A/N And know you will have the honor of meeting my personal OC. This chapter kind of explores how you just don't walk out of the cave with perfect powers, you have to learn to keep them under control and use them. I'm still waiting for the MoorClan leader and medicine cats except ForestClan and MoorClan, but I've got the deputies of MoorClan and TownClan ready. To those of you wondering what Wildpaw looks like, she's got a dark gray color and really blue eyes with white socks.
Wildpaw of Moorclan walked out of the cave. It was strange how Cloudmouth, someone not of her clan had presented the powers. But Cloudmouth had found the Moontree, had basically established the way powers were distributed, and when he died, they found his body at the roots of the Moontree. So it made sense that he would be the be the giver of powers for all the clans.
"So how was it?" said Silverwinds.
" Very nice, like a rabbit in your mouth that's scratching you, and it's hurting, but you can feel its taste in your mouth."
" I remember that." Silverwinds said nostagically. The grey warrior was excited about her first apprentice. "Are you ready to go back to camp?"
" Yes." said Wildpaw enthusiasticly, eager to get back to camp.
The MoorClan camp was set at the top of a steep hill. The hill was one of the tallest in the region, but that wasn't the only reason they chose it. At the top was a hole, and the Moorclan cats could watch the stars all night. Wildpaw and Silverwinds started to climb the hill.
"Whew! I'm glad I'm not an enemy warrior!" Wildpaw sighed. The hill was hard to climb. Getting down was simple, and if any enemy cats of other animals should climb, they would be forced to move an a slow, strenous pace while the MoorClan cats hit them at high speed with almost no effort at all.
Scorchgaze, the deputy, was looking down at them from Lookoutrock. Lookoutrock had a view of almost the entire territory. Scorchgaze looked down and raised his back fur until he saw that they were MoorClan cats. Then his fur lay flat, and he trotted over to the she-cats.
"Hello Silverwinds. So, Wildpaw, you have your power now?"
"Yes Scorchgaze."
"Come on, there's rabbits in the freshkill pile. It's tradition that the new apprentice gets pick of the prey."
Wildpaw leapt up, and she just barely landed on the top of the hill. She walked over to the freshkill pile. Not wanting to be rude, she selected a good rabbit and then she gave it to the elders. She then ate a smaller, tasty rabbit.
Silverwinds and Scorchgaze were eating mice and talking to each other about how Silverwinds liked her first apprentice. Wildpaw couldn't hear them, and she decided to go off and try out her powers.
"OK, Cloudmouth said I was a shapeshifter. I guess I'll start out easy. Rabbit, it's pretty close to a cat. How to I do the shapeshifting though?" Wildpaw couldn't stop wondering. She decided to try and concentrate on the rabbit with her eyes closed. She opened her eyes. She looked over her shoulders. Nothing. She looked at everything. Okay, so that didn't work. What would?
"Hey Wildpaw." said Brightcloud, coming up from behind her. Wildpaw jumped. "Oh, practicing? OK, I'll leave you alone." Brightcloud trotted off.
She thought a bit on it. Then she realized. She'd been thinking of a dead rabbit, of eating it, of watching them getting caught from Lookoutrock when she was Wildkit. She had to think of the live rabbits. She decided to try the ears first. She thought of having long ears, sheathed with thin brown hair, twitching to catch the sound of any approaching predators.
She felt something, but it wasn't the ears. It was her tail! Her power had run off by the time she'd started to feel something. She had to hold it. She concentrated with all her might on her tail. It grew back halfway and was brown with gray highlights.
It took her 10 minutes to get it back. It took her another 10 minutes to grow rabbit ears and 5 minutes to return them to cat.
The sun was setting and she had about half an hour before it became too dark to scale the hill. She deicided to go all out with it and attempt a full form. Her ears grew, but she had to keep going. She couldn't afford to feel triumphant, or she would lose her control. Her tail shortened. Brown fur cloaked her whole body. She concentrated as hard as she could without a thought for something other than the rabbit.
Finally she shrank and was the size of a rabbit. She was done. Her rabbit eyes were inferior in the dark. Her ears were something, though. Her rabbit nose twitched, constantly catching scents. She had to get back now. She concentrated on herself, her big blue eyes, her white socks, her claws, her teeth.
She grew into her full self. Then she ran with all her MoorClan speed to the hill, and she scaled it in leaps and jumps.
"You almost got caught in the dark, Wildpaw. You should try to keep it from happening again. I understand that you are eager to practice, but try to remember that you can't do it all in one day." Scorchgaze's firm tone scared Wildpaw, and she was worried he'd use his power on her.
"Don't worry, I won't. I am so exhausted!" Wildpaw collasped. She was physically exhausted from the run to the hill, and mentally from the changes.
Without a word to anybody, she collasped next to the other apprentices and fell asleep.
A/N If you review, don't forget send in a cat with it!