A/N: Ok, I updated! And I'm giving you a nice long chapter, and action! So PLEASE review!
Tigerheart stood silently. Aviation and her group of kits had found out that Dominance was aware of their plans. He was going to attack at sunrise.
"We'll be ready then," Commander meowed. He looked around, searching for spies.
"We just counted the number of cats asleep in the MountainClaw main den," Aviation purred. "None are missing."
"Thank you." Commander sounded slightly surprised. "Then we must free the prisoners at half past moon high."
Since no one argued, Commander continued. "We need several cats to help free the prisoners. How about one or two from each Clan?"
"That makes sense," Cloudface meowed. "How about Clawtail of RiverClan and Snaketail of WindClan?"
The two cats nodded.
"And what about Goldenfeather and Talonclaw of ShadowClan?"
Neither warrior objected.
"For ThunderClan…I'll send three...Tigerheart, Hollyfur, and Sootclaw?"
Before Tigerheart could nod, Mistyleaf leapt up to Cloudface and whispered something to her that Tigerheart couldn't hear.
"I see," Cloudface purred. "In that case, Tigerheart, Hollyfur, and Mistyleaf will go."
"And Confederate will show them the way," Commander meowed.
Tigerheart nodded slowly, and then padded over towards Sootclaw. "What was that about?" he demanded.
"Well…" the black she-cat purred slowly. "I'm going to have kits. Soon"
Tigerheart's mood instantly changed. "Our kits?" he asked.
"Yes," Sootclaw purred. "Mistyleaf just confirmed it."
Tigerheart could barely contain his glee, but then he remembered something. "There's a battle tomorrow. You can't fight if you'll be kitting soon."
"Don't worry," Sootclaw sighted. "I won't fight. I'll sleep in the kit-mothers' den with the others form the VolcanoClaws."
"Good," Tigerheart purred, pressing his nose into his mate's fur.
OoOoO
Tigerheart led the patrol, keeping an eye out for trouble. Confederate padded silently behind him, motioning where to go with her tail. Soon they reached a large cave.
"They're in here," Confederate meowed. "But wait-I smell MountainClaws."
Three toms circled the entrance.
"That's...Alert, Beware, and Discard," Confederate hissed.
"What should we do?" Goldenfeather purred worriedly.
"We must take them down immediatly," came a voice from behind them-Hollyfur. "We can't give them a chance to yowl for help."
"We can't kill them!" Talonclaw hissed.
"That's not what I meant," Hollyfur meowed patiently. "Mistyleaf, maybe you could give them something to make them sleep?"
"It might not work right away," Confederate meowed. "But I could get...let's see...I can't think of anyone whose pelt is dusty-brown."
"Why do you need a cat with a certain colored pelt?" Windpaw asked.
"Those mouse-brains might believe it was Thorn, their medicine cat."
"What about me?" meowed a brown tom with white stripes almost invisible in the dim light and a long, snake-like tail.
"It just might work, Snaketail" Tigerheart decided. "But role in some mud first, to disguise your scent and make you look completely brown."
Snaketail covered himself in mud and padded up to Mistyleaf, who gave him three leaves, each filled with poppy seeds.
"What if they know what poppy seeds do?" Clawtail asked. "They can't be that mouse-brained."
"Well, they are," Confederate hissed. "I'd know-I had to train with them."
"Alright, go ahead, Snaketail," Mistyleaf meowed. "Tell them it's food that keeps you awake. If they don't believe it, just use your imagination."
Snaketail padded out. Tigerheart and the rest of the patrol waited anxiously in the bushes.
"Who are you?" a grey tom demanded.
"That's Beware," Confederate whispered.
"I'm Thorn, your medicine cat, you mouse-brain! I slipped and landed in the mud, so that's probably why you don't recognize me," Snaketail purred. "I brought some seeds that will keep you awake."
"Alright," Beware purred. "Do we eat all of them?"
"Each of you should eat one leaf-full for the seeds to work properly," Snaketail meowed.
"Okay," Beware meowed, picking up the leaves and taking them to his companions.
Tigerheart could barely surpress a laugh. The mouse-brains! The golden tom watched the three guards eat every last one of the poppy seeds. Soon, all three were asleep.
"Quiet now," Tigerheart whispered, stepping out from the bushes and padding slowly towards the cave. "Confederate, Riverpaw, Windpaw, Goldenfeather, Snaketail, Mistyleaf, and Hollyfur, come with me. The rest of you, guard the entrance."
Tigerheart entered the cave with his chosen cats. It was a long cave, and deep. "Your friends will be at the very back," Confederate informed them.
The patrol moved steadily, soon reaching the back of the cave. The walls were lined with ledges on which a large number of cats sat. Gasps of surprise rose from the kidnapped Clan cats.
"Shh!" Hollyfur ordered. "You must be quiet!"
"Ok, Riverpaw of RiverClan, stand here," Tigerheart meowed, motioning with his tail to a small pile of rocks. "All RiverClan cats, go to Riverpaw. She'll count and make sure we have all the RiverClan cats. Windpaw, stand here, at this ledge. WindClan cats, go to him. Goldenfeather, stand by this ledge. ShadowClan cats, go to her. ThunderClan cats go to Hollyfur."
