A/N OK, so I'm not dead, nor is this story. I'm sorry for not uploading for so long, but I had a case of writer's block and I couldn't get on this site for quite awhile. Anyhow, enjoy the chapter!

I watch as Mom comes back, anger and frustration written on her face, "You didn't get her?" I ask, expecting to only get and angry shake of the head in response. "No we didn't. and I need to talk to you about your actions today." I lower my head in shame, "I know what I did," I say, "I agreed to go talk with the prisoner, and I made no move to block her when she made her escape." Mom nods, "And what would be a suitable punishment?" I think for a moment and decide that it'd probably be safer to have Mom come up with the punishment, "I don't know, what do you think?" I reply.

Mom thinks for a moment and then declares my punishment, "You have to help the populator for ten days." I resist letting out a groan, the populator has the most boring job ever, all he does is just count how many cats have joined the Gloomforest and do it over and over again. Since he likes to do all the counting himself when you're sent to help him you're forced to stay in his horrible cave all day doing nothing. He never lets you leave so all you do is just sit there and watch him count. "You will go to the populator at sunrise and return at sundown." I couldn't hold in a protest at this, "Mom! That's all day!" she glares at me, "It's a fitting for what you've done." I open my mouth again, but her icy stare warns against me saying anything.

I let out a sigh and return to my sleeping cave, flopping down on my soft bedding and thinking about everything that happened today. I shut my eyes and try to recall my older memories, they were still fuzzy. I smile into the darkness as one of my favorite memories comes up, it was bittersweet, but I love it.

I was only half a moon old in this memory. My littermate, Smoke, bounds up to me, her amber eyes glinting, she opens her mouth and calls to me. The first words were lost, but I could hear the rest, "- wanna go hunt with mom?" I had answered yes, and the two of us had bounded away to find mom. The memory ends and I open my eyes into the darkness. My cave was fairly empty, which I find weird somedays, but my mom said that when I went into the coma no one knew if I would live, so she gave a lot of my stuff to the other Gloomforest cats. "We can always get you more items." she said. Pawsteps neared the entrance of my cave and my mom sticks her head in, I quickly shut my eyes, praying that she hadn't noticed that I was awake.

"So clueless," she whispers, "I pray that you never remember." then she turns away and walks to her sleeping cave. What did she not want me to remember? The prisoner, Viper, had kept asking me to remember too. What the heck had I forgotten that was so important? Slowly my mind began to drift and my eyes drooped, I soon fell asleep.

"Tw-Cobra! Cobra, get up!" someone shouts. I let out a grumble and try to sink back into the warm depths of sleep. "Cobra get up right now or the Gloom help me I will come in there and drag you out." my mind was still hazy but I manage to mumble out, "Go away Soot, I'll get up soon." I hear a sharp intake of breath and then the voice comes again, "Cobra get up or I will send you to the Council." at this I blink my eyes open, I bolt to my feet and dart out into the tunnel, "Please no." I plead as Mom comes into view. She lets out an affectionate purr, "I won't, at least not today." she waves her tail at the storage niche and meows, "There's some prey in there. Eat and then go to the populator."

I grumble unhappily at being reminded of my unpleasant punishment, but I head over to the storage niche and grab a mouse. I join Mom in the main cave and dig into the mouse. "Wt-er-ou-oin-o-d-al-y?" I ask, trying to speak around the mouthful of mouse. Mom smiles at me and shakes her head, "Don't speak with your mouth full Cobra." I swallow and repeat the question, "What are you going to do all day?" she smiles, "I'm going to be going on a mission to recruit some new fighters." "That sounds cool, can I come with you?" I ask hopefully. Mom laughs and shakes her head, "No you my child, are going to go help the populator." I let out a growl of annoyance but I still head off to the populator's cave.

The Populator lets out an irritated grunt as I enter his cave and tell him that I'm supposed to help him today. "Sit and don't bother me." he growls, before turning back to his work. I let out a quiet sigh and retreat to a corner of the cave. "1….2..3….4….5….6….7…..8…..9…..10…." the Populator mutters aloud as he counts and slowly the quiet murmur of the counting begins to lull me to sleep. My eyes droop and dreams flicker at the edge of my vison…"Cobra! Get your lazy tail up and actually help me!" the Populator's voice cuts into my dream and I let out a groan as I haul myself to my paws.

"What would you like me to help you with?" I ask, trying to be polite since the kits and the new recruits were required to show respect to everyone who ranked above them. "I'm hungry, get me some prey." he snarls as he turns back to his counting, "Don't just stand there, move!" he snaps. I scramble out of the cave and bolt towards the cave where the fresh kill is kept. "Rat!" I call as I see the burly tom come into view, he looks up and replies, "Hey, Cobra! What're you doing over here?" "Could I have a piece of prey for the Populator? I'm stuck helping him all day." Rat eyes me sympathetically, "Here you go, good luck with the old grouch." he says as he chucks a chunk of some mystery meat that the scavengers probably brought from a twolegplace. I dip my head in thanks and make my way back to the Populator's cave.

"Here you go."

I say as I drop the meat next to the Populator, he looks over at the meat and quickly snaps it up. I look away disgusted, trying not to recall the image of the Populator tearing into the meat. I wish that I could also block out the sounds of his eating too. "Ugh, gross, you need to get better eating habits." surprised, I look around the cave for whoever spoke and my gaze lands on a group of three cats standing in the entrance of the cave.

Populator looks up for a moment and snarls, "Get out, I told you to never come back here."

then he returns to his meal, filling the cave with the disgusting sounds of his eating. The cat that seems to be the leader of the group snorts, "You wouldn't mind if we took your little helper with us, would you?" "Just get as far away from this cave as you can, I don't care." the leader of the little group snorts and then glances at me, "You coming?"

