I am A Warrior
Forging Acquaintances
Chapter 4
"WHAT?!"
It was the reaction I was expecting. Lionheart and Graypaw lost their temper as it seemed like a joke to them. Bluestar stared in silence. Rusty was the only one who visibly looked to be in thought.
Then revelation showed across his face, "He's telling the truth!"
Blue wanted answers, "Explain."
So he did, going in depth of what had happened prior to meeting the others.
"...And when I went up to check up on him, he called me 'man'. When he saw me, he freaked out at the fact I was a cat. I told him that he was one too, and he looked at himself… and he looked horrified. Unlike anything I had seen from anyone."
Graypaw listened intently to Rusty and remembered something too.
"Wait, when I fought him he had this weird stance. His stance was on his two back paws. Almost like-."
"A twoleg!"
Lionheart understood now.
Maybe I can finally get answers.
Bluestar was just as shocked, "This must be the work of Starclan! Who else could do that?!"
I'm guessing this starclan is something similar to angels, maybe more. But I'm not fully convinced it was because of cats. That voice...
"Maybe… They could have been involved, but not by itself."
Graypaw spoke what the others felt at my statement, "Well what then?"
"Well… It's not important right now, just thinking out loud… That dream I had keeps coming back to me clearer. From what I remember, I think I'm supposed to help out someone. Maybe your clan?"
Hearing my words, Bluestar gave us an offer not easily given.
"Then we have no choice but to offer you both to join our clan and to become warriors.
Rusty was shocked, "Both?"
"Yes, you have a strong spirit. That is something we can't afford to pass up."
"Bluestar, you can't be serious! I can tolerate the kittypet. But a twoleg?!"
Huh, deja vu.
Graypaw stepped forward, "But kittypets can't be warriors! Especially 'homen'! They don't have warrior blood!"
I gave a quick quip, "Well this 'homen' flipped you on the ground."
Rusty tried holding back a chuckle as even Lionheart had trouble. Gray looked down in shame. Bluestar didn't pay attention as she was stuck on Graypaw's proclamation.
"Warrior blood… too much of that has been spilt lately. Lionheart, Graypaw, we have never had as few apprentices as we do now. We need warriors, would either of you deny Starclan?"
Lionheart sighed, "Very well Bluestar, your right."
Graypaw knelt his head in agreement.
The leader turned back to us, "I will not lie to you, the life of a warrior is not an easy life. Both of you would have to do your part for the clan. During leaf bare, there is barely enough to go around. As a warrior, you would not always have a full belly. You need to think about this before you decide."
Ginger was the most concerned from this, "Could I give you my answer tomorrow? This is something I need to think about."
"Yes, that would be for the best, we need time to inform the clan that we will have two new apprentices, especially you."
She said that part looking at me, not surprising.
The clan life, from what I heard, appeared to be focused on tradition rather than the point of rules given. If It was truly against their beliefs, the offer would not have been made. No matter how I saw it, Rusty and I would be ground upon no matter what I said. Time would help however.
"We'll be ready, what time?"
"High Noon, be ready."
With that, the three clan cats went back the way they came…
The house cat walked away with me following beside. As we strolled, reality set back in. I was now a cat, no path, no reason. Could I even make it home? Those were the thoughts in my mind.
No… I will make it home, I will be human again. God be with me… please…
"Do you think it will work out?"
"Huh?"
Rusty was looking at me and laughed, "The clan I mean. Will the others let us in?"
I shrugged as the trees got less thick, "Tough to say, it really depends on Blue's leadership. If they respect her, they would try to get along with us. If not, then they may run us out."
Rusty sighed, "I guess so… Wait? Blue?"
"Short for Bluestar. We 'Twolegs' like to shorten names of people. It's sometimes a form of respect among us. Although if we do end up joining the clan, we can't be so flippant like that with what we say. I wouldn't say that to her face."
He proceeded to laugh, "I forgot, you were a twoleg. What was it like? I mean what do you guys do?"
