6 year old Po, was making a royal castle made of twigs and sand in the sandbox in the school yard when he heard a voice behind him.

“Hello,” said a soft low voice. Po turned around to see a black and white cat who appeared to be wearing his very own tuxedo.

“What's your name?” the voice purred again coming from exactly where the cat was sitting. Po shifted his entire body until he was facing the cat, forgetting about the already falling apart sandcastle.

“Po,” he said skeptically. “What's yours?” The black and white cat smoothly replied, “It is whatever you want it to be.” with absolutely no hesitation Po stroked his chin, where he hoped in the future a beard would grow and said with complete and utter confidence,

“You look like you're wearing your very own tuxedo which reminds me of Batman's butler, Alfred.” Smiling as he reminisced all the Batman and Robin adventures he had watched the previous week.

“Alfred,” the cat rolled the name on his tongue as if testing how it tasted.

“I quite like that name, thank you very much.” he said, looking up at Po with intense yellow eyes. The eyes of a predator, but Po didn't notice for he was too giddy at the fact that Alfred liked the name he given him so much.

“Not to be rude, but why are you here?” asked Po cautiously.

“I came to see my friend, Blair.” He explain in a honey sweet voice.

“Oh! I know Blair,” He exclaimed “he's in my class!”

“Oh that's right, so you're in Grade 2 as well?” Al stated more then asked while nodding his head slowly.


Al slowly walked closer to Po moving his tail sharply from one side to the other, “Shouldn't you be in class?” he asked grinning. Po looked around him suddenly, just realizing that the bell had rung and everybody was probably long gone back to their classrooms.

“Oh no! I'm gonna get in trouble!” Po stood up and dusted himself off.

“Oh forget about them,” Al's voice sung out and stared with sly eyes,

“lets go!”

“Go where?” asked Po, his voice hesitant.

“To play.”

The black and white cat grinned as if it was the most obvious answer. Po looked back at the school with dread in his eyes before turning his back to follow the already walking away cat.



Trying to catch up Po ran up to the cat but just before he could Al turned a corner and disappeared.


“Al?” Po called out as he peeked around the corner. Po looked around but he couldn't spot the black and white cat, in fact he was just realizing that he had no idea where he was. He called out for Al again but the only other living creature he was aware of was a small grey mouse sitting on a branch 5 feet away from him.


“Are you looking for Al too?” the mouse squeaked. Po skipped up to the bird happy that he wasn’t all by himself.


“You know Al?” he asked.







“As a matter of fact I do, I'm Arne,”Explained the mouse. “and Al is one of my closest friends, but I'm afraid he might be in trouble.”

“In trouble?” Po asked wondering how he could have disappeared so fast. The small grey mouse swiftly jumped off the branch and landed easily on Po's shoulder.


“There's a huge hole in the ground over there and I think he fell down it, will you help me to try and get him back out?” Arne said tragically, but anyone who look at his face would've thought he had just seen the most amusing thing in the world, anyone but an innocent 6 year old boy.

“But how can I help him...” He trailed off. He could feel Arne's long scaly tail wrap around his neck becoming more uncomfortable by the minute.

“I need you to climb down that hole and see if he's alright,” Arne persuasively cooed into Po's ear. “well, why can't you?” Po asked directly.

“I'm a mouse” he said matter-of-factually “Mice are so small I could easily get lost in a dark hole like that.” He squeezed his claws on Po's shoulder almost possessively.

“Okay...but How will I get back up?” Po asked hesitantly.

“while you're down there making sure Al is alright I'll go and get some help.” explained Arne confidently.

His voice sounded so sure that Po was convinced that this was the perfect plan and so without another second of thought Po followed him to the hole and climbed in feet first. He scraped his feet up against the wall feeling for edges where he could wedge his toe in before descending into the darkness.

“Arne?” Po called out in a quivering voice. Looking up at the tiny spec of light above.

“ Don't worry Po, I'm right here.” He called back. Chuckling to himself darkly as he covered up the opening of the hole until it was completely hidden.

