Chapter 2
104.
Even though the consistent thing is change, some things never change. Like how Kita's group always stumbles into a random problem, which eventually will lead to two or more problems. Sometimes they trigger it, but there are also times that it was already preset.
Going back to the current situation, Celeste called Eve and Rubi. To make things faster, Lulu ordered Thirdy to carry the ship where the scientists were riding. The ship was already near Zenshin but after some time, they were back at the base. Eve and Rubi knew what was going to happen the moment they heard Lulu during the call in the background.
A few moments later, Yuna and Hana explained the situation to the rest of the group. When everyone was on the same page, Kita, Hana, Yuna, Lulu, and FeLinE went back to BijouTerra, while Ridsae stayed at the base.
Resuming their journey, the group proceeded to investigate further down in the forest.
While walking, Kita randomly says, "Hmmm… Other than the previous encounter, there are no unusual problems so far," breaking the awkward silence.
"Yuna jinxed it earlier, I guess it's Kita's turn now," Hana mentioned.
"When is miiiine?" Lulu excitedly asked.
Hana deeply sighs as she says, "I love this group."
"Anooo… How far is the Mystical Runekey?" Yuna asked FeLinE.
"It's in the far middle of the realm. A week of travel by foot." FeLinE:1000X answered.
"A WEEK?" The 4 of them responded in shock.
"Hai. Now nyu know why FeLinE is in a hurry." FeLinE:1000X replied. It looks like she is still upset. It's hard to distinguish what FeLinE truly feels because of her monotone voice, but the group can feel her frustration at the moment.
The truth is, her fuzzy memory is what infuriates FeLinE. She may remember all the basic knowledge about the Lost Civilization and its history, but suspiciously, some parts of her memory are missing. From what they experienced earlier, a familiar scene can trigger fragments of her memory. For someone who calculates the best course of action, knowing the past is a form of basis. She might make the same mistake if FeLinE fails to remember anything before it's too late.
After ceaseless walking for hours, the group decided to build a camp for now. At this point in their quest, things get a little bit troublesome. Since everything in this realm is small, branches won't be enough for them to build a shelter. The forest is also not spacious enough to ignite a campfire. They must find an open area or else they'll be sleeping on their camping bed with a cold night breeze.
While they are desperately looking for a spot to camp, a Ferretman Kemi comes out directly from the trunk of a tree. Light skin, 2 and half feet tall and also slim, his fur is a mixture of white in the most part while black in the middle.
"GHOST!" Kita, Hana, Yuna, and Lulu screamed.
They were about to run but it was halted when the Ferretman Kemi laughed. "These reactions never fail to amaze me," he said.
"What do nyu want?" FeLinE:1000X asked straightforwardly.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. By the way, I'm Furo," He said as he stopped laughing. "Your group caught my attention and it seems like you are looking for a place to stay," he added.
"A-are… nyu alive?" Kita asked while stuttering.
"Hai," Furo replied.
"But we just saw nyu came out from that tree like a ghost," Hana argued.
"That's my talent! I can create a space within an object. You can all follow me to see what I mean." Furo invited as he went back into the tree.
"Am I dreaming? Maybe I'm already sleeping." Lulu said. On the other hand, FeLinE followed Furo without hesitation. "Oy matte!" Kita, Hana, and Yuna shouted as they tried to catch up to FeLinE.
A couple of seconds later, the Catgirls witness another tremendous talent. A place created straight out of Furo's imagination. An endless room defying all the laws of nature as they know it. The only limit of Furo's talent is he can only create a certain space one at a time, the rest boils down to his imagination. Inside the tree is a spacious treehouse theme designed by Furo welcomes them. "Tadaaa~ Pretty neat right? Although I think some parts still need some improvement, I just acquired this talent 3 days ago." Furo said.
"Okay… This is way handier than Ridsae's talent…" Kita commented.
"You can all stay here if you want. It's cold out there and there's plenty enough room here. I think it's actually limitless." Furo added as he laughed.
"This is probably one of the weirdest dreams I've ever had. Anyway, I'll sleep now in my dreams!" Lulu said as she immediately jumped onto the soft cushion.
"What color is the Rune that nyu picked up before acquiring this talent?" FeLinE:1000X asked.
