Threats of the Future

NOTE: This story is being rewritten, and therefore some chapters may not connect to the previous chapters. The chapters already rewritten will have no chapter title and the ones who haven't yet do.

Heya guys! This is a fanfic with several of you users' characters in it. As you can see below, the majority of the cats in this fanfic were submitted by you guys! Submittions are currently closed, however, sorry to everyone who wants to join.

Credits

This idea is not mine. This fanfic and the concept of taking others' characters into the fanfic with their permission was actually inspired by Waterfang and their fanfic, TAILS of the Clans, aka TOTC. Sadly, the user left the wiki quite some time ago, and after a while, I decided it would be fun to try to make something of my own with this idea.

Allegiances (that appear)

shadowclan

warriors~

Sparrowlight (Cchen3) - light brown tabby she-cat with sparkling green eyes and white swirls on her pelt. She has white paws as well as a white-tipped tail.

Bramblefire (Bramblefire3118) - Dark brown tabby she-cat with black tail-tip and green eyes.

Pepperstorm (Hollytuft) - mottled gray she-cat

windclan

warriors~

Peachfeather (Patchfeather14) - Small, thin creamy pinkish and white-colored tabby she-cat with long legs, large ears, and a wispy tail tip.

Nightrunner (NightstarTheLeader) - Pitch black she-cat with white flecks like stars and icy blue eyes. Strong hind-legs.

Icefang (Miss icyfox) - A light blue-grey she-cat with blue eyes and a white underbelly. She has a long scar on her right cheek. She's tallish and fairly small.

skyclan

leader~ Squirrelstar - a ginger tom with blue eyes and a bushy tail

medicine cat~ Mintshade - a dark creamy she-cat with bright green eyes

warriors~

Foxstep (Foxstep1) - Dark russet she-cat with blue eyes

Hollyblaze (Me, Hollywhisker) - Pitch-black she-cat with dark brown eyes and lighter colored paws. She has one torn ear with a scar on her pelt.

Skyrunner (Sandstorm1823) - Bright ginger she-cat with leaf green eyes, white paws, white ear tips, and a white-tipped tail

riverclan

warriors~

Wetstream (Wetstream) - Dark gray she-cat with one white paw and dark yellow eyes

cats outside of clans

Reina (Storkbork) - Calico she-cat with green eyes; long, bushy tail and scars on both her ears.

Lyrics (LyricsThatSing) - A she-cat blue-gray pelt, periwinkle eyes, a torn right ear, and sharp claws

Starlight (XNightflowerx) - A black she-cat with strange silver markings on her face, paws, and tail. She also has a silver underbelly and violet eyes.

hyena's cats

Hyena - a yellowish tom with blue eyes that’s covered with battle scars from head to tail

Avalon - calico tom with azure eyes

Venom - brown tabby tom with white paws and tail tip.

Prologue

The tired tom opened his scarred eyes and stared at the sun rising before him. Agh, he thought. How long have I been asleep? Could it have possibly been more than one night? He slowly got up to his paws and scanned around. I mean, I know you're tired from the attack, but you can't leave your cats without a leader! he scolded himself.

"Hey!" A familiar voice came out from behind him. The tom growled at the sound. The sound of his worst rival in his group. "Why don't you stop being lazy and do your job, huh?"

The tom felt his fur rise, and he immediately jerked his head to face his challenger. "How dare you speak to your leader that way?" he spat, his claws unsheathed.

"Well, you won't be my leader once you're dead!" The cat sneered, and at this the leader heard his claws unsheath as well. The next thing he knew, he was pinned down to the ground, claws digging into his fur.

"Get off of me!" he yelled, one of his paws reaching to push the cat off him. He swung his paw to the side, knocking his enemy onto the ground. He quickly got up, leaving the cat on the ground. "We don't have time for pathetic fights like this," he scowled, sending one last glare before turning away.

Chapter One

~

"I expected you to be better than this."

Icefang, Chapter 1

~

“Wake up! It’s past sunup already!” A voice rang through Peachfeather’s ears, causing her to jerk upwards from her sleeping position. She quickly peeked outside. It was past sunup! She groaned. It had been moons since she’d had woken so late. What had caused her to oversleep? Sighing, she violently shook her head and looked at who had spoken - Nightrunner.

“Hey, Nightrunner.” Peachfeather murmured, her voice so quiet that she wasn’t even sure if the she-cat heard her or not. She watched as Nightrunner dipped her head towards her.

“Well, glad you’re awake. I have to get going. See ya!” Nightrunner exclaimed, and then padded away.

After she was gone, Peachfeather scanned around for something to do. She had missed the patrols, so she followed behind Nightrunner, who was about to set out with some other cats on a hunting patrol. She watched as they left for the woods, not noticing her, and she was too shy and reluctant to call out for them. She wasn’t assigned to go on the patrol anyway - it’s not like they would let her go with them.

“Overslept?” A cat behind her startled her, causing her to jump slightly off the ground. “Don’t worry. I did, too. Usually wake up super early…”

Peachfeather turned around to see Icefang mewing away, although she tuned out for most of it. She had barely gotten to know this cat and never bothered to. She had never known Icefang was an early cat as well, and at once she began noticing some things they had in common. It was surprising to her because her entire life she thought she could have nothing similar to a cat that had a loner as a father and a dead mother.

Unless...unless Icefang was just lying about it all, pretending she had several things in common with Peachfeather so that the chance of her accepting Icefang as a friend was higher, or so that she wouldn’t think she was alone. Peachfeather had a friend who did that to her in the past. But a nice cat like Icefang wouldn’t do that, would she?

“Peachfeather!” Icefang suddenly yelled. Peachfeather shook her head violently, as if shaking her previous thoughts off. How long have I spaced off like that? She tried not to think about it and blinked innocently at Icefang.

The she-cat sighed, rolling her eyes. “I said…” she began, but before she could finish, Peachfeather was yet again distracted. When she recovered, she was confronted by an annoyed Icefang staring at her. “You know what, Peachfeather? I give up. I expected you to be better than this.” She sent the easily distracted cat a hard glare and padded away.

Peachfeather sighed, her eyes drooping. Why had she gotten so distracted? It’s never been an issue before...What was wrong with her today? First she overslept, and now this? She considered apologizing to Icefang, but stopped herself before she went over to do so. I should probably wait until she calms down for me to talk to her again.

Unless I chicken out before we even get to that point.

Which is most likely what will happen.

Chapter Two

~

"We have to be patient and let life play out by itself."

Bramblefire, Chapter 2

~

“Hey, Bramblefire!”

Bramblefire turned to see a gray she-cat smiling at her. Of course, such an energetic tone had to be Pepperstorm’s. “Want to go hunting?”

