" Chico's been TAKEN!"

Mia winced. " Emma, calm down. Tell me what happened calmly."

Emma was standing at the monestary gates, crying and freaking out.

" Chico was in the house today when the people who brought Morro his new desk. But after they left, I realized they weren't the only ones who were gone! Chico was gone too!"

Mia was going to say something comforting when her phone rang.

" Excuse me." She said as she picked it up

" MIA SNOWFLAKE IS GONE!"

" Wait, Snowflake?! As in your white cat?"

" As in the car Unagami gave me for my birthday?! Yes! She's not here! Oh Mia what will I do!!" She wailed.

" Let me ask Blackie to track Snowflake and Chico's scent."

" Wait, Chico is also gone?"

Mia nodded. " Yep."

" Two missing on the same day. Isn't that suspicious?"

Mia laughed. " Hey! I'm the detective!"

" And I'm the driver."

" And I'm the note taker!" Emma called.

Mia nodded. " Yep. And Blackie is our sniffer."

She entered her room, and called, " Blackie?"

When no reply came, she yelled, " BLACKIE?!"

Emma helped. " BLACKIEEEE?!"

Mia was starting to panic. " Where is he?!"

Emma spotted a note. " Is this his handwriting?"

Mia snatched it. " Yes!"

Mia

If you see this I'm being kidnapped! They're taking me to the ol

" The ol what?" Emma screeched as she snatched the note.

At this point Annie had already arrived at the monestary from the side garage, and ran up.

" What happened?!*

" They've been kidnapped!* Emma exclaimed.

Mia’s heart raced as she read the note. “What do you mean they’re taking you to the ol—?”

Emma gasped, clutching the note. “What’s happening? We need to find them!”

Annie, catching up with the frantic energy, chimed in. “Who’s been kidnapped? What’s going on?”

Mia waved the note in the air. “Blackie’s been taken! And so has Chico!”

Emma nodded vigorously. “And Snowflake! We have to do something!”

Just then, chaos erupted. Mia started pacing back and forth, her mind racing with possibilities. “Okay, we need a plan. Maybe someone saw something!”

Emma was on the verge of tears. “What if we don’t find them? What if they’re gone forever?”

Annie tried to think logically, but her voice was shaky. “Maybe they’re just hiding? Or...”

Mia cut in, her anxiety bubbling over. “No, no! They wouldn’t just hide like this! Someone took them!”

Suddenly, Kai emerged from the training room, clearly irritated by the noise. “What is all this yelling about? Can’t a guy train in peace?”

“MIA! BLACKIE! CHICO! SNOWFLAKE! THEY’VE ALL BEEN KIDNAPPED!” Emma shouted, her hands waving wildly.

“Kidnapped?” Kai echoed, his brow furrowing. “Okay, everyone just calm down. We can’t solve anything like this.”

“Calm down?!” Mia yelled, her voice rising. “We have to find them! Blackie could be in real danger!”

Annie chimed in, “And Snowflake! We can’t just sit here!”

Kai stepped forward, trying to regain control. “Listen, yelling isn’t going to help. We need to focus. Mia, do you have any clues? Anything from Blackie’s note?”

Mia held up the half-finished note, her hands trembling. “It says something about being taken to the old... I don’t know what! It just cuts off!”

Emma clutched her head in frustration. “What if they’re in the old warehouse? You know, the one no one goes to anymore?”

Kai nodded slowly. “That could make sense. It’s abandoned and easy to hide in. But we have to be careful. Whoever took them could be dangerous.”

“Then let’s go!” Emma urged, her eyes wide. “We can’t wait any longer!”

But they wouldn't function.

They kept running into one another yelling.

" BLACKIE'S GONE!"

" WHERE IS SNOWFLAKE?!"

" I'M SO SORRY CHICO I PROMISE YOU CAN EAT ALL THE ICE CREAM YOU WANT!"

Kai sighed, glancing at the three girls, who were now practically vibrating with anxiety. “Alright,  this isn't gonna work. I'm coming with you. But we stick together. No splitting up, got it?”

They all nodded eagerly, but as they began gathering their things, the noise level rose again.

“Where’s Blackie?” Mia shouted.

“Why did this happen?” Emma wailed.

“What do we do?” Annie asked, her voice cracking.

Kai ran a hand through his hair, exasperated. “Alright, everyone—STOP! We need to think!”

But the chaos continued, voices overlapping in a whirlwind of panic. Mia could feel her heart racing as she glanced between her friends.

" WE NEED IUR CATS! I CANT FUNCTION! IM GONNA DIE!"

" AIEEEEEEEEE WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY?!"

" I NEED MY CAT WHERE ARE YOU BABY I WANT YOUUU!"

“Seriously!” Kai yelled, his patience wearing thin. “You’re not listening! We have to work together!”

Finally, the room fell silent. All eyes were on Kai, who took a deep breath. “Thank you. Now, let’s go to the warehouse and figure this out. We’ll find them.”

