Disclaimer: Stillll don't own Warriors. Dur!
Author's Note: Well, here's chapter one! Sorry this wasn't up earlier-I've been without internet for the past few days and it practically killed me. While, enjoy and remember that reviews are always appreciated!=]
Another clap of thunder roared overhead, and a tiny ball of gold shrank farther under the bushes. Through the monsoon, Elliott could barely see a few pawsteps in front of himself. The tiny housecat sighed. Not even six months old and he was already lost out in the wilderness. Encouraged by his neighbor cat's stories of the wildcats that lived around the lake, he had set out for himself to see them with his own eyes.
Little did he realize that he barely knew the lake territory himself. With each step he had taken Elliott had become even more and more lost, and finally was forced to take shelter under the nearest shrub. He couldn't move too much or the prickers would become embedded in his gold and white fur.
Blinking his big orange eyes, he fought the urge to leap with hope as the rain began to let up. Then maybe he could find his way home again! In a few minutes, when the drizzle became nothing more then mist, Elliott took a few tentative steps outside. When he was sure everything was alright, he began calling his traveling partner's name. Despite his sister's constant chiding, he wasn't really stupid enough to go wandering along. He had brought his friend Honoo with him—he lived in the house right next to his own. In rushing for cover at the first crack of scary thunder, they had become separated and dived under separate thickets.
"Honoo! C'mon out, let's go." The response was a rustle in a nearby bramble bush. Baring his teeth, Elliott felt relieved as the familiar sleek grey, albeit somewhat ruffled, pelt emerged.
"C'mon, we should probably head home. Our moms'll be worried if we don't turn up by midnight." The loosely spotted tabby tom murmured as he plucked a few briars from his dark fur. Elliott responded by bouncing on his white toes.
"No way!" He crowed, tipping his head back in excitement, "There's still way too much to see out here. Mom'll understand if we stay out for a night. Come on… I want to see these wildcats everybody talks about." Honoo sighed, padding after his friend as Elliott dashed deeper into the thick underbrush. With all the noise his best friend was making, it wouldn't be long before they got noticed by somebody. The dark grey cat had always been the more tentative of the two, and he hadn't been keen on the idea of all this adventure until Elliott suggested they might be able to catch some wildlife to eat. Before he died, Honoo wanted to catch a mouse or something. One of his old friends who had moved away with his humans caught a bird once, and he said it was the best thing he had ever eaten. Much better then the pellets that any human gave their cat. It was almost cruel how vile those things tasted.
"Are you coming or are you staying?" Elliott called over his shoulder. Honoo rolled his eyes and bounded after his friend's golden pelt that shone like a beacon in the forest despite the gloom in the air.
After about half an hour, Honoo stopped and stood behind Elliott, panting from the run. "Shouldn't—shouldn't we rest for the night and keep going tomorrow? We've already crossed the moorland and it'll take at least half a day tomorrow to get back home if we stay in the woods." The sun colored tom sighed in defeat and agreed, trying to find anything soft for bedding. After digging up precious little moss and taking a few tongues-full of water from the lake, the two kittens curled up next to the matte grey basin and listened to the wind in the trees.
"Honoo." Elliott whispered a little past moonhigh. "What?" Was his friend's reply.
"I'm hungry." As if on queue, a rumble erupted from the golden cat's white belly.
"Well you should have thought about food before you dragged us both out on this stupid little journey. I could be lying in a warm bed right now, not out in this March cold. I'm amazed it hasn't snowed yet." Yet again, as soon as the words left the gray tom's muzzle, tiny puffs of snow began drifting form above the treetops. "Oh now that's just great!" He murmured as Elliott leapt from his makeshift nest in glee, trying to catch a few snowflakes on his tiny pink tongue. "Elliott, you're gonna get some wildcat's attention and then he'll maul us and eat our bones!"
