A/N: My Cousin and I came up with this story one day while swimming. I have to give him a lot of credit, because he came up with the names for a lot of things. I don't own Warriors, but i do partially own this story (my cousin owns the other part). Warriors belongs to Erin Hunter. Please R&R! And yes i know the paragraphs are not indented. Something went wrong and i am not sure how to fix it.
Swifttail stalked through the undergrowth, creeping slowly towards her prey. She was stalking a small brown mouse that was scrambling around the base of a pine tree searching for nuts. Setting each white paw carefully in front of her, Swifttail prepared to pounce when, all of a sudden, she heard the swift pounding of paws on the forest floor and felt her breath go out of her as another cat barreled into her side and pinned her down.
"Mrroooowwww!" she screeched. "Intruders! Help!" Suddenly the weight pinning her down vanished, and she heard loud mrroows of laughter coming from behind her. Realizing who had attacked her, she whirled around facing her apprentice, Bluepaw. "That was a rotten trick Bluepaw!" she yowled in mock anger, "How am I supposed to bring back prey now?"
"Are you kidding? That was hilarious!" the young black tom meowed, gasping for breathe. "Admit it Swifttail, I was amazing, you had no idea I was there." He sat up and wrapped his tail around his paws proudly.
Swifttail looked at her apprentice and sighed. "Well Bluepaw, that was rather impressive. But do tell me what you were doing out here alone."
"Well Blackstreak sent the apprentices out to catch prey for the Elders and Queens. He told me that if I did well he would talk to you and Goldstar about my warrior ceremony" Bluepaw meowed, with a spark in his bright blue eyes.
"And how much prey have you caught?" Swifttail asked, more out of responsibility than necessity, for she had no doubt in her apprentice's ability.
"Loads! Most of it is buried back there!" He flicked his ears to the right to indicate where he meant.
"In that case I suppose I have to tell Goldstar you can be a warrior now!" she meowed, her eyes sparkling. Goldstar, leader of PineClan, would no doubt be pleased that her son was ready to receive his warrior name. She also knew how much the ceremony would mean to Bluepaw, who was always trying to escape being in the shadow of his mother.
"Really Swifttail?" he asked hopefully.
"Yes really, if you can sneak up on a senior warrior without them knowing, and then pin them, I think you deserve your warrior name," she meowed. Bluepaw purred happily.
"Oh thank you Swifttail! I've got to get back to camp to tell Shadowfall and Goldstar, ok?" he asked, his eyes glowing. Shadowfall was Bluepaw's father. Swifttail purred in amusement at the young cat's enthusiasm.
"Of course you can, and tell Blackstreak I'll be back as soon as I've finished checking the northern border with Longclaw, probably a little after Sunhigh." Blackstreak was PineClan's deputy, a handsome gray tabby, and Swifttail's mate.
"Ok Swifttail! See you back at camp!" Swifttail looked into the trees where Bluepaw's black tail had disappeared one last time and set off. Another warrior for PineClan, she thought.
PineClan was one of the five clans that lived in the territory from the mountains to the plains. PineClan cats live in the great forest, where trees tower over the cats, protecting them, and, offering a fruitful food supply. PineClan cats are usually reffered to as the climbers, and this skill becomes useful in battle, as it strengthens their legs. This can offer a much needed push when called on.
She had left Longclaw to hunt for a while, and had promised to catch up soon. Now he would probably think a fox had gotten her. After a few minutes of hard running Swifttail caught Longclaw's scent on the breeze and called out to him, "Longclaw?" and set off in the direction she though he was traveling.
"Yes?" Longclaw came up from behind Swifttail, causing her to jump.
"Don't scare me like that Longclaw! You know I hate it when you do that!" she meowed.
"Ah yes, but that's what brothers do. It's our job, apart from fighting. Where've you been, I thought you must have run into trouble you'd been gone for so long!" he meowed.
Swifttail purred in amusement, "Not quite. Bluepaw was out hunting for his final assessment and decided to ambush me in the process."
"Oh, and what did you tell him?" Longclaw meowed, sitting down to wash his black and white fur and listen to Swifttail's little story.
"Ah, I let him off and told him he could be a warrior. He did really well in his hunting assessment and his fighting skills are rather impressive," Swifttail meowed, wincing.
Longclaw purred in amusement, " he beat you didn't he?" Swifttail just swished her long black tail in his face and ran ahead into the foliage and tall pine trees.
"Lets just finish the patrol already!" She yowled back. Longclaw chuckled and ran to catch up with her.
"Wait up!" he yowled, only to come crashing into her hind end a few seconds later.
"Wow," Swifttail mewed. They were standing on a small overhang, away from the shelter of the Pine trees. This allowed them to see a good part of a neighboring clan's territory.
SmokeClan lived on a vast plain that had a nasty history of vicious flash fires that killed cats each summer. Because of the constant threat, SmokeClan cats were always alert, were able to dodge attacks quickly, and usually had to move their camp around a lot. Many SmokeClan cats had pelts that were had dark stains from the smoke and ash. Despite being on the plains, SmokeClan's territory was still full of prey, such as jackrabbits.
"I wonder what Goldstar will think of this," Swifttail mewed, for the overhang could be a perfect lookout place that would give PineClan plenty of time to prepare if an attack was spotted.
"I don't know, but we better get back to camp, we've pretty much finished patrolling," Longclaw stated, and started to walk back to the cover of the pines.
"Yeah, you're right," Swifttail meowed, and cast one last glance over the plains before she followed Longclaw back into the trees.