AN: So, here we go with the last chapter part for chapter 19. It seems that full chapters won out. Some time later next week I will return with another moderately exciting installment of Galactic Fist of Legend.

Chapter 19.3: Catfight

Some time had passed before Scott managed to coax the naked Kitty away from him. As it turned out, she was the sort of girl who enjoyed cuddles. Of course, that enjoyment of cuddles also became a concern for Samantha.

"Why are you hugging me, now?" asked the bounty hunter while she tried to pry the girl away.

Kitty's tail swished a little and she snuggled in closer. "I'm sorry, and I'm showing it."

"Right, good." said Samantha. "Get off."

The cat girl laughed softly and said, "But we barely know each other..."

"Where's that hand grenade?" Samantha asked Scott. Kitty made a soft purring noise as she nuzzled in to her hated enemy's evil bosom.

He laughed a little then said, "It'll be over soon."

Samantha groaned loudly and looked at the ceiling. "I didn't sign up for this!'

Whether she signed up for it or not, Scott was not about to stop the ship that was sailing at that moment. The main thing going through his mind at that moment was, 'Man, I've had dreams about this!'

Sure, he had more important things to do, theoretically at least. If he was honest with himself, however, there was little more important than what he was currently witnessing. The constant near-death experiences really drove home the need to have fun with the time that he had.

A short time later Kitty finished her apology, such as it was, and they were finally able to get down to business. Scott started things off by asking, "So, why was that guy scared of you?"

Katherine nodded to Scott then crossed her legs. Currently she sat atop a display case, and wore a thoughtful expression. "Well, my people have certain innate abilities. One of them is an innate capacity to fight. Another is the ability to transform into a human-like form."

Scott and Samantha listened attentively as Katherine continued to explain herself. She went into detail about how her people were tied to the moon, death, and the whimsical nature of causality. Basically, they could change luck in a small area.

"So, when I attacked you and kept falling down... That was—" asked Samantha.

"Yeah, my ability to change luck. If you had any sort of resistance to the supernatural it would not have worked, though. I'm pretty weak right now." said Katherine.

"Why would that cause him to bail on that fight, though?" asked Scott.

Kitty laughed a little then grinned at Scott. "He caught me after a long battle with some of his friends. Before that though, they learned what my ability to change luck was like first hand."

"What did you do to him?" asked Scott curiously.

The cat girl lifted one of her legs casually then used her foot to scratch behind her ear. "Oh rrow.... that's nice."

Scott coughed loudly then turned away, slightly. "Kitty..."

She laughed once more then flashed him a warm smile. Her eyes practically shimmered with the joy that she felt. "Well, you see... They came after me with a few dozen zombies. Originally, I thought that they were from some dark kingdom or other, but they were not from my world at all. They used weird magic and abilities."

Kitty took a breath and continued. "Anyway, these guys in red robes sent their zombies after me. They were terrible fighters, but they were fast. I had to be on my toes." In order to emphasize her point, she hopped up into a squatting position and stood on the balls of her feet. Her knees pointed outward at different angles while one hand reached down between them and touched the top of the display case.

Her tail lashed in a curious manner and stopped in the form of a question mark briefly. "I was kicking zombie butt so hard that these red robed guys started to freak out a little. Next thing I know, they're chanting some really hideous sounding spell."

"Did it make the air around them look like it was blister?" asked Scott.

She nodded to him. "You've seen it then?"

"Yeah, that big zombie mech that he was using came from a spell like that." he told her, while giving her a nod of his own.

"I see." she tilted her head to the side, briefly. After a moment of thought she said, "Well, I was much stronger at the time. When the spell was about to be cast, my ability to change probability in my favor kicked in and well... The spell went crazy."

"Crazy how?" asked Samantha. "The closest thing to magic that I've ever seen outside of a theater was psionics, and the technology of the people who raised me."

Kitty turned her head toward Samantha. "I didn't recognize their language, but something happened that caused the spell to go wild. The next thing I know, the red robe guys are screaming at each other."

She took a breath and continued. "See, the zombies that were left behind suddenly stopped attacking me. Instead, they turned on the three guys."

"So, you turned their minions against them?" asked Scott.

"Well... That would have been great, but what really happened was so much better." she said with a grin.

