Jhkhkhjk

A see-through spirit with a golden pelt darted from the ferns with a hiss, lunging forward at Swiftdapple. The deputy blinked and only had a short time to leap backwards, the cat landing on all paws on the ground, spitting with annoyance.

"We meet again, Swiftdapple!" Green eyes stared down at the dappled deputy as the golden cat straightened herself up to appear taller than what she really was. "I have waited for this moment for a long time."

"Who are you?" Swiftdapple questioned. ''The scent smells familiar, but I can't remember where from. . . I think I know this cat, but I can't seem to recognise who it could be. ''

"You know my name, mouse-brain."

Swiftdapple let out a sigh and frowned. "I don't think I know you."

"How could you have forgotten me so soon when I almost caused your demise?" the she-cat questioned, jerking her head back. "I'm Golden Berry, you fool. No cat dares forget the crimes I have committed in my lifetime. I may have died, but my spirit lives on in death."

Before Swiftdapple could utter a word, Golden Berry sprang forward and pushed the she-cat onto the ground, pushing her muzzle down against the earth as she growled, her eyes full of rage.

"I'm going to make you pay for ruining my plans and taking my life from me," Golden Berry hissed in her face, "but taking your life away from you, and then I will trap you within the darkness I thrive in to watch every cat dear to you die--slowly and painfully."

"Not if I defeat you," Swiftdapple snarled back, "you crazy cat! You'll end up dying this time!"

"You can't kill me," Golden Berry pointed out, "I'm already dead. I'm a spirit cat, not a living cat like you. That is what separates us and makes me stronger than you."

"You're not dead!" Swiftdapple retorted. "If you were, you wouldn't be here! I thought we buried you but you must have escaped!"

"You are a fool, your one weakness. If you believed in the Star, then you would know I am dead." Golden Berry narrowed her eyes into icy slits. "Explain why I am see-through if I am a living cat, dear."

Golden Berry rolled under the fighter’s weight as Swiftdapple fought against the spirit cat's weight. She felt more determined than ever to kill Golden Berry for good, so that the forest would be safe from a cat like her.

Swiftdapple's gaze blazed into the green-eyed cat's as she stared back at her with fury. "Kill me," she challenged. "I'm dead. I told you that you cannot, but you can try. I'll still be here, and I will kill you if that is the last thing I do."

With a snarl, Swiftdapple sliced her claws across the tabby's throat and drew out blood that splattered onto the ground around her. Golden Berry gasped, her gaze widening as if she believed she would be immune to the pain that seared through her.

"You--!" she gasped, trying to breath for some air. "You can hurt me! The dead cannot get hurt!"

<p align="CENTER">"Then that proves you're alive," Swiftdapple retorted. "You're not dead after all, you stupid cat. With one last screech, Golden Berry pushed up explosively and threw Swiftdapple onto her back and landed on her, a paw in the air.

<p align="CENTER">Blood spilled onto Swiftdapple's fur and stained it as the dead cat still gasped from her throat being slit open. Then, suddenly, she fell, no longer breathing. Swiftdapple kicked her off and stared at her body with an empty expression.

<p align="CENTER">''I did it. I finally managed to kill Golden Berry once and for all. The forest is safe yet again. ''To her surprise, the outlined cat's body began to fade, and a tiny pool of blood got left behind.

<p align="CENTER">Swiftdapple blinked, confused. ''Bodies don't just fade away like that! What is going on here? ''

<p align="CENTER">"Swiftdapple!" Thorn exploded from the ferns, panting as if he had ran across the whole forest. "There you are! We were all getting worried about you." His amber gaze fixed onto the pool of blood where Golden Berry, his sister, had once laid before fading. "What happened here?"

<p align="CENTER">"I got into a fight," Swiftdapple answered, feeling reluctant to tell the truth to him. ''But Golden Berry tried killing him in a fire. Why would Thorn care about his sister dying?''

<p align="CENTER">"With who?" Thorn pressed, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. "I can't smell any other cat being here recently."

<p align="CENTER">"Golden Berry," Swiftdapple then told him. "She came out of nowhere and attacked me, but I managed to kill her. That pool of blood was where she lay, before she suddenly faded away."

<p align="CENTER">"But she was dead!" Thorn protested, surprise clouding his gaze. The tom shared her lack of belief in the Star. "How could she have survived being crushed under all that earth? Unless . . . unless there is a place like the Star."

<p align="CENTER">His faith is wavering, Swiftdapple realized. "The Star isn't real," she muttered as she limped towards the ferns, walking past the astonished tom.

<p align="CENTER">"Maybe, somewhere, it is, but we just can't know until we do die," Thorn murmured, half to himself before he followed Swiftdapple. "Did you really kill my sis--she doesn't deserve to be kin of mine." His voice turned into bitter hatred and anger.

<p align="CENTER">"I did. She looked . . . different. As if she were see-through. I know I could see the wall of ferns right through her."

<p align="CENTER">Thorn blinked yet again. "Amazing. . . ."

<p align="CENTER">