RainClan As Stormshadow raised her head, she found herself in the forest. Yet there was one key difference. The trees and grass and ferns were all hundreds of shades of blue, and had glowing white outlines. She knew she was in StarClan territory, as there were no stars above her. A cat approached, tail raised wearily. “Stormstar!” He cried, running up towards her. “It’s you! Me and Aspenstar are so excited to see you succeed!” Stripefur said. He had unalived a few moons ago from a wolf attack. “Hey Stripefur. How are you? Afraid it’s still just Stormshadow though. I didn’t get nine lives yet.” “Ah, don’t worry. I’ll be there to give you one!” Stripefur said with a wink. “Am I…?” “NO! No, no, no, Aspenstar would never let that happen! No, you’re alive, but you really should go to the medicine den. Of course, I don’t think you can. You're with a ShoreClan cat right now.” “What!? They unalived Aspenstar! He's going to unalive me! I haven't chosen a deputy yet! If I unalive..." “Yeah, that’s why you gotta wake up!” Stripefur hissed. “But… Can I see Aspenstar first?” She whispered. “Oh Stormshadow… I’ll tell him how much you miss him. When you get your nine lives, I guarantee that he’ll come see you, ok?” He responded, so softly it surprised her. “Ok. Thank you, Stripefur.” She gave him a lick on the cheek before fading away. Yet when she opened her eyes, she wasn’t back in the real world. She was in a forest where every tree was bent unnaturally and had dark leaves that smelled like decay, each with a glowing red outline like ketchup. “Let's finish this.” Said a voice. A second later, Stormshadow was pinned against a tree, Wetwater above her. His claws raked her cheek before she could gasp. His pelt was slightly translucent and tinted red. “Wetwater… Are you...?” She asked, wincing slightly. “Because of you! How dare you bring me here!?” He roared, pushing her even harder against the tree. “Wetwater, I never meant to unalive you!” She cried, holding back her anger. “So what!? You still did!” He roared. “And you unalived Aspenstar!” Stormshadow countered. “And he’s frolicking in StarClan, catching mice and gossiping with everyone, while I’m stuck in this starless place!” “Yeah, because you unalived Aspenstar!” Stormshadow knew she shouldn’t fight him. She couldn’t, her body was in danger in the real world. But it would only take two minutes, and she HAD to get revenge for what he was saying. Stormshadow bit his paw. He hissed in pain, but missed his chance to retaliate as Stormshadow scrambled up the tree. She attempted to leap to the next, but she couldn’t make the jump. Hanging off of a branch that was about to snap, one final idea entered Stormshadow’s mind. She shook fiercely, causing the branch to sway dangerously. She pulled herself off just as it snapped, crushing Wetwater in its wake. “You! How… Dare you!?” Wetwater cried, clearly having trouble breathing from the branch’s weight. “Wetwater, You’ll be able to free yourself soon, but I’ll be long gone by then…” Stormshadow slid down the branch and raked her claws down his muzzle. “And that’s for unaliving Aspenstar.” She felt childish. It was dishonorable at best to attack a defeated warrior, but Stormshadow didn’t care. He blamed her for something she didn’t mean to do, even after getting rid of the cat she cared most for. And one night entered her mind as she stood, listening to the faint murmurs always echoing in the distance. The two friends sat together, under a cherry tree, the petals slowly falling like snow. “Stormshadow… I don’t like it when you battle other cats.” Aspenstar said suddenly. “Huh? Why would you say that?” Stormshadow asked. “Because if I ever lost you… I would lose everything.” “Oh Aspenstar… I promise I’ll never leave you.” Stormshadow whispered. And Aspenstar gazed at her, his eyes glowing with the love two littermates felt for each other. “We might not be related…” Aspenstar murmured. “But you’re still like a brother to me.” Stormshadow finished. “I won’t ever leave you either.” Aspenstar whispered. And the two twined tails and sat together, staring at the stars under a dark blue and black sky. “Oh Aspenstar…” Stormshadow whispered, her mind back in the real world. “You promised that you’d never leave me.” Stormshadow was bouncing up and down. She looked down and almost yowled, as she was in the air. Stormshadow closed her eyes and prepared to unalive. The surprising thing was, nothing happened soon after. A few moments later, she saw that she was on a very big cat’s shoulders. Stormshadow took in the scenery. Behind her, there was a random ShoreClan apprentice. He had a guilty look on his face.
