Forgotten Memories/Prologue

~☆ Prologue ☆~

Gotcha! With a swipe of her paws, the mouse now lay lifeless on the dry grass below her. Excited, she quickly buried her caught prey in the ground and eagerly looked for more. Finally, the day had come. Cloudpaw was busy taking on her warrior assessment, and with each step she took, she felt confidence flow through her.

As a squirrel scurried through the forest in front of Cloudpaw, she lunged toward it. Alarm shook her as she fell onto the ground with a loud thump!. Embarrassed, she quickly climbed back up, only to fall back down again. No, no, no! she thought anxiously. She tried again, this time with caution, and finally got back on her paws. Knowing that her mentor, Ashenwhisper, was closely watching right behind her, she quickly continued on with her hunting.

Cloudpaw soon heard a rustling of her leaves, and with a jerk of her head, she saw what might have been the same squirrel that had escaped earlier. She watched it mysteriously scurry up a tree nearby.

When it reached the top, she suddenly reminded herself, What are you doing? This is your warrior’s assessment. Go up and kill that squirrel! followed up with But it’s so high up! How do I catch it now? She knew there was no time to waste. Following her instincts, she mightily leaped up as high as she could and sunk her claws into the squirrel, bringing the prey down with her as she landed softly on her four paws. Wow, I didn’t know I could do that. Ashenwhisper must be proud!

When the assessment was over, the apprentice worriedly padded back to camp. Did I do it? Am I going to be a ThunderClan warrior after so long of hard training even though I slipped up during my assessment?

After what seemed like forever, she saw the ThunderClan leader, Pebblestar, climb onto the Highrock. “Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here beneath the Highrock for a Clan meeting!” he exclaimed.

At this, Cloudpaw excitedly walked forward, looking up at the Clan leader. She turned around to see her mother, her eyes matching Cloudpaw’s, beaming at her. “I’m so proud of you,” she murmured in the soon-to-be warrior’s ear. Cloudpaw let out a faint squeal and turned back towards Pebblestar.

“Cloudpaw, please step forward,” Pebblestar said. She did so. “I, Pebblestar, leader of ThunderClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend her to you as a warrior in her turn.” He then looked down at Cloudpaw. “Cloudpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?”

Cloudpaw keenly opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, she was cut off. Her Clanmates abruptly disappeared from her sight and the camp completely switched to somewhere else. Somewhere so oddly familiar, yet so vague, now surrounded the apprentice.

Trees filled the area, and rocks were scattered around everywhere. Cats were leaping into the air and playing around with their fellow littermates. Cloudpaw recognized the peculiar scent of the area, but it was beyond her knowledge to know how. Why do I feel like I’ve been here before? I’ve been nowhere but ThunderClan my entire life!

Forgetting about the warrior ceremony entirely, she placed a paw forward, ready to explore the familiar place.

“Cloudpaw!” a voice shouted. Startled, she jerked her head from side to side fiercely, only to find herself back in ThunderClan camp, in front of many, many confused warriors.

Oh, no...I completely forgot! Ashamed, she quickly backed up and apologetically glanced up at Pebblestar, who looked as puzzled as ever. She sighed and let herself calm down before continuing on.

“Yes,” Cloudpaw quickly said. “Yes, I do.”