Thanks for the reviews~(:
Heatherwing332: I think Red & Ember are cute too, but I'm a positive supporter of FallenxEmber:D Yeah it does remind me of Tallstar and Jake, kinda... but not really. :d
Mirage1234: Lol. Filled with the hatred. :'p Anyway, yeah, the sentences were familiar coz I'm taking stuff from the sneak peek and putting it in, coz I kinda just copy+pasted stuff out of my first three chapters into the sneak peek. Anyway, you'll find out who the other tom is :3 And don't hate on Red, he's just being a good kitty D: He's just a bit flirtatious, that's all. :D + My summer vacay was only 2 weeks or so, but i'm traveling again soon. xD
Lucky333123: Alright, here it is~ :D If you wanna know when new chapters are released, I think you follow it? (Idk, i dont know how that stuff works)
Orangeflight of ShadowClan: Thanks :O Here's the next chapter~
Petalfire: I ship Rember too, but I ship FallenxEmber even more. :D Fallenpaw and Emberstrike are so perf. :3
"Ripplestreak's hurt!"
A panicked yowl bounced along the walls of the gorge, and a black she-cat raised her head sharply. Her icy blue gaze swept across the clearing, fixing itself on a gray tom. Her silver stripes rippled as she twisted her body, her muscles tense and face dark with dismay. The gray tom was being carried by his clanmates as he dragged himself into camp. A bone in his neck was jutting out awkwardly, and his face was still. He lay limply from his clanmates grip, like a piece of dead fresh-kill.
"Poppywish, save him!" A fluffy white and gray she-cat begged, sounding almost choked with emotion. Her eyes were frantic as she dashed over to the gray tom. "He's so still…" She reached out a paw to touch his flank, and she sprang back as if her paw got burnt. Her voice was almost a scream of agony. "He's not breathing!" She wailed in horror, tipping her head back. "Ripplestreak!"
A dark red tabby she-cat with a tortoiseshell tail gazed sorrowfully at the gray tom. "There was nothing I could do." Poppywish meowed, her voice sounding almost broken with grief. She bowed her head in defeat. "I'm so sorry." She reached out a paw, and gently touched the bone jutting out of his neck. "He snapped his neck." Her tail trembled as she meowed quietly, almost as if it was a reassurance to others. "At least he felt no pain."
"But he's dead!" The gray and white she-cat exploded, her eyes shining with sadness. She pawed pitifully at the corpse of the tom, now set gently on the floor of the gorge. The black she-cat just stared in dismay, shocked to the bone. She stood, paralyzed as she watched her own warriors mourn and grieve for the gray tom. "He was so young…" For their clanmate. Tragedy had struck again, so soon after a twoleg had grabbed the heavily pregnant queen, Sagewing.
"This is the second dead cat in a moon." A dark brown tom meowed, his voice sounding resigned and horrified. He reached out a shaking paw and gently touched the gray tom, as if unwilling to believe Ripplestreak was actually dead. In all of the chaos, they had forgotten about their leader. And she had forgotten about herself, as she gazed, horrified at her loyal warrior, now lying in front of her, his life stolen from him.
"How did it happen?" Her voice escaped her lips, barely a whisper.
"The twoleg monster!" A brown tabby she-cat snarled, her eyes gleaming angrily. "It veered right off the Thunderpath, and crashed through the woods. It took down trees with it, and one of them fell on Ripplestreak. We tried to save him…" Her voice cracked. She looked so vulnerable and broken. She looked so angry and vengeful as well.
"Tigermist…" The dark brown tabby tom meowed, reaching out his tail towards the she-cat.
She snarled at him, batting it away. "No! Nettlestrike, we can't just keep ignoring this!" She snarled, her pelt fluffed up with fury. "The twolegs are wrecking everything. They're scaring away the prey, so we're all stick thin and unable to feed ourselves properly. They had captured and probably killed Sagewing, and now one of their twoleg monsters destroyed our trees and took Ripplestreak's life!" Her voice was no longer just an angry meow, but an enraged shout. "It's not fair!"
