Chapter 1:Cat-Astrophe

It was an ordinary Tuesday afternoon at the Therman Residence. Michael was sitting on the couch, a book in hand that he needed to catch up on. "Fahrenheit 451," to be precise, was halfway finished—a perfect way to deal with his day off, both from work and classes. Anne and Luz were out in the backyard keeping each other busy while leaving the young man alone. The pair wanted to try out Michael's training grounds, which troubled him greatly, but he allowed it. Nonetheless, it was nice to have some peace and quiet. Unfortunately, such tranquility wouldn't last as Michael's attention shook from the brief tremors rocking the house.

Immediately, the young man leaped into action. "What the hell was that? God, please, don't let the girls be involved," Michael prayed.

He dropped the book and nearly bolted out the living room door. Suddenly, Luz stood in the way, sweat and fatigue riddling her body. Some of her bodily fluids clung to her clothes (almost becoming translucent), and she looked as if she had run through a 5K without changing first.

"~Hey, Michael! You got a sec?" Luz smiled nervously, almost singsongy.

"Luz, what is going on? And why do you look so sweaty and awkward?" Michael asked suspiciously.

Luz chuckled and tried fixing her unkempt hair, almost knocking her beanie off her head. That and how she folded her arms were enough to tell Michael something was up. Initially, she was trying to butter him up, first. However, Luz quickly spotted his narrow glare and got straight to the point.

"Okay, we may, or may not have a problem in the backyard," Luz confessed before raising her hands defensively. "Anne is keeping it occupied but, it's pretty big problem. I need your help in figuring out what to do. But, before I show you, you promise you won't freak out?"

"Luz, what did you do? Did you break something?" Michael's head tilted, glaring disapprovingly.

"N-no, I didn't!" Luz stammered before regaining composure. "Like I said, we have a big problem in the backyard! So, before I show you, do you promise me you won't freak out?"

Michael waved a dismissive hand, grinning. "Oh, please. Whatever you made in the backyard, I doubt it's going to surprise me."

He was wrong.

"HOLY BALLS!"

After everything he went through, from welcoming interdimensional travelers to witnessing real-life magic, Michael was still not mentally prepared for what he saw in his backyard. Sitting right in the middle of his training ground was the most oversized orange tabby cat he had ever seen. Its size was around four stories, surpassing even the whole house. Luz crept carefully beside the frantic young man and nervously tried to find the right words.

"So…yeah…this is the problem I was telling you about," Luz pointed out, twiddling her fingers.

Their eyes cartoonishly widened, and Michael's jaw almost hit the floor.

"Problem? This a catastrophe, no pun intended!" Michael roared, glaring daggers at the young witch-in-training.

Luz puffed her cheeks, arms at her size.

"Hey! You promise you weren't going to freak out!"

"I seriously don't know what I'm freaking out to! Luz, what the hell happened?" Michael questioned her, still in shock. "Seriously, Luz, did you just create a giant cat?" Another thing caught his attention. "And are those its nipples?"

He pointed at the large, pinkish blobs on the cat's stomach at the end, the very sight making him wince in disgust.

Luz took a deep breath and explained, averting the young man's glare. "Okay, so. I was testing some new spells with my glyphs. I thought that if I could combine two or three, I could produce a very unique and possibly very powerful spell. You know, just in case we get attacked. Unfortunately, while testing it, I might accidentally hit the neighborhood cat, and…ta-da!" She finished, doing weak jazz hands.

That poor attempt at showmanship did not cheer Michael at all. He clasped his hand together, taking a long and deep breath. Luz stood still, looking fastidiously at the begrudging young man. It nearly took almost five minutes until he slowly calmed down. Her heartbeat, with one half scared by the silence, the other half with anticipation as he finally spoke.

"Luz, where's Anne?" he inquired, slumping.

The young witch-in-training lurched and pointed over at the gigantic tabby's side. Michael followed her gaze, spotting the woman in question snuggling its paw.

Luz pursed her lips. "Like I said before, she's been keeping the cat occupied, and by occupied, I mean fawning over it to an almost uncomfortable degree."

She wasn't wrong on that. With the way Anne hugged the creature, nuzzling her face against its orange fur, it was like she was in cat nirvana. She was in total bliss. Her eyes grew wide and comically tearing up as the cat let out a bellowing roar in response.

Michael flashed an awkward cringe like he was witnessing a gruesome murder taking place. He moved back and turned to Luz. Her facial expression is the same, unsure whether to find it cute or disturbing.

"Yeah, we need to get rid of this thing before the neighbors see it. The biggest question, though, is how?" Michael pondered, his forehead scrunching.

Luz hummed, peering over to the next house. "Huh, I'm amazed no one's come out and saw this already. The thing's so loud, you'd think people would investigate."

Michael shrugged. "Not really. Boone is located in the Piedmont plateau, built close on a fault zone with several belts. We tend to get tremors from time to time. And when the ground shakes, everyone usually huddles under the table and into the bathroom, which gives us enough time before anyone comes back outside to figure out how to get rid of this thing."

