Alright, I finally managed to update this! Sorry about how long it took, but I had to use the book to find the locations, some lines, and other stuff. Plus, school. You know how that feels.

Anyways, here's the next chapter. I don't own Scourge, Bone, Tigerstar, Boulder, Firestar, Thornpaw, or Mousefur.

8

Territory Tour

A moon later, I was hunting along the edge of the territory, in a Twoleg park. I was doing a terrible job, because I was still freaking out about my Twelfth Moon being in less than a moon. I knew where I could go live, but I still didn't want to leave my mom and dad just yet.

So now I was chasing a rabbit, just about to pounce, when I crashed into a wall of gray fur.

"Get off of me!" I shouted. The cat got off just in time for me to see the plump rabbit escape into a bush. "You idiot! That was a perfectly good rabbit, and you made me lose it!"

"I-I'm deeply sorry, Sir Claw! Please don't kill me! I'm sorry!" the cat wailed, probably scaring away all the prey nearby in the process. As soon as I heard that dramatic British accent, I realized who it was.

"Oh, hey, Boulder." I said, licking my paw in boredom. I began to study my claws as I added "What do you want?"

"Tigerstar sent me over to get your father. He's ready to show you the available territory."

"Really? C'mon, I'll take you to Dad." With a sweep of my tail, I led the gray cat through the territory until we reached our den.

"Dad! That Tiger-guy's ready to show us some dirt!" I shouted as I walked in. I was expecting Dad to come out with that hungry glint in his eye, ready to pick out a new den. All I ended up doing was jolt Mom out of her sleep.

"Claw?" she said, stretching.

"I woke you up? Sorry about that. Do you happen to know where Dad is? Boulder says that Tigerstar's ready to show us the territory."

"Hm…he stopped by Bone's den." Mom sighed a little.

"Mom, what's wrong?"

"Nothing,"

"You sigh like that when you're upset."

"…how did you know that?"

"Child's intuition…and Dad told me when you were mad about that cat stealing our food."

"Ah…well, I can still remember when you were a little kitten, with your brother and sister. You've grown up so fast, Claw, and I'm proud of everything you've done. But I'm still worried about losing you in this battle your father keeps talking about."

"Oh, Mom…don't worry about me. You won't lose me; if anything, we have to worry about Dad in this battle."

"But-but your father—he's a killing machine!" Boulder exclaimed in disbelief.

"Well, the 'killing machine' is getting old. Plus…he's getting old." I said. I was about to tell them about my dream, but they'd either never believe me, or freak out.

"Anyways, your father should be in Bone's den, right?"

"Yeah; I guess we should get going." The two of us walked out of the den, leaving Mom to lay back down and nap some more.

Meanwhile, at Bone's den, I was greeted by Flora. She lead Boulder and I to a small area, where a dumpster was between two buildings, like ours. Dad and Bone were having a training session. Scourge was on top of the black and white cat, who looked winded.

"Had you been the enemy, you'd be dead. Tighten up; you don't know who you'll be facing in this next battle." He said.

"How…how did you do that?" Bone gasped.

"Easy. The bigger they come, the harder they fall."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"You have thick muscles, which add to your weight. The bigger they come, the harder they fall."

"Um…hi, Dad." I said. The two cats turned around to see us.

"Boulder. Claw." Dad greeted. "Is it time?"

"Tigerstar has gotten rid of the bulk of ThunderClan, and wants you and your closest cats to come scout the territory, see what you want." The gray cat replied.

"Excellent. Bone, we'll leave in a moment. Claw, go get your mother; you two are coming with us."

"Okay!" I bounded away to our den, where Mom was napping away. I was actually kinda afraid to wake her up.

Why? Because Mom had a terrible habit of trying to claw your paw off in her sleep if you so much as touched her. She even nicked Dad's ear when he leaned against her in his sleep. You know how people say 'I could do that in my sleep'? Mom could say 'I could kill you in my sleep' and actually mean it.

