Oakpaw

As Ottertail walked alongside me, he called out, "Mosspaw! Mosspaw! Where are you? We just want to talk!"

"You've got to be kidding me." I stopped abruptly, forcing Ottertail to halt his pace. "She's not a kit anymore. You can't talk to her like she is, it's not going to get you anywhere."

"I'll do what I want." Ottertail motioned for me to move, but I stayed put.

"Do you really expect that, after all the drama she just went through, that she's going to reveal herself and come back to RiverClan with you?"

"Well, yes. It's safe. We can protect her. The forest is dangerous for someone like her."

"'Someone like her?'" But Ottertail ignored me. I rolled my eyes and followed behind him as he picked up his pace. After a while, I couldn't stand it any more and asked, "Can we split up? We can cover more ground and let's face it, Mosspaw probably wants to talk to me much more than you."

I might as well have suggested that I eat both of his newborn kits.

"Absolutely not. How do I know you're not going to leave, or worse, ambush me?"

So I tried to reason with him. "Well, think about it. If she was willing to completely trash your reputation with the others who work for Leopardscar, then she probably doesn't like you. But me, I'm more relatable. I know exactly what she's going through. And she trusts me a lot more than she trusts you."

Ottertail mulled over the information for a few moments. Finally he growled, "Fine. But if you try anything…"

"Wouldn't dream of it," I lied.

And so I searched, calling out her name occasionally. But mostly, I tried to put as much distance between myself and the last place I saw Ottertail.

Finally, when I called, I heard a response.

"Oh. Shellpaw. You're back." Mosspaw came out from behind a tree and her face lit up. "Oakpaw?"

"Who's Shellpaw?" I asked, curious. "Wait. Right now, it doesn't matter. We have to go. Ottertail's looking for you and we have to leave."

"How come, Oakpaw? Mosspaw can stay right where she is." Ottertail emerged from the nearby undergrowth, growling. "Or, both of you can come with me right back to RiverClan! How does that sound?" Was his good eye… twitching?

But Mosspaw crouched next to me, growling softly. Too late, I realized she was about to attack.

Streamripple

We travelled through the night in silence. Smoky charged forward without looking back at us to make sure we were still right behind him. As Adderpaw walked, his eyelids drooped, and I could tell it took all of his strength to stay awake. Which left me alone with my thoughts.

The common nursery stereotype about ShadowClan's ferocity and terror ingrained in the minds of young kits was feeling more and more untrue when it came to these two. Adderpaw was obviously very different from his older Clanmates, and even Smoky was nice enough to bring me along. Now, don't get me wrong, I had met some pretty unruly ShadowClan cats at Gatherings, so I was used to attacking them with all the mean sarcasm I could. And I suppose that old habits die hard.

"The Twolegplace?" I scoffed as we approached. "Smoky, are you sure the diseases from the Carrionplace haven't gotten to your head?"

He glared back at me. "I may seem like an idiotic old ex-deputy, but I do believe I know what I'm doing. Do remember your place, Streamripple."

"Sorry," I replied quickly, silently berating myself for being so mean. "I guess I'm just curious about how this can help."

Smoky paused for a moment. He stared at the twoleg nest wistfully. "This is where I grew up." That explained his single name. "And I have some friends here that can offer their assistance."

"So, like kittypets?"

I didn't mean it as a retort, but to Smoky, I guess it came across that way. "Yes, Streamripple. Kittypets. Is that going to be a problem?"

Adderpaw watched our whole altercation, frowning. "Streamripple, keep in mind I advocated for you. I don't want to regret that decision."

"Shut up," I growled. Annoyed, I tried to walk away from the scene to cool off, but Smoky stopped me.

"Streamripple? Did you use your power of command on Adderpaw?"

I looked back at the apprentice. His eyes were blank and glassy. His mouth was closed. His posture was rigid, almost ready to take another step. He was waiting for further instructions.

"Fox dung! Adderpaw, snap-"

"Not quite yet," Smoky interjected calmly, looking at his glassy eyes. "If you lose your hold on him now, we'll have to carry him the rest of the way. How about, let's not do that, and you command him to follow us all the way to our destination. That way, he'll be easy to transport."

"How do you know the limits of my ability…" But I decided it didn't matter then. "Alright. Let's do this. Adderpaw, follow Smoky." Mechanically, Adderpaw strode toward Smoky and stopped a whisker-length away from the end of his tail. When Smoky took a step forward, Adderpaw copied his movement.

As we walked. Smoky asked, "How long does it take to wear off after you snap him out of it?"

"I think it depends on age and strength. My apprentice took three days to wake up, and then another to get back to normal, but Wildbramble took half that time. With Adderpaw, I think it'll take slightly more time than Harepaw since he's smaller."

"Wonderful. Well, I guess once we're there it won't matter."

We continued the rest of the way in silence.

Streamripple

Pure white fur, neatly groomed. Neat whiskers, perfectly straight.

Then I looked down at myself. Dirty silver fur, matted and tangled. Battle scars all over my flank and shoulders. But that meant I'd had some experience in the real world, unlike the she-cat sitting in front of me, eyeing me curiously.

Once we arrived at the Twolegplace, Smoky, with Adderpaw in tow, and his rogue friend Ghost went inside what they referred to as a "garage," telling me to stay outside with this perfect little kittypet. Who looked like she was also comparing our appearances.

I couldn't take the silence any longer, so I meowed, "Hi. I'm, uh, Streamripple."

"Wow, you even sound like a forest cat. And what a weird name. Though I suppose that it could have been worse. Isn't there a cat in… What was it… LightningClan? Isn't his name Sneezeheart or something?"

