The shaggy grey she-cat leapt down from her rock, eyes bright. Revealing yellow teeth, she paced around the line of cats that were assembled in front of her, eyeing them and sizing them up. They all held shock-still, aware that Yellowfang would have their throats in an instant.

"SPOTTEDLEAF!" yowled the grey she-cat, turning around angrily.

A tortoiseshell she-cat appeared from the nearby bushes, rolling her eyes. One of the assembled cats started to chuckle but was silence by a grim look from both StarClan cats. "Yes, Yellowfang?" asked Spottedleaf politely.

Yellowfang plopped her haunches down onto the ground and looked up at Spottedleaf petulantly. "I wanted REAL warriors, not some mouse-brained excuses for cats. Look at these scraps of fur!" she complained.

Spottedleaf sighed. "Yellowfang, I assure you that these cats are all perfectly capable warriors. Now just pick one from each Clan and be done with it. This was your idea, you know. Not mine. I just did the dream-visiting."

"Yeah, well, do it better next time!" huffed Yellowfang.

Then the grey she-cat returned to the line of cats that were waiting for her verdict. "Hmm," she said, narrowing her eyes. "You'll do."

With what seemed like careful thought and deliberation, Yellowfang picked out four cats. There was Antpelt of WindClan, his one black ear glowing like a beacon. The RiverClan cat selected was Mallownose. The light brown tabby tom sniffed and tried to wipe his runny nose with a thin paw. From ShadowClan, there was Pinepaw, the gender-changing black cat. Lastly, from ThunderClan, there was Icecloud, who won in a hotly contested battle of eenie meenie minie moe over Toadstep.

"Perfect!" proclaimed Yellowfang, looking over her choices with motherly pride.

"Is this going to be hard?" sniffled Mallownose.

Pinepaw, now a tom, sighed. "Hurry up and train me already!"

"Watch what I can do!" cried Icecloud, who took a flying leap at Antpelt - and missed.

Antpelt sat down and shuffled his paws in front of him. "Gee, my pelt is itchy," he commented. "It feels like there's bugs on it or something." The brown and black tom immediately began scratching it fervently.

"Spottedleaf!" commanded Yellowfang triumphantly, turning towards the tortoiseshell she-cat. "Begin teaching them the ways of medicine while I go find a cat to tutor them in fighting. Any suggestions?"

"Whitestorm?" offered Spottedleaf with a shrug.

"Nope. He's been forgotten," snapped Yellowfang. The white warrior had faded away moons ago.

"Lionheart?"

"Forgotten."

"Redtail?"

"Forgotten."

Spottedleaf frowned. It seemed like all of the cats she had known when she was alive were forgotten. "I don't understand," she mewed. "How come all these brave warriors have faded away? It doesn't make any sense. "

Yellowfang snorted. "The only reason you're still here is because Firestar dreams about you every night."

The tortoiseshell looked duely embarrassed. She blushed. "That's not EVERY night, Yellowfang."

"How about a WindClan cat?" suggested Antpelt with a lazy flick of his tail. The tom's eyes went wide and he immediately started scratching again, this time behind his ear. "Fox-dung!"

"Tallstar's too busy trying to get Onestar to be nice to ThunderClan," mused Yellowfang. "Deadfoot has a dead about RiverClan cats."

"Oakheart?" suggested Spottedleaf, looking at the four cats they had chosen. The others had been sent away by the StarClan medicine cats.

"Who?" they said, casting blank looks. Mallownose sniffled. Spottedleaf sighed.

"Forgotten."

"There has to be someone!" growled Yellowfang, her yellow eyes glinting. "Let me think. What cat wants a chance to redeem himself more than any other cat?"

"Heavystep?" asked Spottedleaf. "I mean, he keeps dying and coming back and dying and coming back. I figure he wants something solid and real in his life, you know? Why not ask him. He must be pretty bored, stuck in limbo."

Yellowfang sighed. "That's not at all what I was thinking. I meant more like Mudclaw."

The two medicine cats turned to look at the assembled cats. Pinepaw, now a she-cat, yawned. Mallownose sniffled, Antpelt scratched at his pelt and Icecloud was off in the distance chasing a butterfly.

"Mudclaw, guys?" Yellowfang cleared her throat.

The cats turned back to look at her, frowning as they tried to remember the dark brown tabby.

"I brought you Rowanclaw, Toadfoot, Nightcloud, Gorsetail, Thornclaw, Birchfall, Reedwhisker and Minnowtail," snarled Spottedleaf, eyeing her friend with exasperation. "Yet you choose these four?"

Yellowfang shrugged. "What can I say? I have an excellent taste in character."

Spottedleaf sighed.

A cry from Pinepaw, now a tom, broke them from their thouhts. He leapt up excitedly. "Wasn't Mudclaw that crazy WindClan deputy who attacked everyone because he thought he should be leader?" he asked breathlessly.

The old grey medicine cat was about to respond when a white object crashed into her side. It was Icecloud. The warrior clambered on top of her excitedly. "Look! I did it! I killed Brokentail! Did we win, Spottedleaf?"

"Uhm, Icecloud," whimpered Mallownose. "That's not Brokentail."

Icecloud looked down and her eyes went wide in horror. The she-cat leapt off and began to apologize profusely. "I'm so sorry Yellowfang! I thought we had started the battle already! I just saw you and you looked black in the light and you know, you're kind of ugly so I assumed that you were Brokentail! I just wanted to help us win. Oh Yellowfaaaaaang, please let me stay. Please, please!"

Spottedleaf shot Yellowfang a look as if to say: You chose her.

"Anyways," huffed Yellowfang pointedly as she sat up. "Mudclaw will become your mentor. Some nights you will be visited by him, or another random non-forgotten cat that we find. It's hard - no one dies anymore. BACK ON POINT. If Mudclaw doesn't visit you, Spottedleaf or I will to teach you about healing."

Pinepaw, Mallownose, and Icecloud all glanced at Spottedleaf, praying it would be her and not Yellowfang who came to visit them. Antpelt continued scratching.

"Can we go now?" sniffled Mallownose anxiously. "I promise I'll train."

Yellowfang nodded. "One moment."

Then she proceeded to cough up a large hairball. Once it was out of her system, Yellowfang sat up straight. "Pinepaw, Mallownose, Antpelt, and Icecloud. You have all been gifted with a GREAT TASK. This GREAT TASK is to stop Tigerstar from taking over THE WORLD. Can you do this?"

"Yes!" crowed Pinepaw, now a she-cat. "I will complete this GREAT TASK!"

Mallownose and Antpelt both nodded. Icecloud jumped to her feet. "I won't let you down, Yellowfang! You can count on me! I'll be standing inbetween Tigerstar and THE WORLD."

Yellowfang rolled her eyes and turned to Spottedleaf. "That's what I'm worried about," she murmured dryly.

The grey snaggle-toothed she-cat turned back to her proteges. "Go, my warriors! Practice! Fight! Learn!"

Sniffling, scratching, sauntering and sex-changing, the four chosen ones headed back to their respective Clans. The battle was on.