The Path of the Wild

Strike, a long-whiskered slim male toyger cat, rode gently down the Ever-last River. The ride was long, but he had found his destination. The tallest mountains near the Ever-last River were the Stormy Mountains. Strike only had wanted to see the world up high. He only made it halfway, but only there was tall enough to find action.

He narrowed his eyes, and saw two cats fighting. Dasher, a long-legged white cat with orange point coloration and Crash, a solid black short-tempered fluffy cat with one bottom tooth sticking out. Strike ran down from the tall mountain, in a giant dinosaur-like bush, and pounced down. It was only to scare Dasher and Crash so they weren't so close. “What do you want? Can't you see we're busy?” Crash complained in a raspy voice. Strike stood still, stammering. He wasn't scared, he just didn't know what to say. Dasher just stood there growling at Strike. Crash and Dasher faced each other, and paused. They lost their anger and lifted their brows. “I guess we should show the new guy around,” Spat Dasher. 

Strike mentally bursted in excitement and physically smiled. The three cats quickly bumped into an orange striped short, but smart cat. Her name was Eclipse. Eclipse narrowed her eyes. “You walk into my territory for a reason. So.. SPEAK!” the other three cats giggled softly. Eclipse unsheathed her claws and waited until one of the cats got distracted. A small rat scurried by, catching Strike’s attention. The small cat jumped up and proved her strength by clawing Strike's face. When she leaped down, Strike was left with a bunch of face cuts. Dasher and Crash tucked their tails and bowed in submission. The cats backed up and left. 

Dasher, Crash, and Strike had to learn to tolerate each other. It was hard because of their body odors and weird behaviors. They traveled around only to show Strike different places of the forest. At sunset, they were all tired. They stayed up only for two minutes at a cliff to watch the sun go down, and fell asleep in a pile. They woke up bright in the morning and groomed each other. They went away from the cliff they had slept at and to a cave nearby. Dasher was outside hunting. He brought back a large white rabbit. The other two woke up to the scent of the prey and hrew hungry. They were already hungry so they did have to improvise. Dasher, Crash, and Strike had eventually bonded with each other. They were all in the wild so they hunted with each other. The three claimed a territory in a forest, populated with many different cats. 

A black cat with inverted white stripes, a long scar from the top of his head to the bottom and olive eyes appeared in the clearing. His dark color did make it hard to see himself at night. Dasher caught a glimpse of his tail and reported it to Strike and Crash. “A new cat? In our territory?” hissed Strike. “Does the intruder look like he's in the mood for a small fight?” Dasher shook his head. “I only saw his striped tail.” Crash growled a bit. “Fighting already? We nearly just recovered! I still have small wounds and permanent scarring!” The black-and-white cat poked from the bushes to eavesdrop. Crash snarled and looked his way. The cat ran off as soon as he was caught. Crash chased after the other cat “Oyé! You're the one they were talking about!” the opposing cat quitted. Crash looked over at the cat. He was exhausted. “Thorn, I'm Thorn. Y-you?” Crash’s pupils widened. “Crash.” After a bit of sniffing, Crash and Thorn walked to Strike’s territory. 

Thorn flicked his tail and Dasher yowled, “Aha! That's the tail I remember!” Strike glared at Crash confused. Crash looked back at Strike making a face that seemed like he had no idea what was going on. Dasher bounced straight to mauling Thorn. “Ay!” screeched Strike. Dasher calmed down quickly. The attack didn't last long; Thorn didn't get too injured. Fully recovered from exhaustion, Thorn angrily stared down Dasher. Crimson, a maroon female cat with a light red belly and velvet eyes came out of nowhere and attacked Dasher from behind. Strike and Crash did have to join in because they did happen to be team members. Crash and Strike did manage to get Crimson off of Dasher. Strike slid under Dasher’s wounded arm working like a crutch. “This is embarrassing.” murmured Dasher but showed a fake smile to hide the pain.