It was a pretty spring morning on the Tigeroid airship. Sena was sitting in the command room, staring out at the sun rising in the distance. Donha and Finn were still asleep in their rooms and Tori and Rai were running around on the ship's deck, trying out a new game.
It's been pretty slow for the Chasers lately. Most of the Tai Chi has been found already, so there's really not much to do. It's been nice for them to take a break, but now it was starting to get a little dull. It was about to change though.
Donha sat up in his bed and yawned. He looked down and thought he was still dreaming. There was a little red kitten curled up in a tiny ball, sleeping at the end of his bed.
"Uh, um..." Donha wasn't sure what to make up it, so he stumbled out of his bed and ran to the command room.
"Sena!" he said, when he entered the command room.
"What's wrong, Donha?" Sena said, getting up.
"The-there's a kitten in my room!" Donha exclaimed.
"Uh... okay, why is there a kitten in your room, Donha?" Sena asked, smiling.
Donha scratched his head.
"I don't know, it was sleeping on my bed! I don't know how it got there," Donha said, "could you just come check it out?"
"Oh, alright."
Sena and Donha came down to his room, but the red kitten wasn't there anymore.
"What!" Donha exclaimed, looking around the room.
"Are you sure you weren't just dreaming, Donha?" Sena asked, stepping back out of the room.
"It was really there, Sena!" Donha said, walking out with her.
Meanwhile, Finn was waking up. He got dressed and walked out into the hallway and into the kichen to get breakfast ready. Tori came in to help him. As Finn opened up a cabinet to grab some flour a blue kitten jumped out and landed on his head.
Finn yelped out in surprise as the kitten leaped onto the floor. Tori walked into the kichen.
"Hey, what's wrong, Finn? I heard you-... oh wow!"
Tori reached down and scooped up the kitten.
"It's so cute!" Tori sat down on the floor, stroking the purring kitten.
Finn rubbed his head and walked over to the messenger tubes.
"Sena?" Finn said.
"Yes, Finn, what's up?" Sena asked.
"I think you need to come to the kitchen right now."
"What's wrong?"
"There are kittens EVERYWHERE!" Tori cried out in delight. Finn turned around. Tori wasn't lying, there were kittens of multiple colors walking up to Tori. There was a little pink kitten pawing at Finn's shoe.
Finn picked it up and looked at it. He wasn't hallucinating, the kitten really was pink, it acted normal, though.
"Finn? Is that true?" Sena said, anxiety rising in her voice.
"Uh... yeah." The kitten mewed in agreement.
Donha walked in.
"I told Sena I wasn't crazy!" he exclaimed, looking at all the kittens.
Then a large cat walked in by Donha's legs, it seemed to have every color of the world on her. The kittens gathered around her, mewing loudly.
"She must be their momma!" Tori exclaimed, crawling over to pet the cat.
Sena pushed her way past Donha.
"Oh no! How'd all these cats get in here?"
"Isn't it great, Sena?" Tori said, happily.
"Hey, guys. Look what I found!" Rai walked in with the red kitten that Donha had found.
Rai put the kitten down and it ran over to the mom. She licked the kitten's little face.
"Ohhhh, aren't they adorable!" Tori said, picking up a green kitten.
"Tori, don't even think about it," Sena said, "we are NOT keeping them."
"But Sena!" Tori cried, "where will they go?"
"Come on, Sena," Rai said, petting a yellow kitten, "they're really cute, how hard could it be to take care of them?"
"You're not helping, Rai," Sena said through clenched teeth.
"Also, we need to figure out what's causing them to be those strange colors," Rai pointed out, "I think it's some sort of Tai Chi power."
Hak walked in.
"What in the world!" Hak exclaimed as an orange kitten sniffed at him.
"Well, how are we going to feed them, then, Rai?" Sena asked, crossing her arms.
"Well, doesn't Hak eat catfood?" Rai asked.
"I do NOT eat catfood!" Hak exclaimed, angrily.
"Well, they're cats, so they can drink milk, right?" Tori said, looking at Sena hopefully.
"I think we can do it!" Donha said, smiling.
Sena sighed, and turned to Finn.
"What do you think?" she asked, exasperated.
