Allegiances
PondClan
Leader: Hazelstar, light brown tom with hazel eyes
Deputy: Wolfpelt, dark gray tom with blue eyes
Medicine Cats: Emberclaw, black she-cat with dark green eyes
(apprentice, Thornpaw)
Swanfeather, light gray she-cat with hazel eyes
Bluepelt, dark blue tom with white paws and blue eyes
Warriors:
(Because there are so many warriors in PondClan, we will only mention the warriors that appear in this book)
Grayclaw, dark gray tom with scruffy fur and yellow eyes
(apprentice, Flamepaw)
Apprentices:
Sunpaw, golden tabby she-cat with green eyes
Leafpaw, light brown tom with green eyes
Silverpaw, silver she-cat with amber eyes
Thornpaw, light brown tabby tom with blue eyes
Mudpaw, dark brown she-cat with brown eyes
Sandpaw, sand colored she-cat with green eyes
Flamepaw, flame colored tom with green eyes
Queens:
Sagepelt, light gray she-cat with blue eyes, mother of Grayclaw's kits, (Echokit, silver-and-gray tabby she-kit with blue eyes, Falconkit, white tom with dark gray back, has blue eyes, Rockkit, dark gray tom with yellow eyes, and Wetkit, gray-blue she-kit with amber eyes)
Firestripe, flame colored tabby she-cat with green eyes, mother of Wolfpelt's kits, (Swiftkit, handsome white tom with black patches, has green eyes, Whitekit, pure white tom with green eyes, Thistlekit, light gray she-kit with blue eyes.)
Frostpelt, white she-cat, mother of an unknown tom's kits, (Blossomkit, black and tortoiseshell she-cat with amber eyes, Nightkit, black she-cat with yellow eyes, and Alderkit, red tom with green eyes)
Elders:
Shatteredsong, gray tom with jagged spiky stripes all over his body, appearing to have "shattered" stripes.
Fernpelt, beautiful black, red, and white dappled she-cat with green eyes,
WoodClan
Leader: Goldenstar, large, muscular, and handsome golden tom with green eyes, former rogue
Deputy: Rainstream, beautiful silver tabby she-cat with blue eyes, currently a nursing queen, mother of Goldenstar's kits, (Eaglekit, brown tom with green eyes, Sparrowkit, brown she-cat with green eyes) Temporary deputy until she comes back is Swiftstrike, white tom with yellow eyes, former rogue.
PineClan
Leader: Blizzardstar, white she-cat with blue eyes and gray specks
Deputy: Stormflight, gray tom with green eyes
MoorClan
Leader: Spotstar, white tom with brown spots
Deputy: Eaglestorm, brown tom with white underbelly and paws.
Chapter 1
"Echokit where are you?" meowed Wetkit, sounding weary. Echokit was standing outside of the nursery, while her sister Wetkit was inside. Echokit was only a moon old and wasn't allowed to leave the den, but she had done it anyway. She was a smart, sneaky kit. PondClan was currently suffering from a sickness outbreak that the medicine cats could not identify. More than half of the cats were sick, and those that were not sick were out hunting all the time. Echokit wanted to become an apprentice sooner so she could help out. However, the queens disliked the idea of any of PondClan's kits become apprentices. They had even suggested to the leader, Hazelstar, that the kits become apprentices at eight moons rather than six to "protect them from the sickness that was spreading through PondClan." But Echokit was sure that the queens only wanted to extend the time before they had to head back to their own warriors duties.
"I'm right here!" she told Wetkit, creeping back into the nursery.
"Why were you outside? Sagepelt says we can't be out there 'cause we're too young!" cried Wetkit.
"The camp is unguarded. Nobody's going to catch me. Besides, I'm strong enough to go outside. All of the queens are being overprotective. In my opinion, kits should become apprentices at three moons, not six!" Echokit complained.
"All cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the rockledge for a Clan meeting!" called Hazelstar from outside.
Echokit slipped back outside the den, but not before Wetkit mewed, "You're not old enough to catch your own prey! Kits aren't supposed to go to Clan meetings!"
"So I should be able to sneak out! Don't you want to know what it's about? Come on Wetkit come with me!" she complained. Well, she was sneaking out again. But this time it was only a short walk to the rockledge, not an entire exploration of PondClan's camp. Echokit hid herself among the group of older cats sitting beneath the rockledge where Hazelstar stood.
"Some queens have asked to have kits be apprentices at eight moons instead of six. So Wolfpelt and I came up with ten moons instead of eight or six so they are not killed by this sickness. This rule will only be temporary, kits will go back to being apprentices at six moons when PondClan recovers from this sickness. Any kits who would like to become medicine cats, however, will be apprenticed at eight moons." PondClan was a very large Clan. They had several warriors' dens and two medicine cats' dens. Even the nursery had to be very big to fit all of PondClan's kits and queens. There were about four medicine cats, three were fully trained, and one, Thornpaw, was an apprentice. There was still room for two more medicine cat apprentices. The only problem was that all three of Echokit's siblings, Wetkit, Falconkit, and Rockkit all wanted to be medicine cat apprentices, and currently, there were only two spots left for medicine cat apprentices, and they often fought over it.
Echokit was outraged. Nine moons until she could be an apprentice? And her siblings only had to wait seven because two of them were going to be medicine cat apprentices? She was not only angry at Hazelstar, but angry at the queens. It was her own mother Sagepelt who had suggested changing the required age for kits to become apprentices from six to eight.
"Wait!" cried one apprentice, Leafpaw. "Sunpaw and I are only seven moons old, and we're warrior apprentices! Does this mean we'll be changed back to kits for three more moons?"
Hazelstar thought for a moment. "I will make an exception for you and Sunpaw, because you are already apprentices. You will go back to being kits in the nursery, but only until you are eight moons rather than until you are ten," he responded at last.
"WHAT?" Leafpaw yowled at his leader. "But-but-"
"Calm down," Hazelstar snapped. "You and Sunpaw won't have to change your names back to kit names. And you will still do some apprentice duties. You will still take care of the elders' ticks and change the warrior's bedding. Maybe I'll let you go to the Gathering. However, you will not go out and train with your mentors in the forest for fear of you catching the sickness. Perhaps you can teach the other kits a couple fighting moves to protect them."
"But training is the only fun part of being an apprentice! This is not fair!" Leafpaw stomped into the nursery.
Echokit heard a whisper from Leafpaw as he entered the nursery. "Why are there only nine kits in here? There should be ten! Where's Echokit?"
"She snuck outside again. She does it all the time. She wanted to hear what the meeting was all about," came Wetkit's reply.
Afraid of being noticed now that cats were starting to stray from the rockledge, Echokit sprang back inside the nursery.
"There you are! You were almost noticed this time!" accused Wetkit when she saw Echokit.
"No I wasn't," Echokit retorted. "Anyways, guess what the meeting was about?"
"What?" asked Wetkit, a hint of excitement in her voice.
"You know how the queens suggested to Hazelstar that we become apprentices at eight moons instead of six to 'protect us from the sickness'? Well Hazelstar did just that! Except he made it ten moons instead of eight! Well actually, he made it eight moons for medicine cat apprentices, but ten moons for warrior apprentices! It's not fair!"
"And you know how me and Sunpaw are seven moons but we're apprentices 'cause we were made apprentices before this rule was made? Well, Hazelstar made us go back to kits until we're eight moons!" Leafpaw added.
Wetkit had the same reaction as Echokit did. "Not fair! I mean, I'm going to become a medicine cat apprentice, so I only have to wait eight moons to be an apprentice instead of ten, but still, we should all be apprenticed at six moons! Why did Hazelstar do this?"
Leafpaw shrugged. "I don't know," he said. At that moment Sunpaw burst into the nursery, her tail lashing angrily.
"What's going on?" one kit whimpered. "Why are the apprentices in here and why is everyone so angry?"
Sunpaw explained-or, really, she yowled to the rest of the nursery what Hazelstar had said. From that moment on the nursery was in rage. Kits were screaming and hissing and scratching the walls of the stone den in anger, while the queens tried to calm everyone down.
At long last, everyone was calmed down. The kits got together and played their usual nursery games, while Sunpaw and Leafpaw sulked in the corner. A few hours later, Hazelstar called another Clan meeting.
"As you all know," Hazelstar announced, "tonight is the Gathering. The cats attending will be Wolfpelt, Foxflame, Thornpaw, Rainfall, Jayflight, Goldenpelt…" Echokit stopped listening to the announcement until Hazelstar finished with, "Leafpaw, and Sunpaw."
"But wait! They're kits!" called Sagepelt.
"They will not catch sickness from going to the Gathering. They will go," Hazelstar addressed.
