It wasn't long until they were about thirty strong as they were racing their way to the new territory that was going to be set up for them. They soon came to the spot where the dogs they have met were yesterday.
"Who are these dog gangs?" Asked Juniperpaw.
"They're called Dark Runners, they are a group of dogs that wanted to kill all the cats in the forest despite them telling that Tigerstar is their god." Edmontonia Responded.
"Wait which Tigerstar?" Asked Juniperstar.
"Not the Tigerstar that his name was Tigerheart, he's good I'm talking about the other Tigerstar that went to the Dark Forest." Edmontonia laid out the situation.
"Oh I believe their biggest weakness is that they don't believe in Star-clan." Juniperpaw joked, that got everyone laughing as they made it to the spot.
"Is this some kind of bush simulator?" Asked Tenonto.
"I don't know." Tigerstar mewed.
"Hey there's plenty of loose rocks so toss them all into the bushes." Juniperpaw mewed.
"Great Idea." Molestar mewed as he picked up a rock and he slung it into the bushes. A wail was heard from there.
"I bet it must have hit something." Patchpaw mewed as she flung a rock into another bush as it yelped.
Soon they all began to fling rocks into the bushes as many yaps and yelps were heard. Soon the dogs attacked as Tyranno soon went into murder mode. Edmontonia rushed forward knocking Tyranno down as many of the cats began to tag team Tarbo who was just as buff as Tyranno. All the other dogs and remaining cats began to fight the others. Juniperpaw and Lightpaw were busy attacking Lythronax as his jaws snapped at them. Juniperpaw raked his claws along the dog's muzzle leaving a large scratch on there. Daspleto was surrounded by Patchpaw and her clan mates so he ran off frightened by the cats. Einio and Parko were busy fighting Gorgo while Crowfeather and Breezepelt were attacking Alberto. Juniperpaw soon battered Lythronax enough to the point where he retreated as blood was tricking down his face. They soon went to help Patchpaw who was squared off against Appalacio.
"Don't worry we're here to help." Juniperpaw mewed as he tackled Appalacio before he can clamp his jaws around Patchpaw. Nanuq and Terato soon retreated as they ran. Tyranno was getting tired of being rammed by Edmontonia so he made a retreat. But he didn't go far as he had another plan, he began to dig out the slope to a tree.
"What is he doing?" Asked Juniperpaw as he studied him.
"He's digging out the slope to a tree." Crowfeather mewed.
"Not on my watch." Juniperpaw mewed. "Lightpaw take over for me I got an idea." He soon began to race up to where Tyranno was digging as he confronted him. Juniperpaw hissed as he threw his weight at the large mutt knocking him to the side. Juniperpaw soon bit the back of his neck as he sunk his claws into him trying to hang on.
"Get off of me you little ankle biter." Tyranno howled as he tried to shake the apprentice off. Juniperpaw scraped his paws along the side as he began to scratch the dog open. Soon a yowling was heard. All the dogs looked up; it was in fact Poppyfrost who was charging into the battle with ten extra warriors as she was worried about her apprentice getting injured in the battle.
Poppyfrost soon leaped onto Bistahi who was tired out from fighting Molestar. She sunk her teeth into the dog's flank while Molestar scratched the side of the ferocious dog.
"What are you doing here?" Molestar asked.
"Shut up and fight!" Poppyfrost hissed.
Soon Patchpaw and Lightpaw raced up to help Juniperpaw with fighting Tyranno. They leaped onto him sinking their claws and teeth into the muscly Pit-bull mix. Tyranno tried to snap at them but he was too big to move effective as he tried to shake off the three apprentices that were on him. The ruckus was eroding the foundation of the tree that was holding it up. Soon all of the Dark Runners were facing a losing battle.
"It's no use! Retreat!" Alberto shouted as all of the dogs began to fall back. Poppyfrost soon cuts off Tarbo's line of escape as they all leaped up and pummeled the helpless Rottweiler to his death while they all mauled at him. Soon the apprentices jumped off of Tyranno as he heard his pack mates making a run for it. He decided to run with the apprentices heading down the hill to greet their clan mates.
"We've driven them out of the forest." Molestar mewed.
"I know but we don't know when they would be back." Edmontonia told the leader.