"I think we're forgetting something important," Finn said, "a litter box?"
"Oh no," Sena said, rubbing her temples.
"We're over a town right now!" Tori said, "we can get one from the store!"
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean they'll use it!" Sena exclaimed, "oh man, I wonder if they think the whole ship is their litter box..."
"I don't think so," Donha said, "they obviously haven't been here very long, I can pick one up from below." With that said Donha ran out of the room.
"Yeah, and Tori and I can make a bed for them!" Rai said, happily.
He and Tori ran out of the room.
"Wait! Guys! I did not say we were keeping them!" Sena yelled, "you agree with me, don't you, Finn?"
"Huh?" Finn looked up, he was too busy playing with the blue kitten to listen.
Sena sighed, "this is insane..."
"There's only eight of them," Finn said, "nine including the mom. I think it will work out, besides, we need something to do anyway."
"I guess I'm outnumbered on this one," Sena said, looking down at the little white one, which was pawing at her shoe.
She smiled, "well, they are really cute."
Donha came back with a litter box and three bags of kitty litter, he found some catfood, too. Rai and Tori were working on a bed for the cats in the laundry room.
Sena walked around the ship to see if there was some sort of opening that the kittens got through, or if there were anymore lost kittens wandering around. While everyone was busy, Finn watched over the kittens.
They seemed to be trained enough to use the litter box, thankfully. The kittens ate a little bit of the dry catfood, but the mom nursed them most of the time.
After everyone had finished their job, Sena gathered the group in the kitchen again.
"Okay, so it's apparent that we will be keeping these cats for a little while," Sena said, "so that means everyone needs to pitch in and help take care of them. We will each be in charge of a certain job for taking care of the kittens. I put each job on a slip of paper and put it in this bowl."
Sena showed the team the bowl.
"Finn, you draw first."
Finn stuck his hand in the bowl and took out a piece of paper.
"Bath duty," he said, looking a little less than thrilled.
Sena put the bowl in front of Donha.
"Feeding duty," Donha said, looking pretty satisfied.
Rai pulled out a paper.
"Oh man... litter box duty."
Tori giggled as he pulled out his piece of paper.
"Rounding up duty? What's that, Sena?" Tori asked, confused.
"That means it's your job to take the kittens wherever they need to go. Like taking them to the bathroom when it's time for their bath. Or the the laundry room for their bed."
"What'll your job be Sena?" Rai asked, looking into the bowl. There was one more paper left.
Reading the paper, Sena said, "my job will be supplies. When we run out of litter, food or shampoo it will be my job to pick some up."
The team nodded in agreement to their jobs.
"Okay, so, Finn, the kittens don't smell very good," Sena said, "after breakfast could you get that taken care of?"
Finn nodded and continued to get breakfast ready. Donha fed the momma cat her food and the babies.
"It's just so weird," Rai said, chewing and looking at the kittens, "I've never seen a pink or blue kitten before."
Finn looked down, the little blue kitten was rubbing against his leg.
"It's looks like that one really likes you, Finn!" Tori said, giggling.
"What are we going to name them?" Donha asked, picking up the red kitten.
"Well, maybe we could each choose a certain kitten to name," Sena said, "I pick the pink one!"
Each of the Chasers picked up a kitten or two.
"I'm gonna name the yellow one... Lemon!" Tori said, "and the black one will be Midnight." He smiled and cuddled the two kittens.
Donha held the red kitten and looked at it.
"Hmmm... I think this one should be Trooper," he said, "because he always seems to be exploring around. And the white one is Snow."
"The pink one should definitely be Peach," Sena said, smiling at the kitten.
"The green one will be Leaf," Rai said, "and the orange one is Pumpkin."
Tori turned to Finn.
"What are you going to name the blue one, Finn?" he asked, "it does seem to like you the best so you should be the one to name it!"
Finn thought and stroked the kitten's head.
"Bing. After my ice card, he reminds me of it," Finn said.
"Good one!" Donha said, "what should we name the mom?"
The group thought, looking at the multicolored cat.
"I think Rainbow would be a good name for her!" Sena said.
The team agreed and began to clean up breakfast.
"Okay, Finn!" Tori said, "I'll help you round up the kittens for bathtime!"