Sunpaw and Leafpaw cheered in excitement. Echokit, who had once again snuck out of the nursery to hear what Hazelstar was announcing, walked over to Leafpaw and Sunpaw.
"Can you take me? Please?" she begged them. "After all, I'm going to be stuck in camp for the next 9 moons, I want to be able to at least go to Gatherings and have some excitement!"
"We would, but what about the other kits? They would be jealous and probably tell the queens, and then we'd get in trouble. And if we took them all along, well then it would definitely be noticable," Sunpaw explained.
"I can sneak out and follow you. I sneak around camp all the time! I can do it!" Echokit protested.
"Oh, all right," Sunpaw agreed.
"But stay near us," Leafpaw added.
"Of course I will!" Echokit assured them. But for the first time in her short life, Echokit felt a bit nervous.
Chapter 2
Echokit clung to Sunpaw's tail, trying not to be crushed by the stream of PondClan cats heading to the Gathering.
"Sunpaw, help! I'm slipping!" she whispered. In response, Sunpaw quietly lifted Echokit to her shoulders. Sunpaw's golden fur gleamed in the moonlight, making it look silver, just like Echokit's pelt. Echokit took a deep breath and rested on Sunpaw's shoulders, promising to herself that nobody would notice her.
When they got there, the leader's of the other three Clans were already there, sitting on the Gathering Stump. Hazelstar joined them. Sunpaw and Leafpaw sat closer to the stump than Echokit wanted. It wasn't that she was scared of the leaders or anything, but where she was sitting, she could quite easily be spotted by Hazelstar. She would have asked Sunpaw and Leafpaw to move a little farther away from the stump, but she did not want to make any noise.
"Cats of The Clans, let the Gathering begin!" yowled Goldenstar, the leader of WoodClan. The cats fell silent. Goldenstar was a large, strong sturdy tom. He looked powerful enough to rule all four clans. Echokit sensed a bit of fear from a PineClan apprentice behind her. But Echokit forced herself not to let Goldenstar scare her. There was a truce at the Gathering, meaning Goldenstar couldn't attack anybody, and just because he looked strong didn't mean he was bad.
"WoodClan would like to say that they have scented some PineClan scent on their territory," Goldenstar glared at Blizzardstar, the leader of PineClan. "We would like to make clear that if this behavior continues, there will be an attack!"
"PineClan would like to negotiate with you," Blizzardstar meowed politely. "We would like ownership of the space between our two forests, only for leaf-bare, of course."
"Never!" Goldenstar hissed.
"Fine, but this is not over!" Blizzardstar growled.
Blizzardstar and Spotstar spoke, but there was nothing important going on in PineClan and MoorClan. The Gathering was less exciting than Echokit had thought. At last, it was Hazelstar's turn to speak.
"We have doing well in leaf-bare and while a few of our warriors have fallen sick, our medicine cats know how to treat it," He told the cats below. Then Hazelstar squinted as if he had noticed something strange. Echokit realized with a jolt of fear that Hazelstar was looking at HER!
"Echokit? Why are you here?" the leader demanded. "Sunpaw, I can't believe you have taken a one moon old kit to the Gathering! Why?"
Echokit jumped from Sunpaw's shoulder and crouched underneath Sunpaw.
"I-I-I just wanted to go to the Gathering, that's all! It's not Sunpaw's fault!" Echokit protested.
"That's it! PondClan is leaving!" Hazelstar meowed, anger blazing in his voice. Echokit shrieked as she realized that clouds were covering the moon. StarClan was angry at her! But hadn't she done the right thing? She wanted to protest against Hazelstar's unfair rule, surely StarClan didn't agree that kits should be apprenticed at 10 moons! Echokit glanced at Sunpaw. The golden tabby was terrified. And Leafpaw was nowhere to be seen.
Hazelstar leaped down from the meeting stump.
"Wolfpelt! Pick her up and carry her back while the rest of us walk back!"
Wolfpelt, the gray deputy, grabbed Echokit by the scruff rather harshly. Echokit hated being carried by the scruff. It was so uncomfortable to be dangling from a cat's jaws.
Finally, they returned to PondClan and Wolfpelt placed Echokit down right below the rockledge. Hazelstar was up there.
"Sunpaw! Get over here!" Hazelstar growled. Sunpaw slowly sat down below the rockledge next to Echokit. Leafpaw was cowering beside the apprentice den. He hadn't spoken a word to her or Sunpaw on the way back from the Gathering. To Echokit's surprise, Hazelstar did not call Leafpaw over. But then she figured out why. Hazelstar didn't know about Leafpaw having anything to do with Echokit going to the Gathering. Leafpaw had also agreed to take her, however when Hazelstar noticed Echokit, he had backed away into the sea of cats, and since Echokit was on Sunpaw's shoulders, Hazelstar had to assume that it was Sunpaw who had taken her and that Leafpaw wasn't helping at all. How dare he sit back and watch as they got in trouble for something he took part in! Echokit wanted to tell Hazelstar that Leafpaw had taken part in it to, but if she did that, she would be seen as a tattletale, and would he even believe her after what she had just done?
"I want an explanation from both of you about why Echokit was at the Gathering and how," Hazelstar demanded, his hazel eyes glaring down at them.
"It all started when you announced that all of the kits who wanted to be warriors would have to start their training at 10 moons," Echokit explained. "I thought about having to spend 9 moons being confined to camp, and it made me want to do something exciting. I wanted to go to the Gathering. So I asked Sunpaw if she could take me." Echokit wanted to say, "Sunpaw and Leafpaw if they could take me," but she didn't.
"You broke the warrior code simply because you wanted to do something?" Hazelstar asked. "I am very disappointed in you, Echokit." he turned to Sunpaw. "So what did you do then, Sunpaw?"
"I-I said yes, and then I took her with me and when we got to the Gathering I assumed nobody would notice her because she's so small and she blends in with my pelt 'cause it looks silver in the moonlight," Sunpaw meowed.
"Echokit, you have broken the warrior code, and Sunpaw, you have endangered the life of a kit. You shall both be punished. Sunpaw, despite you originally only having to wait one more moon until you became a regular apprentice again, I have decided that you will wait until you are 10 moons, just like all the other kits. You will do no apprentice duties, and even when you are a regular apprentice again, you will not go to any Gatherings until you are a full warrior. And your name will be changed back to Sunkit for now."
"No! Please, don't change my name!" cried Sunkit.
"You should have thought about that before you took a one moon old kit to a Gathering," Hazelstar scolded. "Now go to sleep!"
"Wait, please, Hazelstar!" Echokit whimpered before Sunkit headed back to the nursery. "Don't punish her! It was my idea to go to the Gathering!"
"She is an older, more responsible cat who should know better, and that is why she is being punished. You shall be punished as well, but not as severley for you are a kit who doesn't know any better. I will let your mother decide your punishment. And I shall assign all the queens to specifically keep an eye on you. Now go to the nursery, you two." Hazelstar's words stung Echokit.
"I'm so sorry, Sunkit," Echokit whispered as she and Sunkit walked into the nursery. "I didn't mean for you to get in trouble. If it makes you feel any better, I'll still call you Sunpaw. And all of the other kits will, too. They don't think any of these rules are fair either."
"Thanks," Sunpaw replied. "You're a good friend, Echokit."
Chapte12
Sagepelt was sitting in the corner of the nursery, glaring at her.
"It's terribly late! Go to bed this instant! I'll tell you what your punishment is tomorrow," said her mother. With her head down, Echokit curled up beside Wetkit and drifted off.
Echokit woke up the next morning, and knew instantly what was coming next. Her own punishment for what had happened the night before. She opened one eye. All of the other kits had woken up. Echokit must have slept late because she was so tired from staying up till moonhigh. Echokit opened her other eye and stood up. The other kits were wrestling with each other.
"Echokit, you're awake!" exclaimed Sagepelt. She had been talking to the other queens in the nursery. Now she stood up and walked over to Echokit.
"I have thought long and hard about your punishment. And I've decided that for the next moon, you will go to sleep early every night. And I also want you to tell Hazelstar you're sorry about sneaking to the Gathering. And while all of your siblings will go be allowed to leave the nursery at two moons old, you will have to wait until you're two-and-a-half moons to leave the nursery and explore camp. Though I'm sure you saw some of it when you snuck to the Gathering."
Echokit didn't think the punishment was very bad. Going to bed early wasn't that bad, after all, she still had the rest of the day to play, and as for having to wait a half a moon to leave the nursery and explore camp-that didn't matter, because Echokit had snuck out and explored the entire camp many times before. And saying sorry to Hazelstar would be easy. Just a little "I'm sowwy" with sad kitty-cat eyes would work. Echokit just shrugged and mewed "Ok," to her mother and walked away. Ha! That would show Sagepelt. Nobody could give a good enough punishment for Echokit!
