"MiMi, don't!" Emyri cried out, raising her arms in a panic.

  CRASH!

  MiMi leapt outward but found herself tackled against the cupboards. Felix wrapped his arms around her waist, his eyes wide open before turning around and unching her away from the others. The Nekomata bounced off the wall, nding on all fours. Felix stood between her and the Emyri and Tootsie, his arms held wide to keep them back. A flick of her wrists revealed her cws, the action making his knees quiver. She made a dash toward him, her arms caught by a pair of tails from behind. KuliKuli yanked her back, but MiMi turned around and pounced on top of her.

  "Ow!" KuliKuli yelped, her head banging on the floor as that familiar scar sent a painful wave through her. Pnting her feet against MiMI's chest, she kicked her away and sent her back into Felix. When she swiped behind her, he ducked in time to find a few brown strands of hair gently fall in front of his eyes. Sucking in his breath, he turned side to side, feeling each gust of wind from her incoming cw swipes. He was aware of how surreal a cat girls speed is, and yet he was barely able to react in time. Bumping against the counter, his hand fell against a cupboard handle as he stumbled back and nearly lost his footing. MiMi stabbed forward as he opened the cupboard, trapping her arm through and smming it shut.

  When she tried freeing her arm, he pulled the door open, smming it against her head. Even he flinched, feeling guilty about the impact, but those feelings faded as she spun around and whacked him in the head with her tails. He folded over the counter, his cheek bruised when she jumped on him. He held her wrists back, getting a brief look at who he was fighting. She appeared to be close to KuliKuli in age, trembling with an icy touch to her skin. He could see a few cuts on her waist and side, still healing. Taking advantage, he freed his right arm and smmed his fist against the cut beneath her ribs. That sent her reeling back, growling with a scrunched look on her face.

  "Felix, MiMi! Please stop!" Emyri shouted, moving in to help MiMi.

  Felix looked armed. "Emyri, get back!"

  "No! She's from our clutter."

  "She attacked you!"

  Emyri helped her up to her feet, startling the Nekomata. MiMi looked up at her like a frightened girl, her eyes briefly returning to their green color. But her jewel glowed bright and the crimson color seeped back into her iris'. She hissed and pushed her away, running on all fours toward the young man. KuliKuli ran behind her, grabbing hold of her tails. She was having none of it, kicking KuliKuli away and leaping toward Felix. He jumped out of the way, but she kicked off from the counter and swiped back. He stepped back even further, appearing like a dance as she continued her frontal assault. Thinking fast, he reached out and grabbed a frying pan beside him. He pulled his arm back, catching a cw to the back of the hand. However, with the pan in hand he was able to deflect her cws.

  Tung!

  Tun-Tung!

  She swooped forward, forcing him to side-step and narrowly escape her attack. Wasting no time, she flung her arm like a backhand directed to his face,

  Tung!

  He panted, feeling grateful that the pan idea worked. Pulling back, he retaliated with a blow to her head, startling her.

  Tung!

  She hissed, eyes fring back. He hesitated, and she capitalized by whipping at his hand with her tail, forcing him to drop the pan.

  His legs were shaking, he knew he couldn't continue moving at her pace. Catching everyone by surprise, he hugged her to close the distance and make it difficult for her to use her cws on him. She hissed and sunk her teeth on his shoulder.

  "Aaagh!" The pain sent him falling back, taking her with him. He was left on the floor, clutching his shoulder as she rolled away.

  "RAWR!!" KuliKuli leapt in, crashing into her and unching them out into the dining room. Both girls fell under the dinner table, wrestling and swiping at each other. KuliKuli swerved away from MiMi's leg, which broke one of the table legs away. She moved back and whipped her tail forward, keeping MiMi back. She snarled and rolled out to the side, then jumping out of her sight. KuliKuli gasped and sunk further into the ground, feeling the table quake with the Nekomata crawling on top.

  Her paw broke through the surface, scratching KuliKuli's thigh. She curled up and moved away in time as another paw caved through where she stood before, followed by another. Kuli kept herself under the table, her eyes fixated above that she didn't notice the tails sneaking from the side. She was pulled out from her hiding spot and flung against the window, followed by an angry cat girl pinning her down. They locked eyes and for a moment, Kuli's heart stopped. Those red eyes, that colr on her neck, it made her head throb as disgusting memories fshed in her eyes. She was briefly paralyzed, easily thrown to the ground before she recovered, but now found herself out of breath. No matter how much she gasped, she couldn't breathe.

