Spirit Animal 2: Lone Wolf

Ch. 5: Watch Dog

Later that night, Anne waited until everyone was asleep before sneaking out. She pushed the basement door open, got out and slowly shut it before tiptoeing to the back exit of the house. Once outside, Anne did a quick look around before she shifted into a wolf. She walked around the border of the town, wanting to make sure the town was safe. After what happened with the toads and the red mantis, Anne was even more adamant than ever to protect her new home. Her new pack. She sniffed the ground, looking for the scent of anything that doesn't belong.

'Nothing around here, better keep looking.' Anne thought, planning to keep watch all night.

Anne kept walking around town, catching the scent of something, but whatever it was, was at least six miles away. Even if Anne wanted to chase it down, there was no point as they are gone.

'Still, whatever it was, was too close for comfort, I'll have to be on guard for that same scent if I come across them again.' Anne thought.

Anne went back to guarding the town. To her surprise, she wasn't the only one out at night, as she nearly gave Mrs. Croaker a heart attack.

"Oh, Anne, it's just you." She said.

Anne tilted her head in confusion, curious as to why she was out.

"Oh, I just enjoy taking a little nighttime walk every once and a while." She said, understanding the head tilt, "Why don't you join me."

Seeing nothing wrong with this, Anne agreed with a nod and took a walk with Mrs. Croaker. It wouldn't do any harm since she could still be on the lookout for unfamiliar scents in the area. Plus, Mrs. Croaker gave her a few head pats. Yeah, she was a wolf, but she enjoyed getting treated like a dog sometimes, there are benefits to it. Not the stereotypes but still, the benefits were nice. Plus, it reminds her of when she was a pup. Since she was born as her Spirit Animal, she spent the first several months of her life as a wolf pup, so her parents used to train her with bacon strips... right now that's about as close as she can get to her parents.

'I can't hope for bacon strips here.....or can I?' Anne thought as she continued to walk with Mrs. Croaker, 'Wait, do they even have bacon here?'

Anne was knocked out of her thoughts when she heard something moving in the bushes, as well as pick up the scent she got earlier. She let out a small growl.

"Hmm? Something wrong, Anne?" Mrs. Croaker asked, seeing her ready to attack.

Anne nodded towards the bush before slowly approaching it, ready to attack and see who she was smelling. She jumped into the bush and growls and screams were heard, attracting the attention of the rest of the town. A toad tower spy came rushing out and Anne jumped out after him, growling.

"Aaaaah!" he screamed as he turned to run but Mrs. Croaker knocked him down with her cane!

"Another toad, eh?! Good nose, Anne!" Mrs. Croaker said.

"Alright, what's going on out here?" Toadstool asked as him and the rest of the town out.

"Anne found this Toad sneaking around." Mrs. Croaker said.

"Another one?" A frog asked.

"Why is he here?" Wally asked.

"I think Anne is about to find out." Mrs. Croaker said as Anne stalked to the road and held him down, growling in his face!

Anne snapped her jaws at him, making him scared.

"I... I won't tell you why I'm here!" He said.

'Oh you won't, will you?' Anne thought as she bit his shoulder, not drawing blood but making him scream in pain!

"If you saw what happened to your friend when he came back to the tower, you'd be wise to talk." Croaker said as she decided to interrogate the toad for Anne. "Now tell us why you're here."

"C-c-captain Grime heard about a strange creature and wanted me to find out about it!" He said.

"Is that all?" Mrs. Croaker asked.

Anne growled at him.

"Y-y-yes, that's all!"

Anne growled at him again before changing back to human, glaring down at him.

"So, your boss wanted to learn about me from those three jerks?" Anne said to him.

"I-I-I was just told to spy on the town and look out for you!" He said, putting his arms up, "I swear I don't mean any harm!"

Anne glared at him a bit more before she got up, moving back from the road.

"Get out of here. And tell your boss that Wartwood is off limits. So long as I'm here." Anne said to him.

"Y-y-yes ma'am!" The toad said, before running off.

Everyone threw stones at him, wanting him out and shouting for him to never come back.

"Three cheers for Anne!" Wally shouted as the toad had left their line of sight.

Once again, Anne was cheered for getting rid of a Toad from the town.