"Yahoo—! Sherwin, look! Klee Meow is flying, meow!"
(=ω=)
At this moment, the little ragdoll was wearing an outfit obviously stitched together from several different colored fabrics, noisily flying around in midair while performing all sorts of high-difficulty aerial maneuvers.
Although Klee Meow could use her Devil Fruit ability to propel herself with bursts of flame for a similar flying effect, compared to the flight function of the Germa combat suit, her flexibility was still somewhat inferior. The Felynes clearly preferred a more agile method of movement.
In addition, unlike Germa oddly designed shoes, what Klee Meow had on her feet was a pair of jet greaves.
After all, for Felynes, they preferred using the pads on their paws rather than wearing shoes. Even in the Monster Hunter world, most of the Felyne equipment didn't come with footwear.
Haibara Meow naturally knew this, so she made modifications to Germa jet shoes according to the Felynes physiology. The final product was the pair of jet greaves now strapped around Klee Meow ankles.
"Klee, stay in flight mode for now, and try more maneuvers too. I need to collect some data, meow."
Haibara Meow raised her head and shouted to the little ragdoll in the sky.
But this was clearly unnecessary—judging from Klee Meow excitement, it was obvious she wouldn't get tired of this anytime soon.
"Didn't Judge give each of you a set?" Sherwin asked curiously. "Why not let everyone try it out together? That way, you could gather data faster."
"The other combat suits have already been dismantled and scrapped, meow."
Haibara Meow answered without hesitation, completely unconcerned about the thirty million berries Sherwin had spent.
But considering that she had hauled back the entire body of Germa technology, Sherwin decided not to argue with her.
The little kitten had no idea what the stingy Hunter was thinking. She continued in her usual flat tone—
"Besides, the combat suit Klee is wearing right now is just a prototype I casually modified using parts from the dismantled ones. Later on, I plan to directly modify everyone own clothes, and just like Germa, add features unique to each of them. So there no need to make too many right now, meow."
After flying around for a while longer, Klee Meow suddenly fell from the sky. But the height was nothing to a Felyne. The little ragdoll did a neat flip midair and landed steadily.
"Big Sister Ai, it looks like the energy ran out, meow."
(=＞△＜=)
"Mhm." Haibara Meow calmly nodded. "I didn't put much energy in to begin with. The main goal was to test the approximate rate of consumption, meow."
The little ragdoll immediately pitter-pattered over, tugging at Haibara Meow as she pleaded: "Then can you recharge Klee outfit again? Klee hasn't played enough yet, meow!"
Seeing Klee Meow reluctant expression, Haibara Meow added, "Don't worry. As long as you activate your Felyne mode, you can recharge the combat suit yourself. Though for now, the conversion rate might be a little poor, meow."
Hearing this, Klee Meow immediately waved her little paws, messily formed a few hand seals, and shouted: "Lightning Style · Chidori Stream, meow!"
At first, blue-white sparks of electricity normally flared across the little ragdoll body, but they quickly dimmed. Looking closely, one could see the current "flowing" toward the buckle at Klee Meow waist.
Her patience short, Klee Meow only charged for a moment before taking off again—but she was back on the ground in less than thirty seconds.
"This time is way too short, meow!"
(=`н=)
The little ragdoll puffed up her cheeks in dissatisfaction, but still obediently let sparks crackle over her body to keep charging the combat suit.
"Because this is just a prototype. I'll optimize the conversion rate later, meow." Haibara explained.
"And when I make your exclusive combat suit, I plan to switch the power system to flame energy. That way you won't ever have to worry about endurance, meow."
Then, slipping into research mode, the little kitten propped her chin on her paw and muttered to herself:
"But for the other combat suits, I'll still need to add an energy display and alert system. The electricity generated from Felyne mode is just too little. Even with an optimized conversion rate, it could only be used in emergencies. A better solution would be to prepare extra backup power sources for everyone, meow…"
Hearing her muttering, Sherwin couldn't help but suggest: "You could design the alert system as a chest light—blue when fully charged, flashing red with an audio alarm when the energy low."
"No way! That design is way too stupid, meow!"
(ω)
Haibara Meow gave Sherwin a disdainful side glance and flatly rejected this classic design borrowed straight from Tsuburaya.
"Alright…" Sherwin clicked his tongue in regret. He didn't press further, but instead asked curiously,
"So Germa battle suits actually have an endurance issue? How long can Reiju and the others original suits last?"
However, Haibara Meow shook her head and replied, "The original battle suits don't have any endurance problems, meow."
"Because their modified bodies can continuously supply energy to the suits, meow," she explained.
"The design I made, using electricity and flames to recharge the battle suits, was based on the originals…"
Then, the little kitten gritted her teeth in frustration. "That masked guy really is a villain. On the suits he gave us, not only did he leave out the recharge system, he didn't even add a mechanism to replace the energy source. If we had used them directly, once the energy ran out, it would've been a huge problem, meow!"
Sherwin narrowed his eyes, mentally putting another mark against Judge.
Fortunately, he had summoned Haibara Meow, a Felyne with actual research ability. Otherwise, if they had used the suits without knowing, it could have been truly dangerous.
After all, aside from Klee Meow, who liked to fly around for fun, the other Felynes would mostly use the battle suits during combat.
Sherwin, with his Insect Glaive, even more so. Even if he and the Felynes had already learned Moonwalk, if the energy suddenly failed in the middle of a battle, the result wouldn't just be a simple fall.
"Don't worry. We'll definitely find a chance to get our revenge."
Sherwin patted Haibara Meow head, only for the tsundere kitten to swat his hand away with her paw.
Sherwin, long used to this kind of interaction, didn't get upset. Instead, he continued asking, "Since the Felyne-mode power output isn't enough, can't you just directly replicate the original energy system?"
"Of course not, meow," Haibara Meow pouted.
"The original battle suit energy system was built entirely on their modified bodies. And that kind of modification started not when they were born… no, even before they were born. Even if I fully mastered the technology behind bloodline factors, there no way to apply it to us, meow."
"But…" the little kitten suddenly grinned.
"As for removing the control over Sister Reiju, I actually have a bit of an idea already, meow. Next time we run into that masked villain, we'll definitely give him a big surprise, meow!"
"Mhm." Sherwin not only didn't stop her, but even reminded her,
"Make sure to prepare several doses of the 'antidote.' Free her three younger brothers too. Once the missing parts of their emotions are restored, they might not be so obedient to Judge orders anymore."
Haibara Meow stared at Sherwin with an unreadable expression for quite a while before declaring firmly, "Klee Meow really was corrupted by you, meow!"
Sherwin: "!!! How can you slander me out of nowhere?!"