Tori and Finn put the kittens in a laundry basket and carried it to the bathroom. Rainbow followed the sound of the mewing kittens.
"Have fun!" Tori said, closing the door behind him.
"Thanks," Finn mumbled, looking down at the full basket of kittens. Who were staring up at him expectantly.
Sighing, Finn turned on the water and filled the tub with shallow, lukewarm water.
He picked up Peach and Midnight and placed them into the tub. It didn't take long for them to realize that they didn't like baths. They mewed and mewed, Rainbow walked over the the edge of the tub to check on them.
Finn took Pumpkin and Leaf and placed them in the tub. They checked out the water, and then began to cry like their siblings. Finally, Finn put in Bing, Trooper, Lemon and Snow.
Now the bathroom was filled with the sound of crying kittens, the only quiet kitten was Bing, who was looking around curiously.
"Do you think I'm enjoying this?" Finn asked them, "because I'm not, so please stop crying."
The kittens paid no heed to Finn's words and cried even louder. Then Rainbow jumped in, causing some water to splash on Finn.
Finn grabbed some shampoo and began to work on Peach. He eventually shampoed the rest of the kittens. He took ahold of Rainbow and tried to pour some water on her. She hissed and tried to swipe at Finn's hands.
"Hey," Finn said, irritably.
Gritting his teeth, Finn grabbed Rainbow again and poured a cup full of water on her and began to shampoo her.
Rainbow yowled and hissed at Finn, but he didn't stop until he was finished. After rinsing her off Rainbow jumped out bath tub, trying to shake herself off.
Finn shampoed and rinsed the rest of the kittens then brought them out of the tub. The only kitten left in the tub was Bing. He kept running out of Finn's reach. He tried to reach forward to grab the kitten, but slipped and fell into the bathtub.
Bing climbed up Finn's leg and leaped from the tub.
Finn struggled into a sitting position and looked down at the Bing, the kitten mewed at him and began to lick himself.
Finn sighed and stepped out of the tub, he was soaked. Grabbing a towel he began to dry himself and Bing off.
Then Finn opened up the door and the kittens and their mom poured out, meowing curses at Finn for the bath. Only Bing stayed with him, Finn picked up the damp kitten and went to the command room.
Sena was in the middle of a conversation with General Aidan when he walked in.
"Dad, it's really not that bad," Sena said, "they're no problem, and there hasn't been a Tai Chi around for a long time. We need something to do to keep us sharp."
"Sena, I know how important it is to you and your friends to keep these cats but there are more important things at hand," Aidan said, "you need to find a new place for those cats and leave them be."
"But, dad, there's also something different about these cats," Sena said, "they're obviously influenced by some sort of Tai Chi. I think they can help us with our mission."
Aidan sighed.
"Sena, there hasn't been a Tai Chi spotted in a while," he said, "and it seems Hak doesn't sense anything different about these cats, only that they were born in such strange colors. Find a new home for them soon."
The screen went black and Sena slumped back into her chair.
Bing mewed and Sena turned around, her face was crestfallen, she turned away quickly.
"What happened to you? You're drenched," she said, standing up.
"Nothing...what are we going to do?" Finn asked.
"Well, I'm going to have to tell the rest of the team," Sena said, walking towards the door.
The kittens were out on the deck and the rest of the team was playing with them. They stopped when they saw the look on Sena's face.
"What's wrong, Sena?" Tori asked, petting Leaf's head.
Sena stared at the floor, unsure what to say.
"I just talked to my dad," she said, "he said that we need to find the cats a new home. We can't keep them."
"But, what about the Tai Chi power in them?" Rai asked, "your dad knows about that, right?"
"He said that there wasn't a Tai Chi in them," Sena said, "that they were just born that way."
"Well, you don't believe it, right Sena?" Tori asked, panic rising in his voice, "what are we going to do?"
"I don't know, Tori," Sena said, sitting down in the middle of the kittens.
The rest of the Chasers sat down with her.
"I do know one thing," Sena said, "we're not getting rid of them."
The team looked up at her, surprised.
"We'll do what my dad said, of course," she said, "we'll try to find them a home, but it might be a little while. Who knows, we might never find a home for them, they'll just have to stay with us for now!"
