Neko Monogatari

Chapter 4- Catnapped

Cloe and her new friends walked out of the palace in worry; she couldn't believe it, just when things were going back to normal, her father disappeared. What possibly could be worse than this? Mr. Drippy has said that Oliver knew the place to search, but judging by the look on the boy's face, he wasn't sure.

"Where are we going, Mr. Drippy?" Oliver inquired as the trio stopped in front of the plaza fountain, "And what's this about somewhere I know real well?"

"Where d'you think, clever clods?" Drippy replied, "Motorville, en't it?"

Cloe tilted her head in confusion, "Motor-what?"

Oliver sighed, "It's a long story, Cloe." He looked down at Drippy, "What does Motorville have to do with finding the King?"

"Well, the answer en't always going to be over by here, Ollie-boy."

"Huh? What does that mean?"

"´You got to remember the whole soul mate thing, en't it? What we see here in this world en't always the whole picture.

"Soul mates… Okay…"

"What are you guys talking about?" Cloe inquired, "Soul Mate? What does that mean?"

"It means all people in Ollie-boy's world and ouer world are connected," Drippy explained, "Not just Alicia and his mam, all people."

Cloe's eyes went open wide, "Oliver's world? That means…?" she looked at Oliver in astonishment, "You're from another world?"

Oliver felt awkward when he replied, "Yeah…"

"Look, you two!" Drippy called out for them, "The point is there's someone over in Ollie-boy's world who's connected to King Tom over by here! And when someone in ouer world is in a potch, you can sometimes find out how to help them from their soul mate over in Ollie-boy's world because they're connected, see? Obvious when you think about it, en't it?"

Oliver looked down in thought, "So somebody in my world is King Tom's soul mate, huh…"

Drippy nodded, "That's right. But maybe not a person. And maybe not in such a lofty position as ouer friend the cat king."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cloe inquired, perking up her ears.

"Well, shopkeeper's cat and King of Ding Dong Dell en't exactly similar status-wise, is it?"

"Shopkeeper's cat?" Oliver repeated in confusion, "I don't think I, uh…"

"When you first saw King Tom, you instantly thought to youerself: 'Hello, hello! He's the spitting image of Timmy the cat, he is!"

"Timmy the cat?" Cloe inquired, "my father's soulmate…? I don't get any of this!"

"You'll see for youerself soon, Cat-girl," Drippy replied before looking up at Oliver, "Magic us up a Gateway, and let's get over to youer world, shall we? You remember how, don't you?"

Oliver nodded, "Sure I do! Let's go see how everybody back in Motorville is doing!"

Cloe watched as Oliver took his wand stick from his belt and drew a different symbol in thin air, and before she had time to react, she watched as a light started to appear around the three and, before she knew it, everything went blank…

When she came back to her senses, Cloe found herself in an unfamiliar place. It was the weirdest thing she had seen in her entire life; the path was made out of some kind or black rock, and there were walls surrounding the trees and houses, which had equally strange shapes. What startled the cat princess were the metallic creatures moving across the black path with humans like Oliver inside.

"What… is… this… place?" the princess stuttered nervously, looking around her surroundings while walking closer to Oliver.

"This is my world, Cloe," Oliver smiled wile taking the cat's hand reassuringly, "don't worry, it's not dangerous. Come on, Miss Leila's shop is over here."

Cloe followed Oliver and Drippy down the street, looking around at the buildings, and watching every detail. The buildings were quadrangular and of different colors, there were great windows exposing the buildings' insides to the people outside, and some of the doors were made out of glass as well. When they came to a particular building, Cloe looked up at a black board with letters and words she couldn't understand, but when she saw Oliver and Drippy walking in, she assumed it was the place they were looking for.

When they walked in, Cloe looked around and saw all kinds of different fruits and objects she didn't recognize, although some of them looked familiar to her. She spotted a fat woman on the other side of the counter, with puffy red hair and blue eyes.

"Oh, Oliver…" she spoke sadly, "Seeing you, I… I just don't know what to say, dear…"

"It's fine, Miss Leila," Oliver replied, "I'm okay now!"

"You are? Well I'm pleased to hear that, honey… but if there's anything I can do, just let me know, won't you?"

"Actually, there's something you can do for me right now, Miss Leila. You can tell me where Timmy is. Is he here in the store?"