"Breezestar…?" A golden tom looked up at his leader helplessly.
She gazed, stricken, back at him.
Her gaze ran along her clanmates. Each and everyone of them. Shoulders sagging, tail dragging, ears drooping. Their eyes dull with defeat. Their bones jutting unhealthily out of their stick-thin figures. Their fur scraggly and unclean. Her gaze then darted towards the fresh-kill pile. A thin sparrow and a measly mouse were the only two things on it. Trembling, she gently ran her gaze across the clearing to the nursery. The nursery, where the kits were. Even the kits, so young, could understand something bad was happening. They were quiet and solemn, eyes round. She gazed, her heart twisting with pain at their stick-thin figures and weak, frail bodies. They coughed feebly, and their mother pulled them tighter, her eyes dark with dismay and grief.
"The twolegs had never bothered us like this before…" Breezestar began, her voice smooth and silky. She tried to act calm and brave for her warriors, but it didn't work. Her tail trembled, and her body shuddered with the strain of having to hold itself up high. She was so exhausted she could collapse. "Perhaps they will even stop."
"They won't stop!" A white tom meowed, panic stricken. "What about my kits and mate? Swallowfern can't produce enough milk to feed them, and Dovekit and Lilykit can't eat fresh-kill yet, even if there were any!" His tail lashed in frustration, and he gazed at his family, worry in his eyes.
Breezestar was silent. She couldn't think of anything reassuring to say to her clan. After all, there was nothing to say. "Bring a hunting patrol to the border on the opposite side of the twolegs." She commanded, her eyes dark with desperation. "See if there's anything to hunt. It's still leaf-fall, after all. There is bound to be some prey… somewhere. We just have to find it."
A dark tabby tom with black splotches leapt to his paws. Thistlespots. He gave her a small nod as he saw how exhausted she was. Her deputy leapt on to the rock, and began issuing out orders. "Cloudpath, Tallsun, Briarsong and Speckledash!" He called. "Nettlestrike will lead you guys to hunt, away from the twolegs. The elders will prepare Ripplestreak's body for burial."
Breezestar vaguely noticed he had chosen the cats that were the most fit. She couldn't even think of anything properly. Horror weighed her down as she sank into her nest. She sent a silent prayer to StarClan, wishing they would respond to her pleas.
My brave warriors… Stay strong and fierce. Hunt well for your clan. Just like we have gotten out of tough situations before, SkyClan will survive. We must.
~•~•~•~•~•~
"SkyClan is dying."
A group of four cats were assembled, sharing dark glances filled with horror and slight, acceptance.
"Will they even be strong enough to fight with us? Fight with us against the evil?" A silver and white tabby demanded, her dark blue eyes narrowed in doubt. Her tail flicked in slight contempt as she stared at the image in the pool of water. Two apprentices batting weakly at each other, their bones weighed heavily down, their ribs jutting out unhealthily and cheeks shrunken in. It was supposed to be a training doubt, but they weren't even fighting as hard as kits in the clans here did.
"I don't think they'll be strong enough…" A golden-brown tabby nodded, his sun-colored amber eyes gleaming dubiously. He hesitated for a heartbeat. "Maybe we can…"
Before he could finish, a sharp voice cut him off. "No." The gray tabby tom meowed sharply. "We barely have enough territory for ourselves in leaf-bare. How do you think they will fit? Get enough prey? It'll be just as bad as it is there."
"They're dying, Jayfeather." A smoky gray she-cat snapped, her fur fluffing up and eyes blazing. "Show some sympathy."
"I'll show sympathy when they come here, and ThunderClan starts dying." Jayfeather retorted, his pale jay-blue eyes glittering coldly. "Dovewing, you can't always fix everything."
