This is by Moonstar.
Prolouge[]
I run. I dig my claws into the earth and push myself forward, trying desperately to get away from the evil behind me.
"Come back, come back!" It hisses.
"Never!" I yowl, kicking dirt into it's eyes.
I spring over a log and swerve around a tree. I run as far and as fast as I can, but it's to late. With a yowl the evil creature tackles me.
I struggle, trying to break free.
That's when I see it's face.
It's the worst thing ever. Beady red eyes, a scarred face, but that wasn't the problem. It's a cat I know, but who? It seems familiar, but...
With a snarl the cat lunges down to tear my throat out just before the world went black.
Chapter 1[]
I wake with a start.
"Moonpaw!" A voice yowls. "We're late for battle training!"
Oh no!
"Sorry Stonedust!" I mew.
I scramble out of the apprentice den. EarthClan camp isn't much, just a few cozy holes we've dug in the ground.
"Moonpaw!"
He's at the edge of camp, flexing his claws impatiently. I run up to meet him.
"Follow me." he growls and disapeers into a hole.
I hesitate, and then follow. It's dark and damp in here and I have to run to keep up with Stonedust. Then with a mighty leap he disapeers from sight. I blink, and follow.
We're standing in a huge clearing, sealed off on all sides bu boulders as big as trees. Duskpaw and Dawnpaw our battling their mentors. Duskpaw flips in the air and lands on his mentor, Darkfur. Dawnpaw weaves in and out of Thorndust's paw. Thorndust is her mentor.
"Now." Stonedust growls. Instantly my attention snaps back to him. "Show me what you've got. Let's see how you do after a moon of training."
So I begin.
We circle each other, snarling. His paw whisks out to trip me. Quick as lightning a snap my jaws on his leg and tug with all my might. I heave him over. I leap onto his back and hold on tight as he begins to kick and thrash, trying to get me off. I won't let go, I promise myself. I headbutt his head and he shakes his head, trying to clear it. I heave to one side and smash him into a tree.
"I give up." He growls.
I hop off, still tense, knowing he might spring another attack, but he doesn't.
"Nice." a voice says from behind me.
I whirl. Silverfur, the clan's deuty, is standing behind me, watching my battle.
I blush.
"Thank's." I mutter.
"I came because Willowstar wants to send the apprentices hunting." Silverfur explains..
Duskpaw and Dawnpaw trot up to meet us.
"Let's go." Dawnpaw squeals.
"Duskpaw, you're to go hunting by the Great Oak. Dawnpaw, you're to go hunting in the creek, and Moonpaw you are being sent to the edge of LightningClan's border." Silverfur orders.
With a flick of her tail, she's gone.
We glance back at our mentor's.
"You heard her." Stonedust says. "Go."
So I dive into the tunnel and race through it. I squeeze through the end and into camp. LightningClan's border is pretty easy to get to.I trot out of cam and through the forest until I'm by a large stone. I sniff,my ears twitching. I sniif again. A crow. I crouch and creep across the forest floor. I hear a caw as it pecks at the ground, trying to find food.
I slink towards it. Then I push myself forward and land directly on it. I slash my claws and it falls limp in my paws. I bury it and stray a little nearer to the border.Then I hear squeaks. I look towards a tree. A squirrel and a bird are fighting over a nut.
I crouch. I slip forwards, grass brushing my belly fur. I lunge. With a caw the bird shoots into the air. The squirrel darts towards the nearest tree. With a yowl I race towards it. It shoots up the tree and I leap, my claws hooking into it's tail and I tug it down. I sink my fang's into the back of it's neck and it dies instantly.I bury it with the crow and have and idea.
I haul myself onto a boulder and crouch, waiting. Something hops towards the boulder. It's trying to find some food. It stops near the boulder.It's a fat brown rabbit.
I leap off the rock and land on the rabbit. It squirms as I dig my teeth into the back of it's neck and hold. After a few more seconds of squirming it falls limp in my paws.
"That's enough prey for now!" I mew. I dig up my squirell and crow and drag it all back to camp.
Duskpaw and Dawnpaw are already in camp. Duskpaw has two voles and a mouse and Dawnpaw has a toad and 3 fish.
We drop our prey in the fresh-kill pile.
"Well done." A voice purrs.
I spin to see Willowstar.
"All of you. You did well on your assessment." she continues. "You had a good tecnique on fishing, Dawnpaw."
