Chapter Text
"Eh... long story short, I'm gonna need that fuel cell back."
Katzo never thought he'd see the day a bird pouted. Yet when he relayed this news to Sunraku, he found exactly that.
"Says who?" The birdman defended.
"Says me. Gotta get it for Pawlandia."
The pigeonhead's brow raised with equal parts confusion and challenge.
"Pawlandia? What the hell's that?"
Oh yeah. He hadn't really explained things beyond an immediate 'We need to talk' after his eventual release from the nation.
"Well, it'll take a minute. You fine with a little backstory?"
"Sure, go ahead."
Katzo leaned forward against the backrest, arms crossed and head laid on top. Below, his legs spread out to either side of the open-backed chair.
A fairly casual pose for a man. Yet it was so different with such a girly avatar. And Katzo was oblivious to it all. Hot-pants pulled tight, with her legs all spread out. Seemed she was fit down there too, Sunraku soon noticed. Not too big, but not lithe either. Just the right amount of muscle.
The little fat that was there drew inward at the seams, where those doubtless sweat-scented hot-pants hugged tight.
"Oi, dude. Eyes up here."
Sunraku blinked and turned up from where he'd been staring. There he met the pouty glare of his longtime party member.
"Ah... ah! S-sorry!"
The birdbrain flew into a panic, shouting excuses and apologies in rapid rotation. Katzo could only sigh, stand from the chair, and sit down the proper way. Legs close together, hands firm in her lap, averted eyes, and cheeks dashed ever-so-faintly red.
"G-geez, you're actin' weird today, man. Go jerk off somewhere if you're that pent up."
It was Sunraku's turn to glance away.
"I was just zoning out; thinking about Failia Chronicles and stuff." Neither was sure if they really believed that, but Katzo continued regardless.
"Well, it started right after I texted you."
-
"The Cait Sith kingdom?"
"Pawlandia."
"Pawlandia? What the hell is that?"
The cat's ear twitched in response.
"Why, it's the kingdom of cats!"
If Katzo said he wasn't weirded out, he would be lying. It was a small, royal looking cat. One with black fur and a face similar to a companion he'd use in Monster Catcher: Wilds.
'Enough of that,' the avatar shook her head. 'My unique scenario's here!'
Before the cat could continue with some more proper introductions, OiKatzo cut him off.
"Uh-huh, cool, cool. It's some kingdom of cats. Let's go already!"
Without a second's hesitation, he grasped the handle and flung it wide. Dark wisps danced across his peripherals in the tunnel beyond, capped by a snow-white light not far away. He followed that light, watching as the tunnel walls morphed from craggy stones to a mossy, cracked marble. Katzo blocked the light as he neared, hand out front, eyes shut tight as he struggled to adjust.
"Geez, why's it so bright? Can't you tone things down a lit..." Katzo opened his eyes to the sight ahead.
Vast clouds, wide as rivers, lazed about the trunks of great towers and stout walls. A cloud-streaked sky peered through the bulwark and towers like a sun through the trees. Yellowed grass crunched beneath his feet, and he gazed at the mesh of growth and faded marble that lay beneath his feet.
He ran to a nearby ledge and peeked over, finding naught but clouds beneath. Just how high up were they? Turning from the ledge, he gazed at the colossus their thin walkway lead to. It was a grand and ancient castle, the bricks long since faded from their former luster.
"Cat got your tongue?" Aramis teased as he joined from behind.
"Huh? No, it's just-"
He struggled to find the words.
"It's amazin', is all."
"Ehhh?! Wait, it's like a giant sky castle?!?!" Sunraku rudely interrupted.
Katzo sighed.
"Can't you try to word it a little smarter?"
"What? If it walks, talks, and acts like a castle, then it's a castle."
"Castles do literally none of those things."
"Don't care. Anyway, back on track?"
"But you're the one wh- tch, fine. Anyway, I-"
-crossed the long walkway with Aramis. The structure only seemed to grow the close they got. Soon, it loomed overhead, casting the both of them in its shadow. Eventually, they entered the castle proper, and found halls of an equal magnitude.
"As you can see," Aramis explained, "our homeland is rather worn."
"It's not too bad. It has a sort of cool feel to it! Like an, uh, forgotten temple or somethin' like that."
Katzo bit his tongue. He doubted the black cat would care much for that line. All the same, the description wasn't far off.
They passed along the remnants of a set of hallway stairs. The left wall and significant parts of the floor had both long since fallen away, giving an unobstructed view of the bottomless clouds beneath. All that remained now were the parts of the stairs that didn't crack off, stubbornly clinging to the right wall.
