Dark shapes slipped over the rocks in the darkness of night, the only audile sound above the owls cry was the rippling of ferns in the cool night breeze. The kids hidden in the shadows, their feet sliding over the stones and their hidden hands in fists by their sides, fingers closed over the hilts of their knives, tensed and ready to fight. There was a second of silence as their eyes glowed in a circle around the lake, and the distant sound of hissing could be heard. A sudden scream from Pinefur "Thundergang attack!" that was like firering a gun. "Rivergang show no mercy!" the two groups collided like thunder and lighting in a frenzy of flying fists and blades. Blueeyes readied himself and saw through the throng the deputy of Rivergang. Mudtuft. He gave a great battle cry to the sky and ran through the crowd to leap on his back, digging his nails into the back of his neck, seeing that he'd been fighting Littlepaw and bore the brave apprentice deep wounds. The warrior let the kid go and writhed in pain as Blueeyes hissed and bit his shoulder, making it bleed. "Quick Littlepaw, run!" he yowled. The apprentice didn't wait to thank him and bolted away, only to leap between Rosepaw and another Rivergang apprentice. "Mudtuft!" he growled in rage, pining the older warrior to the ground. "How dare you hunt in our territory? The lake belongs to Thundergang!" The warrior let out a harsh laugh. "After tonight Blueeyes, this'll just be another Rivergang hunting ground" he retorted, bringing out his blade and slicing it to Blueeye's face, scratching his nose and missing his eye by a millimeter. "Never!" he yowled back and racked his belly with sharp claws, ignoring his scream in pain. "Leave this place!" he threatened and kept fighting ferociously. His eyes lit up as he saw Sunblaze bounce up behind him and kick Mudtuft away with a flick of her leg. He thanked her and aimed for the leader, attacking viciously and like all of tigergang! They kept fighting and for a few moments Blueeyes thought they might actually win but then another wave of them came through, slipping through the water like otters. No! Blueeyes was exhausted, defending himself against as many as four warriors and apprentices at a time. "Blueeyes!" Pinefur jumped down beside him fight off a warrior coming for his back. "We have to fall back" he announced, fighting beside him, tossing him a blade that the warrior skillfully used. "No Pinefur! Thundergang will never be beaten!" he yowled indignantly. "Greystar will honor your courage but I don't want to lose any more of us to fight against these impossible odds! We will get another chance to avenge this defeat" he didn't wait for Blueeyes to agree, just leapt up onto the large pile of stones by the side of the river. "Retreat Thundergang! Retreat now!" they didn't need to be told twice. They pelted away from the waters edge, all bearing wounds and a fire burning in their eyes as anger and humiliation ran through them. Mapleleaf jumped from the shadows and ran with them, her hair flowing out behind her. "Another time warriors!" Blueeyes growled. He felt rage consume him as he heard the Rivergang warriors howl in victory. He ignored his burning wounds stinging like fire and ran to the front to lead the gang home beside Pinefur.

Up on the high cave Greystar sat with Swaypaw and Moonshine. The white stars above them shone brightly in the inky blue-black sky, bathing them in light. "Do you think they won?" asked Swaypaw. "Hopefully" answered Moonshine. She had been taking care of kits, getting them to sleep all night and she was taking a break. Swaypaw had hurt her leg and they didn't like healer apprentices fighting anyway and Greystar felt like Pinefur could lead this one. "I don't know," he muttered, causing the two girls to look at him in surprise. "We train hard but Rivergang have almost twice as many warriors as we do" he sighed. "Surely that means that they need the lake more than us then?" asked Swaypaw. Greystar glared at the stars. "They are no concern of ours. The lake is a great source of protein for the kits…And we could teach them how to swim there" he sighed heavily. "Greystar" Moonshine asked tentatively. "Have you ever thought of putting the kits into care, or maybe us?" Nobody asked that much. But it sure had been asked by a few people. "You know if that happened we'd all be separated. And so would the kits. You'd never see them again. Here we can raise them to be wild, and be free" he explained. "Our territory can support us" he said firmly. "I don't want to be split up from Floodpaw and Earlypaw and Rosepaw" Swaypaw added, biting her nails. They remained silent was a few moments. "Have Stargang spoken to you or Mapleleaf recently Swaypaw?" asked Greystar. "Not for some moons Greystar" she replied. As soon as she said that the mass of people rushed through the entrance, trailing blood and torn clothes. Swaypaw rushed to the most injured and Greystar went to join Pinefur. "What happened?" he asked, sounding concerned. Pinefur sighed, leaning on his shoulder. "We lost. Noone died so…that's good. I think Littlepaw is too young to send into battle. I don't want to risk apprentice's lives. If it wasn't for Blueeyes he could have been really hurt" Greystar watched the long line of people stamped into Mapleleafs den. "We are lucky to have skilled warriors among us" he noted, seeing Blueeyes help Floodpaw up and to Mapleleaf and Swaypaw. "We will get another chance" he promised him. Pinefur sighed. "We haven't been beaten in our own territory for years" Greystar nodded. "We need more warriors if we are to survive"