The trio in front of the television remained standing there, transfixed at the most disturbing sight in front of them. There were no shoes to blame the dancing on, nothing to remove from his emerald green feet as they tapped and pranced around the common room, pulling their friend along with them in their ceaseless magical dance. His pads made very audible clicking sounds with each instep and patter, and seemed to be enjoying their celebration...though looking up above the wolfen's knees they knew full well how far from the truth that was.
Crisp had occasionally managed to get a grasp on where the green fur had begun, but nothing he did even slowed down his magically empowered appendages...ripping themselves from his grasp and dancing him toward his friends and the television that was giving them their life, but tauntingly, they would hop back and pull him away, taking him into the bathroom and then the master bedroom, if anything but to experience the different textures of floor and carpeting under their soles...but they settled mostly for the hardwood flooring of the common room, and were content to do their jig in place, keeping Crisps constantly just inches away from any stray hands that would lend him any aid...
They had even stomped down on the remote control in passing, shattering it....
"Turn off the TV off! Please! It's the only way to stop them!" Crisp pleaded to his friends since his paws kept him from doing anything himself. They kept making him dance all throughout the room.
"R-remote," Boquard finally managed to stammer out, "Where's the remote?!?" He dropped down to all fours to search for the thing and found the remains. "Turn it off manually! The thing's bro-ARRUUGHH!!" Crisp's left paw stomped down hard on the skunk's hand, "SONOVABEEZWAX!!" He clutched it tightly and then flexed his fingers. "THAT HURT!!" He didn't direct his anger to the dancing wolfen, but glared at his other two friends. "I SAID TURN IT OFF!!"
"Hold your huggin' horses!!" Fox shouted back, pressing furiously at the power button, "The switch is stuck!" He bent over to find the plug, and suddenly got shoved into the wall as Crisps was slam-danced into his friend before his paws pulled him back before any retaliation or saving could be performed.
"Crisps, you need to focus, and get control of your unchained apprenda-UURK!" The lizard geek got a cossack kick in the groin for his words, causing him to sink to the floor. All the while the wolfen's paws tappled happily, as if laughing at the chaos they were causing...
"Someone distract them and someone else unplug the TV! I'm sorry! Its not me doing this!" Crisp looked down at his heaved over friends and then at his cursed paws. "Just make this stop!"
Fox finally regained his senses and stretched to the power cord deep behind the heavy entertainment cabinet. "Hang on, Crisps, I'll get the cord yanked!" He grabbed the stout cord and tugged on it for all he was worth, the constant metallic pattering of his friend's paw pads made him wince, as did the sounds of his struggles in vain.
"Hang on a few more second-WHOA!!" Boquard tried to comfort his friend, but the wolfen's enchanted paws launched Crisp toward the skunk, who barely got out of the way. Crisps sailed into the bed, and before he could breathe a sigh of relief, his paws shot a warm sensation through his toe pads as they sparkled and dragged him across the mattress and placed themselves back on the floor, beginning their happy dance anew....
"HNNG..HARRNNGGGGGHH!!!" There was a snap and a crackle of electricity as the television suddenly went dead, and Fox fell backward onto his rump, shaking his head.
The wolf's breathing slowly began to regulate as he looked down again to see his paws slowly fading back to their original colors and the tapping began to cease, he fell backwards onto the bed and sat there thinking how the heck he was going to explain to his friends what they just witnessed.
Boquard stared at Crisps' paws as they slowly regained their dusky dark gray hue, and Maynard's mouth clicked shut. Fox was still shaking the cobwebs from his head, but the skunk basically summed it up in one simple line:
"What in the Buggering HUG was that?!?"
"I...uh...well...I..." Crisp stammered to try and find the right words to explain what just happened. The wolf gulped as he tried to explain to his friends the bizarre happening with his paws. "I'm...not exactly sure myself...all I know is that everytime I hear music...my paws just turn green and I can't stop dancing until I can't hear music anymore."
Fox finally stood up and walked over, his eyes drawn down to Crisps' feet. "Do...do they actually hear the music or do you need to hear it?"
"WHO did this to you?" Boquard asked, his fur bristling.
"More importantly, is there some sort of countermeasure to remove this...this magacck..." He had a hard time saying the word...it flew in the face of every science he knew....
The wolf didn't want to say that the shopkeeper did it because he was unsure of if they'd believe him or not. But after his friends seeing what they just saw, there was nothing left to lose. "It...it was the shopkeeper. He threw some green powder on my paws and now they dance everytime to music...I...I don't know what to do..." The wolf started to get choked up as he just stared back down at his paws.
Boquard bristled a little. "I knew there was something messed up about that guy...I just knew it..." He flopped down next to Crisps and put a shoulder around him. "I dunno how we'll manage it, but we're going to give that shopkeeper a piece of our mind, and make him take whatever the Hug it is off your paws...that's not right....that's just NOT right..."
