The cat ran, heart pounding, breath faltering, trying harder and harder to get away from whatever it was that chased them. The calico in the dream blinked her eyes and skidded to a stop, unaware what it was that she was running from, though when she turned and stopped she couldn't see it. Pine needles beneath her paws, the heavy scent of pine in the air and she realized she was in a pine forest that her own clan did not live in. Larger paws sounded on the ground and she turned in circles, searching her her pursuer

Sunpaw woke with a start, eyes wide and tail fluffed out where she was curled up in her den in the cavern that was used as the medicine cat den. She was alone where she slept, away from where her mentors spent their nights dreaming and in their nests. She didn't know if the two slept together like other mated pairs, though there was always the rumors about the two having been mates when they were younger and she wondered if she would have someone like that one day. Of course, she could only mate with a medicine cat within the warrior code and they had to be in her own clan. It was unfortunate, but true.

The young cat looked around her, growing slowly aware of where she was and stood while her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the cavern and her nose picked up the familiar scents of herbs and cats. There was no one here right now, though the day before she'd pulled a rock from the pad of Lightfur's pad; the she-cat had been too proud to stay the night with them though she wasn't on duty for the next couple days and instead was helping the apprentices as much as the medicine cats would allow her. Sunpaw arched her back, stretching the stiffness from her joints though she was careful not to make any noise as she crept from their den space. She paused by the short tunnel that led to where the two others slept, listening carefully until she heard the quiet snoring of her mentors and continued walking, satisfied that they had not heard her wake. Through the tunnels she wandered further out until she reached the entrance where the clearing outside settled in the trees.

The sun hadn't come up yet though a few warriors were getting up and ready for the dawn patrol though Sunpaw was aware that few would pay the medicine cat apprentice any more than they would a queen waking to use the dirtplace not too far away. Her odd coloured eyes flashed dully in the light though she wasn't paying much mind to the others around as she walked toward one of the trees around the edge of the clearing and sat on one of the roots from where she could see the whole clearing, the entrances to the tunnels and the space through the undergrowth and brambles they used for a barrier. She'd dreamed and she didn't know if it was just a dream, or a sign from the ancestor cats.

---

The leader of the clan rarely slept all the way through the night; the vast majority of his time was spent planning and plotting the war that would be coming with Cliffclan. They were soft, weak cats that took in outsiders. It was horrible to think of and even then, it was rare that Jaggedstar would allow a rogue in their territory to live. Perhaps they should begin with those who wandered closer to the boarders; the cute little medicine cat who saw only the best in him. Perhaps he really was the kind warrior she thought he was, but he was a leader foremost, not a father or a mate; a leader and he must lead his clan to victory. To the summit of their reign and he was sure, that by the time his last life fled his body, that Lightclan would be the greatest of them all.

The male paced the length of the clearing, waiting for the other cats to wake before he issues his orders from now on. His mate, the sweet and powerful Moonflower, was currently sleeping within the nursery, close to her kitting of their third litter together. Their first had been shortly after she'd become a full warrior, their second not long after Jaggedstar had become deputy - when he had been know as Jaggedpelt - and now, after six seasons as winter, their third litter was soon to be born. The two had produced some magnificent warriors and a singe, splendid medicine cat. All were strong and well respected throughout the clan, and none were whiny like the other clans offspring. He loved them as much as a father would, and relied on them as much as any leader would; if his deputy died then he would most certainly name his oldest and strongest son as deputy without hesitation.

Greenstone was sat in his nest in the warriors den. His eyes, as always, were expressionless and guarded. When he sat like this, completely still in the dim light of dawn, he looked every bit like the stone in the Streams Cross that he was named after. Looking around him, he noted the soft rise and fall of the grey flanks of Gorsestorm, and the black outline of Talonheart. Two keystone cats for the events ahead, no doubt.

His ears told him that Jaggedstar was already awake. There wasn’t another cat in the clan who walked with such confidence and self-assurance as the Lightclan leader – and there was a good reason for it too. He’d practically fought his way to the top relying only on his teeth and claws, led the clan to victory against the rogues... and won the best mate Lightclan had to offer. Pushing thoughts of Moonflower aside, Greenstone slowly rose to his paws and made his way out into the clearing, as if each pawstep had a deliberate function.

“Not much sleep for you tonight either, Jaggedstar?” Greenstone said, bowing his head. As Jaggedstar turned to him, intense green eyes locked together in mutual understanding.
“There is nothing to concern yourself about. Cliffclan’s group of rogues and kittypets are nothing compared to our hardened warriors. Even 7 sunrises worth of no sleep and no prey would still make our cats an unparalleled army, compared to those kits.”

