Hidden among the trees, Puss dismounted Tornado and faced his loyal partner.
"Tornado, you stay here. If I whistle, you come pick me up, alright?" he ordered, looking at the horse seriously.
"Snort!" Tornado nodded his head up and down in affirmation.
"Good. When this is over, I'll let you enjoy that spa you wanted, and maybe introduce you to one or two lovely mares." Puss grinned, giving a pat to the horse's leg, making Tornado's eyes widen and pupils dilate.
"Whinny!" Tornado stomped his front hoof on the ground repeatedly, excited, while nodding even faster.
Chuckling lightly, Puss left him behind, dropped to all fours, tensed his body, and shot upward in a super jump, landing on the branch of a tree.
Without stopping, he ran quickly along it on all fours, leapt to another branch of a nearby tree, then continued running, maneuvering through the air and treetops.
The illusory point of view slowly rose to the sky, showing that in the direction Puss was running, a huge factory towered.
There, large chimneys spewed rainbow-colored smoke, and others spewed dark gray smoke. There were also separate buildings, each with their own chimneys puffing smoke. It didn't look like a place that cared much about the medieval environment.
Puss crossed the forest, and when the factory came into his field of vision, he stopped at the top of a certain tree, camouflaged among the leaves, observing the surroundings.
'A small river with a water wheel, a bridge, and a little house in front of the factory. That must be the entrance,' he pondered, lightly scratching his chin.
His green feline eyes didn't stand out much among the green leaves as he kept searching.
'Not many visible windows in the factory… how do they even breathe in there? Must be magic. Looks like I'll have to enter through the front door.' He smiled slightly, and without thinking much more, jumped to the ground, running toward it.
Puss in Boots was a cat of action, not of pondering.
Like a shadow passing, he crossed the grass, went over the bridge, and finally reached the door of the small house in front of the factory—but he didn't enter directly.
He first climbed quietly up to a tiny window in the little house and discreetly peeked inside.
Sitting there at a reception desk, he saw an elf with a goatee and purple robes, looking bored as he focused on jotting things down on a parchment with his quill.
'Jerome?! This guy's here more than 10 years before the movie?' Puss was surprised to see the pointy-eared elf with a grumpy face.
Of course, he wasn't sure it was him—seeing someone in an animation and then in real life were two completely different things. But Puss believed he wasn't mistaken.
'Well, it would make sense too. Ten years isn't that long, and if elves in this world also have long lifespans, he's actually a good assistant for someone powerful and long-lived like the fairy godmother… then again, maybe he's not even Jerome, now that I think about it, ssince there were like 50 elves who looked exactly like him attacking Shrek in the movie.'
Shaking his kitty head, he brushed those thoughts aside, and climbed the wall, positioning himself above the wooden door, upside down, while his sharp left claws dug easily into the wall as if it were made of cotton, holding his body in place.
Then, with seriousness and a heavy look on his face, he stretched out his right paw, clenched it into a fist, and then…
Tok! Tok!
He knocked on the door.
Jerome, sitting calmly behind the desk, didn't even raise his head, and continued writing boredly on the paper.
"Come in," he said loudly, with fatigue, not paying much attention.
But he didn't hear the door open.
Tok! Tok!
The knocks came again, making Jerome's brows furrow.
"Come in, it's open," he said louder, a little irritated at having to repeat himself.
Tok! Tok!
The quill in his hand began to bend as he applied pressure, growing more annoyed.
"Ugh, what a pain," he muttered under his breath. Irritated and helpless, he stood up, walked to the door, and opened it with displeased eyes. "Are you deaf? Didn't you hear me saying to come in?!"
He scolded, but was surprised when he saw no one behind the door.
Confused, he stepped outside and looked to the sides, still seeing no one.
It was at that moment that a shadow fell beside him, and he felt pain in his neck before his consciousness faded and he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
The poor elf was then seen being dragged back inside the house before the door shut closed.
A few seconds later, he was dumped onto his chair, unconscious, looking as if he had just fallen asleep on duty.
Soon after, the inner door opened, then shut again silently.
A few moments later, from the desk's loudspeaker, the commanding voice of a woman echoed.
["Jerome, black coffee and pancakes. Now!"]
"…"
["Jerome?"]
…
Puss was inside, without alerting anyone.
His first target upon entering was the Fairy Godmother.
He didn't want to cause chaos before that and attract many people to fight against him, only to then be caught off guard by a spell that could turn him into bubbles from some wild Fairy Godmother magic.
'My 9 lives probably wouldn't work against that. After all, if I transform into something else, I lose my 9 lives as a cat, right?' he thought, feeling a slight shiver at the possibility.
His 9 lives were one of the things that made him fearless. Unlike the original Puss, he valued each one of them and didn't want to lose them, but just knowing he had them already brought him relief and great courage.
His gaze grew serious as he thought about this.
'I need to be careful with spells in the future. And now that I've saved Fiona, the Fairy Godmother surely won't let me go, so it's certain I should attack first instead of being hostage to someone else's will.'
With these thoughts in mind, he stepped away from the door where the reception was—where he had left Jerome taking a nap—and approached a railing just a few steps away.
Placing his hands on the metal of the railing, which he didn't even reach halfway up, he looked down through the gaps while his body stayed mostly hidden in the darkness of the place where he stood.
Down there, there was a wooden conveyor belt, enormous cauldrons, some kind of wooden contraption that spun, cages with animals, and many other things releasing colorful, magical dust.
And amidst it all, dozens of little people in white protective clothing were handling everything, jotting notes on clipboards, conducting experiments, and much more. Along with them, several elf guards almost identical to Jerome were holding crossbows, patrolling and inspecting the area.
Puss observed it all, his green eyes shining with interest and curiosity. His tail swayed softly back and forth behind him, like the curious kitty he was.
His green eyes landed on a large wooden door, and his interest deepened.
Above the door, in vibrant pink calligraphy, was written: [Potion Room].
Blinking as a smile spread across his face, he couldn't help but remember the movie that had marked him so much—and which he now lived in.
'Wow, so many good memories… should I find Shrek and take him on adventures with me? That would be interesting, but I don't think he'd accept. He's too much of a homebody,' Puss thought, amused at the image of invading this place with an ogre and a donkey.
And he couldn't help but feel a little lonely at that moment, thinking about it.
'Now that I've come to this world, I feel like I've changed things too much… will Donkey and Shrek still be friends… my friends?' He lowered his gaze, his mood a little complicated.
Yes, he would probably steal Fiona. But that didn't mean he didn't like Shrek. On the contrary, he thought Shrek was a very cool guy, someone who could be a fun friend.
As for Donkey, even if he might be a little annoying in real life, he was still loyal and funny. Puss wanted such a friend too.
'Even though I've stolen the original future wives of both of them, ahem… they don't know that. So there's nothing stopping us from being friends, right? I can try to find them some nice girlfriends too. Well, let's leave the future to the future—I still have 10 years to deal with that,' he reasoned, and his mood improved again.
While Puss was lost in thought, analyzing the factory with his tail swaying, he suddenly sensed a presence moving in his peripheral vision and became alert.
Flying toward where Puss was, turning the corner of the hallway, a fairy with grayish-white hair in a strange, sparkling hairstyle appeared, wearing a blue dress.
But what stood out the most about her, beyond the fact that she was flying with transparent wings, was the wand in her hand, tipped with a purple, glittering star.
Who else could it be but the…
"Fairy Godmother…" Puss murmured, as his eyes narrowed.
There was no more place to hide—only a direct attack remained.
And in a fight, Puss in Boots never lost.