Hello it's me again! So, if you want to distract yourself from this bloody coronavirus, you have come to the right place! This is where you watch the little citypet grow into... whatever she's going to grow into, did you actually think I'd give that away :'D?! OK well here is the chapter! This will be a peek into Ivy's training session with Crystal, and then... what next? I don't know yet. It's funny you can have your character's whole life planned and you struggle so much with the tiny details. I have a tiny surprise in there for you, readers... Well... here goes:

Chapter 15

"Come on," encouraged Crystal gently, "you can do it!"

Ivy gave a groan and heaved herself to her paws. Had she really fallen to the ground? She hadn't realised. "I'm fine," she said, with as much strength as she could muster in her weakened state. "Let's start."

Crystal looked surprised that Ivy would still want to train, but she didn't complain. Ivy, however, suddenly felt stupid. She didn't really feel up to another fierce training session, especially not if her friend was already warmed up and ready from her previous battle with the unknown cat. She closed her eyes as if that would drive the image of the violent fight out of her mind. Instead, all it did was bring the image of another cat, lying limp and cold, blood seeping from savage wounds beneath the torn silver, dark-marked fur. She felt like gagging at the memory.

"Are you really sure you're up for this?" Crystal narrowed her eyes. She may have seen the retching motion Ivy had made. "Because I'm not so sure."

Not really like there's any backing out now, is it. She'd have to lie.

"Yeah. Course I'm fine." Hope for the best. "I'm great. I'm up for anything." Ivy felt herself slightly swaying, and fought to stay firmly standing. She couldn't let the world topple over again. She was definitely not the best at acting. Now she wished she'd gotten round to this acting training thing she was supposed to do with Slick. She cursed at herself for thinking about it; it brought back memories of saving him, with the help of a certain silver cat with black ripples across his fur and strange green-gold eyes.

She planted her paws in the ground and fell swiftly into the familiar attack crouch. Her paws were more apart than for hunting; if an opponent threw itself at her, she wouldn't be unbalanced so easily. Her tail was tucked in close to her flank, in case an attacker decided to try and bite it as it stuck out. Her ears were lowered rather than pricked for the sounds of prey; it would help if her adversary tried to shred them.

She was rather proud of that crouch and how quickly she had gotten it. She didn't really have anything to compare it to but by her own standards, it was pretty great, though Crystal sometimes came up to nudge her back into place, which happened less and less frequently. She tried not to puff her chest out in pride as it could automatically lift her head, displaying her throat for anycat to have fun tearing out, and would lose her points with Crystal which might help her to get an easy training session tonight.

She couldn't have been more wrong. The second her friend flew at her, she knew Crystal had absolutely no intention of going easy on Ivy. I'll just fight harder then.

She couldn't explain the determination that streaked through her, but she rose to meet the attack full on with the glinting of unsheathed claws, unlike that first time. She had come so far since then. I'll go further yet, she promised herself, as she swung a heavy blow into a startled Crystal's jaw, sending her tumbling in the starry grass. She hadn't expected Ivy to be as strong.

Crystal's POV (SURPISE!)

She jumped back to her paws, but this time, she circled Ivy slowly, hissing like a snake about to attack. Her lean body coiled and prepared for the inevitable moment when her friend would spring at her. Ivy leaped.

But Crystal knew her fighting style: direct, in general not sneaky, she'd rather meet any attack full on. Her weakness lay there: predictability. She would only feint rarely, and would probably prefer not to fight dirty in any way. Some day, it would be her undoing. It was Crystal's job to prevent that... at least until she could turn it to her advantage.

She rolled skilfully out of the way and sprang back up, agile and soundless. While Ivy was stunned by her hard fall into the floor instead of the soft pelt she had no doubt been expecting, she crept up behind her. She jumped onto her back and unsheathed her claws, which she'd kept in because of the risk of them being torn out, another little secret that she wouldn't tell Ivy until she was certain it would be beneficial to her own twisted plans. As much as she may look like a young cat, she wouldn't act like one and blab to boast.

She raked her hind claws half-mindedly against Ivy's spine. She was thinking about something else. Slick. I'll have to visit him later, can't have him thinking I'm ignoring him again.

And Ivy was lucky Crystal's mind wasn't entirely on the fight, or she would have lost half the fur on her back until it all rested between Crystal's sharp claws as a painful reminder. She didn't know it but she was also lucky because of something else. As the white-furred she-cat turned Ivy over to claw at her chest, she thought that Ivy was very lucky not to wake up with the injuries that she received in sleep. Yet.

You see, Crystal was waiting for the turning point that she knew would come soon enough to start testing her to the limit and leaving her the wounds that she inflicted nightly. The one that would change her life, and that of her descendance, and the one that could change the Clans' world. And she, Crystal, would make sure that no cat stood in the way that she would forge for Ivy, a path she was already making. Pawstep by pawstep, she'd get there, thanks to her brand new puppet, Ivy. And then, when she was on top of the destroyed world of the Clans, she would lick dirt over it and discard the used puppet Ivy into the smouldering ashes and the red embers.

She would take revenge. No matter what the cost was. She had already lost everything, and she would destroy the Clans for what they had done.

Hi again, so as you can probably see, Crystal is, as we get to know her, starting to morph into some kind of Mapleshade type character, and if you look closely, you'll notice I made Ivy a distinctly Gryffindor cat, though it doesn't matter that much. As a Slytherin, I'll probably get bored of writing her to get on to a more, let's say, spicy, Slytherin main character, no offence to anyone who isn't Slytherin. But you can expect at least twenty more good chapters until I move on to something else... As a matter of fact, Crystal isn't a Slytherin, but a Ravenclaw, the whole incredibly ingenious plan for taking over the world, and the fact that she is me, aka omniscient writer, Crystal does know what will happen, and it might happen almost exactly as she wanted... Leaving you here wondering. Also I have no idea how the Harry Potter Houses came in there... I guess I just let them... Slytherin...

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~Crystalshine of LightClan (forgive the terrible fun and REVIEW I know most people don't review, but I honestly don't have that many readers, can't say I'm too happy about that, so please review, and don't think I'm pathetic, I am not begging for reviews. REVIEW!)