During that fight, Jemima, Tantomile, Dawlimer, Scurtena, Bellazni, and Griddlebone had been along the starboard side of the Demagogue in the sampan Victor had hijacked. They had been searching the waters for Growltiger's body.
While all cats innately possessed good night vision, Jemima had the sharpest eye of the group. So she was standing at the front of the ship to get the best view. She stood at the bow, looking all over the surface of the water.
At one point, she told the others "I think I see something."
"Where?" asked Griddlebone.
"Fifty degrees to port," Jemima responded.
Tumblebrutus had taught her some "sailor talk" a few weeks earlier. She decided to try it out, even though it was not exactly the most ideal time.
Scurtena and Bellazni steered the ship closer to the object Jemima had spotted. When they got close enough, they realized that it was a cat's body lying face down in the water. Dawlimer and Griddlebone leaned over the side, grabbed ahold of the body, and pulled it aboard.
They turned the body around and discovered it was Growltiger.
Griddlebone looked down at her mate's face. His eye patch had remained over his right eye socket, and his left eye was staring straight ahead.
Griddlebone started welling up. A few tears fell from her eyes and landed on Growltiger's face. Scurtena and Bellazni also began weeping. Dawlimer tried his best to comfort his sisters, but he himself was very sad, too.
"This is our fault," he whispered, "We did this."
"What?" said Griddlebone.
"He's right," agreed Bellazni, "Father came all the way out here to find us, and his search for us resulted in his death."
"We should never have run away in the first place," stated Scurtena, "He would still be alive now if we had just stayed home."
"No, that is not true," Griddlebone sternly remarked, "I do agree that you should never have run away, but your father's death was not your fault."
"Yes it was, Mother!" Dawlimer insisted, "There is no point in denying a fact."
Griddlebone did not know what to say. She did understand her children's position, but she did not want them to feel guilty for what had happened to their father.
Tantomile went over to Growltiger's body and kneeled down in front of his body. She placed her left front paw on his chest and let it rest there for a moment. Then she leaned forward in front of his face, stretched his eyelid slightly, and gazed into his eye.
Griddlebone and her children watched the psychic queen apprehensively. They did not know what to make of her actions. Griddlebone looked over at Jemima and asked her "What is she doing?"
"I'm not sure," Jemima responded. She asked her friend "Tanto, is everything okay?"
The black, white, and orange queen looked over at the ginger and black queen and replied "I believe so, Jemima. Just give me a moment."
Jemima and the others waited in silence as Tantomile continued examining Growltiger's body. About two minutes later, she looked up at the others with a satisfied grin on her face.
"Why are you smiling?" asked Griddlebone, sounding slightly offended by Tantomile's gesture, "Do you find something amusing here?"
Tantomile shook her head quickly and said "Oh, no, milady. Not at all. In fact, I have a feeling that it will not be long before you and your children are smiling, too."
That answer really caught Griddlebone's attention, as well as the attention of her children.
"What do you mean?" asked the Persian queen.
"I'll explain shortly," Tantomile assured her, "I'll need to speak with my brother first, though. I'd suggest that for now we just focus on returning to the shoreline."
Griddlebone and her children agreed not to ask questions at that time. They quietly sailed the boat back to the shore.
At that same time on the other side of the ship, Mouveilyr had managed to get Genghis down to another of the abandoned sampans. The three Siamese soldiers that had assisted him were in the process of sailing the small boat back to the armada. Mouveilyr had his Captain rest on a bench. He told him "I think you fought quite marvelously, Captain."
"Oh, shut up," snarled the Siamese commander, "Mouveilyr, I almost lost a duel to a KITTEN! You call that 'fighting marvelously?'"
"Well, not quite," Mouveilyr agreed, "But you certainly fought the good fight Grumbuskin."
Genghis slowly nodded in agreement, but abruptly changed the subject. He asked Mouveilyr "What became of him and that kitten anyway? The others got me off the ship before I could see what happened. But I recall that you were on the bridge for a little while longer."
The black tom looked away, uncertain how to answer. After a moment of contemplating his words, he said "Nihaar was about to finish off that kitten, but Grumbuskin intervened. He killed Nihaar and got off the bridge with the kitten."
"Nihaar is dead?" Genghis slowly uttered.
"Unfortunately, yes," Mouveilyr confirmed, "A few of our units tried to pursue Grumbuskin, but he sealed off the only passage to the lower decks."
Genghis sat for a moment, thinking. A moment later, he stated "They must be trying to escape through the lifeboat bay."
