Sooo this book might end at around 15ish chapters :/

yes, I know, art, wow. (praise me here. be unreasonably kind) --->

TWs: fighting, death, wAtER, sobbing

------

Frog pounced on where the bird should be they hissed as it flapped away into the trees.

Wonderful, they thought, Now I won't have prey for Fisher and Smoke.

They stalked away through the ferns towards the camp area. Their fur still hurt where the fox had ripped chunks of it, but the pain faded every day.
It had been at least ten more moons, and Frog was growing bigger. They had noticed it in their paws and fur.

"Hey, Frog!" Frog jumped and twisted, seeing Smoke. They sighed with relief.

"Hi, Smoke. Catch anything yet?" Frog dipped their head.

"Not yet. Prey is scarce around this time. Would you like to hunt with me?" The dark gray she-cat asked cheerfully.

"Sure! I think I smelled some mice this way." Frog pointed to a clump of brambles with their tail.

Smoke followed Frog through the thick, thorny bushes and around a large rock. Frog wasn't paying attention to where they were going and emerged into a small clearing. Panicked, they saw some cats patrolling.

"Rogues!" One of them snarled.

"Get them!" Yowled another.

Frog turned and fled back into the bushes, Smoke right in front of them. They turned a couple of corners, always making sure they were behind the dark gray she-cat. Frog looked back and saw the cats chasing them. They sped up and crashed into a tree.

"We've got them!" One of the cats screeched. Frog struggled to their paws, their one blue eye flicking back and forth, trying to find Smoke.

They were backed against the edge of a cliff. Frog felt one of their paws slip and heard a rock tumble into the faraway river.
They hissed at the nearing cats, back arching and claws out. One of them, a black she-cat, growled and unsheathed her claws in response.

Frog suddenly felt very small. Their eye widened and rounded, and their ears pinned to their head as they glared at the cats.

"FROG!" One of the larger cats suddenly collapsed under Smoke. The other two broke out into fighting. Frog threw themselves at a dappled cat, landing squarely on her back and pummeling her with their hind claws.

The dappled cat screeched, trying to shake them off, but Frog held on tightly.

"Oof!" Frog landed with a thud as they were shoved away from the dappled she-cat. The black cat glared down at them. Yowls of pure fury rang out, and Frog saw Smoke fighting with the biggest, a white tom with a golden tail.

Time seemed to slow as Smoke and the tom clawed at eachother, getting dangerously close to the edge of the cliff.

"SMOKE!" Frog screeched, bolting towards her and barreling into the tom. The tom let out a wail as he slipped and fell from the cliff. Frog grabbed Smoke's scruff and forced her to run. The other two cats were in a state of shock.

"Run, Smoke, RUN!" Frog cried. The two sped away from the clearing and made it to safety just as they heard echoing yowls of pain from the remaining cats.

"GOLDENTAIL!" Pinefall wailed, crouching over the edge. The white warrior was nowhere to be seen, he must've been carried away by the feirce current of the river.

Dawnchirp shivered behind her, fur bushed and eyes wide with alarm.

"Goldentail..." Pinefall's voice trailed off as she began to cry. She put her paws over her nose and sobbed. Dawnchirp padded over and lay beside her. The new warrior licked between Pinefall's ears comfortingly.

"Pinefall! Dawnchirp!" Redeye called through the trees. The deputy emerged with three other warriors.

"Oh my goodness... You're alright!" Deerfrost sighed, running forwards happily. She slowed as she neared, fur fluffing against the cold.

"What happened?" Breezerunner demanded.

"We were patrolling... and we saw some rogues. We chased them off. One of them ran away and we cornered the other. We were about to attack when the first came back around and... Goldentail fell off the edge." Dawnchirp explained sadly.

"Oh... Goldentail..." Crowclaw leaned over the cliff, jumping back when a loose rock fell.

"We must tell Hermitstar at once!" Redeye nodded to Breezerunner and Crowclaw. The two warriors went ahead of the group and ran in the direction of camp.

"Pinefall. Let's get back to camp." Dawnchirp murmured to the grieving warrior softly.

Pinefall didn't answer, seeming focused on her thoughts.

Dawnchirp felt a twist in her belly.
Surely the rogues wouldn't be such a big problem.

"We barely made it out alive!" Frog was busy telling Fisher about the fight. Smoke brought her paw over her ears again, smiling as the younger cat was chattering like a dove.

"Smoke almost fell off the cliff, but I pushed the white cat off her just in time!" Frog boasted. They took another bite of their mouse, paused, and continued.

"I jumped onto the dappled cat and held on really tight- I should show you how to do it! It's awesome!" They got to their paws and got into battle pose in front of Fisher.

"Okay. Now I'm gonna jump on you, and you try to shake me off."

Frog leaped, landing on Fisher's back with a small grunt and holding on tightly as she began to shake.

"Get off!" She growled jokingly.

Frog yelped as they accidentally lost their grip and tumbled off of the older she-cat. They giggled and rolled onto their paws again.

"Come and get me, Clan cat!" Frog teased, bounding away. Fisher began to chase them, laughing as she jumped and landed on them.

Smoke stopped washing and looked down at her paws. The paws that had healed Frog and killed countless peices of prey. The paws that fought and ran.

Frog could've died today.

Smoke snarled, imagining the 'Clan cats' as Frog called them dying under her claws.