Ivypool

Ivypool flashed through the trees at lightning speed, her breath coming in short, shallow gasps. She'd been on the move since dawn (Sunrise? Sunhigh? Who knows). Training here was brutal and unforgiving, the warriors of the Dark Forest were as ruthless as the everlasting darkness. Shots sounded behind Ivypool and she heard wood splintering and bullets ricocheting off rocks. The shouts and orders from behind her grew closer. Ivypool sailed over a small murky stream, her boots landing with a thunk on the other side and she took off running again.

Gotta find a way to loose them, she thought. Can't run forever. Her eyes darted from side to side as she frantically scanned the trees for a hiding spot. There, she thought, spotting a tall dark oak tree with leafy branches. The best part, it was surrounded by a ton of other tall oak trees with leafy branches.

Ivypool veered off to the right and headed in another direction, relieved when she heard figures skidding on the leaves and turning to follow her. Suddenly, a bright bolt of pain shot through her arm, like being struck by lightning. She hissed furiously and gritted her teeth against the pain. Ivypool jumped and planted her foot on a nearby rock, pushing off and turning around again, heading back to the dark oak trees, footsteps pounding behind her.

The moment she reached the one she was looking for, she leaped and latched onto the lowest branch, heaving her way up to the next one. She climbed as fast as she could, scrambling from one branch to another until she reached the highest one that could support her weight. She crouched, panting and praying theat her persuers hadn't seen her. She stayed perfectly still as voices sounded below her hiding place.

"Where'd she go?"

"I don't see her."

"Coward. Hiding instead of fighting."

Ivypool growled inwardly. I'm no coward. I got no gun, and they do, so what do they expect? I gift-wrap myself and shout 'Merry Christmas'? Suddenly, aother blinding bolt of pain scorched her right leg and she bit her tongue to keep the agonized hiss from escaping. Ivypool glanced down and saw Fernsong looking up at her, a thin whisp of steam trailing from the end of his gun. "Found her," he called to the others.

Ivypool growled and jumped down from the tree, clutching her injured arm and shifting her weight off her leg. One of the trainers steped forward and smirked. "Bad idea stuffing yourself in a tree like that. Your enemies will have you cornered before you can say 'mouse'."

Ivypool rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Snowtuft."

The white-haired warrior grumbled and turned around, signalling for the rest of the group to follow. "Come on, we're going back to base camp," he grumbled.

Fernsong fell back to walk with Ivypool who trying to pry the bullet out of her arm. "Nice aim," she grumbled, spotting him out of the corner of her eye.

He nodded. "Thanks." After a moment's pause, he fished into his pocket and pulled out a pair of tweezers. "So," he said, handing the tweezers to Ivypool. "I'd expected a bigger reaction from you when you were shot multiple times."

Ivypool started poking at her wound and replied, "Whaddaya mean?"

Fernsong shrugged. "I don't know, maybe you give off some message that you're in pain?"

Ivypool growled. "And let my enemies think that I'm weakened? I don't think so."

"Well, does it hurt?"

"Are you not clear on the concept of not showing weakness?"

"We're not enemies, so it doesn't matter."

"In case you haven't noticed, everyone here acts like they hate each other."

"Not everyone."

"Enough of them do."

"How many is that?"

"Ask me one more aggrivating question and you'll never find out."

He chuckled. "Alright, alright. I give up."

Ivypool let out a grunt of triumph fas she finally managed to pry the bullet free from her arm. She glanced down at her injured leg. "Do I have to wait 'til we get back to base to sit down and get this thing out?"

Fernsong shrugged. "I dunno. But my advice: wait. If you casually walk in with a bullet in your leg, it might make a good impression on the elites."

"Alright," Ivypool grumbled. He did have a point. So far, Ivypool had managed to earn a little respect by acting as tough and careless as possible. She couldn't say the same for Breezepelt though. He seemed to be doing everything he could to stay invisible. All Ivypool could do was pray it was part of some genius plan he had. Stealthy and sneaky, she thought. Maybe that's it.