The previously captive cats leapt down from the ledges and to the cats from their Clans. Tigerheart padded over to Riverpaw. "Do you have everyone?" he meowed.
"Bluepaw, Crowpaw, Graypaw, Thornpaw, Russetclaw, and Iceflower are all here," the medicine cat apprentice meowed. Tigerheart moved on to Windpaw.
"Talonkit, Swiftkit, and Runnningkit...yes, that's everyone," Windpaw meowed. The golden tom moved on to Goldenfeather.
Goldenfeather was going over all the cats again. "Nightpaw, Frostpaw, Barleypaw, Mudtail, Smokepaw, Yellowpaw, and Cinderpaw. This is eveeryone from ShadowClan, Tigerheart," she purred.
"Alright, Hollyfur? Do we have everyone from ThunderClan?" Tigerheart asked his sister.
"Swiftfoot, Fishpaw, and Birdpaw," the golden she-cat purred.
"Ok, that's everyone," Tigerheart meowed. "Let's go."
The golden tom padded out of the cave, where they rejoined the other cats. Soon, they were back in the den of the VolcanoClaws.
"Have you all of your Clanmates?" Commander asked.
"Yes," Tigerheart meowed.
"How many cats do we have in all, not counting kits?"
"Forty-four cats," Hollyfur meowed.
"Only twenty-one who can fight without serious injury," Mistyleaf meowed. "Windpaw, Riverpaw, Euphoria, and I are sure of it."
"Still, the MountainClaws have only eleven, right?" Hurricane, a ginger and grey she-cat, laughed.
"Wrong," came a voice. Aviation padded up. "They have thirty."
"Where did they get THIRTY cats?" Commander hissed.
"They captured a bunch of rouges, loners, and fierce kittypets," the kit meowed. "They offered them citizenship, and the cats took it."
"Do you know their names?" Confidence asked her daughter.
"Yes...the new MountainClaws are Jaws, Shark, Little Bite, Simba, Tambourine, Drum, Burly, Cliff, Sunny, Scissors, Knife, Blocks, Telephone, Shield, Arrow, Wolf, Meadow, Tinsel, and Gadget. Odd names, don't you think?" Aviation meowed.
"Well, most are probably named by Twolegs, so that would be why," Commander answered. "Now, to win, all we have to do is have nine cats battle two MountainClaw soldiers at once. First, though, who are the battle-ready cats?"
"Well, since I'm not counting medicine cats, we have Commander, Deserter, Hazard, Observation, Tornado, Acceleration, Confidence, Sentry, Confederate, Tigerheart, Cloudface, Hollyfur, Brightstorm, Clawtail, Jetstorm, Ashmask, Snaketail, Talonclaw, Goldenfeather, Foxshadow, and Willowcloud," Euphoria purred.
"I see. Well, I guess we'll have to make do. Here's the plan..."
OoOoO
"Wake up! It's nearly sunrise!" purred a voice, and a paw jabbed Tigerheart in the ribs. He jumped up to find Hollyfur staring at him, amused. He should have been angry, but instead he was excited. The battle was today! Tigerheart badly wanted to tear the MountainClaws apart for all they'd done to the Clans.
Suddenly, a groan broke the silence. "Nightpaw's not going to live much longer!"
The two siblings raced over. The black and brown WindClan tom lay on his side, his chest heaving.
Euphoria, Windpaw, Riverpaw, and Mistyleaf crowded around the tom. "Every cat who doesn't have something to do here, move off!" Mistyleaf commanded. As they began to tend the sick cat, Tigerheart heard a yowl from outside the cave. Dominance!
"Come on!" Commander meowed. "All cats not fighting, get to the back of the cave!" The tom raced forward, yowling his own battle cry.
Tigerheart raced along side the other cats, his claws itching to get at the pelts of those pieces of foxdung. A brown tabby tom Tigerheart recognized as the lieutenant, Collision, raced towards him. When Collision leapt, Tigerheart ducked low until the other tom was halfway over him. Then, he sprang upwards, digging his claws into the enemy's tender underbelly. Collision yowled in pain and dropped to the ground. Before he could get up, Tigerheart was on top of him. The golden tom dug his teeth into Collision's shoulder. Collision screeched in agony and tried to through his attacker off but he wouldn't budge. Tigerheart worked his claws against Collision's legs and felt blood gushing out. The lieutenant screeched and limped off.
Wow, Tigerheart thought. That wasn't too hard.
Out of nowhere leapt a huge black tom with silver stripes on his face and a silver underbelly. He had Tigerheart pinned down and no matter what he did, Tigerheart couldn't shake the huge tabby off.
"I am Knife," the tom meowed. "And you are...dead!"
Knife lunged at Tigerheart's throat, and the golden tom closed his eyes.
A/N: Ooh, exciting! What's gonna happen? You'll know if you read Aviation Studios Presents: Chapter 2: Mountain Menace Trailer. WARNING: Spoilers! I want 4 new reviews before I update...