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Fortunately the next issue's coming much faster, and hopefully will continue on that trend. I want to thank @Chaytel and @PonderousPlatypus for pre-reading and proofreading this one. Thanks for sticking in there, guys!\n\nMature for violence and softcore lovin'.", "description_bbcode_parsed": "This took a while to bang out! Fortunately the next issue's coming much faster, and hopefully will continue on that trend. I want to thank \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tChaytel\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t		\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tChaytel\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
and @PonderousPlatypus for pre-reading and proofreading this one. Thanks for sticking in there, guys!

Mature for violence and softcore lovin'.", "writing": "\"I just don't get it.\"\n\nCarrie looked up and to the side, watching her girlfriend use her PET to shine ultraviolet light on a bloody scrape across her cheek. \"Get what?\" They'd walked back into the locker room that she'd changed in to get warm and treat Carrie's wounds... which were minor and seemed entirely cosmetic.\n\n\"How you survived,\" Natalie supplied. \"Whatever that thing was that smashed you... totally destroyed everything else. The bench, the concrete, I mean... look at the school...\" She gestured to indicate the destruction that had taken place in that very building, a worried look about her as she stuck a band-aid across her lover's cheek, then kissed it, as if to seal its healing properties. \"Carrie, I love you, but... I'm not sure you should be alive right now.\"\n\n\"Yeah...\" The catgirl took a deep breath and shook her head, gazing down at her feet. \"Nothing makes sense anymore...\"\n\nNatalie pursed her lips. \"... Carrie. I know this sounds... crazy. But...\"\n\n\"... But what?\" She guardedly creased a brow.\n\n\"... I...\" The canine girl's red eyes looked into Carrie's with excited wonder. \"... I think you might have superpowers.\"\n\n\"...\" The cat girl's stern look cracked, and she smiled. \"You'll do anything to make me laugh.\"\n\n\"I'm serious!\" Nat protested, gaining a roll of the eyes from her girlfriend. \"Look... you remember the crash, right??\"\n\nCarrie tried to remain neutral. \"... Sure. I was 10. There was a traffic accident.\"\n\n\"You got hit by a PeTra,\" She specified. \"Thrown fourteen feet, too. When they checked you out, not a single broken bone. No lacerations, cuts, not even a deep bruise.\"\n\n\"... Really?\" She blinked, confused. \"I remember being more hurt than that. Are you sure? I mean, it was a personal trans, but-\"\n\nNatalie nodded. \"I read the doctor's report. You came out of what should've been a fatal accident without a scratch.\"\n\nIt was true. Now that Carrie thought about it, she'd been in and out of the hospital within the hour. \"... Okay. I got really lucky. It doesn't mean I'm [u]invulnerable[/u].\"\n\n\"You're right,\" The ebony girl conceded. \"That alone doesn't. But do you remember the time Max did a jump with his bike and hit the back of your head?\"\n\n\"Yeah, that little punk. He's lucky I don't hit boys.\"\n\n\"Cedric's a boy,\" She countered.\n\n\"Have you seen those pants? He has no dick. Do you know he's never OCed once?\"\n\nNat blinked. \"What?? Not even with-\"\n\n\"Nope! Talked to her. Not even one time, ever.\"\n\n\"... Gawd. No wonder he's such a piss-bucket.\" She shook her head. \"But! Speaking of Cedric! How many fights have we gotten in with him?\"\n\n\"Aw, tons.\" She leaned back against a locker, smiling fondly.\n\n\"And how many times has he [i]really[/i] hurt you?\"\n\n\"Pffft, zero! He's a total wuss.\" She actually giggled at the thought.\n\n\"No, Carrie.\" Natalie took on a grim visage. \"He isn't. His punches [u]hurt[/u]. They hurt me, they hurt our friends- I'm still sore from this morning. But they don't hurt you.\"\n\nThe cat stared back, seeming almost... furious. A long moment passed. \"... Okay. Let's put this to bed once and for all.\" She stood up, faced Natalie, took a deep breath and braced. \"Hit me.\"\n\n\"Hit you?? But I-\"\n\n\"As hard as you can, Natalie. If you really believe you're right, you'll prove it.\"\n\nNatalie's muscles turned to jelly as she attempted to stand. \"Carrie... not five minutes ago, I thought you might be dead, I'm just not-\" \n\nShe was insistent. \"Do it!\"\n\nThe wolf girl took a deep breath. She needed to be strong, to prove it to her. \"I...\" Her fist clenched. \"... Can't...\"\n\nThe cat stood, stone-faced. \n\n\"I can't.\" She shook her head. \"I can't hit you. Not after all this. I can't bring myself to do anything like that to you, even if I know you'll be fine. If you don't trust me, then... I guess...\"\n\n\"Wait.\" Carrie's strained, small voice surrendered. \"I-... I do trust you, Natalie. And... you're right. I just...\" She gave a long, drawn-out sigh. \"I just didn't want you to be right.\"\n\nNat blinked. \"Carrie...?\"\n\n\"It doesn't hurt. It never has.\" Her face blank, she stared at the opposite wall. \"I'm not normal. I ignored it all this time because I didn't want to believe it... but there's... there's something wrong with me.\" She turned to Natalie, eyes glistening as she clenched her fist and frowned. \n\n\"Wrong??\" Natalie shook her head, confused. \"What do you mean?? This is amazing!\" She smiled. \"This is just like in the games we played when we were kids, but for real! Like we've always wanted!\"\n\n\"Like [i]you've[/i] always wanted.\" Carrie shook her head sadly. \"Nat, I was okay with being a small-time celebrity at school, but... this is really different. I can't be this... superhero, or, whatever. It's not who I am.\"\n\nNatalie swallowed hard, then stared at her. \"... You're wrong.\"\n\n\"Huh?\"\n\n\"It's exactly who you are.\" Nat put a hand on her troubled kitten's shoulder. \"You're tough, you're vigilant, and you've got a good heart.\" Her arms slid around Carrie's chest. \"You defend people you care about.\"\n\n\"I just do that because we do it together...\" She replied weakly.\n\n\"Come ooon...\" Natalie gave her a squeezing hug from behind. \"No you don't.\"\n\nThe snow-white young woman sighed and sagged in her lover's grip. \"I'm just...\"\n\n\"... Scared?\" Natalie ventured.\n\n\"Yeah...\" She breathed.\n\n\"Me, too. I'm scared out of my mind, actually.\" A nervous laugh echoed through the locker room. \"But I promised that if fate would just give you back to me... I'd be brave.\"\n\n\"... I know I'm usually the tough one,\" Carrie looked up, the back of her head pushed against her girlfriend's chest. \"... But... this isn't anything I'm used to.\"\n\n\"Don't worry.\" Nat smiled. \"I'll take it from here. You can be my sidekick!\"\n\nThe tension in Carrie's stomach unclenched, and she laughed. \"Wait, sidekick??\"\n\nThe dark wolf toothily grinned. \"Yeah! My respectable, wonderful girlfriend by day...\"\n\n\"Uh-huh.\"\n\n\"My sexy sidekick by night...\"\n\nShe sputtered, laughing. \"Yeah?\"\n\nThe wolf grinned toothily. \"... And my... adorable lover by breakfast.\" She went from talking to growling the last part, loosely biting one of the cat's ears between top teeth and lip, holding her tightly.\n\nCarrie blushed brightly, her heart thumping. Nat was talking in that special way she did only in... certain moments. It did things to her. \"O-Okay~\" She smiled widely, face flush.\n\n\"Great.\" Natalie cooed gently and kissed her on the forehead. \"Now let's get out of here. Our friends need us, and we can do this. Partners?\"\n\nThe cat girl paused a moment before nodding, a barely visible smile on her face. \"Partners.\"\n\nWith that, they left the warmth and safety of the locker room.\n\n - \n- -\n -\n\n\"We've gotta hurry!\"\n\nSigns, trees, grass and buildings whizzed by quickly as the two girls rolled downhill and away from their school building. They'd commandeered two pairs of skate shoes from the Dodgevolley Team- Natalie knew a girl who played- and were now barreling down the midwalk, the paved space meant for pedestrians. The only paved part of the city other than the bases of buildings, its hills rose mightily and made the journey a difficult one.\n\n\"Ugh, I'd rather be taking the mass tran!\" Carrie complained as she hunkered down for stability, whizzing past trees and benches.\n\nThe dark canine shook her head, reaching a higher hill than momentum would take them up, and leaned forward, using the toe grips to tread up the hill. \"Not happening! If the school is that badly damaged, I can only imagine what a nightmare the tran would be.\" \n\n\"There's no part of this that [i]isn't[/i] nightmarish,\" the cat girl sighed, grunting to get up the hill behind Natalie, a bit distracted as she looked up to see just how hard her girlfriend's pink spandex buns were working. \"I guess there's some bright spots, though...\"\n\n\"Focus!\" Nat crested over the hill and leaned forward, rocketing down the other side. \"We've gotta get to our friends as fast as we can, or who knows what'll happen to them!\"\n\nThe drill-haired fem sighed and squinted as the wind rushed past her face, following closely. \"Are you sure you're not just hungry for a Double Dictator?\"\n\n\"I'm [i]starving![/i] As soon as I know everyone's safe, I'm tearing into one!\" She braced for a small incline halfway down... and that was when they spotted them.\n\nMonsters.\n\nA dozen or so humanoid creatures waited at the bottom of the hill, illuminated in the interspersed lighting. Covered in rough burgundy flesh, their eyes peeked out from under their necks, large cyclopean orbs that stared out with grey sclera and a pinpoint pupil in the center. They had been loosely congregating in some kind of low, muttering trance, but upon spotting the duo, their moaning discordant chant greatly grew in volume.\n\nNat slid a leg out, pushing the toe-brakes as hard as she could, the smell of burning synthetics filling her nose as they squealed in protest. She stopped, however, fifteen feet from the droning mob... before Carrie slammed into her from behind, her inexperience with the things sending them both piling to the ground. \n\n\"Ungh...\" Natalie groaned, looking up at the strange creatures gathering around them at a slow but threatening pace. \"... If they don't tear into us first!\"\n\nOne of their attackers grabbed Carrie by the leg and began dragging her away by it- an action that was beginning to annoy the cat with its repetition that day. She kicked and swept with her other leg, and although it grunted in protest, it did not let go. \"Crap! Give it up, meat-face!\" \n\nNat turned her head to see her swimsuited girlfriend being dragged along the ground, then turned the other way, spotting a similar creature trying to do the same to her. \"Uh-uh, NO!\" Bringing her knees to her chest, the wolf girl rocked backward onto her shoulder blades and shoved her legs out, slamming her pink sneakers sole-first into the thing's torso. It fell backward with a strained grunting cough, allowing her to click her heels together, ejecting the skate shoes off of her sneakers, and stand back on her feet.