Bounties for fun (Mao mao Fanfict)

Prologue: Bounty Hunting

It was just a normal day like any other. A brown tanuki with a little light green cape drove an aero truck that was completely covered in gold through the air. The cool wind and the smell of salt in the air from the water were so familiar. She had taken that route multiple times, so she was only half concentrated on driving, she could do that even if she were asleep, therefore she was more concerned about the piece of paper on her left hand.  At the backbox of the truck laid a brown bag. Inside there was a grey ferret with a purple cape and a monocle, he was a bit stuffed for an average ferret.

"Please, let me go! I promise I haven't done anything wrong in years!" the ferret pleaded.

"So why is the bounty still on you?" asked the tanuki, she wasn't really interested in what he had to say, but it was pretty quiet and the sound was reassuring, he had to be turned in alive after all.

"I... I swear I don't know, I haven't done anything slightly illegal in years" the ferret responded with a nervous and anxious voice.

"Really? must be pretty boring then" She responded jokingly.

"Please, I'll do anything! I have money!" The ferret said as a last attempt to make her reconsider. Now she had heard something that piked her interest. She slowed down the truck until it eventually stopped. The ferret let a big smiled that kept on appearing and disappearing. He felt how his chest uncompacted, like how a big weight was lifted from his body, but he could not stop shaking. The tanuki turned around and made eye contact with the criminal.

"Go on"

He had offered the tanuki double the money of the bounty. She thought she could let him go now and turn him in later, who knows? maybe he would have gained more money by then. Of course, everything could be a tramp, but she could only hope it was challenging, she missed having a good fight. They shortly arrived to what seemed to be a cave. However, the inside was framed with metal all over, which meant it was most likely a hidden base. There were some trees around, but for the most part, the area was completely isolated. If something happened, no one would hear. 

"The money is in there. If you untie me I'll be as fast as I can-"

"Wow, you think I'm letting you go alone? you're showing me where it is and then I'll decide what to do with you" The tanuki corrected as she parked the truck. The hope in the ferret's eyes was replaced with a tense expression, he felt a small hole in his stomach. He knew he really did not have an option, so he nodded slightly and led the way inside. 

The tanuki used her left hand to pull out a leaf and turned into a flashlight (since it was fairly dark) while holding on to the tied ferret with her other hand. The deeper in they went, the more 'uneasy' she felt. It was a dark place and there wasn't much space, but she kept calm, focused on the animal in front of her and listened for any questionable sounds. 

They eventually reached a larger area which gave her some kind of relief. They went more in dept and suddenly an alarm went off. The darkness disappeared to reveal a large circular chamber lined with metal and walls about 6 meters tall. Bright white lights had appeared at the top of the walls, where there were platforms secured with railings. A group of armed animals rushed into the platforms and aimed at the tanuki with bows and arrows. In a brief second of looking around to analyze the situation, she let go of the criminal and he ran towards a wall. The guards aimed carefully and did not hesitate to shoot all at once. The arrows were barely an inch away when she vanished, leaving nothing but a cloud of dust and leaves behind. The guards were shocked and before they had time to react, she appeared behind one of them and knocked him out with a kick. The other guards turned around towards her and quickly aimed one more time. She rushed towards the others, dodging every arrow they shot at her, which only made them more desperate and caused poor aiming. She knocked down everyone in her path. Then she looked down and noticed the Ferret trying to escape through where they had entered. She quickly grabbed one of the bows from the knocked out guards and shot an arrow that pinned his cape to the floor. She jumped down leaving the bow behind.  

The second her feet touched the ground a door opened at her left about 3 meters away. A giant warthog, the biggest out of all the guards, had an armor that covered its entire torso and a spear, it was running towards her. It was really fast despite being so huge, she would not have time to run away, so instead, she slid through the floor and hit his feet which caused it to fall over. The huge animal quickly got up, but so did she. She led the warthog who was chasing her towards the wall, just before she crashed she did a high backflip using the wall as a support and got herself just above its head. Time seemed to have been slowed down. She took out a leaf and turned into a giant wait which dropped on the animal's head, knocking him out. The warthog dropped on the floor completely unconscious and the wait poofed. The tanuki landed on her two feet, removed some dust from her fur and made her way towards the criminal who was trying everything in his power to escape, he got more agitated the closer she got. He begged for mercy but she grabbed the front of his cape and pulled him towards her.

"Where is it?" she asked with a calm but firm voice. 

"I-I'm s-sorry! I-I swear I h-have it! It's right there!" the ferret said as he pointed towards the wall. The tanuki looked over and saw a safe, she had probably missed it because it blended with the wall. "It is all in there! I s-swear!"

She pushed him to the direction he had pointed. "Open it" she ordered. The small animal stumbled a little, he walked over to the safe and began to put in a number code in a little screen beside the safe. He was shaking. He opened the door and took out some money. He counted to verify it was enough and gave it to her. She looked at the dollars in her paws, and then back at the criminal. For a few seconds, they just made eye contact. The bounty hunter looked at him like she was expecting something else, but he just looked at her, nervously sweating, she figured he was clueless.

"I can still see money in there" she said firmly. He felt chills starting from his feet al the way to his head.

"I.. but t-that is d-double the bounty, like I promised" he said slowly like he was quickly thinking of the right words to say, his voice was shaking.

"You don't seriously think this is all I'm getting after the trouble you just made me go through" she said. "you know I could turn you in this very second, it wouldn't be hard" she took a step forward, which caused him to back up. His entire body was shaking, he looked at her for a few seconds, trying to prosses what he had just heard, and immediately turned around to grave the rest of the money. He gave her everything in the safe, it was completely empty.

"There. I d-don't have any more" he assured. She was now a bit satisfied. 

"Pleasure doing business with you" she said with a smile and turned around to leave. After a few steps she stopped, she turned her head around a little and went "By the way, you might want to train your men better for next time, you almost made me try" then she left.

She went above a sea towards the jail. When she got there, she parked her truck and went towards the front counter, where an old turtle in a cop outfit received her. 

"Well well well, if it isn't my favorite bounty hunter! Tanya keys" the old turtle said with excitement, giving her a warm welcome. "Caught any new criminals to cash in?"

"Not really. I was looking for the drug dealer but I couldn't find him. He has been missing for years so he's probably dead" Tanya said.

"Yeah, I wouldn't have had my hopes up for that one either" he admitted.

Tanya looked over to a board on the wall, there were a few 'wanted' posters for all sorts of different animals. Some seemed more fierce than others. "You got any new bounties?" she asked as she walked towards the board.

"Not interesting ones, but there are still a lot of old ones that are worth quite a lot" he answered. 

She looked over and looked for the ones who looked the strongest. "Honestly, I don't really do it for the money like I used to. I just want an interesting fight" They all looked like twigs.

"Of course you do" the turtle said laughing it off, more to himself than to Tanya.

Tanya kept looking until she saw two that intrigued her, a fox and a raccoon. She looked into them more and read: 'Last seen: Pure Heart Valley'. She smiled, It wouldn't hurt to give mittens and his pals a little visit. She took both of the posters, walked towards her truck and went on her way.