"This supercat is named Matcha," Michael explained, "He can stop time. I wanted to take him back to America for research, but it looks like we'll have to use him right now. He's our only hope of leaving unscathed."
A trip into Matcha's dream had given him a fair bit of information about the ginger cat and his apostle, Zhao Yao. He knew that Zhao Yao was the Headless Horseman and that he owned a large number of supercats. More importantly, Michael now knew about TimeFreeze and that Matcha was the most powerful supercat in Zhao Yao's arsenal (at least according to the cat in question).
"Remember," Michael continued, "The transition must be seamless. Matcha must not realize that he has left the dream. That's the only way that we can get him to fight Zhao Yao. They are companions after all."
Nightmare Cat flashed him a sly grin, "Got it."
Matcha was clueless about what was to come. Currently, he was nestled comfortably under the covers, surrounded by his harem of ragdoll cats. When he woke up from his nap, he leaped out of bed and strolled out onto the balcony, which overlooked the peaks of snow-cloaked mountains.
He sighed as he took in the view, "It's true when they say that it's lonely at the top."
His butler emerged next to him and said, "Boss, a person, dressed poorly I might add, has come to see you?"
Matcha carefully licked his leg before responding, "Why are you telling me this? Ask him to leave. I don't meet just anyone."
"Well, the man said that he was your previous owner, Zhao Yao."
"Zhao Yao?" Matcha asked.
An involuntary shiver ran down his spine. He could feel fear rising up his throat, but he suppressed it at once.
"I do not have to be afraid of him anymore. I am the richest and most powerful cat in the world today," he assured himself.
To the butler, he said, "Alright, let's go meet him then."
At this point, Michael, who was assuming the role of a servant, stepped forward to lift Matcha. He carried him into the Maglev elevator, which descended at the speed of 80 floors per second. In no time at all, they had reached the basement.
As Michael walked towards Zhao Yao, Matcha started to become visibly excited.
"Ah, I wonder if Zhao Yao looks old and ugly and poor now?" he speculated, "He must look like one of those old men who pore through the rubbish bins on the streets."
The image made him burst into laughter.
"Hahahaha, who would have known that he would be reduced to a nobody!"
Ten minutes later, Michael entered a tunnel that looked exactly like the one that sat beneath the prison. When he opened the door, Matcha's vision went dark for a moment before he was blinded by a stream of light. He did not know this, but it was at that point that he had left his dream.
The real Zhao Yao stood before him, surrounded by his supercat friends.
*
In the real world.
It was dead quiet. The seconds stopped ticking. Time had come to a standstill.
Zhao Yao's body materialized from nowhere and landed on the ground unharmed.
He tried moving his head and it hurt.
"Hmm? Have I been revived? Has it been an hour already?" he asked, stretching his neck side-to-side.
He tried to recall what had happened in the dream, but he drew a blank.
"I can't seem to remember what the dream was about, but I feel like it was something happy."
"But if I had to be revived, it must mean that I could not leave the dream even after a whole hour," he continued, scratching the bottom of his chin thoughtfully, "Nightmare Cat must be pretty good at what he does. If I can't deal with him in the dreamscape, I'd have to do it in real life."
Zhao Yao snapped his fingers and time started moving forward again.
He turned to face Sphynx Cat and asked, "How was it? Did anything happen while I was out?"
Ares shook his head in response. "Nothing so far. Dust Ball dropped by once to report that in general, the prison is still functioning quite normally. The real prison staff has not detected the abnormalities."
Zhao Yao nodded. Then, the turned to the Cat King of the West, whom was still snoozing away.
"Well, I guess I'll have to resort to very physical means to wake him up," he concluded.
He was about to strike when Michael stood up all of a sudden. He had left the dream too.
Zhao Yao raised his eyebrows at him. "Oh, I'm surprised that you dare to wake up."
Michael did not speak. He was waiting for Matcha to say something.
He had pinned all his hopes on the ginger cat. He had the power to stop time, for Christ's sake. If he was willing to, he would be able to defeat Zhao Yao easily.
Matcha's eyes fell on Zhao Yao first. Then, he took in at all the familiar faces that were also here. He could not help but begin chuckling.
