[Mimu]

username:Mimu
cat name:Darkfang
gender:tom
age:67 moons
clan:moorclan
rank:Warrior
prompt:

[ataraxic_gone]

username: dewly_noted
cat name: LoonThorn
gender: male
age: 15 moons
clan: beachclan
rank: wave runner

prompt: [905/1000]
LoonPaw's dark pelt shifted along the pines of their territory, accompanied by the orange tinge that was CopperSpirit, his mentor. He'd hated his assigned mentor, from the day he got him to the day he'd eventually drive CopperSpirit into surrendering him to another wave runner.
CopperSpirit was a weak-willed, happy-go-lucky tom with very little to teach as far as LoonPaw's ambition was concerned. So he gave him as much trouble as he could. Always failing their hunting trips intentionally, shouting during meetings and in making himself difficult during patrols. Despite his attempts, CopperSpirit remained strong and true, giving his all to the training of his apprentice even if it wasn't appreciated.
As their training continued and LoonPaw grew he reluctantly learnt from his mentor, picking up enough to stay on time with his training. It wasn't long before he dwarfed his mentor, through a growth spurt or two. It had been this growth spurt that changed LoonPaw's tone with his mentor. His willful disobedience turning into something darker.

It was combat training and he was fighting with CopperSpirit, a one on one that leaned heavily in his favour due to his size alone. It was just them, no cat in sight so there was no one to judge. LoonPaw finally snapped, his voice low and threatening, "Why won't you quit." He punctuated his sentence by tackling CopperSpirit. LoonPaw grabbed his mentors head in his paws pulling him in while kicking with his claws unsheathed. He gave a few harsh kicks before a sudden painful surge went up along his arm. Looking down to find his mentor biting deep into his forearm, blood dripping down his fur as his mentor glared into his eyes with a hidden fury he'd never seen before.

Grip loosened, CopperSpirit shifted underneath him and it wasn't long before the lanky short tom had thrown him off, slipping out of this paws. Limping to his feet, eyes staring down at the bite mark confusion riddled on his face. CopperSpirit could barely catch prey on land and he was useless in fights- he had to be with his build.

There was no space between CopperSpirit freeing himself and the next assault beginning.

CopperSpirit didn't hesitate before throwing himself at LoonPaw, small body making a huge leap, mouth meeting with his ears as he ripped into one of them in passing before hitting the ground behind Loon, Copper's body quickly spinning him back onto his feet. Loon looked at him pain ebbing from his paw and leg as he changed his stance on the fight he was in. He wanted out, he'd underestimated his opponent- his mentor and now he was hurting, more than he'd ever hurt before.

"Don't you dare back down LoonPaw," CopperSpirit hissed, yet without the venom that their battle seemed to imply. No his tone was stern, disciplinary and he seemed to be readying himself once more. He spoke up, his hiss gone as he simply spoke with heart, valour and, dare Loon say it, spirit. "Running away is a race you will never win, now hold a defensive crouch."

LoonPaw let out a breath as he contemplated his options. He'd finally pushed too far- or was this what he'd wanted? A mentor tough and steady with lot's to teach. Yet he wasn't ready to believe that he'd been wrong. Wrong about Copper, wrong about his training- what else had he been wrong about. His mind flickered to VineKit, the runt he had bullied all through their childhood and early traineeship. Had VinePaw been a silent pacifist all this time, just letting him think that by size alone he was superior? A chill ran up his spine thinking that at any point VinePaw could have snapped with equal skill to that CopperSpirit now displayed.

Either way, he folded into a defensive position, eyes watching CopperSpirit intently, praying that his mind remembered at least a half of what Copper had taught him when he didn't listen or care. Once Copper deemed him ready the fight continued.

⤜⏤⏤⏤⏤⏤⏤⤛
SageDapple had the angriest look on her face when CopperSpirit returned beaten and bruised with his apprentice in tow. They settled down in a nest each as their healer, the Coral Whisperer, began tending to the damage done. As SageDapple began working her craftsmanship and dark arts LoonPaw was left to ponder over their fight.

He found himself with the conclusion that something was owed, a quiet huff as he struggled to find the will to say what needed to be said.

