I got all four of my wisdom teeth out this morning. :( My mouth hurts. Oh well, I wasn't expecting to get a chapter out tonight but got bored when my parents went to get me more yogurt at the store. I used it all up making milkshakes. :) Yum. But yeah, here's chapter number 29! :D

ilovewarriorcats: I don't know. I guess it's just never happened in canon, so I felt like it shouldn't happen here either. Sootpaw would have been skipping two ranks and never really had the experience of being treated as a real equal by all the older warriors. He also would never get his warrior name, which I'm sure you'd like to know. ;) Hawaii sounds like it's a lot of fun!

QLKwriter: Thanks! Nah, Sootpaw can't name himself. :P That would be pretty funny if he did, though. "By the powers of StarClan I give myself a warrior name. It will be Sootleader because I'm already technically the leader." XD At least you got chocolate yesterday! :)

The Story Of Your Life: I've heard one song from Castle in the Sky, I think. It's the one called Castle in the Sky. :P I haven't really watched too many anime movies. The few I have watched have been good, though!

Willowdream of ForestClan: I wish I could go horseback riding... My Easter was fun, thanks for asking! :) It was also really nice where I live. (whoa... do we live near each other? O.O That'd be sort of creepy/cool)

ShadowHawk540: Your review got cut off but it sounded like you were talking about math. :( I'm not so fond of Algebra stuff, I'm much better at Geometry and Trig stuff. I hope you managed to study and now have time to spend however you want!

walkswithwheels: Ah, but she's only the medicine cat apprentice, isn't she? (Stormtuft's a tom) I had Lightwing do Rainsky's ceremony because I figured either parents or leaders could give out warrior names. I'm thinking about giving the trio apprentices before the third book starts, but not necessarily before the second book ends. They're just too busy at the moment, I'm afraid. I'm glad you got to spend Easter with your sister and aunt! :) Did you have a good time?

EradrinSkyleaf: Don't forget the crackers! :P Yes, I do mean Spirit: Stallion of the Cinnamon. :D I thought that was a great movie, though Tarzan definitely beats it with music. Tarzan has a great soundtrack! It sounds like you had an epic day yesterday. :) I'm glad you had a good time!

Cinderpaw's POV

The next morning, I was woken by a cold breeze blowing through a crack in the den I shared with Foxtooth. Rolling over, I blinked the sleep from my eyes to investigate the source. There certainly wasn't a leak in the den the night before.

It looked as though some cat had slashed their claws through the den's side. I narrowed my eyes as another gust of wind surged through the tear, glancing over to see if Foxtooth was also bothered by the wind. It seemed as though it was completely missing him, though, blowing directly in and over me before shooting out the main entrance without touching him once.

A patch of black and white fur flickered through the rip as I turned to investigate it once more. I was up in an instant, sniffing around the opening, though I didn't need the scent to tell who had done it. Black and white fur? Didn't like me but liked Foxtooth enough to plan out this carefully where to slash open the den? This was quite obviously Badger's work.

I'd just seen her through the claw-marks. Maybe she was still around and able to answer one or two or twenty of my questions and accusations. So, taking care not to wake Foxtooth, for it appeared to still be early, I slipped out of the main entrance and around the side of the den to the tear.

As I'd suspected, Badger was waiting there for me, her expression twisted into smug triumph, sitting right beside her nasty handiwork. I glared at her as I approached, shoving my face into hers before asking, "Well? Where have you been these past couple days?"

"Oh, here and there," Badger replied maddeningly. "I've been in the forest, actually. It's the place where a cat's least likely to catch this plague." She lifted one paw and pushed me hard in the chest, forcing me to sit down before she turned her paw around to inspect her claws.

"Oh, so now you've just come back all of a sudden to harass me?" I asked hotly. "Yeah, sure. I'm actually trying to do something productive like finding a cure for the plague instead of trying to give away colds!"

Badger found a bit of dryness on a claw and nibbled at it in an offhand sort of way. "And how much progress have you made with that?" she asked snidely.

"I would have made much more if someone didn't go waking me up before the crack of dawn just to make me rebuild my own den!"

