Chapter 19 – Rise of Napoleon

Macavity, the Mystery Cat; mysterious in his antics and delinquent behavior. At first. No one could figure out how he got away with his tricks and jokes, but they hardly considered him a simple prankster. Pouncival was a prankster. Tugger could be a prankster at times. Even Etcetera could manage a prank or two. No, he was different. He was a deviant type of prankster, delinquent in his ways, and aiming to humiliate and harm the ones he sought out as his prey.

Sure, he calmed down a bit after he was told to, but only in the frequency of his attacks. They became more and more intricate, subtle and obscure until the moment someone realized what had happened to them. And by the time they realized what he had done, Macavity wasn't there.

Of course, we all know of the one time when he wanted to get caught, to show the tribe his power. "You're exiled from this tribe. You are not to contact any members of the Jellicles, and do not attempt to come back." And like that, they destroyed his life.

After Munkustrap and Alonzo ran the young cat out of the tribe, he raced down the streets and disappeared from their view. But he watched as the two cats caught their breath and went back into the junkyard he once could call home. "Damn," he said to himself, before looking himself over. He had two scratches on him. TWO WHOLE SCRATCHES that tiny kitten was able to get off before Macavity rightfully put him in his place. But no one cared about his wounds, now did they?

For a while, all he could think to do was pace and curse under his breath, angry and blood boiling, looking for someone to appropriately blame for his banishment. That kitten, that damn kitten, should not have MADE him fight. What's more, he should have put up a better fight, if it didn't want to get so hurt. And that silver tabby should have been doing his job in the first place, if he was so proud of it… That stupid brother of his was always getting things he didn't deserve, always getting attention that made his head big, and built up to some great protector that he hardly was. That position should have been his.

That brainless Bombalurina, being so sexy yet so dim-witted. That's probably what led the cat in to begin with! She was nice to have around, as he knew the other toms were jealous of him for having the attention of the most beautiful queen in the tribe, but that was hardly a prize he could revel in if he had to put up with no loyalty from his former "lackey".

Then there was his grandfather…Old Deuteronomy. Banishing his own grandson from the tribe he was born in! The old cat should drop dead from his senseless disregard for his own progeny. He only hoped that the sorry excuse for a bear rug would realize what he had done and in his grief, slowly wither and die…or somehow get electrocuted. (That would be more interesting.) Always defending the kittens that weren't even related to him…

Like that Demeter. What use was it having power over a cat that had a mind of her own? She threw him into the lions den and watched as the cats tried to tear him apart. Not that he would have ever defended her in the same situation, but he thought he had her loyalty. She was supposed to be under his control. She was supposed to be the perfect alibi.

But no, she was too busy huddling against that brother of his. Using his trial as an excuse to rub up against his brother! That shouldn't have happened. She should have been GRATEFUL to him for saving her and her sister. She should have been fawning all over HIM instead of that Munkustrap. But Munkustrap always got the attention. He always got the praise. And even though he spent so much energy trying to keep the prize of the queen Demeter away from the undeserving Munkustrap, just to see him boil in anger and writhe in agony, he still won in the end! No…that shouldn't be.

As he fumed and paced, staring at the junkyard that got darker with the end of the day coming near, he realized he had never found himself without a place to sleep. With a snort of annoyance, he trudged off, looking for a good place to rest. He could let his anger broil later…he would get them back.

Days past, and the new street cat found himself having trouble coping. Every time he tried to enter a place to sleep, it seemed another alley cat had that place taken already. Most of the time, his show of strength was enough, but there were times when he met a cat just as powerful as he was. Every time he lost, he didn't lose gracefully. He didn't like losing. It took him quite a while to figure out that there are times when you had to back down, which was something he despised.

Finding food was another thing. Digging out of garbage was not something he looked forward to, and often times half expected food to be laid out for him whenever he felt the slightest twinge of hunger. But no, there was no magic in the real world (Or Jennyanydots to provide food that he could steal from the younger kittens). Even his powers of levitation would not do the work of sifting through the garbage for him.

So it was a stroke of luck when he saw a human putting out food for some hungry kittens who seemed to frequent the area. Perfect. In his hunger for some real food, he tried the direct approach, waltzing right up to the food, causing some kittens to scatter. But the human who was feeding them did not like that at all. (After all, seeing a huge red and ginger cat strolling up, fur matted and in complete disarray, and with a look about him that said he would tear up your favorite teddy bear without a single qualm scared most humans.) When she whacked him with a broom, he was tempted to grab it and whack her back with it.

