The Disappearing Cats

A while ago, Seapaw disappeared. Seapaw was a good apprentice, but he never really accepted clan life. He was born a kittypet, but because of his strength and ability to swim, Riverclan took him in.

Only a few moons ago, Seapaw vanished. We thought he just ran away to the Twolegs, but we couldn't find a trail because it had been raining.

A moon after that, Reedwhisker, Seapaw's mentor disappeared. Reedwhisker was clanborn and proud to be a Riverclan cat, and ever since then, things were fishy. The night after Reedwhisker was found to be out of camp, Swimmingpaw found a tuft of Reedwhisker's fur caught on a tree.

So something was taking cats…after all, I doubted Reedwhisker would run away just to track down Seapaw. The two weren't close like normal apprentices and their mentors.

A moon after Reedwhisker disappeared, Volepaw, the blind medicine cat, vanished. It was then that I started having the dreams.

In the dreams, I saw Volepaw, Seapaw, and Reedwhisker and a bunch of other cats from the other clans. I also so cats I'd never seen before.

One of them snarled and hissed at me. I flinched, and tried to speak with Volepaw.

"What are we doing here?" I whispered. Volepaw only gazed up at me, unable to speak. I turned on my heels and ran out of that creepy place. I ran until I woke up.

I awoke with sore muscles. I could hardly catch any fish. My apprentice, Darkpaw, caught more fish than I did.

Darkpaw was very quiet while we caught fish.

"Is the apprentice den full again?" I asked awkwardly. I knew it would never seem full to Darkpaw, because Volepaw was Darkpaw's littermate and Seapaw was Darkpaw's closest friend. I realized that too late, that by asking Darkpaw this, she'd be angry and upset.

Darkpaw only sighed, however. "No," she replied. "Everyone missed Volepaw and Seapaw. Don't you?" she fixed her icy blue gaze on me. "Don't you?" she repeated.

"Of course," I replied. "Reedwhisker, too."

I'd never forget Reedwhisker.

"Who couldn't forget someone they were close too?" Darkpaw asked. She clawed at the ground. Not waiting for my answer, she continued; "can we go back to camp, Frogflip?"

"Of course," I replied. I was quite tired myself. I hoped I wouldn't meet Volepaw, Seapaw, and Reedwhisker in my dreams anymore. They freaked me out, looking so invisible, yet only a tail's length away from me. And the other cats…wasn't that Turtlestar? The old Thunderclan leader?

My wish may as well have not been made. I returned back to the place where I'd been last night. Volepaw was nibbling on a mouse, Seapaw was sitting stiffly, and Reedwhisker was pacing around anxiously. Again, I tried to speak with the cats. But like last time, they didn't reply.

I shifted into another dream. I was still in an unfamiliar place, but Volepaw, Seapaw, and Reedwhisker had disappeared. In their place, another cat sat stiffly.

I noticed he had unusually long claws.

My stomach flip-flopped. I recognized him like I'd seen him yesterday, though I couldn't remember his name. The cat turned, so I could see his eyes. He had yellow eyes that shot lasers into my head.

I had certainly seen him before…I knew those claws…he was in nursery stories.

This cat was Tigerstar.

I was awake…and frightened. My heart was beating so fast, and so loudly, I thought that maybe Darkpaw could hear it from the apprentice den.

"Frogflip?" I looked up at the entrance of the warrior den.

Oceanstar, my leader, was there. Her fur was on end and sadness was flowing off of her in waves. I stood up and shook off pieces of moss. As I walked towards Oceanstar, I was even more puzzled. Her claws were unsheathed, but she just seemed unsettled.

"Mistypaw is gone," Oceanstar breathed. She lowered her head, and tried to steady her voice. "Darkpaw was the first to notice. She's even more down than usual, now that three of the other apprentices have disappeared."

"Don't worry," I said shakily. "We'll find what's happening to the cats."

"I sure hope so," Oceanstar growled. "Whatever force that's taking these cats is going to pay."

I nodded.

"It isn't quite morning," Oceanstar continued. "Get more rest."

Get more rest? I didn't want to go to sleep, but Oceanstar might have sent me on a border patrol. I will admit, I was exhausted, but I didn't want to meet Tigerstar again.

"Falconwing!" I bounded into the medicine den. "Do you think the disappearing of cats is due to a sickness?"

Falconwing shrugged. "No cats have come to my den since the battle with Windclan many moons ago," she said. "But perhaps…if we study the behavior of the clan, we might see some similarities between the clan and the disappearing cats. For instance, I've noticed that all the disappearing cats were sleepy the days before the vanished."

