The Tigress of Shadow

A Tigress' Shop

A Tigress Demon opened the door of her shop, unlocking the door as she walked in. She gazed at the shelves inside the giant room filled with shelves. The shelves were then filled to the brim with various items, trinkets of old, video game consoles, cold remedies, anything you can think of....Well, except for any merchandise that is related to Sun Wukong. She refuses to sell any of his stuff despite how popular he is. She has never disclosed the reason to any of her customers no matter how many times they have asked....Eventually the bell above the door rung, alerting her of customers coming in and out of the store. She would attend to their needs, help them find what they needed and would ring them out at the register. That was her daily routine after all.A particular group walked into her store, loud talking from the boy and the girl in the front. She recognized the girl, she was Mei Dragon, a frequent customer to her establishment. The rest of the group was unknown to her, it looked like Mei was showing the group around. She saw a boy who looked to be the same age as her with brown hair, red headband and pants with a white shirt and orange jacket. A part of the group is also another human male with glasses, a pig demon and a large muscular man with blue skin. Mei ran to the owner when she saw her at the counter, "Hey Ms. Suma! I brought MK and the gang this time!"She quickly grabs her friend, "This is MK, my bestest bestie in the whole world! Monkey Man!" She then gestured to the other members of the group, "And Pigsy! And Tang! And Sandy!"Suma was very used to Mei's seemingly boundless energy, "Oh hello Mei! And... Friends. MK, Pigsy, Tang and Sandy." Each member responded in their own little way that told Suma more about them.MK then picks up a cat that matched Sandy's look, complete with a mohawk, "Wait! And this is Mo! I think you'll really like him!"Suma's ear flickered, "...Is that supposed to be a joke?"MK began to sweat nervously, "...U-uh-"The tigress demon began to laugh, "Pfffft don't worry! I understand, don't be so tense!" She pet Mo on the head, both their ears flickered. The dragon girl playfully punched her friend on the arm, "Yeah! Don't worry about it! Now come on! I need to show you my merch stand she set up!"And with that, Mei dragged the young man with her around the store in search of the merchandise stand Suma made for her a few days ago. Considering Mei constantly comes in the store and she has been in various races before, the older tigress decided it would be a good idea to start selling her merch when she brought it up the previous week.Suma began to talk to Tang and Pigsy while Sandy and Mo went to the back of the store to look at the cat toys she had in her shop. Tang eyed an old stone medallion behind her on the wall. He tilted his head, "Woah, that looks like an old medallion from the era!"Suma nods, "Oh yeah and I can authenticate it came from that era too."Pigsy tiled his head curiously, "Ya can? How?"The tigress shrugs with a casual smile on her face, "Well because I made it in that era."Tang's eyes lit up, "You MADE that?! All the way back then?!"She nods, "Well yes, I AM immortal."Tang and Pigsy continued their conversation with Suma, learning that she is immortal and has artifacts from thousands of years ago. Of course this got Tang's attention. As they continued to talk, Mei was showing off her merch stand to MK.MK was impressed, his eyes sparkling as he saw the various t-shirts and hats with her green dragon symbol. He smiled brightly at her, "Aw Mei, this is so COOL! They have your little dragon face and everything!"The dragon girl nodded, "Oh heck yes, this is awesome. So many people have been buying it and Ms. Suma has been so nice about designs and restocking."MK was about to respond when he spots a Bull Clone shopping for shampoo in a nearby aisle. The monkey king's successor quickly summoned his staff, "Woah, Ms. Suma! There's a Bull Clone in here, don't worry, just stay back. I'll take care of him!"This caught Suma's attention from her conversation as she sees MK hold up his staff while the Bull Clone prepares to fight him.Mei yelled, "MK, wait!"The bull clone wound up and threw a punch as MK swung his staff forward, only to be met with... Metal? He looked down to see Suma blocking his staff with the blunt end of her blade. But... She was just behind the counter a minute ago? MK turned his head to see that Suma HAD moved to block both their hits, as she was holding the bull clone's fist.The bull clone growled at