Helooooooo! :D

DISCLAIMER!:

Neon: Ratscar of you go

Ratscar: Urg.. really?

Neon:YES

Ratscar: Fine... Neon does not own warriors except for her own characters such as Ravenpaw, Swiftpaw, Stormpaw, Wolfpaw and Songpaw, wow thats alot of paws.

Neon: I Know right!

Ratscar: I hate you all

Neon: Nice to know?...

This chapter is quite surprising and a little imaginative, but if Erin can put impossible things in her stories then so will I :D

Enjoy!

Chapter 18: The blackmail at Sunset

Stormpaw strangely felt calm watching his death come ever closer, his heart rate was so fast it was now a blur and didn't seem to matter, the tension in the situation had caused his view of the world to slow down, making it almost annoying that his death was taking it's time. He thought of the stories that Ivypool would tell him and his siblings when they were kits. Tales of Lionclan and wolf packs, thundering through snow, days on end, tracking their prey far further than the forest and back. Not that he knew how far away the forest was, he'd only heard tales of the great journey from Greystripe and Brightheart. Who seemed to care alot for him since he was her kin.

Stormpaw kept his thoughts on the wolves, and how brave his mother had made them sound in her stories, fighting two legs and running quicker than any cat. However, wolves were no laughing matter, they could kill a cat easily, snapping their back bone like it was a small twig. He had heard the story of the dog pack attack on thunderclan when Firestar was a young warrior and deputy of the clan. The event had made him leader, killing the noble leader that lived on in the elders tales, Bluestar.

All this time he stared at the claws with wide, hazel eyes. He realised the attacker was former shadowclan warrior Ratscar and also the former deputy of Darkclan. It was rumoured that despite the excuse of Ratscar's injured paw being the reason Dogfang had replaced him as deputy, cats believed it was more because the huge former rouge was far more powerful than the skinny shadowclan cat and far more loyal to Breezestar. Stormpaw guessed the leader of Darkclan didn't want to be murdered in his sleep, so chose the large, thick furred, scarred rouge instead to help him rule, despite his advantage of size over the former windclan warrior he was Breezestar's most loyal warrior, not even dreaming of killing his oh so precious leader to take his place. Yet he still had no problem in shedding any other cat's blood. Ratscar however, you couldn't trust that cat as far as you could throw him.

Stormpaw imagined what he would look like as a wolf, even in the rock weighted desperation he was in he couldn't help but think that he would look quite cool as a wolf, striding through the forest taking down a deer as if it was a mouse. Turning back his attention to Ratscar he thought his heart would leap out of his chest throughout the amount of frantic beating it was doing, making his body shake with the force of its rhythmic beat, his claws dug into the ground, he could feel them straining through the tension his was deliberately applying, keeping his last grip on the world before he was cruelly taken away from it. Well, I hope Starclan will have lots of mice..

He was actually proud of himself for staying so calm, waiting for his death like a seasoned leader, brave, confident and proud. Ratscar had his eyes narrowed and frowned in concentration as he aimed for his neck, Stormpaw could tell he was thinking of how to make the killer gash to his neck look like, suddenly Ratscar's pupils turned round, large in fear and astonishment. Ratscar skidded to a stop, his jaw hanging open.

Stormpaw looked at him with confusion lighting up his before darkened eyes. Umm.. are you going to kill me or not?

"Great Darkforest...that's impossible.." Ratscar gasped, his yellow eyes were now dark, the light and adrenaline of the kill seemed to have faded from them and was replaced by the shadow of terror. Stormpaw glanced at Songpaw, to find her expression matched Ratscar's, gaping up at Stormpaw with fear and bewilderment. Stormpaw suddenly realised that she looked smaller, alot smaller. So did Ratscar. His heart started beating franticly again, even though it had just calmed down due to the brief moment of peace. He glanced down at a nearby puddle. His light brown eyes rounded and he felt like he was going to throw up. He swore his blood never ran colder.

He was staring at a wolf.

He took in his shape, his face looked fluffy and he had large pointed ears, pinned back in fear at his reflection, he had a long snout and intelligent eyes, their pupils as large as the moon due to the fear that had made his blood run cold. He looked like a young wolf, with young looking fur and to be perfectly honest, he looks a little cute. His fur on his snout and near his eyes was more yellow like, and faded out from a reddish brown to dark brown as it neared his back. He knew Starclan could do stuff that seemed ridiculous and classed as a miracle but he never imagined anything like this was in their capabilities.