Dawnpaw blushes and looks down at her paws.
"And Duskpaw, you did well during that chase."
Duskpaw's chest swells with pride.
She turns to me.
"And last but not least, Moonpaw." she says. "You did well on catching that rabbit. Take some prey to the Elder's and Flowerheart and the kits and you may eat."
She walks to her den.
"I'll take some prey to the Elders." I mew. "You can feed Flowerheart and the kits."
I take two crows in my jaws and trot to the Elders den. The Elders den is a just very large hole in the ground.
I set the crow's at the three Elder's paws
"Hi White-eye, Violetfur, Twinklenose. I brought you some prey!"
"Thank you dear." Violetfur purrs silkily.
I trot out of the den, smiling."Dawnpaw, Duskpaw, Moonpaw!" a voice yowls. It's Willowstar. "Bring your prey into my den. We need to talk."
Chapter 2[]
I trot into Willowstar's den, a mouse dangling in my jaws.
"As you know, the Gathering is in a sunrise at 12 stones." Willowstar says as me and my littermates are eating our prey. "I'd like you to come."
"Really?" Dawnpaw squealed.
"Great!" Duskpaw growls.
"Yes, I want to anounce our new apprentices. You were named after last moon's gathering."
"You want to make the other Clan's think we're strong." I guessed. "Since we lost some of our strongest warriors in leafbare."
Willowstar's eyes become distant, but then they flash back to us.
"Yes, Moonpaw. Until we have more warriors, we won't be able to win a battle with another Clan. That's why we're trying to keep all the kits safe." Then Willowstar changes the subject. "We'll send out the dawn patrol soon. Duskpaw, go get Silverfur."
Duskpaw races out of the den. I finish my mouse just as he returns with Silverfur.
"Silverfur, I want the apprentices to go on the dusk patrol tonight." Willowstar ordered.
"I can work it in." she admits.
"Send it in as soon as Nightclaw returns." Willowstar told her. "Apprentices, run along now. Me and Silverfur have private matters to discuss."
I scramble out of the den and trot over to the fresh-kill pile where my favorite kit, Swiftkit, is. She's a moon old. My dream is one day I'll be able to mentor her.
"Hi Moonpaw!" she squeals. "Can you help me? I've been trying to do the hunting crouch all day and I just can't do it right!"
She crouches, but she's putting too much weight on her left side. I help her and she crouching like a real warrior.
"Good job!" I purr. "You..."
"Swiftkit!" her mother calls.
"Coming mommy!" and she scrambles off.
I head of to go to clear the Elder's bedding.
I wipe away their dirt (yuck) and replace the old moss with fresh, clean, new moss. I stuff their dirt into the old moss and take it to the Dirtplace where I bury it.
I get back to camp just in time to head out with the dusk patrol. I follow Poppyfur to all the borders until I stop. It can't be.
"A fox!" I say. "Follow me!"
I dart through the trees until I stop at a cave filled with the stench of foxes.
"A fox and her kits!" Poppyfur exclaims.
A low snarl came from behind us.
We whirl to see a fox and 3 kits stalking towards us.
"Dawnpaw, go get more warriors!" Poppyfur yowls.
Dawnpaw scampers away.
"Poppyfur!" I say. "I know what to do! Duskpaw, do what you did in battle training to the kits with Poppyfur! I can handle the fox for now."
"No!" Poppyfur says. "It's to dangerous!"
I glare at her.
"I have a plan, but I need you to take down the kits." I hiss. "Now do it."
With a sigh she turns to help Duskpaw who's already taken down one of the kits.
I leap at the fox, clawing at it's face. With a snarl it sinks it's fangs into my shoulder and tosses me aside like a harmless mouse.
I leap onto the fox's back and hold on. It shakes and kicks as I force it to go forward. It rears and I dig my fangs into's back. I slam it into a tree.
"Throw the kits!" I yowl. "As far as you can!"
I'm biting and clawing with my back legs as the first kit is thrown out of our territiory. We're near the border, I realize. Just chase it out of our terriory. A second and third go flying. I'm thrown off as the fox spins it's head and sinks her teeth into my right and leg and bites down hard before chucking me aside and runs to get her kits.
Willowstar and more warriors chasing the foxes is all I see before the world goes black.
***
I'm standing in a starry clearing.
"Hello!" I yowl. "Is anyone here?"
