Chapter 2: The Jellicles' First Conquest

Mungojerrie ran as fast as his tired legs would carry him, all they way back to Victoria Grove. The cook shouted at him as he streaked through the kitchen.
“No! No! You get away from here you naughty cat! Shoo! Scat! You horrible cat!”
He ran into the parlor, where the master and mistress were sitting. He stumbled over the mistress’ feet in his hurry, causing her to shriek.
“It’s that horrible cat! It’s Mungojerrie! Or Rumpleteazer!” she screeched perplexedly. The master jumped out of his chair and chased Mungo into the backyard, then returned to the parlor.
Mungojerrie headed for Macavity’s lair, not knowing what else to do. There was nowhere else to take this but to open confrontation with the Hidden Paw, who was more dangerous and deceitful than anyone Mungo had ever encountered. It was something he wouldn’t have ever thought of doing in any other circumstance, but right now he was desperate.
As he sprinted down a side street, he felt something hard strike the back of his head. He groped dizzily for the wall and fell. The last thing he remembered was paws and faces coming from every direction.

Back at the currently captive junkyard…

“No! Get ‘way from me! Keep ya bloody paws ta ya’self!!!” Rumpleteazer screamed at Zeus, swiping at him furiously. The large alley tom simply dodged the swipe with a conniving smirk and continued trying to win her affections.
But Rumpleteazer, of course, would have none of it.
“Bloody are they?” Zeus asked.
“Bloody they a’, an’ ya neva will get me!” Rumple said stubbornly. “Moi Jerrie’ll come fo’ me an’ the rest, ‘e will. ‘E double promised. Jerrie don’ go back on a promise, ‘specially a double one.”
“So I’ve heard,” Zeus replied. “However, I’ve personally seen to it that your precious Mungojerrie is taken to Macavity. He’s probably there now.”
“Mungo’ll neva give in ta Macavi’y! Neva in ‘is loife! ‘E’s too sma’t fo’ tha’, ‘e is,” Teazer objected. 
“I can assure you that if Mungojerrie resists Macavity he’ll be dead before sunup,” Zeus said.
Teazer tried to hide her horror at the thought.

Let’s see what happened to Mungo after he got hit in the head…

When Mungojerrie came around, he wasn’t all that surprised to find himself in Macavity’s cave. 
“It’s about time you woke up,” a deep voice said behind him. Mungo jumped to his paws.
“Le’s keep this sho’t,” he said irately. “If ya don’ wont a whack in the face from this ‘ere paw roigh’ ‘ere, then stay outta me way, Macavi’y.” 
“I was hoping you’d stay awhile.” Macavity held up a large, sharp-clawed paw. “I thought we’d do something a little different. I’ve always so enjoyed your company.”
Mungo swallowed his fear and held up a paw. He was no match for Macavity, and he knew it. But that didn’t mean he’d surrender easily.
“I don’t want to fight,” Macavity said, lowering his paw. “I don’t want to have to beat you to death.”
“An’ Oi don’ wont ta’ be beat ta’ death, but it looks loike Oi’ll ‘ave ta’ foight if Oi wont ta’ save me neck,” Mungo replied coldly. Macavity chuckled.
“Hard as rock, I see,” he said, settling back into his throne, which was a hewn-out boulder. “To get to business, I was hoping to get a tabby agent…”
“Oi kin tell ya’ roight now it ain’t gonna be me,” Mungo interrupted. “This ‘ere tabby’s ‘eadin’ out.”
“No, I think this one will do quite nicely,” Macavity said. “You were good, Jerrie. Intelligent, quick, very useful and nice to have around… You were my favorite. You know that.”
“Do wot ya loike ta me,” Jerrie replied. “Oi ain’t neva wo’kin’ fo’ you ‘gain. Oi’ve lea’ned me lesson. Oi’m too sma’t ta wo’k fo’ ya now’days. Ya only wonted me ‘round so’s ya could ‘chieve you’a own evil aims. Oi ain’t settlin’ fo’ tha’ no mo’.” 
“Too good for me, is that it? Well, we’ll soon see how long you stick to that, Mungojerrie!” Macavity stormed. “Take him away!”
Two hench-cats roughly pushed Jerrie to a cell, chained him there, and locked the door.

