Crisp and the Green Shoes

Story by GrifterWolf on SoFurry

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#30 of Commissions

Commission for FriskeCrisps on FA

Art for Thumnail provided with permission: http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/fss.....cing+boner.png

Inspired by a Warner Bros. Cartoon

Crisp gets caught up in a massive storm and finds himself at a strange castle supposedly owned by leprechauns; ignoring the warnings, he seeks shelter in the castle and is made subject of several pranks before being tried for stealing the leprechauns' gold and forced to wear a pair of magical green shoes that make him dance for his judges.


"Crisp and the Green Shoes"

BOOM! The thunder was so strong that it shook the ground and made Crisp shriek and jump in the air. His fur was already standing on end as he continued down the long country road. It had started out being such a nice walk that he'd lost track of the time, he lost track of where he was going, and all of a sudden the threat of impending storm clouds were encroaching in on him, blanketing the day lit sky with a sudden shadowy darkness and a cool breeze that hadn't been with him when he started.

The wolf looked back over his shoulder, pulling back his hood a bit to observe the distance he'd traveled. He could have sworn that this road turned at some point and brought him around the mountain pass back to his house, but he had yet to see it. He was exhausted, he was sweating and--

A sudden flood opened up in the skies overhead and brought rain pouring heavily down on him. Drenched, Crisp pulled his hood back up, finding that the fabric was useless from the rain pouring down on him and he immediately began to feel cold.

"Oh no! My new shoes!" He exclaimed, looking down at the red and white sneakers on his feet. He began to run now, immediately cooled from the sweat of his walking he now needed to find some place, a shelter of some kind, and with the rain coming in, the sound of thunder, and the illumination of lightning filling the sky only made the downpour that much more dangerous.

He ran along the solid road, hearing his feet splash into the accumulating water, feeling it pour down his face from on top of his hoodie. The water was beginning to penetrate the fur on his thighs as he ran, looking desperately for more shelter. After a while of running he slowed down to catch his breath, doubling over and placing his hands on his knees to do so. Suddenly, a flooding of lights came upon him and he looked up to see a truck flying blindly through the rain and Crisp dove out of the way. He tried to catch himself at the shoulder of the road, but the mud proved to be too slippery for his feet. He teetered forward and then fell down the slick bank, rolling over and over again as he descended quickly into the forest. He reached the ground in a hurry and bounced high into the air before rolling several more feet and coming to a stop at the base of a tree.

"Nngh...Ahh!" He let out his shock in a sudden scream. "What else could go wrong here!?" He exclaimed as he flicked his wrists, knocking away some of the mud that had accumulated on his clothes. "I'm soaked to the bone, covered in mud and I'm miles from home, what am I going to do now?" He looked up and saw a sign, standing up and wiping the grime from it he read the green letters aloud. "No Trespassers; Leprechaun Castle" He looked up from the sign and where the fork divided the path he followed up a steep slope toward a dark and imposing castle that rested high above the land. "Oh, hogwash. There's no such things as leprechauns." A flash of lightning illuminated the dark castle with an ominous glow, he swallowed nervously as the light faded away. "B-but... I guess that's shelter, and I could probably get cleaned up there."

Getting back to his feet he rested his hand on the sign, which swung in the breeze, almost hitting him in the face. He caught it and read it again. "Leprechauns, pahh!" He scoffed as he started up the hill toward the road.

The climb up was fairly long, the road twisted around and around the hill, as he approached, the road suddenly ended and he found himself bumping into a strange invisible wall, again he saw a sign hanging from it. "KEEP OUT! LEPRECHAUN CASTLE!" the print was in bold green and glowed as he reached up to touch it. As he grabbed it, it plucked easily from the barrier which quickly vanished and revealed the road continuing on the other side right to the castle's great door. The sign had disappeared as well and he had to breathe in deeply to garner the courage to move on.

