It was a serene afternoon in Naples Italy, the citizens were exploring the hidden depths of the Naples underground with the help of an enthusiastic tour guide that carried a boundless knowledge of the ancient tunnels and secrets within. In another part of town, culinary enthusiasts from around the globe were chowing down on their authentic Italian treat–a pizza margherita.


But where there is goodness in the world, there must also be badness all around–that evil was present in another part of town. Citizens dashed their way to work in hopes of not being late and missing out on money to support their family, while others bit the bullet and waited in their cars for the apparently busy traffic to subside. There was a reason for this traffic, 5 miles from the town of Naples, a levitating, blue-clad Priest was casually deflecting bullets from sinister robbers with his right paw and tending to wounded policemen with his magic-imbued left paw. 


“You bad guys can be so predictable. But why go through the trouble of robbing banks? I’m sure it’s not too hard to find a job out here.” 


That light-filled voice came from a champion the Multiverse knew and respected. His name is Leone, or “Leo” as most call him. He is a snow colored, anthropomorphic Italian lion that will always be there to fight for good–with or without Team Azure, the group of heroes he was a part of. 


Leo was alone in this simple battle–why go through the trouble of having Team Azure aid him when he can just end it with a wave of light magic? And that he did, chains of holy magic bound the 6 gunned robbers, and with a snap of his furry finger, the bad guys vanished from sight to a prison cell with their names on it. 


Cheers echoed across the street as citizens of all shapes and sizes cheered for Leo and his impressive magic skills. It occurred to the white lion that his heroism attracted a crowd. And though he’s saved the world countless times, he never did so well with speaking in front of a news camera–one that was approaching him just now. A black dog lady abruptly invaded Leo’s boundaries and placed a microphone near his furry nose, hoping to get the scoop on the venerated hero. 


“Leo, Leo! Lois Brant here! That’s the fifth robbery you’ve stopped in a row! How do you feel right now? What are you gonna do now that you stopped this robbery? Are you taken? I’m kinda into the feline kinds of heroes, rrawwrrrr!”


The news reporter was a bit too close for comfort with her barrage of questions, Leo had to gesture for her to back away and give him space before he spoke in front of a whole group of people AND national TV to boot. 


“Well, to answer your questions in order: It’s all in a day’s work for your friendly neighborhood Priest–ahem, as in, I feel ordinary with saving you all, you’re like my family!” Leo awkwardly coughed before moving onto the next question of the furry Ms. Brant, “As for what I’m gonna do, I’ll be out getting food later and going to the beach with Team Azure, it’ll be a blast! Lastly, I am flattered, but I am gladly taken. Thank you for your questions, Ms. Brant, but I must be off now.” 


Before Leo could fly into the sky and teleport back to New Suramar–Team Azure’s base, Ms. Brant took a glance at Leo’s tail. No, it wasn’t his tail she was looking at, but rather, the back of his pants. 


“Say, what’s that, Leo? Why is there a hook attached to your pants? Are you gonna take them off??? Please do!” The curious reporter faced the cameraman, requesting something strange for the hero to hear, “Random cameraman without a name! Change the caption in this report from “Leo saves a bank!” to “Leo is hooked! Will the hero risk his dignity?” We’ll be right back after this commercial break! Stay tuned for the naked lion!” 


“Huh?!” Leo thought to himself. Two things were on his mind: how that hook got in his pants without him noticing and why this news reporter is so freaky…
“Dalla luce, it’s not a problem, I’m sure I can get this hook out.” Leo assured Ms. Brant with his usual catchphrase. 


Leo looked behind at his cloth pants and did his best to remove the hook with his super strength. The lion grunted with each tug… Only for the hook to stay lodged in his pants. “Maybe it’s a magic spell!” Leo thought to himself, resorting to plan B by relying on his anti-magic spells in order to dispel what spell overcame him. Unfortunately for Leo, the hook did not go away–this was no magic spell, it was reality. 


Leo was sweating bullets at the thought of what will occur if he doesn’t get this hook out of his pants immediately–besides being naked, anyway. What if Leo’s jailer wanted to make lion meat out of him once he ascended to who-knows-where? What if…. Leo perished the thought of him comedically compressed inside a can of “lion meat”. There had to be some way to remove the hook! 


