Planet of Cat Fights: Vol 2

By S.A. Oosthuysen

Although the “people” on this planet are all cats, they are not much different from the human race. One of the main exceptions is that some of them have supernatural powers.
In this second volume, the pride has new challenges to face and more people to protect. Among their rivals is a vengeful tiger; a professional assassin; a gang competing in illegal street races; and a psychotic teenager with superpowers and evil motives.
This dark and edgy novel contains plenty of action with some humour and drama as well. It’s meant to entertain young readers, but since it contains violence and references to sex, it is better suited for teenagers and young adults.

• Language: English
• Publisher: S.A. Oosthuysen
• Release date: Mar 23, 2024
• ISBN: 9780796144416

Book preview

1. Useful superpowers

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be rich and powerful? If you were rich and powerful, you would probably have many friends... but likewise, you might also have jealous enemies too.

So if your enemies wanted to hurt you, but weren’t strong enough to beat you physically, then they might try to hurt you by turning your friends against you. When your enemies had gone and spread false rumours about you, how would your friends react?

Some of your friends might choose not to believe the rumours about you. Those friends would thus prove to be your true friends.

Some of your friends, however, might choose to believe the bad things said about you. It would prove that they don’t really like you and that they aren’t really your friends.

You wouldn’t want to force people to like you, because then it wouldn’t be genuine. So you’d rather deal with the fact that those people don’t like you, even if it hurts your feelings.

Your enemies, of course, would enjoy seeing you get hurt like that, and so they would probably try to turn more people against you. They would even remind you of all the people that don’t like you just to see you get hurt.

That’s more or less what this story is about. A lion with multiple superpowers was the king of a distant planet. He had created a kingdom on one side of the planet and a continent on the other side of the planet for the cats to live on.

Also on this planet was a bat with multiple superpowers, named Baton. Baton had many crows serving him and they all hated the lion. They knew that by turning the cats against the lion would hurt the lion’s feelings.

The lion knew that the cats might like him and honour him if they knew who he was. Yet, he chose to remain unseen to determine how the cats truly felt about him. I mean, you wouldn’t say bad things about someone if you were aware of that person looking at you, would you?

The majority of the cats lived in a city like modern people; they wore clothes; used cell phones; drove cars; and even ate with knives and forks. Although they were afraid of ice cold water, they weren’t afraid of taking warm baths or warm showers. The cats also used cuss words sometimes, although the cuss words they knew were different than the ones in our world.

In that city were several rock bands such as Purr-fect Rock, See with Whiskers and also Furball Coughers. The members of these bands were all wildcats.

There was also another band known as White Leopards. They were a metal band and their members were all snow leopards. Their music was wilder and scarier than the other bands’ music. Among the members were a screaming guitarist and a female keyboard player who added scary noises to their songs.

These four bands were going to perform at a concert one evening. The people who enjoyed listening to rock and metal music, eagerly purchased tickets to see these bands perform live on the same stage.

Alexandria, aka Alex, purchased two tickets to see the concert. She had asked her best friend to join her, but the friend didn’t like rock music at all. She had then asked her second best friend, but she too had the same excuse. Eventually Alex thought of her neighbour, Irene, who also enjoyed that kind of music. When she invited Irene to go with, she gladly agreed to it.

Both Alex and Irene put on black clothes and black makeup before going out. At the concert the two girls ran into two other girls, Gianna and Urenna. These girls also wore black clothes, black nail polish and black makeup, but apart from that they also had plenty of piercings in their faces.

Alex had met them several years ago and was glad to see them again (although she didn’t recognize them at first because they looked much different back then).

Gianna and Urenna were glad to see Alex too. They both greeted her with her a hug. Before Alex could introduce them to Irene, two guys approached them.

Gianna introduced the one guy, Ingmar, as her boyfriend; and Urenna introduced the other guy, Urkel, as her boyfriend. The two guys also wore black clothes, black makeup and black nail polish. They even had more piercings in their faces than their girlfriends had.

They were all excited to see the bands perform and they spoke about their favourite songs. Even though Irene too was a fan of rock and metal music, she wasn’t given an opportunity to say something. It was almost as if she didn’t belong to the group. She was ignored and no one seemed to pay interest in her.

Ingmar studied Irene carefully. He then pointed at her and said, Uhm… you? Yes, you. Are you a metal head?

Irene replied happily, I like metal music, yes.

Ingmar replied, Then you should know that metal fans wear black and they paint everything black… including their nails.

