993Hi everyone, and welcome to the last segment of our story.
I've taken each chapter of the story, minus author's notes and review replies, and pasted the complete story into microsoft word, spell checked and all. If you would like a copy of this, let me know. Here are the story stats, with word and page counts from the clean version.
Chapters: 41
Pages: 263
Times New Roman, size 12, single space
Words: 111,226
Reviews: 587
Hits: 15,056
Favs: 83
Alerts: 44
Thanks to everyone who made all these things possible. I couldn't have done without you. No, that is not cheesy, though it could use some ketchup.
Character Guide
Super minor characters, as in ones with two lines and one mention in the entire story, have been omitted.
Pre-battle Allegiances
Water Tribe
Leader - Whitewater - pure white she-cat with blank white eyes
Second - Mud - yellow eyed tom with tangled dark brown fur
Herb Cat - Yellowroot - dark gray and black she-cat with yellow eyes
trainee - Frost
Fighters
Birch - black tom with gray tipped tail and light brown eyes
trainee - Willow
Stream - blue-eyed gray tabby she-cat
trainee - Leaf
Pine - brown-mix furred she-cat with emerald eyes
Aspen - dark ginger and brown furred she-cat with amber eyes
trainee - Crystal
Cypress - gray tabby tom with amber eyes
And other minor and unmentioned fighters (River)
Trainees
Frost - gray furred tom with ice-blue eyes
Willow - pale brown furred tom with pale green eyes
Wood - small dusty brown furred tom with bright amber eyes
Leaf - ginger she-cat with white tipped paws and tail and deep green eyes
Crystal - pitch black tom with wide blue eyes
And other minor trainees (Fern, Yew, Nettle)
Queens
Amber - light brown furred she-cat with darker tail and amber eyes
Kits: Bracken, Owl, and Rowan
Ice Tribe
Leader - Stoneice - large, strong gray-furred tom with yellow eyes
Second - Dark - large (not as large as Stoneice) dark furred tom with dark blue eyes
trainee - Tawny
Herb Cat - Duskroot - brown eyed tom with patches of black, brown, amber, white and gray
trainee - Adder
Fighters
Flake - snowy white tom with warm amber eyes
Reed - lean black tom with amber eyes
Leopard - black, brown, and amber spotted she-cat
Raccoon - gray tom with tabby tail and dark fur around his green eyes
trainee - Creek
Sand - sandy-furred she-cat
Oak - dark brown and black tom
Among other minor and unmentioned fighters (Spruce, Auburn, Night)
Trainees
Creek - calico she-cat with green eyes
Tawny - small tawny and white she-cat with green eyes
Adder - green-eyed tortoiseshell she-cat
Among other minor and unmentioned trainees
The Rebels
Dark, Leopard, Reed, Flake, Raccoon, Creek, Adder, Tawny, and Silver
Cats outside Tribes
Smokepaw - smoky gray tom with yellow eyes
Smoke - brown tabby with smoky gray eyes
Talonpaw - dark gray tom with amber-yellow eyes
Oakfur - small brown tom, Smokepaw's mentor
Tawnypaw/pelt - tortoiseshell she-cat with green eyes
Rowanclaw - dark ginger tom
Post-battle Allegiances nine moons later
(minor and unmentioned characters is a given)
Water Tribe
Leader - Pinesnow
Deputy - Leaf
Herb Cat - Frostroot
Fighters
Wood
trainee - Owl
Willow
trainee - Bracken
Tawny
Smokepaw
Yew
Crystal
Trainees
Bracken
Owl
Queens
Nettle
Mate: Crystal (aww)
Kits: Ice, Thistle
Fern
Kits: Sparrow, Umber, Twig
Elders
Cypress
Ice Tribe
Leader - Leopardsnow
Deputy - Reed
Herb Cat - Adderroot
Fighters
Flake
Sand
Oak
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OMAKE
For the first time since their kits were born, Nettle and Fern left the nursery to go hunting. Willow was left in charge of the four and a half moon old kits, but... that didn't turn out too well.
five minutes earlier
"Hey Willow, you've got to see this!" Wood shouted. "There's a fish frozen into the ice in Freezepool!"
"Really?"
"Yeah! Its face is all scrunchy! It's awesome!"
"Coming!"
present
Twig glanced around hesitantly. "Are we... alone?"
"No, fishbrain, there are fighters all over camp," Umber snorted.
"But we're... alone," Twig repeated. "In the nursery."
"And we could escape," Sparrow added brightly, his ears perking up. "We could run around in the snow -"
"And get in huge trouble with our moms," Thistle pointed out, her tail hanging between her legs. "I don't want mom to be mad at us."