Maynard shivered a little. "I'll get on Mythic-Net and see if there's any real-life examples of people getting cursed..." He shook his head. "I thought stuff like this only happened in fairy tales..."
Fox dug out his portable CD player and clicked it on, directing the headphones at Crisps' paws...."Are THEY actually hearing this?" The music was barely audible...
The paws could pick up the trace amount of music coming from the CD player and slowly began fading to a green color and tapping slowly to the beat. Crisp noticed his paws began to change again and and tried to slap away the CD player from Fox. "Stop it Fox!"
Boquard gave the vulpine a swift kick. "Knock it off, Chumwayde, this is serious shit!" For once, Fox didn't bristle at his real name, instead he sat cross-legged on the floor, flicking off the device.
"I kinda deserved that, this time...sorry..." He scratched his head. "Pretty much any music sets them off...no matter how soft or unnoticeable it is...it's like they're living sound receptors..." Maynard looked up from his laptop and pointed toward the front door.
"Oh look, there's our favorite imaginary friend: No-Shit Sherlock....and he brought his sister too, No-Shit Shirley!" The lizard shook his head and sighed out angrily. "Sorry Fox, but this is REALLY serious stuff...we just witnessed a profoundly vile magical effect plaguing our best friend, and with that, we have just been thrust into a new paradigm of being....leprechauns, magic, curses, evil spells in general...they're all REAL."
"Yeah, now we just find a Chicken McTender that's fresh and the world will come to an end," Fox yelped as he was kicked again. "Hey! Tension breaker...we kinda NEED it right now!"
"I just...I just want my paws back to normal...I want to be able to listen to music without having my paws dance rapidly all over the place..." The wolf dug his face into his hands and began moping.
Maynard sighed. "This is most unfortuitous, but perhaps there IS a way to make that shopkeeper take back his spell..." He slid the laptop around and showed the entry her found on Mythic-Net for Leprechauns. "I am sure we can find something made of iron in this place, like a tire jack or a crowbar or something...it says the wee folk are burned by can be destroyed from the prolonged touch of cold iron..."
"At this point, I'm willing to try anything," the wolf said dully.
Maynard nodded and smiled a little. "Well, we might be able to combat this magical creature with the science of mythology..."
"Isn't that an oxymoron?" Boquard asked, a bit puzzled.
"Isn't an oxymoron a stupid person who uses pimple cream?" Fox smirked, and then his face fell when no one laughed. "Hey, I'm pretty useless when it comes to the smart shit, you know..."
"Coming from the one who wants to become a teacher," Maynard sighed, and earned a pillow thrown in his direction.
"A GYM teacher, stupid!" Fox huffed, "I know how to make GAMES." His ears perked up and from the looks of Crisps' paws beginning to turn green again he knew something musical approached. "SHIT!" He rushed to the open window and struggled to get its old tracking to give up its grip. "Shut you old piece of crap!!" The heavy bass and hard drumming were already making the wolfen's paws keep to the rhythm...
A look of concern came over the wolf's face as he was trying to hold himself to the bed. His paws just kept tapping further and further away from him. "I...I can't hold still for much longer guys..."
SLAM!
"Got it!!" Fox looked over to Crisps, though his eyes were drawn to the green paws, which seemed to content themselves with pattering happily to the beat until the vehicle passed and then settled back to their natural hues. "That...that is unreal..." He tore his gaze away from the cursed appendages as the last of their sparkle faded. "I...I don't know what I would do if I couldn't listen to music without dancing..." He slumped into the well-worn leather chair and sighed. "Can you at least wear your sneaks, Crispy?"
Boquard frowned a bit. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea...they seem pretty insistent that they remain 'unrestrained'...." Fox rolled his eyes and laughed.
"That's crazy, Bouq...it's not like they're smart or anything...what do they know about wearing shoes...they're probably nice little homes for them." Maynard shook his head.
"You DO realize you're talking about our friend's paws as if they were living, breathing creatures in their own right?" The lizard frowned. "As much as they look like they've come to sentience independent of Crisps, they are STILL just appendages, and nothing more..."
"I...i've tried. It's as Boquard said, they like being unrestrained. Anytime my sneakers or any footwear comes close to my paws, a tingling buzz shoots through them until they move away." Crisp glanced over at his red sneakers in the corner. "Sucks too cause you guys know how much I loved wearing them..."
Fox hiss-snarled a little. "That's a bunch of crap....a stupid spell can't force you to lose your shoes on top of all of that..." He stalked from his chair and snatched up Crisp's sneakers and brought them over...as soon as the footwear got close an electric sensation coursed through the wolfen's paws as they grew a darker shade of green, his paw-pads hardened and they pattered on the ground, sending spikes of static through his fur. Either Fox wasn't paying attention or didn't care.
