Insert witty feline title here!

"Geez, Riki, don't look at me with that scary face," teased Raki, who got a splash of water in her face for her comment. "Sis... I don't mind changing, but... could you do it a little less suddenly? I don't like my coat being ripped to pieces like that," pouted Riki, looking down at her chest wrap, the remains of her lovely coat. She had had just enough time to save everything that was in the coat into storage before they disintegrated, but still.

Unfortunately, all Raki replied with was a mocking raspberry and a finger pulling at her eyelid. "You're too fun to tease, Riki," she said, poking Riki's forehead lightly before turning around. "Anyway, think I'll practice some diving dashes," she continued, treading water for a moment to pull back her hair from her face, and then letting the water take her by gravity. From there, it was a simple matter of controlling her buoyancy with releasing breaths every now and then, resulting in the catgirl Navi darting about like a shark.

"That doesn't excuse you!" yelled Riki to nobody in particular, though she saw Nyan shrink away in her less clothed form. It struck her that Raki had done most of the communication with Nyan, while she maintained a link to Markus. Maybe I can get to know her better, thought Riki, as she dog-paddled towards their battling partner. Raki was far better than her at movement in all conditions, so that dog-paddle represented a lot of her swimming repertoire by itself.

"H-Hey, Nyan, what's wrong?" mustered Riki, trying to make some conversation. Her recipient didn't look like she'd initiate any sort of conversation, and Raki was thankfully off somewhere. She noticed that Nyan was holding herself in a rather peculiar way, but it wasn't unlike the fetal position that she had pulled earlier. A small tear had presented itself near the side of Nyan's suit, revealing some white stuff poking out from underneath. Wonder what that is, she thought.

Though Nyan had failed at the idea of making conversation, her ears perked up as she heard Riki's voice calling out to her. Eh? Slightly confused at first, thinking that if any of the twins were to initiate an interaction with her, it would be the more outgoing Raki. As her eyes turned to face the calmer of the twins, she relaxed a little with a soft smile. Maybe it was the fact it was only one of them now, or the fact that Riki seemed to be more approachable, but Nyan felt a little more at ease suddenly. After thinking it through for a moment, she felt silly for letting herself get carried away.

It's nothing, sorry... heh. She continued to cover herself as she spoke, easing up only slightly and taking on a less frantic appearance, turning to face Riki a little better. I-i suppose you could say I'm not used to these sort of... situations. Nyan tried to regain her composure as she fronted a more professional tone, though it would only do so much at this point. It's not every day I'm paired with civilians I've never met before... While this was only a small part of her reaction, she couldn't just come out and say she had a hard time dealing with new people without Mira to talk her through it and make her forget about the little things. Sure they argued occasionally, and they didn't always see eye to eye but at the end of the day Mira was always there for her. As much as Nyan's pride refused to admit it, she needed it and was grateful to her new Operator for all she did.

A little worried that this was leading to her opening up about herself, or leaving herself prey to sudden questioning, the feline quickly changed topics as best she could. S-so, is that how Raki always is? Nyan moved one arm from her upper body to gesture towards Riki's now tattered clothing. A sad fate for a good article of clothing, for sure. Nyan was a Navi who could appreciate a good coat. She seems a little tough to handle, so to speak.

Nyan was fairly curious about the twins, their relationship and many other things. She figured this would be a good place to start. Her tail swished about and her ears perked up, as she waited to see if she could get a good answer.

"A-Ah... I see," muttered Riki, not really knowing what Nyan had meant by much of the conversation. "Civilians"...? Did that mean Nyan was part of the military? Well, at least I can relate to her a little, she thought. Having been cooped up in hibernation for so long, she hadn't had the chance to meet anyone, and her first contact with another sentient being in a long time was Raki. Not a very good first contact.

Riki observed that Nyan was opening up to her, and was about to ask her further to explain about her situation, when the topic was changed. "Ah, yeah, she's been like this forever since I knew her," said Riki, touching her ripped coat with a small sigh. She did like the coat, but it's not like she couldn't regenerate it later. "She's a bit... active when she talks to other people. I usually just help her not get into trouble. I can't imagine me getting anywhere without her," explained Riki.

The calmer of the twins was enjoying the conversation quite a bit, as her ears perked up, compared to their default state of being floppy and dull. Meanwhile, Raki was darting around underneath the two, relishing the warm rush of the hot spring water. Looking up, she saw the two from underneath, and several mischievous thoughts came to her. Heeheeheehee.

