Acknowledgements:

Mudheart- Hmm. Sounds like a good idea. Lightningstar will definitely be falling in love with a she-cat from a different Clan. But I won't tell you who!:)

So without further ado, here's chapter seven. Enjoy!

Confrontation with a ThunderClan Patrol

Lightningstar awoke with a gasp. What had happened? The events from the night before slowly came back to the new leader, and he couldn't believe it. Yet, when he rose to his paws and stretched, the soreness from the leadership ceremony confirmed that he had indeed met the StarClan cats and received his nine lives.

Around him, his companions were stirring restlessly. Their eyes bore into him, bright and gleaming with anticipation. They were expecting him to make the next move. The kits' eyes were wide with awe. Lightningstar knew what must be done.

"DivineClan," he called out in a confident voice, "today we establish our territory and become the fifth lake Clan. But we must move quickly; we have a big night ahead of us."

Without another word, Lightningstar plunged up the slope with the rest of his Clan following suit. He scented the leafy aroma of a Clan close by. He quickened his pace. The Clan must be ThunderClan; Lightningstar could tell because he remembered Thunderstar sharing that same leafy scent. When they reached the top of the slope, Lightningstar let out an awed gasp.

Before him was a great, beautiful valley. In the center flowed a great river. Thick forests on both sides surrounded the river. In the distance, there were snowcapped mountains that lit up when the rising sun touched them with their rays. Lightningstar and his Clan were so immersed with the beautiful sight, that they did not notice any cats approaching until a ThunderClan patrol of eight attacked them from behind.

(Achilles' pov)

Achilles gave a start of surprise as his Clan began to hiss and snarl in the heat of battle. The leafy scent hit his sensitive glands and he realized in an instant that these cats were ThunderClan warriors. They had trespassed on their territory and were now paying the price. Rolling down the slope was Lightningstar and Lynxclaw, locked in combat with a handsome flame-colored tom with green eyes and a paler ginger she-cat. Lightningstar soon gained the upper hand and pinned the flame-colored tom down. The flame-colored tom spat and writhed in defiance. Close by, a large, long-furred gray tom was wrestling with Briseis. Briseis clawed at him ferociously, but then squealed as the gray tom forced her to the ground and clawed at her throat. Achilles let out a yowl of pure rage and flung himself at the gray tom. The two went down in a whirlwind of teeth and claws. Though the gray tom was much bigger that him, Achilles still had a lot of his war prowess from his Twoleg life. He twisted away from Graystripe's slashing claws and delivered a long scratch down the warrior's face. Graystripe gasped but slowly regained his focus. He flung himself at Achilles again, only to have the golden kit leap out of the way. Graystripe tumbled awkwardly down the slope and landed in a white snowdrift. Achilles was on him in an instant. Pinning the gray tom down, Achilles bent and whispered in his ear, "You keep your paws off my friend or I'll kill you," and delivered a swift and forceful bite to the ThunderClan warrior's neck. Graystripe let out a yowl and ran back up the slope, his neck and face bleeding.

At he top of the slope, Hector and Lionpaw were up on their hind legs like two bucks in a rut. They hit each other over the head with unsheathed paws for a couple of heartbeats, and then wrestled awkwardly to the snowy ground.

"Thank you," gasped Briseis coming up to stand beside him. "I thought he would surely kill me."

"Don't worry, I taught him a lesson he won't soon forget," Achilles growled, licking her ear. Briseis purred and licked his cheek in return, then leaped back into battle.

Just then, a lithe, jet-black she-cat with green eyes slammed into him. It was Hollypaw, and her eyes were smoldering with rage. Achilles twisted in the air and landed awkwardly on his side. In that instant Hollypaw was upon him clawing and biting him wherever she could. And then it happened. She ran her sharp claws unknowingly down his heel.

"YEEEEEOOOOOW!" a sense of agony and unbelievable rage seized him. With a powerful kick with his hind legs to her stomach, he flipped her over and sent her rolling down the slope. She landed in the powdery snow on her side. Eyes glazed over, Achilles raced down the slope after the black she-cat.

"Big mistake my sweet fur, big mistake," he purred in a voice that was sickly sweet. Before Hollypaw could regain her footing, Achilles had sunk his teeth in the back of her neck and was shaking her with all the strength in his body. Hollypaw let out an outraged squeal. She twisted around and slashed a well-aimed forepaw at Achilles' muzzle. Achilles dropped her as blood spurted from his muzzle.

