Written by fanfiction author Snarksadoodle
, having been adopted from fellow author IWalkBlindlyIntoTheShadows, Their Journey tells the tale of six apprentices who are washed away by a terrible flood and forced to make their way back to the Clans, a tight bond forming between the stranded castaways as they struggle to return to their homes.
The story itself takes place apart from the canon of the Warrior Cats works that it is based on, only retaining the initial background of the Clans.
Their Journey was published on FanFiction.Net on the 31st of January, 2015.
The fanfic contains examples of:
- Action Girl: Flarepaw is capable of holding her own in a fight and not being afraid to use intimidation, even if jokingly, on those who wrong her.
- Bait-and-Switch: The end of Chapter 12 seems to follow Flarepaw after she runs away. It actually follows Blackshadow.
- Berserk Button: Downplayed slightly, but Flarepaw does not take kindly to many things, including being called small and being forced into a body of water. She literally scarred another kit when she was young for calling her small, and jokingly threatened to kill Wildpaw for knocking her into a spring.
- Big Damn Heroes: Spoken almost word for word at the end of Chapter 8 (which is a given, considering how the scene itself is a reference to the Trope Namer).
- Bittersweet Ending: The author has stated that the story will have a "semi-happy ending".
- Back for the Dead: Flarepaw returns for one appearance after she runs away, and she's dead.
- Cats Hate Water: Flarepaw hates water.
- Call-Back: The first chapter where the apprentices are gone is called Swept Away. The chapter where they return to the Gathering place they'd been swept away from is appropriately called Swept Back.
- Chapter 16, appropriately called "Recollections", is full of these.
- Cliffhanger: Chapters often end with these. The author notes her use of them.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Implied to be the case for Flarepaw. Later revealed to be the case, having seen her sister seemingly die before her eyes and left alone as a former rogue in a hot-tempered Clan.
- Deal with the Devil: Blackshadow makes one with a mysterious entity in order to come back to life, which also prevents her from seeing Flarepaw ever again.
- Dramatic Thunder: The prologue is set during a terrible storm, a prelude to the flood that sweeps the apprentices away.
- Fire-Forged Friends: All of the apprentices end up becoming this with one another, having been forced to rely on each other to survive after the flood.
- Hit-and-Run Tactics: Preferred battle strategy of Floodpaw and Mistpaw.
- Identity Amnesia: Wildpaw suffers this for a bit, believing himself to be a cat known as Alpha. He gets better.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Flarepaw, who starts off insulting all of her traveling companions, but grows to become friends with them later on into the journey.
- Mood-Swinger: Flarepaw, and apparently all MagmaClan cats, are this to an extent. Living underground in the volcanic heat, they tend to suffer from violent mood swings when faced with environment changes
- Mysterious Past: Though none of the characters have a deeply explored past, Flarepaw appears to have a particularly interesting one, with multiple references to a mysterious character known as Blackshadow. Further details have not been provided.
- Parental Substitute: Blackshadow is implied to be this to Flarepaw.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Flarepaw was the runt of her litter and still is small for her age, despite her fighting capabilities.
- The Pollyanna: Mistpaw and, to a lesser extent, her brother Floodpaw. They still maintain their childish ways and excitement about the world, even after being separated from their entire family, left among strangers, and forced to spend their days trying to return home.
- Put on a Bus: Most characters outside of the protagonists end up this way, such as Clarice or Mistle, who get their limelight in a chapter or two and then fade away from the story.
- Ship Tease: Fallenpaw and Flarepaw, particularly notable with Flarepaw's wet dream.
- There is some minor Wildpaw and Flarepaw ship teasing going on as well.
- Shout-Out: Chapter 8, entitled "Safe", is effectively a chapter-length Firefly shout-out, complete with a recreation of the final scene of the episode, with Anenomepaw, in the role of Simon Tam, being rescued by his friends, with Fallenpaw in place of Malcolm Reynolds, Wildpaw in place of Zoë Washburne, and Flarepaw in place of Jayne Cobb.
- The title of Chapter 11, "Then There Were Five", references Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None.
- The title of Chapter 11, "Then There Were Five", references Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None
- Single-Minded Twins: Mistpaw and Floodpaw, to a lesser extent; they think very much alike and are even able to finish each other's sentences, but they are not identical in appearance and their connection is not emphasized
- Sour Outside, Sad Inside: Flarepaw houses a lot of inner anger and frustration pertaining to her childhood and treatment in the Clans.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: By the time Fallenpaw and Flarepaw begin to realize their love, Flarepaw has run away and eventually dies without ever seeing Fallenpaw again.
- The Medic: Anemonepaw serves as this for the group.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Mistle delivers a good one to Anemonepaw at the end of Chapter 8.
- "Fine. I never want to see your ugly mug around here again, Anemonepaw. You're such a traitor. Not even standing up for the weak and injured. You're sick and vile. I could just vomit here. I hope you're happy knowing that Nikki is sure to die as well as those kits."
- Title Drop: "Safe" and "Then There Were Five" are title dropped in the chapters themselves.
- Though never referred to as such in the work itself, other works by the author indicate that "Their Journey" is used in-universe to refer to the events of the story as told after the fact.
- Villain Protagonist: For one chapter, at least. In Chapter 8, "Safe", Anemonepaw and co. leave behind Mistle, who had admittedly kidnapped Anemonepaw beforehand, but had done so to provide medical assistance for her own cats. By leaving to return home rather than staying to help these cats, they very well could have doomed them to die.
- Volcano Lair: MagmaClan lives in underground caverns in the volcanic mountains of their territory.
