Before we had Murder and Mayhem . . .

. . . we had Charmandar and Pikachu. Yeah, the same kid named them, but he was a little younger for the first batch, as you might have guessed based on the switch from Pokemon characters to, um, murder and mayhem.

Pik and Char were barn cats from a friend. Their mother was reputedly part lynx or bobcat or something. I dont' know about that, but they were very fluffly and cuddly when we got them:

Hard to believe that sweet little boy is Cpl. Wolves:

Cpl. Wolves and his brother, Minnesota Wolves (he lives in Minnesota now), surely loved those kit-tays:

As did we all. But Cpl. Wolves most of all, I think:

Long time ago, and it seems like yesterday. We buried Char less than a year ago -- Pik died a year before that -- and it is one of the few times in many years I have known Cpl. Wolves to cry. He's still a sweet boy, despite being a trained killer.