Chapter 2: Testing Things Out

It was a bright and early morning, the winter breeze gently ticking Katharos's face as she slowly woke up. Without even realizing it, Katharos had fallen asleep the night before with Marshmallow safely on lap... wait, where is Marshmallow?

After finding out the soft bunny wasn't still on her lap, Katharos stood up quickly and looked around the area with a look of pure terror on her face.

"M-Marshmallow? Are you here?", she would ask when she checked certain spots. After checking multiple dumpsters, trash cans, boxes, and other miscellaneous objects, she felt like her situation was hopeless. Until Katharos suddenly heard a quiet squeak coming from a crate a little way away. Katharos instantly runs towards it, not even paying attention to the fact that she was stumbling across pieces of trash scattered about. When she reached said crate, she was greeted by a sight she's been begging to see since the accident.. Marshmallow alive and well.

The little bunny was searching for food nearby before Katharos came running towards her. When the bunny's eyes meet her owner's, she let out a loud squeak of delight and jumped onto Katharos, not even bothered by the texture of her speaker chest.

Katharos hugged Marshmallow tightly and let out a small squeal of pure joy, being so ecstatic that she couldn't put her feelings in words. She happily caressed her slightly knotted, but still fluffy fur. It was the best feeling in the world to Katharos, especially with everything that's going on. After a few minutes, she finally found her voice.

"Oh, Marshmallow! Thank goodness you're ok!", exclaimed Katharos. "If something happened to you, I would've lost the tiny shreds of sanity I have left!"

Marshmallow let out a high-pitched squeak in response as if to say "Yeah! Me too! I don't want to lose you!" They continued to hug each other, embracing each other's warmth. A few more minutes later, they finally ended the hug. However, Katharos still held Marshmallow in her arms.

"So, Marshmallow. Have you been feeling ok since the.. you know what?", asked Katharos.

Marshmallow nodded her head and squeaked quietly, saying that she felt good enough. Upon hearing the reply, Katharos lets out a small sigh of relief and nods her head.

"That's good. It wouldn't be fun walking around in these new bodies if one of us aren't feeling well. Speaking of which...

Katharos curiously looks down to observe her body, specifically the speaker. She knew that if she plugged her microphone into it and screamed loud enough, she could temporarily stun someone while shaking the terrain near her. She wondered, though, what else she could do with it. She wanted to test out her new abilities. However, there was a problem, that being she was in the middle of the city and couldn't test out her abilities without gaining attention.. unnecessary attention... Katharos had to test her abilities in a place that was in complete solitude... and she knew just the place.

It was an ordinary evening, at least for Katharos. Her father had just burst into her room and went on his.. "attention spree". She cuddled with Marshmallow and tried to recollect herself after what happened. Even though this kind of thing happened almost every night, she gets shaken up by it all the time. All Katharos wanted was for her to be alone.. truly alone, with Marshmallow of course. She wanted to sneak outside again and try to take in the cool night breeze. After thinking about it and debating her opinions, a loud snore coming from the living room convinced her to go. Katharos put on her black boots and quietly walks towards the front door, Marshmallow clutched tightly in her arms.

"Hey!" yelled the sudden voice of her father.

Katharos's skin became even lighter as she slowly turned around to face her father, expecting the worst. Marshmallow shut her eyes in fear, preparing for the loud and slurred yelling of Pathos.

... But it never came.

When Katharos fully turned around, she was surprised, yet relieved to see her father still asleep on the couch. Marshmallow opened her eyes and let out a quiet squeak of relief. From the sounds of it, he was just talking, or yelling, in his sleep.

"G-get off! This beer is mine! I paid for it with my own money!" screamed the sleeping man.

Not wanting to risk her chances anymore, Katharos continues to tip-toe towards the front door. After finally reaching it, she slowly opened it, walked outside, and carefully shut it. She then looks around her house and smiles as the crisp winds hits her face. Marshmallow also enjoyed the wind, even letting out a long and satisfied squeak when it picked up. Katharos, hearing the squeak, lets out a soft chuckle and looks down at her bunny friend.

"Nice, isn't it?", said Katharos before showing a slight frown. "Sucks out life can't be this refreshing."

Marshmallow solemnly nodded and squeaked a few times as if to say "Don't worry! Even people with the worst lives go through positive life changing events."

Katharos nodded at her friend's words.. or squeaks, I suppose. She sighs thoughtfully and starts to walk towards her favorite spot.

"Maybe you're right, Marshmallow.", said Katharos. "Hopefully you're right.."

The rest of the walk was silent except for the gusts of wind that gracefully blew through the air. After a few minutes of walking, Katharos and Marshmallow were welcomed with a familiar sight. A quaint little green hill with tress being the only things around for miles. Katharos always called it the "Suicide Hill" since it was always the place where she felt the most... Never mind. Ahem! It was their favorite place to go when they wanted peace from their home. Katharos would set Marshmallow down on the base of it so she could walk/hop around , looking for bugs to play with. On top of that, the hill was comfortable and relaxing, the grass almost as soft as Marshmallow's fur. The spot was even completely away from civilization, which meant that no one could bother Katharos. Not her father. Not the people at school. No one could bother her here...