"I heard about what you did," commented Wetkit as Echokit joined their game. "I told you you'd get caught! And at the worst time, too. Sneaking to the Gathering was the worst thing you ever did. I bet you won't be sneaking out again for a while!"
"Oh, shut up, I will always be sneaking around," Echokit hissed.
"You know, Father's visiting us today. He'll have something to say about what you did!" Oh no! Echokit had forgotten that Grayclaw was coming to visit them. Grayclaw had only met his kits once before, and they were so young that their memories of it were very faint. And Wetkit was right. He definitely would have something to say about what she did!
"When do you think Father'll come?" Echokit asked her siblings.
"Soon. Sometime before sunhigh, I think," answered Falconkit as he wrestled with Rockkit.
"You're lucky your father visits you at all! Wolfpelt hasn't visited us once! Mother says it's 'cause he's 'too busy with deputy duties'," complained Swiftkit,of Firestripe's kits, as he leaped on top of Falconkit.
"Our mother won't even tell us who our father is. I'm starting to think she doesn't even know who he is!" added Blossomkit, one of Frostpelt's kits'. She was struggling to get on top of Swiftkit. Eventually Swiftkit won their wrestling game.
"Ha! I'm going to be the best fighter of all!" cried Swiftkit.
"I'm tired of play-fighting!" complained Nightkit, Blossomkit's sister. "Let's play tag! Swiftkit's it!"
"What? No fair!" Swiftkit protested, but everyone else was already running from him.
Echokit played with the rest of the kits for a couple of hours. It helped her forget about Grayclaw and stop worrying about what he would say. But the dreaded moment still came.
A gray head poked its way through the nursery entrance.
"He's here!" cried Rockkit.
"Grayclaw!" exclaimed Sagepelt. "I haven't seen you in a moon!" The gray tom walked over to her and licked her ear.
"It's good to see you, Sagepelt. What's new with my kits?" Grayclaw asked.
"Oh plentiful!" Sagepelt answered. "As you can see, they've opened their eyes, well they did quite a while ago-I wish you'd been here for that-and they can speak quite well and also walk and-well, I'm sure you heard of what Echokit did."
Echokit flinched. Her father turned to look at her. "Yes, I did hear," he said to Sagepelt, glaring at his daughter.
"I only wanted to have some excitment!" she protested. "Please don't be mad! I'm still your kit!"
"No kit of mine breaks the code," Grayclaw (cough slash Spiderleg cough) hissed. He turned away from her to greet her siblings. What? Echokit thought. He's not going to spend any time with me? Echokit ran to the corner next to her mother. She sat there, looking crestfallen until Grayclaw finally left.
Sunpaw sat next to Echokit. "I'm so sorry," the golden apprentice said. "You don't deserve this."
"Nobody deserves this," Echokit responded. "You and Leafpaw should be apprentices, and all of the kits should be apprentices at 6 moons. None of this is fair. We have to prove to Hazelstar that the rules should be changed back. And kits should be able to go to Gatherings."
"Leafpaw!" Sunpaw hissed. "He still hasn't spoken to me or apologized for letting us take all the blame. I can't believe my own brother would do that to me!" she glared over to the brown tom, sitting alone in the corner of the nursery.
"Maybe we should tell Hazelstar he was part of it too," Echokit suggested,
"Yeah…" Sunpaw responded after a while. "At first I didn't want to tell because then he would hate me, but he deserves it!" she paused. "But...would he believe us?
He might believe you, but he won't believe me, Echokit thought sharply, but her reply to Sunpaw was, "Maybe...but we should give Leafpaw time to come forward with Hazelstar himself. If he doesn't confess in half a moon, we'll tell Hazelstar."
Sunpaw mewed in agreement. They sat there for a while, quietly thinking.
"In the meantime, we need to convince Hazelstar to change the rules back. We need to prove that us kits are stronger than he thinks,"
"How would we do that? Chase an enemy off our territory? Kill a dog?" Echokit laughed. "You have a little bit of fighting training, but the rest of us kits are only a moon old! And we won't even start training until we're ten moons old! We can't prove anything to Hazelstar without training!"
"Exactly," mewed Sunpaw mischievously. "I'll train you and the kits. By the time you're three moons old, and since there are eleven of us, we'll definitely be able to fight off something. And I'll try to get Leafpaw in on this too."
"Really?" asked Echokit, surprised. "How would you train us?"
"I could sneak you into the forest at night."
"But what about Wetkit? She certainly would tell the queens on us!"
"Then we won't train her."
"How will we get the other kits to know about this?"
"That's up to you. I'll tell Leafpaw, you tell every kit but Wetkit."
Echokit nodded and went back to their game while Sunpaw talked with Leafpaw. She whispered Sunpaw's plan to some of the other kits, telling them to spread the word around but not tell Wetkit. Once she was sure every kit but Wetkit knew and agreed with the plan, she went back to tell Sunpaw.
"Every kit knows and agrees with the plan, but Wetkit is clueless," she reported to Sunpaw.
"Great! And Leafpaw over here wants to make a deal with us," Sunpaw replied. She motioned for Leafpaw to speak.
"I'll train with you, and I'll help fight off that enemy or whatever we're going to do when everybody's trained, but only if you don't tell Hazelstar about you-know-what."
"Fine," Echokit agreed. "Let's shake on it." They shook tails.
Now there was only one thing left to do: wait for the night.
Chapter 4:
When the sun had lowered itself below the sea, the kits, along with Sunpaw and Leafpaw, were at the edge of camp. Because of so many warriors being sick, there wasn't any cat guarding camp.
"Are you ready to step over the camp borderline?" Sunpaw looked back at the kits.
"Yes!" cried the kits.
"Shh!" Leafpaw hissed sharply. The kits silenced themselves. Sunpaw stepped one paw over the camp border. Then another. Leafpaw followed. The apprentices slowly stepped a few mouse-lengths into PondClan's hunting grounds. Once both apprentices had crossed, Sunpaw turned back to the kits and whispered, "Go!" the kits leaped over the border without making a sound. They followed Sunpaw and Leafpaw a bit farther into the marshy forest.
"We should start with defense moves," Leafpaw meowed. Sunpaw nodded in agreement.
"Here's a good one. Roll under your opponents belly," Sunpaw told them. In response, Rockkit leaped at Falconkit, who rolled under his brother's belly. Or, at least he tried wasn't tall enough for Rockkit to roll under.
"They're too small for that move," Leafpaw looked at Sunpaw. "What defense moves can we teach them that they can do despite their size?"
"Hmmmm…" Sunpaw wondered for several minutes straight. At last, she let out a sigh and said, "I think we can't teach them fighting when they're this small. We should start out with hunting and next moon we'll teach them how to fight. It will definitely help the Clan if we have extra prey!"
The kits groaned. "I want to learn how to fight! Hunting is boring!" complained Nightkit.
"Hunting is much more important than fighting. Plus, the Clan really needs extra prey right now. The needs of the Clan come first," Leafpaw meowed sternly.
"We'll start with fishing," Sunpaw mewed. She led the kits to a deep pond.
"This is what PondClan is known for. We have these deep ponds all over the territory that are great for fishing, swimming, and cleaning! Fish isn't our main source of prey though. We also hunt in the trees. We can't survive on just fish. Our Clan is too big. Anyways, fishing is a lot easier than having to chase and stalk prey. The fish can't hear you-but they can see your paws in the water, so you have to catch them by surprise. Ready?" Sunpaw leaped into the pond and dove under the water. She came out holding a fish.
"Fun! I want to try!" shouted Swiftkit. He leaped into the water like Sunpaw. He splashed and made little kit-like waves, trying to keep himself afloat.
"Help! I'm drowning!" he cried. Leafpaw jumped in and saved the black and white kit without any trouble.
"Sunpaw, they're kits! They can't swim!" Leafpaw hissed. "We need to teach them side-fishing!"
"Oh, all right," Sunpaw groaned. "Side-fishing is more complicated, you have to stick your paws in at just the right time to-" Sunpaw started, but she was cut off by Blossomkit, who stuck her paw into the water and fell in with it. Sunpaw grabbed Blossomkit by the scruff and hauled her out of the water. "Leafpaw, this is hopeless!" she meowed. "These kits need trained warriors to mentor them, not two apprentices who only trained for a moon!"
"Then we'll just train them a lot! There are 9 of them, plus us, I'm sure no enemy can defeat 11 decently-trained cats coming at them!" Leafpaw argued.
"Decently trained? We're not even decently trained, Leafpaw, how can we train some kits? We're terrible at keeping control over them! What if one of them gets hurt during training? We can't do this, Leafpaw!" Sunpaw stressed.
No! This can't happen! They can't give up on training us, or we won't become apprentices until we're 10 moons! I can't sit in the nursery for that long!