But no, he could hardly take on a human. So he went with what he did best.

He watched the kittens with a sinister smile as they went to enjoy their food. Then, the porch light flickered ominously before the entire bulb lit up extremely bright, and then exploded. The woman screeched and held up her hands to protect herself, while the kittens raced away as fast as they could.

When she looked back down, Macavity was very deliberately eating the food slowly, his eyes staring up at her as though to say, "Go ahead…try it again." The woman raced to grab her broom, but was completely astonished at the fact that it had been broken into five different pieces, and the bristles of the broom were littered across the room.

When the woman finally regained her senses, she saw that the cat, along with the bowl of food, was missing.

Slowly, the cat learned how to live as a stray. It seemed he was born to try his life on the streets, as he was growing stronger and more cunning. But he hated life outside of the junkyard all the same. In the junkyard, he had a lot of time to pass, sure, but he was hardly ever bored. Between learning of all the aspects of his power, how to gain respect, how to create alibi's, how to make others do what he wants with manipulation, thinking of new forms of humiliation and its appropriate alibi, building up strength, and putting his concepts into corporeal form, he never had a dull moment. And that mind of his was always working.

Of course, being on the streets spent a lot of energy he otherwise had pent up in him at the junkyard. But what he would have loved was a cross between the two, where he could use his mind and his strength. He longed for this. With every cat he fought, he wished for security that he once knew. With every wound he cleaned, he wished he had time to truly clean them without having to worry about defending his new territory. Everyday, there was some new threat to his being, and the feeling of no respect and constant stress was getting to him.

So it was in this mind-numbing state of limbo, trapped between life and death everyday, pathetically wishing for more, that he ran into the problem that would change his life.

Dusk was coming, and his body that once felt like it could walk for days now felt in need of rest. When he was looking for a place to rest for the night, he realized that five cats had put themselves in his way. "Move," he said simply.

"Is this the one?" asked the biggest cat, a black cat with white paws that was very large and had one eye that seemed to be permanently shut. The old scratch marks around his face told Macavity what he needed to know…he was a bad fighter.

"Yeah," said a calico cat that looked surprisingly familiar. When Macavity realized where he had seen this cat before, he felt the blood boil in his veins. The reason he had gotten kicked out of the tribe…and the pathetic kitten had the gall to survive!

The other cats knew what to do. They raced up to the ginger cat and grabbed him. They hardly needed to drag the cat who simply gave into the fact that the cats had ganged up on him. He wasn't going to waste his energy struggling against three cats he could easily beat in a "fair" fight.

Macavity was taken to a warehouse, two stories high, and lots of cats seemed to live here. The smell of rank garbage filled the air, but he hardly cared. He wanted to know what fate they had planned for him.

The white mittened cat smiled arrogantly as he took his place at the top of the window where he addressed his tribe. "This is the infamous cat that nearly killed one of our kittens. Today, that kitten is a cat, and has a chance to face the cat that nearly took his life. Tell me, what do you think of him now that he's outnumbered a hundred to one?"

The once bloody calico took a look at Macavity, smug and happy to see him put in his place. He took a swipe at Macavity, but he hardly moved at the fake threat. The other cats laughed, though, apparently thinking in their minds that he simply took the hit. The cat hadn't hit the ginger cat at all, and frankly, the Hidden Paw was not too happy at being laughed at. "He's not so tough anymore," the cat confessed to his leader.

"Do you want to fight him?" the mitten cat asked him. The other looked up at the leader in horror as the other cats laughed at him. The calico then slinked away. "I would ask you your name but it hardly matters. You're going to die in a few moments anyways."

By the looks of things, it seemed a few cats were waiting for the signal to attack. "You're not going to fight me yourself?" Macavity yelled up at the cat, suddenly frustrated. Imagine, trying to prove that he was this great leader of a tribe, and having others do the work? He thought the whole thing was ridiculous, and tried his best to goat the cat to look into his eyes. "Don't you think it a might cowardly to send others after your prey? A lion having the lionesses fight for him?" Obviously, they didn't get the analogy, for the cats stared blankly. Macavity let out a short sigh…they can't even pick up some of the garbage and learn how to read human language? (After you break the code, it's not that difficult…)

"I'm saying you're having your queens do the work for you while you sit on your tail all day and take all the glory!" A few of the queens nearby made a huff, staring up at their leader as though seeing him in a new light. One of the cats who standing by, ready to maul him, happened to be a queen. She seemed to disappear into the crowd after that statement.