\n\nThe snow-colored cat had tired of futilely kicking her foe, and instead had turned around in its grip enough to face it. She grabbed her legs and used them as leverage to pull herself into a sitting-up position, the midwalk driving that swimsuit up her butt in the worst wedgie she'd ever endured. \"Nngh! I am about...\" She grabbed one of its arms and lifted herself up. \"... To ruin...\" Her hand gripped its shoulder, then the other, as she grimaced angrily at its visage. \"... Your whole fucking day.\" With that, she drew back and [i]slammed[/i] her forehead into its face, sending it reeling back and dropping her like a hot brick.\n\nNarrowly avoiding a big, clumsy swing of an arm, the teen wolf ducked a bit, stepped to the side and delivered a high-low-and-middle punch combination to her new assailant's torso. Stunned, it nonetheless began to recover without any sign of stopping. \"HAH!\" She turned and delivered a roundhouse kick to its... neck? Regardless of anatomical precision, the attack brought it down. Another was coming up fast.\n\nHaving discarded her own skate shoes, Carrie now stood on her own two feet and was throwing punches left and right. A mighty swing downed one completely, a pair of hard jabs to the torso and a slam to the featureless face sent another reeling. She didn't pay attention, however, and a third swung its massive arm at her, hitting her face side-on. Her head turned from the force of the blow, her torso twisting in that direction... or did it? As soon as she reached the apex of that twist, she reversed the momentum and used her entire upper body to swing a return blow right into the side of her attacker's rough head, the sheer impact of which knocked it off of its feet and slammed into the midwalk. \"Haha! Fell for it just like Coul. These guys are pushovers!\"\n\n\"Stay alert!\" Nat insisted, muscles tensed in anticipation of their highly predictable but devastating blows. She'd already gotten slapped on the back by one at its first clumsy opportunity, and it stung hotly as a reminder to pay attention. The one she focused on reared its arm back for a sidelong sweep. Quickly jabbing it in the chest twice, she ducked under the swing and used her crouching position to drive into its 'chin' with an uppercut powered by her entire body. It made a loud greasy honking sound of surprise as its muddy feet left the ground and it fell like a wet bag of meat.\n\nCarrie wasn't fantastic at situational awareness, but she kept awake nonetheless. Fists raised, bouncing on her toes, she only regretted her bouncing breasts wouldn't gift her any distraction-fueled sucker punches this time. At least, she didn't think so, and wasn't exactly in the mood to ask. She felt her rear bump against something, and turning her head, she saw that it was... Natalie's rear. They looked at each other for a moment, then decided to solidify this, pushing up back to back. \n\n\"There were [i]not[/i] this many,\" Natalie said with a sense of assured urgency.\n\n\"There's more of them, a lot more,\" the catgirl grimly noted. \"And they're not staying down, damn it...\" After a moment of thought, she suddenly suggested, \"Carousel?\"\n\nHer partner nodded. \"Carousel.\"\n\nAs the group began to close in again, Carrie turned toward Natalie and gripped her by the chest and rump, lifting her up with her jumping assistance. Hefting the girl sidelong, she began to turn, quickly turning the action into a rapid spin. Natalie's legs powerfully kicked at anyone daring to close with them in the radius of her furious feet. The effects were more than just injuring- their assailants fell backward, causing their cyclopean brethren to fall as well, and so on.\n\nNatalie landed and cheered. \"That was awesome! That move actually works!\" Her celebration was cut short, however, as she saw their opponents getting up to shuffle toward them once more. \"There's... too many of them! We've gotta get out of here!\" She pushed Carrie away from the mob, managing to get the cat through a gap in the ranks before it closed. \n\n\"Natalie!\"\n\n\"Go!\" She yelled, before spotting a bench. \"Ah-ha!\" Ducking out of the reaching grasp of one of the monsters, she dashed for it, stepped on the seat, balanced her foot on the back edge, and leapt off of it. Her trajectory took her toward another of the shufflers, but she extended a leg and drove it to the ground with a flying kick to the chest. She hopped off and grabbed Carrie's hand. \"Gogogo! Run! Come on!\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nThunder rumbled through the sky, punctuating the light drizzle that eventually turned into a heavy downpour. Lightning flashed and highlighted the damaged city of Locksmouth.\n\n\"It's worse than I imagined...\" Natalie whispered, hunkered down under a cafe awning, sitting on the steps. \n\n\"Locksmouth is w-wrecked,\" Carrie agreed. \"Whoever did this is g-gonna pay, [i]big[/i] time.\" She frowned angrily.\n\n\"That's what's been buzzing in the back of my mind this whole time.\" The hooded teenager hugged her girlfriend tightly to share some warmth and calm her chattering teeth. \"Who would do this? And why?\"\n\nCarrie stared out at the rain. \"Maybe they're... bio-weapons from a gene lab or something.\"\n\n\"No way, this many? Somebody would [i]have[/i] to have known. You can't hide those huge stompers.\"\n\n\"Those what?\"\n\n\"Stompers,\" she insisted. \"I don't know what they're really called. But it fits, right?\"\n\nThe cat nodded. \"Yeah. I guess we should give the other ones names, too, if there's more of them?\"\n\n\"Yeah. The all-arms thing that attacked me, I'm gonna call it a Crawler. The weird thing in the vent you told me about...?\"\n\n\"Grabber,\" she dubbed curtly. \"And the creepy cyclops guys?\"\n\n\"... Mm... Shufflers. The way they moved was eerie.\" She paused, then laughed softly. \"I don't think our friends are gonna give us points for creativity.\"\n\n\"Hey, we're the ones kicking the butts, here!\" Carrie replied indignantly. \"If they wanna start up a 'name the fugly monsters' committee, then let 'em.\"\n\nNat giggled. \"Yeah, that's fair.\" She looked out over the street's grassy expanse, noticing the precipitation had decreased. \"Hey, the rain's letting up, we should get to B-Dic's before it starts pouring again!\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nIt was raining outside. That was just what they needed. A bookish-looking ferret stared out the festive, logo-laden window of the fast-food restaurant he and his friends so often frequented. The dark night outside pelted the glass with torrential rain that seemingly ebbed and flowed. From his vantage point in the corner, Erwin looked about at the other occupants of the once cheerful hangout.\n\nMax and Samantha sat at a two-person booth, furiously typing on their PETs- presumably still talking back and forth with their parents. They had learned that their families were stuck back at the Residential Sector, which was locked down due to massive infrastructural damage. His parents were in the same situation, but talking about it would just make them panic more, he reasoned.\n\nLorna Grayswift, more colloquially known as Natalie's Mom, stood by the registers. She was still dressed in the labcoat she wore when she went to work at the Fabricatory, Locksmouth's central research, development and manufacturing facility. Her chestnut brown eyes darted this way and that, glazing over occasionally as she mulled over who-knows-what. \n\nCedric, Alliston and Coul took up the detached children's play place, looking out of sorts and surprisingly vulnerable. Al and Coul sat quite close for comfort at the mouth of a spiral slide, and even Cedric seemed more contemplative than anything as he sat on the floor, back braced against the shoe cubby corner. They discussed something inaudibly.\n\nOne Hugh and Margaret Oakenfield- Carrie's parents- were in the dining area opposite Officer Tisdale, sitting in a four-person booth. Hugh argued intently- his most prominent skill. \n\n\"Now, Mr. Oakenfield,\" the midnight-black panther's soothing basso resounded firmly, \"I can't just be going off half-cocked at every little-\"\n\n\"I know what your job is, Officer, and I know that the school is on your beat!\" His brows creased. \"You are responsible for going to find my daughter immediately!\"\n\n\"Yeah. If she's tardy at school.\" Tisdale replied dryly. \"This is a full-blown... sci-fi movie plot or something. Right now, my responsibility is to hold this place down in case other survivors need shelter.\"\n\n\"I'm warning you, Tisdale, I-\" \n\n\"Hugh, honestly!\" Margaret frowned. \"I'm worried about Carrie, too, but this isn't helping anybody. Officer Tisdale is doing his best. Right?\"\n\n\"Of course, ma'am.\" The panther smiled at the more reasonable of the two cats. \n\n\"Sh-... She'll be okay.\"\n\nErwin was standing before them. \"Natalie's with her.\"\n\nTisdale wore a comfortable, unpatronizing smirk. \"See? Nat 'n Carrie... they're plenty of things, but weak isn't one of 'em. Just have a little faith.\" He cleared his throat and turned. \"Speaking of which, am I gonna have to hope for divine intervention here, Lorna?\"\n\nThe wolf woman shot him a smirk. \"Nothing so drastic. I think I can get these machines up and running... I just need a hand back there.\"\n\n\"I can help, Dr. Natalie's Mom!\" His head popping up, Max climbed rambunctiously over the dining wall and gave a strange salute. \"I used to work nights here- ohhh the free Double Diccers...\" he salivated. \"Viva Dos Dictatores!\"\n\nShe laughed. \"Thanks, Max.\"\n\n\"I-I'll help you, too, Doctor Grayswift!\" Erwin walked up, an unusual eagerness in his voice.\n\nLorna smiled at the both of them. \"Well, now that I've got two strong, capable men on my side, I'll have this place up and running in no time.\" She took off her labcoat, rolled up her shirt sleeves and pulled up her jeans. \"Come on, boys!\" she invited, pulling herself onto the counter and sliding over to the employee side. \"We've got a job to do!\"\n\nErwin watched the thirty-something scientist slide over the counter and, after his heart skipped a beat, followed suit as if he'd found a new purpose in life. \n\nOfficer Tisdale smiled, more inside than outside. The work was good- Grayswift was even smarter than she looked. Any distraction from grim, uncertain reality was a welcome one. He gazed back to the play place... where was the punk raccoon kid?\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nCoul slunk through the playroom door soundlessly, then sat back down next to Alliston. \"They're working on getting the food going.\"\n\n\"Good! Gawd, I'm staaarving!\" the vixen whined. \"What I wouldn't give for a great, big, juicy Double Diccy...\"\n\nThe raccoon shook his head. \"What I wouldn't give to know what's going on...\" He shivered. \"This is crazy.\"\n\n\"We can figure it out [i]after[/i] we eat.\" Alliston folded her arms. \"They probably won't share any with us.\" Her frown deepened bitterly.\n\n\"They have to! This is bigger than school. This-...\" Coul blinked and looked over to Cedric, who had been oddly quiet since they'd arrived. \"Cedric? What's up?\"\n\nThe badger snapped out of his trance. \"Huh? Oh. I don't care. Whatever.