"Please! Give us another chance! I'll command the others and tell them how to act! It'll be fine!" Echokit cried.
"You're only a moon old!" snapped Leafpaw. "Frostpelt's litter is two moons! You're the youngest of all the kits, why would they listen to you? No, Sunpaw and I need to take charge ourselves!"
"You can trust me!" Echokit promised. "The other kits look up to me! They know I'm smart! They'll listen!"
Sunpaw flicked her tail. "Leafpaw, maybe she's right. Let's give this a try, we'll see if they listen to her." Leafpaw responded with a groan.
"All right, kits of the PondClan nursery, listen up!" Echokit looked back at the other eight kits. "Leafpaw and Sunpaw are considering calling this whole thing off. That means no training, which means no fighting enemy cats off, which means 10 moons in the nursery!" She walked up and down the line of kits, as if she were chief of an army. "But Sunpaw and Leafpaw agree that if we can be good trainees, they'll do their best to still train us. But that means you must accept me as the commander of the kits! You shall do as I say and follow my example, but you must always listen to Sunpaw and Leafpaw over me."
Swiftkit crouched low and flicked his tail as if Echokit were his prey and he were preparing to pounce on her. "Why do you, the youngest kit in the nursery, get to be commander of the kits? I think I should be commander of the kits!"
"Yeah! Swiftkit for commander!" Whitekit yowled. Echokit shushed him, and opened her mouth to respond, but Blossomkit cut her off.
"Um, no, I'm half a moon older than Swiftkit and his siblings, and one whole moon older than Echokit and her siblings," said the tortoiseshell-and-black kit. "I'm the oldest kit in the nursery, therefore making me the most qualified to be commander of the kits,"
"You're lying! Frostpelt says I was her firstborn, making me the oldest kit in the nursery!" interrupted Nightkit.
"Yeah, but I'm the strongest," Blossomkit argued.
"I'm the oldest tom in the nursery!" bragged Alderkit, Nightkit and Blossomkit's brother.
"So?" retorted Blossomkit. "You were born last in our litter. You're not anything special!"
"Yes I am!" Alderkit squealed. "I'm a tom! Toms are much better than she-cats! I'm the best of all the kits, so I deserve to be commander!" He pounced on Nightkit. Blossomkit joined in, wrestling her siblings. Swiftkit pushed his way in, too. He was winning, and so he yowled, "Whoever wins this fight gets to be commander!" Echokit stared at the fighting kits, and rolled her eyes.
"Sunpaw and Leafpaw agree that I'm the one who gets to be commander, because I'm the most responsible, and I'm the one who was smart enough to sneak to a Gathering!" she told them. It was sort of true. Sunpaw had agreed that Echokit should be commander. And Leafpaw wasn't on board with anyone but him and Sunpaw being commander, so she was good enough.
"Not fair!" Swiftkit whined.
"You'll thank me soon enough. I'm going to let Sunpaw and Leafpaw train us effectively. Anyone else would just go crazy and disobey them," Echokit turned and raced back towards Leafpaw and Sunpaw.
"They've agreed me to be their commander!" she said happily.
"Good," Sunpaw nodded. "But we've wasted a lot of time tonight. And we do need some sleep. We'd better get back to camp. Real training starts tomorrow."
The next night, the two apprentices and nine kits snuck out of camp again. Sunpaw took half the kits, including Echokit, and was teaching them how to side-fish because they couldn't swim yet. Leafpaw took the other half and was teaching them the basics of stalking. They planned to switch in an hour.
"All, right, everyone step away from the edge of the pond and watch," Sunpaw ordered. The yellow apprentice sat by the water, watching carefully. Her eyes seemed to have spotted something, because her entire body jolted as she stuck a paw into the water and pulled out a fish. She quickly dropped the fish beside the ground. It flopped around for a bit, until she plunged her claws hard into it's body and it died.
"Never," Sunpaw warned them, "let your fish flop around like that. Kill it immeadiatley so it can't flop back into the pond."
"Can we try?" asked Falconkit hopefully.
"One by one," Sunpaw answered. "You first." Falconkit hopped up beside the golden apprentice.
"Look for a fish passing by," Sunpaw instructed. Falconkit gazed at the water. "I see one!" he cried at last. "Grab it!" Sunpaw yelped. The gray-and-white kit splashed his paw into the water, but the fish swam away quickly.
"It's fine," Sunpaw reassured the disappointed kit. "I'd be surprised if any of you caught something on your first try. Alderkit, you're next."
And so the kits stood in line, excitedly waiting for their turn. Nobody caught a fish, although Whitekit and Blossomkit got close to catching one. Every kit had at least three turns when they switched. The kits who were training with Leafpaw went to train with Sunpaw, and Echokit and her group went to train with Leafpaw.
"All right, kits, stalking is the most important part of hunting. Your prey can't run away from you unless it knows you're there. Sometimes there's a chance you could catch your prey even if it runs away from you. But usually that's not the case. I want everybody to walk around for a bit, as quietly as possible. Ready? Go!"
The kits began to move around, stepping as softly as they could on the forest floor. They did this for several minutes, without making a sound. Echokit was beginning to wonder when Leafpaw would tell them to stop. Eventually, Nightkit broke the long silence by crunching on a leaf.
"All right, you can stop." Echokit was somewhat started by the sound of Leafpaw's voice, after everything had been quiet for so long. "That was at least ten minutes! The other group was only able to keep silent for about four. All right, I want to show you guys something."
The kits watched as Leafpaw crouched, his tail keeping still as he walked. Suddenly he pounced on an imaginary mouse.
"Now, did any of you expect me to pounce?" Leafpaw asked them.
"No!" meowed Blossomkit, amazed. "That came out of nowhere!"
"Exactly," Leafpaw swished his tail. "All right, we're going to play a game."
"Yes!" Blossomkit jumped.
"Okay, I want Echokit and Blossomkit to be partners, Whitekit and Alderkit will be partners, and I'll be Nightkit's partner. To start, Echokit, Alderkit, and Nightkit will stay where they are. They're going to act as the prey. Blossomkit, Whitekit, and I will be the warrior. We're going to go about twenty fox-lengths behind you. You won't be able to see us, but we won't be that far. You're going to face that tree, and we're going to stalk you and come up behind you. When we get to you, we'll tap you on the shoulder. However, if you hear us coming before we tap you, you yell out "Hear you!" and the warrior loses. We will take turns being the warrior and the mouse," Leafpaw explained. Then he lead Blossomkit and Whitekit far behind them. Echokit twitched her ears, knowing should would hear Blossomkit before the kit tapped her shoulder. Blossomkit was the loudest of the kits. Surprisingly though, Echokit smelled Blossomkit coming and didn't hear her coming at all. The tortoiseshell kit successfully made it all the way to Echokit without a peep.
When it was Echokit's turn to be a warrior, Echokit led Alderkit and Nightkit around twenty-fox lengths into the forest. She began to stalk Blossomkit. Almost immediately Blossomkit yelled out, "Heard you!" as loud as she could. She's lying! She couldn't have heard anything when I'm this far away, and I didn't even hear anything! Echokit continued to stalk the kit when she heard her voice again
"I said heard you!"
Echokit raced forward to the kit and yelled "No you didn't!"
Leafpaw turned to them and meowed, "Don't yell 'heard you' until you've actually heard them!"
"I did hear her!" Blossomkit protested.
"No you did not!" Echokit argued. "I didn't even hear a sound, there's no way you could have heard something from so far away!"
"Stop arguing!" Leafpaw cut them off. "Echokit, go back to where you were and start over with your stalking. And Blossomkit, don't say you heard her unless you actually hear her!"
Blossomkit glared at Echokit as the silver she-cat walked back to where she was standing before. Echokit began to stalk once more. Crouching, she placed each paw in front of the other with great care, avoiding leaves as much as possible. She was approaching Blossomkit. Echokit grew excited as she got closer to touching the tortoiseshell. She but was but a tail-length away when her excitement got the best of her and she stepped on the ground too hard, crunching on a leaf.
"Heard you!" Blossomkit cried with delight. Echokit sighed.
Leafpaw turned. "Sometimes," he told them, "When you're that close, you can pounce on your prey before it reacts. We'll be working on pouncing tomorrow. But usually it runs away when you make a noise."
"Any prey that tries to run away from me is stupid!" Blossomkit boasted. "I'll always catch it, no matter what it tries to do!"
At that moment Nightkit tapped Leafpaw's backside. The tom jumped a bit, startled. "Good job, Nightkit!" he praised her. The black kit sat down, looking up with pride.
Leafpaw had them keep on going with their stalking game until a little past moonhigh.
