Fireheart was turning in his bed, he wasn't sure about what was happening but whatever it was, it wasn't good. He almost visioned a gray cat with a single dark gray stripe running down his back. The two cats continued to fire away before an explosion would separate them.
"Graystripe!" Fireheart's voice echoed for his friend. Fireheart woke up from his bed almost as if he had a bad dream. Fireheart got up and decided to find someone to talk about it. He spotted Cinderpelt who was washing her paws. Fireheart walked up to her.
"You can't sleep huh?" Cinderpelt asked Fireheart.
"For the past couple of nights I couldn't." Fireheart responded. Cinderpelt looked at Fireheart almost as if she wanted to see what the root cause of what these nightmares were.
"Same dreams huh? Looks like Starclan's trying to speak to you." Cinderpelt asked Fireheart if this dream was on a constant repeat like a bad record that wouldn't stop playing that one song.
"Yeah. It's about Graystripe." Fireheart told Cinderpelt. Cinderpelt paused as she began to think.
"What about him?" Cinderpelt asked. She walked over to Fireheart with a cup of water so he could settle down.
"Graystripe has been by my side day by day. Now that he's gone, I don't know who to talk to. Someone trying to fulfill poor Silverstream ever since that dog shot her in the heart. I feel like Graystripe could be dead at this point as the last time I saw him was in Italy before we departed for Normandy. Now nearly two moons have passed and not a single word from him." Fireheart described what had happened to Cinderpelt.
"Graystripe is still alive, who knows. I think I'll message Tallstar to send out more recon patrols to find him. We used these to find Cloudpaw and we came back with more than we bargained for. Maybe Graystripe has escaped and joined a resistance movement like Cloudpaw. Anything's possible." Cinderpelt mewed to Fireheart that anything was possible with what happened to Graystripe. Fireheart looked at Cinderpelt trying to figure out what she was saying. After coming to a conclusion, he began to speak again.
"Only difference is, Cloudpaw was within our reach. Graystripe can be somewhere out there, far behind enemy lines." Fireheart mewed to Cinderpelt that Graystripe's situation was different compared to Cloudpaw's months before. "Any news about Snowkit? I heard that Speckletail said something was off."
"Yeah I gathered the news that Snowkit is deaf from the other medics, how he became deaf is still a mystery. He can't understand us or do anything. Why Thunderclan let a deaf kit into their ranks is my biggest question. Yellowfang told us Snowkit was hearing just fine months before until some mines blew up and killed Mistlekit. Snowkit had been ringing in ears for days and he said he couldn't hear anything or anyone." Cinderpelt told Fireheart what she believed to be the cause of Snowkit going deaf.
"Yeah I miss Yellowfang as well. She saved us in the end but her death had struck us hard. She was the first Kraut I ever befriended." Fireheart responded. He sat down and slumped down. All of the turmoil over the past few months was catching up to him. Cloudpaw entered the room, carrying his M1 Garand. "Hey Cloudpaw, what's up?"
"Those Windclan bombers aren't letting up, Marigny will be nothing but dust when we move out tomorrow." Cloudpaw mewed to the group that the city was being blown to pieces by the time they moved in.
"They'll still have that church and Bluestar said that was the main objective as of the morning." Fireheart told Cloudpaw that Windclan will promise to leave a few buildings intact but by leaving those buildings intact, Shadowclan were going to use them as strongholds. Cloudpaw nodded and walked away. Fireheart knew this mission was going to be tough.
The next morning, they were finally moving into Marigny, a machine gun had them pinned at a house just across the church. Bluestar, Cloudpaw and Fernpaw were tasked to clear it out.
"GET TO COVER!" Bluestar shouted. The three of them would take cover behind a stonewall. Bluestar looked to the apprentices before she began laying out the plan. "Fireheart will lead a maneuver through the square with Ravenpaw and Barley, our job is to provide supporting fire from the church. Any questions? Good. Let's move." Bluestar mewed, not giving the apprentices any time to ask.
"Wait, I have a question." Fernpaw mewed, she raised her paw almost if Bluestar was her teacher.
"Save them up Fernpaw. You'll win a gold star. Let's move!" Bluestar told Fernpaw if she was like her student.
"I think I'm her favorite." Fernpaw sarcastically giggled. Bluestar, Fernpaw and Cloudpaw leaped from their cover and began to move. Fireheart was firing away while Cloudpaw dashed to cover.
