Here we go, chapter one. Alrighty obviously its way longer than my usuall chapters. I like to stay between 1200 and 1700 words normally but this one got wayyyy out of control. I hope you all love it and enjoy the special and rare treat of a chapter over 2000 words long. :D enjoy and please leave a lovely review.

Also im going through and fixing any and all typos so ill also add responses to reviews.

A small apprentice worked his way past the owl tree, the new-leaf mid-day sun hanging directly above him in the sky, stopping for a moment to bury a fat red squirrel. After the prey was buried he lifted his head and tasted the air, his mentor's words fresh in his mind when Lionstreak caught him dangling from a low hanging tree branch by his teeth.

"Swiftpaw, if you ever want to be a warrior you need to stop acting like a kit. Your mother is the clan deputy for starclan's sake, show a little dignity."

The juicy scent of rabbit hit the roof of Swiftpaw's mouth and he quickly changed direction and began to track the scent. His scolding still bouncing around in his mind.

"If you don't bring back enough prey to feed all of the elders then don't expect to be attending the gathering tonight. And remember to stay far away from the Riverclan border."

Swiftpaw just rolled his eyes at Lionstreak and scoffed back "Even the kits know about that rule" and without another word Swiftpaw had charged into the forest in search of prey.

A change in the trail brought Swiftpaw back into reality, his pelt quivered as he began to follow it, realization on where the rabbit was heading dawned on him.

"Riverclan!"

He skidded to a halt, stating to turn away from the direction of Riverclan and away from the prey.

"Lionstreak told me I have to get as much prey as possible, and Silverstreak really loves a fat rabbit" Swiftpaw argued, turning back around to face the Riverclan territory. He was currently standing on a grassy hill, he could look down and see a bunch of large rocks beside the river. "Those must be Sunningrocks" he thought, excitement tingling from his whiskers all the way to his tail.

He took a few cautious steps forward, looking around anxiously. The chances of a border patrol catching him were slim but the daily fighting patrol could show up at any moment.

For as long as Swiftpaw could remember warriors returned to camp injured and bloodied from battles with Riverclan. Riverclan warriors began attacking hunting and border patrols ruthlessly until Amberstar, in order to protect her clanmates, banned all travel to the Riverclan border and in order to prevent Riverclan from invading Thunderclan's territory she insisted that a daily fighting patrol be created.

Made up of four to five warriors the patrol sat by the river most of the day in case any Riverclan cats showed up, the warriors were instructed to always try to talk first but Riverclan was never keen on the idea.

The rabbit scent wafted toward Swiftpaw and looking down he spotted it digging near the rocks, oblivious to the hunter stalking it carefully.

Taking a deep breath he bunched the muscles in his legs prepared to run, he was aptly named for he was the fastest apprentice by far, he shared his mother's small tribe-like stature and lean build, other than that he looked like his father Bluecloud.

Swiftpaw quickly remembered the first time he saw his own reflection as a kit. He was disappointed with his pelt and eye color, both blue with a splash of white around his nose. He had always pictured himself with a firey ginger pelt like his mother and large muscles like his father. Instead he was small and blue gray, not able to easily claim that he was the deputy's son.

At first he resented looking like his father until the day he witnessed his father take on a full grown fox when Swiftpaw and his brother Hazepaw decided to sneak out of camp as kits. It was the first time Swiftpaw realized what an amazing warrior his father was. Never again after that did he harbor resentment in his heart for looking like his father.

Making sure the wind hadn't changed he took one long deep breath, Swiftpaw could feel his heart pounding in his chest and he kneaded the ground in anticipation waiting for the right moment.

Now!

Swiftpaw erupted from his crouch, easily closing the gap between him and his prey. The rabbit, sensing danger, sat up and bolted along the water's edge.

Swiftpaw cursed at the sudden change in direction and turned quickly back toward the rabbit. The wind coursed through his pelt, the world became a blur and his heart pounded faster as he got closer to the rabbit.

The muscles in his legs began to burn as he launched himself, landing squarely on the large rabbit. It fought against him and Swiftpaw resorted to sliding one paw beneath the rabbit to hold it still long enough for a killing bite.

Searing pain shot from his foot up his leg but he held on tight and swiftly killed the rabbit. When the prey stopped moving he jumped away from it looking down at his paw.

"Foxdung!" he cursed, a small trickle of blood seeped from a bite wound on the middle of his paw.

"Stupid rabbit" he spat, he swatted the dead prey roughly. Angrily he stalked up to it, limping slightly, and slowly dragged it up the hill.

Curiously he looked back down at the river, he hadn't been caught, no one had seen him, no monsters made of smoke came out and no giant black fish had tried to eat him.

Nothing, all the stories from the nursery were exactly that, stories.

Suddenly a shape emerged from a clump of reeds. Swiftpaw quickly lowered himself to the ground. "This is it, I'm going to die" he thought "This Riverclan warrior is going to find me and kill me"

Despite his fear and the fact that he knew he should grab the rabbit and run, he couldn't move, he was frozen, in curiosity.

He watched the warrior as they padded up to the bank and bunched their muscles, jumping out onto what Swiftpaw thought could possibly be the stepping stones from his mother's stories.

The cat, a she-cat, sat daintily on the middle stone and dabbed one of her forepaws in the river, she did this a few times before Swiftpaw's curiosity got the better of him and he began to make his way down the hill, he hid behind sunningrocks for a moment, quietly watching the she-cat before he began to trot down river toward the stepping stones.

As he got closer he realized this she-cat couldn't be more than seven moons old, she was no warrior. From his new position he still couldn't figure out what she was doing but he now had a clearer view of her.