Miss Leila thought for a minute, "Well, now that you mention it, I don't think I've seen him… Timmy!... Timmy! Where's my Timmy Toldrum?" she looked down in worry, "He must have run off somewhere, the little rascal…"

Oliver muttered under his breath, "He's probably gone exploring, huh…"

"Hey, Oliver…" Cloe tapped the boy's shoulder, "Sorry to interrupt you, but aren't you forgetting something?"

"Yeah! It's just like what happened with King Tom!"

"Bingo!" Drippy cried out, "We've got ouerselves a missing cat king in one world, and a missing fat cat in another! And I reckon the reason why'll be the same, too! Track down Timmy, and youer sure to find…"

"The vital clue that will help solve the mystery!" Cloe finished in excitement.

"I'm awfully sorry I couldn't help you, dearie…" Miss Leila gave Oliver an apologetic look.

Oliver smiled, "But you did help! Thanks, Miss Leila!"

"I… I did…? Well, all right, then. Good-bye now, dear!"

"G'bye, Miss Leila!"

"Righto, Ollie-boy," Drippy commented as the trio walked out of the store, "Let's start out where you know best, shall we? Round by youer house, I mean."

"You're right, let's go!"

Cloe followed Oliver through the streets of Motorville, getting startled every now and then by the metallic creatures or by birds taking flight on the trees on the gardens and rooftops. After a while, they stopped in front of a wooden white house, and Cloe assumed it was Oliver's home.

"I think I'll wait for you outside, Oliver," the cat princess spoke up, "I'd like to look around for a little while,"

"Alright, but try not to get too far," Oliver nodded, before he and Drippy walked towards the house.

Cloe noticed that before reaching the steps of the home, Oliver stopped and looked into thin air, as if he was seeing someone, but she couldn't see anything. Perhaps it was some kind of invisible creature or person present in this world or something… but she really began to worry when she heard Oliver speaking to himself…

A meow called her attention. The cat princess looked around and spotted something very unusual; a cat with no clothing of a very small size, and walking on all fours. It had pure white fur, a beautiful bushy tail and violet eyes, reminding her of someone… Before she could reach out for the cat, it turned around abruptly and ran away a few steps before stopping and looking back at her, as if wanting Cloe to follow it… After hesitating for a few minutes, Cloe ran after the white cat, not noticing Drippy had finally emerged from Oliver's house and spotting her running away.

The cat led Cloe through the streets of Motorville once more, stopping once in a while to make sure the cat princess was still following it. As she followed the white cat, the beauty of Oliver's world amazed Cloe, even though she still found it somewhat scary. The homes almost looked all like Oliver's, but their colors told them apart. Finally, the white cat came to a stop in the middle of building whose walls were of a rusted color, and Cloe noticed one of the metallic creatures of the streets, blue in color, was resting next to the building. Cloe heard a small squeak coming from the creature, and almost jumped when a mouse ran out from beneath the blue creature, then ran away when it spotted her.

When the white cat walked through the gab between the blue creature and the building and meowed back at Cloe, the cat princess spotted a yellow fuzz ball just behind the building. But before following the white cat, Cloe stared at the metallic animal just next to her. Was it dangerous? Gulping the lump in her throat, Cloe slowly reached out her paw to touch it, and quickly pulled her hand back after touching it softly.

Nothing happened.

Cloe ran her hand down the creature's metal blue hide, and calmed down when nothing it remained motionless. After hearing the white cat meowing at her once again, Cloe finally walked across the gap and came to the back of the building.

Cloe spotted the yellow fuzz ball, finding it to be a cat, a very fat cat, was lying down on the dirt. It had dark brown tabby stripes almost all over his body, and a dark brown back. She almost immediately recognized its shape.

"D-Daddy?" Cloe fell on her knees, her ears drooping and her tail twitching in anticipation.

The cat remained motionless, although she could see his belly was rising from his breathing, so it meant he was still alive. Gingerly, Cloe picked the cat up, and was surprised at how light he was; however, when she looked around to look for a trace of the white cat that had led her there, she found it was nowhere to be found.

"Cloe!"

The cat princess perked up her ears when Oliver's voice reached her ears, and she almost immediately ran back through the gap of the building and the harmless metal animal, and ran to the middle of the street, spotting Oliver and Drippy running towards her.

"Don't scare us like that, Cat-girl!" Drippy growled in annoyance, "We thought you had been run over by a car!"

Cloe tilted her head in confusion, "Car?"

