Cody The Pikachu: Hey there, everyone, and welcome back to Legend Of Owlflame Book 2! We're more than halfway through this story, and I'll include the epilogue too. But before we go on, here's a little something I'd like to say about the newest Erin Hunter book.
I had gotten the newest Survivor Dogs book called The Endless Lake. After this, Alpha went from my neutral list...to my hated list. I can't believe he would do all that to Storm only to betray the Wild Pack! But Sweet is bound to be a better pack leader than Alpha, and Lucky's now the second-in-command of the Wild Pack! And I can't wait to see what'll happen in Storm Of Dogs, Bramblestar's Storm, The Blazing Star, and The Burning Horizon.
Well, that's all I got to say right now. On with the summary and the story!
Disclaimer: Michael DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, and Erin Hunter all own The Legend Of Korra and Warrior Cats, not me. I also don't plan to or want to make money from this story.
Uploading Date: July 10, 2014
Enjoy!
...
The Age Of Spirits
"I can't believe my daughter's guiding Owlflame into StarClan by herself," Sunstar murmured, scooting closer to the fire. He laid his head down on his paws and went on morosely, "If anything bad happens to her, I won't forgive myself."
It had been a few minutes since Owlflame and Ivypaw had entered StarClan's territory. Sunstar had kept worrying for their safety just as soon as their bodies turned blue, a sign meaning that they had just arrived into StarClan. It felt that now that he learned of Cinderstar's plot, both his daughter and his apprentice were in grave danger. No one really spoke anything to give him some time to fret before stepping in.
Seashell assured him, her blue eyes sympathetic, "You're not a bad father for that. Ivypaw's a very smart cat, and she obviously has a strong connection to the spirits. She'll be fine, Sunstar."
"Yeah, Dad went all the time," Rockfall added. "Remember?"
Sunstar nodded. "But what I'm worried about is that they won't have their Bending in there; many cats know that they have to go through the portals to retain their Bending in StarClan. They'll be defenseless."
Rockfall then glared at him with a frown. "Hey, I've never been a Bender in my life. And I don't think of myself as defenseless."
"I know you aren't," Sunstar reasoned. "You have your, um..." But he couldn't think of much good stuff to say about his brother because of the feud they had in the past six years.
"Positive attitude?" Seashell suggested helpfully.
"I would've said acute intellect and reflexes like a snake," Rockfall replied. "But whatever floats your piece of bark."
Sunstar watched them bicker playfully before sitting up again. "Why don't you get some sleep?" he suggested. "I'll go ahead and take the first watch."
Seashell nodded. "Okay. Wake us up if you need help."
Rockfall nodded. "Or if any interesting spirit stuff happens, like their bodies start floating around and you need someone to help you grab them before they fly off into the night sky!"
At this, however, Seashell cleared her throat with a disapproving look.
"I'm just saying," the brown tom meowed as he cleared his throat. "We're here for you if you need help."
"I know you are...and thank you." Sunstar got up and padded over to Ivypaw, sitting down and laying his paw affectionately on her head. "Please, Ivypaw...you and Owlflame have to come back soon."
...
The two she-cats looked around them, still unable to believe what they had seen before them. They had padded on until they arrived at a field of giant green plants bigger than a Twoleg child. Ivypaw was gazing around with wide amber eyes while Owlflame stood behind her, taking in the scenery with wariness as a giant blue fish spirit flew above them in the sky.
"Isn't it beautiful?" Ivypaw mewed, a big smile on her face.
Owlflame nodded. "Yeah, but who knows what we'll run into next? Just stick close to me, okay?"
But as she said this, she had trodded on a big purple flower on the ground. The flower trembled until it became a butterfly, startling her as it took flight and flew over Ivypaw's head, increasing in size and sparkling.
Ivypaw followed it, mewing, "It's like it's made of gemstones. The spirits are so much more beautiful in their own world than they are at home." And with a chirp, she hared away after the butterfly until she was running down the hill.
"Wait!" Owlflame yowled after the apprentice. "Ivypaw, be careful!"
She started following the smaller cat down the hill...only to yowl in surprise as she tripped over something on the ground. When she sat up and then tried getting back to her paws, she saw that it had been a hole that tripped her, a hole belonging to a burrowing animal like a rabbit.
"Hey cat!" The thing she stepped on revealed itself to be a prairie dog glaring up at her. "Watch where you're goin', you big pile of butterfingers!"
"Sorry," Owlflame meowed before regaining her footing.
The prairie dog partly pulled itself out of the hole, glaring irritably at her. "In case you haven't noticed, we live here. Who do you think you are, stomping through here like that?"
Owlflame knew they would not take to her being aggressive. So she smiled and meowed, "My name's Owlflame. And I'm the Avatar Cat."
"The Avatar Cat?" Another prairie dog had popped up next to the first one. He sniffed in her direction and then snorted. "Eh...I'm not impressed."
"But I'm here to find the spirit portals," Owlflame insisted. "I opened one-"
"I heard Cinderstar did that," another prairie dog replied, popping out of the ground behind her.
Owlflame turned to look at the third spirit, again trying to be pleasant. "No, I did, but-"
Another spirit popped up and retorted, "Well, why don't you know where it is if you opened it, hmm?"
"Because I was at the South Pole," Owlflame insisted, feeling her patience run out slowly.
More prairie dogs had popped up and glared suspiciously at her. Finally, a fifth spirit said, "Eh...I don't trust her."
"Amen, brother!" another prairie dog chirped. "Get out of our world, cat!"
With that, they were all popping out of the ground, chirping angrily and surrounding her. Whatever patience Owlflame had been trying to keep under control fell away from the constant hounding. It was time to fight back, no matter how much times she had been told to respect the spirits.
