Junglestar

### Family

Antlight and Creviceroot (parents), Ivorycloud and Birchstream (siblings), Falconfighter (mate), Scarabsmoke, Murkypond, Sleekroot, Wingdancer, Windypad, and Wrenhill (kits), Falconfeather, Tawythorn, Cobaltstream, Whiteflood, Ledgedapple, Fluffydust, and Bluebirdbreeze (grandkits), Cometpaw (great-grandson), and lots of sons- and daughters-in-law

### Friends

Equinox (former), Starlightstrike, Buzzardtail

## Appearance

Junglestar is an absolutely huge cat, standing just about 14 inches tall. Her fur is long, fluffy and tangled, and she's quite lightly-built, though it's hard to actually see that under all the fur. Her eyes are a dark forest green, and she has mostly-white fur with patches of cream and dark brown, as well as light brown stripes. Her ears are tufted.

## Personality

Junglestar is a loud, passionate cat who is very dramatic despite her age. She's fierce and stubborn in her opinions, and doesn't really take criticism well. She's fiercely loyal to her Clan and would do anything to defend it. She has some very strong opinions on how a Clan should be lead, and kind of looks down on the other leaders - and not just physically, given how tall she is. She's been leading HorizonClan for what seems like forever, and she wants to keep it that way. She's not exactly the most trusting cat, but she manages to let other cats make some decisions here and there. She's bossy and fierce, but also very motherly. She does have a softer spot if you manage to get on her good side.

## Story

#### Kithood

The second Junglekit took her first breath, she was ready to do great things.

She was born in HorizonClan, alongside her siblings Ivorykit and Birchkit. Her mother, Antlight, was a respectable warrior who many cats looked up to. Her father, Creviceroot, was one of the Clan's medicine cats at the time.

One of Junglekit's favorite pastimes was listening to stories about wars and battles from the elders. She knew most of HorizonClan's history before she knew how to hunt. Her most reliable story-supplier was Frostkeeper, a very old tom who'd seen quite a bit of that history as it happened. Junglekit's siblings didn't seem as interested in the stories, but Junglekit didn't care. She'd take Frostkeeper's retelling of the Silver Falls battles over hide-and-seek any day.

When Junglekit was two moons old, she got her first chance to see history in the making: the rogue war. For once she had to listen to cats other than her favorite elder to hear about battles and skirmishes. The prospect of war excited her. The queens and elders were sheltered in camp, worried that Fieldstar's cats would reach them, but Junglekit wasn't scared at all. For some reason she just had no sense of danger.

That is, she didn't until her father died.

One day the messenger came back with the news that one of the the medicine cats' outposts had been raided, and almost everyone inside killed - including Creviceroot. Junglekit's family mourned, but the she-kit took her shock and sadness and turned it into something else: fury.

Junglekit sauntered right over to the apprentice den and demanded to be taught some battle moves, knowing that they were less likely to tell her no. She got mocked, of course, a three-moon-old kit trying to learn to fight, but she shut them up once she started coming close to actually beating them. She earned the respect of Maskpaw, who was three moons older than her and one of the less battle-skilled apprentices. The two quickly became friends.

When Junglekit was four moons old, Frostkeeper's granddaughter Viperflight moved into the nursery expecting kits. This made Junglekit very happy. The prospect of being around the same age as someone related to Frostkeeper excited her. She'd finally have someone else to discuss his stories with!

Unfortunately, though, tragedy struck. After a crushing defeat at one of the borders, Frostkeeper decided to go join the fight. Cats tried to stop him, but he was unrelenting and somehow made his way onto the battlefield, despite being over a hundred moons old. He participated in a successful battle, but in the next one he was killed, along with Junglekit's aunt Applemist. Junglekit was absolutely crushed, and stopped talking to cats other than to practice battle moves with the apprentices.

On the same day of the fateful battle, Junglekit's cousins were born. Tricklekit and Sheepkit were the kits of Creviceroot's brother Bitterhope. Junglekit was rather unimpressed by them, somehow seeming to believe that all kits were born four moons old instead of tiny and helpless, but Birchkit and Ivorykit absolutely adored their new denmates and spent a lot of time with them.

