Chapter 1.

The Phoenix Rising

"I'm gonna catch you Bluekit!" I yowled.

"Not for a million mouse tails!" Bluekit hissed playfully.

I ran at top speed toward her. Suddenly, I felt something crash into my side. "Looks like I caught you Phoenixkit!" I heard a voice squeak in triumph.

"Graykit! I didn't know you were playing!" My voice raised. "That's not fair! Moonflower!"

Moonflower walked out of the nursery. "Yes, Phoenixkit?"

"Graykit's cheating!"

"Was not!" he yowled. "I was playing with Bluekit and Phoenixkit! All I did was tackle Phoenixkit."

"You didn't tell me you were playing!"

Moonflower sighed. "Why don't you just play another game?" she suggested.

I brightened instantly. "Okay! Where's Lionkit? It's his turn to be the mouse."

"In the nursery, sleeping."

"Well wake him up, I'm not being the mouse again."

Bluekit let out a purr. "Okay, I will, but when he kills one of us, it's going to be your fault." She headed off towards the nursery, tail waving.

When she was in the nursery, our leader, Pinestar, jumped onto the highrock. "Every cat old enough to catch their own prey please join beneath the highrock for a clan meeting!" he yowled.

We joined in the group of cats, and Bluekit joined, herding Lionkit who looked tired. We are all mid-five moons old, which means we are old enough to join the meetings, and this would be our first.

"It's probably Rabbitleap getting her first apprentice," Lionkit guessed. As he said that, a small, brown kit and a black one stepped out of the nursery.

"Of course! Mousekit and Ebonykit must be getting their apprentice names. I should've guessed that they were reaching their sixth moon. They must've been talking about it all day. Strange, I didn't notice it," Bluekit said.

I nodded. "I think I heard them, I just didn't pay much attention."

"Who gets the other one?" Graykit wondered aloud.

Now, Pinestar was talking. "Mousekit, please come forward." Mousekit delicately stepped forward. He turned to Rabbitleap. "Rabbitleap, you are ready for your first apprentice, and I want you to make sure your skills and intelligence go from you to Mousepaw."

"I will try, Pinestar," Rabbitleap replied, stepping forward to touch noses with the newly named Mousepaw.

Pinestar turned to a small, light tabby sitting next to our deputy, Sunfur. "Deerstep, you did an excellent job with Orangestripe, and I hope you do an equally amazing job with Ebonypaw."

Deerstep touched noses with her new apprentice. "You can count on that Pinestar," she told him.

"Mousepaw! Ebonypaw! Mousepaw! Ebonypaw!" the clan cheered.

I made my way over to the newest apprentices. "Congrats Mousepaw, Ebonypaw, I can't wait to join you in the den."

Ebonypaw was purring too hard to speak, but Mousepaw told me, "I can't wait to see you as an apprentice. I wonder who your mentor will be."

"I hope mine is Sunfur!" Graykit squeaked.

"Pinestar will decide who your mentor is kits," a white she-cat said.

"Well, I want you to be my mentor, Whitelightning," I said proudly. "You're the best warrior in the clan!"

Whitelightning purred. "You definitely know how to suck up to others."

"Yes I do!"

Five nights later was the full moon, and as the chosen cats; Sunfur, Featherwhisker, Orangestripe, Deerstep, Lighteyes, Longfur, Ebonypaw and Mousepaw, prepared to go, Pinestar called another meeting.

"Before we go, I have a ceremony to preform," Pinestar announced. "We have four kits who have almost reached their sixth moon. Bluekit, Phoenixkit, Graykit, and Lionkit, please step forward."

I heard Lionkit give a startled gasp and Graykit gave himself and few, swift licks while I stood a little taller and stepped forward. "Bluekit, come forward." He turned to Whitelightning. "Whitelightning, you had an amazing mentor in, well, me, and I trust that you will pass on all of the skills that I taught you and more to Bluepaw." Whitelightning touched noses with Bluepaw.

