Doug was only focused on two things- catching the small fluffy creature and not crashing into a wall while doing it. He was doing good so far, likely due to the kitten's wonky paw (though Doug had yet to catch a glimpse of the paw yet) and Doug being somewhat older and bigger. Whatever the case, Doug was sure his victory would be soon.

As the kitten's path began to wobble and zig-zag, Doug did as well, though he did on purpose. The zig-zags were almost over dramatic, and caused the gap between him and the kitten to widen somewhat, though he was sure to speed up once he realized he was beginning to lag behind.

"Aaaaaaaah!!" Doug echoed happily, not phased in the slightly by the yelling. Perhaps yelling and running at the same time was a bad idea, but this didn't discourage Doug in the slightest.

When the kitten skidded and flopped while trying to turn down the tunnel, into the one full of plantlife, he did as well, taking it as his chance to finally catch her. So he locked his gaze onto the dustcloud with the kitten in it's center, and then with a small "Arrrooo!" war cry he lept!

He landed right onto of the kitten, though he tried not to squish her too much (He didn't want to hurt his new playmate, after all!) His wiggling intensified tenfold, letting out little yaps of excitement as he licked the kitten's face, a mixture of puppy saliva and goop getting stuck in the kitten's fur. Then, he jumped up. It was his turn to get chased! That's how tag worked! He bounced back a few steps, waiting for the kitten to start chasing him. Should she actually start chasing, he'd run away. If not, he'd just stare with mild confusion and disappointment.

@Madhukar

The wiggler echoed her yell, demonstrating bright as day that it had no clue what a yell was for. Or maybe it did, and it was mocking her?? Could such a creature even think like that?! Ugh, trying to predict the thought process of this thing was only going to add to the running fatigue, she might as well stop. But would she? That was another question.

As expected, it was close. It felt almost like as soon as she'd gotten comfortable with her spot on the ground, it had found her. Its cry was deeply unsettling, but what happened next?

That was the last straw.

A force landed on top of the kitten, a heavy impact she couldn't brace for even if she'd tried. And then, to Madhukar's absolute terror, a TONGUE covered in SALIVA and that DISGUSTING OOZY GOO would smeck her fuzzy little face. And then it would smeck it again, MULTIPLE. TIMES. OVER.

As soon as the pressure left, the kitten would take in a deep breath of air, and with a sudden heave, lift herself back to her paws. Getting knocked over and having to get up again was getting way. Too. Common. The constant flickering and flitting buzz in Madhukar's system, ever-present like the buzz of a moth-infested light in an empty parking lot, began to spark and wail, a wail that shot straight up Madhukar's throat and through her mouth, emerging as a growl. The spark would travel through her spine, causing her to tense, to recoil, to bristle and crackle and pop. As it traveled down her spine, than spark would grow stronger, picking up kinetic energy as it bounced from wall to wall of her tiny internals. Eventually it would pick up so much swing, it would have to be released in the form of a single lash of her tiny tail. The cathartic impact of the kitten's tail against the ground would solicit her magic to follow, attempting another blast of thunder to ring.

The resultant thunderclap wouldn't be great; tiny, like the kitten it came from, and originating from behind the wiggler (Doug). It likely wouldn't even be heard from anywhere beyond the tunnels, and the only way it would travel much further throughout the tunnels themselves would be by faint echo alone.

Regardless, the kitten would spin around, glowering at the wiggler with dark, stormy green eyes, and a jaw bolted shut, teeth bared.

She was prepared to fight this buffoonish thing. And she was prepared to win.

With an uproarious cry, the kitten would charge the wiggler as fast as she could manage! ...Which wouldn't be very fast, but darn it, it better strike some FEAR into this crazy little thing before her magic had to do it for her.

@Doug ((she chase! :D)

Doug watched as the kitten got up, his tail wagging happily. Though the longer he watched, the more he finally realized this kitten did not want to play. In fact, she was much too angry to play at all. As the kitten growled, along with a small (but still threatening, to the pup) thunderclap, Doug realized that he had made a mistake.

Would this discourage him in the future? Probably not! But for now, Doug very much regretted his decision. Or, at the very least, realized he had made a wrong choice somewhere down the line.

Doug hadn't gone into this wanting to fight, but now, the little fluffy thing definitely wanted to fight, so what else could he do?

So as the tiny, angry kitten ran towards him, he started running at it. Aiming to knock them down, perhaps stunning them long enough to run away.

Doug had never fought before, so what followed wasn't exactly graceful, but it was passable at the very least.