Elliot stopped jumping around and turned to face his companion with annoyance on his face. "Oh puh-leeze! Daisy from the barn went to go live with one group and she came back but then went back with them to their… what was it… a camp? That's what mom told me, although she was only a kit living there when it happened. I hear Smoky and Floss still remember the cats moving in like it was yesterday."
"Well, it's been a good few years since Smoky and Floss' yesterday. Those nice cats may be dead or gotten mean or discovered how good cat flesh tasted…" Elliott shook his head at the gruesome notion, sticking out his tongue as a sufficient way of saying, Ew, you're gross. Like cats would really eat other cats.
As soon as Elliott became bored with pouncing for snowflakes under Honoo's watchful glare, he finally settled back into the next with a muffled 'oof'. His grey friend settled next to him and they huddled together through the cold night, trying to share their heat with each other. The last thing they wanted to do on their adventure was freeze next to the lake. Soon the kittens' breathing synchronized and they were left to dream deep about tomorrow's coming adventures.
The golden tomcat was awoken just as the sunrays began peeking from over the crest of the mountains. Blinking his tired orange eyes, he realized that there was a prodding in his side. "Elliott," Honoo was whispering, "C'mon, get up. I think there's somebody here." Elliott split his mouth in a wide yawn and turned to his companion. The grey tabby kitten was looking around and spinning, his dark eyes wide with confusion. Elliott strained his ears to try and pinpoint the source of Honoo's despair, but he couldn't hear anything other then his friend's frightened and frantic pawsteps. Getting onto all four paws he grasped his friend's tail in between his teeth and bit down, hard.
"Calm down. We won't discover anything with you thrashing around like a mouse caught in a trap."
"But I smelled something, I'm sure of it!"
"Sure it wasn't yourself?" Elliott gave Honoo's pelt a tentative sniff—they really should groom themselves at some point. "Anyways, you can't smell anything."
"I don't know, Elliott, it's awful familiar, almost like…" The gray cat raised his head to the air and took a deep breath… "Kyo!"
"What?" The golden cat exclaimed, "No way that puny little sneaker could have followed us all the way from home." Honoo scoffed and flicked his tail in the direction of a nearby holly bush. Peeking out from between the leaves was a pair of familiar golden eyes peering from behind the deep green leaves. Elliott rolled his eyes and moaned, stepping towards the bush and pushing apart the brambles. "Kyo! Get out of there—what gives? Spoiling our adventure like that!" A tiny little ball of dark amber fur plopped onto the mulchy ground in response.
Kyo was the neighbor house-pet, though he hardly ever went inside. He spent most of his time tagging after Honoo and Elliott, much to their annoyance. Well, more to Elliott's then his friends. Honoo was somewhat obligated to be around him, because they were half brothers.
"I-I'm sorry!" The kitten squeaked, his short stump of a tail flipping around in fright. "I didn't know where you were going but Mama was going to ask me and then I'd have to lie to her and say that you were just around the neighborhood so I followed you so I wouldn't have to fib and I'm really, really sorry!" He was promptly shushed by Honoo and scolded fiercely by Elliott, hissing at the tiny cat until he began to cower in fear and shrink back so far holly leaves began to prick at his delicate kitten skin.
"Will both of you just shut up?" Honoo growled, still looking rather disturbed. Both cats turned to the grey one in shock, he usually never spoke up when other cats were talking.
"What gives, Honoo? What's your problem this morning? Get up on the wrong side of the nest?" Kyo giggled despite himself.
"Look, you remember when I said that I smelt something funny? I thought it was Kyo but…" Honoo paused to sniff the air a final time, "I smell somebody else! We're not alone yet!" Elliott whirled around, claws and teeth bared and fur rustling. Could this be one of the wildcats that everybody had been talking about?
"Show yourself!" The golden cat snarled through sharp kitten teeth. "Where are you?"
The response was the rustle of bramble bushes all around them as a dark figure lashed out with the glint of claws and eyes full of malice. Elliott didn't have time to dodge the oncoming blow and was thrown to the ground; breathless and utterly defensless.