Warriors: The star lake fanfiction

Chapter 12

Smokepaw approached a rabbit, creeping slowly and silently as Flamesnout had taught her. Well, more like how she figured out on her own with Flamesnout judging her.
Despite his rude comments and sarcastic remarks, she missed her mentor.
It was comforting to know that someone was looking out for her when she was hunting; someone real that could actually help if she was in immediate danger.

Now, she knew she was alone. All alone.
Alone, deep in unknown territory for a quarter moon.
She was barely surviving. She managed to catch one prey every other day. At first, she couldn't catch any prey because she just wasn't good...and she hadn't become desperate yet.
One day without food or water made her more tired the next day. She managed to find a dirty pond that day, it wasn't the best source of water but it was enough. It gave her just enough energy to hunt a vole.

The next two days she hadn't caught anything again, but had found more ponds. This same cycle of not catching food for a few days, then catching one small animal one day repeated for the whole quarter moon. She made sure to stay close to the thunderpath, so she knew her way back.
Today was her chance to catch a larger animal, a whole rabbit!
She tried to remain calm and crept closer.

She pounced but, due to her being tired and skinny, her hunting skills had dialed back a bit.
She missed the rabbit and it dashed away. She watched the rabbit disappear into the unfamiliar forest. She laid there for a few minutes, not bearing to stand again.
She forced herself up, her stupid elder bones creaking and snapping. She moved back next to the thunderpath, and continued walking farther away from clan territory.

Her legs were sore, but she forced herself to keep walking. The gray clouds blocked the sun, making the gentle breeze chill her bones. The light rain clung to her pelt and made her feel three times heavier.
Maybe she could just take a quick nap.
She collapsed on the side of the thunderpath. She was awake, but her weak legs could no longer support her weight. She laid there, cringing every time a loud monster came roaring past.

She should have kept her mouth shut with Hoverstar.
She shouldn't have attacked Cobrascale and stayed hidden.
She should have gone to ShadowClan where there was food and water.
She should have asked Flamesnout to train her harder.
She shouldn't have jumped in the river after Hollowpaw.
She should have just gotten Flamesnout when Hollowpaw jumped into the river.

Regrets filled her head. These were her last moments. And they were filled with regrets.
She hoped that when she passed away someday that she would have lived a fulfilling life without regrets. But this was how it would be.
Laying on the side of a thunderpath, too weak to stand.
She felt something vibrate through her paws. Thump thump thump.
Steps? Coming towards her?
She weakly lifted her head to see an odd creature running towards her. It had just leaped off a slim monster with two legs, one in the front and one in the back. It was a twolegs.
It had a patch of black fur on its head and wore a yellow skin, probably to shelter itself from the rain. It had dark skin and slender legs.

It finally reached her and bent down, its paw coming closer to her.
She hissed defensively. It backed its large paw away from her in surprise but reached for her again after a moment. She was too weak to attack it, and braced herself for a strike.
Only...it didn't claw her. It gently touched her head. It patted her head and moved its paw under her, lifting her up in its arms.
She struggled a bit, but it hurt too much to move.

The twolegs put her in a sack on the front of the thin monster and it hoped on. The monster began moving swiftly on the thunderpath.
At least they were still on the thunderpath, so Smokepaw could follow her plan of staying by the thunderpath.
After a long while in the thin monster, it eventually stopped in front of a twoleg place. The twoleg place was right on the edge of a sun-drown-place.
The twolegs picked Smokepaw up and took her towards the twoleg place. The twoleg place was a little bit away from the thunderpath, but Smokepaw could still see it from where she was.

Inside the twoleg place was warm and dry. It smelt of fresh morning wind.
The twolegs set her down on a fluffy nest on the ground and it walked away.
Smokepaw cuddled into the nest, its warmth and fluff reminding her of the night she slept next to Flamesnout.
The twolegs returned shortly with two bowls in its paws and a blanket of sorts around its shoulders. It placed the bowls in front of Smokepaw and wrapped the blanket around her.
For a few moments, the twolegs brushed the blanket quickly over Smokepaw's fur. Smokepaw struggled and hissed at the twolegs, and it eventually let her out.

Her pelt was now dry, and felt slightly lighter than before. Smokepaw peered at the bowls, seeing that one of them had water in it and the other had small brown pellets. Smokepaw crawled towards the water and drank every last drop.
She looked up at the twolegs and it pointed its paw at the food with brown pellets in it.
Was Smokepaw supposed to eat it?
She tasted one and swallowed it. It didn't taste bad, but it didn't taste good either. It didn't taste like anything, but it made her feel slightly more energized.
She continued to eat the odd brown pellets until there were none left.

The twolegs took away the bowels when she was done. Smokepaw felt much better. She just felt like sleeping.
She looked around the twoleg place, seeing that there were many ravens around. There were black feathers, frozen ravens that didn't look like they were ever alive. The twolegs was decorating its place with ravens.
Raven. Smokepaw was going to call the twolegs Raven.

...

Smokepaw woke up to an unfamiliar warmth surrounding her. She looked around, panic overwhelming her. After a second, she remembered what had happened the night before.
She stretched, the shooting pain in her legs now gone. She decided to explore the twoleg place with her newfound energy.

The place was large, almost as big as the ThunderClan camp. She saw wood that was cut into a flat, four-legged object; it was right next to a see-through lookout.
Smokepaw hopped onto the wood and peered out of the lookout.

She saw the sun-drown-place was not far from the twoleg place. Today, since the sun was shining, there were plenty of people on the sand and playing in the water.
Smokepaw smelt a familiar scent coming her way. She turned on the wood to look at Raven, who had just entered the room.
Raven slowly and cautiously walked towards Smokepaw, extending its paw towards her. Raven's paw stopped in front of Smokepaw, waiting for her to come to it.
Smokepaw slowly moved towards Raven's paw, allowing it to touch her head.
Raven gently scratched her head and back.

When Raven was done, she moved towards the exit of the twoleg place. She opened it and motioned for Smokepaw to follow her. Smokepaw followed and resisted the urge to bolt away back to the forest.
Raven pointed at three bowls of water and three of the brown pellets.
Raven was telling her that she could come back and food would be waiting for her. Smokepaw could tell that's what she was saying. Raven went back into its place, leaving the entrance slightly agape for Smokepaw to re-enter if she wanted to.

Smokepaw decided to explore a bit and maybe return later.
This was a good place to stay and wait for the last leaf to fall. She had (tasteless) food and water for her if she needed it. There would be a warm place to stay when it started to get cold.

This wasn't so bad after all.