MOONPOOL

Stars were already shining, and a quiet mist seemed to be settling upon the earth.

"We have to go down there?" Bravepaw asked as he gazed over at Elmfur, she had her head raised toward the beautiful night sky, looking over at him, she then replied,

"Yes, we must follow the tunnel until we reach the Moonpool. Don't worry, it won't stay dark forever down there. You two must try and stay close behind me. If you use your whiskers it'll help with your sense of direction."

She breathed in the night air one more time," Alright, follow me."

Bravepaw followed her quickly down the tunnel and Redpaw came closely behind him.

The faint light they had had from the moon vanished as they went deeper into the tunnel.

"I feel like I can't breathe in here!" Bravepaw thought to himself.

The tunnel was getting narrower and narrower and he now only felt a slight gap between him and the wall of dirt. Trying to keep up with Elmfur's pace, he felt Redpaw's whiskers brushing his tail. It felt good to have Redpaw with him. Bravepw couldn't smell much of anything in the damp underground, but even without smelling Redpaw's fear scent he knew he was every bit as scared and nervous as him.

Slowly a light started to flicker from ahead, then all at once the tunnel opened up into a wide circle where a strong beam of bright white light shined on them from an small opening in the earth above them.

Bravepaw looked at Redpaw and saw what must have been a reflection of the same awe he felt inside him. He then turned to Elmfur who was smiling at both of them. She then signaled them to the side of the cave where a small pool of water lay still. Lying down beside it she gestured them to do the same.

"This is it," She meowed quietly, "Now touch your nose to the pool, and Let StarClan guide your dreams."

The last thing Bravepaw felt was the cool water touching his nose and then for a second everything went black.

Almost like when he opened his eyes for the first time as a kit, a blurry form of green appeared before him, he blinked a second time only to now see everything clearly. He was in some sort of field, there were two trees closely side by side of each other, one was an apple tree in full blossom while the other seemed to have little peaches starting to grow on it.

On one of the apple blossom branches, sat a young tom-cat. He looked as if he had been touched by the stars for his pelt shined brightly and was a soft brown, with white splotches on it. Bravepaw guessed that he wasn't any older than himself. He hopped down and made his way over to where Bravepaw was standing.

"Hello, my name is Wildtail," He introduced himself then continued "I'm glad you're here, you're the first real cat I've spoken to since coming to Starclan." He then distractedly gave an antsy jump towards a passing butterfly.

"I thought Starclan cats would be more poise and wise!" Bravepaw thought, "This seems like getting advice from Redpaw!"

"And I have a message for you from the cats of Starclan!" He added as he flicked his tail back in forth in excitement.

"Oh! A message! I wonder what it's gonna be," Thought Bravepaw, "Hopefully it'll be something about my parents!"

Wildtail then just sat their staring at him with an amused look on his face.

Bravepaw, suddenly then realizing he hadn't said a single word since getting there, quickly introduced himself, "I'm Bravepaw."

Wildtail gave a slight chuckle, "Of course I know who you are, but it's nice to finally meet you face to face. I've been looking forward to your coming."

Bravepaw looked at him and decided that even though this was not what he had expected of Starclan, he liked Wildtail a lot.

"I don't have much time, so I will give you the message now.

Trials are coming for Thunderclan, and you may be the only cat able to stop them.

Always remember, a brave heart is stronger than any storm,

But friendship will take some of the sting out of life's hard times,

Look in yourself to find out who you were meant to be!"

Bravepaw suddenly looked down at his chest and felt a fiery burning near his heart as the beating quickly sped up. His paws felt glued to the spot as he looked up and saw Wildtail slowly begin fading away.

"No! Please wait!" He called out, "I have so many questions to ask you still!"

But when he opened his eyes again, he only saw the dim darkness left in the Moonpool and Redpaw and Elmfur rising from their spots where they had been earlier.

He could still feel the racing of his heart, though the burning feeling had left him.

Bravepaw had never seen Elmfur look so worried, not even when she was dealing with gruesome wounds. He knew better then to ask what her dream had been about, though she would probably discuss it with Bladestar.

Redpaw's face contained a look of one who is mystified and deep contemplation.

