PA 3.5: End of a Tail

Chapter XXXIV Part V

The cool brickwork stung against his bloodied paw, eyes slit to capture the shapes creeping through the halls, bumbling around in search of something they wouldn't find.

"Are you sure they're around here?" Kav said, clenching his right paw to clear the discomfort from holding his gauntlet for so long.

Felix groaned, "I knew this was a bad idea- they're already dead, Patches probably has the wand, and we're wasting time."

Patches cursed, taking cover behind the corner he was peering out of, running over possibilities in his mind, waiting for them to move on.

"No, no I know they're here," Olivia asserted, her rougher side trickling in contrast against her otherwise timid demeanour. She staggered around, panicked and looking for any signs of life. "This is where- where they'd said they'd meet up!"

"Maybe it was another hall?" Felix suggested.

Lyro grimaced. "Honestly, I don't know what makes this place different from any other in the school, this place sucks."

Ray bellowed a meow, displayed his notebook, then mrowled waiting for a response, eyebrows curled into little "u" shapes.

"You're right," Olivia sighed in response to the scrawlings, "I-I'm sorry, we should go, forget about this and hide until all of this blows over."

"Hide?" Kav interjected. "What if he finds us, like he found that one cat?"

"Shush," Lyro said, testing the nearest classroom door and groaning at the jiggle. "Let's just- find somewhere to rest, to clear our heads for a little while, okay?"

The dalmatian listened to their quiet arguments, licking the back of his teeth to try and wet his tongue. He crept along their backs, following them from one hall behind, ensuring at no point they could turn their ugly faces around and catch him. He kept his footsteps quiet, slow, and-

"J-J-F-FUCK!" Patches shouted, tripping backwards as a stubby torso-sized mace crashed against the concrete just in front of him, splintering the air with bits of rubble that blinded the dalmatian.

He sputtered sand and wiped it from his eyes, leaping forward as he knew the cat demon was drawing its arm back, getting ready to crush him. The floating bastard had snuck up on him, and it was a miracle it hadn't crushed his head like a rotten tomato in the first place.

"H-HOLY CATS!" Kav yelled, leaping backwards as Patches charged blindly towards the group, throwing his paws from his red, irritated eyes and staring down the haze of his quarries.

The narrow hall provided only so much room to dodge- it was so much like all the others, save for a few details that would let him win. The fire hydrant at the far corner, the water fountain behind the group, a million pins stuck into the wall, scattering into the air as Patches swiped the corkboard with his wand, creating a small army of floating drawings that obscured the area before him, grey magic wrapping its fist around each tack and sailing them forward.

He pivoted, hyper-aware of the cat demon breathing down his neck, terrifying the students twice over as Kav shook off his terror and reeled the clunky improvised weapon his fist was embedded into. A whirr of energy cackled as Felix gripped Lyro and threw him to the floor, and Kav revelled in the weight of his strike as he threw his fist forward and up, protecting his face from the sharp objects and making him flinch, but still carrying through his punch past the obscuring mess. He shut his eyes as a dozen sharp pins stabbed into his uniform, neck, paws, and collar, but he persevered, sidestepping the blast of magic that shot out towards him, and lunging forward, delivering a haymaker towards the dalmatian.