"I'm surprised Speckletail is letting you borrow her thompson again. She's staying behind to figure out what to do about Snowkit." Fireheart mewed. Cloudpaw nodded before he raised himself from cover and began firing away at the building where the Shadowclan cats were held up in. Ashpaw arrived at his side with Brightpaw.
"Yeah we need to move in." Cloudpaw responded while spraying away at the building. They looked up for a brief moment as a burning bomber flew low down to the ground before it crashed. "They're still knocking our birds out of the sky."
"There must be AA guns in the square, we need to clear them out." Fireheart mewed, Cloudpaw made his way to the house while Ashpaw stood beside him.
"Clear the house, I'll cover you." Ashpaw mewed.
"I need suppressing fire on the left, Fireheart, clear the house." Bluestar ordered.
"Okay now is our chance!" Fireheart called out. Cloudpaw kicked the door down and began spraying the inside with the thompson. Three Shadowclan cats were taken out as Cloudpaw and Ashpaw were the first ones to enter.
"Clear the house!" Cloudpaw ordered while he reloaded the thompson. Brightpaw and Fireheart entered the house next and began to clear it out while Ashpaw was dealing with some Shadowclan cats on the floor above. Fireheart moved in and began firing at the cats from the floor above while Cloudpaw went upstairs and began spraying away from his position. Six Shadowclan cats had been gunned down and there were still more outside. Cloudpaw got out the M1 Garand to save on thompson ammo.
"Kraut jeeps inbound!" Bluestar shouted. Several jeeps containing Shadowclan cats pulled up to reinforce Marigny to prevent it from falling into Thunderclan's paws. Cloudpaw raised the M1 Garand and began firing with Ashpaw. Two Shadowclan cats were shot almost immediately while the others were getting cut down by Bluestar and the others. The jeeps had been neutralized but something else was coming in.
"You hear that?" Ashpaw asked while he reloaded his M1 Garand.
"Halftrack incoming! Get down!" Bluestar shouted. Cloudpaw spotted the halftrack as it had its gun turned in the complete opposite direction, where the Thunderclan cats were and turning it around will take some time. The Shadowclan cats riding got out to reinforce their friends but in doing so they presented themselves as appetizing targets. Cloudpaw raised his M1 Garand and fired, taking out the halftrack gunner.
"Okay we need to lock down this street. Everyone follow me." Bluestar shouted. Cloudpaw and the others inside of the house got out as they were racing along the street. Shadowclan cats were being mopped up all over Marigny and Bluestar had the honor of taking the church but not before something caught her eye.
"More Shadowclan cats incoming!" Barley shouted. He raised the Mp40 he had in his paws and began firing away.
"Must be those reinforcements." Bluestar told Barley. She turned to her cats as they were trickling into the scene. She then began to look around for a method to quickly cut these Shadowclan cats down. "Cloudpaw, get on that machine gun in that halftrack, we can use the firepower." Bluestar ordered. Cloudpaw nodded as he sprinted off. Brightpaw followed behind while peppering her M1 Carbine to keep them covered. Cloudpaw got to the rear of the halftrack before opening the door. A dead Shadowclan cat came right out of the halftrack. Cloudpaw gagged at the corpse before he got in. He went straight for the machine gun and began firing away with Brightpaw providing support.
"Get some!" Cloudpaw shouted as he sprayed the machine gun at the incoming Shadowclan cats. Brightpaw fired away smiling for Cloudpaw as she helped him out. Bluestar kept firing away while the rest of the group finished off the Shadowclan cats.
"Nice job." Brightpaw congratulated Cloudpaw. Cloudpaw nodded, admiring the painting of blood he made on the street. Bluestar came forth as she was ready to split everyone into squads again.
"Street's cleared, everyone, we're preparing to split up." Bluestar gave the signal before she began giving her orders. "Fireheart, I want you to take Ashpaw, Swiftpaw and the others with you to take out those AA guns. I'm taking Cloudpaw, Brightpaw, Fernpaw and Longtail into the church to provide a sniper vantage point."
"Yes Bluestar. Move out everyone!" Fireheart called out. He and the cats he was assigned began moving away from the position while Bluestar was going to take care of the church. Cloudpaw and Brightpaw came from the halftrack and were ready for their next assignment. They gathered by the church as Bluestar tried to open the door. The door wouldn't budge and she needed some help.
"Cloudpaw, help me open the door." Bluestar instructed. Cloudpaw walked over as he took the door with his paw and kicked it in, the door began to come apart. Cloudpaw smiled with confidence as he kicked the door again, the door crumbled apart as the cats all entered inside. They were looking around almost as if the place was deserted.