With that, Mia felt a surge of determination wash over her. “Alright, let’s do this! We’ll get Chico, Blackie, and Snowflake back!”

Kai let out an exasperated groan as Mia, Emma, and Annie continued their frenzied conversation, spiraling into panic, even as they walked in the night.

"Where do you think they are?" Mia whispered urgently, her voice barely above a hush.

Emma’s eyes widened. “You don’t think a monster ate them, do you?!”

Annie nodded quickly, feeding into the panic. “I think so! It must’ve been something huge!”

Kai rubbed his temples, trying to keep his patience. “Stop. Just stop,” he muttered, knowing full well no one was listening.

Mia gasped dramatically. “We need knives! Lots of knives!”

Emma immediately pulled something from her bag. “I have some!”

Annie’s eyes lit up. “Perfect! We’re going in ready!”

Kai's eyes widened in alarm as he realized how out of control the situation was getting. "Wait, you don't—"

Before he could finish, Mia was already holding up a makeshift plan of attack involving more weapons than he was comfortable with.

That was the last straw.

“OKAY, STOP!” Kai shouted, his voice booming over their frantic energy. The sudden force of his voice brought an abrupt silence. All eyes snapped to him as he took a deep breath, steadying himself.

“Listen,” Kai said, trying to stay calm. “We are not going into an abandoned warehouse armed with knives to fight imaginary monsters. There are no monsters, and this isn’t a battle. We need to be smart, or else we’ll just get ourselves into more trouble.”

Mia glanced down at the knife she was holding and quietly put it away, slightly embarrassed. Emma and Annie exchanged sheepish looks, realizing they might have gone a bit overboard.

Kai sighed, rubbing his forehead. “We’re going to do this my way, okay? Stay close, stay quiet, and if there’s any trouble, you let me handle it. Got it?”

Mia, Emma, and Annie nodded, finally starting to calm down.

“Good,” Kai said, giving them a reassuring smile. “Let’s go find Blackie, Chico, and Snowflake.”

Two minutes later, Mia’s phone buzzed in her pocket. She quickly answered, recognizing Jake’s name on the screen.

"Mia, is Marshmallow at your house?" Jake’s voice came through, sounding both anxious and confused.

Mia sighed, already sensing a pattern. “Let me guess,” she said, pinching the bridge of her nose, “she’s missing.”

"Yeah! How’d you know?" Jake asked, surprised.

Before Mia could respond, a loud scream echoed in the background on Jake's end. It was unmistakably Rose, yelling at the top of her lungs. "MARSHMALLOW!!!! WHERE ARE YOU?!!"

Mia winced, pulling the phone slightly away from her ear to avoid the deafening noise. "Uh, is everything okay over there?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Jake sighed deeply. "Rose is losing it. She can’t find Marshmallow, and she’s been screaming bloody murder all over the house. It’s chaos."

"Great, just what we needed," Mia muttered, already feeling the weight of all the missing pets piling up. "First Chico and Snowflake and my beautiful baby boy, now Marshmallow too. This is getting weird."

"Do you think they're all connected?" Jake asked, his voice shaky with concern.

Mia glanced at Emma and Annie, who were eavesdropping intently. She shrugged. "It’s starting to feel like it."

"We’re going to the warehouse to investigate," she added. "Stay put and try to calm Rose down. We’ll handle it."

Jake sighed again. "I’ll try... but good luck with that. She’s about to tear the house apart."

Mia hung up the phone, shaking her head. "This just keeps getting weirder. Now Marshmallow’s gone too."

Emma gasped. “What if they’re all in danger?!”

Annie's eyes went wide. “We should bring extra knives!”

Kai groaned. “Not again…”

At the warehouse, Emma was pacing back and forth, her eyes darting around nervously. She suddenly stopped, rummaged through her backpack, and pulled out a small handgun.

"I think we should be prepared," she said seriously, holding it up like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Mia blinked. "No. Just no, Emma. We are not bringing guns into this."

But Emma, completely unfazed, dug deeper into her bag and pulled out another gun, then another, and then another, until she had a pile of at least ten guns laid out on the floor.

Mia’s eyes went wide with horror as she screeched, "WHY DO YOU HAVE THOSE?!"

Emma shrugged, looking genuinely confused at Mia's reaction. "For emergencies! You know, in case we run into kidnappers or... monsters."

Mia clutched her head in disbelief. "Emma, we’re trying to find some missing pets, not take on a whole criminal organization!"

Annie, standing nearby, raised an eyebrow. "I mean, she’s got a point. You never know what kind of trouble we’ll run into."

Kai, who had been silently watching from the side, facepalmed. "This is not how you handle things! Put the guns away before someone gets hurt!"

Emma pouted but began to reluctantly stash the guns back into her bag. "Fine, but if we get jumped by a gang of rogue pet thieves, don’t say I didn’t warn you."

Mia sighed, rubbing her temples. "Let’s just focus on the mission, okay? No guns. We’ll handle this rationally."

Emma rolled her eyes but nodded. "Okay, okay. No guns. But I’m keeping my pepper spray, just in case."

