Peachstar's Battle

2

Peach whipped around to see where the voice was coming from, ears pointing back and fur bristling. Her sister fearfully ducked behind her.

"WhO'S THERE??" Peach hissed, and she flexed her hind claws, not able to do anything else. She tried to appear threatening, but she was just a kittypet and nothing else. She strained her eyes to see who was talking but it was getting dark, the trees casting long shadows. She flinched again as the leaves in a bush rustled, taking a step back.

"Uh... p-please don't be afraid of me-" A small, scrawny, black tom cat poked his head out of the bush with his ears lowered, showing no signs of aggression. His pure white whiskers seemed to glow next to his dark pelt, them and his cold, ice blue eyes being the only parts of him visible. 

Poppy peeked out from behind the taller she-cat, calming down a little when she noticed how small the stranger was, it seemed like even she could take him out. 

"Are you... one of those evil cats that Henry told us about?!" She squealed, backing away from them both.

Peach gave her a reassuring look. "Hey, calm down. I don't think he's here to hurt us," she meowed, looking back at the tom who had come closer, close enough that scars, bald spots,  and flecks of gray fur were visible. He looked pretty beaten up, and one of his ears was torn. His coat was unkempt and wet, as if he had been swimming or... bleeding, but it was hard to tell which so the kittypets assumed he was wet from the creek they were near.

"No.. I don't think I'm evil. I just haven't seen you two around here, and I was wondering if you were lost or something?" He had noticed their collars and could tell that they lived with twolegs, just from the way they carried themselves.

Peach's ears perked up. "Oh- we are pretty lost... We were almost killed by a monster so we ran here to escape, but we can't find out way back. Could you help us?" She smoothed out her fur, beckoning with her tail for Poppy to come closer, which she did. 

The black cat nodded. "Of course I can, but uh... it's a bit dark. If you want, you can rest for the night with a few of my friends and I? We have room in our nest."

Poppy tilted her head. "Are they nice?" She asked.

He nodded again and the two she-cats agreed to follow him home. "I'm Frost, by the way. I assume you two also have names?" He turned and led them through the bush he came from, and they looked around while walking. They exchanged names and details about themselves before examining the area closer- they had never been this deep in the forest and had no idea that there was so much beyond their garden. The different scents were almost overwhelming, from the different types of leaves up to the aroma the air carried. 

After a few minutes with walking, Frost stopped in his tracks and motioned for the others to stop as well. He dropped into a hunting crouch, and the kittypets looked around for what he was stalking but couldn't see anything.

After a moment of waiting, he sprang forward and sank his claws into the pelt of a large, brown rabbit and bit its neck to finish it off. Poppy gagged when she heard the sound of its neck breaking while Peach stared in amazement. 

She blinked. "How did you-"

"Practice." Frost cut her off and picked up his prey. "You guys can have this once we get back."

Peach just nodded and remained confused as to how he even knew the rabbit was there, but went back to following him through the forest, noticing that the sun had gone down and it was nighttime. They hurried, not wanting to be found by something scary, though they didn't really know what they were afraid of. 

Frost pushed aside a thorny bush, revealing the opening of a tunnel. "We're here. Ladies first," He purred.

Peach nodded and stepped through the hole, her sister silently following, and Frost let the bush fall back into place as he followed at the end of the line. 

Once inside, Peach looked around, a few other cats stepping into the clearing from inside their dens. The two got a lot of weird looks and a few questions they didn't answer, but Frost jumped up onto a rock in the center of the territory. By the time he was up, everyone had emerged and were looking up at him, they all sat around the rock to listen to what he had to say. The sisters joined.

"Alright," he started off. "I don't think these two are going to be here very long- just for the night. I found them by the creek and apparently they're lost, I'll help them get home in the morning. For now, treat them like kin, okay?"

A few of the cats exchanged glances and murmurs, but most just nodded and didn't care too much. A sleek-furred calico tom approached the two, much to the delight of Frost who had gone into a den with a few wounded cats. 

"So, you're staying the night, huh?" The tom tilted his head, sitting in front of them.

Peach nodded, curling her tail around her paws. Poppy looked at him curiously.

"You guys live here??" She asked, genuinely ignorant.

The tom nodded and purred, "A lot of cats live here. It's where animals belong, y'know?"

"...Huh." Poppy looked at the grass under her paws, it was much greener and softer than the grass in her garden. "I didn't know that."

"A lot don't know about this place, but that's okay I guess. As long as they're happy where they are then it doesn't matter. I'm Plumin, by the way."

Peach purred politely, "That's a handsome name if you ask me. I'm Peach, and this is my sister, Poppy." Poppy nodded.

Plumin stood a little taller at the compliment. "Oh- Thank you. Yours are quite lovely too." 

A small, lithe, shiny brown she-cat came up behind them, nearly giving them heart attacks. "Name's Otter. Mind if I showed you around?" She offered, and Plumin got up and went in the direction Frost had gone. The siblings agreed to a tour and got up, but were interrupted by a ginger tom who looked like a fox rushing in through the entrance with a torn ear.

He didn't stop to catch his breath before yowling, "ROGUES!"

(A.N: sorry this is so much longer than the first chapter ;w;)