Disclaimer: Garfield and all related characters are the property of Paws Inc. and ViacomCBS/Nickelodeon at the time of this story's creation.
Garfield In: Of Mice and Cats
Floyd struggles as hard as he can to escape the grasp of Brick, a big brown cat who's just knocked the mouse's new best friend, Garfield, out cold and left him for dead whilst seizing the mouse for himself with the sole intention to feed him to his girlfriend, Penelope.
"Please, you seriously don't want to eat me." Floyd begs for his life. "Why, I carry diseases of all kinds. Eating me could kill you!"
"Shut yer yap, mouse!" Brick squeezes the mouse tightly with his fist. "You're gonna make a nice treat for my girl."
Upon returning to the alley, Brick is greeted by a white female cat with the angriest glare on her face he's ever seen.
"Hey, baby." Brick greets his girlfriend. "I've brought ya somethin to eat."
"Don't ever call me babe!" Penelope smacks his paw away as hard as she could. "Especially not after what you did!"
"What the hell did I do!?" Brick demands an answer.
"I saw you punch that other cat out cold!" The girl cat scolds her boyfriend. "That wasn't very nice!"
"Honey, he was being friends with this mouse!" Brick tries to reason with her, waving the mouse's tail around like a pocket watch. "I mean, what kind of a cat befriends a mouse!?"
"Someone nicer than you." Penelope said sharply.
"Oh, burn!" Floyd said.
Bricks clenches the mouse harder than ever, his face begins to fume red with anger. "YOU LISTEN TO ME, YOU UNGRATEFUL BITCH! I JUST WENT OUT OF MY WAY TO GET YOU THIS GODDAMN MOUSE, AND YOU'RE GONNA EAT IT, YA HEAR ME!?"
"No. I'm! NOT!" The girl cat suddenly draws out her claws and swipes her boyfriend's face with them. Brick roars in pain before giving his girlfriend a glare as sharp as a dagger, the claw swipe very visible in his face.
"I'M DONE WITH YOU, BRICK! YOU'VE MADE MY LIFE A LIVING HELL EVER SINCE I'VE MET YOU!" Penelope shouts with absolute fury. "YOU TREAT ME LIKE UTTER CRAP, YOU ALWAYS IGNORE ME, AND YOU'RE ALWAYS SCARFING DOWN AS MUCH FOOD FOR YOURSELF WITHOUT AS MUCH AS LEAVING A SINGLE CRUMB FOR ME!"
The female cat pauses herself to catch a breath, tears filling up her eyes. "YOU CAN KEEP THAT ROTTEN MOUSE AS MUCH AS YOU WANT BRICK, BECAUSE AS OF THIS MOMENT, I'M NO LONGER YOUR GIRLFRIEND! GOODBYE FOREVER! OR MAYBE LONGER!" She finishes before walking away from her now ex-boyfriend.
"Yeah, you tell him, sister!" Floyd cheers.
Brick's fists were clenching like never before, crushing the tail of the mouse in his grip. His teeth were cracking from how hard he was grinding his teeth. Words aren't needed to be said for how ABSOLUTELY FURIOUS the big brown cat was at that very moment. Without any hesitation, he stomps his feet towards Penelope and…
*POW*
...serves her the biggest knuckle sandwich he's ever given her.
"ARRRGH!" Penelope screams in agony, the sheer impact from the punch causing her to fall headfirst to the ground.
"YOU'RE MY GIRL, AND NO GIRL OF MINE EVER WALKS OUT ON ME!" Brick furiously shouts, forcibly grabbing her paw.
"LET GO OF ME, YOU MONSTER!" Penelope struggles to escape his grasp, blood dripping from her black eye.
Nearby, Garfield, still wearing his blue cape, runs into the alley and spots Brick attempting to shove Floyd right into Penleope's mouth.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, you are about to witness what is quite possibly my greatest moment in utter stupidity!" Garfield said to the reader, striking a superhero pose before running straight to the other cats and shoving them away from each other.
"You both take your filthy paws off of my friend!" Garfield demands, standing right between both of them.
"Garfield! You're alive!" Floyd happily shouts.
"Of course I'm alive, Floyd." Garfield said. "I'm too stubborn to die."
"Oh, you're gonna die sooner than that, cat." Brick said, throwing the mouse to the ground. "Cause you're in BIG trouble!" He added, cracking his fists.
"Well, would you look at the time, I'd better skedaddle!" Garfield chuckles nervously before grabbing Floyd and making a run for it out of the alley.
"COME BACK HERE AND FACE ME LIKE A REAL CAT, YOU COWARD!" Brick angrily shouts, hot right on their trail.
Running as fast as he could, Garfield spots a fire escape ladder from an old apartment building and climbs upward to the roof of the building.
"Whoa!" Garfield barely stops dead in his tracks upon reaching the edge of the roof. Looking down to see a huge drop below, the cat sighs in relief that he didn't take any step further and becoming a cat pancake on the road. Turning around, he spots a big brown cat standing right behind him, catching both him and Floyd completely off guard.
"Any last words, cat?" Brick sadistically asks with an evil grin on his face, preparing to shove the orange cat off the building.
"Yeah." Garfield replies, untying the blue cape from his back. "THIS!" He throws the blanket right onto Brick's face, blinding his field of vision. Without a moment to spare, the orange cat leaps over the bigger brown cat and kicks him as hard as he could, sending him plummeting over the edge of the building.
*BAM*
Brick slams into the ground as hard as a rock, ounces of blood pouring out of his now lifeless body.
Garfield carefully climbs down the apartment ladder and heads straight to Brick's body. After gently poking at it for a few seconds, the cat is now certain that he's not waking up.
"Is he dead?" Floyd asks.