Bramblefire eagerly nodded. She hadn’t been out hunting in a while, and this was the perfect opportunity to do so. “Sparrowlight’s coming with us. C’mon!” Pepperstorm finished, padding away towards Sparrowlight in the distance.

Sparrowlight? Bramblefire quickly made a face of disgust when Pepperstorm turned away. The last time she had talked to Sparrowlight was ages ago, when they had had the big fight. Immediately, she assumed Pepperstorm’s plan—she was trying to get them to make it up to each other by hosting a hunting patrol that included them and only them.

It was so long ago, Bramblefire could hardly even remember why the entire argument even took place in the first place, but yet the memory still cut into her mind like a knife. She just remembered yelling at her, her throat stinging because of it, and storming away afterwards. Sparrowlight had done the same.

Bramblefire fiercely shook her head back and forth, clearing the negative thoughts in her brain. Let’s just do this and get it over with. She walked awkwardly over to her Clanmates, receiving an odd feeling now that Sparrowlight was close by her for the first time in moons.

“Hi,” Sparrowlight muttered in a low voice, glancing nervously at Pepperstorm, who nodded and turned to Bramblefire. She stayed silent, though, and so did the rest of the group.

“Well?” Pepperstorm mewed, glancing back and forth between the two. “Aren’t you going to say hi back?”

Reluctantly, Bramblefire raised a paw and waved, but once again, her mouth stayed closed. Pepperstorm started to stare at her intensely, as if to say she wasn’t satisfied. “I won’t become friends with her again if this is all set up. We have to be patient and let life play out by itself. We can’t force it to move on and do what we want it to do,” Bramblefire mewed.

She dipped her head towards Sparrowlight and Pepperstorm, who seemed shocked yet impressed at Bramblefire's sharp words. “Well? Should we begin hunting? The prey won't catch themselves, ya know.”

Chapter Three

~

"You don't remember? _{Then it's best it stays that way."}

Foxstep, Chapter 3

~

Hollyblaze woke up yawning to the bright sun shining outside, her eyes adjusting to the light. “Hey, Holly! How ya doing? You good?” Skyrunner’s anxious but happy voice sounded in her ears.

“Yeah, I am,” Hollyblaze mewed. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

But Skyrunner must have missed Hollyblaze’s question, for she turned around and began shouting words of excitement to the medicine cat, Mintshade: “She’s awake! She’s awake!” At this, Hollyblaze grew even more puzzled. Of course she’s awake! Isn’t this the correct time to wake up anyway?

“Awesome!” Mintshade exclaimed, motioning to Hollyblaze to come with a twinkle in her eyes. Reluctantly, she got out of her comfortable spot as she realized she was not in the warriors’ den, she was in the medicine cat’s. What’s going on?

“How do you feel?” the medicine cat spoke, smiling at her.

“I’m good,” Hollyblaze responded. She opened her mouth, planning to repeat her previous question, but once again, the cat she was speaking to rotated to a position where it became unlikely for her to be heard, so she closed it.

She sighed, her eyes drooping because of her tiredness. She had so many unanswered questions…

“Hollyblaze!” a voice called out in the distance. She turned her head to see Foxstep, padding towards the den.

“Foxstep!” she said to her friend. “Hey, can you please explain to me something? I’m really confused and no one’s been listening…”

The dark russet she-cat nodded, motioning for Hollyblaze to continue. “Why am I in the medicine cat’s den? Why is everyone so worried about me? What happened?” she blurted out with question after question.

Foxstep’s gaze grew stern and dark, faintly shaking her head. “You don’t remember?” Hollyblaze shyly turned her head back and forth. “Then it’s best it stays that way. Trust me, you do not want to know what happened yesterday.”

And with that, she walked off, waving her tail goodbye.

Chapter Four

~

"Who are you?"

Wetstream, Chapter Four

~

Wetstream dozed off at the endless, lonely horizon. Abruptly, she snapped back to attention. Focus! she scolded herself. It’s hard enough as it is to have a one-cat hunting patrol. Recently, RiverClan’s numbers had been dying due to a massive, spreading illness they had gotten from ThunderClan, who was almost entirely washed away by it. It was getting even more difficult to arrange patrols of the standard amount of members, yet it was getting even more important to catch prey for everyone.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a fish swimming along through the river. She pounced, yet the creature evaded her grip. Mouse dung! It’s so hard to do this alone, she thought. Wetstream was the kind of cat that depended on others—but not in a bad way—and loved decent company, and put her in a situation where those factors are missing and you right there have a disaster.

She calmed herself down, and tried again with the next passing fish. Her claws slashed through and the fish fell, dead. Well, maybe not an entire disaster. She chuckled at the thought.

All of a sudden, the loud, rustling noise of the bushes nearby shot through Wetstream’s ears, sending her into alert. She lowered into a crouch, scanning the area for any enemies. Usually this would be unnecessary, but now that there were less and less strong warriors in the Clan, she had been set into a protective state.

Then, Wetstream felt weight collapse on her, pinning her onto the grass below. She tried to wiggle out of the grip, but it was just too strong. “Who are you?” she muttered through her gritted teeth, but no response never came.

Claws pierced into her shoulders, and before long, blood was dripping out everywhere. “Get off me,” she snarled, “you wretched furball!”

The claws seemed to sink deeper the more Wetstream tried to escape. She tried to get at the attacker, but she was still too out of reach. Finally, the pressure on her shoulders seemed to rise, and she immediately took the opportunity to lash out her claws at the enemy, but all her weakened claws slashed through was the thin air surrounding her. It took her all her remaining power to locate the attacker, yet she realized that the only things that remained were the howling of the wind and the pain of her wounds.

And that was the last thing she thought before darkness overwhelmed her.

Chapter Five

~

"Do you not know who I am?"

Unknown, Chapter 5

~

The calico she-cat of the name Reina crouched through the thick grass, searching for some prey. Then, a bristle noise came from deep within the bushes. She snapped her head towards the sudden sound, leaping towards it without first figuring out what the source was...which she soon regretted.

She couldn’t believe that she had decided to attack, thinking it was a mouse. Because instead of seeing a tiny, gray creature squirming through, her claws were gripped onto an earthy-colored cat with a much bigger size than her. A horrifying growl came from the opponent, his furious glare piercing into her. “I’m so sorry!” she immediately apologized with panic.

“You should be,” he snarled. “Do you not know who I am?”

Before Reina could shake her head in confusion, the tom crawled away, leaving one last nasty glance with her, haunting her. She sighed, both in exhaustion and fear. She had been walking around searching for prey since sunup, but she had hardly found anything. It seemed like all the food had scurried away overnight.

