Dino: IT'S BEEN AGES SINCE WE LAST UPDATED!
NegNarwhalz: *sighs*
Dino: So thank you for your support for the whole year we've been absent!
NegNarwhalz: let's just hurry and start the chapter!
"Oh no!" Sorrelpaw cried. "A-are the foxes hurting anyone?"
Sweetrose was still gasping for air, "I-I think I saw a really skinny grey she-cat." She finally mewed.
"Echoice!" Featherflight and Brookdawn yelped in unison. Their tails raised in alarm.
"We're going ahead." Featherflight hissed under his breath, without another word he sprinted on the trail where Sweetrose just came back from.
Badgerpaw's face drooped. "I think it's my fault... I told her I saw a patch of catmint in our territory... I-I didn't know that there could be foxes around, if only I had taken the t-time to sme-"
"There's no time for sulking, Badgerpaw!" Russetpaw hissed, he ran after Featherflight.
"Strength in numbers!" Rainpaw called, he followed the trail.
"Get away from me you mangly foul beasts!" A she-cat's voice growled. Battling the cold, Rainpaw tried to keep on Russetpaw's heels until they reached a clearing.
"Hey flea-pelts! Look at me!" Featherflight hissed, taunting the foxes. The sheer size of the foxes were frightening, they were healthy adults, ready to pick a fight, they turned around with an intimidating snarl on their faces.
"Featherflight!" Russetpaw gasped, catching his breath.
"Russetpaw and Rainpaw! You could get yourselves killed!" Featherflight snapped, letting out an annoyed sigh under his breath.
"We could say the same about you." Rainpaw mumbled, crouching into battle position.
The first fox sped towards Russetpaw, opening its mouth to reveal a sharp row of teeth.
Surprisingly, Russetpaw held well, he swatted a paw at the fox's chest, causing it to stumble back, however the foxes were not harmed, but more angry.
"Watch out." Featherflight hissed, as both foxes began speeding towards them.
Rainpaw ducked under the fox, barely missing its jaws, with his backpaws, he attempted to kick the fox, but the fox's weight held it still. Fear cloaked Rainpaw as a fox's angry face drooled over him. Oh no.
To Rainpaw's surprise, a ball of tortoiseshell knocked the fox over, surprisingly gracefully. "Ouch... you okay Rainpaw?" The ball of tortoiseshell, now Sorrelpaw asked.
"Y-yeah." Rainpaw replied in a squeak, both embarrassed and awed.
"Okay that's good." Sorrelpaw replied with a smile, before she walked off as wonderful as ever. He stood up with a groan, both foxes were pinned down by Sweetrose, Featherflight and Russetpaw.
"T-They're so heavy, can't we let them go?" Sweetrose groaned, using all her weight to push the snarling and weakened foxes down.
"Kill them!" Russetpaw hissed excitedly.
"No. They've learned their lesson." Featherflight meowed, he signaled for Russetpaw and Sweetrose to let go.
Thankfully both foxes were in no mood to fight again, with a last snarl, they ran away from Mapleclan's border, with their tails between their legs.
"Hah! Wimps!" Russetpaw yelled after them.
"Are you okay Echoice?" Sorrelpaw asked frantically.
"I'm fine, just startled, sorry for putting you all in danger." The thin grey she-cat mewed, presumably Echoice, she dipped her head in shame.
"N-no! I should be sorry." Badgerpaw winced. "I should've tried to smell the foxes first before telling you about the catmint."
"It's okay Badgerpaw, I didn't smell the foxes at first, I think they wandered onto our territories, I was just there at the wrong place at the wrong time. And plus, I have the catmint, this will be very handy, thank you a lot, Badgerpaw." Echoice mewed sincerely.
"All's well that ends well?" Brookdawn meowed, everyone murmured in agreement.
"Now, I think Juniperclan's done enough for us, we'll both report our discoveries to our leaders. You'll be no longer welcome on our territory after this." Creamcloud reminded everyone, ruining the mood.
They all headed towards the edge of Mapleclan's camp, all unscathed, where Adderstar and Cinderstar were waiting. "What took you so long?" Cinderstar mewed sharply. "And Echoice, was your visit to Palmclan successful?" She beckoned towards the medicine cat, who nodded.
"We ran into a couple of foxes, we chased them off our territories, but about that cat we were chasing after, we found evidence. Featherflight explained.
"Ah I see." Adderstar meowed. "Tell us more."
"We found a few tufts of fur on the edge of the border, presumably from that loner." Featherflight added.
"Wait!" Rainpaw mewed. "Could that mean that the loner went outside Mapleclan territory?"
Cinderstar blinked. "You searched the eastern part of our territory, right?" She mewed calmly. Featherflight nodded.
"Presumably, the loner may have headed to Palmclan."
"On my way there, I didn't notice anything suspicious." Echoice pointed out.
"Ugh gross, it stinks there." Russetpaw complained, only to be silenced with a glare.
"Adderstar, you've helped enough, return to your territory, we will call you if we are in need of your help." Mistystar announced. "We will alert Palmclan." Adderstar nodded, and beckoned for Juniperclan to follow.
"Wasn't that crazy?" Rainpaw gasped to Sorrelpaw, as they walked through the row of leafless maple trees.
"Yes, you even got saved by a medicine cat." Sorrelpaw playfully teased.
"Y-yeah but I still did well!" Rainpaw protested, turning red.
Sorrelpaw laughed, before walking ahead of him.
