Chapter Text
Yafya was getting another call - his third in two hours.
What is even going on tonight??
The dark horse was already running across the rooftops, yelling back into his phone, “Update fast! Tell me you have an explanation! Is it Bloodbone? Is it airborne or not?!”
The phone crackled back, “Unknown! Another carnivore is going crazy, near your location, behind this - hybrid daycare place!”
Yafya felt a terrible chill up his spine. “I know the place! What’s the target? Who’s the victim?”
The voice warned, “No victim yet. Old reptile, komodo! He’s losing it! The alleyway is - it’s like it’s burning up! Acid! Venom! Something!”
Yafya flung himself over the edge of the roof, across an alley, and landed hard on the fire escape. He was already aching all over, but he didn’t have time to slow down, to lick his wounds. “Male or female?!”
“Male!”
Fuck fuck fucking fuck!!
Yafya was already reciting a string of curses in his head. “Get out of there! Tell all the rats to stay away! He’ll kill you all!”
“But sir -!”
Yafya yelled, “Get the fuck out of there!!”
Yafya cut off the call fast, continuing his mad dash across the roofs and alleys. He didn’t have time for buttons, he yelled at his phone to call Gosha.
Pick the fuck up! Please pick up! Pick up the phone, you fucking asshole!
A recording played back, “I’m sorry! This is Gosha the komodo, but I can’t answer the phone right now! Please leave a message, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!”
Fuck! Not you, too!! What the hell is going on?!
Yafya grabbed a rain pipe and used it to slide all the way down to ground level.
He sprinted across the street - slid over the front of a car that had to slam on its brakes, it nearly broke him in half. He kept going, kept running, lungs feeling close to bursting, but there was no time.
No time, no fucking time!
Yafya tripped and nearly hit the alley ground, but he caught himself, then kept running still. He grabbed a gas mask from his bag of gear, something to protect his lungs, just in case.
Don’t be Gosha, don’t be Gosha, please, all you fucking dinosaurs in the dirt, don’t let it be Gosha!!
Yafya grabbed the building corner to turn hard around the edge, into the dark alleyway behind the daycare.
The carnivore’s growling was already so loud, the air felt like it was vibrating. Even through the mask, a noxious smell assaulted his breath, his lungs, and the ground sizzled with corrosive venom.
No pulling punches. He couldn’t afford to, he was already banged up from the last two fights.
It was too late to regret being ‘retired,’ from purposefully cutting himself off from the police. Not like he could ever rely on them before.
Yafya drew his gun as he ran forward, till he finally found an old reptile hunched over a trash can.
It was too dark to get a proper look at his face. The individual was in shadow.
Drool was dripping from his lips like a faucet left running. The venom was practically disintegrating the contents of the trash, and still the reptile clawed his way through it for food.
Something was wrong with the komodo’s voice.
It unnerved something deep inside the stoic herbivore.
“Starving. Starrr-vinggg. I need - need something. I’ve just - tried so hard! I’ve tried for - so long!”
The komodo’s claws ripped the garbage can open entirely, like he was shredding paper.
Yafya leveled his gun at the shadowed reptile. “Gosha!! Is that you?!”
The komodo turned his eyes toward the black horse. Something was wrong with his eyes, too: they were reddish, bloodshot. Drugged? A strange, terrifying bliss went across the reptile’s darkened features. “ Yes! Food! I just - I just need something to eat!! ”
Yafya caught a shape in the corner of his eye - but nothing was there.
Yafya kept his gun trained on the reptile. “What you need is medical attention. You can get that the easy way, or the hard way. Don’t make me shoot you first.”
The komodo started to walk slowly forward in the dark.
He was practically swaying, side to side, like he was drunk - but something was wrong.
Yafya couldn’t tell what - not at first, not until the komodo came closer, came further into the weak moonlight.
…Double vision??
Yafya’s eyes were unfocused. The reptile swayed, side to side, and it was like watching an old 3D movie without the glasses: another picture just slightly out of sync beside it.
Yafya grabbed the front of his mask, trying to make sure it was on right. The venom - the trash it destroyed - it shouldn’t have gotten into his system, even if something was airborne.
Was there something else?
Yafya shot once at the ground in front of the old reptile. “Get your ass on the ground and put your hands behind your back! I’ll fucking shoot you if I have to! You’re not eating anyone tonight!!”