All of a sudden, a groan entered Reina’s earshot. She jerked towards the sound, aware not to jump out at it this time. Then, it came once again. “Who’s there?” she asked, holding herself still.

Only silence came as the response. She repeated herself in fear, while the groans seemed to get louder every single time they occurred. She finally gave in and walked towards the unknown creature. You’re just being superstitious. It’s probably just the wind, she thought to herself. But a gasp soon escaped her mouth as she happened across a dark-gray she-cat lying in the fields.

“Help.” The she-cat’s raspy whisper barely came out of her. Reina cautiously approached her, staring down at her eyes.

“Wha-What happened?” she asked, unsure of what else to say.

“I…” the she-cat closed her eyes and laid still for a while. “I don’t remember. I don’t remember anything…”

“Think,” Reina replied, but the she-cat just shook her head. “Okay...um, let’s start from the beginning, then. What’s your name? Where are you from?”

“I don’t know either...I’m from this place with this river, and my name has something to do with those...I really don’t remember,” she concentrated as hard as she could, but the pain was way too distracting and her mind went blank. “I’m hurt.”

Reina leaned into her scent. Blood, mixed with...with a smell so familiar… “We need to patch up some of those wounds so you don’t get infected. They look terrible.”

She nodded, pain searing through her ripped fur. “After that, please get me back to my...my C-cla...cla...oh, what’s it called—” she stopped, trying to get her memory back, but Reina knew exactly what she was attempting to say.

“You’re a Clan cat, aren’t you?”

Chapter Six

~

yet i failed. every. single. time.

Lyrics, Chapter 6

~

Her body shivering and her paws almost colder than ice, Lyrics tried to shake off as much water as she could from her blue-gray pelt. The evil, muddy scent that once lingered there was now long gone.

She stared stoically at the lake before her, the waves rapidly flowing around like maniacs. The roaring wind pushed at her body, the trees bending over to the ground as if they were pleading for mercy from the storm. But yet, through it all, the nearly-dead Lyrics felt no emotion. She was too buried in the past to feel feelings.

And just like that, the memories came flooding over her, almost mimicking the waves washing over the shore. Hyena, she thought with sudden rage. Anger. Frustration. It drowned everything else out in her mind just like how the lake almost drowned her altogether. That idiotic jerk. Who does he think he is, anyway?

Who am I kidding? He probably thinks of himself as the best, highest, most evil cat in the world. I’ll show him. The next time I see him, I’ll be ready. I’ll shred him to pieces.

Time and time again, Lyrics had come face to face with one of the most dreadful, dangerous adversaries in these thick, tall forests. And once more, not so long ago, she had briefly saw the vicious rogue Hyena in the corner of her eye before he sent her plunging in the raging lake to drown.

But the real question is—who do I think I am? I’ve had so many chances. So many opportunities to cut him off. To kill him. To change him from “harmful” to “harmless.”

Yet I failed. Every. Single. Time.

Lyrics wasn’t about to give up. Not yet. Sure, she might be a failure, but she wasn’t a quitter. She didn’t care how many times she got hurt in the process, but the least she could do was prevent other cats, from the present and the future, would not share the same fate.

Just then, another burst of wind knocked into her, slamming her back into the lake she barely escaped just moments ago. She let out a shocked but quiet gasp before water filled her mouth and darkness surrounded her, sending her to unconsciousness.

“It’s her!” A piercing shriek rose out of the wilderness. “It’s her!”

Lyrics snapped her head towards the voice and immediately backed away from the bushes it was coming from, unable to see who it was in the dark of the night. In a blink of an eye, two snarling cats charged out of the leaves and landed right on top of her body, their long claws unsheathed.

She recognized them right away—Avalon and Venom—Hyena’s two most loyal minions, almost as murderous as their leader himself. She let out a ferocious growl. What Venom replied was so low it was nearly impossible to make out, yet he and his brother, Avalon, had said it so many times into her ear that she knew exactly what he was saying. “Surrender.”

She flung the two cats off her almost effortlessly and backed up immediately. “Never will I ever allow Hyena and his foolishness take over the forest,” she spat out at her enemies, fire burning in her eyes.

“Ha,” Avalon snickered, “if anything, you’d die trying.”

“In your dreams, fox-heart,” she fired back, her claws unsheathing. She leaped onto the calico tom, almost knocking him into a nearby tree when a large, blood-covered cat stepped in front of it, blocking Avalon before he crashed.

“Lyrics,” he snarled, and before she could react, his sharp claws dug into her shoulders. “Long time no see, eh?”

The voice couldn’t be any more familiar. The voice that sent her fur bristling and her heart full of anger. Hyena. “Let’s make this simple, shall we? You surrender and you get to join the biggest, best group in the forest. Well, I shouldn’t say best, since there are no other cats out there that haven’t joined the ranks yet except you,” he said. This was no news for Lyrics. She had known for moons that she was the only one left. Which made it all the more important to assassinate him.

But she knew the truth—even if she gave in now, she wouldn’t be a member of the group, but a prisoner. She’s seen their camp before, even had a run-in with Hyena on the border of it, and she had seen so many cats she knew had resisted against him before but finally failed in the end.

Even those cats, what were they called again? Oh right, Clan cats. They were all stuck in there as well, cramped in a corner with everyone mocking them and jeering at them. They were almost thin to the bone, their bodies weak and fragile, their mouths crying out desperate prayers to StarClan. Whatever that was.

“Or you continue to be the stubborn little Lyrics that you are,” the evil cat snickered. “And you die right here, right now. Your choice.” Without saying a word, she clawed at Hyena and pinned him to the ground, forgetting that Avalon and Venom had been standing there the whole time. The littermates grabbed Lyrics off and raked their claws down her body. She went limp, collapsing onto the ground, unconscious.

Lyrics awoke with a start, swallowing down a wave of water as she scrambled to get to shore. Spitting out the liquid in her mouth, breathing rapid, panicked breaths, she looked around for any of her opponents. She shook her head to calm herself down, trying to shake the thoughts out of her mind.

She was certain it was a dream. In fact, there was not a shadow of a doubt in her that the entire thing was just her imagination. There were still several cats left in the forest not under Hyena’s control, and she had also talked when they had threatened her. A situation where she would’ve definitely kept her mouth shut if it were reality. But yet here she was, lying motionless on the wet, cold grass, covered in scars and bruises.

And fresh blood.

Chapter Seven: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

"Only my friends can call me Cali."

~ Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, Chapter 7

Nightrunner stared at the three RiverClan cats. "We're trying to find a yellowish tom--" Nightrunner's eyes widened. "So am I!" she gasped. Wetstream, Mistfeather, and Leaf did too.

