Small Fist of Justice

It was the weekend and Phoebe was asked to fulfill some basic requests outside the house. Aurelius had been taking the information gathered from the parenting books very seriously, he was hoping to create a sense of responsibility by having the girl do some things with supervision of course. As such Phoebe had been given a small chore list with a small list of tasks that she needed to complete for the day. 

Phoebe was informed of this plan after she had finished a light running exercise. Phoebe hesitated for a bit but took the chore list after learning that she would be rewarded for completing the list. Phoebe was becoming more childish ever since she was adopted, she had come out of her shell and was acting more like a child of her age. Aurelius preferred her childlike slightly spoiled attitude rather than her small submissive attitude when she first met him. 

After finishing all her homework and training lessons Phoebe got to work fulfilling her chores, she put away her clothes, cleaned her room, took out the trash, and cleaned up her playroom. The fox servants helped her making sure that she didn't do any activity that would strain her. It took a little bit of time but slowly Phoebe crossed off the majority of her chore list, she only had one chore left. 

The last task Phoebe had to accomplish was more to teach her a lesson about money than it was a necessity. She was given the task to go to the grocery store and help Kiki and Min-Min buy some food for dinner. In reality, Kiki and Min-Min already had everything they needed to prepare the dinner, so Phoebe's shopping trip was to help her learn about human money. When Aurelius explained the idea to the foxes they thought that since they didn't need to buy food they could use this opportunity to buy ingredients to make a sweet treat for Phoebe. The most important detail of the plan was that Aurelius wouldn't be joining Phoebe in this adventure. She had to learn to rely less on Aurelius and rely on herself, and understanding this Aurelius decided he could spend this alone time analyzing the barrier. With the plan in motion Phoebe, Min-Min, and Kiki left the house and headed to the grocery store. 

The grocery store that the group ended up at was called Harvest Haven, a very popular chain of stores in town. Upon entering Phoebe tried to make a bolt for the candy aisle but was stopped when Kiki reached her paw out and grabbed her. Phoebe had learned for basic combat training that it was a futile effort to try to escape from Kiki's grasp, once she had hold of you you would only get free when she grew bored of you. Phoebe huffed slightly as Kiki let go of her and in response, the two foxes laughed mischievously at her. 

"My lady you will be able to receive your treat after we have finished shopping," Min-Min stressed. 

Phoebe mumbled something incoherent as a response but she did stop trying to run into the candy aisle. With that shopping was much easier as the trio walked up and down the aisles picking up a few items. 

"Why do we need heavy cream, sugar, strawberries, and piping tip?" Phoebe asked as Min-Min pulled the piping tips off the shelf.

"We need it for dinner of course," Kiki responded instantly. 

"But that doesn't sound like things you need for dinner! What are you hiding from me?" 

"Nothing! You're just imagining things. How about this we are almost done picking up all the necessary ingredients so why don't you go pick out one bag of candy." 

"Ok!" Phoebe cheered in excitement as she raced away to go find her prize, Kiki and Min-Min watched in amusement as she raced away. 

Skipping along Phoebe made her way to the candy aisle, she looked around at the options being extremely picky she could only purchase one. She was choosing between caramel candy and a bag of sour gummy watermelons. Making her choice Phoebe pulled the caramel candy down and she was about to run out of the aisle when a suspicious-looking man caught her eye. The man looked incredibly dodgy as he lowered his baseball cap to hide more of his face, the entire time he moved slowly towards a woman and her child that was sitting in the shopping cart playing with a toy. 

The man moved quickly but quietly watching the mom who was distracted as she looked at some of the frozen food on the other side of the aisle. Without warning the man ran up and took the baby out of the shopping cart and ran away as fast as he could. The child screamed and that was when the mother finally turned around and realized what was happening. 

"My baby!" She shrieked in horror. 

She ran towards the man but he just forcefully shoved her to the ground and continued running out of there. Phoebe felt her blood boil, she hated when adults hurt children, she couldn't stand idly by so without thinking she ran forward into a full sprint to chase after the man. The mother who was lying on the floor sobbing was extremely surprised by the image of an seven-year-old running in a dead sprint and nearly catching up to a full-grown adult. 

