- The Final Phase.

A while later, the Royal Family, on their carriage, surrounded by guards on horses, were on a road not far away from the river. The cat, looking at them from a tree, smiled in anticipation, and, when they were close enough, she jumped down the tree, and dashed to encounter them.

“Stop! Stop, please!”

“Mother, is Lady Fluffy!” Princess Lil, poking her head out from the carriage, tells the Queen. The rest of the royal family notices the cat as well, and make the carriage to stop.

“Oh, Your Majesties, how lucky of me I found you!” Fluffy says, panting and moving aside the carriage.

“It’s something wrong?” King Howard asks as him and his family suddenly gets worried expressions.

“Oh… you wouldn’t believe what happened! My master was on his way to check up his new properties, and decided to take a bath on a river not far away from here, and a group of burglars emerged from the forest!”

“Is the Marquis okay?” Lil gasps.

“Yes… luckily, the criminals only wanted his horse, money, and clothes… but now, he is at the river, with no clothing at all! Sir Puppy is with him for protection, and I was on my way town to get some help.”

“Say no more!” Queen Betty says as motioning one of her guards to get closer, “Lady Fluffy, how tall is the Marquis?”

“Well, my Queen, as I had already told you, he is very young… not much older than the Princes, actually, and I guess he is more or less the same size as Prince Phillip.”

“Good.” Betty then talks to the guard, “Take the Prince’s spare clothing out of the chest, and then go with Lady Fluffy to give it to the Marquis.”

“Your master is lucky my son is a dirt-magnet.” King Howard comments to the cat, “He gets dirty so easily, we always bring some extra clothes with us, just in case.”

A while later, the guard returned with Fluffy, Puppy, and, of course, the Marquis, who now was wearing the Prince’s outfit, that fitted him pretty well; it was a red blazer with golden buttons, a white cape, and bright blue pants, with black shoes.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesties… the Marquis of Cat-as-Bast, at your service.” Tommy bows respectfully in front of the royal family, who now is out of the carriage.

“The pleasure is ours, Marquis.” King Howard and his family vows respectfully as well, and then he motions Tommy to stand straight. “We’re sorry our encounter wasn’t on more likable circumstances… by the way, I hope those criminals don’t give you a bad image about our kingdom.”

“Oh, no, sir… actually, most of what I have seen of your kingdom is quite enjoyable.” Tommy says, giving Lil a fast glance and blushing slightly; the princess notices, and can’t help but blush a little as well.

“By the way, thanks a lot for the clothing, Prince Phillip; I’ll return it as soon as I can.” Tommy addresses Phil, who shrugs and smiles a little.

“You can conserve it if you want, Marquis; it fits you better than me.”

“So, Lady Fluffy told us you’re on your way to check your new lands, right?” The Queen asks.

“Oh, yes… I hadn’t been able to do it until now, but I trust Lady Fluffy and Sir Puppy more than anyone else, and I know they surely invested my… money on some good terrains,” Tommy replies doing his best to keep his new noble’s image, “but now I’m afraid that visit will be done some other day…”

“We can take you… I mean, if my parents agree.” Lil offers, a little bit too eager; Phil notices, and chuckles a little.

“I wouldn’t like to interfere with your schedule…”

“Oh, of course you won’t! We had heard so much about you we already feel as if knowing for years now; we’ll be more than glad to take you and your counselors wherever you want.” Queen Betty says in a pretty familiar mood, which makes Tommy to relax a lot.

“Thanks, my Queen… I’ll be honored to accept your invitation.” Tommy says, and then waits for the Royal Family to get into the carriage before he and Fluffy doing it themselves; Puppy is told to ride along a guard to lead the way.

