Adderkit

"Adderkit, I'm certainly impressed with your progress!" Pineleaf examined my back with surprise. "Have you been doing anything that I wouldn't know about? Using any herbs? What?"

"I've only been taking the ones you give me," I replied, shrugging.

"Well, I bet you're excited about the idea of leaving the den, but I'd like you to stay one more night, just to make sure there isn't any internal bleeding that could cause problems or anything like that. You'll still have to take it easy with your training though, after you get apprenticed in a couple days."

I think back to Thrushpaw. He'd probably be pretty mad at me. "Actually, I wasn't too excited."

As Pineleaf left, Sagepaw came bounding in and took her place. No, wait, it was Sagepetal. She passed her warrior assessment with flying colors. "How do you think it happened? Your fast healing, I mean. Pineleaf said she'd never seen anything like it."

"I wish I knew."

She stared at my blank expression for a moment. "So, are you excited for your ceremony? You'll finally get to leave camp!"

"Yeah, I guess. Is it that exciting out there?"

"Well, I will admit, once you've seen ShadowClan territory, you don't get that excited over it. But the first time was amazing!"

Sagepetal sounded so enthusiastic, but I wasn't feeling it. "Thanks for coming in here," I mumbled, "but I'd like to try and get some sleep. Nothing against you or anything, it's just kinda late and…"

"Oh." Her smile dropped for a second, but she pulled the corners of her mouth back up and added, "Sleep well."

But as soon as she left, I felt wide awake. Thoughts swam around in my head about Echostream, Thrushpaw, and Sagepetal. It seemed like moons before I finally fell asleep.

When I opened my eyes again, it wasn't to the walls of the medicine den. Instead, I found myself in a clearing in a dimly lit forest. I couldn't see any sign of any animals until a black and gray tom entered the clearing.

"Adderkit." As he whispered my name, a chill ran up my spine. "I've been expecting you." He studied me carefully. I shrank back under his unnerving gaze. Finally, he stopped staring and turned around. "Come with me," he called over his shoulder. "You have to meet the others."

He was referring to a group of four a little ways away. I saw another kit, obviously frightened but still trying to look brave, two warriors, both of which had their eyes narrowed, and an apprentice, who just looked surprised and confused.

"Who are you?" the apprentice barked. "What do you want with us?"

The tom smirked. "Quite the temper, I see. I am Leopardscar, and I have brought the five of you here because you're special. I specifically chose each of you because you possess qualities that will assist me in my quest, but most importantly, you're all alive."

"Does that mean you're… dead?" the other kit squeaked. She started to look queasy.

"How observant. Yes, yes I am. Welcome to the Dark Forest."

Another chill. I shivered, noticing the other cats looked just as uncomfortable. The apprentice was even growling. Wherever this Dark Forest was, It didn't sound like a very good place to be.

"When I was still alive, I was a loyal RiverClan warrior, but let's just say something unspeakable happened. I still don't see how I'm in the wrong, but whatever it was, it was enough for StarClan to send me to this hellish place. Luckily, I still have a paw in the land of the living. Enough to start a revolution that will change the Warrior Code as we know it.

"I have given you each a specific ability that has the power to help me take over the Clans. You must help me if you wish to remain alive. If you defy me, despite being dead myself, I can and will kill you, in which case I'd choose one of the others." Before we could ask who this set of "others" were, he turned to the kit and stated, "Mosskit, you have the ability to control the outcome of any battle. Think of any way you would like for it to end, and it will happen. In fact, your fear of your mother's death in the battle with ShadowClan is the only reason why she died."

The kit turned green. She sat down in disbelief, staring at the ground. I had heard about the attack on RiverClan from the warriors who participated. It was quite the hot topic the day before Thrushpaw almost killed me. I heard that Tawnysky was particularly proud of killing a queen.

"Mistyclaw." One of the warriors glared at him, but Leopardscar wasn't fazed in the slightest. "If you'll recall the vision you had, you know, the one where you end up in the medicine den. Yes, in fact, that does mean you will unfortunately be harmed in the near future. Sad, I know. It'll be a major setback, but you'll recover. And don't worry. As this is unsanctioned by StarClan, you won't have to become a medicine cat."

