Kitty Kibbles(Author Notes): I know, it’s really mushy but I couldn’t help it! Honest! I tried to keep as much as possible to the original storyline by Sootaput but somethings are different. To read all the details read Sootaput’s First Stand. Hope u enjoyed! Plus 2 morekitties have been added to the list, thanks much :)
The sac fell and landed roughly on the ground and the contence inside gave a yelp of indignation. The quartet made up of Munkustrap, Mungojerrie, Rumpleteazer, and Rum Tum Tugger surrounded the sac and eventually opened it. A black ball shot out of it and into one of the lesser well known corners of the area.
“A kitten!” Rumple squealed after closer investigation.
The kitten shot out from its hiding place and directly under Tugger. It had a black body, orange eyes, its ears were tipped with white and there was a white spot on the top of the muzzle. The kitten caused much commotion and finally everyone agreed that Tugger should take the kitten to Old Deuteronomy.
After an . . . interesting expedition they brought the kitten, whose name they found was Sootaput, back to the junkyard and into the voluntary care of Alonzo.
“Tugger, you sure know how to pick ‘em,” he joked. “What female would make a combination like this? So whose is she?”
“SHE’S NOT MINE!!!” he screamed.
“Sure,” Alonzo winked. “I understand *winkwink*.”
Just then Pouncival came along and shouted, “HEY! Let’s teach her how to be a Jellicle cat!”
“Great idea! What do you say Sootaput?”
The kitten nodded in agreement and happily followed the two tom’s into the depths of the junkyard. There they met Jennyanydots and Jellylorum with whom they argued the importance of music and sewing against butterflies. Jemima then made her entrance and wisked the kitten away from the quarrelling cats and introduced her to Victoria. Following the teaching of the Jellicle Ball they were found by Alonzo and were given the story of Tugger’s ‘mysterious new arrival’. After meeting up with Tugger and being introduced to Etcetera in a most unusual way they resigned for the day.
A little known fact, well, a known fact anyway, was that Mungo worked for Macavity. The rumors were that his main job was as an informant to the vile, old fiend. He told him of all the happenings and going-ons of the junkyard and, of course, of any new arrivals. That’s how he found out about Malachi.
“Um, yeah. Th-there’s a-another n-new kitten. Her-her-her name’s S-s-s-sootaput.,” the cat stuttered.
“Well, well. Who’s the caretaker of the kitten?”
“Ru-rum Tum T-t-tugger.”
“HAHAHAHAHAHA!! That’s a laugh. That fluffball couldn’t even take care of his own fleas. Ha ha. Ahem. Keeping watching. Dismissed.” With a wave of his paw Macavity disappeared into the depths of his dark domain.
Mungojerrie made himself scarce and hurried back to Rumple.
“*choke* Well, *hack* he knows,” Mungojerrie gasped.
“Mungo,” Rumple scolded. “You know that something has to be done. What if he kidnaps Sootaput too? I don’t like reminding you but you are responsible for Malachi’s disappearence.”
“IknowI KNOW!” he growled. “But what else can I do? If I try to defy him then the next place you’ll see my face will be in the paper, and not on the front page either!”
“Listen, my brother’s not going to be controlled by some stuffy old ginger cat! You gotta stop it!”
Mungojerrie glared at Rumple and ran off. The female looked remorsefully in his direction. Not even the sweetest catnip could help the sorrowful cat.
Munkustrap paced around in a circle. His discussion with Mungojerrie had not gone well. ~First, Malachi gets cat-napped, now Mungo’s helping Macavity. What next!? I go to the Heaviside Layer? Sheesh! I hate it when this happens! Okay, first we have to get Malachi back then . . .~
Demeter sidled up next to the gray tabby and sat down in the center of the circle that Munkustrap had made. “A bowl of catnip for your thoughts?” she purred, sidling up next to him and giving him a quick nuzzle.
“Huh? Oh hi Demeter,” he smiled.
She looked him in the eye and said, “What’s the matter?”
“Well, I’m trying to decide what to do about Mungo and Malachi. He’s been leaking information to Macavity again. I think that Sootaput’s his next target. We have to make sure that she’s protected at all times, we can’t let Macavity have her and we still have to get back Malachi.”
“Don’t worry so much!” She punched him playfully. “Everything will eventually work itself out. Macavity won’t get Sootaput and we’ll get Malachi back. If you’re worried just think about poor Mistofelees. He’s her uncle.”
“I guess you’re right,” Munkustrap resigned. “He’s probably feeling worse than me.”