She had a white pelt with light gray patches on her haunches and on the sides of her back legs. Inside the gray patches were darker almost black tabby stripes, he was close enough to even see her soft delicate pink pads on the bottom of her paws.

Swiftpaw stared at her for a moment, amazed by her concentration and focus and the fact that she hadn't noticed him yet. He was right at the edge of the bank, barely two foxlengths away from her.

"E-excuse me" he meowed, silently cursing when his voice caught in his throat "What are you doing?"

The she-cat's head shot up to look at him, she stepped backwards her green eyes fearful.

"St-Stay away from me" she stammered, as she took another step back her foot got caught on the last stepping stone between her and dry land and she fell backwards into the shallows, splashing water onto the stones and Swiftpaw.

Swiftpaw stifled laughter "Are you okay?" he meowed stepping closer to her to help, suddenly his forepaws slipped on the newly wet rocks sending him yowling as he plunged into the river's dark depths.

Swiftpaw felt himself panic as he began to be moved down river and he struggled in vain to get his head above water. The chilled water clung to his short pelt, pulling him downward no matter how hard he scrambled for the surface.

Just as his head broke the surface he fought for a fresh breath but could only feel water in his mouth, coughing and spluttering he felt the river tugging him downward again.

Just when he had given up, surrendered to the river's cold clutches he could feel himself being propelled toward the shore.

Soon he could feel pebbles under his paws as he reached the bank. Stumbling out of the water he coughed roughly feeling water coming up out of his throat.

Finally when he had cleared his throat he looked to his savior, a bout of shivers causing his entire body to shake uncontrollably, he was chilled to the bone.

The white and gray patched she-cat smirked at him amusedly "Well you're obviously not much of a swimmer."

Swiftpaw opened his mouth to fire back a retort when he spotted the laughter in her green eyes. "She is only teasing you mousebrain" he thought as he shakily stood to his paws.

"Yeah well I'm better at running, I can even catch rabbits" he boasted while puffing out his chest, he flinched when his stomach growled.

"But not good at eating them I guess" the she-cat teased "But I guess kitty-pets can eat whenever they want so there isn't much of a point to eating what you kill."

"I'm no kittypet" Swiftpaw hissed "I'm a Thunderclan apprentice" suddenly he bristled, feeling like he needed to prove himself to this strange she-cat "And you're on our territory."

The she-cat looked around in amazement "Is that what this place is? I've never been here before, apprentices aren't allowed and my father doesn't really let me go anywhere alone."

Swiftpaw smirked "I go wherever I want."

The she-cat stared at him in amazement "Wow really?" she giggled and curled her tail around her paws "I'm Moonpaw."

Swiftpaw smiled "I'm Swiftpaw, what were you doing earlier?" he asked "You know before you tripped on the stones?"

Moonpaw smirked "You mean before you almost drowned and I had to save you? I was fishing" as Swiftpaw's stomach growled again her eyes brightened "I'll catch you a fish to eat, I've been practicing really hard."

Without waiting for a response she moved closer to the river, she sat poised with a paw in the air. Quickly her paw shot forward and out of the water flew a wriggling silver fish. Moonpaw pounced on it, swiftly killing it. She pushed the prey over to Swiftpaw.

"Here, you can have the first bite" she meowed.

Swiftpaw wrinkled his nose at first as the scent of the fish filled his nostrils "I don't know" he meowed cautiously "I'm not supposed to eat before my clanmates."

Moonpaw shrugged "Suit yourself" she took a few swift bites of the fish licking her lips.

"Alright move over" Swiftpaw meowed, no longer able to ignore his growling stomach. He took a tentative bite moving the fish meat around in his mouth and tasting it. The taste was strange but very succulent and juicy.

Swiftpaw easily finished the fish off by himself and began grooming down his drying blue fur.

Moonpaw sighed loudly "I wish Riverclan was going to the gathering tonight, your so much fun". Swiftpaw nodded in agreement, ever since the fighting began Thunderclan and Riverclan took turns going to gatherings. Tonight Thunderclan would be attending and Riverclan would stay behind,

Swiftpaw stood up shaking away any last bit of water from his pelt "Well I had better get back to camp" he looked up at the sky, it had turned to soft shades of orange, purple and red "We will be leaving for the gathering soon."

"Goodbye Moonpaw, it was nice meeting you" he meowed trotting away from her "Oh and thanks for saving me."

Moonpaw smiled and nodded "Anytime."

Swiftpaw waved goodbye with his tail, heading back up the hill where he left the rabbit.

"Swiftpaw wait!" Moonpaw called, racing after him, when she reached him she was breathing heavily and her green eyes sparkled.

"Will you come back here tomorrow?" she asked "Will you meet me here and tell me what the gathering was like?"

Swiftpaw felt his heart jolt "Y-yeah of course" he stammered, his fur growing hot.

"Thank you Swiftpaw" Moonpaw squealed, touching noses with him before racing back to the water's edge. Swiftpaw watched her fearlessly launch herself into the river and paddle strongly to the other side.

"Wait, Moonpaw" Swiftpaw managed to yell "When?"

"Sunset."

Review response time

Riley Dragon: nice to see your review, im glad you enjoyed the chapter

Rainwind alias Dazzlespark: thanks for the review, im glad that you enjoy my stories and its never too late to post reviews on my older ones ;) lol

Rebel Islander: thanks for reviewing, I always love seeing your reviews. I can't tell you where the kit came from but i can tell you that she did not come from any of the other clans. You will have to keep reading to find out her true identity.