"Oh, you think I just woke you up for no reason?" Badger asked, raising one eyebrow. "Sure, like I'd do something that stupid. I'm actually a reasonable cat, though you seem determined to believe otherwise."

"You haven't given me any reason to believe you're reasonable," I muttered, fluffing up my fur against the chilly morning air. "So what's your reason this time, Badger?"

"I thought you just might want to get up a little extra early to get out and go look for herbs," she said, smiling in a strange sort of way. "I think last night you just got an extra reason to do so."

"What are you talking about?" I asked irritably. What was she talking about? And what was with that expression anyway?

"Oh, you haven't noticed? I don't blame you. You never look too properly at him anyway, even though he spends hours per day mooning over you." Badger's voice now sounded bitter. For the first time, her cool broke and she stared in hatred at me. Then, her face smoothed over and she was expressionless once again.

"Is something wrong with Foxtooth?" My heart froze. Was Badger saying he'd caught the illness? But how could he have?

"You didn't see him taking prey to the sick cats the other day, did you?" Badger asked with a sort of suppressed glee. "But I did. I watched from the forest as he gave them some fresh-kill. He probably picked up the disease on his fur then before washing it off of his fur later."

Foxtooth had the sickness? No, it couldn't be! Foxtooth couldn't die! How could I explain something like that to Rustpelt? Oh yeah, sorry about this, but Foxtooth followed me to find RiverClan and I couldn't even take care of him well enough to bring him home again safely. No, that would never work. Rustpelt would never forgive me.

"You fix what you broke. Don't let Foxtooth out of this den," I said briefly before bounding off to the medicine den to forcibly drag Ripplefur out of his nest. As we padded out of camp, however, Ripplefur dragging his paws and complaining loudly about the time, there was a disturbance near the tree-bridge, and Ripplefur insisted we go check it out. As we crested the short rise outside of camp, I saw what the problem was.

Rushstar was cornered on the bridge by the deputy, Mossyfoot, and two warriors, who I recognized as Rockstorm and Rainwater. Though she spat and dodged, threatening all three with apprentice duties for moons or even exile, none backed down, and Rushstar was forced backward onto the bridge.

"I'm sorry, Rushstar, but you're now a healthy cat!" Mossyfoot called over Rushstar's insults and threats. "You need to at least try to stay healthy!"

"I told you, I'm sick again!" Rushstar hissed, her hackles rising. "I'm going to spread it to everyone else!"

"No, you're not!" Rockstorm, the dark gray ticked tabby tom, spoke up next. "I know you aren't! Rushstar, I knew you as an apprentice and a warrior! The Rushstar I knew would never lie just to commit suicide! You'd give your life to help your Clan, not bring it down!"

"That is what I'm doing!" Rushstar growled, swiping a paw at her warrior. "RiverClan doesn't deserve a worthless leader like me! I just want to join StarClan, that's all! Why won't you let Mossyfoot take over; she'll be a much better leader than I ever was!"

Rainwater shouted over his Clanmates' protests, "The sickness is taking so many cats! We can't afford to lose any more, worthless as they may feel or not!"

"I am worthless, and I'm also sick again! You'll make the rest of RiverClan sick if you keep this up!"

Slowly, with many back-and-forth shouting, Rushstar was forced backwards across the bridge. Mossyfoot nodded to Rockstorm and he planted himself at the tree-bridge, blocking Rushstar's way back across to the sick side. Rushstar, after shooting him, Mossyfoot, Rainwater, Ripplefur, and me all dirty looks, finally set off grudgingly toward the new camp.

"Well, that was… interesting," Ripplefur meowed, his eyebrows raised.

"Come on," I said, suddenly impatient again. "We need to go. What herbs haven't we tried?"

"None of them," Ripplefur replied, rolling his eyes, but following me all the same. "Maybe we need to try combining herbs."

"No," I said determinedly. "There's an herb out there we haven't tried yet. Are there any Twolegplaces nearby? Maybe the Twolegs can grow us some catmint or something."

"Yeah, sure, and catmint wasn't the first thing I tried," Ripplefur muttered, but followed me all the same as I set a brisk pace over the fields.

