** I finally got them back to normal length. Furystar was created by dogdog10, but given life by me. Some of the reviewers might notice your name in my story; that is my way of thanking you.**

Furystar: The Competitor

Competition is a good thing. It helps apprentices gain the skills they need to become warriors and helps warriors stay at the top of their game. But is doesn't take much for competition to take a more violent turn.

A ShadowClan leader saw a way to take cats natural want to try themselves against others and turn it into a sick, twisted game.

The large ShadowClan leader sat on top of Moss Rock and looked down at his weak and pathetic Clan. They wouldn't be weak when he was done with them. His gaze drifted to a group of apprentices talking and laughing.

"Falconpaw," he called to the smallest apprentice, drawing the attention of the entire Clan. "How are your fighting skills coming along?"

The apprentice look terrified to be publicly addressed by his leader. "Shadowflight says that I'm better than I look." he said, getting more confident with each word he spoke.

He had fallen into his trap. "Than you wouldn't mind being today's entertainment then. I have been getting rather bored." said Furystar.

Falconpaw looked around a realized there was no where out of the situation he was stuck in. "Of course Furystar. I would be honored to be set to the test." He reluctantly spoke the official words of the Shadow Competition.

Most cats tried to make themselves as small possible because Falconpaw needed someone to fight. A young queen ushered her kit to hide behind her. "I won't let him hurt you." she whispered to the whimpering tom kit.

Nothing escaped Furystar's watchful eyes. "Bluefrost, did I hear you volunteer yourself. It might have been Chirpkit though. My hearing is a little off." he had a meticulous glint in his eyes when he spoke.

Bluefrost looked at her kit who was looking at her with his big innocent eyes. Her heart went out to them. "I would be honored to be set to the test." She looked at her kits when she said those words.

Chirpkit had no clue to what was going on. "Mommy, where are you going?" he scampered to his mother's side, but Meadowblossom pulled him back to the nursery.

"Chirpkit," she knelt down to speak to the young kit. "Why don't you play with Nightkit and Smokekit in the nursery until I tell you to come back out."

"Okay," smiled Chirpkit. He scampered back into the nursery, forgetting all about his mother for the moment.

Bluefrost and Falconpaw walked silently to the center of camp. They refused to look each other in the eyes. Neither could face the fact that tomorrow one of them would be dead. Furystar was the only one smiling.

"Everyone knows the rules. One of these cats will die, or all the kits will be killed." gloated Furystar. He loved how Meadowblossom, Bluefrost, and Honeyfeather flinched when he threatened the kits. They would easily put their lives before their kits.

Falconpaw moved to greet the queen in the middle. "You have kits to take care of, let me die." he whispered, shaking with fear.

"NO TALKING!" yelled Furystar. "Clan, what is Rule #5 of the Shadow Competition?"

"There will be no talking between the contestants. They must not say a word throughout their entire fight." recited the Clan in a monotone voice.

"Since I'm feeling merciful today, I will let this slide and not kill all the kits." said Furystar. "Also," he added. "Nightkit looks like she will make a great fighter."

Meadowblossom snarled quietly at the leader. With that, she turned away and went back in the nursery to check on the kits. No one seemed to notice her disappearance, they were to focused on the two circling cats.

Bluefrost keep sending looks at the nursery and silently pleading for Chirpkit to be okay. He was only three moons old. Her eyes filled up with tears and hoped this morning wouldn't be the last times she saw him.

Falconpaw never moved his eyes off of Bluefrost. He couldn't bare to look at his friends. He knew that he wasn't going to live to see tomorrow. Seeing Chirpkit grow up without a mother would be to much for him to bare.

Shadowflight shielded his eyes, he didn't want to see the battle. He could remember his own very well. The death of Wolfpaw weighed hard on him.

Bluefrost was the first to make a move. She lunged weakly at Falconpaw's left flank. As she thought, he leaped to the right to dodge the blow. She quickly changed the direction of her claws and raked her claws against his pelt, drawing blood.

An unnatural silence descended upon the fighters as the first blood stained the packed ground crimson. Falconpaw say his life blood dripping out of his side, but he paid it no special attention. He wasn't going to give Furystar the pleasure of seeing him in pain.

He tried to remember everything Shadowflight had taught him. "Drat," he thought to himself. "I should have listened more to what my mentor was saying."

In his small moment of stillness, Bluefrost sliced at Falconpaw again. This time getting him clean across the nose. The crowd gasped as blood splattered onto both warriors.