"Get the hell away from me!" she snarled and swiped her claws at them.
But as it turned out, Owlflame saw nothing coming out of her claws. She looked down at her paw, expecting an element to shoot out, but nothing came out. Then that was when she realized: StarClan probably didn't allow Bending in their land.
"Did you guys see that?!" the first prairie dog chirped angrily. "She tried to Bend at us, on OUR turf! Get her!"
So the prairie dogs squealed angrily and jumped out of their holes at her. Owlflame rolled and jumped out of the way to dodge their attacks, but one of them landed on top of her back and sank its claws deep into her pelt. It would have been easy to shake them off and rake at their bodies with her claws...if they hadn't formed into a blue clay-like substance onto her.
"Ivypaw!" Owlflame called as another landed on her and became the same sticky blue thing.
Ivypaw, who had still been chasing the large butterfly, ran over and yowled, "Owlflame, your energy is making things worse! Calm down!"
But Owlflame was already covered in a bunch of these blue spirits' sticky masses and struggling to stand as they weighed her down. Ivypaw ran up and tried to pry them off of the older warrior, but she recoiled as her paws were covered in the sticky blue substance. Just before either of them could move, however, the ground underneath them started swirling like a green whirlpool, sucking them in as the prairie dogs danced in a circle around this whirlpool. Both she-cats yowled in surprise as the whirlpool spun them around faster before disappearing into a hole in the ground with a light splash of water shooting out of it. Owlflame suddenly found herself falling underwater, in a seemingly endless ocean of blue.
Ivypaw fell into the water after her, and the Avatar Cat paddled towards her, letting the apprentice climb onto her as they clung onto a rock for dear life. As Owlflame turned her head, a monstrously huge crocodilian-like spirit was swimming toward them, opening his jaws wide to reveal a green glow inside his mouth. The she-cats turned to swim away, but they had swum too slowly and became sucked into the beast's mouth, into the glowing green abyss. The abyss then faded into a group of rough water rapids inside a green tunnel full of glowing mushrooms and spiked rocks. Ivypaw spat out water as she struggled against the current, gasping for air, and they were separated by a jut of rock that split the water in two directions, becoming a whirlpool spinning throughout the rest of the tunnel.
"Ivypaw!" Owlflame yowled, spitting out water. However, she had become completely disoriented and was taken wherever the cyclone of water went. Then she fell away, as if she was going down a waterfall...or a black abyss.
As she landed on the ground, she didn't feel any pain in her body as she staggered to her paws. But when she looked around, Owlflame felt scared when she saw the ominous-looking trees of a dark, foggy forest. It was as if she had landed in the Dark Forest, the Place Of No Stars where the evil spirits of warriors went to when they died. She couldn't be here; Sunstar would never forgive her for letting his daughter out of her sight.
She started padding through the dark forest, yowling, "Ivypaw! Ivypaw, where are you?!"
Owlflame spun around at the sound of bushes rustling and looked to the side, noticing amber and blue eyes glaring at her in the bushes. She stepped away from them, feeling her heart race with fright as she spun around to get away from the evil eyes. When she made it into a clearing, Owlflame turned and found a massive red centipede spirit with horns and rays of red light billowing from its eyes towering above her just off to the side. It landed on its front legs before her with a mighty crash, scaring her off as it hissed after her.
She was lost, Owlflame was sure of it. She tried to find refuge near a tree with a green crab spirit crawling up the bark with Twoleg-looking fingers for legs. Just the sight of it made her squeak in alarm and run away from the tree.
"Ivypaw!" Owlflame yowled, closing her eyes to block out the scary images. Then she lifted her head and let out a high "Ivypaw!"
But she clamped her mouth, having discovered something strange. Her voice sounded much higher than her usually husky tone. Owlflame padded over to a nearby puddle, suddenly aware of how close to the ground she was, and looked down. Her face had become younger and more kit-like, her legs felt shorter, fuzzy kitten fur was all over her body, and she felt rather pudgy too.
I'm a kit! Owlflame-now Owlkit-clambered away from the pond, scared beyond her mind. Now she felt like she wanted to go back home and find her mother for comfort, but Ivypaw still needed her...yet how was she going to escape?
There was nothing to save her now; she didn't have the courage of LionClan to continue. She plopped down on her rear, crying as she was surrounded by the dark forest and beasts that lurked within it.
...
It was all so strange. Ivypaw padded through the lush forest, trying to find Owlflame after she had washed ashore. She didn't feel wet after being thrown around in the strange water, but she couldn't think about that right now. She had to find her friend so they could find the spirit portals together.
"Owlflame! Where are you?!" Ivypaw padded on until the woods up ahead were getting darker. "Um...hello? I'm lost. Can anyone help me?"
At first, there was nothing. It looked like there was nothing to help out, so she decided to push on by herself.
Just then, however, something large landed right behind her. Ivypaw looked right behind her...and gaped at the spirit in recognition. It was a familiar light green rabbit-like spirit with ears flapping like wings.
"I-Is that you, Whirly-ears?" Ivypaw mewed as she excitedly ran toward the tall spirit and hugged him. "It's so good to see you again! Great StarClan, you're so big here." She scratched the spirit's belly, which caused him to tap his foot contentedly. "Do you know where Owlflame is at? We were supposed to go find the spirit portals, but I don't know how to find anything down here.
