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Title: Of Cats and Magic

Chapter: 4

Author: Riko Gonzalez

Riko yawned as the sun peeked over the horizon. It was early morning, and the

magical girls had been gathered at the edge of a forest. The winged cats were

also with them. Ruko and Timothy waited alongside Riko. Before the crowd, stood

the red-haired instructor.

"Alright," the instructor began, looking over the assembled magical girls and

winged cats, "today I expect you to practice your focus. Having massive magical

potential requires significant focus to control. As for those of you who don't

have much magical potential, you require significant focus to draw out your

power."

The redhead reached into her pocket and pulled out a crystal.

"You will spend the day in the forest. You're goal is to find crystals like this

one. They give off magical power so you should be able to sense them. However,

that will require focus. Understand?"

***

The sun was obscured by the forest canopy, glimmers of light filtering down from

overhead. It was already mid-day when Riko's group, consisting of Ruko, Timothy,

and herself, reached their assigned point. The two catgirls dropped their packs

as Timothy looked over their surroundings.

A bit to their left was a stream of fresh-looking water, the water being shallow

enough for one to walk in and only get their ankles wet. A tad further away, the

fast waters of the stream were fed by a majestic waterfall.

"I'll pitch the tent," Ruko offered, already going through her bag.

Riko glanced around, taking the natural beauty of the place in before deciding

to go crystal hunting. The cyan-haired catgirl closed her eyes and focused. She

focused and sensed nothing.

"Stupid crystals," she thought to herself as she tried again but still came up

with nothing.

"I-I'm going to go crystal hunting. Be back in a bit," she notified the others

before running off, refusing to give up. If the crystals wanted to hide, then

she'd just find them with sheer determination. No way she would be outdone by

some dumb crystals.

***

A few hours later...

***

Riko stumbled back into camp, the look of defeat showing in her pink eyes. Look

as she may, she couldn't find even one of those darn crystals. It was like they

were taunting her. Were there even any crystals here? That had to be it. There

were no crystals. Just a cruel lie to get them to practice their focus. Curse

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that diabolical instructor.

"You find any?" Timothy asked as he walked up to the cyan-haired catgirl.

"Not one. I'm starting to think that instructor lied about there being

crystals."

"You're standing on one," Ruko called out, not bothering to look over. The

wheat-skinned blonde sat at a campfire she had set up, nonchalantly cooking some

fish.

Riko looked down and instantly noticed the glimmer at her feet, almost

pratfalling from the irony of it all. How the heck did she miss that?

Trying to act cool like she knew it was there the entire time, she casually bent

over to pick the thing up. However, before she could, she slipped and fell face

first. Face down and grimacing, Riko grabbed the glistening object.

"I meant to do that."

"Sure you did," Timothy sarcastically responded as the catgirl climbed to her

feet.

That was one crystal down, but they still needed another. There were two magical

girls here. As such, the instructor was expecting for them to find at least two.

"Guess we still need one more," Riko mused.

"There is one behind the waterfall. Also, I collected ten of them while you were

gone," the taciturn magical girl spoke still not bothering to take her eyes off

of the fish.

Riko literally pratfell at Ruko's words in utter astonishment. She couldn't even

find one on her own. Ruko, though, had found at least twelve. Were there others

that the blonde hasn't mentioned? This was completely ludicrous.

"How the heck are you so good at this?"

"They are easy to sense."

***

The next morning, before the sun rose, Riko woke from her slumber, finding that

she was unable to go back to sleep. As such, she decided to go for a brief hike.

After leaving a note for the others --- she didn't want to disturb their sleep

by waking them --- she headed away from the camp. That is when things got odd.

Her cat ears perked up as they caught a faint melody. It was a tune that led her

to the stream. This part of the stream wasn't the portion that was next to the

camp, though. It was further downstream from that part.

In the stream, there was a form cloaked in shadow, a form that was singing.

Riko's eyes were sharp, but she couldn't quite pick up the details of the figure

at her current distance. Well, presumably it was something that could talk since

whatever it was was singing.

It was at that point that the unknown entity took note of the catgirl's

presence, going perfectly silent. It was almost eerie to tell the truth. Not

only it but everything had become perfectly silent. For a soundless moment that

seemed to stretch to eternity for the pink-eyed catgirl, the two stared at one

another. The next moment the unknown thing pointed towards Riko, and then it was

gone. It didn't appear to have run off. It was just gone.

A singing entity that points and then vanishes. The scenario was just plain

bizarre to Riko. Just what had she observed? Figuring she should return to camp,

she turned around and plowed straight into something furry --- something big and

furry.

"A bear! Seriously!"

She could hardly believe this, but she had walked into a bear. Actually, she had

walked into not just any bear but a massive bear. Did bear's even get as big as

the one before her? Clearly that bear was that big, but it seemed to be too big

for a bear. Regardless, there it was before her --- one enormous, snarling bear.

"No choice."

Riko summoned her staff and prepared for combat. While she didn't think this

would end well, she figured it was by far a better option than being eaten by a

giant bear.

***

A few hours later...

***

The sun had risen to illuminate a forest that had been set aflame. Sirens blared

as firefighters frantically fought the forest fire. Riko, Ruko, and Timothy

watched as the fire slowly began to be beaten back.

"So you are telling me that this is the result of you being attacked by a bear?"

Timothy inquired.

"Yeah. Not sure what happened to the bear, though."

"But Riko... I don't think there are supposed to be any bears in this forest."

"Maybe you should have told that freakishly large bear."

As Timothy continued to interrogate Riko as to the events leading up to this

blaze, Ruko stared off into the distance. There was something out there. What,

though, she couldn't quite say.