Marvela the kitten used to be a humble witch's familiar. However, one night a terrible fate befalls her beloved witch and Marvela finds herself bestowed with remarkable powers.
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After inexplicably becoming a full-fledged witch, former witch's fa...
There were murmurs of hushed agreement amongst the crowd of former familiars. Tails waggled. Whiskers twitched. Heads nodded.
Lolly waved her bushy tail in approval at the animals behind her, then stood tall. "So we're all here to help you fight Asra! I know we won't be much help now that our magic is waning, but we want to do what we can. We won't let you two do this alone!"
"Witch-cat!" shrieked a voice from the sky, interrupting the kitten.
Marvela looked up to see a cloud of flapping wings above them all. "Bats!" she cheered.
"We want to help, too!" squeaked the bats that hovered over the flightless animals.
Tiny paws yanked on Marvela's tail. She tore her gaze away from the night sky and found a vast colony of rats behind her. Curious let out a squeal of surprise and hid behind Marvela's other side.
"Cat," greeted one of the long-toothed rats at the forefront who looked vaguely familiar.
"Small cat," said another.
Curious peeked over the black kitten to gawk at the rats. "You guys? You're here too?"
"There are no secrets of the Aboveground that we don't know, Curious!" another of the rats at the forefront said.
"Yeah, we know the Aboveground is in danger."
"And we like the Aboveground."
"It's where all the shiny, sparkly things come from!"
"Yeah, it's where all the shin—oh, you beat me to it."
"And, uh, also..."
"We want to thank you—"
"For separating all of us."
"Finally!"
"That fireball you sent our way untangled our tails!"
Marvela gasped. So that's why the rats that led the crowd of rodents looked familiar. They were all the Rat King! Now free from each other, each member of the king took special care to give the others a wide berth. They kept their tails clasped in their paws like treasures while they all side-eyed each other.
"Glad to help," the kitten said with a giggle.
The leaders of the rats all nodded in unison.
"Magic is the sparkliest and shiniest treasure of all," said one of them.
"And we will help you defend it!" decreed another.
An obnoxious braying made the crowd of animals duck their heads, all wincing. Two Rottweilers bounded through the crowd to stand before Marvela, who barely had any time to even consider scurrying away before they started barking.
"Cat!" hollered Knife.
"Trespassing cat!" hollered Blade.
"H-hi, you two," mewed Marvela, pressing her paws to her pained ears. "Don't tell me you're both here to—"
"We're here to help!" interrupted Knife.
"The trespassing cat and rat freed us!" added Blade.
"Now we don't have to stay in the pumpkin patch forever!"
"Yeah!"
While Curious whined under his breath about indoor voices, Marvela grinned up at the slobbering dogs. "We're glad to have you!" she announced.
Both dogs' tails wagged at full speed at that.
Lolly and the salamander on her head squeezed herself between the dogs to stand beside Marvela. She laid her lush cloud of a tail across the kitten's shoulders, which Marvela found much more comforting than one of her vice-grip hugs.
"So, Marceline," said Lolly. "What's the plan?"
Marvela tucked her spellbook safely out of the way under a bush. She would return to it soon, she hoped, after all this was over. She held a paw to her chest; her heartbeat pounded against her paw pads like an animal struggling to tear itself out of its cage. And beneath that, her magic filled her with its effervescent warmth from her nose to her tail-tip. It was almost like the warmth of an embrace; like her witch was once again holding her in her arms.
Tail raised and head held high, Marvela turned back to the dark woods. A determined smile spread across her whiskered face.
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