HoundClan Territory

Frogpaw quietly grumped to himself as he balled up the moss in the elder's den. Giving his pelt a quick shake, he grabbed the moss in his jaws and dragged it out of the den to dispose of.

Waspwhisker padded along the side of the river, pushing his way through the reeds. The gray and white tom waded into the river, looked carefully around, and dived. A few moments later, he resurfaced, a silver fish in his mouth.

At the center of a border fight between HoundClan and JaggedClan, Houndstar pinned Stormpelt to the ground and drew back his head triumphantly. "Stormpelt!" the brown and white tom growled. "How dare you hunt in our territory? This area belongs to HoundClan!"

"After today, Houndstar, this will just be another JaggedClan hunting ground!" the gray tom spat back.

"Look out! More JaggedClan warriors are coming!" yowled Rabbitleap, his voice shrill above the sounds of battle.

Extending his claws, Reedtail slashed at Newtpaw's shoulder, then pinned the apprentice flat to her belly. He lunged forward, his jaws aiming for a killing blow to her neck.

Ashpaw heard the cry of her denmate, and with a might leap, she knocked Reedtail away from Newtpaw.

Houndstar spit with rage as a gray tabby tom sliced open his nose. Blood blinded him for an instant, but he lunged forward regardless and sank his teeth into the hind leg of his enemy, causing the tom to squeal.

"Houndstar!" yowled Rabbitleap to his leader. "This is useless! There are too many JaggedClan warriors!"

"No, Rabbitleap. HoundClan will never be beaten! Houndstar yowled back, leaping to Rabbitleap's side. "This is our territory!" He shook his head impatiently, scattering scarlet drops of blood onto the rocks.

"Rabbitleap is right, Houndstar. We can't afford to lose anymore warriors, we can't afford to lose you." Cedarpelt urged his leader. The two toms gazes met steadily, then Cedarpelt leapt onto a rockpile and let out a yowl.

"Retreat, HoundClan! Retreat!" he yowled as the warriors squirmed and struggled away from their opponents. He saw JaggedClan look confused for a moment, then they let out jubilant yowls as the HoundClan cats raced back to their own camp.

Some time past the battle with JaggedClan, Newtpaw stumbled as she carried a fresh mouse into the HoundClan camp from her hunting trip. Her shoulder had healed, though it still showed the raw scars, and for some reason she felt as if she was getting worse at her duties, not any better. Giving a small shrug of her shoulders, she placed the mouse down onto the pile, and sat down for a moment or two.

Redthistle poked her head out from her den, smelling the scent of the apprentice that she was looking for. Spotting Newtpaw, Redthistle padded out and over to the she-cat, dipping her head in greeting.

"Newtpaw?" Redthistle meowed as she padded up. "May I see you in my den? I'd like to have a word with you." She quickly turned and headed back to the medicine den, not giving the apprentice any time to protest, and padded inside. Once inside, she dipped her head in respect to Houndstar, who was also waiting in, then turned to face Newtpaw.

"What's all this about?" meowed Newtpaw as she spotted Houndstar sitting next to Redthistle. She sat down, feeling nervous, and her belly growled loudly. Embarrassed, she shifted her paws, and swore she felt her insides moving as if in response to her stomach's hunger.

"Newtpaw, Redthistle pointed something out to me, that's quite important." meowed Houndstar, keeping his voice level. "She told me you're expecting kits, and once I had it pointed out, I can see that your belly is starting to show as well. As you know, it's not a good thing for apprentices to being having kits, but to avoid any issues, I will give you your warrior name soon. You were injured in battle, though you fought well, so others will assume that it's for that reason."

Houndstar paused for a moment, letting the young cat process the information. "I'm not going to ask why or with who, it is a queen's choice to tell who the father of her kits is. However, because of this, once your kits have become paws of their own, I will expect you to put in extra duties to make up for your shorter apprenticeship. No one else will know except us three, unless you choose to tell them. Now, go on back to your den, we'll make sure to have the ceremony for your name before it gets any more obvious."

Newtpaw's jaw had dropped open in shock at what Houndstar had said, then snapped shut as he had continued to speak. Nodding to her leader, she made her way out of the medicine den and back to her own, stumbling a few times. Once she was inside and neither of her denmates was in, she sat down in shock and gave herself a quick wash while thinking.

Houndstar and Redthistle couldn't be right, she was too young to have kits of her own! Yet as she groomed her body and got closer to her belly, she noticed that it was starting to curve out from the rest of her body, much like how Brightflower and Poolcloud were looking, though not nearly as big, and everyone knew they were both expecting kits. She gave her belly fur a small lick, feeling something stir inside, and realized that what she had felt inside after the battle were indeed kits growing inside of her body.

"How can this be? I can't, there's no way I.." she meowed quietly to herself, protesting the kits inside of her body as they moved and protested her own protests. Then it hit her, during the last battle, when Reedtail had pinned her down. She bit back a shudder, realizing that there was no way she could ever tell anyone who fathered these half-clan kits, who knew if anyone would believe her that it wasn't her choice, that he had forced it on her. No, it was better to just let the rest of the clan wonder, and raise her kits to be the best HoundClan warriors they could be, and not follow in her pawsteps.

Sagepaw stretched and gave herself a shake as she padded out of the medicine den, brushing the last bits of sleep from her body, and made her way over to the fresh-kill pile to grab a starling for a meal.

Ashpaw padded into the HoundClan camp, carrying a thrush in her jaws, and quickly made her way over to the elder's den. Once inside, she dropped the prey at their paws with a respectful dip of her head and backed out.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather for a clan meeting!" yowled Houndstar.

Brightflower pricked up her ears and slid out of the nursery to hear what Houndstar had to say. She sat down next to her denmate, Featherstorm, helping to mind Featherstorm's kits during the meeting.

"I, Houndstar, Leader of HoundClan call upon my warrior ancestors to look down upon these apprentices. They have trained well, fought well, and have earned their warrior names." Houndstar continued. "Frogpaw, Newtpaw. Do you both promise to uphold the warrior code, to fight and defend your clan as long as you both live?"

"I do." meowed Frogpaw.

"I do." meowed Newtpaw, trying in desperation to stay still as she felt her still developing kits moving around inside of her.

"Then by StarClan, I give you both your warrior names." continued Houndstar. "Frogpaw, from this day on, you will be known as Frogtail. Newtpaw, from this day on, you will be known as Newtcloud. StarClan honors you both and we welcome you both as full warriors of HoundClan."

Frogtail puffed out his chest in pride as the clan called out their new names.