Whirly-Ear's wing ears began to flap, and he flew around and behind Ivypaw. The young apprentice supposed he wanted to lead her over to somewhere, but she hoped he knew where the right answer was at. So she climbed onto the great spirit's back, and he flew into the air up high. It felt so exciting flying over the green fields and green forests...until they arrived beneath the shadow of a massive gray cloud. In the canopy of the forest trees was a building, a huge sandy building upside-down in the vines.
Ivypaw saw the place and meowed in awe, "Wow...it's like an awesome tree house! And I remember Grandpa and Grandma coming here moons ago. It's Wan Shi Tong's spirit library!"
There are maybe lots of books there...and Wan Shi Tong! she thought, recalling Silverheart telling her stories about the large guardian dragon of the library. Maybe he can help me find a way to help Owlflame!
...
Owlkit was still sitting at the base of a dark tree, still crying and frightened. She was tired, cold, and still a kit, and she had no idea where to go next. Ivypaw was still out there, but she did not know where to go. The forest here was too dark and scary for her to go on. There were probably dangerous animals and Dark Forest cats out there, probably cats like Brokenstar...who had been said to kill kits.
A loud shriek made her look up in alarm. Something dark red was flying down towards her, the rest of its shape hidden by the shadows. It turned around and flew down at her, and Owlkit shut her eyes and started flailing her arms wildly, trying hard to swat it if it got too close to it.
"Ah! Get away!" Owlkit screamed, swatting at it as it got closer. But a shriek of pain made her open her eyes and look on in sympathy.
It was a small red phoenix spirit with a long tail and innocent eyes. It shook its wing, from which sparkles flew and holes appeared due to damage from Owlkit's claws. When the sparkles disappeared and Owlkit approached it, it staggered to its feet and started hobbling away.
"I'm sorry I swatted you," Owlkit mewed, padding closely towards it. "You just scared me."
An approaching light to Owlkit's left alerted her to another presence. The phoenix chick apparently wanted protecting too, for it hobbled over to Owlkit and nestled close to her. She herded the young chick into the bushes and cowered alongside it, watching the cat's spirit approach closer and closer.
"It's all right, youngsters. I'm here only on a walk," the cat meowed, his voice old and raspy. "You two look lost. Maybe I can help you."
Owlkit slunk out of the bushes and gazed up in awe. "I know you," she gasped as she looked up at the cat.
"I was good friends with Avatar Cat Goldstar," the old tom meowed on with a smile. "And hello, Owlflame."
Now that she was closer, she now recognized this cat from stories Silverheart told her about him. The old tom's flat face was friendly and helpful, his gray tabby pelt was visible by the lantern he had set down, and his amber eyes gleamed in the dark. Owlkit never forgot the name of Bearstar's uncle who had helped Goldstar and his friends on plenty of occasions...and this was the cat Ironclaw was named after.
"Irontail."
...
Act Two
...
"I'm glad you came to visit us in StarClan, Owlflame," Irontail meowed as both cats padded through the dark forest path. "You came just in time."
In time for what? Owlkit thought in wonder as the phoenix hatchling rode on her back. I can't wait to see what's coming up.
She also couldn't believe she was actually walking beside the legendary Irontail, a cat who had helped Goldstar, Bearstar, and their friends many moons ago, and he had also been the head of the Order Of The Phoenix long ago too. Due to being around him, this dark side of StarClan looked a little less scary. Some of the eyes that had been glaring at Owlkit suddenly darted away when Irontail arrived into their midst, apparently because he was a legend.
A few minutes later, they arrived at a bright green valley, and Owlkit looked around in awe. Over towards the center of the valley was a small cottage in the clearing, and spirits were gathering at a wooden table in front of it, laden with drinks, a teapot, and cakes. The two cats approached the small table, where the spirits greeted them, the main ones being an ostrich with two decorated necks holding a head each. Beside them was a ferret holding a bowl in both paws, smiling brightly.
Irontail purred. "I told you that you were in time. We're having a little party to celebrate the wedding of Jack-Jill."
Jack-Jill? Owlkit thought. She sat next to the two-headed ostrich spirit, the heads pecking at some cakes on the table, and mewed, "How can you marry each other? Aren't you..."
"Complete opposites? I know!" the female head named Jill exclaimed.
"I tried to fight it, but she really grew on me," the male head named Jack added with a smile. "Literally and figuratively."
"StarClan is very mysterious, but so is love," Irontail purred, nudging a slice of cake with juniper berries towards her. "Help yourself to some cream and cake. This is a spirit cake, so you won't gain any weight...but you won't lose any either," he added with a chuckle, patting his round belly.
"This part of StarClan isn't so scary," Owlkit mewed, looking around at a teapot. She yelped in joy and squeaked, "Hey! It's my teapot!"
Irontail smiled and replied, "Indeed. It was yours back when you were Avatar Cat Mau. You used it to carry the Light Spirit Raava around until you became one. It's my favorite thing I've found here." He started pouring some cream into the teapot and added, "You know, when you pour some cream into it, you can still taste a little light in every cup."
Owlkit looked back up at the old gray tabby tom and lapped it up, feeling the wonderful taste purify her dry tongue. When she swallowed it, it filled her belly with a certain warmness, and it made her smile with bliss. Beside her, the phoenix hatchling chirped once, so she stepped aside and let the small bird take a sip. Like her, it got happy as it chirped in spite of its injuries.
...
Whirly-Ears flew through a hole in the ceiling into Wan Shi Tong's library. Ivypaw looked around as her spirit friend flew down toward the four-way bridge, where Goldstar once first set foot in the library ten years ago. Goldstar, Silverheart, and Ashfeather had all set paw into here, and now she was going to do the same as her grandparents did. Once they landed on the bridge, she looked around at the Knowledge Seekers, foxes that helped Wan Shi Tong get knowledge rom the physical world.
