A/N I got my story uploaded! I will try to post one a week, but no guarantees.

Astralic13- Thank you!

I do not own Warrior Cats.

On with the chapter! Enjoy! A/N

Darkness.

I was in what felt like an eternal darkness. I saw flashes, like visions- Kira desperately trying to get help, paramedics rushing in and trying to save me. At the sight of my body, I gagged- if that was something I could do in this strange place.

I saw my funeral, the coffin lowered into the ground with Kira, my parents, other friends, and sister around the grave. I saw Kira guilt-ridden that she hadn't been able to do anything, my parents mourning.

Then it all faded away. I was in complete darkness. I couldn't feel a thing. Not hot or cold, I couldn't even feel my skin. I started to panic as I thought of staying in this darkness for the rest of eternity.

A small light appeared in front of me. It was much smaller than my hands, but it burned like the heat of the largest stars. Desperately, I grabbed it, my hands folding over the bright, small sun.

As soon as my skin made contact, agony shot through me. I tried to scream, but it sounded… not human. Imagine a cat screeching for no reason at all. Then multiply it by five.

It sounded sort of like that. The light disappeared, then- nothing.

Feeling something underneath me, I shifted slightly. Prickly, dirty stuff rubbed against me. I was lying on my side, my surroundings feeling different somehow.

I realized my eyes were closed. Opening my eyes, harsh sunlight blinding me. I closed my eyes again, then slowly opened my eyes so they could adjust to the light. Looking around, I gasped in surprise.

I was in the middle of a forest. Oaks and birches and cedars and other trees I couldn't remember the names of towered above me. I was laying just outside of a bush, the green leaves on large bushes reaching towards me. Groaning slightly, I tried rolling over, but for some reason my hands wouldn't work correctly.

Looking down, I screamed in shock and panic. In place of my arms and hands, there were two white cat forelegs extending into paws. I turned my head, only to see that the rest of my body was covered in white fur. My tail lashed in panic- wait, TAIL!?

Breathing heavily, I tried turning my left hand. The left paw turned, the hard pink pad gazing up at me. I jumped up, quickly finding my balance. I lifted my leg or arm and the corresponding cat's limb lifted. No doubt about it, I was a cat.

Panicking, I thought about how this happened. Then, I saw the small across-body handbag that I had taken with me to the amusement park. I pounced on it, opening it with my paws and finding that, yes, my stuff was still in it. Flashlight, phone, a small book (something about plants and city creatures), and a rope (unused). Cursing myself for not remembering the rope, I looked at the new object in my bag. The object wasn't there before- it did look weird.

It was golden and sort of shaped like… from the position I could see it from, it almost looked like a key. Prodding it and then jumping back, nothing happened. No explosions or anything. So I wormed my way slightly into the bag and pulled it out.

The object was about the size of my old human hand. It was a golden circle, with two protrusions coming out from the bottom of it, looking almost like mandibles, or pliers. On one side of the thing was an engraving of two cats, facing each other with ears flattened, as if fighting. On the other side was a weird engraving of a giant floating island, a forested valley underneath it, and an array of natural features. In the middle was a city with enormous towers. Shrugging awkwardly, a bit confused, I put it back in the bag.

I quickly checked the phone. No cracks, interestingly enough, and it was at full battery. It also had an internet connection. Getting an idea, I turned on my phone (putting in the password was surprisingly easy with my paws) and turned on GPS.

The GPS said it had lost signal and wanted me to reconnect. Confused, I checked my connection again. Still full bars. Going back to the GPS, it still told me to reconnect. Frowning, I put the phone back in the bag.

Stuffing the flashlight and book into the bag as well, I managed to figure out how to close it with my new paws. The straps were too large for my cat body, so I wriggled into them, squirmed and rolled a bit to get the pouch on my flank, and got the rope tied around me to keep the bag on. I took that as a victory.

The forest around me seemed huge. There was a scent that was like dust but not dust, musty and sort of rough. The same scent, but smaller- not fainter, just smaller, and a bit cleaner. The scents swirled around me on the breeze. Musty scents, sharp scents, green scents, tangy scents, stale scents, fresh scents, dry scents, wet scents. All of this information in one package, all through my nose. It was overwhelming, if I was being honest.

Then the hearing as well. Rustling of birds and squirrels in trees. The leaves brushing against wood. My own pawsteps as they pad against the ground. My sight was clearer, but at the same time a bit… fuzzy.

This is a cat's senses? I wondered, pricking my ears and opening my mouth slightly (I had read somewhere that cats have sense receptors in their mouths). Immediately, more information came into my mind. If I turned my ears in one direction, some sounds became clearer and some became smaller. It was amazing.

The sun was starting to sink in the sky. I frowned; night was coming quicker than I had expected. It was around noon when I had started walking. Around me, the forest had changed somewhat, becoming denser, the trees more closing in, the ground a bit drier. It wasn't all-enclosing, as if the trees were pressing in on you, but it was a bit close.

I reached a spot that I thought looked nice enough just as the light started fading. There was a large oak with a small space around it, just large enough to stretch out comfortably in. The branches of the trees let in a little more light than the surrounding forest.

Untying the rope and bag from myself, I found myself licking my fur back into place before realizing and recoiling. Apparently cat instincts had found themselves into me as well as a cat's body. Sighing, I turned to the bag and looked up to a branch slightly overhead. I wanted to tie the bag to the branch, but it was higher than I had originally thought as I took a closer look at it.

