Three days later, Mistoffelees sighed as he sat in his favorite clearing with Alonzo. It had been three whole days, and not a word from Victoria since he left her after she had fallen asleep. "What am I going to do, Alonzo?" Mistoffelees asked his best (and only) friend. "It's been three days and she hasn't said anything to me. Whenever she sees me, she turns around and goes in the other direction. Do you think she hates me now?" His eyes pleaded with Alonzo. "I don't know what to do!"
Alonzo sat and pondered for a moment. When he finally opened his mouth, he asked, "Do you think she hates you? Honestly."
Mistoffelees sighed and looked away. "No. If she hated me, she would have been much meaner to me. I guess she's still in shock. I mean, look at me!" He held out his paw and gathered sparks around it. "I'm a freak! She must think I'm some kind of evil criminal cat! What was I thinking, showing her my power?" he said as he clonked his head against a nearby tire.
Alonzo was the very picture of patience with his lovestruck friend. "Look, Mistoffelees, I don't really think she thinks that way. For one thing, she hasn't said anything to you, so it's still possible that she just doesn't know what to say. For another, if she really thought you were some kind of dangerous criminal, she would have told Munkustrap and Old Deuteronomy, and you wouldn't be here right now. And really, think about it. Have you seen her talking to anyone a lot lately?"
Mistoffelees thought about it. Come to think of it, Victoria hadn't been conversing with other cats as much as she normally would. Maybe she just couldn't think of what to say. But that still left him with his original problem. "Alonzo," he said softly, "I can't keep this up! Waiting here for her to tell me something! This is torture. I have to do something, Alonzo. What am I going to do?"
"Well, there was always the original idea."
"And that was?"
Alonzo stared at him with a look that said, "You know what I mean."
Mistoffelees remembered. A look of terror spread across his face, and he muttered, "No way! I couldn't! Not after how she reacted!"
Alonzo still had that look on his face as he said, "Mistoffelees, you said yourself that you couldn't sit here and do nothing. Besides, you know we have a very accepting tribe. Look at how many strays we've taken in over just the past month!" Mistoffelees still sat there, feeling sorry for himself, but Alonzo knew that his words had not fallen on deaf ears. "Mistoffelees," he said, "Is she worth it?"
There was a long pause before Mistoffelees finally looked Alonzo straight in the eye and said firmly, "Yes, she's worth it."
The next day, the junkyard was the bustle of activity that it normally was. The older queens sat on the car trunk crocheting, the younger kittens played "catch the tail" with Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer (who were really kittens at heart themselves), and Munkustrap sat above all, guarding the tribe and looking protective. Only one cat was doing something out of the ordinary. Victoria sat atop a high junkpile, looking forlorn. Little did she realize that she would soon be joined in her abnormality by the one tom who had had his eyes on her the longest.
"PLATO!" the call rang out across the clearing.
All movement ceased. The queens looked up from their sewing, and the kittens even managed to pull themselves away from their game. All was quiet save for the soft patter of pawsteps as Mistoffelees made his way to the center. He then stopped, looked around, took a deep breath, and, trying to subdue his inner terror, called out, "Plato! I challenge you for the right to be Victoria's mate!"
If the junkyard was still before, it was a graveyard now. Absolutely all movement ceased, and the only sounds were that of the wind and the occasional chirp of a nearby bird. Finally, Plato, who had been playing around with the kittens, stood up to his full imposing height and answered, "What do you want with Victoria?"
Mistoffelees swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and called back, "I love her."
Well, he was certainly stuck now! Everyone knew the tradition: if a tomcat desired another's mate, he had the right to challenge that cat to a duel to determine who the queen would mate with. While it was hardly ever used (more civilized cats considered the custom barbarian), it was still just as valid as it was one hundred years ago. And once you had made that challenge, you couldn't back down! So now poor Mistoffelees was irrevocably stuck in this fight until either one of them surrendered, or one was dead.
