Chapter 220: diving for Minor

Kat felt the wind whip past her as she shot down to grab Minor. Because the kitsune had stopped the effect of the wind, she was able to fall much faster than Kat who had to contend with the wind trying to force her against the wall.

Making sure to kick off each time she got closer and closer, Kat slowly approached Minor, gaining ground every time she kicked off the wall. *Why the hell is she falling so fast. Minor has spread her arms out to stop her fall a bit, and I'm as compact as I can be, why is she so much faster.*

*I mean seriously, is she completely… unaffected by the… dammit of course she isn't just ignoring the wind and rain she's ignoring air resistance as part of that.* "Minor! Let the wind effect you so I can catch up" shouted Kat

Sadly, the words didn't seem to reach Minor's ears as she kept falling at what Kat now realised was a slowly increasing speed. *Dammit Minor!* Kat pushed as much energy into her feet as she could and opened her wings.

She didn't flap them, but the extra surface area was more than enough to convince the wind to try and throw her against the rocks again. Abusing this, Kat did as series of rapid hops against the wall, kicking off and heading downwards and slowly gaining speed on Minor.

The issue was though, while Kat was now traveling faster, that was only for the immediate future. Minor was still continually speeding up and away from Kat and it seemed she had noticed that, but perhaps not the reason why.

*Ok, new plan. I'm not quite fast enough to catch her I don't think… at this rate she'll start surpassing me in speed just before I reach her. I'm going to need something different. What about my voice? I can use my demonic energy for that…*

*But it just sort of projects that strange creepy demon voice, which yes makes sense, but doesn't seem helpful here… unless that is also louder? Or maybe it will make my voice travel further?*

*Wait but sound needs air to travel, if Minor is unaffected by wind, she won't be able to hear me… no wait, she could hear me just fine before despite the wind. So what the heck is going on?*

Kat shook her head, as the water droplets bounced of her hair, still repelled by her demonic skin and hair, leaving her as dry as Minor, the one completely unaffected by the weather. *Focus Kat. I might as well try. I'm already burning a fair bit of energy trying to catch her, a bit more for a yell is nothing even if it doesn't work.*

Summoning as much into her lungs and voice box as she could without losing any speed, Kat shouted out "MINOR LET THE WIND AFFECT YOU!"

Minor flinched at Kat's words, seemingly hearing them. The kitsune took a worried look at the rock wall and then at Kat rushing down towards her before nodding seemingly making a decision.

The moment the winds effects returned to Minor was instantly noticeable. Instead of straight down, she started angling towards the cliffs, and her speed more than halved. Kat gave one final push and reached out towards Minor

Kat placed her hand between the cliff face and where Minor was supposed to be, hoping to catch her before she slammed into the wall. Minor helped with this, spreading her tails out and turning to face Kat with one arm reaching up.

Minor and Kat's hands met and Kat pulled them close. Once Minor was securely in her grasp, Kat planted her heel into the wall, as if she was skating. Rocks cracked, and crumbled under Kat's momentum.

She was slowing down her mad rush, but the rocks continued to give way and her falling wasn't quite halted. *Hmm, I don't want to change position… it might fling us into the wall, this just halts me a bit and tried to stand me further up, which is easy to ignore…*

*But we aren't slowing quite as much as I'd like. I'm basically cleaving the rock… which is weird because I don't remember it being so soft… I wonder if this is because we are supposed to be falling.*

*Ok… new plan, I'll have to dig my nails in.* "Minor, grab onto my back" said Kat

Minor nodded, and made her way around, letting the wind carry her back slightly before fastening herself onto the back of Kat, squeezing her wings uncomfortably, but Kat let it be. Kat also let her tail unwind, and wrap itself around Minor as well, before flipping herself once more to face the wall.

It was only a few seconds before the wind caught her and threw her forward, but Kat was ready. Stretching herself out, Kat infused her four main limbs with energy ready to absorb the impact, as well as giving a bit to her horns just in case.

Kat slammed into the wall and dug in. The rock crumbled under Kat's speed still, but with four points of contact, five if you count her horns, it was more than enough. Kat's limbs strained under the combined weight of Kat and Minor, as she brought herself to a stop.

For a single moment, everything was fine, and there was only stillness. That was until the rocks under Kat all started to give way. It had been enough to stop her, but now that she was in place though, they weren't quite up for the prolonged task.

Acting quickly, Kat pulled her feet back before slamming them into the wall, giving way beneath her feet. This wasn't quite enough, so she pulled back her right hand, using her left to find what purchase it could in the ruined wall.

Bring her right hand down, Kat ploughed a hole into the wall, pulverising rock as she went. It took only a moment all in total, to have three points of solid contact with the wall, and everything was fine.

Kat let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, before checking her energy reserves. She found them surprisingly high, despite all the chasing, and the smashing, it was all physical and in only brief bursts. She hadn't even lost a third of her energy.

Kat tried to flex her wings, reflexively, but a clingy fox prevented that, and Kat halted the motion once she realised the issue. "What's the plan now Minor" asked Kat

"Um… um… I'm sorry" whispered Minor.

Luckily, she was right next to Kat's ear so the sound was not lost to the wind and Kat could reply. "It's fine I agreed to test it same as you"

Minor nodded and buried herself in Kat's neck stifling sobs. "Come on Minor, you've shown plenty of courage so far. I haven't even really needed to use my calming aura. You're stronger than this, cheer up"

"But… but this one is really my fault. You warned me not to, and I can even feel that the scene has regained a bunch of energy from my mistake. It is in pristine condition now" sniffled Minor

*Hmm, do I want to send out some calming aura? It's a good fix for the problem, but I sort of want Minor to recover herself… but at the same time… I can fix the problem; I can just make it go way. If she wasn't so intent in beating herself up over it she'd see there was nothing she could have done.*

"Hey, hey Minor, we are going to be fine" said Kat tightening her tail around Minor

"But… but… I even had you wassste a b,bb,bunch of energy, and I mean… like, I just… I should have realised I was falling faster and fff,faster with the wind" said Minor.

"Hey, Minor, it's fine, I didn't think about it either till I went over the specifics in my head" said Kat

This didn't seem to mollify Minor though "B-but it's my power, I s-should know"

"Hey, I don't know everything about my own power, it's a learning experience, it's fine Minor" said Kat reassuringly.

"You've had plenty of good ideas, like we beat that sword with one, and we kept Amelie's fight safe with another" said Kat

"B-but you passed out that time, that was also my fault really…" said Minor

Kat bit her lip. *Dammit, I really want to do this properly and not just throw calming aura at the problem and be done with it… but we are on a time crunch… but I also have no idea how much of one… curses. Maybe I should ask? But Minor has always been quick to accept, and perhaps I've been too quick to offer… she says about to offer again.* 

"Hey Minor, look, it really isn't your fault, would you like me to use a bit of calming aura so you can think it through properly?" asked Kat