SPOILERS: this book is based on bramblestar's storm at the end of it there is a manga where squirrelflight is pregnant and cinderheart and lionblazes kits are apprenticed!
this story is blossomfall's and foxleap's kits are 4 moons ( i added fox x blossom and cinderheart's kits are apprenticed ) also at the end squirrelflight is pregnant to bramblestar's kits
proalog:
"nooo! starclan please!" squirrelflight wailed as bramblestar carried a limp body out of the nursery with eyes full of grief. sandstorm, graystripe and purdy padded out of the elders den grumbling at the heavy rain.
"oh no...not a kit!" sandstorm mewed, shocked. Bramblestar nodded and laied the lifeless light gray body on the damp floor. Graystripe stayed close to sandstorm as purdy sighed, his eyes full of sadness.
"how many?" graystripe asked bramblestar gently, bramblestar looked up as jayfeather and leafpool were coming from the nursery.
"3...and this little one" bramblestar replied just as squirrelflight's head appeared from the nursery. Out of nowhere the rain stopped with a loud strike of lightning and a blazing light shon through the clouds, bewilderd apprentices and young warriors shrieked in terror as senior warriors began glancing towards jayfeather who seemed to sense something.
a mystical warrior stared apon the body who then leaned forward and touched her nose to the kit that then glimmerd like the stars on the lake before dissapearing.
"what's going on!?" yowled bramblestar as he rushed to his kit who outstandingly began wailing. jayfeather stared, his sightless eyes seemed to gleam with recognision.
"half moon..." he murmerd with sadness.
"bramblestar get her in here quick!" shouted squirrelflight who was overwhelmed by a mixture of joy and confusion.
"what should we name them my love?" bramblestar mewed to his mate who was curled in the moss.
"i want the dapple light brown tom to be shrewkit and how about barkkit who looks like you?" squirrelflight finished pointing at the last tom who's pelt resembled bramblestar.
"what about the two she kits?" bramblestar asked pointing at the light gray kit and an almost black kit who was coverd with dark gray fur.
"what about shadekit?" brambestar suggested, squirrelflight nodded looking at the kit with a hint of annoiance, something about the kit made it look unimportant to the kit who had been brought to life, and her two brothers who were strong looking and handsome this ragged shape seemed meaningless to her.
" and spiritkit?" squirrelflight suggested looking lovingly at the tiny kit, bramblestar nodded looking content.
chapter 1:
spiritkit dahsed accross the nursery shadekit followed and tripped over her, spiritkit shoved her of triumphantly while shrewkit laughed. Squirrelflight stared concerned "shadekit you could have hurt her!" she mewed sternly staring at tiny spiritkit and tried to lick both their heads, shade looked suprised while spiritkit ducked away embarrased.
"she wouldn't sprain anything and anyway she would need to be careful a pulled claw would need mairygold " mewed barkkit.
shrewkit sighed and cuffed his brother over the ears,
"your not medicne apprentice yet!" he yowled and pinned him.
"tomorrow i will be!" barkkit announced. squirrelkit sighed and curled them closer to her belly, seedkit and tinykit were still asleep near blossomfall. seedkit named after lillyflower's fallen brother seedpaw who drowned, she was a gentle soul and a bushy long cream fured cat she looked just like a kitypet and her sister tinykit was the smallest kit any cat had seen, she was a tiny brown kit with amber eyes.
"come on come on! squirrelflight! bramblestar's called the meeting" shadekit yowled as squirrelflight cleaned her kits. Blossomfall crept out of her nest, daisy close by.
" ok kits out you go and remember behavie apprentices don't run out like kits now do they shrewkit? " squirrelflight mewed " ok mother " shrewkit sighed but padded closer to her, || he always was a suck up spiritkit thought || spiritkit followed her siblings into the clearing, all the cats smiled in greeting, bramblestar was on the highledge staring proudly at his kits and he becomed them with his tail. all 4 kits padded up to him.
