~Prologue~

Okay, how do I start this? Oh, yeah.

I had no idea what was going on.

Oh, no that's not it. Okay, how about I start like this. My name is Leopard. Well, not really, but if I told you my full name, it would ruin the story. No, I am not a Tribe of Rushing Water cat; whenever I try to tell people this they always assume that I'm Tribe cat. If I was, then I would tell you my ridiculously long name, then you would randomly call me a short version of that name. So, no, my name is not Claw-of-Fiercest-Wild-Leopard or something like that. For the moment you can just call me Leopard. No I'm not a loner or rouge either. Actually, I'm a Clan cat. A proud cat of Forest Clan, the best of the four clans.

See, long ago, there lived four ancient clans, Thunder Clan, the fierce and the brave, River Clan, the clever and the strong, Wind Clan, the swift and the loyal, and Shadow Clan, the wily and the proud, though I personally think that Wind Clan is much more proud. Each Clan had certain skills and characteristics.

Thunder Clan was usually the good guys, always fighting for what was right, but also for themselves and their territory. (And for some reason every Clan hated them…..question mark?) They had excellent stalking techniques, they hunted for mice, voles, birds, squirrels and sometimes rabbits. They always tried to fight in the brambles where they fought better than any other Clan.

River Clan was actually a bit like Thunder Clan, in personality of course. River Clan were fiercely loyal to their friends and kin and loved beautiful things, like shells and feathers found on the shore of the river that they lived near and always hunted in. River Clan cats were excellent swimmers and never feared water like the other Clans. Mainly they hunted fish, but during leaf-bare, or winter, they usually hunted birds. River Clan always tried to fight in the water.

Wind Clan was very testy, and if you asked me, they were a bunch of fox-hearts, with a few exceptions. (Gorsepaw, his mother, Onewhisker/star, Tallstar, and Crowpaw/feather, just a little bit.) They were all very proud, but fiercely loyal and very tough, considering the whole clan survived when forced to flee from their own territory once by an attack from Shadow Clan, and they were easily offended. They were quick to flee, since the moorlands they lived in offered little cover.

Shadow Clan was usually home to some of the evilest cats, like the cat Brokenstar, who tortured and killed apprentices and starved his Clan, and Tigerclaw, formerly Thunder Clan, became their leader because their former leader had died in an outbreak of infection due to eating an infected rat, after he was banished from Thunder Clan, due to murdering the deputy Redtail and many other crimes. But other cats in Shadow Clan have been proven to have good hearts, like Raggedstar, Tawnypelt, Littlecloud, and a few others. Shadow Clan is very cunning and clever and greedy for territory. They were very ambitious, battle-hungry and very aggressive in battle. They hunted lizards, frogs, and snakes. They hunted at night better than any other Clan and were excellent with night ambushes. And for some reason they always had some sort of rivalry between them and Thunder Clan. (Again…question mark?)

So, all four Clans lived in peace for endless moons until four cats of each Clan, Brambleclaw, of Thunder Clan, Tawnypelt, of Shadow Clan, and Brambleclaw's sister, Feathertail, of River Clan, and the Thunder Clan deputy's daughter, and Crowpaw, soon to be Crowfeather, of Wind Clan, got a dream from a warrior ancestor from their Clan that they had had a connection to, that belonged to Star Clan.

Star Clan are the warrior ancestors of all the Clan cats, and it's where cats go where they die, if they are deemed worthy and are a Clan cat. They send Omens to Medicine Cats, a cat from a the Clan that heals and has a certain bond with Star Clan, to let them know things that they should know and tell the Clan, like if great times of hardship are coming or something, and they send prophecies, to let cats know if something really important would happen, and they had to figure out what it would mean.

Anyway, they each received an dream about an ancestor they knew in Star Clan, and that they told them a great danger was coming to the forest, that they were chosen and that they should meet at the new moon with the other chosen cats, and that midnight would tell them everything.

The four cats met at Four Trees on the new moon, Four Trees being where the four Clans met at the full moon in peace. They set off on a journey to the sun-drown-place, where they figured they would be able to "midnight" however way they could. They also brought Stormfur, Feathertail's sister, and Squirrelpaw, a Thunder Clan apprentice, soon to be Squirrelflight, and Brambleclaw's future mate.

It turned out that "Midnight" was a badger woh could speak cat, and she had a link with Star Clan, and she told them that they must go back to their homes and tell the Clans that they must find a new home, because Twolegs, a.k.a humans, were going to tear down the forest to make new Thunderpath, or a 'road' as you Twolegs call it.

The chosen cats left Midnight in the long journey home. On the way, Feathertail died from saving Crowpaw, who she fell in love with during the journey, a dangerous mountain lion named Sharptooth. The cats continued their journey and warned their Clans of the Twoleg attack, and the Clans left to find a new home, a lake far away from the Twolegs and their dangerous attacks, while the Clans had been starving from the Twolegs scaring away their prey. He Clans finally found a new home, where they faced many problems, but they are unimportant. Soon, though, tragedy struck.

A Wind Clan warrior, Mudclaw, had eaten a bad rabbit a few days before going to a Gathering, but he didn't know, except for a bit of an upset stomach the past few days.

Soon, the infection from the rabbit from Mudclaw had spread throughout the Clans, and many, many cats died. Soon, Bramblestar, Thunder Clan's recent new leader because the former leader, Firestar, had died of the infection, came to a realization. The Clans must split up. The infection was all around the lake now, and the Clans needed to get as far away as possible if they wanted to live, and cats with the infection must be put into a separate Clan, for risk that other cats would still get infected. Mudclaw had soon died after the Gathering, but the infection had spread so much that the Clans had no choice but to agree to Brambestar's plan.

