"Mreooow," Emilio's mewl came from the kitchen counter upon which he sat. Alex didn't speak cat, but he knew Emilio long enough to know what it meant. Do it again.

From the kitchen cupboard came muffled giggles. Aria wasn't great at hiding, but that wasn't the point of their exercise.

After the gang forced Alex to use all his upgrades after a latenight gnash of some Chinese food, he had swiftly passed out for sixteen hours from an exhausted Core, only to be woken in the late afternoon by Emilio sitting on his chest, practically crushing his lungs. Alex had been momentarily annoyed before the cat purred in greeting and rubbed his face.

Alex didn't ask after Gravewhistle, assuming that the garden gnome was off on some mission from the same cat that now ordered him to practice with his new Skill combo again, and again, and again. Emilio, as it turned out, was a cruel trainer.

A grating scrape of metal on metal distracted him right before he activated the first part of the combo, [Burrow Sense].

"SORRY. WE ARE STILL LEARNING." Beepy announced from the stove, flipping over the burnt Chinese food leftovers the brothers insisted on frying on bare steal for their fellows that still needed to eat.

What crispy orange chicken, smashed egg rolls, and chow mein noodles chopped up and mixed together would taste like would be interesting. Alex didn't suppose the metal shavings from the pan would add to the umami. Still, both brothers took their job seriously, frying the hell out of the food, smashing it all together into some…concoction.

"Mreeooow!" Emilio barked sharper, staring daggers into Alex's eyes.

"Ok, ok," Alex answered, turning back to the cupboard. "Don't get your whiskers in a tizzy there. This time I got it. Surely."

"He's right, you know?" Mary added while slurping down some enchanted chai. "This combo is ridiculous. It's also ridiculous that your cat is turning into our sensei. But, we roll with it."

Emilio didn't cut back in, just kept on staring at Alex, urging him to give it another go. He sighed deeply as Zippy ripped more metal from the pan and gave his combo one final try. It was a tricky one.

[Burrow Sense] flipped on with a mental prod and the smallest amount of Essence Alex could direct. Raw universal energy, better known as Essence, slipped through his Core at his push, wiggled around, latched onto the Skill speck, and the unintelligible physics exploded forth to alter his cosmic state in real time. It was too complicated for a human mind to comprehend, so to Alex, it felt like he flipped a switch inside him.

When the Skill hit his brain a moment later, Alex tried with all his might to control the influx of reality assaulting him from all directions. Mr. Mystical's instructions helped a touch.

Iron and citric acid from the pan filled his sinuses, with the sesame oil pressed on his tastebuds. Emilio's delicate hairs rustled loudly in his ears, the overflowing garbage can lingered and blanketed the air, and Alex could feel his pores opening and closing across every inch of him. He could even feel the perfumed soap Mary had started using since she and Jemin were an item brushing against his eyebrows as a single speck of her pheromones whizzed around the kitchen.

The dialed up senses were one thing. He could mostly handle that. It was the shining Essense and magic all around him that made everything so difficult.

Mary's Core burned bright and distracting, with the enchanted chai spilling out trying to shove itself in his pineal gland. Interestingly, he could sense her cyborg eye augmentation, and it's Essence was cold and precise, though stappled and spackled together. Beepy and Zippy were two chaotic stars with Essence communication pouring between them, and Alex suspected they were more inextricably linked than they would ever let on. There was something festering and magical in the freezer that knew he was watching. And in the cupboard, the target of the combo was hiding inside a stale package of beef jerky at the back. Aria's Essence felt like summer dew, excitement, and wonder.

All Alex had to do was get her with his new Skil. She was just behind wood, cans, plastic, and stale beef.

Brightest of all, though contained, measured, intelligent, viscous, and so loving it made him want to weep due to his heightened state, was his fat cat with that curled little mouth from the counter. Emilio, if Alex was right, was supremely powerful. It didn't scare him, nor change his love for the cat, but it did make him want to just scoop up the big bastard and tickle his belly. It would end it scratches, but it would probably be worth it.

"Meeeeeeeooooow." Emilio chirped like a master training instructing his student.

With [Burrow Sense] on and under control, Alex reached for his new Skill that had Settled over night as a speck in his Core from the Brilliant White Heron Core.

[Shiny Snatch] – Level 1 was the strangest Skill Alex now had. Using it was straightforward, but to call it easy would be a silly thing.

Alex wasn't tall like a heron, nor was he patient. He didn't have a beak to grab darting silvery fish, the eyes formed from millennia of evolution to pick out interesting bits, or the muscle control of an animal who relied solely on its guile and speed to survive.