The ‘Marquis’ and Fluffy had a nice chat with the Royal Family; the King and Queen were quite impressed that someone as young as their son and daughter could handle a nobleman’s responsibilities, and the Princes were very comfortable at the idea of spending time with someone their age. The ‘Marquis’ handled all the questions very well, always getting covered by Fluffy whenever a tough topic was mentioned. After a while, they arrived at the ogre’s lands, and, when the villagers saw the cat and dog, they remembered their instructions and told the King and Queen the lands belonged to the Marquis; once they saw their new master, and how polite and gentle he seemed to be, they were more than eager to work for him instead of the ogre.

That afternoon, the Marquis of Cat-as-Bast and his counselors were invited to spend night at the royal castle, and they accepted. At dinner, it became pretty obvious the Royal Twins and the Marquis had clicked very well, which made both the Kings and Fluffy to get wide smiles.

“So, where are you going to make residence, Marquis?” Betty asks Tommy while the whole group is having dessert. Before he can reply, Fluffy clears her throat to get everyone’s attention.

“Actually, my Queen, Sir Puppy and I will go see a property tomorrow; it’s a little far away, so, if you excuse us, he and I will retire immediately after dessert so we can rest and wake up early.”

“We can provide you with guards and horses for transportation, if you need it.” King Howard offered.

“Thanks, Your Majesty, but we already made the proper arrangements. If everything goes well, we’ll send a messenger back here so the Marquis can see his new home, and, if you want, we’ll be honored if coming as well.” Fluffy addresses the Royal Family, getting immediately a positive reply.

As Fluffy said, she and Puppy went to their assigned room after dinner.

“Now, this is a bed, and not the box I used to sleep in!” Fluffy says in happiness as jumping at the bed, once getting sure nobody can hear her or the dog, and both animals are now clothing-free.

“This rug is very comfortable; I’m spending the night here.” Puppy says as checking a spot next to the bed.

“Uh… Puppy, you don’t need to sleep down there; it’s fine if you sleep in the furniture. We are guests, remember?” Fluffy tells the dog.

“You… want to… share the bed with me?” Puppy blushes slightly.

“Sure, I mean… it’s too big for just the little of me… and… you deserve better than the floor.” The cat says, a little bit nervously, yet conserving her usual grin. Puppy hesitates for a moment, but eventually nods and jumps at the bed. The animals get comfy, with the cat leaning her head on the dog’s side and throwing her tail over his body while Puppy passes a paw over the cat’s back.

“You know… tomorrow is the hardest and most dangerous part of the plan,” Fluffy comments, making Puppy to sigh.

“I know… are you nervous?”

“A little… are you scared?”

“A lot.”

“Good to know I’m not the only one.” Fluffy sighs, and then looks at Puppy in the eye, “When I first thought about this, my intention was to make a deal with the people owning the fields, but now we know he’s an ogre, well… You had helped me a lot with this plan, and if think you owe me something, you no longer do; if you want, I can handle this part on my own.”

“No… I know it’s dangerous, and maybe the most insane thing I had ever heard… and precisely because of that, I’m not letting you do it alone. We started this together, we end this together.”

Fluffy smiles widely at the canine, and leans her head again on his side, purring, as she and Puppy finally fall asleep.

The next morning, Fluffy and Puppy left to do a very dangerous thing, but it was needed to make the plan to work… visit the ogre’s castle.

The scene shows a large castle, located a few miles ahead the fields and farms the animals visited previously; it’s quite large, and kind of scary, as if Frankenstein lived in there. The inside is scary as well, with several torches to illuminate the otherwise dark and creepy corridors.

Susie Carmichael, on her ‘AGU’ version, and dressing as a servant, knocks a large door after taking a deep breath.

“WHAT?”

“It… it’s me, sir.” The girl meekly replies.

“COME IN!”

The girl enters, finding herself face to face with a very ugly and strange creature, about the size of an average man; his skin is grayish green, has a long nose that ends in a red point, two hair tufts at the sides of his head, and wears a black belt, and red women shoes on each of his four legs.

“SPILL IT, GIRL! MY MONSTERS HADN’T RETURNED?”

“No, Master,” Susie gulps, “we hadn’t get news of any of them since they disappeared two days ago.”

