Midnight Abridged

[celestialsquared]

Yes thanks to you, Cloudie, I have decided to reread the Warriors books I've got gathering dust on my bookshelf. It was either that, or send them all to Goodwill where some unfortunate soul can pick it up for the swell price of 2-3 bucks. I've decided just to reread the first book of the second and third arcs because I think that's just about all I can take.

Here goes.

Prologue

There was no moon, but the stars of Silverpelt shed their frosty glitter over the trees.

I had a hard time imagining this. Usually when there's a night with no moon, that indicates that the night is a dark one. Am I supposed to be imagining glitter falling from the sky?

Some more imagery stuff happens. Bluestar appears along with the rest of StarClan, it seems. They all sit around the magic star pool.

"A new prophecy has come!" She meowed. "A doom that will change everything has been foretold in the stars."

Yay, another vaguer than vague message for cats to blindly follow! Why is it always bad news? Why can't it be something pleasant for once?

"Darkness, air, water, and sky will come together, and shake the forest to its roots," The first cat went on. "Nothing will be as it is now, nor as it has been before."

You know what I would like to see in Warriors? A plot that isn't dictated by a prophecy. It was okay in the first arc, but now even the super editions have a prophecy involved somewhere. It needs to stop.

All the cats basically paraphrase what Bluestar just said and they decide to choose four cats from each clan. And here comes the vague dialogue. Why not? StarClan loves beating around the bush. There's an argument about half-clan cats, but it's nothing too interesting.

Oakheart stared at it (the pool) and stretched his jaws wide in a soundless mew of laughter.

Okay, what?

"We can choose a warrior to save each clan, but beyond that we cannot help them. May the spirits of our warrior ancestors go with these cats, wherever the stars may lead them."

But...You just said...Whatever.

Chapter 1

Brambleclaw is having a dream, apparently. Bluestar appears and gives him extremely detailed instructions to "listen to what midnight tells you."
Brambleclaw tries to make sense of it all when Greystripe wakes him up and scolds him for thrashing in his sleep. Bramble wonders if the dream he had was real, blah, blah. This paragraph is really just an excuse to explain what a medicine cat is.

Sorrelpaw's warrior ceremony is scheduled to happen that day and her history is recapped from the last arc. There's gonna be a lot of that going on in this chapter.

Dustpelt is being a supportive father and sticking around the nursery, so he asks Brambleclaw to keep an eye on his apprentice, Squirrelpaw, who is apparently is the "biggest nuisance in ThunderClan." according to Brambleclaw.
To bad she doesn't grow out of it.

"Sunningrocks?" Squirrelpaw interrupted, her eyes stretching wide in disbelief. "Are you (Brambleclaw) mouse-brained? On a day as hot as this, all the prey will be hiding down cracks. We won't catch so much as a whisker."

Back in my day, apprentices respected warriors. Sandstorm sets them both straight. Glad to see she's recovered from her queen syndrome a little bit.

"Sorry." Brambleclaw muttered, embarrassment sweeping through his fur from ears to tail-tip.

The Erins have the oddest way of describing things. Embarrassment is an emotion, not the wind.

The rest of the chapter includes typical clan life, more recapping, and useless, repetitive paragraphs about Brambleclaw's doubt about his dream. Makes me wonder if the Erins have a word count quota to fulfill.

Chapter 2

I do enjoy these imagery paragraphs at the start of every chapter. After they felt they've set the mood, Thornclaw informs Brambleclaw and Ashfur that they're checking Snakerocks. Checking them for what?
Bramble realizes he's being stalked and lo and behold, a wild Squirrelpaw appears. They get to bickering and Thornclaw gets ticked.

Her paws scuffled in the grass. "I wanted to come with you, that's all. I haven't been on patrol in ages."

I wonder why? This chick has no respect for anyone or the rules. What a brat. She's only eight moons; what, did she expect full warrior status?

She complains that Dustpelt is spending more time with his own kits than he is with her. Words cannot describe how much I'm beginning to dislike her.

Anger flared up in Squirrelpaw's eyes, and she took a step forward that brought her nose-to-nose with Thornclaw. "You're not my mentor, so don't order me around!"

I'm as speechless as Thornclaw. So, of course, Suepaw gets what her little heart desires and joins the patrol. What a spoiled brat.

