The sun was low in the sky, setting against the hills. Pichi was running through the woods, sprinting as fast as her little under-used legs would let her, before she felt something hard, hot, and heavy, crash into her side, both of them tumbling over, before ending up with her, face-down, pinned roughly to the unwelcoming rock-filled dirt, with whatever it was on her back. Then she felt a set of sharp, searing pains in her shoulder, and she exclaimed "UUAUGHH!!" in pain, before the sharp objects retreated. From the weight atop her, she heard a tom's voice, yelling, "WHO ARE YOU!? WHY ARE YOU IN PATCHCLAN TERRITORY!?", "P-please! Stop hurting me! I'm no threat!" she wailed in response, and felt the weight relax slightly, but still it held her down firmly. The tom spoke firmly "I repeat. Who are you? Why are you in our territory? You smell like a Kittypet.", the word 'Kittypet' falling out of their mouth with a hostile spit, Pichi tensed slightly, before responding, "M-my two-legs was taking me to the evil man! I-I tried to escape, but the monster went off the dark-path, and i woke up to find my two-legs dead! P-please, i want nothing to do with you cats, or your territory, I just want to find somewhere safe to live!". The weight atop her leaned back off her for a moment, then spoke, "Fine. I'll believe you, Kittypet", the hostility not lessened, as they continued, "But you're a prisoner of PatchClan for now. Sparrowstar will decide your fate.", then the weight got off of her back, allowing her to rise to her feet, the searing lingering pain in her shoulder causing her to tremble as she rose. She turned to look at her captor, A shortfur adult tom, with a pelt black as night, fading gently into an ashy gray around his lower-half and legs, his tail solid black, with a small circle-spot around his forehead in black, His eyes golden and shimmering, She caught the hostile glare in his gaze, before he turned away and began walking through the woods, gesturing her to follow with a flick of his tail, to which she obeyed, following closely behind, hoping not to feel his teeth penetrate her flesh again.
After a long few moments of walking, they came to a cliffside, a smooth drop down, with sharp rocks sticking out the cliffside periodically, leading down to a rocky plot of land on the shore of a river, with no land connecting to either side. The black tom slowly crept down the cliffside, stepping carefully on the rocks. Pichi stammered, "I-i'm supposed to go down that?, with a hurting shoulder no less?", The black tom stopped and glared up at her, "Shut up, Kittypet. This isnt your cushy two-leg nest, this is nature. Get over it, and follow me. If you fall, so be it, one less intruder in our territory.", he spoke, with a hostile venom in his tone, before he looked back down, and continued descending. Pichi closed her eyes, exhaling shakily, before opening them back, and slowly sticking her paw down, feeling the hard cold rock beneath her pawpads. She slowly placed all four paws onto it, the rock barely large enough for all four. She looked to the next rock, and slowly made her way down to it, one paw at a time, finding it smaller than the last. The next rock was wider, and a slight relief filled her as she found her paws firmly planted on the slightly larger rock, but she didnt pause for long, before continuing downward, beginning to grow confidence in her steps, speeding up slightly.
A few moments later, she found herself safely on the cold wet rock ground on the shoreside of the rushing river, she looked around the space, to find a large rocky area underneath the cliff. Rocks were stacked infront of large miniature Cavern-openings, the sound of cats sleeping inside. The black tom turned to look at her, "Oh. You made it. Great." he spoke, with an annoyance in his tone at her success, before he spoke again "Come on, Follow me, Kittypet.", then he turned back and walked deeper into the Cavern, Pichi following closely behind the black tom.
At the end of the Cavern, the black tom gestured her to stop with his tail, before walking to a rock blocking an opening in the back wall of the Cavern, and spoke "Sparrowstar, I found a Kittypet intruder in our territory. They claim they were inside of their two-leg's monster, when they broke free and the monster fell to its demise on the side of the Thunderpath.", from inside, Pichi heard a gentle voice reply, "Send them in, Flightheart.", and the black tom, 'Flightheart', turned back to Pichi, "Go on, and don't try anything stupid.", he spoke with hostility, before pushing the rock out of the way of the opening, and gesturing for Pichi to enter. As Pichi walked into the opening, she found darkness, pitch black darkness, and a voice came from the nothingness of the miniature Cavern, "Greetings, Kittypet intruder. I am Sparrowstar, the Leader of PatchClan. Flightheart told me the story, but i want to hear it from you. Speak.", the voice was feminine, soft, and strangely inviting. Pichi sat, and gathered her courage, before speaking, "U-uhm, My name is Pichi, I was a . . 'Kittypet', uh . . . My two-legs were mean, and constantly blamed me for things my denmate—a dog— did.", as she spoke, her eyes adjusted to the darkness, allowing her to see the Leader, sitting on a rock. She was a surprisingly well-groomed cat, despite being wild. Her eyes glimmered and shown from the light bleeding in through the opening behind Pichi, which comforted her as she continued telling the events that had led to her sitting here. As she finished, she saw the Leader, Sparrowstar, relax and think for several, long, agonizing moments, before speaking, "Oh, such a perilous tale, little Kittypet. Tell me, do you wish to live among us clan cats? . . . You'll find the Fresh-kill here much, much better than whatever food those two-legs fed you . . . Of course, you'll have to work for the fresh-kill, and you'll have to follow the warrior code, but if you wish, you could join—under close watch by the rest of the clan—as an apprentice . . . Would you accept my generous offer?"
