Happy 2018 Everyone! I know it's been a while since I've uploaded. I've been trying to stock up on chapters during my "hiatus" so I would be able to publish chapters somewhat regularly afterwards. Well, I'm not sure if I can guarantee any regular schedule, but I do have some chapters in stock.

~Jayfeather~

When I had left camp to collect herbs, camp was full of nervous tension. Bramblestar's safety measures, as lax as they were, had caused most warriors some concern. But any change of routine always caused that reaction, so I wasn't worried. I believe I had a right to be surprised when I stepped in camp with a clump of fresh herbs in my mouth, and heard practically the entire clan shouting at the top of their lungs. I could barely make out the words "other clan" and "rogues" being used repeatedly.

I could hear Squirrelfight try her best to pacify everyone. "Bramblestar will start as soon as everyone's here," she promised. "I think we're only missing Jayfeather."

I placed my herbs between my front paws and called out, "I'm here!"

"That's everyone then," said Squirrelflight. "Quiet down so Bramblestar can begin!"

It took several moments for the clan to calm down, and in that time Leafpool managed to squeeze her way next to me.

"What in StarClan did I miss?" I asked her.

"You'll hear it soon enough," she replied.

As the rabble of the clan began to die, our leader started speaking. "As most of you already know, some rogues approached our border and requested to speak to me," Bramblestar began, quelling the last of the clan's mutterings.

I perked up my ears at this. "Rogues?" I echoed softly.

"These rogues had come to send me warning," Bramblestar continued. "It appears that the rogue scent trails we've noticed around our borders have been scouts for a group of rogues who wish to invade." Yowls of outrage immediately sprang up from the entire clan. Bramblestar had to shout to be heard above the din. "The visiting rogues told us that our enemies number at least two dozen."

"Why should we trust the word of rogues?" Cloudtail asked. "Whose side are they on anyway?"

"The rogues who gave us warning have the same goal as us," Bramblestar replied. "I trust the information we have on our mutual enemy. In addition, I earlier sent some warriors on a discreet scouting mission, and nothing the rogues said contradicted our warriors' report." I noticed that Bramblestar sidestepped Cloudtail's direct question, which made me wonder exactly what the rogues had said to him.

"If they attacked camp it would take every warrior we had to fend them off," growled Birchfall.

"Why are they attacking us anyway?" Bumblestripe asked. "Rogues usually stay away from clan territories, and we've never done anything to them."

Bramblestar paused a moment before replying. "I'm afraid I do not yet know their motive," he admitted. "However, we cannot ignore the threat in front of us. As we learned from the previous Gathering, we're not the only clan that has found rogue trails outside of our borders."

"But surely they're not planning to attack all of the clans with only two dozen fighting cats," said Bramblefur. "That would be suicide."

"They may be suicidal," Bramblestar said with a nod. "Or they could be looking for the weakest clan. Perhaps there may be more of them lying in wait. We don't know for certain. What can be sure of is that these rogues won't invade without any resistance from us."

"So what do we do?" Hazeltail asked.

Bramblestar narrowed his eyes. "Now, we're going to be the ones watching them. We'll be patrolling our borders thoroughly to make sure we find these rogues while they're scouting our territory. Then, we'll send a team to track them back to their camp."

"Why should we wait for them to come back before we do anything? There are plenty of old trails for us to follow. Why don't we use those to find their camp?" Cloudtail suggested.

"If we follow an old trail we won't know where the patrol would be," Bramblestar replied. "We could run into them by accident, or get ambushed. We will wait for a new patrol to pass by before we make a move. Be extra careful on your patrols, and if you find any new rogue scents, immediately come back to camp to report it. That will be all. Jayfeather, Leafpool, Squirrelflight, Sandstorm, and Brackenfur, meet me in my den."

I heard him land on the ground and walk in Squirrelflights direction. Unfortunately, since almost everyone in camp was trying to talk at once, I couldn't make out a word they were saying.

"What do you see?" I whispered to Leafpool.

It took a few moments for her to reply. "Bramblestar's said something to Squirrelflight, but I can't hear him. Bramblestar's going to his den now."

I could hear Squirrelflight barking orders, but since she wasn't addressing me, I shrugged and followed Leafpool to Bramblestar's den. I could smell that Sandstorm and Brackenfur had already arrived, leaving Squirrelflight as the only one missing. A few moments later, she stuck her head into the den as well.

"Bramblestar, I'm assuming you called us here because you had a real plan for dealing with the rogues?" I asked our leader. "Because simply waiting for them to come could get us all killed."

"I'm aware of that, Jayfeather," Bramblestar replied. "But right now we don't have a lot of options."

"Jayfeather has a point," said Sandstorm. "Being cautious is fine, but I don't like the idea of waiting for another patrol to go by before we do anything. Who knows how long that will take?"

