A Bonnie to Catch

"Move it girls, move it!" Dimyri ordered, rushing her feline friends into the tower side.

Nyitzcha spun around and climbed atop Nukka's furry back, whistling loudly to grab their attention. "Keep de heid, de lotta ya! Let de lass talk!"

With a grateful nod, Dimyri took a quick headcount of the Nekomata's left with them. Counting and picking them apart was much easier when they stood still. Nyitzcha felt something soft jab at her side, checking to find a tail attached to Zimi, frowning. "Would you mind getting off my bear?"

"Aye, she dun make nu fuss outta me. All yers, lass." She shrugged, leaping off Nukka and stepping back.

Kneeling down, Zimi brushed Nukka's hair back with her oversized cat paw until she looked up at her with red eyes. She was tearing up and hugging herself this whole time. The sight made the Nekomata gasp before expanding her arms to her, which she gladly embraced, weeping into her neck. "Easy sweetie, let it all out."

"P-P-Pointy sticks, stingers! Nukka hates stingers, bad bad bad bad bad!"

Zimi winced and looked around, noticing the statue knights at each corner of the room they broke into. Each knight rested their hands atop the handle of a broadsword pointing down. Hugging her Grizzly Girl, Zimi breathed in and nuzzled against her delicate brown fur, whispering into her little round ear.

"Nukka, it's okay. Zimi is here with you, the pointy things won't point to you, and the stingers won't be stinging you. Not while I'm here."

"Zi-Zi-Mi."

"Shhh, Zimi is here. Breathe with me darling, breathe." Zimi hugged her tight, stroking the fur on her Grizzly's back before noticing the dwarf staring in disbelief. "What?"

"Ye brought a bear t'fight when she gut a fear o' swords? Yer jokin?"

"Nu nu, nut swords. Stingers! And pointy sticks that make us itchy all round!" Nukka exclaimed, trembling in fear with wide expressive eyes. Nyitzcha looked disappointed but left the bear alone, looking around before wondering off with a satchel in hand.

Looking around, the numerous unconscious knights decorating the ground beyond the hole in the wall made the Grizzly yelp and whimper, hiding her face in her paws. "Oh no's, bad thing. She did a bad thing, now Zimi is going to be upset with me."

"Hey." Nukka raised her eyes and looked up to find a gray haired girl smiling back at her while sitting on her strong shoulders. "Why are you sc-scared?"

"St-Stingers." She whined, pointed at the nearest statue.

The Nekomata tilted her head before meeting Nukka's eyes. "Scared?"

"Dangerous." She mumbled.

"They don't look dangerous. You know you saved us from the pointy things?"

Nukka slowly moved her paws away, her mouth parted in shock. "I did?"

"You did! We th-th-thought we were goners, I closed my eyes tight a-and when I open I see you making a sc-scary face and chasing the st-stingers away."

"Huh?" Nukka croaked, looking baffled as Zimi began to catch on and smiled.

"Yip! You may be scared but s-so am I. And to me, you're the bravest, meanest girl out there! You're my hero." The Nekomata smiled nervously as she saw a smile begin to form on the Grizzly Bear's timid face. "You know, I-I always wanted to ask what your name is, if that's okay?"

"Name?" Nukka glanced at Zimi who nodded in return, urging her to continue. "Nu-ice Tumeechu."

The Nekomata hopped off to face her. "N-N-Nuice Tumeechu?"

"Nice to meet you too." Nukka giggled, wagging her tiny ears and making the kitty laugh. "Nuuu, Nuuuu-ka. Some call us Nukka!"

"Nukka, I'm O-Ori'chi." She smiled, hugging her new friend. Caught by surprise, Nukka held her breath before gently wrapping her large paws around Ori'chi, hugging her back. Ori'chi yelped and mewed, turning different shades of red and feeling her limbs go stiff. They refused to hug back, possibly from Zimi watching the moment unfold. It made Ori'chi clamp up and seal her lips tight.

"Okay okay, that's enough hugs. This is an ambush, remember?" Zimi reminded them, waving her tail at Nukka. "Darling, help me with the other girls."

