Target One chapter 10

Target followed Bell, as did everyone else, and they walked through town a while, several older creatures coming up, recognizing Bell. They left the town after a few hours, and continued on, traveling towards a swamp, filled with rushes lily pads, and a couple submerged trees. Essence shuddered when she saw it, and Bell asked her why.
“Th-this…is it…” Essence said, looking at her with a terrified face. Bell nodded.
“You think you can handle it?” Bell asked.
“Y-yeah…” Essence padded over to a sandy patch, and wiped away several layers of the stuff, revealing a large piece of old, bloodstained concrete, with a white line in the middle. She looked at it, recalling memories.
“What’s the matter?” Target asked, looking down at what she was looking at. “And what’s that?”
“That, would be a human road.” Essence said in a faraway tone.
“Oh, cool! What’s the deal though?”
“That…would be where I died…” She said, shedding a tear, which evaporated the moment it hit the ground.
“Really?” Target sat down next to her. “What happened..?” He asked cautiously, wondering if Essence would respond.
“It was a beautiful August day. This used to be a huge city, and here, was a road. Large machines, you’ve heard of them, cars, drove on these daily. I was with my friend. He and I were going to cross the road. There were large lights, called stoplights in humanspeak, and they changed color. If it was green, cars would run across the road. Yellow, they slowed down. And red, the cars stopped completely. Me and my friend made it halfway across the street, I was ahead of him… and the light turned green…” Essence folded her ears back, and shivered. “It was horrible…My friend watched me get run over, which is much like a boulder crashing into you, and going over you. I felt so much pain….” Essence winced. “And then…I was dead…” She laid on that spot, whispering to herself, and Bell came over to her. She laid next to Essence, and started licking her ear as if she was her mother.
“Don’t worry.” Bell said in a softer tone than usual. “It’s in the past. You aren’t going to let this take over, are you? It’s better to let go of some things. This is one of them.” She said, trying to cheer her up. Essence nodded. Patchwork felt sorrow much greater than he had in a while, and also laid next to her, silent, but giving a feeling of caring. They sat there a while, but then Essence got up, if a bit shakily.
“I’m ready now.” She said silently. Everyone got up after that, and they started moving. The swamp was filled with all kinds of remains from the human era, such as pieces of metal in twisting shapes. Target looked around, curious about what all this stuff was, and seeing Essence, he worried about her. She looked like she was in some sort of trance, even though she had her bandages over her eyes. She pricked her ears up in a minute or two though, and dashed in a different direction. Target was confused.
“What’s she doing?” he asked Bell.
“She probably heard someone or something, and went to check it out.” Bell replied placidly. “She won’t be gone too long.” She added. Patchwork gasped, though in a happy way. He ran over to Target, with a small doll of a cat in his teeth. He put it into one of his pouches.
“You saw that, right?” He said excitedly. “That’s human work!” Patchwork said. He found a dry spot of land, and set it on the ground for a minute, looking at it with admiration. “Look at those fine stitches! They’re perfectly level, and every line done perfectly!” His button eyes somehow seemed to show the expression of joy when he said that, thought Target was pretty sure it was an illusion. Patchwork put it back in his pouch, his entire self filled with pleasure like Target didn’t normally see. Taiyo didn’t find anything interesting.
“I don’t see what’s so good about this.” She said, pawing at a metal pipe. “It’s really just junk.” Patchwork growled at her, and Taiyo grinned back. “My opinion, not yours.” She said, and they moved on, after Bell said that Essence would find her way. Essence, meanwhile, was busy trying to find something. She ran through the trees and boggy terrain, her paws getting splashed with the muddy water. She had heard voices, and wanted to know what they were before she knew they were safe. Since she couldn’t die, it would be easier for her to go. She soon found out what made the sound, and stopped, spying from the trees.
“Oi, Kokoro.” One said. Essence had found several cats.
“Yes?” This cat, a beautiful red and pink she-cat with a smooth and silky voice that would remind one of a snake looked at her companions.
“I heard a group of cats come by. Why don’t you go check on them?” One of them said grinning. He had black fur on one side of his body, which he was missing an eye on, and grey on the other. He also wore a red scarf that seemed to float by magic, and looked like giant claws. “And maybe…bring one back for dinner?” His scarf seemed to act like an extra set of paws, though more like human hands.
“Of course, Zenith.” Kokoro said happily. The other companion grinned too, but Essence didn’t see him very well, as he was behind both of the two in front. Kokoro dashed in the direction of Essence’s hidden chain, which meant she was heading for the group. Essence dashed after her, paying no attention to how mush sound she made. Zenith looked in Kokoro’s direction, and seeing the white cat, his grin widened. He ran behind, silent enough that Essence wouldn’t notice, and quick enough to catch up. Essence had nearly made it to Kokoro. Kokoro noticed her, and looked behind the cat, giggling devilishly. Essence looked behind her, just long enough to see a large, red hand pick her up. Essence let out a yell, struggling against the grip. The cat, Zenith had caught her.  He took back the long arm, which was one end of his scarf, and examined the victim.
