Warriors: FlightClan's Beginning

Chapter Eight

A gray tabby tom with brown stripes on his back was pacing outside of the area where the lesser guardians rested. The tom was deciding whether or not he would confront Flame about going out to Twolegplace to talk to a kittypet. Well, that was Fish's excuse. Really, he was debating if he really wanted to go through with the rebellion.

He had talked to Fresh the previous night about it, but after he had slept, he realized how insane it was. Fighting Vex? The cat who had given him protection and food all his life? But then Fish shook his head. He had to keep reminding himself that Vex was a murderer. Vex had killed his family. It was still hard to believe, but Fish knew he hadn't dreamt it. He wasn't the type to have dreams.

Before Fish could come to a decision, an orange tabby tom moved at the edge of Fish's vision. Fish turned and saw the flame-colored cat heading right for him, though his gaze was at the ground. Fish froze, hoping the orange tom would not notice him.

Fish was not that lucky, however. Flame didn't notice him enough. The orange tabby tom walked right into the gray tabby. Flame looked up, fear in his sky-blue eyes.

I guess there's no backing out of this now.

"Pardon me, Fish. I, uh, was just on my way to go hunting!" Flame meowed, slowly backing away. Fish growled at the orange tabby.

"Come with me, Flame. We can go hunting, together," Fish snarled, trying to sound menacing. He had to make sure the cats around didn't think that anything unusual was going on.

Flame stopped and lowered his head. He didn't say a word. "Flame's in for it, now," some cat snickered. Fish turned and stalked off towards the forest, where no one would hear their conversation.

Once the two had gotten far enough, Fish turned on the orange tabby. Flame stared at him, wariness in his blue gaze.

"Look, Fish, I know that you hate me, but you don't have to hurt me for bumping into you. I-I was lost in thought, and I didn't notice you. I'm very sorry. Please, don't hurt me," Flame started whimpering. Fish rolled his copper eyes.

"I'm not going to hurt you, idiot, though you make me want to. I need to talk to you about something, so you need to pull yourself together," Fish hissed. Flame's blue eyes filled with shock.

"Talk about what?" the orange tabby tom straightened himself. Now that he knew Fish wouldn't harm him, he looked much less frightened. Relaxed, even. Does he not have any suspicions about what else I could do? Great Vex, this tom is useless!

"Well, I know you went to the Twolegplace to visit some rogues. And a kittypet," Fish spat. Though, that kittypet doesn't seem much like the lazy kittypets I've heard of.

Genuine alarm flashed in Flame's eyes. Fish enjoyed the worry that flooded through the orange tom, but he knew that wasn't the point of this conversation.

"I'm not going to tell Vex. The point is, I followed your scent there yesterday, and I met someone by the name of Fresh," Fish continued. Flame's eyes lit up when he heard the mention of Fresh.

"You saw Fresh? How was she? Did she mention me? Wait... did you hurt her?" Flame snarled, taking a step toward Fish. Why wasn't he this aggressive when I was going to attack him? In fact, I don't think I've ever seen Flame this angry!

"Calm down, I didn't hurt her," Fish hissed, moving on. "She took me to this weird tree where I ate some fruit and saw my dead family and they told me I had to..."

Flame waited for Fish to continue his sentence. When the gray tabby didn't, Flame intervened. "What did they tell you that you had to do?"

"They told me I had to start a rebellion."

The orange tabby tom was stunned. "What do you mean, your dead family told you to start a rebellion?"

"When I ate the fruit, I saw my parents, who told me Vex had killed them. They said that I knew what to do, and I think they meant I have to start a rebellion," Fish meowed, more hesitantly this time. Flame still looked confused.

"So, why are you telling me?"

"Fresh recommended I tell you first. She already agreed," Fish said, truthfully.

"Oh, well, why didn't you say so sooner? I'll join your rebellion. Vex is a jerk, and he should be brought down," Flame meowed. Fish laughed internally about the fact that Flame immediately agreed to it after he heard that Fresh was in on it.

"Great. Tell anyone you can trust that a meeting is happening on the night of the half-moon to talk about it, by the cypress tree near Twolegplace," the gray tabby tom meowed.

"Alright, Fish. Also, could you be a bit nicer to me now?" Flame asked, almost jokingly.

"Fine," Fish sighed, but he almost smiled. "Oh, and Flame?"

The orange tabby tom shook his head and turned to the gray tabby. "Yes, Fish?"

"Thank you."

Flame smiled and walked off, probably to actually hunt. Fish watched him go, happy that he had followed through with his plan. Fish decided to head back to the rogue camp, to see if there was at least one other cat who he could convince to join the rebellion.

As Fish padded into camp, he saw plenty of cats who might join. But he couldn't take the risk. He did notice, however, a cat who would almost certainly join the cause.

The cat was the color of ash; dark gray with specks of lighter gray. He was fairly tall, but was used to hunching down, so he looked smaller than he was. Underneath his dark green eyes was cream-colored fur, the same color as his underbelly.

Fish padded over to Ash, who was sitting in the shade, trying to go unnoticed. When he saw Fish approaching, fear sparked in his dark green eyes.

"Ash, come with me," Fish hissed, not saying much more in fear of being heard. Ash was wide-eyed, but stood up to follow him nonetheless.

When the two had gotten far, Fish began to speak, but decided to skip most of the backstory behind the rebellion. Ash didn't need to know that.

"Ash, I won't harm you. I just wanted to ask if you'd like to join a rebellion," the gray tabby spoke. Ash's green eyes were shocked, similar to how Flame had felt. Ash, however, recovered quickly.

"Yes, Fish, I would love to be apart of a rebellion! We can finally overthrow Vex's tyranny! Thank you for coming to your senses!" the ashy tom was overjoyed. It was Fish's turn to be shocked. I should have known that Ash would be disloyal. Although, he and I are basically one in the same now.

"Good. Don't tell anyone you can't trust to be against Vex. We are having a meeting on the night of the half-moon to discuss things. Be there. It's at the cypress tree, near Twolegplace. You can't miss it," Fish hissed. Ash nodded vigorously.

"I know plenty of cats who would be willing to join! Oh, thank you, Fish!" Ash purred, which shocked Fish the most out of everything the tom had said and done thus far. Ash hurried off back to camp.

"What a kit. He better not ruin this..." Fish growled to himself.

Fish sat down in the forest, thinking to himself. He sat very still, his fur only slightly ruffling in the breeze.

The gray tabby tom was proud of all he had accomplished that day. If this was truly what his parents wanted him to do, Fish would follow through.

I'll prove myself to them. I'll make up for what I did to shame them. My parents deserve a better son, and I will become that son. With time, I'll correct my mistakes.

Fish closed his eyes, listening to the sounds that surrounded him, feeling content and relaxed for the first time in his life.