PAW OF GRAY
Firepaw, Graypaw and Ravenpaw were exploring when they stumbled upon a section of the forest that they had never seen before. Padding quickly to make it home before nightfall. Ducking and weaving through the dense undergrowth. Mist rising from the leaf mulch like smoke from a dragon's mouth. Water dripping off large, waxy leaves.
Graypaw followed close behind Firepaw. Firepaw was the 'leader' of the trio.
"Face it, Graypaw. Firepaw has gotten us lost again." Ravenpaw huffed, lowering his nose to the leaf mulch. His nose did not detect any familiar scents.
"Hey! It's not my fault. This forest is like a labyrinth or somethin'. It's like we've been walking in circles for hours."
"Oh really? We probably have, knowing your sense of direction." Ravenpaw rolled his green eyes. Ears pinned back. He should have known better than to follow these two idiots. If he had not seen them sneaking away, who knew what trouble those two toms would have found themselves in? There were lots of dangerous things beyond the clan territories. As much as he yelled at these idiots, he would feel guilty if something happened to them.
"Arguing with each other isn't going to solve anything. Should we split up to cover more ground?" Graypaw asked sheepishly.
"No!" Ravenpaw snapped. "I don't care how stupid you two are. Sticking together will be safer. Especially because we don't know what could be living out here."
Unbeknownst to the trio of felines, there was a LARGE serpent curled up the branches of a tree. Woken from his slumber by the felines clumsily crashing through the undergrowth. The serpent peered over the edge of the branch, overjoyed to have a challenge. Food had been scarce recently, save for a few injured, stupid birds. Three plump, lost cats would be quite delicious and easy for Kaa to capture and digest.
"And thanks to you two, we're completely lost!" Ravenpaw complained.
"You're the one that decided to follow us. We didn't ask you to." Firepaw responded.
"Gah! Why do I even bother? I am ALWAYS saving you two from yourselves!"
Firepaw and Graypaw were too distracted by chasing each other through the bushes like kits. Firepaw was doing his best to keep his friends morale exceedingly high. Ravenpaw eventually gave in and joined his friends. Tackling them playfully.
Graypaw wriggled free of his friend's tangle of limbs and darted off to hide. Firepaw laughed and ran off in a different direction.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Ravenpaw said.
"Catch me if you can!" Firepaw replied, vanishing into the undergrowth.
Graypaw cried out as something long and scaly wrapped around his snout. Clamping his jaws shut so that he could not call for help. Graypaw struggled. Kicking his legs. The patterned coils constricting around his paws and body, before hoisting him quickly up into the canopy of a very tall, leafy tree. It all happened so fast he had no time to react.
He came to rest face to face with the eyes of a cold-blooded predator.
"That'sss right…" Kaa hissed, his forked tongue flicking out to taste the frightened feline's fear. "Look into my eyesss, kitty-cat. Look deep into my eyesss."
The strangest thing happened. Graypaw felt his mind fog. His limbs went limp. The colours were prettier than anything Graypaw had ever seen before. Kaa smirked, bobbing his head from side to side to help hypnotize his prey faster.
"Pretty...colours…" Graypaw said in a trance. Not noticing the coils tightening. Kaa's smooth scales, coils covering every inch of him until only his head poked out. Graypaw was lost in those hypnotic swirls like a sailor lost at sea. Providing no resistance.
"Yesss. Very pretty coloursss. Don't resssissst~ You want to sssstay and watch my eyess..."
"But...my friends…"
"Friendsss?" Kaa scoffed. "You don't have any friendsss kitty-cat. Only me."
With the flick of his tail, Kaa pushed the grey cat down a natural notch in the tree that formed a slide down into an opening at the base of a buttress rooted jungle tree. The cavern formed an inescapable prison. By the time Graypaw landed at the bottom of the roots, he lay as still as death, quietly breathing where he had fallen in the leaf mulch. Deeply entranced. The coloured swirls lingering in his eyes from Kaa's hypnosis. Graypaw's flesh beneath his thick fur marked from the thorough stranglehold Kaa had on him. When Kaa returned he would wrap up his food once more.
