Note: This Pawprint is dedicated to and especially for Krista Schneidereit and Me (the author person. Look, I know who I'm talking about, you know who I'm talking about, I'm not going to go into it any further, understood? Good.) Anyway, Me specially requested this one, both she and Krista being very fond of our stretchy friend, as am I myself. Anyway, this one's for you, guys. Hope you like it.

OKAY, OKAY OKAY!

I'm writing, I'm writing! Sheesh, you let one little assigment slip for one little month and certain headpeople are ambushing you in the Grotto, holding you down and smacking you around until you promise to do it.

You know, Miss Frost, this is probably the only school in America where the headpeople actually hit you for not doing your assignments. Not very hard, true, but still...

Anyway, here goes.

Bad things about being a cat:

Smoking. I had to quit. I really, really miss it, but I had one cigarette on that first morning and couldn't stand the smell of myself for the rest of the day. No-one else could stand me either. Do you have any idea how traumatic it is for a cat to go for an entire day without physical contact? I quit that evening.

Good things about being a cat:

Everything except smoking.

I love being a cat.

I mean, what's not to like? The naps, the washing, the eating, the hunting, the games, all good; not to mention the totally-relaxed-about-everythingness - now I know what it feels like to be Ev. That's another good thing. We're all a lot closer than we were. We get along better, we're more tolerant of each other's annoying habits (for example, the constant babbling of certain firecrackers who shall remain nameless is a lot less annoying than it used to be), and we lick each other a lot more.

Which I am personally all in favour of.

Okay, it sounds weird. But having all that extra skin has made me a pretty tactile person. Touch is very important to me. And now I get washed, wrestled with, slept on, and generally paid attention to a lot more, and it's great. And even better, everyone else now realises how important these things are, and it makes them happy too. We've turned into a lot of very huggy people, had you noticed that?

Now that I think about it, there's a lot of cat behaviour creeping into our human lives. Not that I'm complaining or anything. I think it's great. But judging by how the evaluation team reacted, I think maybe we better tone it down a bit when visitors come, si?

* * *

"Are they here yet?" Jubilee asked for the fifteenth time. Emma didn't bother to look up from her book.

"No. They aren't due for another ten minutes, and knowing Beast, I suspect that they will arrive precisely at the time we agreed on. Try to be patient, kitten."

"I have been patient. I've been patient all morning. Now I want them to be here." Jubilee said, pouting.

In response to Emma's soft telepathic plea for help, Everett stuck his head around the door. "Hey, Jubes. Wanna play Mousetrap with me and Penny and the little guys?" This particular boardgame was Artie and Leech's current favourite, and Jubilee especially loved to play it.

Jubilee bounced out of her chair and skipped out the door. "Okay! Miss Frost, you'll let me know when they get here, right?"

"Of course. Have fun." At last. A few minutes of peace.

Exactly nine and a half minutes later, the Blackbird landed, disgorging Beast, Wolverine, Cyclops, Phoenix, Cannonball, and Archangel. The other X-Men were holding down the fort rather reluctantly, everyone being very eager to see the change in Generation X for themselves. Beast wanted to run innumerable medical tests. Phoenix was to assess the teacher's and student's psychological rections to the sudden change. Archangel had come along as an advisor, having suffered a traumatic alteration himself, and Wolverine and Cannonball wanted to see Jubilee and Paige for themselves, just to make sure everything was all right. Cyclops had simply invited himself along, no-one knew why.

"You're here!" Paige hurled herself into her brother's arms, while Jubilee in catform leaped onto Wolverine's shoulder and started to purr loudly. Sean greeted the other X-Men.

"Tis good t' see all of ye. Emma and the other students are waiting inside, so if you'll come in we can get start-" He was cut off by a loud spitting hiss. Everyone turned to see Cyclops yank his hand away from Jubilee, who was cursing loudly in cat. Fortunately, only Paige and Sean understood her, and Paige blushed a bright scarlet as Banshee winced, wondering where on earth the girl had picked up that kind of language. Eventually, he gathered tht Scott had tried to pick her up.

"Ah. I see. Cyclops, it's best if everyone avoids picking anyone up, as a general rule. Especially without asking first. Jubilee, no more scratching. Ye promised Emma you'd be good." Before anything else could happen, he whisked everyone inside.

Several polite greetings and a quick demonstration of the shapechange later, Emma took charge. "All right then. Mondo, Monet, Artie, Paige and Angelo, please go with Doctor McCoy. Sean, would you accompany them, please?" He nodded cheerfully. "Thank you. The rest of you, please come with Mrs Summers and myself. When we're finished the groups will switch. The other X-Men are of course free to do what they like. Yes, Jubilee?" Her hand was waving frantically in the air, Jubilee having temporarily returned to human form.

"Shall I go and get Penny, Ms Frost?" The X-Men looked at her in surprise. No wisecrack? No impudence? This wasn't the Jubilee they remembered.

"Yes, thank you, dear." Emma said absently as she started to herd the others to her private sitting room. Jaws dropped. It was at that point that the X-Men began to suspect that perhaps the changes to the junior team were a little more extensive than they had thought.

At the end of the day, the feeling had been more than confirmed.

Cannonball had nearly had a heart attack when Paige, almost as scantily clad as the White Queen herself (it being a hot day, and cats not being overly concerned with modesty), had embraced Angelo far too warmly for comfort, then parked herself on Jono's lap while they ate lunch. It had taken Banshee forty minutes to convince him that this was normal, friendly behaviour, and that sex wasn't involved.

Wolverine had spent the afternoon watching his now feline sidekick find, stalk, and kill a small fieldmouse. He had been impressed by her technique, especially since she was completely self-taught, and was bragging to anyone who would listen, and a lot of people who wouldn't.