Luz searched through her pouch and bit her bottom lip. She tapped on the edges, examining each card, pulling out seemingly the right ones and turning them into a fan. She fumbled them over before she sorted them out and stacked each one together. Luz's brows narrowed with consternation.

"I'm not sure if these are the right ones," Luz murmured as she arranged the fan in a particular order.

A vein throbbed on Michael's temple, hearing Luz, "How the hell do you not know which card is the right one? I thought you were an expert on glyphs?"

"Hey, it happened so fast, I was able to memorize the pattern, okay? Besides, do you know how many pairs of underwear you have in your drawer?" Luz snapped defensively.

"34, last time I counted."

Luz arched her brow before shaking her head. "Anyways, it's a long shot. However, if I'm lucky, I might be able to recreate the procedure and reverse the process.

"Then you better figure it out soon. Because I think Garfield, here, is getting really hungry," Michael stated while looking right at the cat's face, hands nervously in his jean, fishing for his keys. "If you can't find anything, then I'll have to do something. My shotgun is in the shed, but that only solves half the problem…."

The young man was cut off, and Anne shot him a dirty glare. Still hugging the monolithic creature as she protested.

"Don't you dare, Michael. You are not going to hurt baby precious here," Anne said with almost maternal protection.

"I'm not suggesting that right away!" Michael reassured as he laid his cards on the table. "It's only an ultimatum just in case, Anne. Let's be real, here, Anne. We can't keep the damn thing, and it's too visible to not draw attention. We really don't have much of a choice, and I'm pretty sure whatever Luz's concocting might do the deed anyway."

Luz bemoaned, briefly interjecting.

"Hey!"

Michael continued, "Like it or don't what else can we do?"

"Cap. Complete cap!" Anne shot back.

"I'm being genuinely realistic, here, Anne!"

"Guys, I think I got it! I think I found the right glyphs!" Luz immediately intervened in the discussion, almost hopping with glee. In her hands, she held up three cards with runic symbols Michael couldn't read, cheering. "When I used the spell, I was using these exact cards. So, if I switch one of them, I might be able to create a spell that would shrink. That, or teleport it to Antarctica. Either way, hindsight's 20/20." Ultimately, she played with her hair, a clear sign of inhibition.

Luz took a deep breath. Lifting her glyphs, she activated them all at once and, with a steady hand, threw the three of a kind. The large cat didn't feel the mystical cards striking its folds, too oblivious to even care as it simply meowed and licked its paws. Suddenly, bolts of red and blue lightning spread all over the cat, engulfing its body in a white blanket until finally erupting in a flash of white-hot light. Anne, Luz, and Michael stood in awe as the sight dazzled.

Once the light show ended, the giant beast was gone. Instead, in its place was a normal-sized tabby, hissing at Michael and Luz before sprinting away.

"I can't believe that worked. Luz, you did it!" Michael cackled, celebrating ecstatically, "A crisis has been averted, and it's all thanks to you. You chaotic little sprite, you."

The praise was one thing. The being picked up and twirled around was what caught Luz by surprise. Her cheeks turned slightly red in embarrassment, but she found it soothing to nuzzle his arms and chest.

"~Aw. It was nothing, Michael. I mean, I did cause the whole issue from the start and was simply writing a wrong," Luz said bashfully.

Without warning, Luz was then dropped onto her rear, becoming a tad miffed. She rubbed the pain away before shooting an indicative glare at Michael. The man in question looked around as if he had lost something important.

"Hey! What the hell, Michael?"

"Luz, I can't find Anne," Michael stated as Luz checked to see what he meant.

The young Thai woman had mysteriously disappeared. The backyard was vacant sans Michael and Luz, who searched every nook and cranny. Just then, a slightly high-pitched voice called out. The pair paused and carefully looked down.

"Dear, God…"

Michael Luz blinked and stared at the 12-inch doll on the ground, blood draining from their faces.

"Um…a little help?" Anne pleaded sheepishly, having shrunk in the crossfire.

Michael crouched with a trembling hand and picked Anne up from the dirt floor. The young Thai woman struggled to get comfortable, her legs dangling as she hung on precariously with wide eyes.

"Luz, please, tell me you have a spell that turns people back to normal?"

Michael shook off his stunned expression before looking at the equally frantic Luz. Once again, she was shuffling her cards, trying to find the right combo, her attention much more tunneled and determined.

"Hold on. I do have one spell, but it might take a while to get it in order. In the meantime, whatever you do, don't drop her," Luz ordered, stating the obvious.

Michael rolled his eyes, Anne shaking her head. "Gee, that's some solid advice. Who would ever be stupid to do that."

Anne nudged. "Michael."

"I know. I know."

A/N: Hey, everyone. This is Kman134. Just an FYI, this is not a chapter continuation. I'm still workshopping how chapter 7 will go down. So, to compensate, I'm posting some mini-chapters that take place in between the stories, similar to like an interlude or a filler. as for the mini-chapter itself, this is similar to those teen girl in a frog world, Owl Pellet, Gravity Falls shorts that take place in between the shows. However, this one has a more DevilArtemis flare (the inspiration being Cell vs. Jamemba). Anyways, i hope you enjoy it, and please tell me what you think.