\"\n\nHis two cohorts exchanged looks. \"What's the matter?\" Alliston ventured, expecting an insult or a snappy comeback.\n\nHe stared ahead. \"I just... Something bothers me about this.\"\n\nConfused, Coul blinked repeatedly. \"Uhhh... [i]yeah[/i], Cedge, this whole 'monsters out of nowhere' thing bothers [i]everybody[/i].\"\n\n\"Rngh,\" Cedric grunted. \"No, fool, I mean-... it's like-..... Ugh, nevermind.\"\n\nThere was a long silence. \"... Well, whatever.\" The vixen smiled lackadaisically, shrugging. \"We'll figure it out soon enough, right?\"\n\n\"Sure!\" Coul agreed.\n\nThey were interrupted by a grease and grit-covered wolf woman pushing open the door with a not-insubstantial amount of rear end. In her hands she carried a tray full of food- burgers, fries, even a few diminutive cookies, interspersed by drinks. \"Hi there, kids. Hungry?\"\n\nThe raccoon and vixen answered in the affirmative with much enthusiasm, grabbing hands, and food-muffled thanks as they sat at a small table. Famished as they were, it was a few bites in before they even remembered to open the aroma packets in the wrapping. The badger looked toward the window, a bitter frown on his face.\n\n\"... Cedric?\" Lorna ventured. \"There's enough for you, too.\"\n\nHe put up a good face... but his stomach rumbled too loudly for him to keep it up. He winced and reached for a particularly tall burger, then looked up at Lorna. \"... You're Natalie's mother.\"\n\n\"The very same,\" she nodded.\n\n\"... Don't think this settles things between her and I.\"\n\nThe scientist chuckled a little and shook her head. \"A Triple Dictator and a small Carbolate, a treaty does not make. But... I really have to say, Cedric... my daughter is very easy to get along with. You might even be friends if you cooled it on this 'arch-nemesis' thing. Goodness knows I'd be saved the paperwork and visits to the school.\"\n\n\".... The hatred runs too deep. She had her chance to stop interfering.\" He shut his eyes and wrinkled his nose grimly.\n\n\"Heh. Alright. ...Enjoy your food.\" Without another word, she left.\n\nThe badger shook his head, then looked up to his compatriots, who were nearly done with their respective meals. \"Ugh, really?? Do you have [i]any[/i] unrepulsive traits?\"\n\n\"Aw, lay off, Cedge,\" Coul said between handfuls of fries. \"We're famished! I'm only human, here.\"\n\n\"Woefully less,\" Cedric quipped. \"And I suppose after this, you'll be fornicating like wild beasts?\"\n\n\"It's hard for us!\" whined Alliston. \"Only weirdos wanna OC with girls who beat 'em up. And you never let us go to parties! I mean don't get me wrong, Coul's my partner of last resort, but-\"\n\n\"Oh, gee, thanks.\" The raccoon rolled his eyes. \"But she's right. We never get a chance to have fun with anybody else.\"\n\nCedric sighed. \"You don't [i]need[/i] anybody else.\"\n\n\"Y'know...\" Alliston glanced down. \"This whole thing has me wondering if there's gonna be another party... or anything. And... there's always room for three, Cedgie.\" She smiled from under her pirate-style bandana, arching her back to show off her modest figure.\n\n\"That's the most vile thing I could never imagine,\" the badger shook his head. \"I'm going for a walk. Maybe the rain will seep into my brain and wash that image out.\" He left, half-eaten burger in hand.\n\nA long, chewing silence passed. The two of them looked at each other, then at the slide. A grin grew on Alliston's face, then on Coul's.\n\nThe satiated troublemakers began climbing the wrong way up the slide, giggling mischievously.\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\n\"Why did you let him leave, Tisdale??\" Demanded one Hugh Oakenfield, irritated and taking out his frustrations on the uniformed officer as they both stood near the drink dispenser.\n\n\"Cedric?\" He asked, incredulous. \"Mr. Oakenfield, that young man is the biggest source of raw trouble I've ever seen wear women's jeans. You should count yourself lucky the boy's gone out for some fresh air. Besides, he's just 'round the back.\"\n\n\"I'm getting tired of your excuses!\" The cat's nose wrinkled. \"You're just an ineffective loafer in a uniform! I pay your salary!\"\n\n\"And if we survive long enough to collect my next deposit, I might say I'm sorry,\" the panther deadpanned.\n\nHugh shook with anger. \"My daughter is out there in the rain, probably besieged by whatever it is that's caused all this damage, and you're cracking jokes?!\"\n\nThe feline officer narrowed his eyes. \"If you don't calm down, I'm gonna have to get out my neurod, and neither one of us is gonna like it!\"\n\n\"Don't you threaten me!! I've worked harder than anybody here, I don't have to justify myself to anyone!\"\n\n\"HEY!\"\n\nEveryone's eyes fixed on Lorna.\n\n\"No, Hugh. You haven't worked hard.\" She folded her arms. \"All you've done is yell and demand and put everybody else on edge. Tisdale's maintained the perimeter, the kids and I got the food ready, and all poor Margaret's been doing is keep you from freaking out on everyone.\"\n\nThe feline drew a breath to say something.\n\n\"Stop it,\" Lorna insisted. \"Now.\"\n\nHugh's shoulders sunk as Erwin, Sam and Max looked on awkwardly. \"I...\" His fists clenched. \"Why am I the bad guy?? I just want my daughter back!\"\n\nNatalie's mother sighed deeply. \"So do I... so do I. But we've got to keep it together. Set an example. Alright?\"\n\nMr. Oakenfield shook for a moment, and Mrs. Oakenfield came to his side, embracing him... calming his nerves. \"This is too much for me. I... I'm going to sit down for a while.\"\n\n\"... You may want to wait on that!\" Samantha exclaimed, staring at a pair of silhouettes approaching the door.\n\nA pair of teenaged girls, black, white and wet all over, walked in the door of the Burger Dictator.\n\n\"Carrie!\"\n\"Natalie!!\"\n\"You're all right!\"\n\"I can't believe it!\"\n\nThe mob descended on them. Hugs, tears of relief, joyful laughter- all were exchanged.\n\nAll while a lone badger watched from the outside.\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\n\"Wait a minute. So you got stepped on, for realsies??\"\n\nThe incredulous question came from an overexcited Max- though nobody could deny the surge of energy that had come with Nat and Carrie's arrival. The two of them had practically had food dumped on them, and they weren't refusing a single bite. Natalie took a great big whiff of an aroma packet, then chomped an equally large bite of her Triple Dictator- one more layer than asked for. \"Mmm-mm~!\"\n\n\"Yeah.\" Carrie had a small, down-to-Earth smile about herself. \"I'm sorry I hid it from you guys, but I've had the power to laugh off impacts for a long time. I didn't want to be a freak.\"\n\n\"That makes total sense,\" Erwin reasoned. \"You've always been far tougher than should be possible for your... um.\" He adjusted his glasses. \"Build.\"\n\nThe cat laughed. \"Yeah. I can accept that, I think. I just hope things aren't weird now...\" She withdrew a little into the hoodie Nat had put on her when it started raining, and stared down at the pink skull on it. Stretched much bigger by her bust than Natalie's, its rounded countenance almost seemed to smile up at her.\n\n\"Hey.\" Sam smiled, holding Max and Erwin close to her. \"Honestly, could it get much weirder than this?\"\n\nEveryone laughed. Natalie swallowed another big bite of her burger, picked up a loose handful of fries, shoved those in her mouth- losing one down the front of her thin-strapped black undershirt, then digging for it and joining it with its friends- and hiccuped, wincing.\n\n\"Holy cow, Sugarbutt, are you gonna have any [i]air[/i] with your meal?\" Carrie smirked, patting her girlfriend on the back.\n\n\"I've been fighting around the town on a Carbolate, I don't know how you're not starving!\" She retorted defensively.\n\n\"Oh. That.\" She shrugged with a smile. \"I stole Erwin's lunch.\"\n\nThe ferret boy balked. \"What?! Again??\"\n\n\"You didn't even take it to lunch, goofbag!\" She smirked sternly. \n\n\"I... I was trying to get a good seat,\" he offered.\n\n\"Yeah, you were!\" Nat gulped down another set of fries. \"So you could get a good look at Shelly Iverson's [i]massive[/i] titties.\" She rolled her eyes and cocked her head forward for emphasis.\n\nCarrie shook her head as Erwin blushed. \"Those are so fake.\"\n\n\"Nope!\" her girlfriend denied. \"I have volleyball with her. They're as real as yours.\"\n\n\"No way!\" Max shook his head in disbelief.\n\n\"Oh yes way.\" Nat was having a good time with this. \"And she was supposed to get down to pastics at this next party.\"\n\n\"Sh-Shelly Iverson... OCing... in her understickers...\" The ferret boy's eyes glazed over.\n\nThe bow-haired girl hmphed. \"She's not that amazing.\" \n\n\"Haha, whatever!\" Nat grinned.\n\n\"What??\"\n\n\"I don't get jealous when you pat Vanessa Lacmire on the butt.\" She arched a brow, pointing at her with the remainder of her burger.\n\n\"I'm not jealous! And that's just good sportsmanship.\"\n\n\"She's always on the [i]other team[/i].\" The wolf shook her head, snickering. \"And I don't see you doing it to Ruth Ginnsborough or Gus McMacky.\"\n\nLorna looked on at the group of friends, smiling, laughing. She only regretted that she had to break the mood. \"Kids?\"\n\nThey looked up at her expectantly.\n\n\"It's getting on in the night. Carrie, I recharged your PET.\" She handed the ornate little device to its owner.\n\n\"Yes!\" She grinned and traded a look with Natalie. \"Thanks, Ms. G.\" \n\n\"No problem. Margaret and I raided the emergency kit, and we found some rollout sleeping pads that can be inflated.\" She shifted her weight to one foot. \"We only found about four between all of us, so unfortunately there's going to have to be some sharing of bed space.\"\n\n\"It's cool!\" piped up Max. \"I sleep in the booths here anyway, it's like home!\"\n\n\"Alright, that's... odd, but okay.\" The scientist nodded despite her confusion.\n\nMargaret spoke up. \"I'm sorry to be a bother, but I'm afraid, children, that I must insist that Hugh gets one- he has a bit of a back problem, and sleeping on the floor would be-... well. We'll share it, of course.\"\n\n\"So that's one for Mr. and Mrs. Oakenfield...\" Lorna counted. \"Coul and Alliston will probably want one... I think we all agree Cedric should get his own, just in case he doesn't want to sleep near any of the rest of us...\"\n\nThe dripping-wet badger boy, standing in the corner, hmphed, while the others generally agreed with this.\n\n\"I'm hoping to get one myself, truth be told, I'm exhausted...\" She reported with an apologetic shrug. \"But I guess I could-\"\n\n\"You can have mine!\" Erwin butted in. \"I'll sleep on the floor.\"\n\nSamantha shook her head. \"Don't be silly. We'll share one.\"\n\nHe sputtered. \"B-.. Wh-... Really?\"\n\n\"It's a desperate situation, Erwin,\" Sam reasoned, teasing her hair. \"Besides, we're the two smallest here, it would be feasible.\" She whispered, \"Plus, I just don't want to sleep alone...\"\n\nErwin blushed, but nodded resolutely. \"Uh... Yeah. If that's okay.\"\n\nLorna paused, looking up at Natalie. \"Oh! I'm sorry, sweetie. That doesn't leave one for you and Carrie. You can have-\"\n\n\"Don't worry about it, Mom.