There was no way a cat of such poise and self assurance was stuck up a tree.
Just... it wasn't worth the effort trying to climb down, that's all. Plenty of creatures liked to perch in trees and now he was one of them. Surely there was some sort of tree climbing club he could claim to be a member of. If there wasn't then he would start one, join it, and then invite other cats in trees to sign up.
So what if he had been up in the tree for an entire day and a half? So what if the last time he tried to climb down he had slipped and torn out a couple of his claws, leaving him with painful, injured paws? And so what if it was becoming very clear that unless he had help he was going to remain in the tree until the rest of his days?
His stomach growled. Unfortunately the only bird that dared to approach had become yesterday's lunch. None of its brethren had been dumb enough to join him since then. The bottom branches had broken off when he had hastily ascended the tree, leaving him with virtually no way down on his own.
A part of him was very worried about what would happen if he didn't return to the ground soon, but that part was quickly squashed by the tiny, rational portion of his brain. It wouldn't do him any good to panic. No, it was good to stay put and remain calm, hoping that someone in their patrols would wander by and rescue him before he succumbed to a slow, painful, starving fate….
"Munk?"
Carefully Munkustrap peered down out of the foliage. A very familiar, very confused black and white cat stared up at him. Thank Heaviside that it was Alonzo and not Tugger. He would never hear the end of it if his brother had to rescue him from a tree.
"Hey." Was all he could say.
"I've been looking everywhere for you. You've been missing since the day before yesterday." Alonzo remarked, as if they were simply discussing the weather.
"I have."
"Have you been up in this tree the whole time?"
"Perhaps."
"Perhaps?" The question was punctuated by a delicate lift of the eyebrow. An eyebrow that clearly stated that Munk had better start being honest or he would be left in the tree.
"Fine. Yes, I have been in this tree since yesterday." Oh, it definitely stung his pride to admit it.
"Since the day before yesterday." Alonzo corrected him.
"Yes, I meant that."
Alonzo's mouth turned down in a tiny frown. What was running through his mind could have been a number of things. He always was a difficult cat to get a read on even when Munk had his full wits about him.
"Are you... are you going to come down?" Alonzo finally asked.
"I would like to, yes."
"I would like that too. Everyone's looking for you."
"I supposed they might."
The tiny frown deepened. "Munkustrap, are you stuck?"
Munk bit back a scoff. Stuck implied that he had no way of getting out of his unfortunate situation. As far as he could see there was still one obvious way down. Of course, that involved falling out of the tree and causing great harm to himself, so he wasn't about to try it, but at least that was a way out. So, in a technical sense, he was not stuck. Somehow he didn't think Alonzo would see it the same way.
"I'm... finding it difficult to get down on my own." There. He admitted it.
"So you're stuck."
"I wouldn't exactly phrase it that way."
"Right." Alonzo flicked his tail back and forth in thought, circling the tree and giving the bark a thorough once over.
"I wouldn't try to come up. The branches are very delicate and the bark is slippery."
That had been the primary problem. Getting up into the tree was hard enough. The lower branches were brittle and delicate, snapping immediately under his weight and forcing him to choose between falling or seeking refuge in the higher branches. The last minute decision to climb higher to safety was what led him to his current position. There was no way Alonzo was going to be able to climb the branches without breaking them as well.
"I can see that." Carefully Alonzo stepped over the broken branches that littered the base of the tree. "Are you going to be okay for about thirty minutes?"
"Yes." He'd been up in the tree for roughly thirty six hours at this point, he could handle thirty minutes.
"Good. I'll be back soon." Alonzo promptly left.
Back to him and the tree then. Now, Munk felt he knew Alonzo well enough to safely assume that the cat wasn't just going to leave him to his fate. Surely Alonzo had a plan, otherwise why would he request he wait thirty minutes? They were friends. Very close friends at that. And friends, close or otherwise, didn't simply leave their friends to wither away in trees.
Everlasting Cat he needed to get down or he was going to lose his mind. Scratch that, he had already lost his mind. Maybe he had hallucinated Alonzo and their conversation. It would make as much sense as the Jellicle Protector being stuck up in a tree-
"Where are we going?" A disturbingly familiar voice whined, sending a cold chill down his spine. "Is there food, I thought you said there would be food."
Everlasting Cat, that better not have been who he thought it was.
"Munk! What're you doing up there?" Pouncival bounced into view, staring up at him with a grin. "Are you stuck?"
