Ok it's finally time to show case all those who had put their cats in 'Little bundles' sorry it took three chapters to get them in but here they are. Now a couple of them I changed around a bit manly so they could fit in and what not (also because some of you didn't give me all the information I needed which might have been my fault) but no worry, I still love you guys.
Sunpaw walked with the rest of the four clans, honestly, she wanted to stay close to her sisters or even her father, but due to the sheer numbers of cats around her and the four leaders- Okay, three leaders and one deputy- all had to stay in the front along with Brambleclaw, Crowfeather, and Tawnypelt as they lead the clans away from their once beloved home. So, being separated from her siblings just a bit made her a tad sad, well, that and the added fact that Smokekit and her mother were also gone. Just like that, her mother was snatched from her by twolegs, but Graystripe reassured them that their mother and Smokekit will come back to them.
"Something got you down?" A voice asked her as she walked, turning her head she looked to see a tom cat. The cat was clearly no older than her. This cat almost looked like Dewpaw at first glance. He was a dark gray tabby tom with darker gray tabby stripes and black markings around his face he also had blue eyes that seemed to bore into Sunpaw's own orange eyes. Sunpaw let out a sudden cough as she just sighed out and looked down.
"Its silly, I just feel... maybe a tad lonely."
"You are literally surrounded by other cats, how can you be lonely?" The tom asked her and she only looked down awkwardly once more.
"I've always been surrounded by my family, and now with my mother and brother missing and my sisters off with their mentors, it feels like..." Sunpaw trailed off softly.
"Like you're being left behind in an odd way?" The other asked her and she nodded frantically,
"You know the feeling?" She questioned excitedly towards him.
"I think so... I'm sorry, where are my manners? I'm Stormpaw, from Windclan." Stormpaw introduced himself to her.
"Sunpaw, from Thunderclan. Not to be confused with the other Sunpaw, who's a tom, from Thunderclan." She joked.
"Ok, Sunpaw, the pretty one. Gotcha." Stormpaw purred at her. Instantly her ears heated up at the compliment and she looked down with some embarrassment.
"Stormpaw, come over here!" Came a tom's demand.
"That's my father, Stormfly. I have to go. Talk to you later, alright?" Stormpaw asked her and she nodded dumbly at him. Stormpaw only purred back before walking back towards his father. Sunpaw sighed out softly as she watched him leave.
"Sunpaw," Came Sandstorm's voice and soon the blonde she-cat was right next to her. "Come along, I want to show you a few things." Sandstorm told her softly and Sunpaw obediently followed her mentor, Sunpaw's tail now just a little bit higher as she followed.
Streampaw watched Sunpaw go off with Sandstorm and looked up at Dustpelt, Dustpelt looked down at her and then sucked in a deep breath before sighing out ever so softly. "Alright, when we stop, I'll show you how to hunt as for now why don't you go and see if maybe anybody else needs anything?" Dustpelt dismissed her and Streampaw only snorted out before watching rather enviously as Sunpaw got to already do apprentice stuff, while Dustpelt clearly wanted nothing to do with Streampaw at the moment, no, he was clearly too concerned with Ferncloud at the moment. Ferncloud expecting her and his first liter, her stomach slowly growing each day. She wasn't ready to give birth just yet, so what was he fretting so much about?
"So, finally ready to enjoy apprenticeship?" Came a familiar mocking voice to Streampaw's left. Streampaw turned to see Duskpaw, Duskpaw's black fur shone under the sun above them as he smiled at her.
Streampaw knew Duskpaw only really briefly in the nursery, it was odd, Streampaw remembered when he came in. He was seemingly abandoned by a kittypet or loner out in the forest and brought home by Graystripe himself. Firestar of course accepted Duskkit, now Duskpaw and now here he was.
"I wish I could. Dustpelt doesn't want to teach me, he's too worried about Ferncloud." Streampaw sighed out with a headshake. Duskpaw looked over at Dustpelt and only snorted.
"That fur-brain, I don't think Graystripe knew what he was thinking when he had Dustpelt mentor you," Duskpaw coolly responded to Streampaw's own bitterness. Streampaw then got ready to say something back to him, but his mentor, Mistpelt came up and tapped his shoulder with her tail,
"This way, I'm not done with you just yet," The she-cat mewed towards him as the two of them then walked away from Streampaw, with a half-hearted shrug, Streampaw decided to see if Dewpaw if needed any help or something.
