I woke up with a start. I looked around me, unaware of this unfamiliar place. It took me a lot longer than it should have to figure out that I was sleeping with Thrushkit and his family.

Probably because I always sleep by myself. It's such a weird feeling to be warm.

I yawned, got up, and stretched out my body, bones making popping noises every once and awhile. For once, I didn't wake up dead tired in the morning. And I slept amazingly well.

This was normal for Moon, Thrushkit, Frostkit, and Goldenkit, and probably a lot of other cats in this clan. Some of them even sleep with mates, so the warmth is doubled...

Wait a second, Thrushkit's apprentice ceremony was supposed to be yesterday! And mine is today! That means we're becoming apprentices together!

I smiled to myself, now excited for the day ahead of me. I'd be sure to get my last few play-times in, because my mother can't touch me when I become and apprentice.

Well, technically she still can, but one day, I'll be old enough to fight back. Which is exciting.

Yay me.

But then again, she'd still be able to physically touch me... which is annoying, because that's an invasion of my personal space...

"Good morning Maplekit!" Goldenkit had woken up, and was sitting next to her mother.

I smiled at her and returned the greeting. "Good morning! Are you excited for today?" Goldenkit looked confused, so I elaborated, "Today we become apprentices!"

Her face lit up with excitement and realization. "Oh yeah, that's right!" She started prancing around, bumping into her siblings every now and again.

Frostkit awoke drowsily. "Huh? Maplekit, what's going-MMPHH!" And then her face was shoved into the ground by Goldenkit.

"Goldenkit! That hurt!" Frostkit held her face in her paws. When she looked up at me, she didn't have any blood on her face, but there was dirt smeared everywhere.

Goldenkit stopped her prancing and finally decided to check up on her sister. "Oops, sorry Frostkit! Didn't mean to."

All of this commotion had woken up Thrushkit and Sandtail, who still looked drowsy. "Good morning kits. Are you excited?" We all nodded quickly. "Good. Thrushkit, Goldenkit, Frostkit, I had all of your apprenticeships delayed so you could all become apprentices together. I hope that was okay with you."

Goldenkit, being the brave one, had to speak up. "Well, you kind of killed yesterday's fun, but that's alright! Now we get to explore the territory together!"

She was right, but I don't know if all of us were going to.

I looked over to where Moonkit was just waking up. I had a feeling Nightwing was going to get some sort of special mentor for him.

Moonkit stood up, and padded over to us. He was significantly bigger than me, around Thrushkit's height. "What did I miss?"

Goldenkit, the only one still unaware of my rivalry with Moonkit, responded, "We're becoming apprentices today!"

"Oh, really?" Everyone nodded. "That's nice. I already know who my mentor is." 

Knowing Nightwing, she probably had some sort of connection to Lynxstar, so she'd probably request that she mentored him. She'd probably have some sort of special request for me as well. Maybe she requested I get trained by an elder or something.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Highrock for a clan meeting!" Lynxstar's voice rang out, calling all cats to the center of the clearing.

I let out a long breath, sending a shiver down my body. Even though I knew this would be a very short ceremony, as it usually was, nervousness was coursing through my veins.

Well, here goes nothing. Let's hope it isn't that bad. It's not like I'm going to stuck with my mentor for the next several moons.

"Thrushkit, Goldenkit, Frostkit, Moonkit, Maplekit, please step forward." We all stepped forward. Moonkit was just standing there cooly, a smirk on his face. The other three kits were bouncing in excitement. I was trying to stand tall, but nervousness was creeping into my head.

"Goldenkit, you have reached the age of six moons, and are ready to become an apprentice." Lynxstar took a quick look around the clearing eyeing out every cat carefully. "Oceanbreeze, you are ready to take on your first apprentice. You are know for you speed and cunning, and I hope you pass down all you know. Welcome to apprenticeship, Goldenpaw!" 

As mentor and apprentice touched noses, the clearing rang out in excitement. "Goldenpaw! Goldenpaw! Goldenpaw!" Goldenpaw and Oceanbreeze retreated into the depth of the crowd, and the ceremony continued.

"Thrushkit, you have reached the age of six moons, and are ready to become an apprentice." Lynxstar took a quick look at one cat in particular. "Reedfeather, you are ready to take on another apprentice. You trained Oceanbreeze very well and I hope you pass down all of the same skills. Welcome to apprenticeship, Thrushpaw!"

