30 Sep

DOGS AND CATS

RainbowRaptor


Hekate7th was staring at the puddle of water forming outside the open freezer when the ice in the ice maker began singing.

“Fuck!” Hekate7th said.

She stretched her hand down her jeans pocket, grabbed her phone, a stylus, and began scribbling down the ice's lyrics. Hekate7th read the song, shutting the freezer, then found the hand towel. She dropped it in the floor and mopped the water with her foot.

“Bast!” She called after reading them twice. “Bast!”

Bast, full name IceBastet, came strolling in, wearing nothing but her undies, knee high socks, and a long sweater. In her hand, she held a bowl. Hekate7th could see the peak of a pink ice cream mountain.

“What? I was just in the middle of work!”

She groaned then and looked down at her now soggy socks.“Why is the floor wet? I thought you fixed that already!” She clutched her bowl close like a helpless baby as she stepped through the water and opened the freezer.

Hekate7th shut the door with one hand. A weak magnet popped free and landed with a dull, tired tap.

“You'll just make it worse,” Hekate7th said. “Besides, I have a way we can get enough money to buy a new refrigerator for the house, for your shop, and even for new flavors.”

IceBastet raised a thin black eyebrow. “A new quest?” She chuckled. “How did it come this time? Singing toilet paper.” Her lips curled up in a grin. “Again?”

Hekate7th couldn't afford to miss a quest as a new pro-gamer and had opted for all the time quest alert.
“Ice cubes!” She shouted. “Not the point! There's a quest but its high level. I''ll need your help. It's a big one but the pay off will be huge!”

IceBastet frowned, “My show is coming on soon. I don't want to miss it, a bunch of my friends were going to live blog it-.”

Hekate7th felt guilty, asking Bast yet another favor. IceBastet had given her so much already, letting her stay with her in this apartment, above her ice cream shop. She didn't even bother asking Hekate7th for rent. She'd been there for her back in the days when she had been doing little more than collecting seashells and selling them to shops for money to buy a simple cloth robe. Hekate7th recalled then the awkward position involving IceBastet making a pass at her.

Though, that had been a misunderstanding on both points. IceBastet had assumed, because of her short hair and higher than usual understanding of all Tech, that she was a old fashioned Lez.

But IceBastet, ever the cheery one, had also been there when her boyfriend, SniperSheep, had left her for a less, well, Techy, woman.

Hekate7th gripped her shoulders. “Please, please! Just ping them, tell them to wait a little while. I'm telling you, this is a big one! The experience and the money, this could be my-our big break!”

IceBastet looked at her ice cream, at the freezer, then back at her roommate. “Alright.” She placed the ice cream down on the counter, casting it a longing look, then closed her eyes.

Hekate 7th watched as IceBastet's nightwear was replaced with a set of lean, curving silver armor covered with a faint, translucent pink substance that reminded Hekate7th of those antique cellophane Easter basket decorations. Her long pink hair, her natural color in the real life, was now a deep blue, short and spiking.
 She stood tall over Hekate 7th, a large hammer in hand. 

“Well, we better hurry then.” IceBastet sighed.

Hekate 7th activated her own character, a elemental witch dressed in flowing black robes tipped in green and armed with a tall, feathered staff. “Thank you.”

They reached the Great Glowing Green, rather an elaborate name for a huge pasture of grass, within thirty minutes, Hekate7th felt her heart beating hard, high in her throat. She tightened her hand on her Carian staff.

They saw them, falling from the sky, huge neon colored and in pairs. Thunder crashed around the immense forms, blue and green lighting striking the ground. Already, other parties, a few lone experts, and many over-willful noobs had beat them to it.

The other players had all engaged in battle with the monsters, flashes of spells, sounds of slicing, pounding gunshots filled the air.

Hekate7th felt the battle fury sing in her blood but there was no free pair of bosses on the field.

Too late, they were too late.

Still, she looked up to the stormy sky. She searched, spinning around so fast she felt a blade of glowing grass cut her ankle but she kept on.

There! Just a few feet away, a snarling pair of van sized beasts, a immense snarling, bright, hot pink Neon Lightning Cat, stripped as a tiger, and a bristling, electric blue ragged, spotted Neon Thunder Dog fell to the ground.

The two roared as Hekate7th and IceBastet ran to them.

As they reached with four feet of the pair, excited, techno battle music throbbed in their ears.

Hekate7th fell in the back row, already beginning to cast a earth spell. She sacrificed 35 magic points. The ground beneath her feet rumbled and groaned. A huge boulder, topped with a thick, glowing, grassy wig and riddled with wriggling worms, rose high in the air.

Gia's Gift!

Hekate7th lowered her staff and the boulder crashed into the nose of the cat.

Yellow numbers rose above the cat's head. 400!

It's yellow eyes shone with an irritated furry.

“Nice hit!” IceBastet said, she twirled her long staffed hammer then jumped as the dog swiped a paw at her. She came crashing down with a giddy laugh.

A harsh red 800 shot up over the dog.

