Passing All Odds



 P a s s i n g A l l O d d s

Episode Ten, Season One, of Beauty.

Enjoy <3

Passing All Odds
It’s been eight moons since I first entered the Beauty Academy. Eight moons ago I was still loyal to Redstar and the System. It seems so long ago now that I had actually wanted to serve Redstar. Now, it sounds like a joke. Eight moons ago we planned our first rebellious mission.

Six moons ago we executed it. It’s been six moons since we lost both Gingerpaw and Cherrypaw.

We’ve been lying low for the past six moons. The she-cats don’t interact with the toms as much. We don’t mention Rainstorm, Gingerpaw, and Cherrypaw ever again. We act and obey the instructors’ every command. I know they’ve been watching us, so we’ve give them something they want to see. I even obey whatever Flarepaw says to a certain extent.

The instructors have overlooked us again once more. For the first moon after Gingerpaw’s demise and Cherrypaw’s arrest, the instructors watched us like hawks. I didn’t talk to the toms for the entire moon.

The second moon, they relented a little. They were still a little suspicious but not as much. They probably forgot about the thwarted attack and our ties with Gingerpaw and Cherrypaw.

But still, we waited.

We’re sixteen moons now, old enough to graduate from the Academy. I hear we have to pass some sort of assessment to actually qualify. Or else we get thrown to the poor. Or maybe you keep training or something.

It can’t be good if you fail.

“Gather up, apprentices!” Blossomflecks shouts, “I want you to form teams. The least amount of apprentices you can have is five, the most is seven. You can combine she-cats and toms if you want.”

I meet my friends’ gazes. We join up and I count our numbers. “Seven,” I grin, “Perfect, huh?”

When all the other apprentices have formed their groups, Blackstripe continues, “Today is your final assessment. You are not being assessed alone because we want to see how well you work in groups.”

“We are letting you choose groups because this way you will perform your best. There will be two challenges. Each will have sub-categories. The first is to survive out in the wild. When you go to the poor or outside the camp to fight rebels, there is a possibility you will get stranded outside. You are your group needs to survive outside for five days. We cannot find you either. The seven of us will be roaming around, trying to catch any group. If we catch you, you will receive fewer points.”

I feel a thrill of excitement. Time to prove our worth.

“Go!” Flowerbeam shouts and we stream outside. “No hurting each other!” she adds, “And don’t bother lying about who hurt you, Flarepaw, we’ll see right through it.”

Flarepaw looks embarrassed and she storms out with her group. I stifle a laugh as we hurry outside. “We need to find a camp,” Applepaw thinks, “It should be sheltered so that the instructors can’t find us.”

“Others can’t hurt us but we should be careful about them. They could lead the instructors towards us or sabotage us.” I add, “They’ll do anything to win.”

We scout the area and choose somewhere fairly sheltered not far from camp but not in the general area most cats were headed. The small space looks like an ordinary bush with no sheltering spots but inside there’s a huge area for us to sleep in. We could even keep guard behind the bush.

“Snowpaw, Applepaw,” I call out as we settle in, “Hunt please. The rest of you, help gather up moss and set up the nests for a camp.”

Snowpaw and Applepaw disappear into the undergrowth and I duck inside. It’s not a spacious den but it’ll be enough for the seven of us. There’s already a small stack of moss laid out at the entrance and I begin to form nests. Brownpaw wordlessly joins me and I’m suddenly grateful he came to enroll too.

Things are always better with your best friend around.

When we’re all settled in our nests with prey, the cold reality of the Beauty hits me again. But I know we’re strong enough to get through this.

We sleep, with two cats on guard. By the time morning comes around, we’re all set. Then we do what we please for the day.

Every day is the same. The challenge flies past so fast. Until the last day. We’re laughing and talking because at the end of this day, we’ll be done with challenge one.

“Come on, Lionpaw! You need to do your Dare!” Snowpaw crows, “You have to go to a nearby camp and shout ‘Ahhh, the mice are chasing me!’ and run back out.”

