Chapter 40: The Beginning

"What?" yelped Shatterbreeze as she leapt to her paws. "Tonight? What do you mean-"

"I mean tonight!"

"Why?" growled Shatterbreeze, in the middle of a panic. She wasn't ready for this. Not yet! "We're supposed to have another quarter moon!"

"Bloodclan is coming, and she needs warriors. That was her only explanation."

"Dark Forest, why is everything so complicated right now?" She snarled, stomping past Star out into the golden rays of sun. She ignored Star's words and trotted out of camp, breaking into a run when she landed.

First, she isn't the heir to Bloodclan, not even Darkshard's daughter! Second, she has the weight of a prophecy on her shoulders. Next, she's the leader of the feline freaks, and lastly, she has to fight her clanmates with a day's notice.

"Awesome." Shatterbreeze growled quietly. She muttered crossly for a heartbeat longer, then stopped. She gulped in air as fast as her lungs could receive it; she didn't realize she had been running so fast for so long. She gathered her bearings and headed toward the Bloodring, where everyone was training hard. Shatterbreeze sat on the side of the ring to observe.

Dewclaw, Blazeclaw, and Ridgebreeze were fighting Wolfclaw, Robinbreeze, and her brother, Sunclaw. Dark forest was that golden tom fast. Poor Blazeclaw couldn't even place a claw on him. The tom turned and spun with such speed, he could probably beat a Windclan cat at his own game. Robinbreeze was the same way, zipping around Dewclaw while Ridgebreeze and Wolfclaw sparred. Wolfclaw slammed Ridgebreeze into the ground hard. Shatterbreeze shook her head.

Kestrelbreeze was being taught basic moves by Lynxbreeze, as if the grey she was a newly named apprentice. It had been said earlier that Kestrelbreeze would still be competing, despite her memory loss. That bugged Shatterbreeze a bit, and it tore Lynxbreeze apart. She'd been training Kestrelbreeze as much as she could, anything to give her a fighting chance. Shatterbreeze thought they might form an alliance anyway, to help each other.

Stoneclaw and Mistbreeze played feather-grab with Swiftbreeze and Ravenbreeze. Nothing extreme, just careful moves, working on speed and targeting the feather. Stoneclaw held up Swiftbreeze's feather triumphantly. A heart-beat later, Ravenbreeze had grabbed Mistbreeze's dove feather. Stoneclaw smirked, spitting out the feather fluff.

The two cats circled each other, watching the other like a hawk. Stoneclaw lunged, tackling Ravenbreeze, and after a short scuffle, Ravenbreeze was flung away, landing in the dust with a heavy thud. She staggered to her paws, dazed. Mistbreeze padded over to Stoneclaw, shooting a glance at Shatterbreeze. She leaned her head on Stoneclaw's shoulder.

"Wow, Stoneclaw, you're so strong!" she exclaimed.

"Thanks!" he chuckled, flashing her a smile.

Mistbreeze let a playful smirk slid upon her lips, resting her tail over his back, giggling.

Stoneclaw flattened his ears, embarrassed. Shatterbreeze scoffed loudly, and Stoneclaw looked at her, eyes widening. He then looked away in shame. He snuck another glance at Shatterbreeze. No, wait. Not at her, past her. She turned after seeing Stoneclaw's hardened expression to see Star standing there, scowling. Stoneclaw aimed a slight hiss at Star before stalking off, Mistbreeze on his tail.

"What a flirt." Star commented, sitting next to Shatterbreeze. "As soon as she heard about what happened, she was all over him." Star huffed.

"Like flies on crowfood." Shatterbreeze agreed.

Star laughed, then looked at Shatterbreeze. "Are you nervous?"

"Don't have time to be nervous. You?"

"Let's just say I'm special." He said with a smirk.

"Flareio." Shatterbreeze chuckled. Star looked shocked and horrified, which made her laugh harder.

"Are you a Perceivere?" He asked with wide eyes.

"No. Sighterette." She replied calmly, and Star nodded, watching the competitors until it was time.

Shatterbreeze resisted grooming her pelt. It was covered in swirls and streaks and dots of mouse blood. It made her stomach twist with disgust, but when she saw every apprentice was covered in it, she began to relax a little bit. Star gave her an encouraging smile. Each apprentice sat in Bloodring, chatting or watching quietly until Darkshard appeared, and the Elites surrounded the ring. Colddusk and Lunaclaw padded forward, joining the other mentors.

Darkshard's voice echoed throughout the dark ring, lit only by moonlight. "Apprentices, now is the time to prove your worth in Bloodclan. I suggest you take this assessment very seriously, as it will decide your fate.

For moons, you have trained to fight, track, and hunt, and now it will all pay off. First event would be hunting. Your mentors will take you to your starting point and tell you when to go."

The cat scurried to find their mentors, and Shatterbreeze fell into step. The procession split apart as each pair went another way. After a while of padding thought the silent, empty forest, the scent of pine trees hit her nose. Shadowclan's old border. Colddusk gave her a smile, and then looked up, watching the moon intently. When the moon reached its highest, Colddusk nodded at Shatterbreeze. She gave him a shy smile before crashing into the thick, swampy undergrowth.

I have a feeling this is totally going to turn Hunger Games-ish. We'll see.

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