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"are you sure this is a good idea?" two shaded figures emerged from the mist, their paws working quickly against the sodden ground. the first figure nodded. "yes, fadedwhisper. i am certain." the second figure, fadedwhisper nodded, but still looked a bit anxious. "alright. it's just strange that mudstar sent us now..." the first cat rolled her eyes. "fadedwhisper, you worry too much. this is the right thing to do, or my name isn't cherrycreek."
for the next few days, cherrycreek and fadedwhisper padded side by side, through the forest and to the mountains, having no idea exactly where they were going. all mudstar had said was to follow the setting sun and they would find the clan they were looking for.
about a moon later, they arrived to the mountains. a great arch of trees curved overhead, and a path lay clear in the woods. the two cats decided to follow it, and it let them up the mountain and to a clearing with caves. slowly, cats emerged from the caves, and they made way for an older cat with the stars in his eyes, and he looked curiously at the two. the newcomers lowered themselves to their bellies, and bowed their heads to the cat. "greetings, vailstar," uttered cherrycreek, not daring to look in his eyes. the old cat spoke, his voice rasping.
"you have come form mountainclan?" the two cats glanced at eachother then slowly nodded. "yes... we have come." the older cat smiled gratefully. "good. i have been getting older and none of my cats have been the right choice to lead." this led to a mumbling within the cats. "you are cherrycreek and fadedwhisper, yes?" cherrycreek dipped her head. "yes."
the old cat turned to face his clan. "as you know, duskclan, i am getting old, and my last life is slipping away because of the sickness. mudstar of vineclan has sent fadedwhisper and cherrycreek to take my place as the leader. you will refer to them as fadedstar and cherrystar."
the cats were confused. two leaders? nonetheless, they mumbled their agreement, bewildered that their leader had let two cats just march in and take the lead...
and then it was chaos.
cats leaped out of the shadows, claws unsheathed and teeth bared, growling a battle cry that could only belong to vineclan. fadedwhisper and cherrycreek stepped back, and mudstar emerged and faced them. "good job, you two. vineclan and duskclan will be joint now. and only our kind can be leaders of the two clans... understood?"
cherrycreek and fadedwhisper nodded. "so this means we'll be joint leaders, correct? we'll be cherrystar and fadedstar?" mudstar grinned. "yes, of course. but there are other agreements we must come across..."
the three stepped into the closest den while battle raged among them. and from then on, that is how the new duskclan was born.
