Episode 4: Firestar

SO SORRY that this has been a year coming now. I feel so bad... I've been so busy with a brand new school and an essay every week that I haven't been able to work on more than one story at a time (*coughT&Tcough*). Again, really truly exceptionally sorry. Please don't be mad. :3

Don't think I'm weird and just bare with me. My parents are watching a show on Netlfix called Dark Shadows. NOT the Johnny Depp Dark Shadows. The sixties soap opera. Anyway, every ten or so episodes has a certain storyline, i.e. the main character turning into a vampire. Again, sixties soap opera, when vamps were still scary and made of pure evil and exploded in sunlight and didn't have obsessive fangirls who hit other obsessive fangirls over the head with shovels.

So, I was wondering if we would like to try this later on, with different storyline plots beneath each episode. I've given this a shot in my other Warriors story, Tailed & Talented.

So here we go with the fourth revival, which is...Firestar!

In the dorms above the Warriors Unleashed studio (fifth floor), Nightsong is in her room, ranting to a good friend of hers, Yellowtail.

"...and let me tell you, Yellowtail, Burnt is completely and utterly insane. You know what she did to my heels? They were shredded, and she chucked them out the window! I could have fixed them, or at least recycled them as a pen holder or s-"

"Warriors!"

The voice is so angered and blood-chilling and dripping with rarely seen primal instinct that Nightsong fur stands on end, revealing her silver roots beneath her blue and green streaks.

"Gotta go." Nightsong unceremoniously hangs up on Yellowtail, checks her fur in her compact, and goes to the door of room W2.

Goldenheart is pacing the hallway, steadily shredding the carpet as she walks. Burntfur is peeking out of room the room she shares with Goldie (room W4) with her fur also on end. Sunclaw is just getting out of the shower and scrambles to the door, peeking around Nightsong and still holding her towel around her body. Liontail, the only boy and therefore on the other side of the hallway in W1, is standing at the door with a foaming mouth, thankfully only because of the frothy toothbrush in his paw. And of course, Whitefoot and Diamondeyes are standing at the last girl's apartment on the floor (W6), leaning against the door frame, dressed up as if getting ready to go hit the town.

"Burntfur." Goldenheart spins and points at the black cat. "You bought two more floors above this one in my name. You are aware that I'm not made of money, correct?"

Burntfur strolls forward and plucks a hair from Goldie's tail.

"Ow!" Goldie shouts, grabbing Burntfur's shoulders.

Burntfur extensively considers the hair and then places it on the tip of Goldie's rapidly swiveling tail. "No, you are not made of money."

There is pure silence for just a moment as everyone stares.

"Burntfur, I'm going to kill you," Goldie snaps. The black she-cat laughs, accepting the challenge, and runs for the metal spiral staircase at one end of the hallway.

"Banister's faster!" Whitefoot calls out as Burntfur takes the stairs proper. Taking this to heart, Goldie leaps onto the rail and sidesaddles it all the way down to the studio.

A sudden crash is heard and Whitefoot blanches.

"Oh, gosh. That was definitely a camera."

She takes the rail as well. Sunclaw, having rid herself of the towel and brushed out her fur, chases her down, with Liontail and Diamondeyes both bringing up the rear.

Four more crashes are heard in rapid succession. Nightsong sighs and rolls her eyes.

"See, we could have avoided all of this if we just took the elevator."

Nightsong calmly strolls over to the elevator at the end of the residential floor and presses the bottom button. When it comes up, she steps inside, calmly presses the button, and then rides down to the studio.

Later on, once Burntfur's been sufficiently cut off and Goldie's hidden her carefully budgeted money in another place, the camera is once again rolling. Of course, Goldie doesn't notice this. She's sitting behind her desk with her laptop booted up and the Barnes & Noble website shining on the screen. On the right side of the computer is a notebook, which Goldie is writing in. It appears that she's writing down book names.

"And I need to get this book…and this one…and this one."

