Fanfic- warrior cats: CHAPTER ONE:
Life With Twolegs and Spud
Crouching low in the forest, the golden kitten hid, as silent as a mouse. There was something- a smell, a rustle...a mouse. The kitten locked eyes on the mouse, padded forward slowly; inching forward, she could almost taste it. The smell was strong, and delicious. The anticipation of the meal to come was smothering; she was salivating hungrily as the little mouse wandered round unknowingly. She knew in her heart it would be the best thing she had ever eaten. And now, the time was right to pounce. She unsheathed her claws silently- deadly sharp claws, weapons of protection and destruction...And flexed her leg muscles eagerly. She sprang, gliding through the air for those precious milliseconds, and landed on the mouse. She bent down, uttering thanks, ready to finish the creature.
That's when she smelt something else- a strong, choking scent of burning. As she looked around wide eyed, a fire danced before her. The mouse bit her in absolute terror, and she ran, leaving it to scurry off into the crimson flames. Golden fur tingling, the fire just behind her, just...she wasn't going to escape. Her heart thudded loudly; she could barely breathe. Her eyes became huge circles as she reached a grey, hard path. A giant monster zoomed past; nearly knocking her over just from the air waves it produced. She couldn't get across here! She glanced around, her eyes searching for another way; another way, she knew, with a sinking heart, that was not there. Black smoke enveloped her, making her cough, and splutter, filling her lungs and dying her fur an unhealthy black; closing in ever tighter, squeezing her...
The small kit closed her eyes and tried to calm her fluffed up fur, searching for bravery. And then, she heard silence. Opening her eyes she saw a shining white bird. She couldn't pull her eyes away. It was beautiful, on the opposite side of the road. She took a step forward- and the fire came slower. And another, and another- she could do this. She mewed happily, her eyes streaming from the terrible smoke. As she moved, she dropped all the sooty black from her fur, and seemed to grow stronger. Monsters roared past, centimetres away, threatening her, daring her; but she always missed them, and now, she had reached the other side, and that bird. She realised, with a joyful twitch of her whiskers, that she had grown- into a sleek and dangerous warrior. She looked smugly back at the fire, and saw only a charred forest...but with mice still alive, glaring at her. She wasn't supposed to escape.
She was a little shocked, but then the bird cooed. It was telling her to go home. To join her real family. She immediately thought of the place she had came from, and shuddered. Then, she looked forward- the bird was flying, over grass plains, toward a group of trees...and she thought she could see- cats? She squinted her eyes, and knew she had to go...Picking up her feet, she got ready to run. A strange squeak filled her mind. Looking once more at the plains, she snapped her head back to the charred forest. A strange, ghostly call beckoned her.
"Ro-oxi..." It called. "Rox-i..." Again, again it called. She turned to the plains...but they had gone- there was only a wooden, carved stump. The kind of stump with four legs that a twoleg sits on.
"Roxi!" It was a female Twoleg, calling her. "Wake up! It's time for breakfast!"
Rolling over in her weaved bed, on the soft bag of feathers, she yawned. She stood, and shook off her fur. The last thing from her dream troubled her still, clear in her mind; a mouse...a mouse, with glaring red eyes and enormous size.
Clunk. That was the sound of her food-bowl being half-dropped on the floor. She stretched, still troubled, and walked over to the bowl, and stared at what was inside. Dry pellets-tasteless compared to what that mouse would have been. A dull thud of the wooden entrance sounded, and she flicked her ears back cautiously. Sniffing, her stomach rumbled. She was going to have to eat this- it was all she had. Taking a few half hearted mouthfuls and a sip of water from the bowl next door to it, she padded off: towards the outside world.
She sat in the grass, and sighed. She was sick of twolegs; always stroking her and touching her, expecting her to sit on their laps. They kept her encaged in their dwelling, expecting her to like it although it was nothing like what a real cat's home would be like. Real cat- she had just referred to the forest cats as being real- then what was she? 'Some toy.' She thought, 'Some twoleg toy. ' Fed dry, unsatisfying food, never left alone...near to dogs. She shuddered. Twolegs kept her behind a tall fence, and walls; did they think their 'love' made up for her imprisonment? She pawed the ground, and let out breath softly. At least she had enough food to eat. She purred slightly in laughter- and a soft bed. And she drifted once again into calm sleep; knowing the twolegs would be gone now, and not able to wake her.
"coo cooo coo." She opened one eye, lazily. She saw a bird- a white...bird...she snapped both eyes open and lifted her head, searching for the magnificent white spirit, but instead, scaring off a dull and plump, light grey pigeon. It flew towards the forest- the forest, outside of her twoleg home. All she would have to do is jump...she flexed her muscles...and she would be free. She would just look...there's no harm in looking. She would go in, look round a little, and come back. Maybe she could try catching a mouse. Her spirits rose, and she jumped...
"Hey you, kit!" A harsh voice cried. She slid down the fence. It was spud.
"Thanks for scaring away my bird, fluff for brains! I was looking forward to that!" He spat. "Just you wait, I'll- what?" He walked along the top of the fence, and looked down at her inquiringly; a kitten slumped at the bottom of the fence.
