Disclaimer: I don't own Warriors; if I did Onewhisker would never have become leader ;)

Note: This is set in 'The Fourth Apprentice' around the time that Firestar has proposed the idea of sending up the patrols.

Chapter 2

Gasping for breath, Pumpkin collapsed onto the hard earthy ground. Her paws hurt and her chest throbbed as her heart pumped furiously. She had never run like that before, but, turning to check it was clear, it appeared she had lost the dog.

When she had caught her breath, she pulled herself up and examined her paws. They were bleeding, but only slightly. She licked them softly and checked for any other wounds; she was fine.

It was only then that she realized she had no idea where she was. It appeared to be a thick forest, with only a few beams of light filtering through the trees above. The floor was littered with dead leaves and mud, although it wasn't autumn yet, and they gave an earthy smell to the forest.

Pumpkin wrinkled her nose at it, preferring the clean smell of her nest. She got up and decided to go back the way she came, but soon realized that she didn't know what way that was. Everything in the forest looked the same.

She put her nose to the floor comically and tried to smell herself, but the forest's smell was too overwhelming. She slumped down on the ground in defeat and shut her eyes; surely this wasn't really happening, I mean, she couldn't actually be lost.

A small tear formed in her eye but it didn't run; Pumpkin just lied down on the cold floor and waited for someone to find her – her house-folk will surely look for her, and Prince wouldn't just abandon her.

Comforted by this thought, she fell asleep.

II

"I hate that mangy Firestar!"

A tom's harsh voice woke Pumpkin up and she turned to see that a gang of cats were heading towards her.

In a panic, she scrambled behind a tree and hoped they didn't see her.

"I know! I swear, he thinks he's the leader of the whole lake!" Another voice spoke, but it was one of a she-cat.

Pumpkin was still breathing hard and she accidently ruffled some leaves as she tried to sit still.

"Shush a minute…" a different cat said; he was male and sounded older than the others, "I think I heard something."

Pumpkin held her breath and froze as she realized he had heard her.

"Pinepaw, go check it out." He spoke again and Pumpkin heard a cat walking towards the tree she was hidden behind.

"I smell a cat Ratscar!" Pumpkin guessed it was Pinepaw who exclaimed this and stood rigid with fear.

"From what clan?" the older male voice, Ratscar, tested

"No clan. I think they're a kitty-pet." Pinepaw replied.

"Good job, Pinepaw." Pumpkin heard Ratscar walk towards her, "You might as well come out and tell us why you're on our territory now kitty-pet."

Pumpkin daren't move, and besides, her mouth had clamped itself shut with fear. She heard a cat sigh.

"Fine, Pinepaw, take care of them."

Pumpkin, realizing what 'take care of them' meant, managed to loosen her muscles and say

"Don't h-hurt me…" she walked out behind the tree to face the cats. She now saw that Pinepaw was in fact very young and probably posed no threat, but still, she had three other cats backing her up.

She noted that Ratscar, the cat who had spoked before, had a huge ugly scar across his back and looked pretty terrifying, and that the female cat was a beautiful pure white she-cat.

Her gaze finally landed on the last cat, a light brown tabby tom, and Pumpkin noticed with a jolt, that he was the most handsome tom she'd ever seen.

"Ha, pathetic. She's no bigger than a kit." The light brown tabby tom said and Pumpkin automatically defended herself.

"Actually I'm a full grown cat!" She managed to stop herself before she insulted them, as they all looked at her with evil eyes.

"No, you're a full grown kitty-pet!" The white she-cat said and Pumpkin could no longer see the beauty she had, instead it was just disgust and menace upon her face.

"Yeah, well… you're a full grown ugly cat!" she retorted even though it wasn't true.

"Ha ha!" the she-cat laughed and even the two toms and young black she-cat looked amused. Pumpkin's fur bristled with embarrassment as she had just proven she definitely wasn't a full grown cat.

"You-you may laugh now, but… I-I" she tried to find something to scare them with "I just fought off a huge dog!" she exclaimed

"Pfft, yeah right! A pipsqueak like you couldn't fight off a squirrel!" Ratscar said and everyone laughed.

Pumpkin frowned in annoyance and raked her brain to think of a good comeback.

"At least I didn't get a scar from a mouse!" She said and everyone abruptly stopped laughing. Pumpkin soon realized that she had said something wrong.

"I got this scar fighting for my clan-mates' lives kitty-pet!" his brown fur had bristled up with anger and Pumpkin shrank back in fear.

"And you got this scar for insulting a Shadowclan warrior!" Ratscar lunged at Pumpkin and bit her on her shoulder.

Pumpkin yowled in pain as his powerful jaws clamped onto her shoulder, causing blood to flow from it heavily.

She weakly scratched his belly in protest, and although it did nothing, he let go of her.

She fell down, red hot pain centered on her shoulder and she saw that blood was staining her fur red. It was a real wound.

"Ratscar, we can't leave her like this, she'll die." The light brown tabby tom said with no remorse.

"Let her die." Ratscar said and left, but the others didn't follow.

"Snowbird, help me take her to our camp." The tom said despite what Ratscar said and walked towards Pumpkin.

"Owlclaw, what will we do then?" Snowbird asked but she too was walking towards Pumpkin.

"Let Littlecloud heal her then she can return home." Owlclaw replied and picked up Pumpkin with his teeth, careful to avoid her wound.

Snowbird followed his actions and so did Pinepaw, despite the fact she hadn't been asked to, and the last thing Pumpkin remembered was being carried away before she passed out.

Did you like it? Please PLEASE tell me! I have a good feeling about this story… let's see what happens!

-Hollymist