NOTE BEFORE YOU READ THE CHAPTER
If you haven't read the summary/description (which you SHOULD, by the way, otherwise you can just skip this), then please note that this story is DISCONTINUED and I lost motivation for it long ago. I know, it had a lot of potential. I still have all the story notes and whatnot for it, so if you want me to plot out what would have happened if the story had continued, throw me a comment or direct/private message and I'll put it up. It'll probably take weeks for me to uncover everything again, so don't expect me to already have it ready to go and finish in days. Thanks for understanding :)
Enjoy what I got down a long time ago before my plans changed.

Chapter 1: The Dream

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   "Jay."

   "What?" Jay looked around himself. He was seated in a cool meadow with a gentle breeze whisking through the soft blades of grass. The sky was a mystic shade of silver, with the stars gleaming brightly like tiny duplicates of Zane's bright blue eyes. The setting gave a peaceful and mysterious air around the Master of Lightning.

   "Jay."

   The voice was clearer, yet still an echo in the night. It sounded raspy, as if it belonged to an old person. Not like Master Wu, but close.

   Jay double checked his surroundings. His heart sank as he found none of his friends, much less Nya, probably trying to trick Jay with an imitation of Master Wu's voice. Which if they were there and were actually trying, they had completely failed.

   "Jay."

   The Lightning Ninja opened his mouth to yell out a million questions, but he stopped as a burden of scents entered his senses. Jay almost toppled as the scents overwhelmed him. There were the scents of dry grass, of fresh snow, of...

   Was that cat?!

   Jay seemed to recognize the distinctive scent of a cat.

   That wasn't normal. Jay had never even smelled a cat before, let alone be close enough to a real one like this.

   And why did his sense of smell kick in when he opened his mouth rather than when he inhaled through his nose...?

   "Jay."

   Jay turned. A dark brown tabby cat with a white muzzle stood before him, his chin raised, his amber eyes and pelt glowing with stars. Although he looked young and strong, his patchy fur and white muzzle showed his true age, possibly older than he looked.

   "You have arrived." His voice carried a tone that spoke almost of destiny, and Jay inferred he was wise as well. "We have been waiting for you."

   "Um, excuse me, but what?" Waiting? For him? Why? "You've been waiting for me?"

   The brown cat sighed. "There is much to explain. But the prophecy shall come true."

   "Prophecy?" Like the Prophecy of the Green Ninja? Or something like the Curse of the Golden Master? Jay shivered. "Pardon me?"

   "You are lightning, yes?" The cat questioned, to which Jay nodded confusedly. How did he know?

   "Good. Then we are correct." The cat sounded satisfied. "You are the lightning cat."

   "Hold on a minute. Lightning cat?" Jay looked down at his hands...

   ...or what was supposed to be his hands.

   Jay yelped and hollered as he thundered around himself, catching glimpses of what he was. Flashes of gray zipped across his blurred vision.

   A cat?! Out of all things, a cat?

   Gosh, I should calm down. That's what the others would say, of course, them already being fed up with my yelling and freaking out.

   Jay stopped moving and took deep breaths for a few moments, then easily twisted his head back to look at himself. His back was a furry gray pelt with paler gray tabby markings. A long striped tail brought up the rear, and his legs were a cat's hind legs, curled and bent neatly on either side. Jay looked down at his new hands. They were gray paws, each with five toes. He could feel claws underneath his paws, tucked in and ready to draw out like a sword from its sheath if needed. Stripes faded down his arms - wait, no, his front legs - likewise his hind legs.

   "Whoa," he breathed, looking lower to find he had soft white underbelly fur.

   The cat in front of Jay blinked and waited patiently. He had already sat down, his thin tail curled around his paws.

   "May I move on?" he asked.

   Jay nodded, copying the cat's stance, making sure to curl his tail neatly around his own paws. Wow, that feels soft.

   The cat raised his chin once more. "I am Teller of the Pointed Stones, a leader of the Tribe of Endless Hunting. I was the preceding leader of the current Healer of the Tribe of Rushing Water." Then he gave a weird grin at Jay. "But you may call any cat by my name Stoneteller, for short. It would take ages to do anything if we always spoke our full names when having conversations."

