I'm sosososososososososooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooo sorry I haven't been updating. I have severe writer's block, and NO inspiration, which meant that I was staring at the screen blankly for at least fifteen minutes. So sorry if this chapter's crappy!
On the bright side, I got a deviantART where I'm posting pictures of my OCs. So far I've only got Petalpaw, though. I have the link to my dA profile on my FF profile!
Disclaimer: Erin Hunter. Owns. Most. Of. These. Cats. MOST.
Rustling and foreign cats' scents was what filled Amberstorm's senses as she was awoken from her sleep. Beside her, Snowclaw drowsily stirred, sitting up with quite a few pieces of moss clinging comically to his snow-white fur, and sleepily licked her shoulder.
"Well good morning," Snowclaw slurred, swaying from side to side.
Amberstorm chuckled a bit. "You stayed up quite late substituting Foxleap while he was making dirt. Just go back to sleep."
She noticed how Snowclaw nodded absentmindedly before closing his eyes and resting on her shoulder. Suddenly, the weight became more prominent. "Huh? Snowclaw?" A snore. Amberstorm sighed, half with amusement, half with irritation. "Idiotic Snowclaw," she murmured, setting him gently back on his mossy nest. Then she proceeded to gently groom out the scraps of moss on his fur, before she sat back up and sniffed the air once more. The scent was still there.
Beside her, other cats were stirring and suspiciously scenting the air, their eyes narrowed. Amberstorm didn't know why, though. This scent was familiar, comforting, to her. But somehow, she didn't recognize it. She sniffed again, then froze. Wait a minute...
She stood up from her warm nest (albeit a little regretfully) and padded outside. Her suspicions were confirmed.
A patrol of strong ShadowClan warriors were standing at the entrance of ThunderClan's camp, with Toadstar leading them. Foxleap faced them, his fangs bared, his fur bushed out and his hackles raised. "What are you doing here?" he asked them bluntly. "I know we're allies, but that doesn't give you the right to trample on our territory."
Bramblestar emerged from his den in the Highledge, a scowl present on his face. "Toadstar, what're you doing? Even if we're allies, you can't simply go on our territory whenever you please."
"Ah, but Bramblestar, that's the thing. Are we allies?" Toadstar questioned, a hint of annoyance under the facade of calm.
"What're you talking about?" Bramblestar blinked, staring at him with confusion in his eyes.
"Surely we're not anymore, because you decided to unjustly side with WindClan, am I right?"
"About the blackcough?" Bramblestar narrowed his eyes. "What's there to say? They were dying out. It was like refusing to help a severely sick and helpless kit."
"WindClan is a Clan, not a kit," Toadstar snarled. "Though they act like one. After they had unfairly accused us of something we didn't do, going as far as to launch a siege on our camp, you side with them?" he snorted. "Typical ThunderClan."
Amberstorm's eyes wandered over to her Clan. Some of them were hissing, their hackles raised and their fur bushed out, but some were icily calm, like she was. She saw reason behind Toadstar's hisses.
As Bramblestar opened his mouth to retort something, she noticed Heavypelt standing uncomfortably at the edge, and her whiskers twitched in amusement. While Toadstar was on a rant, he failed to notice that nearly all of his warriors were looking awkward or fidgeting restlessly.
"I will give you two moons to figure out which Clan's side you're on. After two moons, if you have still not decided, then ShadowClan will declare war on both WindClan and ThunderClan."
The group of ShadowClan left.
Amberstorm scowled as Bramblestar waved over Lionblaze with his tail, and they started murmuring between them.
Finally, they both nodded determinedly and Bramblestar jumped onto the Highledge.
"Cats of ThunderClan," he yelled. "Lionblaze and I have reached a conclusion that ShadowClan cannot be trusted. We shall side ourselves with WindClan."
Almost immediately yowls of protest and agreement filled the clearing. Shouts of "WindClan!" and "ShadowClan!" were heard, and Thornclaw, Amberstorm's father, stepped up.
Amberstorm couldn't help but glare at him. You gave me half a life! she thought accusingly.
"But ShadowClan has got a point," Thornclaw calmly pointed out. "If they are accused of something they didn't do, and take an ally, only to have the ally help their enemy Clan, it's only fair that we return being their ally, right?"
Blossomfall snarled from the nursery, "But how will we know whether those mange-pelts are planning on betraying us or not?!"
Slowly, the cats split apart into two groups. One group screamed to join ShadowClan, which was the one Amberstorm was in. The other wanted to ally themselves with WindClan. Amberstorm noticed the two groups shooting each other looks of disgust.
"Enough!" Bramblestar snarled. "We will decide this later. Right now I want a hunting patrol."
The cats reluctantly split apart, but cats who were on the ShadowClan side shot the WindClan side looks of disgust and irritation, and vice versa.
"Fallenpaw!" Amberstorm yelled across the clearing. "Hunting!"
Fallenpaw reluctantly padded over, but stayed a good three fox-lengths from her at all times. At one point, Amberstorm could've sworn that Fallenpaw muttered, "Mangy ShadowClan-lover."
Special Edition Side-Story: Petalpaw's Struggle
Petalkit thought it was cold. But then a warm tongue licked her, again and again, and she thought it was better. It was so weird, everything was all black. But what bothered Petalkit the most was that she was hungry.