"Sooner than I would hope," Bramblestar muttered.

His voice carried an unspoken fear that made the fur on the back of my neck rise. "There's more to this, isn't there?"

Brambestar nodded. "I swore the patrol that went with me to secrecy, but word will get out eventually."

"Is it about what the rogues told you?" Squirrelflight asked. "I couldn't hear what they were saying, but Thornfur, Berrynose, Ivypool, and Spiderleg looked startled near the end of your talk."

"To convince me of that they were trying to aid us, they gave me two names that one of their own managed to find while scouting our enemies," Bramblestar explained. "Sol is apparently allied with the rogues at our borders."

"Of all the cats to show up again," Brackenfur growled.

While I could feel the anger and tension rising in everyone else, I just felt very, very annoyed. "You think he would have learned his lesson by now," I grumbled. "It's been awhile since he's been in our territory; I wouldn't be surprised if he's providing them with outdated information and claiming it to be solid facts."

"How much of his pelt does he want ripped off this time?" Squirrelflight hissed.

"That's not the worst of it," Bramblestar said, flicking his tail to calm the occupants of his den. "Apparently there's a group name floating around the band of rogues. We still don't know if they are merely associated with the group, or are taking the name for themselves—"

Someone lashed their tail. I couldn't tell who it was, but that gave Bramblestar the cue he needed to spit it out. "The BloodClan are back."

This time, even I couldn't help but jump at the mention of that name. "How?" I asked incredulously. 'There's no way the BloodClan could be here. They were in the old clan territories, Scrouge is dead, and Bone couldn't possibly have built it back up himself."

"You sure they weren't lying?" Squirrelflight asked.

"If the BloodClan hadn't returned how would they have known about it?" Leafpool pointed out.

"That was my understanding as well," Bramblestar said with a nod. "They also expressed no knowledge of the BloodClan outside of the name and its association with these patrolling rogues. In fact, they seemed startled by our reactions to that name."

"So, it's rather they're great liars—" Brackenfur began.

"Or the BloodClan is back, with Sol, and is somehow mixed up with the rogues scouting our territory," I finished his thought with a sigh. "Do you know how large their numbers have grown so far?"

Bramblestar drew in a hesitant breath before replaying. "This is where I'm cautious about believing the visiting rogues," he said. "They reported twenty-seven unique scent trails in their travels outside of clan borders."

"That's a lot," Squirrelflight commented worriedly. "If that's true, we'd be hard-pressed to hold them off even if we were ready for them."

"It gets worse. They suppose that these are just scouting groups, and the actual force is three to four times larger."

"They've seen the enemy camp?" I asked in surprise.

"They did not say that," Bramblestar replied. "And that's why I'm hesitant to believe that information. They could be inflating the size of the danger to make us rely on them more. Since we have no way of verifying this information, there's no point in spreading rumors."

Sandstorm nodded. "What do our visitors get out of this?" she asked. "What would urge a group of rogues to follow another group of rogues that are spying on clan territories?"

"That did cross my mind as well," I spoke up. "Feeding us information about their own group would be a pretty easy way to gain our trust."

"Apparently, they have their own Rock, named Ellimist," Bramblestar replied. "Though they described him as being like a member of StarClan. Their youngest member, apprentice age by the look of him, was very talkative when it came to this cat. They say he sends them signs and missions with cryptic instructions."

"Sol could have told them stories about StarClan and then given them a fake name to run with," I pointed out.

"That is true," Bramblestar agreed. Then, he sighed. "This situation is so confusing. They know so much they shouldn't know, and yet since we know so little about them, we can't afford to let our guard down."

I nodded. "I think I should take a trip to the Moonpool," I said. "Maybe StarClan will have some answers for us."

"That sounds wise," Leafpool agreed. Bramblestar nodded his approval as well. "When will you leave?"

"Tonight," I declared. "The sooner the better, we don't have time to sit around."

"I'm afraid you'll have to wait for tomorrow," said Bramblestar. "We already have the patrols set up for the night, and we don't have enough warriors available for your escort." I opened my mouth to protest, but he cut me off. "We can't afford to lose a medicine cat right now. Squirrelflight will assign three warriors accompany you to the Moonpool tomorrow, understood?"

I sighed, but I knew Bramblestar was right. It was too dangerous for me to go out by myself, but that didn't mean I had to enjoy waiting. "As you wish, Bramblestar," I grumbled.

~Tobias~

The others were already waiting for me when I landed in front of our bush. {You weren't followed and there is no rogue activity on this side of the lake,} I reported as my black feathers sunk into my skin and my bones began to rearrange themselves.

"That is good to hear," Ax responded. "Rachel and I also had nothing to report."

"Quiet is good, and it never hurts to be careful," said Jake. "Good call on breaking us into a 3-2-1 formation, Marco."

