Hello Everyone! So, the first real chapter of Fire, Talons And Paws is HERE! So, this is kind of just an introduction to the main character. I hope you like Scorbunny and Litten's quirky and sassy personalities. Now, without further ado, let's take flight.
Scorbunny Is Right Again
Scorbunny leans against me, trying to steal some of my warmth. "Back off buster" I joke, teeth chattering. I very much wish for her warmth, as a matter of fact. There's a heavy wind. It comes through strong, even with the trees. I can't imagine what it's like for Pokémon who live outside with no way to defend themselves, and no way to catch their own pray. But we need to keep moving. The sun's already setting and we are completely lost.
"It's all my fault"I sigh, putting my paw on hers. She stops.
"Yeah, it kind of is. But we're in this together, and what's done is done. But I am NEVER sneaking out of camp, especially with you little weasel again, you hear me Litten?" I laugh.
"You're right, it is my fault. But I'm not a weasel" I frown, but of course she knows it's a joking frown.
I had been the one who found Scorbunny. I brought her back to camp and helped her recover, and me and Scorbunny have been best friends ever since.
Scorbunny and me are almost complete opposites, but absolutely inseparable. She's smart and enjoys herbs, with gentle words. Though, don't be too quick to judge her, because she's blunt and head on. I, am, however, much more evasive. I'm wily and lean, with spiky black and red fur, and yellow eyes.
No one knows where Scorbunny came from, though my dad, Shadow, says Scorbunny smelled faintly of strawberries and dirt. Does it matter where Scorbunny came from? Most Pokémon would say it does. Some are even suspicious, but that's all theory. All Pokémon with half a brain know Scorbunny was much too young to be a spy. I rest my noggin on the matter, and zone back into my conversation with Scorbunny.
"She's almost ready..." A garbled slimy voice echoes faintly through the shadows. I laugh at my silly imagination, and put my nose to the ground. Lightning crackles in the sky and thunder rumbles. A heavy rain begins pouring down. Great. What fun. "Shit" I muttered.
The rain doesn't seam to bother Scorbunny, who has fur that protects her from the cold, lucky. However, I, am not so lucky, I have short fur that holds water inside like a sponge, I give an unpleasant hiss, as I try and fail to shake the wetness from my pelt.
"You've got to be kidding me, why the heck does it have to rain?" Scorbunny grumbled, hissing in annoyance as she tries and fails to shake the wetness from her pelt. Even though she's a bunny, me and Scorbunny are both fire-type Pokémon, witch means that we HATE getting wet.
"I don't know, Scorbunny. Maybe StarClan made it rain on us as a punishment for sneaking out of camp." I replied with a roll of my eyes and sarcasm lacing my tone.
"Not funny, Litten. Your sarcasm is not helping the situation" Scorbunny mutters, with an exasperated sigh as she turns to glance at me with an unamused expression.
"Sssorry miss grumpy-claws" I replied with a bit of snark, and Scorbunny just huffed and turned her head away from me.
"Who ruffled your fur this morning?" I muttered dryly, as I turned and glanced over at Scorbunny, who had apparently heard my snarky remark.
"Shut up, Litten. Just shut up." Scorbunny snapped, growling in frustration and crossing her arms.
"Okay, okay. Sheesh!" I muttered, huffing and muttering curses under my breath.
"We are going to be in so much trouble" Scorbunny says with an exaggerated sigh.
"Yep" I say, "We should camp for the night, the sun's almost down and we can't see anything anyway. The storm clouds are too thick." Scorbunny nods, and I scan our surroundings. I spot what I think is an abandoned fox den. It's in-between two rocks, and it leads underground. I slowly walk over, and sniff it. I'm mostly sure that it's abandoned.
"I think it's safe," I call her over, and we trot into the den. Its warm and earthy smelling. But what I'm happiest about, is it's dry. We both shake to dry off, though her fur is still stuck to her sides and soggy.
I dug a small whole in the dirt to lay in, and she does the same, right next to mine. We both curl up, and groom the wetness out of my fur. Well, in Scorbunny's case, she wiped dirt and mud from my fur, her paws getting caped in dirt.
