Life of Flamestrike

Chapter 20: Pondpaw

Flamestrike was laying by the pond when a paw suddenly slashed at him, claws unsheathed. He jumped back and quickly attacked the cat, pinning her down. "Why are you here!?" He snarled, before getting tackled by another cat. "Great StarClan, calm down! It was just a prank!" She said. "WHAT!? I can't believe that, coming from a Dark Forest cat." He got up, keeping his claws unsheathed.

"Um, HELLO!?!? We aren't Dark Forest!" The cat said, pointing out the stars in their fur. Flamestrike got wide-eyed, realizing he just attacked a StarClan cat.... And a leader! That's Applestar! Flamestrike recognized her. "Well, what was that for then?" He asked. "It was a prank." Applestar said. Flamestrike facepawed. "One, a prank is NOT slashing at someone, claws unsheathed. Two, you are StarClan cats. Aren't you supposed to be making prophecies or something?" He asked.

"Oh come on, Dappleforest NEVER shuts up, all the cats ever do is mate-if they HAVE a mate-and all we can do is-" Applestar starts saying. "Ok, ok, I get it! It's boring as hell!" Flamestrike said, annoyed. Except for the mating-BRAIN SHUT UP AND STOP BEING DIRTY!!! "Well, anyway, let's go prank some other guys." Applestar purred. "Sounds good to me." The other cat said, and they disappeared. And now I know what I'm going to be when I enter StarClan. A huge fucking dick.

Flamestrike returned to laying by the pond. He noticed Pondpaw eat the entire fresh-kill pile. Flamestrike sighed. Not again. "Pondpaw, you're gonna spend the rest of the day hunting." Flamestrike said as Appletail walked over. "What's up?" She asked. "Pondpaw." Was all Flamestrike needed to say. "Nope. Get me more food, slaves." Pondpaw said. "...What did you just call me?" Flamestrike's eyes narrow. "Slave. Now get to work!" She ordered. "I'm sorry, you are NOT my superior, and I am CERTAINLY not your slave." Flamestrike growled. Pondpaw walked over. "You will obey my command, slave, or I WILL get Pebblestar."

"And Pebblestar will take his side." Appletail said as Blackclaw appeared. "What's u-" "Pondpaw." Flamestrike and Appletail said at the same time. "Ah, a new slave." Pondpaw said. "WHAT!?" Blackclaw unsheathed her claws, looking furious. Flamestrike sighed. "This is what we're putting up with right now." Appletail said. "Blackclaw, could you help us deal with her?" Flamestrike said annoyed.

"No problem." Blackclaw pounced on Pondpaw, keeping a paw near her throat. "Now listen here." She growled. "You call me a slave one more time, and I WILL kill you." She got off Pondpaw. Pondpaw was shaking in fear. "What's going on here?" Pebblestar walked over. "Flamestrike ordered this evil cat to kill me!" Pondpaw said. Blackclaw's eyes narrowed. "No cat orders me around. I did it because you called ME a slave, and Flamestrike is my friend." Pebblestar's eyes narrowed. "Flamestrike?"

"First off, I REQUESTED, not ordered, for Blackclaw to deal with her. I never said 'kill', and Blackclaw kept her claws sheathed. I know her well enough to know that it was intimidation, she had no plans to kill her at that moment." Flamestrike explained. Blackclaw nodded in agreement. Pebblestar took a deep breath. "What happened before?" Pebblestar asked. "Nothing!" Pondpaw said. "She ate the entire fresh-kill pile, then called me, Appletail, and Blackclaw disobedient slaves since we wouldn't get more. Quite impressive she managed to eat all of it, actually." Flamestrike said.

Pebblestar looked at the fresh-kill pile, seeing that it was empty. "That was almost full only an hour ago. Food doesn't go away that quickly normally, and I've heard other reports of you doing it before." Pebblestar's eyes narrowed. "I can safely say that Flamestrike did nothing, and that Blackclaw acted on her own accord. And unlike most Dark Forest cats, she isn't actually evil, and she had a good reason for her actions. While Blackclaw DID go overboard, it was for a good reason. Pondpaw, I've had enough of this. From this point forward, you are expelled from RiverClan. Leave and never return."

"This isn't the last of me." Pondpaw-now Pond-said as she left the camp for the last time. I hope she's wrong... I already have enough problems. "I'm going to see if Cinderfeather's awake." Flamestrike went over into the nursery. He saw Cinderfeather asleep, but Blazekit was playing with a ball of moss. "Hey dad!" She squeaked. "Hey!" Flamestrike purred. "Want to see a cool move Shattered taught me?" Blazekit asked. "Sure." Flamestrike purred. Blazekit kicked a pretend enemy up in the air, before jumping up and pinning the pretend enemy down.

Flamestrike's eyes widened. That's a death move! "Did I do something wrong?" Blazekit asked, worried by Flamestrike's look. "Oh, nothing. That was good!" Flamestrike forced a purr. "Who taught you that again?" "Shattered!" Blazekit mewed happily. "Well, he seems to be a great mentor! I'll talk to him about him mentoring you as an apprentice." Flamestrike said. "Yay!" Blazekit bounced up and down. "Well, see you around." Flamestrike purred, then left the nursery. Yeah, right. More like fucking kill him and keep him away from my kits in the future. Flamestrike growled, and the rest of the day was uneventful.