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Alright, I know, you're probably thinking "Can't we just get on with the story already?". We'll do that in a moment. For now, though, I give a special thanks part before I begin.
...Special Thanks To...[]
Mari (Fake Name of one of my best friends)- Thank you for convincing me to make this in the first place ^ w ^. Miss you, my old friend!
Addison (Fake Name of one of my best friends)- Thanks for the encouragement and help with spelling errors =w=||
Addilyn (Fake Name of one of my best friends)- Thanks for helping me with the front cover of the original copy! It looks amazing!
Anna (Fake Name of one of my best friends)- Thanks for helping me with part of my original copy when I had burned myself out after a week! Whew, big help! It would've taken about another month to complete if you didn't!
Henry (Fake Name of one of my friends)- Thanks for finding the perfect music for the video! I just kinda hope I can find sound effects and voice actors 0 - 0
Eve (Fake Name of one of my friends)- I'm VERY thankful for you making the figurines for the video! They look sharp and flat out awesome!
Katelin (Fake Name of one of my friends)- Thanks for helping me reach my writing supplies =w=||. Too tall for to reach, but perfect for you XD!
And lastly,
Thank you to the readers who dared to walk into the crazy story my friends irl helped my with big time!
Now that I've made some people impatient *shoots Henry a nervous glance as he starts tapping his finger on the table of discussion*, l-let's start! Also I'm too lazy and tired to list characters so yeah.
Rising Echos[]
Prologue[]
A brown tabby-she was staring off into the distance, as if something was calling the yellow-eyed tabby. A gray tabby-tom was staring at her anxiously. The brown tabby suddenly twitched her ears, as if straining to hear a whisper. That broke the gray tom's line of silence.
"Hazelpaw? What's going on with you? You've been staring at the camp entrance for the whole moon. Are you expecting something to come?" Or something to leave? The tom didn't dare say the last part. Hazelpaw shook her head like snapping back to reality.
"What did you say, Shadowpaw?" Hazelpaw asked, turning towards the gray tom. Shadowpaw sighed. She clearly wasn't even listening to her own brother anymore.
"Why have you been so absent minded and staring at the entrance lately?"Shadowpaw said, wishing his sister would get her head out of the clouds for once the entire moon.
"I feel like something's, or someone's, calling to me... I'm not sure why, though, or even how." Hazelpaw meowed, her eyes flashing with a familiar curiosity, like when she tried to sneak out of camp with him when she was five moons old and he was one moon, and when someone took the first prey she caught to the elders instead of the leader or Shadowpaw's mother.
"Just try to not be such a bird-brain! When we were doing battle training, after leaping at me and I ducked you ran into the forest like you saw someone or someone was waiting for you." The gray tabby said with an annoyed twitch of his tail. Though he seemed calm, he could tell that his green eyes were blazing like fire. Hazelpaw held his gaze without flinching, making Shadowpaw wonder what was going on in her mind, though his eyes never changed from his fury. Hazelpaw stared at him for a heartbeat longer, then blinked thoughtfully.
"I'm leaving StormClan." She announced after making sure that no one was within earshot. Shadowpaw felt his anger burn like Hazelpaw was a tree, just fuel for more fire to rise in his body.
"Leave? You can't! I'll tell Stormstar that you're leaving the only Clan we know exists!" He hissed as quietly as he could, though he was outraged by the thought of his sister abandoning StormClan just like that. As Shadowpaw spun around to race towards Stormstar's den, her felt claws sink into his shoulders, breaking the skin, even. He expected to see Hazelpaw holding him back, but as he twisted his head he froze in shock.
The tunnel that the apprentices used to leave camp for training and assessments was being used as a route into camp by rogues! Hazelpaw was pinned to the floor, but, to his surprise, the rogues pinning her down had their claws sheathed, while the rogue handling him was digging in with his claws. Is she special to them? How? His mind whirled. He had just been made an apprentice, and he hadn't learned any battle moves at all. He was about to let out a yowl, but another rogue slapped it's tail around his muzzle. More rogues streamed into the den, and Shadowpaw felt sick when he realized that the most rogues were targeting Hazelpaw, but four had come to keep him still and quiet.