Darting upwards smoothly, she re-equipped her bracers, and fueled some extra strength into them. Her hands were empowered for a moment, which was her cue to grab hold of their feet, and yank them downwards quickly. At the time, Riki was about to start another line of conversation. "So, Nyan, what do you think of-- ack!" she started, before being interrupted by Raki's trickery. Breath escaped her lungs as bubbles flew from her lips.

"Siiiiis!" she blurted out in the water, glaring at her sister struggling to hold her laughter in through the water.

Eep! Before Nyan could react or even wonder what happened to Riki she herself was being dragged under the water. It was all happening so fast that she couldn't formulate a plan or even figure out what was behind this. Out of a purely frantic mindset, Nyan grabbed at the assailant as she sunk down into the water, grabbing onto something she couldn't quite make out under all the commotion.

As the cats body began to slow in the water, Nyan was already going on the defensive. Was there another enemy left? Nyan was certain they had deleted all the viruses, so she was unable to guess at the attackers identity. In a moment of rash thinking, the cat darted through the water towards her "enemy". Her body extending itself like a cat pouncing at its prey. As she closed in the figure became clear and Nyan struggled to stop her forward movement.

R-raki?! what the hell was that for?! The angered cat blurted out, in frustration. A cold stare emanated from her icy sapphire eyes, directed right at Raki. Though the more she stared, Nyan realized something was missing. She couldn't quite figure out what it was until she had remembered her frantic actions as she was pulled under. Still in her grip was a piece of... something.

Fabric?was the first thing that came to her mind, feeling the texture as she held it up to get a better look at the thing she had torn from Raki.

Having pulled down both of them into the water, Raki blubbered out a laugh right there in the middle of her dive, unable to control herself after having seen Riki's reaction. Unfortunately for her, Nyan mistook it for an attack, and Raki was forced to draw back further into the water. Her frantic assailant was persistent, however, and caught hold of something as she retreated. Crap, she's fast! thought Raki, as she pulled back, breaking free from the hold.

As the initial surges of movement wore off, and they both slowed down, Raki noticed Nyan was blurting something out in the water. Because it was, well, water, all that came out were bubbles and muffled voices. She seemed to be pretty angry, too, judging from her icy stare. Heh, icy, thought Raki to herself, as she swam away, letting herself float towards the surface. Before she hit air, Raki saw Nyan holding something in the dim lighting of the water, but thought mostly nothing of it.

Both of the twins surfaced at the same time, shaking some water away from their wet fur. Raki had a devilish grin on her face, while Riki was still catching her breath, her exasperation put on hold. Not from having been pulled underwater, though, since the hot spring had some peculiar water-breathing capability. "That wasn't funny, sis!" complained Riki, her ears perking up as she vented her frustration.

"Hahaha! Sure it was! For me, that is," replied Raki, completely bouncing the complaint off her thick shell of an ego. Riki then opened her mouth, as if to say something, paused for a couple of moments, and turned red. She quickly turned to the side, and her mouth formed into a sheepish, half-hearted smile of sorts. "S-S-S-Sis..." she stuttered out.

"Mm? What is it? Do I have something on my face?" asked Raki, starting to pat all over her face with an amused expression. "N-N-No, i-i-it's just..." stammered Riki, turning around even more, until she was almost completely facing away from her sister, looking downwards. Raki pursed her lips in puzzlement, and started looking around herself instead. It was then that she saw something that caught her eye.

A shard of black fabric floated off to her side, which made her pause for a little to think. Wait a sec... that sort of looks like-- she thought, before blinking twice, and slowly lowering her field of vision down to the submerged part of her body. Her face also mimicked that of her sister's as she realized that a certain article of clothing was completely missing from her torso.

Raki let out a panicked yelp, her arms reflexively crossing over her chest. W-W-What happened?! Where'd it go?! How did I--?! were the thoughts that were running through her frenzied mind at that moment.

A lone metool wanders by, looking at the pair duo pair quartet of navis, and becomes highly confused. It looks at them with the kind of look that says "I'm not supposed to be here am I", shrugs its' helmet upward, and then runs away very quickly as if afraid for its' life.

Well, that was odd.

