This story didn’t work for me, I’m afraid.
I liked some of the comedy, like the smoke/steam part, but I just don’t understand the hype. A furry character failing to be bad-ass (and looking cute instead) is… OK, but it’s not enough for me. I can see this being loved by furry aficionados though (which I am not).
I think this story would work much better in visual media. It would be much more suitable for a comic or an animation or a game than prose. The cat reminds me of anime and manga furry characters, like Chopper or and there’s one in particular, Bchuler, from Defense Devil, that is pretty much Malachai. And maybe that's why I didn't like this: I've seen it countless times before, in medias that are much more suitable for this kind of story than prose.