Warrior Cats Fanfic

Part 2

Shadowstar was the first leader of ShadowClan, they were fierce, strong, and everything the clan should represent. And the only leader she would ever listen to. Except for the one tiny detail about them being alive about... A kajillion years ago?

She shook her head. Violetpaw! Get your head out of the clouds, and back to the ground you walk and live on, you have to think about other things! Like the super crazy assessment, you still have to take so you won't have to be an apprentice anymore, which means no more silly chores like watching noisy kits or changing out the bedding for the warriors. Only a bit longer, and you'll get to laugh at the apprentices who have to change your bedding!

She brought herself down into the dug-out camp that her clan had lived in for more than a century. The first thing that always stood above everything else in camp was the large boulder that the leader made announcements from. The shade rock. It sounded so ominous, but also like it was just a rock that just so happened to always be in the shade. The camp was bustling with activity, a small group of kits was scrambling in every which way playing escape the badger, a couple of warriors laid around, sharing tongues and spreading the daily gossip. (Some of which were related to her assessment!) She nonchalantly sat down just inside from the gate. Watching as a couple of warriors gathered to listen to the deputy as they assigned the next patrols, a soon-to-be Queen spoke with her Mate about kit naming (which Violetpaw quickly began to ignore). Violetpaw sat up taller, her orange and black spotted and striped pelt shifting as a light breeze ruffled her fur.

After a bit of waiting and a kit flopping over her paws, where he clearly should not be doing. She spotted the gray fur of Vistaowl, followed by a different warrior now, who was probably one of the cats she had dragged along to witness Violetpaw's assessment. Vistaowl did not immediately come over to her telling her it was time to throw her in a pit of rattlesnakes to see if she could fight them off, instead, she strode past without a glance in her apprentice's direction. Violetpaw reacted by staring at her so hard she half-expected from the perspective of another cat that it might look like she was trying to eyeball her mentor to death.

She walked straight over to the leader's den and vanished past the vines, moss, and blackberry bush that covered the entrance of the den. She stared after them as clouds drifted over the sky. Obscuring the sunlight and turning Shadowclan into a much darker place. She questioned the meaning for a moment, wondering if the ancestors were trying to say something, and then she watched Vistaowl come back out of the den of the greats. She never thought about it, but Shadowstar probably had slept in that den at some point, unless they had expanded the camp and moved the dens back next to walls as they were located now. They probably had adjusted the size of the camp to relate to the size of the clan. She watched Vistaowl and the other light-brown pelted warrior as they strode over to her. Greeting her as they reached her.
"Violetpaw, come on, it's time for the mock-battle part of the assessment!" Shiningtree said, glee echoing from her voice. Violet rose to her paws and glanced at Vistaowl, expecting for her to say something as well. But instead, they turned away and Shiningtree began guiding them over to the fallen evergreen, stripped of its leaves, all that remained were a few branches that stuck out from its sides. Most of the other branches had fallen off and vanished over the many years it had been there. You could barely tell it used to be an evergreen, but Violetpaw recognized the bark and sap that rested all over the tree. Yellowtalon stood in the narrow dip in the landscape.
She strode down to meet him, and Shiningtree and Vistaowl watched from a ways back. "You know how this works, we count down from three, and when we say go, you attack the opposing warrior. Try to keep them on the ground for more than five seconds. " Vistaowl spoke, her voice only let out a bit of emotion, hopefulness mostly obscured by dullness. Violetpaw was encouraged by this, and she crouched into her favorite fighting style. Excited to try and test out one new move she had come up with and worked on a while back. Sand and gravel made the ground soft under her paws. Although she was an apprentice, she was still about the size of the average warrior, maybe even a little taller. She held her gaze sturdily, and her eyes on Yellowtalon. She tuned out the sounds around her, the numbers coming out faintly from Vistaowl's mouth.
One. Two. Three... "Now go!" The last one rung out clear, and Yellowtalon sprang at her, his tail lashing out behind him as Violetpaw reacted, spinning away and springing back at him. Landing two paws squarely on her back, then all four. She pushed him straight into the ground. She could hear him spitting out the sand his face had been abruptly shoved into. Grinning to hold back a laugh. But she didn't expect him to give up, Yellowtalon used brute force to stand back up off the ground again, carrying her weight on his shoulders. She didn't exactly expect that, he turned his head just far enough to grab her by the ankle and yank her off. She landed heavily on the ground, rising back to her paws in an instant. She got right back into action as Yellowtalon reached her again, his paws whacking her face. She yanked her head back, as he met her. Her ears flattened as she moved again. Slow- too slow. Yellowtalon was on her back this time, shoving her into the ground, flipping her over... She saw the moment, she had used this move before- but not on him, she flicked out a claw and hooked it on the string that went down the back of his hindleg, a part of the leg that kept you standing- unless pressure was put on it a certain way. Yellowtalon fell over, his green eyes widening in shock and she escaped his grip at the same time, she pushed him down into the ground by the shoulders, ensuring that he couldn't reach her- or get his paws back beneath him. He writhed and struggled... One, Two, Three, Four... His paw stretched out as he hit her legs, she pulled back as he tried to stand up again, his breath had been knocked out of him. Five! Yellowtalon was about to launch at her again when Vistaowl let out a shout. "Yellowtalon was held down for five seconds. Violetpaw is the winner!"

She took several deep breaths. Large ones, her heart slowed back to the normal pace it usually went as she set her paw firmly down beneath him as if to show he had not put a dent in her defenses. Her gray eyes rose as she lifted her head to Vistaowl's gaze. Shiningtree was yelping with excitement. "That was amazing! That move- The one you made him fall over with? You have to show it to me, to everybody!"

A couple of days later, it's finally announced. As the moon rises brightly on the horizon and the sunlight just begins to fade. Jadedstar begins to stride up the side of the shade rock. His demeanor is one of power and pride. It doesn't take long for the clan to take notice, he shouts, his tail rising upwards.

"All cats old enough to lurk in the shadows, gather for a meeting below the Shade rock!" Violetpaw rises from the den as the cats gather. Then split and move out of the way, creating a path for her straight to the foot of the rock. Her gaze was excited and full of happiness. At my warrior ceremony, I knew there was no way they could turn me down! She had been told that if she were to get an un-delayed ceremony, it would be exactly 6 moons from her apprentice ceremony. Violetpaw stepped forward just as Jadedstar continued. "Violetpaw has reached the age of twelve moons, and successfully passed the assessment."

He paused as the crowd expressed approval. He looked down from the Shade rock at Violetpaw. Her whiskers twitched in anticipation. Vistaowl sat nearby, as always she did not reveal many emotions... But Violetpaw could see pride poking through her rough exterior. Another moment passed as orange tom waited for the crowd to quiet down again. "You know of the warrior code, and when you become a warrior, it means you truly swear your allegiance to your clan and the code." Violetpaw already knew what to say. "Do you promise to follow the Warrior code through thick and thin, no matter the cost?" She replied quickly, the fear scent that had been dragging behind her all day vanished, she felt as if TigerClan was allowing her into their ranks personally. "I do."