Chapter 3: The Macavity Menace

“Mungojerrie!” Jemima called. “Where’s Mungojerrie?”
“Oi’s roigh’ ‘ere,” Mungo said, running over from where he’d been sitting with the kittens. “Wot’s wrong?”
“Zeus came and carried off Rumpleteazer,” Jemima explained.
“Zeus!” Mungo hissed. “Auow, tha’ fool! ‘E’ll pay fo’ this, ‘e will!”
“Wait! Where are you going?” Jennyanydots asked as Mungo ran out of the yard.
“To bring back moy Rumple!” Jerrie called back.    
“No! Wait! Jerrie!” Jenny shouted after him. “It’s far too dangerous for you to go by yourself! Come back! Mungojerrie!”
But Mungo was already out of earshot. Munkustrap turned to Pouncival, Coricopat, and Alonzo.
“Follow him!” he ordered. The three toms immediately took off running.
“Mistoffelees, go tell the rest of the toms what’s happening,” Munkustrap instructed. “Skimbleshanks, come with me. We’ll have to organize a rescue group for when those three return. Mungojerrie may be hurt when they find him.”
“What do I do?” Jemima asked.
“You should get Etcetera, Victoria, and Electra to help you set up a room for Jerrie. He might need it if he gets hurt,” Munkustrap said, hurrying off with Skimble. 
“Gets hurt? Oh, I hope he doesn’t,” Jemima whimpered.

Meanwhile, Alonzo, Pouncival, and Coricopat are having quite a time tracking Jerrie…

Between the three of them, they kept on his trail for a while, but they eventually lost him. It was no surprise, as Jerrie was a master thief.
“This is just great!” Alonzo fumed. “What if Macavity catches him?”
“It’ll be no walk in the park for Jerrie,” Pouncival said.
“Stay calm,” Coricopat advised. “We’ll find him.”
“Yeah, let’s just hope he’s not dead when we do,” Alonzo replied.
“Come on, Alonzo, have a little optimism,” Pounce said. “Jerrie’s smarter than that.”
“He’s smart, but Macavity’s got about a hundred cats working for him, and Jerrie’s hardly a match for even one of them,” Alonzo said. “Even the smartest cat in the world couldn’t take on ten or more cats twice his size.”
“Okay, okay, point taken,” Pounce said. “Let’s find Jerrie before Mac does.”

Unknown to them…

Mungojerrie had reached Macavity’s lair. He walked angrily in and went straight to Macavity. Oddly, no one tried to stop him. He should’ve been worried about that, but he didn’t notice. He just wanted his Teazer back.
“Whe’s Rumpleteaza?” he demanded, getting right to his point. “Wot’ve you done with ‘er?”
“Me? Done something with your sister? Why Jerrie, don’t be so judgmental,” Macavity said. 
“Tha’s Mungojerrie to you!” Mungo said angrily. “Oi wos tol’ tha’ one o’ your agents carried off Teaza! Where a’ ya ‘oidin’ ‘er?”
“I’ve had enough of you, Mungojerrie!” Macavity stormed. 
“You ain’t seen ana’thin’ of me yet, Macavity!” Mungo shot back.
“Take him to prison! Now!” Macavity yelled at his hench-cats. Dusty moved ahead of the others and pinned Mungo before he could react. 
“Get offa me!” Jerrie said, pawing at Dusty and squirming to get away. But Dusty wouldn’t budge. Three more cats were instantly on top of Jerrie. One of them bit his tail, and another dug his claws into Mungo’s arm.
Jerrie squirmed and kicked, trying to get away. But the hench-cats dragged him down, and they relentlessly beat him, clawed at him, and bit him, among other agonizingly painful things, until he was so badly injured, he could hardly stand. He took a weak swipe at Dusty, who ducked and tripped him.
“There’s a knockabout clown for you!” Dusty taunted. All the hench-cats and Macavity laughed.
“Take him away,” Macavity ordered, waving his hand dismissively at Mungo, as if the tabby tom weren’t important at the moment. The hench-cats dragged-literally dragged-Mungo to a cell and threw him in. Mungo struggled hard to raise himself, but he fell back onto the cold, hard floor. As he lay there, only partially conscious, he could feel someone’s warm fur close to him, and a rough little tongue on his face…
“Teaza,” he said weakly, snuggling his Rumpleteazer as best he could. The warmth of her body and familiar smell and feel of her fur were comforting.
“Jerrie,” Teazer replied. “Wot ‘ave they done to ya?”
“Oi don’ wonna say,” Jerrie told her. 
“Oi wouldn’t ‘xpect so,” Rumple said, running her tongue over his face again.
“At least Oi foun’ ya,” Jerrie replied.

