Important Characters
Leader Crookedstar-huge light-coloured tabby with a twisted jaw
Deputy Leopardfur-unusually spotted golden tabby she-cat
Medicine Cat Mudfur-long haired light brown tom cat
Warriors
Mistyfoot-grey she-cat with blue eyes
Stonefur-grey tom cat with battle-scarred ears
Shadepelt-very dark-grey she-cat
Blackclaw-smoky black tom
Queens
Silverstream-a pretty slender silver tabby
Mosspelt-tortiseshell she-cat
Elders
Graypool-dark-grey she-cat
Apprentices
Oceanpaw-raven-black she-cat with silver-grey tabby stripes and entrancing ocean-blue-green eyes
Fogpaw-young smoky black and dark orange tabby-tom with piercing amber eyes
Dawnpaw-silver and black she-cat
Ashpaw-jet-black tom with blue eyes
Silverpaw-young silver tabby she-cat
Chapter One
Wind rippled through my fur as I pelted through the RiverClan camp, chasing my best friend, Fogpaw.
“You can’t catch me!” Fogpaw mewed, turning his small head over his shoulder.
“Oh, yeah?” I taunted, getting on my haunches and leaping hastily.
He yowled in frustration as I pinned him, then he kicked his back paws up and pushed me off.
“Nice,” I replied.
“Thank you,” he said with surprise and pride.
“For a newborn kit!” I added with scorn.
He growled slightly and leapt on me, I unsheathed my claws a bit to get a grip on his paws and I batted his stomach with my back legs.
“You’re lucky I have my claws sheathed!” I yowled in triumph.
“Yeah?” Fogpaw said triumphantly. “Well, you won’t be victorious for long!”
Quite suddenly, with a smirk on his face, he fought his head’s way down and sunk his teeth into my shoulder softly.
In anger, I finally kicked him off, claws slightly unsheathed.
“Why you little-,” I began to hiss.
I was cut off by my mother, Silverstream, saying, “Oceanpaw! You know I taught you not to speak like that!”
“I know, Mother, but Fogpaw bit me!” I protested.
“I’m sure it wasn’t that hard,” Silverstream reassured.
“Mudfur needs to have a look at it!” I said, naming the RiverClan medicine cat.
“Stop being so whiny,” she mewed softly, licking a patch of silver-blue fur on my forehead.
“Fine,” I meowed bluntly, licking my paw and washing away my mum’s lick.
“Oceanpaw! It’s time for training!” my mentor, Leopardfur yowled out to me.
“Coming!” I called back.
“Be careful!” Silverstream warned.
“I will! I’m not a kit anymore!” I protested, bounding off to Leopardfur, the deputy.
We went to the marshes at the edge of the river to train.
“Nice work,” Leopardfur praised when I caught a fish. “Now show me your bird-stalking stance.”
I accidentally showed her the rabbit-stalking stance. Leopardfur’s piercing amber gaze held me for a minute, then it softened.
“It is time I told you something,” Leopardfur mewed softly.
This wasn’t like Leopardfur at all! She was usually confident, stubborn and arrogant, yet kind toward her Clan and caring toward others.
“I chose you to be my apprentice because I saw something in you I haven’t seen in any other cat for a long time,” she explained.
“What?” I wondered, confused.
“The spirit and strength of TigerClan...among other clans,” Leopardfur said solemnly.
“Where are you going with this?” I wondered.
“We have something in common...besides our Clan,” she said.
“Just get on with it!” I yowled impatiently.
“Do not speak to your deputy like that!” Leopardfur snapped.
“I am sorry,” I apologized.
“It’s okay,” she sighed. “You see, I was originally a part of JaguarClan. Their StarClan reincarnated me into RiverClan to help them out. You were originally a part of TigerClan, and their StarClan sent you. My own mentor explained to me this, as did theirs and theirs before them. RiverClan has a strength, yet a weakness all the same. The Clans of the Wilds Cats send one of their own down to RiverClan every so often, but when they have told their apprentices...as they have to, they must leave after they have told them,” she explained.
“No! Leopardfur, don’t leave!” I mewed.
“Do not worry, a new, yet weaker replacment will take my place, as if a clone. When they become leader, you will become deputy and so forth. My true form has to leave, but I will always be with you. I will truly miss you Oceanpaw,” Leopardfur meowed sadly, tears forming in her eyes.
“I will miss you, too,” I said, briskly licking her forehead and purring, tears forming in my eyes, too.
Leoparfur began to transform, growing larger and larger, her snout elongating and thickening, her teeth becoming thicker and sharper, her ears becoming rounded. She yowled a jaguar’s yowl, then left faded away, leaving me weeping in the deep mist.
A light the same colour has ocean blue-green eyes entered my mouth and I suddenly felt a flash of strength. I roared with the strength of TigerClan, then my normal self returned and a clone of Leopardfur came.
