AN: Okay, Kel worked some numbers and the future plot blew up in our faces. So while we put it back together… Yay, filler chapter! Also, if it hasn't been made ridiculously clear, there will eventually be Christine/Amber slash. If it bugs you, either get a life of skip over those parts.

"No! Nada! Absolutely not!"

"Tugger, please! Munkustrap and the rest of us will be busy!"

"So why am I not at this little meeting!"

"It's only Munkustrap, Rumpelteazer, and the older cats. But Alonzo and Cassandra are busy with the newborns, Jemima and Victoria are spending the day together, Demeter and Savon are in the park, Mungojerrie and Juana need time alone, I can't find Plato or Bombalurina, and no one else is old enough. You and Mistoffelees are the only ones left!"

"Jenny, I cannot care for kittens!"

"It's just for an hour or so! Between the two of you, I'm sure you can handle four little kits!"

"One of them is magical, might I add!"

"So what? And so is Mistoffelees! Rum Tum Tugger, please!"

"Oh, fine," he relented. "But you owe me!"

The queen nodded. "They're right outside. I have to go, I'm already late…."

The tom slowly sauntered out to where his tuxedoed friend was keeping a close eye on Gus, Grizabella, Chelonian, and a fully recovered Deuteronomy. All looked as if they should have had horns sticking up out of their heads.

"Listen up you four," he said sternly. "I'm not going to put up with any of your tricks today, got it? Especially not from you, Mini Mage." He pointed a paw at Deuteronomy. "No funny stuff, alright? I've got nothing against getting Mistoffelees here to put you in a bubble for the rest of the week."

"I could just shatter it," smirked Deuteronomy.

Misto gave an evil grin. "Not if it's ten feet above the ground you couldn't."

"Now go play over there," ordered the Tugger. "Don't go around unstable piles of scrap metal, don't eat anything if you don't know what it is, and try not to kill each other! Come on, Misto, let's catch a catnap."

The four were herded off, and they immediately dropped their voices to hushed whispers.

"I've got a plan," the Jellicle leader said softly, retracting a claw and drawing a very rough picture in the dust. "We'll need a few things. Griz, Chel, can you get a bucket of water?"

The queen kits nodded. "We'll put in what Gus told us to put in yesterday," added Grizabella with a grin.

"Gus, think you can find something that looks like Jemima's collar?"

The theatre cat nodded, a grin spreading over his face as he studied the plan.

"Good, then that leaves the paint to me. Meet back here once you've got the supplies. You two put the bucket right up on that ledge."

The other three nodded, and set out into the junkyard while their "caretakers" dozed off in the sun.

"Nah nah! Can't catch me!" taunted Deuteronomy, laughing as the Rum Tum Tugger nipped at his tail.

"Come back, you little…" The larger tom caught himself before he used a few words Munkustrap was sure to get him for later. "I'll teach you to pounce on me!"

"Now!" the kit cried out, disappearing into a pile of junk.

Chelonian and Grizabella threw themselves against the bucket of water, tipping it over.

Mistoffelees, who had followed to watch the excitement, was quicker. He held out a paw, enclosing the liquid in a transparent blue bubble above the Rum Tum Tugger's head, the bucket falling with a clatter well out of the way. "I'm afraid you four will have to do better than that."

Gus leaned over the pile of junk, fighting off a grin. "I guess you're just too smart for us. We'll never be able to fool you two genii."

"I happen to be an Aries, wise guy!" shot back the Tugger.

The tuxedo felt like smacking himself on the forehead. "Genii is the plural form of genius, you idiot."

His ears wilted. "Oh…"

After the two adults had left, the kittens regrouped.

"The first part went exactly as planned," Deuteronomy said, flashing a grin at the two queens. "Now make a puddle, right under the magic bubble like Gus said. You've got the collar?"

The Theatre Cat pushed forward an old collar, broken and dirty but somewhat resembling the one Jemima wore.

"Excellent. I'll get Tugger with the paint, but this time it won't only be his tail. Now let's go!"

"Now, we've gathered here today because some rather disturbing information has been brought to the surface," Jennyanydots said, panning her gaze across the group.

Jenny, Skimbleshanks, Rumpelteazer, Munkustrap, Jellylorum, and Asparagus Jr. were all seated in a clearing some ways in, away from the tire area. All that was needed was for the truth to get out among the tribe.

"It has been discovered that Munkustrap's father is Cronus, therefore his brother is Macavity," Jennyanydots said bluntly,

There was an unsettling silence among the cats. No one dared to speak, until the Jellicle Protector took a deep breath and opened his mouth.

"I understand what you must be thinking. I will willingly leave, if you believe that is what's best for the tribe." The tabby bowed his head low, not letting them see his eyes.

"Leave the tribe?" Jellylorum asked, actual fear in her voice. "Munkustrap, no!"