"You found Timmy!" Oliver noticed the cat Cloe was carrying, "Where did you find him?"

"He was in the back of that building," Cloe pointed to the building behind her, "I was guided to him by a white cat."

"Come on, Ollie-boy! Let's take Timmy back to his owner before he gets worse than he looks."

The trio returned to Leila's milk bar through the same way they had come, and all the while Cloe was trying to keep him awake, speaking to him softly. She couldn't help feeling rather awkward; this fat cat was her father's soul mate? She didn't find it all that hard to believe, considering that they were strikingly alike.

"Miss Leila!" Oliver cried as he and his friends crossed through the door, having taken the cat from Cloe, "It's Timmy, he's…"

Miss Leila's face lit up with worry, "Oh, goodness!" she reached out for her cat, "My Timmy Toldrum! Whatever happened to you?"

A few minutes later, Timmy recovered some of his energy and was back to normal; Cloe, after learning from Drippy that they were invisible to the people of that world, remained close to Timmy all the time, and surprisingly, he was actually able to sense her presence. She guessed animals and people didn't have the same senses. This cat reminded her of her father so much…

"Thank you, dearie!" Miss Leila thanked Oliver for about the tenth time, "You brought him all the way back home to mommy! Wasn't he heavy?"

Oliver blushed, "Uh, no. Not really… Is he okay?"

"Oh, don't worry about Timmy, Oliver. It's nothing serious," the shopkeeper explained, "He's just a little tired, aren't you, Timmy dear?" she rubbed the cat's head lovingly, "It doesn't take much to tire out a big old buy like you, does it, snookums?"

"Is that all?" Drippy commented, "I was worried flipping sick about him!"

Cloe replied, "At least he's alright, that's all that matters. At least I can be relieved that my father is not injured or worse."

Oliver spoke, "But what was Timmy doing all the way down at the garage?"

"Well, dearie, one of my customers told me all about it," Miss Leila explained, "She said that Rusty's garage is just crawling with mice, and my dear old Timmy Toldrum just loves to chase the little devils!" She gave the boy a thankful smile, "Thank you so much, Oliver, dear! Now I know that's where he disappeared to, I can stop worrying about him. He was just getting a little exercise- weren't you, my Timmy Toldrum! I guess I could learn a thing or two from you, huh?"

"Too flipping right you could…" Drippy snickered, only to receiver a scolding glare from the cat princess.

"MR. DRIPPY!" She cried out at him in annoyance, making him jump back.

Oliver sighed, "Miss Leila, I have to go now. It was nice seeing you!"

"And you, dearie." The shopkeeper replied, "Just let me know if there's ever anything you need now, won't you?"

As the trio walked out of the store slowly, a thought came into Cloe's mind, "So, Timmy disappeared because he ran off chasing a mouse, didn't he?"

"So the mouse is the clue, right?" Oliver continued, "So King tom's disappearance has to do with mice, too?"

"Got it in one!" Drippy exclaimed, "Exactly what it has to do with mice is a whole 'nother question, though…"

Clot thought for a minute, her tail flicking in the process, "I'm sure I've heard someone saying something about mice in our world…" After a few minutes, a bell rang in her head, "I got it! There's a boy who's always guarding the entrance to the sewers! He's always saying he's making sure the mice don't do their tricks! I bet he knows something about my father's whereabouts!"

"Righto!" Drippy hopped up in the air, "Ding Dong Dell it is!"

After returning to Ding Dong Dell, Cloe led Oliver and Drippy through the streets of Ding Dong Dell (quite relieved that she was back in her familiar environment), and passing by the Cawtermaster, they came to a flight of stairs leading into the sewers, and a boy wearing a pot in his head as an armor, and holding a broom in his right hand was 'guarding' it. He tried to stay in a soldier's composure when he saw the cat princess approaching.

"Princess Cloe!" he spoke, "I think I just heard King Tom's voice! It was coming down from Ding Dong Well!

Oliver tilted his head in confusion, "Ding Dong Well?"

"Yes! I could hear it coming from the other side of that gate! It was definitely King Tom, I'm sure of it!"

Drippy thought for a moment, "Ding Dong Well, eh…? You said there were mice living down by there, en't it?"