They were all talking as Tyranno was ready for one last trick to make his presence known. The foundation of the tree was so weak that a slight nudge was enough to make it fall. With an explosive back kick, he knocked into the tree causing it to fall over.
"A tree is coming down!" Crowfeather shouted as everyone began to run. Poppyfrost was the only cat who was moving the slowest as Juniperpaw feared for the worst.
"Poppyfrost look out!" Breezepelt shouted as he knocked the Tortoiseshell warrior out of the way. The tree had finished falling as dust was shaken up. Juniperpaw went to go see if his mentor was okay. He saw her just lying there motionless.
"Poppyfrost? Poppyfrost get up." Juniperpaw squeaked.
"I'm just playing with you." Poppyfrost mewed as she got up and licked her apprentice.
"I'm glad you're okay." Juniperpaw mewed happily as she got up and gave him her attention. Even though Poppyfrost was okay, another warrior wasn't.
"Breezepelt?" Crowfeather cried as he saw his kit was crushed under the tree.
"Let's see if he's still there." Edmontonia ordered as he and several dogs and cars began to roll the tree off of him.
"Breezepelt?" Crowfeather cried again. Breezepelt coughed as his eyes opened. He was coughing up some blood. "Are you okay?"
"I don't know." Breezepelt wheezed.
"Let's get you back with us so that Jayfeather can treat you." Crowfeather mewed as he and the others began to hurry back.
It was clear the battle was a complete mess. Tarbo had died from being attacked by a quick Poppyfrost assault. Everyone else had been injured. Juniperpaw sustained a couple of deep scratches in his body from Appalacio. And Poppyfrost nearly had her head bitten in half by Tarbo if Molestar didn't help. Willowshine was treating Juniperpaw and Poppyfrost's wounds as they had fought like the bravest cats they have ever known.
"It was a bit reckless but admirable for your to attack Tyranno before bad things happened." Willowshine mewed as he tended to a deep scratch in his neck with some marigold and Cobwebs. "You will make a brave and noble warrior."
"Thanks and where's Jayfeather?" Asked Juniperpaw.
"He's tending to Breezepelt, Star-clan dropped a tree on him and he is having trouble breathing." Willowshine mewed.
"It wasn't Star-clan who did that, it was Tyranno." Juniperpaw mewed.
"Well Star-clan always has a reputation of dropping trees on cats." Willowshine mewed.
"I never knew a cat who wanted to kill me wanted to save me, if he didn't get crushed, I would have been flattened instead." Poppyfrost mewed.
"Well at least he did something heroic." Willowshine mewed.
Juniperpaw got up as he padded to Jayfeather as he was tending to Breezepelt's injuries.
"Will he live?" Crowfeather mewed worried.
"It's uncertain." Jayfeather told Crowfeather with a cold tone in his voice. He soon turned and padded away to tend to Cherryfall's cuts. Juniperpaw soon followed after him.
Afterwards he curled up in the nest bed with Lightpaw. They soon fell asleep together and Juniperpaw went to Star-clan. Bluestar padded over to him as she was quite proud.
"I say that was a great battle you fought." Bluestar mewed.
"I guess but is the prophecy is complete yet?" Juniperpaw mewed as he was curious about what was going on since he fought a giant group of dogs.
"Not yet, you must lead your clan to the territory, it is destined on what you are going to do." Bluestar mewed.
"Okay." Juniperpaw mewed before Hawkfrost slowly padded up to him a gave him a warm welcome.
"I've heard you fought dogs." Hawkfrost mewed.
"I have and the prophecy is almost complete." Juniperpaw mewed.
"I'm very glad that I can hear about that, Go on now you're destiny awaits you." Hawkfrost mewed before he vanished.
"Well that was the obvious thing to say?" Juniperpaw mewed. He soon woke up as he was ready to lead the clans on the very last leg of the journey. He got something to eat with Lightpaw when Mistystar padded over.
"You ready to lead the last leg of the journey?" Asked Mistystar smiling a bit.
"I certainly am." Juniperpaw mewed.
"Come, we still got a few forests to travel through." Mistystar mewed letting the apprentices lead the journey.
They traveled through the thick forest as they looked for solid flat ground to easily walk over. The sun was rising as he used it to tell the position of the sun as it made contact with the dark forest ground as it lit the path. They soon found the giant lake of water as Juniperpaw made to do a head count to make sure everyone was there. Crowfeather spoke out from the group.
