Okies, here's the first chapter. Just telling you, most of the chapters will involve the switching of POVs since most of the cats are from different Clans.
Oh, and I just now realized I forgot to type the queens and elders for MeadowClan! (Whimpers) Terribly sorry. TT Anyway, Firestorm (Ginger she-cat with black stripes) is a queen of MeadowClan and Swiftstream (Gray tom with a white stomach) is an elder.
Echopaw
"Crystalpaw, get off of me!" a yowl could be heard throughout TreeClan camp. Two older apprentices could be seen scuffling in front of their den, the she-cat clearly winning. The tom under her flailed his black paws, desperately trying to throw her off. Finally succeeding, he stood up, shook the dust out of his white pelt, and glared at Crystalpaw, who laughed.
"Come on, Echopaw," she mewed as her blue eyes sparkled. "I was only kidding."
Echopaw snorted and began cleaning his pelt, not taking his eyes off of his smaller built sister as he did so. "Well thanks to you, Mistpaw is probably laughing at me right now!" Sure enough, a certain gray she-cat was giggling after watching Echopaw be ambushed by Crystalpaw.
Crystalpaw poked his side with her paw and whispered, "You like Mistpaw, don't you?"
"No I don't!" he protested, his ears growing hot.
"Yes you do."
"Do not!"
"Do too!"
"Do not!" Echopaw finally hissed, his tail lashing. He hated when Crystalpaw would tease him and make him look bad in front of Mistpaw. It was true that he liked him, but most of the tom apprentices felt the same way about the pretty she-cat.
Crystalpaw shrank back, clearly hurt. "I was only kidding around…" she muttered.
The large tom calmed down, but his voice showed that he was still defensive. "That's what you always say. You need to stop acting like a kit. We're going to be warriors soon!"
"You're kind of acting like a kit right now, you know," she defended.
Echopaw snorted. Just like all of their other arguments, this one was going nowhere. "Well you act like a kit everyday." Before she could respond, he added, "I'm going to find Blazingsoul. He said he would take me training at sunhigh, and it's nearing that time." With that, he walked away, but not without stealing a glance to see if Crystalpaw was actually hurt. Just like he predicted, she had already gotten over it and was talking to Blackpaw, who had just come back from hunting.
Turning back around, he looked for a familiar ginger and white tom. To his delight, Blazingsoul, his mentor, was speaking to Leafstar. Sitting down, he patiently waited until the two cats were done speaking.
"Oh, Echopaw!" Blazingsoul mewed after he turned around. "I was about to come to looking for you. Are you ready?"
The black pawed tom nodded enthusiastically and said, "I'm ready. What are we going to do? Battle training? Hunting? Are we going on a patrol?"
This time, Leafstar answered. "Actually, I was hoping that Blitzclaw, Crystalpaw, Mistpaw, and I could come hunting with you two. Turning to Blazingsoul, the brown she-cat meowed, "I want to see how the older apprentices are coming along."
As Blazingsoul replied, Echopaw found that he was excited and nervous at the same time. Was this just going to be a normal assessment, or was Leafstar going to see if they were fit enough to become warriors? Now that he thought of it, he, Mistpaw, and Crystalpaw were at the age where most cats became warriors.
"Echopaw, did you hear me?" his mentor's voice snapped Echopaw out of his thoughts.
Looking at his paws in slight embarrassment, he muttered, "No, I didn't. Sorry, Blazingsoul."
Sighing, the tom repeated himself. "I told you to go and get Mistpaw, Crystalpaw, and Blitzclaw. Can you do that?"
Nodding, Echopaw set off towards a black she-cat, who was talking to Miraclepool, TreeClan's deputy. The two turned their heads toward him when they realized he was there and Miraclepool mewed, "Hello Echopaw. What do you need?"
Echopaw nodded to the tortoiseshell and replied, "Hi, Miraclepool. I just wanted to tell Blitzclaw that Leafstar said she was holding an assessment for the older apprentices, including Crystalpaw and she needed her to come along."
Blitzclaw's dark blue eyes flashed as she muttered, "Well it's about time. Are you going to tell Crystalpaw, or should I?"
"Blazingsoul told me to get her and Mistpaw, so I will if that's all right with you."
She nodded and got up, bid Miraclepool goodbye, and padded over to Blazingsoul and Leafstar, who were waiting by the entrance of the Clan camp.
As Echopaw watched her approach the two, he couldn't help but think, 'She can be a bit grouchy sometimes.' When he turned around, Crystalpaw and Mistpaw were right in front of him.
