Stormfur spun around. "What?" Willowpaw's words were true. The fox bared it's teeth and snarled. Suddenly Voletooth darted in from behind and nipped the fox's leg. It turned around.

"We'll show you how strong we are!" Voletooth hissed, and lunged, claws unsheathed. Stormfur clawed the fox's back. Blackclaw joined in. Seeing more attackers, the fox darted off.

"What happened?" Mistystar padded up behind them.

"A fox came into the medicine cat's den," Stormfur explained breathlessly. "But we drove it out."

"Hmm," she mewed. "Stormfur, we need to talk more about..." she racked her brain for the right word. "That." She spun around, her tail beckoning Stormfur to follow.

Once they were safely inside the leader's den, Mistystar took a deep breath and said, "Well, I suppose...go to the ThunderClan camp and make sure you wait for an escort. Bring Sorreltail back to our camp and we'll have Mothwing prepare herbs for you."

"Now?"

"When you're ready."

Stormfur nodded in agreement. "Sunrise tomorrow." He left.

The next morning Stormfur gave a polite nod to Mistystar, and left the camp. He took the WindClan way, and when the sun was in the middle of the sky, he arrived at the ThunderClan camp's border.

It seemed to take forever for a patrol to appear. Finally, Berrynose, Hazeltail, and Squirrelflight came by.

"What do you want?" Berrynose asked, eyes flaring with hostility.

"Berrynose, it's just Stormfur," Squirrelflight mewed sharply.

"I would like to talk to Firestar," Stormfur meowed.

"Right. Come along," Squirrelflight said. She led him into the ThunderClan camp. "Firestar!" she called.

The orange cat padded out of his den. "Greetings, Stormfur. What has brought you here?" he asked warmly.

Stormfur dipped his head. "I had a dream."

"Sorreltail did too."

Hearing her name, Sorreltail padded to Firestar's side. "Yes? Do you need me?" she asked.

"Stormfur has come to talk to you," Firestar told her.

Sorreltail turned her head to look at the grey RiverClan cat. "Is this about the dream?" she queried.

He nodded. "Mistystar wants to bring you to our camp. We'll set out tomorrow. If you agree, of course."

Sorreltail turned to Firestar.

He nodded. "You may go. I suppose you will get a sign from StarClan."

"Thank you," she said, and padded off with Stormfur.

Sorreltail looked around at the bare WindClan territory. Suddenly she spotted a blackish brownish rock. But something was wrong.

It hit her. It was the direction of the shadow!

"Stormfur! Look! Look at the rock's shadow!" she cried.

"What?" He turned his head. The rock's shadow was pointing...east!

"We're supposed to travel that way!" Sorreltail exclaimed.

"That's it!" Stormfur mewed. "Great thinking, Sorreltail. C'mon. Let's hurry up and tell Mistystar."

Emberpaw woke up. The tang of Twoleg monsters hit his throat. He wrinkled his nose at the scent. "Yuck," he said. Poppypaw lifted her head beside him.

"What is that?" she mewed crossly. "Twoleg monster, huh?" She twitched her whiskers.

Emberpaw padded out the den. Larksong was waiting for him there. "I'm ready."

"The Twoleg monsters are getting close. We'll have to practice here," Larksong said. "But at least you'll be able to learn how to fight, because we're fighting here. Poppypaw and Pearlclaw are fighting with us, if you don't mind." He paused for a moment. "But even if you do mind, you'll still have to practice with them."

Emberpaw chuckled. He followed his mentor to a wide area in the camp, where Poppypaw and her mentor were waiting. "C'mon!" Poppypaw squeaked.

"We're coming, we're coming," Larksong mewed in reply. The two made their way to them and Larksong sat down. "Now, the first move we'll be learning is this. It's called the back kick. Judge your opponent's distance carefully, then lash out with your back legs, putting your weight on your front paws." He demonstrated. "Now you try."

Emberpaw tried to copy his mentor, but lost his balance and fell, kicking up dust. "Lemme try again," he insisted, hot with embarrassment. He lashed out with his back legs, trying to hit an invisible opponent.

"Almost perfect," Larksong said.

"Poppypaw, you try," Pearlclaw instructed.

Poppypaw tried it, and did it perfectly.

"Wonderful!" Pearlclaw mewed in delight. "Emberpaw, why don't you try it on her?"

He nodded. Poppypaw rounded on him. She pounced, but Emberpaw lashed out with his hind legs and kicked Poppypaw square in the face. She leaped back.

"Wonderful, Emberpaw!" Larksong congratulated.

"Now, our second move, the front paw blow. It's very simple," Pearlclaw said. Claws sheathed, she hit her apprentice down her head. "It's a lot more fierce than that, though," she told us.

"I want to try!" Poppypaw mewed excitedly, and brought her front paw down hard onto Emberpaw's head. But he was prepared and rolled to the side before she could hit him.

"Nice, Emberpaw!" Larksong told him.

"That's not fair!" Poppypaw squealed. She tried to swipe at Emberpaw, but missed as he lashed out with his hind legs.

"Oh-I'm so sorry," he apologized.

"No, it's okay," she said. "I don't want you going easy on me or I'll never get better!"

"Ok," he agreed, feeling relieved.

"That's all we'll learn today," Pearlclaw said. "We'll do a little more fighting and after that I'll tell you what to do."

"Sure," the apprentices agreed.

"Now, fight in one," Larksong said. "Two, three!"

Emberpaw pounced on Poppypaw, claws unsheathed. She rolled away but his weight was too much for her. She raked her claws down Emberpaw's belly and he jumped back in pain. Poppypaw advanced on him, but before Poppypaw could jump, Larksong yowled, "Thunderstorm!" There was a rumble as a flash of lightning streaked the sky. "It's right on top of us!" he added. "C'mon, that means twisters are near." He leaped away as the two apprentices tried to catch up.

"Save our souls!"