Mistyclaw

As we hurried away, I stumbled and fell. Again. Oakpaw and Mosspaw calmly picked me up and we continued, but it was obviously trying Oakpaw's patience.

Mosspaw, however, could understand what I was going through. Kind of. She tried, at least. Being knocked out just moments before was not the best start to a long journey, let alone with a cat with enormous side wounds. Speaking of…

"How am I supposed to get medical attention?" I asked, breaking the silence. "We just left Badgerbranch behind."

"Well, he is ThunderClan's medicine cat. We can't just take him with us, that's a declaration of war." Oakpaw, exasperated, continued forward.

Mosspaw tilted her head. "He is the only medicine cat who wants to help."

"Do you remember what he treated you with?" Oakpaw asked, turning around. "I know we're not medicine cats, but at least we can try."

For a moment, I considered lying, so that we could go back and talk to him again. But he was right, that would be counterproductive. We really needed to leave the Clans behind.

And then I was on the ground. The pain in my side was gone, but a huge weight still pinned me down. Claws sank into my shoulder, and I heard the figure over me laugh.

"Leopardscar's plan will work no matter what. You five are disposable, he can always bless other cats who are more willing to comply. Mistyclaw here was too stubborn to see progress at its finest, so she'll be the first to go. The rest of you are next if you dare to challenge his plan."

The pain in my shoulders receded as the pain in my side blossomed again.

"Mistyclaw? Is everything okay?" Mosspaw leaned down to help me back up. "You just collapsed."

"I'm fine now, I promise." She didn't look convinced, but we kept moving. "I saw something."

"One of your visions?" Oakpaw asked quickly, looking excited.

I hesitated. "I don't know who, but he was about to kill me as a way to get the rest of you in line. I think he also mentioned something about our replaceability."

Mosspaw's eyes widened and her ears flattened. Oakpaw set his jaw, no longer looking excited.

"Is there anything else you remember about it?" he prompted. "Anything that would give us a hint of what's to come?"

I shook my head. Their faces fell.

We continued in silence for a while afterward.

Adderpaw

Finally, I felt well enough to get up and move around. Streamripple still felt guilty about controlling me, but I had long since forgiven her. What I still didn't forgive her for was how she completely disappeared every time Bella bounced into my personal space for more details about the Clans.

Well, at this point she called herself Icepaw, and demanded that the rest of us do the same. Ghost was far from thrilled, so he refused. And Streamripple still refused to release her.

But one morning, when Icepaw interrupted my sleep, she asked, "Did you have any friends back in Dark… no, ShadowClan?"

I paused and blinked, thinking about Sagepetal. "Well, I had one friend… but you know all about my abilities, and I haven't spoken to her since everyone found out. I didn't get to receive any warrior training, but she taught me a little about hunting. But I…"

Icepaw pouted, looking the most sincere I had ever seen her. "I'm sorry about that. At least you have me now. And Streamripple. And cool powers."

I would have gladly given back my powers if it meant everything would go back to normal, but I didn't tell Icepaw that. And knowing that she was my friend didn't make me feel much better, because she didn't know what I was going through. Not many cats did, except… Hold on.

Quickly, I got up and found Smoky. He was in the middle of a meal with Snowberry.

"The others. When are we going to find the others?"

Smoky clearly didn't sense my urgency, or maybe he did, but he didn't care. He took another slow bite of a mouse. "They'll come to us eventually. They're probably heading this way as we speak."

"But what if something happened? What if they're trapped, or injured?"

Silence, except for chewing noises. Snowberry gave him a look, but he looked away.

When he swallowed, he replied, "Fine. I'll head out. Just let me finish my meal first."

Oakpaw

We had finally arrived at the border between ThunderClan and the forest beyond. It was a good thing too, because Mistyclaw desperately needed to stop and rest. Once we crossed, we traveled a little ways away and sat down. We situated Mistyclaw nestled in the roots of an oak tree, then Mosspaw collapsed, exhausted.

"I'll go hunt for a little while," I told her as she curled up among the roots, a little ways around the tree from Mistyclaw. "Food will help restore your strength sooner."

"Thank you," she mumbled softly, closing her eyes.

I ventured into the forest, thinking furiously. I absentmindedly caught a squirrel, a sparrow, and a mouse for good measure. But my thoughts were far away, thinking about the future and what we would do. Where we would go from here.

My deepest concerns were about what Leoparscar would do to us if we strayed too far to assist our leaders. If Mistyclaw's vision was accurate, bad things would happen to us in the future.

Rustling came from the bushes. The undergrowth rattled. I jumped back, but Ottertail's cold voice emerged with his scarred head.

"Oakpaw, I'm disappointed. I knew I couldn't trust you, but I really wanted to. You weren't the one to directly attack me, but I'm still hurt. I thought you were better than that."

"Okay, I'm going to stop you right there." I started to back away slowly. "Listen. I'm not your friend. I was never going to help you find Mosspaw. Don't be weird."

He paused, frowning. "Why won't you help me? It's in Mosspaw's best interests to return to RiverClan. Everyone there wants her to come back, and we can make her feel loved and needed when the rest of the Clans want to kill her. Better yet, you can come too, and we can offer shelter in exchange for assistance should the need arise. And when the plan succeeds, you won't have to worry about anything like this anymore. All you need to do is tell me where Mosspaw is."

