Full Summary: Dreams seem to signal that something unexpected is going to happen. Kestrelpaw's dream doesn't just signal this. It tells her. And the unexpected thing about to happen isn't pleasant. Neither is Kestrelpaw's face when she realises that she has been chosen to save her Clan, or die trying. Being the hero has never been Kestrelpaw's thing, but it looks like that this is what she'll have to be, unless she wants to be the cause of her Clan's downfall.

I know the summary is funny ( as in odd ), but I honestly couldn't think of anything better to write. I was out of ideas.

It has taken me ages to even think of a story to write. I've written drafts and drafts and scribblings and have almost literally banged my head against the wall in frustration at my lack of imagination. Nevertheless, I'm here. I just got up NeoOffice, and sat thinking for about a minute... and BANG! An idea came to me just like that. I can't say it's the best idea in the whole world... but I'm going to give it my best shot.

And, yes, I know that Daisyheart has five kits, an unusually large amount of kits for a cat from a Clan. I couldn't resist it. Five is my favourite number.

And I also know that, at 26 cats ( 15 toms and 11 she-cats ) my SkyClan is rather overpopulated. But I've always thought that SkyClan is probably the most abundant in prey of all the Clans as it has virtually no rival for prey. I may be wrong, but this is just my opinion.

Oh, and because Kestrelkit and her brother become apprentices in this chapter, I've listed them as apprentices in the list of SkyClan cats because its easier that way.

Oh, and a disclaimer that applies to all of this story:

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Warriors, SkyClan, or anything else that obviously belongs to Erin Hunter. What I do own are: this plot, and all the characters ( except for the odd Warriors series character that is mentioned ) in it. Plus, anything else that obviously does not belong to Erin Hunter. If you dare to accuse me of plagiarism, then you will have a very angry me hunting you down with claws unsheathed. Oh, and no taking anything that I make up here and passing it off as your own! If I catch anybody doing so, there'll be trouble.

And, now that we've got that settled, let's get on with the story!

SkyClan Cats

Leader: Greenstar – pale grey tom with green eyes. Apprentice: Sparrowpaw

Deputy: Spottedfur – tortoishell she-cat with amber eyes. Apprentice: Whitepaw

Medicine Cat: Birdheart – brown and white tom with grey eyes.

Medicine Cat Apprentice: Sandfeather – pale orange she-cat with brown eyes.

Warriors:

Stonebrook – grey she-cat with blue eyes.

Blacktail – black tom with brown eyes. Apprentice: Squirrelpaw

Willowfur – brown she-cat with pale blue eyes. Apprentice: Kestrelpaw

Dustclaw – light brown tom with dark blue eyes.

Thornheart – brown tom with black patches, green eyes.

Redstripe – black tom with one irregular reddish brown stripe running down his flank. Grey eyes.

Fernheart – black and white she-cat with green eyes. Apprentice: Bluepaw

Runningfoot – tall dark brown tom with yellow eyes.

Apprentices:

Squirrelpaw – tortoishell she-cat with brown eyes. Mentor: Blacktail

Whitepaw – white and grey tom with yellow eyes. Mentor: Spottedfur

Harepaw – dark grey tom with yellow eyes. Mentor: Fernheart

Kestrelpaw – brown she-cat with green eyes. Mentor: Willowfur

Sparrowpaw – black and white tom blue eyes. Mentor: Greenstar

Queens:

Daisyheart – white and brown she-cat with grey eyes.

Kits:

Petalkit – white and brown she-cat with dark blue eyes.

Brownkit – pale brown tom with dark blue eyes.

Rockkit – dark brown tom with dark blue eyes.

Stonekit – light brown tom with dark blue eyes.

Tallkit – reddish brown tom with grey eyes.

Elders:

Longfoot – tall grey tom with brown eyes.

Darkwhisker – brown and black tom with green eyes.

Smallflower – small white she-cat with yellow eyes.

Poppyfur – red she-cat with green eyes.

The Apprentice Ceremony

"Oh, oh, oh! Guess what's happening today!" Kestrelkit prodded her sleeping brother with her paw excitedly. When he simply mumbled something unintelligible and rolled over, she sighed exasperatedly. "Sparrowkit. Today is the most important day of our life and all you can do is sleep! Come on! How can you sleep when you simply feel as if you're about to burst with such indescribable excitement at becoming one of the apprentices?"