Liontail rolls his eyes, comes up behind, and blows an air horn in the golden she-cat's ear. She literally jumps about three feet in the air and lands on all fours with her fur spiky in that Halloween-cat way. Once she sees the culprit, she quickly smooths her fur down and then slaps the director.

"We are rolling," Liontail justifies his actions before he backs away in case she's still got her claws extended.

Goldenheart growls under her breath and hisses, "No point to do that, though! Get back there!" Goldenheart shoves Liontail backstage, turns to the camera, clears her throat, and opens her mouth to speak.

"Okay, our guest today is Firestar," And pause for the awkward claps heard in the audience... "Bring him out, Sunclaw!"

From stage left, Sunclaw drags out the fiery tomcat and sits him down in the beanbag chair. The four hostesses pull up their spinny chairs and sit down. However, before the show can continue, Burntfur of course has to spin a few times. After an annoyed Nightsong stops her chair, the show properly begins.

Firestar looks around, his green eyes wide, and mutters, "I'm afraid."

Seconds after this statement, he turns just slightly to the side and sees Burntfur staring at him with a smile worthy of the Cheshire cat. Really. Her smile is huge and practically ear to ear.

Firestar jumps and screeches, after which Nightsong threatens, "Don't make me get out the hammer."

Hearing those two syllables, Firestar begs, "Not the hammer. Please, anything but the hammer!" The tough tomcat then breaks down and begins to cry. Meanwhile in the camp, Sandstorm is biting her tongue and trying not to laugh out loud.

Nightsong rolls her eyes and clarifies, "I was talking to Miss Crazy over there." She moans under hear breath.

Firestar stops crying all at once and whispers, "Oh."

After a beat, Goldenheart turns to Diamondeyes and asks, "Diamondeyes, will you please go get the thing?"

Diamondeyes gives a blank look and asks innocently, "What thing?"

"The big thing."

"What big thing?"

Goldenheart presses her paws to her temples and mutters, "The big thing backstage marked 'Do not touch'.

"OH!" Diamondeyes declares, breaking into a grin, "The big airplane cockpit that has the power to view what would happen if a certain thing didn't happen and if not used correctly can rip a hole in the space-time continuum the exact size of Belgium and destroy us all; that big thing?"

Everyone stares at her, as this was obviously a gigantic secret. Goldie breathes through her teeth and sighs, "Yes, Diamondeyes, that big thing. Now go get it and don't say another word."

Diamondeyes calmly trots off while Sunclaw tackles a now freaked out Firestar.

In that overdramatic way, Firestar shouts, "You'll never take me alive!" He breaks free of Sunclaw and makes a run for the elevator. On the other side of the room, Goldenheart facepalms and picks up a tranquilizer from a secret drawer in her desk.

"Lock n' load!" She looks through the crosshairs and fires a dart directly into Firestar's left paw. After a brief moment, Firestar slumps onto Sunclaw and knocks her over.

Now underneath the orange cat, Sunclaw mutters, "Thank you. Oh so much."

The door on the other side of the room pops open and Diamondeyes walks in backwards, dragging a wooden cart with an airplane cockpit that looks like it's from World War I. Nightsong turns to the camera as the other three cats dart to help pull it to the center of the room.

"We've been dared to make Firestar a kittypet again and make him watch what happened. This should be fun!"

With a hole the size of Belgium still at stake, sure, why not go and mess with time?

Everyone climbs into the cockpit with Whitefoot, Liontail, and a portable camera. Goldenheart presses a couple of buttons on the cockpit dashboard and announces, "Please keep your paws and legs inside the cockpit at all times. Please enjoy the ride!"

Burntfur, in one of her few non-insane moments, pulls back a joystick, and suddenly everyone's flying over a strange scene where a younger Firestar is lying comfortably in his twoleg's nest.

"What's going on?" Firestar asks, looking out the glass-free window.

Goldenheart looks at him and hisses, "You shoulda been listening."

Firestar stares at her and growls, "I was unconscious."

"That isn't an excuse!"

