Fur Fighters, Chapter 3
Time for the big reveal...
"John Cena!" An old wolf in a red hoodie yelled. Everyone glared at him, and then ignored him.
"NO. Not John Cena. NEVER John Cena. We only allow actual fighters in this place. In one corner... Accountant by day, vicious fighter by night, with a winning streak of over fourty matches in a row, the current title-holder for most murders..." The Gecko announced, as a seven-foot tall solidly-built thick-furred Black Bear lumbered onto the stage, his spiky hair dip-dyed crimson red near the top to resemble a blood-stained blade. "Black Blaaaaaze!"
The crowd cheered louder than Rachel had ever heard it before, and she could Death Metal with a howling wolf singer played from a smartphone somewhere in the crowd, presumably his theme song. Whatever it was, it hurt her ears, she didn't understand a word, and she was glad when it was over. Rachel was also annoyed at his comment about wrestlers not being fighters. Sure, some wrestling rings were fake, but they were some of her favourites, along with the more violent death-accepted real ones and sexual ones.
"And the newcomer, weighing in at... not much, we have... hang on, how do I pronounce this? Kurow Down?"
"It's Kuro Down!" A voice snapped, coming from the impenetrable darkness above the lights wired to the ceiling.
"Ok, 'Kuro Down'. Whatever, it's not like it's gonna matter in a few minutes! Place your bets, everybody, place your bets!" The Gecko shouted. "I'm offering 30-1 odds on... Oh, who am I kidding?! Heh heh... Let's make things interesting! Instead of betting on whether Black Blaze will win or not, bet on how many minutes it'll take to kill his opponent!"
The crowd roared(literally, for some furs) with approval, and they rushed to the betting stands to place their bets.
And then as a violin song played, Kuro slowly floated down from the ceiling and into the light, slowly becoming visible.
Kuro was an Owl, he had long, sharp talons, and black-feathered legs. His slim body was cloaked in white and black feathers, with two huge white wings on his back tipped with black feathers. His eyes were a cold otherworldly blue, glowing faintly with a fainter trail being left behind as he moved. He landed on one leg, the other leg resting behind him as he folded his arms. "What happens if one of us dies?" Kuro asked coldly.
"Your body goes in the river or gets turned into food, it gets eaten, and nobody will care." The Gecko told him.
"Excellent." Kuro said with cold satisfaction.
Rachel's eyes widened in recognition. Holy crap, that was Jonathan. What is he doing here?!
Kuro looked back at Rachel, and nodded at her. "He recognizes me! How could he- Oh wait. I'm the only Skunk-Squirrel Hybrid in town, and I'm only wearing a Ski Mask. And he knows my body well enough. Duh." She thought embarrassedly.
To shake off any suspicion, Jonathan looked at her breasts and arrogantly said to her, "Nice breasts. Make sure this dumbass's blood doesn't get on them, okay?"
Rachel blinked, not even sure how to respond to that.
"You got that, Fatass? Your filth goes onto the floor. Like usual." Kuro asked Black Blade, who only growled.
"And... Kuro decides to get some last-minute flirting and talking in, before his death!" The Gecko announced. "And speaking of minutes, I'm offering 2-1 odds that Kuro gets torn apart by Black Blade within the first thirty seconds!"
Kuro laughed. "You surface-dwelling pieces of shit are so, so... cute. You're like unevolved animals, yipping and barking without a care in the world or a thought in your heads. This arena is a joke, and when this is over, if any of you have mothers with feathers, I'll shove their faces right into my cloaca until they're coated in my bird seed. And then I'll tear out their throats, and shove it into the overused loose pussies of every shit-eating mammal mother I find."
"...Yeah, thirty seconds or less." The Gecko said into the microphone, and the crowd laughed. "And... THREETWOONEGO!"
"Oh no. I'm soooo surprised." Kuro said, flipping off The Gecko and everyone else.
Black Blade moved forwards, swinging his claws down in a fierce slash that would cut Kuro into pieces if it hit while splattering him across the ground. Jonathan effortlessly hopped to the right, not even bothering to move anything else. Black Blade drew his right paw back and with his left, he sliced across. Jonathan hopped up, still folding his arms, and hovered there out of his reach by flying.
The crowd began to boo, and throw food. "Get down there!"
"Fight!"
"Chicken!"
"Hm hm hm..." Kuro said, facepalming. "hah hah hah... Nobody calls me chicken and LIVES!" Kuro roared, unfolding his arms and stretching his wings out.
He immediately swooped down, towards Black Blade's head, and slammed his knee into the Bear's nose. He then flipped over, grabbed the bear's thick chest fur with his talons, and with one powerful flap, he flew back and tore the fur out.
The crowd gasped, and Kuro spun, scattering the bear fur into the crowd... and not seeming to notice Black Blaze running up behind him.
Jonathan suddenly ducked down, and with one quick spin kick, swept both legs out from under him. He landed upon the ground, and hopped up into the sky.
What would Kuro say? Kuro wondered in mid-air. "Prepare your anuses for my ultimate attack!" He yelled.