"Wanna join us?" Leaf offered. Nightrunner nodded, glad to have companions now. "Except, only under one condition. Roll in some leaves or something. Anything that would get rid of that RiverClan scent," she said. Mistfeather looked a bit wary at the thought of replacing her Clan scent with a ThunderClan-ish one, but she and the others did so anyway.

A white ball of fur raced by. The object, thinking he might be a bit too suspicious doing that, backtracked a little. "Hi! I'm Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious the tom. But my friends call me Cali, which is the third and forth syllable of my real name," the tom said.

"Nice to meet you, Cali," greeted Nightrunner. "Only my friends can call me Cali," growled Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious(You know what? Since I'm writing the story, I will make Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious give me permission to call him Cali even though I'm not his friend).

The four cats backed away a little. "Well, hi, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," said Leaf. "May I ask why you're called that?"

Cali showed the four cats wrapped around his whole entire pelt. "I was born with a mark that looked like letters spelling 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' so I got named after that," he explained. Wetstream stepped forward. "Hey, er, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, have you seen a yellowish brown tom with about one thousand scars pass by anytime?" she asked.

Cali's eyes widened. At once, he ran away.

The four cats looked at each other and immediately followed him. Cali, not knowing he had a cat trail behind him, kept running towards his destination. He led Nightrunner, Wetstream, Mistfeather, and Leaf to forest full of rogue scent.

"Hyena!" shouted Cali. A tom stepped out from behind a tree. Leaf gasped quietly. "What?" asked Wetstream, not seeing anything. "The name Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious just called. It was Hyena. Then look at the cat himself he was calling," said Leaf.

Wetstream turned her head to see exactly the tom she had seen in her dream--a yellowish brown tom with scars all over.

"IT'S HIM!" Wetstream and Leaf screamed. Everyone stared at them. "Guys!" Mistfeather whispered-shouted. "Sorry," Leaf apologized. Uh, oh.

"Who's there?" Hyena boomed.

Chapter Eight: A Familiar Scent

"That wasn't a yes or no question."

~ Pepperstorm, Chapter 8

Pepperstorm sighed. Will Bramblefire and Sparrowlight ever get back together again? She walked towards Sparrowlight.

"One more chance! One more chance, Sparrowlight!" she whispered. "No," was the response.

"Please?" "No."

"Why not?" "No."

Pepperstorm gave Sparrowlight a blank expression. "That wasn't a yes or no question," she said. "Fine!" exclaimed Sparrowlight. She ran over and tapped Bramblefire with her paw. Bramblefire turned around. "What do you want?" she snapped.

Sparrowlight backed away. "This would be over if only we could happily have a talk."

"You were the one who started this! You expect me to have a talk with you? You tell me to fight for you like you're a moon old kit!" Bramblefire yelled. A few taillengths away, Pepperstorm rolled her eyes and came over. "Guys! Just get along, will ya?"

The two arguing she-cats blinked. "Fine. Sorry," apologized Sparrowlight. Bramblefire nodded in acceptance. "Sorry." They shook paws.

"Come on, I'm hungry! Let's go find something to eat at the pile," said Pepperstorm. Bramblefire cocked her head in confusion. "The elders have eaten," Pepperstorm assured her.

The three cats padded over to the fresh-kill pile, only to see it empty. Sparrowlight was about to inform the leader, but then she stopped as a scent reached her nose. "Wait. I smell a familiar scent," she said. Pepperstorm bent down to sniff the place where the pile used to stand. "So do I!"

Bramblefire smelled the ground, and her eyes widened. "I know this scent. We smelled it a moment ago."

"But the only weird scent we've scented the whole entire day was..." Sparrowlight's voice trailed off. She exchanged glances with her friends. "Hyena?"

Chapter Nine: Mintshade's Betrayal

_"Overnight scars are horrible!"

~ Mintshade, Chapter Nine

Hollyblaze ran as quickly as she could to the Mintshade the medicine cat's den. "Hollyblaze! What happened?" she screamed. "I don't know. I got the scar overnight and we had a rat attack--" Hollyblaze began.

Mintshade stared at her scar which was bleeding worse than any scar she'd seen. "Oh, no! Overnight scars are horrible! They tend to bleed when you least expect it. But this is the worst bleeding I've seen in my whole entire lifetime!" she exclaimed.

She got out a whole bunch of cobwebs and started placing them everywhere on Hollyblaze's pelt. "Can you please clean up the blood trail?" Mintshade asked Skyrunner and Foxstep. The two cats grabbed a bunch of cobwebs and stuck them to the floor.

Sooner or later, the cobwebs would run out. And they did. Mintshade called Skyrunner and Foxstep to go and pick some. After they were gone, Mintshade smirked and clawed Hollyblaze. "What are you doing? Shouldn't you be helping?" Hollyblaze shrieked.

Mintshade ignored her. She reached out for the scar, but Hollyblaze was too fast for Mintshade. Hollyblaze ran off toward the direction Foxstep and Skyrunner had gone. She couldn't recall Mintshade being fast or a good smeller, but the blood trail was a dead giveaway.

"Foxstep! Skyrunner! Mintshade is hurting me!" she called out. Hearing this, Foxstep and Skyrunner set down their cobwebs and ran towards her to help. Mintshade got there just in time and pounced on her. "Mintshade! What in StarClan are you doing?" Mintshade looked up. It was Squirrelstar.

Chapter Ten: Hyena's Camp

"Silence! Or ^you'lljoin ^him."

~ Hyena, Chapter Ten

"I repeat. Who's there?" "Nightrunner!" Two voices had come out at the same time. "Who is there?" Hyena asked more clearly. Cali turned around and gasped at the intruders. "You followed me?"

"Cali! I trusted you to not bring spies into camp! Prisoners, yes, but not spies!" shouted the yellow tom. But Nightrunner wasn't focusing on that. "Peachfeather? Icefang? What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. That's right, I called you by your real name even though I'm your friend. Guess what that means? You're in serious trouble. Redhead, he's all yours," Hyena growled.

Redhead dug his claws into Cali's fur and he picked him up. He dropped Cali into a gorge nearby. The cats all gasped. "But he really didn't know!" protested one.

"Silence! Or you'll join him." Hyena bared his teeth to the speaker.

"Guys! This was the wrong time!" Nightrunner whispered to her friends. "Well, we're here. So what can you do about it?" Icefang pointed out. "Wait. That's the yellowish tom! He looks exactly the same from my dream!" Peachfeather whisper-shouted.

Wetstream saw a blue gray she-cat run behind Hyena. She couldn't make sure that her eyes wasn't tricking her, since the cat went so fast. Then, a claw reached on top of Hyena's head slowly, and made a scar, which bled. A lot of cats started whispering and shouting and yelling at this. But Hyena somehow didn't notice--I guess he was too used to it.

