Things you need to have read to understand this chapter: Crimson
Really lazy disclaimer of Doom:
I own nothing.
(Told you it was lazy)
Wow...rating jump from G to PG-13, in one chapter, with one, two word line. Beat my own record!
And to Green Magicite, no, I haven't forgotten "the pink Penguinists who patrol Katz Isle". These Penguinists are called "Penguiners" (whoops, I called them Penguineers in my fist chappie o.O must fix, I should. But alas, I am far too lazy) and are more of a tie-die color. I've given them a kinda "world-hopper" occupation, since their drop items are Palma Potions and Mizuho Potions (two different worlds, what the hey??) you think I didn't do my research? Me, the person who looks up stuff in the book to point at things and go "Let's write about that!" Shame on thee. They have a kinda hippie attitude, as the Head Penguiner demonstrates, but not all of them are like that, you'll see. :3
"Waaagh!" Byruu yelped, trying to untangle herself from the beige thing that just tackled her.
"I didn't know you'd come all the way here," the thing beamed, holding the little half-Katz up. Byruu wagged her tail happily.
"Wo hey, Colette! Lookin' smexxy!" Byruu winked. ((Visual aid alert. Go to my site pronto.))
Colette smiled shyly, blushing slightly. Her hair was arranged on her head in a playful mess, so she must have been sleeping not long ago.
"Oh, Byruu, so much has happened while you were gone," Colette twirled around the room, glowing. "You'll never guess!"
Byruu wondered off-handedly what would make Colette so...bouncy, but it was better than being constantly slashed up, like the last time she saw her.
"Got a new puppy, mew?" Byruu shrugged.
"No, but I should," Colette flopped herself on the couch and hugged a pillow to her chest.
"Got laid?" Byruu tried next, going out on a limb.
Colette flushed a deep shade of scarlet and threw the pillow at Byruu. "Where did that come from?" she nearly screamed.
Byruu dodged nimbly. "Well, if you don't tell me, then I won't know, mew!"
Colette shuffled so that her back faced Byruu. There was a small metallic jingling as she moved. Byruu, being a half-Katz, therefore being part Katz, therefore being catlike, therefore instinctively fond of jingling objects, bounded over to see.
"Nice necklace," Byruu remarked, fiddling with a silver chain.
"Thank you," Colette smiled and purred.
Byruu wondered off-handedly again how a human could purr, but then again, Colette wasn't a human anymore. "Where'd you get it?" she examined the links that made the chain.
Colette wore an "I'm-not-telling" look on her face.
Byruu sat on the kitchen counter and tried to think. She'd seen a necklace like that before...where? Curse short-term cat memory!
After much thinking and losing her train of thought (Byruu: Think, think...yum, pie flavored pies...where the hey did that come from?) Byruu suddenly had an idea.
"It's an engagement necklace!" she squealed, pointing. "I knew it, mew!" she bounded around the room, happy she remembered.
"Good for you!" Colette handed her a slice of pie. "Take some, even though you might not deserve it."
Byruu sank her teeth into it, relishing the flavor. Yum, cherry. "Who's it from?" Byruu said around her piece.
"Who else?" Colette smiled around hers.
Byruu's tail wagged as she swallowed her mouthful. "So...that would make you Mrs. Irving, then, mew?"
"Oh, I haven't decided on the name, really," Colette admitted. "I've thought about it and I really don't know."
Byruu couldn't help but chuckle. Trust Colette to get all wrapped up in a name, trying to decide which sounded best.
"What?" Colette pouted playfully. "I have to think about these things, you know!"
"Naughtin'," Byruu laughed mischievously. "Where's the bloke got to, anymew?"
The angel's eyes fell to the ground and she heaved a sigh.
"He's away at the moment. Turns out there's this new Exsphere factory that started up, so he went to go shut it down."
"You didn't go with him?" Byruu asked a bit dryly.
Colette snapped her wings, a somewhat equivalent to a person clenching their fists. "He told me to. I wanted to go, but he told be to stay here. So I did." She shook her head softly, clearing it. "So, what motivates your exalted self to haul your lazy tail over here, other than the pie?"
