Hoof and Claw Versus the World

by Chythar

Act 3, Chapter 7 - The Beginning of a New Life

I was trying to wrap up my old life, so I could live my new one with a clear conscience. But I still had a big decision to make.

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I did a lot of soul-searching while I sat there on the carpet. Eventually, I realized that I didn't have a choice. I couldn't just give up my cats, they were too precious to me. They could have a life with Mrs. Johnston, but they would always wonder why I had abandoned them. Cats do remember those they love, and will mourn when the one they love is gone for too long. Having the cats stay in the US Bank Tower with Nightmare Moon and me was a better option, but also problematic. There was no guarantee that I would be home every night to care for them, and I had no one to watch over them while I was gone.

No, I had to go through with it and just hope for the best.

Cat gravity kept me on the carpet while my cats snoozed and purred away. So I spent the time enjoying the warmth my cats gave me, and the warmth of my tea.

"Oh! I just remembered Josh, I have something for you!"

"What?"

"Let me go fetch it from my closet, I won't be but a moment."

Mrs Johnston stood up from her couch with a slight groan, then walked a bit stiffly down the hall and disappeared into her bedroom. I heard her closet door slide open, then another grunt as she picked something up. When she returned, she had a white banker's box in her hands; the kind you might see in the average office that's used to store papers. The box looked to be maybe a foot wide, maybe a foot tall and a foot & a half deep. It also had a lid on top of the box, hiding its contents from view.

"Here you go, dearie."

She grunted again as she set the box down with a thump in front of me. The box didn't look that heavy, so I guessed that Mrs. Johnston's joints were acting up again.

The noise woke my cats. Isis was easily startled, so she ran off into the kitchen. Kusac stood up to check out the box, while Bastet stayed in my lap and just looked curiously at it. I reached over to the white box, and lifted up the lid to peer inside.

My PS4!

And my games!

I rifled through the box to see what else Mrs. Johnston had saved for me.

She got my tablet!

And my big jar of pocket change!

Oh, and my phone charger. It would be useless now if it didn't also charge my tablet.

"This is awesome, thank you!"

"You're welcome. I managed to sneak all those things out when Doris was cleaning out your old apartment. I am sorry dearie, but I had to use your cat food and litter."

"That's cool, Mrs. Johnston."

While I stared into the box, Mrs Johnston turned around and sat back down on the couch.

I remember when I first met Mrs. Johnston, I thought she was just some really stupid old lady. And a sucker for giving me free food.

But I was the stupid one. Mrs. Johnston actually CARES about me. And she was willing to reach out to a spiteful kid who was too dumb to realize he was causing his own problems.

And when I leave here today, I'm never going to see her again.

My eyes immediately got misty at the thought. My original plan was to just take my cats and go, but I realized that I really wanted to spend some more time with Mrs. Johnston. I used to be so annoyed when she asked me to watch TV with her, but at that moment it sounded like the best thing in the world.

I put the lid back on the cardboard box, then gently cradled Bastet in my arms as I stood up from the carpet. Kusac followed me as I walked around the couch and sat down next to Mrs. Johnston. Kusac stared at me for several moments; I patted the cushion next to me as an invitation for the tomcat to join us. But instead, he turned and padded over to the cat tree. He climbed up to one of its higher shelves, then lay down to watch us.

Mrs. Johnston and I spent the next several hours chatting. She brought me up to date with the local gossip, which I didn't care for but it was important to her. I had to spin a lot of lies about my new life, since I obviously couldn't tell her the truth. I told her that I was the personal assistant to a powerful woman who traveled all over SoCal, and I did all the mundane tasks that she never had time to do. And my new employer had kept me way too busy to come back and visit until then. If Mrs. Johnston had any reason to doubt my story, she never said anything.

Eventually, we ran out of things to talk about and Mrs. Johnston turned on the TV. Isis had joined us on the couch at some point, and was leaning on my left hip as she snoozed away. Bastet was still in my lap and enjoying all of the pets I was giving her, while Kusac was asleep on the cat tree. Mrs. Johnston and I watched her favorite soap operas until noon, then she got up and fixed us some lunch. I swear, no one could beat her tuna fish sandwiches. She never told me what her secret recipe was, no matter how many times I asked, but they always tasted amazing. She even gave me a small bowl of tuna for Isis and Bastet, who were quite happy to eat it all up. Kusac was still sleeping so he missed out.

After lunch, we watched TV for another half hour before Mrs. Johnston announced that she was tired and wanted to lay down for her afternoon nap. As she got herself ready for bed, she let me know that I was welcome to stay until she woke up. I didn't answer, but I knew I had other plans. When Mrs Johnston called out for me to tuck her in, I set a slightly disgruntled Bastet down on the couch then walked into Mrs. Johnston's bedroom. The elderly woman had just pulled the covers over herself, and looked quite cozy. I held her hand for a moment, and suddenly couldn't find the right words to say. But when Mrs. Johnston smiled tiredly at me, they all came out in a rush.

