Dr. C. Cat — Welcome back to Point/Counter-Point with your host Dr. C. Cat. Today we have Dr. Otto Von Halpern and Baroness Charlotte Anastasia of Clan McQuirre in our studios. Thanks to the military class our time with the guests are cut short. While I’m grateful to the Space Force for kicking the Ratkin fighter out of our territory, I’m pissed off at General Maxwell Britchfield for interrupting the show. //Pauses// I don’t care if we are still live on the air! General Britchfield is still a wind bag!

However…Baroness McQuirre, question to you, which is better magic or psychic abilities, go!

Baroness Charlotte Anastasia of Clan McQuirre- Freaky Deeky, ok, magic has the potential to creating lasting, naturally occurring objects or enchantments. If you wish to terra-form an area without explosives or overzealous scientists you call in a cabal or coven, not psychics. Physics are more important when you are trying to affect a singular target, or //looks at Dr. Halpern// give a person a headache. Magic has the ability to burn a city to the ground or even prevent the same city from flooding. Potentially, magic can easily outlast the effects from any known psychic ability. Additionally….

Dr. C. Cat- Time's up! Dr. Halpern rebuttal, go!

Dr. Otto Von Halpern — While magic IS longer lasting, it IS subject to the CB-1 decay. This is typically seen when the breakdown of items and effects fail to respond properly. And lets not forget that if you want to wait 20-years for something to happen, use magic. Psychics on the other hand, you have your desires within moments and when time is of the essence. For example, mind control. You can manipulate a subject within a few seconds and with Orbital Mind Control Satellites and a few psychics with tele-mechanics on your staff can be reduced to a crew of three, enough for cover an entire planet! Now that is….

Dr. C. Cat — That’s all the time we have for Point/Counter-point. I would like the opportunity to let you and my audience knows that I’m retiring from the media! Now that I conquered the crystals waves with three top rated shows it’s time to move on to better and challenging things.

Baroness Charlotte Anastasia of Clan McQuirre — Really?!?!? What will you do?

Dr. C. Cat — I’m going into teaching. Its one thing to be a genius, but it’s another to teach the young kittens in the schools.

Dr. Otto Von Halpern — I didn’t predict that one.

Dr. C. Cat — You need a new crystal ball, doctor, tune in next week with another exciting episode and another exciting host!

***

I entered the building. My body was reaching its threshold as it slowly got used to the dopamine drug. The drain slowly took away my happy thoughts and was replaced with rage.

My eyes darted around the hallway. Broken tile on the ground reminded me of where I lived the Ghetto. The pungent order of urine stained the walls and floors, broken lights that desperately held on by one or two screws reminded me that this was my reality.

Sure I could move from the ghetto, but because of my class and station, I could never become a part of another class, no matter what fame or fortune I may earn. I slowly ascended the stairs.

Before I reached the 3rd floor, I instinctively took a long step. The step was over one of the broken stairs. Oh, we complained to the landlord and even tried to fix it ourselves, but it wouldn’t last with repeated use and abuse.

Most of the residents that lived here we gave up and accepted our fate.

Maybe it was the Up! or something else, but I was envious of Duke. He had a nice home, food on the table, and went to my old private school.

He had a chance that I could never ever achieve, no matter how hard I worked for it. He was born with privilege that came with being in the middle class that I would never see, unless it was on the TV crystal.

I punched the wall, getting flakes of plaster on my jacket. I dusted it off and examined the damage. That’s still going to be here when I die. I sighed and opened the door. Why should I bother to lock it, the damned thing would only come off the hinges with one or two well placed kicks.

It was mid afternoon and Anna was still in her Pj’s, she didn’t even change to go to work. On the TV crystal was Ninja Team-7 was paused during a fight scene. She had the creepy book out and was rapidity scribbling notes in her old notebook from school.

My feline curiosity kicked in, or maybe it was the dopamine from the Up!, but I asked her, “You gonna back to school or somethin’?”

“Kinda,” she responded playing and re-pausing the scene.

She only took breaks from her notebook to look up at the wall, then back to her notebook.

“You know all dat shits fantasy, right?” I don’t know why I said that, but I wanted to make her feel what I was feeling.

I was working myself up to putting her down. Before I could drag her into the abyss with me she sat up quickly.

“Look!” she said shoving the mystery book in my face and pointed at the wall with the projection on it. Nedgie (one of the characters from the show) was holding an awkward fighting stance while using two fingers instead of his fists.

Sure enough there was a drawing of a figure in the same fighting stance and similar was of holding his fingers.

I blinked for a bit, expecting either of the pictures to change.

As if I suddenly gained wytch sight I asked the obvious questions, “Wait, there did you get that book?”

She slowly turned her head to me and leaned very close, within whispering distance, “I found it in mom’s old hope chest,” Anna quietly whispered.

“Mom had a hope chest?” I asked back.

“I know, right? Da other day after we fucked up those rats, I was lookin’ for a place to store my new toy gun.”

“You mean a place not under my pillow?”

Anna ignored me and continued, “I found a box of old junk that you told me to git rid of after mom passed on. I was takin' out the stuff when I found da book in there.”

“Was it mom’s old diary or something?” I asked.

“I dunno, I tried to show the book to Henna an’ she couldn’t even see the writing or the pics on it. So it got me thinkin’.”

I responded before I could be outsmarted by an 11-year-old, “Wait, if it responds to you and to me, that means it has somethin’ to do wit our blood, so it mus’ be mom’s?”