"Where did they go?" Fernpaw asked. She was confused as to why there was no one there.
"They must've ran when they heard us coming." Cloudpaw mewed to Fernpaw as that was the only conclusion he could come to. Bluestar looked around to see ammo and weapons had been stashed away here. If they were running out of ammo, they could take what they needed.
"Krauts left some supplies, stock up on what you want before we head into the tower." Bluestar instructed. The apprentices nodded as they began taking some of the guns that were thrown around as well as some ammunition they needed.
"Cloudpaw you said you never went to church in North Africa, is that true?" Fernpaw asked Cloudpaw while she was dragging out a Shadowclan machine gun. Two more Thunderclan cats came inside to help secure the perimeter.
"Yeah I never thought of Starclan truly existing, I thought it was a myth to tell the kits. Maybe something I should look up after this war is over." Cloudpaw replied. Suddenly Shadowclan cats from the loft began opening fire as a machine gun was trying to pin the group down. "Oh no."
"Get down! Get down!" Brightpaw shouted. The cats got down while risking themselves by raising themselves up and firing away. Longtail raised himself up and fired, killing the machine gunner, the other cats without their support were getting cut down at an alarming rate. As the tide of battle was just about to turn, A Shadowclan cat entered the scene, spraying fire everywhere.
"Flamethrower!" Cloudpaw shouted. He raised up and fired an entire clip into the cat to take him down. The cat went down, Bluestar noticed this and gave the order.
"Mop up the entire area, we're taking the church." Bluestar got up from her area and the others followed. Cloudpaw and the other apprentices went to the right, spraying their weapons away to clear the area. Once the remaining Shadowclan cats had been mopped up, they met by another door. "Open it up, Cloudpaw." Cloudpaw grabbed the door and swung it open, it led to outside. Brindleface, Frostfur, Thornpaw, Mousefur, Brackenfur and Whitestorm formed the rear guard in case the Shadowclan cats decided to counter attack.
"It's our group, some of them decided to stay behind." Cloudpaw told Bluestar about it. Bluestar nodded.
"Okay so we've taken the church." Bluestar began, she began to think of their next course of action and what their next plan was. "Okay, Brightpaw, Fernpaw, guard the outside of the church with the others. Longtail and Cloudpaw, you two on me. You other two help secure the bell tower." Bluestar ordered. Brightpaw and Fernpaw rushed outside to help the others in case Shadowclan was to launch their own attack. Bluestar turned and motioned the others to follow her. The five cats made their way to the second floor where the ladder was.
"I hope you aren't afraid of heights." Longtail told Cloudpaw. Bluestar began to climb up the ladder followed by Longtail and then Cloudpaw and the extras. It was a long climb up. Once getting to the top, Bluestar took a look around before picking up a scoped Kar98K.
"Only one rifle here but there is an Mg42 on here with a 250 round belt attached. Cloudpaw, get on the machine gun." Bluestar told them. Cloudpaw nodded as he grabbed the machine gun while the others loaded up. "There's Ashpaw and Swiftpaw, they're on their way to disable the first AA gun, let's provide cover!" The cats began opening fire to cover for Ashpaw and Swiftpaw below.
Ashpaw and Swiftpaw were playing a dangerous game as they were sent forth to disable some AA guns Fireheart had told them about. The first one was firing high above.
"There's the first one." Swiftpaw called out. Ashpaw nodded as he looked up to see gunfire coming from the bell tower. He pulled out his binoculars to see it was Bluestar and her group.
"Yep, it's them." Ashpaw mewed to Swiftpaw. Ashpaw pulled out his Bazooka and Swiftpaw loaded a rocket into it. "I'm ready to do this." Ashpaw lifted himself up and fired the bazooka. The rocket flew in and destroyed the first AA gun. Swiftpaw was covering Ashpaw's rear as Shadowclan cats were firing on them.
"We're getting surrounded. Fireheart better be here." Swiftpaw called out. He fired his M1 Garand, taking down a Shadowclan cat.
"We have to keep going, the second AA gun is farther behind." Ashpaw told Swiftpaw to toughen up and follow him. Swiftpaw reloaded the rifle and nodded before they began to slip away. They were crawling to the second AA gun when fire came from the other direction. Ashpaw looked up as that fire was theirs.
"Hey, it's Fireheart." Swiftpaw called out. Fireheart fired his M1 Carbine at the cats.
"We're clearing a path for you, come on go!" Fireheart called out, the two apprentices nodded and began to crawl forward while the second AA gun was trying to bring the planes down. Ashpaw looked at Swiftpaw while getting out his Bazooka.