Katharos and Marshmallow have been walking for about 5 minutes when Suicide Hill finally came into view. It was still as lush as ever, but something about it was.. different. To Katharos, the usually gentle air felt more strained. Why? Katharos couldn't quite put her finger on it.. but, that doesn't matter now. What really matters is being able to test her new abilities.

After carefully setting Marshmallow down on the grass at the base of the hill, Katharos then climbed up the hill. After reaching the top, she scoped out the horizon to make sure she and Marshmallow were truly alone. When she didn't see anyone, she took a deep breath and plugged in her arm to the speaker. The first thing she did was whisper into her microphone.

"Check check. Is this thing on?"

Sure enough, she felt the ground beneath her slowly rumble with every word she whispered into the mic. It wasn't very prevalent, but it was still noticeable. Katharos decided to take it a step further and rose her voice before speaking again.

"Hello?" said Katharos while slightly dragging out the "o" in hello.

This time, the ground shook with more force. It shook with so much force that Katharos was almost thrown off her feet again. Marshmallow, even at the bottom of the hill, had a somewhat difficult time keeping herself from falling over. After regaining her footing, a pleased smile stretched across Katharos's face. Her suspicion was finally proven correct. If she plugged in her microphone into her chest and spoke into it, sound waves are created from her chest and are sent in multiple directions. The louder she spoke into the mic, the more intense the sound waves are. And the more intense the sound waves are, the more the area around her shakes and the more her opponents are stunned. That's why WordGirl was so stunned when she screamed into her mic. It all makes sense. Now that all of that was off her chest, or speaker in her case, Katharos let out a loud sigh of relief, satisfied that at least one of her questions were fully answered. Now since that whole conundrum was confirmed, Katharos wondered what else she could do. She inspected different parts of her body, specifically her chest and mic arm, to see if there was something she missed. That was when she noticed something interesting on her arm. It had different modes set on it, each with a little illustration. Underneath the modes was a small switch that could be used to change modes. The mode was currently selected on a mode with little wave lengths shooting off of a speaker, which Katharos interpreted was the sound waves coming out of her speaker when she spoke into the mic. The mode that came after that had a little illustration of a robot. Curious, Katharos turned the switch over to said mode and spoke into the mic, making sure her voice wasn't too loud or quiet.

"Hello?" said Katharos

Instead of sound waves erupting from her chest, a robotic-like voice echoed from it, repeating what she just said. Katharos, finding this slightly amusing, spoke into the mic again.

"Beep boop. I'm a robot." said Katharos with a small smile on her face.

Sure enough, the robot voice repeated what she said and echoed throughout the area, earning a soft chuckle from both Katharos and Marshmallow. Getting back to the matter at hand, Katharos now knew she could stun her opponents using violent sound waves and say things with a robot voice. There was only one mode Katharos hasn't checked out yet. The mode had a minor illustration of a giant bubble surrounding a stick figure. It also showed the stick figure trying to speak, but an X was placed over its mouth. Katharos quickly switched to that mode, wondering what such an illustration could represent.

"What does this do?", asked Katharos as she spoke into the mic.

To Katharos's and Marshmallow's surprise, a pink bubble flowed from her chest and surrounded the entire hill from around them. The bubble was transparent, so they could still see from the inside of it. Katharos let out a gasp of surprise.. or at least tried to. When she opened her mouth, no sound came out from it. Even more curious now, Katharos tried letting out a small scream to see if she could hear it. Once again, she heard no sound coming from her mouth. That's when it clicked. The bubble was completely soundproof, allowing no sound to be heard in of the bubble. Whether sound was heard outside of it, Katharos figured there was a high probability that wasn't the case. Hoping that it would pop, Katharos tried walking towards the edge of the bubble and poked it with her right hand. Instead of the bubble popping, she was briefly electrocuted by it. She let out a yelp of pain, not that she could even hear it, and shook her finger until the pain was gone. She tried popping the bubble again, this time using her microphone arm. Unlike the last time, the bubble popped and all the sound gracefully returned. This meant that the bubble would shock any hand that touched it and could only be popped by Katharos's microphone arm. Katharos took in the information well... Very well...

Feeling satisfied with what she learned today, Katharos thought it was finally time to leave and head back to the city. She picked up Marshmallow, who was now sleeping, and walked back to city, ready to demonstrate her new powers to the people of Fair City.. especially one person... one very special person...

A/N: Ok! That's the second chapter completed! As you can see, this chapter was more to demonstrate *some* of the things Katharos could do with her new body. As the chapter continue, she'll learn more and more things about herself she didn't now before.. and I'm not just talking about her new powers. Stay tuned as Katharos and Marshmallow show people their new powers in a totally legal and harmful way.. (foreshadowing)...