The scene below the cockpit changes to show Tigerclaw about to take Bluestar's last life. He quickly slits her throat and the scene speeds up to show Tigerstar ruling all four clans with an iron paw with Hawkfrost and Brambleclaw helping him. Firestar whimpers and hides behind Liontail. Liontail brings him back in front and shows him SkyClan, still all worthless rogues and kittypets. Skywatcher is dying in the gorge and opens his mouth to speak.

After Skywatcher draws one last, shuddering breath, he whispers to nothing, "There will be three, kin of his kin, who hold the power of the stars in their paws."

Skywatcher then drops his head, dead. The prophecy can never come true now all because—

Firestar somehow senses the narrator and finishes, "I wasn't there." Suddenly he throws himself at the window and screams, "I'm sorry! Let me try again, please!"

Burntfur promptly throttles the joystick and suddenly they are back in the studio, with the cockpit sitting on the cart again.

Whitefoot helpfully drags Firestar out of the cockpit and announces, in a comically strained voice, "That wasn't real!"

Firestar promptly stops wailing like a kit for the second time in ten minutes as Diamondeyes squints to read something stamped on the skin of the cockpit. She begins to read and sounds out a tougher word, "After use, will cause majer ex-explos-"

Sunclaw suddenly hears the ticking noise and yells, "Everybody move!"

I'll not give you the details, so let's just cut to the chase-boom!

Seconds later, Liontail grabs a fire extinguisher and takes out the fire as the others crawl from their hiding places to check out the damage. Thankfully, the explosion was almost entirely contained within the cockpit, and only the cart and the plane have been destroyed.

Whitefoot sits up straight and clasps her paws. "Can we get back to Firestar now?"

"Yes. Liontail!" Goldenheart calls out to the director.

From the back room, a mechanism jiggles and something begins to roll forward onto the stage.

"We are bringing out the chair!" Burntfur cheers. "Dun dun dun dun!"

Nightsong, now officially fed up with Burntfur and her all powerful randomness, grabs her hammer and throws it. Burntfur narrowly dodges the flying cinder block as a strange chair with a harness, electrodes, and a box comes to a stop in the center of the room.

The two strongest members of the crew-Sunclaw and Nightsong-lunge towards Firestar and force him into the chair while Goldenheart hooks him up to the electrodes and sets the box out of sight.

"So now what happens?" Firestar asks, pawing at the wires, since all cats can barely resist shiny silver thin things that move.

Goldenheart pulls up a chair and sits down, as do the others. "We're going to ask you some yes or no questions. Please answer honestly. Okay, are you married?"

Firestar gets the point of this dare and, knowing that he should be okay, answers, "Yes."

Nightsong bounces up and asks, "Are your kits Leafpool and Squirrelflight?"

"Yes."

Diamondeyes sits up and asks, "Do you secretly admire Tigerstar?"

"No."

Burntfur grins devilishly and asks the million-dollar question, "Do you love Spottedleaf?"

Firestar answers too quickly; "No."

A very loud ZZZZTis heard. Firestar jumps in the chair and snaps, "Ow! What in StarClan's name was that?"

Liontail calls intellectually, "When you lie, you get shocked."

Firestar sheepishly whispers, "Oh..."

Everyone glances at each other and grin knowingly, since this indicates that he loves Spottedleaf.

"Okay..." Diamondeyes thinks for a moment and asks, "Are you cheating on Sandstorm?"

"What! No!"

ZZZZT!

Firestar's mouth hits the floor seconds before Whitefoot calls, "Do you have more than five lives left?"

"Yes."

ZZZZT!

Liontail yells, "Are you in love with Ferncloud?"

"No."

ZZZZT!

Firestar's jaw hits the ground again and he asks a rhetorical question, "Am I lying to myself?"

ZZZZT!

Firestar sighs.

ZZZZT!

"I didn't even say anything!"

ZZZZT!

"Ahhhhhh!"

ZZZZT!

The hostesses and Sunclaw now believe something wrong, and, to Firestar's melodic screeches, they sneak around the chair. Burntfur is sitting there, pressing the button on the box controlling the electrodes, which tests the electrodes by sending a shock through.

