"Just once more, please?"

Kittens surrounded an overwhelmed Mr. Mistoffelees with their pleas and constant whining. Looking up at him with their large, kitten eyes while they sat around him on a torn-up mat, they begged him to do his "spell" once more. In all actuality, it was nothing more than a well thought-out plan, but Mistoffelees wasn't going to let them know that. Besides, he liked the constant attention.

He gazed at the adorable kittens with fondness, glad to be appreciated. Somehow, the Jellicles thought he was terribly shy. Although this was sometimes to his advantage (for times when he was feeling particularly antisocial), he wasn't truly like that. This view bothered him quite a lot.

Even so, there was still something that bothered him even more than this: The Rum Tum Tugger. That tom was unbearable. If these cats thought hip-thrusting was a talent, then Tugger should be worshipped for his divinity. There was a time in Mistoffelees' youth—he wasn't exactly the brightest of kittens—when he idolized the Tugger. Those days were over. He was smarter now, and thattomcat was only a womanizer.

Trying not to let his thoughts show on his face, Mistoffelees grinned. He scanned the faces of the kittens, and the movement of his head caused small flecks of glitter to fall onto the giggling kittens' heads. Mistoffelees thought he had groomed all the glitter out when Tugger had just recently dumped a bucket of glitter onto him, but he was apparently mistaken. He had been wrong about many things, though. Like when Mistoffelees believed Tugger's promise not to let the fact slip that Mistoffelees had never been kissed before, or when Mistoffelees had fallen into an enormous ditch he had counted on Munkustrap to go and get help. Even after all this time, his claws had never been quite as clean, and he still had a few scars from the climb. Mistoffelees even felt a sore right now thinking about it.

"Alright," Mistoffelees laughed, hushing the frantic kittens with small waves of his paw. "This time, though, Etcetera, please don't grab my tail." When Mistoffelees got especially concentrated on his magic, he would swish his tail through the air. This seemed to give Etcetera the okay to attack this defenseless tail with her newly-sharpened claws. Even if it seemed this way it to Etcetera, his tail was not a scratching-post. Mistoffelees was very proud of his tail—even considering how short it was—and didn't want to lose it any time soon.

Mistoffelees lowered his voice into a whisper, trying to sound mysterious. "Back in the days of the Everlasting Cat, a vow had been made. A promise between Him and Jellicle. A promise that proclaimed a bond between two certain cats would end the fear caused by the Mystery Cat. I am here to renew that promise, and have him that is so full of evil to be cast away from our lands forever!"

He admitted he had gone a teensy bit over the edge with this, but whatever. These kittens wanted excitement in their lives, and so he gave it to them in abundance. No harm done.

The kittens gazed fearfully up at him. Mistoffelees gave them a reassuring wink and began his "spell". Closing his eyes and absentmindedly flicking his tail, Mistoffelees slowly lowered himself onto his knees. He carved an inscription into the dirt with a claw of his, and the kittens stared at it with awe. The open-mouthed Pouncival leaned forward, hoping not to miss a second of the trick he had seen at least a dozen times before. Mistoffelees never failed to impress.

A soft rumbling was heard beneath the earth, and as the rumbling gained in volume, a slim column of dirt raised skywards. In one fluid motion, Mistoffelees waved his paw over the column and the dirt particles contained in the column darted gracefully away from the mound, revealing a golden scroll. Mistoffelees opened his eyes—a shock of blue—and reached for the scroll.

At the touch of his paw, odd, green electricity pulsed between his paw and the scroll, creating a powerful connection. The scroll, glowing with the energy being put into it, burst into black flame, and then finally into a wisp of red smoke. Mistoffelees coiled the wisp into a ball with the magic stored in his paws, and brought the ball to his mouth, where he whispered words that were incoherent to his audience. He threw his paws in the kittens' direction, letting the smoke shoot from his paws. The smoke smoothly parted into different paths and seemed to enter the foreheads of the surrounding kittens. As it did so, painlessly, a certain kitten would close its eyes, concentrating, trying to deduce a meaning.

Mistoffelees waited patiently, looking into the eyes of the kittens. As the last kitten, Etcetera—who was unbelievably trying to eat the smoke this time—, had finished, he spoke.

"The Everlasting Cat has now given each of you your own quest. The question is: are you ready?" Okay, maybe he had gone more than a little over the edge.

