What would have happened if Tigerstar's father never left ThunderClan?
Tigerkit scurried out of the nursery and out into ThunderClan camp. Spotting his father, Pinestar, he raced over to High Rock and leaped onto his father's back.
"Hey, Tiger!" Pinestar purred. He batted his son on Tigerkit's head and the kit squeaked in excitement.
"Can we go play Hunter and Mouse?" He asked, clearly wanting to get some attention from his father.
The older cat grinned. "After I come back from my patrol, alright?"
Tigerkit stared at his father with wide eyes. "Where are you going?"
"Oh, just out for a good hunt," His father replied, glancing at three other cats who stood by the camp entrance, waiting. "I'll bring you back a nice plump mouse, alright?"
The kit nodded and his father stood up, allowing his son to clamber off before heading out of camp, his son staring with proud eyes at Pinestar.
"Tigerclaw, may I please see you for just a moment?" Pinestar's frail voice sounded from his den as Tigerclaw passed.
The young warrior, who had just said goodnight to his apprentice, glanced around surprised, but nodded and slipped inside. It was dark, as normal, but his eyes adjusted to see his father laying on his side in his nest. His hips slowly moved up and down as he breathed, and Tigerclaw gave a shaky sigh, knowing that this was it. His father had mentioned many moons before that he was on his final life, and now he was quite old and was even growing sick.
"Tigerclaw, my son," Pinestar spoke in a slow manner. "I do not know how much longer I will last... But this afternoon, Sunfall informed me that he was too sick to keep being my deputy. So... I have decided to choose you as my successor."
The brown tabby stared at his father with wide eyes. "Me? But, I'm still young! I can't be a deputy, nor a leader, not yet!"
"I believe in you, Tigerclaw," The leader mewed softly. "StarClan has approved of my decision, and I know you will lead ThunderClan well. Now, leave me be, please..."
The new deputy sighed and nodded, leaving his father to his rest while he thought about his new future.
"Tigerstar, who's going to train my son?" Snowfur, the new anxious queen, asked her leader.
Tigerstar stared out at the forest with warm eyes. "I'll train him myself, don't worry. He'll be a better warrior than any other cat in the forest."
Snowfur sighed happily and stood up. "Well, I'd better go get him some dinner. He hates it when I don't feed him as early as he would like."
Tigerstar nodded and watched the queen leave, many other thoughts still on his mind...
"Tigerstar, we've got incoming cats all around!" Whitepaw whispered to his leader.
Tigerstar swerved around his apprentice and stared at the fence that marked as a border for ThunderClan territory. "We need reinforcements. Go get Bluefur and tell her to gather as many patrolling cats as possible, then bring them here to force these new cats back."
For months now, ThunderClan had been noticing a new group of cats living in the Twoleg place. These cats weren't like normal kittypets- they called themselves BloodClan, lead by their mysterious leader Scourge. Now they were flooding into the territory like rats, and thankfully had not yet spotted Tigerstar as he and his apprentice stood nearby, watching.
A few cats yowled at each other, ordering each other to go find any cat they could and to kill them if they refused to give up their territory. Tigerstar wasn't about to let that happen.
"Tigerstar, I told Bluefur and she went to find the patrols," Whitepaw returned to his leader's side and flicked his tail. "They'll be-" Cats outside the hiding spot yowled in terror and anger, and Tigerstar realized his first battle as leader had finally begun.
His flank rose and fell with his every breath. Tigerstar lay on his side, just like his father had, in his nest. His eyes were glazed over with the many years of being blind, and he stared out into the darkness he now always saw. It was hard to lead his Clan this way, but with the help of his deputy Bluefur, he was now able to rest in peace until his final day came.
Giving out a hoarse cough, he closed his tired eyes and drifted into a deep sleep...
Please review and tell me which What Would Have Happened If... I should do next.