I awake to Scorbunny petting the tuft of fur on my head. I don't know when we fell asleep, but sunlight was streaming in through the entrance of the den. We stand up, and quickly orient ourselves for the daytime and finding our way back to Camp.
I see a flash of orange fur, and suddenly, it's on top of me. A fox the size of a large boulder, biting me on the shoulder. I whirl around, and claw at it, but it's no use. It's four times as large as I am, and five times as strong. But I claw and bite anyway. I'm only five moons old, and I have no training, but I have to.
"SCORBUNNY! Leap on top of it! It'll try to squash you, but Ill get it's belly!" She nods, and leaps onto the fox, biting and scratching it's ears, eyes, and back. It whirls around, and eventually, like I predicted, it goes to lay on it's back, which will squish Scorbunny. Before it can squash her flat, I rake my claws down it's underbelly, and it falls over on it's side, a puddle of blood forming around it's belly.
"We didn't just do that" Scorbunny says, staring in disbelief at the dead fox.
"We did" Our eyes both shine with accomplishment, though, I'm seriously hurt, and Scorbunny looks kind of exhausted.
"We need to get back to camp," I say.
"Well yeah"
"Follow me." We trot out of the den. The new leaf air is warmer today, and only a gentle breeze drifts by. It ruffles Scorbunny's fur, and makes it dance around like little fairies.
We travel for a bit, and finally make it to the pine forest. "Hey, you're limping!" Scorbunny says, annoyed that I didn't tell her earlier.
"We need to move, come on Scorbunny"
"You. Are. Limping."
"Yes, and I'll get healed back in camp."
"Fine" She mutters, and we continue. I'm glad to be back in the pine forest. It's dark and gloomy. The birch forest was bright and magic-like. My belly rumbles. Only now do I realise how hungry I am.
"Hey, we haven't eaten since yesterday at sunhigh! I've never gone this long!"
"Me either!" We walk past the border marks, and finally come in site of camp. We both let out excited squeals, and run into camp. I do, rather awkwardly, due to my limp, but I'm just as excited. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" Flurry comes stomping up to us, and I get a lump in my throat.
"Uh-oh" I say in a small squeak.
"WE'VE BEEN SEARCHING EVERYWHERE! AND YOU'RE HURT! DID YOU JUST GO AND HAVE A SLEEPOVER IN A FOXES DEN? STARCLAN, I THOUGHT I RAISED AT LEAST SLIGHTLY DISCIPLINED KITS, BUT NOPE!"
"Flurry. Chill." I tell her.
"I don't normally agree with Litten, but she's right. You seriously need to chill." Scorbunny steps in.
"Well, look at the runaways" Chesnutpaw says, joining the conversation. He's a rather large tom, although he's only a moon older than me and Scorbunny.
"Chesnutpaw, go stick yourself up your own butthole" I say, already exasperated with him.
"Well hello, miss snarky!" He says with a sneer.
"Shut up. Just shut up."
"Litten, that's no way to treat your future mate!" Flurry says. I sighed and dug my paws into the dirt with a frustrated hiss.
"Hi, Scorbunny! Hi, Litten!" Came a familiar voice, me and Scorbunny turned to see Wildkit and Willowkit running up to us.
Wildkit and Willowkit had been found outside of the forest about two months ago, they were only a moon younger then me and Scorbunny.
"Why are you so mad, Flurry?" Willowkit asks, looking up at Flurry with nervous blue eyes. Flurry sighed and turned to both Wildkit and Willowkit.
"I'm mad because Litten and Scorbunny snuck out of camp, AGAIN! STARCLAN! I thought I raised at least two disciplined kits!" Flurry said, turning back to both me and Scorbunny with a glair.
"Hay, Wildkit? Where is your mate?" Chesnutpaw asked, looking down at Wildkit who hissed at him and turned her head away.
"Ugh! You mean Sunpelt? No thank you! He can go fall in a river for all I care!" Wildkit says, clearly irritated at the mention of Sunpelpt.
