Hey guys, Merry 2012! Well, I guess I owe you all an apology. I did say I would try and upload a new chapter every Saturday, but as you all know, I haven't. I will try to make up for this and release larger chapters more often. Just to clear up a review about if I will "kill off Firestar and make Smudge into Smudgestar", even if I kill off firestar, it would be very unlikely that Smudge would be the new leader. But this is warriors and anything can happen, but I will say that Smudge WILL meet his destiny. Have some guesses as to what that might be and I'll check 'em out. Most imaginative one wins a prize. I will also add in some new characters and kits as I WILL kill off some regulars. I practically know that Erin Hunter will kill off quite a few cats in "The Last Hope" as it is her last one, so I WILL be sending the characters off my way as well, to give them a proper sendoff. I'll throw in a few pairings as well. That will have something to do with this chapters challenge! Well, enough from me! Bring on the next chapter!

Chapter 3

Firestar padded back to camp slowly, thinking hard. He was worried. Very worried. Mind you, it didn't take much to get Firestar worried nowadays. Jayfeather, Lionblaze and Dovewing may have been the three who banished the dark forest several moons ago, but he still hadn't forgotten Tigerstar's parting words.

He closed his eyes as that voice hissed through his mind again: "This isn't over Firestar. There are greater powers then StarClan at work here. So you better watch your back, because one day you won't be looking, and then: you're crowfood." He shivered. They were the same words that Tigerstar had said as he was exiled from ThunderClan all those years ago. He cast his mind back to that battle. It had been ferocious. Many good cats had died that day. Rainwhisker, Tallpoppy and Toadstep were some of the many dying cats that Firestar had seen that day as he walked through the battlefield. Tigerstar had attempted to use apprentices that the Dark Forest had been training for a while against the clans in a heated battle. However, the apprentices stuck to their clans and the Dark Forest cats were beaten back to their domain.

Tigerstar had fled, chased by Firestar, Brambleclaw, Sandstorm, Cloudtail and The Three. He had injured all of the warriors except Cloudtail, who had thrown himself at Tigerstar in a last ditch attmpt to stop him. Tigerstar had thrown him aside like a twoleg toy. Just as he was about to kill Firestar, The Three arrived and fulfilled the prophecy, dragging him back to the depths of The Dark Forest. Firestar had heard nothing from him since that point, but was still worried by those parting words. Just what was the power greater then StarClan? And how was Tigerstar planning to return, when The Three had sealed the portal, giving up their powers in the process? Whatever the case, he decided, he would be ready!

But still, at the back of his mind, some nagging doubt remained in the back of his mind as he entered the camp and saw the familiar facing all across the clearing. He walked past the new guards, Dustpelt and Swiftpaw and nodded as he walked past. Dustpelt gave him a friendly blink, while Swiftpaw solemnly nodded at him. Firestar fought back a grin as he walked past. Swiftpaw had only become Dustpelt's apprentice 1 moon ago and he was already trying to act like a senior warrior. He was black with white spots with leafy green eyes that always seemed to glow as though he had thought of some new way to make his mentor proud. He was the only surviving kit in his litter.

As Firestar's mind was fixated on Swiftpaw, he unconsciously sought out Brightheart, Swiftpaw's mother. As he watched, he saw Cloudtail walk sleepily out of the warriors den into the sunlight blinking and start to share tongues with her. He thought sadly of their latest litter and of their horror when the kits were born, but didn't move or mew. They had been born dead, never to open their eyes except in StarClan. So imagine their surprise when one of the kits suddenly opened his eyes and started to mew happily, twisting and writhing happily. Brightheart had named him after Swiftpaw, her good friend from her own apprentice days as she said her kit had exactly the same kind of hyperactive energy. Firestar had paired him up with Dustpelt to tame some of that wild nature.

It hadn't worked. Swiftpaw was still hyperactive whenever he could be, although he was becoming more and more mature as he grew up. But Firestar remembered the time he had caught Swiftpaw playing with kits behind the nursery. As he entered his den, Firestar pulled his mind away from matters such as apprentices and dragged it back to his dream. He couldn't remember much, even though it had been so vivid. A voice he hadn't recognised had whispered something in his ear, a prophecy it sounded like. But the more he tried to remember it, the more it slipped away. And how stupid could he have been, to let himself get coated in that mud and mask his scent. No wonder Brambleclaw had attacked him. Firestar would certainly have attacked a cat looking like that, back when he was Fireheart, deputy of ThunderClan.

He settled himself down in his nest and sighed, thinking that perhaps another sleep would help take his mind of the dream and the fact that Brambleclaw seemed to have had the same one. The dream would no doubt become clear over time. These messages from StarClan always did in the end. His eyes shot open and he darted upward into a sitting position. What if the dream wasn't from StarClan? Instantly, a memory of a voice whispered in his mind "There are powers greater then StarClan at work here". He shivered, suddenly not feeling like sleeping. He got up and walked outside. He looked around camp. The fresh kill pile was big, the apprentices were growing and the kits were nearing 6 moons.

