Sitting on the stump, the young priest-in-training practiced his magic quietly in the small clearing. As a traveler, he loved seeing the sights but while in transit to the different places he usually got bored. The young anthropomorphic cat was levitating a small pebble to revolve around his head.

He stood up, the gold on his white robe glinting in the sun. The young cat was about fourteen or fifteen, no taller than four feet. He was covered in glistening black fur with white patches on his lower arms and feet. Dark brown hair was tied back in a golden-colored ribbon. Though he appeared feminine, his voice and face was that of a male. He wore no shoes, as was the norm of an anthro.

Dropping the rock, he padded his way back to the road, which wasn’t that far off. He set off once more on his journey. He wasn’t going anywhere in particular – he merely went where the road took him.

After about an hour of walking, he saw a man and a woman walking toward him. Upon closer examination he saw that they weren’t walking toward him but just traveling as he was.

“Good morning to you,” he said. “My name’s Kit.”

“Sorry, we’re in a hurry,” said the woman. It was then that Kit saw that she and what he presumed to be her husband were carrying backpacks and a suitcase apiece.

“What for?” asked Kit.

“The Firedemon is coming this way,” said the man with a tinge of fear in his voice. “Everyone is leaving. And if you’re smart, so will you.”

As the couple walked away, Kit stood and thought to himself for a while. One of the reasons for his journey was to rid demons and the like. If this Firedemon was an evil entity, he should at least go check it out.

Kit set off. Every half-mile or so he would encounter people who were also fleeing the Firedemon. With each passing person he became more and more anxious to see it for himself. Eventually he broke into a run, his robe fluttering behind him making him appear to be a ghost.

The people eventually thinned out as he passed them, until with each passing mile there were no more people. It finally occurred to Kit that in case of battle he should keep on guard at all times. He remembered the wand he kept in his pocket in case he needed to amplify his power at all.

Suddenly, there was a loud boom. Kit faltered a little, but when he felt the air around him grow warm he stopped. He stepped back slightly – something huge was heading his way. Feeling slightly intimidated, he hid behind a tree, just as there was another explosion as a tree on the other side of the path was blown away. And from the smoke stepped a tall figure, one that Kit would never forget.

The figure was about six or seven feet tall, with a mechanical body. A mask that resembled a skull was on the cyborg’s face, and the right eye glowed bright blue. Flaming red hair grew from the top of the figure’s head, and in his hands was a missile launcher.

It’s the Firedemon, thought Kit. He decided to watch it a little more.

The cyborg scanned the path with his mechanical eye. Twice it swept over the area Kit hid at. But the second time around he stopped right at the feline’s position.

“Burn!” yelled a mechanical voice, and Kit’s eyes widened.

BLAM!

The tree where Kit hid was destroyed. However Kit leapt to safety, away from the now decimated tree. However, now he was in the plain sight of the cyborg.

“Who are you?” asked Kit; he doubted ‘Firedemon’ was this thing’s real name.

“You might as well know,” said the cyborg in his mechanical voice. “It’s Pyro. And I shall enjoy killing you, furball!”

And with that, from an unseen source Pyro pulled out a minigun, and immediately began to fire. But Kit threw his hands up and made a magical shield. The bullets fell uselessly against the ground, but with each hit the shield weakened.

“Now why can’t we just get along, huh?” said Kit. One of his tactics was to try to turn his opponent around during the fight, to get him thinking and become a good person. He knew that Pyro, judging from his appearance, had to have been a human at one point.

“Fur burns so beautiful,” said Pyro, lowering the gun. “That pussy Regan has gotten away too many times. It’s a pleasure to hunt him down. Still,” he said, pointing the minigun at Kit once more. “I don’t mind burning others who get in my way, furball.”

He’s obviously very deranged, thought Kit. No hope of salvation, apparently. I might be doing the people a favor if I take his life. He has caused a lot of pain.

“No,” said Kit. He was very scared, but he knew what he had to do. “Your terror stops here. I’m prepared to fight for my life.”

