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Adventures in...Sitting

Being summoned to Sensei's office meant you'd either done something very right or very wrong, and Kapri couldn't think of anything she and Marah had done that fell into either category. There'd been that little incident with the cushions, and that other thing with the itching powder in the showers, but then they'd also managed to take down most of a senior class during their placement tests, so that had to be good, right?

Kapri rounded the corner to Sensei's room and bounced off someone. Marah stepped neatly out of her way, steadying her.

"Sorry!" the guy said hastily over his shoulder, hurrying away.

"Hey," Marah said brightly, "I think that was one of those Dino guys. The White one."

"Was it?" Kapri said vaguely. They'd only seen the White Dino Ranger for a few minutes at his hideout, and she hadn't really been paying much attention to him. "I wonder what he wanted."

Sensei was waiting outside his room, casting anxious glances over his shoulder. "Ah, there you are," he said quickly. "There has been an attack in Reefside, and our friends have been affected."

"Are they all right, Uncle Sensei?" Marah asked quickly.

"They are well," he said carefully. "And I am assured that the Dino Rangers are working hard to undo the effects. I need you to stay with Cameron and his friends until they are - themselves again."

"Sure," Kapri agreed absently. Anything to get out of afternoon meditation. She was pretty sure that Pai Zhua transfer student was deliberately trying to put her off.

Sensei nodded. "Good. Sadly, I will be unavailable, as I have urgent business elsewhere. However, Cyber Cam is online, should you have any trouble."

"Hang on," Marah said abruptly. "They haven't been turned into babies or something, have they?"

"They are the same age as they have always been," he assured them, taking a few steps away. "I will have food brought here, so that you won't need to leave them alone." He turned quickly, hurrying away. In fact, in anyone less dignified than Sensei, it might have been called a run.

Kapri shrugged, and walked into the room, and got a faceful of fur.

Marah insisted she could tell them apart.

"This is Cam, you can tell because he's grumpy, and this is Tori, cos she's the prettiest, and that's Blake lurking on top of those shelves and hissing every time I pat Tori..."

Kapri rolled her eyes. "If he breaks any more vases, he's going to be mincemeat."

'Blake' spat at her.

"Do they actually understand us?" she demanded.

"Of course they do," Marah said. Lifting 'Tori' up to her face, she crooned "You understand me, don't you? Oh yes you do! Yes you do! Who's a smart kitty who understands everything I say?"

'Tori' hung in her hands resignedly, gazing at Kapri.

"I know exactly how you feel," Kapri assured her.

They figured out which one was Dustin by accident, when a beam of light reflected off one of Marah's hairpieces and danced across the floor. Dustin erupted from under a seat, skidding across the floor in a desperate attempt to catch it.

Kapri frowned, catching Marah's shoulder and turning her back to catch the light again. Dustin skidded into a mat, going head over heels and landing in a heap.

"Oooh!" Marah went to pick him up; Kapri halted her, glancing around the room.

When she didn't see what she was looking for, she called "Cyber Cam?"

"Yo!" Cyber Cam called cheerfully.

"Can you get me a - one of those things, they have the red light, you point them at things..."

"Laser pointer?"

"Sure, yeah, whatever."

"Oooooooooone second..." A cylinder materialised on a nearby table. Kapri snatched it up, finding the switch and sending a dot of light shimmying across the floor.

Dustin looked up, tried to go after it, got his feet tangled and fell down again. Marah attempted to swoop in, but he was gone before she could get there, swarming up a curtain in an effort to catch the light.

"I call Dustin," Kapri said with a grin. "You can keep the others occupied."

"I thought cats slept, like, twenty hours a day," Marah protested some time later. "Why aren't they sleeping?" She glared down at the cat she'd decided was Hunter, who was currently trying to pull her sweater apart. "Stop that."

'Hunter' looked up at her, gave the impression of raising an eyebrow, and went right back to ripping the sweater apart.

"That was expensive," Marah complained. "I bought that on Triforia. How am I supposed to replace it?"

"Make him take you to the Gap," Kapri muttered. The cat Marah was calling Shane kept getting under her feet, and she was convinced he was doing it deliberately, trying to trip her up. "Cyber Cam! Anything on a cure yet?"

"They're working on it," CyberCam assured her. "Have you fed them?"

"Yes, duh," Marah told him. "Totally stinky fish stuff, I'm never getting the smell out of my everything."

"Have you..." Cyber Cam coughed for no apparent reason.

"Have we what?" Kapri demanded.

"You know, cats need - boxes."

"Boxes?" Marah repeated.

"Litter boxes."

"What's a litter box?"

Kapri sighed, hauled Marah down and whispered in her ear.

"EEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

Kapri was inches away from opening the door and just letting the cats run wild over the academy when there was a soft 'poof' and the room was suddenly much more crowded.

Kapri tilted her head. "Huh. Clothes don't transform. Good to know."