Anna looked at me, annoyed that I stole her idea before she could say it, “Uh, yeah….”

“So wha’ does dis’ hav to do wit Ninja Team-7?” I asked.

“What’s the freaky part. Da book has three sections: One, types of fomoire. Two, how to fight dem. And three how to spot’em and wat to look fur,” She said. “Da fightin’ styles in here (pointing to the wall), are perfect fur getting’ through their armored plates and stuff.”

This time I leaned closer and whispered to her, “You mean dat by using that technique we can git through defensives and stuff, dink it will work on dragon defenses?”

Her green eyes grew wild with excitement. We both looked at the inscription at the bottom of the page, before a fighting drawing.

Hardened plates and magic armor can be bypassed w/ elemental: Piercing Wind attacks. See page 357.

The picture on page 357 was a drawing of a figure that was displayed in the same fighting stance. His index finger and middle fingers extended. The figure in the book was standing in a medium guard. Nedgie was in the exact same fighting stance.

Anna looked up at me, “Wat do we do next?”

“Shit this can't be right,” I said. “Do you really think they would put legit fightin’ moves on the TV crystal?”

The blood vein on Anna’s temple throbbed as she paused before speaking quietly, “You know certain fighting styles are illegal, right?”

“Uh yeah, but this has got to more den a coincidence,” I replied.

All she could do was nod in agreement.

“There’s gotta be a reason for dis,” she cautiously replied.

“Maybe Mama-cat and the Ancestors are talking to us. It was her Last Wish that we would have the power and means to protect each other,” I stated back slowly.

Anna and I stared at each other in comfortable silence. Neither of us were religious, but from the gaze in our eyes we knew it was a sign.

“I know I’m beating a dead rat, but what do we do now?” she carefully asked.

Her voice had a slight tremble in it, but articulate. It seemed like she was half expecting me to put an end to this as if I would wake her up from a nice dream.

“We train,” I replied back. “Cats always land on their feet.”

She smiled back at me with her big toothy Cheshire grin.

***

Over the next few days we fought on the roof top of our building. When we were not sparing, were studying episodes of Ninja Team-7 training montages, paying careful attention to episodes with Nedgie, and cross referencing it with our mom’s book.

Since I was still tripping on Up! I was able to outlast Anna, though she did try to keep up with my temporary stamina boost, though it would only last for three days before I would crash.

At one point during our roof top training we made sandbags from old pillow cases as we tried to punch them with two fingers. Next we tried to tie the sandbags to a pole and we sung them at each other.

This was only teaching us how to abuse ourselves. While it satisfied the feline sadism instinct, it provided little training value.

It wasn’t till the 6th day as the sun was peaking over the buildings to watch us, when we tried to blindfold herself with thin slits cut out to see and hear out of (something we saw on a filler episode).

Anne was the first to try the technique. It forced her to focus through a very narrow field of vision.

I swung a smaller sand bag from a blind spot because we were trying to learn how to defend from blind spots. Yet, another thing we learned from Ninja Team-7.

Anna pivoted on her keels and punched the bag with the 2-finger punching style; the bag suddenly burst sending the sand everywhere. She quickly pulled off her blindfold and growled at me as if I did it.

“That was all you!” I called back to her.

Cold reality slapped her in the face as she realized that I was right. The angry expression turned to excitement.

“OH, BY THE ANCESTORS!!!! THAT WAS SOOOO FUCKIN’ COOL!” she called out to me.

I took the blindfold from her, as she wrapped my hands and arms up. I took a deep breath and tried to center myself.

“Ok…I’m ready,” I tried to say with a slight tremble of anticipation in my voice.

She tossed a bag and it hit me in my head. She made three more attempts as a sandbag hit me in the head, stomach and legs.

“Fuck,” I spat out.

My frustration levels were starting to rise as a shouted at her, “Why the abyss were you able to do it and I can’t!?!?!”

“I dunno, calm down an’ center yourself, bro!” Anna shouted back. “Try…to let the chakra flow, I guess.”

“I AM CALM!” I growled back.

This time she got right in front of me so I wouldn’t miss it and threw the sandbag right at my face. I lost it as I tried to ball up my fists to punch it. The tape was so tight I couldn’t bend my middle and index finger.

Rage, frustration and anger swelled up inside of me and burst like a volcano. I yelled as I hit the back with all my might. A red haze from my fingertips bust the bag and Anna was forced to jump out of the way. More red smoke hissed from my fingers and arms. I glanced down and in an instant it was gone.

There was only one was to describe what happened next. It was as if someone let all the air of a balloon, I felt all of my life’s frustration and rage immediately drains out of my soul.

I felt weak as if the anger was supporting me my whole life. My knees gave out.

My body hit the ground with a thud. Anna rushed to me and threw her arms around me, tears streaming from her eyes.

“A-r-r-r-r-re you ok?” she called out to me.

I could hardly hear her as blood was pounding in my ears.

She was hitting my arms, but I couldn’t feel it “Come on, come on, get up, this isn’t funny…git up you stupid trog!”

I had no idea what she was talking about. I glanced around, confused.

“Wait, I thought I just fell to my knees,” I said to her confused, my head was still spinning.

Then I saw myself lying on the ground.

“Shit!” I stared at her and my body in disbelief. My nose and mouth were bleeding. “Shit, shit, SHIT, I just DIED!!!”