Greenstone walked past his leader, focusing his gaze on the waning moon above in the sky. Short wisps of a dark grey mist intermitted blocked it away from sight; and soon enough, it would disappear completely as it yielded to the Sun.
“It will rain again, around the time of the next Sunset. With the rain blocking out our scents, and Lightclan’s dark pelts, Cliffclan won’t even realise what’s hit them until we’re already on top of them. Of course, we could strike before then and terrorise them from the Crossing to the Pine Forests in the far East, but…” Greenstone’s tail twitched. “I’d hate for Ashclan to stick their paws in matters that don’t concern them.”

Gorsestorm & Talonheart & Thunderpaw.

The two had set out on a hunting patrol together early that morning, having been stirred awake by Gorsestorm's naggy apprentice. It had been far before the sun had even considered rising and Talonheart was very tired by the drag in his pawsteps. Sometimes the tom didn't know why he got dragged into these things, Thunderpaw wasn't his problem and yet he was always paying for the loud apprentice. He didn't know why Gorsestorm insisted on him coming to these ridiculous training sessions and he found Thunderpaw to be a hopeless hunter. They had missed a lot of prey by his seemingly never ending stream of words but after some time Gorsestorm had managed to snag a few lonely looking mice and a sad looking vole while Thunderpaw had proudly crushed a fat thrush beneath his paws.

Talonheart could hear his unwavering blather as they padded back towards the camp, it took all he had in him not to flatten his ears and tell the apprentice to shut his trap. Talonheart had never had an apprentice of his own, he'd just not had his chance yet and sometimes he worried that he would make for a crummy mentor. He was a grand fighter, a good paw in any battle but he was temperamental and sometimes he was downright mean. His patience was as thin as wet paper and his ability to handle bad situations was not good, he still hoped he could pass something on before he died. He just wasn't sure he was going to be the best.

"But Talonheart, did you see me catch that thrush? I was great! It flew right to me!" boasted Thunderpaw with excitement, his paws drumming happily alongside his gray mentor. "Wasn't it great?"

"I watched you crush it, I'm not sure what mouse-brain would eat it." Talonheart rumbled, his sleek black and white form sliding into the camp with the tabby apprentice speeding to his side.

Thunderpaw snorted sharply, his tail giving a sharp lash, "And what did you catch?"

"Nothing. You terrified half the prey." he snapped, shoving his way back into the warriors den and dropping into his nest with a sigh. "Apprentices!"

Gorsestorm on the other hand was struggling to even keep up with the two with his mouth full of fresh kill and when his rumpled gray form finally made it into the camp, he dumped the prey into the pile and smiled fondly to Thunderpaw. "Quite the catch! You're getting better and better."

"I know," puffed Thunderpaw, pricking his ears and grinning brightly. "I'm going to be the best warrior in the forest some day. I'm going to be Thunderstar one day, I'm going to-"

"Don't get ahead of yourself. Go get something to eat, that was a good hunting session." the gray tom brushed his tongue along his chest fur and stretched, finding a comfortable spot near the warriors den to settle down for a bit.

Robinpaw paddled out of the apprentice den. His off white and gray fur was fluffed up and he wasn't being mischievous like normal. For Starclan sake, he had just woken up and had made his tired way out of the den. He sat down a few pawsteps from the den and turned around to clean his fur. His pale eyes scanned the clearing, looking at all who was awake and about in the clearing.

He lifted his eyes to the sky, squinting at the raising sun. He stood up for a moment and stretched before sitting back down.

@ViolentViolet@booksmusicanime

As sun's rays was poking above the horizon, it perfectly shone on Rockpelt's face at the right angle. He picked himself up drowsily and stretched. He left the cavern quietly where him and the still asleep Mintblossom , the other full medicine cat sleeps, and went to check up on Sunpaw , the medicine cat apprentice. He discovered her chambers to empty. Rockpelt thought to himself " Sunpaw must've woken early today." He left the cavern.

As he came out, the smells is what greets Rockpelt. He likes it and take a deep breath and sighs. Rockpelt decides to get some food from the food pile for himself and Sunpaw. He chose a plump bird, pick it up and looked for Sunpaw. He found her on the end of the clearing. He put down the food and asked Sunpaw " May I lay next to you? I assume you haven't eaten yet so I brought food for us to share."

“WHAT? It’s sunrise already?!?”

