TC- The Naming of ThunderClan

When the Clans were made, River, Wind, and ShadowClans almost immediately chose their names. But Hawkstar of pre-ThunderClan and his deputy Thornfire could not decide what to name their Clan. OakClan? EarthClan? None of the suggested names sounded quite right.

The other Clans just called them HawkClan, for that was the name of their leader, but the current HawkClan didn’t think that the term “hawk” suited them. But they stuck with it for a few moons, until one new leaf, things changed.

A patrol led by the warrior Snowclaw was rescenting the border by Twolegplace when they ran into a few kittypets who had strayed over the border. They were “hunting” in Clan land, scaring off all the prey from where they were to Fourtrees!

“Get off our land!” called Snowclaw to the trespassers. “This is… HawkClan’s… territory.” He winced as he said the temporary name, as did the members of their patrol.

“HawkClan?” sneered a fat orange kittypet. “You don’t seem so sure of yourselves!”

The Clan cats bristled, but they knew as well as the kittypet that their name was not the right one, and they hesitated before calling themselves HawkClan.

“Attack!” Snowclaw yowled the order and the four cats leaped at the clumsy, fat kittypets.

The HawkClan cats fought with agility and strength, and they darted in and out, striking hard, head-on blows and then leaping back before their enemy could strike back.

Leafstem hurled herself to a plump brown-and-white tabby, ripping the soft fur of the kittypet’s shoulders, and she jumped away before the kittypet could even register there was a cat on it’s back. After hefty swipe under the forelegs, the fat cat buckled, and Leafstem got in many sharp nips and pawfuls of fur.

Snowclaw was battling the orange kittypet. He darted up and clawed at the kittypet’s nose, drawing blood. Then he hurled himself the kittypet, leaving long scratches down his shoulders. Snowclaw let the other cat pin him down, but as soon as the kittypet thought he had won, Snowclaw burst back up and shoved a startled, screaming kittypet back to his housefolk.

These kittypets that the warriors of HawkClan fought ran back to their Twolegs, and after they were treated, they told other kittypets and random passerby about the great forest cats. “They fight like thunder!”

Eventually, these rumors got back to HawkClan. “Thunder…” murmured Thornfire. “We fight like thunder…”

“ThunderClan!” Moonshine, his daughter, called out.

Thornfire quickly brought the idea to Hawkstar, and it was soon agreed. HawkClan was no more. ThunderClan ruled the forest.