Echoes Off The Wall - Warriors.

Chapter Seven

Skypaw was almost afraid of what Swiftstar might say. Afterall, it's obvious that whenever a Dark Forest cat has a plan, it's not going to be no good plan, and oftentimes, it's going to involve blood, death, and gore. Then again, considering the fact that he's a medicine cat, he's seen enough blood, and he's seen the death of his three littermates ... he winced a bit as he thought about them, causing Fogsecret to look at him weird and open his mouth as if he was about to make a remark, then he quickly closed it. Skypaw began to wonder if Fogsecret was really mute, or if he just didn't talk.

Skypaw turned his attention back to Swiftstar, who had clearly sensed that he had zoned out because he had paused. Even as he continued speaking, he was still glowering at Skypaw. Skypaw didn't respond in any shape, way, or form to that. "As I was saying," Swiftstar said, with an edge to his tone, however, it was barely noticeable and only those who were paying real close attention to Swiftstar's words would hear it - and Skypaw definitely wasn't doing any of the above, so he wouldn't have ever noticed it.

" ... I have a plan to discuss with the four of you," he had a twisted smile on his face, and that, in all itself, made him look ... rather distorted, in Skypaw's opinion. "Especially Skypaw," that was an insult, Skypaw could tell just by the way he enunciated and pronounced those words. Not to mention, that hateful tone he had leaking into his voice as he watched Skypaw. Then again, he looks at almost everybody with that face ... should he be offended? Honestly, that seemed like Swiftstar's neutral facial expression, if you asked him.

"Skypaw, it seems as if you are ... lacking the natural qualities that a Dark Forest Apprentice In-Training needs to obtain. For example, can you try to, perhaps ... convince that old fool - er, Toadleap! - to teach you some more battle moves instead of .. herbs," he ended the statement with venom in his tone. Obviously, he seemed rather disgusted by herbs, which was peculiar to Skypaw but he decided not to say anything about it. "Anyway," Swiftstar continued his plan. "Each of you will have the chance to prove yourselves. Honeypaw and Ivymist have each already proved themselves by doing something that I, hmm ... set up for them, perhaps. However, Skypaw and Fogsecret still have to deem themselves worthy of mine - and these other Dark Forest warriors' - presence," he ended the sentence with a cocky smirk.

"Honeypaw and Ivymist, you two still have the chance to prove yourselves further, you know ... " he smiled slightly, though Skypaw wasn't sure if that smile was suggesting a good thing, or a bad thing. He hoped that it was not the latter, yet, of course, it was ... as it always would be, and shall remain that way for a long, long time, Skypaw knew. "You will know when to prove yourselves whenever the time becomes right, and then, you two will have to jump to grab the chance. However, you two are in different Clans, might I add ... yet, the time you two prove yourselves - if you figure out when, and how - will be at exactly the same time, and exactly the same place ... " Skypaw was weirded out by this, and wondered how Swiftstar, exactly, could make that work. Of all ways that Swiftstar could've made them prove themselves, he just had to choose the one most complicated ... for him. Skypaw almost laughed out loud, but he at least muffled it into a small, slighter snicker. It was better than plain out laughing for no good reason that the other cats knew of, Skypaw supposed, and looking like a maniac ...

Swiftstar continued once more, after he had paused a few minutes so that he could let all of those words that he had just said sink into each and every one of their brains ... and it did. Or, at least it did Skypaw's anyways. He didn't really know what it did to Honeypaw, Fogsecret, and Ivymist, but he sure knew that he had thought about what Swiftstar said. Swiftstar then started shooing the other cats that had been clumped around him away, and so they left, practically dissolving or just walking away, if they wanted to be like that ... "CloudClan and MapleClan will be the two Clans that will rule, for a time ... after they have destroyed the other two Clans, WolfClan and MeadowClan, that is. Then, they will clump together to form one Clan; SwiftClan. And they will rule the forest, and more ... " This made Skypaw blink. Swiftstar was over exaggerating, right? Skypaw secretly hoped that he wouldn't make them form one Clan. He rather liked having multiple Clans in the forest, even though that meant more enemies and rivals ... it also meant more friends, and sometimes, the Gatherings could be fun. If there was only one Clan, then there wouldn't be any need for a Gathering ...