CHAPTER 17 - KITTY CITY
When Michaelah woke up the next day she was no longer in the sand. She was in a car. It all felt so familiar. Like she fell asleep in her mom’s car on the ride home from gymnastics. Michaelah got herself up and saw that she was in the trunk of a jeep with Koji, who was still sleeping. She softly and quietly got the panda awake. There was a divider in the car that was keeping them from seeing who was driving. Besides big bags of sand there were also a bunch of bottles of water rolling around. They each drank two each, almost choking themselves they drank so fast. Michaelah used the rest of the second bottle to wash her face.
She got a good look around the trunk. The windows were tinted, which meant they were dark, and the inside couldn’t be seen from the outside. But Koji and Michaelah were still able to see outside. She wiggled to the window and looked out. They were still driving in desert. Dunes passed by all around them, but the jeep did not shake. They were on a road in the desert. Soon the dunes of sand turned into boulders of rock, and then grass, and then trees. They were officially out of the desert and on the other side of Pandamonium.
The car did not stop driving for hours. They almost fell asleep again. They passed many things. They rode along the river for a while before reaching a city. This was a modern city, one that looked like New York City, with the skyscrapers. the billboards, and the streets filled with cars. Was she finally home? Could this be a human city in Pandamonium? Michaelah was getting increasingly more excited the more familiar things looked. There were even advertisements for catfood on the billboards.
The car turned another corner and got stuck in traffic. They did not move in lane for a couple of minutes, more than enough time for Michaelah and Koji to get a good look around at everything, even though they were looking through dark windows. They could see the general shapes of things, but it was hard to make out specific details. Michaelah was looking for things familiar to her, like cellphones. But none of these people seemed to be carrying cellphones. If they did have them, they didn’t have them out, which was odd to her. Michaelah saw people walking around with their phones all the time at home.
As they slowly approached a corner she could see street vendors. Usually, in the city, they sold pretzels, or hotdogs, or nuts. She wanted to see what this guy was selling but it was hard with the tinted windows.
Michaelah and Koji tried to get a better look at what the vendor on the corner was selling. It was definitely food. But the closer they got, the stranger it appeared. It looked like it was some sort of meat on a stick. At first, Michaelah thought it was chicken on a stick. That was until they got close enough to see the tail. It was a fishtail. But the creature on the stick wasn’t shaped like any fish Michaelah had seen before.
The more they saw after that, the more she was beginning to think this was not the place she hoped for. Eventually, the jeep stopped. This was it. The trunk door opened, slowly revealing the people that saved them from the dry clutches of the desert. They looked pretty normal from shoes to pants. Some of them were even wearing suits. One thing stuck out, as the trunk door slowly made its way up. They all had tails.
The trunk door finally finished opening to reveal their very feline heads. They were cat people. Each was a different color but mostly different variations of black, gray, orange, brown, and white. Most of the cat people went for the bags of sand, carrying them away into a building they were parked in front of. One orange cat waited for the sandbag-haulers to finish and then started talking to them.
“You two seem to be taking this all very well.”
“Thank you for the water and saving us from the desert.”
“We're happy to help. You're lucky we found you when we did, but you're safe now. Welcome to Kitty City.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, what were you doing out in the desert when you found us?”
“We were gathering sand for our bathrooms.”
Michaelah and Koji both shook their heads as if they understood completely. Michaelah might’ve had a slight idea of what he was talking about, but Koji definitely had no clue whatsoever. Why would you need sand in a bathroom? But he didn’t know what a litter box was. This was how civilized cats lived, and apparently civilized cat-people too. Michaelah had a few thoughts about what it could mean. One being they used sand in their toilets instead of water. Yes, that was probably it.
When they arrived at the city no one knew what to do with them. The weirdly quiet business cats left them on the corner of a city with who knows how many streets. They were lost. But at least it was not a desert. Luckily, one of the drivers took pity on them.
“Well,” he said, as he waved them into his jeep, “If we’re going to be friends we will need to know each other’s names. People call me Jonesy.”
“Hi, Jonesy. My name is Michaelah, and this is Koji.”
“You two look funny. But we get a lot of funny folk here. I assume you need a place to stay…and bathe…judging by the look of you.”
Michaelah and Koji looked at one another. Koji barely looked black and white anymore he had so much sand-dust on him. The same could be said for Michaelah and her red cloak. Her hair was a disaster. She could tell without even having to see it. Just be touching it. It was deeply concerning but up until now she was trying not to think about it.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
At this point in her adventures, Michaelah knew full-well to expect a curveball from each new place in Pandamonium. And just like the toilets having sand, she expected bathing to be something cat-like, and hoped that wouldn’t mean some kind of licking.
After traveling to a part of the city overlooking the river, Jonesy pulled in and parked the car in front of an apartment building. The valet cat, in a white shirt and red vest, ran out and took the keys from Jonesy as they all got out of the car. Jonesy led them through the lobby, and they took the elevator to the fifty-ninth floor. Jonesy opened the door to his apartment to reveal a luxury view of the river. They were so high up that Michaelah and Koji could see a great deal of the city. It looked so cool! The windows in Jonesy’s apartment were huge, stretching across the entire wall on the river side of the room.
