The Medicine Cat Code

Chapter One

A/N: This is Rio here with the first chapter of The Medicine Cat Code! I hope you enjoy, and don't forget to swallow your herbs!

"Troutpaw!" called Ripplestripe as she stood in his den, a sassy look on her face. "Get in here before Lakenose dies!"

Snorting with disdain, the tom padded into the medicine cat den. "What do you want?" he muttered, sassiness tainting his tone.

"For the first time in forever, we have a patient! Grab some herbs!"

Troutpaw rolled his eyes with sass. "Fine!" spat the apprentice. "You don't need to be rude!"

Ripplestripe sat in her nest, curling her tail around her paws and slumping against the moss. Troutpaw grabbed a pile of herbs and shoved them at Lakenose. "Take these—they'll help your injuries." The smell of catmint filled the den.

"That's not what catmint is for," Ripplestripe muttered bitterly from her nest. "But, we are in a fanfiction. I suppose it heals everything. . ."

Troutpaw nodded gleefuly. "Now, if you excuse me, I'll go back to flirting with apprentices."

Ripplestripe leaped up, anger flashing in her blue eyes. "No! You will stay in here and recite all the cures for everything!"

Troutpaw glared at his mentor, with sass of course. "Fine!" He pondered this for a minute. "Catmint cures wounds, coughs, sores, broken pads, and basically everything. Done!"

Pleased, Ripplestripe flopped back into her nest. "I love you, Troutpaw," she meowed.

"I love you too."

Then they kissed and talked for hours on end.

⚘⚘⚘

Back in ThunderClan, Brightpaw was excited to be a new medicine cat apprentice. "See ya' later," she told her brother Cloudpaw. "I'm going to go find a WindClan boyfriend!"

Cloudpaw wrinkled his nose. "Aren't you supposed to go with Coldleaf and learn herbs?"

She snorted. "Pfft, I'm a prodigy! I don't need to learn any herbs!"

Cloudpaw sighed. "Okay. Then what about an excuse? You can't just leave camp."

Brightpaw rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Coldleaf!" she called to her mentor. "Imma' go look for some herbs by the WindClan border."

"Okay," Coldleaf meowed from where she was sunning herself. "Be quick, my brand new apprentice who probably doesn't know any herbs at all!"

Brightpaw tossed her brother a sly grin before skipping off into the forest.

Brightpaw arrived at the WindClan border, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "Any hot toms wanna chat?" she called. "I'm a medicine cat, so the rules totally don't apply to me!"

A patrol trotted by. They ignored her, so Brightpaw put one paw over the border. "Attack her!" screamed the patrol leader.

"Wait! I'm a medicine cat apprentice," Brightpaw whined, blinking coyly at one of the toms. "Meet at the border at moonhigh," she whispered. Louder, she repeated her plea. "I'm just a medicine cat apprentice!"

With a snort, the patrol leader turned around. "Fine. We will kill you if you step over the border again, though!" threatened the WindClan warrior.

"Yeah, yeah," Brightpaw muttered, picking some catmint up. She winked at the other tom, who blushed at looked away from her. The rest of the patrol walked away, but the tom stayed behind. "My name's Brightpaw," she meowed softly.

"I'm Grasspaw," he responded shyly, stretching his muzzle over the border to touch the ThunderClan she-cat's ear.

She smiled coyly. "See you at moonhigh."

"Ye—yep."

⚘⚘⚘

Frogfur stretched out his paws, purring as he relaxed in the sunlight. "Fox attack!" shouted a warrior named Roseshine. "Frogfur, Marshpaw's been hurt."

Frogfur blinked lazily. "What was that again? My hearing's been going as of the late."

"Marshpaw. Is. Injured," repeated Roseshine slowly. "Come help us!"

Frogfur got to his paws. "Fine, but next time ask my apprentice," he muttered. "Apparently, even though she's six moons old, she's a better medicine cat than me."

Roseshine nodded. "She is, but we can't find her."

"Now, we should probably get going. . . what's the problem again?"

"Marshpaw's hurt!"

Frogfur snorted. "Give em' catmint." He trotted into his den and grabbed a mouthful of herbs. "Now, run along and heal Shimmerpaw."

"It's Marshpaw, and we need you!" Roseshine cried, taking the herbs. "Where are you even getting this catmint?"

A white she-cat dragged herself into camp, bleeding from everywhere on her pelt. "Help. . . I've. . . been. . . mauled!" groaned the apprentice.

Frogfur took the catmint back from Roseshine and tossed it to Marshpaw. "Swallow this," he muttered. "It'll make you feel great!"

Marshpaw started choking, but Frogfur rushed over and did CPR.

"Do cats even know what CPR is?" asked Roseshine as she watched.

Frogfur snorted. "I suppose it's acceptable to break the fourth wall now, huh."

"It is the second part of the story."

"But it's the first chapter," added the dying Marshpaw.

"Right," Frogfur muttered, staring at the apprentice. "Well, she's healed! Go back to your apprentice duties."

Marshpaw smiled gleefuly and skipped back into the forest.

"You're a miracle, Frogfur," Roseshine gushed.

"I know." With those final words, Frogfur lumbered away to go rest in his nest.