At the center of an apocalyptic city street Scott's voice cut through the darkness, "Everyone alright?"

"Yeah, I'm in one piece," called back Samantha. Similar spoken status updates rose from the others over the course of the next few seconds.

"What was that about?" asked Kitty while dusting herself off. The sudden earthquake toppled a nearby wall while they were passing through. No serious injuries occurred, but dust was everywhere and everyone was a little rattled. Kitty was especially annoyed as she detested being dirty.

"Who knows," said Scott just before he reached up and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I—" he stopped speaking suddenly and leaned hard to the side.

"What's wrong?" asked Chaine as he moved to Scott's side. "If you're hurt, you should tell us."

"No, I'm not hurt. I just feel a little weird," said Scott. "Probably just a little queasy from the earthquake."

"Really?" asked Kitty before she stretched languidly and swished her tail. "I'm feeling pretty good right now."

Moonlight teasingly peeked through the clouds here and there across the sky. The night became a bit brighter, as the seconds passed.

"In fact, this is the best I've felt in ages," said Kitty before she unleashed a contented rrowling noise.

"I'm fine... Let's get—" said Scott before he took a step and stumbled heavily. He collapsed to his hands and knees then immediately began to pant.

"Beloved!" cried Saelil as she floated swiftly to his side.

Scott sat back on his knees and clutched at the sides of his head. Eyes shut tight to ward off the rising sense of pain, tears began to flow down his cheeks as his body heat rose to dangerous levels.

"Scott!" shouted Kitty, before rushing to his side as well.

Samantha looked over at him briefly, but something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. Her concerns for Scott melded with current priorities, "Get him off the street. Now!"

Kitty snatched the writhing champion up into her arms and rushed toward the closest two-story building. The sound of Samantha's beam cannon blasting away in the background explained the situation clearly. There were more than a few enemies on the way, and Scott was in no position to defend himself on the ground.

A primal scream of pain and growing madness erupted from Scott's throat as Kitty deposited him on the roof top. She spared him a glance before turning back to the battle brewing down below. Dozens of zombies converged on the area, seemingly from every avenue and building.

"Scott, I should go down and he—" began Kitty as she started to turn back toward him. She never had a chance to turn fully before she was knocked off her feet by a flying body tackle.

Knocked to the ground with great force, the breath driven from her lungs, Kitty could only watch in mute silence as bright yellow eyes gleamed at her in the darkness. She tried to speak, but her body refused to let her catch her breath.

Briefly stunned, Kitty took a few seconds too long trying to push Scott away. What was worse, the more she wanted to push him away, the less her body responded.

Scott lowered his head toward her. More than his eye color had changed. He was still easily recognizable, but his hair was larger like a bright blue mane. His canine teeth were elongated into ivory white fangs that gleamed brightly in the moonlight. A growl that seemed to be a strange hybrid of predatory beast and chainsaw rumbled from his throat.

Kitty began to breathe heavily. Soon her ears folded down flat atop her head. Strange sensations welled up within her, as her body heat intensified. Face growing flush, she looked away from Scott slightly and released a soft mewling noise.

Fanged maw opening wider as his face drew closer, Scott began to tease the side of her neck with each of his hot panted breaths. His eyes held a conflicted expression, like he was uncertain of what was happening.

Equally unable to comprehend what she felt, Kitty's thighs began to part gently beneath the ever growing weight atop her. Something beyond words was going on here, something that her body understood even if her heart did not.

"Ki...Kit..." The words would not come properly from his lips. Scott continued to transform over the course of the next few seconds. His shoulders grew broader, as did his chest. His muscles increased in size with each passing heartbeat. Fingernails once slightly harder than a normal human slowly became hardened and wickedly sharp claws.

Kitty regained her breath, but still found that she could not speak. There was something in the air, her skin felt practically electric with each casual movement of his body against hers. Scott's lips reached the side of her face, but he merely remained in place breathing heavily against her.

"Well, what's going on here?" asked an interloping voice.

Scott's head snapped toward the sound, but Kitty immediately reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck. Scott blinked slowly then shook his head slowly from side-to-side.

Kitty hissed at Saelil, "Don't ruin this for me."

Saelil snorted at the catgirl then looked back to Scott. "Beloved, are you alright? You seem— different."

Whatever strangeness had come over Scott faded slightly. He pulled away from Kitty and wriggled free from her determined grasp.

Despite the cat girl's many protests Scott skittered away from her on all-fours. His tail, formerly sleek and slender like a tiger's, was now a big bushy affair of light blue color bordering on white. "St... Stay, no." Scott pushed his hands in Kitty's direction.

"Is Scott alright," called Samantha from down below.

"I'm not so sure," said Saelil quietly.

Chaine and Samantha soon arrived on the roof, as the most recent wave of enemies were beaten. Samantha moved forward and asked, "What's going on, Scott? What's happening?"

