Chapter 6- The City of Mehton

As the two travelled around what was left of the toxic waste plant, they could see the city of Mehton. That was where the Meh Team resided. They hurried over to the city. Meh was amazed. The city walls were almost as impressive as Tabby's castle. The
walls were crafted out of flawless marble engraved with fancy patterns and the gate was made of solid gold encrusted with crimson rubies. The city was clearly very affluent. Tabby haggled with the guards in broken Mehnese (courtesy to her trusty dictionary) and they finally opened the gate to let the two cats enter, not without many suspicious glares. Tabby led the way while Meh followed after her, glaring back at the guards.

Meh stuck her tongue out one more time, then turned to Tabby. "So... anyway, where does this Meh Team live?"

"Last time... I was here... they lived... in a mansion... close to the center... of the city." said Tabby, flicking through her trusty dictionary.

Meh was starting to get the idea that Tabby was never going to be fluent in Mehnese. She thought that maybe she should learn the language that Tabby spoke – was it called English? Maybe she already knew it but she just wasn't focusing. What other languages did she know? It just so happened that she knew Latin.

"So what are the Meh Team like?" asked Meh in Latin

"What? Sorry I don't know what you are saying" said Tabby in her language. Meh guessed that Tabby had no idea of what she had just said. Well Tabby definitely didn't speak Latin. So English it was.

They kept walking, Meh in rhythm to her new mantra (Must Learn English).

Eventually, our two heroines arrived in the center of the city where there was a large square filled with white roses and an elaborate marble fountain and happy cats and kittens. It was very extravagant. They took a turn left and kept on going, passing a few shops on the way. The cafés served coffee and unbelievably well-decorated cake. The clothing stores sold clothes that were the latest fashion, and created by well-known designers.

"Yeah, this place... has always been... quite fancy and... upmarket. In a way...it's a little annoying... how the... citizens act, but ... what can you do? It is
very ...aesthetically pleasing." said Tabby, while referring to her dictionary. Meh could agree with that. At one point, the duo came upon a porcelain water fountain that spouted champagne. This place looked very sophisticated. They soon stopped at a massive marble mansion. There was a wooden patio out front with a white picket fence around it. There
were some wooden chairs around a table. On one of them sat an orange cat drinking some cola from a wine glass. Meh covered her giggles with a cough.

"Good day Mehler!" said Tabby. Meh didn't know exactly what Tabby said but she figured that Tabby had greeted her in English and called her Mehler. She came down towards them.

"Hello Tabby, who's your friend?" she said in English.

"This is Meh the Cat. She's the only survivor from Mehopolis and she speaks Mehnese." explained Tabby.

"Well hello Meh, pleasure to meet you. I'm Mehler." said Mehler in perfect Mehnese. Meh was impressed. This Mehler was pretty good at speaking Mehnese – was it her first language? She would find out later.

"Hey, Mehler! Who are
talking to?" said a voice from inside. The door opened and out came a person
with a set of headphones around her neck, a boom box in her hand and shades covering her eyes. She wore a jacked with the hood up, and tastefully torn jeans. It was hard to tell whether this person was male or female because he or she had a very curly, yet unrealistic moustache. Was it a man with facial hair growth problems or an interestingly dressed lady? Behind her was a cat with a battered leather briefcase in hand with a fedora similar to Tabby's and a
detective's jacket that sported a high collar.

"Oh, I'm just talking to Tabby and her friend Meh the Cat. Meh's the only survivor from the Mehopolis massacre apparently." explained Mehler.

"My sources told me that the place was torn up by slimes a couple days ago. How did you survive?" asked the cat with the fedora, in Mehnese.

"You speak Mehnese too?!" squeaked Meh.

"Duh, it's my first language, as is everyone's in this team except for"-here she glared at and oblivious TabbyCat- "Tabby."

"Oh, Meh, that's Miss Sherlock Holmes... over there ...and... I think you can guess... who Shaimoustache Mucheese... is." Tabby introduced, while Sherlock clucked her tongue at the dictionary. "You should've taken lessons, like I suggested, Tabby." Tabby turned bright red and turned away.

Mehler turned to Meh. "When we get inside, get ready for an intense interrogation with the Meh Team. We would like to know everything about your journey so far."

After walking inside the mansion, Meh experienced déjà vu when she was awestruck by the sheer grandeur of the lounge. Meh took a seat next to Tabby with the Meh Team opposite them in front of a warm fireplace, Meh explained their whole situation in Mehnese. She was a more casual with them than with Tabby, as she finally felt that she was not the only Mehnese speaker on the face of the planet. Despite the fact that she had known Tabby for a bit longer than the Meh Team, she felt more comfortable around them than Tabby. While she was telling them her story, she started to examine how they behaved. Mehler was clearly quite kind and sympathetic. The girl in the fedora seemed quite sharp as she took notes rapidly, never to look up from her notebook when she asked questions. The person with the
moustache showed no notable characteristics, except for blasting out music on her headphones at the worst of times. Meh soon realised that she didn't really know how to put Tabby. Her personality was a little too... quirky? As Meh finished off, the front door opened and in came a black cat who had her back to them as she was locking the door.