" shrewkit, you have reached the age of 6 moons and it is time for you to be apprenticed from this day on until you get your warrior name you will be known as shrewpaw , your mentor will be millie i hope she passes down all she knows to you, millie you have not yet had an apprentice you are a skilled warrior and i hope you pass down your loyalty and pride to shrewpaw" Millie's eyes shone as graystripe smiled from the elders den, shrewpaw padded up to millie and touched noses with her.
"shadekit from this momant on until you recive your warrior name you will be name as shadepaw, your mentor will be thornclaw, thornclaw you are a skilled fighter and a loyal clanmate i hope you pass what you know to shadepaw" bramblestar mewed as they touched noses. || he's chosen thornclaw so he can proove he isn't loyal to the dark forest || spiritkit thought.
" spiritkit, you were a blessing from starclan when you were kitted, you may be small but you have allot of courage, from this momant on until you recive your warrior name you will be known as spiritpaw, your mentor will be dovewing, dovewing you also haven't had an apprentice, you are one of the best hunters in the clan i hope you pass on these skills to spiritpaw " bramblestar finished staring proudly at at his daughter he then becomed barkkit and glanced at jayfeather.
" barkkit you have reached the age of 6 moons and are ready to be apprenticed, do you wish to be a medicine cat?" he asked,
"i do" barkkit mewed confidently. jayfeather fixed his sightless eyes on him with a hint of amusement while leafpool smiled at her son with pride.
"then your mentor will be jayfeather , i hope he passes on his knowlage and skill to you barkpaw " barkpaw nodded and padded to jayfeather who touched noses with him. the clan cheared their names,
" shadepaw! shrewpaw! spiritpaw! barkpaw! " they yowled.
shadepaw's pov
"so what do we do first? the territory? hunting? fighting? is it fighting! " thornclaw looked at her, shadepaw backed of ready for a telling of, squirrelflight always hated her when she did that she was worried it would wake her siblings. || why can't she love me like she does perfect spiritpaw? shrewpaw was a suck up and too innocent for being shouted at, spiritpaw knew what was happening and never spoke up and barkpaw, well that mouse-brain was as blind as jayfeather! || she thought. But when she looked up thornclaw's eyes were full of amusement and understanding, this made shadepaw feel happy and embarrased.
" sorry " she mewed holding in her laughter, thornclaw smiled and lept up a bank with ese,
" no need, now come on all in good time first i will show you the territory i will tell you where the best places to hunt are but we wont be doing any of that today. " he told her as she followed behind.
" of course! " shadepaw ran after her mentor.
Shadepaw padded into camp tierd but purring with pride that she had seen all the territory " take a piece of prey from the pile you look like you need it " thornclaw told her pointing his dark brown tail at the pile that was heaving with pray.
" but i didn't catch anything why should i eat? " shadepaw asked confused.
" it's part of the code besides its newleaf theres enough pray for everyone and it's twice the size lately. " thornclaw said and went to talk to brakenfur who was sharing a piece of prey with his daughter lillyflower. shadepaw chose a plump vole and went to eat it near the apprentice den, soon after spiritpaw and shrewpaw joined her.
" what did you do today? " shrepaw asked.
" i was about to say the same thing! " shadepaw replied. spiritpaw lay down next to shadepaw who breathed in her familier sent.
" well dovewing sent me sniffing every bush, tree, you name it! i sware she thinks i have a nose the size of a mouse she said it was good to familiar my self with sents " spiritpaw huffed .
" millie sent me round the territory " shrewpaw panted.
" same here! Oh hey barkpaw that rabbit is huge! " shadepaw added as barkpaw approached them dragging a rabbit half his size, spiritpaw and shrewpaw eat it with him as shadepaw finished her vole.
