Lily Stepford woke up to someone booping her nose.
“Mmmmm, I don’t wanna go to school.” she muttered, wrapping her blankie up over her head.
“Lily. Wake up. We have much training to do today,” a woman’s voice said.
Slowly, Lily’s eyes drifted open. A cat was speaking to her. Their snow white fur was immaculately groomed. She was perfectly uniform in color with the exception of her tail that was pitch black. The feline hopped over Lily’s head and onto her pillow. Then it began to press its paw pads onto Lily’s face, encouraging her to get up.
It worked as Lily immediately bounced up in excitement. “Oh my gosh! Training! Eeeeeeeee!” she squealed.
“Lily! Shush! You don’t want to wake your father,” the cat reprimanded.
Lily gasped. She placed both hands on her mouth so she could be quiet. Then much more softly, she whispered “Eeeeeeee”
She looked to the door, seeing if her father would come in. Nothing. Then Lily looked around at her room. Her toys were strewn here and there across the floor. Her playhouse sat in the corner of the room, perfectly set up with all of her figures. She hadn’t moved it ever since her best friend Selena had come over. Daddy had set up a mystery game for her and Selena by using the playhouse and Lily had promised Selena she wouldn’t move anything until they finished their game.
On the wall, there was a big poster of her favorite superhero. Celestial Ranger Cerulean Blue! She protected Serenity city from the bad monsters that Mr. Darkmoon let out from the dark moon dimension. Cerulean Blue wore an awesome costume. She had a long blue cape that could detach so she could use it to fly. She wore a white top accented with blue lines that made the symbol of the Celestial Rangers. She also had a magic wand that could summon spirits of the celestial sea. She was like the best superhero ever! Cerulean Blue and Mr. Darkmoon fought all the time with the help of the animals they summoned. Mr. Darkmoon cheated a lot, but Cerulean Blue always managed to save the day!
Now, Blossom was gonna train Lily so she could be just like Cerulean Blue. Then she could protect Serenity from bad guys. Lily was so excited! She grabbed Blossom, hugging her and rubbing at Blossom’s soft fur. “You really mean it, Blossom?”, she asked.
The cat nodded in response. She slipped out of Lily’s arms. Sitting on the bed next to Lily, she began to lick at her fur, regrooming herself. When she was presentable again, Blossom said, “I do. You were a very good girl this year and you kept your promise to make up with your friend Clarissa. I think you’ve shown much maturity. So I will teach you how to harness your powers today.”
“Yay! What are you gonna teach me first? How to send Azurean blasts or, or how to make a Cyan force field?”
The cat shook her head, “Ah-ah! First you must brush your teeth before we get started.”
Lily hung her head, disappointed. “Awww. Do I have to?”
Blossom nodded her head in confirmation. “Yes, you do. I’ll be waiting for you in the living room. Go on now.” The cat jumped back over Lily’s body and started pushing her from behind. Lily grumpily exited her room and into the bathroom. She grabbed her toothbrush and cup from their resting place on the bathtub. Then she gave her teeth a good brushing while looking at the small mirror her dad had installed for her. Lily’s red hair was tangled again. After brushing her teeth, she combed her hair down with her brush and tied it up into a high ponytail.
Amicia had taught her how to do it last week. Her dad had tried, but he could never get it right. Eventually he bought a pumpkin pie and invited Amicia over to help out. Daddy was always so weird around Auntie Amicia just because he liked her. Boys are so dumb. Amicia told Daddy he didn’t need to get her anything to spend time with Lily.Then, Amicia made cinnamon buns with pecans on top and brought that over too. They’d all played together that day and ate lots of yummy stuff.
Lily left the bathroom and made her way into the living room after washing up. As she stepped into the living room, she heard a sound. It was a low rumbling sound. Daddy was snoring again. Lily saw her father asleep in his chair next to his desk. Occasionally, he would have so much work that he nodded off in his chair instead of sleeping in his room. Then Lily heard someone whisper her name.
“Pssst, Lily. Over here.” they said. Lily turned to see Blossom sitting on the kitchen counter, licking their paw. Lily tiptoed over to Blossom, doing her best to not wake up her father. The cat was 2 or 3 feet above Lily. Blossom peered down on her young ward. The slight scent of mint on the girl’s breath assured Blossom that Lily had indeed brushed her teeth. The feline nodded in satisfaction.
Then the cat looked up to one of the cupboards. She leaned down and raised her behind up. Blossom pounced up from her position, catching the handle of one of the cupboards. She pulled it open and dropped back down on the counter. There sat a blue box. It would be the object of today’s training.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Blossom turned back around to Lily who was looking at her in confusion. Lily asked her, “Blossom. What are we doing?”
“Wh, we’re making breakfast of course. A young girl should always start the day off with a meal.” Blossom answered. The cat leapt down from the counter, gracefully landing on Lily’s shoulder. “But we are also starting your training. Are you ready darling?”
“Yes!” Lily said confidently.
