Hello there

I made a little guide for my school friends who have decided to read it (this is why the weird reviews have showed up, and no my name isn't Thomas). When you are a kitten, you are "name"kit. So for example Nightkit. When you are an apprentice, at 6 months age, you are a "Name"paw, example Nightpaw. When you become a warrior after completing your training, you become a "Name,"Name" example Nightstorm. If you make it to leader, you become "Name"star, or Nightstar. Also the four seasons of Warrior Cats are, winter (leaf bare) new leaf (spring) green leaf (summer) leaf fall (winter). Another thing to not is Clan codes, most important in this story is that you can't date another cat from a different Clan and you can't eat prey while out on a hunting patrol. So oh holy Deborau, now you know.

Many seasons ago…

"Have you spotted anything yet?" Nightpaw asked.

Sandpaw ignored this and continued to stealthily move through the bushes. Why did I get stuck with Nightpaw out of every cat? I barely ever talked to him before.

It was a warm green-leaf day as she and Nightpaw had been assigned to hunting training. You could tell fall was coming since a few leaves would fall out of trees around them. The mentors were a bit farther back since they wanted to see how the two would do on their own. Sandpaw hoped that soon she could finish her apprentice training and become a warrior like her mother was, before she was the leader Yellowstar, anyways. There was a small rustle coming from behind a tree, intriguing Sandpaw. Nightpaw cautiously stayed back. Sandpaw stared at Nightpaw, then motioned her head toward the tree. Nightpaw did not move. Sandpaw sighed and used a hunter's crouch, creeping towards the tree. She got around it enough to see a small mouse. She braced herself, then pounced, but the mouse saw her and ran away. Sandpaw landed clumsily before she could run after it.

She cursed herself and went back to Nightpaw. "Ugh," snarled Sandpaw, "Can't you at least hunt a little bit? Didn't your mentor teach you to not be afraid of trees?"

Nightpaw widened his eyes. "I-I'm sorry, I don't know what got into me."

Sandpaw felt a pang of regret at this. I shouldn't get angry at him, it's not his fault. "It's fine," reassured Sandpaw, "let's just keep going. I doubt our mentors are far behind."

A short time later, Sandpaw picked up the scent of a squirrel. She glanced towards Nightpaw, who was still at her side. He also seemed to have picked the scent up. He started stalking towards a bush, Sandpaw following him closely. She didn't see anything until Nightpaw pounced unexpectedly, but similar to Sandpaw earlier, the squirrel spotted him and started running. Nightpaw instantly noticed while mid-air and changed the direction he was jumping. He gave chase. The squirrel's first instinct was to run up a tree nearby, so Nightpaw followed it up. Not far off the ground, when the tree became too steep, Nightpaw realized he wouldn't reach it and leaped up, catching the squirrel using his claws before falling back to the ground. He landed slightly awkwardly but managed to pull himself up as Sandpaw sprinted towards him. He had a wide grin and placed the dead squirrel on the ground. "Wow! That was…" Sandpaw thought of the best word to describe the catch, "Amazing!"

Nightpaw buried it and turned to Sandpaw. "Guess I'm actually pretty good at hunting, huh?"

Present time...

Sandfur proudly stood next to Yellowstar, embracing the cheers. I better not get ahead of myself, I should probably get to searching the area as quickly as possible. Sandfur and Yellowstar stepped down into the camp. Sandfur headed towards Nightstorm, who was at the end of the crowd. "Nightstorm," called Sandfur, "I'm a detective now! Isn't that amazing?"

Nightstorm smiled. "Yeah! That's really cool…," Nightstorm seemed slightly disinterested, "er, uh, anyways, do you want to go hunting later?"

Sandfur was confused by the sudden change. "Uh… I don't know if I can, the investigation and all."

"Wait, that's today?" asked Nightstorm.
"Yeah…" answered Sandfur.

