A/N: Yay it stinks XD but please don’t be to mean. Its like… my second story (first ones on hold for now, I guess :\)… yay… and please, if you feel like it, say how you think I could improve my writing. I’m still very young, though, if you’re wondering. But I want to be an author so please criticize :)
CHAPTER ONE
“We’re becoming apprentices today, Sprucekit! Wake up!” Fawnkit mewed to her brother. Out of all the kits, Fawnkit was the only one who never did anything wrong; she knew she would get the best mentor. “I wonder who I’ll get as a mentor,” Fawnkit mewed to Sprucekit as they stepped out of the nursery. “Maybe I’ll get Brackenstar!” She purred. “You mouse-brain!” Sprucekit teased her. “Don’t you know anything? Leaders only mentor deputies kits!” Fawnkit huffed. “Well, maybe we’re secretly Bumblestripe’s kits!” She purred. “No! We’re Lionblaze’s kits!” Her brother argued.
“How do you know?” Fawnkit hissed. “Fawnkit!” Cinderheart padded out of the nursery. “That’s enough of that! You’re Lionblaze’s kits!” Fawnkit looked at her paws, embarrassed. “All cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Highrock for a Clan meeting!” Brackenstar’s call rang out, his voice steady. “Here we go!” Fawnkit mewed, charging forward - only to be pulled back by Cinderheart. “Not with that fur you aren’t.” Fawnkit sighed and quickly cleaned her fur. “There. All clean; now can we go, Cinderheart?” Her mother’s blue eyes twinkled as she bent down to clean her fur. Once she finished, she raced off to join the other kits. “I can’t wait to get out of the nursery!” She complained. In the past six moons, five kits had been born; and only a moon ago had Daisy and Sorreltail’s kits moved out of the nursery. Now there was Mountainpaw, Fallenpaw, Honeypaw, Firepaw, and Longpaw – Fawnkit wasn’t sure what’d be worse, a nursery with five queens and five kits, or an apprentice den with eleven apprentices. One thing she did know though, was that they needed more Warriors. “Molepaw, please step forward.” Brackenstar locked gazes with the brown-and-cream tom before looking up to the sky. “I, Brackenstar, leader of ThunderClan, call upon my Warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. He has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend him to you as a Warrior in his turn.” The golden-brown tabby looked down at Molepaw once again. “Molepaw, do you promise to uphold the Warrior Code and protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your life?” Molepaw stood firm, his single brown paw held in front of him proudly. “I do.” Brackenstar nodded, and continued. “Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your Warrior name. Molepaw, from this day forward, you shall be known as Molestrike. StarClan honors your bravery and your strength, and we welcome you as a full member of StarClan.” With that he hopped off the Highrock to rest is muzzle on top of his head. Molestrike licked his leader’s shoulder, and Brackenstar murmured a few words to him, the new Warrior nodding. “Molestrike! Molestrike! Molestrike!” The Clan cheered, Fawnkit cheering the loudest.
Fawnkit’s whole body tingled as Brackenstar asked her to step forward. “From this day forward, until she has earned her Warrior name, this apprentice will be called Fawnpaw.” He looked down at the new apprentice. “I am free of an apprentice, and will mentor you myself.” Fawnpaw’s eyes twinkled at this, rushing forward to touch noses with ThunderClan’s leader, her heart pounding. Immediately afterwards she shot an “I told you so!” Look at Sprucekit.
“Sprucekit, please step forward.” Fawnpaw’s brother shot her a glance before slowly stepping forward. “From this day forward, until he has earned his Warrior name, this apprentice will be called Sprucepaw.” Brackenstar repeated, and turned to look at Blossomfall. “Blossomfall, you have learned the Warrior Code well and treat your Clan with respect, for that you will mentor Sprucepaw.” Blossomfall stepped forward to touch noses with Sprucepaw, and Fawnpaw felt a pang of envy. Blossomfall was so pretty – why couldn’t she look like that?
Fawnpaw continued thinking about it; discovering she had missed half of Otterkit’s ceremony. “Icecloud, you fight well and tend to others when needed; you are truly a Warrior, for this you shall mentor Otterpaw.” Otterpaw and Icecloud touched noses, and Fawnpaw began thinking again. If they were from completely different litters, and had different parents – why were they all the same age? This truly puzzled her, but she shook it away as Sunkit stepped forward.
