A New Beginning

[Stormfire]

Stormfire paced through the clearing, finding comfort in the site of his clan at work and at play around him. Approaching the fresh - kill pile, he decided to send out a patrol later that day. Stormfire had just been made deputy of SkyClan, and the feeling of accomplishment he felt could not be matched.

[{Robinpelt}]

Robinpelt saw Stormfire approaching the fresh-kill pile. The she cat padded up to him and said,"Stormfire, can I go on the morning patrol later? I'd like to stretch my limbs!" her leaf green eyes gleamed.

[Deleted]

Today really was a good day; full of warm sunshine and bright hopes. The mood was quickly wearing off on Sunpelt as she stretched her limbs in her den, a satisfying purr escaping her throat. There was a good feeling in her heart when she stepped outside of the sandy-floored den, hearing the sounds of squirming and scenting the smell of fresh milk next to her in the nursery.

SkyClan is doing well, after all, she thought to herself, a twinge of pride hitting her in an uncharacteristic way. She wasn't one for bragging much, but this Clan deserved it. Look at us now, StarClan!

Her ears twitched as she heard the sound of voices nearby. Padding forward on delicate paws, she headed for the fresh-kill pile, feeling in need of a small mouse or vole to whet her morning appetite. Fortunately, it was green-leaf, which in turn meant abundance of prey. As she neared she then spotted the new deputy, Stormfire, chatting with Robinpelt. A purr of greeting rumbled in her mouth.

"Greetings," she meowed, giving a respectful twitch of the tail to the two warriors. As usual, her eyes were full of brightness and gerenally readable, so it was quite obvious to onlookers that even the medicine cat had recieved no recent omens of bad fortune and was enjoying the peaceful day.

[Stormfire]

Stormfire turned his attention to the cat approaching him. "Morning," he mumbled almost to himself. Shaking his head, he spoke more clearly. "It's a nice day for a hunt. If you don't have anything that needs to be done, would you like to come with Robinpelt and I?"

Stormfire cast his ice-blue eyes over his shoulder towards the light - brown she - cat behind him, and then once again scanned the clearing. Even though everything seemed so peaceful, he was determined not to let anything slip by him on his first day as SkyClan's deputy. Thinking about the things he could accomplish in the future, however, made a mrrow of almost laughter begin to rise in his throat.

Realizing that he was having a conversation with the Medicine Cat, he turned his attention back to Sunpelt, giving her an inquisitive look, as if physically asking her, 'So are you coming?'

[Deleted]

The notion of going out for a relaxed hunt gave double the energy to Sunpelt's paws. Immediately she was up on her paws, ears erect, forgetting about her rumbling belly. She could always eat later, when she had been able to add her fair share to the fresh-kill pile.

"I haven't used my hunting skills in nearly a moon! I'd love to join you," she replied gratefully, dipping her head with a small smile on her feminine muzzle. "Sometimes I get overly-antsy, being cooped up in that den."

She shook her pelt, spraying a few stray pieces of fur into the air. Her leaf-bare pelt hadn't totally shed yet, even though it was well into green-leaf now. Just further proves her point that she hadn't enough exercise lately to shake off that extra weight in fur.

She eyed Stormfire with a new kind of gaze - one of judgement. He was deputy now, a role that called for great responsibility and very little time for recreation. Would he be able to carry around this sudden mass of extra weight on his shoulders?

Surely he'd be able to, if Buzzardstar thought so. Sunpelt usually always trusted the leader's judgements.

"Nervous on your first day as deputy?" she added in with a knowing smile.

[Stormfire]

Stormfire squinted his eyes. Not in anger, but in surprise of the question that Sunpelt had just asked him. He sighed and began talking quietly her. "You've got no idea," he whispered. "It feels like every time I turn around, there's going to be an invasion, or an apprentice is going to be bitten by a snake.. or something!" Shaking his head and looking at his paws he knew that it wouldn't be so, but he was still nervous.

Clearing his throat, Stormfire began to talk louder, and with more authority. "Well we better be going." Trotting away towards the camp exit, he beckoned with his tail for Robinpelt and Sunpelt to follow.

Opening his jaws, he could taste prey in the air everywhere, and wondered where to start.