Creepy. I shook my head and turned to leave, in the opposite direction of Mosspaw. "That doesn't even sound remotely enticing," I spat. "Mosspaw and I are going to be just fine without you."

"But if Leopardscar doesn't like what you're doing-" Ottertail started, leaping in front of me. He winced in pain at the impact.

I hissed, "If he had a problem with it, we'd be dead by now."

That stopped him. I could tell he realized I was right, but he growled anyway, "If I can't bring you into RiverClan willingly, I'll drag your body there myself." With surprising strength considering his injuries, he pinned me to the ground and raked his claws along the side of my face. I struggled to escape in vain. Ottertail brought his paw back to strike again. I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the pain. Instead, I felt the pressure of his paws leave my side.

When I opened my eyes again, I found a black tom attacking Ottertail. But I didn't stop to ask questions.

I didn't bother changing my direction enough to shake them either. When I got back to the tree, they were both fast asleep. But just as I was about to wake up Mosspaw, a voice behind me whispered, "Let them sleep."

It was the black tom. I crouched down immediately, but he laughed softly. "There's no need for that. You don't have to worry, Oakpaw. I won't hurt you or your friends."

He moved closer, flashing the white star on his belly. I recognized him immediately.

"Smoky? Aren't you the ShadowClan deputy? What are you doing all the way over here?"

"I've resigned. I actually left to help Adderpaw for my own personal reasons," he replied, laughing when I made a face. "Not anything like that. But I've helped him and Streamripple to shelter with some of my old friends. Adderpaw sent me to find you in the hopes that you could all figure out your next move together."

I didn't want to believe any of the crow-food he was trying to feed me, but when I considered my options, it seemed like the only logical choice.

"Fine. But only after everyone's regained their strength."

After only a short walk, we arrived. I couldn't believe it, but Smoky was actually telling the truth. Adderpaw and Streamripple greeted us when we arrived, along with another hyperactive kittypet that called herself Icepaw.

Mosspaw looked a little better after she got some food in her stomach, and she didn't stumble anymore during the journey. The fact that Smoky was there to help with Mistyclaw helped, a little.

And the first thing Mistyclaw did when we entered Ghost's garage was collapse in the corner and sleep some more.

I eyed the twoleg monster warily, but Smoky just laughed and told me it was never awake.

Mosspaw happily answered all the questions Icepaw bombarded her with. I smiled and sat down, finally letting myself go to sleep.

And finally, I felt like we were safe. Or as safe as we could possibly be.

Streamripple

I hadn't forgotten about Smoky and his shifty conversations with Snowberry. I followed them every time they left the garage to talk. And sure, they sometimes talked like sappy mates that had been apart for too long, which I suppose was what they were, and it wasn't fun to listen to. But I endured it, because among the love language there were hints of who Smoky really was.

He did mention multiple times that he wasn't going to tell us things about the "changes" he continued to mention. Honestly, if I was Snowberry, I'd get really angry about the information he was holding over my head, constantly taunting me with but rarely giving me a hint about.

She seemed perfectly fine with it. It was frustrating to listen to.

But after Oakpaw, Mistyclaw and Mosspaw arrived, he went outside with her again. This time, he started off with, "Which aspects of the Warrior Code didn't you like?"

Snowberry paused. "Remember, the Warrior Code wasn't the main reason I left. It was more of the fact that we had to stay together as a Clan. But I didn't really like patrolling, and I wished I didn't have to all the time. Part of me wished we would have separate groups of patrollers and hunters."

"That's a really good point," Smoky responded. "Anything else? I can't promise everything will be enforced later on, but it's good to hear your input."

If he's going to enforce these new laws, did that mean he was the one bringing in the changes? Something was definitely up. Did I miss one of the times they went out to talk?

I didn't. Snowberry was confused too. "What do you mean?"

Smoky looked around. I held my breath. He looked up at Snowberry. "You can not, under any circumstances, tell anyone what I'm about to tell you. It will upset the timeline if any of them find out."

She nodded, excited but fearful. "I promise I won't say anything."

"Do you remember Leopardscar, the cat I told you about a long time ago?"

"How could I forget? He was the one who-"

"Yes. He contacted me around a moon ago with a plan. And when it succeeds, everything will change for the better."

No way. I always knew Smoky was a shifty character, but if he was in league with Leopardscar, then we were all in danger. There was no time to stick around and listen to the rest. I slowly backed away.

With my focus on the two of them, I didn't pay attention to where I was going. Before I knew it, I backed up against the wall with a loud bump and slumped to the ground.

Smoky's ears perked. He gave Snowberry a look, and went to explore. I struggled to get up, only to get knocked back down.

Wait… What happened? Why was I on the ground? My mind blanked, strangely enough. I didn't think anything like that had ever happened to me before. I got up slowly, looking around and spotting a familiar figure.

"Oh. Smoky. Hi. What am I doing out here?"

He frowned. "Didn't you just say you were tired of listening to Icepaw? I thought you needed a break from her."

That checked out. She had been annoying me even more than usual. But why would I forget what I just told Smoky? Something was off in my mind, but I couldn't quite put a paw on it.

"Are you okay?" Smoky asked, a little concern in his deadpan expression. "You look a dizzy."

"Yeah. That's probably it. I should go lie down." Feeling a wave of exhaustion, I slumped back into the garage and collapsed in the corner.

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