WARRIORS: Cruel season #1 Rises the Moon

Chapter three

Tommy padded alongside Sootburr, he spotted a brown tom who looked around his age, 6 to 7 moons possibly. the brown tabby looked back at him, they couldnt speak but from the moment they looked at eachother they knew they were friends. He smiled, the tom smiled back. Tommy turned back to Sootburr. "Who was that?" Tommy asked. "The brown cat? That was bumblepaw if im correct." Sootburr said, looking back to see him. "Thats a cool name." 

"sootburr, who is this?" A white she purred from behind the two, Sootburr turned to look at her. "Oh, hello Mousetail. This is Tommy." Sootburr nudged Tommy forward "Hello!" Tommy greeted, looking at Mousetails eyes. "Hello, Tommy." Mousetail crouched down to get to Tommys level. "You are a kittypet, arent you." She wasnt hostile, but her voice was firm. Tommy shook his head. "hm, and why are you here?" She asked but it seemed the question was for Sootburr more then Tommy himself. "Well, uhm- " Sootburr began, but Mousetail cut him off. "Nevermind, there isnt a proper answer to that question." She said. "well, it was nice meeting you Tommy." She smiled softly, turning around and padding away. "That was the medicine cat, as her name says she helps sick or injured cats." Sootburr said, still looking at her. "That sounds nice of her!" Tommy meowed, his eyes wide with excitement of this new place. "Mhm, is that something you want to do aswell? She has no apprentices yet." Sootburr suggested, tommy stopped to think for a moment. "Maybe."

"So, when will i become an apprentice and get my name?" Tommy asked. "Im not sure, you may have to prove something to the clan for them to believe in you." Sootburr looked back down at Tommy. "Soon i will ask Crowstar what to do, but thats all i can say for now." Tommy nodded in reply. Tommy looked to the sky, it was as orange as fire. The sun glowed in the reflection of the lake as it set slowly. "Tommy, do you want to join sharing tongues? You could make some friends. If you dont want to talk to anyone, thats fine! You can just eat." Sootburr smiled. "Sure, does sharing tounges mean talking or something?" Tommy tilted his head. Sootburr nodded. 

Sootburr urged Tommy to follow him, there were a few warriors and four apprentices. Tommy suddenly felt nervous despite always being a loud, talkative ball of sunshine. "Dont be nervous, just grab that bird from the fresh kill pile and just do whatever you are comfortable with." Tommy smiled at Sootburrs words and padded towards the bird, snatching it into his jaws. He looked at the apprentices, he was worried they wouldnt like him so he ran past them and sat farther away to them. He placed the robin down in the ground and began to eat it, it tasted amazing compared to the dry food his owners had been giving to him, the wet food was fine but this was better. While Tommy was caught up in his food a cat approached him.

"Hi there!" the same brown cat Tommy had seen earlier spoke, Tommys head shot up. "Oh, uhhhh- hey." Tommy struggled to find his words. "Whats your name? I saw you earlier and i was just wondering if you wanted to be friends." The apprentice smiled. "Uhm. Tommy, my name is Tommy." Tommy said akwardly. The brown apprentice squinted but continued. "My name is bumblepaw!" Bumblepaw smiled. "Thats a nice name, Bumblepaw." Tommy smiled back at him. "do you want to be friends?" Bumblepaw sat down next to him, admiring the robin "Sure, i dont see why not-" Bumblepaw cut him off quickly. "Did you catch that?" Bumblepaw questioned. "Uhm.. Yeah! Yeah i did!" Tommy lied, if Bumblepaw thought he was able to catch this bird he would accept him, even if he was a kittypet.

the two continued to talk and eat until the moon had completely risen. Most cats had finished grooming eachother, eating and talking. Sootburr and Crowstar padded towards the two friends who had just finished eating. "Hello Tommy, have you already made a friend?" Crowstars voice was low and calm. "Mhm." Tommy nodded his head. "Well, thats amazing. But, we must speak to you." Sootburr said, his head was low. Tommy suspected something was wrong. "Follow us." crowstar turned around and sootburr followed. Tommy looked to Bumblepaw then began to follow the two older cats.

Crowstar and Sootburr enterned a tunnel under a big rock in the middle of the camp. "Sit down you two, i have some words for you." Crowstar sat down and so did tmhe two younger cats. "Tommy, i have talked to the leader of another clan and uhm.." Crowstar looked down. "Hiddensar is going to fight you. Hiddenstar is the leader of Sunclan is going to fight you durring a gathering at the full moon, which is two days from now. He is much older then you and i dont think you can win this fight and if you do not, you will either be trained as a medicine cat apprentice or sent home." Crowstar spoke, looking down at the golden tom. Tommys smile dropped suddenly, realizing what situation he was in. "You wont have to kill him and he will not kill you. All you must do is give him a scar of some sort and you would have won the fight, and if you do you will train to be a warrior in the paws of Sootburr. And you will gain your own name."  Crowstar continued. Tommy looked at Sootburr in utter terror. "You must do this, Tommy. This is how you can prove yourself to everyone." Sootburr purred, licking Tommys ear to comfort him. 

"Tommy, Sootburr will show you to your den." Crowstar laid down, sending the two off. Sootburr pushed Tommy out of the den and showed him the apprentices den. Tommy looked at the den and then back at Sootburr. "Go on, im sure your friend will want you to sleep next to him." Sootburr gave a half defeated smile. Tommy padded into the den and looked around. "Tommy-" Bumblepaw whispered across the den of sleeping apprentices. "Come lay over here with me." Bumblepaw continued as Tommy carefully walked through the den and laid down next to Bumblepaw. 

"Welcome home, theseus."