They carried on deeper into the castle, where things seemed more structurally sound. The lavish curtains and gem-studded vases did little to hide the crumbling architecture beneath. He panned his eyes from a vase, only to meet a sidelong smirk from Aramis.
"Spying our wondrous treasures, are you? Not that I could blame you; few get the chance to visit a place such as this."
The theatrical cat grasped at his heart and swooned, not once breaking the pace they'd set through the halls.
"Ah, to be summoned by the queen herself! Such an honor it must be!"
Katzo gave an uneasy laugh as they neared a set of stairs.
Aramis wasn't wrong. Katzo had only conducted cursory research on the Cait Siths before; what he'd found described the cait siths as a friendly race with leagues of travelers, but not an ounce of knowledge to their homeworld. Rabituza had plenty of quests that let players visit, even if birdbrain was the only one who'd seen the full city.
"... Hey, why's this place so beat up, anyway? Don't you have a 'fix everything' spell?"
That seemed to bring an 'irk to the catman's step. He gave another excessive laugh, though this one held an uneasy tone.
"Ahaha, are you sure your mind isn't playing tricks on you? Our home is pristine!"
Katzo kicked a stone, sending it echoing down the long hall.
"Uh-huh."
The black cat lost a bit of theatrical flair with the prodding question. He fiddled with a loop of his coat, considering his response.
"It'd be best if the queen explained things. I can't say I'm the best orator for such a task."
A task? Katzo opened his mouth to speak.
Aramis spoke first. "Ah, we're here!"
It was then they crested the top of the stairs, coming face-to-face with a grand entrance. Two golden gates stood flush against opposite sides of the hall, their radiance long since faded. Years of use had caused the hinges of the gates to rust in place, and in their place, curtains of impossibly ornate design hung from the ceiling.
Aramis stepped forward and cleared his throat. Finally, he bellowed.
"I, Wild Blade Aramis, present a guest! Monk OiKatzo, great slayer of the hero Wethermon. My lady, do we have permission to enter?"
Naught but silence followed, at least to Katzo's hearing. But Aramis' ear twitched, and he nodded in firm understanding of what may as well have been silence to her.
"Queen Isla wishes to speak to you alone. If you could-"
The cait sith stepped up and drew a curtain aside, turning to him with expectant eyes.
The fisticuff fighter slowly moved through the entrance, squinting to see ahead in the hallway that followed.
The heart of the castle was dark. It wasn't like the throne room he and Sunraku dueled Pencilgon in. Though the details were vague, it looked closer to a library. One with half its books removed, and treasures set in their place.
"Uh, yeah... hello?" Katzo called out into the dark of the room. No movement met his call. Silence reigned instead, broken only when a voice called from above.
"Took down Wethermon, did you?" It was a nasal voice, like that of a bitter granny with a stuffy nose.
Katzo turned his eyes up to meet a swirling darkness above. A chandelier swayed in the center, obscured by shadow, glinting any time it caught an errant scrap of light.
"That'd be me." Katzo replied.
Technically, Sunraku did. But he wouldn't have been able to grab victory without his and Pencilgon's help. Basically, the same thing as taking down a unique monster. Right?
"... Hm, you don't look like it." A figure dropped from above, landing with a muted thump. Katzo strained to make out the shape. It wasn't anything close to Rabituza's leader. Sunraku had described a hulking brute with a pipe and a mafia boss attitude. It was smaller than Aramis even! It was almost the size of...
The creature snapped its fingers, or the closest thing it had to one, and the chandelier crackled to life. Candlelight spilled out over the cracks and recesses of the study, bathing the study in a warm light.
With candlelight warming the room, Katzo met eyes with Pawlandia's queen. What stared back at him was-
"Cat got your tongue?"
A house cat. One could only describe her as exquisite, with white-beige fur, yellow eyes, and a suit across her chest.
"Is that like, a universal greeting around here or something?" Katzo complained.
The woman ignored her. Instead, she waltzed to a nearby set of lounge chairs. She hopped up the leftmost one, sitting very much like a cat, and gestured to the other.
"Please, sit."
Somehow, a 'normal' cat seemed so much more jarring than the cait sith he'd met before.
Katzo made his way over and sat down. His hands had a habit of finding their way to his lap when he was nervous. Noticing he'd fallen into that embarrassing habit, he unnaturally adjusted to rest his hands on the armrests instead. The cat studied him all the while, brow quirked with an amused smirk.
"I supp-" "-Cool place you've got here."
Hrk- Katzo accidentally cut off the cat the instant she tried talking. He punched out an awkward "my bad", to which the cat chuckled.
"Eager young girl, are you? Can't say I'm surprised if you helped take down Wethermon."