"Oh…" Nightstorm said with a sigh, "Maybe tomorrow?"

"Maybe tomorrow."

Yellowstar came up behind Sandfur and approached Nightstorm. "Nightstorm," meowed Yellowstar clearly, "I heard what happened in the cave, and you can have the rest of the day off to do whatever you want, outside camp or inside camp."

"Ah… Alright," replied Nightstorm.

Yellowstar glanced at Sandfur in realization."Oh wait, you're going on the investigation… I can't believe I forgot that, I just assigned you too it..." chuckled Yellowstar.

"Yeah…?" said Sandfur.

"Right. Nightstorm will stay here, we don't know what else could be in that cave," Yellowstar turned to Nightstorm, "If you want some cat to talk to, you can… talk to… Addertail, I suppose. It'll just be earlier than usual."

Nightstorm nodded again and waved his tail as he walked towards Addertail's den. "Mother," asked Sandfur to Yellowstar, "how should I organize the cave patrol?"

Yellowstar looked over to some of the dispersing crowd. There was one gray pelted cat with dark stripes, and another ginger cat with white splotches. "Graywhisker, Rubyheart, can you come here?"

Graywhisker turned around without hesitation, while Rubyheart winced and slowly turned around to meet Yellowstar. "You two, go on a patrol into the caves with Sandfur here. We need to search the area. Not that far either," explained Yellowstar to them.

Rubyheart sighed but Graywhisker nodded. Sandfur felt bad that they had to go with her, but Yellowstar didn't show any remorse. "Yeah… just down to the caves to look around a little, that's all," said Sandfur.

Yellowstar seemed to notice something. "Sandfur, don't mention any details to anyone yet. I'll talk to Whiteheart about it as well, and go ahead and ask Nightstorm when you get back, but I doubt he'll mention anything about it. Speaking of which, how did he take it… the body and all?"

Sandfur felt regret for bringing him down there. "Not… well… it was pretty much the same as always, but he should definitely stay away from the investigation as much as he can."

"Yes, but if you're the detective on this investigation you need to make sure you spend some time with him," ordered Yellowstar formally.

"Yes," replied Sandfur, "I'll make sure of it."

Nightstorm glanced around the camp, Addertail was the medicine cat of FireClan, though he hadn't done much. Not much conflict or violence ever happened, the Clans had been at peace for a long time, and no bears had attacked since Nightstorm was Nightkit. Addertail was a simple and calm medicine cat. He was usually not busy since the conflict between the Clans wasn't common, but he was most busy when it would be leaf-bare when many cats would have a green cough or other illnesses. Greencough was what killed Nightstorm's parents.

Nightstorm entered the medicine cat's den. Addertail was organizing herbs in the back, not eyeing the entrance, but he seemed to recognize that Nightstorm had entered. "Oh, Nightstorm," echoed Addertail from the back, "Isn't it a little early for our meetings?"

"I was told to do it early today, since the caves this morning," replied Nightstorm quietly.

"Oh, that's fine," murmured Addertail.

He looked tired as he stopped his herb sorting, coming towards Nightstorm and settling down. "So," started Addertail wearily, "do you want to talk about this… cave incident?"

Nightstorm hesitated. "Uh…"

Nightstorm usually refused this offer whenever something that frightened him came up. "Actually," said Addertail simply, "Do tell me about it. You shouldn't keep all of that in your mind, sometimes it's better to speak it."

Nightstorm was surprised by this since Addertail usually let him be more reserved with his thoughts. Nightstorm shrugged. "I went down there with Sandfur, and Whiteheart… oh and the CaveClan patrol. We followed Lakeheart's scent and found an opening in the ground. Then… we went into the cave and found the… body."
Addertail listened, clearly a little interested in the details that were currently not revealed to the Clans. "So how did you feel when you saw the body? Typical symptoms like freezing and panic?"

