The sounds of the rain that fell onto the sand clearing, thunder boomed into the distance. Russetstorm looked down lovingly at her kits.
"They look just like you, Russetstorm." Creeknose purred as he looked down at the kits, they let out tiny, helpless mews as they pawed at Russetstorm's pale round belly for milk.

Russetstorm each gave a lick to each kit in turn as she gently guided them to the curve of her belly, as they latched onto a teat and began suckling.

"The dark one looks just like your father." Russetstorm quietly mewed, her green eyes round, full of love.
"And this one has your fur color" Creeknose responded, intertwining their tails together.

"It'll be nice to have kits in the nursery. Ebonystream has been showing interest in wanting kits so, we might have more tiny paws soon." The medicine cat, Icewhisker, mewed as he stepped into the nursery, odd smelling herbs clamped in his jaw.
"Here, eat these, Russetstorm, you'll need them to sleep."

Russetstorm sniffed the herbs, the strong but familiar scents hit her nose as she sneezed, swallowing the herbs in a big gulp.
Icewhisker sighed and then gave a smile, "I'm sure Birchstar will be thrilled to have more cats in the clan." He congratulated.

Creeknose nodded, "how's Sloefur doing? She's been the deputy for as long as I can remember."

Icewhisker flicked his ears and sighed, "she's resting in the medicine cat den, I've given her fever few, and borage leaves, she should be better by the end of the week." The silver-grey tom forced a smile, his icy blue eyes clouded with fear.

He was just as worried as the clan.

Russetstorm looked down at the two bundles of fur, gently wrapping her tail around the two precious toms.

A crash of thunder lit up the sky, illuminating the camp in a bright white as a reed fell into the middle of the clearing. Flames clung onto the reed, the crackling of the flames sounded in the medicine cats ear.

Icewhisker looked at the reed in shock, his ears flying up in alarm;

"It's an omen!" The medicine muttered.

Icewhisker ran over to the reed, he examined the river reed as he noticed a sharp spiked thorn attached. A peice of burnt leaf hung from the sharp end of the reed.

"Spikes will blaze like fire, stars shaping a future."

(A/N: ^^ This prophecy is absolutely cringe, stupid, and absolutely gives away everything- ik. But I won't be changing It much for simplicity sake xoxo)

Russetstorm and Creeknose looked at each other before down at the dark furred tom-kit still nestled in the curve of her belly, his small pink mouth stretched in a tiny yawn as he pulled away from a teat.
"We wanted to name this one, Spikekit.." Russetstorm mewed.
"So, does that mean he'll be leader?" Creeknose questioned, looking away from his two sons.
"

if StarClan sent it, it must be true. StarClan would never lie." Russetstorm whispered as she nuzzled into Creeknose's chest fur.

•••

Applekit awoke to the sound of bustling outside the nursery, and mainly just Reedkit mewing loudly at Milkpaw and Darkpaw.

"Come on! Teach me how to fight!" Reedkit loudly let out a high pitched mew.
Applekit huffed at turned to face the annoying dark ginger she-kit.
Applekit noticed Spikekit playing with a feather nearby. Creeknose must've given it to him, he guessed, shaking the warmth of sleep away. It smelt a little like him anyway.

Applekit scrambled to his paws and trotted over. Watching as Spikekit pawed at the feather mid-air and pounced, his tail wagged as it stuck up straight, biting down on the feather and then pawing at it again.

Applekit smiled and ran over, bowling into Spikekit.
"Gotcha!"
Spikekit yelped in fear, pushing Applekit off of him and into the nest he had just woken up and gotten out of. Spikekit shook dust and dirt off of his dark pelt. Huffing.

"Dont scare me like that!" His littermate squeaked.

Applekit stood up and looked outside the nursery. There, he saw Reedkit practicing a crouch of sorts with Milkpaw's help, but her tail was up and she was lopsided, making her fall over and into the sandy clearing. But she quickly got right back up, looking eager to try it again.

Applekit glanced at Spikekit before he walked out of the milky-warm nursery and over to the trio of she-cats.

Milkpaw tried instructing Reedkit how to properly do a hunters crouch, again, and Darkpaw watched on from the sidelines. Amusement twinkling brightly in her amber gaze as she stared at her younger sister and her best friend.

Applekit walked up from behind Reedkit, "What's going on?" Applekit mewed.

Darkpaw looked up and locked eyes with the tan tom-kit, "oh! Hey Applekit! Milkpaw and I are teaching Reedkit how to do a hunters crouch, but she's failing miserably." Darkpaw whispered the last part quietly to Applekit, who was busy staring at Reedkit.

"Could you teach me how to do a hunters crouch, Darkpaw? In a few moons I'll be in the apprentices' den!"
Darkpaw purred, "of course Applekit! Let's go somewhere else so we won't,"-She flicked her tail towards Milkpaw and Reedkit- "bother those two."