A fifth rogue bounded silently up to him and shoved a seed into his mouth. The only thing her could do was swallow because how far down it already was. The rogue holding him shoved him to the floor, and the the rogue that gave him the seed was shoving one down Hazelpaw's throat the same way, so she couldn't do anything but allow the seed down her throat. Frostpaw had come back after a training session and was quickly overcame by rogues. So many rogues came in after the others, and Shadowpaw realized the Clan was badly outnumbered.
The rogues filed out, except for six cats, four holding down Hazelpaw, two holding him down. Two of the cats holding down Hazelpaw with small and looked light, but the others were muscular and large. Seven cats came back into the den and evenly distributed against the three apprentices that weren't in the forest. After what felt like moons, the sunhigh patrol returned, their pelts bristling as they saw the intruders. Stormstar was standing on Sharp Stone, where he addressed the Clan, fighting off all the rogues that tried to come up.
He's acting like a coward! Why? His Clan's being torn apart around him! Shadowpaw wondered. More cats were pinned to the ground by the time he turned away from his leader. "StormClan- run away from the clearing like the large and strong Clan we are!" Stormstar called, leaping down from Sharp Stone and pelting towards the entrance, his Clan angrily racing behind. The other apprentices were behind held to the ground in the clearing, the cat who had the seeds giving them to the apprentices like they did to Hazelpaw and Shadowpaw. "Do the honor of the first slash to this one, Briar." A she-cat that was holding him down called to a brown she-cat. Briar bounded over to Shadowpaw. The brown she lifted her paw and closed Shadowpaw's eyes. Though he tried to fight against it, he was dragged into sleep, and all he felt was a sharp slash on his side before drifting unconscious.
"Shadowpaw? That's your name, isn't it? Night did an excellent job of spying on StormClan for us. Isn't that right, Frostpaw?" A voice meowed to him. His side burned, and when he squinted his eyes he saw he was in the middle of a forest instead of at the foot of a mountain. He looked around, and saw Frostpaw looking at her paws in shame.
"Well, Frostpaw? Our little gray friend is waiting for your answer." The voice said, and the image of the battle played in his head. The cat who was speaking was Briar, the cat who had clawed his side and forced him asleep.
"I knew about Nightfu- I mean, just Night, spying on us for the rogues... because I'm one, too..." Frostpaw's voice trailed off, and she glanced at the leaf-covered floor, ashamed. Shadowpaw leaped to his feet, just to be pushed to the ground by Briar.
"Traitor!" Shadowpaw snarled. He kicked Briar away long enough to reach Frostpaw, but was too slow to land his strike. Another rogue he recognized as Night shot from the shadows and bowled him over. Night held a paw on his throat, but didn't put any weight on it. Shadowpaw was surprised to see regret in the she's eyes.
"What do you want from me and my sister- don't think I didn't notice that more cats piled on her at the start." Shadowpaw asked coldly once Night let him to his feet. Briar shook her head.
"You'll never understand, young fool." Another rogue said from behind a thick tree. Shadowpaw made the connection that this cat was guarding his sister. He scented the tang of blood from every direction but hers and Frostpaw's. "And you had to claw all of us apprentices to take us somewhere far away from home?" He meowed, a low growl coming from him and his eyes the beginning of a green blaze. The cat guarding Hazelpaw flicked it's tail, and the cats guarding hurled themselves towards their prisoners. "Our claws trace the mark we wear. And everyone will get a new mark when they even start to heal." Hazelpaw's guard answered calmly.
"Except my sister, I suspect?" Shadowpaw said, annoyed.
"We add a mark in a different way for her." Briar replied darkly, making Shadowpaw shiver.
The apprentices had been held by the rogues for half a moon now, and Shadowpaw was starting to feel rebellious in the forest. At night, he would hunt when the guard was away, and during the day, when the rogues were talking -about Hazelpaw, he expected- he'd start climbing trees with Night, the only rogue who regretted everything that happened. The black she would always volunteer to be his nightly guard, but normally got rejected the position. Now, a white tabby-tom that looked two moons older then Hazelpaw was forcing her to talk about who she liked in StormClan, and Shadowpaw had to listen, for his sister's sake and his own.