"It's ThunderClan," I sighed. "And yes, I guess his name is kind of-"

"Tell me," she interrupted, getting up to look closer at me. "How do you survive out there, hunting for your food? What about all those gross diseases?"

"We have our own medicine. And hunting really isn't that hard, but if-"

She shook her head. "Well, I guess you'll never know what it's like to have the furless look after you. You poor thing."

"Yeah, well, you can't talk. You eat flavorless fox dirt all day. You lose your claws when you're young. At least I eat real food. At least I keep my claws. At least there's no cutter in the forest, so I'm going to stay a she-cat and-"

"You little…" Without warning, the kittypet leaped at me. So I did what any warrior would do. I dodged.

Unfortunately for her, the rosebush behind me broke her fall. And that rosebush had a lot of thorns.

And that was the moment Smoky and Ghost decided to emerge from the garage. Ghost frowned, taking in the scene.

"Smoky, that apprentice can stay, but if she's going to beat up Bella when my back is turned, then-"

I shook my head, rolling my eyes. "Please. That disrespectful kittypet is not worth the effort. She just jumped at me, and I moved out of the way." When Ghost's frown deepened, I added, "Those scratches came from the thorns in the rosebush."

"I know. I have eyes." Ghost hurried over to the kittypet, Bella, and helped her out of the rosebush. "Are you alright? Nothing broken?"

"Not broken. But the scratches hurt a lot!" She looked over at me, and a ghost of a smirk danced across her muzzle. The white kittypet opened her jaws and wailed.

"You're not going to achieve anything by complaining like a kit," I hissed, rolling my eyes. "Learn to toughen up for once in your life, you lizard-brained daughter of a-"

"Of a what, Streamripple? If Bella is my daughter, what does that make me? Look, Smoky, I've tried to be civil about this, but I don't think this is going to work. She can-"

"Ghost?" We all turned to look at Bella. My heart dropped into my stomach. Her eyes were glazed over. But she blinked, and her eyes returned to normal.

And then my heart leaped into my throat as she added, "What do you think of the scratches on my face? Do they look cool? Will the Clan cats like them? They better, because it'll help me join the Clans."

And then Ghost spoke. His voice dropped so low, it was barely above a whisper. But the growl was dripping with anger.

"What. Did you do. To my daughter?"

Mosspaw

I don't know what I was thinking. Then again, I haven't really "thought" for the last couple of days.

For starters, I had zero battle experience, with the exception of the little skirmish I had with Shellpaw. I was also a good deal smaller than Ottertail.

But just before I leaped, a thought flew into my mind, and it was crystal clear.

I was going to win. And I kept that thought in my mind as I leapt forward.

When I attacked Ottertail, it felt like I didn't have any control over my body. Somehow, I manage to dodge all of his attacks and combat those with my own. I'm glad I didn't hurt him too badly, because I didn't want to live with his blood on my paws. But finally, I exhausted him enough that he collapsed and gave up.

It felt really good to win one. I stepped back, and looked up at Oakpaw, who was still staring in shock.

"What…"

"I just had to have enough confidence in myself. It was kind of a battle, and all I needed to do was think about winning. It worked. While the situation isn't ideal, we can still use these abilities to our advantage."

Oakpaw nodded slowly. "Good thinking. I might try that later. But we need to find the other three. We'll have a better chance together than apart."

"Well, ThunderClan is the closest."

"Yeah. But we have to be on our guard. As far as the Clans are concerned, we have done something criminal."

Mistyclaw

I woke from another haunting nightmare about Alderstar professing his love and Sunfoot's response. I couldn't get the vision out of my head, and it still stung. But I heard rustling in the undergrowth, too big to be prey. I retreated into the hollow log to hide.

And then I heard the voices, right outside of the log. I was stuck inside, praying to StarClan that they wouldn't find me.

It sounded like Sneezeheart and Ravenflight were yelling at some trespassers. Until a third voice joined in. Sunfoot's.

"As the deputy of ThunderClan, I demand you leave our territory at once, or suffer the consequences." And now, she was the deputy. Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.

"A, uh, kit, from our Clan, he wandered off." That deep voice sounded vaguely familiar.

Sneezeheart replied suspiciously, "I'm sorry to hear that. Which Clan?"

The first one rasped, "SkyClan," as the other one meowed "RiverClan."

"Which is it?" Ravenflight demanded.

"Idiots." I could just picture Sunfoot rolling her eyes. "They're two of the wanted cats. Take them to Alderstar. I'm sure we'll be in RiverClan and SkyClan's good graces once we return their disgraceful little apprentices."

So that meant that those two were Oakpaw and Mosspaw. They clearly needed help, being apprentices, but I was in no condition to help them. The most I could have done was revealed my position, opened my wounds, and gotten myself killed.

But then I heard the screams, and they weren't from the apprentices. I even heard Sunfoot make a noise I couldn't identify, but the fear was definitely there. And to top it all off, a few claw slashes. Without thinking, I crawled out of the log to look at the spectacle.

Sneezeheart and Ravenflight were running away from Oakpaw, and Sunfoot whimpered as Mosspaw stood over her. Disbelief mixed with joy, I stood there, taking in the scene.

But I should have been more careful, because someone found me."

"Mistyclaw, you must be stupid to think you can hide in ThunderClan territory." Alderstar growled, standing right behind me.

Oof. It's been a while. Posting will only get more inconsistent as time goes on. I'm sorry, life happens.

Thanks for reading! Please comment if you have any questions or feedback.