Medicine Cat Meeting July '10

[→Demon←]

Flickerkit took a few unsteady steps, not quite sure of where she was going. For some reason, she hadn't seen Fireflower that day, and now the little kit had to make her first journey to the Moonpool alone.

The little kit was excited though. Maybe it was here that she would finally become an apprentice! She whispered her soon-to-be new name under her breath: "Flickerpaw..." It sounded strange to her, after having been Flickerkit for over 6 moons. But still, the sound of the name sent thrills down her spine, and the little cat shivered.

Finally, Flickerkit stopped and sat down, staring up at the sky. It was clear, with no clouds in sight, and the half-moon floating gently beside Silverpelt. It was then that Flickerkit noticed that she couldn't see --or scent, for that matter-- any of the other cats.

"Maybe they're all just a bit late," she reassured herself, an attempt that was closer to failure. "Or maybe I just left a bit early." The night air was getting to her, and paranoia filled the little apprentice's veins. Suddenly, every rustle of leaves, and blow of the wind, hid a dangerous predator. Flickerkit was afraid.

[** spy-deroo]

Oakleg limped towards the Mooncave. His leg was stiff, and the scar bothered him more than ever. It always had a tendency to act up on the days he had to do the most walking. Calmly, the mottled brown tom staggered towards the cave. He found Flickerpaw, the young apprentice of DawnClan, already there. "Hello, Flickerpaw."

The tom was sure to be polite and not try and scare the new medicine cat apprentice. Flickerpaw hadn't even had his apprentice name yet. And where was Fireflower? "Do you know where the others are?" His voice was odd, yet wondering. Oakleg shivered as a cool breeze chilled him to the bone. Where was everyone tonight?

[Darkheart]

Waterlily caught site of Mooncave and the two cats. She made her steps more brisk. "Sorry, I had a little problem at camp. An apprentice found a bee hive and had a little too much fun with it." She said, picturing the small body with a bunch of swollen bumps. Waterlily had to pick out each stinger one at a time. She used so many poppy seeds on the apprentice to stop the poor thing from screaming. She made the young one feel better though when she explained how when bees sting, they die.

[→Demon←]

Startled by both Oakleg's and Waterlily's greeting, Flickerpaw jumped a bit, pelt standing on end. "Greetings, Oakleg. Waterlily." She dipped her head to both of teh medicine cats, showing her respect. "As far as I know, we are the only three here so far. I haven't seen Fireflower at all today." The little cat shuddered at the thought of what could have happened to her mentor. Perhaps she was just out for a while, but even Flickerpaw knew the dangers of Dawnclan's territory. She hoped the medicine cat was okay.

"Do you two want to wait here to see in any others show up, or should we continue on?" Flickerpaw raised her head to the moon, sniffing lightly. It was nearing moonhigh now, and if they wanted to get a good dreaming with Starclan, they had to hurry.

The apprentice turned back to the two older cats and cocked her head.

[/size]

[@pple]

A cat was at the edge of the clearing where all medicine cats were. The cat's eyes would blaze purple in the face of the moon that rained on her black fur. However, it did not shine purple, but empty black. The black eyes glinted wickedly once the cat grinned wide...therefore a toothy smile. That was not typical for the MoonClan medicine cat. Her demeanor was usually serious or depressed. The ancient medicine cat, Appleblossom, seemed not herself tonight. She padded toward the group of medicine cats, sending her friendly greeting to each one of them. "Oakleg, Waterlily, Flickerpaw." Appleblossom glanced down at Flickerpaw, "Yes, we shall move on." The voice was too soft, but still deep like water brushing against the stones on the river's bank. It was nothing alike Appleblossom's voice. Something was going on. Finally, the cat shook her tail, getting all cats' attention. "Before we may begin, I want to share something first." Her eyes trailed on all cats and she smiled that toothy grin again, "Appleblossom is not here. I am Nala, an old spirit not from StarClan, but from your ancestors of LionClan."