I shrug and follow the group out of the cave. Once we enter the tunnels the group of cats start to run, I pick up my pace, trying not to lose them. We run through a maze of tunnels and finally stop in a dark tunnel that I've never been in. The leader walks forward and stares me in the eye as she asks, "Do you promise to never reveal the location of this tunnel or anything else we show you?" I look around at the cats surrounding me and solemnly say, "I promise on my life." the leader thinks for a second and then retreats into the shadows of the tunnel to discuss it with the other members of the group of kits.

As they conversed I stood awkwardly in the middle of the tunnel, trying not to listen in on the conversation. Finally they split apart and the leader stepped forward, "Welcome to the Shadow Gang." I tipped my head in confusion, "The Shadow Gang? What's-" "Not here, follow us." the leader hisses as I try to ask questions. The group/gang leads me into the darkness of the tunnel and I hear splashes as the cats in front of e walk through some form of water.

"Get ready to hold your breath." a voice hisses from next to me. "What?!" I nearly yelp out loud but I manage to control my terror, "When?" I ask, as calmly as I can, "Now." the voice replies. The slab of rock that I was standing on drops away and suddenly I'm sinking into water. Panic fills me as I realize that I can no longer touch the bottom, somehow I force my body to keep moving, I try to find the other members of the gang, but without my senses of sight and smell I can't.

My breath starts to run out and I try to swim back towards the surface, but something latches onto my hindleg and begins to pull me down into the depths of the watery pit of doom. I begin to thrash around and I automatically open my mouth to cry for help. All that comes out is a burst of bubbles and the remnants of all the breath left in me. My body tries to inhale but all I get is a lungful of water. I choke and darkness begins to fill my vision. Would this be how I would die? Drowning in a hidden cave? Away from everything and one I love? 'I'm sorry mom…'

Just as my consciousness floated away from me I felt the breeze on my ears and heard someone exclaim, "What the heck happened?"

"Hey, are you awake yet?" a voice calls, the voice echos in my mind and I respond with an unrecognizable noise, "Splurrghf…" I groan, "Look! He's alive! I am responsible!" my eyes feel like they've been sealed with pine sap, but I slowly force them open. A pair of figures sitting nearby slowly turns into cats as my vision focuses on them. It's the tortoiseshell she-cat/leader and the gray and white tom from the group.

I get to my paws and stand there for a moment, taking in my surroundings, I was in a large cave that I'd never seen before. "Where are we?" I ask as I pad over to them, "This is the Cave of Shadows," the she-cat tells me, "As soon as the last member of our gang gets back we'll start your initiation."

Just then the last cat, a light gray she-cat with bright green eyes, bursts in, calling "Sorry! Sorry! I had to go back to cover for your lazy butts." the two other members of the group stand and the leader calls back, "Thanks! Did anyone follow you?" the gray she-cat shakes her head, "If anyone tried, they would've lost me when I went through the collapsed tunnel."

I stand there awkwardly and stare at my paws, I feel like a stranger in this group of tightly knit friends. I look up and catch the tom's eye as the two she-cats start to talk, "Help me. " I mouth, he lets out a snorts but still calls, "Hey let's start initiation already." the she-cats turn around and the leader nods, "Right, I almost forgot. Come on Cobra." she and the rest of the cats head towards a tunnel leading further into the rock.

I run after them and once I catch up I ask, "How do you know my name?" the leader flicks her tail as if the answer should be obvious, "We keep track of all the possible recruits for the Night Stalkers and everyone knows the name of the little Heir." "What do you mean? Heir for what?" the leader stares at me in shock, "You mean they never told you?" my confused look must've said everything, "You are the Heir, you have the blood of the Legion, ROMC and best of all, the Gloomforest. You're supposed to have all sorts of cool powers."

I shrug, "They never told me anything, this is the first time I've even heard anything about being an heir." by the time we finished talking the group had reached the entrance of a small cave that was oddly bright, "We're here." the tom declares. The leader leads the way into the cave and tells me to stand in the center. "Watch this, it's really cool." the gray she-cat whispers to me. The tom and the leader balance on their hindlegs and begin to shove something in the roof of the cave.

"Woah…" I whisper as whatever had been in the roof is moved away and a small ray of light illuminates the cave. The leader steps forward towards the light and beckons for me to join her. I hesitate for a moment and then step forward, "Cobra, do you want to be a member of the Night Stalkers?" the leader asks, "Uh, I guess so. Yeah I do want to be a member." I stammer out, unsure of what I'm supposed to say.

The other two snicker at my response but the leader silences them with a glare, "Does anyone disapprove of admitting Cobra?" no one responded, the leader nodded and then she grabbed a shiny piece of some kind of twoleg item and placed it in the ray of light. Then they all stood and watched the thing in the ray of light, I'm thoroughly confused.

After some time the leader speaks again, "Place your paw on the metal." I'm still confused but I place my paw on the metal. As soon as my paw touches the metal pain shoots through my leg. I let out a yelp and try to withdraw my paw, but I find that the leader has placed her paw over mine, keeping my paw in place. "Wait till the metal loses its heat." she instructs. The pain is almost unbearable and I feel like screaming out loud.

Several torturous moments later the metal is finally cool. The leader lets me remove my paw and I hop back, inspecting my paw. There's now an area of scorched flesh on my pad. The other members of the group cheer and welcome me to the group, I manage a smile and ask, "Do all of you have this mark or did I just get it because I'm new?" in response they lift up their paws and display a similar scorch mark on their pads.

"Welcome to the Night Stalkers." The leader meows.