"Is what I heard true?" Crystalpaw mewed, her voice filled with excitement. "Is Leafstar really thinking about making us three warriors?"
Echopaw shrugged. "Probably. After all, it isn't everyday that the leader wants to watch apprentices hunt."
Mistpaw purred. "Well, in that case, let's do our best!"
Echopaw felt his ears grow warm and his stomach started feeling awkward. Even after she stopped speaking, he still heard Mistpaw's words. 'She has such a beautiful voice,' he thought dreamily. The tom was so engrossed in his thoughts; he didn't notice his sister flash him a knowing glance.
"Let's go then!" Crystalpaw mewed, practicing what she did best (which was breaking the silence). Standing up, she flicked her tail to signal Mistpaw, who followed.
Echopaw quickly snapped back into reality when he realized that they were leaving. Running after the two she-cats, he fell into pace with Mistpaw and mewed, "If we becoming warriors depends on this, I know you'll pass for sure."
He felt his heart skip a beat when her emerald eyes turned towards him and he said, "Thanks! I'm sure you'll do well, too."
Crystalpaw, who clearly didn't want to be outdone, said, "Yeah, well, I bet that I'll do better than both of you!"
Echopaw's eyes flashed as he yowled, "That's a bet! Winner gets the fattest piece of prey out of what we catch."
"Deal!" both Mistpaw and Crystalpaw mewed.
Birdpaw
The sun shone, warming up the sand pit that was MeadowClan's camp as the hunting patrol came in, each cat's mouth filled with prey. Although all of the patrol looked pleased, a blue grey she-cat with white eyes looked the happiest whilst a brown and white tom looked at her proudly.
"Wonderful job, Birdpaw!" Crookedtail mewed to his apprentice. "You did an excellent job on catching that vole."
"Thank you, Crookedtail," the she-cat mewed calmly and she stopped to put her prey down. Drinking in the air, she took in the activities that were taking place in camp. Forestgaze is taking borage to Firestorm, she took down mental notes. Lionfang and Silverstar are outside Silverstar's den, probably organizing patrols, and Tallpaw, Speckledpaw, and Eagletalon are at the fresh-kill pile.
Nodding to herself, she picked up her vole and followed the scent of the fresh-kill pile. As she was setting it down, her ears picked up the sound of movement.
"Hi, Birdpaw!" Tallpaw mewed. "How did the hunting patrol go?"
She smiled and replied, "It went fine. I caught a vole!"
On the other side of her, she heard a she-cat snort. "Crookedtail probably held it down while you spent the whole time trying the find it."
"Speckledpaw!" a tom growled. This was Eagletalon, Speckledpaw's father. "You mustn't be that way with your den mates, or any cat for that matter." A pause told Birdpaw that he was shifting positions. "Good job, Birdpaw."
The she-cat nodded. "Thank you, Eagletalon." With that, she sat down and reached towards the scent of a mouse. Grabbing it in her jaws, she began to slowly eating it, savoring the taste. Leaf-bare had just recently ended and they prey was returning, so she enjoyed it while she could.
After a few more moments of silence, Birdpaw heard Eagletalon stand up and walk away. Feeling the cool wind on her pelt, she realized that the sun must be setting. Quickly finishing off the rest of her meal, she stood up, licked the remaining mouse off of her muzzle, and walked towards the apprentices' den.
"Birdpaw, wait up!" she stopped so Tallpaw could catch up to her.
"You going to get some sleep, too?" Birdpaw asked the tom.
"Yeah, I am kind of tired. Hey, did you hear Lionfang and Silverstar talking about Twolegs?"
She froze. "Twolegs? What Twolegs?"
She felt Tallpaw's tail swish back and forth as he continued. "Well, apparently, there are Twolegs on the far side of our territory, and they have their dogs and these weird sticks that make loud noises. The patrol I went on saw them ourselves! When the stick makes that noise, if there is a bird above it, it'll automatically die!"
Birdpaw gulped, a feeling of dread crawling up her spine. "You don't think that the Twolegs would use the sticks on…us do you?"
Tallpaw sighed. "I don't know. That's what Silverstar is worried about. If they do, we won't be able to fight back. And even if they don't use it on us, they'll keep killing the birds and our prey will decrease."
Birdpaw's sightless eyes looked up towards the red sky as she sent out a silent prayer. 'Please, StarClan let the Twolegs leave without anyone being harmed!'
Well, there it is. For those who haven't noticed by now, these next couple of chapters will be introducing our six kitties.
R&R, please! :D