Who's Using Cats To Attack a City?!

The endless maze of hallways and rooms seemed a lot less endless on our way out of the building than it was going in. The only thing that put a damper on our escape was the fact that Sakamoto and I were being chased by hundreds of starving Hollows. In the dark... armed with only a single flashlight between us…

“You'd better start talking, Ayame!” Sakamoto shouted. “You seem to know a lot more than you're letting on!”

“I'll explain once we get out of here!” I shouted back. “Neither of us is any good to the other if we're dead!”

“Keep going up!” Sakamoto said as we continued to climb up stairs on our way out. We made our escape with relative ease, and we locked the doors behind us, thanks to those little knob locks found on most office building front doors. The cat Hollows continued their meows from the other side.

“Pulse Field,” I said quietly, putting a barrier in front of the doors just in case the Hollows tried to magic their way through them.

“Ayame…” Sakamoto tried to say before I grabbed his arm.

“Keep running!” I shouted.

We ran into the nearby forest, hoping to not draw attention to ourselves, whether by people or by Hollows.

“Ayame, you have got to explain to me what is going on right now,” Sakamoto struggled to stay calm as he spoke. “Why were those cats trying to attack us?”

“Because they weren't cats,” I answered plainly. “They're-”

“Oh, don't be ridiculous, Ayame,” Sakamoto interrupted me. “They look like cats, they act like cats (for the most part), and they meow like cats.”

“Yeah, that's how they act in order to feed on our magical energy,” I told him. “They're Hollows, and normally we have this, like, symbiotic relationship with them, and -”

“Ayame, you've been watching too much Star Soldier,” Sakamoto insisted. “Having an overactive imagination in the field of journalism-”

“Summon Hollow!!” I shouted while doing a quick little bunny hop dance. Aichi immediately appeared beside me, apparently thinking he was still in a conversation with someone else.

“And so there I was, ~woof, locked in an intense battle with the great demon hordes of Seventh Circle, and…” Aichi said to… whoever, “Ayame! What in Frith's name are you doing?!”

“You said I could use this spell whenever I'm in trouble,” I explained. “Now, we're in HUGE trouble!”

“What is it this time?” Aichi asked.

“Sakamoto and I went to figure out what was causing the internet outages when-”

“Uh… Ayame?” Sakamoto asked, interrupting mine and Aichi's little spat. “Where did the dog come from? And why are you yelling at him?”

“Oh, right,” I realized. “This is Aichi, my Hollow.”

“But… he looks like a regular puppy…” Sakamoto said in half-shock and half-disbelief.

“Can a regular puppy do this?” I asked. “Flower Power! Rise Up, pretty pretty please!”

“~woof!” Aichi added.

This was probably a huge mistake, but it was the only way I could get Sakamoto to understand what was happening. I transformed in front of him, revealing my status as a magic user to him.

“You… you're a…” Sakamoto struggled to say.

“I know…”

“You're the witch that keeps saving the city!” Sakamoto's tone suddenly changed from fearful to excited. “This is huge! Kaneko's going to do backflips when he finds out about this!”

“Actually, that's not such a good idea…” I admitted.

“Why not?” Sakamoto asked.

“Hero or not, my magic is technically illegal,” I explained. “Remember what those cops said about Meteron? They said all sorcerers needed to be purged.”

“Well, that does explain why you're always running away after you defeat the bad guys,” Sakamoto realized.

Before I could say more, I was ambushed by a cat. Despite being so small, the cat was able to hit me with immense force, sending me flying through the forest at incredible speed. Somehow, I avoided hitting all the trees. I eventually landed on a muddy riverbank, waiting for the cat to make itself known.

“Somehow, I nyew you'd be here, human,” the cat told me as it emerged from the shadows. It was a Hollow.

“I can understand you…” I realized while struggling for breath. “That must mean you're contracted…”

“~nya, Don't make me laugh, human,” the cat Hollow scolded me. “Contracts are for the weak to exert their authority over each other. I prefer to take matters into my own hands.” The cat Hollow loomed over me and said, “Flower Power! Rise Up, pretty pretty please!”

She transformed into a girl with cat ears, big cat eyes, and a fluffy cat tail, dressed as a miko. This was the Hollow from my dream… Magical Neko-chan Lethe…

“I know you…” I told the neko-chan. “You're the girl from my nightmares…”

“Aww… you remember mee-ow?” the neko-chan asked. “~nya, How sweet of you! Still as stubborn as ever, though…”

“What do you want?” I asked her. “What is your problem with me?!”

