Episode 1

"One second, she's angry, and then next, she's gone. May finds herself caught in between life and death and is forced to make a deal with a demon to get her life back. What's the catch? She must live the lives of 12 others in order to save her own life. But who does she want to save more? The twelve others? Or herself..?"

- Episode 1 Synopsis

Episode one is the first episode of the series in which we are introduced to the main characters and plot.

Plot synopsis.
This episode opens up with the camera zooming in on a house during a heavy storm. We are introduced to May, a peach cat, who is sitting on the windowsill, looking through it angrily. Her mother Phoebe is nearby, trying to calm her daughter down after a supposed argument with James, May’s father. The two start arguing, May saying that her parents are too overprotective and she wants to do what she wants, while her mother is trying to argue that they’re overprotective because they love her and doesn’t want her to get hurt.

After that argument May sneaks out of the house through a sliding door and attempts to run away, however she does not manage to get far before unfortunately being struck by lightning, right over an old pocket watch, she then appears floating in a white void surrounded by multiple ticking pocket watches.

It is here May meets an odd character that talks to her through the pocket watches, and after May yells at him she learns his name is Imp, who introduces himself as “a practical trickster and full time reaper.” Imp reveals that he knows May’s name and needs a favor from her, which makes May wary of him and she yells at him. Imp then shoots back by saying she knows what it feels like to be “trapped”, and saying he’s been trapped in the pocket watch for long, long time like she has been by her parents. May does not think she can do anything about Imp’s problem, but wants answers so she taps the pocket watch in front of her to set Imp free for a bit.

May immediately demands answers which Imp does not give wanting to talk “business”, however May is not interested and tries to walk away to which Imp reveals nonchalantly that she’s dead. May at first doesn’t believe Imp thinking this is a dream, but after Imp asks if May remembers running away into the storm she suddenly remembers doing exactly that. She asks Imp “what happened?”, to which he responds “lightning kid”. May then starts to panic and snaps at Imp, to which the reaper asks May to listen to his offer because he’s trying to save her. May asks how he’s helping her and Imp responds that her soul has left her body, meaning any reaper that passes by can take it. Imp explains to May that the reapers want to use her soul for power, and then send her straight into the underworld. Imp then explains that he got that power taken from him, and is trapped in the pocket watch until he can reap at least one soul in his current state. May asks what Imp is going to do to her to which he responds, “not gonna send you to hell, that’s for sure”.

Imp offers that if May helps him out, he’ll give her another chance at life, if she works for it. May initially sasses Imp back saying, “Well do I really have a choice right now?”, and Imp responds that she can take his offer or wait until a reaper comes along to reap her soul. May then asks if she can trust him and how does she know he won’t just send her to the underworld. Imp then responds that if he still had that ability they wouldn’t even have talked, she would already be there.

Imp then tells May that he used to live in a place called “The Rift”, a place where the reapers live. Imp says used to purge and claim souls for power, but he messed up and his leader sealed him into the pocket watch and forbade him to leave until he could reap a single soul in his state. He then says that instead of sending May to heaven or hell, he’ll revive her if she helps him get out of the pocket watch. That is if she works for it, and Imp says he’ll have to curse her to do so. May asks him to explain to which Imp says that he’ll give her possessive abilities and will do what he says, and then she’ll be free and alive.

After that a clock chimes and May gets confused, however Imp tells her not to worry and asks her to make her decision quickly. May screams that she doesn’t know if she can trust Imp because he’s practically a demon, and he responds that he may look like one but he still has a heart and that he’ll take care of her, before holding his paw out for her. After some hesitation from May she takes his paw.

Imp calls out to May to which she looks around to see she’s in a black void. She asks where they are, and Imp responds, “nowhere currently, I’m finding a vessel for you”. May asks, “why can’t I got back to my old body?”, and Imp says that her body is incinerated due to the lightning that killed her. Imp then says he’ll restore her body later before saying,

“Get ready, I found someone.”

Appearances

 * May (Voiced by PetPyves)
 * May's Mother (Phoebe) (Voiced by Tourists)
 * Imp (Voiced by Raymond Miller)

Notes & trivia

 * May's name is both a homage to the phrase 'April showers bring May flowers', as well as a short word for the 'Mayflower'
 * This episode is confirmed for a remake somewhere in the following year, called 'Twelve: Remastered', a fully animated retelling of the first episode.
 * In a fan voting, this episode was the least popular of the whole series.
 * In Chapter V of Origins, It's revealed that May was frustrated by her parents not allowing her to go to a party hosted by her friends, Simon, Kate, and Devo. This led her to run out into the thunderstorm and die.