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Johnston. I never really appreciated you until you were gone from my life."

The elderly woman smiled warmly at my kind words.

"Oh, it's no less than you deserved."

"No, actually. I didn't deserve you. But you were what I needed, even if I didn't know it at the time."

"Why Josh, that's real sweet of you to say."

Her smile suddenly turned into a slight frown; she must have noticed the sad and wistful look that I felt on my face. And in my heart, too.

"You won't be here when I wake up, will you?"

"No. No, I'm afraid I won't."

"Oh.

"Will you think of me, from time to time?"

"Always, Mrs. Johnston. Now SLEEP."

I punctuated my last words with a minor sleep spell, one that Nightmare Moon had taught me a couple of weeks ago. Mrs. Johnston's eyes closed and she began to lightly snore. One of her cats, a white molly named Snowball, took that moment to jump up on the bed. She sniffed my offered hand, then let me pet her for a few moments. Afterwards, she curled up next to Mrs. Johnston so she could have her own cat nap with her mistress on the soft bed.

The sleep spell would keep Mrs. Johnston asleep for the next few hours, so I knew I wouldn't be disturbed. I made my way back into the living room, and found all of my cats asleep; Bastet and Isis on the couch, and Kusac still on the cat tree.

It was time.

I took a deep breath, then summoned magic into my hands. My human illusion shattered, revealing my dark and armored feline form underneath. With a thought, I gently lifted all three slumbering cats up with my magic. The levitating cats wobbled gently in the air as I sat down on the couch. I gently set the snoozing cats down in the center of the carpet between the couch and the TV.

There was nothing left to do but cast the spell. I focused my gaze upon the cats, then began to push magic into the 'front' spell slot in the gemstone set into my armor. All three cats immediately began to glow red, the color of my magic. While the spell was charging, I thought about what I wanted the cats to look like. I was hoping that I could affect the cat's transformation, and prevent them from becoming ponies. So I concentrated on their looks and the abilities I thought they should have.

I wanted them to be as big as a large cat, like a leopard or panther, but I wanted their faces to still look like a house cat. So basically, a big house cat. I wanted them to have front paws that could work like a hand, so they could grab things with their front paws. I got this idea from a book I read a long time ago. I also wanted them to have the ability to change shape back to a normal house cat if necessary. I kept these features in mind while I continued to power the spell, up until the spell suddenly fired off on its own. The cats were surrounded in a bright red glow, then the area exploded in a bright flash!

My vision slowly returned, and my eyes began to focus on three large shapes in front of me. I rubbed my eyes to clear the spots in front of them. When they finally cleared, I saw an amazing sight: three large cats standing in front of me! These cats looked to be about two feet tall at the shoulder, and around three or so feet long not counting their tails. The center cat was slightly taller than the other two. I didn't see any bodies laying around, so I presumed that these three were my cats. Just changed. They looked like my three cats: the taller one was a sleek black cat; the right one was a chubby black cat; and the left one was a tortoiseshell. It was kinda hard to tell, the uniforms kinda got in the way.

Uniforms? Oh, yes. These large cats were wearing Shadowbolt uniforms! They all wore the same one: a purple bodysuit with very dark blue covering the head and neck, with the two colors separated by a yellow lightning-bolt pattern. However, their paws and muzzles were uncovered revealing their fur. All three wore purple goggles with yellow lenses. On their flank was a cat skull, but with wings instead of ears.

Speaking of, they all had wings! They were folded at their sides, and looked about the same as pony pegasus wings. All three cats were standing and facing forward, though with their goggles on I couldn't tell if they were awake. I did not see their tails moving, so they may have been asleep. I decided to re-cast my human illusion, in case my armored feline form frightened them.

Afterwards, I focused my attention on the center cat.

"Kusac, is that you?"

At the sound of my voice, the center black cat sat down on the carpet. He brought his hand-shaped front paws to his goggles, lifted the goggles off his eyes then set them down on his forehead. Without his goggles on, I clearly recognized the face of Kusac. He then looked up at me.

"Yes, Master, I am Kusac."

"Whoa, you can talk?"

"Yes, Master. Does this displease you?"

"No no, not at all! I'm just glad I can finally talk to you! I've wanted to for so long, so I can tell you to stop chasing Isis and Bastet!"

"Really, why? I was just playing."

"You play too rough for the girls, Kusac. They don't understand."

The two remaining cats sat down and lifted their goggles up. I could now see that these cats were Bastet and Isis. Just bigger. Isis was still a bit chubby but not as much as she was when she was a normal cat.

Bastet turned to Kusac and began bitching him out.

"Yeah, you idiot! I thought you were trying to kill me! All that biting and scratching really hurt!"

"I'm sorry! You were supposed to chase me after I chased you!"

Isis took that moment to speak up.

"How were we supposed to know that? Why do you think I hissed at you all the time?"

"I don't know, maybe you were just grumpy!"

