AvatarCat12: I don't think it'll hurt to make another episode of Avatar Cat. But in the meantime, I'll have to start working on that Avatar Cat Book 2 remake very soon. But anyways, here's one of my favorite episodes in the third season!
Katara: (Smirking) Is it because you think I looked sexy in my disguise? (Silence) Well...I didn't mean it like that.
Aang: Hey, it's all right, Katara. But you DID look pretty in that disguise of yours.
Katara: (Smiles as she kisses Aang) Thanks, Aang. You and Avatar Cat are so sweet!
AvatarCat12: Not only did that solve the first part of that question, but I also liked that secret dance party. You really DID do good dancing there, Aang!
Aang: (Blushes) Thanks, Avatar Cat. I guess I did have a lot of fun as a normal kid. I'll just go and say the disclaimer of the chapter.
Disclaimer: Mike DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, and Erin Hunter own our series and Warrior Cats respectively. AvatarCat12 doesn't.
Summary: Goldwing and his pack go into FireClan territory disguised as FireClan cats. An incident makes Goldwing realize that he is missing out on being a normal Clan cat. In the meantime, Bearclaw wants to talk to his uncle about what happened, but will he listen?
Uploading Date: March 15, 2012
All three: Enjoy!
...
The Bandana
Fitfully trying his best to sleep, Bearclaw tossed and turned about in his sleep. After a bit more of each, he woke up, shaking his fur to shake the sleep out of his eyes. He rose up from his nest and threw on a hooded cloak, quietly slipping out of his room and into the night. Bearclaw knew his way around the city quite well; it was surrounded by a large crater where a volcano used to be.
Slipping by an unguarded path over the crater's border, he made his way towards a prison tower embedded in the slope of another nearby volcano. He stopped in the prison courtyard and sniffed the air, hoping to find either prey or cats to be given advice to. But Bearclaw wanted to come here for advice from one cat and one cat only.
But as he stood in the prison courtyard, looking upward, a gray tom spotted him. "Who's there?" he growled, baring his teeth.
"Shit," Bearclaw cursed to himself. "Maybe next time."
He turned around on the spot and fled from the scene before the warrior could catch him. The dark tabby would have to wait for his chance until the sky grew dark again.
...
A mysterious cloud was sweeping rapidly over the water. As it flew over on one of the FireClan islands, voices emanated from it, voices that would bring FireClan warriors over to see it.
"Guys, I think I see a cave," Goldwing mewed, peering through the fog.
"Shh!" Ashfeather hissed, laying his tail on the Avatar Cat's mouth. "Not so loud!"
Goldwing and Silverheart exchanged smirks at this as they continued to Bend the clouds around them. This was the same technique they had both used when they were apprentices to save a town from a volcano.
As they landed, the cloud dispersed with a blast of AirBending to reveal the cats riding Archie. Ashfeather leaped down from the dragon and began a stealthy inspection. The dark gray tabby WaterClan tom would always perform an inspection whenever they landed somewhere that was FireClan, and it seemed to get rather tiresome.
Looking around, Ashfeather meowed, "Great job with the cloud disguise. But listen, Goldwing. Next time, let's disguise ourselves as a cloud that keeps its mouth shut."
"Yeah, we wouldn't want a puffin hearing us talk and turn us in," Nightfoot replied sarcastically.
"Hey, smartass! We're in our enemy's territory!" Ashfeather growled, flicking his tail towards a tiny group of feeding puffins. "Those are enemy puffins!"
One of the puffins that had heard him flew over to the WaterClan warrior and let out a squawk. In a flash, three other puffins flew over to the cats and perched on a rock Ashfeather was hiding behind. The first puffin began to squawk wistfully while the others followed suit. The three other cats began laughing and purring at this, but Ashfeather was not amused.
Nodding towards the cave, Goldwing padded towards it with the she-cats following. For some odd reason, Ashfeather lurked behind them and, before they reached the entrance, leaped over their heads to ward off some entirely imaginary threat. Peering suspiciously about, he dashed into the cave, followed by the rest of the pack.
It's dark, Goldwing remarked to himself. But at least it's dry.
(Author's Note: That was from the Disney movie Dinosaur, which I don't own.)
"Well, this is it," Ashfeather told the pack. "This is how we'll be living until the invasion. Hiding in cave after cave...after cave...after cave," he finished, his head drooping with each repetition of the word.
Silverheart rolled her eyes. "We don't need to be living like bears. We just need new pelt disguises. Like Goldwing."
Goldwing nodded. "She's right. Blending in is actually better than hiding out. If we disguise ourselves as FireClan cats, we'll be just as safe as we would be while in a cave."
"And they have true food out there," Nightfoot added, leaping onto a clump of grass and scaring out cave frogs. "Who the hell would want to live in a cave and eat cave frogs?"
Tobias, who was riding on his owner's shoulder, flew over to the frogs and caught one in his beak, the frog's legs kicking. The four cats gave the red-tailed hawk looks of revulsion. No matter how much frogs cats ate, they would not eat them too much.
"We got outnumbered, little buddy," Ashfeather told the hawk. "Let's get some fur coloring to disguise our fur."
...
Silently as owls, the four warriors slunk over to where someone was painting rocks at the beach. They had used their tracking skills and their senses of smell to find the weird scent of paint to find the small camp. Buckets of fur coloring of different colors were lined up in a row like coconuts. Some buckets were big, some were small, and some were the size of their heads.
The four cats hid behind other rocks, observing this little scene, yet Goldwing felt guilty. He was about to do one of the things his elders told him not to do: steal. In the Warrior Code, it was very forbidden for Clan cats to steal prey or other things from another's territory. As the embodiment of the Warrior Code, he felt like he was breaking the rules way too many times.
"You know..." he mewed, feeling uneasy. "I'm starting to get second thoughts on this. I mean, that belongs to someone else..."
"I call the white bucket!" Silverheart called, her green eyes shining brightly. The silver she-cat leapt out from the rocks, grabbing a bucket of white fur coloring and racing away.
(AvatarCat12: I put the green eyes part there on purpose. I felt like it was funny, especially after hearing funny comments on the Avatar Wikia.)
(Katara: You just had to mention my "brown eyes", didn't you?)