Mistofelees tossed and turned in his sleeping basket. Thoughts of Malachi being tortured at the hands of Macavity haunted him throughout the night. Each time he awoke denched in a cold sweat. Finally, he just gave up on sleeping and left his home to wander the streets. During one adventure down a familiar alley he spotted the vague outline of a fellow feline. He, not wanting company at the moment, turned around abruptly and began walking the other way when a voice called out to him, “Mistofelees!” Victoria trotted up beside the black cat and gave him a warm welcome. “What are you doing out along these streets at night?”
“I could ask you the same thing,” he replied, returning the salutation.
“Couldn’t sleep. I’ve been . . . thinking.”
“Hmm?”
“Well, there’s more trouble with Mungojerrie. He’s been talking to Macavity again so we should all be on the watch for him and we should all watch over Sootapup. He’s bound to be after her.”
“Yeah,” he replied absentmindedly. “Say,” he asked, turning to her, “whatever happened between you and Plato?”
“Let’s just say that things didn’t work out okay? He just wasn’t the right one for me, ” Victoria responded, looking towards the ebony night sky.
“Well, what happ-”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she cut in.
“ . . . ”
“Say,” Victoria asked smiling, “would you like to go find something to eat? I’m kinda hungry.”
“Sure.”
Together in companionable silence they walked around until they came to the place where they had had lunch. After finding something reasonably new they settled down dor a meal.
“Who was your cat Misto?”
“Huh?”
“You know what I mean,” she said. “The cat who was supposed to be ‘The One’ or whatever.”
“ . . . ”
“C’mon, you can tell me,” she teased.
“She . . . died.”
“Oh.” The smile immediately left Victoria’s face and she was instantly contrite. “I’m sorry, I”
“It doesn’t matter,” Mistofelees said abruptly. “That was a long time ago. It’s in the past.”
“Hey, hakuna matata.”
“What?” he asked, wiggling his nose.
“Haven’t any of your pets ever watched The Lion King?”
“Well, not really.”
Victoria shook her head and began cleaning herself, humming “Hakuna Matata”.
Mistofelees smiled to himself and stretched out along the backside of a box and yawned, finally finding a place where he could relax, with his favorite cat. Victoria stopped cleaning herself when she saw him lay down and then joined him. With his head resting on her neck and her body curled into a ball they fell asleep together.
Macavity found the mostly white kitten sleeping on the ground. Her coat had lost its luster and she had grown very thin from malnutrition among other things. He stared evily at her sleeping form and whispered into the air, “Don’t worry Little Malachi, you’ll soon have a friend.
Maybe not one like you but with the ever increasing population of Jellicle kittens in my grasp I will be able to seize control!” He chuckled to himself and quickly left.
The kitten opened her eyes and sighed, “I thought he would never leave. Hmm, another kitten. He’s going to kidnap another one! Dammit! If only I could use my powers!”
Meanwhile, back in the junkyard Munkustrap had called an emergency meeting. He had just received word that Mungojerrie had gone off to face Macavity alone.
“Cats, listen. We’ve got to help Mungo-” he began but was interupted by the horrific scream of a kitten.
“Sootput!” everyone yelled.
They hurried towards the scream and found Macaviy and some of his henchrats cornering the kitten. The twins and Bombalurina took out the rats while the others attacked Macavity. Mungojerrie, in a last ditch effort of rescue, launched himself at Macavity and saved Sootaput. The rest of the cats took his place when he fell off and Macavity, realizing that he was outnumbered, disappeared. With the fighting done they all returned to the junkyard. Mungojerrie was recouperating in the twins lair and Sootaput was growing up rapidly. However, there was still cloud that hung over the junkyard.
The cats had gathered around Mistofelees, who was still melancholy about his missing neice.
“Don’t worry, we’ll get her back,” Pouncival offered hopefully.
“Yeah,” Jemima added.
~We HAVE to get her back,~ Admetus thought fiercely.
Malachi opened her eyes to the ice stare of Macavity. She glared back just as vehemently. Finally, she spat, “What do you want?!”
The ginger cat began pacing around her. “You know, when a human kills another human by accident they call it man slaughter.”
“When a human kills another human intentionally they call it homicide,” she said with a yawn. “Look, if your going to kill me then get it over with. I hate it when villians are dramatic, especially when they’re bad at acting.”
“I’m not going to kill you . . . yet.”
“Well shut up and get it over with!” she said in an exasperated tone.
