THE BAD GUYS IN: THE LAST WISH

Puss meets death

Puss  felt dejected. That night, he found himself at a late-night tavern, lapping small cups of heavy cream and contemplating his future.

"I am ... Puss in Boots," Puss said, in between licks of leche. "I am no one's lap-cat. That doctor is a quack. He should stick to cutting hair."

"Last call, Señor Boots," the tavern server shouted.

"Another glass of cream. Make it your heaviest," Puss mumbled sadly. The server left to get it from the backroom.

"I keep the heaviest in the back"

A draft blew through the tavern, blowing out all the candles. Puss caught his reflection and lifted his leche as a toast. "Hah! Retire ... you are too good-looking to retire."

Then Puss heard whistling...it was the same eerie whistling that wolf heard, It was tuneless, it was haunting, and....it was close.

Through the reflection in the mirror, Puss realized he didn't see someone sitting on the stool next to him.

He pecked over and saw it was the same hooded wolf that attacked wolf, who also gave puss a toothy smile and raised his own glass.

"Well, if it isn't Puss in Boots himself," the wolf said, chuckling. "In the flesh." He surveyed Puss's confused face in the reflection of his drink. "There's the famous hat. The feather. And of course, the boots. My compliments to your cobbler."

"Thanks, uh, good to meet you, too," Puss said. There was something about the wolf that made him feel nervous and uneasy, just like wolf.

"Hey. I never do this, but can I get your autograph? I've been following you for a long time," the wolf said. He pulled out a Puss in Boots "Wanted" poster and unrolled it, letting the "Wanted: Dead or Alive" message unfurl at top.

Then he tapped the word "dead" and said, "Sign right there."

It made Puss feel VERY uneasy too, but puss laughs in the face of death.

"Ha ha. Puss in Boots laughs in the face of death, bounty hunter!" Puss said.

"Everyone thinks they'll be the one to defeat me, but no one's escaped me yet," the wolf said.

Instead of running away like wolf did, puss decided to dance with danger.

Puss sighed. "Alright. Let's get it over with." With his signature gusto, Puss drew his sword. "Fear me, if you-"

CLANG!

But Puss's sword was swiped out of his paw and into a barrel.

Without taking his eyes off the wolf, Puss glared at him annoyed, he ran backward to retrieve his sword.

"Okay, no more messing around. Hah!" Sword back in hand. Puss charged. But the wolf dodged Puss's attacks with ease.

"Slow. Sloppy. Sad," the wolf remarked.

The wolf pulled out two sickles with flashing blades.

He and Puss battled in a furious exchange of steel-on-steel, blade versus sword. The wolf was right -he was strong.

"You're not living up to the legend, gato,' , the wolf said.

The wolf pinned Puss down and tossed him into a nearby chair.

The wolf was preternaturally fast, his attacks relentless. He flipped a table over toward Puss, forcing him on his heels as they crossed blades.

Then, in a defining uppercut, the wolf's sickle swung across, knocking off Puss's cavalier hat, and cutting Puss's brow!

CLING! Puss's sword clattered to the ground.
Amidst all of this, Puss gasped. Something was wrong. Something had changed. Blood dripped down from the middle of his brow. He'd been . .. hurt?

Just like wolf too.

"Ahhh. I just love the smell of fear," the wolf said.

He walked toward Puss, dragging his sickles menacingly across the stone floor.

"What's the matter? Lives flashing before your eyes?"

Puss glanced at his sword. He didn't know what to do.

His eyes darted from the sword to the wolf and back again.

The wolf kicked the sword toward Puss and said, "Pick it up."

Puss looked down at his sword again, frozen with fear. "Pick. It. Up!" Puss heard the wolf growl.

Now, the legend would have picked his sword up and bravely faced this strange, new adversary.

But instead, Puss did the one thing he'd sworn would never befall him....he fled, leaving his sword behind.

"Corre corre, gatito," the wolf chuckled.

"Baa" the wolf looks in the corner to see a little lamb in a purple dress hiding in a cloak like him.

He sighs, "alright, let's go"

Puss escaped through the sewers and out of town. He ran through the forest all night until he finally arrived outside of a walled-off compound atop a hill.

This wasn't where he wanted to go, but he was left with no choice.

Puss looked at the card his vet gave him and confirmed this was the place: Mama Luna's compound.

As Puss entered the compound's front yard, he teared up. Reaching the compound meant truly saying goodbye to the legend he once was.

"I am no longer worthy. I'm sorry," Puss said while clutching a rose.

With only one life left, he was too afraid to continue on as he once did.

He removed his cat, cape, belt, and finally, his boots.

Then he dug a grave into the ground as he buried his signature attire. The grave was in the shape of Puss's silhouette.

He might have been the only one at the faux funeral, but he wasn't going to spare any dramatics.

"We are gathered here today to say goodbye to Puss in Boots," Puss said. "There are no words to express such a loss. Thank you."

Gaining some momentum, he then added, "But it would be a crime not to try. He was known across the land by many names. The Stabby Tabby! El Macho Gato! The Leche Whisperer. To some, an outlaw. To more, a hero. To all, a legend. I was right. Words were not enough."

Then Puss sang his song, all the while crying, it was really too sad to watch.

He concluded the funeral by kicking back dirt onto the grave.

He planted a branch in the shape of a "P" over it like a headstone.

Then he walked away and onto the house's porch to start his new life.