New Friends, New Enemies

New Friends, New Enemies


By: Pintaci

Pouncival was bored. He had no one to play with. Mistoffelees was visiting old Deuteronomy. Alonzo was talking to Plato. He didn't know exactly what Etcetera, Jemima and Victoria were up to, but it involved a great deal of giggling, so he assumed it was some "girl"-thing. Not even his best friend Tumblebrutus had time for him, he was off somewhere with Electra. Pouncival sighed and looked around in the junkyard. No one paid any attention to him. "Well, that's just fine by me" he thought. "I don't need them!" He held his head high and marched out of the junkyard. But he didn't feel very comfortable. He hated being alone. He didn't understand how Admetus could stand it, he was always wandering about for himself. Pouncival shrugged his shoulders. Admetus was a bit odd, but he liked him anyway. "I wish he was here", he thought. "As a matter of fact, I wish anyone was here…"

"Hello Pouncival", two voices suddenly said next to him.

He quickly turned his head and mewed happily when he saw two identical black, brown and white cats standing beside him.

"Coricopat! Tantomile!" he exclaimed and rubbed up against them, first the female and then the male. "I'm so happy to see you!"

"What are you doing here, all by your self?" Coricopat asked.

"No one has time for me", Pouncival said gloomily. "Not even Tumble.
He's always together with Electra."

"Oh, come on, Pounce", Tantomile smiled. "They've only been a couple for a week. Give them some time. I'm sure Tumble hasn't forgotten about you."

"Yeah, maybe", Pounce said, but he didn't looked convinced.

"Why don't you come with us?" Coricopat asked. "We were on our way to the harbour to see if we could find any left over fish."

Pouncival's face brightened.

"Sure!" he said, and the three cats trotted along. But they didn't get far before the twins stopped and pricked their ears up.

"What's the matter?" Pouncival said and looked confused at them.

"Quiet", Tantomile whispered. "Don't you hear that? Someone's crying."

Pouncival listened carefully and after a while he could hear weak
sobbing.

"Where does it come from?" he asked.

"I don't know", Coricopat said. "Why don't you check this alley, and
we'll check the other one?"

"Sure", Pouncival agreed, without mentioning the fact that he really hated alleys. There were so dark, and there was often nasty things hidden in them. The twins had left, and Pounce took a deep breath and went into the alley. He watched every step he took, so he didn't step on something creepy. When a mouse rushed by, he jumped high in the air, and became ashamed of him self. Scared by a mouse, what kind of a cat was he? He stopped and listened. The sobbing was louder now, so he was obviously on the right way. For a moment he thought about fetching Coricopat and Tantomile, but then his curiosity got the upper hand, and he went further into the alley. When he peeked behind a trashcan he found the source of the sobbing. It was a slim cat, who was sitting with her back to Pouncival. She didn't notice him, so he had time to look at her more closely. Her fur had a soft grey colour, except for her ears and the tip of her tail, which were white. She was still sobbing. Pouncival decided to let her know he was there.

"Why are you crying?" he asked carefully.

The grey cat quickly spun around when she heard his voice. She hissed at him and flinched, her deep green eyes filled with fear.

"Take it easy", Pouncival said quickly. "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm Pouncival. What's your name?"

She still didn't say anything, just stared cautiously at him. He noticed that her paws were also white, and that she seemed to be in his age.
"She's cute!" he thought to himself and smiled at her.

"Pouncival! Are you in there?" Coricopat's voice came from the other end of the alley.

"I'm here", Pouncival shouted back. "I found her!"

The grey queen rose when she heard Pouncival's words, prepared to run away. Then Coricopat and Tantomile joined Pouncival in front of her. The cat frowned. She looked at Coricopat, then at Tantomile, then at Coricopat again, and finally she looked at Pouncival with an expression of mild confusion on her face. Pouncival smiled.

"They're twins", he explained. "Coricopat and Tantomile."

Tantomile walked over to the other female and friendly nuzzled her shoulder. The grey feline stiffened at first, but when she realised that Tantomile wasn't going to hurt her, she relaxed and returned the greeting.

"What's your name?" Tantomile asked.

"My pet family used to call me Texie", she answered, and for the first time they heard her soft voice.

"Used to?" Coricopat asked carefully.

