Chapter three
Lionblaze was exhausted. He and Jayfeather had reached the Twolegsplace only to lose the twoleg's scent in the blur of smells. They'd wandered around, calling her name, but she never replied. Jayfeather stumbled along after him.
"We should rest," the tabby warrior declared. "How about by those big, shiny boulders?"
"I can't see these boulders, may I remind you," the blind cat called as he moved in the direction of the boulders, as indicated by Lionblaze's tail. He sniffed and prodded about them. "These aren't so as much boulders as dens for holding crowfood. Come on, let's go find somewhere else."
Sighing, Lionblaze led the way to a dark alleyway. "This seems more like a place where rouges would live," he complained as they settled down on the hard ground.
"Well, according to Hollyleaf, we're probably rouges anyway, so we shouldn't whine," Jayfeather pointed out in an attempt to sound cheerful. He curled up and was asleep in moments. Lionblaze eventually nodded off.
He had a very strange dream. Something that looked kind of like a red twoleg with its head on fire was fighting a blue and black lion with some yellow stripes. A twoleg stood behind each one and screamed at it. The lion-thing seemed to collapse, and it turned into a red and white rock. One of the twolegs threw out another red-and-white rock, which turned into a blue and black creature that looked part wolf, part twoleg.
Jayfeather was dreaming about Hollyleaf. The brown fox, a bird, and two mice – one of which was yellow, and one of which was blue – were watching Hollyleaf as she charged about a twoleg nest. A twoleg stepped forward and picked his sister up. "Calm down, little Pokémon," it purred as it put her down next to a small mound with a hole dug in it. The small mound was full of water.
The blind medicine cat gave a start. He could understand the twoleg!
The twoleg vanished. A white cat streaked with…pink (?) walked towards him. From its shoulders sprang odd white attachments that were the shape of cat ears. Something sharp, like a large thorn or a claw, grew from between its eyes.
"Prepare yourself, stranger," it growled.
