Kid

100

Neon and the agents trudged in the swampy mud pathways of the forest for a few moments before they came to proper dry land.

Neon only then realised he didn't know where they were going or what their plan was. "Where are we going?" he asked looking around for someone to answer.

"We're going to go find the forest Neko Tribe," Harold explained.

Neon raised an eye brow, Nekos were like humans with cat ears right?

Mary rolled her eyes. "The Nekos here are a little more cat than human. Not household cats, like lions and tigers cats," she explained. "But still friendly enough."

"They're very territorial, but can be quite the company." Cameron added on as they continued walking, he addressed Jason."Why do you think Kid found the tribe?"

Jason shrugged, "I don't. But if she did manage to escape the witch's swamp, there's the possibility that a female Neko may have collected Kid thinking she was a distressed Neko."

"But Kid is human," Neon said.

"And so are the Nekos to some degree," Jesse explained. He himself related the most out of the agents to the Nekos, he was more on the human side of his animalistic nature however. But he knew he was more than capable of switching sides.

"Another possibility is that Kid drowned in the swamps or something else got to her and killed her," Jason explained simply as he chopped some leaves away with his walking stick. He turned his head back to look at Neon, "and we don't want to believe that, now do we?"

Neon remained silent, Kid wasn't dead. He could feel it, her mental presence was still tugging on his head. "So we're going to the Neko Tribe?" Neon asked.

"Not yet," Jason replied.

Before Neon could ask, Mary continued the statement. "You can't safely go into a Neko Tribe unless one brings you there or you are invited. While the Travellers in the past have made an ally out of the Nekos, instinct will always take principle with them."

"So... we're trying to find one?" Neon asked.

The Ringleaders stopped, "Seems like one has already found us."

As if on cue, a Neko's head was revealed from the bushes. The pair of dull yellow eyes looking to each agent. Soon it came out completely, a female Neko, a fairly young one. Its ears were orange and its tail flicked around in curiosity.

"This is a Neko?" Neon asked as it rolled around and seemed to look to Jason.

Jason kneeled down on the ground. "What did you expect, Neon? Odd tiger-men?"

Jason put his walking stick on the ground for the Neko to examine if it wished and held its hands up to show he had nothing to harm it with. She sniffed at the walking stick before picking it up while kneeling in place. Jason made a small advance to touch the Neko's ears, granting him a hiss from her and almost a growl. Jason kept his hand outstretched but remained still.

The Neko seemed to notice she wasn't going to get hurt from his touch and approached it herself, pawing at it and eventually placing her own ear in his hand for a scratch. Jason obliged quickly and soon retracted his hand when the creature purred. He pulled out his compass and opened it so it could see the symbol of the Travellers. The Neko stared at it for a moment before snatching it from him, putting it in her mouth and racing away.

Jason picked up his walking stick. "Don't lose her agents, agents," he instructed as he disappeared into a blur. Harold soon copied, as did Mary and Jesse.