Ravensdagger_Kittypunk_Cyberpunk_Kitrpg

Chapter Two — The Bloody Bat

Chapter Two — The Bloody Bat "You want me to go where?" Fasmine asked.I huffed, which I instantly realized didn't help me look any more intimidating or serious. All it did was make me puff out, which, if anything, made me more furry-looking.I wasn't sure what kind of cat this body was, but it was definitely one of the more... hairy sorts. This was going to make everything harder, I could just feel it. But complaining about my current condition wasn't going to improve it. "Sharp, you're living in an alley.""It's homey?" she tried."It's unsanitary."The girl winced. "I'm sure I can find things for you? Uh, people throw away cat towers all the time, right? And we can make a little box with sand? I think? Maybe gravel?""That's not the issue," I said. Though I was adding it to the list of issues even now. "Look at your stats growth. Several levels in Anima, but nothing in the rest, correct?""Not nothing," she complained."Then very little. That means you've been holding back. We're going to change that. First, you need a job. Stable income will do wonders for you.""Ah, I'm too young," she said. "And I don't have papers. The orphanage only releases your papers if you go to work for one of the companies sponsoring them. Otherwise you can pay a certain percentage of your wages for a few years and they'll release your information back to you. It's fair because they use that money to pay back your debt."What in the capitalist shitscape was that? I shook my head. A problem for later. "There are places you can work where papers don't matter as much. Which part of Boston Two are we in?""Uh, we're in the eastern bit of Southie," she said. "Not too far from the marina, I guess. This is Rivet territory."I racked my brain trying to remember what I could about Boston Two. I'd been in the city a few times, for work and otherwise, but I'd never truly immersed myself in the culture here. South Boston was near the waterfront from what I could recall. It was one of the larger districts in the city. Half residential, half industrial, with plenty of smaller gangs and-if I recalled correctly-two larger ones.The Rivets was one of those. The other... I think it was the Iron something. In the grand scheme of things, they were still pretty small.Now, South Boston was right up against Central, which was one of the more... rambunctious parts of the city. Busy and noisy, but that wasn't all bad because it bordered Fenway, and in Fenway...I nodded my head. That could work."Did you come up with an itty-bitty kitty plan?" Sharp asked.I glared, then smoothed my features. Polite. I had to be polite. "Yes. How would you like a job?""I just said, I can't," she replied."It'll be under the table. No paperwork or anything like that. You'll have to be on your best behaviour and work hard, but you'll earn some money and maybe an in towards getting a place to sleep in that isn't an alleyway."She only considered it for a few moment before nodding. "Okay," she said. "Yes, that does sound nice. What kind of job, though?""You'll see when you get there," I said instead of admitting that I had no idea. This plan was... half-baked at best, but it might work, and that's all that mattered for now. If it failed, we'd likely be no worse off than we had been before. "First, I need you to get to Fenway.""That's super far!" she gasped.Right. She definitely didn't have bus access, and the metro was right out.I could forget about getting a ride from any sort of app too."We're going to have to walk," I said."You mean I'm going to," she said.I looked down at my little paws. Yeah. Crossing a city on these little things wasn't gonna happen. I could measure my stride in milimetres, which wasn't a good start when it came to long-distance travel."Don't worry, you're light!" She scooped me up and I resisted the urge to swing and claw at her as she deposited me on her shoulder. "So... uh, let me pick up my stuff? Do you know where in Fenway we have to go?""It's a bar called the Bloody Bat," I said. That would be our best starting location. I had a few contacts there. Of course, Sharp couldn't just set me on their table the way I was. I'd have to play things by ear, which I never enjoyed.