ShegoRulz, Thank you for your review and your kind words! They mean so much! I hope you continue to read and find out just what happened to create the Napoleon of Crime!

Two

Munkustrap slipped out of the den he shared with his family and stretched in the moonlight. He looked around the junkyard and smiled when he saw his friends playing nearby. He run over and tackled his best friend to the ground. The two kittens wrestled around until Munkustrap was able to pin his opponent to the ground. He smirked cheekily.

"I was going easy on you," Alonzo said bitterly, trying to defend himself.

"Sure you were," Munkustrap said rolling his eyes. He let Alonzo up and the two of them joined their other friends.

The kittens played together, keeping out of trouble until they heard a loud smash. They all jumped and froze for a minute, taking in their surroundings and trying to figure out where the noise had come from. When nothing around them seemed to be out of place, they let out the breath they were all nervously holding in.

"What do you think that was?" Victor asked, still looking around, trying to get a hint of what could have caused the commotion.

Alonzo shrugged. "No clue, but it didn't sound good. We should go make sure everything is alright." He looked to Munkustrap for support.

Munkustrap looked torn. He wasn't sure whether or not they should look into the cause of the noise. "I don't know Al…" he said uneasily. "What if there's danger? Maybe we should go get my dad."

Alonzo shook his head and placed a reassuring paw on the tabby's shoulder. "Come on, Munk. You're dad's busy. And besides, how are you ever going to learn to protect the tribe if you are always such a 'fraidy cat?"

Munkustrap sighed sadly. "It doesn't matter… I'm not the one taking over as the Jellicle leader anyway. I'm not the older brother. You know that, Alonzo… Macavity is going to be the next Jellicle leader. Why don't you go get him to investigate with you?"

Alonzo pouted. "I'm sorry, Munk. I didn't mean to hit a sore spot. I just really want you to come and see what happened with me. And I'm sure we'll be fine. Right guys?" the black and white kitten asked his other two friends, who were still waiting for a decision to be made.

"We'll probably run into Old Deuteronomy or Macavity on the way over there anyway," Plato reasoned. "So, if it's really terrible, they'll tell us to go back to our games and that will be the end of it."

"Yeah, there's really nothing to worry about. Come on, Munk!" Victor pushed.

"Oh… Alright then…" Munkustrap said, finally giving in to his friends. Every cheered and then the group of tom-kits hurried over to where the sound had come from.

They approached a large pile of junk that had once been neatly piled up, but now was thrown all over the ground. Munkustrap and his friends carefully stepped around large boxes and scrapes of metal. Out of the corner of his eye, Munkustrap noticed an upturned bicycle, the front wheel spinning wildly.

"Wow, this place is a mess," Alonzo said with excitement in his voice. "I wonder what could have happened here." He looked around trying to find the cause of the disarray.

"Perhaps this pile of junk was just unsteady and finally collapsed," Plato said, unable to find a reasonable excuse for why everything was strewn across the ground. "It's not unlikely."

Alonzo pouted. "Well that's no fun…"

"Destroying the junkyard is no fun?" an angry voice from behind inquired. The kittens all turned to see Jellylorum standing there, a disapproving look painted on her face. "What have you kittens been doing? Do you see the mess around you? What have I told you all about staying off the junk piles? It's very dangerous!"

"But Jelly, it wasn't us!" Munkustrap cried out desperately. He didn't want to get in trouble and he was starting to regret letting his friends talk him into coming over to the source of the noise.

"Yeah, Munk's right!" Victor added. "We heard the noise so we came over to see what happened."

Jellylorum shook her head. "Listen to me boys. Whether you did it or not, I can't prove, but you four look awfully guilty standing here with a bunch of tossed around trash. And if what you said is true, you all should have known better than to come over here in the first place. It could have been dangerous. What if a Pollicle had entered the junkyard? Or what if another pile crashed down and crushed you? I'm disappointed in you boys, especially you, Munkustrap. You would think that the son of Old Deuteronomy would know better and would be able to convince his friends to stay away from potential danger."

