I sat in the back seat between Licorice and Shadowpaw.
They'd opted to wear beanies in the end. Shadowpaw said she doubted the cops would ask them to take off their beanies. If they wore hoodies, the cops might want them to lower them so they could show their hair.
It was a good argument, and the weather allowed for it.
I also wore a beanie. Bright orange. If they asked, I'd take it off without a problem.
In a bag at Skye's feet were a couple of empty beer cans. Shadowpaw had emptied and crushed them. She said it'd smell of beer, which would also give the cops something to think about. They'd want to test Tippy's breath.
If they had nothing suspicious in the car, Shadowpaw said, it'd be weird. But a car with obvious holiday vibes would be normal.
She'd also thought to appropriate some luggage and filled them to further build the look of a group of friends going on holiday. She crammed in lots of small bags and packs to make searching the vehicle look like a waste of time.
"You're really good at this," Licorice had mused as they left the town.
That had caused Shadowpaw to blush. "I tried to think of everything we looked for at stops like this. Most cops will be tired. We should be fine."
Now, she was slumped beside me, hugging my arm.
"Ugh," Licorice groaned, her head leaning heavily on my other shoulder. "How long is this going to take?"
Traffic was gridlocked with flashing police lights still a good distance away from where we were. It hadn't taken long for my poor Nekos to move from feeling the fear of discovery to enduring boredom.
"It sure is slow," Tippy sighed. She'd moved to the driver's seat, with her licence in her lap. I'd made sure not to change her face too much, so she should pass as herself despite her wild white hair.
Every now and then, she'd inch the car forward and everyone would feel a moment of hope. It wouldn't last. She'd hit the brakes and we'd be stuck again.
Beside her, in the front passenger side, Skye snored. She'd gone to sleep, lulled into dreams by the flashing lights ahead. Judging by her drooping eyelids, I didn't think Shadowpaw was far behind her.
It was getting dark. And, worse than anything, we were out of snacks.
As if hearing my thoughts, Licorice's tummy gurgled. She slapped it as though swatting a fly but said nothing. I patted her head, letting her know I understood her struggle. That was enough to draw a wan smile.
The SUV inched forward again.
"Looks like some more cops have arrived," Tippy said, peering at me through the mirror. "They're moving a little quicker up ahead."
"About time," Licorice said, unable to resist speaking up. "I'm starving."
"Me too," Tippy muttered. "I can't stop thinking about burger and fries."
Licorice moaned. "Oh, please don't talk like that."
I took the time to close my eyes and bring up the Neko Management Workshop.
This Workshop didn't teleport me anywhere or freeze time. It worked a lot like my stats screen, which was pretty much just a list of my Nekos who I could select to bring up their personal details.
Nekos didn't gain skills the way I did. My skills were raised simply by gaining overall levels. Nekos didn't have an overall level. The System classed them as minions. Which was rude of it, I thought. I hoped one day to get that changed. I didn't know how, but I had promised myself I would try.
Nekos shouldn't be called minions.
Instead, they gained skills by repetitive action. So, if they wanted to raise a skill up, they needed to use that skill over and over. And to learn a skill, they'd need to do the same until the System decided they'd done enough to warrant receiving it as a skill.
Spells were different. They came with the levelling of relevant skills. But even they had their own levels and needed to be performed over and over to increase their effectiveness.
As such, I couldn't allocate specific points to stats, skills or spells.
The only button I could use right now was the De-Neko button. And I've never used that and I never will. The thought of pressing it filled me with disgust. De-Neko a Neko?
Never!
I couldn't think of any circumstance which would prompt me to use that button. In fact, I had often voiced my opinion to the System that it should be removed entirely. So far, it had ignored me.
In any case, there was nothing I could use the workshop for right now. At higher levels, I'd gain some handy tools. But, being only level 6, all I could do was view their progress.
I did notice one significant change. I now had two tabs on the left side of the list.
One tab was called Earth and the other Neyteria. Neyteria's tab was, unsurprisingly, locked. I couldn't click on it at all.
Frustrated by the System locking me from checking on all my precious Nekos, I grumbled to myself as I swept my gaze over my short list of Earth Nekos. I only had 4 at the moment. At my current level, I could only handle two Nekos per level. That would go up to 3 Nekos per level from level 10. Further increases would come later.
Soon, I told myself. Soon I would have an adorable army again.
In the meantime, I went over their current information. I added a few notes to each. I'd gotten into that habit before realising the benefits of my Intelligence stat and had just never stopped.
Eventually, I'd include likes and dislikes. But, for now, it was relatively sparse.
