Hello, my lovely readers! Welcome to Silverclaw's Backstory, a story about, you guessed it, Silverclaw! This is actually a challenge provided by Jayfeather12345. The prompt is:

"This is why kits should stay in the nursery. Otherwise, they cause a lot of trouble."

Now for the disclaimer! Silverclaw, since you're the star of the story, you give the disclaimer

Silverclaw (grumbling): I still don't see the point of these "disclaimers". All you're saying is that you, Lavi, don't own anything except for me and Dewkit's medicine cat name, I mean-

Me: Thank you Silverclaw!

Silverclaw: *growls*

Me: Um, did I mention that Silverclaw hates when I interrupt her? Gotta go! Bye! Remember the 3 R's! And the 2 F's! *runs away*

"Mommy, can I go outside?" Silverkit mewed to her mother, Ivypool.

Ivypool nodded. "Of course, Silverkit. Just don't leave camp."

"But Mommy!"

"No buts," Ivypool meowed firmly. "Stay in camp, or stay in the nursery."

Silverkit groaned. "Alright, I'll stay in camp."

Ivypool sighed. "I suppose I can't keep you here, then, can I? Now go on, explore."

Silverkit squeaked with delight, and bounded out of the nursery. She looked around for her father. Yes, she had prior knowledge of him, but she only knew his name, Thornclaw. She soon spotted a golden-brown tom with bright-green eyes, like hers.

Maybe this is my father... she thought.

"Thornclaw!" another cat called, this one dark-ginger with bright-green eyes and a bushy tail.

The tom, Thornclaw, looked up. "Yes, Squirrelflight?"

"Can you lead a hunting patrol?" Squirrelflight meowed. "Take Sandstorm and whichever other cats you like."

Thornclaw nodded. "Of course,"

Squirrelflight padded away, and Silverkit knew at once that he was her father. He has the same color eyes as me, and he's named Thornclaw! That cannot be a coincidence!

She dashed up to Thornclaw. "Daddy!" she mewed. "Daddy, it's so good to see you! Why don't you visit me? Can you visit more often? Please?"

Silverkit instantly knew that Thornclaw was annoyed. He looked down at Silverkit. "Who are you?" he meowed. "Why aren't you in the nursery with your mother?"

"I'm your kit, Silverkit," Silverkit mewed, "And since I knew you were my father, I wanted to come see you!"

Thornclaw glared at Silverkit. "As I hope you can see," he hissed. "I'm busy. Go tell Ivypool to keep you away from me."

"But Daddy-"

"Go!" he spat, shoving her roughly away from him. Tears welled up in Silverkit's eyes, and she turned away, dashing for her nest in the nursery. Ignoring the questions that aroused from Ivypool and Dovewing, she nestled herself into the moss, and began to cry.

"Silverkit?"

Silverkit's ears pricked. That voice didn't sound familiar, neither did the scent. Perhaps it was a Clanmate, coming to comfort her? She heard rustling, and felt something press against her, another cat. She opened her eyes, and saw a brown tom next to her, his blue eyes glowing with warmth.

"What's wrong?" the tom meowed gently. "You sounded like you were crying."

"It's horrible!" Silverkit burst out. "My mother and aunt love me, but my father hares me! I might as well be from an enemy Clan the way he treats me!"

She waited for him to tell her that she was being selfish and that Thornclaw was very busy, he didn't have the time to pay attention to her. Instead, he replied:

"You're absolutely right. You deserve better treatment from your father,"

"Exactly!"

"Well, Thornclaw is a very busy warrior, little one. You'd have to do something very impressive to gain his favor. Would you like that?"

"Yes, please!" Silverkit begged. "I want that more than anything!"

The tom chuckled. "All right then. Here's what you must do..."

Silverkit had been unsure about whether she should execute the plan or not. Her mother had ordered her to stay in camp at all times. "When you're an apprentice," she had said, "You'll be able to roam about wherever you like. But for now, you're confined to camp."

Then, she heard the tom's voice in her head: When you're leader, you'll be able to do whatever you like. Your word will be the warrior code. However, you won't be leader if you keep being a goody-goody-two-shoes. Go on, remember the plan.

She padded towards the dirtplace tunnel, the one place she knew she was allowed to be. However, she wasn't intending to stay there. Oh no, she was going to impress her father! She certainly couldn't do that cooped up in camp, and she wasn't willing to wait 5 moons to do it. She caught a glance from Shadowfire, a senior warrior who was obviously going to replace Squirrelflight. Shadowfire tilted her head curiously. Silverkit mouthed I want to impress my father, and she nodded knowingly. Once she was at the dirtplace, she scrambled out, and dashed towards a really tall tree (AN: the Ancient Oak).

It was then that she noticed a fat squirrel running around in one of the top branches. She leapt onto the trunk and began climbing the tree, astonished at how easy it was. Just as she managed to grab the squirrel in her claws, she fell. As she hit the ground with a thud, she managed to deliver the killing bite to the squirrel, an effective but messy kill at that. Then, she blacked out.

