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Jackpot
Finally. Just finally. Badgerbranch was well enough to leave the medicine cats' den. With a sigh, he plodded out into the clearing. Eveningmist stood on the Thunderwillow. The tom's dark green eyes narrowed. What was going on? Based on all the murmuring, it was clear that he'd missed something. Missed something big. The broad tom staggered over to the Thunderwillow and looked up at the huge rosetted tom. Badgerbranch remembered that he'd been passed out for a while due to some bout of exhaustion, but then he'd woken up feeling a lot better. Yet as he looked among the crowd, he noticed that some cats were missing. But a more important question gathered in his mind: where in the name of StarClan was Buckstar?
Some sort of discomforting feeling rose within Badgerbranch's chest. He dragged himself over and sat among the crowd, his ears pricked as he stared up at Eveningmist. The deputy was interacting with one of the apprentices. His curiosity made him unable to place said cat's name as of right now. He also looked toward the spot where Rainywhisker normally sat. Sure, he wasn't the medicine cat any more, but... where was he? Something had happened while he had been unconscious. Injured in the medicine cat's den. Or medicine cats', since ThunderClan had new medicine cats now.
Eveningmist's next words made every single piece of fur on his messy pelt stood on end. Badgerbranch blinked. Was he hearing correctly? He shook his head, but the deputy's words rung in his head. It was such a blast of shock that the dark brown tom wasn't sure what to do. He'd heard of rising tension between RiverClan and ThunderClan because of some issues with coyotes, which he'd also missed. He was missing out on everything. Badgerbranch was such an idiot. He had to do better for his Clan. He had to be there. Why hadn't he run away with Hareflood? Then the coyote wouldn't have bitten him. He had to do something, the desire was just so strong, but he'd missed it all.
Lionstorm, RiverClan's former leader, had killed Buckstar and apparently gone on a rampage. He'd killed more cats. There was an innocent apprentice, another cat who he didn't know too well, and... Rainywhisker. Two high ranks, one of them current and the other former, and one who was just an apprentice. It felt like pain was stabbing through his chest. Badgerbranch had lived in RiverClan once. Lionstorm had been a little odd, but he hadn't been bad. How could he do this? First, it was the shock. Then the anger, the awful anger, grew within him. He remembered what he had told Stormpaw: how Clan members had to be loyal to their Clan. Forever and always.
Badgerbranch's claws sunk into the ground and his teeth gritted in pure fury. A growl rose deep in his throat. He'd never liked RiverClan. Sure, that was where he had grown up. He'd completed part of his training there. However, ever since his mother had harried him and Hareflood, then Harepaw, into ThunderClan, he'd made a vow to himself. RiverClan was nothing to him. ThunderClan was all that mattered. It was a pure bout of fury that exploded within him, and his growling intensified. He'd missed it. He'd missed it all. Those cats who had helped drive Lionstorm away were good, that was all good, but one of them should've been him. He should've killed the golden tabby once and for all. Surely Buckstar had had more lives left. Had Lionstorm stripped them all away?
And his audacity. His audacity to blame ThunderClan for something that they hadn't even done! One dead Clanmate, rising tensions over coyotes that had accidentally been driven over the border, which he knew Buckstar had announced at the Gathering... it was all messed up. Lionstorm and RiverClan were awful. Badgerbranch would never admit that he'd been born and raised in RiverClan, that his mother held RiverClan blood. No, he was pure ThunderClan from here on out. He would never bring up his RiverClan heritage again. In these confusing times, he had to make sure that nobody thought that his loyalty was swayed. He was a ThunderClan warrior. Purely and truly loyal to his Clan. And RiverClan would pay.
"I'll make sure that those fish-brained fox-hearts had never been kitted," he declared. His voice was low, but he rose it. He had to make sure that every cat in ThunderClan could hear him. Every. Single. Cat.
"We are ThunderClan, and we are one," he hissed.
"Lionstorm's actions were unacceptable. He blames us for a death that we didn't cause, and then kills our leader in one fell swoop, before breaking into our camp and killing more?" He turned his gaze up to Eveningmist, who would soon be his leader. His dark green gaze was hardened and darkened by his own fury.
"Eveningmist, I do not mean to disrupt the meeting. I know that I'm not the only cat who has a strong opinion on this." But surely Badgerbranch's was the strongest. After all, he had RiverClan heritage. He had RiverClan blood. Yet that would not hinder him. His former leader, his former Clan, meant nothing. ThunderClan was everything.
"However, I am letting you all know that you have my full loyalty. Whatever you decide to do, I will listen and follow. Yet RiverClan are the ones causing the problem. I believe that we have to do something about it, after you get your lives, of course. I welcome you as our new leader with heavy hearts for Buckstar, Rainywhisker, and the rest of the dead. They will not die in vain. I will make sure of it, but I will not go against your orders." Badgerbranch dipped his head and took a step back. He'd stepped closer to the Thunderwillow while he'd been talking.
The rise of anger, pure hatred and determination, had gone into his voice. His voice. Badgerbranch dipped his head and sat down. The wound in his side, that was hardly throbbing now. It still had some cobwebs, but he was lucky that it didn't get infected. Perhaps he needed a checkup... no, no, not now. Not while all this was going on. He might be forced to go back to the medicine den, but he didn't care. He was well enough now.
And RiverClan was going to pay.
Re: ThunderClan Clearing