I was next. "Adderkit, you healed very quickly after Thrushpaw attacked. I couldn't quite get invincibility, sorry. This was the best I could do."

That would explain my unexpected healing. I finally had an answer, but I didn't suppose I could tell Pineleaf.

"Streamripple," he meowed, moving on to the second warrior, "Do you remember when you were hunting recently with Harepaw? Well, I have blessed you with the capability to force any cat to do whatever you want, so when you told him to sit down, he had no choice but to follow your orders."

The warrior paled. "You… you… Is Harepaw going to be okay?"

"Of course. Give him a few days, and he'll be right as rain." Finally, he focused on the apprentice. "Oakpaw, when you changed to look like Grayfrost, that was the first time you used your power of appearance manipulation." The apprentice growled even more, but a hint of realization danced in his eyes.

"Now that we're all acquainted, let's talk game plan. The preferred result is that you five take over the Clans as their leaders, so-"

"But I thought Pantherstrike and the other four from SkyClan were going to rule! Tell the truth, what's really going on?"

Leopardscar looked pointedly at the apprentice. "If you must know, Oakpaw, I have also recruited another cat from each Clan, luring them in with the false promise of power. However, it will take more than ten cats to make a change, so I instructed them to find four others in their respective Clans and tell them more lies about leadership. Complicated, I know, and it'll make a whole lot of cats angry, but what else was I supposed to do? Not many cats are willing to fight what they know without an incentive."

I didn't see how any of the lies were good ideas, but I was too scared to speak up. What if he wasn't lying about being able to cause harm? This whole setup was too shifty to not take anything seriously.

"Anyway, now it's time for you to meet the others. I will be back in a moment." Leopardscar left, leaving the five of us alone, but only for a few seconds. He returned with five new cats in tow. Well, new but not unfamiliar. I recognized Marshclaw from ShadowClan, and I shivered as he gave me a fiery glare.

"What's going on here? Why are there a bunch of kits?" he spat at Leopardscar, who didn't even blink.

"These are the five cats with special abilities to assist you in your conquest. I trust you've already recruited the four others in your Clan, telling them the lie I've concocted?" All five of them nodded.

A she-cat with a brown pelt looked us over. "They're okay. What can they do?"

As Leopardscar described each of our powers, their expressions varied. The she-cat and a brown one-eyed tom that reeked of fish were smirking, while Marshclaw's turned up the heat in his glare.

"But Adderkit has the worst power out of all of them! Ottertail's kit and Streamripple have the best powers, why couldn't he get one of them? He's not even completely invincible," he added, but Leopardscar was unfazed.

"If you're unsatisfied, I can always find another cat to replace you. Of course, I'd have to dispose of you, to make sure you stay quiet, but if that's what you want…"

"I'll take the dumb kit and his lousy power," Marshclaw muttered.

"Glad you've decided to cooperate. Now, do any of you have a plan?" Leopardscar walked off to talk strategy with the five "leaders," while Mistyclaw looked over to us, obviously concerned.

"Are you three going to be okay?" Mistyclaw asked me, Mosskit and Oakpaw.

"I hate this. I hate that I put my apprentice in harm's way." Streamripple paced behind us. "I hate that little… And I hate that he didn't even have the decency to choose warriors. Kits and apprentices have no place in the Dark Forest."

Mistyclaw glared at the pacing silver she-cat. "Saying things you hate isn't going to solve anything. We need to figure out a way out of this."

"But Leopardscar said he'd kill us if we dared to defy him," Mosskit cried, fear growing in her voice. Oakpaw looked at her, and his perpetual glare softened.

"We'll figure something out. Somehow." Turning on Mistyclaw and Streamripple, he added, "And just because I'm an apprentice doesn't mean I'm not capable of handling myself. I'm only a moon away from my warrior assessment, you know."

Mistyclaw rolled her eyes. "Now we do. But the two kits aren't at all prepared for anything Leopardscar might ask them to do, which might pose a problem as he expects more out of us."

"I'm supposed to be apprenticed in a few days," I told them.

"Good. Learn all you can, as fast as you can. You're going to need it if Leopardscar expects things to get ugly."

I decided to take a little break for summer because I was busy, but we're back!

Thank you to those who reviewed!

Beetlefur - Did that sort out your confusion? If not, I promise you, everything will become clear as the story progresses.

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