THE CONTEST FOR YOUR OC TO BE A SKYCLAN LEADER, DEPUTY, OR MEDICINE CAT HAS ENDED.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Warriors.

I don't really know what else to put here so uhmmm... ONTO DA CHAPPIE!

Redshadow was running through pitch-blackness, his eyes adjusted to the dark and he saw he was running through a forest. It was ThunderClan territory. He didn't know what he was doing out of camp, all he knew was that he was being chased by some cat who was about to kill him.

He crashed through ferns and bushes, a familiar scent behind him growing stronger. Redshadow whirled to see a faceless cat rush at him. Whoever it was swiftly pinned him, their paws pressed against Redshadow's throat.

Redshadow wheezed for breath, he choked silently: "W-who are... you?"

Slowly, the blank whiteness of the cat's fur filled in, their face becoming more familiar, into a cat Redshadow knew...

But before he could pinpoint who exactly it was, the mysterious stranger slit his throat and everything went black once more-

"REDPAW WAKE UP!"

He'd snapped open his eyes to see his sister Owlflight glaring at him with her big green eyes.

"Oh- I mean Redshadow not Redpaw." Owlflight had corrected herself, snapping Redshadow from his daze.

"This is the second time you have woken me up." Redshadow muttered.

"Oops- sorry 'bout that. Anyway, Oakpelt got some nasty wounds in his bed overnight. 'It was a thorn in my bedding!' he'd said. But they looked like claw marks. Whatever. I didn't see Goldensun in her nest, it's barely even sunrise! Shouldn't be collecting herbs this late… only StarClan knows what on earth she's doing. I decided to tell you about Oakpelt and the fact that Shadowedpaw- I mean, Shadowedheart is acting… weird." Owlflight told him.

Redshadow frowned. Knowing exactly what Goldensun was doing. "Wait- how is Shadowedheart acting weird?"

Owlflight beckoned him to follow her. They walked out of the medicine den and Owlflight flicked her tail to a black cat with gray paws, muzzle, and belly, his yellow eyes staring up at his shadow on the wall of the camp, his expression unreadable as he seemed lost in thought. Shadowedheart, Redshadow realized.

"Weird like that." Owlflight explained. "Hasn't eaten all day. Doesn't look like he got any sleep, either. I saw him head out of the den last night and into the forest. Goldensun has been acting almost as weird, luckily not staring at her shadows. Each night Goldensun has been heading out of camp, and Shadowedheart is staring at the ceiling or wall of the den. Is there some sort of sickness making cats go insane?!"

Redshadow stiffened. He knew why Goldensun was acting weird, remembering that she was always visiting that WindClan warrior at night… Like me and Moonbreeze, Redshadow squashed the thought. But what was wrong with Shadowedheart?

He turned to Owlflight. "What else had Shadowedheart been doing?"

"You want me to spy on our brother, now do you?" Owlflight asked. "If it'll help us find a way to get him to stop acting weird, then yes. I will. But what about Goldensun?"

"Oh I am sure Goldensun is fine." Redshadow said. "Probably just some prophecy from StarClan bugging her. We still don't know what a 'shadow of red' is…" his voice trailed off when he caught Owlflight staring at him.

He blinked. "What?"

Then he saw Owlflight wasn't staring at him.

She was staring past him.

Redshadow whirled around to see Shadowedheart glaring at them, ears pricked.

"Does he know we're talking about him?" Redshadow whispered. But Shadowedheart was walking up to them. But, he just walked past them, shooting Redshadow a lethal glare of warning as he went to the prey pile, grabbed a rabbit, and went to Oakpelt's side.

"What was that look?" Owlflight muttered.

"He usually hates Oakpelt. Remember? He used to act like a trapped mouse when he was near him as a kit! And he was always blathering that Oakpelt was evil, killed our father, sent a fox attack, and pushed Breezewind into the river. Now they are friends?!" Redshadow exclaimed.

"Nope." Owlflight shook her head. "They seemed to have switched places. Shadowedheart is acting all scary and… weird. And Oakpelt seems to be scared of him. Look."

Redshadow followed her gaze to Oakpelt's deep wounds that indeed seemed to be claw marks and not thorns. And Oakpelt seemed as if eager to get away from Shadowedheart, trying to hide the terror in his expression. While Shadowedheart seemed to be enjoying his fear as he glowered at Oakpelt.