\" The wolf girl smirked resolutely. \"You take the last one. Carrie and I will sleep in the play room.\"\n\nThe older woman blinked, then folded her arms. \"Ah-huh.\" A raise of the brow and a smirk graced her face. \"Is that the plan?\"\n\nNatalie would have normally retorted with something witty, but instead she just gave her mother a plaintive, tired look.\n\nLorna's smile faltered. It wasn't a night to be strict with them. Nobody knew what the next day would hold... or even if there might be a next day... and everyone knew it. She nodded. \"Go on, you two. Officer Tisdale's taking first watch, so... we should all get a good night's rest and... talk about what to do next in the morning.\"\n\nSounds of agreement filled the room, and soon everyone was either trying to get comfortable in their respective places, inflating roll out beds, or cleaning up the leftover food.\n\nNat and Carrie made their way over to the play room. As the soundproof door clicked shut, they noted how quiet it was- no small children to run about and yell about their favorite toys, no parents to call after them, no playing to be had. \n\nCarrie took a deep breath of the cool night air that had come in from the vent... and genuinely skipped over to the set of tiny spiral stairs meant to scale the massive playfort. \"Catch me if you can!\" She giggled as she ran up the steps in her aquasocks.\n\nHer girlfriend's red eyes narrowed as her grin broadened, and she grabbed the cat's tail. \"Easy!\"\n\n\"Aww, you always did cheat!\" Complained the snow-white feline before pulling her tail out of Natalie's grip and hurrying up the rest of the stairs. \"But it won't work this time!\" Their mutual giggling started up again as one chased the other up the big whimsical construction. \n\nNatalie saw her girlfriend reach the top of a tiny ladder, bend over and crawl into a festive series of tubes. She followed suit, scrambling into the first tube and watching a long, white tail disappear down the right of the two paths. \"Hah, I see you! Gonna getcha~!\" She turned the corner, hearing a frantic giggling squeal come from... below? Yes. She slid down and out of the tube she was in to pursue in the one directly below it. \"I'm gonna get you!\" she promised, crawling on all fours with darting eyes. \"And when I do, I'm gonna pull off your top, and I'm gonna motorboat your big ol' titties [u]so[/u] good, just you wait!\" She turned another corner, and looked up and down another vertical shaft. Down? Up? The wolf girl turned around, looking quizzically and trying to sniff out Carrie's scent.\n\n\"Oh, you mean like this??\" Carrie grinned from up top, grabbed Nat's thighs and buried her face between her girlfriend's plush cheeks, blowing a raspberry on the tight pink fabric and tickling the dickens out of her!\n\n\"AAAH!\" Natalie squealed, bumping her head. \"Ow!\" She laughed, turning around to pursue her, crawling up the top tunnel and after the cat. \"There's nowhere to run!\"\n\nThe white kitty looked this way and that. Drat, it was true; the only remaining place to go was the tube that emptied into the ball pit. Still, there was a spiteful streak in her today, and she wasn't about to give her the satisfaction. \"Says you!\" And with that, she dove into the pit of colorful, kid-safe, self-cleaning spheres with a dull clattering. \n\n\"You're a dork!\" Nat laughed, diving after her, landing right next to her in the pit. They both surfaced... and broke out in a fit of giggles at the ridiculous chase. \"Oh, wow... just like when we were kids.\"\n\n\"Yeah...\" Carrie agreed. \"Only we're not kids anymore.\" A soft smile came over her face.\n\n\"Nope. Not anymore.\" The wolf girl swam toward her lover in the inflatable corner of the festive pit, and pushed her own body against her, arms searching for her kitty's warm body. They embraced loosely. Natalie pressed her lips against Carrie's. \n\nThey kissed. Eyes closed, their soft lips met over and over in a slow, steady rhythm of healing assurance. Carrie shivered. Natalie squeezed her lovingly, hot breath blowing over her neck. \"Mmn...\" Natalie's red eyes gazed into Carrie's as she rubbed noses ever so gently with her lover. \"You're so... comfortable.\"\n\n\"We fit. It works.\" The cat put it simply, purring with delight. \"You're mom's in the other room.\"\n\nA mischievous chuckling grin overcame the dark canine. \"My mom's always in the other room.\" She took a breath, and matter-of-factly retorted \"Oral Code nine-two-seven-one. Sensitivity Profile 'boobiecakes.'\"\n\n\"Oral Code three-six-five-eight,\" Carrie replied in a sultry lilt. \"Sensitivity Profile 'sugarbutt.'\"\n\nTheir PETs chirped obediently, and they both gasped in unison as a flood of sensations washed through them. Their understickers' resonance fields had increased greatly, and even through their clothes, it was as if the two lovers were rubbing bare flesh against flesh. Natalie shivered and began to slide forward and lift her upper back, a sort of pseudo-thrust. Her girlfriend's eyes glazed as she looked upward and felt her own hips moving a bit out of pure need. \n\nNat's hands met Carrie's, grasping each other and titillating the senses as their palms rubbed with the struggle of love. A breath was held, their lips met again, desperate, aching. As they ran out of air, their furtive whines of pleasure erupted into a gasp for the refreshing night's breath, each of them arched back as if surfacing from the murky ocean. Carrie's azure eyes gave Natalie a pleading look, and the wolf immediately took the cat in her arms. One hand spread across her upper back, the other across the lower, both of them pulled Carrie closer and pressed their sensitive breasts together as they tightly thrust.\n\nNatalie's urge, Carrie's need, the two of them clashed together again and again, like ocean waves crashing against each other, surging and building for a short eternity- the pleasure building and waning, climbing and falling and stacking and stacking and [i]stacking[/i] some more until...\n\nThey shook in each other's arms. Their bodies trembled, and within a minute, it was over. They collapsed in a familiar, comfortable position, Natalie's arms wrapped loosely around Carrie's chest as she held her close, breathing into the girl's powder blue hair. Sleep found them warmly.\n\n - \n- - \n -\n\n\"Mmnh... hm?\"\n\nNatalie awoke in the mess of colorful spheres, a bit groggy. Her arms found no purchase- apparently Carrie was already up and had left the ball pit. This was a bit strange, considering that it was about four in the morning. \n\nClumsily swimming out of the sea of festive orbs, Natalie reached the opening in the net 'wall' and climbed out, stretching. Carrie'd probably gotten up to use the bathroom, she reasoned. \"Ungh. Thirsty...\" She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and opened the playroom door.\n\nThe silence was the first thing to hit her. It was eerie, vacuous... like the school. Nat looked around on the floor, and while there were rollouts... her friends were absent. \"Guys?\" She ventured quietly, walking around. \"Mom?\" The wolf girl looked at all the empty makeshift beds, then walked toward the front counter. \"Carrie...?\"\n\n\"Nope.\"\n\nHer heart leapt into her throat, and she whirled around, seeing nothing. Her eyes darted left, right, even upward.\n\n\"Just me.\"\n\nA creeping feeling sunk deep into Natalie's gut as her eyes slowly fell to the floor. Her shadow was... smiling at her. It slowly faded from black into bright, fluorescent pink, and somehow rose from the floor. Her brows knit together. \"What the f-...\"\n\n\"Watch your mouth!\" Giggled a voice far too similar to her own, emitted from a form almost perfectly molded to her own- if she were made of uniformly pink goo.\n\n\"What-\" before she could finish the question, a distressingly firm pink fist raised itself and slammed into her nose, sending her sailing backward onto the counter. \"Ungh!\" The back of her head smacked into the hard counter top, and she held a hand to her nose, pain shooting up her face.\n\nSeeing the girl's legs curling out of instinct, the gelatinous body double backhanded Nat's rear- a squeak of surprise escaping her- and sent her careening off the counter, flipping over backward and landing face-down on the tiled floor. \"Aahhnnngh...\" She writhed, scrambling quickly to her feet. \"Wh-what are you?!\"\n\nHer semi-solid doppelganger had made her way onto the counter and dropped down beside her. A pink arm swung from the left, Nat painfully blocked with her own. The other swung, again she blocked. It grabbed her wrists and grinned, its amorphous mouth cartoonishly embellished. \"Hungry.\"\n\nNatalie struggled to break its grip, finally raising a foot and slamming it into the thing's torso, separating them. \"Hngh!\" She fell on her backside, then rose as quickly as she could. The thing was gone. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and by the time she whirled around, a fist came for her jaw. It hit hard, solidly connecting and sending her head aside. Nat shook off the pain and sent an angry volley of blows toward her attacker, fists hitting its chest, eyes and chin. It was like punching the ocean. She made purchase, but just barely. A strange sound emitted from-... it was laughing at her. It laughed the most jolly laugh no monster ever should, as Natalie saw her reflection in its liquid chest. Her hair mussed, her nose bleeding, her face scraped. It was the look of desperation.\n\nGnashing her teeth and growling, the wolf girl kicked her attack up to maximum. She threw punch after punch, putting everything she had into each blow. Her fists splashed on the surface of its flesh, rippling across its form. It laughter echoed louder throughout the dark eatery. Her muscles cried out for mercy even as she pushed them harder. Finally, a cry of rage flew from her, and she sent her left arm into its chest with force unseen. Her fist shattered it completely, popping her doppleganger like a water balloon and splattering it across half the kitchen in a big, pink mess.\n\nNatalie panted, her arm quivering. \"Uh?\" She looked down and saw that the arm that dealt the finishing blow had a strange black arm bracer on it. She gasped and looked up at her double's pink and black visage frowning disdainfully at her, whole once more. It picked her up by the neck, ripped the bracer off of her arm, looked at it and threw it away. \"You're not that strong.\"\n\nIt swung around and slammed her into the steel freezer door. Her entire body made unpleasant popping sounds. \"Ngh!!\" Nat struggled as she was pulled away, then slammed back into it again, sickening cracks resounding throughout her body in a cascade of pain. A feeling of dread filled her as she looked at the blood on the door and realized the truth: she wasn't going to make it through another one. \"Nngh... wh-what do you want...?\" She asked weakly, glaring through one eye as it removed something small and purple from her pocket.\n\n\"Everything, Natalie.\"\n\nThe door rushed at her.\n\n\"E v e r y t h i n g .\"\n\n - \n- - \n -", "writing_bbcode_parsed": ""I just don't get it."

