Timber
The collies pup slinks around the side of the house, nose to the ground. He pauses beside the porch and waits for Shimmer.
Shimmer
She follows Timber excitedly and also yips excitedly and sits by the porch where he was. "So where shall we start and what weird creature are you gonna show me first!?!?!?" She barks excitedly.
Timber
"I'll show you the cats first!" he replied, tail waiving. The pup pushed his muzzle under the stairs of the porch, and an angry hiss is heard. Soon, he pulls his head back with a kitten held firmly in his jaws, by one of its hind legs. The kitten pins her ears back, and gives another hiss. She was gray, and a forth the size of the pups. "What do you want, Timber?" she asked harshly, trying to pull from his grasp.
"This is Molly." the pup says, ignoring the kitten. "There are two other kittens. They can climb straight up trees! And they have claws that come out of their paws, and go back in so you can't see them!" the pup spoke excitedly, still holding Molly's hind leg.
Shimmer
She smiles. "That’s cool! And she makes a funny sound to. Is she sick?" She asks referring to the hiss.
Timber
Molly finally pulls her leg from Timber's jaws and springs away from him and onto the porch. A black hued kitten slinks up beside his sister, Molly. A third kitten also appears, smaller than the rest and a mixture of black and tan. Her tail flicks quickly from side to side, and her ears go back, "Great, another pup!" the young feline hisses.
Timber grins, "Are you sick Molly? What about you Gremlin?" he asks the black and tan kitten, and the gray one.
"No, we aren't sick." Gremlin replies, still flicking her tail in agitation. "What do you want?"
Timber ignores them again, and turns to Shimmer, "You wanna see them climb a tree?"
The black kitten's eyes go wider, "Don't chase us, Timber! You know our mom won't like that..." he tries to threaten the pup.
The collie grins, "Quiet, Shnuffer. You know you like to climb trees. I just wanna show Shimmer."
Shimmer
She wags her tail excitedly and also ignores the kittens as Timber does. "Ok that should be cool!" She yips excitedly.
Timber
"Chase them towards the trees, but don't let them get away and hide!" Timer yipped as he sprung at the kittens. Gremlin hissed and leapt straight up in the air. Molly and Shnuffer leapt backwards, whirled around, and took off through the tall grass in the yard. Timber raced after them, barking happily as they ran closer to the trees.
Gremlin sprung gracefully up to the railing and glared down at Shimmer. This kitten refused to run away. Her fur was bristled, and her ears were laid flat against her head, and out to the sides slightly. Her tail twitched wildly this way and that. "Don't even think about chasing me." she said to Shimmer.
Shimmer
She laughs. "Don’t worry I will." She says. She barks at Gremlin and hops up onto a box and barks loudly at Gremlin. She fake snaps at Gremlin also.
Timber
Gremlin whipped out her paw and slashed at Shimmer with her claws out. The kitten narrowly missed Shimmer's nose, though her small claws wouldn't have caused any more than a small scratch. Gremlin was the smallest but the most fierce of the three kittens, "I'll tear your nose off!" the kitten was perfectly serious about her odd threat, and she took another swipe at the pup, although she had to back away because Shimmer could reach her from the box. Soon, Gremlin would have nowhere to go.
Shimmer
She looked at Gremlin curiously. "h those claws can’t hurt me." She said not thinking that they were sharp. She was thinking they weren’t like a dog or wolfs. She hops on the rail and is careful to keep her balance. She grabbed Gremlins leg just to scare her so shed run. She tugs on in then nudges her so shed fall a short drop off the rail and hopefully run.
Gremlin
As soon as her leg was grabbed, Gremlin lashes out with all three of her other paws. She slashes out with the little, sharp claws. Wherever the little claws struck, they dug through Shimmer's puppy fur like thorns. Gremlin snapped at the pup's muzzle, but her small jaws weren't strong enough to cause much damage. "Let go of me!" she screeched in fury.
Shimmer
She snarled a bit when she was scratched so she jumped off the rail still holding onto Gremlin. Gremlin would hit the ground but not to hard since it wasn’t a long drop but a short one. As Shimmer lands she releases Gremlin and barks madly at her to scare her and make her run up a near by tree. Gremlin may have been stubborn to move but Shimmer could be very persistent if she wanted to be.
Gremlin
Gremlin sprung away, then made a sudden dash towards the trees. Over a foot from the base of a tree, Gremlin launches her light body up and onto the base of the trunk. She scrambled up the trunk to a branch that was only three feet from the ground. Shnuffer and Molly had reached the same tree, and Timber was there as well, barking and waiving his tail excitedly. Molly looked annoyed, while Shnuffer seemed quite frightened. Gremlin looked like she'd tear apart the next pup to touch her. "I'll call for our mom!" the little kitten warned.
Shimmer
She barks at them then stops and laughs. "Go ahead Id like to see a bigger cat!" She yips excitedly to Gremlin. She then looks to Timber "
Timber
Timber grinned, tail waving still, "Yeah! And I'll bet their mother can climb trees too! I've never seen her yet."
