The Ball had ended. The Jellicles were lying around, resting after their rigorous dancing. After the rest period, most of the cats with humans went home for the day. the rest of the Jellicles stayed and slept.

Later that morning , just after dawn, something snuck into the Junkyard. It was Macavity! Chuckling to himself, he pulled out their food store. "Now those cats can't screw up!" he laughed. "They'll have some feline help!" Flameclaw, one of his henchcats, stepped cautiously out from behind some junk. "Shh! they'll hear you." She whispered. Macavity nodded, sprinkling sleeping powder on the food, saying "I will go now. make sure you don't eat any food except what I didn't drug." She watched him leave. 'What a genius', she thought as she crept in to a pipe, ready for more spying in the morning.

The next night, Munkustrap and Tugger had a fight, which ended in Tugger walking off with his fan club to cool down, taking a snack with him.

A bit after that, Etcetera scampered up. "Tugger ...went ....slam ....hhgg ...help ...ahh!" she panted. "Talk sense!" Munkustrap exclaimed. "What Happened?" "Tugger.....hit....". Mr. Mistoffelees stood up, making a large ball of water appear in the air. "If you don't make sense quick, stand by for a cold bath to help you regain your senses." "No, no! Here's what happened. Tugger seemed sorta tired, and then he started crossing the road, but while he was doing it, he seemed almost like he was falling asleep, and a car hit him!!" "Skimbleshanks, Bombalurina, Mindanao " (This was Munkustrap & Demeter's son), "come on!" yelled Munkustrap. "We've got to get him before he gets hit again!" They ran quickly in the direction of the street.......

When they took him back, there was a general hubbub of cats waiting for them, saying things like, "What happened?" "Is 'e all right?" "Oh, my, helooks awful!" "Is he dead?" "I can't see!" Jellylorom took over. "Now hush dears. I'm sure he'll be all right. Tantomile, Coricopat, Bombalurina, please come with me and Jennyanydots to help with Tugger." She motioned them over, and the cats followed her into the small space used as a sickbay.

Over the next few hours, they had an amazing number of accidents. Tumblebrutus had fallen asleep in the middle of a series of backflips, an incident which promised to put him in sickbay for a week; Electra dropped off while perched precariously atop a pile of junk, severely bruising her nose, and Mr. Mistoffelees took a snooze in the middle of a lightning trick, which singed Skimbleshanks. Because of these unfortunate incidents, Munkustrap and some other high ranking cats had an emergency meeting. Jellylorom started it off. "I just can't understand all these accidents. Cats seem to be spontaneously falling asleep all over the place!" "It is almost like that time, long ago, when the humans tried to exterminate us. " Gus remarked. "But they sprayed sleep gas, and everyone fell asleep at once." "Were they up partying late with the Tugger? That might have something to do with it" said Munkustrap. "No, Munk, they all went to bed on time; I should know." said Jennyanydots. "Besides," said Alonzo, "it's not that kind of falling asleep. They're just zonking out, right in the middle of things!" "It has to be some kind of drug. but what is it on or in? We have to figure that out first, so no more Jellicles get hurt." As if in reaction to Munkustrap's statement, there was a crash from outside. "Too late," Jellylorom sighed. "Well, you carry on thinking, Jenny and I will attend to the injured." They did so......

The newly appointed nurses were getting very tired. Injuries had tripled over the past hour, some of them quite serious. "Some of these cats need a vet, but they refuse to see one!." Jelly was complaining to Munkustrap. "And Tugger hasn't even regained consciousness." "Well, do all you can for them....I'll try to figure something out." Munkustrap said, and walked off. "How's Tugger?" Jelly asked Jenny. "He's hurt pretty bad, but it's mostly bruises and cracked ribs. If he lives through it, he probably won't even have any scars." "Well, that's good, I suppose, " sighed Jelly. "Now, let me just attend to our newest arrivals." "Ok. I've gotta attend to Tugger. He did regain consciousness a little bit ago, but he fell asleep again." Bombalurina said as she walked off.

Macavity was resting in his old warehouse, collecting information on the outcome of his plan. "Huh." he snorted. "That blasted Maine Coon took it too early, and they have a good sickbay set up." "Don't worry about it," said Flameclaw. She was a fast talker, and one of his favorite queens. "Even if he does slow things up a little, he'll probably get some scars that will ruin things for his kitten idol career." "You're probably right," he sighed, picking at the cushion he sat on with his long claws. "Well, I advise you to rest up, save your strength for the main assault on the 'yard, Master." He waved two guards to the door in answer, and they both went to sleep.