Then Hyena saw a drop of blood. He jumped. "Who did that?" he demanded, but the she-cat had already gotten to a hiding spot. "It was Lyrics, our prisoner!" screamed a cat. Hyena turned to the cat. He made an order to Redhead, which now I'm guessing he was the second-in-command, or deputy to Clan cats.

Redhead looked for Lyrics, but she was no where to be found.

Chapter Eleven: The Prophecy

"Cats of six, guided by the moon..."

~ Unspecified StarClan cat, Chapter Eleven

Owlclaw continued looking at the sky. One second, it was day, the other, it was night. And why was it in ThunderClan, and ThunderClan only? She had rolled in some bushes and crossed many borders only to find the sky was fine.

"Any luck finding out what's happening?" Reina came out behind her. "No, I mean, what can you really find out by just staring at the sky all day?" Owlclaw reported. Reina shook her head no.

"Eh, I'm going to sleep," said Owlclaw. She walked away. Reina saw the sun rise up just as Owlclaw went, but she knew she could do nothing. Reina decided to go to sleep to.

She picked up some moss nearby and slept on it.

"Cats of six, guided by the moon, will join forces and battle the powerful evil."

Reina jumped. "Who's there?" she asked. "Remember what I said. Cats of six, guided by the moon, will join forces and battle the powerful evil."

"Who are the cats of six?" Reina wondered.

Reina woke up.

So did Owlclaw.

"That was a weird dream," said Owlclaw.

"Cats of six..." Reina mumured.

"You had that dream too?" Owlclaw asked, eyes widened.

Reina slowly nodded.

"Hey, tomorrow's the Gathering! Unless it doesn't come because of time problems," said Owlclaw.

"Well, who do you think the cats of six are?" Reina asked. "I just got the craziest idea ever!" Owlclaw exclaimed. "We can go to the Moonpool, see if we get any more information!" Reina looked puzzled. "What's the Moonpool?"

"It's the place the medicine cats, the cats who heal, from all Clans meet and sleep for one night every half moon to share tongues with StarClan," explained the excited she-cat. "We're not medicine cats and it's not half moon, but who cares?"

"Let's do it then," said Reina.

Chapter Twelve: The First Battle

What are you doing? Help!

~ Leaf, Chapter Twelve

Lyrics breathed heavily in a hole she found, relieved that Redhead didn't find her. She slowly climbed out of hiding spot. Maybe coming here was actually a good thing--she had the power to claw that piece of fox dung. Still unable to be found in the dark, she crept until she reached the Clan cats.

"Hi?" she greeted. The greenish she-cat turned to look at Lyrics. "Hey," said the she-cat. Then her eyes widened a bit. "Were you the one who clawed Hyena?" Lyrics nodded. "Who's side are you on?"

"If you clawed Hyena, that means you're against him, which means I'm on yours!" answered the she-cat. "I'm Leafleaf, but just call me Leaf."

"Well, Leaf, I'm Lyrics," Lyrics said. "There she is!" one of Hyena's cats yelled. "Avalon, get her!" Hyena ordered. The cat who spotted Lyrics, which was probably named Avalon, jumped out at Lyrics. Leaf's friend, a white she-cat, sensing that Lyrics was on their side, leapt out and swiped at Avalon before he could get to them.

The dark gray she-cat just sat there though. Leaf hissed at her. "What are you doing? Help!" Wetstream didn't really like fighting, but she knew this was for her friends--it was for good.

Wetstream stuck a claw in Avalon's pelt. Peachfeather and Icefang joined the fight. The bit and scratched everywhere, and Nightrunner was surprised that Hyena didn't even mind. What a mousebrain he was! But then she realized why. Avalon was super tough and strong. So many cats on him and he hardly flinches.

Nightrunner knew she had to fight him another way. Maybe a trick? She could launch a surprise run-in and attack him from behind him. It had to work! She was WindClan, after all. Running into the shadows, her black pelt blending in, she came out from the other side of Avalon, but far from him.

She ran as fast as she could and when she got near Avalon, she pounced hard on him. She flipped him around, and pinned him to the ground. Avalon pushed her off, but before he could get up, Nightrunner scratched his stomach. Her enemy yelped, but he kept on fighting. "Go Nightrunner!" the others chanted.

Sooner or later, Avalon was on the ground, his eyes asking for mercy. Nightrunner held up a paw, but then she lowered it back down. She had a good idea about what to do instead.

Chapter Thirteen: Following the Trail

"If we do it now, it will be over quicker."

~ Pepperstorm, Chapter Thirteen

Pepperstorm ran, her nose sniffing the ground like a dog as she went. Bramblefire and Sparrowlight were following her. Then Pepperstorm stopped dead in her tracks.

"What is it?" Sparrowlight called from behind.

"The scent trail ended," Pepperstorm responded. Bramblefire sighed. "We should go back. I bet the others are freaking out over there," she suggested. Sparrowlight stared at her. "No! I sense it in my fur!" she protested. "You scent what in your fur?" asked Pepperstorm, puzzled.

"I sense something, pulling us to that mange-ridden Hyena!" shouted Sparrowlight. "But it's getting dark," Bramblefire pointed out. "Well, we're rest here then," Sparrowlight said. She rested herself onto the grass.

The sun went up. "Huh?" Pepperstorm said. "It hasn't been night for a long time." She nudged Sparrowlight. The darkness came back. "Uh, Sparrowlight, the sun just came up and back down again?"

Sparrowlight looked as just confused as she was. "That's weird. We're closest to ThunderClan. Let's ask them!" suggested Bramblefire. "ThunderClan? Really?" asked Sparrowlight flatly. "What if they know the answer? If we do it now, it will be over quicker," said Pepperstorm.

The three padded over to nearby ThunderClan. When they reached the border, they saw a brown russet and a calico heading out not far from their camp. "Hello!" Bramblefire called. The brown russet turned her head. "Hi! I'm Owlclaw of ThunderClan. Who are you?"

"ThunderClan? Perfect! We need to ask you a question. I'm Pepperstorm of ShadowClan, by the way. Have you noticed anything wrong with the sky lately?" Pepperstorm asked.

"So we're not the only ones! We were just going to the Moonpool to see if StarClan will share with us even though we're not medicine cats. Come with us!" Owlclaw exclaimed. The she-cats of ShadowClan followed her and the calico to the Moonpool.

"Also, we had a dream with a prophecy in it! It was 'cats of six, guided by the moon, will join forces and battle the powerful evil," said Owlclaw. "Hold on! I think we can figure out what this means without going to Moonpool. The powerful evil is Hyena, an evil yellow tom who visited us today," Sparrowlight said.