[{Robinpelt}]

Robinpelt loved the forest. It was a clear, blue, sunny day and it warmed her pretty light brown fur. Her leaf green eyes sparkeled and took in her beautiful surroundings. Robinpelt scented a rabbit. She turned and spotted a large one a couple tail lengths away. The light brown she cat dropped into a hunter's crouch and crept forward. The rabbit looked up and scented her, but it was too late. With a swift bite to the neck, Robinpelt took out the huge rabbit and dragged it back to Stormfire and Sunpelt.

[Stormfire]

"Good catch," Stormfire nodded approvingly. "Always make sure the wind is blowing towards you though." Spotting a mouse in a small patch of undergrowth, he sunk into a pouncing position, and made sure the mouse hadn't noticed him. Edging forward to get a better position, Stormfire noticed the odor of a fox in the air.

Turning away from the mouse, he opened his jaws. Yes, it was fresh.. and nearby.. 'A fox this close to the camp?' he thought to himself.

"Fox," He finnally announced to the others. "Sunpelt, tell Buzzardstar that there's a fox in are territory, near the camp, and that he should send a patrol out here. Robinpelt, we're going to find it, but not fight it."

Stormfire headed off in the direction of the scent motioning to Robinpelt to follow.

[{Robinpelt}]

Robinpelt followed her deputy and recognized the scent of fox immediatly. It was strong. She followed Stormfire toward the scent of fox. It got stronger as they went. Robinpelt could almost imagine the red dog sized-predator right in front of the two SkyClan cats. Robinpelt padded after the deputy and the scent for a little until it began to disappear. She doubled back and followed again until she spotted a small den in the side of a tree. "Stormfire! Over here!" She called, though not too loud. If she called too loud, the fox might find them and attack.

[Deleted]

The scent of fox was, at first, hard to come by, thanks to the fresh scent of blood from the prey victims. But as soon as the smell hit the roof of her mouth, unease caused her fur to raise along her spine. Foxes were viscious and unforgiving creatures, three times the size of a warrior, and had the ability to take a few down with it.

At the deputy's orders, Sunpelt flicked her ears in response, understanding the importance of her task. If that fox was to smell its way into SkyClan camp, disaster would be inevitable. Nervously, she took a ginger step after the receding shapes of the two cats, hoping that they would have enough sense to stay as far away from the fox as possible until she could get backup.

"Be careful," she hissed after them, edging her way backwards until she rounded about and raced towards camp. In just a few moments, she arrived, remaining calm but heading straight towards Buzzardstar's den. The moment she rushed through the entrance uninvited, she announced, "Buzzardstar, there's a fox in the territory. Freshly scented, not too far from camp. Stormfire and Robinpelt are tracking it."

In the back of her mind, she quickly went through the remainders of her stock of herbs, and started to relax. She had plenty of healing herbs if need be.

[Stormfire]

Stormfire creeped up beside Robinpelt. As he continued to watch, the scent of fox became stronger and stronger until he saw an orange head come out of the tree. As the fox began to sniff around, Stormfire pushed himself further into the bush, hoping that Robinpelt had the sense to do the same.

StarClan, he thought silently. Let the backup gethere in time.

The fox lumbered back into its den, and Stormfire let himself breath, unaware that he had even been holding his breath in the first place.

[{Robinpelt}]

Robinpelt crept slowly and silently out from under the holly bush, the leaves pricking her fur. "Stormfire," she breathed to the deputy, who was padding out from a bush. "That fox has got to go. It could have kits!"
If the fox did have kits, they could invade the camp. Cats could die.

Where is that patrol? Robinpelt screamed in her mind. "Stormfire," she breathed again,"Stormfire, where is the patrol? The fox could scent us! We're like sitting mice!"
Stay calm, Robinpelt. It's fine. Just a lazy fox. The light brown she cat thought to herself.

[●Sparrow»]

BUZZARDSTAR::

Buzzardstar was shifting things around in his den. The carved in den had plenty of space for a leader and a few cats more or less. His greeze optics ran along the sandy floors of his den. His was still a word that he could not get over, only two months ago Cloudstar was resting in this den, in the same spot. He could still smell the stale scent of his fur and just smelling it, it made him feel wrong. So to try and get rid of all of this old moss and replace it with the new moss he had just collected, maybe move it to the back of the den rather than the front of it. Still the ginger tom cat sighed and tolted his head down to nudge the old moss to the entrance of his den, so he could easily take it down later. Turning around he walked back to his new moss and nudged it toward the back of the den.

