Warriors- ElmClan's Reign

Prologue

      Lightning struck overhead, breaking the branch of a large Elm tree. "It's coming down!" one of the she-cats yowled in panic. The branch crashed down on one of the cats' dens, leaving it shattered in pieces. "Pastelstar!" many cats yowled in unison, their pelts soaked in water. Coughing, Pastelstar padded out of the shambles and mewed, "I'm alright, everyone..." The Clan sighed in relief. "What's that?" a silver she-cat pondered. "Dovesong, why don't you examine it?" Pastelstar responded. In the midst of the storm, Dovesong padded up to the fallen branch, sniffing at it.  She noticed a small Finch nest that had been built on the Elm branch. The Finch was frightened, and it flew away, leaving its nest behind. Dovesong dug out the rest of the nest, and saw two baby Finches dead. Her ears flattened in shock, realizing that it was an omen from StarClan. She shook her head and backed away, trembling at the sight. "What is it, Dovesong?" Pastelstar mewed. "O-oh! It's nothing, Pastelstar," Dovesong responded, "I only thought I saw a snake..." Pastelstar's ears twitched, and a dark brown tabby-colored she-cat with a white underbelly mewed, "Shouldn't we take shelter? I can't stand the feeling of raindrops on my fur!" Pastelstar nodded slowly, "Yes, Oakshade.. Let's go, FinchClan," she mewed as she lashed her tail as a signal to follow her into the warriors' den.

                                                                      ****

     The next day was one of the most beautiful days FinchClan had ever seen. Despite the ground being murky, the sun was out and shining, and the cats could hear the faint songs of the birds that were nearby. Pastelstar took a whiff of the fresh air, and she sighed. The cats were pouing out of the warriors' den one by one. wincing as they stepped in mud. "Pastelstar, how are we supposed to hunt with this kind of murky earth?" a ginger tabby tom mewed, his face filled woth disgust at the mud. "I'm not sure, but we still have some prey left over. There is no need to hunt right now, Cedarpatch," she responded. Cedarpatch rolled his eyes, sighing, and he padded away, shaking his paws as he walked. Pastelstar giggled to herself in amusement at the tom's walking pattern.

     She glanced over at the kits, who were playing in the mud. Padding over, she mewed, "Hey, you two, don't you think playing in the mud is out of order right now? You'll have to clean your pelts in the river later!" The kits glared at Pastelstar, and she felt confused at the sight. She noticed a couple of cats traversing outside of camp. "Where are you going, Oakshade? And you too, Cedarpatch!" she snapped at them, her tail lashing. The two cats looked back at Pastelstar, their eyes narrowed. Oakshade responded, "We're tired of having our legs pulled by FinchClan. Every day we're forced into situations we can't handle, and I'm sure other cats are unable to handle them as well." Cedarpatch nodded in agreement. "We don't want to be horsed around anymore, so we're setting off to create our own Clan," he mewed, "We're calling it ElmClan."

     Pastelstar growled, stepping back and flattening her ears in annoyance, "You can't do that! Who in StarClan's name is going to lead 'ElmClan', anyway?! You, you foul excuse of a warrior? You're leaving, after all we've been through together?! Do you think Sparrowstar wanted this?! Stormstar and Clawstar don't deserve this kind of disrespect either!" Cedarpatch hissed in scorn for his leader, "Sparrowstar was a great leader, but I don't think he would be proud of us either! Stormstar and Clawstar were too weak to lead us! They abandoned us! Are you blind, or am I reading into this too much?!" This comment took Pastelstar aback. She began to panic. He's right... What do I do now... I guess I'll keep up this act... she thought. Cedarpatch stared at Pastelstar for a while, and laughed. His blazing amber eyes were filled with unconditional amusement as he mewed, "Yes, Pastelstar. I will lead ElmClan, and I'll be a better leader than you could ever dream of being." His tail lashed and he signaled Oakshade to follow. As they walked away, Pastelstar spat, "You two will see StarClan's wrath for this!" As they continued to pad merrily away, Cedarpatch looked back and mewed with a snarky tone and look, "And Oakshade will be my deputy."

     The rest of FinchClan crowded around Pastelstar, and a few of them began to follow Cedarpatch and Oakshade. She widened her eyes in shock. "Where do you all think you are going?! Sunflare, Ares?! You can't join them! You all are being outrageous!" she yowled after them as even more cats followed after them. A sharp pain pierced her heart as she saw that even the kits were following them. She looked down, and mewed to herself, "I loved you, Cedarpatch..." Looking back up, she watched as they all left her behind. Her paws shuffled and she thought to herself, Maybe I should go with them... But I've already made a bad name for myself... What if I joined as my old name, Patelbliss.. Would they let me in...? There's no use of leading a Clan with no cats... She nodded to herself and padded after them slowly, head down and tail low. They turned around and saw her following. They all stopped in their tracks and Cedarpatch approached her. "So, you're coming after all? Good choice, there's no use in leading a Clan that has no cats," he mewed. His tail lashed and everyone began moving again. Maybe this will be good for us.. Pastelbliss thought to herself finally.