Hmmm
"Well, the moment you are born, you are expected to fill in roles that have been made within our society. Those roles, or jobs as we call them are set up to where each one holds up the whole collective."
The young cat was star struck, "Wow, so what job were you going to do?"
"Well, for me that's up in the air, I was hoping for a job in something called welding. But it didn't work out for me because of recent events. I was hoping to work with electricity before this happened."
His head tilted to the side, "Electricity?"
I moved my paw to scratch the back of my neck,
How do I explain this?... Oh!
"Have you ever seen lightning?"
"Yeah a few times. I normally stay inside when it happens."
"Yeah well that is electricity."
This caused him to stop walking, "You work with lighting?!"
"Well, not exactly. Lightning is a large amount of energy compared to what I work with. And we can't use lightning as a means of collecting energy, so we came up with another way of producing it on a small and large scale. I wouldn't go into full detail, if I did we would be here all night."
"Right, so then what do you do with it?"
"Light Bulbs for one thing. You know, how we humans keep our houses lit at night."
"Woah…"
"Yeah, we use it for cooking, heating our homes, and much more than what was expected when electricity was harnessed."
"I-... I never knew…"
"Yeah, it's one of the many jobs that are needed to maintain our way of living. Billions rely on it."
"Billions?"
"A very big number. I can explain that another time, we should get some sleep before tomorrow."
Realization swept across his face, "That's right! It's already so late-. Wait, do you want to stay the night? I can share some of my food."
I don't think pellets will do it for me.
"The thought is nice, but your owners wouldn't appreciate seeing another cat in the morning. Besides, I don't think they would have left enough for two."
Rusty had a look of disappointment, "Oh… Well where will you go?"
"Well, let me see."
I put my body to the test and climbed the fence, which wasn't too hard. My claws helped a lot as it dug into the old wood. The Orange cat followed suit with more speed.
Guess I wasn't as fast, practice makes perfect I guess.
Having a bigger view, I saw what I hoped for. Rusty's house was indeed part of a big neighborhood, an old one at that. Meaning they would have alleys with places for me to stay the night.
"I think I can manage, do you know where any alleys are?"
"Well, Henry talked about a couple of them. He said nobody goes there at night, but he said he hadn't been there for years. He just stays at home now."
Henry, huh?
"Well, then I guess I will talk to this Henry."
"Uhhh I wouldn't recommend that. He's not really keen with new faces. Or adventure for that matter. Besides that, all he does is sleep."
"Well a little exercise wouldn't hurt him, besides I just need directions. I'll see you a couple of hours before we go back."
"Ok I'll see you…hour what?"
Right, cat time...
"Time for you to get a watch."
"...What?"
Crap!
"Nevermind, that joke doesn't work. I'll show up sometime before we go. Take care Rusty."
He shook his head from the confusion, "Right, watch out for strangers."
Don't have to tell me twice.
"Oh, Henry's place is over there, if you're lucky. He is asleep outside."
"Got it."
With that the orange cat walked off, while I made my way along the fence. It wasn't a long journey to the house and sure enough, I saw the old cat from the description. He was curled up fast asleep on a drawn out blanket. Snoring was apparently a cat thing too now.
"Uhhh, excuse me?"
The cat just continued to snore. Deciding that talking wouldn't work, I proceeded to use my paw to shake him from his sleep.
"Huh? Wa-. *Hiss*"
Henry proceeded to go full defensive mode.
"If you think you can steal my food 'Forest cat', then you are sorely mistaken!"
"Easy now! I don't want your food. I just have one question."
"Likely story! You just want me to lower my guard so you can attack!"
...What?
"No, you can keep your guard up. Rusty said you know where some of the alleys are. Can you point me in that direction? I would be on my way then."
The old timer calmed down at the mention of Rusty's name.
"Rusty huh? He wouldn't tell just anyone his name. Sorry, I'm not quite what I used to be. Sure I can tell you where they are, but are you sure you want to go? There is nothing but the owners' trash there."