Meanwhile, back at the Jellicle junkyard…

“Zeus! You leave Teazer alone!” Bombalurina shouted. Zeus ignored her. His primary focus was the beautiful tabby female who would have absolutely nothing to do with him at all.
“Ya’ll be sorry when Jerrie comes an’ gets ya!” Rumpleteazer called over her shoulder as she streaked to the opposite corner of the junkyard. Zeus smiled pitilessly and followed her.
“Mungojerrie is certainly dead by now,” he said. “One less troublesome cat to deal with. And there’s no cat more convenient to eliminate.”
“ ‘E ain’t dead! ‘E can’t be dead!” Teazer shrieked. 
“Of course he can. He’s certainly not invincible. Almost as far from it as you can get, actually,” Zeus reasoned. Rumpleteazer made a face at him.
“Ya don’ know ana’thin’ ‘bout moi Mungojerrie, you…you…stupid imb’coile!”
“Now, Rumpleteazer, let’s not call names. We are not kittens…at least I’m not. In any case, you know it’s possible that he’s dead or at least hurt, and it’s probably true,” Zeus said. At his comment about kittens, Victoria, Etcetera, Electra, and Jemima all bristled.
“You’s nothin’ but a bully an’ a stupid ign’ramus who don’t know ana’thin’, so you’s betta be quiet ‘bout Jerrie! ‘E ain’t dead an’ you know it! So the’! Ha!” Teazer said indignantly. 
But inside, she wasn’t so sure anymore. Macavity was so cruel, and Teazer didn’t want to think of what he just might do to her brother.
“Mungo kin outsma’t Macavi’y,” she said. Not only was she trying to show up Zeus, but now she was also trying to assure herself. Zeus chuckled, and it sent a chill down Teazer’s spine.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Macavity’s a great deal bigger and stronger and smarter than your brother, and if I could give Mungojerrie a serious beating, which I certainly can, Macavity could give him a much more serious one,” he said. “So, if I were you, I wouldn’t count on him ever being seen again.”
“Well, size doesn’t matter!” a tortoiseshell queen named Electra called out. “You really don’t know anything!”
“Stay out of it!” Zeus snapped at her. 
“Make us stay out of it!” a tom called Rum Tum Tugger joined in. 
“Yeah! Make us!” a white-and-brown-striped tom named Pouncival chimed in.
“You’re nothing but a big bully!” Victoria added. 
“Quiet!” Zeus shouted.
“We’ll never give in to you!” the black and white tom Alonzo replied. Soon almost everyone was shouting at Zeus and Zeus was shouting back. But when they all quieted, one lone voice could be heard.
“You’re just a big stupid bozo!” the striped kitten Etcetera cried.
“Be quiet!” Zeus told her.
“Who works for Macavity!” Etcetera continued, louder than before.
“Shut up!” Zeus rebuked.
“AND YOU’VE GOT A BIG UGLY FISH FACE!” Etcetera concluded. Her voice had risen to a loud scream. The younger Jellicles laughed and started taunting Zeus, repeating what Etcetera had said over and over. Zeus yelled at them, but they just chanted louder. But when they all got more or less quieted down, the smallest kitten, Jemima, couldn’t restrain herself any longer.
“YOU’RE A BIG STUPID BOZO WHO WORKS FOR MACAVITY AND YOU’VE GOT A BIG UGLY FISH FACE!!!!” 
She shrieked it so loud and so high-pitched that everyone was sure that the cats in the Heaviside Layer had heard. But they were wrong.
The high-pitched, deafening shriek hadn’t reached quite to the Heaviside. But it did reach to Macavity’s lair, where Mungojerrie was standing before Macavity’s boulder throne, looking bruised, beaten, and rather weak.
All was silent when, without warning, out of nowhere came shrill yelling that sounded exactly like Jemima. 
Jerrie tried his utmost not to laugh, but eventually he broke down and started laughing hysterically.
“Do you take that as a…compliment, Mungojerrie?” Macavity asked curiously. Mungo reduced his laugh to a quiet giggle and replied, “Oi don’ wo’k fo’ you, Macavi’y. Bu’ obv’ously a big stupid bozo with an ugly fish face do. Mus’ look an awful lot loike ‘is employa!”
Macavity, angry at being insulted, jumped off his throne with a roar. He raced at Jerrie in full rage.
Mungo finally stopped laughing and jumped out of the way. He pushed off a wall and flung his whole body against Macavity. 
“Get him! Take him back to his cell! NOW! I’ll see what kind of death this master thief is suited for!” Macavity shouted at his hench-cats. With Jerrie bouncing off the walls in such a fashion, it took the hench-cats awhile to catch him. But they finally succeeded in dragging him back to the cell and locking him in.

