THIS IS THE NEW AGE! THIS IS THE NEW AGE! THIS IS THE NEW AGE! THIS IS THE NEW AGE!

WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY?

Sorry! Got a little-okay, more than a little-hyper just then! I have an idear! A contest! The 3 winner's of the contest will get to name Birdfeather's three kits! I get to pick their description, but you tell me whether they're a tom or a she-cat and what their name is!XD

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Also in your review, you can put in what your thankful for this year. I'm thankfull for my family and my wonderful friends and most of all; GOD!XD

WHAT DO Y'ALL WANT FOR CHRISTMAS?

Another thingy is that I'm gonna give a short preview of what will happen in next weeks chapter and/or over time. Alright, LET'S GET TO...CHAPTER FRIDAY THE 13TH!MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!XD

Chapter 13

Snowpaw woke up from her long sleep. She still had aches and pains all over her, but her cold had gotten better. It had been almost a moon since she had fallen inside the cave, and now Snowpaw could finally get on with training. She hauled herself up and padded into the icy cold clearing. It was still indeed Winter, for the ground was still covered in thick ice and snow. Hunting hadn't gotten any better yet, and most of the clan was starving; they prey had all gone deep into their tunnels for survival. Since it was Snowpaw's first Winter, she wondered what was going on at home. Probably much of the same things, except that Rainwhisker would turn other cats into food, the she-cat thought darkly. As she looked for the fresh kill pile, Silverpaw came bounding up to her.

"You're finaly awake!"the excited she-cat meowed to Snowpaw.

Snowpaw yawned."Yeah. So update me; what's happened since I've been asleep?"she asked Silverpaw.

"Well, nothing much. We've just continued our training, and well, a sickness has broken out in the nursery."

"WHAT?"Snowpaw asked, her green eyes wide as moons.

"Yeah. Only Tawnykit and Streamkit so far, and I think Stormheart, but-"

"THAT'S MY DAD!"Snowpaw raged.

"I was GOING to say, but his case has gotten much better. On a positive note, Ferncloud is expecting Blazeheart's kits!"Silverpaw meowed.

Snowpaw purred happily."Good. And it's cool that Ferncloud is going to have kits. Do you know where the fresh-kill pile is?"

"What fresh-kill pile?"Silverpaw asked, confused."There isn't none. Someone always needs food or something. The queens and elders must be fed first, and they're ALWAYS hungry. Haven't you noticed how skinny everyone is?"

Snowpaw gazed around. Every single cat in camp was so skinny their bones were clearly visable.

Suddenly, a sharp mew sounded from behind the two blabering she-cats."Silverpaw!"Creekwater spat."The clan must be fed. Let's go!"

"Okay..."Silverpaw got up and padded over to Creekwater."Bye Snowpaw. Have fun with training!"she called over her shoulder as they fled into the moors.

Snowpaw meowed in reply,"You too!"

Despite her cheery sounding attitude, she wasn't at all in a good mood. No food ment starvation, and cats can die of starvation! Snowpaw decided to hunt, even without Ashstar coming with her. She was about to leave, when a cat called her. Snowpaw turned around and saw Ashstar.

"Snowpaw! The clan has plenty of warriors getting prey. You and I are going to work on battle moves."Ashstar meowed.

Snowpaw froze. Should she tell Ashstar why she'd been dreading this part in her training?

"Ashstar, we need to talk. Alone,"Snowpaw said as she troted up to the leader.

"Very well. Come on in."Ashstar climbed up her small sandy cliff and into the tunnel that led to her den. Snowpaw followed quickly, as not to waste any precious time. Once they got there, Ashstar layed down, neatly tucking her paws underneath her chest. Snowpaw sat, curling her tail around her paws.

"Ashstar, I know that you're a great mentor and all, but,"Snowpaw took a deep breath before continuing."But you can't teach me battle moves."

"Why not?!"the enraged leader had stood up, towering over Snowpaw.