"I'm not a coward," the cat said hotly. He then turned around and jumped down from his windowsill. Things were quiet for a moment as they waited for the leader to come out the front door. They waited a few moments, Macavity looking bored and waiting for the white-pawed cat's grand entrance. Finally, he came out the door with an arrogant look on his face.

"Scared of heights?" Macavity asked the cat smugly. The cat glared with his one good eye. "You could have easily leaped from that pile of boxes down onto those crates and onto the garbage can, without having to go around and take the stairs," Macavity pointed out each item as he said it, and some of the cats in the tribe laughed before biting back their amusement. The leader in question looked up at what the ginger cat referred to, before turning his poorly hidden embarrassment into anger.

"I'll fight you right here," the white-pawed cat said. Macavity inwardly mocked the genetically bred mittens on the cats' coat, but didn't want to waste his breath on this meaningless feline. It was time to fight this overgrown house cat, and show him who was superior.

It was there that the lady Griddlebone first saw Macavity. She had crept out of her tiny hole and looked down at the cat who dared to insult and then take on the leader of her tribe. She was hardly as glamorous as she would later appear, as she had been dragged about for the sake of her beautiful fur. She had a clever mind in that pretty head of hers, and the other cats hated her for it. Before Macavity came into the tribe, wits were something that only humans had. Strength was all that mattered to these cats, and Griddlebone was definitely on the lower half of that spectrum.

The white cat seemed to be alone in the warehouse as all the cats had rushed outside to see the fall of a strong cat. The fight was bloody, and the tall and thin ginger cat proved himself to be very strong. But the leader of their tribe did not want to lose. If he lost in front of all of his subordinates, it would be a fate worse than death. And so, the black and white leader fought the bright ginger and red cat, both stained in blood and riddled with scratches, until Macavity went in for the kill, biting the leader in the neck. The cat went lifeless, and all the cats in the junkyard watched in shock that their leader had been killed.

In the tense moments that followed, Macavity stared down at the work he had done. Griddlebone could recognize the look on his face. It was the first time he had killed another cat. She saw it many times in this tribe. (It was the reactions that were always different, though.) And this cat, though he seemed to be such a fiendish, terrible cat, couldn't grasp at the moment what he had done. She may have known nothing about him, but she knew she had to do something before he showed his weakness to the rest of the tribe and be killed right then and there.

Jumping out the window, onto the path Macavity had previously pointed out, Griddlebone risked her safety in this one gamble. This cat (the one that would soon rise to be the Napoleon of crime) could change this tribe, could save her well-being. If either of them made the wrong move in this moment of mass shock, they would both die.

Griddlebone stood next to the bloody cat, not caring that her white coat got stained in red. She lifted his paw and spoke in a voice she didn't realize she had. "This cat has rightfully challenged the tribe leader and came out the victor. He has proved himself the strongest cat in the tribe, and as such, should become our leader. Those who do not agree will face the wrath of the new leader." Not giving them a choice seemed the best way to go about it, while they were all in a haze at the death of their tribe head. Giving them the thought of a new reign was a risk, but it was all she could think of in the chaos of loss that could save them.

Slowly, the faces of the cats that surrounded the two seemed to grasp what had happened, and complied with their new leadership. When all the cats had seemed to agree, the only noise that could be heard was the whimpering of the calico that inadvertently caused the death of his leader.

Griddlebone looked Macavity over, who seemed to have regained his composure. He looked over to her in a look of what seemed to be relief. There were things said, orders wrung out, compliances, and subservience. But neither cat remembered that. All they remembered was that was the night both their lives changed.

One for the better.

One for the worse.

A/N: Please don't be confused by the fact that it's now focusing on Macavity even though it's Demeter's life. It ties back to her, I swear! Hehe...((nervous laugh))

Satin: Is this fast enough update? ((rubs her arm where she was prodded))
Demo: Wow! You got it right off the bat, the whole Macavity thing. ((But I say too much!)) And I love Rumpleteazer too. She's such a cutey, and my favorite female. So yeah, I'll use her as much as I can ((wink))
Krissy4: I've had that glitch before...that's the whole reason I created an account to begin with, hehe. And it still didn't take my review. ((comfort)) Well, now I have anonymous reviews. I didn't realize you could fix that. It's kinda like how I recently discovered the "stats" function. LOVE IT! Makes me very happy. Lol, and I thought you would hate me for making them brother and sister. But I was wrong...Must work on my assumptions.