They discover a badger had moved into the cave where the dogs were in the last arc. They investigate and at that moment, the badger decides to come home. Brambleclaw yells at Suepaw to run away, but she's in shock and can't move. He shoves her out of the way. Pity, I was all for leaving her there.
Once safely in a tree, Bramble asks her what the hell was she thinking. Her response was priceless:

"I've never seen a badger before, and I wanted to. Dustpelt says we should get all the experience we can."

Oh, but wait. There's more.

"So what are we going to do about it?" Squirrelpaw asked eagerly. "Shall we go in there and kill it? There are four of us and only one badger. How hard can it be?"

Thornclaw schools her in reality and leads the patrol back to camp to tell Firestar. I like him. He's sensible.

They get back and Suepaw gets a sound ranting from Dustpelt, who had planned to train her that day. She's punished for her stupidity by having her taking care of the elders for the rest of the day.

He couldn't help feeling sorry for her, even though she had deserved some sort of punishment for leaving the camp without any cat knowing where she was going.

Although it's pretty obvious now that he feels some type of way towards her, why are you helping? It seems Brambleclaw just couldn't stay away from her powerful sue aura.

Speckletail broke into a rasping laughter.

Cats can't laugh.

Firestar and Sandstorm come home from a search for Suepaw patrol and boy, is Sandstorm ticked. The chapter ends with Firestar deciding to do nothing about the badger living in their territory and simply tells everyone to stay away from Snakerocks for the time being. Great display of leadership right there.

[leah]

Cats can't laugh.

You should have said, "but we can".
Because, you know. It's funny.

Anyway this is great. I've never liked Squirrelpaw, really. Even when I first read these books. No, Stormfur and Tawnypelt were my favorites in this arc.

I was thinking of doing one of these myself but I wanted to make it in some strange kind of creative way. And I don't know which book I'd use seeing as how I only have the first three arcs and four out of five super editions. Maybe Forest of Secrets?

So keep it up because this is already great. Can't wait to see later chapters, especially since I recall the discontinuity and naming/spelling errors being far more common in the second arc. Hehehe. :3

[mistytail]

The bit about the laughing doesn't bother me too much. They have vocal cords, I guess they could meow or purr in a certain way that sounds like laughing. (Crying ticks me off though. I don't think cats even have tear ducts?? Could be wrong but I'm pretty sure they don't.)

But yeah. Ew. Squirrelpaw.

This is great. Keep it up.

[celestialsquared]

Oct 25, 2012 17:31:44 GMT -6 leah said:

You should have said, "but we can".
Because, you know. It's funny.

Pfft, oh you.

The bit about the laughing doesn't bother me too much. They have vocal cords, I guess they could meow or purr in a certain way that sounds like laughing. (Crying ticks me off though. I don't think cats even have tear ducts?? Could be wrong but I'm pretty sure they don't.)

I suppose so. It's just a personal pet peeve of mine because the image never come out right in my head. Imagining the sound is even worse.
I see crying a lot in art and roleplay. That doesn't happen either, guys.

[celestialsquared]

Chapter 3

The first chapter in Leafpaw's point of view.

The poor molly had to listen to Suepaw complain and moan about how unfair her punishment was.
Also, we learn that Leafpaw can sense Suepaw's emotions, alot like how human twins are rumored to do. Because synchronized emotions with your idiot sister is just convenient to have.

Cinderpelt invites her to the gathering and she doesn't want to go because Suepaw's not going. Cinder basically tells her to stop being clingy and grow up, but in a much kinder way.

Gathering happens. Let's skip to the more interesting part.
Tallstar complains that the drought has taken all the water in WIndClan territory and asks Leopardstar for permission to use the river. She asks her warriors how would they feel about this (why?) and...Well...

"We can't trust them! Let WindClan set one paw over our border, and they'll be taking prey as well as our water."

What? If it's that big of an issue, set sentries on that end of the river and escort them in and out the territory. Problem solved. I'm mad that I even thought of that.

"That's Blackclaw," Feathertail murmured into her (Leafpaw's) ear. "He's loyal to the clan, but..." She trailed off, obviously unwilling to say anything bad about her clan mate.

Blackclaw? Well, that name doesn't sound stereotypical at all.

Despite Blackclaw's outburst, they all take Mistyfoot's advice and let WindClan have some water. Greystripe suspects that Leopardstar plans to be paid back for their help later, but I doubt it.

