Newleaf
Scruffypelt came out of his den, stretching and yawning as he did, the air was still cold with the last bit of winter chills but the smell of new growth was heavy on the breeze. He walked over to the warrior's den and prodded some of them awake, "Dawn patrol." He mewed as the sleepy warriors came out of the den, yawning and stretching.
"Want me to assign the other patrols?" Palebranch asked.
"Yes, please." Scruffypelt mewed, following the dawn patrol out of the camp.
"Newleaf will soon be here, thank StarClan." One of the senior warriors mewed, looking at Scruffypelt.
"Yeah." Scruffypelt mewed back looking around.
"Look, I know you don't agree with Shadestar but you have no idea how to get rid of him?" A gray tom said, giving Scruffypelt a glare full of hatred.
"No, Smokefur, I'm not sure how to deal with him… he's trained in the dark forest, he is more than a match for all of us, and I don't want to resort to playing dirty just to rid ourselves of them." Scruffypelt said, sighing.
"Go figure." Smokefur muttered.
The rest of the patrol gave Scruffypelt more glances of hatred and continued on, leaving the massive tom behind.
Scruffypelt sighed, sitting down and looking up at the sky, "StarClan please, help me figure out how to save the forest from Shadestar. Show me a way to gain these cats' trust." He mewed, knowing that StarClan would not help him, because no cat other than Palebranch trusted him.
Scruffypelt stood up and walked back to the ThunderClan camp, a mouse in his jaws, he dropped it on the fresh-kill pile and went to his den, which shouldn't even be used as a den to a lowly warrior, it should be used as the den of a proper leader with the gift of nine lives.
"You're back early. I take it the others still hate you with a passion?" Palebranch asked.
Scruffypelt sighed and nodded, laying his ears back. "I wish I could gain their trust but I can't think of any way how. I don't think I'm going to be able to gain any trust by trying to be a ThunderClan cat." He mewed, sitting down.
"Well we do have one thing though...I know you hate him but hear me out, okay?" Palebranch asked.
"Not Scarback." Scruffypelt groaned.
"Yes, Scarback, he knows where the other medicine cats are, maybe take small groups to the moonstone and instead show them that their Clans medicine cat or cats are not dead." Palebranch said.
"Sometimes I hate it when you're right." Scruffypelt said, sighing.
"You'd be dead if it wasn't for me." Palebranch said.
Scruffypelt sighed, "Yeah…" He said.
Scruffypelt jumped onto the high rock and yowled, "Let all those old enough to catch their own prey gather below the high rock for a Clan meeting!" As the Clan gathered, Scruffypelt shivered on the high rock despite the warm air, deep down he didn't like summoning cats from other Clans, he was a ShadowClan cat.
Once the cats had gathered, several gave Scruffypelt sympathetic looks, they knew he didn't like being in charge as he didn't see himself as a leader. Other cats however gave him looks of pure hatred, Milkcloud among them.
Scruffypelt took a deep calming breath before speaking, "Okay, I know many of you distrust and hate me and Palebranch, but we are not your enemies… we are not loyal to Shadestar, neither is Ambertail…" He began before he was cut off from Treeleap.
"You expect us to believe you? I watched you kill our leader! We all did!" He yowled, the others who hated him yowled out their agreements.
"Not to mention he killed our medicine cats! One was barely out of the nursery!" Icepelt yowled.
Somewhere in the back of the crowd a blue-gray elder got to his paws and walked to the front of the crowd, his white muzzle and skinny frame betraying his age as he walked up to the rock, he looked up at Scruffypelt then Palebranch. Palebrance dipped his head in respect as the elder leaped onto the rock next to Scruffypelt.
"Cats of ThunderClan, true members or cats who are forced here, Scruffypelt is not responsible for the deaths of Whitekit or Sunspot!" The elder yowled loudly.
One by one the cats in the clearing stopped yowling, looking up at the elder on the high rock. Some were looking at the cats next to them, stunned.
"What do you mean, Littleclaw?" Treeleap asked.
"What I mean is Sunspot and Whitekit, Whitepaw now I suppose, are both alive, we faked their deaths, WindClan and RiverClan faked their medicine cats deaths as well." Littleclaw said.
"So…where are they at and why did they leave?" Aspenclaw asked.
"I can answer that, Scarback was told by StarClan to get the other medicine cats out of the forest, we know where they are and I can take you in small groups to see them, with the excuse of going to the Moonstone." Scruffypelt mewed.
The cats below him were all staring at him in shock, several looked at each other in shocked silence.
"So you can prove to us that you aren't just trying to trick us into liking you? Or are you saying this and you are leading us to our deaths?" Treeleap asked.
"For StarClan's sake, Treeleap! I was in on this, all of the elders in WindClan and RiverClan were. Did you forget who my mother was? My mom was Bluestar! My mentor was Thistlestar, Thistleclaw then, and my brother was Driftstar, my sister, Swiftheart, was Maplestar's mother, I would not lie about this!" Littleclaw said.
"Didn't Driftstar leave the clans?" Hollylight asked.
"He did, but it was not by his doing…we all believe he was captured by a twoleg, Whitekit, Whitepaw now I guess, is his daughter." Littleclaw said.
"Driftstar was my mentor, I don't believe he would leave willingly." A bright golden tabby tom mewed.
"I know, Tigerbright." Littleclaw said, looking around the clearing, "But we aren't gathered here to talk about my brother, we are gathered to try to get you mouse-brains to just trust Scruffypelt and Palebranch, they are not our enemies, our real enemy is Shadestar." Littleclaw meowed.
