The Great Journey
New Beginnings
Aqua's POV:
"Where are they?" Aqua wondered aloud. Her best friends, Snake, Pearl, and Mint were super late for their mission!
"Here we are, in case you haven't noticed!" Snake interrupted Aqua's thoughts, padding up to her.
"Where have you all been!" Aqua exclaimed, but of course she was always early. "You're all super late!"
"And hedgehogs will fly!" Pearl retorted. "You seem to forget that your always early, and we're always on time, Aqua!"
"OK, break it up!" Mint said, exasperated. "Can we get on with this already?" Aqua muttered a "Sorry," and nuzzled Pearl.
"Can I ask, though," Aqua said, "What have you been doing?"
Mint shuffled her paws nervously. "Can I just say that I had trouble with my Twolegs?" She asked. Snake nuzzled Mint affectionately.
"No one needs to know about your private business, Mint." Snake whispered. "I have been hunting in the forest," Snake answered.
"Great!" Pearl spoke up. "Can I have some? I haven't eaten anything decent since yesterday!"
"Uh, sure!" Snake answered.
"Let's get moving already!" Mint yowled. "I'm tired of this rambling!"
Pearl's POV:
Pearl was hungry and tired. She and her team of best friends had been padding on since sunhigh, and now it was dusk.
She flopped down onto a bed of grass. "Can we stop and rest already? We've been going on forever!" She sighed.
"Pearl's right," Mint mewed. "We've been going on forever. We have to get some rest, at the least. All of us need energy for tomorrow." Aqua yawned. Every cat made a makeshift nest of soft feathers and soft branches.
"Yikes!" Pearl jumped up in her nest. Something had prodded her in the back!
"Sharp stick?" Snake yawned. Pearl nodded hard then picked out the stick and went back to sleep.
The next morning, Pearl arched her back to stretch and yawned. She blinked. Everyone is still asleep! Should I go do some early hunting? Pearl thought. Yeah, I will. That way everyone will be awake when I get back with fresh-kill.
Pearl raced through the forest, quick as lightning, quiet as a leaf. She carefully scented the air, and found a slight whiff of vole. Pearl's mouth watered at the scent of a plump vole. She had gone to sleep full and well-fed, but now she was starving.
Carefully, Pearl sneaked up to the vole, luck in her favor. She pounced, killing the vole with a swift bite. Ha! She thought. I can actually catch prey here! Perfect! Pearl padded triumphantly back to the place where her friends were sleeping, an abandoned barn near Twolegplace.
"Where were you?" Mint's meow greeted Pearl as she walked into the barn.
"I was catching food for us!" Pearl meowed triumphantly. She dragged in the giant vole she caught.
"Wow!" Aqua breathed. "That vole is giant!" Pearl blinked her thanks. She wasn't vain enough to say how she caught it, and she wasn't fully fed either.
"We should eat, drink from the stream," Snake pointed a paw at a small river with waves of water rushing by, "And start travelling again."
Mint licked her lips eagerly. "Yeah, agreed." Pearl's mouth watered. She hadn't eaten anything decent since last night. Eagerly, all four cats crouched down to take a bite of the vole, then pass it to the next cat. They had grown to do this every time they shared food. It was custom now.
Once every cat was full, they got up and started moving.