Back at the junkyard…

Zeus had scared the tiny Jemima into silence, and now everyone was asleep. 
Rumpleteazer dreamed that she found Mungojerrie in Macavity’s lair, but the dream quickly changed to a nightmare as she was forced to watch Mungojerrie die by torture. 
“Oh! Oh! No! No!” she cried in her sleep. Electra, Coricopat, and Tantomile sat up, awakened by her shouts. 
“No! No! Don’ kill ‘im! Don’ doie Jerrie! Don’ doie!” Teazer continued. Since she was asleep, she had no idea that she was waking everyone up. Now just about all of the Jellicles were awake. Finally, Skimbleshanks woke Rumpleteazer up.
“What’re you yelling about?” Tumblebrutus asked sleepily as Jenny tried to calm a somewhat upset Teazer. 
“ ‘E wos dead! Oi saw ‘im!” Teazer said. 
“Who was dead?” another tom named Pouncival asked.
“Mungojerrie!” Teazer said.
“Jerrie’s dead?” Etcetera, who hadn’t heard the first part of the conversation, asked fearfully.
“No, silly, she dreamed it,” Pounce explained. 
“Let’s go back to sleep,” Tumblebrutus suggested, yawning. The Jellicles all followed his suggestion and drifted back to sleep, with the exception of Rumpleteazer. She couldn’t help but fear that her dream was coming true, that perhaps Mungo was dead even now.

Well, Rumpleteazer, Jerrie’s still hanging in there. Let’s see what he’s up to now…