"I-I'm from a different clan! We have different ways of training!"Snowpaw reasoned, standing as well.

"So what? Consider it an honor to be trained by your leader!"Ashstar spat, her amber eyes dark with anger.

Snowpaw shook her head, meowing,"I think it is a true honor. But you have to remember that I'm not from around here. We don't have the same battle moves as you do."

"What does it matter? I'm not switching your mentor, or maybe I should, to see how you like it!"Ashstar was still quite angry at Snowpaw, who now was rising to her paws.

"It matters because your moves are useless to me!"Snowpaw growled at Ashstar."And if you did switch my mentor, big deal, because that wouldn't solve the overlying problem!"

Ashstar and Snowpaw were now level with eachother, each of them glaring into the others' eyes.

After what seemed like forever, Ashstar spoke."Snowpaw, I am sorry. You are right."the leader sat down and continued,"But I've never seen an apprentice argue so firecely with their leader. Any leader, actually."

Snowpaw didn't know what to say."Is that a good thing, or..."

"It's a great thing. Truth is, around here, every apprentice takes my word without arguing. I'm tired of it. It's so easy to assgin them duites or something when their leader or deputy is telling them, but it all falls apart when a mentor does it. They argue with their mentors on and on and on. That's why I've never been a mentor as a leader."

"Wait...your confusing me. You have never been a mentor as leader because it's too easy? Or are you afraid your power over apprentices would be taken away?"Snowpaw asked, her brow furrowed.

"Well, a little bit of both. It would be too easy to boss that certain apprentice around, and if they were strong at arguing, then it'd be too hard!"Ashstar meowed to Snowpaw.

"I think both reasons are stupid, honestly,"Snowpaw meowed back. Ashstar looked shocked."Those are just excuses for trying something new. I remember, I made LOTS of excuses for not eating a mouse because I was scared because I had watched Brozepaw puff up like I've never seen before, but then I tried it and now I love it! You just have to stop being scared."

Ashstar nodded."I get what you're saying. I guess I don't want you to switch mentors is because I'll feel like I've failed."

"No you haven't!"Snowpaw quickly replied."I'm from another clan! You can't help that I have different ways. I know most of them already."

Ashstar looked like she couldn't care less."You do?"she meowed.

"Well, hunting is easy; the battle moves are hard!"Snowpaw picked up on Ashstar's absence of mind."What's wrong?"

"How am I going to give all six of you new mentors?"Ashstar spat.

"Well, Whitepaw already has Blazeheart, and Stormheart, Hollowwing and Jaywhisker don't have any apprentices."Snowpaw suggested.

"Isn't Stormheart your father?"Ashstar asked.

"Yeah, but if we really need him, why don't we use him? And I have another idea! Since there's five of us that need a battle mentor, three of us just need Stormheart, Hollowwing and Jaywhisker. Briarpaw can just wait, so that leaves just four of us to train! Then-"Snowpaw was inturrupted by Ashstar.

"No, she can't wait!"she angry leader spat.

"Let me finish!"Snowpaw growled. The cream she-cat stood, and started pacing."Well, anyway, then we could just take turns with those mentors!"

Ashstar nodded, sadness flooding her eyes. Snowpaw sat down again, unsheathing her claws and making claw marks in the sand."Tell me,"Snowpaw growled."Tell me what the Forestclan is wrong!"

Ashstar shook her head and meowed,"You're too young to understand,"

"I said, TELL ME WHAT'S WRONG!"Snowpaw snarled and leaped onto Ashstar. The grey she-cat easily pushed Snowpaw off. Her ears were flat on her head and her amber eyes bark with anger.

"Why do you want to know my secret?"Ashstar yowled.

Snowpaw got up and dug more claw-holes in the sand."Because I know I'll understand."

"Fine."Ashstar meowed, then looked deep into Snowpaw's eyes."But if you tell a single cat, your soul is dead!"

"Alright, geez. Your secret's safe with me."Snowpaw sat, her long furry cream tail wrapped neatly around her paws.

