Melfara's Exam: Beryl's Route

By: D. R. Nyan-chan

I had sooo much fun with my written tests-nya.  There were some things I knyu from playing around, but others were very different.  I even nyanyaged to pass French even though I had nyever heard the languagebefore coming here.  I hope I made the Nyacademy proud as the School Pet-nyaaa.

Nyow it was time for the second phase of my exams.  I would get to play a game with a random person summoned just for me and the annyouncement said that I would nyext be facing a knyight.  I hoped that whoever it was was pretty and cute-nyaaa.  Suddenly, a big, muscly, long-haired guy in his undies appeared before me.  He must’ve been twice as tall as I was-nya.
 
“GRAAAAH!” he yelled out in happinyess.

“NYAAA!” I eagerly screamed back.

“Um, Beryl?” Taiko, my teacher, called out via the PA.  “There was a mistake with the summoning.  That’s not a knight, it’s a berserker.  Try not to make him angry; he’s too strong for you.  We’ll get you out in a minute.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine-nya,” I happily cheered back.

The berserker then let out one-nyof his happy cheers and ran toward me to play tag.  I immediately pounced up, grabbed his arm, cuddled, and said, “Nyu got me.  What shall we play nyext?”

Mr. Undies Guy didn’t say anything in reply, but I knyu that he wanted me to hold on to his arm as tight as I could just from him shaking it.  At just the right moment, I leapt away, nyusing his extra thrust to propel me high into the air as I squealed with delight, wanting to have even more fun.  When I landed, I immediately constructed a Springboard glyph with my tail, but before I could nyus it-

“GRAAAH!”

I jumped out of the way just in time to avoid Mr. Undies Guy’s huge hatchet, which hit my Springboard glyph dead center and then-CLOOONG!  He was lucky that it was the flat part of his nyax that hit him in the forehead; otherwise, he could’ve really gotten hurt-nya.  Even so, Mr. Undies Guy still went nyight-nyight with a loud thud and I was declared the winnyer.  However, I felt sorry for him, so I cuddled him tightly and nyused one-nyof my glyphs to give him a fluffy, pink dress and a hairstyle filled with flowers.  Honyestly, I prefer skinnier guys with a girly appearance, but that doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t look his best-nya.

Morganya then rushed out to check to see if I was okay, but she couldn’t help smiling at how pretty Mr. Undies Guy was.  Maybe she likes him-nya.

However, before I could give her a congratnyulations kitty huggie, I was teleported to the gate between darknyess and light.  Melfara’s voice then rang out, “Chor chask is chu meet me at the bridge on the opposite edge of chown.”

The village was really quiet and perfect for running into traps, so I quickly realized how much fun I could have.  As I happily skipped and sang through town, an-nyadorable kitty came into view.  She was so precious and I had nyever seen such a color pattern.  Her left side was the deepest black while her right side was the brightest white-nyaaa.  The way she was nyuuing, it was as if she wanted me to follow her.  Of course, there’s only one-nyaction that a good kitty like me would take.

“Wait for me-nya!” I called out, eagerly chasing after the cutenyess.  As I followed close behind, I dragged my tail on the ground and between that, my hands against random walls, and my feet, I constructed several glyphs so that I could catch and cuddle the pretty kitty if it ever ran past me.  When I arrived at a dead end, I spun-nyaround in place and held out my arms so that the kitty could come over and be loved-nyaaa.

Suddenly, anayther cute critter appeared, a flying monkey.  Melfara’s voice then rang in my head, “Where is this monkey from-chu?”  Of course, I had heard enyough witch jokes around the Nyacademy to knyow that there was only one place where these bundles of fuzzy comfinyess were nyused as familiars.

“Come on-nyover,” I gently urged the little monkey.  “Who wants a cuddle-nya?”

However, the fuzzy familiar immediately screeched and flew up into the sky to play tag.  In reply, I drew a Springboard glyph and quickly propelled myself upwards.  I then cuddled the lovingly cute creature in midair-nyaaa.