"MOM!!!!" Gremlin hollered out, while keeping her eyes on the pups, "HELP US, MOM!!!"
Soon, a cat colored like Gremlin came running across the yard. She was much larger than her kittens, and had thick fur around her neck, almost like the ruff of a wolf. When she spotted the pups, her fur expanded until she looked much larger than before. Her ears came back and she made a sudden rush at Timber. She was a furious ball of fur and claws as she swung her paws this way and that and snapped at him. Timber yelped and stumbled back, fling a paw over his face, trying to shield it from the mother cat. "She's mean!" the pup cried out, still trying to get the cat away from him.
Gennavive, the mother cat, soon left Timber with many cuts across his face. She then turned her anger upon Shimmer and lunged at the pup, lashing out and biting like she had done to Timber.
Gremlin flicked her tail slower, grinning slightly. Molly watched with a slight grin as well, but seemed more bored than anything. Shnuffer still seemed terrified.
Shimmer
She saw the mother cat lunge at Timber then turn to her. She wasn’t gonna give the kittens satisfaction of seeing the mother claw her and Timber to Death. She lunged for the mother and grabbed her by the scruff and picked her up. She closed her eyes so they wouldn’t get scratched. She then began to run and swing her head wildly.
Timber & Cats
Genavive hissed in outrage. Since her ruff was thick, and she was very agile and flexible, the cat twisted around as Shimmer held her scruff. Her fangs were imbedding near the pup's nose, and her claws raked across the whole length of Shimmer's muzzle. "Let me go! Leave my babies alone!" she shrieked out in fury.
Timber had been very taken aback by the attack. Cats were so quick and fierce! But he saw that Shimmer would need help, and ran after her. He snarled a puppy snarl and nipped at the cat's tail. He had already learned that humans didn't want the kittens to be hurt by him or the other collies, but it didn't seem fair that they let the kittens attack the pups.
When her tail was nipped, a powerful hind leg lashed out at Timber and made four long scratches across his muzzle as well. "Let me down!" her hissing and screeching continued.
Shimmer
She yelped but still held on and just bit down further. She ran to a small pond and jumped in while still holding onto the mother for she heard cats hated water. She then leaps out of the water the blood washed off her face. She looks to Timber. "Thanks for trying to help. I think we better split before she attacks us again." She said. "Oh and are you ok? Those cats have sharp claws."
Timber & Cats
Timber nods, "I'm alright, are you? Yeah, I didn't know how mean that mother cat could be!" He glanced back at the pond and saw that Genavive was swimming towards the shore now. She looked much thinner then before, now that her thick fur was weighted down with water.
Timber turned and ran, "Follow me! I know something else to show you!" He ran off quickly back to the ranch, and around the other side of it. He stopped, panting beside a back door and waited for Shimmer.
Genavive didn't follow after, and instead went to her kittens.
Shimmer
She quickly runs after Timber and stops. She nods to him and then looks around curiously.
Timber
He waived his tail happily once more, "The cats are interesting, but I guess we shouldn't mess with them when their mother is around. But now I'll show you something that doesn't even have any claws to scratch with!" Timber told her excitedly. He padded around to another side of the house, then suddenly dropped his body low to the ground and slinked forward slowly. On a pile of wood was a garter snake, basking in the sun. "There is one of the funniest looking creatures! It doesn't blink, or have any legs!" the pup whispered.
Shimmer
She follows him and also slinks closer. She stands still and watches the snake. "Wow! That’s cool. I wonder why it can’t blink? Doesn’t it have eyelids?" She says out of her own curiosity.
Timber
Timber shrugs, "I don't know. I don't think it does..." he leans closer to the basking snake. The garter snake had been sleeping, but its tongue suddenly flicked out and caught the scent of the pups. Her sleek black head turned to see Timber leaning closer. Very alarmed, the snake coiled up, and hissed at the pups. They looked so large to her!
Shimmer
"Wow allot of these animals make that funny noise!" She says. She suddenly sniffs the snake.
Timber
Timber nods, "Yeah, maybe they're all sick. Or they don't know how to snarl." he grins at that explanation.
When Shimmer sniffed the snake, the garter struck at her, biting her nose. But she had no fangs or big teeth to cause any harm. She only meant to scare the pup away, because she feared Shimmer was trying to eat her. The garter snake writhed its body, and began to scoot backwards, trying to get further away from the pups while keeping her eyes on them.
Shimmer
She laughed as the snake bit her nose. She wasn’t surprised it struck at her. "Wow it has no teeth. It can’t hurt us." She said. She smiled and nodded agreeing with Timbers explanation. She nudged the snake and then looked to Timber. "Hey lets go see more strange animals."
Timber
"Alright!" Timber said, "I know a bunch more strange animals!" Before he left though, the pup nudged the garter snake until she bit him on the nose as well. She also bit Shimmer once more before realizing the pups knew she was bluffing about being harmful.
Timber sprinted off towards the barn area this time.
Shimmer
She smiled at the garter snake and laughed again. She then suddenly sprinted after Timber.