Everything looked so big and expansive in the library just as she heard in the legends. There were even lots of things she could hear about in here: lore of the Clans in the time of Avatar Cat Goldstar and even stories of the five ancient Clans: ThunderClan, ShadowClan, WindClan, RiverClan, and SkyClan. There also had to be something Ivypaw could find to help Owlflame stop Cinderstar.
She looked around at the many books and murmured, "Wow...I could stay in here forever, reading everything I want."
"The last cat who said that is still here. You can see his body nearby."
Ivypaw looked around in confusion, trying to find the source of the voice. Then something huge, dark, and scaly landed in front of her with a thunderous crash, and she looked up in awe just in time.
This was Wan Shi Tong, the legendary knowledge spirit. The Hungarian horntail dragon looked as huge and intimidating as ever, his black scales making him look darker in the gloom, and his wings folded up next to him until he was walking on some knuckles on his wings. He swiveled his head towards a row of shelves, and Ivypaw looked to the side before gasping. A mummified cat was lying on its side, surrounded by books.
"I heard about him!" Ivypaw mewed. "That's Professor Gobi! The cat who wanted to stay in the library!"
Wan Shi Tong nodded before moving his head towards her, hissing, "I see that you have some knowledge of the past, so you should know that cats are no longer allowed in my library. Now get out."
Even though Whirly-ears flew off, Ivypaw stood her ground. Instead, she meowed, "Can't anyone come in if they brought you some new knowledge?"
"Those are the old rules," Wan Shi Tong growled, narrowing his dark amber eyes condescendingly. "Besides, what is a young apprentice going to teach Wan Shi Tong, He Who Knows Ten Thousand Things?"
"Well, since you've been down in StarClan, the Twolegs have invented radio," Ivypaw began.
Wan Shi Tong snorted. "Yes, I know much of the radio."
Ivypaw tilted her head to one side. "But do you know how it works?"
"Of course I do," Wan Shi Tong said. "It is a box, and in there is a tiny Twoleg who sings songs and plays musical instruments."
Wow...I guess he's been away from the physical world for too long, Ivypaw thought. Out loud, she explained, "Actually, when we speak, our voices produce sound waves. Radio takes those sound waves and converts them into electromagnetic energy that is transmitted through the spectrum-"
However, Wan Shi Tong snapped, "All right, enough. I did not know this. Apparently, I have been fed some misinformation about the existence of tiny singing men in boxes," he added, turning to glare at one of the foxes behind him. When the fox slunk off, he turned back to Ivypaw and said, "Still, I am not interested in trivial physical things. Now go away."
Ivypaw stood her ground some more. "Avatar Cat Goldstar was my grandpa, and I came to StarClan with the new Avatar Cat to find the spirit portals. I would think that you'd want help me."
"Really? The Avatar Cat is in StarClan right now?" Wan Shi Tong now sounded pleasant though with a hint of slyness in it. "Well, why didn't you say so? I shall let you look around, but don't break anything. I'll know," he added with a leer. "And put the books back on the shelves when you're finished with them."
With that, he opened his wings and pushed off the ground, flying out of sight. Ivypaw watched him go before looking around. There were a lot of books to read, and she had to find one about the Harmonic Convergence.
"Come on, Whirly-Ears!" she meowed. "We gotta hurry!"
...
Owlkit looked down at the Pai Sho table, watching Irontail play a game of Pai Sho with a tortoise spirit. She had seen Ivypaw and Plumpaw play this game with her father, and she and Dawnfall had even played it before, a tradition passed on through the old AvatarClan. Beside her, the phoenix hatchling she had accidentally injured was pecking at a cake she offered it and eating like...well, a bird.
"They say that the game of Pai Sho was invented by the spirits...but some don't seem to grasp it well," Irontail told Owlkit with a wink.
"Wait for me, I'm thinking," the tortoise rasped, staring back at the game. "Erm...where do I move my piece again?"
Irontail smiled a bit before looking down at Owlkit. "As you can see, it is a game that requires patience, but time does not mean much here. But when warriors are remembered through many lifetimes, they will always remain here."
"How long have you lived here?" Owlkit asked.
"Oh, many moons. I had always enjoyed the company of the spirits. So when my work was done in the material world, I left my body behind and came here to StarClan. It can be a wonderful place, and I've made so many friends," he added with a smile towards Jack-Jill. The ostrich heads smiled back at him.
But when he had mentioned friends, Owlkit felt rather down again, though she couldn't explain how. She knew of one thing, however: Ivypaw was out there, maybe all lost and alone, and here she was, a kit and lost on her own too.
Seeing her, Irontail asked, "What's wrong, Owlflame?"
Owlkit mewled, feeling her eyes welling up with tears, "I came here to StarClan with my friend. Her name is Ivypaw...but I lost her. And I'm all alone now."
"You're not alone," Irontail assured her, laying a gentle paw on her shoulder. "It's okay."
"No, it's not okay!" Owlkit squealed, pulling away from him as she continued wailing. "Ivypaw's gone, and I have to find her! She's lost, and we have to go home! I don't like it here! I don't wanna be here anymore!"
Above her, a dark storm cloud was forming over the mountain in the distance and then blackened the sky like dark snow. But Owlkit didn't really look, for she was still in her temper tantrum. The ferret spirit was growling viciously as it turned dark, and the plant spirits started retreating deeper into the bushes. Even the conjoined ostrich spirit was affected, the heads squabbling as they turned on each other.
"What on earth did you say to her?" Jill squawked at Jack.
"Me? You're the one who chatters!" Jack squawked back.
