An Old Beginning...

[Holly]

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Blackness fluttered at the edge of the nameless tom's consciousness. But, then, a name came. A name that brought shivers through the very spines of the living cats. Then a pale light blinked open his eyes.

"Shigga," he hissed. Even though his dreams had meant nothing at all, he didn't want to awake to this. He stretched his ghostly being and, in a flash, was beside the Black Pool. In the blink of an eye, he was already sitting there as though he had been there for hours. His tail rested and tapped over his paws.

He looked around. Nothing. Turning to the pool, he placed his paw down into the thick wetness. Ripples bounced away, and an image appeared. It was... Nothing. Surprisingly, this was the first time the Black Pool had never worked. He tilted his head. Another image appeared, but it was still nothing. How could this be?

The black tom gazed into the pool. A new image appeared. But it was bush of Nightshade. He hadn't been thinking of himself. This was stupid. The Black Pool wasn't working... Were the DemonClan cats below done with their missions? No, they couldn't be. Maybe a few of them have succeeded, but not all of them.[/color][/size]
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Foxstar walked into the camp, lost in thought. His paws drifted over the ground, as his mind tried to reach out to the TreeClan camp, but he didn't succeed. His mind suddenly snapped back to reality- though in DemonClan's home, using the word reality was stretching the truth a bit. Blinking, Foxstar realized that he had been moments away from walking into another cat.
"Hello, Nightshade," Foxstar said. "Seeing how they're doing?" He guessed that Nightshade would be able to figure out who they was.

[Holly]

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Nightshade looked into Foxstar's eyes. "No, not at all. I was wondering, though, just now." He turned his attention to the Black Pool. "Never once has it not worked before," he murmured, mostly to himself. "Well, that thing won't work," he grumbled, pointed his paw at the pool. "I think it's maybe just because all of the chosen DemonClan cats have successfully completed their missions, but I can't be sure. I am very certain that most of them have succeded by now."

He turned again to look into Foxstar's eyes. "What do you make of it?" he asked, though he really didn't need to get another cat's opinion on it. It was broke, and there was nothing else to it.[/color][/size]
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Foxstar joined Nightshade by the Black Pool, and touched it lightly with one paw, focusing his thoughts on Arcticfeather.
Nothing appeared, the surface barely changing.
"It would seem that the Black Pool is indeed not working..." he said. "Have you tried seeing anything besides the DemonClan cats?"

[Holly]

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Nightshade shrugged. "I just wanted to see..." No... "I just wanted to see the Moonstone, like that's too much to ask for." He narrowed his eyes at Foxstar.

"My guess is that because at least some of the DemonClan cats have completed their missions, there has been an upset of some kind with the Black Pool." He flicked his tail in annoyance. "It should be the Life Pool that isn't working correctly. But, I suppose, the Life Pool wouldn't work if some of the StarClan cats went to earth as well."[/color][/size]
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Foxstar nodded. "Makes sense... when DemonClan cats are in the world of the living, perhaps they are supposed to be our eyes, not the Black Pool, if we say that the Black Pool is usually our 'eyes' among the living?" He glanced back at the pool. "Or maybe something else is disturbing it..."

[Holly]

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Nightshade looked at Foxstar with surprised eyes. "I have underestimated you, Foxstar. I think that is exactly correct." He leaned forward until his nose touched the icy, black water. The ripples of water bounced away.

An image appeared, but only for a moment, it seemed. It was... A ghostly figure? It was hard to tell, but it seemed so. "Well, I think that we should wait a while longer, even if all of them have succeeded in possessing the leaders. We should give them time to get a feel for their new, yet old surroundings," Nightshade concluded.[/color][/size]
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"Wait a little longer for what?" Foxstar asked. "Are we going down to the world of the living?" He blinked, and then said, "Um... not that it would be a bad thing that we're going to the world of the living..."

[Holly]

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"Did I not just explain it?!" Nightshade hissed. He was very annoyed. "We should wait for them to get a feel for living again. And, yes. When the time comes, we probably will go down to earth." He scratched the fur behind his ear with his hindleg, even though it didn't itch. "Would you please pay more attention? Shigta."[/color][/size]
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"What does Shigta mean?" Foxstar asked, raising an eyebrow. "I've never heard that word before..."