"Leafpaw, the kits must be getting tired by now. We ought to send them to their nests," Sunpaw called from where she sat beside the pond. Leafpaw flicked his tail in response and got to his paws. Echokit could sense that he was tired, too. He sleepily followed Sunpaw, who led him and all the kits back to camp silently.
There were the queens, all curled up in the nursery, none of them knowing that their kits had gone. And there was Wetkit, wide awake, laying down next to Sagepelt.
"Where were you?"
Chapter 5
Echokit froze as she stepped inside the nursery. Wetkit had seen them leave camp! They were sure to be busted now. Sunpaw poked her head inside the nursery.
"Uh oh," the yellow apprentice mewed, seeing that Wetkit was awake.
"Leafpaw!" she called quietly. "Look,"
The brown tom glanced at Wetkit, then flicked his tail. "Why, hello there, Wetkit," he meowed swiftly. "I see that you're awake."
"I can tell you've been somewhere you're not supposed to," Wetkit accused. "Without me. Not that I care I wasn't involved in rule-breaking. But I will tell somebody you've been sneaking out to go somewhere, unless you let me in on this."
"Fine," Leafpaw meowed curtly. "But once we tell you everything, you can't tattle on us."
"I won't make any promises about that, but you might have a chance of getting away with this if you tell me," Wetkit meowed. She seemed pleased with herself that she could use her knowledge to boss other cats around.
"Leafpaw, this isn't a good idea-" Sunpaw started.
"It looks like we don't have a choice if we don't want to be punished," Leafpaw cut her off, staring at Wetkit.
Sunpaw let out a long sigh. "Tell her, I guess," she meowed defeatedly.
"We wanted to prove to Hazelstar that all kits should be apprenticed at six moons. We wanted to prove that young cats should be given more freedom. So we decided to fight off an enemy, like a fox or a dog or something. Sunpaw had an idea to train all of the kits so that we could do that. And so, for the past few nights, Sunpaw and I have been taking the kits out at night to train them," Leafpaw told her.
"That makes sense," Wetkit replied. "But that leaves one question. Why train every single kit in PondClan but me?"
"Uhhh…." Leafpaw paused. "It was Echokit's idea! Talk to her!" he meowed quickly.
"Look at what you're"
Wow, great job, Leafpaw, put all of the blame on another cat. Echokit thought.
"Look what you're doing, Wetkit," Echokit meowed. "You're threatening to tattle on us if we don't tell you the secret. And that's exactly the reason we chose not to train you. We didn't want you to tattle on us."
Echokit expected Wetkit to whine, but instead her sister proudly boasted, "Ha! Well that's where you're wrong! I won't tattle on you...if you make me the leader of your training sessions."
"We would never! We have all voted it that Echokit, Sunpaw and I are in charge of the training sessions." Leafpaw hissed. "But you can join in the training if you don't tattle."
"Fine, but if you do any things too crazy for training I will tell," Wetkit replied, looking pleased that she had won, in a way.
It had been a few days since Wetkit had tagged along in the night-time training sessions with Sunpaw and Leafpaw. As a group, they had decided to try sneaking to the Gathering again. This time they would bring every kit, and they were going to be more cautious. They were going to sneak out after the rest of the Clan left and they would return before the rest of the Clan returned. And they wouldn't be sitting in the clearing like everybody else. Instead they would be hiding in the background, listening.
"We can't be doing this!" Wetkit cried as the group was traveling through PondClan's territory. "This is going to far!"
"Wetkit is right! What if we get caught again?" Swiftkit meowed looking at Leafpaw, Sunpaw and Echokit.
Sunpaw sighed. "Fine, but this isn't the last time we're going to try." The group headed back to camp. Nobody had noticed they were gone.
The next morning, the kits did not play their usual morning games. Instead, they were called to the elders den for a story. Echokit mostly disliked elder's tales, but she had been told that this story would be much more thrilling. Apparently each Clan had some sort of ancient legend that every kit was taught at a few moons old. It was unknown if any of these legends were true, but Echokit liked those kinds of stories.
As she settled down in the elders den next to Falconkit and Nightkit, two cats named Fernpelt and Shatteredsong moved closer to them. Out of PondClan's eight elders, they were the only two Echokit knew the names of. The other six were either constantly sleeping, too deaf to notice them, or did not like kits. Fernpelt and Shatteredsong must be the ones who are telling us the legend, Echokit figured.
"Want to hear PondClan's great legend, eh?" Shatteredsong asked them, chuckling. He turned to his sister. "Fernpelt, this has got to be the third or fourth time we've told the legend to some kits, isn't it?"
"The third time, I believe," Fernpelt meowed. She turned to the kits, her eyes glimmering.
"Well, PondClan's legend is called 'The Legend of Viperstar and Addertail'."
Oh dear, don't tell me it's just one of those "hero vs. villain" stories. I've heard enough of those.
"Ooh! Who is the villain and who is the hero?" cried out Nightkit, who liked stories much more than Echokit.
"They are both villains," Shatteredsong smiled. "Viperkit and Adderkit were brother and sister, born in PondClan a long, long time ago. They both wanted to train as warriors together, but at the time, PondClan desperately needed a medicine cat apprentice. Even though they both would have been great warriors, in order for the Clan to survive, one of them had to be made a medicine cat apprentice."
"Not this again! There are so many stories about medicine cats who wanted to be warriors!" Wetkit cried.
Rude! Echokit wanted to hiss at her sister, but she bit back her anger. Neither of the elders seemed mad at Wetkit's complaint. Instead they both laughed.
"Ah yes, there are, but this story is different," Fernpelt meowed through her chuckles. "Anyways, Adderpaw ended up having to train as a medicine cat while Viperpaw got to train as a warrior. Eventually Viperpaw became Viperfang. Since medicine cat apprentices train longer than warrior apprentices, Adderpaw was still an apprentice when Viperfang became a warrior. Adderpaw still hated being a medicine cat, and Viperfang felt sorry for him, so in secret, she gave him warrior training. Adderpaw soon became a talented hunter and fighter. He secretly hunted for the Clan when he could, and he always participated in battles, even though medicine cats don't fight in most battles. With the extra prey he gave to the Clan, PondClan thrived. But Adderpaw wanted more than just being a warrior in secret. He wanted to be a true warrior, to abandon his medicine cat duties. So, Viperfang came up with a plan. The plan was for Adderpaw to murder his mentor and hide the body where nobody would find it. After his mentor, 'mysteriously disappeared', he would have an excuse to become a warrior instead of a medicine cat, because he had never completed his training. Then he would earn his warrior name and be the greatest warrior ever along with Viperfang. PondClan would see that they could do just fine without a medicine cat, and they would never train another medicine cat again."
"Kill his own mentor?" exclaimed Blossomkit. "Didn't he know that was against the warrior code?"
"Oh, he and Viperfang knew," Shatteredsong told her, "But they cared more about living happy lives than their Clan or the warrior code. But the plan didn't exactly work. Adderpaw succeeded in killing his mentor, and he hid the body underground, somewhere in PondClan's territory. Adderpaw became a warrior apprentice, and because of his skill in hunting and fighting, he became a warrior named Addertail rather quickly. But a few moons later, a warrior of PondClan, who was digging a hole to place their prey in so they could come back for it later, discovered Addertail's former mentor's body. From the scent on the body and the tufts of Addertail's fur hidden around it, it was obvious that Addertail had killed her and buried her. They reported it to their leader, and Addertail was exiled."
"While he was being exiled, he told PondClan that Viperfang had been involved. That she had given him secret training and that it her was her idea for him to kill his mentor," Fernpelt continued. "Of course, he wasn't trying to put all of the blame on his sister so that she would be exiled instead of him, he was trying to get her to be exiled along with him. He expected Viperfang to confess that she had been apart of it and willingly leave the Clan with him. But she didn't. Instead, Viperfang lied, betraying her brother. She claimed that she hadn't done a thing to make Addertail do what he did, and because she was such a beloved warrior among the Clan, everyone believed her. So, Addertail went into exile alone, while Viperfang continued to live in PondClan unpunished. Addertail lived as a rogue for the next few moons. He plotted his revenge on Pondclan and Viperfang, but he died of a sickness before he could a do a thing. He ended up in the Dark Forest."
"Addertail could only watch in anger as Viperfang lived the life that he should have lived with her," Shatteredsong meowed. The gray-and-black tabby tom seemed more delighted to be telling the story than Fernpelt, whose voice was dark and serious. "Viperfang had a mate and kits, became deputy, and eventually became leader! StarClan had no choice but to give her nine lives, because despite the fact that she had lied to her Clan, betrayed her brother, and been apart in the murder of Addertail's mentor, she was the right leader for PondClan. A medicine cat from WoodClan came over to train a medicine cat apprentice so that PondClan would not be without a medicine cat. Viperstar lived all nine lives happily. She led her Clan well, even though she was a liar."