Perfect, that's actually what I was looking for.
"I just need a place to stay the night, I might be able to find food for myself."
He shrugged, "Knock yourself out youngin. It's a few houses down that way. I haven't been there myself in a couple of years. It could be home to a few strays like yourself. Watch yourself."
Right.
"I will, and thank you."
"Alright then. Before you go, what do you go by?"
"John Hart."
"Well young Heart, I might see ya around."
"Maybe, and sorry for waking you at this time."
The cat positioned itself back in the blanket, "It's alright, I can always…"
Henry didn't finish his sentence as he was fast asleep once more.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
It was a brisk walk away, but I found it. It was wide enough for five people to walk down side by side, more than enough room for a cat.
Well, 'paws' first…
It was a long alley for me, cracks and holes for animals were seen in every fence. Giving me a perfect view into some of the yards. Then after a few minutes of walking, I found what I was looking for. A gap that held multiple dumpsters. Some of the trash was fresh. Possibly edible, the problem was that I didn't know what would be edible for a cat like me.
I jumped on top of one of the plastic lids to a big one and began looking in the open section. Before I could jump in, I heard howling and barking from the other side of the fence where the dumpster was. Putting my hunger aside, my curiosity took charge as I went to search the other side.
The view was an abandoned house, one that was filled with OSHA violations, with a backyard that needed a lot of mowing, and grass trails leading from the house to the bottom of the fence. At the bottom was a gold brown colored cat and what looked like a puppy, possibly a doberman. As I took notice of this, a new grass trail showed itself, bigger than the previous ones. The figure in it was much bigger, it was a pit bull. It had cuts and gashes along its snout, it had a collar that appeared to have a broken chain link on it.
A stray by the looks of it…
The dog stopped right before where the cat and the puppy were. The duo looked more terrified than the pit bull who moved in closer with it's growling louder than before.
It was going to kill one or the other from the looks of it, but the cat wasn't going to give up.
The cat at the bottom hissed, "Get Back!"
The dog only stopped for a second before it inched closer.
If I don't do something, they're dead…
Maybe it was young thinking, or maybe it was my instincts. But something told me to fight!
I sure hope what they say about cats and their feet is true!
I jumped. Right for the back of the dog. It wasn't long before the dog freaked out and started rushing in circles, making me claw into it's back. This only increased the situation more, as he howled louder and increased in fear. The other cat decided to take advantage and bit at his tail. That was enough for the dog as he rushed for the house though the same trail he made, signaling me to jump off.
The cat and I could only stare at the path the dog left behind until we were sure the pit bull wasn't coming back. Only the sound of whimpering turned our attention.
"Hold on Joey."
The cat proceeded to comfort the puppy.
"Sorry for taking shelter in there. I should have checked the upper room…"
Looks like they're safe now…
It was enough for me as I made my way back to the fence behind the dumpster.
"Wait! Don't go."
I turned back to the brown cat as he continued, "Thank you for the help! My name is Andy, and the puppy is Joey. What's your name?"
"John Hart."
"John Heart? Are you one of those clan cats?"
"No, but they did offer me to join today."
The cat looked on in amazement, "Whoa, I didn't think they let any outsiders join! Are you going to?"
I could only sigh with my response, "I don't know, I think I will. But I need time to think more about it."
"Do you think they could take us in? Y-you see, we lost our home today. Our owner was asleep for a while, maybe a day. Some tall legs came to our owner's home. I looked outside and saw ugly looking ones, they looked like bugs. They broke down the entrance, and we made a dash for it..."
Bug looking humans?
"I don't think so, not anytime soon anyway. Besides, it sounded pretty bad for outside cats. I wouldn't know how they would handle a dog."
The cat looked disappointed, "Oh…"
I decided to change the subject, "So then, and I'm guessing here, you took shelter in that abandoned home?"
"Yes! Exactly, we ran out and you saved us. And we can't thank you enough, but we need a small favor."