Poor Mistoffelees was really shaking now. Why in the world was he crazy enough to make this stupid challenge! He glanced over to Alonzo for support, only to see him pointing high up somewhere. Searching for the object to which he was pointing, he not only found it, but the reason for making the stupid challenge.
Victoria.
Renewed in his resolve, Mistoffelees strode over to Plato and said to him, "I love Victoria more than you ever can, and I can do more for her than you ever will. I challenge you for the right to be her mate!"
He wasn't sure what exactly he expected Plato to do after he said that, but laughing wasn't it.
"YOU!" Plato cackled, "YOU! You, little kitten, expect to challenge ME? And WIN!" Plato was almost ripping at the seams, he was laughing so hard. "Okay, tell you what," he whispered as the laughter subsided. "I'll let you back down now and let you keep your dignity."
Well, here was his chance. If he wanted to back down, this was his chance to do it. He could still get away, no harm done, no feelings hurt (except maybe his own). It was so tempting to just give it all up! There was no way he could beat Plato in tooth-to-claw combat. And even with the ace up his sleeve (so to speak), he was running a high risk of ... well, he didn't was to think about that. He glanced up at Victoria one more time. If he won, it would all be worth it.
"Plato," he whispered, putting as much menace in his voice as he possibly could, "I'm serious. I mean to challenge you, and I mean to win!"
"OOF!"
All of a sudden, Plato did not find this funny anymore, and had knocked our hero to the ground, catching him completely off guard, or else he might have done something to prevent his tail from hitting the ground much to hard and fast. But there was no time to think about his poor tail; Plato was already coming toward him. Mistoffelees was on his feet in a second, but he was not quick enough to prevent the larger tom from pouncing on him and pinning him to the ground. Struggle as he might, Mistoffelees could not get free. Plato leaned over and whispered in his ear, "You wimp. Victoria is mine. She would never mate with the likes of you."
That. Was. It.
It was time to pull out the ace.
Mistoffelees surprised his attacker when he stopped struggling and sweat came to his brow, but that was not nearly as surprising as what he did next. Mistoffelees called on the current of power rushing deep within him, calling on its magic to come fill his every pore with the power to do whatever he demanded of it. He called on that power to increase his strength, and increase it it did, until little Mistoffelees was strong enough to push the giant Plato off of him.
As Plato hit the ground a few feet away, Mistoffelees slowly struggled to his feet. He had better beat Plato quickly, because he wasn't going to be able to keep up this type of magic for very long. He advanced on the larger cat, trying to take him out while he was down, but as soon as he was close enough Plato kicked him hard in the chest with both feet, sending the tuxedo flying. He hit an oil drum hard, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to lose the concentration it took to keep up his extra strength. He didn't have enough power to make it look that smooth anymore, so any hope of beating Plato without revealing his powers to the tribe was fading quickly.
But there was still hope.
"I don't know where that second wind came from, kitten, but you're gonna pay for knocking me down like that," Plato declared as he advanced on Mistoffelees. "No one knocks me down like that!" He was coming closer and closer, and raised his fist to knock Misto's lights out, but as soon as he was close enough, Mistoffelees reached out with both paws and rammed Plato with magic, hard enough to make him stagger back a few steps.
"Whoa!" Plato cried, "What the hell did you just do!" He hadn't felt Misto's paws on him, but he definitely felt something.
"I pushed you," Mistoffelees retorted calmly, the picture of innocence. He had done the trick when Plato was close enough to him that to the other cats, it just looked like Mistoffelees had reached out and pushed him, or so he hoped. Plato however, knew that he had never felt Misto's paws on his chest; so Mistoffelees hoped that as long as he kept up the idea that he had simply pushed Plato (albeit abnormally hard for a cat his size) that the other cats watching the fight just wouldn't make a big deal out of it.
Unfortunately, Plato was trying very hard to thwart his plans.
