Chase Through Station City

 "Oh shite."

For an instant he found himself struck dumb, wallet in one hand, the pack with all his things in it—including his gun—disappearing through the crowd in the hands of a thief.

"Hey! Sorry I—" Throwing half an apology over his shoulder at the shocked cashier, he twitched after them, shoving his wallet back in his pocket and dodging around a startled group reeling back from the thief shooting past. They hadn't even gotten his money. Did he really look like a good mark? "Oi! You got the wrong thing, idiot!"

Either they didn't hear him, or they didn't care. He hissed out a wordless grumble, darting after a monkey of a tween who could thread a camel through the eye of a needle with the way he flashed through the crowd.

Cursing under his breath, he raised his voice to call ahead in case anyone could at least slow the kid down, but whenever anyone looked up or turned around at all the shouting, the thief slipped past. He disappeared around a tiny cornerstore into another corridor-street, and Lachlan skidded after him, nearly crashing into a lady with a suitcase. Puffing a quick "excuse me", he danced around her and broke into a sprint again, dashing after—

No one?

He screeched to an abrupt stop, breathing quickly and twisting to take in the whole street, hunting for a glimpse of his rucksack. Must've used his lead to drop into a walk and disappear in the crowd. Or walked into one of the shops. Dammit. He threw a quick look into the fireworks shop next to him, the place open enough no one could hide in it unless they slipped out the back, but the novelties shop next to it could hide a cow, the street crowded with signs and edges that anyone decent at climbing could take advantage of.

He can't have just disappeared. He took a step forward, using his height advantage to search over the crowd. Damn kid could be anywhere and he didn't have a clue. There were restaurants around an open space at the end, too, with fenced-in outdoor areas and everything—more areas to lose a lost foreigner in. Place was as much of a maze as the blasted fighting theatres of Ossary.

If I lose him now, I'll never get it back. No matter how worthless the items inside might be to a thief, they'd still be pawned off and he'd never see any of his things again. Damnitall. Heart beating a steady pulse in his ears, he scuffed his sandal briefly against the ground. Not lino like the gateway tunnel—it was rougher, paved with cobblestone patterns, designed to be hard to slip on but not tear skin like sandpaper. Good, because this'd be the least obtrusive way he could manage this.

Slipping briefly to the edge close by the bin alleyway between the novelty shop and a clothing store, no one hopefully paying any attention to him, he switched forms.

Unlike before, he didn't pull his yuurei on like a coat in a halfway kind of state to use its power, just borrowed its appearance and slipped into the body of a plain old grey wolf, the rest of him sent off to the shadow realm or wherever these things disappeared to. It'd still startle people, but not as much as an obake running around with fangs and claws out, trailing ghostly mist like a cape and eyes glowing like a demon.

Of course, people still noticed a big ol' wolf shooting out like a bullet from a rifle, darting nearly right under their feet. Ears pinned back to ease the flood of noise, he ignored gasps and exclamations, catching the familiar thread of old weather-beaten cloth through the storm of food and people smells, as familiar as the scars on his hands.

And there, walking at a quick and easy stroll with his rucksack casually hanging from skinny shoulders, strode the little thief.

Aha. His lips pulled back in a wolf's smile as he ducked between a couple, brushing a hanging bag. Gotcha.

Kid must've had a sixth sense, because just as he coiled to leap, wide amber eyes glanced over the pack, meeting his. His teeth missed the cloth by inches, a surprisingly soft-featured face twisting in shock as she—not a twelvish boy, a skin-and-bones teenage girl—jerked away. A glow like an afterimage trailed off her skin like smoke, pupils slitting. An obake?

Well this just made things worse. He growled, landing like a cat and snapping around after her as she sprinted away. Could smell her scent, too, now that he focused on it, a tinge like something feline mixed in. Should've realised.

Launching after her as she dashed for some kind of toy shop, he streaked in front, heading her off before she could try scrambling up on a roof, herding her down the middle. Shouts and cries chased them, his tail brushing a leg as he slipped right through a group she tried to put between them, racing up next to her.

"Just drop the bag," he barked. Not literally—another weird effect of obake abilities. "I don't care where you came from, and I don't care where you run off to. That's mine, and nothing in it's worth anything to you."

She yelped as his voice came from nowhere, projected out of The Elsewhere, and leapt sideways, barreling past a man reading a newspaper on the go. Hell's ass, what's it take to get people to just listen—?

Pushing for more speed, cursing the winter coat his yuurei hadn't shed yet, he caught up in a couple bounds, latching onto the cloth just behind the strap and hauling anchor with a hard jerk backwards.