"Yep. You need to spy on them tonight and find out what in the name of StarClan is going on." Redshadow said.

Owlflight nodded and walked away…

OWLFLIGHT POV:

That night, Owlflight stayed up and watched as Shadowedheart left the den, Oakpelt following him, seemingly hating what was going on, Owlfight could tell by his expression. She followed them carefully out of camp, ducking behind a bush or tree trunk whenever either one glanced backwards.

Into the night, they strode. Past a fox den and the sky oak, and past a mouse and a rabbit, bolting away at the sight of predators.

Finally, Shadowedheart stopped and Oakpelt almost barreled into him by mistake. Owlflight jumped in a bush and covered herself in mud to disguise her scent.

Then, a portal of some sort formed in front of Shadowedheart, Owlflight's eyes widened as the portal seemed to be showing ShadowClan territory, only the trees were darker, there were no stars or moon, and dark fog circled the area, the only light from glowing green mushrooms and moss.

Shadowedheart stepped in the portal, Oakpelt walking in after him. Owlflight raced forward and jumped into the portal before it closed-

To find herself in the same forest she'd seen.

She jumped behind a tree and watched from afar as she saw Emberpaw, that new ShadowClan cat from the Gathering, Nightbreeze, the ShadowClan medicine cat, and then a cat with black fur and orange eyes…

Father? Owlflight's eyes widened, seeing it was her father Silentshadow.

Then Emberpaw started speaking.

"Who's that?" She glared at Shadowedheart.

Oakpelt ignored her, then looked at Silentshadow and Nightbreeze. "I made him battle me to test his strength. He's shown some advanced battle moves that usually only Dark Forest apprentices know, but he never learned these moves from the Dark Forest."

Silentshadow looked at Shadowedheart. "Well I haven't certainly been teaching him."

"I've been having dreams." Shadowedheart explained, not looking the slightest bit disturbed that his father was here, in the Dark Forest. "Each night, I fell asleep to dream about ShadowClan camp and territory, only the ShadowClan warriors were different from the ones at the Gathering. And I felt different. Like I was a different cat, and the ShadowClan warriors didn't seem mad at the fact that I was there since I am ThunderClan, instead they treated me with respect. And they didn't feel like dreams… they seemed like memories. And I saw these Dark Forest cats as well, and they taught me those fighting moves. Only those Dark Forest cats weren't any of you."

Owlflight could tell by Emberpaw and Oakpelt's expressions that they were as confused as she was. Nightbreeze and Silentshadow seemed to understand, however, their eyes glazed with fear.

What do they know about Shadowedheart? Owlflight wondered.

She stepped backwards, her paw landing on a twig. Making a loud SNAP!

The cats whirled and Owlflight bolted away, sprinting into the trees before they saw her.

She ran and ran, searching for the portal between the Dark Forest and the real world. But it was gone! She glanced back to see the cats bolting after her, thankfully not finding her scent or seeing her pelt color due to the mud.

One cat leaped forward, claws raking her side. She yowled and threw them off, only to have them strike her leg. She ran faster, quicker, trailing a path of blood through the forest as she ran.

Owlflight ducked behind trees and bushes, swerving left and right. But the chase didn't cease. Until Owlflight crashed through a heavy undergrowth of thorns, stumbling blindly through the brambles with her eyes closed in pain. She fell out of the thorn bush and rolled into a ditch, crouched down and rubbing more of the dirt in to disguise her scent and camouflage herself as the cats ran past her, searching in vain.

Owlflight struggled to calm her pounding heart, taking slow deep breaths. The shock of the chase gave way to stabbing pain, from the thorns and when the Dark Forest cats had raked her pelt with their sharp claws. She wanted to hide here, she thought, as she plucked thorns from her pelt. She wanted to hide from the dangers of the world, but she'd have to leave before they saw her. She needed to find the portal!

What if I can't find it? It vanished! Owlflight tensed. She'd be stuck here forever! Just because she'd agreed to spy on the Dark Forest and find out what was wrong with Shadowedheart! And now she knew the truth, that Shadowedheart was evil and so was Oakpelt, Emberpaw, their father, and the ShadowClan medicine cat. But there was no way she could tell anyone.

