The Power of Three: Rising Moon
Moonlight shone down on cats gathered in the clearing around a pool of water reflecting Silverpelt. A black and white tom with a really long tail padded forward his amber eyes sparkling with stars.
"What Clan will this cat belong to?" he meowed, sitting at the Moonpool's edge.
"ShadowClan does need more warriors." a large tabby tom with long, patchy meowed from the other side.
"Raggedstar, you know that this cat will change the future of the Clans. No other cat has had, or will have this kind of power." the dark gray queen sitting next to him meowed, her amber eyes glinting in the moonlight.
"She should go to RiverClan." a huge light tabby tom with a crooked jaw meowed his opinion.
"Leopardstar is not the best Leader. She gave control of RiverClan to Tigerstar." the queen snorted, wrapping her tail around her paws.
"Fox-dung! Leopardstar did what she thought was best for her Clan." the light tabby snarled, leaping to his paws. "Are you saying that she isn't fit to be my successor?"
"No. I meant she should have taken her responsibility. And not give it to another Leader!" the gray queen hissed back, her tail fluffing out to twice its size.
"Enough! Yellowfang and Crookedstar, both of you are behaving like kits." a blue-gray queen yowled, her blue eyes narrowing to slits.
"I think she should choose. Let her make her own decision of which Clan to join." a beautiful, young tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat with a distinctive dappled coat and light amber eyes, sitting next to the blue queen, meowed gently.
"Thank you, Spottedleaf." the blue- gray queen meowed, laying her tail on the younger cat's shoulder. "Moon, come forward."
A pale white cat about six moons old, with dark gray patches and silver flecks and stripes on her flank, padded around the cats to reach the Moonpool.
"Which Clan do you want to join, Moon?"
"ThunderClan. That will make it easier to watch them there." Moon meowed, looking at the blue-gray she-cat, blue-flecked silver eyes glowing from the moonlight.
"Do you really want to join ThunderClan?"
"Yes." Moon mewed, tail tip twitching.
Spottedleaf gazed into the Moonpool and an image flashed in the water. A huge fire swept across the lake, burning everything in its path. Cats ran away, a few getting caught by the angry flames.
Cats traversed over mountains, through a forest, and through a valley when huge figures ambushed them.
"No. This can't be happening." the tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat's meow was just above a whisper.
"What do you see, Spottedleaf?" the blue-gray queen mewed, looking up at her.
"Dark times are ahead, Bluestar. What if the Clans don't endure it?" Spottedleaf mewed, her amber eyes wide with fear.
"All we can do is hope for the best. And pray that they will. Come, Moon, it's time." Bluestar touched her muzzle to Moon's head. Moon felt the ground under paw slip away, and was thrown into darkness.
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Moon's eyes fluttered open slowly, adjusting to the new scene around the Moonpool. Moon was so focused on the new terrain that a new figure pounced on her. Moon hissed in shock and frustration, for being caught off-guard. Moon placed her hind legs on his stomach and pushed the other cat off her.
"Who are you? You're not from a Clan, yet you smell of StarClan." the cat hissed, fur fluffing to twice its size. Moon looked at the other cat. He was a sleek gray tom with darker stripes. And his eyes were the color of a blue jay's feathers.
"My name is Moon. Can you take me to ThunderClan, please?" she asked, her tail curling around her paws.
"Why?" he hissed, preparing to leap again. A light brown tabby she-cat with a white chest and paws padded down.
"Jaypaw, who is that?" she asked, narrowing her amber eyes in curiosity.
"My name? It's Moon, now can you please take me to ThunderClan?" Moon hissed in annoyance.
"ThunderClan? What do want in ThunderClan?" Leafpool asked, laying her tail on Jaypaw's shoulder.
"StarClan sent me here. A great danger is coming and the Clans must be prepared." Moon meowed, her tail swishing from her agitation.
"Moon, my name is Leafpool and this is Jaypaw, my apprentice," the tabby meowed. "Jaypaw, I'm going ahead to let Firestar know. Escort Moon to our camp. Please, don't forget the catmint." Leafpool ran down the hill and into the forest.
"So, are we going to you camp?" Moon meowed from the entrance to the Moonpool.
Jaypaw padded up to her. "Don't tread on my tail!" he hissed as he went past. Moon purred, at his opposition to taking her to his camp.
"Let's hurry." Jaypaw hissed, running into the forest. She picked up the catmint, bolting after the tom.
Jaypaw padded into ThunderClan's camp just as the dawn patrol was leaving, Moon on his tail.
"The Medicine Cat Den is this way. Give me the catmint." he nodded when he had a tight hold on it and padded to the storage. An instant later he emerged in front of her, padding past. Jaypaw flicked his tail motioning for her to follow him.
He padded to Firestar's den above the Highledge and prepared to leap while Moon watched. After he was up and secure, Moon sprang up beside him, their pelts scarcely brushing.
"Firestar? Can we come in?" Jaypaw mewed, halting for his Leader's command to enter his den.
"Come in, Jaypaw. And you too, Moon." ThunderClan's leader meowed. Jaypaw padded in, the shadows absorbing his gray tabby pelt.
Firestar was there, along with Leafpool, Sandstorm and Brambleclaw. Jaypaw and Moon dipped their heads, before sitting down.
"Leafpool told me that you said a great danger was coming. What else do you know?" Firestar mewed, gazing at her.
"StarClan said you must be prepared and endure it. That's all I know." Moon's ears twitched as he peered down at her.
