Kitten of the Dark Forest

Ch. 6: The Training Begins

Mapleshade brought her paw down hard upon Maggottail's head. It connected cleanly, and the mangy cat was stunned for a second, which was all Mapleshade needed. She brought her front paws up, standing on her hind legs. She then brought all her weight down on Maggottail, hearing an "Oomf!" as she landed on him. Maggottail then used all the strength left in his legs to explode upward and throw Mapleshade off. But Mapleshade was quick. She grabbed the tom's tail with her teeth and yanked it, causing him to fall to the ground. But Maggottail was determined to win the battle, and raked Mapleshade's exposed belly with his front claws. Mapleshade yowled, releasing his tail. Maggottail bowled her over using sheer force, and he soon was on top of the she-cat. Mapleshade widened her eyes, feigning fear as she went limp beneath Maggottail. The tom laughed savagely, and Mapleshade smirked. This was just what she had been waiting for. Using all four legs, she exploded upward, throwing Maggottail into the air. He widened his eyes and opened his mouth in a silent yowl, for all the breath had been knocked out of him. He landed hard on his back, and lay there, wheezing, trying to catch his breath. Mapleshade got up and shook the dust out of her fur, still grinning. She walked over to Maggottail, and held her paw above his throat, claws unsheathed. "Surrender?" she asked smugly. Maggottail's eyes widened. "I surrender!" he wheezed. Mapleshade chuckled, and turned to face her audience, the rest of the Dark Forest cats. "When you're fighting, never take your eyes off your opponent, like Maggottail here did. It may be the last thing you ever do. And never take it easy or underestimate your opponent, for ThunderClan cats always have a trick up their sleeve, like me. So don't fall for that playing dead trick. Take advantage of it, don't relax, and use that killing blow as soon as you can." Mapleshade paused to lick at her chest fur a couple times, then looked back up and grinned smugly. "So, who's next?"

Tinykit sat upon the rock overlooking the territories, his rock. He watched the cats of the Dark Forest training relentlessly, for they would be training for at least a moon before he decided that they would be ready to fight ThunderClan. He had partnered them all up with someone they would be familiar with; Mapleshade with Maggottail, Thistleclaw with Silverhawk,  and Darkstripe with Snowtuft. Those who didn't have a ThunderClan mentor had something close to one. Since Clawface had lived with Mapleshade, Thistleclaw, and Darkstripe,  Tinykit had expected him to know some Thunderclan moves, so he had put Clawface with Sparrowfeather and Redwillow. And since Rabbitsplinter was an old SkyClan cat who used to live next to ThunderClan, Tinykit knew he would have some  ThunderClan moves.  So he had paired Rabbitwhisker with Bee, an old cat, and left the rest of the old cats, One Eye, Slash, and Beetle, to fight as a group. It would all go so well, Tinykit was sure of this. "You are a wise leader," Tinykit heard Tigerstar say. "You have a scheming mind and a savage personality, but I have one question. Why do you stay Tinykit, instead of Tinystar? Changing your name might help secure your rule." Tinykit laughed darkly. Tigerstar could be too funny sometimes. "Is this about the thing with Snowtuft? Ha! That fool was just trying to appease me. He didn't want to die. It's not like anyone actually believes that this is a Clan. And if you believed we could actually become one, than your dumber than I thought you were. Clans  follow the warrior code, and why are we here? We're here for our crimes against the warrior code, that's why! The thought of us ever becoming a Clan is repulsive. I intend to keep us as a group, with no medicine cat, no queens, kits, or elders, no leader with nine lives. We're just a bunch of cruel, vicious cats that have no faith in StarClan and kill Clan cats for the fun of it. And I like it that way."

Mapleshade examined her pelt. Shy was lying down on the moss next to the tree that Tigerstar's followers slept by. She had some pretty good fights with Maggottail that day, and only lost once. But that was only because she had lost her concentration. She licked her various wounds, and for a moment wished that there was a medicine cat in the Dark Forest. But then she started to think back to her life in ThunderClan, and the medicine cat Ravenwing, and his treachery...Mapleshade shook her head, trying to shake away the ThunderClan memories that threatened to fill up her mind until they were the only things she could think of. No. She would not think of them. Not now. Not ever. The only memories she would want to relive were her Dark Forest memories. She felt a single tear trickle from one of her eyes, and she wiped it away. She didn't know what the tear was for, but she had a feeling that she had lost something. "You can't keep away the memories forever," a soft voice said. Mapleshade hissed, unsheathing her claws and turning her head side to side to find who had spoken, before she realized that the voice had sounded like herself. "What do you mean?" she asked aloud. "Your memories will reawaken, sooner than you think."  Mapleshade did not answer this time, instead curled up into a ball. She was about to doze off, when she felt something by her side. Scenting Tinykit, Mapleshade smiled. She didn't even think, not for even a moment, that he would be the one to reawaken her memories, as she would do to his.