"Owlflame, please stop," Irontail meowed quickly, his voice and face full of worry as Owlkit carried on her tantrum. "Look at what you're doing to everyone."
Owlkit finally listened and looked around at all the suddenly angry or frightened spirits. "I did that?" she asked in surprise.
Irontail nodded, reaching a paw down to wipe the tears away from her eyes. "Yes. In StarClan, your emotions become your reality. Especially for the Avatar Cat, for you are the bridge between the material world and StarClan. You must try to stay positive."
"All right," Owlkit mewed when Irontail was done. To the spirits, she dipped her head to them and went on, "I'm sorry, everyone. I hope you're okay."
One by one, the spirits started calming down. The ferret spirit calmed down, the plant started blooming again, and Jill-Jack's heads started apologizing to each other. Owlkit looked back up to see the dark cloud rapidly retreating back to its place over the mountain, the sun shining once again.
"There, you see?" Irontail meowed with a purr.
Owlkit tilted her head back in awe. "Wow...I can make the sun come out and shine?"
Irontail nodded again. "Indeed. Even in the living world, you will find that you will often find light if you look for it. But you will only see darkness if you look for it."
It sounded so positive that Owlkit felt even more bright than ever. Perhaps Irontail was right; since she saw that her mood could affect StarClan, Ivypaw could appear anytime she wished. So she sat down beside the elder and closed her eyes, meowing, "I'm looking for Ivypaw. I want her here with me right now."
Thus, she sat and waited while the spirits sipped their cream nearby. When she opened her eyes, she looked around, expecting to see the flash of a golden brown pelt glowing in the sunlight. But to her disappointment, she didn't see Ivypaw anywhere.
"Why didn't she come out like the sun?" Owlkit asked, looking up at Irontail.
"I'm sorry, Owlflame, but finding her won't be so easy," Irontail meowed while he looked down at her.
Owlkit was still troubled, not knowing where to start. "But what am I supposed to do?"
Irontail's gaze wandered to the phoenix hatchling, who hopped over to him while flapping its holey wings. "Sometimes, the best way to solve your own problems is to help someone else," he replied, letting it flutter up onto his back. "It appears this little fellow wants to go home as well. Maybe if you help him find his friends, you will be able to find yours."
"I'll take him home," Owlkit squeaked as the hatchling fluttered down onto her back. "So where do I go?"
"The phoenix nest is located there," the fat gray tabby replied, pointing a paw over her head towards the mountain. "At the peak of Fire Bird Mountain."
Owlkit gulped once at the dark cloud over the mountain and looked back at the phoenix hatchling, as if wanting to ask if it really lived up there. But because of the name of the mountain, that could be true. The baby phoenix was looking up at the mountain with hope, but Owlkit was having her doubts. Climbing this mountain was not going to be an easy feat, not at all.
...
Once Ivypaw had scanned enough books to pick out, she did just that and picked out one book, taking it down and watching it open as it hit the ground. She jumped down and started flipping through the pages, trying to find any references of the Harmonic Convergence and the portals to StarClan. Beside her, Whirly-ears was standing beside two tall stacks of books and looking around. Ivypaw had to admit that this felt rather like a warrior's assessment of sorts except that there was no prey to catch, only information. Thus, she focused on getting back to Owlflame with the new stuff she had learned.
Ivypaw couldn't find a reference to Harmonic Convergence or the portals in the book, so she put it back and pulled out another book, opening it and looking through again. When nothing still came up, she frowned and slapped the front end of the book shut in frustration.
"Fox...I mean, mouse-dung!" Ivypaw cursed. "It's not in here either. I have to find the portals, and Owlflame might be waiting for me there right now." Noticing a nearby fox pushing a book back into a shelf, she called, "I need to find a map that shows where the spirit portals are. Could you help me, please?"
The fox gave a bark and headed off from her and down the corridor. It trotted over to another bookshelf and unshelved a rather ancient book, grasping it in its jaws and heading back to Ivypaw. It dropped the book until it opened before her, and Ivypaw gave her thanks before patting it on its head before it padded away.
Once the fox was away, she started flipping through a page of writing to a page featuring a drawing of a great and powerful-looking twisted tree among rocks, where Vaatu was imprisoned by Mau. A closer look told her that the form of the giant demonic snake was still residing in the trunk.
"This is where Mau shut Vaatu inside," Ivypaw meowed before reading on. "'The elders believed that when the portals are closed during the Harmonic Convergence, Vaatu will stay in his prison, and the battle between good and evil will not be fought if both portals are opened. Spirit energy would be amplified greatly. The other worlds will come into perfect alignment, and during the Harmonic Convergence, this energy will be great and powerful enough to allow Vaatu to break free from his prison, and the world of mortals will again risk being consumed by the great darkness.'"
This was it: the information she needed for the Harmonic Convergence. Ivypaw looked around at Whirly-ears and meowed, "We got what we need, Whirly-ears. We gotta find Owlflame...and fast."
"Leaving so soon?"
Ivypaw gasped and looked around. Cinderstar was prowling towards her from around a corner, Wan Shi Tong right behind him. Meanwhile, Ivypaw could not believe she had just come across the cat who wanted to doom the world for his own use. She forced herself to remain calm, yet she felt her fur keep bristling when Cinderstar got closer and closer; he reminded her a lot of Darkstar, a cat who almost took over the world ten years ago.
"When Wan Shi Tong told me he had a visitor, I had to see it for myself." Cinderstar's green eyes glittered in the dim light, and his sneer widened as he meowed with contempt, "I can't believe Sunstar let his daughter come here into StarClan. You call him a good father?"