"Hey guys, I'm back from the fishing, I've got a lot of fish. I caught a prize bluefin tuna but I put it back." she said in Mehnese and then she turned around, shocked.

"Brrelleg, Tabby's here and she's brought a friend." Said Mehler getting up to help Brrelleg with the fish she had caught. Mehler explained everything to Brrelleg. Meh began to
wonder whether they would help or not. The Meh Team had a quiet conversation
with each other. Mehler faced Meh and said:

"We would be more than happy to help you out." Meh's face lit up and she smiled.

"It's getting a little bit dark, do you two want to stay the night here?" asked Sherlock

"Sure, I don't see why not." said Meh.

"But the night is still young. Why don't we stay up for a little?"

Shaimoustache, on hearing this, quickly jumped up. "Yes please! Everyone, feel free to stay and listen to my masterpiece!" The rest of the Meh Team groaned. "Fine, but only because Meh has never heard you before." Tabby had more or less gaged out what was happening. Looking through her dictionary, she whispered to Meh, "Shaimoustache is...infamous...for her so-called... 'masterpieces'... sometimes, we even... get a surprise...visitor." Meh wondered who this visitor was, when some loud music with lots of drums was blasted out of Shaimoustache's boom box. Shaimoustache began dancing and rapping about 'Zeus', 'thunderbolts' and 'look at the chubby one'. At the second mention of 'look at the chubby one', a very chubby kitten dressed similarly to Shaimoustache (sans the moustache) ran out of one of the many doors in the hallway, and began dancing enthusiastically to the music. He leaped, spun, did cartwheels, rolled on the floor and pranced around. When the music reached an unbearable volume, Shaimoustache and the chubby kitten froze in place in very dramatic poses. Meh burst out laughing and clapped vigorously. "Well, I have been exposed to Beethoven's standards, and I would not call it a 'masterpiece', but that was certainly entertaining!"

Sherlock yawned, and addressed the chubby kitten. "Hi Appie. This is Meh. Meh, this is Appie. He stays with us. Shaimoustache adopted him from the orphanage. He doesn't eat with us or fight with us, so... he mainly stays in his room and works on rapping with Shaimoustache." Appie looked up at Meh and bowed deeply, then fell over. "Hello Miss Meh the Cat! I have never heard Beethoven before, but he must be REALLY GOOD..." Here, his eyes widened. Everyone laughed, except for Tabby, who was dozing off in the corner, not understanding the conversation. Tabby jerked awake at the sound of laughter, then grumpily pulled out her dictionary. "Bye... I'll be going... now. See you guys... in the morning." And promptly, she left.

"Where's Tabby going?" asked Meh.

"Who knows, she always turns down our offer for a sleepover. Ever since we had our first residential school trip, she always tries to avoid sleepovers." laughed Shaimoustache.
Mehler took Meh to the spare bedroom they had and then it was lights out.

Meh woke up at eight in the morning, walked down the stairs and managed to figure out where the dining room was after fifteen minutes of searching (and with a little bit of help from Appie). As she entered she found the Meh Team and Tabby sitting around a circular table eating their breakfast. She sat down. Pancakes for breakfast, it seemed. Tabby put down a plate in front of her with pancakes on it. Meh realised she was starving. She hadn't had a bite to eat since the attack on Mehopolis. She ate thirty-seven pancakes with maple syrup, butter and blueberries on them. Meh was stuffed.

"So how are we going to save Mehopolis?" asked Meh. Sherlock brought up a map and placed it on the table. In the center was Mehopolis. All the other cities were on the map, with at least five that Meh hadn't been to yet. There were also many circles marked down on the map, varying in size and color. Sherlock then began to speak. Mehler quickly sidled up to Tabby and translated quietly to English. "We want to start taking out areas that create slimes. You two have already taken out one of them." Sherlock crossed out on of the circles on the map. "If we infiltrate and destroy all of them then attack the slimes in Mehopolis then the slimes there won't be able to get any backup from these slime spawners." Meh liked this idea. But during Sherlock's explanation, she noticed Brrelleg fidgeting uncomfortably.

"So it's decided then, we'll start taking out all of these places that create slimes then take back
my city. Sounds good!" agreed Meh. Mehler stood up.

"Well then let's get going. Let's save Mehopolis!" said Mehler as she raised her fist. "Yeah!" Everybody else got up and raised their fists in the air. Brrelleg did so half-heartedly. Meh knew that this was going to work out quite well.