  "No, not now." She panted, grabbing her neck as if she were choking underwater. Tears ran down her face as those haunting memories resurfaced, the experiments, the things they did to her. Heart racing, head pulsing, and left out of breath, she could only watch as MiMi crept closer toward her.

  Syri fell on her back, nding beside Janette. Just as VeeVee was approaching, the door burst open with a frantic Dimyri stepping in.

  "Syri! Huh?" She cocked her head, staring at the other woman. "Vee?"

  "Sis, run!" Syri pleaded, staring helplessly as Vee charged after her sister.

  "Whoa, hey!" She jumped back, escaping Vee's swing aimed toward her head. It was followed by another left swing, then a right swing. But she evaded them with ease, even stomping down on Vee's tail.

  "Mew!" She recoiled, wincing painfully when Dimyri pnted a foot on her chest and kicked her. She fell over the mattress, flipping over her back and crashing on the other side.

  Dimyri bent down, inspecting her sister and friend. "You two okay?"

  Janette spped her paw away. "Don't stop on our accounts, she's right there!"

  She nodded, sensing Vee leaping towards her. The direction forced her to stand her ground, taking the blow or else Vee would fall right on the couple behind her. But she adapted, catching Vee off with a spin that redirected her through the washroom door, breaking it down.

  Vee groaned, rubbing her head and gring back.

  "What's gotten into you, it's me! Dimyri!" She shouted, pointing at her chest. "C'mon Vee, you can't be that big of a jerk!"

  She didn't acknowledge her words, hissing and charging with her cws ready. Dimyri rolled her eyes and moved out of the way, grabbing her wrist and twisting her arm, pressing it to her back. She smmed Vee over the washroom counter, keeping her arm locked in.

  "Stop it Vee, don't make me hurt you!"

  She had briefly forgotten about her tails as they whipped her back, making Dimyri jolt and soften her grip. It was enough for Vee to get her sore arm back, wincing and folding over before sshing down with her other paw.

  Fwoo!

  Dimyri jumped back, regaining her focus. Vee doubled down on cwing at her waist and chest, with Dimyri flinging her arms out to thrust backward to dodge each attempt. When Vee swung for her head, she took initiative and fell on all four paws. She swept her leg toward Vee's ankles, knocking her off the ground and crashing against the counter. She was dazed and it gave Dimyri a second to grab her colr, stretching the material out as she tried to tear it away.

  Vee blinked and growled back, swiping her arms away.

  "Damn." Dimyri muttered, snapping her arm back.

  As Vee swung her arms around in a feral manner, Dimyri ducked and dipped back, finding the right moment to sp her paws away leaving them both with their arms wide out. Next, her paws came back down and struck both sides of Vee's neck, stunning her. Lastly, she grabbed Vee's shoulders and threw her back against the wall with an audible thud!

  Her head bounced off the wall and she fell over, her body sliding off the dresser and crumbling to the ground. Dimyri kneeled down and checked, making sure she was breathing.

  Syri kept herself in front of Janette, both of them watching as Dimyri stood up.

  "What happened?" She asked, now looking over the other two. "Janette, your chest."

  Janette sat against the door frame, sliding her arms down to reveal three slick cerations across her bosom.

  "It looks worse than it is, really." She expined with a nervous chuckle.

  "Well, you're not bleeding much so." Dimyri shrugged, noticing Syri tending to Janette and looking over her body.

  "Hey, I'm fine."

  "But your chest-"

  "I know, I promise you it's the only cut I have. See?" She raised her arms up, exposing her topless form. "Nothing except for yesterday's scars. You're the one with cuts around your limbs."

  Syri smiled, her cat ears dropping down with a sigh of relief. "I don't care, we get cuts like that and it's not like I'm bleeding much either. It's you that I want to protect, okay?"

  Janette reached out and caressed her cheek. "You're so cute when you're protective, but I'm a grown woman. I can handle a few cuts."

  She looked over Syri's shoulder, catching Dimyri checking on their attacker. "You said her name is Vee?"

  "VeeVee." She expined, lifting her arm to inspect her body. "She lived with us in the clutter. We weren't friends, but she was never like this. This colr thing."

  "I noticed that too." Syri nervously mentioned, shuddering at the thought.

  Janette changed her gnce between the two siblings. "What do you mean, what's significant about it?"

  "KuliKuli wore the same thing when she was captured by Perdilius." Dimyri answered, tugging at the colr. "Sis, did you do all of this?"

  Syri stood up and shook her head. "I couldn't get much of a scratch on her."

  Dimyri kept quiet, dropping Vee's arm to hide the wounds on her side. Her eyes widened and her ears shot upright, as did Syri's when they heard an audible crash downstairs.