"I heard that you were saved by a she-ca-" Goldpaw's tormenting voice was cut off with a glare.
"Where did you go?" Rainpaw hissed.
"Y-you forgot about me? Goldpaw's face twisted with fake hurt. "This Mapleclan warrior called Stormfog forced me to watch over camp because he needed to do something." He grumbled.
"Oh okay." Rainpaw replied flatly. "Do you think it's worth killing that loner?" He suddenly added.
Goldpaw snorted. "Well that loner isn't like a good friend or something, it can't hurt that much."
"Does that loner even know if he's been targeted or something?" Rainpaw questioned, despite knowing that Goldpaw clearly wouldn't know.
"Probably, he's like some evil cat who has some weird purposes for hurting this world." Goldpaw laughed.
"That sounds really wacky." Rainpaw replied.
"Hurry up!" Ashwhisper called from a few fox-lengths away.
Goldpaw sped ahead, with Rainpaw heavy on his heels. The sky suddenly turned grey as Rainpaw caught up to Goldpaw, Ashwhisper ahead of them flinched for a brief second before continuing forward.
"Hey Goldpaw, isn't it going to rain?" Rainpaw murmured, a droplet fell on his nose.
"I don't know why, but it feels like that weird cat's fault." Goldpaw replied, huffing slightly as more droplets began to fall.
A hint of sympathy hit Rainpaw for a slight second. "So you're going to blame every natural occurence on him, huh?"
Goldpaw glanced downwards. "Are you saying that because you like the rain?"
"I was named after the rain, Goldpaw, it's not like I like it." Rainpaw groaned, a small flashback triggered.
"Adderstar, Batwing..." Redrift whispered, his gaze was sympathetic. The rain battered heavily outside their den. "Only one of them lived."
Adderstar's face was grief-stricken for a few seconds, before he let out a sigh. "You did the best you could, Redrift, it was just unfortunate that the little one didn't have enough the strength.
Batwing sweeped the silver and grey limp she-kit closer to her belly. "I'm sorry Powderkit." She murmured. "I hope you will live happily in Starclan."
The rain battered on for a few seconds as the cats grieved.
Snowspin, the other queen in the den gently laid her tail on Batwing's sore shoulders. "What about the beautiful brown tom?" She whispered.
Adderstar's gaze was blank when he glanced outside. "Rain... Rainkit."
"Yes... Nice choice." Snowspin mewed in agreement. Batwing's response was a slow nod, as she gently licked both kits.
"Hey Rainpaw, we're at camp!" Goldpaw chirped, bringing Rainpaw back to his senses.
"Huh? Yeah." Rainpaw mewed, before attempting to change the topic. "Uh, you're sisters with Sorrelpaw right, don't siblings usually fight or something?"
"Oooooh, you just want to get closer to her, do you?" Goldpaw teased.
"It's a serious question, Goldpaw." Rainpaw grumbled, his pelt dripping wet.
"Uhh, Sorrelpaw is just boring, surely you remember when I wanted to play fight with her, she got all, 'you're such a nuisance! There are plenty of more useful things to do.'"
"Oh." Rainpaw replied flatly.
Adderstar beckoned for the group to stop following. "I'd like you all to dry yourselves and get some sleep."
"I hate getting wet!" Goldpaw complained, before trotting into the Apprentices' den. Rainpaw followed, completely silent.
Rainpaw was well settled into his nest made of leaves and feathers, but the constant rain held him back from sleep. That was the only disturbance, Goldpaw snored loudly, fully content. He sighed. Did the loner they were chasing had any idea that he was being chased? Was what Starclan said was true? Surely Starclan wouldn't want violence to be the answer. Rainpaw found it hard to believe.
A yowl awoke Rainpaw, making him jump to his paws. He poked his head outside frantically, to see Bramblestripe, Redrift and Drewdrop, huddled outside the Nursery.
"Is Rosebird okay?" Cloudkit's voice echoed from the den.
"She's doing well." Redrift mewed, calming the worried cats.
Bramblestripe was licking a newborn kit, which was a pure black bundle.
"I think the next is the last." Redrift mewed.
There were a few more yowls, before the cats mewed in relief.
"Are you okay Rosebird?" Bramblestripe mewed, licking his mate's ear.
"Yes, I'm just really tired." Rosebird sighed, as she swept what seemed like two kits closer to her belly.
"A tom and a she-kit, they're both perfectly healthy." Redrift informed.
"Yay!" Cloudkit mewed. "More kits to play with!"
"Cloudkit! They're too young!" Batwing's hushed.
A pang of hurt hit Rainpaw, if his sister would be alive, he would've been much happier.
The rain battered outside, but the atmosphere was a happy one. "It's really dark outside, how about we name the tom Darkkit?" Rosebird suggested.
"Sounds good to me!" Bramblestripe purred. "Look at the she-kit! She's shining brightly!" He mewed, glancing at the pure white bundle by Rosebird's side.
"What do you think of Sparklekit?" Rosebird mewed.
"I like that." Bramblestripe replied.
Rainpaw's eyelids drooped with relief, before darkness settled in on him. There are happier times. He thought to himself.
Dino: Whew! All well that ends well!
NegNarwhalz: *grumble* poor Rainpaw.
Dino: Yeaaa welll, I mean at least he has brothers and a sister.
NegNarwhalz: but what about Powderkit...
Dino: silenceee! We'll find out more in the next chapter.