"Oh, you know about it? Hmmm… I'm not sure, maybe it's violet? It caught my attention and when I picked it up, that Rune went inside of me. Now I can create this, what a weird night that was." Furo answered.
The answer made the Catgirls pause for a moment. "Thanks for letting us stay here." FeLinE:1000X suddenly said to cut the conversation.
"Aight! Let me know if you need anything! I'll be at my secret place, ciao~" Furo replied.
When the Catgirls ensure that Furo cannot hear them, Hana asks, "Aren't we going to remove it from his system?"
"FeLinE wants to know how long before it starts corrupting someone. Plus we won't have any place to stay if we remove his talent now." FeLinE:1000X answered.
"That sounds harsh… But reasonable?" Kita commented.
"Are we just going to let him suffer after taking advantage of his talent?" Hana questioned.
"I understand FeLinE's point, it's not as bad as nyu phrased it. The result might help us in the long run. We might encounter lots of them in other realms." Yuna argued Hana's claim.
"Plus we are just going to confuse Furo, like what happened to Ridsae when we removed her talent without her permission. Don't worry Hana, we are not going to abandon Furo." Kita added.
"As much as I hate this plan, I guess observation is still necessary before acting hastily. I just hope nothing bad happens…" Hana said.
"Doooon't jinx iiiit~" Lulu sleep-talked.
The Catgirls finally call it a day, arriving at a decision that is a half-hearted yes for Hana.
105.
The night ended without further hiccups. Bewildering as it is, the Catgirls do not have enough energy to argue over the current situation. Being the only Catgirls in the realm is surely eye-catchy to other Kemis, making it somewhat a blessing in disguise.
The morning comes and Lulu is currently mindblown since she thought everything was a dream, though it is actually a reality that they are in. Eventually, they all left Furo's place. There was no sign of abnormalities in Furo during their observation. Connecting to Ridsae's words about relying too much on her talent, the strong speculation for now, is it takes time before it does something to Kemis. Using generic excuses, the group invited Furo to join their journey so they could continue the analysis, but his answer shocked them.
"You all don't have to create those excuses. As the owner of the imaginary space, I can hear everything inside of it." Furo said.
The Catgirls were shocked, admitting the truth was the only thing that they could do. "We're sorry, we just wanted to help…" Kita apologized, guilty about their plan.
"It's fineeee. I mean, I invited you to my imaginary space to spy since your group is not from here. We can just call it even Steven! Shall we go now?" Furo replied.
The group didn't know how they should react but at least it turned out fine. While they were walking, Lulu whispered, "Who is Steven?"
"Chuu~ Maybe his imaginary friend or something," Pily whispered back.
Furo is also curious about what's happening, suddenly acquiring such a convenient talent might cost something. Joining the group that knows more about the Forbidden Rune is the smart choice for Furo.
Walking endlessly is once again their theme. For a realm wherein everything is small, the forest is ironically huge in terms of land mass. Some small huts can be spotted along the way, indicating that there are Rodent-type Kemis who prefer living alone or distantly. Another thing that the group noticed is the place somewhat resembles Riverania, it is like a cute version but more solitary since there's no tribe.
Fruits and vegetables are everywhere but mostly bite-size. The sad part for the Catgirls is, that's the only food that they got here in this realm. Fish and other staple meat cannot exist because they can disrupt the ecosystem in BijouTerra. A small place can only accommodate small creatures, thus small resources too.
Thanks to Furo's talent, they've made such huge progress. Their backpacks are stored inside a piece of wood, saving the group tons of energy. It made exploring lighter and helped them move faster. After a short while, the group decided to take some rest to drink water. While sitting under the shade of a small tree, another Kemi approached them. This time, half of its body was already corrupted. 3 feet tall and chubby, with Dark skin and black fur, his right arm to the center is covered in violet veins, the Ratman Kemi glared at them from a distance.
"Aaa… anooo… Is that the example of being corrupted?" Furo asked.
"Hai…" Hana answered.
"It's badly staring at us, I feel like we should escape now," Yuna suggested.
"I'm actually planning to run. But for some reason, I cannot move my body…" Kita said.
"ME TOO!" Lulu shouted.