"Yes, used to", Texie said quietly and lowered her eyes. "One day when I came home, they were gone. I waited outside the house for two days, but they didn't come back. I guess they moved and didn't want me anymore." A tear rolled down her cheek.

Pouncival rubbed up against her to comfort her.

"Texie…" he started. The grey cat made a face.

"I always hated that name" she said and wrinkled her nose. "Can't you call me Pintaci? I don't know why, but I have this feeling that that's my real name."

"Well then, Pintaci it is", Pouncival said cheerfully. Pintaci smiled at him.

"Sorry, I interrupted you before", she said. "What were you about to say?"

"I thought, since you don't have a home anymore, you could come stay with us."

Pintaci looked at him.

"You mean that?" she asked with a glimpse of hope in her voice.

"Of course", Tantomile assured her. "Many of our friends have gone through the same thing you're going through.

"Oh, I don't know how to…", Pintaci started, but then she stared at Coricopat. "Stop that!" she cried.

"What d-d-did I d-do?" the tom stuttered.

"Stop trying to read my thoughts!"

"Coricopat!" Tantomile gasped. "We're not allowed to do that!" Coricopat blushed.

"I know", he mumbled. "I just thought I'd check so she didn't work for Macavity or something."

"Of course she's not working for Macavity!" Pouncival exclaimed, quickly defending his new friend.

"Of course I'm not!" Pintaci said and sounded very offended. "Uhm, by the way, who's Macavity?"

"I'll tell you later", Tantomile told her and then she turned to her brother again. "You know very well that Macavity hasn't been around for months. What were you thinking?"

Coricopat looked down.

"I'm sorry", he said remorsefully. "It was just an impulse, I…" He shrugged. "I'm sorry."

Tantomile looked at him, but she didn't say anything. Instead she led Pouncival and Pintaci out of the alley, and they headed for the
junkyard. Coricopat followed behind. He was a bit worried. He was the only one who knew the temper his sister had, and he didn't look forward to facing it again.

*****

Electra yawned and stretched her legs. She peeked out from the old dryer where she and Tumblebrutus had been taking a catnap, down at the empty junkyard. She thought about waking Tumble, but decided to let him sleep. The red and brown feline then jumped down on the ground, just in time to see Alonzo entering the yard. She walked over to him.

"Hi Lonzo", she said and smiled at the handsome tom.

He avoided her eyes.

"Yeah, whatever", he muttered and headed for his own little corner of
the junkyard, an old oven.

"Nice to see you too", Electra snarled after him.

Alonzo jumped into the oven and lay down, with his back against her.
Electra sighed. So it was going to be on of those days. She glared at the oven. Then she went closer.

"What's the matter with you Alonzo?" she demanded. "Why are you treating everyone like dirt? Don't you see that you're going to loose your friends if you keep this up?"

"Leave me alone!" Alonzo growled, turned around and swiped his claws at her, just missing her face by an inch.

Electra gasped and quickly backed away from the angry black and white tom, and crashed into another cat.

"Sorry", she said as she turned around, but she frowned when she faced a grey cat she'd never seen before.

"Who are you?" she asked suspiciously.

"Don't worry, El", Pouncival said and joined the two females. "This is Pintaci, my new friend. Pintaci, this is Electra. Pintaci's going to stay with us."

"Great!" Electra exclaimed and gave Pintaci a friendly nuzzle.

"Pounce! There you are!" Tumblebrutus' black and brown head peeked out from the dryer. "I've been looking for you all day! We were going to practise our back-flips."

"I thought you maybe changed you mind", Pouncival said and looked up at his friend.

"Why would I have done that?" Tumble asked confused, and then he noticed the new cat. "Oh, hi!"

Pouncival introduced his best friend and his new friend to each other, and they immediately knew that they were going to get along justfine.

"Come on Pintaci, I'll introduce you to some of the other jellicles",
Electra said.

"Hey, wait a minute", Pouncival shouted. "What about me?"

"Well, weren't you supposed to practise back flips with Tumble?" Electra asked and smiled innocently. Pintaci laughed and walked over to Pouncival.

"Thanks for taking me here, Pounce", she said and rubbed up against him.
"I will never forget it." She smiled at him and then she and Electra started walking, leaving the two toms behind.

"So, who should I let you meet first?" Electra pondered. "Tugger maybe." She looked at Pintaci. "Nah, he would probably scare you off. I know, Demeter! You're gonna love her."

