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Jan 29, 2022 15:18:04 GMT
Post by LordTigress on Jan 29, 2022 15:18:04 GMT
“Ronin?” Cole’s gaze flickered to the valley. Sure enough, a mech could be seen stomping this way and that as the giant metal hands chucked wolves and cats alike high in the sky. He could just barely make out the familiar red rice hat standing out from the cockpit.
“I thought you— that you— thought you didn’t want to be involved anymore?” he stammered.
Her hand rested upon a slender crossbow hanging from the red sash that was her belt. “We don’t. But if these guys get into the city, then we’ll have to be involved one way or another. But, besides that,” she added, voice darker, “he and I both have a score to settle with these shape-shifters. He lost his memory and I got lost in a different realm after those crazy nightmares. We’re not letting anyone get away with what they did to us.”
“Welcome to the team.”
“Thanks for the help.” Liana spoke up. Cole turned and looked over her quickly. Thankfully only a few scratches stood out on her arms and she was standing.
“No problem.” Skylor winked at him. “Let’s show these kitty-cats who really rules Ninjago, huh?” With that she leapt off the precipice. When Cole looked down he saw her gliding away on a slab of rock and using it to barrel into a thick crowd of Moon Tribe warriors.
“Hey.”
Cole whipped around to see his brother standing on the hill with them, having trotted up the grassy slope. Sweat trickled down his face while a fresh bite mark stood out on one arm.
“Hey.” Cole returned the greeting, grinning. “How’s it going?”
“Oh, pretty good. Your friend Ronin almost crushed me. He’s mad at you, by the way,” he added casually. “He says now that some Moon Tribe cats are on our side it’ll be impossible to tell which ones are friends and which ones are enemies.”
“Tell him the ones that are trying to kill him or give him cursed nightmares are the bad guys.”
“Good tip.”
“Hey, guys,” Liana broke in wryly. “Not to be the third wheel here, but isn’t there a war we should be paying attention to?”
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Post by LordTigress on Jan 30, 2022 0:34:13 GMT
“Right.” Cole got right back to business. He scanned the swarm of enemies streaming below them. “Fluffy, you’re with me and Liana. How ‘bout we get in the middle of all that and throw some cats around? Liana, I’ll get you somewhere high but sheltered. There’s a rocky outcrop beneath us that’ll work.”
“Sounds good to me,” Eagle Talon said, morphing his hands into feline paws.
Liana grinned fiercely and nocked another arrow. “I’m down for that.”
“Ninjaaaaa—!”
“Go!” Eagle Talon and Liana joined him as they bounded down the hillside and took up one corner of the battlefield, where the invading Moon Tribe warriors was thickest. There they staked their claim to a large number of opponents and victims. Liana stood on the sheltered outcrop as the archer while the two boys standing below her slashed and clawed their enemies furiously.
Perhaps traces of the mind-bending power remained, because the two brothers seemed to act as one mind without having to speak out loud. Whilst Cole’s scythe rose and fell upon his targets like a deadly, elegant pendulum, Eagle Talon preyed upon his enemies fast and furiously, claws slashing this way and that. Each brother had the other’s back, never leaving one exposed for too long, and both of them protected Liana with a dangerous passion. Her two guards would not let any wolf or werecat so much as look at her without getting a stab from the scythe or a painful scratch from the claws.
Again Liana took the role as the archer and took out target after target. Cyrus Borg’s technology was the best in all Ninjago and did not fail to identify the locations of foes. When one arrow was gone it was immediately replaced. At one point her quiver ran out entirely, so she took the pack of spares from the strap on her back and refilled. Her arrows were like silver darts of death zipping over the battlefield. She delivered these shots silently, like a pale-haired grim reaper dressed in violet.
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Post by LordTigress on Jan 30, 2022 3:03:45 GMT
The wolves were all but gone by this point. The werecats were scattering, many wounded from their attempted attacks on the three victors. More continued to come, but these were becoming few and farther in between, and they grew tired more quickly.