“I-I’m just having technical difficulties, ahahahaha…..” Leo nervously remarked before teleporting back to Team Azure’s base of operation, in hopes of the hook disappearing from his pants. 


Unfortunately for the white lion, the hook followed his cross-dimensional travel. Upon noticing this, Leo placed his paw below his lip in worry.


“Dalla luce, what kind of hook is that?” Leo thought to himself as he arrived in the outskirts of New Suramar–far, far away from citizens in hopes of making sure they don’t see him in this humiliating situation. “If I can’t get it out of my pants, then what can I do? Part of me regrets having fled from that news report. But it was necessary, I can’t just be immodest and remove all my clothes in front of live TV? Would they even censor my naked self? I doubt it! The internet is a wild, wild west from what Gavin has told me…. The last thing I want is for pictures of my butt to roam the internet…” 


A thought occurred to the feline Priest, how would he be able to avoid the citizens seeing the large and unpleasant hook in his pants? He could try wearing a robe over the problem on his rear. Nope, that would look strange with the half-circle bulge. Or maybe he could walk all awkwardly by not letting citizens see his back. That’s another nope. Front or back, the rope hanging in the sky makes his predicament look blatantly obvious. So, that left one more option…


“Magic! Maybe I can use my Priest spell–Fade, in order to remove the hook! If my physical form becomes akin to an undetectable holy spirit, then it’ll be a cinch going to Azure Tower to see if any other members of Team Azure can help me!” Leo planned in his mind and immediately expended a portion of his mana in order to remove himself from existence. 


He nonchalantly walked forward where the citizens of all shapes and sizes were roaming and minding their own business. Well, the citizens would be minding their own business if it weren’t for a transparent white lion creating laughter with every step that he took. 


“Hey! What’s that?”


“Looks like a fishing hook!”


“How did Leo get that thing on his butt?” 


“You think those articles Lois Brant posted on the Recurrent Trumpet are true? Will Leo actually remove his clothes?” 


“Ooh! You know how famous I’ll get after posting photos of that hero’s butt? I bet I’ll be richer than the president!”


The citizens were all pointing and laughing at Leo’s now-spread-across-the-internet dilemma. Some even took photos of the famous hero and captioned it with, “how much do you want to bet Leo will remove his clothes?” or “Like if Leo will keep his clothes on, subscribe if he’ll remove it!”. 


Leo grit his teeth at the humiliating trail he left behind, he cursed himself under his breath. “Darn it! Fading out of existence was not enough?! Whoever my tormentor is really thought this through!” 


As Leo walked over to Azure Tower–relying on his natural speed in order to not harm the growing masses he attracted, he noticed a sign upon reaching his destination:


“Sorry, Leo, you were too slow! We’re out on the beach already, have fun stripping! We’ll be sure to save the images of your butt! Signed, Daisuke.”


This note caused Leo to fall to his knees in defeat. The lion had self control and refrained from punching the ground in an agonizing frustration to create a shockwave that would hurt many–something that was fortunate for the citizens since they were all feeding off of Leo’s humiliation. 


“Oh man! He’s gonna do it!” 


“He’s gonna take off his clothes!” 


“Smile for the camera, hero!” 


The citizens following Leo taunted, getting their cameras ready to see a historical moment where a white lion would go au naturale for them. Maybe it was curtains for Leo’s dignity–it seemed removing his clothes was the only option to prevent a fatality. But maybe not… 


“Hey! I know a magician named Bob that can remove that hook from your pants! He’s like…. Super OP! He even cured my back zits! He’s just at the tavern north of your current location!” 


A random voice of hope among the crowd suggested to Leo.


“Um… Ew! But Grazie, citizen!” Leo gleefully beamed, realizing that maybe he wouldn’t have to strip down to his skivvies while so many watched. He ignored the random comments from the citizens he attracted–didn’t they have lives outside of watching him like he was a street performer? 


Leo reached his second destination, noticing a large, fancy pink sign outside the tavern that read, “Girl’s Night!” 


“Aha! Gotcha!” The now not-so-helpful voice Leo placed faith in gloated, revelling in the poor lion’s humiliation just like every other citizen. 


“Ooohhhh!!!! Now he has to strip in front of the girls!” 


“You think Leo will wear a bikini and strut his stuff?” 


