Challenge #1: Cat Wants to Live in Twoleg Place~ Theme: Demons by Imagine Dragons
Tell me if there's a story you'd like me to continue!
Characters: [FogClan] Lilacpaw, Foreststar, Quakestep
Lilacpaw raced among the undergrowth, stomping through until she reached the border. And she broke through. She ran across the moorland, her legs a panicked flur. No way was she going to get caught- not today. Once she was all the way across the territory and on the safe side, the white she-cat heaved a sigh of relief. It was right there. The twoleg place. Purring, she settled among some twoleg rubbish and caught her breath. "Okay," she told herself. "It's time to go see what they've got." Lilacpaw got to her feet and jumped onto the concrete border of one twoleg home; it had bright flowers in the back and a strong smell of cat lingered there. "Hello?" she called, looking curiously into the garden below. This was the third time she had been to this garden, but not once had she assumed that a cat already lived there. She nearly fell off of the concrete when a black figure jumped up next to her. "You scared me," she admitted, facing the stranger.
"I'm Shadow. I didn't mean to disturb you, I was just wandering about. A nice garden, isn't it?" the black tom glanced down at the yard. Lilac nodded. "Well, don't you look beautiful," he purred, surprising Lilacpaw. He brushed the bangs out of her eyes. "And what is your name?"
"Lilacpaw." Her voice sounded coarse and feeble; she cleared her throat to have more clarity to her sentences. "I came from FogClan."
"FogClan? Well, your one of those clan cats, aren't ya?" Lilacpaw nodded again.
"Yes, I-I-" The black tom shushed her before she could continue.
"Well, I don't know much about clans, but I do know the warrior code from one of my neighbors. And you're breaking it." Lilacpaw swallowed guiltily.
"Yes, I'm s-sorry, I just-"
"Ain't doing me any harm," he interrupted again, smiling. That was when she realized he spoke with an accent.
"I've been here a lot. I like it here. I know the different kinds of twolegs. Is yours British?" She smile sweetly like mattered on his information, and it did.
"Well, yes they were, beauty. But visit me tomorrow, because your clanmates are probably waking up right now."
"You're right. Thanks, Shadow!" Lilacpaw turned and ran toward the moor. She stopped halfway and turned around. "You'll be here tomorrow, right?"
"Always!" he called back, winking. She grinned and turned toward the moor again, racing toward her territory. Luckily she made it back before anyone woke, but she was literally sleeping on her paws. Once she finally dropped into her nest, she slept hard and it felt like only seconds later that she heard her mentor's voice rousing her. Quakestep.
"Wake up! Training is now. Those birds aren't gonna catch themselves." Quakestep ambled out toward the forest, and Lilac groggily followed. The forest was particularly noisy today, and every bird seemed to be calling, "Shadow! Shadow! Shadow!" Lilacpaw shook her head and felt like screaming at the birds.
"Okay, since your not too awake this morning," Quakestep started suspiciously. "You need some water." Lilacpaw wrinkled her nose in confusion, but flailed helplessly as her mentor pushed her into the river by their feet. Oh. She hadn't even noticed it there before.
By the time she was out of the water, grouchy, and soaking wet, Lilcapaw was dreaming about going back to the twolegplace and laying by the fire while a twoleg brushed her back and then going outside again so that she could meet with Shadow and hunt prey for extra food, other than what they can scavenge out of the twoleg waste piles. "Lilacpaw!" She startled back to reality as she realized her mentor was calling her name irritably. "Do you have moss in your ears this morning?"
"Sorry," Lilacpaw mumbled.
"Well, get your tail to camp, because you have some explaining to do!" Her heart sank. They knew. They knew something was going on. She trudged after her mentor, feeling like her paws were made of stones.
"Why didn't you focus?" Foreststar demanded to know.
"Because I was tired," Lilacpaw mewed desperately.
"And tell us why you were so tired...?" Lilacpaw flinched, wanting to be back with Shadow more than ever before.
"Because I was somewhere when it was dark outside," she mumbled, her ears drooping.
"You want to go back to twolegplace, don't you?"
