Ugh. This chapter sucks, like, a lot. I hate it. It's stupid and lame and badly-written and crap. But I don't wanna rewrite it, basically because I'm lazy, so I'll just stick to whining about it. ;)
GinnyStar - Thankies! It's really difficult to describe the monster, actually. I didn't think it would be, but as I have to use cat terms, it makes the description a little lacking. In my mind's eye, the monster looks kinda like one of those ones with the arm and the shovel thing on the end, y'know? Backhoe? Maybe? I dunno. ;)
icethroat21 - I prevailed in not putting "well" or "so" at the beginning of a sentence! I'm on my way to word-overuse recovery! -yays- Yeah, I was actually thinking about putting something like "lalalala" over and over again as a joke chapter, but then I decided nah. I wouldn't tease you guys like that. ;)
xxSnowfirexx - They are amazing, true enough. And the really awesome part is that they sound just as good if not better live than they do recorded. The only other people I've seen do that are Reba and Michael Jackson. But no, no one's losing their territory. I think that would exhaust all my brain's supply of creativity if I had to make them move.
Fwishsticks - I am indeed crazy, but it's okay, because you're crazy, too, and you know it, Fwirl-kohai. :D:D
Lightkit - Well...the sky didn't really rip apart. ^.^' But I just love using that expression, don't you? XD
Onto the story~
"Get out of the way!" Whitewing screeched, shoving Amberpaw to the side. Yelping with shock, Amberpaw followed her quickly into a clump of snow-covered gorse, her pelt fluffed up with fear.
"What is that?" she gasped, pressing herself against the ground.
But Whitewing wasn't listening. She ran her nose along Amberpaw's flank, her eyes wide and scared. "Are you alright? Did you get hit?"
"Hit by what?" Amberpaw whispered, shaking. "What's happening?"
"Twolegs." Spiderleg pressed in on Amberpaw's other side, Berrynose right beside him. "They're here with their monsters doing StarClan knows what to the forest." His eyes gleamed in the half-light.
"What are we going to do?" Whitewing pulled Amberpaw against her shoulder like she was her own kit, and Amberpaw wondered distantly if the white queen somehow thought she was Rainpaw. "This is madness!"
Spiderleg sighed, a tight, unhappy sound. "I don't know," he admitted. "Twolegs haven't been here with their monsters for as long as I can remember. If this goes badly...well, you know what happened in the old forest."
Whitewing closed her eyes, her breath catching. "Let's hope it's not that."
Amberpaw didn't know what they were talking about, and neither did Berrynose by the look of it. His blue eyes were full of anger and fright. "What are we going to do?" he hissed. "We can't just hide under here like mice." He got to his paws, peering out a gap in the thorns. "I don't see any Twolegs," he reported. "Just their monster."
Spiderleg weaved around Amberpaw to stand next to him, narrowing his eyes against the foul wind the monster was kicking up. "I've never seen a monster like that before. It's not one of the usual ones they go around in." He shook his head. "It's throwing rocks and mud all over the place."
"There's ShadowClan," Berrynose hissed, gesturing with his muzzle. "Rowanstar and...well, I guess that's his deputy. Big black tom."
"Smokefoot," Whitewing mewed absently, running her tongue over her dry lips. "Are we going to talk to them?"
But at that instant, the two ShadowClan cats ducked under the cover, their flanks crisscrossed with shallow scrapes. A gouge on Rowanstar's throat was slowly trickling blood.
"So," he mewed tiredly, "you came."
"We did. Your apprentice found us on the border." Spiderleg's voice was tight. "What's the plan?"
Rowanstar exchanged a look with his deputy. "We have none," he admitted grudgingly. "We have no idea what to do."
Berrynose scoffed. "Well that's helpful," he snapped. "Isn't it great that we called reinforcements here so we can all sit around and watch as the crazy Twolegs rip up your territory?"
Smokefoot growled. "We're here to discuss tactics," he said in a deep mew. "We remember when Twolegs destroyed our camp back in the old forest. ThunderClan helped us then."
"I remember," Spiderleg said stiffly. "How long have they been here?"
"Not long," Rowanstar answered. "A day maybe, or less. One of our patrols heard the sound this morning and immediately returned and reported it."
"Well, the best we can do is wait for the rest of our patrol to show up." Whitewing nodded, seemingly back in control of herself. "They'll be here shortly."
"I'm not sure how much that will help."
"Then why did you call for us in the first place?" Spiderleg snapped. "You should have left us out of this. These Twolegs are too far away to be any trouble to us."
Amberpaw twitched her whiskers scornfully. You scolded me when I said that a few moments ago, Spiderleg.
Rowanstar's amber eyes blazed. "What do you expect me to do?" he hissed. "I've been leader for barely two moons now!"
