Cats of Amari - Version 2

Chapter Two

Scorch watched proudly as Jess explored the shed. Peter acted more like it was an inspection, as if he thought any object was going to leap to life and attack him. "Hey, you two." Everyone looked to Tiger as he spoke. "You need more... feral names if you're gonna live here. Ah changed my name, after-all. Got any ideas?" Jess and Peter thought for a moment, then Jess puffed out her chest and announced,

"I wanna be Ember."
"A beautiful name for a beautiful young she-cat." Tiger purred. He then turned his head to Peter. "And you?"
"How about 'Arrogant?'" Scorch remarked with a smirk. He already hated Peter, and had determined that there was no use even trying to befriend him, as he didn't seem to like him, either.
"Should'a named you 'Cocky.'" The tom muttered. Scorch's ears pricked and he narrowed his eyes, but before he could respond, Ember piped up with,
"He's really great at swimming--our housefolk had a small pool in their yard in greenleaf. How about something water-related?" Peter nodded to show that he acknowledged Ember's addition.
"Actually, I was thinking 'Web' would be a good name for me."
"What is he, some kind of duck?" Scorch snorted.
"Oh, then what are you? A burn mark?" Web snarled. Scorch scowled, insults towards the tom's weak retort running through his mind. Their rivalry was already growing rapidly. Ember stretched, ignoring the two toms, and yawned.
"So boring. Let's hunt!" She wiggled her haunches. Scorch turned away from Web and laughed.
"Nice enthusiasm. You'll need it. But it's getting late and we all need to get some rest."
"Finally, something we agree on." Web huffed. Ember groaned.
"Fine." She said, turning to look for somewhere to sleep. Scorch smiled. He liked the feisty she-cat. She had a lot to learn, but he knew she was born for wild-life. Just then Tiger slipped out of the sleeping den. The young cats hadn't even noticed he was gone. "Ah just made two extra moss-beds. Come on in. The sky's getting dark."
Scorch escorted Ember while Web entered alone later. Serves him right. Scorch thought. Ember was curled up asleep beside him, breath steady and pelt warm despite the frigid cold outside. Web padded over and laid down, pressing himself against Ember. Disturbed, Scorch kicked him until he was a safe distance away.
Ember was all his.

In the morning Tiger caught four mice--one for everyone. They ate happily, discussing minor things while the wind roared outside and frost lined the edges of the few windows. "Yeah. So, um, when are we going to learn to hunt and fight and stuff?" Ember asked.
"Slow your roll." Tiger chuckled. We'll go hunting once everyone knows the proper crouch. And we'll battle train in a quarter moon." Ember frowned.
"But I really wanna--"
"Here." Scorch interrupted. "I'll show you the crouch. Come with me." They padded out of the entrance for more space and into the forest just a few paces. The wind whirled around them, and though it wasn't snowing but it had been last night, a half inch coating of snow chilled their paws a little. Scorch crouched down so that his belly fur just barely brushed the snowy ground and kept his tail just above the snow.
"Now you try. Remember to keep your tail above the ground so that it doesn't make any noise, but keep it stiff and don't move it or raise it too high, or you'll alert your prey. Also watch out for twigs and leaves in the way, and if you can't see because of snow, set your paws down very lightly. If the snow is going to crunch beneath your paws and you can't avoid it doing that, then tread on it as lightly as possible, got it?"
Ember nodded and mimicked him actually quite well.
"Good, good! But lower your tail a bit more and put your weight on her hind legs." Ember did as he said quickly and quietly and Scorch was very impressed. "Perfect! You're a natural!" He leaped to his paws. Ember staggered to her paws and blushed.
"You really think so?"
"Mhm." Scorch smiled. "You'll be catching prey in no time." Tiger and Web then appeared from the entrance. Web seemed a little embarrassed and Tiger showed signs of agitation. Scorch laughed inwardly. I don't wanna know what happened in there, but it had to be hilarious.

Ember wriggled her haunches. Web had taken two whole days to learn the crouch, and Ember had been practically dying to hunt, and now she finally was. She was by a river that ran by a hill, where a frog had wandered down for whatever reason. Ember leaped for it, but it bounced away from her out-stretched paws calmly and easily. Angered and confused, she repeated her actions, and it repeated theirs. Web, who was snickering a few tail-lengths away, pushed after the frog on strong legs. "Here, lemme get that for you!" He called after her as he chased the frog a few tail-lengths before pinning it under his paw and leaning down, giving it a killing bite.
Scorch then trotted out from some bushes on the other side of the river, carrying a small lark. "There you are." He mumbled through feathers. "Come on, you two, Tiger should be waiting." Ember's heart dropped.
"But we just got out here!" She whined.
"We've got enough prey now." Scorch responded as he leaped over the river in a quick bound, stumbling a little once he landed but soon regaining his balance. Web then tossed the frog to Ember, who caught it expertly after several games with her littermates and Web of "Catch the Ball."
"Here, you take it and pretend that you caught it." Web said. "I don't mind."