Lilacpaw nodded glumly, waiting for punishment. "Well, Lilac, I am sorry to hear that we lost such a valuable addition to the clan." Foreststar flicked her tail. "Go. I fare you well."
Lilacpaw turned to Quakestep. He nodded warmly. "It's where you want to be- follow your heart, Lilac."
Lilac smiled, nodded, and bolted out of the camp, not wanting to say anymore goodbyes. She raced across the moor, and was going to turn back but she saw someone. "Shadow!"
Challenge #2: Cat Wants to Be Leader
Main Characters: [VixenClan] Hailwing, Black-claw, Falconstar, Berrycloud, Softwhisker
Hailwing looked up as Falconstar made the announcements. "And our new deputy will be Black-claw. May StarClan grant that your deputyship be easy and faithful." Hailwing's tail drooped in disappointment. Instead of congratulating his clanmate, he ran to the moor and started walking by himself. "Can't I be leader one day?" he wailed, scratching up the dirt, imagining slashing it into a cat's throat. But suddenly he thought of his clanmates, and stopped.
"Hailwing?" Berrycloud asked, appearing between the undergrowth that grew in their only piece of woodland.
"What do you need?" he asked rather gruffly. Berrycloud just blinked at him, a sympathetic look in her eyes. "Oh, stop that! I'm not a kit."
"I have a confession," she mewed. Great. Something else for Hailwing to worry about. "I'm having Pinestep's kits." Hailwing's eyes bulged out of his head.
"B-but, I thought you loved me. I thought we had something! Is that all gone now? Are all of my choices taken away from me?" He aggravatingly scraped his claws on the soil, tougher than he had before.
Berrycloud approached him, and put her tail around his shoulders. "We're naming one Hailkit. No matter what." He shrugged out of her grip.
"Who cares?" he snorted.
"I thought that would mean something to you!" she exclaimed, but stopped when she saw how much Hailwing was hurting. "There's somebody else, you know."
Hailwing didn't respond; just kept digging at the soil with his claws. Berrycloud continued. "Softwhisker likes you. You should talk to her."
Then she was gone.
"So Berrycloud brought up something," Hailwing told Softwhisker.
She looked at him, surprised. "She said you liked me."
Hailwing waited for her response. "It's true," she finally admitted, blushing. "I can help you though, because I know how you feel."
"No you don't," Hailwing growled, bristling.
Softwhisker looked hurt, and he apologized quickly.
"It's okay. At least I'll try to help," she offered.
"Will you be my mate, then?" Hailwing demanded desperately, looking into her deep blue eyes.
"Of course," she replied breathlessly, twining her tail with his.
"Hailwing! Hailwing!" Hailwing heard Berrycloud's voice call into the nursery. He startled at her panic. Berrycloud's face appeared in the nursery. "Falconstar is sick!"
Softwhisker and Hail exchanged worried glances. "I'll go see if she's okay," Hailwing told Softwhisker.
They had three beautiful kits: Bluekit, Daisykit, and Darkkit. It had been a few moons since Berrycloud's kits had arrived. They were already apprentices; Hailpaw and Dewpaw. And Pinestep; hey, he wasn't that bad. Hailwing rushed to his leader, worrying much for the cat who had led him and his clan from the start of his life. The medicine cat, Ducktail, burst out of the medicine cat's den. "We need catmint! Catmint! Oh, Hailwing, good. You're here. We need you to fetch catmint from the border! And quickly!" Without hesitating, Hailwing raced into the forest to the border they shared with FogClan and spotted the one tendril of catmint sprouting from the ground, its purple flowers showing dully. He ran back to the camp, his legs working faster than ever before, and dropped the catmint at Ducktail's feet. "This will have to do," Ducktail told him. He went back to tell Softwhisker, but was interrupted by screaming.
"Badger!" Dewpaw skittered over to Hailwing and hid behind him. Hailwing braced himself, and was soon enough greeted by a striped, bulky figure standing in front of him. It kind of growled-what sounded like a growl- and lashed forward with its teeth. Hailwing glared threateningly at the badger and shoved Dewpaw into the nursery. He then faced it head on, and with all of his energy raked his claws repeatedly over the broad face. To his surprise, Black-claw was by his side in an instant, and they were both fighting off the badger. It suddenly heaved up and trampled toward them, cornering them against the thorns of a bush.