The Catgirls can speak and move their heads, but the latter of their body seem to be frozen. The unknown Ratman corrupted by the Forbidden Rune is the culprit. His talent is making the target stop moving while he is focused on them.
"Chuu~ That Kemi is controlling us. He keeps whispering 'stop moving' while glaring at us." Pily said.
"Okay… That talent is overpowered!" Kita complained.
"There must be some sort of weakness in his talent," Yuna responded.
"I can't use my talent in this state," Hana added.
The group must find an angle where they can strike back. The situation is quite dire and it looks like the flaws are unnoticeable. Moments later, a chestnut fell on top of the Ratman's head, making it look elsewhere. In that duration, the group managed to move a little. But they are once again halted when the Ratman returns his gaze.
"What just happened?" Kita questioned.
"For a second there, I moved…" Hana responded.
"FeLinE finally understands now. That Rodent can stop anyone's movement only when he is locked to the target. If his attention was disrupted, his talent is disabled." FeLinE:1000X explained.
"I see… Now what? Are we just gonna wait for a lucky chestnut again?" Furo replied.
"How will we surprise him if we cannot mooooveee?" Lulu asked.
"Wait… Where's the stick that contains our bags?" Yuna asked Furo.
"It's right over there." Furo pointed at his left side using his lips.
"Can nyu disable it mentally?" Yuna added.
"Hai, but the objects inside will pop out like a firework because I closed the space without removing the foreign items. It will also break the stick." Furo answered.
"WE CAN USE THAT TO CREATE A DIVERSION!" Kita excitedly said.
"Hai! That will create enough time for us to spread out. I'm sure he cannot lock us all at the same time once we do." Yuna suggested.
"YUNA NYU ARE SMART! THAT'S MY YUNYUN~" Lulu proudly said.
"On the count of 3. 1… 2… 3!" Yuna instructed. Furo disabled his talent, snapping the stick and making the objects inside the space scatter everywhere, thus creating the distraction that they needed. As soon as the Ratman lost his concentration, everyone jumped out. Yuna, FeLinE, and Lulu went to the left side while Kita, Hana, and Furo hopped to the opposite side.
Everything happened in a split second, and the sequence of events confused the Ratman. The trap counter was successful, allowing the group to escape the stunning gaze. But the problem is not yet over because the Ratman once again returned his gaze to Kita, Hana, and Furo. Hana is the one who should be freed from the Ratman's talent for them to heal and extract the Forbidden Rune.
"Nyatta! It worked!" Lulu celebrated.
"Yeahh… but we are the ones that he chose to stun. Smart Rodent…" Kita responded.
"We need to free Hana to stop this madness," FeLinE:1000X mentioned.
"I guess we need to continue distracting him until Hana is free," Yuna replied.
"I surely would want that job…" Kita muttered, jealous about the circumstances.
"It's annoying-someone-time!" Lulu excitedly said.
106.
One step at a time, half of the group can now freely move. They must continue creating diversions without harming the unknown Kemi. FeLinE's patience is running out, she wants to just slap the target using her Relic, but the rest of the group is against it. The Ratman is also a victim in this situation. He is just out of control because of the Forbidden Rune.
Yuna's talent can make everything levitate or stop the motion of an incoming object, but her target can still move and maneuver themselves while in the air. It's like swimming in a certain spot of water. No matter what angle she puts the Kemi, the Ratman will just flip over and never lose contact with Kita, Hana, and Furo. "He is too flexible, I can't make him turn around," Yuna said, trying her best to find an off-angle.
After countless tries, Yuna puts down the Kemi. Her energy is running out. The group is carefully thinking of their next step, meanwhile, Lulu sneaks into the bushes. Them, being busy, created an opportunity for Lulu to escape everyone's radar. It's clear that Lulu is up to something.
Later on, the group finally noticed that Lulu was missing. Everyone started to look around, even the Ratman started to be quite wary of the surroundings. Lulu's disappearance made them speculate; maybe another Kemi joined the equation.
Everyone is silent, trying to sharpen their senses as they look for any small detail that could give them a clue. In the next instant, Lulu jumped out from the bush, straight in front of the Ratman's face as she shouted, "BAAAAAH!". Everyone was startled, and it made the Ratman fall to the ground.