MK, only for Suma to glare at the clone harshly. The clone backed off, getting the message loud and clear.Mei awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck, "Sorry, MK. I forgot to mention the biggest rule in the shop, absolutely no fighting allowed."Suma smiled, shrugging, "Yup, this place is a complete neutral zone. I don't care who came from what, human, demon, whatever, as long as you buy something."MK nervously put his staff away, fumbling a little, "I'm sorry!"The tiger demon went back behind her counter, waving her hand, "Don't worry about it, kid." She pointed at him, "Just don't let it happen again." And with that, Suma stayed behind her counter as the group looked through her wares.MK raised an eyebrow as he looked through everything, "Hey Mei, I'm noticing that Suma doesn't have ANY Monkey King stuff. Why's that?"Mei shrugged, "Uh... I don't know, I never asked. Maybe it sells out the fastest?"The monkey boy nodded, "Oh yeah true, he is pretty popular... Maybe they'll have more stuff in the back?"The dragon girl smirks, "Well then, what's stopping us from snooping around?" MK nods energetically, following Mei around the store to look for then entrance to the back, which is the storage area. Soon, the two come across a door with a sign on it that says 'Employees Only.'Mei lifts an eyebrow at the sign on the door, "Ah dang it, looks like we can't go past this point."MK looked at the 'Employees Only' sign, "We're uh, we're just gonna..." He hit the sign, sending it to the ground. The pair then sprinted into the room before anyone could see....It was quiet... Too quiet... Which didn't go unnoticed. Suma's ear perked up as she strained to hear the missing pair. She looked at the door that lead to the back.Suma busted into the back, closing the door behind her. She looked around the room, which was actually a giant factory made for creating all types of things for Suma to sell. Or to take in products from other companies to sell at her shop.The tigress sees the pair on one of the belts, looking through the boxes, "Mei! MK! The heck are you two DOING!"The pair turned to see Suma at the entrance of the factory, closing the door behind her. MK sweat nervously, "Well, uh, she's all the way down there. There is no way she can get up here that fast right-"The tigress jumped from the entrance to the conveyr belts, a bit behind MK and Mei. She was careful to not land on any products on the belts.Both were stunned, "Woah!""Run MK!"They then started sprinting up the belts, trying to get away from Suma while still looking for Monkey King products. Suma sprinted after them.The chase lasted quite awhile. With MK and Mei quickly looking through products and boxes and throwing them up in the air. Suma would catch the packages in the air and quickly put them back down, still chasing the duo.Eventually she did catch them both by the collars, holding them up in th air. She had an annoyed glare on her face for the both of them, "Now, why is it that you had me running around the whole back of MY SHOP?"MK played with his fingers, "Well, uh, we just wanted to know where all the Monkey King stuff was. Every other store has Monkey King merch or something with his face on it but we couldn't find anything in here!"Mei pouted, folding her arms, "Yeah, it's weird. Your shop is supposed to have everything, right? Do not like him or something?"The tigress shrugged, "...Ehhhhh, you could say that."The dragon girl spoke loudly, "OOOOOOH, you definitely have to spill now! Why! Why?"Suma awkwardly laughed as she put the duo down on the ground, "Ahahaha, maybe some other time... Now get out of here, neither of you are employees." She still laughed, not exactly knowing how to handle this situation. She followed the two as they ran back into the main area of the shopSuma sighed but relaxed her shoulders, "...But I am not going to ban any of you. Just..." She wiped the sweat off her brow, "Just don't go into the back again... And please leave, I think I'm going to close up for the night."The group nodded in understanding before leaving, talking amongst each other. Suma looked through her keys as the group began to file out of the building. Suma sighed as she locked the door to her shop. It was night time, and the shop needed to be closed."Oh those kids are just silly... Definitely adding a 'Please don't go in the back' rule. Definitely..."Suma could feel the room turn cold while her shadow slowly changed behind her. The shadow slowly shifted into an omnious monkey shape, complete with purple eyes and a wide mischevious smile...