Ori'chi jumped away as soon as Nukka's grip softened up, she held her arm and nervously rubbed her foot paw over some dust. "D-D-Dimyri said to k-k-keep them safe and aw-away. Says they n-need to be well and out of... h-harm."

"You talk funny." Nukka giggled, clapping her massive paws together. Ori'chi's faced turned a deep tomato red as she used her hair to hide her face and looked away.

"I t-t-try..."

"Now now, be nice Nukka. Come, if Dimyri wants us to tend to the girls then we will." Zimi ushered her Bear to follow her back outside into the hidden spot where Syri and Janette were looking after the Nekomata's. Most of them were exhausted and had reverted into their cat forms, making it a silly sight as half a dozen cats were lying on their sides, some with their tongues out, while a frustrated couple did their best to keep them hydrated and bandaged.

"Nothing too bad, just bruises." Janette mentioned once she caught sight of the girls. "Are we taking them back?"

"Back where, the village is gone remember?" Syri reminded her, looking up at Zimi when she came close. "Auntie?"

"We keep them here where it's safe. No signs of trauma? Allow the professional healer to have a look." Zimi calmly stated, pushing Janette aside with a bump using her waist.

Janette huffed and placed her hands to her waist. "You know I did study a class for medicine when I was young."

"And still, you're second to a kitty who never went to school." Zimi snickered, waving her tails at her in a mocking fashion. "Come, you can be my hands-on assistant."

"How degrading." Janette muttered with a roll of her eyes. Nukka meanwhile was busying herself by picking up the fallen soldiers and placing them side by side under a tree nearby. Ori'chi scurried in and made sure to remove their swords, inspecting them for hidden weapons.

"So that they don't st-sting or p-point." She added, which brought a smile to Nukka's face.

Back inside the tower, Spi'Reto and Felix traded looks before staring back at the figure down the hall. She calmly began approaching them with a sexy walk, her hips swaying beautifully side to side as her tails wrapped around her waist. Spi'Reto put away his bow, flexing his fingers and parting his legs. Felix, none the wiser, pretended to crack his neck before feeling embarrassed and hoping Spi'Reto didn't catch it.

"Um, that pink rock doesn't look too friendly when it's glowing."

"What, the one around her neck or the boulder partial to the wall behind her?" Spi'Reto asked.

"Yes." Felix nodded, swallowing hard. "Emyri? Please say you can hear us?"

Emyri continued walking down the hall, her apparent nudity coming into view once she came near the fading candlelight from the shattered chandelier. It was good to know both fallen knights remained unconscious, however the perverse image of her breasts bouncing slightly with each step as well as her intimidating green eyes and low growl from her soft pink lips brought mixed feelings to the boys. Felix began to sweat, either from his recent scuffle or from growing nervousness from the incoming presence he could not say.

"Question, does she know how to fight?" Spi'Reto asked.

Felix detected the slight croak in his voice which made him more uneased. "Uuuh well, she handled four or five guys at the same time once."

"Was it a struggle?"

"It was a brutal beatdown, she won."

Spi'Reto chuckled nervous. "Of course, she trained with Mom and Leone. Of course she knows how to fight."

"She trained with Leone?" Felix turned around in bewilderment as suddenly Emyri ran up and launched herself into the air, emitting a sharp shriek as she extended her claws and bared her fangs, her eyes now glowing a familiar eerie pink glow.

"SPLIT!"

Spi'Reto rolled to his right as Felix fell to his left, evading the Head Mother and narrowly escaping from her claws. The scary thing was how quiet she was in contrast to fighting those knights, she landed with barely a noise before swinging her leg to Spi'Reto's head. He bit his tongue and flinched back just enough to feel her paw cut through the air above his nose. She was relentless, a flurry of paws and claws from every limb, a whip from each tail. Spi'Reto struggled to catch his breath, unable to retaliate as he was forced on the defensive. Each time he would catch or push her attack away from him, but she would succeed in striking elsewhere. A swipe to his chest would pair with a sharp crack of her tail to his thigh. When he caught her foot he would suffer a second kick to his chest. Her tails were near impossible to counter, slim and agile and moving at incredible speed.