The creature is about to slap the girl when another female enters the room; it’s Kimi, also on her ‘AGU’ version and wearing servant clothing as well, and gulps as well when the creature glares at her.

“Excuse me for interrupting, but… there’s a cat and a dog at the entrance…”

“Good; prepare them with clam sauce and serve with red wine; remember, I like the dog crispy and the cat half-done.”

“Actually, they’re seeking audience with you, sir.”

“An audience… well, it had been a while since I had some fun, so, why not? Tell them to pass and wait for me at the main room.” The creature growls at the girl, and then motions Susie to leave as well.

“Time for a little change,” The creature smiles evilly as touching his belt; a silver glow covers him a moment later, and then…

POP!

Instead of the weird creature, there’s now a huge ogre, dressed on a royal outfit; he has dark green skin, long ears, and huge boar-like tusks coming out from his mouth.

On the meantime, the maid brought Fluffy and Puppy to the huge main room, and left quickly, yet she and the other servant stayed right behind one of the room’s doors to hear everything happening on the inside.

“Who decorated this place? Tim Burton?” Puppy gulps in fear as looking around; Fluffy tries to remain cool, but obviously is as scared as the dog.

“So, you’re the ones seeking for an audience, uh?”

The animals turn left, and gulp when looking at the ogre entering from a nearby door.

“My time is precious and my hunger immense, so let’s cut the chase, and tell me what do you want?”

Fluffy takes a deep breath, and after giving Puppy a fast glance, that he replies with a little nod, she talks to the ogre.

“Uh… Mister Ogre… we are here with information about what happened to your emissaries.”

“WHAT? YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED WITH THAT TRIO OF FOOLS?”

The cat backs a few steps at the ogre’s outburst; Puppy notices her scared expression, and moves aside her for support.

“Yes, we do… they… were kicked out of the kingdom by your rivals, sir.” Puppy says as convincing as he can.

“WHAT RIVALS ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?”

“You see,” Fluffy gets her voice back, “there are some wizards and witches that want your territory, and decided to get rid of your servants, for starters.”

“WHO ARE THOSE FOOLS WHO DARE DEFYING ME?”

“Let’s see… The Wizard of Oz, Sabrina Spellman, Hermione Granger, David Copperfield… the usual suspects, you know.”

“ARGH! I’M SO GOING TO TEAR THEM TO PIECES…”

“Well, they’re still trying to decide if making a full attack.” Fluffy continued, “And that’s another reason we’re here; they sent us to confirm how powerful you really are. If we give a report saying you’re just too mighty for them, your territory will be safe without fighting.”

“So… you two came for a demonstration of my abilities.” The ogre smirks evilly at the animals.

“Oh, yeah, and we’re very curious about them… among other things, we were told you can take any shape you want.” Puppy says, doing his best to keep control.

“And you’re correct… now, take a close look, because you’ll be among the very few ones who will live to tell others about my amazing powers!” The ogre growls, and then, a silver glow cover him, transforming him in a split second.

POP!

Fluffy and Puppy embrace in fear at the sight of the large gray wolf snarling at them.

“If you think this is scary,” the wolf grins in a sinister way, “look at this one.”

POP!

ROAR!

Puppy closes his eyes while Fluffy gasps; instead of the wolf, there’s now a large purple-grayish leopard showing his fangs and claws at her.

“And, of course,” the leopard smirks, “a little reptilian touch is always welcome.”

POP!

The room suddenly seems to be incredibly small as Fluffy and Puppy wide open their eyes in panic at the gigantic green dinosaur standing in front of them.

“I’M REPTAR!” The dinosaur roars, and the little creatures embrace even tighter while closing their eyes.

POP!

“I made my first million working in Japanese movies.” The ogre laughs loudly, and Fluffy and Puppy, hesitantly, break the embrace.

“That… was very impressive, sir… but… can you turn into little animals?” Fluffy meekly suggests.

