Thanks to my reviewers! Only 26 away from 100! The one-hundredth reviewer gets a prize, and the sooner it comes, the bigger the prize. But not too big to be unfair to other reviewers. That would stink. Maybe if you really really really really try we can make 13 (half) reviews in this chapter. If you have'nt reviewed previous chapters then you can add those. If we get to 100 with this chapter, then I'll do something special for all.
TwoLeg Time! is currently in stuck mode. I would highly appreciate it if you people hopped over there after reading this and fed in some ideas. (In the TwoLeg Time! Review section, please, not the Thunder's Story review section.)
This chapter is a little short... Well, almost half of it is a psychotic author's note at the bottom. Sorry.
Also, I've added future stories to my profile. You might want to check it out (at the very bottom) to see what's on my mind.
Let's go, hobey-ho. (Read Pendragon to get it)
"Whoa there, little one." Thunderstar stepped over Honey as she tottered to his paws. "Get back to your mother. You're too young to be straying from the nest."
He was traveling to tell Snow her new name. But he was three days late. He had planned to go earlier, but patrols, hunting, and just plain old leading a Clan had his hours booked. He hadn't even taught his apprentice yet. Banepaw was, at the moment, with Darkcloud practicing battle moves. Thunder could finally see his mate and kits.
He ducked into the nursery.
"Momma, look! It's a LION!" one kit shrieked, pulling Snow's white tail over his eyes to hide.
She looked up with weary amusement. "That's not a lion, Robin. That's your father." She shot Thunderstar and tired and relieved glance, with also a bit of unexpected anger mixed in.
"Really?" Robin peeped over his mother's tail. "Hello! I'm Ginger!"
"Ginger?" Thunderstar asked. "I thought your name was Robin."
"No," the ginger kit told him firmly. "It's Ginger."
Thunderstar looked at his mate, asking for an explanation with his eyes.
She sighed. "I told him that he was ginger-colored, and now he thinks that it's his name."
The third kit was suckling from Snow's tummy. The littlest one, Kite.
"So, why haven't you come to see me in three days, Thunder?" The contempt in her voice was hidden, but still slightly audible. He didn't blame her. He had completely ignored her.
"Well, I have a Clan to run. Very busy. You're coming back soon, right?"
She nodded. "Very soon. Maybe even today, if we carry the kits. Settle down, Robin," she whispered to the bouncing tom-kit.
"I'm Ginger!" He mewed. She ignored him.
"Thunder, I understand. But the kits need to know their father, too."
He averted his gaze from her green eyes.
"My name isn't Thunder."
She looked at him as if he had told her he wanted to become a queen.
"Not you too," she groaned finally. "Not funny, Thunder." She tucked Robin…
("Ginger, silly Wolfstorm!"
"Okay, okay. Ginger…")
She tucked Robin (Ha!) into her nest with a hind leg. Then she gathered Honey up also.
Thunder waited patiently. "No, I'm not kidding. My name is Thunderstar."
"Oh, right. Those StarClan cats told you to change your name, so you immediately obeyed them. Okay, Thunder."
"Thunderstar," he corrected her quickly with a polite nod. She closed her eyes.
"Let me guess. You came to let me pick my name?"
"Yes. Well, not exactly… I picked it."
"But I wanted to pick my own name!"
"StarClan said that I should pick all names."
"Oh, if StarClan said so, then fine," Snow mewed sarcastically with a sneer. "Go ahead."
"Snowfeather?" he proposed timidly. She thought about it.
"That works for me," she growled.
"And the kits are called Honeykit, Robinkit-" He was quickly interrupted.
"Ginger!" Robin mewed.
"…Robinkit, and Kitekit," Thunder finished, twitching his ears slightly at Robin's kit-like behavior and in a bit of worry. Snowfeather, Honeykit, Robinkit, and Kitekit… very different names, it seemed.
Thunderstar could see the displeasure etched in his mate's face.
"This is just mousebrained, Thunder," she sniffed.
"Thunderstar."
"No, I'm going to call you Thunder."
"Please, it's Thunderstar, Snow. I mean Snowfeather."
Snowfeather smirked, knowing she had just proved her case. But still, she pushed on. "Thunder."
"Thunderstar!"
"Thunder!"
