Warrior Cat Cody: Hey there, everyone, and welcome to my new story! I've decided to start a series of one-shots of Warrior Cats as my new story. These were inspired by Darktail's Tales since I kinda liked those stories. But while those had quite some Downer Endings (and believe me, they can really move someone), I'd like to make some with Happy Endings or Bittersweet Endings.

I'll be starting first with some fan-made Clans: WaterClan, EarthClan, FireClan, and AirClan. These are inspired by the four elements from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Heck, I might even try with loners, rogues, kittypets, and more. But anyways, these stories will have lessons in them, life lessons we learn everyday. Oh, and these Clan territories will be inspired by scenery from Yellowstone National Park.

So now, let's get it started!

Disclaimer: The Warrior Cats series belongs to Erin Hunter, not me. I only own the characters in these stories...and the canon characters will NOT appear. That's why I said earlier that there'll be fan-made Clans.

Publishing Date: January 31, 2015

Enjoy!

...

A Bag Of Surprises

"Nice catch, Pikepaw!" his mentor Quiverheart told him. "Keep this up, and you'll hunt as good as Badgerstar herself!"

"Thanks!" Pikepaw mewed through his mouthful of fish. The young golden tom tried hard not to crunch down on the fish, for he wasn't allowed to eat until he fed the rest of WaterClan. Still, it was very exciting to go hunting every day.

Quiverheart flicked his tail. "Now let's go ahead and take these back to camp. After that, why don't you get yourself something to eat? Looks like you haven't eaten since this morning!"

So Pikepaw followed his dark tabby mentor into the camp, where their leader Badgerstar was watching over the Clan. The WaterClan camp was beside a pond where fish could easily be easy pickings...but they preferred bigger areas to fish. Many dens were made up of reeds (only the leader's den was inside a redwood tree washed here many moons ago), but toms lived on one side of the camp while she-cats lived at the other.

The elders were lounging around near the entrance to their reed-covered den, the queens were watching their kits at play, and the warriors not up for patrol right away were either eating or sharing tongues. He had just arrived at the fresh-kill pole when he heard a familiar voice call to him.

"Hey! Come over here!"

Pikepaw looked around. His friend Starlingpaw and her younger littermate Flowerpaw were near the fresh-kill pile, picking out pieces of fresh-kill for themselves. He supposed they had gotten to feeding the elders, and he dropped the fish on the pile before sitting next to them.

"Flowerpaw and I thought of a hilarious prank," Starlingpaw purred, her black-and-white fur quivering with excitement. "That's our newest idea."

"Actually, it's Starlingpaw's idea," Flowerpaw added helpfully.

Starlingpaw rolled her eyes. "Flowerpaw, littermates do everything together. So if I say it's my idea, then it's our idea, okay?"

The light brown tabby nodded, but she didn't look convinced.

"So what's this hilarious prank?" Pikepaw asked.

"Well, Flowerpaw and I were out with Pigeonclaw and Dawnstorm near Tallpines," Starlingpaw meowed. "All four of us were watching Twolegs tying something in a sack and dumping something onto each other. What if we did that to some of the other Clans? They wouldn't dare show their faces around here after that!"

Flowerpaw still looked nervous, but Pikepaw was interested. Whatever prank they could pull could keep the other Clans off of their territory. They could even be heroes!

Finally, he meowed, "Okay, I'll try. But what're we gonna dump on the other Clans?"

"Maybe something like bones," Starlingpaw answered. "Or...this is gonna sound really really REALLY gross, but...maybe fox dung."

If there was anything to make Pikepaw and Flowerpaw jump back, it was the fox dung. Flowerpaw squealed, "Fox-dung?! Have you got rotting leaves in your head?! It's gross!"

Starlingpaw immediately held a paw up to her sister's mouth and hissed, "Shut up or you'll bring everyone here! But yeah, as gross as it sounds, it could be a good prank."

"Yeah, but...it's still gross," Pikepaw added.

"He's right," Flowerpaw piped in.

"Look, are you just gonna stay here and keep saying that it's gross," Starlingpaw snapped, "or are you gonna help? If you don't, then the other Clans will steal our prey!"

