Chapter 4: You don't need a reason

The next night, Legosi went to work, same as always. He really wasn't eager to see his new co-worker or Gohin for that matter. He knew why all this was happening and admitted that it was a good idea, but that didn't stop him from having mixed feelings about it. Still, he knew going in with that attitude wouldn't help and did his to perk up.

He arrived at work and headed over to Gohin's office. He knocked on the door and entered the office after the panda told him to come in.

"Good evening sir," Legosi said in a deadpan voice.

"Heh, well good evening to you too sunshine," Gohin said with a smirk. "Are you that eager to work with your new partner?"

"Yea, I guess I… wait what?" the wolf said in disbelief as his eyes became as wide as dinner plates.

"Oh, didn't I tell you? Agata is gonna be your new partner. Figured it would be good for you to have some back up and it would be a great way to break him in," the panda said with a smirk, feeling proud for causing his assistant to lose all color from his face.

"You… you can't be serious," Legosi said with a strained voice, doing his best to hold his composure.

"Of course I am, it only makes sense after all. You have been at this for over a year, which means you have the experience to teach him how we do things. What's more, he knows almost everything about the black market, so he'll be able to help you find the more difficult to find clients. Really, no matter how you look at it, it was the best decision," Gohin explained.

Legosi clenched his fist, something Gohin noticed.

"What's wrong pup? Scared that someone else might take your job?" the larger animal said with a grin, clearly egging the wolf on.

"N-No… I-"

"Or is it the fact that you don't want to work with a shishingumi?" Gohin said as he started to get in Legosi's face. "Maybe that's for the best that I get a shishingumi to replace you. After all, they took a lot from you, so you clearly aren't tough enough to go against them without some backup."

The wolf's anger was rising more with each word. He hated those lions with a passion and he hated Gohin for hiring one.

"What's wrong, huh? You just gonna keep standing there or are you gonna do something about it? Oh wait, you can't! No matter what those lions do or what they take, you just back down like the scared little puppy that you are. You aren't a carnivore, you're just prey that needs the help of a giant panda just to get by Day. By. Day."

WHACK

At that moment, everything went silent. It took him a moment to gather himself and when he did, realized that he just punched Gohin. He looked down at the now floored panda in complete shock about what he'd just done. He was going to help him up, but stopped when Gohin started laughing.

"There you are," the panda said as he stood up. "Come with me, we're going to the sparring room."

Legosi, understanding what this meant, let go of his worry before putting on a serious face.


The two made their way to the sparring room, which was more like a personal gym with a ring in the center. It's what Gohin used to both train Legosi and to stay in shape. It had several exercise equipment, several weights, and practice dummies.

Legosi took his shirt off, put on a pair of boxing gloves, and entered the ring after putting in his mouth guard. Gohin did the same before entering the otherside of the ring and ringing the bell.

"Come on pup, show me what's learned," Gohin said with a sadistic smirk.

Legosi didn't waste any time getting within striking range of the panda. Where he was once hesitant, he was now confident and focused. He started with a quick one-two combo, which consisted of a right jab and left cross, both of which Gohin blocked. Legosi followed that up with an uppercut to the stomach, which broke through his master's defense.

Gohin winced from the blow, but didn't take a single step back. He countered with a right hook, which Legosi ducted under with ease. The panda then came down with a quick over head blow with his left and body blow with his right.

Legosi stepped to the side and evaded both of these attacks. His master then came at him with a furry of fast punches which he either blocked or dodged.

Ordinarily, Legosi would have been hit by now, but he was so pissed about everything that all his inabilities were gone. All that was left was an angry wolf who was solely focused on putting his opponent down, allowing him to fully utilize his younger and more agile body.

After blocking another right cross, Legosi hit Gohin straight in the jaw with a powerful right hook. This caused the panda to take a step, giving him the opening he needed. Legosi got in close and started beating on his mentor with ferocious and anger-filled fists. Three punches to the face, five to the stomach, four to the ribs, and one to the nose.

After finishing his combo, Legosi jumped back before staring at Gohin who was still standing. The panda now had a bloody nose and several bruises all over his upper body. Legosi was about to take another swing when Gohin started laughing.

"Hehe-HAHAHAHA! Never thought I'd see this side of you," The larger animal said with a big toothy grin. "For a second there, I thought you were turning back into that emotionless husk of a wolf I found in that alley. Still, you're lacking in power. Maybe I should bring in that lion and see what he can do."

Legosi's eyes turned red, something Gohin had never seen outside of instinct fueled transformation.

"Shut up-"

"What was that?" Gohin said as he brought his glove to his ear. "You're gonna have to speak up pup, can't you be more like a lion and roar?"

"I said… SHUT UP!" Legosi yelled before charging at the panda and punching him so hard that it knocked him into the corner.

Legosi began to whale on his boss again. This time he refused to hold anything back as he spoke with venom in his voice.

"I am not a pup!" Whack "I am not a lion!" Bang "And I don't fucking roar" Crash "I HOWL!" BAM

It was over. With that last straight punch to the face, Legosi hit Gohin hard enough to knock the panda's mouth guard out of his mouth and send him crashing to the arena floor. The wolf looked down at his defeated opponent before signaling his victory.

"AWWWRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"


An hour later, Legosi was in one of the medical rooms treating a now conscious Gohin's wounds.

"Damn, you really let me have it," the panda said as he took a puff from his cigar.

"I'm sorry," Legosi said sadly as his ears folded back. "I don't know what came over me."

"What are you apologizing for?" Gohin asked with a raised brow. "That was the whole point of the spare you idiot. I could tell something was bothering you, so what better way to let it out than in the ring?"