Carrie looked up and to the side, watching her girlfriend use her PET to shine ultraviolet light on a bloody scrape across her cheek. "Get what?" They'd walked back into the locker room that she'd changed in to get warm and treat Carrie's wounds... which were minor and seemed entirely cosmetic.

"How you survived," Natalie supplied. "Whatever that thing was that smashed you... totally destroyed everything else. The bench, the concrete, I mean... look at the school..." She gestured to indicate the destruction that had taken place in that very building, a worried look about her as she stuck a band-aid across her lover's cheek, then kissed it, as if to seal its healing properties. "Carrie, I love you, but... I'm not sure you should be alive right now."

"Yeah..." The catgirl took a deep breath and shook her head, gazing down at her feet. "Nothing makes sense anymore..."

Natalie pursed her lips. "... Carrie. I know this sounds... crazy. But..."

"... But what?" She guardedly creased a brow.

"... I..." The canine girl's red eyes looked into Carrie's with excited wonder. "... I think you might have superpowers."

"..." The cat girl's stern look cracked, and she smiled. "You'll do anything to make me laugh."

"I'm serious!" Nat protested, gaining a roll of the eyes from her girlfriend. "Look... you remember the crash, right??"

Carrie tried to remain neutral. "... Sure. I was 10. There was a traffic accident."

"You got hit by a PeTra," She specified. "Thrown fourteen feet, too. When they checked you out, not a single broken bone. No lacerations, cuts, not even a deep bruise."

"... Really?" She blinked, confused. "I remember being more hurt than that. Are you sure? I mean, it was a personal trans, but-"

Natalie nodded. "I read the doctor's report. You came out of what should've been a fatal accident without a scratch."

It was true. Now that Carrie thought about it, she'd been in and out of the hospital within the hour. "... Okay. I got really lucky. It doesn't mean I'm invulnerable."

"You're right," The ebony girl conceded. "That alone doesn't. But do you remember the time Max did a jump with his bike and hit the back of your head?"

"Yeah, that little punk. He's lucky I don't hit boys."

"Cedric's a boy," She countered.

"Have you seen those pants? He has no dick. Do you know he's never OCed once?"

Nat blinked. "What?? Not even with-"

"Nope! Talked to her. Not even one time, ever."

"... Gawd. No wonder he's such a piss-bucket." She shook her head. "But! Speaking of Cedric! How many fights have we gotten in with him?"

"Aw, tons." She leaned back against a locker, smiling fondly.

"And how many times has he really hurt you?"

"Pffft, zero! He's a total wuss." She actually giggled at the thought.

"No, Carrie." Natalie took on a grim visage. "He isn't. His punches hurt. They hurt me, they hurt our friends- I'm still sore from this morning. But they don't hurt you."

The cat stared back, seeming almost... furious. A long moment passed. "... Okay. Let's put this to bed once and for all." She stood up, faced Natalie, took a deep breath and braced. "Hit me."

"Hit you?? But I-"

"As hard as you can, Natalie. If you really believe you're right, you'll prove it."

Natalie's muscles turned to jelly as she attempted to stand. "Carrie... not five minutes ago, I thought you might be dead, I'm just not-"

She was insistent. "Do it!"

The wolf girl took a deep breath. She needed to be strong, to prove it to her. "I..." Her fist clenched. "... Can't..."

The cat stood, stone-faced.

"I can't." She shook her head. "I can't hit you. Not after all this. I can't bring myself to do anything like that to you, even if I know you'll be fine. If you don't trust me, then... I guess..."

"Wait." Carrie's strained, small voice surrendered. "I-... I do trust you, Natalie. And... you're right. I just..." She gave a long, drawn-out sigh. "I just didn't want you to be right."

Nat blinked. "Carrie...?"

"It doesn't hurt. It never has." Her face blank, she stared at the opposite wall. "I'm not normal. I ignored it all this time because I didn't want to believe it... but there's... there's something wrong with me." She turned to Natalie, eyes glistening as she clenched her fist and frowned.

"Wrong??" Natalie shook her head, confused. "What do you mean?? This is amazing!" She smiled. "This is just like in the games we played when we were kids, but for real! Like we've always wanted!"

"Like you've always wanted." Carrie shook her head sadly. "Nat, I was okay with being a small-time celebrity at school, but... this is really different. I can't be this... superhero, or, whatever. It's not who I am."

Natalie swallowed hard, then stared at her. "... You're wrong."

"Huh?"

"It's exactly who you are." Nat put a hand on her troubled kitten's shoulder. "You're tough, you're vigilant, and you've got a good heart." Her arms slid around Carrie's chest. "You defend people you care about."

"I just do that because we do it together..." She replied weakly.

"Come ooon..." Natalie gave her a squeezing hug from behind. "No you don't."

The snow-white young woman sighed and sagged in her lover's grip. "I'm just..."

"... Scared?" Natalie ventured.

"Yeah..." She breathed.

"Me, too. I'm scared out of my mind, actually." A nervous laugh echoed through the locker room. "But I promised that if fate would just give you back to me... I'd be brave."

"... I know I'm usually the tough one," Carrie looked up, the back of her head pushed against her girlfriend's chest. "... But... this isn't anything I'm used to."

"Don't worry." Nat smiled. "I'll take it from here. You can be my sidekick!"

The tension in Carrie's stomach unclenched, and she laughed. "Wait, sidekick??"

The dark wolf toothily grinned. "Yeah! My respectable, wonderful girlfriend by day..."

"Uh-huh."

"My sexy sidekick by night..."

She sputtered, laughing. "Yeah?"

The wolf grinned toothily. "... And my... adorable lover by breakfast." She went from talking to growling the last part, loosely biting one of the cat's ears between top teeth and lip, holding her tightly.

Carrie blushed brightly, her heart thumping. Nat was talking in that special way she did only in... certain moments. It did things to her. "O-Okay~" She smiled widely, face flush.

"Great." Natalie cooed gently and kissed her on the forehead. "Now let's get out of here. Our friends need us, and we can do this. Partners?"

The cat girl paused a moment before nodding, a barely visible smile on her face. "Partners."

With that, they left the warmth and safety of the locker room.

 -
- -
 -

"We've gotta hurry!"

Signs, trees, grass and buildings whizzed by quickly as the two girls rolled downhill and away from their school building. They'd commandeered two pairs of skate shoes from the Dodgevolley Team- Natalie knew a girl who played- and were now barreling down the midwalk, the paved space meant for pedestrians. The only paved part of the city other than the bases of buildings, its hills rose mightily and made the journey a difficult one.

"Ugh, I'd rather be taking the mass tran!" Carrie complained as she hunkered down for stability, whizzing past trees and benches.

The dark canine shook her head, reaching a higher hill than momentum would take them up, and leaned forward, using the toe grips to tread up the hill. "Not happening! If the school is that badly damaged, I can only imagine what a nightmare the tran would be."

"There's no part of this that isn't nightmarish," the cat girl sighed, grunting to get up the hill behind Natalie, a bit distracted as she looked up to see just how hard her girlfriend's pink spandex buns were working. "I guess there's some bright spots, though..."

"Focus!" Nat crested over the hill and leaned forward, rocketing down the other side. "We've gotta get to our friends as fast as we can, or who knows what'll happen to them!"

The drill-haired fem sighed and squinted as the wind rushed past her face, following closely. "Are you sure you're not just hungry for a Double Dictator?"

"I'm starving! As soon as I know everyone's safe, I'm tearing into one!" She braced for a small incline halfway down... and that was when they spotted them.

Monsters.

A dozen or so humanoid creatures waited at the bottom of the hill, illuminated in the interspersed lighting. Covered in rough burgundy flesh, their eyes peeked out from under their necks, large cyclopean orbs that stared out with grey sclera and a pinpoint pupil in the center. They had been loosely congregating in some kind of low, muttering trance, but upon spotting the duo, their moaning discordant chant greatly grew in volume.

