《Of Cats and Magic》 Chapter 1 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Of_Cats_and_Magic Title: Of Cats and Magic Chapter: 1 Author: Riko Gonzalez A beautiful catgirl --- twenty one years of age --- stood atop a cliff, overlooking the town below. Her silky, cyan hair reached just beyond her chin in length, the fur on her cat ears (which she possessed in addition to her human ears) and tail matching the color of her hair. Her skin had a tan complexion to it, and her eyes shown a lovely pink. Although she was clearly on the shorter side with a height of only 157cm, she possessed a fairly developed figure, being quite buxom. In her hand, was a staff. At the young woman''s side, stood a winged cat with sleek blue fur. The feathers on his wings matched the hue of his fur. Discounting his wings, the cat''s size was comparable to that of the typical house cat. His golden eyes were locked upon the town far below the two of them. "Riko," the blue cat started seriously, "when I chose you to be a magical girl, you were supposed to protect the town --- not do this." "S-sorry, Timothy. It was an accident. I''ll be more careful next time," Riko apologized, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of her face. Her tail twitched nervously as she spoke. From far below, sirens could be heard as firetrucks rushed to and fro. The fire was starting to subside due to the diligent work of the firefighters, but Riko still felt horrible for causing this. "Next time just try to not set the entire place aflame," Timothy said with a sigh, turning his gaze the young woman. In response, Riko turned to the winged cat and said, "I will try my best!" determination showing in her pink eyes as she spoke. For some reason, Timothy couldn''t quite shake a bad feeling about this. He may have picked someone with a high amount of potential, but after this he couldn''t help but worry that perhaps she had too much potential. After all, she managed to set the entire town ablaze on day one. Accident or not, that kind of scared him actually. He had other partners in the past, but this had never happened before with any of his previous partners. When it came down to it, he wasn''t sure if "I will try my best!" will be good enough for this partner. As the sun set in the west, the two of them returned their gaze to the still Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.smoldering town below. It looked like it would still be awhile before the aftermath of Riko Ibara''s first day as a magical girl would be cleaned up. *** Riko yawned as she got out of bed. The wheat-skinned girl was currently wearing a pink nightgown. It was the day after the incident where she had pretty much burned down the town. That incident was an accident of course. Still somewhat sleepy --- not yet having completely woken up --- she casually glanced around the room. There were pink curtains, pink sheets on the bed, a cyan carpet, wooden drawers, a wooden desk with a computer on it, and a cat bed with Timothy seemingly sound asleep on it. "Guess he''s still asleep." The cyan-haired catgirl headed towards the apartment''s kitchen, thinking about what she should make. "Maybe I should try surprising Timothy with something. What does he like, though?" She thought for a moment. "Maybe fish. They do say cats like fish. Fish are supposed to be healthy too, right? Are they healthy for actual cats, though? What about winged cats?" She continued to ponder as she reached the kitchen. "Guess I''ll try cooking him some fish." Having come to a decision, Riko happily poured herself some milk before retrieving some uncooked fish and eggs. She was going to make the eggs for herself. After picking a pan, setting it on the stove, and putting a bit of oil in it, she reached for the knob to turn the stove on, but stopped short. "I wonder..." She stepped back and summoned her staff, willing it into existence in her grip. This was her magical girl weapon. Since Timothy had chosen her to be a magical girl, she could summon it at will. With it, she could generate flame. Why rely on the stove''s heat when she had an even better source? *** A few minutes later... *** Riko and Timothy stood outside of the burning apartment complex. Riko was still in her nightgown, not having had time to change once her plan went awry. Timothy just looked plain annoyed at having woken up to this. "...and I was having such a good dream too." "Sorry. I wound up accidentally causing another mess. I think everyone got out, though." "AAHHH! IT BURNS!" a voice sounded from within the burning complex. "No, Riko. Sounds like that is not the case." The catgirl lowered her head in dejection. Timothy thought for a moment before adding, "Maybe I should enroll you in a boot camp." "B-boot camp! ...but I don''t want to join the army!" "I don''t mean that kind of boot camp. I mean a magical girl boot camp. Maybe it will help you with this problem of yours." The cyan-haired catgirl thought about it for a moment, her tail casually swishing from side to side. She still didn''t much like the idea of going to a boot camp. "I''ll be more careful next time, Timothy. Surely I can make do without going to a boot camp," she tried to convince the talking, blue cat that the boot camp wasn''t necessary. Timothy, though, already had his mind made up. As things currently stood, his partner was a colossal fire hazard --- the last two days were evidence of that. Surely a magical girl boot camp could help with this. "Sorry, Riko, but you really need more direction than I can give you on this. As you currently are, you are basically a disaster waiting to happen." "Fine, I''ll go to this magical girl boot camp." Even though she would rather not go, she couldn''t really argue with Timothy''s logic. After all, he was right. Two days and two disasters. She basically was a disaster waiting to happen. Chapter 2 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Of_Cats_and_Magic Title: Of Cats and Magic Chapter: 2 Author: Riko Gonzalez Riko was bored out of her mind. She was currently in a dorm at a magical girl boot camp. With her hands behind her head, she was laying on one of the two beds that the room contained. Timothy had basically dumped her here moments ago before running off. Sure, he was supposed to be back, but that knowledge did little to alleviate her boredom. Slowly, the cyan-haired catgirl turned her gaze from the ceiling to the rest of the room. There was quite a bit of gray to its coloring to tell the truth. The carpet was gray and even the sheets she was laying on were gray. If there had been a window, she guessed the drapes would have been gray too. The walls weren''t gray, though. They were white. While the dorm room didn''t contain either a computer or television, it did contain a small wooden desk. Considering the color scheme of the rest of the room, it was no surprise that the desk''s top was also a shade of gray. As Riko laid there, contemplating the interior designer''s choice of color scheme, her attention was drawn to the sound of the opening door. Her cat ears perked up as she sat up, turning her attention to the doorway. In it, she saw Timothy. Behind him, was another catgirl. "You''re replacing me?!" Riko said as she leaped out of bed. "No, Riko. I''m not replacing you." "That''s good. For a second, I thought you had it with me," the cyan-haired catgirl added with a nervous laugh. "So who''s that?" "This," Timothy responded, referring to the blonde woman behind him, "is the new member our team. Her name is Ruko Kisara." The twenty year old blond behind the winged cat was a tad taller than Riko at 158cm. Her eyes were a lovely purple hue, and her fringed hair reached down to her butt in length. Like Riko, her skin possessed a wheat pigmentation. Unlike Riko, her chest was rather modest in size. "Go ahead and introduced yourself," the winged cat coaxed the blonde catgirl. Ruko nodded before stepping around Timothy, her eyes looking somewhat vacant. It didn''t seem like she was shy. Seemed more like she was fairly taciturn. "I''m Ruko Kisara," she said, extending her hand. Her voice didn''t show much Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.emotion as she spoke. "Good to meet you! I''m Riko Ibara!" Riko responded as she shook Ruko''s hand, her mannerisms showing much more enthusiasm than those of the blonde catgirl. *** The next day, the magical girls had been gathered around an outdoor clearing, a multitude of winged cats accompanying them. Roughly thirty percent of the gathered magical girls were catgirls. The rest were human. In the clearing, was a red-haired woman displaying a rather bored expression. In her hands was a pencil and paper. This was the boot camp''s instructor. She was currently in the process of evaluating the magical girls. The instructor cycled through the names in alphabetical order, calling the magical girls up one by one. After witnessing a brief display of ability, she would proceed to the next. Currently, a rather nervous blue haired woman stood in the clearing with the instructor. With sweat pouring from her face, she waved a wand about before conjuring one lone ice cube. Not that impressive. "Next is Riko Ibara," the instructor snapped, and the blue-haired woman returned to the crowd. "Oh! That''s me! Time to be awesome!" "I have a very bad feeling about this," Timothy deadpanned at Riko''s outburst, prompting Ruko to tilt her head. Eagerly, Riko rushed into the clearing, taking her spot opposite of the instructor. With a huge smirk, the beautiful catgirl summoned her staff. As she rose it into air, a faint red light began emanating from its tip. "It''s not safe here," Ruko commented bluntly, just loud enough for Timothy to hear. Her amethyst eyes were transfixed on Riko. *** A moment later... *** The clearing and surrounding area had become engulfed in flame. Some magical girls ran amok in pure panic. Others lay unconscious, scattered about the area. The instructor remained on her feet but was merely staring forward, her eyes wide and her mouth agape, the pencil and now burnt notepad still in her hands. The woman was clearly in shock from what she had just experienced. At the center of the fiery vortex stood Riko Ibara, a sweat drop running down her temple. "I-I can fix this," she stammered, "I''m just not sure how yet." "No, you can''t. The only aptitude you have shown thus far is starting fires. Call the fire department instead," Timothy responded, running up to her with Ruko close behind. "Right!" Riko replied, retrieving her phone. "Ruko, you help me make sure everyone is okay." The blond nodded before running off to the nearest victim of the incident. In truth, Riko, Ruko, and Timothy were the only three to make it through the event without becoming either unconscious, stupefied, or completely consumed by panic. Actually, none of the three had so much as a singe among them. Riko''s relatively good condition was fairly self-explanatory. While she was at the epicenter of the blast, she wasn''t actually in the blast. True, she was a little panicked, but she might as well be in perfect condition compared to most of the others. As for Ruko and Timothy, it wasn''t through luck that they were unscathed by the flames. Instead, it was through Ruko''s quick action. The purple-eyed catgirl had identified the danger before it even happened. As such, she had leapt in front of Timothy and then swiftly thrust her right hand forward. This was done an instant before the blast. The result was that she had completely shielded Timothy from the flames while also remaining unscathed from the fire herself. As utter panic finally began to subside, various magical girls and winged cats began joining in the effort to check up on the less fortunate ones. Oddly enough, one of those less fortunate ones seemed to be the instructor herself, who still was blankly staring forward. In all honesty, it looked like the poor woman may have actually fainted. Chapter 3 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Of_Cats_and_Magic Title: Of Cats and Magic Chapter: 3 Author: Riko Gonzalez "Not fair," Riko said with a pout as she glanced at the clearing before her. Like yesterday, the magical girls had been gathered around the outdoor clearing for today''s events. Unlike yesterday, the pink-eyed catgirl had been banned from taking part in those events, a series of sparring matches to further gauge the ability of the magical girls. She was allowed to attend the matches, though. Just not actually take part in a match herself. It wasn''t all that shocking that the cyan-haired catgirl had been banned from participating after the debacle she had caused yesterday. After all, the grass in the area was still scorched. Luckily, there were no fatalities from the incident, but a few magical girls and winged cats were still in the infirmary. A match was currently going on in the clearing between two human women. A short distance to the side, the same instructor from yesterday stood in the clearing. In the instructor''s hands were a pencil and a notepad. The notepad was not the same one from before, though. The previous notepad had been ruined by Riko''s flames after all. A pair of medics were also in the clearing, a woman at the instructor''s right, a man at the instructor''s left. Both medics were human. The female medic was not a magical girl herself. With interest, the two medics watched the fight that was unfolding before them. In truth, the battle between the two women seemed to be relatively evenly matched. One would shoot lightning, and the other would fire off balls of magically generated ice. Neither of them showed any sign of backing down. It was anyone''s guess who would actually win the match. After a rather lengthy display of skill from both combatants, one quite literally tripped up. The one creating the icy projectiles lost her balance and fell forward. A bolt of lightning thundered over her. Rather ironically, the unexpected fall of her opponent left the other woman off balance. Capitalizing on this, the grounded woman rolled over and flung a ball of ice in a last ditch effort to win. If this failed she would be a sitting duck for her opponent. Luckily for her, it hit its mark and the match was over. Ice triumphed over lightning. "Next up is Ruko Kisara and Fiona Fiore," the instructor called out as the two woman from the last match returned to the crowd. Without a word, Ruko entered the clearing, showing not much emotion at all. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.Entering the clearing from the opposite side was her opponent, a golden-eyed, red-haired catgirl who strolled in with a confident smirk. "Your my opponent? I''m not impressed," Fiona stated in a huffy tone, "Well, just so know, there is no shame in walking away from battles you can''t win. I recommend giving up before you get trounced." Fiona''s arrogant attitude seemed to be annoying the instructor, but it didn''t appear to have any effect on Ruko. The blonde catgirl just kept that same taciturn expression as she continued to watch her opponent. Actually, Ruko''s lack of reaction was kind of unnerving Fiona a bit. "Just shut up and begin already," the instructor finally grumbled. "Right," Fiona said, "Now behold the terror of the wind." At the golden-eyed magical girl''s direction, the wind began to warp around her, forming a kind of protective barrier. The torrent of raging air would serve to shield her from attacks. Typical attacks wouldn''t have much chance of even penetrating it. With a smirk, Fiona reached down and picked up a pebble. After the catgirl tossed it into the air, a blade of wind cleanly sliced it in half. As the halves continued to fall, the two were assaulted by a multitude of wind blades as if they had fallen into an invisible blender. Almost instantly, the halves were reduced to nothing more than dust. "Do you understand now," Fiona said cockily, "I cannot be beat. No one can get past this ability, and no one can stand up to it either. One last chance to give up." Ruko tilted her head at her opponent''s words before beginning to walk forward. "Fine. You made you''re choice. Don''t say I didn''t warn you." Fiona raised her right hand and pointed at the approaching catgirl. Instantly, the ground at Ruko''s feet exploded as an invisible force came slamming down. Well, the ground that had been under her feet exploded to be more exact. For a moment, the red-haired magical girl thought she had already won, but it didn''t take long for her to notice the problem with that train of thought. Namely, where was Ruko? "Grandstanding and winning are two separate things," Ruko spoke in an eerily emotionless voice. Wide-eyed, Fiona turned to see the blonde catgirl standing right beside her without a scratch on her. All Fiona''s attack had done was punch a hole in the ground. The attack had completely missed its mark. "T-this isn''t possible. H-how did you... Y-you were there," the golden-eyed magical girl stammered in disbelief, pointing towards Ruko''s previous location. "To slow." "To slow?" The next instant, everything went black for Fiona. With one mighty kick that struck straight through Fiona''s wind barrier, Ruko downed the magical girl. "Well that surprised me," the instructor commented as Fiona''s defensive ability fizzled out. The two medics rushed to the fallen catgirl. Quickly, they accessed her vitals. "She''s fine," the woman called out, "Just unconscious." "We''ll take her to the infirmary," the man added. As the two medics carried the unconscious woman off to the infirmary, Ruko returned to the crowd. "That was completely and utterly awesome!" Riko greeted her, "And you took her down with a kick! Amazing!" "She underestimated me," the blonde catgirl responded simply. While Fiona was powerful, she was also arrogant. Arrogance led to her assuming that Ruko was weaker than her. In reality, it was quite the opposite. Fiona may have had command over powerful wind magic, but she was no match for Ruko''s sheer speed and strength. Even Fiona''s prized wind barrier proved to not be able to stand up to the sheer power of Ruko''s kick. Chapter 4 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Of_Cats_and_Magic Title: Of Cats and Magic Chapter: 4 Author: Riko Gonzalez Riko yawned as the sun peeked over the horizon. It was early morning, and the magical girls had been gathered at the edge of a forest. The winged cats were also with them. Ruko and Timothy waited alongside Riko. Before the crowd, stood the red-haired instructor. "Alright," the instructor began, looking over the assembled magical girls and winged cats, "today I expect you to practice your focus. Having massive magical potential requires significant focus to control. As for those of you who don''t have much magical potential, you require significant focus to draw out your power." The redhead reached into her pocket and pulled out a crystal. "You will spend the day in the forest. You''re goal is to find crystals like this one. They give off magical power so you should be able to sense them. However, that will require focus. Understand?" *** The sun was obscured by the forest canopy, glimmers of light filtering down from overhead. It was already mid-day when Riko''s group, consisting of Ruko, Timothy, and herself, reached their assigned point. The two catgirls dropped their packs as Timothy looked over their surroundings. A bit to their left was a stream of fresh-looking water, the water being shallow enough for one to walk in and only get their ankles wet. A tad further away, the fast waters of the stream were fed by a majestic waterfall. "I''ll pitch the tent," Ruko offered, already going through her bag. Riko glanced around, taking the natural beauty of the place in before deciding to go crystal hunting. The cyan-haired catgirl closed her eyes and focused. She focused and sensed nothing. "Stupid crystals," she thought to herself as she tried again but still came up with nothing. "I-I''m going to go crystal hunting. Be back in a bit," she notified the others before running off, refusing to give up. If the crystals wanted to hide, then she''d just find them with sheer determination. No way she would be outdone by some dumb crystals. *** A few hours later... *** Riko stumbled back into camp, the look of defeat showing in her pink eyes. Look as she may, she couldn''t find even one of those darn crystals. It was like they were taunting her. Were there even any crystals here? That had to be it. There were no crystals. Just a cruel lie to get them to practice their focus. Curse Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.that diabolical instructor. "You find any?" Timothy asked as he walked up to the cyan-haired catgirl. "Not one. I''m starting to think that instructor lied about there being crystals." "You''re standing on one," Ruko called out, not bothering to look over. The wheat-skinned blonde sat at a campfire she had set up, nonchalantly cooking some fish. Riko looked down and instantly noticed the glimmer at her feet, almost pratfalling from the irony of it all. How the heck did she miss that? Trying to act cool like she knew it was there the entire time, she casually bent over to pick the thing up. However, before she could, she slipped and fell face first. Face down and grimacing, Riko grabbed the glistening object. "I meant to do that." "Sure you did," Timothy sarcastically responded as the catgirl climbed to her feet. That was one crystal down, but they still needed another. There were two magical girls here. As such, the instructor was expecting for them to find at least two. "Guess we still need one more," Riko mused. "There is one behind the waterfall. Also, I collected ten of them while you were gone," the taciturn magical girl spoke still not bothering to take her eyes off of the fish. Riko literally pratfell at Ruko''s words in utter astonishment. She couldn''t even find one on her own. Ruko, though, had found at least twelve. Were there others that the blonde hasn''t mentioned? This was completely ludicrous. "How the heck are you so good at this?" "They are easy to sense." *** The next morning, before the sun rose, Riko woke from her slumber, finding that she was unable to go back to sleep. As such, she decided to go for a brief hike. After leaving a note for the others --- she didn''t want to disturb their sleep by waking them --- she headed away from the camp. That is when things got odd. Her cat ears perked up as they caught a faint melody. It was a tune that led her to the stream. This part of the stream wasn''t the portion that was next to the camp, though. It was further downstream from that part. In the stream, there was a form cloaked in shadow, a form that was singing. Riko''s eyes were sharp, but she couldn''t quite pick up the details of the figure at her current distance. Well, presumably it was something that could talk since whatever it was was singing. It was at that point that the unknown entity took note of the catgirl''s presence, going perfectly silent. It was almost eerie to tell the truth. Not only it but everything had become perfectly silent. For a soundless moment that seemed to stretch to eternity for the pink-eyed catgirl, the two stared at one another. The next moment the unknown thing pointed towards Riko, and then it was gone. It didn''t appear to have run off. It was just gone. A singing entity that points and then vanishes. The scenario was just plain bizarre to Riko. Just what had she observed? Figuring she should return to camp, she turned around and plowed straight into something furry --- something big and furry. "A bear! Seriously!" She could hardly believe this, but she had walked into a bear. Actually, she had walked into not just any bear but a massive bear. Did bear''s even get as big as the one before her? Clearly that bear was that big, but it seemed to be too big for a bear. Regardless, there it was before her --- one enormous, snarling bear. "No choice." Riko summoned her staff and prepared for combat. While she didn''t think this would end well, she figured it was by far a better option than being eaten by a giant bear. *** A few hours later... *** The sun had risen to illuminate a forest that had been set aflame. Sirens blared as firefighters frantically fought the forest fire. Riko, Ruko, and Timothy watched as the fire slowly began to be beaten back. "So you are telling me that this is the result of you being attacked by a bear?" Timothy inquired. "Yeah. Not sure what happened to the bear, though." "But Riko... I don''t think there are supposed to be any bears in this forest." "Maybe you should have told that freakishly large bear." As Timothy continued to interrogate Riko as to the events leading up to this blaze, Ruko stared off into the distance. There was something out there. What, though, she couldn''t quite say. Chapter 5 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Of_Cats_and_Magic Title: Of Cats and Magic Chapter: 5 Author: Riko Gonzalez The stone was wet. Droplets of water dripped from the ceiling. Riko, Ruko, and Timothy found themselves in an expansive cavern. This was the final day of the magical girl boot camp. This cavern was the set for their test. This was the time to prove themselves. The goal was to find a monster and defeat it. That monster was the one-eyed worm. "Why does it have to be so humid in here? I feel so sweaty," Riko complained in annoyance. "It''s not that bad," Ruko commented in indifference. "Stop complaining and concentrate on the task at hand," Timothy berated the disgruntled catgirl. "Fine. Where was that worm thing supposed to be anyway." Riko turned her attention to Ruko. The blonde catgirl held a map containing information relevant to the mission. "The one-eyed worm should be at the altar according to the info. This map doesn''t say where the altar is, though." As Ruko responded to Riko, she led the