"Eventually, Viperstar lost her last life to old age," Fernpelt's soft voice came again. "She, too, found herself in the Dark Forest. She was surprised, and angry, but StarClan had made their choice. In the Dark Forest, cats mostly walk alone, but after just a few hours of being dead, she ran into her brother. And when Addertail saw her there...he...he...well, he…" the elder trailed off, not wanting to finish her sentence.
"Fernpelt always wants to skip over this part of the story. I'll tell you what Addertail did when he saw her," Shatteredsong meowed. "When he saw her, he immediately sprang at her. Viperstar had no time to react, she fell over and her brother slashed at her throat, killing her. She faded away from existence only hours after she died."
Fernpelt looked disgusted. "For close siblings like Shatteredsong and I, it's just awful to hear of siblings killing each other!" she cried out.
"Is the story true?" Falconkit pressed.
"Maybe," Shatteredsong grinned.
"Shatteredsong! Don't scare them!" Fernpelt scolded. "It's a legend, so we don't know if it's true or not, but it's very unlikely. Even if it is true, it's nothing to worry about. Viperstar is gone, and as for Addertail...who knows if he's still in the Dark Forest! But it's all right. They can't hurt you," she meowed, looking at the kits with her soft blue gaze.
"I love it!" Nightkit bursted out. "This is my favorite story of all time!"
She likes every elders story. Echokit reasoned. But she, too, liked the story she had heard today.
"It really is a great story," she meowed her thanks to the elders and left the den.
Chapter 6
That night, the kits, along with Leafpaw and Sunpaw, preformed their usual routine of sneaking out of camp at night to do their secret training sessions. But as they reached the middle of PondClan's forest, Leafpaw began to cough.
"Leafpaw? Are you all right?" Sunpaw asked her brother.
"Fine, I'm fine. It's probably just a cold," Leafpaw reassured her.
But the coughing did not stop.
"Leafpaw, you really should go to the medicine den. Just to make sure you're alright," Falconkit advised.
"Okay, so I might have white cough. But if I went to the medicine den now, we'd have to explain why we were out here in the middle of the night. If I'm still coughing tomorrow morning, then I'll go to the medicine den," Leafpaw decided. The group canceled the rest of their training session and returned to camp early.
The next morning, the coughing had not stopped. Leafpaw went to the medicine den. Swanfeather figured it was just a small case of white cough. He was given tansy.
Several days later, the coughing still had not stopped. On top of that, he had a horrible constant bellyache. He was almost always sleeping every time they visited him. It was clear now. Leafpaw had the same sickness that the many other PondClan cats had. For the next few nights, Sunpaw continued to take them out for the nighttime training sessions. But she soon became busy with all the time she spent with her brother in the medicine den.
And then Sunpaw got sick, too. She soon became just as weak as Leafpaw.
Now there was nobody to train them. The kits doubted that they would ever prove to Hazelstar that the rules should be changed back. They were beginning to think that they might just have to wait 10 moons to become apprentices.
But Echokit would not give up. Half a moon after both Sunpaw and Leafpaw had gotten sick and moved to the medicine den, she called a secret meeting for the kits. They all met her behind the nursery at moonhigh.
"What do you want, Echokit? Our training is over. You're not commander anymore!" Blossomkit hissed quietly.
"Our training isn't over," Echokit told the kits gathered around her. "It's too dangerous for us kits to go into the forest alone. So we can't hunt anymore. But remember our goal? It was to defeat a dangerous enemy by ourselves. We can still do fighting training. I say we do it right here at the edge of camp, behind the leader's den every night. We'll have to be much quieter, though."
"But how will we do it?" Questioned Swiftkit and Whitekit's sister, Thistlekit. "We don't have anybody to teach us new fighting moves anymore!"
"We won't be able to learn any new fighting moves, you're right," Echokit admitted. "But we can practice the ones we learned. And we learned quite a few. It should be enough. By the time we're four moons old, we should be ready to defeat that enemy!"
"By the time you're four moons old," Swiftkit corrected. "When you're four moons old, me and my siblings will be six moons old! And Blossomkit and her siblings will be five moons old!"
"Fine. What I mean is, I'm three moons old, Blossomkit and her sibling are four moons old, and you and your siblings are five moons old. So in one moon, we should all be ready," Echokit explained.
"That makes enough sense," Swiftkit agreed.
"Hold up! Echokit and her siblings are the youngest of PondClan's kits! Why is she commander, again?" Nightkit narrowed her eyes.
"Because Sunpaw chose me," Echokit's voice had a hint of anger.
Nightkit rolled her eyes. "Only because you're her favorite!"
But she's right, isn't she? There's nothing special about me that makes me better than the other kits. I'm just the closest to Leafpaw and Sunpaw. If I wasn't, Swiftkit or Blossomkit would have been commander of the kits. Unsure of how to respond, Echokit backed away.
Swiftkit took a step closer. "Nightkit's right. Sunpaw and Leafpaw don't train us any more, so who cares about what their opinions were? I'm the oldest of all the kits! Shouldn't I be commander?" His eyes gleamed. Echokit felt betrayed, but she couldn't disagree. There wasn't any reason for her to be commander anymore. To her surprise, Falconkit went in front of her and met Swiftkit's eyes.
"Let me think, who was the one to step up and take control so that the nighttime training sessions could be possible in the first place?" He snarled. "Who was the one who helped Sunpaw come up with this whole idea? Who's idea was it to protest against Hazelstar's change of the rules? Who made the plan to bring back the training sessions after everybody else had given up?"
He's talking about me! Echokit realized, appreciation for her brother welling up in her chest. I'm the one who did all of those things! I did more to make this possible than any other kit did!
"You're right!" Nightkit exclaimed, suddenly switching to Echokit's side of the argument. "Swiftkit, what have you done to make you worthy of being commander?"
"Echokit might have done some things, but she only did those by talking! I'm the strongest of all the kits!" Swiftkit spat. Echokit noticed his neck fur bristling. Why does he want to be commander so badly?
Thistlekit bared her teeth at her brother. "The oldest and the biggest doesn't mean the strongest! You're just greedy!"
"He is not!" Blossomkit looked ready to claw the gray she-kit's ears off. "He would be a great commander! Look at what he's doing right now! Fighting for the respect he deserves!"
Wetkit snorted. "So what? Echokit's been a great commander all along! We don't need to change commander now!" The blue-gray she-kit slid in beside Echokit and Falconkit. Rockkit and Whitekit followed.
Out of nowhere, Swiftkit's anger and determination to be commander of the kits disappeared, as if Wetkit, Rockkit and Whitekit siding with her had silenced him.
"Never mind! Carry on, Echokit!" He meowed awkwardly.
"B-but-" Blossomkit started, but seeing as she was alone, she gave up. Before Echokit could continue, Whitekit asked, "Wait, where's Alderkit been this whole time?"
Nightkit scoffed. "He's still asleep. I couldn't wake him up. I'll tell him about it in the morning. So, Commander Echokit, when do we start training?"
"Tomorrow," Echokit answered. "And don't call me that."
Chapter 7
The next night, the kits woke up at Moonhigh and left the nursery. They made their way to the edge of camp, right in the little clearing behind Hazelstar's den.
"We should start with a fighting match," Echokit meowed. The other kits agreed. "We can make it fun, too," she added. "Why don't we start with Swiftkit vs. Whitekit, and Thistlekit will fight the winner, and then Nightkit will fight the winner, and then Blossomkit and so on?"
"Yes! I love those types of matches!" Rockkit exclaimed a little too loudly. Wetkit slapped her brother with her tail to shush him.
Swiftkit barreled into Whitekit, who dodged him. Whitekit attempted to "slash" at his brother, but Swiftkit, being much bigger than Whitekit, pushed him off and pinned him down. Now it was Thistlekit's turn to fight Swiftkit, since he had won. Swiftkit leaped straight at his sister's chest and knocked her over before she was even ready. Then it was Swiftkit vs. Nightkit. Swiftkit was bigger than Nightkit as well, but Nightkit was much more clever. The black kit leaped at Swiftkit, and then whirled around to confuse him. The black-and-white tom hurled himself at her tail, but she flicked her tail away and pinned Swiftkit to the ground before he came to his senses. Unfortunately for her, Blossomkit was bigger and knew all of her sister's tricks. The tortoiseshell bounded after Nightkit, grabbing her scruff and pushing her over. Alderkit, who hardly listened when Sunpaw and Leafpaw talked about fighting moves, stood no chance against Blossomkit. He attempted to leap on top of his sister and push her down, but Blossomkit was much heavier and she simply rolled him over. Echokit didn't expect that Falconkit would defeat Blossomkit, but she was wrong. Falconkit was an average size for a kit his age, but he had a great flying leap and was skilled in defense moves. When Blossomkit sprang at him he leaped over her. She whirled around and tried pinning him down, but he rolled out from under her, "raked" her belly, and won. Rockkit was the best fisher of all the kits, but not the best fighter. Falconkit went on to face off Wetkit, and when he won that he went to fight Echokit.
