The Lost One

Prologue

"I think they're here." An orange she cat said. "I can smell their stinking scent."

"Oh, don't be so cruel, Tangerine. I agree that they are stinky and dumb, but what have they done to hurt you?" a smooth voice that belonged to the cat next to Tangerine meowed.

"You don't understand!"

"Yes, I do."

Tangerine hissed accusingly. "They took away Stream!! You never knew because you're from the swimming cats!"

"Creek-" the jet black tom corrected.

"Whatever! Get going, she might be already dead!"

"I'm here because Pebbletail is missing!" the tom shot back, irritated.

"Well, he jumped in with her, so maybe he wanted to run away!"

"He's my littermate! What do you expect?!"

"Just get going!" Tangerine snapped.

The two cats glowered at each other, but continued walking along the forest floor. Suddenly, Tangerine hissed. "Fox." they both hissed in disgust. Both tensing, they braced for attack.

"Nightfur, you distract the fox. Don't attack until I come."

The fox emerged.

"Hey fatty! I bet you can't catch me!" Nightfur taunted. The fox growled and stepped closer. His heart pounded. Where was Tangerine? Before he could respond, a streak of fur and claws bowled into the fox. There! Nightfur pounced on to the heap and bit down on the fox's muzzle. It howled in pain but clawed itself up and bowled into Tangerine, pushing her into a thorn bush. Nightfur landed a swift blow to the side of the ruthless creature. Again, the fox howled in pain and fury, but retreated into the bushes. Nightfur stood victorious but realized his companion wasn't there.

"Tangerine? Are you okay?" He trotted worriedly to the bush. He stared in horror as Tangerine lied unconscious with a fatal bite on her back thigh. The she-cats' fur was covered in sticky red, but luckily, it wasn't all hers; most was the fox's, probably now limping away in regret.

"You okay?" He shook her.

Tangerine woke with a sharp gasp of pain. "I'm okay." Then she looked at the wound the fox had given her. "Oh." she looked at the scene, and it took a minute of glancing at herself to process it in. Her gaze returned to her thigh, covered in dirt and blood. "Okay." Shockingly, Tangerine did not cry in despair as Nightfur had assumed would happen.

"Okay, Tangerine. We have to get you cobwebs fast." Nightfur's voice sounded nothing like the fight a few minutes ago. "I see there are a few clusters of them across the Loudtrail. I guess I have to cross."

Tangerine was surprised by the bitterness in his meow, and also suspected it was not all the information. Nightfur tensed again, getting ready to run. Painful memories flowed through his mind, echoing choruses of shame. You killed him. You were supposed to- Nightfur shook his head. No time for this babbling. A life was on the line. An enormous Growler rushed by, and he sprinted down the Loudtrail. A blue Growler chased after him, and Nightfur dared to look back. Finally, he reached the grass and bowled into a wooden two-paw "thing". Why were there so many of them? He asked himself. He spotted a "thing" with cobwebs and the tom approached. He stiffened, feeling a shadow loom over him.

"Who are you?"