Nat slid a leg out, pushing the toe-brakes as hard as she could, the smell of burning synthetics filling her nose as they squealed in protest. She stopped, however, fifteen feet from the droning mob... before Carrie slammed into her from behind, her inexperience with the things sending them both piling to the ground.

"Ungh..." Natalie groaned, looking up at the strange creatures gathering around them at a slow but threatening pace. "... If they don't tear into us first!"

One of their attackers grabbed Carrie by the leg and began dragging her away by it- an action that was beginning to annoy the cat with its repetition that day. She kicked and swept with her other leg, and although it grunted in protest, it did not let go. "Crap! Give it up, meat-face!"

Nat turned her head to see her swimsuited girlfriend being dragged along the ground, then turned the other way, spotting a similar creature trying to do the same to her. "Uh-uh, NO!" Bringing her knees to her chest, the wolf girl rocked backward onto her shoulder blades and shoved her legs out, slamming her pink sneakers sole-first into the thing's torso. It fell backward with a strained grunting cough, allowing her to click her heels together, ejecting the skate shoes off of her sneakers, and stand back on her feet.

The snow-colored cat had tired of futilely kicking her foe, and instead had turned around in its grip enough to face it. She grabbed her legs and used them as leverage to pull herself into a sitting-up position, the midwalk driving that swimsuit up her butt in the worst wedgie she'd ever endured. "Nngh! I am about..." She grabbed one of its arms and lifted herself up. "... To ruin..." Her hand gripped its shoulder, then the other, as she grimaced angrily at its visage. "... Your whole fucking day." With that, she drew back and slammed her forehead into its face, sending it reeling back and dropping her like a hot brick.

Narrowly avoiding a big, clumsy swing of an arm, the teen wolf ducked a bit, stepped to the side and delivered a high-low-and-middle punch combination to her new assailant's torso. Stunned, it nonetheless began to recover without any sign of stopping. "HAH!" She turned and delivered a roundhouse kick to its... neck? Regardless of anatomical precision, the attack brought it down. Another was coming up fast.

Having discarded her own skate shoes, Carrie now stood on her own two feet and was throwing punches left and right. A mighty swing downed one completely, a pair of hard jabs to the torso and a slam to the featureless face sent another reeling. She didn't pay attention, however, and a third swung its massive arm at her, hitting her face side-on. Her head turned from the force of the blow, her torso twisting in that direction... or did it? As soon as she reached the apex of that twist, she reversed the momentum and used her entire upper body to swing a return blow right into the side of her attacker's rough head, the sheer impact of which knocked it off of its feet and slammed into the midwalk. "Haha! Fell for it just like Coul. These guys are pushovers!"

"Stay alert!" Nat insisted, muscles tensed in anticipation of their highly predictable but devastating blows. She'd already gotten slapped on the back by one at its first clumsy opportunity, and it stung hotly as a reminder to pay attention. The one she focused on reared its arm back for a sidelong sweep. Quickly jabbing it in the chest twice, she ducked under the swing and used her crouching position to drive into its 'chin' with an uppercut powered by her entire body. It made a loud greasy honking sound of surprise as its muddy feet left the ground and it fell like a wet bag of meat.

Carrie wasn't fantastic at situational awareness, but she kept awake nonetheless. Fists raised, bouncing on her toes, she only regretted her bouncing breasts wouldn't gift her any distraction-fueled sucker punches this time. At least, she didn't think so, and wasn't exactly in the mood to ask. She felt her rear bump against something, and turning her head, she saw that it was... Natalie's rear. They looked at each other for a moment, then decided to solidify this, pushing up back to back.

"There were not this many," Natalie said with a sense of assured urgency.

"There's more of them, a lot more," the catgirl grimly noted. "And they're not staying down, damn it..." After a moment of thought, she suddenly suggested, "Carousel?"

Her partner nodded. "Carousel."

As the group began to close in again, Carrie turned toward Natalie and gripped her by the chest and rump, lifting her up with her jumping assistance. Hefting the girl sidelong, she began to turn, quickly turning the action into a rapid spin. Natalie's legs powerfully kicked at anyone daring to close with them in the radius of her furious feet. The effects were more than just injuring- their assailants fell backward, causing their cyclopean brethren to fall as well, and so on.

Natalie landed and cheered. "That was awesome! That move actually works!" Her celebration was cut short, however, as she saw their opponents getting up to shuffle toward them once more. "There's... too many of them! We've gotta get out of here!" She pushed Carrie away from the mob, managing to get the cat through a gap in the ranks before it closed.

"Natalie!"

"Go!" She yelled, before spotting a bench. "Ah-ha!" Ducking out of the reaching grasp of one of the monsters, she dashed for it, stepped on the seat, balanced her foot on the back edge, and leapt off of it. Her trajectory took her toward another of the shufflers, but she extended a leg and drove it to the ground with a flying kick to the chest. She hopped off and grabbed Carrie's hand. "Gogogo! Run! Come on!"

 -
- -
 -

Thunder rumbled through the sky, punctuating the light drizzle that eventually turned into a heavy downpour. Lightning flashed and highlighted the damaged city of Locksmouth.

"It's worse than I imagined..." Natalie whispered, hunkered down under a cafe awning, sitting on the steps.

"Locksmouth is w-wrecked," Carrie agreed. "Whoever did this is g-gonna pay, big time." She frowned angrily.

"That's what's been buzzing in the back of my mind this whole time." The hooded teenager hugged her girlfriend tightly to share some warmth and calm her chattering teeth. "Who would do this? And why?"

Carrie stared out at the rain. "Maybe they're... bio-weapons from a gene lab or something."

"No way, this many? Somebody would have to have known. You can't hide those huge stompers."

"Those what?"

"Stompers," she insisted. "I don't know what they're really called. But it fits, right?"

The cat nodded. "Yeah. I guess we should give the other ones names, too, if there's more of them?"

"Yeah. The all-arms thing that attacked me, I'm gonna call it a Crawler. The weird thing in the vent you told me about...?"

"Grabber," she dubbed curtly. "And the creepy cyclops guys?"

"... Mm... Shufflers. The way they moved was eerie." She paused, then laughed softly. "I don't think our friends are gonna give us points for creativity."

"Hey, we're the ones kicking the butts, here!" Carrie replied indignantly. "If they wanna start up a 'name the fugly monsters' committee, then let 'em."

Nat giggled. "Yeah, that's fair." She looked out over the street's grassy expanse, noticing the precipitation had decreased. "Hey, the rain's letting up, we should get to B-Dic's before it starts pouring again!"

 -
- -
 -

It was raining outside. That was just what they needed. A bookish-looking ferret stared out the festive, logo-laden window of the fast-food restaurant he and his friends so often frequented. The dark night outside pelted the glass with torrential rain that seemingly ebbed and flowed. From his vantage point in the corner, Erwin looked about at the other occupants of the once cheerful hangout.

Max and Samantha sat at a two-person booth, furiously typing on their PETs- presumably still talking back and forth with their parents. They had learned that their families were stuck back at the Residential Sector, which was locked down due to massive infrastructural damage. His parents were in the same situation, but talking about it would just make them panic more, he reasoned.

Lorna Grayswift, more colloquially known as Natalie's Mom, stood by the registers. She was still dressed in the labcoat she wore when she went to work at the Fabricatory, Locksmouth's central research, development and manufacturing facility. Her chestnut brown eyes darted this way and that, glazing over occasionally as she mulled over who-knows-what.

Cedric, Alliston and Coul took up the detached children's play place, looking out of sorts and surprisingly vulnerable. Al and Coul sat quite close for comfort at the mouth of a spiral slide, and even Cedric seemed more contemplative than anything as he sat on the floor, back braced against the shoe cubby corner. They discussed something inaudibly.

One Hugh and Margaret Oakenfield- Carrie's parents- were in the dining area opposite Officer Tisdale, sitting in a four-person booth. Hugh argued intently- his most prominent skill.

"Now, Mr. Oakenfield," the midnight-black panther's soothing basso resounded firmly, "I can't just be going off half-cocked at every little-"

"I know what your job is, Officer, and I know that the school is on your beat!" His brows creased. "You are responsible for going to find my daughter immediately!"

"Yeah. If she's tardy at school." Tisdale replied dryly. "This is a full-blown... sci-fi movie plot or something. Right now, my responsibility is to hold this place down in case other survivors need shelter."

"I'm warning you, Tisdale, I-"

"Hugh, honestly!" Margaret frowned. "I'm worried about Carrie, too, but this isn't helping anybody. Officer Tisdale is doing his best. Right?"

"Of course, ma'am." The panther smiled at the more reasonable of the two cats.

"Sh-... She'll be okay."

Erwin was standing before them. "Natalie's with her."

Tisdale wore a comfortable, unpatronizing smirk. "See? Nat 'n Carrie... they're plenty of things, but weak isn't one of 'em. Just have a little faith." He cleared his throat and turned. "Speaking of which, am I gonna have to hope for divine intervention here, Lorna?"

The wolf woman shot him a smirk. "Nothing so drastic. I think I can get these machines up and running... I just need a hand back there."

"I can help, Dr. Natalie's Mom!" His head popping up, Max climbed rambunctiously over the dining wall and gave a strange salute. "I used to work nights here- ohhh the free Double Diccers..." he salivated. "Viva Dos Dictatores!"

She laughed. "Thanks, Max."

"I-I'll help you, too, Doctor Grayswift!" Erwin walked up, an unusual eagerness in his voice.

Lorna smiled at the both of them. "Well, now that I've got two strong, capable men on my side, I'll have this place up and running in no time." She took off her labcoat, rolled up her shirt sleeves and pulled up her jeans. "Come on, boys!" she invited, pulling herself onto the counter and sliding over to the employee side. "We've got a job to do!"

Erwin watched the thirty-something scientist slide over the counter and, after his heart skipped a beat, followed suit as if he'd found a new purpose in life.

Officer Tisdale smiled, more inside than outside. The work was good- Grayswift was even smarter than she looked. Any distraction from grim, uncertain reality was a welcome one. He gazed back to the play place... where was the punk raccoon kid?

