I'm back in school now, which unfortunately means that my updates are going to be much less frequent, especially with me still updating my other story. The good news is that I'm getting pretty close to finishing this. There should only be a few more chapters after this one.

By the way, Chengshi de Lang means "city of the wolves".

Chapter 13: Chengshi de Lang

"That's his plan? Turn Gongmen into a wolf city? He's insane." Ox lifted himself off of the wall as he and Croc finished listening to Hui's speech.

"What was your first clue?" Croc asked, shaking his head. "By the sounds of things, he's planning to bring a whole bunch of other wolf packs into the city and merge them together into one happy society. I'm no wolf expert, but even I know that would never work."

"Yeah, he'd sooner destroy the whole city then..." Ox paused and his eyes widened. "The Soothsayer's vision! That's exactly what's going to happen if we don't do something!" He thrashed back and forth and screamed in rage, but the chains remained just as tight as ever. "DAMNIT! If only we could get out of here!"

There was a small clatter as an object hit the floor in front of them. "That's the key ring!" Croc gasped. They looked up at the door to their cell, hoping to catch a glimpse of their rescuer, but there was no one there.

Ox glared at the keys lying on the floor a few feet in front of them. "Seems they forgot we lack arms. If someone was going to rescue us, you'd think they would take the extra step and actually, you know, rescue us."

"Calm down, I think I can get them." Croc awkwardly shuffled close to the keys and grabbed at them with his foot. "Urrgh...why did the gods have to give us reptiles such scrawny legs?" He finally managed to grasp the ring between his toes and tossed it up to into his claws. After a few moments of trying every key in the lock on his arm, he got one that fit and undid it. He quickly removed the rest of the locks and chains covering him, then did the same for Ox.

The bovine stood up and stretched out. "Ahhhhh, that's better. Now let's get going."

They snuck over to the door just in case there were still guards outside, but they found the two wolves guarding them knocked out on the floor. They weren't about to count their blessings just yet and scowered the building for their confiscated weapons. But the Lang Qun were either very confident they couldn't escape or they were too busy trying to run their new city, because they didn't find a single other guard around.

Ox and Croc walked out of the building, now wielding their dual axes and tri bo yao again, as well as Croc's spiked tail-ball. Ox brandished the axes in front of him. "Alright, let's take back our city."

The Soothsayer wasn't too surprised when a pair of Lang Qun came into her room and "escorted" her to the central chamber of the academy. There must have been a reason why she was the only non-wolf not being kicked out of the city, and she had a pretty good idea what that reason was. Her suspicions were confirmed as she saw her seeing tools in the middle of the floor, along with a smiling Kai Hui. The Alpha wolf took a sip from a cup of tea as his guards left them alone. "Good morning, Soothsayer. I hope my boys weren't too rough with you."

She sighed. "I'm being forced to divine for another tyrant, I see."

"I am no tyrant. I am a savior."

"And one just as deluded..."

He frowned slightly. "Think what you will. Now, kindly see into my future for me." He held out a patch of gray fur. "This should suffice, yes?"

She sighed again. "Yes. Throw them in." She was getting really sick of doing this lately.

He tossed in his fur, the Soothsayer threw in her powder, and the divining ritual began. She was expecting to see the image of Gongmen City going up in flames again, though she doubted that would change Hui's mind at all, but she instead got an image of the wolf himself, standing proudly much like he was right now. Hui stared at his own image curiously as it zoomed in and went black. Out of the blackness, he saw his own icy blue eyes open up, but something about them seemed...different somehow. He couldn't quite put a finger on it. He took another sip of his tea. "Not what I was expecting, but interesting nonetheless. What does it mean?"

"I foresee, that in the near future, you are going to become one with your inner self." After she was done speaking, the smoke dissipated and the room cleared again.

"...Wait, that was it?"

"That was it."

Hui shook his head in frustration. "Unacceptable. We're doing it again."

"A pointless effort. You will only get the same result."

The wolf glared at her, his paws starting to shake, and the tea along with it."I am trying to build the first lupine city, reinvent my entire species, and you're telling me that the only thing you can see in my future is me finding my center?!"

"Yes."

Hui slammed a foot down into the middle of her fortune-telling bowl, destroying it. "And I just got a new one," she said sadly.

"I can see why Shen got rid of you." he said coldly. "You're useless. Get out of my city!" The Soothsayer bowed politely and exited the building.

Hui huffed and went to sip from his tea again. But his paw was still shaking uncontrollably, spilling the drink as he tried to bring it to his lips. "Blasted thing!" He whipped the teacup into the wall and sat down in mediation once again. As he tried to gently breathe in and out, his breath kept catching and various parts of his body continued to shake. Giving up on that idea too, he got back up and started pacing around the room, repeatedly telling himself that everything would be fine.

So what if he couldn't see his future? He was just going to have to make it.

Ox and Croc stayed in the shadows as they ducked from alleyway to alleyway, trying to avoid the gaze of the Lang Qun occupying Gongmen City, or "Chengshi de Lang" as it was now called. The task was easier than they expected as the wolves were busy escorting flocks of citizens out of the city. The former royal guard was helping with this as well, probably finding it easier than trying to resist. As much as the masters tried to stay focused on their goal, it was hard to ignore the sorrowful expressions on all their faces.