"Load it up Swiftpaw." Ashpaw told Swiftpaw. Swiftpaw nodded as he loaded a rocket into Ashpaw's Bazooka. Ashpaw raised himself up from the cover and fired the bazooka, blowing up the second AA gun. The cats cheered on happily.
"Yeah Ashpaw did it." Fireheart called out.
Back in the bell tower, the cats used up all of their ammunition in taking those defenses out. Their mission was accomplished.
"Woo, we did it, now let's…" Before Bluestar could finish her sentence, an artillery shell came in and damaged the bell tower. "They're firing on us! We need to get out of here!" Bluestar shouted. "Everyone out now!" A Thunderclan cat was torn to pieces by shrapnel as the cats began to climb down the ladder but another shot came in and partially destroyed the bell tower. One of the Thunderclan cats lost his footing and was hanging on by just his paw.
"I'm slipping!" He shouted. Cloudpaw rushed over to pull him up.
"Hang on, I got you." Cloudpaw shouted. He stuck his paw out in an attempt to help this poor cat from falling. However he was a moment too late, the Thunderclan cat lost his grip and fell to his death. "No!" Cloudpaw shouted. He looked up to see the brass bell of the church was starting to come loose. "Mouse dung!" He, Bluestar and Longtail began to climb down the ladder in their attempt to escape the crumbling bell tower. The bell then fell loose and looked like it was going to crush Cloudpaw but Cloudpaw got out of its way in time, the brass bell continued to fall as they climbed down.
"Come on faster!" Longtail shouted. Cloudpaw was trying to get down as fast as he could but the bell had other ideas, the brass bell swung into Cloudpaw, causing them to get knocked off balance. Bluestar and Longtail were knocked to the floor while Cloudpaw was on the ladder. Cloudpaw lost his grip and fell to the floor a wooden beam landed on him but Cloudpaw had to toughen up if he was going to escape. Longtail came over and pushed the wooden beam off of him. "I got you. Come on." Longtail told Cloudpaw. Then the brass bell fell down. "Watch out!" Longtail shouted, he shoved himself and Cloudpaw out of the way as the brass bell fell and struck the floor.
"Move your tails." Bluestar shouted. Longtail and Cloudpaw followed her as they began going down the stairs to get out of the church. Cloudpaw noticed the gap as this church was falling apart. "Jump!" Bluestar called out. Cloudpaw and Longtail jumped, landing to their paws before they rushed out of the church. "Almost there!" Bluestar shouted. When they got to the entrance. Bluestar shoved herself out along with the two cats. Brightpaw and Fernpaw scurried to the front as the bell tower of the church came crumbling down, missing the group fortunately. It left a lot of dust in its path.
Cloudpaw was laying on the ground as Bluestar coughed on the dust. He was grateful for making it out of there alive.
"Are you alright Bluestar?" Cloudpaw asked. Bluestar turned to Cloudpaw who was still on the ground.
"No, but at least you understand." Bluestar muttered as she was a bit annoyed by the ordeal. She walked over and handed her paw to Cloudpaw. Cloudpaw grabbed it and she pulled him back up. "Mouse dung! I lost two good cats in there! Now we need to pull it together in the hope they make it back alive." Bluestar screamed that she was losing cats in order to make progress.
"Get yourselves together, Shadowclan's attacking us." Whitestorm shouted, the Thunderclan cats rushed over to man their positions as Shadowclan cats were moving up.
"We hold this square, don't let them take it!" Bluestar shouted. Cloudpaw raised the M1 Garand he had and began firing away. The entire square opened up as Shadowclan cats were launching a counter attack to try to take it.
"Nailed one!" Cloudpaw shouted. Brightpaw came to his side and began firing her Carbine at the cats.
"I have rifle grenades if you need them. I got these from Ashpaw." Brightpaw mewed. Cloudpaw nodded as he took a rifle grenade and attached it to his M1 Garand. He then fired it like it was a mortar straight at the Shadowclan cats. The grenade exploded, taking out multiple Shadowclan cats. Brightpaw was shooting any cats that were getting too close as Cloudpaw loaded another rifle grenade up. "Get some!" Brightpaw shouted with excitement. Cloudpaw launched another rifle grenade at the group, taking out three more cats.
"I'm having fun huh?" Cloudpaw asked as he loaded another rifle grenade up.
"Yeah you only have two more after this, make them count." Brightpaw mewed to Cloudpaw. Cloudpaw nodded before he launched the rifle grenade at another group of Shadowclan cats forming up, taking out two of them.