Licorice (Personal Assistant)
Formerly Sally, black fur with blue eyes
Oriental Shorthair
Slender, Large Boobs
Intelligence (1)
Shadowpaw (Rogue)
Formerly Unknown Police Officer, mottled fur with green eyes
Torti Housecat
Slim, Gymnastic, Small Boobs
Agility (1), Strength (1)
Handgun (silver), Shotgun (copper), Rifle (copper), Stealth (silver), Shoplifting (copper), and Scout (copper)
Skye (Transporter)
Formerly Anne, ginger fur with yellow eyes
Ginger Housecat
Average, Short, Medium Boobs
Agility (1)
Helicopter Pilot (copper), Land Vehicle (copper)
Tippy (Mage)
Formerly Susan, Licorice's cousin, white fluffy fur with grey eyes
Persian
Slender, Medium Boobs
Intelligence (1)
Wandwork (copper), Arcane Research (copper)
Firebolt (lvl 1), Icebolt (lvl 1)
I was pleased to see that Shadowpaw had done so well. I'd need to give her a belly rub later.
She'd even gotten her Handgun and Stealth skills to silver, which was impressive. The System must have recognised her effort. As I thought about it, I realised she'd shot police officers, who would have counted as guards in Neyteria, and they always gave higher experience points due to the difficulty.
And then she'd been stealthed in front of cameras while shoplifting, which might have counted as defensive runes in Neyteria. I wasn't sure about that, but it felt logical.
She'd also gained two stats, one Agility and one Strength, which was even more astounding to me. Many Nekos took years to get a second stat. The System must like her a lot, I thought.
Everyone else's skills made sense. They'd not had much opportunity yet to follow the demands of their class.
I was very interested in the skills and spells they'd unlock. In allowing me to give them some classes which seemed more Earth than Neyteria, the System seemed to be showing how it evolved to suit local environments.
This could prove fun, I thought.
"Bexley?" Tippy's nervous voice intruded gently into my thoughts.
I closed the Workshop and gave my head a shake. "Hmm?"
"We're nearly at the road block," she said. "Cops are at the car in front of us. Looks like we'll be next."
I looked to my left and right to find Licorice and Shadowpaw both asleep on their chosen shoulder. Skye's snores still rumbled along comfortably.
"Well, let's play it by ear for now," I said, keeping my voice low. "Just follow Shadowpaw's plan and we should be fine."
"If not?"
"Then we do what we have to," I said, pushing a hint of steel into my voice.
In truth, I wasn't sure what we would do. I only had a few offensive spells and not enough mana to do much more than shock and awe. But in my experience, a bit of shock and awe can go a long way.
A few minutes later, Tippy rolled her window down and let the cop get a nice whiff of stale beer fumes. It also let fresh air finally into the cabin, which made me feel better. I hated the smell of old beer.
"You haven't found them yet?" Tippy asked, holding out her licence before the cop could say anything. At the same time, she flicked the cabin interior light on.
He squinted at her, his eyes scanning the interior with his torch. He counted the Nekos and then his eyes pinned on me. "We're still looking," he admitted slowly. "This your licence, ma'am?"
"Yeah."
"You look a bit different is all."
"I did my hair," she fluffed it out a little flirtatiously, doing her best airhead impression. "I think it looks just like white candy floss. Do you like it?"
"It's very white," he said, looking from the licence to her. He looked tired, I noticed. Shadowpaw had guessed right. He bent down and stared at me; "You got any ID, sir?"
I patted my empty shorts. "Not on me," I said. Then jerked a thumb to the rear as I held up one of the phones Shadowpaw had acquired earlier in the day. "Wallet's in one of the cases. Sorry. Didn't know I'd need it. I use my phone for everything these days."
He nodded at that. Most people did the same, so it wasn't too big of a surprise. But it would make his job harder, which was something that made him let out a sour grunt. "You wanna lift the beanie for me?"
"Sure." I gave him a confused look but took it off to show my scraggly blonde hair. At the same time, I leaned in close so he could see me in the dim light.
"Slowly," the cop said. "Keep your hands in view."
I lifted my hands a little. "Sorry," I said. "I'm new at this."
"Sure." He looked down at a paper in his hand, then back to me. Muttered under his breath and waved to another cop standing at the read of our car.
"Waass gone on?" Shadowpaw murmured sleepily, feeling me move.
"It's alright," I soothed. "Cops stopped us. You can keep sleeping."
The cop's colleague stepped up beside him. "There a problem?"