Feeling a bit better at that daring move, Goldwing called, "Well, if it's to help us survive, then I call the ginger fur coloring!"
He dashed out from the rocks and picked up a bucket of orange fur coloring. Plunder ensued as the cats kept dashing back and forth to collect a few buckets of fur coloring. The attendant did not rise to chase them away, for that cat was busy sleeping. Lazy furball! Goldwing laughed to himself as he dashed away with a paintbrush or two.
After that was done, the four Clan cats split up to paint the fur coloring onto their fur. When Goldwing was done, he looked down into a puddle of water that was next to the rock he was behind. He now looked like a tiger: orange with black stripes and a white underbelly complete with a white muzzle. The only thing he kept was a tip of the white arrow stripe on his head, which he covered with a red bandana.
"There we go!" he purred, padding over to his friend. "Normal Clan cat!"
"Huh," Ashfeather commented, still admiring his new coal-black fur. "Interesting."
Nightfoot, who was now a gray she-cat with a white belly, looked down at her cat boots. "I was thinking I should wear boots, but I won't be able to see without my paws. So sorry 'bout this, boots!"
At this, she lifted her leg up in the air, took her paw out slightly, and shoved it back in hard. The paw burst out of the sole of the boots quite easily, popping out the sole with her foot and pushing it into Ashfeather's face. With that done while she finished the other paws, she sat up to admire her new footwear.
"Finally!" she muttered. "Shoes worthy for a blind EarthBending cat!"
"Hey, everyone." It was Silverheart who had spoken. "How do I look?"
[AvatarCat12: (Smiling with Aang) This is why this is one of my favorite episodes.]
[Aang: (Smiles) Yeah...me too...]
[Katara: (Sighs with a slight smile) Boys...]
Goldwing looked away from Nightfoot to see an amazing sight before him. Silverheart had just become a gorgeous FireClan beauty, covered in pure white fur with dark gray tabby stripes and a black-tipped tail. Sunshine was bathing her in a golden light, making her pelt turn an even better white with gold tinges. The small smile she gave Goldwing, which was modest and shy, made her look even more beautiful than ever.
The young Avatar Cat blushed when he saw her like this; he always loved it when she was in this kind of light. Anything like this would make her look even lovelier than usual. But he did notice something off-putting about her new FireClan disguise.
"Um...Silverheart?" Goldwing mewed. "You're still wearing your mother's necklace."
That was true. His crush was still wearing her blue fox-fang necklace, which was given to her by her mother Seamist before she died.
"Oh," Silverheart murmured, looking displeased and mildly sad about this. "They'll see it's a WaterClan thing, right?"
And to her sorrow, she removed it from her neck. Despite feeling sorry for her, Goldwing knew it was only until the invasion; then she would get to wear it again.
...
The four warrior cats had snuck into the nearest town and bought some accessories to go with their new disguises. When that was said and done, they snuck into an alley and began to add their new accessories to their new pelt colors. Silverheart was putting a new red badger-tooth necklace on her neck, Nightfoot was wearing a new braid on her head fur, and Ashfeather was putting on a red earring on his right ear.
As for Goldwing, he let Tobias get into a large bag and settle down, shuffling about for comfort. When that was done, the ginger tiger-striped tom turned towards his friends.
"I used to come to this place with my friend Blazepaw moons ago," he explained. "So everyone follow my lead and stay cool. Or as they say in FireClan...stay flamin'!"
He led the way out of the alley, the other three cats following him. When he came out of the alley, there was a cream cat tearing hungrily into a hare he had just caught.
"Greetings, my fellow Hotcat!" Goldwing purred. "How's the prey running?"
The cream-colored cat gave him a strange look. "Uh...good, I guess?"
A meow from up ahead told Goldwing that Ashfeather led the other two cats over to a butcher shop. The ginger tom felt queasy at getting near a place like this; according to his Clan's rules, it was forbidden to eat butchered meat. But knowing his meat-loving friend, Goldwing padded over to them, trying to ignore feeling sick.
When Goldwing went up to Ashfeather's side, he asked, "Why're we going to a butcher shop?"
"Aw, come on, little buddy!" Ashfeather insisted, rolling his eyes. "Every cat in FireClan eats butchered meat! Hell, even the butchered meat eats the butchered meat!"
Grunting noises made the four cats turn to what it was. A large pink pig was chowing down on a large steak made from a cow, its flat snout sniffing everywhere. Making a grunt, the large animal began sniffing at a pile of fly-blown fish.
"Actually...you can go on ahead," Goldwing mewed. "I'll just catch a mouse on the street."
The three other cats nodded and padded inside. Once he was out in the middle of the street, Goldwing began to try and stalk a small mouse nibbling on the seed. But thanks to the bustling noises around them, the mouse was able to slip away into the crowd. Goldwing gave a huff and began providing friendly greetings to his new compatriots, "Hotcat" included. However, after saying it four times, the other cats were giving him confused looks.
Wow. Things DO change after fourteen years.
"Hold it right there! We caught you now!"
Goldwing turned around with alarm as he saw three cats running towards him. One was a big gray tom, the second was a tortoiseshell tabby she-cat, and the third was a black-&-tan tom.
As they stopped, the big gray cat that had spoken growled, "It's over, you. We got you now."
"Who, me?" the Avatar Cat mewed in confusion.
"Can't it be more obvious? You don't belong here!" the gray cat snarled.
Goldwing lowered himself to the ground, looking up and giving the warriors a look a puppy would give to its mother. Did these warriors know he was the Avatar Cat already?
But the gray tom went on, "How about this? Why don't you take off your school robes the next time you play hooky?"
The Avatar Cat just chuckled nervously at this, for he had not expected this to come out of the warrior cat's mouth. He did not know that there was a FireClan school when he had hung out with Blazepaw moons ago. But before he could say anything else, he felt sharp teeth grab his scruff and pulled him away with a powerful force.
Great StarClan! What next?
...
After a few minutes' worth of walking, Goldwing was hauled over to a large building with a big statue of Darkstar at the front of it in a fountain. Goldwing supposed that it was the FireClan leader who had made this school, to ensure that future warriors were trained. He wanted to ask the other warriors if their leader had made this school, but he kept his mouth closed. If he spoke to them about it, they would perhaps tell him to shut up.
