The Catfish

The night was still in the ThunderClan camp as the tired warriors retreated to their dens, swaying on their exhausted paws for some well deserved sleep; the queens and apprentices shuffled into their dens as well. During the moonlit night, two young kits snuck out of the nursery and creeped into the elders den. They peeked inside to see Longtail snoring away in his nest, and Mousefur laying down in hers, but her eyes were half open.

"Mousefur?" The first tom-kit squeaked, poking Mousefur in the side.

"Are you awake?" The second she-kit asked, doing the same.

"Huh? What? ...Oh! Foxkit? Icekit? What are you two still doing up?" Mousefur asked, shifting upwards to get a good look at the kits.

"Well, we wanted you to tell us a story," Foxkit mewed nervously.

"Oh... Well, okay. But just one story," Mousefur warned.

The kits smiled happily and sat down, eagerly twitching their whiskers in curiosity.

"I remember being told this story when I was your age. It's an old legend called, 'The Catfish'," Mousefur explained.

"Cat...fish? What's that?" Icekit asked in confusion.

"A cat that is part fish. It has a cat head and chest, and fins and a fish's tail," Mousefur explained. "Now, the story."

Long ago, near a crystal clear lake, a young silver tom with golden eyes walked to the lake for a-

"Hey, wait, I thought you said it was about a catfish, Mousefur," Foxkit interrupted.

"It is, we're getting to that part," Mousefur snapped. "Now, as I was saying..."

Walked to the lake for a drink, but suddenly, he was splashed. "Ahh!" He screeched jumping backwards. "Who did that?" He demanded. But there came no reply. He snorted and bent down again, but was only splashed once more. He hissed angrily, "Come out! Whoever you are!" At first, all was quiet, and then he heard the splash. The tom turned his head to see that the tail of a fish was just going back under the water. He shivered in fright. "That was a big fish!" He exclaimed, wide-eyed. The tom heard giggling, and he turned his head again to see the same tail fin go back into the water.

"Who are you?!" He called. In answer to his question, a head popped out of the water and smiled at him, and his mouth fell. He was seeing a cat, just floating in the water. Her pelt was as scaly as fish itself. Her scales were a dash of silver and blue, and she had aqua blue eyes. She was very pretty indeed.

"Hello?" He called. She dived under the water and came out a little closer to shore.

"Hello, there. My name is, Aquaeyes," she murmured softly. "Err, uh, m-my name is, Goldeneyes."-

"Hey, hold it! Why do their names sound like warrior names?" Icekit demanded. "Back in that time, rouges and loners would would give themselves different names of the sort. You know, to symbolise who they are. Now, may I continue?" Mousefur asked.

"Yes, Mousefur!" The kits beamed.

"Err, uh, m-my name is, Goldeneyes," he stammered. "You, you look like a cat, but also a fish. How is that possible?" Goldeneyes asked. "Well, when I was a normal cat, I would always come down to the lake to play with the fish-"

"You play with fish?!" Goldeneyes gasped.

Aquaeyes giggled. "Yes, I did. But one day, some evil two-legs tried to take the fish away. I hissed and bit at them, but it didn't do any good. One of the two-legs kicked me into the water, and I thought I was going to die. But then, the spirit of this lake turned me into a catfish so I could live," Aquaeyes explained.

The spirit of the lake was an old legend, but after seeing what it had done to this cat, he had to believe. "Now, my purpose of being here is to protect this lake," Aquaeyes meowed. "I only splashed you because I was bored," Aquaeyes giggled again.

"Humph," Goldeneyes snorted.

"Hey, Goldeneyes! Where are you? It's time to go home!" A female voice called. Goldeneyes turned his head to see light brown tabby she-cat walking towards him. Aquaeyes gasped in shock and dove under the water.

"Hey! Wait!" Goldeneyes called.

"Who are you talking to, Goldeneyes?" The light brown she-cat asked. "A-A catfish! She was there, in the water!" Goldeneyes explained.

The she-cat gave him a puzzled look and sighed, "Goldeneyes, I think you drank too much water."

"No! It's true! I-"

"C'mon, Goldeneyes, let's go," the she-cat snorted. Goldeneyes sighed and followed the she-cat back to his home.

Mousefur stopped talking, and rested her body in her nest.

"Well? What happened next?" Foxkit prompted.

"I'm sorry, youngster. I think it's time you two went to sleep," Mousefur advised.

"Aww! Just a little more!" Icekit pleaded.

Mousefur shook her head.

"Pleeeeeeeaase?" The kits begged.

"Well, alright," Mousefur sighed.

"Yay!" The kits purred.

At his home in the woods, Goldeneyes thought of Aquaeyes in his dreams as he slept. At one point, he woke up in the middle of the night and he nodded to himself. Tomorrow he would go see Aquaeyes again. The next day, Goldeneyes left his home and traveled to the lake again. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and Goleneyes could tell this was a brand new day. He had never felt so alive like this in his past lifetime. It was as if he possibly had been completely refreshed.

"Ah... I feel so good today! Ever since I met Aquaeyes... Was that possibly fate?" Goldeneyes asked himself. He shook the thought out of his mind and picked up his speed. The faster he got to the lake, the better.

"Hello? Aqaueyes, are you here?" He asked. Suddenly, he was splashed. He turned his head to see Aquaeyes laughing at him, her eyes filled with mischief.

"Why you!" Goldeneyes hissed, and he lept into lake. Aquaeyes screeched and swam away from him. Of course, she was much faster than him, and Goldeneyes was terrible swimmer, so he gave up and went to the surface.

"Fine, you win," Goldeneyes breathed. "If you don't know how to swim, then I can teach you if you'd like," Aquaeyes offered.

So, all afternoon, Aquaeyes taught Goldeneyes how to swim. And each day he would come back and play with her in the water. Goldeneyes swam in the water so much nowadays that he seemed like a natural born swimmer. One afternoon, while Goldeneyes and Aquaeyes were playing together under the water, a voice shouted from across the lake.

"That sounded like a two-leg!" Aquaeyes gasped, and went to the surface. Goldeneyes followed her, and they saw four male two-legs holding long nets and casting them into the water. "Oh no, they're going to take the fish! Quick! Goldeneyes, go onto land and distract them while I cut their nets," Aquaeyes meowed.

"Right," Goldeneyes mewed. He crawled back onto the shore and ran up to a two-leg, then he scratched its leg.

It hissed in anger, and yowled to it's friends, leading to two-legs chasing Goldeneyes away from them. Meanwhile, Aquaeyes was quickly cutting their nets with her teeth, freeing the fish. Finishing the last net, she yowled at Goldeneyes, giving him the signal that she had finished, and he leaped into the water. The angry two-legs growled and spat when they saw that their nets were ripped apart and retreaded.

"Yes! We did it!" Goldeneyes purred. Aquaeyes smiled gratefully.

Suddenly, blue lights surrounded Goldeneyes, and he began to change. As the lights trailed away, Goldeneyes had completely transformed into catfish himself.

"I see. The spirit of this lake honors you, and it turned you into a catfish," Aquaeyes explained. Goldeneyes smiled and they touched noses together, swimming together all day and all night; and Goldeneyes was happy for the rest of his life.

"The end," Mousefur concluded.

"Wow! That was a great story!" Foxkit exclaimed, his eyes wide and filled of wonder.

"Yeah! It was so exciting..." Icekit murmured, stiffling a yawn.

"Well, I guess that means it's time for-" But Mousefur was interrupted when she heard the soft snoring of the kits.

"Bed," Mousefur mewed, and she cuddled up next to them, faling asleep.