Lionpaw glowers at her, “Isn’t that too dangerous? I mean it’s the last day; we don’t want to get caught now, do we?”

“Are you scared?” Finchpaw teased, “It’s okay if you’re scared.”

The golden tom huffs, “Alright, fine!” he glares at all of us, “I’ll do it.” We all cheer and Lionpaw reluctantly leads the way towards the nearest camp. We had discovered it on accident but those apprentices don’t know.

“Go,” I whisper, shoving Lionpaw, “We’ll wait here.”

Lionpaw takes a deep breath and mutters, “I will murder you all,” before taking off. We hear his fake scream and his crazy line. Snowpaw snorts and breaks down with laughter. Soon, we’re all on the floor, too happy to be over cautious.

“Wait,” Brownpaw stops us, “Do you hear that?”

Our laughter dissolves into giggles. “Hear what?” I hiccup, “Are you sure you’re not overreacting?”

“No, he’s right,” Applepaw hisses, “There’s someone out there.”

“A wild Lionpaw,” Snowpaw giggles.

That’s when we hear a crash. “That was Lionpaw,” Thornstrike’s voice sounds just up ahead, “I don’t know what that fool had in mind but his group should be nearby. They’re being too careless.”

Finchpaw is up a tree in an instant. She peers out into the trees, then jumps back down. “The instructors are just up ahead,” she whispers, “Lionpaw isn’t with them though.”

“We have to go,” I snap, “Let’s go back to camp and quick.” They follow me back to our protective bush. I would have barreled onwards if Hawkpaw hadn’t pulled in front of me, forcing us to stop.

“What’s the matter?” I hiss.

“There are more instructors waiting for us. They must have found our camp. We can’t go there.” He explains, “Lionpaw won’t be here either.”

This is going all wrong. I push away the panic. “Okay, come on. We have to stay away from the instructors obviously. Lionpaw will figure out how to get back to us.”

“A sign,” Applepaw offers, “Lionpaw needs a sign.”

Brownpaw’s eyes lit up. “Let’s find a place to stay first.” We do as he says. We we’ve found a suitable area, Brownpaw gathers up some things. He finds a hawk’s feather, a leaf from an apple tree, and a tuft of his brown fur. He places them together in the open, under a small rock. It’s easy to see, but nobody will understand what it means unless you know us.

“You’re brilliant!” I nudge Brownpaw, purring. “It’ll be easy for Lionpaw to find us now!”

And he did. He found us rather quickly and by the next day, we were the only group not to be found by the instructors.

“Good work, apprentices,” Blackstrike mews, “You’ve all passed your first test. All of you managed to survive at least one day and we know you are all capable of catching enough prey and making a suitable shelter. Those are skills every Beauty warrior needs. The next test tests your strength and wits.”

“Instead of hiding and surviving, you will be put into a real situation. We have brought over a few prisoners for you to deal with. The prisoners will be your practice for rebels. Each of you will be in a separate area which you cannot leave from until you defeat the prisoner. And by defeat…” Blackstripe’s eyes glinted, “I expect the prisoner to be dead.”

We’re placed in Area D. “Go on,” Blossomflecks orders, “This is the only exit. You will be allowed to exist when the cat inside is dead.”

We step inside and almost immediately I’m bowled over. I push the cat out of my face and bite the first thing I find. The cat lets out a howl of pain. There is only one prisoner, and with the seven of us, it shouldn’t be hard. But what I don’t want to do is murder him.

“Ow!” Lionpaw stumbles back, his shoulder bleeding heavily. The cat lunges for him again and for a moment, I think he’ll kill Lionpaw.

Snowpaw intercepts the cat and claws furiously at him. But we’re not strong enough to keep him down for long. The prisoner is trying to kill us but we don’t want to kill him.”

Brownpaw is trying to treat Lionpaw’s wound. I jump towards the prisoner and push him off Snowpaw. “Fight me,” I snarl.