"Wildkit, that's no way to treat your future mate!" Flurry says. Wildkit sighed and dug her paws into the dirt with a frustrated hiss.
"Litten, Wildkit. What is with you two being rude to your future mates?" Flurry asks, looking to both me and Wildkit with questioning blue eyes.
"I don't like being arranged to mate a cat who is rude and mean." I say, giving a simple answer. Wildkit's answer was the same.
Flurry sighed and flicked her tail in exasperation. This wasn't the first time that me and Wildkit complained about our disrespectful mates.
"Litten, Scorbunny, you two will go and speak with Shadow, and he will decide what your punishment will be!" Flurry says, once more glaring at me and Scorbunny. I sighed as me and Scorbunny made our way to Shadow's den.
As me and Scorbunny made our way to Shadow's den, Scorbunny kept glaring at me. "What?" I asked, "It's not my fault!"
"Yeah, it kind of is your fault."
"No. It's not." I retorted, scowling and narrowing my eyes at her.
"Yes, it is. Now shut up and come on." Scorbunny snaps, growing more and more annoyed with my sassy and snarky remarks.
"I heard from your mother that you two snuck out of camp, AGAIN! I thought we raised you two better then this." Shadow says, staring at me and Scorbunny with narrowed red eyes.
"We're really sorry, Father" I said, looking up at Shadow with sad eyes. Scorbunny just sighed and flicked her ears.
"As punishment, you two will help Leafpool and Cinderpaw clean up the medicine den for a moon, and Litten, your apprentice ceremony will be held back two moons." Shadow says, staring at me as he said the last part. I sighed softly and after Shadow listed off some more punishments, me and Scorbunny left the den.
"But we're not medicine cats," I silently retorted once we had left Shadow's den. Scorbunny sighed softly and nodded her head in agreement.
"No, we're not, but no thanks to you, we have to clean the dirt place and we have to help Leafpool clean the medicine den for a month." Scorbunny bitterly replied, as she glared at me.i just sighed and lowered my head, staring down at my paws.
"So, you two snuck out of camp again?" Came the voice of Leafpool's apprentice, Cinderpaw, me and Scorbunny looked up to see the gray she-cat staring at us with amusement shining in her eyes.
"Yeah, we did" Scorbunny replied, staring up at Cinderpaw who flicked her tail and turned to the entrance of the medicine den.
"Hi, Leafpool. Litten and Scorbunny have to help us clean the medicine den" Cinderpaw told her mentor, who nodded, set the herbs down, then she turned to stare at me and Scorbunny with her sharp gaze.
"I heard from Shadow that you two snuck out of camp, AGAIN! You two kits are only five moons old, your not suppose to leave camp until you have become apprentices" Leafpool scolded, and I lowered my head in shame, staring down at my paws.
"We just wanted to go exploring, it's no fun having to stay in camp all the time, and we're not kits" Scorbunny chimed in, staring up at Leafpool with wide red-brown eyes. Leafpool just sighed and flicked her tail.
"Yes, you two are still young, which means that you are still kits until you evolve" Leafpool explained, and Scorbunny went stiff and her eyes narrowed at the mention of evolving.
'But why? Is Scorbunny scared of evolving? Or does she simply not want to evolve? Or does she not like being called a kit? I need to ask her about it later. But what if she gets mad at me for asking? Should I just let it be for now? Yeah, I'll just let it be for now.' I thought to myself, as I silently observed Scorbunny.
"Hay, Cinderpaw, mother needs some poppy seeds so she can get Spottedkit and Bluekit to sleep" We all looked to see Cinderpaw's sister, Hazelpaw, standing in the entrance of the den, Cinderpaw nodded and went to fetch some poppy seeds.
"At least both kits are healthy, no more green cough, ever since Rosekit died, I've been working hard to be the best medicine cat that I can be. I don't want anymore cats or kits to die, Rosekit was the same age as these two kits" Cinderpaw said, gesturing with her tail at me and Scorbunny.