They continued on to the shed, where Tiger had been waiting. He had also caught a few mice hiding in the shed, it seemed. "You're back!" He greeted them warmly, then noticed the frog in Ember's jaws and smiled. "Did ya catch that yourself?" Ember nodded and felt a prick of guilt as Tiger congratulated her then made a small noise of disappointment when he realized Web hadn't brought back any food.
"Well, it is leaf-bare." Web offered.
"Yes, that it is." Tiger responded. "Well, why don't we all eat what we caught and have a nice chat? To spend the time." No-one disagreed.
After a short conversation and a story or two from Tiger, all of the prey was gone. The cats began passing off jokes. "What do you call a badger combined with a fish?" Ember asked. Web shrugged and said,
"I don't know, what?"
"An idiot!" Web was the only one who didn't laugh. He didn't seem very amused. Eh, he never really liked jokes anyway...
"Why did the mouse cross the bush?" Scorch asked.
"Why?" asked Ember.
"To be hunted!" Everyone laughed except Web again.
"What did the cat say to the mouse?" Tiger said.
"What?" Scorch questioned.
"Nothing, he had his mouth full!" Everyone laughed at this one. But now it was Web's turn.
"Okay, so why did the fish cross the stream?"
"I dunno, why?" Ember inquired.
"To get to the other side!" No-one laughed at Web's joke. He smiled for a bit, then frowned when he realized no-one else thought it was funny.
"Um, Web, I don't think you get the concept of jokes..." Ember said gently.
"Yeah, Web. They're supposed to be funny." Scorch snorted. Web blinked.
"But... it is." Isn't it? Maybe it would be if they knew why... "You see, it's funny because--"
"Whoa, whoa whoa! Web! You never explain jokes!" Tiger interrupted. Ember purred in amusement at Web's utter bewilderment.
"You need to loosen up a little." She mewed to Web. "Lets' go play a game, get some fresh air, all that." Web shrugged and smiled, standing.
"Sure." The two of them raced outside, leaving Scorch and Tiger to continue with their jokes.

After a playful romp with Web and a short hunt, the sky was now dimming and the cats were settling down to sleep. It was a cold night, very, very cold. Everyone pressed together for warmth. Cozy in the very center, Ember felt a little spoiled as a wave of sleep washed over her.

Scorch lay with one paw on top of the other in front of Tiger. "Blizzard in a few days, come or tell." The old tom was mewing. He could hear the other two awakening. Tiger rose to his paws, slowly stretched, and padded over to them, announcing, "We're gonna stay inside."
"What? Why?" Ember asked, disappointed.
"Blizzard's comin'." Tiger explained.
"How long are we gonna stay here?" Ember questioned, scrambling to her paws.
"'Till the blizzard starts, then passes. A few days, maybe more." Said Tiger.
"What?" Ember screeched.
"Ya heard meh. No goin' outside. It'll get too risky."
"How are we going to eat?"
"Easy, mice are in here all the time."
"Then can we please at least practice some battle moves? It'll get so boring! Please?"
"Well, we could..." Tiger actually seemed to be considering this. Scorch blinked at him. He normally never turned back on his decisions.
"But you said..." Scorch's voice trailed off.
"That was then, Scorch, this is now." Tiger dismissed him with a flick of his tail. Unfair. Scorch thought mutinously. We didn't start training until two moons after we met! He tried to shake off his bitterness and instead looked back to Tiger and Ember. Web was now up and stretching, and Ember, unable to contain her impatience, inquired,
"Well?" with a lean forward to Tiger.
"Okay."
"Yes!" Ember squealed, jumping up and down excitedly. Web seemed pleased and gave a look to Scorch that said it all. Scorch curled his lip and turned away with a pang of envy. At least he would soon have someone to play-fight with. Tiger was getting old, and though he was a formidable fighter, he had trained Scorch well, and with Scorch's well-known battle moves and Tiger's growing age, he'd beat him every time, no effort. But Scorch didn't expect Ember or Web to defeat Tiger--for now, they were soft kittypets that had no idea what they were doing.
Scorch rolled onto his back and stretched his legs into the air to see how long he could stretch them, trying to fight his boredom while Ember and Web learned a simple battle move. Once they were done, Tiger caught them by surprise, leaping at them. Scorch's eyes flitted over to them as Tiger yowled, "Let's see what you already know!" This ought'ta be good. Scorch leaned forward to watch from where he stood on a strange slab that the twolegs had made in the shed. The surface was sort of narrow, but large enough for a cat, and it went as far as a tall log that supported the roof.
Ember screeched and rolled over, a paw catching Tiger's tail-tip and ripping fur. "Claws are always sheathed when you're training!" Scorch called. Ember looked over to him and nodded, sheathing her claws and standing. Web sprang away from Tiger, his paws thudding against the brown and black tabby's head. Ember ducked as Web soared over her and he rolled on the ground while Tiger stumbled, unfocused from the head battering. Scorch watched intently as Ember took this as an advantage and leaped at Tiger, paws outstretched. Pinning him swiftly, she pawed at his neck. Tiger smiled as he caught Scorch's eye, who was frozen in shock. How? Just--how?
"Good job, Ember. You--er--'killed' me." Tiger said, proud edging his voice, with a pause to think of how to put it that she "killed" him. Ember nodded.
"If that's what it takes to defeat the enemy, then maybe they had it coming." She said as she stepped off of her father. Tiger stood and with a nuzzle on her cheek, he responded,
"I admire your wisdom. For such a young cat, you have such a potential." He then turned and padded towards Web. "You had time to stabilize but didn't do anything; you left it all to Ember. While you made for a good distraction, I think you'll need more training than Ember." Scorch and Ember didn't listen as Tiger went on conversing with Web, trying to figure out what they would need to improve. Ember had padded over to Scorch and now she leaped up onto the half-wall beside him.
"How did you do that?" Scorch inquired, his bushy tail waving to and fro. Ember shrugged.
"Instinct, I guess." She replied. Scorch smiled.
"Well, whatever it was, you were amazing." Ember smiled and blushed a little.
"I wasn't nearly as good..."
"Oh, but you were good enough to beat him," Scorch pointed out, suppressing a purr but allowing his whiskers to twitch with amusement. Ember turned as Tiger called her over. With one final glance at Scorch, Ember leaped down and dashed off.
Scorch stared after her wistfully. How could such a she-cat capture my heart, soul, and mind in only three days? I guess I'll never know... but I'd be more than glad to call her my mate one day.