But somebody had to wake her up. And as Boulder walked up behind me, I knew exactly who would do it.

"Hey, Boulder? I'm gonna get a quick mouse; can you wake up Mom?" I asked him. Before he could say anything in objection, I added "Thanks a lot; I owe you one." And went over to the fresh-kill pile to get a mouse.

"But I…fine." As I 'ate a mouse', I watched Boulder unsheathe his claws and poke Mom with one of them out the corner of my eye. Almost immediately, that claw was a whisker away from getting torn off. The gray cat screeched and backed away in fear as Mom suddenly sprang to life in her sleep and tried to claw his head off.

"Claw, you set me up!" he exclaimed. I decided that, since I did owe him something, I'd help him out; plus, if Mom killed him, we'd never get any more new territory.

"Alright, alright, hang on." I said, running over. By the time I got there, though, Mom had woken up.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Uh…you kinda-sorta attacked Boulder in your sleep."

"Oh, I'm so sorry!"

"…it's alright, Miss Fang." Bone murmured, licking his rising fur flat.

"So, did you speak to your father?"

"Yeah! You, Bone, Dad, and I are all going to the forest to scout the territory Tigerstar wants to split between us!" I said.

"Alright. Lets get going." At that, the three of us went back to Bone's den. He and Dad were both ready to leave, so we let Boulder lead the way.

"Greetings, Scourge." Tigerstar said as we arrived at the edge of the forest. We had walked through the outskirts of the territory, where Twolegs lived in neatly-lined dens. The tabby dipped his head respectively towards Bone.

"Uh…I'm Bone." The black-and-white cat said.

"My apologies. Greetings, Scourge." Tigerstar turned and dipped his head towards Dad.

"Hello, Tigerstar. You called us here to look at territory, correct?" he responded, a mischievous glint in his eyes. it was the same glint he got whenever he was about to strike the killing blow on his latest victim. What, exactly, was he thinking?

"Correct. I see you brought some other cats with you."

"Was I not supposed to?"

"Well, a few members of ThunderClan survived the dog attack. They're very territorial, and it would be harder to move through their territory inconspicuously with such a large group. Nevertheless, we'll work it out."

"In a few days, they won't have any territory to be territorial over,"

"Yes, yes, of course…" for awhile, we all just sat there, while Tigerstar looked at his paws. After a minute or so, my Dad began to get impatient.

"The territory."

"What about it?"

"You're showing it to us,"

"Oh, right! Follow me!" the large tabby disappeared into the bushes. Dad shook his head disdainfully and followed him. Bone snickered until he got a nasty glare from Mom.

'Stupid forest cat. Can't stay focused for seven seconds!' I thought as I slid through the bushes. 'He's all muscles and no brain! We have a really stupid tour guide.'

"So, this is ThunderClan territory." Tigerstar said, turning to us.

"I recognize this place." Dad growled under his breath "I was attacked here, when I was a kit. There were three cats who claimed to be ThunderClan. One of them attacked me."

"Well, you'll get your revenge on those cats, if they happen to be the ones that happen to be left."

"Oh, I know I will." Tigerstar continued to lead us through the territory. This cat really was stupid! He didn't even realize that Scourge was talking about him! Well, Dad hadn't said 'tabby cat named Tigerpaw', either, but who would forget attacking a kit?!

The tabby led us through the forest, occasionally hiding under bushes. Sunlight dappled on the ground, gleaming through the green leaves. We moved quickly and silently through the forest, as we walked on each other's pawsteps. Soon we stopped at a clearing filled with rocks and sand.

"This is Snakerocks." Tigerstar announced.

"Snakerocks? ThunderClan lives amongst snakes?" Scourge asked, a bit surprised.

"What's a snake?" I asked.

"…it's like a rope, but it's an animal and can kill a cat as small as you."

"Like that thing?" I asked, gesturing towards a pale rope-ish thing that was flicking it's forked tongue out.

