Author's Note: Thank you so much to the two people who have reviewed and the people who've favorited this story! This is our first fanfic and we're glad that some people like it!

Warning: Cliffhanger. This might be the first big cliffhanger for this fanfic...

Please read & review, but most of all enjoy!

Chapter 12 | Battle-Calm

By the end of the moon, WaterClan had recovered well from the devastating flood. The camp was more protected than ever, and Swiftbreeze had replaced all the herbs that were shriveled, flooded, or burned.

The day dawned onto a perfect greenleaf morning. The air was crisp and cool, and a soft breeze rippled Lightningpaw's ear fur. As the sun's rays warmed the camp, bathing the clouds in beautiful rosy colors, the lions and Lightningpaw padded out into camp for another day. Swiftbreeze planned on getting watermint and catmint, and Yellowtail planned to hunt her favorite voles, but in the contentness that surrounded Lightningpaw, he was more stressed than ever.

And for good reason, too. Today was the day that he had his final assessment. If he passed, he would be made a warrior. But if he failed- well, he didn't want to think about it.

Lightningpaw carefully ate a squirrel, eating slowly so he wouldn't choke on the fluffy fur and so his belly wouldn't churn during his final fight with Leopardclaw. Although he would never admit it, Lightningpaw was more nervous than when he'd had the second part of his first assessment, when he'd had to spar Leopardclaw.

Sparrowstar appeared in the clearing. "Ready for your final assessment, Lightningpaw?"

Lightningpaw finished off his squirrel and rose to his paws smoothly. "As ready as I'll ever be."

"That's the attitude I want!" Sparrowstar bounded over to him. "Don't worry, you'll be fine. You've been doing so well that there's almost no chance at all for you to fail this! Even if you don't beat Leopardclaw, you'll definitely pass the standard assessment."

Lightningpaw was sure that he could pass the regular assessment, but it was his fight with Leopardclaw that he was worried about. He just nodded, his belly twisting itself into elaborate knots. "All right," he said eventually. "I'm ready."

The two wolves padded out of camp. "Good luck!" called Yellowtail from the clearing.

"I'm sure you'll do great, Lightningpaw!" Swiftbreeze called.

Lightningpaw nodded his thanks, feeling a little bit better as he jumped through the hidden tunnel. Of course he wouldn't fail. He would make sure of that.

"Come back with two squirrels and a mouse," Sparrowstar instructed.

Lightningpaw nodded tersely and headed off into the forest. The prey would be easy; that was why Sparrowstar had told him to hunt in a part of the forest where squirrels didn't like to put their homes. The cold pine trees weren't a place where Lightningpaw usually hunted; the weird wind as it whistled through the willow trees nearby seemed creepy and haunting, in a way.

Soon Lightningpaw had his prey. He half-expected a ThornClan patrol to race in, and that's exactly what happened. It was only after Lightningpaw had growled for five minutes did he realize that the "patrol" had been a fox scampering along. Lightningpaw puffed and lightly kicked the fox on his way. He was way too uptight.

Lightningpaw made it back to Sparrowstar without incident. She looked up. "So quickly? Wow, I thought I'd given you a challenge!"

Lightningpaw laughed through squirrel fur. He put his catch down and teased, "You should know by now that Lightningpaw shall never be challenged!" He puffed his chest out ridiculously.

Sparrowstar laughed hard. "Very funny. Take that to the fresh-kill pile and then go to the training hollow. You'll be fighting Leopardclaw there, and then you'll get your warrior name!"

Lightningpaw obeyed swiftly, stopping only to get a drink from the stream before he went to the hollow. There Leopardclaw stood, his body half in shadow, his face looking unnaturally sharp and angular with dramatic shadows thrown across it. Lightningpaw shivered inwardly. Even though he'd beaten Leopardclaw twice in their training sessions, he had to admit that he'd never seen a more intimidating wolf.