Nyan blushed slightly as her eyes trailed over to Raki, then back the the fabric which she held. Quickly hiding it behind her back, the feline navi averted her gaze trying not to stare. It wasn't her fault after all, it was a just act of karma which was delivered for her mischievous acts. Nothing more. At least that's what Nyan told herself as she tried not to look like the guilty party in all this. She shook her head to try and clear away the feelings but no matter what she did she couldn't escape from that emotion in the pit of her stomach. She really wasn't used to these kinds of situations.

Nyan quickly swam up to the surface, realizing that her words weren't actually understandable in the water. Breaking through with a large splash, Nyan shook her head to shake off some of the excess liquid before. It was then which she heard the twins talking about what happened. Her ears Drooped down as she saw the mischievous feline go into a panic, knowing full well that it was inadvertently because of her. Should i apologize? i mean i-it was her fault! I didn't mean to- She contemplated for a moment, trying to figure out how to explain herself. If there was even a proper way to respond to all this.

Its n-not my fault, you startled me! It couldn't be helped! She protested, trying not to look her in the eyes. Even if she was fully justified in reacting to the situation the guilt was slowly sinking in. I didn't intend to do it, I just grabbed the first thing I could... attempting to explain, though as the words left her mouth she noted that it didn't really sound like all the great of an excuse. Nyan still felt that she wasn't the one who needed to be forgiven though. She wouldn't have done it if Raki hadn't snuck up on her.

Here. Nyan held out the remains of cloth she had "stolen" with a saddened expression. Y-you really shouldn't have startled me like that... she added, though not exactly expecting her to change her ways. Nyan hoped this might at least teach her a lesson in surprising military Navi. She'd been trained to deal with surprises after all.

Sorry... she uttered, giving into the conflicted feelings.

Hearing the cry of distress from her sister, Riki knew that she had discovered the source of her worries from earlier. It was still pretty awkward, however, as Nyan resurfaced from the little underwater scuffle. Raki was sweating now, partly due to the steaming water, and partly due to her panic attack. She tried to breathe slowly, reminding herself that there was someone other than her sister watching. More importantly, Markus was also watching. Probably.

"N-No big deal, hahaha, i-it's just a little accident!" stammered Raki in response to Nyan's open apology, as she accepted the shred of cloth with a sheepish grin. She also swam over to the other shredded half floating nearby, being careful not to expose herself in the meantime. After that, she turned around, and tied the two halves together, creating another makeshift top, similar to her sister's.

Sighing at her predicament, Raki turned around, chuckling at Riki still having her back turned towards her. "Hey, Riki, you can turn around now," she called out. Her sister didn't respond in any way, still treading water without a sound. "... Riki?" she repeated, again, without a response. Swimming over to the other twin, Raki looked at Riki's face, and promptly broke out into a laugh.

As she was turned away from Nyan, she couldn't exactly see it, but Riki's face was currently a blank slate of bliss, with a dopey-looking grin on her face. Her sister's laugh broke her trance, though, and sent her face into a full red. "S-Sis?!" she stammered out. Raki's laugh was intensified as she swam away from Riki, leaving the latter entirely embarrassed about her slip-up. Raki went up to Nyan, having mostly returned to her old self.

"You've got good speed, Nyan. Wanna race over to the edge of the water?" proposed Raki with a wide grin. Riki watched from the sidelines, recovering from her embarrassment. She was slightly disappointed that Raki was pulling Nyan away, but that was really what happened most of the time before that, so she really didn't mind much.

Nyan relaxed as the mood seemed to calm down a little bit after admitting to what happened. For some reason she expected more hostility or anything for that matter. It was a relief to see Raki taking it so well. She had hoped that maybe it was because she knew it was her own fault to begin with, but was hesitant to deem that a likely case. There was something a little odd about the whole situation though, in Nyans mind.

Maybe this sounds weird coming from me but... Aren't you a bit too embarrassed for someone covered in fur? She asked quizzically. i thought Riki was the shy one.. and i'm not sure what she normally wears would be considered "covering up". I wouldn't expect this reaction from you. She added honestly.

After attempting to bring up her point, she address the somewhat surprising idea of a race. While not exactly an athlete, she was military designed to be quite capable. Being an aqua Navi didnt hurt either, even if she prefered the frozen ice to the water. She had to wonder if this was Raki's idea of changing the topic, or something else. Still, Nyan just shrugged it off and replied.

A race? Well if you think you can keep up with someone as well designed as me, be my guest, heh. Nyan was unknowingly loosening up, and she was confident in her own capabilities. She was curious to see if all of Raki's confidence was just for show or not.

