Canterlot Academy Trials

The entire team left the scene at which their battle had taken place. The next day would come about and the sun would rise as Odu recovered from his wounds with the remaining members of his mafia near the wreckage of the dojo.

“...so we’re headed out that way, huh?” a lioness asked, then nodded, “Very well, sir. I shall accompany you.”

“What about her?” a cheetah man looked over at Sha’Beel, who had her entire abdomen bandaged up after she recovered from the aftermath of her battle with Fang. “Looks like she’s not as tough as you thought she was, sir.”

Odu, who had also been bandaged after his battle upon his abdomen, arms, and legs, assured his assistant, “...I’ll deal with her. The rest of you prepare our vessel to travel along the water.”

With a nod, the lioness, cheetah, and a few other cat gangsters all left the scene to carry out Odu’s orders. Essentially, they had to get a boat in order to travel across the ocean to Odu’s next objective. Where was that exactly? They would find out soon enough…

For now though, the tiger man turned his attention to the tigress who had stood up to greet him with a bow.

“...Master Odu…I’m sorry I failed you. I--”

But Odu cut her off with a paw placed on her shoulder, “...relax. You’ve done more than enough, Sha’Beel.” He replied before going in to give her a hug, causing the tigress’ eyes to widen as her mouth went agape from the surprisingly kind gesture.

“Y-you…?” she muttered quietly as the tiger man let go and looked down at her. “...I don’t understand. I thought you didn’t tolerate failure…”

“I don’t,” he shook his head, and spoke in a rather calm tone, “...but that doesn’t mean I’m angry with you. Go on home and study for your exams, hm? You’ve done enough for me for a while.”

Delighted with her master’s amicable response, Sha’Beel flicked her tail and purred with relief. “R-right! Thank you, Master!”

And with that, she immediately started walking home. Her sheer excitement over her master’s kind words dulled her senses. Sha’Beel thought she was on top of the world from how gracious his words were towards her.

‘...He was so kind. That foolish dogman doesn’t know a thing about--!”

Pew.

SPLISH!

“AGHHH!!!”

Her thoughts were interrupted when a bullet was fired from seemingly nowhere and lodged itself in the back of her left knee, forcing Sha’Beel to fall to the ground. “W-what…what is…how…?’ her lips quivered as she looked down at the bleeding wound in her knee. “Who…who did--?!”

Before she could even attempt to get up--

Pew.

SPLISH!

“GAAAAGH!”

There went her right knee. With both joints now blown out from high-caliber gunshots and bleeding on the ground, Sha’Beel could only scream and cry for help that never came.

“SOMEONE HELP! MASTER?!”

But that's when she noticed other members of the feline gang leaving the scene. Sha'Beel essentially had figured out what she had been put through as she lied on the ground while writhing in pain.

'Master…why have you forsaken me?'

Meanwhile, in a tree overlooking the path that led away from the dojo, a jaguar woman sat with a silenced sniper rifle. Smoke left the barrel as Odu approached her.

“Is it done?” he asked, ignoring the tigress’ distant wails as he lit up a cigar.

“Yes,” the jaguar woman answered, “Want me to put one through her head and finish the job?”

Odu breathed out some smoke and shook his head. “Nah. Let her bleed out. Even if someone tries to help her, she’ll be long dead before then.”

“I see,” the jaguar purred as she holstered her gun over her back, “You wish to make an example out of her. Very devious, sir. You never cared that much for her anyway, did you?”

“Hmph. I’ve got more capable people such as yourself and the others,” he rolled his eyes as he started walking towards the port, “Surprised she didn’t die to that mangy mutt. Can’t have that in my line of work.”

“No…you absolutely cannot, Odu. By the way, where are we heading?”

“To the Serpent City. An autonomous region near the Wukong Territory.”

“...that’s where the Triads do their dirty work and run drugs and other illicit substances through, correct?” the jaguar woman asked hesitantly.

“Correct. Don’t fall behind,” Odu muttered before walking over to the small, all-white crew boat that he had sanctioned just for this. “...lest you end up like that dying one down the road.”

Meanwhile, back at the underground home of the goblins…

“...I am so sorry, ma’am…my team and I…we should’ve…” Fang muttered as he watched Sariel, Ziwa, and their mother bury Uziel’s body along with her mace. The solemn frowns, and drooped ears of the goblins indicated a gloomy tone for them all.

However, the old goblin woman refused to accept Fang’s words. “...don’t say such things, boy. Uziel died the only way our kind should: In the heat of battle for those she cared for.”

“...that’s right, Sariel added between a sniffle as she put her hand up to her face to wipe away her tears, “Don’t…don’t take this away from her, okay? I’m…sure she went out like a champ.”

“...she saved me,” Ziwa joined in, “...I won’t ever forget it.”

The rest of the goblins gave their parting words as they left the buried corpse of Uziel next to the others in their makeshift cemetery in their little grotto before heading back up to their main living quarters at camp. There, Lee could be seen bandaged up with her back snapped back into place as Spear looked over her.

“...where is Rufus?” Fang asked. He also had some bandages around his neck and legs.

“...somewhere deeper in the cave I think,” Spear answered with a sigh, having bandaged her own head from the damage she suffered, “I…think he wanted to be alone for now.”

Fang sighed into his paw…and punched the nearby wall. “God…dammit. They don’t deserve a bunch of tears. They deserve that tiger bastard’s head on a pike!”

“Fang,” Spear glared at him, standing up to meet his eyes with hers. “Calm down. Now’s not the time to get angry. I told you we were in no condition to keep going. You know that, right?”

“I know but…fucking…shit…he could easily be rebuilding his potential right now. You know that, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Spear nodded, “I’ve already sent a letter back to Twilight in Canterlot. We need extra support if we wanna see this through. I know you want to end this, Fang…but don’t be a jackass about it.”

“Tch…” Fang scoffed under his breath, knowing he couldn’t argue with Spear’s protective nature. “...fine. I…sorry…”

“It’s alright,” she placed a hoof on his shoulder, “Just…you know how I am. Ever since my childhood in the Congo I’ve always wanted as little death as possible…”

“...I know…I’m sorry.”