Hello cat-lovers! Do not be afraid to suggest cats! It's alright, honest. All I need is their name, age, gender, fur/eye color, personality, and anything else you'd like to add! No "format" is needed, so long as you include those things. I am also curious...should I start a one-shot story? No lemons, just one-shots, with a 1000 word min or max, depending on the client. PM me and let me know. I'd be happy to start one up for my fans:) Enough of me, you came for the cats :) I don't own, R&R, and cya at the end!
Firepaw slid up behind the mouse, silent as she could. She desperately wanted to show Brickheart that she could be patient ever since the tree-climbing incident two sunrises ago. With one last check of the wind, the ginger apprentice leapt forward, pinning her prey and killing it swiftly. She looked up, pleased when she saw her mentor nodding approvingly.
Suddenly, two she-cats burst through the bushes, looking quite haggled. "You gotta help us!" the first one gasped, the second one nodding furiously. Firepaw recognized them after a few moments.
"Lilyspot, Seedpelt, what's going on?" Firepaw asked, rushing over to the two ThunderClan warriors. Lilyspot shook out her dark tabby fur, her eyes shining in fear.
"The other Clans are attacking us again!" she mewed swiftly, eyes darting back and forth, while Seedpelt paced behind her.
Brickheart rushed forward, her eyes narrowing. "Again?" she questioned.
"Yes, again." Seedpelt snapped, her pale ginger tail sweeping back and forth. "And we need NightClan's help, pronto!"
"Oh, not even NightClan is safe now." The four she-cats spun around to see Toadfoot slip out of the shadows, followed by dozens of other cats, hatred gleaming in their eyes.
"Firepaw, go!" Brickheart leapt in front of her apprentice, taking the full force of a RiverClan tom. Firepaw spun around and raced back to the Hole.
"Don't let her escape!" Toadfoot howled, and Firepaw could hear a few cats springing forward to catch her. All Firepaw knew was that she had to run. Her specialty.
Her muscles stretched to the limit, trying to make the most of the terrain. Bushes were everywhere, so the ginger she-cat did her best to rub her scent on as many as she could, rounding bushes to give it more of her scent. Hopefully, it would throw off her pursuers. She also splashed through a small creek, praying that they would lose her scent there.
All of this was done to no avail. No matter what they did, she could hear them trampling through the forest behind her. She swore to StarClan under her breath glancing up into the trees...to see her sister's green eyes flashing from between two branches. Treepaw nodded once before setting off towards the Hole. Firepaw let out a sigh of relief, more determined to confuse the attackers.
She raced up the nearest tree as high up as she could go. She watched as the attackers slammed to a halt at the bottom of the tree, circling it so she could not get down.
"Give up, puny apprentice!" Toadfoot hollared, his eyes shining in triumph.
Hurry, Treepaw! Firepaw thought desperately.
Suddenly, about ten cats burst into the clearing, attacking the intruders. Rustling in the leaves behind Firepaw signaled the return of her sister. The ginger she-cat spun around, purring at the sight of her two siblings.
"Need any help?" Ravenpaw teased.
"Actually, yes. Brickheart, Lilyspot, and Seedpelt are all still being attacked. Will you help me?" Firepaw asked, worry prickling her pelt. Treepaw nodded, and Ravenpaw grinned.
"Lead the way, sis."
They heard them before they saw them. The three she-cats were surrounded by five cats, bleeding heavily from various wounds. Brickheart was limping, feebly holding her front paw up, claws out, in case the others attacked. Lilyspot was lying on her side, blood oozing out of her side, while Seedpelt stood protectively over her, one of her eyes swollen and almost closed shut.
The three apprentices positioned themselves above the healthiest attackers, before dropping.
Firepaw landed on a WindClan she-cat heavily, letting the attacker take all of her weight, before quickly digging her claws in and raking them down the sides of the cat.
The she-cat let out a yowl of anger, rolling over to crush the apprentice. Firepaw was faster. She jumped right as the WindClan cat rolled, landing heavily on her belly. Once again, she dug her claws in and began tearing. The she-cat screeched in pain, forcing Firepaw off so that she could run away.
Firepaw spun around to find one enemy left. With a snarl, she leapt towards the same RiverClan tom that had tried to attack her earlier. She landed squarely on his shoulders, holding on as the tom reared. Ravenpaw swept in like a shadow, drawing his claws along the tom's hindlegs. Treepaw lashed at his muzzle when he landed. The trio kept repeating the process until the tom shook Firepaw off, racing after the others.
Ravenpaw raced over to check Lilyspot while Treepaw went to Brickheart.
"Lilyspot's badly hurt," he reported, "and Seedpelt needs a medicine cat to look at that eye."
Firepaw nodded, turning to her sister.
"Brickheart will have to limp back to camp," Treepaw mewed simply.
Branchclaw burst into the clearing at that point. "They've reached the Hole! We need help!"
"I'll go!" Firepaw announced, turning to her siblings. "Help get them moving towards the camp. I'll send Moonbeam or Skylooker to intercept you."
"Firepaw." The ginger apprentice turned towards Brickheart, waiting for some stinging rebuke. "Be careful."
Branchclaw and Firepaw raced through the forest, desperately trying to reach their clanmates in time. The brown tom nudged Firepaw towards the Climbing Oak while he raced towards the fern bush a little ways off. The message was clear. Divide and conquer.
