Chapter 2

Lily watched Sandpaw disappear into the undergrowth, still a bit confused. What was that?

"Lily."

"Mhm?" Lily looked up at Rusty. "What is it?"

"Will you join ThunderClan?" He asked her, not meeting her gaze. He was staring out into the forest, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"I don't know. I don't know anything about this ThunderClan. I don't know if it's the right thing to do, Rusty," Lily answered, looking at him hopelessly. Long silence followed her words as Rusty just stared into the trees. Right as Lily wanted to say something; Rusty opened his mouth and meowed, "I think I'll join."

"What? Rusty, you know nothing about ThunderClan. How do you know that it's right for you?" Lily exclaimed, eyes widened.

"Lily, don't you think we're different than normal housecats? We go into the forest to hunt. Did you ever see another housecat doing that? Did Smudge do that? Henry? No, they didn't. They're even scared of the forest! And I don't know why, but I feel like the forest is calling me. Lily, I'll join, if you like it or not!" Rusty's eyes gleamed with…anticipation?

Lily sighed and turned her head away from him. She felt the same way as he did, but there was something that held her back of being so enthusiastic about it. She felt as though something bad was going to happen, but whatever it was, she wasn't going to let her friend go there alone. At last she lifted her head and fixed her emerald green eyes on Rusty. "If you're going, I'm going too."

Rusty looked at her with surprise and gratitude. Lily purred and pushed her muzzle into his fur. "Let's go say good-bye to our friends. You don't want to go to ThunderClan without telling your friends, do you?"

Rusty shook his head and smiled at her. "Thanks Lily."

"No problem." Lily grinned back and together they raced back to their homes, knowing it would be the last time they would see them.

The sun was slowly setting and Rusty was pacing outside of Lily's home. "Rusty, calm down!" Lily told him exasperated. "It's going to be fine!"

"Okay, okay," Rusty muttered and finally settled down next to Lily, only to be on his paws only a minute after, pacing again.

"Fine, we're leaving!" Lily yowled, sending Rusty a death glare. "Since you're so desperate on going."

"Sorry, I can't help it!" Rusty stopped pacing and faced Lily. "But what happens if they don't like us? What if they just tell us to go home again? What if-"

"Rusty! Stop being so frantic! Bluestar herself invited us into ThunderClan; I don't think they would go against their leader, would they?"

That seemed to do the trick. Rusty slowly nodded and took a deep breath. "Sorry, you're right. But I think we should really get going, the sun is almost gone."

Lily exhaled in relief. "Thank you," she murmured and leaped over the fence. "You coming?"

Rusty purred and jumped over it, landing right beside her. "You bet. Race you there!" Rusty leaped forward and made a dash for the forest. "Hey!" Lily squeaked and raced after him, quickly catching up. "You don't think you could beat me, do you?" She teased and pulled forward. The trees blending into a green blur as she sped past them, the wind ruffling her fur, the sound of her paws thrumming against the ground…it was not until then that she realized how much she enjoyed being outside of her house and in the forest, how much she enjoyed being free and how much she-

"Lily!"

She flinched and skittered to halt, whirling around. "Rusty! You scared me!"

"Did you plan on running forever? We've already reached the place where we should meet Whitestorm," Rusty purred, whiskers twitching with amusement.

Lily's ears burned with embarrassment and she turned away from him. "I knew that."

"Of course you did," a new, deep voice rumbled.

Lily turned just in time to see the big white tom emerging from the trees. "There will be a time when you will be able to scent me, even if you are concentrating on something else. But now, do you know if there's someone else with me?"

Lily blinked once; twice…she saw how Rusty peered into the darkness, before announcing, "I can't see anything."

Whitestorm shook his head exaggerated. "Scent them, not see them."

Lily nodded in understanding and lifted her muzzle, taking in all the scents. "Bluestar and Sandpaw aren't there," she began. "But there is someone with you. At least one cat."