“Same problem I have with all magical creatures,” the neko-chan answered. With a loud “Nyaaaaaaaa!!”, she then tried to drive her twin sai into me. I had to quickly roll away and perform my best attempt at a Hide Away dance while rolling on the ground.

But the cat Hollow was too clever for me. She knew where I would teleport to, and attempted to ambush me once I reappeared. I sneezed as she launched herself at me. Only Aichi finding me saved me from getting attacked.

“Ayame!” Aichi shouted. “Are you alright?”

“I'm fine,” I told him. “You don't suppose you could talk some sense into her? She has one of the Flower Powers.”

“Never seen her before in my life ~woof,” Aichi answered.

“So it is true… Humans and Hollows are nyow working together…” the cat Hollow observed.

“We don't want to fight you,” I told her. “Tell us what you want. Maybe we can help you.”

“Help me?” the neko-chan asked. “Nyo… that's nyat possible… Your goal is to ruin the world with your magic…”

“Have you not been seeing what we've been doing?” I asked her. “We're the good guys! Ah-CHOO!”

“You lie!” Lethe screamed at us. “Flame Arrow!!”

“Pulse Field!!” Aichi responded, putting a shield between us and her. As the fire spell exploded on contact with the shield, I found an opportunity to strike. I leaped over the shield, my staff in hand, ready to land one good hit.

She blocked it! Her sai crossed together at just the right time, preventing me from smacking her with my staff. I used the momentum from the block to do a front flip over her and attempt to strike her again. Her reflexes were just too good, however. She blocked every attack I attempted. From above, from one side, from the other, from the front, even from behind, nothing worked.

“You seem to forget that Hollows are much stronger than humans,” Lethe taunted me.

“Then maybe a Hollow can match you in battle ~woof!” Aichi shouted. “Summer Wind!!”

A blast of hot air kept Lethe distracted long enough for me to finally land a good whack with my staff. My idea was to knock her unconscious so she couldn't keep attacking us with her magic. She ducked slightly, but I still managed to strike her shoulder.

As she gripped her shoulder in pain, she said, “You humans are all the same ~nya. You hate what you don't understand. You lash out at what you fear.”

“With all due respect,” I countered. “You're the one who's been attacking me unprovoked, first in a dream, and now here. I could say the same about you.”

“Shut up!” The neko-chan then rammed into me, sending me flying clear out of the forest and back into the city. My plan to keep the Hollows inside the J-Tel building did not work. The city was completely overrun by cat Hollows trying to feed off whatever energy they could find. If they found people, they would chase after them. Otherwise, they were looking for anything they could snack on.

The magical neko-chan found me before I had a chance to do something about the Hollows. She tried to attack me once again with her sai, but I managed to block her with my staff.

“Do you not see what you're doing?” I asked her. “This is what your plan would cause. Absolute chaos.”

“Nyo… You're lying!” Lethe struggled to respond to my accusations. I could see the horror in her face. She knew I was telling her the truth, but something, most likely stubbornness, prevented her from fully seeing it.

“Whether you like it or not,” I explained to her, “we need each other.”

“You're nyat going to convince me with your sappy do-gooder talk,” she replied. “The world must forget about magic forever!”

While we were arguing, a large figure hidden in the shadows struck the neko-chan with a tree branch.

“Meowmy…” Lethe said before she fell to the ground. As she fell, she revealed the shadowy figure to be none other than Sakamoto.

“I don't know anything about this magic nonsense,” Sakamoto told the fallen Hollow, “but nobody hurts my friends…”

“Thanks for the save,” I told him.

“You owe me an interview for Kaneko, by the way,” Sakamoto smiled. “You can keep your identity a secret, but you owe me that much.”

Aichi then flew up to me. “Ayame! I'm so happy you're okay ~woof!”

“I'm alright,” I told Aichi. I then turned to the fallen Hollow, who by now had reverted to her cat form. “What do you suppose we do with her? If we let her go, she could cause more trouble.”

“And for that matter, Ayame,” Sakamoto added, “what do we do about all these cats?”

“I have an idea,” Aichi told us, though Sakamoto wouldn't have been able to understand him. He walked up to the cat Hollow. “Quiet Bubble,” Aichi chanted. A green bubble enveloped around the Hollow, taking her to a location only Aichi knew.

“Where did she go?” I asked Aichi.

“~woof I put her in a corner so she could think about her life,” Aichi answered.

“Okay, now what about all these cats?” I asked.

“Drat!” a metallic, wind chime-y voice shouted in the distance. “How did you find the random city we chose to destroy because you failed to locate the Dark Master in time?!” That voice could have only come from one person…

Count Franz…

There was no way all of this was his plan!