“No need to go anywhere.” Zenith said in a low voice. “We have dinner.” Kokoro smiled. “A dumb thief, no doubt.” She said, whipping her tail. She suddenly noticed the chain. “Oh,” She said quickly. “It isn’t alive.” She said, as if used to spirits. Zenith’s smile faded, and he threw Essence to the ground with full force.
“It’s poisonous.” He said. Kokoro nodded.
“So, spirit. Are you with that group?” Zenith asked Essence, who had gotten up. Essence stayed silent.
“Tell me.” Zenith commanded. “And take those stupid bandages off your eyes.” He said. “I know how to deal with spirits.”
Essence shuddered, suddenly realizing that he too, was, or had been a spirit. She took the bandages off, and wrapped them around her neck, but she still said nothing. Zenith grew angry.
“You have one last chance.” He said in a growling voice. Essence spoke.
“Yes, and what about it?” She asked, with almost no emotion.
“Good. Where are they? Lead me.” Zenith said.
“No thanks.” Essence said with a bit of a smile.
“Spiri-” He was cut off.
“Please, Essence.” Essence said. She started walking off, in no general direction, when her tail was caught by the hand again.
“You’re going to tell me where they are.” Zenith said again.
Essence blinked and looked at him. “I’ve done one thing you said. You don’t want help from a low-class spirit, do you?” She asked. “You’ll surely be the laughing-stock of the spirit realm.”
Zenith growled, and tackled her, catching her throat. Essence easily knocked him off though.
“I don’t suggest that.” Essence said. “You might just want to leave me alone. As well as the group.” She sounded quite serious.
Zenith blocked any exits with his hand-like scarf, but then noticed something. He noticed the long chain.
“Ah, never mind.” He grinned. “You’ve helped enough.” He and Kokoro bounded off in the direction the glowing chain was leading them. Essence ran after them, and actually got ahead of them without them noticing, and ran about, looping the chain around trees and into difficult terrain. It made it a bit hard for Zenith and Kokoro, who followed it, then saw Essence’s snow-white fur.
“Oi, Zen. She’s trying to confuse us.” Kokoro said, running faster.
“So I see.” Zenith said simply. He ignored most of the trail, and targeted Essence. He suspected she’d be heading back. Essence didn’t know they were following, and kept looping, and heading back, albeit at a slower pace. She still ran faster than them though, due to her long strides, and managed to get to the group first. “Hey.” She said, panting.
“Hey.” Bell replied. “What’s up? You look tense.” She was somewhat worried. She had felt a bit of pain, and Essence didn’t have her bandages on her eyes.
“Two cats are coming this way. They’re pretty strong. Might want to run. Also, retract the trail.” Essence said. Bell shortened the chain, so it was only between her and Essence. The entire group ran at full pace, totally believing Essence. Patchwork ran next to her.
“Are you hurt?” He asked, scanning her over.
“Not badly. A few scratches.” She said totally calmly. Patchwork decided that he’d stay with her, because he didn’t see more blood than the dried up bit on her broken wing. He didn’t want to look any worse. He’d have to spend forever cleaning up already. Soon, much to Essence’s surprise, though she didn’t show it, Zenith and Kokoro jumped from out of the bushes onto the smaller cats. Zenith tackled Target, and held him down onto the muddy ground, and Kokoro ran after Taiyo, who was going after Zenith.
“Didn’t do as well as you thought?” Bell asked, about to go after them. Essence nodded, put on her bandages, and attacked Zenith, who was knocked over by the force in his side from her. She guarded Target, who got up, and ran back to go help Taiyo. Taiyo had been weaving through the trees, strategically making it harder for Kokoro, then running back and cutting her side. Kokoro seemed to have just gotten over that technique, and was now clawing at Taiyo. Taiyo had a scratch in her side, and the somewhat healed scar from the mechanical cat was split open, so she was in bad shape. Bell was there, between Kokoro and Taiyo. She clawed at Kokoro any time she decided to come near. Target soon ran over, and did the same thing Essence did to Zenith, but failed. Kokoro gave him a piercing stare, and attacked him instead. Bell seemed to be taxed on strength, which taxed Essence as well, who didn’t notice that Zenith got up until he pounced at her. Essence dodged in a split second, as gracefully as anything she did. She dodged his scarf as it attempted to grab her, and ran after him, knocking him to the ground again, but not able to pin him, hoped she could wear him out. She was having a hard time finding strength though. Patchwork meanwhile, had been sitting there, totally ignored as the cats attacked each other, and couldn’t decide whether to risk his pelt or not. Zenith could see how tired Essence was, and kept attacking her, trying to do the same thing to her, as she was attempting to do to him. Essence kept tackling him, using different techniques to surprise him, and knocking him down. She had hit him about 7 times in total, and his tiredness was starting to show, when she tried again, but this time, he didn’t fall over. He just grinned at her, as she ran back slowly. He then managed to run over to her, and grab her throat. Essence attempted to throw him off, but her movements were slow. She collapsed to the ground. That’s what Patchwork was worried about. He ran over to Zenith, and took his scarf in his teeth. Zenith was surprised by this, and attempted to shake him off, letting go of Essence’s bleeding throat, but keeping her pinned. Essence was shocked. She hadn’t felt pain or tiredness since she had died. Something was wrong. Patchwork hung onto the scarf, clawing at it, until there was hardly anything that kept it attached, and pulled part of it off, the disabled hand falling to the ground, in Patchwork’s mouth. Zenith attacked Patchwork with the other hand, and he just cut that off too. Meanwhile, Bell had thrown the cat off Target, and clawed at Kokoro until she just laid on the ground, breathing heavily, her fur matted with her own blood. Bell then went over, and attacked Zenith, hitting him with the two bells on the end of her tails. She then started muttering some sort of chant under her breath. Zenith looked at her in shock, then fled, not paying any attention to Kokoro. Bell stopped, and went over to Essence, who was still on the ground, obviously in pain. Target stayed next to Taiyo, and had cleaned and covered her wound.