Fernsong, however, was harder to figure out. He appeared to be tough, cunning, cowardly and laid-back all in one. It was rather confusing. Everyone else was was "death, death, kill, kill, DIE".

Ivypool shrugged. After all, it was exactly how she'd expected them to be. They're nothing like my friends, she observed. The total opposite of Dovewing for sure. She often thought about everyone she'd left behind at school and wondered how they were getting on. I hope they're all right, she thought. I wonder what they're doing right now...


Firestar

The red-haired boy paced back and forth across the room. What is taking her so long? He wondered. Everyone was sitting in Dovewing's dorm as she scrolled through the camera footage of the Dark Forest. Firestar walked over to Ivypool's sister and said, "Find anything?"

Dovewing shook her head. "Nope. Just wind-blown branches and the occasional mouse."

Firestar sighed. "Great. Just great. No messages, no updates, nothing usefu-"

"Wait!" Dovewing's excited cry cut him off.

Everyone's head snapped around to look at the Dovewing. "What?" Firestar asked. "What is it?"

Dovewing smiled. "Ivypool sent us a message!" She tapped into the large TV on the wall so everyone could watch the short clip. It showed a scratched up, dirt-smeared Ivypool emerging from the trees and heading towards the camera. She kept glancing from side to side to make sure no one was watching, then unfolded a small piece of paper and held a hand-written message up to the camera. Dovewing paused to video so they could all read the jagged letters outlined against the paper:

WE'RE IN. CONFUSING PROPHECY DELIVERED. SOMETHING ABOUT A CHOSEN ONE GRANTING ETERNAL DARKNESS. I'LL SHOW YOU NEXT TIME. TRAINING IS BRUTAL.

Dovewing hit the play button and Ivypool took the message down and stuffed it in her pocket. She then held up one arm and everyone gasped. A single bloody hole was stamped into the middle. It was obviously a bullet-hole. Ivypool glanced behind her one last time before turning around and disappearing into the shadows.

Dovewing sat back, shocked. "I- what- a prophecy? Eternal darkness? Does that mean the Drak Forest is gaining power? Is there going to be a battle? How..." she trailed off, wide-eyed with fear.

Graystripe spoke up next. "What about Ivypool and Breezepelt? That bullet-hole..."

Firestar shuffled his feet nervously on the carpet. "Well, she said she'd give us the prophecy later. Maybe she mis-interpreted it?"

Dovewing sighed, still horror-struck. "I just- I knew it would be dangerous but I never imagined... my own sister..." she broke off and pressed her face into her hands, beginning to sob.

Squirrelflight hurried over and wrapped her arms around Dovewing, mumuring encouraging words. Bramblestar stood up. "Even if we don't know exactly what this means, we have to try to figure this prophecy out, what it may be about. Those two are risking their lives for us. We owe it to them to do everything in our power to help in any way possible."

Firestar nodded, admiring the other student's courage. "Well said. You're right. We'll-"

He was cut off for the second time that day by a loud ruckus coming from out in the hallway. The sound of glass shattering and something heavy tipping over, followed by another series of crashed and shatters. "What in the name of StarClan...?" Graystripe started.

The door flew open and Thornclaw dashed in, panting hard and bleeding from a small cut on his forhead, probably from the broken glass. Hollyleaf jumped up and hurried over to him. "Hey, what happened? Are you okay?"

Thornclaw paused for a moment, gasping for breath. "I was just... in the hallway," he struggled to speak. "I saw a closet door open... so I went to close it... there was no one in there... but there was..." he shivered and slumped onto the floor, shaking.

"Come on," Hollyleaf coaxed him gently. "What was there?"

Thornclaw looked up, terror reflected in his amber eyes. "A giant pool of blood."


YEE, YEE, YEE IT'S BEEN FOREVER! I'M SOOOOO SORRY! MANY, MANY, MANY DIFFICULTIES! Updates may not be too frequent due to the current conditions- you probably know what I'm talking about. THAT WILL NEVER- AND I MEAN NEVER- HAPPEN AGAIN. I PROMISE! I hope you all are doing well! I love you all!

Special acknowledgements for everyone who's supported me through all of this!

-Silver Speaker