Mindanao ran over to Jellylorom. "I think we've got it," he gasped. "Victoria says that a new human, an artist, just moved into her neighborhood. Apparently, this human likes animals, especially cats, and she sometimes helps weak or injured cats, but she's not a vet. I think this could be just what were looking for." "You know, Min, you could be right," Jelly said thoughtfully. "I'll tell the others. Min, how would we get them here? Tugger is unconscious, Etcetera sprained her paw, and Admetus skinned all four paws." "That's another thing we've taken care of." Mindanao beamed. "Coricopat and Tantomile found an old wagon. too shabby to hold up human's, but fine for cats." "Good." Jelly smiled. "Then we can start moving them soon?" "Of course. And I'll find some more cats to help you with the loading." He then went off to find the cats he'd promised her.

They had finally gotten the patients loaded on. Now they were getting ready to begin the long pull to Victoria's neighborhood. They walked, pulling the wagon behind them, for an hour, then finally reached the place. "He we are," Mungojerrie gasped. "Well, what now?" "There is a kitty flap in the bottom of the door," said Tantomile and Coricopat. Munkustrap looked again at the bottom of the door. "Thanks. I'll go in, along with Victoria, Mungo, Rumple, Mindanao, and Pouncival," He decided. "Lets go." They walked through the kitty flap......

"Nice place," Mungo commented, looking around as they entered a hallway carpeted and painted in silver, with many pictures on the walls, presumably painted by the occupant. "Yeah, Jerrie, might be something worth stealin'!" Rumpleteaser said enthusiastically. "Absolutely NO stealing in this place, you two," Munkustrap said sternly. "If you antagonize the occupant, we might now be able to get help from her." Disappointedly, Mungo and Rumple agreed. They cruised the halls, looking for the human. Finally, they heard a sound from a room with a closed door. "She must be in there," Munk said. "But how will we get in?" "Leave that to us!" Rumple said, grinning. "We can open almost any lock, never mind a door." They got to work, Rumple on Mungo's shoulders, twisting the knob. "Got it," Rumple said. "Now, if Mungo will let me off his shoulders, we can go in." They walked through the now-open door.

The first thing they saw was that papers, brushes, paints and other art supplies seemed to carpet the room. Even the ceiling had a large mural of a night sky. After assessing the room, Munkustrap walked over to the desk at the far end, at which was seated the human. "Excuse us, but we need some help with our friends," he said. Of course, he knew it sounded like meowing to the human, but it would at least get her attention. Sure enough, she looked up from her work and looked at the five cats. "Hmm, and who might you be?" she said. "Six cats......and you look like you have something to show me," she said as Munkustrap began tugging at her pant leg and the others walked out the door. She followed them out. Munkustrap led her to the wagon. "Oh, my. I suppose you want me to help them?" she said. Munkustrap meowed in reply. "I do help cats around here. I can take care of them if you want me to." Munkustrap meowed at her again. "Ok, let me bring them in...." she said as she carefully wheeled the wagon inside.

They followed her down the hall, and in to the kitchen. "O cat-" (Munkustrap was surprised at this) "would you and your friends like some cream?" Munkustrap meowed loudly at this. "Ok, I'll get you some. My name is Morwenna, by the way." She took some out of the refrigerator and poured a dish of it. "Now let's see about your friends......" She ran some warm water and filled the sink. "Ok, you with the ruff-" She picked him up and carefully set him into the water. He awoke at that. "Yiiiii! Water! It'll mess up my.....oh." He saw that he was getting washed instead of drowned. "Ok," he said before yowling in pain when she probed his chest. "You seem to have a few broken ribs....stop thrashing around! That won't make it feel any better, and your getting water everywhere!" Then she attended to the other cats, bandaging Etceteras sprained paw, and applying antiseptic to Admetus' paws.

Afterwards, she made all the cats comfortable on (the badly injured were placed on therapeutic pet beds) cushions in a room that seemed to be set up for the sole purpose of housing cats. "Well, this is pretty good," said Mindanao. "We've got food, water, housing, and medical assistance." "Yes," said Jelly, nodding. "She's quite nice. " "And the food is great!" Pouncival chimed in. "Yes, Pounci, the food is good," Bombalurina said from her spot next to Tugger. "But what's more important is that this human seems to know exactly how to take care of cats. We got lucky," she said, then walked over to one of those ceiling-to-floor kitty junglegyms and began sharpening her long, alley-cat's claws. "I could use one of these in the junkyard." "Well, we'd better get some rest, we have to go back to the junkyard soon," said Munkustrap. They all curled up on cushions and napped.