group down a passage. Would this passage lead them to the altar? Maybe. While the map showed the layout of the cavern, it did not have the altar labeled. They would just have to explore the cavern until they managed to locate it. *** "Ruko, are you sure you haven''t gotten us lost," Timothy inquired to the wheat-skinned catgirl. They had to have been exploring this place for over an hour. Now, though, they had come to an abrupt stop. Ruko had led them to a dead end, a wall of stone blocking their progress onward. "The map says there should be a passage here." The amethyst-eyed magical girl looked over the wall before them. It appeared to be solid stone. "Should I try to break through?" "For the love of magical girls, Ruko, don''t do that! We are in a cavern! Are you trying to cause a cave in?" Timothy blurted out in response. As much as he trusted Ruko, he didn''t want to risk becoming a winged-cat pancake. "Uh... Are cavern walls supposed to do that?" Riko interrupted the conversation, This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.pointing to the obstructing wall. "No. They are not. Prepare yourselves," Timothy responded, sensing that a battle was about to ensue. A giant eye had opened up on the wall, smaller eyes opening in rapid succession afterwards. Whatever it was, clearly it wasn''t actually a wall. "Not the one-eyed worm. Must be... Something else," Ruko said as she put the map away. The many eyes of the false wall began to glow. One by one, goblins began to burst forth from the smaller eyes, craters being left behind where the eyes used to be. The larger eye remained unscathed. The goblin''s eyes possessed the same glow as the wall''s eyes that gave birth to them. It was the same glow that the larger eye still possessed. The next moment, the battle had begun. Ruko, being at the head of the group, was the first for the glowing-eyed goblins to reach. Three in total reached melee range. One sweeping kick from the lithe catgirl was enough to dispatch them. They collapsed to the floor, their bodies going limp. The next moment, they turned to dust. There were many more goblins than just those three, though. A second group had already begun to challenge Ruko, and a third group had started trying to work its way around the blonde to reach Riko and Timothy. In total, the wall monster had birthed thirty goblins. Twenty seven of those still remained. Twelve of them were currently challenging Ruko while five of them made their way to Riko and Timothy. Ten more waited in reserve. "Riko, they don''t seem that strong, so only engage them physically. Do not use your flame," Timothy warned. "Right." The cyan-haired magical girl summoned her staff as the five goblins closed in. She may not have had the physical prowess that Ruko had, but she saw Timothy''s point. The truth of the matter was that she still had control issues with her magic. As the nearest goblin reached melee range, Riko swung her staff, nailing the beast on the side of its head. It collapsed into a lifeless heap. The other four all reached melee range at once. In response, the catgirl turned tail and started running. "Riko, what are you doing! The enemies are that way!" Timothy spoke up. "If you haven''t noticed, I''m a little out numbered." "These goblins are pretty weak, just swing your staff at them." Riko came to a stop, twisted around, and lashed out with her staff at the pursuing goblins. Two of the four were taken out by the attack. The remaining two had jumped back, avoiding the blow. Timothy was right, these things were pretty weak. Just as the pink-eyed catgirl was overcome with confidence, Ruko kicked one of the two goblins into the other, defeating them both. "I had the situation under control." "You were taking to long," the taciturn magical girl responded before turning to the wall with the giant eye. Step by step, Ruko walked up to the monstrous wall. In turn, the monstrous wall blinked at her. The thing seemed to be completely defenseless now that its goblins had been defeated. "You''re too weak," the blonde said before throwing a punch at it. A small crater formed at the impact point with fissures snaking out throughout the whole of the rocky monster''s body. The next moment, it crumbled into rumble, revealing the passage beyond. A lone green goblin stood in the passage, its mouth agape. This goblin wasn''t like the wall monster''s goblins. Its eyes weren''t glowing. With a squeal of fright, it fled. "Shall we continue?" Ruko asked, turning to Timothy as she retrieved the map. "Yes. We still need to locate that altar." With a nod, the amethyst-eyed catgirl began walking down the revealed passage. Riko and Timothy followed behind her, Riko having already put her staff away. "Ruko''s pretty strong," Riko commented to Timothy as they walked. "That she is," Timothy agreed. "I''d say she is a physical type magical girl and a strong one at that." Chapter 6 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Of_Cats_and_Magic Title: Of Cats and Magic Chapter: 6 Author: Riko Gonzalez Riko, Ruko, and Timothy continued to trek through the cavern in search of the one-eyed worm. Thus far, they had yet to find the altar where they would presumably encounter the beast. As before, Ruko continued to lead the group onward, map in hand. Suddenly, a crack sounded as the group headed down yet another passage. At their feet, thread-like fissures began to spread outward. "You''ve got to be kidding me!" Riko stated in disbelief at the unexpected event. Mercilessly, the ground gave way, shattering as if it were a pane of glass. Without much choice, the group --- other than Timothy --- descended downward through the newly created hole. Timothy, having wings, took to the air instead, a sweat drop prominently showing on his temple. "...and it looks like I lost the girls. Guess I should follow them down." With a sigh, the winged cat glided into the crevice, looking for his two partners. What he didn''t notice was a figure, obscured in shadow, that was watching with interest. Had he noticed the entity, he would have just been able to make out a smile on her lips. *** "Everyone OK?" Timothy inquired to the two magical girls. "Just great," Riko sarcastically answered from her face up position on the ground. In Truth, she was quite sore from the fall, but she seemed to be alright. "I''m good," Ruko stated as she dusted herself off, no hint of sarcasm in her voice. Slowly, Riko climbed to her feet. Glancing about, she took in her new surroundings. High above, she could just make out the hole that she had fallen through. Luckily, that hole wasn''t the only exit. There was also a passage. Unluckily, there was a problem with the passage. "G-GIANT BEAR!" the cyan-haired catgirl managed, pointing at the thing blocking the passage in shock. Simply put, there literally was a giant bear blocking the passage. Actually, the pink-eyed magical girl thought the bear looked awfully like the one she had run into in the forest. Of course, she wasn''t positive that it was the same one, but You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.how many bears got that big? It really seemed to be unnaturally massive. "I''ll handle it," Ruko stated, taking a position between the ferocious beast and her friends before taking on a combat stance. In response, the beast cracked a smile. Strangely, it seemed happy at what it saw. Steadily, the giant bear rose up on its hind legs and took on a human-like combat stance itself. Since when did bears do that. Clearly this was no ordinary bear. The massive beast seized the first move, throwing a massive punch towards the blonde. Ruko sidestepped the blow, countering with a kick. The bear blocked the counter with its other paw, leaving the catgirl to flip back in response. The next moment, Ruko became a veritable blur as she unleashed a torrent of punches and kicks at her foe. "She''s so fast. I can''t even keep up," Riko commented in awe, her eyes wide. "She is impressive," Timothy concurred, "but that bear worries me. It doesn''t appear to be having any trouble keeping up." Ruko wasn''t the only blur. As the catgirl unleashed her onslaught, the giant bear''s paws qualified as a blur as well. Each blow from the magical girl was met by a block, being rendered ineffective. After this bizarre scene of strikes and blocks played out for a while, the massive bear leapt back, distancing himself from his opponent. Slamming his mighty paws together, two more giant bears puffed into existence beside him. One was at his left. The other was at his right. Actually, the two new bears appeared to be identical to the first. The next instance, the three bears rushed forward, beginning their own onslaught against Ruko. "N-NINJA BEAR!" Riko stuttered in disbelief. "Just because something can make copies of itself does not mean that it is a ninja," Timothy responded. "Wait! Are those shuriken? Get down!" Seemingly from thin air, the bears had pulled out a multitude of shuriken. The next moment, the immediate area had become a flurry of steel. Looking almost like she was dancing, Ruko nimbly avoided the razor sharp projectiles. In time, the storm of steel died down, and the lithe catgirl was left standing at the center of a three bear ring. Glancing from bear to bear to bear, Ruko prepared for the next round. Suddenly, the bears, though, seemed to be more interested in something above them. All three momentarily turned their gaze upward before returning it to Ruko. The next instant, all three of them poofed away. Just like that, the giant bears were gone. "What did I just see?" Riko commented, perplexed at what she had just witnessed. "No idea," Timothy added. Before they had disappeared, the three bears had looked up to the hole in the chamber''s ceiling. Ruko was sure of that. The question was why. The blonde magical girl took this opportunity to stare up towards the hole for a moment. The lighting was too dim for her eyes to pick out anything beyond the hole. She could sense something watching her from beyond it, though. Could whatever it was be related to the bears? Could that incident had been some kind of test for them? There were more questions than answers. "We should move on," the taciturn catgirl finally stated as she turned her attention to the map. Looking over the map for a moment, she identified where they likely were after the fall. At least the map did not seem to have become useless quite yet. "I concur," Timothy responded. "Do you know where we are?" "I believe so. This way." With that, the amethyst-eyed catgirl took her position at the head of the group and led them down the passage that had previously been blocked by that massive bear. In truth, based upon the information provided by the map, there was not much more to the cavern to explore. This in turn meant that it shouldn''t take much longer to find the altar. Once they find the altar, they should presumably also find the one-eyed worm. Chapter 7 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Of_Cats_and_Magic Title: Of Cats and Magic Chapter: 7 Author: Riko Gonzalez The chamber was expansive, much more expansive than any other chamber of the cavern they had entered up to this point. Jagged crystals jutted out of the high ceiling, a bluish glow emanating from them, droplets of some kind of translucent liquid dripping down from them into shallow pools. Although the cavern had possessed dim lighting up to this point, the lighting in this chamber was different. True, it wasn''t all that much brighter and still qualified as dim, but the light here was a soft, bluish glow. Ruko, having already put the map away, led the group around the many pools toward a slab of stone at the center of the chamber. Next to the slab was a glowing, blue monolith. They had finally found the altar. Where was the one-eyed worm? As if on cue, tendrils of bluish plasma began extending from the monolith, growing in number and size. The many tendrils than coalesced, separating from the monolith and forming a glowing blob. The blob proceeded to take the shape of a humongous worm with various tendrils forming and deforming along its body, its head possessing one massive eye, its entire body a translucent blue. The monstrosity, easily towering over the group before it, let out a silent roar. Well, at least it looked like it roared. The whole noise aspect of the roar was utterly missing. Undaunted by the beast, Ruko stepped up to it. Crouching down, she then sprang forward, landing a powerful kick on the odd creature. The force of the blow sent it bouncing back, its body jiggling like gelatin. All this happened without a sound. Each bounce of the one-eyed worm resulted in no thud. Apparently, this thing didn''t just roar silently. It appeared to just not do the whole noise thing. *** "Guess she has it under control," Riko commented as she watched. In silence, as the battle between Ruko and the one-eyed worm continued, the liquid from some of the pools around Riko and Timothy began to do something rather peculiar. Namely, some of the liquid from the pools began to rise up. Timothy was the first of the two to notice this phenomena. "Riko, prepare yourself! Some things are forming from the pools!" As the blue cat spoke, the risen substance from the pools had taken on vaguely humanoid forms. These forms had already begun to stagger forward. The creatures certainly weren''t fast, but that did not mean that they weren''t dangerous. "I got this," Riko said, summoning her trusty staff. Darting to the nearest liquid humanoid thing, the wheat-skinned catgirl promptly beheaded it. Simply put, she had landed a staff swing on the side of its head, causing its head to splatter. Well, it was basically walking liquid. The creature, in response, didn''t do much of anything. Instead, it merely continued to stagger forward, paying no heed to the loss of its head.