Irene looked down at her silver nails. I can’t polish them... because if I do, the paint comes off immediately. My nails will always be silver because they are made of iron.

She finally had the attention of the others and wanted to make the most of it. So she extracted her nails to show them. They were much longer than any other cat’s nails.

Irene expected them to be amazed, but instead Gianna made a disgusted remark, What the lake? Are you some kind of a freak?

Feeling humiliated Irene quickly put her nails back in. I wasn’t born like that, she said, and I’m not a freak. The lion gave me this special ability. It’s a superpower that I can use.

Gianna asked, To do what?

Well, for one thing, I can protect my friends against attackers answered Irene.

Urenna said, I don’t think that would be necessary because the security guards here have guns.

Urkel agreed. Yes, and shooting is far more dangerous than scratching with iron claws.

Feeling ashamed Irene said softly, I can also electrocute from them.

Ingmar replied, Now that can be useful. Whenever I want my hair to stand up straight, I’ll just ask you to electrocute me a little bit. Clearly he was making fun of Irene.

Gianna, Urenna and Urkel started laughing. They applauded Ingmar for his witty remark and walked away.

Alex angrily turned to Irene. Why couldn’t you just say you didn’t have black nail polish?

Irene answered, I would’ve been lying if I said that.

Alex shrugged. So? It would’ve been less embarrassing than telling people about your so-called superpower.

Both Irene and Alex had gone to a gym known as Lion’s Den the previous two years. During that time Irene had received a superpower, whereas Alex didn’t receive anything. So there was a chance that Alex was insulting Irene only because of jealousy.

Irene kept quiet as she didn’t know how to respond to Alex’s rejection. It seemed as if her neighbour and so-called friend, Alex, didn’t believe in the abilities given by the lion.

Irene was sad and thought, Maybe Alex has a point. Maybe this superpower isn’t as cool as I thought it was. I mean, I can scratch or electrocute people with them… but that’s about it.

The next day Irene got a call from her true friend, Shannon. She phoned to say that her mom and stepdad had finally agreed to buy her a car for her eighteenth birthday.

Irene had to admit that she was a little envious. Irene was already nineteen, and yet she didn’t have a car of her own.

Shannon continued, The reason I called you is because I want you to come to the car dealership with us this morning. We sort of… need your advice… because my mom and I don’t know cars that well.

Irene asked, Why do you ask me? Why don’t you ask your stepdad?

Shannon explained, He’s at work today and don’t even expect me to ask my younger brother’s advice; I know he’ll be spiteful and make bad suggestions.

Irene replied, Okay then, I will go with you. Will you and your mom come and pick me up?

Shannon answered kindly, Yes, of course we will.

Shannon and her mom soon drove to Irene’s home and picked her up. Together they drove to the car dealership.

Before they entered the building, Shannon noticed a young teenage jaguar outside who had just received his brand new car. There was a sign next to the teenage jaguar with the word Congratulations written on it and with his name, Jayden, written below it.

Jayden was shaking the salesman’s hand while a cameraman got ready to take a photo of them standing in front of the new car.

Jayden noticed a bit of mud on his new car and insisted that they should clean it immediately. The salesman said he would call one of the cleaners to wash it off.

Inside the building Shannon’s mom looked at the prices of the cars and claimed that they were too expensive. Shannon reminded her, Yes, I know they’re expensive, but my stepdad said he would pay for it.

Yes, I remember he said that, replied Shannon’s mom, but I don’t know if he’ll be able to afford it.

Shannon told her mom, Did you forget that my younger brother, Spike, already received a motorcycle from his dad last year? Since I’m the older sibling, I think it would be fair that I also get my own vehicle.

Shannon’s mom explained, That’s different; he’s a boy and you know boys need their own wheels. Besides, a motorcycle is much cheaper than a car.

Shannon added, Yes, and don’t forget that Spike’s dad would buy anything for him because it’s his own son, whereas I’m just his stepdaughter.

A little note: I probably should’ve mentioned that Shannon and Spike had the same mom but not the same dad. When Shannon was still a little baby kitten her dad left them. Shannon’s mom got married to a rich man soon afterwards and had a baby together. That baby of course was her stepdad’s pride and joy, Spike.

Shannon angrily walked out of the building where she saw Jayden again, still standing next to his new car. The cleaner had brought a bucket of soap and water, but he had to go and look for a cloth.

Jayden’s parents were there too and they seemed very proud of their son. They were wealthy, just like all the other jaguars were, and therefore they could afford to buy Jayden that car.

