Disclaimer: I do not own Warriors.
Author's Note: The Jake in my story has nothing to do with the Jake in Erin Hunter's stories. I created the name not thinking about the other Jake. I later googled it and found that Jake is the third most common cat name in the world; so I decided to leave it. The Clan Allegiances will be added later, when the clans actually come in to the book.
Prologue
Jake walked quietly through the twoleg place. A sharp noise caused him to freeze in place. He slowly crept forward in the darkness of the alley, his dark gray tabby pelt blending in perfectly, and suddenly leapt forward to stand in the brightness of a streetlight in front of another cat.
"Jake!" The cat screeched, "I thought you were dead." Jake unsheathed his claws and moved in closer.
"Then you thought wrong. Maybe next time, you should make sure your target is dead when you kill someone." Jake hissed and lashed out with his claw, scraping it across his opponent's face.
Though painfully injured, Typhoon did nothing to stop Jake. He knew he could not best his leader in a fight. Though Typhoon was big and could defeat almost any cat in a fight, Jake was bigger and stronger. That's how he became the leader of the Dusk Tribe; a large group of cats that fought for their food, water, shelter, and life.
"You have failed me in your training." Jake rasped, "But we will make sure that does not happen again. Come, I am returning to the tribe to reclaim my position as leader," then he added with deadly sarcasm, "If you don't mind."
Typhoon stood surprised, then he ran forward to catch up to his leader. "You mean your not going to punish me?" He could hardly believe this.
"No," Jake growled, running faster, his back left leg burning in pain. The agitating wound happened to be given to him from Typhoon.
"So I tried to overthrow you, even murder you, and you just pretend it never happened?" Typhoon panted, trying to keep up.
Jake stopped suddenly to turn to face Typhoon and snarled, "Do you want to be punished?" He stepped closer to Typhoon.
"Well, no, but-"
Jake growled and said, "Look, I need you. When you took leadership of Dusk Tribe, you gained their loyalty. If I want to become their leader, I need you to step down. Otherwise, they won't be loyal to me like they were before."
"Alright," Typhoon said shortly, not wanting to give Jake another thought, just in case he changed his mind.
"But just remember, if you put one paw in the wrong direction. I will kill you. I will promise that I see to your death."
"Tells us a story Silver!" Splash mewed across the monster-den to the elder, her three other littermates mewling in agreement. The four cats raced across the hard floor which was empty of monsters; they seemed to prefer sleeping outside. When they came near Silver onto a furry floor pelt called a rug, they curled up together
Silver shifted in the den and grumbled, "The kits back in BerryClan always wanted a good story just like you four. When I was I kit, I did too. Now let's see, how 'bout the time-"
"You were a kit?" Pepsi blurted out, receiving a shove from his brother, Darth Vader.
"Of course he was a kit mouse-brain." Vader retorted. Pepsi let out a mock-attack yowl and bowled over his smaller brother, knocking him into Splash who let out a squeal. Vader leaped on Pepsi, but was pulled off by Silver.
"Come on guys. I wanna hear the story," Milkshake complained. Vader gave Pepsi a glare and stalked over beside Splash. Pepsi stuck out his tongue and sat down when Silver gave him a disapproving glance.
"You four are a paw-full," Silver began, "Back when I was Silverheart of BerryClan, there was a great battle between two of the clans. It was BerryClan and GravelClan fighting over the area of land right in between the curved river of SkyClan, if I remember right,"
"Who was SkyClan?" Splash asked, but she already knew. She liked SkyClan the most of all in the stories.
"Those cats were a proud bunch that always thought they were right since they were the first clan in the gorge," Silver said, from a BerryClan warrior's opinion. "Anyway, they were evenly matched and knew that winning depended on getting SkyClan on their side. And SkyClan knew this. They decided to stop the fight and gave each clan half of the land, seeming the most just. But GravelClan got the worst land, it was all sand, gravel, and water, while BerryClan got the lush, bushy area. That's how those two clans got their names. So then GravelClan decided to-"
"Isn't it past their bed-times?" Fluffy, whom everyone thought to be asleep, growled. "A cat can't get any sleep around here with these kittens. Why did the housefolk have to bring you anyway?"
"Hey, it's not our fault!" Pepsi fluffed up his fur.
"Maybe we should leave and go join the clans!" Splash mewed excitedly, her eyes sparkling with the thought.
"We'll be quieter Fluffy," Milkshake mewed, "What happened next, Silver?" Pepsi settled down and began to listen again.
"He's right it is past your bedtime,"
"Awwwww," the four kits chorused. But they were tired and after climbing into their nests, they quickly fell asleep.
The full moon softly illuminated the night through the mist. In the distance, the sound of a flowing river could be heard in muffled crashes. Even though the mist was thick, it was low, and the sky was clear revealing many bright stars.
Milkshake was walking through the grass, he didn't know how long he had been walking or why. He had never been here before, but he felt at ease and familiar with his surroundings. The stars above were brighter than ever, piercing through the mist as easily as the moon was.
"Careful" A voice said soothingly enough that he was not startled by the cat's unexpected appearance. Which was good, because in one more pawstep, he would have fallen off a cliff. He stared down the cliff and realized the river he had heard earlier was below him in the gorge.
Milkshake turned to his visitor. The cat was a she-cat and had was looking at him with starry green eyes. Her pelt was as black as an empty night sky and seemed to sparkle with dancing stars.
"Hello, Milkshake," the cat purred, and noticing his alarm at the sound of his name, "No need to worry, you are dreaming. I am Hollyleaf, a warrior of StarClan. Silverheart has told you of StarClan, I assume."
Milkshake nodded and noticed a small movement in the gorge and turned slightly to get a better look, but with the fading mist, he could not tell what it was.
"Those two cats in the gorge are Honeydrop and Ivytangle; Leafstar's kits," then added when Milkshake gave her a confused look, "They are SkyClan cats sitting vigil, they became warriors today."
Milkshake still did not understand fully, but he accepted this answer. "So why are you here? Or I mean why am I here?" He asked.
"You are here because you must find this gorge, you live a full day's travel from here," Hollyleaf explained, "I am here to give you a prophecy and, even though I've said too much, this is going to be different than usual."
Milkshake, wide-eyed with his full attention, listened to Hollyleaf recited the prophecy, in form of a poem:
"Three is weak and needs one more,
StarClan asks for the strength of four,
In the past, odd has proved flawed,
The fifth clan could either leave or be clawed,
Another odd, the power of three,
In the end, did not include me,
To give Lion and Jay clue,
For the third of power who,
Not one was sent, but two,
The fifth clan started anew,
And two more clans came through,
Now to the clans you must go,
And I must let the four of you know,
That three is weak and needs one more,
StarClan asks for the strength of four."
Hollyleaf began to fade and Milkshake asked frantically, "How will I find this place?" Hollyleaf had almost disappeared completely and did not respond. "Hollyleaf, Wait!" Milkshake called. But it was too late, Hollyleaf had already vanished, leaving Milkshake alone in the night.
Author's Note: There is the prologue, hopefully chapter 1 will be posted soon. Even though Hollyleaf is dead in this story, doesn't mean she is dead; I actually believe she is alive. The poem-prophecy might be a little obvious, but don't worry, it has a hidden meaning too. On line ten the fifth clan is SkyClan and on eleven, it is the new two clans I added (I said this because the allegiances aren't up yet). Please tell me what you think.