Disclaimer: I do not own Warriors or its characters.

Spoilers: I know, pretty much the entire story has spoilers for various books in the first series, but this chapter has a spoiler for the end of The Darkest Hour, which I guess is real important. So yeah, you were warned.

Sandstorm rocked back on her haunches, trying to determine the best angle to attack from. Moons of battle experience had trained her eyes to immediately find weaknesses in her opponents, and she had found one.

The white tom seemed to shift all his weight on his hind legs when he stood. The ThunderClan warrior noticed a huge gash in one of his legs that couldn't be more than a couple sunrises old. Probably from a fight with another cat.

Sandstorm took advantage of this and dove forward, hoping to throw off his balance. But Demitrix was expecting this. When Sandstorm lunged towards him, he swiftly jumped over her and the she-cat landed in the grass with a soft thud.

The ginger she-cat's world seemed to swirl around her. When she looked up, the dark night sky, the old twoleg nests, and the moon all blurred together. She managed to stand, her eyes finally focused, only to see her enemy charging towards her.

She attempted to dodge, but as she moved Demitrix grazed her shoulder. She stumbled but was able to regain her balance and firmly plant her feet. She hadn't noticed what a toll lack of sleep and hardly any food had taken on her until now.

"I thought I'd have an actual challenge fighting a Warrior," Demitrix taunted, spitting venom into that last part.

Sandstorm held her tongue as her pelt prickled in anger. In the middle of a battle would not be a good time to lose her temper, she reminded herself. If she lost her temper, she might do something stupid. And doing something stupid was a Firestar thing.

She looked past the battle-scarred white tom to see Rain still locked in battle with the other cat, but it seemed her sister was now winning. Now not having to worry about Rain, Sandstorm had time to think.

Judging from how Demitrix acted, she noted that he was very strong and powerful, but not smart. He was bloodthirsty; too driven by the need to kill. Sandstorm smirked as the memory of the move Firestar had used to win against Scourge formed in her head. The perfect way to defeat a cat like this. Why she hadn't thought of it before, she had no idea.

She leapt toward Demitrix, who swiftly jumped out of the way. He then grabbed her by the scruff and threw her, her head hitting hard, on the ground. She groaned as she tried to stand up, only to fall back down.

"This was too easy," Demitrix purred as he stalked towards Sandstorm. He then pressed a bloody paw to her throat and pressed down. She squirmed writhed, but eventually went still. He removed his paw and threw his head in the air as he yowled in victory.

But his celebration was cut short as he felt claws rake his underbelly. He jumped back in shock as another set of claws tore at his face. His vision was darkened, but could make out the form of a she-cat.

"You're right,"Sandstorm said, "it was too easy."

Demitrix looked at her in shock.

"That's the same way my mate took your leader down, too," Sandstorm told him.

Demitrix's eyes widened. He backed away, then turned around and retreated.

Sandstorm's gaze went over to sister, who was on top of her opponent, continuously beating and clawing at her as she screeched in pain. Sandstorm's own eyes widened when she saw how bloody and ragged the BloodClan cat looked.

She heard the cat beg for mercy as she struggled underneath Rain.

"Rain! Stop!" Sandstorm yelled to her sister. She looked up, and Sandstorm saw something flash in her eyes. Something dark. But as soon as it appeared, it was gone. Rain backed away from the cat and it staggered away, barely managing to crawl through a hole at the bottom of the old and broken fence.

Sandstorm continued to stare at her sister, surprised she could act so...so vicious. She shook her head t clear such disturbing thoughts.

"Come on. We can't stay here much longer, and we need to go treat our wounds," Sandstorm said, avoiding Rain's gaze. The two stalked off as the sun began to rise, Sandstorm's fur prickling with unease.

Sunlight peeked through Firestar's den and woke the young ThunderClan leader. He let out a loud yawn and stretched, then looked through the moss hanging over the entrance. The camp was already alive, apprentices carrying out the elders' old bedding and warriors bringing in fresh kill. Judging by the sun's position, he assumed it was late morning. He hadn't expected to sleep so long, but was glad he had a somewhat normal dream, no matter how bittersweet it had been.

He walked out of his den and spotted Graystripe along with Cloudtail, Longtail, and Bramblepaw. He made his way towards the group.

"Firestar," Graystripe said, "we're ready to leave when you are."

The ginger tom nodded. "Alright, let's go."

Firestar led the small group through the forest to the ShadowClan border, where they ran into a patrol consisting of Oakfur, Russetfur, and two apprentices Firestar didn't recognize.

"You just crossed the border," Russetfur hissed.

"I know, I need to talk to Blackstar," Firestar replied as calmly as he could.

The dark ginger she-cat flattened her ears but motioned her tail for them to follow her. Her patrol surrounded Firestar and his Clan mates and headed deeper into ShadowClan territory.

Firestar forced himself not to wrinkle his nose as his paws sunk into the wet ground. The group sloshed in the soft ground until they reached a hollow surrounded by brambles.

The ShadowClan patrol led them to through the thick mud to the entrance. As they entered, all the cats in the camp stopped to look at them; some with looks of confusion, others with hateful glares.

Blackstar slid underneath the roots of a large oak tree that made his den and stared at the group of cats. "Firestar," the white tom greeted the ThunderClan leader with a curt nod, "why are you here?"

"Hello, Blackstar. Sandstorm, a warrior from ThunderClan, has gone missing. I was wondering if you had any information on where she might be." Firestar tried to keep his voice steady and professional, but he felt like wailing like a kit.

The ShadowClan leader narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Why would I know anything? Is there a reason to think your warriors might have been on our territory?"

Firestar stopped himself from growling. He would usually try to be more patient, but this whole situation was stressing him out. Not to mention panic over Sandstorm was building up, and he knew if he panicked, he'd do something stupid.

"Of course not. Thank you for your time, Blackstar," The ginger tom nodded at the older cat. Firestar motioned for his patrol to follow him, and a small group of ShadowClan warriors escorted them out.

"Doing something stupid is a Firestar thing." Sorry Firestar lovers, but even Sandstorm has told him he does a lot of dumb things. But he gets better as the series goes on, and all his stupid decisions have been for the best and worked out, so that makes up for them.

Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I just have a lot on my plate. But Spring Break for me is next week, so I'll get my Model UN stuff done right away and start on the next chapter.

Thank you so much VikkiTayler, Mossypelt11, Graywhisper, SwiftStar1, and Dustwhisker The Cat for reviewing!

So, please tell me what you all think, and what I can do to improve!

-Friedchicken23