Archangel was sulking, because everyone was taking the transformation which had been inflicted on them so well. His mood hadn't been improved by being pounced on, either. A very embarrassed Everett had apologised profusely, explaining that he had seen a winged shape out of the corner of his eye and that instinct had taken over.

Beast had eventually had to admit himself baffled by the transformation, but had at least assured himself that everyone was perfectly fit and healthy, apparently in possession of two full sets of instinctive behaviours. Since there had been at least one cat or another on his shoulders all afternoon, and since instinct was strong, he also had an extremely clean face.

Jean had gently probed mind after perfectly balanced, utterly relaxed mind, and, after 'reading' Emma only to find a calm, affectionate, and cheerful personality now firmly in the driver's seat, had at last had to go and have a lie down. All the peace and tranquillity had apparently been too much for her.

Cyclops, however, had gotten the worst of it. He had been scratched, bitten, stalked, pounced on, and generally victimised. Every time he moved. No-one was quite sure why, or if they knew, they weren't telling.

At the end of the day, five frazzled, disgruntled, and rather confused X-Men, along with one proud, happy, and generally contented Wolverine (who had taken the whole thing in stride) piled back into the Blackbird and flew home.

Cyclops paced up and down. "This is terrible! We've got to do something! Beast, there has to be some of getting them back the way they were!!"

"Why?" Wolverine inquired. "They seem ta be takin' to it like ducks ta water. Or like a cat to the hunt..." A soppy grin spread over his face. "Hey, 'Ro, you shoulda seen it. There she was, cute as, stalkin' this mouse like a real pro. Didn't play with it either. Just cornered it, pounced, broke its neck with one swipe. And she's a smart one, never wastes a catch either. Even offered me some, some of her own actual caught lunch, wasn't that cute?" Storm mumbled something and fled the room with her hand clapped over her mouth. Several other X-Men had gone rather green.

"Wolverine! We've heard enough about Jubilee's killer instincts. They've suffered a terrible character change, all of them. We have to do something about it. Beast?"

"My sincerest apologies, o fearless leader, but I must confesss that there is no way I am able to ascertain of reversing their condition. Cats they are, and cats I am afraid they seem destined to remain. Jean?"

Jean looked at her husband helplessly. "I'm sorry, Scott, but I scanned them quite exhaustively and the change has beeen all for the better, as far as I can tell. They're happy, contented, and their insecurities seem to have disappeared, along with with almost all friction with each other. I hate to say it, sweetie, but I really think that they're better off the way they are."

"But... But... look what they did to me!" Everyone looked. Wolverine shrugged.

"So?"

In Massechusetts, the cats also discussed the visit.

"Well, I think that went quite well." Sean said cheerfully. "Hank says we're all in the best o' health, Jean confirmed Emma's assertion that we're in top mental condition, and Paige and Jubie got to spend time with Sam and Logan."

~Cyke wasn't very happy, though.~ Jubilee commented from Emma's lap. Emma tickled her chin and smirked. Emma was quite happy for Cyke never to come back.

Sean, however, wasn't quite as pleased. A little bit pleased, yes, because he'd suddenly realised that he didn't like the little snot much either, but not very. They had been teammates, after all. "Aye, well, about that... What got into all o' ye? Jono, why on earth did ye bite him?"

Jono growled from Paige's shoulder as he remembered the incident. ~He stepped on me. And didn't even say he was sorry.~

~Probably because he was hopping around the kitchen howling like a baby.~ Angelo commented from Paige's other shoulder.

"So why'd you bite him?" Their blonde friend asked pointedly, scratching him behind the ears.

~He kicked me while he was hopping around the kitchen howling like a baby.~ Angelo shrugged. Everyone laughed. Sean tried to keep up his 'stern teacher' act, with rather limited success.

"Right... Paige? Why?"

"He sneaked up behind me. I just took a swipe out of reflex." Sean decided not to mention the sheer impossibility of Cyclops sneaking up on a feline.

"Monet?"

~ He was standing in my sun. I barely touched him.~

"Mondo? Why?"

Mondo pondered the question. ~I'm not really sure, Mr Cassidy. I just saw him standing there and pounced on him before I thought about it.~

"Ye just pounced on him. From the top of the kitchen cabinet, across the room, all claws extended, aimed directly at his jugular. Without thinking." Sean's eyebrows went up.

~I'm sorry. I can't explain it. I've never done anything like that before.~ Mondo said, looking confused.

"Artie? Leech? Any explanation for what ye did to his arm?"

"Artie and Leech got scared." Leech said in a small voice. Everone looked at them in surprise.

~Of him? Why?~

"We thought he was a dog." Leech said in an even smaller voice.

Emma chuckled. "He is. The man is the worst dog-person I've ever met. He actually smells like one, even." They all digested that.

"Hmm." Sean hmmd. Everyone looked at everyone else. Everyone shrugged.

~I knew there was a reason why I didn't like him.~

* * *

 Instincts. You gotta love 'em.

Speaking of instincts, Jubilee is teaching me to hunt. I'm getting better, she says. I like bugs best, but I can catch mice and rats too. I stink at birds, though.

A month ago, I would not have written that.

A month ago, I didn't eat bugs.

Now I do. I also eat birds, furry animals, and things out of garbage cans. Even so, being a cat is the best thing that's ever happened to me. Even if I'm not the best looking cat ever, it's an improvement.

Hey, Miss Frost, if I catch you a nice bug, will you let me off detention for handing this in late?

 Make it the crunchy yellow kind and you're on. E.F.