Fanfic: Pouncival Story

I don't own CATS (although I wish I did)

After that, Bombalurina was officially my girlfriend. I loved it, and I did love her. She was beautiful. And, if I may say so myself, I think it made Tugger jealous.

One day, it was my job to baby sit Etcetera. We were at my home in the alley, and I couldn't help myself.

"You know, Etcetera, you're not popular." I told her. She glared at me.

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, it's obvious. Your sister is a star. She's pure white, she's beautiful, what more could you ask for? Look at you. Just a boring old brown tabby."

"Shut up, Pouncival."

"Have you ever wondered why they named you 'Etcetera'? I mean, you sister was named after a queen. You're just 'and so on'. Doesn't that tell you something?"

She started to cry. "Stop it, Pouncival! Stop!"

"Why? I'm just telling you the truth." I walked up close to her and held her arm tightly, so she couldn't run.

"I bet you won't ever get the chance to mate." I hissed. "You're no good. I bet Victoria will get a mate. She'll probably have kittens. But you? What would any Tom want with the leftovers?"

Etcetera kept crying, and tried to pull away from me. "No!"

"You know, there is one Tom in the entire tribe who'd ever go with you. If you ever feel the need to mate, come see me. I can give you a good night. It doesn't even have to be night. Right now is a great time."

I pulled her even closer, and kissed her hard. I don't know why I was doing that. But I felt like teasing someone, and she was right there.

She tried to push me away, but I didn't let her. I pulled her down to the ground.

"I've lost my innocence already." I told her. "So this isn't anything new."

"Please, don't do this to me." She pleaded. "I need to lose my innocence."

"You don't have to, to have love. You only need to lose it if you're going to mate. I won't do that to you. But I will give you a good loving."

Suddenly, Plato ran into my alley.

"Plato!" Etcetera screamed. "Help!"

"Pouncival!" he cried. "What are you doing?"

"None of your business." I hissed. "Get out of here."

He ran up to me, grabbed me by the scruff of the neck, and pulled me off of her. He was very strong, and could pick me up like that.

"What do you think you are doing, Pouncival?" he demanded, holding me above the ground by the scruff of my neck.

"Nothing!" I gasped. "Get out of here! I was in the middle of something!"

He pulled Etcetera to her feet with his other hand, and pushed her behind him. Then, he let me go.

I fell to the ground, and he held Etcetera back. Plato started to lead her away.

"You're a mistake!" I screamed after her. "Just leftovers! You're nothing!"

Plato just led Etcetera away.

****************

Soon came the next Jellicle Ball. Etcetera, Victoria, another young kitten named Electra, and Jennyanydots' daughter, Jemima, were all over Rum Tum Tugger. It made me sick.

Bombalurina pulled me into the shadows a couple of times for a small make-out session. The others didn't care. They were busy with their own affairs.

Around midnight, I saw Munkustrap and a few others staring intently into the shadows. I looked too, and saw a very young male tuxedo cat watching us. He wasn't of our tribe.

Munkustrap pushed us all to the other side of the junkyard, as the little tuxedo kitten crawled into the junkyard. He was no older than Victoria or Etcetera.

"Who are you?" Munkustrap hissed.

"Are you the Jellicles?" he asked in a small, whispery voice.

"Yes. Who are you?"

"I came to find my uncle. He's a Jellicle."

"You get nothing from us until you tell us your name."

The kitten hesitated a moment, before answering.

"Mistoffelees."

"What do you want with us?"

"Munkustrap!" Deuteronomy scolded. "You're scaring him!" he looked down at the kitten and smiled. "Who is your uncle, Mistoffelees?"

"Bustopher Jones. Is he here?"

"I'm here, Mistoffelees." The fat cat walked into the light. He looked exactly like the kitten, except he was much older and bigger.

"Where is your mother?" Bustopher demanded.

"I don't need her! I can fend for myself! I came here to see you, uncle Bustopher."

"You didn't have to come see me. I would have gone to see you."

"No, I want to be in your tribe." Mistoffelees looked up at Deuteronomy. "I want to be a Jellicle."

Deuteronomy kept smiling. "Come up here."

Mistoffelees got to his feet, walked up to him, and bowed to him. Deuteronomy laughed.

"You are very much a little gentleman, Mistoffelees." Deuteronomy told him. "I see no reason why you shouldn't be a Jellicle. But I have one question."

"What's that?"

"Can you dance?"