"Mewwww!" she exclaimed, hoping that someone would give her something. "Meww, meww mewwwwwww!"
Distantly, she heard a cat meow, "Wow, Windkit's pretty." She felt her heart drop a bit. Was she pretty? She couldn't even open her eyes yet! Suddenly, her stomach growled and she mewed again. "Mewwww!"
She felt something gently nudge her to a good scent. She sniffed, then latched onto something. Her stomach growled yet again, and she felt as if there was something good in the thing that she had latched on. She started suckling, and a warm, creamy substance filled her mouth, making her tummy warm. She purred a bit. She liked that feeling.
Once Petalkit was all nice and full, she curled up next to the warm thing. She felt some kit else stir beside her. So maybe that was Windkit!
"Windkit and Petalkit," a voice murmured from the warm thing that had given her that warm creamy drink. "Welcome to ThunderClan."
"Mewwww..." Petalkit tried to form words. "Are...you..our mama?"
A laugh and she felt a tongue lick her head. "Yes, Petalkit. I'm your mama. I'm Icecloud."
Petalkit nodded drowsily before beginning to sleep.
"Hey, Icecloud, when are their eyes going to open?"
"Hush, Lightningkit. They're sleeping. And plus~it's only been a day. It'll probably take another day to make their eyes open."
Petalkit squirmed.
"Aww, but I wanna play with Windkit!" Lightningkit protested.
A laugh.
"Don't worry, you'll be able to in due time," Icecloud said simply.
"Mewwwww..." Petalkit meowed, feeling her stomach grumble. She wormed over to Icecloud and latched on to the good-smelling thing again, and began to drink. She felt a rough tongue lick her once she was finished. "Mew! Ice...Icecloud! Mama!"
Another chuckle.
"What does everything look like?"
A pause. "Hmm, well that's hard to describe. You'll have to see for yourself."
"But...but how?"
"You open your eyes."
"How do I do that?"
Icecloud laughed softly. "You'll have to find out yourself, little one."
Petalkit nodded, then tried to force her eyes open. She saw yellow, and tried again, getting a tiny bit open everytime.
"Unhhh...mew," Petalkit unconsciously murmured.
When she had finally opened her eyes, she looked around her in awe. At first, it was blurry, but as it slowly cleared, she saw smooth gray-white things around her. Icecloud was pure white with green eyes. Lightningkit was a dark brown tabby with green eyes and a white stripe thingy on his back.
"Where's Windkit?" Petalkit pondered aloud.
Icecloud gently nudged a sleeping body beside her. Petalkit turned her head and got the first glimpse of her sister.
Lightningkit was right, Windkit was a bit pretty. Far prettier than she was, Petalkit supposed. She was white with gray splotches, or was it gray with white splotches?
She looked over at Lightningkit. He was a lot bigger than she was. She wondered why. Suddenly, new scents filled her nose.
A pretty dark ginger she-kit with white paws and a light gray she-kit padded over. The ginger she-kit's eyes were amber. The light gray she-kit's was green.
"Hi there!" the gray she-kit exclaimed. "Are you Petalkit? One of the two that were kitted yesterday?"
Mutely, Petalkit nodded.
"Hi!" the she-kit repeated. "I'm Featherkit! And this is my sister, Whitekit. That moron's also my brother, Lightningkit."
Petalkit felt slightly overwhelmed with the many names. "Um..hi, Featherkit, Whitekit."
"Hi!" Whitekit exclaimed, her eyes shining brightly. "Do you know how to play mossball?"
Petalkit shook her head.
"Okay, so..."
Petalkit clumsily jumped and hooked her tiny claw into the mossball, but she quickly let go, giving the other team a point.
"Petalkit!" Featherkit halfheartedly exclaimed, until she realized that Petalkit was staring outside.
"Wh...why's it so dark?" Petalkit asked, her voice trembling.
"Because it's night," Lightningkit explained. "Every day the sun goes up and then it goes down, turning it into night."
"But why can't it stay forever?!" Petalkit asked again.
"Because night is when you kits have to sleep." Icecloud stepped forward, drawing Petalkit back with her tail.
"Okay," Petalkit mumbled, yawning.
She had laid down and closed her eyes for only a moment when she woke up again. It was pitch black and eerily silent, and all the cats in the nursery (as Whitekit had told Petalkit) were fast asleep. I can't see anything! Petalkit thought, terrified. What if...what if something sneaks up on me in the dark?
She snuggled closer to the crook of Icecloud's belly, her heart pounding loudly with fear.
Suddenly, quiet twitches and cries of pain were heard. Petalkit whipped her head toward the source of the noise, and panic filled her heart when she realized it was Whitekit. Slashes appeared on her thick coat, and something red oozed out of them. Whitekit appeared to be asleep, and something was attacking her. But what? Petalkit strained her eyes, but saw nothing.
W-w-w-what's going on?
Suddenly, Whitekit's mouth opened and she let out a bloodcurdling scream, as the biggest slash of all appeared and she went limp.
I'm not posting a challenge or a question because you have two challenges: one-shot about Amberstorm's pairings and the cover of POS. So...yeah..
-Sky