My Calling: Second Cycle

Author: Cornell Valentine Gainsborough

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

MAKAI! Seperates Paragraphs

Chapter 4: First Impression: not so good.

Aboard the Phantom Cat Mk. 2 as it travelled through the dimensional space between Netherworlds, Nelius, having found himself a comfortable spot to nest in, was sound asleep in the cargo hold, catching up on the hours he'd missed. Sure, most demons can go without sleep for extended periods of time, but he was feeling rather drained for some odd reason. Some kind of odd vision crept into his mind, showing himself, but instead of having his regular demon wings, one of them had begun transforming into other strange forms. Sometimes it would form a blade, or it would curl around him as a defensive measure. Then, both wings began to transform, becoming a wild assortment of other offensive and defensive features.

"Never forget the blood that runs through your veins."

Nelius awoke with a start. He chided himself for not thinking to buy a watch back at the RosenQueen shop to tell himself how long it'd been since he fell asleep. Managing a small stretch forward, he snuck a peek around the corner of the stack of boxes he'd hidden behind... and quickly found himself regretting having come aboard this ship.

'He's the captain of this rustbucket? Holy--' From what he could see, the largest black jaguar demon he'd ever seen was commanding two Tailrings.... yeah, the Felynn with the blue hair and green fur, to begin moving several of the boxes from the room across the hall into here. Though the extra boxes would give him a cover advantage, it wouldn't mean anything if one of those three happened to detect him. So, in order to keep his presence hidden, this meant making himself as small as possible... and making sure he wasn't sweating too heavily. Demons like the Nekomata can easily pick up on small changes in the air's scent.

For all of about ten minutes, things went without a hitch, until the insatiable monster known as Nelius' empty stomach began to complain, loudly. Realizing what had happened, his breath went silent as he mentally cursed himself for having his appetite suddenly decide to ramp up tenfold.

"Huh? What was that?" Curious as to the noise she'd heard, one of the Tailrings went over to investigate. She was just about to give the crates a once-over...

"Jasmyne, don't worry about those ones for now." Brad admonished her. "We still have other things to finish up before we return." Motioning with his head, the two Tailrings followed him back out of the room and back toward wherever it was they came from.

"My sense of timing sucks." Now able to breathe easily, he reached into his bag and extracted a random pack of dried meats. Being careful not to make too much noise, he opened the package and devoured the contents in two quick bites. Having nowhere else to place it, he put the empty packaging wrapper into a side pocket on his bag, reminding himself to dump off any trash and get himself one of those new self-storing demension tents as soon as he could afford one. His clothing and other travel items would most likely have the smell of dried, seasoned meat eminating from them. 'And if that giant jaguar has any more Felynn serving him, smelling like a prepared meal is the last thing I want to be doing.'

With stretching currently out of the question, and his stomach satisfied for the time being, he fell back on the only option he had left: snooze. He made himself comfortable and did so.

Sirea's Netherworld

In Sirea's Netherworld, news of Nelius' disappearance was travelling to other areas much faster than someone with an unmodified Hyperdrive engine. Already, in many towns across the Netherworld, including Midnight, search parties had been organized by Sirea's vassals in attempts to loacte him and drag him back to the Overlord's castle under any cirumstances. Needless to say, since he wasn't even there, they had no luck at all, and this infuriated her even further. The sheer aura of agitation coming off of her told everyone within sixty yards to stay the hell away, especially Cera.

'How could he escape?!' Sirea's mind was being driven in circles, trying to figure out how he slipped past any of the guards and got away. 'Chill, chill... damn it. Did the seal's power wear out faster than expected?' She mentally cursed herself for getting far too overconfident. 'If it was the work of those thieves, then they must've figured it out. I'll have to step the plan up some.'

Even with bumping the reward money up six million Hell, her efforts were for nothing, since he was aboard...

Phantom Cat Mk. 2

A stinging sensation quickly woke Nelius. Realising it was coming from his right hand, hidden beneath the glove that covered it, he removed said glove and the ring he bought, revealing Sirea's old seal crest that she'd placed on him when he first started apprenticing under her six years back. Furthermore, said seal was directly over some kind of scar. Removing the Shatter Gauntlet from his left hand, he set it on the floor next to him before licking his left thumb and rubbing over the ink.

45 minutes, one smudged shirt and one very raw and sore thumb later, the ink was cleanly smudged away, perfectly revealing the scar on his hand. The outline was a burning red, and the shape of the scar itself seemed to take the form of a circle or ring; it only served to confuse him even further. Even whenever he removed the glove in the past, he certainly didn't remember having either the scar on his hand anytime before.

