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Title: Of Cats and Magic

Chapter: 6

Author: Riko Gonzalez

Riko, Ruko, and Timothy continued to trek through the cavern in search of the

one-eyed worm. Thus far, they had yet to find the altar where they would

presumably encounter the beast. As before, Ruko continued to lead the group

onward, map in hand.

Suddenly, a crack sounded as the group headed down yet another passage. At their

feet, thread-like fissures began to spread outward.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Riko stated in disbelief at the unexpected event.

Mercilessly, the ground gave way, shattering as if it were a pane of glass.

Without much choice, the group --- other than Timothy --- descended downward

through the newly created hole. Timothy, having wings, took to the air instead,

a sweat drop prominently showing on his temple.

"...and it looks like I lost the girls. Guess I should follow them down."

With a sigh, the winged cat glided into the crevice, looking for his two

partners. What he didn't notice was a figure, obscured in shadow, that was

watching with interest. Had he noticed the entity, he would have just been able

to make out a smile on her lips.

***

"Everyone OK?" Timothy inquired to the two magical girls.

"Just great," Riko sarcastically answered from her face up position on the

ground. In Truth, she was quite sore from the fall, but she seemed to be

alright.

"I'm good," Ruko stated as she dusted herself off, no hint of sarcasm in her

voice.

Slowly, Riko climbed to her feet. Glancing about, she took in her new

surroundings. High above, she could just make out the hole that she had fallen

through. Luckily, that hole wasn't the only exit. There was also a passage.

Unluckily, there was a problem with the passage.

"G-GIANT BEAR!" the cyan-haired catgirl managed, pointing at the thing blocking

the passage in shock.

Simply put, there literally was a giant bear blocking the passage. Actually, the

pink-eyed magical girl thought the bear looked awfully like the one she had run

into in the forest. Of course, she wasn't positive that it was the same one, but

how many bears got that big? It really seemed to be unnaturally massive.

"I'll handle it," Ruko stated, taking a position between the ferocious beast and

her friends before taking on a combat stance.

In response, the beast cracked a smile. Strangely, it seemed happy at what it

saw. Steadily, the giant bear rose up on its hind legs and took on a human-like

combat stance itself. Since when did bears do that. Clearly this was no ordinary

bear.

The massive beast seized the first move, throwing a massive punch towards the

blonde. Ruko sidestepped the blow, countering with a kick. The bear blocked the

counter with its other paw, leaving the catgirl to flip back in response. The

next moment, Ruko became a veritable blur as she unleashed a torrent of punches

and kicks at her foe.

"She's so fast. I can't even keep up," Riko commented in awe, her eyes wide.

"She is impressive," Timothy concurred, "but that bear worries me. It doesn't

appear to be having any trouble keeping up."

Ruko wasn't the only blur. As the catgirl unleashed her onslaught, the giant

bear's paws qualified as a blur as well. Each blow from the magical girl was met

by a block, being rendered ineffective.

After this bizarre scene of strikes and blocks played out for a while, the

massive bear leapt back, distancing himself from his opponent. Slamming his

mighty paws together, two more giant bears puffed into existence beside him. One

was at his left. The other was at his right. Actually, the two new bears

appeared to be identical to the first. The next instance, the three bears rushed

forward, beginning their own onslaught against Ruko.

"N-NINJA BEAR!" Riko stuttered in disbelief.

"Just because something can make copies of itself does not mean that it is a

ninja," Timothy responded. "Wait! Are those shuriken? Get down!"

Seemingly from thin air, the bears had pulled out a multitude of shuriken. The

next moment, the immediate area had become a flurry of steel. Looking almost

like she was dancing, Ruko nimbly avoided the razor sharp projectiles.

In time, the storm of steel died down, and the lithe catgirl was left standing

at the center of a three bear ring. Glancing from bear to bear to bear, Ruko

prepared for the next round. Suddenly, the bears, though, seemed to be more

interested in something above them. All three momentarily turned their gaze

upward before returning it to Ruko. The next instant, all three of them poofed

away. Just like that, the giant bears were gone.

"What did I just see?" Riko commented, perplexed at what she had just witnessed.

"No idea," Timothy added.

Before they had disappeared, the three bears had looked up to the hole in the

chamber's ceiling. Ruko was sure of that. The question was why. The blonde

magical girl took this opportunity to stare up towards the hole for a moment.

The lighting was too dim for her eyes to pick out anything beyond the hole. She

could sense something watching her from beyond it, though. Could whatever it was

be related to the bears? Could that incident had been some kind of test for

them? There were more questions than answers.

"We should move on," the taciturn catgirl finally stated as she turned her

attention to the map. Looking over the map for a moment, she identified where

they likely were after the fall. At least the map did not seem to have become

useless quite yet.

"I concur," Timothy responded. "Do you know where we are?"

"I believe so. This way."

With that, the amethyst-eyed catgirl took her position at the head of the group

and led them down the passage that had previously been blocked by that massive

bear. In truth, based upon the information provided by the map, there was not

much more to the cavern to explore. This in turn meant that it shouldn't take

much longer to find the altar. Once they find the altar, they should presumably

also find the one-eyed worm.