Disclaimer: I do not own Warriors. Your epidermis is showing.

Busy bees in the hive. The story is alive.

Anyways, TreeClan is going fine...I'm pre-writing some chapters...and this chapter introduces a cat that will continue to have a pretty big role throughout the story. Poor cat...he's been exiled for all the wrong reasons. Or has he? Whatever, you'll find out later what's going on with them craaaazy FlowerClan cats!

Chapter 2: Exiled

The following day, Largefoot assigned Hawkfur to gather up the next patrols.

"For the morning patrol, I want Yellowpelt, Sandyfur, Darkbranch, and Midnightpaw to come with me. The hunting patrol shall have Galewind, Rainclaw, Redpelt, and Dappledpaw. Later, the afternoon patrol will have Stripedtail, Tawnythorn, Sootstep, and Shorttail." Hawkfur then stepped of off Deadtree, the dead, tall stump that lay in the middle of the camp.

Yellowpelt followed her father out of TreeClan with the others. They went through a thicket of thorny bushes left to the entrance at the camp, and over a slight ditch that lay just ahead of that and went for a little while longer, where they reached the edge of their territory. Further would lead them straight into FlowerClan territory.

FlowerClan leader Cricketstar had said that he had suggested to RockClan that they take charge in their position in the forest, but did not urge them to attack TreeClan head on, as they did half a moon ago. More discussion of the issue would be discussed at the next Gathering.

"Hey, watch it!" Sandyfur murmured to Yellowpelt as she slipped by him closely.

"I wasn't even touching you, furball," she replied quickly before picking up her pace a bit and going in front of him. She and Stripedtail often bickered with Sandyfur and teased each other, but the arguments were never serious.

"Wait, be quiet," Midnightpaw said suddenly with a hushed tone. "I smell something unfamiliar." Responding to this, Yellowpelt opened her mouth to better catch scents.

"I smell it, too…" Hawkfur agreed. "Smells like rogues, nearby…watch your step." Hawkfur turned right and led the group further using flicks of his black tail, with silent steps and flickering blue eyes.

Yellowpelt could clearly smell cats that had no particular clan scent now. She whispered, "I think the scent is getting-"

Before she could finish the thought, a rogue cat came bursting out of the bushes in front of them. He was a young-looking dark brown tabby with olive green eyes, and looked just as surprised to see them as they were him.

After a brief moment of silence, Sandyfur hissed. "You know, you're on our territory?" Sandyfur's golden-blond fur was standing on edge, his hackles raised. Yellowpelt's hackles were up as well.

The cat flinched at Sandyfur's words. His green eyes were wide and his fur bristling. The look in his eyes seemed to be constantly changing, from fear to shock to confusion, then one moment a sudden look of anger, with his claws sheathed. Darkbranch noticed this and signaled something to Midnightpaw with his tail.

Hawkfur remained calm. "What is your name?" he asked the rogue. Though he appeared tranquil, his eyes were watching the mysterious tom closely.

He seemed to have been jolted out of deep thought. The rogue glanced over at Hawkfur, fear, anger, and defiance all surging in his pupils. "Rattail," He responded after a moment.

Hawkfur's tail twitched. "That a warrior name? You don't smell like you're from you're from a clan."

The cat's eyes burst with rage. "That's because I was a clan cat! I was exiled!" he growled at Hawkfur, shrinking back with his fur still standing, sticking up even more than before.

"Exiled from where?" Darkbranch looked curious now.

The rogue opened his mouth to respond. But then paused and looked over the cats, once again considering if he should answer. Then he realized it probably wasn't smart to anger the cats he had invaded the territory of. Yellowpelt's tail twitched in impatience while waiting for an answer.

"I was…we were exiled from FlowerClan."

"'We'?"

"A few other toms and I. My friends, sister, and I." his eyes became dull with sadness.

Yellowpelt was interested. "Why were you exiled?"

The rogue seemed to have regained a lot of his anger. "For almost nothing! For seeming like we were going to leave the clan!"

Darkbranch tilted his head to one side. "Were you going to?"

The cat looked up, insulted by the comment. "We are loyal to our clans! Well, we were loyal to our clans…but that didn't matter to Cricketstar."

"Rattail, please explain."

"Cricketstar is making strange decisions about his clan. He's all over the place! Assigning dangerous, serious missions to some cats, and making threats to send others out on a whim! It's almost as if he's…cleaning out his clan of his least favorite warriors." The rogue spat with disgust and his eyes were filled with rage.

"'Dangerous, serious missions'?" Yellowpelt asked.

"Yes, having some cats spy on another clan."

"Which clan?" Yellowpelt queried.

The rogue's eyes had a flicker of amusement. "Namely, yours,"

Yellowpelt let out a little gasp when she realized something. "Was one of the cats silver-furred?"

"A tom?" the rogue asked back.

"Yes, a thin tom…"

"With blue eyes?" the rogue had another flicker of amusement. "And a sense of arrogance?"

"Yes! The one Stripedtail and I caught!"

"He was Swiftfoot. A spy." the rogue answered calmly.

Yellowpelt's fur bristled at the thought of a spy in TreeClan camp. "That mangy furball! When I get a chance, I'll-"

"Yellowpelt, remain calm." Hawkfur said. "We need to sort this out before acting. Thank you for informing us of this, Rattail."