Sena smiled, and the rest of the team grinned with her.
"Alright!" Tori said, happily, "thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"Another thing we need to do, though," Sena said, trying to breathe through Tori's tight hug, "is figure out the Tai Chi that is making these cats those colors, because I know that that's what's up with these cats."
The team nodded with agreement.
"Maybe we can retrace our steps," Donha said, "we should go back to the town that we found the kittens in. Maybe the Tai Chi is down there somewhere."
"Good idea, Donha," Sena said, walking over to the messenger tube, "Hak, can you take us back to the town that we found the kittens in?"
"Sure thing, Sena."
The Chasers herded the kittens back into the ship and into the kitchen, then they sat at the table looking at all the kittens while Rai and Donha began to make lunch.
Finally, after feeding Rainbow and themselves, Hak announced that they had arrived and landed a little outside of town.
"Okay," Sena said, "I think for this mission we need everyone to be with us, including the cats, they might know the way back where they came from and where the Tai Chi is."
The team nodded in agreement.
"I've seen a map of the town," Sena continued, "it's not that big, so that should make it easier to find whatever we're looking for."
With that said, the Chasers left Hak with the ship, each carrying a kitten or two. There was a wooded area surrounding the small town, so the Chasers had to trudge through some trees before they saw the first house.
Then Sena set Rainbow down on the ground, the team stared at the colorful cat and waited. Rainbow sniffed curiously at the ground, then looked up, perking her ears. She began to trot into town, her tail standing straight up.
The Chasers followed her, clutching the mewing kittens in their hands.
As they walked in between the houses and onto the sidewalk the Chasers looked around. The neighborhood was pretty lively, there were several kids out playing in their driveways, a few of them looked at the strange kids and colorful kittens. The team quickly moved away to avoid answering any questions.
They followed Rainbow down some more streets, it seemed like whatever she was after was getting closer by the minute.
Suddenly the team heard barking and turned around to see a large dog heading straight for them.
"No! Get away, you bully!" Tori said, trying to block the dog, holding Leaf and Midnight protectively over his head.
But it was too late, Rainbow bolted out of sight, the dog trailing close behind her. The team ran after the two, but they didn't see Rainbow or the dog anymore. The barking disappeared into the distance.
"Rainbow!" Rai cried, "where did she go?"
The team looked around, but couldn't find Rainbow or the dog.
"This is a disaster..." Sena said, "I should have known the cats would be safer in the ship..."
"It'll be alright, Sena," Donha said, "we'll find her, she's smart, and we have her kittens, so I wouldn't be surprised if she found us first."
"We should split up," Finn said.
"Good idea, Finn," Sena said, "if you guys find Rainbow or the card come back here. I'll be searching around this neighborhood, so I should be able to see you and then we can get back to the ship."
The team agreed and split off into different directions.
"I don't suppose you two know anything about Tai Chi," Rai said, looking at Snow and Trooper, who he held in his hands.
The kittens gave a quiet mew in reply.
Rai sighed and looked around.
He had made it to the downtown area. It was pretty busy with shoppers hurrying to and fro, none of them really noticed Rai or the kittens. Rai walked quietly through the alleyways, keeping his eyes and ears open. Still, he couldn't find the Tai Chi or Rainbow.
Then Rai heard some shouts and turned around a corner. There was a large group of boys laughing as they were shoving a small girl around, she was crying and her school books were scattered all over the ground.
Rai growled to himself and surged forward.
"Leave her alone, you creeps!" he yelled, angrily. The girl looked relieved that someone came to her rescue.
"Why don't you try to make us, you runt!" a boy yelled back.
"Actually I think I will." Rai turned to see a man in a police uniform walk on the scene. The gang quickly scattered, leaving Rai and the sniffling little girl.
"Are you okay?" Rai asked, as he helped pick up the girl's books.
"Yeah," she sniffed, "I'm just tired of those boys always picking on everyone. Hey, I like your kittens."
Rai gulped, he forgot about Trooper and Lemon, he really hoped the girl wouldn't ask too many questions about why they look different.