So, the Clans once again left their home in search of new one. More cats died during the journey, but thankfully the queens kept having more kits, which helped the population of the Clan cats from taking a sudden drop. Thunder Clan and Shadow Clan found a new home from a forest nearby that the chosen cats had found on the way to Midnight, Wind Clan moved to some moors that the chosen cats had also found on their journey to Midnight. And River Clan went up north to a new lake that to a lake that always seemed frozen, where the kits could slip and slide all they wanted, they could use their claws to open up holes in the ice so they could hunt for fish, and nearby pines had good protection for the cats to climb into them. The ill cats were cast off, much to the regret of their friends and kin, but they did it to protect themselves. The Clans

Berrynose, a Thunder Clan warrior, was grieving for the loss of his mate, Honeyfern, for she had been cast out because she had caught the infection, now called blue-cough. He one day saw a kittypet on Thunder Clan territory and asked him what he was doing there. The kittypet answered that he had just come home from the vet, and he had wanted to explore. Berrynose asked what a vet was and the kittypet told him it was a Twoleg that helped cats when they were sick, and Berrynose had an idea.

Berrynose announced to his Clan his idea. All of them were shocked at his idea, and many were angered by it, and yelled at him that he was not a true warrior. However, a senior warrior, Sandstorm, spoke out above the warriors. She said "Berrynose is right. We must do this to help our family, our friends, and our fellow Clanmates. I have already lost my mate, Firestar, to this new disease, blue-cough, we have lost three great and gentle queens, Ferncloud , Brightheart, and Honeyfern, we have lost three brave warriors, Spiderleg, Cloudtail, and Whitewing, a kind elder, Mousefur, and our brave deputy, Graystripe, who was a personal friend of mine. We must do what we have to, if it means saving our kin and friends. It may be against the warrior code, but isn't it in the warrior code somewhere to protect ourselves and to be loyal to our Clan? By doing this, we are not being loyal to our Clan, but betraying it. I say we do it."

Kin and friends of the mentioned cats started murmuring agreement, and Bramblestar realized that this was correct, too. The next day he visited the Moonrock, a rock that glowed in the moonlight and that held a link to their warrior ancestors, and he asked his ancestors what they thought he should do. In front of him appeared a large white tom. Bramblestar remembered him as Whitestorm, a cat that had died in a large battle when he was an apprentice, and the cat who had given him protectiveness in his nine lives ceremony. He appeared in front of him, and Bramblestar asked him if he should follow along with Berrynose's plan. Instead of answering, Whitestorm's eyes began to glow and he said "During your nine lives ceremony, I gave you protection. That includes for your Clan mates. Sky, Darkness, Water, and Air will except the help of their mysterious enemies and will be replaced by Forest, Animal, Ice, and Cloud."

The next day, Bramblestar, still trying to figure out the mysterious prophecy, announced to his Clan what they would do. "Today, we will find the cats that we have cast out. We don't know where they are, what they have become in the time they've been gone, and we don't know what they have done. But we will find them. We will only find one cat per day, though, and they will not come in within a tail-length away from you, for risk of getting blue-cough. We will begin this the day after tomorrow's Gathering, and we will announce the plan to the other Clans. Then, after we have found the cats, we will then travel to Twoleg place, drop them off at a Twolegnest. We will then stay at the house, to see if the cat is taken away, and if they are, then we will follow then, while one cat will be left behind to leave scent markers, to find the way back when that cat has been fully healed. When they have, the cats will then send up a rescue mission to get them out and follow the scent markers back to the forest. Are we clear?" All the cats agreed to this plan, and soon they were finding cat after cat after cat. Berrynose, Dustpelt, and Archfall were overjoyed to see their mates again, but had to contain themselves from getting to close, from fear of getting infection. Bramblestar had not understood what his ancestors had wanted him to do, but he had followed his instincts and done what he thought was right.

Soon, all the infected cats had been found and healed, and they were overjoyed to see their friends and kin. All of the cats agreed that they would never speak of the outbreak of blue-cough, for it had brought too much sadness and misery, and whenever the kits asked of what happened to the great leader Firestar, they would say he died of disease, nothing more, nothing less. Even moons after the disaster, the outbreak still haunted the elders' dreams, especially when them or a loved one had had a rabbit that day.

So, that is the history of the ancient Clans. It was very, very long ago, and few cats still know the story. Bramblestar passed down the story to only one cat, and that is Lionblaze's daughter, Sugarkit, who just so happened to be Firestar's great granddaughter. She earned her warrior name, Sugarcloud, and had two kits named Shinekit and Coldkit, who turned into Shineface and Coldsky, and Coldsky got a mate who had a kit named Owlkit, who turned into Owleye, who had a mate named Redheart, who had Icekit, Moonkit, Coldkit, and Cloudkit. They all turned into Iceclaw, Moonhole, Coldblossom, and Cloudpetal. Six moons later, Redheart had Oakkit and Bramblekit. They turned into Oakplant and Bramleheart. Oakplant had a terrible accident where he hit his head and that part of his brain made him blind, and earlier he had lost his front right paw, so people had been saying he should go to the elders' den for awhile, and finally, Ashstar, the Clan's leader, had to give in and send him to the elders' den. But not before Oakplant had gotten a mate, Violettail. Who just so happens to be my mother.

Now, you're probably wondering about my Clan's name, Forest Clan. Well, you see, around the time Coldsky was an apprentice, the leaders' of the Clans decided that they should change their names to something more reasonable. So, Thunder Clan became Forest Clan, because of its forest territory, Shadow Clan changed its name to Animal Clan, because of the many animals on its territory, Wind Clan became Cloud Clan, because of the many clouds on their moors, and River Clan changed its name to Ice Clan, because of the ice always on their river.

You're all up to date, it's time I show you a time when I was called nothing more than Leoparkit.

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