"That monster," Ox growled. "Some of these people didn't even have homes inside the city and now he's kicking them out."

"Maybe they'll find another place to move into," Croc suggested optimistically, but it was clear he didn't really believe that. It was a long walk to the next nearest town and most of them weren't too open about taking in large groups of people.

"Let's just keep moving," Ox said. "The sooner we take back the city, the sooner we can save those people."

They did just that, continuing to evade the guards while forcing themselves to ignore the plight of their citizens. Eventually, they found themselves looking at their former home in the kung fu academy, now serving as the Lang Qun stronghold. Just from their spot in an alleyway, they saw a long row of wolf archers standing on the outer wall of the building, and they caught a few glimpses of the ones on the ground as they passed by. There were a lot.

"Great, now he's getting paranoid," Ox said, shaking his head. "There's no way we're sneaking in there. We have no choice but to fight them head on."

"There has to be at least thirty of them there," Croc said, biting his lip. "That's the most we've ever had to face."

"You're not chickening out now, are you?" Ox asked teasingly.

"Of course not. Let's go get em'."

The archers on the wall walked back and forth, patrolling mindlessly and occasionally looking out over the side. One guard paused in his work as he saw something odd out of the corner of his vision. He lifted a telescope to his eye and scanned the rooftops until he saw the object again. It appeared to be a large barrel...flying right at his face. He barely had time to yelp before the barrel hit him head on and knocked him off the wall. The other guards went on alert and looked around frantically, but this didn't keep two more from being knocked over by a large crate.

"Over there!" an archer shouted, pointing his bow at a green form on the rooftops. That something "over there" soon became "right here" as Croc leapt onto the wall and closed his wide mouth around the wolf's torso before he could fire. His armor kept him safe from Croc's predatory teeth as the reptile spun around and blocked a few arrows with his hide, then flung him into his companions. The last remaining archer aimed his bow at Croc from behind, but was stopped when Ox dropped down on him from above. By now, the guards below were well-alerted and rushing up to corner them on the wall. Just as they started to get close, the duo jumped down, landing on two more wolves and brandishing their weapons.

Ox quickly attacked a pair of wolves with his axes, driving their swords back and then downing them with a kick and a headbutt respectively. As two wolves came from each side, Ox tossed the axes up into the air, grabbed the wolves by the backs of their heads, slammed their faces together hard enough to shatter their masks, and tossed them to the ground as he caught the axes again. This was an even more aggressive style than he was used to, but fast and aggressive was what they needed to have any chance of pulling this off. In a prolonged fight, they would have no chance.

Croc was having a slightly easier time with his tri bo yao. The three-part staff was known for being a confusing and unpredictable weapon and he was using that to his advantage against the Lang Qun, who had clearly not been trained to counter it. The two maces attached to each end of the staff, and the one on Croc's tail, struck out at the wolves around him, taking out several. The remaining few banded together and rushed him at once, only to be run down by a rickshaw Ox had kicked at them. "Let's go!" he shouted, rushing forward.

Ox and Croc made a beeline for the alleyway that led to the upper entrance of the academy, running on what could best be called "suicidal determination". Soon, the wooden double-doors were mere feet in front of them.

"Yes! We made it!"

Four wolves dropped down in front of them, blocking the door. They turned to go back and saw five more in the way. They couldn't even escape upwards as the wolves formed a perimeter around the rooftops. Despite their best efforts, they were surrounded.

Croc looked up at them, not as surprised as he felt he should've been. "...To be frank, this is still a lot better than I thought we'd do."

"Hey, Croc?" Ox smiled at his companion. "It's been great having you as a partner."

He smiled back. "Yeah. We had some good times."

They readied their weapons again as the wolves closed in. They couldn't hope to beat them all, but they could at least go down fighting.

A loud whistle rang out and the Lang Qun stopped in their tracks. Ox and Croc looked around, waiting for Kai Hui to walk out of the shadows.

It was an entirely different wolf who walked out instead. "Hey, aren't you Chou's friend?" Ox asked.

"Lu," the wolf introduced himself. "Nice to formally meet you guys."

Lu whistled again and the Lang Qun stood up straight, as motionless as statues. Croc gaped. "You mean these guys will listen to anyone?!"

"If they know the right commands, yes," Lu nodded. "I've been watching Hui closely for years. Enough to study the techniques he uses down to the letter. Of course, I didn't dare use them before there was a real chance of stopping him." The masters were stunned. If they needed further proof that Hui was a false Alpha, they had it right here. They weren't bound to him, just his ingrained commands.

"Don't worry, that chance has come," Ox said. "We're going to avenge your friend, Lu."

"He wasn't just my friend." Lu reached up and pulled the mask from his face, revealing a familiar pair of light green eyes. "He was my brother. And I know that you'll avenge him."

Lu turned around and walked away, followed by the other wolves. "I'll try to slow down the rest of the Lang Qun. You guys get in there and kick Hui's ass."

"Heh heh, they really are brothers," Croc chuckled as they watched him leave. "So...are you ready?"

"Like you even have to ask."

They turned around and faced the large double-doors. This was it. They were going to defeat Kai Hui or die trying.

Giving one last nod to each other, they kicked down the doors.