He crashed into the kitten, tumbling to the side in a cloud of dust. He did end up knocking the kitten over, but, he also knocked himself over. He got up quickly, shaking the dust from fur. His gaze locked onto the kitten, watching carefully if she was still looking for a fight or had (hopefully) changed her mind.

@Madhukar

Okay the kitten had not expected the wiggler to come running right towards her.

It had seemed to exultant about beating her before, covering her fuzz in its gross goopy stuff and then retreating for... some reason Madhukar had not understood in the slightest. What was its goal here?! I mean, did it even matter?! All she really needed to know was that this idiot was running at her, not running away in fear like she'd wanted. It seemed like it was aiming to be pretty aggressive too-- her life might actually be in danger here!

That heavy realization seemed to slam all of Madhukar's charge into the ground, like lightning in a storm. Her heart felt heavy and her paws -- the ones that worked -- suddenly seemed to feel very, very light.

However, before her reflexes could rush to her aid, before she could even PROCESS the situation, the two of them were in a sloppy tumble, kicking up puffs of dust into the tunnel air. Whatever the wiggler's intention for that move had been, it hadn't seemed to work out. The kitten was unleashed, and with a beat of adrenaline, she used the force of the roll to quickly get back up on her own paws.

Stabilizing herself was much harder though. She definitely wobbled, especially imbalanced on her immobilized left front paw (which was hurting quite a bit by the way, along with her back, other paws, and what felt like every tiny kitten muscle she possessed within herself). Once she managed to ground herself, the next big question was to fight, or not to fight.

Which wasn't really a question.

The kitty was pretty angry, after all.

So she charged the wiggler again, with a squealish "RrrRREOOOWR!!" before attempting to jump, arms outstretched, itty bitty kitten claws ready...

At its face.

And oh, what a sight it would be.

You know those moments when a cat tries to jump off a table but completely and utterly fails in mid-air and just collapses to the floor?

That.

With a booming thud! and a heavy "OOF--", Madhukar would have her leap suddenly canceled by the forces of gravity, nature, internet memes, whatever you want to call it. She would wind up sprawled against the floor like a tiny kitten starfish, face smushed almost flat against the dirt.

Hot wiggler, would it hurt.

The only thing coming from Madhukar's maw after that would be pitiful cries of pain and tiredness. No more hissy for this little brat cat.

@Doug

Doug had more or less expected the kitten to continue attack. She was super angry! More angry than he had seen anything else act!

He was somewhat awed by the sheer force of her anger, but that turned to fear as he remember, oh, she was trying to attack him.

Doug made a little fearful squeak-yelp, preparing to jump out of the way. But it turns out he didn't even have to do that.

The little angry kitten would land SPLAT, just a inch or two away from where she had started. His fear dissipated to concern as he observed the kitten- now flattened against the ground almost cartoonishly.

He'd slowly approach, just in case she jumped up, ready to fight again, but when that he continued forward. He nudged her side, trying to help her up and to see if the kitten was okay- that looked like it had hurt, after all.

Once he had helped the kitten up- or if the kitten hissed and swiped at him and refused to be helped- he'd quickly back away before running down the tunnel he had come from. He had had enough of grumpy kittens for one day!

(Exit thread)
@Madhukar

A nudge at her side would awaken the kitten from her self-pity party. Slowly her head would glide to the slide to catch who it was. Ah. The wiggler. Of course.

At this moment, Madhukar felt the need to reevaluate her feelings -- namely, the value of them. Was it worth it to continue attacking this thing? Was it helpful, or was it just another form of self-sabotage? Her anger voted one way... but the pain radiating from the forming bruise on her muzzle voted another. Honestly, she was just tired and hurty at this point.

She didn't swipe at the wiggler, but she did glare at it a little. She wasn't going to allow it to help her up. She was going to stubbornly stay on this floor and take her suffering with dignity, thank you very much. But... she didn't not appreciate the gesture. It mainly just confused her. It was strange, how all these goop-filled creatures sent such mixed signals... one minute they were pouncing all over you, and the next they almost seemed considerate of your wellbeing. Madhukar would be unlikely to forget this oddity of the "goopies"; perhaps she'd even catalogue it for when she met the next one. Which she didn't hope she'd do, but it wasn't like she was going to them.

The wiggler would dash off, finally, and Madhukar would be left on the floor... alone. Embarrassed. Defeated. Gah! How ridiculous. She'd been beaten by that goofy little wiggler. That wasn't gonna happen ever again, you could be certain. Eventually she'd find it in herself to get back up, for the four-hundredth time, and waddle in a completely different direction from where that crazy wiggler had run off to.

The end of this tunnel, she would find, would be rather green!

- exit thread (to Eridanus!) -