She dived down the very same hole she had used just days ago when racing her siblings. She flew through the tunnel, cringing as the sounds of the battle ahead echoed eerily all around her. What she saw when she came out caused her to freeze in horror.
Toadfoot had a light gray she-cat pinned against the wall, his teeth drawn back to deliver a killing bite. Blacknight rushed forward, knocking the brown tom off his victim. Across from Firepaw she saw her friend, Graykit, fighting with her siblings trying to fend off a WindClan tom while Sapphiresun and Sunchase were fighting with a pair of RiverClan cats. Flowerpetal was at the entrance of the nursery, yowling at Graykit, Sandkit, Stormkit, and Stripekit to get back inside.
Firepaw glanced over to High Boulder to see Skylooker shoving Silverstar behind him as a ShadowClan she-cat began to attack. Skylooker was soon replaced by Chestnutfire, who drove the she-cat over the edge of the path. Down in the clearing, she could just see Mercypaw, Saltpaw, and Pepperpaw cornered by three larger cats.
The young apprentice ran over to the medicene cats den, rushing down the steep tunnel. "Moonbeam!" she hollared, desperate to send her mentor aid.
"Firepaw?" Two blue orbs shone in the corner of the den, and Firepaw sighed with relief as she recognized the young medicine cat's voice.
"Brickheart got hurt! You need to go help her, please!" Firepaw begged, praying to StarClan that she was still alright.
The black tom eyed her thoughtfully before nodding. "I will follow your scent back to her." He rushed out, brushing his white tail against her for comfort. Firepaw waited a few moments before rushing back into the battle.
Graykit was cowering by the nursery, her siblings no where in sight, with a black tom standing over her. With a snarl, Firepaw raced around the path, knocking the tom into the Hole. Graykit blinked gratefully at her friend before rushing into the nursery. Firepaw took a quick survey to see that Toadfoot and Blacknight were circling each other just below her.
Firepaw took a flying leap, landing squarely on the brown tom's shoulders.
"Ha!" Blacknight exclaimed, landing a few more heavy blows thanks to Firepaw's distraction, "that's what you get for trying to kill Pearlsky!" Firepaw dug her claws in, her eyes flicking to the side to see Pearlsky struggling to stand up. Toadfoot struggled beneath her, growing weak from the numerous blows. Finally, with a strangled yowl, he started dashing for the spiral path up the Hole.
Firepaw leapt off, crowing with victory. When the rest of the ShadowClan, WindClan, and RiverClan cats saw their leader take off, they all ditched their battles in an attempt to flee.
"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath High Boulder for a Clan meeting!" Most of the Clan was already milling about in the clearing, waiting for Skylooker or Moonbeam to treat their various wounds. Silverstar was standing upon the boulder, struggling to stand up straight. Firepaw, Treepaw, and Ravenpaw all took seats near the apprentice den, too tired to chat about the battle.
"Today we were attacked by the same three Clans that attacked us three moons ago," the NightClan leader began. "And today we won, just like last time." She waited for the cheers to die down before speaking again. "I would like to thank Lilyspot and Seedpelt. If it were not for them, we would not have been victorious today. They will stay with us until they are well enough to travel" The ThunderClan she-cats nodded, eyes still bright from the battle. "I would also like to thank three apprentices for their skill in handling the battle today: Firepaw, for her speed to deliver the warning; Treepaw, for her quick thinking; and Ravenpaw, for his extreme skills in battle." The three apprentices ducked their heads, embarrassed by their leader's praise.
"Now, let us all relax, and enjoy a good meal!" Silverstar flicked her tail, and murmurs of conversation broke out everywhere. Firepaw was about to speak with her sister when a white tail brushed her shoulder. She turned to see Moonbeam standing in the shadows.
"Come."
Wearily, the apprentice followed the mostly black tom out of the Hole to stand just outside the thorn barrier. "Moonbeam? What's wrong?" she whispered, noticing how his eyes kept flicking back and forth.
He spun around to face her, his eyes slightly wild. "In order to fight the Terror Inside, Night must rely on Fire like the Thunder before it if it is to survive!" Firepaw gasped. She recognized it as a prophecy, and one that referenced one of the greatest prophecies in all of the time of the Clans, the one of her grandfather Firestar.
"Wh-why are you telling me this?" she whispered in horror.
"Because, YOU are the Fire!" he hissed, his fur fluffed out.
"No, I'm not!" Firepaw countered, a sense of calm overcoming her. She didn't know how she knew, but she was positive that the prophecy is about some other cat.
"You are the only cat in NightClan who it could possibly be talking about! You're a direct descendant of Firestar himself!" Moonbeam began to pace back and forth.
"Moonbeam, stop!" Firepaw raced forward to block his path, determination in her paws. "I will help you find what the prophecy is about. There has to be more out there for us to go on." Moonbeam opened his jaws to argue, but Firepaw kept talking. "A prophecy as vague as that can happen at any time, but they usually have a series of events leading up to it, yes?"
The black tom nodded reluctantly.
"Good. Now, let's go look for herbs. I am not badly scratched, but others are and I KNOW that you and Skylooker are running low." Firepaw pointed out, hoping to distract the tom from the prophecy.
He furrowed his brow for a moment before stalking off in the direction of the Climbing Oak. "There's some marigold over here if I remember correctly..."
Firepaw trotted after him, the prophecy clouding her thoughts. I just know it's not about me. But...if it's not about me, then who IS it about?...
Thank you for being patient! Who do you think the prophecy is about? I don't own, R&R, and cya next chapter!