When they arrived at a door, Goldwing was pushed into a packed classroom. He and his new classmates stared at each other in mutual astonishment, as if an older cat had come to give them a lecture. The supposed teacher, a stern-looking dark ginger she-cat, narrowed her eyes at him.
"Ah...are you a fresh young mind ready for molding?" she asked, her voice crisp and strict.
"Yes, ma'am," Goldwing purred, thumping a forepaw against the side of his head. "So let the molding begin!"
The truant warriors nodded and began padding away. But just when they were going to leave, the teacher suddenly growled at Goldwing, "Wait. You're not from FireClan. You're obviously from one of the colonies," she added, eyeing him with a critical glare.
Relieved at not being suspected, Goldwing nodded. "Yeah, of course. I'm from the colonies of FireClan in EarthClan."
"Hmmm..." After eyeing him some more, the teacher sniffed, "Your manners are terrible. In our Clan, we bow to our elders. Like so," she meowed, sitting up on her haunches.
Then she bowed her head, closing her right forepaw, holding her left forepaw open and pointed upward so that the pad was perpendicular to her body. Then she brought the two paws together so that the proximal unit of her enfolded right index front toe just touched the base of her left pad, again vertically. The effect was of a small stylized flame.
Goldwing nodded and tried to repeat the salute, but he vaguely reversed paws and met his right pad with his entire left paw instead of just the index toe. The teacher tapped his paw with her ruling stick, obviously critical of his attempts.
Feeling out of place, Goldwing looked around for help. A brown tortoiseshell she-cat in the front row caught his eye and demonstrated the proper technique. Goldwing smiled gratefully at her, reversed his paws, and lowered one of his paws.
"Also," the teacher went on, not praising him by tapping his bandana with the ruling stick, "we do not wear head coverings while we are indoors."
"Um..." Goldwing muttered, trying to make up a story. "I got a scar from a badger while saving my younger brother. It's really embarrassing."
The teacher eyed him still, but she went on, "Very well. What is your name? Unless we can call you 'Uncouth Colony Slob?'"
Goldwing grinned. "Slob will do." But he realized how ridiculous that sounded. "Actually, my name is Blazepaw," he added, facing the class with a friendly smile.
...
After the day was over, the bell rung, signaling that school was out. Apprentices poured out the doors, cheering loudly about this day ending. Goldwing padded away from the other cats, feeling quite excited about attending this school. So this was what it had felt like to be a normal cat in the Clans.
"We made it through today, Tobias," Goldwing purred, talking to the hawk still in his bag. "And you know what? That was...kinda fun!"
"Don't let the principal catch you with that bird."
Goldwing's heart thumped with alarm as he turned to see who it was. But to his relief, it was the brown tortoiseshell she-cat he had gotten help from earlier. Her amber eyes were glowing with a gentle warmth, one he hadn't seen from other cats in FireClan.
But he gave a chuckle as he hid Tobias in his back with an innocent smile. "Uh...what bird?"
The brown tortoiseshell smiled and gave a soft laugh. "Hey, don't worry. I'm no tattletale. I'm Koipaw, by the way. And I like your bandana."
Oh really? Goldwing purred with amusement, smiling. He was just about to reply when he was suddenly bumped from behind by a tall light brown FireClan tomcat, who padded to Koipaw and sat beside her.
"Hey, Koipaw. You don't have to babysit the new apprentice," he sneered scornfully; despite being an apprentice, he looked close to being a warrior and he was taller than Goldwing.
"Wow," Goldwing mewed warmly, bowing his head to the FireClan tom. "You must be one of the popular cats I've heard of!"
The light brown tom meowed, "That's right. I'm Dustpaw. Now listen, friend...I know you're a colonist, so I'll say this slowly." He spoke carefully, getting in Goldwing's face as he did so, "Koipaw. Is. My. Mate. Don't you forget it, little smartass." He finished this off by poking the ginger tom in the chest with his foreclaw.
But then, Tobias began to stir and caw in a bored way in Goldwing's bag. The Avatar Cat just smoothed the bag down and smiled up at the frowning light brown tom. Dustpaw pointed his claws to his eyes and back at Goldwing, showing him to watch himself. Then he stalked away from him, Koipaw following him and looking over her shoulder at him.
"Nice meeting you! See ya next time!" Goldwing called after him.
"Great StarClan! That was amazing!" a gray tabby tom mewed, padding up to him. "He didn't beat you up! Not one bit!"
Goldwing shuffled his front paws modestly. "I guess I was lucky."
The gray tabby tom meowed, "Well anyways, my name's Birchpaw. And we're just on our way to play hide-and-explode. Wanna join us?"
"Sure!" Goldwing purred, racing after Birchpaw as he gathered other apprentices next to him.
...
When Goldwing got back to the roof above the cave entrance, he was laughing gladly to himself as he greeted Tobias at the entrance. He had felt alive when he played with the apprentices in their game of hide-and-explode. The Avatar Cat had his fur stained with soot and ashes from the game, but it was all worth it.
He slid down the roof of the cave they were resting at, landing at the entrance before padding inside. The other three warriors were busy eating some prey they had caught, but there was a small pile of fresh-kill near the campfire.
"Goldwing, there you are! Where have you been?" Silverheart asked him. "You had us worried sick about you!"
The tiger-striped tom gave a nervous chuckle. "Hehe...sorry about that. You see, I was invited by some apprentices to play with them after school."
Ashfeather's head shot up from his puffin as he squawked, looking stumped, "After WHAT?"
"Yeah," Goldwing replied. "I got enrolled in a FireClan school, and I'm going back tomorrow."
"Enrolled in WHAT?" his friend yelled, his eyes bugging out. Then with that done, he fell to the ground, briefly unconscious.
Goldwing rolled his eyes, faintly amused by this. Apparently, things never seemed to change.
...
Looking around, Bearclaw checked to see where danger was coming from; the scent of embers told him that the guard from the night before was stalking around. As he hid around the corner, the gray tom from the night before heard the footsteps and spun around, leveling his spear and letting his claws slide out.
"You again? Stay where you are!" he spat.
Bearclaw padded out from behind the corner and faced the gray warrior cat. He let his hood fall off, revealing his telltale scar.
