Chapter 9

"Let's sleep here tonight." Smokeblaze beckoned the unsure group of cats into the Twolegplace. The big, gray moving wall was open, but just slightly, so Smokeblaze pushed hard against it.

"Are you sure?" Boulderfoot peered inside warily, scuffling his paws nervously. Yellowclaw urged him inside, with the other cats following Smokeblaze. "Now where should we stay?" Littleflower wandered off slightly, crouching down to survey the world behind the Twolegplace walls.

"Hey, you forest cats!" An accented voice called. Riverpetal and Oneshadow shrunk back, obviously scared. The gray leader whipped around, relieved to find a small black-and-white kittypet. "Hello." Smokeblaze mewed calmly, flicking his tail subconsciously to show that it was safe. "Who are you?"

The kittypet, not to be intimidated, perched onto a lower version of the Twolegplace wall. "I'm Pudding. I live here. My father's father told me all about you lot - his name was Smudge." Pudding mewed equally matter-of-factly.

Smudge? The friend of legendary leader Firestar? Smokeblaze sucked in a breath, knowing this was a valuable acquaintance of theirs. "May-may we stay in your... garden? Just for tonight, I promise." He tried, stepping forward.

To his joy, Pudding smiled. "Of course. Smudge taught me any forest cats like you are to be treated well."

The gray tom heard sighs of relief coming from the she-cats as they padded into the garden. At last! A place to stay!

As Pudding bid his goodbyes, Smokeblaze settled next to a clump of exotic plants. As Littleflower settled next to him and all of them drifted asleep, Smokeblaze began to think about the day.

They hadn't found any scent, but Littleflower had seen a pair of paw-prints going towards the direction of the mountains. But by then it had been too late to set off, so they had to stay here, in the Twolegplace.

Smokeblaze missed home, he really did, but it was his job to go hunt down this cold-blooded killer and stop him, even if it meant giving his life for it.

The next day, they set off. Heading in single file towards the paw-prints, they were easy to spot by almost anyone.

"Isn't it kind of ironic?" Oneshadow spoke up once they were truly following the prints. "I mean, we're heading to the mountains just like the ones in the old stories." She finished, while Boulderfoot looked up at her with a queried expression.

"That's it! The mountains!" He mewed loudly, to everyone's surprise. "The- the Tribe! Could it still be there?"

Yellowclaw sniffed in disdain. "Honestly, when the cats visited the Tribe in the old stories, it was already falling apart! Do you really think, after all these seasons - hundreds and thousands of them! - those weak mountain cats could still be alive?"

Smokeblaze said nothing, just led the quarreling group onwards.

He never looked behind him.

A screech erupted from behind the smoke-gray tom, and he turned around in shock. What he saw was a fox, a big one, too! He stood there slack-jawed, watching his companions fight the mighty animal. Only when Littleflower pushed him forward did he come to his senses, hissing and leaping at the fox.

They were on their own. It was useless. They should run - run! They had to run! Smokeblaze was about to yowl out his order - but the words never came out.

A very familiar battle cry sounded from the near distance. Smokeblaze almost wept tears of joy, for it was-

A/N: Hahahahaha! Left you there on a cliffhanger! Anyways, I know you've all been waiting for an update. Here it is finally!

Now some incredibly important things:

I'll be starting school next next week, and it's a school year that's different for me, for personal reasons. So I won't be updating so much for all my stories :(

Hope you enjoyed this extremely short chapter!

~ Kay 030