   Jay barely caught on to what Stoneteller was saying. At least Zane's way of speaking was worse. Having the Nindroid around as a brother, a teammate, and a friend really helped with complicated sentences and speech. He gave the old cat a simple nod, signaling to him that he understood everything so far. Even barely.

   Much to Jay's surprise, Stoneteller took the time to inform the newbie about the Tribe of Rushing Water, explaining everything he could in full detail. Jay was impressed; he thought Stoneteller had other things to do that were more important than telling stories and the systems of the Tribe.

   Their leader and medic were one cat, Teller of the Pointed Stones, and they were chosen by their ancestors, the Tribe of Endless Hunting ("AM I DEAD?!?!" Jay panicked before being told he actually wasn't, but was just being visited by them) when they were born. Each cat took the name of Stoneteller after their mentor, the previous Healer, died, and it would then be their turn to take over the job of observing the stones and pools of water in the Cave of Pointed Stones.

   Then there were the prey-hunters and cave-guards. Their titles were self-explanatory; prey-hunters hunted for food in the mountains for the Tribe, while cave-guards were warriors who protected the Cave of Rushing Water and the cats that lived inside it. Recently an addition to the cave-guards' role was added, since they had gained borders and territory to keep intruding rogue cats out, so the cave-guards had to head to the borders daily and mark them with their scents. While on patrol, the prey-hunters and cave-guards work together to catch prey both on land and in the sky, the prey-hunters catching the food and the cave-guards protecting the hunters from large birds, such as eagles.

   To-bes were basically apprentices trained in the ways of their mentors. Their roles are chosen when they are born; the stronger kits become cave-guards and the leaner ones become prey-hunters. Every once in a while, though, one of the kits becomes the to-be of Stoneteller.

   Kits, kit-mothers, and the Tribe elders stay in the Cave of Rushing Water while the prey-hunters, cave-guards, and their to-bes are outside training, battling, or hunting. The kits aren't allowed to step outside of the cave until they become to-bes.

   The Tribe of Rushing Water lived in the mountains and danger was everywhere. Prey was scarce, and if you walked down the wrong path or missed a pawstep you could end up falling to your death from high heights, impaled on sharp stones, or even get carried away by eagles. Legend states that a gray cat (looking much like Jay, but not quite) led the Tribe's ancestors to the mountains from their old home, which was constantly threatened by Twolegs (the term, Jay soon learned, that cats call humans). After naming their first Stoneteller, though, the cat left, never to be seen again.

   According to tradition, Tribe cats are named after the first thing their mother sees when they are born. Stoneteller gave Jay a few examples: the current Stoneteller used to be called Crag Where Eagles Nest; then there were other cats like Night of No Stars, Brook Where Small Fish Swim, Flight of Startled Heron, Wing Shadow Over Water, Swoop of Chestnut Hawk, Splash When Fish Leaps, Gray Sky Before Dawn. Stoneteller even told of Stormfur, who was a Clan cat (whatever that was) who joined the Tribe after his sister died and saved the Tribe from Sharptooth,  a mountain lion.

   Jay was thoroughly intrigued by the stories and lore Stoneteller told of in his explanation of the Tribe of Rushing Water. Stoneteller had barely finished before another cat slipped into the meadow, settling itself next to the old brown cat. Jay recognized the scent as a she-cat's almost instantly, which surprised him. The she-cat was a beautiful and slender silver tabby, with a plumy tail and blue eyes.

   "Stoneteller," the new cat mewed softly. Stoneteller jerked his head around at the sound, his muscles tensed, but then relaxed as he saw the other cat.

   "Ah, Feathertail. It's only you. Welcome," Stoneteller greeted. He then happened to notice the confused expression on Jay's face and explained, "Feathertail here was Stormfur's sister."

   Jay cocked his head to one side. "You fought Sharptooth?"

   Feathertail nodded. "Yes, before it could kill too many cats. The Tribe would've gone extinct." She shook her head a little.