Warriors: Winged Hopes

~{Chapter 1}~

Her pelt bristled in the breeze as she watched the sun set. She was about to lie down on the warm rock when a burst of feathers appeared out of the corner of her eye. Sighing, Beepaw leaped to her feet and charged after the feathery fury, the blood pounding in her ears. She disliked hunting, but she would rather hunt than eat that nasty kittypet slop.

    She leaped up onto a log, her eyes locked on her prey. Once she got to the end of the log, she jumped, paws and claws outstretched before her. She then clamped them onto the bird, who was fighting with all its strength and sending feathers out to blind her. But Beepaw managed to make the killing blow with her teeth as they landed, and the fiesty dove fell still.

    "This is the worst," she muttered, looking at the pitiful scraps of the bird. Most of the feathers had fallen off in their fight, so she could see that the bird was quite a pitiful size, hardly enough to fill a kit. Sighing, she picked up the tiny morsel and returned to her mentor, Hawkclaw.

    "That's the best you could do?" Hawkclaw asked, hardly able to contain his laughter.

    "It looked big with its feathers," Beepaw muttered, embarrassed.

    "Such a hard fight for this," Hawkclaw was practically rolling on the ground by now.

    "Stop!" Beepaw spat, hardly able to believe her own mentor was laughing at her like this, "Y'know I don't like to hunt or fight!"

    "But it still has to be done, doesn't?" Hawkclaw asked, standing up and twitching his tail in annoyed way. When would Beepaw learn that this was just how the clans worked? "And you really think all of the clans would stop fighting each other just because some apprentice said so?"

    "No..." Beepaw trailed off, looking away.

    "Right. Now go catch something better," Hawkclaw said, bending down to lick his paw.

    Sighing, Beepaw headed off into the forest, searching for something else. She looked up at the trees, with their beautiful white and pink leaves, and lovely songbirds and doves. Suddenly, a rustle was heard in the bushes. She crouched, claws unsheathed. She knew she hated fighting, but still, she needed to defend herself, especially in her own territory!

    Suddenly, a flash of gray leaped out of the bushes. Beepaw felt claws dig into her shoulders. Yowling in shock, she flung her competitor off of her. She quickly turned around, studying her opponent.

    "Thrushpaw?!" she hissed in shock. Why was this lone apprentice wandering about in WingedClan territory?

    Thrushpaw hissed, "Your territory will be ours!" He lunged himself at Beepaw. She jumped out of the way, but apparently not very well, for fangs still dug into the flesh of her back leg. She spun around and bit Thrushpaw's tail, who flinched in pain and let go.

    Almost at the same time, Tunatail and Hawkclaw emerged out of the bushes. Along with Tunatail was Cedarroot and Hazelleaf. The scent of WaterClan was strong in the air and, alerted by this, Lavenderleaf and Birchpaw came soon after.

    "What are you doing here in WingedClan territory?!" Hawkclaw hissed.

    "You are not wanted here! Leave, before you regret you didn't!" Cedarroot spat.

    Bristling, Hawkclaw leaped forward, tackling Hazelleaf. There was a blur of brown and red as they tumbled across the clearing. Thrushpaw lunged at Birchpaw, biting his ear. Tunatail and Lavenderleaf barreled into each other at the same time and, tumbling back, was confused when they started seeing stars. Beepaw pinned her ears, watching the battle unfold. Blood and fur was splattered all over the clearing. She hated this!

    "BEEPAW! LOOK OUT!"

    Suddenly, Cedarroot was on top of her. Claws dug into her flesh. Panicking, Beepaw struggled beneath Cedarroot. She could see the others trying to get over to her to help her, but they were being pushed back by the WaterClan cats. Was she really about to die? She had just started her training! It couldn't be! Suddenly, all the cats froze...

    That's when a dog leaped out of the bushes, pushing Cedarroot to the ground. Beepaw mustn't have heard the barking due to the ringing in her ears. Lavenderleaf helped her up as they fled the scene. Beepaw looked back. She could see the WaterClan cats fleeing from the scene as the dog chased after them, leaving the dead body of Cedarroot, torn and bloodied on the ground.