Cat Core 3, Chapter 21.

Chapter 21.

“Will this do?” Patricio asked, sounding fed up with the whole adventure.

Florence had made him sneak out every night to scout out the area around the dungeon. An increased guard presence covered the front entrance, so they were focusing on finding a good location a bit further out. Since Florence could stay in her core form as long as she needed, she could afford to be a bit further away, tunneling wasn’t all that hard for her when she was a core. Patrols were sent out every once in a while, so they had to keep that in mind for their location, it couldn’t be within easy sight of the patrols.

“Not bad, I think this just might work,” Florence said as she joined Patricio and Doug. The others had remained at the inn, the fewer the better when they didn’t want to be discovered.

The spot Patricio had found was a good way back from the entrance to the other dungeon, further up the mountain, but the somewhat rough climb meant that nobody would accidentally stumble on the entrance to her home. A few scraggly, bush-like plants grew there, and if she placed the entrance into the mountain behind them, where a small shelf of rock was located, they would partially block the view. It would be a sad deletion, but Florence figured she could do without her normal, welcoming cave entrance with signage since it was going to be a temporary home.

“And what do we do now?” Patricio asked.

“We got a day or two left before I change, I think. The first time, I started feeling poorly and it got worse the closer I got to transforming. While I feel a bit under the weather, it’s not quite where it needs to be yet, maybe another day or so,” Florence replied.

“I’ll head back and gather the others, we should probably camp here and wait,” Patricio suggested.

“That would be for the best, I don’t want to risk not making it back here on time if we’re delayed somehow,” Florence said. She kind of felt bad for Patricio and Fizz, they’d be camping in the open and were susceptible to the weather conditions unlike the rest of them. Fizz had a little resistance but would still get mighty cold at night out in the open. There was no way they could risk a fire either.

It was good and dark by the time Patricio returned with the others, he said they had to avoid a couple of patrols on their way to meet Florence, but they weren’t spotted. It was mighty crowded on the little rock shelf, but with the way Florence’s stomach was starting to hurt, the transformation shouldn’t be too far away. Dawn was breaking over the horizon when Florence started to really feel it, and she could see George and Doug also starting to wince in pain. The world sort of darkened around her and Florence felt relief as she slept.

“Hey Florence, you back yet?” Doug asked. Awareness returned and Florence could see her home had been rebuilt once more. A quick check of the entrance showed it had been placed just right. Somehow, her subconscious mind must have directed the core to build where she wanted.

“I’m back, give me a minute to check things out,” Florence said. She had gained a level since the first iteration of her home, and it was her understanding that the place would expand until it was back to what she had built in her earlier life. After that, maybe she’d get a chance to grow her home again. She had plans for a furnished basement that would make a nice addition to the place. Maybe she could even add a pool in the backyard.

Things looked good, she could see all the rooms on the first floor were repopulated, and all her kitties were there waiting for her. A commotion near the hallway told her that the gnomes were back. Fizz and his buddies were having quite the reunion. She counted about twenty of them running around the space she had set aside for them, and Florence was glad to see her friend had his clan back.

“Hey Fizz, can I borrow you for a moment,” Florence asked. There was something she needed to do, and she wanted some privacy for it. He extracted himself from the party and made his way to Florence’s core room.

“Thank you, Florence, my clan is back, and not only that, it looks like our workshop is fully rebuilt! I can’t wait to get to tinkering,” Fizz said, all excited like a kid a Christmas.

“Hold up there, that’s what I wanted to ask you. Your clan was trapped in my home for a time, and even though you are linked to my core, it’s not too late for you to skedaddle if you want to. You’ve been a good friend, but I’ll not hold you here if you and your clan want to move on with your lives,” Florence said. She hated to do it, she had grown attached to the gnome, but she knew if they stayed for much longer, they would become permanently dependent on her core energy and would lose their chance to find a place out in the world.

