Chapter Fifteen - A Cat Among Mice
#15 of Part Three - A Journey Through The Unknown
I awoke the next morning feeling surprisingly great. I didn't even want to move as I opened my eyes, and I just lay there for a few moments listening to the things going on outside of the room. I lifted my head as I heard music playing on the floor underneath me, and my ears flicked as I slowly got to my feet. I stretched a little before I made my way to the door, and when I finally got there I hopped up onto my hind legs and pushed it open.
As soon as the door opened I made my way out and over to the elevator, reaching up and pressing the button, then looking around the place as I waited for it to arrive. It felt really nice to finally be back on familiar grounds.
I made my way down to the second floor, and when the doors opened I immediately pinned my ears to the back of my head as the loud music hit me. Reluctantly, I walked out of the elevator and into the middle of the room, staring blankly at Cammy as she danced around in the middle of the floor while country music blasted out of the speakers around the room.
"Holy shit Cammy do you think you have it loud enough?" I said as I reached up, placing both paws over my ears and closing my eyes.
"Oh, sorry." She said as she went over and picked up the remote, turning the music down a bit. "Forgot you had cat ears now."
"Wonder if he can hear me from in here." Zeke said, before poking his head out of a large box and looking over at me.
"What?" Cammy asked as she turned her head to look at Zeke.
"Yes Zeke. Yes I can." I said as I waved my right paw at him. "What are you doing in there anyway?"
"Oh come on Dallas." Cammy laughed. "You should know why, you're a cat. Aren't you supposed to like boxes too?"
"Ooh Dallas likes boxes! Come on sit in the box with me!" Zeke said as he scooted all the way to the right.
"I... don't think I've been a cat long enough to want to sit in boxes." I laughed.
"Then stay a cat for like, a while." Cammy said. "I want to see you do weird cat stuff."
"Weird cat stuff?" I asked as I tilted my head at her. "Like what?" I asked as I lifted my right paw to my face, casually licking the back of it and grooming the fur.
Cammy opened her mouth to say something and I placed the paw down at my side, quickly speaking before she could.
"What I just did isn't even weird you do it too." I said.
"Well... Yeah but your tongue is so much rougher than mine. Mine it like, only a bit rough, yours is full out sandpaper." She said.
"To me it's weird." Zeke said as he hopped out of the box.
"Zeke you do it too." Cammy said.
"Yeah but I don't do it to clean myself off." Zeke said. "I go in water to clean off."
"One hundred." Electra said as she walked out of one of the rooms, making her way quickly over to us. "So like, a quarter of what it used to be."
"That's nice." Cammy said. "At least you won't crush me when you roll over ontop of me."
"One hundred what?" I asked. "Your weight?"
"Yeah." She said as she looked up at me, making a face and blinking a few times. "Were you always that... large?"
"I weigh that too!" Zeke said as he walked over to Electra. "I can probably carry you just fine!"
"Yeah, I guess. I didn't change sizes or anything." I said, frowning as I looked down over myself. "Can I even do that?"
"Don't think so." Cammy said as she shrugged. "But who the heck knows."
"Mew changes Pokémon not sizes." Zeke said as he lowered his head, poking his nose against my chest gently. "Where did you get diamonds?"
"Diamonds?" Electra and Cammy both asked as they looked over at me.
"Well... funny story." I laughed softly as I placed a paw on Zeke's nose, the other moving down and being placed over the diamonds hanging on my necklace. "You see uh... Those guys that were eating the colony had them on." I said. "I took them before Electra ate them. They're worth a lot of human paper."
"Oh, well if they were the ones that had them then I don't care." Cammy said. "And yeah it's a good idea to take valuable things off of them before Electra... digests them."
"Oh come on let's be realistic here, you can't digest diamonds or metal or plastic." Zeke said as he turned to Electra. "Sure maybe paper and leather and stuff but not plastic and metal, let alone diamonds."
"He has a point." Cammy said as she turned to face Electra. "It really doesn't make much sense."
"Then where does the stuff go?" She asked as she stared at them both, then over at me.
"Um... The PC?" Cammy said as she tilted her head. "I don't know. But Zeke is kind of right here, it really doesn't make sense that it would dissolve."
"Well Starlight or someone did say I was linked to the PC somehow. Maybe the stuff that you can't normally digest gets uh.. sent there?"
"The only way to find out would be if you logged onto the PC yourself and checked your item stock." Cammy said. "If it's full of... well, random shit, then the answer is probably yes."
"Where can I find a PC?" Electra asked.
"Kevin has one in his room." Cammy said. "I used it to get here. It's pretty much mandatory for every trainer to own a PC."
"Why?" Electra asked. "That's so stupid you're forced to buy one."