"You feel that. I feel tired and I want to sleep, so get lost," Sparrowkit said rudely, covering his nose with his paw in irritation at his older sister's excitement. Sparrowkit rarely ever got excited. He was just that sort of cat.

"Hey! I'm your elder, so you can't tell me to 'get lost'! Plus, I'll be an apprentice before you will be, so hah!" Kestrelkit said, miffed at being ordered around by her brother. Kestrelkit didn't like to be ordered around by anyone, though, so it was hardly something unusual on her part.

"Shoo," her brother mumbled, pushing her away with his paw. "Go and annoy someone else."

"Fine. Have it your way," Kestrelkit bounced away, her brother's words barely even ruffling her fur. It was such a glorious day that Kestrelkit thought it would be a shame to get upset over someone as insignificant as she currently thought Sparrowkit to be. Maybe she would go and boast about her soon-to-be position in the Clan to one of the other kits.

"Petalkit! Brownkit! Rockkit! Stonekit! Tallkit!" Kestrelkit called out hopefully, looking around the camp for the kits mentioned. When she didn't find any of them, her tail drooped marginally in disappointment. They must be back in the nursery, sleeping. She hadn't seen them there, but then they were always huddled up in the corner with their mother, in the shadows. They preferred the darker end of the nursery, whereas Kestrelkit adored the lighter end.

Now what would she do? Most of the apprentices found her annoying because of her bouncy ways, and the warriors would tell her to be quiet and go back to the nursery because they were 'busy'. Kestrelkit didn't often see the warriors doing something so important that they couldn't talk to a kit like her, but they obviously thought that what they did was that important. The elders were always preaching about what you should and shouldn't do, and then they would ask to be left alone for their suspiciously frequent 'naps'. The medicine cat was always busy, collecting and sorting out herbs, and caring for sick or injured cats. The medicine cat apprentice was extremely snooty and considered Kestrelkit to be a pest. As for the leader and deputy... they were busy doing things that leaders and deputies did, although Kestrelkit was a bit at a loss at what exactly leaders and deputies did.

Which left... nobody. Being alone was not to Kestrelkit's taste at all, and neither was entertaining herself. She was a social cat, and when left alone she got bored extremely quickly. This was why Kestrelkit had a reputation among the Clan cats of being 'naughty'. In other words, she enjoyed playing pranks on other cats when bored. Who doesn't? Was Kestrelkit's less than sound reasoning.

This was such a time, and Kestrelkit's little mind began to think up pranks, and, more importantly, who to play them on. She decided to play a prank that wouldn't take too much time, and so immediately selected the quickest and simplest one that she could think of. Then she would need a cat who would get suitably annoyed with it, but not annoyed enough to punish her too severely for it. Willowfur would do.

Kestrelkit trotted purposefully towards the warriors' den, glancing around occasionally to make sure that nobody would see her going into the den. It was sun-high, and late new-leaf, so it was getting very hot. Because of this, most cats were either sleeping or dozing off in the shade. None were about to pay attention to a small kit moving steadily towards the warriors' den, however suspicious that might have been on a normal day.

Creeping inside, Kestrelkit sniffed the air. She singled out Willowfur's scent, and followed it to where Willowfur slept, in a corner of the den. Double checking to make sure it wasn't Spottedfur's den, or, StarClan forbid!, Redstripe's, Kestrelkit carefully tore the mossy nest apart. A few moons of experience taught her to do it quietly and carefully, for fear of being discovered in the act. After ripping it to shreds, she piled it up neatly and then made her way out of the warriors' den, careful to make as little noise as possible. It was tempting to go to the medicine cat's den and rip up Sandfeather's nest, but last time she had done that she had been given a severe talking to by her mother and had been forbidden from going outside the nursery for a three days, except when nature called.

"There you are! Come on! Greenstar has called a Clan meeting! He's about to tell us who you're mentor will be, but he's been waiting for you! Oh look at you! You're all dusty! Oh dear StarClan, whatever shall I do? I can't have the Clan thinking that I'm too lazy to make my kits look presentable!" Stonebrook, Kestrelkit's mother, fussed over the kit worriedly. Kestrelkit gave her mother a disapproving look as she trotted over to where her brother was sitting, his pelt shining in the sun.

"Mum. You're embarrassing me. I'm fine. Look! My paws aren't muddy, my pelt is reasonably clean! Nobody's going to notice," Kestrelkit moaned, and flicked her tail at her mother to show her that she was finding her annoying. It wasn't the politest thing to do to your elders, but Kestrelkit couldn't help it.

