Jet-Part 1

Dreampaw yawned and stretched. She was sitting in the clearing, waiting to be asked on a patrol. She rarely went, and found it quite boring. Then she saw Rippleblaze pad over to her. She jumped up.

"Are we going to train?"

Rippleblaze nodded, and smiled, his eyes warm.

"Yep. Come on. We'll do some fighting practice."

Dreampaw nodded.

"Okay!"

Rippleblaze flicked his tail, and padded out of the camp. Dreampaw followed after him.

As they were nearing the training hollow, Rippleblaze stiffened.

"Dreampaw, tell me what you smell."

She sniffed the air and bristled.

"Intruder!"

Rippleblaze nodded in approval.

"Come on. Let's go see what, or who, it is."

Dreampaw nodded, and silently crept forward beside Rippleblaze. They heard a cat hissing in frustration, and Rippleblaze leaped out of the undergrowth, ready to attack. Dreampaw followed, snarling, then stopped. She stared at their "intruder" dumbfounded. The intruder was tangled in a bramble bush, and was apparently stuck.

"Umm... Rippleblaze... what do we do?"

She could see that Rippleblaze was holding back a mrrow of laughter. He rolled his eyes, and finally the tom cat noticed them. He stopped struggling, and hissed.

"May I help you?"

Dreampaw narrowed her eyes, and was about to shoot a remark back when Rippleblaze purred.

"I think that question should be directed at you. You're the one caught in a bramble bush, on our territory."

The tom hissed, but didn't respond.

"You need help?"

The tom looked away, and Dreampaw laughed. Rippleblaze smiled, and motioned for Dreampaw to also help. The two clan cats soon had this tom out, when Rippleblaze started questioning.

"Why are you on our territory?"

The tom bared his teeth.

"Roaming, what does it look like?"

Rippleblaze snarled.

"Come on, are you the only one?"

The tom nodded.

"Dreampaw, get on his other side. We're bringing him back to camp. Markstar can handle him."

She padded to the other side of the tom intruder, and looked him over. He seemed to be about her age, but older. He had sleek black fur, with yellow eyes. He was well muscled, and would be a strong opponent in battle. Dreampaw soon saw the camp in front of her, then they were padding in. Dreampaw padded away from Rippleblaze and the tom and went to find Markstar She stopped in the entrance to the Leader's Den. The den felt so... familiar to her, though she had never been it before.

"Markstar? May I come in."

There was a muffled mew, and Dreampaw took that as a yes. She padded in.

"Hello Dreampaw, is there a problem?"

Dreampaw quickly explained what had happened, and followed Markstar as he padded into the clearing. Markstar sat down.

"Who are you?"

The tom rolled his eyes.

"Who does it look like I am? I'm a cat, in your territory, who may wish to join."

Markstar held back a growl.

"What is your name..."

The tom smirked.

"Jet."

Dreampaw looked to the sky as a loud boom of thunder rolled across the sky. Rain had been threatening all day, and it now started to rain lightly. Dreampaw groaned, but Markstar ignored it.

"And you would like to join, Jet?"

Jet nodded. Markstar nodded, and leaped onto the LakeRock. Dreampaw noticed him hesitate before speaking. Would he do a formal ceremony? Dreampaw saw his eyes flicker, and thought. No, he won't. Markstar cleared his throat, and spoke.

"Jet wishes to join LakeClan! Jet, do you wish to receive a clan name, Jetpaw?"

Jet thought for a second, then slowly nodded. Markstar nodded.

"Then from now on, until you receive your warrior name, you shall be known as Jetpaw. Strongspirit shall be your mentor."

Markstar nodded, then leaped down, and quickly padded to his den as the rain poured down. Most of the clan did the same, but Sorrelheart and Stormwater organized hunting and border patrols. Dreampaw flattened her ears to her head, and crawled into the Apprentices Den. She let out a hiss a she saw Jetpaw licking himself dry, in her nest! She stalked up to him, her tail lashing.

"What are you doing!?"

Jetpaw looked up.

"Cleaning myself. Is that a problem?"

Dreampaw hissed, and spoke through closed teeth.

"You're sitting in my nest."

Jetpaw looked down.

"It looks like any other nest to me."

Dreampaw growled.

"It's my nest. My scent is on i!"

Jetpaw rolled his eyes.

"Fine, I'll move."

Jetpaw stood up, and moved to another, unoccupied nest not too far away. She stepped onto her nest to find it soaking wet. She hissed in anger.

"Look what you did!"

Jetpaw smirked, but didn't answer. Dreampaw grumbled to herself.

"Maybe if I'm lucky, I can find dry moss still!"

She rolled up her wet moss, and carried it into the clearing, walking along the sides to try to stay dry. The sun was still up, but it would be dark soon. She walked out of the clearing to be stopped by Fallenstrike.

"Where are you going? It's getting dark soon."

Dreampaw put the moss she was holding down, and shook her fur lightly.

"Going to see if I can find any dry moss. Jetpaw... got mine all wet."

Fallenstrike nodded.

"Just don't be long. Also, maybe get some for the elders also. They'd appreciate it."

Dreampaw nodded, hoping she wouldn't be, and picked up the moss again. She grumbled slightly at being given a job. She carried it a little ways from camp, before dropping it, and went in search of some moss. She had needed to get new moss anyways, hers was getting dirty.

She eventually found some moss that was still dry inside a hollow tree. She ripped some off, in clean, smooth cuts. She got as much as she would need for herself. I'll have to get more for the elders.... She then grabbed some more, so she was carrying as much as she could, and padded back to camp, with moss in her mouth and under her chin. She nodded to Fallenstrike, and went to the elders den. They still had enough clean moss, so she only took out the dirty stuff, and threw in the new moss. The elders who were still awake said thanks, and she backed out of the den and brought the dirty moss outside of the camp, before going to get more for herself.

She got her moss, and was soon back into the Apprentices Den. It had been dark for a while now, and she spread out the moss, before moving away from all the dry moss, and drying her fur out. Once she had licked her fur clean, she curled up in her dry nest, and fell asleep.

TO BE CONTINUED