~A/N~
Moss: Hello, all! This is Mossflower44 again, here with a new fanfic! But... Sonicstat27's writing it with me! Yeah. Anyway, a few main things you need to know: Cinnamon, Chestnut, Brownie, and Silvie are the only OCs that will be in here (as far as I know), and they're based on cats that we created a while back. (Cinnamon is Mosspaw from my other fanfic, and Chestnut is Redpaw, while Brownie and Silvie are Barkpaw and Silverfrost, Sonic's OCs. I just can't let go of Mosspaw and Redpaw, can I?)
This is in the old forest, and I'll leave it up to you who read it to figure out what book this is in :D
Would you like to say anything, Sonic? (Did I forget anything?)
Sonic: I'd like to say this: "Hey guys, Sonic here. Moss is such a great author, and we just HAPPENED to come up with this together! I hope y'all like it! :)"
Moss: Oh, actually I did forget something: this prologue is written by me, in Cinnamon's POV. Anyway, we put a lot of work and effort into it, so please R&R! (This feels like a speech...)
And I don't own Warriors! :3 (Disclaimer)
Sonic: I DO! Jk, I don't; Erin Hunter does X3
Prologue
Cinnamon playfully chased a colourful butterfly around, always almost about to catch it; but then it would flit higher, higher, and just out of reach. With a happy sigh, she sat down to watch it fly away. She looked around her snug little garden in contentment. Nothing was better than here, with her housefolk, Brownie, Silvie, and Chestnut to keep her company. It was the perfect little world for an eight-moon-old kitty!
Cinnamon glanced around her garden again. It suddenly seemed . . . well, deserted was probably the right word. So with an excited flick with her tail, she decided to go find her friends.
It was a bit hard to scramble up the side of the fence and balance carefully on the top, but she had done it so many times before that it was steadily getting easier. Brownie lived in the garden beside hers, so she leaped down and pushed her way through the flap in the door. Their housefolk never minded it when other cats came to visit, so she didn't feel nervous as she padded around the house, calling for Brownie.
As Cinnamon trailed through the house, she noticed that Brownie didn't seem to be around. One of his housefolk appeared and leaned down, patting her on her head and saying something in their language. What she did catch, though, was that Brownie was in a puddle of water? No, that couldn't be right. Maybe he was just outside.
Cinnamon purred, nosing Brownie's housefolk's hand, before turning around and heading back for the cat flap. After she pushed her way back out, she heard meows of excitement coming from the garden over, opposite of the way she had come from. Eagerly she leaped up on the next fence, suddenly seeing the three cats she had been looking for huddled together in Silvie and Chestnut's garden.
"Hey!" Cinnamon called down, flicking her tail to keep her balance. "What are you doing? I've been looking for you!"
They all looked up, and Chestnut leaped to his paws, taking a few pawsteps forward.
"Cinnamon!" he purred, beckoning her down. When she did, reaching his side, he gave her cheek a soft lick, twining his tail around hers. Cinnamon ducked her head, embarrassed, and looked over at the other cats.
"What are you all mewing about?" she asked, looking from Silvie to Brownie and back. "We were just talking about what we think lies beyond the neighborhood," Brownie meowed excitedly. "I always wondered who and what lives in those trees and forests!" He inched over to Silvie and lied down. "I've heard rumors that wild cats live there. . . ."
"The forest?" Cinnamon meowed in surprise, not noticing at all that Chestnut was pressing up to her side. "So . . . you're just talking about it, right? Not thinking about going out there?"
"I kind of wonder what it'd be like! I've always wondered what it's like to live in the forest!" Silvie purred happily, brushing up against Brownie. "Haven't you ever wondered what it'd be like, Cinnamon?"
"We wouldn't go far," Chestnut assured Cinnamon, flicking her flank with his tail playfully. "Just far enough to see what it's like."
Cinnamon glanced over her shoulder, looking over the fence at the trees she could see. She had heard rumors from other cats that a young ginger tom had ventured out into the forest, never to return again. What if that happened to them? As awkward as she felt when she was around Chestnut, she knew she would never be able to bear it if she lost him. But the others were so brave; shouldn't she stick up for her friends and join them on their adventure? She did love adventures.
Turning back to them, she took a deep breath. "All right," she exhaled. "I'll go. But not for long!"
"Don't worry; I think we'll be okay. I don't think anyone will try to do us any harm." Silvie placed a protective paw in front of her and Brownie, as if she was implying she would protect him with her life.
