Chapter 78: Show Time
Her large eyes going unbearably wide for a moment, the kitten roughly shook her head- aiming to shake the persistent wiggle from her nose. When such a shake had no effect on her wiggling nose, she tried as hard as she could to focus and concentrate to make her nose become still, force it to obey her mental command...
Before a peculiar odor filled her nose all at once.
It wasn't the smell of sweet candy that filled the air, nor was it the rich scent of banana-nut bread or vanilla cakes or cherry pie; the kitten would've recognized those smells immediately had it been.
No, this was a smell that didn't mix all too well with the other aromas in Sugar Russia. It sharply stood out as different from the rest of the odors it competed with...and it just simply didn't belong in the normally sweet air.
It was the random yet familiar smell of...car gasoline...that was overwhelming the kitten's nose...
And for whatever reason, that strange, sudden smell always, always made the kitten begin to freeze in a strange terror.
Her paws reflectively pushing deeper into the dirt ground beneath her, the suddenly panicked feline felt her muscles tense up. Every ounce of her confident attitude fled her, each positive emotion and feeling and thought she'd had just seconds before was now forcefully pushed aside...
Making way too much room for that one smell to leak and permeate every inch of her mind.
"Wh-what?!" she whispered out loud to herself, her already large eyes widening in fear. "Why wou-would I s-suddenly sm-"
At her unexplained, abrupt stuttering, the kitten felt her ears jump back, flatten up against her head in a panic all too familiar to her.
No, she quickly denied, hating the different yet sickeningly familiar tinkle beginning to overtake her- way stronger than the tickle her nose had experienced. This is not happening- not right now of all times.
After gulping down the knot forming in her throat, the nervous kitten slowly arched her tense shoulders back and then tensely rolled her head from side to side. She was desperate to stop the stuttering...and to stop taking in the strangely sickening smell of gas, for that matter.
A sharp stubbornness filling her, the kitten's eyes suddenly narrowed into dark slits. Somehow empowering herself to grit her teeth harder in annoyance, a soft snarl escaped her lips.
She'd gotten quite good at ignoring or dismissing her body's strange reactions, after all...and she'd gotten quite used to rejecting that awful odor, too- whenever it filled her nose at the oddest of times.
"Yoooou have gooot thisss," she told herself, purposely forcing herself to draw out her words- beyond afraid of what them coming out broken meant. "No n-need tooo panickkkk..."
Falsely amusing that she was no longer stuttering, the kitten tried to smirk smugly to herself.
I knew that if I used my amazing mind power hard enough, she reasoned- more hopeful than confident, one day I can control my-
All at once, her body rapidly and erotically lurked forward, making the unprepared kitten trip over her paws and nearly crash onto the dirt floor. Already panting in fear, she slowly straightened back up, trying to piece her scattered thoughts together.
The rich smell of gasoline now seemed to saturate the air, suddenly strangling her as her small body uncontrollably tensed up all the more...
And in horror, the kitten couldn't deny it any longer. Undeniably, unavoidably, she could feel one coming...
And it was a BIG one coming, too.
Although knowing there was no point in doing so, the kitten uneasily tensed up all of her white-tailed paws to stay steady. Sighing miserably at what was to come, she had just flexed her paws-
When her massive inner earthquake hit without full warning.
Begining to shake violently, the feline lost complete control over her body- and her consciousness as well, a mysterious force taking mastery over both. Her large eyes rolled to the back of her head, just the white of them showing as she uncontrollably jerked her head back and forth. Her poor ears flattened up against her head, glued down as she tried not to lose her footing and crash onto the ground.
Subconsciously traumatized as her body continued violently shake, her poor, trembling legs tensed up that much more- but there was no use. Within seconds, she was roughly tossed to the dirt ground, her paws slipping out from underneath her as her chin slammed into the floor.
After a few agonizing moments of laying flat on the ground and of aggressively shaking...of extreme twitching...
Gradually, the kitten's shaking body slowed down, her jerking limbs became more still in place- and as strong as it had taken over her, all at once, her violent seizure was over.
Suddenly gasping for air, the kitten desperately panted- her head now frozen in place. Her large, terrified eyes were now rolled back down to where the beautiful color was showing as they dashed around, seeking to find something to focus on to ground herself.
