Hello! Again, thank you for all of your continued support; it's a major confidence boost

COMMENTS=MOTIVATION=CHAPTERS

Hurry! Although Emberpaw's warrior ceremony hasn't even been thought of by mwah, I need votes for her warrior name poll, which can be found on my PROFILE PAGE!

Want to be in my story? Post your warrior cat name in my comments or PM me if you want to give me a more in-depth personality of the cat.

Sorry if this comes a bit late; I'm on vacation and I'm posting when I have Wi-Fi :/

Enjoy! ~

It tookEmberpaw two days to remember everyone's name. The Darkforest, which she had nicknamed the dead forest, had since grown to be like a second home, she would come every night once she fell asleep, greeting her friends and train to fight, learning moves that Robinflight hadn't even thought of.

She thought about this now, as she padded through the lifeless trees towards the training area. She could already hear the hissing and growling, most likely Scratch and Claw, fighting, as usual. Scratch, a burly brown warrior, hated Claw, his sister, who was a lighter brown. They are constantly aggressive; they were actually the first cats she had fought.

Silverdust said they were below her level. They don't come near her anymore.

A moment later, she came into the hollow, glancing happily at the cats around her, big and small. Some were still apprentices, and some were senior warriors. She saw Beetlepaw, and Emberpaw bounded over. As always, her paws were covered in blood as she ran over, making small noises against the hard packed earth. Cats around the edge were sitting, licking their wounds with their ears down. The cats towards the middle were all surrounding the current fight, Eye and Rain.

Pushing past the yowling warriors, she was finally able to see, and she wasn't disappointed. Actual training didn't start until moon high, so these fights could be as bloody as we wanted, as long as they could move later.

Silverdust didn't like it when they couldn't.

Eye had Rain in a death hold; she was struggling weakly, trying to claw his underbelly with her hind legs. Eye glanced down at her, amused. Without removing his claws from her throat, he leaned over and bit one of her legs, and with a weak whimper she went limp.

This was the third time she had lost this moon; she would have to speak with Fall or Silverdust. Before she even finished this thought, Fall padded into the ring. The cats cleared and made a path for her, and we all bared our necks in submission. She purred at our surprised looks, Fall didn't usually help in training.

"You may return to normal," she spoke, her voice ringing around the clearing.

Emberpaw admired Fall, and her ability to steal the attention of every cat, which is exactly what she did now.

"Now, we will be learning a new move, can I have two volunteers?" her face was amused, wanting to see who was brave enough to offer their help.

Emberpaw, along with a few others raised their tails. Fall's eyes darted to me, pleased. Getting up, Fall padded over to Emberpaw, so she bared her neck again.

"Return to your position," she whispered so only Emberpaw could hear.

"Now, look at this," she raised her voice so everyone could hear. "Emberpaw offers herself as a volunteer, even though she is the newest of us all, and she knows what usually happens to the volunteers. She's braver than half of you, and she's also half your size. Pathetic." Silverdust spoke that last word with a hiss, and she guided Emberpaw towards the middle. Remembering that she still needed one other cat, she beckoned for Splash. The tan tabby seemed to swim through the crowd of cats, happily moving to the center.

Silverdust turned her attention to Emberpaw.

"Now, you will be doing a turn-strike. You remember how to do this?" Emberpaw nodded, a turn-strike was one of the first moves she had been taught in the dead forest. Silverdust turned to Splash.

"you, will be doing…" Silverdust's voice dropped so she couldn't Emberpaw couldn't hear. Splash loved nervous. She was all talk, but as soon as she got into the fight, she was afraid and scared.

When Silverdust was done, she turned to the crowd.

"Splash will try and stop Emberpaw's attack. Even if she is not successful, this will turn into a normal fight; you win when your opponent is unable to fight." This last part was spoken to us, and we nodded, turning to face each other.

Taking a deep breath, Emberpaw reared up on her hind legs, and was about to do the turn-strike, when a thought crossed her mind. Silverdust didn't say she had to do the move right away, so she decided to play with Splash a bit; plus, she could see what kind of move she was going to use on the turn-strike.