"I'm Sorry."

Copper laughed, open and heavy, as Sage pulled back from dabbing the scratches on his chest with salt water to give him a concerned look.

"Those scars on your ears are for life, I'd hope you'd be sorry."

He leaned back letting out a nervous laugh, "Yeah," he couldn't really think about what he wanted to say next. He knew something needed to be said between them.

"Tomorrow, wounds and all we start fresh and if you even think about pulling any of that with me again," Copper let out chuckle, "you'll be missing more than parts of your ears."

LoonPaw simply nodded.

"You may have been a challenge, LoonPaw but I'm never running from a challenge again."

Copper and Loon stared at each other for the longest while before Loon spoke one last time, "You'll tell me one day right? Why you'll never run again."

Copper nodded. He would, yes he would.

[ellipses]

username: cute but psycho
cat name: Firegaze
gender: Trans Molly
age: 37 moons
clan: xxx
rank: Medicine Cat

prompt: "You're going the wrong way, you know."
Ridgepaw skittered to a halt, emerald eyes shifting wildly until he caught the ruby gaze of a familiar face. "Firegaze?" he murmured softly, tilting his head towards the older molly. "What are you doing here...?"

Firegaze chuckled in a raspy tone, curling her tail over her paws. "I'm always out in the wee hours of the night," she said. "I'm collecting herbs. Now, if you're hoping to run away to the twolegplace, you're going the wrong way." She motioned towards the lake with her paw. "It's just beyond the lakefront. You keep going that way you'll end up in rogue territory, and I'd bet all my fresh kill that you don't want that."

Ridgepaw's mind was whirling, and he began to grow dizzy - mostly from being caught, but partially because Firegaze was taking this so well. The young tom shook his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts, turning back to see Firegaze had left. He blinked once, twice, before letting out a yelp as the molly nudged him along towards the lake. "Go on then," she said, a knowing smile gracing her face. "If you want to run away, nobody's stopping you. I won't tell anyone."

Ridgepaw dug his paws into the ground, turning with confusion evident in his green eyes. "Firegaze-" he started, but she quickly cut him off.
"If you're going to say you weren't running away, I'm not going to believe you," she laughed softly. "I'm sure any cat within a twenty-yard radius could've heard you monologuing to yourself earlier."
Ridgepaw's face grew heated with embarrassment. "I...! I wasn't-! ...How much did you hear?"
Firegaze smirked. "Enough to know that you're having some issues with the other apprentices," she snickered. "Why do you care so much what they think, anyways?"

Ridgepaw glared at the gravel, then huffed out, "They're all bigger than me. They call me weak and dumb - I'm not weak, and I'm not dumb either! I know exactly what I'm doing, but they-"
"-just don't get it," Firegaze finished; then, upon noticing the apprentice's confused stare, added, "I heard that part as well. Now tell me, Ridgepaw - what are you trying to make them see?"
Ridgepaw was baffled. "I'm just as good as any of them, of course!"
"Ah," Firegaze hummed, "but I feel that there's more to that than you're telling me. Now what bites?"

Ridgepaw looked down, suddenly taking an interest in the dirt, before glancing back to the lakefront. "...They keep calling me 'she.'"
"And you don't like that?"
"It's not that I don't like it," the apprentice groaned in exasperation. "It's just... I dunno, it just doesn't feel right, I guess. I've told them to stop, but they keep on pestering me, calling me a dumb molly. It makes me mad."

"So your initial instinct is to run away?" Firegaze blinked.
Ridgepaw groaned yet again, rising to his paws. "If they won't respect me, then why should I stick around? That's just a precursor for how everyone else is gonna be!"
"But how do you know that?" Firegaze countered. "Maybe the warriors will call you by your preferred pronouns. Have you even tried talking to Mothstar?"

Ridgepaw narrowed his eyes and huffed to himself, turning back towards the lakefront. "It's not that simple," he muttered, starting towards the lake.
"You know," he heard Firegaze call after him, "running away is a race you'll never win. That's a lesson I should know better than anyone else."
The apprentice paused, then looked back over his shoulder. "What are you talking about?"