Po was completely helpless in the darkness and couldn't help but look down and to his surprise he saw a bright light at the very bottom of the tunnel. Relief flooded through him and with new determination Po climbed the rest of the way down.

“Hello Po,” Al called out. Po smiled as he saw Al lying down on a huge soft looking pillow.

“Are you alright?” Po asked concerned and not yet realizing the fact that the pillow was already down there.

“Yes actually I met an old friend down here, Maka,” he pointed his tail to a dark Shape hidden in the flickering lights shadows. Po looked closer to see an innocent bunny sleeping peacefully in the corner under an old oil rag.

“why is she sleeping?” he wondered.

“She was playing with me all day today,” he answered hesitantly then after a moment of thought he smiled darkly “Lots of running around.” He chuckled sinisterly. His savage amber eyes seemed to capture Po's every move, freezing Him to the spot.

“Umm, Al?” Po trailed off.


Something seemed different about Al, he seemed bigger. He seem less like the house cat he appeared to be when they first met and more like a Menacing lion from the nature shows he used to watch with his mom. Mom. How long had he been gone? Was school over? Would she be worried when he didn't show up at his bus stop? Stumbling back Po stuttered his words like he did whenever he was nervous.

“Mu...muh...maybe I should go home, my mom will be worried.”

“What? But we haven't even played yet,” Al said sadly looking down at his paws.

“well, I guess I could stay a little bit longer.” he said trying to cheer Al up. Just then Al's ears pricked up. Listening.

“What's wrong?” He asked.

“Shhh it's the monster.” Whispered Al silently moving deeper into the shadows, he turned his head looking at Po and flicked his tail telling him to follow. Behind the shadows hid a tunnel and Al and Po easily squeezed through and missed the 'monster' by seconds. The tunnel was dark and tight at first but soon it started to widen and Po saw that it led to a small room.

“where are we?” He asked watching as Al jumped up on the small bed tucked in the corner and lay down.

“this is my home,” he said yawning.

“do you live here all by yourself?” he asked looking around.

“I live with my friend too.” he answered and Po wondered if he was talking about Arne and was just about to ask when he remembered the peacefully sleeping rabbit back at the hole.

“Oh no, what about Maka?!” he Exclaimed thinking of a 10 foot slimy monster towering over her small body.

“Don't worry about her, she'll be just fine.” Said Al completely



at ease. Po still wasn't so sure.

“But what about the mons..” but before he could finish he felt sharp claws scrape across his cheek.

“I.Said.Dont.Worry.About.It.” Al hissed through his teeth.


Again Po saw the small house cat turn into a lion towering over him. Po fell back and pushed himself away from Al, trembling he closed his eyes shut tight and waited. But for what?

“Now, how about that game,” Growled the lion. Po slowly looked up wishing he had stayed at school.

“What kind of game?” he asked his voice wavering. The Lion didn't answer him, he only flashed his golden-yellow eyes at Po and laughed to himself as if remembering a joke.


Po didn't remember the games they played, he figured they were the same ones Al had played with Maka. He acknowledged the absence of memory but it didn't seem important. They probably played tag or twister, that would explain why his body was so sore. He wondered if Maka had played with them. Maka. When he saw her he saw a sleeping bunny but in his thoughts she was a girl about the same age as himself. He could picture her long brown hair and the way she smiled. The human Maka became so life like Po wasn't sure if he even did see a sleeping bunny let alone if she even existed.


He wondered idly where he was but soon decided it wasn't important; He was too tired to think. Every small thought that went thru his mind seemed hard to focus on and soon crashed. He couldn't even open his eyes. He didn't know where he was or if he was in bed. He couldn't feel anything around him except for the soreness of his whole body which was slowly turning numb. If he tried he could hear something. A noise but he wasn't sure where it came from or what it was. Not that it really mattered. Comfortable. He realized that he was comfortably numb, almost like he was in a dream. He allowed himself to have that one last though, of what the fun he forgot could have been, before he let out his last breath. Almost like a sigh. A sigh of relief. A peaceful sigh, after a long day of playing with his new friend Al.