Chapter 9

Sunpaw made his way to the Twolegplace. He was mostly excited that his mentor had issued a challenge to him, but a part of him also told him that he shouldn't have agreed to it. He was almost there when he decided to listen to his sensible part and go back to the camp.

He turned around to leave, but a flash of brown caught his eye. He instinctively went into a crouch and stalked the mouse, stepping lightly so that it wouldn't hear him. When he very near, he pounced and killed it with a sharp bite to the neck. He buried it near a tree and went to look for more, completely forgetting that he had been heading back to the camp.

He came across a shrew nibbling at a few nuts. Just like the mouse, he stalked the shrew and when he was near; he snapped its neck and buried it beside the mouse. He explored closer to the stream and saw a vole. He had just begun stalking it when it darted away in fear.

Crossly, Sunpaw looked to see what scared his prey away. But what he saw scared him more than he had ever thought.

Loitering beside the stream was an exceptionally large dog. It had thick grey fur and was twice the size of a badger. Sunpaw had never seen a badger, but from the stories he heard, they were pretty big. This dog looked like he could have easily defeated one of them with a swipe of his paw. Sunpaw stepped back as he saw the steady rise and fall of the dog's chest as it slept.

Sunpaw had planned to slip quietly back into the foliage again, but a twig snapped and the dog's ears suddenly pricked. Sunpaw stiffened at once as the dog raised its head. One look at it and the tiniest kit would know that it didn't belong in the forest. The dog turned its head and fixed its eyes where Sunpaw was. As it rose, Sunpaw prepared to run but was amazed by its body mass.

Sunpaw only realized that he was in trouble when the dog was just a few fox-lengths away. He whipped around and began to run; hoping to outrun the dog, but it ran after him. He ran into the forest but the dog was hot on his heels. As Sunpaw ducked here and there, he wondered why the dog hadn't barked and alerted its Twolegs.

Without knowing, he ran into a clearing and with two massive strides the dog had caught up with him. It blocked his way and wherever he turned, it jumped and didn't let him go.

"Easy, kitty." The dog said, surprising Sunpaw.

"You…you...You talk?" he asked.

The massive grey dog laughed. "Of course I do. I haven't lost my voice or anything." The dog had a pleasant masculine voice. "The name's Storm. What's yours?"

"Sun….Sunpaw." Sunpaw stammered, wondering what was wrong with this dog. Storm seemed to notice Sunpaw's uneasiness.

"If you're wondering why I haven't eaten you yet, not all of us dogs like the taste of cats." Storm pouted. "You'd be all furry and hairy and full of forest scents."

"That was just rude." Sunpaw piped up.

"Sorry, lil' buddy, didn't mean to make you mad."

"I'm not your buddy, whatever that means."

"Oh, forgot that you cats don't talk like us. Well, buddy means 'friend', if you know what that means."

"I know what friend means, and I'm not yours."

"Why not? Something wrong with my fur?"

"It's not your fur. It's just that, cats and dogs can never be friends."

"Who said?"

Sunpaw found that he was speechless. Storm bent down to his ear. "Just think about it, okay?" the large dog whispered before bounding away as a Twoleg yowled far off.

RXR