Whitestorm nodded. "Very good. You are right, Bluestar and Sandpaw aren't here with me, but he is." He flicked his tail and the leaves rustled. Out came a big, golden tom with long, shaggy fur and gleaming amber eyes.

"Hello," he rumbled. "My name is Lionheart. You must be Lily and Rusty, the two kittypets Bluestar invited into the Clan."

Lily was too taken aback from his appearance to say anything, but apparently Rusty wasn't. "Yes, yes we are. Do you think we aren't worthy enough to be joining ThunderClan?"

"When did I say that?" Lionheart asked; his voice full of amusement. "Now come, we want to be back at camp before moonhigh." Lionheart turned around and exchanged one look with Whitestorm before speeding of. Whitestorm gestured to them to follow and then ran after Lionheart. Lily had never run so fast in her life. Lionheart and Whitestorm were streaking through the forest, one a blur of white, the other a blur of golden. They were running at top of their speed, it seemed amazing that they didn't crash headfirst into a tree. They weren't slowing down for Lily or Rusty, so they didn't have any time to ask questions. At last Whitestorm and Lionheart slowed down until they stopped. When Lily and Rusty finally caught up, panting and completely out of breath, Whitestorm was the first to speak. "Now, what can you smell?"

Lily caught her breath first and scented the air. "I can smell cats," she began. "And…I think I can smell Bluestar. And Sandpaw!"

Rusty nodded quickly. "Me too! And I can scent an old trace of you Whitestorm," he added proudly.

Whitestorm and Lionheart exchanged an amused look. "Then let's go in." Whitestorm pushed his way through a gorse tunnel. Lionheart followed; then Rusty and then Lily. Lily padded down the ravine and held her breath as she saw the entire camp. It was surrounded by brambles and there was a huge rock in the middle of the clearing. On the left side was a fallen tree, on the right side a rock that had a crack in the middle. At the base of the big boulder in the middle was a cave and there was lichen that covered the entrance. The clearing was crowded with cats, more cats than Lily had ever seen at one place at the same time. There was a pile full of fresh prey, even though it was almost snow-fall.

One by one the cats lifted their heads to look at the newcomers and Lily felt more and more uncomfortable under all the stares and Rusty seemed to feel the same. Lionheart and Whitestorm led the way through the cats to the base of the big rock and called, "Bluestar? We're back. With Lily and Rusty," he added with a quick thought.

The lichen rustled and out came Bluestar. "So they came," she murmured. "What do you think of them?"

Lionheart glanced at Lily and Rusty before answering. "They didn't ask for us to slow down and they kept up with us the entire time of travelling. I think they should join."

Whitestorm nodded. "I agree with Lionheart. Let them join."

Bluestar smiled and dipped her head. Then she leaped up onto the boulder and yowled, "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather around the Highrock to hear my words!"

Even though almost all cats were already there, Bluestar's call brought every cat that was still missing out into the clearing. Lily craned her neck to see if she could see Sandpaw and there she was, sitting beside a dark brown tabby tom.

"As you know, we have to be strong to overcome this leaf-bare and we have to be ready to conquer ShadowClan if they decide to attack us. We aren't as strong as we used to be, so I searched for someone who was willing to join us and I found not only one, but two who were ready to join."

Her words were at first met with silence until the first outraged yowl got loud.

"Who are they? They smell like kittypets!"

More yowls followed the first, all very similar.

"We don't want kittypets in our Clan!"

"What will the other Clans think?"

"Bluestar, are you mad?" The last one was much louder than the others and the other cats fell silent. "They are weak. It could be acceptable if we take in the tom, he could prove himself to be useful, but the she-cat? That's only another mouth to feed!" The cat sneered and Lily's fur began to bristle.

How dare he? Lily narrowed her eyes into tiny slits. She looked around until she spotted the speaker. It was a sleek black-and-gray tabby tom and Lily's eyes narrowed even more.

