Warrior Cats- Shredstar's Fury

Chapter 1

"Spread out your paws, Archkit!"

The white kit with pale gray stripes on his face and tail flinched in response. He was staring at a larger white tom hesitantly.

"Do you have a problem with that, Archkit?"

Archkit shook his head. "No, Snaketail," he said quietly as he moved his paws apart.

"Good. You can't become a better warrior if you don't learn the basics early. Crowkit lift your tail!"

Shredkit watched them from a few tail lengths away, from which they were practicing. He was practicing his hunting crouch on his own, watching how Snaketail demonstrated it to the others. He made sure to spread his paws out and lift his tail, based on the instructions Snaketail gave to his denmates.

"Are you spying on us?" Shredkit's ears flicked forward. He lifted his head to find Snaketail, Archkit, Ravenkit, and Crowkit looking his way. He jumped up startled. "No! I was just-" he stammered. "I want to learn too."

"Well, come over then!" Ravenkit offered. "No use in practicing by yourself."

"Really?" Shredkit lifted his tail in excitement.

"Of course, young one." Snaketail meowed warmly.

Shredkit padded over eagerly. He wanted to join them earlier but didn't want to interrupt their practice secession so instead, he watched them from a distance in which he could still hear what Snaketail was telling them. He took his place beside Archkit. His denmate said nothing as he joined them. Shredkit hardly noticed and looked up at Snaketail waiting for his next instruction.

"Show me your hunting crouch."

Shredkit nodded his head and dropped into position. He spread out his front paws and made sure to put all of his weight into his haunches. Lastly, he laid his tail gently above the ground. He grinned to himself. A perfect crouch.

He was expecting some sort of approval, but the last thing on his mind was having his paws swept out from over him. Shredkit fell onto his side seeing the face of Crowkit inches above him.

"Wha-" he started to ask but was cut off as Ravenkit cuffed him in the face. It wasn't a hard hit, but it still stung.

"Idiot." the black and white she-cat scoffed. "Maybe you should pay attention to your surroundings more."

"Yeah, a true Clan cat knows that." Crowkit sneered.

Snaketail seemed to stare right through Shredkit. He shuddered against his gaze. The white tom narrowed his eyes before backing away. "Alright," he said calmly as if nothing happened, "that's all for today. Let's continue tomorrow evening."

Crowkit, Ravenkit, and Archkit turned away from him with a second of hesitation and met their mother Hollypelt by the fresh kill pile.

Shredkit watched them go, his heart feeling empty. Why does everyone have to be so mean? He thought as he stood up and shook the grass out of his pelt. He slowly walked over to his favorite spot in the entire MoonClan camp. A huge shrub plant located between the nursery and the medicine cat den. He would always come to his spot when he was feeling down. To him, it was his own secret nest. Normal size cats wouldn't be able to fit between the tight squeeze between dens as they were so close together, but for now, it was his way of avoiding other cats. He sat down resting his head on his paws deep in thought. He should've known not to take his denmates seriously when they invited him to practice with them. It was always the same. They act nice then turn around and punish him for his foolishness. It's not my fault.

Shredkit wasn't a true-born Clan cat. His mother had fallen in love with a rogue from outside the Clans and that decided his life from there. MoonClan had a history with that particular group of rogues his father was from. A history that many cats would choose to forget if they had a choice. Because of that history, Shredkit was singled out as soon as he was born. Many cats held their suspicions that he would turn out like his father, whose name was Ripple. Ripple was known as a violent cat before he met his mother, Amberheart. Amberheart had shown Ripple a whole different life than the one he was forced to live of his father the old leader of his rogue clan. Ripple was manipulated by his father to become the violent cat he was remembered as, but he wasn't like that after Amberheart came to know him. His mother told him and his brother stories of her time together with Ripple, in secret of course. From the way she described him, he was a strong tom with a bold personality. He was just raised to believe the wrong things and that's the side the Clan didn't know about him. To them, he was nothing more than a vicious cat.