Chapter Two
“Leopardfur!” I cried, running into her, then I remembered.
“What’s gotten into you?!” Leopardfur demanded. “You’re as clingy as kit!”
“Oh, sorry,” I said.
“What is wrong? I can see the caked fur from tears on your muzzle.” Leopardfur smirked.
“Just the damp mist, I was showing you my hunting crouch, remember?” I tried to convince her.
“Yes, and you showed me the rabbit hunting crouch instead of the bird hunting crouch,” she purred with amusement.
“Ha ha. Very funny,” I meowed sarcastically.
“Now show me the real bird-stalking crouch,” Leopardfur instructed, serious now.
I showed her.
“Excellent,” she praised. “Now attack me.”
I crouched down, waggling my haunches in the air. Then I pounced on ‘Leopardfur’ and I pinned her down. For some reason, it was much easier than before. I pinned her back legs down with mine so she couldn’t kick me off. She wriggled, then squirmed. She got her legs free before I could bite her shoulder. She kicked me off and pounced on me, copying my moves. She bent down to bite my shoulder, then I pulled back my legs and batted her stomach, and shoved her off, sending her flying.
She landed on her back.
“You’re improving, young one,” she said, briskly licking her chest fur.
“Thank you,” I bowed slightly, then remembered where Leopardfur really was.
“We must be getting back to set up evening patrol,” Leopardfur explained.
“All right! Can I go?” I asked.
“Fine. I’ll have Shadepelt, Loudbelly, and Fogpaw go along with you,” she said thoughtfully.
“Great!” I mewed enthusiastically.
I bounded back to camp, ready for some fresh kill and the evening patrol. I padded toward the fresh-kill pile and fished out a succulent mouse.
“Hey, Oceanpaw!” my littermate, Dawnpaw, greeted.
“Hi, Dawnpaw,” I replied, dipping my head.
“You don’t have to be so serious. You act like deputy sometimes,” she joked.
I purred in amusement.
“Maybe it’s because the deputy is my mentor,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you have all her responsibilities. And she’s not deputy yet, just because you heard Crookedstar say she was the next deputy,” Dawnpaw said.
I scoffed. Okay, I admit it. She wasn’t actually the deputy, but she would be when Oakheart died, not that I wanted him to die. Oakheart was my father.
“I’d better go on the evening patrol,” I mewed, getting up after I finished my mouse.
“See you, sis,” Dawnpaw called out in farewell.
Chapter Three
“What’s this?” Loudbelly inquired, sniffing a fern.
“What’s what?” Fogpaw wondered, bounding over to Loudbelly.
“It’s a faint smell of kittypet,” Shadepelt meowed, after sniffing it.
“I’ll follow it,” I announced.
“I’m coming, too!” Fogpaw said.
“Be careful!” Loudbelly called once we got down the river a bit.
“We will!” Fogpaw called back.
We padded along. I was silent, yet I really excited on the inside. Leopardfur had instructed me to show great confidence, courage and somewhat of intimidation on the outside, but when I wanted to I could show my true feelings to the ones close to me, like she did to me, and how I treated Dawnpaw. I glanced at Fogpaw, wondering if I could do the same with him. I decided not to, at least not now.
“Do you smell any kittypet?” I inquired as we walked along the path to the Twoleg bridge.
“Yes, it’s coming from the farm,” Fogpaw said, sounding as level-headed as I.
“I see them!” I let my excitement slip for one moment.
Fogpaw cocked an eyebrow at me, then shook it off when he saw the look of determination on my face.
A dark orange tabby she-cat pelted across the path, a tiny ginger kit in her mouth. My mouth and Fogpaw’s gaped open. The she-cat padded up to us, her eyes clouded with worry and fear.
“Are you ThunderClan, by any chance?” she asked, her mew choked with sadness.
“No, we are RiverClan apprentices,” I replied.
“How does a kittypet like you know of the Clans?” Fogpaw demanded.
“Fogpaw! Can you not see she is going through a lot? We should help her!” I scolded Fogpaw.
“Thank you,” the she-cat said, “would you take this kit to ThunderClan? I was wrong to run away to this farm. Two-legs here give away mother’s kits to other Twolegs. It is horrendous. I don’t want that to happen to my kit. I was once in ThunderClan, but I took a greatly away from RiverClan while I was at that farm. To pay my debt, I want to join you. I will visit my kit from time to time, but you must take him to ThunderClan, or at least the Twoleg place.”
“All right,” Fogpaw said.
“My name is Oceanpaw and this is Fogpaw.” I gestured towards Fogpaw.
“We will make sure that your kit is taken to safety, apprentices’ oath,” Fogpaw mewed.
The she-cat purred with happiness.
“My warrior name was...er....was...Tallfox,” she finally said.
“We’ll meet you back here, Tallfox, at sunhigh tomorrow,” I announced, taking the kit by its scruff.
