This book is 100% cringe, but it gets better as the series goes on (I hope)

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Skykit ran for her life.

Her father Moonclaw had attacked Skykit's family during the night and was battling his mate, Raindrop. She remembered clearly what had happened just a few moments ago.

Skykit had heard a loud screech come from beside her. She blinked her eyes open to see Raindrop, her mother, grabbling with a tom. The tom had silver fur bright green eyes. "Father!" she yelped at the tom who was attacking Raindrop.

Raindrop yowled as she ducked away from a blow from the powerful silver tom, "Run, Skykit! Run away!!"

And there she was; running away.

Skykit heard a thump and saw her sister collapse dead in front of her. Exhaustion had shut down Bluekit's tiny body. She crouched down next to her. "Bluekit.." She whimpered quietly.

Close by, Clearkit had been killed by a fox roaming Smallclan territory and Moonclaw had killed Raindrop. Skykit ran away from Smallclan territory in hope of finding a new home or life.

Skykit was on her own.

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3 moons had passed and being a rogue was much more difficult than hoped. Skykit was 5 moons old. She was starving and couldn't catch prey. All she could do was scavenge in twoleg boxes and beg for food from other cats.

Close by, a Lightclan cat named Jumpingleaf was watching the rogue kit closely. He thought that if he could train her as an apprentice, Lightclan will have more hope. There were only 6 warriors left. Jumpingleaf carefully approached Skykit, his stance friendly and tail twitching hopefully.

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Chapter 1:

Skypaw was learning how to do the hunting crouch for hunting birds. "Remember to keep as still as possible" whispered Jumpingleaf.

Jumpingleaf was her mentor. Skypaw was so glad he was her mentor! She was very fond of the skillful young cat. He had green eyes like her and a brown coat.

A bird fluttered just above her head on a branch. She steadied herself, her white fur bristling from the thought of catching her prey. At the last moment, she leaped up to an amazing height and caught the bird in mid air. Sje twisted around to land on her paws and let out a small mew of excitement as she landed. She stumbled slightly but quickly gained her footing again.

"Well done!" meowed Jumpingleaf, proudly giving Skypaw a lick between her ears.

That was Skypaw's 5th prey since she had started her training. It was a great day for her. She had been training for 2 moons and was nearly 8 moons old.

Just as Skypaw parted her jaws to say something, a battle screech sounded close by and Jumpingleaf leaped up, fur bristling. "Monsterclan attack!" He breathed in terror before racing off in the direction of the border.

He yowled to Skypaw as he went, "GET HELP!!"

Skypaw's paws seemed to be rooted to the ground. She was frozen with fear. She had heard of Monsterclan before, but never encountered them before. The legends said that Monsterclan cats used to be nearly three times the size of a normal cat, and that even now they still grow bigger than average. They were bred to be fighters and killers. Their claws were long and curved, their teeth sharp and pointed.

Skypaw let out a silent whimper before finally finding control over her paws. She took of at a fast run, racing back to camp. As she arrived at the entrance, she saw Wildstar right in front of her. "Monsterclan are at the border!" That's all she had to say because Wildstar was already calling the 3 remaining warriors left in camp. Robinlake, Bigstep and Slowsky.

Skypaw felt she was ready to join a battle and tagged along at the back of the patrol.

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When they arrived at the border, the Monsterclan cats had already gone and had left Jumpingleaf, Loveheart and Greenstare sprawled on the ground gasping for breath.

Slowsky and Bigstep helped the cats to their paws.

Skypaw was slightly sad that she hadn't experienced her first battle, but she shook away the thought and went to help Jumpingleaf with the help of Wildstar. Jumpingleaf was the deputy and it would be a great loss if Lightclan lost him.

It was a painfully slow process but they eventually padded back into camp. Treefern, the medicine cat, tended to each cat in turn while Wildstar leaped up onto the Hightree.

The Hightree was a huge tree that grew on the edge of camp. Wildstar's den was carved out by twolegs long ago. "Let all cat old enough to catch their own prey gather round for a clan meeting!" yowled Wildstar.

All the cats looked up at the Lightclan leader with scared and curious eyes. "Cats of Lightclan. We do not have enough cats here to survive. Magiclan have taken numerous tail-lengths of territory already and Monsterclan will try again soon enough. I and two more warriors will go to twolegplace and look for cats willing to join our clan." Wildstar meowed boldly.

"You mean you're going to bring in kittypets?! This is an outrage!" Greenstare hissed aggressively but winced when a wound on her head started breeding again.

"It is necessary to bring in new cats. If we can train them to be like warriors, then does it matter if they have kittypet blood?" Wildstar meowed, his voice dripping with a challenge.

Greenstare growled from behind Skypaw but stayed silent.

Skypaw thought it was the best time to speak up so she meowed, "Can I come too?"

"Mm... Very well, Skypaw you can come." murmured Wildstar. Skypaw bounced up into the air in joy but quickly sat down again after a hard glare from Jumpingleaf.

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Skypaw padded into camp followed by the rest of the patrol. That had found four cats!

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Hightree for a clan meeting!" yowled Wildstar. "Today, a patrol and I went out to find more warriors. We have four young cats willing to join Lightclan. Fluffy please step forward..."