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[Holly]

[/b] Nightshade meowed sarcastically. "It's my word. Back off." He lowered his hindleg and looked into the pool.[/color]

(During his lifetime, Nightshade would often go by this one Twoleg home, and the people often swore. Nightshade heard a few words and noticed why they would say them and when they would say them. So, he decided to say some of them, only he misunderstood them by saying it differently. He says one swear in particular as shigga, shigta, etc. )[/size]
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"No need to get snappy," Foxstar said, raising an eyebrow. "I just wanted to know what shigta meant. But..." The tom suddenly noticed that Nightshade had dipped his back paw into the water. "What are you doing? I thought it didn't work...?"

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[Holly]

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((Nightshade had been scratching his ear, and he had still been scratching as he said" It's my word, back off, and all that stuff. Now he's first setting his leg down. XD ))[/size]
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((XD I read it as "He lowered his hind leg into the pool." So... Foxstar thought he was dipping his foot into the pool. Yeah. XD))

"It looked to me like you were lowering it into the pool," Foxstar said. "Which would be an odd action if the Black Pool isn't working, hn?"

[Holly]

[/b] Nightshade sniffed and blew out at the pool, sending more ripples bouncing away from where he had blown.[/color][/size]
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Foxstar's face changed so fast, it would chill the blood of any normal cat.
"How dare you call me a kit!" The words were a snarl, harsh and fierce. "What were you when you were alive- a warrior? I was a leader! You may be older than I am, and you may have killed leaders, but the Clans learned from that. I am by no means a kit, you worthless piece of foxdung!"
By now, his amber eyes were raging, though they did not hold fire alone. Behind that blaze, there was the deadly, calculating cold of ice. Arcticfeather had taught him this- when the fires of anger overtook you, you had to keep part of your mind locked in ice. Many a cat had died from simply being too caught up in their rage to realize that an attack was coming when it was too late. Rage blinded you, unless you had learned the secret of ice.
Foxstar's claws slid out. They itched to sink into Nightshade's pelt. He had the self-control to only sink them into the ground beneath him, though.

[Holly]

[/i] break the Clans apart. Yes, and you did not even know that the Clans had been split apart! Yes, I've killed leaders. Four, to be exact. One from each and every Clan. I killed kits, I killed elders, and even in battle during the time that I was good I killed warriors, apprentices. Anyone who got in my way."[/b]

He swished his tail. "And besides, you were a pathetic leader. I watched you from here. I saw it all. You killed one leader, and that was your own, and with the help of your mate, and that was it. Then, you were killed by your own Clan! I was rooting for you, of course, because I saw how you were in life and I certainly didn't want you up here mouthing me off up here!"[/color][/size]
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Foxstar stood perfectly still. His breathing was his only movement. When he looked up, his eyes showed no evidence of the fire. Only of ice.
"Mayhap you killed more." His voice had turned cold. "Mayhap you did, but that is in the past. The long-forgotten past, if you remember properly. Mayhap leaders don't die as often because they learned."
Foxstar sheathed his claws. The ice was fading, and with it, the fire. "Nightshade, you may kill leaders, but until you learn the secrets of ice and fire, you are not a cat I will fear." The ginger tom left the clearing, leaving his words hanging behind him in the air.

Cinderheart entered the camp. He caught sight of Nightshade, sitting beside the pool. There was a feeling of tension, of fighting, in the air.
"Who was here?" he asked.

[Holly]

[/i] has mouthed me off."[/b] He took a flying leap and landed on top of Foxstar. He might have only been able to pin him down for a few moments, but that was enough.

"Listen here, kit. Mayhap, that is no word. You don't even know how to talk. You try to make phrases that sound wise, but it just proves that you are a kit. Fire and Ice. I know Fire and Ice. I'm showing Fire at this very moment. I showed Ice when I was being annoyed by you earlier. I showed Fire in battle, I showed Ice when I killed my enemies. Don't you go talking about Fire and Ice."

He backed away. "Fear me, kit. I've experienced love and hate, tormentation and despair. You may be a wise cat, but that doesn't make you wise." Nightshade turned around and padded into the bushes. This seemed like the kind of cat that always had to have the last word. So he was prepared for Foxstar to come charging after him. If not, then he'd just continue on his way back to camp.[/color][/size]
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Foxstar felt the ice control him as he turned away. Better to leave, to not give Nightshade the proof he needed that Foxstar was a kit. He turned, and padded away into the depths of the forest, hunting solace.

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Cinderheart was standing where he had been when Nightshade had barreled past him.
"What in DemonClan's name...?"[/blockquote]