The door was a heavy oak, accentuated by a solid stone staircase that led up to that from the drive. As he approached it, he noticed a massive knocker in the shape of an upside down shamrock. Nervously he picked up the knocker and brought it down with a heavy crack that echoed throughout the interior of the house. He picked the knocker up again and brought it down three more times.

"Hello?!" He called out after a few minutes with still no answer. Another flash of lightning illuminated his shadow on the door and made him jump. He shivered, the rain had found its way under his shelter and he was getting chilled again. "I... I guess nobody's home." He said as he tested the door knob, which turned and clicked open. The door opened with a loud echoing creak that only stopped as it reached the end of its swing. It had made his skin crawl but he quickly slipped inside to escape the storm outside. He closed the door and breathed a sigh of relief, even when looking up at the wrought iron chandelier which swung precariously on the top of the room. "I... guess I could just be quick to get cleaned up some and be on my way... I can pay them if they need." He reasoned aloud before realizing he was talking to himself.

His feet squished about in the pools within his sneakers, noticing a fireplace in the front room. "Ah, perfect." He said as he strode over to it and began to examine the opening for a means to light a small fire, dry wood was located in a small pile next to the fireplace and he quickly tossed it in with some tinder to get it going. Finding a book of matches on the mantle he lit the tinder and soon the light and heat radiated from the spot. He pulled his leg up and stood on one foot as he pried the red sneaker from his left foot, then he did the same with his right, almost falling over as he did it. He placed them down on the floor beside the fire and then pulled his hoodie up over his head and off. As he placed it onto the ground he looked around cautiously to make sure that no one had walked in on him and he removed his pants. His red briefs clung wetly to his butt and his bulge pressed against the front of it; he wouldn't get completely naked now, in case he found some child wandering the hall, but he'd definitely have to wring it out in the bathroom, assuming he ever found one. He took a candle from the mantle and lit it by the firelight before turning and starting out of the room. He found a staircase that spiraled upward and slowly began to climb it, still shivering slightly from the chill he knew he had better find a warm shower to warm up and to remove the mud caking into his fur. Reaching the top of the staircase he looked down the long hallway, at the end of which an open window caused its red drapes to float endlessly on the breeze coming in, and as he made his way down toward it, checking the rooms he grew chillier and chillier with each step.

He finally found the bathroom on his fourth attempt and stepped in onto the tile floor and turned on the light. "WHAT THE?!" He shrieked at the mirror where he thought he saw something reflected in the tub, but when he looked at the tub he saw nothing, only the clawed feet of the bath that had a green, clear shower curtain that clung to it. The folks that lived here were really intent on keeping the whole leprechaun thing believable, weren't they? He turned on the tub and realized it didn't have a shower, it was just a bath tub. Turning the hot water on, he glanced around nervously before pulling his underwear off and stepping out of them. Discarding them onto the floor, he climbed into the tub and was suddenly overcome with a heavy relaxation. He groaned aloud as he laid back and let the water envelop him.

"Tap, tap, tap"

The sound roused Crisp from an unexpected sleep. The bathroom had gotten heavily fogged with the mist from the hot water, but it had grown cooler and was now murky with the mud he had shed off into it. "Tap, tap." There was that sound again. As the wolf sat up, he heard the sound of feet scampering across the floor and looked out into the bathroom, but he didn't see anyone out there. "H-Hello?" He asked. "I-I'm sorry, I came in from the cold and the door was open. I'll be glad to pay you back for your hospitality! Please come out."

There was no answer and Crisp looked down to see that his underwear had vanished from the spot beside the tub. Looking around he became puzzled, where could they have gone? He slipped from the bath and returned to the cool tile floor. It was only then he discovered there were no towels on the hooks, but he could have sworn they were there when he came in. Perplexed, he spotted a small washcloth on top of the medicine cabinet and placed it as best as he can over his cock and balls to conceal them as best as he could.

"Tap! Tap! Tap!" The strange noise was coming from downstairs, Crisp noticed this as he poked his head out of the bathroom and glanced around. "Hello?" He asked again, but again got no answer.

