I go from one of my longest chapters to one of my shortest... This isn't my best chapter, I warn you, but still, I expect you all to review! Enjoy!

"Swiftstar stood nose to nose with Blackstar, ready to leap out at the evil leader. When suddenly... Cloudfang leaped from the bushes and landed on Swiftstar's shoulders! She tried to shake him off, but he was to strong! He clung to her as she struggled underneath his weight. Taking the opportunity, Blackstar slashed at Swiftstar in rage. Blackstar was not going to let her ruin her leadership!"

Darkpaw listened to Tigerfoot continue his story as he changed the elders moss. It was a common story-an ambitious cat named Blackheart took over her clan and tried to rule the entire forest. But when she challenged Swiftstar, leader of Moonclan, she lost and was exiled from the clans.

Some of his fellow clanmates think that she still roams the clans as a rouge, but no cat is sure since they haven't seen her since her banishment.

"Thank you," said Snowfoot as he was about to leave the elders den, the old moss in his mouth.

He set the old bedding down and said, "Your welcome," before picking it back up and padding through the camp.

Once he was done throwing out the old bedding, he sat down beside the fresh-kill pile and pick out a fish from the top. He was never a big fan of their salty taste, but, more often then not, it was the only type of prey on the pile.

The black apprentice spotted Flashpaw, Cloudpaw, and Moonpaw sitting together on the other side of the clearing, talking and eating their prey. Walking over to them, he asked, "Can I sit here with you?"

Flashpaw and Cloudpaw shot each other an uncertain glance, but Moonpaw moved over to make room for him. "I don't mind," said the pretty silver apprentice.

"Uh, thanks." He sat down between her and Cloudpaw and started biting into his fish.

"I heard Gorsepelt and Owlsong spotted a fox on our territory," Flashpaw meowed to Cloudpaw. "They never said if they chased it away or not."

Cloudpaw snorted. "They probably didn't. If they did, they would've told Swiftstar."

"Oh great, just what we need," Flashpaw moaned. "Now there's a fox loose on our territory."

"Maybe it's den was across one of the borders," Darkpaw said, butting into their conversation.

"I suppose," Flashpaw said thoughtfully. "But a fox wouldn't understand the borders and could cross into our territory whenever it wanted. There's still a threat."

Moonpaw added, "But, even if we do chase it away, it could still come back."

"It depends on how hard our cats fight," said Cloudpaw. "If we show it how powerful we really are, it'll know not to cross paths with us ever again!"

Darkpaw pushed the remains of his fish away, to full to eat any more.

"I'm going to see if I can go hunting," he decided. "Want to come?"

Moonpaw shook her head. "I think I'm going to go back to sleep. I was on the dawn patrol today." She wisked past Darkpaw, her tail lightly brushing his fur as she passed.

"I'm still hungry," Flashpaw mewed.

"Cloudpaw?"

The white tom hesitated. Sighing, he said, "I guess it wouldn't hurt to go hunting. I'll race you to the Duskclan border!" he called suddenly, racing out of the camp. Flashpaw sniffed his half eaten prey.

"Hey, can I have the rest of your fish?" she asked, but the blue eyed apprentice was already running through the grass out of the camp. "I'll take that as a yes," she murmured, taking a bite out of the fish.

Darkpaw ran after him, his paws hitting hard against the ground. "Slow down," he cried to Cloudpaw who was already many fox lengths ahead of him. "You go to fast!"

"Your going to have to try harder if you want to bet me!" he replied, not slowing his pace.

A few trees came into sight and Darkpaw realized he had never been in this area before. He had only become an apprentice a quarter moon ago, and his mentor, Scarshadow, had refused to take him to the Duskclan border.

The jet black apprentice slowed his pace when even more trees came into sight, worried he'd run into one of them. "Hey, Cloudpaw! I think you should slow down!" He called to his companion.

"There's no way I'm slowing down just so that you can get ahead of me!" Cloudpaw answered and disappeared into the forest in front of him.

"No! That's not it! You could get hurt!" But there was no reply. Darkpaw slowed and came to a stop, sighing. Suddenly, the scent of a mouse caught his nose. Mice didn't live in Moonclan's hunting territory. The only reason why he recognized the scent was from gatherings.

He located the mouse, scuttling around in one of the outer trees of the forest.

"It's just on the outskirts," he murmured. "I don't see anything wrong with catching it."

Slowly, he creeped up on it, and when it was only tail lengths away, he leaped. At the last moment, the brown animal noticed him and dashed away. Spitting with anger, Darkpaw chased after it, claws unsheathed.

After what seemed like moons of chasing the mouse, Darkpaw collapsed to the ground, to tired to go on. Looking around, he realized he had no idea where he was. Curling up on the unfamiliar ground, he whispered, "Please let me go home, please let me go home, please let me go home..."

Tears had begun to form in his eyes, and in moments, sleep took over.

Darkpaw awoke to a bloodcurdling scream. Leaping to his paws, he looked around frantically. The scream had come from somewhere deeper in the forest.

He looked at the sky. It was dusk. If he went looking for whoever had screamed, it would be to dark to navigate back home, and there was still the possibility that he wouldn't find whoever it was anyways. But he didn't know the way back anyways.

His mind raced frantically. "What should I do...?" He sat thinking. Then, summoning all of his courage, he plunged deeper into the forest.

Darkpaw searched until the sun had set beyond the horizon and the moon began to rise.

"I guess I should find somewhere to sleep..." he muttered unhappily. He pushed his way through the undergrowth and through a thorn bush. The thorns tore at his pelt, but he ingnorned the pain.

Soon, the small apprentice was to tired to go on. He feel to the forest floor and curled up again.

Then, he felt his leg brush against fur.

He screamed, leaping away. In the shadows of some bushes, a white cat was sprawled out, motionless.

Darkpaw cautiously sniffed at the cat and gasped with alarm.

"Cloudpaw?"

Dun dun... DUN! Poor Cloudpaw! And I know, I kind of ended this on a cliffy, I'm sorry. It's just, I love cliffhangers a lot, so I always seem to incorporate them into my stories. Well, enjoy, and don't forget to R&R!