Umber rolled his eyes. "She-cats," he grumbled. "Good thing Thistle's the only one, I don't know what we'd do with two of them -"
"Are you saying I'm not a she-cat?" All eyes turned to the small, yet oddly frightening voice coming from the other side of the den. The pitch black kit glared at them, his narrow icy eyes sparkling.
"Umm, Ice, it's not a compliment to be called a she-cat," Sparrow pointed out. "It's an insult, actually... she-cats are weak and stupid..."
Ice's teeth barred, his fur bristling with anger. "Don't you dare insult she-cats like that, or I swear I'll claw your eyes out and mush them into the snow."
Umber whistled. "Violent much? Seriously, Ice, don't be so defensive of she-cats. They shouldn't need us toms to look out for them."
"I'M NOT A TOM!" Ice roared. "I'M A SHE-CAT!"
"Now why would you pretend to be a she-cat?" Sparrow wondered aloud.
"I'M NOT PRETENDING!" He - no, she - leapt at Sparrow and started swiping wildly at his fur. The young kit howled in pain, and his brother Umber yowled in panic. Thistle joined in the panicked wailing, while Twig stood by, watching in awe.
Eventually the yowling and howling drew Crystal, who burst frantically into the nursery with concern spread across his face. "What's going on in here?" he demanded, as his wide crystal eyes caught sight of his daughter on top of Sparrow with a claw on his neck.
Ice didn't budge as she spoke. "They called me a tom," she accused.
Believing himself safe, Umber snickered belatedly at the newfound knowledge of his nurserymate's gender. "Hehe, little she-cat needs her mommy to stick up for her," he taunted.
Crystal whirled on the kit, whipping around so lightning quick he nearly broke his neck. "What did you say?"
"Aww, mommy's defensive of little Icey," Umber sing-songed. "Mommy and Icey, Mommy and Icey, nananana boo boo..." he danced in circles around Ice, who was still on top of Sparrow, enjoying the furious look on her face. What he didn't notice, to his misfortune, was that it mirrored the look on her father's.
"Ummmber, you might want to stop," Twig began quietly, combining the "umm" hesitation into his brother's name, but it was too late. Crystal sprang at Umber, easily tackling the kit and pinning him to the ground.
"Listen here, kit," he snarled furiously. "You should know better to insult and confuse the gender of your Tribemates. I am Ice's father, and she is my daughter. You got that?"
"But... but... you look like a mommy... and he - she - looks like a tom kit..."
Crystal closed his claw around the kit's throat. "I said, you got that?"
Umber nodded fearfully. "Y-yeah."
Crystal turned his ferocious glare on Sparrow. "That goes for you too."
"Y-yeah," Sparrow echoed.
Crystal stood up and dusted himself off. Ice joined him at the entrance to the nursery, wearing an identical smirk on an identical face, the only difference between the two being the size of their eyes and appeared gender. "Well," Crystal stated matter-of-factly, "I believe my work here is done."
Little did Crystal know, he had saved the dignity of more cats than himself and his daughter that day. Tiny little Twig came to realize that any cat can succeed and beat up Umber, regardless of appearance or size. And so the small, skinny kit began to plot his own climb to honor.
Twigsnow. Odd, but catchy. He liked it.
The End
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Falling Smoke Soundtrack
I said there'd be one, didn't I?
Smokepaw:Me Against the World, Simple Plan
Smoke: Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Green Day
Wood and Tawny: If Everyone Cared, Nickelback
Frost: It Ends Tonight, All-American Rejects
Leaf and Smokepaw: It's Not Over, Chris Daughtry
Dark: I Won't Go, Three Doors Down
Wood and Willow: Don't Worry Be Happy, Bobby McFerrin
Smokepaw and Wood: You've Got a Friend in Me, Toy Story
Rebels of Ice Tribe: Move Along, All American Rejects
If you don't know the song and are curious, look them up and read the lyrics. You'll see how they relate.
And take a peek at a new story, Incogitance. It is AU from the beginning of Sunset. Here is an except from the first chapter:
She felt her tail entwining with his, soft gray fur against her fiery ginger, and looked into his eyes. The depths of his warm cerulean blue pools could have gone on forever. It reminded her of the sun-drown-place, with the endless expanse of deep blue water lapping at the soft sands and the bright sun shimmering on the horizon.
She didn't notice the irony.
I feel like I'll get hatemail for this. But we'll have so much fun.
Incogitance: (in-COG-it-ANTS) Thoughtlessness or acting without thought. No, I did not know what this meant before I titled the story. But I wanted to use a cool word, and turned to . :)
I strongly encourage you to go and try it. Readers and reviewers, as you now, are very much appreciated.
Speaking of which, I'd like to thank you all (again) for being so freaking awesome for all of Falling Smoke. To get the review count to 587 was something I never thought was possible. So thanks to everyone for helping to create this story and making a very happy author.
-Moonstar of FireClan