ThunderClan

Maybe I got to do more side quests.

I'm starting with the ThunderClan one.

That's where the first

playthrough is for.

I'm excited to play, to finish this storyline.

But also, I think I'm going to take a little break and do some side quests.

Because I'm already, like, over halfway through the ThunderClan prophecy, apparently.

And, like, I don't know how much there is after.

Getting into Chapter 16, Firestar wakes from sleep to the sound of rustling and faint voices.

When he wakes up, he thinks he needs to send out the Dawn Patrol, but he soon realizes he is not in ThunderClan camp.

He is in the cave with the sandy walls and the stripes in the rock.

He is in the deserted cave that had once been part of the SkyClan camp.

"'What was that all about?' "'I don't know.

But if any clanmate of mine spoke to me like that, they would spend the next moon searching the elders for ticks.' Sandstorm rubbed her muzzle against his.

"'Well, they didn't know that you're Firestar, leader of ThunderClan,' she consoled him.

"'For all they know, we might be rogues trying to muscle in on their territory.' "'I'm not so sure.' Firestar gazed across the scrubby grassland to the two-legged place, where the two cats had now vanished.' They thought there was only one cat there, so they can't have seen us arrive.

Leafpool knows, but he's getting too big to stay in there forever.

And Lionkit is a ThunderClan cat.

He needs to join his clanmates.

Will they like me? No.

Yeah.

She eats some and rolls up the rest to take to her den.

Leafpool tells herself that she is the ThunderClan medicine cat.

Her sister has had three kits and she couldn't be more delighted.

He looks like Cloudtail, Firestar thought, leaping down and approaching cautiously in case the kittypet displayed any of his kin's fighting skills.

The cat looked up in surprise and fixed a brilliant blue gaze on Firestar as the ThunderClan leader paused at the edge of the stones and dipped his head politely.

Firestar suppressed a spurt of contempt that this kittypet couldn't be bothered to defend his own territory.

He didn't look as if he had ever raised a claw in anger in his life.

I can handle it, he promised.

Hmm, that's another biased thinking pattern.

ThunderClan thought the same of you, Firestar.

Hmm, forgetting our roots, are we? He leaped for the fence, clawed his way to the top, and gave the Tuftifer a quick sniff.

And then wait, what-

That's probably through Sandstorm, 'cause she's got that ThunderClan blood in her.

I, canonically in my head, I do think Sandstorm is slightly taller than Firestar, just because she was eating good.

A lot of people do that.

... maybe as far as Fireheart

...

I think broad shoulders are a Thunder, you know, we, I mean, broad shoulders are everywhere, but we know ThunderClan's got some buff cats.

Yes.

Firestar felt exposed and vulnerable, convinced that small, malevolent eyes were watching him from every thorn bush or bramble thicket.

This was a bad place for ThunderClan cats.

When the dogs were loose in the forest, they had made their den at Snakerocks.

Swiftpaw had died in their jaws, and Brightheart had received her terrible injuries.

Brushing his mate's fur with his tail, he trudged across the camp and scrambled up onto the high rock to call the clan for a meeting.

Already, cats were creeping out of their dens, shocked and bewildered as they learned about Willowpelt's death.

'Cats of ThunderClan,' Firestar began when they were all assembled, 'Willowpelt is dead.

She died bravely, and her spirit will be honored in StarClan.' 'How did it happen?' Speckletail called out.

And RiverClan begins talking, and they are saying about how they're missing Silktail.

And Silktail was patrolling the border between the river of the ThunderClan and the thing.

And so, you know, Speckle Star, she's not accusing ThunderClan.

Did she not get my note? But she is talking about ThunderClan.

I touch typed for her.

Yeah, we left quite a distance.

And I have to admit, I've fallen in love with Cinnamon Tuft.

I know it's forbidden.

"Cats will speak of them for many seasons to come.

They must stay in ThunderClan for all the clan's sakes, with a mother and father who can be proud of them, who can share them with their clan mates to be raised as strong, loyal warriors." Leafpool opens her mouth to protest that it was impossible.

Her clan mates would never accept Crowfeather as their father.

They might reject Leafpool too, knowing their medicine cat had destroyed the code.

But Feathertail is looking at Squirrelflight.

"Feathertail knows how much Leafpool loves these kits," she murmurs, "but Squirrelflight must be their mother and raise them in ThunderClan with her head held high." Squirrelflight stares at her.

"How could Feathertail ask her to do this?" she whispers.

She's asking her to lie to every cat she loves.

Oh, that makes sense.

The fans are so heavily invested in the fate of ThunderClan or ShadowClan that the pseudonym actually functions as a unifying shield.

It guarantees brand consistency.

So they always know what they're getting.