" well i have been stuck in camp all day treating graystripes belly ache, i sware maybe if he eat less prey he would not have so many! " grumbled barkpaw. when nobody payed interest he looked dissapointed and aqwardly started to groom himself, feeling bad shadepaw asked him " what did you use to treat him? " she asked trying to sound interested, at that momant barkpaw's eyes lit up.
" poppy seeds for the pain and juniper berrys! " he told her proudly as spiritpaw and shrepaw started to stretch and yawn.
" boring you with medicine am i? " barkpaw teased and poked shrewpaw's round belly. " why not go for a run instead? " he joked. shadepaw herself started feeling tierd.
" im going to bed " she announced and stumbled towards the nursery. just as spiritpaw stopped her, twitching her whiskers.
" where are you going exactly? we sleep in the apprentice den mouse-brain " she laughed, to tierd to be embarrased, shrewpaw, spiritpaw and shadepaw headed to the apprentice den where snowpaw, amberpaw and dewpaw the oldest apprentices were already asleep and cinerheart's's kits fernpaw, hollypaw and sorrelpaw were sharing tounges in the dusk light.
" oh hey you three look we saved you some space, it is a little cramped though, and sorry if i stink cloudtail was making me and sorrelpaw practise tree climbing and fernpaw here decided to push me in the mud! " hollypaw complained as fernpaw snorted.
" i didn't push you! you fell you mouse-brain " she hissed playfully. snowpaw and dewpaw woke up .
" do you mind argueing somewhere else? " snowpaw grumbled and curled into a tight ball his tail over his ears. dewpaw yawned and did the same. " toms " sorrelpaw mewed before settling to sleep. || my first night as an apprentice || she thought and curled up next to shrewpaw and spiritpaw.
spiritpaw's pov
spiritpaw woke to a daze as a dawn light shone through the bracken of the apprentice den, a perfect day for hunting she thought, she always liked hunting. somehow she felt like she knew the territory paticulary around the hollow when dovewing showed her the territory yesterday and a name kept drifting around her head...jay something sherememberd but it hurt when she thought about it , yawning she looked round to find all the apprentices asleep but shadepaw who was begining to stretch in her nest.
" hey shadepaw? we are both hunting today right and nobody not even squirrelflight is awake so we can take the best prey it was warm last night so that means a good breckfast! " spiritpaw mewled exitedly as shadepaw got out of her nest stifly.
" but isn't that like..steeling? " mewed shadepaw though she was licking her lips.
" theres a tun of prey! enough for 5 queens and blossomfall's kits are the only ones there!..come on shadepaw! pleaded spiritpaw already heading for the fresh kill pile.
" alright fine " shadepaw huffed and followed her, they chose the biggest, warmest rabbit of the pile and eat it together, when they were finished their bellys were full and wide awake , still only the kits were starting to wake, purdy was grumbling but nobody else, || how early did we wake? || spiritpaw thought. shadepaw had a glint in her eyes.
" want to go hunting ? imagine how proud squirrelflight and bramblestar will be when we come back with a meal for everycat! " shadepaw hissed exitedly, || she wants squirreflight to notcie her || spiritpaw thought with a pang of guilt, her mother never thought of her and always on her more interesting kits, she was never awear of how skilled a fighter shadepaw was already, spiritpaw saw her in the territory while she was finding sents , the young she-cat had attacked a branch with a leap acurate enough to squash a warrior without any training.
" ok then lets hurry " spiritpaw told her as they sneaked out of camp.
shrewpaw's pov
shrewpaw and the other apprentices we allready awake, all exept hollypaw who was still snoring like a doormouse || she can explain to her mentor why she is half asleep in battle training today. i wonder where shadepaw and spiritpaw are though || shrewpaw thought as he headed into the clearing where his mother was sorting out patrols she purred when he spproached her. Millie saw him and lead him into the clearing with sorrelpaw, fernpaw and their mentors brightheart and rosepetal, Cloudtail followed a bit behind with sluggish hollypaw still stumbling. Cloudtail shoved her ahead hissing in annoyance as he snagged his pelt on the brambles.