"Then the cats of six. There are 5 Clans, but what's six?" asked the calico. "You never told us who you were," Bramblefire pointed out. "I's Reina, a loner," the calico introduced. "A loner! 5 Clans plus loners equals 6 groups of cats! Cats of six!" exclaimed Pepperstorm.

"That means us. It's night time right now, so let's take the chance and follow the moon," Owlclaw suggested. "Who's in?"

The 5 cats all nodded. They made one glance at the moon, and they were off.

Chapter Fourteen: The Cats of Six Come Together

"More Clan cats! ^Good!"

~ Peachfeather, Chapter Fourteen

"I was just, um, helping them exercise?" said Mintshade in a questioning way. "Then why are you claws in blood? And more scratches are on her pelt then when I saw her enter your den," Squirrelstar spoke.

"But this is SkyClan camp! Why would the moon lead us to that?"

Skyrunner turned around, but caught sight of no one but themselves. "Who are you?" she asked. A brown russet came up to them. She quickly looked back and whispered, "Do I really need to introduce us all?" The cats she brought with her nodded.

"Okay," she took a deep breath, "I'm Owlclaw of ThunderClan, this is Bramblefire, Pepperstorm, and Sparrowlight of ShadowClan, and this is Reina, a loner, and we had a prophecy that told us to follow the moon but it led us here instead and now we're here, in the present." She let out a big breath.

"Maybe try not to say so much in one breath?" Foxstep advised. "Yeah, that's a good idea," Owlclaw agreed. "So what was the prophecy?" Hollyblaze asked, blood still leaking out everywhere. "Cats of six, guided by the moon, will join forces and battle the powerful evil," answered Pepperstorm. "Which is Hyena, a yellowish tom with scars on his pelt. And the cats of six means the six groups, the 5 Clans and loners. What happened to you?" she asked Hollyblaze.

Skyrunner ignored Pepperstorm's question. "The only evil we've seen here is that Mintshade dude who's the medicine cat and she just betrayed us while pretending to fix Hollyblaze's wound."

"That isn't true! Remember how I even got this scar? It was overnight, and I was dreaming about a dark gray she-cat when a yellowish tom woke me up and made this scratch?" Hollyblaze pointed out.

"That was Hyena. Now can you tell us about that Mintshade?" asked Sparrowlight. Mintshade groaned in the distance, but Foxstep did so anyway.

"Hollyblaze, Skyrunner, and I was on a hunting patrol. We met a bunch of rats so Hollyblaze's scar she got the night before opened, and it bled so much that it could've left a lake of blood. Literally. So we ran back to camp where Mintshade, the medicine cat, comes in. She was putting on cobwebs when she ran out of them. She told us to go find some, and when we were gone, she attacked Hollyblaze."

The three SkyClan cats turned around to look at Mintshade and Squirrelstar. The medicine cat, being gazed upon, ran away. "Get her!" ordered Squirrelstar.

The cats chased after Mintshade until they reached a clearing. "Shade. Welcome back," growled a voice. A creamy pinkish she-cat turned to the newcomers. "More Clan cats! Good!" she exclaimed. "Aren't you Peachfeather?" asked Hollyblaze. The creamy she-cat nodded.

"Where's Avalon?" asked Mintshade. "A black one dragged him away to do some talking after he got defeated. Now go fight these so-called Clan cats!" Hyena hissed.

Chapter Fifteen: Dreams

"I'm not a Clan cat, and I never will be."

~ Mintshade(Shade), Chapter Fifteen

"Mintshade! You're one of them?" Skyrunner called out, though showing no surprise. "What did you think?" asked Bramblefire. Mintshade turned their way. "It was all part of the plan. I'm not Clan cat, and I never will be. So call me Shade." Pepperstorm, who didn't know what to do, nodded.

Hollyblaze stared at Wetstream. "You're the she-cat I dreamed of!" she exclaimed. Muttering under her breath, she also added, "Before that mange-ridden Hyena came along and clawed my pelt."

"And you three were the ones I dreamed of! You guys were attacked by rats, right?" Wetstream asked her. Foxstep, who overheard, nodded. "I dreamed of you, Reina! I don't know who the other cat was. And the rest of you guys were in the shadows," described Sparrowlight.

Reina shook her head, meaning that she didn't dream anything. Owlclaw jumped up. "I dreamed of you three arguin'." She pointed her tail to Bramblefire, Pepperstorm, and Sparrowlight.

Peachfeather shrugged. "I just dreamed of Hyena."

Then Skyrunner felt weight push down on her. She was pinned down on the ground in an instant. There was Shade, plopped down on her.

---

"Avalon."

Covered up with blood, Avalon didn't give Nightrunner any chance to talk. He sprang up, leaping onto the black she-cat. He wondered if he would regret what he was doing, since he really wanted mercy, but he talked himself out of it.

Avalon pinned Nightrunner to the ground, but she was able to roll out of the spot. Too quick for Avalon, she ripped more fur off of his pelt, unbalancing him and making him topple onto the grass. "Give up?" she asked, her voice ragged.

The calico forced himself to admit defeat. "Please don't kill me," he breathed. "Tell me that you will help us. That you will be on our side. If you promise this, I will not kill you," said Nightrunner.

Avalon hesitated, but then he accepted.

"Come on. I can hear another battle going on out there," Nightrunner urged. She ran back into the clearing.

Avalon ran with her.

Chapter Sixteen: DeathClan

"For we are DeathClan!"

~ Hyena, Chapter Sixteen

Skyrunner struggled to get out of the weak position as Shade slowly sunk her claws into Skyrunner's back. Icefang tried to leap on her, but Shade just swiped a paw at her and Icefang fell onto the grass.

The bushes started to rustle. Two cats, one black and one calico, poked their heads out. "Nightrunner! Help!" Skyrunner shrieked. The black she-cat charged at Shade, but the creamy she-cat just used a paw and grabbed Nightrunner's leg, tripping her.

Suddenly, Skyrunner felt more weight pushing down. The new thing--whatever it was--must've clawed Shade's pelt or something, because Shade yelped, and fell off of the ginger fur. The new figure leaped at Shade before she got a chance to react, and blood spilled everywhere.

More of Hyena's cats rushed at the Clan cats(including Reina). Cali hit Hollyblaze's scar, knocking her out. The same thing happened to some others. Many of Hyena's cats killed none of the Clan cats, but wounded them badly. Some needed to rest. Soon, there were only six cats left: The unknown figure, Nightrunner, Avalon, Foxstep, Sparrowlight, and Icefang.

"Help! We need help!" Reina called from nearby. Lyrics, who had went back into the trees to hide when Avalon was dragged into the forest, ran back into the clearing. She pounced on a orange tabby, who was too focused fighting Foxstep, and he staggered backward.

