Zodiac (warrior cats)

Chapter 23

Woah" Sprucepaw gasped in astoundment as Ferretpaw streaked through the open sky.
She could faintly making out the blurr of the young tom, darting from warrior to warrior. Sprucepaw sighed, it looked like Ferretpaw had finally found his power.
She was never going to hear the end of this now.
Calmly padding alongside the rocky ledge, Sprucepaw jumped a fox-length to make it onto the smooth grassland. She was in absolutely no hurry to fight, Sprucepaw hated fighting.
It was a mindless thing to do, especially for cats that were trying to survive in the same forest.
Why fight if we a share a common need? Fighting only caused injuries and death, and did that help the clans?
"No" Sprucepaw answered out loud, as she padded closer to the battle.
Off to the side of the RiverClan border, Sprucepaw noticed a shiny gray she-cat sitting on the ground. For some reason the brown apprentice felt drawn to the she-cat, and before she knew it was padding over to her.
"Hi" Sprucepaw meowed nicely, sitting down next to the RiverClan apprentice.
"Hi" the cat meowed in response, turning calmly to look at the WindClan she-cat. For a moment neither said a word, and both looked forward onto the raging battle.
"Are you a Zodiac?" the shiny cat finally asked, looking at Sprucepaw with a great interest.
Her mouth hanging open in disillusion, Sprucepaw nodded. She held out her front paw, clearly showing the Leaf Symbol marked in white fur right around her pad.
"Cool" the cat mrrowed, "My name's Otterpaw, I'm a Zodiac too."
Sprucepaw felt a burst of excitement, she finally met another Zodiac! And how cool was it that the only other Zodiac she met had a personality just like herself!
Otterpaw turned away for a moment, and beckoned for Sprucepaw to follow. The blue-gray cat stopped next to a small puddle of water, and dipped her paw into it.
Almost instantly her pale blue eyes turned into astounding bright silvery-blue shard like orbs.
"That's amazing" Sprucepaw gasped, "Do you have a power?".
"Of course!" Otterpaw meowed loudly, "I can swim like a fish, I can even hold my breath underwater. My friend Rushpaw is the other Zodiac, but he doesn't really like his power. Now that I think about it Rushpaw doesn't really like anything."
The riverClan she-cat continued to ramble, until finally she asked what Sprucepaw's power was.
"I can hear other animals thoughts" she told the apprentice as she sat down.
"Really?" Otterpaw echoed, "That's awesome, I wish I could do that."
Chuckling from a tinge of embarrassment, Sprucepaw told Otterpaw about her new power as well, to control earth.
"No fair, I only have one power!" Otterpaw whined, "Well I can see why your mother named your Sprucepaw, you're so connected to the earth."
Sprucepaw nodded, her mother Sweetmallow did in fact name her after the leaf on her paw, although it looked nothing like a spruce. As the battle continued to happen, the two she-cats sighed.
"Why can't they ever just get along?" Otterpaw asked sadly, "There's already so many dangers in the forest, we don't need to make any more enemies."
Sprucepaw felt exactly the same way, "Maybe that's why we're here. My Medicine Cat Kestrelflight said four of the Zodiac's will one day bring peace to the clans."
Otterpaw turned with a look in her bright teal eyes, "But will we be part of the four?".
Taken aback by the question, Sprucepaw honestly didn't know an answer to it. She hoped she and Otterpaw were part of the four who would help bring peace, but she might not be.
Suddenly a bitter scent soon filled the air, and for a moment Sprucepaw just thought she was imagining it. But then a gray wisp soon wreathed through the open sky, and as she turned Sprucepaw spotted Sedgewhisker running towards the battle.
Cats stopped on either sides, staring at the smoke filling the air. As the light brown tabby made it to where the leaders stood, she panted.
"What is it?" Thistlestar asked in alarm, "What's wrong?".
Sedgewhisker bent her head to catch her breath, then solemnly lifted it. "Its the Zodiac of ThunderClan" she panted, "He started a fire in WindClan territory, he's trying to kill us."
Instantly knowing what she had to do, Otterpaw raced away towards the lake. The only enemy of fire was Water, and she certainly was the master of water.
This could be a reason to bring peace among the clans, if Otterpaw burnt the fire out, then that would stop the fighting between RiverClan and WindClan. Bounding along the mounds of dried grassland, Otterpaw could see the fire raging through WindClan camp. The smoke drifted into the air like hordes of gray birds, and swirled like death.
Did the ThunderClan Zodiac do this on purpose?
This wasn't going to help bring peace if a Zodiac just burnt down other clans homes whenever they felt like it. But for some reason Otterpaw felt like this was a mistake, and she needed to fix it.
Diving into the cool water, Otterpaw instantly shot towards the bottom. It soothed her scorching fur, and for a second Otterpaw pondered staying down here.
But cats could die if I don't do anything, and Otterpaw couldn't and wouldn't let that happen. Blazing through the underwater like the fire above, the Zodiac headed towards the WindClan shore. She could see the smoke above the waters surface, the fire was growing.
Closing her sapphire eyes as she neared the edge of the lake, Otterpaw dove back under towards the Lake Bed. Hopefully if Otterpaw knew what she was doing, than this would work.
She had heard how the WindClan camp was built like a scoop taken out of the earth. And if thats was where the fire was burning, then she could simply fill it with water, and then drain it.
Focusing her mind on the cool aqua water around her, Otterpaw prepared herself to do what needed to be done. And then in an instant, she shot through the entire height of the lake, and came flying out of the water. Waves of the lake came crashing behind her, as Otterpaw summoned it to follow.
The lake water drenched the scorched grass as she neared the WindClan camp, and with a flick of her tail, the rushing water poured across the fire.
A sizzling sound came as the cool water put out the burning fire, steam rising into the air instead of smoke. The water poured into the WindClan camp, eliminating any fire whatsoever.
"I did it" Otterpaw meowed with a sigh, she put out the fire.
But then the apprentice spotted two kits struggling in the water, and instantly dove forward. They were still coughing from the smoke they inhaled, and as she tread through the water,
Otterpaw made sure their tiny heads stayed above the surface. Otterpaw spotted a cat who must have been their mother pacing at the shore.
"Here" Otterpaw gurgled from the water she was swallowing, handing the two kits to their mother.
Expecting at least a thank you or something else, Otterpaw smiled at the queen. But instead the queen took her kits hastily, and with a snarl she clawed at Otterpaw.
"You freak!" the queen snarled with utter anger, "You destroyed our camp, you made it a lake!".
Still cornered in the water by the angry WindClan cats, Otterpaw was taken aback.
"But I put out the fire, I saved your camp!" couldn't they see all the good she had done?
"You made our came a lake!" Waspfur snarled, "A lot of good putting out the fire did when we can't even use our dens." Otterpaw bent her head as all cats turned their angry gazes to her.
"But I can drain it!" she yowled desperately, "Can't you see I was only trying to help?".
Why were they being so mean to her? If it wasn't for Otterpaw their camp would be nothing but dead grass by now!
"All I can see is a freak who destroyed my home" the queen growled at Otterpaw, as cats began to walk away to check on the injured.
As she floated in the calm water of WindClan camp, Otterpaw realized something. Maybe what she was trying to do this whole time couldn't be fixed at all. Maybe the clans can never have peace.
And if that was the truth, then why were the Zodiac's here?