Byruu used her tail to scratch her head as she scratched her chin with one hand and held her plate with the other.
"Do you still have your Cruxis Crystal?"
Colette's hand went up to it. "Yeah...ever since I became a full angel, we're afraid to take it off," she sighed, flapping her wings. "Why?"
Byruu cleared her throat and scoffed the rest of her pie. "Y'see, Katz and Penguinists never really got along, you know. Somehow, the Katz declared war on the Penguinists, mew. There's this one Penguinist, she asked me to take her to the oracle. So I do, she starts saying all this mumbo jumbo about Beasts of Blood, golden eyes and wings and mew, but there's this one thing she said that really bugged me. She said it-like this: 'A crystal of Cruxis will begin, and end, the strife between the two quarrelling races.' I thought it might have to do with you, you know."
Colette looked down at her hands. "Why would I start a war? Heck, I never knew about Katz and Penguinists hating each other until now. I'm no longer the Chosen...there's nothing special about me anymore."
Byruu snorted. "Hello? Cruxis Crystal? Angel strength? Angel senses? Angel wings, for crying out loud? You're worth fighting a whole war over. That and your good looks, can't forget those," she nudged Colette in the side, winking.
Colette twigged. "But seriously, Byruu, I'm nothing amazing anymore. I might still have my Cruxis Crystal, but it's been...well, you could say...toned down a bit. I could live the life of a normal person if it weren't for these," she flapped her wings, blowing some air to ruffle Byruu's hair.
"Now, on to a more cheery subject," Byruu leaped onto the kitchen counter. "Who made that pie? I'd fight a war over that."
"Surprisingly, I did," Colette put the dishes away in the sink. "Funny, though, when I was being trained to be the Chosen, I was never allowed to cook, they were afraid I might burn or hurt myself. Now I get this funny little cat-child saying she'd kill for some of my cooking."
"I am not funny, mew, and I ain't a child neither," Byruu growled.
Sam waddled along, a bit angry she couldn't go any faster. That and she hadn't brought any weapons; if a Katz jumped out she'd be completely defenseless. But, she thought with a chuckle, maybe her reputation as a warrior would be weapon enough.
She reached the food stores eventually, opening a well-hidden manhole in the ground and sliding down a slope, because Penguinists simply cannot climb ladders.
She toddled over to the place where the food was hidden, hearing faintly detectable munching noises.
"Aha!" she shouted, turning on a light. "Gotcha!"
What she saw was the last thing she expected. Standing there was a pitifully thin, rusty red, half Katz, half Penguinist. It had a Penguinist's face and body, but the ears, tail, arms, and legs of a Katz.
It squealed and dropped the food it had gathered.
Something about it made Sam feel sorry for the thing. She knew about these so-called "Katzinists", a product of arrogant human experimentation, as no Katz or Penguinist would ever get along, much less bear offspring.
"Please don't hurt me!" it squeaked in a childly feminine voice, throwing up her arms for protection. "I didn't know this stuff was yours!"
"I won't," Sam said quietly. "Would you like to help me?"
The Katzinist blinked in surprise. "Do what?"
"You see," Sam began, holding out a webbed foot. "I'm a Penguinist, so I can't walk very well. I need to move all this food to a safer place, but I'll have to do multiple trips then. With your help, it'll go faster."
The little one beamed and nodded. "Where to?"
"Oh, it's not far," Sam started loading a sack with some food. "And there's better chow over there. I'll get the cook to let you have some...what's your name?"
"Sixty-three!" was the answer.
"Sixty-three? That's not a name," Sam scoffed.
"It's the one they gave me," the little one said stubbornly.
"Well, you need a different name," Sam thought aloud. "How ?"
"Okay," the Katzinist shrugged.
Sam didn't bother to ask who "they" were, not caring about human experimentation projects.
"I'm sure the Head Penguinist would take you in," she said as much to herself as to Ruby. "You're the same color as one of his chicks was."