"You never mentioned that…" the Gumbie Cat said softly.

"He did to me," whispered Rumpelteazer. She nudged the tom gently. "You can't go, Munk. We need a Protector. Lyghtside, we need a leader."

"My brother killed three Jellicles," Munkustrap said, keeping his head lowered. "My father killed more. Both had probably killed before, and Macavity has probably killed many after. How can I stay when I know that I share that blood?"

"Deuteronomy needs you," spoke up Skimbleshanks. "He needs a guardian as well as a bodyguard. No one else can fill those roles. Stay, Munkustrap."

"We don't care about your blood," Asparagus added. "I lost my brother to Cronus, and I still see you as Old Deuteronomy's own progeny. You're not like those two, Munkustrap. You never have been, and you probably never will."

Those words comforted him more than the older tom could ever know. "… Thank you."

"So you'll stay?" the Railway Cat prodded.

He raised his head. "Yes, I'll stay."

"Good. Then I won't have to break your legs."

"Skimbleshanks!"

"Dad!"

"What?"

"You little…" The Rum Tum Tugger couldn't conjure up words hateful enough to describe the kitten. "Argh!"

"So you're a pirate now!" laughed Deuteronomy. "I've got a great name for you, Tugger! Blue Mane!"

"I'm going to pluck you like a Sunday chicken, you little monkey!"

"Not if you can't catch me!"

At least half of the tom's fur, his beautiful, shiny, ebony black and perfectly leopard-spotted fur, had been splashed with sky blue paint, including his luxurious, silky mane. No cat messed with the mane. Not even the Jellicle leader. His goose was cooked.

Meanwhile, it was taking every ounce of willpower Mistoffelees possessed not to fry Gus into a cinder. He had somehow gotten his paws on Jemima's collar, and was currently being both annoying and elusive.

"Gonna have to do better than that, Tux!" the kit taunted, his voice muffled through the collar. He saw Deuteronomy dart up a junk pile with Tugger behind him and grinned.

The Rum Tum Tugger and Misto nearly collided at the foot of the pile. The magician blinked at the sight of his friend.

"Um, Tugger? You're blue."

"I know that," he growled.

He looked down. "We're also standing in water."

"Are we? … What in Heaviside…"

Deuteronomy aimed carefully, and sent a shot of green magic towards the bubble of water suspended overtop the pair. It broke.

"Oh damn," were the Tugger's only words.

Mistoffelees tried to stop it, but they were drenched before he could do anything. Unfortunately, something did happen afterwards. The water had been mixed with salt at Gus's insight, and was a very good conductor for electricity and magic. And considering the toms were both drenched and standing in water…

"Now," Munkustrap said slowly and calmly, all while fighting off laughter. "Tell me again what happened."

"That kitten is the Eternal Pollicle in feline form!" raved the Rum Tum Tugger. "I say we strap him to a dunking stool!"

"I say we lock him in your human's basement for a month," Mistoffelees spat bitterly, trying to smooth his fur down. The singed fur didn't show up on his dark fur, but his white bib was now more of a burnt brown colour.

Deuteronomy was doing his best to look completely innocent. "Tug?" he said rather sweetly. "Your tail's on fire, you know."

The tom gave him a look of loathing.

The kit licked his paw, and pressed it down on the small flame and it extinguished it with a hiss. He gave a hopeful smile. "There! Good as new!"

"I'll kill him!" The tom lunged, but Munkustrap and Mistoffelees managed to hold him back.

"Could you please act like an adult, Tugger?" the silver tabby sighed. "He's a kitten, he doesn't know better."

"Doesn't know better, my mane!"

"Your blue mane," added the tuxedo with a grin.

"Shut up, Stoff. And what ever happened to him being the Jellicle leader, hmm?"

"Well…" Munkustrap paused. He actually didn't have an answer for that. What had happened to Deuteronomy being the Jellicle leader instead of a kitten?

"Look," he finally said, his voice weaker than he would have liked it to been. "We'll compromise, okay? Mistoffelees, Tugger, your humans will take you to the groomer and get you both clipped and cleaned up. If the paint won't come out, Misto can magic it out. And Deuteronomy, you're hereby grounded for a week and three days. You stay with me at all times, and you're not allowed to play with the other kittens for that length."

The grey kitten groaned, but grudgingly nodded.

"Now apologize."

Another groan. "I'm sorry I got the queens to try to douse you with water."

"And…"

"And I'm sorry I used my magic for goofing off."

"And…"

"And I'm sorry that I tricked Mistoffelees into using his magic for goofing off."

"And…" growled the Rum Tum Tugger.

"And I'm very, very sorry I dumped paint on you."

The tuxedo cleared his throat. "And the shocking."

"Okay, I didn't plan that. You're the one who caused that, not me."