“I think we should stay here a bit longer.” Bell said, going down and looking at Essence’s throat. She muttered to herself, an all Target could catch, and he walked over, was ‘lethal’ ‘can’t die’ as she inspected the white-and-red lump of fur on the ground. Target was worried.
“W-will she be okay?” He asked in a tone of fear.
“Of course. Don’t worry about it.” Bell said. She then started chanting something. Patchwork paced nervously and absent-mindedly, but still looked at the soggy ground, and the dark red puddles, avoiding them as to not get his fur any dirtier. He then looked at the group, and he wondered how they were ever going to complete their mission. All he saw was two cats on the ground, one of them glowing faintly, the other twitching a bit, a cat that looked like she belonged in a circus, and that leader that let others lead him. He sighed. Seeing Essence on the ground though, made him sad. He definitely seemed to care more about her than, say, Taiyo. He padded over to her. Bell started getting louder with her chanting, and Essence got up, if a bit shakily. She flapped her wings, and Patchwork watched, amazed when Essence’s wounds seem to go away, and all that was left was spots of blood spread around her body. She nodded at Bell, and smiled, though her eyes were still hidden. She started licking the blood off, as if nothing ever happened, and when it was gone, and her fur was that same, snowy white, she went over to Taiyo, then looked at Kokoro. Kokoro had fallen unconscious. Essence doubted that she was dead, just by inspecting the wounds. Taiyo however, was a bit worrying. Essence offered to carry her, not believing that staying was a very good choice, and they went off.
“Master?” Essence asked, as Bell padded along, a bit faster than normal.
“Yes?” Bell answered.
“Why….why was I hurt, do you think?” Essence flicked her ear, continuing in her placid tone.
“Ah, probably the place we’re in.” Bell said. “Or, the fact that you were attacked by a demon.” Target and Patchwork looked at her in shock.
Patchwork then looked at Essence, who was right beside him.
“Yes, a demon.” Bell continued, smiling at the naivety of these young cats.
“You should know this, children. Hasn’t anyone ever warned you?” She asked. Target and Patchwork shook their heads simultaneously.
“Really?” Bell said with a bit of shock in her low voice. “I was taught about them. So should you be then.”
Target wondered why he needed to know this. He could just go on, and fight normal cats, right?
“You two, do be careful. You should have let me handle that.” She looked at Patchwork, who looked at her, his button eyes almost seeming to give a look that said ‘unfair!’
“But, you weren’t doing anything!” Patchwork told her. “Essence was nearly defenseless!” He said. “We all know Target couldn’t hurt anything for the life of him!” He flicked his tail angrily. Target looked at him, with an offended look.
“Aye, I was.” Bell said simply. “I was simply helping the one that was hurt more, first.” She dodged an angry crow, who had apparently made a nest too low, and assumed Bell was going to hurt it. The crow then went over to Essence, and stated pecking at her, though she showed no signs of pain, or care.
“Demons are one of the only things that can hurt a spirit.” Bell said to Patch and Target. “If a spirit is hurt, the caster, if they are using the spirit chain like me,” she lifted her paw to show a glowing cuff, with the rattling purple chain on it. “Will have some of the magic drained away.” Bell said. “Now, we must hurry. This place is cursed.” She picked up the pace a bit, as did the others. They soon got tired though, and had to stop. Essence laid Taiyo, who had woken up not long ago, on the ground, and sat next to her, with Patchwork on the other side. Essence put a wing over Taiyo, as if she was her mother or something, and the stump of her other she laid over Patchwork, who smiled. He liked Essence. A lot more than Target or Taiyo. Bell sat alone, on watch for anything strange, and Target laid a bit farther from Patchwork, already asleep. Essence purred soothingly, trying to get the two younger cats next to her to fall asleep. Taiyo was soon asleep again, due to her wounds, and Patchwork stayed up another hour or so, listening to her. Bell decided to go to sleep in another few hours, and Essence watched over them.