“Thanks, I guess.” he huffed a bit and took a few deep inhales. Joey closed his eyes and tried to concentrate a bit. He was still a bit on edge, unsure that the cat would keep up her decree and not pelt him with something as he tried to compose himself.


“Alright Joey, you can do this…” He muttered to himself. Joey slowly started to remember the small vision he had where the whole world turned sepia tone for a brief moment.


<Accept.> A female voice suddenly said in his mind. A small gasp escaped Joey as he looked around a bit confused. “Who...said that?” He looked around. He saw Kabegami just shrug in response. Joey narrowed his eyes a bit and closed his eyes to focus once again.


<Accept.> the female voice said again. <You deny your destiny. You are holding back and your powers will not work if you keep denying who you are.> The voice said again.


<Who? Who are you?> Joey mentally called back. <Why do you sound familiar? And what is this about destiny? I am just a simple seafood cook from Maryland who wanted to paint as good as his mother, and got brought to this stupid world by some dumb paintbrushes!>


<Are you really sure about that?> She chuckled


<yes I am su...wait, now I know, I heard you before as you were naming the gods I saw when I passed out from the Sheep’s booze.> Joey Declared.


<Yes, I did. I figured passing on my knowledge to the next generation would be beneficial to your growth.> She simply stated.


<Are you responsible for changing me too!? Who ARE you!?> Joe cried angrily.


<Look you are running out of time if you want to win Kabegami’s contest! Accept your destiny and my powers will be yours!> she cried


<YOUR POWERS!? Wait that means you’re…!?> The realization of the time limit suddenly sunk in <AW CRAP! FINE! GIVE ME YOUR POWERS I ACCEPT!> Joey mentally cried out as the voice chuckled again


Joey suddenly snapped back to reality and gave a gasp as a radiant glow came from his body. He looked down as a soothing warmth spread throughout his furry form and seemed to become concentrated in his tail.


“Well, what have we here?” Kabegami looked on and gave a sly snicker as she smiled. “Welcome back. You might be in the astral plane, but you seemed to be farther out in space for a moment there.” She teased.


“I was...I heard..” Joey looked at his body and unknowingly took a step as he tried to turn his form around and look himself over more. “Wait, oh no!” he realized and looked around all over.


Joey Gasped as he saw another vase flying at him. “NOOO!” he cried and suddenly the world before him became Sepia tone. Time seemed to freeze, but Joey could still look and move around. “Whoa, freaky.” A small headache was slowly building up in Joey’s head. He winced a bit as a small pain was slowly starting to throb. “This is..my doing? Wait so now I can..” Joey grabbed his tail with one hand and still held his head with the other hand “Don;t have much time..” he winced and found himself drawing a line across the vase with his tail.


“GA!” Joey cried and suddenly the Sepia tone world faded and everything returned to normal. The sound of shattered pottery filled Joey’s ears as his headache quickly faded away. “What the heck?” he looked over and saw the shattered remains of the pot laying on the ground before him.


“GOOD JOB!” Kabegami cried as all the other cats started to clap as well. “But you still have to catch me.” She stopped clapping and laughed “EVERYONE! GO ALL OUT!” She cried and all cats in the room gave an “MEOW” of acknowledgment


“Oh no…” Joey said a bit horrified as he looked around. It seemed calm for a moment but then all sorts of items suddenly went flying at him. A whimper escaped Joey as he watched everything fly at him.


“Focus, FOCUS!” Joey cried as his eyes glowed once again and the world became devoid of color once more. “Okay, So I just need to...” With little hesitation he took his tail and once again seemed to paint a long line through the various items that came at him. Joey let got and had a bit more time to admire his work “Okay and now I…” A small shock went through him as the ability ended. Before him the junk shattered to pieces and fell to the ground, as the untouched items harmlessly flew right past him and landed on the ground.


Joey smirked as he eyed Kabegami “You are MINE feline!” Joey laughed as he ran to her once again.


“If you say so, Amaterasu.” Kabegami laughed.


Joey once again growled as that name filled his ears. “Whatever you say, CAT.” he snarled and got closer to Kabegami. All the cats meowed loudly loudly as they sent more junk flying out at him. With a cocky smirk, and barely a thought, Joey activated his powers. This time, his body seemed to be moving on it’s own as he drew a small loop in the air before him. “Why did I do that?” He said a bit perplexed.The strain was starting to build again and Joey deactivated his powers before he could question it.


Joey dispelled his powers again, and then gave a yelp as a sudden windstorm sprang up from behind him. “WHOA!” he cried as everything that was thrown, was sent flying back at the cats that threw them. The cats Hissed and scattered as their projectiles were tossed back at him.


Joey coughed a bit on some dust that was kicked up from his little windstorm. He looked over and saw Kabegami was coughing as well. With a quick look around, he saw she was also no longer guarded by her feline companions. Joey grinned as he sprinted over to her. “You’re MINE”’ he whispered.


“That is quite a dirty ta-TIC!” She yelped as Joey Quickly picked up the cat god. She looked right into his smiling face, and simply smiled right back.


“Looks like I win.” Joey said boastfully as he looked down at the the cat god he caught.


“Yes, you did catch me. However..” She turned her head and looked over in another direction.


Joey looked a bit puzzled as he looked down on Kabegami. “However, what?” he asked and turned to see what Kabegami was looking at.