As he shoved one werecat away and kicking another in the face, Cole laughed. He couldn’t explain the joy he felt at fighting alongside his brother and the girl he loved and winning on the battlefield. The feeling was just there, and it gave him new strength. In that moment, Cole, Eagle Talon, and Liana were unstoppable.
* * *
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Jan 30, 2022 16:05:11 GMT
Post by LordTigress on Jan 30, 2022 16:05:11 GMT
Chapter 103: The Great Battle, Part 2
“Come back! Come back here, you cowards!” Rip Claw roared.
Anger burned Black Blood’s fur, but she forced herself not to bristle. She stood by and watched as the stream of wolves fled the battlefield, bounding past the Moon Tribe warriors and heading back east.
“Let them go. We do not want an ally whose heart is not in the fight.” She turned her head back to the west. “Besides, they’ve already done quite a lot of damage. Although I am disappointed in their integrity I cannot say the same for the amount of havoc they can wreak.” Her position on the hill gave her an excellent view of the Sea of Sand, the grassy valley in which the great battle was being fought, and the skyline of Ninjago City beyond. In the grass, littered here and there, lay the bodies of policemen and fighting volunteers. The sight made her smile.
“The Sons and Daughters are putting too much of a fight,” Rip Claw pointed out. The large gray cat whisked his forked tails. “Should we start the spells?”
“No.” Whiskers twitching, Black Blood looked over her shoulder. “Send in the war vehicles.”
* * *
Jump forward, thrust the sword, jump back, dance to the side, attack again… Zane strategized almost effortlessly as he fought, taking down wolves and Moon Tribe warriors left and right. Some of the werecats had attacked him in their human forms but soon realized the Son of Ice outclassed them in skill. They reverted to their feline bodies and attempted to take him down like that, but Spinjitzu and his ice powers proved to be too much for them. They were too big and he was too quick.
That was when some of them began shifting into their bakeneko forms. Rarely did they fight like this, since it made them the size of a normal feral cat, but this time their size came to their advantage. While Zane was busy with the massive nekomata, small bakeneko began appearing from the pulsing crowd.
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Jan 30, 2022 17:48:32 GMT
Post by LordTigress on Jan 30, 2022 17:48:32 GMT
Tiny claws pierced Zane’s gi. He staggered, startled, as small furry bodies suddenly leapt on top of him and dug their claws into his metallic flesh. They did little damage to his titanium body but succeeded in thoroughly annoying him. Claws and teeth scraped and bit at his face in a storm of fur and angry yowling.
“Ugh— get off!” He stumbled and swatted at them. Tails, legs, and fur swirled around his vision. One cat’s claws nearly took out his eye. He felt spiny teeth biting into one ear.
Attempting to stay on his feet, he started, “Ninjaaaaa—!”
“Oh, no you don’t!” A giant paw slammed into the side of his face. Stunned, Zane tumbled to the grass. He tried to get up, but they pinned him down. He tried to use his ice powers, but they kept biting and scratching into his hands so hard that he could not summon his powers through the stabs of pain. Spinjitzu was out of the question.
The mass of cats only increased, biting and scratching nearly every inch of his body. Their high-pitched yowling grew louder as more joined the fray.
“We got him!”
"End him! End him now!”
“He’s made of metal, beetle-brain! How’re we supposed to end him?”
“Not so tough now, are you, Son of Ice?”
“Let’s feed him to the wolves!”
A weight pushing onto his stomach knocked the breath out of Zane. He looked up to see a yellow-eyed calico grinning down at him. “I don’t care how much of you is made of metal. We can still tear you apart, piece by piece.”
“You tell him, Wind Trotter!”
“How do you like us now, filthy human?”
He tried to get up again. Wind Trotter’s face flashed by his face.
Zane’s world teetered with a loud crunch. Enormous teeth sank into his neck—where the metal was not as stiff, consisting of rubber exteriors and structures. Wires snapped and hissed. The thin pieces groaned. Pixal screamed.
