A/N: Well, I would've updated this sooner, but... homework just gets in my way at Every. Freaking. Turn.
Shadowman: Ha, yes you do.
Herp: That's what I was trying to make everyone suspect so that how Scourge tries to come back would be even more startling.
SylviaHunterOfArtemis: I assume that's an expression of dismay at how Scourge is coming back, mainly because you won't know who he's possessing until close to the end.
SleepyGhosty: Yes, Undertale is one of my new favorite games. I only discovered it a few months back and already my subconscious is forcing me to slip Undertale references into everything.
Damn son: You think?
PINGAS: At first I was going to have it be the other way around, but then I decided, "You know what? Let's switch it around and go against what most people would do in this situation."
Smokefrost gazed over the camp. Everything seemed to be falling into place at last.
As he watched, Talon slipped out of his den and walked into the middle of the camp. He calmly picked up a mouse and took it to a corner of the camp, where he began to eat with quick bites. He has found his place within the group at last.
Triffid, Mick, and Specklepaw ducked in through the entrance, carrying fresh-kill. Specklepaw was carrying a rabbit nearly as big as she was, and her eyes glowed with pride. She was the only surviving kit in Triffid's litter, the rest having been killed during Alpha's tyrannical campaign. Triffid had been devastated, but she had got over her grief in the six moons since.
But he's dead now, and we can live in peace.
Just below his den, Pool and Burn were chatting amiably. The two she-cats were former rogues that had formerly lived in a barn, but it had burnt down since then. Smokefrost had decided that they could take the two she-cats in, and they were already contributing members to the group.
Gray and Russet walked towards Pool and Burn and quickly became involved in their discussion. At first, even after they had invited everyone to move into their ravine, Gray had still been more than a little hostile, but he seemed already to have forgotten the days when he and Russet had lived here alone.
Suddenly, a happy squeal split the air. Smokefrost looked down to see his kits, Lionkit and Ivykit, scuffling about in the dirt. His mate Cloud stood besides them, watching over them with all of a mother's love. The two kits were almost six moons old and were nearing the age that they would become apprentices.
"I'm gonna get you, Lionkit!" Ivykit jumped on top of his littermate and swiped at her ear.
"I'm gonna crush you into the ground and eat you! Roar!" Lionkit attacked her littermate, gently cuffing him over the head.
Charlie sat in the corner of the camp, watching them. In recent times, the dark brown tabby tom had grown quiet and subdued, but he still always had time for the two kits, particularly Ivykit. Even though the dark gray kit wasn't his kit, he still doted on the young tom. Smokefrost normally would have considered it strange, but if Charlie chose to pay attention to the two kits, it wasn't his place to stop him.
The group was living in seeming harmony. But Smokefrost knew that his group was based on a delicate setup that could all too easily fall apart.
Ouranos glared at the black tom. "And you only saw fit to tell me now?"
Nightmare, the tom he was talking to, looked as if he would be having nightmares tonight. "I'm sorry, Ouranos!" he squealed. "But I didn't know there were rogues invading our borders! We thought they were just passing by!"
"The same two cats 'passing by' day after day?" scoffed Ouranos. "I want you to capture them and bring them to me so I can make them suffer! They will spread the message that although Alpha is dead, us in the Drowned Twolegplace still hold authority!"
"Yes! Of course!" Nightmare raced out of the room at top speed.
The first sign Nightmare had that things weren't going to go their way was the fact that the floodwaters were rising.
"I don't like water." whimpered Ebony, his sister, flicking water off her paw.
"Relax." Scorch, a dark gray tom, glared into the shadows. "We're going to bring these two in and bring them back. No big deal."
"Is that...?" Nightmare pointed into the shadows where two shapes were moving.
Scorch squinted. "I think so."
"Surrender now!" yowled Ebony. "We have you surrounded!"
Nightmare winced. She could have gone about it a bit more subtly, but it would serve to get the message across.
The smaller one, a black-and-white tom, glanced around. "Goodness me," he meowed in a voice of faint terror, "we're in a bit of a pickle here, would you agree?"
The larger one, ginger-and-white, shook his head. "Naw," he growled aggressively, "we can take these clowns."
"You don't want to die, do you?" Scorch hissed, making his voice echo.
"If you kill us, you're going to have a bad time." The black-and-white tom's blue eyes glowed. "Wouldn't you agree, Papyrus?"
"Wouldn't it be us having a bad time because we'd be dead?" The ginger-and-white tom appeared very confused.
The smaller tom sighed. "Look, Papyrus," he meowed patiently, "I've only heard two voices. Two cats can't necessarily have us surrounded, can they?"
"Sans, stop twisting things with your flawed logic!" Papyrus groaned.
"Look, just run." the small tom sighed.
"I don't think so." Nightmare stepped in front of them. "You two are coming back with us."
"Oh, really?" Sans narrowed his eyes, and before Nightmare even knew what was happening, he had three long slashes along his chest and the two toms were gone.
"You said this would be easy!" spat Nightmare at Scorch. "Now they'll tell everyone that we can be that easily defeated."
"They won't get away that easily!" Scorch hissed, fur bristling. "We will track them down and bring them back if it kills us!"
A/N: That last scene wasn't just because I wanted to lengthen the chapter or bring in Sans and Papyrus, it will actually have much repercussions later on.