Mungojerrie tried to claw and bite his way out of his cell, but he only succeeded in hurting himself. While he pondered the situation and tried to stop the blood that now flowed freely from his mouth, he noticed that the two guard cats had fallen asleep. He grinned to himself as he reached out and grabbed the cell keys from the hand of the sleeping guard, reflecting that Macavity wouldn’t get anywhere with guard cats like these. He tiptoed out of the cell and to the mouth of the cave, and luckily, no one saw him. He let out a quiet sigh and took off towards the junkyard. If Macavity’s guard cats were so vulnerable this time of night, then Zeus’s probably would be too. 
When he reached the yard, most of the Jellicles were awake. This came as a surprise. There seemed to be something big going on.
He saw Zeus up close to Teazer, and Teazer was struggling to get away. Mungo instantly realized that Zeus was making his final and strongest effort to mate with her. He bounded into the yard with a growl and stepped between Zeus and Rumple. His entire body was tensed to spring and positioned to fight if he had to. 
“ ‘Ow many toimes do Oi gotta tell ya ta keep ya paws off me sis?” he hissed. Zeus didn’t even take the time to reply. Instead, he simply growled angrily and lunged at Jerrie, eager to be forever rid of the young tom.
“Stop!” Teazer and Jemima shrieked at the same time. Mungojerrie let out a moan as Zeus landed a swipe square in his face so hard that it sent poor Jerrie twirling in a circle. But Mungo swung his paw around and swiped Zeus right back. 
“Take Rumpleteazer to my lair and keep her there!” Zeus ordered his hench-cats. 
“No ya don’!” Mungo said, more to himself than to Zeus. He jumped on top of the nearest hench-cat and soon all of them were surrounding him. Jerrie swung his paws every which way, trying to fend off the attacking hench-cats. But there were too many of them and only one of him, and they started to drag him down, but suddenly they backed off, and Zeus stood alone over a greatly weakened Mungojerrie.
“Take her!” Zeus ordered again. 
“No!” Jerrie screamed in a flurry of rage. He jumped at Zeus and sank his teeth into the large gray alley cat’s wrist. Zeus flung him off, throwing him down hard on the ground. Painfully, Jerrie got up and jumped at Zeus once more. Zeus caught him in mid-jump and threw him down on the floor again. Zeus was now weakened somewhat, but Mungo was still vastly overpowered.
“Leave ‘im ‘lone!” Teazer screamed at Zeus. 
“Stop it!” Jemima added. Zeus ignored them and gave Mungo a hard kick right in the stomach.
“Agh!” Mungo exclaimed softly as he doubled over. Tears ran down Teazer’s cheeks.
“Feeling sick?” Zeus taunted, smiling wickedly. Jerrie stayed bent over and didn’t even look at Zeus. Obviously, he did feel very sick. 
Zeus stood over Mungo for a moment, and then gave him an especially hard swipe. Jerrie let out a squeak that was meant to be a scream and fell on his back. Electra had to hold on to Rumpleteazer to keep her from running right into the middle of the fight.
“You’ve lost your fight for your Jellicle tribe. I can keep them well under my control with you out of the way,” Zeus said, giving Mungo another hard kick. Jerrie squeaked again, but didn’t move.
“Stop! Stop it!” came the joint cry of Rumpleteazer, Jemima, Electra, Etcetera, and Victoria. 
“You were a fool to challenge me,” Zeus continued, giving Mungo two hard swipes to the face. “Now, I can give Macavity the pleasure of knowing you are dead.” 
Zeus dug his sharp claws into Jerrie’s body, and Jerrie couldn’t find the strength or breath to even squeak. He merely squirmed and tried to get away, but his attempts weren’t successful. He could feel Zeus’ claws going ever deeper, tearing into his fur and skin. He kept squirming.
Finally, Zeus withdrew, only to raise his paws for a killing strike. But a flash of multicolored fur swept past him, and Rumpleteazer stood protectively over her twin brother. Her brown eyes flashed as she looked up at him furiously.
“We ain’t puttin’ up with the loikes o’ you any longa!” she said angrily.
“Yeah! Let’s go for it, cats!” Pouncival shouted. The tribe shared his feelings, and together they all jumped at Zeus and his hench-cats. Rumpleteazer dragged a half-conscious Mungo to safety.
Seeing that they were no match for an entire angry Jellicle tribe, Zeus and his cats fled back to Macavity’s lair, where they explained the whole story. Macavity immediately thought of a new plan to overthrow the Jellicle tribe.

While Macavity’s plotting against them, the tribe is taking care of Mungo, who was hurt quite badly in his fight with Zeus…

At first all Mungojerrie could see was blackness, and he thought he was alone. Maybe he was dead, but he didn’t think the Heaviside would look quite like this. But then, maybe he wasn’t in the Heaviside. Maybe he was somewhere else. But there wasn’t anywhere else, was there? Maybe he was on his way to the Heaviside. Yes, that must be it. He expected to see a glowing light any moment…
Then he felt a rather small paw stroke his face, and he knew he was alive. As the room grew steadily brighter, he could see Teazer sitting next to the blanket he was lying on, and several other members of the tribe standing around him. He reached up and tapped Rumple’s shoulder. Teazer looked down at him.
“Jerrie!” she cried happily. She threw herself over him in a tearful hug.
“Wot’s goin’ on?” Mungo asked, stroking his twin sister’s fur.
“For awhile we thought we’d lost you,” Jenny told him.
“Los’ me?” Mungo asked. Just then, Rumple let out a loud giggle, and everyone stared at her.
“But Oi’m so ‘appy!” she said, embarrassed. “Oi’m so ‘appy Jerrie’s still ‘ere!”
“We’re all thankful,” Munkustrap said. “And now that Jerrie’s getting better, I…”
“Please don’ send ‘im ‘way ‘gain,” Teazer pleaded. “ ‘E’s jus’ sta’tin’ ta get betta. Wot if ‘e gets ‘u’t? ‘Soides, ‘e didn’ steal the jewels an’ ‘e saved the troibe.”
“Munkustrap,” Bombalurina put in. “You can’t send Mungojerrie away again. I know it’s true that he didn’t steal those jewels, because I just found out that Zeus did.”
“Yes, I was just told about that too,” Munkustrap said. “I was just about to say that I would be glad to welcome him back with my sincere apologies.”
Mungojerrie grinned at Rumpleteazer. “Oi readily ‘ccept.”
Rumpleteazer went into a fit of giggling because she was, to put it into her own words, “so ‘appy”. Mungo didn’t try to shush her, just this once. He almost felt like giggling himself. 
“You’s gonna git betta! You’s gonna git betta!” Rumple chanted gleefully. 
“I believe it is so, lass,” Skimble told her. His voice was laden with a Scottish brogue. 
“It is so, Skeembole! Oi know it is!” Teazer said. “Mungo’s gonna git betta!”
Skimble smiled and turned to Mungojerrie, who was staring up at everyone about the room from his position lying on a blanket on the floor.
“It was a brave thing you did for us, lad,” Skimble said. “You saved us all.”
“Rumpleteazer in particular,” Victoria said.
“Yeah,” Pouncival added. “That creep would’ve done just about anything to mate with Rumpleteazer.”
“No flippin’ agent o’ Macavi’y’s kin fli’t with me sista an’ get ‘way with it,” Mungo declared. Rumpleteazer nuzzled him gratefully.
“Zeus is wot Pounce says ‘e is: a creep,” she said. 
“Even Demeter would have to agree that what you did was brave, Jerrie,” Pouncival continued. He gently elbowed the dark-colored queen. “Right Dem?”
Demeter gave an exasperated sigh.
“Come on. Admit it,” Pounce goaded.
“Alright already! Mungojerrie did something respectable for a change!” Demeter said, and with that, she stalked away. Pounce looked down at Jerrie, who shrugged.