Tiny little footsteps sounded off down the hallway from the rest of the apartment. “Daddy!” said the voice accompanying the feet. It was Jonesy’s little kitten daughter, Maribel. Jonesy scooped her up and licked her forehead. Maribel was a ginger cat, just like he was. They snuggled together for a little while Koji and Michaelah watched on, practically melting over the cuteness.
With a wholesome giggle, Jonesy’s wife walked in and hugged them both, Maribel sandwiched together. Jonesy introduced everybody.
“This is my daughter Maribel, and my wife, Maeve.”
“You have a lovely family,” Michaelah said.
“We also have a son. He’s in his room right now.”
“Chaz!” Jonesy yelled out.
There was no answer. So, they all went to his room. Michaelah felt kind of bad about it. When they got to his door and opened it, Chaz was playing video games on his television with a headset on. Everything looked remarkably similar to Michaelah’s world. His parents scolded Chaz for being rude to their guests. He pretty much ignored them until the round was over. Brushing the brown hair out of his eyes, he explained to them that he was practicing for a tournament.
Chaz was unlike any color cat Michaelah had ever seen before. He had a mix of black, brown, and orange. Later, it was explained to them that this particular type of cat was called a tortie, due to its fur color looking like tortoiseshell color patterns commonly found in fashion. Chaz was very unique, not only because he was a tortie cat, but because he was a male tortie cat. Most torties were female for some unknown reason. Not only was Chaz a rare breed of cat but apparently he was also very good at the game he was playing, since he was to be in a tournament.
Jonesy showed Michaelah and Koji to the bathroom and aside from the weird looking toilet, everything else appeared to be normal. The shower and the sink both had running water. The bath in Koji’s bathroom was big enough for him to sit in. They both spent a good amount of time showering and bathing. When they were done, everyone was sitting down for dinner. Tonight, they were having fish. Koji ate the leaves the fish were brought to the table on.
After dinner, Michaelah and Koji told Jonesy’s family about their adventure all across Pandamonium. They were completely swept up by the tale. It was better than any tv show, movie, or video game they had ever seen. Even Chaz looked impressed. They all talked for hours.
After speaking with his wife privately, Jonesy invited them to stay for as long as they needed. He also promised to help them find a way back home.
Maribel played with Koji until she fell asleep on him. Chaz and Michaelah talked well into the night. Maeve turned the living room couch into a bed with a pillow, sheets, and a blanket. She wanted to make Koji comfortable on the floor, but he was already snoozing with the baby. Maeve took Maribel off of him and put a blanket on top of the panda. She gave Maribel to Jonesy to put to bed. And only as a caring and attentive mother knew how to do, she mentioned the tournament Chaz was in just before leaving the room.
Michaelah asked Chaz about the video game tournament.
“Well, my parents were giving me a hard time about playing video games too much and not doing other things like other kits my age. Apparently, if you are not on a sports team you are not legit. It took signing up for this tournament and getting invited into the finals to get them to take me seriously. They think I am getting an all expense-paid trip to Gamer Central as a reward for the tournament. What I didn’t tell them is that if I win I get a million goldfangs as a reward. More than enough to get my only place and equipment to start streaming.”
“Wow, Chaz. That sounds amazing. Why don’t you just tell them?”she asked.
“What if I lose? I don’t think I could handle all that pressure.”
Michaelah nodded her head. She understood what he meant.
Chaz shifted in his seat. “There’s something else I didn’t tell them.”
“What?”
“I have an extra admission ticket. It's for someone to accompany me during the tournament.”
“Who do you want to take?”
There was a slight awkward pause. Michaelah was completely clueless until he said it outright.
“Would you like to go with me?”
Michaelah blushed. When she didn’t anwer right away, Chaz flicked the hair out of his eyes and squirmed.
“I’d love to!” Michaelah said. “When is it?”
“It’s tomorrow. Koji can hang out here with my mom and sister while we go.”
“That sounds great. Maybe that will give your dad some time to see if there’s a way for us to get home.”
“If there was ever a place to get you and Koji home it would be Kitty City. We have everything here.”
Chaz and Michaelah talked for a little while after that, said good night and went to bed. Maeve popped into Chaz’s room before he fell asleep to see how it went. He told his mom the good news and she was thrilled to hear it. She didn’t mind that Chaz didn’t tell them about the extra ticket. When Chaz saw that he also decided to come clean about the money reward too.
Maeve’s jaw nearly hit the floor when he told her how much he could stand to make. Even second place made five hundred goldfangs. Everyone went to sleep. Michaelah laid on the couch in the living room. She stared at Koji snoring on the floor. For all she knew, she could be at a slumber party the way things felt so normal. It smelled good. She could finally relax. And for once she was actually looking forward to tomorrow in Pandamonium.