He tried to breathe. Warning signals and alarms blared in his head, turning his vision red. The nekomata gripped his neck tightly and shook him back and forth, growling between his teeth. Zane was slung around like a rag doll, his limbs dragged down by the horde of little cats.
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Jan 30, 2022 18:38:23 GMT
Post by LordTigress on Jan 30, 2022 18:38:23 GMT
“So you do have a soft spot…” Wind Trotter bit deeper into his neck. Sparks flew from the broken machinery. Zane tried to cry out, but all that came out was a strangled gurgle.
“I’m trying to redirect your power to your chest,” Pixal cried. He could just barely see her reaching out to direct virtual buttons and controls. She moved smoothly but her voice shook. “Just— just hang on, please—!”
Wind Trotter bit down on a strip of rubber and ripped it out of Zane’s structure. “Say farewell, Son of Ice—”
“How ‘bout you say goodnight, Snookums?”
A bolt of lightning shot out of nowhere and struck Wind Trotter. Fur puffing up comedically, the big cat caterwauled in shock and pain. He dropped Zane and staggered away, trying to escape. The bakeneko scattered when another bolt shot into the ground by their heads.
“That’s right, take that!” Jay cackled, running into view.
Jay? Zane’s gaze, flickering black, still managed to look past Jay to see Nya running behind him, followed by Spark Pelt and Earth Flame. They must have driven off Raven Frost’s patrol.
“Get them!” Some of the bakeneko charged and leapt onto Jay and Nya. Before they could do what they did to Zane, however, Spark Pelt and Earth Flame swatted them off.
“Traitors!” one cat cried, limping. The cats to whom the insult was directed made no response. They only swatted away more Moon Tribe warriors while the ninja raced to Zane’s side.
“Zane! Are you all right?” Nya knelt and tenderly helped him sit up. Her face twisted. “Your neck—!”
“Looks like the cat got his neck, not his tongue! Right? Heh, heh…” Jay’s awkward laugh died off stupidly.
Now that Wind Trotter was not ripping into him anymore, Zane’s system seemed to be recovering itself, probably with help from Pixal. His vision cleared, and a notification popping up on the side of his screen informed him that the exterior of his neck function was damaged, but little of the vital internal wiring and machinery had been seriously harmed. He could still fight.
“My neck will need repair,” he responded calmly, “but I am otherwise safe from danger. I can still contribute to this battle.”
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Jan 30, 2022 19:04:07 GMT
Post by LordTigress on Jan 30, 2022 19:04:07 GMT
“Don’t you think you need a break…?” Nya pressed, raising her voice above the clamor.
“No.” Zane stood up slowly. Resolve stopped his legs from quivering. “I will not stop fighting.”
She looked as if she were about to argue when a rumbling noise interrupted them. At first Zane assumed it was more thunder before realizing it sounded different. There was something metallic to the sound—almost like…
“There!” Jay pointed behind them to the east, where the Moon Tribe army was coming from.
The horde of shape-shifters scrambled out of the way as new shapes roared over the hilltop and came racing down toward Ninjago City. Their engines buzzed like the voices of giant bees, green and brown plates flashing in the fading sun. Human figures in animal skins rode these vehicles, pale bodies bent awkwardly over the seats. Attached to each vehicle were arrays of mismatched rockets and sharpened spears, making the motorcycles appear as hodgepodges on wheels. The sight would have looked comedic if it weren’t for the looks of malice in every driver.
“As if wolves weren’t enough!” Jay groaned.
“They can’t drive very well,” Nya observed grimly. “But what’re the odds Spark Pelt showed them how to release those rockets?”
“Sorry,” Spark Pelt said, gaping at the army in dismay. “I wanted these to be used for good…”
“So did my uncle,” Zane murmured. He stared darkly at the approaching war-cycles. That was Dr. Tyler Julien’s genius behind those vehicles. They could have been used for protecting the people of Ninjago. Instead these were made to destroy them, twisted and corrupted by the very people—animals—who’d abducted and enslaved the helpless old man.
