Darkstorm's Code✔️

Chapter Two

Darkkit yawned and blinked her eyes open. Shadekit was curled up beside her, shivering slightly as she moved away. "Shadekit," she murmured. "Shadekit! Don't you remember what today is?"

"Go away," her littermate mumbled. "Me sleeping." Darkkit snorted cheekily and said, "Oh, well. Don't blame me if you miss the apprentice ceremony."

"You're tricking me," he mewled. "Orangepaw-" He jolted up and ripped his eyes open. "You mean our apprentice ceremony?! No way!" he began to lick his messy fur. "What if we don't get to be apprentices?" he asked worriedly, shivering. "What if we did something wrong? What if I woke up too late? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I just did," Darkkit purred, amused at her littermate. As Thinfur came in, she turned her lithe black head to look at him. He looked at them closely, his tail up with the end tipped downwards in excitement.

"Be ready," he mewed. "I can't believe it, my kits apprentices!" Darkkit purred warmly.

"I want to be the best apprentice ever! And then warrior, and deputy, and leader!" she declared, already planning for her future. "What about you, Shadekit?"

"Actually," he began, "I want to be a medicine cat apprentice. And then a medicine cat." Darkkit stared at him, bewildered as she could be.

"What about battles? And fighting?" Thinfur smiled as Shadekit replied.

"There's more to being a warrior than that. If we had no medicine cat, who knows how bad our injuries would be? And how would we survive, especially with such a small Clan?" he inquired, tipping his head. "Medicine cats are important, too." Darkkit flicked her tail in understanding.

"I hadn't thought of it that way before." she admitted. "I guess you're right."

"I'll be a warrior again," Yowltail muttered from a corner. Her yellowish pelt was matted and dirty, just like all the other exhausted and over-worked ShadowClan warriors, but her amber eyes shone. Darkkit remembered how she and Frogscar had kits, and they all died. Even Frostpaw, the young mediator. She had been giving Shadekit and Darkkit milk.

"Oh, yeah," Shadekit remembered. "And you can have another litter, and I promise that they'll live. I'll save them. But I need to be a medicine cat."

"You want to be a medicine cat?" a brown tom asked, overhearing and entering the den made of low and fallen pines.

"Yes," Shadekit replied. "You needed Tallmeadow's help once, right, Treepool?" The brown tom smiled.

"More than once," he corrected the kit. "Medicine cats are important." 

"Let's eat!" Darkkit yelped. "Come on!" She didn't notice how small the heap of fresh-kill was, or how some of it was a bit funky-smelling. As she took a bite out of a frog, she murmured, "I'm excited. Shouldn't you tell Tallmeadow about-"

"I already did," Shadekit mewed proudly. Darkkit perked up. 

"Really? But you're so... so..."

"Shy? Yes, but I really want this," Shadekit replied. "A lot." Darkkit nodded and looked at the tall, trees.

"Soon we'll explore the forest," she mewed. "Even medicine cats need to know where everything is, especially herbs." She watched as Orangepaw entered the camp, holding a plump frog in her jaws. She proudly set it down on the ground.

"It's huge," Thinfur complimented his apprentice. "Since when have you been going out to hunt?"

"Since it's their naming ceremony," she replied, nodding to Darkkit and Shadekit. "I think Fernstar's calling them right now." The ShadowcCan leader had just leapt onto the Pinebranch, and was closing her eyes. Darkkit noticed that she looked oddly distant.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey come to the Pinebranch!" Fernstar yowled. The ShadowClan cats gathered, and it came to Darkkit's attention how little of them there were. She didn't mind. I'll be a queen, too, she decided. And the nursery will be blooming. "Darkkit and Shadekit, come to the Pinebranch." Darkkit frowned; was Fernstar going to be gloomy for the whole time? Shadekit followed her onto the branch, his fur bristling in nervousness and his body seeming smaller than usual. Why is he so worried? Soon, we'll both be apprentices! She dug her claws in; it was sturdy, although the bark was soft, but beside the skittish ShadowClan leader she felt anything but safe. Her worries flooded in now; what if she couldn't take the pressure of the ceremony? But as she met with Thinfur's proud gaze, she only felt calmness. She would be alright.

"From this day forward, Shadekit will be known as Shadepaw. His mentor will be..." Fernstar scanned the Clan with her gaze. Shadekit glanced at Tallmeadow, tucked his paws under his belly in terror, and shrunk back. "Grassfang. I trust that he will pass on his courage and joy to him." Shadekit froze in disappointment as she continued. But... He's so determined to be a medicine cat, and he did nothing wrong? What's the matter with you, Fernstar? "From this day forward, Darkkit will be known as Darkpaw. I will mentor her." Before ShadowClan could start to cheer, Tallmeadow pushed herself forward. 

"Fernstar," she protested, "Shadepaw has the future of a medicine cat. StarClan themselves have told me." Fernstar glared at Tallmeadow.

"I said that Shadepaw would be mentored by Grassfang. If StarClan disagrees, they will tell me when I go to the Moonpool." Tallmeadow glared defiantly at their leader.

"Fernstar, I strongly advise against this," Frogscar shouted. "Tallmeadow knows what she's saying." Fernstar snarled at him.

"I am leader, and you will follow my command!" she spat. Darkpaw edged away from the seething leader. I don't want this! Fernstar as my mentor, and Shadepaw not to follow his dreams?

"Fernstar!" Thinfur spat. "My kit has his right to at least try to be a medicine cat! And if that doesn't convince you, our medicine cat herself said that he had a future! A future that does not let him be a warrior!" Fernstar glared at him, baring her sharp teeth. 

"No." Her voice was cold and spiteful. Why? Darkpaw thought. Why, Fernstar? Why?

"If my kit's future is harmed by this, I will take your last life myself," Thinfur yowled. "And Darkpaw should have a proper mentor, not a crazed old fool!" Smoke practically came out his roundish ears as Fernstar scowled. Darkpaw shrunk back, still on the branch. Shadepaw looked at her worriedly, helping Darkpaw think her thought. Why does Fernstar hate us?

Ta-da!!! Please comment if you liked this.

-Shadowstorm