Hawkfrost and Mothwing are introduced and Leopardstar feels the need to tell all the clans their life story. The cats are shocked, but honestly, most of the cast are former kittypets, rogues, or half-clan. How is this surprising?
She reveals that Mothwing is the new medicine cat apprentice and we've gone from shocked to outraged. The funny part is, the outraged crowd is actually right this time; Mothwing ends up being a bad medicine cat because she doesn't believe in StarClan.

The gathering ends and for some reason the chapter's point of view has switched back to Brambleclaw. Maybe the Erin's felt Leafpaw was too boring?

He walked on, and Hawkfrost raised his head to look after him. Brambleclaw couldn't quite suppress a shiver when he glimpsed the tom's eyes, an eerie ice blue that seemed to stare through the ThunderClan leader as if he was smoke.

I love how the Erins must make the villains clear right off the bat. We don't want the kiddies to be confused!
Also, was Brambleclaw standing behind Firestar, or what? That last bit threw me off.

Brambleclaw meets up with Tawnypelt and is surprised to hear that she had a similar dream to his own. They talk for a bit and decides to do what their ancestors told them and meet at new moon.

Oh, StarClan, He mewed silently. I hope you know what you're doing!

I wonder that too.

Chapter 4

It's a quarter moon later and there's still no rain.

Firestar tells Brambleclaw to join a patrol to ShadowClan's border and the ginger's prejudice against ShadowClan cats is showing again.
Young, naive Brambleclaw asks why since Blackstar claimed to have water, and Firestar's response was:

"True. But we don't necessarily believe what clan leaders say at a gathering. Besides, I've never trusted Blackstar. If he thinks we have richer prey in our territory, he'll send warriors in to help themselves, for sure."

Although you have a point, you share your borders with two other clans, Firestar. Who's to say RiverClan wouldn't pull the same thing? And WindClan especially, since they're suffering from a drought.

Greystripe the yes man agrees and remarks "It's about time they started making trouble." The amount of prejudice here is through the roof.
Bramble echoes what I've been thinking, saying "If the territory is as dry as Tallstar said, then they're bound to be short of prey."

Enter Suepaw. Ticked because she wasn't in the last chapter and because Brambleclaw dared to think differently than her father, the great and oh-so-wise leader, she exclaims:

"Brambleclaw, are you completely mousebrained? RiverClan gave WindClan permission to drink from the river, so if they steal prey from anywhere they'll steal it from RiverClan."

When was she in this conversation?
Bickering insues and Suepaw makes to swipe at Bramble with claws out and everything. Pro tip: Never attack a -claw cat.
Just when Brambleclaw gets into battle-mode, Firestar steps in and breaks 'em up, acknowledging that Bramble had a point. Aw.

"And you will get along with each other, or I'll want to know why."

I've seen this saying twice so far in this book and I have to say that is the stupidest threat ever.
Also, why would you pair your own daughter up with a cat she can't get along with? You're asking for trouble.

"Squirrelpaw, sooner or later you must learn there are times to speak, and times to be silent."

Amen.

Dustpelt, Suepaw, and Brambleclaw all go on patrol together. Suepaw makes more smart aleck remarks and catches a vole. Bleh.
Mudclaw, Onewhisker, and Crowpaw are caught stealing RiverClan prey that has run into ThunderClan territory. Crowpaw's an idiot and attacks Brambleclaw for calling them thieves, even though they are.
Onewhisker breaks them up and they leave with Dustpelt saying "That vole is between you and RiverClan."

Suepaw is ticked that she was proven wrong, but really, who cares? Brambleclaw is left wondering if the drought was the trouble StarClan foretold. Of course not. That would be too simple for this series.

It's finally new moon and Brambleclaw goes to Fourtrees and nervously waits to see if anyone else shows up.
And look, it's a wild Suepaw! What a stalker.

Chapter 5

Suepaw talks about how clever and amazing she is because Brambleclaw didn't notice her following. Then we have this pleasant paragraph to read:

That was true, though Brambleclaw would have died rather that tell her he was impressed. Instead, he let out a low growl. For two mousetails he felt like springing at the ginger she cat to claw that smug expression off her face.

Do it, Bramble. Do it.

Instead, he tries to get her to leave, but she's as annoying as ever and Tawnypelt arrives.
Now, at this point it just now occurs to me that everyone going on this journey are offspring of important characters from the last arc. (Except Crowpaw) I suddenly can't feel mad at young writers and artists for making so many Scourge offspring OCs.

Some dialogue comes next, mostly about how Suepaw and Stormfur shouldn't be there. I was amused by the acknowledgement that what they were doing was against the warrior code. No one really keeps tabs on that anymore.

