"Let's go to the candy store! Let's go to the candy store!" The cat in the lead was fluffy, her fur an off-white, cream color. She was the most familiar with the city streets, darting gracefully atop a nearby handrail as she urged her three, feline friends forward.

"Kurumi! Get down from there! You're causing a scene!" Chiding her from the sidewalk below was a large, dark red cat, Haruna.

"Awwww, Chaircat!" Kurumi taunted Haruna with a fanged sneer. Haruna yowled in indignation, causing an even louder scene.

"Ahem…" To Haruna's right, a pink cat cleared her throat politely.

Haruna cut herself off mid-yowl, mouth still wide open. Oh… Right… This was… embarrassing… She closed her mouth, smiling sheepishly.

To Haruna's left, a little blonde cat chuckled to herself, her expression mirroring Kurumi's. The daytrip through the city was already proving to be excellent fun, and they weren't even at the candy store yet! She could only wonder what other adventures they'd find while they were out and about, or perhaps what other adventures would find them. Several blocks away, her answer was already brewing.

"What was that?!" Weronika whipped her head around so fast that she gave the silver Poodle beside her whiplash as well. But she couldn't help it! The Polish Hound had heard… a screech.

"Weronika!" Elsie sighed impatiently. The mongrel mutt's sudden movement had startled her!

"No! Really!" For once, Weronika was dead serious. Rather than respond to Elsie, her ears were still pushed forward towards the source of the sound from seconds ago. With the rest of her face pointed in the same direction, she thought she caught the whiff of something on the wind…

"That might just be Sophia!" Elsie cackled cruelly. The poor Chinese Crested whined and lowered herself to the ground in a submissive bow. Before Weronika could shoot down the idea, their fourth—but far from final—member, a Golden Retriever named Neo, interjected.

"Sophia is not a cat."

The other three dogs went dumb with surprise. For Sophia, it was Neo seemingly rushing to her aid. For Elsie, it was hearing a genuine answer, let alone one that corroborated Weronika's. For Weronika, it was hearing Neo speak at all (let alone to back up anything that Weronika said).

"Wait. What?" Neo's words finally sank in.

ooo

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Weronika grinned, drool already dripping between her bared fangs.

"Intruders upon our territory!" Elsie stepped beside Weronika, nose pointed haughtily in the air. Sophia and Neo emerged from the shadows as well, though counterpoint to Elsie and Weronika, they stayed ominously silent. The four cats they were trying to intimidate cowered.

Or at least, three of them did. "Nuh-uh! No way! You weren't here first!" The tiniest one of the lot, the golden one, stepped forward immediately, shaking her head, whiskers swaying. "Miiko can tell! Your accents don't sound like they're from here!" The dogs sounded domestic—that was to say, they weren't wolves, or anything like that—but they did not sound like other dogs from the area, like Hanzo and Vevo.

Likewise, just because the four dogs sounded domestic, didn't mean they acted domestic. Ever the diplomat, Miyu stepped forward beside Miiko. "Please, we were just exploring the city. Surely it is big enough for all of us!" It wasn't just submissiveness that prompted Miyu to call for peace. She could sense from the way the dogs—especially the silver Poodle—carried themselves that they were used to a fancy, pampered life. The Hound was a little aggressive, but perhaps the others would be more open to avoiding bloodshed?

Unfortunately, although her words were wise, Miyu's pink pelt caught the eye and intrigue of the Golden Retriever.

Now THAT is a fur color I do not often see. I can tell it is natural, because even to the roots, it is pink. Neo prided herself on her exceptional vision, which was as exceptional as everything else about her. What an interesting trophy THAT would make! She is most audacious, trying to get us to submit by hiding a command behind a friendly smile…!

"N-Neo…?" Sophia felt a shift in the air. Even though Neo stood slightly behind her, at the very back of the Abyssmare pack, making the other three act as her bodyguards, Sophia could sense that something had changed within Neo. By the time the rest of the dog pack, and the four cats, refocused their gazes on the Golden Retriever, they saw what Sophia's intuition already knew would be there. A hungry snarl.

Kurumi totally killed the vibe when she tilted her head, mischievous glint in her tan eyes. "Awwww, I think these guys wanna play fetch!"

"Kurumi!" Haruna snapped, tearing her gaze from Abyssmare to her fellow Lyrical Lily cat. "We did not come here to cause a disturbance in the streets! We—!" She never got the chance to finish her lecture. Taking the opportunity for a first strike, Neo lunged at the pink cat.

ooo

"WOAH!" Seven voices echoed one another, two dogs howling in surprise while the other barked in excitement, incited by the actions of the first. The four cats, meanwhile, shrieked and scattered in all four directions. Neo went after Miyu, and Elsie Kurumi. In a blind panic, Sophia skittered after Haruna, forcing Weronika to stay with the tiniest of all, Miiko. It was time for the good old, ye olde, Cats and Dogs battle to begin!

Come on, Sophia! Come on, Sophia! You can do this! The ugly little Chinese Crested, bounded after Haruna, encouraging herself forward. On the inside, she was terrified, but on the outside, she tried to exude everything she didn't feel. Like a wolf! Like Neo! I am Cool Sophia…!

For a time, Haruna unwittingly played into Sophia's fantasy, overcome with terror at being chased by a dog. At one point, though, she managed to see Neo chasing Miyu, and Elsie chasing Kurumi. She was too far away to do anything, but it was a reality check, nonetheless.

No! I can't keep running away! The large cat skidded to a halt and turned around slowly.

"W-wait… w-why did you s-stop?" Sophia panted, also skidding to a halt. She just barely managed to hide her fear behind exhaustion from all the running, but it was all for naught a moment later.

"I'm not running away!" Haruna replied, trying to sound braver than she felt. "I'm running toward!" Then she put her head down and charged. The Once-Cool Sophia went flying, yipping and yapping in terror the entire time.