"Actually it's not." Cammy said. "You need to set up an account when you become a trainer otherwise you can't catch a Pokémon. If you don't have a PC account then there's nowhere for the Pokeball to send your Pokémon's data and your items."
"Oh, right. Didn't think about that bit." She said, shrugging as she looked over at me. "I don't feel like going down there and checking right now anyway."
"I feel like eating." I said as I looked down at Electra, who just stared up at me.
"Are you going to be a cat forever?" Electra asked.
"For a while probably." I said, shrugging as I looked down at Cammy. "I kind of really like it."
"He's so big when he's standing up like that." Zeke said as he bumped his nose into me again. "Like five feet!"
"You'd be that big if you could stand on your hind legs too Zeke." Cammy said. "You should know that."
"Of course I know that." He said as he turned to her. "I know my own height."
"Oh, there you are." Cameron said as he exited the elevator with Kevin. "What's with the country music?"
"Oh shut up I know you like it, you were listening to it a while ago." Cammy said as she shut the stereo off with the remote.
"I like it." I said as I looked down at the remote, then up at Kevin and Cameron. "What do you want us for?"
"Well since everyone seems to be here." Kevin said as he looked us over. "I thought I'd take everyone out to the Pokepark."
"Can it like, wait for maybe an hour or two?" I asked as I looked around at everyone. "There's something I wanted to do first."
"I want to go to the park!" Zeke said as he walked over to Kevin.
"If you guys don't want to stay around you can go ahead and I'll just teleport there when I'm done." I said.
"I'm staying with Dallas." Electra said as she walked over and stood beside me.
"And I'm going with Zeke." Cammy said as she walked over to Kevin and Cameron. "So I guess we'll see you in an hour?"
"Yep." I said as I waved to them, before teleporting me and Electra to our old house, out in the backyard.
"Why is it that I always seem to get stuck with you?" Cameron asked as he looked down at Cammy, reaching down and picking her up around the middle.
"Eh, if I'm not mistaken it looks to me like you're getting used to it." Cammy said.
"That's because you're always stuck with me too!" Zeke laughed. "And Cammy just follows!"
"Yeah, I guess so." Cameron said as he shrugged, holding her up so she could climb over onto his back. "Get up there."
Cammy laughed softly as she grabbed onto him and swung herself over, climbing onto his shoulder and holding on, standing in the hood of his sweater as he looked back at her.
"Does this mean we get to m-"
"Don't even." Cameron said as he held up his right hand. "I'm not doing anything sexual with you. I just like you as a companion. You're funny and entertaining, not sexually attractive."
"Well that's a start." She said, shrugging as she looked down at Zeke, who turned to Kevin.
"You never give up do you?" Kevin laughed as they made their way back to the elevator.
"Cammy never gives up on things." Zeke said as he followed them to the elevator.
Meanwhile back at the old house, me and Electra made our way out into the woods. It was clear she already knew where we were headed, because as soon as we got there she took off in the direction of the colony.
"So do you think they really pulled themselves together?" she asked.
"Eh, I guess we'll see." I said, shrugging as I glanced out in the distance at the path of sticks that were laid out. "I had no idea that cave was so close to our old nest."
"What?" She asked as she looked out in the direction I was staring in, making a face as we changed directions and headed for the path. "Well the path is close, the cave might not be."
"Well let's follow it in the colony's direction." I said as I dropped onto all fours and began walking along it. "Maybe it's a different path."
"Then wouldn't you want to go the other way?" She asked as she walked behind me.
"Well no, because if I wind up at the colony by the fire area then I know it's the same path." I said as I looked down at the ground as I walked, placing each paw down between the sticks with every step I took rather than stepping on them. I wasn't exactly sure why I was doing that, it just seemed natural to me.
"I love how you gave me a speech about how you wanted to change into a cat so you'd have sharper claws to fight with, then proceeded to not even use them afterwards." Electra said.
"I used them more than you'd think." I said as I flexed them, digging them into the dirt as I walked for a few steps before returning them to their sheaths.
"Oh? When?"
"Well I used them to climb the tree." I said as I returned my gaze to what was in front of me rather than the path of sticks. "And I used them to um... you know, take the diamonds away when they weren't looking at me."
"So you stole diamonds with them."
"Yeah pretty much." I said, nodding as I began to walk a little faster.
"You've been a Purrloin for a few minutes and you're already stealing things." She laughed.
"Well now it's been several hours, but yeah I know what you mean. Back then it was a few minutes but, I couldn't help myself."
"What do you mean you couldn't help yourself?" She asked.
"Well I saw the Espeon's shine in the moonlight and well, the shiny diamond just triggered something inside me, and I just wanted to take it. I saw the other two had them on too and I just wanted them all."