Fluffy stepped forward nervously, his long brown fur bouncing slightly and his green eyes staring around nervously.

"Is it your wish to fight and defend your territory as a warrior even at the cost of your life?" meowed Wildstar.

"Yes."

"Then by the powers of Starclan, I give you your warrior name. From this moment on you shall be known as Fluffytail!"

"Fluffytail! Fluffytail! Fluffytail!" cheered the clan.

Wildstar waved his tail for silence and all was silent. "Jingle, please step forwards..."

Skypaw watched as Jingle stepped towards the stump of the tree.

"Is it your wish to fight and defend your territory as a warrior even at the cost of your life?"

"Yes!" yelped Jingle. The lonely black she cat had been wandering around twoleg place as loner and was really excited to become part of Lightclan.

"Then by the powers of Starclan. I give you your Warrior name. From this moment on you will be known as-"

"WAIT!" yowled Greenstare from the other side of the main clearing. "We will not be strong if we take in so many kittypets and loners. Can we not pray to Starclan for more forest-born kits??"

"No!" Wilstar called from the top of The Hightree. "We need more warriors! Look at us now!" he pointed his tail at some of the warriors still bleeding from the battle. "We will not survive another moon without more help. More warriors!" No one knew what to say. Some were half cheering. A couple were growling. Jingle stared in dismay at the cats around her.

"From this moment on, Jingle, you will be known as Sparklingfish for you black pelt and sparkling eyes!" Wildstar continued.

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It was the next day and the sun was setting. The two other cats had been named Waterpaw and Fallowstream. The gathering was that night and Skypaw couldn't hold in her joy any longer. She bounced around like a kit. Waterpaw joined in but was stopped by Bigstep, her mentor.

Skypaw heard Wildstar's yowl and Bigstep, Waterpaw, Skypaw, Fallowstream, Sparklingfish, Slowsky and Wildstar ran up the slope, through the entrance, towards the gathering.

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As Skypaw padded into the clearing, she saw that Monsterclan was already there. All that was left was Magiclan. A beautiful grey Tom about 8 moons old trotted up to Skypaw.

"Hi!" He meowed.

"Hello... Who are you?" Skypaw asked.

"Oh I'm Clearpaw and I'm from Magiclan!" Clearpaw replied. This cat's name was 'Clearpaw' Skypaw remembered her brother, Clearkit, had been killed by a fox that night when her father attacked and murdered her mother.

"Are you ok?" Clearpaw asked.

"Erm... You just remind me of my brother. Clearkit. He died at kit-age." Skypaw felt tears welled up in her eyes as the leaders called for the gathering to begin.

Clearpaw frowned, "Oh, i'm sorry. Should i go?"

Skypaw shook her head, "No. Stay. You seem nice," she tried to change the subject.

Clearpaw nodded, "I guess I am." and he puffed out his chest in pride then he started laughing, "Just kidding! I am far from nice!!"

Skypaw shook her head, "No, believe me. I've seen much worse than you." She held back a wince from the memories of her father.

The grey tom shrugged his shoulders and meowed, "So... I've never seen you before at gatherings. Are you a newly made apprentice?"

Skypaw nodded her head. She chose not to say anything about her past.

"Let the gathering begin!" Called Wildstar from the top of the Rock and everyone quieted down and listened to what the leaders had to say.

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"I smell Magiclan..." murmured Jumpingleaf. Skypaw and and her mentor were on a border patrol with Fluffytail. They were by the Magiclan border.

"That's because its the border!!" growled a cat from the other side. At that moment, three more cats stepped out.

Skypaw was petrified. All cats from Magiclan clan were hard to beat, even when they are outnumbered.

"Attack!" yowled Swishclaw, the cat who had spoken before.

All cats leaped at each other. Skypaw went for a small cat at least her age. She was just about to rake her claws down his back when she noticed a beautiful grey pelt in front of her claws. It was Clearpaw! Her mind was telling her to attack the Magiclan tom but her heart told her not to.

Skypaw dropped down onto all four paws again and stared in dismay. But before she could speak the air was knocked out of her by a bigger weight. She twisted round to see Secretbee, who had newly become a warrior only two moons ago. She felt pain seize her body as Secretbee raked his claws over her face and everything went blurry as blood dripped into her eyes, blinding her.

The weight was suddenly lifted from her and she saw Clearpaw tugging at Secretbee's tail until he whirled around and slash at Clearpaw. But Clearpaw was too fast for him.

Both cats attacked each other until Secretbee backed away, "Clearpaw you TRAITOR!" and he leapt at Clearpaw. Skypaw felt her heart skip a beat and time seemed to slow but Clearpaw gave one last bite on his neck and Secretbee pet out a squeal before breaking free and racing away. "You nearly killed your clanmate!" yelled Skypaw as Clearpaw kneeled down by her and started to look at her wounds.

"He attacked first. I was just defending myself and I couldn't watch you die. I have realised that my loyalties lie with you and your clan." Clearpaw mumbled.

Skypaw couldn't believe her ears. Was Clearpaw going to join Lightclan?

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