Pyro chuckled. “I love it when people do that,” he said softly. He picked up the machine gun, and said, “THEY ALL DIE!” The minigun’s barrels began to spin, and he let loose a barrage of bullets at Kit, laughing all the while.

Kit barely managed to put up another shield. Again the shells fell uselessly at his feet. But again they drained him slightly on power.

“Guns are rather crude, aren’t they, Firedemon?” said Kit. Smirking, he created a ball of light in his palm.

“What are you doing?” said Pyro, watching as the ball of light continued to grow in Kit’s padded hand.

“Krad eht etims thgil!” bellowed Kit, and blades of blinding light flew from the energy ball and straight at Pyro. The many waves of energy caused a blinding flash for a few seconds, causing Kit to look away for a second.

“Had enough?” said Kit. But a second later he gasped as a bullet struck him in the shin, making him stumble over in pain.

“Amazing,” said Pyro, as the brightness cleared. He wasn’t holding any weapon currently, but there were large gashes all over his robotic body. “You’re the only one to ever damage my latest upgraded body. But it must’ve drained you on power. Too bad.”

As he said that, millions of tiny black particles appeared from his chest and flooded over to the gashes, healing him. Kit stared in disbelief and fear.

“Oh bloody hell,” said Kit, stumbling up. He smirked, and said, “Gel ym eruc.” As the sentence finished his bleeding leg was as good as new. Now it was Pyro’s turn to gape.

“Enjoy your healing while it works,” said Kit, swishing his tail. “I’ve only just begun.”

“I’ve only used a maximum of three days of my power reserves,” said Pyro. “I still have two and a half year’s worth left.” With that, he pulled a second minigun from a bag at his belt. “I shall enjoy killing you.”

Pyro took aim and fired another barrage. Kit threw up yet another shield, but he knew he couldn’t keep doing that. The pressure of the miniguns caused Pyro to recoil slightly, but he doesn’t let up.

Finally, with a smash of what sounded like a glass window breaking, Kit’s shield broke. He felt a sharp pain at his shoulder and mewed in pain, just as he used a mental spell. A flash of light and a second later he was three feet away from his last position, and safe from the bullets’ bite.

“You broke my barrier,” said Kit, smirking, just as Pyro stopped as not to waste ammo. “Redluohs ym laeh. But if you want to be a pyromaniac, no pun intended…ERIF YLOH!”

Kit’s hands were engulfed in a silver flame that didn’t burn him. He smirked. “You shall, as you say, BURN!” said Kit, feeling confident.

“Fire doesn’t harm me, furball,” said Pyro, lifting his minigun once again.

“This is Holy Fire, dolt,” said Kit, and as he approached Pyro, the cyborg recoiled somewhat. But Kit became too confident, and didn’t realize that he was wide open. Pyro took this chance and shot another barrage from his minigun. Kit suddenly realized his mistake and blinked away again as he had done before, but again not without suffering a wound to his arm.

“Don’t get cocky,” said Pyro, twirling his minigun. Kit applied another healing spell, but he didn’t know how much more he could take.

Pyro started to load up his minigun with red-colored ammo. “When the world is in flames, you too shall burn.”

“The world will never burn, Firedemon.”

“The world will burn, it’s only a matter of time,” said Pyro. He fired his minigun at a nearby tree. There was a small pop-like explosion as a huge dent appeared in the tree, which was now filled with fire.

“Your turn,” said Pyro, and began to fire the red bullets at a quick speed after Kit.

Kit leapt forward, and jumped into the nearest tree. Though his robe was slightly heavy it didn’t impair him from pulling cat-like acrobatics. As Pyro fired he jumped from tree to tree on all fours, using his claws when necessary.

“STAND STILL OR RUN OUT OF ENERGY!” yelled Pyro, firing away as Kit continued to dodge.

“Heck if I’m going to die now,” said Kit, mostly to himself.

Suddenly, Pyro let out a maniacal laugh. “DIE!” he screeched, entering into a frenzy. He dropped the miniguns, and Kit stared down wondering what would happen. But then he gasped as he saw that Pyro materialized another rocket launcher.

“Catching won’t be a problem!” said Pyro. “Target locked!” he yelled. He fired a rocket, and even as Kit jumped from the tree the missile followed him down.