"You were going to fight them to save the colony and diamonds distracted you?"
"Well yeah, they're very valuable you know.
"The colony is more valuable than your diamonds." Electra said.
"Well, not really no." I said, shaking my head as I picked up speed again. "I could get the best grooming in the world for the human paper these things would sell for."
"Seriously?" She asked as she stopped walking, just staring at me as I continued to walk down the path.
"Yeah, you have no idea how well some humans can groom out your fur. It's amazing."
"Actually I do." She said as she ran a little to catch up to me. "It's nice but not nice enough to put off saving our colony for."
"It's plenty nice enough for that." I said as I sniffed the air, a brief gentle purr rumbling through me as I smelled the scent of several Pikachu nearby.
"I think all this cat stuff is getting to your head." She said as she swatted at my tail gently as we walked. "You're going crazy."
"I'm purrrrrfectly fine." I said as I glanced out into the distance, lowering myself down a little as I spotted one of the Pikachu from the colony standing there and facing the other way. "What has a colony of mice ever done for us anyway? All we do is protect them and feed them and they don't give us anything back."
"You're acting weird." She said as she batted at my tail again. "We should have eaten before we left, I'm starving."
"Too late now." I said softly as I crouched down a little lower, my pace slowing down to less than half the speed I'd been walking before as I stared straight out at the Pikachu in front of me, now only about thirty feet away."
"No it isn't we could just... teleport back and you know, eat. Then come back to the spot we're in now if you really want to walk so badly. Why don't we ever just teleport right to the colony?" She asked as she slowed down to match my speed. "I always wondered that."
"Walking is nice." I said in almost a whisper as I continued to walk forward slowly, my ears perking up as I listened for anyone else around the area.
"Well you know how lazy I can get. Why not teleport me there and then just walk yourself?"
"You like it."
"Well it's true I like walking with you, we're mates, come on. But sometimes I'm not really in a walking mood if you know what I mean." She said as I suddenly stopped walking about a couple feet away from the Pikachu. He appeared to be eating something he was holding in his paws, but with his back turned I couldn't really make out what it was. "And you should know that we protect the colony because that's our job. We don't need anything in return, keeping our kind safe is good enough. Sure they don't give anything back but come on, doesn't it make you feel good knowing you saved so many lives?"
"Yes. Walk with me." I whispered as I stared right at the Pikachu. My attention was suddenly pulled away from Electra as well as trying to figure out what he was eating as my own stomach gave off a little hungry rumble, and Electra perked her ears up as I crouched down low.
"What are you doing?" she asked as she stood up tall, trying to look over me, before walking around to the right side of me. "This is hardly the time to just lay down and be lazy. I meant other times you know, I'm not feeling lazy right NOW."
"Hello mousie." I said softly as I crawled a little closer to the Pikachu, his ears perking up as he heard Electra speaking to me.
I wasn't sure why, but this Pikachu smelled absolutely wonderful. I wasn't sure if it was because I was a cat, hungry, or both, but for some reason I suddenly had the desire to eat it. I knew that the colony was important, and that the thought of eating one of them shouldn't ever even cross my mind let alone be considered, but something about this Pikachu appealed to me. I lowered my head and unsheathed the claws on my forepaws, my tail flicking around in the air as I waited for him to make a move. Some sort of primal instinct was overriding the importance of the colony, pushing aside the part of me that knew I should protect them at all costs.
"Dallas what the hell are you doing?" Electra asked as the Pikachu turned around, his ears perking up as he heard her speak again.
"Oh hello, I'm not stealing food I swear this was just sitting on th-" he said, stopping midsentence as he gazed up at me, his chewing pausing as he stared me right in the eyes.
"C..c..CAT!" He yelled as he turned to run, but as soon as he made his move I sprang forward, pouncing on the Pikachu and immediately swiping my right paw over it to knock it over. As soon as he fell to the ground I swiped my paw down over him once more to turn him around, before quickly lowering my head and opening my maw wide. Before I even knew what I myself was doing I had lunged forward and taken about half of his body into my mouth.
"Oh you have got to me fucking kidding me." Electra mumbled as she stood exactly where she was before, just staring at me as I stood up on my hind legs. "This is a joke right?"
I closed my eyes in delight as his taste flooded onto my tongue, my ears pinning back as I began to loudly purr around him, before raising my head and opening my mouth a little more, allowing the rest of the Pikachu to fall into my mouth before I plopped back down onto all fours and stood there with nothing but the tail hanging out of my mouth, thrashing around as the mouse inside struggled for his life.