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. "Go down already you stupid zombie water!" Riko stated in annoyance, taking another swing. This time it was an overhead strike. The blow connected and bisected the creature. The two halves of the creature melting away a moment later. The cyan-haired catgirl took on a triumphant expression as she looked to the remaining humanoid beasts. The triumphant expression didn''t last. More of the things were in the process of forming, adding further to the count. *** Two tendrils silently swept forward towards the amethyst eyed catgirl. They missed their target and instead soundlessly connecting with the stone floor. Countering, Ruko rushed forward, throwing a powerful punch. Her fist found its target, leaving the one-eyed worm to bounce back, its gelatinous flesh still rippling when it came to a stop. Once more, the creature unleashed a silent roar, rearing up as it did. The beast already easily toward over the blonde magical girl, but it proceeded to puff up its body anyway, becoming even bigger. Some creatures puff up as an intimidation tactic. This wasn''t merely an intimidation tactic, though. The one-eyed worm was clearly preparing to crush the much smaller catgirl before it. Of course, that wouldn''t work. The beast''s massive body predictably came crashing down, targeting the lithe blonde with the devastating blow. It was no match for Ruko''s speed, though. By the time the attack struck, the catgirl had already relocated to the side. An explosion of stone shards followed as sediment was thrown into the air from the one-eyed worm''s massive form slamming into the stone ground in perfect silence. There was no boom as one may expect. Ruko blocked a few stray shards of stone before rushing forward. Taking the opportunity, she slammed her foot into the side of its head, causing the thing to spin back. Once again, its body was still rippling when it came to a stop. This monstrosity was proving to be quite resilient --- at least when it came to physical attacks. *** "There''s no end to them!" Riko dispatched two more of the water zombies with a swing of her staff. However, in the time it took for those two to be stuck down, more than two additional water zombies had been formed. This was the pattern that was playing out again and again and again. At this rate, it wouldn''t matter how many of them were defeated. There would always be more. "I see your point," the winged-cat replied to his cyan-haired companion. If this kept up, they would be overwhelmed. Timothy was well aware of this. There was simply too many of the things forming at too rapid a rate. However, a thought occurred to him. What it the water zombies weren''t independent? What if they were connected in some manner to the one-eyed worm? They were the same glowing, translucent blue that the one-eyed worm was. He glanced towards the colossal beast, checking up on how the fight was going against it. Clearly, his blonde ally wasn''t in any danger of losing. The problem was that the one-eyed worm appeared to have plenty of fight left in it. With the increasing water zombie count, they did not have the luxury of waiting for Ruko to finish it. "Riko, try taking out the one-eyed worm with your flame. If my thoughts are right, that may put an end to this endless water zombie problem." Riko, though, found a ring of water zombies rapidly closing in on her. Spinning around, she lashed out with her staff, knocking them back and setting the lot of them on fire. "I... uh... meant to do that." "Sure you did." With some distance between her and the water zombies, the pink eyed catgirl turned her attention to the one-eyed worm. It was still engaged in melee against Ruko, failing to hit her as she landed blow after blow on it. "Ruko, get out of the way. I''m going to torch that thing." The taciturn blonde nodded before jumping to the side, putting some distance between her and the beast. The one-eyed worm, for its part, looked from Ruko to Riko, clearly confused about what they were doing. The next moment, there was a flash of light and then lots and lots of flames. The whole of the gigantic creature was consumed, its body convulsing in agony, its flesh bubbling. Then it outright exploded, vaporized by the intense heat. As for the water zombies, they all promptly melted away. "You set the cavern on fire," Ruko commented in the aftermath. "How the heck did I manage to ignite stone?" "Doesn''t matter," Timothy replied. "Lets just get out of here before the fire gets any more out of control." "I''ll lead the way," Ruko said, taking out the map. Chapter 8 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Of_Cats_and_Magic Title: Of Cats and Magic Chapter: 8 Author: Riko Gonzalez "Welcome to our new apartment," Timothy said to the two magical girls. "Did something happen to the old one?" Ruko asked. "There was a little accident," Riko responded. "Little? You burned it down," Timothy spoke up. "I said that was an accident." The three stood in the entrance to the apartment, Riko and Ruko both holding bags. Ruko was actually holding two bags --- one for herself and one for Timothy. Riko was just holding one. After Riko had burned down their last apartment --- Ruko wasn''t with them at the time --- she and Timothy had went straight to that magical girl boot camp. Now that the boot camp was over, the three needed a place to stay. Luckily, Timothy quickly found the group an apartment. The apartment had a living room, a kitchen, a dining room, a bathroom, and three bedrooms. There were enough bedrooms in the new apartment for all three of them to get their own. That meant that even Timothy would get his own bedroom, and he was a cat --- a blue, winged cat but still a cat. "This is the living room. Just leave the bags here for now. I''ll show you two the rest of the apartment, and then we can decide who gets which bedroom," Timothy informed. *** Later that day, after they had become situated in their new apartment, the group headed out. As it turns out, the apartment complex was located at the edge of a forest. Not far into said forest was a large clearing. That is where they were currently gathered. "What are we doing here?" Riko inquired as she took in the scenery. It really was a rather scenic location. "We are here for training. The one-eyed worm fight showed us that you still have control issues. You literally set nonflammable stone ablaze back there. While logic need not always apply when it comes to magical girls, it wasn''t like you were trying to set the cavern on fire," Timothy answered. "At least I took out the worm." "True, but I hear that the resulting fire is still raging. No one seems know If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.when or even if that inferno will ever die down," the winged cat responded. "Anyway," Timothy glanced between the two catgirls as he continued, "I''ve had an idea. Ruko should try training you. As a physical type, she excels in enhancing her physical prowess with her magic. This form of magic requires a high level of focus --- in other words, control --- on the part of the magical girl. As such, I figure training under Ruko may be just what you need. Focus is what you seem to lack after all." "I concur," Ruko added. "Learning to focus your power inward for physical enhancement should help." *** A cool breeze blew through the clearing, quietly rustling the soft grass. Riko and Ruko stood facing each other, the clearing''s center between the two. Riko held her staff in her hands, clearly posed for battle. Ruko just stood there in a rather relaxed posture. "Come at me," the taciturn magical girl said, her amethyst eyes watching her cyan-haired friend. Riko rushed forward, swinging her staff towards the blonde. The next moment, she was on flat on her back, cringing in pain. Ruko had not only blocked the staff attack, she had used the weapon to flip Riko up and over her. Turns out that the grass --- as soft as it was --- didn''t make that good of a cushion. The pink-eyed catgirl climbed to her feet, dusting herself off in the process. She threw a quick glare at Ruko, who wasn''t so much as winded, before bending over to pick up her staff. "Again," her taciturn sparring partner said. Riko gritted her teeth and grasped her staff like a bat before swinging it with all her might. The result was exactly the same. Ruko easily caught the strike and swung her poor opponent around, leaving Riko flat on her back once more. Ruko just watched as the buxom magical girl regained her footing. Once Riko had readied herself once more, the process repeated itself again and again and again. Riko tried coming at Ruko from various angles --- even tried using her staff''s length to trip the other women up. The result, though, was always the same. She always found herself flat on her back after one of her attempts. In a physical fight, Ruko was quite obviously out of her league. Still, that was no reason to give up. This was training after all. Again, Riko climbed to her feet, her body not quite as steady as it had been earlier, her breath coming out in soft pants. The training was taking a toll on her. She hadn''t reached her limit, though. She would improve. She was sure of it. For now, though, she needed to concentrate on the opponent before her, the seemingly immovable blonde. *** The sun had begun to set. In the resulting reddish glow, Riko lay on her back, her breath coming out in deep pants. She could hardly move at this point. Her body was racked with pain from repeatedly slamming into the ground again and again and again. "That''s enough for today. Good work," Ruko commented. "G-Good... work? I-I couldn''t... even land... one blow on you," Riko managed between pants. It was quite obvious that she was disappointed in herself over this. True, she was well aware of Ruko''s skill, but she figured she could have at least landed one hit. "Most people can''t keep up with me. You did seem to improve somewhat, though. Need help getting up?" "N-No... I-I''m good." The cyan-haired catgirl momentarily managed to force herself to her feet before stumbling back to the ground. "I-I guess... I could... use some help." The blonde offered her hand to her pink-eyed friend in response. Riko grabbed Ruko''s hand and pulled herself up before losing her footing and falling into Ruko. "I''ll help you back to the apartment." As the sun continued to set, the two wheat-skinned women headed back to the apartment complex. As for Timothy, he had already gone back to their apartment earlier in the day. Chapter 9 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Of_Cats_and_Magic Title: Of Cats and Magic Chapter: 9 Author: Riko Gonzalez Flashes of flame illuminated the shadowy room. One by one, men fell. In short order, the floor had become littered with lifeless bodies. In the corner, a slightly overweight man cowered, literally having been cornered. The multitude of corpses in the room were those of his bodyguards. Currently, only two people remained alive in the room, the terrified man and the human woman who had so easily dispatched his guards. "P-please... Don''t kill me," he begged. "C-can''t we work something out. How much will it cost?" The next instance, his pleading came to an abrupt end as his body erupted into flame. He opened his mouth to scream, but his life had been stolen before the sound could escaped his lips. This smoldering body collapsed into a lifeless heap, the flame having already been extinguished. In the shadowy room, only one person remained alive. She had personally seen to it that that was the case. The light-skinned, redheaded woman with the blood red eyes was Flash Fire. She was both a magical girl and an assassin --- a magical girl assassin. A beeping interrupted the silence, prompting the 167cm tall redhead to fish out her phone, her ponytail swaying back and forth as she did so. After having typed in her passcode, she quickly checked her messages. Looks like she had a new client. One that paid quite well. *** Riko lashed out