Chasing Powers: Series 1 Book 1

Prologue
Two cats sat next to each other in a starlit forest. Trees shaded them as they stared into a pool of stars.

One of them, a golden brown tabby she-cat with icy blue-eyes, turned towards the other cat, "Four will come, bonded by loss,"

"What's so wrong with that, Mousestorm?" commented the other cat, a white tom apprentice with black flecks and the same icy blue-eyes.

"I don't know Falconpaw," answered Mousestorm, to her son, "but i do know that trouble is coming and those four cats will have something I do with it,"

The apprentice nodded solemnly to his mother as he stood up to leave. He looked behind him as he began to leave, "Are you sure it will be caused by the those five?"

"Yes, I am sure,"

Chapter One: Ivypaw
"Ivypaw, Ivypaw. Wake up!" Thunderpaw meowed.

Ivypaw opened her eyes to see Thunderpaw poking her with a paw.

"What do you want, Thunderpaw?" Ivypaw asked, shaking her head awake.

"Thistlethorn and Foxleap want to take us hunting near the stream that borders us and FrogClan. So hurry up if you want to go to the Gathering tonight," he snapped.

Thunderpaw stalked out off the den. Ivypaw sighed. Since when was he in charge of anyone. She thought. The beautiful, undersized apprentice followed Thunderpaw out of the den to see Thistlethorn waiting.

Thistlethorn looked up to see Ivypaw walk up.

"Can you be any slower?" She snapped.

Ivypaw looked at her paws. "Sorry, I was still asleep."

Thistlethorn let out a snort and followed Foxleap and Thunderpaw out of camp.

Ivypaw's heart twisted. Why are they being mean to me? She thought. Then it hit her. ''Of course they still blame me for Pouncepaw's death.  Pouncepaw was Ivypaw's brother and died when she couldn't save him from falling off a cliff to some jagged rocks. Of only Thunderpaw helped me. We both would have lived, but instead we both fell. I ended up badly injured and entered a coma, but Pouncepaw died.'' Grief flashed though her green eyes.

She shook her head and followed Thistlethorn, Foxleap and Thunderpaw out of camp.

Later in the morning, Ivypaw came back with a minnow and a pike. The others have three pikes and a carp.

Ivypaw set her fresh-kill down in the pile.

"Hey, Ivypaw," Ivypaw turned around to see Redwing, a handsome dark ginger tom with white paws. He had a small pike in his jaws. "Do you want to share this?"

Ivypaw heard a slight growl and turned to see Thistlethorn looking at her, anger showing in her blue eyes.

"Maybe later," Ivypaw meowed at Redwing, looking down at her silver and white tabby paws.

Hurt flashed through Redwing's blue eyes. "Oh, okay."

Ivypaw looked at Thistlethorn again. ''Happy now, Thistlethorn? I left him alone.''

At the corner of her gold flecked eyes, she saw FishClan's medicine cat, Lavenderpetal raced out of her den into Ripplestar's den.

Ivypaw frowned. What's her deal?

Ivypaw padded towards the Apprentices' den.

Chapter Two: Quietpaw
Leaves rustled above Quietpaw's golden brown ears as she stalked under a fallen branch. She crept forward, her paws silent on the forest floor. She emerged from the branch to find leaves under her paws. A sparrow looked for worms next to a tree to Quietpaw's right. She turned quietly, enjoying the new-leaf sun on her back. She stopped waiting for the sparrow to get closer since, there was little ground cover in TwigClan's territory.

A little closer she urged the sparrow in her mind as she waited.

The sparrow walked closer to her and Quietpaw leaped into the air. The sparrow took off, only to find Quietpaw's claws in it's throat. Quietpaw landed neatly on the ground and glanced at the oak and cedar trees around her. Rays of light shone through the branches and lit up parts of the ground. She padded over to a oak tree and dug up the ground to bury her sparrow. A bush with purple berries, and dark spiky leaves got in her way, and she crushed some of the berry, trying to get it out of her way.

"Could you not crush those,"

Quietpaw turned around to see Bumblepaw standing to her right.

"Those are juniper berries and Thymeleaf needs some for her bellyache,"

Quietpaw growled softly and then turned away making sure to crush some of the berries. Quietpaw watched Bumblepaw calmly gather the rest of the berries even though it was obvious she had crushed some on purpose. Bumblepaw was the calmest cat Quietpaw ever knew. Mudbreeze, two moons ago, a moon before his warrior ceremony created a game that if an apprentice was able to make Bumblepaw loss his temper, then the other apprentice had to do whatever that apprentice wanted. At first, only Mudbreeeze, his sister Mossylog then Mossypaw played the game, but then Quietpaw joined along with Bumblepaw's sister, Goldpaw. So far no one had succeeded, but Goldpaw an Quietpaw where still trying. Quietpaw picked up her sparrow and the. Walked back to camp. The only queen, Icefrost was laying next to her nursery while her two kits, Firekit an Frostkit played.