The gray tom gaped at him with awe. "B-Bearclaw? Deputy of FireClan? What the hell are you doing here?"
With a growl, Bearclaw pounced at the warrior and pinned him to the ground, his paw on his throat. The tom did not bother to get up, but he was still staring up at the younger warrior with shock in his eyes.
"Now listen here," he hissed, his voice cheekily menacing. "I'm just going in for a visit, all right? Make sure you guard this area, and make sure no one knows about this."
The warrior nodded and, as he was released, unlocked the cell to where Bearclaw was going into. Nodding towards the gray tom, Bearclaw pushed his way inside the cell and looked around him.
The cell was bisected by a wall of bars so that one half was accessible from the door and the other half served as a cage. And there was his uncle Irontail; the old gray tabby tom looked utterly miserable with unkempt fur. He was sitting on a mat, facing the wall to the right of the cell door as Bearclaw entered it. Irontail's orange eyes widened a bit with surprise.
"Uncle Irontail?" Bearclaw mewed, padding up to the bars.
But to his dismay, the usually jolly Irontail gave him a scowl and turned away from him. He did not even say a word to him, not a hello back or anything.
...
Commercial Break
...
"Goldwing, I just wanna be a good guy here, be mature, and not shoot down ideas," Ashfeather mewed as the four warriors sat around the fire. "But...this is a bad idea."
"Yeah, we got our disguises already," Nightfoot added, raising her brow. "What do you wanna go to school for?"
Stopping the pacing around, Goldwing replied, "Every minute I'm in that classroom, I learn new things about FireClan. I already have a picture of Darkstar...and I made a picture of him out of macaroni!" he added.
He fished out two pictures from his bag. One was an average picture of Darkstar, and the other was his created masterpiece.
Ashfeather merely nodded. "Hmmm...it looks nice. But it's still dangerous!"
"Oh, really?" Goldwing made a fake whine; he knew what would make him change his mind. "I guess we'll never find out about the secret river then. It goes right to Darkstar's palace. We were supposed to learn about it in class tomorrow...but if you insist..."
This took the black-furred warrior by surprise, for he had not expected this. Goldwing knew that Ashfeather loved finding out about secret places and new battle strategies. It took quite a bit for him to decide on what to do about it.
"Hmmm...I AM a fan of secret rivers," he mewed. Seeing the hopeful look on his face, he sighed and meowed, "Fine. It won't hurt to stay for a few more days."
Goldwing leapt up for joy, spun around in the air like a drill, and yowled, "Yeah! Flame on, Hotcat!" Then, giving his friends a mew of thanks, he ran off towards the exit of the cave.
Ashfeather shared a confused look with Silverheart. "Flame On? What does that mean?"
His sister merely shrugged, making a small noise in her throat in the process.
...
Bearclaw paced in front of the bars of his uncle's cell, wondering what to tell Irontail. Making up his mind, he mewed, "You brought this all on yourself. We could have returned together. You could've been a hero to our Clan!"
Irontail turned further away from his nephew in reply.
"You have no right to judge me, Uncle Irontail," Bearclaw went on. "I did what I needed to do in BoulderClan, and you're a mouse-brained fool for not joining me."
But Irontail was silent.
Bearclaw glared at him. "You're not gonna say anything?" Angry, he kicked a stool away from him and Bended a blast of fire at the wall, snarling, "Rarr! You're a crazy old cat! You're crazy, and if you weren't in prison, you'd be sleeping in the sewers!"
Still, Irontail did not reply; this was clearly something that was wasting his valuable time. So Bearclaw turned around and began stalking away, the hairs on his tabby coat bristling. He knew he was being harsh, but his uncle had to realize that they were home.
However, before he left, he could hear a sigh of sorrow come from Irontail's throat.
...
When the sun rose the next morning, Goldwing had groomed himself quickly to get to school. Silverheart and Ashfeather still looked troubled about this, but they realized that their Avatar Cat friend just wanted to live life through the eyes of a normal cat. Nightfoot still felt skeptical about Goldwing attending school, but he did not let her remarks bother him.
He arrived quickly into the classroom just when the dark ginger teacher came in. She looked at them with a stern eye before going on.
"Good morning, class," she started. "First thing today: recite the FireClan pledge of allegiance."
They turned to the large portrait of Darkstar that conquered the room's rear wall, bowed down FireClan style, and begin reciting. Goldwing stood up clumsily, a few heartbeats behind the other apprentices, and did his best to follow along.
The apprentices were saying, "I give to the Clan my life. With my paws, I fight for our leader Darkstar and his forefathers before him."
"Uh, Darkstar...forefathers..." Goldwing tried to meow.
"I seek ways to better my Clan with my mind," the class droned on. "And with my tail..."
Desperately, Goldwing tried to meow "FireBenders...Darkstar..." But after that, it simply turned to "Blah, blah, blah, blah."
Around him, the other apprentices stopped reciting and helplessly giggled at what he was saying. The teacher, however, was far from amused. Instead, she glared at the apprentices until they sat back down before rising and striking the open book before her with her ruling stick for emphasis.
When they fell quiet, she growled, "Since you think it's hilarious to mock our national oath and our leader, we shall begin a pop quiz on our Great March Of Progress."
The class groaned, but they took out their supplies, ready for the quiz.
"Question one: what year did Shadowstar battle the AirClan army?"
Goldwing could feel his tail bristle underneath his school robes. Last time he checked, AirClan did not have an army; they were a pacifist Clan and did not believe in senseless fighting. So he raised his forepaw, making him be called on to answer the question.
He rose to his paws and mewed, "Is this a trick question? AirClan didn't have an army or any military. Shadowstar attacked them with ambush."
But the class stared at him with open mouths, shocked at what he said. Goldwing supposed that to them, this was just shameless desecration.
"I don't know how you could possibly know more than our national history books, Blazepaw," the dark orange she-cat meowed at him, sounding agitated. "Unless YOU were there fourteen years ago?"
"Uh...I'll write my guess down, actually," Goldwing mewed, thinking better of arguing and getting to work.
...
After history class was band practice in a different classroom. The music teacher, a fat tabby cat, tapped his stand, and the small orchestra began playing. Goldwing, armed with a big bronze tuba horn, paused a few moments to draw in a deep breath, and launched an active blast of something resembling music, maniacally dancing in place as he did so.