Alonzo also strolled into view, dragging a rope and a basket behind him. He looked less excited than his companion.
"Hello, Pounce." Munk sighed. Now he would never hear the end of it. The kitten wasn't the worst gossip in the tribe but he definitely couldn't keep a secret. As soon as Pounce told Etcetera it would be all over the junkyard.
"Lonz told me he needed help with something but wouldn't tell me what." Pounce shot the cat in question a puzzled look. "But I never thought it'd be because you're stuck up in a tree! How does that even happen?"
"Look, we need your help." Alonzo dumped the basket and the rope at the base of the tree, leaning over Pounce and giving him a serious stare. "And you're not going to tell anyone about this or I'm going to tell Munk what I caught you and Tumble plotting to-"
"Right! Got it! Not a word, my lips are sealed!" Pounce quickly grabbed the rope and worked on tying it around his waist. "Up the tree I go, down the tree Munk goes. Easy peasy."
"Not so fast." Munk interrupted. The conversation was taking a turn that he was not prepared for. "What are you planning to do? Why is Pounce here?"
"There's no need to be worried." Alonzo reassured him. "Since Pounce is the smallest tom in the junkyard-"
"Hey!"
"- and arguably one of the best climbers around, I figured he'd be the perfect choice to help us." Alonzo helped secure the rope around Pounce. "He should be light enough to not break the branches on his way up."
"You think I'm one of the best climbers in the tribe?" That perked the kitten up.
"Focus, Pounce."
"Yeah, yeah." With an unnervingly serious stare Pounce studied the tree. "Yikes, this thing's old and gross. Why'd you pick this tree, Munk?"
Munk sighed. "Believe me, if I had known that climbing up this particular tree would have led me to this point in time I would have picked a different one."
It took a minute for the words to filter through Pounce's brain. Alonzo took that moment as an opportunity to secure the other end of the rope to the basket he had brought.
"Ready when you are." Alonzo told him.
"Okay, I got it." Without further ado Pounce ascended the tree.
Munk had to admit that Alonzo was right: Pounce was the perfect cat for the job. With unerring accuracy the tom scaled the rotten trunk of the tree, feet light as a feather as he leapt from branch to branch. All his time spent clambering up and down the various piles of junk had apparently instilled him with incredible climbing skills.
Maybe such skills could be harnessed somehow, Munk reflected. If he ever made it to the ground he would make a point to utilize such talents.
"Hi, Munk." Suddenly Pounce was next to him, bouncing up and down on the branch. "Having a good day?"
"Please don't do that." He dug his claws into the branch as it swayed underneath him.
"I gotta. Testing for stability." Pounce twitched his ears back and forth. "Nope, this one sounds off. I'm surprised it hasn't broken yet."
The kitten disappeared into the foliage above. The basket, still connected to him by the rope, thumped somewhere below them against the trunk of the tree.
"Pounce?" Alonzo called. "How's it going?"
"Just a sec, gotta be precise here." A few leaves floated down to the ground. "Don't wanna pick the wrong branch and have us both fall to our deaths."
Those weren't the words he wanted to hear. Judging by the uncomfortable sound Alonzo made he didn't want to hear it either.
"Got one!" Pounce cheered from somewhere above Munk. The end of the rope that had been tied around Pounce fell down to the ground.
"Did you wrap it around the branch like I showed you?" Alonzo called. "Is it secure?"
"Yep. All ready to go."
"Good. Get ready." Alonzo took the end of the rope and pulled on it. The basket slowly rose up into the branches.
Oh, Munk did not like where this was going. He liked it even less when Pounce sat down next to him and reached for the basket.
"Alrighty, in you go." Pounce announced, holding the edge of the basket steady.
"I appreciate the help but I am not comfortable with this plan." Munk told him.
"Well, you're gonna have to come down one way or the other." Pounce shrugged. "Usually that's how it goes."
"Munk, I promise that I won't let you fall." Alonzo said. "You can trust me."
Part of Munk knew that he could trust Alonzo not to drop the basket. Hell, he could trust Alonzo with anything, the cat had proven himself again and again and had never let him down. Yet the thought of dangling in the air with nothing but some wicker between himself and the ground was enough to freeze him to the branch.
"Okay, I'm coming up. Fragile branches be damned." Alonzo stated.
"No!" Way too dangerous. He had to swallow his pride and fear and take the chance. "I'm coming. Don't risk it."
"Risk or not, I'm not letting you stay up there a minute longer."