The sound of tapping grew louder as Crisp found the stairs again and started to make his way down them. He reached the bottom of the stairs and moved on into the living room, still illuminated by the firelight that hadn't really gone down at all in his time in the bathroom. That was when he stopped and let out an almost inaudible squeak of disbelief:

His red shoes had somehow come alive! Gaping his mouth wide open, he watched them as they walked this way and that, from the left to the right. It took a moment to stop and with a determined kicking motion, he kicked Crisp's shorts into the fire, causing it to go up in a sudden burst of flame. "Oh, no!" He shrieked as he dove for the fireplace. His shoes struck the ground hard, making the tapping noise he'd heard from upstairs before suddenly leaping up into the air, slipping just past the wolf's grasp as he came crashing to an abrupt stop next to the fireplace. "No, no, no! Now what am I going to do?" He exclaimed. "You... you stupid shoes! What have you done?" He shouted before groaning. "I'm yelling at my shoes! What is wrong with me?" He looked at them again as they began to tap, back and forth, back and forth, he was overcome with amusement. "Hey, that's--that's pretty good." He admitted. "How the heck are you doing that?"

He reached for the shoes, but they evaded his grasp again and jumped into the air. "Hey! Wait! Where are you going?" He shouted as he went running after them into the adjoining room, his bare feet slapping on the floor as he chased after them. He grabbed his hoodie, which was mostly dry and pulled it on, tugging it down to try and hide his flopping member as he ran through the house. The shoes escaped into the kitchen, and Crisp skidded in after them. Chasing the shoes around the table, then rolling over a kitchen counter he growled and shouted at them suddenly "STOP!"

Immediately, the shoes held themselves still. They only vaguely rocked back and forth as their owner approached them and grabbed them. Crisp had had enough of these two, and without mercy stuck his foot into each of their mouths, shoving them onto his feet. The shoes rocked under his feet as he stood properly onto them again. "Now that's enough!" He exclaimed. "You work for me, you guys. Now behave yourselves!"

Again, the shoes became still and seemed to return to normal. Looking up from them, Crisp nodded. "That's better." He started to take a step, but realized that his foot wasn't going anywhere. "WHA-!?" He fell forward hard, collapsing onto the floor of the kitchen, which briefly knocked the wind out of him. Looking down, he watched his shoes untie their laces that they had tied together and they yanked themselves free of his feet. Running over the wolf's bare butt, then his hoodie and diving off his head they ran off toward the hall. Briefly, he could see another pair of feet running from the room and disappearing into the hallway. "Hey! Hey! Wait!" He shouted as he stumbled to his feet and ran after his shoes that were quickly sounding a loud getaway. But as soon as he reached the doorway the sounds had disappeared, and he found himself again standing alone in the dark corridor. Another flash of lightning outside made him jump.

Giggling in glee, a short, red fox ran down the stairs toward the cellar. He was short and slightly fat. A thick red beard descended from his muzzle and was clasped near the end by a gold ring that held it taut. He stopped as he spotted two more of his brothers conversing at the bottom of the stairs.

"Patrick!" The older one, a badger acknowledged his arrival, letting an ivory covered pipe fall from his lips, a ring of smoke escaping his nostrils. Seamus tugged down on his green buckled hat and hopped off the box he had been sitting on. His fur was tied back into a ponytail and was silver in color. "How goes it with our invader upstairs, lad?" He asked.

"Ach, brilliant!" Patrick chuckled as the red shoes that had belonged to Crisp hopped up and rested on each of his shoulders. "Th' poor boy's probably terrified by now."

"Suits him fer wanting to break in here and steal our gold." Seamus chuckled.

Colin was the third member of the party, the feline's blond mane of hair was almost completely tucked under his hat, he was also the slimmer built of the three of them, smoking a darker wooden pipe he opened his mouth and emitted a shamrock shape from his lips. "So he's plannin' on stealin' our gold is it?" He asked.

"I don't know. I'm not sure why he's here, but he's a lot of fun!"

