The fox spat out a mouthful of water which flew and disappeared into the air. "Fifty yuan"!
The innkeep looked down at him unhappily. "Well what did you expect"?
"It's a cup of water. You don't pay fifty yuan for a cup of water", the kit explained slowly as if it was some complex scientific principle.
"Yes, well you can pay for the water, the overdue rent, flooding the kitchen with bathwater oh and did I mention the overdue rent"!
Now the fox gulped as the bill was handed to him, and the innkeep stormed off to the kitchen.
"I'll pay...another time", the vulpine lied weakly as he made his way to the staircase directly opposite the kitchen.
Danzaburo Danaki sighed as he watched the whole thing occur from his delightfully dark little corner. He was in rat form, just in case, and had not spoken once to the shapeshifter, having decided he would firstly analyze him, before making his move.
He had been keeping watch on the fox for a week and in all that time he had learnt a lot… of useless information. The shapeshifter was amateur, he kept to the same form and was always referred to by the same name, typical rookie mistake. He was not particularly cunning, and seemed to struggle with basic education, like writing or arithmetic. He was quiet and reserved, qualities which Danzaburo appreciated, but somewhat too trusting over the bat he shared a room with. He sighed and was about to leave when the innkeep came up to him.
"I suppose you'll be wanting a room", the duck muttered, as if the very thought of having another customer was too vile for him to digest.
Danzaburo replied automatically. "Of course", his accent was perfect chinese, without even a hint of his mother tongue. "Tell me, do you originate from Japan"?
"Of course", the goose muttered. was short, fat, and bad-tempered, so a regular innkeep.
"How much is the rent for one night"? Danzaburo asked, changing the subject. This way he could know how long the kit had been staying at the place.
"Five yuan, but the first night is free", Kenji answered, pulling out a glass of water from out of nowhere.
Ten days, he's been here ten days and already the innkeep hates him. I need to see what he's like up close.
The opportunity presented itself almost immediately as the bat sharing his room crossed the room and left the inn.
"I think I'll sleep somewhere else", the rat that was Danzaburo told the now-scowling as he left the room to go after the bat.
He knew quite a bit about him as well. The bat was also young, the same age as the fox. He was easily the dumber of the two, and more than likely he was also the weaker. He was however incredibly loyal and obedient, qualities that Danzaburo could respect, and more importantly, qualities he could imitate.
Right now Shan Qu turned into a narrow side-street. An empty one.
Changing into another form, this one a wolf, Danzaburo crept up on the unsuspecting bat, who whistled on oblivious to the danger, until he was tapped on the shoulder.
He turned with a "What"? Only to see the fist cutting the air in front of his face.
There was a knock at the door, and Saras opened it, expecting to find a raging . Instead he saw an owl and a wolf staring down at him.
"You're the vodka seller"?
"Maybe", Saras narrowed his eyes, the owl looked familiar, but he doubted he had ever met her before.
"You're coming with us", the wolf said, hoisting him across the shoulder in a rather less than friendly way. Saras allowed himself to be taken by the pair while he thought of an escape route. He wasn't stupid enough to not know what a kidnap was when he saw one.
The wolf was burly, and was clearly twice his strength, but he was wearing a bandage over his rump. The owl was pretty, but would have been far prettier without the excessive amount of jewelry she wore. As far as he could see there was only two of them. That was a good thing. He watched the wolf's bandaged rump, it was out of his range unfortunately, which prevented him from biting or slicing at it with his teeth or claws. The wolf's tail however was just in reach. The owl led the way down the stairs, the wolf followed, but as soon as he took one foot off the floor Saras shut his jaws around the wolf's flickering tail.
"AAAAAAAAWWW"! The lupine leapt a foot in the air, his paws leaped into the air of their own accord, forgetting the vulpine that had been their captive. Saras rolled in the air and slid down the staircase pole, ducking under the owl's open wings, and watching with some satisfaction as the wolf tumbled into the avian's feet, sending the pair of them rolling down the stairs and into one of 's tables, which promptly collapsed on top of them.
Saras leapt off the pole and was about to smugly call in the bartender, only for a gorrila's foot to stomp into the ground in front of him. He looked up at the ape's piggy little eyes as they stared down at him.
"Heh-heh", he teleported just as the gorilla made to catch him in his arms. The ape spun around confusedly only to note the fox running away, his tongue sticking out rudely. Then the door crashed into his smug features and Shan Qu walked into the room. The door closed again and Saras' squashed features glared at the bat, only for the owl to get to her feet shakily.
"Get that kit"!
Forgetting Shan Qu Saras smashed the door open and raced out into the open, only to be tripped by another fox, who leapt on top of him.
"I got him"!
Shapeshifting into a hedgehog the other vulpine was soon screaming as spines stuck into his chest. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW"! Shan Qu chuckled as the fox threw himself off of the shapeshifter, who promptly transformed into an armadillo, with pink and purple plates, curling into a ball Saras sped off just as the owl barged out of the inn in hot pursuit.
Shan Qu became Danzaburo for a brief moment as he chuckled to himself. This afternoon promised to be humourous.
Saras spun madly before shifting into a fox and throwing himself under a cart as his pursuers chased after him. He panted. Why are they after me ?
He had no more thinking time as the cart was kicked onto it's side by a very pissed-looking ape. He grinned, before teleporting onto the other side of the overturned cart and shifter again. He was a mouse, his fur was brown and his pants were blue. He ploughed right into a crowd of people, before suddenly coming to a halt and gulping. As he viewed the world around him he realized just how small he was. More worried about getting stamped on than actual pursuit he changed forms again, this time into a mole. He would have burrowed into the earth but this street was lined in cobblestones. He was suddenly lifted into the air by the fox from before.
"You think this is funny"?!
It was hard not to laugh, the vulpine had five needles sticking out of his chest and his eyes were bloodshot and furious.
"No, I think you are in need of medical attention". He caught a punch for that and was thrown onto the ground. People were starting to watch now.
"Come then, if you think this is some sort of"- Saras threw a pebble at where his crotch was, he knew this because of course he was familiar with vulpine biology. The fox bent over in pain, the shapeshifter (still a mole) strolled up to him and delivered a slap right across the snout.
Saras turned around and ducked under the owl again, before making a run for the canals. If there was one surefire way to throw off his pursuer then he knew it. Diving into the icy cold murky water he morphed into a catfish.
Fenghuang chuckled and spoke to the fox who looked like he really did need medical attention. "The kid really doesn't get how far ahead we can think, does he"?
As if on cue a crocodile swam up from the canal, his mouth bulging, with two 'thumbs' up.
Then he got the shock of his life as the catfish let loose some volts of electricity into him.
Spitting out the shapeshifter the crocodile fell over, and with a splash crashed back into the water.
Saras shook himself and morphed back into a fox. Only to note the gorilla's fist coming for his nose. Oh dear.
It was funny while it lasted, Danzaburo decided as he followed the group of battered kidnappers as they carried off the other shapeshifter. Now let's see what the kit got himself into.
Footnote: In case it's not clear, Danzaburo went from being a rat, to being a generic wolf, to Shan Qu. And what about the real Shan Qu ? Well read on and you will see. MUHAHAHAHAHA.
A thank you to Berserker88 for looking over it, and to all my dear readers and reviewers.
Anyways I hope you enjoy and Update soon.