I worked really hard on this chapter and the story will get better as it goes on. I hope you enjoy reading and don't forget to review! =P

Approximate Words in Chapter 1: (2,430)

Chapter 1

Hunger pricked at Soul like thorns. Soul sighed, padding along the yellow grass near the Thunderpath. The kit pricked up his ear as he heard a monster roaring up ahead. Soul could feel the blood pounding in his ears as it passed by him. The smells surrounding him were foul and bitter, making his eyes water. He would do anything to get out of this horrible place.

Soul turned his head to the right. He decided to take his chances in the forest. Quickly, he sprinted into the forest that lay next to the Thunderpath. As he sprinted, the horrible stench of the Thunderpath started to fade. Soul came to a stop, sniffing for prey. He smelt mouse, squirrel, and vole. It's wonderful aroma was thrilling to the kit's nose, but it was interrupted by the smell of other cats. A chill ran down Soul's spine and he felt his anxiety raising. The kit kept twisting his head in all directions wondering where to hide.

The young kit leaped toward a bush, trying his best to burrow his way in the ruffled leaves to remain hidden from these strange cats. As soon as he found the most hidden spot in the bush, he pressed his skinny body against the ground.

The strange cats appeared from behind a tree, exchanging words to each other. One swung their head up in surprise, carefully smelling the air.

Had they smelt me? Soul wondered frantically, starting to burrow himself more into the bush.

Before he could think about the chances of being caught anymore, a pure white she-cat started to dart toward Soul's hiding place. Frightened, he briskly sprinted away; his eyes wide with fear. He turned his head backward to see the she-cat was easily keeping up with him. Soul kept keeping up with his pace, looking backward every few moments. The other cats were right behind the she-cat who didn't seem to be as fast as her.

Soul then felt a surge of courage in him. I'd rather die trying to defend myself than die running away, He thought bitterly to himself. The kit turned around to face the three cats. The she-cat darted toward him ferociously, with her claws unsheathed. Surely she knew that I was just a kit? I'm just a bag of bones! He thought to himself again.

The she-cat pinned him down. "What are you doing on ThunderClan terri-" she broke off as she looked at Soul in shock, "You're just a puny kit!"

"What?" a light gray tom rasped. The gray tom began to take a close look at the black-and-gray kit. "It looks like he hasn't eaten in moons!"

Soul looked at the three cats cynically. All he cared about was getting something to eat. Just then, his stomach began to growl once again at the thought of food and he yowled in pain. The pain of being starved began to grow.

"He needs to be nursed and fed! I'm surprised he's lived this long without any milk," a dark brown tom meowed with sympathy. "We should take him to our camp, Ashstar." He turned his gaze to the light gray tom.

The she-cat meowed, "What? Why would we? He doesn't have anything to do with ThunderClan."

The word "ThunderClan" rang in his ears. ThunderClan? What does she mean? Soul started to get lost in his thoughts, but then the she-cat started to let the kit get on his paws; bringing Soul back to listening to these cats.

"Have you got a heart, Snowtail? We can't just let this kit suffer more than it already has!" the dark brown tom rasped.

"We can't nurse an outside kit. We don't even know where he comes from!" the she-cat began. "What if he's from a different clan? Or worse, a kittypet. He'll bring his Twolegs into the forest!"

The light gray tom seemed to meow this time, "He can't be a kittypet or another Clan kit. He doesn't smell like he's from a clan and he doesn't look like a kittypet, he's too thin. It looks like he's been starving for moons!" the light gray tom mewed, glancing at the kit. "We have to bring him into the Clan. If we don't, he'll die because we let him."

"Alright, Ashstar . . ." the solid white she-cat meowed, irritably obeying the light gray tom.

Soul felt the light gray tom pick him up from his scruff. The kit began to mewl frantically as they started to pad away with his scruff in their jaws. He had no idea where he was being taken and he was too shy to speak to these strangers. He finally came out with words, "W-where are y-y-you taking me?" the kit stammered frantically.

