Sorry for the long wait for this update, I was busy with schoolwork, holidays, etc. So, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
Neonpaw wandered into the forest, her cherry red-colored eyes wide in search of dock. She had to find herbs for Cloverleaf quickly, because she was yearning to know what kind of trouble the border patrol had encountered. No, scratch that: she was dying to know what happened. There could be some huge danger to the Clan lurking right around their borders, or maybe even inside the territory itself. This was serious stuff, because it wasn't very often that cats who were stronger than most of the other animals due to their blood color found threats to them in the forest.
Foxes, badgers, and other animals that would be considered predators to normal cats were common, but since the cats of ColorClan had advanced blood, they were stronger, more physical, and could tear those creatures to shreds if they wanted to. The highbloods of the Clan were even stronger than the lowbloods, and fuchsia-bloods was the strongest of all (Waterstar sometimes uses this fact as a way to show her Clan how powerful she really is). It was unknown how the mutant bloods compared to their Clanmates in this department, since none of them had actually ever fought, but Neonpaw's own secret theory was that they were better than fuchsia bloods, and had this great hidden power. But that theory was only created to give her hope.
The apprentice trudged through the undergrowth, looking around for the herbs she had set out to find. Neonpaw had known she wasn't going to find them immediately, but she had at least hoped that it wouldn't take her this long. She had news to hear about, after all! She grew more impatient by the heartbeat as she tramped around the various plants and under the trees, she even thought for a fraction of a second that it would be best to ask StarClan for help.
But then she found them. Neonpaw changed direction for the umpteenth time, and there was the dock, hanging there like it had been waiting for her, leaves swaying in the slight breeze. The small feline rushed over to the herbs, a slight grin forming on her face-right now, the herb was like treasure to her. She took some dock gently in her jaws and raced back to the ColorClan camp. Finally, she would be able to hear what happened.
When Neonpaw trotted into the medicine cat den, Cloverleaf was by an injured warrior's side, working hard to help him, but when she looked up to see the apprentice come into her den, she smiled slightly. "I'm so glad you're back; you could have ran into the same thing the patrol did out there. And, you brought a little too much dock, but in times like this, a little extra is always good to have." Neonpaw nodded in response and set the herbs down near the medicine cat. She sat down near the wall of the den, eager to hear the news of the day. "Just give me a moment," Cloverleaf muttered, gesturing to the warrior she was with.
More waiting for Neonpaw, but being a mutant, she was used to it. Besides, the cost of her waiting a little bit longer was definitely worth it if the warrior was getting his wounds healed. She was so used to being treated as 'lowly' by the other cats that it took her a few moments to realize that Cloverleaf wasn't making her wait because she was a mutant, but because some clanmates needed healing.
Cloverleaf was another one of the few cats in the Clan that was nice to Neonpaw, and she knew that part of it was simply because since she was a medicine cat, she had been trained to be calmer and more peaceful than the others, but part of it was also because she was a good friend to the apprentice's family. The jade-blood had been friends with her mother since the two were young kits, and she had told Neonpaw before that she had been there when it was found out that the grey tabby was a mutant. The neon-red blooded cat had been too young then to remember that time, but Cloverleaf had said that all the emotions of the cats around her in that moment made her sympathetic for the younger feline. She never elaborated, and based on the way she had said it, Neonpaw almost didn't want her to.
After what seemed like forever, Cloverleaf had finished up with the warrior and had turned to Neonpaw, pure seriousness in her usually calm jade green eyes. "This might not be believable at first, but the patrol ran into a huge pack of foxes, badgers, dogs, and even a few wolves around the border. Almost like a Clan."