This created an abrupt opportunity to escape. Furo finally joined Yuna and others, but sadly for Kita and Hana, they were caught by the Ratman's gaze again. Kita tripped on herself, falling face first and her back was upward. "ARRGHH! THIS IS FRUSTRATING!" She yelled. It created an embarrassing posture for Kita due to the sudden interference of the Ratman. Hana is also in an awkward pose, but not as bad as Kita.
"I DID IT!" Lulu said with pride, but it was immediately converted to confusion upon seeing Kita. "Why are nyu like that?" Lulu added.
"I TRIPPED! THEN I GOT STUNNED." Kita complained.
"We were quite not ready for that. We tried to take the opportunity, but we ended up like this…" Hana added.
"This Ratman is a toughy! Moh!" Lulu madly said as she pouted.
"At least I'm free now! But I think he clearly knows whom to target." Furo mentioned.
"So that means, even though we create diversions and made him lose focus, he will keep on targeting Kita and Hana. I do wonder why…" Yuna said.
"He won't be stunning someone if FeLinE knocks him out." FeLinE:1000X insisting her violent way.
"What if I put him inside of the imaginary space? That will keep him busy." Furo suggested.
"But how are we going to extract the Forbidden Rune? He can still stun us when we also enter it." Kita questioned.
"That's easy! I'll just create numerous unusual and complicated things in my space, and then we will cover all angles. That will buy time for Hana to approach without him targeting her!" Furo answered.
"That's a great idea! Like playing a game!" Lulu commented.
"Sounds doable for me, just need a cover to close the gap," Hana said.
"It's worth a shot. Let's do it!" Yuna added.
"Ho ho ho, it's payback time!" Kita responded.
Judging from the circumstances, the Ratman is probably aware of Kita, Yuna, and Hana's talent though he is most likely clueless about Furo's talent. With a clear plan in their minds, it's time for execution. Furo approached the Ratman and then activated his talent below where the target was. The Ratman falls inside the imaginary space, completing the first phase of the plan.
From an empty-colorless space, it slowly transformed into a peculiar setup, or at least for Furo and the Ratman. A farm that no one in BijouTerra has ever seen. Every Fruits and vegetable inside this farm are humongous, enough for a Rodent-type Kemi to live inside of those.
Eventually, the rest of the group went down to the imaginary space with high hopes about how creative Furo is. However, it did not meet their expectations at all.
"This is… Underwhelming…" Kita said, disappointed with the scenery that they were looking at.
"Yeahhh… I was hoping for something mystical or at least colorful... These are just enlarged foods…" Lulu added.
"Oh c'mon! I'm sure these are in every Rodent Kemi's dream!" Furo defended his imagined place.
"Well, Furo might still be correct on this one. Look at the Ratman, he is staring at a giant corn." Yuna mentioned as she pointed to the Kemi.
"He is already busy. We no longer have to be sneaky." Hana responded.
"This is anti-climactic…" Kita reiterated her disappointment.
"Let's just get this over with," FeLinE:1000X said as she moved toward the Kemi.
This time, the group came prepared. They already anticipated that they might encounter tons of this phenomenon. Because of that, Hana stored a mixture of water and Runecrystal fragments inside a bottle. As long as they put more particles of Runecrystal after use, the mixture is reusable. Hana started healing the Ratman since he was not moving at all. On the other hand, Kita is breaking some of the giant vegetables while Lulu cheers in the background. The two of them are trying to at least make the best out of their disappointments. Furo is stopping them because it kinda hurts his feelings in a small way, even though those are just imaginary.
A few minutes later, the Ratman finally comes back to his senses as the Forbidden Rune fell from his right hand. "Wha… What happened?" The Ratman asked as he held his head. "Holy, that's a giant corn!" He added upon seeing it.
"Let's just get out of here. Everything is getting less intellectual the longer we stay here." FeLinE:1000X said. Furo created imaginary stairs for them to climb up again to the surface.
The mission was successful even though it did not go the way they wanted. The group was all hyped up for the action-packed event, outmaneuvering the Ratman while they play around in a place beyond their imaginations. Sadly for them, none of those happened. It just proves that Furo's imagination is the handicap of his talent.
End of Chapter 2