But to his mild dismay, the rest of the class stopped playing, dumbfounded. Even the music teacher looked confused at what he was doing.
"Blazepaw? What's wrong with you?" he asked.
Goldwing stopped playing and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Hehe...I know. I must be one bad tuba player."
The fat tabby shook his head. "No, not that. I meant that racket your paws are making. Do you have a nervous disorder?"
"I was just doing a little dance," Goldwing replied. "Do you do dances here in your homeland?"
"Not really," Birchpaw mewed, looking a bit awkward.
"Dancing is not helpful to a proper learning environment," the music teacher explained, going over to the window. "Young cats must have order and rigid discipline."
Goldwing felt confused about that; to him, cats should choose which path they could follow. So he added, "But what about expressing yourself?"
The music teacher walked back to his stand, sighing, "I know we're so moved by our love for our Clan that we can't control our own bodies sometimes." Overcome with emotion, he clapped his paws to his face and reconsidered. "Very well. If you must, the next time the urge hits you, you may march in place quietly."
The orchestra continued its play, Goldwing marching quietly as directed but clearly unhappy. It wasn't fair that one should not be able to express himself or herself. It was like trapping a bird even though it would be time for migrating. Surely being in this school is robbing these cats out of expressing themselves? he thought.
But what was Goldwing to do with this school of apprentices? Teach them to defy traditions? He knew following traditions was a good thing, but to him, doing the right thing was even more important.
...
It appeared to be recess or lunch, for cats were scattered about the schoolyard. As Goldwing left the school building and entered the school grounds, the cats spotted him and began whispering; he realized he must have caused a sensation.
Goldwing was about to say something to them, which was a greeting, when a meow made him stop. It was Koipaw, who was padding up to him with her cheeks turning red.
"Hey, Blazepaw," the brown tortoiseshell she-cat mewed. "You know that crazy dance you were doing in band class? I really liked it."
"Thanks, Koipaw," the Avatar Cat purred back. "If you'd like, I can show you again."
Suddenly, he let out a growl of pain as a blast of fire claws struck him at the back of his head. Goldwing whipped around to glare at his attacker; it turned out to be Dustpaw, the light brown tom he met earlier. But Dustpaw wasn't smiling in a pretend way now. Instead, he looked like he was going to murder him.
"What'd you just say, colony shit?" he snapped. "You were gonna show something to her?"
"Look, it's just a few dance moves," Goldwing meowed as Dustpaw stalked nearer. "What's the big deal, Dustpaw?"
Dustpaw's lips were pulled back to reveal sharp white fang as he snarled, "No one shows my mate anything, especially moves."
Koipaw quickly pushed her way between them, meowing, "Dustpaw, stop it. He's not hurting me in any way!"
"Stay out of it!" Dustpaw growled, making her step away from him. "It's time I taught that little piece of crow-food a lesson or two!"
Turning back to Goldwing, he let out a screech and flew at him. Prepared for the hit, Goldwing nimbly stepped out of the way, resulting in the light brown tom skidding to a halt. Thanks to his AirClan blood and skills, he could be able to dodge large opponents easier than other cats.
For the next few seconds, Dustpaw tried to land a blow on Goldwing, who was too quick and lean to be caught. One time during their fight, the tiger-striped cat had gotten behind Dustpaw and dodged every blow his rival threw at him. At last, Dustpaw was propelled by his own force onto the ground, grunting in pain.
At this unfavorable crisis, the ginger principal entered the scene and glared down at Goldwing. Dustpaw, in the meantime, was sniveling...though Goldwing could tell it was just made up. The principal seemed to naturally assume that Goldwing was bullying Dustpaw rather than the other way around.
"Picking fights on your second day here, eh?" the ginger tom growled. "We shall have a talk on how to discuss your punishment. Bring your parents to my office after school."
"My parents?" Goldwing mewed in shock.
The ginger tom growled "Don't be late" before stalking away from him. Dustpaw followed him, aiming a sneering simper in Goldwing's direction. Goldwing glared after him, and, much to his surprise, so did Koipaw.
Despite being grateful for Koipaw for believing him, Goldwing still felt troubled at what had just happened. He was being in trouble for something another cat had done. This was just like what had happened at Laurel Town, where he was accused of killing a cat when it was Avatar Cat Heavyrose who had done it.
But just when he felt like things couldn't get worse, he got an idea. This was enough to make him smile slightly to himself.
...
"Thank you for coming, Mr. and Mrs..."
Goldwing was in the office of the principal, who was sitting in front of a portrait of Darkstar. Silverheart and Ashfeather had come along with him, hearing of this idea and deciding to help him out. Ashfeather had his fur dyed to ginger with a brown fake beard-and-mustache disguise, adding that it made him look good. And Silverheart had her fur dyed to brown tabby, blankets covering her body and stuffed to mimic pregnancy.
It was Ashfeather who spoke up, "Fire! Mr. Wang Fire! And this is my mate, Sapphire."
"Sapphire Fire. Nice to meet you," Silverheart purred, smoothing her forepaw over her pretend swollen belly.
The principal looked at the two siblings doubtfully. "Mr. and Mrs...Fire, your son had just been enrolled here for two days, and he's already causing trouble in this school. He's argued with his history teacher, disturbed music class, and beat up my star pupil."
Silverheart let out a pretend gasp of shock. "Oh my! That doesn't sound like our Blazepaw!"
"That's what any mother would say," the principal replied. "However, you're getting a warning from me. If he misbehaves one more time, I'll have him sent to reform school. By which I mean the coal mines. You understand?"
"Don't you worry none, Mr. Principal, sir!" Ashfeather meowed with his fake thick accent. "I'll make sure my son here doesn't forget his lesson." To Goldwing, he growled, "Young tomcat, you'll get the punishment of a lifetime when we get home!"
The principal replied with an air of quiet sadism, "That's what I like to hear."
Then the three young warriors rose to their paws and padded out of the room. Ashfeather was ahead of them, swaggering proudly; it appeared that the role of an overbearing father seemed to suit him well. Goldwing even had to admit that he was doing a good job at this.