And today, Leopardclaw was turning the "scary" up as high as it went. He took two slow, menacing steps forward. Lightningpaw almost screamed, until he remembered the drought, the flood, the fire, the Frost Forest, the mountain lions. If he could beat those, he wasn't going to let a warrior stand in the way of his destiny. Either he beat Leopardclaw, or…. There wasn't another choice. Lightningpaw had to beat Leopardclaw.

With that knowledge, Lightningpaw's fear dissipated. He didn't care about Leopardclaw's dramatic entrance; all he cared about was his duty to WaterClan, and his need to pass the assessment.

And soon, Lightningpaw could see weak spots in Leopardclaw's defense that he'd never seen before, and he could see his own fear transferring to Leopardclaw. And he knew that it would be an easy fight.

Leopardclaw leaped at Lightningpaw, but he simply took a step back and Leopardclaw bashed his muzzle on the dirt ground. Lightningpaw calmly stepped in and battered Leopardclaw's head and when he tried to get out, Lightningpaw sat on him.

That was all he had to do. Leopardclaw surrendered quickly, and Lightningpaw got up, his strange battle-calm disappearing, replaced by elation at having defeated Leopardclaw so easily, and excitement at his imminent warrior status.

Lightningpaw could see an emotion that he'd never seen before on Leopardclaw: fear. Fear that Lightningpaw could destroy his Clan once and for all. And that was true; Lightningpaw did have the power to do that. But the greatest power of all was the power of choice. Lightningpaw had made the choice to save WaterClan when he was three moons old, and that wasn't changing now for anything.

Sparrowstar cried, "That was amazing! You definitely pass! I'll tell Stormstar about it so he can give you your warrior name!"

Lightningpaw was elated as Leopardclaw came up. "Good job, youngster. You managed to point out some holes in my defense that no one knew were there, not even me!" Through his gruffness, Lightningpaw could detect that his fear of him was gone, replaced by a warm respect.

Swiftbreeze and Yellowtail gave him congratulations as well. It was all a blur to Lightningpaw. Finally he was alone with the two lions. "Where's Stormstar?" he asked.

"I don't know," Yellowtail said anxiously. "You should be doing the warrior ceremony by now…"

"I'll take a nap in the Cold Cave and see if the Sky River will give me a dream," Swiftbreeze offered, running low to the ground to the log.

"Sky River?" Lightningpaw asked, bewildered.

"Yes. Swiftbreeze named the river that comes from the Starpool the Sky River. She really likes to name things," Yellowtail explained.

"Yes, yes she does," Lightningpaw agreed, bemused. "Maybe I should take a nap too. I was really stressed this morning."

"Really?" Yellowtail looked shocked. "It sure didn't look like it."

Lightningpaw laughed and padded to his soft nest.

Swiftbreeze lapped some cold water from the Sky River, then curled up in her favorite, softest mossy spot. Immediately her dream came.

Swiftbreeze scrambled up, blinking her eyes open to the perpetual greenleaf of MoonClan. She quickly found Silverflame.

"Where's Stormstar?" she asked. "Why isn't he in WaterClan for the ceremony?"

"He's involved in a conflict," Silverflame explained. She padded along MoonClan, Swiftbreeze following close behind. They approached a windy cliff. With the wind roaring in her ears, threatening to sweep her off, Swiftbreeze asked, "Where is he?"

Silverflame gestured with her tail to the scene unfolding at the bottom of the cliff, a lush valley. ThornClan and SnowClan roared at each other and attempted to charge, but Stormstar and Sparrowstar held them apart. "ThornClan and SnowClan are enemies in real life, but they haven't had a chance to battle what with the natural disasters happening recently. They didn't have a fire because the flood froze them solid in ice and snow."

"So when can we expect the warrior ceremony?" Swiftbreeze asked.

"I do not know. Before the end of the day, perhaps." Silverflame's face began to fade.

"Wait! Why is MoonClan fighting? Is it just rivalries?"