Don't fall behind then. With a bit of a smirk and a twitch of her tail, Nyan dove off and took off through the water. As she got more used to the feel of the water, it became a little more enjoyable as she darted through it, the warm feeling sinking into her core. She wasn't used to warmer climates, but it felt nice.

"Hahahaha, what? Embarrassed? Me? Nah. I'm always cool. You didn't see anything," denied Raki, brushing it off to hide the fact that her awkwardness was acting up. Nyan didn't seem to press the issue, however, giving her some relief. Her insecurity must not be made public to her newfound ally. Nyan looked quite experienced in battle, from what she saw, and didn't seem like she was afraid to get down and dirty with some close range, which she respected. Little awkward with people, though, she thought.

However, her train of thought was broken when she noticed that Nyan had gotten a head start on her, darting through the water. "Hey! Damn it, you cheater!" she swore, her ears flaring up angrily as she, too, blasted off through the warm Yoka waters. Though she was of an electrical affinity, the water seemed less impeding to her progress, unlike some other places. It was nice, and especially good for racing.

Noticing that she needed to pick up the pace, she abandoned her usual calm butterfly stroke, and started on her freestyle. The forward crawl let her boost her speed further, and soon she was near Nyan's feet. A mischievous thought came to her mind, and she grabbed at Nyan's foot, in order to give an unexpected interruption to her opponent.

Two can cheat at that game, she thought, in order to justify her own action. Not that she needed it, as she dashed forward without looking at the results of her action. She had to win. Meanwhile, Riki watched the two speed off, and reached out futilely. "A-Ah, wait! Wait, hey, wait for me!" she called out, dog paddling her way to try and catch up with the two racers.

Nyan was feeling quite a rush, a competitive nature taking over as she hurtled through the water effortlessly. It was quite an astonishing thing for a cat, even if it was part of her design. Such an exhilarating feeling enveloped her as she pushed herself harder and harder to go faster. She knew she had to be pulling away from Raki. It only made sense. So she thought anyways. perhaps she had jinxed it though when she looked back to assure herself, only to see the feline catching up. Oh no, she's not getting ahead of me! She thought, trying to push harder.

Nyan almost yelped however as a sudden grip clutched itself around her ankle. Raki was trying to pull the same stunt yet again. Nyan knew she had to act fast or she was going to get blown back again, and her pride wasn't going to allow her to fall prey to the same trick twice on a row. Nyan's body began to fall behind as her leg was pulled once more but this time, with a little more precision, she grabbed onto Raki. At least, something on Raki anyways.

What she grabbed came loose fairly easily, and while it slid right off it still gave Nyan just enough leverage at the start to keep herself from falling behind. With a series of swift, powerful kicks and some strong strokes, Nyan was keeping herself in this race. I'm not going to let you win, after that! She thought between breaths as she bolted towards the shore.

The goal was in sight, but she couldn't bring herself to see just how close Raki was. If she looked back even for a moment she might get ahead. She didn't look to her sides, she just gazed straight ahead towards the "finish line". While the edge neared, Nyan dipped a little lower into the water only to shift back up on an angle. Just before hitting the edge her body burst forth from the surface of the water, launching her up and out onto the dry land. As her feet toughed down, she shook her head to clear the water from her eyes before looking around.

That was great! Did I beat her? I beat her, right? Her eyes darting back and forth to see the results of the race, excitedly before the adrenaline slowly began to fade.

With a little bit of dashing, Raki got ahead of Nyan, but luck wasn't with her, as Nyan returned with a vengeance, using her lightning-fast reflexes to deal a powerful blow to her short-lived advance. "Wha--" she let out, before the other Navi's hands got to the lower part of her clothing, and yanked it clear off its intended place. Well, not exactly clear off, as it was stuck to her knees, thankfully. What was unfortunate, however, was that Raki was turned over into the water immediately following the trip up, with only her rear end up into the air. Some flailing about was obligatory as she attempted to reestablish her panties' former position.

"... Eh?" Riki's dog paddle was abruptly stopped, as the rather unusual sight played itself out before her. She couldn't exactly help her, that'd only pull her under; she knew what Raki's reflexes and strength would do to her. And so she opted to sit there and... worry for her sister. Eventually, Raki righted herself, and the first thing she saw was Riki's blank stare.