Firegaze smiled, satisfied that she'd successfully captured the youngster's attention. "Come then," she called. "Sit down, I have a story to tell. I want you to listen carefully - there's a moral to this story, and I want to make sure you understand it."
Ridgepaw padded over to the molly reluctantly, plopping his rear down and shutting up to listen.

"Back when I was a kit - before PeachClan was even a whisper in anyone's mind - there was this tom I knew. His name was Pixel - some odd twoleg name, but he liked it for some reason." Firegaze shook her head. "I'm getting off topic. Anyways, Pixel had an issue similar to yours - didn't like being referred to as a tom, preferred being a molly. But instead of telling anyone, he suppressed it. Let it fester inside him till he snapped one day."

Firegaze hesitated; this didn't go unnoticed by Ridgepaw. "What happened to Pixel?" the apprentice asked worriedly.
"Pixel broke down," she said softly. "Went into hysterics - nobody knew why. It wasn't till his friends brought him back to his mother that she told everyone what was really going on inside his head. After that, things started to change - the other kits began calling Pixel 'she,' and she went on to lead a happy life." Firegaze smiled at the memory before glancing over to Ridgepaw. "You see what I'm getting at, here?"

"I think so..." Ridgepaw admitted slowly.
"The moral of the story," Firegaze said, "is that if you don't tell anyone about what's going on in that head of yours, nobody's gonna know. We're not mind readers, you know." She brushed up against Ridgepaw affectionately, smiling as the apprentice gave a small laugh. "I know it's hard to talk to others about this," Firegaze sighed, "so if you want, I can help you bring this up to Mothstar."

Ridgepaw nodded in appreciation. "I think I'd like that. Thank you."
The older molly beamed and nudged Ridgepaw along. "Good boy," she purred. "Now help me carry these herbs back to camp. There's quite a few here."
As he picked up some cobwebs and yarrow, a question sprung into his mind. Ridgepaw glanced up at Firegaze. "Hey, Firegaze?"
"Yeah?" she looked back at him.
"What ever happened to Pixel?"

A twinkle grew in the molly's eyes, and as she padded back towards camp, she tossed over her shoulder, "She's a happy old medicine cat now."
(1000 words)

[TheLilLeopard]

username: TheLilLeopard
cat name: BlackSky
gender: Male
age: 23 moons
clan: Cloud of the Endless Skies
rank: Warrior

prompt: (1000 word max)


Blacksky couldn’t sleep. The wing roared over the tunnels too loudly for sleep. So instead of sleeping he got up, quickly groomed his fur, and roamed around the camp. Everything was silent. Such a difference from when the sun was up. Everyone always seemed to be doing something. Hunting for food, Fighting invaders, or caring for the wounded. Blacksky found himself wandering around the healers den, not yet brave enough to go in. The thought of seeing her left him feeling scared, and guilty. It was his fault after all, all his fault. Blacksky pushed the memory back down. But it pushed itself back up, nagging him, tugging on conscious to REMEMBER. To remember all the blood, and how useless he has been to do anything.

“You can’t keep running away you know,” BlackSky’s head snapped up at the voice. Standing there was his friend, SunShore.

“I’m not running away from anything,” he stared at the vines covering the entrance of the healer’s den, “It’s just not the time yet.”

“Running away is a race you’ll never win.” SunShore stared at him expectedly, “Just go in and talk to her, she won’t bite.”

“You don’t understand! I can’t, it’s all my fault she’s crippled. Right when she needed my help… all i did was stand there! I was useless!” he took in a shaker breath, “I wanted to move so badly, but i couldn’t, and now… now MoonShine can never walk again.”

His mind trailed back to that night, the night of his nightmares.

———————————-
His heart hammered on his chest as he ran towards the scream. The voice was from his lover, MoonShine, he skidded to a stop when he sawa pool of it laying right at the foot of a boulder.

“You see what happened to traitor?” the voice rang through the field. A sleek gray cat, pelt littered with scars sneered down at BlackSky.

At his paws layed MoonShine, both hind legs twisted in at an unnatural angle, eyes fluttering closed, and foreheadf urrowed in pain.