Pikepaw sighed and hung his head. He hated guilt-tripping, especially when it was coming from one of his best friends. And like he thought before, they could be heroes for keeping other Clan cats off the territory.

After some thinking, he mewed, "Okay, I'm in. But you gotta pay us back for helping you."

So that night, the three apprentices snuck out of their den, past the guards while saying they needed to hunt more, and set out towards the river. Pikepaw still felt grossed out by the fox-dung they had to use, but it could be useful as a weapon of mass destruction.

They had crossed into FireClan territory, which was on the other side of a river. FireClan was on an island, bordered on all sides by the river, which made Pikepaw wonder why they would settle on somewhere surrounded by water. The apprentices had arrived at its border, where Pikepaw and Flowerpaw were told to wait for Starlingpaw, and she did come to see them.

"Okay, you got the fox-dung?" Pikepaw asked.

"Yep," Starlingpaw meowed. "Thankfully, the fox that made it left a long while ago. Now all we gotta do is tie this into some leaves, tie this to a tree branch, and then wait for the prank to unfold."

Flowerpaw still looked unconvinced that this would work. "But...how do we tie it up?" she asked curiously. "We're cats."

Starlingpaw flicked her tail up and replied, "Just leave that to me. Remember that I'm part AirClan."

So the two other apprentices waited while the spunky apprentice did her best to tie up the dung in a leaf. Then Flowerpaw was tasked with tying the vine to the root of an oak tree, and Pikepaw was the one to climb carefully up the tree up to a low-hanging branch so he could tie up the leaf. Once he was done, he jumped down into the branches of a bush and crawled out to rejoin the sisters.

"You see, if they come out hunting near the Thunderpath, they'll notice that vine tied to the alder tree here," Starlingpaw mewed, gesturing towards the vine tied to a root. "When they cut it down, then all of that dung will fall onto them. Then they'll think they're attacked from above and run back to their camps."

"That way, they won't come into our territory?" Flowerpaw mewed.

Pikepaw nodded. "Yeah, that's what Starlingpaw said. Now let's get back to the camp or else we'll get caught faster than you can say 'vole.'"

...

The next morning, Pikepaw had woken up, tired from last night but satisfied. He had decided to go hunting with some of the other apprentices so that he, Starlingpaw, and Flowerpaw could keep it a secret. So far, hunting with Redpaw and Bearpaw had kept him busy, thus he had to work twice as hard to keep himself active during the day.

But the three apprentices had not gotten past the river when they heard a furious hiss ring out near them.

"When I find whoever did it to Quincepaw, I'll flay him until he's nothing but bones!"

"Calm yourself down, Tallears. As leader of FireClan, let me do most of the talking. Then you and the patrol can have your fun."

Pikepaw and the younger apprentices shared surprised looks before the former lifted his muzzle and sniffed. FireClan! he thought angrily. In our territory!

With that, Pikepaw darted away into the shadows of the forest and to the camp. The other apprentices followed him, yowling, "Wait!" and "Don't get all the glory of beating FireClan!"

Nearly a few minutes later, they had made it back to the camp, cats asking where the fresh-kill was. Quickly, Pikepaw went over what was going on, Badgerstar listening not too far away. Finally, the black-and-white cat rose to her feet on the redwood tree.

"Very well. We will need to chase them away." Turning to a brownish-gray cat, she commanded, "Grayleaf, gather a patrol and get ready to meet FireClan."

"No need to send out a patrol, Badgerstar. I'm already here."

Every head looked around at the owner of the voice. Viperstar of FireClan was here; beside him were an angry black cat and a gray tabby she-cat. They didn't look like a battle party, but perhaps they were there to talk? But the look on the black tom's face told him that there was going to be more than just words carried out here.

"FireClan has come here to punish one of your apprentices," Viperstar growled, sweeping his glare over the WaterClan camp.

"Why?" Badgerstar leaped down until she faced the smaller pale gray tom. "What gives you the right to punish WaterClan apprentices?"

Viperstar gave her a cool stare before he meowed, "I'm glad you asked me that, Badgerstar." He flicked his tail for the long-eared ginger tom to speak up, saying, "Tallears, tell them."