Smokekit was sure his feet were going to fall off as he dragged behind Firestar and Onewhisker, he wasn't the only one dragging either, Thistlekit and Pepper were also dragging behind at a sluggish pace their tails and ears low as they tried to keep up. Smokekit look up at the night sky, the moon now above them, and could only sigh. "Mom, can we please rest for a few moments." Smokekit asked her softly. Instantly Firestar stopped and turned around to look at the three of them.
"Uh, yeah. I think resting would be a good idea for now, don't you, Firestar?" Onewhisker asked, causing the she-cat's ears to twitch slightly. Smokekit felt his stomach grumble loudly, when was the last time he ate?
"Yeah, alright. I guess I'm pretty hungry. Hopefully there is some prey around here." Firestar looked around, Instantly Thistlekit and Smokekit both perked up at that idea,
"Can you teach me how to hunt?" Thistlekit asked excitedly to Firestar.
"I don't know if she can seeing how she's a kittypet," Smokekit quipped at Thistlekit, clearly not forgiving her for her outburst earlier about Pepper. Thistlekit looked down rather guiltily, but didn't say anything back to Smokekit.
"Smokekit, enough of that," Firestar scolded him. "As for your question," She turned to Thistlekit and flicked her ears at the ginger cat, "How many moons are you?"
"Six! I was almost ready to be an apprentice when the humans took me!" Thistlekit puffed a little agitated. Firestar looked at the three kits before turning to Onewhisker. It seemed for a moment they shared a look and maybe the same thought as Onewhisker nodded.
"Alright, alright, seeing how I am a leader, then I guess it should be best if you guys are all apprenticed,"
"Really!?" Both Smokekit and Thistlekit asked excited, Smokekit looked over at Pepper hoping she'd share the same excitement as they did, but she just looked confused at all this.
"Wait, there are only three of us and two of you. How will this work?" Thistlekit asked as she blinked at Pepper.
"I can take on two apprentices, or, to make it easier, me and Onewhisker can both mentor her. Just until we find the others that is. So, to save some time here. Smokekit, Thistlekit, you both reached the age of Six moons and it's time for the two of you to be apprenticed. Smokekit, from now on you will be known as Smokepaw and Onewhisker shall be your mentor, Thistlekit, from now on you will be known as Thistlepaw and I will be your mentor." Firestar quickly went through the ceremony. She then turned to Pepper who, like normal, just looked confused as she sat there trying to assess everything at once.
"Pepper, if you are to become one of us, your name must be changed. Are you alright with this?" Firestar asked the she-cat.
"Yeah, sure... I guess? ..." She mumbled the last part of her sentence just to highlight more of her confusion. Thistlepaw let out a rather mean giggle at Pepper and Smokepaw lightly tapped her leg with his paw and shook his head at her, showing his disapproval towards her, Thistlepaw went quiet after that, and looked down.
"Alright, Pepper, from this moment onward as Starclan looks upon you, your name will now be Silverpaw, both Onewhisker and I will mentor you until you have earned your warrior name." Firestar mewed at her and gently touched noses with Silverpaw. Silverpaw seemed taken aback by the sudden action as she backed up rather quickly and tripped over her two hind paws causing her to fall on her back.
Firestar, Onewhisker, and Thistlepaw all let out soft giggles at Silverpaw's clear embarrassment. Smokepaw only shook his head at all of them, but he said nothing to it. Silverpaw slowly stood and shook off of her pelt before lightly licking her chest sheepishly.
"Alright, is that everyone taken care of?" Firestar asked the three apprentices. Smokepaw, Thistlepaw, and Silverpaw all nodded at her and she nodded back.
"Alright, first things first then, hunting. Onewhisker will you take Silverpaw with you or should I?" Firestar asked the other warrior, causing Onewhisker to blink slowly.
"Oh, uh, I can take her and Smokepaw this time." Onewhisker mumbled slightly almost as if he was having trouble with his wording for a moment, Smokepaw watched as Onewhisker's paw's seem to shuffle slightly. Firestar purred at him and then tapped Thistlepaw's shoulder with her tail,
"Come along," Firestar ordered Thistlepaw, Smokepaw couldn't help but laugh as Thistlepaw practically jumped with excitement as she raced happily after Firestar.
"Hopefully, we find something good, I'm starving," Onewhisker groaned out as he stretched his body out to claw the ground below him. Standing up fully, he looked at Smokekit and Silverpaw and could only sigh out, "Alright, follow me, you two... now, the first rule of hunting is to be quiet..."
Smokepaw had to say, hunting was a little harder than he expected, he could tell that Silverpaw felt the same way as the two of them shyly looked at Onewhisker, two mice hung out of his mouth along with a sparrow while neither of them managed to catch a thing. Smokepaw had his ears low as he walked along.
