This is my Warriors fan story. It takes place in a Clan called DawnClan. There are three other clans, DuskClan, LightClan, and DarkClan. (The Warrior code is the exact same and StarClan and the Dark Forest exist in this story.) I've been working on this for a long time, and I hope you enjoy it! (By the way, if you think I'm writing allegiances, then you're crazy. ) Prologue: The sun glowed above a clearing in the woods. Cats of DawnClan hustled about. Apprentices searched the elders for ticks, and warriors hunted in the forest for fresh-kill and patrolled their borders. The wind rustled the leaves of the trees peacefully, and a stream nearby trickled gently. The serenity was soon broken by the panicked yowls of a pale ginger tom who came bursting out of the nursery. "Appleshade is kitting!" A few cats flocked towards the den where the queens lie in their nests, but a golden-brown tom blocked the entrance and shooed them away with a flick of his tail. The two toms padded into the nursery where a reddish-brown she-cat lie in pain. "Is she going to be okay, Riverflight?" the pale ginger tom demanded. The medicine cat blinked. "She'll be fine, Wolfscar." His attention went back to the queen. "That's it, Appleshade. You're doing great." On the other side of the den, a small kit tumbled out from behind his mother. "Is Appleshade having her kits, Sparrowflight?" He asked. "Hush, Volekit." Sparrowflight told her son. "But I wanna-" The white she-cat wrapped her tail around Volekit's small shoulders and pulled him close. Riverflight concentrated and worked for a while longer, while Appleshade screeched with pain. Just heartbeats later, a black kit was born. "Congratulations, Wolfscar and Appleshade!" he mewed. "You have a she-kit." "She's beautiful!" Wolfscar cried happily. "Are there any more?" Riverflight studied the she-cat's body. "That was the only one." Appleshade stared at her kit. After a few moments, her tired eyes became very wide. She whispered to her mate and he nodded, leaving the den. He reappeared at the entrance with light-grey tom at his side. "Crystalfrost," Appleshade began. "Look at her." The light-grey tom studied the kit. "Oh, wow!" He gasped. "She looks so much like-" His voice trailed off. Wolfscar glanced uncertainly at his mate. She nodded. He turned his attention back to Crystalfrost. "We're going to name her Pantherkit." Crystalfrost backed up a few steps. "Just promise you'll tell her why-" His voice broke. Appleshade nodded, understanding what Crystalfrost wanted. "We promise." Chapter 1: "Pantherkit, wake up!" Volekit squealed. Pantherkit had only first opened her eyes a sunrise ago, and wasn't ready to open them again. She ignored Volekit's excited mews, but he kept trying. "I'm going to play outside the nursery and you can come too, as long as you get up!" Pantherkit's ears twitched. She hadn't been allowed to leave the den yet so she slowly began to open her eyes and, once they were fully open, started looking around the nursery. It was a large den, covered mostly by ferns and sticks. Pantherkit looked up to see a reddish-brown she-cat. It was Appleshade, her mother. "Hello there, Pantherkit." "Hi Appleshade! Volekit said he's leaving the nursery and that I could come too. Can I go?" "Of course! Just don't cause too much trouble." Pantherkit set off behind Volekit as he left the den, and was amazed at how big the entire camp was. Volekit turned around. "So I guess you haven't been out of the nursery yet. Would you like me to show you around?" Pantherkit nodded. The pair of them padded over to a den made of old branches supported by two large rocks. "This is the elders' den." Volekit explained. "The elders know all kinds of cool stories so I like to come here a lot." As Pantherkit and Volekit walked into the den, two old toms lifted their heads up. "Hello Volekit!" said the ginger tom. He turned to Pantherkit. "My name is Redear. You must be Appleshade's new kit. What's your name?" "My name's Pantherkit." "Oh. That's very... interesting" "Is something wrong?" Redear just stared at Pantherkit's eyes, and Pantherkit backed away slowly. The tabby tom seemed to notice she was feeling uneasy. "No, nothing's wrong." He reassured her. "Redear just gets confused sometimes. My name's Beetlescratch. It was nice to meet you Pantherkit." "Nice to meet you too." As the two kits left the elders' den, Pantherkit couldn't help but feel nervous. Why had Redear stared at her eyes like that? "Don't worry about Redear," Volekit reassured her. "I think he was hit on the head one too many times when he was a warrior." "Alright then." she responded. She had found comfort in his words, but the question still lingered in her mind. Volekit pointed his nose towards a small mound of rock that had caved inward. "That's the medicine den. Riverflight helps heal all the sick and injured cats, and helps with the birthing of kits." "Like you and me?" Pantherkit inquired.
"Yeah. He helped my mother with her kitting 5 moons ago, and he helped your mother with her kitting two sunrises ago." "You were there?" "Yes! I was so excited to have another friend to play with. It's been lonely without any other kits. The apprentices sometimes play with me, but they have all kinds of duties they have to do, so it doesn't happen often." "What does an apprentice do?" Volekit thought over this for a moment. "I'm not really sure. I do know that they train to become warriors, and once you're a warrior, you can become a mentor and train your own apprentice. I'm gonna be an apprentice next moon. I can't wait!" "When will I be an apprentice Volekit?" "In a few moons I think. I hope Lichenstar gives us good mentors." "Me too." "Anyways, this is the apprentice den, and we'll get to sleep there when we're apprentices," Volekit explained, walking up to another den. "And those two dens over there are the warriors and leaders den. We're not allowed in the warriors den until we're full warriors, and we can't go into the leaders den unless we've been ordered or one of us becomes leader." "If I ever become leader," Pantherkit said, "I'll let you come inside the leaders den." "And I promise I'll let you come in the leaders den if I ever become leader." Volekit looked back at the nursery. "Come on, we should probably be getting back." Pantherkit followed Volekit back to the nursery. She couldn't wait to become a warrior.