"Ginger!" Robin let out with a long, drawn-out squeal.
They looked down at Robin in surprise as he gazed up with a delighted expression. Honey and he were pretending to mock back and forth as their parents were.
"Robin!" Honey mewed forcefully.
"Ginger!"
"Robin!" The orange and white kit looked up, knowing that her parents had stopped fighting.
Thunderstar and Snowfeather broke into purrs. Then they lapsed into silence for a moment or two.
"About StarClan's prophecy…" Thunderstar began.
Snowfeather harrumphed.
"Look. I know you don't believe, but I need your help. What do you think it means?"
"I've been thinking about it," she meowed.
"… And?"
"I think that 'sunshine' means something good, naturally. So I think that there will be a lot of good things happening in the future."
Thunder was amazed. Snowfeather was smart. Very smart. Thundestar had had no idea about this prophecy, but Snowfeather, who didn't even believe in StarClan, knew the answers.
But something bothered Thunderstar.
"Wait. If 'sunshine' means something good…"
She nodded darkly. Of course, she had this figured out already.
"Then darkness with clouds means something bad."
"Obviously."
"Darkness… Clouds… Then roses and frostbite and all sorts of madness. I wonder what it all means…" Thunderstar concluded, licking Snowfeather's ear in good-bye.
Do you know what it all means? I gave you a huge clue, for StarClan's sake! There will be lots of good times… no one will die. (Phew! A ton of cats have died. That's a relief to not kill anyone off!) Anyway, what do you think will happen? What do you think about that chapter I just wrote?
Tell me more about the names and any future pairings, and if you want to be a cat. And who you might want your mate to be. I don't really care about age differences, so you could be not-yet-born and have a mate already alive.
I had so much trouble with the names. You don't know how many times I wrote Thunder and Snow instead of Thunderstar and Snowfeather. WAY TOO MANY! In fact, I think it was every time I wrote a name I ended up changing it. I added the whole Ginger-Robin thing to show you how names can change so easily. I know this chapter was kind of pointless, but I love these Snow/Thunder moments…
(Snowfeather walks out of the old nursery, carrying Kitekit. Rustclaw carries Robinkit, and Smokeflower carries Honeykit. They walk to the new camp. Snowfeather lays Kitekit down in her nest and turns to you guys.)
"I think that Wolfstorm7 means is that she loves making us fight."
'Uh… I do not!'
"Yes, you do. I've seen your future chapters, you psychotic bee-brain. I am all-knowing!"
(She looks around really strangely.)
'…Um, that's not creepy, Snow. I mean, Snowfeather. Not creepy at all.'
"Just keep talking to your readers! Stop talking to me!"
'Okay, okay.'
…And anonymous reviewers (and possibly just regular ones too), if it's not too much trouble, please go back to older chapters and maybe fill in your thoughts about them that you couldn't before. I'm really sorry about accidentally disabling the thing. It would be wonderful for input on each chapter so I know which I should spruce up and which ones to be proud of. Remember, the 100th reviewer (only 16 away) gets…
(Stingpaw pops out of mole hole)
"A BRAND NEW CAR!"
'…WHAT?!'
"Sorry, couldn't resist."
(She runs away laughing with Downpelt)
Okay, anyway, you'll get something cool.
(Blueheart comes around corner of a rock with a fat squirrel in his jaws. He lays it down and turns to you readers.)
"You know that that means she has no idea what to give you get, right?"
'Shut UP, Blueheart!'
You know, corn is one of my favorite writing foods. But just tell me if you are getting sick of the taste. (I also like cheese. If the story gets too cheesy, just yell at me.)
Sorry if the story is getting long. I think that it will never end! (Sigh) The end is actually almost in sight. A bunch more chapters though. I bet some of you are happy, but some of you are groaning, Just finish it already!
I still need the definition of a muse, but I now know what a beta reader is after some searching around.
(Whitecoat (Fluffy) pads out of the warrior's den, leaving deep footprints. He shakes snow out of his pelt.)
"So maybe next storvy you vil use beta veader, yah? To make better storvys?"
'…Yah. Yah. Hey... that sounds funny… yah. yah yah yah… YAH!'
(Coldpool (Kitty) looks up from where she is sharing prey with her sister Brightflame (Charcoal&Flame).)
"How many root beers did you have again?"