"No!" a familiar voice echoed through camp, and Hailwing realized it was Falconstar. "Leave those two alone; its me you want." The badger ambled around and lunged for their leader. Hailwing gasped, and leaped on the badger's back with Black-claw. The two of them bit down really hard on its neck but it continued to walk toward Falconstar. Hailwing had the idea to scrape his claws over the beast's eyes but was too late.
"Our new deputy is..." Hailwing leaned forward eagerly.
"Hailwing. I know that you'd be a great deputy, with the patience you have. I know you waited for this moment," Blackstar announced. His clanmates cheered.
"Thank you," he murmured silently to his ancestors.
The stars twinkled back down at him and seemed to say, "You tried to save your leader, and that's what matters. She died fighting, and we thank you for your courage."
Challenge #3= A cat who is always happy
Theme: With Ur Love~ Cher Lloyd
Characters: [NightClan] Softpaw, Reedpaw, Cloudpaw, Daisypaw, Wintersky, Froststar, Frogleap, Gorgetail
Softpaw nodded enthusiastically as her mentor announced a race. She looked around at Reedpaw, Cloudpaw, and Daisypaw to see if they were also excited about the race. When she noticed that they weren't reacting as she was, she frowned. "You aren't excited? Don't you like running?" Softpaw cocked her head to one side, her blue eyes sparkling with interest.
"Running is boring," Reedpaw complained quietly to the apprentices as the mentors talked about the race. "We wanna fight and stuff."
Cloudpaw and Daisypaw nodded, but Softpaw turned back to Frogleap for instructions. She leaped to her paws.
"I wanna race now!" she mewed excitedly. Frogleap gave her an approving lick on her head, and she purred delightedly, ignoring a few critical glances from the other mentors.
"Okay, we'll race from the Snake river to the border. Whoever gets there first gets first pick off of the fresh-kill pile." Gorgetail murmured. They started walking to the river, and Softpaw kept back with her mentor.
"Am I an okay mentor?" Frogleap asked quietly, as they padded a few tail lengths behind the other chatty cats.
Softpaw purred. "And you care?"
Frogleap laughed. "Yeah, I guess I need some feedback."
"But you never ask any of your other apprentices?"
"I guess you're right. After all, it was luck I could be your mentor," Forgleap said meaningfully.
"Why?" Softpaw whispered into his ear as they approached the river.
"You know why," Frogleap whispered back, but and then halted as the sound of the river roared in every cat's ears. Their ears twitched as they adjusted to the sound. He raised his voice so everyone could hear him. "Okay, Wintersky, you can count off."
Wintersky nodded, her green eyes shining in the sunshine. "One, two, three... Go!"
Softpaw scampered forward, in the direction of the border. She raced after her mentor as he bolted past her, and she giggled uncontrollably. Suddenly the two of them bounded away from the rest of the cats and fell into a small hollow, carefully shaded by thick undergrowth. She looked up; dim light shone through. She rushed to Frogleap.
"Are you okay?" he asked her breathlessly as the two of them sat and faced each other. Softpaw nodded; her laughter burst out for a moment, ringing through the clearing.
"Do that again," Frogleap murmured, his eyes closed and his ears perked gently.
"Do what?"
"Laugh." He opened his eyes, looking at Softpaw with his warm brown eyes.
"Why?" Softpaw asked eagerly.
"Because, whenever you laugh, its like the sound of a beautiful bird calling for its mother. Its the sound of a stream flowing gently through a suddenly calm forest. Its the sound of happiness. Softpaw, you make the people around you happy. You make me happy," Frogleap said.
"I... I can't laugh anymore," Softpaw whispered, wrinkling up her nose and smiling.
"Why?" Frogleap questioned, pulling around his tail to brush the bangs out of her eyes.
"Beacuse. What you said was beautiful, its not funny."
Frogleap smiled, his eyes lighting up. "That's my girl. Now, let's get back before the rest of them suspect something."