"Adder!" Tigerstar hissed, backing away.

"Claw, back away slowly." Dad ordered in a voice that seemed calm, but had a trace of fear behind it.

"Eeeek! Kill it, kill it, kill it!" Mom screeched. I hesitated; everyone was acting like this was a do-or-die situation (except Bone, who was just as confused as I was). But was something this tiny thing really deadly, or just scary?

'Don't think like that,' I thought 'My father and I are perfect examples that small is lethal. Maybe this snake fits the title, too.' So I quickly killed it with a nip to it's head.

"Well, now I see why it's called 'Snakerocks'." Dad muttered.

"Quick! Hide!" Tigerstar hissed. Without thinking about it, we all ran after him and into a place where the ground got muddy and stinky. And just in time.

"Right, Thornpaw," I heard a voice say "What can you smell?" there was a moment's silence until—

"Fox." Another voice announced "It's stale, though…two days old, I'd guess. Squirrel. And…just a trace of dog." Another moment of silence.

"Anything else?" the first voice asked.

"The ThunderPath, and there's something…Firestar, I don't understand. I think I can smell cats, but its not the scent of any of the Clans. It's coming from over there. What do you think?"

"Uh-oh." Tigerstar muttered.

"What?" Scourge asked.

"That little twerp scented us. Quick; roll in this, and then climb up that tree. It'll disguise our scent." I did as I was told, along with the rest of us (although, my mother was a bit reluctant to do so).

"Let's take a look. And be careful; it might only be a lost kittypet, but you can never tell." The first voice murmured. As we climbed up the tree, the same strange scent that was on Tigerstar and Boulder was steadily getting stronger, and not just because they were pressed against me. "Rouges or loners, three of them, I'd guess. And the scent is fresh. We must have just missed them."

'Lucky we walked on top of each other's tracks; they think there's only three of us instead of six!' I thought. Scourge chuckled as if we were thinking the same thing.

"But what are they doing on our territory?" the second voice asked.

"Oh, we're just taking a tour before we kill your friends and family," Dad muttered sarcastically.

"Are they Tigerstar's rouges?"

"Nah, they're all at home. This is just BloodClan; your worst nightmare." Tigerstar replied sarcastically.

"No, Tigerstar's rouges took on ShadowClan scent moons ago. This must be a new lot." A third voice stated.

"Well, aren't you a smart little kitty? I might actually make your death quick and painless, just for that little bit of knowledge in your cloud-filled head."

"As for what they're doing, I'd like to know that, too. Lets follow them. Thornpaw, you lead."

After a minute or two, a golden tabby with an overly dramatic serious look on his face advanced towards the marsh, his nose nearly sniffing up dirt ad he tried to find us. Behind him was an orange tom with green eyes, and a dusky brown she-cat. At the end of the bog, they stopped.

"I cant smell it anymore. I'm sorry, Firestar." The golden tabby said sadly, his ears drooping.

"It's not your fault; if the scent's gone, it's gone." The flame-colored cat replied, gazing towards our tree. "I'll tell the patrol to keep a lookout, but hopefully there's nothing to worry about."

"Nothing to worry about, my butt!" I hissed quietly "Just wait until you see what's coming for you!"

"That was well scented, Thornpaw. Lets head back to camp; we've got a warriors ceremony to arrange." At that, the three cats turned around and left the way they had come.

Once we were sure they were gone, we clambered down the tree. Scourge cleaned his fur a bit, Fang cleaned her fur a lot, and we continued out tour.

Later, when we came back home, we discussed the trip. The territory seemed to be big enough for everyone, and even fit more cats. Plus, if we ran out of space there, we could always move some cats into the city again. So, we decided that we would come back when we were called for.

Scourge's death was set in stone.

There you go! A nice update for your Christmas Break! Feliz Navidad, Merry Christmas, and a partridge in a pear tree!

AKA, bye-bye. Have fun.