Small golden rays of sunlight shone through the cracks in the rocks that piled up in front of the cave, waking Splash and Morning. Their fur was dirtied from digging for the night before, only getting a few inches out before collapsing from exhaustion. Splash got up first, placing a paw on Mornings head, wanting her to sleep some more. He walked up to a rock and pulled at it using his forepaws, his hind paws dragging against the ground as he pulled, stopping after he felt it budge a little bit. 'Dang, it's locked in there tight. Maybe if we pull off the top rocks first?' he pondered out loud, stirring Morning awake again.
'Don't bother, we tried that yesterday, remember?' She groaned, getting up and moving next to Splash, who pressed against her for warmth. 'Isn't this a nice time to be up and awake eh? A single night away from your eighth moon, and we're sitting here, trapped like mice,' she said scornfully pawing at the stone cold ground beneath them. 'We're probably going to die here, cold, alone, nowhere to go,' she growled Splash flicking her in the ear. 'Ow! What was that-'
'Don't you say that,' Splash growled angrily, 'We'll make it out of here alive, I will promise you that much. I don't care if we have to spend the whole day chucking down rocks, we will get out of here alive,' he said firmly, his eyes burning Mornings pelt as he spoke, as if he had a sort of power over her, driving her to get out, but there still lay that lingering feeling of hopelessness, that feeling that one got when they knew that the only way out of a situation, was death.
'Y-yeah,' Morning replied, 'We're making out alive, both you and me, together,' she said, climbing up to the top of the rockslide and chucking down a rock, seeing Splash smile as he jumped up and joined her in the rock chucking, slowly but surely making progress. No matter how fast they were, it would be a long time before one of them reached freedom.
Shell jumped as Crystal pricked him with a small thorn, not enough to make him bleed, but enough to make him feel it. "Hey! What's the big idea!" he exclaimed, slightly rubbing his rump, the part that Crystal had stabbed with the thorn. "I have no idea why Smallfire made you the medicine cat, you do more damage than you do heal!" He complained, Branch stirring in the nest next to him. Crystal simply didn't reply, walking to the herb storage, leaving Branch and Shell alone. "Y'know, I don't think that she's an actual medicine cat, I think she's just a warrior who thinks she's a medicine cat." He said softly, just barely out of hearing range, he thought.
The next thing he knew was a paw in front of his eye, smacking it enough to make him roll backwards, rubbing his eye slowly as it stung a little. "Next time you try and talk about me, make sure I'm nowhere inside the den, this is a closed area, your voice carries further." She said, ducking under the reefs that covered the entrance of the den. "I'll be out gathering herbs, you two behave yourself," She said, softly walking out the den, leaving Shell a cowering mess.
Branch chuckled slightly at Shell, "Oh man, she gets scary sometimes, but I know she's a good medicine cat, just a little bit.. Eccentric, let's say," he said, walking over to Shell and laying next to him, giving him a small lick on the cheek before laying his head on his belly. "Besides, if it weren't for her, I'd be a goner, and you wouldn't want that to happen, right?" he said slyly, giving a snarky glance and Shell, making him feel quite uncomfortable.
"'F course not, but, I just don't understand her." He replied, rubbing the eye that was hit making his vision blurred, "I don't understand how Smallfire puts up with her, does he even like her in general?" He asked, placing a paw on Branchs head, purring softly.
Their cuddle session was interrupted by Foxfire, the second stranger that Smallfire saw as he entered the camp, who stared at both of them before sitting down one of the nests, still staring at them as they still stayed in their original position, trying not to mind the fact that were being stared at. "So, are you two together or somethin?" he inquired, laying down, Shell noticing that his leg was twisted in a way that shouldn't even be possible. "Not that I have anything against it or anything, just wondering."
"Well now that you said that it makes me wonder if your against it, I mean, what's wrong with it?"
Foxfire shrugged, looking at the entrance of the medecine den, just in time for Crystal to return with a leaf filled with berries, some crushed. She took one glance at Foxfire and sighed, dropping the leaves next to her little herb store and facing him completely, completely disregarding Branch and Shell.
"What did you do to your leg this time?!" she yowled at him, though he didn't flinch a single inch.
"I got in a fight with Wolfnose."
"You're a major idiot, next time I hope she does this to your neck," Crystal said, though they both sounded quite serious, they had a smile plastered on their faces. "On three, I'll push this leg back to its original place, after this, you're staying in the dens for a week," she mewed, Foxfire making himself more comfortable and closing his eyes tightly.
"Wait, what are you-" Shell started, being cut off by Crystal pushing Foxfires leg back in with a snap! Shell almost screamed when he saw the leg snap back into place, and apparently, so did Foxfire, who let out a tiny squeal of shock and pain as Crystal didn't even give him a moment to prepare, just a solid push and the bone was shoved back to its original position. She really isn't a medicine cat.. Shell thought, staring at the squirming Foxfire and Crystal, who went back to her storage to grab some leaves and sticks.
Foxfire gasped, speaking the same sentence that Shell was thinking, "What was that?! You didn't even give me time to prepare myself!" He reached out a paw, trying to hit Crystal but missed, instead falling in front of her, the perfect spot for her to simply step on him, which she did, wrapping the leaves around his leg, the sticks inside the leaves, acting like a makeshift cast.
"I suspected that you'd be prepared already, you did get in a fight with Wolfnose, you'd be crying if she did something more than this," Crystal said, poking him in the belly, "But in all honesty, you should be more careful, next time you could really get hurt."
Shell sighed, She definitely isn't a medicine cat, she's too vicious to even be one.. Shell said, looking quite worried as Branch lifted himself off, walking towards Foxfire, lowering himself to take a look at his wrapped leg. Shell sighed and made his way outside, no need to stay inside in the cramped den, plus, he wanted to explore, and even visit Thistle, though he wouldn't probably like his visit.
As he walked out the medecine den he heard Crystal shout, "Don't do anything so dangerous, remember, your life is in my paws!" He sighed before running into Misty, without Dew, which made Shell quite worried, as she barely ever was apart with the tiny kit.
"Where's Dew?" he asked, garnering Misty's attention, "Did you leave him somewhere, did you accidentally fo-"
"Shell, hush. He's with Smallfire, we should ask Smallfire if we can head back, I'm not sure if Splash and Morning can take being with Jaw any longer."