PAW OF FIRE
"Hey! Graypaw! We've stopped fighting now. Where are you?" Firepaw called out, clambering up a mossy fallen log where he had last seen his friend.
Kaa slithered under and over the rocky outcrop. Not needing to rely on claws penetrating moss. The darkness did not bother him since he could detect Firepaw through his heat signature and the delicious scent of fear creeping in.
"You search left and I'll search right!" Firepaw delegated. Ravenpaw reluctantly 's shouts for Graypaw fading the further that Firepaw adventured away. He didn't recognize the indescribable scraping of Kaa's scales through twiggy branches, the slap of damp leaves, over rocks and moss and under ragged tree-bark.
Kaa tapped his chin with the tip of his tail, trying to figure out how to deal with the rambunctious Firepaw. Kaa decided to try hypnosis. Firepaw reminded him of the troublesome man-cub. A hiss almost escaped between his needle-sharp teeth.
Ah, a ssstubborn one. Kaa lamented to himself, gritting his teeth in frustration.
Kaa slithered over slowly, pausing to entangle Firepaw in the grasp of his coils. Kaa was getting very good at this. Though his body was starting to ache from exertion.
Kaa locked eyes with Firepaw and started to swirl the colour in his eyes. Making eye contact with the orange tom cat without giving him a chance to fight back.
"Let go of me!" Firepaw shouted.
Firepaw felt like a rabbit with its eyes transfixed on a conniving stoat. His commonsense slowly slipped away like grains of sand through an hourglass as the coils clenched around his entire body. Firepaw swore he heard his bones creaking and cracking.
"Thatsss funny." Kaa's amused chuckle slurred by the hissing sound. "You're sssuch a loud and obnoxiousss kitty-cat the colours of flamesss. Hasss your rudeness ever NOT gotten you into trouble? Alwayssss needing ssaving from your friendsss."
Firepaw pouted.
"There isss no ussse ressisssting~" Kaa said slowly."
"I said, let go of me!"
"Allow me to repeat mysssself. There isss no ussse ressisssting~"
"There is no use resisting…" Firepaw repeated with no emotion and a stupified grin.
Despite his best attempts to be iron-willed, Firepaw was easily dealt with through hypnosis and Kaa wrapping thoroughly around every inch of Firepaw's body until only his head was free. Success! No resistance. Just the way that Kaa liked it.
PAW OF RAVEN
"Hello my delicioussss little morsselssss!" Kaa beamed a smile in his sing-song voice.
Graypaw and Firepaw didn't react. Still under his spell. Trapped in the tree-prison where Kaa had stored them to be eaten together. Storing prey alive kept them fresh and juicy.
Kaa wrapped himself around both of the warrior cats. Consuming them headfirst. Gulping audibly. He had no trouble swallowing two cats at the same time. As long as he did not try to rush it. His mouth muscles contracted and relaxed agonizingly slowly. Not that Firepaw or Graypaw resisted. Especially when they were both deep in a state of hypnosis. Kaa had grown large enough to fit man-cabs in his mouth. The hollow labyrinth of buttress roots had come in handy, as Kaa had suspected. Kaa smacked his lips as Firepaw and Graypaw slid down this throat and plopped down into his stomach.
"Are you looking for sssomeone?"
Ravenpaw jumped, spinning around to see where that voice came from. Hoping that the strange voice was Firepaw messing around. Safe and sound.
"Who are you?" Ravenpaw demanded, backing away from the stranger. The fur along the length of his spine stood on end. Something did not feel right.
"Firepaw! Graypaw! Help! Help me! Somebody help! Anybody?"
"Ssshhh. Sshhhh. There is no need to ssscream or panic. I want to help you find your friendss." Kaa advanced. Kaa was growing a little agitated from playing with his food. It took a lot of effort and concentration to hypnotize. Especially after Firepaw. Firepaw fought valiantly to the end.
"I don't need your help." Ravenpaw said. Sounding a LOT braver than he felt. "Don't come any closer!" Ravenpaw hissed, taking a swipe at the serpent looming over him. Ravenpaw was not as bold as Firepaw, but this was a matter of survival.