“Good. Now repeat after me. The power of nine lives merged as one. We rise together, brighter than the sun!”
“The power of 9 lives merged as one. We rise together, brighter than the sun!” Lily repeated. A shimmering glow encapsulated her. She felt a warm sensation come over her, starting from her heart and spreading throughout her body. Slowly, the white light over Lily’s entire body turned green. The light settled down to reveal that Lily’s purple unicorn pajamas had been replaced. Now she wore a light green hoodie with cat ears attached. She had a new black skirt with a checkered pattern. Her hands were overlaid with a rich forest green energy construct in the shape of cat’s paws.
Lily felt a bit tired after transforming, but she also felt good. She felt strong. Like she could do anything! Blossom let out a soft meow and licked the side of Lily’s face, bringing the excited girl back to earth. “Well done Lily. Your new form will allow you to access the latent magical energies of Serenity. I will teach you to master the power within you. Remember however, this new form of yours has limits. If you use up too much of your energy, you’ll lose your form and become vulnerable again. These powers are a responsibility, not a toy. Do you understand?”
Lily nodded. Being responsible with the power you had was what being a hero was about. If you forgot that, you became a big meanie like Mr. Darkmoon.
Blossom continued one, “First, your feline form will let you move in ways most people cannot. Try jumping for example.” Lily bent her knees. She hopped up. She rose in the air 6 feet from her small hop, landing on the kitchen counter.
“Whoa, so coooool,” Lily whispered, giddy at her new power. She did a little dance of joy on the counter. Suddenly, she slipped off. She’d not been paying attention as she celebrated her first step into the heroing world. She let out a short yelp as she fell, but her body turned around. She landed softly on the ground. Lily was wide eyed. She expected that to really hurt!
Blossom came down next to Lilly on the floor. “In addition to your increased agility, you’ll have the grace of a cat while falling. Try to watch your step, Lily. A cat never falls unless they want to.”
“This is so cool Blossom. What else can I do? Can I scratch bad guys with these paws?” Lily asked. She scratched at the air with her cat paw constructs. Lily hissed at an invisible enemy, imaging all the heroing she was gonna do. Maybe she’d meet Cerulean Blue once she started doing patrols!
“The claws can indeed be used to scratch. They can be used in other ways as well. Try to imagine the claws moving away from you.”
Lily followed Blossom’s instructions. She imagined her claws rising up and floating away. She looked on in wonder as they did just that.
“Now open and close your hand.” Blossom said. The floating cat’s paw opened and closed in tandem with Lily’s own hand. “Well done Lily. Now do you see that box of pop tarts in the cupboard? Your mission for today is to bring down the box without knocking over anything else.”
Lily spent the next fifteen minutes trying to get the box of poptarts before finally succeeding. A few times she had almost knocked over something else with her paws, but she managed to succeed after figuring out she could imagine the paws as bigger or smaller. Blossom complimented her on her creativity. The cat taught Lily how to make pop tarts by putting them in the toaster. Lily’s stomach growled as the sweet treat warmed up. In the intervening time, Lily had run out of energy. Her clothes transformed back into her unicorn pajamas.
After a good training session, Lily was rewarded with 2 freshly made poptarts on a plate. She was about to bite down when Blossom stopped her. “Hold on Lily. You need to let it cool or it’ll burn your mouth.”
“But Daddy always eats his Pop Tarts right away.” Lily replied, pouting at Blossom.
“Hmmm. Does he now? How about we wake him up. Maybe he’d like a poptart as well.”
“Okay!” Lily jogged over to her father. Through all of her experimentation with her powers, he’d continue to sleep. The only time he showed signs of movements was when the poptarts started cooking. He’d turn in his chair slightly to mutter “Pop Tarts” before falling back asleep.
As Lily stood next to her father, she shook his hand and said, “Daddy wake up!”
“Wha,who, that sprint was badly planned! We need more QA!” Jack said, scrambling up in his chair. The exhausted man realized where he was. He looked down on his little girl. “Oh sweetie! What time is it?” he asked, yawning.
“Daddy, I made poptarts. Here take one.”
“Poptarts? Aren’t those in the cupboard, how did you get them?” Jack asked, unconsciously reaching for one of the sweet, flaky treats.
“Blossom got them for me!”
“Blossom?” The cat in question meowed up at him. “Oh that’s nice.” Jack said, not truly processing the absurdity of the statement. He was too busy taking a bite of his Pop Tart. “Oh! It’s hot! It’s hot! Wooooo.” he said, his mouth filled with sweet cream filling and pie crust.
Jack blew outward, still keeping the raging hot treat in his mouth. He huffed and puffed trying to get it to cool down. “Hot. hot. Hot. Whew boy.”
Lily giggled at how silly her dad was. Blossom had a twinkle in her eye. Watching the foolish man fanning his own mouth, never realizing he could simply spit out the over heated treat, was highly amusing. The cat considered this morning to be an resounding success. If only her human, Amicia, was here as well. That would complete this picture.