The Rush, Heron, Salmon, and Rot. (Closed for Toy, Cat, Raven, and me)

Rot wasn't stupid; he knew that he would be smelled before he would be spotted. The young tom found a way to fix that. He washed his scent off in the river and rolled in dead leaves to get their scent. Thanks to the Riverclan apprentice he had met, the rouge now had a place to stay in a somewhat uprooted tree that made a small, dark den where he could live. Firepaw was right; nobody ever came to the tree. He searched for who he was looking for by day and hunted by night, when the prey came out. He kept the prey in his den during the day after it was caught and buried it in the clump of reeds at dusk. When he couldn't catch enough pieces of fresh kill, he had his own way of getting food that he kept a secret. All the food that he gave Firepaw was fresh, no matter how or where he got it, and he always gave her ten. Like he had told her, he was a tom of his word.

It was during one of the days that something happened. Rot was returning from looking for his kin and was padding back to his den, when he heard a patrol of cats. He used his tracking skills to pinpoint where they were and how many were there. It was three cats to his left, and by the weight of their paw steps he could tell that one was younger than the other two. He guessed it was a patrol of one apprentice and two warriors, and they had the same fishy smell as Firepaw. The apprentice sounded closer than the two warriors; she was about a minute ahead of them. Rot calculated in his head that he had five seconds to hide before the apprentice reached him, but something made him stay where he was. At the last moment, he figured that if the apprentice showed signs of hostility, he could silently kill her off and then take down the other two one by one. He thought her heard the apprentice's paw steps disappear and he became confused for a second. Had she spotted him and stopped? Did she decide to wait up for the other two? Did she climb into a tree?

OOC: I was thinking that Heronpaw reaches him first and then Salmonstripe and Rushreed catch up because Cat and I made a min-plot within this plot about Heronpaw and Rot. Is everyone okay with that?

Yes, she climbed into a tree. Heronpaw was now stalking the tom- he looked pretty cool to her. She had never seen a rogue before- they looked a lot like regular clan cats, but a bit more menacing. And this one had a collar with sharp points- that was definitely interesting. The she-cat smirked, her eyes narrowing. Easy prey. He's also pretty good lookin'. I might as well confront him. The tom seemed right around her age- perfect. She gathered her haunches and sprung, landing on top of the tom. She held his shoulders firm against the ground- she was incredibly strong for her type. "Hey there, what's your name?" She asked, her signature smirk on her face.

OOC- To anyone who is going to mini-mod, this takes place after Heronpaw is made an apprentice.

It frustrated the tom to not know where his opponent was. Sometimes a rustle would come from a tree above him...or was it just the wind? He crouched down, orange eyes scanning the area in a way that didn't look frantic. Just as he opened his mouth to say 'show yourself', something hard landed on his back, and the next second he was pinned. By a girl. Rot squirmed under the stranger, but couldn't wriggle free. Just relax, Rot. You can get out of this. You always get out of things. Just relax and do what you are good at; charming ladies and making deals. 


"I am Rot, the master of deals and promises. And you are?" he asked coolly. "And why are you on top of me?" From the position he was in, he couldn't see the apprentice's face, and a bit of frustration was laced in his voice. Nobody ever had the upper hand against Rot. He was always the predator, not the prey. He was never pinned down like this. Must be one fine she-cat if she can pin me down.

"Nice to meetcha, Rot. Name's Heronpaw. Deals and promises, huh?" She asked, locking her eyes with his. She had a sort of glare on her face, and usually, this glare left people a bit confused. At his question, she thought for a moment. "Well, you see, Rot, that when you jump on someone from above and knock 'em down, they usually land on their back, and you're one of the usuals." She said, smirking. "So, Rot, what brings you to this part of the forest?" She asked, freeing her paws and backing up, freeing him to move. She licked her paw whilst staring at him.

"Ha ha," he said lamely. "Lay off the sarcasm, Princess." He stood up when Heronpaw backed away and didn't bother to clean the dirt and leaves from his pelt which now clung there. "I'm on important business, so mind your own," he barked, feeling somewhat guilty for being so mean to Heronpaw. He finally got a good look at her; nimble form, sharp claws, dusty brown fur with black markings and white chest and paws, grey-brown eyes that left Rot confused for a reason he could not explain. Suddenly, he wished he told her why he was in the forest. Rot longed for a friend to talk to, but he knew that he should never get one because he would just hurt it somehow. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be back with your warrior friends? What's taking them so long, anyway?" Rot's reddish-brown fur glowed a crimson in the sunlight that sparkled down on him and his narrowed orange eyes looked like two balls of light as they reflected the sun's rays.

Heronpaw, being the stubborn cat she was, shrugged at the sarcasm comment. At his next words, she shrugged again- a smug smile on her face. "Warriors are really paranoid, I guess. They like to check everything out. Or maybe they're too dumb." She replied, eyes gleaming.

OOC- Sorry it's so short, I can't think of anything to say.