"Still, I must say. How did you fell such a beast, at the level you are now?"
Katzo's eyes widened.
"You can see my level?"
"Oh darling, I see many things. Things others could not even dream of."
The tomboy avatar squirmed in her seat. Her hands had already found themselves back in her lap, drawing an embarrassed growl from the back of her throat. It seemed it was time to give the full rundown of their Wethermon fight.
-
"You didn't take credit for my kill, right?" Sunraku was not impressed.
"I needed to make a first impression, alright!" Katzo sighed in frustration.
"Not that it mattered. Probably figured me out before I got done talking."
"Hmm. Yeah, I can see it. You're not that good at lying."
Katzo's cheeks puffed into a pout.
"You know, it wouldn't kill you to take my side every once in a while."
"Huh? Where's this coming from?"
Katzo's pout only grew in fierceness. It seemed whatever Sunraku had said, it only seemed to piss the moody Katzo off even more.
"Geez, nevermind! Just listen to the story already!"
-
"My word! You tied yourself to it?"
"Eheh... don't wanna brag, but I had that thing locked down tight," Katzo bragged.
"All the way until it's last phase, too. After that, I had to use some item Pencilgon had to keep up with it. It boosted my stats a ton, but well..."
His level spoke for itself.
The cat regarded him with a critical stare. Her tail swished against the chair, and a thoughtful 'hmm' purred from her throat.
"Well, it's certainly a shame you lost so many levels. I suppose you wouldn't be here in the first place if you hadn't, however."
Katzo shrugged.
"It'd be fine if leveling up wasn't so damn annoyin'. Monsters keep running away every time I try getting one."
"That is a problem indeed. Although... perhaps we could resolve that."
Something in her tone clicked, and the blonde leaned forward in her chair. It seemed they had finished skirting the important topics.
"Say, what do you think of our fine kingdom? Do our baubles and trinkets not mesmerize you?"
"I guess so? It looks like you've got stuff from all over the place around here."
"And what of the castle itself?"
"Well... it could use a little work."
Just the answer the cat was looking for. She wordlessly stood and hopped to the floor. She stretched her back, popping countless old bones, taking care not to extend her claws against the fabric. Finishing, she glanced Katzo's way.
"Follow me, if you could. I have a story to tell."
Katzo grimaced at the thought. He was a player more into gameplay and mechanics than the story. A good story was cool, yeah, but he still skipped dialogue where he could.
Sunraku used to be that way too, though that changed with their current game. Though he still played a sarcastic fool, Katzo knew Sunraku like the back of his hand. He wouldn't have an ounce of surprise if Sunraku studied the world when he wasn't online.
"Umm, could I get the short version, actually? I kinda have places I gotta go."
The cat was most certainly not impressed. She turned from her proposed path, sitting down to meet the blonde-haired tomboy again. With a great sigh, she replied.
"Very well. The short version then."
She cast a glance at the chandelier above. Only now did Katzo see how precariously it swung above. Two of its bolts had popped loose, and it swung with a precarious rhythm, bending and stressing the remaining clamp.
"Once, our race served as the backbone of the Divinity's technological might."
The blonde was silent, yet leaned forward as she took in the new information.
"Our world changed with Divinity's collapse. Everything broke, simple as that. How it happened, and the details of it are long-since lost to time."
The cat glanced away.
"This castle you see before you? These walls you stand in now? This was once our homeland. Though the engines have stopped, mana stones across the vase have kept it afloat. We've tried to repair it, but alas..."
A lone claw protruded. She dragged it mournfully across the carpet.
"It seems some enchantments still linger. Our ancestors were truly impressive: they've placed a ward to prevent tampering. It's a ward that remains even today, despite our best efforts to unravel it."
"... Well, technically, I'm sitting. Not standing."
The cat's eye twitched in response to Katzo's vaguely bratty remarks.
"Right, I take it you want something of your own, then. How about this?"
The trademark beep of a new quest startled the fighter, and he pulled back with a yelp.
OiKatzo had little time to recover. New quests flooded like a burst dam. One quest turned to ten, and ten grew to forty. Sparing himself the resultant migraine of the rapid-fire beeps, Katzo muted the notifications.
"What're these for?" He asked incredulously.
"Treasures. We keep a register of items we know about, but have yet to collect." The cat replied, trying to mask her irritation.
Katzo opened the log with a fresh interest. True to her word, each quest described a relic of some kind, scattered in countless forgotten corners of the map. His eyes positively sparkled with wonder.
"I can have these? All of them?"
"I doubt any agents have these on their treasure lists; feel free if nobody grabs them first. As instructed, I'm keeping your list to some more... particular items. Oh, but I'm sure you'll love them."
