Warriors: Transformation

Chapter 2

"Follow me." Lionblaze said. We had reached the gorse tunnel entrance to the camp. As I pushed my way through it, I gasped in shock. The camp was exactly as Erin Hunter had said. I spotted Squirrelflight and Bramblestar sharing a piece of fresh-kill on the high-ledge. Bramblestar stood up when he saw us.

"Lionblaze. Why have you brought outsiders into our camp?" He questioned.

"This is Flame, and Sky." Lionblaze replied. "Flame is Firestar's niece. Her mother is Princess, Firestar's sister."

"How can you believe that claptrap?" A dark brown tabby I recognised as Dustpelt hissed.

"Ask me any questions about Firestar and his sister and the forest. I promise you, I'll be able to answer them." I snapped.

Bramblestar looked thoughtful. "Come into my den." He said. " We will discuss this in there." He flicked his tail, signalling for Lionblaze and Squirrelflight to accompany him. I leapt onto the high-ledge, Sky right on my heels.

I glanced around the den. The sand was soft underpaw, and the nest was lined with comfy-looking moss.

"Ok, Flame, Sky. Start your story from the beginning. Then we'll see what will happen." Bramblestar meowed.

I gulped and glanced at Sky. She gave me an encouraging nod, so I took the plunge.

"I am the sole survivor of Princess's last litter. My two brothers died in the first night. Mother was racked with grief. As I grew older, she told me stories of her brother, Firestar, how he had been a kittypet, but then joined the Warrior Clans. It has always been my dream to find Firestar and become a member of ThunderClan." Ok, so not all of it was true, but the dream part was! "When I was three moons old, Mother died. She had been getting sicker and sicker, so her twolegs took her to the vet-"

"The vet?" Lionblaze interrupted.

"The Cutter." Sky explained.

Lionblaze nodded, his expression clearing. "Ok, sorry. Carry on."

"So the Twolegs took her to the ve-Cutter, and they came back with her limp body in a wooden square thingy. I stayed by her body all night. The next morning, the Twolegs tossed me out. I was able to survive for a while in the woods, thanks to the descriptions of Firestar hunting. Then I met Sky. She attacked me one morning, and managed to pin me down. She told me to get out of her territory or I was in for it. So I fled. But the next day, I found her trapped up a tree, with three dogs howling beneath her. Living as a kittypet for the first part of my life, I know how to deal with dogs. I distracted them while Sky escaped. Then I climbed a tree and leaped from one tree to another. I had learned that skill from the stories of SkyClan. Sky and I became best friends, and starting hunting together. I told her about Firestar, and she suggested that we go look for the lake. We met Barley and Ravenpaw on the way, and they pointed us in the right direction. We've been searching for you ever since. We found the island last night, and heard the Gathering, but uh, we didn't really have the nerve to go barging in there. ShadowClan would've ripped us to pieces."

"You're right there." Squirrelflight muttered. I had almost forgotten she was there.

Sky picked up the story line.

"So we decided to sleep in a tree overnight, then approach your camp the next day. But then that fox came. It attacked Flame, and she clawed at it. Eventually she managed to kill it." Sky paused. I looked down at my paws, uncomfortable with the respectful gazes of the three warriors.

"Then, those other four appeared. They surrounded us. If it weren't for Lionblaze and his patrol, we would be dead."

Bramblestar sat thoughtfully for a few minutes. "I sense you are telling the truth." he said finally. "We will hold the apprentice ceremony at sunhigh."

I exchanged excited looks with Sky. We were actually going to become ThunderClan apprentices!

Soon enough, it was sunhigh. I could hardly sit still as Bramblestar jumped onto the high-ledge.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their on prey, join beneath the high-ledge for a Clan meeting!" He yowled.

The Clan gathered, whispering to each other. They kept shooting suspicious glances at us.

"Flame and Sky, please step forward." Bramblestar meowed. We did as he said.

"Flame, you are able to become a ThunderClan apprentice. From this moment on, until you recieve your warrior name, you shall be known as Flamepaw. Your mentor will be Lionblaze." Lionblaze stepped forwards, and I touched noses with him. "Lionblaze, you are the Clan's best fighter, and I am sure you will pass your skills onto Flamepaw." Lionblaze nodded, and we moved back.

"Sky, from this moment on until you recieve your warrior name, you shall be known as Skypaw. Cinderheart will be your mentor. She is a great hunter and will pass her expertise onto you." Skypaw and Cinderheart touched noses, and the Clan called out our new names.

"Flamepaw, Skypaw, Flamepaw, Skypaw!" They chanted.

Cherrypaw bounced up to us. "Come on!" She mewed enthusiastically. "I'll show you where you can sleep."

The apprentice den is really comfortable. Cherrypaw led us over to a shallow nest. "Sorry, you'll have to share a nest, but it's plenty large enough." She apologised.

"Thank you." Skypaw dipped her head. Cinderheart stuck her head into the den.

"Come on." She mewed. "We're going to show you the territories."

We jumped up in excitement, and came to a skidding halt in front of our mentors.

"Ok, first of all, we need to know what you guys already know. That way we don't need to re-teach it to you, just review it." Lionblaze said.

I exchanged glances with Skypaw. "Well," I began uncertainly. "We already know the hunting crouch, and we learned some fighting moves when we were living as loners."

"Show us the hunting crouch." Cinderheart demanded. I immediately flattened myself to the ground, and began to pace forwards stealthly. I made sure I placed my paws silently, and that my tail wasn't dragging in any leaves, or rustling undergrowth above me. "You have to stalk a mouse differently than a rabbit. A mouse will feel your pawsteps through the ground before it smells you, but a rabbit will hear you before anything else." Skypaw explained while I demonstrated. Our mentors nodded approval. "Very good. The two of you will be hunting for the Clan in no time!" Cinderheart meowed.

"Now for the territories!" Lionblaze announced.

The forest was amazing. Of course, we knew it back-to-front from the time we explored it as humans, but it was so majorly different from cat's point of view! We were shown all the other territories, except for RiverClan, since that was on the other side of the lake.

"Ok, you two. I know you're tired, but you need to hunt for the Clan. We'll show you the Great Oak and do a quick hunting lesson." Lionblaze meowed. We exchanged excited glances. Hunting lessons! Maybe I'll finally catch some prey!

The Great Oak is amazing! I could hear the prey rustling under the leaves. A huge squirrel popped out fron the tree. I immediately dropped into the hunting crouch and looked at Lionblaze for permission. He nodded, and I started to creep towards the squirrel. Luckily, the wind was blowing it's scent towards me, as long as I stayed quiet, it won't know I'm here. Disaster strike: just as I was about to pounce on the squirrel, the wind changed direction! The squirrel's head shot up and saw me. It let out a warning cry and sarting to scamper up the Great Oak.

"Bad lu-" Cinderheart started to say, but I did a massive leap, and caught the squirrel's tail. It fell down on top of me and I snapped it's neck. I looked up proudly to see three pairs of eyes staring at me.

I dropped the squirrel.

"Did I do something wrong?" I questioned.