Is he going to be like that when he and Echo have kits of their own? he wondered, thinking of Ashfeather's mate from the Tribe of Heavy Roses. I just hope he doesn't read my mind about this.
...
So far that day, the day was really nice for Bearclaw and Rose. The two cats had just hunted alongside each other all day, and they even played around a bit at the small lake beside the volcano. Bearclaw had never felt like this towards any other she-cat, not even any dates he had at BoulderClan. With Rose by his side, he felt better after the stress of his uncle not speaking to him any longer.
The two FireClan cats had stopped at a sheltered little upland on the rim of the royal volcano. They were enjoying eating their catch and a chance to be together in the sunset.
"Orange is such an awful color, you know?" Rose purred. She was referring to the sunset.
Bearclaw chuckled at this. "Yeah. But you're really beautiful when you hate the world."
Rose purred as she rubbed her nose against his black ear. "Thanks. I don't hate you, Bearclaw."
"I don't hate you too, Rose," Bearclaw purred.
As their faces got closer, their muzzles brushed together as they embraced and purred at the same time. It felt right...to be like this...
"Excuse me."
Quickly, Bearclaw and his mate looked up to see who had disturbed them. It was Frostfire, who meowed, "Bearclaw, I'd like a word with you if you don't mind."
Bearclaw sighed. "Frostfire, can you leave us alone for a bit? We're busy here." He finished this while he and Rose continued to embrace each other.
However, as he had begun grooming her lean face, Frostfire meowed, "Rose, Aya need your help in untangling her tail from a branch."
"Huh. Sounds serious," Rose meowed complaisantly. "All right, I'll go check."
The dark tortoiseshell she-cat got up to her paws and began to pad away. Then, to Bearclaw's surprise, Rose shot Frostfire a swift poisonous glare behind her back before going away. This confused Bearclaw, for he was sure that Rose and Frostfire were friends. But why would she get angry at her all of a sudden?
Maybe it's because Frostfire had to spoil this day for us.
"I heard you went to visit Uncle Chunky in the prison tower," Frostfire began to meow.
What? Bearclaw roared to up furiously, he spat, "That damn guard told you! After I told him to keep his mouth shut!"
Frostfire shook her head smugly. "No. You just told me."
"Okay. You caught me there," the large dark tabby sighed, sitting down. "What do you want?"
"Nothing, really," Frostfire meowed caringly. "I'm just looking out for you, believe it or not. We're siblings, remember? If anyone finds out you've tried to see Uncle in prison, they might think you might be plotting something. Just be careful, dum-dum."
The black she-cat flicked her brother in the face with her tail before padding away.
Bearclaw stared suspiciously after her, confused at what she was saying. There was no way he would plot with a traitor to overthrow his Clan. He had worked his hardest to become a good warrior in his father's eyes, and he finally had become the deputy without having an apprentice. Darkstar had abolished that law even after he had an apprentice of his own after he became the leader.
But why would she think I was plotting something with Uncle? Does she think I'm being disloyal to my Clan?
...
"All right, that's it! No more school for you, young cat!"
Goldwing stood there wide-eyed with shock and confusion as Ashfeather yowled in his face in one of his rants. The disguised WaterClan tom finished the rant by straightening up and stroking his false mustache and beard impressively.
"I'm not ready to leave yet," Goldwing retorted. "For once in my life, I'm having fun being a normal cat. And I now know what it REALLY means to be a cat. You don't know what it's like, Ashfeather. You're normal all the time!"
Nightfoot, who was sitting behind Ashfeather, laughed mockingly, "Ha ha!"
Ashfeather turned around to glare at her.
Seizing this great chance, Goldwing added, "Look, those apprentices are the future of FireClan. They are also future warriors who will make their Clan proud of them. So we should show them a little taste of freedom if we want to change them for the better?"
"Well, what could you possibly do for a Clan of depraved little FireClan bastards?" Ashfeather asked, turning to him with confusion.
"Well..." the tiger-striped cat mewed, making a little skipping dance with his paws. "I say we throw them...a secret dance party!"
The three other cats gazed at him in shock, looking as if he had suggested going into a volcano. Silverheart's blue eyes were wide with shock while Nightfoot sat there with her jaws wide agape. Ashfeather's eyes bugged out a bit from what he had heard.
Then, at last recovering, he finally meowed with his thick accent, "Go to your room!"
...
Commercial Break
...
Goldwing gazed around him in pride as he and his friends worked on decorating the cave. Just behind him, Nightfoot was busy Bending a bandstand from the cave floor. Silverheart was just a bit away from her and Bending some liquid into an EarthBended bowl. And Ashfeather was placing some candles around the bandstand, looking uneasy.
But Goldwing didn't mind. This night is for everyone, not just us.
"I can't believe we're hosting a dance party!" Ashfeather grumbled. "No offense, but it sounds so... stupid."
"Don't think of it as a dance party," Goldwing purred. "Think of it as a cultural celebration in fancy footwork!" To prove it, he stood up on his hind paws and started hopping up and down like a dog begging for a treat.
(Author's Note: Since this is a FanFic about cats, that quote was in honor of Garfield.)
Then he smelled them. By the scents of fire and ashes in the air, he could tell that the cats from the school had arrived at last. Nightfoot seemed to sense them too, for she lifted her muzzle in the air to sniff them out and felt the ground with her paws.
Finally, she lowered her head and meowed, "Everyone stop Bending! They're getting closer!"
Goldwing got down to all four paws and raced over to Archie, who looked up at him from eating his turkey. When he started to gently shove the Asian Lung dragon away, Archie let out some low groans of protest.
"Sorry, Archie. I think you should sit in the back until it's over," Goldwing mewed. As Archie grumbled and shuffled into a tunnel at the back of the cave, his owner meowed, "I know, you've got fancier feet than us...and they're huge too!"
...
Minutes later, all of the apprentices (except Dustpaw) had arrived into the cave, confused at what they had seen around them. The band class had also arrived and started to play various musical instruments on the bandstand. And just in time, Goldwing had disguised himself in his school form to make sure no one saw his arrows.
Goldwing leapt in front of them exultantly and, facing them, announced, "Cats of FireClan! I present to you...the Flame On Cats!" Partly to himself, he purred, "Yep, I think that should get their blood pumping!"