"I am here."
I whirl to see a starry black cat.
"I've died haven't I?" I asked. "Are you here to take me to StarClan?"
She purrs with amusement.
"Not at all." she says. "I am here to give you a message."
I open my mouth to speak but she cuts me off.
"Three shall journey to save the Clans from a power like no other. Danger lurks in every corner. Betrayal shall tear apart our Clans if the fuzzy icy moon does not come together in time."
She gone in flash of light.
A tiny kit is in her place.
I open my mouth to speak only to be cut off by the kit.
"Be quiet." It hisses. "I'm not supposed to be here. You are one of the prophised cats."
"Me?" I say. "No, no, no. I'm just a regular apprentice."
"I saw you being chosen!" the kit spits. "Meet the others at the Gathering. There names are Icepaw and Fuzzpaw. They'll be looking for you. I've got to go, they're coming!"
The kit races away and once again I'm plunged into darkness.
Chapter 3[]
I awake in the medicine cats den.
"M...Mid...Mindnightpelt?" I croak.
Midnightpelt turns to face me.
"Oh, you're awake." she purrs. "Just in time. I was about to wake you."
"Why?" I ask, my voice shaky.
"I need to give you some dock and a mixture of goldenrod and marigold." she explained as she lifted a hollowed bit of wood. She drizzled it on my wounds.
"Now this might sting a little." she warns as she lifts a dock leaf.
I bite my tongue to keep from yowling.
"There!" Midnightpelt says. "Perfect. You can go now. There leaving for the gathering soon."
"That's how long I was unconscious?" I ask.
"You came in and out of it." she replied. "But you can't remember because you were half-conscious."
With a sigh I exit the den. But the message StarClan gave me flashes back. I need to find these two apprentices, Icepaw and Fuzzpaw.
"Moonpaw!" a delighted voice yowls.
Duskpaw and Dawnpaw race up to me.
"You're finally out! Come on! We're about to leave for the gathering!" I race limp after my littermates.
"Will you be able to make the journey?" Willowstar inquires. I nod.
"Good." she purrs. "We will honor you at the Gathering, for without you that fox and her kits might have killed several of us."
"Th...Thank you." I stammer.
"Cats of EarthClan, it is time to depart. Those I have chosen will come. And yes, that means Moonpaw. She is out of the Medicine Cat's den and is well enough to travel. Follow me." With a flick of her tail Willowstar diaspeers into the bushes.
I follow.
"Hi Moonpaw! Great job in the fight!" one cat said.
"Thanks for taking down the fox! You'll get well in no time!" another said.
"You should be a warrior already! You were so brave!" one piped.
We walked down a rocky trail until we came to a very large clearing. 12 stones formed a circle and cats were already flooding in.
"Look! There's Stormstar!" Dawnpaw squealed.
"And Scarface, LightningClan's deputy." Duskpaw growls, but I'm gazing at a fuzzy apprentice with dark green eyes.
"I'm going to go." I mutter and limp towards the cat. Could this be Fuzzpaw?
I see cats muttering and pointing at my leg and my cuts and bruises. I ignore them and manage to get to the apprentice.
"Hi." I say.
"Hi." the cat meows. "I'm Fuzzpaw..."
"Fuzzpaw!" I exclaim.
He looks at me, confused for a moment. "Wait, are you Moonpaw or Icepaw or is this just a coincidence?"
"I'm Moonpaw. Let's go find Icepaw!" I say.
"So what happened to you?" he asked as we walked around. "You look like you were torn to shreds by a dog!"
"Fox, actually." His eyes widenend as I spoke.
"Willowstar will talk about it more when the gathering starts."
"Hey, could that be Icepaw?" Fuzzpaw asks, pointing with his tail.
A white she-cat with icy-blue eyes wanders as if in search for something.
"Maybe! Let's go!"
Fuzzpaw trots over while I limp until I finally get there.
"So Icepaw." Fuzzpaw is saying. "I'm Fuzzpaw and this is Moonpaw."
"Hi." she murmurs.
"Can you believe it?" Fuzzpaw squeals. "We're prophisied cats!"
"Well we need to discuss how to stop whatever the danger is." Icepaw mews quietly.
"You're right." I agree. "But first we need to know what Clan we're from. I'm from EarthClan."
"I'm from LighningClan." Fuzzpaw says.
