Disclaimer: I don't own Warriors or anything associated with it because it's all Erin Hunter.
AN: I would like to thank everyone who is reading this, because it has helped my confidence dramatically! As of now, Sun and Moon has over 100 views, and I thank you all for the support! On with the story!
"=Talking
'=Thinking
Chapter 2
The sun shone brightly as it was high in the bright blue sky. Light filtered through the opened window of the kitchen. Rusty drowsily opened his eyes and shook himself as he rose from his bed. He recalled everything that happened last night in the forest. He went out of the cat flap to see Smudge in his garden, with a playful look on his face.
"Well, you made fun of Henry but it seems you aren't doing any better than him," Smudge remarked.
Rusty rolled his eyes and shook off the tease of him being compared to Henry in laziness. "I was in the forest last night, remember?"
"Oh yeah, how was it? Was it scary, did you run into anything, just tell me everything!" Smudge yelled out with so much curiosity and excitement Rusty thought his fur would blow off at any heartbeat.
"Well, I ran into some wildcats. I fought one but then two others appeared," Rusty informed, remembering his adventure into the forest.
"And you fought all three of them!?" Smudge exclaimed his eyes wide with hunger to know, as well as a genuine concern.
"Nope, just the young one, but they were telling me that I shouldn't be on their territory, but then they asked me to join their Clan."
"Seriously? Are you sure you can trust them?"
"Maybe they need extra paws in their Clan, anyway my mind is made up, I'm going to join them." Rusty said with conviction in every word he said.
"What? Rusty please don't go. How would your housefolk react? What about Flower? Come on Rusty I need you here," Smudge was trying to convince Rusty to stay here, but to no avail.
"They'll get over it, and get another kitten. Don't worry Smudge, you won't be lonely. You and Flower will love the new kitten my housefolk will get." Rusty said.
"Okay, I guess there is no convincing you, but be careful, alright?"
"I will, Smudge. Goodbye," Rusty was very emotional about leaving Smudge, but he felt a voice calling him to the forest, as if he was meant to be there. After saying his farewell, he jumped over the fence into the forest, off to join the Clan.
After Rusty left the garden and his twolegs, he went to the edge of the forest where he was supposed to meet Lionheart. He looked up at the sky and saw it was sunhigh.
'Where is Lionheart? He should be here by now,' Rusty thought, wondering where the golden warrior could be. A few moments later, an idea popped into Rusty's head. He pulled his head up, and took a deep whiff of the air around him. He could smell the forest, all of the scents were pulled along the wind, as well as the scent of a… cat? The scent was familiar, and that was when Rusty knew who it was.
"Lionheart!" Rusty yelled towards the nearby bush of the forest, and he was right, as the giant golden cat padded away from the cover of the bush into the small clearing.
"Very good, young one. Now tell me this, am I alone?" Lionheart asked the flame-furred soon to-be apprentice.
Rusty took a giant whiff of the surrounding area, and felt a new scent come over him apart from Lionheart and the other scents. "No, there is someone else with you," he answered after surveying the area. True to his words, another cat came out of hiding. He was a big tom, with glossy white fur and yellow eyes. He looked at Lionheart with approval in his eyes.
"Sharp nose, little one. My name is Whitestorm. Well, are you ready to go to ThunderClan?" he asked Rusty.
Rusty nodded and Lionheart and Whitestorm immediately turned and bounded into the forest. Startled, Rusty hurriedly ran after them to catch up. He was in awe at how fast they are, as the only reasons he was not lost yet was because he was following their footprints, scent, and the sight of them in front of his eyes almost a blur. They ran across the undergrowth of the forest before they stopped in front of a bunch of bushes. When Rusty caught up, he thought his paws were going to fall off.
"Now Rusty, what do you smell?" Lionheart questioned him.
Rusty smelled the area and was overloaded with cat scents. "I smell cats," he told Lionheart. Lionheart and Whitestorm shared an amused glance, then looked back at Rusty.
"You are correct. However, after a while in the Clan you will learn each cat scent by name," he told Rusty, who nodded. Whitestorm led them through a tunnel of bushes which was the entrance to the camp. After they made it to the tunnel, Lionheart looked at Rusty who was amazed at the camp. "Welcome to ThunderClan."
When Rusty saw the camp, he was in amazement at the beauty and peace of it. It was truly a sight.
"Come on, I will give you a quick tour of the camp," Lionheart told Rusty. He then lead Rusty to a den where there were kits suckling to their mother. "This is the nursery, where mothers care for kits, who will grow up to be the next generation of warriors in the Clan." He padded from the nursery to a patch of flowers, with Rusty right behind him. "This is the nettle patch, where cats share tongues. Sharing tongues is when cats in the clan get together and talk about things like recent news and whatnot, and ultimately it increases the bond between the cats and the Clan overall."
Lionheart was ready to show him the other parts of the camp, but Whitestorm chose that time to come. "Bluestar is ready for him," he told Lionheart, before padding away. With that said, the two went to giant rock in the middle of the camp, where they saw Bluestar waiting patiently.
