A/N: New Chapter! :D


Ch. 3

Rogues

I was lucky enough to catch the most fish!

I had a small pile of three trout.

Thornpaw looked at my fish and growled. "Yours don't count! Your too small to have a shadow, and besides," he began, prodding the top fish on my pile with a claw, "these are hardly big enough to be called trout. If anything I caught the most fish." He finished, puffing his chest out.

Redwillow's ears slammed against her skull.

"I will not have an ungrateful kit as my apprentice! You apologize to Smallpaw right now, or you'll be clearing the elders from ticks for the next moon! Do you understand me, Thornpaw?" she hissed.

Then she looked at my crouching figure with pity, saying, "I'm sorry about him, I will make sure," she said, darting a look at Thornpaw, who was ignoring both of them and examining Flamepaw's fish, "that on my watch, it won't happen again."

I only sighed.

"Sorry…" muttered Thornpaw, without even looking at me, and running along beside his mentor. He walked away from Redwillow, and ran back to the camp entrance, laughing alongside Flamepaw, Fishpaw, Eaglepaw, and Icepaw. My tail drooped.

Just then Creekfoot walked up behind me. "I'll take one of your fish, you need to learn how to carry two pieces of prey." He stated, then picked up the smallest of my three, leaving me to figure out how to carry two, both the size of half of me.

0o0o0

I made it back to camp carrying one fish in my mouth, the other beneath my chin, pressing it against me. Its slime ran down my short fur and made me shiver, but I was going to prove all the others wrong.

I can do one thing.

Even if that one thing is carrying fish.

I could scent the camp not far, and it gave me the urge to keep going. My second trout's tail dragged against the ground, making it even more inedible. I sighed through the scales in my mouth, when suddenly my scent glands picked up something else. It didn't smell of Riverclan though…

But it did smell like cats.

I dropped both fish behind a bush, the hid behind it as well. I moved my ears around, trying to locate the creatures.

They were coming closer, and I suddenly had the urge to run.

No, I thought to myself. Don't be a coward! Defend your fish!

But I don't know a single battle move! I argued.

Finally, my fear over took me, and I raced back in the direction of camp. My paws skidded heavily across the wet grounds, and the intruders alerted my presence. My ears pressed back as I ran as fast as my three legs could take me, when suddenly I was shoved to the ground, pinned by a cat of great size, snarling in my face.

"Easy prey…" it muttered through clenched teeth.

I whimpered and closed my eyes, trying to tuck my chin in front of my throat; one obvious way to kill me. It leaned its head up to dive for the kill when suddenly a voice called out.

"Hey! Shred! We got some fish over here!" a cat behind him hissed. They found my fish! I looked past my captor, and saw not two, not three, but five huge, muscular, bloodthirsty cats.

Rogues.

My mother told me about them, they are always stealing from our territory, making camp just outside our borders. One thing she told me was that a rogue will always,

Always

Go for the kill.

I struggled to free myself, but just managed to have my captor's attention snapped back to me. "Get the fish," he said to his friend, narrowing his eyes at me. "I'll finish off this messenger…" suddenly he spotted my dead leg, and a smirk grew on his muzzle. "A little battle warrior already, huh? Well, I'll put you out of this misery." He snarled.

He leaned in and grabbed hold of my thin neck, and his fang dug in deep. I screeched in pain, when suddenly the weight was lifted off of me, and one of his claws slid over my chin. I hissed in pain again, and looked up, and I found my mother standing over me.

"Run, son! Run!" she yowled, "Go!"

She was pinned to the ground by the same tabby, but she kicked him off with her hind legs. I turned around and bolted, blotches of blood welling on my neck.

Camp…get help…

I burst in camp, a site of horror. All the cats stopped what they were doing and gasped in fear. "Smallpaw! What happened!" Falconstar yowled, racing over, a horrified looked running over my neck. "Hawkstep…" I muttered, through gasping breaths, and blood. "Rogues…" I whispered, before falling to the ground. The last thing I saw before I passed out was my father's horrified face.

0o0o0

I woke in a soft den, which leaves pressed to my neck.

"Hold still!" a voice whispered to me. I looked up and saw the medicine cat, Brownwhisker. "You don't want to dislodge the herbs!" he meowed. I groaned. "What…What happened? What going on?" I questioned.

"The warriors are out battling those rogues. It's the fifth time this week; I'm running low on supplies. Pretty soon we won't even be safe in our own camp…" he answered. Alarm rose in me. "Are they ok?" I asked.

Answering my question, my father walked back into cats, with all of his battle hyped warriors behind him. His expression was one of the worst. "Did you lose?" Brownwhisker asked worriedly. Falconstar didn't reply, but a warrior, Whiteclaw, answered for him. "Yes thankfully." He and the other warriors parted as two cats came in, carrying in something. My father looked away.

"Who's that?" I asked, when I saw the two cats carrying in another towards the medicine den.

My answers were soon answered.

Hawkstep!

0o0o0

"Smallpaw!"

I raced out of camp, tears running down my face. My mother was long gone… to many wounds… "Why Starclan!? Why?" I yowled at the stars. I raced behind the camp, and didn't stop.

0o0o0

I was at the border.

I didn't even slow down. I barley crossed the border when I found a Thunderpath. I stopped, panting. I've never seen a Thunderpath! My curiosity got the best of me, and I stepped up onto the black path. "Wow…" I whispered.

Suddenly I heard a small groaned of pain, and I turned around, hissing.

Lying on the path, tail seared and bleeding badly, and collapsed right on the middle, was a midnight black cat. I could just scent it over the path's stench. I walked up to it, and gasped.

It was a rogue!

I hissed, I should wait for a monster to come and finish it off.

"They killed my mother…" I growled, and the cat's weak, green eyes opened, and I could tell it was too weak to run. I could either finish it off, or wait for a monster.

Rogues were my main enemy right now.

It whimpered in fear and its eyes turned to slits even more. "I'm a warrior. This is a rogue!" I growled to myself. Suddenly I felt the path shiver, and I arched in fear.

A monster was coming!

I took one last look at the weak cat, then made my decision.

I grabbed its scruff, and dragged it off the road as fast as I could.

The moment it was off, the rogue launched itself at me, pinning me against a rock. I gasped, as it hissed in my face. It searched in my eyes, and it opened its jaws.

I crouched back, waiting for it to strike.

It yowled in my face, the wobbled off of me (it was still wounded), and fell into a large ditch in the ground. I could see it try and climb up, but fell in again, hissing and spitting.

I stood back up,

And passed out again.


A/N: I tried to make the rogues the dragons; i hope the next chapter will sort stuff out.

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~catz4eva101