'I don't remember ever having this on my hand before. Was it due to the seal's magic, cause I left her employ?' Any kind of answer would have to come later; with a shudder, the ship had landed somewhere. 'Looks like we've finally set down. I wonder where I am now.' Getting his gear back into place, he was mentally prepared, but his cramped muscles demanded that he get warmed up before doing anything else. Checking around the general area for anyone and finding everything clear, he cautiously stood up and stretched himself, loosening up his tightened arms and legs before bending backwards to work out any kinks in his waist and to stretch his back. The sound of many approaching footsteps told him to get back into his hiding spot before he got spotted. His wings would have to wait again.

A moment later, the jaguar, Brad, entered into the storage compartment of his ship, accompanied by his Tailrings, perhaps the sames ones as before, and they began moving most of the smaller boxes from the front of the room toward the loading door, completely passing Nelius by. One's tail came dangerously close to smacking him in the face twice.

'What's the bet that they either know of my location or they want me to watch?' Shortly afterwards, the lights died out as the loading door opened, spilling natural sunlight into the cargo hold and forcing Nelius to squint; his eyes had been adjusted to the artificial light for so long, the appearance of the real deal caused his eyes to ache before adjusting. He wasn't the only one who had difficulties with the sudden adjustment; he could hear several others complaining before Brad told them to shut up.

"OK, that is everything accounted for." Brad's voice filled the room as he commanded his ground crew. "Start unloading."

'Crap! This is bad!!' He knew that if they moved the box he was hiding behind, he'd be found out, and considering what all he'd gone through to get here, if he got caught.... Nelius didn't want to think about it. He considered hiding in another box in order to get past the loaders, and a relatively large crate was covering him. In about two minutes he's gonna wish he considered another crate to hide in; the box he quickly pried open then slipped into when nobody was around or looking was full of catnip, and if you thought this was the generic stuff grown and marketed in the Human World, then boy are you in for a surprise! The box was eventually lifted up and carried out of the ship by another Nekomata.

"Hey Brad, how much catnip did you grab this time around?" A groaning female voice, the one trying her damnest to keep ahold of the crate, inquired.

"The normal amount for the experiments Maddie, what makes you ask?" He asked his own question.

"I know I've only been working here since last year, but this certainly doesn't feel like the regular shipment; it's like carting an extra person around inside this thing." That statement made Nelius' hair stand on end. He just slipped into a box full of netherworld catnip; at least it explained the plants he was now neck-deep in. She passed the crate over to Brad, who merely lifted it by one massive paw.

"You're right. It's about one-tenth heavier than when I picked it up yesterday. I wonder what might have happened." He made a move to open the box, but hesitated. "We'll open it when we get back to greenhouse number 5. I don't need a repeat of last year's incident."

'This prolongs my life, if only for a few minutes longer. I only hope they're open-mined enough to listen before I become their next six-course dinner.'

Brad's Netherworld, Greenhouse 5

About an hour later, the box of netherworld catnip Nelius was hiding in was transported to a greenhouse located in the middle of what appeared to be a forest or jungle; maybe a hybrid of the two. Using the small hole in the side of the box, he snuck a peek at the interior. Plants of all different origins and types were here under study, several of which he could easily recognize from his home Netherworld.

'Some kind of science, maybe? I've never heard of many demons aside from Mao doing this sort of stuff.' The plants around the room were flourishing, and many of them gave off a scent of fresh fruit, though none of them, from what he could see, were bearing any fruit. 'That jaguar,Brad, did mention experiments. Maybe it's some sort of cross-breeding deal?'

"I'll be right back." The one called Brad quickly left, having to retrieve several items before they could begin. "Don't start without me." Oh sure, tell a giant gaggle of cats they can view the catnip, but can't partake in it. You'd have a much easier time dangling food just out of the reach of several hundred angry tigers and other vicious creatures. Go ahead, see where it gets you; I just hope you enjoy your time as a Prinny, ya moron.

"Now, let's see what's causing this crate to be so heavy." One of them went to remove the top...

"Hey, he just said to wait!" Another one warned. "Remember last year's incident?"

"It'll be fine. All I'm doing is taking a quick look." She removed the lid, despite more warnings from everyone else, and took a good look inside. "Huh, I see nothing else in here, Maddie. You must've been imagining things."

"You serious?" The one named Maddie went to take a look herself. "I'd have sworn that there was something else in here. Did Brad really get that much catnip this time?"

"Never mind that, take a look at this." Another one of the Nekomata working there called their attention to a display. "Why's the temperature of this greenhouse all out of whack?"