A picture of Dr. Tyler, face ashen as he lay in bed, flashed in Zane’s head. Dr. Tyler had mentioned the virus he confessed he’d received, and the awkward silence that followed after Zane had asked if he would recover…
“Zane…?” Pixal was staring at him with concern. “Your heart pulse levels are high. Please, do not do anything hasty.”
“I will not do anything hasty. Only what must be done.” Zane took a deep breath, steadying himself. He could feel the others watching him, worried.
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Jan 30, 2022 19:52:22 GMT
Post by LordTigress on Jan 30, 2022 19:52:22 GMT
“You gonna be all right there, buddy?” Earth Flame ventured.
Zane set his gaze upon the approaching surge of enemies. “Jay, Nya—take the ones coming on the left. They seem to be attempting to circle to the side in order to reach the city.” He gestured to them, speaking steadily. “Do not use your weapons. Both their weapons and the armor on the war-cycles are made of clearstone. It will break your swords.”
Earth Flame raised his head with authority. “Spark Pelt and I can take the ones coming in on the right, as well as anyone else who gets in our way.”
“We can?” Spark Pelt retorted dryly.
Zane nodded to the nekomata. “Get them off the vehicles if possible. We cannot let them shoot those rockets at the city. There are civilians there.”
Jay and Nya looked at each other and nodded. “Ninjaaaaa-go!” they chorused, spinning away in vortexes of blue. The nekomata flattened their ears and raced away.
Now the war-cycles were close enough that Zane could see the individual faces of each driver. Alone, he raised his head and made sure he was breathing properly. Strands of rubber and metal dangled from his throat. He ripped some of the longer scraps away in case they got caught.
Jeers rose from the approaching vehicles. The ground vibrated with their obnoxiously loud hum.
“Watch out, Son of Ice!” a warrior yowled laughingly. He pressed a button around the clunky handles of his motorcycle, and a small rocket from the side shrieked to life. Red sparks flaring, it spat and zoomed toward the ninja with a high-pitched whistle.
Zane stood still. Without flinching he yanked out two shurikens and tossed them. A flash of metal gleamed in midair before striking the rocket head-first. The explosion shook the air a yard away from him.
“This is for my uncle,” he growled quietly. Thrusting his hands forward, a boulder of ice shot up from the ground. It increased and flew toward the motorcycles like a giant’s arm. The arm hit the vehicles. The drivers went flying while their rides were encased in a gleaming glacier.
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Jan 30, 2022 20:07:32 GMT
Post by LordTigress on Jan 30, 2022 20:07:32 GMT
“This is for my uncle!” Zane repeated aloud this time while more giant arms of ice appeared from the ground. His eyes blazed with cold justice.
* * *
“Nya! Let’s use that technique Sensei Wu just taught us!” Jay called.
“Which one?”
“Where we separate our opponents from their group!”
“Got it!”
It felt as if it’d been years since that afternoon where Sensei Wu had given them a normal lesson. It’d been just a day or two before the Moon Tribe sorcerers came to burn down their tea shop…
A dozen of the war-cycles were circling around the left side of the battlefield, aiming toward Ninjago City. Already some were speeding past Jay and Nya.
“Ohh, no you don’t!” Jay shifted so that his vortex whizzed after them in an attempt to block them off. He was aware of Nya taking the stragglers at the foot of the hill.
They were right in front of him now. He shut his eyes, shoved forward and rammed right into three of the vehicles clumped together.
The impact jolted Jay from his mini-tornado. Hitting the grass, he was aware of tires squealing, metal crunching against metal and fireworks exploding over his head. A wave of heat washed over him. Two men and a woman tumbled on the ground beside him, screaming.
Unhurt, Jay looked up. Several war-cycles lay on their sides around them, scraps of metal and broken rockets littering the grass. He grinned and cried, “All right, first try!”
He stopped laughing when two war-cycles racing ahead of him caught his attention. He leapt to his feet. “Not today!” Flexing one hand—the other being hastily bandaged and presently useless—he shot two bolts of lightning.