"Yes, they have very nice coats," the officer said, "you're lucky to have such handsome cats. Come on, Elizabeth, I can walk you home."
"Thank you!" Elizabeth called as she disappeared around the corner with the police officer.
Rai smiled, glad that he could help. Then he remembered his mission and continued to search for Rainbow and the Tai Chi.
Meanwhile, Finn was searching in the back part of town, there wasn't much to look through but vacant lots and dumpsters. Suddenly, Finn heard a sound behind him. He turned around to see a group of boys, a lot older than him, walk from behind different dumpsters and crates.
"Hey, kid," one of bigger ones said, "this is our part of town, everyone knows to stay away from our territory."
Finn didn't reply, but he did make sure he had Bing clutched firmly in his hand. Bing seemed to know that now was the time to be very quiet. Finn was able to count about ten to fifteen boys, each varying in sizes, but all were big.
A few of them I could take, Finn thought, but there's still too many of them.
"Ha! Look what he has!" another boy said, "a kitten? We especially don't let sissies on our territory either."
The gang walked forward and surrounded Finn and the kitten.
Meanwhile, Tori was observing everything around him. He had searched a different part of the neighborhood that Sena was searching and he was starting to get bored.
"I just don't know where to look," he sighed to his two kittens, "and there's so much to look for..."
Tori found himself walking in a more quiet part of town, all he found were dumpsters and crates.
Doesn't look like there's anything colorful here, Tori thought. Just as he was about to move on he heard someone cry out in pain.
Tori quickly ran to a wooden fence where the sound came behind and looked through a hole in it. He saw Finn kicking a large boy in the nose and the kid was laying on the ground, crying out in pain.
Bing was still in Finn's hand, but he fell out when the other boys grabbed Finn. Luckily the kitten was very quick and crawled under a nearby dumpster before he could get hurt.
Oh man, Tori thought, what should I do? I need to help, but what do I do with the kittens? Leaf and Midnight's ears flicked.
"You're going to pay for that, kid!" Tori heard someone yell. He peeped through the hole again to see some boys holding onto Finn's arms while another boy stood in front of him. Finn tugged and tried to kick at the boys, but they wouldn't let him budge. The boy that Finn kicked was standing up now, sneering, but his nose was bleeding pretty badly.
The boy who spoke brought back his arm, preparing to punch Finn square in the face.
"Tai Chi So! Laugh!"
The fist stopped right in front of Finn's nose. Finn blinked and looked at his attacker, his lips were quivering and he suddenly broke smile and began cracking up.
"Whoa, Dillan, what's your problem?"
The boys let go of Finn and gathered around their cackling friend, tears were beginning to stream from his eyes.
Bing crawled out from under the dumpster and Finn picked him up. Then he turned and leaped over the fence to where Tori was.
"Are you okay?" Tori asked, "and how's Bing?"
Finn looked at the kitten, he was a little shaken up, but he was okay.
"We're fine, thanks for the help," Finn said.
"No problem," Tori replied, putting his activator and card away, and then picked up his two confused kittens.
He and Tori hurried out of the area before the gang could come after them again.
Farther away, Donha and Rai were searching around the outskirts of town.
"Man, finding a card here is going to be like finding a needle in a haystack," Donha said, looking at all of the trees.
"Yeah, and Rainbow could be anywhere right now..." Rai replied, distraut.
The two split up, Donha went deeper into the forest and Rai continued to circle around the rest of the town.
As Donha made his way through the tall bushes and trees he thought he heard something. When he stopped the only thing he could hear were the birds and the distant sound of laughter from the town, so he kept walking.
It wasn't long before he noticed that something was strange.
"Was there some sort of party here or something," Donha thought, looking down. The grass below him was tie dyed, it looked like someone had splattered paint all over this part of the forest.
Donha walked into a clearing and he found himself encircled by trees of various colors and the grass looked like the top of a rainbow snowcone.
"Wow..." Donha breathed, "I think I found it, but where's the card?"
As he said that Donha looked down, the ground was glowing. Suddenly a card floated from the ground and into his hands.
"The card!" Donha exclaimed, happily. Then he heard the sound again.
The bush in front of him was rustling. Sweat began to drip down Donha's face and he was beginning to get a little nervous.
