A.N. And I'm back so soon! I wanted to give a shout out to another of my fabulous reviewers whose review I didn't see until I had already posted Chapter 2. Thank you to BlueSky509 for reviewing!

I do know that a lot of people don't capitalize Tom and Queen, but somewhere I just picked it up. I don't know how, but I did.

Anywho, again, you will not find out who saved Coricopat. I'll probably reveal it around chapter 6 or 7. Hopefully, you will have guessed it by then.

And thanks to BlueSky509 for suggesting I add some henchcat banter! I had some planned for a few of the later chapters, but I have added a little more.

In other words, I own all cats in Macavity's Empire except Griddlebone, if I end up putting her in this story. But Silas, Bruno, Jasper, Evangeline, Cyri, Kora, and everyone else belongs to me!

Enjoy! R&R!

Coricopat's jaw nearly dropped to the ground. Macavity was going to train him to fight as a henchcat? And he thought Coricopat would just…go along with it? He was possibly even more insane then the Jellicles had originally thought.

"I am not-"

His protest was cut off by another sharp kick, this time to his knee. He winced inwardly, taking the pain. But in his mind, he was leaping to his feet, protesting violently. He was slashing at every cat near him, claws cutting into them. He was-

"Excuse me? Train a Jellicle? They are permanently brain-washed from birth. They can't fight!"

Coricopat raised his head to protest against the Queen, but, without even looking at him, the Queen raised one finger threateningly.

"You say a single word against me at this point, and you will never have kits."

Coricopat immediately closed his mouth, eyes widening. Bruno, the black and gray Tom, folded his arms in an annoyed fashion.

"I'm just tellin' you what the boss said. Not my orders, but you'd best attempt to follow them before you go complainin' to 'im."

The Queen glared at Bruno for a moment before slapping him across the face. Her eyes narrowed even more, almost thin green slits.

"Fine," she growled. "I will attempt to train this…I'll respect you and call you a Tom. But if I can't get him to fight, Mac is gonna hear some serious shit from me."

Bruno smirked and shrugged, turning to leave.

"Whatever you say, Vangie."

At this point, Coricopat had let his face flop straight into the dirt. The Queen gave his shoulder a slight nudge with her foot.

"Up. Now."

Reluctantly, Coricopat heaved himself to his feet. He gazed miserably at the Queen, a fraction of the hope gone from his eyes. The Queen began to pace in a circle around him, looking him up and down. She dug one of her back claws into the tip of his tail. Coricopat hissed, turning on the Queen. She smirked.

"Now that I have you awake, how about I see how terrible your Jellicle fighting skills are?"

She crouched low into a fighting stance. Coricopat mimicked her stance, green eyes narrowing at the Queen. There were a few seconds of silence and stillness before the Queen made the first move, jabbing at his stomach with her claws out. Coricopat leaned backwards, narrowly avoiding the blow. Coricopat leaned backwards, narrowly avoiding the blow. This seemed to anger the Queen. She had probably expected him to fail immediately. She hissed, sweeping one leg underneath his feet, causing the dark calico to fall, hitting the ground hard. He growled, kicking out one back leg. His foot hit the Queen in the stomach, knocking the breath out of her and causing her to stagger back a few feet. Letting out a vicious snarl, the Queen tackled him. The two cats became a tangled, rolling mess of fur and claws, yowling and scratching at each other.

A tortoiseshell Tom quickly caught sight of them. He rushed over, an almost identical tortoiseshell Queen following close behind. They each grabbed one cat, yanking the fighting pair apart. The Tom ended up holding the Queen around the waist, stumbling as she still kicked and scratched at the air. The tortoiseshell Queen was struggling to hold Coricopat back, one paw holding his tail and one arm around his neck in a choke hold.

"Break it up you two!" the Queen yelled, tightening her grasp on Coricopat.

"Evangeline, for EC's sake, stop kicking! You're gonna make me fall!" the Tom yelled, equally tightening his grip on the Queen.

He stopped his yelling at the Queen to stare at the tortoiseshell Queen. She had released Coricopat's tail and was now fiddling with his headfur. Coricopat was staring nervously at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Bri, what the hell are you doing?" the Tom asked impatiently.

The Queen, now known as Bri, smiled distractedly, still playing with the dark calico's fur.

"His fur is pretty…he's kinda cute."

The Tom groaned, banging his head against the Queen's back. She narrowed her eyes, looking like she would rip the Tom apart.

"Dear EC, Bri!Leave the poor Tom alone!"

"But Bryyyyyyn," Bri protested. "He's so soft, and shiny! And he smells like marigold!"

"Bri just let go of him! You're acting stupid!"

Bri attached herself to Coricopat, winding her legs around his torso.

"No. You're stupid."

The Tom sighed realizing it was pointless. He leaned forward over the Queen's shoulder, now addressing Coricopat

"I'm sorry, mate. She…well she's just…Bri. Not much more I can say. Humor her-"

"Bryn," the Queen interrupted through gritted teeth. "Let. Go. Of. Me. Now."

The tortoiseshell Tom, now also known as Bryn, slowly released his grip on the Queen. Her fur immediately fluffed up to twice its size. Her arms were folded and if looks could kill, every cat within ten miles would be mutilated and dead. Bri giggled, resting her chin on Coricopat's shoulder.

"Wow Vangie, you look like a dandelion…"

The Queen began smoothing down her fur.

"You two: get to training with Tai. Now."

Bryn began to bound away obediently. He stopped when he realized that Bri wasn't behind him. He stopped, sighed, and turned on his heels, marching back towards the three cats. He pried Bri from Coricopat's back, throwing the smaller Queen over his shoulder and walking away. Coricopat just stared after them, his brain trying to make sense of what had just happened. The Queen sighed, closing her eyes.

"This is all that you need to know: my name is Evangeline. I'm the head fighter here. Tomorrow morning, Bruno will bring you back here and you are going to train with me. That is the end of it. If you protest, I swear to EC that I will kill you. Understand?"