AN. Greetings fellow Warriors! It is I, Flamerunner! If you see anything you think I could fix, or anything I could do better please leave a message in the reviews. Please review, (does puppy dog eyes) I need your thoughts on this story (please be kind and keep the reviews PG!) If you think of any names, I could use the inspiration! One more thing, I absolutely HATE it when I get invested into a story and then the author just stops writing. So, I will, to the best of my abilities, finish this story. If for some reason I cannot finish, I will let someone adopt it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Warriors (sob sob, falls on the floor crying).
Chapter one
Flash's POV
I was running. It wasn't to hunt, it wasn't to flee, it wasn't to attack, I was simply running for the joy of running. My tail flew behind me, balancing me, steadying me, keeping me on track. My paws pounded into the ground which was soft and springy after an unusually large storm. I knew my claws were gouging the earth, and that they were going to be a pain to clean later. I didn't care, I was doing what I was built to do, run.
Long tall grass whipped past my face but I didn't feel it because of my adrenalin. I saw the shiny hedge that kept my kind in, approaching fast, and leapt into the air. I used my large tail to turn myself and took off running down the hedge.
Suddenly a blur of tan and black spots slammed into me and knocked me off my paws. We tumbled over and over in the grass, paws and tails tangled, before finally coming to a stop against the hedge. With me on bottom and the "threat" that had attacked me on top, the paw planted heavily against my chest held me firmly against the warm damp earth. "Great," I thought, "Now I'll have to clean a lot more than just my claws."
"Pinned ya!" taunted a voice that I knew well, having had to put up with it from birth.
"Dash get off!" I complained as my litter mate cackled gleefully.
"I win! I win!" he crowed joyfully.
"Not so fast." I hissed playfully, using my foreleg I swiped my brother's paws out from under him. Quickly I leapt up as Dash hit the ground and placing a paw on his neck, I lowered my head to whisper into his furry ear.
"Want to rethink your earlier statement?" I questioned, his eyes narrowed and he seemed to be considering his options. Finally with a resigned sigh he nodded.
"I want to hear you say it!" I said in a singsong tone. He groaned then replied.
"I Dash, without my consent, state that Flash the idiot, has won this small and insignificant round of playfighting." He grumbled under his breath. I smirked.
"That's more like it!" I said and let him up. He looked tired from running after me, while I, however, felt like I had merely stretched. I flexed my muscles and shook out my fur.
"We'd better get back. Swift and Firewind will be worried about us." I stated
"Why do you insist on calling mother and grandfather by their formal names?"
"It makes me sound older. I replied now come on we've got to go its almost time for the spoilers to bring the meat!" my brother perked up at the mention of food.
"Race you back!" He chirped over his shoulder. "But I get a head start!"
"That's not fair! I complained.
"Yes, it is you're faster." he shot back
I huffed a laugh; my littermate was a complete baboon. I took off after him catching up easily. When his tail was at my muzzle I snapped at it, catching it in my teeth I jerked my head and threw him off balance causing Dash to stumble to the side. I quickly took the lead and glanced over my shoulder. I couldn't help but grin as I saw him trip over a root in his attempts to catch up. I saw mother and grandfather sitting in the shade of a tree.
Running up to them I dug my claws into the ground and whipped my tail out so that it jerked me around stopping me completely but also creating a dust cloud at which my mother sighed.
"Flash, dear if you're going to use a fancy stop, please invent a less dusty way."
"In my day we did things like that all the time." My grandfather spoke up, causing my mother to narrow her eyes at him.
"Not you too!" she complained, "Well I mean what I said no more dust!"
"Yes Swift" I said obediently.
"Don't you mean mother?" she asked, "I don't know where all the formal name calling came from." I felt my face fill with heat.
"I just thought it sounded more mature." At this my mother rolled her eyes.
"You're only six rotations old!" she said sounding exasperated. I heard a harsh panting sound, and turned to see Dash walking slowly up to our small group.
"What took you so long?" I questioned. He narrowed his eyes at me
"Not all of us are freaks ya know." He quietly snarled at me. My mother glared at him.
"Apologize to your brother NOW!" I was shocked; my mother never raised her voice. Dash sighed and turned to me.
"I'm sorry I called you a freak."
"Its fine." I replied even though on the inside I was felt that familiar prick of self-doubt Dash was right I was a freak. Most cheetahs could only run at top speed for around thirty seconds, while I on the other hand, could run for as long as I wanted to without tiering., I was also much faster than the average cheetah. It was plain freaky, he was right. I guess mother could tell by my clamped jaw that Dash's comment got to me, because she said,
"Lets just get to the feeding center, hopefully the spoilers will be there." I perked up.
"Let's go!"
I immediately started running, the wind through my fur helping me to forget Dash's comment, even though doubts still played in the back of my mind. "You are nothing! Your brother was right you are a freak. It's a good thing you haven't showed him your other abilities."
I flinched at the last one and doing so caused me to misstep into a hole hidden by the dry grass. I felt a sharp pain shoot through my ankle and heard an audible crack. I yelped as I went down, pain radiating from my paws all the way up into my shoulder. Right then I used a couple words I knew mother wouldn't approve of, but I couldn't bring myself to care at that moment. My ankle was definitely broken. I cursed myself "hyena brain! How could you have been so stupid!" I sighed hoping Dash would not stumble onto me. It wasn't so much the fact that he would laugh at me, but the fact that he would catch me half healed. I had other abilities that I hadn't shared with anyone. I was an abomination to nature.