One of the war-cycle’s tires was split to rubbery pieces. The other merely swerved wildly before landing on its side. The driver scrambled from his seat.
The second driver stumbled from her toppled vehicle and glared at Jay. Unsheathing two short clearstone swords, she ran at him, hissing like a feline. He could see her fangs flashing even from the distance.
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Jan 30, 2022 20:47:00 GMT
Post by LordTigress on Jan 30, 2022 20:47:00 GMT
Remembering not to use his weapons, he summoned a Spinjitzu vortex and chucked her away. While he watched the remains of the patrol flee from the wreckage, he chuckled, “This is almost too easy!”
A high-pitched whistle sounded behind him. He whirled around to see one of the shape-shifters bending over a fallen war-cycle and pressing a button. A large rocket shot from the backseat area and flew toward Ninjago City.
“No, no!” Jay raced to the werecat and threw him down, but it was already too late. The rocket whistled across the sky and hit one of the skyscrapers.
“OK,” Jay muttered grimly atop his opponent. “Guess I’ve gotta destroy the rockets first.”
* * *
Hundreds of people—men, women, children—were cramped together as they streamed into one of the public bunkers. This one was close by the park, between some of the main streets. Rosie was one of the volunteers helping the policemen direct the refugees into the low building. There was nothing else to be done for the barricades, so the best she could do now was help everyone else reach safety.
She jumped when a loud boom sounded and reverberated through the city. Citizens paused and voices rose in alarm. A cry from one woman drew everyone’s attention to one of the skyscrapers sitting in the distance; flames and smoke were rising from one corner while clumps of rubble plummeted to the city streets.
Terrified cries increased. The policemen shouted and cajoled the people into entering the bunker in an orderly fashion. Rosie could only stare at the burning building, heart thumping heavily in her ribcage.
“Liana, stay safe,” she whispered.
* * *
A strong stream of water shooting from her hand—a move she liked to call the “Firehose”—blasted two drivers from their seats. They went sprawling while their war-cycles crashed together and lay abandoned in the grass. Unsheathing her katana, Nya took a running start toward the three approaching war-cycles. Like green and brown growling monsters they rushed at her.
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Jan 30, 2022 20:59:16 GMT
Post by LordTigress on Jan 30, 2022 20:59:16 GMT
A rocket shot from the back and flashed by her face. Gritting her teeth, she waited until she could see the whites of the closest driver’s eyes. Then she leapt into the air and landed atop the war-cycle, between the handlebars.
The vehicle was far faster and bumpier than she’d expected. Flailing, she grabbed the handlebars and slashed her sword at the female werecat’s head. Her steel met clearstone with a harsh clang; the werecat warded off the blow and attempted to shove her off.
Did that snapping sound come from her katana? Nya drew back and tried to strike again, still clinging to the front of the war-cycle. The engines roared in her ears and the wind in her hair as she clumsily slashed the sword at the werecat.
The werecat warded off the blow. This time Nya’s sword snapped in two. The steel piece fell and was soon left behind.
“End of the line, Daughter of Water!” The werecat reared up and lunged at Nya. Her jaws clamped over Nya’s shoulder, but armored plates stopped her.
“I don’t think so!” Nya grabbed the other girl by the waist, hefted her off the seat and chucked her from the war-cycle. The werecat went tumbling heads over heels and was left behind in dust.
Now Nya had control of the vehicle. Gripping the seat with her legs and grabbing the handlebars, she looked around to see three other war-cycles driving alongside her; one on the left, two on the right.
Movement to her left caught her eye. The driver there had adjusted some of the rockets so that they were aimed at her. A high-pitched whistling sound split the air.
She swerved and hit the brakes. A rocket flashed by her face and exploded where she’d been a second before. Angrily, she revved up the engine and went after the first war-cycle.
Several rockets flew screaming by her head, the stench of sulfur growing stronger. Dust and dirt exploded behind her as she swerved this way and that, avoiding her enemy’s shots. The two vehicles grew closer and closer as she caught up.