Joey’s mouth went slack and he felt his heart sink a bit. “Oh..I see..” he said sadly as he stared at an empty hourglass. “When...when was it empty?” Joey asked and his grip loosened on Kabegami.


Kabegami squirmed free From joey’s grasp and proceeded to clean her face. “Oh about just after you got back from your space trip.” She said quite casually.


“Why didn’t you TELL ME?” Joey looked down and glared at the cat.


“Because if I did, I doubt you would have discovered your powers. Quite impressive I might add. Also, I find it more fun to see how long it would take you to catch me. Cats are quite curious creatures after all.” She laughed


“Yeah well, you know what they say about curiosity and cats..” Joey huffed and walked away from her. He sighed and rubbed his face “So, what now?” he groaned.


“Well you lost the bet, so I won’t be doing anything for you.” She scanned him up and down. “Granted I don’t know why you want to turn back, have you looked in a mirror lately? Your form is quite impressive.” She smiled.


“No I have not, and frankly I am not TOO interested right now.” Joey sighed


“You might change your mind when you see.” She chuckled and went back to grooming herself.


Joey turned to look at Kabegami as he walked away from her “I said I am not GA!” he yelped as he ran smack into something. “Ow..what the heck!?” he looked at what he smacked into and gasped. He was suddenly looking right into a mirror that was before him. “Where did this…?” He started and then looked down and saw two cats looking up at him. “Okay Kabegami? Your cats REALLY freak me out sometimes..” he huffed, and then turned his attention back to the mirror before him


Joey stared into the mirror and looked at his reflection. He turned his head to the side and watched his reflection copy his movements. “This is, really me?” H he reached up and felt his lupine muzzle. He leaned a bit forward and saw the red markings around his eyes and on his face seemed to be glowing a bit with divine energy.


“Yep, that is you. Aside from being a different gender, and standing on 2 legs, you are pretty much the spitting image of Amaterasu.” Kabegami said as she did not look over and kept her grooming up. “Man you really kicked up a lot of dust. My fur is going to take days to get it fixed.” She said a bit annoyed.


“I think...I think I heard her voice. She told me to, “accept my destiny” Joey recalled as he turned to the side and kept looking his furry body over.


Hearing that, Kabegami stopped and looked over at Joey “Oh really? Interesting. I wonder what connection you have to her?” She pondered


“Heck if I know..” Joey sighed and watched his reflection give his tail a shake. He finally broke away from looking at himself. “Barely know anything about my family’s past. My mother was adopted by my granny. There weren’t any records about her birth or anything at all. She Grew up into a wonderful family and she loves to paint.” He shrugged.


“Oh really? So after everything you just experienced, and given how long she and her son have gone missing, maybe this really is destiny after all. Heir of the dog perhaps?”


Joey’s eyes went wide and his muzzle went slack hearing those words “Are you..are you trying to tell me I am the descent of a GODDESS!?” His mind was blown as he tried to process that.


“Well it would explain a lot. How old are you Joey?” Kabegami asked as she pondered over this as well.


“Um, I am about, 27…” Joey answered back and looked back over his body. “Holy…”


“More divine than holy.” She chuckled. “Hmm, given how long she has gone missing, combined with the factor of your age, it does not seem possible.”


“Wait really? Okay but then how..?”


“I do not know..” She interrupted and yawed a bit.”Maybe the others might have some answers, but alas I have no other knowledge I can bestow upon you.” She got up and started to walk out of the storage room with all of her cats.


“Others?” Joey asked and followed the felines back into the main room.


“Gekigami and Itegami. Did she grant you knowledge of those two?” Kabegami asked and looked back up at Joey.


“Um, err…” Joey held his furry head and pondered a bit. He closed his eyes as he slowly concentrated on the two names. Slowly the images of a large tiger shooting lightning bolts came to mind. The image faded as he slowly started to concentrate on the second name and started to see a large ox with a large horn on its back. Snow blew across the god as it stared up at the sky.


Joey shuddered as he opened his eyes “Looks like she did.” He said back to Kabegami. “You think they might know something?”


“It’s entirely possible, just good luck with your questioning. Those two are, well not the friendliest out of all of us.” She giggled


“Less worse than almost being attacked by a rat with a blade and smashed with a Mochi hammer?” Joey said with a bit of sarcasm to his voice


“Yes worse than that.” She giggled. “I can send you to Gekigami if you want to; or you can spend the rest of your life here and play with my cats.” She giggled.


Joey shot a look around the place as the cats happily wagged their tails and meowed out. “As nice as that sounds, I think I will take..my chances with the thunder tiger.” He sighed.


“I knew you would say that. This cat knows curiosity.” She chuckled and pointed over to a certain spot on the floor. “Stand there and I will transport you over to his realm.”


Joey looked over at the spot Kabegami pointed to. “On the carpet?” he asked and walked over to it.


“Yes yes.” She said and moved over to a cat statue and waited until Joey was ready. “Purrrfect, wait right there.” She pulled down one of the statues paws and a loud click rang out.


“What was thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh…!” Joey cried as the floor underneath him opened up and he was suddenly falling down a long shaft.


Kabegami lifted the paw of the statue and the trapdoor closed shut. “Have a nice trip, Amaterasu.” She chuckled.