“Imagine being this hero! Can’t be me!” 


The humiliation was getting worse by the minute. Leo closed his and wished he did not have to do this, but…. 


RIP!!!!!!!!!


“Here! Now leave me alone! The hook is gone, right? Right???” Leo asked the group of citizens, revealing to the lot of them that he discarded his clothing to save himself from the hands of death. 


“Hahaha! Look at those undies!” 


“Cyan with dark blue stripes? I always thought his underwear would be gold or red…..” 


“He really thought removing shirt and pants would matter? What a dork!”


Rather than hearing quotes of validation, Leo heard only laughs from many voices as he opened his eyes and glanced at his body. Besides the embarrassing detail of him being in his cyan underwear, one thing remained. The hook–it wasn’t piercing just his pants, it got Leo’s underwear as well. The white lion staggered in shock, dropping his ripped clothes along the way. 


“Oooh! Will he take off his underwear now?” 


“Everyone! Get your cameras ready!” 


“Oh yeah!” 


The citizens were dying to see a naked lion standing before them–and the feeling was the same for the ones inside the tavern. While inaudible to Leo, who was only a few feet away from the entrance, he saw them draw out their phones, getting ready to snap some juicy pictures. But Leo refused to let that all happen… 


“No! I won’t take off my underwear! There has to be another way!” The white lion cried out, kneeling down in defeat and exposing his buttocks to the crowd behind him. It was a double-edged sword for Leo, one group could see his butt, while the others would potentially see his lower half. There was only one option left, Leo had to fly away!


Up, up, and away! The Priest attempted to leave the scene, but it wasn’t his powers levitating him–it was the hook in his underwear! 


Leo could feel the pain of his underwear stretching as he ascended into the air by force. The citizens behind him got a wondrous view of his backside and laughed until their hearts content. Poor Leo was down to his last resort–the sign of the tavern! If he can hold onto it, maybe he can prolong his demise. 


Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case, Leo felt the tugging force on his backside–he knew it was curtains for him. The white lion’s life flashed before his eyes as he begged for mercy out loud. 


“Light, save me! Please! What did I do to deserve this?! I’ll be better!”


SHRIPPPPP!!!!!!!!


Not only did Leo feel a relieving breeze on his backside, but he no longer felt the hook’s potent grip. Realizing this, Leo sighed in relief with a “whew!”, drowning out all the mysterious sounds from the citizens with thoughts of positivity. 


During his brief moment of complacency, Leo failed to realize that during the struggle of physical strength, he pulled back the tavern’s sign–and boy, was that one durable sign! As if it were made of rubber, the signpost flung Leo straight into the window of the tavern. 


SPLAT!


Went the unfortunate white lion. The impact of the crash on the sturdy tavern caused everything to go black for Leo temporarily, until a few words woke him up…


“Oh, look!” 


“Hehehe…..” 


“It’s Leo the nude lion!” 


Leo looked around sheepishly as he noticed the female patrons and workers of the tavern holding up their flashing phones–each and every one of them refused to stop taking photos of Leo’s lower half. Meanwhile, on the other side–which Leo could see thanks to a mirror in the far right, the citizens he forgot about were also taking photos, but of Leo’s exposed buttocks. 


The embarrassment of being splat on a window while naked in front of so many overwhelmed Leo, he let out a girlish scream–which only served to satiate the humiliation-feeding of the townspeople.


As much as Leo wanted to thoroughly listen to all the teases thrown at his face word for word, he had to prioritize one thing: his dignity. Placing his paw above his crotch and his butt, Leo streaked to Azure Tower, screaming “The hooks! They got my underwear! By the light!!!!!!” 


CRASH!

Knocking down a couple of walls in the tower with his super strength was the least of Leo’s worries as well. However… 


“God dammit, Leo! The insurance is gonna go through the roof now!” A greedy Daisuke screamed to the top of his lungs. Oh well, at least karma has already struck for Leo. 


“But on the bright side…” Daisuke pulled out from his pocket a ripped pair of cyan underwear with dark blue stripes, looking all snarky with the torn undergarments. “That’s what you get for calling my mint condition Titans Rebirth and Archie Sonic comics ”childish!” Let that be a lesson not to mess with my secret addiction!" 


The End