In the dark, the komodo’s reddened eyes looked so excited.
Several more gunshots filled the night, loud and bright, and then all was quiet again.
……
Legosi had always wanted things to be simple and easy.
Life had conspired against him many times, and, admittedly, it wasn’t just a matter of fate. He had made a lot of bad decisions on his own, and that had kept an easy life further and further away from him.
But he was still living, still trying to live it to the fullest.
Melon was in jail, he and Haru were engaged, and even Louis was back in the light - safe and home and running a renewed Horns. Horns was even doing well, despite the insanity of his press conference and that fateful turf war.
One could say that things were … looking up?
If nothing else, it was at least a nice, sunny day for a late-winter lunch date.
Legosi’s tail was slightly swaying. He was mildly occupied with his egg salad sandwich, but he was also just happy to spend time with the big, old panda. Legosi hadn’t really been around the bear much since Gouhin took that new job at a real hospital.
The hospital staff was trying to get Gouhin to stop smoking (finally).
Legosi was happy regardless. “It’s good to see you again, Gouhin.”
Gouhin noisily sucked on some kind of milkshake through a straw. The bear rumbled in that usual way of his, “I appreciate you meeting me on your day off. We haven’t had a chance to talk in a while. Are you still moonlighting as a vigilante?”
The wolf almost laughed. “No, I’m not. I don’t want to worry the people in my life anymore.”
Gouhin sounded like he didn’t believe him. “Ah-huh. Sure. Like you’re not itching to beat up the next Bloodbone gang in the street…”
Legosi calmly insisted, “I’m serious, Gouhin. I won’t be taking more risks with my life. Melon was the last one, and that was only because he was my responsibility.”
The panda then teased him, “I see you’re still a disaster though. Now you’re missing half an ear!”
The wolf tried not to be too embarrassed about it. “Yeah. It happened when I was fighting the Dokugumi, during the turf war. They were using these explosives, they had these bombs attached to their tails, then threw them at me… I think it was meant as an honor killing or something. It was just the leader at first, but then all the rest came out and they started throwing bombs at me, too.”
The bear shook his head in frustration, “Bombs? They used actual bombs on you?? Well, I hope you aren’t expecting me to make a prosthetic for that. That’s out of my territory.”
Legosi murmured, “Haru has wondered about that, but I think we’re getting used to it.”
The wolf reached up to his right ear, feeling the edge where it abruptly cut off.
Gouhin grunted. “How’s she feel about the dentures anyway? I don’t think you’ve mentioned.”
The wolf was halfway to taking a bite of his sandwich when he stopped. He wondered how to phrase it right. “Actually … I don’t have to wear them anymore. My teeth just sort of … regrew.”
Gouhin huffed, “ Finally . I thought it would have happened ages ago.”
Legosi’s brows wrinkled, “Wait, you knew I’d regrow my teeth? Why didn’t you tell me?!”
The bear grumbled a bit. “I had … let’s say, suspicions.”
Legosi sounded annoyed, “I’ve never regrown anything before! You know I’m a quarter komodo, but still! I thought I’d be too much wolf for anything like that.”
Gouhin just grumbled more, “You’ve absolutely regenerated before.”
The wolf just blinked. “Like what? When ?”
Gouhin tried to keep his voice quiet out of respect, “The day you ate a bug! Come on, Legosi! You can’t have forgotten that!”
“My fur ?!” Legosi leaned in more, staying soft, glancing warily at passers-by. “That doesn’t count. That was just fur. Everybody regrows fur.”
The dark abyss of Gouhin’s eyes were rolling. “You regrew multiple centimeters of fur all over your entire body, in minutes. Right. Sure. Nothing out of the ordinary there.”
Legosi fussed with his sandwich again. “Weird things happen to me, but that was still just fur. It doesn’t explain the teeth: I got bit with komodo venom and my teeth regrew. There can’t be that many medical records about wolf-komodo hybrids.”
Gouhin laughed, “Nothing medical about it. It’s just cause you’re a hybrid.”
By that point, Legosi was just properly confused. “Gouhin? You’re not making any sense.”
The bear groaned, “Kid, are you still that thick? Kyuu said she taught you the chimera and everything!”