"To ThunderClan. There you will be taken care of until you're fit and old enough to leave," the dark brown tom mewed gently.

"ThunderClan?" Soul echoed, "What's that?" Soul's curiosity kept building, along with his anxiety.

"ThunderClan is one of the four clans in the forest," the dark brown tom explained. "We hunt, protect, and fight for our Clan. May I ask you for your name?"

"My name is Soul." the kit mewed. He didn't feel comfortable with these "Clan cats," but they seem to want to help.

"Mine's Dustheart," the dark brown tom replied easily. He pointed with his nose to the pure white she-cat. "That's Snowtail," he twisted his head around and pointed with his nose toward the light gray tom, "and that's Ashstar," he introduced. Dustheart turned his voice in a more prideful tone. "Snowtail and I are warriors. Ashstar is the leader of ThunderClan."

"Whoa," Soul mewed in disbelief, "I wish I was a Clan cat. It seems like a lot of fun!" Soul puffed cheerfully, still awaiting food to be in his belly.

This time, Snowtail spoke. "You have no idea about Clan life! It's not easy and the leaf-bares can be harsh and cruel. Clan life is not all fun and games. We fight to survive!"

Soul drew back at the comment. "I'm sorry," Soul mewed apprehensively. He knew he thought it sounded exciting and fun, but he shouldn't of announced it. After all, Clan life confused him. He was only five moons old.

Ashstar turned to Snowtail with an irritated look, then he stopped moving when he'd arrived at a gorse tunnel. He looked down at Soul and dropped him on the ground. "This is the entrance to the camp," Ashstar meowed, "but before we enter, I need to ask you a question."

Soul had a confused look, but nodded his head. I wonder what he wants to ask me, he thought.

"I've noticed how excited you acted when you learned about Clan life," He mewed with a grin. He went on: "You seem really eager and bright-spirited, regarding all the suffering you've been though. How would you like to join the clan? If you accepted this offer, you would be raised in the nursery until you're fit to become an apprentice and you're six moons old." Ashstar turned to look at Dustheart and Snowtail who nodded their heads in agreement, but Snowtail seemed to not approve much.

The offer shocked Soul. Part of ThunderClan! Just then his stomach growled again, sending pain throughout his body. He mewled in pain, eager to get food. "I'd love to! But I need food! I'm starving!"

"We better take him to the camp right away," Dustheart meowed.

Ashstar picked up Soul by his scruff and darted into the camp. As Ashstar was padding across the territory, Soul looked around in amazement. This was the most cats he'd ever seen! Ashstar brought Soul to a place called the Highrock. Ashstar bent down to release the kit's scruff, and stood on the Highrock ready to announce Soul's arrival. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join beneath the Highrock for a clan meeting," Ashstar meowed so the whole Clan could hear.

As cats crowded around the Highrock, murmurs from other cats broke out at the sight of Soul. The murmuring lowered down as Ashstar started to speak. "While Dustheart, Snowtail, and I were on our patrol, we came across a black-and-gray kit. It seems he has no place to go and no one to look after him. Snowtail, Dustheart, and I have gone over what we shall do with him and we decided to allow him to join the clan." At this, cats began to break out in yowls.

"Why should we let him in the clan!" A ginger tabby tom rasped.

"He's a kit! What use would we have for him?" A big gray-and-white tom protested.

"Silence!" Ashstar broke out in an irritable tone. "We wont let a kit die because we allowed it to. We need more warriors as well as apprentices."

"That kit isn't ThunderClan's business! I say we let him go, we already have enough mouths to feed!" the ginger tabby tom meowed with decry.

At that comment, Soul became frightened. Could they really not accept me that much? He thought about the tabby's words of enmity.

Snowtail noticed Soul wasn't responding well with their hostility. She bent down and murmured in Soul's ear. "That's Maplefeather. She didn't welcome Ashstar in the clan that well either when Ashstar came in as a loner as well."