“Yes, but it would be very stupid from me to do it; I mean, what kind of fool would turn into, let’s say, a mouse, when a cat is at the same room?” The ogre says in a knowing tone.

“Of course; wow, you’re not just powerful, but wise.” Fluffy says as she and Puppy give each other a nervous look. Then, the cat's expression brightens, and her sly grin returns.

“And… how good are you turning into objects?”

“Objects?”

“Oh, yeah, like weapons or various stuff; all these sorcerers after your territory are very fast spell-casters, so, if don’t have the ability to change quickly into anything, they’ll probably defeat you before getting the right form.”

“I heard one of them is talking with a guy from Agravah who has this blue genie that transforms into anything you ask him; if he joins the battle, might best you.” Puppy adds, earning himself an impressed look from Fluffy.

“NOBODY CAN BEST ME!”

“Let’s make a test; we are naming an object, and you change into it as quickly as you can.” Fluffy suggests.

“HA! I can do that eyes-closed! Go ahead, start!”

Fluffy and Puppy nod to each other and the cat starts.

“Turn into… a red hood.”

POP!

A red cloth appears a second later.

“Now, a sticks-made house!” Puppy exclaims.

POP!

A little house, totally made of sticks, is now in front of the animals.

“A crystal slipper!”

POP!

“An apple!”

POP!

“A wooden puppet!”

POP!

“A gingerbread house!”

POP!

“A magic carpet!”

POP!

“A pumpkin!”

POP!

“FIVE GOLDEN RINGS!” Both animals chorus.

POP!

“A rose!”

POP!

“A flying broom!”

POP!

“A beanstalk!”

POP!

“A tin-can man!”

POP!

“A cookie!”

POP!

CRUNCH! Munch! Munch! Munch!

Kimi and Susie leave their hiding place, and gasp as the cat licks her paw and cleans the crumbs from her whiskers.

“You… ate… the master…” Susie, surprised, gets her voice back.

“I can’t believe you ate him just like that!” Kimi exclaims.

“I know… should have asked for chocolate chips, but was fine anyway.” Fluffy replies calmly.

Kimi and Susie look at each other for a moment, and then hug while jumping and laughing in happiness.

“This is great! No more yelling, no more abuse, no more slapping…”

“No more cutting his toenails!” Kimi adds, getting joy’s tears.

“Thank you, thank you, oh, thank you so much!” Susie directs to the cat and dog, “if there’s anything you want us to do, just say it!”

“Well… there’s something you can do,” Fluffy says as slightly rolling her eyes at Puppy, who smiles widely in reply, “But, before that… got milk?”

Much later that same day, a messenger arrived at the Royal Castle, asking the Marquis to go see his new home; the Kings and Princes, of course, were invited as well. The same messenger leaded the way.

“You seem a little nervous, Marquis.” Princess Lillian comments as slightly touching her new friend’s hand.

“I’m just… anxious about my new home, Princess… but thanks for your concern.” Tommy replies with a wide smile. He obviously is more than a little nervous, but the princess’ touch calms him down the rest of the way.

“Hey, this is the place?” Prince Phillip’s comment makes everyone at the carriage to look out; Tommy almost faints at the sight of the castle he supposedly owns.

In front of the castle, Susie is giving instructions to some villagers, all of them carrying buckets with paint and some other stuff. She then notices the royal transport, and motions everyone for a proper reception.

“Your Majesties,” Susie vows in front of the Royal Family and Tommy, and then addresses him, “and you must be the Marquis. Allow me to introduce myself; I’m Lady Carmichael, one of the castle’s previous owner’s servants; Lady Fluffy asked me to hire these people for the building’s repairing and redecoration, since my old master barely gave it any maintenance, and she also suggested me and another servant to continue our job keeping an eye on the people working on your new properties, if that’s fine with you.”