"I am Firestar, leader of TwigClan!" announced Firekit leaping onto her brother.

"No, I am Froststar leader of TwigClan!" called Frostkit pushing his sister off.

Firekit launched herself towards Forstkit, pushing him into Quietpaw's path. She tripped over Frostkit and fell on her side. She stood up as Icefrost called her kits, scolding them for getting into another cat's way. She saw the two moon old kits pretend to listen to their mother as they shot glances towards the camp entrance, clearly writing to find a way to sneak out of camp. Quietpaw's eyes gazed over the elder's den as she sat down her sparrow. The elder's den had been empty since Quietpaw's mother, had died a few sunrises after the death of her father, and brother. Quietpaw missed them and her heart ached whenever she thought of them. She hopped at least they would be watching her from StarClan.

Chapter Three: Sunpaw
Sunpaw stretched his legs out. The morning air was cool and refreshing, and the sky was streaked with orange, yellow, and red. Beautiful morning, Sunpaw thought. He gave his golden fur a quick lick, to flatten out his fluffed out parts.

"Hey, Sunpaw!" A cat called from across the clearing. Sunpaw lifted his head, mid-lick, and gazed across the stirring clearing. The sound seemed to be coming from the nursery, so Sunpaw quickly finished his licking and sped to the fern den. He nodded to his mentor Tanglefur, also the Clan deputy, as the matted black tom called out names for patrols.

There weren't very much cats in the Clan, so only a hunting patrol and border patrol were assigned for the whole day. Luckily, the two queens, Swifthollow and Smokebreeze, were close to labor. Especially Swifthollow. The kind and gentle golden brown tabby's belly was heavy, and very swollen. Windwillow, the medicine cat, predicted about three kits.

Sunpaw reached the fern den, and squeezed inside. Littlestar was there, her kit Smallkit happily suckling her mother's teats.

"Hello, Sunpaw," The small leader greeted with a nod of her head, and licked Smallkit. Sunpaw bowed respectfully.

"Did you call me?" He asked.

"Yes, I did. Sunpaw, can you do me a favor and collect new moss bedding for me? Smallkit had a nightmare last night, and has been tearing away like crazy. Smallkit innocently looked up from her mother, and stared into Sunpaw's bright green eyes.

"I didn't do it." She squeaked, and widened her deep blue eyes. Sunpaw couldn't help but smile. The little kit was so adorable, and her blue eyes were magnificent. It wouldn't be too long before toms started claiming her for their own.

"Of course, Littlestar." Sunpaw bowed and exited the nursery. The strikingly handsome golden tom made his way across camp, passing Silentstep.

"Hey, Sunpaw," The warrior meowed and Sunpaw stopped to speak.

"Yes?"

"How's Littlestar and Smallkit?" The gray tabby tom was Littlestar's mate, and proud father of Littlekit. He lived up to his name, really. He was quite silent at walking, and could catch a sparrow before it even knew what was happening. Sometimes, he liked to scare some of his clanmates, sneaking up behind them.

"Good. She asked me to collect some moss for her. Smallkit had another nightmare." He reported. Silentstep nodded and flicked his tail towards the entrance to camp.

"Get on with it then," He ordered and quitely made his way into the nursery. Sunpaw sighed and continued on.

But then, a strange scent wafted into his nostrils.

''Careful! Cats!'' Sunpaw heard a jay call out as it fluttered out of a tree. Sunpaw cocked his head, stopping infront of the entrance. Something's wrong... He thought. The scent was vaugely familiar... it smelled of amphibians... lizards, turtles, snakes... frogs.

Frogs! It was FrogClan!

"FrogClan att--" He was cut off as a FrogClan cat pinned him to the ground.

Chapter 4: Lionpaw
Lionpaw blinked open his eyes. He had been having the oddest dream, but he couldn't remember what it was. He shook his head to clear it, and saw Pebblepaw, a pretty silver tabby apprentice about his age, sitting in her nest. She thought, ''I know Pinestrike will be angry that I only caught a small mouse yesterday, what if he makes me go without Fresh-kill until I catch more? Oh, I'm a terrible hunter!''

What is she fussing over that for? Lionpaw wondered, ''Pinestrike isn't that bad. It's Slitherclaw who's mean.'' Slitherclaw was Lionpaw's mentor, and was really strict.

Lionpaw padded out of the Apprentice's Den to find that the sun was just rising. He spotted his brother, Sparkpaw, talking to Dewfall, his mentor. Not far away, Slitherclaw was waiting for Lionpaw.

