Stormpaw: WHERE IS SWIFTPAW? I'm going to KILL her! She hasn't updated in over a month! She's kept our readers on hold! SWIFTPAW!

Swiftpaw: =peeks out from under desk= Sorry guys! I had writers block and also no time . . . what with all this school crap . . . I'm supposed to be working on my science project right now!

Stormpaw: That can wait! =throws a tomato at Swiftpaw=

Swiftpaw: =ducks= Missed me! Anyway, I will be updating every weekend! I promise! If I have time before that I'll seize that opportunity as well! So here is the long-awaited, belated Chapter 16 of Rainfall! Once again, I am SO SORRY!

Stormpaw: . . . .. I don't believe her . . .

Swiftpaw: Oh, shut up.

Disclaimer: I don't own Warriors. Erin Hunter does. If that's news to any of you, then . . . um . . . yeah. :P

Chapter 16: A Power

Stormpaw padded through the rainy field, clouds running across the sky like frightened rabbits. Thunder boomed and lightning flashed, like the gray apprentice always saw in his visions. It was quite boring after a while.

Stormpaw sighed and laid his head on his paws. When would these visions just explain themselves?

"Hello, Stormpaw."

The apprentice sat bolt upright. "Wh-who's there?"

An exact duplicate of himself sat before him, tail wrapped around its paws. Its blue eyes bored into Stormpaw, and he lowered his ears and raised his neck fur. "I'm kind of sick of all these stupid visions," he hissed. "None of them make any sense."

The cat just blinked its piercing eyes and dipped its head. "It never made sense to me either," it meowed. "I always had to figure it out by myself. You should too."

Stormpaw let his fur lie flat. "Who are you?" he asked.

The cat blinked and twitched its ear as if getting rid of a bothersome fly. It gave no sign of whether it'd heard Stormpaw.

"Why won't you answer me?" Stormpaw mewed, exasperated. He clawed the grass beneath him, frustrated. Then he glared back up at the copy of himself. "I don't know what you're supposed to be doing, but you're not helping any of this prophecy stuff!"

The cat froze when Stormpaw said "prophecy". "You know about that?" he asked, his voice softer.

"Yeah, of course I do!" Stormpaw grumbled. "It's been bothering me ever since I joined ThunderClan! Nightwind's been all mysterious, too- "

"Nightwind? She told you?" The duplicate's voice was surprised.

Stormpaw said nothing. He locked eyes with the other cat, who stared right back towards him. What's he doing? Stormpaw thought.

"She did tell you," Stormpaw's copy spat. It rose to its paws. "Blasted she-cat, she was supposed to tell you when you were ready-"

"What in StarClan's name are you ranting about?" Stormpaw wailed.

The cat flashed him a sharp look. "See if you can discover your powers if you want answers," it meowed quickly. Then it sprinted into the trees.

"Hey, wait!" Stormpaw yowled after it.

*************************************************************************************

"Rogue!"

Stormpaw jolted awake, panting. Frozenleaf stood over him, icy eyes glaring. "Get up, you're needed for hunting!" she hissed.

Stormpaw yawned and lumbered to his paws slowly, just to annoy her. He blinked sleepily, then stopped when he noticed a long, pink scar down her flank. "What's that?" he asked.

"None of your business," Frozenleaf spat, but her angry voice wavered. She and Stormpaw locked eyes, and for a second, her anger and rage nearly knocked the apprentice off his paws.

"Why do you hate me so much?" he questioned suddenly.

Frozenleaf didn't answer. Stormpaw stared into her blue eyes, and for a moment, he found her thoughts rushing towards him.

Frozenpaw ducked under the large brown rogue's legs as it leaped for her. It landed on its side and rolled back onto its feet. It spat at her, then ran for her brother—a smaller, pale gray tom--, named Snowpaw.

"Snowpaw!" Frozenpaw cried as the rogue raked its claws across her brother's ear. Snowpaw yowled with anger and jumped onto the rogue's back, digging his claws in deep. Frozenpaw raced forward, shrieking with anger, but the rogue clawed her flank and she stumbled backwards.

The rogue hissed like an angry snake and shook Snowpaw off. Frozenpaw ran to help her brother despite her pain, but he shot a paw out, guarding her. "Go get reinforcements," he snarled. "I'll hold him off!"

"Are you sure?" Frozenpaw asked, as the rogue shook its head and stepped threateningly towards them.

"Yes! Go!" Snowpaw growled, and he pelted towards the rogue, fury blazing in his eyes.

Frozenpaw bolted to camp and got Poppyfur, Amberdapple, and Flamestream. They raced back to the battle.

But there was none. The rogue was gone, and Snowpaw lay dead on the ground, blood staining his gray fur red.

Frozenpaw yowled to the sky and buried her nose in Snowpaw's fur. Why did Snowpaw have to die? She questioned. Why him?

With a flash, Stormpaw was back in his own body. He stared into Frozenleaf's eyes, which were glazed with sorrow and pain. He rested his tail on her shoulder briefly, hoping she wouldn't claw at him. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

Then they padded towards the camp exit, where Leopardpelt, Thrushfeather, Foxfoot, and Songpaw were waiting.

All the time they were hunting, Stormpaw couldn't get his mind off his dream. The duplicate of himself had been right—he could access memories of other cats. But Stormpaw felt he wasn't the only cat who could have done that. What other cat could do that?

I treated you guys to a pretty good chapter, huh? Please review—I'm so sorry it took so long! I still have, like, NO ideas for the next chapter, so if any of you have an idea, please leave one! And, um, Stormpaw isn't the only apprentice- you still have Songpaw and Grasspaw! The poll is still up, and I'm still looking forward to which one will win! Expect an update next weekend! Thanks for still reading, guys! :D