with her staff as she jumped into the air. Twisting around, she brought her weapon down from overhead as she nimbly landed. The ground exploded on staff impact, leaving a small but notable crater before her. As the beautiful catgirl returned to a neutral position, a few flecks of flame danced around her. With her usual taciturn expression, Ruko watched Riko''s display. Riko was once again training under Ruko. Honestly, the pinked-eyed catgirl had improved quite a bit since she had first started training under her blonde ally. "Try your flame," the amethyst-eyed catgirl suggested, pointing to a nearby boulder as she did so. The boulder in question wasn''t all that large. Actually it was comparable to a moderately-sized watermelon in size. Riko grinned at the suggestion. This was the first time using her flame during one of her training sessions with Ruko. Did this mean that the blonde thought she had finally acquired enough focus to not accidentally set something on fire? This was her chance to prove herself. The cyan-haired catgirl pointed her staff at the watermelon-sized boulder. A Stolen novel; please report.flash of light later, the boulder was gone, having been replaced by singed grass. "I did it!" "Look behind you." With dread, Riko slowly looked over her shoulder. Behind her was a grass fire. Guess she still wasn''t quite ready. How did she manage to start a grass fire behind her when her attack was in the opposite direction, though? Guess there was more important things to worry about like calling the fire department. With that thought, the buxom magical girl retrieved her phone and started dialing. This training session was in their usual location for such sessions, the forest clearing. At the rate the fire was spreading, it wouldn''t take long for it to escape the clearing and become an outright forest fire. "Well, aren''t you a firebug," a voice got both of their attention, prompting Ruko to take on a fighting stance. Ruko didn''t know who the woman before them was, but she could tell that she was dangerous. "Relax. I''m not here to kill you," the red-eyed woman responded. "I''m just here to give you a message. Things are about to get pretty wild in town if you know what I mean." Riko and Ruko glanced to one another before dashing off, leaving the redhead alone in the burning clearing. The redhead, Flash Fire, then proceeded to head to town herself. She didn''t want to miss the fireworks after all. *** Upturned cars. Upturned cars everywhere. It was pure pandemonium. Civilians fled in utter panic. A handful of police officers worked to help with the impromptu evacuation. It wasn''t much help, though. Buildings were collapsing. Fissures snaked along the streets, green tendrils extending out of them, wrapping around anything they could reach --- anything other than cars that is. Upturned cars littered the landscape. For whatever reason, the tendrils had no desire to wrap around the cars --- just upturn them. "Some kind of plant?" Riko pondered. "Looks like it," Ruko replied. "Appears to be originating from deeper in town. Lets go." The two magical girl''s raced down the ruined street, dodging tendrils as they ran. Relentlessly, the tendrils lashed out at the two catgirls, attempting to grab them. Time and time again, they missed. Until one finally found its mark. As Riko ran by, one of them managed to snag her left ankle. The next instant, Riko found herself being dangled upside down by the offending tendril. Ahead of the cyan-haired catgirl, Ruko spun around, skidding to a halt, sensing the danger. The blonde rushed to her friend''s aid, slicing cleanly through the elongated structure with a swift kick. Riko was left tumbling back to the ground. "Ouch!" the pink-eyed magical girl protested as she made impact. "Couldn''t you be a bit more gentle?" "No time. We must end this." Ruko didn''t wait to get a response. She had already returned to running towards the origination point of this mess. Riko, after taking a brief moment to dust herself off, quickly followed suit. Ruko was right after all. They had to stop this before it got any worse. *** At the heart of the town, the two magical girls found what they sought, the source of the disaster. Before the two catgirls was some kind of bulbous growth. Whatever the thing was, it was enormous, towering over the both of them. As for the stench of the thing, it was horrific, bringing thoughts of rotting flesh to mind. The veiny, green thing sat there, pulsating, thorns lining its form. For a second, but just a second, Riko thought she would be sick. The smell of the thing was what one would call sickening. Luckily she got over it quickly. Ruko on the other hand, had already rushed up to the foul-smelling abomination. Taking the opportunity to attempt to down the thing quickly, the amethyst-eyed catgirl unleashed a powerful punch. The thing rocked under the force of the blow, thorns shattering around the impact point. Unfortunately, it wasn''t enough. The pulsations of the thing picked up pace, pumping the thing up in size, prompting Ruko to jump back. A moment later, the already colossal thing had doubled --- no, tripled --- in size. Chapter 10 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Of_Cats_and_Magic Title: Of Cats and Magic Chapter: 10 Author: Riko Gonzalez The colossal, inflated, plant-like thing loomed before the two magical girls, its razor sharp thorns glistening in the afternoon light. Then it happened. The multitude of thorns exploded outward, rocketing through the air, threatening to turn anything in the immediate area into a pincushion. Thanks to her previous attack, Ruko was able to exploit the previously shattered thorns to jump into a safe zone. As for Riko, she quickly ducked behind a conveniently placed upturned car. Guess it was a good thing that there were so many upturned cars littering the place. Riko peaked out from behind the car, glancing at the plant-like monstrosity. It was just as puffed up as before. However, now it lacked its thorns. Instead, it was covered in many holes, each hole where a thorn used to be, a putrid green sap leaking from the holes. If anything, the sap made the thing smell even worse. The next moment, a sickening, tearing sound filled the air as the top of the plant-like creature split into two flaps. A thick, green tendril reached out, twisting about as if it was sampling the air. The next instant, it locked its attention on the blonde, whipping towards Ruko. The lithe catgirl sidestepped the appendage, but that turned out to not be enough. Capitalizing on the distraction caused by the first tendril, a second swiftly extended from within the beast, successfully wrapping around Ruko''s waist. "Oh no you don''t!" Riko remarked defiantly, summoning her staff. Lining up the shot, she fired a bolt of flame at the offending tendril. The fire sliced through the thick appendage, freeing her ally. "Hey! Nothing burst into flame this time! I think I''m finally getting the hang of this!" The pink-eyed magical girl stared at the plant-like monster for a moment as something occurred to her. "Actually, it would have been useful it that thing had burst into flame. Wonder if I can one-shot it?" Riko began lining up her next shot, but she quickly found her action interrupted by a scream --- the beast''s scream to be exact. Dispelling her staff, she clasped her hands over her ears --- or tried to at least. As a catgirl, she had four ears --- two human and two cat-like. The problem was she only had two hands, so her attempt was awkward to say the least.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. *** "Why did that thing have to be so smelly?" Flash Fire asked to herself as she watched the ongoing battle. Sure, she had planted that thing''s seed, but she had no idea that it would smell like that. The redheaded assassin sat atop a damaged building, cracks running up along the sides of said building. She had a good vantage point for the fight playing out before her. Even from this distance, the scent of that thing was outright nauseating, though. However, she couldn''t help but smirk at the sight before her. In essence, she found the current scene outright hilarious. The monster was currently screaming. At her distance, it was no big deal. Up close, though, it appeared to be outright earsplitting. The cyan-haired catgirl was frantically trying and failing to cover all her ears with her hands. Strangely, the blonde catgirl maintained a stoic demeanor, unfazed by the sonic assault. Still, the cyan-haired one''s reaction was priceless. If anything, it so made putting up with that monstrosity''s disgusting scent worth it. *** The ground quaked beneath their feet. The two magical girls took defensive action as a forest of vines exploded upward. Each of these vines were easily thicker than the torso of the average human adult. As the colossal structures reached upwards, they began to bend towards the gigantic growth at the center of the forest. Riko and Ruko had both been forced back quite a bit by the unexpected event. The individual vines were no more. Instead, they had wrapped around the bulbous, green growth that the two magical girls had been fighting. Now, before them, was an enormous cocoon of vines. Riko summoned back her staff, pointing it at the creature before unleashing a powerful attack of flame. A flash of light later, the monstrous cocoon was fully engulfed in fire. It wasn''t enough, though. In the wake of the inferno, the beast was left little more than singed. The cocoon''s defensive prowess was quite formidable. One by one, giant eyes opened along the surface of the cocoon, the many eyes turning their attention to the pink-eyed catgirl. Riko shrunk back, disturbed by the sight. The beast was clearly watching her, likely due to her last attack. Although her attack obviously wasn''t enough to beat it, it did appear to have been enough to draw the thing''s attention. Wait, what were those things along the cocoon''s surface? A multitude of pods had begun to swell along the creature''s vine-composed shell. At first, they were the size of marbles, but they swiftly enlarged in size. Moments later, they were large enough to house people. In turn, each exploded open, each releasing a giant, wasp-like insect. The coloration of the insects was orange and black, each insect possessing a stinger that was easily a foot long. As the horde of insectoid creatures gathered, Ruko took on a combat stance, preparing herself for the inevitable clash that was quite clearly about to occur. Following Ruko''s lead, Riko readied herself as well. The numbers of the airborne beasts continued to rise as more of the wasps were birthed from the tangle of vines. Finally, the number of the creatures stabilized at one hundred. That''s right. Before the two catgirls was an army of angry wasps waiting to rush the two. A drop of sweat rolled down Riko''s temple at the sight. She didn''t much like the thought of being swarmed by a bunch of enraged wasps. Of course, these weren''t regular wasps. These things were comparable to her in size. That made the thought of them swarming her even more undesirable. As for Ruko, she was quite clearly undaunted by the army before her. She coolly waited, studying the beasts, standing ready to fight them. Chapter 11 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Of_Cats_and_Magic Title: Of Cats and Magic Chapter: 11 Author: Riko Gonzalez A lone wasp darted forward from the rest of the mass, its stinger glistening menacingly. The winged beast was headed straight for Ruko. The blonde catgirl watched nonchalantly, displaying her typical taciturn expression. At the last moment, she threw a punch --- a lone punch. That was all it took. Stinger met fist, and fist won. The force of the blonde''s blow was such that not only did the stinger outright shatter but the rest of the giant wasp exploded. Silently, the magical girl lowered her fist, turning her emotionless eyes to the rest of the swarm. Somewhat amazingly, the swarm backed up in response. It appeared that the display of Ruko''s sheer strength was enough to frighten the creatures. Of course, this fear only held them back momentarily. A few seconds later, the swarm rushed forward, intent on avenging the lost wasp. Turned out that few seconds of hesitation would cost them dearly. Instead of swarming the object of their ire as they had intended, they instead found themselves flying into a wall of intense flame. Just like that, the brunt of the insect hoard was gone, having been incinerated in an instant. The survivors, only twelve, fell back and split up. Riko grinned at her handy work. The cyan-haired magical girl had taken advantage of both the tight formation of the swarm and the form''s fixation on Ruko. In short, she had tried to one-shot the whole swarm and came awfully close to succeeding. Of course, the wasps weren''t ignoring her now. Ruko glanced from the circling wasps to