Tony Wyzek seemed to be a normal child. He was normal-looking when he was born and not even his parents suspected there could be anything extraordinary about their son. Then one day all of that changed when his parents came to get him at daycare. They were passing an alley when a masked figure lunged out and attempted to mug them. In the ensuing struggle, Tony fell from his mother's arms and crawled to safety, then he thought of the dangerous figure who'd threatened his parents and upon seeing a stray cat nearby, wondered what it would be like to be one. Unknown to him, at that moment, he shapeshifted into a kitten with black fur and brown eyes. Being a baby, Tony had no idea he'd done anything unusual or how much time was passing. What seemed like moments later, but could've been much longer or shorter, Linda and Jack returned, looking for their son. Tony leaped into their arms, using his new cat-like abilities, and instinctively shifted back into his human form. His mother freaked out and nearly dropped him. She thought he was some strange thing and refused to believe this was really her child. She and Jack left the little baby all by himself and went looking for their "real son". Tony cried and cried, his anguished state triggering his transformation back into feline form. His cries, now coming out as mews, attracted the attention of a mother cat nearby. She saw the little kitten Tony had become and decided to take care of him. So she took Tony back to her nest behind a dumpster in another alley.

Tony was raised by the mother cat for the next ten years. The now ten year old Tony grew up thinking he was a cat that could temporarily change into human form if he wished. Being raised by a cat as one of her kittens, Tony never learned to talk. He communicated like a cat instead of a boy and only knew words he heard others speak. He didn't know their meaning, though. Then one day four years later, Tony was with his cat brothers and sisters when a human man with no fur (even on top of his head) found him. The man requested he turn human and Tony reluctantly assumed his awkward human form.

The man introduced himself as Professor Charles Xavier and informed a surprised Tony that he was not a shape shifting cat, but a mutant human (a changeling to be precise) who could assume feline form. He explained that a changeling was a sub-class of mutants whose powers were evident at birth, rather than later in life. He offered to take Tony to his school where he could learn to talk like a human and transition from human to cat and back again. Tony didn't want to leave his cat family because they were the only family he'd ever known, but upon asking his "mother", he decided to go with the professor.

Over the next four years, Tony learned how to talk to a limited extent. He still didn't know a lot, though, and would say words like "pretty person" or "mister" and would often come across as very retarded in his speech. However, the others at the school learned not to laugh, as they knew it wasn't polite. One day, Professor Xavier organized a trip to the park for the kids. There, Tony met a group of boys who called themselves the Jets gang. Their leader, Riff seemed to find it amusing that Tony didn't know what a jet was at his age. Then again, he didn't know the boy had spent most of his life raised by a cat, thinking he was one.

He invited Tony to a dance at the "gym", but Tony didn't know what that was either, which surprised Riff, but he told him how to get there and asked if he wanted to come. "Dance is fun time, yes?" Tony asked him, making Riff curious about his way of talking. Tony replied, "Cats not dance. Cats sing and prowl instead. Is fun time." Riff told him his response had nothing to do with the question and Tony replied, "I was cat for long time. Miss mother. Miss brothers and sisters. Not feel human. Human only for now. Later will be cat again and go see mother."

Finally Riff asked the man leading their group and Professor Xavier told them Tony's story. Then it all made sense. Tony thought of himself that way because it was all he'd ever known. He couldn't believe a baby could be left to fend for itself like that. It made him feel lucky to have been raised human and had human parents as long as he did. He apologized to Tony for possibly hurting his feelings and Tony forgave him. He became friends with them and they helped him learn to be human. Tony had a happy life after that, and even though he still went to see his cat mother till the day she died and palled around with his adoptive brothers and sisters, being human became easier and he truly felt like he belonged there at Xavier's school.