"What? The Twolegs are coming straight into our territory?"

Aspenfrost narrowed his eyes at the dark-furred tom in front of him. Shadowfur shrugged, supposedly nonchalant. "Yeah, and we couldn't see any of those killer barrel things. Guns, were they called?"

The dark brown tom wanted to give the other tom a cuff on his head for his languidness. He shook his head, trying to clear it. "Can you bring me to them?"

"Sure, whatever." With a flick of his tail, Shadowfur began walking along the gravelly path.

Blood rushed in Aspenfrost's ears as he followed impatiently, eventually overtaking Shadowfur when he heard commotion in the distance. Senses leading the way, the Landong official halted to a stop and peered out from behind a tree. He did not turn to check if the shadow-furred tom had followed. He can do want he wants.

A group of Twolegs were standing on the field with their stupid machine, trying to communicate with cats. They were completely surrounded. One waved their arms in the air as if to convey something, but only succeeded in receiving a few hisses and venomous glares. Dread crawling through his fur, Aspenfrost stalked forwards, ears perked up attentively.

He spotted Lionclaw and Flamingleaf among the crowd of cats and a few other faces he knew but couldn't put a name to. What in Landong's name is happening? he wondered, fur bristling as a Twoleg cast a glance in his general direction. What do they want?

A Twoleg wearing a clean white coat held up a small black object—Aspenfrost recognised it immediately. Although the warrior had never seen the exact appearance of the translator, his fellow officials had described it to him many a time for him to have a vivid image of it in his head. The Twoleg noticed the sudden quiet of the cats, and pressed a button on the translator, opening his mouth to speak into it.

The voice was fuzzy and had a strange, distinct accent to it. "Machine working! Working machine!" The voice seemed underwater at this point. "We will eradicate you all very soon, as you have no use for us anymore." Buzzes of static had punctuated each word, but the meaning was clear enough.

His message was replied to by a song of cacophony—cats shrieking and screeching, hissing and spitting. Aspenfrost saw the Twoleg for a split second before the cats were upon him, tearing and shredding. His ears picked up a scream building up from the victim of assault, but it was quickly drowned away by the mass of cats on him.

Horrified, he backed away a few steps, before dashing to see if the machine was destroyed. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the other Twolegs fleeing. Aspenfrost's claws sank into the soft, peaty ground as his sharp gaze discerned the tip of a dark object display itself from a Twoleg pocket.

Written by Saph! 🍩✨