Ravenpaw tried looking away as Kaa's coils wrapped around his entire body at lightning speed. Twisting around until only his head was visible. With the intention of taking advantage of Ravenpaw's now unfairly limited field of vision. Or the lack of. Ravenpaw squirmed helplessly. Nipping at his attacker until he caught a glimpse of the swirling colours in Kaa's comically oversized eyes. The colours spun until Kaa's pupils disappeared.
"You will reunite with your friendss sssoon enough. I promisssssse. I only want to play. I didn't mean to sssscare you. Would you like to ride on my back? It'll be fassster." Kaa was still pretending like he wasn't going to eat the unlucky, timid warrior cat. For now.
Ravenpaw's heart pounded out his chest. He couldn't break out of these endless wrappings. Even if he wanted to. Kaa continued to twist around Ravenpaw.
"No! I don't want to. Let me go!"
"There isss no ussse ressisssting~" Kaa said slowly. "There isss no ussse ressisssting~"
"There is no use resisting…" Ravenpaw repeated with no emotion and a stupified grin.
Kaa's fangs gleamed as he opened his jaws in the spine-chilling way that only a snake could. His comically nonsensical mouth became a one-way passage to Kaa's stomach. He gradually unravelled himself off, coil by coil, to devour Ravenpaw without resistance.
Kaa chuckled to himself, licking his lips. The bundle of dark, scruffy fur sliding down his long, twisting throat to join the oddly active orange and grey furballs before him.
BELLY OF THE BEAST
Ravenpaw screamed all the way down. Splashing down into a dark, damp, caverness yet enclosed space. Greeted by the sight of two familiar pairs of eyes.
Firepaw was awake in the ankle deep stomach acid. Kicking at the lining of Kaa's stomach. While shouting inaudible profanities and grunting.
"What are you doing?" Graypaw groaned, rubbing his head with a forepaw.
"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm getting us out of here!"
"Where are we?"
"I think we are in the belly of whatever that was that captured us. Judging by the smell." Ravenpaw deduced. His brows furrowing in thought.
Ravenpaw didn't care if they were all going to die anyway. He tackled Firepaw and Graypaw.
"Firepaw! Graypaw! You're both alive! I don't believe it." Ravenpaw hugged them both. "I thought I lost you." Tears of fleeting joy streamed down his cheeks.
"Did you think I'd die that easily, you crybaby?" Firepaw boasted.
"I didn't know if I'd ever see you again. To apologize. You scared me!"
"It was quite the fall. Out of the tree. Graypaw scared me first. Blame him!"
"I don't remember that." Graypaw corrected. "You did an admirable job at attempting to escape."
"That snake, or whatever it is, it's eyes are hella overpowered. It's dangerous."
"What if it finds our clan?"
"It won't. We'll get out of here and warn them!" Firepaw continued to boast triumphantly.
Their moment of respite was quickly interrupted as the stomach acid gushed up to their necks. Sweeping Firepaw, Graypaw and Ravenpaw off their paws. The foul-smelling liquid started to eat away at their fur and flesh. Filling their noses, mouths and wounds.
"Firepaw!"
"Graypaw!"
"Ravenpaw!"
"Help!"
All three mewled out in desperate unison.
They gargled, trying to stay afloat in the rapids, but Kaa's stomach filled up all the way to the top. He wasn't giving them a chance to escape while he waited for them to digest. Although he dropped Firepaw out of the tree in his hurry, Kaa had overpowered all of the apprentices without much resistance. Which made him giddy with anticipation.
It was a simple three step plan. 1. Wrap them up. 2. Hypnotize. 3. Eat them. Profits!
Meanwhile, back in Thunderclan territory, Bluestar was starting to grow concerned and asked Lionheart and Tigerclaw to help them look for Firepaw, Graypaw and Ravenpaw. Their apprentices were adventurous, but they were always home before the sky turned dark. The trio of older and more experienced cats set off into the night with torches clenched in their mouths. Half expecting the trio to have fallen down a ravine in the darkness. Their apprentices were not notoriously sharp minded or quick witted.