“Molestrike, you are a new Warrior, but have proved yourself worthy of an apprentice, you will mentor Sunpaw.” Molestrike? He just became a Warrior. Why did Brackenstar choose him?
“Squirrelflight, you are an experienced Warrior and have proved yourself worthy of ThunderClan many times; you experienced going on the great journey – and were one of the six that went to the mountains first, I hope you pass on all your knowledge and experience to Shadepaw.”
“Crowfeather, you left your Clan to be with Leafpool; that shows true courage and strength – I hope you pass these skills on to Twinklepaw.” Fawnpaw looked at Crowfeather warily as Brackenstar said that. “What does he mean he left his Clan to be with Leafpool?” She whispered to Blossomfall. “He used to be a WindClan Warrior.” Blossomfall answered. Fawnpaw felt a ping of envy again, but shook it away. “Fawnpaw! Sprucepaw! Otterpaw! Sunpaw! Shadepaw! Twinklepaw!” The Clan cheered the new apprentices. Fawnpaw felt happiness sweep over her as the Clan chanted their names.
“Come, Fawnpaw.” Brackenstar motioned with his tail for her to follow as he slipped out of the thorn-tunnel. “Fawnpaw, you should know something…” Brackenstar began to murmur. Voices filled Fawnpaw’s ears as she sat there. “Cat!” One of them said. “Food! Must find food!” Said another. She shook them away, and looked at Brackenstar. “It’s a long story, but here goes,” Her leader sighed and pondered his thoughts for a while. “Your father – Lionblaze, and his brother Jayfeather, were part of a prophecy; Dovestripe, too. They have powers, Lionblaze can’t get hurt in battle, Jayfeather can see in his dreams and see your thoughts and memories, and Dovestripe can see and hear things far away. Shadepaw and Twinklepaw are kits of Jayfeather,” Fawnpaw gasped at this. “You and Sprucepaw are kits of Lionblaze. And Otterpaw and Sunpaw are kits of Dovestripe,” Brackenstar paused. “Jayfeather received a – strange, unclear prophecy the night you were born. He thinks you might have powers, same with the other five of you. The prophecy was ‘Three will become six’. Do you understand what this means?” Fawnpaw thought for a while. “Three will become six… Oh! I get it, Jayfeather, Lionblaze, and Dovestripe are the three and we’re the six that are kits of the three!” So this means we have powers! Brackenstar nodded. “You are the six that came from the three. But I’m sure the prophecy has a meaning for something far ahead of us – so lets do some basic training.”
“Must find food for fam-“ The mouse was cut off as Brackenstar leapt on it. “Brackenstar!” The golden-brown tabby whipped around, a mouse in his jaws. “I think I found my power!” A purr escaped her leaders throat; only to be cut off as Fawnpaw mewed again. “I can hear what other animals say! Like that mouse you just killed, a-and earlier I could hear them, too!” She rambled on. “Hold on – you can hear what other animals say… can you speak to them?” Brackenstar mewed. “Oh! I don’t know! But… how would I speak to them?” The leader shrugged, and looked down at the ground. “But I can try, I really will!” A purr escaped her and she trudged through the forest. “Cat! Cat!” A voice screeched. Using all her strength, her eyes turned white and she said in an unfamiliar language; “Wait!” The squirrel that had been running stopped, and she huffed in surprise. “H-hi.” She said. “Cat! Cat that can speak squirrel!” The small animal scurried away, and Fawnpaw blinked her eyes. They returned to their normal green color, and Brackenstar padded up behind her. “Y-you spoke squirrel!” His voice was filled with astonishment.
“Sprucepaw! Sprucepaw!” Her brother whipped around to face her, his amber eyes wide. “Do you know about… the prophecy?” Her voice dropped to a whisper.
“A cat cannot be made deputy without having mentored at least one apprentice.” Blossomfall seemed to shove the Warrior Code into his head, and he sighed. “But, I thought Bumblestripe didn’t have an apprentice? Until Molestrike, that is…” Blossomfall’s eyes narrowed. “Bumblestripe was different. StarClan made an acception. Just like they did Brambleclaw – Firestar’s former deputy. He led the Clan through the battle until the moment of his death. He was a brave and noble Warrior.” Blossomfall was obviously fond of the tom, but Sprucepaw made no comment.