"Thanks." Cloudpaw mewed before loading another rifle grenade up. He fired it at another group, taking them out.
"Last grenade." Brightpaw told Cloudpaw as he loaded it up. Cloudpaw nodded before looking for another group of bundled up cats to fire upon. He saw them and fired the rifle grenade. The grenade exploded, taking out four cats. Cloudpaw knew he was all out when another grenade was tossed to him.
"Red smoke, call in the P47's. Fireheart is getting close." Bluestar told Cloudpaw. Cloudpaw nodded before he pulled the pin before he tossed out the smoke grenade. Suddenly an explosion from the distance was heard.
"What was that?" Brindleface asked.
"I don't know for sure." Bluestar replied. Suddenly the screams from P47 planes was heard as the planes were flying in and dropping their bombs onto the Shadowclan cats ahead.
"The planes are dropping their bombs too close! We're going to be flattened!" Fernpaw called out.
"Hold your position!" Bluestar shouted, suddenly, the bombs flew down and flattened the area right in front of them. Cloudpaw was knocked off of his paws by the incoming explosion. Cloudpaw got up moments later as a group of cats came from the dust.
"Ashpaw!" Cloudpaw called out. He ran over to hug his friend as he was grateful for making it out of there.
"Easy there, I'm alright. I am." Ashpaw told Cloudpaw. Fireheart walked over as he had news.
"Well thanks to Ravenpaw and Barley, we took out the last gun, they're making their way back here. We put the Krauts on the run." Fireheart told Bluestar. "I'd say the apprentices are coming along well, what do you say Bluestar?" Bluestar didn't say anything but instead she lifted her dew claw almost if she was giving a thumbs up. "That was a fantastic operation we all did, if we keep this up, this war will be over. We'll be resting up for the operation we just did." Fireheart walked away leaving Bluestar to talk to the rest of the group.
"We're in big warrior territory, I think I've been going soft on you for the last couple of moons, I want to see what you are truly made of." Bluestar walked away next leaving the apprentices to gossip by themselves.
"Bluestar still isn't impressed. If we handed her Kitler's head on a silver platter, she'll complain about the shine." Ashpaw joked to Cloudpaw. Cloudpaw laughed softly. Brightpaw came over.
"If we keep fighting like we did today the war will be over in no time. It's time we made the big moves now." Brightpaw told Cloudpaw while holding some admiration for him.
"All right, I'm in." Cloudpaw mewed.
Fireheart and Bluestar were reading over the intel that was provided to them by Ravenpaw to find out what Tigerstar was up to.
"This isn't good." Fireheart began. Bluestar walked over to see what it was.
"What is it?" Bluestar asked Fireheart.
"Blackfoot's got a Panzerzug heading to a spot just outside of Paris as of next month. We don't know the length of it but we know it is carrying V2 rockets. Those rockets could target and destroy London." Fireheart told Bluestar what this meant.
"What's a Panzerzug?" Bluestar asked, the name for that seemed unfamiliar to her.
"Armored train Bluestar, we need to find it and neutralize it before it makes it to Paris." Fireheart told Bluestar. "It's a fortress on wheels." Fireheart continued to shift through the papers before finding an unfamiliar she-cat in the paper; she was listed to be Shadowclan's agent. "Who is she?" Fireheart asked.
"Her name is Sasha but I don't know who she is either. We have two goals, stopping that Panzerzug and finding Sasha and we could bring her for questioning. It looks like she's operating with Tigerstar." Bluestar told Fireheart about Sasha. Fireheart nodded.
"They have only so far they could run to before we close in from the west and the bears close in from the east. Shadowclan's going to get crushed." Fireheart got up and walked away. This was something he truly needed to think over.
The Breakout of Normandy was what we hoped for, the armored and mechanized units leading the way, all the way to Brest and Brittany. We decided to move in from the south while Windclan and Skyclan came from the north, trapping forty thousand Shadowclan cats just outside of Falaise. We were advancing as fast as the Shadowclan cats were withdrawing. We were getting close to our objective.
All this time we moved my uncle was thinking: Who is Sasha?
[A/N]: The follow up for the last chapter as they have secured Marigny but it isn't over for our plucky little platoon. There are bigger goals they are focusing on other than breaking out of Normandy. Now their next goals are the following: Liberating Paris, finding Graystripe, neutralizing the Panzerzug and finding Sasha. Only three out of these four goals will be completed in the next three chapters to come. See you until then. Goodbye.