Soul didn't have time to reply before Ashstar started to address his clan once more. "The point is is that we need more warriors to defend the clan and Soul's attitude toward finding out about the forest Clans was impressive. I think he has the true spirit to become a warrior." With that, their was no more protesting. "Alright, now that we've all approved him and allowed him into the clan, Swiftpelt, since you're the only queen in the camp, will you take care of him until he's ready to become an apprentice and is in a good shape?" Ashstar's gaze turned to a light brown she-cat.

"I will, if you wish," Swiftpelt meowed.

"Thank you, Swiftpelt," Ashstar praised. "Soul shall now be known as Dawnkit. May our warrior ancestors approve him and allow him into the clan."

Happiness ran through him at the thought of becoming part of ThunderClan. Dawnkit made his body erect as Ashstar dismissed the clan from the Highrock. When Ashstar met with the new clanmate, he padded into his den to allow other cats to welcome Dawnkit to the Clan.

When all the cats welcomed him, a big gray tom went over to him with a thrilled grin on his face. "Welcome to the Clan, Dawnkit," the tom greeted. "I'm Grayfur, the deputy of ThunderClan. I hope you train well and become an outstanding warrior." Dawnkit looked up at his thoughtful glance happily. Dawnkit didn't recognize the word "deputy." Curiosity prickled at him like thorns pressed against his fur. He echoed, "Deputy?"

Grayfur seemed to already have detected the kit's curiosity, as he laid down on the grass preparing to answer all the kit's questions about the Clan. "I'm the deputy, which means I help the leader of ThunderClan, Ashstar, with deeds that need to be done in the Clan. When the leader dies, the deputy is appointed leader by StarClan. The deputy travels to Highstones to recieve their nine lives from StarClan and the 'star' that is added at the end of their warrior name."

Dawnkit didn't miss a word as his eagerness quickly built up. He had a lot more questions to ask the deputy. "What are all the other Clans named? Dustheart mentioned three other Clans when he was taking me to the camp," Dawnkit questioned with curiosity.

Grayfur replied calmly, "I'll be glad to answer all your questions about Clan life," Grayfur started, "but it looks like you need to eat first. How about we fetch some prey from the fresh-kill pile?" he mewed as he heard Dawnkit's stomach growl.

Dawnkit nodded. Grayfur was right; he'd been so excited that he forgot about his hunger. Dawnkit padded right behind Grayfur toward the fresh-kill pile. He wondered how all this delicious prey ended up here. Could the warriors and apprentices have possibly caught this much prey? He thought to himself. Dawnkit felt like he could have eaten most of the prey in the pile, but he wouldn't even bother to try. He quickly snatched a vole from the pile, knowing he'd eat it very quickly. As the scent of fresh-kill distracted Dawnkit, he bumped into the big gray-and-white tom who hadn't permitted Dawnkit to be in the Clan when Ashstar had offered him to. Fear flooded the kit's body as the gray-and-white tom swiped his paws at him.

"Watch where you're going, loner," the tom sneered.

"Ferntail, leave him alone," Dawnkit heard the caterwaul as he turned around to see Grayfur, with a mouse under his paws. Dawnkit could hear mumbling from Ferntail as he padded away into the gorse tunnel.

"Where's he going?" Dawnkit mewed as he turned to glance up at Grayfur.

Grayfur returned Dawnkit's gaze. "He's gone out to hunt," Grayfur replied. "Don't pay any attention to Ferntail's hostility. He can be quite irritable."

Dawnkit nodded as he and Grayfur padded back toward their previous spot. Dawnkit could feel his stomach growl painfully, but Dawnkit held in his yowl, as he knew he was going to eat soon. Dawnkit laid down and placed his vole under his paws, biting down hard on the delicious prey. Grayfur watched, as he bent down to take a bite out of his mouse.