Disclaimer: I do not own DW or Warriors.

Chapter 3

Waking up was an odd experience, to say the least. Amy's head felt slow and stuffed with cotton. She didn't exactly remember falling asleep. She had been with the Doctor... And then nothing.

She opened her eyes, and realized she was lying on the ground. So she stood up. But her limbs felt weird, disconnected, out of place. Disorientated, she shook her head, frowning. She was too close to the ground, she realized. She looked down. And that's when she saw her feet- paws.

"Oh my, good Lord. Doctor! I'm a cat!" She wailed frantically, looking around. She saw another cat lying on the ground, curled up, asleep, colored dark brown. Amy knew on instinct that it was the Doctor. Even in cat form, there was no mistaking him- though it certainly was odd to see him sleeping (after all, he hated doing that). She stored that thought for later and ran to him. She prodded him with her paw. "Doctor. Doctor, wake up! Oi!" Her attempts to wake him were in vain.

His breathing was labored. She was no expert on medicine (or on cats, for that matter), but she knew labored breathing was never good.

"Don't you dare get sick on me, buster! I need you to get us out of here and undo this cat thingy!" She said to the Doctor, who was still sleeping. She glared at him, as if that would wake him up.

She sighed. "Fat lot of good you are." She sat down next to him, trying not to panic. Her tail- her tail- twitched, and she pawed the ground absentmindedly. "It's your fault you know. If you had done what I told you to do, we wouldn't be in this mess."

"Now where's the fun in that?" She heard the Doctor say. He might have been in cat form, but his voice was still the same.

"You're awake!" Amy said excitedly, jumping up.

"And you're a cat." He observed from the ground. If he had still been in humanoid form, she knew he'd be lounging on the ground instead of just lying on it.

"Have you taken a look at yourself lately?" She said.

"I'm one too, aren't I?" She nodded, feeling a smile curl at the corners of her mouth at him. Suddenly he had a spasm. He yowled in pain, crunching into a ball. Amy started, gasping.

"Doctor! What's wrong?"

"Whatever it did to us-" He had another spasm. "It was only meant for humans. Gaaag!" His claws extended, digging into the ground in pain. He focused on Amy again. "Not Time Lords." He had a spasm once more and then he was quiet.

"Doctor!" Amy cried with dismay. but her cry fell on deaf ears; he was asleep.

And night was descending.

Brightpaw's ear twitched, and she suddenly found herself on the ground, under her mentor.

"Distractions get you killed," she heard Firestorm say, getting off of her. Brightpaw got back to her feet looking into the forest. "What?" Firestorm asked Brightpaw. She was about to reply when she heard a distant yowl of pain again. Her Mentor also heard it this time, Firestorm's head swinging in the direction it came from.

"What was that?" Brightpaw asked.

"I don't know. Sounded like a cat." Firestorm said distantly.

"Should we go check it out?" Brightpaw asked, the golden cat itching to do something useful.

"It's getting dark..." Firestorm said. Then, seeing the look on her apprentice's face she said, "Oh, let's go. If we be quick, we can be back before sunset."

Brightpaw jumped in delight, racing off towards the sound, Firestorm following in her footsteps.

A LITTLE LATER...

They came to a silent stop in the bushes next to the two cats, observing them carefully. There was a dark brown cat lying on the ground and a ginger cat sitting next to him. The dark brown cat's chest was heaving up and down, in an erratic pace, and there was fear radiating off of the ginger cat.

All of a sudden the ginger cat jumped up, fur bristling, ears back, whirling to look in Brightpaw and Firestorm's direction.

"Oi! I know you're there! Come on out!" The she-cat hissed at them. Firestorm and Brightpaw exchanged a look. Stepping out of the bushes, they came into view.

Amy regarded the two cats, fur still raised. One had a golden coat with yellow eyes, the other flame colored with amber eyes.

"What are you doing here, you two?" She demanded, tail flicking threateningly.

The two cats exchanged glances, then the flame-colored one said, "Well, actually, we were going to ask you what you're doing on ThunderClan territory. Didn't you smell the scent markers?"

"Um..." Amy shifted, not really knowing what to say to that. They talk just like humans. Were they really that sophisticated all the time? Even without the TARDIS as a translator?

"Nope, must have missed them. Where are we, then?"

"In ThunderClan territory," The Flame one said. "Are you rogue cats? Kittypets?"

"Not that I have any idea what either of those mean," Amy muttered under her breath. "No, we're not."

"Then what are you? Because you're certainly not clan cats." The flame one sniffed. "In fact, I'd say you smell more like those two-legs we saw earlier today. Especially him." She gave a tail flick in the Doctor's direction. "He smells like the male two-leg we saw. He smelled very... different."