Riko before her amethyst eyes settled on the monstrous cocoon. Casually, she picked up a pebble and then turned her attention back to the wasps. Taking aim at one of the winged beasts, she threw the rock with terrifying force. It was a direct hit, but the tiny projectile did not stop. It continued on its course, tearing the giant insect to shreds in the process. Instantly, the remaining eleven wasps turned to the blonde catgirl. They were no longer circling but instead were hovering. She quite clearly had their attention. "I''ll deal with the stragglers." Riko nodded in response before heading towards the many-eyed cocoon, leaving Ruko to deal with the remaining wasps. *** "How to crack this thing?" Riko stood before the many-eyed cocoon, one of the thing''s many eyes watching her. This monstrosity looked like something from someone''s nightmare, its hide being composed of a multitude of gigantic vines with a multitude of enormous eyes dotting it. The monstrous cocoon was quite sturdy, but it wasn''t invincible. Riko was sure of that. Pointing her staff to the imposing creature, the buxom catgirl readied an attack. She intended to torch this abomination again. Perhaps the second time would be the charm. Alas, it wasn''t meant to be, and Riko found herself jumping back instead, a huge tendril slamming down in front of her. The tendril had clearly meant to crush her. Well, the thing''s action did make Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.sense. After all, why would it just allow her to attack it. Still, it didn''t have that tendril a moment ago. As Riko pondered the sudden appearance of the lengthy appendage, eleven more of them sprouted from the cocoon. Obviously, this creature wasn''t defenseless without its wasps. With a sigh, Riko glanced over the thing''s twelve tendrils. The tendrils were quite a bit thicker than the pair that the creature had previous to it transforming into a cocoon. As such, they were likely much sturdier than the previous tendrils. With that thought in mind, the pink-eyed magical girl readied herself for the onslaught she figured was headed her way. *** The wasps, still hovering in place, cautiously watched the blonde catgirl that they had encircled. It was almost as it they were afraid to act. Actually, that wasn''t that odd if true. After all, Ruko had not only curbstomped a wasp in melee but she had also curbstomped one from range. There really was no reason for the wasps to not notice how outmatched they were in this fight. As such, the winged insects continued to hover, waiting. Ruko crouched down and picked up yet another pebble, causing the wasps to sweatdrop at the sight. The last time she had picked up a pebble, it didn''t end well for a particular wasp. To put it simply, said wasp was no longer among the living. Glancing to one another, the wasps decided to go for it. From all sides, they rushed the blonde catgirl. As they saw it, the amethyst-eyed magical girl would not be able to take them all out at once. Turns out, though, they were wrong. Dropping the pebble, Ruko balled her right fist. As the stingers were almost upon her, she slammed her fist into the ground with such force that she carved a crater at her feet. The resulting shock wave exploded outward, catching the attacking insects off-guard, blowing them back, tearing them apart. Ruko stood alone. The wasps were no more. She was victorious in her rather one-sided fight against them. Stepping out of the crater, she glanced to the gigantic cocoon. Riko was currently engaged in melee with the monstrosity. With her amethyst eyes locked on the enormous creature, the blonde rushed towards it to join the fray. *** A pair of tendrils slammed down, one to each of her sides. The twin impacts kicked up a cloud of dust. Through the dust, Riko could make out a third tendril overhead. Talk about being trapped between a rock and a hard place. The third tendril was preparing to strike, and she could dodge neither left nor right due to the other two tendrils. True, she could try jumping back, but she wasn''t that sure that that would actually get her out of the attack''s range. "If that''s how you want to play this..." The catgirl''s lips curled into a smirk as the overhead tendril came slamming down. A thunderous boom echoed throughout the area as tendril met staff. Holding the enormous appendage back with the tip of her staff, Riko gritted her teeth. The training under Ruko had really paid off. However, this thing was still quite strong. One could even say it was monstrously strong. Her staff was quite literally creaking from the force she was holding back. "My turn. Now burn." Just like that, the tendril being held back by the tip of her staff burst into flame, drawing back in response. Frantically, the thing began swinging about in an attempt to extinguish the flames that were devouring it. Seeing her opening, the pink-eyed catgirl readied a followup attack. "Now, drown in an inferno." At her words, the nightmarish cocoon was cast into a sea of flames, the flickering flames tearing at its colossal form. Its twelve tendrils quickly succumbed to the flames, dropping away. However, its main body held strong, refusing to give in to the raging inferno. As the flickering flames continued their assault, Ruko neared the beast. The closest of the creature''s many eyes turned to her. Its reward was a shoe to the pupil. The blonde''s kick hammered into the oversized eye with such force that the eye buckled under the pressure before exploding outwards. As Ruko stepped back from the creature, the tremendous force from her kick reverberated within the monstrosity''s sturdy frame as Riko''s inferno continued to tear at it from without. The creature''s remaining eyes began to violently spasm. It looked like the pair of attacks from the two magical girls was too much for the gigantic beast to take. One by one, its eyes began to swell before each exploded into a shower of putrid sap in turn. The smell of the disturbing spectacle was just plain horrendous. Then the cocoon collapsed in upon itself. The creature was dead. Chapter 12 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Of_Cats_and_Magic Title: Of Cats and Magic Chapter: 12 Author: Riko Gonzalez "They won the fight. That plant thing is dead." Flash Fire sat atop a ruined building, overlooking the battlefield, cracks riddling the building''s surface. Pressed to the redhead''s ear was her phone. "Another message? Fine... I''ll deliver it. Just make sure the payment goes through." With a sigh, the red-haired magical girl hung up her phone. What a strange client this was? She was fairly certain the woman knew she was an assassin, yet the tasks she was being given were odd considering her profession. What did this woman actually need an assassin for? Regardless, as long as she paid, it wasn''t a problem, and this client paid quite well. In any case, it looked like she was now being paid to extend an invitation. *** "Well, that thing had quite a bit of fight in it," Riko spoke in reference to the monstrosity they had defeated just moments ago. Its remains still continued to burn, the horrendous smell of the creature finally starting to dissipate. "Any idea where this thing came from?" she queried her blonde friend. Ruko merely glanced up for a moment, and then shook her head, indicating that she did not. Turning her attention back to the creature''s remains, she proceeded to prod them a few times. Though the creature appeared to be quite dead, she wanted to verify that it actually was. After all, it would be quite troublesome if it suddenly started moving again. As expected, though, it stayed looking quite dead. Satisfied, the blonde catgirl looked to her cyan-haired friend. "We should head back," she spoke. "A moment please," a voice drew their attention, halting their withdrawal before it even began. It was the same redhead who had previously caused them to rush to town to fight that plant-like thing. "Just a moment! Who exactly are you? What''s your connection to that thing?" Riko was pointing her staff at the red-headed woman, demanding answers. "My name is Flash Fire," the woman responded, a dangerous look in her eyes. "I''m a magical girl and an assassin. Don''t worry, though. I''m not here to kill you... You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.this time." Riko continued to gaze at Flash Fire suspiciously, looking ready to fight if it came to that. Flash Fire really wasn''t surprised by this. There really wasn''t much reason for them to actually trust her after all. In short, Riko''s behavior was expected. Ruko''s, though, threw her for a loop. Unlike Riko, Ruko was not glaring at her suspiciously. It wasn''t that the blonde wasn''t watching her. No, she was clearly observing her. It was just that she couldn''t detect a hint of emotion in the woman''s face. It was a perfect poker face. In truth, the taciturn expression on the blonde was quite unnerving to Flash Fire. She could tell that the amethyst-eyed magical girl would be a dangerous opponent. Perhaps it was a good thing the client only wanted her to deliver a message this time. Trying to hide her unease, Flash Fire continued, "I''m just a middlewoman for this incident. Plant a seed. Deliver a message. I''ve been given another task now, though. Another message. An invitation." As the redhead spoke, she withdrew a folded paper. "On this you will find a time and place. Seems the client wants to meet you." Riko relaxed a bit --- just a bit --- as she was handed the folded paper. While she didn''t quite trust the assassin, she didn''t think the redhead meant them harm at this time. "With that, I''ll take my leave," Flash Fire said once Riko had possession of the paper. *** "The one behind that thing the two of you fought claims to want to meet you?" A paper lay on the floor in front of Timothy. As the blue cat spoke, he looked over the contents of the paper, a time and place. Across from Timothy, on the other side of the paper, was Riko and Ruko. The three of them were in their apartment. "That''s what that assassin said. Seems suspicious, doesn''t it?" Riko commented, answering the winged cat''s question. "I concur. I wouldn''t be surprised if this turned out to be a trap." Riko watched Timothy expectantly as he spoke. Ruko watched him with her usual taciturn expression. "However, I don''t think we can ignore this. Whoever or whatever is behind this already put the town in danger once. Ladies, it looks like we have a date to keep." Timothy turned his golden eyes back to the foreboding paper, stretching his feathery wings restlessly. He didn''t like this --- not one bit. He didn''t want to risk the town''s safety, though. The paper laying before him specified the place of Veil Lake and the time of midnight. *** Elsewhere, a figure sat cloaked in shadow. Although obscured by the shade, she sported a joyful grin as she sipped a cup of tea. "Will they come? Will they come? Will they come?" she sang happily. "Of course they''ll come." Her red eyes took on a mischievous look as the last statement flowed from her shapely lips. Casually, she took another sip from her teacup. She wasn''t used to being denied. No, to her humans, catgirls, and catboys were just playthings for her enjoyment --- toys if you will. As such, they would dance to her tune as she saw fit. "Just a matter of time," she continued in a beautiful singsong voice. *** Riko shivered. For some reason, a rather foreboding sensation had suddenly descended upon her. "You alright?" Timothy asked. "You''re looking rather pale." "I''m good. Just suddenly got a rather bad feeling about this." "I know what you mean. Seems way to risky to ignore this, though." Ruko watched her two friends converse for a moment. This meeting did have the potential to be a trap, but Timothy was right. They were being called out, and ignoring it was too dangerous. "I''m going to shower," the blonde interjected into the conversation, turning to leave the living room afterwards. Riko and Timothy momentarily glanced to the blonde magical girl upon hearing her voice. "Should I make dinner?" Riko said, turning back to Timothy. "Don''t worry about it. I''ll make dinner today." Chapter 13 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Of_Cats_and_Magic Title: Of Cats and Magic Chapter: 13 Author: Riko Gonzalez It was slightly before midnight. However, the sky was cloudless, allowing the beautifully glistening stars to cast ample light for the time. As for the moon, it shown pitch black --- a new moon. Needless to say, even with the light of the stars, it was still quite dark. Complicating vision further was a thick mist which poured forth from the surface of the lake --- Veil Lake. On all sides, the expansive lake was surrounded by a thick forest. From a trail leading out of the forest and to the lake, three figures emerged, the lead figure carrying a lantern. The three figures were Riko, Ruko, and Timothy. The