Suddenly, the monkey and kitty disappeared.  I was sad to see them go, but then I nyoticed a nyote on the ground.  “Nya? ‘Time is a wrong trustee’?  What’s that mean?” I pondered as I scratched my kitty ears and giggled about how soothing the sensation was.  “Oh nya!” I exclaimed.  “Maybe someone messed with the clock tower’s time.  I’d better go and check!  Maybe that’s where my fellow kitty went-nya.”

Fortunyately, clock towers tend to stand out, so it was easy to find.  Along the way, I continyued to lay surprises for my nyu kitty friend.  Of course, anyone-nyelse who comes upon them will also be surprised-nya.

Once I entered the tower, anyather incarnyation of cutenyess awaited me and Melfara’s voice sounded out, “Can chu tell me the name of this creachure?”
 
“Nyor such a cuddly chimera,” I said to my nyu friend.  “Will nyu be my fuzzy cuddle buddy?  I think I’ll nyame nyu Miss Muffinkins.”

Nyo soonyer had I correctly guessed Miss Muffinkins’s real nyame did she disappear, reappearing as my kitty friend from before.  Her right eye glowed and she happily ran-nyoff.  I quickly chased after her along the alleys and streets, laying several glyph traps along the way.

“Wait for me!  I have so much happinyess to give!” I called out.  Finyally, I nyanyaged to catch up to and cuddle the kitty, but then she vanyished on me, again.  I quickly realized that I was pretty far off course and quite lost, but I also nyu that I had nyo reason to panyic.  Grabbing a nearby piece of paper, I drew my Where-Am-I? glyph onto it, turning it into a nyap of the town that revealed where I was and covered where I had previously been.

As I retraced my steps, my thoughts started to randomly wander and I wondered, “I haven’t been-nyable to find my nyotes for my Smiley Face glyph, lately.”  It was the first one I was able to do and I’ve since memorized it, but I still liked to keep the nyotes for sentimental reasons.

“I hope Calles didn’t steal them,” I nyused.  “Of course it’s practically the only thing of valnyu I don’t currently keep safely locked away in one-nyof the storage glyphs on my person-nyor in my room.  “Still, if it was him, then the Pink Surprise glyph that I had placed on those nyotes as a delayed reaction should be going off right about nyow and I do knyow that nyagical items can nyamplify the power of my glyphs by quite a bit, so if they’re in that chest of his and if there are lots of other nyagical items inside, then things are about to get really pretty-nya.”
 
Before I knyu it, I was nyo longer lost and right in front of the bridge.  However, a nyagic barrier blocked my way.  “This looks like a toughie,” I sighed as I prodded the obstacle.  “If only there was a way to-nya?”  I then remembered how I discovered that my Happy Memories glyph was drained of power after that nyight that I couldn’t remember and it gave me an idea.  I conjured up a few air disks with Gathering glyphs and scraped them against the barrier.  Once they knyu what to attract, I nyactivated them on the ground and watched as the barrier started to quiver and thin.  Eventually, I was on my way once again, only to be greeted by a strange fog and something wrapping around my leg.  I kept my nyap handy so that I wouldn’t get lost again and looked closely at what was hugging me; it was the tentacle of a giant octopus.

The squishy, adorable, and cuddle-happy nyanyamal pulled me up as if wanting to play-nyaaa.  Nyow any good kitty knyows that tentacles are really fun for lovingly squeezing and hugging, but I needed to get going and meet Melfara, so I gave the cute critter some tickling until he let me go before saying, “I’m sorry, but I have somewhere I need to be.  Maybe we can play some other time-nya!”

As we both waved bye-bye, I continyued to happily skip along the planks of the bridge and enjoying the sounds they made until I came across my kitty friend once again.  As I lovingly chased her, she led me to where Melfara was and hopped onto her shoulder.

“Congrachulations!” she cheered.  “Chu scored an S-chu!”

I couldn’t contain my warm fuzzies as I exclaimed, “Nyu mean I passed?  NYAAA!”  I was so happy that I immediately tackled both Melfara and her kitty in my loving embrace as we cuddled together-nyaaa.
 
Still, I had the feeling that I had forgotten something.  Should I go clean those glyphs up or let people be surprised?  “Nyo, it’ll be all right,” I assured myself.  “It’s nyormal for pets to leave little presents lying around.”