I peel my eyes open to get a last look at Stripe. Her ocean blue eyes are shining with triumph as her orange, striped paw rises to the air with her claws unsheathed, pointed directly at my throat. She's on top of me. I can't even breathe, let alone move.

Panic overtakes my body. "I can't d-" I start, my voice at a shaky, weak whisper. Then, right before her claws slash my throat and right before I finish my sentence, something strange happens.

It's so strange that I don't even know what is happening. Whatever it is, Stripe immediately knows that something is wrong and leaps off of me with her tail between her legs. My head explodes in fiery pain, and I convulse, my body feeling extended at all kinds of weird angles. But then suddenly, it stops. Right away, before anyone thinks of attacking me while I'm still down, I stand up. However, all of the pain that I just went through is replaced by puzzlement. Why do I only have two legs? Why am I much taller than all of the other-

        ..Oh no. I have switched to my human form.

        My heart quickly slams in my chest. How did I do this? I'm sure that I didn't command it to come.

        It feels like the first time I've encountered my human self except that I'm in a slightly different setting. North and the other cat who is still fighting have barely even noticed anything yet since they have shifted to a different, more faraway spot on the battlefield. However, Stripe is staring up with me with her ears flattened to her head and fear in her wide eyes. All of the pride she had before has evaporated from her.

         While Stripe is frozen with fear, I realize that we're still supposed to be fighting against each other. After all, we're in a battlefield. Since my power just decided to come and save me out of nowhere, why not use it to my advantage? A grin sneaks up my face as I charge at Stripe.

         I only manage to stomp on her tail with my boot before she trips, recovers, and bolts into the crowd of fighting cats. Unfortunately, a new fact quickly reveals itself: Stripe is faster than me. Way faster than me. I'm still jumping around and trying not to trample everyone, and she is already on the other side of the battlefield.

        However, after a few seconds, she halts and swivels around to face me. As I get closer to her, knocking out a water-spitting Superior cat in the process, she stays put instead of continuing to flee. I can't exactly figure out why, but there are multiple cats seeming to be Superiors who momentarily pause from their battles to hiss at her. Before I get to think more about it, Stripe zips straight at me and leaps, attaching herself to my pants. I release a cry of pain as her claws dig into my right leg. What am I supposed to do?

        Oh, right. I glance down at my hands, remembering that I now have body parts that can be useful tools. Before I lose my balance, with as much strength and power as I can, I pry the striped ginger ball of fur from my body with both of my hands and viciously fling her into a crowd of cats. My forearms are slightly coated with frantic scratches, but I barely notice them because of my sudden satisfaction and amusement of seeing many of the cats panic from flying Stripe.

        I realize that I might have just thrown a random cat on top of a rebel. Hoping that I threw Stripe on someone from the Earth-Superior army, I turn around and walk away. I'm getting bored with Stripe. It's time to check out what I can do with other cats.

However, it's not long until something grabs my shoulder from behind. Trying not to fall backwards, I whip my head around to face a human who is much taller than me. In fact, he's so tall that I have to crane my head to peer at his dirty-blond bangs and cold, emerald-green eyes that are staring straight at me. His tight grip on my shoulder is harsh and uninviting.

"Who are you?" I choke out.

"Who are you?" the man retaliates. He is obviously older than me by his deeper, more mature voice that booms above all of the cat fighting noises. "I thought you came from Earth. Your cat form has no indication that you're a Superior."

Everything comes back to me. The way he muttered about his human version being better than his cat form. The emerald green eyes that look familiar even though I've never seen this particular creature before. It's North again.

        I understand that North is really confused about this situation. However, one quick glance around the battlefield tells me that this is not the best time to try to explain to him how this happened.

        "Look," I sputter, desperately waving my arms toward the chaos surrounding us, "it's a long story. We can't talk right now. Rebels are dying here. All I can tell you for now is that I am an Earth cat. If we both manage to survive the battle, I'll tell you why I have this power afterward. Deal?"