"Yes," I nodded. "That's got to be a sign."

That night, I saw Tigerstar again. He bared his teeth and hissed. I flinched, but was unable to move. Of course, Tigerstar was able to. He stood up and walked towards me, all the while hissing and spitting.

"I'll take you," he growled. "Don't doubt my powers."

I knew I was awake, but I didn't open my eyes. Somebody was nudging me, but I only groaned and squeezed my eyes shut.

"Frogflip," a voice said urgently. "Wake up!"

So I did. I stood up, and I thought I was dreaming once more. Standing next to me was Volepaw, and he had acknowledged me. Seapaw and Reedwhisker were there too, and all the others.

"Where are we?" I asked, shaking my head.

"The Dark Forest, you mouse-brain," Seapaw sneered, cuffing my head. "Didn't you get the dreams too? Didn't you see Tigerstar and he told you he'd take you? We can all relate to that. We know what Tigerstar's planning, and there isn't anything we can do to stop it."

"What's he planning?" Fear gripped my belly. I knew Tigerstar could achieve anything. He was so greedy for power, and a pretty big leader in the Dark Forest. That was told in the nursery.

"To take over Star Clan, of course!" Reedwhisker spat. "What did you expect?"

I shrugged.

Reedwhisker turned on his heels and walked away. Suddenly, everything froze. I couldn't move, only breathe softly and look at Seapaw and Volepaw, who looked surprisingly calm.

A shimmering image appeared. A flickering cat walked towards me. I realized the cat was Oceanstar! Oceanstar gawked as she realized that Seapaw was here, and Volepaw and Reedwhisker.

"Where am I?" Oceanstar yelped. I tried to answer, but I couldn't. Oceanstar became frustrated with me. "Why am I here?" She finally yowled in anger and scratched my cheek. When blood appeared, I could tell Oceanstar felt regret. She turned on her heels and started to run.

Just like I had in my first dream.

What felt like moons later, Oceanstar joined us. Like me, she was confused about what happened. And at her being at loss for words and not interacting with any cats, I knew something had to be done.

"I'm going to go visit Tigerstar," I told Volepaw. At his shock, I knew it was a bad idea, but the only idea I had. I would do this for Oceanstar. For all the other cats, and for all four clans.

I walked to where the Dark Forest cats were. Tigerstar was watching two of them fight, clawing and biting each other. One of them drew blood, and the other was ripping out tufts of fur by the second.

I cleared my throat, and Tigerstar turned and glared. "What is it?" he sneered, advancing towards me.

"I'd like to go home."

Tigerstar growled. "Repeat, louder, kit."

Angry at being called a kit, I bravely snarled, "I'd like to go home." That time, I knew Tigerstar heard me, and the others, because they all just gawked. Tigerstar recovered quickest, by attacking me.

I screeched and struck at his snout, drawing blood.

I ran, because I knew I was faster than Tigerstar. He was hot on my heels, but I ran. As I ran, I called to the others to follow me.

Oceanstar did right away. Hissing and spitting, she leaped on Tigerstar and knocked him over. She quickly ran away from him, because Tigerstar was an excellent warrior. Not even Oceanstar could defeat him.

I didn't need to turn around to know the others were following me. Seapaw and Volepaw caught up to me, and they overtook me, sprinting.

I knew we couldn't keep up all this running. But finally, I saw bright light ahead. I hoped I wasn't imagining it, but I saw something shine in Volepaw's eyes, so he must have seen the light too.

We eventually reached the light. Tigerstar stopped once we crossed over from darkness to lightness. A flame-colored tom rushed up to meet us. He glared at Tigerstar.

"Keep on your side," the tom snarled.

"I plan too, Firestar," Tigerstar replied icily.

I stared at the flame-colored tom. He returned my stare, then, flicking his tail, turned on his heels. I followed. We passed many cats as we walked, and finally, Firestar stopped.

"Frogflip," Firestar started, "return to Riverclan."

"I'm try—"

I was back in Riverclan. I saw Darkpaw dragging her paws to the apprentice den, a plump vole in her teeth. The elders were dozing by the small pond at the other side of camp.

A loud zap snapped behind me, and Oceanstar appeared.

"Firestar…" she muttered. She looked up, and bounded back into camp, calling to the other cats, with me bounding on her heels.

Sweet ending…right?

Lots of suspense :0 sorry bout that…

Well…not really. Mwhahahaha!

Leave me reviews! If I get five reviews, I'll make a long story as well as these short stories.