"Well, well! It's a pleasant surprise that you've all decided to turn up to. Hehehehe, are you here to borrow money from me? How much? You know what, it doesn't matter. No matter how much you want, I'm not lending it to you!" he chortled.
Ares, Sphynx Cat, and Elizabeth's family threw him odd looks.
Roly Poly, on the other hand, had clamped his paw against his mouth to keep himself from laughing.
"He's dead. He's so dead," he thought.
The expression of distaste worn by the cats was misinterpreted as envy and hatred to Matcha. He was very pleased with this reception. He turned to Zhao Yao and said, "Little Zhao, you're not a little boy anymore. You can't expect others to take care of you. Yes, I've made a pretty nice living for myself, but that money did not come by easily."
Zhao Yao looked at him blankly. "You are just..."
"Do not interrupt me when I am speaking," Matcha stated firmly, raising a paw to silence him, "Now, where was I? Oh yes, as I was saying, you're not getting any younger, Xiao Zhao. You cannot continue to waste away like this. Everything I have achieved today I had to fight for with these very claws. Do you seriously believe that wealth will just come knocking? That is never going to happen."
A dark aura was beginning to waft out of Zhao Yao.
"Do you have a death wish, you idiot?" he asked, glaring at Matcha.
"Look at you!" Matcha exclaimed condescendingly, "Are you trying to scare me? Do you think I will be afraid of you? Listen to me, old man. Your scare tactics might have worked in the past, but they will not help you now."
With that, he darted out of Michael's arms and sashayed towards Elizabeth. He nodded briefly as he seemed to survey her appearance.
"Oh, Elizabeth, you are as parfaite as always. To date, I've been with at least ten thousand cats just like you."
He shrugged nonchalantly before he continued, "To be honest, a ragdoll cat like you is not all intéressant to me."
"Why are you peppering bits of French into your sentences?" Elizabeth asked, completely unimpressed.
"Ah? Have I been doing that?" Matcha responded, feigning an air of carelessness, "Je ne sais pas. It's probably because I just returned from Paris, where I got used to speaking français. You know how it is."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes at him.
"Idiot," she muttered.
Once he was done with Elizabeth, Matcha moved towards Roly Poly. Roly Poly was shaking from laughter, but he assumed that he was actually trembling with fear.
"Stupid garçon, are you still working at that lousy cat café?" Matcha asked, "I can fit both Zhao Yao's maison and café in my toilet. I seriously don't know why you bother fighting so hard for it."
When Matcha left, he was wearing the smuggest expression imaginable. Roly Poly fell straight to the ground, where he covered his mouth with one paw to quell his laughter while using the other to slam the floorboard. Tears were starting to stream down his cheeks.
Finally, Matcha made his way back to Zhao Yao. He took one look at him, then focused his attention on his claws while he spoke.
"Little Zhao," he started, "I need an extra pair of hands to clean the toilets in my villa. If you feel like you're up for it, I can give you that job. I'll let you in on a little secret. The très riche like myself do not like using self-cleaning automatic litter boxes. The smell...it's too strong. We prefer having people clean up after us. If you're interested, I can assign you to be my personal..."
Bam!
Zhao Yao had seized Matcha with just one hand. The ginger cat had been squeezed into a tight ball.
"Matcha," Zhao Yao said menacingly, "Am I losing my touch or have all those dreams made you stupid?"
"Dreams?" Matcha repeated after him dumbly.
Countless memories hit him all at once like a freight train. The absolute lack of logic to each of the events was suddenly clear as day. Beads of cold sweat began to trickle down his back.
"Good God, I was dreaming!"
After this dramatic declaration, he fell to the floor in a dead faint.
"Stop pretending and get up," Zhao Yao demanded, shaking Matcha.
He glared at Michael from the corner of his eyes and added, "You actually joined them? I brought you into this prison with me so that you can help me investigate what has been going on and you decide to rebel instead?"
"No! I would never do that!" Matcha protested in earnest, "He said that he would give me $1 million if I joined them. I accepted the money, but I never promised to join them."
Zhao Yao narrowed his eyes at the ginger cat.
"So, this $1 million you mentioned, did you say that it was yours?" he asked.
Matcha gulped. His pupils darted quickly from left to right and back again.
"No, no, that's not what I meant," he said quickly, "It is yours, Zhao Yao. The $1 million belongs to you. I was just keeping it on your behalf."