"Firepaw! Graypaw! Ravenpaw! If you can hear us, please shout! We are not angry."
"We're not?"
"Lionheart! Don't joke about that. They could be hurt." Bluestar mewled in exasperation.
"We'll see once we find them. They will be punished if they are perfectly fine."
"What do you mean by 'if'? They will be fine."
"For now, they'll have to survive on their own until the morning. Don't worry Bluestar. Those three can handle a little adventure. It will be good for those three to build some character and bond. They're always fighting with each other."
That is odd. This cavern smells like them. These...scratch marks are fresh. They've been here. Tigerclaw pondered while Bluestar and Lionheart conversed.
Kaa lifted his head. Poking his head out from the foliage when he noticed the three torches bobbing through the undergrowth. The trio of cats sounded a lot less gullible than the first three felines. Bluestar, Lionheart and Tigerclaw set up camp under a naturally formed hollow in the buttress roots of a tree. The perfect size for the three of them to be protected from the elements. His previous meals sloshing in his belly.
Bluestar was protective. As the leader of the Thunderclan. The silky greyish cat stalked through the undergrowth with her malicious blue eyes narrowed. Searching. Close behind her were Lionheart and Tigerclaw. A golden tabby tom and a dark brown tabby tom, respectively. All three of the mentors were smarter, faster, and stronger than their apprentices. Seasoned by years of close calls, fighting and diplomatic experiences. None of the three mentor cats expected that they were walking into the jaws of death.
Kaa's endless coils concealing the three lumps in his belly. He knew exactly where Bluestar, Lionheart and Tigerclaw's apprentices were. Their mentors would join them soon.
Kaa was cautious of the trio of older cats. They had torches with them. He knew the power and destruction of man's "red flower" (fire) after what happened to Shere Khan.
STAR OF BLUE
Debating on splitting up to cover more ground before darkness set in. Bluestar, Lionheart and Tigerclaw had been walking all day and had not discovered any signs of their apprentices since the cavernous labyrinths in the roots of the tree. Bluestar dismissed the idea. There was safety in numbers. With some convincing from Lionheart, Bluestar allowed the trio to split up, on the condition they reunited at the buttress rooted tree before dark. They would leave in the morning. With or without their apprentices. Bluestar, Lionheart and Tigerclaw's duties to the rest of Thunderclan were crucial.
Kaa waited until Bluestar, Lionheart and Tigerclaw were all in separate clearings. Searching high and low for Firepaw, Graypaw and Ravenpaw. Kaa suddenly struck his long body out from the bushes, twisting around the first of the cats. The torch fell out of Bluestar's mouth as she gasped in surprise. The flickering light of her wooden torch, snuffed out by Kaa's sturdy scales before the flames could start a forest fire.
Kaa taunted the blue-grey feline within his coils. Immobilizing the mentor cat before he could eat her. A devious, cold, calculated smile twisting up his smirk. Without that tiger around, he was free to rule the jungle. Because of Shere Khan's mistreatment of the ginormous reptile, Kaa hated cats of any size as much as he liked playing with his prey.
There was something euphoric about watching fear replacing the spark of life in his prey's eyes. He wasn't doing this for some higher purpose like the other animals in the jungle. There was no need for power. Noone took him seriously enough to contest him. Kaa was hungry. It was not every day that six healthy wild cats walked into his domain.
To keep himself feeling powerful, Kaa lowered his head to Bluestar. Bluestar looked and behaved like the 'leader' type. Bluestar was smart. She scrunched her eyes closed, but Kaa shook her so violently that she was forced to open her eyes. Searching for any way to escape his coils. The moment her eyes opened, the colours started to spiral in Kaa's eyes.
"Please..." Bluestar begged before slipping under the hypnosis like Firepaw, Graypaw and Ravenpaw before her. "Let...Lionheart and Tigerclaw...go. If you know where...our apprentices are. Firepaw, Graypaw and Ravenpaw, p-please...let them live. They are young. They have their whole lives ahead of them. T-take...me...instead. Please..."
When Bluestar was unconscious by the time Kaa dropped her out of his coils. Bluestar landed with a soft thump. Kaa dragged Bluestar over the leaflitter for a snack later.