Pintaci listened to Electra, but she didn't say anything. She was
beginning to feel nervous, she wasn't used to meeting so many new cats.
Ah, well, the ones she had met so far had been really nice. At least Pounce, Electra, Tumble and Tantomile. She wasn't so sure about Coricopat.

*****

"I still can't believe you did that, Cori" Tantomile said to her brother as they were on their way to tell Munkustrap about the new cat.

"Oh, come on, Tant!" Coricopat said. "Like you never done it?"

"I have not!" Tantomile said offended.

"Really? And what about the time when you wanted to find out if Plato was in love with you?" Tantomile blushed.

"Thanks for reminding me", she muttered.

Coricopat just laughed. It wasn't often he succeeded in making his sister embarrassed.

"So maybe I used my powers to such things a couple of times", Tantomile admitted. Then she looked at her brother and added: "But at least I never got caught."

"I haven't got caught before either, this was the first time…" Coricopat stopped walking and stared at his sister.

"See! I knew there was something strange about Pintaci!"

"What do you mean?" Tantomile asked puzzled.

"No-one has ever noticed us before. She's the first!"

"Maybe you were unusually clumsy."

"Tant! I'm your brother! You know I'm not clumsy."

"I know", Tantomile sighed. "But I don't think that Pintaci's bad. I really liked her."

"Yeah, me too", Coricopat confessed. "Let's not say anything to anyone before we have talked to her, ok?"

"Ok", Tantomile said, and the twins nodded in agreement just as they reached Munkustrap's home.

They found the grey tabby together with his younger brother Admetus, who noticed them first.

"Coricopat, Tantomile", he said a bit surprised. "What brings you here?"

"We just thought we ought to inform Munkustrap about the new cat", Coricopat said.

"New cat?" Munkustrap looked up. "What new cat?"

"Come on", Tantomile said to the two brothers. "We'll tell you on the way back."

*****

Pintaci and Electra were lying on top of and old car in the junkyard.
They were exhausted.

"Phew", Pintaci sighed. "I had no idea there were so many of you!"

"I had almost forget that myself", Electra laughed. "And yet you haven't met everyone."

Pintaci rolled over on her side and stared at the red and brown cat beside her.

"You're kidding!" she said sceptically. In her mind she went through all the cats she had met today. She had met the kind and warm Demeter, and her wilder sister Bombalurina. She had met Rum Tum Tugger and his loyal fan club, Jemima, Etcetera and Victoria, and though she didn't quite understand their adoration, she had do admit that he was pretty cool.

She had met the two elder nice cats, Jellylorum and Jennyanydots who were in the middle of an embroidering class with some mice. Then Electra and Pintaci had managed to interrupt Plato and Exotica in a romantic meeting, and to avoid the anger of the love-pair they had fled down to the railway, where Pintaci had been introduced to the Railway Cat, Skimbleshanks. She had also met the Cat About Town, Bustopher Jones, as usual on his way to one of his many clubs, the old Theatre Cat Gus, who told them about the moment of mystery when he played Firefrofiddle, and the original conjuring cat, Mistoffelees, who nearly scared Pintaci todeath with one of his lightnings. And now Electra said that she hadn't met all jellicles.

"Soo… who's left?" Pintaci asked.

"Well…" Electra said and thought for a moment. "There's Munkustrap of course, he's our leader-to-be, and his brother Admetus. Old Deuteronomy is our real leader, but he's extremely old, and doesn't get out much. I have no idea where Quaxo is at the moment, but if you hear a loud giggle, then Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer probably is around, and then there's Alonzo." Electra frowned. "He's been acting really strange lately, I don't know what's the matter with him."

"With who?" Tumblebrutus asked as he joined the two females on the car. He gave Electra a light kiss and lay down beside her.

"Never mind", Electra said and smiled at him.

"Munkustrap is here", Pouncival announced and jumped up on the car as well.

Pintaci looked out over the junkyard and saw a large grey tabby coming toward them. She quickly sat up and tried to make her self more presentable. She felt that this was the meeting that would decide her future destiny.

"You must be Pintaci", the Jellicle leader said and smiled at her.

Pintaci nodded and stared at him with big eyes. Then she thought that it might be a good idea to say something.

"Uhm, yeah, Pintaci, that's me… uh… right", she finished vaguely and felt her face turning the colour of a tomato.

