story or else." She warned.
"Yes Ma'am. I won't speak a word. I promise." The sheep fervently agreed. Nobody's going to believe me anyway, She thought. I'll be lucky if this story holds up. Hell I'll be lucky to still have a job tomorrow. She quickly redoubled her efforts to cleaning. She could at least get this place looking better than before.
Raira then looked to Kyuu. Still the herbivore had a defiant look about her, as if none of these wounds mattered, her attitude screamed 'I'm ready when you are.' The bruised and bloody rabbit, almost looked worse than her. In a way it kinda impressed the vixen she was still standing, she admired spunk like that in girls. Maybe that was why Lùn was so drawn to her, she thought.
"Alright Psycho, cool it. This is just me being nice again so don't spit in my face this time!"
Kyuu dropped the tough act and allowed herself to slouch.
"Since you don't look so good. I'll be putting in a word to push back any action you have at the arena for a while, maybe a few weeks. So stay away from the place for the time being. Can't have you fighting looking like that, people will think it was foul play or something. It'd look bad on us. Got it?"
Kyuu just nodded at her silently. "Her too?" She asked, referring to the pygmy.
"Oh so you care, huh?" She smiled. "Well, yea her too. You both should just use this time to heal up and get better. Consider it gratitude for helping our sister." She said followed by a hoarse cough. "That's all."
With that she looked at the dog and nodded him. "Alright now come on my Boy Scout in Shining Armor. Let's take the princess away to her carriage." Raira said weakly as Gin helped her limp towards the door.
"You know, it's a lot easier to just say my name, than keep calling me Boy Scout right?" Gin said as they slowly made their way to the car.
"Where is the fun in that?" She joked, leaping into his arms, which caused him to stumble a bit. "Speaking of fun. You and me are gonna get wasted tonight Boy Scout, at least till I can't feel my face." She said tickling under his chin.
"Maybe after we get you to a decent doctor. And you probably come down off of these painkillers."
As they left, deep down, Kyuu felt relieved she'd now have more time to prepare for her fight with the spider monkey, but she still felt kinda exhausted by all of this. She'd spent a lot of money, today, with the train ride, the medicine. Now they really were going to have to make their money stretch. She thought. They... She wondered if he 'd even be there when she got back. She hoped so.
Algema District Precinct - Dispatch room
*Bzzt* *Bzzt* *Bzzzt*
A Maned wolf sat at her station listening in to the police chatter, when her phone started to ring. She didn't pull it in time, but she saw the caller ID. Once she looked at it she felt her heart flutter in her chest. An ominous looking [F] was the sole indicator of the caller. Simple and vague, but the wolf knew just who it was. She had to call them back as soon as possible.
She looked to her co-worker, a female Tamworth pig named Janine, and tapped her shoulder. Janine finished her call-in before pulling her headset down. "Colette-san. What's up?" She asked.
"I know it's a long time from break, but I need to take this call, can you do me a solid and take my call-ins for me for a bit?"
The pig just nodded and smiled, taking the canine's headset. "Alright, but you know that it's happy hour in this area. So hurry."
"Thanks so much, I won't be long." Hiller said, smiling right back.
She quickly rushed to the ladies room, making sure all the stalls were empty before calling the caller back. She didn't have to wait for long.
"Hey I got your call."
"Right, this is Colette."
"Yeah, well hello to you too. Been ages since you last called."
"Oh, of course it's for a favor."
"Yes, I understand."
"Yeah, let me get my notepad out."
"Red Bonda Civic, make 2004. Spotted in the Golanti District, on Flamingo Street." She repeated out loud, writing down the details.
"I take it that it's not really there right?" She said very hush, picking her teeth as she looked at herself in the mirror.
"Fine, fine."
"Yeah, Yeah Ferry-san."
"This is favor number two, you understand?"
"Yes I'm counting."
"Alright."
"Thank you. You know we really need to catch up sometimes. Maybe we can set up a date in the market you know?"
"I've always been this chatty. You just never call me unless it's for work."
"Alright then, I'll see you next Wednesday."
Meanwhile across town
"That girl always talks too much," A stoic looking Tibetan Sand fox said in her typical monotone delivery as she hung her phone up. It was still late, and she was sitting in the cab of a flatbed truck with a winch. She was actually a halfbreed, but she looked mostly like her Sand fox dominant side, most people just assumed she was full breed.
Slipping on some gloves, she looked to the driver, an Ezo Red fox from another clan, and gave her the go ahead to back up into the alley where a burnt car wreck rested, still smoldering from a raging fire.
"Nice and slow," she instructed.
Once the truck was in position she got out with a crowbar and some bleach spray. Sniffing the area, she began spraying all over the place, before taking the crowbar and prying the license plates off. She tossed the plate and discarded the gloves into the wreck before hooking the rear end to a winch on the truck.
While the driver lifted the wreck as ordered, the Sand fox went back to sanitizing the area, making sure no evidence was left behind. Honestly, the fox felt this ditching was done sloppy, but kept her mouth shut. She'd give her an earful once they got back. Once she was satisfied with the scene and all scents had been masked, she and the driver threw a tarp over the car and tied it down. Then she made a call.
"Raira, this Ferro. Your mess is on it's way to become patio furniture in some third world country. Also next time, remove the plates from the car before you burn it. Anyone could have come across that wreck and reported it.
"Well next time don't catch heat."
"Alright, then I'll see you back at the Den. We can discuss this a bit more in-depth there."
"Huh?"
"Did she? Well consider me proud. I guess I'll have something for her when we get back."
The Sand fox actually forced her facial muscles to twist up into a poor smile. She looked to the driver and asked. "Say, does this look like a good smile to you?"