I UPDATED! I UPDATED! WHEE! AND EVEN MORE NEWS! I'M GOING TO TRY TO UPDATE AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK FROM NOW ON!
And wow. I left you guys on a cliffie for about three-and-a-half months. That's a new low for me. I mean, I love to torture you guys with cliffies because it's funny to see your reactions to things that only I will know how it turns out, but then I'll update within a day- not about three months and twenty days. :P
Reply to Reviews:
Everyone who complained about Sorreltail dying: I know, I know, you don't like the fact that I killed off Sorreltail. But there's kind of a point/lesson to it. A lot of people didn't expect and didn't like it when Hollyleaf got killed a "second time". But the Warriors world isn't perfect. Cats you love will die, as much as you dislike it. :( I somewhat regret killing Sorreltail, but I knew that a battle like the badger thing would have to have at least one death (we all know how the badger attack on the whole Clan turned out and we all know those things are nasty) and I thought that it would be preferred that an older warrior, who has lived more, be killed rather than, say, Snowpaw or Icecloud.
Raven: Yep, I did.
Onto the chapter!
Sunnypaw scanned the camp. It was awful. It was so quiet that you could hear the leaves drifting through the air. She sat, stiff, as her Clan mates and her mother crouched beside Sorreltail's limp body. They were sharing tongues with her a final time.
Thistlepaw padded over to her, a small mouse in his jaws. He dropped it at her paws. "You should eat something." he mewed quietly.
Sunnypaw shook her head. "I'm not hungry."
"Why bother grieving? She wasn't your mother."
"She's a Clan mate- and our mother's mother!" Sunnypaw snapped at him. "Have you no respect?"
"Of course I do!" Thistlepaw took a step back, surprised at the ferocity of her tone. "But it's no good grieving so far you can't eat. You can't get ill, with training and all."
Sunnypaw shrugged. "One night of a missed meal won't matter."
Thistlepaw sighed. "Fine." he picked up the mouse and padded away.
Sunnypaw sat stiffly until moonhigh came, and the cats closest to Sorreltail- Brackenfur, Seednose, Lilyflower, Cinderheart, Poppyfrost, and Leafpool settled beside the limp body, preparing for the long vigil they'd sit.
Lionblaze padded over to her and nudged her towards the apprentices den. "You need to go to sleep." he mewed.
"Fine." Sunnypaw moved away from him. She settled into her new nest in the den. "Poor Cinderheart." she murmured to Hollypaw.
"Yeah." Hollypaw sighed.
The next morning, weariness filled the air. Brackenfur's eyes were dark and grieving. His voice was hollow and empty when he spoke. Cinderheart's whiskers drooped and she slunk, head bowed, into the warriors den. Seednose spoke very vaguely, as though she didn't really know what was going on. Lilyflower seems to have slipped into her own little world, looking at cats with a strange, absent look in her eyes and Poppyfrost kept up a running whimper as though she were a lost kit.
Bramblestar padded over to Sunnypaw. "Would you play with the kits?" he asked. "Ivypool sat guard last night- so she's going to be sleeping for a little bit."
"Okay." Hollypaw nodded, her eyes trailing after Purdy, Thornclaw, and Brackenfur, who were carrying Sorreltail's body out of camp. She padded over to the nursery. "Hello." she mewed quietly.
"Hello, Sunnypaw. Here to play with the kits?" Whitewing's voice sounded forcefully cheerful.
"Yes."
"Well, thank StarClan for that. These two are driving me crazy!" Rosepetal sighed, as Grasskit leaped onto her tail and she winced. "Ouch, Grasskit! Don't use sheathed claws!"
"Is Sorreltail's body gone?" Whitewing asked.
"Purdy, Brackenfur, and Seednose just left."
"Okay, then." Whitewing mewed.
"Come on, kits! Do you want to play moss-ball? I'm sure Featherpaw could loan us some!" Sunnypaw purred.
"Moss-ball!" yowled Grasskit. He scrambled over Rosepetal, who grunted as tiny claws pricked her pelt. "Can I be the thrower? Please, please, please?"
Sunnypaw shook her head. "I'm the thrower."
"But I'll be an apprentice soon and I'm probably gonna play with the kits and-" "You've got about a two-moon wait." Rosepetal told him. "Be flexible and let Sunnypaw be thrower."
"But I've never been-"
"Grasskit..."
