As Tugger pulled her round a corner, a human stepped across their path, a net in his hands. Tugger pulled Electra away from him, only to find their way blocked by another human. With a menacing swish, the net swooped down on their heads. Tugger hissed, and tried to get Electra away from the net, but her hind paw caught on a stone, and she was pulled over, losing hold of the tom's paw. A second later, the human brought the net holding the kitten up to his level, grasped Electra by the scruff of her neck, lifted her out, and dumped her into a cage.

The kitten mewed desperately for Tugger, but he was sprinting back for help as fast as he could. Electra mewed again, then squealed with fright when, with a sudden lurch that pitched her sideways, the human lifted the basket up, and placed it in a vehicle. Then, the doors were closed with a slam, and the next thing Electra knew, she was moving, being transported to an unknown place, that she had been told of, and feared.

Tugger raced back into the Junkyard, smelt that there were still humans around, and hid under an old bed. About ten minutes later, when he heard a yell of 'All clear!', he dashed out from under the bed, and proceeded to the main area of the Junkyard, where the cats were slowly coming out of hiding. The lion-cat noticed Munkustrap standing in the middle of the Junkyard, watching the cats come into the open, and strode over to him. The silver tabby turned his attention to Tugger, when the lion-like tom reached him, and Tugger said "Anyone missing, that you know of?"

"Yes," replied Munk, frowning ", I saw the humans take Etcetera, Pouncival, and Kardia's youngest, Nextia. How about you?"

"Yeah. I tried to get Electra away from the humans, but she fell over, and they got her. I rushed back here, but I expect they've already taken her to the pound."

Munkustrap gave him a despairing look, but then Jelly, Jenny and Alonzo came up to them and gave Munk more bad news: Victoria, Mungo and Rumpel, and Cassandra had also been taken, and Plato had gone missing. The sleek tom immediately vanished from the Junkyard to look for his friend, but the rest of the cats just had to wait, and hope that the captured Jellicles would soon return to them.

Electra, curled up in the corner of her cage, had at first been frozen with fear, but now, as she began to get used the swaying motion of the vehicle, she realised that she was not alone. She guessed that there were probably other cages around her, and that most probably held other Jellicles. Hesit-ating only for a second, Electra mewed into the darkness, and her heart jumped for joy when another kitten answered, for she recognised the mew as Etcetera's. Seconds later, three more cats answered her; Nextia, Pounce and Vicki. El mewed again, and more cats answered. Through a series of miaows, Electra found out that Cassie, Mungo, Rumpel and Plato had also been caught. But it did not trouble her; at least now she had someone to talk to.

About five minutes later, the van came to juddering halt. The cages were then lifted out of the van, and carried into a rather dismal-looking building. Electra mewed pitifully when she saw the outside, but that was nothing compared to the interior of the building. When Electra's cage was carried inside, she mewed even louder, and huddled, depressed, in the corner of her cage, but no matter what she did, the scene did not disappear; two dozen cages, all lined up, and nearly all of them containing a howling, barking or whimpering dog.

Behind her, Electra heard Plato hissing, and Etcetera and Nextia crying. As she passed a cage near the end, a vicious-looking Alsatian jumped at the wire, snarling, and snapping its large, shiny fangs. Electra hissed at it for all it was worth, but before she could finish her hissing, the human opened a door, and carried her cage. Through this room, the sight was even worse. There were cages, as before, but they were smaller, and, this time, held cats. Cats of all ages, sizes and breeds miaowed at the kitten, while scratching at the wire mesh of their pens, desperate to get out. Electra shrunk down even lower, wishing she were back in the Junkyard. She was so preoccupied in her own thoughts that she didn't notice the human placing the cage down and lifting the lid up. Before she could protest, the human had her by the scruff of the neck, and was lifting her out, placing her in a cage and locking the door.

Once El had gotten over her shock, she scrambled to her feet and ran to the front of her cage, where she could just see Etcetera and Tia being lifted from their carrier and placed in the same cage. 'Lucky gits!' thought El jealously, but she didn't have much time to contemplate. A human was coming over to her cage - holding Rumpel! Although the trouble-maker wasn't El's first choice of pen-mate, at least now she would have someone to talk to. However, when Rumpel had been dumped in the pen, and the door had been closed again, she just pouted at Electra, before saying, huffily "Oh, great, I had ta ge' stuck with you, didn'a I! Electra, the poor li'l orphan dreamer!"

Electra just stopped a hiss escaping her lips, before saying, as calmly as she could "Yeah, well you weren't my first choice either, Rumpel, but-"

"Don' call me 'Rumpel'," snapped the other kitten, rather fiercely ",i's 'Rumpelteazer' ta you!"

Electra drew back, hurt, but soon gave it up; it was obvious that Rumpelteazer wasn't going to talk to her. Sighing, the tortie kitten slunk to the back of the pen, and curled up in the corner, hoping against hope that a human would come and take her very soon.

Three days later, Electra still didn't have her wish. The only cats to have been given homes were Mungo, Rumpel, Vicki and Cassie. El was sitting alone in her cage, when the door opened…

…and a human placed a very subdued-looking Tugger into her cage! El just stopped a squeal escaping her lips; she figured the humans might get suspicious. From the other side of the row of cages, Electra could just see Etcetera, pressed to the wire mesh, a look of ultimate jealousy on her face.

Ignoring her friend, El turned to Tugger, who was still looking upset about something. Slowly, the kitten moved towards him, paw out-stretched, only to be rebuked by a hiss. She considered trying again, but decided against it. She was very concerned about him, just sitting there, staring at nothing, but as she was about to ask him what was wrong, he sighed, stood up and slunk into the far corner of the pen, where he lay down with his back to her.

Electra stared sadly at him for a moment or two, her head buzzing. "Why is he so upset? What's happened?"

Little did she know how soon these questions would be answered…