"What ARE you doing?" He hissed. "Don't even TRY escaping Blondie, you...what are you thinking?!?"
"None of your business baldy!" Roxi sniffed, "I do what I want to. You're not my twoleg!"
She remembered how surprised she was to see the bald -completely bald- old tom next door when she first came here. With his scary looks and bad attitude she was scared of him. But no more.
"YOU. Get. Away. From. The. Fence." He said slowly.
"Just because you say you're purebred baldy," she stood slowly "Say anyway, it doesn't mean that you're better than me," This earned a scowl from spud, "Anyway," She composed herself fully, and lifted a paw to her muzzle, "I was just going to look." She began to wash, confident she had won.
"Just LOOK?" Spud jumped down from his perch on the fence, and slid over to her menacingly. "You can't 'just look'; you will NEVER 'just LOOK'! The forest will suck you in, child, and you will NEVER escape!" He screeched. Roxi tried to reply but found he throat closing up as she watched Spud search the treetops of the forest longingly. "Those cats," he whispered, shaking his head, "those...cats are cruel. Cold-hearted killers. They murder, they do." He finished, and climbed once again to his spot on the fence.
"Killers?" Roxi echoed quietly. She edged towards Spud.
"You mean...do they...kill their own? Their own kind?" Her eyes widened as she realised what she could be getting into. The forest sucking her in seemed likely false, but killers...
"Occasionally." Spud replied solemnly. "I don't pretend to know everything about them, but the cats they murder most are outsiders. Cats not from within their closely bonded group. You've got to watch out." Roxi thought she heard a hint of sadness in his voice.
Spud stood, and jumped to the other side of the fence silently. Roxi walked close to the fence, knowing he was near, the only thing between them the tough wood. "how...do you know?" She hardly dare breathe.
The old cat sighed, tail limp. He rested his head on his hairless paws and closed his eyes. "I just do. Roxi, carry on with life here. Believe in your twolegs. They may be daft but they are smart, and most of them are good really."
Roxi sat and pondered this, curling up her self and enjoying the heightening heat of the sun. She closed her eyes, listening to the rhythmic breathing of her old neighbour. She was confused. "Spud?" she tested quietly. "Spud?" he must be asleep. "But...I had a dream; a big one this time. I've always daydreamed, and sometimes had a mixed dream, and it was small...I'm confused." She stood and stretched. She was finally saying her concerns aloud.
A loud barking sounded from next door. I was 'that Labrador' dog. Roxi jumped on the fence and looked down at it. It was a dark golden colour and had just chased off a cat that lived across the road- it was still barking in the general direction it had gone. Roxi was upwind of the dog, and decide to watch for a bit. After a few minutes, she started to wonder if it even knew why it was barking anymore. A twoleg came out of its house, and shouted at it. It quietened, and then saw the kitten...and barked frantically, scraping at the fence- at the same time the twoleg noticed and grabbed a hose. For some reason Roxi did not back off, frozen, and then the twoleg aimed water at her- missed, but still. She screeched, and ran back into her own garden, heart racing now. The dog was dragged inside, whining now, sucking up to the twoleg shamelessly. Roxi hissed and smoothed her fur, licking all over.
"Don't go tormenting dogs now." Roxi looked up- it was spud, still sounding sad, and a little hunched.
"What...he...it was the twoleg...?" She turned to him.
"I heard you."
"'fighting' with the dog? That wasn't fighting...I...I mean-"
"About the dreams. I know someone who had those. "
"You...were awake?"
He bowed his head as a yes. "I must be going in, it is approaching noon, Blondie, and unlike someone I take car of myself and don't want to be sunburnt!"
"It's just because you're bald!" She couldn't help smiling.
Later on in the day, after she retreated to the dwelling for rest and 'dinner-time', she realised how much the twolegs did fuss her, and ask her to sit by them or on their laps by patting the sofa. She had only been with them for a few weeks, but they were attached to her. Two adults and a young one. She didn't want constant attention. She wasn't like twolegs, not a twoleg in a cat suit at all, like they treated her. And she slept that evening soundly, and dreamt again.
She was pawing through the forest, excited by the sights and smells, looking for prey. She heard a noise, perhaps a pigeon. Then she smelt carrion, and saw an ugly, black rat in the shadows. She ran, and ended up across the grey monster path, into a patch of green, surrounded by the path, with 4 trees. There was also a small sapling, almost unnoticeable. It was here she saw the magnificent white bird again, in meeting with a sort of blue land-fish, a brown rabbit, and, gasping, she saw that red-grey mouse with blood red eyes. They seemed to be great spirits. But something seemed strange, odd, and she saw the rat lurking in the shadows, eavesdropping. She opened her mouth, but a voice cried: "Welcome to our Clans Young one!" And she found herself falling, falling...and landed back in the twoleg house.
She shook her head. This one had ended so sharply. It was dark- night time. She stretched, and wandered outside again. She glanced at the fence, knowing she shouldn't dare, but, all of a sudden, she was flexing her muscles, jumping...and she landed perfectly on the fence.