"Just tell me and I'll fix it! You don't want to see your precious love so far away, do you?" The white tabby pressed on, his voice with a faint hint of annoyance. Hazelpaw took a deep breath and sighed.
"Fine. Their name is Mallowpelt." The brown tabby-she said, staring at the ground.
"What does Mallowpelt look like?" The white tabby asked with the same hint in his voice.
"He's black with yellow flecks and blue eyes." Shadowpaw lied for her when she was struggling to find words. Hazelpaw's eyes glittered with appreciation when she glanced at him. The white rogue nodded.
Chapter 1[]
(I finally get to save it this time T v T)
Featherkit looked around the caves in awe. It was her first time out of the nursery, and she could breathe a lot better out here by Sleek Boulder that hid Hazelstar's den. Shadepaw was walking out of one of the older warrior's den, moss swinging from the dark gray tabby-she's jaws.
"I swear we need to start calling them off duty!" Shadepaw's brother, Treepaw, greeted her at the entrance of camp as Shadepaw left the replace the bedding. When she came back, she nodded.
"That's something every apprentice can agree on. Sometimes I wish we were apprenticed at six moons like StormClan instead of three!" Shadepaw agreed after putting down some fresh bedding.
"And be treated like Shadowpelt explained it? No way! I'd rather be apprenticed at three moons then be under the leader of a cowardly leader!" Treepaw said with a hint of amusement. Shadepaw shrugged. Featherkit realized that Hazelstar and Shadowpelt had been listening to the apprentices' conversation, too, because Hazelstar's ears were pricked as if every detail was going through her mind each heartbeat, and Shadowpelt's shoulder fur was just starting to relax at Treepaw's quick denial of StormClan life. Featherkit squeaked in alarm as she felt paws slam into her side with claws sheathed to her relief. She had seen the outcome of claws on her father's pelt when he came home from a peace gathering during the time she was confined to the den. Crowtalon, her father, had come back from that gathering with a torn ear, a scarred muzzle, and scratches all down his sides and tail.
"Na~h na~h nah na~h na~h! You can never scare me I bet, Speck-kit!" Blackkit taunted Featherkit. Her brother was born the size of a normal kit but grew fast, and Featherkit was born undersized and grew slower than the pure black tom, a copy of their father.
"I told you to stop calling me that!" Featherkit said, her eyes flashing an angry glare for a moment. Blackkit just stuck out his tongue and kept taunting her and calling her 'Speckkit' because she was smaller.
"Blackkit, didn't Birdfeather teach you to not shove your siblings to the ground and taunt them?" Shadowpelt's meow made Blackkit freeze. The second in command had come up to the two, and Blackkit's body had blocked her view of Sleek Boulder and the pathway towards them from it. Blackkit dipped his head and nodded, clearly embarrassed.
"I think she'll need to give you another lesson. Now, go on." Shadowpelt added the last part when Blackkit hesitated to move to the den. Blackkit quickly hurried off towards their den, and he signalled to her to follow Shadowpelt. Featherkit felt strange being told to follow one leader to the other three. Her heart quickened. She didn't like the thought of several cats that played such a big roll in her Clan all in one place staring at her and not an older cat like Treepaw of Tykepaw. Both toms seemed more confident then Featherkit. Shadowpelt, Hazelstar, Stone, and Briar were all looking at each other, as if they were telling each other which order the cats would speak in. Then, Briar's gaze turned towards Featherkit, making her pelt feel hot.
"Featherkit," Briar began, and the other three looked at Featherkit. "We have heard you have been making tunnels inside of your den and the dens with the other kits. How come?" Featherkit felt like she was in trouble, but the leaders looked at her calmly like any other kit that had done something harmless for fun.
"I was trying to make faster routes to the caves farther away. The important ones, like the medicine den, in case they feel sick or are up all night without any knowledge why. I was working on it with Frost, Bird, and Flowerkit. And together was made a really big place where kits, apprentices, and warriors could be in! It looked a bit like a copy of the main cave when us four found it, so we made it a bit different. We made the roof taller so that warriors could fit, and we found a tiny trickle of water, so we made tiny streams right in the center. We put a lot of stones in that were kind of round so they would make it easy to cross and it doesn't stop the flow." Featherkit poured out to the leaders. They seemed shocked that four kits could do so much work without anyone knowing and the copy of the main cave made Stone and Hazelstar seem uneasy at first, but soon they looked thoughtful, as if wondering whether they could allow warriors and apprentices to help out the four.