His green eyes dulled at the thought of riding this den of Cloudstar, and that felt just as wrong. Using his paw he spread the the moss out into a good sized nest one that would fit him perfectly. Glancing back at the old moss he slowly padded toward it and leaned down to grab just a small ball of moss in his mouth. His ears flattened and he walked back to his new nest placing the moss at the side, so that way Cloudstar can be part of the Clan in some form. His ginger stiped tail flicked in thought before he could hear frantic pawsteps coming up the trail. His lobes flicked forward before he turned around, eyes narrowed until Sunpelt bursted through the den. The moss at the front scattered everywhere and his eyes narrowed. Something else he would have to fix later, pushing it aside for the moment he glanced up at the medicine cat.

"Buzzardstar, there's a fox in the territory. Freshly scented, not too far from camp. Stormfire and Robinpelt are tracking it." Buzzardstar's eyes widened in alrm before his eyes narrowed into slits. "Mousebrains, they should have came to me first before just going after it alone." he hissed more in worry than anything else, he didn't need more loss on his shoulders or his Clans for that matter. "Let's go! he called to Sunpelt before bounding out of his den and down the trail. When his paws hit the ground with a thud he raced toward the entrance. Signalling with tail for a few other warriors to follow him. With great speed he raced over the slope and up into the woodland area, lifting his head to scent the air. The faded scent of his two warriors hit his glands and he slowed his pace into a trot so not to disturb the fox, where ever it may be.

His tail swayed to let his other warriors know to slow down as well. His green eyes flicked around to detect movement. When the scent of his warriors was stronger and the smell of fox noticable. He lowered his body into a crouch before slowly and carefully pawing his way forward, his lobes flicked at the sound of very light rustling and turned to see Robinpelt and Stormfire, his face fell stone like and unreadable as he kept his emotions bottled up behind a strong mask. His eyes however were laced with worry and anger for them not thinking clearly, but it soon faded to nothing as he turned to watch the fox carefully. It could not stay here that was certain. In moments the other warriors crawled next to him quietly.

[Stormfire]

"Buzzardstar!" Stormfire said, relieved. "I'm sorry for not coming straight back, but I knew we had to find to fox before a cat was hurt, and I didn't want to send just one warrior after it." Glancing at Robinpelt, who was still staring intently towards the den, Stormfire knew that he should've come right back, but the descision had already been made.

"I think," he started quietly. "That we have three options here. One, we could just leave the fox alone, but I think we both know how that would end. Two, we could simply charge right in, but that would get us killed. Three, you and your patrol could send one cat in to distract it, while the other two waited behind that bush." Stormfire motioned to a small hazel bush to the right of the fox. "Then, Robinpelt and I could sneak around the fox, and on whoever is distracting the fox's signal, we could all ambush it," He reasoned, nodding. "Like a lighting strike."

He turned his gaze to his leader, waiting for Buzzardstar's judgment.

[Deleted]

Confidence came back to Sunpelt's paws as soon as Buzzardstar took control of the situation. She followed behind him closely, hot on her paws. It was moments like these where Sunpelt felt most like a warrior than a medicine cat, though she knew that she obviously wouldn't be a match for a freshly trained warrior - or a fox, at that. Still, she felt no fear as she raced silently through the undergrowth, still testing the air for more signs of the carnivore.

As they approached Stormfire and Robinpelt, Sunpelt felt the worry lift off of her immediately. Now they were in control, and the two warriors standing guard over the fox were safe. That was the most important part. Now, they had to make a quick decision, so it worked out well that Buzzardstar happened to be in his den.

She peered through the bushes to watch the dark ginger shape carefully, her fur still fluffed up a bit at the threat.

At Stormfire's suggestion of a distraction, her interest piqued, and she looked over at the leader to see what he would think of it.

"You have a quick thinker, Stormfire. I'd gladly volunteer as the distraction, but we all know I won't be as good a fighter as the rest of you," she warned. Basically, she was saying that if she were to be attacked, she would be relying on the rest of them to come to her aid quick!