The next day…

Mungojerrie was feeling much better, and the Jellicles decided to celebrate their freedom with a get-together.
“It’s a great party,” Alonzo commented to his girlfriend, the Egyptian Mau queen Cassandra. 
“Yes,” Cassandra agreed. “Especially for Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer. They seem to be happy just being together.”
The two looked over to where Mungo and Teazer were sitting contentedly next to each other. Rumple kept nuzzling Jerrie affectionately, and then he would nuzzle her back. They hadn’t been apart since the rescue from Zeus, and most suspected it was because of their earlier forced separation. 
“Oi ‘ope ya neva ‘ave ta git banished ‘gain,” Teazer said. 
“Me too,” Mungo agreed, licking his bandaged right front paw. It had been sprained in the fight with Zeus, and it was still sore and swollen. 
Mungo cast an eye on the feline couples dancing in the moonlight. He thought it might be fun to join in with, like always, Teazer as his partner, but his paw hurt too much. Instead, he singled out all the toms and their queens.
Demeter and Munkustrap; Mistoffelees and Victoria; Skimble and Jenny; Tugger and Bomby; Alonzo and Cassandra; Pounce and Etcetera; Plato and Electra; Coricopat and Jemima; the younger Asparagus and Tantomile; Tumblebrutus and Exotica; Admetus and Jellylorum. He wondered if there was someone out there who would love him.

The next morning…

Pouncival and Jemima were sitting on a pile of junk outside the junkyard talking with Jerrie and Teazer.
“Jerrie, you had some fight in you,” Pouncival was remarking. “I was pretty impressed; I didn’t know you were even brave enough to take on a cat that big and that mean.”
 “I’ll say he had fight in him, but he’s no match for me,” they heard a voice say behind them. They whirled around and saw exactly whom they thought they’d see: Zeus.
“Get away from here now,” Jemima ordered. “We’re sick of you.”
“I have a different plan, I’m afraid,” Zeus said. “Rumpleteazer will be coming with me, and I think Macavity has something in store for the rest of you.”
“Oi’d ratha be dead than be you’a mate!” Teazer said fiercely. 
“I don’t think you mean that, Rumpleteazer,” Zeus said. “It’s automatic death for your brother if you refuse. If you cooperate, Macavity just might spare him.”
“One more step and you’ll get a paw in the face!” Pouncival warned.
“Out of my way!” Zeus said, shoving Pouncival roughly aside. Before anyone could blink, he’d grabbed a madly resistant Rumpleteazer and carried her off. Pouncival and Jemima raced back to the yard.

Chapter 3

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