"Fine." the kit grumbled, and bounded outside.
"Wait for me!" Gingerkit yelped, running after him. Whitewing's three kits stumbled along behind their denmates, but it took them longer than them because their legs were about a quarter of a tail-length high.
Sunnypaw purred as the kits tripped over their own paws in attempt to catch up to their older denmates.
She padded out of the nursery and into the center of camp. She then realized, that as well as weary, the camp looked gloomy. The sky was a rainy gray- she expected it to open up and pour at any moment.
Brackenfur, who she had assumed would be resting, was wandering around the camp muttering, "I could've saved her. I could've saved Sorreltail. This is all my fault- she died because of me- it should've been me."
Sunnypaw bit her lip. She should probably say something to either Jayfeather, Featherpaw, or Briarlight- whoever she got the moss from. She hurried into the medicine den. "Hello." she mewed, seeing Briarlight doing some exercises to help strengthen her upper body.
"Hello, Sunnypaw. What do you want?" she asked.
"Can I have some moss? I'm playing moss-ball with the kits."
"Well, sure, but you're going to have to help restock the moss after you're done playing. We're almost out of it. But of course, I know that Ivypool is resting, and I think Bramblestar said that kits must respect the Warrior Code right now, and apprentices cannot go out of camp without at least one warrior with them. So... at your earliest convenience..." Briarlight mewed.
"All right, thanks." Sunnypaw mewed, helping herself to a clump of moss. "Oh, and you might want to check on Brackenfur. He is still quite out of it."
"Yes, I know. But we used up everything he could use last night, and right now, Jayfeather and Featherpaw are collecting some. But thanks for letting me know."
"You're welcome. And thanks again for the moss!" Sunnypaw mewed and padded out of the den. Rolling the moss into a ball, she yowled, "Kits!" The kits scampered over.
"Hey, guess what, Sunnypaw? We taught Larchkit, Fernkit, and Shrewkit how to play!" Gingerkit mewed proudly.
Sunnypaw purred. "Well done." what was surprising that only yesterday, she was one of them. She was prancing around, waiting for her ceremony, and she had taught Grasskit and Gingerkit how to play moss-ball after they had been born. Now that her name was "Sunnypaw" instead of "Sunnykit", there was a whole new responsibility. She felt close but far away, somehow, to the kits. She wasn't much older than Grasskit and Gingerkit but she felt as though she was. She expected her mother and her father to be proud of her for catching fallen leaves. She would brag to Snowpaw, Amberpaw, and Dewpaw that she had caught a mouse when she was really struggling to chase after a beetle. Now she had to listen to them brag and be proud of them for catching leaves- she was no longer a kit.
She shook her head to clear her thoughts and yowled, "Go!" and tossed the ball into the air.
Grasskit and Gingerkit leaped and collided together, and then began to wrestle. The ball fell onto the ground and Shrewkit pounced on it and ripped it to shreds with tiny claws. "I win!" he yowled.
"You know that's not the point of the game!" argued Fernkit. "You aren't supposed to shred it!"
"Too bad!" Shrewkit mewed proudly. Fernkit shook her head. "Now we won't be able to play!" she wailed. Sunnypaw ran her tail down the little cat's spine. "Of course we can. We just have to put it back together." she rolled the shreds and re-formed the ball.
Fernkit sighed in relief. "Well, that's good." Grasskit and Gingerkit leaped apart. Their fur was fluffed up. "Who won?" Grasskit demanded.
"Shrewkit."
"Aww!" Gingerkit whined.
"Knock it off. You were the ones who decided to get into the scuffle and distract yourselves!" Sunnypaw scolded them lightly.
Gingerkit looked mutinous, but said nothing else.
Sunnypaw tossed the ball again.
Barging past all the kits and knocking poor Fernkit off her feet, Grasskit caught the ball between his teeth. "Yay!"
Fernkit wailed.
Sunnypaw nudged her up. "Grasskit, stop it!"
Fernkit whimpered.
Grasskit shrugged. "Well, at least I got the ball."
"Apologize." Sunnypaw ordered him.
Grasskit looked at Fernkit for the first time, then gasped as though he'd just realized what he'd done. He inched over to her and buried his nose into her fur. "Sorry, Fernkit."
Sunnypaw stifled a purr. Fernkit was two days old and Grasskit already had a crush on her.
