Katz and Cats…

These events occur sometime during the "Regeneration" journey as it is. The events are so traumatic that the later Hero's of Regeneration have taken a vow to never speak of it.

"Aww… Look at the people in the kitty suits Lloyd!"

"Huh?" Lloyd blinked sleepiness from his scattered brain.

During their journey Lloyd had mastered the skill of sleeping while walking, it was his sanity's final survival mechanism against Raine's endless history chatter. So far the journey had been breaking seals and wandering here and there and Raine got so bored with walking that she decided to liven it up with a endless lecture. Genis was happy with it, Colette was happy just to see Raine happy, Kratos had bought earmuffs and earplugs and wore them constantly now, Noishe had howled and whined until Kratos had bought him a pair of earmuffs that the dog now wore every time Raine opened her mouth and Lloyd…

Well he found his own way.

While she walked she showered on them with information, and while he walked Lloyd napped.

Which explained as to why he was sleepy mid-noon and how even though they had been tromping through one of the hundred little villages they saw in their Regeneration journey he was –or rather had been- comatose.

"Oh them… I guess so…" Lloyd stared at the men in pink cat suits and frowned. "What kinda guy wears pink?"

Genis stared at the people and cat suits and blinked, his attention broke from his sister's lecture and Raine seeing his lack of attention was for one second torn. A smack would teach them all to pay attention to her when she LECTRUED, luckily for all the children curiosity had won out. This was the first time since breakfast that she'd seen Lloyd showing so much of an iota of interest in the world around him, and if it was that interesting perhaps she could use it and put it into her current monologue…

"Children," Raine grabbed Colette and Lloyd's arms knowing those two would be most likely to to dart ahead to talk to these "interesting" new people. "We should leave the crazy people in cat costumes alone, they might be dangerous."

"Did she say something not history related?" Kratos yelled to Noishe.

The dog frowned, as much as a green and white, three hundred pound, horse sized dog, could, and shook his head.

At the word "cat" the two bipedial feline masquerading "humans" turned to the elf, bloody daggers err claws promised in their gaze.

"Merow ftt I demand… I don't care about protocol Fluffy! If I hear another merow rower rower ft…"

Raine, Lloyd, and Genis rose an eyebrow and stared at the short –almost dwarf short- person in a cat costume trying to come at them. It was the cat person in pink, his hands were curled into the likeness of claws and he was meowing at the top of his lungs. "Fluffy" a person in a blue cat suit was holding his fellow by the poofed out tail.

"We're KATZ you ignorant ape fescue byproducts! NOT CATS!"

"Ignorant!" Raine screamed, pulling her staff out from the air it seemed.

"Oh crap! No Raine don… tuh..." Genis put a hand over his face and sighed as the Kat and Raine were having a "cat fight" in the center of the street. "I'm not related to her, not related to her… I don't even know her…" Genis chanted his mantra that he'd learned after enduring years of RUIN mode and LIBRARY mode and now added ANTI-KAT mode to the list of times he'd say his "secret" mantra.

"Get 'em Professor!" Lloyd cheered, eager to watch any fight now because walking and sleeping were so boring, how sleeping and walking could be boring to the person who was sleeping would be a mystery to them all…

"Ohh Meeowmew… this is going to get us no business at all…." Fluffy sighed, then looked at the group of human's ready to apologize. He spotted Kratos and his beady little green eyes went wide. "OMG… you… you're… the GRADE is blinding!"

"Oh M Gee?" Colette blinked, since Raine was busy trying to kill the cat person and the cat person was equally occupied trying to kill her she went to the mercenary. "Mr. Kratos what is OMG?"

"I'm sorry Chosen, did you say something!" Kratos frowned at the girl, not quite able to hear her voice… he fought to remember if they had gotten to the voice draining seal but his keen memory failed him and… Lloyd slipped into the edge of his vision and mimed pulling something off of his ears... Oh the earmuffs, pulling them off then pulling out the earplugs Kratos blinked at the sound of blessed non-Raine history chatting. Granted the pile of dust in the center of the road had sounds of Raine screaming in agony as she was probably being ripped apart by a monster, but that was a sound he could live with… Atually it was a sound he could grow to like. "I'm sorry Chosen, could you repeat what you said?"

"I'm really sorry to bother you Mr. Kratos, but there is this person called Fluffy and he keeps saying the funniest thing, it sounds like… ohh it's so hard to say because it sounds so funny. Not funny funny but funny kind of funny you know and… Oh dear what was I going to ask? I'm sorry Mr. Kratos, it was what that fluffy person in a Cat suit was screaming a little while…"

"OMG!" The Kat named Fluffy screamed on the top of his lungs.

