AN: So! I really want to go to iHop right now. Oh, and here are a few odd but awesome stuff to eat: pretzels... in Trix yogurt! Hashbrowns... drowned in strawberry syrup! If anybody knows anymore, tellmetellmetellme! Thanks, see you guys at the end.

Chapter 8

Fawnpaw finished grooming her brown fur after the Clan meeting the next day. Oakfall had decided to retire, and was now in the medicine den. Smallpaw was expected to not heal entirely ever, and she would never fight or hunt with the same fire in her eyes as she used to. Riverpaw and Fawnpaw had mourned for the she-cat, because she might never fight alongside them again.

The sun was setting on the ShadowClan camp. It turned some of the cats shades of purple and orange and pink. Normally, Fawnpaw would watch the sun set from her Thunderpath spot. But not tonight. Ravenstar was waiting at the camp entrance. They were leaving for the Gathering now.

Fawnpaw scampered over beside Acornpaw. "Acornpaw!" Fawnpaw meowed a little excitedly. The reddish brown tom shrank down shyly. This confused his friend, since she'd never seen him do that before. "So, what do they normally talk about at Gatherings?" she tried again when they set off.

"Lots of stuff," Riverpaw swooped in as Acornpaw opened his mouth to speak. "Sometimes, they talk about battles. I like to listen to the deputies. Owlnose and Ripplefern - ThunderClan and RiverClan - always get into a huge argument. It's really funny."

The brown she-cat giggled. "It sounds amazing," she laughed, following Riverpaw to the front of the group. She glanced back to see Acornpaw pulling his lips back angrily. The reddish brown tom shook his head when he caught Fawnpaw staring and stared at the ground.

"What's up with him?" She asked the gray tabby when they were out of Acornpaw's earshot.

Riverpaw shrugged. "'Dunno," he meowed. "He always seems to be somewhere else these days. Hey, look! That's the Thunderpath we go under to get to..." The gray tabby tom trailed off as Lakepaw called excitedly, "Fourtrees!"

"Come on!" Riverpaw sped up to stand closer to the front, and Fawnpaw followed. They ducked under the Thunderpath tunnel and four beautiful trees came into view, a large rock stuck in the middle. Two leaders were already there. The large white tom shot a glare at the ShadowClan cats, his eyes like two blue chips of ice.

When Ravenstar jumped onto the rock, she snarled something at him and sat down. The other leader was a brown tabby she-cat who seemed to give Ravenstar a more welcoming greeting. She seemed not to mind when the black she-cat gave her a snapping reply.

Stonedrift padded underneath the big rock to speak with the other two cats that were sitting there. One was a dark brown tabby, and the other was pale gray. They greeted Stonedrift with a flick of their tails. Fawnpaw guessed they were the deputies of the other two Clan that were there at the moment. She noticed Maplewhisker sitting with two large cats and two small ones below the rock as well. The first was a dark gray cat with white speckles, and the smaller one next to him was a silver tabby. The other large cat was golden with ginger ears and paws, and the she-cat next to her was black and white.

Fawnpaw turned to ask Riverpaw a question. "Are those the other medicine cats?" she asked, waving her tail toward the cats Maplewhisker was sitting with. Riverpaw nodded happily. "That's Wolfspeckle and Appleblossom," was his reply. "The small cats must be their new apprentices. Silverpaw and Nightpaw, I think. They were announced at the Gathering last moon, but I might have gotten their names wrong. I don't tend to talk to the medicine cats all that much."

The gray tom pulled Fawnpaw toward a small group of apprentices gathered around one ginger tom. He seemed to be telling them about a battle. Suddenly, Riverpaw bristled.

"It's that cat from the patrol that was prey-stealing!" he hissed. "Duskpaw!" He said the tom's name a bit loudly, and the ginger cat stopped talking and turned to him.

Duskpaw waved his tail happily. "Hey, Riverpaw!" he meowed. "How's the prey running? Sorry about what happened earlier. Toothgrowl's not the best mentor, and he always breaks the warrior code. I wish I had Runningfoot instead. She's much better."

"Hey!" Fawnpaw put in. "You were the one that attacked Copperpaw!"

Duskpaw rolled his eyes. "More like she fell on me like a squirrel in the trees," he growled. "Besides, I was just doing what my mentor told me to do. Wouldn't you? All those battles are put behind for peace at these Gatherings. You're new, right?"

Now it was Fawnpaw's turn to roll her eyes. "Look, Duskpaw, whoever you are," she snapped. "Just stay away from my sister, okay?"

Just then, a tall black and white tom pelted down the slope into the hollow, cats running after him quickly. WindClan! The Gathering would begin any heartbeat now. Fawnpaw settled in close to Riverpaw and pricked her ears to listen.

The white tom spoke first. Before the Gathering, Riverpaw had told her the names of each leader. This was Icestar. He introduce his new apprentices and warriors, and the Clan cats cheered for them. Icestar also reported the border squeamish, saying it was no more than, 'a little misunderstanding'. Any cat in ShadowClan knew that it had been anything but.

Then Ravenstar spoke. When she announced the new apprentices, Fawnpaw lifted her chin up. The Clans cheered her name, but she noticed that cats like Duskpaw, Toothgrowl, and Runningfoot remained silent. It seemed not everycat put battles behind them at Gatherings. Then Ravenstar reported that her Clan had good hunting in the past moon and that with five new apprentice, ShadowClan were as strong as ever.

Rushstar, Riverclan's leader, reported a new little of kits being born to a young queen called Splashheart, and the father was Ryeheart. She told them about three new warriors, Splashwhisker, Cloudheart, and Foxfrost. Then, WindClan's leader, Swiftstar, spoke last. He told them about a fox they had chased from his territory, that WindClan had good hunting, and had recovered after an attack from ThunderClan prey-stealing.

After that, Ravenstar left the Great Rock and led her Clan home.

AN: Wow. This chapter was so... boring. I've had writer block. noooooooooooooo! I feel super sick when I get this. OCs OCs OCs! Please send them! Shimmernose needs babies. And I'm willing to have ShadowClan find a kit or two lying around somewhere if you give me their warrior name... heh heh heh... I've been reading too much Minecraft fics... See you all tomorrow! I'll update later. Until then, peace! And happy Canadian Tuesday, eh?

~GreeceXCats527

PS: This chapter is all up thanks to Bloodclaw of ThunderClan. They remind me of Bubblepaw1... my top reviewer back when I was Mosslight of ShadowClan... good times, good times...