Marco flicked his paw dismissively, but it didn't take hawk eyes to see how he puffed out his chest. "Basic military tactics," he replied.

While Jake was officially our leader, Marco often took the role of military tactician. While Jake, Cassie, and Marco met the clan cats, I stood lookout for them while Ax and Rachel circled around the perimeter. It was a simple plan, but allowed us to provide back up and surveillance without having the clan cats notice anything out of the ordinary.

"It's a bit excessive since they don't even know we can turn into birds," Rachel pointed out.

"We've got a lot of potential enemies to keep an eye on," Jake reminded her. "Even the ThunderClan, who we need to ally with, could attack us if they suspect as to be hostiles."

"I think we can assume that they know Sol and the BloodClan quite well," Ax commented. "And their strong negative reaction has me a bit concerned."

"BloodClan didn't show up in any of Buddy's stories," Cassie said. Her face was creased with worry. "What are we missing?"

"Obviously their history with the BloodClan didn't make it into story time," said Marco.

"Whatever their history with Sol and the BloodClan, they looked very tense when they left," I reported. "I think we should try to find out more about those guys."

"I considered that as well, but there's a problem with that," said Jake. "The ThunderClan probably won't want to talk to us, and Buddy's too far away."

"Maybe Cassie can reach him with her wind sensing trick," Marco suggested.

Cassie shook her head. "I don't know how to do it on command," she said. "And when Buddy reached me last time, it was only a one-way message. And a very faint one at that."

"Two of us could fly over to the city," I suggested. "It's not too far."

"But we don't know where he is," Marco pointed out. "Also, we'd be compromised if we morphed into cats and asked around."

"Demorphed into cats," Cassie corrected.

Marco flicked his tail. "Morph, demorph, same thing since we don't have opposable thumbs. We can't let our friendly feline forms be seen yet."

"And yet we must do more than, I believe the term would be, resting on our paws?" Ax said.

Marco snorted. "Good one, Ax-man!" he guffawed.

"Thank you? What did I get?"

"Marco, please don't sidetrack us," said Jake. "We need a plan."

"I am sure you'll think of something, Prince Jack," Ax assured him.

We fell into an uneasy silence. I racked my brain trying to think of something. We had no way of reaching Buddy, so he was out of the picture. We could try stalking another rogue group, but we hadn't seen one pass by recently. The clan cats probably wouldn't want to see us again so soon, so who can we turn to for answers?

Cassie's head suddenly snapped up. "You're right, Tobias," she said.

"Huh?"

"You were muttering to yourself," Marco supplied with smirk.

My ears went flat against my head. Sometimes I hated how expressive feline body language could be. "And I'm right… how?"

"We need to talk to someone with answers," she said. "And I know who we should go to."

"Well, don't leave us hanging," Rachel prompted.

"StarClan."

We all gave her a blank look. "Aren't they all, like, dead?" Marco asked. "I don't think going to an early grave is going to help us out here."

"Buddy did say that it was possible for Clan cats to communicate with their warrior ancestors." Even as Ax said this, I could hear a heavy amount of doubt in his tone.

"They have a place called the Moonpool where medicine cats talk to StarClan," said Cassie. "While I'm not a clan medicine cat, I am an honorary one. Maybe I'll have some luck talking to them."

Jake nodded. "While I wish there was something we could do together, consulting the dead doesn't seem like a bad idea." He paused. "That sounds very strange when I say it out loud though."

"So, when do we leave?" Rachel asked. She quickly rose to her feet and stretched out her back.

"We?" Cassie echoed.

"It would be inadvisable to travel alone in case some rogues show up," Ax pointed out.

"True," Cassie agreed. "But we'd be in unofficial clan territory, we can't all come without looking like invaders."

"Makes sense," said Jake. "Marco, Tobias, you two will escort Cassie."

I rolled my eyes. "This is closer to accompanying than escorting, but sure thing."

Jake ignored my bit of sarcasm. "You're small and fast so it'll be easy for you to run and hide if rogues show up, and none of you look threatening enough to scare clan cats."

"I take offense to that!"

"The ThunderClan cats probably think you're apprentice-aged," said Cassie. "Tobias and I look harmless compared to Jake, Rachel, and Ax, so it makes sense for the three of us to go."

Marco curled up as he sulked, but gave up complaining vocally. "When do we leave?" I asked.

"Tonight," said Cassie. "StarClan are active mostly at night, so once the sun sets we'll set out."

~Buddy~

"Therefore, Talon's band will slowly lose loyalty to him and eventually defect to us as long as we offer them a better life than the one he's provided for them," Buddy concluded. "It'll be a bit costly to coax them to us, but once Talon's group has been absorbed, the other outskirt fractions will feel pressured to join us as well."

"So, you're suggesting a slow, nurturing approach instead of an immediate show of force?"

