I'm glad you like it so far, guys! Even if it's only three reviews, I'm glad I seem to be doing good so far. I've got two much bigger Warriors stories written but both contain characters that don't exactly belong to me, but both story ideas are mine. I hope you enjoy chapter two of this, guys!
Chapter 2: Silverkit's First Adventure
"And that was how the warrior code came to be." One-ear meowed, finishing up his tale. "Well, how did you like it?"
"That was great, One-ear!" Goldkit mewed. The golden tabby tom-kit's eyes shone with awe. "When I grow up, I want to have adventures like that!"
"Me, too!" Lionkit meowed.
"Well, there will be plenty of time for adventuring when you become apprentices." One-ear meowed. "Now then, your parents will be wondering where you are soon. Off to the nursery with you!"
"I'll accompany them, One-ear. No need for you to move." Wolftooth meowed, getting up.
After stretching a bit, the dark gray elder led the group of kits out of the elder's den and across the camp, snatching a mouse from the fresh-kill pile while he was at it. Approaching the nursery, he stepped inside and offered the mouse to the pregnant Embertail. The bright ginger queen accepted the gift, tearing into it hungrily.
"There you are!" Berrycloud meowed. "Took One-ear long enough to tell a tale, eh?"
"Hey, don't blame him. He likes to take his time." Wolftooth pointed out. "What's the point in telling a tale if you don't explain everything. These kits can't carry the warrior code in their hearts if they don't even know what every bit of it is for."
"I know, Wolftooth." Berrycloud purred. "I hope they weren't too much trouble."
"Compared to Brightflower's constant complaining, these guys were a relief." Wolftooth meowed.
"Well, I'm glad they were good for something." Berrycloud mewed. "Thanks for watching them."
"No problem, Berrycloud. Anytime," Wolftooth dipped his head. "Now, if you don't mind, I have a couple of apprentices coming over to rid me of ticks."
"Oh, my! Those poor apprentices!" Berrycloud laughed. "See you later, Wolftooth!"
"Yeah," The dark gray tom padded back to the elder's den, smirking as a pair of apprentices started coming his way.
Berrycloud turned to her four golden kits. "Now then, you weren't troubling Wolftooth and One-ear, were you?"
"No, mom. We were just listening to One-ear's stories." Brightpaw mewed, scuffling her only white paw along the ground.
"Yeah! They were so cool!" Sunkit meowed. "Do you think we'll have adventures like that when we get older, mom?"
"Maybe," Berrycloud meowed. Then she noticed something. "Where's Silverkit?"
"She's right…here?" Goldkit looked around. "She was with us with One-ear!"
"Where did she go?" Sunkit mewed. "Silverkit! Where are you?"
Berrycloud instantly shot out of the den, terribly alarmed. "Silverkit! Silverkit!" she yowled. "Silverkit!"
~*~*~*~
"Huh?"
Silverkit sat up, her ear twitching. Deciding the noise was nothing, she crouched again to watch the beetle slowly walk across a blade of grass. Her blue eyes wide in wonder, she hesitantly reached out a forepaw to bat the blade of grass. The beetle fell onto the ground and rolled, stuck on its round back.
"Wow…" the silver tabby she-kit mewed.
A simply nudge of her paw and the beetle was upright again. Crawling along the ground, the insect soon found another blade of grass to crawl up. Once it was halfway up, it stopped moving. Eventually growing bored, Silverkit got up and went off in search of more interesting things.
It wasn't hard for her to slip out of the elder's den near the end of One-ear's story. Brightflower had been complaining and Wolftooth had been napping. With her siblings wrapped up in the story and One-ear too busy telling it, Silverkit had seized her chance to explore.
Spotting something hanging from a branch, the she-kit bounded over and watched the object as it slowly opened. Only moments later, a set of beautiful yellow wings erupted from the cocoon. It was a newly-born butterfly. It stayed on the remains of the cocoon, fluttering its wings gently to dry them. When they were dry, the butterfly took flight.
Silverkit yelped, falling flat on her back as the butterfly soared above her. It vanished deeper into the wood, leaving the silver she-kit alone again. As she searched the surrounding grass for bugs, she never noticed the creature that was slowly coming toward her.
"Ooh! Pretty…" Silverkit mewed as a bright green caterpillar slowly inched its way up a tree.
Blue eyes narrowed in concentration as muscles tensed underneath golden fur. Seeing its chance, the creature pounced from its hiding place and landed on top of Silverkit. Frightened, the she-kit yowled and ripped away, diving into a nearby bush for cover.
"Hey!" the creature called. "Come back! I was just kidding, honest!"
Silverkit hesitantly came out. A golden tom with a white underbelly and paws stood before her, blue eyes full of guilt. He looked a bit older than her but he was no adult. The tom kept looking around, as if searching for something.
"Wh-who are you?" Silverkit stuttered.
"I'm Eaglepaw," the tom meowed. "Hey, you must be Silverkit. I've heard of you. You were born on the day of Silverfur's death and you were the only silver kit in Berrycloud's litter. Your siblings are gold, like me."
"Y-Yeah," Silverkit nodded. "That's m-me."
"Hey, you don't have to be so scared. I'm sorry about that." Eaglepaw meowed. "I was practicing my hunting crouch and I thought you were a rabbit. My mistake, obviously,"
Before Silverkit could reply, another voice rang out through the forest. "Eaglepaw! Where are you?"
"Ugh! That's my mentor, Oakshadow." Eaglepaw whimpered. "He's a slave-driver, I swear!"