"And you wish to become a Jellicle?" Munkustrap continued.

"Yes please!" Pintaci said with more feeling in her voice, and lowered her head when she heard how stupid it sounded.

But Munkustrap didn't seem to mind.


"In that case, we just have a couple of questions to ask you", the tom said. "Are you ready?"

Pintaci looked up and realised, that without her noticing almost all of the Jellicles had gathered in the junkyard, and every single one of them was looking at her. She swallowed hard.

"Ready as I'll ever be", she whispered.

Munkustrap asked the first question.

"Were you blind when you were born?"

"As far as I remember, yes", Pintaci answered.

"Can you see in the dark?" Now the question came from Demeter.

"Of course I can."

"Dare you look at a king?" the Railway Cat asked her.

"I guess so, if I'd ever meet one."

"Would you sit on his throne?" Tumblebrutus asked, and smiled
encouraging at her.

"I suppose so."

"Can you say of your bite that it's worse than your bark?" Tugger said, and Etcetera looked at him with admiration in her eyes.

"Yes! I'm not a dog, am I?" Pintaci answered, almost a bit offended.

"Are you cock of the walk?" the cat she figured out must be Alonzo asked.

"Yes."

"When you're walking alone?" Jennyanydots added.

"Yes", Pintaci said again, and then she felt how the tension in the junkyard let go. Everybody smiled at her, and Electra and Pouncival hugged her.

"You did it!" Pouncival exclaimed happily.

"I did? That's it?" Pintaci said surprised.

"Oh, there's plenty of more things", Munkustrap assured her. "You'll learn."

The cats all gathered around Pintaci and welcomed her to the tribe. When the junkyard was back to order, Munkustrap spoke up again.

"Now when Pintaci is a Jellicle, we have to find her a place to live."

"Oh, can't she stay here, with Tumble, Lonzo and me?" Pouncival pleaded.

Tumblebrutus nodded eagerly, but Alonzo just shrugged his shoulders to show that he couldn't care less.

"I suppose that would be fine", Munkustrap agreed. "The junkyard is a safe place now, when Macavity isn't around anymore."

Electra and Tumblebrutus stopped breathing and the same time and stared at each other, with fear in their eyes.

"Uhm…"Tumblebrutus said slowly. "I think that El and I might have
forgotten to tell you something." Munkustrap turned his eyes to the two young cats.

"Yes?" he said in a voice that indicated that he was not going to like this.

Tumblebrutus suddenly discovered that his voice had disappeared, and looked at Electra for help. The red and brown queen swallowed.

"Well, you see…" she began hesitantly. "When Tumble and I were caught in that old well, if you remember, we kind of discovered something."

"What?" Munkustrap said in an unnatural calm voice.

Electra whispered something that no one but Tumble could hear.

"Excuse me, I didn't quite hear that", Munkustrap said friendly, or at least he sounded friendly.

"Macavity is back", Electra said in a shivering voice.

Someone gasped, but apart from that there was a complete silence.
Everyone held their breath, waiting for Munkustrap's outburst. And they didn't wait in vain.

"What!" Munkustrap growled. "You've known that Macavity's back for over a week, and you haven't said anything? Don't you understand the danger you've put us in? We haven't had any guards, the kittens have been running around unprotected. Don't you have any sense of responsibility? What were you thinking of ? How could you not tell us?"

"We… we forgot", Tumble whispered unhappily.

"Forgot!?" Munkustrap yelled. "How could you possible forget something that important? What's the matter with you?"

The yelling and screaming went on for a good period of time.
Skimbleshanks studied the two young cats closely. He was proud of them. Oh, of course he was mad at them for not telling anyone about Macavity, but right now they impressed him. Tumble and Electra just sat there, patiently listening to Munkustrap. They knew they had done wrong, and were willing to take the punishment. Skimble smiled to himself. They were growing up. If it would have been Jemima or Etcetera, they would probably have begun to cry and run away, but Tumble and Electra weren't kittens anymore. Skimbleshanks rose to his feet and walked over to Munkustrap and gently placed a paw on his shoulder.

"That's enough now, lad", he said softly.

Munkustrap looked at his older friend, and it was as if he was all out of air. He nodded, turned around and hurried out of the junkyard. After a short hesitation, Alonzo followed him. Everyone left looked at Skimble, and the Railway Cat automatically took
over the leadership.