"If it were me," Squirrelpaw meowed before Feathertail could reply, "I'd be a bit less quick to believe in these dreams. If there was really trouble on its way, do you think StarClan would come to you first, before the clan leaders or medicine cats?"

1. Shut up.
2. Why are you here?
3. Who asked you? Stop jumping into other's conversations.
I swear, the only purpose she serves is to be a representative of Firestar's genes. There is literally no reason for her to have that big of a role in this story.

The four begin to doubt themselves and agree to meet up again at the gathering. They also decide not to tell their leaders for reasons beyond me. It seems these cats are just really fond of keeping secrets.

Brambleclaw tells Suepaw she shouldn't come to the next meeting because she didn't have the dream.

"But I know about it, don't I? If StarClan didn't want me involved, they would have kept me from Fourtrees somehow."

The Erins is failing to come up with legit reasons for her to be involved.
He gives in and lets her go. Why, I don't know.

[mistytail]

Yes, StarClan definitely wants a loud-mouthed brat on the dream team. GTFO, Squirrelpaw.

[leah]

If StarClan didn't want me involved, they would have kept me from Fourtrees somehow."

We ARE keeping you from Four-
Oh, you mean THAT Fourtrees. Hehehe. /shot

Greystripe the yes man

I died, came back to life, and died a second time. Ohmygod.

Do it, Bramble. Do it.

YES MAKE HER BLEED.

Pro tip: Never attack a -claw cat.

Especially when you end up becoming a whimpy -flight cat.

[Grey]

Also, we learn that Leafpaw can sense Suepaw's emotions, alot like how human twins are rumored to do. Because synchronized emotions with your idiot sister is just convenient to have.

What makes these two special? The twins-connection tends to be an identical twin thing, and Leafpaw and Squirrelpaw are not identical. They were just in the same litter. By this logic, all cats that come from the same litter should somehow know how their siblings are feeling.

She asks her warriors how would they feel about this (why?) and...Well...

I think this is a good thing to do. Making rash decisions without consulting your warriors is the same as making a political policy without looking at your statistics or finances. After all, the decision doesn't just change the leader's life, and the warriors will be expected to do the work.

Blackclaw? Well, that name doesn't sound stereotypical at all.

So tired of this trope.

He mewed silently.

I believe that means he didn't actually "mew" at all.

Young, naive Brambleclaw asks why since Blackstar claimed to have water, and Firestar's response was:

For the record, Shadowclan live in a marsh. It's bog country. That is going to be the last thing to dry up, besides the river. The moors would go first, followed by the forest. Their soils don't retain moisture the way that marshes do. I would expect cats that live in these territories to be at least a little familiar with how the seasons alter them.

[leah]

For the record, Shadowclan live in a marsh. It's bog country. That is going to be the last thing to dry up, besides the river. The moors would go first, followed by the forest. Their soils don't retain moisture the way that marshes do. I would expect cats that live in these territories to be at least a little familiar with how the seasons alter them

I was thinking this too. Blackstar doesn't always have to be a liar, Thunderclan, just because he's a part of the Clan that was purposefuly portrayed as evil for no reason I can really think of. Sheesh.

[celestialsquared]

Oct 26, 2012 18:03:36 GMT -6 Grey said:

What makes these two special? The twins-connection tends to be an identical twin thing, and Leafpaw and Squirrelpaw are not identical. They were just in the same litter. By this logic, all cats that come from the same litter should somehow know how their siblings are feeling.

Firestar's genes must have magical properties.

I think this is a good thing to do. Making rash decisions without consulting your warriors is the same as making a political policy without looking at your statistics or finances. After all, the decision doesn't just change the leader's life, and the warriors will be expected to do the work.

At least she cares. Not caring is one step towards dictatorship.

[celestialsquared]

Chapter 6

Leafpaw's point of view again.
She dreams of everything Suepaw went through that night. She wakes up and it's finally raining men. She realizes the dream she had was about Suepaw and she rushes off to go find her and "help her hide whatever she had been up to."

Ravenpaw visits the camp. Leafpaw sees this as an opportunity to ask him if Suepaw was outside of camp and offers him to take him to see Firestar. It appears Suepaw had been hunting after all as she arrives home with fresh-kill. Of course, it's nothing less than a huge rabbit.