"Eaglepaw!" Oakshadow yowled again.
"Over here!" Eaglepaw yowled back, annoyed. "You better get out of here, Silverkit. Oakshadow will be really mad if he sees you out here and I'll get in trouble."
"R-Right!" Silverkit turned and bounded back into the bush she had dove into earlier.
Out of the trees came a golden-brown tabby tom, followed by Dewstripes and a blue-gray she-cat that was around Eaglepaw's age. A pale gray tom with a white tail and paws followed at the rear, blue eyes darting around in search of predators or prey.
"Hey, guys!" Eaglepaw greeted.
"What took you so long to reply?" the golden-brown tabby tom, Oakshadow, hissed.
"I-I'm sorry! I was hunting and I didn't want to scare away my prey!" Eaglepaw lied. "But it got away anyway when you shouted the second time."
"Then maybe you should be quicker to catch and kill your prey, Eaglepaw." Oakshadow meowed.
"Right," Eaglepaw mewed, dipping his head. "It was your fault, stupid mousebrain…" He muttered the last part quietly so his mentor wouldn't overhear him.
"It's okay, Eaglepaw. I'll help you hunt," the blue-gray she-cat offered.
"I don't need help! I just need to be left alone!" Eaglepaw growled.
"Okay, I get it. No need to be mean about it." The blue-gray she-cat sat down and washed her ears briefly.
Eaglepaw groaned, suddenly feeling guilty. "Look, I…I didn't mean to yell, Waterpaw. I'm sorry."
The she-cat, Waterpaw, stopped her washing. "It's okay, Eaglepaw. I can understand."
"Really?" Eaglepaw asked.
"I guess," Waterpaw meowed.
"Well, now that that's settled, how about we get some real hunting done?" Dewstripes meowed. "The clan won't feed itself, you know."
"Right!" Eaglepaw nodded. "Waterpaw, I'll race you. First one to catch the most prey wins!"
"You're on, Eaglepaw!" Waterpaw mewed. "Let's g—"
"Hold it!" Oakshadow growled. He sniffed the air and frowned. "Somebody else is out here with us. Snowtail, can you sniff them out?"
"I can try," the pale gray tom, Snowtail, meowed.
Oh, no! Silverkit! Eaglepaw thought. He'll find her!
Just as Snowtail neared the bush Silverkit was hiding in, another scent caught his attention. Turning to his right, he opened his mouth to get a better identification of the scent. He quickly wrinkled his nose and backed up a step.
"What's wrong?" Dewstripes meowed.
"Fox!" Snowtail replied. "I smell fox! And it's coming this direction!"
"Whatever for?" Oakshadow meowed.
"I don't know but I don't like it." Snowtail meowed, his fur bristling. "We should go back to the camp and warn Redstar. We may need to drive it out."
"Good idea. Let's move!" Oakshadow ordered, turning around and padding away.
"Hang on! Is it really coming this way?!" Eaglepaw demanded.
"Yes, and quickly at that!" Snowtail meowed. "It must think it can make an easy meal out of us. Either it's desperate or it doesn't know that we can fight back. Now come on, Eaglepaw! We mustn't linger!"
"It won't be able to kill us easily but you and Waterpaw would make great food items for a hungry fox, Eaglepaw." Dewstripes added.
Desperate, Eaglepaw finally made his decision. Even if he got punished, he couldn't leave Silverkit and let her get eaten. "Wait! Snowtail, you were right when you said someone else was here. Silverkit, you can come out."
Silverkit hesitantly stepped out, shaking twigs from her silver fur. "Uh…hi?" she mewed.
"What's a kit doing this far from camp?" Oakshadow yowled. "You better have a good explanation for this, Eaglepaw!"
"I found her out here, okay? She was exploring!" Eaglepaw hissed. "Don't blame this on me!"
"I'll blame you if I want to!" Oakshadow yowled.
"Guys! We have to go!" Snowtail cried. "The fox is almost—"
"It's here!" Dewstripes yowled.
A bright red fox suddenly burst out from the bushes, baring its teeth. Oakshadow hissed, falling into an attack stance. Dewstripes and Snowtail followed his example, hissing and spitting threateningly at the fox.
"Eaglepaw, take Waterpaw and Silverkit back to camp!" Dewstripes growled. "Tell Redstar what's going on and have him send another patrol to help us drive this guy out."
"Right!" Eaglepaw meowed. "Waterpaw, let's go!"
"I'll carry Silverkit." Waterpaw volunteered.
"No arguments here," Eaglepaw meowed.
"Go!" Snowtail yowled, flinging himself at the fox.
The two apprentices raced away, Waterpaw carrying Silverkit by the scruff. Trees and bushes seemed to fly past them, soon leading to a shallow stream. Leaping in, Eaglepaw and Waterpaw kicked their hind paws as they swam across. Waterpaw kept her head up, trying not to let Silverkit get too wet. Once across, they ran through the forest toward camp.
"Stop!" Waterpaw suddenly yowled, stopping.
Eaglepaw stopped, looking at her in confusion. "What? We have to hurry, Waterpaw!" the golden tom meowed. "We can't stop!"
"We must! Take a sniff!" Waterpaw mewed.
"Fine!" Eaglepaw sniffed the air and blinked in shock. "Is that…?"
"Yeah, it is." Waterpaw nodded.
"What? What is it?" Silverkit mewed.
"Black powder from the twolegs' loud sticks," Waterpaw meowed. "There are twolegs in the forest!"
"That's not good," Eaglepaw muttered. "Not good at all!"