Furystar smiled. This was the kind of battle he loved. Bluefrost refused to be killed because she had kits to take care of, but Falconpaw was young and had lots of energy. It was going to get bloody and interesting.

The two competitors circled each other more cautiously now. Spilled blood was making the fighting ground slippery. Falconpaw's vision was beginning to swim from losing so much blood.

He weakly tried to pounce on top of the queen, but she moved out of the way too fast. When he hit the ground, his knees collapsed under him, and he fell to the ground.

Bluefrost approached the apprentice wearily, not wanting to be attacked surprisingly. When Falconpaw showed no signs of moving, Bluefrost raised her claws to deliver the death blow.

Taking the last of his energy, Falconpaw swiped his claws out. It caught the queen across her legs. Blood poured from the wound, but she paid it no attention; she never moved from her position.

Falconpaw saw his end coming and didn't waver from his position anymore. He looked at Bluefrost with unblinking hazel eyes. "Just kill me now," he whispered so that only Bluefrost could hear him. "Take me out of my pain."

Bluefrost looked away and broke her claws onto his neck. Falconpaw struggled silently then stopped when the queen finally bit his neck.

Chirpkit had escaped from the nursery with Nightkit and Smokekit just in time to see his mother kill the apprentice. "Mommy," he shouted.

Bluefrost looked to where he kit was calling from. She was splattered with blood, both hers and Falconpaw's. Her teeth were stained red and had chunks of fur lodged between them. Her wound on her leg was beginning to ooze. She wasn't a pretty sight.

Furystar saw the exchange between mother and kit. "Chirpkit, doesn't your mother look beautiful right now. The blood really brings out your eyes."

Chirpkit let out a squeal and raced out of the camp. He knew he just needed to get away from the Clan. They had stolen his mother's mind.

His little body ached from all the running he had done. He had never even been out of camp before, so when he approached a stinking black path, he didn't know what is was. Heat was radiating from it, and he was cold, so he walked onto it.

Bluefrost had escaped to chase after her kit as soon as Furystar walked back into his cave. Her paws, sticky with blood, pounded across the marshland. Chirpkit was moving quickly for a kit.

She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw him sitting on the thunderpath. "Chirpkit," she desperately called out. "Please come back to me."

The little kit looked back to his mother and saw the horrible bloody beast. "You are scary. I hate you now!" he shouted.

If he said anything else, it was masked by the roaring of a monster. Its glowing eyes sweep Chirpkit away. Bluefrost ran onto the thunderpath, not caring if another monster was coming, to find her only kit gone, only the smallest piece of his ginger fur remained, snagged on a sharp rock.

"Noooooo!" she wailed, her anguished cries filling the air. "Why did you have to go?" She knelt over and picked the fur, her only reminder of her kit and mate.

She dejectedly walked back into camp. Dewstrike ran up to her. "Bluefrost, you need to follow me. I'll get you some cobwebs, chervil, dock, and a couple poppy seeds to chew on. Come on." The medicine cat rushed around her like a busy bee.

Inside the medicine den, Bluefrost was pushed behind a boulder. It revealed a large chamber that Bluefrost had never seen before. "Dewstrike," she said wearily, "Where are we?"

"Shh..." hushed the medicine cat. "This is the Revolt. If Furystar finds us, we are all as good as dead. Meadowblossom, Honeyfeather, Shadowflight, Amberheart, Nightkill, and Destinyclaw are all here."

Amberheart spoke next. "I don't care if I die. He has killed Scorchfur and Falconpaw. There is nothing more for me here."

Bluefrost had forgotten Amberheart was Falconpaw's mother. "I'm so sorry about Falconpaw. I just lost Chirpkit and it burns a whole in my heart."

The surprised she-cat warrior gasped. "What happened to Chirpkit? I know Falconpaw laid down his life so you could stay with him."

Bluefrost's tears made it hard to understand, but Amberheart just nodded. "Just join us. We all want revenge for our loved ones."

Nightkill answered the unasked question. "We are going to kill him tonight." said the black she-cat bluntly.

Destinyclaw spoke next. "Dewstrike believes that he never actually received his nine lives. He only needs to die once to be gone forever."

"You mean we could end this?" asked Bluefrost, tears now flowing freely. It sounded too good to be true. She had been tormented by the shadow of the leader for too long.

Amberheart nodded. "We need your help though." she said. She started to outline the plan. The rest of the cats leaned forward to hear their jobs.