Leafpaw followed more slowly, not sure whether to be relieved or furious. She had the uneasy feeling that Squirrelpaw was lying to her, for the first time ever.

Who are you, her mother?

The next piece of dialouge pretty much translates to this:
"I know what you did last night."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Long story short, Suepaw is horrible at lying and Leafpaw is angry with her.

Cinderpelt saves the day and everyone remarks how splendid Suepaw's catch was. Insert Cinderpelt backstory paragraph here.
Cinder orders Leafpaw to go do some medic stuff.

Leafpaw felt every hair on her pelt prickle with foreboding as she wondered what could have happened to open up this gulf between them.

Dear God, you sound like you guys are married or something. Get a life.

Back to Brambleclaw, he's having a dream about drowning in the ocean. It's long and drawn out and I really can't feel like commenting on it.
He wakes up and is once again scolded for thrashing in his sleep. Well, gee guys. Not like I'm having a bad dream or nothing.

...like the other cats he would sometimes lick salt from the surface of rocks...

This is Erin's attempt to explain how Brambleclaw knows what salt tastes like.

We learn that Ravenpaw had visited to warn Firestar about some construction workers on the side of the road, but the leader doesn't seem worried. He patronizes him and tells him to send word to WindClan on his way home. He even offers to go with Ravenpaw to see what he's talking about.
While Firestar leaves to form a patrol, Ravenpaw starts a conversation with Brambleclaw:

"You look like you've been chased all night by a horde of badgers," the loner mewed. "Is anything the matter?"
"Nothing really..." Brambleclaw scuffled his paws on the ground. "I had a dream, that's all."
Ravenpaw's eyes were sympathetic "Do you want to talk about it?"

Since when was Raven a psychologist?
Ravenpaw tells Brambleclaw that the beach is a real place and the dream must be a StarClan-sent dream. So instead of outright telling these cats where they're supposed to go, StarClan drops hints every blue moon? That's messed up.

Brambleclaw has doubts again and Ravenpaw reassures him by saying Firestar didn't know what he was doing either. Real assuring.

Chapter 7

Brambleclaw decides to visit Feathertail and Stormfur to tell them about his dream. he's got the feeling they should go to the beach and get a tan as soon as possible. Thankfully, he leaves Suepaw behind.

He nearly drowns, but he finds his way on RiverClan territory. He meets Feathertail and Stormfur almost immediately. Convenient.

"... And he (Ravenpaw) told me that StarClan's prophecies are always vauge. We need the faith and courage of warriors to understand them and to trust that what StarClan wants us to do is right."

Nice speech. Did you make it up on the way here?

Feathertail remarks that he's right and StarClan will show them the way. I'm not too sure about that considering what Bluestar said in the prologue.

Bramble and the RiverClan cats wait for Crowpaw to arrive at the river so they can convince him to go as well.

"What sort of dream?" Crowpaw's voice was cold. "I haven't had one. Why would StarClan send you a dream and not me?"

1. You're not a ThunderClan cat.
2.You're not the main character.

Crowpaw plays hard to get and points out that he'll be made a warrior soon, which is understandable.

"And the reason StarClan aren't giving us clear instructions is because they want us to show faith and courage."

Whatever gets you up in the morning.
With this ridiculous message, Crowpaw agrees to join them, but tells Brambleclaw "I'm not going to take orders from you!" Yeah right.

Chapter 8

Cinderpelt is giving a lesson on herb hunting to Leafpaw and it's noted that the badger is still at Snakerocks.
While harvesting chervil, they notice some of the bracken is smoking. You know, usually when I see smoke I run away from it not towards it.
Surprise, surprise, the braken bursts into flames. Leafpaw turns to run, but realizes Cinderpelt is receiving a message from StarClan. The flames die down and Cinder explains what she sees:

"In the flames...a leaping tiger. I saw it clearly, its huge head, the leaping paws, stripes as black as night along its body..." The medicine cat's voice was hoarse. "An omen from StarClan, fire and tiger together. It must mean something, but what?"

Providing you read the last arc, this shouldn't be too hard to guess.

They head back to camp to tell Firestar. Heh, "curtain of lichen".

"In the flames I saw a leaping tiger. Fire and tiger together, devouring the bracken. Such power, unleashed, could destroy the forest."

Hmm, they do bicker a lot. But destroying the forest? I think not.

Firestar can't believe that Brambleclaw would destroy the forest and Leafpaw silently agrees. At least she knows her place, unlike a certain ginger she cat.
Bramble being ruled out, Cinder suggests that "fire" could mean Suepaw. That seems unlikely as well.