Pichi was slightly taken aback at this, and stuttered out "Wh-what? you . . . W-want me to join you Wild cats? M-me, a 'Kittypet'? . . . Fr-from the way that tom spoke to me, I doubt that's something many Clan cats would offer somecat like me . . .", Sparrowstar nodded gently, "Indeed. It is not often that a Kittypet joins clan life, but you . . . Something is special about you. I am afraid i cannot tell you what that means, but . . . I urge you, in your stay here as a warrior, do consider my generous offer. Whether you accept or deny is completely your choice, I will not force your paw. You may go and sleep among the elders, for now.", she spoke gently, invitingly. Pichi stared dumbfounded for a few moments, then stammered, "I-I uh . . . . . W-well, uh . . . I-I suppose I should probably accept your offer right off the bat, I . . I-if you're being so generous it'd be rude to deny it, S-so uh . . ." Pichi took a slow inhale, "I accept your offer, Sparrowstar.", then bowed respectfully. Sparrowstar let out a low purr of satisfaction, "You may rise. Ask Flightheart to guide you to the fresh-kill pile, and then the Apprentices den to rest. Next Sunrise, I will give you a new Clan name, and a mentor." Pichi slowly rose, turned, and left the Leader's cavernous den.
She found the camp more active than it was when she first entered. A white tom was sitting and talking to a pale copper red tom, a dark gray apprentice tom sitting beside the white tom, talking to a rust-orange apprentice tom. A dark gray she-cat returning with fresh-kill in her maw, Flightheart sitting beside the Leader's den opening, pushing the rock infront of the way of the opening. "I heard her. Go get some fresh-kill you undeserving Kittypet." he growled with venom and annoyance in his voice, gesturing toward an open Recess in the Cavern wall. She walked over to it nervously, and looked through it. She decided to grab a small mouse, and looked around, walked to the far back left corner of the wall of the Cavern, and began eating. She took a bite, and found it to be hard to chew. It was tough and gummy, but as she managed to chew it, she was met with the pleasant flavour of mouse, oily and gamey, very dissimilar to the food the two-legs gave her, she quite enjoyed it actually, far more than she expected to. She licked her lips gently, enjoying the trace of fresh-kill on her lips, before looking around, spotting one of the other Apprentices sitting alone, cleaning himself. She walked over to him, a shortfur adolescent tom, with a dark gray pelt, dotted gently with scattered pale gray darts, a line trailing down his spine, to his thin tail, ending and turning into rings around his tail, a cattail wrapped around his neck, his eyes purple and blue, fading gently into eachother like the sun-set sky. She meowed "Uhm . . Hello!", the Apprentice tom turned to look at her, and meowed "Uh, hi . . . Who are you?", "Uhm, I'm Pichi, i'm . . Not exactly an apprentice yet, but,, I will be!" she replied, " . . . . You look older than me. How old are you?" replied the tom, she stammered "O-oh, uhm . . I'm 8 moons old", and the tom just narrowed his eyes at her, before replying "You're an outsider, aren't you? You outsiders shouldnt join our clan.". Pichi meowed "uh . . G-good talk!" and quickly padded away, and looked around, spotting flightheart, and quickly walking over to him, "Hey, uh . . you never told me where the apprentice's den is . .", "that one." replied Flightheart, gesturing toward a small cavernous den in the cavern wall, Pichi thanked him, then padded over to the den, walked in, and sniffed around until she found a spot that hadnt been slept in by any fresh apprentice scents. She curled up and yawned, rested her head on her paws, and drifted off to slumber.