A look of panic changed the werecat’s countenance when he looked over his shoulder and saw her. “Stay back—!”
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Feb 1, 2022 14:05:44 GMT
-last edited on Feb 1, 2022 16:24:35 GMT by LordTigress
Post by LordTigress on Feb 1, 2022 14:05:44 GMT
Nya rammed her war-cycle into his. Metal crunched together as tires squealed shrilly. She felt herself flying while the two vehicles toppled and rolled several times, groaning and screeching in protest. Several rockets went off, adding the sound of high-pitched whistling and explosions to the wreck. Smoke soon filled the air, temporarily obscuring her vision. She hit the ground and rolled.
Catching her breath, Nya staggered to her feet and inspected the wreckage. One tire had come loose and was rolling away by itself. Smoke and a few tongues of fire rose from the crumpled-up pile of green and brown metal. The driver lay by the fiery heap unconscious.
The humming noise continued. The two other war-cycles had driven past the wreckage and were heading right for the city. Curling her lip, Nya prepared to summon a Spinjitzu vortex to go after them.
“Ninjaaaa—!”
“Nya! Help me!”
She froze. She knew that voice. She hadn’t heard that voice in a month, not since…
“Nya! Over here!”
She whirled around and stared. There, several yards south, lay Kai. She’d recognize that spiky hair and bright red gi anywhere. He was lying on his side—had he been wounded?
“Kai!” Moon Tribe warriors forgotten, she raced for her brother. “How— how did you—?”
Her heart lurched as she got closer. A long arrow stuck out from Kai’s side. His face was white. His voice rasped, “I— I can’t breathe. Please, Nya— Nya, help me… I’m think I’m—!”
“Don’t worry!” she cried, feeling her heart pound like a hammer. She finally reached him and knelt by his side. “It— it’s gonna be OK, all right? Oh my gosh, I thought I’d never see you again—!”
She stopped. Some grainy texture appeared in Kai’s skin. He stared at her pleadingly as his entire body began to disintegrate. He opened his mouth, but only a choked cry could be heard. To her horror her brother disappeared, leaving nothing but a small pile of sand.
She stood and staggered back, mind whirling. What…?
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Post by LordTigress on Feb 1, 2022 16:59:41 GMT
“Foolish kit,” a brash chuckle made her jump. She looked up to see a bearded man with long, tangled hair stride down the hillside in front of her. Dark ragged robes streamed out behind him like liquid cloth. “You’ll never see your littermate again. He’s gone.” Feline eye glinted as he grinned toothily.
The bone-chilling horror evaporated like a puff of mist. Rage burned Nya’s cheeks like fire. “How ‘bout we finish this here and now, Rip Claw? Or are you too scared to fight without your magic powers?” Two sai knives were taken from their sheathes.
Rip Claw eyed her. “Why would I waste my time tussling with a hapless kitten when I could simply kill her with one blow from my magic?”
“Because you like toying with your prey before eating it,” she hissed.
He grinned. “Precisely.”
* * *
Four more rockets hit the skyscrapers of Ninjago City before Jay managed to defeat the last of the offenders. Now half a dozen smoking heaps that were remains of the war-cycles lay scattered across the plain. Most of the drivers had fled, leaving the rest lying on the ground. He shot several violent bolts of lightning into the control panels of each vehicle, just in case any warriors came back and tried to finish the job.
“That’s that. How’s Nya doing?” Stiffening, Jay spied a grim scene taking place on the hillside a hundred yards away. Nya stumbled this way and that as she attempted to get close to a large, dark figure. He could see that she held a couple of knives, but the man was unarmed. In fact, he didn’t seem to be fighting at all. So why couldn’t Nya get close to him?
Jay got a bad feeling. Hesitatingly at first, he picked up a running start and headed for the hillside.
A horrible feeling twisted his gut when he got a better look at her. She was crying—Nya never cried. She would start toward the werecat, then stumble and shake her head, as if something had gotten in her eye. She kept screaming, “Stop it! That’s not fair!”