Nightstorm looked at his paws, his voice a little shaky. "Yes, but… it was worse than that… I could only stare at it… and a terrible feeling came over me, like freezing cold."

"How was she killed?" asked Addertail.

"I-I don't remember that well," stammered Nightstorm, "I think Whiteheart said it was a... b-bear and Sandfur thought it might have been murder."

Addertail thought for a moment. "And what did you think?"

Nightstorm was taken aback by the question. "I… I don't know, there was bear fur I found… but the… the body had a scratch on it from a cat… I don't know."

"Go ahead and stay away from any more of that investigation, we don't want to bring up any more problems with you," instructed Addertail calmy, "Spend the rest of today relaxing, go hunting, go on a walk, just don't think about this anymore, ease your mind."

"Alright," meowed Nightstorm.

"And… you can go now," said Addertail softly.

Nightstorm made his way to the entrance, ready to do something outside of camp. He heard Addertail say one last thing behind him. "Nightstorm… Most likely, by everything we know, there are no bears in the territory. Don't worry about that."

Nightstorm nodded and waved his tail. As he left camp, he wondered whether he should be relieved there probably wasn't a bear, and instead a murderer that was on the loose.

In the green woods, above soft grass, Sandfur, Rubyheart, and Graywhisker explored the area. "Sandfur," asked Graywhisker, "are you sure the cave is this way?"

Sandfur knew it was in that direction, the trees and bushes all looked familiar to the morning earlier. "Yes, we should be there soon," replied Sandfur.

"Ugh!" complained Rubyheart, "We've been walking for so long and we still haven't gotten there? I wanted to just… do anything but this today and now I'm stuck on this boring mission."

Rubyheart was a warrior Sandfur didn't know too well, but she wasn't giving Sandfur a good impression. Sandfur did remember going on a few hunting patrols with her and Rubyheart would always doze off or eat prey she caught instead of giving it back to the fresh-kill pile. Sandfur never cared enough about the code to tell her off since they always caught enough anyways.

She frowned at Rubyheart's comment. Graywhisker opened his jaw to speak. "This is an incredibly important mission. We have to figure out what happened to Lakeheart! Is that not important to you?"

Rubyheart rolled her eyes. "Yes, it is not important to me in the slightest," she meowed.

Sandfur ignored this comment and carried on, determined to get to the scene of the murder. "You know," mentioned Rubyheart with a smirk, "the only reason you even got this "special job" is that you're Yellowstar's daughter."

Sandfur stopped and turned to stare Rubyheart in the eyes. "I have a job. I have to solve this case and there is nothing else to it. I'm a warrior just like you."

Rubyheart wasn't taken aback by that, instead of having a malicious smirk on her face as they continued walking. Graywhisker whispered to Sandfur, "Hey, at least you work super hard and don't laze off like Rubyheart all day."

Sandfur chuckled at that.

Deep in the caves, where light didn't touch, and there was no breeze, Sandfur trekked. She was still with Graywhisker and Rubyheart. Rubyheart complained the entire time that her paws were cold while Graywhisker searched around. They were all exploring the general area of the murder, and anywhere they could find a scent of either Lakeheart or more catnip. From what Sandfur found, Lakeheart appeared to fall into the oasis. From there, she walked out, probably being discombobulated. Most likely, the blood smudge found on the cave wall nearby belonged to her. Lakeheart's body had the right injury for it, and if she had hit her head on the way down, she would be even more confused and would possibly have a concussion.

So far there were now three tufts of bear fur within three hundred foxtails of the area, including the one under Lakeheart's body, the one Nightstorm found near the entrance, and a final tuft found close to the blood smudge by Rubyheart, who ran away in fear when she scented it before realizing it was just a tuft. Besides that there wasn't much to find, besides random cave carvings. There was also a suspicious amount of catnip located near the area, not the herb itself, but the scent. However, the scent went away after a certain point, probably from being too old. After Lakeheart was moved, there was a pool of blood left behind and it started going into the pool of water that she supposedly fell in. Sandfur watched it fall in, then walked to it and stood over it. She peered into the depths surrounded by endless darkness. Graywhisker, the gray pelted tom with frost blue eyes, came up to her side, clearly confused. "Is there something down there? I don't see anything," he said.