Featherkit let out a sigh as she raced into her den. The leaders told her that it was a good idea to make every den lead to the medicine den and, for those in the back, a faster route to the main cave. Featherkit had held her breath the whole time after they told her to get some rest and they'd talk about it the next day. Blackkit looked at her, confused at why she had ran into the den instead of walk like always.
"What happened? You ran in here as if every leader in the world told you to!" He commented, flicking his tail.
"The leaders here told me to talk to them about my tunnels!" She said in a high-pitched mew of surprise and nervousness.
"They said that the warriors and apprentices would help make them! I don't know what to do know and-" Blackkit rested his tail-tip on her shoulder.
"It can't be that bad, can it?" He asked, though he looked certain it wasn't. Featherkit let out a sigh. She nodded. Blackkit was a good brother when he wanted to be. "How about we work on those tunnels now? Dawn and Dusk were complaining almost every other kit has one." He said, glancing towards where they knew Dawn and Duskkit, the newest kits', den was. Featherkit nodded.
Blackkit and Featherkit were to busy digging tunnels they didn't notice summon calls for the older cats like always, didn't notice their hunger, and the dirt streaks on their pelts.
"Blackkit, Featherkit, aren't you hungry at all? You need a break!" Crowtalon called to them using the tunnel in their den. At that moment, Featherkit's stomach grumbled, Blackkit's soon after. They came out almost at once. Blackkit picked out a mouse for them to share while Birdfeather fretted at the dirt on Featherkit's pale gray, almost white, fur. Blackkit was lucky that his pelt was the same as Crowtalon's, because it was much less noticeable on his jet-black pelt. Her brother entered soon after Birdfeather held her down to keep her from moving as she cleaned Featherkit's pelt of mud and dirt. He purred in amusement, and his eyes widened as he realized that Birdfeather saw the grim on his pelt, too. "Run." Featherkit told him just like the older warriors had told the tale of who dumb they were as apprentices with their mothers and mentors. Blackkit dropped the mouse and ran into the tunnels, but Featherkit could still see him. This was their way of annoying their parents together. When Birdfeather tried to go after Blackkit with Featherkit, she slipped away into the second tunnel in their den. Crowtalon was reaching to try and get her, but Featherkit kept backing up. Apparently, Blackkit had the same thing going on, because they had backed right into each other.
"I guess we'll just take this mouse for ourselves!" Crowtalon told them from Blackkit's entrance. Featherkit caught a glimpse of Birdfeather still at Blackkit's entrance, and led Blackkit into the tunnels towards the cave copy.
"I'll go get Frost to help us get that mouse back." Featherkit told him, then whispered a plan into his ear. Blackkit nodded, and Featherkit went towards Frost's den.
"Frost! We need your help!" Featherkit called through Frost's entrance, and soon Frost came, her eyes gleaming. Featherkit explained what happened and her plan, and together they headed back to Blackkit.
"Ready?" Featherkit asked them once they were together. They nodded, and Frost and Featherkit went towards Featherkit and Blackkit's tunnels.
"I bet you can't get me, Birdfeather!" Featherkit called through her tunnel and quietly rushed over to Blackkit's. Crowtalon was next to Birdfeather when her mother reached in. Frost could make a perfect imitation of Blackkit, so Frost was in Featherkit's tunnel.
"I bet you can't get us!" Frost was imitating Blackkit the perfect way, and Crowtalon then reached in. With both of her parents occupied, Featherkit quickly and quietly snatched the mouse and raced into her brother's tunnel. Crowtalon seemed to notice, because he quickly came over to Blackkit's tunnel and reached in. Featherkit was faster. She got Frost and ran back to Blackkit. They ate the mouse together, and when the she-kits told Blackkit what happened, the black tom almost laughed to loud and revealed where the main cave copy was.
"How many times have we told you three not to do that?" Birdfeather had confronted them right after they left the tunnels through Frost's den.
I apologize for this being short, I have to add everything else another day (sadly). Thanks for reading so far!