Feelings Change Inside Mt. Rocko
As the three of them left Coursair and began trekking southward, Ryu felt a pain in his boot. Reaching inside, he found his Dragon's Tear, which he had put there before the fight. Out of curiosity, he pressed it against Katt's arm for a minute.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
He ignored her and watched as color seeped into the jewel. He smirked. It was red. "Well, at least it's not purple." He told himself as he slipped it back in his pocket.
"Hey buddy!" Bow cried as Ryu entered Ruins, "Welcome back!"
"Hey yourself!" Ryu exclaimed, slapping his friend the high-five. "Wazaaap?"
"Waaazaaaap?"
"WazAAAAP?"
"You're both idiots." Katt told them, looking around. "What is this place?"
"It's called a hideout." Ryu informed her. "See, Bow here got framed, so while we try to clear his name, he has to stay here."
"Well look what the Beak dragged in," crackled Niro, stepping out of the dilapidated building. "I see sonny boy brought some more friends home! Hee hee! Good! Now my house will be fixed in no time!"
Bow became nervous. "Um, Ryu, can you step into my office for a minute?" He pulled Ryu inside. "I don't mind working with Rand to fix the house," he whispered, "But Katt doesn't look like the saltiest fry in the happy meal. I don't think it's a good idea if…"
"Boo!" Katt said, startling the hell out of Ryu. "Whatcha talkin about?"
"Umm…" Bow fidgeted, "Well, we were thinking that while Rand and I are working on the house, you could go with Ryu here to find the bitch that set me up."
Katt's eyes narrowed. "Why can't you let me help you with the house?"
"Well, what do you know about repairs?"
Katt thought. "Well, a hammer is used to bang nails in,"
"Uh huh, what else?"
"Umm, glue smells really bad,"
"Go on."
"Uhhhhhh…"
"I rest my case." Said Bow smugly, sitting down, only to find that Niro had snatched his chair away. Bow fell in a heap on the floor.
"Aw haw haw! Gotcha!" Niro rasped. "You'd better be on your toes more often! Why when I was a lad, I was so sharp that…"
Katt sniffed. "You know what? Let's go, Ryu. Let's find that thief. I said COME." She dragged him by his shirt collar out the door. "You're in good hands," she called to Bow.
"I'm comforted." He said with a shudder.
And so it came to be that Ryu and Katt had met Princess Nina at HomeTown's school of magic, witnessed her dramatic kidnapping, and now found themselves creeping through the damp, dark halls of Mt. Rocko. Hoods were posted all over the place, and they glared at the pair, who kept insisting they were friends of the mysterious "boss."
"Ryu, these guys freak me out!" Katt whispered, grabbing Ryu's shoulder.
"Likewise. Let's just hope we can keep a straight face in front of them."
A little while later, they came to a gate. A tall, muscular henchman was stationed behind it.
"Who goes there?" he snarled.
"We're friends of the boss." Katt called. "Please let us through."
The man seemed disinterested. "Do it yourself. The switch is in that hole over there."
Katt grinned. "Thanks." But just as she went to stick her hand in the hole, Ryu noticed a pair of beady eyes gleaming within.
"NO!" he cried, and he whacked Katt's hand away. He slammed his sword into the hole, and when he dragged it out, the remains of a poisonous spider came with it. "It was a trap!"
Katt gasped. "Oh God… you saved me again!"
"How dare you defy me!" the man roared. He whacked a switch on the wall and ran at them. Ryu caught the man as he passed and put him in a headlock.
"Thank you so much for standing guard. You did a great job." Katt said. Then she slammed him in the stomach with one end of her staff, and whacked him over the head with the other.
"That was close," she said as she tossed the man into a corner. "But now it's time to hence onward! Shall we hence?"
Ryu grinned. "Let's not waste so much time sitting on the hence. Let's go!"
Katt laughed out loud as she followed Ryu deeper into the cavern.
Katt had to admit, despite the anger she displayed in the beginning, she was starting to want to be friendly with this kid. Not, you know, romantically, but she felt a good friend was better than an enemy.
Ryu also seemed to detect a change in Katt, especially from that "hence" exchange just now.
"So Katt… it seems you're willing to accept me now." He said cheerfully as he hacked a Blood Sucker in two."
"Don't get your hopes up, pal," she said, equally cheerfully. "Don't picture yourself picking out curtains with me!"
"I wouldn't dream of it, dearest." He said mockingly.
"Don't do that!" she laughed.
"Stop me!"
Thinking fast, she approached a Trikster that was wandering aimlessly. "Kill that boy for me, would you?" she said, slipping him a coin. With a zombie-like drone, the beast ran at Ryu, dagger extended.
Ryu idly stepped aside and the Trikster slammed himself into the cave wall and collapsed. Ryu stared at Katt.
"Hey, you said stop you, so I tried my best." She said with a shrug.
Ryu could play the tit for tat game as well. He snatched a leech off the ground and waved it in front of her. She shrieked.
"What's wrong, Kattie?" He laughed. "'Fraid of a little…bug?"
"Get it away!"
Ryu speared it with his sword and cast it aside. "As you wish."
She slapped him as they walked. "Don't do that again."
"Why the sudden change?" he asked out of nowhere.
The question took her off guard. "Huh?"
"Why are you treating me so nice all of a sudden?"
She chose her words carefully. "It's better than fighting."
"Well that's not what I think." He said mischievously.
"Oh yeah? Well what DO you think?"
"I think you got a crush on me." Ryu suddenly found himself on the ground at the mercy of Katt's staff.
"I told you that's not gonna happen." She growled. She yanked him to his feet. "I just feel better having you as a friend than as an enemy."
"Hum…" Ryu mused, and they fell into silence. Ryu had to admit that Katt was attractive, but then again, he knew he wouldn't be with her in the end… I mean, she said so, right? But in a distant corner of his mind, Ryu smiled, imagining what it could be like if he and Katt got together.
Curiosity took him again, and he silently took out the Dragon's Tear and tapped it on Katt's shoulder.
"Why do you keep doing that?" she asked.
"Because I can." He told her, and watched as color began to fill the jewel. It was green, he noticed with amazement. That was a big step up.
"No time for this now." He told himself. "On to the boss!"