Worrying about Fizz’ response was strange for her. Florence never liked being around folks all that much and wasn’t one to make friends easily. Her kitties had always been enough for her. They were fluffy and loyal companions that needed her, but now, now she was beginning to see that she not only needed but also kind of liked the companionship of other people, even if they were weirdo gnomes or gorilla-man core fragments. If it was just her and Doug in her home, she could deal with it, but the place would feel empty, it would feel like less than it should be.

“Have you gone bonkers Florence? My clan doesn’t want to live anywhere else. Where would we even go? Nobody is going to give us a free place to live and restock materials for our work whenever we want. Wait, are you saying you don’t want us here anymore?” Fizz asked, looking at her core like he was the saddest gnome in the realm.

“Of course, you can stay, and I really do want you to. I just didn’t want you to feel like you had to stay here. You’re already bound to my core, and it won’t be too long before you’ll be stuck here,” Florence said.

“Thanks for the offer, but if you don’t want us out, we’re staying!” Fizz said.

“Glad to have you, Fizz, you and all your clan. How many are there, anyway?” Florence asked, relief flooding her core as she realized the gnomes genuinely wanted to stick around.

“We have twenty-two, including me. I’ll give the clan a chance to go if they want to, but I don’t think there’ll be any takers on your offer to leave, in fact, I suspect we’ll eventually run into other gnomes that might want to join up. There are lots of folks out there that have lost their clan for one reason or another. As far as living in the outside world, I don’t really think it’s a good fit for us, mostly all we can remember is being stuck in a magical artifact and sold to the highest bidder,” Fizz said, taking his leave and running back to his clan. They had a good laugh at her offer and then continued their reunion without missing a beat, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that there weren’t that many gnomes in there before, had they multiplied somehow?

“Uh, Florence, you may want to do something Patricio, he just standing on the front lawn, not saying anything, which is quite unusual for him,” Doug said. He was right, Patricio was standing at the entry area, right next to the pavilion. Mo was in his little fenced-in area and kept looking at Patricio like he was crazy.

“Hey, Patricio, are you okay?” Florence asked.

“I knew you were a core, but I had no idea you had created something like this. How, no, I understand how, but why, why did you make your dungeon look like an odd home?” Patricio asked.

“Odd? I’ll have you know my home is considered cute and cozy, not weird or odd. As for the why, it’s because it is a home, my home, and home to those that live here with me. Why would I want to make some grungy-looking dungeon that was all scary and whatnot? Who wants to spend their life looking at and living in that?” Florence replied.

“I suppose that’s as good a reason as any other. If you don’t mind, may I see the rest of your dungeon?” Patricio asked.

“Hold up there, buster, you need to get one thing right or I’m going feed you to the kitties. This is not a dungeon, it’s a home and I’d appreciate it if you addressed it as such,” Florence demanded.

“Understood, and I apologize for any misrepresentation. I also ask that you excuse any unintentional slips I may make since I’m still getting used to this whole concept. Oh, and your dungeon defenders, is it safe for me to be here?” Patricio asked, finally getting a good look at Mo who was licking his kitty teeth as he stared at Patricio.

“They won’t bother you if you don’t attack them,” Florence still wasn’t entirely comfortable with Patricio running around on his own inside her home, so she left him set in her core a neutral visitor. Her cats would ignore him unless he committed any hostile acts. The man would have to earn the right to be seen as friendly by her babies.

“Incredible, this is lovely, Florence. I suppose I shouldn’t have expected anything less from you,” Patricio said, trying to turn on the charm now that the initial shock was wearing off.

“Wander around as much as you like, I’m going to get to work on linking my home with that other dungeon,” Florence said. The other core was close, and now that she was out of her hybrid form, Florence was more sensitive to the rival dungeon. She could feel the anger, and a desire to destroy her that filled the other core. There was something else as well, a little bit of fear and confusion. That other core was scared, maybe not of her, but of something, probably Berikoz if she were to take a guess.