He turned to me. "Phoenixkit, come forward." Feeling all of the cats' eyes burning into my fur, I walked to stand beneath the highrock. He turned to his deputy. "Sunfur, you are my loyal and faithful deputy, and I hope you make Phoenixpaw as reliable as you."

Forcing my excitement frozen legs to move, I touched noses with my new mentor. "Don't worry, you're doing fine," he whispered as our noses touched. I barely heard as Pinestar named Lionpaw to Lighteyes, an orange and white tortoiseshell she-cat, and Graypaw to Longfur, a fluffy black tom.

"Now, you must sit and guard the camp during the night without talking," he told us. He gave me a long look, as if I might be tempted to speak during the vow of silence.

"While the rest of us get a good night sleep," Shortclaw, an aggressive gray tom, shouted at the back of the crowd.

"Your lucky it's greenleaf," Pantherpelt, a blue-gray tom, pointed out.

"Isn't that for when you become a warrior?" I asked.

"Sometimes new apprentices do it too, it's Pinestar's decision really."

That's when Sunfur walked up to me. "We'll start training tomorrow at sunhigh. For now, you need to take your position, then at sunrise, go to bed and be ready at sundown. Got it?"

I nodded, unable to speak even if I could think of something to say. As the cats chosen left, I took my place with Bluepaw to my right and Graypaw beside her, with Lionpaw a few paces beside me. For some reason, our medicine cat, Spottedleaf, came and sat beside me, watching the sky. I noticed that the sky was darkening even more, because the stars were getting covered with clouds.

An owl flew past, and, out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning struck it dead on and, in the second in was still in the air, it was on fire. Then it flew away, as if nothing had happened. Spottedleaf gasped. I turned to her.

She stared back at me. "Did you see it?" she asked me.

I shook my head and mouthed, "What?"

"The bird, it was on fire, and yet, still alive. It's an omen." Suddenly, her voice grew cold and sinister. "The bird of fire will rise from death, and nothing will bring it down again."

It suddenly started raining. I waited a few moments and turned the words over in my head. The bird of fire...a phoenix? I froze. Phoenixpaw...does that mean I'll die, then come back to life? Pinestar pushed through the tunnel, I guessed that the gathering had been rained out. He was followed by the rest of the cats who attended the gathering and, without a word, they all disappeared into their dens.

Spottedleaf had left after giving me the prophecy, and Lionpaw, Bluepaw, and Graypaw gave no clue that they heard it. I would tell them, but no one else. Spottedleaf will probably tell Pinestar about it, though.

I turned my attention back to the gorse tunnel. Suddenly, I heard a noise in the gorse tunnel, and it didn't smell like Thunderclan. A growl rose in my throat and it turned to a battle cry as the Shadowclan leader Raggedstar jumped out of nowhere and landed on my back. His greater weight and size pinned me down as he clawed at my back.

"Thunderclan! Enemies! Attack!" I yowled helplessly.

Suddenly, the weight vanished as Sunfur headbutted him and the clearing exploded into battle. Sunfur buried his teeth in Raggedstar's neck. I flipped around and flashed out a paw that caught Raggedstar on the side of the head. Someone bit my tail, so I flipped around to attack and came face to face with a large, white tom with black paws. Instantly, Whitelightning was at my side.

"Your so pathetic your attacking the newest apprentice Blackfoot!" she hissed in his face.

He didn't reply, but lashed out at her. Graypaw butted his flank before it could make contact. Bluepaw jumped on Blackfoot and landed smack dab in the middle of his back. "How dare you attack my mentor!" Bluepaw yowled.

Lionpaw was at my side and at the sight of the fifth attacker, Blackfoot fled. "Let's stay together," I panted to them.

They nodded agreement, and I pounced on a small, light brown tabby she-cat. She was obviously an apprentice, and at the sight of me she spat, but at the sight of the others she yowled and ran. I attacked an orange tabby tom.