Not knowing what to do, Firestar asks Cinderpelt what she thinks and she basically says that's not her problem. He resolves to tell Sandstorm and Yesman and no one else. He also decides to keep Brambleclaw and Suepaw away from each other. Makes sense, I guess.

A cute father/daughter hug happens and they leave.

[cloudbat]

"And the reason StarClan aren't giving us clear instructions is because they want us to show faith and courage."

Or because they're just a bunch of buttholes and the Erins need to squeeze six books from this. That is my enduring theory.

Also this is beautiful and I feel humbled to have inspired it. .w.

[celestialsquared]

Chapter 9

Brambleclaw notes that Leafpaw looks worried and that Firestar is looking at him suspiciously and wonders if he's in trouble.
Suepaw asks him if he had anymore messages from StarClan as if it's any of her business.

If he vanished on the day before the half-moon without confiding in her, he would have broken his part of the bargain, but he did not knot what he would say if she demanded to come with them.

You're a good cat, Brambleclaw. I say ditch her. She'll get over it.

Firestar comes over and sends Suepaw away to train with Thornclaw and Shrewpaw. She protests and Fire remarks that you shouldn't argue with the clan leader. She decides to test this theory and complains that she's been working all day. Firestar reminds her "that's what being an apprentice is all about."
Then we get this gem:

"I'm not complaining!" Squirrelpaw leaped to her paws, her fur bristling. "I only said I wanted a bit of peace and quiet to eat. Why are you always nagging me? You're not my mentor, so stop acting like you are. Or are you just afraid that I'll let you down, and not live up to our great leader's shining example?"

Whoa, girlfriend. She reminds me of N when he starts talking extremely fast.

Sandstorm remarks that if you order Suepaw around she'll get even more stubborn. Um isn't it like, an apprentice's job to be ordered about? Who does she think she is?

Brambleclaw figures out that Firestar is trying to get Suepaw to stay away from him and Bramble could only guess it's because she told him about the dream. In this case, he figures he doesn't have to uphold his promise either.
He tries to get a second helping from the fresh-kill pile and is caught by Mousefur. D'oh, foiled again. Cloudtail offers to go hunting with him and he agrees, thinking if he caught up with Suepaw, he can get the full story. You're better than me, Bramble.

If Firestar knew that StarClan had chosen four cats, each from a different clan, would he try to warn the other leaders, and put a stop to their journey before it even started?

I don't understand this rational. Seems like an excuse for there to be more soap opera drama than necessary.

Brambleclaw doesn't see head or tail of Suepaw for the rest of the day. He doesn't see her for most of the next day either. After a nap, he finally sees her and tries to follow, but Brackenfur invites him to watch a training session with Whitepaw. He tries to decline, but then Brackenfur admits Firestar put him up to it.

"But we never do that," Brambleclaw protested. "Anyway, it'll be moons before Ferncloud's kits are ready for mentors."
Brackenfur shrugged. "An order's an order, Brambleclaw."

Bramble is ticked and now firmly convinced that Firestar knows his secret.

Kitty Kung-Fu training begins. I've never been able to properly imagine these cats doing anything described. I would love to say it's because the Erins are bad at writing battles, but I've seen cats fight. It looks nothing like this.
Brambleclaw wishes he was doing something useful and I'm starting to feel the same.

He finally finds Suepaw and they meet behind the nursery. She says she hasn't told anyone, but Firestar keeps looking at her oddly.

Suddenly feeling sorry for the confused, unhappy she cat, Brambleclaw padded up to her to press his muzzle against her side, but she whisked away from him, her teeth bared in the beginnings of a snarl.

Well, screw you too.

Firestar and Yesman finds them and basically tells them if they have time to breathe, they have time to work.

"Squirrelpaw, you must have better things to do than hang about with an inexperienced warrior like Brambleclaw. Stay with your own mentor in the future."

Ouch. Bramble's upset that he's somehow lost his leader's respect. He also realizes that in order to be loyal to the prophecy, he would have to be disloyal to his leader. Then again, StarClan did screw him over on this one.

Chapter 10

Brambleclaw doesn't bother to try to talk to Suepaw anymore. Mousefur asks if he wants to go hunting and he figures if he brings back enough prey, he'll regain Firestar's favor. Pfffft.