"Bluestar!" Rusty exclaimed, bounding over to where Bluestar was. Bluestar gave him a warm look as he came over to her.
"Greetings, Rusty. I see you have made your decision and I am happy to see another promising cat joining ThunderClan," Bluestar told Rusty, before looking at Lionheart. "Well, how was he?" she asked Lionheart, knowing he was skeptical about letting a kittypet into the Clan.
"He is very special. He surpassed my expectations of him, Bluestar," he admitted.
Rusty was prideful at the praise of Lionheart. Bluestar gazed at him then beckoned him with her tail. The three climbed up the Highrock and Bluestar spoke.
"All cats old enough to catch their own prey gather around the Highrock," her meow rang across the clearing. Cats from all over the camp gathered around the Highrock and many noticed Rusty. They soon began to murmur about who he could be, but Bluestar silenced them all with a raise of her tail.
"As you all know, this leaf-bare has been hard on us. We have lost many warriors, and there have never been few apprentices and kits in ThunderClan. New-leaf may be coming, but the point of the matter is, ThunderClan needs more warriors if it is to survive." She then looked at Rusty and signaled for him to come up to the top of the rock.
"We have taken in an outsider, who will join ThunderClan, and will grow to be a valuable asset of ThunderClan." At this point, many cats were murmuring all over the place about Rusty, asking about who he is or where he is from. However, one voice yelled above all of the others.
"Look at his collar, he's a kittypet!" the voice came from a pale silver tabby with dark black stripes on his fur. "He'll never be a part of the Clan. The jingling of the bell will give our position away to enemies, and his kittypet stench will frighten off prey, besides, kittypets don't have warrior blood!" the tabby tried to reason off, with a few agreeing with him.
Lionheart saw this and bent down into Rusty's ear to tell him something. "The tabby is Longtail, and he is challenging your rights to join ThunderClan. Will you back down from a challenge?" he asked him. Rusty decided he would not be insulted like that, and gazed at Longtail's position, preparing to pounce. Bluestar noticed this, but kept silent, as this is what might need to happen and let it be.
Longtail still tried to continue the insults on Rusty, oblivious to the fact Rusty is about to pounce on him. "Once a kittypet, always a kittyp-uuf!" he wheezed as Rusty slammed into him with everything he had. All of the cats jumped back in order to witness the fight without being in the crossfire. Rusty tried to pin Longtail down, but was overpowered and thrown off. The two battling toms got into a position on the opposite sides of the ring of cats.
"Do you think you can beat me, a warrior? A cat who has spent moons in training, and you think you have a chance? How pitiful," Longtail sneered at Rusty.
"Whoa, that tail is huge!" Rusty said as he saw the length of Longtail's tail. (AN: kind of obvious though. I mean, his name IS Longtail).
"We warriors have special qualities that are passed down from our ancestors, and we use those abilities to help our Clan. You're just a kittypet, you have no warrior blood, and you are in no way special!" Longtail belittled Rusty before leaping with his claws outstretched.
Rusty tried to dodge, but was wacked back in by Longtail's tail. He got an idea and pretended to be down. As Longtail went for the bite, he pushed Longtail off with everything he had, and quickly giving chase to the airborne warrior. Rusty rammed into him, and managed to nick his ear with his claws, which stung Longtail for a moment, allowing him to pin Longtail down.
His victory was short lived, however, as Longtail turned Rusty to the bottom, and started choking rusty by pulling his collar. Rusty could do nothing but struggle for air as he felt it all being squeezed out of him. Then, he felt free and Longtail flew backwards, the collar in between them.
Rusty's collar broke, and he was free from his housefolk forever.
"Enough!" Bluestar's voice rang all over the clearing, and everyone immediately stopped whatever they were doing. She padded over to Rusty's collar and spoke.
"This is a sign from StarClan. His collar has been broken, freeing him from twolegs. It means he was meant to join this Clan. From now on, until he is a warrior, he will be called Firepaw, for his flame colored pelt."
Graypaw was the first to chant for Firepaw. "Firepaw, Firepaw!" he chanted. Some of the other reluctant cats started to join in too, until it was a full-blown chant by the whole clan. "Firepaw, Firepaw!" they all cheered for Firepaw, who was prideful at finally being a part of a Clan.
Suddenly, a black and white cat with injuries broke through the opening. Attention immediately shifted and Bluestar as well as many other cats rushed to the cat's aid. "Ravenpaw, what is wrong?" Bluestar asked him.
Ravenpaw looked up in terror. "R-R-Redtail's d-d-dead."
XXXXX
A few hours after Rusty left, Flower came to visit, but she did not know that Rusty left for ThunderClan. She saw Smudge and went over to him.
"Hey, Smudge. How are you?" she asked him.
"Not too good." He implied somberly, with an underlying tone of grief and loneliness.