Munkustrap couldn't sleep. It was just too convenient.....the way this human seemed to be able to take such good care of cats, and lived near the Jellicle Junkyard. He could think of several reasons this could be, but somehow it still didn't seem right. Acting on what seemed to him to be a crazy hunch, he went into the human's workshop. "Hello," he said. "What are you doing?" He expected nothing but a 'hello' in replied, for of course cats couldn't understand humans, but to his surprise she answered with: "Not much, just-- Oh, blast!" "Why, what's wrong?" he asked. "I wasn't going to tell you, because then there could be some complications, but - well, I guess it's too late now," she replied. "It certainly is. How is it that you can understand cats?" he asked her. "Well, in my first life, I was a Jellicle cat. Then when I went to the Heavyside layer, something got mixed up: I was reborn as this human, though my instincts were cat, and somewhere there is a human in a cat's body, which should have been mine. I figure once I die, I'll be reborn as a cat, and when the human dies, she'll go wherever humans go....maybe to the Heavyside layer; we don't know. But I can understand cats, even in a humans body. I hope the human that ended up in my body can understand cats." "Hmmm...." said Munkustrap. "What's your real name? Your Jellicle one." "My Jellicle name is Vanna. I even have a third name, the name no cat will confess." She grinned. "And who are you, may I ask?" "My name is Munkustrap. I've never heard of you; did you live near the Junkyard?" he asked. "No, I didn't I lived a little ways away, though I've been to the junkyard once." she answered. "Well. That is an interesting occurrence. I shall ask Old Dueteronomy about it once we get back to the 'yard. Thank you for explaining, Vanna." He walked back through the hall and rejoined the Jellicles.

"Sire?" one of his big black cats carefully poked it's head into the room. "I have my report." "Then give it," Macavity snarled. After the cat had finished, he began speaking with it. "So," he said. "This Morwenna is a cat. This could be interesting." He grinned evily. "But is she good -a Jellicle- or is she on my side?" "We don't know sire. Perhaps we'll soon find out." "Well, let me know immediately if we do. Now leave me in peace." "Yes, Sire."

About a week later, when the Jellicles were about ready to leave, Mr. Mistoffelees was practicing some magic tricks. On the lightning trick, some cat ran by and bumped his paw, which caused the lightning to shoot off in another direction, sending the electricity through the wires. Unfortunately, unknown to Mistoffelees, Vanna/Morwenna had just been doing a repair job on a light switch. The energy traveled down the wire she was holding, sending her into unconsciousness...

Where am I? What am I? were Vanna's thoughts as she slowly opened her eyes. A vet's office? why am I here? She looked at herself for the first time. I'm a cat! that electric shock...it must have pushed us back into our own bodies! Then she saw the sign above the door. Spaying, neutering, and declawing?! In your dreams! She was a Savannah cat, a cross between a Serval and a housecat, not as big as the former and twice as big as the latter. There were only 50 of her kind in existence. Grinning, she slashed at the arms holding her. "Hey!" the human yelled. "You said this was a nice cat, lady!" Tearing free of the arms, she ran outside. Well, I'm a cat now. It should seem strange, but I guess it doesn't 'cause I was meant for this body all along. . . She walked down the road, in search of the home where she had left the Jellicles.

Morwenna, the real Morwenna, sat up. Wow, that was an awful dream. Stuck as a cat.... Why can't I remember anything? I must have hit my head on something. . . She looked around. Well, I'd better try and find out who I am and what I'm doing here. She walked outside to talk to one of the neighbors.

Vanna walked through the door of her old home. "Hel-lo!" she meowed. "Anyone here?" "Who is that?" came Munkustrap's voice. "It's me, Munk," she said impatiently. "Vanna. Open the kitty flap." Munk poked his head out of the flap. "But can't you just. . . Who are you?!" "I'm Vanna. Somehow we got switched into our own bodies. Will you let me in now?" "Um...yeah, sure," said Munkustrap, surprised. They walked to the cat room. "Well," said Munkustrap. "I need to tell you that Vanna has claimed her rightful body, and the human hers. We'll all stay here tonight, and we'll go to the 'yard tomorrow, taking her with us." At general sounds of consent from the cats, Munkustrap settled down for the night.

