Monster Breeder

""Is everything to your liking, High Priestess?"" a Russian Blue Catgirl in a pink dress with a confetti motif and a black-furred Catboy in a cute yellow sundress asked in unison.

This returned the Lioness Catgirl swathed in ceremonial gold iconography dating back to ancient humanity—why her magic chose the motif of a long-dead religion to shape her Evolution remained a mystery she had no interest in solving—to full awareness from her repose on the lavish divan. Several steps down the pyramid, naked humans Enthralled into wearing nekomimi and acting like dumb animals paraded about for her people's amusement.

She patted her two Nyacolytes on the head, both of them purring with holy deference at her touch. "Thank you for the effort, Poptart, Waffle, but this fumbling about can only amuse me for so long." She raised a hand, and all her children quieted as they looked to their leader. Their expressions commingled love and fear in religious loyalty, just the way she liked. "Two humans." She let that sink in for a moment before continuing. "Only two humans secured mere days before the Auction, no less. Where has our harvest gone? What happened to Human Garden #5?"

"High Priestess, we have a... Ahem, a bit of a purrdicament," a black Catgirl robed and masked with form-fitting blue cloth said as she stepped forward.

Raising her naturally perfect eyebrow in disbelief, the High Priestess gave a haughty sniff. "What force from a human Village could possibly hinder the Nyanjas? Your stealth is unmatched through your Tier, you're purractically invisible to all but the most refined senses; you leave no trace, and spiriting away a human as well is no great challenge. Please, enlighten me as to your so-called 'purrdicament.'"

The Catgirl doffed her sacred mask, revealing her ebony skin and demonstrating her willingness to step down for her failure if necessary. She knelt and lowered her head. The Nyacolytes, Big Cat Warriors, and Catastrophies all listened with bated breath. "H-High P-Priestess, t-t-they're gone."

"All of them? Gone?!?" She hissed with righteous fury. "Impawssible. I receive monthly reports on all our crops, and nothing has gone awry in the years leading up to this moment. How could this be?"

Mortified, the prostrating Nyanja went on, "I d-don't know, Your Reverence; they must have discovered a new method to hide from us. We circled the purrimeter, so we'd know if they fled mounted or on foot, but there was no recent traffic."

"Couldn't we just take some of last year's graduates instead?" Poptart wondered aloud while acting aloof. She idly licked at the fur on the back of her hand. “It’s not like we cleaned out Garden #4—wouldn’t want to wipe them out or oversaturate the Market, after all.”

"Or what about next year's crop in Garden #6? Who'd nyaotice if they bought a fruit that was a few days under or overripe?" Waffle asked in turn, the catboy shrugging with indifference.

"The Goblin King would nyaotice," their Lioness leader told the crowd, showing no anger at her Nyacolytes playing Demon Queen's advocate, "Our ultra-purremium product receives the utmost scrutiny, and he can smell failure like a Sharkkin smells blood in the water. He would make a spectacle of it, offering a starting bid of a hundredth their value at Auction while exaggerating every flaw when questioned. If it got out that we’re harvesting outside the peak quality window, he'd humiliate me, dragging the name, 'High Priestess Sekhmet' through the mud!" Her smoldering, predatory gaze swept through the assembly on the Holy Temple's steps. "And then what? The other Monster Rulers will smell weakness. We'll be crawling with Elves, Harpies, and Centaurs within a week. And, worst of all—"

"—NO CATNIP!" Poptart wailed in despair. Waffle clutched her and cried just as loudly.

If anyone cracked a cheeky grin at the Nyacolytes' melodramatics, Sekhmet crushed the humor instantly, "That's right. We won’t be able to afford catnip for the God Beast."

A hush fell across the pyramid's steps.

Sekhmet paced as she concluded, "This would be the first time in all the centuries of watching over the God Beast's slumber that the Order of Nyaine Lives has failed to provide Nyarlathlotep with an offering of holy incense from the Golden Grove Dryads for the summer solstice. Without the pleasant aroma of the sacred herb easing our dread God’s rest, who knows what will befall the land this year on the day of Nyawakening?" Everyone shivered. They'd been raised on stories of their god's last rampage since they were kittens, after all. "No, let us not find out. Scour the land! I refuse to believe so many humans could escape the Region without our nyaoticing."

Just then, a Cheetah Catgirl ran up the steps and skidded to a halt in the middle of the assembly. "Sorry I'm late to the party, every... body? Hey, what's with the serious faces? Did I miss something?"

"Prisa! How dare you barge in here and..." Sekhmet ran out of steam mid-sentence, facepalmed, and sighed deeply before continuing, "What pawssible excuse do you have this time?"

Prisa the Cheetah Catgirl ignored the scowls directed her way, announcing with pride, “I ate a bird!”

Gasps and excited grins swept through the assembly so fast it gave Sekhmet whiplash.

“Where?”

“What kind of bird?”

“Are there more?”

"How many?"

“Can I has some?”

“Quiet!” Sekhmet commanded, silencing the group of yowling felines with a wave of her hand. Her eye twitched with irritation. “Is that all, Prisa? We have a limited time until the Goblin King’s Auction to fix this issue and can't afford unnecessary distractions!” If she didn't shut this down fast, her people would be bird hunting across the Region for weeks instead of preventing the potential apocalypse.

"Huh? An issue? Uh-oh, did we overhunt the mice again? That's definitely nyaot my fault! They're just too cute and tasty!"

"No, Prisa, shut up and listen!" Poptart shook her head with exasperation. "We're not talking about how cute and tasty mice are right now. The Nyanjas lost the harvest at Garden #5!"

"Yeah, the humans got swiped right out from under their noses," Waffle added. "Also, a cute mouse boy would really hit the spot right about now."

The assembly of cloaked Catgirls present grunted in displeasure at being shamelessly blamed for the inexplicable incident. They didn't object in front of their High Priestess, though.

"Missing humans? No, that doesn't ring a bell. Hmm..." The Cheetah Catgirl cocked her head to the side, looking up while searching her scattered thoughts for anything relevant to help take some of the heat off of her poorly-timed entrance. “Wait, there was a monster woman with strange tattoos outside of Human Garden #5. The weird thing was that she smelled human but resisted my Enthralling Cuteness! Other than that, nope, can’t think of a thing!”

Sekhmet’s eyes went huge as if she’d spotted an endangered bird flitting about, “A monster woman with strange tattoos who smelled human!?! It must be…” Then her ears flattened atop her head as her expression darkened. The air around her burned as her anger ignited, sending her Nyacolytes scampering away from the rapidly ramping heat. Shadows lengthened as her rage grew brighter by the second. “It’s the only explanation! An Echidna has appeared in our Garden at the same time our prized harvest went missing. She's claimed them for herself! This can't be tolerated; search every inch of this Region until you find them. Send the Nyassassins!”