The she-cat awoke from her slumber to a yowl. " Raid!"
She tensed. What would this mean for her days-old kit if she went to fight and got herself killed?
She had barely gotten out of her nest went her kit stirred. "Mum?" he mewled. "Where are you going?"
She tried to think of an answer, but couldn't. She had to face the truth. " I have to go fight so you can be safe, my little Time Kit." She licked him between the ears and raced off.
"Mum!" the kit cried and tried to get out of the nest. His hindpaws caught a silver piece of grass, and he tumbled out of the nest. "Mummy! Come back!"
He stood himself up and tried to run, but at the last second, he felt himself being heaved upwards. A black tom with a silver forepaw set him back down in the nest of silver grass.
"No. you can't go out there, son. It's too dangerous." His father then stifled a yawn and slunk down beside the kit.
Soon enough, he was snoring. That's when the kit took his chance. He crept silently towards the entrance, careful not to disturb his father or the ginger queen at the far edge of the den.
He barely had his nose out of the den when a drop of rain spooked him, but not more than what the cats were doing outside of the den.
A pale yellow tabby was pinned under the paws of a large dark ginger she-cat. She was hissing in fury, and was struggling to get free. But the larger cat didn't seemed to be bothered.
But what he turned his sapphire-blue gaze on next was absolutely horrifying. His mother was pinned beside a den wall with a snow-white tom. The tom swiped at her face, claws unsheathed, and a moment later he heard a yowl of pain and anger.
His mother leaped for the tom, but he was ready. He caught her and threw her as if she were light as a feather.
Her body connected with the hard rock, and there was a harsh CRACK.
He let out a screech. "No!"
The Doctor gasped awake from the nightmare. "No!" he cried.
He gasped, realizing that his granddaughter, Gingerfang, was right in front of him. She giggled, brown-and ginger pelt ruffling. " Well,anyway I've got to get back to camp. Brightheart's ought to be wondering where I am right now."
She stood over one of the hexagonal panels and pulled a large red lever. The doors to the TARDIS opened with a hum. " See you later, grandfather."
The Doctor dipped his head. " You too, my dear."
Gingerfang started humming as she skipped out the door. The doors closed behind her with a hum once more.
The Doctor turned his gaze on something else.
Brightheart walked into the den towards her mate, Cloudtail. The white-haired warrior was grooming himself, unaware of anything around him.
"Hello, Cloudtail." she said, and the white tom almost leaped in surprise. "Can't you see that I was in the middle of a good bath?!" He hissed.
"Good baths can wait. What I'm going to tell you is way more important.
Cloudtail sighed and settled deeper into his nest. "What is it?" He muttered. " It better not be about how I messed up on that hunting patrol last night? It wasn't my fault that I missed that squirrel. It was those mangy ShadowClan flea-pelts!"
"Calm down! Calm down! " Said Brightheart. " It's not about you. It's about Gingerfang. About how she sneaks off after every training session."
That caught Cloudtail's attention. " Oh. That." He said. "That is something I cannot understand. Yesterday, she told Dovewing, Ambermoon, and Stormcloud that she saw something strange behind a tree. She took too long, and when the patrol realized something was up, she was gone. Maybe she's going to be like Darkstripe."
Brightheart didn't buy it. "No, Cloudtail, it's something other than that."
Cloudtail let out a breath of relief. "Oh, thank StarClan." his ears flattened with relief. " Then what has she been doing?"
"She's saying that she's been 'visiting her grandfather'." Brightheart said in a mocking tone.
"So? " replied Cloudtail. "Firestar used to visit his sister back in the Old Territory."
"Well the whole Clan knew that he was doing it! But this time it's just us!" Brightheart yowled.
"Guys, would you keep it down?" Birchfall's voice sounded from the other side of the den. "Nobody can get any sleep."
Cloudtail got up and shook out his long pelt. "Let's take this outside, before Birchfall claws our ears off."
Brightheart nodded. "'Kay, but not where Gingerfang can hear us. Maybe we can talk to Bramblestar about it, like about sending her on a patrol with us."
This time Ivypool's voice sounded. "Well, if you're going to go outside, go outside. Some of us are trying to sleep!"
"Let's go to Bramblestar." agreed Cloudtail.
"Are you sure about this?" Asked the tabby leader. "A patrol with you two and Gingerfang? All right, if you say so."
Cloudtail gave an inward cry of joy. Yes!
