Cat Core 2, Chapter 5.

Chapter 5.

“Stop your fussing, Doug, Tater and Midnight can take care of that critter,” Florence said.

She was frankly terrified but didn’t want to let Doug know it. Hacking away at her front door was a spider the size of a refrigerator. Now, not one of them little fridges that folks put in their rooms and offices and whatnot, but a good-sized kitchen one. Florence hated spiders and had always been most terrified of the black widows. The creature at her door had the same black carapace and red markings she knew to fear. Unlike a regular, and scary enough in their own right, black widow from earth, this one had two sets of fangs, that could clamp onto their victim. To make matters even worse, she could see a stinger dripping venom at the back of the abdomen.

“Why isn’t the door keeping that thing out?” Florence asked as one of the spiky legs of the spider pierced through. Tater was waiting just inside the door and took a swipe at the leg, but he was too slow to catch it this time.

“We’ve gone over this before, interior spaces can be separated by a doorway, but that doorway cannot be locked or reinforced unless it’s part of a side passage or puzzle trap. The system will report any violation, even a minor or temporary one, to the appropriate authorities and that, my dear, is a good way to get the adventuring guild to destroy your core as an aberration,” Doug replied. Yeah, she knew that, but it didn’t mean she couldn’t complain about it.

“That’s a stupid rule, and when them there adventuring guild folks show up to give me a perfect grade again, they’re going to get a piece of my mind,” Florence said. The spider’s legs lashed out again and this time, the spear-like appendages finally ripped the door from its hinges.

Tater wasted no time, and with a yowl of righteous kitty anger, pounced on the spider. All her babies were quick and agile, but the brawler types, like Tater, were a bit slower than the rest, slow enough to let the spider react to the attack. Florence could see the fangs dripping with venom in anticipation of a fresh meal as the front pair of spiky legs shot forward. Tater’s paws skidded on the wood floors, claws tearing gouges in the wood as he stopped himself from being impaled on the spider’s legs. It turned out to be just what the spider wanted him to do, and once he stopped, the other six legs flexed, causing the spider to leap onto her poor baby.

The kitty gave a mew of pain as all four fangs sank into the cat’s back. Before Tater could respond, the spider curled around the kitty, bringing its stinger into Tater’s soft, fluffy belly. Her defender had no chance, the venom being pumped into him rendered the cat immobile even as it slowly killed him. The spider had made its kill, but it didn’t seem to know that a core defender would just disappear when defeated. It also didn’t appear to notice Midnight leaping off the ledge over the doorway, ready to get revenge for her brother.

Midnight landed on the back of the spider, and though its exoskeleton was hard as bone, it didn’t stop her kitty’s claws from piercing through. Enhanced by her core, Florence’s defenders could cut through armor with their teeth and claws, and the spider’s shell was nowhere near that tough. The spider tried to roll on its back in an effort to dislodge the cat digging into it, but Midnight held firm.

With the spider in the firm grip of her front claws, Midnight began to give the spider rabbit kicks from her rear legs, the claws started shearing off the armored shell of the spider with each kick, and soon she was digging into the soft flesh beneath. Florence didn’t know if a normal spider could squeal, but this creepy giant one invading her home sure did. Midnight wasn’t giving it any quarter, biting at and latching onto one of the spider’s legs that were flailing around trying to stab its attacker. With a crunch, Midnight bit through the leg and tore it from the spider’s body, making it screech even louder than before.

“That thing sure won’t shut up, will it,” Florence said to Doug.

“No, and that worries me. It’s almost as if it’s trying to call for help. Oh, there we go, quiet at last,” Doug replied, both of them happy when the spider went silent as Midnight finished it off. Wasting no time, Florence respawned Tater and took another look at her stats.

Florence Valentine

Cat core, level 4

Experience: 15/1500

Funds: $34.86/$350

Defender expense: $20/$350

“Hey, what gives with the experience? fifteen seems kind of cheap for a critter that big,” Florence complained.

“I have no idea, but at least it gave us some decent funds,” Doug replied. It was true, she had enough to bring back Tater, create another pair kitties, and finish up the front yard.

First, she created more defenders, and in her core room, another ball of cash revealed itself as a black shorthaired cat with a white bib and belly. It was her poorly named kitty Obiluxnerance. The stealthy little guy wandered the living room, greeting the others before sauntering out to the front yard where he used to like to hang out. Cash flowed into the second ball of light and when it was done, A sleek longhaired black cat sat there grooming one of her paws. It was her little commando kitty Shadow. After cleaning up, Shadow made her rounds through the home and eventually plopped down on the front porch for a nap.

“It seems like they are gravitating toward their old locations, some residual memory of the room you assigned them to,” Doug observed.

“Well, of course, my little darlings are smart and remember where they were assigned, well, everyone but Spud whenever he shows up again,” Florence replied. Spud was now a minor champion, and it might be a while before she had enough money to make him or the main champions of her home. For now, the regular defenders would have to do it on their own.

The front porch and lawn were complete, and Florence was left with two dollars after the finishing touches were placed, in particular, their mailbox.

“Do you want me to recreate our crossbow trap?” Doug asked.

“Sure, but why don’t you wait until we have five dollars so it can be a good one, not the cheapo two dollar one you used before,” Florence said. To be honest, she wasn’t all that interested in the traps and couldn’t remember if Doug had upgraded it in their old home or not. Five dollars wouldn’t be too much of a drain on their defender expense limit, and it would be some time before she got anywhere close to the cap. Right now, income was more of a bottleneck than defender expense.

