Thanks everyone for reviewing, I hope you keep enjoying the story.
Kim is discovering what life as a cat is like.
Disclaimer: Kim Possible and related are the property of Disney which, contrary to common belief, I do not own.
Chapter 2: Life as a cat
Kim ran in blind panic, unable to comprehend what had just happened to her; the only thing she knew was that her world had completely changed.
The mad dash did not take long, however, as her mind calmed a bit and she couldn't find the reason why she had run off in the first place. She came to a stop, and embarrassed by her panic attack, Kim began to lick her front paw.
Moment later, tongue still out and paw still extended, Kim suddenly realized what she was doing; she was licking her paw… no, she was licking her paw!
"What just happened?" she wondered as she looked at the appendage; it was black at the shoulder, turning over into orange to eventually end in a white tip. The bottom had soft pads with barely visible but clearly sharp claws between them.
"How can I even see this?" Kim wondered, "It's the middle of the night, and there aren't really bright light sources around…"
As she noticed how much brighter the night had gotten, and how many more sounds there suddenly were, Kim's mind slowly caught up with reality, "I'm a cat!"
Strangely, that conclusion did not come with the shock she thought would have occurred; instead, she felt confident, powerful, even to say mighty.
"Must be the 'cat' personality," Kim pondered as she took the time to look herself over a bit better.
Her chest was mostly white, just as one of her front paws, the other paw had the black, orange and white pattern she had already noticed. Her belly was white as well, with semi-long hair, her back was a more or less striped pattern of black and orange while her tail was mainly orange with some black in it. Her hind legs were mostly orange and, like her front paws, white at the feet.
"At least an eight on the weird scale," Kim concluded. Again, her cat-side didn't really seem to care; there were far more interesting things going around.
Moving her ears in all directions, Kim noticed a plethora of sounds, many of which were highly interesting; there were some rodents hiding about in the bushes, calling warning signals to each other about the vicinity of a predator - "Which is me," Kim though contently - there were high pitched noises coming from a badly tuned television or radio in the house close by and half a block away a couple was arguing about something.
Tuning out most sounds, Kim focused on the rodents that were hiding under the bushes, when she approached she could hear them crawling backwards to further the distance between them and the cat. Slowly laying down she became fully motionless and waited for the mice – she was pretty sure it were mice – to come out and investigate.
Some time later – Kim found it very difficult to estimate time in her current form – a new thought occurred, "Maybe I should warn somebody, for sure they'll miss me tomorrow."
As the cat in her decided to grace the mice and let them live for another day, Kim walked back to the street and continued her interrupted walk home.
As she closed the distance to her home, something kept nagging on Kim's mind, but she couldn't quite figure out what it was. Deciding that it must be her mind trying to figure out a way to get in, Kim focused on just that: how to get in.
However, her thoughts were brutally interrupted when she heard a low growl quite close to her, and a familiar voice calling out loudly, "Boran, leave that cat alone!"
"Oh no, Boran!" Kim suddenly knew what had been nagging on her mind, then the barking started and she found out just how fast a cat could actually run.
Boran was the dog from one of their neighbors; a large but usually mild-mannered German shepherd. However, the dog had a tendency to chase cats whenever his master let him run without a leash, like now on his midnight walk.
Jumping over a six feet high fence while barely even touching the top, Kim's only thought was to get as much distance between her and the dog who was currently many times her size and weight.
Even after she was sure the dog couldn't have followed her anymore, Kim decided to run a bit more, until her stamina was completely ran out.
Exhausted, she laid down on her side to catch some breath; she felt completely spent. And after finally dragging herself under some bushes, she soon fell asleep to restore her energy.
Somewhere early in the next morning, Kim woke up feeling rested and quite hungry. And a world of smells didn't really make that feeling any better.
From her hideout under the bushes she looked out over a well-kept garden mainly consisting of a neatly trimmed lawn sporting a few small shrubs.
Of course, it was what stood on that lawn that had Kim's – or, more specifically, her cat side's – attention; a blackbird was poking around in the grass, probably looking for worms.
Instincts taking over, Kim's entire focus turned towards the bird that was unaware of her presence.
Ever so slowly and using her surroundings for cover, the cat crept closer to the unsuspecting bird. At one moment the bird looked up nervously and Kim froze, a few looks around apparently satisfied the blackbird as it continued with its own hunt.
Muscles tensed up, she got ready to pounce. And then, with speed that almost surprised Kim herself, she launched at the bird.