Unknown to them, Pouncival, Alonzo, and Coricopat are finally back on Mungo’s trail…

“What’d I tell you?” Pounce asked. “I told you we’d track him!”
“Yeah, except you forgot to add ‘straight to Macavity’s lair’,” Alonzo replied.
“At least we tracked him at all!” Pounce objected. Coricopat sighed loudly. Those two, though they usually got along well, were fighting like…well, like Jellicles and Pollicles.
“Come on, you two,” Coricopat said. “Fighting isn’t going to help Jerrie. We have to go get some help. There’re a lot of cats over twice our size in there. And Mungojerrie was badly hurt. I peeked in and saw them beating him up. He’s no match for even one of them, and you both know it.”
“He’s right,” Pounce said. The three of them raced back to the yard, where everyone had just finished up their assigned tasks.
“Well?” Munkustrap asked anxiously. 
“Jerrie’s locked up in Macavity’s lair,” Alonzo reported to his brother. “We didn’t find out if Rumple is there with him, but we do know that Jerrie was badly hurt.”
“Alright, good job. Everyone, listen up!” Munkustrap called. All the Jellicles turned to him. “Alonzo and Tumblebrutus have been appointed captains of the search teams who will try to track Rumpleteazer. If she’s with Mungojerrie, my group will get word to them. Brutus’ group is Plato and Admetus. Alonzo’s group is Mistoffelees and Rum Tum Tugger. I’ll take my group to Macavity’s lair and try to get Jerrie out.”
“Okay,” everyone agreed, and the three teams split up. Alonzo led Misto and Tugger in the opposite direction of Brutus, Admetus, and Plato. Munkustrap, Skimbleshanks, Coricopat, the younger Asparagus, and Pouncival all headed for Macavity’s hideout, which was a large building on the outskirts of London, out of use to humans, that Macavity had fixed to fit his own purposes. Once there, they circled the place until they found the prison cell windows…locked and impassable, of course. They looked into each one until they found Mungo and Teazer.
“Hey! Rumpleteazer!” Pounce whispered. 
“Pounce! Is tha’ you?” Teazer asked from inside.
“Yeah, but keep it down,” Pounce said. Teazer scampered up to the window.
“Is Jerrie in there with you?” Munkustrap asked.
“Yeh, ‘e is, an’ ‘e ain’t no pret’y soight noitha’,” Teazer said. She moved aside to let the group see her wounded twin.
“Gee, he looks bad,” Pounce said. “Is he dead?”
“No,” Teazer told him. “Jus’ ‘urt.”
“Asparagus, go find Tumblebrutus’ search party and bring them back here,” Munkustrap ordered. “Coricopat, you go bring Alonzo’s group here. And when you find them, Cori, tell Misto to go back to the junkyard and tell Jenny to get ready to take care of Jerrie. He looks bad.”
The two toms nodded and sprinted away.
“Rumpleteazer, do you think can we get you out from out here?” Admetus asked. Rumple shook her head. 
“Then we’ll sneak past the guards,” Munkustrap decided. 
“This is giving me the chills,” Pounce whispered as they went in.
“Quiet!” Munkustrap hissed. They stepped into a dark, deserted hallway and quickly scanned the surroundings. Then they pressed forward.
“Who are you?” a rough voice suddenly asked behind them. They turned and saw a number of guard cats.
“We’re…uh…new agents and we’re…um…checking out the place,” Pounce said. “Yeah, this is a real nice place. Echoes quiet a bit, but…”
“Macavity didn’t tell us about any new agents, did he?” the leader of the guard cat group asked. The other cats all shook their heads. The lead cat turned back to the Jellicles.
“I’ll have to go check on that.”
Before he could turn away, Pouncival had landed a punch square in his face.
“Get them!” the afflicted cat shouted at the others. “They must be Jellicles trying to rescue Mungojerrie!”
“Pounce!” Munkustrap said. “Go find Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer. We’ll hold these cats off.”
Pouncival left the scene and raced desperately down one passageway of cells after another. Most of the guards had gone to see what the commotion was about back where Munkustrap and Skimble were fighting. As he wasn’t sure how long the other two toms could last, Pounce went as fast as he possibly could, only having to sneak past a few guards.
“Finally!” he muttered when he found the cell he was looking for.
“Kin ya git us ou’?” Teazer asked.
“I think so,” Pounce told her. “Just give me a second.”
“We can’t take mo’ toime than we absa’lutely need!” Teazer said. “Jerrie’s ‘urt bad!”
“Is there something big and hard I could use…like a rock?” Pounce asked. Teazer pointed at a brick lying on the ground. Pounce grabbed it and smashed it against the lock a few times. The lock broke and Pounce rushed in.

Meanwhile, Skimble and Munku are still fighting…

They were both rather beat up, but they wouldn’t back down. They had to win, but more and more cats were joining the fight against them. It was an almost impossible task. 
Skimble took another blow to his face and stumbled. Munkustrap got a light scratch across his back, whirled around, and gave the hench-cat a direct hit.
“We can’t take much more of this,” he told Skimble. Suddenly a flash of fur leaped onto one of the hench-cats.
“Whoops, clumsy me,” said the Rum Tum Tugger. Within moments, Tumblebrutus, Plato, Admetus, Alonzo, Coricopat, and the younger Asparagus had joined him. All the toms leaped into the fray, and the odds were evened out. The hench-cats were easier to defeat with more Jellicles fighting against them, and once they were taken care of, the group ran to the cell where Pounce and Teazer were trying to move Jerrie quickly, and without hurting him worse. Plato offered to carry Jerrie. The group ran back to the junkyard. When they reached it, Munkustrap called for Jenny.

Chapter 4

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