General hunting stuff, Spiderpaw has no idea what he's doing.
Bramble hears a yowl and runs forward just to find Suepaw stuck in a grose bush. He "laughs" at her and she gives her usual snarky retort. Wonderful.

He helps her out and it's a double battle as a wild Firestar and Yesman appears.
Bramble says he hasn't disobeyed orders and Suepaw backs him up the only way she knows how:

"Why are you being so horrible?" Squirrelpaw interrupted, glaring at her father. "Brambleclaw isn't doing anything wrong."

This whole subplot is starting to remind me of Romeo and Juliet without the artistic writing.

Squirrelpaw sprang forward to stand nose-to-nose with her father and lifted her voice in a yowl of pure fury. "I was stuck in a bush! Brambleclaw helped me! It's not his fault!"

Oh God, this is just too much. I'm dying over here.

Once I stop laughing I notice Yesman has taken the time out to hunt during all this. Real supportive.

Firestar orders the two to get back to work and leaves. Yesman stays a little longer to apologize for him before his master calls him away.

Whatever was making Firestar behave like this, it wasn't his fault. It wasn't Squirrelpaw's either. She could be annoying, but she was a loyal and hardworking apprentice. Any leader worth a couple of mousetails could see what a great warrior she would make.

A warrior worthy of the wimpy -flight suffix.

He decides to leave ThunderClan, but makes the mistake of telling Suepaw his beach dream. For some reason, she thinks she is obligated to go with him and he allows it. Why, I don't know.

Chapter 11

They look for some place to sleep for the night and Suepaw cannot stop talking. I told you not to take her along.

Squirrelpaw sniffed. "Why do you always know better?"
"Maybe because I'm a warrior?"

I was waiting for that.

While wandering about, they find a construction vehicle on the side of the road and get under it for shelter.

There was just enough light for Brambleclaw to make out a darker gap between the monster's belly and the ground.

Maybe I'm wrong, but can't cats see exceptionally well in the dark? Weird.

They get to moving again the next day and a wild Leafpaw appeared. I guess those synchronized emotions of hers really do come in handy.
Brambleclaw thinks Suepaw lied and told Leafpaw. This guy always jumps to conclusions.
Leafpaw explains herself and says:

"I wish I had," Leafpaw went on, bitterness in her voice. "Perhaps I could have stopped it all, and kept you here. Squirrelpaw, do you really have to go?"

No, not really. In fact, she could go back with you right now. No, don't give me that bull that the fire & tiger prophecy meant StarClan changed their mind.

"I must! This is the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me. Don't you see? Its a command from StarClan, so it's not like we're going against the warrior code."

I'm still not convinced. The Erins have yet to give me a real reason for her to go. And yet, they enforce that she must, just because they say so. That's bad writing.

Blabbermouth tells Leafpaw everything and she listens with growing "dismay". Listen, I know she's your sister and all, but seriously. That crap was cute when you were kits but she's a warrior apprentice and you're a medicine cat apprentice. You didn't think that would mean you won't be together much anymore?

Suepaw convinces Leafpaw that she must go somehow and she goes home.

[Grey]

I would love to say it's because the Erins are bad at writing battles, but I've seen cats fight. It looks nothing like this.

Thank you so much for saying this, because it's exactly what I'm thinking.

Maybe I'm wrong, but can't cats see exceptionally well in the dark? Weird.

I would expect so. It has always puzzled me that the clans seem to all go to sleep at night, rather than go hunting or patrolling or, you know, being awake in general. Cats are generally pretty active when it's dark.

[celestialsquared]

Chapter 12

Leafpaw catches a vole to use as cover for when she gets home. For some reason, everyone thinks Brambleclaw and Suepaw are still in camp. What a bunch of idiots.
Brightheart goes to wake Brambleclaw and Dustpelt asks around for Suepaw. By midday, the cats have figured that maybe their having a love affair. Which isn't a bad guess.

Firestar and Sandstorm talk and Sand shows that maybe she's the brains behind Firestar's leadership:

"It mentions fire and tiger, and trouble," Sandstorm continued, "But it doesn't say that fire and tiger will cause the trouble, does it?"
Leafpaw saw a shiver run right through Firestar's body, rippling his flame-colored fur.
"You're right!"

If only it was possible for me to hand out good job stickers to these cats.

Firestar forms a patrol to look for the two missing cats. Leafpaw wonders if maybe she should tell them about the beach prophecy, but remembered that Suepaw had her promise not to say anything. I'm just about sick of these secrets for no logical reason.