Going to the trunk of the tree, I placed my paw on the bark. Finally figuring out how to unsheath my claws, I felt them dig into the bark and started trying to pull myself up. The unused-to strain sent a shock of pain through my forelegs, forcing me to sheath my claws and drop back to all four limbs. Hissing slightly, I shook the paw that took the most strain.

I looked up again at the branch, trying to figure out a way to get up. I wish I had my human hands and legs back; I would've been tall enough then to jump and throw the bag and rope over the branch.

I yelped, falling back as my body suddenly… shifted. I rolled on the ground, staring up at the sky. I quickly got up, shocked. Thinking about being a human again had shifted me from being a cat, back into a human.

Gasping, I took advantage of the situation. I threw the rope and bag over the branch, the bag dangling so that it wouldn't take up much headspace. I thought for a second. White cat, being able to transform into a human… I gasped.

Thinking about wanting to be a cat again, about the fur and paws and scents and sounds, everything around me became larger, my senses sharper. Finding my balance quickly since I knew what would happen, it confirmed my thoughts.

I was in the form of Shadowhunter, a werecat from Inheritance Cycle.

I was in quite a shock. As the sun went down more, I kept studying my new form and testing out different things. I tried leaping, climbing again (didn't go very well). I kept shifting back and forth between human and cat, but eventually had to settle in my cat form. It was getting colder, and werecats didn't shift with clothing.

Night creatures were starting to come out now as the sun fully sank. I didn't particularly want to sleep out in the open- owls and foxes were predators of cats and were nocturnal. I could've slept in my human form, but I was warmer as a cat.

I glared at the tree. Unsheathing my claws, I took a running leap at it, slamming into the bark. I scrambled to get my claws sunk into the wood, and after a minute I finally got all four paws clinging to the tree.

"This isn't so bad," I muttered, quickly taking a paw out of the bark and a bit higher. With at least three paws bearing my weight at a time, it was bearable to get high enough into the tree to sleep safely.

Moving another paw upwards a little, and then another paw and another, I slowly inched my way up the tree trunk. The rough, brown bark scratched at my legs as I lifted myself with each small paw step.

I eventually managed to climb onto the branch my bag was hanging from. I collapsed on the thicker part of it, exhausted from my climb. When I looked down, I realized the branch wasn't as far above the ground as I had originally thought. Sighing, I fell asleep.

The bright daylight woke me up. It took me a minute to remember where I was. I stood up, stretching slowly. I reached out and slowly pushed my bag to the ground, using the rope so my phone didn't break.

Shifting into a human, I almost fell off the branch as the size difference startled me- yet again. I carefully jumped off of it, landing easily on my feet. Then, grabbing my bag, I started running, forming a plan in my head.

There had to be some sort of settlement somewhere. I could hide my stuff and use my cat form to steal- uh hum- borrow some food and clothes.

As I jogged, I eventually heard the sounds of cars. Slowing to a stop, I stashed my bag under a juniper berry bush, shifted into my cat form, and continued on. Soon, I could see a wall. Jogging faster, I leaped onto the brick wall, almost falling off from overbalancing.

I was in a neighborhood. I got a few directions from a couple lazy pet cats laying in a garden, orientated myself, and started walking.

It was more difficult that I had expected to keep balance on the wall. Eventually, I just hopped down to the sidewalk and walked alongside a few people out for a walk. The younger one- thirteen, I would guess- kept glancing at me. I smiled a little bit. If only they knew I was actually- partly, I guess- a human.

We split paths as they took a turn and I crossed the street. This was the most dangerous bit. As I crouched down, I looked left and right. No cars coming. Taking a deep breath, I sprinted full speed across the road.

Safe. I slowed back down to a walk, not caring to look behind me. After a few more street crosses, I came to the area I wanted- a restaurant.

I couldn't see the restaurant from my current position, but I could guess that it was a lunch and dinner kind of place. As I slipped around the back, I saw someone throwing away some unused food. Latching my eyes on a half-eaten fish, I darted forward, snatched the fish, and ran. There was some shouting behind me, but no one chased after me.

Slowing down, panting, I dropped the fish and quickly ate it, carefully avoiding the bones of it. The fish tasted… weird. I couldn't put a word to it, but I assumed it was because of my cat senses and taste sensors or whatever. I finished it and continued on.

I was walking along the fence, stolen clothes draped on my back, towards the place I had dropped off my bag, when I felt the fence shake. Instinctively, I whipped around, hissing. The friendly looking black-and-white tom stumbled back with an alarmed look on his face.

"Oh- sorry!" I mewed quickly. The tom padded forward cautiously.

"It's alright," he mewed back. I could now see why the fence shook so much when he had jumped on; he was very plump. Probably a pet of one of the nearby houses. "You just look new. Where are you from?"

Hmm, what could I say? "I come from the forest," I answer. Honest enough; I had woken up in the forest, after all.

"Really? What's your name? Have you seen my friend?" the tom asked excitedly. I tilted my head at the barrage of questions.

"My name is…" I ran it through my head. Shadowhunter sounded nice- it was the name of my form, as well. "Shadowhunter," I say after a moment, "My name is Shadowhunter. What's this of a friend of yours?"

"His name's Rusty, he has a red pelt and went to go with the wild cats a few days ago," the friendly cat replied, somehow sitting gracefully on the fence. I frowned. Rusty… a tom with a red pelt.

"No, I haven't sorry," I tell him. At his sort of dejected look, I quickly add, "but I'll tell you if I do see him!"

"Thank you!" he mewed, waving his tail.

As I turned around and started walking away, I asked over my shoulder, "What's your name, by the way?"

"My name is Smudge."