With commendable reaction time, the blackbird managed to get off the ground before the cat got to its position, but Kim had already jumped up and slashed the bird out of the air.
They landed at the same time, but the blackbird was severely wounded to one of its wings and was not able to get fully airborne again.
That didn't mean the bird was defeated though, desperately flapping its wings it tried to get away from the cat while in the meantime picking at the predator for all it was worth. In the end it didn't really matter though; a few hard smacks on its head and the blackbird was too dazed to fight back.
The hunt and catch had been so exciting that it took Kim's mind quite a while to catch up to the cat mind; she was already halfway through devouring the bird when realization struck, "I'm eating a bird I just killed!"
However, to take the cat mind off one of its basic instincts was a whole other matter, and even though her human side was still a bit shocked at the idea of killing and eating the small bird, her being a cat took away all the revulsion somehow, this both relieved and disturbed Kim, "I really need to find someone who can help me."
After finishing the bird Kim decided to go to Ron, one reason was that she did not want to face Boran again and she wasn't sure when the dog was walked. The other reason was that her house would probably be empty anyway; her brothers had soccer practice and her mother was working, and on most Saturdays her father played golf with his work buddies.
It took her a while to figure out where exactly she was in the neighborhood – being a cat sure changed ones perspective – but then she purposefully walked to her friend's home.
However, after crossing several backyards, Kim came face to face with another cat. Her senses immediately told her that the other cat, mainly white with black marks, was female too.
The two cats faced each other for a while, mimicking the other's moves; when the black and white cat sat down, so did Kim. And when Kim lay down fully, resting on her front and back legs, so did the other cat.
No further move was made as the cats looked each other up, observing each other's strengths and weaknesses. Tails slowly moved back and forth but that was all the movement that came from the felines; for the rest they could have been dolls.
Time passed and still nothing happened, and Kim began to wonder how long they were at it already. But then a lawnmower was started one or two gardens ahead, breaking the spell as both cats looked up. Seeing this as an opportune moment to leave, Kim got up and walked off. For a moment the other cat seemed inclined to follow her, but then the cat changed direction and began walking to the front yard.
"What was that all about?" Kim wondered, but her cat side thought this was a completely normal encounter; they had faced each other up and both got out unscathed, although if this had been about the dominance in this territory, they would probably have exchanged some blows.
Without any other encounters, Kim reached the Stoppable home shortly after. She estimated it was halfway the morning, so Ron should be starting to wonder where she could be.
However, the lawn chair set up in the yard did not bode well; it might very well be that Ron would relax all day and only wonder about her when he woke up from his afternoon nap, which could easily take most of the day.
As Kim was figuring out how best to contact Ron, the door opened partly and a small rodent walked out of the house.
"I'll be there in a moment," Ron called out to Rufus from inside the house, "Just grabbing some sandwiches."
Rufus chittered his okay and began walking to the lawn chair. Halfway there, he suddenly stopped; something was watching him.
Looking around, the molerat saw nothing. Then again, his eyesight wasn't that great to begin with, but his sense of smell told him something dangerous was nearby.
Kim lay crouched down in the grass, eying the rodent; even though she wasn't really hungry, some part of her wanted to catch the creature and once again she found it extremely difficult to discern her human side from her cat side.
Suddenly feeling very vulnerable, Rufus backed away to the house, but it was a long way to backpedal for a small animal as he was, and he didn't dare to turn around, afraid that he would be attacked in the back.
Something blurry in the distance suddenly became sharp and Rufus recognized a cat charging at him.
Kim jumped, her front paws extended to catch the molerat, when she suddenly flew over the rodent and had to make an awkward twist to land on her feet again, "What just happened?"
Rufus sighed in relief; his Monkey Kung Fu skill had just saved him from becoming a snack for the cat that was just recovering from the toss he had pulled on it. However, his problems were far from over as the feline didn't seem fazed at all and got ready for the next strike, and now it stood between him and the door.
Their pride hurt, cat and human fought together this time, displaying martial arts skills that made the molerat seriously wonder whether this cat was exactly normal.
Easily dodging the now expected defensive strikes from Rufus, Kim jumped up and got in a strike of her own with her powerful hind legs, kicking the molerat almost three feet away before he fell to the ground.
Having trouble getting up, Rufus looked up at the cat that was leisurely walking over to him, clearly confident that the rodent had lost its fight.
And though he didn't want to admit it, Rufus had lost his fight; any normal cat he could handle, he even chased a big tomcat out of the garden once, but this tortoiseshell cat was different and yet somehow a bit familiar.