"Hey, pipsqueak!" he called as he advanced toward our tuxedoed hero. "There's no way that was a push! You did something! I know you did! You -"
"Aww, pipe down, Plato! Mistoffelees pushed you! We all saw it! So give it a rest already!"
Mistoffelees looked around to see who his champion was, and thanked Heavyside that Alonzo was on his side.
But suddenly, he was pinned to the ground once more, with the towering tomcat on top of him! Plato had taken advantage of Misto's momentary distraction to pin him to the ground, and now there was nothing else to do! He didn't have enough power left to increase his strength without letting his fur glow, and if that happened, all would be lost immediately. He couldn't really do the power-ramming thing again, because it would only enforce Plato's suspicion that Mistoffelees had not really pushed him. He only had one other option left, and if he did that, there was no going back...
Wait! He could always just surrender! That was still an option! Then he looked over to Victoria, still sitting atop the junkpile and watching the whole thing in horror. No, he couldn't surrender, because then his chances with the queen of his dreams would be even worse than they were now. She would never mate with a wimp.
Then again, would she want to mate with what he really was?
There was no time to think about that. Plato was pressing down on him, going for the throat. Mistoffelees decided then that even if he did surrender, he would probably die anyway, considering how mad Plato was. There was only one thing left to do.
In a flash of blue smoke and light, Mistoffelees suddenly teleported a few feet away from the cat who wanted to kill him, arms poises and ready to cast another spell. Plato, too confused to think straight, let his brawn do the thinking for him as he charged on Mistoffelees, claws out and ready to kill. Mistoffelees let loose a powerful bolt of blue lightning that hit the other tom square in the chest. Plato was dazed, but still not thinking, and kept charging. Mistoffelees let loose another bolt. This one hit Plato in the head. He stopped right where he was; his knees turned to jelly, his eyes turned skyward, and he hit the ground.
Hard.
"Hey!" someone in the crowd called out. "How'd he do that! He can't do that! That's cheating, or something!"
Uh oh, Mistoffelees thought as he looked around. Other cats were starting to agree. This wasn't good. He didn't really want to hurt Plato that bad! He had hoped the other cats would be somewhat forgiving and receptive, but now that he thought about it, it didn't seem they would be so kind. What was he thinking? Now, as there started to be quite a commotion, poor Mistoffelees started wishing very hard that he was anywhere other than where he was.
"Now, now, everyone, please calm down," a surprisingly soothing voice called out over the yard. Mistoffelees spun around to find Old Deuteronomy taking center stage on the tire, and trying to address the crowd assembled. Suddenly, all was quiet again, and Old Deuteronomy continued, "That's better. Now, first things first. Jennyanydots? Can you see if Plato is all right?"
Jennyanydots nodded, and grimly walked over to the collapsed tom. She knew what she was likely to find, but she still hoped for the best. Grimacing, she put her ear on Plato's chest for a second.
He was not breathing, and there was no heartbeat.
Very solemnly, Jennyanydots stood up and paced over to Old Deuteronomy. When she stood in front of him, she shook her head slowly and grimly.
Plato was dead.
Shock gripped the junkyard like a fist. There was a tangible sense of loss when everyone realized that one of their best friends would never come back to the junkyard again.
But when the initial shock wore off a second later, everyone remembered the cause of the loss, and dozens of pairs of eyes suddenly turned toward Mistoffelees. To them, he had cheated; magic was evil, and to them, it was the cause of their friend's death. Mistoffelees was the embodiment of all the evil they had heard stories about since they were kittens.
Mistoffelees had to go.
"Deuteronomy!" Bombalurina called out. "Mistoffelees has killed Plato! You know the rules! He must be banished!" From the resulting cheers, it appeared that everyone agreed with her. When Old Deuteronomy made no move, Bomba continued: "Well, aren't you going to banish him?"
"It was a challenge!" Alonzo cried out in Misto's defense. "It's supposed to be a fight to the death! He just won!"