Her home now consisted of the front porch which was connected to the dark tunnels, the living room, the master bedroom, and finally, her core room. The master bedroom hadn’t been touched yet, and Florence had a lot to do in there to make it ready for Zork and Chubbs. As soon as Doug created his trap, she would get the room decorated and then start saving up for her champions to come back.

They didn’t get a chance to save up enough for Doug’s trap before some movement was seen in the darkened tunnel. To a normal person, they might not have seen anything, but Florence had no trouble spotting anything in or around her home. There, in the dark, were three more of the creepy spiders. They were hovering just outside the front lawn, not quite ready to charge in and attack.

Obi and Shadow sensed the threat, both of them slinking through the grass to ambush the first intruders that made it into range. A fourth spider joined the other three and as if that was their signal, the four charged across the lawn, oblivious to the cats lying in wait for them. Florence watched as her kitties let the first pair of spiders make it onto the porch, the two of them already poking at the door with their sharp legs. The other two spiders were on the steps leading to the front door when the cats attacked. Shadow and Obi were both commando kitties and their initial attack from stealth was a devastating one.

“My that was quite the initial strike, a critical hit for certain,” Doug said as Shadow landed on her target, teeth latching onto the head of the spider and crushing it, killing the monster instantly. Obi didn’t fare quite so well, his attack tearing a chuck out of the back of his foe, and shearing off a leg, but leaving the monstrous spider still able to defend itself.

Her commando kitties were great ambush hunters, but once exposed, they were much less powerful than her brawlers. The spiders bashing open the front door turned as soon as they heard the commotion behind them, both moving to counterattack Florence’s babies. Shadow almost made it off the corpse of the spider she had killed, but one of the legs of the spider that Obi was still attacking managed to spear her in the side, holding her still long enough for a spider from the doorway to reach her. Venom-filled fangs latched onto Shadow as she raked her claws across the attacker’s carapace.

Obi was in even worse shape, still fighting with his initial target, he couldn’t get away when the reinforcing spider arrived which immediately stung the poor kitty. Venom already slowing him down, Obi made a futile last stand, unable to land a blow to finish off the wounded spider before he succumbed to his injuries. With a pitiful little mew, her kitty collapsed on the lawn.

Shadow was also not long for this world, her attacks getting weaker and weaker as the spiders continued to bite and sting her. As soon as Shadow fell, the spiders resumed their attack on the front door. Within moments the door gave way and spiders poured inside. Tooth and claw met fangs and stinger as the two groups engaged each other. Florence’s brawler kitties were pretty tough, but even they were having trouble once a spider managed to land a sting or bite. It seemed that even a small amount of venom was enough to slow her babies, even if it didn’t kill them.

Neither side gave any ground, and the spider wounded by Obi was taken down first. The remaining pair of spiders managed to bite both Tater and Midnight, who didn’t give up. Bhargath tore into one of the spiders as it paused to land a sting into a slowed Midnight. The added venom from the sting finished off the kitty, but Bhargath’s attack avenged his sister. Tater went down next, a pair of spider legs impaling him even as Bhargath moved to attack. The final spider got a lucky nip on Bhargath, the venom slowing him down just enough for it to land a sting. Once hit by the added damage from the sting, Bhargath was on borrowed time as his kitty body began to shut down. He did manage to at least injure the spider that had hurt him, but even with a missing leg and goopy blood pouring out from a cracked carapace, the spider made its way toward the core room.

“Oh no you don’t, Doug, take care of this pest,” Florence said as the spider skittered its way toward her gem. Deadly Doug activated and her diminutive, little kitten assistant instantly grew into a tiger-sized kitty. With longer reach and without wounds to slow him down, Doug went to town on the spider, swatting his legs off then crushing his body with a powerful bite.

“Have at you, fiend, you shall not dine upon Frances’s gem this day. I put too much work into that to have it become some overgrown arachnid’s lunch,” Doug said, really getting into his role as her defender.

“Not bad there Douggie, you done good,” Florence said as Deadly Doug wore off and he returned to his cute kitten-sized self.

“I’d prefer you not call me Douggie, I go by Doug or if you prefer you may call me Douglas,” Doug said.

“There’s no way I’m calling you Douglas, you were named Doug so no going on and getting high falutin ideas about making your name sound more fancy,” Florence replied as she recreated her defenders.

“Sadly, that rather impressive ability will be on cooldown for a while, so you may want to think about using your summoner ability before activating Deadly Doug. We should also focus on purchasing our champions before you begin to decorate the master bedroom.

She hated to admit it, but Doug was right. At least until Deadly Doug reset, or her cane finally regenerated, Florence needed more defenders. Her champions would have made short work of all four spiders on their own, and given the way them four critters were a squalling, Florence would be willing to bet that there would be more of them creeping into her home before too long. The attack of four of the creatures had left her with enough to resummon her defenders and then have just under fifty dollars remaining. It didn’t take too long for the last of the needed funds to trickle in, and Florence summoned her champions.

A much larger ball of glowing money was created, the light turning into the two precious kitties that were her champions. Zork looked like a tired old tabby cat, with a clipped ear and what Florence thought was a wise and regal gaze. Chubbs was a huge ball of fur, fat, and muscle that was ready to take on all comers. Unlike when the other cats had been summoned, the pair didn’t go out and greet everyone else, this time, everyone else came to greet them, perhaps in deference to their status as champions.

“Welcome back Zork and Chubbs, don’t let the attention go to your heads, though. I’m going to get to work on your room as soon as I have the money, so until they, you’re going to be stuck with what you got,” Florence said. The two didn’t seem to mind that their room was completely empty, and they still did their duty by standing watch against any attackers that might make it past the other kitty defenders.

With the return of her champions, Florence felt that her home was coming together rather nicely. If only she could get rid of all these creepy crawlies, then things would be perfect.