The next thing she knew, she was in the medicine den, with Ivypool and Dovewing hovering over her anxiously.

"Will she be alright?" Dovewing meowed nervously. Dewpool, the medicine cat, nodded (AN: yes, this is Dewkit from The Last Hope).

"Yes, she should be fine. She just bruised her spine. It's a nasty bruise, but it'll heal by the time she's an apprentice. Ivypool, why was she outside of camp? Kits aren't allowed out of camp, remember?"

Ivypool nodded. "I know, I know!" she meowed. "I don't know what could've happened. I told her specifically to stay in camp. If only she'd listened-"

"She's a kit, Ivypool," Dovewing meowed gently. "She was probably trying to impress you."

"But why? I treat her so well! Why would she want to impress me?"

"All kits want to impress their mothers. Silverkit is probably the same."

Then, Thornclaw padded into the den. "Hello, Dewpool. I see you have a new patient. Who is it?"

"Your kit," Dewpool replied coolly. "Silverkit."

Thornclaw growled. "That miserable excuse for a kit? What did she do this time?"

"This time?" Ivypool snapped. "What do you mean by that?"

"Just today, she was annoying me, telling me to 'visit more', and some other nonsense."

"I know why she was out of camp now!" Dovewing meowed, turning to Ivypool. "She-"

"She was out of camp?"

"Shut it!" Ivypool hissed. "This is all your fault! She was obviously trying to impress you by catching a squirrel because you were so rude to her! If you had been a tad nicer to her, she wouldn't have gone outside of camp, and she wouldn't have bruised her spine!"

"Enough," Thornclaw hissed. "This is not my fault. It's hers. If she had simply slept her anger away, this wouldn't have happened. This is why kits should stay in the nursery," he added angrily. "Otherwise, they cause a lot of trouble. Good day, Dovewing, Ivypool, Dewpool."

With that, he padded out of the den. Ivypool was shaking with anger. "I hate him," she hissed. "I absolutely positively hate him."

Silverkit, then conscious, fainted, entering the realm of unconsciousness. A brown tom appeared in front of her, the same one that had comforted her earlier that day. "You see?" he meowed. "Thornclaw does not care for you. To him, you are nothing. You will never amount to anything if he has a say. Will you let that stand?"

"No!" Silverkit meowed angrily, straightening up.

"Perfect," the tom purred. "Now, I shall give you your apprentice name."

"Why?" Silverkit cocked her head in confusion.

"Because you will train here, little one. You will show Thornclaw who's superior. You will rise to become better than him. And-" here he paused "-you will gain leadership. Is that what you desire?"

Silverkit's eyes gleamed with hunger (AN: hunger for power). "Yes."

The tom beckoned her. "Come," he meowed. He led her to a rock, then called, "Let all cats old enough to kill their own enemies gather here to hear my words!"

Cats swarmed around Silverkit, gathering at the base of the Rock (AN: It's capitalized because it has a special name that I can't remember right now) It was then that the tom began to speak. "Cats of the Dark Forest! I have found a cat who is willing to train with us. Her name is Silverkit. While her name may end with 'kit', she is a fighter, and she will fight alongside us to claim the lake territories!"

Cats yowled their approval, but Silverkit was terrified. Claim the lake territories? She just wanted to be ThunderClan leader! Then, she heard the tom's voice in her head again: Do you really think the other Clans will accept you? The only solution is to take over the lake territories. You will be powerful, Silverkit, more powerful than any other cat. Wouldn't you like that?

Silverkit looked up at the Rock, where the tom looked down at her. She nodded subtly.

"Very well, then. Silverkit, step forward."

Silverkit stepped forward, on shaky paws.

"From this day forward, until she has proven herself a killer, this recruit shall be known as Silverpaw. I will mentor her, as I met her and she trusts me the most."

Another brown tom nodded in approval. "You're right, Hawkfrost. You will be the best mentor for young Silverpaw."

"Silverpaw! Silverpaw! Silverpaw!"

Silverkit (AN: I'm calling her Silverkit because according to the Clans, she is still a kit), beamed. Maybe Thornclaw thought her worthless, maybe Ivypool and Dovewing babied her, maybe her Clan secretly thought she couldn't be a warrior because of her bruised spine, but she'd show them. She'd show them all. From this moment forward, she was no longer Silverkit, but Silverpaw, a Dark Forest apprentice, and with Hawkfrost by her side, no cat would stand in her way to becoming leader.

This was her time.

Okay, hopefully that fulfilled the challenge. Everything was necessary in the story, but if this doesn't fulfill the challenge, I'll rewrite it. Remember all:

Read, Review, Rate (the 3 R's)

Favorite, Follow (the 2 F's)

Make sure to check out my other stories (see my profile for details)! Until next time, Lavi out!