BlackSky’s widened at the sight of her, while SunCoast stood beside him with a low growl from his throat.

More cats emerged from behind the boulder, all marks on their pelts, indicating their position in the rouge group. The group that BlackSky once led.

“You see here boss,” the gray cat dragged his claws lazily down MoonShine’s side, “I really didn’t get why you kept letting those filthy clan cats get away with crossing our territory, but now I get it, you’ve been selling us out all along,” he glared down BlackSky, “So you see, me and my pals gathered all our friends, and we went and got them to join. It wasn’t hard at all to be honest, I mean all you needed was to get a little scar your fur and then TADA you’re a member.”

BlackSky looked around and realized a lot of the faces were the newer members of his group.

The grey cat continued, “So now all that was left was to take all the morons who were still loyal to you, and then we take over the rogue group and drive you out.” he clicked his tongue glancing down at MoonShine, “It was all too easy, we found someone close to you, and call you over to see us rip their throat out. Oh but the fun part was hearing her scream as we smashed those little legs of hers,”

BlackSky stood shaking, his body stiff with a strange feeling.

BlackSky heard a hiss from beside him and watched as his friend launched himself up the boulder swiping his paws the grey cat’s face, the two tumbled down the rock, in a ball of teeth and claws. The rogue group was about to charge in when they were squished down by bodies of cats pouncing down from trees, branches, and rocks. His clanmates, BlackSky realized.

The grey cat was now back from battle with SunCoast, but not unscathed, claw marks ran down his side, but the worst one was down his face, while ran right over his left eye,The grey cat took one last glance at the battle before he yowled, “RETREAT.”

The rogues broke away from their battles and scurried towards where their new leader went. It is until now when BlackSky’s legs learned now to move again, he walked unsteadily towards MoonShine. Skyheart, the medicine cat, was standing over her ordering a few warriors to carry MoonShine back to the healer’s den.

Unable to get to MoonShine without disturbing the warriors carrying her, BlackSky went to Skyheart, and in a small voice he asked, “Do you think she’ll be ok..”

Without looking up at him Skyheart said, “With those injuries? I think she’ll survive, but i’m afraid she’ll never be able to hunt again.”

With those words, guilt crashed down onto BlackSky like a tsunami.

——————-

BlackSky glanced back at the healer’s den, where MoonShine now spent most of her days, unable to even get up from her spot.

BlackSky wanted to go in, but he couldn’t, no, not with all the guilt and shame pressing down on him. He didn’t deserve to see MoonShine after that, no matter how much the guilt tried to eat him up, he didn’t deserve her forgiveness.

Seemingly read his thoughts SunCoast spoke up, “She wants to see, she knows when you stands out here not go in,”

Letting out a sigh BlackSky stared at the vines, “I know, but I can’t, not now.” Not ever. He thought in his head.

“Dragging it out won’t make it any go away, she still loves you, she doesn’t blame you, no it was all the rogues fault, so I don’t see why you’re taking all the blame for this.”

“The rogues… of course.” BlackSky muttered with a gleam of malice in his eyes. “I’ll hunt them down one by one, then can I face MoonShine, then can i redeem myself.”


992 words

[Trickz]

Good luck everyone c:

[liightning]

Thank you everyone for your creative entries and unending patience!! This was not an easy decision.


However, three users' entries stood out to me, and I will be awarding them HMs.

SurgeFire - The quote was subtly woven into the story, which was well written and clearly thought out. Many recurring themes that circled back in the end made for a very satisfying and complete ending.

zippo. - The coding was simple yet elegant and added to the theme of the story. The story itself was eloquently written, with an interesting plot progression filled with suspense and twists that I loved.

dewly_noted - The theme ran strong through this well written story. I especially loved the twist where his mentor turned on him, and the resolution was satisfying, but still left me wanting to find out more.


Finally, this entry was beautifully written and connected well to the theme. However, what was most stunning was the ending, which completely caught me off guard. Congratulations to jester ;; on Firegaze! <3

username: cute but psycho
cat name: Firegaze
gender: Trans Molly
age: 37 moons
clan: xxx
rank: Medicine Cat