Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat

Klawde inspects the teleporter, finding it ready. Just as he prepares to leave, Raj’s mom comes into the basement and starts labeling boxes. Klawde goes to scratch her, but she threatens to skin him alive, and Klawde thinks, “Finally, a Human I could respect” (187).

When Raj reaches the bottom of the slope, he hears Scorpion calling after him and starts to run. A path leads him to the welcome cabin, where he retrieves his phone and calls his dad, asking him to put the phone near Klawde and then leave. When Klawde gets on the line, Raj begs for a rescue, saying, “If you REALLY are a great feline warrior, you need to come help me” (191).

Klawde is annoyed until he hears sounds that indicate a fight happening at the other end of the line. Suddenly, the call goes dead. Though Klawde wants to return home, he decides to help Raj simply because the boy asked for help. Klawde declares, “Let it never be said that the Lord High Emperor of All Cats shrinks from a challenge” (193). Klawde steals the family car and goes off into battle, feeling alive.

Turkey Vulture arrives at the cabin and flies into a rage when he realizes that Raj has used technology on Survival Night, yelling, “How dare you ruin this beautiful game with such an outrage!” (196). Raj runs and escapes up a tree, where he sees something leaping through branches toward him. Just before Turkey Vulture catches him, the thing hurdles downward, and Raj realizes that Klawde has arrived.

Klawde hits Turkey Vulture head-on, sending both of them to the ground. Klawde continues the attack until Turkey Vulture grabs him by the scruff of the neck and holds him away. Klawde tries to attack again but hits only air, and he decides, “If this was to be my end, at least I had fought as no cat had ever fought before” (202). Turkey Vulture vows to eat Klawde so that there will be one less cat in the world, and Klawde tells him to do his worst.

Hearing Turkey Vulture threaten to eat Klawde is the last straw for Raj, who suddenly discovers his “inner battle cat” (204). Raj launches himself out of the tree and onto Turkey Vulture. He yells for Klawde to run, and Klawde goes. Braced for a fight, Raj stands, only to find Scorpion and his team giving up the game, horrified that Turkey Vulture was going to eat a cat.

Klawde is proud of how bravely Raj fought, and he doesn’t feel guilty about retreating. He reasons, “Sometimes a great leader must know when to leave his troops behind” (208). Klawde presses a button that he thinks will make the car fly, but instead, it turns on the music, which Klawde finds catchy.

Raj goes to the tent with Scorpion’s team. The rest of the kids are waiting there, eating s’mores in the warmth. Raj is proclaimed the winner because the rest of Scorpion’s team have taken off their nametags, and by the time the night is over, Raj is surprised to find that he is sad to leave. Still, Raj feels good about the night. However, when he sees posters for the neighbor’s missing cat, he grows sad at the thought that Klawde will soon be leaving as well.

Just as Klawde prepares to teleport away, he hears Raj’s voice. He is amazed that Raj survived the battle and waits to speak with the boy because “even an Evil Warlord must say goodbye to a soldier who fought so valiantly” (212). Raj and Klawde say goodbye, and then Klawde teleports away. He is not at all sorry to leave Earth behind.

Raj stays near the teleporter until his parents come home. His dad calls for Klawde, which makes Raj sad all over again because he knows that the cat will never return. Raj makes up a story about the house’s previous owners claiming Klawde, then goes to bed. Suddenly, he is awakened by a green flash and runs to the teleporter, where he finds the neighbor’s cat with a note attached to his collar.

Two weeks after camp ends, Raj sees another green flash, and then the doorbell rings. Klawde is back. He has been betrayed and banished by his one loyal follower. When Raj hugs him, Klawde scratches Raj’s finger. The wound hurts a little, but Raj doesn’t care. He is very happy that his “evil alien warlord cat [is] home” (222-23).