  "Oh my gods." She whispered, "You two dress up, we have to go!"

  KuliKuli scooted back, holding her head with both paws. Her eyes couldn't help but stare back at that colr, her body too frightened to fight.

  "Hey!" Both of them turned their heads to the side, finding Na'Vi at the stairs gring back at MiMi. When MiMi revealed her cws, Na'Vi swooped in with her own cws ready. The two cshed, meeting blow for blow with the sound of cws filling their ears. Felix groaned as he was helped up to sit against the wall by Emyri, with Tootsie keeping safe on her shoulder. They were positioned at the doorway, several meters away from the fight with KuliKuli curled up on the far side of the room.

  CHINK!

  CHINK!

  CHINK-CHINK!

  "Uhnn!" Na'Vi stumbled back from a surprise backhand to the face. She recovered in time to bat MiMi's paws away, ducking under a ssh and retracting her cws briefly to strike her in the face.

  "Uhh-Hun!" MiMi's head snapped back, blood trickling from her nose. Na'Vi's tails wrapped around a chair leg, flinging it to her opponent. MiMi cut the furniture in half, leaving her open for Na'Vi to tackle her through the door and down the hallway. The pair broke apart, with Na'Vi jumping out of the way from another cw aimed to her chest. MiMi was relentless in her assault, cutting through the air in a feral attempt to get her.

  Fwoo!

  Fwoo-Fwoo!

  Fwoo!

  Fwoo-Fwoo!

  The hallway was being filled with cw marks on both sides of the wall, ending once Na'Vi jumped through an open door to escape.

  But MiMi pursued, the pair now fighting inside a pantry room.

  "Ah!" Na'Vi covered her face after being met with another blow, being met with a cut down her back as she turned away. She was kicked on her side, colliding against the wall with MiMi digging her cws where her head would be had she not pulled back. Na'Vi tackled her from the front, smashing her against the counter knocking over a bowl of salt.

  "Ow!" She pulled away, clutching at the poke she received in her stomach. She looked over at a shelf and recovered a wheel of cheese, using it as a shield when MiMi jabbed at her chest. Her cws stabbed through the yellow dairy product, with Na'Vi spinning the wheel to twist the girls' wrist.

  "Agh!" MiMi yelped and tried to pull free, but Na'Vi pressed the advantage and kicked her back into the counter. This time, Na'Vi grabbed a pinch of salt and threw it to her eyes, causing the girl to shriek and stumble back. She rubbed her eyes furiously, clearing her vision when a sausage link wrapped around her neck. It pulled her back, tightening over her colr as she twisted and turned, shing out with her cws before finally cutting free. Gasping, she looked up to be met with a paw over her face.

  "HAAAAAAAAA~AAAAHHH!" Na'Vi screamed out, using her head to ram the door open, charge through the hall and break down the door facing them, sending MiMi sliding on the ground.

  "Nya~" MiMi groaned, rolling over and slowly getting back up. Both girls were visibly wounded, panting to catch their breath. By then, Dimyri had arrived and stood by Na'Vi's side blocking the door, leaving only the backdoor avaible for her.

  "MiMi?" Dimyri said with a look of surprise.

  "Don't hurt her!" Emyri called out from down the hall. "She's not herself!"

  "Oh." Na'Vi panted loudly, her paws trembling as she fell to her knees. "Okay, sure. Not like my life was in danger."

  Phweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-eeeee!

  MiMi's facial expression softened at the sound of that whistle, standing upright. She barged through the backdoor, running outside on all fours before disappearing.

  "Hey, wait!" Dimyri ran out, stopping at the doorway. Her eyes looked outward and widened at what she saw, quickly smming the door shut and retreating inside.

  KuliKuli's eyes flew open when she heard that same whistle, sitting upright to find Felix by her side. Both them and Tootsie who sat on his head looked out the window toward the direction where that sound came from.

  Upstairs, Syri and Janette were getting dressed when they too heard the same sound. VeeVee woke up, her body trembling as she forced herself on her feet. Before the others could get a word in, she shattered the window open and jumped through, retreating into the wilderness outside.

  "What just happened?" Janette asked, wincing as she was helped by Syri out the room. The pair joined with everyone else downstairs with the front doors open, staring outside.

  "Oh no." KuliKuli whispered, clinging onto Felix as they could see a growing crowd of men just outside the field of apple trees leading toward Janette's mansion. Her heart skipped a beat when she recognized the old man leading the crowd from the front, his wrinkled smile serving as a facade to hide his cruelty toward her.

  Perdilius.