Danza was the first to move, throwing three leaves at Yang Chao. Mid air they became shuriken. Yang Chao's eyes widened, but only a little. The hare deflected each in turn, letting them ricochet harmlessly into the surrounding crates.
"Impressive weaponry," the hare complemented. "How exactly do they work ?" He asked, his tone changing to sound somewhat interested.
Danza smiled even more, simultaneously pulling out a few more leaves. "That's for me to know, and you to wish that you did !" He threw them at his opponent.
Yang Chao deflected shuriken after shuriken as they all sped towards him. He caught one mid-air, and threw it back at his opponent, the tanuki blocked with his katana, before looking up to see the white hare racing towards him. The tanuki entered a stance and waited for Chao to arrive.
Yang Chao got the first swing, which Danza dodged, before retaliating with a jab that would have impaled a slower opponent. Yang Chao, however, sidestepped it as it came towards him, then followed up by leaping over the blade as it came down for his feet. Mid-air the hare aimed a kick, which Danzaburo easily avoided, before rolling under the hare and turning back to face his opponent.
Saras though incredibly weak could not help noting that neither of them had broken so much as a sweat. I wonder...will I be like that when I'm older ?
Then the fighting continued. Yang Chao charged forwards and swung low for Danza's gut, the tanuki, however managed to catch the punch on the flat side of his blade.
"You're fast," the hare noted.
"Well spotted ". The tanuki replied sarcastically.
Yang Chao punched again, Danza blocked with his katana again. The hare kicked, Danza's katana blocked.
"Is this getting a bit repetitive ?"
"Yes, yes it is".
To make things more interesting Yang Chao leapt up, and aimed a roundhouse kick, mid air, which Danza ducked under, before swinging for the hare's waist with his katana. Yang Chao twisted away from it, before landing on all fours. To play safe, Danzaburo had put some distance between them.
Yang Chao charged again, before stopping before a large pile of leaves.
"Am I meant to fall for this ?" The hare asked, looking slightly annoyed at what he thought was an opponent underestimating him.
Danzaburo shrugged. "I didn't have much time".
Yang Chao leapt over the pile of leaves, as if it was as simple as that. Danzaburo suddenly darted forwards, swinging his blade to catch the hare across the neck. Yang Chao ducked, and pulled his ears down low as well. Having been distracted by the katana, however he never saw the tanuki's knee coming for his face. He only noticed when it was too late to block. Yang Chao was sent backwards, and landed on his back...right on the pile of leaves.
As soon as the hare made contact they became a pile of caltrops, and while they didn't go in as deep as they might have they still stung a lot. Enough to seriously piss off Yang Chao.
The hare rolled back to his feet, to avoid the katana Danzaburo had swung on a downward arc that would have sliced a lesser opponent in two. Yang Chao got to his feet, only to duck suddenly as another leaf flew towards his head.
Saras was unfortunate enough to not be able to move out of the way in time. The leaf connected with his head just as it turned into tar. He pulled the substance off of his eyes, only to note that both his paws were now stuck to his cheek, his eyes however could see quite clearly, and glared at Danzaburo.
"Nice shot," Yang Chao complemented, though neither shapeshifter was sure as to whether or not he was being serious.
The fighting continued when Danza charged forwards, intent on ending the fight. Yang Chao steadied himself, remaining in position. When the tanuki's katana came too close he pivoted on his feet, letting the blade sink into a crate that was behind him. He then kicked Danzaburo.
If the blow had landed properly the tanuki would have died, however the Japanese spy had managed to avoid a full connection, receiving only a glancing blow. One that sent him flying into another pile of crates. Saras winced, knowing full well that the blow had hurt a lot.
Yang Chao waited for Danza to get back to his feet. He tapped his foot against the ground. "I'm waiting," he drawled, sounding incredibly annoyed that the shapeshifter was taking this long to get back to his feet. Suddenly the room filled with smoke, and the hare hastily pulled the katana out of the crate.
Then Tin Zu's head popped out of the pile of crates Danzaburo had disappeared behind, holding the form of Danzaburo by the tail. The smoke vanished instantly, and he held him by the tail. The raccoon's limp form showed no signs of life.
If Saras could scream, he would have, but the tar prevented him from doing so.
"Sir are you okay ? This little guy was doing all sorts of creepy shit with some leaves. I barely saw anything."
"I'm fine Tin Zu. What did you do to him ?"
The gorilla's face spread into a grin. "Snapped his neck, the lil' guy never saw it coming."
"Huh ? And I suppose you want to do the same with the fox ?"
"He's wronged me more than you boss".
"Very well, get it over with." The hare waved it away, as if it was nothing.
Tin Zu picked up Saras, and plunged his fat fingers down the fox's eyes. If he could scream, he would have. Blood spurted as the kit struggled hopelessly. Then with a final cruel squirt the kit stopped squirming and fell limp.
"Huh, how very anticlimactic. I expected some big ass fight scene."