"A plausible theory, sir," commented Mouveilyr.
Genghis looked up at the black tom and ordered him "Contact Unbedim. Tell him to have his squad disperse across the barge's bottom deck. I want them to find Grumbuskin and kill him before he can get away."
Mouveilyr nodded and went over to a console on the sampan. He relayed Genghis' last order to Unbedim. The grey Siamese tom quickly acknowledged these orders and his units began to spread around the bottom deck of the Demagogue.
Around that time, Grumbuskin had just arrived on that same deck. He was carrying Tumblebrutus over his shoulders and moving as quickly as possible. As he made his way to the lifeboat bay, he looked out for any signs of more Siamese intruders.
Grumbuskin soon arrived in the lifeboat bay and made his way over to the lifeboat the other toms were waiting in. Everyone except Placondgo and Dominev was accounted for.
Ralpharite and Roshedam had been standing guard. They breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the grey and black striped tom enter the room. But then they noticed that Tumblebrutus was slumped over Grumbuskin's shoulders.
"What happened?" Ralpharite asked in concern.
"Tumblebrutus was knocked out," Grumbuskin answered him, "I think he'll be alright, though."
As he got closer to the lifeboat, he saw that Najalim and Quaftil were changing the bandages on Victor's left arm. Grumbuskin could tell that the Navigator was in a lot of pain, but he could not think of anything he could say or do to make him feel better at that time.
Coricopat came up to the black and grey tabby and told him "Sir, I'm afraid I have some bad news regarding Farios."
"Farios?" said Grumbuskin, "I thought I saw him get wounded during the brawl on the bridge. Was he wounded?"
Coricopat nodded his head solemnly.
"Alright, then," said Grumbuskin, "What of him?"
"He's dead," Coricopat retorted sullenly, "He was stabbed directly in the chest by a dagger. That weapon managed to puncture one of his lungs. I brought him down here to get help, but he lost too much blood to even keep his other lung functional."
Grumbuskin was stunned. "Are you certain?"
Coricopat gestured to his side. Grumbuskin looked down and saw Farios lying on the floor of the ship. His fur was soaked in his own blood, and he was not moving a single muscle.
Just by looking at him, Grumbuskin could tell Farios was dead. He looked up at Coricopat and told him "I must still thank you for bringing him down here."
Coricopat lightly smiled for a minute. However, after that, he noticed that Tumblebrutus was being carried by the black and grey tom. Tumble was unconscious, and he had a large bloodstain on the back of his head.
"Is he alright?" Coricopat asked, pointing out Tumblebrutus.
"I believe so," replied Grumbuskin as he gently laid Tumblebrutus on the floor, "I'll have Najalim and Quaftil look at his injury as soon as they're finished with Victor."
"Very well," said Coricopat.
Grumbuskin took out his walkie-talkie and said into it "Grumbuskin to engine room."
"Dominev here, sir," was the response on the other end.
"How much time until the engines detonate?" Grumbuskin asked.
"A little over two minutes," reported Dominev.
"Alright then," said Grumbuskin, "I want you and Placondgo to get back to the lifeboat bay immediately."
"Yes, sir," Dominev replied, "We're on our way!"
Back in the engine room, Placondgo and Dominev armed themselves and left the engine room. They were about halfway to the lifeboat bay when they heard footsteps approaching in the opposite direction.
The two of them stopped to listen to those footsteps. After a moment, they nervously looked at each other.
"I'll bet you know as well as I do what type of footfalls those are," Placondgo remarked.
"You are correct," Dominev stated, "I'd recognize those footfalls anywhere; they're Siamese."
The two of them hid in the shadows in a perpendicular corridor and waited. Before long, several Siamese cats ran past them. They ran directly to the engine room.
Placondgo and Dominev remained hiding in the shadows. A few seconds later, they heard one of the Siamese say "Sir, take a look at this."
Dominev and Placondgo had a very bad idea what that Siamese was referring to. A moment later, their suspicions were confirmed when they heard Unbedim declare "It's the ship's self-destruct sequence! Shut it off at once!"
"Yes, sir!" replied another party.
Dominev and Placondgo started sweating anxiously. They now had one of two options: they could return to the lifeboat bay and escape with their lives, but leave the Demagogue in the hands (or paws) of their greatest enemies, or they could risk dying either in a fight or in an explosion, but keep the Demagogue permanently out of reach from the Siamese.
Dominev looked at Placondgo and asked him "How much time?"
Placondgo looked at his handheld timer, which was connected to the self-destruct sequence, and responded "A minute and twenty-five seconds."