figure sporting the lantern was Ruko. "Is this the right side?" Riko asked as the trio walked up to the lake. "Probably," Timothy began, a hint of uncertainty in his voice. "We took the main trail leading to the lake." As the blue cat spoke, he glanced around cautiously. His eyes were sharp, but his vision was significantly limited thanks to the current conditions. Even the effective range of the lantern held by Ruko had been significantly diminished due to the thick mist. Enemies concealed by the mist weren''t all that hard to imagine. Hopefully, the three of them haven''t just walked into a trap. Luckily, as the seconds ticked by, there was no ambush, no army leaping out to greet them with violence. However, there really didn''t seem to be much happening --- just two catgirls and a talking cat standing in the mist at the edge of the lake. "Maybe we should try the other side," Timothy finally commented, breaking the silence. It was then that midnight struck. A faint chime sounded from over the lake, drawing the trio''s attention. The sound was in no way loud, but --- considering how quiet the place was --- it was quite noticeable. Before the group''s eyes, the mist began to part over the lake. As it did, a series of platforms forming a path that lead out over the lake was revealed. The platforms couldn''t have been more than a centimeter thick and were clear in appearance. The path over the lake led to a gateway leading to an altogether different place. Ruko stepped onto the first of the many platforms composing the path, slowly shifting her weight to it as she did. The thing had no problem supporting her weight. Although the platforms were reminiscent of glass, they seemed to be quite sturdy. "Should we proceed?" the blonde asked, looking back at her friends. Timothy answered with an affirmative nod before jumping up to the first platform. Riko followed soon after. The three of them continued along the mysterious path, drawing closer to the gateway at its end with each step. ***The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. The floor, walls, and even the ceiling were black stone. After the trio had passed through the gateway at the end of the path above the lake, they found themselves in this obsidian structure. They were currently walking down a wide hall. Ruko was still in the lead. Riko and Timothy walking side by side behind her. The lantern, still held by Ruko, had been extinguished. It wasn''t needed at this time. Instead, the trio were lead forward by torchlight. Along both walls of the lengthy hall were a series of evenly spaced torches. The torches appeared to react to their presence, flickering on as they approached and extinguishing as they passed. The flames of the torches did not seem to be quite normal either. Instead of the typical reddish hue one would expect, these torches burned a vibrant blue. In silence, the three trekked forward through the otherworldly hall. In time, the group found itself at the hall''s end. There, the hall opened up into an expansive but dark room, much too dark for the trio to see. Ruko moved to relight the lantern but stopped short. As the torchlight from the great hall flickered out, the room''s lighting activated. Much like the hall, the walls of the room were lined with torches. However, more important for the lighting was a dazzling blue crystal embedded in the center of the room''s ceiling. The enchanting crystal gave off a significant amount of light for the room. In truth, the torches alone would have proved rather inadequate for acceptably lighting the room. "Welcome to Hidden Point," a beautiful voice called out to them from deeper in the room. The owner of the voice sat alone at a table --- a table as black as the rest of the place. The woman''s fair skin shown in sharp contrast to the dark color scheme of the place. Her long, silky, black hair was beautiful. Her scarlet eyes were outright bewitching. The otherworldly beautiful woman had a cup of tea in front of her. Opposite of her at the table were two chairs, a cup of tea by each chair. There was even a pad on the table with a bowl of milk by it. Whoever the mysterious woman was, she had clearly been expecting for all three of them to have come. Riko, Ruko, and Timothy cautiously approached the table, promptly taking their seats as they reached it --- Timothy situating himself on the pad. Could this red-eyed woman actually be the one behind that plant-like creature that Riko and Ruko had fought? "Greetings," the mysterious woman said after taking a sip of tea. "My name is Obscura." "I''m Riko Ibara." Ruko and Timothy glanced to one another as the cyan-haired catgirl introduced herself. They, too, then followed suit. "Ruko Kisara." "You can call me Timothy." With the introductions out of the way, Obscura brought her tea cup back to her lips. "Ms. Obscura, why are we here?" Riko asked the question that wasn''t only on her mind but also on Ruko''s and Timothy''s minds. "It''s quite simple my cute little catgirl. I have a task for you three." "To put it bluntly, why would we be interested in this task of yours after the whole plant debacle?" Timothy stated. "Plant debacle? Oh, you mean that cute little plant?" "Cute little plant? It was enormous, smelled like rotting flesh, and looked like something from someone''s nightmare!" Riko scoffed at how Obscura had referred to that monstrosity. "Cute... Terrifying... Whose to say what''s one or the other," Obscura responded rather dismissively. "Just what is this task you spoke of anyway?" Timothy queried with a sigh, giving in to at least hearing the woman out. "Nothing much. Just the usual. Ferreting out a cult... Stopping an evil god..." "You call that nothing much," Timothy deadpanned. This sounded like the kind of thing that they couldn''t ignore. Timothy, though, was uncertain. Were they ready for something like this? "We''ll do it!" Riko, who had risen from her chair, answered without a second thought. Looked like it was too late to back out now. A grin spread across Obscura''s face as she stood up. Now that the two of them were standing, it was quite apparent that the otherworldly Obscura was quite a bit taller than Riko''s 157cm. Actually, Obscura measured in at 180cm tall. For a second, the two buxom women stared at one another before the taller Obscura leaned over the table, handing a folded paper to Riko. "Here''s the details my cute little catgirl. Don''t disappoint." Chapter 14 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Of_Cats_and_Magic Title: Of Cats and Magic Chapter: 14 Author: Riko Gonzalez Riko sat on one of the three beds in the room. She, Ruko, and Timothy were currently in the room they had rented from the inn. This inn was located in the town of Shadows Edge. This was the town that had been specified to them by Obscura. This was the town in which the three of them were to stop a cult. However, they didn''t really have much more to go on other than the town itself for now. The room they had rented wasn''t that large, but --- due to the three beds --- all three of them got their own bed. Apart from the beds, there really wasn''t much else in the room other than a dresser, a mirror, and a large chest. Actually, the chest looked quite out of place. In short, it looked more like some kind of treasure chest than the type of chest one would expect to find in such a room. "Any thoughts on how we should go about this?" The question was posed by Timothy. He was standing in front of Riko, looking up at the wheat-skinned catgirl. "Maybe we should try checking out the dining area. Perhaps we''ll come across some info we can use." Timothy nodded at Riko''s words. For now, they didn''t have any real leads to go on in regard to the cult. However, even listening to idle gossip could potentially turn up something. Furthermore, it was getting close to lunch anyway, so heading down to the dining area was a good idea in more ways than one. "Uh... Ruko, just what are you wearing?" the winged cat asked after glancing to her. The petite woman was most certainly not wearing her typical outfit. Instead, she was wearing a light brown set of pants and short-sleeved shirt with a slightly darker brown cloak --- complete with hood --- over it. A rope was tied around her waist as a makeshift belt. "That looks awesome! You look like some kind of rogue! Where''d you get that outfit?" Riko asked of the blonde catgirl, leaping up from her seated position as she did. Riko''s cyan-hued tail swished excitedly, her eyes glued on her fellow magical girl. "Chest..." Ruko pointed to the chest in explanation, prompting her rather giddy friend to If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.rush over to it. The next moment, Riko was rummaging through the large chest, a prominent smile on her face. "This is awesome! There''s even weapons in here! Is this a sword? This looks like some sort of knight outfit! I should so be a knight!" "Uh... Riko, are you even a swordswoman?" Timothy deadpanned. "I... see your point. Guess I''ll go with the black mage outfit." The happy catgirl proceeded to retrieve a black robe and a pair of matching gloves from the chest. She didn''t bother to take the staff out from the chest, though. After all, she could already summon her own staff. A moment later --- with Timothy having averted his eyes --- Riko had changed into the robe and gloves. "How do I look?" "Not bad," Timothy commented. The robe was a perfect fit for Riko --- so much so that one could say it was uncanny. It was as if the black mage outfit had been specially prepared for the pink-eyed catgirl. The same thing could be said about the rogue outfit in regard to Ruko. "You want to dress up too? There''s some cat-sized outfits in there as well." Riko''s tail happily swished to and fro as she referred to the smaller outfits. "No." There were even outfits sized for him. Was this really coincidence? Regardless, he had no intention of wearing one. *** The inn''s dining quarters was a large, dim room that was filled with old, wooden tables. Around each table was a collection of chairs. The number of chairs around each table was not uniform, instead ranging from 1 to 4. While the room wasn''t quite packed, many of the chairs were already occupied. Riko, Ruko, and Timothy had already situated themselves at a free table with two chairs, Riko and Ruko sitting across from one another, a plate of steak in front of them both. Timothy sat atop the table with a plate of fish in front of him. Around them, the buzz of gossip could be heard. "I made a real killing a few weeks ago. Lady Julia paid top dollar for this crystal amulet I had." "Lucky you." "I wish lady Julia would marry me." "She''s never shown much interest in dating, so good luck with that." "Has anyone seen lady Julia lately?" "Actually, I don''t think I''ve seen her since she bought that amulet. Hope she''s okay." "They say she has barricaded herself in her manor." "Surely, you joke." "No joke. Something odd is up with that place. I heard someone headed to her manor to check up on her and hasn''t been seen since." Riko, Ruko, and Timothy glanced to one another at the discussion of the manor. Could this be the lead they were hoping for? Riko looked over her shoulder to the old man sitting alone at the next table. Twisting around, she tried to get his attention. "Excuse me. This manor they are talking about... Where is it?" "Edge of town. You should avoid it, though. It''s... dangerous." The cyan-haired catgirl looked at the old man inquisitively for a moment before asking, "Why?" "People have been disappearing around that place for a while now. A few weeks I think. The local authorities are convinced it''s just a hoax, though." "Could I trouble you to take us out there?" "No." The old man answered the pink-eyed catgirl''s question with no hesitation. He had no intention of going anywhere near that place. "I doubt I can talk you out of going, so I will give you a map, though." Deftly, he withdrew a folded map and red pen from his pocket. After opening up the map, he marked an area with a red ''X''. "You will find the manor here. You''re better off avoiding it, though." With those words, the old man handed the map to the cyan-haired catgirl. Chapter 15 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Of_Cats_and_Magic Title: Of Cats and Magic Chapter: 15 Author: Riko Gonzalez The three found the gate leading to the manor''s grounds at the edge of Shadows Edge just like they had been told. Well, one could call this the edge of the town. Actually, it resembled more of a ghost town than anything else at this point. All along the street were abandoned shop carts, many with unsecured goods left in them. It was rather eerie as if the owners had just up and vanished. Even the birds seemed to be avoiding the place. Riko, Ruko, and Timothy stood before the large ornate gate. The golden gate had been set into a large brick fence that was quite a bit too tall