"Copperpelt!" Whitelightning spat. I bit hard into his foreleg, Lionpaw gripped his tail in his teeth, and Graypaw landed on his back. Copperpelt had had enough. He shook free and ran through the gorse tunnel. As quickly as they came, they left. Pinestar stood, looking confused.

"Why did they attack us?" Lighteyes yowled.

More questions broke out, and it was many seconds until Pinestar could make himself heard. "Shadowclan didn't drive us out. They didn't gain any territory, they didn't do anything. We are not at war. So why did they attack? They attacked for one reason. To strike fear into us giving them territory is my guess. We all did a great job defending the camp, and our newest apprentices could've been killed. So, from now on, every time we have an apprentice sit vigil, we will have their mentors with them."

Whitelightning, Lighteyes, Sunfur, and Longfur all stared at each other. Rabbitleap and Deerstep began talking urgently. "But surely these apprentices where safe with each other," Deerstep shouted to Pinestar.

"Perhaps," Pinestar agreed. "But if there was only one apprentice. Say only Phoenixpaw was on watch, and the others were sleeping. They could've taken her out without anyone even hearing it." The cats began to yowl with despair, and this time Pinestar had to yell to be heard. "I think that our apprentices would be safer this way, even if the mentors miss out on a night of sleep. What is more important? The lives of our apprentices or a night of sleep?"

The clan reluctantly began to agree. "Now, the sun's coming up, warriors, get to your duties. I want to see the gorse tunnel finished and the dens at least started on by tonight. Got it?"

Sunfur walked up to me afterwards. "Get some sleep Phoenixpaw, I still want you ready for training at sunhigh."

"Okay Sunfur, I'll be ready."

"Okay, I want you to attack me," Sunfur instructed.

I looked up and down over him. He was much bigger than me, so I couldn't use size or weight against him, or could I? If I could use his weight against him, I would have him down for the count. I leaped and, almost out of nowhere, he rose and struck me with a blow to the head, not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to get the point across.

I couldn't let him beat me so easily, so I turned on him. He leaped, and I saw my chance. When he was still in the air, I jumped over where he would be, and when he flew past I crashed on his back and squashed the air out of him. He shook me off and while I lay winded, pinned me to the ground. "Nice job Phoenixpaw, but you lost attention after you landed on me, try again."

Okay, so I can't try that again. He's already one to it. What if I use how fast he runs to me against him. He began to towards me at full speed. When he was within striking distance, I tried to jump out if the way, but I slipped on the sand and fell flat on my face. He was still moving at top speed, but when he was about to crash into a tree, he jumped towards it and landed on its side and practically bounced off of it to land in front of my face. " You can't even control your own weight. Learn that before you use one's weight against them."

I felt hot with embarrassment. "Sorry," I mumbled.

"Your just an apprentice, of course you're going to make mistakes. But to tell you the truth, I think that thing you came up with was smart." he praised. "That thing were you use my bigger size and weight to your advantage."

"Do you think I would have done better in the attack if I had some training first?" I asked him.

He was silent for a few seconds. "Yes, probably. But don't worry," he added when I looked sad. "All apprentices start out like that. You'll get better I'm sure. In the meantime, Bluepaw, Graypaw, and Lionpaw are going hunting at sundown and it's the duty of your mentors to prepare you for it. Now, show me your best hunting crouch."

I lowered my head to the forest floor, my rump sticking in the air. Sunfur nodded a bit. "Very good, but keep your tail to the ground, it'll lash when you see prey occasionally and you don't want that to set the leaves shaking. Whilst it's on the ground it'll think it's just wind. And stop flicking your ears for the same reason." I did all he instructed. "Much better, let's just see how much prey we bring back for the clan."

I strode into camp, a mouse gripped firmly in my jaws. Sunfur had helped me by showing how to stalk a mouse, but I made the leap that killed it. Bluepaw came rushing towards me. "You caught that yourself?" she asked disbelievingly. I nodded, my mouth full of mouse, and put it on top of the pile. "I hope you and Sunfur didn't hunt the forest dry. We're supposed to be hunting later."