Cinderpelt kept Leafpaw busy restocking their herbs until Firestar comes over.

...the sun turning his pelt to brilliant flame...

This is about the five billionth time Firestar's beautiful ginger fur has been mentioned so far in this book. No, I'm not exaggerating; Erin must remind the reader of Firestar's handsomeness every time he appears.

Firestar's depressed that he can't find Bramble and Suepaw and Cinderpelt offers no comfort. Leafpaw feels sorry that she can't help. If you felt that sorry, you'll just tell him what's going on already.
Once he left, Cinderpelt asks Leafpaw if she knew where her sister was. Of course, she says she doesn't

Oh, Squirrelpaw. she protested Why did you have to go?

How is that a protest?

Chapter 13

Brambleclaw and Suepaw arrive at Fourtrees where the other cats have been waiting. Immediately, I developed a fondness for Tawnypelt.

"What?" Tawnypelt padded up to her brother's side. "Brambleclaw, have you lost your mind? You can't bring an apprentice. This is going to be dangerous."

Suepaw points out that Crowpaw's an apprentice, but he repsonds that he was chosen by StarClan. Then she tries to make a point that Stormfur didn't have a dream either. You see, Suepaw, the difference between you and Stormfur is that he's not totally useless like you are.
The argument is settled when Tawnypelt says if we can't get rid of her then we'll just have to put up with her.

The journey starts and despite Crowpaw's protests, the ThunderClan warrior is the clear leader. He suggests that they stay at Barley's barn for the night and the group (minus Crowpaw) agrees.
Everyone introduces themselves to Ravenpaw, and of course he is only interested in Suepaw. He feeds them and offers to escort the cats to Highstones.

The next day, they get going. Ravenpaw gives them advice on routes to take. Suepaw seems distressed that there's no more forest to be found.

"Don't worry," Brambleclaw meowed reassuringly. "I'll look after you."
To his surprise she whirled on him, the light of fury in her green eyes. "How many times do I have to tell you I don't need looking after!" She spat. "If you're going to behave like Firestar all the way to the sun-drown place, I might as well have stayed at home."
"Oh, don't we wish," Crowpaw murmured, rolling his eyes.

1. Screw you too, Suepaw.
2. Crowpaw, stop reading my mind. You're creeping me out.

Tawnypelt gave Squirrelpaw a curious glance. "Are you going to let an apprentice talk to you like that?" She asked her brother.
Brambleclaw shrugged. "You try stopping her."
His sister's ears twitched "ThunderClan!"

Glad you left when you did, huh Tawny?

Despite Suepaw's rude behavior, Feathertail still tried to comfort her. Bleeeeeeh.

Chapter 14

They get past Highstones and come across some sheep; they all stop to allow Suepaw to investigate.
I would like to know why they know the names of all these animals and yet they call humans "twolegs". Humans are not the only animals in the area that stands on two legs, birds do as well.

Feathertail wonders why they have to go to the beach and Crowpaw retorts "Maybe the ThunderClan warrior can tell us."
While it's true that ThunderClan always gets special treatment, Suepaw was right in saying it's not his fault. It just so happens that StarClan favors ThunderClan over all the others.

"And what do you know about it?" Crowpaw growled. "In WindClan, apprentices know when to keep their mouths shut."

That's too bad, son. In ThunderClan, apprentices can do whatever they want with no repercussions.

"I'm not doing it for you (Brambleclaw)!" She snapped. "I'm just not letting that stupid furball think WindClan is so much better than ThunderClan."

Yeah, doesn't he know ThunderClan is the best clan? They're ordained by StarClan to be the saviors of the universe.

Brambleclaw realizes that not even his sister jumped in to help him. Maybe because she knows it's true?

They get to a road and Suepaw tries to make like she's not scared. Tawnypelt schools her in reality and sets her straight. Good 'ol Tawnypelt.

They cross the road and they get split up in all the confusion. Brambleclaw gets stuck with Feathertail in a tree with a barking dog waiting for them below.
A human comes out and takes the dog inside. Even though I know this is from a cat's point of view, I'm getting increasingly irritated that half the chapter was spent dissing humans.

Brambleclaw and Feathertail decide to get past the suburbs and hope the others do the same.
While waiting, Feathertail remarks that it felt strange being without Stormfur. They talk about families and being half-clan, blah, blah, blah.

The chapter ends in a cliffhanger when they here the sound of angry cats.