"Listen up, Tootsies...you're going to wear these sneakers whether you want to or not-" As he grabbed one of the cursed ankles, Crisps was thrown onto the bed as his paws flew up into the air and in one swift motion they both kicked out, slamming themselves into Fox and sending him flying across the room, crashing into the wall with a crunch.
"FOX!!" Maynard shouted and rushed over, trying to revive the vulpine, "WHAT THE HELL, CRISP?!?" The lizard checked a pulse and breathed a sigh of relief. "He's alive..."
In the meantime, Crisps enchanted paws turned their attention on the sneakers and with an unsettling squishing noise their normally blunted, stubby claws grew into four-inch long silvery talons, razor sharp. The wolfen's paws dragged him over to the offending footwear and tore into them, dancing and clawing, shredding and stomping until all that were left were tatters....as soon as the deed was done, Crisps felt his cursed appendages grow warm, and they danced him back to the bed, forcing him back to sitting as their hue transferred back their normal emerald green, and then to Crisps' normal coloration....
"We...we don't do that again, Boquard whispered, scooting slightly away from his enchanted friend.
Crisp looked in horror at the shredded remains of his favorite sneakers and then over to fox who seemed like he was staring at stars in his head. "S...sorry fox...I tried to warn ya..." Crisp went back into sulk mode as he looked around the room at the damage his cursed paws had done.
Fox began to come around, swearing under his breath..."Why the hug did you hit me so huggin' hard, you shitwhistle?"
"Lay off, Chumwayde, it wasn't his fault." Boquard sighed, "Crispy tried to tell you, but this stuff is heavy duty...I mean this goes far worse than those cartoons or the silly stories...I'm just glad they didn't try to do to you what they just did to his sneakers..." Fox cast a slightly glazed look over to the skunk and then looked about the floor; bits of bright red canvas and shreds of rubber were everywhere. "Yeah, imagine if they did that to you instead of just kicking you in the chest..." Boquard shuddered and stared at his best friend. "This isn't just something that's embarrassing or funny anymore...whatever that shopkeeper is, we NEED to stop him and quickly...if they can do something like THAT, then you're more of a weapon than just some dancing fool...pardon the pun." Maynard nodded gravely.
"Indeed...the dancing may just be a 'default' mode, but if that vile fellow wanted to use you as an assassin, it would be an adequate cover....making a victim laugh at your misfortune, and then they turn predatory and strike..."
"Oh...no...that's like...just a nightmare!" The wolf began to shudder at the worse case scenarios. He ends up being laughed at by a crowd of people and then killing them all with his paws. "That's just...horrible...maybe I'm best off just cutting of my feet at this point..."
Fox shook his head. "No way, buddy...we're not gonna let it come to that..." He got to his own paws shakily and made his way over to the cursed wolfen. "I promise you, we're not going to let you stay this way...this is....this is bullshit and I'm gonna call that shopkeeper on it 'till he takes this huggin' spell off you." He looked over to Boquard and Maynard. "Guys, we've GOT to do this...we can't let Crispy be this...this huggin' PLAYTHING to that bastard!" Boquard shook his head.
"No arguement from me, there, my friend." He looked to Crisps and clasped an arm around his shoulder. "We're not sitting by and letting that man...or THING take you away from us..."
"I too, will stand alongside you, my lupine companion...friend." Maynard stood up and walked over, giving Crisps a tight hug. "You've gotten each of us out of some thorny predicaments while we were growing up...and upon maturity, we have learned the value of reciprocating such magnanimosity unto you...we WILL prevail, that I can assure you with every fiber of my being." The lizard was shivering a little as he held onto his friend. "We won't let you suffer this fate most unjustified..."
"Could you say that in ENGLISH next time, 'Nard?" Fox asked, annoyed.
"I AM....if you knew more about me, I speak in lofty diction whenever I'm nervous..." Maynard sighed and forced a smile. "Which is almost always....the joys of being a complete nerd..."
The wolfs eyes began to water up as he started sniffling uncontrollably. "Th...thanks guys...you guys are the best friends...ever..." Crisp rubbed away the tears away from his face with his sleeve.
Bouqard rubbed his muzzle gently against Crisps. "Shhhh...it's going to be okay, near-brother...we'll get you out of this jam..." He smiled and then looked to Fox and Maynard. "C'mon guys, we got a wolf to rescue." He started to head toward the door. "I'm going to check the Ivory Pages for a hardware store, or at least a junkyard...we're sure to find something made of the iron we need there." Maynard nodded.
