Warriors belongs to Erin Hunter, not me.

Chapter 2 - Join the Race

"Mudshadow. Mudshadow," Spottedwing meowed urgently, jabbing the tabby she-cat's side with her paw in attempt to wake the SolarClan she-cat from her peaceful slumber.

The said brown tabby groaned as her deep blue eyes cracked open a little bit. Closing them once more, Mudshadow slowly lifted herself into a sitting position. Once again opening her eyes, she blinked a few timed to clear the blurriness from them. The black and brown she-cat turned her head to her right to look at the other side of the capacious clearing in the fallen tree the four cats had decided to stay in until they figured out what they should do. Her tired eyes met the sight of Swiftheart endeavoring to wake Ravenpaw.

The day before, the small group of surviving cats had a joyous and sorrowful meeting with one another once Ravenpaw had come out of unconsciousness. After that, it had been a slow day. The four cats had gone to the border near the volcano just incase the other clans were there. The small group had not spotted any during the time they were there. The four had gotten some good hunting done, but that had been the only highlight of the day.

"What?" a young, exhausted, and irritated voice suddenly broke through her thoughts. Mudshadow focused her eyes to see the small black form of Ravenpaw wake up from his sleep.

"Finally," Swiftheart meowed, just as agitated, "I never knew you were such a deep sleeper."

Mudshadow sighed hopelessly, thinking, "Great. Is everyone on edge?"

"Will you three listen up?!" Spottedwing shouted at the rest of them.

"That's a yes," Mudshadow sarcastically commented in her mind while swiping a paw over her ear. It was only then did the brown tabby feline turn her exhausted stare to the medicine cat.

"You need to hear this," Spottedwing mewed slowly once all attention had focused on her, "EclipseClan sent me a dream last night."

"What were the details?" a fully woken Mudshadow meowed so quickly, she was not sure if she interrupted or not.

"All I remember is that I was standing on the edge of a large gorge, looking down into it. There was voice that was talking as well. It said 'Only the followers of the one who sleeps can save them'," the medicine cat had her muzzle pointed to the ground in befuddlement.

"…We need to rebuild the clans," Mudshadow whispered, almost inaudibly.

"What?" Swiftheart asked disbelievingly.

"You heard me. I may not know whom the 'one who sleeps' is," Mudshadow paused, as if for dramatic affect, "But I do know that they're telling us to help recreate SolarClan and SunClan."

"I think Mudshadow may be right," Spottedwing interrupted.

"…We're leaving right after the gathering; that way we can tell the LunarClan and MoonClan," Mudshadow mewed, immediately deciding that would be the best time to leave.

All four cats went silent. During the middle of the blanket of silence, Ravenpaw had opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it on second thought. After a few more moments, the cats settled into a comfortable silence and they soon found themselves wandering to the meager pile of fresh-kill the cats had managed to catch the day before. No one spoke throughout their entire meal, which they ate slowly, but a
few minutes after they all had finished and Mudshadow had settled down next to
Ravenpaw, once again in hopes to get some more sleep, Swiftheart asked her a
question out of the blue.

"Mudshadow," the orange and white tom deliberated before continuing, albeit hesitantly, "Since our leader, Beechstar, died…" Siftheart paused once more, but probably figuring he had to go somewhere with his question, he carried on, "Wouldn't you be leader now?"

Mudshadow stared at him for a moment, letting her mind absorb the question. She turned her feline head towards Ravenpaw, who was comfortably lying in the sand about a tail length away. The young black apprentice was staring at her with his curious ice blue eyes.

"Yeah, I guess I would be," the tabby she-cat peered back toward her warrior friend, "However, I'm not getting my name anytime soon."

"Why not?" Ravenpaw queried, his ice blue eyes once again curiously piercing Mudshadow's brown and black fur.

"Well, if I become the leader of SolarClan now, I wouldn't be much of a
leader as I would be if I had a whole clan to back me up, if you know what I
mean," Mudshadow meowed thoughtfully, her eyes drifting anywhere but her friends' eyes.

"That's actually a good idea. That way your leadership will actually mean something," Spottedwing approved, and Mudshadow nodded her thanks.

"It does make sense," Ravenpaw agreed once he heard his friend's reason, averting his gaze into the branches of the fallen tree.

"I don't know," Swiftheart pondered doubtfully, "If you got your name, you would
also get your nine lives, and have a better chance of surviving when we go on
the journey."

"But if we get the new clans, that should be when I should get my name and nine
lives," the brown feline reasoned, "Because that would be when my clan would need me the most."

Swiftheart decided to grunt his admittance, making his two female companions chuckle.

"The gathering is in two days," Spottedwing meowed to her three friends, a grin still apparent on her muzzle, "We can tell the other clans we're leaving, and hopefully we can trust them not to invade our territory when we leave."

"Alright, we'll stay here for the next couple days. Then we'll leave," Mudshadow voiced her earlier decision.

"We do need to figure out something to say to MoonClan and LunarClan though," Ravenpaw informed the other cats.

"I'll think of something when I'm under the pressure of every cat's stare," Mudshadow dismissed playfully with a flick of her tail, before turning serious, "But there is one thing I need ask you three," the brown and black she-cat deliberated, "None of you want to stay behind right?"

"Of course not," all three of Mudshadow's companions meowed in unison, all shocked that she had asked them that. The brown tabby feline mentally cursed herself for being so paranoid.

"Good," Mudshadow flashed them all a cheesy grin before turning to Spottedwing, "Spottedwing, could you go around with Ravenpaw to collect anything useful that might be around camp while Swiftheart and I go hunting?" the female leader queried the medicine cat. Swiftheart, not having known about his hunting with Mudshadow, turned to the tabby, playfully glaring at her.

"Of course," Spottedwing meowed, bowing her head.

Mudshadow nodded her thank you, and then flicked her tail at Swiftheart, telling him to leave the tree with her. Letting the tabby she-cat go first, the two SolarClan cats crawled their way through the disarray of branches. Finally freeing herself from the tree's leafy clutches, she stood to the side of the entrance waiting for her white and orange friend.

"So where are we going hunting?" Swiftheart asked Mudshadow as he dragged himself out of the branches, wincing as his fur was most likely entangled in between some branches.

"We're not going hunting," the brown and black feline whispered.

Swiftheart gave Mudshadow a look telling her to elaborate.

"We're going to the volcano; I need to talk to EclipseClan."

"…" the tom hesitated, taking in her explanation, before his face broke into a large, eager grin, "Well, then let's get going."

Swiftheart leaped away into the forest, heading towards the volcano in the middle of the island, leaving Mudshadow to chase him in pursuit.