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Chapter 7: Cats always land on their feet, right?

Chapter 7: Cats always land on their feet, right?

I sprinted towards the platform as 'Mission accepted: Push the button challenge' appeared at the top of my vision, only disappearing after I had read it.

"Who's coming up with these mission names?" I asked the girl.

"I am," she replied. "They're pretty good right?"

"Sure," I lied.

The first platform was like an elevator, rising up to the height of the other platforms that sat in the sky, and then back down to ground level. It appeared to be the only way to get up that high.

I sprang forward, jumping up and landing on the platform, the metal beneath my feet reverberated from the impact. Milo and Leo followed closely behind. As the platform reached its peak a metal-bladed pendulum swung for my head. Leo's hand clasped my arm as he yanked me backward, out of its path, saving my head from being split in two.

"Thanks," I said as I watched the pendulum swing back in front of the three of us. "This is wild!"

"Just be careful," said Leo as the platform began to lower again.

I didn't need to be told twice, I didn't realize how high we would be in the air. If I was still in my real body I would've been drenched in sweat just from the thought of being up that high.

The next platform sat a fair distance away from us, but with my new legs I was pretty sure I could make it, I had to make it.

I stepped in front of where the pendulum would swing down, which was pretty easy to avoid once you knew it was coming for you, and bounded forward, my metal feet clanging with each step. I leaped forward with everything I had, flying through the air, and when I was about halfway between the previous platform and the next platform it dawned on me that I wasn't going to make it.

I stretched my body forward as the platform quickly approached. I held out my hands and jack-knifed into the side of the platform. My hands gripped on tightly to the platform as my health dropped down 340hp.

"Awesome!" Said the girl.

"You think that was awesome?" I said, half-winded from the impact.

I struggled to pull myself up with how much I must have weighed now.

"It was a big jump," she replied.

I used every ounce of strength that I had to pull myself up and onto the platform.

The previous platform which Milo and Leo still stood on continued to lower. Leo stepped back as far as he could before running up to the edge of the platform and leaping towards me. I held my hands out towards him as he flew through the air.

My hands clasped his forearms as his feet landed on the platform, barely. He teetered on the edge, his weight nearly pulling me over with him. I grunted as I dug my heels in and leaned back, countering his weight. With a heave, I hauled him onto the platform.

"Shit, that was close," I said, realizing the course might not be as easy as I had originally thought.

"We need to keep moving," Leo said, his eyes glowing a bright green as he scanned the rest of the course. "Milo you're up!"

I looked over the edge of the platform without getting too close to the edge. Milo's platform was now way lower than ours.

"Um, I think I might just wait until I come back up," he yelled over to us as the platform continued lower, out of my view.

I stood in the middle of the platform as we waited for the platform to come back up. I was super grateful for how big these platforms were. As Milo's platform raised to our level, I carefully made my way back over to the edge.

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I could see the gears in Milo's head turning as he tried to time the leap perfectly. He sprang forward, his metal limbs glinted under the harsh fluorescent lights that filled the roof along with the flashing red lights sprawled out along the wall. Leo and I reached out to him as he landed, not that he needed it, he landed perfectly on the platform with a bit of room to spare.

"That wasn't so bad," Milo said smugly to the two of us.

"No one likes a show-off," I replied as I turned to face the rest of the death traps laid out before us.

From the platform, three thin planks stuck out from three different sides of the platform, heading in different directions and each connecting to their own separate platforms. There was no way that we could jump to these platforms, it was at least twice as far as the one we had just jumped from. We were going to have to walk the plank. I felt the sweat form all over my body.

From our platform that we now stood on, three thin planks stuck out from three different sides of the platform, heading in different directions and each connecting to their own separate platforms. There was no way we could jump to these platforms, it was at least twice as far as the one we had just jumped from. We were going to have to walk the plank. I felt the invisible sweat form all over my body again.

"I guess I'll go first," I said, trying to make it sound like I was more confident than I felt. I wasn't going to let them smell the fear on me. I didn't know if that was a thing that was possible now that we were robotic cats, but I wasn't going to leave it up to chance.

I carefully approached the plank that was directly in front of us, the one that headed in the direction of the button. I placed one foot onto the plank, then the other foot.

"Woah, your fan speed just spiked, are you okay?" Asked the girl.

"I'm not a big fan of heights," I whispered, trying to focus on her voice and not the fact that I could fall to my death at any second.

"It's okay, you've got this," she tried to say supportively. "Just don't look down."

"Thanks for the tip," I muttered, hoping she could understand sarcasm.

With every step I took the fear got worse. I might not have had a heart anymore but I swear I could feel it pounding in my chest. I also noticed that every time I would start to sway in one direction, my tail would whip in the other direction, as if it was trying to help me balance.

"You okay bro?" Asked Milo from behind me. "You're not still scared of heights are you?"

"No!" I snapped back as I took another careful step forward. I looked back to see both Milo and Leo just behind me, also standing on the plank.

"I don't know if we should all be on the plank at the same time though," I warned.

"Come on," Leo said. "You've got this, besides, you were fine when we were running on the roof."

"That wasn't quite as high," I said. "And, we aren't being chased by crazed robotic tigers."

"You'll be fine," said Milo with a chuckle. "I mean, cats always land on their feet, right?"

At that moment, I looked down, noticing one of those red laser beams, and I had just stepped on it. I quickly pulled my foot back, concerned that the beam could cut through metal, but it didn't seem to do any damage. In fact, the beam didn't seem to do anything at all?

That was until I heard the whirring of blades in the distance. Three of the drones, the same kind that had tried to kill us when we were breaking into the facility were now getting a second chance as they came straight for each of our heads.

"Newt! Move!" Leo yelled.

I took in one quick, deep breath and ran for the platform. My foot slipped as I ran but my tail helped out just enough to keep me balanced. And in, what felt like a lifetime, I ran across the beam and onto the platform. Ducking just in time as one of the drones whizzed past my head.

Milo reached the platform just after me, ducking under the second incoming drone. He punched it in the body as it passed above him, looking like a weird version of Mario punching a block as he jolted his arm up and into its body. The drone burst into a million little pieces that went flying everywhere.

I turned to face the drone that had just passed me. Its blades screamed as it flew back at my head. I crouched down as it approached, coiling my robotic muscles before I sprang towards it as soon as it got close enough. It felt like I was soaring through the air. My fist collided with the drone's body with a crunch, causing one of the blades to disconnect from its body as it flew off and into the wall like a ninja star. With only three blades remaining, it spun out of control, falling to the ground far, far below.

"Did you see that!" I whooped. "I'm like the fucking Terminator!"

'-$1' appeared in my vision.

"That's 125xp, but please, no potty mouth," said the girl as '125xp' as the orange bar filled up.

I looked over to Leo, who still stood on the plank. He finished off the final drone by grabbing it out of the air. The spinning blades sparked off of his metal body. He must have taken some damage but he didn't seem to care. He tore the drone in two, sending bits of metal and circuitry flying everywhere. He tossed the two pieces to the depths below.

"Damn, bro!" I called out.

He gave a rare, small smile before closing the distance, and leaping over to the platform.