"You're lettin' your balls control your brains, lad." Seamus tapped his pipe on Patrick's head hard. "'course he's here to steal our gold, why would any man or beast want to break in here?"

"Well, he said he wanted ta pay for his room. So I assumed--"

"Tut, tut. Don't assume nothin'. These animal men are no different than the humans who used to break in. Gold on their minds, greed on their breath. Ya be sure ta end up broke trustin' these folks." He stuck his pipe back into his mouth and bit down on it. "Fer sure, he be in here to rob us blind! And there be a fittin' punishment for that trespass." He chuckled a bit. Making a large walking cane appear in his hand, Seamus tapped it firmly on the ground, creating a portal of light just above his head which he was promptly sucked up into and he vanished. Patrick and Colin stared up after him. "Well c'mon then!" The leprechaun's hand reached from the portal and grabbed Patrick by the ear, he squealed as he was pulled into the vortex, and Colin followed immediately afterward.

In a flash, the three of them were standing on a chandelier in the second level hallway where they saw Crisp slowly and cautiously climb the stairs again. They snickered as he continued to tug down on his hoodie to keep his lower half hidden. As he passed under the lighting, Seamus locked arms with the other two and tapped his cane again, suddenly the appeared on the small dresser of the room that Crisp had entered.

Crisp didn't mind being naked at all, but the fact that he was in a strange house with strange things happening, and his shorts were destroyed by his malevolent shoes, he knew he needed to find something to cover up in case he was caught. He didn't notice the three shrunk leprechauns standing on the dresser as he grabbed the handles and pulled on the third drawer. He explored through the cache tiny shirts with his fingers, then a pair of tiny pants that he wouldn't even be able to get past his knees, much less put them on. As he reached the second drawer, he spotted towels, but they were far too dirty for him to wrap around himself. Finally reaching the top drawer he pulled it open and spotted a single item in there. Pulling them out he could feel the fabric was soft to the touch, they were a pair of brief underwear, much like the ones he'd lost except these were green. The wolf fought the urge to harden at the sight of them, he'd always enjoyed a good tight pair of underwear, and these looked like they'd fit the bill. They seemed a bit small for his size, but the waistband was elastic and stretched out enough. He quickly pulled them on, pressing against his package he glanced around the room, thinking he heard something tap from behind him.

"He sure likes those." Colin pointed out. "Damn right excited to be wearin' them ta be sure."

"Don'cha see that he's getting the thrill from robbing us? I tell you boys that he's nothin' but trouble!"

"Oh, I don't know." Patrick mused. "I like him."

"Oy, Saint Patrick preserve us!" Seamus sighed aloud with a groan. "Ya boys just watch, he's bound to slip up here! W-wait where's Colin?"

The two of them looked down to see that Colin had hopped down from the dresser and restored his original size as he followed closely behind the wolf. Quickly as he could he grabbed the end of Crisp's tail and tied it through a loop he had somehow made near the base, effectively tying a knot into it. As he tugged, Crisp turned around and spotted him. Colin cackled madly while the wolf let out a shriek of surprise, backing out of the room too quickly and tumbling over the banister that led down the stairs. His screams were drowned out by Colin's overly joyous laughter and Crisp ended up once again on the stair landing floor, looking up in shock toward the three creatures suddenly making themselves known. Looking down he spotted a slight glimmer of something out of the corner of his eye and stood up to investigate it. Rushing over to a broom closet located at the base of the stairs, he looked in and saw a tiny black cauldron. Picking it up, he watched as gold coins swelled and bubbled to the rim. He turned the pot over and the gold spilled from it, and continued spilling as though it was a never ending supply. Turning the pot back over, he stared into it. "Th-this is...!" He exclaimed.

Suddenly there was a bashing feeling on the top of his head and Crisp felt like he was floating. Falling forward, he crashed onto the pile of gold that had spilled. Looking up, he saw a gray haired short man in green standing over him, a large wooden stick in his hand. "Not your property." He answered the wolf with a stern look on his face as everything went dark and Crisp lost consciousness.