Instead of finishing her prey, Kim sat down and gave Rufus a small tap with her paw, enticing him to move so she could chase him again. When the molerat didn't do much other than slowly trying to get up, she quickly got bored and considered whether to walk away or finish the creature off.
"Hey!" Kim almost jumped out of her skin when Ron suddenly shouted out from behind her, "Leave Rufus alone!"
Kim ran off while Ron chased her, furious at the cat for hurting his friend, "Get out, this is a 'no-cat' zone."
Spotting a tree nearby, Kim quickly scampered up and climbed to a branch about seven feet high from where she started glaring at Ron accusingly.
Unsatisfied that the cat still hadn't technically left the yard, but not wanting to climb up the tree as well, Ron turned away and walked over to his pet friend, "You alright Rufus?"
"Yeah," Rufus nodded and blew the cat a raspberry, "Puh."
Seeing Rufus' behavior brought Kim's human side back to the front, "What am I doing?"
She tried to figure out a way to regain trust from Ron, but couldn't think of any, "How could I have been so stupid?"
Watching how Ron moved the lawn chair to the back yard - seeing as he didn't want Rufus to worry from the cat that still sat in the tree – Kim sighed; she was back at square one.
Having to fall back on her original plan, Kim decided to head home and see if she would have any more luck there.
The walk home was quite a distance if you were a cat – when chased by a dog everything went much faster – but Kim managed to arrive around noon.
This time she had more luck; there was no dog in sight and her brothers were just returning home from soccer practice.
"Hey look, a cat," Tim said, pointing at the cat that walked on their premise.
"Here kitty, kitty," Jim said, crouching down and holding out his hand.
Kim approached the twins and allowed them to pet her, something she noticed felt really nice.
"I've never seen this cat around," Tim mentioned.
"Must be new here, or lost," Jim shrugged, "Should we give her something to eat."
"I don't think that's a good idea," Tim frowned, "and how do you know it's a she?"
"I don't know, just guessing," Jim moved to pick the cat up, "we could check though."
"Oh no, you're not," Kim deftly avoided the hands and moved away a bit from the boys.
"Guess she doesn't like being picked up," Tim chuckled, but they did leave Kim alone after that.
However, when the boys walked into their home, Kim knew she would have to follow them to even have a chance at communicating to them who she was, but if she wasn't quick enough with that they would throw her out again and not give her a chance again.
Fate wouldn't have it though; Jim and Tim were inside the house before she even had thought out what to do next, "Aw man, I should have gone in first and thought things out later."
Locked out of her own home, Kim could not do much more than wait for either Jim or Tim opening the door again or one of her parents coming home.
Kim felt like she already had waited for several hours, although she wasn't sure as her cat senses hardly recognized time. Several people had walked past the house and a few children had lured her into a game with a piece of rope for a while, something she had found very exciting and fun to do.
However, when finally someone came to the Possible residence, it wasn't one of Kim's parents as she had hoped, instead she once again had to face Ron.
The blond boy immediately recognized her, "You! How did you get here… I won't let you eat Rufus."
"This gets only worse," Kim groaned inwardly; she had to do something to turn regain Ron's goodwill towards her.
But then the front door opened and Ron turned to face Jim and Tim looking at him funny, "Why are you talking to a cat?"
"She was also at my home a couple of hours ago," Ron explained, "I think she's out to get Rufus," After those words Rufus popped up from Ron's pocket and showed his agreement with that statement.
"I told you it was a female," Jim smirked.
"How do you know?" Tim asked Ron.
"Aren't all tortoiseshell cats female?" Ron asked, "Anyway, I wanted to ask if KP was here, she said she'd pass by after swimming but I haven't seen her yet."
"We don't know," Jim told.
"Kim came home after we went to bed, and she was out before we got up," Tim added.
"You didn't even notice I didn't get home all night?" If Kim could frown, she would have, "Then mom and dad probably also don't know."
"Maybe Wade knows," Ron suggested.
"Let's ask him," Jim said, opening the door again; he had closed it to prevent the cat from entering the house.
"We can contact him from our computer," Tim told.
When the three entered the house Kim tried to get in as well, but Ron shushed her away, "You're not getting into the house and stalk Rufus there too."
Making sure that she could not follow him, Ron walked in and closed the door.
Kim sat on the driveway, staring at the front door and fighting the urge to loudly meow her displeasure with the situation. She felt she had been waiting for hours already, what was taking them so long?