[→Demon←]

Stunned at the medicine cat's --no...was she still...?-- words, Flickerpaw stepped away, as far as she could without leaving the well-trodden path. "H-how...What are you doing here? W-what do you want with us? Her voice shook as she spoke, fear flooding her scent.

Why would a LionClan ghost be possessing Appleblossom? Was something wrong in MoonClan? Or was it a message for all the clans? What could be going on in the forest?

Again, she looked to her elders, wondering what to do. Still, even the apprentice doubted that they knew how to handle a situation like this.

[/size]

[Darkheart]

Waterlily stepped in front of Flickerpaw a little bit to help the apprentice from being scared. She gave a small, kind smile to the young cat, hoping that would reasure the her it was okay.
Waterlily turned to Nala. "Pardon me for asking but when will Appleblossom be back in her body?" She asked, concerned. Appleblossom was a very good friend of Waterlily and she missed her. But she didn't want to be rude to the LionClan spirit. If Nala controlled Appleblossom, than were was Appleblossom? Waterlily was glad Flickerpaw asked some questions too because she was also curious on why Nala was here.

[@pple]

Confusion set in. Nala could see it on their faces. Again, did the medicine cat ever told them? Disappointed, the spirit told them the answer, the truth why she came here and took over Appleblossom's body. "Evil is coming to the clans." She pointed her tail toward the moon. Somehow, the moon shimmered for a second, before it remained in its orignal position. The black orbs shone wickedly. Deep within the orbs, a cat could see a fading illusion of a...lion's face. The lion only vanished. "Four cats are chosen. They are the only ones that can stop evil. I came here in your medicine cat's body to carry the message. The warning that StarClan failed to share with you." At last, Nala stepped back, panting, as she looked up at Waterlily, "Your fellow clanmate," she panted hard, "It is him. The black cat with red eyes." The black eyes flew to the others, "The evil."

Throwing back her head, Nala let out a sound that no modern cats could utter. Only the ancient cats can make that sound. For once, Nala let out a delicate cry. Tears came down her cheeks. It was so long since the spirit wept. "Tears," Nala whispered softly. "I came back because this happened to us." By the meaning of us, she meant the great, feared cats that once existed a long time ago.

[/size]

[** spy-deroo]

Oakleg wasn't one to be very gullible, but he believed that this was a LionClan spirit. Appleblossom wasn't her self, and rumors had been spread about her around the gathering. He had also met up with Crowlight at one of the gatherings, who's mate had birthed. Would Nala be qualified to take care of them, like a real medicine cat? He was compelled to speak, but didn't do so.

"Nala, will you still be joining us tonight at the Moonpool?" The question was an obvious yes, but he wanted to break the silence. He tried to appear calm for a spell longer before adding one more thing that weighed heavily on his mind. "And do you have the abilities to temporarily replace Appleblossom as medicine cat? Her Clan should not suffer for the sake of a message StarClan has not yet show us." He emphasized the word 'yet', as he was a strong believer in StarClan, and didn't want to think they had betrayed the Clans.

[→Demon←]

Flickerpaw nodded at Oakleg's question. She didn't doubt the sheer power that the LionClan cat would have, but if she had no healing abilities, the spirit had no place in Appleblossom's body.

But the evil she spoke of... Again, the orange she-cat felt her pelt raise, and she began to feel thankful for Waterlily's protection. Flickerpaw had barely been out of her camp, and never anywhere near any of the MistClan cats --except for now. But a black cat with red eyes? It sounded like Demonstar. Even she had heard the stories about him --how he had killed his leader. But he was dead now, so who could it be?

Looking back to Appleblossom --Nala?-- she repeated Waterlily's question. "And where is Appleblossom? If your spirit is in her body, then where is her spirit?"

[/size]

[@pple]

Nala nodded briefly at Oakleg. "Yes, of course, I have healing abilities like the rest of you do. I was once a healer for the lions. I know a lot of herbs, even some herbs that became excint. What do you think after I wandered for so long?" She flicked her tail for the question, "Do you think I wandered around for nothing?" The eyes were angry at first, but then calmed down. The medicine cats only asked her because they did not know anything about her.

