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Title: Of Cats and Magic

Chapter: 5

Author: Riko Gonzalez

The stone was wet. Droplets of water dripped from the ceiling. Riko, Ruko, and

Timothy found themselves in an expansive cavern. This was the final day of the

magical girl boot camp. This cavern was the set for their test. This was the

time to prove themselves. The goal was to find a monster and defeat it. That

monster was the one-eyed worm.

"Why does it have to be so humid in here? I feel so sweaty," Riko complained in

annoyance.

"It's not that bad," Ruko commented in indifference.

"Stop complaining and concentrate on the task at hand," Timothy berated the

disgruntled catgirl.

"Fine. Where was that worm thing supposed to be anyway."

Riko turned her attention to Ruko. The blonde catgirl held a map containing

information relevant to the mission.

"The one-eyed worm should be at the altar according to the info. This map

doesn't say where the altar is, though."

As Ruko responded to Riko, she led the group down a passage. Would this passage

lead them to the altar? Maybe. While the map showed the layout of the cavern, it

did not have the altar labeled. They would just have to explore the cavern until

they managed to locate it.

***

"Ruko, are you sure you haven't gotten us lost," Timothy inquired to the

wheat-skinned catgirl.

They had to have been exploring this place for over an hour. Now, though, they

had come to an abrupt stop. Ruko had led them to a dead end, a wall of stone

blocking their progress onward.

"The map says there should be a passage here."

The amethyst-eyed magical girl looked over the wall before them. It appeared to

be solid stone.

"Should I try to break through?"

"For the love of magical girls, Ruko, don't do that! We are in a cavern! Are you

trying to cause a cave in?" Timothy blurted out in response. As much as he

trusted Ruko, he didn't want to risk becoming a winged-cat pancake.

"Uh... Are cavern walls supposed to do that?" Riko interrupted the conversation,

pointing to the obstructing wall.

"No. They are not. Prepare yourselves," Timothy responded, sensing that a battle

was about to ensue.

A giant eye had opened up on the wall, smaller eyes opening in rapid succession

afterwards. Whatever it was, clearly it wasn't actually a wall.

"Not the one-eyed worm. Must be... Something else," Ruko said as she put the map

away.

The many eyes of the false wall began to glow. One by one, goblins began to

burst forth from the smaller eyes, craters being left behind where the eyes used

to be. The larger eye remained unscathed. The goblin's eyes possessed the same

glow as the wall's eyes that gave birth to them. It was the same glow that the

larger eye still possessed. The next moment, the battle had begun.

Ruko, being at the head of the group, was the first for the glowing-eyed goblins

to reach. Three in total reached melee range. One sweeping kick from the lithe

catgirl was enough to dispatch them. They collapsed to the floor, their bodies

going limp. The next moment, they turned to dust. There were many more goblins

than just those three, though. A second group had already begun to challenge

Ruko, and a third group had started trying to work its way around the blonde to

reach Riko and Timothy. In total, the wall monster had birthed thirty goblins.

Twenty seven of those still remained. Twelve of them were currently challenging

Ruko while five of them made their way to Riko and Timothy. Ten more waited in

reserve.

"Riko, they don't seem that strong, so only engage them physically. Do not use

your flame," Timothy warned.

"Right."

The cyan-haired magical girl summoned her staff as the five goblins closed in.

She may not have had the physical prowess that Ruko had, but she saw Timothy's

point. The truth of the matter was that she still had control issues with her

magic.

As the nearest goblin reached melee range, Riko swung her staff, nailing the

beast on the side of its head. It collapsed into a lifeless heap. The other four

all reached melee range at once. In response, the catgirl turned tail and

started running.

"Riko, what are you doing! The enemies are that way!" Timothy spoke up.

"If you haven't noticed, I'm a little out numbered."

"These goblins are pretty weak, just swing your staff at them."

Riko came to a stop, twisted around, and lashed out with her staff at the

pursuing goblins. Two of the four were taken out by the attack. The remaining

two had jumped back, avoiding the blow. Timothy was right, these things were

pretty weak.

Just as the pink-eyed catgirl was overcome with confidence, Ruko kicked one of

the two goblins into the other, defeating them both.

"I had the situation under control."

"You were taking to long," the taciturn magical girl responded before turning to

the wall with the giant eye.

Step by step, Ruko walked up to the monstrous wall. In turn, the monstrous wall

blinked at her. The thing seemed to be completely defenseless now that its

goblins had been defeated.

"You're too weak," the blonde said before throwing a punch at it. A small crater

formed at the impact point with fissures snaking out throughout the whole of the

rocky monster's body. The next moment, it crumbled into rumble, revealing the

passage beyond.

A lone green goblin stood in the passage, its mouth agape. This goblin wasn't

like the wall monster's goblins. Its eyes weren't glowing. With a squeal of

fright, it fled.

"Shall we continue?" Ruko asked, turning to Timothy as she retrieved the map.

"Yes. We still need to locate that altar."

With a nod, the amethyst-eyed catgirl began walking down the revealed passage.

Riko and Timothy followed behind her, Riko having already put her staff away.

"Ruko's pretty strong," Riko commented to Timothy as they walked.

"That she is," Timothy agreed. "I'd say she is a physical type magical girl and

a strong one at that."