The kittens broke into an uproarious clapping just as he uttered the last syllable. It was overly enthusiastic, and the joy made Mistoffelees smile. Another success. But as he thought this, a slower, more obnoxious clapping was heard. Looking around, Mistoffelees tried to catch sight of this cat.

"Well done, magical Mr. Mistoffelees," a voice in a dark place somewhere near a misplaced cardboard box said sarcastically. The speaker stepped out of the shadows. Of all cats to be here, it was none other than the Rum Tum Tugger.

Mistoffelees narrowed his eyes into slits. He wasn't going to let this Maine Coon ruin his day. "Thank you," he said curtly, "I liked it too." He sharply turned away. He heard a snicker behind him.

"All right, glitter-mitts? You seem… tense."

Mistoffelees tensed at the disrespectful nickname. "I'm fine."

"Then I assume it's okay if I take over from here," he didn't wait for a response, and walked forward, stopping next to Mistoffelees. "Feast your eyes on this, kittens. It's time you learned something worth while." The kittens did as told, fixing their eyes on Tugger's hips as he rolled them around. They all looked very fascinated, besides Pouncival, who had an expression of barely concealed embarrassment. Etcetera giggled madly.

Upon hearing this, Mistoffelees' patience broke. These were kittens! Tugger shouldn't be acting like this in front of them: they were young, impressionable; they shouldn't be given the idea that this kind of behavior this was acceptable. The last thing they needed was Tugger's advice, or, come to think of it, anything concerning Tugger. Well, besides as an example of what not to be.

"That's it!" Mistoffelees reached up and pushed Tugger back by the shoulders, causing the tall tom to stumble. "I was showing them my skills. You don't have any. Don't pretend. All you have to be proud of is having slept with practically everyone in the junkyard!"

Tugger, who had continued to move his hips when he regained his balance, stopped swaying. He looked rather offended. "No, I've not just been practically with everyone, I have been with everyone." He let out a short laugh, shook his head, and resumed his hip-thrusting.

Mistoffelees crossed his arms, and raised an eyebrow. "Not with me you haven't." Silently he thought, Or with anyone who has any common sense.

The Maine Coon stopped again. "Really. I guess I'll have to fix that, won't I?" Mistoffelees opened his mouth to say something, most likely a witty comeback (he couldn't be too sure, though), but was cut off by Tugger, who turned to face him and put a finger over Mistoffelees' lips, indicating silence. Rum Tum Tugger turned Mistoffelees around and began rubbing his back with surprising tenderness. Mistoffelees couldn't help but respond, and sighed while his eyelids drooped from the much-needed relaxation. Mistoffelees purred. The squealing from kittens snapped him out of his daze. Whirling around, he pushed Tugger away, ashamed of himself.

"If you don't go, I'll… I'll—"

"What?" Tugger said, cowering in mock fear. "Cuddle with me?"

"No! I'll… hurt you." The kittens looked terrified. Tugger, however, after he quickly wiped off the surprise that had appeared on his face and recovered his arrogant confidence, began to howl with laughter. "You? Hurt me? I'd like to see that."

Mistoffelees raised his paws, forming a ball, and called upon the powers of lightning. He felt the power building up between his paws, and once he felt his muscles strain from the effort of containing it, hurled the energy at Tugger… and nothing happened. He looked down at his paws. They had always done what he had wanted them to before… now the spell had just disappeared without a trace of energy, like it had never been. When he looked back up, Tugger was hunched over with mirth. The kittens began to laugh too, but that wasn't because they were making fun of Mistoffelees. They were worried, and they felt the tension was over now. Even so, these things fueled Mistoffelees' anger.

He clenched his paws tightly with unsheathed claws that pierced his skin, and anger and energy radiated off of him. Without warning, a blast of electricity burst from Mistoffelees' paws, hitting Tugger square in the chest.

Staggering backwards from the force of the blow, Tugger abruptly stopped laughing, and let out a quick, loud yowl. Mistoffelees opened his eyes wide in shock, for he hadn't meant to do that. The kittens were silent. Mistoffelees saw Tugger look down at his chest. A large part of his mane was burnt black, and there was a large, smoking wound that was gushing crimson blood. Tugger touched it hesitantly, and blood dripped from his shaking fingers. It was so quiet that Mistoffelees could hear the blood droplets strike the ground. Tugger collapsed. That was when the kittens began to cry.