Felix was terrified, but no matter how badly his instincts begged him to run, he fought back for control. To him, it was like suddenly his body went numb as he lacked feeling in his muscles. His strength fell and his legs shook and felt like jelly, but still he pushed on. As her attention was focused on the poor elf, Felix tackled her from behind, hugging her waist and squeezing tight. She shouted and screamed, turning her attacks to him, whipping his back with her tails. He grunted and bit his tongue hard, turning red as he lifted her inches off the ground. What was his plan of action? Whatever it was, her kicking Spi'Reto in the chest would change that as they fell back with Felix taking most of the impact. His head bounced off the stone floor and for a moment his hearing went deaf. A sharp ringing ran its course through him, he did nothing but hold on as she thrashed and shook, scratching at his forearms.

Spi'Reto coughed hard and looked up to see her now pressing her paws down, pushing away from his hold. Seeing his chance, he jumped forward and closed his fist around the pink stone, pulling with all his might. The collar began to tear from the top, giving away through each passing second. He felt relief, smiling through his cuts as he felt victorious in setting her free.

Emyri pulled down hard and bit his hand, catching three of his fingers as she growled. The poor boy screamed and lost his grip, pressing his other hand on her lower jaw hoping to ease the pain. He knew what to do, his hand flexed and he was aware that a swift blow to her stomach would release his hand. But he withdrew from such action, daring to find a better way.

Felix let go, he knew he shouldn't have but he caught blood dripping from the Head Mothers cheek. He cupped her nose with one hand and pulled her jaw down with the other, allowing Spi'Reto to pull away and fall on his knee, groaning in a hoarse and strained voice. Immediately, Emyri raised her knee and kicked back at Felix hard, rolling away from him and on her four paws. He growled back with one eye shut and both hands covering his groin, the pain nearly made him vomit then and there when he caught sight of her face. Her eyes were shedding tears just then. It took him away from the blood dripping down her chin and the furious look in her face, why was she crying?

Just then, Felix felt a hidden fire emerge inside him. It infuriated him to no end as his hatred for Perdilius doubled in size. "It's one thing to want to keep them as pets. But forcing them to do something they hate, that's despicable."

Standing to his feet, his own cat-like eyes locked on to hers and he understood what he had to do. "I promised her that I would keep my family safe. I can't save you without getting hurt, that's become obvious now. So hurt me, wound me, attack me to your pleasure until you're satisfied. But I won't stop, I won't break. Until my dying breath, I will do whatever it takes to keep my family safe."

Emyri leaned back as he took one step forward, intimidated by his now calm demeanor. She was panting now, obviously her excessive attack was taking away from her stamina. She raised her eyebrows as more tears began flowing down, he almost expected she would tear away from his control. That would be magical, to know his words touched her, fueled her will and gave her the strength to break free once and for all.

But it wasn't. She grew tense, baring her teeth and opening her jaws as she ran towards him with the intent to kill.

With one deep breath, he closed his eyes and raised his hands up. If taking her fury meant closing the gap to seize that collar from her, then so be it.

"RRRRAAAAWWWWWWWWGUHH-Uhn, grrr!"

He gasped and fell back upon sight, Emyri was struggling to pull away as sbe gasped for air. Instead of his neck, her teeth had bared down onto leather, rough leather that is, with a rather hard package inside resisting her bite.

"Yer off yer head, talkin bout lettin' er do ya in. I hadn't the faint idea I married a man lacking spine!"

Felix blinked as Nyitzcha held her satchel in place, avoiding Emyri's paws thanks in part to her short size. His dwarf manage to lock eyes with him and smiled. "Wouldn't be a fair lady if I let me hubby die, aye? Den who would pay me back fer me troubles?"

"Y-You came here? You're supposed to be with the others-"

"Kiss me arse! I catch ye givin' up an' t'say ye thanks ye tell me to piss off? What a lad." She fumed, pushing Emyri back with the bag still in her mouth. "Yer mine, Felix. I said ye be gettin' yer happy ending, whether ye like it er nut! Either piss off or stand firm, we've a Bonnie to catch!"