Finally the door opened and Ron walked out, carrying one of the spare Kimmunicators, "What do you mean the signal is gone Wade? You have only looked for about ten minutes."
"I'm telling you Ron," Wade told, "the signal is gone, and apparently it's been that way since last night. The only reason I didn't call you before was because the Kimmunicator didn't signal a breakdown distress call."
"So where did the signal stop," Jim asked.
"Maybe we can find some clues there," Tim added.
"Okay," Ron agreed, but then he spotted Kim sitting on the driveway, "What do you want? Why are you here?" he held Rufus away from her protectively.
Mentally sighing, Kim decided to break out her best weapon against Ron; tail curled around her body, she looked up at the boy with shiny large, sad green eyes, pupils wide as she tilted her head as bit.
She could see Ron breaking down – the puppy dog pout was nothing compared to this – and then she went in for the kill, "Mew…"
"Awwww," Ron couldn't help but smile, and even Rufus seemed soothed, "You are a cute kitty."
Hoping it would work, Kim tried her best apologetic look as she looked directly at Rufus, she then raised her front paw, hoping they would understand the gesture.
"Look, she wants to be friends," even though Ron bought completely into it, Rufus wasn't entirely convinced, but he decided to give the cat the benefit of the doubt. Although he still didn't dare to get near the feline, he smiled back and nodded his accepting her apology.
Jim and Tim had been looking at the ordeal in confusion; they had not been subjected to the full force of the cute cat look, but the look in those green eyes somehow nagged at their minds, like they were missing something. Looking at each other, they shrugged it off and proceeded to the topic at hand, "Let's check out the last known location of Kim's Kimmunicator."
The spot where Wade had last gotten a signal from the Kimmunicator was not too far away, and conveniently close to a Global Justice vacuum tube.
"Okay, what should we look for?" Ron asked, looking around for clues.
"The Kimmunicator signals about every five minutes," Wade explained, "So whatever happened to Kim, I should have been in a five minute radius."
"Let's try the route from here back home," Jim suggested.
"Kim would have probably been walking home when something happened to her," Tim added.
"But we just walked that route," Ron said.
"Kim tends to use the other street when she goes home alone," Jim told.
"There's more lights in that street," Tim explained.
Kim had accompanied the boys to the GJ tunnel – they didn't seem to object anymore to her following them – and she too was looking for something that could help them figure out what happened to her.
"The computer chip!" As they got closer to the damaged street light she began to search for the object that must have had something to do with her being changed into a cat. It didn't take her long to find the small chip – being close to the ground had its perks.
"What have you got there?" Ron asked when the cat that seemed to have become their companion for the time being approached with something in her mouth, "Hey, don't eat that, it might kill you," he tried to pry the chip away from her, but the feline already let the chip go and dropped it at his feet.
"This could make you really sick," Ron said as he picked up the chip, "Let me toss that away safely."
"No!" Kim's eyes grew wide when Ron walked to a nearby waste bin to throw away what was probably the key component to get her human form back.
"Wait, what's that thing Ron?" Jim asked, looking at the chip.
"Just something that the kitty came up with," Ron shrugged, "…maybe we should give her a name."
Tim took the chip over from Ron, "Maybe whoever kidnapped Kim lost this… why would you name a cat anyway, it's not like they listen."
Kim wanted to take offense at that comment, but had to admit it would probably be correct anyway, she was already glad that Jim and Time were looking into the computer chip part.
When the twins let Wade scan the chip, the technical genius immediately recognized it as something that came out of the changeling machine, "If that's so, then Drakken must have captured her, I'll call Global Justice to let them know to put extra security around the part of the changeling device they have."
"Never mind that," Ron said, "we'll go to GJ ourselves, maybe they know something more about what could have happened with KP, there is a tunnel entrance nearby."
When they arrived at the tunnel entrance, Ron turned to the cat that was still following them, "Now you have to stay here, I'm not sure what GJ's position is regarding pets."
"You bring Rufus along too, right?" Jim frowned.
"That's different," Ron told, "Rufus is a part of the team."
"Like I'm not," Kim muttered to herself, but the boys had already fallen through the trapdoor and it had closed behind them again, "Great, now what?"
Figuring that the next step Ron and her brothers would take was to go to Drakken's lair, Kim decided to go there herself in advance, "I hope they allow cats on the bus, 'cause I'm not going to walk the whole part."
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. More to come soon (I hope).