One moon later, when Junglekit was five moons old, Viperflight had her kit: Falconkit, Frostkeeper's great-grandson. Junglekit, however, paid little attention to him. She was busy battle training with Maskpaw and her friends.

That is, until Antlight found out. She did not want her daughter to have anything to do with battles or war, so she quickly put a stop to the training sessions. Junglekit was extremely annoyed, but the nursery guards were ordered by Antlight not to let her out. So she was stuck.

She took this time to start telling Falconkit all of Frostkeeper's stories. She figured that since she was the only one who knew all of them by heart, she had a responsibility to pass them down. Just as she'd hoped, the kit seemed quite interested in them. She spent the rest of her kithood telling him stories, since she and Maskpaw had been banned from seeing each other until she was an apprentice.

Also, her grandpa Hoothollow caught greencough and died. So.

#### Apprenticeship

The day finally came when Junglepaw turned six moons old and became an apprentice. She received Cobratuft, Frostkeeper's grandson and Viperflight's brother, as her mentor. She was happy about that.

Like all of the apprentices, her schedule mostly consisted of battle training. The war was still very much happening, and so apprentices were required to spend more time in battle training than anything else. As a result, many of the cats in Junglepaw's generation weren't as good hunters as the ones before and after them.

Also, when she was six, her maternal grandparents, Weedflame and Scarletskip, both died in a fight against the rogues. Oops.

By the time Junglepaw was seven moons old, Maskpaw had turned ten. And by Gingerstar's orders, Maskpaw was now allowed to fight in the rogue war. Junglepaw was extremely jealous. She wanted to fight. She wanted to avenge her father, her aunt, and her friend. All of them. So she convinced Maskpaw to help her sneak out to the battlefield one night.

Maskpaw also brought her friend Starlightpaw. Starlightpaw was eleven moons old and knew her way around the battlefront. So the three of them snuck out of camp and out to the battlefield.

They arrived at the same time as a rogue ambush - Crest herself planning on leading an attack on HorizonClan. They'd found a spot with only two guards awake, killed them, and were ready to rush the camp. The apprentices were understandably terrified. They decided to split up - Starlightpaw would run back to camp and warn the warriors there, and Junglepaw and Maskpaw would wake the warriors at the nearby posts.

Except it didn't go entirely as planned. Junglepaw managed to wake her half of the warriors, but Maskpaw was found and captured by Crest's cats. The Clan cats attacked and won the battle, but the rogues escaped with Maskpaw. Junglepaw was horrified - and also banned from fighting until she was a warrior.

I cannot even tell you how upset Junglepaw was that she wasn't allowed to fight. She'd been waiting her whole life for this, and to have it taken away from her just... *enraged* her. She was absolutely furious. She channeled that fury into her battle training, and, uh, may have accidentally injured another apprentice. His name was Foggypaw and he was *not* happy with her. Neither was Cobratuft, who ceased to teach her battle moves until she could learn to control herself. Junglepaw was at her breaking point now. She knew she was one of the best fighters in the entire Clan, but here she was not even allowed to *train* for battle when there was a *war* going on.

Junglepaw turned nine moons old and couldn't take it anymore. She decided that if she wasn't allowed to fight for HorizonClan, she was going to leave. So she marched up and told that to Gingerstar. Except she also may have added that she was going to fight for the rogues. She wasn't planning that, of course, but still. Gingerstar was angry and put her on lockdown in camp. This made her even more angry, because she was a prisoner of her own Clan now. So at age ten, she fought her way past the guards and just up and left the Clan, because she was angry and also strong enough to do that because of it.

#### Rogue Life

Junglepaw found Fieldstar's cats and asked to join them. She was able to prove her fighting skills, and received the name Dune. She learned the way the rogues operated and got herself a job as a prison guard.

The newly-named Dune quickly found Maskpaw in the prison. However, her old friend had adjusted to life here, and was treated well. She said it wasn't all that bad, and that she was only going to be here for another two moons before she was offered a chance to join the rogues - which she planned to accept. Dune was surprised; even after being here for three moons, Maskpaw had kept a cheerful disposition. Also, she totally had a crush on one of her guards, Copperhead.