"Indeed...we'll also want something made of gold...leprechauns are known for hoarding it...and perhaps a fresh apple pie....fairies are well-documented for liking sweets made of fruit...it might serve us well...and if we don't use it in the upcoming confrontation, we'll save you a slice, Crisps...maybe make it ala mode." He cracked a smile. "The bright side of life, and all of that." Fox took a baseball bat out of his duffel bag.
"Not sure if this will do much good, but I'm a crack shot in softball, maybe it'll be good for cracking a mythical asshole's skull, too...or at least distracting it." He patted Crisps on the shoulder before he turned to leave. "You sit tight here, buddy...try to relax...don't put on Music TeeVee and keep the windows closed so your Patter-Paws don't get any reason to step up..." He nodded to his other two friends. "We'll be back with a way out for you, I promise..." With a reassuring, but uncertain smile, Fox disappeared through the doorway and shut it...
The wolf just laid himself back on the bed and closed his eyes. Hoping that soon his friends would have had the curse lifted from his paws and that he could go back to living a normal life. "Be safe guys..." The wolf thought to himself as he slowly drifted off back to sleep.
As soon as he got downstairs, Fox flopped on the bottom step and buried his face in his hands. "Th-this is unreal...did you see THEM?" He shivered and looked up to his two friends. "I...I mean I know they were a part of that bastard shopkeeper's spell, but...but they weren't Crisps, man..."
"We know, Chumwayde..." Maynard said quietly, his own face betraying fear and a sense of disturbedness, "They were out of his control entirely." Fox didn't even snarl at his real name, but he shook his head.
"N-no...it was more than that...I mean, I KNOW it's a spell, but when they came at me, they looked ANGRY at me...like they were offended and had their own emotions and everything...maybe foot-shaped leprechauns themselves...and I know how stupid it sounds, but right before they kicked me, I could have heard them snarl...or something." He wiped a tear away and pulled himself together. "That's SERIOUSLY hugged up, isn't it? Is it just me?" He pleaded, "Please tell me I was just imagining things!" Boquard sat down next to his vulpine friend and sighed.
"Honestly, I can't say whether I heard it or not, I was too shocked and horrified to do much of anything else. But I CAN agree with you...Crisps' paws attacked as if they were entirely different...creatures...beasts...THINGS....when that green began, Crispy ended..."
"A Soul Juxtaposition, in the literal sense?" Maynard took a seat on Fox's other side. "This shopkeeper may have summoned his ancestors or previously deceased ancestors into our friend's body parts...and with their free will..." The lizard shivered, looking down at his own bare feet. "That is a fate that many would call worse than death...to be ganged up upon with your own appendages being the stage..." Fox looked up, snarling a bit in frustration.
"But why HIM...why the Huggin' Hell would he go after Crispy like that?!?" He started to tear up again. "All he said was that he didn't believe in that leprachaun nonsense....and could anyone blame him? Or any of US?!? I mean, COME ON...dudes...we've never even imagined that they could be actually REAL, you know?"
Boquard put an arm around the fox and sighed. "I don't know why he singled out Crispy," he admitted, "but I'm with you...what the guy did was way too harsh...and he needs to be stopped." He looked over to Maynard, who had once again pulled out his laptop. "Hey 'Nard, have you found anything else that's useful on that Mythipedia Website?" The lizard shook his head.
"Not that which we already learned upstairs...I think we need to get some iron crowbars...and go after him swinging...get some bags of powdered iron to incapacitate the imp, so we subdue him and then get him to remove his spell from Crisps' paws...if he does this, then we let him be...chalk this up to being a big misunderstanding."
"We kill him," Fox replied flatly, "If we make him take the spell off Crisp who's to say we wouldn't take his place...I don't want to dance forever whenever I hear music..." His words dripped with as much fear as anger. "And if he would do something like this to him, then who's to say he won't do it to some other poor schmuck that pisses him off?"
"Why don't we get iron cables or chicken wire...something to tie him up in?" Bouqard suggested, "I mean, I don't want to be a murderer...not even to someone who might deserve it..." Maynard nodded.
"Indeed...we need to take the high road here, and show mercy on this misguided soul...he may well realize he overreacted and retract his enchantment without much cohersion from us...." Fox glanced to both of his pals.
"Y-yeah...let's just work on getting the crowbars...some chicken wire so we can tie him up, and that apple pie since you said it may be easier to lure him out..." The vulpine shivered again, but stood up nonetheless. "The sooner we do this the quicker we can get Crisps out of this jam and get the hug outta here before he changes his mind." He made a head motion toward the door. "C'mon guys...let's get the stuff and spring our friend from this crap..."
The trio left the inn, worried and wondering, and upstairs, Crisps remained asleep, though his paws twitched and writhed from time to time...without warning, their fur began to gloss over, and take on the emerald hue...his paw-pads silvering and stretching as the enchanted appendages slithered out from under the covers...sparkling idly....