"Get off our territory little kit," she spat with venom. But Achilles could see she was a bit afraid of his rather young power. Her fur was fluffed out and her green eyes were wide.

"Well aren't we a fiery one," Achilles purred, stalking toward her. Hollypaw lunged at him desperately, but Achilles dodged her with ease. Hollypaw lost her footing and landed on her back. As swift as lightning, Achilles leaped on her and forced her down in the powdery snow.

"Foxdung," Hollypaw gasped, desperately trying to break this powerful kit's hold. She used her back legs to kick at his stomach, but it had little impact on him. He just stared at her with a bored expression on his face and raised his forepaw to deliver the killing blow. Thinking quickly, Hollypaw went limp. Achilles visibly relaxed and let her go. But a second later, Hollypaw shot up and Achilles felt himself fly into a snowdrift. Gasping and coughing, he pulled himself out and growled, "Not bad sweet fur, but you'll need to do a lot better!" and lunged at her again. In a matter of heartbeats, Achilles had her pinned down again. She twisted and hissed in rage, but Achilles felt oblivious to her powerless struggles.

"Time to die sweet fur!" he snarled, but before he could deliver the killing blow, a pretty tabby she-cat with a white chest and amber eyes cried out.

"STOP!"

Every cat froze. Hector and Lionpaw stopped wrestling, Firestar, the flame-colored tom and the leader of ThunderClan, broke apart from Lightningstar, Lynxclaw and Sandstorm stopped spitting challenges at each other. Graystripe, who had recently pinned down Darkshadow, let him back up. Brambleclaw broke apart from a skirmish with Stealthystep, and Achilles reluctantly let go of Hollypaw. She leaped to her paws and roughly pushed him away. Every eye was on Leafpool.

"Well Leafpool, what is it?" Firestar mewed calmly.

"Yeah, why did you stop us from driving these foxdunged intruders off our territory?" Brambleclaw let out a disgruntled yowl.

"No wait!" Leafpool spoke urgently. "These aren't intruders. They are the new Clan from the prophecy." As surprised murmurs began to emit among the ThunderClan cats, Firestar rose to his paws.

"The same Clan that would bring us a new dawn and do many great things for the Clan?" he queried.

"Yes," purred Leafpool. "They have come." And with that, the ThunderClan warriors let out joyful yowls and gazed at DivineClan with warmth.

Thinking of the prophecy he had heard last night in StarClan, Achilles felt chills run down his spine. One of them would become evil, and it would be up to three cats to bring them back into the light. As he pondered this, a lean gray tabby tom with blue eyes broke away from Leafpool's side and strode boldly up to Lightningstar. As Achilles stared more closely, he could see that the young apprentice was blind. His keen senses also told him that he was Hollypaw's brother.

"I am only a medicine cat apprentice," he mewed, "and I cannot speak for all of ThunderClan. But I accept you as the fifth lake Clan."

"What is your name, young apprentice?" Lightningstar mewed in surprise.

"I am Jayfeather of ThunderClan," the young cat purred proudly. "I am Leafpool's medicine cat apprentice."

"I accept them also," Sandstorm purred, and while just moments before she was spitting challenges at Lynxclaw, the two she-cats now gave each other affectionate licks and started to share tongues as though they were old friends.

"Well then," purred Firestar. He strode up to Lightningstar and met his gaze steadily. "I, Firestar, leader of ThunderClan, accept you as the fifth lake Clan. Lightningstar purred back in friendship.

"You must forgive us for attacking you earlier," Firestar added sheepishly. "We had know way of knowing that you were the new Clan; we just mistook you for rogues. It's just that's it's leaf-bare, and times are rough. We cannot afford to have intruders stealing our prey."

Lightningstar dipped his head. "It is forgiven. We would have done the same as well."

"Firestar, are you sure we can trust them?" Brambleclaw, the ThunderClan deputy mewed. He did not look hostile, however. He only looked concerned for the well being of his Clan "We know nothing about them, and it is rather strange that they show up at the beginning of leaf-bare."

"That is true," Firestar mewed thoughtfully. He stared at Lightningstar. "Can you tell us a little more about yourselves?"

Lightningstar cleared his throat. "I am Lightningstar, the leader of DivineClan. We were brought to you from ancient Greece by StarClan. We used to be Twolegs in our former lives," he added.

"You were once Twolegs?" Leafpool mewed worriedly. "That was not part of the prophecy."

