Echo purred in the lap of her twoleg, perfectly content with the soft hand stroking her head. She glanced over to her food bowl with her piercing green eyes to find it filled with the pellets her twolegs had almost always fed to her, although this time it was mixed in with what smelled like some kind of fish. Echo angled her head up toward her twoleg and purred. How could it get much better than this? She had a loving grown twoleg and even a little twoleg that she often liked to play with, and she also had a limitless supply of food and water. A loud cry came from the nursery where the little twoleg nested, causing the grown twoleg to move her to the ground. She stretched, watching her twoleg scramble down the hall toward the little boy. The long-haired brown tabby she-cat scurried out her door leading to the backyard, pausing to let the scents flow past her. The somewhat strong scent of pine trees, the comforting scent of growing flowers, the succulent scent of prey scurrying in the forest beyond... and the wild cats. Yes, their scents stood out among the rest. She had heard stories about them being horrible cats, that they'd kill you on had also heard they were gruesome looking, enough to make any cat gag on the sight of them. But, instead of fear; an air of mystery hung around her as she dreamed about the wild cats.
Suddenly, a loud yowl startled Echo back to reality. She hopped up on a table and watched as two cats battled roughly, tearing tufts of fur out. Echo stared in wonder. They didn't look gruesome at all. They looked like...normal cats. Maybe the rumor weren't true...maybe they weren't as bad as the others had thought. But, she could only sit in her dreams as she watched the two cats battle. A black and white tom was clawing at a pale silver tom, blood pooling on the ground. But, the pale silver tom reared back and gave one strong swipe at the black and white tom, knocking him to the ground. Unfortunately, the black and white tom lay still on the ground as the other cat clawed him to near death. No, she couldn't just sit and watch. She dashed over the fence and ran on with hesitant steps, not knowing what she was getting herself into. Although she was only a few moons older than a kit, she wasn't near as big as the pale silver cat; though she was about the same size as the black and white one. She launched herself at the pale silver cat with claws outstretched. She had managed to make a claw mark across his face, causing a hiss of annoyance from him.
"Stay out of this!" the pale silver cat yowled.
"You can't just kill him! That's wrong!" Echo said nervously. But, she stood over the black and white cat; protecting him.
"You're just a kittypet" the silver cat spat.
Echo tilted her head in confusion. "Kittypet?" she mumbled. Was it some sort of curse word? She shrugged it off wearily, not knowing what to think of it.
The silver cat hissed frustratingly, "Just leave." he hissed.
Echo tensed. "What if I don't?" she challenged.
"I don't think you would want to find out." the silver cat chuckled.
"It's wrong to kill another cat, and I won't let you do it." she growled.
The silver cat eyed her warily for a moment then shrugged. "He's as good as dead anyways, I'll let you have him. But I'd watch out," he said before flashing her an eerily beautiful smile in the darkness, "or the wild cats will get you." The tom padded into the dense forest with his tail high and a smirk plastered onto his face.
Echo turned her attention to the limp form below her. "You alive...?" she asked, prodding him with a paw.
The cat opened one eye and gave a light growl. "Just leave me here to die." he said, "You heard Swiftfoot, I'm as good as dead."
Echo smirked. "I just risked my life facing a wild cat to save you and now you want me to leave?" she murmured.
"Exactly." the tom said, turning his head.
Echo shrugged. "Suit yourself," she said, slowly padding away.
"Wait..." the tom grumbled.
Echo turned around and raised an eyebrow with a smile. "Yes?" she asked.
"I need help..." he grumbled.
Echo chuckled and padded over to him, grabbing him by the scruff. "First you need to get out of this clearing" she said, dragging him away with an apparent struggle. She took him to her twoleg nest, with some difficulty getting him through the pet door, and set him down on a blanket.
"I don't like this place." he hissed.
"I could just take you back out there." Echo said, though she didn't want to really; not wanting to make that difficult trip again.
"Fine..." he spat, laying his head down on his paws.
"You hungry?" she asked.
"Starving. You have any squirrel?" he asked.
"I have pellets." Echo said, stifling laughter.
"I think I'll pass then." he said.
Echo nodded. "So what's your name?" she asked.
"Pinepaw." he said.
"Weird name. Mine's Echo." she said, flicking her tail in amusement.
"I'll be gone by tomorrow." he said, turning around the lick his wound. It was a deep scratch on his thigh that prevented him from moving steadily.
"Stay as long as you want, I don't mind." Echo said, stretching.
"Well I mind." Pinepaw said.
"So why were you fighting...uh...Swiftfoot was it?" Echo asked, sitting herself down.
"He stepped onto Thunderclan territory. I saw him while I was making dirt and I fought him." he said, shrugging.
"Charming." Echo said, rolling her eyes. "So you guys have territories?" she asked.
"Yes. Thunderclan, Riverclan, Shadowclan, and Windclan each have a section of the forest. We mustn't step on eachother's territory without permission though, that's why I had to fight Swiftfoot." he said.
"What's up with your names?" Echo asked, laughing.
Pinepaw blinked at her. "When we're born, our parents give us our names. I was Pinekit. Then, when we're at least six moons old we get our apprentice names, mine being Pinepaw. My mentor will train me until he thinks I'm ready to become a warrior." Pinepaw's eyes sparkled at the thought of being a warrior, "When I'm a warrior then I'll have my own apprentice and then be deputy then leader..." he said excitedly.
"That sounds interesting." Echo said, not caring that much.
"Your the one who asked." Pinepaw spat.
"I'm sorry!" Echo said, standing up.
"Whatever, I guess I'll be sleeping here." he said.
"Ya. I'll be down the hall if you need me." she grumbled, padding down the hall toward the nursery.
"Hall?" Pinepaw asked.
Echo entered the nursery and stood on her backlegs to see the little twoleg resting in it's nest, the grown twoleg sitting in a chair. Echo curled herself up on a tiny bed that had been laid out for her and let her eyes flutter shut. So many questions remained in her mind, but the underlying answer was she could never know. For she was not and would never be a wild cat.