Avalon padded near him. He landed a paw on the tabby's throat, like he was about to unsheathe his claw. "I thought... Avalon? You're Hyena's!" he exclaimed. "Not anymore, Tiger," said Avalon. He did it. He unsheathed his claw right into Tiger's throat.

Tiger's eyes dulled. He was dead. "Thanks," Foxstep said. Avalon dipped his head. Hyena's cats were all around them. "Get them! For we are DeathClan!" Hyena ordered.

Updated Allegiances

The Cats of Six

ShadowClan

Sparrowlight(Cchen3)-light brown tabby she-cat with sparkling green eyes and white swirls on her pelt. She has white paws as well as a white tipped tail.

Bramblefire(Bramblefire3118)-Dark brown tabby she-cat with black tail-tip and green eyes.

Pepperstorm(Hollytuft)-mottled gray she-cat

WindClan

Peachfeather(Patchfeather14)-Small, thin creamy pinkish and white colored tabby she-cat with long legs, large ears, and a wispy tail tip.

Nightrunner(NightstarTheLeader)-Pitch black she-cat with white flecks like stars and icy blue eyes. Strong hind-legs.

Icefang(Miss Icyfox)-A light blue-grey she-cat with blue eyes and a white underbelly. She has a long scar on her right cheek. She's tallish and fairly small.

SkyClan

Foxstep(Foxstep1)-Dark russet she-cat with blue eyes

Hollyblaze(Me, Hollywhisker)-She-cat as black as night with dark brown eyes with lighter colored paws. She has one torn ear with a scar on her pelt.

Skyrunner(Sandstorm1823)-Bright ginger she-cat with leaf green eyes, white paws, white ear tips, and a white tipped tail

Duskwhisker(DawnFlower23)-Long furred brown and white tabby she-cat with blue eyes and a black tail

RiverClan

Wetstream(Wetstream)-Dark gray she-cat with one white paw and dark yellow eyes

Mistfeather-a white she-cat with misty eyes

Leafleaf-a greenish gray she-cat with green eyes.

Blazeclaw(StarlightGirlHSS)-Short-furred ginger tom with gingery-golden chest, paws, and tail tip. Scarred all over, with a right torn ear.

ThunderClan

Owlclaw-brown russet she-cat with unblinking yellow eyes

Loners/Rogues

Reina(Stormver)-Calico she-cat with green eyes; long, bushy tail and scars on both her ears.

Lyrics(LyricsThatSing)-A she-cat blue-gray pelt, periwinkle eyes, a torn right ear, and sharp claws

Avalon-calico tom with azure eyes, formerly in DeathClan

DeathClan(Hyena's cats)

Hyena-a yellowish tom with blue eyes. Is covered with battle scars from head to tail.

Redhead-ginger cat with yellow eyes and a blood red head

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious-a white tabby tom with SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS marked on his fur

Shade-a dark creamy she-cat with bright green eyes

Deceased

Tiger-ginger tabby tom with black stripes and long claws and greenish yellow eyes

Chapter Seventeen: Two More Cats

"STOP!!"

~ Duskwhisker, Chapter Seventeen

Owlclaw, though hurt and wounded, forced herself to stand up and dragged the figure into the forest nearby. Foxstep, seeing this, followed Owlclaw. "What are you doing?" Foxstep hissed. "I just came to ask who he was," answered Owlclaw.

Owlclaw and Foxstep looked closer at the figure who remained still. Without the figure moving and fighting, the two Clan cats could see clearly who he was now.

Then there was silence. "You smell of fish," Owlclaw suddenly concluded. "Yeah, cause I'm RiverClan," the figure said. "I'm Blazeclaw."

"Hello, Blaze--" Foxstep began. But she got cut off by another figure who ran towards them. Blazeclaw turned around, looking startled. "Oh, yeah, I saw you randomly trekking through the trees and I followed you to see what you were up to, despite being in different Clans," explained the new figure.

Foxstep recognized this new cat right away. "Duskwhisker! Nice to see you!" she exclaimed. "Hey, Foxstep! Uh, so, what's happening here?" Duskwhisker asked. Owlclaw, as energetic and loud as a kit or an apprentice, explained the whole entire story again. Blazeclaw slowly nodded.

"It's time to face the present. We'd better help those fighting cats!" Foxstep pointed out. Foxstep told Owlclaw to go back to her resting spot. The three returned to the clearing. Blazeclaw leaped at Cali, Foxstep charged at Shade, and Duskwhisker clawed some cat whose name she did not know. Sparrowlight targeted Redhead, and Nightrunner helped some Clan cats here and there.

Knowing that she was going to regret this, Lyrics pounced on Hyena anyway. Wetstream, who was watching nearby, yelled, "Lyrics! What in the name of StarClan are you doing?"

Nightrunner immediately looked for Lyrics. Lyrics was heavily bleeding, and looked very weak and tired. Nightrunner came over and bit Hyena, adding a new bruise to his scar collection. Duskwhisker growled. She joined the fight against Hyena. So did Blazeclaw.

This reminded Foxstep of when they were fighting Avalon: So many cats clinging to Hyena's fur, but Hyena hardly flinches! Just as Hyena was about to deal the final blow to Lyrics, Blazeclaw roared. He jumped as hard as he could onto the back of Hyena.

Hyena flipped around and pinned Blazeclaw down. Duskwhisker just couldn't take it. "STOP!!", she cried out. But as loud as she could scream, no one heard her.

Chapter Eighteen: More Dreams

"Protect yourself, for one day you will all be separated."

~ Unknown StarClan cat, Chapter Eighteen

Sparrowlight pushed Hyena into a river nearby. As the tom climbed back up, slipping every so often, he ordered, "DeathClan! Retreat!" He turned to the Clan cats, and snarled at them. "Don't think it's over. We're going to finish this someday." With that said, DeathClan ran away.

"My legs are sore..." Lyrics muttered. "From fighting Hyena! What were you thinking?" asked Nightrunner. Lyrics just shrugged. "I'm tired. Let's just sleep here out in the open, shall we?" suggested Blazeclaw.

Duskwhisker muttered something that sounded like a "okay". All the cats drifted to sleep, except Foxstep, who sacrificed her sleep time to find herbs for the wounded. After she finished almost all the cats, she layed down on the ground with the others and went to sleep...

Icefang got up from her sleeping spot. She looked around, seeing the darkness surround her. Before she knew it, she was trapped; she couldn't go anywhere. The light blue-gray she-cat couldn't see anything, but her paws were stuck, like there were evil spirits trying to defeat her. Icefang called for help, and her friends got up. One gasped, and they all ran away. She called again, but nobody answered. A voice mewed,

"Protect yourself, for one day you will all be separated. You will find yourself defenseless, so get ready."

