The fabric of the universe

My brother and I tumbled to the ground and scrambled to get back standing. So much for cats always landing on their feet.

The world around us looked unimaginably different from anything in the real world. Despite us standing on seemingly solid ground, there was nothing underneath our feet but an array of colours diffracted every which way. The same was true in all directions in all three dimensions, a kaleidoscope of light that seemed to stretch out ad infinitum.

A place Space had only taken me once before. It was a complete gamble to try and replicate that. I breathed a sigh of relief that it had paid off.

“You trapped us in reciprocal space… a clever trick, I have to admit,” said Space, glancing around in all directions.

“Just like the expansion of space, magic is inverted here. It’ll take a while for our bodies to adapt, so you won’t be able to use those annoying powers of yours in the meantime,” I replied, not taking my eyes off him.

“A shrewd gamble, I must admit,” he said as he met my gaze, “but you forgot one rather important detail. When I return to full power and leave this place, you will have no way back to real space.”

“That’s no problem at all, brother. I just have to beat you before that happens.”

“Ha! Then I implore you, dear sister. Come at me. And hold nothing back!”

We stepped forwards at the same time and both swiped at each other’s faces. The first few swings from both of us failed to do any damage, mostly just cancelling each other out, until I managed to just about nick Space’s cheek with my claws and draw a small amount of blood. He leapt backwards and snarled, taking up a defensive posture.

Neither of us were used to fighting without powers. Or even really fighting at all. This was gonna get messy.

We circled each other for a moment, knowing that any rash action could be a fatal mistake. We both waited with bated breath for the other to move first.

Eventually, I broke the stalemate.

I ran forward and swiped at Space’s front legs. He went up on his hind legs and countered by scratching down at the top of my head, but I kept my momentum and bowled him over with a tackle. I attempted to slice him clean across the face with my claws, but was stopped.

A premonition?!

I threw myself to the side and narrowly avoided the paw swiping at me from behind my head. There was no way he could have reached that high while on his back, and my precognition warned me about it beforehand. Which could only mean one thing.

“Looks like our powers are starting to catch up with us,” Space sneered, getting on his feet. “Tick tock, sister.”

“I’m gonna enjoy shutting you up.”

My premonition was brief and last second, so it was likely that our powers were still severely limited. I guessed that he wouldn’t manage more than short range teleportation of a single limb at a time. He had a distinct advantage, but not an insurmountable one if I nipped it in the bud early enough.

That meant taking the initiative.

I charged towards him again and, sure enough, my premonition only kicked in when I was close to attack range. I ducked under the swipe coming from the top right and responded with a scratch of my own at his chin. He blocked with his own paw and we began to scramble for hits again, neither of us able to secure a solid strike. That is, until a teleporting swipe at the back of my head that my precognition warmed me about too late.

I felt his claws leave a cut in the back of my head as blood seeped into my fur, but I couldn’t let one clean attack slow me down. Before he could retract his paw from the wormhole, I overwhelmed him with swipes from both of my front paws and left another shallow cut on his cheek, but once again caught the worst of it as another teleporting attack caught one of my hind legs.

The fight was turning from a disadvantage to an outright loss very quickly, but I wasn’t out yet.

I need to turn this around.

With the small amount of magic that had come back to me, I overclocked just slightly to gain the speed advantage. I was able to overwhelm him with a flurry of attacks that drew blood on his front legs and chest, forcing him to retreat.

I didn’t manage to cause significant damage, but I did prove two things to myself. First, that I could still fight back. And second, we weren’t immune to each other’s powers in reciprocal space.

I’d have to use it sparingly to prevent him from realising, but I finally had a win condition.

“Rattled, brother?” I taunted, lowering my head ready to pounce.

“Snrrrl… a desperate attack from a desperate child. It won’t happen again,” he said, lowering himself just the same.

For a moment, we stared. Then, almost simultaneously, we leapt towards each other.

I was faster, aided by a subtle overclock, but it wasn’t enough to win the engagement. Space swiped me with a teleporting paw before we reached each other, then used the advantage to tackle me mid-air and pin me to the ground beneath us. He held me down with his front-left paw and raised his front-right to cut me. All I could do was barely raise my own paw and try to intercept it.

“Argh- what?!”

Space recoiled and leapt away from me, all of his fur suddenly standing on end. When I had raised my paw, it wasn’t just claws that he made contact with. There was… an electric discharge?

Electron… you’re here with me, aren’t you?

“That… that’s not your power to claim you bitch!”

“Oh yeah? Come take it from me then.”

I charged back towards him at full sprint. He tried to intercept with another wormhole attack, but my precognition warned me and I concentrated electrical energy to that part of my body. I felt a sharp pain as his claws contacted my flesh, but it was brief, and a moment later he was seizing on the spot.

My chance.

I tackled him just as he had done to me seconds prior and landed a deep cut on his face, this time drawing a substantial amount of blood. The next attack I loaded with electric power, but he kicked me away with his hind legs and unleashed a flurry of portal attacks. He was regaining more and more of his power.

He feigned one attack, causing me to concentrate electricity to the wrong part of my body and scratching my other side deeply. I tried to approach him again but each step forward was met with another attack I could hardly counter. He was wearing me down slowly, even with my newfound power.

I needed an opening, and thankfully, I found a way to create one.

Once again, I charged at him at full speed, and once again, he sent a flurry of attacks to slow me down. This time, though, I didn’t dodge or deflect any. I shifted my form to light and passed straight through.

I rematerialised in front of him and caught him on the other side of his face this time, leaving a near identical claw mark and drawing even more blood. He yelped and teleported his whole body backwards.

Higgs… you too…

“What is this? The hell are you doing?!”

“Giving you what you deserve, brother. Now stop running away and take it!”

I blinked forwards once again and immediately closed the gap. I re-engaged with another swipe, but he teleported away behind me. Again, I blinked towards him, and again he escaped. It was a game of cat and mouse, played at the speed of light.

He was stalling for time, hoping to leave me behind, which meant I had to take decisive action. The next time he teleported, I channeled all my focus into precognition for just a fraction of a second and predicted his next move. Before he could make it, I discharged a bolt of lightning in that direction and gave him a nasty high voltage shock. He was temporarily immobilised, but bounced back faster than I hoped.

He snarled even louder than before, and his body started to grow in size. Expanding the space occupied by his body, a trick I hadn’t seen him use since we were young.

His paw now larger than my head, he drew back his front right leg to swipe at me again. It would be difficult to dodge without opening myself up to another attack, and protecting myself with electricity would be a kamikaze at best.

With no other options left to myself, I looked him dead in the eyes. Suddenly, he lowered his paw with a yelp, giving me a chance to land one more blow at his front legs. He stumbled backwards, his ability to walk severely hampered.

Even you’re here for me, Charm… thank you all…

“How?! How are you using powers that aren’t your own?!”

“I’m borrowing them. From my friends.”

“What?! You’re relying on borrowed power? Damned coward! Fight me with your own strength!”

“My friends are my strength, Space. Something you wouldn’t know a damn thing about. Z follows you out of fear. W couldn’t give a shit about you. Even your ‘darling daughter’ is just another puppet for you. Face it: here, at the end of it all, you’re alone.”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up!” He reared up on his hind legs and attempted to stand tall over me. “I will not take this disrespect! I am all-powerful! I am Space! The fabric of the universe-!”

Power 100%.

“You forget, brother. Space without Time is static.” I took one last walk over to my brother, frozen completely in time, and placed my paw on his chest. Light enveloped us both, and then there was nothing.