Echokit dodged her brother several times, but eventually he knocked her over. "I won!" He yowled triumphantly.
"Is he really the winner, though?" Swiftkit demanded. "He never fought me, or Whitekit, or Thistlekit, or Nightkit, or Alderkit. How do we know he's really the best fighter?"
"Well, he defeated Blossomkit, and Blossomkit is better than Nightkit, who is better than you, who is better than Whitekit and Thistlekit," Rockkit pointed out.
"Winning a few fights doesn't make you the better one!" Swiftkit hissed. "I call a rematch!"
"If Swiftkit really thinks he's the best, how about he fights Falconkit?" Echokit suggested, sneaking in a glance at Swiftkit.
"Fine," growled Swiftkit, glaring back at her.
Swiftkit and Falconkit stood parallel from each other and waited for the call.
"Three...two...one...go!" Echokit whispered. Falconkit waited for Swiftkit to attack first. Watching the gaze of Falconkit, she noticed how her brother was waiting to see where Swiftkit would lunge for first. Swiftkit jumped at Falconkit but he dodged him just at the right moment. Swiftkit looked shocked. Falconkit sprang at the black-and-white tom, knocking him off balance. Swiftkit was bigger than Falconkit and could easily beat him if Falconkit wasn't smarter. Falconkit soon had Swiftkit under his paws, yowling in trumph.
"It looks like you're not the best fighter, Swiftkit!" Whitekit teased.
"Ha! I knew I would win again!" Falconkit boasted.
"We have to be quiet! Remember, we're in camp, not the forest!" Echokit warned. "Also, before we go back to the nursery, I would like to fight Swiftkit."
Swiftkit rolled his eyes and nodded in agreement.
She waited for Whitekit to command them to start and watched where Swiftkit preparing to pounce.
"Three...two...one...go!" commanded Whitekit softly.
Doing what she had seen Falconkit do before she waited. Swiftkit was focusing on her haunches. Remember haunches mean legs, Echokit remembered something that Sunpaw told her during training. Waiting for the attack, she gazed deeply at Swiftkit, trying to get him distracted. Swiftkit leaped for her legs but she jumped up and landed squarely on Swiftkit, pushing him to the ground.
"Yes! I did it finally! I got someone!" Echokit meowed happily. She yawned and added, "I think it is time to go back to our nests."
The other kits agreed and they slipped back into the nursery. Echokit curled up by her mother and dreamt of her apprentice ceremony.
Chapter 8
"Echokit! Wake up!" hollered a voice in her ear. It was Rockkit.
"Swanfeather told us we can visit Sunpaw and Leafpaw today! Not for long though. We have to careful to keep a distance away from them so we don't get sick."
Echokit jumped to her paws. "Finally! I haven't seen either of them since they got sick!"
"Come on!" Rockkit scurried out of the nursery and into the medicine den.
Leafpaw and Sunpaw were lying near the entrance. The stench of sick cats flooded Echokit's nose. Juniperpelt greeted them. He told them that he would be supervising them to make sure they didn't get too close to the sick cats.
Leafpaw looked to be sleeping, or perhaps he was so weak he seemed to always be sleeping. Sunpaw however, managed to open her eyes when she sensed them coming near.
"Echokit? Rockkit?" She murmured, not lifting her head up.
"It's us, Sunpaw," Echokit told her.
"A-are you sick too?" It was obvious that her and Rockkit were not, but Sunpaw was hardly opening her eyes, and was probably way too confused and weak to sense it.
"No. We're here to visit you," Rockkit assured her. "The other kits will come to visit you later. How's Leafpaw?"
"He hasn't spoken for several days. He's so tired all the time." Sunpaw hardly sounded like herself.
Seeing her friends so sick made Echokit feel sick too. It felt as though a stone had dropped in her throat. She didn't want to visit them any longer. She only wanted to see them healthy and happy.
"G-goodbye Sunpaw!" Echokit raced out of the medicine den.
"Echokit? What's wrong?" Falconkit asked her later.
"Have you visited Sunpaw and Leafpaw?" Echokit asked her brother.
Falconkit nodded.
"I visited them too. A-and they looked so sick-I can't take all these sick cats anymore! When will this breakout end? Not a single cat has gotten better, Falconkit!"
"I know," he meowed softly. "I'm going to be a medicine cat apprentice, though, maybe StarClan will tell me how to cure it!"
"StarClan would never send dreams to a kit!" Echokit sniffed.
"Why don't we go to the Moonfall then?" He suggested.
The Moonfall, Echokit thought. The Moonfall was a waterfall that fell from a mountain nearby the Clan's territories. She had been told that it was sacred, and that any cat who sipped it's waters would be visited by StarClan in their dreams.
"But we don't know the way to the Moonfall," Echokit pointed out.
"I do," Falconkit told her. "You know the river that goes through all of the Clan's territories? Well, a piece of that river is behind WoodClan's territory. If you follow that river, you'll come to the mountains, and the Moonfall is running down the mountain!"
"How would we get there?" Echokit asked. "When would we go?"
"Tonight!" Falconkit gave a little hop of excitement. "Tell the other kits that you're too tired to have a training session tonight and then me and you can head there!"
As the sun was setting, Echokit announced to the other kits that she was too tired to have a training session that night. The other kits agreed and went to sleep not long after, but she and Falconkit waited until it was late enough, and slipped out of camp. It took a while, but they found their way to the WoodClan border.
Echokit and Falconkit stood at the border between PondClan and WoodClan territory.
"You don't think there will any WoodClan cats out here this late, do you?" Echokit questioned.
"No," Falconkit meowed quietly, but she could see the worry on his face. Neither of them had thought about the fact that they'd be crossing the other Clan's territories.
We're doing this for PondClan, she remembered. She slowly raised her right front paw and placed it in WoodClan territory, then did the same with her left front paw, and her back legs. Falconkit followed her example. They trekked through WoodClan's territory, avoiding their camp completely. Now they were in the most dangerous part of their quest. They had exited WoodClan and were in rogue territory. Where there was no code. Where any cat could attack them and kill them or kidnap them. Fortunately, hardly any rogues at all lived close to the Clans. The two kits safely made their way to the piece of river that lived outside of the Clans and followed it.
At last, they came to the mountain that a waterfall ran down. Echokit could immediately tell it was the Moonfall. It's clear, sparkling waters screamed Look at me, I'm magic! The quiet ripples of the falling water made the entire atmosphere seem calm. And though she could not see it, Echokit knew that behind the waterfall was a light-filled cave that held the star-crystal, a crystal that was only used for giving leaders nine lives. She longed to go inside the cave and see it, but she was afraid that StarClan would be offended that a kit was looking at the star-crystal.
"Wow," Falconkit breathed, gazing at the Moonfall. He turned to his sister. "Let's take a sip." Slowly, they both bent in and lapped the Moonfall's waters.
"Now we have to go to sleep beside the Moonfall, and hopefully we'll dream of StarClan, or at least I'll dream of StarClan," Falconkit instructed. Echokit silently lay down and curled her tail over her paws. Listening to the gentle sound of the Moonfall, she slipped into sleep.
Chapter 9
Echokit opened her eyes again. She was no longer sleeping beside the Moonfall, instead she was standing in a lovely field of flowers, with bright stars shining above. Falconkit was next to her, gazing around at the sights. A white-gray she-cat with stars in her pelt padded towards them.
"Greetings," she meowed. "I am Dovestar. I was leader of PondClan before Hazelstar."
Echokit was delighted to be greeted by such an amazing cat. "I'm Echokit, and this is my brother Falconkit."
"I know," Dovestar's voice was calm and beautiful.
"We're here to ask how to cure the sickness that's going around in PondClan," Falconkit told her.
Dovestar's green eyes were understanding. "It is quite a terrible breakout. It's very awful to see, especially for young kits like you. No Clan has ever faced such a terrible breakout before, with more than half of their warriors being sick. It is lucky that the sickness is not one that kills often."
"It's only killed two warriors, you're right," Echokit agreed. "But not a single cat has been cured of it, and the medicine cats have tried every herb and remedy they know! Please tell us how to cure them!"
The StarClan warrior looked sad. "Even I do not know how the sickness can be cured. But I do know that your Clan will get through this. You will find a cure when the time is right. Go back to your Clan, dear kits."
Echokit felt as if she were about to cry, but she murmured, "Thank you," touched her nose with Dovestar, and left.
