𝘞𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘴: 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘋𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘺 (𝘉𝘖𝘖𝘒 2) (ROS)

𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 7

The next sunrise.

Sunflower woke up, he heard growling coming from the spirit. He saw the spirit glaring at a medium sized cat standing outside of the medicine den. There was no sign of Oleander'cloud and Ruby'paw. "Hello? New cat?" The mysterious tom spoke, his voice echoed the empty cave since all the other warriors had gone outside but the queens and kits. Sunflower's ears perked up, his yellow eyes gaze at the tom with marbled blotches on his coat. The cat felt unusual to be seen as a something in the wild. "Who..." Sunflower squinted his eyes, now seeing him clearly. "Who are you?"

The warrior revealed himself, approaching the cave slowly. "Onyx'foot." The Bengal tom tilt his head to inspect the Softpaw with wonder. "I assume you came here last night new cat. Although you didn't really get a good welcome, as what Ghost'paw said." The Bengal tom entered the medicine cave, observing him. Sunflower's eyes widened; he got up from his moss bed, still feeling dizzy from his sleep. "You... you know Ghost'paw?" He replied. Onyx'foot scoffs. "Well, everyone has to know everyone. Ghost'paw's pretty prominent around here."

His casual demeanor intrigued the black tom, he slowly approached him, noticing that the two were nearly the same height. Sunflower was only shorter. He had expected for him to realize that he's a Softpaw, and not someone who is born wild. Onyx'foot notice how meek he is, it led him to say this: "If you think I'm judging you for being with two-legs. You're wrong. I used to be a Softpaw at some point." 

There was silence, the black tom never knew that. 

He also didn't want to be seen as childish and naive to be named as the 'new cat'.

"It's obvious." Sunflower tried speaking in a sarcastic manner. His attempts to be seen as the cooler one had humored the Bengal cat. "Of course it is. It's just the fact that me and Monty decided to abandon the riches and get off free y'know?" Onyx'foot's tail swayed comfortably, he backed right out into the middle of the main cave. The black cat was puzzled on who 'Monty' is. He ends up trotting right out of the cave, following him. There was no sign of the spirit, as it had disappeared when Sunflower exited the den.

"I think you need some fresh air new cat." Onyx'foot teased, this caused the black tom to frown. "It's Sunflower for your information." He growled, but that entertained Onyx'foot even more. "I'm just messing around. You can come with me if you like, just so you won't get bored?" Said Onyx'foot, he was more than welcome to help the Softpaw out. Sunflower looked around; he was realizing how empty the cave had become. He was interested now. "Where had everyone gone? I mean-... it was so packed last night." 

"We usually get a gathering after four quarter-moons every sun high." He padded in front of him, passing by the queens who were watching the two. The sun shined between the long vines as the Bengal tom exited the main cave and to the outside. The long grass shined green and gold, the wind from the drowning place instantly hit Onyx'foot's back. Sunflower's eyes squint when he briefly saw the sun before turning his attention to the warrior. 

The trees rustled in front of Onyx'foot, despite his up-beat personality, his expression seemed bothered about the gathering. "Lily'flight asked for the gathering to be way earlier than usual." He explained, turning his head around at Sunflower who was unaware of the event. "She wanted to speak about our last leader of WaveClan who died to rogues." 

Rogues...?

Sunflower immediately connected as soon there were mentions of 'rogues'. The memory of running away as the scavenger went after the gray tabby. And the mention of WaveClan despite giving out a name that split himself from that identity. 

 Peter, outsiders... Web'star.

"I know him!" The tom exclaimed. "He saved me from the outsiders!"

Onyx'foot's maw was left agape, his words stumbling each other. "You...- you saw him? You saw him before he-?" 

Sunflower shouted. "Yes! Yes! He never told me that he was a leader of some weird cat faction!"

This had made everything into one big mess, Sunflower could be beneficial for evidence, but Onyx'foot wasn't sure, just not yet. He was conflicted about spreading the word or keep it in until further use. He will need to keep it until the right time during the gathering. Sunflower was just as shocked at Onyx'foot, he never knew how obvious this was. It made him feel like a complete mouse-brain. That also made him wonder about a cat in particular that he just met yesterday.  When he had no words left to share, Onyx'foot led out a sigh. "If this is true, you'll be interrogated. It'll be better to say the truth than to leave Lily'flight in a dead end." He stated. "Can you do that?" 

Sunflower nodded firmly. "I could try, hopefully. I won't be here long though." 

Onyx'foot was relieved that he was able to comply. "You are better than most Softpaws I've come across to." He joked. "Now, come on! The gathering is in a few." He ran off. Sunflower trailed behind, the breeze leaving his shoulders as he ran faster than before. Passing by the borders of the hot grasslands where BlazeClan had lived. And where he saw the Snowclaw of BreezeClan's territory, puncturing the clouds with its pointy mountain top. 

He could feel himself getting used to the wilderness and finding that he wasn't the only one who set foot in the lands as a Softpaw. There could probably be more cats that lived that life in the gathering. He couldn't wait for more.

When he followed the stream to a large lake in the middle of the land, he saw that there were cats gathering in the island. The sun was shining directly at the leaders who sat on the smooth rocks.  He stood on the small ledge, his eyes shining bright with excitement. 

"This way!" Onyx'foot urged, speeding down the hill. Sunflower following as the wind took him wherever he goes.