Chapter Seven

Freezepaw felt herself falling out of a waterfall. "Wha?" She muttered. Freezepaw looked down at her paws, but they weren't cat paws. They were larger paws, shaped like…a dragon. Freezepaw had heard of these fearsome creatures in fantasy nursery tales, but they couldn't be real.

"Glacier?" A dark yellow dragonet with amber eyes asked.

"That isn't her…" A blueish white dragon with yellow eyes said. An orange dragon groaned, with the familiar sound of Falconblaze, as the group of outsiders regained consciousness.

"Where am I?" Freezepaw wondered. Freezepaw looked around and saw a black dragon who had a look of… Starry Night? She had the same white scales and the same blue eyes. She turned around and saw a dull green colored dragon with narrowed green eyes that were observing the scenery around them. She also saw a brown dragon with a few light brown scales that almost looked gray.

"You're…in Pantala." A small dragon with mostly pitch-black scales and glowing scales said. "I'm Darklight, and this is…" Freezepaw zoned out as Darklight introduced everyone.

Soon, they were brought to a rest spot. "Explain," a brown dragon Freezepaw now recognized as Pine said.

"Alright," Thornpaw said coolly.

"Thismayseemcrazy,butIthinkwe'reinadiffrentworld," Squirrelheart meowed.

Starry Night rolled her eyes. "Did you just realize that, mouse-brain?"

Thornpaw snorted. "You seem to always want to insult him."

Starry Night whirled around to glare at Thornpaw. "Of course! His entire family are all mouse-brains!" Squirrelheart glanced at his paws nervously.

Thornpaw turned to look at Pine. "I'm sorry about the argument," Thornpaw said formally. "Anyways, have you ever heard of cats?"
"Yes, everyone has, but what does that have to do with anything?" Pine asked.

"I believe we were previously cats before arriving into this world." Thornpaw said.

"Wha-"
Thornpaw held a talon up to silence him, and explained about warriors.

"Your society seems stupid," Eel commented.

"Oh yeah, it is." Thornpaw agreed.

"That doesn't explain how you got here, though." Frost said.

"We fell into a portal that shot us to this world, and transformed us to…dragons? Is that what we are?" Thornpaw said.

"B-but, that's nearly impossible," Frost ranted. "You would need to link up two black holes, and even then that would be impossible." Frost whimpered, as Falconblaze growled at him.

"You nerd," Polar said affectionately. Frost grunted, unenthusiastically.

"Anyway," Snow turned to Freezepaw and the other ex-cats, "Our world is a dragon world." She said all of this so softly. She explained to them about tribes, about Abysswing, and Tide and of the others disappearing.

"This is messed up," Starry Night decided. Freezepaw blinked, still confused. Starry Night is always so grumpy, Freezepaw thought, resisting the urge to claw off Starry Night's head. Freezepaw examined her new body. She was a blue-ish white dragon. Kind of like Polar and Frost.

"Everything about the tribes makes sense," Falconblaze noted. "But clan life will always be better." he added quickly. Thornpaw snorted.

"Yeah, right." Thornpaw mewed. Falconblaze scowled.

One of the dragons grunted. "So, um, what are your names?"

"I'm Thornpaw, that's Falconblaze, Freezepaw, Squirrelheart, and Starry Night of the Sky, who can be called Starry Night because Starry Night of the Sky is a mouthful."

"Those are strange names," Polar noted.

Thornpaw puffed out her chest proudly. "I'm their leader."

"No one said you were," Starry Night argued.

"Well, no one wants you to be the leader." Thornpaw said smugly.

"You've lived half my lifetimes," Starry Night argued.

"I agree with Starry," Squirrelheart squeaked.

"I don't need your empathy!" Starry Night hissed. "And how dare you call me Starry."

"I'm their leader." Freezepaw interrupted their spat. They glared at her, dumbfounded.