He suddenly remembered Ratscar and Dustpelt's torn up body and he felt his blood melt and fiery rage took the ice's place. He turned around to see the Darkclan piece of dung still gaping at him, not sure how to take the impossibility of the situation.

Stormheart decided to use his new impossible situation to his advantage. He pulled back his lips revealing a toothy snarl, his fangs longer and more deadly, standing out like an oak tree in an empty meadow. Ratscar's eyes widened in horror and in defence he raised his hackles and spat at Stormpaw, but he knew that he had no chance, his eyes taking a more terrified look each second. Stormpaw had to make a split second decision, kill Ratscar and the secret of his wolf appearance would be safe and be haunted by guilt forever, or let him go and watch as he told the story of the impossible apprentice and let Darkclan mock him.

He decided the latter, "Ratscar, go.. and don't ever, mess with thunderclan."

Ratscar realised he had no intention to kill him and arrogance filled his eyes once again. "This" he flicked his tail at Dustpelt. "Was a warning, give us more land. Or another dies." He growled, still keeping wary eye contact with Stormpaw. "Tell Bramblestar, he has until tomorrow at sunset to meet our demands, or..." he flicked his eyes back to Dustpelt to finish his statement. Stormpaw felt his muscles tense. "I will." He growled, he was a little shocked at his voice, constantly a range of growls and snarls. He flicked his now large paw at Ratscar in a motion telling him to clear off.

The Darkclan warrior gave him once last amazed glance and sprinted off into the bushes into Darkclan. Stormpaw was convinced it was the fastest the murder had ever run.

Songpaw was by Dustpelt's side immediately, probably less shocked than Ratscar because of her knowledge of the prophecy, although she still was terrified and astonished at her friend's unexplainable power. When Stormpaw thought about it, there wasn't really a logical explanation. With his anger cooling he realised he was the same height as Songpaw now, he gave his paws a quick glare, they were normal size and were looking like a cat's again. Songpaw's relived glance at him had confirmed his suspicions. He was a cat again. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and wrap his tail around himself, warming his cold skin with its long, fluffy fur.

"He's...dead.." Songpaw mewed quietly.

Stormpaw hung his head. It was clear from when they first saw the battered warrior that he was going to die. He had too many scratches and too much blood loss. He nudged Songpaw with his muzzle. "Come on, we need to get him back to camp."

Songpaw looked at Dustpelt and glanced back at Stormpaw. "how? He's too big." She raised an eyebrow, telling him everything in one look.

Stormpaw's hazel eyes widened., "What?! I can't turn into a wolf and go strolling through thunderclan!"

Songpaw rolled her eyes, to give her credit she was taking the whole YOUR A WOLF?! Thing very well. "look, wolves have far better noses than us, they can track prey thousands of tail lengths away! if you carried him, you could tell if a cat was coming from well away."

Stormpaw looked at her, his brown eyes staring at her sarcastically. "Because I've been turning into a wolf for moons now and can completely control it with lots of reliability."

Songpaw punched him lightly with a paw. "Just do it."

Stormpaw rolled his eyes. "fine." He again imagined the wolves again, picturing his reflection in the puddle that he saw earlier, luckily without much mental difficulty he saw that Songpaw had become much smaller than him again. "May I point out if a patrol scents a wolf on thunderclan they will be running to highstones and back." He said with his dog like growl.

"Roll in something." Songpaw growled, looking down at Dustpelt with a newfound grief.

Stormpaw nodded and easily found a patch of wild garlic, wrinkling his nose in disgust, his wolf nose was far better than his cat counterpart and the wild garlic was so strong it made him want to be sick or the second time. Reluctantly, he rolled in the foul smell until he couldn't smell his wolf scent. Plodding back to Songpaw he gently lifted Dustpelt in his mouth, being careful to not put any more damage on the fallen warrior.

They padded through the forest in silence, pondering on the day's discoveries. "so.. wolf huh?" Songpaw eventually mewed, keeping her eyes on the path ahead.

Stormpaw glanced at her and then pricked his ears in case of an incoming patrol. "Visions of time?" he countered.

After a long period of silence they made their way near the camp, Stormpaw became a cat again and together with great difficulty they dragged Dustpelt into the camp. Stormpaw gulped at what the clan's reaction was going to be. Darkclan wants more territory, more territory that we can't spare...but if we don't more cats will end up like Dustpelt..

Shocked cries and yowls of despair became a loud chorus that drowned out the birdsong and the rattle of the leafy trees. "Dustpelt!"

"What happened?"

"Is he dead?!"