"What's that thing saying?" Kratos asked, pointed at the Kat.

"Yep, you're really smart Mr. Kratos."

"OMGeeeeee!" The Kat's eyes were getting moist. "The Grade!"

"I have no idea what that thing wants, it must be another language…" Kratos fingered the hilt of his silver sword. Come along Chosen, Lloyd, Genis, we need to get out of here before that crazy thing attacks us… It looks rabid."

"Aww, the kitty has hearts floating over his head…"

That was the last thing any of them had the chance to say before the blue kat's ears twitched at the words "get out of hear" and slicked back in horror.

"No no nonononono! You caaan't leave meow!"

Seeing that Kratos was leaving, and taking the three confused children with him the Katz made a desperate decision. Risking life and limb for Grade like any good Katz would he ran past the still fighting Meeeowmew and Raine and charged Kratos. Kratos' blade was not strong enough to win out against the almighty Kat trademark "pounce/glomp" attack.

"Purrr…" Fluffy wrapped his fore paws around Kratos' waist. "You can't leave my beautiful Grade brimming sword wielding friend!"

"Get this thing off of me!" Kratos roared.

"Umm you're the dog, bark at it…" Genis said to Noishe.

"Wine!" If a dog could scream "no" then this one did and turned tail and ran off.

"Genis… Noishe is scared of cats."

"It's Katz my little grade poverty stricken swordsman!" Fluffy purred, snuggling against the mercenary.

"Must not use Judgment… must not use eruption… must not use Grave…" Kratos muttered under his breath.

"Judgment?" Lloyd blinked at the mercenary. "What's that?"

"Nothing…" Kratos squeaked, eyes doubling in size to express innocence.

"Un huh…" Lloyd rolled his eyes. "Sure…"

"If you must know… it's a… a magi-tech knife I carry that I stole from a Desian." Kratos lied.

"Cool, can I see it!"

"Get this ca-"

"Kat…" Flufy corrected. "Meow… I love you Mr. Grade man, why wasn't my Grade stocking filled to brimming last year Mr. Grade man?"

"I'm not here… I'm not seeing this…." Genis muttered. "Palmacosta, I'm at Palmacosta's academy taking that nice, fifty page, stress free test on calculus…"

"Aww there are more hearts floating over the kitty's head!" Colette chirped.

-Some hours later-

"You're telling me this "Grade" is your currency, except we can't see but you can?" Kratos was brushing the fine blue hairs off of his tunic while he talked; Fluffy had wrapped his paws around Kratos' ankles to keep the mercenary from running away.

"Yep!" Fluffy's eyes were glowing with happiness. "And you my friend have Grade coming out of the…"

Raine's staff descended smacking the blue Kat between his ears.

"Oww…" Fluffy whimpered, still not letting go of Kratos.

"Oww…" Genis rubbed his head in sympathy pain.

The pink Kat who had lost the "cat fight" lay in the center of the street staring at the painful constellations flashing behind his half open eyes.

"And grade is determined by…"

"Battle, skill, number… must not look up… the Grade so bright…"

"And if I give you a grade piece will you go away and let go…"

The blue Kat started to drool, and Kratos winced. Lloyd dumped his back to the side of the road and began to rummage through it.

"So how much Grade do I have?" Genis said, and the blue Kat turned to him and stopped drooling at Kratos' feet.

"Hmm… you my poor Grade stunted child have twenty Grade."

"And my sis?"

"Even worse.. she has ten Grade."

"What do I have Mr. Kitty?"

"Hmm I hate to say this… but your grand Grade total is… zip."

"Oh that sounds like a high number!" Colette chirped.

"How 'bout me?" Lloyd asked, still rummaging through his packs.

"One hundred, a decent amount for a child your age…"

"And what does Mr. Kratos have?"

The Kat named the number and everyone stopped breathing.

"Say that again… slowly." Genis whispered.

"234,654,987,999,999,543,089,022." The Kat purred, tightened his grip with each place value he named.

"Someone, do something… I can't feel my feet…" Kratos moaned, wiggling his toes in valiant hope that blood would get to them.

"Here we go!" Lloyd smiled. "Um Fluffy wasn't it?"

"Meow, yes?"

Lloyd pulled a ball of yarn from his packs.

Kratos was released and while walking on all fours the Kat rubbed against Lloyd and purred.

"Go fetch!"

Lloyd threw and Fluffy as well as the normal mundane cat population of the town went after the ball of yarn, there was yet another "cat fight" in the center of the road.

While the Katz and cats were all so entertained they all ran from that town and decided the monster infested wilderness was by far a much safer place to spend that night.