Yet, a deep focus rolled over him and mixed with the chaos of [Burrow Sense] as [Shiny Snatch] unfurled and waited for his command. There are moments in life, whether one is working, creating, or existing amongst loved ones, when the mind goes quiet save for the singular task that shuts off all noise. It's all there, smashing against the billions of neurons and sensory inputs, but the brain still goes calm, time doesn't matter, and the thing is all that exists.

It could be laughing with friends so hard you can't breathe. It could be when notifications don't come in and you lock in. Or when you're walking with a loved one in a new place and everything just seems to blur by in a haze of dopamine and oxytocin. One remembers the feeling and not the words spoken. Just a mind, maybe accompanied by other minds, existing in perfect harmony within that isolated pocket of reality.

For Alex, who's brain was like excited fiesta illuminated by only a couple bulbs, it was a wonderful feeling. To focus, and lose himself entirely within it's tender embrace, shut off from the noise and simplicity that was his brain. The only other thing that made him feel like this were those rare moments when he was running and nothing could stop him.

He honed in on the thing that was Aria, hidden behind cans, wedged in a stale bag of jerky, all behind a wooden door. Through her Essence, [Burrow Sense], and [Shiny Snatch], she was the only thing he focused on.

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Again, he wasn't tall or patient. He wasn't a perfect heron. But he used the same Skill with aide from his others all the same, and when he felt ready, he commanded [Shiny Snatch] to snatch. Once activated, that's when things got weird as hell, but by then, it was out of his control. His body just snatched.

His right hand flashed exactly where Aria was. First up was the wooden cupboard door.

Alex had teleport abilities. Both [Phantom Step] and [Illusory Copy] let him travel through that slip in physical reality to then reassemble back in real…reality. It happened so quickly that, thankfully, his brain couldn't grasp the underway while there. If he was aware of what went on there, he would surely lose his marbles and be checked into Snu's Safety Spires.

[Shiny Snatch] was different. His hand acted on its own, and the physical world bent around and through him to allow him to get the shiny.

The cellulose atoms of the wood slipped around the bouncing quarks that formed Alex's body. It felt like the world's softest sandpaper. Still gritty as his neurons fired in random unsure ways, his blood and flesh molecules allowing the grain and matter of the wood to slip by ignored. Aluminum felt like light ice, boiled beans sludgy, and the plastic of the back where Aria hid like jelly. Alex's body didn't move around the matter, it allows the matter to phase through him, existing in the same place at the same time.

To Alex, it just felt like isolated disassociation. That strange feeling that some people get when they're almost asleep, their consciousness seems to float above their body, and their body feels both like the largest and smallest thing in the universe, filling up too much space while also the littlest thing in existence. Connected, filled, but also separate and alone. This feeling was isolated to just his arm that snatched.

His fingers moved far faster than he thought possible and wrapped around Aria's doll body. The Skill connected with her form, and before his brain would process what was happening, his arm was flying back out and through the cupboard and its content. Aria, like Alex's arm, phased through the things.

It all happened in a few milliseconds. But he had succeeded. Aria was grasped in his hand, leaving Alex open mouthed at what he had just experienced and done.

"Mreoooooow!!!!" Emilio hollered, bounding off the counter onto the floor to body hug him.

"Wooohooo!" Aria roared, throwing her hands up like it was a rollercoaster. "That was awesome! It felt like my body was weird!" She hadn't had many experiences, and Alex was beginning to learn that experience begot description.

"Holy crap," Alex said in wonder as he placed Aria to stand on the counter as Emilio assaulted his shins with heavy body rubbing. "It worked? I did it! That is so cool!"

Without focussing on his Skills, they had shut off. Reality and his altered focus state gone for the time being.

"VERY GOOD. MUCH VERY GOOD." Beepy intoned while Zippy beeped and scooped the horrid mess of food onto a paper plate.

"Systems above," Maria too sounded impressed. "That is crazy. You just…BAM…reached in there and yanked her out. Aria? You good?"

"Let's do it again!" Aria clapped and began to do something that approximated a dance.

"YES, SISTER. DANCE." Beepy shut off the stove and flipped over to stand next to Aria, doing a robotic dance where his shoulders went up and down. Simple, but fun.

Alex was speechless. In just a month and a half, he had gone from broke, single, and floundering, to…this.

I can run, I can phase, I can make money…I can sense and snatch treasure…

It made him emotional, and he crouched down to Emilio's level while Mary, Beepy, Zippy, and their new addition Aria wiggled in a dance circle around the plate of mashed up and mostly burnt Chinese food.