Stormpaw and Songpaw placed the body in the centre of the camp and stood back as countless thunderclan warriors crowded around it. Bramblestar padded through the camp entrance, with a shocked Lionblaze, Dovewing, Jayfeather and a distraught looking Ravenpaw. The amber eyes of Thunderclan's leader grew wide when he took in Dustpelt's mangled and disfigured shape. "What happened?"

Stormpaw padded up to Bramblestar shyly, and dipped his head. "We need to talk to you Bramblestar, it's urgent."

Songpaw's frantic aqua eyes must have caught his attention because the thunderclan leader nodded. He flicked his tail at Lionblaze. "To my den."

The four cats quickly padded up and entered the rocky cave that was the thunderclan leader's den. He looked around feeling in awe of the place where the mighty Firestar would have been, the cat that had started the series of prophecies and was the reason he was part of one. He stopped looking around when he saw Bramblestar's amber gaze looking expectantly at him. "We were at the Darkclan border. When we found Ratscar over Dustpelt's body." Stormpaw decided to leave out the part where he could change into a huge, unexplainable wolf. "He told us it was a warning, if we didn't give Darkclan more territory by sunset tomorrow, more cats will be murdered."

Bramblestar's amber eyes widened and he unsheathed his claws, enraged by the open threat made to murder cats of his clan. "I need to think about this. Lionblaze don't let any cat leave camp alone, make sure all cats leaving camp are in groups with five or above cats, all must be warriors, no apprentice leaves camp without a warrior. Have guards placed at the entrance at all times. Two at the entrance to the camp, and one lookout on the high ledge, that can be an apprentice if you want since they're in the camp."

Lionblaze's eyes widened as he was given the huge list of orders, but as soon as he had processed them he nodded. "Consider it done."

Bramblestar didn't smile at the warrior's confidence; he flicked his tail signalling for the three cats to go. Songpaw padded with Stormpaw into the apprentice den, watching Lionblaze give orders below the high ledge. "You never said, what was your vision?" Stormpaw asked, breaking the silence like jumping into a still pond.

Songpaw shuddered at the memory. "I saw Swiftpaw being killed." She mewed simply. Stormpaw guessed she was trying to say it without any emotion to stop herself from becoming upset. "Your, visions of the future, have any of them ever not come true?" Stormpaw asked with a sinking heart, it was beating quickly again his fear returning for probably the third time in one day.

"Once or twice, you can always change the future, the problem is working out what you need to change." Songpaw growled.

Stormpaw gave her a look of comfort. "Well then, we'd better work out what to change."

Songpaw nodded, but was interrupted by the sound of her stomach growling. "What I wouldn't give for a mouse."

Stormpaw nodded sharing her hunger, they never hunted in the end and with the sun setting and the clan mourning Dustpelt, it was clear no hunting patrols would be sent out tonight. So, it was going to be a hungry night.

Stormpaw continued to fantasise over mice, he licked his muzzle, imagining biting into a juicy mouse. Suddenly he cast a look at Songpaw to find her looking down on him with uncontrollable laughter. "I'm a mouse aren't I?" Stormpaw growled.

Songpaw's face screwed up as if she was trying to keep the amount of laughter she had in. "No.." she mumbled through holding her breath, her cheeks puffed out with air trapped inside. When Stormpaw raised an eyebrow she chuckled. "Okay, maybe!"

Stormpaw saw Dewpaw heading for the apprentice den, he cast a glance at Songpaw probably confused why she was laughing, suddenly his amber gaze locked on Stormpaw, in all his fluffy, big eared, cuteness.

His eyes narrowed and Stormpaw bolted for his life as the grey apprentice leapt for him. Obviously thinking he had just found the elder's meal for the night.

Could this day get any worse?

I found the last bit sooo funny to write, with Stormpaw's power not really under control, whatever animal he thinks of he turns into LOL so right now he needs to avoid becoming lunch, but it's quite hard when you're hungry and all you can think about is food

Also if you're wondering why Stormpaw can turn into a wolf and not Wolfpaw it's because Wolfpaw has a different power, that more suits him if that makes sense? Also Stormpaw can turn into other animals, and I didn't know this would be his power before I named them, originally Stormpaw was meant to turn invisible, but this is WAY MORE FUN TO WRITE!

Also how is Thunderclan going to cope with the threat of their cats being murdered if they don't give up territory they can't afford to lose? And yes I killed off Dustpelt, but it's so he can be with Ferncloud and I think we would all agree that's what he would want after the last hope :D

Till next time! Wishing you the best! (another way to say best wishes lol)

Neon xx