for one to see over. For some reason, the gate was ajar, clearly not doing its job of barring access to random passersby --- not that it looked like passersby were that serious of a problem currently. Riko was the first of the three to peek through the open gate. Inside was the once well kept manor grounds. It was quite clearly not well kept anymore, though. Instead, the grounds had been overgrown by countless weeds. Strangely enough, there did seem to be quite a few flower beds that were not overgrown by weeds. However, even those flower beds had grown rampant, spilling out into adjacent areas. In the distance, was the manor. Luckily, there was, in fact, a trail leading to the manor. After a quick glance to one another, the three began heading down the trail with Riko in the lead. As they walked, the dense foliage that had overtaken the grounds rose up to both their sides. As they continued down the path, not once did the tall grass even so much as rustle to either of their sides. There was absolutely no sign of wildlife within it. "This place is rather creepy, isn''t it?" The words had spilled from Riko''s lips, breaking the silence. The beautiful catgirl wearing the black mage outfit continued moving forward, occasionally glancing to one side or the other. Step by step, she led the group closer to the manor. "Supposedly, this place was well kept just a few weeks ago. For it to become like this in such a short time..." This time, the words came from Timothy who had flown up to Riko''s side as he replied. Ruko stayed quiet not uttering a word. Instead, the taciturn catgirl simply continued to follow her companions in silence. Moment by moment, the manor loomed ever closer to the group as if some beast drawing nearer. In time, the three had traversed the grounds to arrive at the ornate door granting access to the structure. Apart from being ornate, there was something else the manor''s door had in common with the gate to the grounds. Simply put, the manor''s door was ajar just as the gate had been. One by one, the three stepped through the doorway. *** The interior looked old and decrepit. This was most certainly not how the place should look. Riko, Ruko, and Timothy were greeted by the sight of yet another If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.room with a thick layer of dust seemingly on everything other than them. A large couch that looked to be on the verge of falling apart was positioned in front of a television set, a television set with a shattered screen. On the wall, a large mirror was similarly shattered. Against a different wall, a bookcase had given up on holding together and instead lay in pieces, a plethora of ragged books surrounding it. At least the lighting still worked. "This is quite bizarre," Timothy commented, glancing about the room as he did. Riko glanced to the blue cat as he spoke. She agreed with him on that. The manor looked as if it had been completely abandoned for years --- maybe even decades. This most certainly did not match the information they had. Someone named Julia should have been living here. As the pink-eyed catgirl pondered the scenario, Ruko glanced over the books scattered about the remains of the book shelf. Behind her, on the dust-covered floor, a set of tracks traced the path she had taken. Likewise, Riko and Timothy also had tracks behind them. Thus far the three had yet to notice any tracks in this place other than their own. The manor --- this room included --- had more than its fair share of cobwebs, yet not a spider had been seen yet by the group. Actually, they hadn''t even seen a bug in this ghostly manor yet. It was almost like the manor was dead. Riko shivered at the thought. It took a moment for the cyan-haired catgirl to shake the mental image of being in some kind of dead creature. It wasn''t a mental image she particularly liked. Actually, she didn''t like it at all. "We should move on," she stated, glancing to her allies. Ruko and Timothy nodded in response. As a group, the three of them proceeded to head deeper into the manor, their tracks tracing their path onward. *** The light flickered. Before Riko, Ruko, and Timothy was an aged wooden wall. In it was several large gashes reminiscent of claw marks. This room was rather small, and it looked to be devoid of anything other than the claw marks and a thick layer of dust. Thus far, this was the only room they had encountered that had flickering lighting. The lighting elsewhere seemed to work perfectly. "Strange room...," Riko commented as she glanced around. The claw marks on that one wall made her a tad nervous. Was there some viscous beast running amok in this place? Wait. If that was the case, shouldn''t there be other signs of it other than that one wall. Ruko had also taken interest in the damaged wall. The whole surface of the wall looked to have been scratched up by something. Actually, that wasn''t quite true. There was a small area that was unmarred. It was that suspicious area that drew her attention. While her pink-eyed ally worried about whether or not there was a monster in this place, she carefully studied the smooth area. Around its edge, she could make out what appeared to be a seam. Silently, the taciturn woman reached forward, pressing her palm against the area. That small portion of the wall slid in with a faint click. To the left of the recessed section of the wall, a different section pulled back before sliding to the left, revealing a passage leading onward. "A mechanism...," Ruko said, sensing the inquisitive stares of her friends. Timothy walked up to the newly revealed passage before peeking in. This did not look like part of the manor. The walls of the passage possessed a light gray coloration. At first glance, one may think they were rock, yet those walls possessed an ever so slight suppleness to them that was most certainly not rock-like. Furthermore, those walls pulsed every now and then. What ever they were composed of, the floor of the passage appeared to share their composition. As for the passage''s ceiling, a glowing, white artery stretched along it. The elongated structure pulsed with the rest of the passage. The artery was not that bright and only gave off enough light to dimly light the passage. Inquisitively, Riko stepped up to the passage''s entrance, joining Timothy to peer down it. Due to the dim lighting, she couldn''t see too far down the pathway. What she could see, though, extended straight ahead and seemed to widen. The entrance would clearly require for them to move single file until the pathway widened a bit. Steeling her nerves, she stepped into the foreboding tunnel, Timothy following her, Ruko following Timothy. Chapter 16 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Of_Cats_and_Magic Title: Of Cats and Magic Chapter: 16 Author: Riko Gonzalez The walls pulsed. After having walked through a lengthy passage, the trio found themselves in an expansive chamber, a plethora of passages connecting to it. Underfoot, the ground continued to pulse with the rest of the bizarre structure. Overhead, glowing white arteries --- one stretching out from each passage --- converged into a large, pulsating, brilliantly white growth in the domed ceiling. The white growth gave off much more light than the arteries. This resulted in this chamber being brightly lit. "Someone''s there," Ruko commented to the group as she extended her finger forward. Sure enough, the figure of a man could be found at roughly the center of the room. This didn''t appear to be some sort of guardian awaiting them. Instead, the man lay collapsed. Riko ran up to the unknown figure, quickly looking him over. Whoever it was, she could tell that he was breathing. However, he did not appear to be what she would call concious. Gently, the cyan-haired catgirl prodded the figure with her foot in an attempt to get a response. Slowly, the collapsed man began to stir. With a start, he staggered back before looking up at the catgirl with groggy yet terrified eyes. Instantly, his body relaxed as he let out a sigh of relief. Shakily, he climbed to his feet. "For a second, I thought you were lady Julia," he said. "Anyway, I''m Ben Stone." "I''m Riko Ibara. My friends over there are Ruko Kisara and Timothy. Timothy is the winged cat. What are you doing here?" "Well... I came to check on lady Julia, but... She tried to kill me when I found her. She used to be so nice, but she''s different now. Something''s not right about her. I''m not even sure how I wound up in this nightmarish place." "If you are looking for the way out, try that passage." After glancing in the direction Riko was motioning, Ben thanked her for the help before running off. "Looks like we need to find this Julia," Timothy spoke as he approached Riko with Ruko at his side. Ruko nodded in agreement. "Any idea which path we should take?" Riko posed the question. A silent moment --- silent other than the rhythmic beat of the pulsating environment --- passed between the three of them.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. "I probably should have asked Ben," Riko finally commented, facepalming. "Don''t worry about it too much," Timothy responded. "I get the impression that Ben may not have been in the best condition for giving directions anyway." *** The trio''s soft footfalls blended into the omnipresent beating of the place. They had found their way into what could best be described as a long, wide hall. In fact, this hall was wide enough for ten adults to walk side by side down it. For now, Timothy was flanked by the two catgirls, Riko walking at his left, Ruko at his right. As for the hall''s length, it was so immense that not a one of them could make out the hall''s end. Needless to say, this grand hall was composed of pulsating, light gray flesh. Overhead, a lone, glowing artery dimly lit the way. "Wonder how long this passage is?" Riko folded her arms behind her head as she spoke with a hint of boredom. Truth be told, she had expected something to happen by now. It had been quite a while since they had wondered into this overly long passage. In fact, neither entrance nor exit was in eyesight. It wasn''t like they had seen any turns down this hall either. Timothy sighed in response. Riko getting bored did worry him a bit. While this place currently seemed safe enough, something about it was incredibly off-putting to him. It could be the ever-present pulsing of the place. Could this entire structure actually be alive? As Timothy pondered the nature of the place, Ruko came to a sudden stop. A moment later, Riko and Timothy stopped as well, both looking back at the blond catgirl. "Something''s here..." The instant after the words came out of Ruko''s mouth, the light went out. *** "This is a fine mess." Timothy stood in the grand hall alone, a sweatdrop on his temple. Glancing about, he quickly double checked his surroundings. There was no trace of his two companions. Apparently, the two catgirls had vanished while the light was out for that split second. What could have happened during that split second? "What the heck am I supposed to do?" Timothy took a seat and stared down the hall. He could still see no end to it. "Should I continue, or should I wait?" He had already travelled well over a mile down this hall. There was no guarantee that he would find the end anytime soon if he continued. Plus, there was the issue of the two missing catgirls. Perhaps he should wait a bit to see if the two return from wherever they had disappeared to. Yes, that seems like the best plan of action for now. Shouldn''t hurt to wait a bit. *** "Where the heck did everyone go?" Riko was perched atop what appeared to be a light gray rock as she surveyed her surroundings. Well, it wasn''t actually a rock. It was clearly too soft to be a rock. Also, rocks didn''t pulse. This thing pulsed just like the floor did. As for Ruko and Timothy, they were nowhere to be seen. The lighting in this chamber --- or at least what Riko assumed to be a chamber --- held a bluish tint. Overhead, creatures resembling manta rays gave off a soft blue glow as they slowly floated about. A light gray ceiling composed of the same pulsing substance as the floor and rocks shown above them. The rock Riko was perched upon was not the only rock in this chamber. In fact, the chamber was riddled with them, each being comparable in size to the one beneath the catgirl. The scope of the chamber was such that not a wall could be seen from Riko''s vantage point. As for the floor, it was obscured by a low hanging mist. The rocks jutted out from this mist. Leaping down from the rock, Riko''s feet plunged into the mist, touching down upon the strange floor. Instantly, a shiver ran up the catgirl''s spine. Something was here. She could sense it. Turning to her left, she locked her pink eyes upon something as it slowly rose up from the mist. Whatever the thing was, she could feel the hostility radiating from it.