She'd die stuck here, without food or water or have the Dark Forest find and kill her. And the truth would never get out to ThunderClan. The Dark Forest was planning something, and ThunderClan and the forest would be destroyed by Oakpelt, Shadowedheart, Emberpaw, Silentshadow, Nightbreeze, the Dark Forest, and whoever the shadow of red was. And Redshadow wouldn't know-

Redshadow. She thought.

"A Shadow of Red will destroy ThunderClan…" StarClan had warned.

Tears springed to her eyes. This was why Redshadow had acted uncomfortable when she mentioned the prophecy. He knew. And he probably knew that Oakpelt was evil too…

...But that moment before Owlflight's warrior ceremony in the medicine cat den: "Guess what happened while you were sleeping, Redpaw!" Owlflight had yelled.

"Shadowedpaw wants to kill me…" Redshadow had muttered darkly.

"Why would your own brother want to kill you?" Owlflight had asked. But Redshadow had changed the subject.

That night after the fox attack where Redshadow had dragged Shadowedheart out of the apprentice den… Warning him about something. Something that had made Shadowedheart avoid him entirely the next day and the days after that... What had Redshadow told him?

The prophecy… Owlflight thought. Redshadow knew he'd destroy ThunderClan one day. Shadowedheart wanted him dead. Anyone would want him dead if it meant ThunderClan and the forest would be saved once he was gone.

Pain stabbed through Owlflight once more, pain from her wounds and thorns, but mostly from betrayal. Redshadow and Shadowedheart hadn't told her this. She missed the days when she was just a kit, when all she had to worry about was playing and not getting in trouble. She'd spent her whole life believing her family was good, when Redshadow and Shadowedheart were just as evil as their father. Owlflight wasn't Owlkit anymore. "We always grow up eventually, Owlkit." Orangeflower had told them once after the fox attack where Owlflight's father died, when she told Orangeflower she wanted to curl up in the nursery and hide there.

Owlflight had endured many things: witnessing her father killed in a fox attack, seeing her mother grow more hateful and depressed, RiverClan becoming more angry with ThunderClan, and stopping a fox from killing Redshadow when he was just an apprentice by leaping at the fox. Surely she could come out alive from almost being attacked by Dark Forest cats and finding out Shadowedheart and Redshadow were evil?

There's no way out of the Dark Forest, mouse-brain! The portal closed! She told herself.

"StarClan help me, somebody please!" she yelled into the darkness.

Silence.

Then something drifted past her, in the corner of the eye.

Fog, she realized. Only the fog wasn't black, it was… silver.

She turned to see a wall of fog behind her, stars dotted in the fog.

Nowhere else to go.

Taking a deep breath, Owlflight charged through the fog, feeling it block her gaze. She ran faster. Until with a leap, she broke free from the Dark Forest and into StarClan territory, the grass greener than in newleaf and the air rich with the scent of prey, stars swirling in the area.

She collapsed in the clearing, drained of energy. Only to see a StarClan cat walking from out of the reeds.

"I-I'm sorry for intruding on StarClan territory!" she stammered to the black cat.

She just shook her head. "No, no, it's alright. We let you through the Dark Forest and StarClan border before the Dark Forest found you. That was brave, young warrior. Spying on the Dark Forest. But don't do it again, or you may kill yourself without assurance that StarClan will save you."

Owlflight could only nod helplessly as StarClan territory vanished around her, and she woke up in the warriors' den, as if it had all been a dream…

Why is Shadowedheart acting strange? Why did Oakpelt seemed to be scared of him? What do Nightbreeze and Silentshadow know about the prophecy and Shadowedheart? And who was the strange cat in Redshadow's vision who attacked him?

In Chapter Seventeen, all of these questions but the last one shall be answered.

REMINDER: THE CONTEST FOR YOUR OC TO HAVE SKYCLAN LEADER, DEPUTY, OR MEDICINE CAT ROLES HAS ENDED. You can still submit OCs for normal roles, however. Chapter Seventeen, SkyClan will be added.

How Owlflight got into Dark Forest territory without being a Dark Forest apprentice, I don't know. How she got through the wall of mist at the StarClan and Dark Forest border, I also don't know.

PoD Poll time!

Which of these five non-main characters in PoD so far is your favorite?:

Moonbreeze?

Owlflight?

Oakpelt?

Shadowedheart?

Or Goldensun?

Please Follow, Favorite, and Review! It would mean a lot!

MoonStar of ShadowClan, over and out!