XII

The late afternoon sunlight poured though the broken windows of the warehouse and bathed its inhabitants in a warm, golden glow. Xymon, Natora, and a few other cats had gone out to try to find Mungojerrie. They hadn't found him, and for this Trixie was glad. The orange and white cat crept silently down a long hallway and stopped in front of an open doorway. Taking a deep breath, she entered the room.

Luckily, the sunlight acted like a sedative on the cats in the room. All except for Rumpelteazer were sleeping. She looked up and saw Trixie come toward her.

"What do you want?" she asked as her eyes narrowed to slits.

"Don't get your whiskers in a knot," Trixie whispered. "I've come to get you out of here."

"But you work for Macavity."

"No, no, no! I'd never work for him!"

"Then why..."

"The Jellicles sent me. I'm supposed to sneak in here, pretend to join, then rescue you and get us out of here."

Trixie worked quickly in trying to remove the collar. Finally, after much hassle, the collar fell off.

"Let's find Mungojerrie and get out of here," Trixie said.

"Find him? Jerrie isn't part of the plan?"

"Not as far as I know."

"Then why's he come? Wait, don't answer that. He's not the most patient cat in the world, but don't take that personally."

"I won't."

Trixie and Rumpelteazer cautiously stepped over the sleeping cats and into the hallway. "This way," Trixie said. They turned down a corridor and almost ran right into-

"Jerrie!" Rumpelteazer cried almost too loudly. The mates embraced.

"You all right, Teazer?"

"A bit knocked about, but I'll be fine."

The three cats continued down that corridor until they reached the main room of the warehouse. These cats were still awake.

"Now what?" Rumpelteazer asked.<>p>"Well, Trixie pretended to join, so she doesn't have to sneak out," said Mungojerrie.

"Yeah, but what about you two?" Trixie asked.

"Oh, we'll think of something, isn't that right, Jerrie?"

"Yeah."

"Are you two going to tell me what your plan is?"

"Once we think of one."

"Whatever plan you think of," said an alto voice behind them, "I suggest you put it into effect immediately."

"Natora," Trixie and Mungojerrie said together. Xymon joined her, and to the three escaping cats, he looked a bit like he would rather not be there.

"Now what?" Trixie asked Mungojerrie.

"Um...uh..."

"Run!" yelled Rumpelteazer. They took her advice and headed for the door. Xymon grabbed Trixie's tail so she stopped short. She spun around and saw something that looked like regret and apology in his eyes. He loosened his grip, and Trixie took off.

Macavity looked up from his throne and saw Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer running for the door. Natora was following them, and she was being followed by Trixie, who was being followed by Xymon, who wasn't running like he wanted to catch her. Macavity started to relax again, thinking that Natora, Xymon, and Trixie could handle it. Then he started to think that he should "accompany" them and joined the chase.

XIV

Pouncival balanced on a chair which was balanced on a very high stack of junk. He looked down and saw the other cats moping about. Even Etcetera seemed to be unusually glum. He looked off into the distance and saw a blur very far off, but couldn't make out what it was.

"Pouncey! Pouncey!"

Pouncival froze when he heard this. Only two cats ever call me 'Pouncey,' he thought. He strained to make out the blur. As it neared the Junkyard, he grinned in delight and leaped down.

"They're coming! They're coming!" he cried.

"Who?" Exotica asked.

"Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer and Trixie and three other cats I couldn't recognize. The last one I could hardly see."

"Let's go greet them," Tumblebrutus suggested.

Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer were greeted by the all the Jellicles who were there. Soon Natora, Trixie, and Xymon met them also. The final cat had not yet arrived.

Xymon began backing up. "Uh...s..s..sorry for..for the...inconvenience, I'll...um.. bbbbe going n...now."

"What are you doing?" Natora hissed. "We have to get them!"

"Y....yyyyou wwwwant tto take on the whole t...t...tribe b.bb.by yourself, ffine. Bbbbe mmmy guest!"

Natora thought about it, then looked at the tribe, which was not wearing a very friendly face. She followed Xymon back to the lair.

Macavity watched this. "Traitors! You'll pay for this!" he yelled.

"Go away Macavity. You've lost this battle," said Munkustrap.

"But I will win the war," Macavity muttered under his breath as he left.

Once the cats had gathered back in the proper, Mungojerrie went over to Trixie. "Thanks Trixie," he said.

"Yeah!" Rumpelteazer piped in. "You did good!"

Trixie was soon surrounded by cats who wanted to thank her. "You're all welcome," she said.

"You are young, but you are also very brave," Coricopat said.

"You risked your life to save a complete stranger," said Tantomile.

"Now what are you two talking about?" asked Bombalurina.

"Macavity will return, and he'll be angry," explained Tantomile.

"You've fooled him, Trixie. He'll want revenge," Coricopat said.

Upon hearing this, the color drained from Trixie's orange fur. "He's going to kill me," she murmured in a voice barely above a whisper.

"No!" Etcetera cried. She rushed over to Munkustrap. "Please, Munku," she begged, "you have to do something!"

"Well," he started.

"Are you going to throw her out on the street, leaving her at the mercy of Macavity?" This was from Exotica.

"No, but..."

"So what are you going to do?" asked Demeter.

Munkustrap closed his eyes as he thought. Sometimes, I really hate this job. "OK. I can't make her a Jellicle, you know that. Only Old Deuteronomy can."

"Yeah, but still," protested Alonzo.

"However," Munkustrap continued, "Trixie may stay in the Junkyard with us."

"Yay!" cried Etcetera, back to her old self again. Trixie smiled.

"I'll talk to Old Deuteronomy as soon as I can," said Munkustrap.

Trixie gave him a big hug. "Thank you."

"Omigosh," said Etcetera. "Trixie, our human's are going to be worried sick about us!"

"Oh, you're right! Sorry everyone, but we have to go!"

"Bye Trixie! Bye Etcy!" The Jellicles waved at the two cats who scampered off.

Admetus walked over to Munkustrap. "Do you think Old Deuteronomy will let her become a Jellicle?"

"Admetus," Munkustrap said, "I don't think she'll have any trouble."

Closing remarks:

First, I would like to thank my friend Tori and my psychology teacher for acting as editors for this fic. Secondly, I would like to thank Jadadaye for putting this story on her site.

OK, now I know there have been a lot going on about people stealing fanfic ideas from other people (or so I've heard). Allow me to explain myself: if you read this story, and it sounds like yours or one you've read, it is purely coincidental. This is of my own idea, and all CATS (excluding Trixie, Xymon, Natora, and the other cat) are copyright T. S. E., RUG, Mr. Webber, and anyone else who came up with the characters. Now, thank you for listening to my rambling.