Kaa's ears detected Tigerclaw sprinting past, but he moved too fast to catch up with. A gust of breeze from the direction of a stream nearby smelled more appetizing.
HEART OF A LION
Lionheart chose to search by a stream. Those three had developed a history of behaving notoriously stupid around bodies of water. Needing rescue more than once. Despite the reflective surface, that should have given him the edge, the splashing of Lionheart's paws in the water masked Kaa's approach.
Lionheart paused his search to drink from the stream. Stopping on a stepping stone in the middle of the crystal-clear stream. Kaa didn't waste any time. Twisting around the unsuspecting older, mentor cat until only his head poked out amongst the spots.
"Don't bother trying to essscape me. You want to ssssee those kitty-catsss again, don't you? Lionheart, wasss it? You'd feel persssonally guilty if anything happened to them."
"How do you know that?"
"They mean alot to you don't they? The orange one, the grey one and the dark one."
"What do you know about them?!" Lionheart demanded, raising his voice. "If you've hurt them- Gah!" He was cut off by Kaa tightening around his neck. Cutting off his oxygen supply and any resistance he might have had. Rage bubbling-over inside him.
"Oh, don't die yet. The fun has only jusssst begun. For me~" Kaa's voice started to distort like it was submerged beneath the surface of a deep, dark river, as the second of the three mentor cats started to succumb to a combination of being thoroughly wrapped around like a Barber's pole, the hypnotic dance and intensity of stare that Kaa was using.
In any other situation, this frightening encounter may have been relaxing or exciting.
"I know where they are. Trusssst me...Trusssst me…" Kaa's voice trailed off. "Trussst..."
Lionheart did trust Kaa. Unable to resist those eyes and being wrapped like a burrito.
A TIGER'S CLAW
After all of the effort of chasing down the mentors one by one, Kaa decided that he wanted Tigerclaw to watch his friends become so entranced that rather than trying to escape, Lionheart and Bluestar would walk into his mouth. With Bluestar no longer mewling out of desperation. Kaa directed his attention to Lionheart. Staring deep into the tom cat's green eyes. His thick mane protected his neck from biting but his brave mind was almost as easy to subdue as his apprentice- Graypaw.
Tigerclaw watched in horror as Lionheart stopped struggling. Kaa released them both from his grasp. The two cats, Tigerclaw's best friends, sat down as obediently as kittypets (housecats). Waiting for further instructions from their master. Their tails slowly swept the ground. Tigerclaw shouted at Bluestar and Lionheart, hoping they were stalling for the right opportunity to attack this monster.
"Allow me to introduce mysssself." Kaa chuckled, unintentionally hissing his 's' sounds. "What did you sssay your name wasss?"
"Tigerclaw. A warrior from Thunderclan. If you eat me, our clan will find you and kill you."
"Sso fiessty." Kaa tutted. "I jussst want to play a little game with you and your...friendsss."
Kaa's forked tongue tickled Tigerclaw's ear wrinkled his nose in digust.
"Ew! Get your tongue out of my ear."
Kaa rolled his eyes, ignoring the last feline to fall under his trance. "It getsss sso lonley out here. I could keep you assss a pet. You'd have your own place in the rootsss of that large tree the young orange and dark catssss fell into. Unlesss, you wish to join them?"
"What did you do to Firepaw, Graypaw and Ravenpaw?"
"What do you think?"
"What have you done to Bluestar and Lionheart?"
"Nothing. Yet~"
Tigerclaw was behaving as obnoxiously as Shere Khan. It angered the patient python. He struck Tigerclaw against the face with his tail to stop his inquisition.
"Maybe I can change your mind? Look how happy your friendsss are."
"They look stupid. Stop whatever you are doing!"
Tigerclaw didn't realize that by following Kaa with their eyes, making sure the snake wasn't up to something nefarious, Tigerclaw was starting to feel lightheaded.
""No!" Tigerclaw shouted. "What have you done to them? You...you...SNAKE! What-"
"Come to me." Kaa ordered.