A few blocks away, Kurumi was having a much better time with Elsie. The silver Poodle was overconfident in her superiority as a canine instead of a feline, but even though she had a size advantage, that didn't mean she had an intelligence advantage.

Like I told the rest of Lyrical Lily, I know this city better than ANY of them! Kurumi bragged to herself. Elsie was all bark and no bite. She might've claimed the city as her own, but like Miiko said, she was the foreigner! She didn't know all the backroads and pitfall potholes like Kurumi did! Maybe she wanted to be just as much bite as she was bark, but…

The cream-colored cat watched smugly from atop a dumpster lid as the silver Poodle howled in alarm. One paw shot forward, slipping on a banana peel the cat laid out from the dumpster just seconds before the dog came barreling through. She slipped and slid down the rest of the sidewalk while Kurumi hid laughter behind a dainty, fluffy, little paw.

"Oh, you STUPID LITTLE—!" Elsie's howl was interrupted as she collided with a bush at the end of the sidewalk.

"Elsie!" Weronika turned her head towards the sound of her packmate's humiliated howl. "Ugh! The idiot!" The Hound was helpless to do anything but shake her head, refocusing her attention on the tiny golden kitten dipping, dashing, diving, dodging, darting, in front of her.

"This is pathetic!" Despite Miiko being the tiniest of the lot, she was the one Weronika got saddled with, and Weronika still couldn't catch her! But similar to Elsie, Weronika was forgetting that size wasn't everything. If anything, Miiko's smallness was her biggest asset. She was easy to lose in a crowd, and when paired with her love of scary things, Weronika wasn't a threat at all!

"Hey, Wero-wolf, Miiko is over here!" she chirped, hopping up on a stack of boxes. "No, wait, I'm over here!" A second later, she was curled up beneath a table outside a café. Weronika was practically chasing her tail trying to hunt Miiko down.

"How are you not scared of me?!" she snarled. That was perhaps what made her angriest of all. "Is this some kind of game to you?!"

"Yep!" Miiko giggled. "Tag! You're it!" Weronika felt a tiny toe-bean touch her back leg, but by the time she turned around, Miiko was gone.

Of the Abyssmare pack, Neo was doing the best. She chased after Miyu, deliberate and steady. As graceful, lithe, and sneaky as Miyu was, her pink fur made her stick out like a sore thumb, and finally, she found herself backed into a corner.

"No, wait, Neo, please…!" she murmured, pink eyes flashing with fear as she tried to back herself further into the corner.

"All out of places to run…" The Golden Retriever hummed, tilting her head, approaching slowly now, eyes glittering with malice.

Miyu was stuck between a rock and a hard place, more specifically, a stone wall and a tree. There was a blur of pink, and then Miyu was on top of the tree. Neo stared back up at her, but rather than back down in defeat, she only tossed her head back and gave a barking, taunting laugh.

"You've only trapped yourself up there!" Leaning against the wall was a stack of boxes that Miiko once hid behind. They were wide and strong enough to support a dog's weight too, and Neo was sure she was tall enough to bridge the gap between the boxes and the tree…

ooo

"Miyu! Are you up there, dove?" The dog and cat whipped around comically fast. Standing in the middle of the sidewalk was an elderly woman, a nun. Miyu recognized her at once. The Headmistress of the Academy she called home! The pink cat meowed in relief while Neo stayed frozen. She did not know the nun, but she could tell that the woman was old. Was she really going to attack an old woman? …

No, of course not. With a reluctant huff, the Golden Retriever backed away from the tree. The nun brushed past her as if she didn't even exist, holding out her arms to the pink cat still huddled in the leaves. The cat leapt from the tree immediately, right into the old lady's arms. She purred loudly, and as if guided by the hands of fate, the rest of Lyrical Lily and Abyssmare rounded the corner moments later.

"Oh? What's all this, then?" The nun's eyes twinkled as her three other kittens nearly crashed into her feet, the three dogs skidding to a halt behind them. The first shock was the nun. The second was Neo cowering behind her.

Stand down, the Golden Retriever's eyes seemed to say. She hated having to surrender, but she wasn't going to attack an old woman just to keep the battle of Dogs and Cats alive. It was a good call, for another minute later—

"There you four are!" A middle-aged man rounded the corner, crying out in exasperation and shaking his head.

Sho! All four dogs jumped up, then lowered themselves to the ground, even Neo and Weronika. They didn't drag their bellies on the pavement like Elsie and Sophia, but they were no longer as arrogant and aggressive as they were moments ago. Sorry, sir…

For a time, the nun said nothing, merely observing as the man as leashed his dogs again, cursing under his breath. The rest of Lyrical Lily had since crept over to her, quietly making their way into her arms alongside Miyu. Only after the man straightened up again did the nun speak.

"My good sir—"

"Hmph?" He turned around, looking disdainfully down his nose at her. YOU'RE still here?

"Be gentle with your dogs, I am sure they were just bored." Even though she did not know the man, she could tell from the way he acted that he was neglectful. He took excellent care of the dogs physically, but that was it.

"It's your cats' fault for upsetting their predator instinct!" the man shot back, pointing accusatorily at the nun. She pursed her lips, but considered his words. It was true that fast movement from small creatures could override even the most well-behaved of dogs, but the nun knew what she was seeing. This wasn't just nature; it was nurture too, though the nun could also tell from the way the man acted that he was in no mood to hear her sermons. The nun knew when to pick her battles, so she instead politely nodded to the man and departed.

Ah well, when they persecute you in one city, flee to another. She did not feel persecuted, but there would be no revelations from this conversation. The man, by contrast, gave her a curt nod. He and the dogs watched her and the cats go even after they were out of sight.