But Alonzo was soon shushed by cries of, "No he didn't!" "Magic is cheating!" "He can't have magic!" "Why didn't he tell anyone he was magical!" "He should be banished just for the magic!" And the worst of all: "Magical cats are evil! He should die!"
Mistoffelees started backing away, his eyes wide and terrified. Uh oh. This was not going well at all. Oh, why hadn't he just forgotten all about Victoria and kept his secret to himself! He shouldn't have made that stupid challenge, and he knew it! He looked up at Victoria, still atop that high junkpile and looking very nervous.
Old Deuteronomy addressed the crowd: "There has been a call to banish the cat Mistoffelees. By Jellicle law, he has killed another and should be banished." He looked out with sympathy in his eyes. "However, the death occurred during a challenge, which normally makes him immune to such punishments. However," and he looked sternly at Mistoffelees, "There is a complication."
Mistoffelees gulped.
Old Deuteronomy went on: "It would seem that Mistoffelees possesses the ability to use magic. He must have known that he could kill Plato easily. Therefore, we have a problem." He looked out at the crowd and spoke solemnly: "I will tell you frankly, I am inclined to forgive Mistoffelees."
Immediately a cry arose from the infuriated cats. They didn't want a magical cat around! But Old Deuteronomy quickly silenced them. "However," he continued, "Because the general consensus is for banishment" - he purposefully avoided mentioning death - "I will give you a deal, Mistoffelees. If three cats can find it in their hearts to forgive you, you may stay, unharmed."
A few of the cats protested, but they were soon silenced. Mistoffelees nodded slowly and solemnly to Old Deuteronomy; this may be the the best chance he had to stay in the junkyard. He didn't dare argue. He turned around to face the rest of the cats assembled, his eyes almost welling with tears, begging the other cats to forgive him. He shrugged softly to them, as if to say, "Please?"
Most looked on at him with hatred. In their minds, he was not the sweet, though reclusive young tom he once was. Their minds were filled with established hatred for magical cats.
The Rum Tum Tugger was first to speak. He stepped forward and called, "I want Mistoffelees to stay! So what if he has magic? That doesn't make him a different cat! He followed all the rules for a challenge, and I for one don't see any reason for him to be banished! Eh?" he asked, and looked at the other cats expectantly. A few felt a little embarrassed that they had called to banish Mistoffelees, but The Rum Tum Tugger stood up for him. However, most still could not find it in their hearts to forgive Mistoffelees for killing Plato. (Etcetera, seeing Tugger's response, immediately tried to stand up for the poor tuxedo, but she was shushed by the protective Jellylorum standing over her.)
Alonzo was next to stand. "Mistoffelees isn't a threat to anybody! He's had his powers all his life, and he hasn't used them to ..." He trailed off as he remembered the events that had led up to this. He sheepishly cowered a bit, and muttered, "Well, I still think he should stay. So that's two!"
Mistoffelees sent Alonzo a warm smile, to thank him for making a fool out of himself for his sake. Still, that was only two. Mistoffelees would need the consent of three cats if he was going to be able to stay in the junkyard. He gazed over the crowd pleadingly. Most still stared back with hatred evident on their faces. They didn't want a magical cat around. He looked to Old Deuteronomy: he was seated on the tire, frowning in disappointment in Mistoffelees. He would find no help there.
As a last resort, he looked up at the one other cat who had prior knowledge of his powers. Victoria still sat atop a high junkpile, watching the terrible scene unfold. Her eyes were wide with fright and disbelief, trying to convey the one question that haunted her mind: "Why, Mistoffelees? Why?" Mistoffelees could only gaze back, his eyes pleading hers to take a stand and let him stay. He only needed one more cat's consent: Victoria could be that one!
But Victoria did nothing.
Mistoffelees looked down dejectedly, and muttered, "I'll go now." And in a puff of smoke, he was gone.
