The Adventures of Cloudclan 001

In the heart of a deep, deep forest, there lives a great clan of cats. These cats are noble, fearless, and loyal. They will fight to the death to defend their clan. And in times of trouble, they call upon Starclan, the clan of great cat spirits, to help them. This is Cloudclan.

Rosepetal crept to the middle of camp, which was surrounded by all of the dens: The leader's den, the medicine cat's den, the apprentices den, the warriors den, the nursery, and the elders den. Rosepetal called all the warriors and apprentices out of their dens. Ivyblaze lapped her red-brown fur and came out of her den. Rosepetal's apprentice Gingerpaw came out, along with Vixenstep and Waterpaw. Soon, everyone was outside.

"Alright, time to start patrols," Rosepetal announced. "Vixenstep and Gingerpaw, you'll come with me on a hunting patrol. Ivyblaze, Tulippaw, and Waterpaw, you'll go on border patrol. Afterwards, training sessions."

Everyone left to their duties. Ivyblaze took her apprentice and Tulippaw on patrol, where they searched the borders for anything dangerous. To some cats, one warrior and two apprentices might not seem like much of a patrol, but Cloudclan was still only a new clan. They only had so many apprentices and warriors. Ivyblaze didn't think this meant that they were weak, but she was still nervous on patrol and kept her ears pricked. Meanwhile, Tulippaw and Waterpaw were talking about one thing and another. Ivyblaze turned and hissed at them.

"Quiet," she hissed. "You're making enough noise to let anything in earshot know we're here. This is a border patrol, not a chat session. If I hear another word out of either of you, I'll have you both cleaning Moonshine's den."

Tulippaw hung her head.

"Sorry," she muttered.

"Why do we even need to go on these stupid border patrols?" moaned Waterpaw. "Nothing ever attacks our clan." Ivyblaze sighed.

"Because," she said. "We can't afford to take risks. We have to be on our guard at all times. Now be quiet and keep moving."

When they reached a nearby lake, Ivyblaze suddenly noticed a strange smell. She stopped, and recognized it all too well. She turned to Waterpaw. "Waterpaw, can you tell me what this smell is?"

Waterpaw stopped to think. After a moment's hesitation, she said, "It's a fox!" Ivyblaze nodded. Waterpaw, who had been happy that she was right, was instantly horrified. "Wait, it's a fox?" she whimpered.

"A fox?" Tulippaw repeated, horrified. Tulippaw and Waterpaw had heard awful tales about foxes eating cats as kits, and were horrified to meet one in real life.

"We've got to track down the fox," Ivyblaze said.

"Shouldn't we just go back to camp to report to Sunstar?" suggested Tulippaw, who had no intentions of meeting a fox. Ivyblaze shook her head.

"We can't leave a trail for that fox leading to our camp. Let's move."

As they traveled further down the shore of the lake, Ivyblaze noticed the scent was getting stronger and stronger. Soon it became so strong that it urged Ivyblaze to stop. Usually, scents were only this strong when a breeze carried it. But this time, there was not even the slightest wind. Ivyblaze knew this meant that the fox was very close. Too close for comfort. She turned to the apprentices. "Apprentices, we need to-" Ivyblaze was quickly cut off by a flash of red fur knocking her into the lake. She scrambled to her paws and turned around to face a cat's worst enemy: fox. Waterpaw and Tulippaw shrieked as the fox tore Ivyblaze's black-tipped ears. Waterpaw made as if to fight the fox. "Stay back!" Ivyblaze hissed at Waterpaw. She couldn't allow them to fight the fox, as they had no idea how. Ivyblaze kicked the fox into the lake. The fox, quickly recovering, turned and snarled at her, revealing its sharp teeth. Ivyblaze froze. There was no way she could take on the fox herself. It took at least two well-trained warriors to fight a fox, if not three. Ivyblaze lifted her head and silently prayed for Starclan to send help. Someone, anyone.

Starclan must've heard her prayers, because just then a battle cry tore through the air. Rosepetal and Vixenstep from the hunting patrol flew straight at the fox. Gingerpaw joined the other apprentices and watched. The three warriors slashed at the fox's flank, screeching. Finally, the whimpering fox retreated back into the forest.

"Thank you so much for saving us," mewed Ivyblaze. "I thought we were crow-food for sure!"

"We could hear your cries all the way where we were hunting," said Vixenstep.

"You scared off the vole I was about to catch!" added Gingerpaw. Rosepetal flicked her apprentice's ears with her tail.

"We should get back to camp before anything else happens," she said. And through the woods they flew.