Something in the cat's tone made it feel like he'd pissed her off somehow... regardless, free loot was free loot! Who was he to look a gift horse in the mouth?
"Ah hell yeah! Thanks for the loot, lady!" Katzo pumped his fist against the palm of his other, face set with a wide grin.
"Not a problem, dearie. Grab a few of these and you'll make up for that level difference in no time. In return, I want you to fish me an ether reactor. Nab me one of those, and I'll show you something even better than Wethermon's blades."
-
"So that's why, huh?" Sunraku asked.
"Yeah, pretty much."
Sunraku's eyes were firmly off and away from Katzo's expectant stare.
"Yeah, that's definitely some good info. You should tell Pencilgon! Gotta get back to Rabituza over on my end, haha."
Katzo had never heard such a forced laugh before. Following that momentum, the birdbrain stood up and made for his escape. Katzo's death-grip, straight against his shoulder, put a stop to that.
"Sun-rak-u. Aren't you forgetting something?"
The bird mask turned his head slowly, matching his blonde companion with an awkward smile.
"But didn't you give it to me?"
"I did; but now I need it back."
"Can't you find another ether reactor? It's a big world; there's gotta be a couple lying around.
"Sure, sure. Let me just go solo Wethermon's brother at level fifteen real quick. Grab myself a whole handful of the things."
Sunraku sweated like a slow-roasted chicken.
"But, like, Wethermon's sword and stuff."
Oh. Oh so he really hadn't realized yet, had he?
"...Did you actually read Harbinger's description?"
Seeing Sunraku's blank stare, Katzo sighed and continued.
"Yeah, the sword needs an ether reactor to work. Now tell me: where on the sword is there some big ether reactor port?"
Realization slowly clicked in the birdman's head. He glanced down at his bare body, still scarred with Lycagon's curse.
"That big fuel cell? It plugs into the suit, dumbass. Did you really not notice that?"
"..."
A significant silence followed.
"N-no, you're just messing with me."
"Am I? Go read it yourself."
He regarded Katzo for a moment before disappearing into inventoria. He emerged from it a broken man, bird-eyes blank and his drive shattered.
"B-b-but... my boss weapons? It came with a boss moveset and everything."
Katzo regarded the broken Sunraku with an unreadable expression. Lips pursed, eyes lidded with sympathy. Much as they argued, he didn't like it when Sunraku got actually sad.
"Seriously, you're such a bonehead sometimes."
He approached and wrapped an arm across Sunraku, gently consoling him through such a cruel revelation. Sunraku flinched at the feel of such smooth skin against his own, but didn't make to move.
"Look, I've got a good thing going with this cat lady. If we get her castle fixed, I bet we could get all kinds of ether reactors made.
"Really?" Sunraku sniffled.
"Really really. Put those cats to work and they might even get a workaround for your cool sword. How about it: wanna join me?"
Sunraku seemed better with Katzo's consolation, though not by much. Without a word, he summoned the reactor and handed it off to Katzo.
"I need some time to mourn my boss moveset... Think we could start some other time?"
"Wait, so you'll join?!" Katzo's eyes glimmered like a lake of lemon quartz. The tomboy cheered with delight. Bursting with excitement, she mushed tight and wrapped Sunraku in a hydraulic-grip hug.
"Ahhhh, yes! You and me, checking out my very own unique scenario. Thank you Sunraku!" Katzo positively shone with joy. It was moments like these where Sunraku cursed his mask's expression features. His blush beneath mirrored perfectly to the pigeon mask he wore, and he quickly cleared his throat.
"Y-yeah, no problem!" Goddamnit, why couldn't he stop stuttering?!
"Anyway, gotta go for now. Bye!" He was off like a racehorse when Katzo loosed her grip. Darting to the Rabituza entrance he kept on the wall in case of emergency, Sunraku was gone as quickly as he came.
Katzo watched the door sparkle and disappear. He'd been on for quite a while himself, now that he realized it. It might be good to log out sometime.
But not before picking a first quest, at least.
He deftly pulled up the list of items and scrolled through. Most were odd apparel pieces, with vague descriptions like "heightens sensitivity to certain senses" or "Needs daily nourishment to work". Whatever. He'd just figure them out as they came along.
He stopped on a certain entry. The quest described a pair of thin black gloves. Ones that, while not suited for combat, 'vastly increased certain stats when performing dexterous actions'.
"Hmm, it's got that sensitivity trait as well." Katzo remarked to the empty tavern. Something like that would probably help with most quests from then on. Especially any that needed his treasure hunter stats.
With his first goal set and the biggest grin he'd had in years, Katzo made for the nearest inn. He needed some sleep for his first quest.