The two of them trotted back to where the group was and just barely approached before anybody noticed they were gone. "So who won?" Softpaw asked curiously.
"Cloudpaw. He gets first pick," Daisypaw muttered, glancing toward Cloudpaw enviously.
"Wow! Great job, Cloudpaw. You must be a great runner to outfox Wintersky." Wintersky blushed modestly, and the rest of the group smiled at Softpaw's cheerfulness and Cloudpaw's success. Even Daisypaw.
Cloudpaw seemed more victorious now that Softpaw congratulated him. She started to realize what Frogleap meant about bringing happiness to the cats around her.
-Two moons later-
"Softpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?" Softpaw nodded.
"I do."
"And Cloudpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?" Cloudpaw nodded also.
"I do."
"Then the clan now welcomes you as Softheart and Cloudfoot. May StarClan light your future." Froststar dipped her head, and then the clan absolutely erupted into cheers, their happiness ringing out louder than Softheart had ever heard. She bounded up next to her leader, even if it seemed disrespectful. Forststar greeted her without complaint, knowing that Softpaw was expecting to say something to her clanmates. She laughed really loud for silence. They all became silent, their eyes training up to her and each cat beaming in silence. Their expressions and ears suggested they were waiting and listening intently on the ring of happiness following her laughter.
"That's all," she meowed, smiling. "I just wanted to make you happy for the night, and hopefully it will help you have some happy dreams." Softheart's heart tightened as her clanmates erupted into loud cheers again. "Softheart!" a few kits chanted from below until everyone had joined in. "Softheart!"
Challenge # 4: A cat who flirts a lot
Theme: Radioactive by Imagine Dragons
Characters: [ShadeClan] Pinefur, Dovepelt, Snowfoot, Branchpaw, Silvermoon, Rosepaw
Pinefur opened his eyes to fresh sunlight. Yawning, he swagged out into the camp and grinned at some she-cats by the fresh-kill pile. They smiled back dreamily, but started to give each other stern territorial glances once they realized they were all doing the same thing: mooning over Pinefur. Pinefur was a very handsome cat, giving him the perfect advantage. He was a sleek gray at, with white crisscrosses on his legs and on the tips of his ears. His eyes were a romantic green, capable of making even the smallest she-cat stumble over herself from being attracted to his eyes.
He padded up to Dovepelt, relishing the glances of jealousy from the she-cats by the prey pile and the look of bewilderment and absolute lust from Dovepelt. She was a reasonable looking feline, with a snowy white pelt and fur that suggested she was a dove. She wasn't fat, like the creatures, though. She was elegant and romantic, but obvious about her feelings by the looks on her face. "Would you like to take a hunt with me?" he asked, flashing his flirtatious grin. He drew his tail under her chin the slightest bit to draw up her chin so that they could gaze at each other in the eyes. Her eyes were a hazel color, like the kind of color you see on maple trees. His gesture brought her to smile weakly, and it was again obvious what she was feeling. He was gonna make her heart beat so fast, like the many she-cats he usually met. Dovepelt nodded quickly.
"Mind if I join? We could use some prey before the Gathering tonight." Snowfoot. The opposite of Dovepelt, through looks and how their minds worked. Snowfoot was a black she-cat with only one foot having a white mitten of fur on it. She was perfect at covering up, and always knew what to say in an immediate situation. Her eyes, on the other hand, were a deep blue and rarely ever revealed her thoughts or feelings. She made Dovepelt look like a dumb dove, and she was the mysterious, romantic raven.
"Sure, we could use another cat," Pinefur meowed. He was enjoying this. The she-cats were all over him, looking for ways that they could get his attention and affection. Sharing a little love never hurt, did it? No, of course not. At least, not to Pinefur. He was perfectly fine with leaving behind a fallen-in-love she cat.
"Well, we should go," Dovepelt meowed nervously, glancing at Snowfoot timidly. Gosh, how jittery this she-cat was around Pinefur. Unlike Snowfoot. She just nodded with a sly smile on her face, fitting into Pinefur's mood. He liked that. Dovepelt needed some proving to do of herself if she was ever to make it onto Pinefur's list of kitties.
