Rising Sun- A Warrior Cats Fanfiction ✔️

Chapter 10

For the first time in his life, Sunpaw was grateful for the sudden rainstorm, because otherwise the cats would've seen his fur bristling all along his spine.
The thought of death was awful, the thought of going to the Dark Forest after death even worse.

But what was the worst was the fact that if he won he would live with the burden of murder.

Don't be silly, Sunpaw. He retorted to himself. Screech already told you, you aren't allowed to kill each other!

Despite this, he still got the nagging sensation that his life was in great danger.

Screech had told both toms to go to separate parts of the forest, to test everything they'd learned; tracking, stalking, fighting, and killing- or not killing this time.

She'd told everyone else to take sides over who they thought the winner would be, and- of course- most cats chose Crumb.

Now, as Sunpaw shook his fur to try and rid it of rain, he lowered his head in thought.

"I hate it here..." He murmured.
Then, he raised his head to show he was ready.

"But there's no point saying that now... Now, I'll just have to try my best," he muttered, and awaited the yowl that would come to signal the toms to go.

The adrenaline pulsed through his ears, and for a few cold seconds, time itself seemed to freeze.

Sunpaw's eyes closed. He breathed in. He breathed out. He breathed in. He bre- Wait! That was the yowl!

He pricked his ears, amber eyes clouding with fear as he heard the shriek.

He quickly shook the feeling away. "I am being trained by Nightshade. I have no need to be afraid." He told himself quietly.

With that, he ran.

~.~.~

Time seemed to stop as he galloped through the forest.

Jeers, calls, shouts, yowls and snarls were ignored. In fact, everything seemed to disappear.

It was just him and the twisted forest for a few moments.

He allowed himself to slip into thoughts for a few seconds, reminding himself of the past few days.

Then, he heard pawsteps. Light, disguised, careful, but pawsteps nonetheless.

Sunpaw took a step back, but then froze.

"He can hear me." He muttered under his breath, eyes dark.

He turned around, hearing a sound.

Just a breeze.

He turned back around to a huge paw with deathly sharp claws raking down his face.

Pain instantly seared through him.
Sunpaw darted away, but found the tom on top of him in just a heartbeat.
He felt a sharp bite in the neck, but it was not aimed properly.

Sunpaw rammed his head into Crumb's, ignoring the throbbing headache it gave him. The large tom seemed to be stunned. For a while, at least. Sunpaw took it as his opportunity, and though tired and hurt, he ran like he'd never run before.

He stopped in a clearing, panting heavily. However, it wasn't long before he felt a heavy weight on his back. He squirmed out of grasp, darting off again, until he got to a wide stream. The only way across was a thin, fallen tree.

He didn't hesitate. Crumb, however, did, leaving Sunpaw with a chance to flee. He was soon across, though the bigger tom had started to edge his way across.

Sunpaw's eyes narrowed. This reminded him of something... Suddenly Screech's words came back to him.

"His tail doesn't work..." He suddenly gasped, jumping up. "Of course. I know what I have to do now." He waited until the tom was in the middle of the branch, before climbing back on. He began to wobble it, making the other tom freeze. "You wouldn't." He snarled, eyes wide with terror.

Sunpaw jolted it, making the dark warrior cling to the tree like a kit. "Wouldn't I?" Then, while the tom was distracted, he leapt, claws taking his belly.

"Oops." He smirked, then did it again, and again, until Crumb's stomach was just open flesh and blood. He suddenly stopped himself though, remembering that he wasn't supposed to kill.

He picked him up and heaved them over to Screech. "We have our winner!" She yowled, calling all the cats in. Her pale yellow eyes caught Sunpaw's amber ones and held the gaze for a while, before letting go.

"Nightshade, get this disgrace cleaned up. And Sunpaw, as soon as you become a warrior in the waking world, you will become one here." At that, cats yowled his name furiously, and the golden tom held his head up proudly.

~.~.~

Back in his nest, awoken by a light drizzle, Sunpaw carefully cleaned out a wound on his leg, before plastering the fur around it down on it to hide it.

Once finished, he got up and padded out of the den, over to Bumblestar. "I'm ready for training." He muttered.

"What's first?" Bumblestar turned around. "Elders." Sunpaw groaned but obeyed.

This was going to be one boring day.