" great starclan hollypaw what do you do all night to be this asleep in the day? " he hissed to his apprentice who ducked away embarrased.
" sorry cloudtail i have an sore pad " she told him who flicked his tail.
" thats no exuse now come on shrewpaw, sorrelpaw and fernpaw are waiting. " he said as he and his apprentice scamperd into the clearing.
" ok first we will check your knowlage " brightheart said to the group. shrewpaw scoffed and rolled his eyes.
" knowlage, i should be using my claws right now " he huffed. Millie swiped his head softly but had a stern gaze.
" now what good are claws if you don't know how to use them? " she hissed, shrewpaw stayed quiet. Just then dovewing and thornclaw approached them.
" greetings " thornclaw mewed but he sounded anxious. Rosepetal glanced at him nervously.
" what's wrong? " she asked them.
" shadepaw and spiritpaw are missing " he mewed, dovewing was twitching her ears as if trying to pin point a mouse,|| missing?! and what use is twitching your ears! i heard the stories where you lost your power, get over it || shrewpaw thought.
"when were they last spotted? " cloudtail asked.
" they were gone when we woke up we couldn't find their trail " dovewing mewed.
" we will keep an eye out " millie promised as they padded of. the apprentices then re grouped as brightheart started to speak.
" thunderclan are unique because they can fight in the undergrowth, the other clans can't because they get their pelts stuck where as we can fight well in here, and who can tell me what else we now do? " brightheart asked, fernpaw was the first to respond.
"tree fighting, thanks to firestar this gives us an advantage, we can swiftly leap from tree to tree, witch also helps us in hunting" || duh || " and when we leap on cats or run up the tree and turn round at the last heartbeat they wont know what hit them " fernpaw finished with an annoyed glance at shrewpaw.
" do you have anything to add shrewpaw? " she mewed flatly .
" yes i do, the other clans know this already and when we jump down if we miss them we take more than a heartbeat to recover so whats the point? " he mewed with a matter of fact.
" well we all know riverclan leap out the water like fish and windclan are very agile and shadowclan are pure fox-hearts and unpredictable so we need to be ready for everything " sorrelpaw hissed defending her sister.
" very good sorrelpaw " rosepetal praised her apprentice, cloudtail looked at hollypaw whos eyes burned with exitemeant.
" and what do we use against those moves hollypaw? " cloudtail prompted her.
" with riverclan we need to lead them away from the water or have quick re-actions so we dont get pulled in, or we get cold and heavy pelted, with windclan we need to trap them or sprint after them from a hiding place because we can't out run them because they train in pase and long distance, and for shadowclan we need to keep an eye on their leaders to see what tatict they are planning to do because they change it so often. " hollypaw mewed proudly, cloudtail purred. || show-ofs || shrewpaw thought,.
" lets practise moves against other clans then, shrewpaw you are riverclan, hollypaw practise our defensives on him, sorrelpaw your windclan, and fernpaw practise yours on her, ok begin " millie mewed.
shadepaw's pov
shadepaw padded beside spiritpaw heading towards the tunnle entrance, it was the only one left after the clan left when the storms stopped, they had aready hunted 5 squirrels and 6 mice, a shrew and 2 blackbirds betwean them and they were hidden near the sky oak.
" are you sure you want to go in here? " spiritpaw mewed nervously.
" it might make for quite a tail , maybe the others will think were really brave! braver than snobby shrewpaw! " shadepaw laughed.
" ok fine but be careful " spiritpaw mewed as they lept into the tunnles, shadepaw inhaled fresh air , it felt so free down here!
" it's so dark, i don't think there's any prey..c...come on shadepaw lets get back! " spirptaw squieled as a rock fell down near her, shadepaw hissed under her breathe.
" what was that? " spiritpaw mewed with a hint of challange, shadepaw rounded on her, her fur bristling.