She cried out, hitting the floor hard enough to make him wince as he twisted away before he could get crushed with her. In an instant, he switched back to two legs and a pair of hands, kneeling and grabbing the pack before she could roll away. "It wouldn't kill you to—"

Claws flashed right at his face and he flinched back, arm shooting up to catch the hit, heat slashing across his skin. "Gh— hell—"

He lunged forward just too late to grab it again, the girl scrambling away past the shocked pedestrians that'd frozen around them. The shocked murmur jumped in pitch when he switched mid-leap and flashed past them. At this point he'd give a rat's tail. Blimmin' cat—

Trailing glinting crimson droplets, he raced at full speed after the girl not bothering to hide her own abilities anymore as she leapt just ahead of his teeth, far higher than any ordinary person could jump, hopping from outdoor seating fence to awning and scampering up on the roof over the heads of shocked restaurant-goers.

Well, two could play that game. He leapt, flashing between forms briefly to pull himself up and drumming on four paws over the tiles, hot on her heels.

A shrill whistle followed them between establishments, calls and gasps ringing out from below as they shot over the gap, the thief switching tacks and jumping down onto a table before he could tackle her. Shrieks followed her, and he mentally ground his teeth, leaping down to track her between tables instead.

He leapt clean over the fence half a second behind her hopping it back to the crowded space of the round square, and nearly slammed nose-first into a glowing barrier.

"Oi!" Twisting around it, he hurtled after her, diving into the crowd where the more official shouting couldn't try a trick like that again. "She's the criminal here!"

Why did wolves always get the short end of the stick? What about the half-feral cat-girl diving between innocent bystanders with a ghostly tail trailing her? I would've asked for a bird if I'd had a choice!

Having an osprey form would've been nice right about now. He weaved after her, always just one step behind, not able to use his full speed as he chased her down a side passage. Sticking doggedly to her heels, he clung tight on her tail even when she veered dangerously close to a group of police, probably trying to get him boxed by their glimmer trick.

She swung abruptly around another corner behind a group of teenagers that forced him to twist the long way around, trying to throw him off again with another disappearing trick. This time she leapt up, catching a corner shop and bounding up to the balcony. It would've worked if she hadn't underestimated how fast he was.

He launched up, switching midair and kicking his sandals off for better purchase, vaulting over the balcony railing and jumping up after her to the upper roof.

And too slowly, dammit. She leapt lightly ahead of him like a fairy dancing on flower petals across to the next shop, her skill and her yuurei bound to leave him in the dust.

Wolf paws weren't meant for a cat's domain, but he used what he had. Bounding after her, he skidded over tiles as she switchbacked and leapt off the edge, catching one of the wires. And he coiled every one of his muscles, launching off after her hustling over the gap like a monkey.

He nearly missed the pack swinging off her shoulders.

Then his teeth clamped down for the second time, digging tightly enough to scrape something solid inside, and the weight dragged her down with a jolt.

She cried out, kicking wildly at him, her heel catching him in the ribs, and he grunted at the flash of pain, flattening his ears and hanging on for dear life. They both hung like an overripe fruit, dangling a couple metres above the startled babble.

"Look!"

"Up there—!"

"Let— go," he growled at the thief, wincing as another heel caught caught him in the belly. "Just give me the—"

In one quick movement, she shrugged a shoulder out of the straps, her gasps for breath and the beat of her heart loud in his ears. Abruptly, he dropped lower, his own heart shooting into his throat.

Oh he—

With a jerk, she slipped out of the other strap, and he fell.

He thudded into the ground with the pack still clenched in his teeth, staggering back to his paws just in time to see her swing across the last of the line and disappear over the roof, leaving him huffing through the cloth in his mouth, one leg aching like hell and the rest of him probably sporting a nice set of bruises.

Well, he had asked her to let go.

"Stop!" A shout made his ear flick around, and he glanced over to see the police running up, firearms thankfully in their holsters, but those glimmer nets didn't look friendly. "If you run, you will be charged with evading arrest!"

"I'm not running." He slipped back into his own body without thinking, lifting his hands in surrender. With the pack still in his mouth.

Spitting it out, he stayed kneeling, trying a smile as he huffed for breath. "You're going to let me go, aren't you?"

The lead man pulled him to his feet, the glimmer users watching him like a hawk as he winced from the jostling of his torn-up arm. "You must be taken in for questioning. I will also need to check your details."

Well. That was unfortunate.

He smiled weakly. Hopefully the kitsune kami wouldn't mind digging him out of jail.