Munkustrap felt his heart deflate and tears stung at his eyes. Jellylorum was right and he knew it. He should have been able to convince the others to stay away, but he had given in. He was never going to be a good Jellicle…

Suddenly, something rustled under a large pile of junk that had been knocked over. Jellylorum gasped and grabbed the kittens, pushing them behind her in order to protect them from any potential danger. The pile moved as something under it struggled to get free. Munkustrap felt Alonzo scoot closer to him in fear. Finally, a paw broke through the pile and was soon followed by the body of a young, ginger tom. Munkustrap's mouth formed a small, surprised O as his older brother emerged from under the rubbish.

"Macavity!" Jellylorum cried out in surprise. She hurried over and helped pull the tom out from under the junk. "What were you doing under there? Are you alright?"

"Don't worry about me right now," Macavity replied with a wince. "Sycorax is still under there. I think he might be unconscious."

"Everlasting Cat…" Jellylorum muttered. "Alright. You go sit over there where the kittens are. Alonzo, I want you to go to my den and ask Gus to come over here please. Plato, you please go get Jennyanydots and Skimbleshanks. Both of you tell them that I need them to help me with something terribly important. Now go! Victor, will you come over here and help me dear?"

The kittens scampered off and Macavity hobbled over to Munkustrap and Victor, sitting down pitifully beside his brother. He turned to Munkustrap and gave him a weak smile. "Hey there, fuzzball. What are you and your friends up to?"

"Obviously not as much fun and you and your friends," Munkustrap replied with a shrug.

Macavity laughed and ruffled the soft fur on the top of his sibling's head. "Me and Sy were just messing around. We didn't mean for all of this to happen." He gestured at the fallen down junk pile. They stayed silent for a moment and watched Jellylorum and Victor start moving smaller pieces of trash, trying to find where Sycorax was buried.

"Are you hurt?" Munkustrap asked worriedly.

Macavity shrugged. "Just a little bit. My leg is sore and it hurts to put pressure on it, but I think I'll be alright. It's Sycorax I'm really worried about. He got hit in the head and he's crushed under all of that rubbish. He's the one we should all be worried about, not me."

"Well, I'm worried about you anyway," the silver tabby replied. "You're my brother. I don't like to see you hurt." He placed a comforting paw and the ginger tom's shoulder and smiled at him.

"You're a good kit," Macavity replied and gave one of Munkustrap's legs a pat. "Everlasting… Dad is going to be pissed when he hears about this."

Munkustrap frowned at Macavity's word choice. "You shouldn't talk like that, you know."

Macavity waved his brother's comment off. "Why? It doesn't hurt anyone. And besides, it's true. You and I both know that Dad is going to be livid when I come back to the den. Mom will be too, but not as bad, I don't think."

"Mom never really gets as angry as Dad does. But you know, Dad only gets mad at you because he cares about you. He doesn't want you to break rules because he loves you and doesn't want to see you get hurt."

"You sound like Mom," Macavity remarked.

Munkustrap's face fell at being compared to a queen. It wasn't his fault that his mother spoke the truth. He was just trying to convince Macavity not to cause any more trouble. He wasn't trying to lecture him like they both knew their mother was going to do later.

It wasn't long before Gus, Skimbleshanks, and Jenny appeared. The Skimbleshanks, Gus, Plato, and Alonzo rushed to Jellylorum's side and aided her in lifting the heavy pieces of trash off the trapped cat. Jenny knelt down beside Macavity and began asking him questions about where he was hurting. All the while, Munkustrap sat there and watched his brother get treated and Sycorax slowly get rescued. He remained quiet, for he didn't want to disturb anyone with small talk or questions. The air was thick with tension, but Munkustrap didn't mind too much.

When Sycorax was finally pulled free, he was still unconscious and had blood running down his face. Gus quickly gathered the small tom in his arms and rushed him back to the den he shared with Jellylorum, his mate close behind him. Skimbleshanks then came over to Macavity and lifted him into his own arms. He and Jenny began walking to towards the den Munkustrap's family resided in. Munkustrap, however, stayed with his friends. As much as he wanted to be around to hear Macavity's diagnosis, he didn't want to experience his parent's anger at their oldest son for his misbehavior.

"One of these days, those two toms are going to cross the line," Plato said ominously, causing a shiver to run down Munkustrap's spine.

I'm really interested in what you have to say and what you think will happen. Also, suggestions are always welcome! Please, tell me what you think! The more reviews I get, the sooner I'll update. Thanks for reading!

Mew Painappuru