One is All: Warriors Fanfiction

Chapter 16: Warrior Vigil

Moons passed. Applepaw was made a warrior, Applestreak. Mottlepaw continued seeing Stormypaw every other night for swimming lessons, and a few more battles were fought with Jacques and Susan. During every battle, one of them mentioned a mysterious cat that kept helping them defeat the Clans. Mottlepaw was still unsure of who that cat was or what the prophecy meant, but one thing was sure that her warrior assessment was today. The hot greenleaf sun burned her pelt as she waited for her mentor, Firecloud, to come out of the warrior's den. Mottlepaw's whiskers trembled in excitement. Today was the day she would be named as a warrior, the day she would be defined as who she was. Lilypaw waited alongside with her.

"Shall we go?" Firecloud asked as Lionstar finally came out of the leader's den.

"Yes, let's." Lionstar rumbled a deep growl in his throat and stared down at Lilypaw. "I believe you're the better sister. Don't prove me wrong." Mottlepaw thought she heard Lionstar mutter to Lilypaw. Lilypaw flinched, but murmured a reply that Mottlepaw didn't hear. "Hmm," she thought. "Maybe being Lilypaw isn't all that easy either..." she wondered as Lionstar called the Clan and explained all the rules of the assessment.

"The hunting starts: now!" He roared and Lilypaw and Mottlepaw took off. Mottlepaw immediately lost sight of Lilypaw, but caught a woodpecker pecking a tree above her. The bird flew down and snapped up some food from the ground every now and then. Mottlepaw realized the bird was going in a pattern. Five pecks, then one worm and back again. She counted the pecks, then as the bird swooped down, she leaped and trapped the woodpecker under her in a neat catch. She nipped its neck, then quickly buried it in a hole and stealthily looked for more prey.

Mottlepaw found a mouse scuttling under some leaves. She held her paws open in the direction the mouse was going. It squealed and ran right into her paws, where she easily killed it. Overturning some of the leaves, Mottlepaw saw a nest of baby mice. "Jackpot!" She exclaimed and struck them with her paw. One got away, but Mottlepaw was too confident to care. "One bird, four mice, and the assessment's only starting!" She said happily.

Unfortunately, Mottlepaw had bad luck the rest of the assessment. She was too cocky and made too much noise trying to stalk, and she only managed to catch one mangy vole. She disappointedly dug up the rest of her quarry and headed back to camp.

But, to her contentment, she had done better than Lilypaw, who had again, only caught one rabbit. Where is she getting all these rabbits? It's like she deliberately looks for them. But they don't really live on ShadowClan territory...

Lionstar leaped on the Highrock while Mottlepaw was still lost in thought and yowled, "May all cats old enough to hunt their own prey join here under the Highrock for a Clan meeting!"

The cats gathered around, Mottlepaw and Lilypaw edging their way to the front. Applestreak sat next to Lilypaw and muttered something which made Lilypaw happy, and then they both looked at Mottlepaw and cracked up.
"What?!" She asked angrily.

"You look like you're so proud of yourself. Oh wow, you caught some measly rodents and a birdie. How cute." Lilypaw laughed.

"You're just mad because I did better than you for once. Well, get used to it, because it's going to happen a lot." Mottlepaw remarked smartly.

Lionstar interrupted them from Highrock. "I, Lionstar, leader of ShadowClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these apprentices. They have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as warriors in their turn. Lilypaw, Mottlepaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your life?"

For a second Mottlepaw was silent. In that one second, she considered what that really meant. To obey the warrior code, and defend the Clan. It seemed simple, but what if defending the Clan involved something that broke the warrior code, or the other way around? What then?

If she stayed silent for much longer, the Clan would know something was up. So Mottlepaw tried to say "I do," with as much confidence as she could muster, but her mew seemed thin and weak. Then Lilypaw meowed "I do," as well, but to Mottlepaw's surprise, her voice broke at the middle. She wanted to glance at her sister, but Lionstar had already started the next part of the ceremony.

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior names. Lilypaw, from this day on you will be known as Lilyfang. StarClan honors your bravery and skill and welcomes you as a full warrior of ShadowClan." Lionstar rested his chin on Lilyfang's head as she licked his shoulder. "I'm sorry," she whispered. Lionstar shook his head and backed off.

Lionstar then turned to Mottlepaw. "Mottlepaw, from this day on you will be known as Mottlestorm. StarClan honors your intelligence and independence, and welcomes you as a full warrior of ShadowClan." He rested his head on hers, and she licked his shoulder.

And then the clearing exploded with the sounds of cheering cats. "Lilyfang! Mottlestorm! Lilyfang! Mottlestorm!" They yowled. That moment was the best moment of Mottlestorm's life.
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Then the sun set and the warrior vigil began. Mottlestorm sat with Lilyfang, then lay down, then paced the clearing, then stretched. So... bored... She thought. She saw a pile of moss and mischievously threw them where Lilyfang had been standing. "Gotcha!" She whisper-shouted. But then she almost fell down in shock.

Lilyfang was gone.