On top of freaky stamina and speed, I had advanced healing, acute senses, and strength to rival a fully grown lion. I imagined what my family would say if they knew that I had these abilities. I perked up my ears to listen for my relative's approach. I heard nothing but the call of the hawks high in the sky and the soft swaying of the grass in the warm breeze. Relaxing I settled more comfortably into the dry grass, it rubbed against my pelt of black spots.
My mind started to wonder as my healing worked on my ankle. I wondered what the spoilers would think if they found out about my abilities. The spoilers were strange creatures who walked on two legs and had colorful pelts with dark furless faces. They came in strange metal box contraptions that almost seemed to roar like lions. Except that lions ran out of breath, while these things didn't seem to. I was startled out of my revelry by my ankle which popped while the jabbing shooting pain faded to a dull ache.
Jumping to my paws I started trotting towards the jaws where I knew the spoilers would be. At the edge of the stream that created the border between our territory and that of the alternate group which lived in the other half of the large enclosure. Quickly I raised my head scenting the air and making sure that the other tribe wasn't nearby. We had an unsteady truce that stated that we were allowed to cross the land to get to the jaws, but I'd still rather not meet them without back up. "It's not like I couldn't take them", I mumbled to no one in particular. Then a breeze drifted towards my nose. "Hyena dung!" I cursed silently. The other tribe was approaching fast. I could smell them on the breeze. I jumped the stream and broke into a run. My muscles stretched pleasantly as I dived around small trees and leapt over the scraggly bushes that dotted our habitat. My paws pounded into the ground as I raced the wind, letting out a yelp of pure elation. Unfortunately, that was the moment that I ran through a cloud of small bugs. I kept running but now I had bugs in my mouth and was hacking and coughing. Distracted I smacked hard into the metal hedge.
"OWWWWWW!" I screeched "WHY?!" I heard a laughing and turned to see my brother on the ground chirping with laughter.
"You just! HA HA! You just ran into the hedge!" I rolled my eyes at Dash and rubbed my smarting snout with one foreleg.
"That was the… HA HA HA! …greatest thing I have ever seen!" I was about to make a reply but then I heard it, the steady roaring of the approaching metal box. I grinned. Metal boxes brought spoilers, and spoilers meant food. I perked up my ears as I heard and smelled more cheetahs approaching. I identified mother and grandfather, as well as the five cheetahs from the other tribe. I tilted my head in a friendly way when they broke through the grass.
"Greetings." The leader Breeze said dipping her head politely. The other four members in her family dipped their heads. I nodded back, opening my jaws to answer but at that moment the familiar clang, clang, clang cut off my words. The meaningless chatter of the spoilers cut over me. Then the tantalizing smell of meat drifted toward me carried on the wind. My mouth watered, but I waited politely until the spoilers had opened the jaws and stepped through to make any move towards them. The leader made the noise I knew meant stop and stay. I did so, and the spoiler then grabbed the shiny feed carrier. We had all learned long ago that the feed carrier was where the meat comes from. The spoiler then reached a thick paw into the carrier and pulled out a hunk of bloody meat. He threw it to Hawk, one of the cheetahs from the other tribe. He reached in to the pail and pulled out food throwing it to me, and then proceeded to throw more to the rest of us. When my piece landed at my feet I immediately bent over and sank my sharp canines into my evening meal.
It was good as always, a little bland but overall, still delicious. I took a break to look up at my grandfather who had just gotten his piece and was whispering to it like always. I wondered why he did that? After all of us had been fed the spoiler turned and left through the jaws, closing them behind him. After we finished eating the other tribe walked us slowly to our border. We chatted about the changing seasons and the unusually large rain we had gotten a few nights ago. I saw a chirper in the grass and set off after it, trapping it with my paw and then letting it go. Eventually I wondered away from the group. I loved watching the stars come out at night. Gazing at a silver band of bright one, I saw a streak of light that flashed across the sky. A falling star, I thought silently to myself. A breeze rustled through the dry grass, and a voice danced through my head. Four will come together and unite to save the clans from this terrible plight.
"What the?" I scanned the undergrowth looking for who might have said it. However, I found no one, and turning I ran quickly and caught up to my tribe at the border.
"Where were you?" Swift asked.
"I was chasing a chirper." I answered truthfully
"Well don't wander off on territory that's not ours." She huffed.
"Yes Mother." I replied then our small family turned and made our way home to our tree. When we arrived Dash immediately flopped down under the branches, and mother followed suit. Grandfather lay down next to the trunk and I collapsed next to him. Before I slept though I had a question.
"Grandfather" I asked hesitantly.
"Yes?" He asked
"Why do you whisper to your food before each meal?" He looked surprised.
"You noticed that?" He questioned.
"Yes, and I was wondering about it." He was quiet for a while and I was afraid that I had offended him, but then Firewind turned to me and looked me dead in the eyes, and said something that seemed to awaken a longing in me. A longing for the wild. He asked me.
"Have you ever heard of Starclan?"
AN. DONE 2,404 words, my hands are DEAD! Well, if you like it though, it was worth it. So obviously Spoilers are the humans, Jaws are the gate, and metal hedge is a fence, and a chirper is a cricket. Please review I NEED to know what you guys think especially since this is my first fanfiction. If I have something I could work on be please be kind when you tell me! Hopefully I'll be able to update by next week! :) Any way gtg
-Savanna West