Bluestar padded over and laid down to be devoured. Kaa unhinged his jaw, wrapping around the blueish grey she-cat until only the tips of her ears were visible. Consuming the blueish-grey she-cat with an insatiable vigor as Bluestar semi-regained consciousness. Kaa did so without chewing. Digestion would not commence for some time, but Kaaa was bored beyond words.
After quickly wrapping himself around Lionheart like a tangle of earphone cables until only one of his paws was visible, Kaa swallowed the now physically impaired tom cat without as the thick fur tickled his nose and throat. After a short spasm of cramps from eating so much in such a short time, Kaa slowly inched over to the third and final mentor.
"Let'sss make thissss quick. Neither of ussss want thisss little game to drag on."
Instead of gradually wrapping up Tigerclaw from making him chase him down, Kaa decided he could not control his hunger for a second longer and balled himself tightly around the third and final mentor until only the tip of Tigerclaw's bushy tail peeked out. Kaa was not sure if he liked this method more than lying to his unsuspecting victims. Both hunting methods had their pros and cons in his opinion.
For one final time, Kaa yawned. Stretching his jaw out to accommodate the final morsel. Stuffing Tigerclaw greedily into his mouth and swallowing hard. Using his tongue to push the feline down into his growling stomach alongside Bluestar and Lionheart.
THE LAST STAND
It really was out of the coils of uncertainty and into the bowels of their inevitable demise for Bluestar, Lionheart and Tigerclaw. The stomach acid gushed around their ankles as Bluestar, Lionheart and Tigerclaw tried to claw their way out of the snake's belly. The pungent fumes made Bluestar, Lionheart and Tigerclaw gag for air. Snapping them out of their hypnosis instantaneously. The three mentors could only just stand, in crouched positions.
"Great to have you two back. Let's get out of here." Tigerclaw said.
His clan mates were easy to keep track of in the complete darkness due to their luminous eyes and the echo of their voices against the soft, damp stomach lining.
Bluestar, Lionheart and Tigerclaw's blood chilling in their veins as they came to the revelation that their apprentices Firepaw, Graypaw and Ravenpaw, were probably dead already, Bluestar, Lionheart and Tigerclaw were going to die here. No one would know.
"Hey. Don't give up." Tigerclaw tried to pep talk his clan mates.
"Ow!" Bluestar winced, stopping her trudge through the strange liquid.
"What's wrong?" Lionheart asked.
"Nothing. My paw is...burning. I can't describe it. It's probably nothing." Bluestar didn't remember anything after the pink, yellow and blue spirals started in the serpent's eyes.
Bluestar tried to shake off the feeling as the trio pressed on. Grabbing onto each other's tails with their teeth so they did not end up separated (again).
Bluestar, Lionheart and Tigerclaw cried in surprise as Kaa started to move. All three of the warrior cats were thrown off their paws by the sudden tremor.
"Lionheart? Tigerclaw? Shout out if you're alive!"
"Here. What was that?" Tigerclaw replied.
"Ah, fu-" Lionheart cussed, mewling out in pain as the liquid around their paws started to froth and burn intensely. Rising from the mentor's ankles up to their necks. Soon the three of them were submerged up to their necks, fighting the burning sensation all over their skin as they failed their legs, trying to find purchase on the slippery stomach lining beneath their paws. In the chaos, Bluestar, Lionheart and Tigerclaw became separated.
However, their saving graces came in the form of the melted forms of their apprentices. Bluestar, Lionheart and Tigerclaw couldn't allow themselves to think like that. They could only paddle to keep their heads above the foul smelling liquid until they grew too tired or their limbs were digested by the enzymes. The apprentices' corpses allowed the trio to keep their heads above the frothing stomach acid while their fur, flesh and bones slowly melted away.
Kaa retreated to watch over the jungle from his favorite napping branch. He wondered if the rest of the clan that Bluestar, Lionheart and Tigerclaw spoke about, would come looking for their six fallen clansmen. Now Kaa had hypnotized six cats with no resistance, he could hypnotize them all. Which only gave him more confidence about his plans to eat the man-cub and any of the other animals who bothered him in the past.