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation."Is it a club for vampires?""There's, as far as I'm aware, no such thing as a vampire."Sharp frowned in the act of awkwardly squatting-perhaps not to lean too far forwards so that I'd fall off her shoulder-and tapped her chin. "What about magic that uses blood?""That's magic. Not vampirism. The Bloody Bat is a baseball-themed bar.""Oh." She nodded."It's also a meeting spot for Edgerunners."Her breath caught. "Really? Wait, really-really? I get to go there? I'm not ready!""We'll talk about readiness on the way over," I said. "Don't think you'll be getting anything impressive as a job there. Not for now, at least. You don't seem experienced, capable in a fight, equipped, or knowledgeable enough to do any work as an edgerunner. Not that being one is a good idea to start with."They tended to die... usually soon after they started. Protagonist powers or no, this girl wouldn't last a day. "What kind of work would I get, then?""If you're lucky, washing dishes.""That's not nearly as exciting," she whined. Then she raised an arm and flexed, or tried to flex, her bicep. "But I'll give it my all!""Good. Good. So... did you have a conversation with the Cat Eidolon before I was summoned here?""Huh? No? I mean, the perk activated, and I had to pick what kind of animal companion, there was a long list!""What did that list have?""Crows, dogs, cats obviously, snakes, bears! I almost picked bear because that sounds cool, but what would I do with a baby bear? Uh, rats and foxes... I think a few more?"So, all the common eidolons were on the list. I wasn't sure what to do with that information, but it might well be important. Did picking cat mean that Sharp was favoured by the Eidolon of the Cat? That was something to keep in mind. Could an Eidolon remake a human body?"I almost picked bunny. They look so cute and fuzzy!"I shivered. That... no, that would have been a disaster. Small mercies, but it was better to lose my body and be turned into a harmless kitten than to live within a hundred miles of someone empowered by that Eidolon."The perk said that the companion would be my mentor and teach me!" she said. "You must know a bunch, then, yeah?""Hmm? Oh, yes, I know a thing or two. But that can wait until we have a place to stay."A mentor role, huh? That would be... doable. I'd considered taking on an apprentice a few times, but my line of work wasn't the sort where that kind of easy trust was easy. I wasn't sure if Sharp here had what it took, though, but I'd only known her for an hour or two, maybe she had more of a backbone than I thought."Are you done packing?"She nodded and hefted a backpack up and over. It was a ratty old thing that she'd stuffed a heap of clothes into as well as a couple of cans and a blanket. It really wasn't much to look at, but I supposed it was the bare necessity to survive. The girl grabbed a small folding knife and clipped it to her pockets next, which was good to see. She wasn't averse to carrying a weapon, even if it was the bare minimum."Okay! Fenway... that's like, a two hour walk from here.""It'll be a good opportunity to see if any of your stats increase naturally with light use," I said.The stats thing was bothering me still, at least in the back of my mind.They had to represent something. But in my face... well, I had a passing knowledge of technology, and yet my Tech level was at zero. I had been something of a casual athlete as well, and yet Body was also as low as it could go. So Stats likely didn't represent knowledge.Did they, therefore, reflect the person's current state? If I was injured, would my Body stat decrease? If I was impaired, would my Reflex lower?Or were stats a representation of experience gained from the moment the status system was unlocked? That seemed like the most likely possibility if the system was capable of pushing people towards becoming legends of some sort or another.That would be one of the first things I'd have to figure out. And then, a training regimen. The goal: to hit level five in as many stats as possible to get those perks Sharp was talking about. But before that... I had a two hour walk to figure out how to convince an old contact to give an unknown girl a chance.