Later in the night, Vanna got up. walking around, she checked for other restless cats. Tugger was sitting up, looking out the window. "Hey, how're you doing?" she asked. "All right. Kind of bored, though," he replied. "Want to go for a walk?" she purred, rubbing against him. "Ok," he grinned. "Let's go." They walked out the pet flap. "Let's go down this alley. It looks nice," she suggested. He shrugged. "Sure. Why not?" They began walking down the alley. "You know, it almost looks familiar." "Must be your imagination," she said. "You can't have been here before." "You're right. It must be my imagination," he said, and they continued down the alley. Hmm, thought Vanna. He's a cute tom... almost a shame - nah. I serve only one tom! she thought maliciously as she continued leading him down the alley.

"Don't you think we should go back now?" Tugger gasped. "No, actually. I think we should...CATCH YOU!" she snarled suddenly, as big alley cats began jumping out of assorted junk. They quickly tied him in a net, and the party advanced towards Macavity's lair.

"You did well." These were Macavity's words on the arrival of Vanna and her accomplices. "Now, lets see what he has to say to us, hmm?" "I won't tell you anything, you jumped-up son-of-a-pollicle!" Tugger yelled. "Ok, that's it," Mac growled. "Chain him and follow me." Macavity and some of his hench cats, including Flameclaw and Vanna, walked through alleys for quite a while, then stopped in back of a small shop. "What's this?" Flameclaw asked. "This," said Mac, "is a perfume store." He grinned evily. "I had an interesting idea." They grabbed Tugger and shoved him none too gently through the doorway into the back room, and locked the door. Pressing their ears to the door, they could hear choking and gasping sounds. "That was a good idea you had," remarked Vanna. "Torturing him with intense scents." The sound of breaking glass was heard from inside. "The fool," Flameclaw said scornfully. "He's just making it worse." For the noise was perfume bottles shattering. "That's the idea," said Mac smugly. They made themselves comfortable on various pieces of junk, and stood guard.

Back at Morwenna's house, the Jellicles were surprised by Vanna and Tugger's disappearance. "We probably shouldn't worry about them. They may have gone to the Junkyard already," Alonzo said. "You're right. Well, we'd better get going. Everyone ready?" said Munkustrap. They responded affirmatively, and left.

The day after they had arrived at the junkyard, Munkustrap sent out a search party to look for Vanna and Tugger. "They should be back by now; it's not like they could have gotten lost," he worried, leading his searchers. "And they must be more alert than to have been captured by Macavity. We'll check by his territory, just in case." He sighed, then lead them down yet another alleyway.

Macavity's gang had now stuck the reeking Tugger into one of the holding cells. "I suppose we can expect a rescue mission," remarked Vanna. "Will we be taking prisoners or just killing 'em?" Macavity thought about this for a moment. "If they are of high rank, such as Munkustrap or his son, attempt to capture them," he said. "If they're of no consequence, eliminate them. And by the way, leave that Alonzo to me - he's the one that scratched me at the ball." Vanna nodded. "Do we let them get away with this captured one?" Flameclaw queried. "If we don't, this place is gonna stink." "He makes no difference; he is mere bait. Let them get him out, then attack him same as the rest of them." "Yes, Master," she replied.

Back at the Junkyard, Munkustrap and his helpers were in a grim mood. "We distinctly scented the Rum Tum Tugger and Vanna, as well as some of Macavity's henchman, on Macavity's territory, then followed it straight to his lair," he told Mindanao. "We've decided the method of rescue is to be a pincer movement, since there are two entrances, front and back. I'll need you to help Alonzo lead one of the halves, while I lead the other." "Yes, father," Mindanao said proudly. "I'll be glad to help you." The orange and gray calico stood up. "Should we collect our halves now? We're all familiar with this type of rescue." "Yes, let's do that." Munkustrap began rounding up cats, as did Alonzo and Mindanao.

By dark, Macavity had begun setting up his defenses. "I'm guessing they'll attack from both sides; we do have two doors, after all. And someone go round up Stellina and her gang. We'll need them for a surprise attack." A stray nodded and left the room, while the others assumed attack positions and waited.

Munkustrap and his group slowly got into position, younger cats stationed in back, to help the injured get away. He signaled for Alonzo to begin entering, and then did so with his own group.