Crisp awoke suddenly finding himself on a bed that was moving up toward the wall behind it. Before he could even panic though, he felt the blankets slide from under him and he found himself sliding down a long, dark tunnel. He hucked a moment as his hood caught on the trap door and he flailed as he slipped from the shirt and half rolled down the slide, screaming in terror as he fell blindly through the darkness. After several minutes of a long, cold descent he fell through a trap door and landed on a wooden bench. Looking up, he saw a tall podium next to him like a judge's bench. Two more of those short men were standing on the other side of the bench.

"Wh-what? Where am I? Who are you?" He asked, suddenly feeling cold and naked.

"Hiiii, I'm Patrick." The red haired one answered with a friendly wave. "And this is Colin!"

The sight almost made the wolf's heart stop in shock, his maw fell open as he tried to process what he was seeing. "Y-y-you're... l-le-le-lep-rechauns?" He observed, his shock increasing.

"Ahhh yer a bright one, eh?" The one called Colin answered sarcastically. "Good thing ya got that medical degree there, lad."

"You were the one that tied my tail in a knot!" He pointed out.

"And you're getting accused of stealing, so let's not point fingers!"

"Wha-stealing? I..." He paused before realizing he was wearing a pair of pilfered underwear. "Oh! Oh these? I can definitely pay you guys for these!"

"Och, who cares about those?" Colin scoffed. "Ya can keep 'em, they been in our house for nearly a hundred years anyway. Yer standin' trial for trying to steal our gold!"

"Gold? What gold?" He asked.

"THIS Gold!" Seamus exclaimed from his seat high on the judge's podium as he waved the black pot of coins from one hand to the other. "Please input this in as evidence as Exhibit A." He said, handing Colin the cauldron.

"Hear ye! Hear ye! The Leprecourt is now in session! Judge Seamus presiding!" Patrick bellowed, then he paused and whispered. "How was that, Seamus?"

"That was good, lad." The older leprechaun answered with a smile.

"Oh come on now! I didn't even steal that gold!" Crisp argued. "I only found it, I wasn't going to take it!"

"Sure, sure. That's what they all say." Seamus shook his head disapprovingly.

"All?" Crisp asked. "How many people have you done this to?"

"You mean... this year or--" Patrick was quickly silenced by a nudge from Colin.

"We don't gotta justify ourselves to you, laddy. Just answer the judge's questions and stop askin' your own."

"I'm familiar with the greedy gleam in a man's eye." Seamus said. "I ask you again... I'm sorry lad, what was your name again?"

"C-Crisp." The wolf answered truthfully.

"I ask you again Crisp, were you planning on stealing our gold?" His eyebrow raised so sharply that Crisp thought it would have popped off.

"NO! Absolutely not!"

"Too many 'no's to that question, your honor. I move to pass judgement immediately." Colin said sternly.

"So be it!"

"No, no! Wait! I'm not guilty! Not guilty!"

Ignoring the wolf's pleas, Seamus put on a pair of thick, black framed glasses and began to read from a slip of paper. "It is in the judgement of this court that you be subjected to..." In a dramatic pause he removed his glasses. "The green shoes."

Crisp screamed "NOOOOOO--what?" And watched the judge climb down from his podium. A box slid in front of the wolf and he stared down at it; it was a brown box with a green lid, but something kept him from wanting to open it and see what was inside. He cringed as Colin flipped open the lid of the box, revealing the contents.

They were a pair of sneakers, nothing more. Crisp really liked them though, they were a shiny green color, high topped laced sneakers that filled the box. White accents lined the bottom and a bit along the sides. He reached for them, and the box suddenly shook wildly, making him pull his hand back. "What the hell are these?!" He asked.

"These are the green shoes." Seamus said as he joined the group. "And you'll be wearin' them until we say otherwise!"

"No way!" Crisp said suddenly shoving past the three of them and running down the corridor toward the back of the room. "You're not getting those things on me!"

