Phantom of the Clans

Chapter 4

Spiritpaw looked around and saw that he was in his old body at the Nasty burger. He was running towards it, his family and friends stuck to the boiler that was about to explode. The only difference was that now, Firepaw and Princess were stuck to it as well. He ran as fast as he could to save them. Just as he was a few feet away, he felt something pull him back and watched as the entire building exploded. "NOO!" he shrieked.

Spiritpaw could hear dark laughter behind him, and turned to face his evil alt-future self. "You WILL become me, Spiritpaw. I am.... inevitable.... You will destroy everything and everyone close to you." Suddenly the scenery changed to the ThunderClan camp, and he was back in his cat body. It was in ruins. The bodies of his Clan-mates littered the clearing.

He could see Graypaw was still alive and rushed over to him. The gray apprentice looked at him with wild fear. "Why? Why did you do this, Spiritpaw?" he then fell limp and his eyes glazed over. Spiritpaw backed away and pressed against the Highrock. This wasn't happening. It couldn't.

Suddenly, Spiritpaw felt something prodding his side. "Spiritpaw! Spiritpaw, wake up!"

Spiritpaw's eyes shot open and he practically launched himself backwards. As he hit the ferns of the apprentices' den he saw his brother and Graypaw were staring at him with wide eyes. He took several deep breaths as he realized where he was. As his gaze swept over his worried brother and fellow apprentice.

"Spiritpaw?" Firepaw asked.

Spiritpaw gulped in more air to calm himself. "I'm sorry. It was just.... Just a nightmare. Don't worry. I'm okay." he lied.

Firepaw gave him a look but didn't press any further. "Lets go..." he mewed softly, pushing Spiritpaw out of the den.

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Graypaw padded out after him. "Are you alright?"

Spiritpaw nodded. "I'm fine now."

Graypaw flicked his tail. "I'm glad. That was quite a start you gave us."

"Let's just drop it and go train." Spiritpaw meowed tartly. He didn't want to talk about it anymore.

"Ravenpaw won't be joining us today, by the way. He'll probably be resting for another day or two. Now let's go! Lionheart and Tigerclaw are waiting for us." Graypaw told them as he led them quickly through the gorse entrance of the camp and up the side of the rock-strewn valley. As they climbed over the crest of the ravine, a cool breeze ruffled their fur. Fat, white clouds raced across the blue sky overhead. Spiritpaw relished in the cool breeze as they followed Graypaw down a tree-shaded slope and into a sandy hollow.

Tigerclaw and Lionheart were indeed waiting, sitting a few tail-lengths apart on the sun-warmed sand.

"Feeling better now, kittypet?" Tigerclaw asked him. "Thought you would die last night."

Spiritpaw narrowed his eyes. "Much better, thank you."

"I'm glad to hear that. For now, Tigerclaw and I will share your training."

Firepaw and Spiritpaw nodded enthusiastically. Firepaw because he couldn't hide his delight at having two strong warriors for mentors, and Spiritpaw because he couldn't wait to be fighting again.

"Come," meowed Tigerclaw impatiently. "Today we are going to show you the edges of our territory so that you know where you will be hunting and what boundaries you need to protect. Graypaw, it won't do you any harm to remind yourself of the Clan's outer limits."

Without another another word, Tigerclaw leapt up and bounded out of the sandy hollow. Lionheart nodded to Graypaw and they took off with equal speed. Firepaw scrambled after them, his paws slipping on the soft sand. Spiritpaw stayed at his side as they chased after the two warriors.