Phoebe was on the man's heels in almost an instant, he was barely out of the store when she ran up and tackled him with all her might. The kidnapper was extremely confused when Phoebe's tackle managed to throw him off balance and loosen his grip on the baby. Using that moment Phoebe kicked the man's inner knee making him drop to the ground and took the baby out of his hand as she ran back into the store. The shock of the situation didn't last for long and soon after the man had gotten up and ran after Phoebe. 

Had the man been a little more rational at that moment he would have realized that the kidnapped baby's mom would have likely alerted the authorities or altered the grocery store worker who in turn would have alerted the authorities. So running back into the store was a good way to be caught by the police but at the moment he was too upset over the fact that an elementary student managed to stop him. He wanted vengeance on the kid even if it would get him caught. 

Phoebe ran around looking for the baby's mom or even Kiki and Min-Min but she didn't find either of them. Without realizing it she had run into a dead end and when she turned around to leave the kidnapper stood right at the front of the aisle. 

"You're going to regret messing with me you darn brat." The man hissed venomously as he took a knife out of his pocket and brandished it towards Phoebe. "Now you're going to follow me out without any more of your tricks or else it's going to get bloody." He laughed as he slowly walked towards her. 

Phoebe's mind was reeling she knew that she couldn't let this man leave the grocery store with either her or the baby but she was trapped and there was no way she could run past him without him hurting her or the baby. That when Phoebe made a snap decision before the man would reach her she would activate her [Phoenix Transformation] and use its enhanced speed and strength to push past the fiend in front of her. She was slightly hesitant to do so because she had promised Aurelius that she would use her skills without his permission and she remembered how awful the penalty inflicted on her last time was but she had no choice, she had to escape from the creep.

Just as Phoebe was about to activate her skill a loud voice interrupted. "How dare you threaten the young lady!" Standing behind the kidnapper was Min-Min who was giving the man a deep glare. 

The man whipped around in a panic and accidently managed to slice his knife across Min-Min's face cutting off a small portion of his fur. Suddenly the air grew cold and a deep guttural snarl sounded from the pissed-off visage of Min-Min. 

In a flash Min-Min extended his arm and broke the kidnapper's wrist, the kidnapper dropped the knife he was holding in surprise. Before the kidnapper could retaliate Min-Min swept the man and pinned him to the ground. Min-Min's jaw unhinged to reveal sharp pointy teeth, drool dripped out of Min-Min's mouth, and for just a moment the man saw past the veil and saw his attacker's true form. The man paled in fright he tried to scream but Min-Min just covered his mouth and continued snarling. 

"How dare you! I should have your head for that you swine!" Min-Min said in cruel delight as the man's expression continued to worsen in fear. 

"Min-Min stop it! Please don't do anything." Phoebe pleaded as she walked up and gently tugged at Min-Min's clothes. 

Min-Min stopped momentarily looking at the small girl. "You're lucky that the young lady is so forgiving if it had been my choice I would've gladly taken your head." 

Min-Min and Phoebe waited for a little bit before a young woman and an old man came barreling down the aisle. Phoebe recognized the woman as the mother of the baby she was holding, Phoebe gently returned the baby to the mother's arms and the woman wept when she held her child once more. 

"Thank you, thank you, you saved my son I can never repay you enough!" The woman wept hugging both Phoebe and the little boy who calmed down in the presence of his mother. 

"That was incredibly reckless of you young lady! You should leave these matters to the adults!" The old man lectured Phoebe with a small smile on his face. 

"I'm sorry," Phoebe said weakly.

"I saw the whole thing on the security cameras. You were incredibly brave but you could have been hurt. I understand that you wanted to help but next time go get an adult instead of confronting the kidnapper yourself young lady." The store worker emphasized. 

Phoebe nodded her head in understanding and after being thanked by the emotional mother for the 13th time Phoebe and Min-Min left the aisle to go pay for their food. As the trio was finishing up paying they watched as the police arrived and took the kidnapper away, the kidnapper was mumbling incoherently about a giant man-eating fox which the police ignored as they stuffed him into the back of the police car. 

Unknown to Phoebe, her heroic actions would affect the very future of the world around her. Her bravery would give her a long-time and loyal ally that would help her turn the tide of battle. But that realization would only occur to Phoebe way in the future.