Wow. I didn't think I'd get so many characters at one time. Sorry to be making too many demands, but what are characters without a story? And you must have forgotten Moonpaw and Sunsetpaw's warrior names. BTW, that Thistleclaw thing was a joke. And um, Lightkit, you can't have a blind medicine cat nor can you can't lose your sight to greencough...

Disclaimer: I got the kitting scene from Millie's kitting in Eclipse (Great StarClan, I hate that book)

UJ: I'm just going to quit saying I beta'd, but just so you know, I probably did beta half these chapters.

If you think that the weirdest part of Spottedpaw's training was the very beginning, or that her training was very uneventful, you are wrong. You are very wrong.

It was a quarter-moon after Spottedpaw began her training. She had familiarized herself with the basic herbs, like juniper berries and poppy seeds. She knew where to find them, and where to find them if they weren't in the first place.

It was about dawn when they got the expected call.

"Get Featherwhisker; Hollymist is kitting!" a voice called out from the nursery.

"Spottedpaw! Do you remember what is needed?" Featherwhisker asked patiently.
"Yes." Spottedpaw answered calmly.

"Well, would you get them?" Featherwhisker requested.

"Okay," Spottedpaw answered, maybe not exactly as calm as before.

Featherwhisker left the den, leaving Spottedpaw in the den under pressure.

She gathered the herbs needed. Well, all the herbs except one. That herb was on the top of the shelf, where Spottedpaw couldn't reach. Featherwhisker must have forgotten to move it lower. Therefore, Spottedpaw was forced to pace around wondering how to get it while Hollymist was kitting. She paced for a while, wondering what to do. After a few seconds, she started to get frustrated.

Some second later, this weird energy started to simmer inside her. It wasn't normal energy. It didn't come from her body, it came from something else. Could it be possible that the energy came from her mind? But she didn't have enough time to consider the idea due to the fact that her attention was diverted. In other words, a small breeze came from the den wall, ruffling her fur. Then that one herb she needed drifted down to land right in front of her paws. She was so absorbed in the fact that she had the herb that she needed; she didn't notice the strangeness of a breeze coming from the wall. Spottedpaw ran off toward the nursery.

Spottedpaw appeared in front of the nursery quickly. She saw Redtail, the ThunderClan deputy and Hollymist's mate, sitting his own vigil outside the nursery. He shot a brief glance at Spottedpaw as she entered the nursery.

Hollymist was panting hard.

"How is she?" Spottedpaw asked. It was kind of an empty question. She could sense Hollymist's discomfort like a thorn in her side.

"She's doing fine." Featherwhisker murmured reassuringly.

"Where's Redtail?" Hollymist begged.

"He's just outside." Spottedpaw told her.

"Good." Hollymist sighed as the spasm left her. "Don't let him come in, not yet."

Featherwhisker wrapped his tail over Spottedpaw, drawing her closer. "Here," he mewed, grasping Spottedpaw's paw gently between his jaws and resting it on Hollymist's swollen flank. "Another spasm is coming. They come like waves lapping the shore, one after another, growing faster and stronger." Spottedpaw felt a thrill of anticipation as Hollymist's flank tensed and rolled beneath her paw.

"Her muscles are working to push the kits out," Featherwhisker explained. "In a moment she's going to have to help by pushing, too."

"Now?" Hollymist asked.

"Not yet." Featherwhisker rested his paw beside Spottedpaw's as the spasm subsided. Calm radiated from the medicine like moonbeams. Spottedpaw was impressed. Her own heart was pounding so hard she was sure the others must be able to hear it.

"Now!" A new spasm gripped Hollymist, and Spottedpaw felt the queen tense and tremble as she pushed with all her might.

"The first one's coming," Featherwhisker encouraged. "I can see it."

Hollymist pushed again, and Spottedpaw smelled a new scent, warm, both musky and fresh at the same time.

Featherwhisker shuffled along until he was crouched at Hollymist's tail. "Look," he whispered to Spottedpaw. She leaned over and sniffed the damp bundle wriggling under her nose. Featherwhisker's cheek brushed hers as he lapped at the newborn kit. "I've opened the sac so it can breathe air for the first time."

Hollymist gasped.

"The next one's coming," Featherwhisker announced. Willowpelt pushed past Spottedpaw and dragged the first kit out of the way. Spottedpaw could hear her tongue scraping the kit's soggy pelt. "Are you washing it?" From the sound of it she was licking the fur the wrong way.

"This will warm it and help it start breathing," Willowpelt told her. Spottedpaw leaned in close and heard a tiny gasp as the kit drew in its first mouthful of air.

Hollymist gave a low moan, and another damp bundle fell onto the moss. "Here" Featherwhisker nosed Spottedpaw toward it. "Nip open the sac to release it."

Suddenly feeling nervous, Spottedpaw licked at the wriggling mass, feeling the membrane slimy on her tongue. Careful to avoid the soft flesh beneath, she nipped at the delicate sac. It split between her teeth and tore open so that the kit tumbled out, squeaking and struggling. "This one's breathing already," she told Featherwhisker.

"Good," he mewed. "Now lick it like Willowpelt is doing."

Sniffing first to find the kit's head, she began licking it from tail to ear. Soaked to the skin, it had grown cold quickly, but it soon began to grow warm and dry beneath her tongue.

Hollymist shifted beside Spottedpaw, and Hollymist's nose pushed past to sniff at her kits. Then she fell back with a groan.

"Another one's coming," Featherwhisker announced.

Hollymist yowled, softer this time, as though the pains were easing.

"There we go," Featherwhisker murmured as a new bundle plopped out. "That's the last one." Hollymist turned and released it from the sac. She started to purr, lapping at its wet body.

"One male and two females," Featherwhisker told her.

Hollymist sank back to her nest, still purring, and Featherwhisker lifted the two female kits and laid them at the queen's belly.

"They need milk," he explained to Spottedpaw.

Spottedpaw picked the kit she'd been washing and laid it down beside the others; it immediately wriggled toward the warmth of its mother, scrabbling to latch on. She sat back and listened to them suckling, their tiny purrs drowned by their mother's, and a wave of wistfulness swept over her as she smelled the warm, milky scent.

"You're lucky to be born in ThunderClan," she whispered to them, thinking of the black kit she saw at Highstones.

The brambles rustled as Redtail pushed his way in. Featherwhisker must have called him. He crouched beside Hollymist, and Spottedpaw heard him snuffling the queen's fur.

"You have two daughters and one son," Hollymist told him, sounding tired.

"They're perfect," Redtail replied softly.

Hollymist struggled to prop herself up so that she could look down at her suckling babies. "The tom looks just like you," she commented "Big and strong already, but with a more orange-colored tail."

"How about we call him Leafkit?" Redtail suggested.

"That sounds like a she-cat's name!" Hollymist exclaimed. "How about Oakkit? And the black she-cat Nightkit?"

"That sounds good," Redtail agreed. "How about calling the smallest one Sandkit? Her pale ginger fur looks like sand."

"Good idea." Hollymist agreed.

"Oakkit, Nightkit, and Sandkit," Redtail murmured. "Welcome to ThunderClan, my precious children."

That was the most disgusting thing I have ever had to copy from a book! No, seriously, with all of that "They're beautiful". Great StarClan, I hate gooey things. And now for some encouragement; if I don't get a good story, I'll enter my own contest! BTW, the cool part was the breeze, not the kitting.