In The Dark - Warriors.

Chapter Nine

Lostpaw and Pebblepaw entered the elder's den a few minutes after their little discussion. Lostpaw dropped the plump mouse as the two elder's paws and awaited their reaction. Thornscratch was the first to notice, being the youngest elder. "Oh my. That's a good mouse. Foxheart, look at it." he mewed. Foxheart grunted.

"What?" The elder said before noticing the mouse. "Oh. That's great. Did any of you catch it?" He asked. Pebblepaw and Lostpaw both looked at him weirdly. Didn't they know how the Clan treated she-cats by now?

"Sorry," Thornscratch quickly piped in. "Foxheart is losing it. We know you two didn't catch it. Right, Foxheart?" he nudged the elder whom was way past 100 moons old already.

"Huh? Oh. What? Oh? That? Yeah, I know." Foxheart mewed. Lostpaw chuckled.

"Well then, we just wanted to stop by and give you that mouse." Pebblepaw said, and they were about to leave when suddenly Thornscratch stopped them. Foxheart was disgruntled by this and looked at him.

"What? Why aren't we letting them go?" Foxheart asked. "All we need is food right now." He pointed out. Thornscratch sighed, exasperated, as he sat back down. The two she-cat apprentices glanced at eachother before sitting down as well.

"So ... what's up?" Pebblepaw broke the silence.

"Well, I was just thinking that maybe we could tell you a few stories ... like, two or three if you don't mind." Thornscratch sighed. Foxheart had been nibbling at a tick on his flank when Thornscratch said this though as he processed it, he stopped and immediately glared at the younger elder.

"What? Why are we going to tell them a story? Do we have to? That would be the ... " Foxheart trailed off for a minute, counting the toes on his paws. " ... third time today we have to tell a few cats stories!" Foxheart moaned.

"Well, listen here, Foxheart, you don't have to tell them any stories. You can just sit there and look pretty like a she-cat for all I care. But I'm going to tell them a story whether you like it or not." They bickered between eachother for a few more minutes.

"Well, I mean, I want to tell them a story, but still!" Foxheart complained.

"If you want to tell them a story than why are you complaining about it, for StarClan's sake?!" Thornscratch demanded, flicking his ears and twitching his whiskers in both, exasperation and annoyance at his denmate.

Lostpaw gazed at them, forcing herself to hold back laughter. She'd look weird if she suddenly started laughing like a maniac when the elders were fighting. She could clearly see that Pebblepaw was trying to do the same thing as well by pushing her tail against her mouth.

"So, you all going to tell us a story or not?" Lostpaw finally asked. "I mean, you don't have to, I'm not trying to sound picky. Storytelling isn't even the reason we came here in the first place." She said, picking at some moss. Thornscratch and Foxheart finally stopped bickering long enough to look at the two she-cats.

"Oh no, we're going to tell you a story. Right, Foxheart?" He said, looking at Foxheart with a cross look.

"Right." Foxheart forced himself to say.

"Our first story is going to be called Falconswoop and the Two-Headed Badger." Thornscratch mewed. "Would you like to do this one, Foxheart?" He asked. Foxheart nodded and began.

"Back in the ancient times when ShadowClan still ruled the forest alongside RiverClan, WindClan, and ThunderClan, there was a warrior named Falconswoop. Falconswoop was one of the strongest warriors in all of ShadowClan, but he wanted to earn the title of deputy. So he decided to prove himself to his leader by slaying the two-headed badger, a creature that often snuck into camp and snatched cats away. His Clanmates said he was foolish to even try, but Falconswoop was determined. So he set out at dawn in search of the mighty beast." Lostpaw couldn't help but note how good of a storyteller Foxheart was.