He looked over to a spot near the warriors den, where Brambleclaw was sharing tongues with Brackenfur, a senior warrior. As he watched, he saw a flash of orange as his daughter, Squirelflight timidly walked up to Brambleclaw and asked him something. Firestar winced as he saw Brambleclaw give what looked like a harsh responce and walk away. Firestar decided enough was enough. He got up and walked to the medicine cat den. Inside the main area as Jayfeather, Firestar's blind grandson and one of The Three, piling and ordering herbs. Jayfeather seemed to be the only one who actually had kept some of his powers after the banishment of The Dark Forest. He had even gained some new power, he seemed to be able to see what was going on around him in a 360 degree angle. As he walked past, Jayfeather lifted his head and looked at Firestar through blue eyes that had no pupils. "She's in the back Firestar" he said, before turning back to the herbs. Firestar didn't even bother asking. Was he that easy to read nowadays, or was it just Jayfeather doing his usual creepy power thing again. As he entered the small cave with a pool in it at the back, he saw a cat hunched over the water, staring into it.

"Leafpool?" he asked. Leafpool jumped and turned around so fast, Firestar was surprised that she hadn't clicked her neck. "Firestar," she said happily "what can I do for you?" Firestar looked at her, then told her about Brambleclaw still not talking to Squirelflight. Leafpool promised she would talk to Brambleclaw, then walked out. Firestar stared into the water for a second, thinking he could see Leafpool's reflection still there, looking sad, then he turned around and left the medicine cat den. He watched from the shadows as Leafpool walked over to Brambleclaw and started talking to him in a low voice. Brackenfur, taking the hint, wandered off to talk with Ferncloud, who was watching her LATEST litter of kits play out in the sunlight for the first time. Brambleclaw didn't say anything as Leafpool talked, just sat there and listened. When she had finished, she waited, but Brambleclaw didn't say anything. When she finally touched his shoulder with her tail, he jerked to life, saying something then hurriedly walking out of camp. Leafpool jerked her head and Squirelflight, taking the hint, followed Brambleclaw out of the camp at a run to catch him up.

Firestar sat back and watched as Sandstorm, his beloved mate started to walk over to him. Prey was good, Brambleclaw might finally forgive Squirelflight and there were no obvious problems from the Dark Forest. He smiled contentedly. What could possibly spoil his good mood.

His question was answered almost at once. A streak of gold suddenly shot into camp, shouting his name over and over again. As he jumped up and watched, Lionblaze skidded to a halt in the middle of camp, panting heard. Cats all around the clearing started to mutter, worrying or wondering what could be going on to cause this. Lionblaze stopped panting and, with the eyes of all the cats in the clearing upon him, looked up at Firestar. "River-Riv-" he stuttered panting, eyes wide. Firestar stood up. Was that shock in Lionblaze's eyes? What could possibly shock Lionblaze so much that he couldn't speak properly? "River Clan is attacking-" Lionblaze started but before he could finish, cats were shrieking and shouting. "Why would Riverclan attack us?" Daisy called fearfully". "When can we shred them?" shouted Cloudtail, his tail whipping from side to side. "Will WindClan help us?" called out Brackenfur reasonably. "SILENCE" shouted Firestar, and every cat fell silent at once. "Let him finish" Firestar said in a lower voice. "RiverClan is attacking ShadowClan while I was patrolling" Lionblaze said. He took a deep breath and added "And Firestar, it's about Blackstar: He was asking for you to help!"

DunDunDun! CLIFFIE! Well, ok I know it isn't much of a cliffie, but I tried and I wanted to finish it with an attack so I thought Blackstar would finally ask for a kittypet's help. So basically, that was my latest chapter, I told you I was trying to make them longer. For the 95% of you staring at this chapter wondering if you missed 47 chapters or something, this was my attempt at guessing Erin Hunter's plot. I wanted to finish the timeline, so I had to finish the whole "three of three who defeat the evil" prophecy and finish the Power Of Three to Omen Of Stars arc. I hope you like my first OC I've added in. I wasn't going to add one in this early, so I was surprised to find myself typing that. Swiftpaw wasn't even one of my planned OC. Oh well, I hope you like him and I hope that you didn't think that I focused too much of the chapter on him. So anyway, I definitely will be adding chapters on a weekly basis now, consider THAT my new years resolution! See you all soon.

Oh and BTW, this Chapter Challenge is as follows: 20 reviews for a reveal on who the StarClan cat was in the proglouge and for a reveal on one of my pairings. The most imaginative will win a secret prize. This kind of challenge will continue every chapter. See you guys on Saturday!

BrambleStar14

PS: For a bit of New Year fun I've included the original plan I had for this chapter so you all can see the bare bones of one of my chapters!

Plan- Firestar pov

Details- return to camp

Firestar worried

Shakes it off

Sees angry brambleclaw to squirellflight

Talks to leafpool

She tries to talk to bc

He thinks, doesn't say a thing and walks off

Squirellflight follows

Lionblaze runs in saying riverclan is attacking shadowclan

And they have asked for FIRESTARS help!