'Well, then, what are you doing?' I asked, very upset that she would even dare think about doing anything disrespectful to anyone.

'Painting the junkyard!' She cried, and then kicked the green paint...*

And, well, I think you know the rest." The small tom sat down, and looked to his right at Mungojerrie, it was his turn.

"Well, I remember it a bit differently,

*I had just talked with Alonzo, who had told me that Mistoffelees had been planning on turning me plaid for a long time now, and he said that he also had a plan on how to get back at Sparkly Britches. So I agreed, and being the only one among us who had enough 'money' to get her to do this, asked her if she would paint Alonzo's message up on the old clock. She agreed, and I stood, aghast! I couldn't believe she was going to do it! I tried to stop her, but Mistoffelees, so intent on claiming all the glory for himself, 'bamf-ed' himself up there, and they started to wrestle like little queens! Slapping each other silly! When suddenly, Bomby's tail hit the green paint, and*

Sploosh! All over you, gracious leader. And that's what REALLY happened." Mungojerrie said with a sideways look at Mistoffelees.

"Yeah right! Intent on claiming all the glory for myself!?" Mistoffelees jumped onto Mungojerrie, and the two toms went rolling on the floor. Old Deuteronomy paid them no attention, and for a while, Munkustrap watched them, only able to see a ball of dust, and Mistoffelees's occasional raised paw, signaling that he meant to change Mungojerrie's color.

"Alonzo, please, if you dare.." Old Deuteronomy said, pointing to the black and white spotted tom. Alonzo nodded, swallowed hard, and stepped forward.

*"Well, I didn't tell Mungojerrie anything about anybody, but I did think it would be funny to have Bomby paint something up on the clock. So I asked her if she'd paint 'By Heaviside!', just to be funny, on the old clock. And let me point out that Mungojerrie abused his favors, and had hardly no 'money' left at this time. I, however, had at LEAST fifteen dollars left. Well, what happened was, Victoria found out about her collar, and attacked me, so, just stalling, I yelled:

'Bomby! Paint Vikki is a stupid queen!' As she pounced on me. I didn't see much after that...*

But I tried to stop it Old Deuteronomy! I knew it was a stupid idea from the get-go! I knew-"

"Get him!" Mungojerrie cried, and pointed at Alonzo. Munkustrap sighed, the other two toms had stopped rolling around, but both were equally frazzled. Mistoffelees had burnt the tip of his tail, and he had a bite on his ear. Mungojerrie was a nice yellow plaid color, and was also rather... singed. The duo pounced on Alonzo, and soon Munkustrap saw the familiar cloud of dust, and once again, Mistoffelees' raised paw was ever present.

Munkustrap's father turned to Bombalurina, and sighed.

"Please, you're by far the oldest here, please give me something I can work with," Munkustrap groaned and sat down on the table.

Bomby nodded pleasantly.

*"Well, I had just about paid off all my debts, when I ran into Victoria, she was holding her burnt, and now plaid collar, and was very upset.

'Vikki, what's wrong dear?' I asked, and put my paw on her shoulder.

'Look at my collar Bomby! My new collar! Who could've done such a thing! By Heaviside! Please Bomby, tell me who did it! I saw you with my collar the other day! And it couldn't possibly have been you, for you are far to gracious and kind and forgiving to do something like that. I know that everything that you have done in the past to earn you that bad reputation was a lie, you were forced! I know that you would not-"*

"Bombalurina, please.." Old Deuteronomy sighed. Bombalurina laughed, and nodded.

*"Well, I told her about the whole debt thing, and how nearly all of us had done SOMETHING to her collar. She was furious, and stormed out of the junkyard.

Later that day I ran into Mungojerrie, who had a snicker on his face.

'Listen,' He said, 'the three of us have decided to combine our last dollars to get you to do this: take this neon paint, and go to the old clock and paint "Vikki Loves Sparkly Britches". That will free all of us from you!'

Well, I didn't really want to do it, but I was sick and tired of this stupid game! So I figured I'd do it, but paint it very small. Well, Mungojerrie was explaining to Alonzo what I was doing, and suddenly Mistoffelees was beside me. He began to wrestle with me to get the paintbrush, apparently he knew that I was going to paint something about him. Well, I lost my balance, and hit the can of paint with my tail..

I didn't know you were there, Old D. I really didn't!" Bomby said, stopping her story. Munkustrap turned his head, the three toms were sprawled out all over the small room, they'd been fighting the entire time.

Mistoffelees was on his back, arms at his sides, knees up. His tail was still fuzzed out and very frazzled. His breathing was short and shallow, he looked utterly exhausted. Not only had he been fighting the both of him, but he'd also been using his magic. His ear was torn up, and his fur was tangled and very, very floufy.

Mungojerrie was on his stomach, watching the last tale playfully, his chin in his paws. He was still plaid, but in a rainbow of colors, pink, red, yellow and green to name a few. His tail was singed beyond recognition, and his fur was just settling down.

Alonzo was sitting up against the far wall, he was all purple with neon yellow spots. His head was singed, and he had scratches on his back. It looked as if Mistoffelees had been hugging the older toms back as he'd been changing them both colors. He was also very exhausted.

Old Deuteronomy sighed, and stood up.

"I... first of all I want you all to promise me that this will never happen again," He said, holding up the contract. The group nodded. "Secondly, I have decided on a fair punishment, but Mistoffelees, please, turn these damned green stripes gray or something until they finally come out!" Mistoff tilted his head back to look at Deuteronomy.

"C'mon dad, I can barely move..." His father gave him a stern look, and he sighed. He lifted his paw, and snapped, turning the green into a nice, brownish color.

"This is so stupid!" Bombalurina cried, and dipped her paintbrush into the bucket of neon green paint.

"Tell me about it," Mungo whined. The punishment for the group was rather ironic. They had to cover an entire building, in neon paint, with the words:

Betting Is Not Fun, So I Will Not Bet.

Each of them had a wall to paint, and they had to cover the WHOLE wall, roof and all.

"I'll tell you one thing," Mistoffelees said. "I'm never touching paint again!" He growled. Mungojerrie looked over at him, and dipped his paintbrush into the pail, and flicked his paintbrush, dotting the small tom in green.

"MUNGO!" Mistoffelees growled, and did the same, accidentally hitting Alonzo.

"Misto, please, tell me that WASN'T YOU!" He picked up his pail, and tossed it into the air. Mistoff gulped, as the bucket came down on top of his head, splashing most onto Bombalurina.

"AH!" She cried, and tossed her bucket onto Alonzo, also hitting Mungojerrie. Mungojerrie picked up his bucket, and dumped it all over Bombalurina.

Soon the group was rolling around in the green paint, hissing and biting.

"Oh everlasting cat!" Old Deuteronomy cried from behind them. He gazed in awe at the scene before him as the cats froze.

Alonzo was on his stomach, his right arm was wrapped around Bomby's left leg. His other was holding onto Mungojerrie's tail. His own tail was in Mistoffelees's mouth. Mistoff was on Bomby's back, his paw was pulling Mungojerrie's ear. His tail was being twisted by Bomby. Mungojerrie's arms were wrapped around Bomby's waist, and he was stepping on Alonzo's back. One of his paws was on Bomby's collar.

The whole group was dripping with green paint.

Old Deuteronomy turned, and left.