"Hoorah," Ruby said from under the bag she was carrying on her back, her tail wagging happily.
"How long has Lloyd been gone?" Byruu inquired, chewing on a cherry.
"On the edge of too long," Colette answered in a faint growl, looking out a window.
"Go after him," Byruu urged, reaching for Colette's currently unattended piece of pie. "And wipe your face; you've got cherry filling all over it, mew."
"Oh," Colette licked some off but seemed too occupied with other thoughts to finish.
Byruu took the plate to the other side of the room, hoping she wouldn't notice right away that she'd taken her slice hostage. There was another window, which she stared out of while gobbling Colette's portion.
"Wo hey," she said blandly, pointing outside. "Someone's coming along." She couldn't really make it out, but she wasn't paying much attention anyway.
"Really now?" Colette sighed wearily, standing beside her. Her expression immediately changed as soon as she saw who it was.
She clicked the window open and flew out of it, screaming happily. Byruu had half a mind to go stop her, but she knew she couldn't stop the beige blur from being reunited with her prince in red.
There was a muffled yell when Colette slammed into him. Byruu leaped out the window, going to check to see if they had or hadn't gotten hurt.
No, it turned out, they were both completely fine, Colette snuggling Lloyd gently and hugging him tightly, wings cupped around him protectively.
"Yeah, I missed you too," he said softly, playing with her hair. "Your face is a mess! What is that stuff?" he indicated the cherry filling around her mouth.
"This?" she grinned roguishly. "It's blood!" she stuck her tongue out teasingly.
"Whaagh, Crimson's gotten into you again!" Lloyd laughed, sitting up and arranging her on his lap. "Seriously though, what is it?"
Colette leaned a bit closer to him and ran a hand over his face.
"Why don't you...have a taste and find out?"
The following kissing scene has been cut out by the Thoughtful Colloyds Anonymous. (We're thoughtful, we're Colloyds, and, uh...we're anonymous!) Just in case there any Shelloyd people reading this, we have left this bit out. Thanks for bearing with us, those who aren't Shelloyds, and enjoy the rest of the chappie.
That, and Urby simply cannot write kissing scenes, I mean, just look at the one in Crimson.
"Hey. Heard that," Urby growled at the voice in bold and underlined text.
And now for a convenient scene change to the Katz.
Dragon paced, tail lashing, threatening to knock over a few fragile objects and some of his fellow Katz if they were close enough.
"Where is it, meow?" he barked. (Ha, he barks, but he meows...I crack myself up) "Why haven't you found it yet?"
"Dragon, sire," a Katz, whimpering in a corner, answered. "We've only a few vague clues in the books about 'The Weapon', and we're too busy fighting the Penguinists to spare many Katz to look for it, meow."
"If we found the damn thing, we wouldn't have to fight anymore! We'll...train it. Then, after we dispose of the Penguinists, we can move on to more important things. Meow."
The Katz currently present didn't really like the way Dragon said "train" and "more important things", but said nothing.
"Keep searching!" he roared, scattering the Katz in the room, smirking at how fast they fled. He lounged on his currently unadorned throne, purring. It would be, one day...with the pelts of those ridiculous Penguinists. However...there was one he'd treasure in particular. The one of "The Cobalt Blur"...or "Sam", as others knew her. She had slain so many of his favorite fighters...oh well, they were just disposables anyway. He grinned an evil grin, relishing the thought of running her through with some weapon. A sword? Naw, too predictable, not original. It would ruin her pelt.
He balanced a dagger on his finger, musing. After he got rid of the Penguinists, he'd go after those stupid humans that were his allies. More like people to steal off of, he thought. They'd been so kind to provide his forces with Exspheres. Perhaps he could persuade them to help him look for The Weapon.
A laugh bubbled up from his chest-a cruel, maniacal laugh. He knew better then to try to keep it contained, and besides, it was a reminder to his Katz he was in charge. He snickered when he heard a few shudder.
This is one of my better plans, he mused, tail wagging viciously.