"W-What're you looking at?" she said, turning away to attempt to hide her face, which was now red to her ears. She saw Nyan over at the end, and sighed in exasperation. Without regard for her sister, Raki took off again, pushing for the final leg of the race she had so obviously lost. Surfacing near Nyan, she pouted visibly, rather miffed at her loss. "Man, you cheater! That false start was so unfair!" complained Raki, splashing some water in Nyan's face in indignation. "Rematch! I want a rematch!" she demanded.

Meanwhile, Riki was still in a bit of a trance, but soon, she broke out of it, resuming her dog paddle slowly. As Raki and Nyan were still pretty far away and couldn't see her, though, she was free to continue her daydreaming, and an idiotic look plastered itself all over her face. "Hehehehe... hehe, heh," she laughed stupidly, in a low enough volume that neither of her companions could possibly hear it.

Seeing herself as the only one at the finish line at first, she was pleased to see that she had won. A smile curled upon her face as her tail swayed back and forth joyfully behind her. Though as the adrenaline and rush of the race began to subside she began to reconsider her use of tactics for the "battle". on the one hand it was a bit sketchy using such a sneaky method against Raki, on the other hand it also felt as though she was just evening up the playing field as best she could. As she continued the mental debate, she heard Raki's voice load and clear in complaint.

Hmm? Nyan turned to face the pouting feline, tilting her head and smiling slightly. What ever do you mean? She teased, trying to think up a decent excuse to give her some sort of a reason for her actions. I didn't hear anything about a start time or count down. I do recall a certain Navi grabbing my leg though, heh. She giggled lightly, as she teased. She wondered how Raki felt being on the other side of the mischief for once. It was an amusing notion.

Sorry, it's my win this time. She said cheerfully, taking a few steps back with a grin. or are you suggesting you need a handicap of some sort? placing a finger to her lips, pretending to think about it as she looked for a reaction. it was at this point she notced Riki seemed to be missing from the group, and her mind wandered to where she must have gotten off too.

Where's Riki, anyways? Did she stay behind? I don't see her anywhere...

"Ooooh, I'd just pull those ears of yours so hard," snarled Raki, offended by how playfully Nyan was taking it. She then realized how annoying it was to have to deal with mischief at her own level. Of course, she wasn't going to do anything to fix that particular problem. Rather, she'd just match it prank to prank. "Man, now you're just trying to make me mad," replied Raki to Nyan's handicap suggestion, puffing her cheeks as she looked away in mock disgust.

"Hm? Oh, Riki? Don't worry, she'll catch up. She's just... oh, there she is. Hahaha, check out that look on her face," said Raki, pointing out Riki in the distance. Riki hadn't noticed that she had gotten within visual range of the two, and was still in a daydream-induced stupor, her hands and feet going automatically as she dog paddled towards them.

Raki put up a hand to her mouth to amplify her voice, and yelled out to her sister. "Hey, Riki! Stop dreaming like an idiot and come here for a sec!" she called out, breaking Riki out of her dream. "A-Ah, coming!" she said, not quite catching the first half, and ignoring it, thankfully. Her dog paddle was quickened slightly, and soon, she was treading water breathlessly near the two.

"Hey, Riki, I need you to do something," said Raki, slapping Riki's back heavily, causing her to be even more out of breath. "I need you to judge us swimming from here to that..." she started, before looking around for a suitable finish line. "... half of the lake over there. Make sure you got your countdown loud and clear, since our friend here can't get fair play into her head." She said the last part with a playful, challenging grin, even though she wasn't exactly playing fair before, either.

"Haa... haa... does... does that mean I have to swim all the way over there after this...?" said Riki, in between gasps of air.

"Details, details, you just count some numbers and fire one of your flashy guns or something. Isn't that hard!" said Raki, to which Riki lit up, and immediately extracted a small revolver from her constructions. "Okay!" she said enthusiastically.

"That doesn't look flashy at all," commented Raki, a skeptical look in her eye.

"You'll see," her sister replied, with a suspicious smile on her face.

Right, fair play, heh. Says the one who's given us more than an eyeful due to her mischivious ways. Nyan playfully retorted back with a grin. It's a two-way road, Raki.

Nyan started to do a bit of stretching before the next race, just going along with it out of sheer confidence in her own performance. After all she was a product of the military. highly trained professionals. How could she lose in a simple swimming race. She just hoped her muscles didn't cramp up or something suddenly, after swimming as hard as she could in the last round.