" nothing " shadepaw replied bluntly.
" didn't sound like nothing " spiritpaw hissed looking hurt.
" it wasn't about you if that's what your so scared of " shadepaw mewed sadly and walked further into the tunnles with spiritpaw following reluctantly.
"then tell me " she demanded stopping shadepaw.
" why? " shadepaw hissed at her who stepped back in suprise. " so you can have another story to impress squirrelflight? "
" what are you mewing about shadepaw? why is it always about you! i wish you would stop being so self senterd she loves all of us! " spiritpaw hissed .
" why coulnd't you help me! you saw! saw how the sweet little spiritpaw who starclan brought to life, shrewpaw who is strong and brave, and barkpaw who has a deep bond with starclan and look whos that in the corner, dark pelt little shadepaw thats who, the one who's mother wont even look at her for more than 3 seconds! " shadepaw cried in hurt.
" stop that! " spiritpaw lost in her anger swiped at shadepaw who lept back in suprised , instantly feeling guilty she rushed to apolojise only to find nobody there.
" shadepaw? " she yowled nervously, when nobody replied she yowled louder " shadepaw! " all of a sudden a crack of rocks sounded infront of her as loud panting and whimpering filled the cave that lay bellow, spiritpaw squinted her eyes in the darkness.
" h..help! i can't hold on i think im going to fall! " shadepaw yelped, spiritpaw struggled to see her sisters dark pelt but could taste the strong sent of fresh blood. || this is all my fault ! || spiritpaw thought as she tried to help her up more rocks fell just as shadepaw dropped and landed with a heart stopping thud.
"s...shadepaw? " spiritpaw mewed helpless as a kit dreading the sielence that followed her plead. when all of a sudden as if starclan had whisperd in her ears.
" im still here " rasped a voice bellow, her heart skipped with joy as she recognised her sisters voice.
" well? " choaked shadepaw " are you going to look at me like a starclan cat or help? " she hissed trying to sound strong.
" are you ok? " spiritpaw managed as she slowly edged her way down to her sisters side .
" i..i can't move my right paw and im bleeding..bl...bleeding fr...from my side...i think " shadepaw mewed slowly falling asleep.
" shadepaw don't! please stay awake! i wont get mad again, squirreflight loves you i promise its just her firey nature like yours! " spiritpaw mewed trying to comfert her shivering sister, a wave of fear sent washed over her, shadepaw had never been this scared! she placed some moss hanging around the walls beside her to keep her warm before running to the tunnle entrance yowling back at shadepaw, " i promise i will be back! "
barkpaw's pov
thornclaw and dovewing enterd the camp with 5 squirrels, 6 mice, 1 shrew and 2 blackbirds wedged int heir jaws looking proud, barkpaw turned to his mentor who was already outside.
" thats allot of kill " he commented.
" where did you get all that ? " brambleclaw and squirrelflight asked as all the cats started looking.
" we didn't, our apprentices did! " thornclaw mewed proudly " and with only basic tips from yesterday " dovewing added beaming.
" how do you know? " sandstorm mewed impressed she used to be the best hunter in the clan.
" we were searching for ages and finally found their sent, we followed it to sky oak where allthis was stashed but..we can't find them. " thornclaw added concerned.. bramblestar glanced anxiously at squirrelflight.
" they have been gone for a while, where cou-" he was cut of as spiritpaw leapt into the clearing, she smelled of blood and looked as if she had been pulled through a thorn bush backwards, all the clan even the kits went sielent.
" help! please! shadepaws trapped in the tunnles!we argued and then the,...the rocks and the blood..the blood! " she gasped. jayfeather padded to her side and stayed close to her, this suprised barkpar since his mentor never got close to anyone like that.
" calm down, tell us what happened " he mewed calmy to the destraut apprentice.
" we..we had just put our prey by sky oak and headed towards the windclan border to see if any s..stray rabbits had crossed over. " she mewed as the whole clan listned intently.