The three of them traveled onto the marshy land, enjoying the feel of moist moss underpaw. It felt nice, but Pinefur was losing the mood. He needed to start working on these cat's hearts. He would give each of them a little time to him, he told himself, and saved Snowfoot for last in his mind. "Let's split up," he suggested. Dovepelt nodded disappointingly. She shouldn't be disappointed for long, Pinefur thought. But Snowfoot just nodded at the idea thoughtfully, probably chewing over what she would say next. Before either she-cat could meow a word, he stalked away and hid behind some underbrush as he waited for Dovepelt. A snowy pelt eventually weaved among the swampy plants. He saw an easy kill by his paw. A dumb mouse just nibbling away at an acorn on the ground. He killed it with one swipe of his paw, and then leaped out toward Dovepelt. She was startled at first, and then purred flirtatiously as she realized it was him and her alone. He licked her cheek and brought her into him with his tail, giving her a sideways hug. "Hey, Dovepelt," he purred romantically, his eyes showing off his amazingness.
Dovepelt's tongue nearly lolled out of her mouth, but before she could he pushed the mouse over to her. "Here, I caught this for you."
She blushed, smiling sweetly. "Thankyou. I don't deserve it, though."
He nearly broke into laughter, but held it in and remained flirtatious. "Oh, but you do. Because you're so beautiful." Dovepelt blushed again.
"I should catch some more, okay? I'll see you and Snowfoot soon, okay, my princess?" She nodded numbly. Grinning from ear to ear, he bounded away toward where he assumed Snowfoot was.
He spotted her, and trotted up. She had caught a thrush and two rabbits, good for a she-cat. He was impressed, and yes, Dovepelt needed some improving. But Dovepelt was really rocking that innocent character of hers. Pinefur approached Snowfoot and gave her a romantic expression, and posture. "Hello, Snowfoot," he said in a soothing and romantic voice.
"Pinefur," she breathed, smiling. "I thought I might run into you, handsome."
They were now evenly matched. Snowfoot was just as easily flirty as him, but she was only like this around him even if there were a million other toms chasing her tail. "Oh, but I realized I would run into you first," he meowed innocently.
The two of them stayed with each other until they had to walk back to camp. The two she-cats floated the whole way there, he knew it.
When they were back at camp, Branchpaw, his apprentice, bounded up to him. She was just as lovestruck as Dovepelt, but having a younger cat by his side and tripping over her heart for him was rather pleasant. "Hey, Pinefur! Guess what? I found a Primrose patch with the kits!" She looked up at him for praise.
"Great job, Branchpaw! You're so good at tracking things!" She beamed at him, her heart most likely fluttering.
Silvermoon, the deputy, eyed him hungrily, her eyes training over his body. He smirked at her, and she looked away, bushing.
-The Gathering-
Pinefur watched as the oldest apprentice, Rosepaw, never even acknowledged him. She was close to his age, but after her mentor Dustywind pasted away she hadn't gotten her ceremony. Pinefur padded up to her and was about to tell her something, but she just turned to him and smiled.
"Just save it, I know what you say, I know you, but I don't. Maybe we could get to know each other. The real each other." She smiled sweetly, and he was about to say something again but she stood and started walking, but turned back and told him, "But maybe later." Smiling widely, she padded back over to her friends and sat to chat animatedly. Pinefur was breathless. Not only was Rosepaw beautiful, but she was sneaky.
"She's good," he muttured to himself, smirking as the two of them grinned at each other from across the clearing.
Challenge # 5: A Cat Who Is Always Sad
Characters: [FogClan] Jadepaw, Spiritkit, Sparrowclaw, Orchidfur, Cosmoclaw
Jadepaw blinked from her dream, a lump in her throat. Mom is gone, she thought feebly, like she does every morning. Her blue eyes widened before tears could spill out. No, she wouldn't cry in front of her sleeping clanmates. She climbed out of her nest and realized it was still nighttime. Sighing, she also realized that it was nearly impossible to fall back asleep in the condition she was in right then. So, she climbed a tall maple tree, her favorite, and sat among its branches. Her mother had been buried right below the roots of the tree. That was part of the reason why the tree was her favorite place to be when she needed to think things over. For some reason, her mother's spirit helped with any problem she had. Her mother had been a thinker, a problem solver. And she was beautiful. Jadepaw had her mother's distinct looks, but her sister Spiritkit was a snowy white with green eyes. Their mother had been a soft grey with white speckles, and that was close enough to Jadepaw's plain dark grey pelt. At least their eyes were similar. Her mother and her shared those pretty blue eyes. Although, her father Sparrowclaw still existed. He was more like Spiritkit, with the white pelt and shining green eyes.