I hope you won't be too disappointed when I beat you again. After all, I'm Military grade. Seeming to strike a pose which showcased her firm and well cared for body. It was almost weird to see Nyan so relaxed and carefree for once, but there was just something about the twins that made her forget about her paranoia and unnecessary mental conflict.

Well then. Shall we? Nyan took a few steps towards the water before readying herslelf to start. There was no way she was going to lose after saying all that she did. Her tail swished back and forth and she waited to hear Riki's starting declaration.

"Military grade? Heheheh, all right. Let's see how this old, decommissioned gear performs," teased Raki, slapping Nyan on the back with enthusiasm, oblivious to the knowledge that she had hit the nail right on the head. Unknown to both her and Nyan, she had accidentally pulled out her claws for a moment, and a tiny, imperceptible tear had appeared on Nyan's back.

Raki saw Nyan stretching out for the swim, and figured she should try some, mimicking some of the movements. She was pretty confident in her burst speed, as she had caught up with Nyan quite easily in the last race. Her sustained speed, however, was a bit questionable. She hadn't really judged her speed in the last leg in comparison to Nyan's earlier speed. Mulling over several strategies in her head, she was taking it pretty seriously. The loss, however unfair it was, was a little discouraging for her, and she didn't want to lose again.

"... Sis?" said Riki, breaking Raki's little bit of concentration she had. "Your face looks kind of funny when you do that," chuckled Riki, a rare quip from her. Raki rolled her eyes, taking less amusement from it than her sister did. "Let's just get on with it. I'm ready to beat someone's face in!" said Raki, the heat of battle surging from inside her.

Riki nodded, and raised her revolver up into the air.

"Three..." Raki went into her position against the edge of the lake.

"Two..." Riki's revolver started to make some strange noise.

"One..." Raki took a quick glance at Nyan, who seemed to be pretty ready to be beaten.

Moments later, the revolver in Riki's hand extended its chamber into a spiral, and the chambers started to shift and multiply in number, continuing until a total of around two dozen or so barrels could be seen. Riki pulled the trigger, and all 24 barrels erupted with a brilliant show of firearms display and a deafening sound. "Go!"

Raki shot off from the lake like a bolt of lightning, though she didn't have any plans to extend into burst speed. Maintaining her sustained speed would be enough, and she figured the halfway point, which was about the place where the mishap from before happened, would be ideal for turning on the nitrous. I can't lose! she thought, as she freestyled through the water swiftly.

Nyans eyes lowered at the decommissioned comment. What happened that day wasn't within her power to change, and it was a certainly trying ordeal. She wished it had never happened. She was going to pull out all the stops to win this race, for her pride.

Nyan's over all speed was pretty good, but her main strength was stamina. She might not be the fastest thing around, but she could keep her top speed a lot longer than most. She hoped this would be to her advantage. Wearing nothing but a form fitting and sleek under-suit would also have its advantages in mobility, and she kept that in mind as she walked towards the edge.

Let's get this over with.

Nyan took her mark as Riki raised her gun into the air. With each count Nyan's body got more on edge, ready to leap forth and a moments notice. She couldn't contain her determination as he body trembled slightly with competitive spirit.Suddenly the explosive sounds rang out from the gun, which had changed considerably in shape, and Nyan was off. She put all her power into that first push, her body cutting through the water as she darted forward. Her ears slicked back to cut down on the resistance as she raced to the destination.

You're not going to beat me, raki! I won't lose to anyone. Not again.

Her reasons becoming more personally than she intended, as her pride took hold of her emotions. She wasn't going to pull any tricks, she didn't need to. She had hoped Raki had learned her lesson, and wouldn't have to stoop back to the same level yet again. Even if Nyan was being playful, it was still shameful.

This race is mine!

"Wow, they're really fast," said Riki to herself, as she sat at the water's edge, not really feeling like following after them just yet. Just at that moment, as she watched the two torpedoes race towards the finish line, an interesting idea popped into her head, and she grinned to herself. "Oh, that'd be fun," she muttered, searching through her construction archive, and materializing the rather large weapon she had just used in the prior battle. An unknown smile crossed her face as she began to take it apart deftly, ready to show off what she was all about.

Meanwhile, Raki was having a blast. At first, she maintained a good speed for a bit, going neck-and-neck with Nyan. Her rival's affinity with water helped her drive through the water much more easily, however, which allowed her to speed onwards through the water ahead of her. It took all of Raki's self-control not to increase her speed. Not yet! Not yet! Just a little further! she kept telling herself. Soon, she glanced at the edge of the lake that they were racing towards, and judged the distance in a split second.

