Riversplash's Defeat (plan on finishing soon)

Chapter twelve

Riverpaw huffed, not voicing how much he didn't want this mouse-brained loner to come with them. He didn't want to be rude to Pearl, after all he was only looking out for him.

But he's literally stalking me like a piece of prey!

"Alright, then." He growled lowly.

"If that's all, then let's go! I can't wait to taste fish tonight!" Zinnia purred loudly, her eyes shut in enjoyment. Her usual golden yellow eyes narrowed to just her brown-red furry face.

Her orange-red striped tail swaying to-and-fro like she was making it seem like a couple of river reed.

Gecko nodded, her yellow eyes glowing bright in the sunset. It was the perfect time to hunt.

Riverpaw just hoped they didn't run into trouble. As much as he wanted to be friends, he wasn't sure if he could handle being in too much trouble. Just the right amount.

A gray tom with Amber eyes padded up next to Zinnia with a smaller—yet somehow more menacing—similar looking tom besides him.

Were they brothers?

Curious, Riverpaw approached them. The gray tom with Amber eyes got startled for a moment.

It was clear this tom was way older than most of the cats here. He almost seemed like an elder to Riverpaw.

"Hello!" Riverpaw chirped to the two. "I don't believe we met. I'm Riverpaw." He meowed, dipping his head respectively to the two toms.

The gray tom with Amber eyes immediately looked away. " I know who you are." He mumbled, turning his head towards Gecko. "And...that's unfortunate."

Riverpaw tilted his head in confusion.

The other gray tom immediately spoke. "My brother doesn't seem to want to talk. I'm Stream. Nice to meet you Riverpaw. Stripes, why don't you say hi to the rogue's new friend?" The gray tom meowed softly, shoving the apparent Stripes with a shoulder.

"I don't see why I should. He should go back to his clan." Stripes mumbled, glancing at the ground.

It was weird. Riverpaw didn't understand what he did to the tom to make him hate him right away. And it's rude to ignore someone, especially someone who just wants to be your friend.

"Why? Why should I? I'm having so much fun here, Stripes." Riverpaw meowed, trying out the toms name.

Stripes just stared at him with his light Amber eyes, emotions clearly welling in them that were unknown to Riverpaw. Riverpaw didn't know why this tom was acting so weird around him.

He never got this far with the tom, though. For that, he was celebrating on the inside.

Why was the tom called Stripes? Because he had a white stripe going down from the top of his head to the beginning of his nose.

"Well, whatever." Stripes mumbled, glancing at his brother—his brother just confusingly gazed back at Stripes, his similar light Amber eyes blinking at him.

"Is he usually like this?" Riverpaw asked Stream. Stream's ear twitched at the sound.

Stream sighed. "Nope. He's usually willing to meet others. I don't know why he doesn't want to meet you."

Zinnia bounces nearby. "Are we going? Are we going?" She asked, her excitement for the hunt clearly showing.

Gecko chuckled. "Yes, if that's fine with Riverpaw, Stripes, and Stream." Gecko remarked, eyeing Stripes and Riverpaw like there was something going on.