"Can you slow this journey down a bit? Breezepelt is struggling." Crowfeather mewed as Breezepelt was wheezing as he struggled to breathe.
"I don't know how much longer he would be able to handle this, but I think Crowfeather is right and we should take it easy." Jayfeather mewed about Breezepelt's breathing problem. Juniperpaw thought about what should happen but he was quickly able to think of a solution to make sure that Breezepelt would keep up.
"Mistystar take my place in the front, I'm heading to the back to help Breezepelt." Juniperpaw mewed as he went to back to help the injured warrior.
"Whatever you say." Mistystar mewed as she began to take it slow with the cats following slowly behind.
Soon they all slowly took the long way as they explored the giant lake. The sun was in their favor as the cats and dogs staggered slowly onward. Late afternoon was proving the most difficult with Breezepelt. He was struggling to breathe due to him being crushed under a tree. Crowfeather and Juniperpaw were doing their best to lend their support but it was simply no use. They approached a ridge on the hill before the river met the lake when Breezepelt finally collapsed.
"Breezepelt? Breezepelt get up." Juniperpaw mewed trying to encourage the injured warrior to continue.
"I can't. It's too much for me." Breezepelt wheezed before he coughed up blood again. Jayfeather soon padded over to Juniperpaw.
"I can't treat him for his injuries, and it's no use on saving him." Jayfeather mewed to the sad apprentice. "He's going to Star-clan now." Jayfeather cried.
"May star-clan light my path, plus tell Hollyleaf, I'm sorry." Breezepelt wheeze as he gave one last smile to the two cats. Breezepelt coughed up some more blood as his body convulsed for one last time, Breezepelt's body soon fell limp as he was no longer moving.
"What's going on?" Asked Crowfeather at the two cats who were just sitting there? "Why aren't you on the move?"
"I know this might upset you and Nightcloud, but Breezepelt died." Jayfeather mewed the news to Crowfeather as he picked up Breezepelt's lifeless body.
"No." Crowfeather mewed as he was grief stricken down. The three soon trotted to the front of the line with the grave news.
"Everyone stop, we need to grieve for Breezepelt." Crowfeather mewed.
"What's going on?" Mistystar mewed.
"Breezepelt died from his injuires." Jayfeather mewed as Juniperpaw and Crowfeather prepared a grave for him.
"We should all give our goodbyes before we continue." Mistystar mewed.
Soon they place Breezepelt's lifeless corpse into the grave as all the cats began to share tongues with him for the last time. Nightcloud was the most devastated by the news.
"He's gone." Nightcloud wailed as Jayfeather did his best to comfort her.
"You might get the chance to speak to him when we get there, we still got a few more hills to cross you can't just give up now over the loss of your kit." Jayfeather assured her as the apprentice walked over.
"It's time we put that behind us and we keep moving." Juniperpaw mewed as he and the two cats padded along with a crying Nightcloud in tow. Edmontonia and a couple of his members soon buried Breezepelt in order for him to get remembered they soon arrived to their new home that night.
"It's amazing." Molestar mewed.
"Big enough for the seven of us." Mistystar mewed. "By seven of us I was talking about the seven groups."
"Fair enough." Harestar mewed.
"When will we get our territories?" Asked Tigerstar.
"Tomorrow, we've been through enough today and we don't have enough light to get our territories." Juniperpaw mewed looking at the sunset. He soon padded away to be with Lightpaw for the night. While asleep he was visited by Breezepelt who was now in Star-clan
"Thanks for standing over me when I could go on no further." Breezepelt mewed.
"You're welcome I guess." Juniperpaw mewed. Breezepelt soon vanished as he was greeted with Blossomfall and Thornclaw.
"I would never see you if I was in the elder's den." Thornclaw mewed.
"I think you will see more of me because you won't be on patrol." Blossomfall mewed.
"I will never retire until there is no need for patrols." Thornclaw mewed.
"Molestar did the right thing by giving you many moons of rest." Blossomfall mewed.
"Then who will take over the Patrols?" Asked Thornclaw.
"I think Cinderheart has got that covered." Blossomfall mewed. Juniperpaw was curiously starting at them wondering where the new territory markers would be set.
"Maybe tomorrow." Juniperpaw mewed.