“Of… of course, it’s fine with me. I trust my counselors and their criteria.” Tommy finally gets his voice back. Susie then walks him and the Royal Family to the inside, where Kimi and Puppy are checking up and deciding the changes to be made at the building; the dog notices them the moment they enter the main room.

“Oh, Marquis, Your Majesties, allow me to introduce Lady Watanabe; she is going to help us alongside Lady Carmichael to get this place in shape in no time.”

“At your service,” Kimi vows respectfully, getting approving looks from Tommy and the family, especially from Prince Phillip.

“So… Sir Puppy, can you tell us where’s Lady Fluffy?” Tommy asks his friend.

“She is having a… last meeting with the previous owner.”

FLUSH!

“God bless these little anachronisms.” Fluffy walks out from a nearby room, cleaning her paws with a piece of paper, and then goes to the main room.

“I see you had arrived,” Fluffy greets, “Ladies Carmichael and Watanabe offered to give us a little tour. Shall we?”

The servants guide the group through the corridors, with Fluffy walking next to Tommy.

“Don’t know how you got this,” Tommy whispers at the cat, “but, how are we going to pay this lifestyle and keep my Marquis’ image?”

The cat says nothing yet gets a huge smile when the servants stop next to a large door.

“We gave orders to keep your treasure in this vault, Marquis; hope you approve.” Susie says as Kimi opens the door. Everyone but the animals (who had already seen the room) and the servants gasp at the sight; the room is filled up with tons of golden coins and assorted jewelry, the treasure the ogre gathered from so many years of exploding the people at his lands.

“Yes… I approve.” Tommy smiles at the sly grinning cat.

The new Marquis stayed with the Royal Family until the castle’s remodeling was finished. By then, it was painted in golden and silvery tones, and the interior was far more likable, but, most importantly, the former village boy and the Princess were now so obviously fond on each other, her parents actually arranged them to wed when they were adults, something they both happily agreed. Prince Phillip, who always went with the Marquis for his daily visits to check up the castle’s renovation, became attracted to Lady Watanabe, and invited her to be the petting zoo-keeper when finishing her current job, and she accepted.

And, for Fluffy and Puppy…

“I died and am in Heaven.” Fluffy exclaims when looking at her new bedroom; as she asked for, it’s filled up with cushions, scratching posts, and yarn balls, plus having a closet with assorted clothing and cat toys.

“Your room is very nice, Fluffy,” Puppy walks next to her, “I’m still deciding what I want for mine; maybe just a regular bed, and some toys here and there.”

“It’s a deal.”

“What do you mean?”

“That we can have those toys here, and instead of a bed, you can sleep at a cushion, if you want.” Fluffy tells, and then gives Puppy a warm look. “Let’s just say I got used to us sleeping together, and would like to keep doing it.”

Puppy blushes, and smiles at the cat.

“I’ll be one year old in four months… officially, an adult dog,” Puppy comments as holding paws with Fluffy.

“I’m a little older than that, you know… I’ll be three in a couple of months.”

“I like older girls… including pretty cat girls.”

“And I don’t really like dogs… but hey, can make an exception; a very nice and lovable exception.”

The animals embrace, and then kiss… in a very human-like way.

“And they lived happily ever after.” Taffy ends the story, getting wide smiles and even some clapping from the babies and Angelica. “You liked the story, Minis?”

“Yes, it was very nice, Taffy.” Angelica says as the babies nod at the nanny.

“Glad you enjoyed it. Well, I’ll better get the glasses and the bowl to the kitchen; want to help me, Angelica?”

The blonde nodded, and followed Taffy carrying the now empty bowl.

“You were right, Taffy… that cat was a little mischievous girl, but she was a hero!”

“Yes, she did… but, did you realize that, even if doing some bad things, like lying and cheating, she also had nice details with her friends? That’s how they knew she wasn’t a bad kitty, even if acting naughty at times.”

Angelica opened wide her eyes in realization.

“Yeah… and wasn’t afraid of saying nice things to them, and she always was very grateful with the dog.” The blonde sighed.