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Post by LordTigress on Feb 1, 2022 17:45:59 GMT
“Aww, what’s the matter?” the werecat sneered. “Miss your mummy? Oh, that’s right—she and your father abandoned you before you could even remember!” Cackling, he held up two fingers and made a short gesture in the air. A half circle of pale pink light, flickering malignantly, appeared and shot into Nya’s body. She screamed and fell on her hands and knees.
“Your mate has every right to hate you, you know,” he purred. “You’ve been terrible to him. You cheated on him with your best friend, rejected his unconditional love after, and only continued to remind him what an insignificant, inferior worm he is. How heartless is that? Even my own sister is not that cold.” He chuckled. “Well, actually, maybe she is—but you don’t really want to be brought down to Broken Fang’s level.”
A strained groan broke from Nya as she writhed. He knelt down beside her. “You’ve lost your parents and your brother. And now, after your selfishness and cruelty, you will lose Jay, too. You are an arrogant and self-righteous kitten. You do not deserve love.”
Anger came out of Jay in the form of lightning. It trickled from his fingers like thin, gnarled tree branches. “Hey!”
The werecat jerked himself up, startled. Then he sneered. “Oh. You.”
Lightning exploded across the ground, over Nya’s head, and at the werecat. “Stay away from my girlfriend, you fat, two-tailed rat-eater!”
“Jay, look out…” Nya groaned. “Rip Claw—he’s dangerous, he’ll get into your head—!”
Rip Claw waved a hand over himself; a bright forcefield swept over him just as the lightning bolt reached him. It reflected off of the forcefield with a loud bang, then trickled away. “What’s this? You’ve come to teach me a lesson, too, Son of Lightning?”
“You stop talking!” Jay snapped. “Everything that’s come out of your mouth so far has been nothing but trash! Why don’t you tuck both your tails between your legs and run while you can, you coward?”
The sorcerer’s lip curled. “I was about to ask you the same thing. But then, your mother did not know when to flee from a fight, either. I suppose it must run in the family.”
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Post by LordTigress on Feb 1, 2022 18:08:59 GMT
Jay’s blood ran cold. “You— Raven Frost said you were the one who destroyed the previous Master of Lightning.”
“The one and only!” Rip Claw drawled, spreading his arms like he was some performer accepting applause. “Would you like to see how it happened?”
“No, no—!” Jay’s words were cut off.
White filled his vision, blinding him.
Then it was dark. Cold. Snow swirled around him. He blinked against the blizzard and wrapped his arms around himself. Where the heck am I? Very little could be made out in the darkness. As far as he could tell, he stood in a great snowy plain, in the middle of a snowstorm. White flakes landed on him and melted on his face.
A familiar guttural voice broke the sound of the wind howling. “Where is the moonstone, Daughter of Lightning?”
Shapes appeared from the night. Through the snow Jay could eventually make out three nekomata standing around a human—a woman. They were nearing her, eyes gleaming dangerously. The voice of Rip Claw came from the scraggly dark gray cat.
“Where is it?” he repeated.
The woman replied haltingly, “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Rip Claw.” Her outfit was blue—that much he could make out in the darkness—and blond hair fell in long waves around her face.
Rip Claw leaned forward and sniffed. “Where’s your kit? You smell of milk.”
“I don’t have any kids, idiot. I’m not even married. And why would you care?”
“We wouldn’t want another Daughter or Son of Lightning running around after we get rid of you.” All the cats purred menacingly at that. They crept closer.
For the first time Jay noticed a sword strapped to the woman’s back. She reached and unsheathed it with a movement of familiarity—she was a warrior. “Why? Would that be a catastrophe?”
The cats groaned. “Would you stop it with the dumb puns!”
“Hey, if I’m going down, I might as well go down laughing!” The woman rose her head—and Jay felt his heart stop.
It was her. It was the woman in the small painting, the one he’d found in Cliff Gordon’s mansion. The previous Master of Lightning.
His mother.
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