Hi everyone! Remember when I said I drew better than I wrote? I am on deviantart now! I'm called CrystalOfLightClan, and I have draw Squirrelflight, when she was Squirrelpaw on the Midnight quest! Go check it out please!

Ivystorm - Are you the same person as Ivystormrandomness? If so I LOVE YOU and all your randomness! And Scar... doesn't have that many scars. That's how much sense it makes.

We're starting to reach the part that will become very interesting, you see, this whole thing was leading up to what will happen in a few chapters... The real story starts then...

So chapter now!

Chapter 23

Panicking was a bad idea. So was being trained to kill by a cat who had probably done so multiple times. So was staying in the Blood. Accepting Scar as her Teacher was like creating a tie with the Blood, a tie that she did not want. But it wasn't like she had a choice. She let Scar escort her back to the ring of cats, barely hearing the Governor order the cats to disperse again.

Scar brought her to a corner of the camp. He sat down, motioning with his tail for Ivy to copy him.

"Tell me about yourself." He demanded.

Ivy just stared in disbelief. "Why do you want to know?" she asked, sounding rude.

"I don't know, maybe because we're going to be spending every day Training together for moons?" Sarcasm cut through the air, and the realisation that this was true hit Ivy full in the face. "They say you have had an - ah - ... shall we say, interesting past."

Fury boiled in Ivy's veins, surging like fire through her body. But she tried to hide it. "Well, I don't know what the rumours say," she lied rather smoothly. Cloud had informed her of exactly what they said. "If you told me I could confirm or deny them." she purred, silky smooth, as if nothing really concerned her.

Scar's dark grey left ear twitched slightly. He looked her right in the eye. "They're saying that you were a citypet."

She couldn't get angry, that would only get her into trouble. She tried to make her pelt lie flat, but failed: it was still sticking up in aggressive spikes.

Her Teacher was smiling slightly. "So the gossip is true, for once."

Ivy was going to choke on her rage. He thought she didn't know the rumours but she did. He was implying that she was a soft kitty with trimmed claws, a jingly bell at the end of her collar, and a stench of Twolegs.

She unsheathed her claws, just so he could see how sharp they were, how much damage they would do if she slashed them across his fur... Stop. Don't get into trouble on your first day.

Swallowing her outrage with difficulty, she sat stiff as a pole, forcing her pelt to lay flat and her ears not to press back against her head. It took all the self-control and common sense she had not to launch herself at him to tear his eyes out.

He was dangerous, much more so than her. If a fight started, he would take her out with his front paws tied behind his back. All her focus was on keeping her paws stuck to the ground, stopping herself from dropping into an attack crouch.

Scar just looked a little amused; she wasn't fooling him. He knew she was about to burst with fury, he knew it was his fault, and he enjoyed it. He also knew that the little smile would make her even madder because she would guess all these things. She wanted to yowl her frustration out. How was it that he had manipulated her so well? How did he do that?

A voice in her head told her that he had probably learnt it lurking in the darkness where he belonged, that she should leave it alone. However, another one was there too.

Observe him. You'll learn to do it too. Imagine all the power it brings, to be able to get anycat exactly where you want them, without them realising until it's too late...

It was certainly more persuasive than the first. Ivy licked her lips at the prospect of that, then felt like like clawing herself in the face. Where had the honest, sunny part of her that she thought she had brought with her from her citypet days? It had seemingly disappeared, or was buried deep. She determined to dig it out, no matter the cost.

Making her voice as normal as possible, she said, as dignified as she could:

"They seem to be." He smirked a bit, but she pretended not to notice. "What are we doing today?" She decided to act like any normal Trainee, an eager look carefully placed on her face - but she soon realised there was no need to act this part, she truly did want to learn new moves. She would just need to forget that she would have to use those very techniques against a cat that she would need to kill. No big deal.

"I'm sure it isn't all. You don't look fresh out of the City." Was that a compliment? Or was he saying that, despite all her efforts, she looked like a shaggy wildcat? She decided to think positive.

"No," she replied, "I've been taking care of myself for moons now."

Scar settled down comfortably. "I think you might have a story to tell." His eyes gleamed. "I haven't heard a good story in awhile, let's see if yours match my standards."