IceBastet hit the ground on both feet, dodged the dog's next attack with a quick step to the side, her shoulders and hips moving in her dance. She whipped out her leg and kicked the huge dog in the head.

A yellow 500 popped out. The dog howled low and caught IceBastet with a well place bite.

White fangs pierced IceBastet's leg, cracking her armor a little.

Hekate7th read the blue 200 that appeared over her friend's head in the corner of her eye. She barely deflected a swift jolt of pink lightning from the throat of her opponent.

Hydra's Blessing!

Her spell, a tunnel of blue liquid, caught the electricity and trapped it, harmlessly spinning around her left arm before sending off behind her.

She narrowed her eyes, a snarl of her own on her lips.

Hekate 7th felt the 75 magic points leak from her body. She raised her staff as she retreated back, a swirl of aqua light span around her feet. Thirty magic points disappeared.

Hades's Skin!

A protective, shimmering light blue aura fell on to herself and IceBastet.

IceBastet had wrenched free of the big dog, smacked it hard in the head and rolled in the grass to her feet.

The dog was fast and caught her again, this time in the side. It tried to lodge it's teeth between her ribs, however, the Hades' Skin spell and IceBastet's armor stunned the attack. She still grit her own teeth as 300 hit points fell away.

Angry, IceBastet fueled a great deal of her rage into next attack. She kicked the dog in neck, her steel toe boot bled a cool 200 before the great dog released her. IceBastet escaped but did not hesitate to swing her weapon above her head as it recovered. She whipped her hammer down and hard on the dog's head.

A lesser beast would have suffered a Stun status, as a boss, the great Neon Thunder Dog only bled a critical 1,110 hit points. Still IceBastet took the time to give a whoop. “Like that you damned, glorified data code?”

IceBastet and Hekate7th battled the Neon pair in this fashion for nearly an hour. After the promising start, however, the pair noticed that the battle was quickly going down hill. Hekate 7th was running terribly low on MP. IceBastet had a great deal of HP, yet this too was failing from the onslaught of their foes. Worse still, both were nearly out of restorative items.

Other, wealthier players, even those with lower levels, could have probably taken the Neon's onslaught with more ethers, potions, and the like but IceBastet and Hekate7th were not wealthy.

Skill was not enough here.

Hekate7th let out a ragged breath, clutching her staff, trying to keep standing at a mere 300 hit points left. The Lightning Cat, she could tell, was on its lasts legs. The beast's fur was now a dull gray and instead of attacking her, it walked back and forth, glaring at her.

One more blow, she thought. One more blow and I can help Bast take the dog.

Her heart pounded in her ears. If they won, if she survived the entire battle, she could get those experience points from both the Neon's, level up, and reach a better place in her career. A whole new world would open up for her. Really, she didn't need the money or dropped items so much as she needed the upgrade.

In the corner of her eye, she saw IceBastet limping, keeping a safe distance from the huge, panting dog which trailed thick globs of saliva and foam from its muzzle.

So close.

Hekate7th took in a breath and dumped her remaining MP. A red glow spun around her feet and the entire battleground shook violently.

The cat hissed and opened its mouth, a pink aura surrounding it's own form. A jolt of lightning rushed for her but a wall of stone and earth shot from the ground in front of Hekate7th to block the attack..

Three other slabs of stone rose high into the sky behind, to the left, and to the right of the cat. Too weak to leap out of the way, the big beast was trapped.

Iusaaset's Curtain!
Hekate 7th let go of the breath and two of the walls closed.

The cat let out a howling death cry and exploded in pink.

Hekate 7th turned to join IceBastet's side. Her friend and the dog were still circling each other, every once and a while, they attempted to land a weak final blow but were too worried to strike.

Hekate 7th frowned. IceBastet couldn't find an opening. If IceBastet got too close to the dog, the chances were the faster and larger boss would take a bite out of her or let out a stunning Bark attack. If they waited, the Neon Dog would use a range attack. IceBastet had no such attacks and Hekate 7th had used the last of her MP.

I could let IceBastet try to take it out, then, after she's dead, attack it myself. If she managed to take out the dog, she would get all the experience points for the battle herself. Hekate 7th bit her lip, watching as her friend lifted her hammer. No, there's no guarantee I could deliver the blow and I'd run the risk of loosing the battle altogether. She could simply accept defeat and run. She'd keep some of the EX points.

But if...

She tightened her grip of the staff, “Fuck”. She said and ran for the dog, screaming at the top of her lungs. “SHE NEEDS A NEW REFRIGERATOR!!!”

Hekate7th , an elemental witch, was not meant for hand to hand combat, let alone with a boss. Yet she made an excellent distraction.

The dog turned to meet her. Its jaws clamped down hard on Hekate 7th's leg before ripping it clear from her body. She smiled at her friend, her remaining life leaving her. She felt her character's image vanished from her real life body, falling away to be recovered after the battle.

She watched, her heart still on the battlefield, as IceBastet let out a whoop, swung her white, pink hammer and smashed in the Neon Thunder Dog's skull.

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