"I'm not crazy about being up here in an unstable death tree either." Pounce muttered.
"Just… just give me a moment."
Slowly Munk climbed into the basket. Everlasting Cat and Heaviside above this was a terrible idea. Pounce was surprisingly gentle and patient with him, holding the basket still and being a stable anchor until the larger cat was settled. Down on the ground Alonzo was doing something with the rope, something that Munk couldn't see nor really cared to know at this point. All that mattered was that as soon as he was in the basket he was one hundred percent ready to touch the ground again.
"Ready?" Alonzo asked.
"Yep!" Pounce nodded.
"Yes." Munk did his best not to sound terrified as the basket swung in the breeze.
"Here we go. Hold on."
Slowly the basket began to descend. Munk felt his stomach drop out the bottom of the basket. Nope, he was not enjoying this, not one bit-
A creaking, cracking noise brought the basket to a halt. Slowly Munk's eyes traveled upwards. The branch he had just vacated was breaking off the tree. It was, unfortunately, the branch that Pounce was still sitting on. The kitten's eyes widened, then locked onto the basket.
"No, Pounce, wait-" Munk had a split second to realize what was about to happen, but it was too late.
Pounce soared through the air, feet leaving the branch as soon as it broke away from the tree, and sank his claws into the edge of the basket. Yes, he was a small kitten, but his sudden weight on the edge of the basket sent both of them swinging wildly through the air.
"Aaaaaaaargh!" It wasn't clear just who was screaming. Munk, Pounce, Alonzo, it could have been anybody at this point. All Munkustrap knew was that the basket was descending rapidly towards the ground, Pounce was trying to sink his claws into his fur, and somewhere below them Alonzo was swearing and scrabbling in the grass.
The basket came to an abrupt stop. It took a minute before Munk could bring himself to open his eyes. Surely they were all dead.
"We're dead." Pounce confirmed, clinging to the Jellicle Protector's ears.
"You're not dead." Alonzo sighed from somewhere above them.
Slowly Munk peeled his eyes open. Alonzo, still attached to the other end of the rope, dangled from the branch, resembling a displeased piñata. With a couple halfhearted swings he managed to attach himself to the trunk of the tree and clung to it with his claws, anchoring himself to the tree so the basket couldn't drag him upwards any further.
"Oh. Guess we're fine." Pounce helped Munk jump the last foot to the ground.
"Thank the Everlasting Cat and the Heaviside Layer." Munk was sorely tempted to kiss the grass.
"And…?" Pounce nudged him.
"Yes, thank you to you and Alonzo."
"No problem." Alonzo had barely made it out of the tree before he was untying the rope from around himself and hurrying over to them. "Let me see your paws."
Wincing, Munk obliged. Both of the other cats flinched at the sight of his injures.
"Ouch, that looks bad." Pounce, always the tactful one, observed.
"Pounce, take the basket and tell Jenny that we found Munk." Alonzo said. "He's going to need something for his paws. We'll wait here for you both."
"Aw, but I don't wanna drag the basket all the way back-"
"Alright." Alonzo's voice rose a couple decibels. "So, Munk, you'll never believe what Pounce and Tumble were planning to do when Old Deuteronomy visits-"
"I'm going! I'm going! Jeez!" The basket bounced noisily behind him as he took the rope and ran off towards the junkyard.
"Thank you." Munk sighed. "I'll be alright, I just need-"
"You need to let me take care of you." Alonzo interrupted him. "And be honest with me. Why did you go up the tree in the first place?"
"Ran into a dog." Might as well rip the band aid off the rest of his pride. "Damn thing chased me up there, sniffed around for a minute and then left."
"Oof. Must have been quite a dog to chase a cat as fearsome as you."
"It was a poodle."
"I'm sorry." Despite his sympathetic tone Alonzo was trying not to smile.
"Me too." Munk sighed. "But I'm glad to be back on the ground. Thank you. And thank you for threatening Pounce to keep him from telling everybody about what happened."
"No problem." Alonzo affectionately rubbed his shoulder. "I can't speak for any poodles, but so long as I'm around I'll do my best to keep you out of trouble."
"That's all I ask."
Wearily he leaned up against his rescuer, allowing himself to finally take comfort in being back on the ground. Alonzo's purr rumbled in his ears, soothing away the anxiety and pain from his previous plight. Whatever Jenny or the others had to say to him about his unplanned treetop vacation could wait. This moment was all he needed.