"We shouldn't allow her to join! She won't be any use. She'll eat away our prey, the prey that we desperately need!" The tom jeered and that made it. Lily launched herself at the tom and even though he was much bigger than her, her attack came unprepared and he staggered. Lily brought her paw hard down on the toms head and the tom flinched. He rolled onto his back to crush her, but she jumped off his back before he could do so, so his attack only resulted in him lying on his back. He snarled at her and jumped up, extending his paw to claw her face. Lily pulled back in just the right time and his claws missed her face by mere inches. The tom was furious now, she could tell, as he slashed out again with much more force than the last one. Lily tried to dodge, but he snagged her collar with his claw. His eyes gleamed with anticipation as he pulled on it, taking away Lily's breath. She gasped for air and she wriggled, trying to escape her collar. The tom pulled harder and Lily turned her head. She couldn't breathe anymore, her attempts to free herself got weaker and weaker. With one last attempt, she collected all her strength and with one mighty pull she broke free. The collar snapped into two pieces and the tom, unprepared as he was, lost his balance and fell backwards, though Lily only staggered before she regained her balance. She quickly moved away from the tom as he got up and shot her a death glare. A young tortoiseshell she-cat rushed to his side and guided him away from the cats.

"Does any cat think that Lily is not worthy of being taken into ThunderClan?" Bluestar asked icily and when no one replied, Bluestar nodded. "Good." She jumped down and landed neatly on the ground. "Rusty, Lily, please come forward."

Lily obeyed and stepped forward, meeting up with Rusty.

Bluestar stared at Lily and Rusty for a moment, making Lily feel uncomfortable. Just when Bluestar was about to say something, the last rays of sunshine bundled themselves and dipped both Lily and Rusty in warm light before the sun disappeared altogether.

"Fire," Bluestar whispered, looking uncertainly at both of them. Then certainty filled her eyes and her voice travelled through the silent clearing as she meowed clearly, "Rusty, from this moment on until you receive your warrior name you will be known as Firepaw." She paused for a moment and let her gaze sweep across the assembled cats. "Your mentor will be Longtail. I Longtail will pass down all he knows on to you." Lily craned her neck to see if she could spot the cat that was chosen to be her friends mentor. At first she couldn't see him, but then she saw how a tabby tom with dark black stripes got up and slowly walked over to Bluestar and Rusty. She couldn't see if he was excited, proud or annoyed to get Rusty as an apprentice.

"Longtail," Bluestar continued, "you are ready to take on an apprentice. You had received excellent training from Darkstripe, and you have shown yourself to be intelligent and loyal. You will be the mentor of Firepaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to him."

Longtail looked at Rusty – no, Firepaw – for a short moment before leaning down and touching noses with him. He whispered something into Firepaw's ear, but Lily didn't strain herself to hear what he was saying. After that, Longtail drew back and went back to crowd. He sat down and Firepaw quickly followed, sitting down next to him.

Bluestar turned to Lily and something about her eyes made Lily shiver. "Lily, from this moment on until you receive your warrior name you will be known as-"

A/N: Okay, I feel really evil right now . sorry, please don't kill me! DON'T KILL ME! Okay, thanks :D mmmh…okay, thanks to ponyiowa, anonymous Guest and Thistleface for reviewing!

ponyiowa *squeals* It's ponyiowa! I love your stories! You're such a good writer! I'm honored that you're reading my story! AAAAH! *goes crazy* *clears throat* Yeah… sorry :D

Guest Maroonpaw sounds good :D I'll decide whether I'll take Sunpaw, Echopaw or Maroonpaw :) thanks!

Thistleface Yep, it helped me a lot! I'll take either Sunpaw, Echopaw or Maroonpaw :)

You all get a Rusty plushie :D and for those who will review, you will get a still-called-Lily plushie! And if you're wondering why I didn't give Lily a name yet, it's because I can't decide on how to call her yet. So please help me! Do you want it to be…

A) Sunpaw

B) Echopaw

C) Maroonpaw?

Please answer me! PLEEEAAASE!