"But the water was mixed with salt!"

"Gus's idea."

"Deuteronomy…" Munkustrap said sternly.

He sighed. "Fine, fine. I'm sorry you got shocked, even though you should have more sense than that. Can I go now?"

"No, but Mistoffelees and the Rum Tum Tugger can. You're to stay within my eyesight at all times, got it?"

The two other toms left, and the silver tabby's face cracked into a smile. "You planned all that?"

"Yeah, except for the saltwater part."

"How'd you know it would work?"

He shrugged. "Just did."

Munkustrap shook his head. "Come on, let's go home and see if the human put lunch out. And try to behave yourself from now on, okay? You are still the Jellicle leader."

"Amber? Amber Tom? Christine, take my advice and lose her. She's no good."

"You've never even met her!" the black-haired girl protested, fidgeting where she sat on the computer desk. "How do you know what she's like?"

"I used to take a group music class with her, wondered what she was up to and looked her up in the school registry. Thought it was interesting and put it onto a disk," replied Adriana, typing away furiously on the keyboard. The three teens were in the computer lab on lunch break.

"She was in my class when I went to her school," added Mark. "She's not normal."

"So says the one with the blue hair," she pointed out. "What did her record say? Wait, let me guess, she's an axe murderer."

"She's been in three major fights this semester alone," the dark-skinned girl replied, producing and sliding a disc into the hard drive. "She mouths off to the teachers. Her marks are atrocious. She cheated on her last English test."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Look at these marks up until that test," Mark said, pointing at them. "Forties, fifties, the highest one is a sixty-three. And look at this one, eighty-five. No way that just happened on its own."

Christine felt a twinge of pride. That was the one she had helped her study for. The two had been spending most of their time together for two weeks, and there were improvements for both of them as far as school went.

"She's not the sort you should be hanging around," Adriana warned.

She was about to tell the girl exactly what she thought of that, but she was interrupted.

"Christine Langille, please report to the headmaster's office."

That was the worst possible thing one could hear over the PA system at Drake Academy. Headmaster Stobbe was a tall man with silver hair and piecing blue eyes that could glare over the tops of his horn rim glasses in a way that took years to prefect. He was a busy man. He only met with students who were really in trouble.

So it was only understandable that Christine was shaking slightly as she knocked on the double oak doors of his office. What had she done…

"Come in," instructed the firm, commanding voice.

She made sure her tie was straight and walked into the office.

The headmaster glanced at her over his glasses before returning his gaze to the file in front of him. "Sit."

She did.

"Christine Langille… Middle name Margaret?"

"Yes, sir." She hated that name more than anything. She didn't care that it was her grandmother's name. It was just plain… dorky.

"Well, Miss Langille, do you know why I called you to my office?"

"I can't say I do, sir."

He held up a page of her file. A report from her Math teacher.

Christine gulped.

"I've been looking over your marks and comments from your teachers." Headmaster Stobbe stated. "And I am extremely impressed."

This caught her off-guard. "Really?"

"Yes, really. Now, I saw a bit of a dip a while back, but it raised right back up. What was that about, if I may be so bold to ask?"

"Er, some personal issues, sir. Problems at home." He must not have records from my old school… As for the dip, let's see you concentrate on your studies while your parents are having a screaming match right above you.

"Ah…" he said, making a rather neutral noise. No educator wanted to dive deeper into problems at home. Still, he was required to say… "You know you can come to me with anything, Miss Langille?"

"Yes, sir." The last thing I ever want to do is come back into this office.

"Well, in any case, they bounced back. Your marks, that is. Your latest test was three tenths of away from a ninety-eight." That test had been on multiplying fractions. He thought he was being funny, the key word being thought.

"Really, sir? I haven't gotten that one back yet."

"As for your other subjects this semester… Well, I'm sure you know. You're top of your class in Chemistry, you're doing extremely well in Art, and I had to check your English scores twice, it's rather remarkable. Er, pardon the pun."

"Pardoned, sir."

"Your last paper… Rather well done, above your grade level."

"Thank you, sir." I borrowed a CD from Amber. No Vacancy drowns out the hollering extremely well.

"Since you are obviously not being properly challenged at your current grade level, we, the administration, are considering putting you in courses with a higher grade level next semester."

"You're… You're bumping me up?" she stammered out.

"There will be an exam on the final day before winter break, Miss Langille. If you pass that, you will be 'bumped up' next semester, meaning one or more of your subjects will be the next grade level, and the rest will be advanced courses. Do you have any problems with that?"

"No, sir! Not at all, sir!"

"Good. You may go."

Christine did go, as fast as she could without tripping. She managed until she got outside of the office, then she fell face-first into a student carting a tray of test tubes to the chemistry lab. The only word sufficient to describe what followed was the word "Eep".