“KRAD EHT ETIMS THGIL!” bellowed Kit, and once again a ball of light appeared. Blades of bright light spewed forth from the ball, disintegrating the rocket and striking Pyro once again.

“Oh, cyborg,” said Kit, shaking his head. “You forget I’m not a machine. My magic gets stronger over time, unlike your limited energy reserves.” However, Kit was calling a bluff; though his magic did get stronger over time, it was all dependant on whether or not Kit was in a strong, healthy state. The battle had worn him out, and therefore he could cast less spells.

“Magical recharge?” said Pyro, just as Kit realized he was repairing himself again. “Too bad for me, then,” said Pyro, just as he finished up his healing process. “Or, should I say, too bad for you. Because when my power is low, I shall wipe out everything.”

“You wish,” said Kit. He pulled out an elegant-looking wooden rod from his pocket, the end of it ending in a silver gem. He flicked the wand, and a blade of light appeared from the end.

“Enough of these guns and pyrotechnics,” said Kit, brandishing the wand like the hilt of a sword, the light-blade just as long and powerful as any katana. “Fight me for reals, you coward.”

Pyro chuckled. He tossed away his rocket launcher and minigun, and pulled out a katana from his bag. Holding it in an attacking position, Pyro said, “This should be interesting.”

“You first,” said Kit, his hands shaking slightly.

“My sword,” said Pyro, and slashed so quickly Kit would’ve appeared to have been cleaved in two had he not raised the wand at the last second, “is made from the same material as myself.”

“But my blade,” said Kit, slashing back quicker than Pyro can react, slicing open his stomach area, “Can cut any material. How does it feel to finally be matched by someone, huh?”

“Oh the JOY,” yelled Pyro, just as thousands of sparks was emitted from the wound. Again the particles appeared and healed him, just as Pyro spun his hand in many circles, causing the sword to become a saw.

“No one has ever survived me for so long,” said Pyro. “But everyone dies, and everyone BURNS!”

But just as he was about to lunge forward with the saw-blade, Kit reacted with a saw-blade of his own. But since he couldn’t spin his mechanically as Pyro could, he did his psychokinetically. The two blades spun in their masters’ control.

“Come any closer and you get chopped to bits,” said Kit.

But at that second Pyro pulled an uzi from his bag and fired. “Dirty fighting!” he bellowed, and fired away.

Kit managed to jump into the trees again, and was once able to pull up another shield. Pyro, however, pulled a tank from his bag.

It was then Kit realized that he didn’t have the power to defeat Pyro, at least not yet. He knew he had to try to get away and live so that he may be able to defeat Pyro at a different time.

“Why can’t I just go? Why can’t I just leave and leave you alone now?” said Kit, trying not to sound desperate. “Forgive and forget!”

“After all the damage you’ve given me? You want me to just forget? HA!” yelled Pyro. “You are the stupid one, furball. Firestorm will burn everything to ashes!

“You make me sad, furball, just as I was enjoying this,” said Pyro. “Your end is near. Firestorm activated. T-minus: 10 seconds.

“Only I will remain!” said Pyro, and cackled as he fired his uzi.

I only have one shot at this, thought Kit. Though he was already weak he took the risk. He raised his hand...

“T-minus 5 seconds.”

“KRAD EHT ETIMS THGIL!”

Another ball of light appeared, and more blades shot towards Pyro. Using the light flash as a diversion, Kit fled in the process. He silently vowed to kill the evil demon next time they met, and down the road he ran, not looking back.

However, Pyro was still very much alive. And his healing nanonites repaired all the damage caused to Pyro by the holy spell. But the Firestorm was destroyed.

“DAMNATION!” yelled Pyro. He threw his uzi into the ground and stomped on it over and over until it finally fell apart as easily as a child stomped on a twig. “Your time will come! Everything that can burn will burn!” he bellowed.

Kit heard the loud voice. He was frightened by the thought. Once he was far enough away he ran into the trees to be hidden, and tended to his wounds. Pyro, on the other hand, merely walked away, leaving a path of fire and scorched earth in his wake.