        I tilt my head, waiting for an answer, but North never gives one. He sharply glares at me. Then, he walks over to two nearby fighting cats. Someone who is obviously a Superior by his or her ability to spit fire is clearly close to killing a normal-looking rebel. The rebel barely dodges an angry flame that was targeted at his or her neck. With a powerful swing of his leg, North kicks the Superior in the side. The cat falls over with a shocked screech. Before he or she can get up, North whips a small dagger out of some unknown pocket that I haven't seen before, bends down, and stabs the cat in the heart. This all happens with such incredible speed that I barely even comprehend what he just did.

        The rebel who had just been rescued takes action before North even pulls the dagger out of the fallen cat. He or she quickly limps away. As North turns around and watches the rebel leave, he mutters in the saved cat's general direction, "You're welcome. What a nice 'thank you.'"

        I snort, "Come on, she can't even talk to you. She's a cat."

         That's when I feel a sudden stab of pain in my left ankle. I peer down and see a white cat wrapped around my ankle, frantically biting and scratching it.

Then, another ball of fur whizzes by my other leg, almost causing me to fall. The other cat, who is traveling so quickly that I can barely see it, jumps on North and scratches his clothes as it attempts to climb toward his face. North yells and curses at the fast little thing that's already on his shoulders. This cat must have super-speed.

But I stop paying attention to North and focus on the annoying cat attached to my ankle. I swing my left leg around, trying to shake the cat off me. However, the cloud-colored pest just won't budge. I almost fall over from the extra weight on my leg, not to mention the growing amount of pain and blood.

Finally, I lean over and snatch the cat off me. Before it can set itself on my arm, I fling it away. The cat lands on its paws at a short distance away and charges at me again.

This time, though, I'm prepared. When the cat goes for my ankle again, I kick it in the chest. The blow isn't enough to fling the cat very far. However, the fur on its back fluffs up as it tumbles backwards, and its eyes widen with some kind of strong emotion. While the cat climbs back to a standing position, I dart towards it, and the white fluff-ball immediately stumbles away into the crowd of cats with its tail between its legs. Forcing myself to a halt, I decide to leave the cat alone and turn around.

        Somehow, North has already seemed to fight off the cat that was attacking him, since there is no longer any sight of the feisty invader. There is a deep, bleeding scratch that runs down North's left cheek, though.

        My human form is starting to tire me. I feel like I'm going to lose my balance and topple over. Before North attacks more cats, I take a step towards him and say, "I think I'm going to return to my cat form."

        North narrows his eyes at me. "Don't you dare," he sneers.

        "Why not?"

        "Unless you want to pass out in exhaustion in the middle of the battlefield, hold it until after the fight is over."

        Without an attempt to clarify what he just said, North continues his rampage on the opponents.

        Changing my subject of thought, I stare at the lowered amount of creatures fighting. Many motionless cats are sprawled all over the ground, their scarlet blood staining the grass around them. However, there are still many cats using powers. After giving the battlefield one last fearful look, I go look for cats who are definitely from the Earth-Superior army.

        However, not long after my short conversation with North, a loud, high-pitched yowl echoes throughout the field.

I turn and peer at the gray cat in the distance who yowled as several cats bolt from the battlefield toward her. Did Rain call for us to retreat? That's what I'm guessing, so I flee after them. There's a loud commotion from the cats I'm leaving behind.

As soon as I reach Rain, without thinking, I pull the locket from my pants and enclose it tightly in my hand. A moment later, I return to my cat form.

Right away, my legs buckle underneath me, and I almost crash to the ground. Rain stares at me with shock in her eyes. My heart sinks at what I've done.

"Forest?" she starts.

"I'll explain when we get back," I interject, my ears flattening towards my head. My vision is swirling so much that I can barely keep my eyes focused on Rain. I'm not sure if I can even make it back to wherever we're going. However, I'm still better off than some of the other cats here. Someone in front of me is supporting an injured, limping cat.

The gray tabby gives me one last look before turning around. "Let's go," she says.