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Title: Of Cats and Magic

Chapter: 3

Author: Riko Gonzalez

"Not fair," Riko said with a pout as she glanced at the clearing before her.

Like yesterday, the magical girls had been gathered around the outdoor clearing

for today's events. Unlike yesterday, the pink-eyed catgirl had been banned from

taking part in those events, a series of sparring matches to further gauge the

ability of the magical girls. She was allowed to attend the matches, though.

Just not actually take part in a match herself.

It wasn't all that shocking that the cyan-haired catgirl had been banned from

participating after the debacle she had caused yesterday. After all, the grass

in the area was still scorched. Luckily, there were no fatalities from the

incident, but a few magical girls and winged cats were still in the infirmary.

A match was currently going on in the clearing between two human women. A short

distance to the side, the same instructor from yesterday stood in the clearing.

In the instructor's hands were a pencil and a notepad. The notepad was not the

same one from before, though. The previous notepad had been ruined by Riko's

flames after all.

A pair of medics were also in the clearing, a woman at the instructor's right, a

man at the instructor's left. Both medics were human. The female medic was not a

magical girl herself. With interest, the two medics watched the fight that was

unfolding before them.

In truth, the battle between the two women seemed to be relatively evenly

matched. One would shoot lightning, and the other would fire off balls of

magically generated ice. Neither of them showed any sign of backing down. It was

anyone's guess who would actually win the match.

After a rather lengthy display of skill from both combatants, one quite

literally tripped up. The one creating the icy projectiles lost her balance and

fell forward. A bolt of lightning thundered over her. Rather ironically, the

unexpected fall of her opponent left the other woman off balance. Capitalizing

on this, the grounded woman rolled over and flung a ball of ice in a last ditch

effort to win. If this failed she would be a sitting duck for her opponent.

Luckily for her, it hit its mark and the match was over. Ice triumphed over

lightning.

"Next up is Ruko Kisara and Fiona Fiore," the instructor called out as the two

woman from the last match returned to the crowd.

Without a word, Ruko entered the clearing, showing not much emotion at all.

Entering the clearing from the opposite side was her opponent, a golden-eyed,

red-haired catgirl who strolled in with a confident smirk.

"Your my opponent? I'm not impressed," Fiona stated in a huffy tone, "Well, just

so know, there is no shame in walking away from battles you can't win. I

recommend giving up before you get trounced."

Fiona's arrogant attitude seemed to be annoying the instructor, but it didn't

appear to have any effect on Ruko. The blonde catgirl just kept that same

taciturn expression as she continued to watch her opponent. Actually, Ruko's

lack of reaction was kind of unnerving Fiona a bit.

"Just shut up and begin already," the instructor finally grumbled.

"Right," Fiona said, "Now behold the terror of the wind."

At the golden-eyed magical girl's direction, the wind began to warp around her,

forming a kind of protective barrier. The torrent of raging air would serve to

shield her from attacks. Typical attacks wouldn't have much chance of even

penetrating it.

With a smirk, Fiona reached down and picked up a pebble. After the catgirl

tossed it into the air, a blade of wind cleanly sliced it in half. As the halves

continued to fall, the two were assaulted by a multitude of wind blades as if

they had fallen into an invisible blender. Almost instantly, the halves were

reduced to nothing more than dust.

"Do you understand now," Fiona said cockily, "I cannot be beat. No one can get

past this ability, and no one can stand up to it either. One last chance to give

up."

Ruko tilted her head at her opponent's words before beginning to walk forward.

"Fine. You made you're choice. Don't say I didn't warn you."

Fiona raised her right hand and pointed at the approaching catgirl. Instantly,

the ground at Ruko's feet exploded as an invisible force came slamming down.

Well, the ground that had been under her feet exploded to be more exact.

For a moment, the red-haired magical girl thought she had already won, but it

didn't take long for her to notice the problem with that train of thought.

Namely, where was Ruko?

"Grandstanding and winning are two separate things," Ruko spoke in an eerily

emotionless voice.

Wide-eyed, Fiona turned to see the blonde catgirl standing right beside her

without a scratch on her. All Fiona's attack had done was punch a hole in the

ground. The attack had completely missed its mark.

"T-this isn't possible. H-how did you... Y-you were there," the golden-eyed

magical girl stammered in disbelief, pointing towards Ruko's previous location.

"To slow."

"To slow?"

The next instant, everything went black for Fiona. With one mighty kick that

struck straight through Fiona's wind barrier, Ruko downed the magical girl.

"Well that surprised me," the instructor commented as Fiona's defensive ability

fizzled out.

The two medics rushed to the fallen catgirl. Quickly, they accessed her vitals.

"She's fine," the woman called out, "Just unconscious."

"We'll take her to the infirmary," the man added.

As the two medics carried the unconscious woman off to the infirmary, Ruko

returned to the crowd.

"That was completely and utterly awesome!" Riko greeted her, "And you took her

down with a kick! Amazing!"

"She underestimated me," the blonde catgirl responded simply.

While Fiona was powerful, she was also arrogant. Arrogance led to her assuming

that Ruko was weaker than her. In reality, it was quite the opposite. Fiona may

have had command over powerful wind magic, but she was no match for Ruko's sheer

speed and strength. Even Fiona's prized wind barrier proved to not be able to

stand up to the sheer power of Ruko's kick.