Sorry for the delay everyone! I will try to post more often now :) and stop procrastinating my writing!
I looooooove Admetus in this... and Mungo's reaction made me giggle xD
NyokaDelFanfiction: They got an error message! :O
lilgenious: GOAT!
Enjoy and Please review... they are gold!
Munkustrap led Alonzo, Admetus, Mungojerrie and I to the tall, bright building down the street. There were odd boxes with tires on them sitting outside windows that moved when a- what was it again?- Human, walked in front of it. We stared in awe as some scary looking human toms pushed eachother around one of the boxes on tires.
"They're more powerful than Mistoffelees." Admetus gasped as the windows pushed aside to make way for another human.
"Nonsense! I've never seen a human shoot electricity from its claws." Mungojerrie, who probably had a lot more experience with humans than most of us, stated.
"Munkustrap, what's this?" Alonzo patted the side of one of the boxes. Munk swatted at his paw; giving him a pressing look.
"That's a car, humans use it to get places faster. Don't touch it, they're very possessive over their things." he turned back to scan the front of the lot. "There it is!" he pointed out a white and silver box. We ran over towards the box, thankfully it was hidden around the corner so that the humans couldn't see us taking their ice.
"OK, Tugger. I need you to pick that lock holding the door to the box so we can open it," he instructed. I inspected the lock and nocticed a small complication in his great, obviously well thought of 'plan'.
"I won't be able to get up there: it's too high." I admitted. He furrowed hit brow in thought
"Get on my back, Tug." Munk knelt down on the ground and lookied up at me expectantly.
"I don't know, I-"
"Just do it, Tugger!" he urged harshly. I reluctantly got up on his back, I could reach the lock easily enough; I just didn't know how long it would take for me to crack it, or how long my brother could hold me up. I heard Munk hiss in discomfort beneath me; my hands fumbled with the lock nervously.
"How you doing up there?" I could hear him struggle beneath me. I slipped my claw inside the tiny slot and started to jimmy the lock, it made a satisfying click as the looped metal disengaged.
"I got it!" I gasped. The other toms started whooping and cheering in excitement, I opened the door triumphantly.
"There's no lock tricky enough for The Rum Tum Tugger!" I declared to my audience. Munk groaned beneath me.
"Get off!" he gasped. I jumped off his back quickly and helped him to his feet, he rubbed his back tenderly and rolled his shoulders out before turning to the open door. Cool steam poured from the dark container, my fur bristled from the cool moisture as it poured over me and pooled at my feet. Everyone jumped inside; curious to see the treasures held behind the locked metal door.
"It's huge in here!" Alonzo declared, his voice echoing loudly.
"It's like winter but in summer!" Admetus stared in amazement.
"It's really cold" MungoJerrie noted flatly, obviously unimpressed. Munkustrap jumped inside after them.
"We need to carry one of these bags back with us to the junkyard." he informed the others. I finally jumped inside the mouth of the giant cooler. The inside was dark save for the light that came from the streetpost outside, there were blue, hard, lumpy plastic bags
"These are huge!" I exclaimed, motioning to the piled up bags. "We're never going to be able to get them back in time!" I started to think about the poor cat at home. What if he's already dead? I thought to myself. The looks I got from the other toms suggested that I had forgotten to keep my thoughts to myself. Munkustrap suddenly leaned over and started to push a bag towards the exit.
"Let's get going you guys." He grunted as he shoved the bag out of the icebox and onto the hard pavement. We all jumped out after him and helped carry the five pound bag of ice. As we rounded the corner we saw the human toms walking towards us.
"Go back, go back!" Munkustrap whispered urgently. We dropped the ice to press ourselves up against the brick wall of the building; the humans passed us without giving us as much as a glance.
"They're ugly." Alonzo stated, crinkling his nose at the baggy trousered humans.
"They're only human." Munk sighed before turning back to our stolen loot.
"You know when you's takin' somethin' it's not a goo' idea to drop da merchandize." Mungojerrie stated matter-of-factly.
"Let's just get this back to the junkyard." We each grabbed a part of the heavy load and strategically made our way home, putting the bag down every few minutes to relieve our paws from the weight and temperature of our charge. The junkyard finally came into view. The condensation from the bag and the slowly melting ice inside saturated the fur on our stomachs. I gave Munkustrap a worried look; I could feel the water slosh around with every step we took.
"Well, at least Mistoffelees can have an ice cold bath," Alonzo joked. It took us another 10 minutes to get to Jenny's den but by then there was very little ice left floating around. Jelly was waiting in the clearing for us.
"We have a tub set up for the kit right outside in the old crisper," she explained as she fell into step next to us.
"Tugger, run ahead and get Mistoffelees, he's in the den with the kittens," Jelly instructed me. I slowly let go of my end of the bag and ran towards Jenny's den at full till. When I walked in there was a crowd of kittens gathered around Quaxo who was now looking ten times worse than before. His short furred coat was dripping with sweat and his face was white as snow... even more so! The white returned to his tail and paws but his coat still had a bit of a sheen to it though it could have been from the sweat.