"Should I get rid of these sir ?" The gorilla asked.
"No, leave them hanging in my room so I can jerk off over them", Yang Chao replied sarcastically, somewhat pissed that he had been robbed of an epic battle.
Tin Zu blinked dumbly, as if he hadn't understood what his boss had meant.
"Of course you get rid of them !" Yang Chao replied, almost ready to snap.
The gorilla nodded and walked off.
"Waaaaait a minute !" The hare began laughing, maniacally. "Nice try, but Tin Zu doesn't call me 'sir', the title he uses for me is 'boss'. And Tin Zu already mentioned dealing with a shapeshifter. I've seen the kit fight, the amount of damage he caused, well he didn't cause it did he ? Trash panda !" Yang Chao charged again.
Tin Zu who was actually Danzaburo, threw aside Saras, who was indeed still alive, with eyes that still worked and weren't filled with blood or gorilla finger, and threw the limp form of Danzaburo at Yang Chao, it became a kunai mid-air and sped towards the hare, before assuming his normal form.
Saras landed on his tail, relatively unhurt but still exhausted from Yang Chao's dual use of the Death Touch. Yang Chao deflected the kunai mid air and continued charging. Danzaburo himself got ready. He had wasted a lot of energy creating the whole Tin Zu illusion. I need to get used to doing that. Then there had been the problem of keeping Saras' mouth shut, he had sorted that with the accurately shot tar bomb, then there was the blood, that had been simple, it was a child's trick. And he had almost gotten away with it, he had made only one mistake. Yang Chao was clearly smarter than he had thought. He prepped himself for the coming hare.
Yang Chao leapt up suddenly and spun mid air to avoid two more shuriken, before coming down foot first. Danzaburo managed to move out of the way in the last minute, but it had been a near miss. Neither however so much as paused. Yang Chao swung, Danza ducked, again there had been an inch between his head and the fist. The swing had been powerful as it smashed a barrel, which exploded into splinters of wood and gallons of vodka. Yang Chao spun around and caught Danza on the chest with a backhand. Slightly winded he got no respite as Yang Chao punched again, smashing another barrel of vodka. Danzaburo kicked the hare in the knee, in an attempt to put some distance between him and the hare, before throwing two more leaves at Yang Chao. He caught them both mid air, only for a small cloud of smoke to erupt from his paw, evidently he had caught two smoke bombs. Hissing slightly from the stinging feeling the minute explosion had left Yang Chao picked up a crate, as if it weighed nothing, which was impressive considering it was bigger than him. Lifting it above his head he glared at Danza.
"You've had your fun raccoon. But play time's over !" He threw it straight at Danza.
The tanuki decided not to waste energy replying and merely braced himself for the coming assault. The crate flew right past him as the tanuki became a puff of smoke. The vodka and the wood exploded together, showering splinters across the room.
Yang Chao looked seriously annoyed at this point. He saw Danza out of the corner of his eye, and rushed in with a punch that would have smashed through the tanuki's skull. If it had not been an illusion.
"Very disappointing. I thought you were clever", the tanuki mocked, standing across the hare, next to an equally bewildered Saras.
"Another illusion are we"? Yang Chao approached slowly. "It would be nice to have someone almost as good as me. How would you like to switch sides ?"
"An interesting offer", Danzaburo replied, not showing any emotion. "What's in it for me ?"
Yang Chao seemed to relax a bit. "Your life for one. And we can sort something out for you. But what do you want is a better question."
"I think I'll stay where I am thank you."
Yang Chao shrugged. "Your funeral."Yang Chao charged forwards again. Danzaburo braced himself again. Yang Chao grabbed a sharp piece of splintered wood. Danzaburo threw two more leaves.
Then Yang Chao changed tactics, instead of decapitating the tanuki, he swung for Saras. The sharp stick impaled the fox kit, who would have screamed if he could find his voice. Blood rushed out from the wound and poured onto the wooden splinter.
The hare smirked as he turned to look at Danzaburo. "That wasn't an illusion, was it ?"
The tanuki's fist came out of nowhere, and connected with the hare's chin, sending him reeling. Yang Chao stood up and withdrew the splintered wood from the kit's gut.
Then 'Saras' became a puff of smoke. Danzaburo was now the one wearing the smirk. "Actually, that was the illusion !"
Yang Chao got back to his feet and with a speed he had not displayed before, punched Danzaburo right across the face. He heard the snap of a neck as Danzaburo's head twisted at an impossible angle.
The hare spat on the ground. It didn't take a genius to figure out that it was just another illusion. For some reason he felt ripped off. Sure he had gotten the vodka, which meant that Tin Zu was no longer indebted to him. But he still felt like fate had cheated him. He had been incredibly close to catching not one but two shapeshifters working for someone he really needed to have a conversation with. Yang Chao sighed. Then he felt a migraine incoming and braced himself for more pain than either fight that night had brought him.