Mia shot her a look. "Fine, just the pepper spray."

"FOR OUR CATS!" Mia yelled, rallying Emma and Annie like they were heading into a full-blown war.

Emma grinned wildly, pulling out two more guns from who knows where and tossing them to Mia and Annie. "It's revenge time!" she declared dramatically.

Before Mia could even react, Emma had already charged forward, delivering a swift punch to an imaginary foe in the air. Annie, not one to be outdone, tripped over a box while trying to throw a kick but immediately got back up with a fierce battle cry, swinging the gun around like it was a weapon straight out of an action movie.

Mia, realizing she was holding the gun, panicked and chucked it onto the floor. "I don't even know how to use this!" she said, before joining Emma and Annie, punching the air as if it would help them find their missing pets faster.

The three girls began a chaotic display of punching, kicking, tripping over their own feet, and rolling around on the dusty warehouse floor, all while yelling things like, "FOR CHICO!" and "SNOWFLAKE, THIS IS FOR YOU!"

Kai stood a few feet away, arms crossed, watching the madness unfold. He raised an eyebrow, glancing between the girls and their haphazard movements. "O-kay," he said slowly, blinking as Emma almost knocked over a stack of crates with a flying kick.

Annie, mid-swing, managed to trip over a loose plank and crash into Mia, who fell backward into Emma, creating a tangled mess of limbs on the floor.

"We... got this..." Mia groaned from underneath the pile, trying to push Emma off her while still throwing a weak punch in the air.

Kai shook his head, sighing. "Right. Sure. That looks like perfect pet-finding strategy." He slowly walked over and picked up the discarded gun Mia had tossed. "Maybe leave the guns to me and... you know, stick to not setting more things on fire."

Emma sat up, brushing dust off her clothes. "Whatever, Kai. This is just our warm-up."

Kai chuckled, shaking his head. "Yeah, right. Let's just find the cats before you end up tied to something... or someone else does."

Just as Kai was going to say the plan, the warehouse doors creaked open, and ten burly goons appeared, holding not only their cats but a bunch of other pets in cages, including Blackie and Marshmallow.

Kai stepped forward, raising his hands. "Okay, girls, let me—"

"No way, Kai," Mia interrupted, her eyes narrowing at the goons. She threw a glance at Emma and Annie. "This is our fight."

Before Kai could say anything, the girls sprang into action.

Mia charged the closest goon, aiming a powerful kick that sent him flying into the wall. "For our cats!" she yelled, her eyes blazing. The other goons hesitated for a second, clearly not expecting this level of fury.

Emma, with her trusty bow in hand, swiftly took out two goons with arrows to the legs, causing them to stumble and drop their cages. "Chico!" she cried, grabbing her cat’s cage and quickly setting it aside.

Annie ducked under a swinging arm and tripped one of the goons with a well-placed kick. She retrieved the cage holding Marshmallow, her face set with determination. "You’re safe now," she murmured to her cat before turning and throwing a punch at another goon who was charging at her.

Meanwhile, in the midst of the chaos, Blackie kicked open his own cage, shaking himself free. "Good to be out of that cage!" he grumbled, stretching his legs. He leaped into action, his claws swiping at one goon’s face, causing him to howl in pain. "You should've known better than to mess with me," Blackie said, his fur bristling.

Kai stood there, arms crossed, watching as the chaos unfolded around him. "O-kay," he muttered again. Emma was landing perfect shots with her arrows, while Mia flipped another goon over her shoulder. Annie was using her agility to trip and punch her way through the enemies, and now, even Blackie was on the attack.

Marshmallow, still inside her cage, watched with wide eyes. "Get ‘em, Blackie!" she squeaked. ( In cat language)

Mia had just knocked two more goons into a stack of crates when she noticed one of them lunging toward Emma. "Oh no, you don’t!" Mia darted forward, grabbing his arm and twisting him into the ground with a thud.

Blackie dashed between the goons, swiping at ankles and biting at their legs. "That’s what you get for locking me up!" he snarled, sending another goon crashing to the floor.

Emma, ever the sharpshooter, landed a final arrow on the last standing goon, sending him sprawling. "Got him!" she shouted.

Kai, still standing off to the side, raised an eyebrow. "Guess I didn’t need to do much after all."

Mia wiped the sweat from her brow, her grin wide. "Told you we didn’t need backup." She glanced down at the groaning goons on the floor. "We handled it."

Annie and Emma were already gathering up the cats, making sure they were all accounted for. "Got Snowflake, Chico, and Marshmallow," Annie said, cradling her cat.

Blackie strutted over to Mia, tail flicking with satisfaction. "Well, that was fun. But next time, let’s leave me out of the cage, yeah?"

Mia knelt down and scratched Blackie behind the ears. "Deal."

Kai, shaking his head in disbelief, joined the girls. "Well, next time, maybe let me throw at least one punch?"

Emma patted him on the back, laughing. "Yeah, maybe next time, Kai. But for now, we’ve got cats to take home."