Dune quickly made her way up the rogues' rankings, and by the time she was eleven, she was told that she was being sent in to spy on the Clans. Dune accepted the job and made her way to FallClan, where she was named Dunepaw.

#### Apprenticeship (continued)

Dunepaw made sure to stay far away from HorizonClan cats in her new Clan. She wasn't great at hunting at all, but Mallowstar (whom I'll assume still existed in the reboot?) wouldn't send her out to fight until she was a warrior. So Dunepaw just kind of existed for a while. Her new mentor, Buzzardtail, was extremely hard on her, but Dunepaw liked her. She was still an incredible fighter, so Buzzardtail's battle training sessions weren't too hard.

#### Warrior Life

After receiving the name Dunethorn, she was finally allowed to fight in the war. At only thirteen moons old, Dunethorn was chosen to lead an ambush patrol on the rogues. So she led an attack on the prison tunnels. Because she knew her way around the rogue camp, she was successfully able to free the Clan prisoners, as had been her plan ever since she joined the rogues. Maskpaw, however, fought against the Clans and refused to go home. Crushed, Dunethorn returned to the Clans.

She told Buzzardtail her whole story, from Frostkeeper to Falconkit to being locked in camp. And she decided to go back to HorizonClan.

Upon arriving, she noted that Cobratuft was now the Clan deputy, Falconpaw was an apprentice, and Ivorycloud and Birchstream were warriors. Also, Bitterhope was dead. Um, whoops. After some convincing - and a whole lot of storytelling - she was allowed back into the Clan. She asked if she could have her old name back, and was subsequently named Junglehunter - a name she thought was kind of stupid, given how bad she was at hunting, but oh well. And maybe it was intentional, because the name inspired Junglehunter to start practicing her hunting until she was at least decent at it.

At fourteen moons old, she was given her first apprentice: Horsepaw, a she-cat with a lot of attitude and very little respect for her. Junglehunter quickly put an end to that with her sheer intimidation skills. She often held duo training sessions with Starlightstrike and her apprentice, Houndpaw. Starlightstrike voiced her crush on Foggyhope, the very same cat that Junglehunter had beat up once. Junglehunter was like 'ew, toms are gross', and used her rivalry with Foggyhope as an excuse not to help set Starlightstrike up with him. She was also kind of worried about how much Starlightstrike's brother Swiftsleek seemed to hang around Ivorycloud, because for some reason the idea of her sister getting a mate made her uncomfortable. But then Swiftsleek left the Clan to join OrchidClan. So.

At this point, Birchstream also randomly left the Clan, deciding to go to OasisClan. He quickly got himself a mate, so Junglehunter figured he'd left because of that.

When she was sixteen, the Clans prepared for a final battle against the rogues. It was all paws on deck, and Junglehunter was excited to participate in what she considered her first real battle, now that she'd shed the name Dune and was a true part of her Clan. At midnight one night, warriors from all the Clans prepared for a fight.

It was a bloody battle. Antlight fought ferociously, but was struck down in the turmoil. Grieving over this, Junglehunter let her anger fuel her fighting. In the midst of battle, she came across Maskpaw, now called Equinox. Equinox was fighting for the rogues, and had Horsepaw pinned down. Junglehunter tackled her and the two became locked in a vicious fight. Equinox pinned Junglehunter against a cliff and prepared for a blow, but who would jump in except Birchstream, taking the blow for her and falling dead between her and Equinox.

At this point Junglehunter turned fully on her old friend. She leaped onto Equinox and began tearing her with blows, each one carrying behind it the strength of all her fury at those lost in the war, all the betrayal she had endured. She had to be dragged off by her own Clanmates, never finding out whether Equinox had survived.

She learned that the battle had ended, that Fieldstar and Crest were dead and the war was over.

And so began an uneasy time where cats had to settle into a life of peace, all the while grieving heavily for loved ones lost.

When Falconfighter became a warrior, Junglehunter noticed that he hung around her a whole lot. She was very weirded out by it. This continued for a good two moons until at nineteen, she asked him what the heck was up. He responded in the heat of the moment that he had a crush on her, he shocked Junglehunter into silence, something very hard to accomplish. She told him to give her a bit of time to think that over.