As Echokit rose to her paws, she was in the living world once again. Without a word, she and Falconkit turned and made the long journey back to the nursery, and at long last, went to sleep.
The next night was the Gathering. The kits had no intention of sneaking along, and instead decided to have a training session that night as usual. Since it was Gathering night, though, the session would have to be cut short. Most of the Clan would leave in the evening, and the rest of the Clan would go to sleep. The kits would sneak out and have their training session, but when the Clan returned from the Gathering a little after moonhigh, they would race to the nursery and act as if they had been sleeping the whole time.
"Today, I want us to practice attacks. Leaping, lunging, reaching, pushing, all that kind of stuff," Echokit announced to the other kits. As if on a silent command, Swiftkit sprang at Falconkit the minute she finished speaking. Startled and confused, Falconkit had not time to react, and he helplessly fell over and was pinned down by Swiftkit.
"Ha!" Swiftkit yowled in triumph. Echokit shushed him and hissed, "I didn't even tell anybody to attack yet!"
"It was a surprise attack!" Swiftkit protested. "I'm pretty good at it, aren't I?"
"I suppose we can do surprise attacks," Echokit mumbled. She was immediately attacked by Blossomkit, but Echokit dodged the tortoiseshell's attack, got up, and turned around. Blossomkit swiped for her tail, but Echokit swished it in the other direction. At some point Rockkit barreled into both of them. It turned into a free-for-all of kits attacking each-other out of nowhere. During the fight, a strange smell entered the camp, causing the kits to stop and look into the middle of the camp.
An enormous creature, three times the height of a warrior, was in the camp. It had the shape of a cat, but with a very long muzzle and strangely bushy tail. His mouth was open and his eyes were hungry. He had an orange and red pelt, black paws, and a white tail tip. Echokit had never seen an animal like this before, but he matched the description of a beast that she had heard about in elder's stories: it was a fox.
Chapter 10
"What do we do?" whispered Rockkit.
"This is our chance. This is the enemy we have been waiting to defeat," Echokit responded.
She made the call. "Kits of the PondClan nursery, ATTACK!"
Wetkit was the first to launch herself at the fox. She dug her claws into the fur of the fox's foreleg. He snarled angrily, attempting to bite Wetkit, when Alderkit sunk his teeth into the fox's back leg. Confused on which kit to attack, the fox raged at the other kits, trying to get to his senses. Echokit joined the attack, raking another one of the fox's legs. Falconkit flew at the fox's chest, clawing it's chest fur and confusing the fox even more. Nightkit bravely leaped onto the fox's tail and climbed up it's back. The fox roared and shook all of the kits off but Nightkit. The black she-kit clung on, trying to make her way to the fox's neck.
The noise that the fox made woke up almost all of the camp. Frostpelt, the only queen who hadn't gone to the Gathering, poked her head out of the nursery.
"Kits? What are you doing? You were right here in the nursery before I went to sleep! Get away from that fox!" she shrieked. The kits fought on. The fox turned around and headed towards the medicine den, trying to get to the sick cats. Swanfeather, the only medicine den who hadn't gone to the Gathering, shielded them, but stayed in the medicine den. Swiftkit, Whitekit, and Thistlekit all sprang at the fox at once, raking it's pelt while Thistlekit yelled, "Sibling power!" Blood dripped from the spot they had wounded. The fox yelped, and threw himself at Echokit. She attempted to escape but the fox's grasp. His paws were coming in. Right before the fox closed his jaws around her, a flash of black and white appeared and rammed into the fox's paw. The creature howled in pain and charged at Swiftkit, the kit who had saved her. Blossomkit blocked the fox's giant paw, her claws seeping into it's pads. He let out a roar, attempting to attack all of the kits who were hurting him. He ended up whirling around in confusion, pouncing on air. Falconkit launched himself at the fox's neck, quickly scratching his chest fur. Nightkit was struggling to hold on, but she finally managed to climb up the fox's neck and stand on his head. Reaching down, she scratched one of the fox's eyes, partially blinding him. He gave one last snarl of pain and rage before bounding out of the camp.
Minutes later, Hazelstar padded into the camp with the rest of the patrol. Shock ran though all the cats' faces as their gaze rested on the kits.
"What happened?" the leader demanded. "We just saw a half-blinded fox fleeing the territory, and then when we enter the camp we see kits covered in scratches and blood!"
Swanfeather emerged from the medicine den. "They fought it off! By themselves!"
"Impossible!" cried Wolfpelt. "How could ten untrained kits fight off a fox?"
"They did!" insisted Frostpelt. "I don't know how, but they did!"
Sunpaw, who had been lying near the medicine den entrance, heaved herself up and showed herself. "I-I know how they did it," she admitted.
Chapter 11
After Sunpaw explained, Hazelstar stared at the kits for a long time, then looked back at Sunpaw.
"Kits! Kits, being trained by a couple of apprentices and then fighting off a fox by themselves." he muttered. "It's never happened."
"It just did," Echokit told him.
"You did a very, brave thing. But brave means doing something without caring about the consequences. And brave can sometimes be stupid." Hazelstar went on. "But you were brave for something, and that's certainly not stupid. You were brave for the Clan, and while the rest of the camp was defenseless, you fought off the fox. The fox may have done much more harm if you had not gotten to it before we returned. And for that, I thank you."
A wave of relief surged through Echokit. Is he going to change the rules back? She wondered. Is he going to make us apprentices now? Hazelstar was gazing towards the medicine den. "You must heal your scratches," he ordered. The kits made their way into the medicine den where Swanfeather was waiting. Emberclaw, Bluepelt, and Thornpaw slipped in, having returned from the Gathering.
"Thornpaw, treat the kits while we check on the sick cats. Sunkit, come back in and lay down," Emberclaw commanded. Echokit had almost forgotten that Sunpaw's real name was Sunkit until she became an apprentice again. Sunpaw drowsily went back into the medicine den and sat down beside her brother.
"Leafpaw?" She whispered. "Did you hear? The kits continued secretly training after we got sick and they fought off a fox!" Leafpaw lifted his head up and turned to the kits. "I'm proud," he murmured. "Very proud of you." Then he lay back down. Joy tingled at Echokit's battered paws. He's strong enough to speak!
The kits scratches were treated, but they were forced to spend the night in the medicine den. As dawn light began to rise up, Hazelstar called a Clan meeting.
"You should go," Thornpaw told them. "You're almost better, and I think this meeting is about you." They agreed and bounded outside.
"As you should all know, the kits of the Clan fought off a fox today. However, to get the skill they needed to fight off that fox, they had secret nighttime training sessions. These training sessions were at first led by Sunpaw and Leafpaw and took place out of camp, where kits should not be going. After Sunpaw and Leafpaw got sick, they took place in the camp, led by Echokit. This is against the warrior code, and my deputy and I have been thinking about punishment." Echokit's heart sank. She exchanged worried glances with the other kits. Were they going to be punished instead of rewarded? But her worries melted away when she heard what Hazelstar said next.
"We have decided that there will be no punishment, for these kits saved the Clan. Sunkit has told us that these training sessions began as an attempt to prove to me that I should change the rules back about kits becoming apprentices. And they have indeed proved that. So, from this day forward, PondClan will have it's own rule about apprenticeship. Every future PondClan kit will become a pre-apprentice at four moons. Pre-apprentices will not have mentors and will not have apprentice names. Instead they will do apprentice duties inside the camp and their mothers and fathers will teach them basic battle moves. However, when they reach the age of six moons, they will be full apprentices, with mentors and names and will be allowed to leave camp when accompanied by a warrior. From there they will have normal apprenticeships. Our heroes, however," Hazelstar gestured towards the kits, "Will become full apprentices now. But before that, let's not forget that this would not have happened if it had not been for Sunkit and Leafpaw. When they recover, they will continue to train as they have not completed a full apprenticeship, but they will earn their warrior names now. Sunkit and Leafpaw, come here."
The golden and brown tabbies emerged from the medicine den, smiling at Hazelstar's words. Without a pause, the leader began their warrior ceremony.
"I call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these two apprentices. They have worked hard to learn the ways of your noble code, and I commend them as warriors in their turn. Sunkit and Leafpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code, and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?"
"I do," Sunpaw and Leafpaw voices were clear, not showing a hint of sickness.
"Then I give you your warrior names. Sunkit, from this day forward you shall be known as Sunbright. Leafpaw, you shall be known as Leafheart. StarClan honors your cleverness and your determination. We welcome you as full warriors of PondClan."
"Sunbright! Leafheart! Sunbright! Leafheart!" Out of all of the cats chanting their names, Echokit chanted the loudest.
Now Hazelstar turned to them. "It's your turn. Are you ready?"
Yes, Echokit thought. Yes I am.