"This supercat is named Matcha," Michael explained, "He can stop time. I wanted to take him back to America for research, but it looks like we'll have to use him right now. He's our only hope of leaving unscathed."
A trip into Matcha's dream had given him a fair bit of information about the ginger cat and his apostle, Zhao Yao. He knew that Zhao Yao was the Headless Horseman and that he owned a large number of supercats. More importantly, Michael now knew about TimeFreeze and that Matcha was the most powerful supercat in Zhao Yao's arsenal (at least according to the cat in question).
"Remember," Michael continued, "The transition must be seamless. Matcha must not realize that he has left the dream. That's the only way that we can get him to fight Zhao Yao. They are companions after all."
Nightmare Cat flashed him a sly grin, "Got it."
Matcha was clueless about what was to come. Currently, he was nestled comfortably under the covers, surrounded by his harem of ragdoll cats. When he woke up from his nap, he leaped out of bed and strolled out onto the balcony, which overlooked the peaks of snow-cloaked mountains.
He sighed as he took in the view, "It's true when they say that it's lonely at the top."
His butler emerged next to him and said, "Boss, a person, dressed poorly I might add, has come to see you?"
Matcha carefully licked his leg before responding, "Why are you telling me this? Ask him to leave. I don't meet just anyone."
"Well, the man said that he was your previous owner, Zhao Yao."
"Zhao Yao?" Matcha asked.
An involuntary shiver ran down his spine. He could feel fear rising up his throat, but he suppressed it at once.
"I do not have to be afraid of him anymore. I am the richest and most powerful cat in the world today," he assured himself.
To the butler, he said, "Alright, let's go meet him then."
At this point, Michael, who was assuming the role of a servant, stepped forward to lift Matcha. He carried him into the Maglev elevator, which descended at the speed of 80 floors per second. In no time at all, they had reached the basement.
As Michael walked towards Zhao Yao, Matcha started to become visibly excited.
"Ah, I wonder if Zhao Yao looks old and ugly and poor now?" he speculated, "He must look like one of those old men who pore through the rubbish bins on the streets."
The image made him burst into laughter.
"Hahahaha, who would have known that he would be reduced to a nobody!"
Ten minutes later, Michael entered a tunnel that looked exactly like the one that sat beneath the prison. When he opened the door, Matcha's vision went dark for a moment before he was blinded by a stream of light. He did not know this, but it was at that point that he had left his dream.
The real Zhao Yao stood before him, surrounded by his supercat friends.
*
In the real world.
It was dead quiet. The seconds stopped ticking. Time had come to a standstill.
Zhao Yao's body materialized from nowhere and landed on the ground unharmed.
He tried moving his head and it hurt.
"Hmm? Have I been revived? Has it been an hour already?" he asked, stretching his neck side-to-side.
He tried to recall what had happened in the dream, but he drew a blank.
"I can't seem to remember what the dream was about, but I feel like it was something happy."
"But if I had to be revived, it must mean that I could not leave the dream even after a whole hour," he continued, scratching the bottom of his chin thoughtfully, "Nightmare Cat must be pretty good at what he does. If I can't deal with him in the dreamscape, I'd have to do it in real life."
Zhao Yao snapped his fingers and time started moving forward again.
He turned to face Sphynx Cat and asked, "How was it? Did anything happen while I was out?"
Ares shook his head in response. "Nothing so far. Dust Ball dropped by once to report that in general, the prison is still functioning quite normally. The real prison staff has not detected the abnormalities."
Zhao Yao nodded. Then, the turned to the Cat King of the West, whom was still snoozing away.
"Well, I guess I'll have to resort to very physical means to wake him up," he concluded.
He was about to strike when Michael stood up all of a sudden. He had left the dream too.
Zhao Yao raised his eyebrows at him. "Oh, I'm surprised that you dare to wake up."
Michael did not speak. He was waiting for Matcha to say something.
He had pinned all his hopes on the ginger cat. He had the power to stop time, for Christ's sake. If he was willing to, he would be able to defeat Zhao Yao easily.
Matcha's eyes fell on Zhao Yao first. Then, he took in at all the familiar faces that were also here. He could not help but begin chuckling.