When Nala heard the apprentice's question, she looked down at the apprentice and smiled fondly at her, "She is safe inside the body too. It is like a peaceful sleep for her. When the evil is gone, I will go back where I belonged and Appleblossom will be back to you again."

[/size]

[Darkheart]

Waterlily shivered as flashes of Demonstar zipped acrossed her mind. "Um... Nala, Demonstar is dead... we killed him. We killed the evil." She said, frowning with deep concern. What else could their be? What other evil is out there? Would the clans have the power to stop it? She bit her lip. Would Waterlily have the ability to help all the cats along the way?

Waterlily went over in her head on what Nala said. "Wait... when you say 'it happened to us' do you mean Lionclan? Do you mind telling us what happened?"

[(:\Thornnose/:)]

(Ugh... feeling really awful for being inactive... and my loss of muse... sorry for my bogus rping. I'm a little out of practice)

Fireflower had accompanied Flickerkit on the way to the Mooncave. She was going to become the medicine apprentice. Fireflower had been reaaly nervous; her mind racing with questions even as the pair arrived. Flickerkit was conversing with the others, while Fireflower was busy brooding and worrying over what kind of a teacher she'll make, and what kind of an apprentice Flickerpaw will be.

[→Demon←]

Flickerpaw greeted her mentor silently with a lick to her shoulder. Her eyes stayed on Appleblossom's body the whole time as she shifted her position so she stood behind both Fireflower and Waterlily. She trusted her clanmate a lot more, but something told her that if she needed protecting, Waterlily would be a better fighter.

Her mind was reeling. What had happened in LionClan? Had they too had an evil leader like Demonstar? Maybe because of his death, they suffered...? Perhaps their leader after him was too weak?

Flickerpaw had heard the news. Puddlestar now lead MistClan, but if the rumors she heard were true, Puddlestar used to be Puddleleaf, the medicine cat. Even Flickerpaw knew that a medicine cat couldn't lead a clan. They were'nt strong enough, and didn't have enough warrior training... Still, Puddlestar had gone on her journey...

But maybe that wasn't it at all. Shaking her head, the young apprentice tried again. Was there another danger in the forest?

[/size]

[(:\Thornnose/:)]

Fireflower's ears flicked towards the other medicine cats. They were saying something about LionClan, one of the legendary ancient clans, along with LeopardClan and TigerClan. Fireflower had always enjoyed these tales as a kit, but it seemed that this story was a serious one. What did Nala mean that it happened to LionClan before? And what was 'it'?

Fireflower was so confused. She'd heard tell that a former medicine cat was now leader of MistClan; Puddlestar. The ginger she-cat wondered if that had anything to do with the LionClan spirit. Had a medicine cat ever lead LionClan?

[** spy-deroo]

OOC// sorry for that little inactive stretch... I'm updating my posts now.

Oakleg had spent the while in between sentences staring in concern at Nala. She was apparently qualified to heal while Appleblossom was... well, wherever she was. He disliked how easily angered she had become for a few minutes, and was at the brink of hissing himself, but when she cooled he did the same, for Flickerpaw's sake. The apprentice didn't need to see something like this.

"We appreciate your warning, but... yes, Demonstar is dead." His face twisted in to a frown as he studied her carefully with her eyes. There was no chance Demonstar had interfered with StarClan... he would've gone to the Dark Forest for sure. And what was a spirit of LionClan doing sending messages for StarClan?

[@pple]

Nala shook her head at the medicine cats, "No, it is not Demonstar. It is Fallowpaw." She spoke the name like it was a curse. When they asked her what happened to her former clan, LionClan, it had been a long time. "Oh yes, I remember." She gave them a dark glare, "I will share that in your dreams." The sentence gave off an eerie ghostly whisper around the clearing where they were.

[/size]