Lightning is a male cat who belongs to Gaston and the true antagonist of WHM13: Legend of the Feline Phantom and the two-part Season 8 finale The Catnapping. He is the resident heart throb who falls for Dreamy based upon her looks alone and attempts to woo her, later attempting to attack Shadowpaw due to his fear that the pet of whom is known as The Phantom Feline would steal Dreamy's heart, not taking the queues of which clearly state that she is not interested in him. Unlike the other villains, he is not killed, imprisoned, drained of power, or redeemed, all of which happens is that he ends up humiliated at the end of both of his appearances, but unharmed in any way, making him sort of a karma houdini. He is also the first villain without magical abilities until his second appearance, of which he gains dark magic abilities from a bracelet of which he purchased from a merchant. He later appears as a villain in the two part Season 8 finale, in which he kidnaps the idol Mimi Yuu to drain the love from her body to create a love formula of which would force Dreamy to fall in love with him after obtaining a bracelet of which contained dark magic of which he presumed would give him more power than ever to be imagined. He appeared again as an antagonist in Palace Pets: Whisker Haven Adventures and the reason Tani turned to villainhood. He is voiced by Brad Swaile.
Appearance 
Edit
Lightning is a male cat with a chestnut brown coat, white chest and muzzle, and white paws. He has a black nose, brown hair of which is very neatly combed around his ears, brown eyes, and black pawpads. He has a feminine, slender build and is very elegant in appearance. He is remarked as being very handsome by almost all of the she-cats in town, excluding Dreamy, Neneko, Ami, Lily, Treasure and a few others. He wears a black collar with a round, red licence tag on it. After obtaining the bracelet of which gives him powerful dark magic abilities, his eyes turn dark red, very similarly to Ami's in The Whisker Haven Movie 6: The Return Of Potions. However, after The Palace Pets use their own powers to destroy the bracelet, he turns back to normal. As an adult, he looks the same, except larger with slightly thicker eyebrows.
Personality Edit
Lightning initially seems suave, charming, intelligent, and charismatic, making him very popular among she-cats. He seems like what you would envision as the "Perfect Pet". However, he eventually reveals himself to be arrogant, condescending, cocky, manipulative, insensitive, envious, and possessive. He does not reveal this side of himself to other pets, and most of them disregard it. His arrogance makes Dreamy dislike him. He also is seen as very vain and shallow, as he falls for Dreamy for no other reason but her beauty alone, making him think she's worthy for his own handsome appearance. He even goes to such lengths to win her heart he fights Shadowpaw, of whom also is fighting for her love. Later, in his second appearance, he returns with dark power and has changed greatly, becoming far more persistent and almost insane in his determined quest to win Dreamy, and doesn't care who or what gets hurt in the process, as long as Dreamy's heart is his in the end, going to such lengths to kidnap the famous idol and model Mimi Yuu, who is known to have more love in her heart than any other pet in Whisker Haven and plans to drain her love and create a love formula of which would force Dreamy to love him. However, the Palace Pets vanquish him with their own powers and destroy the bracelet, leaving him once again humiliated, defeated, and without Dreamy's love. He later reappears as an adult in Palace Pets: Whisker Haven Adventures, eventually choosing Lily as his bride, and together they have Tani, the secondary antagonist of the series. His personality takes an even darker tone here. He never truly loved Lily, and married her for looks alone, basically seeing her as "second best" to Dreamy, and became even more bitter when Dreamy chose Shadow over him, causing his anger towards Shadowpaw to fade and become directed at Shadow, and even more envious when they had two kittens. This lead him to having a daughter of his own, Tani, and all her life, due to her mother being away helping Tiana at the restaurant, he constantly yelled at her, degraded her, and pushed her to be the best at everything. Whatever he says goes, and if she refuses, she's yelled at by him. This lead to Tani following in his pawprints and becoming arrogant and cruel just like him, and even though she doesn't want this, Lightning is determined for her to be the best, no matter what the cost.
Backstory Edit
His backstory is unknown until flashbacks in Whisker Haven Adventures, revealing his own dark, tormented past behind his arrogant facade. After hearing his daughter protest against him, we see brief flashbacks of himself as a kitten, revealing his own backstory. He is revealed to have been the smallest, least attractive kitten in his litter, and he was, just like he treated Tani, forced to be the best at everything, constantly insulted and tormented for being the smallest, and had a father very similar to how he became. His arrogant personality developed due to being taught to only care for yourself and place faith in your own abilities, and to see others as lesser thans, that manipulation was the key to happiness, and was never taught there was another way to make others adore you. He became attractive due to modifying his body through dark magic, and this corrupted his mind as a side effect, becoming the arrogant, cruel, manipulative, cold-hearted, unkind, horrible cat he is today. These flashbacks occur whenever an event similar to his own kittenhood occur, which affect him temporarily, but he quickly brushes off. This can make Lightning seem slightly sympathetic, but not very due to his treatment of Lily and Tani, but can give viewers something to think about.
Trivia Edit
- His voice actor, Brad Swaile, has previously played a character of whom was a rival to a character voiced by Alessandro Juliani, this being Light Yagami from Death Note.
- He returned in the 2 Part season 8 finale, The Catnapping, in which he kidnapped Mimi Yuu.
- Just as every other villain represents something, his character represents arrogance and cruelty.
- He is the only villain not to ever be aligned with Potions in any way.
- He is seen as the most abusive parent in the second generation series, introducing darker themes to the show.
- He is Shadow's sworn enemy, and do to their similar powers and dark pasts , he can be seen as the anti-Shadow or what Shadow would have become, had he rejected goodness, and let the darkness completely take over
Quotes Edit
The Legend Of The Feline Phantom Edit
"Dreamy will be mine by the time the night is through..."
"*Scoff* Fools...All of them..."
"*Laugh* Farewell, Phantom."
"Dreamy, how could you choose this...THING , over me, a perfectly normal, handsome, talented tom cat!"
The Catnapping Edit
"Forgot about me? Didn't realize you all were that foolish...But then again, what can I expect from such lowly commoners?"
"Say goodbye to your precious idol!"
"Wh-What are you doing?! No! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Palace Pets: Whisker Haven Adventures Edit
"TANI! What do you think you're doing?!"
"Ugh, how could someone as great as me be stuck with a daughter as disappointing as you?"
"You're a disgrace to the family name!"
"Aw, what, are you going to cry now?"
"Just as I expected...Coward..."