"But take two others with you, so she doesn't know something's up. Ambermoon and Fernsong, for instance."
Brightheart nodded. "We'll take them."
Bramblestar dipped his head. "I'll get Squirrelflight to organize your patrol, and you should be leaving by sunhigh."
Gingerfang pretended to sniff the air. "Something's this way!" she cried, signaling with her tail to somewhere beyond a sagebush. The four other warriors disappeared into the bush, giving Gingerfang the opportunity to sneak off.
Little did she know, that she was being followed.
The Doctor heard banging on the TARDIS door. He knew that it was Gingerfang. He opened the doors, and she rushed in, panting. "I used the first opportunity: a patrol. Nobody will suspect me."
The Doctor closed the doors, only to hear pawsteps seconds later. " Nobody suspects you?"
Gingerfang nodded. "Yep. I am sure."
The Doctor walked over to a coat rack and pulled a hat on his head, and a short black scarf over his shoulders. " I'll go and see, 'kay?"
Gingerfang nodded absentmindedly, and gazed up at the ceiling. "Fine with me."
Her tail whisked over the door control, and the Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS. The door closed several inches from his tail. She never learns. He snapped to himself inwardly. He lifted his gaze to see two cats on the horizon. Is she really sure?
A fluffy white warrior arrived there first, then followed by a one-eyed ginger-and white she-cat. The Doctor flinched.
"Have you seen Gingerfang?"
The Doctor pretended to be confused. "Gingerfang?"
"Ginger tabby, brown legs and green eyes." The other cat added. " Have you seen her around?"
The Doctor shook his head. "No, I have not." He tried to lead the cats away by aimlessly wandering around trees.
The she-cat seemed to grow impatient. "She may have went into that box of yours."
"Box?" The Doctor acted momentarily confused, and glanced at the TARDIS. "What box?"
The tom sighed in annoyance. " The blue box over there."
They herded the Doctor until his face was almost in the doors. "This one?" he said in a muffled tone.
"Cloudtail, I think he's playing dumb." Said the she-cat. Great. Thought the Doctor. They blew my cover.
He whirled around. " Fine. I'm not as dumb as you think I am." He kicked the door open with a hindpaw. Gingerfang let out a yelp. Cloudtail, along with Brightheart (as she was called) forced their way in, against the Doctor's protests.
"Oh, great StarClan!" whispered Cloudtail. The Doctor's gaze grew dark, and he walked over to the controls. He heard Gingerfang's uneasy mew. "Don't."
He ignored her further complaints,and set a paw on the controls. He shut the door as Cloudtail collapsed to the ground in a dead faint.
Brightheart struggled to find the right words. "What? Why? Huh?"
Gingerfang stepped forward. "Y'see, I'm not really from here." She confessed, then blurted, "We're time travelers!"
You can't keep a secret, can you? Thought the Doctor, disapproving of what the young she-cat had just said.
Brightheart collapsed in shock as the Doctor lowered a paw onto the console. Gingerfang let out a shriek."No!" And leaped upon him, but it was already too late. The TARDIS was taking off. The Doctor freed himself as Gingerfang started staring at the scanner. There was a blank expression on her face, and she didn't respond as the Doctor waved his tail in front of her face. Then with a gasp of shock her realized that the adventure had truly begun.
A young ginger tabby she-cat raced through the forest, a pang of hunger striking through her, although she was not hunting. She was looking for someone to stop the cats that had invaded her territory. They called themselves 'DeathClan' and took all of their prey. They had stolen her daughter, changed her identity, brainwashed her, and made her into a freakish monster, if calling an albino viper is a freakish monster...
She shook off the thought, leaving her mind blank and only concentrating on two things: running and finding help. But she had one question: What was a blue box doing in the middle of the forest?
The Doctor opened the doors, while Gingerfang had snapped out of her trance and was helping the two ThunderClan warriors up; Cloudtail was a bit more shaken up than Brightheart.
"Hello?" a voice interrupted his thoughts. "Could you help me?"
The Doctor turned around to see a young tabby standing in the doorway. "Yes, what is it? What do you want?"
The tabby's eyes widened. "I want help."
The she-cat introduced herself as Sparrow Fang, one of the youngest of what she called the Fighters. Yet she didn't just say she was leader of the Fighters, she was leader of the group of what she called the Cats of Time Forest. "These cats that invaded. They call themselves 'DeathClan' and they have a massive number of cats. More like an army than a 'Clan'."
"And you say they've taken all of your prey?"
