<h4>Chapter 516: Sue’s Recovery Time and not quite Questionable Questions</h4>


    "Holy shit!" shouted Sue, "That''s an understatement. Kat are you even ok? You look like you''ve lost more blood then I have in my entire body… how… how can you just go with a ''well that could''ve gone better''. I''m freaking out a little here…"


    Kat shrugged, "I mean… I''m only down like…" Kat paused her speech for a moment to check her reserves and found she had 86% left, "I''m only missing like fifteen percent of my demonic energy. That''s hardly anything. Most of that was one strength enhancements and speeding up my mind. I hardly needed to use any of it to heal"


    Sue just gapes at Kat, now starting to realise the sheer difference the other demon''s regeneration actually makes. "Right… um… well…" Sue stumbled over the words as she tries to figure out an appropriate response. "I''m just going to sit down then… regenerate my own energy because unlike YOU I''m down to less then half"


    Then she proceeds to do just that. Sue just lets her legs copse underneath her and relies on her tail to slow her down enough not to do any damage. She then leans her back into the wall for the support, despite the jagged pieces of rock now digging into her wings. At least the jacket protects her back.


    "Are you ok Kamiko?" asks Kat after seeing Sue basically answer that question by checking out.


    "I''m quite good Kat," said Kamiko smiling, "Sue protected my very well. I took two hits because I wasn''t properly prepared for the little rats to actually do something. I was just nning to leave them to Sue because I''d stopped registering them as a problem. You''d take two of the big ones, I''d take the other two, and Sue could clean out the small ones.


    "They caught me unaware, getting a bite off before I noticed what was going on. I still wouldn''t have noticed if the shield didn''t give of a brief sh which… well I wasn''t quite ready for it and caused me to take my second hit, but I used that as a chance to back quite far off. Thank you for your assistance though, I''m unsure how long I could have kept dodging while making minimal progress. I tried to keep the smaller rats away from me by slicing them up, but stopping them all was hard.


    "Especially with therger rats closing in. The risk of taking hits was quite high, and I knew that Sue couldn''t keep my shield up that much longer so I was mostly just buying time for you or toe up with a better n, whichever came first. Luckily, you managed to sort things out before it became a real issue."


    "No problem," said Kat with a slight dose of embarrassment. "I was panicking a little bit once the patrol rats jumped in so… I understand the feeling."


    "Huh, patrol rats. That''s a good name for them," mused Kamiko


    Kat nodded, "Well, in my head I''ve been referring to the little one as patrol rats, and the big ones as guard rats. It''s worked out pretty well. Guards get a number, and patrol rats just don''t. Too many of them for their exact designation to matter so I don''t bother"


    Kamiko nodded, with a smile on her face, liking the sound of Kat''s suggestion. "Well, I''m not at risk of running out of energy… so I guess we''ll just wait on Sue then?" said Kamiko making it sound partially like a question, but feeling more like a suggestion to Kat.


    "Oh yeah, kick me while I''m down" snarked Sue


    Kamiko turned a confused look in Sue''s direction. "I don''t see the problem. You need energy, and we''re happy to wait for you, why I don''t see how this is an issue, I''m simply pointing it out…" murmured Kamiko


    Sue turned a deadpan set of eyes in Kat''s direction. "Now that''s just not fair as a response. It''s like kicking a puppy. Even if it''s evil and maybe deserves it… it''s still a puppy so you just feel like a bad person anyway. I don''t even feelfortable exining it to Kam because then I''m responsible for a little less innocence in the world,"


    "Don''t you routinely try to destroy that innocence though?" asked Kat with a smirk that was trying, and hopefully seeding, in masking how confused she was at that response.


    Sue''s whole form brightened up instantly. "Hey you''re right!" Sue then turned to Kamiko to continue "I made that joke because while you didn''t mean it this way, it''s easy to think you''re pointing out how much stronger you and Kat are."


    *Wow she actually gave a decent exnation. I knew she was kidding somewhat with her first response, but I wasn''t expecting apletely proper response for the second once. Hmm… I wonder if Sue''s tired. This has probably been a lot harder on her then on us.*


    "How about we discuss future ns then. This wasn''t a great fight, but we can work on the future one, or ones," said Kat.


    "Well we can wait for patrols to clear out next time" said Sue in an overly cheerful manner.


    Despite the mocking tone, Kamiko and Kat both nodded solemnly. While the patrol rats were no real issue for Kat, and she could fight them easily even if she needed to take a bit of damage, Kamiko was at much greater risk. A few well times strikes from them could take out Sue''s shield ability, cutting her down to no energy. They couldn''t afford that for future fights.


    A few seconds past and when nobody said anything else, Sue jumped in again, "What, I''ve given you a good idea, why not send out a few of your own? Or do I have the only working brain here?"


    Kat sighed but didn''t rise to the bait this time. Things were more serious at the moment, and while a bit of levity was needed, Kat had no good response that wouldn''t turn things into a fight. So she ignored Sue''sment and offered her own idea. "If we see Guard Rats, and patrol rats, what is the n? Do we just wait? Do we back up a bit in case the fight gets heard? How do we need to tackle this?"


    "I think we have to back up," said Kamiko. "We can''t risk the patrol rats calling out to the guards either. Even if that''s not something we''ve seen them do just yet, we know they interact with the guards and enterbat with them. I think we''ll need to make sure we back up a fair way"


    There was a matching set of three nods that apanied Kamiko''s suggestion. Once that was done, Sue spoke up again, "So… this is above me even if I''d paid attention… but… do the rat patrolse at specific intervals? Has anyone counted?"


    Kat let her tail react and p her in the face. *Dammit, I didn''t even think to count that. I have the memories in my head too, but there''s too much nk space, it makes it hard to judge time even if it''s all in my head. Hmm… it seems while my memory is good, I don''t have the practice to use it fully… another thing I need to learn perhaps.*


    "Judging by Kat''s reaction, I assume she has not. Sadly… I didn''t attempt to keep track of it either," said Kamiko slowly. "From what we''ve seen I''d say it''s at least somewhat regr, but probably not perfect. That''s just a guess though."


    Sue bit back a joke she had in response to her teammates failure to keep track of time. Something about broken internal clocks and night time shenanigans, but she didn''t feel like voicing it. She felt her energy returning but that extra muscle she felt not quite behind her eyes that governed her shield power wasining.


    She''d been using the power perhaps a bit more than necessary. Now that she''d started to actually like the pair and didn''t want them hurt she''d been putting up the shield whenever she felt like something wasing up. Better safe then sorry… but thatbined with the use in the past two fights meant it was feeling a little used up. Especially because she''d kept herself shielded at the same time.


    It was a weakness. One that might or might not be an issue, and yet Sue was hesitant to voice it out loud. She was already holding them back quite a bit, at least in her mind, and adding something more to that wasn''t something she nned to do. So, instead she asked, "What do we do if we find a bunch of patrol rats just standing around with guards and neither are moving?"


    Kat and Kamiko shared a look before a toothed grin spread across their faces. "Sufficient application of FIRE/Sending plenty of FIRE" said Kat/Kamiko with them both saying FIRE at the exact same time.