 -
- -
 -

Coul slunk through the playroom door soundlessly, then sat back down next to Alliston. "They're working on getting the food going."

"Good! Gawd, I'm staaarving!" the vixen whined. "What I wouldn't give for a great, big, juicy Double Diccy..."

The raccoon shook his head. "What I wouldn't give to know what's going on..." He shivered. "This is crazy."

"We can figure it out after we eat." Alliston folded her arms. "They probably won't share any with us." Her frown deepened bitterly.

"They have to! This is bigger than school. This-..." Coul blinked and looked over to Cedric, who had been oddly quiet since they'd arrived. "Cedric? What's up?"

The badger snapped out of his trance. "Huh? Oh. I don't care. Whatever."

His two cohorts exchanged looks. "What's the matter?" Alliston ventured, expecting an insult or a snappy comeback.

He stared ahead. "I just... Something bothers me about this."

Confused, Coul blinked repeatedly. "Uhhh... yeah, Cedge, this whole 'monsters out of nowhere' thing bothers everybody."

"Rngh," Cedric grunted. "No, fool, I mean-... it's like-..... Ugh, nevermind."

There was a long silence. "... Well, whatever." The vixen smiled lackadaisically, shrugging. "We'll figure it out soon enough, right?"

"Sure!" Coul agreed.

They were interrupted by a grease and grit-covered wolf woman pushing open the door with a not-insubstantial amount of rear end. In her hands she carried a tray full of food- burgers, fries, even a few diminutive cookies, interspersed by drinks. "Hi there, kids. Hungry?"

The raccoon and vixen answered in the affirmative with much enthusiasm, grabbing hands, and food-muffled thanks as they sat at a small table. Famished as they were, it was a few bites in before they even remembered to open the aroma packets in the wrapping. The badger looked toward the window, a bitter frown on his face.

"... Cedric?" Lorna ventured. "There's enough for you, too."

He put up a good face... but his stomach rumbled too loudly for him to keep it up. He winced and reached for a particularly tall burger, then looked up at Lorna. "... You're Natalie's mother."

"The very same," she nodded.

"... Don't think this settles things between her and I."

The scientist chuckled a little and shook her head. "A Triple Dictator and a small Carbolate, a treaty does not make. But... I really have to say, Cedric... my daughter is very easy to get along with. You might even be friends if you cooled it on this 'arch-nemesis' thing. Goodness knows I'd be saved the paperwork and visits to the school."

".... The hatred runs too deep. She had her chance to stop interfering." He shut his eyes and wrinkled his nose grimly.

"Heh. Alright. ...Enjoy your food." Without another word, she left.

The badger shook his head, then looked up to his compatriots, who were nearly done with their respective meals. "Ugh, really?? Do you have any unrepulsive traits?"

"Aw, lay off, Cedge," Coul said between handfuls of fries. "We're famished! I'm only human, here."

"Woefully less," Cedric quipped. "And I suppose after this, you'll be fornicating like wild beasts?"

"It's hard for us!" whined Alliston. "Only weirdos wanna OC with girls who beat 'em up. And you never let us go to parties! I mean don't get me wrong, Coul's my partner of last resort, but-"

"Oh, gee, thanks." The raccoon rolled his eyes. "But she's right. We never get a chance to have fun with anybody else."

Cedric sighed. "You don't need anybody else."

"Y'know..." Alliston glanced down. "This whole thing has me wondering if there's gonna be another party... or anything. And... there's always room for three, Cedgie." She smiled from under her pirate-style bandana, arching her back to show off her modest figure.

"That's the most vile thing I could never imagine," the badger shook his head. "I'm going for a walk. Maybe the rain will seep into my brain and wash that image out." He left, half-eaten burger in hand.

A long, chewing silence passed. The two of them looked at each other, then at the slide. A grin grew on Alliston's face, then on Coul's.

The satiated troublemakers began climbing the wrong way up the slide, giggling mischievously.

 -
- -
 -

"Why did you let him leave, Tisdale??" Demanded one Hugh Oakenfield, irritated and taking out his frustrations on the uniformed officer as they both stood near the drink dispenser.

"Cedric?" He asked, incredulous. "Mr. Oakenfield, that young man is the biggest source of raw trouble I've ever seen wear women's jeans. You should count yourself lucky the boy's gone out for some fresh air. Besides, he's just 'round the back."

"I'm getting tired of your excuses!" The cat's nose wrinkled. "You're just an ineffective loafer in a uniform! I pay your salary!"

"And if we survive long enough to collect my next deposit, I might say I'm sorry," the panther deadpanned.

Hugh shook with anger. "My daughter is out there in the rain, probably besieged by whatever it is that's caused all this damage, and you're cracking jokes?!"

The feline officer narrowed his eyes. "If you don't calm down, I'm gonna have to get out my neurod, and neither one of us is gonna like it!"

"Don't you threaten me!! I've worked harder than anybody here, I don't have to justify myself to anyone!"

"HEY!"

Everyone's eyes fixed on Lorna.

"No, Hugh. You haven't worked hard." She folded her arms. "All you've done is yell and demand and put everybody else on edge. Tisdale's maintained the perimeter, the kids and I got the food ready, and all poor Margaret's been doing is keep you from freaking out on everyone."

The feline drew a breath to say something.

"Stop it," Lorna insisted. "Now."

Hugh's shoulders sunk as Erwin, Sam and Max looked on awkwardly. "I..." His fists clenched. "Why am I the bad guy?? I just want my daughter back!"

Natalie's mother sighed deeply. "So do I... so do I. But we've got to keep it together. Set an example. Alright?"

Mr. Oakenfield shook for a moment, and Mrs. Oakenfield came to his side, embracing him... calming his nerves. "This is too much for me. I... I'm going to sit down for a while."

"... You may want to wait on that!" Samantha exclaimed, staring at a pair of silhouettes approaching the door.

A pair of teenaged girls, black, white and wet all over, walked in the door of the Burger Dictator.

"Carrie!"
"Natalie!!"
"You're all right!"
"I can't believe it!"

The mob descended on them. Hugs, tears of relief, joyful laughter- all were exchanged.

All while a lone badger watched from the outside.

 -
- -
 -

"Wait a minute. So you got stepped on, for realsies??"

The incredulous question came from an overexcited Max- though nobody could deny the surge of energy that had come with Nat and Carrie's arrival. The two of them had practically had food dumped on them, and they weren't refusing a single bite. Natalie took a great big whiff of an aroma packet, then chomped an equally large bite of her Triple Dictator- one more layer than asked for. "Mmm-mm~!"

"Yeah." Carrie had a small, down-to-Earth smile about herself. "I'm sorry I hid it from you guys, but I've had the power to laugh off impacts for a long time. I didn't want to be a freak."

"That makes total sense," Erwin reasoned. "You've always been far tougher than should be possible for your... um." He adjusted his glasses. "Build."

The cat laughed. "Yeah. I can accept that, I think. I just hope things aren't weird now..." She withdrew a little into the hoodie Nat had put on her when it started raining, and stared down at the pink skull on it. Stretched much bigger by her bust than Natalie's, its rounded countenance almost seemed to smile up at her.

"Hey." Sam smiled, holding Max and Erwin close to her. "Honestly, could it get much weirder than this?"

Everyone laughed. Natalie swallowed another big bite of her burger, picked up a loose handful of fries, shoved those in her mouth- losing one down the front of her thin-strapped black undershirt, then digging for it and joining it with its friends- and hiccuped, wincing.

"Holy cow, Sugarbutt, are you gonna have any air with your meal?" Carrie smirked, patting her girlfriend on the back.

"I've been fighting around the town on a Carbolate, I don't know how you're not starving!" She retorted defensively.

"Oh. That." She shrugged with a smile. "I stole Erwin's lunch."

The ferret boy balked. "What?! Again??"

"You didn't even take it to lunch, goofbag!" She smirked sternly.

"I... I was trying to get a good seat," he offered.

"Yeah, you were!" Nat gulped down another set of fries. "So you could get a good look at Shelly Iverson's massive titties." She rolled her eyes and cocked her head forward for emphasis.

Carrie shook her head as Erwin blushed. "Those are so fake."

"Nope!" her girlfriend denied. "I have volleyball with her. They're as real as yours."

"No way!" Max shook his head in disbelief.

"Oh yes way." Nat was having a good time with this. "And she was supposed to get down to pastics at this next party."

"Sh-Shelly Iverson... OCing... in her understickers..." The ferret boy's eyes glazed over.

The bow-haired girl hmphed. "She's not that amazing."

"Haha, whatever!" Nat grinned.

"What??"

"I don't get jealous when you pat Vanessa Lacmire on the butt." She arched a brow, pointing at her with the remainder of her burger.

"I'm not jealous! And that's just good sportsmanship."

"She's always on the other team." The wolf shook her head, snickering. "And I don't see you doing it to Ruth Ginnsborough or Gus McMacky."

Lorna looked on at the group of friends, smiling, laughing. She only regretted that she had to break the mood. "Kids?"

They looked up at her expectantly.

"It's getting on in the night. Carrie, I recharged your PET." She handed the ornate little device to its owner.

"Yes!" She grinned and traded a look with Natalie. "Thanks, Ms. G."

"No problem. Margaret and I raided the emergency kit, and we found some rollout sleeping pads that can be inflated." She shifted her weight to one foot. "We only found about four between all of us, so unfortunately there's going to have to be some sharing of bed space."

"It's cool!" piped up Max. "I sleep in the booths here anyway, it's like home!"

"Alright, that's... odd, but okay." The scientist nodded despite her confusion.

Margaret spoke up. "I'm sorry to be a bother, but I'm afraid, children, that I must insist that Hugh gets one- he has a bit of a back problem, and sleeping on the floor would be-... well. We'll share it, of course."

"So that's one for Mr. and Mrs. Oakenfield..." Lorna counted. "Coul and Alliston will probably want one... I think we all agree Cedric should get his own, just in case he doesn't want to sleep near any of the rest of us..."

The dripping-wet badger boy, standing in the corner, hmphed, while the others generally agreed with this.

"I'm hoping to get one myself, truth be told, I'm exhausted..." She reported with an apologetic shrug. "But I guess I could-"

"You can have mine!" Erwin butted in. "I'll sleep on the floor."

