Exploring

[;lost&insecure;]

Raskell raced out the door as the female kit let him out. He lay down on the green grass, the sun's heat beating down on his furry pelt. He then saw flash of gray fur in the trees across from his trees. He heaved himself up, and padded over to the Roaring path, with the Roaring beings growling over the surface. When he saw there was a break, he skirted halfway over the path. He glanced back toward his home before finishing his journey. Then, he blasted into the trees.

[;lost&insecure;]

He quietly stumbled through the forest, tripping and getting burrs in his fur. Soon, he was lost. He plopped himself down in some moss and sighed. This is no fun at all... I wanna go home.

[á£Îmaý---♫♥]

A slim black tom cat watched Raskall from a high branch. Lost kittypet...don't they know any better?. Spider sighed and lept down. His soft black paws hit the ground and the leaves crackled. He flicked his long tail in greeting to Raskall. "Lost?" he meowed.

[;lost&insecure;]

Raskell whipped his head up, startled at the strange voice. He saw a black tom-cat standing front of him. "Where did you come from?" He heaved himself up and stepped away. "I just want to go home! I saw a gray cat. In the trees across from my house. I just wanted to know who it was. I didn't want to get lost!" He crumpled on to the ground. What have I gotten myself into?

[Cheshire]

Hazel was sitting by the old badgers' den that she lived in, eating a mouse. She heard voices nearby. She finished the mouse and buried the remainings. She stood up and padded over to where Spider and a kittypet were talking. "Are you scaring another kittypet, Spider?" She meowed. She looked at the crumpled up kittypet that was on the ground. "What's your name?"

[Tiger]

A black she-cat with white markings on her chest and paws scampered along the grassy ground, chasing a squirrel. She quickly overtook the rodent and killed it with a quick bite to the neck. Nightshade carried it for a few steps towards a bush where she had slept the past night and heard Hazel's words. The rogue dropped her prey and looked around. "Fancy meeting you all here," she meowed. "I know who Spider is and I've got absolutely no idea who you two are."

[Cheshire]

Hazel looked at the rogue who had just approached. "I'm Hazel. Don't mind if I smell like stale badger. I live in one's den. Though, the badger is long gone." She meowed. "Who are you?"

[Tiger]

"Nice meetin' you," she meowed. "I'm Nightshade. You must be another rogue if you live in a badger den. Or a loner. Or are you a badger in disguise?" Nightshade joked, quickly sniffing Hazel. "Do you know who that is?" She glanced at Raskell before looking over to Spider. "Hello."

[Cheshire]

"I'm a loner. All I know about this kittypet is that he is lost." Hazel meowed glancing back at the kittypet. "Wait. I've seen you before. You live on the other side of the thunderpath, with another cat. I know her name, but I don't see her a lot. It's Cookie, right?" Hazel usually sits by the thunderpath thinking of her family. Occasionally this kittypet will bug her. Then, sometimes Cookie comes out and talks to her.

[;lost&insecure;]

Raskell pressed himself to the tree, scared out of his mind. He didn't like all the cats surrounding him, telling him stuff he didn't need to know. But he had to protect his sister. "My name's Raskell..." he mewed quietly. "I just want to go home. But my paw hurts. There's something stuck in it." He held up his paw to show that he was telling the truth. "Wait, what's a Thunderpath?"

[Cheshire]

Hazel looked at Raskell's paw. There happened to be a thorn in it. "In simple words, a Thunderpath is a roaring path with roaring monsters on it." She meowed. "We won't hurt you. If you need help getting home I don't mind taking you there. Besides, I don't think you want to travel into one of the clans' territory." If he does he'll probably be shredded. Unless he travels into FrostClan's territory, they might chase him off or except him. It's hard to tell what they'll do when they have the least of cats.

[;lost&insecure;]

"Oh, you mean the Roaring path," Raskell said, opening up to the cats. The fluffy white tom paused, realizing what the brown female cat had said. "Clans? What are those?"

[Cheshire]

Hazel sighed. "Well, the clans are big groups of cats. There is BeachClan, FrostClan, RainClan, and AquaClan. FrostClan happens to be the smallest. There is a leader, deputy, and medicine cat in each clan. Including warriors, apprentices, kits, queens, and elders. Leaders lead the clan. Deputys help lead the clan. Medicine cats look after the wounded. Warriors fight and hunt for their clan. Apprentices are warriors in training. Kits are apprenticed at the age of six moons. Queens look after their kits until they are apprenticed. After the kits are apprenticed, they go back to being a warrior. Elders are retired warriors. Also there is StarClan. The greatest clan of them all. When a cat dies, it goes to StarClan, unless that cat had done murderous, horrible things. Then, they walk the path of no stars." She meowed and took a breath. "That is all I really know about the clans. I was told most of it by Graymask. He liked to be called Rascal, ever since he left AquaClan. He was my mate."

[;lost&insecure;]

"Hey, that's my name!" he said, surprised. "Why don't they just go live with the housepeople? And how do they get food?" He lay back down and began licking his wounded paw. When he came to the thing stuck inside, he grabbed it with his teeth and pulled. Blood trickled out. "Ow!"