"I'm not sure," replied Sandfur.

"Don't go in. It's too cold, and you might drown if you can't see," warned Graywhisker.

"I'm not going in…" Sandfur sighed, "Why isn't there anything else? There should be some other clues lying around somewhere."

Graywhisker thought for a moment. "Well, what's your theory right now?"

Sandfur pointed her tail to the ceiling and the stream of light coming from the opening. "Lakeheart fell through here, hit her head either before or after the fall, which explains the blood splotch on the wall, then froze to death from the water. What happened after that, or before that, or the cause of the scratch on her, is what I'm having trouble with," explained Sandfur.

"Well, we know that there were rumors that Lakeheart was in a cross-clans relationship with some cat from FireClan," suggested Graywhisker.

"So… that's already a motive, a codebreaker, well, of the old code anyway. Maybe I can find a lover for Firepelt, and work from there. The lover right now would be the number one suspect," said Sandfur to herself.

Graywhisker tilted his head. "How would you find this cat?"

Sandfur shrugged. "Rumors, mostly. My younger sister likes to gossip. When I'm done with that I can interview some friends and family of Lakeheart, if I can get them from CaveClan. I'm sure those CaveClan cats want to solve this case. And then if our secret lover can't give us the information, we can ask close friends, if they have any."

Graywhisker seemed surprised by Sandfur's confidence. "Good plan. So what else do we have to do here?"

"Nothing in the caves. We're going to scan the forest and Lakeheart's trail to look for clues, or maybe some explanation of how she fell in."

"Couldn't she have just fallen in on accident? We weren't aware of this opening existing since it was covered with bramble," questioned Graywhisker.

"Maybe," said Sandfur, "but why was she in the territory in the first place?"

Nightstorm, after exiting the medicine cat's den, trotted across the camp. He headed towards the entrance. Lighthaze suddenly appeared in front of him. She was a warrior and Sandfur's younger sister. Lighthaze was also the single most irritating cat in the entire Clan. "What do you want…" sighed Nightstorm.

"Well, I was just thinking, y'know about this murder stuff? Well, I gotta say the murderer has to be Firepelt right?" she said.

"Why would it be Firepelt," tiredly asked Nightstorm.

"I heard that Lakeheart, the victim, y'know, was in a cross clan relationship right? So it is Firepelt easily!"

"What is Firepelt in a cross-clans relationship?"

Lighthave nearly jumped with excitement. "Yes! He is! I'm surprised you didn't know that… pretty much everyone knows… Oh yeah, I would be telling all of this to Sandfur but she's out doing her mumbo-jumbo investigation."
Nightstorm wasn't intrigued enough to continue since half of what Lighthaze spouted wasn't even remotely true. "Tell it to Sandfur when she comes back, I'm sure she would love a suspect," muttered Nightstorm, pushing past Lighthaze.

"Will do!" called Lighthaze after him.

When Nightstorm had walked out of camp, Mintbreeze showed up and instantly started talking with Nightstorm. "So is that what happened down there?" she asked curiously, "A murder?"

Nightstorm scowled a little. "Well I don't know if it was a murder," he said, a hint of anger in his voice, "and it's not a good thing!"

"Okay, okay," meowed Mintbreeze softly, "look, it's just something interesting for once."

"So it's interesting to you that there could be a murderer, or worse, a bear living in the territory? A bear?" Nightstorm had raised his voice quite a bit now.

"I guess you're right…" apologized Mintbreeze.

Nightstorm felt guilt surge through him. "Sorry, I've just been stressed today. Every single cat wants to discuss it with me and I just… I just want to forget it."