"Maybe Pintaci should stay with you", he suggested and looked at the twins. "Macavity is always going after new cats, and you can sense when he's around."

"But Tumble also…" Electra began, but became silent when she saw the pain in Tumblebrutus's eyes.

"Tumble also what dear?" Jennyanydots asked.

"Oh, nothing", Electra mumbled and lowered her eyes, feeling that she had said too much.

But Demeter and Mistoffelees looked at Tumble with thoughtful looks on their faces.

"Of course Pintaci can stay with us", Tantomile assured Skimble and smiled at Pintaci.

Pintaci glanced at Coricopat to see how he reacted, and found that he too was smiling.

"Ok, so maybe he's not that bad", she thought, smiled, winked at him and laughed when he blushed. This could be fun.

*****

Alonzo found Munkustrap sitting in a dark alley with his head in his paws. The black and white tom silently walked over to his friend at sat down beside him.

"Are you ok?" he asked after a while.

Munkustrap lifted his head.

"Do you think I'm a good leader?" he asked, and Alonzo had never seen him look so tired before.

"Of course you are", he answered. "Why are you asking?"

"I'm beginning to doubt" Munkustrap sighed and scratched his ear. "No one has any respect for me. They respect Old Deuteronomy, but not me."

"They do respect you, Munku", Alonzo assured the tabby. "But they also see you as their friend. You wouldn't want to be that kind of a leader that everyone is afraid of, would you?"

"That could be a nice change", Munkustrap joked, but then he became serious again. "Of course I don't want that." He looked at his friend.
"Do you think I should apologise to Electra and Tumble?"

"Nah, they deserved it" Alonzo answered. "Come on, let's go back to the junkyard. I'm sure Dem is worried about you."

Munkustrap nodded, and the two toms left the alley, side by side.

*****

The Jellicles were leaving the junkyard. Tantomile and Coricopat had already left, taking Pintaci to her new home, a small hideout in and old basement. Mistoffelees and Demeter lingered, and when they saw that Tumblebrutus was alone, they walked over to him.

"What was Electra about to say before?" Mistoffelees demanded to know.

"Nothing", the brown-patched cat mumbled and looked down on the ground.

Demeter sat down close beside him.

"She was going to say that you can sense when Macavity is around,
right?" she said softly.

Tumblebrutus nodded, almost invisibly.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Misto asked.

Tumble still looked down.

"I didn't think it was that important", he said quietly. "You two always feel it before I do, and I thought that if I just ignored it, then maybe it would go away."

Demeter rubbed against the unhappy young tom.

"You were so little when he cat-napped you", she said. "We thought you had forgotten about it.

Tumble looked up, his green eyes filled with pain.

"Forgotten about it?" he said with tormented voice. "How could I forget about it when I'm reminded every day, every time someone calls my name?"

"What do you mean?" Mistoffelees asked confusedly.

"It was Macavity who gave me my name. His biggest idol was Growltiger, and Tumblebrutus was one of Growltiger's crewmembers. I guess he wanted me to be one of his."

"Oh, I'm so sorry… Tumble" Demeter hesitated a moment before saying his name. "I had no idea."

Mistoffelees saw Munkustrap and Alonzo entering the junkyard, and walked over to them. Munkustrap stared at the now very upset Tumblebrutus, who just shook his head when Demeter tried to talk to him.

"Did I do that to him?" he asked Mistoffelees.

"No, I'm afraid it's my and Demeter's fault", the magical cat answered, and told them what had happened.

"What can we do?" Munkustrap wondered.

"We don't have to do anything", Alonzo said. "He'll be fine in a couple of minutes."

"How do you know that?" Misto asked.

"It's not the first time this happens" Alonzo answered. He looked at the two others. "I don't think no one really knows what Tumble went through during his time with Macavity. He is haunted by nightmares sometimes, bad nightmares. But he always calms down after a while."

Demeter came over to them.

"I don't know what to do?" she said unhappily. "I've never seen him this upset before."

"Don't worry" Alonzo said. "I'll take care of this. Go home."

"Are you sure?" Munkustrap asked.

Alonzo nodded, and Munkustrap, Demeter and Mistoffelees watched him as he walked over to Tumblebrutus and sat down beside him, not really saying anything, just being there for him. Then they left the junkyard, leaving the two friends alone.



Part Two!
Back Home