“Thank you,” Tallfox sighed gratefully.
We turned tail and peltered to the bridge and made our way across. We avoided any ThunderClan patrols and, panting, into ThunderClan camp.
“What is RiverClan doing here?” Longtail, one of their warriors announced.
“They are just apprentices, Longtail.” Lionheart, a senior warrior, mewed, flicking his tail at Longtail.
“I am Fogpaw.”
“I am Oceanpaw.”
“We bring a kit, from a dead mother,” Fogpaw explained.
“You see, we saw a dead queen on Sunning Rocks-ThunderClan territory. A kit was squealing nearby her. We had to do something, so we decided to bring the kit to you,” I added, thinking quickly.
“That’s probably just a kit you want to dump on us because it’s useless! We do not want any extra mouths to feed!” another warrior, Darkstripe said.
From all the extra ruckus, some of the queens came out of their dens. A grey kit a bit older than the young ginger one waddled up to him. He pawed at the ginger kit.
“My name is Greykit,” he mewed happily to us.
His mother wrapped his tail around him and said, “Do not speak to other Clans.”
“Fine! We’ll just leave and take the kit with us!” I burst out in anger.
I heard scuffling behind us.
“Darkstripe! See what you did?! You drove away a potential warrior! You could’ve asked me first!!”
The voice sounded like Bluestar’s, but I was not turning back.
“What are we going to do with the kit now?” Fogpaw hissed.
“I don’t know,” I mewed softly.
“We can take him to Twoleg Place,” he suggested.
“Ok.” I sighed.
We stalked to Twoleg Place and dropped the kit in one of the Twoleg Gardens.
“Do you think the Twolegs will keep him?” Fogpaw wondered.
“We can only hope,” I replied grimly as we swam the river.
We came back to the bridge at sunhigh the next day, after training. Tallfox was waiting there. We explained the details of our journey.
“Oh,” she said quietly. “He will join someday, though! He has warrior blood in him!”
When we got back to camp we explained everything.
“This is a big conflict,” Crookedstar said, shaking his head.
“We were planning an attack on Sunning Rocks in a half-moon. What you told them might make them expect it!”
“I am deeply sorry, Crookedstar.” I dipped my head.
“We have to postpone it,” he grumbled to himself. “We will do it in a few moons. In the mean time I will have your mentors assess you. We will need more warriors to help with the Sunning Rocks invasion.”
Leopardfur smirked. She had a grudge against ThunderClan for taking those rocks.
“For now, get some rest.”
Excitement fluttered in my chest like a trapped bird. I was going to be a warrior!
I got a mouse from the fresh-kill pile and brought over to the apprentices’ side of camp. I chatted with Silverpaw, Dawnpaw, and Ashpaw, two of my littermates and all of my Clan. After the meal, I got to my paws and settled down on a patch of moss, thinking of what my warrior name could be, but my dream was nothing of that.
Cicadas chirped and fireflies danced about. My fur had changed colour into a dark orange and black tabby coat. My eyes gleamed ocean blue-green. Out of the mist came....Leopardfur. I noticed I was no longer a cat-I was a tiger! Leopardfur purred with pride.
“I have missed you, young one,” she mewed.
“You, too,” I said.
“Do not be afraid.” She gave me a brisk lick on my shoulder, and we changed into out cat forms, but mine was different than usual-the dark orange and black tabby pattern.
“I’m not afraid,” I insisted.
“I know you aren’t,” she mewed soothingly. “You will have this pattern, now, for as long as you live. TigerClan thinks you have earned your stripes. The same thing happened to me the day before I became a warrior.”
“So, this is farewell?” I mewed sadly.
“No,” she said.
We chatted and she trained me and got me ready for my assessment. When I woke up, the training was fresh in my mind, so as you can guess, the assessment was a breeze. I brought back a whole Giant Salmon!
Chapter Four
“You have shone great excellence,” ‘Leopardfur’ praised. “I believe you are ready for your warrior ceremony.”
My eyes twinkled with anticipation as we made our way back to camp. Unfortunately, we needed much more assessments than that. A moon or so later, we got our warrior ceremony. Right before the battle of Sunning Rocks. Crookedstar called me up first, There, he said the noble words to make me warrior.
“I, Crookedstar, leader of RiverClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend her to you as a warrior in her turn. Oceanpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?”
“I do,” I said solemnly.
“Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Oceanpaw, from this moment you will be known as Oceanstorm. StarClan honours your cunning and strength and we welcome you as a full warrior of RiverClan.”
The rest were Fograbbit, Ashfur, and Dawntiger. Silverpaw didn’t pass most of the assessments. She actually a bit younger and my half littermate. She was Crookedstar’s daughter.
I sat vigil to reflect over my new warrior name. I thought it every so often.
Oceanbreeze.
That is all I have so far! Thanks for reading! Disclaimer: I own nothing!!!