"I know, but we just saw that mouse and it was practically begging to be caught." I answered.

Graypaw hopped across the clearing. "Hey guys! Your mentors tell you we're going hunting?"

"Yeah," Bluepaw meowed. "I was just making sure that Phoenixpaw didn't catch all the prey." She flicked her ears to my mouse, which lay proudly at the top of the pile.

"Do you think Sunfur would let us leave early?" Graypaw wondered aloud.

"Let's ask our mentors," Bluepaw suggested.

We all split up to ask our mentors. I spotted Sunfur sharing a vole with Palestream, a very pale orange tabby she-cat. "Sunfur?" I asked, hoping he wasn't hoping for peace with the pretty tabby.

He turned to me. "Yes Phoenixpaw?"

"Can Bluepaw, Graypaw, Lionpaw, and I go hunting?"

He purred and turned back to Palestream. "Apprentices! Always dashing off aren't they? You can go."

"Thanks Sunfur!" I called, rushing away to our favorite stump near the den. Bluepaw and Lionpaw were already there, and as I got closer Graypaw rushed up.

"Longfur said it's okay," he panted.

"Sunfur said the same thing."

"Lighteyes told me to bring her a fat, juicy rabbit!"

I turned to Bluepaw. "Did Whitelightning say you could come?"

"What? Oh, yeah," she answered hastily. I looked at her more closely.

"Is something bothering you?" I asked.

"No, it's just, Whitelightning seemed a little... off lately."

"Hmm, perhaps she is just tired. She's still a sort of new warrior. It must have come a shock to be given an apprentice so soon," I reasoned. Whitelightning has only been a warrior for a moon. Surely that's all she was feeling, tired from the patrols.

"Maybe..." Bluepaw murmured, looking unconvinced.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get hunting!" Graypaw yowled.

We went into the forest. "Let's start at Sunningrocks." I suggested. "Then we can split up."

"Sounds good," Bluepaw murmured.

When we got there, we relaxed on the rocks and waited for the sun to sink. "Shh, I hear something," Lionpaw hissed.

He was right, there was a faint scrabbling coming from the cracks. Graypaw lunged forward and thrust his paw into a crack. "Mouse-dung!" he growled as the scrabbling stopped.

"Come on, let's split up," I told them. "We probably will get more alone or in a smaller group. All of us tramping through the forest like a pack of badgers will scare all of the prey from here to Highstones."

They nodded. "You know, she's right," Graypaw agreed.

I headed towards Fourtrees. I pricked my ears and opened my mouth slightly to find prey. The scent of a vole was heavy in the air, and not far away. Looking in a bramble bush, I finally saw it. I got into the hunting crouch, remembering to keep my tail and ears still. I knew I couldn't pounce now, I would be getting prickers out of my pelt until leaf-bare. I purposely moved a leaf to scare it, and I blocked the only exit. It ran right into my claws. I buried the piece of prey beneath a large beech tree, and searched for more.

I opened my mouth again. The smell of rabbit hit my scent glands, and not far from where I stood. I moved towards where it was, not making a sound. As I neared, I forgot to check the position of the wind, and it ran away with a scream, probably scaring all of the prey nearby. I went towards Snakerocks and added a mouse and three shrews to my horde.

Bluepaw and Graypaw were already there, and as I walked up, Lionpaw joined us.

Bluepaw had a couple of voles and a rabbit, Graypaw had a shrew and a mouse, and Lionpaw struggled toward us with the biggest rabbit I had ever seen in his jaws, pushing two water voles with his paws. "Nice catch!" I yowled to him.

He nodded showing that he understood, but with the rabbit in his mouth, he couldn't speak. We returned to camp that day laden with fresh-kill, and we got first pick of the pile. As I carried off the rabbit I chose, I relished in the warm greenleaf air and the friends by my side.