"Let's be off again, remember stay close to me" Elmfur meowed trying to keep the worriedness out of her voice.

When they emerged into the open field they could see the sun slowly starting to rise from behind a big hill.

"It's been a long night. Let's try and get a few moments of sleep before we set off again," Elmfur stated.

"I don't think I'll be able to sleep at all!" Redpaw whispered into Bravepaw's ear. "Me too," Bravepaw agreed.

"That was really something, huh?" asked Bravepaw as they continued to keep their voices low so as not to disturb Elmfur.

"It was everything I expected, and more!" Redpaw exclaimed then continued, "I know we're not supposed to say what we were told in Starclan, but do you think it would be alright to tell who gave us our message?"

"I think that we can." Bravepaw meowed quietly.

"Good! I spoke with my Grampa! I've always wanted to meet him. He looked just like my Father, except…starrier? If that makes any sense! Who did you speak with?"

Bravepaw thought back to Wildtail and how he had acted nothing what he thought a Starclan warrior would be like. "I spoke with a tom-cat that I never met before! He was around our age too. I must say Starclan was not near as clear as I had hoped!"

"Yeah mine wasn't very clear either, if that helps," Redpaw meowed.

"Well I guess we better try and get some shut-eye, Elmfur looks like she's already chasing mouse tails." Bravepaw added with a grin.

Even though neither felt tired, the excitement and long trek had worn them out and they were asleep within a few minutes.

Bravepaw's eyelids drooped open as he realized Elmfur was gently nudging him and telling him they had to leave. They couldn't have slept for more than a few hours and Bravepaw felt as if stones were resting on his paws as he shakily stood up.

"I went hunting earlier," Elmfur was meowing as she pointed to a small shrew and a half eaten mouse, "This was all I could find."

"Thanks Elmfur," they meowed in unison.

"This is the best shrew I've ever tasted!" Bravepaw meowed between his bites.

"That's only because you've been without food for so long," Elmfur replied.

After they finished their late breakfast they set out again towards their journey home. This time though, Elmfur slowed the pace down, noticing how tired they were.

They had just crossed back into Clan territory when a blood curling yowl rang from the forest! A she-rogue jumped from one of the trees onto Bravepaw. (who had been in the back of the line )

Bravepaw felt sharp claws dig into his back. She had the element of surprise and quickly pinned him on the ground. Quickly remembering his battle training Bravepaw rolled, scratched her exposed belly and thrust up with a mighty shove using all his weight.

"It worked!" Swiftly jumping on the rogue, he pinned her face into the ground as he growled, "What do you want, rogue? I'm a ThunderClan cat and you are on my territory, and are not welcome here!"

"Lilypaw? Is that you?" Elmfur was now right beside Bravepaw and seemed to recognize the rogue!

"Wait, she said Lilypaw? " Bravepaw thought, "How can that be? I thought only Warriors became "paws." "

"It's alright Bravepaw, I know her, you can get off now." Elmfur meowed.

Once he was off and she was standing on all fours again, he saw now why she had been so easy to defeat. Bravepaw noticed the tip of her left ear was missing and had been replaced by a scar, her pelt hung loosely and matted on her thin body. She looked as if she hadn't had a decent meal in moons. Her eyes were the only thing that betrayed she still had a spark of life in her.

"Yes Elmfur, it's me." The rogue replied in answer to the question she'd asked moments ago.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" Elmfur, asked, half exclaimed.

"I need to speak with Bladeclaw," The rogue meowed eargently.

"Well actually it's Bladestar now," Elmfur meowed proudly.

The rogue gave a weak smile, "I'm glad."

"What is your business with him?" Redpaw asked, the same question which had also been on Bravepaw's mind.

"I'm… I'm in trouble." She answered shakily.

"Why should that affect Bladestar? Bravepaw meowed.

She then turned and looked him in the eye and replied, "Because I'm his sister."

Author notes/ Whewie! That was the longest chapter yet! I would like to say a big thank you to EmeraldGamer3330 for following my story! I appreciate it

Also in reply to my guest review, I'm glad that u r liking the story so far! I like to use the "u and r" in my author notes cause they're what I normally use for texting, but I try not to use them in the story part because I just don't feel like they belong there;)! Thank u for you review!