Tommy nodded eagerly, "Yes! The place is full of mice! That's why I'm standing here, keeping guard! Mice and cat's really don't get along, you see…"

Cloe looked away and muttered under her breath, "Tell me…"

"oh, knickers… I know what's happened!" Drippy's body shook in horror, "King Tom's been kidnapped by the mice!"

Both Oliver and Cloe repeated in shock, "Kidnapped?!"

Cloe was next to speak up," If my daddy's been kidnapped, we need to rescue him!"

"I'm not sure it's a good idea for you to come, Cloe…" Oliver looked down in shame, "I mean, you're a princess and it could be dangerous. You don't even have a familiar…"

"a Familiar?" Tommy repeated, "Why didn't you say it before? I have a friend to help you!"

Tommy took his fingers to his lips and let out a long whistle; the trio looked around for any signs of movement, before Cloe twitched her ears to a sound coming from above. She looked up to the ceilings and watched as a small monkey-like creature hopped from the ceilings and landed next to Tommy. It had light yellow fur with dark brown arms, legs and face; its tail was a solid yellow with dark brown rings running down it. She found it rather cute.

"Look at that!" Drippy exclaimed, "A flipping familiar! Well I never!"

"He followed me home when I went to play in the woods." Tommy explained, "and he's really strong! If he's with the princess, she'll be fine!"

Cloe couldn't help it, and she picked up the thumbelemur, holding it close like a plush toy, but she remained her calm when it shrank and went into her chest, "Thank you very much, Tommy! I just hope daddy will let me keep it…"

Oliver spoke up, "We'd better head down there, eh?"

"Indeed we had, Ollie-boy!" Drippy replied, then turned to give Tommy a look, "Leave it to us, Tommy, my lad!"

Tommy nodded, "Okay! Be careful, princess Cloe!"
The trio ran down the small flight of stairs, and soon their feet were drenched in water; The floor was slightly flooded in water, and water lilies and pads were floating all around, with a few moss growing out of the walls. They came to the iron gates, which had the shape of a giant fish's head; they found it to be locked by a padlock.

"It looks like the gate's locket, Ollie-boy…" Drippy pointed out, staring at the padlock blocking the door.

"But the King's down there! And we don't have a key!" Oliver exclaimed in dismay, "What are we going to do?!"

Cloe examined the long-time rusty padlock, meant to keep the mice in, and civilians out. She barely remembered it, but she had been told once that when she was two years old, the mice had attempted a kidnap attempt on her to blackmail her father, but it ultimately failed, as the princess had (surprisingly, for her young age) outsmarted the mice.

How to open the lock…? She had never been so good at magic at all; in fact, the only reason she knew one or two spells was because, as a member of the Royal Family, her father was obliged to pass down some of the few spells he knew to her. However, Cloe recalled one of the spells her father taught her…

"Oliver, could you lend me your wand for a minute?" she called out to the boy, who gave her a confused look.

"My wand…?" he asked, "Why…?"

"I think I know a spell to open the lock, but I need a wand to cast it, so I need you to lend me your wand."

Although he was quite hesitant, Oliver grabbed his wand from his belt and handled it to the cat princess; Cloe tried to remember the spell… 'Spring Lock', it was called… Cloe slowly but confidently drew the corresponding symbol into thin air, like her father taught her, and the trio watched as the padlock disappeared into thin air and the gates opened.

"Tidy!" Drippy hopped in excitement, "It's open!"

Cloe happily handed the wand back to Oliver, "Now we can do find daddy!"

"That we can!" Drippy stepped to the front, "In we go, you two!"

The trio walked into the darkness of the doors, not before Cloe looked up at the sun for a last time.

Now the princess knew why nobody liked going into Ding Dong Well.

The place was almost completely dark, dimly illuminated by lanterns hanging on the wall. The walls themselves had moss growing in almost every corner, and fish-shaped fountains in the walls filled the place with water. A stone path was, luckily, completely dry. And the tunnels from where some of the water came had bars blocking entrance.

The fairy said one of his famous comments, "Crikey, it's damp as anything down by here! My lantern'll go all moldy if I don't watch out!"

"Guys, we better take care in here…" Cloe spoke as she took her first look around the sewer, "There's a reason that door was locked…"

The trio traversed through the almost long-forgotten sewers, looking out for monsters, some of which Cloe had already seen in the books she read. Also, turning out that she had seen maps of Ding Dong Well tucked safely in the Royal Library out of curiosity when she was younger, she knew her way most of the time, but that didn't mean they wouldn't run into one monster or two along the way.