The two cats on the other side of him were glaring at them. “Good morning.” A small cat squeaked. Stormshadow bristled angrily. She leapt at the gray, speckled cat. Kicking the gray cat in the hind leg and simultaneously scratching a nearby she-cat, then everything went dark once more. ShoreClan Foxpaw didn’t know how much time passed, but they were in a seaside cave, with water coating the bottom so their paws were always wet. Stormshadow still hadn’t woken up. Where were you, Blackface? As if his prayers to StarClan were answered, Foxpaw heard steps coming into the cave. Cats. They’re stepping and breathing heavily. “Ugh, Max, why do we have to call Bu-” “Shush! We have to call him Dragonfly.” “Shut up, Max! Butter-Dragonfly is just jealous he wasn’t raised by warriors instead of kittypets.” The talking stopped for a while until Max, the second cat, halted suddenly. “Halt. I smell…” “Rabbit?” the third one guessed. “No! Clan cats! Mouse-brain.” The group of rogues stepped forward, and Foxpaw could almost hear himself breathing loudly. “Who’s there?” A cat asked with a very high voice. “You think they’re just going to show themselves, Pez?” Max growled. “Uh…yea.” Foxpaw tried to step backwards behind Stormshadow, but he stepped on a twig. Mouse-dung. He thought, wincing. Foxpaw could just imagine Blackface shaking her head and lashing her tail. “Hey, you were right! There is someone back here!” the high voice said again. “That’s what I said a minute ago, ” Max said. “Or a very clumsy rabbit,” Mindy followed up. “I’m surrounded by idiots.” Max sighed. “True. Hey, wait a second!” Pez cried. “I come in peace!” Foxpaw shouted. “There’s an injured cat with me, and we will stay away from your territory which is actually technically ours, but if you help us we will go away.” “I don’t think you’re in the position to be making bargains.” Max arched his back, making himself look threatening. Fortunately, Foxpaw was better fed and experienced enough to fight the entire group. I can do this. I can take them. If I just scratch the high-voice one and make him squeal or scream, it will disorient them for a while and then I can take advantage of the chaos. Max is probably the strongest, so I guess I can sacrifice Stormshadow. It’s against the warrior code, but no one else is here, so I can say that she was injured too much. What am I doing? Fighting more cats just because they didn’t accept my offer? He was frozen for a while before Mindy and Pez stepped up. “Should we take them in, Max?” He snorted. “That’s a no brainer, like you, flea-brain! We can take ‘em back, and see what Bu-Dragonfly wants with them.” “Wait, if I'm a flea-brain, then I DO have a brain, so I do have a brain even if it’s a flea.” Pez said proudly. Max didn’t respond. Foxpaw thought the smart thing was to go with them. Max and Mindy flanked him on both sides, and Pez took the lead with Stormshadow hefted over his shoulder. “She’s so heavy,” he whimpered. “I got this. She’s so light.” Max growled, the deputy of RainClan draped over his shoulder like a large piece of prey. No she wasn’t, Foxpaw thought. She’s the deputy and soon-to-be leader, and the fifth-biggest of her Clan, even if RainClan cats are scrawny. Something told him saying that out loud would get him in more trouble. Max grabbed Foxpaw’s scruff and threw him across a large gap. He didn’t even have time to scream before he realized that he had made it over. “Can’t have our hostage unaliving, can we?” Max asked. Foxpaw nodded quickly and nervously. Pez easily jumped across, barely glancing at Stormshadow. He saw Pez and Mindy suddenly glare at Stormshadow and him. When Foxpaw looked towards Stormshadow, he saw her open her eyes just a bit, widen in shock, then close again. Okay, Stormshadow, ignore me. That’s fine. We’ll just get unalived. “Good morning,” Pez squeaked in a chipper voice. Foxpaw jumped. He didn’t know that the rogues knew that the deputy was awake. And just in case she was going to save them and was just pretending to be asleep, he wanted to keep that a secret. To Foxpaw’s surprise, Stormshadow leapt off of Max’s shoulder and scratched Mindy’s cheek, while kicking Pez in the hind leg. “Ow! Hey, no fair!” Mindy said. Her haunches went up and she arched her back, hissing. Pez grabbed Stormshadow from behind and flipped her over, which was startling to Foxpaw for his size. Max recovered from the shock and pushed Foxpaw to a secluded cave. “You better stay here!” he yowled before jumping into the fight. No way! I’ve got to protect my Clan! Foxpaw thought as he clawed his way out. Pez strongly but firmly took Stormshadow’s head and smashed her into the sandy, rocky path, and she still again, fur matted. Foxpaw jumped and Max looked at him like he wanted to do the same thing to him. Next: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1258102829/ Previous: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1248406078/ First: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1245156083/ Cover by @honey-the-cat-