"CloudClan." Icepaw announces proudly, yet still quietly.
"Ok, first of all we need to find out how to beat this evil." Icepaw meows in a low tone of voice.
"Maybe we should ask StarClan." Fuzzpaw suggests.
"How?" Me and Icepaw ask in unison.
"We go to the MoonTree and eat some MoonBerries of course!" He purrs.
"Great idea! We can get some more answers and..." I begin only to be cut off.
"Let the Gathering begin!" Stormstar yowled.
Instantly everyone sat and fell silent.
"All in LightningClan is going well." Stormstar began. "The prey is running well and we have 2 new apprentices, Fuzzpaw and Beepaw. And Beepaw has decided to take the path of a medicine cat. We've had some problems with some of the Twolegs..."
"How?" a voice yowled.
"If you must know they've built a new ThunderPath!!"
Dead silence.
"Your turn, Skystar." Stormstar's voice was still menacing.
Skystar stepped forward.
"Like LightningClan, CloudClan has new apprentices, 4 to be exact. Our new apprentices Morningpaw, Owlpaw, Mistpaw and Icepaw. We also have two new warriors Firebird and Mistycloud!"
"Firebird! Mistycloud! Firebird! Mistycloud!" every cat chanted.
"The prey is running better than usual and we have pleanty to eat." Skystar announces. "You may speak Willowstar."
Willowstar steps forward. "The prey is running well in our territory. We have 3 new apprentices Dawnpaw, Duskpaw, and Moonpaw. We'd like to honor Moonpaw because there was a fox and it had 3 kits. Moonpaw wasn't afraid to take charge and take on a fox on her own although she's only been training for a moon. She was named after the last gathering and now has some severe wounds from battling to protect our Clan." Willowstar begins the cry. "Moonpaw! Moonpaw!"
Everyone joins in.
"Moonpaw! Moonpaw! Moonpaw!"
I blush and gaze down at my paws.
"The fox has been driven towards the Twolegplace, but the fox may end up on any Clan's territory. Be careful." Willowstar finished.
"The gathering is dismissed."
Cats begin to get up to go.
"Meet her tomorrow at moonhigh." I hiss.
"Moonpaw!" It's Dawnpaw. "Come on!"
"Gotta go." I mutter and I race away.
Chapter 4[]
I pace while limping in the Apprentice den.I glance up. Finally!
The moon's up.
I stroll into camp. The only one out is Willowstar.
"Willowstar?" I say, limping towards her.
"Yes Moonpaw?"
"I'm going to go on a walk. I want to stretch my leg muscles so I can get better faster."
"Okay." Willowstar said, but she still looks skeptical.
I limp out of camp. I hobble through the forest, following the scent from yesterday. After what seems like moons I get to the Gatheringplace.
"Come on!" Fuzzpaw yowls and I run as fast as I can,still limping.
"The MoonTree is this way." Icepaw points at a tree on the top of a hill across from 12 stones.
Icepaw and Fuzzpaw take off. I can only hobble after them. By the time I get there Fuzzpaw and Icepaw are gobbling down MoonBerries. One is left on the ground. I pick it up in my jaws, chew, and swallow. Then the world goes black.
***
I awake in a starry clearing. Icepaw and Fuzzpaw are nowhere to be found.
"Moonpaw." A voice hisses in my ear.
I whirl and gasp, "Creamstar, is that you?"
The cream colored tom purrs, "Yes, it is me young one.:
"But why did you bring me here?" I ask.
Creamstar replies, "Because you ate the MoonBerries. I cannot answer all your questions, young one. But first, there is something you must see."
Creamstar gestures at a pool and I approach. Instantly I'm captivated by the image.
A black tom circles a group of apprentices and snarls, "Your choice, the deathberries, or these leaves."
"W...What do they do?" One of the apprentices asks timidly.
"That's for you to find out. Now chose." The tom spits.
The apprentices lean down and wolf down the leaves. Instantly the writhe and scream in agony. The body shift until they fall limp. Then the open their eyes.
I shudder. Their eyes are bright red and they turn to the black tom.
"What do you wish us to do,Master?" one of the apprentices meows.
"Kill the chosen 3." The tom orders and my world goes black.
I wake up next to Icepaw and Fuzzpaw. They're already awake.
"So somebody wants us dead, but who?" Fuzzpaw meows.
I shrug,as does Icepaw.