Isis lashed out and hit Kusac in the face with a paw.

"You numbskull!"

Kusac reared back at the hit, and his wings flared out instinctively. One of his wings hit Bastet, who then turned and hissed at Kusac.

"Ow! Hey! I'll bite you for that!"

"STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!"

All three cats immediately cowered on the ground and looked up at me.

"No more fighting, that's enough. You all can talk and understand each other now, so I expect you to talk this out and work out your problems.

"Bastet and Isis, remember that Kusac was playing and trying to make friends. He messed that up pretty bad, but he wasn't trying to be mean.

"Kusac, understand that Bastet and Isis think you're playing too rough. Tone it down, and TALK to them.

"Do you understand?"

All three cats spoke in unison.

"Yes, Master."

"Good.

"Ok, here's the plan kids. We're moving out."

The cats didn't like that idea.

Kusac complained, "What? Again?"

Bastet whined, "I like it here, I don't want to go!"

Isis just shivered in fear.

"Oh come on, you guys."

I knelt down on the carpet and beckoned them closer.

"Come here, come here. Please."

Kusac and Bastet came close and I petted their faces. Kusac smiled and Bastet sighed out loud. Isis approached a few moments later. I extended the petting to their necks and backs, and my hand slid over the slick fabric of their uniforms.

"Oh hey, can you guys take off your jumpsuits?"

All three cats closed their eyes, and their bodies briefly flashed a bright white. A moment later, the cats were bare and clad only in their fur. They were still the same larger size, but their wings had disappeared with their uniforms. I thought that was strange, but figured their wings were just part of their uniform somehow.

It's magic, who knows how it works?

Kusac spoke up.

"Better, Master?"

I stroked his fur from his head to his tail, then caressed his tail from base to tip.

"What do you think?"

His only answer was a smile and a purr.

I spent some time petting all three cats to help calm them down. It was kind of weird petting them when they were big, there was a lot more of them to pet. But their fur felt the same, and they acted the same way they always did. Kusac would lift his head after I stroked his tail, so I would stroke his head and pet his body all over again. Bastet preferred having her chin and jaw rubbed, and Isis would lie on her back and beg to have her belly rubbed. If I still had any fears that my cats had been destroyed, this petting session crushed them completely. They may have looked different, but these were still my cats.

"Ok, ok. Enough for now."

All three chimed in: "Awww!"

"Later, I promise. But for now, it's time to go."

The cats all looked sad when they remembered that we were moving away.

"It won't be so bad. You'll be working with me now! I've got a new job, and I need your help. You'll get to stalk and hunt and guard me, instead of sitting alone at home all the time."

Bastet and Kusac both perked up.

"Ooh?"

"Really?"

Isis was less enthused.

"Yay."

"Now now Isis, I promise it won't be so bad. Now come on, it's time to go."

The reply I got was a chorus of sad "yes, master'.

"Good. First off, change back into your smaller cat forms."

All three cats flashed bright white for a second, then reappeared in the feline forms I knew so well. I walked around the couch and picked up the banker's box.

"Okay. Kusac and Bastet on my shoulders, while Isis lies down on the box."

The cats jumped on to the couch, then its back, then on to me.

"Alright, hold on."

I focused on my magic, then cast an illusion spell. In a flash, my Shadowcats could no longer be seen.

I heard a chorus of 'woah' from them. I smiled, but didn't respond. Instead, I walked to the front door of the apartment and pushed the screen door open. I used my tail to wrap around the door handle, and pulled the door shut behind me. Next, I turned to my right and made my way down the walkway towards the stairs by the pool.

While I walked down the stairs, Kusac whispered in my ear.

"I always wanted to see what it was like to be outside. It's so cool!"

Unfortunately, Bastet wasn't as curious nor as brave as Kusac.

"I'm afraid."

I could feel her paws shaking on my shoulder.

"It's ok, Bastet. You're bigger and braver now, I know you can do it."

"I-I'll try, Master."

"Just remember, I'll always be here for you."

Bastet shifted on my shoulder and leaned against my neck for comfort. This was her favorite way to cuddle, so her shaking calmed down and she began to quietly purr.

By that time, I had made it down the stairs and past the pool. Some kids were splashing around in the shallow end, while a woman I presumed was their mother was reading a book in one of the deck chairs nearby. One walk through the main gate, then a turn around the corner of the building and we entered the narrow alley between this one and the apartments next door.

"Alright kids, jump down and change into your Shadowbolt forms."

I felt Kusac and Bastet push off of my shoulder, while the box shifted when Isis made her jump. In a flash of light three large cats wearing Shadowbolt uniforms landed on the ground. Kusac turned to me, and pulled his goggles off of his eyes.

"Don't you mean 'Shadowcats', Master?"

"Yeah, that's true. Time to show you all my true form."

I dropped my human illusion, and a moment later my armored feline form was revealed to my Shadowcat minions.

Comments

[BruhMoment23232]

Amazing as always!
Can't wait to read more!