"It's okay." Fernkit mewed. The next time Sunnypaw tossed the ball, Shrewkit and Larchkit got into a scuffle, and Grasskit decided to attack Gingerkit, so Fernkit retrieved the ball, yowling triumphantly. Although Fernkit didn't seem to think so, Sunnypaw thought Grasskit did this purposefully.
After more rounds, Gingerkit came out winner, and Ivypool retrieved Sunnypaw. "Do you want to go out into the forest?"
"Yes please!" she mewed excitedly. "Oh, I've got to collect moss for Briarlight. I took some of it and they were already running low."
"We can do that. It rained last night, so the moss should be pretty good to collect." Ivypool mewed.
"Okay." Sunnypaw mewed. Rain brought back the thought of Sorreltail's death, and the excitement she had from going out into the forest for only the second time faded and she became more somber.
Ivypool then mewed, "Get Hollypaw. Brackenfur is in no shape to take him out, and it isn't likely that he'll be in one for a couple more days. He loved Sorreltail more than he loved anyone else- they were definitely the closest pair of mates in ThunderClan."
Sunnypaw darted into the apprentices den. Hollypaw was curled up in a tight ball in her nest, asleep. She poked him awake. "Wake up, sleepypaws. Ivypool's taking us out." Hollypaw's eyes shot open.
"That's great!" she mewed, leaping to her paws and running out of the den. "I've had nothing to do all day except sleep!"
Quickly, Sunnypaw followed and overtook her, leading her over to Ivypool.
Sunnypaw's mentor flicked her tail and led the way out of camp.
They padded through the forest until they came near the WindClan border. The stream moved swiftly and strongly today. Ivypool stopped at the edge of the trees. "There's water here, it just rained. Moss is abundant here." after showing them how to collect the moss, she set them to work.
Suddenly, a loud crowing noise from a bird made Hollypaw jump. She had been so intent on her work she'd been lost in thought. She made a splash into the stream. Although the stream wasn't that deep, Hollypaw wasn't that big, and the stream was moving aggressively. She definitely wouldn't drown, but she was bound to float away. "Help!" she yowled.
"Stop! Stop!" Sunnypaw screeched desperately. She knew this wouldn't do anything, because the water would not stop, and Hollypaw was already trying to stop but was failing to do so.
But suddenly, the water stopped.
She and Ivypool bounded over and helped Hollypaw out of the water. "Are you all right?" Sunnypaw asked.
The water started moving as Sunnypaw's worry eased.
"Yes." Hollypaw mewed. "But a little wet and shaken."
Ivypool was staring at Sunnypaw. "How..." she breathed. "You just stopped the water and started it again..."
"I did." Sunnypaw mewed.
"Come on, Sunnypaw. We're going to your father."
Frightened, Sunnypaw followed Ivypool into the warriors den, where Lionblaze lay, sharing tongues with Cinderheart.
"Lionblaze." Ivypool mewed. "Please come with me."
"All right." Lionblaze sighed. "Does Bramblestar need me?"
"No." Ivypool mewed.
"Um, okay..." Lionblaze came out of the den. "What is it?"
"Do you know what your daughter can do?" Ivypool asked impatiently.
"Become a great warrior?"
"She can control water." Ivypool lashed her tail.
"What?" Lionblaze gasped. "I think we should go to Bramblestar and Jayfeather."
Ivypool ran off to summon Jayfeather, and Lionblaze led Sunnypaw up to Bramblestar's den. "Bramblestar?" Lionblaze called. "Can we come in?"
"Sure." Bramblestar mewed.
"Um, Sunnypaw has a power." Lionblaze mewed.
"What? Like yours?"
"Sort of... not really..." Lionblaze mewed. "She can control water."
"Well then." Bramblestar took a deep breath and Ivypool arrived with Jayfeather. "I had received a prophecy a little before you and your siblings were born, Sunnypaw."
"Well, what was it?" Lionblaze asked.
Bramblestar sighed. "It came from Firestar. The Three have saved the Clans. Now kin of the Second will be the ones to save ThunderClan. There will be something special about one, who will be the biggest help in saving the Clans. The others will help the One follow his destiny, but then there will be a sacrifice at the end. And you, Sunnypaw, I believe Lionblaze is the Second- because he was the second to find out about the prophecy and his powers, and you, Sunnypaw, are one of his kin. You are part of the prophecy."