Keabee watched in amazement as the cats pumped their great wings. He had been born with a single sister who had disappeared, a mother who had left him, and a father who had yet to be seen at all. He had no friends. Nobody even bothered to notice him... until the wonder cats came.


The wonder cats are a band of stray cat that live at the abandoned end of town; Rusty, Nike, Samew, and Mixy were their names. They traveled far, always looking for new recruits. This group of good-doers was perfectly normal, except for one special about these cats as well. They Flew.


"Tally-Ho!" Rusty called from his perch on the top branch of an elm. He was the most courageous of all the wonder cats, so much so, that the other cats, without meaning to, acted as if he was Leader.

Another call came from a lower branch of an oak. "Toodells!" This was Samew, a male cat that was by no means the bravest. You might even call him a coward. But none of the wonder cats are really cowards; they have done things that no other cats, nor any other creature for that matter, have dared to do before.

“Hi there,” Cheered a third cat. Mixy was very excitable cat with a very, very high energy level. She was always the most eager cat to do anything, and was usually the one to think of any new ideas or plans.

The last cat called with a sort of grudge in her voice, as if she really did not want to be there. "Hello," She called sulkily. This cat is what you might call the most average cat of the group, more cat-like than the other three. Like most cats, she grumbles and complains much of the time. She also prefers to sleep during the day, and fly the sky at night.
The only thing abnormal or strange about these cats is the fact that they are wonder cats. Therefore, they have wings.

Keabee stared in astonishment as the winged cats began to descend in front of him. The one closest to him was a tabby female. The one that landed next was a pure black cat except for the tips of his ears. The tabby spoke.

"My name is Mixy!" She pointed to herself with her tail-tip. "This is Rusty," She said, pausing to point towards a reddish cat, "And Nike and Samew,” She pointed to each cat with her tail as she said that cat's name. Keabee was speechless. Nike stretched her wings in irritation, as if waiting and ready to be off. Nike was a dark brown cat with white streaks and penetrating black eyes. She reminded Keabee somewhat of a skunk.

Keabee's voice shook as he spoke for he, like most cats, thought this group of strays was a myth. "Why are you here? Are you going to take me away?"

Rusty’s voice boomed with laughter, for he was the largest of the wonder cats. "Silly kitten, we are here to do quite the opposite. We are here to rescue you!"

"Rescue me?" Keabee queried. "How… Why?" Keabee was astounded at the fact that something noticed him, let alone a group of cats that was famous throughout his town… Throughout everywhere!

"Well, let's start out by introducing our selves. We are the Wonder Cats. We explore the world, looking for cats like you who need our help; friendless and homeless." Rusty paused for a moment, just long enough for Samew to break in.

"So, would you like to come with us?" This question was very startling to Keabee.
"Come with you?" He practically yowled.

"Why not?" Samew replied softly, suddenly shy, "It would be fun."

"Why not! Fun!" Keabee then realized that he sounded rude, and did not have a reason in the world not to go with these 'Wonder Cats.' They seemed nice. He especially liked the one called Mixy. He was very blunt. He would not be leaving any friends behind. He then meowed his decision, "I guess I’ll go."

"Very good, Very good indeed. Now let's get out of here, please!" The one called Nike grunted in mock pleasure. It seemed to Keabee that this cat tended to be very impatient.

"Calm down Nike, we'll be done in a moment." Rusty grumbled quietly. Turning toward Keabee, he spoke again. "First we'll need to get your wings-”

"Wings? Who said anything about wings? I am perfectly fine on the ground, thanks. I prefer to have all four paws in the dirt." Keabee stumbled over his words, trying to say them as quickly as possible. He had always been a bit queasy about climbing trees, he hated being so high up.

"Well, if you’re going to be a wonder cat, you’ve got to have wings. It's just a rule, A fact of life!"

"So, I'm picking right now whether I go with you, have wings, and fly or not?"

"Pretty much."

"Er..."

"What?"

"Do I have to?"

"No."

"Do you think I should?"

"Yes."

"Where do we get the wings?"

"No."

"What?"

"Yes."

"What are you talking about? That wasn't a yes or no question!"

"Hm... What? Sorry. What was your question?" It seemed as though Rusty had been lost in thought and he had been answering randomly.

"Where do we get the wings?"

"The River, of course!" Rusty replied as if this was just a normal thing for him, getting wings from a river. He looked as Keabee now, making sure he caught his every word.

"How is that possible?"

"Just... Follow me."

"Okay then... Where to?"

"The River!"

"Oh yeah."

