Hey! This is a shorter chapter, sort of a filler but it is VERY important to the story (I actually got my inspiration for the story doing something similar to this!). Cue cringiness at the over-used Dark Forest theme.

Echokit's POV:

She swiped at the moss ball and swiftly closed her eyes. She heard it thumping against the thorn barrier about a mouse-length away to her right. She raced towards it, fervently hoping that she didn't lose it again. Her paws closed on something soft. Got it! But it felt warm...she realized that it was someone's tail. A whiff of the scent and she knew who it belonged to; Cedarflame.

"Hey!" he hissed.

"Sorry!" she whimpered and then ran away.

Cedarflame's POV:

He watched the young kit in interest. What's she doing? He perked up his ears in fascination as once again she swiped the moss ball and, closing her eyes, ran after it. This can't be some innocent kit-game, can it? What if it's for a reason? What if- He heard a faint rustling. He had only just woken up, and he cursed silently to himself. What if a badger came to camp and attacked her while I was snoring away? Eyes and ears alert, he padded threateningly towards the rustling. Bloompaw. His apprentice seemed to sense his presence and sheepishly climbed through the barrier in the most dignified way she could manage.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded.

"I-er, well, I wanted to explore the territory."

"What?!" he mewed incredulously. "You've been an apprentice for a moon!"

She uncertainly began padding back to her den.

"Come back! You still haven't told me what you were really doing."

But his apprentice ignored him. Bloompaw padded silently back to her den and he settled back into a still silence, the only sounds coming from Echokit and the moss ball. Why does every cat have secrets? First Echokit, then Bloompaw...

Mapleshade's POV:

She watched the young kit in interest. She had the makings of a fine hunter, but her small, slim build made her look not much of a fighter. That could be to her advantage if she received Dark Forest training. The kit certainly was...not going to give up. She also seemed very loyal. She wouldn't train in the Dark Forest willingly...but luckily, Yewleaf had cursed Echokit with the same illness Yewleaf herself had suffered from. Yewleaf had then visited Larksong in a dream and pretended to be a StarClan cat...Mapleshade let out an involuntary shudder...the ThunderClan cat had fallen for it...Mapleshade just wished Ravenwing had been as dim-witted...but Yewleaf could be convincing. Now that the kit was cursed, she would want to train in the Dark Forest. Mapleshade could turn her evil, strike her hated former Clan from within. Mapleshade didn't know quite what was so special about the kit...she was, of course, just a normal ThunderClan kit...like Mapleshade had been, at one point. Maybe it was because she was so unextraordinary that she would be best suited to destroying her Clan from within...unknowingly, of course...unless she vowed her allegiance to the Dark Forest, she wouldn't know of their true plans.

Well! That was so fun to write!

What do YOU think Bloompaw's secret is? And isn't Larksong a little bit dumb...or is Yewleaf good at convincing? And that name, Yewleaf! (like deathberries...deathberries=yew berries. Of course, Yewberry sounds just...evil. Maybe I'll do a backstory for her. Is the Dark Forest idea too...cliche? (can't do the e with the diagonal hyphen on my laptop, sorry.)

snootsnoot: you can choose a background Warriors character and I will try to write a one-shot on that character. (EXAMPLE: Frostfur: ThunderClan; first arc/Bluestar's prophecy (is she in BP?))

Please check out my poll on names for Echokit!

Please review!