"Well, at night I've been meeting with Blackstar, the Shadowclan leader. We've fallen in love together and-and-"Ashstar couldn't hold Snowpaw's intense stare."I'm expecting his kits. I lied and said their father was our former leader that reccently died, Onestar, but they're going to look WAY different. I know he wants me to move to Shadowclan, but I told him if he ever wants to train his kits, he must come to Windclan. We made a deal; if I have an odd number of kits, he moves. If I have an even number, I move. Problem is, I really don't want to move or admitt who the kits real father is."she meowed in one quick breath.

"OH...MY...WORD! That's exactly why we ran away from home! Rainwhisker moved in and took over the forest because he was Frecklestar's mate! And uh, I like a tom from another clan back at home; his name is Hawkpaw, but he's probably a warrior now."Snowpaw said."So I kinda know what you're going through. Except I said something like, I could never move here because my mom founded Forestclan and all that."

Ashstar sighed."Let's hunt what we can while we can."The two cats got up and exited the den, and cascaded down the sandy hill with ease. They raced for the camp exit, flew past it, and out into the open ranges. It was nearly sunset, and by the time they got far away enough from camp, it was dark.

"We should go home now..."Snowpaw thought aloud.

"No!"Ashstar snapped."No, we need to eat."the queen raced away into some bushes. Snowpaw saw a rabbit out of its hole. It was reparing the entrance. Snowpaw knew her cream pelt would offer a great disguise. She crouched low over the ground and slowly came forward, stealth and everything perfect, when she sprang! She easily caught the rabbit and started troting back to camp; then a familer scent caught on. Not only was it Flameheart, it was also Ashstar. Probably gone to go be with their wanna-be mates, Snowpaw thought this would be the chance to walk in innocently on, rather than break secrets. She raced back to camp, quickly scarffed down the rabbit, and poked her head into the apprenitces den to see who was there. Only Grasspaw and Quillpaw were there.

"Uh, Quillpaw, I have to show you something!"

"Okay! What is it?"the tom got up and came to the entrance.

"It's something really cool! It's an animal!"Snowpaw started to bound away when Lightfoot hissed to Quillpaw,

"Don't listen to her! It's a trap!"

"Shut up, Lightfoot."Quillpaw snapped. The two apprenitces raced to where the border with Thunderclan was. Sure enough, Flameheart was there sharing tounges with...Brindleheart.

"Oh no! Not Flameheart..."Quillpaw groaned loud enough for the tom to hear.

Flameheart padded over to Quillpaw and Snowpaw, Brindleheart hot on his trail."Why are you guys here?"the angry Flameheart sneered.

"I was on my way to show Quillpaw an unuaual-looking rabbit, when I saw this!"Snowpaw hissed.

"Well, I think it's time for both of you to go!"Brindleheart gave chase onto Snowpaw, and Quillpaw screamed all the way home,(lol). Snowpaw dashed quickly through the territroy, Brindleheart easily keeping pace. Snowpaw was scared. If she catches me...what will she do to me? she thought as she tore through the moor. Her nuscles started aching, and she stopped. Brindleheart pinned her down.

"I'm going to kill you now, just so you have no memory of wha-"

Suddenly, a large spotted tom bowled into Brindleheart."You threaten to take her life, I will take yours!"he bit down on her neck and held it there.

Blazeheart! Snowpaw relized who had just saved her life."Thanks,"she purred.

"No problem."he answered warmly. Then an angry tom came up from behind Blazeheart.

"How dare you kill MY mate!"Flameheart spat.

OH! WONDER WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN ENXT? DON'T FORGET THE ABOVE QUESTION!

ALSO, NO PREVEIWS FOR NEXT WEEK!

OKAY, Ashstar's kits and Birdfeather's kits SHALL BE BORN! And yeah, that's all. Maybe somewon will die...

i really dont know...

HUMP DAY!XD

Love y'all!

~Night