"What is this place?" Dovewing murmured, eyes wide and surprised. Lionblaze had a similar expression while Jayfeather's blind stare remained as it always did.

"This," Crane's Wing said with mock drama in his voice, "is what kittypets call a parking lot. This is where twolegs put their monsters sometimes when they sleep."

"So they won't attack us?" Lionblaze asked, creeping forward. All around them, sleeping monsters laid in tight little rows.

"Unless a twoleg wakes them up," Crane's Wing nodded. "None of them are awake right now so we should pick which one we want to ride."

"How do we do that?" Jayfeather asked, sounding tired.

"We don't," Crane's Wing answered. "You do."

"What?"

"Use your powers, silly," Dovewing told him. "You're the master of dreams, right? They're all asleep."

Jayfeather looked skeptical but padded up to the nearest monster, feeling it with his whiskers, and placed his paw on the monster's massive black one. He closed his eyes a moment before reopening them. "I can't see it's dreams."

"What?" Crane's Wing questioned. "You have Astral Power. That shouldn't only apply to cats…"

Jayfeather tapped the monster's paw before reaching up to feel its body. He sniffed. "It's not warm, it doesn't breath. And it's all hard and smooth. Maybe monsters aren't alive?"

"That's ridiculous," Lionblaze scoffed. "Of course they're alive. How could they hunt if they aren't alive?"

"Maybe they don't hunt," Jayfeather pointed out. "If they aren't alive, they don't need to hunt. Have you ever actually seen a monster stop to eat a cat it's killed?"
Crane's Wing paused a moment. No, he hadn't. He reached up to touch the monster's flank, feeling the strange material its pelt was made of. Maybe it's really not alive.

"Crane's Wing said your powers work on different kinds of animals, right?" Dovewing asked. "Try a twoleg."

"I don't really want to…"

"Just do it."

Jayfeather sighed. "Fine. But I'm not touching it."


Jayfeather ended up sitting in the corner of the parking lot until sunhigh. Apparently reading twolegs minds, searching for their destination, and identifying which monster was theirs was pretty difficult. Crane's Wing didn't understand it nor did he try. To him, Jayfeather's power was the power of Jay's Wing who was one with the Astral Plane and blessed by Cloud. He didn't need to understand it.

Eventually, Jayfeather found a monster that would take them around to the other side of the mountain. Jayfeather began speaking strangely when he left the twoleg mind, saying words like vacation and gas station. Crane's Wing tried not to be too worried and hopped up onto the selected monster's back.

The twoleg returned shortly and the monster roared to life, driving down the thunderpath and away from the twolegplace.

Crane's Wing sat up tall, enjoying the feeling of wind in his fur. He watched the horizon and suddenly felt very free. He was traveling again. He had a mission but he was still traveling, not bound by daily responsibility. He could just live in the moment and do as he pleased.

"What's this all about?" Dovewing spoke up after a while.

"Hmm?"

"Why are you returning to your tribe?" Dovewing asked. "Bramblestar said something about you having a dream."

"Oh right." Crane's Wing suddenly realized he'd forgotten to tell them. "Let's see… How do I put this? So y'know how you three get your powers from your past selves?"

Jayfeather nodded. "I'm Jay's Wing, Lionblaze is Lion's Roar, and Dovewing is Dove's Wing. Our souls merged when they came down from the Astral Plane and we were given the power of the stars."

"Right. So apparently before there was an Astral Plane and cats and foxes and badgers and anything really, there were only a few stars in the sky. They were the Astral Beasts," Crane's Wing explained. "The first three fought so the universe cursed them and created a planet for them to live on. There were three of them. Rock, a cat; Midnight, a badger; and Cloud, a fox. Long story short, they wanted to unite their species but that didn't really work out and they ended up just making a bunch of tribes of cats."

"Long story short?" Jayfeather repeated. "You have a habit of leaving out important details…"

Crane's Wing waved him off. "Don't worry about it. So basically, Jayfeather has Cloud's powers, Lionblaze has Midnight's powers, and Dovewing has Rock's powers. Well, not all of them but you have their affinities. Or something."

"Ew. I get my powers from Rock?" Dovewing questioned.

Crane's Wing nodded. "Yeah, that one doesn't make a lot of sense. Anyway, each of them lead a tribe of cats and then left them. Cloud lead this tribe that now wants to destroy all the other tribes and the clans."

"Wait, what?"

"So there's Cloud, right? He's got this tribe and-"

"We heard you," Jayfeather interrupted. "Why didn't you tell us that earlier? That's kind of important."

Crane's Wing shrugged. "I forgot."

"How do you forget something like that?"

"Let him be, Jay. You know how he is," Lionblaze said. "Important thing is that we're essentially taking on another Dark Forest."

"Only they're living and know about our source of power," Dovewing pointed out. She looked to Jayfeather. "My Dove's Wing memories are a bit hazy. Do you know anything?"

"I remember Cloud a bit now," Jayfeather told her. "That was such a long time ago… Lemme think…"

"One of them is called Black Spot. He's got a bit of Astral Power," Crane's Wing said. "He's a reincarnation like you guys."

"Okay, I take back what I said," Lionblaze said. "You really need to remember to tell us these things. That's kind of important."

"Not more important than telling us someone's trying to destroy the clans," Jayfeather grunted. He lied down, resting his head on his paws. "So how come we're going to your tribe? Why not stay in our clans and prepare for another attack?"

Crane's Wing shrugged. "I guess the Tribe of the Sacred Lines' territory is closer so they're attacking there first. I don't know."

Lionblaze flicked him in the face with his tail playfully. "You really need to pay better attention when cats are talking to you."

"I know, I know," Crane's Wing grumbled. He settled down beside Jayfeather and closed his eyes. "We have a long way to go. Sit tight."


Author's Note: I know I haven't been regularly updating. It's May and you know what that means. AP Exams. I'm busy and some of you probably are too. Unfortunately school is more important than fanfic. BTW, there's a section on my profile now with update schedules. The schedules for each story was already listed but now there's an overall one.

Reviews from Chapter 8-

Wolfwhisker Party Cat- Hope you enjoyed.