Death was the most feared thing in RiverClan. Or at least Minnowpaw thought so. She was a healthy cat, slender and pretty, her silver fur shiny and her blue eyes bright. Many cats envied her skill in battle-her confidence and speed, so no cat would expect that something terrible happened in a battle over Sunningrocks.
The sky was bright blue, like the color of Minnowpaw's eyes, and the sun was shining brightly. A ThunderClan she-cat stepped forward, onto Sunningrocks, with her teeth bared.
"How dare you steal our prey?" she snarled, her neck fur bristling.
"Your prey?" a RiverClan tom growled. "Last time I saw, we had Sunningrocks!"
A small smirk appeared on the ThunderClan she-cat's face. "Then you'll have to fight us for it."
Another RiverClan cat, a gray-and-white tom hissed with fury and leaped onto the ThunderClan she-cat, knocking her over, and pinning her down. He sank his unsheathed claws deep into the ThunderClan she-cat's shoulders and the she-cat yowled with pain.
Before she could move one paw forward to help the gray-and-white tom, a cat pinned Minnowpaw down. She stared up into blazing golden eyes. The she-cat pinning her down was surprisingly small, but she was definitely a warrior.
The she-cat smiled maliciously. "Do you know who I am?" she asked smoothly.
"Stinkypelt?" Minnowpaw guessed.
The she-cat growled and slid out her claws. "I'm Fawnstar," she meowed, her tail lashing.
"Oh," Minnowpaw said. "I knew that."
"Right." Fawnstar rolled her eyes. "I'd better kill you now."
She sliced her sharp claws on Minnowpaw's belly. Minnowpaw did the same thing back with a smirk.
"You want me to be tough on you?" Fawnstar snarled. She raked her claws slowly down from Minnowpaw's chin to one of her back legs. Blood dripped from the wound.
Minnowpaw squeezed her eyes shut. I'm going to die, she thought. Every cat is going to laugh at me. They think I'm the amazing warrior who can defeat any cat. And look at me now; pinned by the ThunderClan leader about to be killed.
Then a growl came from a cat and Minnowpaw opened her eyes. The weight on top of her lifted, and she spotted her leader, Rockstar facing Fawnstar, his dark gray tail lashing.
Minnowpaw got up, then collapsed onto the ground again. The medicine cat, Fernstep licked her fur a couple of times and helped her up. Minnowpaw leaned on her shoulder and staggered forward a few steps.
"Thank you," she whispered weakly.
Minnowpaw looked up, and saw Fawnstar pinned under Rockstar. "If you ever touch her again, I'll rip your throat out," Rockstar hissed. He got off of Fawnstar and the light brown she-cat and the ThunderClan cats retreated.
A cat padded over to Minnowpaw. "Well look who's injured now?" she sneered. Minnowpaw sighed. It was Icepaw. Icepaw was pretty too, yes, but she was far from as pretty as Minnowpaw. The only cat comparable to Minnowpaw was Silverpaw, Minnowpaw's sister. Minnowpaw understood why she was acting like that, she had been jealous of how beautiful Minnowpaw was since they were kits.
"Stop it, Icepaw!" Icepaw's mentor, Stripefur scolded her. "How would you feel if Minnowpaw said that to you if you were injured?"
"But Minnowpaw said that to me when I was injured!" Icepaw protested.
Stripefur glanced at Minnowpaw. "Really?"
Minnowpaw shook her head and glared at Icepaw. "You're lying."
Another cat, Fishbreeze licked her pads. "Come on, let's go," she meowed, impatiently. The RiverClan cats walked back to their camp, Minnowpaw leaning on Fernstep's shoulder embarrassingly as cats glanced at her.
I won't let a cat pin me down again, Minnowpaw told herself fiercely. I won't get injured again. She gave her chest fur a few embarrassed licks and padded slowly forward with Fernstep. I'll be the cat other cats think I am. The one I used to be.
Minnowpaw sighed, and headed back to camp with her Clanmates.
