Chrono X Angel, Book 8: The Sands of Time

Chapter 8

Lydia had been on her way to the training room when the alert had gone off, and so had immediately headed for the nearby atrium to aid in the civilian evacuation. Now that most everyone was safe and secure, she could turn her focus towards combat. Lydia knew Elni was among the invaders, and that the elder Nekomata would come for her, mission be damned. As such, all she needed to do was wait in one place, though making sure to give herself as much of a playing field advantage as she could. Climbing one the highest faux cliffs, with a wall to her back, Lydia felt pretty good about her position.

"That's something about us cats I never did quite understand," crooned the elder cat from nearby, causing Lydia's head to jerk around in search of the voice's origin point, "We always go for the highest spots. Be it in a room, or on a mountain, or an organization. Must be our natural superiority."

"Why don't you come on out and we can have a little chat about it," growled Lydia, feigning interest sarcastically, "I'll put some coffee on, and we can have some of Cess's scones."

"Tempting offer but... I'll pass," replied Elni as a knife shot straight at Lydia who only just barely dodged the attack. The blade embedded itself in the concrete wall six inches deep right where Lydia's heart had been half a second before.

"I admit, I'm not nearly as good at this as my darlin' Tam, but I do say this trick is fun~"

There was the faintest hint of motion near a patio table, followed by another knife flying at Lydia right where the small blur had been. So she was invisible! It explained why Lydia could not see her, but that was all that was explained to the younger cat. How her mother had learned this technique at all was worrisome. Was it connected to her new powers somehow? Had she learned it from a teammate? And... was her mother bisexual???

"I gotta say, I have more'n a few questions for you," smirked Lydia, already able to track Elni's movements if barely. The brick floor was the key, just like with the table. Elni was not invisible, she was camouflaged. Like an octopus, or a chameleon, she was actively blending into her environment. However, she was not able to seamlessly blend in with patterns while in motion, creating a small delay that Lydia's keen feline eyes could catch.

"Oh you'll find I'm just full of surprises," laughed Elni as she lunged for Lydia. Much to her shock however, Lydia was ready to intercept the attack and send her into the ground with an open palm strike to the chest. The shock of the impact caused Elni's camo to glitch into various random colors and patterns for a moment before she slowly faded to her original appearance.

"No foolin you then, I take it," she coughed, springing back up with little effort, "So Lydia, or should I say Lenora, what'll it be next? You gonna shoot me? Stab me? Beat me up?"

Lydia's face contorted with rage at hearing that name, and she let out a hiss. The name she had been born with, the name she despised. When she and Cessily had disowned Elni as teenagers, the pair had completely sworn off their birth names of Lenora and Cassidy Schumacher for the monikers they now held.

"I'd like to do all of the above," she growled, drawing her sidearm, "Logic says I should bring you in alive for questioning, but my heart tells me you're better off dead."

"Unfortunately for you, you'll never get the chance," purred Elni menacingly, "Weave."

Her knives vanished as Elni was enveloped in a cloak of violet flames, from which she reemerged not but a moment later in her Spider form. She clicked her knife blade front legs together in morbid excitement before lunging at Lydia. The younger catgirl once again barely dodged the attack, this time losing a piece of her leather jacket in the process. This was not going how Lydia had hoped, even knowing about this form did little good in the moment. She had hoped that the size of the atrium might have been prohibitive to the spider transformation, but either it was not, or Elni just did not care about any potential disadvantages of her new size right now. Lydia seized the moment of distraction when Elni began to pull herself back to activate her magical girl form. Though she was still without elemental powers, the increase in strength and speed would hopefully give her an advantage.