Icefang bolted up. It was still nighttime. She quickly moved her legs rapidly to make sure she wasn't trapped or anything. The voice still rang in her head, Protect yourself, for one day you will all be separated...

Icefang quickly woke up the others, her eyes wider than they can be. "What are you doing up so early?" asked Skyrunner. Icefang shook her head, and decided not to tell them. Who would want to know that one day, they might never see her again...

Chapter Nineteen: Brand New Day

"Whatever the threats are, we'll face the future together."

~ Peachfeather, Chapter Nineteen

The sun rose up and everyone was awake. "It's a brand new day, but what should we do?" asked Patchfeather. Wetstream shrugged. "Who cares what we should do? We can't think without food!" Skyrunner exclaimed. "We need our healthiest to go hunting. That would be Owlclaw, Reina, and Sparrowlight. I think," said Leaf. "What about Foxstep?" Pepperstorm suggested.

"Foxstep needs to rest. She's been up all night," Nightrunner said as she shook her head. "Fine. Owlclaw, Reina, and Sparrowlight it is!" Bramblefire agreed. "We'll be back before you know it," said Owlclaw. Reina and Sparrowlight nodded, and the three were off.

"Duskwhisker, Skyrunner, and Hollyblaze, you go and watch to make sure DeathClan cats aren't still lurking around this place," Foxstep ordered. Hollyblaze turned to the others. "I'll guard the east. What about you guys?" she asked them.

"I'll take the north," said Skyrunner. "I guess I'm left with the west," Duskwhisker told her friends. It was settled. Hollyblaze went up on the hills to the east, Skyrunner hid behind the trees to the north, and Duskwhisker rested on the grass to the east.

Back at the resting area, Lyrics, Blazeclaw, Icefang, Bramblefire, Pepperstorm, Nightrunner, Patchfeather, Wetstream, Mistfeather, Leaf, and Avalon were all resting. Icefang sat down quietly, thinking about her dream. "I need to tell you something," she finally announced, her voice loud and clear.

The others didn't reply, they just stared at their friend, wondering what secret Icefang was going to spill. She explained everything she saw in her dream last night. "How could we even get separated? We've been through so much together," said Pepperstorm.

"There are evil out there at every turn. Who knows what the future's up to?" Blazeclaw pointed out. "Pepperstorm's right, though. We won't let ourselves leave each other to deal with their own problems themselves. Whatever the threats are, we'll face the future together," Peachfeather concluded firmly.

Chapter Twenty: Understanding the Future (Well, sort of)

"There ^has to be an explanation."

~ Bramblefire, Chapter Twenty

Reina's paw stepped out from behind the bushes, the sudden ruffling sound of the leaves startling the the rest of the cats. "I'm back," she announced, dropping a shrew and a mouse onto the ground. "That mouse looks tasty," Peachfeather commented.

Owlclaw and brought a squirrel and a blackbird back, and Sparrowlight a lizard and a frog. "Um, shouldn't a RiverClan cat go out and get some fish?" Mistfeather asked. "Yeah," Blazeclaw agreed. "I'll go get some fish." "Let's eat, I guess," Avalon said. "Wait! First of all, we need to wait until Blazeclaw comes back. Second of all, where's Duskwhisker, Skyrunner, and Hollyblaze?" Reina shouted out. "They went guarding the area. I'll call them back to eat," Leaf explained, going towards the directions the guard-cats had gone.

Once the Duskwhisker, Skyrunner, Hollyblaze, Leaf, and Blazeclaw were back, the cats started eating on what Reina, Owlclaw, and Sparrowlight had caught. "Nice catches, guys," Duskwhisker complimented. The three cats who went out hunting dipped their heads in thanks. "Guys, I just thought of something," Hollyblaze suddenly spoke.

"Yeah?" Skyrunner responded as she looked at her friend. The others just stared at her. "Remember when we said we had dreamed of each other?" asked Hollyblaze. Everyone nodded, but no one spoke. "Anyone know what was up with that?" she continued.

Silence. Nobody did anything. It was a while until there was a voice.

"I don't know really why we had weird dreams about this situation. It's like we were being told the future," Wetstream remarked.

More silence.

"Wait. Can someone fill me in? 'Cause, I'm confused..." Blazeclaw trailed off. "So basically, we all got brought together by a web of dreams that went into a random selection of cats. One from each Clan," explained Icefang. "So?" said Blazeclaw. "So, we all dreamed visions of another cat, so we went out exploring to see what was going on. This is where it got us," Icefang continued. Blazeclaw nodded.

"I've been wondering something for a long time. Why us? Why should we keep on getting information about what's going to happen next?" asked Bramblefire. "There has to be an explanation."

"I've been thinking that, too. Why do we need dreams one after the other?" Pepperstorm chimed in.

Chapter Twenty One: Missing

"Where's Nightrunner?" Reina shouted suddenly. The cats instantly started scanning the area for her. Frantically, they sniffed the air. Nightrunner's scent, but stale. "Wait...what about Icefang?" Leaf asked. "What do you mean, where's Icefang? She was here a moment ago!" Lyrics pointed out. "But so was Peachfeather!" Blazeclaw pointed towards the empty space where they use to sit. "The WindClan cats are missing!"

"Oh, no...OH, NOOOOO!!" screamed Skyrunner. Everyone stared at her. Embarrassed, she looked down. It wasn't like her to scream - she usually was that shy little cat. "Sorry," she muttered. What was wrong with her?

"It's fine. We all are weird," Bramblefire spoke. The other cats looked at her, their gazes urging her to continue. "Sometimes," she added. Her friends exhaled their held-in breath.

"But where could they have gone?" Avalon asked. "Stay out of this," Sparrowlight spat. Her glance was hard, her voice cold. A low growl formed in her throat. "It's not like you'd understand." She was already crouching towards him now, her eyes fierce and focused. "You wouldn't either," he fired back.

"Woah!" Wetstream jumped towards the middle of the two cats. "What's with all the commotion?"

"Yeah," Duskwhisker agreed. "Avalon may have been a rogue before—" Sparrowlight snapped her head around so that her stern gaze was towards the SkyClan cat now. "May I remind you he was a DeathClan cat?" Her voice was still, but everything else apart of her betrayed that. If smoke would come out of your nose like in those silly stories, then that would what have been happening to Sparrowlight. Her cheeks were burning, her claws unsheathed.

"DeathClan or not, Avalon admitted defeat and came to our side! He agreed to be apart of us!" Foxstep exclaimed, trying to persuade her ShadowClan ally to accept Avalon.