"Let's go!" Chestnut exclaimed, turning to lead the way to the fence. Silvie's voice stopped him, though.
"But wait . . ." Silvie mewed. "What if we get lost? What will we do without our housefolk?"
Brownie, who was sitting next to her, became a bit frightened at the thought and shivered.
"What if we can't find our way back? We don't want to end up like . . ." Silvie gulped, "Rusty."
"We won't get lost," Chestnut assured her. Out of all the cats, he seemed to be the most excited out of all of them. "I'll make sure of it." He looked around before raising his tail and leading the way to the fence. With a powerful leap, he scrambled up onto the top of the fence and looked back, waiting for the others to join him. Silvie and Brownie were close behind, and when Cinnamon joined them, they all took a moment to gaze out into the forest. Then they all glanced at each other before nodding, letting themselves fall onto the ground, landing easily on their paws.
Cinnamon drew closer to Chestnut as they started padding through the first few trees. Every little rustle made her ears swivel towards the sound, but she gradually got used to the noises of the forest. By the looks of the other cats, she could tell they were relaxing as well.
They had come quite a ways in, when Cinnamon suddenly smelled fear and distress in the air. A yowl sounded, followed by another, and the four cats pressed close together, ducking into the shelter of some ferns.
"What was that?" Cinnamon whispered.
Chestnut didn't answer; rather he peered out of the ferns to where the call had come from. He looked back at the three cats huddled together.
"I don't know what it was, but I can smell food," he meowed quietly. "Should we go check it out and see if it's more housecats?"
"Um . . . a-are you sure about this . . .?" Brownie mewed nervously.
Cinnamon scented the air as well, noticing the smell of food not far off. It didn't smell like any food her housefolk had ever given her. It was more . . . meaty. Still, it smelled really tasty, and she wanted to get a closer look.
"Let's check it out!" she exclaimed quietly, pricking her ears with excitement as Brownie and Silvie slowly nodded agreement.
Chestnut looked around again, making sure the coast was clear, before darting out of the ferns, the other three close behind. They raced quickly to a thick tree trunk, hiding behind it while they checked once more. Once they were satisfied that no wild cats were going to jump out at them, they all padded forward, following the scent of food.
The smell led them to a plate with a very big slab of meat, bigger than any of them had ever seen. Occasionally they would get a little taste from their housefolk, but this was gigantic! Enough to feed all four of them.
Chestnut and Silvie first stepped towards the meat, then looked back, nodding encouragement to the two more nervous cats. Cinnamon and Brownie padded forward slowly, and as Cinnamon got closer to the meat, a strong instinct inside of her warned her that it wasn't safe around here. Every part of her was screaming at her to run away, but she kept on moving forward with the other three, finally reaching the meat.
Silvie was the first to lean down and take a bite. When nothing happened and Chestnut reached over as well, Cinnamon grew bolder, and both she and Brownie joined the other two.
As Cinnamon leaned down to taste it, some cat bumped the plate it was on and she suddenly felt herself being swooped up. Letting out a sharp cry, she twisted and struggled to free herself from the tight embrace whatever it was that held her fast.
"What's going on?" Brownie shrieked out in fear as he squirmed around, scared out of his mind.
"Calm down, every cat!" Chestnut meowed, raising his voice. "Stop moving!"
Cinnamon stopped wriggling about and let herself go limp, breathing heavily. When she opened her eyes, she realized she could see. Her claws were caught in whatever was holding her, which looked like a blanket with a lot of big holes.
Twisting her head around, she noticed she was pressed against the other three cats tightly. With a shiver, she realized Chestnut's paws were encircled around her body, holding her even closer. But she couldn't do anything about it if she couldn't even free a paw from the hard blanket.
"What's going on, everyone?" Silvie more or less aggressively grunted, as she tried to inch away for some personal space.
"I'm not positive," Chestnut murmured, "but I think we just got captured."
Just our luck, Cinnamon thought to herself. We come out for an adventure and instead we're trapped with no way out!
~A/N~
Moss: Isn't this fun?! I guess it isn't for these four kittypets...
Sonic: LOL YES!
Moss: So now that you've read our fanfic, please review! The next chapter will come out as soon as possible. Thanks for reading!
EDIT
Moss: Due to Sonic being busy these next few days (that will unfortunately turn into weeks), chapter 1 will be delayed until sometime in the beginning of April :( Sorry 'bout that.