"Kestrelkit," Greenstar bellowed, and Kestrelkit jumped. She thought that he had found out what she had done to Willowfur's nest, and prepared herself for the lecture. She was thoroughly surprised when he continued: "You have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Kestrelpaw. I ask StarClan to watch over you and guide you until you find in your paws the strength and courage of a warrior."

Kestrelpaw sucked her breath in in excitement as she listened intently for the name of her mentor. To her disappointment, Greenstar seemed to be content in taking his time to announce this part, but finally he continued, his voice amused as he gazed down at Kestrelpaw who was flicking her tail impatiently.

"Willowfur, you are ready to take on an apprentice," Kestrelpaw gasped in horror, and shot a guilty glance at the brown she-cat whose nest she had just torn to shreds. "You have received excellent training from Longfoot, and you have shown yourself to be determined and loyal. You will be mentor to Kestrelpaw, and I hope that you will pass on all you know to Kestrelpaw."

Willowfur looked as alarmed as Kestrelpaw looked, although it was more because she was worried about how she would manage to train Kestrelpaw than about what Kestrelpaw had done to her in the past. Some of the other cats murmured words of comfort to the brown she-cat, who was looking more alarmed by the minute as her mind listed the faults of Kestrelpaw and the cures for the faults.

"Sparrowkit, you too have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to become apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Sparrowpaw. I ask StarClan to watch over you and guide you until you find in your paws the strength and courage of a warrior," Greenstar looked warmly at the newly named Sparrowpaw before continuing. "I will take you on as my apprentice, and will do my best to pass on all I know to you."

Kestrelpaw felt a brief prickle of jealousy. Why did her brother get to be the leader's apprentice? What had he done that was so good? He wasn't that special... was he? Did Greenstar choose him for a reason other than favouritism? Kestrelpaw hurriedly forced the jealousy to disappear, not wanting to ruin this fantastic day with petty feelings.

Kestrelpaw padded over to where Willowfur was, and touched noses with her new mentor. She had almost forgotten to do that. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her brother do the same to his new mentor. The leader. Greenstar. Stop it! Kestrelpaw told herself firmly.

"Kestrelpaw! Sparrowpaw! Kestrelpaw! Sparrowpaw!" the Clan chanted with enthusiasm, or, at least, Kestrelpaw hoped that it was enthusiasm. She didn't know what she'd do if it was a negative emotion that they were chanting her name with.

"Welcome to the apprentices, furball," Squirrelpaw congratulated Kestrelpaw teasingly, and ducked to avoid a paw that was heading in her direction. Then the tortoiseshell she-cat turned to Sparrowpaw. "And you, too. Congratulations on being the leader's apprentice as well. Lucky thing."

"Welcome to the apprentices, you two," Whitepaw and Harepaw, brothers and the two other apprentices said at exactly the same time. Squirrelpaw shook her head sadly at the two toms, and whispered something to them. Kestrelpaw couldn't quite make out what she said, but it sounded something like 'That's really off-putting, mousebrains'.

"Oh my little kits are apprentices now! Times flies by so quickly," Stonebrook said emotionally, licking her two kits on the head. "I'm so proud of you two! I can't believe Greenstar chose you to be his apprentice, sweetheart! And Kestrelpaw, I hope you'll be good to Willowfur. You're quite a pawful, darling."

Kestrelpaw rolled her eyes at her mother. "Mum. I know. I'll be good."

"As good as she can be, anyway," Sparrowpaw said with unusual humour, and Kestrelpaw heard a few cats chuckling at his, in her opinion, extremely bad joke. Life was so unfair sometimes. Nevertheless, Kestrelpaw was always one to look on the bright side, so she allowed his comment to bounce off her.

"Honey, don't make fun of your sister," Stonebrook scolded, but Kestrelpaw knew that her mother wasn't all that serious. Stonebrook rarely was. It was something that Kestrelpaw had inherited, although she did possess something that her mother didn't. Common sense.

"Mother, I'm an apprentice. I'd appreciate it if you didn't call me that," Sparrowpaw said seriously, and then he padded over to where the older apprentices were. Kestrelpaw followed more slowly, wondering why their mother couldn't be more mature.

Okay... I know that was a weird chapter. And I know that Stonebrook is a rather weird cat. But I enjoyed writing it, and I hope you'll enjoy reading it.