Uh oh…
"We need to find a shelter for the night, and possibly food, do you happen to know where we could stay?"
Well…
"Did you try going back to your owner's place?"
Andy proceeded to gulp, "N-no, but I don't want us to be taken."
"No, it should be fine. They won't guard a house 24/7 like that for animals."
He looked at me dumbfounded.
Right.
"I mean all day. Look I don't think it was bug people. How about we go and investigate."
Andy looked at the puppy and back to me, "Are you sure? I don't think I have any more energy to get Joey out of trouble again."
Think logically now...
"How about this, we check it out from a distance. If the place has light, we leave it alone. If it's dark, we investigate. It's not like they would bother leaving a trap like that for us to walk into."
"Well, if we check from where we are. Then I suppose that would be fine. But we would need to go through the abandoned home…"
Oooh…
"Can we go around it?"
"I can climb over it, but Joey wouldn't."
"Well let's investigate it anyway. We might find something."
It was a short distance, but the grass made it hard to get through. At the foot of the other side of the fence was a clearing. Scrap wood was everywhere, and some broken lawn mower parts.
"Well, here's the fence. I would say we could dig under it, but I don't have the strength to get far."
Andy's stomach growled out in hunger.
"Joey is in the same situation as me."
The said dog started to whimper and crouched over.
I looked back over to the junk, seeing if there were any digging tools small enough for me to use, preferably something that doesn't require much grip. Then it hit me I was thinking to hard
"Ok… Hey, I got an idea. Grab this."
I put a thin piece of wood into my mouth and dropped it in front of the fence.
Andy looked on in confusion, "What good will that do?"
"Trust me, now move it over here."
Andy complied.
"Ok, you and I are going to tilt this up and Joey is going to move this forward."
"But what will-?"
"You'll see."
The cat shook his head and helped me lift up the piece. I talked the best I could with the wood in my mouth, "Noew, geuet Joesy to pesh the woud."
Andy gave the signal and Joey walked forward, the wood rose up higher and it landed on the fence.
"And that is how you make a ramp."
Andy looked at it with amazement, "Woah."
"We humans do these things."
"Humans?"
Oops...
I changed the subject, "Come on, let's check out your owner's home."
With that, it was just a simple jump to the ground for us, with Joey now being able to follow us behind.
Andy was now eager to go, "Come on, it's down this path!"
We made our dash down the road and we stopped right by a bush. Andy spoke up, "It looks like the home is dark. You said that's good, right?"
I saw the house in question, it was a simple brick house that was a one story. And sure enough, it was dark.
"Yeah, it means that nobody is home. Or they're asleep."
Before I could say anything else, Andy made a dash for the house.
"Wait, Andy!"
Joey soon followed suit, with me along with him. Andy had stopped at the front door and wined, "They fixed it!"
Sure enough the damages on the door were visible, but it appeared to be fixed by the supposed 'bug men.'
"Let's check the back for an opening."
"R-right."
The three of us made our way to the back, thankful that this house had no fence.
"Look! Up there."
Sure enough, Andy had spotted a way in. An open window.
"Ok, I'll make it inside. I can open the door from here."
"Ok?"
I made my climb up the brick. It was different from the wood fence, but not harder. I made my way in and found the back door. I used my mouth to unlock both the double bolt and the knob. Once unlocked I opened the door with my tail. Andy and Joey rushed in.
Andy had a look of wonder, "You opened it? I never could! How do you know how?"
"Uhhh, let's wait till later. You need food."
"Right… Do you want some? It's only fair, you did save us."
Cat food still didn't speak to me…
"T-that's fine. You can go first."
With that, the odd pair dug into the food that was already there. Each staying within their respective bowls. I looked around the kitchen. Seeing a clock which read 12:35 am, and a calendar that said June 14 with a British flag on the calendar…
... BRITISH?!...
End Chapter
A/N: Yes, that last reaction was based off the meme. And I only learned until recently that the warrior books might actually take place in the UK. Who knew?