“The deputy will become Clan leader when the leader dies or retires.” Blossomfall continued, a softer tone in her voice. “After the death or retirement of the deputy, the new deputy must be chosen before moonhigh.” This is all about deputies now! I want to learn how to fight! How to hunt… his thoughts trailed off as Blossomfall continued. “A gathering of all four Clans is held at the full moon during a truce that lasts for the night. There shall be no fighting among Clans at this time.” Blossomfall then looked up at the sky. “Speaking of the gathering, it should be tomorrow!”
“Really? Can I go? I want to show all the other apprentices how much better I am than them!” Blossomfall narrowed her green eyes. “That’s up to Brackenstar. But we’ll see. For now, we must learn the Warrior Code.”
“Why did Brackenstar have to make that comment about the Warrior Code?” Sprucepaw moaned after a long night of learning the Warrior Code with Blossomfall. Just as he was padding towards the apprentices den, Fawnpaw called his name. Turning around he listened to what she said. “Yes. Blossomfall just told me and –“ It was to late, he was cut off by Fawnpaw. “I found my power!” His sister purred happily. “What? You mean the prophecy is really about us? We have powers?” He exclaimed.
“Yes! I can talk to animals!” Fawnpaw’s green eyes twinkled. “Wait what? You can talk to animals?” His sister nodded. “I spoke to a squirrel!” Sprucepaw let out an mrrow of laughter. “A squirrel?” Fawnpaw, obviously realizing how mouse-brained it sounded, scrunched up her nose in irritation. “Yes. A squirrel. And I heard other animals talking, too. But I didn’t want to talk to them.” Shaking his furry brown tabby head, he turned to pad towards the apprentices’ den.
He blinked open his eyes and a vast land appeared in front of him. Three cats padded towards him; one a blue-gray she-cat, another a thick-furred golden tabby tom, and the last a ginger-flame colored tom. “Sprucepaw,” The blue-gray she-cat mewed. “You have a great destiny ahead of you.” Sprucepaw stared at them, puzzled. “Who are you?” He mewed weakly. “I am Bluestar – former leader of ThunderClan.”
“I am Lionheart – one of Bluestar’s former deputies.” Mewed the golden tabby. And finally, the ginger-flame colored tom spoke; “I am Firestar. Leader before Brackenstar, apprentice, deputy, and successor of Bluestar.” Sprucepaw shook his head again. “What do you mean one of Bluestar’s former deputies?” He realized this was StarClan – Firestar he knew of, the other two he didn’t. “Am I dead?” He gasped. “Young apprentice, you are not dead.” Lionheart mewed. “I had many deputies. Redtail was killed by Tigerstar, Lionheart killed in a battle with ShadowClan shortly after – Tigerstar… was exiled.” Bluestar mewed quietly. He gasped. “And then Firestar became deputy?”
“We’ve come here to train you, young kit.” Lionheart told him, his amber gaze never blinking. Firestar spoke again; “You have a great destiny ahead of you.” What? “Think about it, Sprucepaw. Who is here, who is going to train you?” Firestar mewed again, spotting the confusion in his gaze. “Umm… You, Bluestar, and Lionheart.” Two leaders and a deputy! Am I going to become leader? “Am I going to become a leader someday?” He blurted.
“Perhaps. Only you can truly decide. Blossomfall will teach you by day and we shall teach you by night.” Sprucepaw let out a smirk. He couldn’t wait to tell all the other apprentices he was being trained by StarClan. “I can’t wait to tell the rest of the apprentices about this! Then they’ll see I’m the best!” He blurted again, shuffling his paws in embarrassment. Bluestar sighed. “Sprucepaw, the other five are all being trained, too. Each one of you is being trained in a different way. Each one of you has a different destiny.” Oh… Suddenly Sprucepaw wasn’t as excited as he used to be. But then he remembered; he was going to become leader!
“So what’re we going to learn?” Firestar, Bluestar, and Lionheart looked at each other. “First – you must learn the traits of a true apprentice.” Sprucepaw let out a moan. “A true apprentice does not moan, Sprucepaw.” Lionheart corrected him. “A true apprentice does whatever his leader, deputy, medicine cat, elders, warriors, and mentor tell him to do. Apprentices are all equal.”
Review please ♥ =]
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