"Why else did you come here?" the ginger tom meowed warily, narrowing his eyes at her.
"I wish to join ThunderClan," Moon mewed meeting his gaze evenly. "I know how to fight and hunt already."
"You're too young to be a warrior. I'll choose your mentor," Firestar decided, padding out of his den and onto the Highledge.
"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here beneath the Highledge for a Clan meeting." Firestar called, waiting for his Clan to congregate below the Highledge.
Moon climbed down from the Highledge sitting below Firestar and the other cats gathered around the Highledge.
"This is Moon," Firestar flicked his tail at the pale white she-cat. "She wants to join ThunderClan. From this day forward, until she has earned her warrior name, this apprentice will be known as Moonpaw." the ginger tom gazed around the ThunderClan cats around the Highledge.
"Another loner? We might as well be a Clan of Kittypet's, rouges, and loners." A black and brown tom sitting next to a pale gray tom, hissed.
"I think Spiderleg is right Firestar. We don't need more rouges and kittypets. The other Clans mock us enough as it is." the pale gray tom agreed.
"We have too many non-clanborn cats in ThunderClan. Throw her out now." Spiderleg yowled, and Ashfur, the pale gray tom, Berrypaw, a long-haired cream-colored apprentice, joined in.
"Enough! We accept them into ThunderClan because it makes us stronger. Loyalty in warriors is what makes ThunderClan stronger. It does not make us weaker." A dark ginger she-cat yowled, her green eyes blazing with determination.
"Squirrelflight is right. Our loyalty to the Warrior Code, and ThunderClan, makes us our strongest." A calico she-cat agreed.
"Moonpaw will become a warrior of ThunderClan." Not for very long, Firestar.
"Brightheart," Firestar summoned the white and ginger she-cat with his tail. "you are ready for another apprentice. You will complete Moonpaw's training. I know you will pass on your courage and determantion to Moonpaw, and teach her the skills that will make her a brave and loyal warrior to ThunderClan." the queen was vibrating with gratification and dignity, at ultimately being chosen as a mentor.
"I except you pass on all Whitestorm and Cloudtail taught you to this young apprentice," Brightheart strode forward and leaned down to touch noses with Moonpaw.
Moonpaw jerked her head up abruptly and their noses collided painfully. Brightheart touched her nose again, and Moonpaw's eyes were watering in pain. The white and ginger she-cats whiskers were twitching in amusement.
"Moonpaw! Moonpaw!" came the hesitant call from ThunderClan.
"Congratulations, you're an apprentice now, Moonpaw," a tortoiseshell she-cat meowed. "I'm Poppypaw."
"Moonpaw, go pick your nest out in the Apprentice's Den. Then we can tour the territory." Brightheart meowed from where she was sharing tongues with her mate, a long-haired white tom with blue eyes. Moonpaw nodded and looked around.
"Follow me, Moonpaw," Poppypaw mewed, settling in the middle of an open area. "Our den is over here." the tortoiseshell apprentice waited patiently for the newest apprentice to follow her.
"You can sleep next to me and Hazelpaw, Moonpaw," Poppypaw meowed, indicating where her nest was, on the left closer to the center. "Want to eat? Then we could go see Ferncloud's kits, after you tour the territory."
Poppypaw padded to fresh-kill pile selecting a mouse. Moonpaw choose a vole and settled beside Poppypaw, a gray and white she-cat with dark blue eyes, and a golden tabby tom with amber eyes.
"You must Moonpaw. I'm Hazelpaw." the gray and white she-cat mewed, looking up from the thrush she was sharing with tom.
"My name's Lionpaw. You met my brother, Jaypaw." the golden tom mewed coiling his tail around his paws. "If you catch something good, you might get to go to the Gathering this moon. Then we could go together."
"Moonpaw, hurry up! I'm going to show you the borders. Then I'll teach you how to hunt." the white and ginger she-cat meowed, waiting at the tunnel entrance.
"Yes, Brightheart, I'm coming." she mewed, finishing eating the prey.
Both cats padded through the undergrowth towards the WindClan border. Moonpaw lingered by her mentor, scenting the air whisking over the moors and hills.
"WindClan lives over there. The lake is to your right. To ShadowClan's border, then we can hunt." Brightheart meowed, padding through the forest in the other direction.
Moonpaw and Brightheart entered the camp, a huge rabbit in the younger cat's jaw and a thrush in the elder's muzzle.
"That rabbit is almost as big as Birchfall. This will feed all the queens." Lionpaw exclaimed, observing her catch.
"Thanks, Lionpaw. It's hard to be accepted into a Clan when you're consider an outsider." Moonpaw bowed, dropping her kill. "I'll see you later, Lionpaw."
A large golden brown tom with dark stripes and green eyes, Poppypaw, a dusky brown tom with darker stripes and light amber eyes, and Hazelpaw on their tails, met them in the clearing halfway.
"Brightheart, do you want to join us on this border patrol?" the younger tabby tom asked, as they put their prey on the fresh-kill pile, "We were going to check the WindClan border."
"Sure, Thornclaw. Let's get moving already. Moonpaw, this is my littermate, Thornclaw. And this is Dustpelt, both senior warriors." the white and ginger she-cat meowed, pointing tail at them. Thornclaw lead the patrol through the gorse tunnel.
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I have great plans for this story, so let know if you like it, OK. This story is AU, so please don't flame me. Someone already hates, Moonpaw. Who is it? Read to find out. R&R!