But Swiftbreeze never got answers to her questions, and she found herself in the Cold Cave with Sky River water still dripping from her whiskers.

"Lightningpaw!" Yellowtail called. "Could you do border patrol while I go hunting? You're unofficially a warrior now, so you can patrol alone!"

"All right," he called back, wondering where Swiftbreeze was. He padded out of the bramble barrier towards the ThornClan border, leaping over the Cold Cave log as he went. He was just about to veer around the tree with the beehive on it when the Cold Cave log was pushed aside and Swiftbreeze came out.

"What did MoonClan say?" Lightningpaw asked.

"There's a conflict in MoonClan, and Stormstar and Sparrowstar are trying to fix it. Silverflame says you should be a warrior by the end of the day."

"Awesome!" Lightningpaw called, and continued on his way. He renewed the border marks along the stream and then deeper into the forest.

He was almost to the Howl Time place when they came.

"Stormstar! Sparrowstar!" Lightningpaw cried in relief. "You're finally here!"

"Was there ever any doubt?" Stormstar asked, reaching to nuzzle the top of Lightningpaw's head. "Wow, you're bigger than I am! I wouldn't miss your warrior ceremony for the world, Son. Awesome job on your assessment, by the way! I'm sorry I couldn't come down to watch it, though. I saw you from MoonClan."

"Oh, it's alright," Lightningpaw smiled. "Soon I'm going to be leader of WaterClan, just like you!"

"Yes," Stormstar laughed, "the time does fly by, doesn't-"

ThornClan! Lightningpaw thought, right before the sources of the pungent stink flooded into WaterClan territory. Immediately the three wolves hissed and growled menacingly.

Sparrowstar looked to Lightningpaw, and he realized that he was leading the patrol. He faced the wolf in front of the ThornClan patrol. "You guys just keep on trying to steal territory, don't you," he hissed.

"We'll keep on doing so until we get some of this territory," the lead wolf growled. Lightningpaw recognized him as Riverclaw, the deputy of ThornClan himself. Next to him were Seedclaw and Swallowtail, among others. Those two she-wolves were the oldest, most experienced warriors in all the Clans. ThornClan must really want WaterClan territory, Lightningpaw thought.

And then he got a shock. For Claystar himself, leader of ThornClan stepped up. "You think you can stop us?" he growled. "You're just an apprentice. ThornClan, attack!"

Lightningpaw whirled and slashed, hissed and clawed, but he couldn't save his two companions. The battle ceased as six ThornClan warriors each pinned down Stormstar and Sparrowstar. Each wolf had their claws aimed at WaterClans' throats.

"Well, well, well," Claystar hissed. "Look at this. Two leaders. Both in danger. Which one will you save, Lightningpaw? You can't save them both."

And Lightningpaw finally saw what the patrol was: a trap to exploit him. What could he do? Stormstar wasn't going to suddenly show up like with Sharpclaw, and he knew he couldn't take on fifteen huge ThornClan warriors by himself, tired by his assessment and his raging emotions.

"Come on," Claystar snapped, "I don't have all day. Stormstar or Sparrowstar?"

Stormstar or Sparrowstar. My father or my mentor?

Lightningpaw couldn't choose. It was impossible. He wanted them both to live, but at best he knew he could only pick one.

"Five," Claystar counted down. "Four."

NO! Emotions raged within Lightningpaw. His eyes darted between Stormstar and Sparrowstar. Their eyes held the same emotion: a message that told Lightningpaw it's your choice; pick who you think will help WaterClan most. I am not afraid to die again. But Lightningpaw was afraid of them dying, fading forever.

"Three."

I can't do this! I need help! But no help came.

"Two."

This is impossible how I am supposed to save WaterClan if I can't save the wolves that I care... about… most. Suddenly it clicked. He knew his decision; he just couldn't put it into words quite yet...

"One. Make your decision."

So Lightningpaw did.