But to his mild dismay, it hadn't. The apprentices were still huddled together, looking uncertain.
"So what do we do now?" Birchpaw was the first to speak.
"This is when you start dancing!" Goldwing replied.
But then, a young fat brown tom crouched low to the ground and covered his face, making him look like a bear. Then he mewed, "I don't want my parents to see me dancing in a cave."
"Yeah! What if someone sees us?" a jumpy black tom mewed, looking from left to right.
Goldwing rolled his eyes and muttered, "Oh shit, where do we begin? Look, dancing isn't a thing you think about. It's creativity that no one can take away from you. Not in many moons."
Birchpaw spoke up, "Maybe it was in the colonies, Blazepaw. But not here."
"Of course you guys can!" Goldwing insisted. "You have for generations, and so have your kin before you. Believe it or not, I know several classic FireClan dances. Fourteen years ago, this was known as the Tiger Pounce."
He began to leap around like he was a gazelle before spinning around in a circle. Then he reared up onto his hind legs so that the cats could see him, looking as great as a tiger. The apprentices all gaped at him in admiration and amazement.
When he stopped, Goldwing went on, "And this next move is called the Camel Strut."
He hopped on two paws at a time like a camel walking through the desert, bouncing on one hind paw as he passed a forepaw before his face. He turned a somersault through the air and landed in front of two she-cats, who giggled and blushed at the same time. He somersaulted backwards and landed expertly on one back paw, bowing. The apprentices were amazed.
Not far away from the dancing, Silverheart and Nightfoot were sitting side by side. They were watching with mild interest as Goldwing demonstrated his dancing moves with their drinks in between their forepaws.
"Who knew Twinkletoes was that good at dancing?" Nightfoot mewed to her former mentor. She finished this off by lapping up several sips of her drink.
Unknowingly to her or Goldwing, Silverheart looked around to smile with interest at the tiger-striped tom. She seemed to be interested in his dancing, and she looked like she wanted to go ahead and join along.
...
The scent of the food Bearclaw was carrying almost made him drop the food and eat it. But he fought the urges, for he was to not eat the food he was carrying. Besides, he was a warrior; he could catch a mouse or even a rabbit to feast on. And one rule in the Warrior Code said that a warrior must feed the Clan before his own.
Bearclaw made it to the prison Irontail was in. The fat gray tabby tom still had his back turned on him and seemed to have lost his weight, for there was a pile of refused food sitting in a corner.
"Uncle?" Bearclaw mewed, slipping the food tray under the bars. "I brought you some rabbit meat; I know it's not your favorite kind of prey, but it beats prison food."
Irontail did not reply.
Summoning his courage on what to say, Bearclaw sighed and explained, "Fine. I admit it. I have everything I want, but it's not how I think it would be. The truth is, I need your advice. I think the Avatar Cat is still alive. I know he's out there. I'm losing my mind! Please, Uncle!" he went on, his voice growing desperate. "I feel so confused! I need your help!"
But Irontail did not speak.
The old bastard! He's STILL not speaking! Enraged, he stood up and snarled, "Fine! Just forget it! I'll solve this on my own! Wither away in here for all I care!"
And with that, he stalked out the door. But without him seeing, a tear had just rolled down his weakened uncle's cheek as he bowed his head.
...
Back at AvatarClan's cave, Goldwing was happy to see the other cats looking up eagerly at him. He somersaulted through the air and landed in front of Koipaw, who looked away bashfully. For a moment, he started to feel some kind of emotion towards the FireClan she-cat. But he knew he would never fall for her, for if he revealed himself, she would not be his friend anymore.
Plus, he would always love Silverheart. Not any other she-cat.
A tabby friend nudged Koipaw, and the tortoiseshell she-cat looked up at Goldwing. The Avatar Cat gently led her out of the crowd, and she blushed as he led her out to the dance floor.
"Here we go, Koipaw," he told her. "This is how they do it at the ballroom of BoulderClan."
He sat up on his thighs and passed his forelegs in a heaving motion across his chest, stepping from side to side as he did so. Koipaw imitated him.
"Wow," Ashfeather was saying as he and Silverheart sat side-by-side. "They look awesome out there together."
Silverheart looked away from the dance dismissively, muttering, "Eh...if you say so." But she did steal a jealous glance over at the two dancing cats.
Very slowly, the other cats from the school started to join in. The crowd was finally loosening up for once in their lives.
"Yeah, that's it!" Goldwing cheered. "That there is the sound of happy feet! Now go with it, everyone! Freestyle!"
At the sound of "happy feet", several penguins from the beach started waddling into the cave and started dancing. Goldwing was confused about this at first, but he decided it would be fun to let the cats have the penguins dance along with them. One cat even did the freestyle thing, spinning around on the ground like he was dodging an attack.
Ashfeather and Nightfoot joined in with the dancing, but one cat did not. Goldwing looked over to see who hadn't danced yet: Silverheart. The pretty white tabby she-cat was sitting to the side, looking down at her forepaws. Goldwing padded over to her and tried to nudge her to her paws.
"I don't know, Goldwing," she mewed, shuffling her forepaws. "I just ate this frog, and it seems to make me feel ill...besides, I don't know how to dance..."
"Come on," Goldwing purred masterfully. "Join me."
He led her out to the center of the floor and whispered in her ear, making her blush. They stood up on their hind legs, stretched out their forelegs, and touched paws, circling around the axis thus formed.
As the two spun around slowly, Silverheart mewed, "Goldwing...everyone's watching."
Goldwing smiled at her. "Don't worry. It's just you and me now."
Silverheart looked deep into her friend's eyes, blushing as she gave him a confident and entrancing smile. They began a very elegant dance that seemed to be based off of an ancient dance called capoeira, spinning through the air, crouching, and kicking over one another's heads. The cats and penguins stopped dancing and watched them, entranced by this magnificent scene.
When they stopped and stood up, Goldwing realized that he and Silverheart were touching noses, panting slightly. This had felt great dancing with her; he could tell that this was her first time doing so. But what mattered now was being by her side, dancing the night away in the dance party he and his friends were hosting.
Seeing the dance, all the apprentices and penguins were starting to dance again. Goldwing was proud of what he and Silverheart had done; this was encouraging them to express themselves even more.