Applekit padded after the taller she-cat, his tail pointed upward as excitement fueled his body as he realized the pair where already at a small sandy clearing.

"You ready Applepaw?" Darkpaw teased.

Applekit puffed put his chest fur to seem bigger and taller, it didn't seem to work. Darkpaw only stared down at him, amusement bright in her eyes.
"Why yes, of course, Darkstar" the kit teased back.
Darkpaw laughed and flicked her tail on his back.
"Alright! Now, show me your best crouch you have, and we can go off from there."

Applekit thought for a moment and got into what he thought was a good enough crouch, his breathing hitched as he focused on a cluster of reeds to keep him focused. It seemed to work as he didn't feel himself swaying.

He heard Darkpaw purr as she walked around him. Nodding approvingly.

"Put you tail down and separate your paws a bit further, and make sure you belly is near the ground. But not do close to it that your nearly dragging yourself." Darkpaw mewed, order sharp in her voice.

Applekit obeyed, wanting to be the best he could be as he shifted himself a bit, listening carefully to Darkpaw's instructions. Once done, he looked up at Darkpaw hoping he had got himself into the right position.
T

he apprentice studied his posture for a moment before giving an approving nod and a smile to match, "You'd fool me for an apprentice!" She smirked.

Applekit stood up, a bit wobbly and tired from staying crouched for so long. But his tiredness didn't last long as he felt his pelt grow hot at the praise.

"Thanks Darkpaw!" Applekit squeaked.

"Darkpaw? Where are you? Your going on a border patrol with me, Foxclaw, and Milkpaw!" Darkpaw looked over her shoulder and at the busy clearing before and sighing.

"Rippleheart will never give me a break." The black she-cat groaned, "Well, glad I could teach you something! Bye Applekit!"
And with that Darkpaw bounded off towards her mentor who was waiting with Foxclaw and Milkpaw near the entrance of camp.

"Applekit! There you are!" Reedkit mewed, running over towards him, her signature smile on her face.

"Oh, hey Reedkit." Applekit mewed, he wished he could be with his mother in the nursery.
His paws itching to run away from the dark orange she-kit.
"Wanna play moss-ball? Oh! Or wanna see what Milkpaw taught me?"

The she-kit didn't wait for Applekit's response as she jumped down into a messy looking crouch. Her hind wiggling as she darted forward and clawed at a pile of sand.

Applekit flicked his ear, blinking annoyed. "Yeah moss-ball sounds fun." He mewed.
Reedkit jumped to her paws, licking her chest fur, embarrassed. "Oh, yeah. Right. duh."

Applekit looked around for his mother while Reedkit looked up at him.

After a few seconds she cleared her throat.
"Come on! Spikekit and Beekit will be joining us!"
After hearing his brothers name, Applekit felt a surge of energy flood through him and he bolted around Reedkit.
"Yeah! Let's go!!"

Reedkit struggled to catch up with Applekit as the two little kittens ran over to the nursery where Beekit and Spikekit were.
Once getting there, it seemed as if Reedkit and Applekit had caught the two in the middle of a game. The two play-wrestling, their dark pelts rolling around, kicking up dust and sand clouds as they played.

"Beekit! Spikekit! Come on! Let's play moss ball! Applekit agreed to join us!"
Spikekit looked over at his brother as he tugged on Beekit's ear with his teeth. Earning a squeal from the other tom-kit as he pushed Spikekit off with a laugh.
"

Finally! Let's play!" Spikekit cheered.

Beekit grabbed a pawful of moss from near the nursery and rolled it neatly into a little ball, chucking it towards Reedkit.
Reedkit caught it mid air and pawed it over towards Spikekit with a mighty hit, causing the ball of moss to go flying past Spikekit's little head.
"Reedkit! You made it fly across the whole clearing!" Beekit, Reedkit's brother, gasped watching it land.
"I know! It was great!" Reedkit giggled to herself, watching Spikekit chase after it.

The game went on till Darkpaw and Milkpaw finally came back from their Border Patrol came back.
Russetstorm and Frostfoot then called the kits back into the nursery for a nap and a feed as it was already sun-high.

Beekit whined, and Reedkit complained about how much fun they were having, while Spikekit kept rambling on-and-on about how he caught the moss-ball mid air when Beekit tossed it to him, and how cool it was.

Applekit walked towards the nursery beside his brother, only half-listening to what his brother was going on about, thinking about one thing that kept crossing his mind.

'Why was Reedkit staring at him weirdly when they where playing moss ball?'

•••

1704 words.

A/N: THIS TOOK A WEEK! worth it though. Now anybody have any OCS they want to sacrifice- I mean want me you use in the book? I have an idea for a few more apprentices (just 2 more lol) but that's it, and in need more cats! I also did a tad bit of research of the leader, deputy, and medicine cat of this time because I just wanted those to be accurate :/

Alright, my hands hurt a bit so Ima see yall in the next chapter, my peeps 🐣, creeps 🐜 and sickly sweets 🍬! C Y A!