The wolf was still frowning, “She taught me how to think differently and imagine stuff. It was just to psych me up for fighting Melon. I don’t like fighting women, or herbivores; it feels wrong. It’s not like it was magic!”
Gouhin seemed annoyingly pleased with himself as he kept sucking down his milkshake.
It was Legosi’s turn to get grumpy. “Gouhin, I know you think I’m dumb, but I’m not that stupid. There’s no such thing as magic.”
The grouchy bear groaned again, “Your life is fucking dripping with it! How do you not see that already?”
Legosi shot back, “Because magic doesn’t exist! That’s - that’s just fantasy stuff! I’m not a little kid anymore.”
Gouhin growled, “Your life is a fantasy! Fuck, this is why I said you weren’t ready for everything before! I thought you’d be ready by now. Forget it. You’ll regrow your ear back in time. Just - I’ve gotta go. I’m glad you’re doing better.”
The grizzled old bear got up to walk away, but there were times that Legosi was just too curious for his own good.
Legosi followed quickly after him, “Gouhin, this isn’t funny. I don’t like it when people mess with me anymore. Did Kyuu put you up to this? It was Kyuu, wasn’t it? Is she still mad about the incident with the giraffe? I thought we were okay after the turf war.”
Gouhin started turning down a junk-filled alleyway between buildings. He dropped his empty milkshake in a garbage can, and hefted his bamboo crossbow up on his shoulder. “Sure. It was Kyuu. I lost a bet.”
Like a dog with a bone, the wolf just couldn’t give it up. “You’re being a jerk now, Gouhin. Why aren’t you being truthful? After everything we’ve done together, I thought we were at least friends or something. …Where were you keeping your crossbow?”
“In my pants,” Gouhin said before turning down another back alley.
Legosi growled. “Gouhin, your crossbow doesn’t even fit in your pants.”
Gouhin said flatly, “They’re magic pants.”
“Fine!” Legosi said with exasperation. “You win, good joke. I’ll see you whenever.”
The wolf turned and was several steps away - when the bamboo crossbow bolt hit the wall just in front of him.
Legosi flinched back, and snapped, “Gouhin! What was that for?!”
Gouhin tossed his crossbow several meters away and spread his arms out from his body, holding open his jacket. “Making a point. If you’re this tenacious, we might be able to use brute force. We’re running out of time. Use that fucking nose of yours. Do I have any more bamboo on me?”
The wolf was mad enough to be rumbling, but took several sniffs at the air. Gouhin always had a vague sort of bamboo scent about him, because he ate it so much, but the only fresh scent was the crossbow off to the side.
Legosi scoffed, “No.”
Gouhin reached into the folds of his jacket, and pulled out a solid foot-long stalk of bamboo.
Legosi frowned.
Then Gouhin crunched the tip of the bamboo with his jaws - half sharpening it, half picking his teeth with it. Gouhin asked, “What about this?”
Before Legosi could answer, the bear suddenly threw the stalk at him hard, like a throwing knife.
The wolf twisted, just barely managed to avoid getting a stab wound to the shoulder.
Legosi looked even more mad. “What is wrong with you today?!”
The panda lurched forward in full attack mode.
He pulled out some kind of bamboo cord - the kind he’d used on Legosi way back at the clinic, before the New Year’s fight with Riz.
Legosi didn’t have time to reminisce.
Gouhin was making a proper battle of it then, trying to lash at the wolf, again and again.
The whip went wide several times as Legosi arched, dodged, blocked.
Legosi’s arms could take it, but he was going to be sporting welts all over tomorrow, he just knew it.
The cord kept him away from every escape route - left a deeper cut across his face, another on his forearms.
The cord caught around Legosi’s wrist once - like a lasso.
Legosi slashed through the cord with his claws, before Gouhin could drag him in.
Legosi caught the whip the next time it attacked. With angry strength, Legosi yanked on it hard.
Gouhin had to let go.
Legosi used those claws again, slashing the cord into pieces.
Gouhin drew the crossbow from his jacket again -
Wait, again ?
The wolf looked - saw the bamboo crossbow across the alleyway, where Gouhin had tossed it earlier - but it was also right there in Gouhin’s hand, too. Somehow.
Legosi was just confused enough that he forgot to move, and a crossbow bolt shot painfully into his right shoulder.
Legosi swore.
