This is my fourth challenge for NightClan. One-shot. Please review!


The Unwanted Clanmate

I sat alone. Well, other than Poppyfur and Blossomheart, the two elders. This was my punishment for having horrible tracking skills. I was angry with Toadpaw. My family treated me like dirt. Snowstar would punish me all the time. My mentor, Stoneflame, was mean. All of my clanmates hated me. I was unwanted.

I plucked a tick off of Poppyfur.

"Ow! Watch it there, foxdung!" snapped the the grey elder. Poppyfur slapped me in the face with her own tail. I growled.

"So, Blossomheart, as I was saying, Sunpool took the fake mouse. He was like 'Oh, StarClan! Being a kittypet isn't so bad,'" Poppyfur continued her story.

Yes, a while ago, Sunpool had joined. He used to be a kittypet named Sunny. Big deal.

I fished out the rest of Poppyfur's ticks and hissed at Blossomheart.

"I'll tell the leader you called me a foxdung," I snapped.

"And what? She doesn't listen to you," taunted Blossomheart.

I got angry and stormed out of the den while the two elders laughed and continued their stupid stories.

I walked up to a tortoise-shell tom.

"Hey, um, Toadpaw. I just-" I faltered. Toadpaw had turned around with a sour face.

"I just wanted to apologize that- that I tricked you and dunked you. Will you please forgive me?" I asked politely.

After a long pause, I sighed and turned around. "I knew it," I muttered. Suddenly I tensed.

I whirled around. Toadpaw had turned around with an angry face. I ducked under his first swipe.

"No! I'll never forgive you!" roared Toadpaw.

I had tears in my eyes. How could everyone treat me like this? StarClan didn't even help me. I turned around and kicked my only angry friend in the face.

"You dung! I-" I squeaked and soared through the air. I felt dizzy. I had hit a near-by tree. I slid down and looked behind me. My father, mother, and sisters were glaring at me. My father crouched, ready to pounce. The warrior had thrown me.

"We don't want you," he hissed. "You're unwanted." My father charged. I leaped over him, but he grabbed me by one leg and dragged me down.

"Oh, Stormclaw, no kill. StarClan!" my mom reminded him.

"Are you sure, Frosttail?" asked Stormclaw.

"Yes. Release her into the wild," my horrible mom told him. Stormclaw started pushing me into the entrance of CliffClan. Passing cats like Rainsong and Frostbird snickered at their clanmate.

I looked helplessly at my sisters, Rosepaw and Lilypaw but they shook their heads and grinned evilly.

When we got outside, I turned around. Stormclaw looked like he was going to murder me. I ducked his razor-sharp claw and sprang to my feet. Stormclaw growled and pounced, but I rolled away and regained my footing. I ran away into the mountain forest. I found a small den cave. I ran inside it and dropped down to rest.

My dreams were horrible. I was back at CliffClan camp. Everyone was at their business being mean to me.

Snowstar and the deputy, Brokenfoot, with a broken foot, were hissing and growling. All the rest of the warriors taunted me. The elders laughed at me at how stupid I looked just standing there. Apprentices circled around me to kill. The kits and queens were also hissing and growling. Stormclaw broke through the apprentices. He stared at me and claws unsheathed, he pounced and I screamed.

I woke up with a start. I was still in the mucky den. But somebody else was in there now, too.

"Rest, apprentice. I am Moony," whispered the silver cat.

My eyes closed, but I didn't dream this time at all.

The next time I woke up, I felt a little better. The silver cat was still there.

The cat bored her eyes into me. "Firepaw? Banished from CliffClan?" she guessed.

"Uh, yeah. How did you know?"

"One, I spy and eavesdrop on CliffClan and MountainClan. Two, you muttered something about yourself being punished. You mentioned your name."

"Oh." I blushed. I had never been told that I muttered while I sleep. No wonder I look stupid.

"And I know why everybody doesn't want you and hates you so much," blubbered Moony.

"Really? What?" Curiosity filled inside of me.

"Eavesdropping. You're not daughter of... Frosttail. Your daughter of Snowstar. Everyone hates daughters of leaders here," explained Moony. "But the part that I'm trying to figure out is... why."

"Oh. Okay."

"You're going to stay here? Train with me instead?" perked up Moony. "You know, I do feel lonely, by the wild is still great!"

"Hm... yup," I said.

So for the rest of my life, I trained with Moony. She showed me a river that she called 'River of Hope and Calm.' It always calmed her down. She showed me good places to hunt that were not even on borders. We would practice battling and watch stars. It was the best time of my life.


Oh, I just love that one-shot myself. Please review!