"You call yourself a good cat?" Ivypaw growled back and stood her ground as the WaterClan leader started circling around her. Looking over at the giant dragon, she asked, "Wan Shi Tong, why are you helping him do this? He's trying to destroy the world!"
Wan Shi Tong narrowed his eyes. "Nonsense. Cinderstar has proven to be a true friend to the spirits, making him better than the Avatar Cat. That, and I still had not forgiven your grandparents and grand-uncle for making me relocate this library."
Ivypaw did not believe that one bit. Hearing Cinderstar being a better cat than Owlflame made as much sense as a fish that could walk. She pleaded, "But why would you help Vaatu escape? He'll destroy everything. Can't you see that?"
Cinderstar continued circling around her. "Don't believe everything you read, young apprentice," he hissed. "Now why don't you come with me so you can do some first-hand research?"
Hearing the power-hungry tone in his sly purr made Ivypaw step back from the dark gray tom. Bur she had not gone too far when Whirly-ears' paw grabbed her by the scruff and she stopped in her tracks. She turned around to see her rabbit spirit friend morphing into a darker and more monstrous-looking form of himself.
"W-Whirly-ears?" she mewed. "What's happening?"
...
The mountain looked so scary to Owlkit that she felt like turning back and hiding herself in Irontail's thick, warm fur. But she knew she could not back down. She had to get the phoenix hatchling back to its home on Fire Bird Mountain and find Ivypaw.
"This looks kinda scary," she mewed, looking back at the old tom beside her. "Irontail, can you come with me?"
Irontail rested his plumed tail on her shoulder reassuringly. "Owlflame, this is something that you must do on your own. The cats who had entered StarClan lately have brought darkness and anger with them, so that is what you see now. But you have light and peace inside of you. If you let it out, you can change the world around you. Besides, look at this little fellow on your shoulder," he added, looking at the phoenix chick. "This mountain is his home. When you first met him, you were frightened, but does he seem scary to you now?"
Owlkit smiled, feeling a little better already. "Nope. He's a cute little guy."
"Many things that seem scary in the dark become welcoming when a light shines onto them." He scooped her closer to a hug and licked the top of her head, purring, "It was good to meet you at last, descendant of ThunderClan's Bluestar. Come visit me again, in this life or the next," he added with a smile and a wink.
"Bye," Owlkit mewed as he let her go. She padded away from the elder gray tabby and looked over at the phoenix hatchling on her back. "Time for you to go home."
With that, she turned around and started padding up the path towards the mountain, looking back once at Irontail. Irontail was smiling and nodding to her, his fur ruffling gently in the quiet breeze. Owlkit smiled back and started padding along the path while she heard the spirits behind her bidding her farewell for her journey.
Once she was far away from the party, Owlkit gazed on to see many fox-lengths of land suddenly between her and Irontail. She felt the phoenix hatchling sink its talons into her shoulder tightly and turned her head toward the mountain. There were billows of smoke and jagged rocks all the way up the foreboding mountainside to the peak, covered by a dark and stormy cloud circling overhead. Again, Owlkit felt scared of going up there, but Irontail would want her to be brave and believe in herself. She would not be Owlflame, the Avatar Cat. She would just be Owlflame, the cat.
You can do this, Owlflame, she heard the voices of the past whisper in her ears. We are with you.
"Light and peace, Owlkit," she murmured, climbing up the mountain path. "Light and peace."
But she had not gotten that far up the mountain when she was faced with three large beings. They were three monstrous blue badger spirits with huge teeth, waiting over the first hill for her.
...
Act Three
...
Light and peace...light and peace, Owlkit kept telling herself as the badgers got closer and closer. Despite the advice Irontail had given her earlier, she still felt scared, for badgers had always been the enemies of cats since the five ancient Clans. But she couldn't back down now...and would not back down either.
"I'm not afraid of you," Owlkit meowed as the badger spirits came closer, leering over her and growling. She closed her eyes, but she managed to keep calm as she opened her eyes and meowed, "I feel the light inside now. And you're not scary. You just look that way." She reached a paw out towards the badger in front of her, touching one of its teeth, its great, bone-crushing teeth. "It's okay. You can be my friends. I'm Owlflame, and I'm taking this phoenix home."
Above her, the dark clouds started parting, and the sun began to shine. When they saw this, the badgers morphed into more friendly forms with smaller teeth, panting like dogs. One of them sat, and Owlkit giggled as they ran over and began licking her.
She sat up and mewed, "Irontail said you could be nice spirits. You wanna help me?"
The badger spirits nodded and ran to the side.
Owlkit followed them to the top of a hill, and she saw that the mountain was no longer gloomy and scary. One badger stooped low and scooped her up until she was riding on its back while the other two followed them up the mountainside path. A few minutes later, they had finally made it to the nest of the phoenix, where two other hatchlings with different shades of red and golden were waiting, chirping.
With a small smile, Owlkit let her hatchling jump down from its perch and rejoin its siblings while the badgers watched from the side. As soon as the hatchlings were reunited, all four of them vanished into crimson embers of light flying up high in the air. The pink embers then took on the form of a massive, shimmering crimson phoenix flying around and radiating with fire and light. Owlkit watched it fly around in awe before feeling herself grow taller, her muscles getting tougher, and her fur turn from soft kitten fur to a sleek streamlined pelt.
She was back to her warrior age and back to being Owlflame. The phoenix landed right in front of her, lowering its head before her as if telling her to get onto its back. So she did, mounting the great bird's neck and holding on tight to its feathers as it reared its head back to shriek loudly.
"Awesome!" Owlflame called. "Now let's find Ivypaw and close that portal!"