Rattail looked down. "Not a problem, really..." his fur bristled. "As far as I'm concerned right now, an enemy of FlowerClan is a friend of mine. I'm sorry for entering your territory, it won't happen again." With that, the rogue turned and went through the bushes.

His cold words chilled Yellowpelt. But she shook it off and looked at Hawkfur, who turned to face the patrol. "We are going to go back to camp, and I will report this to Thinstar. Try not to let too many cats know, we don't need any unnecessary confusion and anger."

Yellowpelt felt a pang of sorrow for the rogue. How hard it must've been to have been exiled for the wrong reasons! When they reached camp, Yellowpelt went straight for the warriors' den, deciding that Stripedtail would be the only cat she would tell about the rogue.

"Stripedtail!" She dashed for her friend. "I have big news!"

"What? What?" Stripedtail stood up.

"Shh…I don't think I'm even supposed to be telling you this yet, but we met up with a rogue on the patrol!"

"Really?" Stripedtail's eyes widened.

"He was exiled form FlowerClan! He said he wasn't the only one either; he was among a few!"

"No way!" Stripedtail exclaimed. "Did he say why he was exiled?"

"Well…he looked pretty angry…and he said that it was unfair, that the reasons were totally unjustified." Yellowpelt shifted her paws. "I feel bad for him. I know Cricketstar has done a lot of things but to his own clan…?"

Stripedtail looked her in the eye. "Well, maybe the rogue was lying. Maybe the 'unjustified' reason just seems unfair to him."

Yellowpelt looked at her, now searching her memories, reevaluating Rattail's movements. He was so scornful, and he said he used to be loyal…

Stripedtail awoke suddenly. She raised her head slightly and saw a cat sneaking out of the warriors' den.

The same thing from last night…

Stripedtail followed the cat out of the den quietly and into the shadows of the rest of the camp. The other stepped into the moonlight and revealed a pelt of yellow fur.

Yellowpelt!

Stripedtail followed Yellowpelt out of the camp and into the forest. Stripedtail was trying to guess where she was going. Suddenly, Yellowpelt paused.

"If you wanted to follow me, Stripedtail, you could've just asked."

Stripedtail could've sworn her blood froze in her veins. "I…just wanted to know where you're going…that's all."

Yellowpelt turned around. Stripedtail was surprised to see that there was no anger in her eyes. "You can follow, its fine. But don't tell anyone where I'm going, okay?"

"Why not?"

"Because Thinstar or Hawkfur would have a fit if they knew what I was doing."

"Well, where are you going?" Stripedtail flicked her tail.

"Remember that rogue I told you about a couple of days ago?"

"Yes…"

"Well, I've been meeting with him and talking with him about what's going on with FlowerClan. And taking care of him and his friends a bit…"

"What do you mean?" Stripedtail was confused and looked into Yellowpelt's eyes for an explanation.

"She means…" a voice called from behind the bushes. "That my sister is sick. And Yellowpelt's been very generous." Stripedtail instinctively stepped back and raised her hackles.

"It's okay, he won't hurt you," Yellowpelt stepped closer to the brown tabby tom. "Stripedtail, this is Rattail. He was exiled from FlowerClan. And he knows why RockClan attacked us."

Stripedtail looked up at him, surprised. "So…it's safe to assume that FlowerClan did have something to do with it?"

His eyes flashed. "FlowerClan had a lot to do with it. You probably know what Cricketstar said; that he did not suggest that RockClan attack you like that? Well, he forced RockClan into doing it because Cricketstar still had slight hold of RockClan form that one battle moons ago."

"Why didn't he just have FlowerClan do it?" Stripedtail asked.

"Because he didn't think FlowerClan would make it through the battle, because he had exiled more warriors than he had planned to."

"Why did he exile warriors?"

Yellowpelt answered for Rattail. "Due to all the spies Cricketstar sent out to spy on us, he got paranoid and thought some of his warriors were planning to leave FlowerClan for TreeClan,"

"And he thought if he made us seem like we were exiled for some horrible reason, no clan would want us," Rattail continued, practically hissing his words. "And thanks to him, my sister caught graycough and there is no medicine cat to treat her!"

"I've been finding herbs and taking it to Rattail to help soothe her, but I don't know what helps graycough itself." Yellowpelt looked at Stripedtail. "Tomorrow I'm going to tell Thinstar and Crazyeyes and maybe they can help." Yellowpelt touched her tail to Rattail's flank to try to reassure him, but he still looked lost in his worries.

Stripedtail was unsure of trusting these rogues, but stepped forward towards Rattail. "Don't worry; I'm sure they'll help. Your sister will be fine."

"I'm going to go back to camp, Rattail. I'll be back tomorrow." Yellowpelt brushed by his flank when she walked away from the rogue with Stripedtail.

I made graycough up. It's like my version of whitecough, and later there might be redcough (my version of greencough). I think I could've come up with soemthign more clever though...(bonks head)

Byebye. Going to go listen to Fall Out Boy. (Me heart Fall Out Boy. And Gorillaz and Panic! At The Disco, but I digress.)