The same process went over with Thrushpaw, touching noses, the chant, and retreating into the crowd.

Frostkit went next, but I zoned out for most of it. I did see her pass by with a warrior I knew, Firefur.

"Moonkit, you have reached the age of six moons, and are ready to become an apprentice." Lynxstar didn't look out in the crowd at all. "I will train you myself. I see great potential in you, and hope I can pass down all I know to you. Welcome to apprenticeship, Moonpaw!"

Yeah right. You just wanted to please Nightwing.

The clan was just as surprised as I was, but still chanted out his name nonetheless. "Moonpaw! Moonpaw! Moonpaw!" I made sure to keep my voice quiet. 

Moonpaw went up to touch noses, and sat up on the Highrock with Lynxstar when he finished.

"Maplekit."

Here we go.

"You have reached the age of six moons, and are ready to become an apprentice." Again, Lynxstar didn't look into the crowd. Which was not a good sign. "Shadeheart, you are ready for your first apprentice. Sunstorm taught you well, and I hope you can pass down all you know. Welcome to apprenticeship Maplepaw!"

A large, black tom with green eyes came over to me. Immediately every noise around me was drowned out.

Shadeheart, the grumpiest cat in the clan. Almost as bad as Stone. 

But then I took a look closer at him.

This is the cat who looked at me when I opened my eyes. And now that he's up close, I feel like I know him. 

I touched his nose, which was ice cold, parallel to the cold day surrounding us.

"Your mentors will take you around the territory today, and then you can make your nests in the apprentice's den. Meeting dismissed."

I started padding over to the others, but Shadeheart called me back. "Maplepaw, we're going by ourselves." Despite knowing he was a decent cat, I gulped. The second biggest cat in the clan was taking me around the territory. Alone. Where no one could hear or see me.

Yeah, a bit freaky.

________________________________________________________________________________

Once we were a decent distance away from camp, he started talking. "We can join up with the other later. But I wanted to talk to you where they can't hear us." He turned to me. "Despite what it may seem, I chose you, not your mother. It's been awhile, Maple."

Everything in my mind at once clicked. 

Of course! I do know him! But back then his name wasn't Shade, it was Night. No wonder he looked familiar.

"We both know of your rivalry with Moon. Now, I use my size in battle, so I can't teach you with that, but I can teach you speed. In case you were wondering, yes, I also have an ability. I saw you with your roots."

Shadeheart stepped into a shadow, and immediately disappeared.

"Woah."

"Woah is right. It's pretty powerful tactic to confuse enemies. Each clan has three cats from back when we were in our first life. Sometimes two evil, sometimes two good. Depends on the strength of the other cats."

"Do you know all of them?" 

He nodded and continued on. "Thunderclan: you, me, and Moon. Two good. Riverclan: Heron, Lion, and Rose. Two evil. Windclan: Swift, Dahlia, and Pebble. Two evil. Shadowclan: Stone, Dusk, and Ice. Two good. Skyclan: Flame, Sparrow, and Ivy. Two evil."

"So they overpower us?" 

"In numbers. In skill, I don't know. Starclan has told me that there is another out there somewhere that will balance us out. Then it comes down to pure will."

I nodded in understanding. "Can we go group up with the others now?" He nodded and led the way.

________________________________________________________________________________

After a long day of touring the territory, we all came back wiped out. Sandtail came up to us. "The other apprentices knew that you would be tired, so they made your nests for you."

We all let out a large sigh of relief. I went into the den and chose the nest as far away from Moonpaw as possible. Thrushpaw and Frostpaw laid down next to me, and Goldenpaw just on the outside, a bit closer to Moonpaw.

I took a quick look over to where Moonpaw was laying. He was looking straight at me.

So it begins then.

Yeah, it does. And don't expect me to go easy on you.

Of course not. It wouldn't be fun then.

Uh huh. More telepathy.

By the way, the first telepathy thing was Maple.

That one was over 1500 words. I've decided how long the book is going to be, and how many chapters each character is going to get.

If everyone who currently has an OC in this book could PM me their character's details, that would be largely appreciated.

This series is going to be mainly Maple and Thunderclan. He is the main character, but his allies will also have some parts. 

The answer to the last riddle was A River.

Riddle time!

Mr. and Mrs. Cat have six daughters. Each daughter has one brother. How many people are in the Cat family?

See y'all soon!

-Maple