Disclaimer: Warriors is not mine...

This started out as my first Challenge for DarkClan, but I decided to continue it as a story. The Prologue sets up the whole story, which then continues from when the kits become apprentices.

Allegiances are next chapter.

Prologue

A soft breeze rustled the leaves in the nearby pine trees. There was a strong scent of danger in the air, hanging off every bush, draped over every twig. But the two ShadowClan kits were ignorant of this. All they knew was they were out of camp and exploring.

"Hey, Duskkit! Look at this!" the pale brown tabby kit squeaked in excitement.

"What?" Duskkit, a darker brown tabby kit, padded over to his sister. He peered over his sister's shoulder. "It's just a beetle, Dawnkit," he scoffed, staring down at the large, moving black dot as it crept over a leaf.

Dawnkit made a face at her brother. "Well, I-" she began but froze when a low snarling noise sounded behind them. "W-what was that?" she whispered, her green eyes glowing with fear.

"The w-wind?" Duskkit suggested hopefully. The kits turned to see a reddish animal the size of a cat with a long snout glaring at them with beady black eyes. It took a step towards them, revealing pointed teeth as it snarled again.

"S-should we run?" Dawnkit whimpered in her brother's ear.

The reddish animal suddenly shot towards them, malice shining in its eye.

"Run!" Duskkit yowled and both kits turned to flee, blundering through the undergrowth. They had no idea where they were going, only that they had to run. Thorns dragged at their pelts and the animal's hot breath drenched their terror-spiked fur.

Suddenly, a battle cry sounded and the kits could no longer hear the animal behind them.

"Leave them along, mange-pelt!" an unfamiliar voice hissed in anger. Shocked, the kits stumbled to a halt and turned round to see a grey warrior fighting the reddish animal.

"Wow," Duskkit breathed. The fighting animals were a whirl of grey and red fur as they rolled around the forest floor.

"He must be so brave to fight that animal," Dawnkit nodded in amazement, her eyes wide, her heart still thumping hard in her tiny chest.

Soon, two more unfamiliar warriors that smelt strange appeared on the scene and joined the first cat in attacking the cat. Together, the three warriors drove the animal away with a perfect combination of muscles and claws.

"That's it, run away you coward!" jeered a cat with a black pelt and flashing amber eyes.

"Who are they?" Duskkit wondered in awe as the warriors turned back to the kits.

"What do you think you were doing?" the one with the grey pelt hissed at the kits, who were surprised at the angry tone.

"W-we w-were ju-just..." Duskkit stuttered before the black-pelted cat shot him a kindly look.

"Relax, Stonetail, they're just kits and they had a big scare," the black cat meowed.

Stonetail shot him a glare. "They're ShadowClan kits," he muttered.

"I'm Nightclaw and this-" he indicated the third cat, a grey tabby, with his tail – "is Lapstone. We are warriors of ThunderClan," he explained.

"Thunderclan!" Dawnkit echoed, gazing up at them in fear. "B-but you're evil!"

Nightclaw gave an amused 'mrrrrow'. "We're not evil, little ones. That's just what your Clan want you to think."

"What were you doing so close to the ThunderClan border anyway? Does ShadowClan let its kits wander their territory freely?" asked the third cat, Lapstone. Her voice was soft but her eyes were hard, and Duskkit stared at his paws.

"Shakestar said we could go outside with our mother if we didn't go far, but she kept telling us off for touching things like twigs and stalking beetles, so we sneaked away when her back was turned," he explained, sounding ashamed.

Dawnkit took up the tail next, "We didn't know where the borders were or what ThunderClan smelt like. We saw the Thunderpath though, but then that animal started chasing us, and here we are," she finished, trembling out of tiredness.

"That animal was a fox," Nightclaw told her. "They are especially dangerous to kits and would have eaten you if we hadn't been there. We'll take you home now, you've had a tiring experience. Come on," he meowed in a kindly voice and picked up Duskkit, leaving Lapstone to pick up Dawnkit.

As the warriors carried them, Dawnkit felt safe and sleepy, but before she closed her eyes she thought she heard Stonetail mutter, "This is why kits should stay in the nursery. Otherwise they cause a lot of trouble."

A/N: So yeah, I hoped you liked it and are encouraged to review!

Also, thanks to jayfeather12345 for giving me the idea.