Samantha shook her head. "Don't be silly. We'll share one."

He sputtered. "B-.. Wh-... Really?"

"It's a desperate situation, Erwin," Sam reasoned, teasing her hair. "Besides, we're the two smallest here, it would be feasible." She whispered, "Plus, I just don't want to sleep alone..."

Erwin blushed, but nodded resolutely. "Uh... Yeah. If that's okay."

Lorna paused, looking up at Natalie. "Oh! I'm sorry, sweetie. That doesn't leave one for you and Carrie. You can have-"

"Don't worry about it, Mom." The wolf girl smirked resolutely. "You take the last one. Carrie and I will sleep in the play room."

The older woman blinked, then folded her arms. "Ah-huh." A raise of the brow and a smirk graced her face. "Is that the plan?"

Natalie would have normally retorted with something witty, but instead she just gave her mother a plaintive, tired look.

Lorna's smile faltered. It wasn't a night to be strict with them. Nobody knew what the next day would hold... or even if there might be a next day... and everyone knew it. She nodded. "Go on, you two. Officer Tisdale's taking first watch, so... we should all get a good night's rest and... talk about what to do next in the morning."

Sounds of agreement filled the room, and soon everyone was either trying to get comfortable in their respective places, inflating roll out beds, or cleaning up the leftover food.

Nat and Carrie made their way over to the play room. As the soundproof door clicked shut, they noted how quiet it was- no small children to run about and yell about their favorite toys, no parents to call after them, no playing to be had.

Carrie took a deep breath of the cool night air that had come in from the vent... and genuinely skipped over to the set of tiny spiral stairs meant to scale the massive playfort. "Catch me if you can!" She giggled as she ran up the steps in her aquasocks.

Her girlfriend's red eyes narrowed as her grin broadened, and she grabbed the cat's tail. "Easy!"

"Aww, you always did cheat!" Complained the snow-white feline before pulling her tail out of Natalie's grip and hurrying up the rest of the stairs. "But it won't work this time!" Their mutual giggling started up again as one chased the other up the big whimsical construction.

Natalie saw her girlfriend reach the top of a tiny ladder, bend over and crawl into a festive series of tubes. She followed suit, scrambling into the first tube and watching a long, white tail disappear down the right of the two paths. "Hah, I see you! Gonna getcha~!" She turned the corner, hearing a frantic giggling squeal come from... below? Yes. She slid down and out of the tube she was in to pursue in the one directly below it. "I'm gonna get you!" she promised, crawling on all fours with darting eyes. "And when I do, I'm gonna pull off your top, and I'm gonna motorboat your big ol' titties so good, just you wait!" She turned another corner, and looked up and down another vertical shaft. Down? Up? The wolf girl turned around, looking quizzically and trying to sniff out Carrie's scent.

"Oh, you mean like this??" Carrie grinned from up top, grabbed Nat's thighs and buried her face between her girlfriend's plush cheeks, blowing a raspberry on the tight pink fabric and tickling the dickens out of her!

"AAAH!" Natalie squealed, bumping her head. "Ow!" She laughed, turning around to pursue her, crawling up the top tunnel and after the cat. "There's nowhere to run!"

The white kitty looked this way and that. Drat, it was true; the only remaining place to go was the tube that emptied into the ball pit. Still, there was a spiteful streak in her today, and she wasn't about to give her the satisfaction. "Says you!" And with that, she dove into the pit of colorful, kid-safe, self-cleaning spheres with a dull clattering.

"You're a dork!" Nat laughed, diving after her, landing right next to her in the pit. They both surfaced... and broke out in a fit of giggles at the ridiculous chase. "Oh, wow... just like when we were kids."

"Yeah..." Carrie agreed. "Only we're not kids anymore." A soft smile came over her face.

"Nope. Not anymore." The wolf girl swam toward her lover in the inflatable corner of the festive pit, and pushed her own body against her, arms searching for her kitty's warm body. They embraced loosely. Natalie pressed her lips against Carrie's.

They kissed. Eyes closed, their soft lips met over and over in a slow, steady rhythm of healing assurance. Carrie shivered. Natalie squeezed her lovingly, hot breath blowing over her neck. "Mmn..." Natalie's red eyes gazed into Carrie's as she rubbed noses ever so gently with her lover. "You're so... comfortable."

"We fit. It works." The cat put it simply, purring with delight. "You're mom's in the other room."

A mischievous chuckling grin overcame the dark canine. "My mom's always in the other room." She took a breath, and matter-of-factly retorted "Oral Code nine-two-seven-one. Sensitivity Profile 'boobiecakes.'"

"Oral Code three-six-five-eight," Carrie replied in a sultry lilt. "Sensitivity Profile 'sugarbutt.'"

Their PETs chirped obediently, and they both gasped in unison as a flood of sensations washed through them. Their understickers' resonance fields had increased greatly, and even through their clothes, it was as if the two lovers were rubbing bare flesh against flesh. Natalie shivered and began to slide forward and lift her upper back, a sort of pseudo-thrust. Her girlfriend's eyes glazed as she looked upward and felt her own hips moving a bit out of pure need.

Nat's hands met Carrie's, grasping each other and titillating the senses as their palms rubbed with the struggle of love. A breath was held, their lips met again, desperate, aching. As they ran out of air, their furtive whines of pleasure erupted into a gasp for the refreshing night's breath, each of them arched back as if surfacing from the murky ocean. Carrie's azure eyes gave Natalie a pleading look, and the wolf immediately took the cat in her arms. One hand spread across her upper back, the other across the lower, both of them pulled Carrie closer and pressed their sensitive breasts together as they tightly thrust.

Natalie's urge, Carrie's need, the two of them clashed together again and again, like ocean waves crashing against each other, surging and building for a short eternity- the pleasure building and waning, climbing and falling and stacking and stacking and stacking some more until...

They shook in each other's arms. Their bodies trembled, and within a minute, it was over. They collapsed in a familiar, comfortable position, Natalie's arms wrapped loosely around Carrie's chest as she held her close, breathing into the girl's powder blue hair. Sleep found them warmly.

 -
- -
 -

"Mmnh... hm?"

Natalie awoke in the mess of colorful spheres, a bit groggy. Her arms found no purchase- apparently Carrie was already up and had left the ball pit. This was a bit strange, considering that it was about four in the morning.  

Clumsily swimming out of the sea of festive orbs, Natalie reached the opening in the net 'wall' and climbed out, stretching. Carrie'd probably gotten up to use the bathroom, she reasoned. "Ungh. Thirsty..." She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and opened the playroom door.

The silence was the first thing to hit her. It was eerie, vacuous... like the school. Nat looked around on the floor, and while there were rollouts... her friends were absent. "Guys?" She ventured quietly, walking around. "Mom?" The wolf girl looked at all the empty makeshift beds, then walked toward the front counter. "Carrie...?"

"Nope."

Her heart leapt into her throat, and she whirled around, seeing nothing. Her eyes darted left, right, even upward.

"Just me."

A creeping feeling sunk deep into Natalie's gut as her eyes slowly fell to the floor. Her shadow was... smiling at her. It slowly faded from black into bright, fluorescent pink, and somehow rose from the floor. Her brows knit together. "What the f-..."

"Watch your mouth!" Giggled a voice far too similar to her own, emitted from a form almost perfectly molded to her own- if she were made of uniformly pink goo.

"What-" before she could finish the question, a distressingly firm pink fist raised itself and slammed into her nose, sending her sailing backward onto the counter. "Ungh!" The back of her head smacked into the hard counter top, and she held a hand to her nose, pain shooting up her face.

Seeing the girl's legs curling out of instinct, the gelatinous body double backhanded Nat's rear- a squeak of surprise escaping her- and sent her careening off the counter, flipping over backward and landing face-down on the tiled floor. "Aahhnnngh..." She writhed, scrambling quickly to her feet. "Wh-what are you?!"

Her semi-solid doppelganger had made her way onto the counter and dropped down beside her. A pink arm swung from the left, Nat painfully blocked with her own. The other swung, again she blocked. It grabbed her wrists and grinned, its amorphous mouth cartoonishly embellished. "Hungry."

Natalie struggled to break its grip, finally raising a foot and slamming it into the thing's torso, separating them. "Hngh!" She fell on her backside, then rose as quickly as she could. The thing was gone. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and by the time she whirled around, a fist came for her jaw. It hit hard, solidly connecting and sending her head aside. Nat shook off the pain and sent an angry volley of blows toward her attacker, fists hitting its chest, eyes and chin. It was like punching the ocean. She made purchase, but just barely. A strange sound emitted from-... it was laughing at her. It laughed the most jolly laugh no monster ever should, as Natalie saw her reflection in its liquid chest. Her hair mussed, her nose bleeding, her face scraped. It was the look of desperation.

Gnashing her teeth and growling, the wolf girl kicked her attack up to maximum. She threw punch after punch, putting everything she had into each blow. Her fists splashed on the surface of its flesh, rippling across its form. It laughter echoed louder throughout the dark eatery. Her muscles cried out for mercy even as she pushed them harder. Finally, a cry of rage flew from her, and she sent her left arm into its chest with force unseen. Her fist shattered it completely, popping her doppleganger like a water balloon and splattering it across half the kitchen in a big, pink mess.

Natalie panted, her arm quivering. "Uh?" She looked down and saw that the arm that dealt the finishing blow had a strange black arm bracer on it. She gasped and looked up at her double's pink and black visage frowning disdainfully at her, whole once more. It picked her up by the neck, ripped the bracer off of her arm, looked at it and threw it away. "You're not that strong."

It swung around and slammed her into the steel freezer door. Her entire body made unpleasant popping sounds. "Ngh!!" Nat struggled as she was pulled away, then slammed back into it again, sickening cracks resounding throughout her body in a cascade of pain. A feeling of dread filled her as she looked at the blood on the door and realized the truth: she wasn't going to make it through another one. "Nngh... wh-what do you want...?" She asked weakly, glaring through one eye as it removed something small and purple from her pocket.

"Everything, Natalie."

The door rushed at her.

"E v e r y t h i n g ."

 -
- -
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