"I think someone was messing around with the settings; probably the people who worked last shift for the night. Lemme take a crack at it." As another of them went to mess with the settings, several of them began to deliberate amongst themselves. Nobody even noticed Nelius' head popping out of the catnip as he stood straight up, carefully climbing out of the crate, oblivious to the fact that he was covered head to toe in the plant. As long as he could make out the back door without being seen by any of them...

'One foot, second foot, all is good, drop off the table, and...' Well, he never got a chance to get halfway to the door, as one of them promptly bugged out as she turned around to put the lid back on the container before Brad returned.

"Holy Hell! It's a friggin' Catnip monster!! I told you all this would happen someday!" One of the younger Felynn shouted, alerting them to Nelius' presence and throwing the rest of them into panic. Without even thinking they all divebombed him, determined to defeat this menace. "Get him! Make sure he can't get to Brad!"

As Nelius did everything in his power to esacpe the Felynn demons' grasp ('This clinches it, I really do have crappy luck with women!'), the scent of the catnip radiating from his body, combined with his rapidly sweating body's scent, flowed through the nostrils of each of the Felynn, causing them to eventually stop and begin falling under the plants' effects. Completely forgetting about the "Attack of the Catnip Creature from the Crate", they found themselves pleasantly lightheaded and giddy, and simply released him.

"Woooooow, maybe heeeee isn't so bad aaaaafteeeeerrr aaaaaaalllllll. Meeeee thinks we were wrong about yoooooouuuu...." Some of them had even decided to rub up against him and purr, perhaps as a welcome greeting, but needless to say, he moved aisde as they all fell down around him.

Not even bothering to question this sudden turn of events, Nelius grabbed handfuls of the plants and tossed them off of himself, even onto the faces of several more Felynn for good measure, as he dashed out the greenhouse's back door, reminding himself to find some kind of water and wash the scent of the plant from himself as he took off into the thick foilage of the trees. The last thing he wanted anytime soon was a repeat of this incident.

Barely two minutes after he slipped out the back, Brad showed back up with several tools, ready to begin, only to see the greenhouse full of Nekomatas that couldn't stand up or think straight. One of them, the dark blue-furred Cait Sith (a supervisor, no less), managed to get to her feet and saunter over to him, albeit in a clumsy and somewhat silly manner.

"Heeey, Braad." The catnip's effects were clearly present on her flushed features as she put an arm around his shoulder in order to balance herself. "What took yoooouuu sooo long? You missed one hell of a welcoming party!"

"All right, which one of you got into the catnip this time?" He had been dreading that question. "I specifically told you not to open that stuff up until I got back. Honestly, I do expect better of you."

"Ahh, who cares, let's party!" She threw her hands into the air, causing her to lose her balance and fall to the ground. Even after such a bump, she was still giddy. "Wow, I see whole bunches of catnip kitties! Too bad heeee didn't stick arrrrooouuunnndd, you'd have liked hiiiiiiimmmmmmmm!" She then appeared to bat at something floating through the air.

Brad sighed to himself. "No restraint whatsoever. I want to reserve it for my experiments, but no, they have to go and get into it. Bunch of.." He gave the room a once-over, seeing the so-called "workers" that had decided to indulge in the plant...

"Hang on a moment. Something's off about all of this." As he stepped into the room, careful not to step on any of the others, he picked up a small handful of the catnip he'd acquired on Sirea's Netherworld and took a careful whiff; even being the Overlord, a significantly strong source could cause him to feel as lightheaded as his vassals. A lingering scent still remained on it; it was the scent of an offworld demon, a male, and he had been what caused that crate to be heavier than normal. Something else caught his attention: a video monitor he placed there to keep tabs on the plants' growth had caught all the action, from him sneaking out of the crate to accidentally making some new friends.... and one BIG enemy.

"A stowaway. Go ahead and try to run and hide all you like, I will eventually have you found." He reached into his pocket, extracting a cell phone and hitting a number he placed on speed dial. About six seconds later, it patched through.

"Hey, Brad. This is Catelyn, leader and captain of the Third Sector in the Sky." It was the commander of one of his attack squads. "What can we do for you today, chief?"

"We happen to have a Code 23, orange level alert." He could imagine the look of surprise on her face. "I'm certain you know what it means."

"So, we've got ourselves an uninvited guest. It's been a long time since we happened to have a new friend over. What do you want us to do about it?"

"I'm sending you some video of our little guest. There's no way you can miss him. Make sure you give him the proper welcome." He entered several commands, sending the data to her.

"Oh, he's a cute one. We'll happily go retrieve him." Click.

End of Chapter 4

Until next chapter,

Cornell Valentine Gainsborough