Minnowpaw glanced at her scar and winced. It brought back the memories of the battle over Sunningrocks. She let out a long sigh and began grooming herself. When she was done, her sister, Silverpaw approached her.
"Hi Minnowpaw!" Silverpaw meowed excitedly. "We're going to be made warriors today!"
"Yeah." For some reason, Minnowpaw couldn't share her sister's excitement.
Another cat padded over to them. It was Minnowpaw's mentor, Reedpelt. The cream-and-white tom looked at Minnowpaw approvingly. "You're ready," he purred.
"So am I!" Silverpaw added. Reedpelt nodded.
"Let all cats old enough to swim gather to hear my words!" Rockstar yowled.
"It's time to go!" Silverpaw bounded out of the apprentices den with Reedpelt following. Minnowpaw padded after them, her tail drooping.
"What's wrong?" Icetail asked.
Minnowpaw blinked at her. Icetail had never been that nice before. She remembered the battle over Sunningrocks. Icetail had been Icepaw at the time, and she hadn't been half as nice as she was now.
"I'm nervous," Minnowpaw confessed. "And worried that cats will laugh at me."
Now it was Icetail's turn to stare at Minnowpaw. "You're never nervous! Or worried."
"I just act like it." Minnowpaw flicked her tail slightly. "Can I go now?"
Icetail nodded. "Alright." She smiled. "Good luck!"
Minnowpaw dipped her head and ran over to the rock that Rockstar was sitting on. When she sat down, Rockstar beckoned Silverpaw to stand in front of him with his tail.
"I, Rockstar, leader of RiverClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend her to you as a warrior in her turn."
"Silverpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?"
"I do!" Silverpaw's blue eyes shone as she said the words every apprentice would say at their warrior ceremony.
"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Silverpaw, from this moment you will be known as Silvercreek. StarClan honors your bravery and honesty, and we welcome you as a full warrior of RiverClan."
Rockstar rested his muzzle on Silvercreek's head and she licked her leader's shoulder. Then, Silvercreek leaped down the rock and padded over to stand beside Minnowpaw again, her tail held high.
Minnowpaw took a deep breath, and leaped onto the rock. Rockstar nodded at her and started speaking.
"I, Rockstar, leader of RiverClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend her to you as a warrior in her turn." Rockstar repeated the same words he had said to Silvercreek.
"Minnowpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?"
"I do." Minnowpaw shifted nervously.
"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Minnowpaw, from this moment you will be known as Minnowshine. StarClan honors your intelligence and speed, and we welcome you as a full warrior of RiverClan."
Rockstar rested his muzzle on Minnowshine's head and she licked her leader's shoulder respectfully. Minnowshine looked down from the rock and saw Icetail mouthing, Congratulations!
Minnowshine waved her tail and leaped down the rock to stand next to her sister.
"Silvercreek! Minnowshine! Silvercreek! Minnowshine!" RiverClan yowled the two new warriors' names loudly.
"So how was it, Minnowshine?" Silvercreek asked playfully, her tail waving.
"It was great, Silvercreek." Minnowshine smiled. With or without her scar, she was still Minnowshine, the cat who RiverClan knew, not a cat with secrets.
A/N (Author's Note): This is my first chapter in this story. I'm sorry for deleting the other chapters, but I thought this would be a better story topic. I might publish them soon, though.
ATC (About The Chapter): Yesterday, I thought about this and decided to write a chapter about this. This is the topic "injured." The injured part of the story is when Minnowshine gets her scar from the battle over Sunningrocks when she was an apprentice. Also, I think it's great that Minnowshine and Icetail are getting along now, don't you?
QOTD (Question Of The Day): What would you name Minnowpaw if her warrior name wasn't Minnowshine? I would name her Minnowsplash. The suffix "splash" is one of my favorite RiverClan suffixes. :)
Happy Reading! ~Warrior Cats 101 Wings Of Fire =^.^=