What time does he think this is? Slitherclaw wondered bitterly. We were supposed to go on Dawn Patrol!

"I'm coming, Slitherclaw." Lionpaw sighed, padding over to the black tom.

Slitherclaw looked surprised. "How did you know I needed you?" he asked.

Lionpaw looked confused. "You... you just said that we were supposed to go on Dawn Patrol..."

"No I didn't." Slitherclaw meowed. Then he shook his head to clear it and meowed, "We're going hunting, since we missed the Dawn Patrol, with Pinestrike, Pebblepaw, and Daisypetal."

"Okay." Lionpaw meowed, his mind still on how Slitherclaw said he hadn't said anything, but Lionpaw had heard him clearly. He shrugged and padded off behind Slitherclaw.

Lionpaw crouched behind a tree trunk. He waited, his eyes on a vole. He loved voles. It wasn't often furry animals wandered this far into FrogClan territory, and he loved their warmth when he bit into them. He watched the vole stick its head into a pile of leaves, and took his chance.

Lionpaw leaped, claws sliding out. Then he landed. A tail-length away from the vole. It raced away and slipped down a hole before he could chase after it.

He heard a giggled behind him, and saw Pebblepaw laughing at him with a lizard in her jaws. He licked his white chest in embarassment, then padded past her. "We...we should go hunt something else." he meowed.

"Something slower, maybe." She teased him.

Chapter 5: Sparkpaw
Sparkpaw sniffed the border. "Have we moved the border?" He aksed, surprised. He looked at his mentor, Dewfall, who padded over to him.

"Not that I know of." she murmured, sniffing the border. "And all of the warriors should know if Shadestar ordered the border moved."

"Well, there's our scent crossing into SunsetClan territory." Sparkpaw meowed. He placed his forepaws on the other side of the border- fliching as he crossed the scent line- and sniffed farther. "It smells like... Fernstrike? Daisypetal, too. And Poolfeather."

"What?" Dewfall's eyes widened with confusion. She crossed the border and sniffed. "You're right! what is Pollfeather doing out of the nursery? And what are those three doing out of FrogClan territory?"

"Maybe we should check it out?" Sparkpaw asked. He watched Dewfall think it over. She was a responsible and honorable warrior, but she was also an adventurer at heart, much like Sparkpaw. Maybe that's why Shadestar had choosen her as Sparkpaw's mentor.

"Fine, but we're not going far and we're not starting fights." the gray she-cat meowed, then led her apprentice onto the moors of SunsetClan.

Everything went fine for awhile. Sparkpaw and Dewfall felt nervous and unnatural crossing into enemy clan's territory. "It's so hot out here." Dewfall sighed, "How can you take it?"

"I dunno." Sparkpaw meowed, looking up at the sun. It seemed to be burning, but Sparkpaw barely felt it. Suddenly, he froze. Fresh SusnetClan scent was drifting towards them.

"I smell a patrol!" he and Dewfall meowed at the same time. They both stared at a hill as three warriors appeared from the heather.

Leading was a black tom with brown stripes and messy fur. Behind him was a brown tom and a gray tabby. "What are you doing on our territory?" the patrol leader hissed.

"We mean no harm, Tanglefur." Dewfall meowed, "We merely wondered why our warriors crossed into your territory."

"Excuse me?" Tanglefur asked, looking confused.

"We scented a aptrol of our cats cross the border, but there were no orders for them to even leave camp today. We wondered what they were up to." Dewfall continued.

"You should wonder on your own territory." Tanglefur spat. Suddenly, screeching ripped through the air and a jay flew off in fear. Sparkpaw ran off towards the sound, Dewfall on his heels. He raced up to the top of a hill, and below saw Poolfeather, Fernstrike, and Daisypetal attacking a golden apprentice.

"Sunpaw!" every cat in the SunsetClan patrol gasped in the same moment. Dewfall raced down ahead of Sparkpaw and grabbed Poolfeather by the scruff. She heaved the she-cat away from the golden apprentice while Sparkpaw grabbed Fernstrike's tail and attempted to pull her back.

"Dewfall? Sparkpaw? What are you doing here?" Poolfeather asked.

"I could ask you the same thing!" Dewfall mewed, "Why aren't you in the nursery?"

"We wanted to get our territory back!" the queen spat. "Since Shadestar wouldn't send a battle patrol to get it back, we thought we'd do it alone."

"That was foolish on all levels!" Dewfall hissed at her.

Sparkpaw wrestled with Fernstrike until she realized that sparkpaw was telling her to back away, and she did. After noticing what was going on, Daisypetal backed off as well. Sparkpaw padded over to the golden tom apprentice. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Chapter Six: Ivypaw
Ivypaw gave her silver and white tabby pelt a final lick before she headed out with Lavenderpetal to help find herbs. Ivypaw watched Lavenderpetal padded out of her den and jumped to her paws.