"Well, well! It's a pleasant surprise that you've all decided to turn up to. Hehehehe, are you here to borrow money from me? How much? You know what, it doesn't matter. No matter how much you want, I'm not lending it to you!" he chortled.
Ares, Sphynx Cat, and Elizabeth's family threw him odd looks.
Roly Poly, on the other hand, had clamped his paw against his mouth to keep himself from laughing.
"He's dead. He's so dead," he thought.
The expression of distaste worn by the cats was misinterpreted as envy and hatred to Matcha. He was very pleased with this reception. He turned to Zhao Yao and said, "Little Zhao, you're not a little boy anymore. You can't expect others to take care of you. Yes, I've made a pretty nice living for myself, but that money did not come by easily."
Zhao Yao looked at him blankly. "You are just..."
"Do not interrupt me when I am speaking," Matcha stated firmly, raising a paw to silence him, "Now, where was I? Oh yes, as I was saying, you're not getting any younger, Xiao Zhao. You cannot continue to waste away like this. Everything I have achieved today I had to fight for with these very claws. Do you seriously believe that wealth will just come knocking? That is never going to happen."
A dark aura was beginning to waft out of Zhao Yao.
"Do you have a death wish, you idiot?" he asked, glaring at Matcha.
"Look at you!" Matcha exclaimed condescendingly, "Are you trying to scare me? Do you think I will be afraid of you? Listen to me, old man. Your scare tactics might have worked in the past, but they will not help you now."
With that, he darted out of Michael's arms and sashayed towards Elizabeth. He nodded briefly as he seemed to survey her appearance.
"Oh, Elizabeth, you are as parfaite as always. To date, I've been with at least ten thousand cats just like you."
He shrugged nonchalantly before he continued, "To be honest, a ragdoll cat like you is not all intéressant to me."
"Why are you peppering bits of French into your sentences?" Elizabeth asked, completely unimpressed.
"Ah? Have I been doing that?" Matcha responded, feigning an air of carelessness, "Je ne sais pas. It's probably because I just returned from Paris, where I got used to speaking français. You know how it is."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes at him.
"Idiot," she muttered.
Once he was done with Elizabeth, Matcha moved towards Roly Poly. Roly Poly was shaking from laughter, but he assumed that he was actually trembling with fear.
"Stupid garçon, are you still working at that lousy cat café?" Matcha asked, "I can fit both Zhao Yao's maison and café in my toilet. I seriously don't know why you bother fighting so hard for it."
When Matcha left, he was wearing the smuggest expression imaginable. Roly Poly fell straight to the ground, where he covered his mouth with one paw to quell his laughter while using the other to slam the floorboard. Tears were starting to stream down his cheeks.
Finally, Matcha made his way back to Zhao Yao. He took one look at him, then focused his attention on his claws while he spoke.
"Little Zhao," he started, "I need an extra pair of hands to clean the toilets in my villa. If you feel like you're up for it, I can give you that job. I'll let you in on a little secret. The très riche like myself do not like using self-cleaning automatic litter boxes. The smell...it's too strong. We prefer having people clean up after us. If you're interested, I can assign you to be my personal..."
Bam!
Zhao Yao had seized Matcha with just one hand. The ginger cat had been squeezed into a tight ball.
"Matcha," Zhao Yao said menacingly, "Am I losing my touch or have all those dreams made you stupid?"
"Dreams?" Matcha repeated after him dumbly.
Countless memories hit him all at once like a freight train. The absolute lack of logic to each of the events was suddenly clear as day. Beads of cold sweat began to trickle down his back.
"Good God, I was dreaming!"
After this dramatic declaration, he fell to the floor in a dead faint.
"Stop pretending and get up," Zhao Yao demanded, shaking Matcha.
He glared at Michael from the corner of his eyes and added, "You actually joined them? I brought you into this prison with me so that you can help me investigate what has been going on and you decide to rebel instead?"
"No! I would never do that!" Matcha protested in earnest, "He said that he would give me $1 million if I joined them. I accepted the money, but I never promised to join them."
Zhao Yao narrowed his eyes at the ginger cat.
"So, this $1 million you mentioned, did you say that it was yours?" he asked.
Matcha gulped. His pupils darted quickly from left to right and back again.
"No, no, that's not what I meant," he said quickly, "It is yours, Zhao Yao. The $1 million belongs to you. I was just keeping it on your behalf."