Her sharp consciousness slowly settling back in, she quickly realized an ache overtaking her chin, a sharp pain shooting up into her jaw and into her head.
Weakly standing back up, the feline numbly rubbed her paw over her sore chin- wincing as she realized how hard she must have slammed on the ground. Her stomach fell when she saw a small amount of red blood on her once white-tipped paw, her stomach bottoming out in agony.
All at once, the startling realization hit her that this seizure had been far, far worse than the one that overtaken her eariler...the one she'd had back when she was in the company with that chunky, cranky, stupid mastiff...
As embarrassing and terrifying as that seizure felt, the kitten had at least remained standing upright the whole time during it. But this one...
Blinking back tears, the kitten roughly shook her head- this time by choice. A cruel chill ran through her long spine, making her shut her eyes tightly.
Of course the seizure she just had made her crash onto the sharp rubble underneath, scratching her chin up like that. Of course she had to have a seizure right before the biggest competition of her life...
Of course I have to be just a stupid twitching kitten at all...
Rawly sitting back down, the kitten wiped a rare tear from her shut eyes. Her heart and chin throbbed, which made it all the harder to concentrate...but, for once, she was happy about that. She didn't really want to focus on the thoughts eating her alive- thoughts like forgetting the whole competition. Thoughts of giving in and running away; no one would even notice if she did, after all...
And, perhaps worse of all, thoughts like being horribly alone all her life, without anyone who dared to care about a twitching kitten like her.
But as she slowly blinked open her down-casted, water-filled eyes, they landed on the items down by her paws...
And a small, hopeful smile replaced her feelings of rejection.
Down by her left front paw was her beloved skateboard, still ever loyally and patiently by her side- it's presence still ever comforting...
But down by her right paw was her newest -and most clever- possession...
That of a camouflaged, slightly girlish dog collar.
Slightly smirking, the kitten forgot all about her seizure and aching chin for a moment in time. She couldn't but bat playfully at the collar -now her collar- and watch as it scooted effortlessly by her prodding.
As she delicately traced the side of the thick, green -and annoyingly glittery- fabric on the side of the canine collar, the black and white kitten's trademark smirk couldn't help but appear- memories of the previous night comically flooding her mind.
That dumb old mutt, she mocked with a pompous eye roll- just the thought of that Ralph dog making her cackle. Him and his 'bomb squad' didn't stand a chance against me and my witts!
All at once, another loud eruption came from the crowd of people, scaring the kitten half to death. Peeking back through the shrug, she saw that the audience of people were all applauding as the Happy Paws volunteers finished the final set up for the competition just minutes from beginning...
Making the kitten tense up all the more.
I just hope that proves true with my fierce competition as well.
Forcing down the flooding doubts trying to swallow her up again, the kitten's eyes couldn't help but be drawn back to the collar- particularly the sparkly golden tags that dangled off the side.
Those were no doubt the shiniest, most golden tags she'd ever seen- something that even a shiny-gold crazy King Candy was sure to love.
Blocking out the crowds' cheers and clapping -and the mental image of said king from invading her mind- the feline gulped all at once, deeply afraid yet excited about the competition and what it could mean for her.
Briefly shutting her eyes, her mind didn't fill with thoughts of her competitors, of King Candy, or of all the taunts or cruel remarks or treatment she daily received. It didn't fill with her own doubts, her own fears...and not one thought of terrifying, twitching seizures danced across her mind.
Her mind pushed all that aside- and simply pictured just what future could be waiting for her. A future potentially filled with love on an owner, of a whole family...
And that a beautiful collar with tags of all her own.
Opening her eyes, the kitten narrowed them in determination. That was her future, she could feel it. It all was what she waiting for- and all she had to do was win.
And she could, she knew. She had the skateboard and the talent to go with it, after all. What is more, she had the guts and determination...
But, perhaps most important of all, she finally, finally had the undeniable entrance fee King Candy imposed for the competition.
Gingerly picking up said entrance fee, the feline scooped up her good dog collar -her very ticket to a better life. Rolling her home-made, trusty stake board forward, she finally allowed her ever favorite pun to slip from her smirking lips.
"Let's get this party rollin'."