Dovewing's eyes darkened, and she rose to her paws, her jaws open. "I can try at least!" She snapped at him. "Unlike you, I don't want to watch innocent lives die while we sit here, perfectly healthy, not lifting a paw to help." She shook her head angrily, lashing her fluffy tail. "That's just cruel."
"It's not cruelty!" Jayfeather snarled, his eyes darkening a degree. "It's called surviving."
"Whatever it's called, it's not right!" Dovewing shouted at him.
Ivypool and Lionstar exchanged dark glances, rolling their eyes in exasperation.
"Alright, shut up!" Lionstar snapped, cutting between their argument. "Jayfeather, you don't have to be so cold." The golden tabby tom pointed out, before swinging his head around to his old apprentice. "And you, Dovewing, don't have to always be so…" He trailed off.
"Giving?" Ivypool offered.
"Yeah. Giving." The tom snapped, his amber eyes gleaming.
Jayfeather was silent, staring grumpily back at his brother.
Dovewing sighed. "Fine." She responded.
"Good. Now can we discuss proper matters?" Ivypool sighed with impatience. "We have no choice. If we send Emberstrike-"
"Emberstrike?" Dovewing squeaked with shock. "She's pregnant! She can't make it to that gorge and starve herself! She has to go back to ThunderClan with the tribe."
"So you're saying, mountains are okay, but gorges aren't." Ivypool snapped.
"She'll be less pregnant by the time she's on the mountains! Only like a moon or so, and it'll take half a moon or less to get back to camp, so she can have her kits back at camp." Dovewing argued, her eyes narrowed in determination. "Think of the kits. We can't let them die for this. It'll break them, and any chance of Fallenpaw returning to us will be shattered. Annihilated."
"She's got a point there." Lionstar nodded seriously.
Ivypool shot a glance at the golden tom. "Thanks for pointing that out. I didn't know that." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. She huffed once, her breath fluttering her whiskers. Then she sighed. She nodded at her sister. "Fine, we'll do it that way. But what about Fallenpaw? How do we get him on the good side again?"
"Emberstrike!" All three cats almost shouted, leaping up to their paws.
Ivypool blinked.
"Alright." She nodded.
"But what do we have to do to get SkyClan to come with us? They're really weak, they won't be risking their lives on a long, dangerous journey just to help us, then to go straight back and starve." Lionstar snapped.
"Just don't make them come, then." Jayfeather growled.
"You know we need their help." Dovewing glared pointedly at the gray tabby tom. "We can offer them some land…"
"Are we really going to argue about this again?" Jayfeather snapped, bristling.
"You know what, yes we are!" Dovewing shot back at him.
"Enough!" Lionstar roared, his eyes blazing and tail lashing. "This is serious! We could possibly be facing the extinction of the clans, and you two…" He was speechless.
"Are acting like kits!" Ivypool finished for him, her eyes darkening with anger. "Now, be quiet, and help discuss the land."
"What about a spot between ShadowClan and ThunderClan?" Lionstar offered.
"They have powerful hind legs, so they can jump up and far for trees. They also like climbing and leaping, so the forest terrain is good for them." Ivypool agreed.
"Take more territory from ThunderClan away, as they have a bit more than ShadowClan. Then ThunderClan can take a bit of the moors from WindClan, as WindClan has the largest expanse of territory." Lionstar nodded, his eyes shining brightly with pride.
"Are you forgetting something?" Jayfeather snapped. "We don't hunt rabbits. And how in StarClan's name, do you think, ShadowClan and WindClan will be feeling about other cats taking their territory!"
"We can learn." Lionstar persisted. "And… I don't know."
"SkyClan's territory will be the smallest, but hey, if they don't like it they can leave." Ivypool meowed, nodding firmly.
"So this is happening?" Jayfeather sighed, his eyes narrowing.
"Yes." Dovewing nodded firmly.
"Like it or not," Ivypool sighed.
"SkyClan is coming back to the lake, and there will be five clans once more."
Still part of it is from the Sneak Peek. Only 1 chapter left that has sneak peek material. Hope you liked this chappy c':
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