"Precisely. You catch more bees with honey than with vinegar after all."

"I don't think I've heard that saying worded that way before, but you're right. Building trust is a great way to acquire useful allies. You're slyer than you look."

"Wisdom is more often learned than a gift."

"Then you were taught well." A pair of pale yellow eyes narrowed. "Where did you say you were from again?"

"A big city northeast of here," Buddy replied. "Quite a trip; I'll have to hitch another ride on a car to get back. That'll be interesting."

"Yes, us wanderers do end up having strange adventures in our travels." The eyes softened into a look of curiosity. "Tell me, honestly, what about power appeals to you?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing."

"And yet you want to help Bloodstar rise to power?"

Buddy shrugged. "It's not like I have anything better to do while I'm still in town."

A sigh emerged from his companion, a mottled tortoiseshell tom. "You're a very strange cat, you know that?"

"I've been told," Buddy replied with a smirk and a twitch of his whiskers.

"I think you'll do just fine here as my assistant. Just remember your place and there won't be any… unpleasantness."

Buddy smiled and nodded. "As you say, Sol."

~Cassie~

{We're almost there, bank a few degrees east and look straight ahead,} I announced to Tobias and Marco. In our raven morphs, we had been flying across the territory of the WindClan and ThunderClan. Buddy had told me that the Moonpool was located north of their territories, at the bottom of a stone hollow, and it would be fairly easy to see. With the bird's eye view we had, I could see it before we had even passed the ThunderClan border. It was a pretty set, the water shimmering in the fading rays of sunset, eclipsed by the shadow of the cliff behind it. If I was human again, I would definitely use this place as relaxing getaway and enjoy the view.

{Focus, Cassie, we need to dive before it gets any darker.} Tobias's message snapped me out of my day dream, and I realized that were almost to the cliff. I nodded in response, tucked in my wings, and dove towards the ground.

Unlike raptors, such as my old osprey morph, ravens were not designed for steep dives and quick changes in their angle of descent. However, using my knowledge of raptors, I knew exactly when to pull out of my wings and angle my body to make the most of my momentum without crashing. I felt my wing muscles strain as they were pushed passed their usual limits, but the pain began to fade as my wings slowly began to shrink.

Morphing in midflight was a technique all of us had more or less mastered over the years. It made it much easier for us to escape or engage. The trick was all in focusing on specific parts of the body instead of letting the natural morphing mechanic change everything at random. As an Estreen, a natural morpher, this came naturally to me. I let my wings slowly condense into my back, not fast so that would I crash, but making just enough changes so that my wings would heal at least as fast as they were being damaged from my stunt. My lower talons became paws, my ability to steer became almost nonexistent once my tail feathers sunk into my skin.

I hit the ground looking like a deformed griffon. My hindquarters were almost fully cat, but my front limbs were still feathery instead of furry. With awkward run and some flaps, I gradually slowed down and safely finished my transformation. Tobias had beaten me to the ground—his experience in flight was unmatched—but was still in the process of demorphing. Marco was only just arriving at the ground, his demorphing barely started.

{You two are showoffs, you know that?} he grumbled as landed semi-gracefully on the grass.

{Practice makes perfect,} Tobias said casually.

{Go choke on a squirrel tail.}

"Guys," I said sternly. "Calm down. The spirits might be able to see us now that we're close to their place of contact."

{Still sounds weird,} Marco commented.

"Weird or not, it makes sense," Tobias said with a nod. "So, do you know what ritual the clan cats use to talk to StarClan?"

"Apparently, they touch their nose against the water and fall into a deep trance," I replied.

"No chanting, dancing, or painting required?" Marco queried.

"How would a cat even paint?" Tobias asked.

Marco shrugged. "They can make a big mess if they get into a can of it."

"It's apparently simple," I said. "But I don't want to jinx it." I walked towards the pool of water. The moon reflected on the almost clear surface, only broken up by the soft ripples from the stream of water that filled the pool. "Here it goes." I laid down next to the pool and let my nose rest just above the water.

"We'll watch your body while you're in La La land."

"Good luck."

"Thanks." I let my nose touch the water, the cool liquid sent a shiver from my nose to tail. I closed my eyes, and waited.

Unlike Ax, who by nature of being an Andalite could keep time without even looking at the sun, we all had to learn to approximate time on our own in order to keep track of our morphing time limit. I could feel a minute pass, then two, and a third. I could feel nothing except the water brushing against my nose, and all I could hear were the night sounds, and the sound of my heart slowly beating. After a full ten minutes had passed, I opened my eyes.

"So, how did it go?" Marco asked.

"Well…"

The best laid plans of rodents and felines oft' go awry. Or something like that. Next few chapters will be kinda chaotic in scene changes and such, because it's time for the ball to get rolling, and it's not a straight path.