"So has Lionstar, and you don't see him mewling about it like a kit," Berrynose said aggressively, moving forward nose-to-nose with the broad-shouldered deputy.
Smokefoot curled his lip. "You best stand down, kit," he snarled softly. "ShadowClan do not take lightly to filthy soft-bloods like yourself."
Berrynose's ears flattened against his head and he let out a low hiss. "Still getting challenged for that, huh?" he demanded. "I'd rather have kittypet blood than rancid ShadowClan blood. I might turn out as rotten and foul as you, rat-face."
"Stop it!" Whitewing got to her paws, motioning for Amberpaw to scramble up next to her. "This isn't solving anything!" She stepped between the almost-battling cats, forcing Berrynose's chin towards the hole in the gorse wall. "The enemy is out there," she growled.
Berrynose yanked away from her, his pelt bristling angrily.
Rowanstar didn't say anything to his deputy. "We shall wait until dear Lionstar gets here, then. I mean, what's a few Twolegs and their monster to the tom who single-pawedly took down the tyrant, Hollystar?"
Maybe all ShadowClan cats have to cover up their weaknesses with sarcasm and taunts, Amberpaw thought, pulling away from Whitewing slightly in case any warriors saw her; she didn't want to seem weak to these ShadowClan cats. "Whitewing," she mewed, "what—"
"Don't!" Rowanstar screeched suddenly, lunging away to the peekhole. "Get back here!"
Amberpaw whirled around, startled, to see a flash of white running out of the gorse behind them.
Windpaw.
His eyes were narrowed with anger and hate, and his lips were drawn back from his gleaming fangs. He ignored his leader's voice, cutting an angle out of the woods and straight towards the monster.
Without even pausing to think, Amberpaw tore her way out of the brambles, launching herself in three bounds across the space that separated them and knocked Windpaw clean off his paws, barreling him into the base of a tree and out of sight of the monster. Her breath whooshed out of her, and she curled into a small ball, fighting for air.
Windpaw was struggling to get away, but Amberpaw pressed him tight against the rough bark of the tree. "Let me go, idiot!" he railed, twisting sharply. "Moron! Stupid-minded she-cat!"
"No," she rasped. "You'll be killed! Call me all the names you want, but I'm not letting you go out there and die."
Windpaw froze in place, his eyes wide and locked on hers. "What does that matter if I die?" he mewed bitterly. "I'm already nothing. I was born nothing, so I might as well try to make myself something—even if it's just trying to get rid of that!" He motioned with his chin to the monster.
She sank her claws into his fur, shaking her head. "You're not," she panted. "You're not nothing. Every cat has worth." She thought back, suddenly and vividly, to the dream she had—the gleaming surface of the shivering globe of colors has reflected her own scared face, the face of a cat who had nearly given up on hope. I'm a hypocrite, she realized.
"Don't speak as if you know me," he spat, drawing her back to the present, whacking at her claws with a sheathed forepaw. "You don't know anything about me!"
"I know enough to know you're an idiot!" she snapped. "What in StarClan's name are you thinking?! You really think one cat will get rid of that? You think one cat can change something? Well, they can't! There are some things that you just can't fix!" The words exploded out of her without her permission, all her anger and frustration and terror pouring out in that single statement. Pulling herself away from Windpaw, she choked on a sob.
He scrambled to his paws, looking at her strangely, his expression unreadable.
If he was Redpaw or Hollypaw, she knew how he would react. Oh sure, he would say, rolling his eyes. You would say that, wouldn't you, Amberpaw? You're always so concerned with everyone else, running around thinking the sky is going to crash on your ears. You're such a pessimist—always looking at the fresh-kill pile as half-empty.
But he wasn't Redpaw or Hollypaw, and she had no idea how he was going to react.
He narrowed his eyes finally. "I used to believe that," he said unexpectedly. "But ever since... Well, now I think differently," he backtracked. "Everything can be changed."
Amberpaw gaped for a heartbeat, then scoffed bitterly, turning her back on him. "You're wrong," she whispered, more to herself than to him. "Sometimes you can't change a thing." Frustration weighed in her belly like a stone, pulling her shoulders down as she quickly darted back across and under the gorse. To her surprise, Windpaw followed behind her.
No cats were waiting under the thorn bush. Confused, Amberpaw pressed her nose against one of the dead stems, trying her luck for a trace of scent, even with the monster's breath fouling up the air.
"Amberpaw!"
Turning around, she saw that the battle patrol had arrived. Lionstar padded right up to Rowanstar, who was waiting with a distinctly disdainful expression. Cloudtail and Graystripe paced irritably, their mates, Brightheart and Millie, looking on, while Foxclaw, Hazeltail, Poppyfrost, and Rosefall were watching the monster with wide eyes. Hollypaw and Rainpaw were just behind them, and even from this distance, Amberpaw could see the irritated look in her sister's eyes, knowing that she couldn't wait to sink her claws into some Twoleg skin.