Burntfur looks up with a grin and innocently says, "Look what I found!"

Goldenheart snatches the box and Sunclaw and Nightsong clock Burntfur on the head at the same time with their hammers. Whitefoot moves back to her post to spare the viewers from the scene. Goldenheart pokes her head around the chair and quickly freeing Firestar, as Burntfur is rather anxious to get back to her game.

"Our guest next week will be Berrynose. Wait—a—minute…Clear! Firestar, run!"

Firestar leaps from the chair and runs like a pack of dogs were behind him. Now that the studio's empty, Goldie idly picks up the electrodes and starts wrapping them up.

"Okay, as I just said, our guest will be Berrynose. See ya next week!"

Sunclaw and Nightsong suddenly charge around and restrain Goldenheart in the chair. Nightsong quickly starts to explain, "Burntfur got a hold of the hammers and wants one of us to get shocked or get clocked. We voted you to get shocked."

Goldenheart glares at them and starts muttering under her breath before the shocks come. "You two—ouch!—are so—holy!—dead!"

Whitefoot immediately sticks the camera cap on the lens and goes to help Burntfur shock her nemesis.

Long after the show has ended, Sandstorm is in the process of digging a grave in the center of the camp. Firestar's nice little proclamation on live television hasn't exactly helped her frazzled nerve endings. Once she's done, she turns to her friends, who have been standing by and listening to her rant, and snaps in finality;

"When I get a hold of that wretched tomcat, he is dead. Do you hear me? Dead!"

Rather appropriately, Firestar stumbles into the camp, with scorch marks all over his brilliant orange fur. After taking a moment to examine the grave, he looks up at an advancing Sandstorm and starts to slowly back away. He looks towards his Clanmates for help, but the boys know all too well about the wrath of a she-cat scorned, and have chosen not to help their poor leader. Seeing that they won't be any help, Firestar begins chattering nervously.

"Sandstorm, I bet that that first wrong answer was the crazy black one's fault. I do not love Spottedleaf. You're the only cat for me- You look beautiful tonight, darling. Oh StarClan. Graystripe? Brambleclaw? Lionblaze? Anybody? Help!"

Number four! Sounds good? I hope it does! So anyway, I have a very important question for you guys and then a few announcements.

How would you like it if this story used nekos (not sure if that's spelled right; it has a red under strike) instead of actual cats? Or would you prefer keeping the cats? This change would probably begin in chapter...six or so? Please share your thoughts.

Another thing that I'll probably outline more completely in the next chapter; there's going to be a special storyline for as long as I make these Warrior show stories. While you'll be able to figure out the story pretty quick, I hope that it'll be entertaining. :D

Things are going to change A LOT. You'll still have our wonderfully zany cats and crazy Burntfur, but the studio is going to undergo some majorly epic changes, and we're going to get to know some of our favorite kit-cats better.

Finally, the last announcement; it has become official...Warriors Unleashed is back and there will be a (redone) chapter EVERY Monday unless I'm on vacation, sick, or too blocked to do a chapter. This Monday thing will hopefully remain when I start doing new, never-before-seen episodes. :)

Thanks for reading, and review!

Hosts

Goldenheart: Intelligent tortoiseshell she-cat with gold streaks, gold eyes (Goldenstar13)

Burntfur: Insane black she-cat with orange tail, hazel eyes(Goldenstar13)

Nightsong: Snarky silver she-cat with green and blue dyed streaks, hazel eyes (Goldenstar13)

Diamondeyes: Beautiful white she-cat with silver streaks, white eyes that glisten like diamonds (Goldenstar13)

Camera Cats/Techies

Whitefoot: Clever dark brown tabby she-cat, white paws, brown eyes (Goldenstar13)

Security

Sunclaw: Protective pale yellow tabby she-cat, yellow eyes that glisten like sunlight (Goldenstar13)

Director

Liontail: Hard-working dark ginger tabby with a fluffy tail tip, green eyes (Goldenstar13)