It was evening before Ripplefur and I finally made it back to camp after an unsuccessful trip through the nearby Twolegplace full of getting chased by dogs, getting chased by Twolegs, getting chased by Monsters, on rare occasions talking to kittypets and loners but more often getting chased by them, and getting chased by rogues. It was with a heavy heart that I returned to camp, my eyes fixed on the newly repaired den containing a sick Foxtooth and guarded by the lean, black and white figure of Badger. At least she cared enough about Foxtooth to stay by his side during the day.

"Ripplefur! Thank StarClan you're back!" Mossyfoot had suddenly appeared around the side of the medicine den, sprinting through the grass and skidding to a halt in front of us. "You have to come quickly—Rushstar's just swallowed deathberries!"

Ripplefur took off immediately, kicking up grass tufts in his rush. In about three heartbeats, he was gone. I set a slower pace, running beside Mossyfoot back to the medicine den. She looked distraught. "I thought I'd have to run all over the territory to find you two," she panted, her eyes sparking with fear for her leader. "Rushstar's still convinced she's sick again! She slipped past us just now and went straight for the medicine den." She shook her head. "Why Rushstar even keeps deathberries, I don't know. I'm betting he won't after this, though."

We slowed as we reached the den's entrance. I peered inside—I couldn't get in as it was so crowded inside already—and saw Rushstar lying on the ground, convulsing while Ripplefur quickly chewed up some herbs. A heartbeat later, he spat them onto his paw and shoved it into her mouth. Rushstar tried to push them away with her tongue, but Ripplefur firmly shut her mouth with one paw, stroking her throat with the other. "Come on," he muttered, "swallow the yarrow. Swallow it."

Finally, after about six heartbeats of continued stroking, Rushstar stopped struggling. Ripplefur tentatively removed his paw from her muzzle, then snatched it back close to his body as Rushstar immediately turned over and threw up onto the medicine den floor. I could see bits of the bright red deathberries in the pale orange vomit.

"How many did she eat?" Ripplefur asked briefly.

"I think she only had one," Mossyfoot replied after a heartbeat or two of thought. "We got to her pretty quickly and were able to pull the second out of her mouth just after she'd bitten into it."

Ripplefur nodded shortly. "That's good. If she only had one there's a good chance she'll recover." He hesitated a moment. "Did she look sick at all to you?" he asked hesitantly.

"She was coughing a little, but I thought she was faking it," Mossyfoot said. "She coughed up a little blood, but that was probably just because she was fake coughing so much."

Ripplefur's eyes widened. If a cat could go white, he would have. "Those are all the warning signs of the sickness!" he gasped. "Even if she was only fake coughing, she wouldn't have coughed up blood." He stared down at Rushstar. "So she was sick," he murmured.

"Come on out of there," I urged Ripplefur. If I was to find a cure for Foxtooth I needed the medicine cat's help. "You might catch the sickness too."

Ripplefur looked up at me, almost as though he'd forgotten I was there. "Yes…" he muttered. He glanced down at Rushstar one last time before getting to his paws and slipping out of the medicine den. He called over two other warriors who were sharing tongues beside the fresh-kill pile. "Runningpool! Sandpath! Come guard Rushstar. Make sure she doesn't eat any herbs she's not supposed to." He hesitated a moment, then added, "Treat her as though she has the sickness. Don't go near her unless it's necessary."

I felt like that was a bit of an abrupt ending, but oh well. That was fun to write, though I wish I put more drama in Foxtooth getting sick. :( Poor Foxtooth!

I'm currently sucking on a teabag because one of my teeth (or lack thereof) won't stop bleeding.

AOTD: For Easter I went to church for the first time in a long time and finally started taking communion. I was so excited about that! :) After that we got Bodo's Bagels for lunch and cleaned the house in preparation for the family dinner later that night. My brother and I entertained our 3-year-old almost step-cousin with Lincoln Logs and then played Settlers of Catan with our aunt and uncle (I won :) ). All in all, it was a great last day with wisdom teeth!

QOTD: Have any of you ever had teeth pulled?