Tallears stepped forward and hissed, "My daughter was the victim of a callous prank on her first night out as an apprentice. She had seen something dangling from a tree branch by a vine, and when she cut the vine, it fell on her, and it was fox-dung!"

Shame creeping into his skin, Pikepaw looked down to the ground. He had been a part of that prank, and he was the one who had set the trap. But he had wanted a warrior to activate it, not a newly-made apprentice!

Badgerstar's eyes were wide as eggs as she hissed, "Why would any of our apprentices do that? They would know better!"

Viperstar snorted. "Not everything's as black and white in the Clans as your fur, you know," he growled. "And not only that, but those apprentices had trespassed on our territory, which is forbidden by the warrior code. So you either fess up, or you'll have all of FireClan declaring war on you."

"Wait!" Pikepaw stepped forward as soon as the word "war" escaped Viperstar's mouth. "I don't wanna fight in a war. I was the one who set up the trap. I didn't realize what it would do, and I'm sorry."

Tallears let out a growl, but Viperstar held our a foreleg to stop him before glancing at Badgerstar. The WaterClan leader had just been as shocked as he was when Pikepaw announced what he had done. For a few moment, silence washed over all the cats.

Then Viperstar declared, "I declare that Pikepaw of WaterClan shall be punished. But...not harshly," he added to surprised meows. "What he had done was wrong, but he had decided to tell the truth and thus avoided a fight. Therefore, he shall miss only one Gathering...if that's all right with you, Badgerstar."

"Normally, I won't be told what to do on my Clan's territory," Badgerstar meowed back. "But I agree with you for once, Viperstar. Pikepaw, you will have to miss the upcoming Gathering."

"Aww, you're missing a Gathering?" Starlingpaw whined. "Even after one prank we pulled?"

"Wait, that was YOU?!" Tallears snarled, claws unsheathing.

Right away, Starlingpaw stepped back as her eyes widened with terror. Quickly, Pikepaw spoke up, "Don't be hard on her! She didn't think she'd harm anyone!"

Tallears snorted. "Anyone who hurts my daughter is as fair game as a rogue!"

"Enough," Viperstar growled sternly. To Starlingpaw, he snapped, "An apprentice setting up a prank is one thing...but letting someone else take the blame for your own prank is another."

"I'm disappointed in you, Starlingpaw," Badgerstar told the apprentice, eyes narrowed. "But you won't be punished harshly since you too confessed after Pikepaw did. So you too will have to miss the coming Gathering."

Starlingpaw opened her mouth to protest, but she did close it under the stern stares of the two leaders.

Viperstar looked back at Badgerstar. "My warriors and I will take our leave," he meowed smoothly. "But anything like that happens again, and I'll report it at the next Gathering."

Badgerstar nodded. "And I will take full responsibility. StarClan be with you, Viperstar."

The FireClan leader nodded once and flicked his tail for his warriors to follow him. He turned around, and the FireClan cats made their way through the WaterClan crowd and out of the camp. Pikepaw watched them go before sighing in relief; thanks to admitting the prank, they had actually diverted a war. They probably wouldn't stop FireClan from trespassing in the future, but averting a war was even better.

"Hey," Starlingpaw mewed, coming up to him. "You didn't have to stick up for us."

"But you're my friend," Pikepaw meowed. "I'm sorry you got into trouble."

Starlingpaw shook her head. "No, I deserved that. I didn't want you to get into trouble either because of me. So no more pranks for a while. Flowerpaw made me promise."

Pikepaw smirked. "Because littermates do everything together?"

"Exactly," the black-and-white apprentice purred. "And I learned my lesson. If you do a prank, at least be honest about it."

...

Warrior Cat Cody: Well, there you have it. This is the first story in this Fic, and the lesson here? A little dishonesty can lead to big trouble. I hope you like it, because I can fix it if you don't. Or if there's anything missing here, please let me know so I can go back and fix it.

I've also decided on a pattern of sorts. Odd chapters will have good virtues, and even chapters will have the bad. Plus, WaterClan will go first, then EarthClan, FireClan, and AirClan. On the fifth chapter, it'll be reversed, going from AirClan to WaterClan. By the way, if you can find a Harry Potter reference here, you'll get a brownie. Virtual, that is.

See ya next time!