Cloe would never forget her first battle using the familiar; well actually, she didn't really fight at all, Oliver was the one who did the fighting. Being used to living practically surrounded by soldiers after the mice's kidnap attempt and to have someone fight for her, Cloe hadn't the slightest idea of how to fight with a familiar. In fact, she couldn't call her familiar, whom she had affectionately called 'Furry', out from her chest. Drippy said she just needed to get used to it before actually being able to fight with a familiar. Cloe felt rather useless, although Oliver assured her that he didn't mind defending her from monsters, but still the cat princess wanted to contribute to the group. She could already hear her father giving her a long lecture if he saw her…

When the group came to a section of the sewers where three torches were separated by lengths, Cloe figures out they needed to be lit up at the same time for the bars of the next passage to make way for them. It took about five attempts on Oliver's part to lit up all the three torches quickly, and finally the bars shrank into the stone floor.

"Seriously, I never imagined Ding Dong Well would be so…" Cloe tried to think of a word to describe the place, "…labyrinthine!"

"Well, what did you expect, Cat-girl?" Drippy commented as they walked up a small flight of stairs, "It's a mouse trap, after all.

"Oliver, can I ask you something?"

Oliver nodded, "Sure, what is it?"

"Why did you come to our world?"

Oliver stopped in his tracks, and looked down sadly; Cloe stopped and returned to listen to Oliver.

"It's a long story…" he replied sadly, "My mom died a while ago, and I met Mr. Drippy. He said that if I could rescue the Great Sage Alicia from the Soulsnare, perhaps my mom would come back."

Cloe looked down in sadness, "Listen, I kinda know how you feel… My mom died when I was a baby, and I don't even remember anything of her. I don't even know how she died, daddy has never told me."

Suddenly, Drippy started hopping in alarm, "Well, Cat-girl, you can ask him now, because there he is!"

Cloe and Oliver grew alarmed when the words left the fairy's mouth, and they quickly rushed up the rest of the stairs. They crossed through a doorless gate into an roofless, circular room on the sewers. Waterfalls adorned the room, coming from small windows on the walls, and a few Lilly pads floated above the water surface, and moss grew from the walls as well.

King Tom and a giant, purple-furred mouse with large ears and a cross-shaped scar across its forehead, probably the leader of the mice, were circling around the room, not taking their eyes off each other. It reminded Oliver of the sumo fights he had sometimes seen in the T.V.. Cloe noticed her father was holding his wand in his left paw, which made her question Drippy's theory.

"Your Meowjesty!" Oliver called out for the cat king in worry

"Need a hand?" Drippy added

"Daddy! Are you alright?!" Cloe cried out, fearing for her father's safety.

Upon hearing his daughter's voice, King Tom turned around and was shocked to find Cloe accompanying Oliver and Drippy.

"Cloe?!" he spoke in a shocked tone, "What are you doing here?! It's dangerous!"

Drippy was taken off guard, "So he wasn't kidnapped?"

"SAY CHEESE!"

King Tom didn't realize his mistake until he felt a strong hit on the back of his head; having taken advantage of his adversary turning his back on him, the giant mouse had struck him with his giant scepter, making the cat king drop the wand he had been holding.

"The crook…" the cat king took a step back dizzily, "Struck one…"

With a loud thud, the cat king collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

"DADDY!" Cloe rushed to her father's side, not caring if the mouse targeted her.

"That'll teach you to turn your back on me, you old tomfool, you!" the purple mouse mockingly sneered, sticking his tongue at the fallen monarch before setting his eyes on the cat princess, "Well, well, look who has decided to pay us a visit!"

Cloe paid him no heed, "Daddy! Please, wake up!" she pleaded, clenching her father's tunic tightly, trying in vain to bring him back to his senses. Cloe pressed her ears backwards and dug her face into her father's chest, wrapping her arms around him as tears started to roll down her cheeks and fall on her father's tunic. Oliver and Drippy quickly rushed to her side, but before they could check on the cat king, the giant rodent made a huge leap to land in front of the two, and the fairy couldn't help to speak, "That is one huge rodent!"

"You squeaklings work for the fat cat and that daughter of his, do you?" the giant mouse snapped, making Oliver and Drippy step back in fear.

"Uh, no, we, we…" Oliver tried to speak, but the mouse interrupted him.

"Too slow!"

The mouse king lunged at the group…