The phoenix gave another loud screech, then it spread out its immense wings and took off, leaving the badgers behind until they turned into wisps of blue light and flew after them. Owlflame looked down below at the ground, looking down at Irontail gazing up after her and smiling with a wave while the spirits joining him were waving up at her while enjoying their celebration. They flew on over the darkest swamps in StarClan until they arrived at the land where Owlflame and Ivypaw had first entered StarClan, near the border of the Dark Forest, and finally to a barren land. Owlflame recognized this from her visions of Avatar Cat Mau, where the first Avatar Cat had battled against Vaatu and imprisoned him.
Not only that, but there were also the portals, one opened and one closed. Owlflame knew she had to keep Cinderstar from opening the other portal while she would close the first one. And in the center of it all was the Tree of Time.
"Where Vaatu is..." Owlflame meowed, finishing her thought.
The phoenix landed on the ground before the tree, and Owlflame slid down the bird's splayed-out wings until she was looking directly at the bark. Behind them, the three blue wisps landed behind them and turn back into giant badgers. With a determined heart, Owlflame approached the portal while her mount flew off and the badgers followed her. It was time to close the remaining portal fast and right away.
Owlflame reached toward the white-blue shaft of light beaming from the portal, only to turn her gaze to the tree when she heard Vaatu's voice. It sounded just as demonic and deep as she remembered it.
"I see you've returned, Raava."
Owlflame padded around the trunk of the tree until she reached the hole where Vaatu was imprisoned in. She looked inside and saw the red eyes glaring evilly at her as the giant snake writhed around.
Seeing her, Vaatu hissed, "The Harmonic Convergence is coming soon, and I'm going to destroy you for good."
"Yeah, I heard you say that before," Owlflame retorted. "But I'm here to close the portal. You're not getting out while I'm around."
She turned around and was just around to reach the portal when Vaatu hissed, "You might want to reconsider. If you want to save your friend, that is."
Owlflame spun back around towards the tree, confused. What was Vaatu talking about? Does he know where Ivypaw is at?
Then she saw something that made her fur stand on end and her claws unsheathe. Cinderstar had padded out from behind a tree, throwing Ivypaw out from behind the trunk. Ivypaw was panting from her wounds, blood seeping out from her neck and body, and there was a long slash that nearly split her ear into two. Before Owlflame could pounce at her uncle and teach him a lesson, Cinderstar started making Bending motions, and Ivypaw was suddenly surrounded by the same spiraling ring shapes he had used on spirits in the South Pole. Only instead of Bending rings of golden water, he was now Bending purple energy.
"Ivypaw!" Owlflame yowled, racing over towards the apprentice.
But before she could reach the base of the tree, a monstrous form of Whirly-ears the rabbit crashed to the ground in front of her, growling at her. The badgers she had tamed had reverted back to their more monstrous forms as well and were also growling at her as they stalked over towards her. Owlflame was seriously outnumbered, but rage overcame her fear as she glared at her treacherous uncle.
"I can't believe I trusted you!" she roared at him. "You made me think you wanted to restore balance, but this isn't balance! It's just you following the Tigerstar route! Now let her go!"
"Not a chance. If you want your friend to make it out of StarClan alive, you'll open the other portal now." Cinderstar's face curved even more into a snarl. "And StarClan will forgive me for-"
But Owlflame beat him to it, snarling, "How dare you say that with a straight face! StarClan won't forgive you for killing innocent cats! They can take your nine lives if they wanted!"
"Owlflame!" Ivypaw yowled. "Don't listen to him! He'll kill you!"
Cinderstar glared around at the golden-brown cat, directing even more focus on her with more urgent Bending motions. An eerie purple glow began to climb its way up her body, slowly enveloping her bit by bit until its reached her face. Owlflame felt sick and horrified at both what was happening and her inability to stop it. She had never been taught this technique and felt that she didn't want to...like BloodBending.
Cinderstar sneered at her and hissed, "Remember, if you do not open the portal, I'll kill this apprentice. StarClan has granted me the power to pacify spirits...and this power to destroy them too."
The purple glow was slowly taking over Ivypaw's body, her face almost completely covered by it as she seemingly gasped her final breath. It was all too much.
"STOP!" Owlflame bellowed. When they looked at her, she sighed, "Fine. I'll do it...for Ivypaw."
With the badgers, Cinderstar, and the dark Whirly-ears watching closely from behind, Owlflame hesitated a bit before padding towards the portal. She knew she was endangering the world even more, but she had to try and find a way after that to keep Cinderstar from releasing Vaatu. When she approached the portal, Owlflame reached out her paw and paused to think of the consequences this could bring before reluctantly coming into contact with the whirls of energy surrounding the portal.
The ground began to shake as the orb changed from purple to a bright yellow light. Owlflame bowed her head to focus before looking back up, her eyes glowing with the power of the past Avatar Cats. Jets of yellow light shot out into the skies, flashing occasionally as they surged with great power. Owlflame kept her face utterly blank as her eyes continued to glow and the portal opened, while Ivypaw gazed on in horror and Cinderstar's smirk grew wider. The chaotic bursts of light from the Northern portal calmed into a single bright shaft of light like that of the Southern portal, and a red glow crawled up the Tree of Time's roots much in the way that Ivypaw had experienced, rendering the entire tree in a dark red color. A circular blast of energy erupted from the tree across the landscape, and the badgers started growling.
Whirling around to glare at Cinderstar, Owlflame snapped, "There. I did what you asked. Now keep your word and let Ivypaw go!"
Cinderstar smirked with an evil look. "No. I think I shall be rid of you two now. You have outlived your usefulness."