Keabee could hear the river just over the hill now. On the way, Mixy had told him that the reason that no other animals have found the River before and why all the animals weren’t walking around with wings was because you had to have a special touch from an animal with wing. She continued to say that when she was just a kitten, a bird had bitten the end of Mixy’s tail. Mixy passed it onto Rusty and so on and so forth. He dashed up to the top and looked down. It was a River... If you could call it that. Instead of water, it was tumbling with millions upon millions of wing; a red wing there, a shimmering gold one there. Rusty trotted up behind him.
“Go pick out your wings, but pick carefully, for which ever one you touch first will become yours.” He nudged him and Keabee galloped down the hill.
He looked up and down the river, looking for just the right pair. Each one was different in some way, shape or form. Then he spotted a small glittering blue pair drifting lazily by. Keabee swatted out his paw to snatch them up, but as soon as he touched them, they disappeared in a heartbeat. He turned to look confusedly up at Rusty, only to see the pair of wings on his back. He flapped them gently. They worked! He dashed up to see the Wonder Cats. He was one of them now! As soon as they saw him with his wings, Nike took off. The others nodded and fallowed her. They were leaving him? Rusty turned around and lighted down beside him. "Just flap your wings and come join us! You can make it!" He turned again and leaped into the sky. Keabee tried to follow, but thumped to the ground instead. He was never going to be able to fly. All of the cats but Nike flew back to Keabee.

"Maybe your wings just aren’t ready yet." Mixy commented. "My first wings didn’t work until two days later! Let's just walk for a while." Mixy turned to Nike who was still high in the sky. "Come on back, Nike, We're gonna walk for a bit!" Nike scowled for a bit, but still came down.
It had been only two nights with the Wonder Cats, but to Keabee, it felt like his whole life. It kind of was, considering that he was only a few months old. His wings had matured, and were now as long as him, he could spread his wings and fly into the sky, but best of all, he had friends. The wonder cats had grown used to him; he was just another one of them now. Keabee had learned all of their names by heart and had learned more from them than he had learned in his whole life. How to hunt, how to fly… There was just so much to learn.

It was evening by the old barn. The barn was the place where the cats stayed and was, in a sort, their headquarters. Any minute the sun would be setting below the horizon. It was time for the Wonder Cats to go on patrol. When the first two cats, Rusty and Mixy had created the group, they had decided that they were going to help make the world a better place. They would rescue lost kittens, and take care of the trees in the forest, just to help. It was in this way that they found Samew, for example. This is how they came to be known as the wonder cats; Doing wonderful things for fun.
Now you can probably tell that Nike isn’t exactly the ‘oh, so excited to help’ kind of cat. It was only by mistake that she had become one of them. She was the youngest of the wonder cats, about the same age as Keabee. She had been rescued only one month before him, and had learned how to fly quickly, even for the wonder cats. When she was originally found, Rusty and the gang had been traveling to the river to receive this year’s round of wings. Cat wings fall off every year like antlers on a deer. They ran into a lost kitten that was trapped in a tree and couldn’t help themselves, they had to get her down. After Nike’s rescue, she had nowhere to go so they took her with them to the river and told her to stay at the top of the hill. Of course, she disobeyed. She trotted down to the bank, and not knowing what would happen, reached out for a pair of wings. This is how she became a part of the group. It was only because they had decided to stay in town for a while that they found Keabee, lost and alone.
Now that Keabee could fly with them, he was introduced to their nightly patrols. They would go out, fly around the city, and return the barn to sleep the night away. But that night, Nike made an odd request. She asked if they could go back to visit where she had come from. All the wonder cats, besides Keabee that is, had been there, it was not an unnatural for them to go back and visit their birthplace, but it seemed odd that she would want to go there tonight, considering that this was only Keabee’s second patrol and Nike’s home was rather far away. All of the Wonder Cat’s looked at her strangely, but nodded in agreement anyway.
After a long time of flying, they reached their destination. It was a broken-down shack with shattered windows and a door hanging by one hinge. There were moldy boards across all the entrances, and only one small gap in a side window. It was just big enough for a band of cats to squeeze through.
The wonder cats wormed themselves into the small crack and looked around. It was the same as they remembered- same dusty planks over the windows, same fractured glass on the floor. Yet there was a look of pure astonishment on Keabee’s face. He opened and closed his jaws several time as if looking for the right words to come to him, but they didn’t. He eventually closed is mouth and just looked around with his wide, startled eyes. All of the wonder cats were looking at him now, wondering what was going on. Finally, Mixy spoke,
“Keabee, is there something you’re trying to tell us?” Keabee appeared as though he was going to talk, but then apparently thought better of it, and just nodded.
Samew’s timid voice broke in. “What is it?” He meowed, his voice with its usual quaver.
Keabee took a deep breath and spoke. “I-I recognize this place. I was born here.” He voice was cracking and he was lowering his body on shaking legs to the floor. The wonder cats stared, especially Nike. Then, all the pieces seemed to come together in Rusty’s head. From a moment, he just looked from Nike to Keabee and back again. Then he broke the tense silence and all eyes were on him immediately.
“I do believe that if I am not gravely mistaken that you, Nike, have found your long-lost brother, and you Keabee, your sister” For a moment, they just looked at one another, their identical black fur glistening. Then, for probably the first time in her life, Nike purred a real, true purr. Keabee ran up to his sister and buried his nose in her fur. Nike stood, slightly shocked for a moment, and then slowly, licked the top of his head in return. I guess sometimes the best things are the ones hidden right under our noses… or wings.