"You mean, you egged me on just so I would punch you? What would you do that?" the wolf asked in a confused and worried tone.

"Why not?" the larger animal responded. "Listen Legosi, I've told you this before, but you don't need a reason to do things. I'm a jerk because I want to be. I egged you on into hitting me because I wanted you to get your frustrations out. I do what I want with or without reason and you should too."

"You don't need a reason to help people, you don't need a reason to be polite, and you sure as hell don't need a reason to let out your anger other than you want to. You should do what you feel or think is right and consequences be damned. So if you ever want or feel like clocking me in the jaw for being the bastard that I am, go for it. Though, I can't promise it will end well for you, HAHAHAHAHAH!"

"But, what if I get in trouble or cause trouble for others?" Legosi asked, feeling a little better about things.

"Screw that and screw them!" Gohin answered. "Listen, no matter what you do, there will always be animals who think ill of you just for existing. You should never limit yourself or your emotions just because of a few shit heads. What you do with your life is your choice, not theirs."

Legosi looked to the side before looking back to his boss, his ears upright and his tail wagging.

"Thank you, Gohin sir. Anyway, here's your shirt."

"Keep it, It's too fucking hot today," the panda said as he pushed the piece of clothing away. "Now come on, we have work to do and I need a beer."

"Is it really ok for you to drink on the job or walk around your office shirtless?" Legosi asked with a small laugh.

"What I just say? I do this because it's my choice," Gohin laughed. "Besides, this is my office and there's no one here yet, something YOU should fix Asap."

As the larger animal was leaving the room, he turned back to his assistant.

"What about you? You gonna put your shirt on or have a beer?" he asked.

"I think I'm gonna keep my shirt off too and no, I don't drink," Legosi said with a smile. "And that's MY choice.

"Heh, now you're getting it," Gohin said with a toothy grin.


As the two made their way back to the office, someone knocked on the door. Legosi opened it to find Agata standing on the other side of it.

"Hey Legosi!" the black lion said with a big grin. "I'm here to work."

"About time you got here," Gohin said as he crossed his arms. "Legosi was just about to head out. You're gonna follow him everywhere he goes and you are to listen to everything he says. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal sir." Agata said with a salute. "By the way, why are you both half naked?"

"Cause it's too freaken hot today and the AC is busted!" Gohin answered with a small growl. "Any more shit-head questions you wanna waste my time with or are you gonna head out?"

"I'll uh… I'll head out now," Agata said, clearly intimidated by the giant panda.

"Good," Gohin said before turning to Legosi. "He's your problem now, so get going!"

"Right, but first-"

Legos gave Gohin a good punch to the stomach. It wasn't hard enough to make him stumble over or anything, but there was definitely some force behind it.

"Do what I feel is right, right?" Legosi said with a smile.

The panda grinned before bashing legosi over the head.

"Exactly."

"Should have seen that coming," Legosi said as he rubbed the new bump he got.

"What was that about?" Agata asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Something you'll have to get used to," Legosi answered with an awkward smile as he walked past his new partner.


The two carnivores made their way to the rooftops, where Legosi was finally able to relax. He sat down at the edge of the rooftop, one leg hanging over the edge and the other folded so he could rest his arm on his knee. He was in such a good mood that he didn't care that Agata sat down next to him.

The two stayed in a comfortable silence for a while until Agata decided to start a conversation.

"So Legosi, what is it that we actually do?" the black lion asked. "I know that we find clients for Gohin, but how do we know who to bring? I remember he said that we don't bring every carnivore who eats at the black market to him. Rather, we bring him the special cases, but he didn't tell me what makes them special."

"Well, basically we look for carnivores who are either on the verge of going feral or have gone feral," the wolf answered.

"What do you mean feral?" Agata asked as he tilted his head.

"You know about meat high, right?" Legosi asked.

"Yea, that's when a carnivore goes crazy because they've eaten too much meat in a short amount of time. It usually happens to carnivores who go to the black market everyday or carnivores who've eaten meat for the first time," the lion answered.

"Exactly, and those are the carnivores we look for and bring to Gohin," the large canine answered. "They are a danger to themselves and more importantly, to others. As such, we need to bring them to gohin by any means necessary, even though violence."

"Wow, so is that why you're so jacked?" Agata asked. "Because you fight all those crazed carnivores on a daily basis?"

"That's part of it, but it's mostly thanks to Gohin's training. He had me do weight lifting, physical labor, martial arts training, and more. It was practically torture, but if it wasn't for the harsh training, I would have died a long time ago. Even now, there are some animals that come close to killing me because of their natural traits, strength, or muscle mass, which is increased while they're high," Legosi explained.

"Ok, well then I think I know where we can start looking," Agata said thoughtfully as he brought a hand to his chin.

"Wait really?!" Legosi barked in surprise, his eyes as wide as dinner plates.

"Yea, there's an abandoned building down that alleyway where a lot of the younger carnivores hang out. All of them eat meat from the black market, but there are only a few who come everyday. I'm sure most of them are just troubled kids who don't want to go home. Pretty sure that's the perfect group to start with," Agata explained.

"That… that's it!" the gray wolf said as he suddenly stood up.

"What's it?" the black lion asked.

"Gohin told me about a bunch of high and middle school students hanging around the black market. I've been trying to get them out of the market for a while, but I couldn't find them anywhere. If that's them, then they might still have a chance to leave the black market once and for all. Not to mention get them off the radar of the local gangs. Come on, we're going there right now!" Legosi said with a determined look in his eyes.

"You got it boss!" Agata said with a big grin.

Legosi headed off at full speed. This was his chance to start putting an end to the black market once and for all.