"You have good jumping skills, even for a cat, Blondie."
It must be Spud again. She turned, and saw him sat on the fence.
"Why do you always sneak up like that!?" She demanded.
"I don't. Your senses clearly aren't as good as your jumping because I was already here. You just walked right on past and onto that fence."
"I'm sorry... I'm not thinking...I..." Roxi stared out at the forest for the first time. It was mesmerising. The trees were full of buds, flowers and grass and clover patches stuck out of the ground, and there was a small tree she could never see before, right outside the fence. She might be able to reach, to visit this beautiful land. She blinked slowly, and spoke at the same pace "I...had another...dream Spud." She broke away from the forest view. "They're calling me Spud, they want me there!" Her eyes grew wide, wider than they were in the dark, so her eyes were almost completely black.
"Roxi!" He cried, seemingly by accident.
He walked close to her. "You are an idiot. You know that?!" His eyes were serious.
"Hey!" She squeaked.
"But I was an idiot too, once."
Roxi's ears pricked. Had he been to the forest?
"There was another cat, in this house, before you and the twolegs moved in. Well, until the new ones moved in, then got you."
"Another...who was he?"
"She, Blondie." He looked at the sky for a second. "She. She and I were friends. Good friends. I thought, hoped...remember, this was when I was young, and before I went...to the cutter...that we may fall in love. I already was with her."
"The cutter? You mean...where twoleg cats go? And come back...changed? Smelling different?"
"It means you lose your lust for outside life...in some cases...and can never have kittens. It's easier for twolegs, without the so called 'moodiness' of a cat that isn't cut." He coughed, and carried on. "Anyway...we were both very interested in the forest. No other cats had been but us, and I had not been brave enough to defy them. Until she came. We went both together, and caught a mouse." His whiskers twitched happily. "It was the tastiest thing we ever ate. We trained hunting together, me and Candy, for many weeks, until they found us. About a moon in, some 'patrol cats' spotted us, and hissed and warned us we would be punished if found in their territory again. So we stopped. Occasionally, I or she would sit in that tree near you...but that was it. But I was shocked in the cold moons. She came back with a tiny grey kit that said it was called toughkit. It didn't say anything else, just its name, once. Anyway, Candy, sweet cat she was, saved the kit, warmed it and gave it some of her pellets. It lived, just." He hunched down sadly, and shuddered, Roxi waiting patiently for him to go on. "But then the patrols came back. Only one I recognised. This bright ginger fellow...and accused her of stealing their kit. I stepped in then, explaining how she saved it; but they didn't believe us. I remember what that ginger cat said: 'We said we were stronger than you. Now, you're going to pay for not listening to us, and stealing our kin!' That's when I noticed what they really looked like- thin, but very strong looking." He met eyes with Roxi now. "I tried to prevent the attack, I really did..." He said quietly, mournfully. "That night they killed her. My Candy. I never saw her again. All because she saved that STUPID KIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He yowled, scratching at the air, the fence. "Your family moved in about 8 moons ago. She had been dead for many moons by then. But they gave me a reason to cheer up- you. I guess I was trying to hold you back, Roxi. Tell me your dream."
Roxi could barely speak; she managed to explain the basics of both dreams though, thoughts overwhelming her. "I'm so sorry Spud." She added.
"Don't be. Roxi. I held you back. I want you to be extremely careful, but go into that forest. "
She listened, and froze on the spot.
"Roxi. Now...go now, while the time is right. You may face fewer patrols at this time. It is past mid-night, dawn is approaching every moment."
"Spud, I never knew anything about you. I won't let you down. I won't let them do to me what happened to Candy. I've been called, I'm sure they can't kill me..." She shook slightly as she said it, and shook her head. It was what she wanted, what she'd always wanted. It was a big, scary, unsafe change, but a good one. "Why don't you come with me?"
"no." He said bluntly. "They won't accept me, and I'm no good to anyone anymore. I am fine right now, but every day I grow stiffer, and soon I will not even be able to sit on this fence." He purred, laughing, but as he said it, Roxi even saw him, sluggish, not even as fit as he was when she first came here.
Instead, she gave him a friendly lick on the head. "I will visit you, baldy." She whispered.
Now she just had to reach the tree. The ground was hard underfoot, and rocky, and she didn't want to damage her pads. It seemed far as she flexed her muscles, judging the distance, calculating... she crouched, and put all her concentration and power into the single jump. She soared, paws outstretched, and grabbed the end twig with her paws heavily, and swung painfully. She clambered clumsily up to the branch, which nearly gave way as she was on the smallest sticks. She balanced carefully and the swaying end, and walked to the thicker branch the one she was stood on had grown from. "heh heh..." she murmured, and flicked her tail a little to fast to say farewell. She slipped a little. Now this part was a little easier for her. She grabbed onto any foothold there was, and slid down, looking like a giant, furry caterpillar. "Thank you" she mouthed to Spud, and wandered off into the unknown.