“And, as smart as was, she also had to face the consequences of lying, at least once, when the monsters attacked her.”

“Uh… Taffy… you think the babies will forgive me?”

“Why don’t you go and ask them?” Taffy proposed; the girl gave her a little smile, and returned to the backyard, where the babies were discussing the tale.

“I liked that story a lot.” Kimi commented.

“I would like to have a kitty like that one.” Lil giggled.

“Yes… even if she was a liar.” Phil said.

“And was tricky,” Tommy pointed.

“And a cheater,” Kimi chuckled.

“Just like Angelica,” Chuckie looked down. The other babies looked at him, and got stunned looks in realization.

“Maybe we were too hard on her.” Lil sighed.

“Yes… she can be a meanie, but she always gives us something to do.” Tommy commented.

“And she can be funny at times.” Kimi added.

“And teaches us lots of games and stuff… sure, many times it’s a lie or a trick, but at least we never get bored with her around.” Chuckie pointed.

“But she is a bad girl.” Phil groaned.

“And if we no longer allow her to play with us, then we’ll be the bad ones.” Chuckie told his friend.

“Well… sometimes she defends us from big kids.” Phil admitted.

The babies got silent, looking at each other.

“Hey, babies.”

Everyone turned at Angelica, who was avoiding eye-contact with them.

“Look… I understand why you got angry with me… I mean, wouldn’t like someone bigger to boss me all day… but… as much as I hate to say this… you dumb babies are MY dumb babies, and even if sometimes I don’t want to be with you, wouldn’t like us not playing again… so… can you forgive me, please?”

The babies looked at the girl for a few moments, until Tommy walked next to her.

“We are forgiving if you promise not being so mean with us again.”

“Uh… well, I can try.” Angelica shrugged.

“That’s enough for me!” Tommy chuckled and hugged Angelica. The girl was so surprised she barely realized when the rest of the babies hugged her as well.

“Okay, okay, don’t get so affective either!” Angelica said as pushing the babies back, “Ugh, I got your drool all over my dress!”

The babies giggled, and Angelica couldn’t help but laugh a little as well.

“I have an idea, babies; let’s play ‘Tag’; I’ll be the first one chasing, but giving you time to run.”

“I like that idea!” Kimi said, and the other babies nodded.

“Okay, then… run!” Angelica ordered, and all the babies but Chuckie ran.

“Finster, you’re supposed to run, remember?”

“You lied when saying you would try, right?” Chuckie folded his arms.

“Uh… maybe,” Angelica grinned slyly.

“You’re hopeless.” Chuckie laughed, and then ran away as Angelica smirked and got chase.

“Look who’s talking! Come here, Finster!”

THE END.

(Seriously, do you really think Fluffy and me are that much alike?) She is your pet, you tell me. (Now you mention it…)

While you think, can say the second disclaimer? (Sure; as you guys noticed, Acosta had some characters from other show in cameos/little roles, namely Ickis, Oblina, Krumm, and The Grumble, from ‘AAAH! Real Monsters’, and we also had a little cameo of Cosmo and Wanda, from ‘Fairly Oddparents’, all copyrighted by Nickelodeon as well. We also had references to several shows and movies, including ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’, Harry Potter’s movies and book’s series, ‘Get Smart’, ‘Sabrina, The Teenage Witch’, ‘Scooby Doo’, ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit?’, and Disney’s ‘Aladdin’, none of them owned by Acosta. We also had several references to classic fairy tales, all of them public domain.)

I also want to admit a very huge influence for this fic; one of my regular reviewers, chuckangie, real name Jonathan Sario. (Yep; he has a web comic called ‘Fuzzy Things’, and many of his characters, all of them anthropomorphic animals, have characteristics from the ones of ‘Rugrats/AGU’, including yours truly. If you can, take a look at his job; the guy is good.)

Thanks a lot to everyone who reviewed! (And is time to go, so long, buddies!)

Keep the good writing.