Jadepaw sat thinking for a while, gazing at the jagged maroon and hazel colored leaves. The sky slowly turned to its morning light blue color, and she saw her mentor padding to the apprentice's den. Her father was her new mentor, since she had been switched to her father for emotional support. When Sparrowclaw realized that Jadepaw wasn't there, he immediately came to the maple tree Jadepaw sat in and climbed to her branch. "Hey, Jadepaw," he meowed as he crouched next to her, giving her cheek a lick.
"Hi, dad," she meowed, rubbing up against her father. "Where's Spiritkit?"
"Sleeping with Dawnheart. She's nearly an apprentice yet. I think I'll ask Foreststar if I can mentor her too. After all, you're nearly a warrior as well. Spiritkit is just behind on ranking up like you are." Jadepaw nodded glumly, trying to avoid the subject about mom. He detected her uneasiness and changed the subject. "Let's start training. I want you to eat something."
She shrugged. "I'm not hungry."
Sparrowclaw heaved a frustrated sigh. "You have to eat eventually, Jadepaw."
Jadepaw shook her head. "It won't change anything, dad." And she jumped down from the maple tree and started to walk into the forest without an answer from her dad. Sparrowclaw gave up and followed Jadepaw.
"You know, maybe finding somebody that has the same problem could help."
Jadepaw skidded to a stop. "What do you mean?" she asked without turning to look at him.
"I don't know, just maybe if you find another cat who isn't the same situation... Bronzepaw likes you. He's nice, isn't he?"
"That's disgusting, dad. Would you really think I'd ever mate with somebody? No? Yeah, that's what I thought," Jadepaw meowed curtly, continuing to walk.
"Well, I just thought-"
"You wouldn't replace mom with another cat, would you?" Jadepaw meowed pointedly.
Sparrowclaw said nothing. Jadepaw's eyes grew wide with horror. "No! Why would you even do that, dad?"
Sparrowclaw still remained silent, his ears flattening to his head. He refused to look at her.
"Ugh. You're just as bad as everyone else, always pushing to get what you want, and then finding something to cover up for it. Well, I'm done with all that dung!" Jadepaw raced away from her dad toward the camp again. He tried to give pursuit but wasn't fast enough. She ran back and laid in the maple tree until it was night.
When it was much much later, she heard her father's voice below. "Jadepaw?"
"Go away." She sensed her father going away like she said. A strange mix of satisfaction and guilt swept over her, as well as a deeper mourning. In the morning, Jadepaw climbed down and rushed to the medicine cat's den. She asked him for herbs.
"Well, I don't have a remedy for broken heart," Cosmoclaw murmured. He suddenly jumped as an idea came to him. "Follow me, Jadepaw."
She obeyed and followed the medicine cat until they had traveled very far. Suddenly Jadepaw recognized that this must be the Tree Hollow where medicine cat's come. She looked at Cosmoclaw, her head tilted in confusion. "Go ahead," he urged her. She strangely knew what to do and pressed her nose against the tree bark.
She awoke back in the clearing where Cosmoclaw had taken her, but Cosmoclaw was nowhere to be seen.
Then, it hit her. She was in a dream! And she was sleeping! She had never felt more rested and awake. "Mom?" she asked as a familiar cat appeared around the corner. Something inside her lit up, like a small light in a eerily dark night. Then she realized it was called happiness.
"Jadepaw!" Orchidfur rushed to Jadepaw and they both sat next to each other, twining tails and exchanging stories.
Jadepaw forgave her mom. And her dad. She realized that Sparrowclaw needed to be happy, like she did and she realized what he had said about Bronzepaw.