The other dungeon was below her, but not too far that she couldn’t expand in that direction quickly enough. Things were a bit harder to control than before, and Florence wasn’t sure if that was due to her core being a lower level, or if being a hybrid entity mucked things up. She wanted to link to the other dungeon as far from her core as she possibly could, so she started working on a path just outside the pavilion, going down toward the first level of the other dungeon.

The two of them weren’t far apart, but it took time to move and compress the earth. Since they were right up against the mountain, there were lots of rocks and hard stuff to move around. Florence also ran into a few natural cavern areas where water had long ago hollowed out part of the mountain. Using those sped things up, but near one of the larger openings, she sensed something inside, something she didn’t want to mess with so she took the long route around it. As she got closer, Florence could feel the other core respond, digging up toward her home, directly at her core.

It was a race, and though it was slow going, Florence had a head start. She angled her approach to hit the tunnel being dug by the other core. The other core could sense her approach, but it wasn’t that sharp and kept on a digging in the same direction. It wouldn’t be long now, and she needed to get her home ready for a fight. Surprisingly, Florence was able to split her attention, the digging going on in the background of her mind as she spoke to everyone in her home.

“Hey everybody, the tunnel to that other dungeon is getting close to linking up. I don’t know what we’ll face, but you need to get ready for a fight,” Florence announced. Her kitties were ready and raring to go, but the gnomes had just returned to the world, and it took them a few minutes to get switched over from party mode to combat mode. Putting away the snacks and drinks, the gnomes went into overdrive, swarming the workstations to turn out weapons and armor for the coming battle.

“Where would you have me?” Patricio asked. Everyone else sort of knew their place, but Patricio was like a lost kid.

“Why don’t you stick here in the core room with the rest of us, oh, and George, make sure your defenders don’t eat Patricio,” Florence replied.

In the back of her mind, she knew it was a bit of a risk to allow Patricio in her core room, but she had to trust him sooner or later. Now, her core room wasn’t defenseless, she had a shield protecting her core and her can would dish out a good whooping with her cane if it was needed. Doug was also sticking close by, he and Patricio would serve as a sort of fire brigade to help where needed. No longer stuck as a kitten when Florence was transformed into her home, Doug chose to become a commando kitty, which suited his personality well enough.

“So, is that you, George?” Patricio said, looking at the fragment hovering near Florence’s core.

“Yes, that’s me. When Florence rebuilds her home, I stick nearby to help and can summon some of the defenders from my old dungeon,” George said.

“Hey, Patricio can hear you? I don’t remember you being able to talk to folks when were transformed before,” Florence said when it was obvious that it wasn’t just George’s voice in her mind, but that he had also spoken out loud.

“It seems I’ll acquire more abilities as you level, this time, my communications have improved, and I can direct my defenders better. As far as defenders I have one of the minor champions of my dungeon and a small pack of wolves to help out. Where do you want them?” George asked. Florence looked over her home, trying to figure out the right placement.

“Florence, why don’t you add the wolves to the front lawn, they’ll pair well with the stealthed commandos there. George’s champion we could maybe place with our champions?” Doug suggested.

“I like the wolf placement, but the master bedroom is too small for that yeti-looking thing,” Florence said, thinking things over. George’s champion was a big hulking yeti that looked like it could dish out some damage as well as take a beating before going down. “Well, maybe the library would be a good spot, it’s large enough and the big lug should buy Zeus and the magic missile traps more time to get some damage in,” Florence decided.

The only other change was to send out one of the gnomes to move Mo from his pen. It wouldn’t do them any good to have a single kitty on its own. Instead, she added the brawler kitty to the living room to beef up the defenses there. Even though the gnomes were still hard at work, Florence’s home was about as ready as it could hope to be, which was a good thing since she could feel her tunnel meet that of the enemy. The battle was on, and she didn’t like the look of the things that the other dungeon had pouring into the tunnel.