I got a review! Yipee!

Stunna13: Kay, I'll capitalize that, and I'll chill on the word 'blinked.' Believe me, I'm trying to get personality in as much as I can, but I'm mixing up all the Clans so much right now it's unbelievable... a few days ago I got so confused because I thought Newtkit was the main character for ShadowClan and Sparrowkit was in ThunderClan! Jutst a ton of crap going on right now... but yeah, personality wise, Echokit is brave and frustrates easily, good friend but super-naïve. Sparrowkit is shy and kind of treats everything like a joke, Willowkit is just tired; in general kind of, but mainly of just being treated like her opinion doesn't matter and she lets other cats get to her, and Mintkit is kind of a little too proud but he means well. Thank you for the review and the constructive criticism, always appreciate both! HINT HINT

"C'mon guys, it's our warrior ceremony!"

Cedarpaw and Shimmerpaw bounded past the littermates, brushing their fur and practically quivering with excitement.

"You passed?" called Heatherkit.

Shimmerpaw paused to answer. "Probably. At least, I'm going to be really mad at Bramblepelt if I didn't!"

Willowkit and Gorsekit purred. Heatherkit whined at Squirrelpelt, "Can we go? Please?"

"You're not old enough to catch your own prey," teased Squirrelpelt.

"Yes, I am! We can!"

"Just don't make any noise," advised Squirrelpelt, but the three litter-mates were already racing off.

"...I, Breezestar, leader of WindClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend her to you as a warrior in her turn.

"Shimmerpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your clan, even at the cost of your life?"

Quivering with excitment, Shimmerpaw barely whispered, "I do."

"Then by the powers of Starclan, I give you your warrior name. Shimmerpaw, from this moment you will be known as Shimmerpond. StarClan honors your enthusiasm and quick thinking, and we welcome you as a full member of WindClan."

"Shimmerpond! Shimmerpond!" Willowkit raised her voice with the others, thinking, This is how it feels to be normal. This is what it means to be part of a Clan.

"I do."

Willowkit dragged her attention back to the leader and Cedarpaw.

"Then, by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Cedarpaw, from this moment you will be known as Cedarspring. StarClan honors your intelligence and courage, and we welcome you as a full member of WindClan."

"Cedarspring! Shimmerpond! Cedarspring! Shimmerpond!"

The Clan yowled their appreciation to the darkening sky.

Cats in Shadowclan must be able to hear us! Well, we don't care. Let them know we have more warriors!

Willowkit growled and swiped at the air. "I can't wait till I'm a moor runner! I'll be the fastest in all of WindClan."

Oops.

Gorsekit stared at her and Heatherkit shuffled her feet and looked at her sympathetically. Breezestar glanced at her and Willowkit had the feeling he'd heard exactly what she'd said.

"Don't be ridiculous," snapped Squirrelpelt. "You're going to be a tunneler. You'll have time to choose."

"I already have chosen," Willowkit mumbled under her breath. "You just won't listen."

Squirrelpelt's tail tip twitched, but she gave no other sign that she had heard. Gorsekit shushed her unnessesarily. "Hush, hush, the apprentice ceremony!"

"Hawkkit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed."

Willowkit breathed in sharply. Hawkkit was the only one of Flyspeck's kits that had ever been nice to her, and the two were very close.

"From this day on, until you recieve your warrior name, you will be known as Hawkpaw. Your mentor will be Lightningscorch. I hope he will pass down all he knows onto you."

Hawkpaw would be a moor-runner! Willowkit felt a little thrill of excitement and envy ripple through her. She wanted to be a moor-runner, run as fast as the wind… but no. She couldn't either way, cats would think she was odd, and besides, Squirrelpelt would never allow it.

Hawkpaw trotted up to her. "Isn't it great?"

"Yeah! Lightningscorch will be a great mentor, just you see."

Hawkpaw purred. "Because he's your kin?"

"No! He's just really nice and… all. He's not a flea-brain." She flicked him teasingly with her tail.

He gasped in mock hurt. "Are you calling me a flea-brain?"

"Flea-brain!" She cuffed him and ran away, purring. Then, panic overtaking her, she skidded to a stop. If she started running and let her guard down, she might find herself in Shadowclan territory!

Her attention snapped back to the ceremony:

"From this day on, until you recieve your warrior name, you will be known as Dustpaw. Your mentor will be Rockfur. I hope he will pass down all he knows onto you."

Willowkit's tail twitched in irritation. She didn't want one of those fox-hearts mentored by her father!

The bright side was that Dustpaw and Blossompaw were both tunneler apprentices. Oh wait—it wasn't, because she would be a tunneler apprentice too. She sighed. If only her parents were both moor-runners, then maybe it wouldn't be so complicated!