“Y’know, your uncle and I have a history. Yeah, we go back VERY far. I know all his soft spots. His weakest spot is family. Would it be a shame if he found out that you got hurt?” Macavity began sharpening his claws on the walls. When he was satisfied with them he turned towards her and, with ears laid back against his head, raised his paw and brought it down on the kitten.
Admetus was walking along a wall when he smelled something unpleasent but familiar. He raised his nose to the air and drew in a long breath. ~Blood!~ he thought to himself. He glanced around and noticed a small, semi-fresh splotch on the ground. He left and landed gracefully right next to the spot and noticed a trail. He began running along the trail, panic welling up inside him. The spots were growing bigger now, and closer together. He skidded around a turn and into an alley to the most portentous sight he had ever seen.
“Oh . . . my . . . God . . . ”
Mistofelees ran down the street, ignoring the sights and sounds of everyday London life. His sole thought centered upon his neice, Malachi. The said rumors were that she had been found but one ever really knew when to trust rumers. He barely heard the curses of a human
driver who had skidded to a stop to avoid running him over. When he arrived at the junkyard Mistofelees demanded to see his neice, only to be told that she been delivered to her pet for treatment.
“Treatment? What kind of treatment?” Mistofelees asked suspiciously.
“Well, she was injured and-”
“INJURED!?!?” He grabbed the unfortunate informant, who happened to be Quaxo, and said with deadly calm, “What do you mean ‘injured’?”
“Well, Misto, she was with Macavity for a long time,” Quaxo gasped, squeezing out of Mistofelees’ grasp. “Did you expect her to escape unscathed?”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t-”
“WHERE IS SHE!?”
“Last I heard she was taken to the vet’s,” the kitten squeaked.
Mistofelees disappeared in that instant and reappeared at Malachi’s home. He slipped in through an open window and found malachi in her basket. He smiled, relief filling his heart that the rumors were true. She was back. However she was badly hurt. She was bandaged from head to foot and was apparently under some heavy sleeping pills. After checking the vicinity he silently crept towards the basket and licked her ear. The kitten began to surface from the hazy world of inertia and looked up at the cat above her.
“Hey Malachi,” Mistofelees whispered gently. “How are you?”
“Uncle?” she asked groggily. “Is that you?”
“Ssshhh. Glad to have you back. Just rest and come back as soon as possible.” He smiled at her and stayed with her until she fell asleep. Finally, he left her and returned to the junkyard. First, to apologize to Quaxo, second, to report on Malachi’s health, and third, to see Victoria. When he arrived everyone had gathered in the area around the magical tire. They assembled around him and all at once everyone threw questions at him.
“Have you seen her?”
“Is she really back?”
“How is she?”
“When can we see her?”
“WAIT!” he called. “Thank you all for helping get her back and for your concern but I can’t answer all of these questions at once. Yes, I have been to see her, she’s back at her house but she’s in poor condition. I think that we should all either wait for her to return or only go a few at a time.”
From the darkness of the junkyard came Victoria. She ran up to Mistofelees and glomped on him. “I heard the news! It’s wonderful! I’m so happy for you!”
To say that he was taken back was the understatement of the year. However, instead of pulling away he returned her affection and the whole Jellicle population cheered. Pouncival and Jemima were the only ones who noticed the absence of a certain tom kitten.
Admetus crept up to the basket. He had slipped in through the same opening in the window that Mistofelees had. Over the edge of the basket slowly appeared the tips of two ears, the top of a head, eyes, nose, and finally the rest of his face. “Malachi?” he whispered.
The white kitten’s eyes opened into slits. When she saw the face of her rescuer she smiled and said, “Hi. Thanks for saving me.”
“I didn’t really do anything,” he blushed. “How are you feeling?”
“I’ve felt better,” she replied.
“Sorry. Stupid question.”
“It’s okay,” she smiled.
After a few moments of uncomfortable silence Admetus cleared his throat and said uncertainly, “Um . . . well, I’ve got to go.”
“No!” Malachi exclaimed weakly. She struggled to get up but winced in pain.
“Hey! You’ve got to rest!” Admetus yelped. He jumped into the overly large basket with her and gently pressed a paw down on her shoulder. “Stay put.”
“Please don’t leave me,” murmured Malachi just before she fell asleep.
Admetus looked down at the female below him. He knew that he couldn’t stay long but finally he laid down beside her. Malachi felt the movement and shifted over towards him. After settling herself down against him with her head under his she drifted into a deep sleep. The calico tom stiffened, he wasn’t used to any type of affection from a female. When he realized that she was asleep he forced himself to relax and, smiling, also fell asleep.