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Chapter Three — The Alleys of Boston Two

Chapter Three — The Alleys of Boston Two The alleys weren't interminable, but it almost felt like they were. Mega buildings were squeezed in close to each other with barely any room between them. Some of the alleys were so narrow that the only way through would be to siddle in sideways... which is what Sharp did.It was the kind of thing that might have made the common person feel claustrophobic, but Sharp didn't seem to mind the narrow gap at all. "If we continue this way, we'll reach Fourth. Then it's pretty much a straight line to Central. I'm not sure which part of Fenway that Bloody Bat bar is in, though?""I will admit that I'm not certain either. I vaguely recall the building it's in, but I always took an auto-taxi there. The address must be online.""I guess, yeah. I'll have to ask once we get closer."I nodded along, then perked up as I heard something out ahead. We reached a T-junction in the alleys, and there was the sound of cars and traffic off to the left. There was also, unfortunately, the sound of two men talking that way.I fully expected Sharp to turn right. Instead, she went left and walked towards the men. Did she know them? Was this area safer than it seemed? I wasn't from around here, so I really didn't have room to judge.The two men were talking in the middle of a wider alley, one of those just wide enough for a truck to drive down, with a few dumpsters along the sides. The road was visible past them, a few people ambling down next to a road with congested traffic that wasn't moving an inch.There was a third man nearby, sitting on the step leading to an emergency exit door while refilling a vape. All three were armed. Small handguns at their hips, in little sheathes pressed up against their denim pants. More, two of them had knives, one at the small of his back, another in his boot.Riveters? They all had plaid shirts with dozens of rivets punched into them along the collars and next to their buttons. One of them looked like his shirt was that inflexible cut-proof material that more self-conscious gangsters loved. It was relatively cheap protection, able to turn a knife or stop a low-calibre round from penetrating too hard.The two that were arguing stopped as Sharp came closer. One smacked the other lightly on the chest, then puffed himself up and came to block the alley. "'Ey, girly, what you doing on our turf?""Hi?" Sharp asked. "Um. I'm moving through?"I blinked. Wait, did she not have a plan? At all?"Uh-huh, for free? There's a fee, you know?" the guy asked while I reeled in horror. Did she really not have a plan? She didn't even seem ready to bolt. I was sure someone younger and more fit could outrun this bunch."A fee?" Sharp repeated. "Ah, but I don't have any money."The guy blinked, then narrowed his eyes and took her in. "Yeah, maybe you can pay some other way, huh?""Dude," his friend said."What? No, not like that, you pervert," idiot the first said as he flushed. "I meant like, give us your stuff.""I really don't have much though," Sharp said. "Just spare clothes and some blankets.""She's a street rat," idiot-but-at-least-semi-decent second said.Sharp, who definitely fit in as some sort of idiot as well, shook her head. "I'm not a street rat! I was raised in an orphanage. That's not the streets. Even if, uh, I live here now. I have some pride!""What about the cat?" Idiot the first asked.It took my brain a nanosecond to realise he was talking about me."What would we even do with a cat?" Idiot two asked."Sell it in Central to one of those kiosks? The fried meat ones."I felt my hackles rising. What? No no no, I was not going to end my life on the end of some street vendor's mystery meat kebab skewer.I was tempted to start screaming, but restrained myself. Panic did no one any good. Sharp grabbed me from her shoulder and hugged me to her chest. "No," she whimpered. "Don't take Duchess Fuzzywhiskers from me!""That is not my name," I said to her."Dude," idiot two said. "You're gonna kill a kitten? Man, when I was saying that your ideas are bad for our image, this is exactly what I was talking about. The Rivet's are supposed to be united, we're supposed to stand together. No one's gonna wanna work with us if all we do is harass girls and steal kittens."This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there."I'm just trying to help," Idiot one said."I know, bro, but this ain't it.""Can I go?" Sharp asked, and when idiot two nodded, she scampered off past them and out of the alley. "Sorry about that," she whispered. "I never know what to do in that kind of situation."I could see that. "You wanted to be an edgerunner, right?""Yeah, that's my dream!" she said."Then we'll have a lot of work ahead of us. Including conflict resolution. That entire situation could have been a small disaster.""Sorry," she said, and she actually did sound upset.I fidgeted in her grasp for a moment. "It's not so bad." It was actually terrible. "You have potential." She really didn't. "And I'm sure I can help you." I had no idea if that was true. I'd never trained anyone, but I'd also never been a cat before, so this was all very new."Thanks, Baroness Von Cuddles," she said before nuzzling me with her nose."Still no," I said.She giggled. "So, when do we start?"I considered it. Ideally I'd want a stable environment to study how her stats could be improved. Access to a gym would be nice, and to the internet, and maybe a small workshop. But baring all of those things. "Check your stats, let me know the moment one of them increases," I said."Okay," she said. "Uh... I've got them memorised. And there's a ding that happens when one levels up.""Good to know," I said. "See that alley up ahead? Go into it."The street here had nearly as much pedestrian traffic as it had cars. Lots of people in plain work clothes, a few joytoys, some teens in spike-covered gear. There were a lot of men and women loitering around wearing plaid, with a lot of steel studs and rivets punched into their clothes, but while they were common, they were far from the majority.Sharp dipped into the alley, like I asked. A stinking place next to a fast food joint that was deserted."Okay, now what?" she asked."How many people did you cross on the way here?""Huh? I don't know.""You passed a large man to the right. What kind of weapon did he have?"Sharp blinked. "I was supposed to be paying attention to that?"I wished I could rub at my face, but I wasn't sure I should, not before I figured out how claws worked. "Yes, Sharp, you're supposed to pay attention to everything. Let's start with that. Observational skills will keep you alive.""They will?" she asked. "I mean... okay, so I'm not stupid I can see how being observant could help, but I feel like you mean... taking it to another level.""Do you think the edgerunners you want to become like are people who remain average?" I asked."I guess not." She nodded. "Okay. Teach me, tiniest sensei!"I wanted to grumble, but I'd save it for when my weight was measured with more than a single digit. "Very well. Let's keep moving. I don't expect you to master anything in one walk, but I can at least give you a few tips. There are some things we notice that don't matter, and if you learn to ignore those, you can start to focus on what does.""Alright!" Sharp said.Well, at least the girl was enthusiastic, which was a fantastic start. "Let's start with things that are dangerous. As we walk, I want you to tap my head every time you notice a gun, a weapon, or a gangster. We'll stop at the next alley and see how many you missed."This would slow us down, but there was a lot of value in making sure that my meal ticket didn't get herself killed, so it was probably worth it in the end.Now that we were out of the alleys, I could make out the sun enough to tell that we were smack in the middle of the morning. Plenty of time to make it to the Bloody Bat and figure out where to go from there. At least, I hoped.I had long ago learned not to expect things to go well on a mission, and this felt little different.But damn, it also felt like the world owed me a little victory at the moment too.

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