"Strong, too strong..." said Scott before clutching at his head with both hands.

"What's too strong? What's happening to you?" asked Chaine, obvious concern in his voice.

Scott suddenly looked up at Chaine, grave intensity in his gaze, "Grab it..."

"What?" asked Chaine, slightly stunned by the outburst.

"T-thing, thing! Grab..." Scott fell forward and weakly gestured toward his lower body while trying to convince Chaine to grab his thing. Dark blue veins began to appear on Scott's face just before he cried out in pain once more. His bright yellow eyes flared with a golden light, but it quickly subsided.

"You want me to grab what?" asked Chaine his eyes going wide. He was so surprised that he took a half step back and waved his hands at the half-beast man.

Scott screamed out in agonizing pain, and reached behind his back to grab the thing that he'd truly meant. His powerful hands curled around his enlarged and fluffy thing, his tail, and squeezed as hard as he could.

He screamed again and collapsed completely onto the rooftop. Hot salty tears tracked down his cheeks as he kept squeezing his tail.

"What do we do?" asked Chaine.

"He didn't want me or Saelil to go near him. We might need to just leave him alone," said Kitty.

"Why is beloved squeezing his tail like that..." asked Saelil in a quiet murmur.

"Maybe it has something to do with this transformation? I think he mentioned something about being able to take a stronger form at night," said Kitty.

 After a few minutes of squeezing his tail, Scott sat up. The transformation that he'd begun to undergo seemed to have receded a little. His hands wrapped tightly around his tail, he looked at each of his comrades. "Go."

"Go, what do you mean? Scott, talk to us," said Kitty in a worried tone.

Scott shook his head violently and shouted, "Time, no. No... Go!"

"Go, you mean leave you here?" asked Samantha.

"Angry—" said Scott. He gulped in large breaths of air then shook his head strongly and shouted, "Angry!" before digging the claws of his left hand through the dirt and gravel to tear into the concrete ceiling of the rooftop. Several deep claw marks were gouged in the tough material, emphasizing his point.

"What, we can't do that," said Chaine. He'd recovered from the bizarre situation earlier, and regained enough composure to speak his mind properly. He did not approached the half-crazed man, however. Those claws looked like they meant business.

"I... I Catch—" he unleashed a low whining noise then panted a little before unleashing a dangerous growl. He proved that there was more than feline in him when he practically barked out the word, "Up."

"Scott..." said Kitty, softly before trying to crawl toward him.

He glared hotly at her then his yellow eyes blazed with a fearsome golden light a split-second before he unleashed a loud roar, "Go!" The word exploded outward from his throat with incredible force. Rocks, dirt, and dust flared outward from him as though they were struck by an invisible explosion.

Kitty skittered away from him and looked at him while squatted down. Her tail lashed from side-to-side while she eyeballed him. Whatever thoughts went through her mind at the moment, could not be considered cute or endearing. The fine hairs on the back of her neck were standing at attention.

"Vita!" snarled Scott to Chaine. "Time!"

Chaine frowned darkly at Scott but then blew out his breath. "Damn it..."

"We can't just—" said Kitty, only to be interrupted by Samantha, "You'll catch up?"

Scott stared at her briefly then slowly nodded. "Go," he said in a tone laced with seething anger. His entire body was tense, like a guitar string pulled too tight. At any moment, the slightest provocation might make him snap.

"Don't be long," said Samantha to Scott before turning and hopping off the roof.

Chaine glanced at Scott then nodded to him. Scott managed a half-nod in kind. With that, Chaine leapt off the roof onto the street below. He immediately pulled out his Lorekeeper and began checking the area for enemies. The numbers continued to grow at a location a short distance to the north. "That's our spot, has to be."

"She's really going?" asked Kitty, surprised. Chaine leaving was neither here nor there, but Samantha abandoning Scott seemed ridiculous.

"We have to... He needs us to go, and it'll only get worse if we don't get there in time," said Saelil. "That's what my beloved told us, remember."

Scott snarled at Kitty then squeezed his tail meaningfully. Speaking was difficult at the moment. There was no reason to repeat himself.

"Scott... I," began Kitty. Her eyes began to shimmer slightly in the moonlight. "It's not right to leave you."

His eyes narrowed and his catlike pupils narrowed to slits. His entire body seemed to rebel as he began to twist and writhe a little, but he managed to growl out the word, "Please..."

Saelil glided over to Kitty and placed her hand to her shoulder. Neither of them spoke as Kitty rose to her full height. The walked to the edge of the roof, and then after a brief half-look back toward him from over her shoulder, Kitty leapt down as well.

"We're only doing this because you asked us to, beloved," said Saelil softly without turning back toward him.

Scott looked down at the roof, but said nothing. He knew it was true. None of them, not even Chaine wanted to abandon him. Despite the overwhelming rage attempting to claim his body and soul, he was still coherent enough to understand that much.