Shannon sighed and wished she could have parents like that.

Jayden’s parents said they couldn’t stay any longer and thus they said goodbye to their son. The parents each got into their own car and drove away. Jayden didn’t want to drive his car unless the bit of mud was washed off first.

Shannon thought of heading over and introducing herself to Jayden, but she didn’t want to give him the wrong impression.

While Jayden waited for the cleaner to return, two teenage cheetahs from the street walked past. The one cheetah was called Zhang and the other one was called Aiko. They saw the jaguar standing next to his new car and came over to take a look at it.

Aiko asked Jayden how fast the car could go. Jayden claimed that he didn’t care about the car’s speed; he was just thankful to have a luxury car.

Zhang teased Jayden for not knowing much about cars; for being a spoilt brat; and for having a lazy car. Even though Jayden was mad at them, he didn’t know what to do or say.

From a distance Shannon saw what happened and wondered if she could help him out. If she had iron claws like Irene, then she probably would’ve used that to scare the cheetahs away. Although she didn’t have that same superpower, she had another one she could use.

She noticed the bucket of water close to Jayden’s car and realized she could use that to her advantage. While none of them were looking, she manipulated the water in that bucket. As she raised her hands in the air, she made the water rise upward. The three guys didn’t notice Shannon’s movements or even the water emerging from the bucket.

While her hands were in the air, the water floated in the air. When she moved her hands to the side, the water floated in that direction. She kept moving her hands from side to side until the water was positioned right above the cheetahs’ heads. With the water hovering over their heads, she quickly waved her hands downward. As she did that, the soapy water splashed down on the cheetahs’ heads.

The cheetahs were disgusted with all the water that splashed on them. They stared at each other with dumbfounded expressions not knowing how that happened. Aiko said someone must have thrown a bucket of water on them from behind.

The cheetahs thus spun around and angrily looked around, but didn’t see anyone. Zhang suggested they needed to split up: one should run to the right and the other one to the left. They figured they would run and catch whoever had thrown water on them.

Jayden had seen the water splashing on the cheetahs, but he also didn’t know where it came from. When he saw Shannon laughing, he assumed she might know what had happened.

He went to ask her, but she didn’t want to tell him of her secret superpower yet. So before sharing her secret, she said she first wanted to know him better.

Shannon had long blonde hair and she was good-looking. Because of that Jayden wanted to know her better too. They introduced themselves and had a little talk before they exchanged telephone numbers.

Irene had watched them from a distance. Feeling a little envious of Shannon’s power, she thought, Shannon can use her power to control water every day without hurting anyone, but what can I do with my superpower besides hurting people?

Irene looked down at her iron claws; they were only sticking out a little bit. She felt so ashamed of her own superpower that she decided not to use it again.

2. Blahney

Natalie had gone to the graveyard during the day. She was better known as Eagleye because of her special ability to see things from far away (like an eagle) together with her night-vision and x-ray vision. She lay down on her stomach on top of Tom’s grave because Tom had something in his coffin that wasn’t available anywhere else: the only remaining Lion Book.

As she lied there she used her power of sight to zoom in on any page while the book remained closed. While reading out loud, she held a voice recorder close to her mouth. Recording her words was the only way she could copy the contents of that book.

She enjoyed reading the Lion Book so much that she didn’t even realize the day had turned into darkness. By the time she realized how late it was, she figured she might have read enough for the day anyway. She therefore got up and dusted herself off.

As she placed her voice recorder in her handbag, she suddenly heard people chanting somewhere in the graveyard. She turned towards the sound of the chants and stared into the darkness. Using her superpower she could see through all the trees and tombstones.

Far away from her she could see a group of snow leopards standing in a circle. Large crows soon landed in the middle of the circle. The crows increased in size until they were slightly bigger than the snow leopards.

The snow leopards stood still as if they were expecting those crows. The crows moved closer to each snow leopard and hugged them. It was clear that the snow leopards and the crows were friends.

Eagleye felt a shiver down her spine. She had read evil things about crows and therefore she hurried back to her car.

She drove away from the graveyard and headed back home. For a moment she looked in her rear-view mirror. There was a car behind her. The car’s bright lights were turned on as it kept following her.

Eagleye drove faster. Her first thought was, Drive to the nearest police station. She then remembered the new police force were all tigers. How would I explain to the Tiger Triggers what I did at the graveyard?

About two years ago the tigers had confiscated nearly all the Lion Books and burned them. She figured they would probably burn the last remaining one too if she had told them about it.

