Rising Sun- A Warrior Cats Fanfiction ✔️

Chapter 9

"Well, well, well... This is the 'great and powerful' Sunpaw?" Mocked the large tom, turning his head towards the pale apprentice.

Sunpaw didn't know what to make of him- part of him told him to dip his head in shame like he would've done moons ago as a weak apprentice, but the other half nagged at him to do something, something to prove that he wasn't just an unexperienced kit.

Eventually, he gave in and let out a low snarl, baring his teeth. "Yeah, I'm Sunpaw," he challenged back, meeting the cats' menacing amber eyes with his own.

The tom snorted. "Calm down, kitty. Nobody's attacking you... Yet." He grinned, lashing his tail, which now Sunpaw could see was much shorter than his own, and had a stub at the end as if it had been sliced off.

Sunpaw's whiskers quivered uneasily, but he inwardly shook his head and told himself to focus.

He was about to spit back a rude comment, but the voice of Screech interrupted him before he had said the first word.

"Cats of the Dark Forest!" Everyone suddenly quietened down and turned around, so Sunpaw did the same. In front of him, he saw a large, jagged rock, and sure enough, the she-cat and her daughter were perched on the stone, Screech on the grey edge of the largest spike, Nightshade poised carefully on a crevice slightly higher up but further back. The rock itself was a stormy grey- almost black- colour, almost as dark as the murky-brown forest floor.

Sunpaw flattened his ears briefly as a rumble of thunder sounded, rather close, followed by the soft pitter patter of raindrops. He shook his pelt, before sitting down and watching Screech quietly.

"As you all know, we have a cat reaching his fourth moon with us: Sunpaw." She flicked her tail to the pale apprentice, causing heads to swivel and eyes to stare.

Sunpaw's mind wandered to stories of gatherings that he'd heard from the other apprentices. Ashpaw said that everyone looks at you when your name is announced, he recalled, suppressing his shudder. He heard a few soft murmurs from all around him:

"He's too small to fight Crumb!"

"He's kinda cute..."

"I'm betting on the bigger one."

He puffed out his chest proudly, trying to hide the prickling sensation that some of the eyes on him were looks of pure hatred.

As Screech continued to explain the positions of everyone and how the event would turn out, Sunpaw began to zone out, only to be shaken back to realisation by Crumb.

"Don't take it too personally when I murder you, alright?" Purred his opponent, sending an icy shiver up Sunpaw's spine as the tom flexed his large muscles, before sitting back down beside him.

Sunpaw glanced at the forever-night sky, suppressing a sigh. He pricked his ears as Screech mentioned his name again:

"-And Sunpaw will be placed on the left side. Now, we know that this is Sunpaw's first time, but there are still no rules about killing, and-" She was broken off abruptly by Nightshade, who hissed a few words quietly to her mother, who spat back a reply.

Nightshade glared at her, and Screech seemed to, in Sunpaw's opinion, agree to something. She let out an annoyed growl, before returning to her audience.

"Sorry, everyone... There is one rule, thanks to this sympathetic fool, and that rule is that Crumb isn't allowed to kill him. Alright? Good. Let's get into position." She bounded down the rock, closely followed by Nightshade.

Immediately, the two she-cats headed for the competitors.

"Listen, both of you. You will be watched the whole time by the stealthiest cats, so no funny business. Alright?" Both toms nodded, so Screech continued. "Anyway, I would like to talk to Sunpaw for a moment."

She glanced quickly at Nightshade, who nodded, leading Crumb to the far right of the clearing. Screech wrapped her white tail around Sunpaw's, dragging him forward to where he needed to go.

Once standing at the edge of the clearing exactly opposite Crumb, Screech sat down, indicating for Sunpaw to do so. When he did, the white she-cat nodded to herself for some unknown reason, before speaking:

"Sunpaw, I don't usually do this, but I am taking favour in you." Sunpaw widened his eyes.

The leader of the dark forest herself is favouring me? That's definitely a first.

"I would like to give you a hint, because I think that you have some potential to win. Listen closely, because I will only tell you this once: Crumb's tail does not work. Use that."

Sunpaw was staring at her like she was mad. Screech put her tail to his mouth so he wouldn't talk- not that he could, anyway- and got to her paws. "You'll see for yourself soon enough."

She grinned her sharp-toothed grin and flicked her tail, before throwing her head back like a dog and howling. "Let the battle begin!"