Dominev sighed and turned to his front. "We have to stop them from deactivating the self-destruct sequence."
"That's cutting it a little close," Placondgo pointed out, "I don't even think we'd make it out alive."
Dominev patted him on the back and told him "Look at it this way: We'll be taking a few more of the Siamese with us."
Placondgo shrugged and commented "I guess so. We have to move fast though."
"Alright, just let me notify the others first," said Dominev. He picked up his walkie-talkie and said into it "Grumbuskin, are you there?"
"Yes, what is it?" answered the black and grey tabby.
"Sir, I have bad news: The Siamese just showed up," replied Dominev, "They are compromising the entire operation."
"What do you mean by 'compromising?'" asked Grumbuskin.
"There're in the engine room at the moment," Dominev replied, "They've discovered the self-destruct sequence, and we are certain that there're going to try to shut it down. Placondgo and I are going to stop them."
"Alright, we'll wait for you as long as we can," said Grumbuskin.
"Sir, the engines are supposed to explode in approximately one minute," Dominev enlightened the grey and black tom, "You don't have time to wait on us. Just get out of here while you still can."
"But-" Grumbuskin began.
"Sir, if you and the others stay here, you'll all die, too," Placondgo spoke into his own walkie-talkie to back up his friend, "Then this whole operation will have been in vain."
"That is my point exactly," Dominev stated into his walkie-talkie, "Sir, it's better to have a handful of survivors than no survivors at all."
Grumbuskin knew he did not have time to argue. Every second he spent arguing with the two toms, the engines were a little closer to detonating.
"Very well, gentlemen," he reluctantly agreed, "I wish you good luck."
Grumbuskin put his walkie-talkie aside and ordered Victor to pilot the lifeboat out of the Demagogue's bay. The Navigator complied.
"What about Placondgo and Dominev?" asked Ralpharite.
"They're not coming," Grumbuskin replied sadly.
No one needed any further clarification at that point. Those three words told them enough.
As the lifeboat sailed away, Grumbuskin looked back at the Demagogue. He slowly brought his right front paw up to his forehead to make a salute.
At that same time, in the Demagogue's engine room, one of the Siamese soldiers was working on a panel in front of the self-destruct timer.
"I think I almost got it!" he announced.
"Hurry!" Unbedim urged him, "We only have forty-five seconds left!"
The Siamese soldier continued working. Just before he could accomplish his work, Placondgo and Dominev arrived at the entrance to the room, heavily armed. Placondgo took one of his knives and flung it across the room. It struck the working Siamese soldier directly in the neck. He shrieked and collapsed.
The other eleven Siamese cats turned to the door. Unbedim pointed towards the Demagogue's Strategic Operations Officer and Tactical Officer and shouted "Obliterate them!"
The soldiers moved in on Placondgo and Dominev. They felt confident that it would be an easy victory, as they outnumbered their opponents ten to two.
They were deeply wrong. Dominev and Placondgo were two of the best fighters in Growltiger's crew.
One of the Siamese waved his blade at Dominev. The Strategic Operations Officer rolled on the ground and slashed the Siamese warrior in the back.
Another Siamese soldier tried several times to stab Placondgo. The Tactical Officer simply dodged the blows and stabbed his attacker in the chest.
As the remaining eight soldiers fought Dominev and Placondgo, Unbedim turned his attention to the panel in front of the self-destruct timer. He continued entering the proper sequences to shut off the device. He had less than thirty seconds, and he could feel the room getting slightly hotter. Obviously, the engines were very close to overloading.
A few seconds later, Placondgo killed another of the Siamese soldiers, but then he was stabbed by a toasting fork just below the throat. He shouted in anguish and dropped to the ground. Not long after that, he died.
Dominev was left fighting on his own. Fortunately, only four of the Siamese soldiers were still alive. He took one of his daggers and stabbed one of them in the forehead. He then took his sword and slashed another of them across the chest.
One of the other two Siamese toms was directly behind him. He took his spear and stabbed Dominev directly in the back. He missed his heart by inches. Dominev gave a shout of agony and stumbled on the ground. He managed to ignore the pain for a moment, turned acround, and brought his sword down into his attacker's head, almost splitting it open.
The last Siamese soldier kicked Dominev in the side and forced him onto the ground. The Siamese warrior stabbed him just below the shoulder with his carving knife. Dominev was immersed in pain from two different mortal injuries. But he was still not ready to give in to his wounds. He grabbed the last Siamese soldier by his neck and pulled him closer. Dominev then grabbed a small blade out of his belt, held it up to the Siamese warrior's face, and scalped him.