"What's wrong?" she questioned.
"Rusty's gone," he replied.
Flower was horrified to hear that. "Is he dead?"
"No, but he went to live with the wildcats in the forest." He told her.
She was clueless at the time, though. "Wildcats? What are you talking about?"
Smudge proceeded to tell Flower everything that has happened so far, including Rusty's adventure, the talk with him, and wishing him well as he left in the forest to join the wildcats. At the end, Flower was speechless, because she was so shocked that that happened all so soon. Flower looked at the forest, and she could tell why Rusty was so interested. Seeing a new world of mysteries, untold adventures, all of it right over the fence, so she decided to check it out herself. She whipped her gaze back to Smudge.
"I'll go look for him. Maybe he hasn't got there yet," she told Smudge.
"O-okay, but be careful, please," he replied.
"Okay, but please be careful."
Gotcha," and with that, Flower jumped over the fence and started her trek through the forest.
When Flower entered the forest, she was instantly drawn by the foreign smells of the forest. She dwelled deeper into the forest when she saw a clearing. However, this clearing was different, as there were obvious signs of a battle as well as a rock fall, judging by how it looked, so she decided to investigate. Her scent was invaded by blood the second she stepped into the clearing. It was so intoxicating; she had to leave as soon as possible.
When Flower got away from the clearing, she ended up on a place that was all stone. She also saw a river at the coast of the stony place, and it all looked so amazing. Unfortunately, her awe was cut short as she heard a sharp meow.
"Who are you and why are you on RiverClan territory?" a yellow cat with black spots rounded on her, and she was followed by two other cats.
"Don't be too hasty, Leopardfur," a large tabby with a broken jaw commanded her to stay back. She looked defiant, but stepped back and allowed him to take control. He then padded up to Flower. "I am Crookedstar, leader of RiverClan. Tell me little one, why are you on our territory?" he asked much more politely than Leopardfur.
"I'm sorry for trespassing, but I am looking for my brother. He has a flamey pelt with green eyes. Have you seen him?" she asked the giant cat.
"Sorry, I have seen no cat like that. But seeing as you have not done anything wrong to our Clan, I guess you can go." The tabby told her. But little did he know, he awakened a fire in Flower.
"Clan? What is a Clan? What is it like? Is it big? What's it like to be in a Clan?" she blasted off questions one after another.
"Calm down, young one," the tabby said, but inside he was thinking this cat could be a great addition in RiverClan, so he decided to pop the question. (A/N: Not THAT question! )
"Do you want to find out? How about joining RiverClan for yourself?" he asked her.
Crookedstar are you sure?" questioned the third cat, a gray and blue cat with blue eyes.
"Yes, Stonefur, I am sure."
A million things were going through Flower's mind. She could not believe she was going to be a member of a Clan. She thought of everything she could and then took a deep breath.
"Yes, I would like to join your Clan," she told Crookedstar.
Suddenly, Crookedstar's claws came out and started going towards Flower. She closed her eyes and prepared for the impact, but it never came. She opened her eyes nervously and saw Crookedstar standing calmly in front of her, and her collar was on the stone floor of the rocks. "You won't need that to be in RiverClan." He told her, to which she nodded. "Come on, I will lead you to the camp." He then flickered his tail before going the other way, most likely to the camp. The others followed, and Flower was excited at the prospect of joining RiverClan.
XXXXX
Crookedstar and Flower went into the middle of the RiverClan camp. There were tributaries all around the camp, filled with water, which was everywhere. Flower surprised Crookedstar when she didn't mind getting wet, and she told him that she loved to swim, convincing him even more that she was the right choice. The dens were all above the water line, with Crookedstar's den able to see all of the other dens. Crookedstar then spoke.
"All cats able to catch their own fish gather at the clearing." In an instant, cats started filing around the clearing. Many caught sight of Flower, and they started murmuring around. However, with a flick of Crookedstar's tail, they all went silent.
As we know, Oakheart has left us to go to StarClan. He was a great cat, a great deputy, and a great warrior. He will be greatly missed." In Crookedstar's voice was grief, and sorrow, but he continued. "It is time to appoint a new deputy. May Oakheart hear my choice and approve. The new deputy will be Leopardfur."
The crowd broke into a chant for Leopardfur. After they calmed down, Crookedstar moved to speak again and everyone was silent. "I have found a cat on our borders, and she has proven to have a great curiosity for our Clan. I have invited her to join the Clan and she accepted. Now, she will join us not as an outsider, but as an apprentice of RiverClan." He turned to Flower. "From now, until you become a warrior, your name will be known as Moonpaw."
The Clan was a bit hesitant, but after a while cats started to call her name. After a while, everyone was calling out Moonpaw's name. "Moonpaw, Moonpaw!" everyone cheered. Moonpaw was amazed at being an apprentice and was excited at the chance she was getting. She had a new home now, and she loved it instantly. She know knew, she was meant to be here as a part of RiverClan…