Disclaimer: yay, I have one now: I do not own the warrior series ME NO OWN. I do own this story and the OCs (too many to list) Go leafstorm!

Wildpaw's ears twitched and filled with the sound of tiny paws scratching through the underbrush. She turned her head and saw a red, bushy tail whip out of sight. Dropping into the hunter's crouch, she began to stalk the squirrel, all of a sudden the sound of pawfalls stopped abruptly. Wildpaw froze, had the squirrel heard her? Then the squirrel raced across the dead leaves of leaffall, picking up speed as Wildpaw streaked after it, leaping as it scurried up a tree. She lost her grip on the tough bark and fell to the ground with a thump.

"Fox dung!" Wildpaw exclaimed, tasting the air for any other prey scent. It was her first assessment and she only had two mice who were so skinny that they were worthy of leafbare. She heard the underbrush rustle and saw a flash of red fur, and realized, with her paws prickling, that her mentor Redcloud had seen her. Wildpaw sighed, she wanted so much to impress her mentor, but her assessment was going all wrong. Out of any cat in the clan, she respected Redcloud the most, he was fit to be leader and had a commanding presence.

Reluctantly, she turned around and headed toward the lake near the ancient oak, maybe she would find a water vole. Or something. As she padded for the lake a scent hit her in the nose. On the bank a water vole scuffled around and was nearly begging to be caught. She again dropped into the hunter's crouch, and stalked forward light and fast. As she neared the water rodent, the water vole sensed her and dived back into the water. Wildpaw nearly screeched with dismay but she knew that, by doing so, she would alert all the prey between here and Moonpool. She hoped Redcloud hadn't seen her, what kind of warrior would she make if she couldn't even catch a piece of unsuspecting prey? Leafpaw had probably caught loads more than she had. She couldn't bear if Leafpaw, her best friend was made a warrior without her.

……………………………..

Wildpaw couldn't believe her luck. She had been about to return, dejected, back to camp with only two meager pieces of prey but now had three mice, a fat rabbit, a squirrel, and a water vole. Setting her catch proudly on the now well-stocked fresh kill pile, she turned and came face to face with Brightstar, Thunderclan's leader.

"You can take that straight to the elders," she said, nodding toward the rabbit, "and well done, Redcloud tells me that you hunted very well." Wildpaw was taken aback by the direct attention from the leader but glowed with pride at the praise. She gripped the plump piece of prey in her jaws and began hauling it towards the elders' den.

"About time," meowed Tornpelt, a cranky elder, "I thought we were going to starve all day." Wildpaw dropped the rabbit in front of him and backed out.

"Wildpaw!" A voice yowled behind her, making Wildpaw jump.

"Don't do that!" She said angrily, "you nearly scared the fur right off my back, Leafpaw!" Calming down, Wildpaw asked, "how did your assessment go? I caught a whole lot of prey!"

"Really? I caught five pigeons and a mouse, great Starclan, that took ages to bring back," Leafpaw mewed, " I brought this back to eat," she meowed, prodding a plump pigeon with her forepaw, "want to share?"

"Sure," Wildpaw said gratefully, moving closer to Leafpaw so she could take a bite.

……………………………………

"I'm so tired," Leafpaw yawned, arching her back, " I've got to get some rest so that I can do my best tomorrow."

"Good id-," but the rest of Wildpaw's statement was drowned out by a terrible caterwauling at the entrance of the camp.

"Attack!"

There was barely a second's warning before cats started streaming into the camp.

"Shadowclan," Leafpaw hissed, baring her teeth and lashing her tail, "Come on Wildpaw, let's make crowfood out of them." Leafpaw dashed into the oncoming cats, clawing and biting. Wildpaw look around in confusion, Leafpaw seemed to be doing ok she thought, watching her friend jump on a Shadowclan warrior's back and ride him around despite his fruitless attempts to claw her off. Maybe she fall back to the nursery and defend it, Wildpaw thought, looking back as Redcloud shot past her, waking her reverie.

"Behind you, Wildpaw!" Redcloud's shout hit Wildpaw in the ears as hard as any physical blow, before she could quite recover a Shadowclan tortoiseshell leaped on top of her and pinned her hindquarters down, about to claw her neck with her unsheathed claws, Wildpaw squirmed but the weight was too much, this was the end.

She closed her eyes and hoped that she would have a quick painless trip to Starclan.

"No! Wildpaw!" A flash of red streaked by and the weight was lifted from her body, she lay there, limp for a moment then struggled to her paws. Redcloud was next to her, fending off the tortoiseshell and another warrior at the same time. Thornheart, the Shadowclan deputy, joined the fight and clawed Redcloud across the muzzle. Wildpaw leaped and twisted in midair to land on the deputy's back. Though not as good as staying on as her friend, Leafpaw, the move worked and Thornheart was thrown off balance into Iceclaw, a Thunderclan cat with silvery blue fur. Iceclaw viciously bit the deputy's shoulder and Thornheart fled, his tail streaming behind him. Now it was Thunderclan that was on the offensive and moving as one they chased the already fleeing cats out of their territory on to the thunderpath.

"And stay out!" Leafpaw yowled after them. Every cat returned to camp with his or her spirit high to find a bloody mass in front of the nursery. Brightstar lay on the ground with her jaws still in a snarl and her body oddly stiff.

"Brightstar!" Sparrowwing ran to her leader's side, desperately working her paws into his leader's shoulders to try and wake her up.

"She's losing a life," meowed Lightspirit, the Thunderclan medicine cat, padding forward, " but she'll still be weak so let her rest." Even as Lightspirit uttered these words, Brightstar groaned and opened her eyes.

"I wonder what life she's on now?" Leafpaw asked, scrutinizing her leader. Wildpaw wondered too, what would it be like? To have nine lives? All leaders were granted nine lives so that they could better serve their clan, and so that they could always be first into battle. What would it feel like, to die, and then to come back?

"Wildpaw?" Leafpaw's voice made her come back to reality with a thump. Leafpaw was looking at her with an air of someone that has just asked a question and was waiting for an answer.

"I'm sorry –what?" Wildpaw asked, twitching her tail with embarrassment.