Dustpaw and Blossompaw stalked over. "Willowkit," said Blossompaw curtly. Willowkit nearly hissed in reply, but didn't want to insult Hawkpaw.

"Hawkpaw. Come on. We have to go train," she announced loftily, as if she were about to become Blossomstar. Willowkit snorted. As if!

Hawkpaw stared at her curiously. "What is it?"

Her fur went warm. "Nothing. I mean… yeah, uh, nothing. Umm… good luck!"

"Hawkpaw doesn't need luck," informed Dustpaw snidely, flicking a mottled gray tail. "He's got us. Besides, he's an apprentice."

Willowkit's vision went red. "He's not even trained!" Immediately she felt horrible. "Sorry," she added hastily to Hawkpaw.

"S'all right," he mumbled, and shot a glare at his littermates over his shoulder as he padded up to Lightningscorch. I wonder if he's happy he won't be training with them.

Blossompaw and Dustpaw, noses in the air, padded over to Crowflight and Rockfur. They would learn how to dig holes, and hide out in rabbit burrows. Willowkit couldn't even imagine not having the sky over her head and the wind in her whiskers. She shivered. It seemed so horrible!

"I'll be the best tunneler in the whole clan!" Gorsekit announced matter-of-factly as he swiped at the air. "I'll dig a tunnel all the way around the world!"

"Will not," retorted Willowkit, feeling flustered from her encounter with Dustpaw and Blossompaw. "Besides," she announced, not caring anymore, "I'm going to be moor-runner. I'll run around the world ten times as fast as you'll dig! You won't go a mouse-length." She winced at her own words as they came out, wishing she wasn't such a big mouth, because as far as she knew, they just might be true.

"Will too!"

He swiped at her, and Willowkit purred, simply because he accepted her choice. "Really, though," she added more seriously, "How can you even want to become a tunneler? With the walls closing in on you…"

Standing beside her, Heatherkit shivered as well, but less prominently. She was more afraid to stand up for what she wanted. Well, let her be.

"Sounds cozy to me," Gorsekit replied. "Seems like it'd be overwhelming, all alone in the big moor… I'd be afraid I'd get blown away!"

"Oh, you're chubby. You'd be fine."

Gorsekit growled and launched himself onto her. The two tusseled together happily, almost forgetting all the complications of living and making choices. Willowkit couldn't help thinking, though, as she tried to push Gorsekit, the great lump! off of her, about the feeling she'd gotten the other day. The wind, her belly dropping out, exhilarating. Thrilling.

She wanted to do it again.

She wanted to run.

But she would never be able to run in front of other cats. Or maybe she could? If she could control it, maybe she could…


She dreamed that night, of three cats. A tom from RiverClan, a she-cat from ThunderClan, and a tom from ShadowClan. They were all slightly older than her. The RiverClan tom was ginger and white, with a slick, oily pelt and gray eyes. The ThnunderClan she-cat was a pretty black cat with bright blue eyes. The ShadowClan tom was black with white patches on his muzzle, and fiercely green eyes glaring out from his friendly kit face.

She didn't normally remember her dreams, but the images stayed fresh in her mind all day afterwards.

She snuck out.

She ran, she opened her mind, and cleared it of the problems. She nearly fell into the Falls, but it was getting better. Easier. She just needed to open her senses more, realize what was happening around her and what was happening that was going to be around her. She sped back, and just missed getting caught by Featherpelt as she passed back to the clan carrying a jawful of coltsfoot, but she hid quickly and the coltsfoot in Featherpelt's jaws flooded her senses and hid Willowkit's scent.

She did not sleep the next night. Her apprentice ceremony was coming up. A moon? Just barely, but less.

She missed Hawkpaw more than she'd thought she would. They had always tried to scare each other before they went to sleep, with stories of lions and tigers and leopards and evil dead cats. In the nursery, with only a hopeful tunneler apprentice, a cat too afraid to speak up for what she wanted, and a mother who made your choices for you, Willowkit felt very alone indeed.

REVIEW! YEAH! Okay, so... actually, maybe not this chap. Never mind. Go away.

Go away! Stop nagging me about it! I'll ask you later! Geez!

JK KINDA WHATEVER I'M INSANE

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YEAH PRETTY MUCH

THANKS TO WHOEVER REVIEWED I ALREADY FORGOT THE NAME AND DON'T HAVE TIME TO GO FIND IT SO YEAH WHATEVER

whoops caps lock

;)

Oh and btw, time passes for each cats in the same cycle, so time is passing for the other three in this chappy too, I'm just not writing about it. They're all the same age except Willowkit, but I'm going to have to stretch time a little bit for their apprentice ceremonies and warrior ceremonies because they just simply can't all happen. Well, they are, but...

Never mind.

See you in the next chap!