The Future Will Change

Chati rushed through the city on all fours, but knew she couldn’t avoid Sandbar forever. The massive sand walls that appeared and blocked her path caused her to hiss under her breath. They were impossible to climb due to being made of coarse sand that contained shards of glass!

The beastcat would eventually be forced into travel down Sandbar’s path until she reached an empty playground. There, the guys would land and approach her.

“It’s over, yo,” Sandbar commented as he punched both of his fists together, turning his forearms into what looked like muddy, rock-like armor, “Give up now, and we won’t need’ta use force!”

“What he said!” Vertex called out while brandishing the steel chair in his right hand, “You’re gonna pay for messing with my brothers!” Then he blinked as he noticed the cat-ears on her, “Wait a minute…I remember you. You were the one who tried to invade the House!”

Chati glanced at Vertex and snarled, “Dammit…figured me out that easily, huh? Guess you’ve made up for letting your whole family die, huh?!”

“...” Vertex’s heart nearly exploded, skipping a beat as he felt a sharp pain in his chest. “....how…how did you…?”

“Oh come on!” Chati continued with a sadistic cheshire-like grin and a sadistic glare in her eyes, “It was all over the news 10 years ago and wasn’t that hard to dig up! ‘Lone Boy Survivor Of Mutant Attack’! That was you, wasn’t it?!”

“...I…”

Sandbar stepped forward and screamed, “Ey! Leave him alone, yo! He ain’t done nothin’ to you, so shut your trap!”

“You’re one to talk, given how stupid you are!” she laughed his words off in an effort to insult him, “How sad is it that your little sister is like, what--five years younger than you, but also five times smarter?” She flashed him the same smile while tapping her forehead, “Are you slow? Do you have some kinda mental retar--!”

SQUELCH!

Suddenly, both of Chati’s legs were consumed by quicksand thanks to Sandbar’s abilities. The cat girl had no time to react before Vertex ran forward and smacked her in the face so hard with his chair that a loud CLANG would echo through the air as she was knocked backwards into a wall of sand.

Sandbar would then follow this up by rushing at her and threatening to punch her dead against the wall with a giant fist made of sand, but she was able to duck out of the way just in time and evade his attack. While she was fragile, she made up for it with her catlike reflexes and agility, darting over to Vertex’s position. Before the latter could react, Chati had pounced upon his back with her claws around his neck.

“Hrrk!” Being a mere human, he was unable to predict her attack and wound up held in place by her, dropping the chair he had been using as a weapon.

“Don’t move!” she screamed with a maniacal glint in her eye as she scraped her claws against Vertex’s nape, “I’ll kill him! I swear to god I’ll do it! Then he can join his family once and for all!”

Sandbar grit his teeth and stood still for a moment. Any wrong moves would result in possibly fatal wounds for Vertex…

Meanwhile, with Keiji…

“Bud, you alright?” Rumble asked as he helped Keiji out of the restraints.

There were several burn and claw marks all over his body. The vampboy nearly fell limp upon getting up and coughed. “...yeah…I’m…I’m alright. Thanks. Still don’t get why she attacked me though.”

Coral peered out of the window where she could see the officers had given chase in the direction Chati had ran off to. “...she blames you for the problems she’s faced,” Coral explained, “It’s easier to simply blame someone wealthy when we have a societal problem regarding how magical creatures are treated here. Not exactly something you can pin on any one individual.”

“...sounds like a heavy topic for another day,” Rumble commented, “Let’s get him to a hospital.”

“...you really think someone at a random hospital knows how to treat holy water burns?” Keiji asked, raising a brow as he felt his face and grimaced. “Argh…I’ll…I’ll be fine. Just take me home, yeah?”

“Don’t worry,” Coral replied, “I’ve already signaled for backup to come get him. I need to go help my brother out against this pussy beast.”

“I’ll stay with him,” Rumble took it upon himself to put Keiji’s arm over his shoulder, “No way am I leaving my best bud behind.”

“Fair enough, boo,” Coral muttered and started to load her shotgun with live ammunition this time. “But after seeing what just happened, all bets are off. Time to hunt a cougar.”

Chk-chk.