"What happened?" asked Samantha.

Kitty laughed a little as she said, "A few hundred zombies started chasing after them while shouting weird phrases. Stuff like, 'Senpai! Notice Me!' and 'I've always loved a man in uniform'!"

After she took another breath, she said, "It was crazy."

"Wait. Wait a minute..." Scott looked at Kitty, a grin slowly spreading across his lips. "You're saying that you made them flub the spell so badly that the zombies fell in love with their masters?"

"Yeah... when the zombies caught up to them it wasn't a pretty sight. Believe me." said Kitty, a smile upon her lips.

Samantha laughed suddenly. "I haven't seen a zombie, yet, but that still sounds hilarious."

"It was." Kitty's tinkling laugh echoed in the room. She waved her oversized hand around and said, "Though, what happened at the end still makes me a little sick to my stomach."

"How did that guy get ahold of you?" asked Scott.

"Hmm? Oh, time ran out and I lost all my strength." said Kitty absent-mindedly. However, she blinked then growled a little. "It was a real bummer, too. I had almost half my aura left, but that jerk used some kind of medicine or something to restore his!"

"Dirty cheater." muttered the cat girl, her eyes narrowing.

"Aura? Time ran out?" asked Samantha. "What are you talking about?"

Kitty tilted her head to the side a little then made a curious noise. It was a combination of a hum, and gentle purr. "The glory of battle, of course."

"Well battle can be glorious, but that doesn't explain anything." said the bounty hunter.

"When two strong fighters start fighting, their auras become intertwined." said Kitty in a manner that sounded like her words made perfect sense. "This can cause a strange warping effect on the world and cause a lot of damage. The gods limited the time that powerful people can fight each other, and then broke that into three round matches. There's ninety-nine seconds in each round."

Scott and Samantha stared at Kitty, but all the cat girl did was flash a v-for-victory sign with her index and middle fingers. "If time runs out, the round ends. Two out of three rounds with more aura means you win!"

The champion blinked then laughed giddily. "Man, so that's how fighting games work?"

"Fighting games?" asked Kitty curiously.

"Never mind," said Scott. "You lost because you ran out of time on your last round?"

"Not quite," said Kitty. "When a lot of fighters are involved, usually more than three on each side of the battle, the rules change."

Kitty took a breath then said, "The time limit changes to three minutes, and the stage expands. You get one round, winner take all."

"Stage?" asked Samantha. There was a lot of new information to take in about the bubbly naked girl.

"Yes, fights between powerful opponents take place in special stages provided by the gods. That way the power of their auras won't destroy the world, or something. The stages are basically a place where a fight happens, but the aura can't push past the barrier," said Kitty.

"What about the non-powerful people?" Scott looked to Kitty, his eyes slightly narrowed in concentration. It seemed like some worlds would have different rules to follow if he visited them. This sort of information was vital.

"If they aren't powerful enough to generate a battle aura, then the gods don't care." Kitty smiled at Scott then swished her tail to the side. "Though, that just means normal people don't have the protection of the round system. They can't even see their opponent's aura bar, and there's no timer for them."

"Aura bar? You mean like a bar that you can see; one that shows how close to losing someone is at the moment?" asked Scott.

"Yeah. Just look up at the sky above. You'll see the timer and the aura bars," – she stopped for a moment to tap her chin. – "though some people call them life bars. Cuz, you can die if they go empty twice."

Kitty laughed then waved her hand around, "Now that I think about it, the gods even announce what round it is, and tell you when to start fighting."

"People wait to start a fight?" asked Samantha.

Kitty said, "Sure. You can't even move your body till the start of the fight."

That was more than a little disturbing to Scott, but he kept his own counsel for the moment. It really was a lot to consider.

"So, what? There are still normal wars and regular people dying," asked Samantha. She wanted more answers, and intend to have them.

"Yeah, that still happens." Kitty sighed then plopped her rear end back down onto the display table. "It's weird, really. The gods worry more about powerful people warping the local area than nuclear weapons and stuff."

It made perfect sense to Scott, after a moment of thought. The so-called gods had designed a world that operated on fighting game logic. Everything else was background noise. They probably didn't actually give a damn about normal weapons, or regular people.