What if I DID own Warriors? This would happen in the 1st series…
Chapter 2 – Territory and Rivals
"Twilightsky, Shadowfur, Goldcloud!" Birdstar called. "Fetch Icepaw, Dawnpaw and Moonpaw!"
The six cats padded up to Birdstar and Firepaw.
"Can I go to put something on these?" Shadowfur asked, gesturing to his stomach scratches. Birdstar nodded, following him with the rest of the group. Firepaw's fur prickled with guilt.
Shadowfur led them into the oak tree hollow - the medicine cat's den, Firepaw remembered.
His pelt accidentally brushed with the yellow-furred apprentice - what was his name?
The tom blinked amber eyes at him. "Nice to meet you, Firepaw!"
"Hi," Firepaw mewed, already feeling at ease with the tom. "Sorry, was your name... Dawnpaw?"
"Yep," Dawnpaw's eyes sparkled. "Hey, can we be friends? I can't stand living with my sisters and no-one else!"
"Sure!" Firepaw purred in amusement. He already liked Dawnpaw.
They padded through the hollow with the rest of the patrol.
It had sandy walls and a soft floor. There were neat nests of moss and bracken lining the left wall, and opposite the entrance was a smaller section, just big enough for one nest, which seemed to be where the medicine cat slept. Next to that was three deep horizontal clefts in the wall, and Firepaw could see herbs neatly stacked inside them - they looked like shelves in his old Twoleg nest, where his old Twolegs used to keep food.
"Nice, huh?" Dawnpaw mewed to Firepaw, as a light grey she-cat slipped out of her den - the medicine cat.
She had fluffy fur that rippled on her sleek body, and her paws were dainty and slender. Large blue eyes blinked friendlily at them.
"What can I do for you?" she asked.
"That's Dovefeather, our medicine cat," Dawnpaw whispered.
Shadowfur stepped forwards.
"Oh, yes, the kittypet attack," Dovefeather mewed, her eyes sparkling and a note of amusement in her voice. "Shadowfur, what happened to your battle training?"
Shadowfur rolled his eyes.
"Being a medicine cat means you can tease the warriors, right, Dovefeather?" Birdstar purred.
Dovefeather dabbed in a pulpy plant juice to Shadowfur's belly.
"Does he need cobwebs?" Twilightsky asked curiously.
"From a six moon old cat's claws?" Dovefeather asked scornfully. "No, I just used marigold to stop the infection. You can go."
As the patrol turned to leave, a dark grey she-cat padded in; her mouth full of herbs. She had blue eyes and when the light was on her fur it turned it a shining silver. She nodded friendlily to Firepaw, then padded past.
Birdstar led them out.
"Who was that?" Firepaw asked Dawnpaw.
"Shimmerpaw, the medicine cat apprentice." he replied. "She's still young, only two moons older than me."
Firepaw nodded and the patrol headed to the gorse tunnel.
As Firepaw was about to go through, Shadowfur padded in next to him. He turned to look at him.
Firepaw tensed nervously.
"Nice battle moves, kittypet," he purred, a glint of amusement in his eyes, and Firepaw relaxed, dipping his head awkwardly to the warrior.
"Thanks," he mumbled.
"Come on, Dawnpaw," he called over his shoulder to his apprentice. "Hurry up!"
They padded into the forest, with Birdstar leading them. Firepaw trotted in her pawsteps. He felt excitement welling inside him as he remembered that he was her apprentice.
Firepaw saw a mouse nibbling on a seed. He wondered if he could catch it. He crouched down and pounced.
His paws struck the leaf-strewn floor and the mouse scurried out of sight.
A snort of laughter came from behind him. "Better luck next time, kittypet!" a cat sneered.
Firepaw swung around and saw the silver apprentice, Icepaw, with amusement in her eyes. The rest of the patrol had paused.
"It was a great first try," Birdstar meowed, sounding pleased.
Icepaw snorted as the patrol moved on. Firepaw fell further to the back bacause he was further apart. Icepaw dropped back so she was nearby.
"I can't believe Birdstar actually accepted you into the Clan," Icepaw growled.
"Well get used to it!" Firepaw retorted, and Icepaw's head swung round to look at him.
The challenging gleam in her eyes, the scornfulness of her tone and the way she stood, with her head raised arrogantly, made something stir deep inside him, something that made him want to argue with her.
Before he could speak again, Birdstar padded in between them.
"Stop fighting." she growled. "Firepaw, come on, we're near the ShadowClan border."
"Really?" Firepaw bounded ahead of the patrol.