Now! she told herself.

With all the vigor she had reserved until that point, Raki increased her effort up to maximum, and started to speed up. Her arms and legs were a blur as enormous splashes showed the extent of her speed. Slowly but surely, she began to catch up with Nyan, who had obtained an early lead at about a third of the way from the starting point. Her expression was bestial and vicious, as she sped to the finish line, without caring to look back.

She nearly hit her head on the edge as she surfaced, exertion written all over her face. For once, she didn't even have the energy to say anything, having completely exhausted her reserves in the last sprint. All she could do was lay back on the water's edge, and catch her breath. Did... Did I win? she thought, as her head and chest pounded, having been drained so quickly.

About of a third of the way in Nyan started feeling over confident as she passed Raki and started to gain a good lead. She knew that she was going to come out on top. It was only a matter of time after all.

I knew I would be able to do this. A slight smirk on her face as she reassured her ego in the matter. Nyan wasn't going to let Raki or anyone else beat her in this, she was going to prove she was capable of handling anything. Her early lead was just proving the obvious. She seriously had to wonder though how or why Raki was so good in the water for a navi so feline in design. Sure she herself was a little cat-like, but she hadn't always been like that. Even then, she didn't always enjoy the feeling of wetness upon the fur of her ears and tail, it was mildly unsettling for her, though that could also be due to the resistant feelings of her new image. Raki seemed a bit more different from how one would expect from her appearance, but Nyan supposed she couldn't always judge something on their appearance.


None of that mattered though since it didn't change the situation at hand. Nyan was losing focus on her goal as she thought about needless things, and she wasn't going to give up her lead. There's only a little more to go! This race is over. I'm go to show Raki how a professional does things... Yeah, professional...

That single word made Nyan pause in thought for a moment, as though flipping a switch in her brain. These actions, this attitude, none of this was right. What happened to the professional and respectable Nyan that she had tried show hard to be. Someone who could be relied on, not some hoodlum who relied on cheap tricks and riling others up just to claim she's better than another. That wasn't her. She never meant to let Raki get the best of her, and yet she had ended up acting shamefully as she tried to return the favor. She felt disgraced as a former military officer.

Suddenly a vision of a wall snapped Nyan back into reality from her day dreaming, causing her to scramble and reflexively tried to hop out of the water just before she hit. The upper half of her bodyresurfaced out of the water, clinging to the edge as she looked around almost in a daze.

What happened... who won?

"Ha, haaa, hey, Nyan. Wh-What's up?" an exhausted Raki called out, grinning with all of her worth as she lifted her hand slowly in greeting. The smugness laced thoroughly in the grin made it pretty obvious about who had won the race. "Haa, haa... great race," said Raki, eventually catching her breath. She was satisfied with her successful strategy. Still on somewhat of a high after the exertion, her thoughts wandered about to her sister, and she lazily looked around for Riki.

Not a moment later, a loud noise erupted from the other end of the lake, causing Raki to bolt up straight, her ears flicking about as she strained herself to evaluate the noise. A small voice slowly became louder and louder, eventually going up to a scream. Raki identified the screaming as her sister's, and looked out towards the lake. The steam was obfuscating her vision slightly, though it wasn't too much of a hindrance, as Riki showed up on her vision.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!"

... Riding a missile.

"What... the hell is she doing?" she blurted out. Indeed, Riki was currently holding on for dear life to what looked to be a torpedo, running through the water at top speed. As it approached, Raki's eyes dilated, and her teeth gritted. "Get out of the way!" she yelled, diving off to the side. Fortunately, that wasn't needed, as Riki redirected the torpedo upwards into the sky, with its momentum carrying it off to who-knows-where. Riki herself plummeted into the water with a grand splash, hurtling through the water quickly.

Thankfully, Raki managed to catch Riki mid-dive, and immediately brought her up to the surface. Riki's head whirled about, as she tried to shake off the disorientation brought about from her reckless experiment. "Damn it, Riki, were you trying to delete us?" said Raki, shaking Riki off her confusion. Riki shook limply in her sister's arms, her mouth open and dopey-looking.

"S-S-Sorrrryyyyy," Riki managed to blurt out in between shakes. "L-Launched by itseeeelfffff."