Grojcats!

Raggedpaw: River of Pelts

"Look! That's the half-bridge!"

"I want to try fish! I want to try fish!"

Hazelpaw and Rainpaw leaped and jumped over Nick. His eye was faintly twitching.

"Calm down, kits." Nick whispered.

"We're not kits!" Rainpaw snapped. "We're apprentices!"

"Sure." Grassbreeze, Hazelpaw's mentor, purred. Rainpaw's mentor, Ferretclaw, was also on the patrol.

"Check for RiverClan scent on our side of the half-bridge." Tigerheart ordered to his apprentice.

Nick was happy to walk away from the chattering kits as he approached the half-bridge.

His eyes widened as he saw a legion of RiverClan cats sprint towards Nick and the patrol.

That's a lot more cats than a normal patrol!

"RIVERCLAN'S ATTACKING!" Ferretclaw cried. "GET TO THE CAMP!"

"I want to fight!" Hazelpaw tried to leap at the attackers, but Grassbreeze grabbed her by the scruff and carried her away.

Rainpaw ran and followed Ferretclaw. Nick was stunned for a second before he jumped and ran ahead of his patrol like they were being chased by a pack of dogs.

"RIVERCLAN'S ATTACKING!" The warriors in the patrol kept yelling the same words in the direction of ShadowClan camp.

Nick was disturbed to see excitement in the gazes of Hazelpaw and Rainpaw. He ran into camp.

"RIVERCLAN'S ATTACKING!" Nick yelled.

"NO!" Crowfrost gasped. "Pinenose is giving birth!"

"DEFEND THE CAMP!" Rowanstar roared. "NOW!"

Warriors ran from their sun-bathing and conversations to create a line of fighters to defend the camp. Littlecloud summoned Hazelpaw and Rainpaw to protect the Nursery.

"Fight them off if they break the barrier, OK?" Littlecloud asked.

The apprentices nodded and Littlecloud disappeared into the Nursery.

"I want to join the barrier of warriors." Nick said to Tigerheart.

"Fine, get in between Fawnpaw and Hollowpaw." Tigerheart said quickly.

Nick looked at him with surprise, but did so.

He saw Anabell, the mother full of grief at the Gathering, was leading the attack.

"GIVE ME BACK MY KITS!" Anabell wailed.

"We don't have your kits!" Rowanstar growled. Nick flinched at the number of cats Anabell brought with her.

"They're not all RiverClan cats." Anabell sneered. "I knew a lot of kittypets in my neighborhood."

"I'm Marceline!" the black she-cat next to her growled. "Prepare to die!"

Marceline leaped first, summoning the legion of cats to attack.

Nick was attacked by a huge orange tom that bit his shoulder and tossed him into the heart of the fray. Two she-cats jumped and he pushed them away as they were going for his throat.

One she-cat leaped and him from behind and pinned him.

Fawnpaw slammed into the she-cat. Hollowpaw did the same to the other she-cat.

"Thanks!" Nick gasped. He steadily got up just in time for another attack.

Five more kittypets appeared and jumped in to attack ShadowClan.

God! How many are there?!

"STOP!"

Mistystar and Reedwhisker appeared with three RiverClan cats behind them. They stood in front of Anabell's fighters.

"Anabell?!" Reedwhisker gasped. "I never thought you would go this far."

"Wouldn't you?!" Anabell snarled. "They're your kits too!"

"We sent search patrols!" Reedwhisker cried.

Nick turned around to check on Pinenose, silently hoping none of Anabell's cats reached the Nursery.

"Two she-kits and a tom."

Crowfrost approached his kits, happiness gleamed in his eyes.

"Thank StarClan you didn't die." Pinenose whispered. "They would have never met their father."

"But they did, Pinenose." Crowfrost licked her cheek.

Nick looked at the three kits. The two she-kits were both black, while the tom was a really dark grey.

"The two she-kits are Nightkit and Dreamkit." Pinenose purred. "You can name the tom."

"How about Eclipsekit?" Crowfrost asked. Pinenose nodded her head weakly.

"Let her rest." Littlecloud meowed.

Crowfrost nodded and left, Nick did the same.

"Thank goodness you two are OK!"

"Mom, we would've been fine." Hazelpaw muttered as Dawnpelt licked her fiercely. Rainpaw yawned and walked back to the apprentice's den.

"Raggedpaw!"

Nick turned around and saw Fawnpaw and Hollowpaw trot over to him.

"Thanks for saving me back there!" Nick purred.

"We wanted to share tongues with you!" Hollowpaw purred. Fawnpaw nodded along.

"Well, alright." Nick walked over and licked the top of Hollowpaw's head. Fawnpaw purred and licked down the fur over Nick's spine.

Dawnpelt looked up from grooming Hazelpaw and flinched.

"You shouldn't expected him to actually like an old fleabag like you."

"Shut up, Ratscar." Dawnpelt snarled at the old elder as he tried to get closer to her.

"Don't mess with me." Ratscar growled as Hazelpaw walked away. "ShadowClan would be disgusted when they find out you mated with an elder."

"Shut up." Dawnpelt hissed.

Nick got up from the two starry-eyed she-cats and bared his fangs at Ratscar.

"Leave her alone." Nick hissed.

"Make me." Ratscar retorted.

Nick unsheathed his claws. He sighed a sigh of relief when Rowanstar appeared.

"Leave Dawnpelt alone, Ratscar." Rowanstar muttered. "Go share tongues with the other elders."

Ratscar gave a knowing glare to Dawnpelt before walking away.

"What was he talking about? Nevermind." Nick licked the top of Dawnpelt's head. "Want to share tongues?"

Dawnpelt smiled shyly and nodded. She ignored the shocked looks of the two she-cats behind them.

She flinched when a sudden thought struck.

I think I'm falling in love with him. Oh no...