Disclaimer: I own nothing that appears in this story.

AN: This is my first entry in the A Winner Is Two! tournament.

Prologue: A Cat's Challenge

Under the crimson skies of the Netherworld was a large imposing castle. It was there that the Akujo family lived. Each member of the family was known as a witch. This oddly enough even included Fonfon, the only male member of the family. The Akujo family had a fearsome reputation throughout the Netherworld. Their ultimate rivals were the Marjoly family, who lived in the sky.

Every member of the Akujo family waited for the day when they could once again fight Marjoly and her family. They were so certain that they would emerge victorious! However, there was one little cat who didn't think so.

Pekonyan stared longingly out the window. She sighed softly as she looking out at the beautiful red sky. "I wish I could look at this sky with you, Pokonyan, nya," she whispered to herself.

"Why does Pokonyan have to be a Nyanko forced to serve the Marjoly family, nya?" she wondered angrily. "Why does fate have to be so cruel, nya?" Keeping the two apart like it did seemed so unfair to the young Nyanshe. To be servants of two rival families made their love seem unattainable.

The Nyanshe looked down to the golden pendant she wore around her neck. She liked to refer to it as the Love Pendant, because it was given to her by the cat she loved. Her beloved Pokonyan had given her the pendant and with it he made a promise to marry her someday.

But now that all but seemed impossible. Unwillingly they had become servants of the two rival families. They were forbidden from talking to each other; much less being able to see each other on friendly terms. If they ever did meet it would almost always end up in some sort of a fight. Usually neither cat wanted to fight, but when their masters ordered it, they had no choice but to obey. They were bound by strict laws that forbid them from going against their masters orders.

Almost every night, Pekonyan would have the same dream. She would find Pokonyan and ask him to come back with her. But he would always say no, telling her that he was with the Marjoly family now and she was with the Akujo family. The dream was enough to insure that she would be in a gloomy mood every time she woke up.

Would they fight the Marjoly family again soon? To be honest, Pekonyan didn't mind actually using her magical skills on some of the Nyankos, but there was no way she would fight her beloved! The very thought of that hurt her way too much! She didn't want to experience any more heartache.

"What am I going to do, nya?" she questioned to no one in particular. "If I had to fight my Pokonyan again…"

"Perhaps I can be of assistance?" a male's voice suggested from behind the female cat.

A look of surprise filled the Nyanshe's eyes as she spun around to face this unknown man. For one thing, she knew that he wasn't Fonfon trying to pull some sort of a trick. He probably would have done a little too much flexing to rip that fine suit. As the castle was for the most part surrounded by girls, this guy was very much out of place here.

"Wh… who are you, nya?"

"My name is of little importance to you," the man informed Pekonyan, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I am here on behalf of BORED. I've come to pick you up for the tournament. You did get your invitation, did you not?"

Shock was clearly seen on the Nyanshe's face as she tried to figure out what this guy was talking about. Who was this BORED organization and what was this tournament? More importantly, what did he mean about an invitation? She had never gotten a single letter since her arrival here at Akujo's castle, though the occasional letter from Pokonyan would have been nice.

"You did read your invitation, didn't you, Pekonyan?" The man repeated, taking the Nyanshe out of her thoughts.

Pekonyan shook her head. "No, I didn't get it, nya."

"Perhaps then I should explain more of this tournament to you." The man smiled to himself and Pekonyan couldn't help but wonder if he kept her invitation from her merely so he could explain this to one person. "The tournament is set as survival elimination. The last man standing is the victor and will win the prize money."

"I'm not interested in money, nya," Pekonyan murmured.

"I know… you are more interested in that Pokonyan of yours, right?" At seeing the expression on the girl cat's face, the BORED member knew he was right on the nose. "You could also say that the winner of the tournament is also the strongest. And if you obtained such power, perhaps you could get away from this place, and be with the cat you love one more."

"I… I can be with Pokonyan again, nya?" Pekonyan thought to herself happily. "It is true, nya. The next time I see him, I don't want to fight him, nya." A look of determination filled her face. "If I win this tournament then I can be together with Pokonyan, nya! Someone has said that 'girls take imitative, nya!'"

The man in the room became curious as he gazed into the cat's determined eyes. "Can I assume that you are willing to participate?"

Pekonyan nodded and held a paw up in the air. "I'll do it, nya!"

The man smiled as he turned around. "Very good, then let us be on our way then."

"Shouldn't I prepare a little, nya?" the Nyanshe asked curiously before he could take a single step.

"Be quick about it," the BORED member told her. "We don't have time to waste."


Pekonyan eyes sparkled with delight when she saw the view of the ocean along with the pretty blue sky. It was so breathtaking! If only Pokonyan could be with her now as she looked out over the horizon. That would be so romantic!

An island was coming into view and the Nyanshe knew without needing to ask that they were finally reaching their destination. As they got closer, she couldn't help wondering what the other participants were like. She turned and walked over to the BORED member that was bringing her to this place.

"Who else is in this tournament, nya?"

"You'll see," the man answered, keeping the information from her. "There is one thing you do need to know though. This does not come at a price. You could die in this tournament."

The Nyanshe gulped a little when she heard that. "I… if that's the case, why did you select me instead of someone else, nya?"

"We already have a demigod, we don't need a powerful witch too," the man answered.

Pekonyan was starting to have second thoughts about this. She could be killed and there was some sort of demigod lurking around? If she had known that, she probably wouldn't have agreed to come. Though from the talk she had managed to overhear, she would have been forced to come here anyway if she had said no. So, thinking about it this way, the choice had been made for her.

The Nyanshe glanced down at the pendant that Pokonyan had given her. As she did, she thought about the cat she loved, which gave her more strength and confidence. She had to remember that she was doing this for her beloved's sake. She knew she would see him again, especially if she won this tournament.

The ship docked at the shore and Pekonyan walked onto the beach. One good look around told her that there wasn't many buildings here. In fact, it looked like she would need to find shelter.

Despite the odds, Pekonyan looked determined again. This cat was not going to let this get her down. She would do what she had to do to be next to her beloved Pokonyan again.

And if this doesn't work and she still survived, she could always assassinate Akujo. But she would do that only as a last resort.