---

As much as he tried, Clay couldn't block out the sounds of cat calls. However, he did manage to keep his instincts at bay by regulating his breathing like his therapist had taught him. Breathe in while counting to four, hold breath while counting to seven, breathe out while counting to eight. Breathe in while counting to four, hold breath while counting to seven, breathe out while counting to eight.

He eventually made it through the alleyway out to the back of Mr. Gar's bodega, and crossed the ditch over to the woods. Phew. While he could still hear the commotion and pick up the scent of cat, he was far enough away that his logical side could easily overpower his instinctual side.

Guess I'll be camping out over here for a while. Luckily, this Feliking fellow seems pretty physically weak, the boy thought to himself, I estimate it'll take the other employees about five minutes to take care of him, and throwing in another ten minutes to turn the civilians back to normal, I'll just have to sit tight for fifteen minutes.

As he pondered, a scruffy brown strolled out from behind a dumpster and hopped across the ditch, grabbing onto the other side with her front paws. Mutt then pulled herself up and ambled over to Clay.
'Do not give me that look, I bet you have more trouble controlling instincts than I,' he motioned in slight irritation and sat down next to her.

---

Lyle blinked rapidly, after his vision shifted so suddenly. Readjusting his eyes, he realized he was a lot closer to the ground than before and Ms. DeVine was now no longer essentially trapped in his grip, now simply standing on the ground level to him. He was now an orange tabby cat, though at least his arm and tail were fine. It seemed his saving of Ms. DeVine had led him into the paws of Feliking. Damn, if only Clay had better control over himself. Luckily, his younger brother seemed to have seen himself out, so he wouldn't be an issue for now.

"Erm, you should find somewhere to hide too, Ms. DeVine. After we beat Feliking I'll help you home."

Not waiting for the mentor's response, Lyle turned to the charging Maki, who just barely managed to reach them. Before either of the two boys could speak though, Maki rolled over like a dog and pawed and Lyle's face. In response, Lyle hissed and swatted the black cat's hand away. As odd as his co-worker's behavior was, Lyle certainly didn't mean to hiss. Being a different animal was strange, certainly.

"Yeah, probably." Unassured Lyle, watching as that robot Mr. Gar refused to let Lyle work on and Clay's friend attempted to fight Feliking, though he wasn't sure they'd win. "So instead. let's put our heads together and try not to fail."

There's no way they could hold a mirror to reflect the cat-beam at Feliking in this state. Even if they could, would it do anything to him? It certainly wasn't worth it to bet on that. "Damn, why couldn't I turn into a cat that walked on two legs..." Lyle mumbled.

---

---

Iris continued to fire her paint gun at Feliking till it ran out. "Ah woomy, this is bad!" she said, trying to get a spare can of ice paint from her toolbelt. Only to see the red cat fire a hairball at her. Emitting a quick yelp, she dove out of the way, the paint around the parking lot being covered in cat hair.

"Agh, thats disgusting! Dont you know how much that paint c- WOAH?!" before she could finish yelling at Feliking, Iris quickly dodged one of the beams he shot at her. "Aha! In your face, Hairbal-"

Then beam #2 got her.

"Mrow?" she involutarly said, before looking down at one of her paws. Turns out her cat form was a colorful calico. Seemed cool, right? Not for Iris though. "Oh no, nononononononono! I cant be defeated! And I cant be A CAT! What would my brother think?! And what about clay, I wont be able to even APROACH him without being attacked! And oh woomy, I cant even think what Octavia would do.." she said pacing back and forth, before she spotted Jacuzzi in one of the bushes.

"Oh you little lazy no good swine.." she muttered to herself, making sure to save the broomstick for him later. "Oh Feliking~! Theres still another one of us heroes hidden in the bushes~!" She told the villanous cat, ratting Jacuzzi out. This was an off day, so she was fine with doing so.

While whatever the red cat was doing was happening, Iris made her way over to Lyle and Tatsumaki, before laying down on the ground. "I hope this isnt permanent.." she sighed.