"Amberpaw!" she called, weaving past a pair of dark gray ShadowClan warriors to stand beside her sister. "I saw you go after him! What in StarClan's name did you do that for?"
Windpaw, regrettably, was still in earshot. "Nice, ThunderClan," he said blandly. "I'm glad that you value my existence so much. It really warms my heart."
Hollypaw glared at him, before turning back to Amberpaw. "Lionstar decided to try and run around the back of it," she whispered excitedly. "We're going to get to see that thing from all angles!"
Amberpaw shivered. "I've seen enough of it."
Windpaw smirked. "I can't wait to see how we're going to get rid of it," he put in.
"Was anyone talking to you, stink-pelt?" Hollypaw demanded rudely. "I didn't think so."
"ShadowClan value each other's opinions," he retorted, his pale eyes gleaming. "ThunderClan obviously let only the morons speak."
"Why you little—" Hollypaw made a furious motion, but Amberpaw pressed against her sister's pelt.
"Steady, steady," she whispered into her ear fur. "He's just an annoyance."
Windpaw flattened his ears, but said nothing, turning away sourly. "Oh, fox dung," he hissed suddenly, getting to his paws.
Rowanstar stepped forward at once and whacked him, hard, across the ear. "Idiot!" he hissed. "You can't just go charging out there! If Huntsong was here..." He trailed off, shaking his head.
"Well, Huntsong isn't here," Windpaw grumbled, but he looked ashamed.
"Charging up to that thing like that...you could have died! How would I have explained that to her then?" Rowanstar sighed tightly. "You better make up for yourself in this battle."
"I will," Windpaw promised fiercely.
Rowanstar nodded, seeming pleased, then stepped back to bend his head near Lionstar's.
"Is Huntsong your mentor?" Amberpaw asked, trying to break the awkward silence.
"No," Windpaw grumbled. "She's my mother."
"Not even out of Mother's nest yet, stink-pelt?" Hollypaw teased.
Windpaw whirled towards her, his eyes alight with anger. "Shut up!" he snapped. "Don't talk about what you don't understand!" He turned around and marched back over to his Clanmates, his tail lashing from side to side.
Hollypaw lifted her head victoriously.
"Why do you have to annoy him like that?" Amberpaw sighed wearily. "You irritate the pelts off of every cat you come across."
Hollypaw shrugged. "It's my inborn talent, I suppose," she joked, but Amberpaw could tell her mind was on something else. Sure enough, she added, "Do you think we're going to go soon?"
"I hope so," Amberpaw meowed. "I want to get this over before I catch a chill. It's freezing out here!" She laid down on her belly, wincing as the pine needles scraped over her sore paw. Surreptitiously, she pressed her paw into a small pile of snow, sighing in relief as the cold began to numb it.
"Redpaw was dying to come," Hollypaw informed her, settling down as well. "Lionstar made him stay home and 'guard the camp.'" She put on an imitation of their brother's lower voice. "'But I want to come and help you, too! Let me come and fight the Twolegs! I can drive them away!'" Hollypaw laughed. "As if."
Amberpaw joined in on her sister's laughter, but her mind was on Windpaw. I'm nothing, he said, she thought, nodding in response to whatever Hollypaw was going on about. I wonder why he thinks that. He didn't really talk about his mother in a good light, but is that enough that he doesn't care whether he lives or dies?
"—and then I boxed his ears," Hollypaw finished, turning to Amberpaw to see if she was laughing.
Amberpaw, a heartbeat too late, let out a single chuckle.
Hollypaw frowned. "You weren't listening," she accused.
Deciding to be truthful, she shook her head. "Nope."
Hollypaw considered this for a moment, then brightened. "Well, it was a stupid story anyway."
Never one to be put down, I guess. You're a luckier cat than I am. Amberpaw felt a sudden chill grip her heart. When have I become so cynical?
"Get out of the way!" Windpaw came dashing towards them, his eyes wide and shocked. "Get up, get up!"
"What?" she gasped, wheeling around to see what he was looking at. Her heart plummeted.
The monster let out a rippling snarl, letting out a puff of acrid smoke at the same moment that it wrenched its claws from the cold ground and sent a blackthorn-sharp shard of rock flying straight at her face.
I think that though Windpaw might be a grouchy, smart-mouthed, annoying little toerag, he is also ten kinds of awesome because I based him off of this incredibly cool character from The Mortal Instruments trilogy. If you haven't read them, GO GET THEM RIGHT NOW AND DEVOUR THEIR KNOWLEDGE! Seriously, they changed my life. True story.
;)
R&R~
Shadow