[Cheshire]

"Are you okay?" Hazel meowed. "A kittypet life is a soft life. How they get there food is, they hunt for it. Instead of eating the rabbit droppings you call food. Us here aren't apart of the clans. Though, Nightshade here used to be apart of MountainClan, which is extremely far from here. Spider and Nightshade are rogues and I'm a loner. We hunt for our food too."

[Tiger]

Nightshade glanced over at Hazel. "How did you know that?" she meowed quizically. "I haven't met you before and you know where I lived and stuff." She took a small step back. "Are you by any chance from MountainClan then? I thought I was the only one. And Coalfur too, but he left BeachClan and didn't come back."

[Cheshire]

"No. Though I do think my parents were. I remember them telling me a story, where they lived in the mountains with a big group of cats. Then some cats ran away, and they were sent to find them, but they never did. Only because, I had been born. They mentioned the names Quietshadow, Nightshade, and Coalfur." Hazel meowed. "I figured that out not long after you told me your name."

[Tiger]

"Well, Quietshadow is my half-brother. He was Coalfur's son from when he lived back in BeachClan and he's now their medicine cat." Nightshade gave her tail a quick flick. "I left mainly because I was terrible at being an apprentice and had to bribe Lichenstar into being made a warrior. Mother and Dad ran away because Lichenstar was so mad. I've heard that someone finally killed him. By then Dad was dead--he was awfully old--but Mother came back. She's probably an elder by now." She paused to take a breath. "As for the lack of training, I've gotten a few lessons from Spider. I'm getting quite good at hunting."

[Cheshire]

Hazel nodded. "Do you know how to fight? Who knows if you might run into a badger." She meowed. "Do you even have a good place to stay? If not you can always stay with me. It's not that bad living in a badgers' den. No badger has bothered me, and I have been living there all my life." She wouldn't mind a denmate. Ever since Rascal died she had been feeling lonely in the den. She had no one to talk too. She didn't even get to see Spider or any cat for that matter a lot.

[;lost&insecure;]

"What are you talking about?" Raskell asked. "Can someone take me home? I'm sure the youngest kit and Cookie will be worried sick about me." He tried to walk forward, but when he set down the paw that had the thing in it, it ached. "Ow!" he whimpered and plopped down again. "I hate it out here."

[Tiger]

Nightshade shrugged. "I've been sleeping in an abandoned twoleg nest in RainClan territory. How big is this den?" she asked, sitting down. "Spider found it and we've been hanging out there. I've been practicing hunting and I'm getting pretty good, but I haven't done much fighting."

[Cheshire]

Hazel glanced over at Raskell. "I can take you home but your going to need to put something on your paw. You need cobweb, and I think something else." She meowed. She looked back at Nightshade. "It can hold up to...." She paused, in thought. "It can hold up to about nine full-grown cats. It's a big den." She glanced around, seeing if she could spot any pieces of cobweb.

[Tiger]

"That's awfully big. Probably just a bit smaller than the warriors' den back in MountainClan." Nightshade looked up at the tree overhead and noticed a cobweb in between the leaves. She leapt up and with an outstretched paw, snagged the web. "Here," she meowed, holding her paw up so Hazel could collect it.

[Cheshire]

Hazel nodded. "Thanks." She meowed. She padded over to where Raskell was sitting. "Here. This will stop the bleeding. When you get back to your twolegs they can take care of it." She meowed while putting the cobweb on his hurt paw. She glanced back at Nightshade. "If you want to stay or not, it doesn't really matter to me. There's enough room if Spider also wants to stay." She then glanced over at the quiet pure black tom.

[á£Îmaý---♫♥]

"I wasn't trying to scare him," Spider mumbled. He sat sulking, only occasionally looking up from the ground. As Hazel described her den he glanced at Nightshade. She seemed eager enough. "Well," he meowed," If Nightshade wants to stay with you I'll come."
He turned to Raskell. "Let's get you home. I'm sure Dream has some plants which will help that wound. She knows all sorts of things!"

[;lost&insecure;]

Raskell's eyes widened. "Dream? Who's that? Can't you bring me home?" Raskel whimpered softly. "I promise never to come back into the woods if I can just see Cookie and my kit again!"

[Tiger]

Nightshade shrugged. "I suppose we can stay with you for a bit. If anything comes and tries to kill us, then I don't know about you, but I'll be out of there." She grimanced at the thought before looking back at Spider who was assuring Raskell. The rogue gave her chest fur a quick lick. "No problem, Hazel."

[Cheshire]

Hazel nodded. "I understand. If anything does, that will be the first." She meowed. "So, are we going to be on our way? First we'll find Dream and see if she knows anything that will help Raskell's paw. Then, we can take you home." She meowed while glancing over at Raskell. Such a whiny kittypet. He'll get home sooner if he quits complaining.

[;lost&insecure;]

"Yay! Let's go!" Raskell bounced up, holding his injured paw far from the ground. "But really, who's Dream?"

[Cheshire]

Hazel sighed. This kittypet has so many questions. "Do you want to get back to your twolegs or not? You'll find out who she is when we get there, and don't worry she won't hurt you." She meowed. "Lets get going."