With that, she got into the position of the move she was to do, and she saw Splash's muscles tighten in anticipation. One thing she never thought about: the forepaw slash was the same position as the Turn-strike. Emberpaw went to do the strike, and when she saw Splash move she darted away. Splash continued with her counter attack, slashing at thin air where Emberpaw's belly would've been. So that's what she was going to do, she thought. Before Splash could regain her balance, Emberpaw executed her turn-strike.

A red haze hindered her vision, but Emberpaw didn't mind.

Fall was the one who stopped her. Splash was on the ground, staining the sand red with her blood. Did she do this? It didn't bother Emberpaw much, but she didn't remember anything in a fight after the red haze came on. Fall, looking mildly surprised, turned towards the other cats, which were either looking dumbstruck, scared, or impressed.

"Does anyone else want to do the turn-strike counter? Anyone?" she asked again, at the wary faces of the cats.

"Well, go have fun, and I shall go speak to Silverdust about today's training." Fall padded away into the shadows, and the groups of cats broke up and started chatting. Emberpaw's friends, Rock, Moon, and Bark came over, laughing loudly and talking about the fight.

"Did you see her," Moon crowed, "My little Emberpaw practically killed her!" she ducked her head under her grey friend's praise, laughing along with them as Bark pretended to be Splash trying to fight back against Rock, who was me. Laughing again at Bark's fish-brained movements, she was distracted by Fall's yowl.

"All cats old enough to fight, gather at the blood river for a meeting!" racing with her friends, she bounded over to the river, the water looking thick and dark, exactly like blood.

Silverdust leapt up onto a dead log by the river, and we all bared our necks.

"Return," she commanded sweetly, her red, cold gaze passing onto each of us.

"Today, so Fall here tells me, we have another cat worthy to join our forces. Emberpaw, walk forward."

Puffing out her chest at her friend's silent cheers, she padded to the log and bared her neck to Silverdust.

"Emberpaw, from now on, here you shall be known as Red. Welcome to the forces." As Emberpaw licked the white cat's shoulder, the sharp tang of blood turned her mouth sour. Trying not to grimace, she shone from her friends loud cheers, louder than the other yowls of congratulation and approval.

Her friends met Emberpaw halfway there, calling out her new name and daring her for another fight.

"Red! Come on! Let's see who's better; you or Rock!" Emberpaw was about to agree when she felt the familiar pull in her stomach.

"Sorry! I'm waking up, I'll see you tonight!" she yowled as she faded, feeling disorientated as everything went dark.

Yawning, Emberpaw uncurled from her next and stretched, licking Troutpaw's ear and waking him.

"Nooo," Troutpaw groaned, taking Emberpaw by surprise and pulling her into his chest. He nuzzled his muzzle into her neck, shifting so she was comfortable. "Can we just stay like this?" he mumbled around her neck, the vibrations not helping her chest, which had the familiar warm tingling.

Purring, she slid skillfully from his hold and pulled him up by the tail. He stumbled, still tired, and she found herself propping herself under him as he orientated himself. Thanking her with a lick to the cheek, he bounded out into the stormy camp, skidding to the base of the rocks and padding to the fresh-kill pile. Following after him, she found a dry spot to eat.

Later on, after the rain let up a bit, Reedstar called them for a gathering.

"Today, at moon-high," he announced after the voices died down, "We will send a patrol to encounter Windclan's night patrol, and we will show them to steal from our territory!"

Emberpaw joined in on the cheers with the rest of the clan, not feeling Silverdust's happy, invisible glare.

Hello! Did you guys like?! I hope comments about the story? Requests? Cat names? Comment! PM me! Give me feedback cause COMMENTS=MOTIVATION=CHAPTERS!

Got any Windclan names? I need some! Post your Windclan names in the comments or in a PM, and ill be sure to include you:)

Thanks for the views, 'till next time,

ME~