She stopped at a coffeehouse that was always open until late. She got out of her car and ran inside. She sat at an open table and looked out the window. The car that had followed her was seen parking outside.

Eagleye tried to identify the driver. It was a man, but she had never seen him before. He looked around as he got out of his car. He paused when he saw Eagleye staring at him. A creepy smile spread across his face.

Eagleye gasped. She fearfully ducked down quickly.

Despite her effort to hide from the man, he entered the coffeehouse anyway. Without wasting time he headed straight towards Eagleye.

Excuse me, Ma’am, he said. Do you know your car’s backlight is off?

It suddenly made sense why he had followed her, but Eagleye was still unsure whether he was telling the truth. If she had gone outside with him to check her car’s backlight, the man might hurt her. She therefore asked him to introduce himself first.

The man sat down at the opposite end of the table. He said his name was Blahney and that he was a dance instructor. He expected Eagleye to recognize him but she didn’t.

He got up and performed a little dance while singing a simple song. A pleased expression crossed her face. I know that song… It’s the song from the show called ‘Tooty’.

Blahney confirmed with a smile and said he had been the lead character of that show. It was on the air for a few years and it was quite popular among the little kittens.

She looked doubtfully at him. So you were the guy dressed up as a toilet brush?

No, he said while clearing his throat, I was dressed up as a toothbrush. A lot of people had made that mistake. The show was called ‘Tooty the Toothbrush’ before they changed it to ‘Tooty’. I suppose they should’ve left the title the way it was.

Blahney asked her why she was at the graveyard late at night. Eagleye looked down without giving an answer. She didn’t know if it would be wise to tell him.

Suddenly he pulled out a bottle of water from his pocket. He opened the cap and aimed the nozzle at her. Are you a snow leopard? he cried. If you are, I’ll spray you with this water.

She responded quickly, No, I’m a domestic!

Eagleye hastily introduced herself to keep him from spraying water in her face. She said her nickname was Eagleye because of the superpower she had. She explained to him how she could use her night vision and x-ray vision to read a certain book that was buried in a grave.

Blahney was amazed. Wow! Really? How?

She said the lion had given her that superpower two years ago. She told him about a gym that was built close to a certain river. That river was created by the lion over a thousand years ago.

Tom used to be the owner of that gym. After he passed away, the ownership was given to Eagleye. Not many people knew about the gym and it was open to domestic cats only.

She invited Blahney to join the gym and wanted to explain how to get there. Blahney said he could use his GPS to find the place if he knew the name of the gym.

Eagleye told him the gym was called LD and that it was formerly known as Lion’s Den. She said they had changed the name of the gym a few months ago to keep the Tiger Triggers from tearing it down.

Blahney responded, The Tiger Triggers? I don’t think they would tear it down. If there were actual lions in that place, sure… but they wouldn’t do that just because of the name.

Eagleye corrected him, Hah… you think? Let me tell you what happened two years ago.

She told him there was an attempted robbery at the gym and that someone had called the police. When two tigers showed up, they were more concerned about the name of the gym than the actual robbers inside.

She added, It happened one evening while Roary was giving training at the gym.

Blahney asked, Roary? Who is he?

Eagleye said, "Roary used to be a police officer before his police department was forced to close. On my first day as an owner, I realized I couldn’t run the gym on my own. Then Roary came to my rescue. He roared like a lion that day and everyone at the gym kept quiet. They all listened to him since then.

We work greatly as a team; I have the power of sight, whereas he has the power of sound.

Blahney asked with concern, When you say you’re a team… do you mean you two are dating each other?

No, we’re not, she said while glaring at him. I see him as a friend and nothing more.

Blahney was relieved to hear that. Okay, I understand. Now about that training… what kind of training is it exactly?

We don’t give training anymore… but when we did, we used to teach the pride more about the lion. Then afterwards Roary gave them self-defence classes.

The pride? asked Blahney with a puzzled expression.

Eagleye explained, As in a ‘pride of lions’. It’s the name of our group.

Blahney thought about it before he said, The people who believe the king is a tiger, call themselves tigers; and the people who believe the king is a cheetah, call themselves cheetahs… so why not call yourselves ‘lions’ instead?

Eagleye shook her head. Unlike those cats that have changed into the wildcats they honour, we haven’t changed. So how can we call ourselves ‘lions’ if we’re still domestic cats?

Blahney nodded to show that he understood. Giving the cats training every week sounds like a good deed, he said, but why did you stop?

Not wanting to give a long explanation, Eagleye explained