With that, he pounced at Owlflame and swiped his claws at her, catching her on the chest. Owlflame staggered back, wincing from the injury she had gotten on and around her flank. Where she was hit, the fur and flesh turned briefly white and sparkling with energy, damaged in much the same way the phoenix hatchling was damaged earlier.
"You should have come through the portal," Cinderstar snickered, Bending more water at his niece. "If you have, then you can Bend like this. Now I won't have any trouble ridding the world of you."
Cinderstar's right, Owlflame realized. When I tried Bending at those prairie dogs, I couldn't make anything. But for fuck's sake, I'm in big trouble!
She tried dodging some blasts and whips of water, but they hit her on the chest and sides and dealt more damage to where the flesh became briefly blue and sounded like a bone breaking. Grunting, Owlflame bunched her muscles and leaped over a strand of water right for Ivypaw, but Whirly-Ears hopped to the side and flew off with a yowling Ivypaw into the sky.
Owlflame snarled and leaped up towards the rabbit only for one of Cinderstar's attacks to knock her back to the ground. She got back to her paws and started running around the dark gray tom, each blast of water missing her by kitten-lengths. But when it was Owlflame's turn to attack as she pounced at him, one of the badgers ran forth and caught her on the side with its claws, carrying her off her paws and sending her into the air. Another badger jumped into the air and snatched her up in its jaws while she was still falling. It landed perfectly on its feet, shaking Owlflame around like a toy and slamming her each time into the ground before flinging her away from it.
Joined by the other two, the badger kept Owlflame pinned to the ground, whereupon she was suspended into the air by purple rings spiraling around her. Cinderstar was making Bending motions, a purple glow beginning to envelope Owlflame much more rapidly than with Ivypaw. Her face was almost completely covered by this dark mass, but with her gasping breaths, she saw her uncle leering at her with a cruel, victorious grin.
StarClan, please! Owlflame begged as Cinderstar stalked closer. Help us!
He was going to strike again when a loud caw across the land made both cats look up to the sky, Cinderstar letting Owlflame go. The phoenix she had ridden on earlier had arrived, cawing a challenge as it swept down and raked Cinderstar's side with its talons, followed by a slap of its long tail feathers. It then flew over to Owlflame and plucked her up in its talons before flying away with her, the badgers trying to chase them while on the ground. Meanwhile, she looked back to see Cinderstar glare up at her in hatred and anger before lifting his head and screeching loudly for all of StarClan to hear.
"I'll be seeing you soon, Raava," Vaatu's voice rumbled from within the tree. "Once the Harmonic Convergence comes, I'll be free from this prison. And then I will have my revenge and destroy you. For good this time."
...
Suddenly, the dark setting of StarClan morphed into the mortal world as Owlflame gasped and woke up. She looked around her body to see if there were no injuries, but she saw some claw marks on her flank from where Cinderstar had clawed her. Ivypaw, however, looked worse. It looked like she had already started bleeding, and it showed that they still had the wounds they retained while in StarClan. But as for Sunstar, what would Owlflame tell him about his daughter being missing?
As if on cue, Sunstar was quickly padding over to her, Seashell and Rockfall waking up behind him. The large golden tom was asking, "What was it like? Did you manage to close the portal? Did Ivypaw help you do well?"
But Owlflame looked down, utterly defeated when she heard that last question. "No...she couldn't," she murmured.
Sunstar's eyes widened in shock as he turned to look at Ivypaw, confirming Owlflame's worst fear. Ivypaw still had her eyes closed and was sitting very still, being as still as a stone, and the blood was becoming dry and caked on her fur.
"Where's Ivypaw? W-why isn't she waking up? And why is she injured?" Sunstar ran over to his daughter and hugged her, looking confused at why she was not waking up. Then he turned to Owlflame and rasped, his voice cracking with fright, "Owlflame, what happened to my girl?!"
Owlflame felt the tears well up in her eyes. She had let Sunstar down; she had promised to keep Ivypaw safe, and she couldn't do that either.
"Sunstar...I'm so sorry!" she sobbed, hanging her head. "Cinderstar got to her...he threatened to kill her if I didn't open the other portal...it's my fault she's gone!"
Sunstar sighed and looked back down at Ivypaw, his littermates joining him. But Owlflame wished he would yell at her instead, for this kind of despair was worse than any angry feelings. She had failed to keep Ivypaw safe, and Cinderstar had successfully tricked her into opening the Northern portal; that way, he would not be stopped when the Harmonic Convergence began.
Great StarClan, why are you letting this happen? Help us all now!
To be continued...
...
Cody The Pikachu: Here we go, and this chapter is finished! If there's anything wrong with this chapter, just let me know, and I'll do my best to fix it. Speaking of that, after this are four more chapter to go, and the epilogue will be after them. So stay tuned!
From what we heard so far in Legend Of Korra Book 3, stuff is going down! Korra and her friends are out looking for new AirBenders, and the Earth Queen DOES have some...but she ain't telling anyone. Plus, that Kai kid gets captured by the Dai Li; part of me says "Serves him right", but a bigger part of me says "I hope he escapes soon." And Mako and Bolin meet their long-lost family! But more stuff will be going down tomorrow with new episodes. I heard that they'll be meeting Toph's other daughter and granddaughter, and Zaheer and his gang are gonna be fully on the move. What'll happen next? I don't know, but I'm excited about it.
I will no longer say the "Read and review" thing because I felt that I've done it too many times already. That, and I feel like I've run out of prizes. But anyways, I allow advice, questions of any kind, and constructive criticism as long as it's not harsh, but I DO NOT allow any flames on this story or any other story. The flames will be used for some well-deserved Unalaq bashing.
See ya next time!