His eyes are bloodshot and blood mats his pelt. There are old wounds that are still healing and I can see that some are infected. “You’re a pawn of the Beauty,” he hisses at me, “You are nothing but a puppet being controlled.”

I’m silent for a moment.

He takes this chance to tear a gaping wound in my flank. I scream and fall backwards. “Useless,” the prisoner whispers, “All of you are useless.”

I see a flash of his claws and suddenly Applepaw has dragged him away. I try to get up but fall miserably. Finchpaw and Hawkpaw join Applepaw and the three of them dance around him, trying to land a blow.

All the prisoners must be mad. I can only imagine what the Beauty does to them and just what awful ways they choose to kill off prisoners.

The raids…this…it’s all sick.

The three of them are doing a good job distracting the prisoner. None of them have gotten seriously injured yet, but they also haven’t landed a blow.

Brownpaw is now at my side. “Amberpaw, are you okay?” he asks urgently. Blackness edges my vision. “Amberpaw!”

I want to tell him that I’m fine, but I can’t.

Everything is so blurry and I fall into the darkness.

~

Finchpaw gritted her teeth. The prisoner was being utterly annoying. “Just give up,” he coos, “You’ll never defeat me. I won’t die like this.”

“As if,” Finchpaw spat out as Applepaw darted in for a blow. The prisoner spun around and smacked her away. Finchpaw manages to scratch his flank before feeling pain in her side as his claws glanced off it.

Applepaw was pushing herself up just as the prisoner lumbered towards her. The red she-cat bared her teeth and Finchpaw took a deep breath before leaping onto the prisoner’s back.

He bucked and threw her off. Finchpaw landed next to Lionpaw and groaned.

“Amberpaw!”

Finchpaw whipped her head around. The orange she-cat was bleeding out on the side and Brownpaw was staring devastated at her.

Oh StarClan.

Brownpaw let out a roar of fury and he knocked the prisoner backwards. Hawkpaw was there too, silently aiding him.

The two toms beat back the prisoner slowly. Rage fueled Brownpaw onwards. Nobody hurt Amberpaw and got away with it.

Finchpaw watched, amazed. At some point, Snowpaw rejoined them and fought ferociously. Applepaw was still down. But even they couldn’t defeat the prisoner. His fighting style was created to defeat Beauty warriors after all.

As he towered over Brownpaw, Finchpaw tried to take the steps she needed to protect the brown tom. But before she could even manage one, a clear voice called out.

“Wait!”

Amberpaw?

~

I am still light-headed but when I wake up, I find myself staring at Brownpaw’s bloodied body and the prisoner leaning over him.

Shock and fear pierce me. Brownpaw can’t die. I won’t allow it. “Wait!” I shout, causing everyone to freeze, “We’re not your enemy.”

I take a few unsteady steps forward. “Yes, we’re from the Beauty but we want to rebel. We don’t want you dead but we have to pass this test. It’s the only way for us to defeat the System.”

The prisoner stares at me. “Why should I believe you?”

“We’ve lost cats to the Beauty already. I know I can’t make you see it but maybe in StarClan, you’ll understand our sacrifices.”

I take another step forward. He doesn’t move. Before he can move, I leap on top of him and plunge my claws into his throat.

“And we need to make sacrifices now to succeed.”

~

“Cats of FireClan, we are gathered here today to announce the new warriors this moon! They have trained hard and I am proud of present you these new warriors!” Redstar shouts. The crown cheers their joy. I know my mother is down there somewhere.

Redstar begins to call off our names, staring with Flarepaw. Flarepaw is given the name Flareheart. I got the name Amberfrost. Brownpaw became Brownhare, Snowpaw became Snowflare, Finchpaw became Finchwing, Applepaw became Appleleaf, Hawkpaw got the name Hawkpelt, and Lionpaw became Lionclaw.

We are warriors now.

We can finally begin our mission.

The End.