" when shadepaw spotted the tunnles, she .. she wanted to explore she said everyone would think we were brave...she wanted squirel.." she broke of with a glance at her mother who stared horrified at what spiritpaw was about to say, bramblestar was equally shocked.
" we went down the tunnles, " spiritpaw continued clearly wanting to move on " annd we..we argued i wanted to go back, i was a cowerd, and i ... lashed at her and she fell, i couldn't get her up the ledge and she fell! she can't move her paw and theres so much blood all over her side, she was falling asleep and i couldn't wake her up! " she cried.
barkpaw stiffened, was his sister dead in the tunnles? jayfeather looked at barkpaw, " barkpaw grab as man cobwebs and catchweed as you can if we need to make a brocken bone fixed we will need that nd lets see, we will need mairygold, horsetail and poppyseeds though i'd prefere to keep her awake." he listed, barkpaw remembered each by sent and image, " but how do i carry all that? " barkpaw mewed, bramblestar and squirrelflight who's fur now stud on end with panic for their kit looked at brakenfur and lillyflower " help him, thornclaw, dovewing, ivypool, shrewpaw, amberpaw and sorrelpaw come with me, squirrelflight you come to " he mewed finally to his mate. barkpaw led brakenfur and lillyflower in his den and gave them almost all of the mairygold and horse tail in dock leafs, he then gatherd all his catchweed and cobwebs in a dock leaf of his own and nodded to bramblestar who's patrol followed spiritpaw out the camp || oh starclan let her be ok || barkpaw begged.
when they reached the tunnles bramblestar and squirrelflight led the way following spiritpaw who was pressed closely to shrewpaw who for once was not being stubborn but comferting and anxious. all of a sudden spiritpaw stopped, confidently signaling the patrol with a swish of her tail. ivypool tensed as she sented the air, instinctivley barkpaw copied and felt jayfeather stiffen beside him, did he smell what barkpaw smelled?
" she's down there! " spiritpaw yowled, instantly squirrelflight, thornclaw, dovewing and amberpaw lept down to clear room aroundd the apprentice who laay on the grounds, squirrelfliight, bramblestar spiritpaw and shrewpaw followed after guiding jayfeather and barkpaw down the steep ledge next to shadepaw. she was hardly breathing , jayfeather started sniffing around her, he touched her paw witch made a funny clicking noise and all of a sudden she shreaked loud enough to reach riverclan, thornclaw and amberpaw lept back in shock and bramblestar watched in horror as his kit lay whimpering and shivering in a pool of blood, squirrelflight coverd her in licks she screeched again when she reached her side, jayfeather nudged her softly away and becomed brakenfur and lillyflower along with barkpaw over to her .
" i can't tell if her paw is brocken or not i need to bind it with cobwebs and catch weed, thanks " he added to barkpaw as brakenfur and lillyflower dropped the horsetail and mairygold at his paws, there was an eery sielence as the cats watched jayfeather bind her paw as shadepaw's eyes glazed in pain staring at her mother with an emotion barkpaw couldn't tell, confusion? relife? " barkpaw you want to learn dont you mouse-brain? stop staring and act like a medicine cat, come and help " jayfeathers mew broke him out of his trance, he padded up to jayfeather and laied his paw over her scratch and she shreeked, it took everything within him to hold it there while he placed mairygold and horsetail on the wound to stop the infection while she continued to whimper, squirrelflight and bramblestar began to curl up to her and groomed her while shrewpaw and spiritpaw stared in shock, amberpaw stood close to ivypool and thornclaw while dovewing soothed her apprentice, brakenfur and lillyflower stood with sorrelpaw looking equally shocked, once shadepaws wounds were patched they laied her on thornclaw, bramblestar and brakenfur who was surrounded by the rest of the cats guiding them and keeping her still, she had taken 2 poppy seeds and now looked peacefully asleep.