Kuro flapped his wings once, and folded them in, darting towards Black Blaze's gut head-first hard enough to knock the Bear's spine out of proper alignment. The sickening crunch of bone made most in the room cheer for more, though Rachel couldn't help wincing.
"I'm not done yet!" Kuro shouted, flying back up. "Get up, fatass!"
Black Blaze slowly got up, unable to stand up straight. He was hunched over like an old man, and blood dripped down from his broken nose.
"Are you entertained yet?" Kuro asked the audience, folding his arms and resting on one leg again. "Are you not entertained? Always wanted to bloody say that."
"Die, you piece of shit!" Black Blaze roared, charging forwards at Kuro.
"Hm hm hm... Because I'm sure as hell not!" Kuro finished, flapping his wings and suddenly charging head-first at Black Blaze.
Just as the two were about to collide, Kuro ducked under Black Blaze's head and slightly to the side, and turned up, the bear's neck hitting Kuro's left wing. Something snapped, and it wasn't Kuro's wing. Kuro kept flying, bringing the heavy bear with him.
"...What?" The Gecko asked uncertainly.
When he reached fourty feet into the air, Kuro stopped in mid-air, allowing the bear to be thrown a few feet higher. The Owl moved to the left, folded his arms, and uncaringly watched the bear fall to the ground. When he hit the concrete floor, it broke apart and cratered, and a few more bones snapped, but Black Blaze unsteadily got back up, willing to lose his life if it meant saving his winning streak.
"And now, the killing blow!" Kuro shouted, landing back in the ring. "Are you sure you want to die?" Kuro asked.
"Go fuck yourself!" Black Blaze roared, standing tall and ignoring the loud painful crunch of his spine forcing itself back into place.
"Charming." Kuro said sarcastically, hopping forwards. He hopped up, and thrust his leg into the Bear's chest and cutting straight through it, holding the bear's heart in his talons. He withdrew his leg, allowing the now-dead Bear to fall backwards, and looked at the audience, folding his arms. "So, who wants his heart? It should be a collector's item, so... The Starting Bid is at three hundred K."
The Gecko blinked a few times as if it would change what he was seeing. His brain had shut down, unable to process what had just happened.
"Holy crap..." Rachel thought, having trouble connecting the smart, adorably nerdy, reclusive, show-offy and seemingly-cold-but actually-quite-caring and pent-up-like-a-knotted-firehose Snowy Owl known as Jonathan LightningStorm, with the vicious, badass warrior in front of her. "He really does have a wild side. And it seems even more pent-up than his sex drive."
"Three hundred and ten!" A female Pigeon shouted.
"Three twenty!" A grey Alley Cat yelled.
That brought The Gecko back to his senses. "Four hundred, and absolutely no more!" He snapped into the mic.
"Five hundred!" a female Rat shouted suddenly as her eyes turned black for a second, seeming confused about why she said it afterwards.
"One thousand!" The Gecko yelled in panic.
"Three thousand!" Rachel shouted out, assuming The Gecko would outbid her.
"Five thousand!" The Gecko yelled.
"Ten thousand!" She barked, grinning.
"Eleven thousand!"
"Twenty thousand!"
"Fuck her right in the pussy!" The old wolf yelled.
"Twenty five thousand!"
"Fifty thousand!"
"One hundred!" The Gecko screamed into his microphone.
Rachel shrugged. "Meh, you win. Guess you get to eat it."
"Eat it?!" The Gecko spluttered. "I need it within the hour, so I can
get him to a doctor that doesn't suck ass!"
"Sold!" Kuro announced, tossing the bear's heart up and letting it hit The Gecko in the face. He made a mental note to check out what Doctor he was using- "Anyone who could fix THAT," Jonathan thought. "I want to meet. Especially since this country's medical tech is so backwards, thanks to frequent births and no population control beyond daily serial killings and one of the worst police forces on the planet."
The Gecko grabbed the heart, and said into his mic, "The night's over, goodnight!" He glared at Kuro as the others left. "Dammit, Bird, you're going to bankrupt me!"
"You mad, bro?" He asked amusedly. "I missed my favourite soap for this, but this has actually been pretty fun."
"...You like Soap Operas?!" The Gecko screeched incredulously.
"Yes!" Kuro yelled. "My name is Kuro Down, and I like money, boobs, fighting, and Soap Operas. I'm here because I want to buy a better TV, so I can watch Soap Operas... in HD!"
"Nice cover." Rachel thought sarcastically. She hadn't bothered with a cover, just a fake name. She'd briefly wondered how he changed the colour of his feathers like that, then she remembered he was a Shapeshifter. He probably kept the similar species and body type, so he could use his usual fighting style. She thought he was joking when he said it had taken him two days to finish a two-week martial arts course and mastered it completely, but nope, there he was, kicking ass and taking names.
Kuro smirked. "Next time, let me fight your best fighter, okay?"
"H-He... He WAS my best fighter!" The Gecko spluttered.
"Emphasis on 'Was'. Goodnight, ground-bounds." Kuro said haughtily, folding his arms. With a single flap of his wings, he flew up towards the ceiling, shattered a small bulletproof glass pane, and flew out of the building.
"...Holy crap." Was all Rachel could say.