"I dunno. It's one guy with a bunch of girls. But they don't match. Guy doesn't look like the pictures, neither. Got a brunette chick, but no blondes. They're all skinny, too."
"Hey," Tippy protested indignantly. "I'm not skinny. I work out!"
The second cop gave her a withering look. "Check IDs and move them out, then."
"That's why I called you over," he muttered. "Driver's got hers. But the guy says his is in the back."
"There's a lot of bags in there," the second cop said in understanding. He leaned in to look at me. "I don't suppose you know which one it's in?"
"Umm, I'm not sure. Sorry, I didn't pack it."
"It might be in mine," Tippy said. "Did you put it in my handbag like I asked?"
"I don't remember."
"If you didn't, it'll be in Kelly's."
I looked at the cop and smiled apologetically. "Sorry," I said. "Like I told the other guy. Why didn't expect to need anything until we got to Cali."
"Right."
Someone further behind us tooted their horn. It wasn't the first toot.
The second cop glared out at the sea of cars behind us and sighed. Then he leaned down and pointed his torch right at my face before glancing down at a sheet of paper in his hand which I knew had my old face on it.
Ignoring Skye's sudden squawk of surprise, he then did the same to her.
"Wattadafuck?" Skye flailed in her seat in shock, grabbing at the door handle.
I touched her shoulder, wincing internally. Maybe I should've woken them all before so they didn't say anything by accident.
"Chill out, Skye. It's just the cops."
"Cops?" Her eyes rolled around, glancing at the beers near her feet. Then the cops. "I only had one!"
The second cop raised a brow. "One?"
"Smells like they've been drinking," the first explained. "Driver seems fine, though."
"Test her?"
"Not yet." He glanced back at the other cars. "You want me to?"
The second cop grunted. Looked at Tippy. "How many did you have?"
"None."
"Don't bullshit me."
"I didn't have any!"
"She's our designated driver," I called out. "We only had a couple because we were bored in here. It's been a long wait."
"Speaking of," Skye put in. "I need to pee. Really. Is there a bathroom nearby?"
"Not for a couple of miles," the second cop said. He shifted on his feet, looking at his partner. Shrugging, he took a step back. "Maybe confiscate their booze."
That made Skye sit up fast. "What? You're gonna what?"
"Look," the second cop leaned on the car door. "We're tired. You're tired. I don't have time for you to scrounge around looking for ID, so I ain't sure you're even legally old enough to drink."
"We are," she pouted.
"And you ain't supposed to be drinking in a vehicle anyway. I could write you up if you want to complain?"
"Umm," she glanced over her shoulder at me.
I shrugged. "We can get more on the road."
Sighing, she stretched down and picked up the bag of empties. She'd also opened one and only sipped it once or twice. She handed it awkwardly to the first cop. He took it carefully and seemed surprised to find himself holding it. "We were almost out, anyway."
The second cop stared impassively at Tippy in a way only cops can do. "Right. Now we don't have to worry about you drinking and driving into a tree."
"I wasn't even gonna!" She let out an exasperated sigh. "What kind of girl you think I am?"
"Hey," Licorice yawned, sitting up. She looked around in confusion. "Where are we? Are we in Cali yet?"
"Not yet," Shadowpaw yawned. "Cops are hassling us."
"Hassling?" Licorice frowned, rubbing her eyes. "Why? We didn't do anything. Did we?"
"Can we go now?" I asked, waving my hand to get the cops' attention. "You got our beer and we ain't the dudes you're looking for."
"Get them outta here," the second cop said, waving at his partner. "They're not the dudes we're looking for."
Despite not having done anything, I felt like Obi-Wan as Tippy pushed the SUV forward slowly at first. Then, as the lights behind us started to fade, she let out a long sigh and put her foot down.
"Fuuuuuuuck," she exhaled. "I nearly wet my pants!"
"You did great," I told her. "You all did."
Skye pulled off her beanie to let me scratch her ear. "Want me to drive again? I feel like driving again."
Tippy nodded. "If you could. I'm too wired. I really will drive us into a tree."
The mood in the car was lighter as we headed towards the border.
Made even lighter as Tippy crawled into the back seat, up onto my lap, and clamped her mouth on mine. "You owe me," she whispered into my kiss as her hands fumbled with my pants. "I want it, Mast- Bexley. I want it now."
It would be an awkward ride, but Neyteria had cramped little wagons, so this wasn't my first time contorting myself to make room for a proper thrusting technique.
I grabbed a fistful of her fluffy white hair and grinned at her. "Just remember, my sweet Neko. You asked for it."
"Eep!"