"Look, it's Tugger!" Ectetera shrieked. Jemima, who sat beside her, winced at the shrill pitch. The other kittens bombarded me with hugs and questions. Jenny looked extremely relieved, Victoria, on the other hand not so much. I haven't heard a word from the queen kit since the ball. She watched as Jenny removed a torn cloth from her brother's face to refresh the fabric, the water wasn't cold but it did seem to offer some relief.
"Hey, kits" I gave them my trademark smile.
"Tugger, what's wrong with Misto?" Jemima asked me, her voice was soft but shaking. I took another glance at the black tom who was being patted with the moist cloth.
"He's just over exhausted from performing tonight; he should be fine in the morning." I shrugged. The younger kits looked relieved at my simple reasoning while a couple of them gave me suspicious looks; I quickly remembered why I was there in the first place.
"Jenny, we have the ice water for Misto." I explained non-chalantly as to not disclose the severity of the situation to the kittens.
"What are you going to do?" Victoria chimed in nervously, the other youths looked between Jenny and I expectantly.
"He's... just going for a bath, dear. It'll make him feel better and it'll help break the fever." Jenny explained slowly.
"But he hates water," she argued, looking down at Misto as a shiver rocked the tiny body.
"Believe me, dear, this'll help him." Victoria nodded in agreement, Jenny placed a comforting paw on the teary-eyed queen as I moved past the kittens to collect the sick tom at their feet.
I picked up the young cat gingerly as if I'd break him if I moved too fast. He shuddered violently as I turned to carry him out of the small den. A cool breeze swept across the junkyard as I pulled the silky red blanket that was used as a door for the kits'den. As I started to walk towards the clearing it dawned on me that I didn't know where I was suppose to bring Misto. From what I remember the tub must be near Jelly's den; I turned right at an old television set.
"T-Tugger?" pale blue eyes stared up at me weakly. I jumped slightly at the sudden noise,
"Hey, buddy." I greeted, slightly surprised at how lucid he was. "How you feeling?" I smiled down at the tom in my arms. He forced a soft chuckle as he shook his head.
"Not feeling so great, Tug," he put simply, his voice was dry and cracked from dehydration. I nodded sympathetically, we rounded the corner and I could hear the other toms in the distance waiting for us. Munkustrap greeted us as we turned a busted bed frame to head towards Jelly's.
"How is he?" he asked solemnly, looking down at the now sleeping cat in my arms.
"He's not doing so great, fever won't break, if anything it's getting worse." I worried. Fever killed a lot of cats around here, expecially the young and weak. Quaxo wasn't weak, per se, but his unusually petite and lithe figure didn't offer much protection against the elements or the illness they brought on.
"Well, hopefully this'll help bring down the fever." he gave a tight smile.
"He was talking to me a few seconds ago," I told him. "That's good, right?"
"I don't know, Tugger. It could mean anything or it could mean nothing, let's see how it turns out after tonight," he advised. "You want me to take him for you?" he offered.
"Nah, I'm fine. He's not heavy; just sweaty." I explained, he shrugged before leading me towards the crisper not far from Jelly's den. I could hear Jelly ordering the toms around next to the toppled over fridge that doubled as a shelter for the back of her den to protect it from the rain. We rounded the corner as Alonzo flicked another chunk of ice into the filled container.
"Where's Jenny?" Jelly inquired, looking past Munk and I.
"Skimble's still working; she's looking after the kits." Munk replied. The Queen nodded before motioning me towards the bath, there were still a few ice cubes floating around but the water was quickly heating up in the summer air. Munkustrap helped me lower Quaxo into the tub; the tux immediately waking up the minute his foot touched the water.
"No..." he trailed off, cringing away from the cool liquid.
"This is for your own good, ya hear?" Jelly comforted, well, tried. the small magician would have none of it.
"No! No water, no water!" The tux's voice became shrill and took on a kittenish tone as he struggled to get away with new energy. He maganed to kick me square in the gut, causing me to release my grip on his arm; dropping him in the bucket. He thrashed around for a bit before Munku reached into the water to pull him up by the scruff of his neck.
Quaxo sputtered as he shook violently, "...I'm sorry" he quivered pitifully; throwing his hands to his face. He drew in his knees, trying to curl himself into a ball under Munkustrap's grip.
Munkustrap stared at the cat sadly as he whispered inaudible words that sounded like small apologies and pleas. I looked over at Alonzo who shrugged in confusion, everyone watched the tiny cat silently; some shifting uncomfortably.
"It's alright, Quaxo." Munkustrap sighed heavily. "We're just going to have to find another way to cool you down."
Ta daa! Please be advised that I wrote this a few months ago and my writing has improved, hopefully you see the improvement in the 5th-6th chapter!
Also, I'm entering Calanarie's Misto/Tugger fluff contest! Please join if you can and support the awesome Misto/Tugger authors! If you don't... I'll kill Misto! I'll do it! I've done horrible stuff to him before and I'll do it again! Mwah ah ah ahhh, fear my threats!
Review plz :D