All the members of Unbedim's squad were dead at that point, but Dominev was too late. Unbedim had successfully deactivated the self-destruct sequence when it had only five seconds left to go. Immediately after deactivating the device, Unbedim took his spear and used it to destroy the panel. As a result, the self-destruct sequence could no longer be activated, as the panel controlling it had been disabled.
Unbedim turned to Dominev and smirked in satisfaction. "Your efforts were in vain. Did you actually think you could deprive us of our prize?"
Dominev was sitting on his knees, holding his bleeding side. He glared at Unbedim angrily. For a moment, he felt as if he had failed Grumbuskin. But then he got an idea. The ship did not actually have to be destroyed to prevent the Siamese from using it; he just needed to damage the engines enough to render them useless.
He had a miniature grenade in his belt that he had been saving. That presented an ideal solution.
He looked back up at Unbedim and smirked wickedly. The grey Siamese tom was standing in front of the main engine's central plexus. Dominev quickly got an idea to disable the engines and take Unbedim down with his simultaneously.
The grey Siamese tom noticed Dominev's smirk. He took out his blade, raised in the air, and told him "I would not be smiling now if I was you. It is unwise to smile in the face of death."
Dominev just smirked more widely than before. Then, with incredible speed, he pulled a small blade out of his belt and tossed it at Unbedim. It hit Unbedim in the arm he had raised and pinned his wrist to the engine's silicon outline.
Dominev rose to his hind feet and smirked as the grey tom tried to pull the knife out of his wrist, but it was wedged tightly.
When Dominev got close enough, he took out another of his knives and used it to pin Unbedim's other wrist into the protective seal.
Unbedim now had no control over either of his front paws. As he struggled to free himself, Dominev picked up his walkie-talkie and contacted Grumbuskin. He told him "Sir, we managed to eliminate the Siamese units, but Placondgo's dead and Unbedim managed to severely damage the panel that controls the self-destruct sequence. Now the self-destruct device cannot even be activated manually."
"Shit," commented the black and grey tom.
"However, I have a solution," Dominev went on, "I'm going to use my special grenade to destroy the engines. The ship will not sink, but the Siamese will be unable to move it."
"Alright, we'll come back for you," Grumbuskin told him.
"No, sir, you should not bother," stated Dominev, "I'm already mortally wounded. But I plan to take Unbedim down with me."
"Alright, good luck," said Grumbuskin.
Dominev put his walkie-talkie down and turned back to Unbedim. Then he pulled his grenade out of his belt and removed the safety clip.
"What are you doing?" Unbedim asked quietly.
Dominev just smirked again and struck Unbedim in his chest. When Unbedim opened his mouth to yell in pain, Dominev shoved the grenade into his mouth.
Unbedim tried to spit the grenade out, but Dominev clamped both of his front paws over the grey Siamese tom's lips. No matter how hard he tried, the grenade was stuck in his mouth.
A few seconds later, Dominev whispered "Fuck you, you Siamese scum."
Then the grenade detonated. The explosion was so powerful that it blew Unbedim's head apart, killed Dominev, and virtually wrecked the engines' central plexus.
Outside, the toms in the lifeboat could not see the explosion, but they could definitely hear it.
Grumbuskin bowed his head in silence to show his respect for a moment. He muttered under his breath "The Siamese may have possession of the Demagogue tonight, but it will not be theirs for long."
A few minutes later, the toms in the lifeboat rendezvoused with Griddlebone, her children, Jemima, and Tantomile. They had managed to move Growltiger's body onto the docks. Tantomile was standing at the Bravo Cat's side.
When the toms arrived at the docks, they hastily disembarked. When Jemima saw Grumbuskin carrying Tumblebrutus, she immediately ran over to the grey and black tom.
"What happened?" she asked.
Grumbuskin could tell that she was somewhat horrified. He assured her "Tumblebrutus is alright. He was just knocked out."
Coricopat carried Farios' body up to the docks. Even though Farios was dead, Coricopat was gentle with his body. After laying him out on the ground, he looked over at his sister.
Tantomile noticed this and gestured for her brother to approach her. This Coricopat did. The two of them looked down at Growltiger and studied his body closely.
No one asked them any questions; they felt that the psychic twins were on to something.
After about a minute of silent inspection, Tantomile stated "It appears as though we were successful."
"What do you mean?" asked Griddlebone, "Successful with what?"
Coricopat turned to her and replied ambiguously "We just proved that a soul actually can survive without a body."