How did he know that a challenge was all she needed to do anything? She had chosen to play the easy-going kitty game, and she would stick to it. After all, change your technique in the middle of a game of secrets and lies, and victory will elude you.

Ivy decided to tell him. She talked about her sister's death. About the comfort she had found in the Band. How she had one day found herself inexplicably attracted to the mysterious emerald forest, and had gotten lost in it that very sunround. When she had met Slick who had denied knowing, and the fox attack soon after, that he had fought off, and he had told her how to heal him with goldenrod and cobweb.

She told him how Slick had taught her to hunt, and how the next day he had had an infection-induced fever because of a mistake she had made in the poultice, and was thrashing around muttering nonsensical half-sentences. She described the wound, how horrible the infection was. How she had gone to look for more goldenrod to replace the dressing, and found Jay along with it. How they had healed Slick, how Jay had revealed that he knew the way back home to the City.

She explained her dilemma, and her decision to go home, how crushed Jay and Slick were. She told him about Jay's tragic death at the savage claws of the dog that she had contributed to setting free. She talked about her decision to leave her old home in the City and to become a wild cat. She finished by explaining about the last few uneventful, lonely moons and how she had stumbled across Slick, being found by the Blood patrol only heartbeats after.

Scar looked thoughtful. "That was better than I expected." He paused for a while, so long that Ivy wondered if he had fallen asleep with his eyes open. Then he went on. "Did you know that the Blood used to be established in the City?"

Ivy widened her eyes and shook her head no. If I'd gone exploring on my own I might have been ripped to shreds by these thugs!

"It was... Okay. For those of us who could take care of themselves properly. The hunting was rather poor, scavenging led to sickness, so did hunting rats." He explained. "The Governor - The Governor at the time that is - was very set in his ways. He wanted to stay. Our present Governor decided to overthrow him with a few cats she had found in the Blood that were willing to leave to the forest.

"So the succession in the Blood is rather simple. The Governor is top cat. They appoint a Commander, who is supposed to advise them, but will mostly back up what they say and do their dirty work." Ivy nodded to say she understood. "Well the Governor killed both the previous Governor and his Commander, and took power for herself, by herself. She rules mainly with fear, no one dares to speak against her, no one dares to do anything that would displease her. Her Commander now is Stone."

"Isn't his name ironic." Ivy murmured. She saw Scars ears swivelling towards her. Oh no! He heard me!

To her utter shock, he threw his head back and roared with laughter. "I think you might yet grow on me!" Ivy's eyes were still round with surprise. "Stone - stone-hearted - as stupid as a stone -" He couldn't even finish his sentence, he was laughing so hard. Ivy thought he might have liked the sarcasm, seeing as he was so sarcastic all the time.

After his laughing fit was over, he lowered his voice confidentially. "This isn't the sort of thing that you can go an tell anyone." His yellow eyes darted around, making sure no one was listening in to their conversation. "A lot of cats here would run to tell Stone the heartbeat they heard. You've got to understand, here, it's not easy. It might be a group but it's mainly everycat out for themselves. If it means they'll get extra points with Stone - which could mean that they could be the next Commander - they'd do, well, mostly anything."

Ivy nodded calmly, but inside, she was screaming.

Talking can get you killed? You might die or be permanently scarred at the end of your training? Cats just overthrow each other? A rule based on fear?

Wasn't that just great.

Hey did anyone notice that in the Night flashback chapter, it was said that Slick was in her Trainee group? Also I hope you liked this chapter!

Disclaimer:

Crystalshine: Hi, um, Flame? Will you say the disclaimer?

Flame: Why should I?

Crystalshine: Because.

Flame: Because of what exactly?

Crystalshine: *is combusting in fury* Because of - you know what, how did you know exactly how to make me mad?

Flame: You should know. You're supposed to know. You created me. Maybe you're just stupid.

Crystalshine: *dies*

Flame: Crystalshine owns her OCs and the plot. The Warriors universe belongs to the Erins, if it did belong to her Hollyleaf wouldn't have died.

Crystalshine: *de-dies* I'm going to kill you you little -

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~Crystalshine of LightClan (REVIEW!) (IMMA KILL FLAME) (REVIEW!)