Mistoffelees smiled. "Mother always said I was the best dancer she'd ever seen. She said it was because I'm so small."

"Show us."

The kitten walked back out to the centre of the junkyard. Then, he made us all jealous.

That boy could dance. Not just your usual jump around, do a few splits, twirl, he took up the whole floor! I don't know what the others were thinking, but I knew that he was on my list to humiliate. I'd already humiliated Etcetera. Now I had Mistoffelees on the list. Also on my list at the moment were Tantomile and Coricopat, the twins, because they were twins. Bustopher was on his way to the list, because of his weight. Tugger may soon be on the list, because he's such a show off. But Mistoffelees was next on the list. He'd get a visit either tomorrow or the next day.

When he was done with his dance, Munkustrap introduced him to all of us. When he walked up to me, I glared at him.

"Watch your back, boy." I hissed. "You're on my list."

He clutched at Munkustrap's arm, afraid of me. He had good reason to be afraid. I was going to teach him some manners.

The rest of the ball was pretty boring, and Mistoffelees had the nerve to be eyeing Victoria! Tugger took care of that. He danced with Victoria, making sure Mistoffelees got the hint. I figured that I would take Tugger off of my list now. He was pretty cool.

When we were leaving the ball, I went to my three brothers.

"We are going to teach him a lesson." I told them.

"Why?" Plato asked.

"Because he deserves it, that's why! He's a show off, and a flirt! Besides, there's something about him that just doesn't seem right. He's going to get a taste of us. And I hope he remembers it."

"When are we gonna do it?" Tumblebrutus asked. Of my three brothers, he was usually the first one to take sides with me. I guess he had a wicked mind like I did.

"Tomorrow or the next day. Remember, we still gotta do those twins. But they can wait now. He comes first."

"I'm free tomorrow." Tumblebrutus told me. The other two agreed.

"Good." I said. "Meet me in my alley at dawn, tomorrow. We can plan our attack."

The next morning, after a day of rest, they came to my alley. I already had a plan in mind.

I told them my plan, and we started off into the forest. We searched the whole territory for his home, until we found it.

He was stretching, with one leg straight up in the air and the other underneath him, his arms high above his head. He had his eyes closed, so he didn't see us.

Tumblebrutus walked around behind him, just like we had planned. The moment Mistoffelees put his leg back down, Tumblebrutus wrapped his strong arms around him, and held him still.

Mistoffelees cried out in surprise, unable to move. He couldn't see who it was, because Tumblebrutus was behind him.

Plato and Admetus each stood on either side of the kitten in case he got away, and I walked up in front of him.

"Pouncival!" he exclaimed. "What is the meaning of this?"

"I told you to watch your back." I hissed. "You're on my list, Mistoffelees."

"What list?"

"My list of cats to humiliate. It's your turn."

I saw fear in his eyes. "What are you going to do to me?"

"Well, you're such a great dancer, I just wondered if you were as good a fighter. But there is one big difference. You see, my brother is holding you still. You cannot move. I, on the other hand, can move. So we can see who will win this fight."

I scratched him hard across his face, and he screamed in pain. Tumblebrutus kept his grip on him, as I struck him, again and again.

I kept striking him until he was about to loose consciousness. He was crying, and he hung limp in Tumblebrutus' arms. Blood ran down his face.

"Let him go." I told Tumblebrutus. He did, and Mistoffelees collapsed to the ground. I knelt down and looked him straight in the eye.

"That oughta show you about how well a show off is accepted into our tribe." I hissed to him. Then, we left him to cry.

As we walked, Plato went up to me.

"That wasn't very nice, Pouncival." He scolded. "You shouldn't have hurt him like that."

"He deserved it." I muttered. Plato put one hand on my shoulder and spun me around so I was facing him.

"Pouncival, need I remind you that I am the oldest of us four." Plato said strictly. "You are the youngest. Therefore, I have to accept responsibility for everything we do. I don't want you to hurt him again, understand?"

I said nothing, and he actually hissed at me!

"Alright!" I cried. "I understand! We won't hurt Mistoffelees anymore! Jeez, Plato! Calm down!"

His face softened up. "I don't like the way you're being so mean to everyone. First Etcetera, and now Mistoffelees? Who else is on your list?"

"Tantomile, Coricopat, and Bustopher."

"You will NOT hurt Bustopher, understand?"

"Yes Plato."

"I don't care what you do with those twins. But I won't help you."

We separated and I went back to my alley.