Jaded View: Chapter eighteen

Chapter eighteen
Picklekit tackled Junglekit, rolling the two in a more comfortable position, she stood over him, then Junglekit kicked her off. “When you are on top of a cat, make sure that you’re holding them down as strong as you can, then once you’ve got a good hold on them, you can strike them easily.” Junglekit mewed, padding over, “and since your much heavier than a regular cat, you can jump onto a cat back and easily get them to the ground too.” Picklekit nodded, then looked back to the beach, peace filling her heart, “I feel like we should hunt soon, I don’t think Shieldtuft will be very happy if we don’t.” “Sure!” Junglekit mewed, padding away. Picklekit padded went in the opposite direction, sniffing the air for prey, then a mouse-like scent filled her nose. She noticed the small creature chewing on a nut, unaware of its surroundings. She crouched down and slowly crept towards the mouse, her tail high in the air. She leapt at the small creature, barrelling towards it, landing right behind it, she stretched out her paw as the mouse started to run. She caught it and grabbed it quickly, raising her head. She padded towards the river, glancing around, “Junglekit?” She called, “Junglekit?” She called once more, sitting down. In the distance, Junglekit ran towards her, “I’m here!” He mewed, running to her side, “we should go back to camp, come on!” Picklekit jumped into the river, running back into their territory. Junglekit followed, then ran past her when they reached the other side, “race you there!” He sped past her, running into the trees, “hey wait up!” Picklekit ran after him, following him back to their camp. As they entered camp, five cats were carrying a black tom into the centre of the clearing, tears rolling down their face. Tigerkit followed behind them, before getting dragged away by Cresentfeather, right into the small she’s den. The few other cats who were still in camp went over to the dead black cat, murmuring and whispering to him. “Darklight is gone…” Junglekit whispered, staring at the tom, “let’s put the prey away, then we can say goodbye to him.” The kit ran towards the prey hole, dropping his prey, Picklekit copied him, dropping the mouse into the hole, then followed the gold and dark ginger tom other to the body. “Why did he go so soon?” A brown and white tom meowed, his hazel eyes without a shine, “he had to Jumpingpaw, he had to.” A brown tabby she with red eyes muttered to the smaller cat, “but he didn’t deserve to die so soon, you know that Bloodeye.” Jumpingpaw muttered back. A black and white tom was sitting beside a black she, a white and black she and Moonlight. “It seems that you’ve got to lead the clan now Moonlight.” The tom looked at the she, “and I hope you’ll try your best.” The black she meowed, “pfft, I’ll be the greatest leader Shadeclan has ever had. Don’t try to lie to me Scarpelt and Blackfog.” “Yes, they are lying to you.” The black and white she said sarcastically, “what do you mean mum?” A small white and black kit mewed, poking his head from behind the she’s tail, “nothing dear.” She meowed to the kit. Picklekit could see how distraught the cats around Darklight were, most of them were silently weeping, or talking to Moonlight, Picklekit overheard one of the old looking cats muttered to another, “I doubt this clan will last with her around.” The other cat muttered something back, “I doubt we’ll be warriors for much longer, we’ll all be dead.” Picklekit glanced over at Moonlight, the she was saying something to Silentfrost, then she turned her attention to the cats who where in camp, “okay, why don’t some of you go off and get the rest of the clan. Once they return, we can have a clan meeting.” Greystar padded over to her, “what about his body? What will we do about it?” The tom seemed scared, his eyes shaking with fear, “we’ll wait ‘til the rest get back, then I’ll get the elderly ranks to take him away and bury him.” The she meowed blankly, not even looking at the tom, “I’m gonna check out that nest, might as well since I’m leader.” The she padded towards her new den, leaving the crowd of cats. Tigerkit finally came out of Cresentfeather’s den, padding over to the crowd. “Hey Tigerkit!” Picklekit mewed bounding up to him, “hello Picklekit.” He meowed, smiling at her, “I thought you’d be stuck in that den for a lot longer.” Junglekit went up to them, “me too, but Cresentfeather said she had something else to deal with and would rather not have me in there.” “What do you think she’s doing?” “Probably trying to decide if she should talk Moonlight out of being leader, which is kinda stupid.” “What do you mean?”

“A ton of cats know this, but Moonlight thinks that I would make a great deputy to her, and with her luck, whoever she chooses might not last very long. They might just fall out of a tree.” Picklekit nodded, a strange feeling climbing up her back, “when are you going to be a warrior again Tigerkit?” Junglekit mewed, “tomorrow I’d say, it’s not like I shouldn’t be a warrior.” “Who’s your mentor again?” “Flatface, he’s a really cool cat when you get to know him. And look, there he is now.” Tigerkit flicked his tail to the rock barrier, a light grey tom and a few other cats came down, “which one’s Flatface?” Picklekit mewed, “the light grey cat, he’s on of the better warriors in the clan.” As more cats entered the clearing, Moonlight padded on top of the tree root that Darklight used to address the clan with, “cats of Shadeclan, as you can see, Darklight has finally lost his life. I believe that I, as his deputy, will take over the role he once had.” Cats started to murmur in the area, the cat that stood behind Picklekit whispered to Flatface, “I feel like this shouldn’t be happening.” “I know Cooltuft, we shouldn’t have her as leader.” Flatface meowed back. “As for my deputy, I will choose Silentfrost.” Moonlight meowed, looking down at the calico she, “do you accept this role, Silentfrost?” She meowed, Silentfrost looked up at her, “I do.” Moonlight turned her attention to behind her, where Greystar sat, “Greystar, do you accept me as leader of Shadeclan?” The tom stared at her for a second, then meowed, his voice shaking, “I do.” “Then it is settled, I, Moonlight, am now your leader.” She finished, “any notices before we finish?” She looked down at the crowd, “I have one!” Flatface meowed, “one of our trainings will become a warrior tomorrow.” Tigerkit smirked when his mentor spoke, “wonderful, tomorrow morning I shall take you two to get his warrior name. Anything else?” Silence filled the clearing, “then, clan dismissed.” She padded back down the tree root as the clan parted away from the clearing, “I bet you’ll get a cool name Tigerkit!” Junglekit mewed, “like Tigerclaw, Tigerfang, Tigerfur or Tigerpelt.” “I’d be hoping for Tigerfang, that name sounds really cool.” Picklekit mewed. “As I can hear, I’ll be asking Jaystar for a requested name, that is a very rare thing to occur.” Flatface came into their conversation, “and I can even see someone’s a little embarrassed on getting mentioned to the whole clan too.” The tom chuckled as he came up to Tigerkit. “Be quiet.” Tigerkit flicked his tail, “well, why don’t we finish your training life with a hunt, just me and you.” Flatface meowed, “I’ll be seeing you two another time.” He meowed as he padded to the rock barrier, Tigerkit right behind him. “Isn’t that cool? One day we’ll get to do that as well!” Junglekit mewed, smiling at Picklekit. “I know! It’ll be so fun!” She mewed back.

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