"Then we can't trust them!" Lionpaw growled. "Twolegs bring us pain and destruction."

"They did destroy the old forest," Sandstorm reminded her mate gently.

"Peace, peace," Lightningstar urged. "We are Twolegs no longer. And we do not wish to bring you destruction little one," he added to Lionpaw with a purr of amusement.

"Are you sure this is the Clan?" Brambleclaw asked Leafpool, still looking concerned.

"Of course it is," Leafpool snapped. "Who else could it be?"

"We weren't just any Twolegs," Lightningstar added proudly. "We were immortal gods and goddesses."

This sparked the ThunderClan leader's curiosity.

"What do you mean by "gods" and "goddesses"?" asked Firestar.

"Being a god or a goddess meant you were immortal and divine with special powers," Lightningstar explained. "We are mortal now, of course, but we were a lot like your StarClan warriors, and we still have some of our powers," he added.

"Is that why you call yourselves DivineClan?' Firestar mewed, mystified.

"Yes," Lightningstar answered.

"And we were extremely glamorous," Lovinggaze added unhelpfully. "But now we are just disgusting beasts." Achilles grimaced. Why did the mousebrained she-cat have to say that?

"Very unnecessary," Lightningstar growled. Lovinggaze dipped her head meekly and slunk back into the DivineClan ranks. Lightningstar turned to face Firestar.

"Firestar I'm sorry," he mewed, mortified. "Let's just say Lovinggaze is having adjustment problems."

"It's alright," Firestar replied, letting out mrrows of amusement. "I can understand why."

"So are we accepted?" Lightningstar asked nervously.

"For the time being, we will trust you," Firestar replied steadily. "Do you have your own territory?"

"Yes," Lightningstar replied. "It is in the valley down the slope."

"Very well," Firestar mewed. "Mark your boundary at the top of that slope. Everything in the valley is yours."

"Come now," he beckoned to his warriors with his tail. They turned to follow their leader back to the ThunderClan camp, but Lightningstar stopped them.

"Wait," he called. "How will I get to the Gathering tonight?"

"You may travel with us tonight," the ThunderClan leader replied. "We will show you the way there. You are not to take prey from our territory along the way, however," he added firmly. In a more friendly tone he mewed, "Farewell new leader. Until we meet again."

"Yes, farewell," called Lightningstar. Then he turned to his expectant warriors.

"Tonight is the Gathering," he mewed. "We must get ready. We need to establish our territory." He then turned and ran down the slope with his warriors hot on his heels. Achilles followed, but he felt eyes on the back of his neck. He turned around in irritation, only to relax when he saw the black she-cat he had been fighting earlier gazing at him with an unreadable expression in her eyes. He strode calmly and confidently up to her.

"Well, if it isn't sweet fur," he purred when he reached her. She glared at him defiantly.

"What is your name?" he asked with genuine interest.

"Well it isn't sweet fur," she hissed in disdain. "Anyways, what do you care? You didn't seem that concerned when you almost killed me!"

"Relax, relax," Achilles purred in amusement to the fiery she-cat. "I only want to be civil."

"Fine," the she-cat answered with a sigh. "I'm Hollypaw."

"I'm Achilles," he answered, gazing into her leafy green eyes.

Hollypaw frowned. "That is not a Clan name," she mewed. "That goes against the warrior code."

"Do you always abide by the warrior code?" Achilles asked scornfully.

"No!" Hollypaw answered indignantly.

"Bet you do," mewed Achilles. "Bet you're a warrior code-abiding goody two-shoes."

"What do you want from me, anyways?" Hollypaw spat.

Achilles stuck out his paw. "I want to be friends," he mewed sincerely.

Hollypaw stared at him incredulously.

"Achilles of DivineClan," she yowled, "if you think that me and you could ever become friends, you've got bees in your brain!" She turned on her heel and stalked away.

Achilles sighed and followed his new Clan up the slope. Why were she-cats so difficult? As he followed his Clan, however, he was keenly aware of Hollypaw's green gaze on his back.

Hmm. Looks like a possible AchillesxHollypaw. Anyhoo, this chapter was supposed to be longer, but it ended up being too long, so I'm sorry if this chapter was a bit boring. On a quite different note, I need your opinions an two things:

Should Achilles and Hollypaw get together? and...

Which she-cat from another Clan should Lightningstar fall in love with?

That is all. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!:) Please read and review.