"You?" Thornpaw scoffed. "You won't order me around anytime." Freezepaw could feel the tension rising between them. Sunlight glinted off Thornpaw's claws. She flexed them nonchalantly.

"Well… um, looks like we have a power struggle." Squirrelheart murmured.

"That doesn't matter," Sunlight interrupted. "We need a leader for us. With Tide gone, who will lead us?" She shot the ex-cats a glance. "And, since you have nowhere to go, you all may as well join us." She said dryly.

"I think Aqua should rule, she used to be a princess, after all." Darklight reasoned.

"But you're pretty smart, which makes you a good candidate too." Kraken told Darklight. Darklight blushed.

"And Snow's an animus, she should be on the list too." Sunlight said.

"Oh, no." Snow whispered. "Being an animus doesn't make me a leader."

"What if we just…don't have a leader. Think about it." Falconblaze glared at Freezepaw.

"You should have just let me say I was the leader." he whispered menacingly.

Freezepaw looked at him, startled. She evaded his gaze.

"I just wanted to break up the fight." she whispered, quickening her pace. She needed air. The new body she was in was disorienting. It was like learning to walk all over again.

"I'm going to take a walk," Freezepaw said.

"Can I go with you?" Falconblaze asked hopefully.

Freezepaw hesitated. "Sure."

"Make sure not to interact with any of the plants," Pine warned. "They're very dangerous." Starry Night rolled her eyes and leaned her head into the plant.

"Don't!" Pine yelped. "What are you doing!?" Pine and Sunlight jerked Starry Night back from the plant as it snapped shut.

"Ooohhh…" Squirrelheart blinked in silent fascination.

Freezepaw and Falconblaze walked away from Pine scolding Starry Night. Freezepaw felt Falconblaze brush against her. He looked her straight in the eyes. "Listen, I'm sorry about earlier, but I really think you aren't suited for leadership, because…" he trailed off, as he realized what he said.

Freezepaw bristled. "Did you follow me just to say an apology? Or are you saying I'm weak, because I'm an apprentice?" Burning rage blaze inside Freezepaw. She stormed away from Falconblaze, rushing back to the group.

"Relationship problems?" a voice behind her asked. It was an IceWing.

"Uh… Snow right?" Freezepaw guessed, squinting at her. Snow nodded, folding in her wings. "How did you know?"

The IceWing chuckled. "I haved lived many lifetimes, and gotten myself into a few relationships." Snow gave me a mysterious smile, and disappeared into the jungle again. Freezepaw sat there for a while, thinking about home. ThunderClan. She missed shook her head as she rejoined the group. Starry Night was picking on Squirrelheart. Again.

The warm scent of ThunderClan still lingered in her mind.

The nursery, where Fishkit and Fogkit played happily. Dust and Spike were a reminder of Fogkit and Fishkit. Freezepaw yearned for home.

Memories of her clan filled her mind. Starry Night padded up behind her.

"Missing home, huh?" She asked in her usual smug voice, but there was a small hint of sadness in her voice…but Freezepaw was pretty sure she was imagining that.

"Yeah." Freezepaw said in a husky voice. "I miss it. So much." Freezepaw held back tears. Starry Night would probably think she was weak for crying.

"Stupid Squirrel," Freezepaw heard Starry Night mutter quietly. She probably didn't mean for Freezepaw to hear her. A thought occurred to her. "Why did you try to rescue me?" Freezepaw asked, taking a step back. Starry Night looked away quickly.

"I wasn't trying to save you, mouse-brain," Starry Night sniffed, rolling her eyes. "The portal called me into the portal." Starry stalked back to the group. Maybe Starry Night was nice after all.

Freezepaw stood up and started walking around. Now to try using my wings. She lifted off but then, after flying so successfully, tumbled into some vines.

"Well, what do we have here?" A foreign voice asked. A brown and light green dragon stepped out of the shadows.

"You're coming back with me," He said. Oh no… then Freezepaw felt drugged, and fell into unconsciousness.