Macavity's lookout had seen the Jellicles coming, and warned him. "All right, everyone get ready. I want to see some shredded Jellicles!" At that moment, the door began slowly creeping open. Everyone shut up. Several shadowy figures moved down the hall, and unlocking a cage at the end. Something similar to this was happening at the other door. When all the Jellicles were inside, Stellina and her gang moved in to block the doors. at the same moment, Macavity's group turned on the flashlights around the perimeter. "We've got 'em now!" Stellina grated as she entered. The Jellicles cringed at the sight of her, her face horribly scarred, blood dripping from her jaws, and coat so coated with dirt you could barely see the copper fur. She leaped at Munkustrap's group of Jellicles, snapping the neck of the first one she came against. Munkustrap, Plato, Tumblebrutus, and Admetus leaped for her and the fur flew. Flameclaw and Vanna each led their own group of strays into opposite Jellicle groups. Bombalurina, Skimbleshanks, Mr. Mistoffelees, Coricopat and Tantomile all found strays with which to occupy their time, Bom wreaking havoc on a cat who had been, in the past, a traitor to the Jellicles, Skimble just plain fighting, Misto casting an invisibility spell on himself and zapping strays, and Tant n' Cori using their powers to know where a stray would go next. Then Macavity fought routinely through the throng, merely stepping over the cats he killed, and jumped at Alonzo. "Now I'll repay you for what you did to me at the ball!" He hissed, grabbing Alonzo and slamming him into the wall, dazing him. Mindanao leaped for Macavity, cutting a deep gash in his throat. Macavity, blood pouring from the injury, took a swipe at Min, when Alonzo intercepted, and Macavity paid him back for all his indignities at the ball, then collapsed. Flameclaw and Vanna ran over. Flameclaw checked his pulse. "You, you. you, and you!" she yowled. "Take him to his chamber. He's not quite dead. And you," she hissed, turning on Mindanao. "You made a big mistake." She advanced threateningly on him, while Vanna stood back so it would be a fair fight (at least, by their standards). Flameclaw swung at Min, but he jumped out of the way just in time, then lunged at Flameclaw. She blocked him easily, then tripped him with her tail. Munkustrap, seeing what was happening, fought his way through the fight and lashed out at Flameclaw. Vanna saw this, and leaped at Munkustrap, occupying him for the while, as Flameclaw slashed again at Mindanao, who had regained his paws. He jumped on her back, savagely slashing her already torn ear. She hissed viciously, throwing him off with a flick of her shoulder. He hit the wall flat, and she walked up and thrust her long, unclipped claws straight through his throat, pinning him to the wall with them. He coughed, spitting blood, and looked up with disbelieving eyes. He attempted to speak, but that only resulted in more coughing, and he fell limp against the wall. Dead. Triumphantly, Flameclaw slid her claws out of the corpse. "Got him! Wait'll the boss hears this," She grinned to Vanna. Then, with a ferocious hiss, Munkustrap launched himself away from Vanna's attack, and leaped on Flameclaw, shouting words about her and calling her names that have been censored out of this rendition. Vanna raced over and thunked one massive paw into the side of his head, knocking him senseless. Although they tried to get to him, Admetus, Tumblebrutus, and Plato kept them away while Electra, Ecty, and Pouncival dragged Munkustrap off, and the Jellicles made their escape. "Yes, good job," Vanna said, picking up where the conversation had left off. "I clocked the gray one a good one, doncha think?" The Jellicles had departed, except for the dead ones, at the fall of their leader. Vanna and Flameclaw set to work getting the strays to dump all the bodies down the sewer. "Unflattering end, for ours and theirs, but where else would we put 'em, hey?" remarked Stellina. The baleful copper queen had some new scars to show for her fighting, but also a lot of defeated Jellicles, maybe more than anyone. Vanna and Flameclaw went into Macavity's chamber, where the best medically able strays were tending to him. "How is he?" queried Flameclaw. "We didn't think so at first, but he'll live to fight again. Lucky he has such a dense mane; ahat's probably all that saved him." answered a stray. "Good work," said Flameclaw. "C'mon Vanna, let's go help clean up."

The Jellicles had returned to the Junkyard. Munkustrap and Demeter had gone off by themselves. Alonzo was speaking to them. "There were many losses on both sides, thankfully our losses were less than theirs. Among them are Palomino, Quipo, Yarmantazz, and Mindanao. We wish them an easy trip to the Heavyside Layer." A sorrowful hush greeted this announcement. "On an upper note, our own Bombalurina got rid of that lying traitor Amoral, Macavity has been injured, possibly fatally, and we were able to retrieve the slightly-strong-smelling-Tugger." The Jellicles were glad to hear that the cats who gave their lives had not given them in vain; The end -rescuing Tugger- had been accomplished. "And now," said Jellyorom, "I think it's high time the kittens got home. And you," she said, hooking Tugger's belt, "are taking a bath before you stink up the place!" She marched him off to the leaky pipe and her old piece of soap, Tugger protesting and complaining all the way.