When Rainbow popped out Donha let out a breath.
"Thank goodness it's you, Rainbow," Donha said, "I'm glad to see you're okay!"
Pumpkin mewed in agreement as Rainbow rubbed against Donha's legs.
As Donha was making his way back into town the other Chasers had no idea that the Tai Chi or the cat had been found yet.
Sena was making her second round around the neighborhood.
What if this is hopeless, Sena thought, and what if the card wasn't even here to begin with?
"Sena!"
Sena turned around to see Donha coming towards her, and Rainbow was following behind him.
"Donha! You found Rainbow!" Sena said, happily, patting Rainbow on the head.
"Yep, and I found the card, too." Donha handed Sena the new Tai Chi card.
The picture on the card was a burst of color, pretty much the same as Rainbow and the rest of the kittens.
"This card is used to stun our enemies," Sena said, "it makes them go into a sort of trance, they're hypnotized by all the fantastic colors. This is a really great card!"
Rainbow meowed and rubbed against Sena's legs, Sena pet her again.
"I'd better find the others," Sena said, "Donha, I need you to take Rainbow and the card back to the ship. Once I find everyone we'll meet with you and we can get out of here. And here, take Peach with you, too. I don't want another dog disaster."
"Okay, Sena," Donha said, "but be careful, Rai told me that there was some sort of gang in the town. From what he tells me they pick on whoever they see."
"Thanks for the information, Donha," Sena replied, "I'll be careful."
Donha nodded and began walking towards the direction of the airship, carrying Pumpkin, Snow and Peach, Rainbow followed him. She still seemed to be attracted to the Tai Chi.
Sena began to make her way into town, keeping a lookout for the rest of the Chasers and the gang. Just as she walked around the corner of a building into the downtown area Finn and Tori ran into her.
"Ouch!" Sena exclaimed, falling down.
"Sorry, Sena!" Tori cried, as Finn helped her up, "but we need to get out of here!"
"Wha-" Then Sena saw a large group of boys making their way towards Sena and the rest of her group.
"Who are they?" Sena asked, looking at Finn with concern.
"Bad news," Finn replied, as he and Tori began running again.
"Get back here!" one of the boys yelled, "we're not finished with you, yet!"
"But we haven't found Rai yet!" Sena exclaimed, when Finn and Tori were about to make a break for it back to the airship.
Finn and Tori stopped, and looked back at the gang, who were gaining on them.
"We'd better split up," Tori said, "that way we can confuse them and we will find Rai quicker."
"I'll stall them," Finn said, "find Rai and get back to the ship."
Before Sena could say anything, Finn handed Bing over to her, who was mewing in protest, and began to run a different direction. The gang immediately followed him.
"Come on, Sena!" Tori said, "we'd better find Rai, quick!"
While Sena and Tori back to run around town looking for Rai, Finn was trying to keep ahead of the gang.
"Slip them up," Finn said, "with Tai Chi Bing! Ice!"
Making sure to be discreet, Finn left a thin sheet of ice behind him. He could hear the boys cry out in surprise as they began to slip around and fall. There were some still coming after him, though.
Rai was walking along a rooftop when he saw the gang chasing Finn.
"What the...oh no..." Rai began to leap from roof to roof, following the gang and Finn. Chuckling to himself when he saw Finn slip them up with his ice card.
Up ahead Finn turned around a corner and stopped, he was at a dead end. The gang quickly filled up the alley way that Finn had mistakenly ran into.
"Now you're really going to get it!" a boy yelled as the group surged forward. Finn got into fighting position, glad that he had given Bing to Sena.
It's against the rules of the Tigeroids to show Tai Chi to the human race, Finn thought, but I might make an exception if this doesn't turn out good.
A boy in the gang threw the first punch, Finn easily blocked it and flipped the kid over. Pretty soon more and more punches were flying his way, and it was getting harder to block them. One of them clipped him on the eye and another punch landed on his stomach. Trying not to double over, Finn roundhouse kicked another boy. There wasn't much trouble with missing, since Finn was pretty much surrounded now.
Rai leaped down from the building and ran into the entrance of the alley.
"Hey! You!" Rai cried out with rage. The gang turned around, confused.