Nightkill nodded. "Are you ready Destinyclaw?" They would be the ones doing the actual killing. "One death is better than the deaths of the entire Clan."

"Of course I am. This can't go on anymore. It is strange how one cat managed to brainwash everyone." Destinyclaw managed to sum up everyone's thoughts in one sentence.

Honeyfeather walked over to Bluefrost. "Are you all better partner?" They were going to get some of Furystar's loyal warriors to chase after them.

"I only have a shallow cut on my legs." said Bluefrost. "I will do my part like everyone else." She would have her life put on the line for the second time this day.

Dewstrike must had left during the meeting because she reappeared just then. "Guys, the sun is setting. You are going to need to get in position soon."

The cats nodded and put tails on each other's shoulders. They wished each other good luck silently, just connecting eyes. Too much was at risk to talk.

One at a time they walked out of the hidden cave in the medicine den. Honeyfeather meet up with Bluefrost just outside the camp. "You or me first?" she asked.

"I'll go." said Bluefrost to her friend. To Hollowclaw who was supposed to be outside of the entrance she yelled. "Finally, I have escaped. I can now join ThunderClan where Blazingstar won't make me fight apprentices."

Hollowclaw wasn't the smartest warrior in ShadowClan, probably why Furystar trusted him, and never suspected a trap or distraction. He heard a she-cat trying to escape and followed her.

"You aren't going to escape. Furystar will give you mercy if you come back right now." shouted Hollowclaw on the chase. His paws were bounding silently across the land after the escapee.

Bluefrost's heart was beating quickly. The tom had given chase. She ran as far away from ShadowClan's camp as she could. If she was caught, at least Nightkill and Destinyclaw would have time.

When she dared to look behind her, she saw Hollowclaw close behind. The gap between them was closing quickly. Fear filled her eyes; death had be following her all day, and it was about to catch her.

Hollowclaw could smell her fear scent, and it filled his legs with adrenaline. He was going to catch the traitor. Furystar might give him her as a mate if he captured her alive.

Bluefrost cried out as her cut reopened. Blood pured down her leg as it pounded in her ears. "I wouldn't be prey any longer!" she said to Hollowclaw. She stopped and turned on point to face the warriors.

"Trying to escape Bluefrost." teased Hollowclaw. "You know Furystar was pleased with your performance today. You didn't need to escape."

"I don't care about Furystar anymore." said Bluefrost. "He isn't going to bother us anymore after tonight." That was as much as she dared to say about the Revolt.

"Ha." laughed Hollowclaw haughty. "If anything, he is going to be an even bigger problem for you. Don't you know that you will have to fight him." informed the tom.

Bluefrost didn't seem like she even registered his comment. She just leaped at him. Her claws dug into his fur and stayed.

Hollowclaw howled and tried to fling the she-cat off his back, but her claws were in too deep. Changing plans, he rolled over and pressed the queen beneath his body.

The extra weigh made it difficult for the she-cat to breathe. Her claws loosened slightly as oxygen wasn't reaching them. That was all Hollowclaw needed.

With all thoughts of taking her alive gone, he released his full fury upon her. Claws flashed silver in the light of the moon. Bluefrost just couldn't last against the brutal onslaught.

Hollowclaw raised his claws and prepared to deliver the same blow she had used on Falconpaw that morning, she lay helpless to stop. She felt a sharp bite of pain, then no more.

The end of Bluefrost also marked the end of the tyranny of Furystar. Nightkill and Destinyclaw had done their job. The cursed leader was no more.

Bluefrost was found by a patrol led by Amberheart, soon to be Amberstar. The whole Clan mourned her and thanked her for giving them the ultimate sacrifice.

The memory of Furystar would erase itself from even the minds of the oldest elders. They only thing that remains is the permanent stain of blood in the center of the camp. Later generations believed it to be only mud, but it was the life of Falconpaw and countless others.

** I love all the ideas that you guys have given me. I have plenty of cats lined up; Thornwhisker: The Hunter, Coyotecry: The Rebel, Blackmind: The Brainwashed, Ravenflight: The Unloved, Waterstream: The Silent Witness, Dovesong: The Exiled Savior, Lionstorm: The Mastermind, Sunnysong: The Vain, Blackstorm: The Uninvited,Winterflash: The Heartbroken, and Smallfang: The Runner. I would like to thank everyone for making this my most popular story.**