"Yep, he's dead." Garfield confirms, grabbing his blanket from the corpse. Just then, the two spot a white female cat approaching them.
"Y-You saved me." Penelope said.
"Yeah, uh... sorry about your boyfriend." Garfield apologizes.
"Oh, don't be sorry." Penelope reassures him. "I'm just glad that he's finally out of my life for good."
"Yeah, he won't be missed." Garfield said.
"So...uhhh...I was wondering...would you be my boyfriend?" Penelope asks nervously.
"B-B-B-B-BOYFRIEND!?" Garfield stutters. "Uh...no thanks. You wouldn't like me. I snore, I eat, and I snore while I eat." He tries to reason with her. "Besides, there's other things in this world that I prefer more than women, like eating, sleeping, lasagna, and-"
"It's okay. *Sniff* I understand." Penelope lowers her head, tears falling from her eyes. Feeling guilty, the orange cat lets out a depressing sigh, and gently rubs his paw on her back.
"Look, it's not that I don't like you, it's just that I'm not interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with anybody. It's too much work, and work is definitely not something for a lazy guy like me." Garfield said as gently as he could.
"But...we can still be friends, right?" Penelope asks.
Garfield ponders for a moment. "Sure, we can be friends." He replies.
"Oh, thank you so much!" Penelope wraps her arms around Garfield, squeezing him into a tight hug.
"Uh...y-you're welcome?" Garfield nervously said, before gently hugging her back. Floyd also joins in on the hug, wrapping his tiny arms around Garfield's foot. The three let go of each other shortly after.
"I'm Penelope, by the way." The female cat properly introduces herself.
"Garfield." The male cat replies back, shaking her hand. "Anywho, I better get home, I'm already late for my post-dinner, pre-dessert snack."
Penelope can't help but chuckle to herself. "Okay, see you soon, Garfield!" She waves goodbye as the orange male cat waves back and runs off to find his way home.
"Sorry, toots, but I gotta go too. He promised me a new home. The name's Floyd, by the way!" The mouse quickly said before running after Garfield.
Penelope waves goodbye again, still adjusting to the idea that a cat can be friends with a mouse.
Back at the Arbuckle residence, Jon and Odie had just returned home after failing to find Garfield anywhere in the city. It was getting really late, so the two decided to call it a night and resume their search first thing in the morning.
"Who would've thought I deeply miss having Garfield around." Jon sighs, sitting in his armchair. "I even miss all the abuse."
Odie, attempting to cheer his owner up, bites on Jon's shirt and rips a piece off of it.
"Thanks, Odie, but life just isn't the same without Garfield." Jon said.
*MMM MMM MMM* Odie whimpers, also distraught over the loss of his friend.
"*Sniff*Just leave me alone, Odie." Jon covers his eyes, the dog walking away in defeat.
The human takes another loud depressing sigh, and goes to grab something that he hasn't seen in a very long time: his old smoke pipe. Upon returning to his chair, Jon takes out a lighter and places the flame near the pipe, and takes a slow sip in it as puffs of smoke flew out of its bowl.
He'd promised to quit smoking long ago, but as his life became more of a living hell in just these past few years, he DESPERATELY needed it.
*SCRATCH SCRATCH SCRATCH*
"Hmm?" Jon takes the pipe out of his mouth and places it on the living room table before going to answer the door, curious as to whom could be visiting at such a late hour.
Opening the door, the owner gasps upon recognizing his own cat, Garfield, standing right in front of the doorway. Before Jon can say anything, the cat falls straight to the ground.
"GARFIELD!" Jon panics. "SPEAK TO ME! ARE YOU OKAY!?"
"Actually, yes." Garfield raises his head from the ground. "I just thought it would be more dramatic that way."
Without any hesitation, Jon scoops up Garfield and wraps him around in a tight loving embrace.
"Oh, Garfield! I missed you so much! You never realize how much you love someone until they go away!" Jon spins around in glee, holding onto Garfield like his life depended on it.
"Whoa! Easy there, Arbuckle!" Garfield said. "I just got back from some romance drama, and I'm hungry like hell!" His stomach growling like crazy.
"You must be really hungry, I'll go fix you a nice big feast to celebrate your return!" Jon exclaims as lets go of his cat and rushes to the kitchen to start cooking.
Just then, Odie spots Garfield and happily runs over to him. However, the dog stops himself from licking him, unsure if the cat has gotten his memories back.
"Don't worry, Odie. It's actually me this time. Garfield, the fat and lazy house cat." The cat happily confirms.
Without any hesitation, the dog pounces the cat to the ground and showers him with saliva from his constant happy licks.
"Get off me!" Garfield shoves Odie off of him, not that Odie minds, as he's just happy to have his friend back.
"So, this is where you live." Floyd said, entering the living from the open doorway. "Not too shabby."
*GRRR* Odie growls at the mouse.
"It's okay, Odie." Garfield reassures him. "This is my friend, Floyd. Floyd, this is my wonder dummy, Odie." The cat introduces the two to each other.
"Never thought I'd see a cat and a dog be friends." Floyd said to himself, offering a handshake to the perplexed dog. "Put 'er there!"
Odie simply shrugs and happily shakes the mouse's hand.
"Hey, Garfield. You got any good cheese in here?" Floyd asks.
"Yeah, go to the kitchen and knock yourself out in the fridge." Garfield replies, chuckling to himself as he knows full well what's gonna happen.
"Gee, thanks pal!" Floyd goes to the kitchen, where upon entering he sees a rather tall human staring right at him.
"EEEEEK! A MOUSE!" Jon screams before fainting to the ground.
Garfield couldn't help but laugh hysterically upon seeing his owner behaving in such an embarrassing way.
"It's good to be back." Garfield happily said to the reader before joining Floyd in the kitchen.