"This is amazing!" the fat brown tom was cheering as he danced. "It feels like my worries have disappeared into thin air!"
But angry yowls made him hide his face behind his paws again, whimpering, "And...they're back again."
The apprentices stopped their dancing and turned around...except Goldwing. The angry yowls belonged to the principal of the school, followed by two truant warriors and Dustpaw. Dustpaw was basking in the glory of having reported this to the warriors before they split up. But when Goldwing turned around in time, he stopped dancing and froze in fear. The penguins, in the meantime, squawked in fear and waddled quickly out of the cave, not stopping for anything.
"That's the cat!" the orange principal snarled. "The tiger cat with the bandana!"
At this, the two truant warriors made a beeline towards Goldwing, who gulped and dove into the crowd. He followed his friends through the crowd, a warrior following close behind. The crowd parted in front of the warrior to reveal a lone figure with his back turned to him, tiger-striped and wearing a bandana.
Growling the warrior leapt at him, pinned him down, and flipped him over like a turtle. But to Goldwing's amazement, it turned out to be Birchpaw, who had a tiger pelt over his own pelt.
"Hey there!" the gray tabby purred. "You looking for me?"
The orange principal spat, "That's not him! He's here somewhere! He must not leave this cave!"
The warriors darted through the crowd, the principal joining them. Bandanas and tiger pelts were multiplying everywhere they saw. One by one, the warriors snagged them, only to discover one wide-eyed innocent face after another.
"Can we help you?" Koipaw mewed to Dustpaw, for she had joined in the fun.
"Hey!"
"How you doing?"
"Looking for someone?"
The warriors, perplexed, backed into a small knot in the middle of the cave as all the apprentices encircled them. By now, the entire class had morphed into imitations of Goldwing, who had been watching them with amusement.
"Who you looking for?"
"Need something?" Birchpaw added.
"Hey, over here!"
Back at the back of the cave, AvatarClan were escaping down the tunnel Archie hid in earlier. Goldwing, who was the last one out, stopped and turned back for a moment. Birchpaw, who was at the edge of the crowd, turned to his new friend and winked at him. Goldwing bowed quickly to him FireClan style and ran down the tunnel. He made two walls of rock abruptly slam across the tunnel's entrance, sealing it off.
He had failed to see the look of shock on Birchpaw's face. He seemed to understand that his new friend was a despised EarthBender. After hearing the principal scolding his warriors for goofing off, Goldwing purred and raced after his friends.
...
AvatarClan was now safe in Archie's saddle as the dragon flew off, his legs paddling in the air. But Goldwing saw that Ashfeather's fake beard and mustache were still there. He wondered why he had not taken them off yet when he still had his black pelt.
"Ashfeather, we're safe now," Silverheart told her brother. "You can take those off now."
"But I can't," Ashfeather meowed smugly. "They're glued forever to my face." He finished this by stroking his fake beard and mustache, looking pleased with himself.
Goldwing rolled his eyes at that.
"That was really awesome there, Happy Feet!" Nightfoot purred, looking amused. "I think you DID help those cats! You taught them to be free."
This made Goldwing reply, "I don't know about that. It was just a dance party, that's all."
"Well, that was one hell of a dance party, Goldwing," Silverheart purred, leaning over to him and licking his left cheek.
Goldwing felt his skin go hot under his fur once again. This was the third time his crush had ever licked him on the cheek like that. He supposed that after dancing with him, she probably liked him back.
I hope Ashfeather doesn't notice that.
But Ashfeather was rocking lazily back and forth and clapping his forepaws slowly like a stoned beatnik. "Flame on, brother. Flame on."
All three cats purred at what he was doing.
...
Bearclaw slipped down from the wall into seedy industrial quarter somewhere in FireClan. Tall smokestacks clouded the night sky, forcing birds to fly around it. He looked down into a small yard bisected by railroad tracks and slipped into the middle of the yard. Lifting his nose in the air, Bearclaw tried to find the cat he was supposed to look for. But he did not have to wait for that long.
His ears spun around, taking in the sound of a clanking sound. Then he saw them: two massive paws, one of them metal and each the size of rabbits, stomped into view to frame the moonlight. Bearclaw had to look up at the newcomer, since this cat was bigger than any cat in FireClan.
He should be good. He's a powerful warrior, last time I heard.
Out loud, he meowed, "Were you followed?"
The shadowed head shook sideways.
"Good," Bearclaw hissed before going on. "I've heard tales about you, my friend. They say that you're really good at what you do for a living. And what's even better than that is your ability to hide secrets." His voice turned to a snarl as he went on, "The Avatar Cat is still out there, for he's still alive. I want you to find him...and kill him."
The big cat let out a low growl, his growl sounding more tiger than cat. And when he stepped out of the shadows, Bearclaw could understand why this cat was the biggest in FireClan.
Instead of a normal cat, the cat before him was a tiger. His black stripes shone like silver on his orange pelt, and his amber eyes gleamed in the dark. What was even more amazing was his legs: his left hind leg and right foreleg were made entirely of metal. And the strangest thing about him was the third eye in the center of his forehead.
And answering Bearclaw's request, the tiger growled again and nodded.
To be continued...
...
AvatarCat12: I hope everyone likes this new chapter here! This episode is also a tribute to Happy Feet (which I do not own), because of the times "happy feet" was mentioned. That, and dancing penguins had waddled into the episode.
Aang: I liked those penguins. THEY knew how to throw a big dance party!
Katara: Actually, I know who's the better dancer here. (Kisses Aang on the cheek before going on) And those penguins are so cute! Especially Mumble's son.
AvatarCat12: Me too. But anyways, who should say the review and the preview for the next episode? It's called The Tortoiseshell Angel.
Aang: I will! (To the readers) Those who review this chapter will join us in the comment stuff at the start and end of next chapter. We don't allow flames on here; they WILL be used to make S'Mores. We DO allow constructive criticism, but please don't make it too harsh, okay?
Preview: AvatarClan has arrived at a dirty river, where the cats have grown sick from starvation and sickness. Silverheart feels concerned for them, and when she hears of a tale of an ancient medicine cat, will she learn to be a medicine cat in return?
All three: See ya next time!