Those words of distress could be heard from any cat unfortunate enough to be resting, or passing by the apprentice’s den at that moment. Minutes later, after a racket of scattering twigs and moss, Moonpaw’s messy bundle of grey-white fur burst into the clearing. Several pieces of his bedding still clung to his fur, but Moonstone's frantic shaking soon slipped them off.


“Thunderpaw didn’t even wake me, the stupid furball just snuck off like a mouse!" Moonpaw blurted out hurriedly, but in a hushed tone."You too Robinpaw. Are you two conspiring against me? You know Greenstone will turn me into crow-food if he finds out I overslept again”

Moonpaw’s anxious eyes darted between the camp boundaries. “Quickly, you haven’t seen Grumpystone yet, have you?”

The sun was just about to rise on the vast plains of AshClan territory. Just as always, pheasants gathered in the areas in which the grass was higher than the rest of the plains. They were trying to hide from the predators that might be out hunting early in the morning. What they didn't seem to notice was that they were being watched...

The grass didn't only hide them, but also the animals that would like to eat pheasant for breakfast. SilentClaw carefully snuck up behind the birds and looked for the bire that was best to prey on. He noticed that one of them were a bit further from the others. It also had a somewhat damaged wing. It would be easy to kill. He silently circled around to the other side of the pheasant before jumping on top of it and biting its neck off. It hardly knew what had hit it and didn't have time to fight back. The rest of them had heard what had happened though and flew away. But he knew that they would come back, sooner or later.

He climbed up his own tree and hid the corpse of the pheasant among the leafs. He had to hide his prey, or the others would rip it to pieces. It had happened before and he knew that it could happen again. The thing was that the tree was on the edge of CliffClan territory and it was dangerous to be there. However, since it was almost exactly on the border, neither Ash or CliffClan normally came too close. He curled up on a branch and closed his eyes. He had been up for a long time and needed to sleep. At least until the pheasants came back. He wanted to catch one more before going back to the volcano.

Pushing her paws out in front of her, Smokekit found that her mother was no longer curled up around her. She opened her eyes barely, looking around the leader's den. She was nowhere to be seen in the darkness. Standing up, Smokekit leaned forward and stretched out her legs, sheathing and unsheathing her claws into the stone as she did so. She padded out of the den only to run straight into her mother's hind legs, as Waterstar was perched at the edge of the den, looking over the cats as they came out of their dens and various places to eat what this morning's hunting patrol had brought. Her pale blue eyes scanned over the area, memorizing who all was up and who all was still in their dens. It was barely sunrise, so the elders may yet be up, but Waterstar noticed that the medicine cats were out and eating, as were a few of the apprentices.

"Are you alright, Mama?" Smokekit asked, padding over to sit down next to her mother as she regained her balance from running head first into the sturdy adult cat.

Waterstar turned her head slightly and smiled down at her kit. "Of course I am child." She did not lie either. She was happy to see the clan awake at this hour. That means that they would have more day to go through and prepare for. That also meant more hunting patrols that she could create. She did have the biggest clan to take care of. She flicked her tail over Smokekit's ear before picking her up in her mouth and bounding down off the rock which she stood. She set Smokekit down and said, "Now off to the nursery with you." Smokekit did as she was told, reluctantly.

Waterstar proceeded to make her way over to the medicine cats, dipping her head in greeting. "Hello, Rockpelt. Sunpaw. How are you?"

---

Skypaw blinked open his eyes, looking around the apprentice den. He seemed to be the only one in there, at the moment. He padded out of the den and looked around, looking for his mentor, of which he did not see quite yet. He perched at the edge of den, stretching for a brief moment before padding toward the center of camp. It seemed deserted, or no one was up quite yet. He shrugged his muscly shoulders and sat down in the middle of the Ashclan camp, waiting for the return of food that he could help to distribute.

Silentclaw's eyes opened when he felt the rays of the sun hit him. "I need to get back to camp..." he thought before jumping down from the tree with a pheasant and some mice in his mouth. He looked behind him, up at the cliffs of the CliffClan territory. Luckily for him there were no cats in sight. He then walked into the grass of the plains and disappeared.

On his way back he found another pheasant that was still asleep. Of course he used this oppurtunity to catch additional prey. It made him move slower though, so he took a bit longer than usual to get home. Most of the other cats ignored him when he entered the camp, but he didn't care. He could easily spot Skypaw in the middle of the camp and so he walked up on him. "How long have you been awake?" he asked the apprentice as he put down the food.
@WhiteStar19