"Why do they always gotta make things so difficult?" Seamus asked. Taking out his cane he tapped it onto the ground, suddenly dropping the height of the door Crisp was bolting toward to about half its level and the wolf slammed into it head-first, nearly doing a complete flip and landing directly on his stomach.

Groaning, he heard the patter of footsteps approaching him quickly, but he didn't move in time and Crisp felt a pair of hands pin down his legs at the knee, and a portly leprechaun butt sit on his shoulders with enough force to hold him down firm. "AHH! He-HEY!" He shouted, trying to kick his legs as he saw Seamus approaching with the box. "I'm not wearing those! You can't make me! You can't make me!"

Despite his protests, Crisp was helpless under the weight of Patrick and Colin's grasp. He kicked his legs, prompting Seamus to sigh and growl loudly. "Colin, hold'm still, will ya?" He felt a stern hand grab his ankle, but he kept rolling his ankle away, but he felt his toes get shoved into one of the shoes. Seamus put his palm against the bottom of the sneaker and pushed it upward. Crisp kept struggling to pull his foot out of it but he kept on feeling the sole's insides sliding down his bare paw as the fabric was tugged up trying to get around his heel.

"No, no, no! Keep them away!" Crisp shouted as he tried to kick, but found it more and more useless to struggle. With a great sigh of relief from the leprechaun there was a popping noise as Crisp's left foot was placed into the shoe. Suddenly he could feel the shoe laces tying themselves all the way up to the top. The hand grabbed his second foot and again, Crisp began to kick his other foot but this time, Colin was holding it with both hands, keeping the struggle to a minimum.

Seamus was pushing against Crisp's foot to try and wrestle it in. The shoe even seemed to have some grab and kept tightening around the ball of the wolf's foot, then loosening when it didn't grab. His claws grabbed at the floor, leaving gouges, but Patrick's weight was not letting him move at all. Finally Colin's persistent grasp held the wolf's ankle still enough just long enough for the shoe to pop into place and the laces tightened.

"AHH! Finally!" Colin exclaimed as he and Patrick got off of the wolf. Immediately, the shoes took on a life of their own and Crisp was propelled off the floor and magically to his feet.

"Wh-what is this?" He asked trying to tug his obvious erection a little more inconspicuously, but it merely caused Colin to start laughing.

"Oy! Lookit him! He really liked our manhandling skills!" He cackled.

Crisp blushed, clearly embarrassed by this predicament, he couldn't imagine it getting any worse... when suddenly it did. Starting off slowly, the wolf could feel his feet beginning to move on their own. He looked down to see that they had begun to do a little soft shoe rhythm, but every time his toes and his heels hit the ground it made a loud tapping noise like he was wearing tap dancing shoes. He tried to put his foot down to stop the dancing, but his foot carried little weight as the shoes pushed up and almost knocked him off balance. He teetered back uncontrollably but somehow maintained his balance.

"Go, Crisp, go!" Patrick laughed as he joined Colin in on the show.

The gyrations that his shoes were giving him caused his cock to slowly rub against the inside of his underwear, making his erection that much more obvious. He wasn't sure suddenly if it was that or the embarrassment he was feeling that fueled his arousal, he only knew that his cheeks were burning and he couldn't stop moving.

"Now, what's a little dance without a little show?" Seamus said, cracking a smile of his own and waving his cane before striking it to the ground.

Suddenly there was a flash of green light and a pair of grotesque, white and green stockings shot up from the shoes, covering his feet and legs with them. The new stockings stopped just short of his knees and began to glow in time with the magical glow coming off the shoes which now forced his shins to pivot uncontrollably and he began to high step between his dance taps. He tapped and tapped, he turned around, resulting in lewd whistling from the three leprechauns in attendance. Then he heard more laughter, and more hooting as the stands above them began to fill with green buckled hats and outfits. There was applause mixed in and it seemed to entice the shoes, he felt them get more daring with the dance moves. At one point his leg kicked up and he did a sudden flip, landing flawlessly on his other foot. Through all this, his cock head kept rubbing against the inside of the underwear, he could feel precum dripping against the fabric and slowly crawling down his shaft, his member was tented thick and hard against the side of the briefs as he twisted, and spun uncontrollably across the floor.

