526 Scary, Scary Superca ? (1/2)
”This supercat is named Matcha,” Michael explained, ”He can stop time. I wanted to take him back to America for research, but it looks like we'll have to use him right now. He's our only hope of leaving unscathed.”
A trip into Matcha's dream had given him a fair bit of information about the ginger cat and his apostle, Zhao Yao. He knew that Zhao Yao was the Headless Horseman and that he owned a large number of supercats. More importantly, Michael now knew about TimeFreeze and that Matcha was the most powerful supercat in Zhao Yao's arsenal (at least according to the cat in question).
”Remember,” Michael continued, ”The transition must be seamless. Matcha must not realize that he has left the dream. That's the only way that we can get him to fight Zhao Yao. They are companions after all.”
Nightmare Cat flashed him a sly grin, ”Got it.”
Matcha was clueless about what was to come. Currently, he was nestled comfortably under the covers, surrounded by his harem of ragdoll cats. When he woke up from his nap, he leaped out of bed and strolled out onto the balcony, which overlooked the peaks of snow-cloaked mountains.
He sighed as he took in the view, ”It's true when they say that it's lonely at the top.”
His butler emerged next to him and said, ”Boss, a person, dressed poorly I might add, has come to see you?”
Matcha carefully licked his leg before responding, ”Why are you telling me this? Ask him to leave. I don't meet just anyone.”
”Well, the man said that he was your previous owner, Zhao Yao.”
”Zhao Yao?” Matcha asked.
An involuntary shiver ran down his spine. He could feel fear rising up his throat, but he suppressed it at once.
”I do not have to be afraid of him anymore. I am the richest and most powerful cat in the world today,” he assured himself.
To the butler, he said, ”Alright, let's go meet him then.”
At this point, Michael, who was assuming the role of a servant, stepped forward to lift Matcha. He carried him into the Maglev elevator, which descended at the speed of 80 floors per second. In no time at all, they had reached the basement.
As Michael walked towards Zhao Yao, Matcha started to become visibly excited.
”Ah, I wonder if Zhao Yao looks old and ugly and poor now?” he speculated, ”He must look like one of those old men who pore through the rubbish bins on the streets.”
The image made him burst into laughter.
”Hahahaha, who would have known that he would be reduced to a nobody!”
Ten minutes later, Michael entered a tunnel that looked exactly like the one that sat beneath the prison. When he opened the door, Matcha's vision went dark for a moment before he was blinded by a stream of light. He did not know this, but it was at that point that he had left his dream.
The real Zhao Yao stood before him, surrounded by his supercat friends.
*
In the real world.
It was dead quiet. The seconds stopped ticking. Time had come to a standstill.
Zhao Yao's body materialized from nowhere and landed on the ground unharmed.
He tried moving his head and it hurt.
”Hmm? Have I been revived? Has it been an hour already?” he asked, stretching his neck side-to-side.
He tried to recall what had happened in the dream, but he drew a blank.
”I can't seem to remember what the dream was about, but I feel like it was something happy.”
”But if I had to be revived, it must mean that I could not leave the dream even after a whole hour,” he continued, scratching the bottom of his chin thoughtfully, ”Nightmare Cat must be pretty good at what he does. If I can't deal with him in the dreamscape, I'd have to do it in real life.”
Zhao Yao snapped his fingers and time started moving forward again.
He turned to face Sphynx Cat and asked, ”How was it? Did anything happen while I was out?”
Ares shook his head in response. ”Nothing so far. Dust Ball dropped by once to report that in general, the prison is still functioning quite normally. The real prison staff has not detected the abnormalities.”
Zhao Yao nodded. Then, the turned to the Cat King of the West, whom was still snoozing away.
”Well, I guess I'll have to resort to very physical means to wake him up,” he concluded.
He was about to strike when Michael stood up all of a sudden. He had left the dream too.
Zhao Yao raised his eyebrows at him. ”Oh, I'm surprised that you dare to wake up.”
Michael did not speak. He was waiting for Matcha to say something.
He had pinned all his hopes on the ginger cat. He had the power to stop time, for Christ's sake. If he was willing to, he would be able to defeat Zhao Yao easily.