Emilio finished body hugging him and sat calmly in front of Alex purring. Alex made sure to give him all the scritches. Behind his ears and under his chin, just where the cat loved it. Emilio looked proud and accomplished, clearly happy that Alex had figured out the new Skill combo. It didn't escape Alex that Emilio had been a major part of all the development he had made. The young man and the cat that was really a god to Garden Gnomes shared a nice moment while Mary and the gang were being weirdos. It was one of those moments where two minds just exist in that little space in reality.

BZZ BZZ

His phone buzzed in his pocket, so he pulled it out.

Snu: be nice! And tell me how hot she really is.

Snu: and how tall.

Snu: you know what? Don't tell me. Mwah mwah mwah mwah mwah. See you in a couple days.

Snu: no tell me.

Snu: mwah

Alex smiled to himself at her messages. She was showing her succubus nature with her jealousy, but he really didn't mind. The relationship with Snu was going great, and he wasn't about to mix work and play. But he'd be lying if he wasn't a little curious about Nino and Nina's niece that was arriving tonight.

He shot her back a quick message and stood up to say bye to everyone. Day was changing to night, and he wanted to get to Nino's early. To eat, because there was no way he was eating the bright brown and burnt slop the boys had made, as well as to stretch his legs. Maybe even test out his other upgrade, the advancement in [Running]. I

The gang was doing a weird dance circle, with Beepy doing handstand push ups and Aria learning how to do the Charleston from Zippy. Mary was clapping along and slowly throwing out the burnt food without the boys noticing. Emilio was judging them from the floor.

"Guys," Alex interrupted their party. "Gotta run. Francesca, Nino and Nina's niece, is coming tonight, and I said I'd—"

"Yeah, we know dude," Mary snorted. "See you later. Tell me what she looks like. Curious as shit."

"VERY CURIOUS INDEED." Beepy said while breakdancing. "MIGHT YOU WANT A BITE?" The robot gestured at the plate of…food.

"Yeah, not super hungry, but thank you."

Alex left the gang to head out the front door with Emilio. His cat slinked beside him, keeping his thick body pressed up against him. There was a crash from the kitchen just as Alex closed the door, but judging from Aria's laugh, and Mary's light swearing, he figured it was fine.

Emilio bounded forward and stopped at the sidewalk to look back at Alex.

"Thank you, buddy," Alex said earnestly as he stretched his neck and legs. He really wanted to test out all his new upgrades. "This new Skill? It's going to help so much. See you tonight?"

Emilio regarded him for a second, and though no one would believe him afterwards, he swore he saw the cat give the faintest nod before shooting off too fast for a thirty-pound chonk.

Alex began to jog in the direction of Nino's. Somewhere in the distance, he heard the crack of electricity and an avian squawk, but his mind was somewhere else.

He was thinking about what Francesca would be like, for one. In addition to that, he felt his new upgrade to [Running], now Level 8, activate, and as his movement began to feel like expensive French butter, he flipped on a Panic at the disco! album to get into the groove.

What he was really thinking about was, with all the upgrades and Skills, just how good could he move now? [Shiny Snatch] would also come in handy in case he wanted to explore the fine arts of theft. He might be able to even help Nino and Nina with their new quest. Didn't it give him the ability to 'take' things? Wasn't that part of their requirements?

His belly answered yes. With all the new developments, he was ready for a new challenge. Harder Dungeons to run, more challenging deliveries, and if he could, help Nino and Nina ascend to even greater heights with his Skill combo. After all, who needed the chit of approval from the Adventurer Guild when he was growing so fast in his own way?

Alex felt a rush of excitement, and despite his half-drained Core from Emilio's drilling, he pushed his running harder.

It was time to meet his new coworker and prove to himself that he would be the best delivery guy. Because right now, his life was bloody fantastic.

He was so happy running and zipping through the streets of Toronto, eager to test his capabilities, that he didn't notice the hulking men huddled behind bushes. Tax Guilders lurking in the shadows.

And they were so consumed with watching Alex, they didn't notice the porcelain eyes of Garden Gnomes from the trees.

And the Gnomes were so consumed with watching the Tax Guilders watching Alex, that they didn't notice a little mouse on a rug accompanied by a flapping book watching it all from above.

"Hmmm, Harold," Mr. Mystical said worriedly. "That new Skill does not bode well for us. We may need to…ahh…deal with that when necessary. If Nina and Nino are up to what I think they are."

The book grumbled its acceptance.

And above them all, watching through the clouds that held massive amounts of potential energy in the form of electricity, a protective grey cat watched them all and plotted. There is no simmering rage like a feline protecting it's pack. And to Emilio, Alex was his oldest pack mate. The mewling that refused to give up.

Thunder grumbled in the sky, and across Toronto, thousands of people glanced up and wondered if a storm was coming.

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