Warriors: Drizzlestar's Change

Chapter 6

  Drizzlepaw raced into the forest, Blackpaw, Jaggedpaw, Leappaw, and Rosepaw at her heels. Drizzlepaw looked at Leappaw, remembering bringing him and his father home a few moons ago. Leap was renamed to Leappaw and Leappaw's father was renamed to Onetail.
  Rosepaw and her brother had just recently been made apprentices. Featherpaw had stayed at camp to play with Flamekit and Cinderkit.

  Drizzlepaw stopped at a giant tree, the biggest tree in their territory. Oaklight had named it The Tall Oak.
  Jaggedpaw stopped next to Drizzlepaw.
  "I bet I could climb higher than all of you." Jaggedpaw boasted.
  Blackpaw narrowed her eyes. "Is that a challenge?"
  "Yeah." Jaggedpaw declared.
  "It's on!" Drizzlepaw exclaimed.
  "Oh please, you know you'll loose, Jaggedpaw." Leappaw said, grinning.
  "I bet Leappaw will win." Rosepaw said with a smile. She was standing next to Leappaw.
  Drizzlepaw felt a flicker of jealousy but shook it off and looked at The Tall Oak.
  "Fine, I'll go first." Jaggedpaw crouched down and jumped on a branch. She climbed almost halfway up the tree then looked down. "Try to beat that!"
  Blackpaw went next. She went a few branches higher than Jaggedpaw. Jaggedpaw lashed her tail in fury as Blackpaw passed her.
  Drizzlepaw looked at the tree. It was her turn. She took a deep breath as Leappaw walked up beside her, resting his tail on her shoulder.
  "Just don't think about the height. I know you'll be able to beat them." Leappaw encouraged.
  Drizzlepaw nodded then crouched down. She sprung up and unsheathed her claws. She landed on the tree trunk, digging her claws into the bark, and climbed to a branch. She continued all the way to one of the highest branches. Drizzlepaw smiled as she looked down.
  Leappaw was the last to go. He climbed the the very top with ease.
  "I knew he would win!" Rosepaw purred loudly as the four cats climbed down. Rosepaw walked over to Leappaw to congratulate him.
  Drizzlepaw hissed under her breath, glancing at Rosepaw. She shook her head then walked over to Jaggedpaw and Blackpaw.
  "And look who lost." Blackpaw said teasingly.
  "I was going easy on all of you." Jaggedpaw hissed, looking away.
  "Sure." Drizzlepaw pawed Jaggedpaw's head, smiling.
  Jaggedpaw rolled her eyes. "Come on, lets go back to camp. I think tonight's the night we're going to the gathering."
  Drizzlepaw nodded. Oaklight had found enough cat's for their clan to be a 'real' clan. Drizzlepaw kept going through all her clanmates names, in case she forgot them. Bateye, Bramblemoon, Scorchpelt, Flowerpetal, Bearfur, Eaglefeather, Duskheart... and much more. Oaklight had spent most of his time finding new members for the clan. He said that the more cats FireClan has, the stronger it would become.
  Jaggedpaw broke her thoughts as she nudged Drizzlepaw, telling her to move. Jaggedpaw then took the lead back to camp. Drizzlepaw stayed in the back. She looked at Rosepaw, who was side by side with Leappaw, matching his pace.
  Drizzlepaw growled, but smiled when Leappaw pulled away from Rosepaw to fall behind. Leappaw was now beside Drizzlepaw.
  "You were amazing!" Drizzlepaw congratulated. "You definitely made Jaggedpaw cross."
  Leappaw shrugged. "Thanks. Climbing is my thing, and fighting is Jaggedpaw's thing. You did great too! You almost climbed to the top."
  Drizzlepaw smiled, happy to be getting along with him.

  Oaklight led FireClan towards the gathering place. Drizzlepaw shivered. Last time she was there, the clans rejected her and Jaggedpaw. She unsheathed her claws, remembering her father, Nev.
  Leappaw walked over to her side. "Are you okay?"
  Drizzlepaw looked at him. She shook her head, she trusted him enough to be able to tell him about her past. "The last time I went to a gathering was when the clans rejected Jaggedpaw and I. A few days later, our father, Nev, left us. Oaklight has taken care of us ever since."
  "Oh. I'm... sorry that happened to you." Leappaw mewed sympathetically. "Your father must had been a real foxheart to have left you."
  Drizzlepaw smiled. "Thanks." She looked at the gathering island with amazement. "I can't wait to see what it's like to go to a gathering."
  "Don't you already know? You said you've been to one." Leappaw purred.
  Drizzlepaw nudged him playfully. "I mean to go to a gathering as a clan cat!"