"Dallas fucking spit that out right now." Electra said as she walked over to me, before making her way out to the front of me and grabbing at the tail that was hanging in the air. However with it thrashing around with his struggling every time she tried to grab it it just moved out of her reach.
I sucked on the mouse for a few seconds, the purring growing louder as the feeling of him struggling in my mouth triggered yet another strange feeling. I suddenly felt extremely proud of what I had done, the feeling of the mouse wiggling around in my mouth causing my tail to raise behind me with happiness as I gently bit down on the base of the tail, causing the Pikachu inside to yell out in pain and squirm even harder, my eyes opening as I stared down blankly at Electra, not even paying the slightest bit of attention to anything she was saying to me.
"SPIT IT OUT!" She yelled as she jumped up, once again making an attempt to grab at the tail now that it had gone limp, only some other feeling inside me caused me to quickly turn myself around so that my back was facing her, pulling the tail out of her reach. There was no way she was going to take away my prize!
"Dallas what the fuck!" She yelled as she ran around me, turning to face me as I tossed my head back, attempting to bring at least some of his tail into my mouth before she could grab it. I wasn't able to however, as the Pikachu was so big that he completely filled out my mouth. I was barely able to close it around him let alone get more of him inside. Before she got a chance to try and grab the tail again however I quickly turned myself around again, once again facing my back towards her as a little drool trickled out of the side of my mouth and off of his tail, the Pikachu's coat soaked entirely in it and leaving it nowhere to go but out and down his tail.
"I swear to Arceus Dallas." She said as she quickly ran out in front of me again, only this time when she turned to face me I tossed my head back and swallowed hard, closing my eyes as I felt about half the Pikachu sink down into my throat. I wasted little time as she snatched for the tail, which was suddenly jerked upwards and out of reach as I took a second gulp and pulled the rest of the Pikachu, aside from the tail, down into my throat, my eyes opening as the last bit of the tail was pulled up and into my mouth.
"You have got the be fucking kidding me. You did not just do that." She said as I continued to swallow gently, easing the wiggling lump in my throat down with each swallow as I sat down, dragging my tongue out around my mouth as I stared down at Electra, who folded her arms and stared back up at me.
"I can't even look at you right now." She said as she turned away. "I can't believe you just fucking did that."
I let out a little meow as I felt the Pikachu sink down into my stomach, just as Thunder poked his head up out of one of the holes and turned to look at us, before pulling himself out completely and standing up.
"Ah! Electra! And I assume that's Dallas." He said as he quickly dashed over to us, bringing his tail out in front of him and holding the top bit out in front of Electra. "I heard someone yell cat so I came out as fast as I could. Heard you say something about not believing what he just did?"
Electra turned to the side and touched her tail to Thunderpaw's, nodding as she turned her head and glanced over at me.
"What'd he, run of and scare one of them off?" Thunder laughed as I once again dragged my tongue out around my mouth. "He must be gone by now, I don't see him anywhere."
"Oh he's gone alright." Electra said as she turned to face me.
"Ah, he'll be back I'm sure." Thunder laughed. "It's nice to have you two back! Us at the other colony were going to try and beat down the dogs that were picking us off, it's a good thing you came too because I don't think we could have done it. I think some of them had a type advantage over all of us or something so no one could defeat them."
"Yeah, I don't think he's going to be back." Electra mumbled. "Got here just in time huh?" She asked as she spoke up so he could hear her.
"Indeed you did, we might have lost many of our most powerful members if you hadn't. Heh, you're a big one aren't you?" he asked as he walked over to me, bringing his tail up in front of my face and waving it around a little. "Just... no more scaring off our members alright?"
I sniffed gently at the tail in front of my face, and was just about to lunge forward and bite it when my hunger settled a little and everything began coming back to me. I just sat there for a moment and stared at the tail with my mouth open a little bit, before lifting my right paw and gently swiping the tail away.
"Yeah, big cat. And I didn't mean to scare him, I guess he just didn't know it was me." I laughed softly as I looked away from Thunder. "Heh, you know how they get when they see something like me walking around."
Had I really just done that? I didn't want to believe I'd actually eaten one of the colony members, I wanted to convince myself it had been something else but I could literally still feel him weakly squirming around inside me and taste him on my tongue. My ears drooped down a little briefly as I gazed down at Thunder, who laughed softly.
"Well I suppose you're the real leader anyway, I'm sure you didn't mean any harm." He said as he lifted his tail up and gently patted me on the head with it.
"Yeah, no harm." I mumbled as I looked from him over to Electra, who just shot me an angry glare before turning around and facing the hole Thunder had came out of.
"So um... how has everything been going with the colony so far?" She asked. "I mean... Since last night."
--END Chapter Fifteen.--