"AHHH! AAH GCK!" He let out noises, despite the fact he was dancing he felt a flood of cum surge from him, soaking the front of his underwear and he felt the warm fluids drain down toward his nested balls. He panted and continued to dance, the longer he danced, the more wild his moves became. He tapped up and slapped down his foot, he spun around and did a backflip, leading to more applause from the crowd. He watched as Seamus, Colin and Patrick pointed at him and laughed, they too were obviously enjoying the show by the size of their front pouches having increased.

Back, back, side step, forward, lunge. His dance had become almost predictable. He dropped and his knee swivelled out and turned back in. He still continued to grab at his legs, trying to get them to stop, but to no avail. He tried to untie them and remove them, but his shoes simply kicked out of the way. "Nngh!" He grunted, suddenly feeling himself orgasm again as another volley of warmth exploded in his underwear. He was panting now, his tongue hanging low as his cum had begun to drip from the underwear, draining down his leg, dripping onto the floor under him, he wasn't sure how much more he had in him, but he couldn't fight the shoes. They slipped slightly on the cum puddles but it seemed to add an extra spin to his dancing. He turned and pivoted, his legs caused his back to arch as his pelvis lunged forward, and through all of this, he managed to cum yet again.

Everything was spinning now, the dances and the exhaustion of multiple cumshots was proving to be more than he could handle. After a while, the faces of his audience began to blur, even Seamus, Colin and Patrick cheering at him from the stands sort of blended into one uber-leprechaun that terrified him. As the spots of blackness began to line his vision he felt himself cum again. This time it was much weaker and he body's reaction was a violent twitch. The contents of his underwear were beginning to sag them he panted and felt his eyes growing heavy. It wasn't tough to imagine feeling himself become disembodied and his form fall suddenly to the floor...

"Hey!"

A voice could be heard in the darkness, but it wasn't really a voice that Crisp recognized. He could feel nothing but cold and wet now, it was strange but he almost felt like he was outside in the rain again. Damn leprechauns...

"Hey! Kid!" The voice shouted again, more urgently this time as a hand shook Crisp's shoulder and he realized he wasn't dreaming now.

Crisp opened his eyes to the face of a burly brown bear with a trucker's hat on his head. He winced and realized that it was pouring down rain. "Wh-who?" He asked cautiously.

The bear's face fell into relief. "Ah! Thank goodness! I thought I'd hit you!" He said. "What the hell are you doing running through a storm like this anyway, kid?"

Crisp sat up and looked around. He realized he was on the side of the road where he was almost hit by the truck flying at him, but he hadn't fallen down the embankment, instead it felt like he'd hit a tree. Putting a hand to his head, a headache began screaming back at him. His clothes felt like they were on him though, wet, but whole. "I uhh... got caught in it and I was trying to get home."

"Well, I'll be happy to give you a lift." The bear said as he stood up. "My name's Mack, I'm glad I didn't turn you into a furry pancake... uhh... what's your name?"

"Uh. Crisp." The wolf responded. "And I'm... glad too."

"Well come on, Crisp. Let's get you home." He turned and started muttering about how his boss would kill him if he'd found out about this little incident.

Shaking off his shoes, Crisp looked down and realized that they weren't the red shoes he'd started out with, a pair of emerald green high tops were on his feet, with white accents and an eerie glow emanated from them as the lightning flashed around him. "Hey kid! C'mon!" He heard Mack call for him and he ran to hop into the passenger side of the truck. Had it really just been a dream? He asked himself as he looked back at his green shoes.

"Rumor has it there are leprechauns who live in the woods here." Mack explained. "Wouldn't want to get caught up with them on a night like this, would we?" He smirked. "Pah! Leprechauns. Ridiculous."

"I don't know." Crisp said, looking up and catching a brief shimmer of a buckled green hat outside in the mirror that promptly vanished. "Stranger things have happened."

THE END