Amy laughed. "I'll be sure to tell him that when he wakes up."

"What's wrong with him, anyway?" The flame cat actually sounded curious.

Amy hesitated, looking back at the Doctor's cat-body lying on the ground. "I... I'm not sure, really. I'm not used to this," she told them honestly.

"Well, we might as well bring him to camp, where we can treat him. We have to take you to Petalstar anyway." Amy blinked. Cats had treatment for sick cats? This kept getting weirder and weirder.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea... I mean, moving him." She shivered as she recalled his awful spasms when he awoke.

"Here, let me look at him." The smaller, golden cat said suddenly, speaking for the first time. "I might be able to tell what's wrong with him." She walked towards Amy and the Doctor as if she was afraid Amy would pounce on her.

She had a good reason to be afraid. Amy watched her carefully as she approached.
The golden cat looked him over, carefully exposing his belly. She placed her ear against his chest, probably checking for the heart rate. Amy tensed, remembering that he had more than one heart.

The she-cat recoiled away from him as if she had been bitten.

"Brightpaw, what is it?" Firestorm called.

I could have sworn I heard a second heart... But no, that's impossible.

"Oh uh," Brightpaw said, realizing the question was directed at her. "He's got a serious fever. We can't move him." She was telling the truth; the cat actually did have a fever, and they couldn't move him, for fear of accidentally making it worse. And a fever might not be all he had, after all. "We have to get Rockpoppy and Mintpaw down here, right away."

Firestorm nodded. "Stay here with him. You-" She flicked her tail at the dark ginger she-cat, "What's your name?"

"What? Oh, it's Amy." Amy told her.

"Amy, come to camp with me. Try to keep up." Firestorm said with a smile. She darted off into the forest, which was getting increasingly dark.

"Wha? Oi! Wait up!" Amy cried, running off after her.

Brightpaw was left alone with the sick cat. The sun was going down, and she was starting to feel fatigue, and slight anxiety at being left alone. Well, not technically alone, but an invalid cat didn't really count.

She looked at the sick cat, thinking. Two hearts... She pressed her ear on his chest again. This time she listened to make sure. She removed her head from his chest, staring at him.

"What are you?" She said softly. She sat there, just looking at him. He looked just like any other cat... but he had two hearts.

Suddenly, she heard a crashing to her left, and she nearly immediately felt a sense of dread. She jumped up looking at the bushes.

"Hello?" She called. She took a few tentative steps towards the bushes, against her better judgement. She was upwind; she couldn't smell whatever or whoever it was. "Is anyone there?" The bushes rattled again.

A dark figure rose out of the bushes, towering over her. She gasped, backstepping, every instinct telling her to run, fear coursing through her body. The Dark figure seemed to be staring right at her. She looked at it for a few moments then turned around, running away from it.

Something crashed into her, panting heavily. A cat. But who? There was no around... but the sick cat, who shouldn't be able to move until tomorrow at the soonest.

"Stay very still." A voice hissed into her ear. "Do not move." She was lying on her belly and she couldn't see the cat on top of her, panting. She squirmed, ignoring the cat's warnings. "Listen! If you want to stay alive, do not move!" She gave up, lying still, eyes wide, fear coursing through her every vein.

She saw the dark figure move in front of her, moving around. It was searching for something. For her. She could feel her heart beating loudly, and swore it would be able to hear it, or her breathing. Wait, no, she wasn't breathing- her chest had frozen in fear. She watched with terror as it searched for a few more seconds, then swooped off into the night. She let out a sigh of relief.

The cat on top of her rolled off. She jumped up and away, looking at the cat who had probably saved her life. It was indeed the brown cat, and he was obviously having a lot of difficulty standing up.

"How are you awake? You should still be lying down," she exclaimed incredulously. He ignored her question with a shake of his head. He looked around wildly, as if searching for something.

"Where's Amy? I'm the Doctor, by the way." As she stared at him, he nearly collapsed.

"Amy's back at camp, going to get the medicine cat. You need to lay down, Thedoctor."

"She's safe?"

"She's with Firestorm. She'll be fine." She assured him. "I can't say that for you though, so lie back down, and I'll get some moss for bedding." She wanted to ask him what that thing was, but he needed rest, or his fever would grow worse. Although, he was quite lucid for a cat with a fever.

"Alright... What was your name again?" He said, his legs wobbling.

"It's Brightpaw. And you, Thedoctor, need to go back to sleep." She told him, watching him in case he decided otherwise. She was fairly sure she could overpower him if it came to that... He laid down, saving her the trouble.

"Okay, will do, Brightpaw. If the monster comes back, remember- Don't move." His eyes shut.

Don't move. Just what is he?