"It'll get easier over time, don't be so disappointed, you two," Onewhisker told them once he placed the food down on the floor, right then, Firestar and Thistlepaw came back at the same time. Thistlepaw had a vole hanging proudly in her mouth while Firestar had a finch in her mouth.
"Ah, that should more than enough," Firestar happily mewed as she laid down to rest for a moment.
"It's going to take these two some time to get the ropes of hunting," Onewhisker spoke back to Firestar as he decided to lay down next to her.
"Don't think too much on it, you two, it sometimes takes others longer to understand hunting," Firestar pretty much told them what Onewhisker had earlier. It didn't make Smokepaw feel any better, especially his mother telling him this. He understands Silverpaw not fully understanding how to hunt, but why did he have such a hard time? He was born a clan cat, after all...
"Smokepaw? Are you going to eat, or just stare at the forest floor?" Thistlepaw asked him, blinking, he looked at the others only to see that they had already begun to eat. Laying down between Thistlepaw and Silverpaw, he grabbed the sparrow and started to happily, and hungrily, eat his meal. Over time his stomach started to get full once he finished all the scraps of the bird. Yawning out Smokepaw happily stretched his whole body out.
Feeling an unexpected weight to his left, he looked over at Silverpaw, the she-cat taking it to the next level as she had stretched out and then flopped down onto her back happily. Smokepaw was ready to just leave her be, but the moment he accidently put some weight against one of Silverpaw's hind legs he was met with a sudden and swift kick to the side causing him to knock into Thistlepaw.
"HEY!" Both Smokepaw and Thistlepaw yelled at once.
"Oh, sorry," Silverpaw quickly apologized to the two of them as she rolled back down to her stomach.
"Urg, Mouse-brain." Thistlepaw hissed bitterly as she shook her pelt off. Smokepaw scrunched his nose up at her bitterness and just snorted back at her.
"A bird," Silverpaw purred as she glanced up at the trees, everyone looked at her direction to see a plump thrush sitting on a nearby branch, the bird was pecking around the tree and instantly Silverpaw got to her paws. Everyone watched as Silverpaw sat down and stared at the plump bird.
"Should someone tell her that she just ate?" Thistlepaw whispered to Smokepaw.
"I think she just really wants to catch something," Smokepaw spoke hurriedly to Thistlepaw.
Silverpaw started to suddenly clatter her teeth together at a fast rate, almost mimicking the sound of the bird.
At this point, everyone was watching as she gained the bird's attention as she continued to make the clattering, chirping sound with her mouth, then, out of nowhere, the bird swooped down close to Silverpaw and landed right at her paws, Silverpaw wasted no time jumping on the bird, successfully killing it. Turning around she held the Thrush proudly in her jaws, much to everyone's amazement.
"How did you do that?" Onewhisker questioned her softly, Silverpaw only tilted her head slightly to the side.
"My mom taught me, it's something a lot of us do when we're outside," Silverpaw mewed as she placed the thrush next to the other piece of fresh-kill.
"You have got to teach me how to do that!" Thristlepaw happily demanded to Silverpaw,
"Yeah, me to! That's incredible!" Smokepaw excitedly jumped in front of her. Silverpaw blinked at the two of them and quickly licked her chest in embarrassment,
"I guess I could..." She whispered to the two.
"Alright," Firestar stood and shook her pelt off, "We've rested, we must continue to try and find the clans before we're too late. We must hurry." Firestar told them as she started to walk forward, Smokepaw looked at Thristlepaw and Silverpaw before nodding at them excitedly. Smokepaw would be glad when they reach the clans, then maybe they could rest for real. Still, as he looked back at Silverpaw he could see the she-cat actually getting along just a little bit with Thistlepaw as the two of them walked together softly speaking to one another.
Smokepaw forced his head towards the side when he heard his mother gasp out and freeze suddenly. Looking her way, Smokepaw felt his back suddenly arch up as he realized just what his mother was looking at,
It was a large animal with dark brown fur, rounded ears, and a long muzzle, it was larger than anything that Smokepaw has ever seen as it got up on it's hind legs, and with it's large claws it started to paw and chip away at the tree bark.
"Firestar...Is that a ..." Onewhisker trailed off his mouth a gap as the animal then opened it's mouth showing very sharp and large yellow teeth.
"...A bear?..." Silverpaw was the one to finish his sentence. Smokepaw felt his body run cold as the bear seemed to take notice of them as well and just stared at them, it's large shoulders square as it started to let out a low growls at them. Showing one thing,
This animal wasn't leaving in anytime soon.