"You cowards!" Rai yelled, "one against twelve, that seems fair!"
"Aw," one of the boys mocked, "the poor little guy doesn't think this is fair! How about we let him have it, too, there's plenty to go around! I'm getting pretty sick of him interfering with our business!"
"Ha! And look, this one has kittens, too!" The gang laughed as part of them approached Rai.
Oh no, Rai thought, I can't fight while I have Lemon and Trooper!
Suddenly, three shadows flew overhead. Rai looked up to see Sena, Tori and Donha circling around above them.
"Hop on, guys!" Donha swooped over Finn and Rai, both of them leaped on.
As they lifted up into the air they could hear the gang below them crying out in rage. Then the sound disappeared all together was the flew up higher and sped up towards the Tigeroid airship, which Hak had already lifted up in the air.
Once everyone was back safely on the ship they all collapsed on the floor sighing, the cats wandering around, dazed.
"Well," Sena said, finally, "that was fun."
"Just fantastic," Tori said, "at least we got the card and everyone's safe."
"I wouldn't want to live in that town," Donha muttered, stroking Rainbow's chin.
After laying there for a few more minutes the team finally got up to contact General Aidan about the card.
"I see that the kittens are still with you," Aidan said, frowning.
"Yes, dad," Sena replied, sheepishly, "but, um, while we were looking for a home to them we ran into the Tai Card. The mother cat seems to be attracted to it, it's Hom, the color card."
Sena held up the card for Aidan to see, he raised his eyebrows in response.
"I must say, Sena," Aidan said, "I am very proud of you and your team. Was there any trouble while you were down there?"
"Uh, we had a little trouble with a dog," Sena replied, "and, you know, a gang."
"A gang! A gang of what? Dragonoids?" Aidan looked down at them concerned.
"It was just some neighborhood bullies," Rai said, "they didn't cause too much trouble."
Still, Rai looked over at Finn to make sure he was okay. Finn shrugged in return and Aidan continued to speak.
"Well, they must not have been too much of a hassle if you were able to find the Tai Chi, now you need to come back to the Tigeroid base so that we can figure out what we can do about these kittens."
When General Aidan's flicked off the team looked down, disappointed. They thought maybe Aidan's view of the cats would change after they got the Tai Chi.
"Well, I guess we won't get anything done by mopping around," Sena sighed, "Hak set a course to the base. Donha, I'm sure these cats are hungry after the adventure they had."
The team split up to go do their duties, it was starting to get late so they gathered in the kitchen as the cats ate.
Donha began to make some hot chocolate, which is what he usually does when the team is feeling down.
After a while of sad silence, Hak came on the intercom.
"We're hear guys." They heard him say sadly.
The Chasers came out and were met by Aidan and the three elders.
"I'm guessing it must have been difficult to find a home for these kittens," Aidan said, looking down at the swarm of multicolored kittens pooling out around their feet.
"Yeah," Sena replied, glumly.
"I have talked to the elders, and they feel that the kittens can't stay with you," Aidan said, looking at the group.
The Chasers looked at the kittens, poor Tori was near tears.
"We feel," Komorka said, "that the kittens and their mother would be most safe at the base with us. You can see them whenever you like when you come back to the base, they will be well taken care of."
The team's frowns quickly turned to grins.
"Really?" Tori exclaimed, "thanks so much!"
Elder Sid and Komorka smiled in return, Pyron still wasn't sure what to think about it. He did smile a little though when Leaf began to rub against his leg.
Finn was the only one who seemed a little down. Bing was still sitting by his foot like a loyal dog.
Elder Sid walked over to where Finn was while the rest of the team was playing with the kittens.
"It will be alright, Finn," he said, "I know how much that little kitten means to you, I will watch over him myself while you are away."
Finn looked Elder Sid with surprise and bowed politely.
"Thank you, Elder Sid." Sid smiled and patted Finn's shoulder, then left him to go join Komorka and Pyron. Finn joined his group as well.
"You know," Aidan said, as the Chasers laughed at the kittens, "I think we forget sometimes that they are just children."
Komorka nodded, a grave look was on her face.
"Maybe someday soon they will be free to act as such," she said.