16: Blackstar's revenge
The shop was doing well again with Gravitypaw back. They earned $12,330 the next day, from a total of 43 customers. Everyone was super happy.
But in ShadowClan, things were a bit different...
"Okay, army!" Blackstar was saying. "You've been trained at the highest level! You must be ready for this! We will get our revenge on those morons TODAY!"
His army consisted of three warriors, two of which had never fought in a real battle, an apprentice, a half-dead mouse, a ball of moss, and a pile of sticks.
The apprentice made a weak noise that might have been a cheer, but also might have been a miserable whimper.
"TO THE SHOP!" Blackstar cried out, racing down the slope towards the Nether portal that he used to travel faster towards other cats' territories. The apprentice and two of his warriors followed him, the other one hanging back in hopes that Blackstar wouldn't notice she was gone.
Blackstar then turned around. "Hey! Flowertail! Squeakers! Mossy, StickPile! Let's go!"
Flowertail reluctantly followed him, but the mouse, the moss ball, and the pile of sticks did not.
"Hey! Why won't they follow me?" Blackstar asked.
Flowertail punched him in the face. "Because they aren't cats, idiot! They aren't intelligent life forms."
Blackstar pouted and ran through the portal with the half of his army that he had left.
Racing through the Nether tunnel that he'd built going towards Bushface, Firestar, and Gravitypaw's place, Blackstar felt like he was on top of the world. He was going to get revenge on Gravitypaw, and make the talented apprentice his servant.
Suddenly his own apprentice spoke. "If I help you get Gravitypaw, can I be friends with him?"
Blackstar didn't see any harm in that. "Sure."
Now they were at the Nether portal that was connected to Bushface's mansion. They went through it, and into the mansion.
"Why hello, there Blackstar! Nice to see you!" Gravitypaw said, trying to hide his fear.
"Haw haw haw! Gravitypaw, nice to see you too! YOU'RE COMING WITH ME!" Blackstar shouted, trying to grab Gravitypaw. The gray apprentice instead floated up out of his reach, hissing. Blackstar growled with rage.
"Hey! Blackstar, that's not cool! Leave Gravitypaw alone!" Bushface protested, and tried to swipe at him with a paw, but Blackstar darted out of his reach and jumped up to capture Gravitypaw. Somehow, he succeeded, and the four intruding cats were out of there in the blink of an eye.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Now I feel really bad about being a sussy imposter!" Firestar wailed. "This is all my fault! Our business partner is going to die, and it's all because of me! Waaaah!"
Bushface patted him on the back, soothing him. "It's okay. We'll find a way to get back at Blackstar."
"I hope so..."
In ShadowClan...
"Haw haw haw!" Blackstar sneered. "You're under my command now!"
Gravitypaw pouted, angry at having to be treated like a servant again, and having to hunt for five hours every day. He wished that he could escape this place.
Just then, another apprentice came up to him. He recognized this cat from when he'd been kidnapped. "Blackstar, you promised that I could be Gravitypaw's friend. So can we go play for a while before he has to be your servant? Please?" He added when Blackstar looked like he'd say no.
Reluctantly, the ShadowClan leader agreed. "Okay, Levinpaw. But only for twenty minutes. This young cat has a lot of work to do for me." He spoke his last few words in a menacing tone.
Levinpaw jumped with joy and raced out of Blackstar's den. "Come on, Gravitypaw!"
This cat looked like something else was on his mind, that wasn't just some apprentice game. Gravitypaw followed him.
Once they were out of earshot of Blackstar, Levinpaw spoke.
"I'm here to sneak you out. You guessed it, I want to help you escape. So let's go before Blackstar finds us." Then Levinpaw was haring away in the direction of the pine forest, leaving Gravitypaw with no other choice but to follow him and trust that he was an ally.
