Chapter Text
Alex awoke to a choir of small, high pitched meows. His kittens stood next to his bed, nagging for him to wake up.
"Dad! Dad, come look! Come look outside!" Max purred, pawing at his fathers face. "Yes, yes, I'll be there in just a second." Alex rolled onto his back, stretching across the bed.
"Hurry up dad!" Lex whined, head butting him gently in the hide. "Ok, ok, jeez." Alex laughed, hopping up onto his paws and following the four tiny kittens. He had to walk slower so that he wouldn't go too fast for them to keep up.
It was oddly cold. Despite the coziness of the neko house, Alex felt on edge as the kittens hurried to the balcony, one of them mentioning the sky. Though watching his offspring laugh with each other did make him smile.
Unfortunately, his good mood was shattered when he saw what clouded the sky. It looked like clouds, but they where pure black, and the most disturbing part was they where completely covered in vibrant red eyes.
He stepped slightly further onto the balcony, gesturing with his tail for the kittens to stay where they where. "That's not good." He murmured. A few seemed to blink and then, the whole sky locked onto him.
The clouds seemed to bubble, a chunk of the darkness detaching itself from the sky and flying towards Alex. He yelped in surprise and leapt back, shoving the four kittens back inside.
"Amy!" He meowed, but his wife was already there, looking utterly confused by the whole situation. "What's going on?" She meowed, herding the kits away from the balcony and back inside.
Alex opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, another odd shadow blast hit him right in the back of the head, sending him flying across the house.
He slammed into the wall, breaking a hole in it before crumbling into the ground and screaming in pain. Amy stared in shock while the kits all yelled in fear.
Amy trotted over to her husband and held out a paw to help him up. The back of his head seemed to be bleeding, but it wasn't too severe.
The six started rushing to leave their home, not bothering to pack anything. Some of the kittens cried, others screamed, Amy spoke to them in a hushed voice, trying to calm them down.
That strange darkness was destroying their home, Alex only hoped that when this was over, it'd still be somewhat intact.
"Lea! Hurry!" Amy shouted, watching as a small copy of herself sped up, dropping the toy she was trying to rescue from underneath a piece of the ceiling.
Alex burst out the front door, sticking his back leg out to hold it open for his family, who followed quickly behind them.
"Amy, go find somewhere safe for the kittens, I'll try and distract this thing." Alex suggested, Amy shaking her head. "No Alex you can't throw yourself into danger like that!"
"Amy I love you, but I have to do this!" Alex meowed, dashing off without another word. Amy tried to call out but her cries were cut short by a loud crash as their homes roof completely caved in.
Alex bolted up a hill, trying to get a better view of the area. The darkness seemed to follow relentlessly, giving him almost no time to think. He saw crowds of creatures heading for Hikari City, and assumed they where taking in survivors.
The black and white cat began bolting down the hill, the bell on his collar ringing in his ears. He downward slope sped him up quite a bit, but he could still feel blood drying in the fur around the back of his head.
He noticed the turnip feilds, walking turnips scurrying to bury themselves underground for safety.
After a minute of running that felt like hours, he made it to a bridge, or... what was left of a bridge. The river raged below, fish that weren't used to the strong currents being swept away. Alex held his breath and leaped.
He felt himself soar through the air before his front paws hit grass. His back paws hit nothing.
Alex's lower body dangled over the river, his tail getting soaked with water. He dug his claws into the grass, trying to pull himself up but the water that splashed his hind seemed to be pulling him back.
He kicked at the ledge, trying to climb up, but despite his climbing skills he couldn't get up. He yowled out for help, his cries barely reaching another cat.
Alex was approached by a much larger, more muscular cat, with long brown fur, a scar across his eye, and a grey tag around his neck, he seemed intimidating. "Hey, I gotcha buddy." He said in a gruff voice, leaning down and clasping his jaws around the back of Alex's neck, pulling him up like a mother would their kit.
"Thank you so much!" Alex purred after the larger cat let go, gesturing with his tail for Alex to follow him. "Let's get ya to Hikari City, eh kitto?"
Alex was somewhat taken aback by the nickname, he wasn't a child! He had a wife and kids. But now was no time to be offended, so he simply hurried to the city, sticking close to his saviour.
A small crowd was gathered near the entrance, some where citizens and others where refugees. The larger cat simply squeezed past them and through the gate, Alex following awkwardly.
"I'll take ya to a shelter, alright?" Alex nodded, his mind drifting slightly. Was Amy ok? What about Max, Lea, Lex and May? He felt a sense of dread thinking about his family, even though he'd only left them around an hour ago. He'd successfully distracted the dark clouds long enough for them to get away, but he'd lost them somewhere around the turnip fields.
"Oi kitto, ya good?" The larger cat nudged Alex, snapping him back to the present. "Oh uh, yeah, just thinking about my family." He sighed.
The two stopped in front of a building, the brown cat pushing open the door and holding it open for Alex, who trudged inside. "Yeah, I reckon your parents are fine." They replied in an attempt to comfort the smaller cat.
"Oh no, not my parents, they live all the way in another city!" Alex chuckled. "I'm talking about my wife and our kittens!" The other cat paused, seemingly shocked by this information.
"Oh, I thought ya where a kit yourself." The larger cat sat down against a wall, patting the ground for Alex to join him.
"I'm Alex! By the way..." Alex sat down next to them, curling his tail over his paws in a polite manner. "The name's Sergeant Mcmeow." Mcmeow smiled, showing off sharp, yellowed teeth. "I was attempting to stop the tin army, but the ship I was trapped in got shot down by dark matter." He let out a hearty laugh. "Barely any of those tin heads survived, but I sure did!"
Alex laughed nervously, his family still on his mind. Mcmeow seemed to notice his expression and stopped smiling. "Sorry, uhm- about your family, I'll send out patrols to find them."
Alex nodded, looking away. "Speaking of patrols, I've gotta go look for survivors, I'll catch ya later!" Mcmeow got to his paws, heading for the door.
"I'll keep an eye out for ya family." He added, pushing past the door and letting it swing shut, leaving Alex alone.
He wished Amy was there.