"Are you ready, Ivypaw?" Lavenderpetal meowed, grief glistening in her amber eyes.

Ivypaw winced. Pouncepaw was Lavenderpetal's apprentice and she was probably still upset about his death. Ivypaw nodded and followed Lavenderpetal when a yowl makes Ivypaw jump.

"Hey, Ivypaw. Look what I found," Redwing yowled and drop the thing he was holding.

Ivypaw turned back to Lavenderpetal. "I'll catch up,"

Ivypaw padded up to the item laying at Redwing's paws. It was a silver tendril with a similar thing in the middle with a bright green gem.

"What is it?" Ivypaw asked him.

"It's called a necklace," Ivypaw turned around to see Breezeleaf, the only queen in the clan pad up to them. Breezeleaf was once a kittypet, but she joined FishClan after her home was destroyed by a fire.

"What's a necklace?" Ivypaw meowed.

Breezeleaf's eyes brightened. "It's a thing you put around your neck. It looked like a silver chain with an emerald in the middle," Breezeleaf picked it up and put it around Ivypaw's neck.

Redwing purred. "It suits you well, Ivypaw. The chain matches your silver and white tabby pelt and the emerald brings out your gold-flecked green eyes."

Ivypaw shook her head, shaking the necklace, too.'' It will be harder to swim with, but Redwing's right. It suits me well. ''Ivypaw thought.

"Thanks, Redwing." Ivypaw nosed Redwing's muzzle and ran out of camp, following Lavenderpetal's scent. She came to an open clearing and spotted Lavenderpetal by a clove of wild garlic.

Lavenderpetal looked up. "I thought you forgot about me,"

Ivypaw shook her head. "No, I don't forget things easily, Lavenderpetal,"

"Okay, can you pick the coltsfoot over there? I have to head back to camp since I forgot something,"

Ivypaw nods and watches Lavenderpetal pad away. Ivypaw padded towards the coltsfoot and begans to pick them. In front of her, a small willow tree bends to the right. Ivypaw blinks and sees that the tree was straight again.

That's weird. Ivypaw thought, but returns to picking the coltsfoot. She looks up again to see that the tree bends again, but this time to the left. Ivypaw blinked again and sees that the tree returns to normal.

What in the name of StarClan is going on? Ivypaw thought. She looks at the sky to see that the moon was starting to rise. It's almost time for the Gathering. I have to head back now. Ivypaw picks up the coltsfoot bundle she made and headed back to camp.

Chapter Seven: Quietpaw
Quietpaw looked through the trees, as she followed her mentor, Riseflower, on a border patrol. Her mentor's golden fur shone in the little light with made it through the trees. The other cats on the patrol were, Mudbreeze, Goldpaw, and Mossylog. Goldpaw and Mudbreeze stayed near the edge of the patrol, so they could talk to each other. Quietpaw watched Mossylog, the patrol leader roll her light amber-eyes as they began to talk about ferns.

"I am so sure your opinion on ferns is more important than this patrol," she meowed sarcastically.

The chattering behind Quietpaw stopped as Mudbreeze and Goldpaw stopped talking. As they neared the border with twolegplace. The sound of monsters, reached her golden-brown ears. A kittypet sat on a fence on the other side of the thunderpath. It was stalking a sparrow that landed on it's fence.

"That kittypet is stealing our prey," stated Mudbreeze.

"The sparrow is on the other side of the thunderpath, it is not on our territory," pointed out Riseflower, "There is nothing we can do,"

"We could cross the thunderpath and scare the bird off,"

"Oh, and almost get killed in the process by a monster? I don't think so," answered Mossylog, "It's only one sparrow, and it's not like this is leaf-bare,"

"I think we should scare it off, the kittypet doesn't need to eat this sparrow," commented Goldpaw.

Great. thought Quietpaw. Every since Goldpaw had began to moon over Mudbreeze, she had started backing him up, along with his mouse-brained ideas.

"I am leader of this patrol and we are not going to take all that trouble to save one sparrow," Mossylog growled.

This would all be easier if the sparrow would just fly over to our side of the thunderpath thought Quietpaw.

Just as the kittypet began to leap for the kill, the sparrow took off over the thunderpath, and onto one of TwigClan's lush maple trees.

"Happy now?" mumbled Mossylog, as she started forward towards camp.

"Yes,"

Arriving at camp, Quietpaw noticed Kestrelstar in the middle of the clearing."I want, Riseflower, Quietpaw, Bumblepaw, Ashfern, Mossylog, and Mintfire to go to the gathering tonight,"

Yes, My first gathering!