Her and Starlightstrike's apprentices became warriors under the names of Horserise and Houndmuzzle, and then quickly became mates after that. Also, Starlightstrike and Foggyhope became mates. Junglehunter was sort of disgusted by all this romance, to be perfectly honest. But Starlightstrike convinced her to give Falconfighter a chance, and she sort of actually started to develop feelings for him. When she was twenty-three, he asked her to be his mate, and she said yes.

Then when she was twenty-four, Gingerstar died. And Junglehunter was made deputy. She was surprised, but went to accompany Cobratuft to the Moon Falls. Except then on the way there they were attacked by a small remnant of the rogue group. They fought them off, but Cobratuft was killed in the struggle, and Junglehunter badly wounded. She was taken back to camp, where she not only had her injuries treated, but also found out she was pregnant. So *that* was kind of a shocker. And to top it off, she wasn't allowed to leave camp to get her nine lives until *after* she had her kits. She thought this was really stupid, but Falconfighter wasn't letting her go anywhere, and neither were the medicine cats.

Seeing as she was technically leader now, Junglehunter arranged to have her cousin Sheeppelt, who was also expecting kits, care for hers because she wouldn't have time to both run the Clan and raise kits. When she was twenty-six, she had Murkykit and Scarabkit, a son and a daughter. And things didn't quite go as planned, because she loved her kits and decided that she was going to raise them herself. She was Junglehunter. She could do anything she wanted.

#### Leadership

She couldn't just stay deputy forever though, so she eventually took a patrol of warriors and headed out to the Moon Falls. She made it, and received nine lives from Frostkeeper (life of respect), Creviceroot (life of courage), Antlight (life of love), Birchstream (life of selflessness), Applemist (life of energy), Bitterhope (life of protection), Cobratuft (life of mercy), and Gingerstar (life of forgivness). She got home and appointed Starlightstrike as hr deputy.

So now Junglestar was just hanging out with her kits and sort of running the Clan from the nursery, which she did surprisingly well. Eventually, the kits became apprentices and Junglestar was back in business. Good job, Junglestar.

Also, there was a fire in HorizonClan territory once, and Starlightstrike died. Scarabpaw decided to go in and hunt for the Clan while the fire was still going. (Junglestar didn't hear about this until *after* her daughter had left. She was not happy.) Anyway, Junglestar made Houndmuzzle deputy.

Anyway, a while passed. Junglestar's kits became warriors - Murkypaw became Murkypond, for his calm nature, and Scarabpaw became Scarabsmoke, named for the fire incident.

So thirty-eight-moon-old Junglestar was just existing for a hot minute there.

Aaaand then at forty-two, she found out she was expecting kits again. Well, Junglestar considered herself and expert in the raising-kits-while-also-running-a-Clan field, so she stuck herself right back in the nursery with confidence. She had Windykit, Wrenkit, Sleekkit and Wingkit and prepared herself for six more moons of running the Clan from the nursery.

Some time passed where all that really happened was that Junglestar's kits got older. Foggyhope, Falconfighter and Scarabsmoke were all killed by a pack of wolves on patrol, which Junglestar really didn't like. But she stayed the same stoic cat she'd always been, and life went on.

She also hated Murkypond's mate Brackenblaze, but she eventually died, so.

Anyway, she's just kinda been existing. She has a barking enourmous family, and her great-grandson just became a warrior. So.

Also, she's 100 now. Go Junglestar!

One day, Sproutsong (a messenger) showed up to tell Junglestar that Goldthicket, a rogue, was hanging around the Clans again. Junglestar handled this the way Junglestar does, which was to sort of grunt through the whole conversation and daydream about ripping Goldthicket to shreds. So.

## Other

#### Trivia

* Originally, I was going to have Equinox survive and the two would have a face-off IRP. Except then I realized it would just be two super old ladies trying to fight each other, and I decided against it. XD
* She has battle scars, but they're hidden because she has an insane amount of fur. For this reason it's also hard to land a blow on her.